Unicorn Riders - Pinch (English)

Chapter 1: Always the victim

There were three things Vera wished for her thirteenth birthday.

The first thing was a horse. One of those proud, magnificient animals galloping on the plains and fields near Coock City and her farm, sometimes letting some of the children ride them. Once Vera herself had had the chance to sit on one of those animals, and she had been instantly excited. But her father decided strongly against it. He said a horse was too expensive in acquisition and sustentation, whatever the meaning of that was. He explained that he wasn't going to spend a fortune on something Vera would lose interested in as soon as she fell off and broke a leg.

Second was a dog. She had seen these loyal companions all over Geshtachius Prime and how they stood by their owners. She loved the fur of these beings, and how smart and adaptable they were. Her wish was to train such a dog to follow and protect here anywhere. But this time her mother objected to it, and with good reason: Vera was allergic to dogs and could not be near one without getting sniffles and breathing problems.

Third and last was a weapon.

Thinking about that later Vera wasn't even sure why she had made this wish. To annoy her parents, perhaps. But there was more to it than that, and Vera realized it more and more every time she joined her father at the mercenary academy and helped with the training. Indeed, she was the youngest person working there, and she saw herself as member of the merc team. But it didn't feel like it. That's what she came to realize more and more while she got prepared for the next assignment by her grown-up friend Tammy. While everybody else was running around with big, intimidating laser weapons and having firefights with the ones being examined by Bodderias, what kind of equipment did Vera receive?

"Now, come on!" Tammy reasoned with her. "You play an important part in that mission. The most important part, in fact. And you get the most dangerous equipment this mission has to offer." Saying that she put the vest on Vera, the one with four flash grenades dangling at the front, being connected to detonators and other mean devices. Of course those were completely harmless for Vera - even the first time when she had worn it, they had explained to her that the grenades detonated to the outside, so nothing but a moderately bright flash and maybe a somewhat louder bang would come to her. The first time Vera had had mixed feelings about it. But since then there had been loads of opportunities to test that. Almost every mercenary group taking on this mission had failed, and almost every time the vest had detonated. Vera didn't even find it unpleasant anymore - just annoying.

"But that's not the same," she countered while Tammy armed the vest. "I'm not even allowed to use this thing. I'm not allowed to fight. Instead I'm always the one who needs to be rescued."

"You should consider yourself lucky," Tammy appealed to her conscience. "Really, be glad that you don't have to fight out there! Some of those mercs are outright brutal, don't know remorse or regret. Even when all that we use here is stun weapons, that's nothing a little kid should get into."

"Whom do you call little?" Vera's reaction was hardly more than a reflex. She was already twelve years old, grew up as a mercenary's daughter and earned her own payment with this nonsense. But every time she heard comments about her age and size, and every time she gave a snippy answer to that, a little bit of significance vanished. Deep inside of her she knew that one day it would be different - that these people who still saw her as a child would one day treat her with the respect she deserved.

Even Tammy realized that Vera didn't like to hear those things. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm just saying, should you still wish to go out there and be pelted and knocked out by laser blasts, then you should know first that none of us like that part of the job."

"Instead I get frequently blown up," Vera grumbled. "How come all these mercenaries are such losers?"

"Better mercenaries wouldn't need to come here for training," Tammy answered. "Anyway, it seems like we've got a completely different group for your rescue today. The Unicorn Riders"