Renegade Star (Vol 1)

Chapter 8: Party in the Void of Space

Content warning: Alcohol, mention of violence

Brooke woke up with a pounding headache. She sat up with a groan and looked around. This wasn't her room. She pulled the heavy blanket off and swung her legs over the front of the couch. Brooke rested her elbows on her knees and dropped her head into her hands.

"Oh, good. You're awake."

Brooke jerked her head up and immediately regretted it. First, it made her headache worse, and second, Jax was standing right in front of her. Great. A hangover and I'm stuck in the room of my sworn enemy. Brooke dropped her head back into her hands.

"Lights on," Jax said and the world was filled with a blinding, pulsating light. The light pried into Brooke's tightly closed eyelids, weaving its way through her retinas and into her skull like laser surgery without anesthesia.

"ARRRRRGG!" Brooke groaned. She clutched at her head, wishing the Foul Beast of Light would retreat from her delicately crafted, but genius, brain. She couldn't risk causing irreversible damage to her brilliant mind. What would she be without her genius? Her wit? Her incomparable intelligence? Nothing but a shell of her former self.

"Don't be a baby," Jax said.

Brooke glowered at her through squinted eyes. The force of her rage made her headache worse and she covered her eyes and whimpered. She heard Jax sigh heavily through the constant dial tone echoing through her ears. There was the distinct clink of a glass being set forcefully on a table and Brooke cautiously opened her eyes. On the coffee table in front of her was a clear glass of slightly cloudy liquid. Brooke looked up at Jax who was standing on the other side of the table, arms crossed and a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Drink it," Jax said.

"Are you trying to poison me?" Brooke asked. She eyed the glass. Cloudy liquids were never a good thing.

Jax sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Brooke. I am trying to poison my hungover crewmate."

Brooke looked at her, the gears in her brain spinning wildly. "Wait, really?" She didn't expect Jax to readily admit to a murder attempt.

"No, you idiot," Jax said, setting down her coffee. She braced her hands on the table, bringing her down to Brooke's eye level (Brooke noticed her eyes were actually more turquoise than blue). "It's a hangover cure. Drink it."

"What's in it?" Brooke asked. She was still a little suspicious, although she could admit it was unlikely Jax was trying to poison her.

"It's a headache tablet dissolved in water." Jax raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to drink it or should I just pour it out and let you suffer?"

"No." Brooke glared at Jax. "I'll drink it." Jax straightened and crossed her arms, still looking at Brooke.

"I'm drinking it! I'm drinking it!" Brooke picked up the glass and took a small sip. It tasted just like water. She mentioned this epiphany to Jax who just rolled her eyes and stalked back into her bedroom.

After a few more sips of the concoction, Brooke's headache was almost entirely gone. She leaned forward and switched on the holoscreen. An Ingorla newscaster in a red tie popped up, reading from a tablet in her hands.

"Breaking news! Last night, leader of Gateway Corp Danron Nell was the victim of an assassination attempt. At the start of his speech in New New York a bomb was thrown onto the stage and detonated, killing two security guards and causing irreparable damage to Gateway Corp equipment. Danron Nell was not injured as the Danron Nell on the stage was just a hologram being projected safely from a hidden location.