Staring death in the eye

~5~

I sigh as I sit back in the seat of my spaceship. I look out into the blue sky as I play with the metal card Ryan gave me. Nervousness has taken over my body but I push it aside as I look down at the card in my hands. My eyes skim through the information and I groan as I realize the Empress will only do business in person.

"Hey J! Set course to the West region we need to refuel our blasters before we go to planet Shadow," I tell my robotic assistant.

"Of course sir. Setting navigations to the Western region. You will arrive in one hour," J tells me as the robot pulls up a map of my planet.

I look at the red line that marks the path from my current location to the West region.

I sigh as I notice I'm going to have to fly over the big city which means police will stop me and ask for registration.

"J, is there a way we can take a different route. One that doesn't go through the city?" I ask as I chew on my lip rings nervously.

"Yes sir but it will take two hours and you'll have to go through the bad lands of the East region," J informs me.

I groan as I think over my options. Either I will have to get pulled over and hope that the police don't confiscate some of my weapons or I will have to go through dangerous territory in the East region.

I rub my eyes as I look over at my stack of weapons that I have been collecting. I've worked very hard on getting these.

I decide it will be better not to risk losing any of my equipment which means I'll have to take the longer route through the bad lands instead.

"Let's take the longer route," I say to J as I mess with the buttons on my dash board.

"Are you sure?" J asks me hesitantly as I continue to fix the setting on my ship.

"Yup," I tell J as I put my ship in protection mode.

J changes the navigation and I watch as the map on my screen changes to a longer route. There is a big X where the bad lands are and I gulp as I realize it's going to take a good thirty minutes to get through that area.

I jump out of my chair and start preparing myself for what could happen when we go through the bad lands.

"J, make sure our blasters and missiles are armed and ready," I speak as I head down the hatch into my weapons room.

I grab several guns and set them towards the ladder. I open my small closet and pull out a bullet proof outfit.
My hands hastily strip my clothing off me and slip the uniform on.
The black outfit contrasts with my pale skin.

I grab out a gas mask and set it down with my guns.
As I look around the room I realize I should put up my hair, so I grab the hair tie off my wrist and tie my hair into a bun.

I strut over to my weapon control station and open it up. My fingers power on the monitor and I scan the settings to see what I can alter to provide maximum safety.
I flip a leaver and watch as it evenly distributes the fire power to all of my blasters.
Since one of the blasters is not fully fueled, now none of the blasters are to one hundred percent which could make things interesting. Hopefully I will have enough fire power to make it though the bad lands.

I activate a couple missiles and hope for the best.
Thankfully this ship has blasters in the front and the back so we should be equally protected.

I change into my thicker combat boots and then grab the guns and gas mask I set aside and make my way up the ladder and back into the main area of my ship.

I place my guns and mask in the cockpit and then walk down the hallway and into another small room.
When I enter I flick on the lights and look through the metal creates that fill the room.
I climb over a huge box and make a mental note to clean up this room since it's become a tripping hazard.

I finally find the small box that I'm looking for.
I unlock the latches and push open the lid. When I see a bottle of face paint and a couple bombs I smile.
I grab a sash and arm it with the rectangle shaped bombs. Then, I put the sash over my head and around my chest so that I have easy access to the bombs if I need them. None of them are armed at the moment so I don't have to worry about blowing myself up.
I grab the bottle of black paint and shut the crate.

As I walk down the hall I turn into the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror.
I can see the slight bit of fear on my face so I take a moment to take a couple deep breaths.

Everything will be fine.
Hopefully.

I pop open the lid to the paint and go to town with the thick black liquid.
I smear it under my eyes and on my forehead.
The goal is to be unrecognizable because if they see who I am they can track me down and I can't afford to be put on the hunting list.

I smear the paint on my cheeks and streak it down my face in a droopy manner. At least it looks pretty rad.

Once I finish, I close the cap to the bottle and walk back into my storage room to put it away. I turn off the lights in that room and then press the button that makes the door slide shut.

"J? Am I forgetting something? I feel like I'm missing something," I blurt as I stand in the middle of my ship and think to myself.

"Knives sir," J reminds me.

I make an 'O' shape with my mouth and then head back down the hatch and into the weapon room.

I open a drawer and grab out a couple blades. I hook them to their proper loops in my pant pockets.
I close up the drawer and lock it up.

Once I'm out of the hatch I close the door and lock it just in case someone breaks into my ship.

I head back into the cockpit and take a seat.
I look around me at my guns and gas mask.
Hopefully this will be enough.