Through the Looking Glass

Chapter 3: Avilan

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.
-A Pre-Anceint Earth ancient Chinese belief

Sixteen-year-old Beka Valentine had awoken to silence on the Maru that morning. The only person on the ship was her brother, who had waited long enough for her to wake up, to let her know what was going on before running off to find some fun on his own. Apparently their father had somehow managed to pull himself together sometime between last night and this morning to get them to Avilan.

It was as Rafe put it “a half-assed attempt to make up for his Flash binge last night” though of course, Ignatius Valentine was no where to be found. Rafe had given his idea as to the whereabouts of their father and a few more derogatory comments before making his way out of the Maru.

Last night.

Beka didn’t even want to remember why she was curled up under her bunk with tears dried to her face. Dad hadn’t meant it. He never did. It was the Flash talking. But it still scared the hell out of her when he got like that. When she was younger she and Rafe would hide together as he ranted, if they ever got caught in the crossfire Rafe would always protect her, always keep her away when Dad got caught up in the high. But as the years went on things kept going from bad to worse. Rafe got older and every time Ignatius would flash out the anger grew, the hatred, the despisement. He could only take so much.

Now instead of running he’d fight Ignatius back. Their arguments increased and Beka would try to drown them out. She would put her headphones on and blast her music, drowning out the breaking world around her. Sometimes it felt like her only refuge from their insanity; disjointed arguments, breaking glass and ornaments. Every time her father came down from it he was always sorry, always apologized. Most of the apologies were to her when they should have been to Rafe. It was always the same.

“Sorry I scared you Rocket, I didn’t mean it. It won’t happen again I promise.”

But it always did and it was happening more and more frequently. Rafe said he couldn’t wait until their father finally fried himself and kicked it. Beka had to believe he’d stop, that he’d get better. Maybe he was off looking for a cargo job right now, doing something positive. If anything, she wished he was doing good just to spite Rafe and show him that their father really did still care for them.

Beka now walked alone down the crowded streets of Avilan. Why they had to stop on a planet she would never know. She hated planets and she hated having to stop on them. But if they had to stop she would have preferred Infinity Atoll. She remembered being there when she was six, back when mom was still with them. But with their budget now, Infinity was just too expensive and quite out of their way.

Avilan on its own, was a beautiful planet, the scenery amazing if you were into that. It was used as a tourist attraction for many people and for the main source of planetary income. But with everything going on in Beka’s life, she couldn’t have noticed. There was no beauty.

She hated wandering directionless in a strange city. Not only did she not have a direction but she was alone. Something she found happening more and more often. Dad was high and Rafe was living a life of solitary confinement in his own bunk. She was the one picking up the pace, keeping them afloat, keeping them in jobs.

She arranged it.

She flew it.

She bargained it.

She was good at it.

And she’d been doing it since she was twelve. Rafe had a bigger hand in it then though, but with the increased fights he was starting to care less and planning to get out on his own and was constantly asking her to come with him. But Beka wouldn’t leave the Maru. Without her it’d all fall apart. Rafe countered that it was already falling apart, and would daddy really notice if they weren’t there anymore? He’d probably be too flashed out to realize that the bulkhead he was yelling at wasn’t Rafe.

Beka sighed and looked around at the people around her. They were peddling their wares to tourists from their booths. There were a few things she wouldn’t have minded but she didn’t have any credits, big surprise there. Everything either went on fixing the Maru or for her father’s Flash.

She groaned. Why couldn’t she just forget about that? For one day? Just once she’d like to forget.

Forget.

She recalled doing a lot of that the night of the Salvage Guilds debutante ball…

Maybe that’s what she needed. Someone to get lost in.

And looking around she was surprised to find living perfection just standing there.

>>>

Boredom had set in early.

The young man sighed heavily as he leaned back against the kiosk. Here he was in the crowded junction of one of Avilan’s major cities and he couldn’t help but wait for the signal to be given. After that, this miserable little planet would be under their control and all the little kludges that had been bothering him nonstop would be running for their lives. Maybe he’d find the ones that had really annoyed him and show them exactly what he had been thinking about when they wouldn’t stop talking to him.

He smiled.

The entire Avilan civilization would be in ruins as they were absorbed into yet another slave planet for the Drago-Kazov.

Telemachus Nez Pierce started to hum happily to himself as he left his shaded area and walked into the multitude with his thoughts. Within the hour, this planet would belong to his Pride; and as his first true raid on his own, Telemachus was looking forward to it. The thrill of the hunt, the sweet sound of panicked voices screaming in unison, and he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of being called ‘Master’.

But something was missing.

There always was, yet he could never really pinpoint what the cause of it was. It happened every time, that when things were all said and done, the others of his Pride seemed more satisfied and exulted with what they had accomplished on the raids.

As usual Telemachus shrugged it off. Maybe he was more the leader type than a foot soldier. The older he got and the more he proved himself, he would eventually become a Fleet Marshall himself.

Or if Cuchulain managed to get the position before him, piloting didn’t sound so bad either.

Telemachus bit back a growl and scowled at the stupid children who had practically run into him. He couldn’t wait for this planet to be in ruins.

The Avilanians didn’t even notice the Nietzschean soldiers moving within their midst ready to cause panic along with the ships that would descend from high overhead. With their boneblades covered with their jacket sleeves, they looked just like more tourists, though had the Avilanians actually paid attention to their looks and posture they would have noticed something a little different, more controlled than the average human. That is if these people had ever been bothered by Nietzscheans before. If they hadn’t then they were sure in for a rude awakening.

He stopped at a stone table near an open glade and watched the people around him like insects. Which would flee, which would attempt to fight, and how many would accept their new fates?
He smiled.
These people would fall.

It was coming out of this thought that he noticed a distinct colour and movement from the corner of this eye. Turning slightly he saw that a bouncing redhead was making her way over to him and if her hair didn’t catch his attention, her scent certainly did. Who was he to turn down an increasingly aroused female?

Besides, he had an hour to kill before the attack anyway.