[M] A Single Step: Chapter 1

[Wattz]

What a mess, oh yes, what a delightful, delightful mess. Delightful for business, anyways. The moment the streets became jam-packed with people running in all directions, Odel ran as fast as she could back to the Supernova. Weeks had passed since the whole debacle, and she still had a fresh store of information for her best clients.

Now, sweat poured from her brow, her muscles rippled as she cleansed her body with an intensive workout. She was so meticulously enraptured by the exertion it was practically meditation. None would interrupt. None could interrupt. And of course, X and Y always made sure to tend to everything else. They’d just hired a few new dancers, after all. Odel hated dealing with the dancers.

A few hours later, and Odel was fresh, pristine, as if she’d never been sweating like hell. She was back to being put together, muscles honed and perfect as she always liked them, a light smile of satisfaction playing across her face.

But the smile soon dropped, as she was met with cyborgs Enforcers. X and Y had escorted them to her desk.

--

“A body.”

“We can understand your shock, Ms. Wuu’nai.”

“In the back of my business.”

“We just need you to answer a few questions, Ms. Wuu’nai.”

“Of course.” She remained upright in her chair. A body… or more like a skeleton, stripped almost entirely of its flesh, except for the heart, strategically placed back into its ribcage. Male. Pure. She couldn’t remember anyone matching the description, nor could she remember any suspicious behavior having happened around the Supernova, at least nothing strangely out of the ordinary. Nothing ever was quite ordinary around here anyways.

“It’s obvious as to why we’re so suspicious of you and your business, Ms. Wuu’nai.”

“Is it? I run a perfectly respectable business. Is it the dancers? It’s the dancers, isn’t it. Tell them, X. Tell them how respectable my dancers are.”

“They’re very respectable, sir,” X answered in her usual monotone.

The Enforcer got up from her chair, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Have all the employees been interrogated?” she said as she turned to her partner.

“Yes, and unfortunately there’s not enough suspicion to bring any of them in.”

“We’ll be keeping in touch, Ms. Wuu’nai.”

“Wonderful.”

[V]

It didn't take much longer for the armed men and their target to captured. The Enforcers and Elite guard working in a disorganised unit to apprehend them. There would be some wounded out of them, and there was several deceased too.

Mathie didn't escort the criminals to their cells, staying behind to create a perimeter around the wounded and death. He calmly kept himself there as the doctors worked on those that they could.

Somewhere during all this the mysterious death of the young Enforcer had been put aside, with the criminals a higher priority.

~~~

In the weeks that followed the higher ups of the Enforcers sought to limit the Guard's involvement. They argued that while their attempts may have helped capture the criminals they had risked the lives of the Captain and Grand Maiden by becoming involved. If they were busy interrogating with their limited forces how could they safely protect the leaders of the ship.

And Mathie Martin?

Had nothing more to do with the interrogation and had been pulled away from that case immediately. They had tougher more crooked Enforcers ready to work with the Cyber's and Mareth.

He wasn't quite sure how everything there was unfolding. But it was a struggle for all sides he imagined.

The shot to his cyber arm had caused some malfunctions and the repairs were slow in coming. His arm functioned well but it was harder to use. Hopefully he wouldn't need to be in a fight.

At the moment he was down in an Alleyway behind 'Supernova' a popular nightclub that he'd never entered before. A pair of Enforcers were questioning the owner of the club.

While Mathie examined the scene. There were a couple more officers standing about, one was talking to the person who'd alerted them to the body. Luckily there wasn't too many people about, yet.

Mathie was taking it all in, the skeleton, neatly placed and almost hidden. A heart underneath the ribs. Could it be the same person's heart? They wouldn't know until later.

Slowly he got to work going over the area with the other investigators.

[The Bartender]

Terra was dressed in total black clothes, a black trenchcoat with a hood over black leggings and a black shirt that covered her female roundings. She was now Yami, one of the top hit men in the whole Jericho.
She was sitting on a small bench in the lower levels of the ship, waiting for someone.
About 10 minutes later an other shifter walked by, a man with big claws and teeth, he was one of Yami's informats.
"Here is the list of the names you wished, and the... "Object" you were looking for." He said quietly, leaving a small packet on the bench and grabbing the card that was laying there, his credits he got for the work.
Yami hadn't said a word, just sat there and waited about five minutes and then stood up, took the package and walked in the opposite direction the man had gone...
~~~

Twenty minutes later she was sitting in a small club in the lower levels of the Jericho and drinked a glass of alcohol.
He was in the corner of the club, as far away from the door as possible, her back toward it and the hood pulled up.
She was waiting for the next informant to bring her information about the strange cybers in the new eves party.
As the door opened, Yami turned around a bit. It wasn't her informant, but a blue-coat.
"Damn...What are they doing in this kind of place?" She asked herself and turned around slowly because she didn't want to cause any suspects...
Luckily, the blue-coat was here only for a drink.
Few minutes later the door opened again and the informant Yami was waiting for came in. Again a shifter, this time a woman with feathery hair and skin. She walked to Yami and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. Then she sat down.
"I got the info as you wished for honey..." She whispered and gave a USB-stick to Yami under the table.
They sat there few minutes and drank their drinks. Then Yami stood up and left, leaving two credit cards on the table, one for the drink, one for her information...

[Miss Fortune]

"Why would I know about some body?"

"We know who you're involved with, Brees."

Brees shrugged, staring up at the man with her multi-colored eyes. It wasn't the first time that she had been questioned by Enforcers, and she was sure that it wouldn't be the last as long as she was involved with Kleil. Right now, she was Brees, seated in a comfortable chair in SuperNova. They would have never found her if she was Kaya.

"Where were you at the time of death?"

"Depends when the time of death occurred, doesn't it?" Brees grinned, twirling curly pink strands around her fingertips.

"Where were you when the Celebrations started?" an Enforcer asked, obviously growing annoyed.

She pointed a long, glowing nail towards one of the neon cages another dancer was in. "I was in one of those, doing what I do best," she paused, grinning, "And you can get the numbers to the credits cards that my lovely customers provided."

The Enforcers were anything but pleased with her answers. They assured her that they would check card numbers and timestamps, and warned her to keep her nose clean. Brees, keep her nose clean? What kind of Enforcers were those two? She watched as they left, spiral rainbow eyes glaring at their backs. "Filthy Enforcers," she mumbled. Because of them, she lost her cage, meaning she would have to talk to X and Y later on if she wanted to make up her lost time. She could service people in the back, but she really wasn't up to it. She was looking forward to the neon lights beating down on her skin. She wanted to show off the new stripes she had paid to be on her hips. Their freshness was starting to wear off, even though she had just changed her appearance a few days previous.

[Wattz]

Odel had to get a look at the scene herself, of course. Pictures weren’t enough she had to see it firsthand, though her hands grew clammy just thinking about it. At the very least there were no traces of blood, save what was in the heart. Stripped bare of its flesh, left a clean skeleton, there was no blood or disgusting mess for Odel to have a panic attack about.

She stepped outside, leaving X and Y to deal with everything else, only to half-run into glowing orange caution-lasers. The entire scene was blocked off, with the skeleton just a ways away. Odel only hesitated for a moment before stepping within the crime scene. Enforcers be damned, she wanted to know exactly what she was getting into.’

She was standing only a few feet away from the skeleton. Odel crossed her arms as if to hug herself, then slowly inched towards it.

Perhaps the Enforcers' attention had been fully focused examining the surroundings but when Mathie looked up he scowled. A Pure Archonian woman with short hair was peering down toward the skeleton. Mathie looked toward the two Enforcers but they were conversing on matters quietly in a corner. The other pair must have been still questioning inside the club.

He approached as she began to lean inward. Mathie had a cough noise as he stepped uncomfortably in-between woman and skeleton.

"Miss," he urged, "this is a crime scene, please remove yourself immediately." There was a warning to his words, but he didn't assume she was involved with this person. Just curious, perhaps.

Odel's stance became instantly confident as she was instructed by the Enforcer. She stuck her hip out and raised an eyebrow, though her arms were still crossed. "Oh, of course, an Enforcer throwing his badge around at any innocent person. Please, spare me the heroics."

She stepped to the side, so she could get a better look at the skeleton. She had no idea who the person could possibly be. "Harassing a citizen in her own damn territory... typical. What else is there to gather, anyway? You got a body, you got a crime scene. All this commotion is bad for business."

Or perhaps it would be quite good for her business, depending on how keen people were on viewing a murder site. But for the moment, Odel just wanted the Enforcer to leave her alone.

"Perhaps," Mathie commented stepping in her way once more trying to usher back again, "it would be better for business, if we were allowed to conclude our investigator here without further hindrances."

Her words were perhaps true enough and other Enforcers, less skilled with investigative work and prone to be working hidden and behind the scenes, were soon to arrive. They would collect the remains for testing.

"Miss," Mathie said once more, "step backward." Mathie was beginning to think he'd need to have a further look into this woman in his investigations.

Odel chuckled, finding the Enforcer's defiance terribly amusing. "Tell me, Enforcer..." she leaned forward to look at the name emblem on his uniform, "Mathie. I have every right to be here. I was accosted in my own establishment and I deserve to see what the hell they're trying to pin on me. Now why don't you be a good little government lap-dog and move away?"

Ah, thought Mathie understanding that this was the woman the other Enforcers had gone to question and not one of the other adjacent business owners in the area like he'd assumed. He hadn't expected her to be persistent and difficult.

"Ms. Wuu’nai," he commented, "do I need to remind you how it looks, entering into the crime scene behind your business place."

He gestured over her shoulder where several officers began walking toward the crime scene. They had gear to collect the bones, heart and whatever other evidence was about. "As soon as these people clean up the scene we will remove ourselves and your business can continue operating unhindered."

He eyed her expecting more difficulties, Mathie had been patient but he couldn't be forever. He didn't need to warn her that they will most likely be back for more questions.

Odel knew she'd done nothing wrong, so she felt no need to not act as she naturally would. But just as she was about to open her mouth and sass back even more, an idea came to her. She brightened for a brief second before resuming her usual scowl.

"If you really think I did it, you've got another thing coming to you. If anything, you should be heading over to little miss Pinkie McBigtits over there," she said as she jerked her head in the general direction of the nightclub called the Shooting Star. "I wouldn't be surprised if she was aiming to frame me from the start."

Cause a commotion at the Shooting Star, perhaps sabotage the bitch's business.

Pinkie.... McBigtits? Mathie wasn't quite sure if that was a person's name, or just Odel's name for her seemingly enemy. He thought better than to ask, as a frown defined his forehead.

Mathie nodded, more in attempt to please her then in agreement. It was something that could be looked into, it certainly seemed like there was little love between the two owners from the way Odel spoke. "It can be looked into," he added thoughfully, eyeing the general direction. If he remembered correctly there was another nightclub around the area.

"As it should be. Talina may seem dumber than a sack of shit, but she's ruthless. If there's any cause for the Enforcers to come after me then there's some cause to go after her too."

[SQJPure]

Thato bounced on her heels awkwardly five steps inside of the Supernova, she had only heard of the night club and had never been there before. Considering her side hobby, it would have seemed that shady places such as this would be the common place, but they were nothing of the sort. She wasn't a distributor, at the very least not the likes of 'these' sorts. Though that was not her primary concern.

She was supposed to be collecting a gold sulphate compound, separate from the type of gold and gold compounds used in the circuit boards of the ship itself but made from the same laboratories that even Constance's mother could not get access to. The goods were needed as a new drug, an anaesthetic of sorts which would make morphine feel like a torture rack in comparison.

With the hell she'd been through the past couple of weeks, mending broken bones, stitching heavy lacerations as though stitching cotton to leather, the blood, the complaints, the dead bodies, the constant questions the: 'what are you doing there?'; 'that are you doing with those?'; 'do you know what you're doing?'; 'how the hell did that end up working out?'; 'how did you do that'; 'where are you going'; and of course there was the trembling. Only Constance could stop the trembling the night after. She had never been cut out to be a doctor and yet they had offered her quite a bit of money as payment for the work done.

Money which would been invested in forgetting all that had happened at the new year by getting drunk and getting the best chemicals money could buy. The bar was Constance's, 'what better place to get drunk than a bar?' she'd said. Thato found a table and crossed her legs eyeing the people inside the club one by one, wondering if the people she sold her drugs to resold them here or thought to themselves 'what better place to use drugs?'

She picked up a phone when it rang in her ear, "You are late, you promised you'd meet me here. I do not know who this 'seller' is supposed to look like I don’t even know if it's a man or a woman."

There was an issue with the other line, all she got was static. Annoyed and disappointed in herself she put the phone down, there was no point in yelling. She had a lot to yell about, most of the yelling involving the fact that Constance was not only late but had somehow selected a point which was surrounded by police.

Sure the compound wasn't legal in public hands but at the very least it was not contraband, per se'. The steel medical box filled with up to the kilogram of her latest project which for the moment would only be known as specimen twelve on the other hand was exactly that. To have simply defined it as illegal would have been like calling a steel door closing on one's foot as 'a little uncomfortable'. She was already nervous coming in. She had wanted to turn away, she had wanted to leave but a woman walking into suck a place, seeing police and immediately turning around would have been suspicious to say the least. So now, with her destiny in her left hand over her lap and what she hoped would soon be a beer, then hopefully 10.

[The Bartender]

Terra walked throught the dark streets of the lower levels of Jericho with the informations she had received and already read.
What she had read was almost frightening and she had thought to let the idea of a revange act fall off for this time.
"Whoa... Steel Serpents... Things could get nasty if I put my nose too deep into this." She sighed while walking, unnoticable monitoring the enviroment of her for unexcepted visitors. This was the area of "Red Hounds", quiet a big gang which always caused problems on these levels.
"I wouldn't wonder if they are also someway connected with the Serpents..." Terra murmured, letting her guard down for few seconds, which, unluckily for her was enough;
A male shifter with scaled skin grabbed her from behind, holding her arms up.
"Don't cry little kitten, we won't hurt you at all." The man laghed as two other men appeared, the other was a cyber, the other a shifter with strange long ears.
"Heh, we just want to have some fun with you, kitten." Said the cyber and laughed, approaching Terra.
"You look like a quiet a nice kitten, I'm sure we are going to have a lot of fun." Smiled the long-eared shifter and tried to crab Terras clothes but she struggled enough to evade him.
"Don't you wiggle!" Shouted the scaled shifter and tightened his grip, but then Terra smiled.
"Wh...what are you smiling? Are you somekind of pervert wanting something like this?" The man shouted, but suddenly his eyes widened and he fell down to ground with a hole in his chest.
"Wh..What?!" Screamed the cyber confused.
"You tought you could catch me so easily?" Terra said smiling, in her hand she was holding a short neutron blade (a typical assassin weapon).
"A..Are you a hit-man? Shit!" The another shifter and tried to run, but Terra wanished and appeared before him, slicing the throats of the men open.
"Shi...shit..." Gasped the cyber as he fell down.
Terra quickly put away her sword and walked away, she had no intention of getting more attention here today, but for some reason, she couldn't rid of the feeling that someone was watching her...

[Miss Fortune]

Brees had decided to stay in SuperNova for the time being. Losing hours for the interview wasn't worth the loss in credits. She ran her fingers through her rainbow curls, exhaling a exasperated sigh. Restless and annoyed was among the most prominent adjectives she could tack to herself right now, and she hated it. It gave her the jitters.

She surveyed the customers like many of her profession. She mentally weeded out the customers that skimped with their tips, were too touchy or obnoxious. It didn't take long before her bright eyes landed on a strange Colorful sitting at a bar. Unable to tell what gender they were from afar, she frowned and weaved her way through the crowd, towards the bar. The person was skinny, dark skinned and with black hair - dreadlocks, if she recalled correctly.

"I haven't seen you around before," said Brees, slinking into one of the chairs next to the person. Being this close, she could tell it was a woman, a very skinny woman at that.

In a place like SuperNova, picking out the regulars were easy. But she had never saw this person before, and that only fueled her excitement. I might be able to make up for my lost time quicker than I thought.

Thato blinked awake, unsure of where her head was at that moment. She had not expected to be faced up with a fellow 'colorful' as they were referred to, but there was quite the difference in between the two of them. The difference being her own skin was completely changed. Every part of her was a dark completion while this woman in front of her was pale, very much like Constance. Constance who had yet to arrive.

At first she didn't know what to say, what was there to say to an exotic dancer? "I, I haven't been around before. This is my first time." She replied, unsure of herself in a world where having an IQ score above average meant nothing if you could not take or hand out a punch. The multiple colors that made up for her hair were intoxicating to stare at, it was unlikely that she would be the one Thato was supposed to be looking for but after quickly weighing her evidence, it seemed more and more likely that this was the woman in question.

She obviously didn't look the part and yet she was there, if this deal were to happen it would happen, it would be happening in the presence of the guards. Thato would obviously not be exchanging cases with someone who looked as out of place as she did right at that moment. The more she thought about it the clearer it became that this could be the one she was supposed to be talking to.

"Oh," Brees grinned, "a virgin to the SuperNova experience. Well, sweetheart, would you like a tour?" Brees slowly trailed one of her fingers down the woman's arm, batting her lashes up at the new comer.

She looked around, taking in the crowd. "We can go into one of the back rooms if it makes you more comfortable."

Thato's eyes widened, her skin tingling, unsure of whether it was the alcohol or something else but she stood up to her feet taking her money and her drugs with her. This seemed more likely to be the person she was supposed to be talking to, it would be stupid for there to be an exchange between the two of them. "Yes, please. We should most definitely find something, dark, to talk under."

Brees was taken aback by the woman's acceptance, more so her words then the abrupt movements she made, but she didn't think much of it. People in SuperNova were strange, and the more credits she earned, the better. So long as Miss Wuu'nai was pleased with her enough to let her keep her job, she would do whatever she could do make sure she was allowed to stay.

"This way," said Brees, lacing her arm with Thato's, leading the Colorful passed the bar, into the back rooms.

Most of the doors were closed, different types of music pulsing through the doors, lighter than the main music in the front. A free room was available, and Brees grinned, pulling the woman into the room behind her. She turned, shut and locked the door before turning to face the woman again.

"My name is Brees," she said, coaxing the woman into a chair, "How may I please you today?"


Thato fell back into her chair and placed onto a table in front of her the five thousand credits, each in the form of credit cards, ten valuing at five hundred credits along with the drugs. "There's the money along with the goods you wanted, now do I get what I was looking for." Thato said relaxing into the chair further and grinning wide.

Brees eyes had widened in shock. She ran her fingers over the credits, mouth agape. Five thousand credits. Was this woman for real? She looked up from beneath her lashes, her glossy lips forming a coy smile.

"For this much, I'll do whatever you want," said Brees, slowly removing the straps of her top till she was half naked before the woman.

Pressing a button on the wall, trance music started to play, and Brees body swayed to the beat. The lights flickered, strobe lights flashing, bright beams bouncing off the glow-in-the dark dots around her breasts, thighs and lower back.

Thato's eyes widened, her entire rational behind being inside the room dissapeared. This suddenly went from being a her first out door drug deal on the solo to, her in a private room with a stripper whom she'd just offered the vast majority of the money she'd earned at the hospital and enough specimen twelve to sedate the entire night club.

"What i would like" She hesitated there. There were exactly two things she was looking for at that point. Her copper sulphate and at that point she was getting into the mood of this dance but she could not afford the copper sulphate and get a dance out of there. she wanted the dance, and Constance wasn't there. The deal

The big exchange obviously wasn't happening and she was there. "I'd like you to share a drink with me."

Brees stopped dancing, and started at the woman, her hands reaching up to cover her breasts. She tilted her head, rainbow curls falling over her pale shoulders. "You just... want a drink?"

She nervously chewed her lip, and retrieved her top, beaming. "A drink sounds fine."

She approached the woman, and leaned down, whispering in her ear, "you wouldn't want anything else first? No 'happy ending' or a show?"

Thato grinned handing her a drink. "It depends on couple things that are out of our control and that is if Constance turns up or if I can get my Gold Sulphate compound, and either way. This isn't the end, there's no reason it can't be a happy one." She whispered back softly, as softly as she could while trying to sound sultry. As much of a dealer as she was she didn't know how to soud sexy, not that she was sure she wanted to sound sexy in front of this woman who wasn't Constance. She was dancing on a knife's edge and she knew it. She cared but she couldn't stop herself.
"Well, Brees is it? My name is Thato sit with me, I could do someone to talk to."

Brees did not know who this Constance was, but her advancement wasn't rejected. Taking the drink from the woman, she smiled, and sat on the arm rest of the chair, draping one leg over Thato's lap.

"Pleasure to meet you, Thato."

She thought for a moment longer, taking a sip of the drink as she did so. "Gold Compound?" said Brees, tilting her head. She chewed on her lip in thought, wondering where she heard that term from. "I might have heard of that before. It's for some circut stuff right?"

The moment Bree's leg had dropped on her she'd started stroking her leg, easing her way up continuously but at the very mention of circuits Thato's fingers dug into Bree knee in surprise and sat up for a moment. "How on earth did you find that out? What do you know about Gold Sulphate? There's only to get it." She said holding onto the girl and staring hard.

Brees winced, but chuckled nonetheless. "When you're in my line of business, you tend to hear things, and I might know where to find something like that at." She grinned, rubbing the woman's hand, "For a price."

Thato reached over and picked up one of her credit cards with five hundred credits and put it in her mouth grinning wide and looking to the door, it looked to be locked. Constance wasn't coming in and yet she felt as though Constance would burst through the door at the very moment she decided to 'escalate'.

"This is an easy five hundred credits, finders fee. I doubt even you get this for a days work let alone for a single customer, irrespective of how single that customer is. If you find the sulphate you find thousands of Credits and you find enough uppers, downers, anesthetics or hallucinogens or combinations of the lot that will triple those thousands of credits."

Thato grinned, finding hope for the first time since she had first set foot inside of the Supernova. The night was suddenly a good one and she had a beautiful woman sitting on her lap. There was just one thing missing. "So, there's your credits and maybe we could have that 'happy ending' you mentioned?"

Brees leaned forward, taking the credit from Thato's mouth with her own, and grinned as she pulled away, tucking the credit card into her underwear. "Of course, a finder's fee. When I find anything like that, I'll let you know."

She turned the music back on, and smiled down at Thato, "A 'happy ending' sounds great."

[Mary Sue]

"Is this how the Grand Maiden treats her prisoners?" Mareth's voice broke and he spit blood at Di'tia's feet. The cyber Elite frowned and stepped on Mareth's hand, digging her boots heel into his flesh. Mareth bit his lip and tried not to scream.

"This is how the Goddesses Mala and Turruk treat prisoners of war," Di'tia replied and kicked his face. "Who were you meeting at the Plaza? What was your intent against the Grand Maiden? Tell me!" She grabbed Mareth by the scruff and jostled him about, gnashing her teeth.

"He's had enough Di'tia," spoke another guard. Di'tia frowned and reluctantly released her prisoner who fell the floor in a crumpled heap. He'd been suffering beatings since his imprisonment weeks ago and there was little fight left in him. Di'tia, one of the toughest members of the Guard, was determined to break him.

"You'll talk soon enough, urchin," Di'tia spat, and stormed out of the cell, slamming the door shut behind her.

Mareth sighed and pushed himself up against the wall. He examined his face gingerly with his fingers. Plenty of lacerations and bruises. Di'tia certainly did a number on him. The pain was intense.

"The Elite Guard are quite brutal for such a holy troop, aren't they?"

Mareth's head jerked up to see a figure standing at his cell. It was a woman, standing mostly in the shadow, but her eyes reflected light indicating her shifter nature. He recognized her voice

"You...."

"You've been selling information about me, dear Mareth. I don't like it."

Mareth scoffed and grinned.

"Is that why you sicked your dogs on me at the New Year's celebration?"

"I LIKE being unknown. That's why our system works so well. If you start selling my secrets....well....that compromises the whole system. Now you're being punished."

Mareth staggered to the cell to look the woman in the face. Black scales ran up the sides of her face, framing yellow eyes with slitted irises. "Someone will knock you off your throne." He said. The woman smiled.

"Perhaps. But it won't be some useless Underground Puppy," She replied and grabbed Mareth's real hand before he could react. He struggled under her grip, but his beatings left him weak. Slender snake fangs slid down from their sheaths in the roof of the woman's mouth and rested in gaps between her incisors and canines. Venom dripped onto Mareth's arm and he pulled with all his might.

"GUARDS! GUARDS!" He cried, as the woman's fangs pierced his flesh.

Di'tia and the other Guard heard Mareth's cries down the corridor and immediately turned and rushed back. However, by the time they reached him, Mareth laid on the floor lifeless. The Elite Guards exchanged brief glances before running off to find the attacker, but the floor was clean.

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Alena rested on cushioned bench next to the large bubbled window in her room as she gazed out at the bleak vastness of space. Somewhere out there, she knew their new home awaited them. The light from the stars cast a soft blue glow into her room that reflected her current mood as she lamented Vanel's death.

A gentle knock sounded on her chamber door and the metal door slid open as Tanaur stepped in. He stood silently and respectfully until Alena motioned him to come inside.

"What news do you bring for me?" Alena asked.

Tanaur crossed his arms before him and bowed, then resumed his rigid posture.
"Mareth is dead. Killed on Di'tia's and Anri's watch. Strange poison traces were found in his system....we're looking into it's source," He said.

Alena smiled gently and motioned for Tanaur to sit on the bench. He sat, and stared at his beloved Grand Maiden. She looked so young, and yet she had been around even before Tanaur was born. The goddesses had truly blessed her with great immortality.
"You have done a great job recently, Tanaur. You've taken on a lot of responsibility. I have truly asked to much of you..."

"Hardly, my Maiden! It is what I was born to do. Serving you is all I wish to do," Tanaur replied. Alena smiled again and reached out and touched his hand.

"That is why, I wish to appoint you as the Head Guard."

Tanaur's strict composure restrained his jaw from dropping. Alena saw his jaw clench as he swallowed.
"Are you sure? What about - "

Alena held up her hand to cut him off.
"I'm sure, dear Tanaur. I trust you. Now. Go find Di'tia and Anri, and tell them I wish to speak with them."

Tanaur stood and bowed again.
"Yes, Grand Maiden!" he replied and left.

[V]

At mentions to other Enforcers, Mathie learnt that Odel's Supernova was more than just a nightclub. Information, sold and bought for the right price - seemingly the owner and her closest advisors could find out just about anything about anyone. Perhaps, Mathie wondered unwillingly, his fellow enforces frequented the place to buy information. The thought made him frown deeply.

Some hours Mathie spent researching in the database. Talina "Pinkie McBigtits" was a rival nightclub owner of the The Shooting Star, and former employee to Odel. The club had managed to gain instant popularity, raising to be considered the best on the ship.

Rumours of sabotage had since been rife as both fought against one another to be at the top. Although nothing had been proven of either side, yet. Public gatherings between the two owners were rare and were said to be unpleasant at the very least.

After reading all this, Mathie's frown had deepened. He thought, now he was caught up in a darker scheme of one of these woman. He'd learn more once the dead man was identified. But until then perhaps Talina would tell him something more.