Just before the lights went out Golnar had excused herself to use the washroom. As such, Nat had found herself drifting as the guests began to spread out after dinner. So, when the home went dark there was no reason to stop and think about... well, anything. The excitement to grab the sword and try to be useful took over.

Knowing the house quite well, since it wasn’t like she got out much, it didn’t take long for her to reach her father’s study in the dark and grab the large Japanese blade from the mantlepiece. For security and safety reasons, the hilt was more or less locked onto the sword, but she had no plans to cause deadly harm to anyone, so she was fine with that. Look cool and don’t murder anyone. That was the plan.

Once she’d grabbed the sword, though, she realised she hadn’t actually thought about any further details to her plan. Well... Golnar and Lilith were probably down at the real office, right? But... was it best if she went down that way or best if she tried to cause a distraction? 

A distraction sounded good. As long as it would draw people’s attention after she was out of the way, but what could she--fire. She could light something on fire. It wouldn’t get very far, the house had a hidden sprinkler system that would engage if it got to far, but the thing about the sprinkler system was that, if it detected a fire in two rooms, it would go off across the whole house. Which would probably cause all sorts of chaos, right?

All she had to do was turn on the study fireplace, ignoring the shouts of ‘why won’t the blinds open?’ out in the other rooms. She wasn’t sure when those had closed, but they were motorized, so if power had been cut they wouldn’t be easy to draw. Plus, it wouldn’t help much. There would only be so much light coming in from the surrounding empty desert. 

Wait. Right. If the power was out, rather than just the lights, then the controls on the fireplace also wouldn’t work. That was that plan down the drain. 

Taking a moment to reassess her plans, Nat vaguely remembered a movie where they, like, shot the sprinkler system or something in a building and that had set the sprinklers off. All she had to do was remember where the sprinklers were located (all those hours staring at the ceiling in high school when her father had brought her into his study to lecture her about poor grades were going to pay off). A few paces later, she was reasonably certain she was right under one and she attempted to hit it with the tip of the sword she had. Only to miss. Blaming that on the curve of the Japanese blade, she tried three more times before managing to hit the sprinkler. 

Hollywood did not let her down, for once, and the sprinkler system in the room went off. It also made more noise than she expected, her cue to scramble out of there before anyone came to investigate.

The hallway outside the study was empty, though she could sort of make out the various people in the main living area. Some of those human shapes were moving her way, no doubt to investigate the sound of the sprinklers. An angry shout and a few profanities revealed one of them had thwacked a shin onto one of the various coffee tables around.

Nat slipped further down the hallway, away from the party. There were some other sprinklers down that way that she knew, and there were lower odds of running into anyone. 

When she finally reached the next sprinkler she felt safe at, it took several attempts to find its sweet spot. She had been less certain where, exactly, it was, so it didn’t surprise her. 

Her effort came with rewards, though. Screams and swearing carried down the hall, through the sounds of running water. The whole house was likely getting drenched. Sure, that included her room, but she’d expected to be a person-non-whatever in her father’s eyes at the end of the night anyhow. Her sketchbooks and manga collection were already accepted as lost. 

Before she could pause to try to figure out what to do next, however, the sound of gunfire cracked through the air. It was coming from downstairs somewhere. There were also odd cracks of electricity or something that were harder to hear.

Scrambling through the increasing levels of water on the floor, Nat made her way to the nearest stairwell. It was one that the family didn’t really use much, cramped, but with actual railings since there was no effort to seem sleek and modern. It still felt rather perilous to descend in the dark and wet, but she took her time and managed to get down to the bottom without breaking her neck or even spraining her ankle. 

Carefully opening the door while crouching, since she’d heard more gunfire, Nat saw that the emergency lighting was still on. Not that it provided very good illumination, especially with the sprinklers running. Several men in suits, presumably security staff, were laying on the ground. Nat hoped they were just unconscious. There were some guns and tasers laying on the ground, as well as a single alien looking pistol of some sort.

Then, somewhere further ahead, was Golnar, in the middle of a number of security men (both for the Preston Family and the Emir’s men) fighting them all like some sort of action hero. Some of those moves definitely were not ones she’d shown Nat. Less like kung-fu and more street brawling. Though she seemed just as swift with them.

Either way, it did seem like she was having a tough time dealing with so many men. So Nat decided to serve as the cavalry, samurai sword at the ready. The security personnel did not pay attention to her charging in when they had Golnar to deal with. As such, she got a number of strikes in knocking a couple of men down before any realised they had an extra foe. 

What followed was a confused melee. Things were too cramped for Nat to properly use her (still rather minimal) kendo skills, and so had to improvise. Lots of jabbing and half-swording was her answer. Thankfully the Preston family’s security men seemed hesitant to actually strike her, which meant she only really got hit a few times by the Emir’s bodyguards. Those strikes still hurt, however. By the time she took down one or two more men (and Golnar had mopped up the rest) Nat was fairly certain she was going to have a black eye and some severe bruising on her torso. 

Really, she could barely stand, using the sword as a cane.

“Why do you have a sword?” Golnar asked.

“I wanted to be dashing, and save the day,” Nat offered through slightly gritted teeth. 

“You... Struth, girl! I knew trans sheilas usually got more courageous after coming out, but don’t completely abandon all self preservation... I don’t want you dying,” Golnar said, offering Nat her arm to lean on. They made it a few paces before Golnar said anything else. “Why is that sword so big, anyway? I’ve never seen a katana that large.”

“It’s an odachi, actually... or a nodachi. I’m not sure if there’s a difference,” Nat replied, as they made their way down the concrete hallways towards the garage. 

While she was hurting, Nat was running on enough adrenaline to move at a decent pace. They made it to the garage only a few moments later, finding John J. Preston III and the Emir. The latter was furious and blaming Nat’s father for the events of the night. John was gritting his teeth and accepting the verbal barrage as he struggled with the garage door. Unfortunately they had one other person with them: the Kobaroian bodyguard. 

The alien woman turned watching as Nat and Golnar entered.

“You,” she said, eyes locking on Golnar.

“Well fuck me,” Golnar muttered. “I guess they did manage to radio who I was...”

“Johnathan?” Nat’s father said. “Johnathan... you need to get away from her. Ms. Xanthopolous... she’s the one that--”

“That’s holding our family accountable for all the people we’ve helped kill?” Nat replied.

Her father’s eye twitched. “That’s... it’s just business. That’s just how the world works. Someone is going to make weapons. We just make sure the best ones are in the hands of the good guys, defending democracy.”

“HAH!” Golnar bellowed. “All my parents wanted was democracy! But you were happy to give that nadhi kadhib all the missiles and weapons he wanted.”

Cracking her knuckles and then rolling her shoulders, the Kobaroain woman stepped between Golnar and the Emir. “Listen. You’re a good size for a human, but you’re not getting past me, whatever your reasons for wanting to fight... but I’d be happy to blow off the steam. Haven’t had a good fight on this little rock.”

“And here I thought aliens were supposed to have better morals than us primitive Earthlings,” Golnar said and she helped Nat sit down on a bench.

“And those of us willing to still get our hands dirty love this planet for it,” the green and muscular alien woman said, showing off her tusks with a large grin.

“Let’s hope you can find a dentist who can fix those obnoxious chompers,” Golnar said, before shifting into a fighting stance. 

The Kobaroian woman adopted one of her own, the two muscular women sizing one another up. The tension was palpable... though Nat wasn’t sure it was just the tension that was making her heart race.

The pair then charged at one another, making it a few paces before--

A flash of blueish-white light burst from the doorway behind Golnar, hitting the Kobaroian woman square in the chest. Her limbs went limp and she crumpled, though inertia still led to her and Golnar slamming into one another, the latter left fumbling with the massive frame of the alien woman. Extracting herself after a brief struggle, Golnar turned, fire in her eyes. She then shouted something furious in Arabic as Lilith strolled through the garage entrance.

“Oh stuff it. Even if you hadn’t been fighting your way through the rest of the security crew she’d have stomped you. Kobaroian women aren’t just 7ft tall, they’re also from higher gravity planets... besides, we’re here for the Emir,” Lilith replied, pointing her alien blaster at the two now terrified men across the garage.

She let out two shots in short succession, causing both the Emir and Nat’s father to crumple.

“Uh... did... did you just kill them?” Nat asked, realising she hadn’t quite been prepared for that.

“Huh? No. No. This is an Issiod’rian stun pistol. It could do serious damage if I hit a Human with a charge meant for a Kobaroian, but I turned it down first, don’t worry," Lilith said. “Now, come on you two, let’s load the Emir in Golnar’s car and go meet our rendezvous.”

“I still wanted to fight her,” Golnar muttered as she let the Kobaroian slump against the ground.

The comment made Lilith roll her eyes as she walked over to deal with the garage door control. 

Getting back to her feet, Nat was surprised just how much more pain she was in, now that the adrenaline was no longer rushing through her. Still she managed to make it over to the corner where Golnar had been allowed to park, slumping into the back seat as Golnar loaded the Emir into the trunk. Golnar then got behind the wheel while Lilith hopped in the passenger seat, the latter having managed to get the garage door to open. 

There were a few more confused security guards outside, but they scattered when Golnar took off down the driveway towards them, a few shots peppering the car as they left the house behind.

“You guys wouldn’t happen to have any painkillers and water in this car would you?” Nat asked as the nighttime dessert rolled past.

They seemed to be heading north. She’d have expected them to head down towards the border.

“Oh, yeah. There should be something in my bag beside you,” Golnar said, before turning to Lilith. “Oh, and good thinking with the sprinklers. Should have expected a rich figjam like J. J. Preston III there to arm his men with tasers. No damagin’ the property.”

“The sprinklers weren’t me,” Lilith replied. “I thought they were you.”

Pausing from fishing through Golnar’s bag, Nat raised a hand. “That was me. I... I wanted to add confusion.”

“Ah. Well, ace thinking!” Golnar said. “Meant I had a third as many people shootin’ at me.”

Nat offered a weak smile before then finding the painkillers. The water bottle took a few more moments. Downing them both, she found herself still feeling more than a little out of it. In fact, she found herself wondering if there was something more than just painkilling elements to those pills... or if the tiredness was just a result of how little she’d been sleeping mixed with the need to heal.

Either way, she dozed. At some point she woke up to muffled protests from the trunk, but nothing seemed to happen so she went back to sleep. Then she woke up again to Golnar helping her out of the car and into an odd silver building that looked sort of round. They’d met up with someone, she heard other voices, but she was too busy enjoying leaning on Golnar to look around. 

She’d surely dozed again, but woke up once more to find a large cat staring down at her.

No. Not a cat. An Issiod’rian. The feline alien woman had some sort of device in her hands, pointed down at Nat. Confused, she scrambled up to a partially seated position, ready to retreat further.

“Calm, Nat-ally,” the lynx-like alien said in a soft voice. “It will heal.”

“Oh... where are...?” she mumbled.

“I’m here,” Lilith said. “Golnar’s a bit busy praying. At least when she isn’t grumbling about how we’re moving too fast and she’s having to rotate as she prays. And about how quick the sun’s moving across the sky.”

“We’re... moving?” Nat asked.

“Yes. To the Africa-continent,” the Issiod’rian said.

“Africa? Why Africa?” 

“You’ll see in a few minutes,” Lilith replied, wearing a grin that Nat decided was a bit annoying. 

Without anything better to do, though, Nat laid back down to let the alien woman treat her wounds. That took most of the rest of the flight. Upon landing, she followed the others towards a section of wall that opened to reveal it was actually a door. The Emir stumbled out, hatred in his eyes.

He hissed something in Arabic that Nat got the impression was insulting, but it didn’t quite work on the Azar cousins. Instead, Lilith gave a smarmy sounding counter, while leading the way to the exit of the alien craft. To make sure the Emir followed, Golnar grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him over. 

Curiosity getting the better of her, Nat followed them out into the sunny scene outside. They were somewhere dry. Maybe the Sahara? Maybe the Sahel? There was a large town in one direction with a concerning amount of smoke rising from it. A smaller settlement sat in the opposite direction, just barely visible over the horizon. As Nat took it in, Lilith said something to the Emir that caused him to panic. That fear increased when Golnar pulled his outer cloak from him, Nat noticing that it had gold thread in it. 

Golnar then patted the man down, eventually removing a few rings and other small valuables the man was carrying.

“There we go. Now you’re ready to see what it’s like to live through a civil war from a commoner’s point of view,” Lilith said. “If you survive and prove your identity to someone, maybe you’ll emerge a better man for it... I won’t put any money on you surviving long, though.”

The Emir protested once more in Arabic, genuine terror in his voice, but Golnar simply turned and left while Lilith offered a wide grin and a small wave before heading back to the Issiod’rian ship herself. Not wanting to be left behind, Nat scrambled after them.

“Do you really think he’s going to die out there?” Nat asked as the door closed behind her.

“Eh, no idea,” Golnar said. “I doubt he’ll ever convince anyone he’s actually the Emir of Qalhat, though.”

Nodding, Nat was left with another question. “Mhm... I guess that makes sense. Still surprised you guys knew Issiod’rians after how excited you acted about meeting aliens before.”

“Oh, I had no idea Lilith was in contact with ‘em,” Golnar said.

“I only got their attention after cracking your family’s security. Apparently the Restored Imperial Commonwealth thingy has been struggling to get intel on the Corporate Alliance, especially for their dealings on Earth, so they were excited to find out what I knew... also, they offered us amnesty in space,” Lilith explained. “Got to admit that getting to see the galaxy sounds pretty cool.”

“We’re going to... space,” Nat asked, turning to realise the view outside the door window showed the darkness of space outside. “We’re in space.”

“I really have no idea what that means for my prayer schedule,” Golnar mumbled, also staring out the window.

The pair of them were quiet for a few moments, before their hands brushed against one another’s and they seemed to both have the idea to hold the other’s hand at the same time. Nat had no idea what to expect next, but...

“I’m glad that wherever we’re going, I’m going there with you,” she whispered.

“Same... also, I do know what I’ll be doing about your workout schedule, don’t worry,” Golnar replied.