Kazia awoke with a start, rising out of her sleep with a jolt. A familiar urge called to her when her stomach growled, more intensely than the day before, now that her body required a good deal of energy to recover.
However, she didn’t care about her body repairing itself, she was simply eager to eat something. Hopefully cooked meat and not just a protein patty.
She checked her side. The patches were faded along the scar, fulfilling their purpose of maintaining the body’s integrity on recently ripped-open tissue. As Kazia sat up, she felt the mild ache still there, but not enough to keep her down. She swung her legs from the cot to the deck plating. She stood up, straightening out the tan tunic and shorts that were given to her instead of her tattered combat suit, though it did more to display her body than conceal it. The spare clothing didn’t fit her taller frame, providing an unfortunate midriff.
Kazia stepped out of the med bay, taking her steps lightly, legs still weak from the lack of use for a couple of days. Her eyes were blurry, even more so after a drawn-out yawn, leaving her unable to notice the figure coming from the flight deck. Kazia didn’t recognize them and could hardly see what they were, outside of a slight slouch in their posture. She definitely wasn’t familiar with the crew complement.
“Hey, where is everybody?” She called out, sleep still emanating from her voice.
They noticed her stillness, which took in what she registered as a surprised expression. Their words came out not in Galactic Standard, but what she recognized as a guttural Kathari dialect.
She noticed the blaster rifle as her vision cleared. It wasn’t fully raised when she felt a malicious intent directed at her, a premonition of violence that locked her into a decision for survival.
Kazia’s lower ribs screamed in protest once she bolted forward with an arcing sweep of her arm. The movement disrupted the weapon’s line of fire to pop shots into the corridor’s ceiling. Sparks rained down as the lights flickered. Keeping the barrel of the gun redirected, this patient, now a warrior, didn’t hesitate to use her free hand to jam her fist into what she figured was a person’s throat.
Her vision gradually recovered as she wiped away the gunk from her eyes, though her ears picked up the person attempting to breathe, with nothing but a wet gurgling sound escaping them. They fell back, hitting the ground before going still.
She approached their body, a woman’s form, covered in ragged clothes and bits of armor covering her chest and arm. Her blood-orange fluids escaped from her mouth and from a line in her throat, drenching her maroon fur, before spilling into a pool around her head. Kazia saw that the assailant’s had torn open, a gaping slit where the flesh had been partially cauterized, with blood seeping from within.
Kazia glanced down at the hand that she had used to retaliate, realizing that she had poured her energies into her appendage. This formed a luminous physical mass, intangible yet dense, which took shape around her still hand; a blade. That same color of blood orange dripped from the tip of the construct’s form. She quickly retracted the weapon that dissipated into nothing, leaving the blood to spill onto the deck.
The weight of the brandished weapon was a familiar and welcoming sensation. The heat from the energy, from the Myst, was starting to be missed already as she stared at her hand, remembering the many times she used it to tear the carapace of her enemies asunder.
The corner of her lips curved up slightly. Not from the sensation of taking a life, but the sudden thrill, the danger that used to give her life. She wanted more. Kazia’s mind calculated the potential threat of an intruder and whether more would be presented to her. But the smile faded.
She wasn’t the only one in danger. Kazia turned, as if hoping to catch sight of Lucian, realizing no one else was around. That was when she noticed the stillness of the ship, the lack of coldness from the void of space, and then an earthy smell.
“Did we land?” She muttered to herself.
Kazia snapped her head around to the body, eyeing their gear, but not seeing any sign of a company emblem. She sighed in relief that they weren’t of corporate security, but judging by the definite shoddy armor and rough clothing, they must have been pirates.
“Oh, stars!”
Her heart dropped like a weight, her legs finally moving to search for Lucian, fearing him to be in danger from the situation already at hand. She rushed to the cargo bay, the bulkhead doors sliding open, where she was greeted with more roughshod individuals.
Kazia marked 4 individuals, all armed, all Kathari, and scattered around the deck. 2 were stationed near Lucian, Gosha, and two Nexorian, and another Terran, also unarmed and possibly a part of the Rust Burn crew. She kept her eyes on Lucian for a heartbeat as he stood with his hands up.
He looked at her, surprise across his face, but a hint of relief at her well-being. Then everyone began moving.
The two pirates near the door turned to aim their rifles at Kazia, taken aback by her presence. One of them managed to get a shot of when his comrade’s face got rearranged by a high-impact fist. The plasma bolt’s heat scored to Kazia’s shoulder, and Lucian’s blood froze.
Where anyone else would feel their flesh burn with the intensity of five burning irons four inches into their body, the bolt barely left a mark on her. It fizzled out, leaving an odd shimmer of light to refract and ripple in a blue shimmer, with a slight burn mark on her shoulder and tunic. The rippling light settled, leaving the pirate stunned that his target wasn’t suffering from a devastating plasma shot.
His hesitation cost him, allowing Kazia to arc her leg to connect with his ribs. The man’s body collided with the bulkhead, making him stagger. His recovery came too slowly. Another opening for Kazia to bring her fists down on his head to the point of a concussion.
Lucian watched in amazement. He didn’t expect such violence, such vitality from her; not from a peaceful Vul’Katahn. But he noticed those brutal, yet precise movements that resulted in calculated strikes of a professional.
“Concentrate your fire!” One of the remaining pirates shouted, moving forward to engage. .
More movement caught his attention, when one of the assailants guarding him and the others aimed. Their blaster fired a few rounds, making Gosha and the siblings flinch from the loud bursts of energy bolts. The attacks zipped past Kazia, damaging the metal behind her. She raised an arm to shield herself, despite the forcefield still being there.
As the second guard began firing, Lucian knew whatever protected Kazia was no doubt limited. Given that she ended up being nicked in the shoulder despite it, leaving concentrated fire was not ideal.
With the two remaining pirates distracted by her, he moved. Lucian moved to the nearest attacker, grabbing her gun. The blaster kept being fired during the struggle, making pot marks in the flooring. Lucian used what strength he could to keep one of them off of Kazia. The one Kathari, noticed this, torn between Kazia and his comrade, but left the moment of hesitation to take a shoulder charge from the side.
Kazia recovered, her response shifted to grabbing the woman’s tail. She froze, shock visible throughout her body.
“Wait, no—!”
Before she could finish, her body flew over Kazia, crashing face-first into the bulkhead with a sickening crunch followed by a splatter of blood. The woman crumbled to the ground; bloodied, bruised, and dazed from the impact.
Everything was still, quiet except for Kazia’s breathing. Her chest rose and fell rapidly while Gosha, Rosli, and Torin-4 stared in stunned silence. Only Lucian moved, dropping the gun in his hands before standing in front of Kazia. He looked at her, his eyes scanning her body for any other signs of damage other than her shoulder.
When he looked back at her, their eyes met. Those azure pearls stared at him with a gentleness that made the brutality of the prior minutes appear to have been done by another.
Gosha watched from afar, shocked and horrified by the woman on his ship, yet saw an opportunity. Kazia reached out to Lucian. The old captain’s heart dropped, expecting the Terran to be her next victim. Her touch was gentle upon Lucian’s head when checking him for injuries. Gosha’s eyes widened in recognition of this woman as a memory surfaced to him, in remembrance of them.
