Life never goes the way you expect it, it isn't a quiet stream that continues on endlessly. It has bends and turns and can turn into rapids without expecting it. Sometimes it roars and other times abates to near stillness. It will continue to act irrationally fighting the confines of control until it reaches its final destination. Whether that be an ocean or some forgotten field it doesn't matter. That stream could have touched countless other rivers and lakes on the way but in the end it eventually reaches its own final resting place.

      It didn't matter the world, where there was water so was life. And that life would become just as unpredictable. From a distance it looked perfectly orchestrated, but close up it was a giant mess. On Holliday so much effort had been made to make things seem calibrated, balanced. But underneath that facade life was just the same here as anywhere else. The harder they tried to control, the worse it got. Controlling people is a tricky challenge, one that can slip through ones fingers so easily.

      The Nook was that slip, the consequences of a ruling dynasty trying desperately to harness the power of its masses. Natures way of trying to balance out the weight of control. The nook was always a small sector of the city, surrounded on the north and south by ruling highways and exposed to the old warehouse district to the west. The hub where the major highway intersected in the east was the official border and often the closest anyone ever came to this unruly and unregulated district.

      The authorities governing the nook had their command center near the corner of the district, located in an old cement construction which was believed to be the only remnant of the originally water treatment center. It was technically several blocks from any apartments or market streets and rarely seen. To the police authorities they called it control center 141, but to the residents of the nook they knew it as the hook.

      The chief in charge of the hook was a stern, stone faced former colonel by the name of Marcus Ventris. His shoulders were square, and his chest burly. A thin scar on his cheek was his badge of courage during the Great War, but since then his loyalty had come severely in question.

      Across from him on the opposite side of the solid obsidian desk Esta Stonewall stood a full head shorter but somehow broader. Her bright orange hair seemed to not blend with the solid colors of the room. Her yellow eyes were bright and seemed to glow in the dim light. The woman crossed both arms (both her right and cybernetic left) across her chest. The sounds of the gears of her cybernetics purred.

      Marcus looked at the briefcase, the stacks of marks neatly collected and laid inside. Nearly half a million in imperial currency in half his reach. He looked at it and looked at her. His steel cold eyes were full of judgement.

      "Like what you see," her voice had an accented edge normal for those who were raised in the Nook. She planted her hands on the desk and leaned across allowing her cleavage to clearly show. Half her entire body had been severely damaged a year ago, she was lucky to survive. The new cybernetic replacements included her left leg, arm, and the left side of her chest. Her left breast had been replaced by a smooth jet black metal alloy that matched her still normal right one. Ever since the accident she had found the way people looked at her had changed. She was used to teasing men to get what she wanted, even now as she tried to use her sex appeal she had forgotten how her little trick was no longer that affective.

      "You realize things are changing, you can pay me whatever you wish but it isn't me you have to worry about." Marcus closed the briefcase and placed it under the desk at his feet. "They've already announced martial law, you know I can't simply turn my head the other way for long."

      She bit her lip, "Marcy all I'm asking is for you to tell the hard skins not to blow through the quarter ward for a few days." Hard skins was slang for the mercenary Recheon soldiers. Since martial law was declared they were ransacking the Nook and seizing people for conscription. They were occupying more of the district with each passing day. Paying off the local authorities was the only thing her friends could do for now. They needed living space, room to maneuver and plan what to do about the sudden occupation.

      "One of these days your going to kill me," he paused and gave her a long pause. the lights flickered as if to overshadow his mood. "This is the last favor your so called 'cause' will get from me, you can tell your friends their days are numbered unless..."

      Someone knocked on the door to his office, "Chief Constable, your presence is summoned by colonel Spears. And Officer..." The voice belonged to a secretary paused, "what was your name?" the question was directed to someone on the other side of the door, "Sir one of the new transfers needs to speak to you about something."

      Esta wondered if the doors were thin enough to hear through. She grabbed the ponytail that wrapped around her neck and played with it subconsciously. It wasn't good to worry, it wasn't like no one didn't know who she was or why she was there.

      "I'll be there at once," Marcus answered sternly and then returned his attention back to her. "You have two days, I can't buy you any more. the Recheons have been given full authority to take control and conscript the Nook by the Kai himself.

      "What the hell is that old bat doing? what's going on, just tell us already," everyone heard rumors. The Marshalls and city guard had been asking for volunteers and conscripting for the past week without halting. People were being taken to barracks near the great northern defense bastion, and several were being spirited away to the space port across the gentile plains. Something got the Kai spooked, but as to what no one was saying. Leaflets told only a partial story, and no one (authority or otherwise) was giving anymore. For the easy going, life sucking, pleasure seeking denizens of the Nook the disruption was simply unforgivable.

      "Its time to leave," his voice suddenly changed to something much harsher. Esta had been the middle women between her unruly cause and the authority for years...she had never seen this look from him.

      "As you wish my lord," she mocked him in as close of a sound as she could imitate. She gave him a curt bow and left the room. The moment she left the room she landed head first into an older gentlemen officer. She planted her hands on his hard chest and immediately looked up. He was handsome, his gaunt cheeks and narrow chin looked down at her in surprise. His eyes were a healthy brown and his hair brushed back.

      "what the..." she stepped back for a second, her hands didn't leave his chest and it felt muscular like stone. She was impressed, and she would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't slightly aroused.

      "Holy shit," such a strange saying. His words were smooth as if it struggled to pretend he was local. She looked at him curiously.

      "You are by far the most beautiful woman I've stumbled into all year, and that's standard not Holliday year." he winked at her and even glanced down the skirt at the cleavage she was trying to show off before. She was blushing.

      "Um...thank you..." she wanted to ask who the officer was, she had never seen him before and she was good at remembering everyone from the force. He planted a hand on his cap as he passed her as if trying to show her a sign of respect. Everything about him from his stance to his voice seemed alien to her. She had to knew who he was, her curiosity was getting the better of her. She stepped toward him as if to follow but the secretary that had been listening in pulled her back.

      "You need to leave ma'am, the chief has other meetings he needs to attend," she watched her apprehensively. Esta Stonewall, vagabond and simple rebel bit her lip and towed with her ponytail. The logical part of her brain told her it was time to leave, but the other part seemed incapable of simply walking away. Had the secretary not warned her further she would have found it difficult to leave.

      Once she walked out of the Hook, avoiding the glances of the other officers and marshals, she emerged outside. A squad of Hard Skins in full armor and drab uniform surrounded an armored vehicle. The second she planted her foot on the ground outside a Serpent Screamer flew overhead as if proclaiming her exit. She watched it soar overhead, its noise glistening in the red sun's glare. Its wings were like a phoenix of old earth legend, and judging by its direction it was heading toward the space port. She had only seen one on news reels or monitors, never in person.

      She brushed her hand through her hair and walked toward the Nook. A few of the soldiers watched her, but only for brief seconds. They were not concerned with her. Once she had entered the shadows of the Nook and the comfort it provided and leaned against one of its many apartment buildings and lit a tobacco stick. The smell of the old tobacco felt bitter against her tongue, but she puffed it regardless. Her mind kept going back and forth between her friends in the cause, and the random officer she had stumbled into.