“My stuff!”
Cortez yelled, almost mimicking Selena’s distress. With her ship destroyed and the dense beam tech prototype that was on it, the two of them had every reason to be angry and afraid.
More tremors rocked station, nearly knocking them off balance. The scavvy abandoning his post and bolting off in another direction. The pirate and pilot braced themselves, trying to stabilize. “What’s happening?” Selena asked, Cortez grounding himself, his red gloves pressed to the wall. “IAF raid. How do you not know this? Those IAF bastards do this all the time. I didn’t know they’d actually try it this close to Border Worlds space, though.” He scoffed, face serious as he scanned the area.
A man came darting towards them, running up to Cortez. He hunched over and gripped onto his knees, trying to catch his breath. A face that Selena put a name to right as Cortez spoke to him.
“Amos. You got the ship prepped? We gotta leave fast.”
“Yeah, if we can get back to it.”
Amos nodded, a ship forcing itself through the debris that was once Selena’s ship. Cortez and Amos widened his eyes, the both of them yelling “Boarding party!” As loud as possible, probably to warn everyone. Luckily being so close to the docks, there were plenty of crates of cargo to be used as cover. The two of them began to navigate out of the port, through the doorway and into the shabby station corridors.
Selena found herself, by instinct, following the two pirates. What else could she do? She was out of options and by the looks of it, these two knew what they were doing. Compared to the screaming, yelling and dying people around them. She had no choice, because if her fellow IAF found her, they would mark her as a traitor. No doubt they already knew it was her ship docked here. But how did they find her? This wasn’t Selena’s first smuggling run. She was very careful to turn off anything that could get her ship tracked. The only way they could know about this would be through Amelia. That didn’t instantly incriminate Selena, but they were close enough that it implicated her. She didn’t want to think about it right now, her poor friend. She didn’t want to think about what they would sentence her to, she’d heard the rumors of Imperium labor camps.
The IAF boarding party made their way into the corridor, spotting their little group. “Pirates! Wipe ‘em out! No explosives, we don’t want to hurt the objective!”
Her heart pounded when she heard them. What was the objective? She had never known the IAF to do stuff like this. In fact, she was sure it was prohibited to raid a space station without a warrant. Her heart pounded harder, her thoughts racing. What else would they illegally do? Selena rushed for her side arm, powering it up. She was already too far gone in this mess not to defend herself. As much as she felt like collapsing, she wasn’t about to die here.
“Amos, hack into their communications then return fire!” Cortez ordered his partner, Amos lifting up his arm with a rectangular device on it. The man focused as he pressed a few buttons, triggering the laser weaponry to fire above him. Selena recognized that it was military grade and wondered how many more people were smuggling in her ranks. The IAF squad was returning fire but took cover, temporarily buying them some time to get ahead. She could hear confusion amongst the squad, one of them shouting a code she recognized. Disconnecting? Amos was still hacking, Selena making a quick calculation. Oh, he was taking down their comms.
“If their comms are down and we take them out, then they can’t report seeing me here, right?” Selena asked Amos, the pirate looking at her with a confused expression before finally answering her. “Well I’m just doing this so they don’t call for reinforcements-“ to which a laser shot whizzed right by Amos’ head, causing him to flinch before finishing his sentence, “-but if that’s what’ll convince you to shoot back, then by all means, yes.”
Selena nodded and aimed, shooting at the party, the pull of a trigger permanently changing her fate as she shot one of the bastards in the head. She huffed, focused on cover fire while the three of them kept going. The door closed, Amos hacking them shut to try and make it more difficult for their pursuers to catch them. “The ship is docked at Port E. Let’s get moving.” Amos shouted, reminding Cortez, “We’re at port D right now, just one over.” “Let’s move.” Selena commanded, Cortez shooting a look at her. She caught it; confusion and a hint of anger. As if she’d stepped on his toes, she didn’t care. She was in the middle of combat.
Another large rumble, the three of them sliding. It felt like the whole station was rocking out of position, under heavy fire. They turned the corner and caught site of a large group of IAF, Selena feeling a surge of panic shoot through her. “This way!” Cortez ordered, motioning with a quick head jerk and bolting down towards their destination. If they stopped running, they would die. Selena stayed in the middle, turning back to shoot while Amos continued to hack. “I’m gonna try to shut the port doors but no promises.” He idly mentioned as they came upon a Ruizian fighter. It was miraculously still intact, this port looking much nicer than the one she’d docked in. Comparatively.
Cortez whipped something out of his jacket pocket and hit a button, the ship’s loading ramp opening up. He hopped up on it the moment he could fit, Selena following along. “Agh!” The two of them looked back, Amos falling, shot in the back. The IAF right behind him. Selena barely had time to process his death, Cortez grumbling “No time.” The loading ramp closing, the pirate running through the ship towards the cockpit. “Okay, grunt, come on show me your fancy piloting skills.” He hopped in the pilot chair, motioning for her to co-pilot as he fired up the ship to escape. “Shut up.” Selena narrowed her eyes, grabbing the navipad, about to plug in coordinates. “Where do we route to?” “Ruiz.”
She was slouched at a blue, neon bar. Her head hanging low, palm supporting her forehead as she stared at the light’s reflection in her drink. Her flight suit unzipped, the sleeves tied around her waist to hide the logos. Although, the green color of the thing was damning enough. She had no alternative, reality sinking in as she felt the chill of the air conditioning against her shoulders. Fuck, she couldn’t go back. Selena took a swig of her rum, Ruizian strong stuff, the liquor burning as it went down her throat. She welcomed the distraction, the intense sensation followed by a mellowing buzz. She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, her morning hugs to Xavier and Zaria feeling alien in this Ruizian bar. It felt surreal, sobering… the consequence of her smuggling had blown up in her face. “Fuck.” She slammed her fist against the bar. She should have never listened to Amelia.
“I uh, figured you needed a drink.” Cortez cleared his throat. She ignored him, her expression sour. “I ruined my life.” She muttered. “And I lost my stuff, what can I say? This shit is risky. You should have expected that when you signed up to smuggle.” He took a swig of his drink. “Well I didn’t have much of a choice. I did it for my kids and now they’re gonna die because of my stupid fucking husband. Assuming they don’t interrogate them or something.” She placed a hand over her face. No, no crying. “I’m screwed. They’re screwed without me. He can’t so much as watch the kids for a night, let alone take care of them on his own like a goddamn father.” She kicked the bar, the bartender shooting her a look.
Overhead there was a television, the volume on considering there weren’t too many people in the place at this time of day. Cortez watched the screen, tuning in when he heard the anchorwoman speak about the station they’d just been to.
“Investigators concluded the reason for the destruction was a fuel line explosion, destroying the entire station.
The television cut to an engineer being interviewed by the news,
“Oh, that’s what happens when you get a non-sanctioned organization to run such large scale operations-”
Cortez laughed, “A cover up.” He took another swig.
“In other news, an Imperium Armed Forces Corporal, Amelia Braxton, is being charged with treason for smuggling IAF cargo and goods, illegally selling them to exterior illicit sources. The prosecuted caught with altered manifests, exploiting the system. A space-wide investigation is being held, looking into smuggling operations within the Imperium’s ranks. Braxton’s hearing is on Thursday, and is likely facing maximum time in prison.”
Selena sighed, deeply. Eyes closed, head shaking. “She was so sure about it. How is the news reporting so fast?” Selena sounded offended. “These bastards? They’ll expedite your sentence if they know you’re guilty. We see it all the time. There’s nothing just about the justice system.” Cortez shrugged. Selena put her head back down. Cortez then leaned in, keeping his voice low. “Look, I’m just gonna tell you this, okay? You’re in a shitty situation. But you’re also in a great situation. See, they probably think you died. No one knows who the fuck you are here. Stop panicking. You were a soldier, so your family’s probably gonna get a cozy life insurance sum the IAF is going to graciously provide.” He rolled his eyes, “You go out a hero, killed in action. But you’ve got a blank slate here on Ruiz. You’re already willing to turn to crime and you shot at your own, there’s no going back. So I got a proposition for you. I saw how good you were in combat and how you piloted. You’re tough. I have no clue why you followed me, but I’m short a co-pilot now that Amos is dead. I need a partner.” He slid his drink against the bar, getting closer. “Become a pirate. Why not? You’ll never worry about money again. It’s a fast life, a dangerous life. We’ll probably die young, but fuck it. High risk high reward. It beats that.” He gestured at her uniform.
Selena’s eyes met his, the proposition sinking in.
Piracy.
“Hey Cortez.” Someone interrupted their conversation, ripping their attention away from each other. “How are ya? Hey, who’s this?” A pirate leaned against the bar, some young guy. “I’m S-” “This is uh, Echo.” He quickly interjected. Selena shot him a look. “Charmed. Just get back from another job?” “Yeah, didn’t go so well.” Cortez motioned for the bartender to refill his drink. “Oh well. I heard there’s a raid going on soon on Sybella so I thought I ought to tell ya in case you an Amos wanted to hit it.” The stranger idly exchanged conversation Cortez obviously wasn’t interested in and then finally took the hint, leaving.
“Echo?” Selena wondered, expecting an explanation. “I saw S.E.D. on your patch. Chose the phonetic for E. I made it up on the fly. You can’t go by Selena anymore, okay? I’m thinking ahead. New identity, blank slate. Remember? You don’t have to keep it.” He shrugged it off, appearing nonchalant, his eyes going back to the news. She thought about it for a moment, the glow of the blue lights temporarily entrancing her as she was lost in thought.
He was right… this was a new start for her. Depression had been eating away at Selena for a few years now. She’d spent many nights wishing for change. For a way out of what her life had become. She was certain she was going to be stuck raising the kids and dealing with Andre’s shit forever. Having to put up with his gambling, fraternizing while making sure the kids were taken care of. Working tirelessly while he slept at home. She’d signed herself off to the IAF to help pay off the debt that Andre had been accumulating. Now, it was all void. Killed in action. It rang through her mind. A great sense of relief washed over Selena, realizing this was her chance.
“No, I like Echo.” She spoke up,
“Echo sounds like a great pirate.”
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