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 Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 2:14 pm
A story by [_jaws_]
He felt it.
That abnormal crawling up his spine, something he never felt, wasn't used to. He wasn't afraid. He was never afraid. Nothing scared him.
Or perhaps...the thought of being afraid is the very thing that scared him.
He can't win either way.
--
An empty blackness to stretch out in front of him; endless, it seems. Goes on for all eternity. There's no possible way any single human could make it to every single one. Flecks of fire larger than the planet thousand-fold appear as a child's fifth grade art project. Holes poked in a pattern through the black paper, light shone from behind to highlight the image it makes. But the stars...the stars hold no pattern. They're random and helter-skelter, stuck in places that just happen to work. Sure, order comes from the randomness of these giant balls of fire...the fixed orbits of planets, for example. And then the orbits of the moons around said planets.
The tall man leaned back in his chair, eyes closing with drowsiness, his hands a makeshift pillow behind his dark hair. He was tired, bored. It had been years since the home planet has been abandoned. Decades, actually. He was only 26; he hadn't even been born. He was a roaming space-biter; he did whatever job he was paid to do. Unless he didn't like it. Then he just left and found a different one.
He wasn't a poor man; he had quite a bit of money from accomplished jobs. He was almost famous for his skills and preciseness. Almost. He didn't want to be famous, made clients only spread word slightly, let people know he could do the job. He didn't want the government to get all in a huff just 'cause of him. Yeah...so he sometimes broke laws. Big deal.
Well, not for him, maybe, but he knew it was to government officials. They were unrelenting little creatures, picking at you and your money, taxes and any other excuse to suck the poor dry. Always waiting for a chance to bust someone, someone who nabbed an orange from a cart because he was starving, and no one would hire him. Disgusting people. He could understand if they stole the prize jewel sculpture from some famous place he didn't care to learn the names of, but things to help someone survive...like food? It disgusted him.
So he usually bickered with anyone who wanted to. He took any job he could, relishing in the thought of pissing off the government. He lived for danger...lived to dare. He took chances 'cause he thought it was fun.
His name? A simple one, nothing special. Just Ash. Short for Ashton, but he didn't really like the name Ashton, for whatever reasons. Ashton Robins, to be precise, but he really didn't like his last name. It associated him with his father. He didn't like association with a back-stabbing excuse for a human like him. Especially since he was a top-notch lying idiotic government official. Probably pretty high up, by now. Ash didn't care. He didn't have a thought to give his father. Except maybe nasty ones.
Ash was yanked out of his thoughts with a small beeping for a hail coming from the controls of his small ship. He clicked it on.
"Hello there, Ash my dear."
Ash rolled his eyes, not caring that the tall, slim woman could see him through the screen. She pouted at his expression, flipping silky red hair behind her. "Don't be like that, Ash. You know last time wasn't my fault."
"I don't know anything about that, Shayla." He scowled at her, his dark brown eyes annoyed. "Maybe you were laughing and having a cup of tea while I was being shot at by your stupid inner-planet officials. And I wasn't even doing anything illegal! ...Yet."
"Honestly, my dear, it wasn't me. Someone in the town must have seen you and called in..." She trailed off, but smiled, leaning more toward the screen. "But Ash, that's not the point. I need a job done."
"Well, it depends on what it is and the pay." He crossed his arms over his toned chest, covered in a dark brown and black vest, thick and bullet-proof, but light.
"I need you to pick something up for me. Problem is, it's not really mine. This, my dear, is called thievery."
"That's a way to get me to help you."
"I'm not done! You'll need to pick it up out a...station. And the pay is really good! I'll pay you 20,000!"
"Are you serious? At a station? You're crazy."
"25,000."
Ash scowled at her, drumming his fingers against his arm in their crossed position.
"Fine! 30,000."
"Deal. When?"
"Can you be here in two days? I'll give you the details then."
He nodded and clicked it off, not bothering to say goodbye.
Ash sighed, leaning back in his chair again. Why did he get himself into these things?
--
I'm only just getting this started. I don't know what it is yet. I got inspiration from Cowboy Bebop and Firefly. Decided to give a sci-fi a shot. XD
-Jaws
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 5:04 pm
Nothing but the fear. That was all there was.
It would hold his tongue, cloud his vision.
Fear held onto it all.
Fear owned him.
--
A large beeping suddenly sounded through the whole ship, scaring the daylights out of Ash as he tumbled out of his bed, crashing onto the metal floor with a loud "OW!" He irritably pulled himself up, cursing like a sailor.
With a groan, he dragged himself out of his room and up to the bridge, seeing a small red button flashing. He read the main screen--almost at destination. Bloody ship, didn't it have a nicer way of telling him that? He rolled his eyes, flicking a few dials for some pre-history music to echo through his ship and any com system that people would try to reach him on. He loved this old "rock," from the beginning of the mill. He grinned, sliding into the pilot's chair, turning dials and typing in landing codes.
He turned off the main screen, the large expanse where it spread over the windshield now revealing the planet he was approaching. He put it into manual, steering to break atmo at a good angle. He spiked the music louder, hoping that this wasn't a big cop planet. He didn't figure Shayla to take residence on a cop planet, but you never knew with her.
With a few more keystrokes, the ship suddenly did a sort of nose dive, flames licking at the ship as he broke atmo, then going down to the landing dock, which was a sea-borne one this time around. He landed the ship, putting a fingerprint lock on the ship before grabbing various weapons and going to meet Shayla.
He sent sharp looks to some teens eying his ship. They scampered off and he rolled his eyes. Not a cop planet.
Following the directions that Shayla had given him, he caught a met train, speeding downtown. Wasn't a big cop planet, but it was a rich one. No doubt there were cops swarming this area. Great. Like his face wasn't on the wanted board right now.
Getting off at the right stop, he went along through the streets, avoiding any red uniforms until he came to the right building, taking the stairs (NEVER trust an elevator) up to the correct floor. It had only five doors in this hall--suites. He couldn't help but roll his eyes again, ringing the bell on the door with the number 14 on it.
"Ahh, Ash~" the woman sang as she opened the door, spreading her arms. He quickly ducked under them, entering the suite and earning a scowl from her.
"Job, and that's it," he said, pointing his pistol at her in more of a gesture than a threat.
She huffed a bit, but relented and moved to pick up a flat-screen from the coffee table. "The station is on the next planet over, it's not a big one, don't worry. There's a map to where I need you to go on there and all the codes to get through the doors. You'll need to wear this uniform--" she stuck a red uniform in his arms, and he grimaced. "Stop making faces. Have it done in two days, come back here with the item and you get your pay." She dropped the flat screen on top of the uniform in his arms. "I'm sure you can show yourself out." She waved a hand in dismissal and he rolled his eyes, slinging the stuff under one arm and leaving the suite.
She was as prissy as ever.
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![[_Jaws_]'s avatar](https://a1cdn.gaiaonline.com/dress-up/avatar/ava/fc/59/703f596a4559fc_flip.png?t=1760026235_6_01)
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