Emissary
Chapter 12 - Nowhere

"Alright, let's just... take this easy." Stel stammered. The woman was walking right behind Stel with the point of her gun in Stel's back. The mercenary was forcefully moving Stel through the crowds that barely gave either of them a second look. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Find_Nøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Quiet. Afraid you're just the easiest mark here. Nothing personal, kid. That way." The woman pushed Stel slightly, directing her toward a doorway tucked behind a variety of stacked crates.

Stel wormed her way through the boxes and the door opened for the two of them. Stel sucked in a breath as the stench of the room hit her. It smelled like garbage and rotting food. She fought the urge to retch and kept walking as the woman pushed the gun into her back again. The chamber was dimly lit by a row of blinking ceiling lights, the long rectangles intermittently burnt out or blinking their way there.

"Sit over there. I'll just be taking this." The mercenary snatches away Stel's small bag she'd gotten from a store and shoves her towards a small box, setting the bag down on a table and begins to rifle through it.

Stel stumbles forward and sits on the indicated box but the woman keeps the gun lazily pointed in her direction to keep Stel from trying anything. Luckily for Stel, she isn't closely watching what her prisoner is doing and Stel fishes the communicator from her pocket and clicks it on.

The woman doesn't seem particularly impressed with Stel's belongings and gives up digging through the bag before long and turns to Stel, leaning against the table with a frown on her face.

"Ain't got much, do ya kiddo." The woman says, eying Stel from top to bottom and seemingly planning her next move.

Stel shrugs slightly, "Sorry. Just a traveler, don't got much to give." She wasn't sure how to defuse the situation. The mercenary had the gun and Stel wasn't about to test her. Out here, on a pirate station, she doubted her body would even amount to an investigation. And Stel really liked breathing air, even if the stuff in here was putrid with rot.

The mercenary didn't laugh. She narrowed her eyes at Stel and seemed to weigh that comment. "Then you got here somehow. Charter ships don't come by here, so either you're a stowaway or a crewmate. C'mon, spill." The mercenary waved her weapon in a "tell me more" type of way.

Stel forced down the lump in her throat and started by stammering, wishing she could be a bit more confident right now. Sure, she had largely grown up on the streets back home, her family gone and herself her only reliable person, but she'd almost never had to deal with some mercenary abduction. "W-well, I came on a ship... as a... crewmate, I guess? I mean-"

The mercenary scoffed and stepped up to Stel, slapping the metal firearm across her cheek and grabbing Stel's collar to keep her from falling off the box, shoving the gun under her chin. "Great. Take me to your ship, hand me the keys, and I'll leave you here in one piece. Good?" She growled.

Stel nodded weakly, the gun giving her very little range of nodding motion. She felt a trickle of warmth down her cheek, sure that her cheek had been split by the gun slap.

The woman dropped the gun from Stel's neck and tugged Stel off the box, shoving her towards the door. Right then, the lights fully shut off. In darkness, the mercenary panics and fires her gun, burning light illuminates the darkened room for a moment and lets her see Stel for the briefest moment and fires again where she last saw the former street urchin. Stel, having realized she wasn't likely to get another chance as she was pushed forward quickly scrambled on all fours toward the nearest piece of cover she could find before the first shot rang out, followed quickly by a second shot.

"Blasted- get back here!" The mercenary shouts out as she attempts to pursue Stel in the darkness when the lights begin to blink back on, only to reveal a furred fist flying directly into her face.

The woman hits the deck hard, her gun skidding away, as Ryn stands over her with Yiel, the tentacle-haired man he'd left with earlier, standing beside Stel and gripping her side.

"Ryn! She's hit. Hurry up and let's go!" He barks as he tells Stel to apply pressure on her own wound and scoops her up into his arms.

"Right." Ryn growls back as he eyes the mercenary splayed out on the floor. The human woman scrambles back but smartly makes no move for her gun as Ryn puts himself between her and it.

The woman grunts and rolls her head to pop several neck joints, "Things can't ever be easy..."

"Funny," Ryn retorts, "I was gonna say the same."

The woman dashes forward but Ryn was already a step ahead, or back rather, and springs backward into a low crouch, scooping up the firearm and lancing a quick shot through the woman's leg, causing her to scream out and collapse to the side. Ryn doesn't wait and runs to Yiel and Stel, stationed by the door and ushers the two out.

"We're short on time. She couldn't have been alone. Yiel?" Ryn is a flurry of motion as his tail begins to deflate, having puffed up slightly in the stressful situation.

"On it." Yiel grumbles back as he hefts Stel a bit more carefully, the human girl wincing in pain as the big alien carries her away to the elevator.

Once inside, she weakly grips Ryn's jacket sleeve, tugging on it to get his attention. "I'm sorry..." She whispers.

Ryn grips her arm back, a genuine look of concern and agitation on his face as he shakes his head slowly. "Not your fault. Now shut it, save your strength. Yiel?"

The alien shakes his head as the elevator comes to a halt. "No sign of noise, Ryn. Might be clear."

"That cannon installed already?" Ryn asks over his shoulder as he steps out of the elevator on the hangar level and looks for pursuers.

Yiel follows behind with Stel in his arms. "'Course, you know my guys are the best. Interesting choice though. But with you, I guess I should expect the unusual."

Ryn scoffs as the door to the hangar slides open, revealing the Motherwill sitting proudly on the deck. "Glad I can still surprise you. C'mon, I think we overstayed our welcome."

Yiel follows silently and carries Stel up the ramp of the Motherwill and to the main common area before heading back to the access hatch.

Stel calls out to him before he leaves the room, "Yiel? A-aren't you coming with us? It won't be safe-"

Yiel lets out a bellowing laugh and grins back at Stel, a broad smile on his face, "Kid? With me around, whoever came after you isn't safe. Take care, kiddo. Knock some more sense into that old fox, would ya?" He waves a casual goodbye and stomps down the ramp as the access hatch closes up and the ship begins to rumble softly as it wakes up.

Stel finally crashes from her adrenaline high as she realizes she's alive and safe aboard the Motherwill. She looks down to her abdomen to find a growing blotch of blood spreading from her right hip. Then the pain hits. Biting back a scream, Stel grunts and whimpers softly as she continues to apply pressure to the wound, Ryn clearly still busy with getting them off the station.

The subtle rumble of the mag-field on the hangar bay doors, the particle field that prevents oxygen from evacuating itself into space and allowing the hangar to be occupied even with the doors open, indicates to Stel that they're out and the growing roar of the engines lets her know that the Motherwill is in motion.

Ryn enters the room shortly after the sounds of acceleration and quickly kneels beside Stel, popping open a medical kit and looking at Stel's wound, prying her hands off and pulling her shirt up to begin tending her injury.

"Lucky all you got was a grazing shot. Won't even scar that badly." Ryn said as he began disinfecting the open wound with a stinging spray, causing Stel to grunt in pain.

"Great. Any chance it'll feel better soon?" She knew it wouldn't, but coherent thought and word wasn't her highest priority right now.

Ryn chuckles and shakes his head. "No. Well, silver lining? You're alive to feel the pain. Does that help?"

Stel grunts as he sticks a nanopatch onto the wound, a medical tool that seals the wound with artificial proteins that boost the body's natural healing properties while also covering the injury and preventing further damage.

"No... well, maybe..."

Ryn nods slowly as he flops onto the couch beside her. "Yeah... it usually does."

Stel looked over to see a pained expression wash over Ryn as he calms down from the excitement of the moment and she caught an almost imperceptible shake in his hands as his eyes slid shut and his head leaned back.

She silently hoped they would both be okay.

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