Ravens of Eternity

44 Mirror Mirror, Pt In one of the rougher areas somewhere on Helios, a group of men sat around a table as they chatted and played a game.

In their hands were a half dozen cards. There were complex symbols on each of them, and all were unique.

There were more cards in the middle of the table, and they were arranged in a grid. However, they were laid out similar to dominoes, where they chained into each other and made an interesting, sprawling pattern going in every direction.

Hovering above the cards was a transparent hologram that displayed the current size of the pot.

It was high.

It got even higher when one of the card players increased his bet a great amount.

“Pallas,” he said.

“Yeah, Andy?”

“You remember that little treat from a few cycles ago?”

.....

Pallas looked up from his cards at Andy, and saw the scar on his cheek was warped by his grin.

“You mean the blond one from D-202? The one I lent you for a cycle?”

Andy leaned forward and looked at his grizzled friend. His grin turned wicked.

“Yeah, that one,” he replied. “She’s mighty tasty, wouldn’t you say? Too tasty for you. And since it looks like you’re a bit short on this pot, how ’bout you pitch her in? I wouldn’t mind havin’ some real dessert tonight.”

Pallas scoffed as he fidgeted with his cards.

“Ain’t you so damned sure of your hand... What makes you think mine ain’t better?”

“I think your ledger’s speaking for itself,” taunted Andy.

This was a sore spot for Pallas. When he looked at the pile that was his betting chits, it was pitifully low. Certainly much lower than what Andy held. When he had increased his bet, it forced Pallas to either back out or empty out.

If he wanted to keep playing, he needed to up the ante. And his hand was too good not to.

“Greedy sumbitch,” said Pallas. “But fine. Let’s do this.”

He had his DI quickly assign the poor girl to a chit, printed it out, and added her to his bet pile to join the rest of his chits.

Andy couldn’t help but show his pleasure at that.

He laid down his hand and moved each card to a spot on the board until he was completely out of cards. When he was done, he wiped his hands dramatically and leaned back with a smug look on his face.

Pallas’ eyes went wide when he saw Andy’s play. It had negated half of his own moves! There was no way he could win now!

He threw his hand down in disgust as the table swallowed up the losers’ bet piles, and spat the chits out near the winner.

Andy scooped them all up and added them to his bank pile.

“Don’t get all gloomy,” he said. “You still got a half dozen other cookies.”

Pallas simply shook his head and chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “You know she was my fave. Anyway, you won her fair and square. I’ll win her back soon ‘nough.”

The men around the card table laughed. Trading and betting with women as currency was normal to them. They were turned into mere collectibles, and had little value outside of that role. They didn’t see those women as anything more than property and playthings.

The worst part was, they were hardly the only ones who did this. This was happening elsewhere, all over the galaxy. And very few were able to do anything about it.

Beyond the men playing cards, the rest of the bar was dark and a little damp. Some droning electronic tune floated in the air, but that too was rather subdued.

There were groups of people scattered around, and they were all in various states of intoxication and rowdiness.

All of them were wearing rough and tumble clothing that was lightly padded with armor. A few even had some cybernetics installed – an eye, a couple of arms, a leg.

They all had pistols on their hips and acted like they owned the place.

Maybe they did.

The doors to the bar suddenly opened with a SWISH.

A lightly armed and armored woman stepped through the doorway and scanned the room.

Her armor was matte black with dark purple accents along the curves. The plating was thin and light, which allowed her unrestricted movement. Yet it was clear that the armor was rather tough.

Strapped to her right thigh was a B-ranked Hellfire Handcannon. It was a weapon that didn’t simply perforate its target – it completely obliterated whatever it struck. It also had a tendency to dislocate its owner’s shoulder, if they weren’t strong enough to handle the kick.

She was wearing a completely featureless helmet, and its front face was absolutely smooth and uniform. It was menacing on a whole different scale, as though under the helmet was something cold and calculating.

Similar to piloting cores, the inside of the helmet was simply a display. It showed a live feed of the outside through microsensors on its front face.

Some of the bar’s patrons gulped the moment they saw her, and took a swig of their drinks. Their throats had suddenly run dry. Most turned away, not wanting anything to do with the woman.

Eva’s voice suddenly filled the bar.

“So. Which one of you is Andronicus ‘Slugfest’ Gordy?”

Her voice was projected through the helmet, so she could be heard clearly. Her tone made it obvious that she was unafraid of any of them.

Her DI had scanned the entire bar, but not a single person had a public-facing identity. Well, except for the bartender. And he definitely wasn’t ‘Slugfest’.

“Who’s asking?” asked a thug.

“Why do you care?” she countered. “You him?”

The thug quickly shut his mouth.

The burly men who were playing cards suddenly stood up, their hands curled into fists.

Eva noted that only one person in that group didn’t stand up. Her sensor scans showed that he was a very likely match for one mister Gordy, her bounty. Same approximate height, weight, and physical description. Cauliflower ears, scar across the cheek.

His poster made him look pretty tough, but in person, he seemed much more tame.

“What’s it to you?” asked one of (the presumed) Gordy’s buddies.

“Who doesn’t like fifteen thousand credits?”

Her tone was flat and matter-of-factly, although she didn’t care much for the reward in the first place. She was doing this simply to let off a little steam, and the cash was just a little bonus.

In fact, she had already gone and spent exactly 15k creds on her new equipment, and this job pretty much evened out her ledger. At least, when she completed it. After everything she had gone through, she felt she needed to reward herself, and saw this as simply getting herself a little present.

One of the burly men scoffed and slowly stepped towards her. The others followed.

She noted that as he did so, the one who remained seated slunk further in his chair. It appeared he wanted to be invisible. Or at least, not be Slugfest.

If that’s him, she thought. Then he needs a better nickname.

“You think we’re scared o’ you?” asked the lead thug.

She then scanned the handful of thugs headed her way, and her DI pinpointed certain spots on their bodies. They were locations that had been injured prior, such as old stab wounds, gunshots, and broken bones.

Both her hands reached behind to the small of her back, and quickly whipped out a couple of batons. They suddenly extended to double their length, and they both hummed with power as she charged them up.

“Do I look like I care?”

Just as she leapt into the fray, the door to the bar shut with a SHWIP.

~

A woman uniformed in green sat behind a long counter and tapped away into the terminal in front of her. Her uniform was well-worn and nicely-pressed.

Over her left breast was a metallic green badge. Its insignia was Sol surrounded by three rings. Along the top was the acronym ‘HMP’, which stood for Helios Megacity Police. Along the bottom was the name ‘C. Durwich’.

On her hip was a standard-issue sidearm. It looked clean and barely used.

She was halfway through her shift and wanted to get through her paperwork quickly. The clerk beside her leaned over and talked in soft tones. It wasn’t because what she talked about was anything suspicious, she just didn’t want to disturb everyone around them.

“Claire,” she said.

“Yes, Jean?”

“What we talked about yesterday,” Jean prodded.

“And?”

“Ugh. Don’t be difficult. Just tell me! Did you dump him or not?!”

Claire sighed and stopped working for a moment. She turned towards Jean while she massaged the numbness out of her hands and fingers.

“I haven’t,” she said.

“What the hells? He’s a deadbeat! You said so yourself!”

Claire turned away from Jean, unable to look her in the eye.

“He... He’s not a deadbeat. He has a good job. It’s just that he doesn’t have a higher goal, you know? No dreams or anything. He’s content being a minor programmer for the district.”

“Yeah, but you’ve always said you wanted more,” replied Jean. “Travel. Build a company. Have children. Move to Gelleon Prime... And he doesn’t. You’re saying you’re okay living like that? Like your dreams don’t matter?”

“I mean, sure, he doesn’t want much,” she said. “But he’s still a good man. I don’t wanna dump him just because he doesn’t share my dreams. Besides, they’re just dreams. They’re never actually gonna happen.”

.....

“Not if you stick with him, they won’t.”

The doors to the station suddenly opened with a SWISH.

Eva trudged in with heavy steps as she moved towards the booking desk. Behind her was the unconscious body of one (supposedly) Andronicus ‘Slugfest’ Gordy, which she dragged around by the heels.

His head bumped along on the ground, and his hair left a slight greasy streak behind him. It seemed endless.

Everyone around her stopped what they were doing, police officers and perpetrators alike. Up until a moment ago, they were simply doing their jobs (or had been caught at it), and were engrossed in their daily grind.

But when a woman who was armed with a Handcannon dragged in what seemed to be a highly dangerous felon, well there really wasn’t a choice but to watch.

Claire and Jean could only stare with wide eyes as the woman walked up to them. She took off her helmet and placed it down on the counter, then smiled at them.

They were both awestruck by what they saw – this hunter was a beauty!

“Hi!” said Eva. “I think this... Um...”

She looked down at Slugfest, who was sprawled out on the ground. Then she picked him up and plopped him on the counter, so that he was bent over on it.

His head lolled as it hung over the counter’s edge. He had one hell of a black eye.

“This is ‘Slugfest’ Gordy,” she continued. “I think. He didn’t exactly say whether he was or wasn’t before he... passed out.”

“Y-you must be here for the bounty, correct?”

“Oh, yes, definitely.”

Eva quickly transferred her information through her DI.

And as she did so, Claire had taken some sort of device, pried open Gordy’s eyelid (the one that wasn’t swollen shut), and scanned his eye. Then with the same device, she scanned his fingerprints as well. She then took some samples of his saliva.

Afterwards, she turned to her terminal and inputted the data. After a moment, it confirmed that the unconscious person was indeed Eva’s quarry.

“This person is certainly a genetic match for your bounty, miss...?”

“Call me Freya,” Eva replied.

“Miss Freya, I’ll transfer your reward momentarily – I’ll just need some paperwork done.”

Claire handed her a datapad, and Eva sighed at how long it scrolled. Paperwork was the worst.

“By the way,” Eva said, “I sorta heard you through the door.”

Claire and Jean looked at each other and blinked. How? They were talking relatively quietly, and they were a few meters away from the door. Plus the door itself...

“I, uh, just wanted to say,” she continued, “that you shouldn’t abandon your dreams for anyone, not even yourself. And don’t waste your life chasing mediocrity! Take the risks and live how you want. But be smart about it and work hard for it – harder than you ever have your whole life. You won’t regret it.”

Claire looked at Freya, and realized that she exuded power and confidence. But her strength wasn’t overbearing or suffocating. It felt as though it added to her own, and she felt more confident herself.

Freya’s very presence made Claire feel powerful. It felt divine.

And besides, anyone who could drag in a quintuple-felon by herself no doubt knew what the fuck she was talking about.

Claire nodded at Freya. Her wisdom was simple, yet powerful.

“I hadn’t seen it that way,” she said. “Thanks! I’ve got a lot to think about now... But I’m pretty sure you’re right. I can’t just waste away like I have been.”

Eva smiled warmly in response.

She wasn’t sure why she told that woman all that, but she felt that she had to. After what she had just gone through with Mack, she felt the urge to help someone change their life for the better.

Change was necessary in life. Those who ignored it languished, and those who embraced it soared.

Simple as that.