The woman looked aside to the small backpack of things she gathered up, and took a moment to think if what she was about to do was the right thing. It took her the whole of last night to think over, and she already activated the short protocol she wrote for Lyssa to follow after she would go, but something still scratched at the back of her mind.
Finally, the ship docked and Serena thought that she wasn’t even useful on board anymore. She needed time to grieve and a little solitude to get her head back together. But she wouldn’t be able to find it on Lyssa – that she knew for sure.
Activating her armour, she picked up the backpack and clasped it to the plates, uniting the systems. Before she left her quarters, she switched on her cloaking device, slipping away unnoticed.
The bustling station had so many traders and people that it was easy to get lost in the crowd and deactivate her invisibility and armour safely. Not wasting any time, Serena found a ship heading out and bought herself a ticket among other passengers seeking passage elsewhere.
Within an hour she was off the station.
The tiny cabin provided in this ship was shared with five other passengers – three women, a man and a child. None of them really engaged in conversations, knowing very well that sometimes it is best to keep silent and not ask many questions from strangers.
However, children are always curious, and so was the little boy that watched the strange white-haired woman for a bit before approaching her cot and smiling to her when she looked up.
The boy was barely thirteen old, and had a ruffled mane of dirty blond hair that fell to his eyes.
«Hi! I’m Norren.» he said. «What’s your name?»
«I have no name.» the woman replied, her face as cold and expression-less as it was back on her ship for the past days.
«So… what do people call you when you cross paths?»
Serena took a moment to think and exhaled:
«Ghost.»
«Cool!» his eyes flared up with excitement. «Such a cool name!»
«Norren, honey, don’t bother the passengers!» one of the women pleaded.
Serena glanced at her and shook her head, trying hard to remain calm and collected. To her the boy was a distraction from the heavy thoughts that filled her head as soon as she sat down.
«What do you do for a living, Ghost?» the boy sat down next to her.
«I’m… a fighter.» Serena sighed. «I fight for money.»
«Funny… I always thought fighters have lots of tattoos…» Norren glanced at her arms.
«I still hadn’t decided what tattoos I want, so… maybe I’ll get them when I get to my destination.»
«How many fights have you had?»
«One on one? A lot.»
«And how many did you win?»
Serena looked at the child and wondered if her reply sounded like a lie:
«All of them.»
«No way!»
«Aw, come on!» the man chuckled. «There’s no way you won every single fight!»
«I’m strong.» Serena forced a smirk to her face. «And fast.»
The man cackled and sat at the tiny table they had in the corner, offering her his hand.
«How about we arm wrestle? I’m a strong man, so don’t think I’ll be easy to defeat.» he said.
«Papa’s the best in arm wrestling where we come from!» Norren said proudly.
Serena got up and walked over, sitting down on the opposite of the man, clasping her hand with his palm.
«Ready?» the man asked her.
Serena nodded and felt him immediately pushing. But to her it was barely worth effort to tense up. A moment passed, then two, and the man’s bravado faded, his face turning surprised. He tensed up, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, but still couldn’t budge her arm from upward position.
The woman tilted her head:
«You are strong. But not as strong as I am.» effortlessly she moved her arm and forced his down.
«Holy shit! What did they feed you when you were little, Ghost?» the man looked at her shocked when she freed his palm.
Serena decided not to answer.
Chapter 2. Shock
«Serena!» Lindon pounded on the door, growing angry at the woman for being locked up for so long. «Damn it, open the door! It’s been five days!»
The door silently slid open to his surprise and Lindon glanced in, noting how dark it was inside.
«Serena?» he called out.
Silence seemed so heavy and so still that he walked in, searching for any sign of the woman.
However, her bed was empty and the bathroom stood open, with Serena nowhere in sight.
«Lyssa, where is she?» Lindon barked.
«Serena Dal Thara-Lyss is not on board, Active Captain Lindon.» the AI replied.
A wave of shock came over the Veluthian and he darted away.
«Everyone to the bridge, NOW!» Lindon ordered through his earpiece.
«What the hell, Lindon?» Wolfin’s voice returned in irritation.
«Don’t ask, just come to the bridge now!»
Running into the bridge, Lindon jumped onto one of the seats, immediately opening the ships logs to see when Serena left to find out if they would be able to find her.
«Explain yourself!» Kayla said, as she was approaching together with Laneth and Wolfin.
«Serena’s gone!» Lindon hissed. «And since we’ve been on four stops in the last five days, I have no idea when she slipped away!»
«What do you mean she’s gone?» Laneth was shocked to hear their Captain leaving.
Even though the mechanic rarely saw Serena lately, mostly trying to bury herself in work in the engineering bay on more and more stuff she could present to the Captain later, she still tried to at least ask about her well-being every time she saw the Veluthians. For the past few days she heard that Serena wasn’t answering, but none of them thought she could have left at all.
Wolfin hurried over, seeing what Lindon was doing.
«Lyssa, how long had she been gone?» Wolfin asked the AI.
«I am not allowed to say.» the ship replied.
«Laneth, see if you can deactivate the protocol Serena must have put in to help her escape.»
Laneth exchanged glances with Kayla and sat down at one of the working stations, with the girl looking over her shoulder to learn what she was doing. A few moments passed, but the talented mechanic that knew quite a bit couldn’t break through the intricate code Serena had in the protocol to protect herself.
The woman leaned back, frowning, and decided to try a different approach:
«Lyssa… is Serena not on board for more than four days?»
«Yes.»
The Veluthians glanced at Laneth and saw her frowning.
«So if she slipped away back at the Dahaarn trading station, she could be anywhere by this moment.» the mechanic sighed. «Right, Lyssa?»
«According to my calculations, any of the ships that were docked there and left the station while we were investigating could be anywhere in the known Human Universe at the moment.» the