Deadly Truths

[zydrate]

Several minutes after everyone left, Rylen was slowly coming to...her eyes opened several times but she didn't focus on anything, instead her mind was going through everything that had just happened.

Then it happened! With a loud gasp of air and a cry, Rylen rolled over, realizing she was on the dirty ground but not caring one bit...she gasped for air and gave a few dry heaves... what the fuck happened?!

Looking around, it was dark even with the dim lighting. She pushed herself up to her knees and tried to focus...the last thing she remembered was someone grabbing her...

NO! Not just someone...Seibert! She remembered talking to him but didn't recall what she had said to him.

Slowly, she got up to her feet, her head was spinning, she brought her hand up to the side of her head and realized it was bleeding..not badly, but it was sticky...did she get hit?

With her eyes cast downward, that's when she saw the note on the ground...picking it up, she read it.

“You’ve got twelve hours to get off this rock. Short, but find a way. Find me if you want to pay me back, Waterbird.”

"I'll find you, all right.." she said under her breath. In less than 5 minutes, Rylen was gone. It was time to make leave and find this guy...she had something for him...

 

[Erlind]

“We’re all done here. I want out quick, do you think we can manage that Sky?”

“I can see what I can do, Seibert. If I can pull the right strings you should be bound offworld tonight.”

“Thanks S.E., let me know when and where as soon as you can.”

Seibert clicked the comm off and stepped out of the elevator. Running into the couple from before they shared short pleasantries and Seibert told them he got his friend a cab home. Then it was out the door and down the street. The dirty hotel he had been staying in was close, so he chose to walk. The soldier kept a quick pace on the dark streets. He was ready to pack up and get on with the next job, before the consequences of this one caught up with him. He shouldn’t have let her go, but the girl had struck a chord with him. It was almost out of his hands.

It started to rain, but fortunately tuxes like this one tended to be kind of throw away anyway. He always managed to get blood on them or tear them up, so he’d given up on trying to keep one nice and just bought new ones. Maybe it wasn’t economical, but he had the money to burn and it meant not dealing with the hassle. The streets seemed oddly peaceful as the bounty hunter walked through the heavy rain through the darkness towards the gear he always seemed to call home.

 

[zydrate]

Once she reached her stored gear, Rylen quickly changed into something more suitable, a pair of black leather pants, a black form fitting shirt and her boots. She discarded the skimpy outfit she was wearing earlier before taking off for a safe haven.

In her mind, she kept going over why the hell Seibert did what he did... He had more heart than she did, that's for sure... ahh, well, no use dwelling on it, she escaped capture and death, yet again... for the life of her, she didn't know how.

Hiding in an alley by a dumpster, Rylen went over her next options. Her original plan had to be kill the senator's wife then check into a nice hotel and await payment...

That's when it hit her. If she was going to do that, then no doubt Seibert would do that also... but a nice hotel wasn't his style, she could sense that...

Rylen knew the layout of the city like the back of her hand so she went over the closest hotels near the gala... and came up with just 2..one really expensive and the other...not so much...

Then she remembered the note he left her...Get off this rock... Yeah, that wasn't going to happen...for either of them.

She took off in a jog toward the hotel she had narrowed down, she stuck with the back alleys, careful to remain unseen...

 

[Erlind]

Seibert was almost back when he heard a sound behind him. It wasn’t a crash or anything so overt, but for a moment he thought he could hear footsteps where there hadn’t been any before. The streets had been empty and probably still were, but now he couldn’t be sure. It seemed too quick for her already to be on her feet and after him, but with Rylen he wasn’t willing to rule anything out.

“Got it, Seibert,” came the voice suddenly over the comm. S.E. didn’t always give him the courtesy of calling and would just hack the line if he left it active.

“You leave in two hours. The ride is a private cruiser with only a couple of passengers, so it’s just about ideal. How’s that sound.”

“Just fine, Sky, thanks. Just in case though, I want you to line up a backup. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“Alright, Seibert.” And the line went dead again. She knew better than to question him about his instincts.

He swiped the card and slipped inside the hotel room. Most things were already packed. If tonight had gone off without a hitch he wanted to be out of here. Staying on target longer than needed was always a recipe for trouble unless he had to be there, or the locale was nice. So far, neither of those were true. He considered changed, but instead he just dried off with one of the grungy provided towels and called it good enough. It was time to go.

 

[zydrate]

Rylen watched from afar.

Damn, she was good. She allowed herself a moment to bask in her greatness for a few more seconds before dismissing it. She had seen Seibert and followed him to exactly where he was staying.

As he closed the door, Rylen stayed down the hall, pressing against the wall. She weighed her options quickly. If she where, the job was done...it would be time to take off, get far away as possible...

Yeah, there was only one thing to do.

*********
Waiting by the door, off to one side, Rylen waited. She was patient. Only 15 minutes had passed when she heard the locks on the door sounding. The only weapon she had on her person was a blade but she hadn't readied it...

Suddenly the door opened and Rylen made her move, she reached out, her hands making direct contact with his forehead. more importantly his temple...

Her first command. "Go back inside, shut the door and be quiet."

Waiting as he did so, Rylen spoke, "Don't fight it Master Sergeant, it's time we had a little...insight to all this..."

 

[Erlind]

Seibert didn’t take his time getting ready. One way or another she would be on his tail soon and he couldn’t risk running into her again just yet. Bags slung over his shoulders the soldier opened his door to head out into the night, ready to leave this planet behind. As he opened the door though he realized he’d underestimated her again. He dropped his hand to his blaster and began to draw it, but her fingers were already touching his temple and the command was given. Seibert fought the urge she’d set in his mind, but slowly the blaster was dropped back into its holster and the door was closed behind them as they went inside.

“Don’t do this Rylen,” he managed to warn her between clenched teeth, “there’s a lot of death in there and that’s far from the worst of it.” He shouldn’t have given her the idea before, but he’d needed to know if she knew anything for sure or not. Now she would.

 

[zydrate]

"Would you stop fucking fighting!?!" Rylen screamed, as her nails practically dug into the flesh of his head... She closed her eyes and fought back, damnit...why did some people make it so tough?!

Rylen hadn't realized she had pushed Seibert back to the edge of the where he sat down immediately...she crawled onto his lap, straddling him...

Over and over, Rylen was whispering, "Don't fight it... don't fight it....please.."

What happened next was something Rylen was totally unprepared for.

 

[Erlind]

They were both thrown into the same vortex of shattered memories. Things Seibert had paid to have wiped from his brain, but still clung to him into nearly indecipherable snippets that on late nights in the dark of space would act as the core of particularly bad nightmares.

The two of them watched from the deck of a ship as the planet below them slowly became completely engulfed in flame. Even large forest fires shouldn’t be visible from this high of an orbit, but the tongue of flame appeared on the surface far below them anyway.

The rest of the figures on the deck of the starship were unidentifiable, their features were obscured and faded. Still it was clear that the nearly dozen of them were all watching as the fire below spread. Even the oceans did not slow the steadily expanding flames below. Voices could be heard from behind them.

“We shouldn’t have done this. Its not worth the price.”

“It had to be done, but I’m glad its on his shoulders and not ours.”

“Do we have it then?” Seibert asked no one in particular and an answer came.

“Like you said the catacombs unsealed as soon as it started. We have it. I still don’t understand why though.”

“Its done. That’s all that matters now.”

As they watched, the screen showing them the holocaust went dark. Slowly after a few moments it came back into focus showing a dark planet below them smaller than the other. Only three bright red stars dotted the sky. Then they were falling.

The ship wasn’t crashing instead it was like Seibert and Rylen had fallen straight through the ship into the darkness of space. Twisting helplessly until they hit the ground. On the surface of this barren world the only light was provided by a ship that was landed nearby. Five men stood around what seemed to be an alien obelisk with five sides. Each pressed something against the lone structure, but it was not clear what until the fifth. The fifth man was Seibert and as a bright light filled their vision the last thing they could see was Seibert holding out his dog tags against the cold stone.

Finally the world was back as it was. Seibert had fallen back onto the bed sometime in the vision and Rylen still straddled him. His head ached horribly, but from the looks of it Rylen had gotten the worse end of the exchange. Seibert heaved her off of him, onto the floor.

“You had no right!” He yelled at her drawing his gun. There had been a reason Seibert had left the Advanced Infantry Corps and she had seen all the mercenary could remember of it on particularly dark nights.

 

[zydrate]

“You had no right!”

Rylen was on the floor, on her stomach...her nose was bleeding, her pride hurt...

Her mind was racing...what the fuck did she just see?!

"First off..." she gasped on the floor, "I'd really get a refund from whomever you paid to erase those memories because they really fucked up..."

She knew Seibert had his weapon drawn but she had a feeling that he wouldn't shoot unless he really had to, "Second...what the hell was THAT?!"

Rylen pushed herself up into a sitting position and against a wall...her eyes closed as she held a hand to her nose, trying to stop the bleeding, she leaned her head back, "Seems I found something you didn't want anyone, including yourself, to find..." she finished with a laugh.

 

[Erlind]

To look at her Rylen seemed in bad shape, but it didn’t stop the sleek assassin from mocking him though. Didn’t she get how pissed he was right at this moment. Those events were dead and buried, and he’d worked hard to make them stay that way. Or, it seemed that way anyway. He’d never see those memories that clearly before, but she still didn’t have the right to go find that.

Getting up from the bed Seibert stormed over to the psychic and stood over her. He leveled his blaster at her face while her eyes were still closed. “You think this is a fucking joke? I let you live and you turn around and throw that life away? I thought you were smarter than that I really thought you were.” He was going to have to shoot her. He didn’t want to, but if he hadn’t trusted himself with this, how could he trust a psychic assassin that had drugged him for a first date?

 

[zydrate]

"Oh, you let me live and now I'm suppose to owe you something?! What? Was I suppose to disappear and suddenly clean up my life?!"

As she spoke, Rylen readied her body and finally opened her eyes only to be looking down the barrel of a blaster. She smiled and looked up at Seibert, "So...do it."

He hesitated for a second and that's the second Rylen needed. She kicked out her feet, knocking the bigger soldier down and she was on him in an instant. It surprised even Rylen with as fast as she was able to move.

She didn't need a weapon, her hand, with her fingers extended, hovered just near Seibert's temple again as she felt him ready his weapon, "Go ahead, I dare you!!!"

It was a stand off.

 

[Erlind]

Why was she pushing this into a standoff?

“You’re self destructive, Rylen. I don’t know what’s wrong with you. I let you go, because I want you, not out of some storybook attempt at reform. I knew you’d find me, but I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough for all of this.” His voice was shaky. She was confident he wouldn’t pull the trigger or that she could save herself, and so she wasn’t scared. He was confident he would kill her and that’s why he was scared.

He didn’t flinch, just pulled against the trigger waiting for that click and the blast that would follow.

 

[zydrate]

Rylen heard the click... it was then what Seibert had said suddenly rang true for Rylen...

She was acting like this because of the hidden anger she had read in Seibert, Rylen tried to clear her thoughts, shaking her head in disbelief. She pushed herself up, still sitting on Seibert. The two hunters eyed each other a moment more before Rylen got up while he still had his weapon trained on her.

 

[Erlind]

“I don’t want to do it Rylen, but I can’t risk you going after it, or selling the information to someone else. We both saw the same visions; we both know how to get to it now.”

She was at too short of a range to hope to dodge it, even avoid a fatal wound. One wrong movement on his part would send the laser bolt ripping through her, so even if she tried to force him to stop he’d be able to make the slightest jerk he needed. There was no way out for her, but the soldier still hesitated.

 

[zydrate]

"I could sell it..but why would I? I thought you understood me...?" Rylen said, mocking innocence as his hesitation was all Rylen needed. She knew she was going to pay for it later but it was a small price to pay for what she was about to do.

"Trust me, you should've shot me a long time ago Master Sergeant, or at the very least, went ahead and turned me in..." Then without warning, her nose started to bleed again, nothing gushing but it was a sign of what she was about to do..it took a lot of concentration but before anyone could do or say anything Rylen pushed. Not with her hands...not physically, but mentally. It was hard with having read Seibert's mind earlier and also 'encouraging' her target to jump, she had never used her 'power' this much before in the past and knew she was risking death...

The soldier was forced back and his weapon knocked out of his hand by an invisible force...Rylen took that moment of confusion and made her exit...

 

[Erlind]

He continued to underestimate the assassin he continued to call “little girl” and she continued to prove to him if he was going to kill her that he should just do it. His finger brushed against the trigger that final bit as it and he were thrown back. As the blaster sailed through the air, a bolt of hot energy ripped through the air just over Rylen’s shoulder. It singed her hair a bit, but otherwise the sure shot had been a miss.

When the violence ended Seibert didn’t move. He just screamed out into the night.
“Damn it Rylen! I didn’t trust myself with this! I’m going to hunt you down, little girl!” The worst part of all of it was that as much as he knew he needed to kill her, he just wanted her.

 

[zydrate]

Rylen didn't stop running, even after she picked up from one of her safe spots, the only thing on her mind was what Seibert had said..what he had thought...

If he was going to hunt her, why not give him something to hunt.

In all truths, Rylen wasn't sure if she wanted to leave this planet. It was all she had ever known, but now, she was getting ready to leave her..home.

If she had more time, or weren't so rushed, she would've been able to probe deeper into his mind but damnit, he was so strong, both mentally and physically... She had spoken the truth when she told him about getting a refund, whomever tried to block it didn't do a great job.

It would take several transfers of shuttles before she would reach her destination... she had at small lead on Seibert...very small.

 

[Erlind]

“Seibert? Seibert? Seibert!” The comm had been going wild with S.E’s voice for a minute and from the flash screen it had several times before now as well while he and Rylen had been out of it.

“What?” Seibert’s voice was ragged when he finally picked up the comm.

“What do you mean what? What the hell happened?” Seibert related an edited version of his story to his unseen partner. He left out exactly what they had seen, but he made the consequences clear. He told her how he’d let Rylen go the first time and what he had to do now. He told the woman everything Rylen had told him while under the serum.

“Kezani? Fucking great. I thought the last of them were gone.” The soldier hadn’t heard this kind of contempt in his partner as the past couple years they’d been working together and was surprised to hear it now. Sky Eyes was merciless to their targets, but otherwise she could be downright compassionate to everyone else.

“I can track her for you Seibert. Now that I know what I’m looking for and roughly where she’s going I can find her.”

* * *

So it began. It started with several near misses. Seibert slept and ate in route when he did so at all. He caught sight of her at the last star port and almost caught her. Security got in his way however and while he took down five guards using nonlethal means, it had still slowed him down too much to catch her. By the time he got untangled from all of the bureaucracy of an irate security force, her shuttle had already made the jump and was gone.

This time however was his last good chance. S.E. had pulled some favors she had on the target planet and gotten the full cooperation of local security forces there. Seibert didn’t like working with cops like this, but he couldn’t risk using anything less than everything he had. His shuttle would make it there literally within minutes of hers and that would start a full lockdown of the station. Time to put an end to it.

 

[zydrate]

As Rylen made her way down the access point of the starport, alarms started to go off and security hurried people from the point, moving them in toward the main center of the port.

Shit! she thought as she had no choice but to move along with everyone... There was only one cause for this... Seibert! Whom else? There were no galactic threats reported over the news comm so she knew it couldn't be that.

There was too much confusion and questioning going on, people for some reason when in a group, started to panic over nothing. Rylen remained calm. She had dealt with much worst than this in the past. She'd get out of this.

She assessed her situation and realized that security was checking everyone's ID...damnit! She wasn't sure if her fake one would pass any of their checks but she wasn't going to take any chances.

It was hard but she was able to move to the back of the crowd and by a wall. She crouched down, opened up her bag and took out a small charge. It was enough to cause some minor damage but not enough to kill anyone. She stayed low and looked quickly to see where she could put it...

Then she saw a small recycler..perfect!

But at the same time, she heard some shouts over the crowd. She didn't have time to look back, quickly she made her way over to the recycler and tossed in the charge.

It was set for 5 seconds...walking away from it, she felt someone grab her arm... she didn't even have to look back, she knew who it was...

Seibert.

Rylen cursed under her breath as the grip got tighter...just then the charge went off, causing even more panic from people and the mob pushed forward through the security gate.

It was then she looked back and because of the rush, she was jerked free of Seibert, their eyes met for a brief second before Rylen was lost in the sea of people.

 

[Erlind]

The star port was in a full on panic. The travelers were frightened it was some kind of attack. The local security force were panicked they had gotten into more than they could handle. Lastly, Seibert was a bit panicked that he would lose her. A glimpse or two of her made him keep chasing her against the tide of the crowd, but both times she was farther ahead with a grin on her face.

Fighting the crowds he was losing Rylen and decided on trying to figure out where she would go next. The star port was locked down, so she couldn’t get on her next shuttle. All of the main entrances were not only guarded, but filled with stampeding civilians. The loading docks. That’s where she would be.

The ex-soldier grabbed a rent a cop security guard and demanded to be let in a side door. The scared little man mumbled something about needing credentials and not having the authority to help him. Throwing the man to the side Seibert unholstered his blaster and fired at the lock until the distinct sound of the magnetic locks on the door releasing could be heard.

With the star port locked down the loading docks were pretty well abandoned. Probably something about union rules allowing time off in these circumstances. Regardless of the reason though, the rows of palettes and trucks were silent. Then across the way he saw her. Rylen looked almost giddy at her clever escape, but she didn’t see him. Seibert was a large man, but his years in the military and time hunting down bounties had made him stealthy as well. He stalked his way across the wide space using shipping crates and whatever else was available as concealment. Rylen was about climb up into one of the large transports, likely in an attempt to hijack it, when the mercenary slammed his prey to the ground.

“It ends here, little girl. I can’t let you get away from me.” His heart was pounding as he struggled with the skilled fighter. She escaped his grip once and nearly touched his temple with her fingers before he snatched her by the wrist. With a steel grip both of her wrists were planted on the ground at her sides while he straddled her.

 

[zydrate]

Thinking she was about to get away made Rylen relax, even for a tiny bit and that was her downfall. She didn't know what hit her until she found herself on the ground, struggling against Seibert.

Rylen screamed out as she tried to physically push against the soldier, but of course he outweighed her and was just physically stronger than her.

It was no use, he had her in his grip, and before she could struggle anymore, she was thrown on her stomach, her hands wretched painfully behind her back as cuffs were locked in place...

"Don't be stupid Master Sergeant!" She exclaimed but it was no use, he dragged her up to a standing position and looked at her. "Tell you what Seibert, let me go and I won't kill you.." she said with humor despite her situation...

 

[Erlind]

“You know I can’t do that, Rylen.” The humorless words were given as he pushed her against a steel shipping crate. Seibert put enough of his weight on her to keep her pinned there.

“What do I do with you?” he asked her finally. “I … don’t want to kill you. I can’t keep you locked up myself and I won’t turn you over to any authorities. I can’t let you go. The things in my past were meant to stay buried.” He’d forgotten how good the warmth of her body had been in the time he’d been chasing her.

“What do I do with you now that I have you, Rylen?”

 

[zydrate]

The wind was knocked out of her as she was pushed against the crago crate...

“What do I do with you now that I have you, Rylen?”

She had to laugh..."Ohhh, you get this far and you don't have a plan?" She shook her head and tried once more to push against him to no avail, "Why don't you just shoot me Seibert. I dare you...because I'm going to get away from you again, just like before.."

 

[Erlind]

“I should.” She was right, it was the truth. Even still, Seibert knew he couldn’t. He’d run through this moment a hundred times as he tracked her and chased her since they left her home world. No matter how he imagined it he found he couldn’t take that final step. Couldn’t kill her. He didn’t really know why either, not completely.

“What can I do to change your mind? Anything I can give you or do for you I will to stop this? I may have caught you Rylen, but you still have me caught up with what you know.”

 

[zydrate]

Rylen relaxed under Seibert's weight. She had to admit he was right. Unless by some sort of mystery she was able to get away, he wasn't going to let her go willingly...yet, he wasn't willing to kill her...

"I know what I want but there's no way you could give it me..." she said, her struggles ceasing completely.