Solar Sigma
Prologue
The door of the ship opened slowly, and the shadowy figure inside strode out. He, Cazimir, inhaled nervously and found himself walking quietly through a hanger door.
Once inside the hanger, he noticed a small mousy-looking man, Perhaps a weakling, Cazimir thought maliciously, skid on the wet floor as he tried to approach him. The man stopped abruptly, glaring with accusing eyes, a mop in his hands.
The golden clasp on Cazimir's cloak identified him as someone of much importance, and the look in the janitor's eye's changed from one of accusation to one of unwilling respect.
"What is your business here, ragnem?" The little man inquired sardonically, using the sector's common term for a respected outsider.
The look in Cazimir's eyes explained it all. Yes, a weakling, thought Cazimir with satisfaction as the man punched a code into a door. Cazimir knew from seeing the likes of it before that it would take him directly to any room in the building.
As Cazimir stepped into the elevator, he thought, Quite useful technology in Caravan-hi these days, after which he scanned the switches carefully, and selected the one that would take him to his appointment.
The doors opened again almost immediately, and Cazimir stepped into a dimly lit room. At the far end, a woman sat with her spiked boots on the desk, arms crossed impatiently-though she uncrossed them and lowered her feet at his entrance.
She had a short but thick black haircut with straight, eyebrow length bangs and excessive dark eye makeup. Cazimir nervously glanced at the knife strapped to her waist.
She wore a grey tank top, edged with clumsily done black stitching. Her choker, wristbands, and boots were inlaid with spikes, giving the impression that she was not one to be crossed.
Or perhaps, thought Cazimir, that is the way she hopes it will come across.
Cazimir's clasp giving his status for the second time that night, the woman narrowed her gaze and said icily, "So, why have you come?" Though, Cazimir detected, her preferred greeting would have been much more colorful. . .
Suddenly, he recognized her voice from somewhere in his childhood.
"Kaie," he breathed. She smiled wickedly and nodded.
And now he knew, that even though a job was what he had come for in the first place, he had been deceived. But considering who it was that sat before him. . .
He had absolutely no choice but to accept the job offer regardless.
Chapter 1
Poisoned Ivy
Hardwin stepped out of his dorm room, only to be shoved back in by another student of Genade Stellar Academy. He sighed, taking another cautious step outwards. Again, another student, apparently in a fierce temper, shoved him against the door frame. He quickly shut his door and moved into the throng of students, hoping to avoid any more incidents.
He hurried through the door of his first class just as the bell rang, sitting himself in the only open desk available. The desks sat two people, but of course nobody sat by him. The desk in front of him, however, was occupied by two people, one of which he recognized as the girl who had shoved him the second time.
The teacher, Miss Crozz, (Hardwin found her last name both fitting and amusing, as she was known to be cross), started to take attendance. It was only the first day of the school year, and the school board had decided to allow them on a field trip, which Hardwin could hardly believe.
"Achen, Rose!" Miss Crozz called.
"Present!"
"Alberta, Zet!"
"Here!"
"Archine, Kale!"
"I'm here," said a tall, muscular boy with bleached blonde hair in a crew cut. A girl in the back giggled, and then he flashed her a winning smile, turning her giggle to a choke.
"Becken, Sarah!"
"Here," she grumbled.
"Chorey, Riley! Chorey, Amanda!"
"Here!" The twins chorused.
"Dawnings, Hardwin!"
Hardwin felt like dying, as he slunk back into his chair, all eyes on him.
"Here...!" He said in a small, pathetic voice.
"Goskermansk, Kaida!" Hardwin could tell the teacher had mispronounced the last name.
Calm and expressionless she replied in a soft, sweet tone, "It's Vixen Göschęrmœnsck." She corrected. Miss Crozz nodded in apology.
Attendance continued. George Natly, Sonyaa Netherfield, Thally North, and Randy Pilge all followed Vixen.
"Serene, Ivy!" The teacher finally called.
"OBVIOUSLY I'M HERE!" Ivy shouted. "OR ELSE I'D BE IN MY DORM. I'M BEING HELD AGAINST MY WILL, YOU HEAR ME?!" She shrieked, and Hardwin realized that her temper had lasted much longer than he'd thought.
"I'VE BEEN LIVING OFF MICE!" She roared. "YOU HEAR ME?! THEY'RE MUCH BETTER THAN THE CAFETERIA FOOD!!!" Hardwin wasn't sure what that said about the state of his stomach...
But then again, this was Ivy.
Hardwin noticed for the first time that the feathers in her hair had changed from blue to crimson during her rant.
"She's part demon, you know," Vixen commented pleasantly with a nonchalant smile.
That was it. All the class wrenched their chairs back and stampeded for the door.
Hardwin looked back at the teacher. She was staring with her mouth wide open, faint and pale, leaning against her desk.
"Class dismissed," she croaked, and promptly fell backwards on the spot.
Ivy was carried high in the halls all the way to lunch.
* * *
Hardwin made his way to a table in the back of the room, where he could hear and observe without being involved. He decided that he would risk a stare at the most crowded table in the lunch room- wright where Ivy, Vixen, and the rest of those people sat.
It was a bit hard to miss Vixen, what with her bright orange fox ears sticking out like a flare- they were lopsided at the moment. The lopsided ears gave her a look of playful innocence, yet Hardwin knew her well enough to know that that was probably the way she meant to come across. For about the 4,000,000th time, Hardwin wondered how she had gotten her fox-like features. He wasn't on close terms with her- she was in the dorm next to him, and they had spoken only rarely, but he knew enough to see past her innocent act. She was the most cunning, rebellious person he knew. Not that he knew many people, of course...
Vixen had black hair and eyes, her hair cut shaggy and unevenly, but in a pretty way. The choppy layers fell in waves over her face, and her eyes were deep and shone with feigned innocence.
Her clothes, several times, bore the universal symbol for rebellion, a unique sort of star. Her dress was made of some sort of animal skin, sleeveless and thigh length. She had on a belt with matching boots, all bearing the rebellious star; they were slightly more shiny than the dress, but none of her clothing was as bright or as vibrant as her tail.
Her tail was curved daintily on the end of the bench, the snowy white tip flicking idly from side to side. Vixen put her hand down on the bench just then, and Hardwin saw that she had a thin amount of orange fur on the back of her hand, along with pointed black fingernails that brought the word 'claws' to his mind.
Ivy, however, had thick long strawberry blonde hair, and as Hardwin had noticed, she had mood feathers, it seemed, which were now a spring green as she cheerily engaged in conversation. She was short, for a demon, Hardwin thought, since most of them never dropped below seven feet... she was only five feet looking tiny next to Kale.
Ivy wore boots, a belt, and a dress all of extreme and outrageous colors. All three of these were made of a shiny, plastic-y looking material, and were quite simple- but fashionable in their own way. Ivy seemed to enjoy all of the attention she was receiving- Not that she doesn't have that already, Hardwin scoffed in his head- then reminded himself not to be judgemental.
He heard several snatches of conversation in the next few minutes, but his favorite by far was when Kale asked "So, do you always get in trouble like that, Ivy?" with a grin.
She replied "Well, yes. It's one of the side affects of being obnoxious, I guess, but you're named after a vegetable, so we're all good."
"Ooooh," several of the boys jeered. "Kale, you just got rejected!" One of them continued. Kale flashed Ivy a smile, and then pretended to be upset about the 'rejection'.
Hardwin found himself disliking Kale for some unknown reason. He looked Kale up and down, unable to imagine him paired with Ivy.
Kale's bleached blonde crew cut had a transparent, somehow bluish tinge, which Hardwin found a little too similar to Ivy's mood feathers. Kale's skin was uncommonly light, and his eyes were a very piercing blue. His teeth were blindingly white, making his smile all the more dazzling.
He was wearing simple clothes, a white tank top and gray jeans, whit black combat boots that Hardwin thought didn't match his character at all. Kale was quite tall and muscular, which Hardwin couldn't help feeling jealous about. But despite his resentment, Hardwin couldn't help but admire Kale, especially after he heard him mention he owned a spacecycle.
(To be continued)
Wow!
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