Section 9.Mileena

The story so far:

Mileena Ve’Tan, daughter of Porten Ve’Tan, a wealthy and highly respected citizen of Aurorus-4, is definitely not a rogue of any sort. She is more of an innocent bystander, but there is no way she is going to let her father get murdered by bounty hunters. She already lost her mother that way.

The story continues…

As Aaron and her father left, Mileena smiled and turned to the controls. She whipped the ship around and headed back down to the planet’s surface. The huge freighter touched down outside the city with a resounding slam. At the point of impact, Mileena was almost jarred from her chair. It took her a moment to regain her footing before she was out the hatch and sprinting back to town. She could already see the bounty hunters on all manner of beasts and motorized mounts hurrying to the site where she had landed.

“Fools,” she chuckled to herself, “don’t they realize they’ve already gone?”

Luckily, there was no shortage of people flowing into the city as well. Mileena, with her clothes a little more ragged and dirty than usual, managed to blend in quite splendidly and did not even have to show her identification at the gates amidst the throng. Once inside, she hurried to the estate, which was surprisingly empty, save for the servants, who all looked terrified. At the sight of her, the head butler, Faldore, rushed up to greet her.

“My dear Mileena!” he exclaimed as he gave her a great hug. Faldore was tall, especially for a Aurorusian, standing almost seven feet tall. Mileena had always enjoyed this aspect of him, because his embraces always seemed to envelop the entirety of her being and made her feel like everything was going to be all right. “We were so afraid you were captured, or worse, killed!”

“No, when we got away and found out about the tracker, we split up and I came back here. There’s no one after me that I know of.”

“Well, that is a saving grace, then. We should get you far away from here, dear one,” Faldore said, pulling Mileena along to her bedroom. “Perhaps we could send you away to some of your friends on the Aulin system.” Maidservants pulled bags from closets and began filling them with beautiful dresses. “I believe they are in the height of summer right now and the beaches are…”

Mileena stood next to the servant and shook her head. “No, Faldore, I’m needed here. If I run away, there will be no one to keep Thenar and his host of bounty hunters off my father’s trail.”

“Are you sure that is wise, Mileena? What if the hunters come after you next?”

Mileena was digging through a drawer that had not been touched by the servants. Inside were older clothes, items that were worn or too small, all these thrown aside until all that remained was a full-body leather suit. She coughed loudly and Faldore turned his back to her while she changed. It took her a few moments to cram herself into the snug costume.

“So,” she said as Faldore turned to face her again, “how do I look?”

The servant frowned. “To be honest, like a harlot. If you’re going to try on old costumes, why not your princess costume from a few months back?” Faldore began to search through the piles of clothes the maidservants had pulled out before Mileena pulled him away.

“No, old friend,” she replied, “I’m going to be hiding in the place they’ll least expect me and the place that I can do the most good for my father and Aaron.” She pulled a dark colored scarf from the pile and wrapped it around her head and mouth, obscuring everything but her eyes. “In plain sight,” she remarked in an accent that made her seem like she was having a little trouble with the normal pronunciations of normal speech.

---

And so starts the exciting adventures of Mileena, the fake bounty hunter! Where should she go first? How should she proceed in her new persona as huntress? Should she go straight up to Thenar and demand the bounty be dropped or should she follow the rest of the hunters and lead them on false trails in order to lead them away from the “prize”?

Comment on this below or on the Facebook group.

Section 9.Aaron

The story so far:

Aaron Damerson, or Dam, as he is known in some circles, is a bounty hunter on the run. After discovering his most recent mark, Porten Ve’Tan, was an upstanding citizen and all-around good guy, he decided he needed to do his part to make the world (specifically Aurorus-4) a better place. Unfortunately, as these things usually go, the criminal element tends to dislike being dislodged from places of power. Hence the running.

The story continues…

Aaron turned a slight shade of red at Mileena’s kiss and turned to the hatch to his own ship. Porten followed close behind, smiling and elbowing Aaron in the ribs.

“She likes you, my friend,” the portly man said as they entered the galley of the cramped ship. All the appliances were nowhere to be seen, all hidden in the walls in order to allow more room for passengers or cargo. “I should know, I’m her father.”

“Well,” Aaron replied, still red from the whole experience, “you should know it would never work out between us.”

“What do you mean by that?” Porten asked, rubbing his head.

“Don’t you know how this whole thing works? Interspecies relations never work. It’s like trying to mate a goldfish and an elephant.”

“I’m sorry, I…” Porten looked very confused. “Gouldfeesh? Ele-something?”

“Oh, my apologies,” Aaron paused for a wistful moment. “Those things don’t exist anymore. Suffice to say different creatures don’t mix. Not very well at least.”

“Excuse me, fellas,” ANDI’s cold robotic voice interrupted, “but I kinda need a destination.”

“The Spice Belt?” Porten posited.

“No,” Aaron replied, looking at the star maps on file. “They know about your holdings there. That’ll be the first place they’ll look. When you’re trying to lose a hitman, go to a train station.”

“What are you blathering about?”

“Aurorus-3, only one city left, but it’s huge. Twice the size of any other in this sector. Any friends there?”

“Well, no, I don’t and I…”

“Then that’s where we’re headed. ANDI?”

“Way ahead of you, boss,” the voice purred as the ship rolled and shot off in another direction. “Arrival in about seven minutes.”

“Thanks,” Aaron said, sitting back in one of the extremely uncomfortable chairs in the space. “Plenty of time to figure out what we do when we get there.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have much money on me,” Porten said with a shrug as he dug into his pockets.

“How much is ‘not much’?”

“Only about 500 aurods.”

Aaron stood agape. “That’s more than I would have made on the bounty on your head. I should have just picked your pockets and left.”

Porten couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well then, you wouldn’t have been caught up in this mess and I would be dead. Wouldn’t that be a fitting ending to the story? Anyway, now that we know our funds, what can we do?”

“Well, for one thing, I think we’re going to need a lot of bullets.”

---

Now that Aaron and Porten have a destination in mind, what’s next for our fugitive heroes? Do they simply sit around and wait for the unending stream of bounty hunters to come and kill them? Or do they attempt to make peace with Thenar?

The story continues with Mileena’s half on Thursday! Post comments below or on the Facebook group.

Section 8

The story so far:

Aaron Damerson is a rogue on a mission. After discovering the alien he was hired to kill was actually an upstanding citizen and likely the only good person left on the entire planet of Aurorus-4. Aaron then stood up to his old friend Thenar, deciding to protect the man he was supposed to kill. Now, they are on the run from a number of hitmen hired to kill them both.

The story continues…

Aaron slammed the button for the com. “Who is this?”

“Just little old me,” the voice replied, “your old friend Thenar.”

Every hair on Aaron’s body stood on end and he could feel his teeth grinding involuntarily. “You… you…”

“My mother always taught me that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything you would regret later.”

“What do you want?” Aaron hissed through clenched teeth.

“Just to tell you that there is no place you can go that we won’t find you,” Thenar’s voice was calm, especially for someone who had supposedly just lost his prey. “You think we wouldn’t put a tracking device on your ship first? All those flight plans you’re sending out. They’re just going to stall all the traffic around here for a couple minutes. By that time, my boys will already be well on their way to pick you up, wherever you decide to go.”

Porten looked around in fear, trying to find a way of escape. Aaron crouched under the control panel and ripped out a fistful of wires. The communications panel fizzled and the speaker swore in a staticky sort of way before dying out completely.

“Are you mad?” screamed Mileena. “You’re destroying the ship!”

“Only way to make sure they’re not listening. Mileena, you’re staying here, on this ship. Go back to ground. Porten and I will continue try to get away in my ship. This’ll at least buy us some time.”

Mileena’s eyes watered up. “You sure?” she whimpered as the tears started streaming down. “I’m afraid I’ll never see you again, daddy.”

Porten smiled, almost too widely for the situation, and hugged her tight. “Shh… it’s going to be all right. I’ve got the most capable bounty hunter in the quadrant on my side. No need to worry.” The smile became genuine as he chuckled to himself, “Already saved my life twice.”

“We need to go,” Aaron said, motioning for the air lock. “ANDI’s already waiting out there.”

Porten harrumphed, shaking himself to get his composure back. “Well, then,” he replied, “we had better be off.”

“Be safe,” Mileena whispered giving her father one last hug. “And Aaron,” she said, walking over to him and giving him a soft peck on the cheek, “good luck.”

---

Well, congratulations players! You have opened up a second storyline! Should Aaron and Porten continue to the Spice Belt, or should they continue to run? Or should they stop hiding and take the fight to the enemy? For goodness sake, Aaron’s strapped to the gills in his ship!

How should Mileena play off her part in all this? Where should she go? How can she help undermine the hunt for her father and Aaron?

Comment on this below or on the Facebook group.

The Aurorus System

The system of planets surrounding the star Aurorus is primarily inhabited by a race of sentient hominids referred to as “Aurorusians”. At full maturity, a normal Aurorusian male will grow to approximately 6 feet tall and weigh approximately 180 pounds. Skin pigmentation is generally a darker shade of green, though residents of some climates tend to have either bluer or more yellow pigmentation. The blood that runs through an Aurorusian’s veins is actually blue due to the amount of carbon dioxide being carried. Aurorusian cells function primarily on the carbon garnered from the gas, exhaling oxygen.

Aurorusian society is built upon a series of eight, primarily because the Aurorusian hand has only four fingers. Government buildings generally have eight sides, as do most forms of currency throughout the system. The number eight is very important in this culture, much as the number ten is in human culture.

Aurorus Prime, the seemingly ironic second planet out from the star, was the jumping off point for the species. The planet is still the most profitable and hospitable of the planets, and the only one not dependent on the resource known as “Spice”, due to its climate and natural resources.

Aurorus-2 is actually a very large moon orbiting Aurorus Prime. It is the primary home of the large number of dignitaries that are part of the Sector Senate, which is located on the moon.

Aurorus-3 is sparsely habitable, most of its resources being shipped to Aurorus-2 during a period of global turmoil. The small numbers of people that remain on the planet are generally laborers and environmental activists, trying to make the world more habitable.

Aurorus-4 was colonized late in the 32^nd century by Earth reckoning. The civilization was designed to make the best use of its land masses. Throughout the planets deserts and ice wastes, cities cropped up, every inch of the arable land used for growing crops. The only problem was that no one wanted to live in the extreme heat or cold of the cities. Revolts occurred and the entire planet was in constant turmoil, an ample breeding ground for low-life degenerates and worse

An asteroid belt, generally called the “Spice Belt” by Aurorusians, floats beyond Aurorus-4. One rather large asteroid, dubbed “Surorua” by its discoverer, is the final habitable body in the system. Many of the asteroids in the area consist primarily of frozen carbon dioxide, or “Spice”. The labor in these mines is cold and difficult, usually delegated to indentured labor or slaves.