Hunt, Hunter, Hunted....

Settin' here alone in the cockpit of the Shadow, I watched the planet slowly spin in it's orbit. Down there was someone I care 'bout. Lily.

Things been crazy, real crazy..... "Brooke come into Bootleggers over a week ago. She decided she needed a ride to Paquin. I walked her to the stealth shuttle I had fixed up. Yeah, I been workin' on it in case she needed a way to bolt. If the 'liance showed, or Faith himself, Sentry, Dex and I could get Brooke out safe." Makin' sure the orbit was stable, I checked the auto pilot, "Varahi gave Brooke a place to rest and recover from the flight, while I did some scoutin'. Checkin' for possible problem locations. Yeah, I was playin' security. Someone had to keep watch."

I had to check the satillite position to see if I could send a long range comm signal. Had to make sure Seana knew where I was, and where Lily was at. "Had set up cams at a few key locations in case. Good thing too. We had a few visitors nosin' 'round. Then Brooke went into labor. It's hard to be concentratin' on watchin' when all you can hear's screamin'. Well maybe not all screamin'..... WillieB showed up and gorram if he didn't almost faint away. Dex was helpin' the doc with Brooke while Sentry waited nearby to help if needed. I can say Brooke had her babies, Calius and Kiah." I sighed checking the coords. Looked like the satillite could send the comm signal out system. "Yeah,ended up she did have twins. I joked with Sentry 'bout maybe bein' a reader."

"We had troubles though... Someone in the company was passin' info. Willie B sent a wave to old man Faith and we had our answer. Or at least that one. Might be we got another, but I ain't sure yet," I shrugged out of my flight harness and checked on the equipment I'd need on the surface. Didn't want the folk here to get riled up. "But there wasn't no time to spend with Brooke's family, cause Aurora showed up too. She just waltzed right in even after I told her to leave. Gorram, she was downright pushy. I carried her outside and told her to leave. She said she wanted to see the babies. never seen one, she said. We had words, the she spat on me. Disrespect's all I can say. I took her back outside where she jumped the rail down to the beach and run off."

Takin' a few minutes, I changed clothes and went back to the pilot seat to strap back in. "Dex took her to a safe place. While they were enjoyin' family life I was dealin' with Aurora. Aurora came to the Drift to talk to JJ. She was complainin' that Miya was tryin' to poison her. Needed a safe place to stay. And sure enough, poor JJ offered to let her stay with her. Then Aurora decided she had to go back to destiny to get somethin', so I took her back. When we got there, Aurora wanted to play games and sit 'round. Gorram, I had cargo to finish loadin' and findin' Lily. Then the Christmas tree she had in the room fell on her. I lifted it so she could get from under it, then she demanded it be removed from her place. I took it outside where someone was likely to take it away."

Strappin' in, I cheched my landin' zone again to be sure no one would see me comin' down. "While she was upstairs gettin' changed I went to talk to Seana. I knew somethin' was up. Lily sent me a pic and commed me. I tried to warn her 'bout what the cub was up to. Dont know if she understood what I was tryin' to tell her. Seana needed to know Lily was safe. When I got there I talked to the mayor. Gave her the pic too. She told me to go find Lily at any cost. I went back to get Aurora to tell me where Lily was. Then she started tellin' everyone I was crazy. I needed to be in the medcenter there. She went on like that then when no one did anythin' she kicked me. I told Mister Krenshar he needed to teach her some humility and respect. I don't think he understood. Fact was Aurora wasn't respectin' him neither. I said as much to her while the others looked on. Miya and Thoth agreed. Gark was there and was a little shocked at what I had to say. Mister Krenshar was a little b'side himself not sure what to do. Then I showed em all the pic Lily sent me."

The ship moved silently down through the atmo to the area I chose as a landin' area. "Got Aurora real worked up. She tried to tell everyone I was insane, and when that didn't work she tried to say Lily left me. I know Lily. I know she wouldn't send me back the Christmas gift and say g'bye. I knew then that Aurora stole it from Lilys stuff. The cub ran for her ship. Gave me a chance to maybe find Lily, was my thinkin'. she started liftin' off, as I grabbed the crystal. Then I ran for my smaller ship. No one stopped me. In fact Thoth and Miya offered to help save lily." I cycled the ship to start landin' in the clearin' out of sight of anyone.

"Aorora can fly that ship, but she ain't that good. I followed her, keepin' close enough to see where she was headin'. Maybe she would show me where Lily was. It was way out there on the raggedy edge. Some forgotten colony left on it's own for too long. Seems it wasn't on the nav charts. I set the new nav coords and pulled back. Had to get the info to Seana so she knew where we were. I flew back to the drift to get supplies and give Seana the location. While I was there I quickly packed the cargo container so Brooke could have someone sell it off. Wasn't much to load, just needed to get it done fast. Lily didn't have much time. Two gorram days.... her head start. And time was runnin' out."

It was snowin' down there, so I grabbed my coat and put it on. Was a hard choice to leave my gun behind, but I didn't want to have to answer any strange questions 'bout em. "I sent a wave to Seana, tellin' her I'd be here. Had to find Lily at least and warn her. I made a promise not to take her from the hunt, but nothin' bout not watchin' out for her. I love her.. Didn't want to see her hurt... Or worse. I know she could die. 'All things end....'. Somethin' she even told me 'bout herself. Well that ain't goin' to happen while I'm 'round." Grabbin' the sword from the storage nettin' I strapped it onto my back then set the auto pilot. "I went lookin' 'round the place, gettin' a lay of the land. Yeah I saw the map from the ship, but it ain't the same as bein' on the ground. Took a while b'fore I caught her scent. She was 'round somehwere. It was strongest by some arena, but she wasn't there. Some elder was standin' 'round there. Was hopin' he could hel me find her. Talkin' to him was a failure. He just kept yellin' at me and tellin' me to leave."

"First time I made that kind of impression in a real long time. Went through to the small city. Heard gunfire and went to check it out. I was wishin' I did hang on to my gun. Looked like some gang on the hunt..... but no Lily. At least that was a good sign." I watched the ship lift back into the atmo, then checked my compass. "I talked to a few folk there, One said he knew Lily, so I asked him to give her the meesage she was in danger. That it was her what was bein' hunted. He took me back to the outskirts of town and said he'd pass it along. Well it was gettin' cold so I found a fire along a path. Spent time checkin' the clearin' b'fore I moved closer. Someone else showed up and hung by the fire for a while. he didn't know Lily when I asked so he moved on. then last night I run into Storm. Seems she knows Lily too. Daugter of Inxy, Lily's friend. I gave her the message too, and to watch out for Aurora. I knew the cub was down here somewhere....and dangerous."

So here I am in unfamiliar territory, no ship I can readily access, and a lot of dangerous places you can get ambushed in. "Found out from Storm the hunt was over. So Lily was on a hunt where she was the prey. Whether she knew it or not. Now I'm tryin' to keep a distance and watch her. I'm pretty sure she knows I'm here. I'm hopin' she'll understand I'm wantin' to make sure she's ok. A lot of folk, includin' me, care 'bout her comin' home safe. I'm thinkin' there'll most like be a confrontation b'tween her and the cub sometime soon..... When? I don't know. But it won't be a pretty....." I looked up knowin' my only way home was up in the black. The ship'd stay in orbit and contact me once a day. I could send the signal for it to land if I needed to get out of here, otherwise it'd stay in orbit. No one'd know it was there. No transponder, no markin's, no lights.

I sighed, breathin' in the cold air and shivered a little, "I found her runnin' round out with a few folk last night. Just hope none of em are tryin' to kill her. Can't say as I care for the cold and the strangers that're out huntin' every night. It's like they all gone feral.... Well some of em. Not quite reavers but desperate. One good thin' though. It's dark here longer. Short days, and that suits me fine. There might be mutants here, but I ain't all that human with my senses the way they are. It might just keep me alive until I can convince Lily to come home."