#flashficiton

The city lights of the planet flickered against the night sky as a shadowy figure made their way through the alleyways, leaving a smoking building. Rain poured down in sheets, washing the blood away from their hands and feet, leaving no footprints. They kept a cloak around their shoulders, using the shadows to their advantage, keeping their hands and weapons hidden.

They walked until gray early morning light peeked over the horizon, they reached their small starship, tucked away behind a building and concealed by the cloaking device.

They tapped a button on their wrist, metal plates that made up their hand briefly shining in the light. The starship melted into view as the cloaking fell away, and they stepped onto their ship, closing the ramp behind them.

Once the door closed, Corie lowered her hood, shaking the water off her cloak and boots. She slipped the knives from her belt as she walked into the small main area of her gunship. She opened the cabinet and hung up all her weapons in their respective places, neatly put away.

Once everything was put away, she shrugged the cloak off her shoulders, stretching. Her limbs ached her flesh and nerves met metal and machine, creaking as the rusty metal plates scraped against each other. 

There was a high pitched squealing on the side of her head, and she growled, tapping the metal plate at her temple. The screen in one of her eyes flashed at her, blinking information about the wires getting crossed again. She winced as there was a sharp stab of pain in her temple, and she stumbled over to the bench where her tools were. She pried off the metal plate at her temple, felt very carefully for the button she wanted, and turned off her eye. That side of her vision went dark momentarily as she felt around for the crossed wires. 

Finding the source of the problem, she adjusted wires accordingly. She checked that everything was in order, and turned her eye back on. After a few seconds, it booted back up, fully operational and no longer flashing red or screeching.

She climbed into the cockpit, and started up the ship, launching into the planet’s atmosphere. Once the ship cleared the cloud cover, she steered the ship out of the atmosphere, and the window filled with brilliant constellations of stars and the green system’s star behind her. She punched the client’s coordinates into the navigation, and activated the hyperdrive. 

Once the ship was locked in, she sat back and started cleaning the grooves in the metal plates of her arm. The laser gun attachment was currently activated, and she switched between each of her arm’s attachments to clean it out properly. The arm, like her cybernetic eye and leg, was made of mismatched parts and rusty metal- nothing like the shiny cybernetic tech you could get from the government if you were rich enough- but it got the job done just fine for her.

A little while later, the ship excited hyperspace at the planet where the client was waiting. She followed the coordinates to a peak on the planet’s icy atmosphere, and landed on the landing pads in front of the villa. She put on her cloak and pulled up the hood, hiding her bright aqua blue hair. After showing her passkey at the door, it opened for her.

The man was sitting at a table, playing card games and eating luxurious food when she entered. Corie pulled out the bag with the evidence of her job completed, and tossed it at the client’s feet.

“Ah, thank you, would you like to stay? Sit down, have a drink.”

“I’d like to be paid, so I can be on my way.”

“Ah, right to business,” the client sighed, shaking his head to his buddies, “Alright then. I’ll wire you the transfer-”

“I prefer to be paid in physical credits.”

The client thought about it for a moment, sighed, and got up. He came back a moment later with a heavy satchel. “This should cover it.” And he shooed her away.

Corie didn’t mention the bag definitely had more than the agreed upon payment, and gladly left without a word.

The ship climbed out of the planet’s atmosphere, and she was about to find a small planet to hide out on for a little while before taking her next job when the transmitter went off.

“Who-”

Before she could answer, the radio crackled to life. “This is the Peace Intergalactic Expansion Law Enforcement. Corie, is it? You’ve been summoned by the council.”

She was frozen for a second before tightly gripping her ship’s controls, thumb hovering over the button to fire the laser cannons. She held down the transmitter button for her end, just long enough for them to hear what she said. “No thank you, I’m not taking on any more clients at the moment.”

“This is not a request. Come with us to the P. I. E. council or you will be arrested.”

Corie let out a growl of frustration. She had no idea how they’d found her, she’d been so careful like she was after every job to stay off PIE’s radar. She shorted a little to herself, wondering if they knew the Earthling meaning of those letters in that order.

She spoke into the transmitter. “Alright. Care to remind me where this council is?”

“Coordinates have just been sent to you. Active your hyperdrive and we will escort you.”

Making sure her end was muted, Corie grumbled to herself as she punched in the coordinates and activated the hyperdrive. This was going to be a long trip.

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