The Adventures of Evin Heartwrite

Chapter 5

         A night light faintly illuminates Evin’s room as the open window glittered from the distant stars deep into the void. Small, with only a bathroom at the far side of the room, the young man snores with his arm dangling from the soft bed. Rousing from his slumber, the man sits up in bed and wipes the coal from his eyes before stretching and yawning.

         “Man, I needed that sleep.” He yawns as he scratches his bare chest. He looks to see another person lying next to him underneath the sheets. He removes the blue blanket to see the platinum haired woman peacefully sleeping in the fetal position. Evin gasps in shock as he falls backward off the bed hitting his head on the carpeted floor. He quickly springs to his feet and gazes at the sleeping woman as he suddenly realizes all of the events that transpired.

         “Oh no, how did I end up back in my room?” He looks around for any clues that’ll lead him to an answer. He looks at himself and notices the prison trousers he still wore and quickly stepped to a closet nearby where he opens it takes a pair of blue overalls and slips them on. He also slips on a pair of black boots on his feet and zips up his outfit. He makes his way towards the exit, but stops and looks back to see the sleeping Kaleen on his bed. He notices the smile on her face as she sleeps regardless of the noise he just made. Despite not knowing who she was, he felt a deep connection with the woman that made him hesitant to leave her behind.

         “I need to talk to mom.” Evin says as he shakes out of his trance and exits the door hissing open and closing behind him. Looking to his left and right he peers down the halls of the residential district of the space colony with its many metal apartment doors along both sides of the hall. People frequent the halls as they go in and out of their dorm rooms. Some ride on floating hoovers boards while others simply fly using their magic to carry them to their destination. A grumble resonates in the deep pit of his stomach, and he clenches his aching gut.

         “Uhh, I haven’t eaten in days. I’ll need to go to the cafeteria before I go to the call centers.”
He makes his way down the hall weaving between workers in overalls, military recruits chatting with each other as they travel in groups and casual patrons visiting for sight seeing. Evin reaches into his overalls and removes a cap and graces it on his head to disguise himself before proceeding down the hall. He cruises beside a couple talking about plans for their next date while others laugh and taunt as they run down the hallway. He suddenly stops where he sees a checkpoint where armed marine guards flashing lights in the faces of each person they stop. A signpost near the guards that says wanted in bold red letters with Evin’s face on it. Evin quickly retreats off the side where he faces the wall pretending to repair something.

         “They got my face all over the place.” Evin shakes his head. “But this is the only way to the cafeteria.”
He looks at the large hallway leading into a glass cylindrical walkway and looks at the many people making it through without being checked.

         “If I hide near someone, I should be able to pass.”

         Hands in pocket and head lowered, he walks beside a large orc to avoid suspicion.

         “Hey! You!” A commanding voice shoot straight for Evin. However, he continues on hoping he was addressing the orc nearby.

         Keeping his head low to avoid detection, he ignores the order and continues towards the large connecting hallway.

         “I’m talking to you!” the marine reaches out and yanks off Evin’s cap. Evin holds up his arm to block him from viewing his face.

         “Put your arms down.” The guard commands as he holds up a thin device and it scans his entire body.
Evin expects the worst as he quickly contemplates a way to escape, but the guard lowers his device and slaps the hat back on his head before waving him away.

         “Get moving.” The guard walks past Evin.

         The young man freezes in shock.

         “He didn’t recognize me?”

         Evin didn’t wait. He speeds past the checkpoint and enters a large glass walkway where machines carrying cargo hover above. The glass windows expose the dark void on one side and the vibrant space station with its many towers and flickering lights on the left. As Evin walks, a large battleship with flickering lights with the words S.S Champaign on the side cruises near the glass walkway with its turrets on its side and beneath it. He nears a pillar like structure with a kiosk built into to it and he taps the screen to open its interface. He presses a few buttons onto it to access his account information and it reveals a disappointing zero credits under his name. Evins head droops in disappointment and slaps the panel in frustration.

         “Nothing,” he shakes his head.

         He stands at the kiosk awkwardly looking around. Being out of work for five months coupled with his criminal status has zeroed out his account. Not knowing what to do, he taps the screen repeatedly to exit from his account information and turns around to leave.

         “Going somewhere?” a feminine voice directed at him amidst the chatter of the moving crowd.
Evin turns to see Kaleen in military uniform waving a card in her hand as if teasing him, but the young man quickly grabs the young woman by the hand and pulls her aside into a grove in the metal wall.

         “Girl,” Evin grinds his teeth in frustration looking around for anyone noticing them. “Why did you bring me here? The entire colony is hunting me right now.”

         “It’s okay, I’ve worked a clever spell over both of us that hides our identity.”

         “What?” Evin’s eyes rolls around his head remembering the guard allowing him to pass without noticing him. “How long does it last?”

         “As long as I want it to, thanks to you?” the woman grins from ear to ear playfully pinching his cheek.

         “Yeah, but how did we end up back here? We were in outer space.” Evin motions with his arm towards the glass window peering into the dark void.

         Kaleen stares out at the glass for a few moments, reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a granola bar. Biting a morsel, she chews before holding up to Evin.

         “Want some?” she muffles as she chews the contents.

         Evin snatches the bar from her hands, hunches over and devours the while bar paper and all like a ravenous animal while Kaleens eyes widen in sheer delight. Evin halts mouth filled with paper wrap and all realizing what happened to him. He digs his finger into his mouth and pulls out the paper wrap and tosses it on the ground where a clean bot collects as it rolls on by.

         “Well, you’re hungry.” Kaleen laughs as she raises a card in the air. “Why don’t we have dinner?”
Evin swallows the morsel in his mouth, but his stomach growled loud enough for a few people to take notice. He clenches his aching gut and looks at Kaleen like a puppy and nods at the proposal.

         “This way please,” the woman sings as she saunters off hand on her hip waving the card in the air.

         Evin follows her down the busy halls of the east sector until they reach a fork in the hallway. One lead to the right where the courtyard sign hoover above the entrance while the other lead to the shopping district. Kaleen leads him towards the shopping district where they step into a smaller corridor fully laid with clean carpet the muffled their footsteps.

         “Um,” Evin looks around at the fancy shops behind glass windows with various people walking inside. “This is the most expensive shopping district in the colony. Why are we here?”

         “This way,” Kaleen turns into a clothing store with the name Pluto 22 in neon blue blinking in mid air above the entrance. They walk into a clothing store with clothes of all sizes, primarily made for fancy parties and wedding ceremonies. They walk past of racks of clothes and a few browsing patrons until they reach a countertop where they meet a grey skinned orc woman dressed in clean blouse and skirt.

         “Hello, I’m here to pick up my order,” Kaleen slides her card across the glass display of jewelry. Evin quietly stands behind and watches as the orc raises her large palms and uses her bulky digits to type in the number on the card.

         “Ah yes we have it,” The woman speaks in a gruff but feminine tone. She squats and picks up two outfits covered by a black bag and places it onto the glass display.

         “Would you like to have them fitted today ma’am?” The greyskin politely bows.

         “No thanks this’ll be fine.” Kaleen picks up both covered outfits, “Is there a dressing room here?”

         “Just towards the back madam.” The woman motions with her arm.

         “Thank you.” Kaleen turns around grabs Evin by the arm and pulls him along towards the back.

         “Here,” she plants the outfit in his arms. “Put this on. They’re looking for a miner, so it’s best to avoid being detected.”

         “But you said that you put a spell on me.” Evin looks at the woman confused.

         “Don’t argue just put it on, “She pushes him inside the dressing room and closed the door.

         Evin removes the bag revealing a black jacket with golden embroidery around the edges, a pair of socks and black pants all neatly put together on a long branching hanger with a fresh black shoe. He mildly wonders why the formal wear, but his hunger drives him on without thinking too much. He removes his overalls, slips on his jacket, pants and shoes and stares at himself in the mirror.

         “This has to be expensive.” Even runs his fingers along the gold embroidery on his jacket.

         “Hey are you ready?” A muffled voice sounds behind the dressing room door.

         Evin opens the door and steps out to see a Kaleen wearing a glittering silver dress matching heels that fits her well. Evin’s hunger couldn’t sway his gaze away from the beauty as she spins around with her long platinum braid swaying along her back.

         “Like it?” Kaleen smiles as she plants her hands on her slender hips showing her figure.

         Evin’s face flushes red as he turns his head away.

         “You look…Great.” Evin says scratching his head. He tries to hide his attraction from the woman, but she smiles as she could clearly see that he’s fallen for her.

         “C’mon let’s go.” Kaleen motions for Evin to follow. “You need to eat.”
Both leave the store, and they walk side by side. Evin bashfully scratches the back of his head as Kaleen clasps his arm.

         “Umm,” Evin laughs “What’s this all about? We just met.”

         “Haven’t anyone told you to just enjoy the moment.” Kaleen winks at the young man.

         “I’m sorry,” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Not too long ago I was just a miner, with a low magic score and low prospects, I was just content with working to save enough to live on a paradise planet. Start a family and live out the rest of my life in peace. Never thought I’d be caught up in all of this. I still find it hard to believe. Why are you doing all of this?” he turns to Kaleen as they approach the club district at the end of the corridor.

         “As I said before,” She snuggles closer to him holding onto his arm firmly. “I want what you want.”

         Evin didn’t understand what she meant. As beautiful as she was, with the talents she possesses, she could’ve nailed a nobleman or excel through the ranks with Mage Marines with ease. Why bog herself with a man who could be thrown into prison at any given moment with little else to offer other than being able to live without the excess use of magic. He couldn’t trust it.

         “Were here.” Kaleene rushes ahead into large club room with an electronic dancefloor on one side and floating chairs and tables on the other. Evin walks inside wondering at the cosmic tapestry hanging off the walls and the couples dancing across the electronic floor shifting colors as people embrace each other to the soft music played by an orchestra group known as The Constellations. Each member wears a formal vest with a white shirt and tie and matching pairs of slacks. Their instruments however emitted waves of color as they played giving off a soothing ambience to anyone listening. Evin saunters over to Kaleen who’s speaking with a human waiter dressed in a velvet vest and trousers.

         “We have a reservation.” Kaleen says holding her card to the gentleman.

         He takes it and places it on a holographic like device attached to his wrists and waits. A beam of light shoots up from the device showing a picture of two individuals who look totally different than Kaleen and Evin, but the man nods and motions for them to follow.

         “Yes Mr. and Ms Chance we’ve been expecting you.”

         “Chance?” Evin looks at the picture a bit confused. “Did she…?”

         “C’mon Evin lets go.” Kaleen waves for him to follow.

         Evin follows Kaleen to a table near the window the peers into the void and the distant swirling galaxy peppered with stars around it. Kaleen plants herself onto the floating chair and Evin does the same. The waiter taps the device on his wrists and two holographic menus shoot up. He swipes them with his free hand and the menus spin onto the table in front of the two patrons.

         “Please take your time. Once you’ve placed your orders our chefs while have them prepared and brought to you in several minutes. Please enjoy you stay.” The man bows before leaving.

         “Wow! This place is really nice.” Evin leans on the side to see the pointed end of the chair floating about a foot of the floor. “Not what I’m used to.”

         “What are you used to?” Kaleen crosses her legs and lean in to listen.

         “Well, if I save up for a few months I can afford something decent like a three-star restaurant. Last time I’ve been to something this nice was back on the mining facility on the moon and I got lucky by winning some tickets at a raffle. Most of the time its cheap food I buy at the local cafeteria.”

         “That’s all you had to eat?” Kaleen sits up shocked. “No wonder you were so small.”

         “What are you talking about?” Evin frowns in confusion.

         “Uhh nothing,” Kaleen shakes her head. “Let’s order some food. I’m sure you’re starving right now.”

         Both look down at their menus perusing through the options with their fingers. Kaleen looks up at Evin as he selects one item on the menu and attempts to submit his order.

         “Hold on.” Kaleen grabs his hand to keep him from pressing the submit button on the holographic menu. “Is that all you’re going to eat?”

         “Um yeah,” Evin shrugs “It says there’s plenty of food in this item alone.”

         Kaleen snatches the menu from him scrolls to the top menu and begins selecting each individual item all the way down to the bottom before punching the submit button.

         “Hey what are you doing? There’s no way I’m going to eat all of that.” Evin reaching for the menu only to miss as the blue holographic menu blinks from view. “That has to be expensive. Do you even have the credits for all of that.”

         “You haven’t eaten properly in months, perhaps years,” Kaleen mumbles the last part as she taps the submit button on her own menu as it blinks from view. “If we’re going to survive our trip, I need you as strong as you can be.”

         “Trip?” Evin raising an eyebrow. “What trip, where are we supposed to go?”

         “Listen,” The platninum haired woman leans in to talk. “I’ve been dormant for eons. After you woke me up, I was completely lost not knowing what happened to me or my home. I spent the five months you’ve been asleep to catch up on things here and I managed to make contact with my home system.”

         “What system?” Evin asks leaning in close to hear her answer.

         “The Karma system,”

         “Wait.” Evin’s face twists in confusion. “It’s the same name as the event that happens when you’ve exceeded your magic score. Why…”

         “That’s not important right now.” Kaleen slams the table with a serious look on her face. “What’s important is that it’s all I know about what happened to my home. And your home as well.”

         “Ok look,” Evin plops back in his seat. “I don’t know where all of this is coming from but let me get one thing straight. I am an Earthling,” He points to himself. “My mother is a nurse, and my father is a Marine officer in the thirty second fleet. I’m…Human. You understand. Human.”

         Kaleen sighs and plops back in her chair.

         “But,” Evin says holding up his hand. “For saving me from that bomb blast and taking care of me, I’ll help you find your home.”

         “Thank you,” Kaleen’s face light up with gladness.

         “If you don’t mind me asking.” Evin scratches his head. “Why did you go ballistic when I thought your name was Karma.”

         Kaleen stares at Evin for a few moments and her eyes shifted away to think of an answer.

         “It’s hard to put it into words, but, every time I’ve heard that name spoken the way it’s been spoken in the five months it took for me to figure things out, it started to infuriate me. That name was our pride and joy our glory. We were the masters of the cosmos. The ones who were able to map the entire universe. Everyone depended on us, but now it’s a curse to everyone here, a disease.” Kaleen’s hands clench in fury. “They don’t even know what that name truly means but they spit it from their vile throats as if…”

         “Okay, okay I get it.” Evin waves his hands to calm her down. “I’m sorry I asked.”

         “Your food mister and madam,” a girly voice speaks.

         Both look to see a waitress politely standing by holding a staff and mage hat.

         “You’ve ordered quite a bit of food,” She chuckles uncomfortably “I’m sure most of it can’t fit on this table. So,

         I’ll warp your meal as you manage to finish it and we’ll bag the rest, ok?”

         Evin and Kaleen nod and the waitress plants her mages hat firmly on her head.

         “Okay” the petite mage checks her magic score reader before readying her staff. She removes a piece of paper from her back pocket and gazes at it mumbling the order into her memory before she waves her staff. White sparkles ebb from the crystal ball at the tip of her staff and spiral over the pair’s table before an assortment of plates and glasses suddenly appear floating above the table. The waitress carefully whirls her staff in a circle to lower the dozens of meals onto the table.

         Roasted fish, egg and rice with colorful seasons, turkey, biscuits n gravy, octopus legs, sushi rolls, red rice; every succulent aroma drove Evin’s hunger beyond his control and he begins gouging on the food uncontrollably. He clenches a handful of red rice and shoves it into his face and chews before grabbing a fork, stabbing the roasted fish and biting off a portion of his head. He tosses the finished fish aside and grabs a bowl full of soup big enough to feed four people and gulps it entirely. After he slams the bowl onto the table, he moves onto the piles of sushi rolls stacked high on a large plate and he individually eats every roll at record speed. Without much thought of the people gazing in disgust, Evin relentlessly tears into his food, stacking finished plates off to the side. The waitress gazes in horror, but Kaleen with chin on palm, smiles in admiration.

         Evin finishes his final plate and slams it on the table.

         “More,” he hungrily states with his mouth with enough food and grease on his lips to fill another plate.

         “Uh,” the waitress nervously readies her staff. “You’re not done?”

         “More,” Evin says in an elevated and annoyed tone.

         “Yes mister,” the mage sighs before touching the plates with the tip of her staff. The plates vanish in an instant and another assortment of desserts appear on the table. Kaleen grabs the strawberry sundae and spoon and enjoys the delicate meal while Evin picks up the cosmic honey buns stacked neatly on the plate and shoves them entirely in his mouth. He then takes a large cup of syrup and pours all of it onto a stack of pancakes where the syrup oozes onto the table. He picks an individual pancake and shoves it into his mouth and does the same to the remaining twelve. The young man yanks a towel from one of the plates and wipes food debris from his face before taking a big spoon and scoops a large portion of ice cream. Not hindered by its chill, he bites the spoonful of ice cream and chews before scooping more morsels.

///

         Trixie walks into the club room fully dressed in her cowgirl attire with her hat and boots and leather jacket and pants. She saunters around some patrons dancing on the floor, pass the walkway and sits at the bar.
“I’ll have one of em sundes yall are famous for,” She removes her Stetson hat and places it on the bar revealing her auburn hair.

         “Yes madam,” The waiter bows before turning around to prepare her order.

         The gun mage swirls around in her floating stool and leans against the countertop. She focuses on the couple with the large meals on their table. She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a picture of Evin and holds it to her face. While she couldn’t see the resemblance between the man on the picture and the one sitting at the table, she knew it was him.

         “Looks like, there’s a spell placed on him to hide his identity.” She places the picture back into her back pocket.

         “Nothing a little disrupter wave can’t handle.”

         “Your sundae madam,” the waiter places a strawberry sundae on the counter with a cherry on top.

         “But first.” She swivels back around and grabs the glass cup and the spoon to dig in. She places a small spoonful into her mouth and smiles as the sweetness pleases her taste buds.

         “It’s as good as everyone says,” she continues her eating. She reaches into her pocket again and pulls out a flip-open mirror and places it beside her and moves it until she can see the couple at the table. Satisfied by the position she continues her meal.

///

         Evin leans back on his chair exhausted from the non-stop eating. He rubs his belly as his hunger finally abates.

         “Man, I felt like I haven’t eaten in centuries.” Evin grabs a toothpick from the table and picks his teeth.

         “You must feel a lot better now, don’t you?” Kaleen places a finished ice cream sundae on the table.

         “Like a million credits. Didn’t think I’d be treated here of all places. Thanks.” Evin takes a towel and wipes his mouth and dust off the food particles off his outfit.

         “Say,” Kaleen sees the people waltzing on the dance floor. “Wanna dance?”

         “Say what now?”

         Kaleen stands from her floating chair and grabs the young man by the hand. She pulls him across the hall and onto the dance floor where others waltz to the musicians playing beside the dance floor. They stop at an open space hold each other’s hand and start gliding across the floor. Kaleen gazes up into Evin’s eyes but he turns his eyes away still feeling the sting of his last disastrous relationship.

         “What’s the matter?” Kaleen wordily gazes at Evin. “Why won’t you look at me.”

         “Sorry, I just gone through a pretty bad break up before I met you.” The couple slowly spin to the tunes playing in the fancy club. “Still haven’t gotten over it.”

         “What happened?” Kaleen swayed her hips while held onto her slim figure.

         “I don’t wanna go too much into the details, but let’s just say she was just using me.”

         “Was she?” Kaleen gasps, “Why would she want to do something like that,”

         “I was wondering the same thing about you.” The couple glides across the dance floor.

         “What do you mean?” Kaleen’s platinum hair glides about as he moves.

         “Are you trying to use me?” Evin says.

         “What’s wrong with being used by someone?”

         “Well, it comes off as disingenuous. You just want what you can get out of me. Especially when I’m willing to give you my all.”

         “Well, I don’t think me and her are the same.” Kaleen sweetly laughs.

         “How so?” Evin leans in to listen.

         “Well,” the two separate and come back together in tune. “With your last relationship, she didn’t care for the person she was using. Everyone is used in a relationship in some way. What makes it healthy I think, is the willingness to allow ourselves to be used by the person they care deeply for. She was ready to use you, but she wouldn’t allow you to use her. Tell me, if she allowed you to use her the same way she used you. Would you mind what she did?”

         Evin was silent as her words memorized him even more. Not only was she beautiful, she was willing to give herself entirely to him. He gazes deeply into Kaleen’s blue eyes as she gazes into his. They stop dancing as if they were the only ones on the floor and lean in close to each other for a deep kiss. As their lips near each other, a ball clanks onto the floor and rolls between the two couples. They look down at the mysterious crystal ball as a blue light glimmer within the small sphere.

         “What’s that?” Evin says just before the ball releases a burst of blue light that envelopes the two couples tearing away their disguises. Evin looks at his hands as his skin tone flickers from black to white until it fades back to his original identity as Kaleen’s spell wore off.

         “It’s him,” Everyone gasps in horror as they point at him. “he’s a wanted man. Call the Marines quick.”
Evin and Kaleen stare at each other before breaking in a full run for the exit on the far side of the club. However, as they neared the door, they stumbled to a halt as a group of armed men in uniform rush down the hall pointing directly at Evin.

         “There he is!”

         Evin gasp as he steps back, turns around and runaway leaving Kaleen behind. The armed men wearing all black gear with assault rifles with red and blue neon lights on them, ignore Kaleen and race after Evin as he rushes back to the hallway towards the shopping mall. He huffs as he runs down the carpeted hallway occasionally looking back for the Marines after him. However, he halts when he sees more footmen rushing towards him from the other end of the hallway. Eyes widen in horror, he looks around for a way out and he looks at the glass windows of the local antique shop. With little option, he runs inside by passing flat screen tvs, working his way around a 3d model of a particle accelerator, while a toy high speed rail train honks above him as it sails along a set of tracks hanging from the roof. Evin stops and looks towards the entrance where the armed men met and rush inside of the store.

         “Hey, come back here!” a man kicks down a shelf spilling various electronics onto the floor.

         Evin runs further into the back of the shop until he finds a silver sports bike sitting behind glass.

         “That’s my way out.” Evin goes behind the glass display and observes the vehicle. He sits on the leather seat and feels around for the switch.

         “C’mon c’mon,” Evin mumbles desperately trying to find a way to turn on the sports bike. “Where’s the switch? He leans in and feels around and stops when he sees the engine button right at the neck of the bike. He pushes the button and the motor revs to life as the front light opens like an eye.

         “Hope I can figure out how to ride this thing.” He twists the handle and the bike’s front wheel lifts off the ground as the bike speeds forward smashing through the glass display and rolling along the carpeted floor. Evin rides the bike through the antique store bursting through racks of old-world clothing and oil lamps as he speeds towards the entrance. Armed men dive out of the speeding bikes path as he cruises out of the entrance and back onto the hallway. He turns back towards the club and revs the bike to gain more speed as trails of antique electronics litter the floor behind him.

         “He’s on a motorbike,” A marine speaks into his intercom. “I repeat on the motor bike, beginning pursuit on car sail.”

         A marine pulls a poll from his black jacked and stabs the end on his knee before tossing it out in front of him. The black pole glows neon red before freezing horizontally in midair. The pole unfolds into a two wheeled vehicle with wheels horizontal to the floor. The man jumped onto the hoover bike and jets after Evin along with others on their vehicle.

         The young man revs back into the club and continues down the center of the room. Two Marines on hoverbikes catch up to him and cruise on both sides and aim their weapons at him.

         “Stop your vehicle now!” They threaten as the barrels of their assault rifles glow red.

         Evin quickly hits the breaks and the tires skids on the glass floor as he turns away from his pursuers smashing through plants and crashing through floating chairs towards an exit hatch. The hatch springs open as Evin passes through and he speeds down the hall, passing by rows of lights in a matter of seconds. He waves away pedestrians cruising down the carpeted hallway and they pin themselves against the walls as the marines pursue at full speed. When he exits the other end of the hallway, he sees a dark-skinned marine officer standing directly in his path.

         Her silky black hair neatly wrapped in a bun; she stands firm wearing her uniform with its many decorations. Evin revs the accelerator and speeds up to pass her up, but she raises her finger to the ceiling and Evin floats off the bike as it speeds forward. The officer waves her freehand to the side knocking the bike off course as it screeches and smashes into the metal wall. Evin huffs in exhaustion as he’s suspended in midair gazing at the stern marine officer as she fixes her hands behind her back.

         “Evin Heartright,” She formally addresses. “As Lieutenant general of the fifth battalion of the eight company you are under arrest for treason, manslaughter, destructions of union property and flight.”

         “What,” Evin huffs floating in midair. “I didn’t do any of those things…except for the flight thing, I guess but I didn’t know what you guys are going to do to me….” He squints his eyes to look at the name tag on her uniform.

         “Dana,”

         Dana rotates her finger in a circle turning the young man on his back and she jerks her arm downward slamming the man hard onto the ground. Evin coughs as a sharp pain surge through his back. He turns his head to see the aquarium and its many displays of alien creatures, some had many tendrils with colorful lights flickering on them.

         Dana however, raises her wrists to check her MS reader and her eyes widen when it read…
1,532,162/3,000,000 and climbing rapidly in the tens of thousands.

         “Hurry up and detain him.” She shouts to the Marines idly standing behind at the entrance to the grand aquarium.

         They rush around him, and they grab a set of cuffs connected by an ethereal string and as they are about to snap the cuffs on him a lightning bolt cracked from the ceiling and onto Evin creating a thunderous blast that knocks all of the men away. In a swift lightning bolt Kaleen appears with sparks traveling up and down her gown and platinum hair.

         “Don’t you think it’s a bit rude to interrupt our date, Dana?” Kaleen’s eyes narrows as she glares at the general.

         “You will refer to me as General Dana, whoever you are.” Dana unlocks her hands from behind her back suspecting a tough opponent. “You are interfering with an arrest which carries the same sentence as the suspect you’re trying to protect. And from what he’s facing,” She looks at the young man on the ground. “Is something that not even the hardest criminals in the galaxy wants. So, I suggest you think hard about what you’re about to do next.”

         “Hmph,” Kaleen scoffs and sticks her nose up at Dana. “Your petty threats have no bearing on me, human. You’ve already seen what Evin can do. What’ll you think will happen if I unleashed a dragon right in the middle of a space station, hm? You should think hard about what you’re going to do next.”

         Dana narrows her eyes in suspicion staring at the cocky woman.

         “You’re bluffing.” Dana balls her fists at her side and puffs of flames spurt from her knuckles.

         “Am I?” Kaleen smiles and opens her palm in front of her. Sparks flicker around her palm as a ball of electricity grows into a basketball sized sphere. She thrusts her palm forward hurling the ball of electricity at the officer. Dana’s fist erupts in flames, and she cocks her arm back and throws a punch. Her fist collides with the ball of electricity in a bright explosion blinding everyone in the room. Evin covers his eyes but notices the teleporter nearby.

         Seeing the officer distracted by Kaleen, he makes a break for the teleporter resembling a normal elevator and presses the button leading to the communication tower. The doors hiss close, and a glowing blue glyph appears and the bottom of the room and Evin glows in a bright light before vanishing from the elevator.
Dana successfully punches the ball of lightning out of existence, but finds her suspects gone with only her men lying on the floor.

         “Figures,” Dana sighs adjusting her uniform and running her hand along her silk black hair to reinforce her bun.

         “Lieutenant General Dana,” A man cloaking spell wears off revealing a spectacle wearing man with cleanly cut and trimmed hair in officer uniform with moderate decorations appear behind the woman.

         “Did you manage to scan her, Major?”

         “Yes ma’am,” the man speaks in a smooth tone as he adjusts his glasses. “She is not listed in any of our data bases anywhere in our galaxy nor anyone else’s. Her biology is completely foreign as well, we may be looking at a completely new alien species.”

         “Or an old one.” Dana mumbles under her breath.

         “Ma’am?” the man slightly tilts his head in confusion.

         “Nothing,” She sighs, “Where did Heartwright run off to?”

         “He took the transporter to the communications tower, ma’am. Should we send our troops there?”

         “No,” she firmly objects as she turns to face her subordinate. “In fact, call off the pursuit and limit contact with him at all costs.”

         “But ma’am our orders are to,”

         “I’m well aware of our orders, Major.” She sternly glares at him. “However, we’re in a unique situation as there is an accomplice standing between us and him. Someone who isn’t on any of our galaxy databases. She knows about his ability to transform into a Dragon, so she was there when General Nadine died fighting it. Plus, she stated that she can unleash the dragon of her own free will. I’m not worried if she is bluffing, he’s harmless as a man. I’m worried if she can unleash him. She already possesses its natural element, so she probably entered a contract with him. If she can summon a dragon on the space station, I don’t need to tell you what it’ll do if that happens.”

         “Yes ma’am,” The major nods. “What are your orders then?”

         “Have our men conduct a search for the platinum haired woman and detain her. Once we have her, we’ll have him.” She walks past the major towards the transportation device.

         “Are they capable of detaining her? She seems like she’s a strong mage.” He looks back at his superior as she presses the button causing the doors to hiss open. She steps inside and turns to look at him.

         “I’ve already recognized her magic potential. If they find her, contact me via telepathy. She won’t slip away from me next time.”

         “Aye ma’am.” The man snaps to attention.

         The doors hiss close, and Dana releases an exhaustive breath of relief. It was her first time in command and the experience was nerve wrecking. She handled smaller platoons and squad leaders, but command of an entire space station was a completely different story. Billions of lives were onboard and one small misstep would spell the doom of everyone. On top of that, a potential disaster is walking the hallways of the space station with another claiming she can unleash said disaster, who’s an alien of an unknown origin of whom she must report to the counsel. And this is stacked on top of her daily duties she must attend to as commanding officer on a space station. With all the weight on her soldier she understood how it could’ve affected Nadine in some sort of way.
Thoughts of her fallen superior made her remove her leather book dairy from her coat and rubs her thumb across the glass seal preventing her from opening it.

         “What were you doing, Nadine?” Dana mumbles staring at the brown leather book. Determined to find out she shoves the book back into her coat and presses the shopping district button on the teleportation kiosk. A red glyph appears at the floor of the chamber and rises upward coating Dana’s body in a red light before vanishing in a flash.