W&L

Chapter 1

         The splashing of rain echoes in the dark. A lightning strike illuminates the sky and chases off the shadows. The lightning's growling thunder rumbles. The shadows return and cover the cool splashing rain. Smells of wet earth permeate the air, mixing with the smell of exhaust fumes.

         A lone figure stands in the rain stiff as a statue. It is peering through the dark wet air, breathing slowly but deeply, waiting. Water cascades down it and splashes at its' feet. It breathes in deep then exhales loudly. Lightning strikes. Her breath floats before her in the cold. She adjusts her raincoat in the dark sending a torrent of water onto the ground. She straightens creases in her suit to stop their hasty collection of water.

         The rumble of thunder; it is farther away. The woman grimaces and shivers from the cold wet. She shifts her feet still waiting. A flickering light blinds her momentarily as she looks up at the tower before her. The light dims but reaction keeps a hand raised to her face. More bright lights ignite all around and the woman squints trying to adjust. The area is brightly lit by a few hundred lights spread across the base. Other buildings are visible now as well as soldiers posted at their entrances. The woman shifts her rifle onto her back and gazes up at the window that had been the first to light. She sighs letting out another twirling mist of breath. Radio chatter from her waist gives her what she needs before heading inside the tower.

         The door slides shut behind her executing the chorus of rain. She hangs up her raincoat and runs a hand down her uniform before sitting at her desk. She looks at the one other door beside the desk and checks that the lock is secure. With a stiff nod she sits down. She touches a screen installed in the desk bringing up a list of the current staff.

         Three floors above, in a cold twenty by twenty foot office, sits a young woman. She's sitting right in the middle of a large desk which is covered with buttons and small screens. She sighs exhaling the bland office air and rubs the cold out of her fingers. She starts tapping her right heel on the metallic floor, the sound echoeing off the walls. She reaches for the atmosphere control and a whoosh of warm air enters from the back wall washing over the desk and filling the room.

         She examines her right hand looking at her nails and brown tanned skin. Drumming her left fingers on the desk she crosses her legs and lets out another sigh spinning once in her chair. All at once the lights in her office dim and a large projection blinks up in front of her from the desk. It reaches to the ceiling about five feet up and spreads just past her shoulders with the first pane. She smiles and starts tapping her fingers on a flat keyboard in front of her bringing up other incorporeal screens on the sides of the first. Just past the screen she can see the rain still charging to the ground on the newly lit base about her perch, but she cannot hear any of it. She touches a part of the desk and hears a spat from the speakers on the office ceiling.

         Inhaling she readies to speak. "Lyb Grats to Sieda 925." She waits a moment then raises and eyebrow. "You still with us 925?"

         "So there you are. I was starting to think you had gone down for good this time."

         Yuri's face produces a smile at the response and she follows it with yet another sigh. "Good to see you didn't give up. Just let me scan... ok all clear. You can land in aisle 17."

         "Thank you. Sieda 925 landing. Just hope I don't need an anchor for this place."

         Yuri shakes her head and gives a roll to her eyes for good measure. She purses her lips and changes the screen listing the ships cargo to the next victim. She glances in the distance to her left and watches the flight she just cleared land. The ship was some distance away but she could its shiny metal body descend almost vertically to its assigned spot. She turns back to her screen to see an empty box where the other flights had been. "Oh no not again."

         Turning off most of the screens she lay back in her chair with a paper pad in her lap. She unzips the front of her suit and absorbs the reprieve from the tightness on her chest. The stiff fabric peels away slightly due to all the tension. Feeling the extra room and looseness Yuri grins and leans her chair back as far as she can. She stretches from her toes to her hands arching her tummy towards the ceiling. "Ugh... I need a new job."

         She starts writing on her pad:

         Things I can do.

1. Complain
2. Fire my boss
3. Go home
4. Co-

         As she starts her fourth item her office door opens. A tall figure looms in the doorway. Yuri snaps up in her chair dropping her pad and zips up her front.

         "Wow, hey now what did I miss?" A young man enters the office invading her moment of privacy. His uniform gives off a slight earthy smell from the water saturating it.

         "Oh nothing much." Yuri stares up at him wrinkling her nose. "A little wet are we?" She leans over to grab her pad.

         "Yeah just a little," he chuckles examining himself. "You don't know how lucky you are staying in here with your heat and all that."

         "Aha.." She laughs opens her mouth in a half smile. "Yeah right, heat that just started working again. So how are you Alder?"

         "Oh I'm good. Just came to let you know you can get going if you want. All traffic to the base is going elsewhere today."

         "Yeah I kinda noticed how they all left." She puts the pad on her desk then raises an eyebrow. "So why are you telling me this?"

         "Well," he pauses a momentand rubs his hand. "I was coming over to say hi anyway and wanted to see what you were up to tonight. I uh, bumped into your boss on the way here. She gave me the news.