July 8th, 2486 - Planet Sanctuary, Sanctuary City - Koltura District - The Ruins of the Teqaku Family Mansion

‘I know what you did, Angora’, Yared sneered. ‘… Was that fair of you?’

‘Shut up!’ Angora screamed. His eyes lit up, the crimson colour bursting forth as a fiery aura, which collided with and was absorbed by the aura rising from his legs. Red lightning crackled around his body, his muscular legs rippling and creaking under the strain, as he crouched.

‘Would it be fair if I found your home, your true home—and burned that to ash as well, Angora? Would that be fair to the woman you left behind?’

‘SHUT UP!’

The aura billowed, spiralling up and around him, the ground shaking with the sheer concentrated force of his Mystik energy.

‘You cannot understand the rage I feel towards you, Imperial scum!’ Angora spat, in a voice that was barely his own. ‘Rage was all I had—the right to be angry, and to take that anger out on all who opposed me on the field of battle! For fifty years that rage has continued to grow inside me, with no outlet! I am guilty of my crime, but don’t you dare bring her into it you monster! That was not her fault, and she shouldn’t have to suffer for it! Don’t you dare force me to bring out that rage!’

Ichiro stumbled back, grabbing the wall, his eyes watering as wind whipped his face. He would only get one shot. Angora was going to kill Yared. Ichiro could feel it. He felt powerless; disconnected from his ally, who only a few hours ago, he had fought alongside. He was sure that he couldn’t calm Angora down so he would have to take Yared out first … but he was Abiona’s brother. The choice weighed heavily on him.

‘That’s more like it!’ Yared gasped. ‘So … rage fuels your power. Now no-one is underestimating anyone else, and a real battle can take place!’

‘I pity your priorities’, Angora growled.

He drew back his leg. Yared raised his fists. It was over in an instant. Yared’s Mystik Art burst, like a bubble that had just been popped, and he fell to his knees, gasping for air. Angora lowered his leg; somehow, he had crossed the room faster than Ichiro’s eyes could follow, and now stood beside the boy. The raging red aura faded, and disappeared.

‘I … I’m alive?’ Yared questioned. He shivered, his eyes watering with fear.

‘If I had kicked you, you wouldn’t be’, Angora replied. ‘You have not lived long enough to understand life, and so you cannot understand the weight that your words carry … and yet you have the power to take action, and you insist on taking action, despite your lack of knowledge… and decency. That is why you are weak.’

‘To have that much rage … as an old man … how pathetic’, Yared scoffed, and then he collapsed, unconscious.

Ichiro greeted Angora as a friend would—as far as he was concerned, that was what they had become.

‘Come on Angora … they’re waiting for us’, he said.

The expression on Angora’s face conveyed an emotion that was hard to quantify—it lay somewhere between crestfallen and remorseful. The man Ichiro knew was still there, unchanged … but he knew that sooner or later, after some introspection, there would have to be a sharing of hard truths.

*

Something about the Boss was familiar … too familiar. Chara tried desperately to put her finger on it what it was. The green eyes, skin the colour of almonds, dark hair … and that constantly serious, constantly furrowed brow. It dawned on Chara that the Boss reminded her of herself, perhaps a little too much…

Cosmopoh sat on a large rock, his bandaged head in his hands. Colado lay on the floor, napping. Amarat shot Abiona dirty looks every so often. Angora limped into the cavern, guided by Ichiro. Abiona was immediately ecstatic, much to Pazzik’s amusement. The sound of police sirens drew dangerously close. The enormous doors hissed, the ancient machinery whirring into life, as they began to open.

‘Does she have a name?’ Abiona asked, looking the ship up and down.

‘She doesn’t’, The Boss replied.

Something clicked, in the gloomy doorway leading down to the cavern from the cellar. A gun poked out, into the half-light of the cavern, illuminated by the lights from the ship as it powered up. The Boss turned, the ramp leading up to the ship having not yet reached the ground. They all turned to look.

‘You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?!’ Akira Choganta spat, heaving himself through the doorway with his free hand and shivering as though he had been marooned on an ice planet for six months. His right hand clutched his gun, and it shook violently.

‘It wasn’t enough!’ Pazzik gasped.

‘I can at least kill the only daughter of the Teqaku Family before my body gives out! That’s a consolation prize worth taking!’

Time seemed to stop. The blare of police sirens dulled. The Boss inhaled sharply. Ichiro dropped his gun. Chara felt her legs begin to move on their own. The gunshot echoed in the cavern, accompanied by the usual hiss of superheated plasma. Tragedy was averted in the blink of an eye. Ichiro stood between the Boss and his former superior officer, a puff of smoke rising from his pulsing, blue shield. Chara felt the wrench leave her belt, enter her hands and rise above her head. ‘How funny’, she thought. ‘I don’t know that woman … so why would I consider it a tragedy if she died? Is it for the same reason, I wonder, that I’m swinging this wrench?’ The sound that the wrench made when it collided with Akira Choganta’s head was immensely satisfying. He tumbled backwards, hitting the ground and staying there. She knew he would survive it; but was glad nonetheless that his head was going to ache for days to come. That was a consolation prize worth taking.

‘Chara, are you alright?’

Chara spun around … and was surprised to see that her grandfather was not talking to her. He had rushed over to the Boss of the Teqaku Family, who stood behind Ichiro, a stunned expression on her face.

‘I’m fine, Pazzik’, she said. ‘Your help is unnecessary … as always.’

‘That isn’t true and you know it’, Pazzik said with a chuckle. ‘Your goons seemed to think differently only a few days ago’

‘They wouldn’t have hurt you’, the Boss insisted. ‘Besides, whatever I thought I wanted from you then … my plans have changed. I was hoping to use the money I made to—no, it doesn’t matter now. Fine, you get a ‘thank you’—you’ve been a better guardian to her than I ever could have been.’

‘There will be time to mend the bridge’, Pazzik crooned slyly. ‘Just not today.’

Chara blinked. Before she had time to question what she had just heard, a voice yelled from above, ‘SCPD, come out with your hands up!’

‘Time to go’, Angora grunted, nursing his burned leg. ‘Everyone on the ship—that includes the crooks and the mechanics.’

‘These crooks aren’t going anywhere’, The Boss scoffed, cracking her neck. ‘Pazzik, Chara, go off-world for a while, wait for the heat to die down…’

They stumbled up the ramp, one after another, Abiona ushering Chara up. Chara’s head spun; it was all too much, too sudden, she had too many questions.

‘Chara!’ The Boss called. She appeared to be blushing. ‘I wasn’t ready for you … back then. Pazzik is terrible at naming kids, so uninspired … I had hoped things would be different when we … when we finally met. Just—when you come back, look me up okay. I’m ready to talk.’

Chara stood for a moment, at the top of the ramp. Her throat was closing up, her eyes watering. She had to say something, anything at all. After a second that felt like an eternity, she settled on something.

‘I don’t like my name either!’ she called down. ‘… but it’s my name, and it’ll always be a part of me!’

The Boss turned away, tears in her eyes. The ramp began to ascend, and Abiona and Chara wobbled in the doorway. Abiona squeezed Chara’s shoulder.

‘I have a name for the ship!’ Abiona blurted out, grinning from ear to ear. She clutched her necklace tightly in her right hand ... it was some sort of bird as far as Chara could tell. ‘Welcome aboard ‘the Sparrow’, Chara!’