THUNK

Dax heard the sound of metal hitting bone and the mercenary's eyes rolled back in his head. He crumpled to the ground, dropping Dax with him. Dax sat up against the wall and pulled in gulps of air. A girl appeared from behind the man and hurried towards him. She was young, probably around sixteen, wearing a dark navy poncho, fingerless gloves and combat boots. Her hair was in a complicated braid wrapped around her head and her brown eyes shone with exhilaration. She held a thick metal rod in her hand.

"Are you all right?" She approached Dax and held out her free hand. As she did, the metal bar in her other hand turned putty-like and snaked up and around her wrist, solidifying into a metal bracer around her forearm.

Dax struggled upright, hastily pulling his energy gun out of it's holster.

"You're a Vismutor!" He gasped. He pointed the gun at her head and sidestepped away from the wall.

She held up her hands and backed away a few steps.

"Whoa whoa, it's okay! I'm one of the good guys." She smiled cautiously. Then she looked toward Ren. He was still holding the chair halfway up, his eyes just very slightly shining with green.

"You," her eyes sparkled. "Vu dah Navin et? Kiya et neh?" She spoke in an old dialect, and her accent was all wrong, but it was very clearly Navinian. You are Navinian? A key, aren't you?

Ren's eyes widened. Dax bolted to stand in front of him, keeping his gun carefully trained on the Vismutor.

"Back off." Dax couldn't believe their luck. Somehow, another Vismutor had already found and identified Ren. She stood unmoving with her hands up, but too close for comfort. Still, Dax was reluctant to shoot the girl after she had seemingly just saved them, but he guessed that man had simply been in her way. Vismutors were tricky. She must be just waiting for an opportunity. Using Ren's own language to catch him off guard. But how did she know it?

Ren dropped the chair and pushed Dax aside, much to his consternation.

"Navin dola?" You speak Navinian?

"Delo Kyra. Savina te melna shi." My name is Kyra. I'm here to help you.

Dax could see Ren letting his guard down. He switched them back to Estoric.

"No you're not," he stated. "Move into the corner." He motioned with his gun, then took Ren's wrist and started pulling them towards the door.

The girl-Kyra- moved slowly away from them. "You won't make it out of Ursai without my help. You wouldn't believe the bounty out for you. Every mercenary on this rock has your pictures on their hololenses right now. And there was some kind of commotion that caused someone to identify you in the plaza near here."

"Okay, that was probably my fault," Ren admitted.

They were almost to the door.

Kyra continued. "Not to mention every Vismutor in a mile-wide radius will be heading here right now."

Dax stopped despite himself. "And why would that be?"

She pointed at Ren. "Your friend here is like a beacon. You wanna know why I knew he was a Key? How I tracked you down so quickly?"

She held her hands out like feeling the heat from a campfire. "It feels like I'm standing in front of a sun. Could feel it the moment you landed. And I'm sure I'm not the only Vismutor who can feel it."

Dax cursed.

"I know as well as you how bad it would be if just anyone were to get the power of a key. I just want to help get you guys out of here."

Likely story, Dax thought, but he paused.

Ren asked in Estoric, "How do you suggest to help us?"

"I know my way through the service tunnels, I can get you back to the docks without being seen. I've got my own ship there too, and a passport chip. If you don't have anywhere to go I can give you a ride through the warp gate."

The last thing Dax wanted was to get in a ship with a Vismutor, but if she could lead them to the docks, maybe they could slip away at the last second. He made a split decision.

He lowered the gun, just slightly. "Go on then. Stay in front of us, and I'm not putting the gun away."

"Have it your way," she shrugged and picked her way through the debris and out the open doorway.

"We should move quickly," she said over her shoulder, then darted off deeper into the skinny alleyway. Dax and Ren followed behind, Dax keeping his gun ready at his side.

They reached the back of the building, and Kyra led them to a large square grate in the ground. It was padlocked shut.

"Good old Ursai, still using physical locks." Kyra mused.

"Stand back," Dax warned, then shot at the lock, blasting it apart.

Kyra smirked. "I was just going to pick it, but I hope that was therapeutic for you."

Dax just shrugged and Ren chuckled.

With some effort, Kyra pulled the grate aside and revealed a circular service tunnel, about eight feet across, wires and strip lights pulsing down the sides.

"Let's go," she said and jumped down. Dax and Ren followed.

"How do you know Navinian?" Ren asked Kyra in his native language as they jogged down the tunnels.

"My ah...work requires me to know many languages. I picked up Navinian as a past time. It's considered a dead language so it was difficult to find records, but I managed."

Dax noticed how Kyra's accent changed as she adjusted it to match Ren's.

They turned a corner and were met with a man wearing maintenance gear walking towards them.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Oh, sorry we-" Kyra started with an excuse.

The man pulled out a mean-looking plasma gun.

"Ah." Kyra and Dax realized at the same time this was not in fact a real service worker.

Before Dax could lift his gun, Kyra sprung into action. She ran at the man, lifting her arm as her metal bracer shifted into the form of a shield. The man's energy beams sprung uselessly off of it. She deftly ran up the curved wall as another bracer on her non-shield hand melted into a hook shape. Just before she was above the man, she hooked her tool around a wire hanging from the ceiling. Then she swung herself and unhooked as her boot connected with the man's face. He dropped to the ground.

Dax couldn't help but look impressed.

"So what is your work, exactly?"

"I'd LOVE to tell you about it, really, but maybe not when we're so, you know, running for our lives." Kyra's metal tools returned to their bracer form.

She frowned. "What's wrong with him?"

Dax turned towards Ren, who's hand was on his forehead, eyes tightly closed.

"Are you good?" Dax asked gently.

Ren nodded, opening his eyes to their natural shade. "It wasn't so bad this time, I think I'm getting used to it."

"Should I be worried?" Kyra called.

"No, let's keep moving," Dax said, and they continued down the passageway.

After a few minutes they heard the sounds of a crowd. Kyra led them to another grate which opened onto the main thruway with hordes of people stepping over it. Kyra's bracers melted down her legs and formed into stilts, lifting her up so she could reach the padlock through the grate bars. She picked at the lock with a tiny piece of vismuted metal. A few moments later the lock was open and she yelled a warning to the people above before pushing the grate out of the way. One by one, they climbed out using a ladder set in the wall. They received confused and annoyed looks by the passersby as they emerged into the crowd.

Dax recognized the location as the same tunnel they had walked through a few hours earlier after exiting the docking platform. He could see the stairs to the sliding glass docking gate over the top of the crowd.

"My ship is parked in a spot down that way." Kyra pointed down a branching tunnel leading to more docks.

Dax and Ren followed as Kyra pushed a way through the crowds. When Dax was sure she wasn't paying attention he stopped Ren and let the crowds fill the space between them and their guide.

"What are you doing?" Ren asked. "We'll lose her."

"That's the plan." Dax turned back towards the dock where their ship was parked.

Ren blocked his path. "Seriously? She was helping us!"

"We can't trust her. She's a Vismutor. We'll find our own way through the warp gate."

"Have you always had such terrible trust issues?"

Dax sighed. "Ren, just trust me on this. It's safer this way. We can't afford to take any chances."

Ren didn't look happy, but didn't stop Dax again as he moved past. They continued toward the main entrance of the docks.

"Wait!" Ren grabbed Dax's arm quickly, pulling him back.

"Ren I told you we-" Dax stopped when he noticed Ren's wide eyes.

"She's here." Ren said quietly, staring past Dax. "That woman, the Vismutor - she's here."

Dax spun around, but he didn't see any robed figures around the gate or in the crowd.

"How do you know?"

"I don't know...I just...I can feel it." He held his arms together and took a few steps back. "We can't go in there."

Dax looked around them again. "Ren, if you're making this up to convince me to go with Kyra-"

"No! No, I'm serious." Ren looked ready to bolt. Dax believed him.

"Shit! Okay. Okay, let's go." Dax led them back towards a branching tunnel and they hurried towards the next docking station. "Maybe we can find a cargo ship to-"

Dax stumbled. Suddenly he felt exhausted and his skin was on fire. The flow of the crowd stopped around them and people began dropping to the ground and crying out. An oppressive heat filled the space all around them. There was a moment of confused silence and then the crowd started to panic. The ones still standing screamed and pushed to get away from the heat, and the tunnel became roiling chaos. Ren just stood still, his eyes shining brilliant green. Vismutors.

"Not again!" Dax pulled himself up and shook Ren's shoulder. "Ren, I need you to snap out of it!"

Ren closed his eyes with considerable effort and shook his head violently. When he opened them again the glow was much more muted.

"Sorry...I...I'm okay."

With more and more of the crowd falling to the ground in exhaustion, Dax could now see several robed figures approaching them. He turned and spotted more forming a circle, closing them in. Dax kept his gun ready and tried to find the weakest link. His muscles ached like he had been running for hours.

One of the robed figures in the direction of a branching tunnel was yanked backwards and disappeared into the crowd. Kyra popped up behind him and motioned to Dax and Ren with a hurry and get over here hand wave.

Dax hesitated.

Ren pushed him forward. "I'm making the executive decision this time. We're going with her."

Dax didn't see much other choice.

They quickly caught up to Kyra. As they approached her Dax felt his energy start to return in a refreshing wave. Kyra's hands were splayed by her sides and her eyebrows were knitted in concentration. She turned and began leading them to the next docking station.

"You guys picked a bad time to get lost. This is Vanaris' doing. It's taking all my concentration to stop our life force from being sucked out."

"Vanaris?" Ren asked hesitantly.

"You know, big bad cult leader? Most powerful Vismutor since the last locksmith?"Ren and Dax shared a look.

Kyra continued, "I'd heard she specializes in life energy manipulation, but this is something else. She's more powerful the more living beings are nearby, so we need to be anywhere but here ASAP."

Ren slowed as they passed a woman holding her unconscious child and crying for help.

"We need to help them!" He called out.

Kyra went to put a comforting hand on Ren's arm but thought better of it seeing Dax's glare. She looked Ren in the eye instead.

"The best we can do is try to lead Vanaris away from these people." Kyra said calmy, but Dax saw the frustration in her eyes. "I'm not strong enough to stop her on my own."

Ren reluctantly left the woman behind.

"It's just like what happened on Navinia." He muttered to Dax, biting the nail of his thumb. "It's my fault she's come here and I can't do anything, again!"

"It's not your fault!" Dax assured him. "You can't take responsibility for-"

"Pu T'ala!" Kyra cursed. They had arrived at the docking gate but the large sliding metal doors were closed shut. Flashing red lights around the border blinked at them mockingly. "How did she manage to close the docks?!"

"Can't you just...melt the door down? With your magic?" Dax asked.

Kyra laughed dryly. "This is a steel alloy. Sorry I'm not Vanaris, but the best I can do is melt a hole the size of my hand."

A laser bolt zapped against the door just above Kyra's head. She and Dax immediately ducked and spun around, looking for cover. Kyra's shield sprung from her arm.

Dax spotted several mercenaries fighting through the crowd towards them. Their sweat and trembling limbs showed they were as exhausted as Dax had felt earlier, but they each looked determined to be the first to capture the Key. Behind them the robed figures had fanned out again, blocking them at both sides of the tunnel. One of the mercenaries aimed his gun for another shot.

"We're running out of options!" Dax called, ducking behind an empty service booth. Ren stumbled after him. "We need to get this door open!"

"I would love to hear your suggestion!" Kyra called back from the opposite booth.

Laser bolts fizzed and crackled around their cover, preventing their escape. Their enemies closed the net around them. The robed figures knelt in a synchronized gesture, planting their hands on the ground. The concrete beneath them began to shake and crack. Whatever they were cooking up, it was meant to be a finishing attack.

"We need to stop getting into desperate situations," Dax grumbled and raised his arm towards the door. The laser cannon whirred out of his forearm and began charging.

"What is that?" Ren stared.

"A last resort." Dax muttered, and the beam burst from his arm. He cut an arc into the metal quickly, trying to use as little energy as possible. When the cut was finished he jumped out of hiding. With a running start he kicked the makeshift doorway in and ducked through it.

"Let's go!" He called.

"Why didn't you use that in the first place?!" Kyra yelled, pushing past him. "That one's mine."

She pointed to a parking pad a short distance away.

It was a modest housing-grade ship, large enough to probably contain a single bedroom and small bathroom, equipped for long journeys.

They only made a few steps towards the ship when Dax felt the backlash of the energy cannon catch up to him. He stumbled and fell to his knees, his legs suddenly refusing to cooperate.

Ren knelt beside him. "Dax! Are you alright?"

Dax couldn't respond. His vision darkened. He felt the cold cement floor against his face. The last thing he heard was the sound of Ren calling his name.