Reunion

The room is silent as Reyna and I survey the CCTV footage. Her feet are kicked up onto the dash, arms crossed as she lounges in her navigation chair. Across the four screens, and dozens of people milling about, Reyna's eyes never leave Shelly's form from where she's situated on the bottom left hand monitor.Watching Shelly over the last hour or so has shown me that she's been far too modest. She's sitting at a roulette table, smiling and laughing as she touches one the arm of the man beside her. When the ball finally lands, Shelly's eyes go comically wide, and the man claps her on her back.No one at the table even seems remotely upset. To them, the stacks of chips overflowing from the table is nothing but spare change. The real prize at the table is Shelly, and she has them all wrapped tightly around her finger.Reyna's mood sours with every passing minute, her knuckles going white as she stares at the screens. It's not hard to guess that Reyna resents being left behind. Watching the ship is the safest, and easiest aspect of a heist. I can't imagine anyone who would prefer to be in Shelly's position, laughing and talking with men with egos as high as their pockets are deep.After what feels like hours, Shelly sends a signal back to the ship. And when she steps through the door, all the tension seems to leave Reyna's body.Shelly says as she collapses against one of the walls. Compared to the Tiara, our current pod is miniscule. One of hundreds of pods, connected to a ship so large it might as well have been a station. She reaches into her dress, and metal keycards clatter to the ground, each one with a unique barcode and pattern."Couldn't remember who Sadie told me to go for, so I tried to be as broad as possible." As if on cue, an incoming call from Sadie lights one of the panels, and Reyna clicks accept."Found it." Her breaths are shallow and heavy, voice tight with tension. A holographic image of Sadie fills the screens, showing her still crouched in an air vent. As easy as shows and novels made crawling in vents sound, truthfully it's a painful and often terrifying ordeal. "Fourth floor, room 486. Mira was right, there really is Rhodium in here. Around 150 pounds."Reyna joins Shelly on the floor, and they begin sorting through the cards, looking for room 486. Except all the cards look the same, each one devoid of any numbers or even a barcode. It only takes them a minute, before Shelly pulls out a sheer black card triumphantly."How do you know that's room 486?" I ask, leaning down to get a better look at the card."I'll show you how to tell later," Shelly dismisses with a wave of her hand. "C'mon, the sooner we get out of here the better.""You should drink some water before you head back on the ship," Reyna says to Shelly. "It's barely been five minutes." But Shelly refuses, dragging me through the door while she hands me a blaster, which I quickly hide in my left lace-up boot. Her eyes are dilated and bright with excitement, and I know that this is longer just a mission to Shelly. This is what she breathes and lives for.Per Shelly's request, I have on another short black dress. We weave through the ship halls, passing couples and groups of drunk party goers alike. Tonight's the opening ceremony for a new planet discovered on the outskirts of the milky way. New planets were nothing special, they were discovered daily. But this planet different, not only does it hold life, it holds water. Lots, and lots of water. You'd think after dozens of centuries humans would have solved their water shortage problem by now.Despite being cold stone sober, Shelly's footsteps are a little crooked, just unsteady enough for her to blend right into the crowd."Loosen up a bit," Shelly whispers into my ear as we enter the main hall. Hundreds of people are gathered in this room. Some drinking and socializing, and others sitting at tables playing games. I try to relax my shoulders and smile, and from the look on Shelly's face, I can tell I'm only making things worse.Across the entire ship, there's only one functioning elevator. All the other ones have either been shut off, or don't lead to the four floors at all. The only open elevator is at the end of an empty hallway, two bulky men in suits standing at the end."Hi," Shelly says as we approach them. "I think we might be lost. Would one of you mind showing us back to the mess hall?"The guards look at each other, and I can tell they're not buying a single word Shelly is saying. I'm itching to grab the blaster buried in my boot, but Shelly doesn't reach for hers, so I don't either."The mess hall is back down the hall, the largest pair of doors to your left," the one on the right says. Through his shades, I can see his eyes narrow, suspicion creeping into his expression. Seeing that they weren't going to move, Shelly turns her gaze onto me. It's all the signal I need, and my blaster is in my hand in the next second.I'm not sure if Shelly wants them dead, so I don't fire immediately. The one on the left has a communication unit in his hand, but I kick it out of his hand before he's able to alert the other security. I slam the butt of my blaster into the back of his head, and he crumbles onto the ground. When I turn to face the other guard, he has a blaster in his hand. But before he can fire his, I fire mine first.The muffler Shelly installed makes the shot sound like popcorn, and it blows a hole through his hand. He drops the gun. Shellys already behind him, and the end of her blaster connects with the back of his head with a sickening crack.She hops over their bodies, raising her hand to high-five me."I was really hoping we wouldn't have to do that. Gods, we're such a good team." She reaches down, and grabs one of the men by his lapels, trying to push him against the wall. "Hey, you can carry 150 pounds by yourself right? I'm thinking it's probably smarter to stay down here as a watch." Shelly hands me the black card, and I nod.The elevator is surprisingly quick, and I'm on the fourth floor within the next second. The ground on this level is draped in a thick red velvet, unlike the cold metal flooring found on the main level. I find room 486 mere steps from the elevator, the door already open and slightly ajar.I freeze, every instinct in my body telling me to turn around and run back into the elevator. But when I push open the door, the room is empty. I look up, examining the ceilings. But Sadie isn't in one of the vents, either on her way back to our escape pod, or already there. As promised, in the center of the room, sits a smooth and shiny metal cube almost as tall as my waist."If you want rhodium, I have much larger pieces back on my ship." Leaning against the open door is Elias, his gaze heady with something I can't place. "Since when did you pick up thievery?" I align my blaster with his eyes, but Elias just raises his own blaster, exasperated.He wasn't supposed to be on this ship. I had double checked, no, triple checked that his ship, the Vessel was as far as possible. He tosses a bar of what looks like to be more rhodium in his other hand, patiently waiting for my response."I grow tired of your games," Elias says, clicking his safety off. He almost looks bored as he takes another step into the room.With the pile of metal behind me forgotten, I bring my blaster back down to my side, taking a step in his direction. Elias smiles at my approach, and lowers his gun. My left hand closes around the barrel of his gun, and I yank it back to my chest."You can't kill me, can you?" Elias tries to pull the blaster off my chest, but I hold on tight. His eyes go dark, affirming my suspicions. If he had wanted me dead, I would have died that night at the club. He wouldn't have sat harmlessly in my room while I slept."Shoot," I goad, fully knowing he won't. "I'm giving you permission to shoot me."Several seconds pass in silence, and he doesn't pull the trigger. My hand slides down the barrel, briefly brushing his gloved fingers as I cover the trigger. He goes utterly still, a warning blazing in his eyes.I squeeze the trigger. And nothing happens. The gun clicks, empty and useless against my chest. Elias doesn't say anything, but he doesn't have to. My hands find his chest, and I shove him backwards. His back slams into the outer wall, leaving the door open once again.I sprint down the hall and into the elevator, repeatedly hitting the elevator button until the door closes. To my relief, Elias doesn't chase me.I stumble into Shellys arms the moment the doors open. One look at my face and empty hands tells Shelly all she needs. Her hands close around mine, and we sprint back in the direction we came from."Elias," I tell her as we run. "He's on the ship. He was up there, waiting for me.""Not possible," Shelly shouts back at me, laughing nervously. "Why would he be here? Didn't you say–"We both skid to a halt, pausing on the bay, where our escape-pod is connected. The doors are wide open, and Elias is standing inside our only escape."You're right, Mira." He has a blaster in each hand, one pointed at Sadie, the other pointed at Reyna. "I won't shoot you. But nothing's stopping me from shooting these two."I feel Shellys entire body go stiff beside me, as she surveys Reyna still sitting in her nav chair, glaring daggers at Elias. Sadie is situated on the floor, eyes closed as he holds what looks like a gash on her left arm.Without thinking, I whip out my own gun and place it against my own temple. I'm not going to shoot myself, but Elias doesn't know that. Whatever Elias wants me for, he wants me alive for it."Do it," I shout at him, and Shelly grabs me by my arm, hissing what the fuck are you doing? Put the gun down so only I can hear it. I ignore her words, and cock my blaster. "You think I'm bluffing? Do it. Pull the trigger, let's see who pulls it first.""Mira." Elias' voice is hard and low with vexation. "Drop the gun."Shelly tugs at my arm again, and I shake her off, continuing towards Elias. His mouth presses into a thin line, like he's fighting off a smile and scowl at the same time."Get off the pod." Shelly steps in behind me, and the doors behind us slide closed automatically."Only if you get off with me," Elias replies. "I'm only asking for an hour of your time."Out of the corner of my eye, I spot movement the same time Elias does. Sadie has pulled out her own blaster, and before anyone reacts, she pulls the trigger.The next second happens in a blur. The shot misses Elias by milimeters, flying past him and connecting with the pod's main control panel. The lights go dark.Something hard slams into me, knocking the blaster out of my hand. My back collides with the pod storage room door, sending the doors flying open, and me crashing into the far wall.Shelves fall and crash, sending boxes and food across the darkened room as the pod tilts. I scream, but nothing comes out, all the air having already been crushed out of my lungs. Strong arms wrap around my body at the same time the pod wrenches to the side again. My head hits something hard, and the entire world goes dark.