The Myths of Twisted Felix Katt (Book 2)

(1) Like They Do On The Discovery Channel (NaNoWriMo)

Nature provides exceptions to every rule. -Margaret Fuller

Pistol - check

Back-up pistol - check

Sawed-off pulse shot gun - check

Shield vest - check

Kick-ass leather jacket -double check

Everything a girl needs.....

 I stared down at the console in front of me, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu as I did the checklist of things I would need before me and my Destiny shipped out. A month ago I had done the exact same checklist and then had my entire world take a sharp left turn to crazy town.

In a span of thirty days I had been hijacked by a rival runner, beaten by the self same (now dead) woman, gotten forced into saving the life of a man running a revolution and inadvertently saved the life of a Queen. That little foray into heroism had landed me two very different ends of the reward spectrum. On a karmic level, I had been rewarded for my very long, very trying month by finally giving in and taking my blood slave as my lover. The fact that he was very much glad to finally be mine all mine was the best part. On a political scale (and just to make sure I knew that Murphy and her Laws still hated me) a big target got painted on my back because the Queen who's life I'd saved then turned around and gave me and my crew a Job. Of course, in my very excited lifestyle as a Runner, this was no cushy job where my hardest task of the day was picking out what fashionable frock to wear. No, instead we were tasked with taking a science crew through a psychotically difficult asteroid field to the other side in the hopes to establish a safe route, a base camp on an inhabitable rock and maybe even survive to collect the monetary rewards. There are days where I really wonder why I signed up for this lifestyle.

The bald head and rough face of my lover and blood slave Rorick wandered onto the flight deck and I spotted the glowing glimmer in his eyes that gave me tingles. I used to run from that look, trying to keep him save by keeping my need for him secret. I failed and now we’re both far happier, if in a lot more danger. Despite my best attempts at being normal, I was actually once upon a time a First Daughter Prime. Means mommy has money, power, influence and it is technically my birthright. Bah-humbug to that though, I left before I could be defenestrated so that my younger sister Temperance could inherit that duty. I was twelve at the time and never looked back. So of course the universe, Goddess or Murphy had to remind me that apparently it sucks to be me because my estranged little sister is currently one of the science crew I have to pilot across death’s door step and back. So far Temper has no clue who I am, and I plan on keeping it that way. Rorick knows I was a First Daughter, but he has no clue which family was mine, and I do not want that little tidbit getting out. It would just cause problems. Add in the fact that I was supposed to stay a virgin until my Mother chose my allowable husband, but I decided I liked giving it to Rorick the blood slave instead, and things would get complicated real quick.

But at the moment no one was shooting at me, trying to kidnap me, my ship was only slightly full of holes and I had another day before we shipped out to an almost certain death. It was like a vacation for me. “Morning Roar, all quiet on the western front?” I asked, my voice a heavy drawl.

Rorick gave me a fathomless look, the corner of his mouth not even twitching at my hilarious self. “The last of the supplies came in at the start of the solar day. We’re just waiting on the rest of the science crew and response from Captain Tatiana Kerposky that her ship is prepped for takeoff as well.” He answered instead, seeming to be all business this morning.

Tatiana, or Tink as I call her, had done me a favour a few days back by getting me a little job shipping people out to the settlement we were currently taking our ease on. Runners like us don’t often have the luxury of calling other Captain’s friends but in this case the term worked. We got along, tended not to try to kill each other, would often drink when able to together and then ignored each other when on opposing jobs. So I was taking this opportunity to return the favour. I was flying the main bodies of the science team out to the far end of an asteroid belt, but my ship Destiny holds a max of 30 bodies that aren’t crew. To land and settle a rock on the other side of an asteroid field took more than just my 30, so I was volunteering Tink to carry the other score and some bodies too. She was just my kind of crazy enough to enjoy the challenge, and the cash.