Snippets

ReEcho: Collapse - End of Chapter Seven

Raven walked into the dining area and placed two covered plates on the large table with enough to sit the whole crew. He reached across the table and adjusted Rochel's seating, putting a knife and fork next to the plate. His haste grew as he returned to the kitchen and grabbed two beers from the fridge before closing the large white door. The bottles jostled in his hand as he placed them on the counter behind him, turning to reach into a drawer for the bottle opener.

His hand quickly grabbed the bottle opener as he stood straight, adjusting his brown sweater before hearing the clearing of a throat behind him. He turned to see Rochel standing in a red dress, with black hair in a messy bun and her red-painted fingers tapping the counter. "Hard to hide your surprise if the smell carries all the way to the cockpit. I am assuming this is part of an apology?"

"Yes, it is," he said, moving closer to the counter as he placed the bottle opener next to the beers. "I let my mouth move faster than my mind. What your parents did to you was awful, and I was not saying you were not destined for a higher purpose... I was just saying I feel something special about what Althea went through."

Rochel reached across the counter and grabbed a beer with the bottle opener. She twirled it in her hand and opened the bottle in one swift motion. Her eyes never left his own as she took a sip. "You feel something special about her? Interesting."

"I did it again... That is not what I meant. I want to say that she woke up in a lab with classified files and had that kind of hardware in her mind and body. She is not just a normal girl we found passed out at a bar. Not that I have found anyone in that condition before... I mean, I have, but it was just in passing... I believe it was a bachelorette party."

Rochel let him drone on for another few seconds, taking a sip between every pause. Rochel placed the bottle on the wooden surface, and a smile cracked from the corner of her mouth.

He stopped mid-sentence and sighed. "You are not that mad at me, are you?"

"I was in the moment, but I am not a child. I have control of my emotions." She reached over and repeated the swift motion that opened his bottle, sliding his to his hand. "Just wanted to see how deep the grave you were going to bury yourself in. Now, what did you make me?"

Raven scrunched his lips and looked down at the bottle. He grabbed it and nodded, knowing he should have stopped talking. He swiftly took one long drink before making his way around the counter. "I am no chef like you, but I cooked up some salmon and steamed some vegetables. After the last job, I even purchased some seasoning to try some things out."

"Sounds interesting. I thought we were out of salmon? Wasn't it too expensive to find out in the void of space?"

He led her to her seat and pulled the chair out before lifting the plastic cover. The fish was still warm as steam came from the seared skin, visibly covered in spices, while carrots and green beans sat next to the main meal. "I purchased this a few days before the mission and was looking for a good time to prepare it for you. You were the one that taught me to cook this meal, actually. It might have been with chicken last time, but I hope you enjoy it."

Rochel sat down and glanced over at Raven, who did the same. She smiled and said, "An apology dinner is a good time to pull out something new. Smells delicious."

"I hope you know I do not believe you are what your parents made you out to be. A heartless assassin. You fought them to escape that path and created your own," he explained, removing his cover from his steaming meal. "I am very glad Erica rescued your brother from that jail. It may have taken a few years, but that led us to you."

She nodded as she took a few bites of her food, drinking between forkfuls. Rochel placed her fork down, carefully positioned on the edge of her plate, and said, "I will always be what they made me to be. My brother had a heart problem at birth, so our parents chose to modify me genetically and physically instead of him. I was a weapon to them. Placed in the holster when the bullets were no longer needed."

"Was a weapon. You are not that anymore." Raven glanced up at her and sipped his beer, the cold liquid refreshing his throat. "When you left them to their own devices, you left that world behind. You are attempting to leave that life behind, and I will be here on that journey with you. Cannot get rid of me that easily."

Rochel took a deep breath and reached across the table, grabbing his hand as she let her thumb run over his knuckles. The two of them kept their eyes focused on each other before a small red light emitted from his wrist computer from under his sleeve. Their eyes left each other and concentrated on the light before she asked, "Tell me that is the captain reaching out just to ruin the mood? I would hate for you to tell me I am not a weapon anymore and then have to show you otherwise."

"Well, let us find out," he said, removing his hand from hers.

Raven pushed his sleeve up and typed quickly before hearing Erica's voice, which was distorted and hard to make out. "Raven ... Rochel, men... inbound. They... men will leave the location in twenty... sending coordinates now. Colbi tricked us. Rochel, think... intercept?"

Raven looked up at Rochel, who quickly shoveled in two full forkfuls of the dinner he cooked and glanced at him with a smirk, sauce on her upper lip. He went to open his mouth and laughed for a second, then said, "So much for dinner. What's the plan?"

Rochel wiped her mouth and swallowed the food with a long drink from her beer. Her eyes moved from one object in the room to the next before glancing up at the light above them. She scooted her seat from the table and headed to the cargo hold. "Get to your room and get the drone system ready. It should be charged up still. Is it still inside the backpack in locker C?"

"Yes, but you need the combination."

She stopped as the door slid open and turned around. A smile broke across her face as she said, "It is my birthday. You did it to remember the day. You need to work on surprising me."

Raven took in a deep breath as she disappeared behind the door, it closing behind her. He felt his chest fall before nodding his head and hurried in the opposite direction. His feet moved swiftly as he weaved through the hallways of the ship until he reached the ladder leading to his room. He tapped his wrist computer twice and said, "Do not forget the goggles with the camera. It will make it easier for me to track you out there. Also, use the communication system that is in the pack. It should keep us from losing connection, even in the storm. It is more advanced than what we have on the ship, but the range is limited."

"Do not worry. I got it right here."

He hurried up the ladder and opened his door, sitting at his computer and booting up his system. Raven entered his password as the screens lit up before he opened all the necessary applications for the cameras. The screen to his upper right flickered as it watched Rochel stepping out of her dress around her ankles. She grabbed a zipping dark blue hoodie over her black bra before securing a breathing mask to her face. The mask flashed blue for a second before fading to black.

"Just don't ruin that hoodie. I only have so much that you can keep stealing."

Rochel reached down, grabbed the goggles, and looked into the camera. She groaned as she secured them to her face before he could see her strapping a pistol to her ankle covered in black fabric. "I will do my best, but no guarantees in a gunfight. Test the drone connection while I grab the extra ammo, will you?" she asked as the camera shifted views to her, checking her rifle and placing a few magazines in the backpack near the drone.

Raven slid over and typed on his keyboard before looking at the top right screen. The view changes to the drone whirling up before powering down. "Everything looks green on this end. How are you going to get to the location?"

"I was going to go with the hoverboard. Quiet, and I can weave through the forest quickly. Only have a few minutes before they move out," Rochel said, placing the backpack on her shoulders before grabbing a large black and blue painted board. "Send the location to my scanner."

He nodded and did as she requested. The camera angle moved to see the cargo hold door slowly opening. Rochel bent down and flicked a small switch on the board before it kicked into life, lifting a foot off the ground. The door opened slowly as she reached into her jacket pocket and examined the scanner, examining the location of the red dot. "You are tracking me, Dove?"

"Of course, I will be the eye in the sky and the voice in your ear."

Rochel jumped on the board as she flew forward, hitting the button against the wall. The cargo hold lifted back up as Raven watched the camera blur as she glided in the air, the rain splashing against her view. She kept her head forward and began weaving through trees, telling him, "I would not have it any other way, dove."