Chapter 17

They stepped through the metal doors to see what looked like a tear in space.  Glowing golden swirls rippled along the edges of what looked like a hole to a simple concrete room. It seemed so… anticlimactic.  There were gun slits in the walls that made it seem a bit foreboding though.

Sam turned to look at Terry at her side, “this is it?”

“This is it.  This folder has everything we know and you should know.  I probably should’ve gone over it with you before sending you but brass is angry it’s taken so long to send you.  They should explain everything once you’re through.”

“Yeah I didn’t make things easy on you guys.  There was a lot I did though and I learned about myself in the process.  It probably wouldn’t have been good to send me right away with me freshly turned into a flying cat demon girl.  I was very confused and angry.”

“Not that I blame you. Anyways, whenever you’re ready.”

Terry stepped back through the doors and closed them.  As foreboding as it was, it was symbolic in a way. Only way to go was forward now. She took a few steps towards the opening, portal, and looked at it. No smell, aura, or feeling. It was just there. A tentative hand reached out and through the field.  It was tingly a bit but otherwise no sensation.  Now or never!  Sam stepped through and let the pins and needles wash over her body.

———————-

Her ears popped from the pressure difference and she definitely felt heavier. That was the first thing she noticed. That and the sudden blaring alarm klaxons.  I don’t care where you are or what planet you’re from, those grating high pitched whines are universal.  But that wasn’t a good thing.  Why would there be alarm klaxons going off. This was supposed to be a safe zone.  What was going on?

Then she saw the armored ones through the gun slits. The alarm klaxons were for her. This was a setup.  FUCK!  She immediately bolted for the door at the end of the room. If it was anything like the doors at the other facility she should be able to blast through it if she puts enough behind a kick.  She focused as much as she could into a run and as much force as possible into her foot for a kick right about where the lock should be and hammered away.  

The door gave way but not easily.  If she hadn’t put everything into that kick it wouldn’t have blown.  With a shake of her body and wings she took off down the hall before the dust from the blown hinges and bolt could settle.  Voices were calling all around her and she was trying to avoid them as she dodged down halls through the building.  Coming up on a T she heard voices to the left and knew she had to go right but the second she rounded the corner she felt the burn of incendiary rounds hitting her hide. They really wanted her dead if they were using those.  Not that they were particularly effective on piercing much farther than skin deep but they sure as hell burned and put big holes in her skin.  She swung her bag around to her front to keep any more bullets from hitting her belongings inside.  Those were all she had left and she didn’t want to trust how much Terry claimed it was bulletproof.

There wasn’t much building left for her to run through.  She hadn’t found any stairs or elevators anywhere.  She could hear people running all around her though.  They were effectively surrounding her.  While they weren’t using guns effective on her, she didn’t want to find out if they had other weapons that could be more effective against her.  Or a being strong enough to drive something through her protective layer.  

There! Up ahead was a bank of windows!  That means open air!  Salvation! Shit!  Militia rounded a corner behind her and in front of her, opening fire immediately.  Sam halted in her run next to the windows and roundhouse kicked the window, sending spider cracks through the whole thing.  She sprang away from the window against the wall and spring boarded off the wall and through the window.  The inch thick plate window broke away, the chunks falling down to the ground below as Sam took off into the sky beyond over the alien city.  Sam was thankful she was 20 stories up but this welcoming was fucked up.

———————-

Inside the spire Sam had just jumped out of a meeting was taking place.  Several beings who could only be assumed were the administrators of the complex were sitting with dour expressions.  A badger, fox, reptile, and elf were staring with cold eyes at a large horse.

“We didn’t neutralize the threat.  It broke through the door and was too fast to catch in the complex.  When we finally cornered it the damn thing broke through the windows and flew off.  We didn’t know the female Vey’Ral were so advanced.”

The badger couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, “that’s because she wasn’t a Vey’Ral you fucking moron!  She was a Kor’Ran, the first female of the species, and believed to be someone we have been looking for for fifteen thousand years.  This organization was founded on finding her and her brother!  As a matter of fact, she was assumed dead!  If she is who we think she is, you just assaulted the daughter of Queen Arlan and drove her off because she looked like a Vey’Ral!  For that matter, what part of Vey’Ral training ever suggested they have females of their own?”

Though the horse was brown, his tone paled significantly.  This was not going to bode well.  The elf spoke this time, her sing song voice much smoother than the grating badger’s, “you can expect this incident to be reviewed in full later.  Right now we need to focus on finding and bringing her back.  Authorities are to be informed that she is not a Vey’Ral and to be handled as such.  If we hear of another aggressive action towards her then someone will pay.  I imagine she already has a huge mistrust of us from your display in this building.”

The horse nodded and walked out.  This was worst case scenario for the administrators and they knew it.  How the girl had gotten out was beyond them though.  Blasted her way through a metal door meant to stop a bull and through bullet proof glass without a weapon.  She was the only female in known existence so they knew nothing about her, and already they were shocked at what she could do.  She was doing things only her mother could do.

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Sam flew for a bit to get away from the building.  She wanted nothing to do with those people and hoped word of her would not spread very fast.  Back on Earth, news spread like wildfire.  Within an hour the entire nation could know about a threat.  A few hours the whole world.  Hopefully it wasn’t so fast out here.

Sam watched some of the people on the ground and was surprised to see that it was all walks of life.  Animal people, humanoids, great beasts, even critters that were no bigger than a chihuahua.  How many of them were sentient was the question to Sam, but she would find out eventually.  Another big thing she noticed was the lack of vehicles.  Everyone was walking.  There was a few vehicles moving around from place to place but they looked like delivery vehicles instead of personal craft.  That was when Sam noticed something else amazing.  There was no pollution.  The horizon was a clear blue hue with no dingy yellow or haze, the air smelled clean, and the vehicles had no exhaust pipes.  There was nothing.  Just a literal breath of fresh air.

Sam found a spot off in a grassy area that was more sparse and didn’t have much people to touch down.  A few of the closer people moved back and Sam heard them exclaiming “Drakorna” as she settled onto the ground.  Once she folded up her wings though the expressions she saw on people was not something she was hoping to see.  The women looked fearful while the men looked murderous.  Really not a good start.

Sam also found out very quickly that she didn’t understand the language here at all when they started talking amongst themselves, even yelling, while gesturing towards herself.  One word stood out while they were gesturing towards her, though: Vey’Ral.  She knew she wasn’t one.  The DNA didn’t line up.  She couldn’t deny she had some resemblance to one though but from what she’d seen it wasn’t that much.  The biggest issue was there was no female Vey’Ral.  At all.  Apparently they didn’t care.

Some of them started to advance on her.  Looked like Sam was on her own out here.  These worlds were hostile to her and wanted her dead.  Well she wasn’t going to give them a chance.  She needed a spot to rest and heal her wounds, though.  Even if they weren’t serious, they still hurt.  On top of that her clothes were completely shredded from the high powered bullets.

With a jump Sam was back in the air.  In the distance she could see some warehouses.  Maybe one of them would be abandoned.  The farther she flew the more she realized it was an entire industrial district.  All of these warehouses were new and in use.  She continued for a while more until she came to the other edge of the district and the edges of town and found the abandoned warehouses and seedy housing.  This must be where the unwanted lived.

Sam landed behind a warehouse and tested a window.  It opened easily enough and she was able to slip in.  To her surprise it was a textiles warehouse.  Rolls upon rolls of fabric and trims filled the space.  Why this treasure trove would just be sitting here in a seedy side of town unclaimed was a wonder to her but would not go to waste.  

Walking around the building and the fabric was interesting.  There was a completely different priority for fabric patterns here than on earth.  Most colors were muted and patterns were striped or tribal in design. No organic patterns.  The most curious fabric sam could find was in a locked steel cage though.  Apparently it was valuable enough that even in this warehouse it was locked behind a steel gate.  It even had a special set of clippers in with it.  Sam broke the lock holding the gate and tested the fabric.  There wasn’t a whole lot of it, maybe 10 yards worth, but it was very strong.  She couldn’t even tear it.  Sam looked at her clothing and also the one set she had in her bag and decided she needed it.

She found some thread hiding in the bottom of the cage and wandered off to find some pretty trim so she could make some clothing and have it look appealing.  Learning how to make clothing and sew was definitely something that was coming in handy now.  Sam grabbed the roll of fabric, thread, and scissors then headed to a nearby bench.  Not seeing any sewing machines in the warehouse meant this was going to take all damn night.  She didn’t care. She had plenty of time.

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Morning came with the sound of a metal container banging.  Sam wouldn’t have thought much of it but she heard voices leaving.  The night before she had made five dresses out of the fabric available and had four of them folded up in her bag right now.  The material she had cut out to make the shapes she rolled up and stashed into her bag as well since it seemed to be rather valuable.

A weak groan from the direction the slam had come from, however, had Sam at full alert.  Sam hopped up to the window closest to where the sound came from and opened it.  Looking down she could see a garbage bin with a red furred foot sticking out from under the closed lid.  Sam jumped down and flipped the lid open.  Inside was a young fox girl, beaten and bloodied from an assault.  There looked to be a gash across her stomach that was weeping.  Sam shook the girl a bit to see if she was conscious.  The fox’s eyes fluttered open but she recoiled seeing Sam but winced from the wound on her stomach.

Sam put a hand down on her chest and shushed her gently, focusing on her eyes a bit.  Once Sam absorbed a bit of her language she tried to console the girl, “safe now. Not going to hurt.  Where family? Need hospital?”

“Please, it hurts.  I don’t know where I am.  My family is staying in the spire.  I was walking the market. They came from nowhere. Snatched me up and ran off with me.  Oh god what they would have done if I was older.”

“Who. What happen?”

“Vey’Ral! They kidnapped me!  I’m lucky.  They just beat me for wasting their time. I’m not fertile yet.”

“That’s terrible!  Come.  I need to get you to a hospital.  You can guide me once we’re airborne.  What’s your name?”

“Linley.  You speak better now… I thought you could barely speak our language?”

“I learn from being around you.  I speak 75 languages so far.”  Sam reached under Linley and lifted her out of the garbage.  Once the fox was safely cradled against her chest, she started slowly accelerating into a run to take off into the air.  Normally she would jump into the air but she had precious cargo that was sensitive.  Linley was still in wonder at the fact that she was now flying over the city.

“What are you?  The only bipeds that can fly are the Drakorna.  You don’t look like one.  I thought you were Vey’Ral at first.”

“Definitely not Vey’Ral.  They think I’m half Drakorna half Ren’Dal.”

The girl was starting to drift off as they flew, “they?”

“Hang in there.  They are the people who sent me.  I came in through some weird portal from Earth.  That’s where I grew up.  We’re over the city now.  Which way to the hospital?”

She looked down a bit and pointed off towards the spire sam was trying to avoid.  Next to it Sam saw a structure that looked like it might be a hospital that had a couple craft flying in and out of it.  At least she could avoid the spire slightly.

“I met an elf girl from earth. She said it was nice there. Not much advanced but lots to do.  Entertainment everywhere.”

“Mmm, that I’ll give them. They definitely spent a lot on entertainment.  Which side of the building should I go in to bring you in?”

“Side opposite the spire.  Emergency entrance.  Big blue sign.”

“Huh. They use red where I’m from.”

“Red? Red is danger across the galaxies. Avoid red. Blue is healing.”

“That makes sense.  Yellow was our danger.”

“Your people were weird.”

Sam just laughed as she landed outside the building.  The one person who was out there hurried away with a bandaged head.  Sam though hurried in through the automatic doors with Linley in her arms.  The poor girl had bled into her shirt around the wound and was not doing very good at all.  Sam walked right up to the counter with the person, ignoring the other people in the room and got their attention.

“Vey’Ral ditched this girl in a dumpster across town. I got her here as fast as I can. She’s been beaten, has a gash on her stomach, and has been close to passing out the whole way here.”

The skunk at the desk looked up at Sam, pressed a button on the panel in front of her and called for a stretcher.  Within seconds a couple women came out with a gurney and started accusing Sam of hurting the girl.  Sam growled at them but the closest to her just flicked her nose and the growl ceased.  Not that she could be mad at medical personnel anyways. They were here to do a job.

Sam turned to the skunk at the desk again, “her name is Linley if that makes a difference.”

The skunk actually started at that mention, “we have been looking for her since yesterday!  Oh thank goodness she is alive.  Her father will be pleased.”

Sam nodded and started walking back out of the building when a big burly black lizard man walked in ahead of her, stopping in front of her.

“Good. I finally found you. You’re coming with me.  We may not be allowed to use guns against you but if you cause us any grief there are other ways to subdue your kind.”

“Oh, is that so?  What do you plan to do?”

“You go back to the spire, we take you before the admins, and once you are determined to not be the one they expected then we can do as we please.”  Sam walked around him and started heading out the doors. He tried to grab her but she dodged around his hand and continued out the doors.

“Get back here you little shit! Your kind has caused enough grief for my people!  You need to pay!”

Sam spun around outside the doors right as the man was about to pounce on her and slammed a fist into his chin, sending him up and over her.  The hit dazed him but he got back up.  He snarled when he looked back at Sam.

“So you’re going to make this difficult, huh? That’s fine.  I’d love to get some frustrations out!”

He came at Sam again, this time swinging his big meaty arm.  Sam met his fist with her own but with a much faster movement, stopping his arm and shattering his fist and forearm.  He howled in pain as he sailed past onto the ground, clutching his arm.  Sam walked over and pressed a foot into his neck, extending her claws to press into his flesh.  He got the hint and held very still.

“You people really think I am a Vey’Ral?  Do you even know what one looks like?  They don’t even have females!  How fucking stupid are you?!  No, be glad I held back when I hit you in the jaw.  You people want me gone, I’ll be gone.”

Sam used her other foot and jumped off his chest into the air to fly away, she heard his gasp of pain from the likely cracked rib he experienced.  A couple nurses came out and helped him to his feet to get him some medical treatment but Sam did not care.  She headed out of town and away.  Maybe she could find another town or a port she could sneak onto a ship through.