Chapter 2
Gwyn opened her eyes. She was greeted with Trace’s warm smile. In fact, all she could see was Trace; he was standing over her, rather creepily one might add. Trace sat up straight, trying to play down the fact that he had been watching over her for the last two hours. Gwyn looked around, it seems they were no longer in a bar. The low growl of an engine could be heard in the distance. She was on a spaceship. “You’re awake?” Trace stated, surprise filled his voice. It’s not like he would have been caught staring at her if he had expected her to wake up that moment. 
“Yeah, Where am I?” Gwyn asked, groggily. Her head was pounding, but she certainly didn’t feel like she’d been shot. She placed her hands on top of her head, bending her ears down in the process. 
“You’re on the C.S.S. Nevermore. It’s a C-class freighter. Real big and old. Or at least that’s what Ben told me it was.” he said happily. 
“How’d I get here?” she asked.
“I carried you.” Trace replied, proudly. “You’re surprisingly not too heavy, it just didn’t seem right to leave you there for the authorities to pick you up.” 
Gwyn frowned. She looked down at her clothes which were all still on. One always had to wonder when waking up in a stranger’s bed if they had been touched certain places. At least it wasn’t anything like that one time she blacked out at that party. She didn’t have any clothes on after that time. There was a funny feeling in between her legs too. She swore to never let that happen again. “What happened?” she asked. 
“Well, you fell off your stool, clumsy.” He said with a goofy smile, as if it was expected of everyone to be able to sit down cooly during a firefight while sipping their drink. “Your ears bled for a little bit afterwards. I was a little worried actually. You banged your head pretty badly. I thought you might die!” He smiled at her, trying his absolute best to get the girl to like him. 
“Well where are we even headed?” she asked, worriedly looking around the ship. 
“Novi,” he replied. 
“Really?” she asked, her hand reaching into one of her pockets.  She could feel that the credits were all still there, and that meant she didn’t have to spend them to get passage to a planet she was already headed to. Perhaps bumping her head wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to her. She smiled, her tail wagging in reciprocation of her feelings. 
“Yeah, we’re headed to Novi.” He said, rather happy that Gwyn herself was so excited. Not really being able to help himself he reached out and caught the girl’s tail. He had become rather accustomed to touching the girl as he had carried her some ways, however Gwyn wasn’t so used to being touched. She reacted poorly to say the least. 
“Uhm, that’s my tail.” she said curtly, unsure of what the correct social response was when the boy who recently saved your life grabs your tail. She froze, Trace still holding on to the fluffy butt ornament. Deciding to do something, she grabbed her own tail and pulled it out of the boys arms cradling it in her own, now feeling rather uncomfortable. 
“Oh, uh sorry.” Trace stood up. “The others will want to see you now that you’re awake.” He said trying to change the topic of it all. “They’re in the main living space. It’s just out  the door.” 
“Okay,” she said standing up and looking around. “What room am I in now anyways?” she asked. 
“My room.”
“Oh, uh thanks.” She stood up and walked out of the room. Shaking off that awkward situation she stepped right into another. On the floor lay a man she’d never met before, and standing around him were both the bartender and Ben. The Bartender had bandages wrapped around his torso and left arm. The man on the ground was lying in a small puddle of blood, and looked very dead. The two humans stared at Gwyn. “Is he dead?” she asked looking concerned. 
“Yeah, Jon killed him.” Ben told her, motioning to the bartender. 
“He uh, didn’t want to land the ship where I wanted him to land.” answered the bartender. Ben was scratching his head. 
“I’m not sure who’s going to land the ship now though.” added Ben. 
“I already told you, there’s an auto pilot we just have to turn it on.” replied Jon angrily. “I only meant to scare him anyways. It’s not my fault he up and died.” The two began to get into an argument over whether or not they really needed a pilot and whether it was Jon’s or the pilot’s fault for his untimely death. They quickly forgot about Gwyn which only added to the general uncomfort that she felt concerning this ship and her passengers. She decided to walk back to the flirtatious boy, whom at least wasn’t a murderer or so she hoped. 
Gwyn walked back into the bedroom. The wolf’s ears rose, a smile forming on his face as she returned. 
“There’s a dead man out there.” she said, pointing behind her. “They killed the pilot!” She was flustered by the whole situation to say the least. The wolf looked past her. “Well, they must have had a good reason to do that. Ben doesn’t go killing people without a reason.” he said. It was as if the casual murdering was somewhat of a daily occurrence for him. Which indeed it was, the boy did carry a rifle with him after all. 
It was at this point Gwyn realized she was stuck on a ship with a bunch of crazies. She began to back up. “Uh, yeah. I uh, need to pee. Where’s the restroom?” she asked.
“Down the corridor, second left.” the boy responded. Gwyn took off down the hall, running past the murder scene, nearly running into a confused Jon and darted into the bathroom, where she proceeded to lock herself in so she could think. She put the lid down sat on top of the toilet, and put on her thinking cap. The door looked sturdy enough. She was safe, at least temporarily. 
Now Jon and Ben were left chuckling in the corridor. The two were in the process of moving the body to one of the air locks. There was no reason to keep a dead pilot after all. They carried the deceased with practiced ease, placing him in the airlock, shutting the door, a press of a button and the body was disposed of. Ben gave a nod as the corpse past the viewport, a short funeral to say the least. The pair wandered back into the main living space. Jon’s stomach rumbled and he proceeded to excuse himself to the kitchen. 
Ben found himself all alone, with Jon eating and Trace doing whatever teen wolf boys did. Ben had walked in on that once and had henceforth resolved to not do such again. The man decided he’d work on getting the fox out of the bathroom. It didn’t take a genius to realize she was barricading herself inside, and while he was sure food would eventually get her to leave, he was also sure someone would want to use the only bathroom on the ship prior to that. The man walked to the door and knocked on the thin metal, a hollow clank emanating through the hall followed. 
“It’s occupied.” Gwyn called out, in a tear filled voice. 
“I knew that. I was wondering if you were going to come out sometime.” he replied. “Want to talk?” 
“No.” the girl replied. 
“Well hiding in the bathroom won’t solve your problems.” Ben said, continuing anyway. “If it did I’d have found out a long time ago. I got shot once and now have a stomach issue that’s led to me spending my fair share of time in them.” 
“I really didn’t need to know that. Please go away.”
“I don’t think I will. I mean, you’re stuck in the bathroom and I’ve no one to talk to, so this situation really works out for me.” he mused, sitting down on the floor next to the door. “I just sat down so I’m in it for the long haul.” 
“What do you want?” she asked from the other side.
“Well, a nice little house and lots of money firstly. But we could just start with you coming out and perhaps talking to me. The couch is more comfy than anything in there anyways.” Which was true, as spaceship toilets were notorious for being uncomfortable. 
“I’m not coming out.” she called out.
“Now that’s silly. You have to come out for food eventually. Besides, no one wants in the bathroom yet. Soon you’ll have three people very angry with you, and Jon’s already demonstrated he kills people when he’s angry.” he replied. “If you come out now I promise you will get your very own bed. If not I hear the floor is comfy.” 
“I don’t want to sleep in the same room as Trace anyways.” she retorted. 
“Well, one can hardly blame you for that. But don’t go telling him that, he seems to be rather infatuated with you.” he paused for a moment, soon adding. “I’ll tell you what. If you come out now. You can have the whole room to yourself,” he offered, to be rewarded by the sound of the turning of the locking mechanism. Gwyn cracked the door open. 
“You promise? Can I have some food too?” she asked, having not eaten in some time. 
“Sure, but you have to make it yourself.” Ben responded, greeting her with a smile. The door opened all the way and the fox stepped out of her hole.
She walked past the now cleaned up murder scene, and began wandering around the ship in search of the galley. The freighter’s living quarters from what she could tell was a big flying rectangle with one major hallway that ran down the ship’s starboard side. The ship’s living area was not very big, and within five minutes Gwyn had found her way to the galley. Now finding out exactly how to work the different machines was a whole new sort of problem. After fiddling with what she assumed was the oven for some time, she had come to the conclusion that she was more likely to catch something on fire than procure a meal for herself. She opened the refridgerator door to be greeted with a blast of cold air. Too cold actually, everything in the fridge was frozen; this was not at all uncommon for shuttle galleys however. Fortune seemed to favor the girl, as direction on how use the oven system was pasted on the inside of the refrigerator door. She read over them as she grabbed a package labeled “Potatoes” out of the freezer. The oven was simple to operate with a little direction and in no time at all, cheesy potatoes were on their way to a tasty greasy perfection. Now Gwyn doubted they were made of real cheese, but she wasn’t one to turn down food. She sat herself down at a nearby steel table. Most everything in the galley was made of steel, and she concluded this was to help prevent the spread of any fires. A ding let the fox know her food was done. The smell of warm potatoes filled the air which only made her more hungry. She removed the package with care and found herself a spoon. The dish was obviously meant to be served with other food and to multiple people as there were far too many for the girl to eat herself. This did not faze the fox as she wandered back to the lounge with her meal. She brought one spoon with her and had no intention of sharing. The others could go get their own food. 
Trace was sitting on his cot. He couldn’t figure out why the girl was so intent on ignoring him. He was always nice to her and he didn’t smell any more than the next guy, or at least he thought so. The smell of potatoes wafted in under the door. The wolf stood up and opened the door a crack. The girl of his fancy was sitting out there all by herself. His heart rate picked up. He wanted to go sit by her, talk to her, but surely that would make her angry. Or she would at least just blow him off. What if she didn’t want to talk to him? He watched her for a moment; she was eating her potatoes, happily off in her own world. The boy decided to leave her alone for now. He went back to reading a book he found. It was about an Elf lord in search of his lost love. He thought the  book was overly wordy, but the boy didn’t have too much else to do. And reading was not something he got to do often. As he read he found that many of the protagonist's problems could be solved by just talking to the girl. He sighed. It was if the book was criticizing him. He set it down and stood up, steeling himself to the idea of talking to his love. The boy took a deep breath; he felt good about this. He stepped into the main room of the ship. This was it, he was going to make her like him. She was sitting back at her chair looking at her potatoes. She was so-
“Trace!” Ben shouted making a hurried gesture. “Get over here. We’ve got planning to do.” he said gesturing towards his room. 
“Coming.” The boy sighed. He hustled over to Ben and took his seat next to Jon in Ben’s room. 
“Now listen, we know what we have to do. He’s resurfaced… General Hentes.” Ben said gravely. Jon looked surprised. 
“You’re sure? His helicopter was shot down in the battle of Ralliegn Valley. I saw that with my own eyes.” he stated. “Are you sure it’s not just some silly rumor. A ghost story for old war dogs like us?” he asked. 
“My contact is sure it’s him.” he said, removing a tablet from his jacket and showing the two a picture. On the screen a tall older human with cropped blonde hair. The good General was in a business suit. The Zontik Medical research logo was on the wall behind him. “He’s found himself a nice cushy job.”
“Wait, now who is this Hentes?” Trace asked, lost in the whole conversation.
“The devil, mate.” Jon responded. Ben sighed and gave a more serious answer. 
“He was in charge of a program called Bottlecap. It was a black budget project, involved in the idea of a weaponized human. One that could corrupt another’s DNA structure as well as alter their own. We are all familiar with genetic manipulation as it has been around for almost three centuries now. But, even today, it takes a four week medical procedure to complete the process of altering DNA to produce stable phenotypes in humans. Such as Trace’s Wolf like appearance and traits that were passed down from family. At some point one of his parents went through the procedure and had their DNA altered. But imagine someone, a soldier, that could change their DNA at will. They would have a conscious decision in what they looked like. They could look like anyone, the building blocks of our very humanity would be at their own will. But they would not stop there. The soldier would also be able kill by touch, destroying others my corrupting their own genetic code. Such was the idea of the project. But progress is never made without sacrifice, and testing had to be done. Prisoners, low income families anyone that they could get a hold of that would not be missed were selected. And General Hentes would round these people up, and run the tests, rapid mutation tests with no painkillers. It was the discovery of this project that caused Pornell, who was the leader of the rebellion, to start the Blue Dawn. We had had enough of the government’s atrocities.” He paused. “And I and eight others were sent to kill him.” He glances at Jon. “We thought we had succeeded.”
“Yeah, so we’re going to finish what we started. I assume He is still up to no good?” asked Jon. 
Trace looked rather stunned by this. Ever since he was picked up by Mr. Ben in the desert one fateful day, the two had been hunting down gangs and the like, big people who picked on littler people. They were performing their own sort of vigilante justice. But this was big, he’d never gone off world before. “What about Gwyn?” he asked, his thoughts ever drifting back to the Red haired fox. 
“We’ll likely just drop her off in some town. It wouldn’t be right to take her. She’s not a fighter. The plan is to use you as bait. We will sell you as medical supplies and whoever comes to buy you we will kidnap and use to find where his product goes.”  he said.
“I’ve got some contacts all lined up.” Jon added.
“Should we call her in here?” Trace asked. His thoughts were still on the fox.  
“No, let her relax. She’s stressed out enough. We can fill her in when we land.” he said. 
“I’m going to go talk to her.” Trace said, getting up and leaving the room. Ben chuckles as he leaves. 
“You know Jon, after all my years of traveling with that boy, we find one unconscious girl and he falls head over heels for her.”
“I’m sure we were no different if we were his age.”  Jon replied. 
Gwynessa watched Trace enter. She had been staring at her mostly eaten potatoes for a few minutes now. The fox was rather full, but also didn’t want the food to go to waste. It just wasn’t often there was leftover food. And she could hardly remember the last time she got to just stuff herself. She would pick up a bite, and while still delicious, she would force it down as if she let one bite go to waste, she would never get the chance to stuff herself again. Trace walked up to her and sat down across from her. 
“Need any help?” he asked her, licking his own lips.She did and pushed the tray over to him. The full fox was glad to have an excuse to get rid of the potatoes as throwing them out was something she simply could not bring herself do. 
“Sure, knock yourself out.” she replied, pushing the tray towards him. She looked over at the room where the secret meeting the trio had had was held. She hadn’t been invited to it, and why should she have been, but she was sure her fate had been decided by those in there. “So, what are they talking about?” she asked gesturing towards the room both Ben and Jon were still in. 
“Oh, just plans of what to do once we reach ground.” 
“Are we even going to be able to reach ground? You’re friend did kill the pilot.” 
“I think Jon had a pilot’s license, had being the key word. The plan is, he’s going to land with the ship’s help… which honestly I’m not sure how that works either.” He thought over the shoddy plan, “And then we will all depart the ship in one piece unharmed. Or so the plan goes.”
“Well, I’m glad it’s so thought through.” Gwynessa replied sarcastically. “I have complete faith in the men I never met.”
“You needn’t be so hard on them.” he stammered, this conversations wasn’t going in the direction he wanted it to. The boy felt uncomfortable by talking poorly of Ben when he was not present.   
“I can be as hard as I want. This is stupid. I was just having a drink, and you and your friends hit me over the head, kidnapped me, and are now going to crash into a planet. Yeah, I’m sure I’m being a little too hard on you all.” she replied, snorting. 
“The police would have tortured you. They would have thought you were one of us. You would have died in a dusty prison!” he explained. Gwyn just crossed her arms. 
	“I didn’t do anything! I did nothing wrong, I was just sitting in a bar.” she looked at her feet and sighed. “It’s not fair.” she added. Trace was mad. He only tried to help. He saved her and this was his thanks. She was right it was not fair. He turned away, taking her potatoes with him. The two did not talk much more after that, and eventually Gwyn fell asleep on the couch in the living area.