Kim Possible is property of Disney. All original characters are property of author. This is a work for fun, not profit. A Six-string Samurai fan fiction.

Tremulant Star

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Chapter One - part 5 of 5

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Ultimately, it seemed the choice wasn’t in fact in Sheri’s hands. Just outside the Burn Zone, a crowd of onlookers was starting to form. Where the motley assortment had come from so quickly was anyone’s guess, but already she could hear a murmur sweeping her way, and more than one or two gazes lingering on her a tad longer than had to be healthy. It wasn’t enough that she already stood out from the locals, they were starting to make an issue of it. She started walking, and picked up the pace when she noticed three rougher looking men brake off from the rest, unmistakably following after her.

If this was how things worked in the Eastern Sector, it was going to be a lot harder to try and track down any local fuel. Add to it, the cost, and how little she had to spare, the GJ Cruiser was looking better by the minute. There was the Hidden Sun to consider, but the odds were already swinging in Sheri’s favor on that count. She shot a quick glance over her shoulder, where it seemed her tail had picked up two more stragglers. Yeah, give me one on one odds any day, she decided, trying to think of the best way to get rid of the unwanted attention.

There was also an equally pressing matter, that of figuring out where the Cruiser was docked. She was sure the imposters hadn’t landed outside the city. They’d found her far too quickly to have gone through Courtan on foot as she had, especially since she’d had a decent lead in the first place. No, they’d had to have parked the ship somewhere nearby. It was likely that they’d made use of their authority to get around the planet’s current embargo.

Behind her, the footfalls started to become more obvious, as if the men wanted her to know they were there. She scowled, did they actually think she was that blind? Quickly scanning the street ahead, she noted that it was empty. The windows of the squat hovels and burnt out factories were staring back with blank gazes, as if this were an all too common occurrence, which she figured it probably was. Sheri debated ducking down one of the twisting side streets, but the thought of running into a dead end wasn’t all that appealing. “Guess, I can always see what these boys want,” she muttered resigned, slowing her pace down to a more relaxed stroll. The low hum that radiated out from her gloves was lost against the slight breeze that carried a tang of ash and grit.

It didn’t take long for the posse to catch up, forming a loose semi-circle around the noirette. All five were male, and either giving her looks of contempt, outright hostility, or some mixture of the two. Maybe they just didn’t like her face, it was hard to tell when they weren’t being very talkative. The one in the middle, closest to her had one hand in the pocket of his tattered coat, and the other scratching at the crusty stubble under his jaw.

Sheri kept her own hands down at her sides, mindful to resist the urge to fold her arms across her chest. There were more important things on her plate, and the longer this took, the greater the risk of missing her window of opportunity. She was hoping to reach the Cruiser before the Hidden Sun, and without knowing exactly where it was, she couldn’t afford this to waste more of her time. “Got a problem,” she asked, staring down scruffy.

“Nothin’ we can’t fix,” he replied, nodding at one of the others, who Sheri realized was one of the men at the bar. “Jarod here says you’re poking around, asking after that crazy bitch, Duke. Next minute, the place is getting shot to hell,” he paused, getting a bobble-headed nod from Jarod.

“And,” Sheri prompted, knowing full well where this conversation was headed.

“We’ve got enough shit to deal with around here, without people like you bringing more,” he leaned forward, trying to loom over the raven haired pilot, even though they were roughly the same height.

Sheri didn’t budge, but appeared to consider what he was telling her, “I don’t need this any more than you do, trust me. I’m trying to get out of here, in case that slipped past, so let’s just call this lesson learned, and we can all be on our way.”

“That’s not gonna pay for the damages,” he said, grinning as the other men seconded him.

“Why don’t you hit up Galactic Justice? They’re the ones you should be bothering. I’m not the one that went in and lit the place up.”

“They’re after you, and that’s more than enough reason,” the leader of the ragtag group rubbed at his chin, “I’m betting there’s some kinda reward in turning you in. What do you guys think,” he looked at them, before bringing his attention back to Sheri, seemingly satisfied with the consensus. “Prolly cash in double, downtown, you bein’ illegal and all.”

This was quickly turning ugly, she realized, taking in the ring of hungry faces.

“’course, we can have a bit of fun first,” that grin widened, revealing a row of stained teeth. “No good passing up the chance with an Outlander.” He revealed his hand, holding a small pistol that looked half-cobbled together, and as able as its owner. Around him, two of the others brandished similarly outdated firearms.

Sheri flexed her fingers, tightening them into fists, and the hum suddenly grew much louder. She mentally kicked herself for not dealing with this before she had three pistols pointing at her. Either way, there was no time for should have‘s, as her body was already in motion of its own accord.

The first shot sizzled to the left of her head, boring harmlessly into the wall of a building on the other side of the road. Scruffy didn’t get a second chance, as Sheri immediately flat-palmed him in the chest, discharging enough energy to launch him backward with enough force to tumble him ass over elbows. A flailing limb caught one of the men unfortunate enough to be standing too close to their leader as he bowled past.

Her left gauntlet, holding a weaker charge, spewed out a flare of green that washed over the two next closest idiots, who reeled back, both clutching at their flash blinded eyes. One was armed, and reflexively fired at the last place he’d seen the black-tressed Outlander. Stiff fingers rammed into his throat, putting an end to wild shots that were more dangerous to the other members than the woman they’d all made the mistake of threatening. A roundhouse kick snapped out and nailed the other unarmed street trash in the ribs, crumpling him with an audible crack of bone.

As she retracted her foot, Sheri kicked out backward at the last one still standing, Jerod, bending him double as her boot sank into his stomach. He dropped to his side, looking for all the world like he was going to vomit up a lung. She shook her head at the display. Straightening, she took a quick tally, making sure none of the weapons were within easy reach of her assailants. “Like I said, if you’ve got a problem, take it up with Galactic Justice. I’m sure they’ll be glad to lend an ear,” she took one last look around. “I’ve got stuff to do, but maybe we can play longer some other time,” she waited for a few heartbeats, but none of them were up to responding, “…or not.”

Powering down her gloves, she rubbed at her temple, “Now, where’s that damned ship parked?” Sheri reoriented herself toward the hub, the tower of the spaceport barely visible through the pollution rising up in the distance. It was her best bet, and she was looking forward to air that she didn’t have to taste with each breath. She wanted out of this trash hole and off the planet. Courtan made the Three Ring look like paradise, and she’d fought tooth and nail to get out of there. The sooner was back on the Infinity, the better she would feel.

It was much harder getting to the port than it seemed. Frustratingly so, since she could see the damn thing towering over even the smaller spires of office buildings that dominated the skyline of the city’s center. But, the roads and byways, like the outer walls, were choked with construction sites, dead ends and detours. Even on foot, it was a complete mess, and it didn’t help that she was trying to hurry. She’d already stopped to ask for directions, but it felt like everyone she ran into was either trying to get her more lost, or just as confused by the mess as she was. Sheri figured that it was probably due to the travel restrictions. There was probably very little reason for the locals to worry about how to get to the port, when in all likelihood, none of them could make use of it.

“Just freaking great,” she shouted to the heavens after running down the third successive road that funneled into a work site. “Who thought it would be a good idea to block off all the roads at the same time,” the pilot was ready to snap and throttle the entire civic office if it would clear up just one street. Face it, there’s no way they haven’t already made it back to the Cruiser, she told herself, even taking into account that the Hidden Sun chick was probably saddled dragging her partner’s ass through this damned maze.

Growling in irritation, the stranded Outlander kicked at one of the under construction signs that lined the site, eliciting a mildly satisfying ring from the sheet of metal. Turning away from the mess, Sheri trudged back the way she’d come, until she was back on one of the wider streets, staring up at the tower that felt like it existed solely to taunt her. She’d already wasted a good fifteen minutes that would be next to impossible to make up.

That’s what she was thinking, right before her eyes spotted what looked like a shuttle bus waiting down on the far end of the street. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she took off at a sprint, dodging through the meager traffic and made it across the roadway, followed by a trail of angry shouts and threats from some of the drivers. She had no idea if it was even a public transport, but it looked like one from a distance, and that was all she needed to chance it, hoping that it was running, and not out of the center of the city.

As it turned out, a bit of Lady luck was finally beginning to shine down on the raven haired pilot. It was indeed a running shuttle, and one headed into the heart of the district. It wasn’t exactly where she needed to go, but it had to be better than her own fruitless endeavor to get there. Hopefully, she could make up some of the lost time in the process. Sliding her TAB across the reader near the driver’s seat, Sheri dropped into the nearest empty seat and waited impatiently for the bus to depart.

The shuttle ended up dropping her off within easy walking distance from the space port. She could actually see the entire front side of the tower from where the shuttle let her off. The gleaming white and green construct was a sobering sight, eclipsing most of the other structures nearby with its massive bulk. Several dozen magnetic launch rails jutted out from the sides at various angles, all aimed skyward in a useless display. The upper tier was wide and flared out at the edges to accommodate larger cargo craft, and possibly big enough for one Cerulean-class ship.

Now, that was a sobering thought, especially given the planet’s nasty history with orbital bombardment.

Whatever the reasoning, with a capable port of this size, Sheri was seriously questioning the logic of a planet-wide embargo. She just didn’t see any benefit to this level of self-imposed isolationism. Then again, politics weren’t her thing by any stretch of the word. All the more reason she’d left home, to not have to deal with the power-struggle going on between her brother and the rest of the company board. It was better to leave that mess to someone who cared enough to really fight for control. She could care less if her father’s company was strewn to the winds. Let them fight over the bloody scraps.

Sheri found that the supposedly shut down port was actually quite active. Not that there were any actual craft entering or leaving, but the place was crawling with uniformed staff, and a few obvious security details, and none of the lot appeared to be civilians. Which made her job that much more difficult. Though surprisingly, there was no sign of renovations or other similar work going on.

She’d honestly expected the place to be a ghost town. The limited activity would make sneaking in a whole lot harder, not to mention trying to get back out with an armload of stolen fuel cells, assuming of course that the GJ Cruiser was at the port in the first place. Of course, it wouldn’t be hard to spot in the honeycomb of empty launch bays.

No, going in the front doors or one of the ground level loading bays was out of the question. If the locals could spot that she wasn’t from the city, there was no chance she would just be walking right past a cadre of armed guards, not in the outfit she was wearing, anyway.

On the plus side, with the people walking in and out of the facility, Sheri didn’t have to wait long before spotting a few workers that appeared to be around the same size. The slate gray uniforms they were wearing hung pretty loose and were baggy enough that she’d probably be able to put it on directly over her own clothes, jacket and all. The best part was the line getting inside through the small personnel door near her side of the port was starting to wrap around toward the corner. She could see an alcove just past the end of the line, where her best options were headed.

Thumbing one of her gloves to the lowest setting, she jogged over toward the alcove and her ticket in.

Definitely a plus, she grinned, happy with her selection as she pulled the zipper on the side the rest of the way up, but had to keep the top collar snaps above her chest unfastened. It was all a tad snug, especially around her hips, but she could put up with being uncomfortable as long as it got her inside without incident. Sheri took her place in the line, with no one the wiser, leaving three unconscious men tucked away out of sight in the back of their loading truck around the bend.