A Road Less Travelled

The Intro

The ships moved gracefully and lightly, like birds in the air that had achieved heights higher than the sky. Ty had slipped from view, but Anna was sure she’d find him eventually. He’d never learned any patience and wasn’t that hard to wait out. But this hide-and-seek tactic of his was kinda fun.

“Marco,” Anna whispered into the comm. “Maaarco.”

She ducked around an asteroid and dodged the smaller rock hiding behind it. Radar was next to useless in the radiation so she had to rely on her skill and reflexes. Which, of course, was the way she liked it.

“Come on, Ty. You’re not playing along. Maaarco.”

Ty’s voice crackled as it came over the comm. “Polo, you crazy bitch!”

He burst into sight right in front of her. She sighted in on the asteroid behind him. Really, he was being too obvious; a clean kill would be no fun at all. So she aimed just behind him and fired at the asteroid planning on hitting his ship with the ricochets. But at the very last second her head whipped to the side and she saw a huge, monster of a rock flying right at her. She had to scramble to dodge it which sent her shot flying wild. Instead of hitting at an angle to just send rock splinters at Ty’s ship the asteroid blew apart into fragments of every shape and size. Anna lost sight of Ty in the dust cloud that grew from where the asteroid had been. A grin that was worlds away from being wholesome grew on her face. Now this was fun.

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There was no place like a bar in a base town. There were enough uniforms to feel like you belonged and enough civilians to remember why you fought. Ty was busy getting a good look at four very good reasons to wear a uniform that were sitting at a table by themselves. They were all soft lines and curves. He took a swig of his beer and smirked at them. They were smiling and laughing, no doubt completely over-stimulated by all the uniforms around. Well, Ty knew that if he was going to get his rightful share of being noticed he’d have to do something to stand out. And look taller.

So he grabbed another beer and hopped up onto the table. His plans ended at that point so he just did the very first thing that came to mind and starting singing. Ty knew he had a pretty good voice and he thought he cut a rather nice figure standing there on the table. If he did say so himself.

The girls noticed him and started giggling together the way girls do. He’d really warmed up to his song which was helped by the beer though it was one of his favorites. He’d just settled on which girl he was going to win when a voice broke into his song. One of the Marines that had been sitting on the far side of the room seemed to be a critic.

“Get down and shut up!”

Ty didn’t take that from anybody. He faced the Marine across the room and said, “Excuse me?”

The bulky man stood up. “You heard me. Get down and shut your face. You sound like a cat being mauled.”

Ty smirked at him and drank some more beer. Then he turned back to the ladies. “Where was I?” he asked courteously.

“Damn pilots,” the Marine said. “Not good for anything once their feet hit the pavement.”

Ty heard a chair scrape and looked back to see a fellow pilot from one of the other tables now standing between him and the Marine. It was that woman with the blond ponytail, what was her name? Kraus, Anna Kraus, he remembered at the same time she broke her beer bottle over the Marine’s head.

Well, Ty thought, I guess that’s it. Then he launched himself at a group from the Marine’s table and the battle was joined.

Ty had rarely been embarrassed of his height. Being shorter than average made him an excellent fit for the tight spaces of a cockpit. But he started wondering if height and bulk had it’s uses as two very large, very bulky Marines tackled him and held him down for a third to pummel. He wiggled and squirmed, trying to get free, but they had a good hold on him and weren’t planning on letting go anytime soon. The third Marine kicked him in the side and he yelled in pain. The Marine cocked his leg back for another go, but then Anna was there.

She took the third Marine off his feet and then pulled one of the other two off of Ty. It was enough reprieve for him to get the last Marine off of him and Ty hit him several times until he stayed down. Then Ty slumped to the floor and gingerly held his side. A hand was offered to him and he followed it up to Anna’s face. He took it his and she pulled him up to his feet.