Cecilia Crimsondragon Ch. 5

“She WHAT?!” Dr. Andro Cantorin yelled as he heard the news of Cecilia’s sucessful escape. The scientist that had reported it to Andro flinched.
    “We tried to recover her, Dr. Cantorin. But she killed an estimated 35 members of the staff, with many more not expecting to survive....”
    “Damn it all! Are we certain she stole information about The Plan?”
    “Positive. The computers withen the Infusion Lab showed signs of tampering shortly before she escaped. It is possible that if she decodes the documents she stole and reads what is withen them she might flee to a Republican authority. No matter how remote the possibility seems, it still exists.
    Andro swore and paced around. He really didn’t want to do this, but if the chance existed that she would blab....
    “I want a bounty put up for her capture. At once. Make sure to emphise not a scale is to be harmed!”
    “Allright, Dr. Cantorin. What price do you want on her head?”
    “Two billion. Not a credit less, understand?!”
    “Yes Dr. Cantorin, we’ll get it up on the Holo-Net immidiatly!”
    Andro watched the scientist quickly jog out of the room before resuming his pacing. He was not in a good mood in the least bit, and if Cecilia wasn’t recovered quickly, heads would roll....
* * *
    A soft clicking sound filled the cockpit as Cecilia changed the registration information for the freighter. The ship had been re-named to Dragon Wing. She had changed every bit of information in the ship, and erased all previous logs. But the only thing left was the name. She didn’t know if she had a surname or not. She only ever knew of Cecilia, and nothing else. And she didn’t want to leave it blank, that would seem too suspicious.
    So she sat there racking her brains for something. Anything. She stared at her dim reflection in the window: her hair was in need of a washing, as was the rest of her. And she definitly needed to eat, she looked too much like a muscular skeleton. She supposed once all of that was achieved, her skin wouldn’t be dull and her crimson scales would be shiney and smooth....
    That was it! She knew exactly what she could call herself. It would fit perfectly too. Sitting there, she typed in her new name for the first time: C-R-I-M-S-O-N-D-R-A-G-O-N, C-E-C-I-L-I-A. She smiled: it would do her very well.
    No sooner had she finished the alarm rang: Time to jump out of hyperspace. Nervously, Cecilia began the process of the jump from light speed, although she had jumped out and changed her direction and co-ordinates three times before in the time she had escaped
    Final adjustments made, she sucessfully had managed to jump out and breathed a sigh of relief: she was no pilot and she knew it, although it was doubtful if she knew a normal ten cycle old child could pilot a ship and jump in and out of lightspeed. But then again, Cecilia was anything but normal.
    It was only then when Cecilia realised how tired she was. And she felt far less then safe to just sleep floating in space. Half asleep, she piloted Dragon Wing to the nearby system. As she rapidly approached the atmosphere, she nervously cleared her throat before radioing in to the control center, trying her best not to sound like a dozy child.
    “This is the Dragon Wing, requesting permission to land,” Cecilia said in her best, non-tired adult voice as she sent her registration information. The was a short pause, and then-
    “Permission granted, Ms. Crimsondragon. Docking Bay 17,” a strange male voice told her.
    “Thank you,” she said in reply as she brought the ship down. It took her a moment, but she found where she was supposed to go: she saw it was some sort of city, but was too tired to look at the details as she brought the ship down with a gentle thump.
    Yawning widly, she grabbed Mr. Scales, and headed for the cot she had seen when she dashed aboard. Grabbing a thin blanket, she layed down, curled up, and was asleep almost at once.
    It wasn’t a deep sleep, for she woke up no less then five times, suffering from horrendous nightmares of the lab. Still, it was better then no sleep at all, and eventually Cecilia felt better, and decided to stay up for keeps.
    She half-asleep, she walked over to the pilots seat and browsed through some things she had seen yesterday, but hadn’t the chance to examine them.
    Cecilia found some of them midly interisting, but not important. Quickly she went through all the various saved data the previous owner had saved onto the ship. Most, in fact, she deleted. When she came to the last bit, it opened on a screen, and she immidiatly gasped.
    It was a list of bounties in the entire galaxy. Some were for criminals, others were merely dodgy jobs. But the one at the top of the list had the biggest number of them all. She clicked on it, and felt a sickness in the pit of her stomach.
    It was a picture of her face, but meaner, and looking menacing. She had been expecting Andro to want her back, but not to this level, at least, not right away anyways.
    “So much for going out and getting food...,” Cecilia sighed sadly. She didn’t want to leave so soon, but if she was wanted, she couldn’t go outside the ship ever again! At least, not until she found her father.
    Or could she.... An idea was concocted in her head, and a story to go with it. Jumping up, she began searching the ship.
    It took more then an hour, but Cecilia finally found the ideal thing she was looking for: a large, dark brown cloak. Folding her wings tightly around her, she put it on tightly, and pulled the hood down over her face. It was hard for Cecilia to look out.... But no one could look “in” and see her! Gleefully, she opened the hatch and walked outside.
    She wasn’t sure where she was, or what system she was on, but wherever it was, it was bright and warm. Not hot, but pleasant. Happily she left the docking bay, and went out into the city. First thing on her agenda: eat.
* * *
    It was many hours later, and aquiring food was anything but a success. There was plenty of food to eat, but apparently you had to pay for it to get it. When she innocently asked how she made credits to pay for it, people laughed at Cecilia, and gave her weird looks.
    At that point she had tried to do some odd jobs to get enough credits to eat, but nobody was willing to hire a burned child, as she told them the reason she wore the cloak. The few “jobs” she did get running errands only gave her tips, and now, at sunset, the amount in tips she had wasn’t enough to even get a bit of fruit....
    Dejectingly, she turned back for her ship, ready to retire for the night, when she heard shouting.
    “Stop! Thieves!” one of the salesmen called.
    Whipping around, she saw a gang of children her age, some older, some younger, running off with items, mostly food. Her spirit burning high, she jogged after them. She thought she had lost them at one point, but she finally found them in a abandoned warehouse.
    Everyone froze when they saw Cecilia entered, and then they glared at her. The oldest boy walked up to her, and glared down at her.
    “Well?! Who are you!” he yelled. Cecilia gulped and quietly answered.
    “I...I only wanted some food.... I’m hungry,” she said sadly. Many of the kids laughed and mocked her.
    “I’m only hungry. Just give me some food, I only just walked in on your home!”
    “Please, I only had old meat as my last meal, and I didn’t eat for days before then,” she begged. The same kids laughed, but a concerned girl several years older then her walked up.
    “You went hungry for days before you ate again?” she asked. Cecilia nodded.
    “Yeah.... Its what always happens. Don’t eat for some days, then get a hunk of nasty meat. Why do you ask?”
    Without answering, the girl gently felt Cecilia’s arms through the cloak before recoiling.
    “She’s skin and bones!” she pratically shrieked. Cecilia felt nervous as everyone stared at her, muttering. The oldest was staring down at her again, this time full of concern.
    “You got a name, girl?” he asked her.
    “Cecilia.... Cecilia Crimsondragon,” Cecilia answered, wondering what was going to happen next. The oldest nodded.
    “Its Ok Cecilia, my name’s Tony, and we’re gonna help you. Hey guys, make room for her, let her eat something!” Tony called to the others. Without question they all made room for Cecilia in their circle. Feeling relieved now, Cecilia sat down, with Tony on one side of her, and the girl on the other, who gave her a single loaf of bread.
    “If you what you say is true, that’s the only thing your stomach’s gonna handle for a while,” she explained, while Cecilia was eyeing the treats the others had.
    While she ate, Tony talked.
    “All of us here, we’re orphans. Some of us weren’t wanted, others had parents who got killed, like mine. And some had parents who died of natural causes.
    “Anyways, have to fend for ourselves here in this city. We watch over ourselves and eachother. And I watch over everyone because I’m the oldest one.
    “And I see you’re like us too, Cecilia. Thats why we’re gonna help you. Christina here had parents that worked with medic droids, so she knows a lot about healing,” he said gesturing at the girl on Cecilias other side. “She’ll be able to make you healthy again.”
    “Well, it will take some time,” Christina said slowly. “Thats because you’re so starved, you’re stomach won’t be able to handle much of anything for a long time. We’ll have to gradually build up before you can eat other things too. Its disgusting that you’re so thin, I don’t blame you from hiding yourself either. I would too.”
    That wasn’t anywhere near why Cecilia hid herself, but she said nothing. If thats what they want to belive, let them. All the better for me.
    After she ate what she could of the bread, Tony helped set up a bed for Cecilia. She didn’t like the idea of sleeping away from her ship, but she didn’t want to admit she came from elsewhere either. In the end she decided to just stay with them and keep quiet. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered. Because 2 billion credits was highly tempting, and Cecilia knew it.
    Time passed quickly, and before Cecilia knew it, it had been three weeks since she arrived, and she had gained a bit of weight. Not only that, but the orphans had showed her how to steal too. At first she felt guilty, but then she reminded herself she’d starve to death if she didn’t eat. She found it highly unfair, and soon the guilty feeling vanished.
    Unfortunitly, the nightmares didn’t. She’d wake up to five times or more in a single night. Each one was horrible and vivid. As a result of that, and the bounty, Cecilia felt less free and happy then she did when she first escaped. She figured no one would notice though. But they did.
    It was Tony who approached her first. She was cheefully munching on some candy she had just stolen when Tony had walked up to her, several of the olders in tow. Cecilia blinked, what happened?
    “Cecilia,” he began. “Christina says you’ve gained enough weight now that you won’t look like a walking bone bag, so why do you still wear that cloak?”
    Cecilia froze, she wasn’t expecting this. Her heart began to pound wildly as Tony continued.
    “We’re not dumb Cecilia, whats up? Are you hiding from someone? You wanted? You better not be some rat cop...,” he said as he advanced towards her. “Just take off your hood. Show us you’re our friend.”
    At this point, Tony did not look like the nice person he looked like when Cecilia first met him. Rather, he looked mean, and looked ready to beat her up, if not kill her. She paniced. Clutching her food tightly in her hand, she turned and fleed.
    She heard shouts behind her, and though they were chasing her, but Cecilia never stopped to turn around: they would never have a chance with her speed anyways.
    Running at a good speed, she reached the docking bay in no time, and lucked out: it hadn’t been touched since she landed here, thankfully.
    Dashing aboard, Cecilia lept into the pilots seat and took off as quickly as she could, ignoring the air-traffic control centers yelling. With due speed, she left the system, got random co-ordinates from the navi-computer, and blasted into hyperspace.
    With a sigh, she grabbed Mr. Scales and hugged him tightly: that was too close of a call. She wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
    “I guess this begins the life of Cecilia Crimsondragon, the wanted criminal,” she muttered as she stared sadly at the blurring stars.
* * *
    Andro paced around angrily. He was furious she had not been spotted in the three weeks she escaped: she was a dragon, for crying out loud! You can’t just blend in that easily into the crowd.
    He growled: he didn’t want to do this, but he was worried if he wasn’t on the job at this point, they’d never recover Cecilia.
    Turning, he began the preperations to send a message....
* * *
    Boba had just finished his latest job when she got an incomming message. He hoped it would be good, he was in the middle of examining the bounty for that dragon-girl beast....
    Tapping a few buttons, a hologram of Andro Cantorin appeared before him. Andro surpassed a smile as he began.
    “My name is Dr. Cantorin, and I have a very important job for you, Fett. I presume you have seen the bounty on that disgusting dragon-girl, have you not?”
    “I have,” Boba responded.
    “Well, she esacped from my lab you see. But we cannot locate her. I am hiring you personally to find her. Double whats on the holo-net if you bring her in, I promise you. If it increases between now and when you bring her in, then we pay you what is on the holo-net when you bring her in.”
    Boba sat there, contemplating. It was a very good bounty, it would pay nicely. But he couldn’t help but stare at the mugshot: she was so very fimmiliar, whoever she was....
    “I accept your terms, Dr. Cantorin,” he said at last. “I will capture this...dragon before you know it. You were wise to hire me for this.”
    “Very good indeed, Fett,” Andro grinned widly. “We will send you all the information you need about her, if you give us a moment....”
    The hologram of Andro dissapeared, and a few moments later, multiple files on the bounty was sent to him. Boba looked at them all, it would be more then enough to find her.
    “Do your best Fett,” Dr. Cantorin’s hologram appeared again. “I’m counting on you. Oh, and don’t harm a scale on her. I want her...alive.” With that, Andro’s hologram dissapeared for the last time.
    Boba began to read the files on the dragon-girl. It was going to be a very interisting hunt indeed. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling he had. He couldn’t say what it was, but deep in his gut, he knew something was deeply wrong about all this.