Nowhere to run- A short story

The universe just wasn’t big enough for both of them.

No matter how far she travelled, to the edge of the Rim and back, there he was. Every. Damned. Time.

He was ruining her business. No-one wanted to trust her with their jobs when he kept getting in her way and causing things to get…damaged. In and out, no-one would know. She could get into the toughest vaults in the Rim and their owners would never know they’d been hit. One time, the score had been hidden in the core of a planet. Nothing could get the better of her. Her crew was the best. But for some reason he seemed to think they were better and kept trying to muscle in on her jobs.

The last time was it. She had lost any shred of patience she had left. To start with it was flattering. He was a fan, and wanted to imitate her. But he had gotten her in a chase with the Marshalls. They had a half picture of her face. 18 years and no-one had a view of her face and now, because of that idiot…

She sat in the freighter ship just inside of the orbit. The cameras were all working fine. Her copycat would be there soon, she had registered his ship land on the planet an hour ago. He was going to try and steal her latest job. What he didn’t realise was that she had hired herself.

An image fuzzed in the corner of the screen and coalesced into him. There he was Billy Nyridzi and his goons clumsily breaking through the security system. She had left him gaping holes to make sure he got in. The room was dark but the cases of artefacts were lit from the inside allowing her to watch their shadows as tehy passed between the items. One camera was positioned behind the Polaris. It was a beautiful stone that had captured the heart of a dying star. If you looked close enough, you could see the reaction still going on inside. Billy leaned in to have a look. The camera picked out his face perfectly. It was as though they were looking straight at each other.

She couldn’t help but smile as the gang of three made their way to the end of the room. The plans he had been given implied there was a hidden vault under the floor beside the wall. Billy got down on his knees and started feeling for cracks. Just one more second as the last man took another step. There!

She hit the button and the laser glass formed around the trio. One of the occupants immediately tried to push through. He yelped and fell back into his friend’s arms as the lasers sent enough voltage through him to stun a dog. Billy stood up but did not try to move away. He knew he was inside an breakable cage.

“Well played,” he called out to the cameras.

She grinned and fired up the engine. The newest prize in her collection could sit there a little longer before she delivered them to a nice bounty hunter she knew.

“Later dear brother.”

This story was written in response to Putting My Feet In The Dirt’s January Writing Prompt.  URL https://puttingmyfeetinthedirt.com/2019/01/01/january-writing-prompts-2/