Goodbyes (A Short Story #3)
18 Aug 2021Isabella Adair-Levine
[August 10th, 3307][Time: 21:03]
[System: HIP 16813]
[Location: Abandoned Tourist Settlement]
The shot rang in Isabella's ears as pain immediately followed taking her mind completely over. It was her left shoulder and instinctively she wanted to grab the wound but her hands were restrained making the pain all the worse. It wouldn't have mattered much anyway as the suit sealed the breach with a medicated sealant to clot the bleeding. Isabella was so focused on being shot she didn't notice her father lunging out with a glass mug he must have gotten from the bar and began swinging at the unknown man who just shot her. The man blocked it and the mug shattered across his arm. Glass chunks slowly floating towards the ground in the low gravity. One of the mercenaries came up behind her father and wrapped his arm around his neck bringing him into submission. He fought harder with a quick elbow jab to the mercenaries gut and a twist to bring his fist around and deliver a blow to the merc's face. Just as this happened another man jumped in to assist in holding him down into submission.
"Dad! Stop! Don't fight them! I'm alright it was a graze!"
She lied. She wasn't. Being shot a second time in one week sucked incredibly. Plus for just a simple graze, it hurt.
"Please! Don't kill him you asshole!"
Isabella cried out and pulled on her restraints.
"Dad, if you know, please! Just tell him. This is getting ridiculous now!"
Her father struggled as the two men held him now but with a quick glance his daughter's way, he listened to her and gave up. The two men holding him finally released their grip as he slumped in exhaustion.
"Are you okay, sweetheart!?"
Isabella nodded looking at where she was shot.
"I'm fine. It was a grazing shot. It hurts."
"And the next one won't be, Karl! Have another little outburst like that again and she died. Is that clear?"
Karl looked at him and scowled. He wanted to say something but didn't. Isabella was glad.
"Fine. I know. I know where she usually stays. We can intercept her there. LHS 2522. Fifty million inhabitants. She's there on an old Orbis space station and usually stays there I believe. You happy now, dick head?"
The man gave that shit-eating "I got what I wanted" smile that Isabella was starting to hate when she saw it.
"Wow! Oh my god! That was all you had to do from the very start! This is perfect, I didn't want to have to do anything more drastic. LHS 2522, you say?"
"I won't repeat myself"
Her father snarled back.
"I gave you what you wanted now let her go. My daughter."
Isabella looked on to her father with shock hearing what he just said. She thought he only knew that her mother was in Alliance space. That's it. He gave a whole system name. Unless-
"You better not be lying to me, Mr. Levine. This better be the place. To make sure you're not trying to pull some bullshit on me, I'm taking you with me on my ship. It's my Anaconda. Together we're going to this location and we're going to find Mrs. Levine. If everything checks out and I get what I want, your daughter lives and walks away with the minor scrapes and bruises she has right now. If it doesn't check out….today's the last day you see her."
Her father nodded and reluctantly stuck out his hand.
"I have your word that you'll let her go once this is over with, right Mr....I never got your name."
"Erik."
The man replied with that same smile as he took Karl's hand to shake on the deal.
"And yes. You have it. Unless the terms are broken of course."
Karl looked Isabella's way then back to Erik.
"I'll go willingly with you. No-fuss. Can I at least talk to my daughter? Please?"
Erik rubbed his forehead and sighed with slight impatience.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Whatever. Go ahead."
Karl quickly moved towards Isabella and crouched low grabbing her by the shoulders. She winced in pain when he did.
"Ow, dad. Your hand is literally where I got shot."
He quickly took his one hand away and looked her in the eyes. Isabella could feel something was wrong with him.
"Dad, whats wro-"
"Isabella, listen."
He said in a mumbled tone.
"There's not enough time to explain everything but you need to be ready when the time comes. I've contacted your boyfriend, or whatever he is to you, to arrive with his carrier and some others in a little more than an hour's time. That Gas Giant out the window there is going to eclipse the sun giving you complete darkness in that time frame. I've also given our friend here a false location, your mother is working with the Alliance Defense Force in Seven Eight Ursae Majoris. It's the closest system to Alioth and she moves between them. Rosemary Ware, I think. She's married again or perhaps using a false alias but that's unlikely. It doesn't matter. Find her."
Isabella looked at her father with bewilderment having all this information dropped on her in seconds. She had so many questions to ask but before she could speak her father kissed her on the forehead.
"I'm sorry for everything I've done that's hurt you, princess. I want you to know that I love you more than anything, alright. As much as I might not have shown it, I have and always will and wish I could make things up."
He wrapped his arms around her for an awkward sitting hug and while doing so, gently placed what Isabella could feel was a broken shard of glass. It was from that stupid mug, she thought.
"You're one hell of a fighter and I'm proud of you for that. Make it count."
He said kissing her once more on the forehead and standing up to walk back towards Erik.
"Dad! Wait! Hold on!"
She cried out but he didn't stop.
"Ready?"
Her father nodded and Erik pointed at his right-hand "man", Luna, then to Isabella.
"I'll be back in a few hours or maybe longer. Watch her and feed her when she's hungry. I don't want her starving to death, understand, Luna?"
Standing just next to Isabella, Luna gave a thumbs-up as both Erik, her father, and one other mercenary left the public lounge. Luna lightly kicked Isabella in the leg to grasp her attention from staring.
"You hear that? Instead of going with them, I have to stay here with you and babysit. Ugh, unbelievable."
Isabella scoffed at her as she walked away before looking back to where the men had exited. The way her father sounded. What he said. It seemed like a goodbye and that frightened her a bit. No, she thought, he'll be fine. Nothing can stop her father. She smiled, twirling the shard of glass in her hands. She believed it was sharp enough to cut through the plastic-like restraints used to tie her down. It was a coincidence that they used plastic zip ties, she thought. Several hundred years from when these were probably made and yet they still proved useful and useless at the same time. Isabella began the awkward scissor movement with her hands and hoped that it would work. This was probably going to take a while.