Somnambulance [Retconned]

[Toaster]

Olivia settled down in her now usual spot on the floor, back against the wall, loose sheet of metal beside her. She wiped her hands with a ragged towel, staining it with black oil smears from her work on the Sickle.

"You there, Ears?" She asked aloud, turning slightly towards the hole in the wall to the neighboring compartment. Through it, she heard a faint shuffling of feet and a thud as someone sat down against it.

"You're late," came the response. The young man on the other side of the bulkhead sounded impatient, even agitated. Olivia frowned.

"Sorry, I just had to do some work on the-"

"There was someone looking for you," Ears cut her off. Olivia froze, her hands clutching the towel. "Big guy, kinda mean looking," the boy went on. "Knocked and rang, then went off to the bar to ask about you."

Olivia swallowed. "Is he still there?"

"Nah," Ears answered. "He rented a room a few hallways down."

Olivia sprang to her feet, tossing the towel into a corner.

"Take me there."


- - -


The two of them stood outside a nondescript door, one of many that lined the habitation deck's corridors. Ears nervously fidgeted, looking from the door to Olivia and back again. The mercenary stood still, hand on her holstered sidearm, breathing deeply. She nodded at Ears.

The young man pulled a stack of keycards out from his trouser pockets and deftly flipped through them. All of them were copies of the originals, used by him to get into the freeport's living quarters and install his portholes. He found the one for the door before them and slid it through the reader on the wall. Its light blinked green and the door slid open.

Olivia dashed over the threshold, drawing her pistol and sweeping it across the room she found herself in. Small, like hers, furnished only with a table and chairs, some storage compartments, and a bed. A bed, which appeared to be occupied by what could have been mistaken for an angry bear. Howling, a man clad in a heavy, fur-collared coat sprang up to his feet, swinging a multi-barreled scattergun up at Olivia. She raised her own handgun at the man's chest, finger tightening around the trigger.

On the verge of splattering each other's blood across the room, both froze. Olivia looked at the man in astonishment and watched his enraged features soften into a smile of recognition.

"Blue?" She exclaimed, lowering her gun.

The man laughed loudly as he returned his own weapon to its hiding place within his coat.

"Sable. So you really are hiding out here."

---

Olivia Sable