Sarah Dvorak

[Eppy]

Oh, how she hated it.

Sarah Dvorak, a slender, redheaded girl of thirteen, gazed out past the glass port of her hover-shuttle, a gift for her birthday a week before. She had fallen into the habit of taking it out onto the frozen landscapes of California Minor every morning, and not returning to the tundra mansion her father owned until well into the evening. The sprawling mountains of ice were quite a sight; it was the only place she really felt comfortable these days.

One of the consoles beeped rudely, braking her reverie. It was the Parental Control, informing her of the five minutes remaining before it went on autopilot and brought her back to its place of origin, in this case her father's house. She had, of course, hacked the machine and disabled all the overrides in the half-hour period she'd been left alone with it after the party had ended; unfortunately, she'd forgotten to take all the various unnecessary warning systems out, and she kept forgetting to go back and finish the job.

She didn't really care about it anyway...she just wanted off this rock and some space of her own, literal and figurative.

The news alert beeped; that was one thing she was going to keep aboard.

"Today, the terroristic Hellfire Legion conducted another raid against Los Angeles, severely damaging the Yukon and bombarding the planet. The capital's shields held, and only three of five capacitors suffering noticeable damage. Afterwards, Propaganda leaflets were launched from their bombers along with the munitions; Congress advises anyone in possession of such to burn them immediately, as they may contain neurotoxins. In other news..."

She grinned. Now these guys had there act together. She'd always been a fan of theirs; destroy the Navy and rip off the illusion of freedom the citizens had become accustomed to. It was definitely an interesting career choice...hell, she'd join up, if she could ever get off this frozen hellhole...

And that's when the Sabers came roaring over her parked little shuttle, knifing through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound.

"Oh, awesome!" She cheered and waved. One of the pilots came in low, sighted her, and gave a thumb's up.

*****

Johnathan Dvorak stared angrily at the back of the seat ahead of him, bearing the Planetform insignia. Well, that little project was done with. And nothing left of his house, either; bloody Hellfire. He looked over at his attendant. "Where's Sarah?"

"I don't know, sir. She wasn't here when I boarded; I assumed she was with you."

And as he said those very words, a dagger flew in close to the window of the transport; the pilot, long golden-red hair flowing out from under her helmet, promptly gave a fine example of nonverbal expression with her gloved hand before jamming the throttle up and pushing off Cali Minor into deep space.

"Oh bloody hell!"

Really don't mind if you sit this one out...
Your words but a whisper...you deafness a shout.
You may make me feel but you can't make me think...
Your soul's in the gutter, your loves in the sink.
So you ride yourselves over the fields,
And you make all you animal deals,
And you wise men don't know how it feels...
To be thick...as a brick

Ian Andersen, Jethro Tull's Thick-as-a-Brick

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Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.