Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter XI: Unsettled

They came at her fast and fierce. Two on her arms – she kicked up, her foot smashing into a face. Let the kick carry into a spin to land behind the other one, twisting the arm that held her. Too slow. Another had come in, rushing for a take-down. She slid underneath, a snap-punch to the ribs as she passed. Three more, this time with knives. She used a table as a makeshift shield, then twisted around it, taking out three sets of legs. One more, this one big and fast. She grabbed her staff off the chair, extended it, pole-vaulted over. A jab out with one foot, hooking the ankle, and big-and-ugly was on the floor, and she snapped her staff down at the exposed throat. Her attacker looked at her with murder in his eyes—

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: Before the Storm

They didn’t have much time. It never seemed like they had much time, but now it was particularly short. Ti’s train would leave within the hour, the first stage of the op was imminent, and there was still plenty to prep before they hit stage two.

Still. If they only had a few minutes, they had both wordlessly decided that they would spend it together. Ti leaned against a wall on the far side of the room from most of the activity, and Lyta leaned against him, her head against his chest. She let his arms envelop her, strong and secure. “I don’t like this plan,” she murmured.

He stroked her arm. “It’s not a great plan,” he agreed. “But it’s the best one we’ve got.”

“I know.” She hated to admit it. If they had only a few more days, she was sure that Lukas could come up with something better. Something less risky, less dangerous, more assured. But they didn’t have a few more days. In a few more days, the infection might already have started to spread to Junira Loresh. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about it.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: Tandem

"You ready?" Lyta stood with her hand poised on the pull for the starter.

"We shouldn't be here."

"But we are here. Too late to turn back now."

"Janus Kerasi..."

Lyta smiled, an eager, anticipatory grin. "Annnndddd... go!"

With a sharp tug on the starter, she was gone.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: Across the Chasm, part 1

23 Winter 1929

The computer beeped softly as Gabrielle Summers leaned back and stretched. “This round of decryption algorithms will take approximately twenty minutes,” she reported in her precise, clipped Anglic. “There is little we can do until then.”

Lyta nodded. She stood comfortably against the bulkhead of the hopper, one hand tracing the seams in the metal. She’d positioned herself so that she could see the screen of Gabrielle’s terminal, but all it was showing at the moment were streams of numbers and loading progress bars.

Gabrielle glanced up at her for the first time in nearly an hour. It was not lost on the NGIS agent that Lyta had kept her in eyesight since they’d landed, except for the brief team conference several hours earlier. “Are you to be my keeper, then?” she asked. The words were more resigned than hostile.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: Long-Lost

15 Winter 1929, Oxford

They walked along the river, take-out cups of hot chocolate steaming in the winter air. Miranda opened her mouth and, yet again, Lyta silenced her with a glance. The younger woman frowned and sipped her drink. Lyta's eyes darted around their surroundings, gauging camera placements and through-traffic, until she finally let out a long exhale. "Okay, I think we can talk now if we keep our voices down."

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: Fighting for Fun and Profit

33 Autumn 1928

“Keep my number for when the time comes. I may know some people who can help you.” A handshake and a knowing glance as contact information was exchanged. Karrell would be a useful ally. Anyone fighting on the same side as they were was a welcome change of pace; sometimes it seemed like the entire world was lined up on the other side of the board.

They broke contact just as two newcomers approached the still. Lyta could tell at a glance that these were no Wolves. They had the look of Oscar’s half of the guest list: avant-garde beards and fashionable clothes that would fall to pieces in seconds when exposed to the harsh environment of the desert.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: A Brief Respite

As Helios finished its long arc across the dusty horizon of the Badlands and the rays receded, the warmth of that autumn day was replaced by stretching shadows and a chilling breeze. It would be an overcast night, and by morning there would be a few centimeters of fresh sand to broom off the wrap-around porch that hugged the remote homestead like a comforting blanket.

Minnie watched the bubbling saucepan absent-mindedly. A moment too late she took the boiling milk off the heat and poured it into the waiting mugs, adding a lighter note to the dark drinks. She gave the spiced tea a sniff to make sure she hadn’t ruined them with her inattention but found no indication she had burned the whitener. She added a dash of nutmeg and a cinnamon stick to finish the cocktail and placed the mugs on a waiting tray.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter X: Ripples of Regret

Ti found her in the bathroom, a stiff-bristled brush in her right hand, leaning over a basin of cloudy water. Her fingers were already scrubbed pink, as was her face. The only trace of blood that remained from their encounter at the lab was under her fingernails, and she attacked them with the intensity of a battlefield commander.

Ti leaned against the doorframe and watched her. She had been tight-lipped since they’d returned to the hotel and changed out of their blood-stained clothes. She had returned his kisses with only the most perfunctory of pecks. He worried about her.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter IX: Amor Vincit

21 Spring 1928 – Jan Mayen

Light streamed through their hotel window as it overlooked the square. Lyta caught glimpses of the early-morning Perfect Form practitioners as they started their routine. The bed was soft beneath her, the first real bed she’d slept in for half a season, but it didn’t stop her stomach or her arms from aching. She closed her eyes and traced the pattern of the bedspread with her fingertips.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter IX: Friends and Family

"Your friend? You don't have any friends!"

The words rang and echoed in his head, eliciting a mental wince each time.

It had been a hurtful thing to say to Todd, not because it was true--it wasn't; weird as they were, Todd had developed and maintained numerous friendships across the Badlands.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter IX: The Conversation That Wasn't

32 Spring 1928
20:00

Lyta snuck glances at her brother as she drove. Todd was in the back, engrossed in one of his books. Lukas had the passenger seat and was watching the windshield intently. No one spoke. No one had spoken for hours.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter IX: The Thoughts that Bind

25 Spring 1928

Lyta sat on the bed of the hotel room, her knees tucked up to her chest, her hands wrapped around her thighs. She stared off at nothing, her mouth clenched in a tight line.

Lukas, Fennec, and Todd had all gone off to their various observation points, and Miranda Winters had left almost as soon as she had arrived to attend to Paxton business. Ti watched his girlfriend from the window, his expression concerned. “Lyta,” he began tentatively.

“You should have told me,” Lyta snapped without looking at him.

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Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IX: Waking Up

Lyta nuzzled into Ti’s shoulder as the first rays of Helios peeked through the window. She didn’t know where she was, wouldn’t have been able to find the tiny homestead on a map, but it didn’t matter. It was safe and comfortable and quiet, and that was all she wanted.

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” she murmured.

“Mmm,” came Ti’s sleepy reply.

“No one shooting at us, no mission, just… this. All the time.”

“The idea does have a certain charm,” Ti agreed.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter VIII: Dear Lyta

L.,

By now you will have rejoined T2 and, I expect, performed whatever time-sensitive operation your intel permitted.  I am confident that you will have prevailed.

You can relax regarding concerns about animosity emanating from our most recent team activities.  I have made arrangements such that neither you nor T1, not anyone you care about, remains at risk.  There were conditions, though only two of them should concern you and T1:  stay out of their territory, and do not take on any work against them.  I will deal with the rest.  Regardless of how that turns out, I have been assured that you will be safe from retribution of any kind.  Please inform F. of same.

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Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter VIII: Birthday Wishes

25 Autumn, 1927

The moon was bright overhead as they walked across the desert sands. Lyta could barely hear the sounds of the Askar camp anymore, the boastful talk on the eve of combat. It was good to be back among Koreshi, and even better to have Jonas with her again. She wondered if Ti knew how special he was for the Sand Riders to have accepted him at their fire, to have shared their food with him.

They had laughed easily while they sat side by side amongst the Koreshi warriors, Lyta translating when the conversation slipped into the secret language that Ti had not been taught. But as they walked further from the camp, the banter faded. Despite their enthusiastic reunion earlier in the afternoon, Lyta found herself falling into old patterns of awkward silence. She glanced over at the man she had thought was dead, that she had begged God and the Prophet to bring back to her, to give her one more chance to tell him how she felt, and she said nothing.

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Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter VII: Releasing the Tension

42 Spring, 1927

“Have you thought about giving it up?” he’d asked her. “You’re not responsible for their follies.”

She couldn’t remember the exact words, but that had been the gist of it. Asking her, entreating her to leave her brothers and the mercenary life they had built for themselves. Lyta wondered now whether the Doc had known, half a season ago, that this would happen, or whether he was just being generally protective of her. She supposed it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to leave her brothers, not even if it sent her to jail. Not that she had much choice about it now.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter VII: Remembrance

29 Spring, 1927

Lyta hated Jan Mayen and everything it stood for. If she’d been given the choice, she would have gotten off the caravan the second she was well enough to stagger her way back towards the Alliance and its world-class hospitals. If she’d been given the choice, she never would have stepped foot within a hundred kilometers of the new GREL enclave. But no one had given her the choice, and now there was nothing she could do about it.

Lukas, Radsley, and Dr. Chambers were meeting with Col. Baakov, Todd was in consultation with Isabella Demosa, and Fennec had gone off in search of parts. Lyta barely knew any of the caravanners. She would just need to do what needed to be done by herself. It would just be an hour or two. She squared her shoulders and exhaled slowly. She would be fine.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter VII: Out of the Frying Pan

18 Spring, 1927

“Fucking Southern piece of shit!”

The ground was coming up fast as the Adder pitched forward. The warning klaxons that had been blaring over the speakers suddenly fell silent, and the control panel displays winked out. Lyta braced herself against her seat. At least the crew compartment was well cushioned – she would probably survive the impact, and she might even be able to do it without any injuries. The Gear, on the other hand, was probably little better than scrap metal at this point. It would take Fennec months to bring it back to working order, and it wouldn’t even be worth the effort.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter VII: Dangerous People in Dangerous Places

5 Spring, 1927 – Gardena

The feeling of being completely immersed in water was strangely relaxing, Lyta reflected, at least after she’d gotten over her initial terror of drowning. The training area where Riley Markus had taken her was tiny compared to the vastness of Gardena’s underground water systems, but descending several meters below the surface had still proven a daunting challenge. Even in Junira Loresh, Lyta had rarely waded out deeper than her hips. To completely submerge herself, to feel the water close in over her head, had caused her heart to pound so loud in her chest she was amazed that Riley couldn’t hear it.

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Koreshi Chronicles - Chapter VII: The Fate of Girls

40 Winter, 1927

It was a beautiful night for fireworks, cool and crisp and clear. Lyta and Miranda lay huddled under their blanket as the sun dipped below the horizon, thermoses in hand. The hot chocolate was every bit as good as they had been led to believe, and they’d bought samples of both the sweet tuber and the cream buns, just for comparison’s sake. They had spent the day wandering the street festivals, buying little trinkets and watching the performers. Miranda had had her face painted and had even prevailed upon Lyta to do the same, a sight which would no doubt cause endless mockery by her brothers if they ever saw her.

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