After she cleaned up my bloody nose, she just sat there and looked out the window. Slowly muttering about all the work she had to do. Shan wasn't exactly the most elegant woman I had ever met. She frequently wore a muscle shirt with a fighter jacket, but she didn't realize how beautiful she truely was I didn't think. I shook my head, what was I thinking. She looked my direction and smiled.
"How are you feeling?" she asked me, her voice less gruff than usual.
"Tired. All this thinking is making my head hurt." I replied.
She sat down beside me on the bed and continued to stare out the window, the field outside clustered the view and I heard her sigh.
"The cloud always blocks my view of the stars. That's the reason I took to space in the first place, knowing that out there, those stars, somewhere, there was another race staring back at me, wondering the same things. But sometimes, truth hurts and you realize that you're only just alone in the huge expanse that is the universe."
"Well, that's not true. What about the Nomads?"
"Well, according to the studies of Edision Trent and Junko Zane, the Nomads were created by another race, so you can't really call them alien."
"Are they human?" I asked.
"No." she replied.
"Then, they're alien."
She thought about it for a second and smiled.
"You want to go exploring Leo?"
"Where?"
"I know of an Unknown system that's connected to Tohoku. There is an old Nomad Lair there we can explore."
"I don't know Shan, I mean, what if they destroy our ships?"
"You're such a worry wort you know that?" she said, sounding hostile. She tackled me to the bed and held me down. Staring at me with hungry eyes.
"Not the best idea in the book there Shan." I said warning her.
She leaned down to my ear and whispered...
"But you know you can't resist."
"Yes, I can infact." I said slipping out from under her attempt at pinning me down. I stared at her michiveious grin.
"Fine, we'll go check it out, but the second I see a nomad fighter, I'll be back through that hole so fast, you won't know what's going on."
She smiled and grabbed her ships keys and walked close to me staring at my eyes.
"I win." and she walked out towards her ship.
I won't deny it, she was attractive...but I wasn't stupid. Grumbling I grabbed my own ship keys and followed her to the tarmac. I walked past her getting in her own ship and stopped.
"You're an evil woman Shan-Katacuchi."
"I try." she replied with a grin.
You fear oblivion. Yet you forget. The universe remembers every atom of your being. Even dust hums your name in the dark.
The trip wasn't that long to the Nomad Lair, my scanners indicated it was hostile though, so I kept my distance so it couldn't hit me. It looked eerie and abandoned, but I knew better. I recall the report given out by Edision Trent when I read it on Kyoto. It said that the Nomad Lair became active then they stole the Nomad Powercell and they had to get out of there because swarms of Nomads attacked right at that moment.
"Isn't amazing Leo?" Shan asked over the comms.
"It's something alright, amazing isn't the word though." I replied.
"For an assassin you sure are scared all the time."
"I'm not a damned assassin Shan."
"You *muffle*ill..."
"What?" I asked.
"I didn't say anything...are you ok?"
"*muffle*igned to kill."
I think we need...
----
"Shut up Dragon. This won't take long." the man said. His greedy eyes seeing right through my resolve. It had been days, I forgot who I was and why I was here, all I remembered was a face. When they brought me here, there was another Dragon. His name was Takashi Katacuchi. He told me he was getting out in a few days and would try to keep in touch...but this didn't make any sense.
"What...do you want...with me..." I asked, hanging from the device.
"We're making sure you are cleansed of all impurities Leo."
Leo...was that my name?
"From now on, your name is only Leo, do you understand me? Leo?"
"Yes..."
----
I was shaking in my seat and Shan was screaming, we were back on Kyoto, I looked up and saw her tear filled eyes, just before fading to darkness...
![[Image: AlGbG5Y.png]](https://imgur.com/AlGbG5Y.png)