Chapter Two: Starlight Unleashed
256 Words
The raid was chaos. Syndicate goons in black armor swarmed the junkyard, their plasma rifles spitting fire. Zara ducked behind a wrecked freighter, Bolt buzzing at her side. “This is a terrible plan!” the droid hissed.
“No plan, just action,” Zara whispered, gripping her baton. She peeked out, spotting a goon hauling a crate marked with a crescent moon symbol—the lunar relic Grit had mentioned. Her gut told her it was important, and she wasn’t about to let these creeps take it.
She charged, swinging her baton into the goon’s knee. He yelped, dropping the crate. Zara dove for it, but another raider grabbed her arm, twisting hard. Pain shot through her, and that tingling in her chest exploded.
A burst of silver light erupted from her hands, blasting the raider into a pile of crates. Zara froze, staring at her glowing palms. “What the—?”
“Zara, move!” Bolt screeched as another goon fired. She dodged, the light in her hands flaring again, this time melting the raider’s rifle into slag. Her head spun. What am I?
Grit appeared, firing his rifle to cover her. “Zara, get to the skiff! Run!”
She didn’t argue. Scooping up the crate, she sprinted to the hover-skiff, Bolt trailing. The engine roared to life, and they shot into the desert, Syndicate ships screaming overhead. Zara’s hands still glowed faintly, her mind racing. The crate in her lap hummed, its crescent symbol pulsing in sync with her heartbeat.
- Writer
