Kashikoi flicked her tail as she examined herself in the mirror clad in her undergarments. She looked damn good at 34, the gray skinned Neko thought. Her black tail contrasted with her medium length, slightly wavy, and obviously dyed hair. Her hair and cat ears were turquoise blue which faded to a bright purple. She wore no bangs, she hated how they looked. Standing at 5’10”, she had a thin athletic build with padding and muscle where it counted.

“Yep, I look good. All limbs attached,” she chuckled.

The only part she hated looking at was the scar running from her left shoulder all the way down to her right ribs. It stood as a reminder of a time and place she wishe’d to forget. If she thought about it too much, she could still hear the engines of the aircraft as they’d droned on that fateful day. She shook her head.

“No, no, I don’t have time for that!” Her ears flattened.

She was right, there was a delivery that needed doing, couriers couldn’t sit around admiring themselves in the mirror. Quickly she dressed in her favorite clothing; black leather pants and a red t-shirt with a black heart shape. Over this she threw on a white and black leather jacket as well as long dark grey gloves. The last piece she added was a frilly long stranded dark gray hairbow. She guessed she looked tough, but the hairbow still made her look cute.

Usually people tried to mess with her, which is why she needed the pistol she buckled around her waist. It was no ordinary pistol though. She smiled at the familiar weight of the weapon. But if her gun failed, she knew how to fight unarmed.

The last things she grabbed were a vial on a necklace and an old pocket watch stuck at 12:00. The watch was more of a memento than something useful. It was all she had left of her old home before she’d been forced to change.

“Time to go to work,” she said to no one in particular as she started for the door. “Ooo, but first!”

Opening a hidden compartment by her bed inside were dozens of wrapped objects. Kashikoi quickly unwrapped one and grinned.

“Rowr,” she looked upon the most precious thing to her in the ravaged world; chocolate.

She plopped the morsel in her mouth and savored the sweetness as she set out for the meeting point. She wondered what it was she was to deliver this time. Her boss had a penchant for giving her dangerous items to deliver; be it in city, out among the skybridges, or the wastes. Her boss just happened to be the baron of Aerios, one of the more powerful city states of the shattered skies.

She made her way through the busy streets of Airos where humans and other races were going about their daily lives. Living on a flying city had its hardships. Temperatures could drop in an instant. Poorly maintained sections could crumble and send one plummeting to their death. Life in Airos was hard and the ruling baron was harsh in his leadership, but at least it was some semblance of civilization.

Down below the floating artificial island, was the lifeless wastes where life struggled and death lurked in every shadow. Raiders pillaged and much of the soil was still radioactive from the great catastrophe of the ancients. The only structures were ruins or thrown together huts. Kashikoi knew these things well because once she had called the wastes home.

Finally, she’d arrived at the meeting place. Where her contact, a pale skinned, gray furred, male Neko, waited impatiently.

“You’re late,” he scolded.

Kashikoi smiled at him, “Oh, but this says I’m on time!”

She held up her pocket watch that was still at 12:00

The other scowled, “I don’t see why he puts up with you!”

Her tail flicked, “Because I’m awesome!”

The male flattened his ears, “You refuse to use aircraft to ferry you, you insist on taking those bridges….”

“I’ll never willingly get in a flying machine,” she snapped, suddenly serious.

Just the whine of their engines set her hackles up. It made her think of a time when such a sound meant doom from above.

“Well you must be doing something right. The baron always asks for you personally.”

He handed her the parcel, a small metal box.

“Oooh,” she said shaking the box. “I wonder what’s in here.”

“Don’t shake that! What’s wrong with you,” her contact muttered.

He sighed, before speaking again, “He left a message for you. Please pay attention.”

He held up a small disc which flickered before displaying a hologram. It was technology left by the ancients before they were all wiped out. There were many such pieces of tech but most didn’t know how they worked. Many knew what they were, but not how they worked.

The hologram was of a large man with reddish orange canine type ears and tail. This was Baron Strum the reigning lord of Aerios.

“Kashikoi,” his voice rumbled.

Despite knowing it was a recording she waved at the image, “Hi!”

“I am once again in need of your services. I need you to deliver this box to a man named Sagnus in the city of Iris. Deliver it to him and only him. You will be rewarded greatly upon your return in addition to whatever tip he gives to you.”

“Sure, sounds good,” she smiled.

Her contact groaned, “My work here’s done. Best of luck to you.”

“Bye,” she said with a wide smile.

After the contact had left, Kashikoi sprinted for her vehicle. It resembled a cycle except there were no tires. Some form of repulsor field kept it hovering just over the surface; a fan like motor in the real propelled it. Kashikoi didn’t have the same trepidations regarding the craft as the aircraft. It didn’t make the same noise nor could it fly higher than a few feet off the ground. The vehicle whined to life as she started it up. With a broad grin on her face, she set out toward the gates.

The city gates stood open. Though the walls were lined with the baron’s house troops armed with blasters and a few light repeaters, none challenged her as she got to the gates. Before her for miles on end stretched a shimmering bridge. It was one of the many great bridges that connected the floating states. The bridges were made of energy of some sort, what kind Kashikoi did not know; nor did many others.

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Wasting no time she gunned the throttle and was hurtling over the bridge. The bridges were dangerous. Sometimes whatever energy field existed would weaken and one would plummet straight through. Other times raiders from the surface would find some means of reaching the bridges and attack all they encountered. Going by air wasn’t much safer since the skies had their own dangers; like roaming drones that shot at anything that flew. They were a curse left by the ancients.

Aerios faded away behind her and with it any modicum amount of safety.

Miles flew by as her craft glided over the bridge, clouds drifted lazily by. Far below was the scarred remains of the surface. A few of the great winged predators tried to attack her but she moved too fast and nimbly for them to catch, causing them to soon give up.

Then Kashikoi’s eyes narrowed. Vehicles of all types were piled up on the bridge in a state of destruction. Most particular was the few clumped together like a wall. She knew an ambush when she saw it and quickly skidded to the side, taking cover behind a large cargo hauler. Just as crystal shards impacted where she’d just been.

Raiders.

Only raiders would be using crystal shard guns. They were self made firearms that fired bits of crystal in rapid bursts. Deadly weapons, but not the most accurate as they were smoothbore.

Freeing her large pistol she flipped the safety off before flipping a second switch, a quick flash and the pistol had transformed into a short rifle.

“Yeah!”

She grinned before it was quickly wiped off as shards of crystal began impacting her cover and sending splinters of crystal everywhere. Ears flattened, Kashikoi picked out a human firing from the wall of destroyed vehicles, she snapped a shot off and a bolt of plasma hit him. There was a scream as he fell backward his weapon silenced.

For her troubles Kashikoi had two more barrages trained on her position.

“Ahh, so mean,” she shouted as she cowered.

She waited as the bursts finished and popped up to find a Neko was trying to close in on her position.

“Hi,” Kashikoi said as she fired and dropped the being.

She ducked back down as she expected for there to be another fusillade of shards on her position but nothing happened. Her tail twitched, had she really got all of them? She dared to peek out, but there were no raiders aside from the dead ones.

Shrugging she changed her gun back to pistol mode and started up the engine as a thought came to her. She nudged her craft forward sending it floating on its own just as the last raider stepped out from his hiding spot. His animal ears went up in surprise before Kashikoi stepped up and shot him with her pistol.

“Dumb couriers don’t live long,” she shouted.

After a quick check of the area, she deduced it was clear before she set out once again. There were no more incidents on her way to Iris and soon she found herself before the gates, the militiamen at the gate merely scowled at her as she flashed her courier seal.

“You’re clear, messenger from Aerios.”

The words were spoken with disdain. Despite the two city states being allies, there was still a rivalry between the two.

Kashiko flicked her tail, “So do you guys like patrol the bridges at all? Because I ran into raiders out there.”

The guard growled at her, “Don’t tell us how to do our job courier!”

“Whatever,” she grunted as she went within the city walls.

Iris wasn’t much different than Aerios as far as the layout, only a few landmarks seemed unique to the city. The courier checked her packet of information and wound her way through the streets looking for the shop that belonged to Sagnus. She finally found it and walked in, the small brass bell jingling to announce her arrival.

An older human with bushy eyebrows regarded her from behind the countertop, the store was filled with all manner of nicknacks most seemed like junk scavenged from the surface; bits of metal and such. But some seemed like they could actually be valuable.

“Can I help you,” the man behind the counter asked.

Kashikoi smiled, “I certainly hope so!”

The man blinked, “Are you looking for anything in particular miss?”

“A man,” she replied.

The clerk turned red, “Er, what? Miss, I really think you’re in the wrong sort of place for that… I… ”

Kashikoi’s ears flattened in annoyance, “No! Not like that! I’m looking for someone named Sagnus!”

The man’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh! You’re the courier?”

She nodded.

“Not what I was expecting at all. I’m Sagnus.”

After introducing himself he crossed to the window and flipped the ‘open’ sign to ‘closed’

Sagnus turned to her his face serious, “Do you have it?”

Her tail flicked as she offered him the box, “I guess this is what you mean?”

He practically snatched the box from her grasp. Swiftly he opened the container and held something aloft. It was a small half disc blue in coloration.

“Yes,” The man breathed, “I’ve waited so long for this!”

He rummaged around in the box she had given him, after a time he nodded.

“Your baron’s compensation is adequate.”

Kashikoi shrugged, “Yeah…. Glad to hear it.”

From beneath his counter the man produced a second half disc much like the first. Giddily he fit the two together and there was a brief flash before the two formed a whole disc.

“May I present the key,”

Her tail flicked, “Key to what now,”

“The key to the Emperor!”

Kashikoi didn’t think it was possible to be more confused but she was, “Emperor?”

Sagnus frowned, “You don’t know? Oh, of course you don’t. Let’s just say your lord will be very happy with this.”

Kashikoi sighed, seemed she was caught up in some new bit of political intrigue. She really got tired of those scheming escapades.

“Right, well I’m assuming I’m supposed to take that back to him so if you’d just give that to me…

She didn’t get to finish as the door was suddenly thrown open.

In the doorway was a man with gray furred wolf ears and tail to match his gray hair. A weathered face regarded them. At his belt were a pistol and the handle of some knife. Two humans stood just behind him in the doorway, dressed in mismatched clothing with scarves around their necks.

The wolf-like one’s yellow eyes settled on the disc. His lips pulled back in a cruel smile as he strode in, the two henchmen following.

Kashikoi didn’t like the looks of them. Before she could pull her gun free, the two humans leveled their weapons; they were shard guns. Kashikoi held her hands up.

“I’ll take that,” The leader rumbled as he freed his knife, though it wasn’t really a knife. It was a jagged hunk of scrap metal with a self made handle attached to it; a massive shank. Rust and dirt spots were upon the surface, Kashikoi grimaced as she realized just how nasty the weapon was.

Sagnus’s jaw was nearly on the floor, “Just who are you?”

The wolfish being grinned, his teeth had all been filed to points.

“I am called Murtaggah, now give me the key.”

Sagnus held the thing protectively to his chest, as one of the men advanced on Kashikoi with his shard gun.

“Up against the wall,” he growled as he jabbed at her stomach with the barrel.

He made a serious mistake.

Quick as lightning, she’d grabbed the barrel and shoved it upward as she went down. The raider pulled the trigger and shards of crystal went everywhere hitting the walls and ceiling, Kashikoi drove her heel into his shins as she jerked the gun out of his grasp and then hit him upside the head with the heavy weapon.

The man fell.

Sagnus had taken the opportunity to toss a tray full of nicknacks at the two intruders and sprinted for the door. He didn’t get far before Murtaggah drove his shiv into his back. Sagnus cried out in pain as he fell to the floor.

“Take it,” he shouted, tossing the ‘key’ to Kashikoi.

She caught it but dropped the shard gun in the process.

In seconds she threw herself through the storefront window and impacted the ground outside just as a burst of crystalline shards whizzed over her head. She wasted no time running as soon as she was able and headed for where she’d left her vehicle.

Back within the store, Murtaggah glared at the man that was regaining his feet. They locked eyes.

“I’m sorry, I should have been more careful…. I… AHHH!”

He didn’t get to finish his excuse before he had the hunk of scrap-metal repeatedly driven into his gut.

“We must gather the others; the city defense will soon be mobilizing in response.”

A short bit later and he was in the more decrepit area of the city, surrounded by a gang of raiders.

“All is lost without the key,” a male with a long snout and rat-like ears said.

Murtaggah shook his head, “No, Oniji, we’re still in play. We know where the key will be.”

Oniji frowned, “Why are you so obsessed with the Emperor?”

Murtaggah tilted his head, “Is it not obvious? We were born on the surface, condemned to die from the start while these gluttons prospered above us. The Emperor will grant us power over them, just as we deserve.”