Chapter 2

Kara put her training in high-speed driving maneuvers to use as she weaves through traffic. Her thoughts wandered as she drives to the wounds she suffered from the glass shards and the fall of the chandelier on her escape. She could feel them closing rapidly due to her accelerated healing. An ability she gained through genetic engineering, a procedure she had done to her for her service to the Commonwealth military had given her enhanced strength, reflexes, an accelerated healing factor, and Extra Sensory Perception as well as Telehaptic abilities which were explained to her as some scientific mumbo-jumbo about quantum physics she barely understood. She was part of a group of humans referred to as Chimeras; first augmented towards the Commonwealth's war effort against the Federation. This means the Federation first saw Chimera as living weapons. According to anti-Chimera sentiments in the Federation, Chimeras were not human beings but were treated differently. The Commonwealth had to include a clause in their treaty with the Federation that guaranteed Chimera were not human beings. She wondered if the Federation would accept Chimeras, her kind, as human beings; because of the genetic meddling done to her body, The Federation did not accept her as a human being, but as an alien instead. This means she is often treated differently even though she was born as a human being.

Despite this, even though the Commonwealth was generally at peace with the Terran Federation, they both had an uneasy alliance and occupied the earth and most of the colonies and core territory of Humankind's vast interstellar empire. Both sides were figuratively staring each other down in anticipation that the other side would shoot. This has been a tense standoff ever since the end of the war all that time ago. She had just assassinated one of the highest ranking generals of the Federation Defense Forces, which meant that she had to leave earth. Her first concern was securing a way off Terra and out of Sol. which was no easy feat, but she knew a Chimera sympathizer she could secure a way out from. If they could not help, he knew someone who could. The guy had connections all the way out towards the outer edge of Humanities' colonial space.

As she pulled into a conspicuous alley amongst the buildings at the street sublevels below the much wealthier high-rises above, she went into a small garage barely big enough to fit her newly commandeered vehicle into before the door shut. Upon exiting the vehicle she was greeted with the sight of a brown-haired Japanese woman in a long coat, hands in her pockets. She looked Human, but one could not tell who was a human and a Chimera without looking at their paperwork or ID at times, since some, like her, looked exactly like a human. The Federation had built a database of all Chimera and kept records of their travels and occupations. The fear was that Chimera would be prone to violent actions against Federation citizens, military personnel, and even their government.

"I see you have finished your task, miss Nakamura." the woman stated, whom Kara knew as miss Kimiko. Her point of contact for this job. She

"I have indeed. My payment?" Kara enquired, not forgetting why she came to this hole in the wall.

Kimiko reached in her jacket "I have your payment here. By the way, miss Nakamura? Your service is.. appreciated."

Kara raised an eyebrow as she put a gun in her face, which Kara reacted to with brutally efficient strikes; she started by punching Kimiko in the face twice, then stripping her former contact, now enemy, of their weapon, and turning it on them. "Yeah." Kara spat on the floor "so why betray me, miss Kimiko? You could have just paid me, and I would have been on my way. But now I assume that is impossible?"

Kimiko gave her a wry smirk "Afraid so. Tell me, where will you go once my body is cold on the floor?"

"Away." Kara did not waste more time and pulled the trigger, the bullet going through Kimiko's forehead. A trickle of blood poured out of the small hole and down her face, with Kimiko's eyes glazing over, and rolling upwards as she falls backward onto her back. Kara took the time rummaging through Kimiko's person for anything of value, including her Omni-com and mGlass; the first object, the Omni-com, is a thin, black forearm band. The mGlass is a glass-slab device with a holographic user interface projected over it. Humanity's war had also created quantum leaps in technology as both sides vied for supremacy and an easy victory with it; Both of these devices were developed during the war to allow on-demand long-range communications and data management; even while light years apart thanks to quantum entanglement. She pocketed both devices before she searched the building, stashing Kimiko's dead body in a trash recycler before starting the recycler with the press of a button on a nearby console.

She got back in the vehicle she parked in the garage, gathering her thoughts. Why would her employer betray her? Who were they? Kimiko offered her the job, but now she is dead. Kara did not get paid. This means she had to get off of Earth and out of Sol, first and foremost, before the authorities caught up with her, and she also had to find work elsewhere. She has no idea who she can trust, or who she can expect to betray her. Her first step was to find a way to get off of Earth. To do this, she had to call in a favor. She invoked the holographic interface of her Omni-com over her right wrist and swiped to her contacts; making a call to an old friend.

before she dialed, Kara made sure she was alone. One had to make sure that they were alone when discussing such sensitive matters with another person. after ensuring their Quantum chips were aligned, and that no one was listening, she spoke first. "Ramon?"