The Avalon Chronicles

Chapter Two

Hibe-10 had become the roughest planet in the Hibe Collective since coming under Laurentus imperial control, but Ryver relished in the drunken bar fights and petty thefts occurring around her as the crew of the Avalon bounced from club to club in the bustling capital. Senna and Des had never spent time on Hibe-10 before, acting like excited teenagers at the sight of every new nightlife attraction. Quinn and Ryver, both far more seasoned in planetary travel, had a different appreciation for the glittering city.

The Avalon's crew passed through three different clubs before settling on a large, dark establishment called Appetites in the native language. It was not quite a club and not quite a pleasure house, but a mix of the two that had enticed many tourists and traders to enter its neon-illuminated rooms rattling with pulsing music.

Des was the most uncomfortable, still learning to shed his training as a Ghex and was unable to easily shed his hypervigilant nature. Senna's arm was soon permanently hooked around his, dragging him around the city when his constant hesitation had caused Ryver and Quinn to accidentally leave Des behind in their quest to find suitable entertainment for the night of celebration. Des was finally able to relax when the crew had secured a booth in Appetites, but he continuously swept his gaze over their surroundings. Senna scoffed at the behavior.

"C'mon, you," she purred, half-pushing him from the booth before claiming his arm and yanking him none-too-gently to the writhing bodies crowding the dance floor. They disappeared into the sea of dancers swimming in the thrumming beats of music while Quinn and Ryver remained at their both, Ryver ordering two rounds of shots and challenging Quinn to one of their typical drinking games-one they both knew he would win.

The four crew members of the Avalon melted into the scenery of the club with ease, losing themselves in the electric energy in the den of nightlife. Senna and Des eventually rejoined Ryver and Quinn at the booth, where the four began placing electronic bets on the speed races displayed on the enormous screens around them, wrestling over the two tablets that would allow them to pick who they thought stood the best chance of winning. Ryver had no care that they were betting with the money they had just earned, deciding the crew more than deserved a lavish celebration of their achievement. Ryver had also succumbed to the liquor, and began drunkenly screaming at the races alongside Quinn, laughing loudly when their small bets paid off and angrily pounding the table when they lost. Senna was drinking heavily as she challenged Des to keep up with her, hoping the alcohol would loosen him up so he could join in their antics. But after she lost five credits on a race, Senna's screeching in her native tongue was accompanied by her angrily throwing one of her shoes at the screen. She missed the screen by a wide margin, but it struck another drunk man in the head.

The crew of the Avalon tried not to look suspicious or laugh as the man stumbled, bellowing that he was going to destroy whoever had thrown the shoe. Their inebriated state meant they looked more suspicious than anyone else still fervently screaming at the races, but fortunately, the infuriated man was too drunk to notice the four trying to contain their guilty giggling behind their hands.

Once out of sight of the drunkard, the crew returned to their revelry.

Their rowdy antics and drunken bellowing matched the others in Appetites. They appeared just like other traders and tourists enjoying the full night life of Hibe-10. No one nearby would have guessed the four in the book had just successfully given Emperor Laurentus IV a means to track down the Kabynite insurgency that had been threatening a vicious attack against the capital city.

As everyone around them was just as intoxicated and absorbed in their own escape from reality, they were even able to ignore the crew's drunken slurring.