Never Steal from Dragons

A large crack appeared in the shell as the
target screamed in pain. One down.
By design, the mechanical aeronautic restart on Gelsey’s wings
rebooted the software before she smashed into the boxes. The wings
unfurled, swooping her out of the path of yet another blast. Amateurs.
They should use something heavier than EMP cannons if they were
trying to kill a pixie. Gelsey whizzed between two rafter supports and
through a tangle of old spider webs.
Landing softly, she wiped the webs off her goggles. She needed a
moment to survey the room while the guards peered into the dim
recesses of the rafters for her.
Using her enhanced vision, she searched until she spotted the
doorway her client had sent her to find. The air vent above the door
checked out as per the plans. Clan Cerelux guards shouldn’t be in a ware‐
house in this part of the Quad, not to protect a low-rent stash house. The
whole thing smacked of a setup.
The gig had been advertised as a standard crack-and-grab job to steal
a piece of nanotech that someone in the Dregs wanted. At ten thousand
glint for the run, this tech was a must-have item for somebody. In Hub,
everything’s value came down to how much glint a customer was willing
to pay for it.
The kappas below ran in circles, randomly firing into the darkness of
the elevated roof. Turtlemen weren’t known for brains, though they were
loyal to a fault and tough to kill. She’d fly circles around them. If they got
their claws on her, they’d kill her. Luckily, these were just street-level
goons and not enhanced mercs, like most of the dragon clan’s guards
were.
Gelsey took off, once more darting between the rafters, studying her
surroundings until she found a workable diversion. Across the room the
electric panel came into view, solving her problem. She sighted her pistol
and gently squeezed the trigger, firing a volley of darts. Shards of metal
burst from the panel in a geyser of sparks, as the explosive projectiles
found their mark.
The warehouse plunged into darkness and disarray. Well, for the
kappa, anyway. A couple of enhanced mercs and this would have been a
whole different dance.
The silicon array that had been fused to her cornea increased the
existing illumination. With the power out, the darkened maze of stacked
pallets glowed in a soft amber. Flying in reduced light could be chal‐
lenging given the inability to pick out fine details like wires or glass
panes. Ending up flattened against a window like a wayward sparrow
would make her the butt of every joke in the Quad.
The warehouse was a front for the nanotech dealer they had paid her
to rob. Pixies by nature had sticky fingers, and Gelsey had climbed to the
upper echelon of the Quad’s thieves. The wetware she rocked helped. Not
only that, but other thieves couldn’t match her brains or street smarts.
Gelsey had learned her skills from a life spent in the worst district in Hub.
The Dregs