Sneak Peak from Red Riding Hood

Ryda shifted her weight in the captain’s chair of the Wasp, flipping her thick red cloak over her shoulder.It had been less than a year since the old crone, nicknamed “Granny”, had requested any smuggled goods from Felador to the small moon, Arietta. Ryda was eager to make the trip, though. A visit to Granny’s was always a welcome reprieve from her hectic smuggling lifestyle.Ryda tapped her ruby-skinned fingers on the ship’s controls, her amber eyes scanning the starry horizon. So far, it had been an easy day. The idiots running customs had eagerly overlooked her cargo hold when she slipped them a few bags of Ulrainian mushrooms. The bright blue fungi, though popular on streets of the major hubs of Felador, are extremely neurotoxic. Fortunately for her, the more bags she slipped the customs officers, the less brain cells she would have to contend with.Suddenly the large, bulky communicator buzzed to life. A shimmering green hologram floated up from its lens.“Hello? Is this damn thing working? Hello!” Granny’s squinty eyes blinked and widened as she tapped her own communicator. The taps transmitting as screeching thumps, flattening Ryda’s tufted ears to her head.“Hell, Granny, do you always have to bang on that thing?” Ryda shifted toward the hologram, positioning her face in from of the beady-eyed camera.Granny laughed, purring deep in her throat. She was a true Ariettan, just like Ryda, with skin the color of a blushing sunset. “I hope everything’s been going well,” she said, speaking much too loudly for the transmitter, “I’ve been rushing to get everything ready here for when you arrive.”Ryda smiled. “You know there’s no need. I’m not really worth the trouble.”Granny coughed into a large handkerchief, murmuring as she pulled away. She coughed again, her eyes fluttering as she caught her breath. “Now, now,” she said, her wrinkled face stern as stone, “A visit from a fellow Ariettan is something to be treasured. There aren’t many of us left, you know.”Ryda nodded, thinking of how few Ariettans she actually knew. Her parents had died when she was young, leaving her orphaned on the large planet of Felador. She had grown up there on the streets, an outcast because of her ruby red skin.She smiled again, happy to have found some semblance of family.Before she could respond to Granny, though, the Wasprumbled and shook her from her seat. Ryda pulled herself to her feet, her fist slamming down on the radar button. A digital display crept across the large front window, pinpointing her aggressor.“Ryda! What's going on?” Granny pressed her beady black eyes close to the receiver, distorting the hologram.“I think I’m being attacked,” she said in disbelief. Ryda had been stopped by Feladorian patrols, but never attacked. “I’m going to try to see who these bastards are. I’ll—hold on, I’m getting a transmission!”She flipped the hologram off before Granny could protest. A new grimacing green image replaced the Ariettans. Ryda grimaced back, recognizing the species as trouble.“Ah, the Ariettan smuggler. Finally, we get to meet,” the Wulfran said, his long sharp teeth poking out from his wicked, grinning snout.“Who, me?” Ryda wore her best innocent face. “I’m just on my way to visit family.”“Oh, are you now? That’s not what I heard.” His smile widened as his ears twitched. “I have it on good authority that your ship is filled with contraband. You are aware it is illegal to trade with the Moon Colonies of Felador? Especially one with such a—” he huffed through his flared nostrils, “—bad reputation.”Ryda’s expression soured. “And on who’s authority, exactly? I have my custom papers, legally signed, right here,” she said, waving the bundle of papers in front of the flickering camera lens.
The Wulfran huffed again. “Papers aren't going to stop me from taking you down, Red.” He spat the words, his snout curled in a snarl. “Nobody gets away from Big Bad O’Brien.” The hologram fizzled and went dead.
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