Unedited: Chapter One ~ Part One

Year: 2005

It was her cousin, Morgana Sokolova's, coming of age party, Natisa was dressed in a blood red, corset dress that fell down her slim figure to pool around her raised feet, her was wearing a match pair of red stilettos. Her parents refused to allow her to wear black, so they compromised with her after she threw a fit to a blood red grown. She was surviving the guests, wishing that she was anywhere else but here, around people that were full of fake smiles, saying fake congratulations to Morgana, her parents, and her new fiancée that was chosen for her at a tender age for the family’s growing sake. In approximately two years time, Natisa herself would be in the exact same position and circumstances.

Her younger cousin, Ricardo Sokolova, beckoned her over with the crook of his finger, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, no. He was popular amongst his friends, them being the sons of similar ages to those of promising families within the Russian Mafia.

Several generations ago, two Sokolova brothers escaped from Russia in a critical moment in history. Russia was in disarray from the overthrowing of their royal family, so the families of the then Russian Mafia sent their children to Australia to try and survive the onslaught that was happening within their people. Families sent daughters and other sons with them via a ship. They looked after one another and kept the values and traditions of their families for all of these years.

Deciding that it was time to at least try and mingle, just to shut her parents up, Natisa turned and walked in the opposite direction to her cousin and his friends. She passed a waiter carrying a tray of champagne flutes and snagged one without anyone looking, she continues on out of the ballroom door and onto the large spacious patio where she darted behind a large white marble pillar, pulled a cigarette and a small lighter out from her clutch purse and lit it. Drawing in and releasing the first bit of the chemicals and tar always gives her a light headiness rush. A few seconds later, several pairs of footsteps echoed out onto the pillar, causing Natisa drawing into the shadow more.

“Damn, Ricky! Your cousin is smoking hot,” one of her cousins friends stated while Natisa assumed was clapping on the back from the faint thud, thud sounds. “I would mind tapping her before her coming of age party slash engagement party. Hell knows I would never be betrothed to someone that was adopted into the family.”

Adopted?

“Gotta keep the bloodline pure and all, right Mickie?” Another laughed, “yeah, I wouldn’t mind either. That blood red dress and dark make up is smoking hot. Kinda makes you wish not to grit your teeth, saying down boy down and rather turn her around, bend her over, hoist up that dress and slide one home for the team.”

A lot of skin meeting skin clapping went around the five of them. “Yeah, I have fantasies all the time of fucking Natty, thank God she is adopted!” Ricardo chimed in.

She couldn’t mistake his voice for another. Adopted? What were they on about?

“Ricardo! Mickie! There you are! Boys, back inside. Every last one of you. Grandma Carmichael is about to say a few choice words.” Aunt Liza and Ricardo’s mother scolded the boys.

They all quickly went back inside, dropping her forgotten cigarette, Natisa remembered at the last second before it hit the marble floor to stamp into out. Straightening up herself, she moved out from behind the pillar, squared her shoulders and snuck back inside without being seen.

Natisa was seething with anger at the lies that were being told about her. After Grandma Carmichael’s carefully worded toast to the happy couple, new alliances being formed and to future generations to come, Natisa wound up right behind Ricardo, Mickie, Nathan, Rogue, and the others. They were clapping along with the rest of guests when Natty made her move by lightly tapping of Ricardo’s shoulder. He turned around and was connected with a viscous backhander. His head swung with the blow, the clapping suddenly stopped.

Natty, grabbed his hair with both fistfuls and brought him down as she brought her knee up. Knee connected with noise. The guests were stunned, startled and they parted much like the Red Sea parting for Moises in Ancient Egypt.

Ricardo pushed himself backwards and broke Natty’s grip on his hair. One forward, open palm punch from him straight into her spleen had her on the floor with blood trickling out of her mouth. She lost consciousness when her head ricocheted off the hard marble floor.

When she regained consciousness, there was annoying beeping sounds, shape lights evading her sight which forced her to scrunch up her eyelids to keep it out. Then heavy, angry voices overlapped the beeping.

“You’re not taking my daughter, anywhere! She just had surgery!” That was Ruso, her father.

~

Present year: 2007

The Australian Federal Government wouldn’t rest from then, they kept at them again and again, until Natisa walked into their building and never left their custody. They flew her to America for more tests to be conducted and to learn all about the technology that was well and truly hidden from the mainstream population of the world. She never saw her family again and never heard from them.

Now, she was working for the Feds, helping them to locate a solar system that they’ve only dreamt about. Though, Natisa was starting to get suspicious of them. They hadn’t quite cut off the communication beacon when they changed topic of her might be suspecting them of lying to her. About her strange heart, unique health, and the fact that her blood fought away cancers and other human illnesses. Thinking that she was hallucinating conversations, she ignored them for a time.

But she no longer when it neared her birthday. She’d just left a planet named Quanto and was waiting to report what she discovered from her week there when the communication beacon was connected without them realizing. Before she could open her mouth to speak, what she overheard changed the courses of many lives, especially her own.

“Every human disease, her blood kills off.” A man’s voice full of wonder and hope was saying.

“Oh, wow. We’ll need more like her. I don’t believe that her alone would help the human race with the rapid rate that we are expending.” Another man’s voice quickly piped in.

“I wonder what else her blood can be used for?” A woman asked in wonder and awe.

A throat clearing, “we’ve been connect-.”

Natisa cut the communication beacon off before whoever could finish that word. Shaking with fury and frustration, emotions that she didn’t often display, raged through her. They played their cards and now she knew that she and others like her were nothing but lab rats to them.

She put her spacecraft on autopilot, deep breaths were not was needed in a time like this. Without thinking things through and acting on instinct alone, she sprung into action. She knew exactly where the tracking beacons were, where the cameras were especially the ones that she wasn’t meant to know about, and the microphones.

Quickly and unseen to the cameras she disabled them all while she carefully went around the whole spacecraft. The last was the communication beacon which is disposed of through the trash and blasted it out into space.

Back at the command station, she took the craft of autopilot and set it into hyper drive, destination to the planet that the Queen of Quanto suggested through a whisper in her ear as they were parting ways when it was time for Natisa to return to her journey.