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[table][row][/row][row][cell=active][b]New York City, Earth[/b] -- Now[/cell][/row][/table]Koriand’r never liked zeta beam travel.

Being teleported through two beacons on separate ends of the galaxy was convenient, but it was also painful. For Kori it was like experiencing the worst of sensory overload and burning pain. She supposed the Rannian scientists who developed it thought the positive aspects outweighed the negative. The Princess of Tamaran obviously did not come to the same conclusion, though after being chased across an abandoned planet with her pursuers to her back she didn’t exactly think about the displeasure of zeta beam travel when she found a malfunctioning teleportation device in an old survey post. Kori knew the dangers of a [i]working[/i] zeta beam transponder. But fortunately, instead of having her body deconstruct in the process of moving through time and space she found herself simply thrown into a laboratory halfway across the galaxy. 

But Kori didn’t get the time to “take a breath” and try to figure out where she was. By the time she had gotten to her feet her pursuers had made the courageous move to follow her through the malfunctioning transponder and Kori was not so lucky to have them end up missing their limbs or frying their brains upon contact. She had immediately screamed as she scrambled to her back just as the laboratory’s warning device screamed out in a language she did not understand. Despite this, she knew exactly what was happening when her eyes caught sight of the device beginning to tremble and crack. 

The transponder was going to go [i]nova[/i] and the laboratory was going to [b][i]explode.[/i][/b]

She didn’t even have enough time to react.

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The taste of concrete, the smell of gasoline.

Koriand’r winced, face down some amount of distance away from what remained of the laboratory she had found herself in. She closed her eyes and reopened them, trying her best to focus away from the pain and discomfort. The impact of the transporters overload had blown apart the lab’s easternmost wall, igniting the building with unnatural fire, and tossing what appeared to be a variety of primitive transport vehicles on their sides. Some people were crushed under debris and metal while others ran away in fear as Kori’s pursuers called out for her in a toxic, vicious tongue. She knew the words well.

[color=gray]<[i]Find the slave.[/i]>[/color]

She couldn’t let the Gordanians catch her, but at the same time what kind of person would she be if she let innocent people be hurt simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? What kind of Princess of Tamaran would she be? These people had no chance against Gordanian weapons. The amount of energy she had left from X’chal was low, but she couldn’t just run away. She [i]wouldn’t.[/i] A bright hue of energy surrounded her and she pushed forward, flying above the streets as her hands began to glow with neon green energy. She would do everything she could. Even if it ended in her inevitable capture. 

[color=D25167]“You chase me across the galaxy? Your master must be proud!”[/color] She shouted in Tamaranean as she shot out a beam of light at one of her would-be captors.

She was outnumbered. Maybe outmatched. But she was [i]not[/i] going back.

Kori spun underneath one of the electromagnetic blasts that exited the Gordanian weapons. Her brows narrowed, recalling how the beams felt when they touched her skin. Her people were strong against gamma beams and anything revolving around ultraviolet radiation. The Gordanians had developed weapons to counteract this somehow, weapons that revolved around electromagnetic energy. It was worse than being cold. It burned like fire, but with a bone chill that attacked her nerves. Energies that could slow and disorient. She still wasn't sure how the Gordanians got their hands on it.

The loud hum of the Gordanian energy weapons became apparent once more as a flurry of more energy beams screamed past her head, hitting the buildings behind her. Kori immediately cursed in Tamaranean, ducking and weaving the best she could while she tried to count how many of her pursuers had followed her from Staphis. This was no small task between the fire that had begun to spread and the innocent people caught in the crossfire. It was hard to keep focus, but as far as she could tell there were at least eight or more alien pursuers.

She shot out another blast of neon energy as she flew down and kicked one of the Gordanians in their chin, sending him flying back into a few of his friends.

How much longer could she fight them off?

[table][row][/row][row][cell=active][b]New York City, Earth[/b] -- A Few Minutes Ago...[/cell][/row][/table]
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There was always a good air in New York City during the July 4th weekend.

From the Piers on Long Island to Manhattan’s Central Park, people had flocked to New York to experience a little bit of what The Big Apple had to offer. The end of the eighties was only a year and a half away, and the times were certainly changing. In many respects, it was a good time to take pause and enjoy what time it all had left, though the denizens of New York City had no idea what would strike their streets only several minutes later.

Until then, strangers to New York City might have continued to enjoy the fireworks or the more lowkey things to keep them company in the city.