Amy righted the ship, the sound of her laughter filling the control room. She clapped her hands then grew sober. She reached out to put the ship in auto-pilot then leaned back in the chair. "Now it's time to find a place of my own." Her throat went dry and closed. Memories of how her parents reacted to the shooting overwhelmed her. Desire and Sam were shocked to hear the news that their only daughter was arrested. Amy tried to tell them that the man had pulled a laser on her but it was never found. No one found a connection to the man and the robbery.

Even Desire and Sam never found any connections either and they were the top brass of Shadow Falls Law Officers Agency. They looked down at her with pity in their eyes; there was nothing they could do for her, except to let her go from the agency.

Desire told her on that fateful day. "We're sorry, Amy, but it is how things are done in the Agency, and you know that".

"I'm sorry, too, that it has to be this way," Amy spoke to her mother, hoping the tears weren't in her voice as well as in her eyes.

Desire nodded her head at the two men who were standing behind Amy. They took hold of Amy's arms, and despite Amy's screams of denial and anger, a double lightening tattoo was branded on top of her right hand.

A month later, Amy could still feel the burn of the laser as it marked her and the anger that it had been done. She was marked for life as a murderer.

Amy pulled the black-leather glove from her right hand to stare down at the mark she'd grown to hate in less than a month. The tattoo was for life, with no way to remove it from her flesh. Not even make-up could hide it and there was no way to tattoo over the mark. The only way to hide it was to wear leather gloves and everyone on Rona knew what lay beneath them, making it harder for anyone to find work on the planet. Any job, except for being a waitress in one of the low-dive clubs or as a servicer for hire.

Amy shuddered at the thought of lying with a man for credits. She once made a promise to herself that she wouldn't lie with any man, not unless it was for love. She made that promise after she caught her mother in bed with a man that wasn't her father. She'd kept that secret to herself after Desire had begged her not to tell Sam.

A deep breath passed between her lips. "Never will I do something like that," Desire had told her after the deed was done. "I'm working undercover to find the killer of servicers, you have to understand that and your father doesn't know I'm doing this--please, don't tell him. I love your father with every fiber of my soul and if he finds out I'm working this mission, it will destroy him."

Amy had kept that secret to herself and the killer was never found in Shadow Falls. He moved on to another region of Rona and was captured in Ilea Rocks.

"Computer, do you know of any planets looking for Law Officers?" Amy asked, resting an elbow on the console, staring at the blank monitor.

"Negative," the computer responded. "There are no agencies looking for recruits at this time."

Amy let out a sad sigh.

"There is one agency that is recruiting for bounty hunters," the computer informed her.

Amy glanced up at the monitor when the name of the agency appeared on the screen. "I don't think I'd make a good bounty hunter. Thanks anyway." Amy shook her head and the name disappeared from the screen.

The proximity alarms went off with an ear splitting roar. "An unknown ship is in the vicinity," the computer informed her.

"Can you get a make on it?" Amy spoke while she brought up the weapon on-line. "And turn off the alarms," she barked at the computer. Within seconds, the alarm was shut off.

"Negative. The ship is traveling in hyper-speed."

"Do they have a weapon's lock on us?"

"Affirmative."

"Shit, this can't be happening. I should've known something wasn't right when that man was selling his ship so cheaply." Amy rocked forward, her chest hitting the edge of the console. Pain filled her entire body but she paid it no mind as her fingers brought up the starboard view on the monitor. She didn't see one ship, she saw two. "What the hell hit us?"

There was no response from the ship's computer and she was starting to lose power. "I have to switch to manual," she uttered then typed in the command to bring the ship from auto-pilot. The ships began to whirl around her, taking aim at her again. Amy jerked the ship to a hard right and flew right between them but she was still losing power.

"Shit!" The control was starting to grow hotter with each minute that passed. The ship jerked to the left and shuddered. "What the hell is going on?" She gritted through her teeth but no one answered the question.

Amy cried out when sparks showered down upon her. Her arms flew over her head until the rain of sparks were finished. "I can't believe this is happening. Now I know why that man was selling the ship so cheap. He was being hunted down like an animal." Slamming her hands on the console, she muttered a few harsh chosen words in several different languages. She pushed away from the control panel and swore again. More sparks flew from overhead; Amy's hands flew to cover her head as they showered down upon her.

"This can't be happening." Her voice was rough and dry. Letting her hands fall to her sides, her hands balled in tight fists. "Who are they and what do they want?" She couldn't get through to the other ship, since the communications were destroyed when the ship took its first hit.

She didn't know the man's name who'd sold her the ship. She didn't care at the moment when she'd made the purchase. She only cared to get away from her home world, the only world she knew, to search out a place where no one knew her. To start a new life.

"Damn that man. He knew something was going to happen when he sold me this ship," she muttered harshly, trying to bring the ship's system back on-line. Nothing was working. Soon, she'd be losing what little oxygen she had left.

"I don't want to die out here. Alone," she whispered. She began taking slow, shallow breaths, to reserve the oxygen. The room was blinking with red warning lights. The ship began to rise in temperature, sweat began to coat along her arms and back and forehead. Amy started to search through the ship's records, trying to find the ship's manual, but couldn't locate it. Or any kind of records. The monitor was showing 'data not found'. They were wiped clean.

"That damn bastard," Amy spoke with a hard voice, her hands slammed on the console again. "If I can get back, I'll demand my money back. If he's still in jail."

"Computer?" she asked, and then waited for a response. Nothing. The computer wasn't responding to voice commands. "Shit." Amy fell to her knees to pry open a side panel. Sparks flew at her. "The wires are fried." She stood and wiped her hands against her thighs. "I hope that bastard has some spare wiring stored somewhere on this ship." Spinning around to step off the bridge, she was knocked off her feet when a laser torpedo struck the ship. Her back was slammed against the console. "Ow!" She cried out, her back burning with pain. Her elbow hit the console with a little more force than it should have when she pushed away from it.

"Now what?" she asked, cringing with pain, her hand rubbing her sore elbow. She braced herself when the ship was struck again.

"What the hell is going on here?" Edge watched the scene unfolding before him through the ship's monitor. Four ships were attacking Kine's ship. He quickly brought up the weapons; no one was going to take his bounty from him, not if he could help it. Edge turned his weapons on the invading ships while quickly noticing Kine's ship was disabled, then he began firing on the invading ships.

"I want Kine alive. Can you break into his ship's mainframe, check on its status?" Edge ordered the computer while taking the ship into a series of twists and turns, firing on the invading ships around Kine's.

"Kine's ship isn't responding to my requests. I broke into the ship's mainframe. The ship's mechanics are down; the oxygen level is extremely low."

"He isn't going to make it," Edge spoke harshly.

"I need to tell you, the person on that ship is a she."

"What?" Edge sat up in the chair, a look of surprise written on his face. "What do you mean that Kine isn't on that ship? Isn't that Kine's ship?" he asked through clenched teeth, his fingers firing the weapons at one of the invaders until it disappeared into deep space.

"The life sign I picked up indicates that a woman is on the ship and her life signs are weakening and she is unconscious. I didn't pick up on any other life signs or bodies. There's only one person on that ship."

"Get her out of there. I don't think I can hold off the other three ships much longer." His gaze flew to the monitor. "And her ship looks as if it's going to explode at any moment."

"Aye, Captain." A few seconds later, "She's been brought aboard safely and I placed her in one of the cabins."

Edge commanded, "Take us into hyper-space. Now!" He was thrown against the seat when the ship went into hyper-space. The stars became a blur of white light. He stood and took one last glance at ship's monitors before he spun on his heel and left the bridge. He made his way down the short corridor then stopped suddenly. "Which cabin did you place her in?"

"Yours."

"Figures." Edge wasn't surprised the computer had placed her in his cabin when it could have placed the woman in one of the other cabins in the ship or the cells. "What is her condition?" Pausing outside the door to his cabin, he waited for the computer to answer the question before barging inside his cabin.

"She's very dehydrated, a slight concussion, bruised ribs and cuts and scrapes," the computer informed him. "I've tended to most of the injuries but she needs to drink some liquids for the dehydration."

"I know." Edge opened the door then stepped inside. The room held dimmed lighting but his attention was on the sleeping woman on his bed. His breath caught in his throat. Her light brown hair was fanned out against the white pillow. Her pink-tinged lips parted with her breathing. She looked so small in his large bed. Edge stood, staring at her while his heart hammered against his ribs.

She began to move her head to the side; Edge could see that her face was flawless. His fingers itched to trace the smooth, creamy skin of her neck.

Stop these thoughts; you can't touch her, his mind screamed at him. You can't have her.

"I know," Edge whispered, tearing his gaze away from her. He stormed across the room and into the lav. He pulled down a small, gray plastic cup from a shelf above the sink. He filled it with water before he stepped back into the sleeping area. He froze. She was sitting up in the bed, staring right at him.

"Where am I?" she asked, her voice was deep and sounded dry. Her gaze was roaming around the sleeping area. "This isn't my ship."

"You're on my ship," Edge told her then took a step closer to her.

Amy pressed her fingers to her forehead where it was throbbing the most. It ached like laser fire in rapid succession. She closed her eyes for a moment as she tried hard to remember what had happened. She remembered being under attack but couldn't seem to figure out why. Then she remembered that man who had sold her the ship.

Her gaze flew at him again. "Look, you've got the wrong person." She stood with her back against the wall, shaking her head. "I just bought that ship. I am not the person you want." Her hand went to her fast beating heart. I am on an unknown ship, unarmed, being held against my will by this man who can probably break me in two with his bare hands. She mentally sighed--but he is one hell of a good-looking man. She tore her gaze away from his. She needed to calm her beating heart and get off his ship.

"I figured that one out when my ship scanned yours." His deep voice caused her heart to stop beating for a second. "I've been searching for the man who once owned that ship for the past few years."

Amy glanced at him with wide eyes. "Why?" she asked softly.

Edge moved closer to her. When he stood before her, he held the plastic cup out to her. "He's a wanted man on Mojave," he informed her with a quiet voice. He watched her green eyes widen and her face grew paler. He reached out to brush the back of his knuckle along her face; his breath caught in his throat at the soft feel of her skin along his.

Her lips parted as she drew in a deep breath. Edge's body grew tight at the feel of her breath along the skin of his hand. He jerked back his hand then stepped away from her. Tingles were still traveling along his arm and down his body.

Quickly, he spun on his heel and stepped out of the cabin. With hurried strides, he strode down the short corridor and into the control room. He slouched down in the chair with his feet propped on the edge of the console. With all of his might, he tried to calm his out of control body. Whenever he tried to close his eyes, visions of her hair spread out on his pillow kept filling his mind. He shook his head to clear such unwanted thoughts and feeling of wanting something.