If she had not been pressed for time and wanted to stay as low-key as possible, Serafima would have taken her time to properly explain firstly - what the 'meter' thing was, though she would have just skipped the 'why there was no need to pay' question. Secondly, she might have given him a good beating in the elevator. Because there were of course - videocameras!<br/>And last but not least, she may have looked for a gag to shut up the constant buzzing in her ear - namely the chattering of the overexcited dragon. But, sadly she endured as she rushed forward, occassionally giving a zap here and there to prevent him from going overboard.<br/>Luckily to the dragon and to the norva, most of the officers were occupied with checking on their flighters and boarding, before the takeoff. And nearly all the crew members already descended through small exits into the underground of the hangar, as Sera and Snow arrived at the 'Shadow'.<br/>She could see Alfred nodding to her, as he closed the last underground door. Slowly, the roof started to open, and the first batch of the crafts took off.<br/>She showed Snow quickly inside her flighter craft, and went a quick circle for a routine check. It was not that she didnt trust Alfred or the other crewmembers - she didnt trust the other vampires or officers. With fame comes jealousy, as they said.<br/><br/><br/>As she entered the cockpit, her brows furrowed. 'Shadow' was her personal flighter craft, and sitting in the commanders position... She was about to punish the dragon, as a small smirk turned on her lips - apparently somebody had zapped him already!<br/><br/>Two red dots circled around Snows head and stopped on his forehead. A scan!<br/>A husky male voice sounded from the speakers.<span style="color: #0000BF">"Entity unknown. Unallowed access! Begin elimination process." </span><br/>A fuzzing electricity shower surrounded her seat and if Snow didnt have her overall and hood, he may not have been grilled, since his resistances were high, but at least it would be quite a painful experience...plus.. the hood saved him from having to grow his hair and eyebrows again!<br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"Signs of life still detected. Increasing voltage."</span><br/>Another wave of stronger currents surrounded the seat, but this time she stopped the artificial Intelligence.<span style="color: #FF4040"><span style="font-style: italic">"Noctis, cognito ergo sum." </span></span>Using the password, the AI halted its free actions, and scanned her voice print as well as her features quickly.<br/>Chuckling, Serafima finally muttered.<span style="color: #FF4040">"Noctis. Grant him guest permissions."</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"Hello commander."</span>the voice continued.<span style="color: #0000BF">"Elimination overrun. Granted." </span><br/>After a short pause, the AI activated again, directly speaking to the dragon:<span style="color: #0000BF"> "Now get out of the capitains seat, newbie!"</span>the voice sounded a litle arrogant, as if it didnt even put guests in its eyes. The air condition blew ice cold wind in Snows direction as the temperature dropped.<br/>Noctis, was a peculiar AI, programmed by Ayu, and it posessed a high capacity as a co-pilot, pilot and scouter. He served the Blood Hunter with the fervency and protection of a virtual butler, taking care of her body stats as well.<br/>Since Serafima had to focus on other things besides flying at times, Noctis was able to compensate for that. He could also connect to her intercommunicator and locate her position to navigate the Shadow accurately to pick her up.<br/><br/>The crafts were usually one-seaters, at maximum doubles. Serafimas elegantly formed black craft, was no different. It should have been a one-seater with a flat and speedy design, with high maneuvre potential and high acceleration as well as maximum speed.<br/>In the last year, it was remodeled and had now a larger capacity - for ammo and a possible row of two-three seats behind her. The outside was made of a special night -alloy, as it was called, it had obsidian and special carbon coating with the hardness superiour to diamonds. The night coating was firstly light absorbant, and had a chamaeleon function. It would be unspottable with the eyes. In addition to that there were temperature sensors connected to a cooling and heating engine. In stealth mode, this craft would be barely seen on a heat radar - barely a ripple or some noise on the screen.<br/>Of course normal officers would not be able to afford it - the norva had paid for every extra feature with her own earned money! Alfred played a major role in developing most special parts for the Shadow. The downside:  If this craft was damaged, there was only one place that could repair it!<br/>The inside was mostly of a dark silvery color, a dark carpet floor, and black leather, with the exemption of the bordeaux leather commander seat, made from the skin of a fire salamander - it was very durable, and had the potential to store and emit heat. Being cold-blooded, Serafima appreciated this kind of small luxury. The leather was harder than usual but could emit heatwaves. The cockpit was about the same as other flighter crafts, but all the buttons were mirrored, for Serafima was a leftie. She preferred to aim and shoot with left, while manoevring the plane and minuscule other tasks were done with the right. Noctis was the co-pilot, unless she needed to use her scouting or divination, or just meditation to restore her powers. The other difference was that there was no radar or digital screens, only a view to the outside of about 220° present. If you take Noctis analyzing ability, and Serafimas precognition, there was no need for any radar though. The dead zone would be covered by visual holograms of Noctis if necessary, and the outer perimeter as well. As for detecting surprise attacks, that would be the Norvas duty.<br/>It could have been said, that in the last 2oo years Serafima spent most of her time in her laboratory, followed closely by her flighter craft. Further down the line would be the time she actually spent on tracking and other missions on different planets. Even less the time sleeping. Usually she would just meditate to recover her powers, then function again.<br/><br/>This time, she had told Alfred to put in a second seat, on the left side, but behind her own. Of course it would be smaller, and it had a special restraining function - no matter if conscious, unconscious or else, she had planned to take the dragon with her this time.<br/>She pointed over there, wordlessly, as the dragon turned around. The door to the Shadow closed and was pressure secured immediately.<br/>Checking the outside, the hangar had opened and their turn would be soon, as the Shadow was in the center of all the crafts.<br/>Sighing impatiently, she dragged the dragon to his seat, and he was secured by metallic belts to it immediately. Alfred had done a good job, so the dragon couldnt play around too much.<br/><span style="color: #FF4040">"Noctis, manual control by me. Lets go!"</span>her fingers were itching to finally fly by herself.<br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"Ay ay, Madam! I'll scout for enemies. We're free to fly in forty seconds."</span>Noctis stated and released the locked down manual cockpit.<br/>They had thirty five seconds until it was their turn, as the Blood Hunter approached her seat, after checking that the dragon couldnt manage any mischief.<br/>A red number flickered as it counted down slowly, as a projection on the corner of the window.<br/>Stretching her fingers a little, and removing her own hood, Serafima moved to her seat unhurriedly, while she first knotted her hair to a braid, so that only some of the unruliest locks would bother her while flying.<br/>20 seconds.<br/>Frowning slightly, Serafimas fingers danced as she moved the manual switches messed up by the dragon to their original positions, before she started the warm up in manual mode -<br/>10 seconds.<br/>Warmed up, the craft slowly vibrated, and beside them, the other crafts already rolled towards the edge to take off.  A slightly disdainful sneer curled the Norvas lips as she waited the countdown, standing motionless, while the other crafts were rolling to 'drop off' the edge to start flying.<br/>Over their heads, the door slid back and the vast and limitless universe was shown to the observing eye.<br/>3..<br/>2..<br/>1..<br/><br/>The other crafts had already dropped off, as Serafima suddenly pulled back a limiter, while tugging the manual switch towards her, as she just got a head start -<br/><br/>0!<br/><br/>The Shadow's made a slight jump forward and its nose tilted in the air, first at about 45 degrees, then rapidly approaching  a vertical line upwards!<br/>Serafimas 'cover' and 'low profile' - if she ever had any, walking around with a dragon - got immediately blown, as a single scouter out of the mass 'slowly rolling forward and dropping off' suddenly soared upwards through the barely opened roof.<br/><br/>Inside, the maniac grin of the norva deepened, and after another flick of her wrists on the controls, the Shadow turned in the air obediently, throwing them around in their seats, while spiraling out of the crack in the opening ceiling.<br/><br/>Calmly, she controlled their corkscrew ascent so that they would not hit the walls and slowed down in the air as they passed by the opening. They had made a full 360 degree turn by then.<br/><br/>Making a small, contented sound after the pirouette, Serafima turned the engine off!<br/>Barely arriving above the majestic battleship, the Shadow rapidly dropped down, nose forward, out of the air!<br/>At the last moment, basically brushing above the surface of the Battleship, she switched some settings, from maneuvring to acceleration, and rapidly surged forward, roaring her engine once, leaving the other pilots in the dust, while grinning mischievously.<br/><br/>Alfred sighed, watching the commander show off, or better - letting off some of her steam -  he was not worried that the shadow would come back scratched, just.. "I hope that dragons stomach is strong enough not to vomit, being a passenger in<span style="font-style: italic"> there..</span>" he muttered frowningly, as he turned back to walk downstairs.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><br/><br/>In the atmosphere, the Shadow cut through the vast space like a freshly sharpened knife through butter and bread, barely leaving a trace behind. Enjoying the feeling of barely avoiding some meteorites here and there, the norva did not slow down her speed as she tilted the Shadow's nose up and down, and the wings rigt and left.  She did not do any complete turns, since that would only slow down her speed.<br/>The Shadow rushed faster and faster, approaching its limits, but the Blood Hunter still pressed on. The last weeks had been very stressful. Wilkes and about anyone was annoying - not to speak of the dragon and her stuck research. The thing with Rose, Ayus strange behaviours... Their bountyhunters... and lots of other problems she could now put behind her and just - fly!<br/>Fly while emptying her brain, concentrating only on the feels of her controls and the acceleration.<br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"Miss, we are approaching warp speed."</span>Noctis commented dryly after a few minutes.<br/><span style="color: #FF4040">"Mhm."</span>She was obviously not listenning.<br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"Miss we are at warp speed."</span>Noctis warned another time. It was dangerous maintaining warp speed while not switching positions!<br/><span style="color: #FF4040">"Mhm." </span><br/>The male voice sighed, as the craft suddenly vibrated and slowed down altogether.<br/><span style="color: #FF4040">"Noctis."</span><br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"Yes miss?"</span><br/><span style="color: #FF4040">"You are annoying."</span><br/><span style="color: #0000BF">"I serve to please." </span><br/>Sighing, Serafima stood up, switched to auto pilot, and stretched herself a little.<br/>Sitting down again, she unlocked her seats stability, and turned it arund to Snow's seat. She would have been frustrated, that Noctis stopped her manical speeding through the universe, but she had a target to vent on...<br/><span style="color: #FF4040">"So.. back to you.."</span>her eyes had a strange red gleam, as she pointed with a hand to her right - Snows left side.<span style="color: #FF4040">"We have a nice black hole some lightminutes away from here... " </span>she stated dryly,<span style="color: #FF4040">"You wanted to get to know its insides very closely, right?" </span><br/>Remembering that the dragon probably didnt have much knowledge about the physical properties of black holes, she sighed inwardly, and continued.<span style="color: #FF4040">"Basically, since you know how to fly - theres the door."</span>She pointed at the side, and as if a command had been issued, Noctis unlocked the pressure lock.<br/>The door made a 'Pshhhh' noise, but did not open yet. With a 'clack' Snows seatbelt unfastened automatically.<br/>Serafimas eyes did not reveal any hints of a joke, and her canines had elongated subconsciously, while she was flying. If she had an ice-cold personality while on duty - when flying, she was a total rogue!