After having a million ideas floating about, I decided to bite the bullet and just write this. Expect to see more of Julia in later fics, since I think she's more interesting than people give her credit for (or maybe it's just her situation that's interesting XD.)

GOODNIGHT JULIA: The Corner Bar Stool

"Where the hell's she gone?" Martial Fox scoured the blackness of space for any sign of the little rented monocraft that had somehow eluded him. Shots fired at him and he turned his fighter ship round and darted forwards, seeing a glint of starlight on metal. He locked on, fired a couple of missiles and waited for the fireworks. His com blinked and he was met with the face of his partner, a guy called Don Yuan.

"You caught her yet?" Don asked, lighting a cig and leaning back in his expensive leather chair.

"No. I'm trying to right now." Fox took out his own cig and stuck it in his mouth.

Don laughed. "Yeah, she's a tough one alright."

"You're tellin' me. I thought Vicious was giving us too much information when he said she was slippery. Now I see what he meant."

The other monocraft, a Barracuda 2200, was dipping and darting between pieces of space debris, trying to escape the missiles. Julia had already managed to destroy two, but the others were closing in fast. Luckily her pursuer was taking a cigarette break. She shot at him and caught him off guard, causing his ship to spin. There was a cluster of debris not far off, so she headed towards it, hoping she would be able to get rid of the last two missiles that way.

One exploded when it hit a large rock, but the other kept coming.

Fox regained control of his ship, pissed that he'd been caught unawares. She was coming towards him, no doubt to try to shoot him again. He shot back and clipped one of the wings, sending a stream of smoke into the vacuum. She held steady, still barreling towards him like a crazy kamikaze pilot.

"What the hell?"

He jabbed at the controls, trying to avoid the bullets. One punched a hole in his fuel tank. Julia charged past him and the missile followed. Fox tried to avoid it, but Julia curved upwards so that he was directly in its path.

It exploded in a shower of wires and glass and metal shards.

Julia slowed, watching the wreckage whirl through space, flying onwards forever until it was attracted towards some larger mass.

One more dead body on her account. What a waste. Pushing that thought to the back of her mind, she took a moment to calm her nerves then checked out the area to find the nearest planet. It was Callisto apparently, one of the moons orbiting Jupiter.

She requested land fall and flashed up the fake ID Lin had aquired for her. Sometimes it was handy having friends in shady places. She was approved and descended through the atmosphere to a little seaside town called Emeraude. Like most of Callisto, it was a quiet, town where nothing much happened. The houses were frosted with fresh snow and many of the people outside wore gas masks to help them breathe in the thin atmosphere. Julia pulled on a thick coat. Her stomach grumbled as she hopped out of the black monocraft onto the snowy ground, and the first thing she did was to find a place to eat.

Henrietta's sounded like a nice place. It was a quaint little bar with armchairs and roaring fires inside. From outside Julia could see people sitting around, chatting and reading newspapers.

She pushed open the door and a couple of heads turned towards her. Some of them stayed turned. Ignoring them, she walked up to the bar and perused the drinks.

"Do you have any Emeraude specialties?" she asked the barman slyly. A big smile lit up his face. "You're in for a real treat, doll. Hardly anyone asks for Emeraude Fury. It's made a few miles away at a brewery run by a drunk and two young kids who they say eloped here for a better life. Another name for it is Love's Fury, or Liquid Callisto."

Julia put some woolongs on the table. "Sounds like my kinda drink." He went out to the back room to grab a dusty bottle. Apparently the drink wasn't all that popular.

Julia chose a lone armchair near the fire and wondered what she should do next. Vicious was still looking for her - that much was obvious. Somehow she had to shake him off. She tried Lin on the com, but the signal from Callisto to Mars wasn't the best and she didn't think he'd have anything new for her except his old slogan of "stay out of the cities and don't trust anyone".

Love's Fury turned out to be the strangest drinks she'd ever tasted. It was like the strongest alcohol, but with an icy chill. The kick came from a freezing numbness at the back of the throat, rather than the hot fire she was more accustomed to, and it was clearly full of something bad for the brain because after just one shot she started wondering what the hell she was worrying about. It was pretty obvious why nobody on Callisto drank it. Julia found herself shivering even with the heat of the roaring fire behind her.

"Well, how is it?" The barman asked as he came to collect the glass. Julia smiled, her teeth chattering. "C-Cold."

The barman shook his head, grinning. "You're one brave lady."

After leaving Henrietta's with a cup of hot, homemade chicken soup, Julia began to walk back to the Barracuda. She hoped there was a decent motel she could stay at that had warm showers and a proper bed. She sat on a bench that overlooked the pier and sipped the soup. The sky was growing darker over the icy grey sea, there were seals bobbing about in the water. Despite its coldness, Julia felt she could get used to Emeraude. It was a far cry from the hustle and bustle of Tharsis, and the people seemed friendly enough. If Spike were here... She leaned back and looked up at the stars. But there was no point in thinking about him right now. Soup finished, she headed back towards the Barracuda to grab her things. A few streets away, she suddenly noticed that she wasn't alone. She paused to listen for footsteps following her.

A long shadow fell in front of her.

Shit.

She ran. Someone took a shot, so she slipped the gun from her belt and looked round, trying to aim for whoever it was. She wondered whether there was another way to the monocraft, but she doubted if she'd be able to get it airborne before she was caught. More figures closed in around her, black shapes against the darkening sky. There was a convenient store ahead, a guy climbing from a motorcycle in the car park. Julia ploughed into him and scrabbled at his jacket for the keys.

"Hey! What the -? MY MOTORBIKE!"

Without an apology, Julia kicked the engine into life and turned the throttle. She sped off, the sound of gunshots following her.

Shit shit shit... Gotta get out of here... Julia wiped a tear from her eye, feeling angry that she couldn't catch a break for twenty minutes. She hit the highway and sped towards the skyscrapers in the distance. Lin had told her to avoid cities, but it seemed she wasn't safe anywhere anymore. A car pulled out behind her, men leaned out of the windows and started firing. She took pot shots behind her and one of the bullets popped the tyre like a balloon. The car rolled and exploded, causing a pile up and an hour long traffic jam.

When she was sure no one else was following, Julia paid attention to where she was going. Blue Crow. Strange name for a city. Some of the graffiti on the barriers said "No Women!" and "Bitches Not Allowed". There were advertisements for gay bars and divorce lawyers.

"What kind of lawyer advertises at the side of the road?" she muttered. At any rate Blue Crow seemed to be a pretty seedy place.

She drove until she was really lost. All she knew was that she was in Blue Crow, but she couldn't tell if it was the good part or the bad part of town. She doubted there was a good part of town. It was slow and dilapidated, a city that had given up hope. That was probably why there were no women there, Julia thought, parking in a back alley. She abandoned the motorbike and pulled her coat around her, shivering in the freezing atmosphere.

There were a couple of men standing outside a bar. The men outside were friendly, at least they didn't make any comments, and they told her there were plenty of places to spend the night, despite what the ads said.

"Probably best to try some of the gay bars. They ain't interested in women, see? You won't get assaulted or nuffin'."

"Er... thanks." She slipped inside the bar, a shabby joint called Rester House. It was warm inside and had plenty of customers. She could hear chair legs scrape the floor as people turned. Guys nudged their pals and nodded in her direction, dirty looks on their faces.

Julia took a seat on the corner bar stool. There was a man playing a saxophone on the other side of the room with long black hair and sad looking eyes. He was extremely handsome and strangely, he was playing a tune she recognized. An old song she'd forgotten about.

She lit a cigarette and sat silently, listening to his music, feeling tired. She wondered what the time was, all out of sync in the strange, perpetual half-darkness of Callisto. The barman slid a banana daiquiri across the wooden surface. She hadn't ordered one, but he smiled and said that she was the first woman in the bar since he'd been working there. Julia rolled her eyes. "Too bad. This city could really do with one."

He laughed. Some of the other men overheard and they laughed too. Julia smiled, feeling a little stupid, but it was nice to know they weren't hostile towards her. She struck up conversation with one guy who had immigrated to Callisto from Jupiter, his wife had left him and needed a place to think. Another man had left Venus because his friends didn't like the fact that he was gay. Julia discovered that most of the people who had leered at her when she came in were actually quite shy and smitten. She played a game of poker and won 500W. The whole bar gathered around to cheer her on.

After a while the music stopped and the band packed up.

The handsome musician ordered a drink and one of the men Julia was with called him over. "Hey Gren! Come and meet Julia! You two would make a great couple."

Julia went red and Gren sat down opposite her.

"Uh... Hi," Julia said sheepishly.

"Hey."

"Nice music."

"Thanks."

Julia hated awkward conversations so she opened up a little more. "What's that song you were playing? I've heard it before."

"Oh, it's just an old song I picked up." He smiled and sipped his drink. "You been here long?"

"A few hours."

"Like the neighbourhood?"

Julia laughed. "I can't tell if this the bad part or the good part of town. But I haven't been attacked yet." She looked up at her new friends. "Actually, it's kind of nice."

"Well there isn't a good part of town."

"I didn't think so."

He finished his drink and stood up. "I'd better go." He paused, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Julia."

"Hmm. Same name as the song."

She just smiled.

Gren slung on his coat and picked up the sax case. "Be careful out there, Julia."

Julia sat and chatted for a few more minutes, warm and happy. A clump of snow fell from the roof and she finally decided to head out, knowing that if she didn't find a place to sleep soon everywhere would be shut. She opened the door and found herself in the centre of a mass of men. These guys weren't Callisto natives, they were dressed in suits and were carrying guns. The Syndicate.