Okay, this is a bit of a different submission for me. At the beginning of the month, vwrangler mentioned something about National Graphic Novel Writing Month. I've had a few ideas kicking around in my head that could conceivably become a graphic novel or two, maybe three. So I thought I'd give it a shot. Not the whole novel, got too much crap going on for that, but a chapter. That should be easy to do in a month, right? Right?
Yeah, whatever.
I found out I'm NOT a graphic novel writer. Not in the least. About the best I can do is an illustrated story. And... well, right now, I can't even do that, because I have to get my butt in gear and finish the final edits, formatting, and cover for my new story, Dawnfire, so it can be released into the wild by 11/1. A date also known as the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, a challenge which I'm way better at than its graphic cousin.
So I'm posting the illustrations, and the rough beginnings of the story that go with them, just so people can see that I actually did try. Here you go. Now I'm off to edit and work on the new cover before I run completely out of weekend. (Yes, I know this is Monday. It's my day off.)

Destruction

Tayuri closed the transit pod's door behind ni, relieved as its soft hiss closed the stench of ni's burning home outside. Ni felt numb. Completely, totally numb.
Ni leaned against the bulkhead, eyes closed. Ni could still see them. What had happened? What had brought such disaster to ni's family group? Every ni at the station, each ni young or old, dead.
Why?
Ni's people never hurt anyone! They stayed quietly in their compound, did their work, hurt no one. They did nothing to deserve destruction.
Scrubbing a trembling hand across ni's eyes did nothing to erase the memory of ni's family sprawled dead on the ground. So ni stopped. Ni felt a distant sort of gratitude that ni had been selected to fly into the nearby city of Grath for supplies that could not be produced in the home compound, a monthly task that no ni truly enjoyed. After all, the ni that ran the errand voluntarily cut niself off from the community, if only for a brief time.
But this... Ni moved woodenly into the cockpit, sat in the command chair, lifted the pod into the air. This separation was permanent. No welcoming embrace would welcome ni home ever again.
Therefore, ni must leave.

News

Ni didn't hesitate. The future path lay ahead, obvious and incontrovertible. Ni had to leave not just ni's home, but the entire world. Because if ni didn't, ni would feel nothing but anguish and sorrow as ni moved through life surrounded by reminders of ni's dead family.
Tayuri retained enough sense to report the crime. Ni endured the questions of the local authorities, their insensitive prodding inquiries meant to ensure that ni had not committed the heinous act. Grath surveillance footage provided ample proof that ni had been in town since the early morning hours. Ni was officially absolved of the crime ni knew ni did not commit. The authorities assured ni of access to the family accounts, that they would not rest until the culprits were brought to justice, that no beings in Grath bore any ill will towards ni's family. 
Tayuri allowed the official procedures to wash over ni, numb and unthinking. None of it mattered. Nothing mattered but the clearance to access the family accounts, which ensured ni's survival.
Finally the ordeal ended, and ni returned to ni's little transit pod, a sleek craft well able to take ni into space. Finally, Tayuri left the surface of ni's adopted home world for the last time, and left.
Ni stopped at the space hub at the edge of the system before striking out to find a new home. It took three days to reach the hub, and by that time, Tayuri had had enough time to realize ni needed supplies. The pod needed fuel, and so did ni.
The space hub took care of ni's needs quite adequately. Ni dropped the pod off in a service bay, paid for a full resupply, and made ni's way into a round-the-clock interspecies food and drink facility. The hour was late, by the station clock, but a few beings sat at tables. Mostly humans, it seemed, but ni felt reassured when ni spotted two other beings of different species. Ni crossed the room, seeking a table, and stopped in ni's tracks.
There on the vidscreen, larger than life, ni's home burned.
The newscaster, a scaly bronze being, was saying something. The words, spoken in Galaxon, blurred into nonsense, drowned out by a strange roaring noise in ni's ears.
Then something caught ni's eye: the crawler across the bottom of the screen. Escaped gene pirates...
Suddenly, Tayuri felt weak, and caught hold of a chair back before ni fell. Slowly ni fumbled ni's way into the chair. Safely seated, ni took a deep breath, and the universe rearranged itself and made sense again.
There was a reason for ni's family's death.
Tayuri knew beyond any reasonable doubt that gene pirates would do anything, even murder peaceful people, to gain access to the Alkahest Halo. They wouldn't be able to use the device, of course, tuned as it was to Tayuri and ni's genetic group. Ni's family.
Tayuri formed a plan all in an instant, and felt better for it. Ni would proceed on to the world called Diteradon. There, ni would obtain a license to pursue revenge. Ni would become a bounty hunter.

Swearing In

Tayuri reached Diteradon in a matter of days. While thoroughly unsuitable for ni's future, the little pod certainly made a swift passage. Ni sat through a six standard hour period of instruction, then stood with four others to take oath as a fugitive retrieval agent, authorized to bear weaponry and capture or kill fugitives. Although the human who administered the oath was a frightful being with shifting eyes and a hunched, defensive stance, Tayuri stood quietly back behind ni's fellow students and received ni's standard weaponry and tracking device. Not that ni intended to rely solely on the standard equipment. Ni would supply niself with far better equipment.
Ni wondered what motivated the other beings, three humans and someone massive and spiky, to pursue this life path, but didn't ask. Rather, ni held back, swore ni's oath, then made ni's escape from the shifty-eyed instructor, the strung-out fluttering one, the one with the unstoppable ego, and the others. Ni felt pleased for the first time since ni got a good deal on vegetables back in the town of Grath. Now, with ni's license in hand, ni could avenge ni's family.

Purchase

 Tayuri located a used spaceship dealer quickly. No surprise there, beings were always buying, selling, trading their ships. The salesbeing thought himself quite a dapper fellow, that much seemed obvious from the care he took with his appearance. Tayuri considered him nearly as suspicious as the bounty hunter. But personal feelings had no bearing on making a purchase. There was an eminently suitable ship on the lot, sleek, swift, and heavily armed. But the salesbeing wanted ni to buy a completely unsuitable, large, and overpriced transport.
Tayuri gave a sigh, and settled in for a long verbal battle. No matter what the other being wanted, Tayuri would leave the lot with ni's chosen ship. Period.