Our new ship would take a little while to get ready, so while the shipyard was getting it prepared, Noah and I decided to do some much needed shopping. All we had were the clothes on our back and the couple guns that we had, after all. We needed new clothes and more firepower.
We left the ship dealership soon after our purchase, and navigated towards a nearby shopping district. Since I was unfamiliar with the station, it took us a while, but we eventually arrived at a busy little shopping outlet that mainly sold clothes, shoes, accessories, and the like. There was even a suit shop, but we wouldn’t be visiting that. I only wore suits made by Yori. Anything else was inferior.
Noah was slightly anxious to go into a public place like a shopping outlet because of his heavily wanted status, but I assured him that it had only been a few hours since the news came out, and there was no official bounty on him. Therefore, any bounty hunters who did try their luck would be impeded by the law enforcement. It didn’t mean that he was completely safe, since Noah would be arrested too if he was identified as a human. But that was assuming anyone identified him anyways. There were plenty of two armed bipedal people around. As long as Noah’s helmet stayed on, he was pretty safe.
Noah and I browsed the shops for a while, picking out clothes that caught our eyes. As usual, I bought a lot of tank tops. I tended to wear a lot of tank tops because they didn’t get in the way of my back arms, and they didn’t obstruct my back shoulders. I also chose out a few jackets. Jackets with four arms were rare, but I managed to snag a few. And I bought some cargo pants, of course. I loved the versatility of cargo pants. They were durable, practical, and fashionable. I was a big fan of the huge pockets and pouches you could shove random things into. The bagginess could obstruct movement, but that was a downside I was willing to accept.
Noah bought a lot of comfy soft clothes. It made sense, because he would be wearing them in the privacy of our ship. He bought a lot of shorts, T-shirts, hoodies, the sort of clothes you usually wear in the comfort of your home. Or maybe he just used to wear a lot of clothes like that when he was back on Earth. I couldn’t ask him in public because I didn’t want to be overheard.
We also bought a few pairs of shoes. Noah got some sneakers and I got some boots. Shopping with Noah was pretty therapeutic. We’d been in the military for months, so I was bored out of my mind most of the time. And when we were in gunfights, I was constantly anxious. Even though the threat to Noah remained, shopping was a lot more relaxing than anything I’d done in the past few months. It reminded me of the time we hung out with Yori, although they ended up being kidnapped later that day.
After our clothes shopping, Noah and I realized that we had to buy some key things for our ship. We’d forgotten completely that we didn’t have any hygiene products. Noah and I spent an hour or so buying necessary products for our daily lives on the ship.
We paused our little shopping spree and returned to the shipyard, where our new little ship was docked. It was still getting prepared by the maintenance crew, so we dropped off our bags and took another look inside. The tiny size of the ship made me miss my old one. This little stealth ship didn’t have a lounge, which was a little upsetting. We traded comfort for functionality with this one. Over time, it’d hopefully become more homey, but it was a pretty depressing sight. At least the single bedroom’s bunks already had mattresses in them. I would’ve lost my mind if I had to buy those too.
I grabbed one of the jackets I’d bought and threw it on over my suit. It would do little to hide it, but I mainly got it to cover up my shotgun. I hid my shotgun under my jacket, just in case I was put into a situation where I had to use it.
Once we dropped off our bags, Noah and I went back out into the station to buy ourselves some weapons. I had lost most of my guns back when Maralu was blown up, and Noah needed something new now that he wasn’t a beginner. I still had some money left, so I would be able to afford two new guns, at least.
I found a promising gun shop using my tablet, so Noah and I took public transportation to get there. I would’ve liked to avoid it but I wanted to save as much money as possible. We’d be screwed if I ran out of fuel money. We couldn’t accept a job on this station either, since I wanted to get as far away from our transport ship as possible. Staying here and shopping was already risky enough, since Ceel would likely be sending someone to pick up the transport. I doubted that Ceel told anyone else the full story. Noah and I were likely branded as deserters or something. Leaving before our contract technically ended was one thing, but we’d stolen a military transport ship, even if it was with permission from Captain Ceel. From any outsider perspective, Noah and I were totally ship thieves.
Our ride on public transportation was uneventful. We rode a little monorail tram that gave us a beautiful view of the station. I definitely preferred it to Maralu’s depressing subway system. Being able to see the station from above was much more interesting.
After half an hour of staring out the monorail tram’s windows, we arrived at our stop. A few more minutes of walking later, Noah and I stood outside of a pretty large gun store. It was much bigger than the one I’d taken Noah to back on Maralu. We stepped inside.
A wide assortment of weapons hung on the walls and were displayed on racks. Several other customers were inside, perusing the store’s wares. The entire store was brightly lit, and sections of the store were separated into different types of weapons. Advertisements for several different gun manufacturers lined the walls and I heard the murmurs of music emanate from hidden speakers around the store. I didn’t really know what to think of this store. I preferred gun shops that were smaller and more secluded. This one was pretty brazen and in your face. It felt more like a discount store than a place that sold lethal weapons.
“Saka, let’s head towards the rifle section. There might be something like what I had before.” Noah said.
He started briskly walking towards a row of racks that were labeled as “Rifles.” I followed him, sweeping my eyes around to see if anything caught my eye. None of the guns within eyesight stood out to me. I also looked around to see if there was anyone suspicious watching us. I quietly felt my shotgun nestled under my back with one of my rear arms. If we were to randomly come across a bounty hunter, it would be here. Nobody was acting suspicious, so I let my mind rest.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Noah pointed at an Xilashi rifle that was almost as tall as he was.
“Pretty cool, right?”
I sighed. “Noah, you wouldn’t be able to lift that thing, let alone fire it. They’re called Xilashi rifles for a reason.”
Noah waved his hand dismissively. “I know, I know. I’m just saying it’s cool.”
He turned his attention back to the racks of rifles. Noah inspected each one closely and moved on whenever he found some part of it he was dissatisfied with. He pretty much ignored any rifles that specialized in long range. We tended to fight on ships and inside buildings, so anything that would be unwieldy to use indoors would be an active hindrance.
“Noah, why don’t you try out a submachine gun?” I asked. “They’ll be pretty good for close quarters.”
“Nah, I want something that’s accurate.” Noah replied. “I don’t want my bullets to go everywhere.”
Noah picked up a bullpup rifle that wasn’t too different from the one he had used in the Haivu war.
“What do you think of this?” Noah asked.
I took a closer look. It was short and compact, as all bullpups were. The magazine size was pretty small to save space, and a simple holographic sight sat on the top.
“Beams or bullets?” I wondered.
Noah squinted at the display rack that it used to sit on.
“Beams, I think. Which is good, because that’s what I’m used to.”
“Alright, if you’re good with that, we can buy it.” I said.
“Yeah, I’m choosing this one.” Noah replied. “Let’s find something with a longer range than that shotgun, Saka.”
“Agreed.”
I already had an idea for what I wanted. Since we were trying to be under the radar, I was aiming to get something concealable. And what was more concealable than a handgun? But I wasn’t going to use something that had low firepower. No, I was going to get a hand cannon, like the one Bubbles the mercenary had. I’d seen the aftermath of what it was able to do.
I led Noah over to the handguns section and looked for the biggest gun there. After passing my eyes over the racks for a few moments, I found one. I picked it up. It was a dark gray, gigantic handgun that barely fit in the palm of my hand. The grip was ridged to offer as much friction as possible, and the crude iron sights told me that this thing was all about firepower and not much about accuracy. I loved it.
I held it in front of Noah. “Hey, what do you think of this?”
Noah eyed it carefully. “Looks dangerous. Are you really going to get that? It feels like it’d go flying out of your hands if you tried to shoot it.”
I laughed. “Who do you think I am? There’s no way that’ll happen. Maybe if it was you holding it in your soft tiny hands, but definitely not me.”
“These soft tiny hands are better at aiming than you are.” Noah retorted.
“Well, with this beast, I feel like anything I point this at would be eviscerated. Look, it even fires bullets instead of beams! This thing is going to be tough, I know it.”
Noah shrugged. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
----------------------------------------
A few minutes later, Noah and I were walking out of the gun store with our brand new weapons. Noah had his in a case, because it didn’t look very good to be walking around with a rifle. Having handguns holstered was fine, but slinging an assault weapon around could easily gather suspicion. As for my hand cannon, it was shoved into my jacket pocket. My holster was way too small to fit that beast.
We walked aimlessly for a while, looking for a place to eat before we returned to our ship to leave the station. We’d been here for a few hours already, and it would be ideal if we gained distance from where the Spear of Kain was. I had no doubt that soldiers on the ship would be leaking information on where that video happened, and any nearby bounty hunters may decide to keep an eye out for a Togumo traveling with a short bipedal person.
Noah and I soon found a little food stall that had takeout food. We decided that it was good enough, since finding a restaurant to eat in would take too long, and restaurants with private booths were a little hard to find. We’d take our food back to the ship and eat it there instead.
The little food stall served some sort of bug kabob. I didn’t know what kind of bug it was, but it must’ve been a local speciality. I wished it was meat from a mammal, though. Bugs were a lot more space efficient and easier to farm, so meat that wasn’t synthetic tended to be large, genetically engineered bugs. They didn’t taste bad but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the texture.
Noah and I ordered a few boxes of the stuff and went on our way back to our ship. I cradled the still warm boxes of bug kabob under my back arms. We would have to find the nearest monorail tram station before we would be able to get back to our new ship.
The navigation on my tablet directed us through a small alleyway to get to the station. If we didn’t take this shortcut, we’d have to take the long way around, and it added an hour to our walk. I didn’t want the food to get cold, so I reluctantly used the alley.
A few steps into the alley, a shadow blocked the little amount of light that streamed into the alley. I sighed, and turned around. Noah noticed as well, and swivled his body.
“You look an awful lot like the Togumo that’s been in those videos, don’t you.”
The source of the voice was an Aeon wearing a raggedy space suit, brandishing a handgun that looked just as old. Clearly not a bounty hunter, but someone trying to make a quick buck.
“I don’t know. A lot of Togumo look alike. It could’ve been my cousin.” I replied, slowly reaching into my pocket to grasp my hand cannon.
“I think I’ll find out for myself.” The Aeon said, and lifted his handgun. “If you don’t want to get shot, then let me have that human.”
Noah didn’t say anything, but out of my peripheral vision, I could see the hints of his hand getting ready to go for his holstered Fune 2.
“Don’t move!” The Aeon shouted. “Or I’ll shoot her!”
Noah’s hand pulled his handgun out of his holster. The moment the Aeon saw, he immediately let loose a burst of shots towards me. Two of them were stopped by my personal shield. The third careened into a wall. Noah lifted his handgun and shot the Aeon in the knee.
“Gah!” The Aeon screamed, and dropped to the floor. He clutched his knee and let his shitty handgun clatter to the ground.
“What was he even trying to do?” Noah asked me. “We were both armed.”
I shrugged. “Opportunity made him hedge his bets, probably. Look at the state of his things. He needs this money.”
I pulled my hand cannon out of my jacket pocket.
“Can I test this out?” I asked Noah. He nodded.
“Wait, wait. Please” The gristly Aeon groaned. “I’m not a bounty hunter. I just thought I’d make a quick buck. Please don’t shoot me.”
I took aim, making sure to brace my shoulder and have a well balanced stance.
“Sorry, but you’ve seen us. Can’t let you go around spreading any information.”
“Wait, n-”
My hand cannon fired with a deafening boom. It bucked and flew out of my hands, clattering on the ground behind me. The opportunistic Aeon had a hole through his chest. He grasped at where his heart used to be for a few moments until his body went limp and collapsed.
Noah looked up towards me. “I told you so. That thing is too strong.”
I grunted as I shook my sprained hand. “I’ll get used to it.”