“I’d drop those guns if I were you.” My father said. “Even if the weird pink one could take a few bullets, I know you can’t, Saka.”

“Saka, drop your gun.” Noah hissed. “It’s not worth it.”

I really wanted to fire a round right into my father’s head, but Noah was right. Even if I managed to kill him, his crew members surrounding us would kill me immediately after.

Before I could drop my gun, Bubbles reached out and grabbed Noah. He quickly put his hand cannon’s barrel against Noah’s helmet.

“Would you risk losing your cash prize?” Bubbles asked my father. “That’s what you’re here for, after all.”

I whirled to face Bubbles. I didn’t think he had betrayed us, but he was definitely trying something.

“This bluff won’t work.” My father scoffed. “You’re desperate. But you won’t kill the human. If you do, both of you are dying for wasting my time. Look, I’d rather not kill my daughter. There’s not that many Togumo left anyways. Just hand the human over, and we can go our separate ways. Simple.”

“Like you’re going to follow through on that.” I retorted.

“Saka, Bubbles, just turn me over.” Noah said. “I’d rather be in some zoo than have both of you die.”

“Not happening.” I replied. “I’ll go down fighting if I have to.”

I snapped up my hand cannon and took aim at my father, ready to squeeze out a round. Suddenly, I heard a gunshot, and felt an impact against the back of my head immediately after. My head jolted forward and I stumbled to the ground.

“Wow, you lived? You’ve got some sort of shield without having a suit. That’s interesting.” My father mused. “I hope that made a point, though. I’d rather not kill my daughter, but you’re really getting in my way, Saka. It’s very good to be in good graces with this client. I don’t want you to fuck it up.”

“Let go!” Noah dropped his gun and shrugged Bubbles off of him. “Look, I’ll come with you. Just don’t shoot them, alright?”

“But-” Bubbles tried to say.

“Saka was just shot in the head. It’s not worth the risk. Just let me go.”

“The smartest one here is a primitive creature.” My father chuckled. He gestured for one of his mercenaries to grab Noah. Noah was quickly herded over and restrained next to my father.

I finally managed to pick myself up from the floor with a groan. “Shit… Noah…”

Noah glanced back towards me. “Thanks for everything, Saka.”

Bubbles supported my weight as my father, his mercenaries, and Noah walked off. Frustration creased my face and my eyes started to water. Noah was being kidnapped, and there was nothing I could do about it.

----------------------------------------

Bubbles drove me back to my ship. I was still reeling from shock because of what had happened, so we didn’t speak a single word to each other the entire time. I made such a stupid decision. I should’ve left this moon as soon as I received that call from my father. I didn’t think he’d get here so soon. It was dumb. My father was a professional, he’d been a mercenary for decades. Of course he was already closing in.

By the time Bubbles and I finally reached my ship, I was able to walk on my own. Taking a bullet to the back of the head had given me a concussion, but I was well enough to at least walk. Yori’s wiresuit had really saved me there. I would’ve been fucked without it.

“Are you alright, Saka?” Bubbles asked. “Your eyes are still kind of unfocused.”

“I’m fine.” I waved him off. “You don’t look great yourself.”

Bubbles was quite literally full of holes. He had a hole directly through his helmet, a few through his torso, one through his shoulder, and his legs had several in each. His pinkish fluid had stopped leaking out, but I could still see it inside of his suit. He really was made completely out of a viscous goop.

Bubbles poked a finger through one of his chest holes. “Yeah, I didn’t expect the first shot to completely blow past my shield. I’m going to need a new suit. This one is ruined.”

“It doesn’t hurt or anything?” I asked.

“Nope. I don’t have any pain receptors or anything. I can move my flesh at will and form it into anything I want, and even if it gets separated I can still move it around. If it gets damaged in other ways I could lose it, but I regenerate anyways.” Bubbles explained.

“That sure is convenient.” I sighed. “Anyways, what are we going to do about Noah? We have to chase my father down before he turns Noah over to Yaro.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“It might be easier if we wait for Noah to be turned over, actually.” Bubbles said. “As we saw, your father is both skilled and powerful. He has too many people under his wing, and he’s also a slippery bastard himself. It might just be easier if we take Noah back from an unsuspecting businesswoman.”

I raised my hands in exasperation. “Who knows what Yaro is going to do to Noah if we wait? We should get him back before he gets shipped off to who-knows-where!”

“Calm down, Saka. It’d be easier if we waited. I have a plan.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a plan!”

“I said I didn’t have a plan because I knew my plan would upset you. I was going to reveal it after a while. But it’s the only option we have now.” Bubbles said. “Look. I put a tracker on Noah when I patted his shoulder earlier. My plan was to put a tracker on Noah and to have him get turned over to Yaro. Then, we can keep track of Noah while we take out Yaro. After we kill her, we can grab Noah and get out.”

I stared at Bubbles, dumbfounded. “You wanted Noah to get kidnapped so that you could kill Yaro so he’d be safe from kidnapping?”

Bubbles shrugged. “It seems backwards, but I think it’s our best shot. While we’re taking out Yaro, we can recover Noah and any other illegal species that Yaro may be hiding. From there, we can gather proof to expose what Yaro has been doing, and use some connections to get some of the captured people back to their place.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And do you have those connections?”

“Well, not really. But we can leverage our information about Yaro to do the right thing.” Bubbles admitted. “If we can’t find any connections, we’ll just have to do it ourselves. I’m not leaving them there.”

I sighed. “You’re right. This really is our only shot to get Noah back, anyways. And your plan is also focused on killing Yaro. Let’s do both, as a minimum, and think about what we do with her little zoo after.”

Bubbles nodded. “That’s right. It’ll be tough actually sneaking into where Yaro keeps all of her pets, but that’s just something we have to do. I’ve got insider information and the tracker on Noah, so locating it is the easiest part. There’s a lot of guards there too, so we need firepower.”

I gestured around us. “Well, there’s only two of us. I don’t really know what we’re going to do.”

“Is there anyone else who knows about Noah, and would be willing to help?” Bubbles asked. “Tsu and Kara were the only people who knew about me, and they’re dead now. I don’t have anyone I could depend on.”

“Well, there’s a few people that know.” I mused. “We have Yori, but they don’t fight, so they're out.”

Bubbles nodded. “Yori makes good suits. I should order a new one.”

I continued. “There’s a few mercenaries turned contracted soldiers that know, but they only found out because of an accident. I think we can trust them, but I don’t know if they’re going to be willing to help Noah. And the last person who knows was my captain in the military, but she’s probably too busy commanding her ship.”

“Ah, you were in the military during the Haivu War, then?” Bubbles asked. “That explains the video of Noah that got spread across the net, then. There were a lot of soldiers around.”

I cringed slightly. “Yeah, a lot of people there saw what they weren’t supposed to. Things would be a lot better if that idiot didn’t take Noah’s helmet off.”

“Well, things aren’t like that, so we’ve got to fix this problem.” Bubbles said. “Well? Is there anyone you can depend on?”

I sighed. “I guess I can make a few calls.”

----------------------------------------

Bubbles left to go back to his ship. He needed to make repairs to his suit, and move his ship closer to mine. While he was doing that, I worked up the courage to call Keshi, Sil, and Needle. I had their contacts from when we were in the military together, but I actually hadn’t used it since we left. They didn’t send us anything, either. The trio probably wanted nothing to do with Noah, or were too ashamed to say anything. I wasn’t sure which.

I sighed and pressed the call button on Keshi’s contact. He was probably the most emotional one out of them, since Sil was calculating and Needle was a goofball. I could rely on Needle’s guilt, but he wasn’t exactly reliable. Keshi was the first to approach me, so he was a solid choice.

After a few rings, the Sabi mercenary picked up.

“Saka? It’s you, right?” Keshi asked.

“Hey, Keshi.” I replied awkwardly. “How’s it going?”

“Me? Well, I’m back to being a mercenary. I’ve partnered up with Sil and Needle, and we got ourselves a new ship. We’ve been doing some jobs recently, and we’ve been doing pretty well.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” I said.

“What about you, Saka? Are you doing alright?” Keshi asked. “Is Noah okay?”

“Well, that’s why I’m calling you right now. Noah got captured. I know where he’s headed, I just need some extra help.” I explained.

“Shit.” Keshi swore. “That’s bad. Yeah, Saka, I’ll help you. You’re my comrade and friend. You’ve saved my ass a few times, even. I’m sure Sil and Needle are willing to help, too. Needle hasn’t been the same since the accident. He’s been moping around and feeling guilty all the time. I’m sure he’ll jump at this opportunity to redeem himself.”

I leaned back in my seat, relieved. “I appreciate it, Keshi. Just be warned, it’s not going to be easy. I’ve got Bubbles with me, but I needed more help. Thanks for being dependable.”

“Sure thing.” Keshi said. “You said Bubbles is there, too? The weird quiet guy from the Tavern? That’s good. He’s skilled. Anyways, send me your coordinates. I’ll head over to wherever you are after I tell Sil and Needle what we’re doing. It shouldn’t take long. I hope Noah is okay, though.”

“I hope so too, Keshi. I’ll give you all of the details when you get here. Fly safe.” I replied.

I ended the call. Now, we had a few more allies for our little rescue mission. After a few moments, I realized that I neglected to tell Yori what had happened. I opened up our chatroom and sent Yori a message.

Saka: Hey Yori, I’ve got some bad news. My father got Noah.

Yori: Got Noah? You mean he kidnapped him?

Saka: Yeah. He surrounded us and shot me in the back of the head. Your new suit saved my brains from being splattered, but Noah turned himself over.

Yori: Well, I’m glad you’re okay, but I’m concerned about Noah. You’re going after him, right?

Saka: Of course! I’ve got a few allies, and we have a tracker on Noah, so we can find him easily. We just have to bust in and save him.

Yori: Good. I hope Noah’s okay. You’re getting him out soon, right?

Saka: As soon as possible. Just waiting for my friends to get here. It’d take a while for Noah to get delivered, anyways.

Yori: If you cross paths with your dad again, make sure to kick his ass thoroughly this time.

Saka: Of course.

Yori: If there’s anything I can do, let me know. I may not be able to fight, but I can make a suit that protects you in one.

Saka: Thanks, Yori. I’ll ask around and see if anyone needs a suit.

About an hour after I talked with Yori, Bubbles returned to my ship. His suit had been hastily patched up with adhesive and strips of other suits. It was incredibly tattered and looked unreliable. If it was used in a vacuum it wouldn’t hold up in a second.

“Bubbles, I think you need a new suit.” I said. “I can ask Yori to make you a new one if you want.”

“Really? I appreciate it. Once you get the price estimate from her, I’ll send over the creds. I’m not confident in my suit’s ability to protect me at the moment.” Bubbles replied.

I looked up and down at him. “Yeah, even if you can shrug off bullets, that’s not going to cut it. By the way, we have three people on their way to help us. But that’s everyone we have.”

Bubbles nodded. “That’s fine, honestly. More people would be trouble. We’re infiltrating Yaro’s mansion, after all. She’s one of the richest people in the GU. We can’t go in there with an army, we need a small group of professionals to sneak past her defenses and fight off her guards.”

“Good, then. It’ll take a few days for them to arrive, and even longer to get to the capital. I hope Noah will be fine for that long.” I said.

Bubbles patted my shoulder. “Noah’s a tough guy. I know he’ll be fine. To be honest, we might have a rougher time. Yaro’s mansion is no joke. Once your friends arrive, I’ll go over the plan. I still perfectly remember my escape from Yaro. We can use that information to get in.”

“I’ll be counting on you, Bubbles.”