Ealnem observes the course the ship’s AI has plotted for Ratst. They’re closing in on it. One could measure the amount of time it’ll take for them to get there, but one could make better use of their mental energy. Such as Ealnem, thinking about how she should wake the bounty hunter; asleep in her chair.
‘She’d rather sleep in a chair than share a bed with me,’ the Nogailma thought.
Though she tries not to take it personally, she can’t help but feel a small sting of pain. It’s lessened by the knowledge that Zenith chose to make herself less uncomfortable, a positive thing given her personality; but it still hurts somewhat.
“Zenith,” the ship’s AI announces “we’re nearing our destination.”
Zenith, ever vigilant, jumps from her chair. Then she notices Ealnem standing next to her. The famous bounty hunter lets out a shriek of surprise. She regains her composure quickly but the sight of her surprised face will last forever in Ealnem’s mind.
The human clears her throat,
“Oh, ma’- Ealnem, I was just uh, I was…” she tries to fib but it’s clearly not her area of expertise. “Checking…our…course.” The look on her face signals that she doesn’t believe herself.
“Uh huh,” Ealnem says.
“Okay, that was a lie, I was just too nervous. Sorry.”
The small sting Ealnem feels suddenly turns into a deeper guilt.
“Don’t worry about it,” she dismisses. Part of her wants to press the issue further, but she remembers that she’s the guest here. It’s better to not create a problem where there doesn't need to be.
Zenith rubs the sleep out of her eyes, and Ealnem can’t help but think it’s one of the cutest things humans do.
“Orion,” Zenith says with a yawn “take us out of UltraDrive and hail the orbital traffic commander.”
“Understood.”
“You might wanna sit down and strap in, Ealnem. This ship ain’t got top-of-the-line gravity compensators.”
She obliges, taking the hardly ever used co-pilot's chair. The seat adjusts to fit the physiology of the Nogailma. Getting wider and longer for her.
“Exiting UltraDrive in 5…4…3…2…1,” Orion says.
Dropping out of UltraDrive is a jerking sensation that shakes your bones or any species equivalent. The blur of distant stars being passed by is gone from the front window. Now the planet Ratst dominates the horizon of the duo.
“Opening communication,” Orion announces.
Ealnem unbuckles herself from the seat. Her body trembles as she tries to stand.
“Warned ya,” Zenith says. The orbital traffic control commander answers the call with,
“Hello?”
“Hello, Zenith Gee of Orion’s Dancer, requesting permission to land.”
“Understood,” the traffic commander replies, bored. Dealing with thousands of these requests every rotation drains the interest of any being, even upon hearing from a famous bounty hunter. “Head to the following coordinates.”
“Understood,” Zenith says. The coordinates are sent to Orion.
“Descending.” The ship says as it rumbles. The heat shield activates as they enter the atmosphere.
Once they make it through the hottest layer the heat shield turns off and the planet comes into view once again.
Ratst, as a planet, is in a prime spot for various trade routes and between four major colonized star systems. But the composition of its crust makes it impossible to build tall buildings, mine any valuable resources, or perform any terraforming.
The vast majority of the planet is made of a crystalline structure much denser and far harder than diamond. Many megacorporations have tried and failed to make a dent in the crystal. Some going as far as to detonate nuclear weapons on empty plains.
None succeeded.
Unable to dot the horizon with their trademark skyscrapers, the various megacorporations left the planet to its own devices. Making it appealing to those inclined to lawlessness.
The pink-bluish shine the crystal has is in harsh contrast to the licentious nature of the planet.
As Orion’s Dancer descends further, one can see that the planet isn’t desolate. Smaller corporations have smattered the landscape with prepackaged buildings, held in place by gravity generators or by their own weight. The planet has a radius of approximately 2,800 miles, leaving it with weak natural gravity, and a thin atmosphere. It is with the aid of machinery both on the planet and in orbit that the atmosphere can maintain the pressure needed for most species to breathe.
Orion’s Dancer makes its way to a landing area of the largest town, a few dozen other ships are there as well.
The bounty hunter’s ship groans as it lands, in need of new hydraulic fluid.
“Atmospheric scans read planetary oxygen amount to be 19.8%,” Orion announces.
“How are the shield cells?” Zenith asks.
“The plasma and kinetic shield cells are operational,” Orion answers.
“Expecting a fight?” Ealnem asks the human.
“Folks set in bad ways tend to attract rough friends. They usually don’t take kindly to me apprehending their buddy. I learned that the hard way. Best to have a shield, ‘specially when you have a target on your back.”
The bounty hunter pulls her hair back into a ponytail.
“If Lex is here, he might’ve made friends.”
“I’m sure everyone else on this planet ain’t too fond of bounty hunters either,” Ealnem points out.
Zenith freezes for a moment like the thought hadn’t occurred to her.
“That’s…a valid concern.”
Ealnem makes a mental note that Zenith doesn’t consider certain obvious things.
“Still, I’m sure there are kind folk here; no group of beings is a monolith, there is always an alterity,” the bounty hunter says, almost rehearsed. “That’s what my grandpa always said,” she then adds.
“What about the hive mind Glbeam of Sropt?” Ealnem counters.
“Even they have their exceptions. But, we can talk about that later. For now, we gotta focus on Lex. Orion, how far are we from that settlement I saw on our descent?” She asks the AI.
“Roughly 5 miles,” Orion answers. “The crystalline structure of the planet prevents me from getting more accurate readings.”
“Sounds like we’re riding there. You ever been on a S.T.E.E.R before?” Zenith asks.
“Can’t say I have.”
“First time for everything.”
Zenith picks up her hat, and Ealnem notices a silver metallic patch on the underside of it.
Curiosity gets the better of her and she asks,
“What’s on your hat?”
“It’s a custom-made magnet. It’s paired with the subdermal implant in my hand.” She demonstrates by putting her hat down and taking a few steps back. She flexes her hand and the hat flies to her palm.
The magnet was composed in such a way that it is only attracted to the one in Zenith’s hand. The subdermal one only becomes magnetized with a minor amount of bioelectricity.
Ealnem knows that such an implant isn’t cheap, not that she thinks the bounty hunter is financially strained; but she finds it strange she would choose to pair her hat over her guns.
With her headwear on Zenith gets fully dressed, slipping her boots on, faded duster, a few gadgets in the pockets, and her bounty hunter badge.
Ealnem likewise gets dressed, to the extent she cares to, in a loose white linen shirt and pants. She’d rather forego clothing entirely, but her iridescent fur might blend in with the crystal landscape.
The bounty hunter hands Ealnem a communicator, a sleek silver device that goes around a wrist or any species equivalent. Ealnem is curious as to why she has two when she works alone. But the question doesn’t get voiced as she puts it on her left upper arm.
Zenith grabs her ammo belt and twin pistols, performs a check, and loads them quickly. She goes to the engine room and pulls a brown crate over to the boarding ramp. The bounty hunter taps a switch on the crate with her foot.
The crate starts unfolding and assembling itself.
On some planets, where there are artificial gravity machines there are cases in which the natural gravity clashes against it. This causes sudden shifts in an area, they can vary in strength, some only move pebbles, and others can lift entire beings into the atmosphere.
To circumvent this the S.T.E.E.R was invented. Standing for Stable Terrain Expeditious Exploration Rig it produces intense, focused blasts of gravity, overpowering any and all gravity on whatever cosmic body the user may find themselves. A reliable means of travel, a S.T.E.E.R. also allows for more customization than your standard hover vehicle. Though not as fast or protective, they remain a popular choice for the more adventurous beings.
Zenith’s S.T.E.E.R is a matte brown with black blemishes one might mistake for cosmetic spots but are actually signs of the many gunfights the bounty hunter’s been in. Bullet and laser marks have scarred the rig, but it has not been humbled. It operates at the same efficiency as the day it was built.
The gravity engine that powers the device lifts the metal rig that users sit on into the air. It’s made of an alloy primarily composed of tungsten, dense enough to withstand the constant gravity manipulation happening underneath it.
Some say the energy of the engine is a bluish kind of light, others say purplish, and a few have noted a sort of yellow color. In truth, the energy is invisible to almost every known species, and it’s merely the subconscious mind filling in the blank. Zenith in particular thinks the energy is purplish.
The rig itself is a flexible exoskeleton to allow the user to turn at a moment's notice. A long horizontal area with a saddle for the user, and a diagonal section that orients which direction the user is going in. There’s an enclosed area that houses the computational components of the device. It holds an array of sensors, mostly used to determine the gravitational output, but can be customized to fit whatever needs the user has. Functioning as the brain, it is the most vulnerable part of the S.T.E.E.R and the most protected; encased in thick metal and comes standard with several redundant failsafes.
If one was familiar with the natural fauna of Earth one could say that S.T.E.E.R’s look like a robotic skeleton horse. But neither Zenith nor Ealnem have ever seen a horse, so the comparison doesn’t form in their minds.
When the S.T.E.E.R is fully assembled it floats three feet in the air.
The bounty hunter introduces the rig,
“Ealnem, meet Xenon. Xenon, this is Ealnem.”
The S.T.E.E.R, lacking artificial intelligence, simply scans her, adjusts for the additional weight, and registers the new user with a beep.
Zenith steps up onto a rung and lifts herself up on the saddle. She then offers a hand to Ealnem.
“Ma’am,” she says. The Nogailma hardly needs it, being tall enough to climb aboard. But she takes her hand anyway.
“I told you to stop calling me that,” Ealnem says as she hops up on the S.T.E.E.R.
“Sorry, force of habit when I’m talking to a pretty lady.”
“I’m already helping you, no need for flattery.”
“My grandpa always used to say, “it ain’t flattery if it’s the truth.” Just statin’ the facts.”
The bounty hunter takes hold of the handles that protrude from the ‘neck’ of the rig.
“Orion, lower the ramp.”
The ship obliges, lowering the entryway with a prolonged groan.
“I really have to get that fixed,” Zenith says to herself. To her companion, she says, “hold on tight.”
Though it was by her request, when Ealnem wraps all four of her arms around her waist, Zenith feels her heart skip a beat.
She clears her throat and urges the S.T.E.E.R forward to the pink-blue crystal landscape before them.
The blasts of the gravity engine happen at steady intervals to keep the rig balanced. There’s a pattern or rhythm to it that one can’t help but notice.
They gallop in silence; Zenith because she’s nervous at all the physical contact she’s receiving, and wants to concentrate on riding. Ealnem is quiet because dust keeps flying into her large eyes and mouth.
The duo close in on the settlement. The sounds of life ring out in an otherwise sterile and silent horizon.
They attract many looks as they enter the town, and Zenith is acutely aware of the eyes on her. Though not the reasons behind them. Most look on in awe and anxiety at the famous bounty hunter. Others with trepidation because of what her presence here means.
The duo rides to what serves as a sort of traffic control center but functions more like a saloon. The machines that log entries and departures require minimal input and aren’t often used, freeing the use of the building for less governmental purposes.
Zenith ‘parks’ her S.T.E.E.R to a post out front.
“I’ll go in and ask if Lex's ship has been here. Shouldn’t take more than a few moments,” the bounty hunter says.
“I’ll stay here, see what I can find,” Ealnem offers. Zenith nods and heads inside.
Though Ealnem chose to stay outside, she isn’t sure what she should look for. Her former occupation was perfectly legal so the criminal element isn’t one she really ever interacted with.
The populace goes about their business, some few momentarily glance at the Nogailma on the S.T.E.E.R. Others purposefully avoid looking. Suspicious, but innocuous enough.
Ealnem looks around, sondering about the people she sees.
‘They can’t all be criminals, can they?’ She thought to herself. ‘Surely some of them are here for reasons beyond escaping the law.’
Her eyes, a purple-pinkish hue, comb over the landscape searching for anything askew, not entirely sure what she’s looking for.
The buildings are somewhat worn down by the elements. They vary from standard businesses to basic housing.
Ealnem hoped that she can tap into her predatory instincts to help find the man they’re after, but nothing seems to click.
“Well,” Zenith starts off as she comes back out. “Lex’s registered ship hasn’t landed here, so he’s definitely on this planet.”
Ealnem looks at the human for a further explanation.
“Some time back, I reckon Lex traded ships with a fella, not sure if it was monetary or coerced, but the fact is he’s been going to more populated planets. Making other bounty hunters chase a vapor trail that ain’t there. He’s looking to lie low while his ship grabs attention on more surveilled planets. The ship I’ve been tracking has been on planets with less than seven million folks, but only there for a rotation or two. You confirmed back on Era that I’ve been chasing the right ship, that ship has landed here and hasn’t left yet, so he must be here.”
“That’s sound logic,” Ealnem comments. She remembers that despite her few eccentricities, Zenith has earned her pristine reputation as a bounty hunter.
“He’s picked an interesting place to lay low,” Ealnem says. “It’s not deserted, but close enough to major systems if he needs to split.”
“If he’s here he won’t get the chance,” Zenith says. There isn’t an iota of overconfidence in her voice, she says it as a fact.
She intends for this planet to be the end of his reign of terror.
“Time to get to work,” Zenith offers a six-fingered hand to the Nogailma. Again, not necessary, since she can easily climb on and off the S.T.E.E.R.
She accepts it all the same.
Stolen story; please report.
“This is the least exciting part of the job, the walking around and asking folks questions. Hope you’re up for it.”
“My last job had long periods of waiting around, I think I can handle this.”
Zenith nods.
“Xenon, sleep mode.” The S.T.E.E.R. softly lands and turns off the engine but the rig remains assembled.
The duo gets to visiting various businesses and some personal homes to ask about who they seek. The majority of the residents make it a point that they don’t pay much attention to whoever lands here. Others simply say they didn’t notice. But a few are selectively silent on the matter but one helpful Epetdrntam suggests they head to a little saloon at the edge of town.
With the first hint they’ve gotten they make their way over.
It’s a bit more run-down than the other buildings in the town. Perhaps it’s just older but a few of the holes in the side panels and scratches seem to be from living beings. The sign above the door translates into “The Ellipsis.”
Inside they see a few customers, each at their own table and working on their own drinks. No music plays and the atmosphere is deprived of any levity.
“What’ll ya have?” The bartender asks the human.
“Bit of information if you can spare it,” she answers.
“Part of the job,” he supplies back.
“You seen an Ardenlev by the name of Lex The Trident?”
The bartender, an Oers, tenses up immediately. His furry long ears point up, a clear sign of stress in his species.
“N-no, can’t say as I have. Never heard of ‘im.”
“I uh, don’t believe you?” Zenith says.
“W-why not?”
“You’re clearly scared of somethin’, makes me think that you aren’t being honest. Sorry.”
The bartender darts his red eyes upward, pointing with them.
“I ain’t seen no fella by that name and there ain’t no one like that staying here.”
Zenith picks up on the hint, unlatching her holster buckle.
“I gotta say,” a noticeably high voice starts to say “that wasn’t very subtle of ya. Thought we’s was friends.” The being it belongs to is none other than an Ardenlev. “Might kill ya after this.”
Upon seeing a natural enemy of her species, all the hairs on Ealnem’s body stand at attention. An almost instinctual effect takes over as she straightens her back and balls her four fists. Her eyes lock onto him.
“I take it you’re Lex The Trident?” Zenith inquires.
The Ardenlev in question is dressed, somewhat hastily, or perhaps just lazily. Clad in white plexi-leather, his clothes are in stark contrast with his obsidian black skin. A thin shirt half tucked into his pants is mostly unbuttoned to let his porous skin breathe. A wide-brim hat tilted to the side to shield his wide eyes that almost sit on both sides of his head. Tailored boots that have been crudely modded in some way.
His jacket does a poor job concealing his armaments. A bandolier across his chest houses numerous bullets of varying types and a powerful hand cannon; a prototype weapon he stole on his third job. The megacorporation that developed it cannot go after him for stealing it as its specs are in violation of several galactic treaties. Whether he was aware of that when he stole it or knows it now remains unclear.
He takes his weapon out from its holster and scratches his large, protruding ear with it. A clear threat, if an incredibly unsafe thing to do.
“Might I ask who’s wondering?” He says with venom in his voice.
Zenith remains undeterred.
“My name’s Zenith Gee, I’m a bounty hunter and I’m here for you.”
He spins his gun around. The prototype weapon was originally labeled The 916 Turbine by the Hippocampus Group. While it can fire standard kinetic slugs, its unique function makes it especially deadly. The weapon was designed to primarily eject rounds from energy cartridges, storing a bit of energy from each one in the firing mechanism; essentially making the weapon more powerful over time. Its upper limits are theoretical as the research couldn’t continue. It can potentially pierce the energy shield of a dreadnought class ship if it can withstand the energy storage. This makes personal energy shields almost worthless against it. Though Lex doesn’t fully understand this design principle he has noticed the weapon becoming stronger as he’s used it.
He has since named it Anthrax.
Because of its top-secret development, Zenith doesn’t have any knowledge of the weapon but her trained eyes can tell it’s not at all a standard shooter. All the more reason she has to stop him.
He stops spinning the gun that simply by existing could start another intergalactic war.
“On what charges?”
“Thirty-six counts of murder, eighteen counts of armed robbery, a-” Zenith starts to list off his crimes but Lex doesn’t seem particularly interested as he takes aim with his gun. Zenith pushes the bartender back and flings herself backward while grabbing Ealnem. Lex shoots and narrowly misses.
The shot fired is a metal slug, having missed the bartender it goes through the floor and hits the indestructible crust underneath. It ricochets and goes through the roof.
The few patrons of the saloon now start to panic, trying to flee. Lex fires off two more shots toward Zenith and Ealnem who use tables as cover. Despite the bounty hunter continuing to list off his crimes, his shots don’t find their marks.
“Why are you still telling him all that?!” Ealnem asks while a bullet nearly hits her lower right arm.
“He has a right to know what he’s under arrest for,” Zenith says, matter-of-factly. She is calm as she lists off the rest of his crimes. Lex walks over to the front door.
Now that she’s done with his crimes Zenith reaches for her guns.
“You can swallow your pride and come quietly or let your ego blind you; but you will be brought in. I wanna help you, will you let me?” Zenith asks.
Lex responds with a slug whizzing inches from her head.
The human doesn’t flinch.
She has her answer.
Zenith deeply exhales as her hands rest on top of her guns. The anxious energy around her disappears and cold, hard focus arises.
She quickly turns and kicks the table she was hiding behind. With the low gravity, it goes flying toward Lex who manages to jump out of the way through the door.
“I’ll compensate you later!” she says to the bartender.
The bounty hunter chases after Lex and predicts he’ll be ready and waiting outside.
As she exits, she jumps and twists in the air, dodging a bullet that would’ve found its way into her lung. She rolls as she hits the hard crystal floor, ignoring the pain from the impact she brings her bracelet up to her mouth.
“Energy shields up!” She commands. Lex has to reload his gun. Ealnem exits the saloon as the bracelet Zenith gave her lights up. A dome of exponentially rapid shifting energy forms in front of the Nogailma and the human. The shield shifts from one form to another so quickly that it can’t be seen but provides ample protection from most forms of energy rounds.
Ealnem moves over to the side while Lex is focused on Zenith.
“Last chance, Lex!” Zenith shouts, her hands hovering over her guns. The Ardenlev responds by sharply whistling.
“COME ON OUT, FELLAS!” He shouts.
From the top floors or roofs of the building across the way emerge several beings, all armed with weapons. They aim at the bounty hunter.
“Take cover!” Zenith says to Ealnem while ducking behind a fruit cart.
The summoned crew opens fire as Ealnem rushes behind a building.
“Xenon, come here and rear up!” Zenith says into her bracelet. It beeps back, signaling that her S.T.E.E.R is en route. As shots ring out from all directions, the town erupts into chaos. Folks scream and run around looking for safety. Zenith hopes that none of them get hurt in the crossfire and steels herself to end this.
Ealnem peeks out to see Lex run into one of the buildings, presumably to load his gun with energy cartridges. Metal slugs can be fired immediately from most guns, but energy cartridges can take some time to cycle up, a drawback for their various advantages.
“Lex went into the red building with the green trim,” the Nogailma shares.
“Thanks, I’ll end this quick,” Zenith replies. Just then Xenon strides by her side. With this tactic programmed into it, the S.T.E.E.R travels in front of her. The bounty hunter walks into the middle of the road. Xenon rears up, blasting more gravity at its front.
The shooters up top fire at the rig, but the gravity engine deflects the metal slugs and dissipates the energy rounds. Zenith waits patiently for her moment.
The shooters are amateurs, they all started shooting at the same time and thus need to reload at the same time.
Xenon rears down and moves to the side.
Zenith’s eyes swiftly scan over all the shooters.
There are ten in total.
Then Ealnem sees it, how the famed bounty hunter earned her reputation.
With incredible speed she pulls out Bone and Vapor, her twin 8-shot revolvers and less than a second later makes her shots.
She releases 12 slugs with extraordinary precision. 10 fling the weapons out of the hands of the shooters, 2 in the shoulders of the ones that were close to firing again. She ejects her spent rounds and replaces them in one smooth motion.
The cacophony of unruly gunfire is silenced by the masterful shots of Zenith.
“Any further action against me and I’ll be forced to arrest you,” the bounty hunter says to the defeated group. “You two, get them medical attention,” she picks the two closest to the shooters she injured. “The rest of y’all, go make sure the folks in these buildings are okay. Understood?”
The unarmed attackers seem to understand that while they had her outnumbered, she has them hopelessly outmatched. They all nervously nod to her commands and get moving.
“And try not to associate with fellas like Lex, okay?” She adds. “You’ll end up hurting more than just yourselves.”
They all murmur in agreement. Zenith nods, hoping that got through to them. Ealnem walks over to the bounty hunter, a mixture of awe, respect, and a little fear forms in her after the demonstration of her skills.
But the fear goes away when Zenith shyly smiles at her for a moment.
“I try to give everyone a second chance,” she says.
‘It’s more than they deserve,’ Ealnem wants to say, but doesn’t want to disrespect her sentiment so instead says,
“Here’s hoping they don’t waste it.” Zenith nods again and focuses up.
“Let’s get Lex.” She steps closer to the building he ducked into when a figure flies out, colliding with her. The human falls back, hard; and Ealnem just barely gets out of the way. She goes to get Zenith up while looking at the figure.
It’s Lex, floating in the air. The crude modifications on his boots are anti-gravity propellers. He aims his dangerous weapon, now loaded with plasma rounds, at the duo.
“MOVE!” Zenith yells. The Nogailma dives out of the way while Zenith rolls as fast as she can.
The shot hits nothing but crystal which violently disrupts the energy, making it explode against the ground. The distance they covered wouldn’t have been enough to keep them safe but the energy shields absorbs the blast.
Lex starts flying out of town.
Zenith scrambles up and mounts her trusty Xenon.
“Hop on!” She says to Ealnem who just got to her feet.
“Go! You’ll be faster without me!” She starts running after Lex. Zenith urges her S.T.E.E.R forward to catch up with her bounty.
The home planet of the Nogailmas, Xegchean, is a large rocky one with intense natural gravity. The beings that originate from there are physically stronger because of it. Though she hasn’t been there in quite some time, Ealnem still remembers the days and nights she spent running through open fields and plains for the sheer fun of it. And her body still remembers.
With the speed of a predator after prey, she sprints after Lex, closing an alarming amount of distance between them in very little time. Zenith, seeing that Ealnem has a surprising skill of her own, adjusts Xenon to only support herself. The S.T.E.E.R. goes faster without the additional weight.
Lex’s boots, though crudely made, are effective. And he has a head start. He dares a quick look back to see he hasn’t lost them.
At first, he was heading to the landing area where his ship probably was parked but with them so close behind, there’s no guarantee he’d be able to take off without getting caught. He turns to head to another town far off in the distance.
The duo turns to keep after him, losing only a bit of speed.
Flying at this speed without proper protection is dangerous, but Lex the Trident didn’t gain all his notoriety by playing it safe. He turns, flying blindly backward to shoot at either of them.
His first shot is aimed at the bounty hunter, who already veers out of the way by the time he pulls the trigger. The plasma round explodes harmlessly against the crystal ground, nowhere near Zenith. He then aims at Ealnem, perhaps noticing her for the first time. He shoots but the Nogailma leaps high into the air, avoiding the blast completely, and hits the ground running, literally.
Lex takes more potshots, but none touch his pursuers who are getting closer.
They all get to the outskirts of the town.
He knows he lost too much speed flying backward to aim at them so he turns again and tries to make his boots go into high gear.
But that exact moment was what Zenith was waiting for. He slows to turn around and she takes aim. Not at him but at the ground slightly ahead.
Performing some preposterous trigonometry, Zenith fires, and her slug ricochets off the crystal and clips a conductor on Lex’s boot.
Even the most boorish anti-grav technology has paired failsafes, if one malfunctions the other will stop. Unfortunately for Lex, he was flying at a high speed in a horizontal position over the hardest known substance in the universe.
He falls and ungraciously rolls into town, immediately causing chaos in the populace that was milling about.
Ealnem hopes the fall would take the fight out of him, but as soon as he slows to a stop he has his gun aimed at Zenith.
The bounty hunter sees this and knows she doesn’t have time to turn.
“Xenon, stable!” She commands as she jumps off the rig. The human soars through the air as the S.T.E.E.R disassembles itself. The energy round Lex fires off narrowly misses her foot. The rig turns back into its crate form and slides across the ground. Zenith lands with a somersault on a roof of a personal home but doesn’t have time to rest as Lex gets another shot ready. She manages to outrun a shot that punches a sizable hole through the prepackaged building, revealing a half-dressed gentleman to the elements. Zenith continues to run and jumps to another rooftop, dodging shot after shot, each increasing in diameter.
Ealnem closes the distance between her and Lex, who’s entirely focused on shooting the bounty hunter. With her powerful leg, she kicks him up off the ground, actually getting him to his feet.
With a horrified expression, he gets a good look at Ealnem.
She recalls the martial arts classes she took as a youngling; granted, it’s fairly easy to disarm someone when you have four arms of superior strength against an opponent with only two.
She bars his arm holding the gun.
“Well, I’ll be damned! They actually sent a Nogailma after me, that’s downright sinister!”
Ealnem doesn’t say anything back.
Predators don’t talk to their prey.
She simultaneously twists his wrist, making him drop the gun, uppercuts him, and twists him to drive her knee into his torso. Ealnem kicks the gun to the side, far out of his reach.
DNA-embedded instincts take over as Lex extends claws from his 4 fingered hands and swipes at Ealnem who jumps back in time to avoid a nasty gash.
The townspeople gather around to see the Nogailma and Ardenlev fight.
Ealnem starts a barrage of punches from varying angles, Lex manages to dodge a few of them but when one lands he starts to succumb to the assault. Her fists meet little resistance against his clothes, meaning they aren’t modded with any protective technologies.
Lex somehow lands a kick to her chest, pushing her back. Zenith gets down from the rooftops and runs over to help.
Lex pulls off his jacket and rips his shirt, exposing the large pores his body is covered in. The Ardenlev holds his arms out at his sides.
Zenith is only a few feet away.
“GET BACK!” Ealnem shouts as she knows what’s about to happen.
The pores of his body percolate violently before a thick, greenish-teal cloud of gas erupts from his body.
A defense mechanism his species developed over time, the toxic clouds Ardenlevs emit contain a deadly cocktail of gasses and metallic particles toxic to most living organisms. The only viable defense against the ever persistent predators that are Nogailmas, if it doesn’t kill them then the cloud provides sufficient cover for them to escape.
The human bounty hunter and the crowd won’t stand a chance against the malicious cloud.
Zenith skids to a stop and takes a gadget out from her jacket while removing her hat. A finger-width and length black rod. She bites down on it, activating its function. The rod produces an airtight mask around her head. The rod, held in place by her mouth, becomes a rebreather. Such a device can provide air in an oxygen-deprived environment for a time, but won’t hold up against this cloud.
Zenith puts her hat back on and attempts to usher the crowd to safety.
Ealnem knows this cloud spreads fast, and it’ll be faster on this low-gravity planet. She doesn’t have much time. For protection, Nogailmas have developed an increased lung capacity and the ability to seal their facial orifices shut, allowing them to hold their breath through the cloud. That won’t stop it from poisoning everyone here; but what will has been with her species since they started walking.
Ealnem takes a deep breath, sealing her eyes and nose shut. She pulls her clothes off quickly and starts to rub her four arms all over herself, hoping she can do it in time.
Perhaps as an ironic twist of fate or a cosmically coincidental turn of events, but the ultimate defense Ardenlevs developed already had a countermeasure.
With only muted sounds to rely on Ealnem applies more pressure to her vigorous friction.
Though they didn’t have the scientific understanding at the time, Nogailmas learned how to dispel the toxic clouds Ardenlevs create. They keep it a close secret to keep the upper hand, but there’s no better reason to use it than now.
The short fine hairs all over Ealnem generate static electricity at an alarming rate, which is why many Nogailmas have difficulty finding clothes that they like. It was discovered, by accident, that the metallic particles in the toxic cloud are very easily magnetized and the gasses are flammable but disperse quickly.
Ealnem picks up the pace, hoping she can do it in time.
She feels the electricity build up all over her body, and braces herself for what comes next.
The gasses ignite and the metal particles are forced together as the electricity arcs from Ealnem. The flames make everything uncomfortably warm but are gone in a flash.
The Nogailma opens her eyes, doing a quick inspection to see she isn’t burnt, the clothes she dropped didn’t survive, however. The crowd of people are also okay, save for a few with singed clothes and a hat that’s halfway gone. But the alternative is coughing up blood, having capillaries burst, and going into cardiac arrest, so this is the preferable outcome.
The bounty hunter removes her hat and takes out the rebreather.
“Please get back inside, it’s not safe folks!” Zenith says to the crowd. “Did anyone see the feller that did this?” She also asks.
“There he goes, over there!” Someone points out.
Sure enough, Lex the Trident is trudging along out of town. Their defense mechanism physically exhausts Ardenlevs, on top of the beating Ealnem just delivered to him, he’s a little worse for wear.
“Make sure these folks are okay, please?” Zenith asks of Ealnem. She gets a nod in response and walks toward Lex.
“LEX THE TRIDENT!” She shouts after him. He doesn’t turn around or stop but one can imagine his dissatisfaction with the fact she’s still alive.
“YOU’VE HURT AND KILLED A LOT OF PEOPLE! YOU PUT THESE FOLKS IN DANGER!”
Zenith sees that Lex isn’t trying to escape but he’s going for his gun. She doesn’t increase her speed, still sauntering after him.
“I FIGURE YOU THINK THAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL, HOW MUCH HURT YOU CAN INFLICT ON OTHERS!”
She’s gotten a few feet from him.
“But might don’t make right, not now, not ever.” There’s no need to shout anymore. “Not on this planet, nowhere in this universe does acting the way you have make you better than anyone else.”
She rests her six-fingered hands on her guns.
“I’m taking you in alive, Lex. Not ‘cause you’re worth more that way, but it’s ‘cause I think you can do better. Be better. And the only way you’ll get the chance is if you live to see it.”
Lex is getting closer to his gun.
“I'm giving you that chance now, Lex. Stop, surrender, and lemme take you in.”
Her guns are fully loaded.
He hobbles over and picks up his gun. It still has some charge left in the cartridge.
“Spare yourself the hurt,” she asks of him. His breath is ragged, he’s sweating profusely, and his shooting arm ain’t steady.
He levels his gun at Zenith.
She’s seen the power of that piece. If she dodges, the blast will go through the building behind her. She hypothesizes it’ll go right through her shield.
Someone will get hurt if she doesn’t stop him right now.
Lex blinks rapidly, trying to get the sweat out of his eyes. He tries to steady his breath, steady his arm. He aims right at her chest. His trigger finger twitches as he blinks.
Zenith has her guns out and without hesitation lets out four shots. Each expertly non-lethal, two just above his knees, two for his shoulders.
Lex opens his eyes to see his hand let go of his gun. The one that helped make him so infamous. He watches it drop to the ground. He looks at himself start to crumble from the pain. Lex doesn’t register the impact as he hits his knees, because he’s too stunned by seeing the bounty hunter run over.
She slides on her knees in time to catch him before he falls face first. She turns him over and starts placing CaduceusGel on the shots she gave him. The golden gelatinous blobs pull out the slugs and cover the wounds to stop the bleeding.
Lex passes out.
Ealnem makes her way over, looking at the Ardenlev.
“He’s alive,” she assures the human. “Making those clouds always tire them out.” Zenith nods as she lays him down.
“The folks over there okay?”
“None of them are dead, so that’s a good sign. Those clouds kill like nothing else.”
“Well, that’s good. Any precautions they should take?” Ealnem shakes her head.
“If they breathed it in, you’d already know.”
“That was quite the risk you took, wasn’t it? Couldn’t you have burned up?”
“What about you, Lex could’ve put you out to orbit with this thing,” she says while picking up the unique weapon. “You could’ve shot while his back was turned.”
“I needed him to know why I was doing this and to look me in my eyes while I did it. I’m here to help folks, not just hurt those who stray.”
Ealnem nods solemnly at that, wondering what drives the human to such lofty ideals.
The duo makes sure everyone is safe once more, with promises of compensation from the bounty hunter to a few folks.
Zenith gets her silver bracelet back from Ealnem and puts it on Lex. When she puts her on him also, they become attracted to one functioning as handcuffs.
Hauling Lex on Xenon, they walk back to Orion’s Dancer.
At first in silence, but Zenith can only hold in her amazement of Ealnem for so long.
Ch. 2 End.