Chapter 6
The Space Pirate and the Bounty Hunter
. . . . . .
HISTORY TELLS US THAT THERE WERE always, regardless of races or species, willing to step up in the face of an adversity. Beings who rouse others up to take a stand against the rising tide of oppression. Beings who decided they had enough and that for something to change, they had to do it themselves.
But this was neither the case for the captain of a band of space pirates, infamous for their raiding and marauding acts, especially to numerous Frennin’s outpost throughout the universe. Their atrocious acts against the Frennin’s empire resounded the trumpet of hope and rekindle a dying flame.
They have become a symbol. A symbol of hope to the oppressed, strength to the weak, courage to those who fear, righteousness to those who have been wronged, joy to those who grieve and suffer.
But to her, it is purely business, to her nothing is ever personal, to her the Frennins are merely a purse, a source of income, and a very thick one at that. And she plans to take everything in it with the best of her and her comrade’s unique abilities.
“Fuck you, bitch! You don’t know who you’re dealing with!”
“Why, who are you? Nah, never mind, not interested.” She said with her indifferent voice while trying to loot the room.
“Captain Levvy,” One of her comrade whispered something to a woman clad in metal-shined, azure-striped armored suit. Her helmet, tossed aside in the table, revealed her velvet dreadlocks as it swayed roughly when she walks. Her almond eyes curiously stalks the prisoner, while her face blue as sky appears so serene, effortlessly hiding her true, twisted nature. “He’s Refikom. Fifth son of Frekim Mondragon.”
Levvy nodded and her sapphire lips starts to quiver with ecstasy. She went closer to the tied and knelled Refikom. She lifted, with the tip of the barrel of her gun, Refikom’s red chin. His crimson neck suggests he was very thin compared to his brother, Fraxim. The resemblance, however, was evident. “Look, what we have here. A lost sea lamb. I wonder how much your daddy is willing to pay for your safety.” Levvy said.
Refikom’s body jumped when Levvy pulled the trigger. But his head remained intact as Levvy laughed. “Throw him to the brig.” ordered Levvy.
“You’ll have your time, bitch.” Refikom said. “And when it comes, I will personally skin you ali-urgh.”
One of his comrade punched his gut. “He talks too much, Cap.”
“Thanks, Vulor.” Levvy said to her comrade who towered at least two and half meters and loomed, with his grey armored Suit, over Refikom that made the prisoner looked like a child. “Now, let’s scour this planet upside down. If that bearded sea buffoon was willing to send his own son to this forsaken desert, means something is of value here.”
. . .
Justy, with the Suit’s power at 50%, compelled him to use a tad of his own strength to be amplified by the Suit. Filtered air excessively goes through and out of his Suit to his lungs as he tries to calm himself down. With the threat temporarily gone, Justy examined his map.
“Strength +1.”
“Power +1.”
Several objects begun to scatter away from him. “Were they hibernating or some stealth ability?” Justy asked as he wondered how his map wasn’t able to spot them before. “What now, Crabtree?”
“It is imperative that we arrive at our real destination.”
“Why? What’s out there?”
“Captain Ga’lek’s brother.”
Justy nodded. “Alright, first, why is he here?”
“This place was his hideout, also, he’s the co-creator of the Ultherion Suit, his knowledge and insight will be very valuable to you.”
Justy understood that, who best could teach him about the Suit other than one who invented it. He understood the need to meet the Veerian, however, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy, the countless spider-like creatures inhabiting in the forest, which was the shortest path to the marked destination, were now eager to kill him.
“No choice, then,” Justy said. “We have to make a detour.”
“Won’t you try again? But this time you would be very, extra quiet.”
“No, I will not try again!” Justy said, a little pissed. “And it’s not a matter of going there quietly.”
“Fine, have it your way.”
Justy checked his map. It displayed numerous details, like mountains, rivers, trees, though not detailed as thebsatellite mapping technology, which earth had, but a lot more thorough than the conventional SONAR mapping.
“Let’s go, we will go around the river.” Justy said.
“Oh man, that would take us two days before reaching the outpost.”
“Safe, slow and steady wins the race, Crabtree.”
“Sounds like an excuse.”
. . .
The Bloodspawn – Sector 17AC
“Sir, we have a problem.”
Fraxim roared with frustration. Things haven’t been going well for him since he left the Death parade, and the news of his brother getting abducted infuriates him even more. “What is it this time?”
“S-sir, the enemy’s ship warped too close into a massive black hole. It messed up the tachyon readings in the area.” The operator muttered trying to hold on to his wits. “T-the device needs more time to track them, probably a week sir.”
Fraxim fell silent. Everybody in the ship, especially at the bridge, wanted to run for their lives, but they knew it would even anger him more. As the saying goes, a loud Mondragons are scary and shit, but you’ll never want to be in a bad side of a silent Mondragons.
“Those bastards are smart.” Fraxim said, slow but piercing.
The room sank.
Fraxim stood. “I’ll be on my room.” But before he turned around, he drew his blaster and shot the operator in cold blood. Bits of purple flesh and blood painted the monitor. “Find someone to replace him.” He said, coolly and detached.
. . .
Frekim cracked the legs of Creonions bugs, dipped it with Gorbazon sauce; an extinct cuisine found only in Planet Creto, and sucked it wildly. It was his favorite meal, however, it didn’t even, one bit, sated his anger when the news of his son getting abducted reached his red ears.
He hammered his fists into the table, his lips twitched violently as he tries to word his anger, but to no avail. It took him almost a minute to finally say one thing. “Triple the reward on that bitch, no, make it five times, seven times. I want every bounty hunters on this universe to want a piece of her.”
“Yes, sir.” Said his assistant, thin, tall, dressed in purple elaborate clothing that cover most of his body except his dull, red, bone-riddled face . Seven times the original bounty of the Space pirate was a fortune, a fortune so great you could even buy a small planet. It was excessive, yet he dared not say.
“Droge, were the package secure?”
“Refikom hides it well, they will not find it sir.”
Frekim ran his webbed fingers to his beard “how about the Tellaveer?” Frekim asked.
“We are still in pursuit sir, they are elusive, but it’s only a matter of time. But given that, if any other Commanders in Frennin Empire was given with this task, they might not even see the tail end of the ship.” Droge said, not so subtle but no so over the top praise. Just enough to make Frekim smile.
Frekim nodded. “Fraxim?”
“His report insinuates that they might be after the jackpot and he said, he planned to go after it at all costs.”
Frekim smiled. “Hmm. That’s good. Should I release the Bloodhounds to get Refikom back?”
Droge’s face, calm and emotionless it may seem, flushed down in the drain. His eyes showed contempt and disgusts. “I apologize for being incapable of giving a sound advice on this matter, sir.”
“I see you still don’t like them.”
“I don’t trust them, sir, efficient as they may be.”
“Alright, I’ll bench them this time, but if the bounty hunters fails, I am setting them loose.”
. . .
“Oh ho ho, what have you done now, Levvy.” said Snyder out loud while looking at his electronic tablet. A poster of Levvy’s face with a very appealing sum below it. “Call Levvy.” He said, though his voice muffled. The tablet went black. His face and head covered, with black gas mask that is suitable to any known atmosphere; with vision goggles that can detect heat, electronic, radiation and other signatures; with hood, that bends lights and hides every signal his equipment emits, reflected on his tablet.
“What do you want Snyder.” Levvy said with her usual jaded look.
“Just a heads up girl, I am thinking of applying in the long, growing list of the beings who wanted you so badly they put a very attractive reward. Well, nothing personal, you know that right.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Levvy laughed. “Be my guest, Snyder. But I assure you it’s a pretty long list, and I don’t plan on giving you a special treatment this time.”
--Connection terminated--
“Well, that’s it then. Let me hunt this small fry for now.” Snyder stood.
The barkeeper with five eyes and six arms looked at him. “Where you going, you punk. Don’t think of ditching your tab here.” He has long, rough-looking, green scaly face with red-pointed tongue which slithers every time he talks.
Snyder drew his sidearm, but before he could aim it to the barkeeper, six blasters all held by the barkeeper were aimed at him. “Don’t get cute with me punk, or I’ll blow your heads off.
“Oh ho ho, relax, Nannula, a.k.a Greeko the Sixslinger.”
The barkeeper fired all his blasters and Snyder’s torn limbs flew aimlessly, he spat on the floor and said. “Fucking bounty hunters.”
“Where do you think you were shooting at, Greeko?” Snyder said, sat in the counter, covered with sand cloak and sipping a cold extract, with an intricate straw, of Falunjan cactus.
“Sonnuva--------grrrrrrh“
The barkeeper’s body trembled. His buttery, diamond-shaped pupils turned white, as ten thousands volts of electricity passed through his body. “Greeko, the Sixslinger, by the power of the Fifth Sector of Intergalactic Justice system, I am arresting you for your crimes against: one-hundred twenty Vrekons, twenty-one Czehals, oh fuck it, you’re coming with me.”
. . .
Note:
By continuously and repeatedly exceeding the High Temperature limit of the Suit's Specifications, the CENs were forced to adapt.
Ability Quantified: Greater Heat Resistance
Would you like to register this as a skill:
[Y / N]
"Yes."
Greater Heat ResistanceLevel00 | 0.00%Billions of CEN's in your Suit destroying and recreating themselves every second, now your Suit can resists Heat Flow due to a greater thermal gradient.
(Note: Subjecting the Suit in a higher temperature than the Suit can adopt may lead to multiple CEN's loss.)
It was river of molten lava and rocks flowing ever slowly. If he follows the river southwest, it will take him two days to reach the outpost, assuming there won’t be any hostile aliens along the way. And he got the feeling there will be.
The ground was uneven, yet hard, rock hard. It made him wary of the ground and at the same time any aliens that might popped out unannounced. He even distanced himself in the river, trusting it that there may be an aliens swimming leisurely in the flowing magma.
Justy became more cautious after his scuffle with the spider-like creatures. Every nook and crannies, he expects something will come out of it. Yes, he became more than cautions, more than wary, he is now traversing the borders of paranoia.
“Yeah nice job, at this rate, we will be there in no time.” Crabtree said.
Justy turned on his All-detect mode map. It was risky since he might not be able to see incoming aliens outside a kilometer radius, but he doesn’t care. He’d rather prepare himself to any hostiles near him, particular to those with stealth capability.
The ground shook for a second, then another. Justy quickly looked in his map, but there was nothing. The tremor has an interval of a few seconds but it’s getting stronger. Then an object appeared on the outskirt of his map. It was only one, yet big. The size of it being display on the map, and the strong tremors are testament of that.
Justy ran, thankfully it was in the opposite direction to his destination.
“Strength +1.”
“Speed +1.”
“Power +1.”
Current Stats:
Strength:10Speed:10Power:18
Level 2 Requirement:
Strength:10Speed:8Power:18
Your Suit have leveled up.
“Two bogeys ahead.” Crabtree warned.
Based on the map, they were too close in the magma river, not moving. That’s a relief, Justy thought. The tremor lessened and the giant object vanished in the map. Again, Justy sighed with relief.
He passed the two objects. They were drinking the magma using their long, thick grey hose, that is embedded, and took the majority of their round, grey face. Justy couldn’t see their small, black eyes, but noted their ears that covered most of their stony body.
They were not significantly big, a bit smaller than the adult pigs in the earth. Their two feet planted on the ground was round, with absence of fingers on it, but they look tough and thick. The other to the right is smaller, probably female, Justy thought.
They were having a nice picnic, sucking the broiling magma as if it was a lemon juice. They didn’t mind Justy, or rather they couldn’t see Justy. He walked slowly, and dashed when he get past them.
It has been four standard hours since Justy started his journey towards the outpost. Going good so far, Justy thought. He is feeling neither tired, nor hungry. But Justy was nearing the tipping point of going nuts. He thought he could brush aside the fact that he was now stranded on a hostile planet with hostile aliens, but it's getting to him slowly.
But he knew he has to keep moving. Death only awaits to those who wait so long and didn’t move, proven by his experience in Shooting games and survival movies. “Tell me something about Dr. Mu.” Justy said.
“Oh, boy. Dr. Mu was the youngest scientists ever accepted in the Veerian Science Academy. Her specialty involved Nanorobotics, Nanometrology, Neuroscience, Quantum mechanics, and many more. Despite a promising career in the Science Academy, Dr. Mu chose to participate in a three-year deep-space expedition led by Captain Ga’lek and his brother. “
“Were they… you know, Captain Ga’lek and Dr. Mu together?”
“Damnit human, keep your libido in check. And no they are not. Captain Ga’lek and his wife and daughter were one of the casualties on that day.”
“So around the time of their expedition, Planet Veer was destroyed.” Justy said. “Was the Suit created after the planet Veer destroyed or way before that?”
“After. But the tech of creating it were way before Veer was destroyed, however it was intended for various purposes except warfare.”
“Was there other before me? Dr. Mu said this Suit was the prototype, that could mean it was the first and only, or a second and much improved Suit have been developed.”
“You’re the second pilot. But please don’t ask me about what happened to the one before you.”
Justy sighed, he has an idea or two about what happened, but he knows it won’t do him any good entertaining the idea. “Alright.”
“Several bogeys at your 12 o’clock.”
“Oh shit,” Justy said as he glanced in his map.
“Relax. They might just be passing by.”
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Chapter 5Armor of JustyNEXT CHAPTER
Chapter 7
Snyder says R & R , as you see fit.
Spoiler :
Oh fvck it nvm.