Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 155 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 3

Uninhabited Island / Clearing of Escape Capsule # 405

Galactic Standard Time / After 0555

Jessie

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As Jessie felt his internal alarm clock nanites wake him, he kept from yawning by the skin of his teeth. That was something else he’d have to learn again, and that was one thing that he would hate. But better to become all back to how he was than only halfway. He had survived, won his freedom, and escaped from that horror because of his skills.

As he looked up at the dawn sky, he sighed. Shaking his head silently he looked around and then patted himself down. Most of the deckhands had slept outside, a way to be on hand if something happened. Even the two female volunteers had joined them, but then they said they were veterans. He looked at them and there was just something about them that made him think they were more than that. He couldn’t say why that was, but there it was.

As he looked around the people sleeping, he smirked a little. Who would have thought that he, who stayed away from everyone would find safety with others?

He grabbed his rifle and got to his feet, looking around as he did. They had all slept behind the second defense line, right by the crater. There was enough distance that most people would be able to react if the shield was attacked. And the few people still up were on the end of their guard shifts. With a smile, he walked towards Zevortro as he sat at one of the shield stations.

“Good morning,” Zevortro said as he turned to look at him, throwing Jessie a bottle.

Jessie caught it and nodded as he opened it. Taking a sip, he sighed as he felt the cold water. “Thanks. How was the last hour?”

Zevortro only shrugged and looked a little concerned. “Not too bad really. I thought there was something around this edge of the shield twenty minutes ago. Didn’t see anything, must have been a bug. But I don’t like it.”

“Yeah, me either,” Jessie muttered. The last time a ‘little bug’ was the shield drain. And that ended up being the Vine Beast! He looked at Zevortro and nodded after a while. “So if we can make it down there, who’s going besides me?”

“Terra and I talked about that. We need everyone at their best, so those who were on guard are out. I think she said something about the volunteers and Bryke, a four-person team at most. Fast and hard,” Zevortro said with a grin.

Jessie nodded and was about to say something when he realized something. Something so obvious that he was shocked that he had missed it.

“Smart. Very smart. Once everyone is awake, I’ll start cutting. Depending on what we find, we might have a problem. Beyond the first one,” Jessie said bitterly.

“What first….. oh. We never really planned how to bring the plates up, did we?” Zevortro said with shock as he looked at Jessie who shrugged.

“Yeah, we didn’t. I’ve got a few ideas. Might be a bit harder than I thought but it’s possible. Need to maybe cut a smaller hole first,” Jessie said as he let his mind wander. There was one, maybe two things that he could make that might work. “Yeah, I just need to check our supplies. But I think I got this.”

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Zevortro

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Zevortro only looked at Jessie as the man walked off, shaking his head in awe. If it was anyone else, he wouldn’t have thought it possible. With how heavy hull plates were, there was no way they could raise a wide enough piece for a person to get through. But Jessie only had to realize the problem and he already had a way around it. Truly, the way that the minds of weapon researchers worked was something else! They had all missed it, but there he went, off to find a way to fix this.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He chuckled and looked around, seeing the others slowly wake up. As he saw Terra stir awake he sighed and waited. As she looked around, he started gesturing to her and smirked as she saw him. As she moved towards him, he prepared himself for the talk to come.

“Hey, boss. How was your sleep?” Zevortro asked softly as she reached him. She looked at little frizzled but she shook her head and nodded at him.

“Better. I forgot all about this for a few hours. Just what I needed. But where’s Jessie?” Terra asked bluntly.

For a second Zevortro was taken aback, but then he realized why she was worried. If they were old friends, then she had to know his job. And he didn’t want to think what might have happened to them in the past because of it.

Zevortro only shook his head and sighed. “He figured out a problem with the plan, how to remove the plates.”

“We’re going to, we’re going to….. oh. We skipped that part,” Terra said as she blushed and looked away.

Zevortro could only shrug as he looked at her. With her new position as the current second in command, this was her plan. She must be thinking that she embarrassed herself a bit without figuring out what to do.

“Yeah. But your friend seemed to have figured it out. I mean with someone like him,” Zevortro said with a small smirk.

Terra took a step back and looked at him, her eyes wide. “What do you mean!? What do you know!!”

“Calm down. I figured it out yesterday. I mean it’s obvious once you think about it. I mean who else would be able to figure out how to modify a rifle like that? And figure out how to use it to cut through hell plates?” Zevortro asked as other people started to wake up.

Terra looked at him, her eyes wider and her mouth dropped open. “You just figured it out? That easily?”

“Well yeah,” Zevortro said and he shrugged, smirking a bit. He put his hands behind his head and chuckled a bit. It was pretty easy once he figured everything out. “He just told me the one thing I needed to know. Everything fell into place.”

Terra looked at him and then scowled. “Keep it to yourself. If you told anyone, tell them to do the same. I don’t want anyone else to know, and he won’t either!”

“Why….. oh. Got it!” Zevortro said as he looked towards the ‘prisoner’ they had. If that monster got free, they would need Jessie. People like him was how they were able to hold the line against the Ancients for so long. They needed him to figure out a way to neutralize that power that Roch had! And if others knew about his past, then if they were controlled Roch might figure it out. “I’ll tell the others I told. Sorry ma’am.”

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Terra

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“You do that! No one is to know what he is! Got it!” Terra said with a snarl on her face. As Zevortro nodded, she huffed and walked away. She was harsh on him, but she needed to. Some people didn’t trust Bounty Hunters, thinking they were just guns for hire. Some of them were like that, but they were a minority. Her year with Jessie had taught her that they were all people who had joined to survive. Some were soldiers who couldn’t adjust to civilian life.

But the criminals always made it worse for everyone else. And that was more true with Bounty Hunters than she or Jessie wanted.

As she walked towards the crater, she saw other people waking up. With a sigh, she figured she should get the morning going for everyone. She grabbed two deckhands that she knew had worked as cooks and pulled them towards the crater.

“Boss Terra? What is it?” One of them asked as she looked at them.

“Food. We all need to eat, and you two are elected to make it for everyone. And the passengers too!” Terra declared and the two nodded at each other. They both sped up and they were pulling her along with them.

“Thank you, boss!” The one on the right said, a grin on his face.

“This is just what we needed after the chaos over the last few days!” The other one said as they all moved down the crater.

They found Jessie standing there, working on a spare shield emitter. He nodded before he looked up and saw the others coming down. “Oh, it’s you all. Hey.”

Terra looked at him and then at the others. “You two get to work. Make sure that if you need help, get it. If it's passengers or other crew, get it.”

“Thanks, boss!” One of them said as they walked into the capsule.

Jessie only whistled and shook his head. “So what’s that for? The food? Want to do something other than the rations?”

“Yeah,” Terra said softly as she looked over what he was doing. He had to know about Zevortro, he had to. But there was a real chance that Jessie might overreact. But then Jessie had told her that he had secrets. If Zevortro had figured out who Jessie was, did that mean he knew Jessie from before Terra met him? Best to wait and tell him after they were able to get through the plates. “So this? It’s for getting to the inside of what we’re on?”

“Yeah. I’m modifying the emiters, making it more narrow. Once we set this up, it’ll make a field of null gravity all around it. Once that happens, we can move the piece I’ll cut easily! Shield and Gravity generators are the same thing really. Kind of interesting,” Jessie said with a chuckle as he turned away.

Terra only sighed and shook her head. The way that her friend was a master of technology was shocking. The way he had jury-rigged solutions to problems, and how he never gave up. That was so amazing, when she would roll over, he stood tall. And he could do things that she couldn’t explain before they all crashed here.

“So what else is there I need to know?” Jessie asked as he looked at the generator.

“What? What do you mean?” Terra asked, shocked that he had seen through her.

Jessie chuckled as he pulled his arms out and moved to put everything back in order. “I spent so many years figuring out people so I could live. Some skills, they just never leave you. So what is it?”

“Wow, you are good. So there’s a thing that you need to know. Kind of important. Jessie knows what you are!” Terra said.

Jessie went still, and then he slowly turned to look at her. His eyes had a hard edge and he slowly stood up and seemed to be giving off a primal energy. “What?! How!”

Terra looked at him and swallowed softly. “You know, you’re kind of scary man. And you told him! Well, he figured it out from your talk yesterday!”

Jessie blinked and then he slowly sank against the wall. “That!? But all I told him was that I modified my rifle! How’d he figure out what I am!?”

“I don’t know, but we need to be careful! He says that he won’t tell anyone you’re a Bounty Hunter but you need to be careful! The right word at the wrong time could spark a riot!” Terra said as she looked at the dirt wall.

With a sigh, she tried to figure out what to do. There was something buried here, and that reason was bothering her. It said that ships had been crashing here for a long time. And she couldn’t place the make of whatever the plates made. And she had a very weird feeling that when they found all the answers, they wouldn’t like them.

“Well, you just need to keep an eye on him,” Jessie said with a soft tone to his voice.

Terra nodded, looking at the dirt wall. All they had to do, was stay alive until Jinn’s group came back.