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Rise of the Forgotten
Ch.15 Sub-Space and Combat

Ch.15 Sub-Space and Combat

I am currently sitting on a couch that I put in my room. It's been a day since my guard duty. I still have Durn and 3 other's of the raiders. I'm going to do a little something to them later. I am also going to take Durn to his planet and leave him somewhere over there. I should also take a job while I'm at it. Well let's take a look then.

I spent a couple of hours looking at the available job's before choosing one that was on the way. It is a job to acquire an ingredient in a Sub-Space. The Sub-Space entrance is on the way and I have to deliver it to a planet a couple of days away from Durns planet. They did say that the Sub-Space has hostile life inside but that they shouldn't be too troublesome. I immediately head out.

A few days later and I arrived at the space station that monitors and regulates the traffic of the Sub-Space. Normally I would have to apply and wait for a pass to enter any Sub-Space not used for travel. Thankfully the contract provided a pass with it and after showing it I was allowed inside the Sub-Space. Of course I could have just entered with my Spatial Shifting Drive, but that would cause issues.

Sub-Spaces can form anywhere, from a planet to an asteroid, and all vary in size. Most of the one's that form or open on planets usually feature the planets ecosystem and the like, essentially they copy the planets plants and animals, though curiously not any sentient life. They are also of smaller size. The ones that form in Space are more exotic in nature and are bigger than planetoid Sub-Spaces. The danger levels of each of them vary and are totally random. A Sub-Space the size of a medium-sized island could contain an extremely hostile environment while the opposite could be true. 

The one I'm entering is not fully explored yet but so far isn't that dangerous. The Sub-Spaces also replenish their resources seemingly infinitely, though it is a slow process and rare materials are still rare. Anyway I am here looking for a special plant called Frin'Thal. It is found around 2 light years away from the entrance. It is the size of a pumpkin, an Earth plant apparently. It is blue with three stalks and has spikes poking from each stalk. 

The inside of the Sub-Space is filled with floating islands, a common occurrence within Sub-Spaces. The entrance/exit of the Sub-Space is guarded so that people coming and going can enter and exit safely. A kilometer outside of the entrance is where the guard stops and you are responsible for your own safety. This also helps with pirates coming in and setting up a base, at least within the publicly discovered ones. Sometimes the pirates get lucky and find one of their own and set up shop, eventually though they do get discovered and destroyed.

Once I left the guarded area I started my spatial warping. It was a quick warp to get to the area needed. I arrived at a large island covered in plants. As soon as I got out of the warp a swarm of flying creatures that looked like kites attacked the ship. I unleashed a new weapon I haven't tried out. Out of the hull on the center of the ship a rapid fire laser turret unleashed a barrage of laser fire unto them. It has four rapidly firing barrels made out of an extremely heat resistant material. Hot white blasts of energy tore through the attacking horde, dozens fell in a few seconds. They bashed against the outer shield smashing themselves and others against it. Even more died. Another three turrets showed up and unleashed their firepower on the swarm. A few minutes later the swarm either dispersed and ran or were killed and filling up a meat locker in the ship. They are made out of nice materials and can make some nice things.

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After dealing with the horde we drifted through the Sub-Space waiting for the scanners to pick up any signs of the plant. An hour later of drifting and scanning and we finally found the plant. The contract said that it was rare but failed to mention how rare. We then accelerated toward the location. A few minutes later and we arrived. It is on a fairly small island only a few hundred meters in diameter. The plant is on the inner section of the island. The island itself is covered in trees and vegetation. I had the ship hover above a more open part of the island. I then jumped out of the ship with an environmental suit on. The suit is pretty comfy.

I landed with a tuck and roll, effectively making me land longer and slowing me down. I got up and looked around, Aldion showing me the detailed and continuous scans of the island. The trees were all sorts of shapes and colors, made out of different things too. I started to lightly jog to the plant making sure not to miss any other valuable or special plants that I could use myself.

I made sure to always spread my own UE senses around to add to Aldions own scans. Always making sure to keep an eye out to the surroundings. Aldions scans could pick up most things that we knew of, but could miss out on some things. This was made evident when an animal came out of nowhere. I immediately dodged to the side and took out my pistol that could shoot both concentrated UE energy and energy shots. (like a regular blaster pistol and magic energy pistol in one) 

The insectoid had 8 segmented barbed legs. The legs were 10 centimeters thick and the barbs each 5 centimeters long. Its body 5 meters long and segmented with a red striped black carapace. The last meter of the body was raised like a torso and had mantis-like arms, each looking like sharp scythes and deadly. Its head had eight eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth, its bottom jaw could separate in two. 

Neither of us moved, staring at each other. Suddenly it moved. It is fast. I rolled to the side, it missed its swipe and continued on moving before stopping and charging me again. I quickly fired off a couple of shots of laser fire at the mantis thing. Each hit and blackened the carapace, doing little damage but not nothing. I switched to UE fire mode. It stopped before spitting at me. I quickly dodged the substance and watched it melt the tree behind me. I was then forced to dodge again, I wasn't fast enough to come out unharmed. I got up and quickly fired at the mantis, shots of UE infused with different properties hit it. Some did little to it, some tore through its carapace. After firing a multitude of shots in it I stopped. This thing was filled with holes, some looked like they seared through it others looked like they ripped through. I killed it. 

I had a deep gash on my chest. The Humanis form came through for me coagulating the blood and sealing the wound. I quickly shifted to my mist form and reformed as good as new. My people are extremely hard to kill. We could die though, you just had to put up one hell of an effort. After the short battle was over I continued my journey to get the plant, I also resolved myself to train even harder. My journey was quick and I got the plant. I dug up the soil around it and placed it in a container to preserve and keep it alive. 

With the object obtained I then spent some time picking up other plants and killing other beasts. All of these were then picked up by Aldion and then we left with our job complete.

After leaving the Sub-Space we then traveled to the delivery point. Along the way Aldion analyzed the plants and animals to figure out better detection methods we could use. The Frin'Thal apparently had properties to help strengthen both the body and soul. We took a little sample to grow for ourselves. I also began to increase my training load. I shall improve. I shall train.

We delivered the plant successfully and went on our way after getting paid. A few days later we arrived at Durns homeworld. I woke him up as we arrived. After getting him ready I left him at the space station in orbit, after getting him a ticket aboard a shuttle down to the planet. I left the station soon after. I had jobs and training to do.