Tecnelov is a poor large urban space station. It housed millions of people, before everything fell apart from the inside. Bad financial investments were made in the space craft industry. Most of their goods were designed poorly so they were never sold. This left the space station a sinister place, likely due to presence of dangerous criminals.
Many of the buildings inside the space station are abandoned. The buildings walls are deterring from the inside due to small leaks from the water and sewage pipes. Ashes from previous fires settle on the walls and the floors. Waste products are piled in every corner. From the outside, the entrances to the building are sealed using steel bars. The bars are designed to forbid outsiders from trespassing. However, the hobos have found a way to settle inside the abandon building. Unable to find a job and obtain a proper education, they treat this place as their own home. To keep themselves warm, the hobos try to start a fire using a large rusty tin can. They have nothing else to do but to maintain the fire as they watch the building they call home slowly decay around them. Without a new place for them to go, what else could they do?
Tecnelov was home to the Space Ship industry where workers produced a wide variety of ships. The ships produced were used for Civilian, Police or military use. A few years ago, one of the most prolific companies, Delobran, suffered a heavy blow. It all started when Delobran brought their newer ship, XI-51 Space Ship to the market. Originally designed for consumer use; the XI-51 had good overall speed, handling, and thrusters. Cracks started to show on the XI-51 when it suffered reliability issues ranging from a buggy UI and unresponsive controllers. This resulted in slow sales for many of the ships. Worse, reports started to surface that a massive lawsuit based on financial fraud in the industry had been filed. Unable to pay off their debt, Delobran declared bankruptcy. The assets were quietly retained by Roman. He managed to run his company under his name. Later on, he would liquidize his company and quietly shut down Delobran.
The population in Tecnelov was starting to dwindle. Many believe that the general state of the economy is in financial ruins. It is unlike that Tevnelov would be unable to pay off their debt. Other believed that they can turn this city back to its former glory. Those who choose to stay would have a heavy price to pay. Most of the citizens were victims from Roman’s thugs. Reports indicated that the thugs were responsible for theft, home invasion, and a variety of horrible crimes. Many citizens had left the space station to settle in a new home. While the police force tried to apprehend the criminals, it wasn’t enough to make Tecnelov a safe place.
The most powerful criminal in Tecnelov; going by the name Roman Ellis, is said to be the most wanted suspect in Tecnelov. He ran a variety of companies under the umbrella of his name. The recent companies he currently operates include Roman’s Arena, Nightclubs and Bars. Rumors suggest that he been responsible for smuggling illegal drugs into Tecnelov and testing live specimen without approval from the weak political councilors. Roman’s actions resulted in devastating damage to Tecnelov. One of his most notable specimens included two species from TZ-526. Rumors suggest that he was responsible for making fixed matches between the specimens.
To stop the corrupt criminal syndicate, the councilors from Tecnelov requested a Bounty Hunter for 20,000 credits to find Roman and capture him dead or alive. The Bounty Hunter’s name was Jake Avolsky. He was previously a marine in the 1313th division who happen to kill the most wanted criminal from the United Galactic Front. Impressed with his actions, Jake was allowed to join a Bounty Hunter guild; called the Artia. As a new hunter, Jake is assigned to hunt down his first target. Armed with a pistol, he has his own gear that packed quite a punch. His gear consisted of vent cutters, a grappling rope to capture his target, and his Tactical Glasses to identify any wanted criminals.
Jake arrived near the arena. The place was mostly packed with ambitious people who were fascinated to see the very first specimen in the arena. There were few guards that watched over the entrance. They won’t take kindly to any law enforcement. Jake would need to find another way in.
Jake took a left from the arena and discovered a vent shaft that he could use break into the arena. The vent shaft was located right next to the restroom. He went into a crouch position to avoid any attention. A large garbage bin was placed at the side of the building. He climbed on top of a bin and grabbed the edge of the roof. Jake looked very careful for the small ledge below the vent shaft. He made no haste as he ran and jumped to grab onto that ledge. Afterwards, he climbed up and remained in a crouch position as he tried to cut down the vent shaft using his laser tool that was placed on his right forearm. He cut the very edge of the steel vent just to get it loose. Once ¾ of the steel vent was cut, he quietly bent the vent forward and it came out without making much noise. He proceeded through the vent slowly. He did his best to not make too much noise while inside the vent.
Once inside the arena; on his right, he came across a huge group of people who happened to be purchasing food or other merchandise. Jake didn’t waste any time, as he proceeded forward. On his left, came across two guards who were discussing something very important.
“Hey, got any ideas where the boss is?” said the first guard
“I told you already,” the second guard replied; hoarsely. ”He is located up in the attic of the stadium. He doesn’t want to be disturbed by anyone unless it an emergency.”
“Oh,” the first guard replied.
“Have to ask, don’t you have anything important that you should be doing?” the second guard began to question.
“No?” the first guard responded, shyly.
“You might want to consider going to the security room,” the second guard said in a disgust tone. “Make sure nothing suspicious is going on in the arena. Please, don’t waste any time asking pointless questions. Besides, you don’t want to know what happens if you do get in trouble.”
“Uhh… No. No I don’t.”
“Good, then were done here. Now, go back to your post!” the second guard said firmly.
The two guards walked away and head backed to their positions. Based on the conversation, Jake learned that Roman may be up in the attic. Roman must have wanted to watch the game for himself and admire the specimen he brought in as his trusty hounds. Whatever it might be, there no denying the fact that Roman had brought guards with him. Jake knew he would not be able to capture him that easily. The security terminal was still in operation and Jake had to take it down to avoid any resistance. He proceeded to the end of the vent. Outside of the vent was a custodian room that was mainly filled with cleaning supplies. Luckily, nobody was inside the room accept for Jake. He cut down the steel vents. As he exited the vent shaft, he would grab on the edge of the vent and lower himself, descending to the floor at a slow pace. He let go of the edge and landed safely on the ground.
Inside the custodian room, Jake opened the door slowly with his silence pistol ready. He checked his right side, the same side where he saw two guards. Nothing. He exited out of the room and watched his back. There was not a single sole from behind. Jake thought that if he continued down the hallway, he would be able to have access to the security control room. He was not hesitant, but he knew he had to sneak around. While he was moving, he took out a security camera with his pistol.
After he passed the destroyed security camera, he found the security room. He would be able to breach the room easily. It would attract a lot of noise. Instead, he decided to hack the card terminal to unlock the door. Jake got out his hacking tool from his pocket. This tool could not only decrypt this door lock, but it could gain access to any terminal. All it took was to use the universal button to connect to the device. Once it’s connected, it would try to break in. Once in, Jake knew he would have complete control on the terminal. Within a few minutes, he was now able to select from multiple actions on the screen. He navigated the menu screen and selected ‘open’. As soon as Jake pressed the button, it made a small alarm noise, for a split second, and he opened the door.
Inside the room, he saw a security guard who happened to be watching over the security cameras. Apparently, he wasn’t doing his job right. Plus, he must have not heard the alarm.
The security guard was watching the game that was going on his own stadium. He brought his own snacks to work or perhaps he bought his own lunch from the concession stand. He was looking over at the security cameras to make sure that the arena was running smoothly. No matter how hard he tried, Jake knew he was not suited for doing multitasking. Surprisingly, the guard had not been fired by his own boss.
Jake didn’t waste any time, he knew the guard had to be taken out. He approached the security guard at a slow pace. Within a split second, he grabbed the guard’s neck while he sat in his chair. Jake knocked the guard unconscious with one pistol whip to the forehead and guard fell to the floor.
He placed the unconscious guard in the corner of the room and began his attempt to hack into the security camera terminal. He put his silence pistol on the table and got out his hacking tool. He was quite fortunate that he didn’t need to have the expertise or the technical knowhow on hack the terminal. It only took a few minutes for his tool to access the terminal. He was now in.
“This is Jake Avolsky to Lawrence, I managed to break into the arena and I have access to the security camera terminal.” Said Jake.
“Excellent! Did you find Roman?”
“Not yet! But I’ll find him.”
The first thing Jake had to do was to disabled a few settings in the terminal. For one, he had to disable the alarm to prevent the guards from alerting backup. He had already picked off one bad guy without much hassle, but he did not need any more resistance. He also destroyed all the recordings made by the camera to ensure that no evidence of his presence could be discovered by the security guards. If possible, he also wanted to disable the cameras. Before he disables them, Jake checked the camera to see exactly where Roman was located. When Jake saw the arena, he saw his target sitting above the scoreboard with two security guards, protecting him. Jake saw a controller in Roman’s hand. Was he just playing? Jake was not sure what he doing with it, but he was now absolutely certain that he found Roman. On the Arena floor, Jake saw something that was unbelievable. Tonight two new species would go head to head against each other. Two raptors were being raised up on a platform. Both Raptors had their own distinct skin color. One raptor had blood red skin, while the other had yellow skin. Never in his entire life, had he seen two Dinosaurs. On Earth, It was said that Dinosaurs were extinct millions of years ago. But for other planets, that not the case. While mankind did not have the slightest idea what Dinosaurs originally looked like, what he saw was probably the closest appearance of an actual Dinosaur. They were not for show. Rather, the Raptors were now meant to fight each other to the death. Both of the raptors were growling each other. They were trying to determine who was worthy of living. Their time would come once the game start.
“Lawrence, I found the target. Roman is located in the attic.”
“Good. Now, capture him. Remember; do not let him get away.”
“Wilco.”
Before he left the Security room, Jake uploaded a virus to the terminal and disabled the cameras. Once the terminal was off, he returned his tool on his belt and grabbed his silence pistol from the table. Now that he located his target, he took a quick glance on the map so he could figure out how to get to the Attic. If he took a left from the security room, moved down the hallway, he should be able to make a right to a door that would take him to the attic via a ladder.
Now that Jake had a good sense of where he needed to go, he exited the security room by opening the door. He checked both ways with his weapon ready. He went to his left and continued down the hallway at a quiet pace. He saw a couple of security cameras along the way, but he didn’t bother destroying the cameras, since the security was disabled. He no longer had to worry about getting too much attention from other guards. Coming up on his right was a door that would take him up to the Attic. He opened the door slowly and he began climbing up the ladder.
As he was climbing up the ladder, he knew he was closing in his first target. All he needed to do was to find Roman, capture him alive or dead, and he would get his first payment of 20,000 credits. An important rule for being a professional Bounty Hunter was that he only gets his payment by capturing his target. It won’t do him any good if he aimlessly killed nasty criminals. Instead, he would gather valuable Intel from the criminal and uses it to his advantage. Depending on the situation, Jake knew he could rely on his gear in order to deal with wanted criminals. If the opportunity presented itself, he might be willing to strap Roman’s body using his grappling hook. Once the target was captured, he would use his transportation device and send his target to his proper destination. The grappling hook can be used to climb to a platform or descend to the lower level. In an event he runs dry with his sidearm, he also has a backup melee weapon that is attach to his armory. The melee weapon wields two fang blades that are placed on his forearm. While he may not be able to kill hostiles with one stab; he could sneak up from behind and be extremely lethal with these blades.
As a professional Bounty Hunter, he is forbidden from harming civilians. If casualties are committed on civilians, Jake would be penalized and would have to pay a heavy price to the guild. It would be best if Jake takes some precaution.
Just as he reached the attic, Jake saw a couple of electrical wired components below the cat walk. One electrical panel was placed above the cat walk that leads to the scoreboard. Right along the platform was Jake’s Target. Roman must have been playing with his- no, that’s not a handheld gaming device, it’s a device for controlling a raptor. The controller he was using looked similar to the device used to control drones. As Jake glanced on the fighting scene, he saw a red raptor that had two electric bolts placed along both sides of his head. A tiny electric spark gave Jake a good indicator on how Roman was controlling the specimen’s brain. Just as he had expected, he knew Roman was a fearsome liar and cheater. A man who done a lot more harm to the people of Tecnelov than good. Because of Roman, many of the business in Tecnelov ended up either declaring bankruptcy or they ended up shutting down. This is how Tecnelov earned the reputation for being the poorest space city in the galaxy. Jake knew Roman was behind all this mess. All he needed to do was to interrupt Roman’s fun by taking the two guards out and capturing him.
At the arena scene, the red raptor was able to knock the yellow raptor down by banging his foe into the electric wall. This instantly stunned the yellow raptor. To finish the yellow raptor off, the red raptor tore his belly apart and a pool of blood spread all over the floor. The crowd went wild. Even Roman raises his fist in pure excitement. He was very eager to get his own giant payday. But his victory would be short lived.
Without a warning, Jake shot the two guards in the head with his silence pistol. The two guards were killed instantly. They fell to the ground and all that remained was to capture Roman. Unexpectedly, Roman’s controller slipped out of his hands. He tried to catch his controller, but he ended up leaning forward and fell out the platform. Roman hurt his left arm when he landed on the floor.
To prevent his target from getting away, Jake used his grappling hook to grab the bottom of the scoreboard. Once the grappling hook managed to hook itself on the lights, he jumped down from the platform and slowly descends to the center of the arena. The rope swung around Jake for a while. He made a soft landing on the floor of the arena; he cut the rope and pointed at Roman’s head with his pistol.
“Put the controller down, and surrender now!” Jake exclaimed.
Roman didn’t listen to Jake’s warning. Instead, he tried to get the red raptor to move from behind by using his controller and latch on to Jake with its right claw. The Raptor’s claw managed to scratch Jake’s back armor. Jake stumbled down on the floor and turned his entire body to his right. The raptor roared at Jake and latched on to him using his mouth. Within a split second, Jake managed to frighten the raptor by kicking its snout. Jake tried to get away from the raptor so he could stop Roman from getting away. He was too late; Roman had hobbled his way to the electric barrier. One of the barriers was down while the rest was still in operation. Roman managed to get the down barrier back up and running once he was outside.
“If you think you can capture me that easily. Try getting through my puppet!” Roman said.
Roman made his way to a door that leads to an exit and he was now on the loose. Now, Jake was surrounded by electric barriers, forbidding him to leave the arena. Trapped by a bloodthirsty Raptor, it appears that there was no way out and the raptor was eager to have him for dinner. Jake had found himself confronted by the predator.
With his silence pistol at a ready stance, Jake prepared to fight. This would mean he had to fight for his survival, or he could end up being eaten alive. His back body armor was badly damage. If he was scratched from his back again; Jake would suffer severely, and his armor would fell apart. The raptor gazed up at his prey for a few seconds. He ended up making a terrifying roar toward Jake. Afterwards, the raptor began to charge towards Jake.
Jake unloaded a few rounds at the raptor, only one round hit the raptor’s tail. Before the raptor had the chance to knock down Jake, he would immediately roll to the right. The raptor missed him. The force of the raptor’s movement caused him to fling himself toward an electric barrier. The raptor used his claws from his feet to try to stop his body from colliding with the electric barrier. Jake knew his pistol won’t pack a punch if he used his silencer. He quickly removed the silencer by twisting the barrel out and put the attachment in his pocket. Jake looked at the raptor’s head with caution. He noticed something very unusual with the dino. Never in his life, had he seen a live animal with a Frankenstein like bolts placed on both side of his head. He thought this must be a device that controls the raptor. It looks like Roman was using the bolts to control the raptor. If Jake could disable the device, Roman might lose his ability to control the raptor. Without any hesitation, Jake took aim at the bolts on the Raptor’s head. After the raptor made another roar, Jake unloaded a few round rounds at the device with a pow. At least two rounds destroyed the two bolts. Jake jumped to his right again and slid along the ground. With no chance for the raptor to make a complete stop, the raptor made contact with the electric barrier. He made a terrified screeching noise and small sparks popped out from the raptor’s body. The raptor was electrocuted. Stunned for a few seconds, the raptor continued to howl.
Jake unloaded the last few rounds of his entire magazine from his pistol until his sidearm made a ‘click’ noise. He ejected the magazine from his pistol, quickly loaded a new magazine and racked the slide to release the lock. The raptor’s body was severely damaged from being electrocuted.
The raptor was wary; but was still willing to fight. Without hesitation, the raptor charged Jake. Jake tried to dodge the raptor; but he wasn’t unable to evade its charge. The raptor moved to the right and managed to knock Jake down to the floor. Jake immediately rolled his entire body causing his pistol to slip out of his hand and he almost lost his ability to breath. Jake was able to see the raptor approaching closer while lying on his back. In a last-ditch attempt, Jack withdrew his blade out from his right forearm and managed to slice the raptor’s lower jaw. The raptor pushed away from Jake; indicating it was injured. Jake slowly got up from the floor and removed another blade out from his left forearm. Just as the raptor tried to bite Jake, he evaded its jaw by moving to his left while managing to cut the raptor by swing his left blade. Afterwards, he knocked the raptor down by kicking its jaw with his feet and the raptor collapsed to the ground. The raptor was groaning in pain; indicating it suffered major internal injuries. At this point, the raptor did not have enough strength to fight back.
To finish off the raptor, Jake used both of his blades to cut the raptor’s body numerous of times. The crowd was shocked to see the Bounty Hunter had taken down the raptor with his blades. Blood was covered all over Jake’s body armor. Jake couldn’t believe that he managed to slay a raptor. Sure, he was willing to kill hostiles. But he never expected to face off a raptor.
Jake didn’t have time to stare at a dead raptor, his first target was on the loose and he need to get out of the arena fast. He searched for his pistol that he dropped during his struggle with the raptor. Once he located it in the arena, he picked it up from the ground and tucked it away for later use. He immediately made his way to the electric barrier where Roman managed to slip out. The electric barrier was still operational; there was no way to jump outside the barrier easily. Instead, he would need to look for a switch to disable the barrier. Lucky, he saw some type of device on the lower wall and managed to open its small door. He saw a knob that could be used to take down the barrier. Jake managed to turn the knob to ‘off’, the electric barrier was down. Jake jumped over the downed barrier and immediately made his way to the door. The door was lock.
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There was no way he could easily open the door. He looked for an alternative route and saw a small room that he thought might be the control room for the arena. It looked like no one was inside. Jake jogged his way to the room by following a small pathway, preceded inside the small tunnel and hit the switch to get the control room elevator to come down to the arena floor. Once in the elevator, he pushed the elevator button to go up to the control room. Not a single person appeared as he arrived in the room, the only thing left in the room were the controllers. Luckily, the controllers were still operational. There was a chair placed diagonally facing the controller. Nothing was hanging in the clothing rack. Jake proceeded to the controller and looked for a way open it. The only way out of the arena was to open a small shaft below the arena that would lead him down to the cellar. From there, he would try to call for his lift. Jake managed to locate the button on the controller that opened the shaft. The elevator in the shaft was not working.
No wonder this place is falling apart. Jake thought. I’ll have to climb my way down.
Jake hopped on the controller lift to proceed back to the arena floor. At this point, most of the civilians were evacuated from their seats. Jake noticed a couple security guards attempting enter the arena. It was clear they were trying to pursue the Bounty Hunter. Jake didn’t want to waste any time fighting. Against all odds; he rushed his way to the center of the arena floor. He grabbed the edge of the floor using his enter body, he latched onto a pipe in the shaft and slowly descended until he hit the floor.
At the end of the shaft was a room with two sealed doors. They were facing each other from the opposite side. One door had a red light, indicating a live specimen was inside the cage. While the other door had a green light, indicating the room was clear of specimens. He opened the green light door by pressing the button. The door opened at the slow pace, revealing that the cage room was empty. There not a single guard watching over the cage. He saw chunks of blood stains all over the wall. Right next to the sealed door was a large tray where dead corpses were placed. The corpses were made up of a mix of human and other races. This was not something that Jake wanted to tinker with. On his left was a small stream of water that flowed through the tunnel. To the right-side, Jake saw an air vent. Instead of trying to get the cage door open, he would instead make his way to the air vents and try to cut through the steel vent at the top.
Jake proceeded inside the vent until he came upon a split. He saw two routes he could take. The route to the right sounded like something was inside the opposite cage. Jake knew he didn’t want to waste any time dealing with another specimen. He made an immediate left and proceeded down the vent shaft away from the sound of the specimen. Soon, Jake came across another set of steel vents. He quickly glanced through the grates to see if anyone was there. Once it was clear, he cut the steel vents down and without making a noise, he quietly jumped down. The next room contained electric generators and an air conditioner that were still fully operational. There was not a single person in the generator room. Jake realized it would not be an issue getting out of the generator room. He realized that he couldn’t leave the Arena just yet. He needs to gather up valuable Intel from Roman’s thugs and capture bounties if the opportunity presented itself. There was nothing Jake needed to do in this room. Above Jake, he noticed a catwalk. He climbed his way up by using the ladder and stood on the catwalk. He walked along the left side of the catwalk and proceeded to the giant fan that was spinning at the end of the catwalk. Jake noticed that next to the spinning fan was a controller he could use to disable the fan. Once the fan was disabled, Jake would be able to make his way down the hallway. He disabled the fan by pressing the button. The fan would come to a complete stop. With the fan off, Jake grabbed onto the ledge and dropped down to the hallway.
Jake checked both ways for security guards after he landed on the floor. A large door was to the right of where he landed. The sign mentioned that this stairway lead to the exit. He wasn’t interested in exiting yet. There were a couple of objectives Jake needs to accomplish. First, he needed to obtain Intel on how Roman managed to smuggle the new species from TZ-526. If possible, he needs to find proof that Roman was responsible for the financial fraud on his company. Finally, he also needed to find the source for smuggling illegal supplies and destroy it.
Jake proceeded through the curved hallway in a crouch position and searched the hallway. On his left, he came across a security guard. The guard was watching over the hallway to ensure that nothing suspicious was going on. The guard picked up something important on his comm radio. He answered from his earplug once he ready to say something.
“Is there something wrong?” he said calmly into his voice comm. It look like one of his mates must have mentioned something that there an intruder somewhere in the Arena. If spotted, the guard was told to report the intruder’s known location and attempt to eliminate him.
“Will do, I’ll let you know if I see him,” he said to his voice comm. Afterword, he lifted his hands off his comm and stayed alert just in case he spotted the intruder.
Jake scanned his target using his mobiglass which was incorporated in his glasses. The mobiglass was an Artia issued tactical glass that could mark a target at a certain range and then could identify the target by using a U.G.F criminal database. In order to make a living in his career, Jake relied on his mobiglass to identify wanted criminals. The system was also used to tell Jake if his target had to be taken alive or he could execute them. Either method worked but Jack would make a higher profit if he caught them alive. In this case, the recent target Jake identified was Bryce Perrot. He was responsible for attempting to invade a private apartment. The target was very lucky to get away from the police in Tecnelov and must have joined up with Roman as a guard. His reward for capturing and handing over Bryce alive to the police was 5,000 credits. Jake knew he have to be careful because the most important fundamental rule was he needed to deal with the target carefully and accordingly. If he killed this target, he would get nothing for his reward. He needed to think twice about killing this target. Jake made the bold decision to not kill his target and capture Bryce alive.
Jake quietly sneaked up from behind on Bryce with his grappling rope set to capture and his teleportation device ready. Once up close, he would shoot the grappling rope to tie Bryce’s entire body to restrain the target from moving. Then, he would strap his teleportation device on Bryce’s body and teleport him to a nearby jail somewhere in Tecnelov. From there, Bryce would spend a year behind bars. Once received at the transport station, Jake would receive his payment for 5,000 credits. Now he made a good amount of money. Still, his job was not over yet. There was still a criminal on the loose and he would need to continue with his mission.
The Teleportation proximity device Jake use is a called “Black-Mark I”. It a handy device that allows Jake to transport his target to their destination and send them back to Jail. That way, the bounty hunter doesn’t need to carry his target on his back. In order to send the target to his destination, Jake needed to specify a specific location. For instance, wanted criminals that committed a crime in Tecnelov would only be sent to Jail in Tecnelov. Criminal he captured in the U.G.F. would be sent to a prison designed by U.G.F. Due to limitation of the device, he could also send the criminal to his ship until Jake transported the wanted criminal to their final destination.
Jake managed to capture his target without alerting resistance. There were no footstep sounds coming from the hallway, everything felt quiet. On the left side of the hall was a cellar. It was the same place where Jack came from before. Along the right side, a small ramp led to the first-floor loading station. He continue to proceed through the hallway.
“You must have managed to make your way down to the basement level. Try to search the place for important documents before you close in on your main target. It should be nearby.” Lawrence said in his voice comm.
“Understood,” Jake responded.
Coming up on the right, was the research station where they researched new species. He heard the guards having a discussion inside the locker room. In order to hide from the guards, he slipped into the cleaning supply room. He stayed there until the guards left the locker room. While inside, Jake managed to eavesdrop on the guards conversation.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Someone must have broken into the arena.”
“Got any idea who is it?”
“I’m not sure who he is, but I heard word that a bounty hunter is trying to capture our boss.”
“The last thing I heard was that the bounty hunter used his grappling hook to lower himself down to the Arena floor. Did he get eaten by the raptor?”
“I don’t think so; he must have somehow killed the raptor using his blades. He managed to escape the arena using the lift and he still on the hunt. We need to make sure we secure the floor so he can’t get out easily. Let’s go.”
After a short briefing, the security guards exited the room and began investigating the lower floor. Without making haste, Jake opened the door slightly so he could get a quick peak at the guards without them noticing. He waited until the security guards finished inspecting the hallway near the cellar. Once it was clear, he exited the cleaning supply and proceeded through the hallway so he could complete his next objective. Coming up to his left was a small observation room that was used by the scientist to observe the behavior of the raptors.
Jake entered the observation room. Judging from their work, some of the species looked more alien like than they originally were back on Earth. Many of the species were taken from other planets beside TZ-526. The most recent research focused on the raptor from TZ-526. The documents Jake collected from the desk told him that Roman captured these species from planet TZ-526. The documents showed that Roman was able to steal the raptors from the official research base, called United Research.
United Research is a government funded organization where their job is to perform research on newly discovered planets. The research focused on discovering new species, studying the environment, and researching new types of plants. Under the umbrella of the United Galactic Frontier, their goal was explore and identify planets with a sustainable environment required to establish colonies for future generations. The umbrella organization has military personnel on duty 24/7 to provide security for the scientists. The United Research secured unlimited funding from the government. Researchers were sent here because they wanted to gain knowledge. With that knowledge, it could be possible to offer new ways to make medicine. Perhaps they were researching the new raptors species. The possibilities are endless. As long as the scientists continue to put effort into they work, they will continue to slowly gain an understanding about TZ-526 and perhaps call this new planet their home.
Jake wasn’t interested in getting too much detail on the research. But there was one report that caught his attention. It looked like the device used by Roman to control the raptor was called the Strocker.
Strocker was an unofficial device that could be used to control different living specimens. Roman must have placed two wires inside the raptor’s brain. Then, the electric bolts were connected to the two wires. Roman controlled the live specimen using small electric pulses to the specimen’s brain. The raptor’s actions were all controlled using the remote controller, the same remote controller Jake saw earlier.
He decided to put the evidence in his pocket and proceeded to his next objective.
There was an elevator he could use to get down to the field lab. Jake walked toward the elevator and pressed the button. The elevator descended to the lower floor. Inside the field lab, there was a small crane in place that was used to feed meat to the live specimen. A couple chairs were in place to his right. A raptor tried to lunge at Jake; the raptor ended up hitting the barrier and electrocuting itself. The raptor may have eaten him – but the electric barrier stopped the raptor in his tracks. The raptor backed away from the barrier and stared at Jake. Jake saw a small pathway between the two cages. He went through a small pathway and made his way inside the bio lab.
Jake opened the door at a slow pace. He peaked around the corner to see if there were scientists inside. The room was pitch-dark and was completely quiet. Jake flipped the lights switch on. The room was filled with a bunch of organisms that were stored on a shelf. A table contained several magnifying scopes and a sink. A radiograph was placed alongside the wall. It looked like one of the scientists was trying to conclude his research about a raptor. Jake already obtained enough evidence in the research facility, so he decided that there was nothing specific he needed to take from this lab.
Jake saw a vent he could use on the right wall. He figured that the guards were on full alert and thought it would be best to stay hidden as much as possible. He used his gear to cut the vent out and remove the vent shaft. He lifts himself up and got inside. He proceeded forward until he came across two routes.
Coming from his right, he could hear gunshots being fired. His next objective was to make his way to the armory room. Based on his intel, Jake knew the armory room contained shipment documents that could be used to determine where the supplies were coming from and when they were delivered. Sources stated that in addition to being a corrupted criminal, Roman was offering black market products to all thugs in the galaxy. The trade was not constrained to unofficial firearms, it also included illegal drugs. The councilors at Tenolof placed regulations on unofficial products and forbid the trading of drugs. Jake knew he had to take out the black-market scheme so that he could cripple Roman’s supplies.
Jake went toward the gun shots. The gunshots were getting louder; he assumed he was getting close to the shooting range where several of the thugs were sharpening their firearm skills. He decided to continue to proceed down the vent until he hit a dead end.
Jake checked through the vent shaft to make sure that it was all clear. All he saw was hard covered wall and figured he should remain hidden until the thugs concluded their practice. As he waited, he got his pistol from his waist belt and quickly attached his silencer. Then, he waited.
“All right. Our training has concluded,” The instructor said.” Make sure you unload your weapons and clean them up before you go. If there anything you need, do not hesitate to drop by at my office.”
The thugs unloaded their magazine and manually pulled the slider to remove the chamber round. After they gathered up their gear, they exited the shooting range and shut down the lights. When the room became dark, Jake knew that it was time to move. LED lights on the bottom edge of the wall provided enough light for Jake so he did not remove his flashlight from his belt. He peaked around the corner. On the first floor, he saw a workbench that had a dim light illuminating it. Jake looked up and saw a balcony. No guards were present on either floor. Jake proceeded to the dimly lit bench until he could jump over it.
The floor was filled with previously fired bullets. The bench contained all components needed to clean or modify firearms. There was nothing out of the ordinary that he needed to gather from the bench.
To his left, he saw a ladder that could be used to access the balcony. To avoid being spotted, Jake made the bold decision to climb the ladder to ascend to second floor. He wanted to make sure that he maintained the high ground.
As Jake climbed onto the second floor, he noticed two chairs that allowed observers to watch over the target range. Laying on the floor between the chairs were empty beer cans. Not much scenery to admire, but not a bad place to inspect a thug’s performance; he thought.
Jake decided to walk through the doorway to his left to get to the catwalk. There were four guards on the first floor. Two thugs were guarding the doorway to his left and the other two guards were guarding the door to the armory. Jake moved along the catwalk until he came across a door that led to the second floor of the armory room. He opened the door slowly and peeked inside. There was an office and inside that office was Garran Slvoto.
Garran Slvoto was a regular human. He was in his 30’s and had an intensify look about him. Slvoto was responsible for managing the black market and worked very closely with Roman. He guaranteed Roman that he could bring in more capital by selling illegal goods for a high price.
Slvoto relished his humbling day by keeping track of the paperwork that contained details of all the black-market shipments. Under his direction, he ensured that Roman’s business continued to sustain growth. If Slvato was captured alive, the bounty of 5,000 credits would go into Jake’s account Jake knew that the opportunity to capture Slvato would present itself if he could remain hidden.
Jake started to walk along the catwalk located in the armory room. To his right, he came across a guard that was watching over the recruiters. To prevent being spotted, Jake crouched below the solid steel railing. He moved from cover to cover until he came across a passage that led a staircase. Next to the staircase were metal crates that were stacked in a staircase format. Jake looked up. Three feet from the ceiling was a small platform that contained wiring components. Jake could see that he could use the small platform to gain access to Slvoto’s office. He made the bold decision to climb the metal crates and quietly slipped onto the ceiling above Slvoto’s office.
Jake proceeded at a slow pace; making sure he did not alert Roman’s guards below. He knew that his target was located underneath him. He searched for something that allowed him to descend from the ceiling. Luckily, there was a steel vent that he could use to gain entrance to Slvoto’s office. Jake withdrew the gear needed to cut down the steel vent. Once the vent was cut down, he quietly removed the steel vent and placed it around the corner. He took a quick peak inside the office. Slvoto was inspecting some paperwork. He was not aware of Jake presence. Once everything is clear, Jake grabbed onto the ledge and descended to the top of a stool inside Slvoto’s office.
Slvoto had no idea what behind him. He was busy dealing with the financial information on his desk. Of course, he was also keeping track of his shipments using his own tablet. He was trying to ensure that his trading was running smoothly. He knew as long as he did his job for Roman, Slvoto would obtain a good amount of income.
Jake approached Slvoto at a slow pace. When Jake got close, he managed to latch onto Slvoto’s neck which caused Slvoto to become unconscious. He quickly used his teleportation device on Slvoto’s body; causing his body to be teleported to a jail cell somewhere in Tecnelov. Jake obtained 5,000 credits for his capture.
Jake wasn’t ready to take off yet. He still wanted to find the source of black-market shipments. He knew the documents in Slvoto’s tablet would contain the evidence he needed. He remembered that Slvoto was checking his shipment schedule detailing when and where their goods were being delivered. Luckily, the shipping schedule stated that most of the goods were being delivered to a docking bay a few blocks from Roman’s Arena. As long as the tablet contained the map detailing which dock was receiving the shipment, Jake knew he would have no issues tackling his next objective on his own.
Without being spotted, Jake went back to the ceiling by standing on top of the stool. He backtracked to the steel crates so he could descend from the ceiling. Jake checked his surroundings to see if the guard was watching over the recruiters. Instead of watching over the recruiters, the guard was reading an important message on his own tablet. While the guard was distracted, Jake managed to sneak past the guard to get to the catwalk. Jake continued to backtrack to the second-floor catwalk.
There were still security guards guarding the doorway. Jake still want to avoid being spotted. Instead of silently taking the guards out, he had a better idea. He noticed that there was air flowing from above. Jake made the conscious decision to go to his right and grabbed hold of the outer railing of the catwalk. Then, he latched himself on top of the edge and lifted himself up to get inside the air vent. Once inside the air vent, he saw fans circulating the air. The wind didn’t have enough power to push Jake off the ledge. Jake was able to move past the fans to another vent opening.
After Jake navigated thru the vent for a several meters, he noticed a vent grid. He peaked thru the grid and saw a hallway crawling with guards. In the background, he heard a velociraptor growling. Judging from his current location, he must be on the other side of the hallway where a live specimen is currently being held. It looked like the guards were listening to their leaders for a short briefing.
“Alight, listen up.” the boss said in a fearsome tone. “We do not have any intel on the current location of the bounty hunter. He seems to be doing a great job evading detection. The last time he was spotted, he was in the pit descending to the basement. If anyone sees that nasty cabbage monster, obliterate him and don’t let him escape. Understood?”
The guards nodded in response to his order.
“Well than, start searching.”
The guards split up. Half of the guards ran to the right and the others to the left. It appeared the Arena was in full lockdown and the guards would do anything to stop Jake from escaping. Jake continued to proceed down the vent shaft until he ran across an opening in the vent. From the vent, he could see that the opening was located next to a door that would allow him to exit the arena. Once everything was clear, he moved out of the vent and approached the door.
Jake tried to open the door so that he could look and see if the hallway was clear. Damn; he though, the door is lock. The only way to open the door was to use a key card, but Jake did not have a key card in his possession. Jake had couple of choices. He could hack into the key card slot or… He had a better idea. Perhaps he should create a distraction to get someone to open the door. He turned around and he saw the velociraptor who happens to be growling at Jake. He decided to use the velociraptor to create the distraction. Jake knew that there were other scientists who were constantly studying the live specimen and they would come running if they thought something was harming their fine specimen. He wanted to make sure that it looks like an accident; he decided to get his silenced pistol out. He fired a few rounds at the ground right next to the velociraptor. He didn’t try to kill the specimen. He tried to make it look like there was a misfire in place. With sure luck, he heard someone coming downstairs to check on the live specimen. Jake quickly got into a hiding space and waited for someone to open the door. The scientist opened the door and rushed in to check on his live specimen. Jake took the opportunity to quietly sneak past the scientist through the open door. Outside the door, was a ramp that lead to the scientist apartment. The ramp also went up goes up to three floors. Jake guessed the ramp was used to move the specimens.
“Jesus fucking christ, what the hell was that,” the scientist said in a panicking tone. He wasn’t fully aware on what going on in Roman’s Arena. All he noticed was the velociraptor continues to growl at the scientist.
“Ah, I see. I figured you must be hungry,” the scientist gestured in a formal tone. “All right… Tell you what. How about you go ahead and sit tight. When I do get done with my research, I’ll come back and offer you some food. It will only be a few minutes. I’ll be right back.”
He continued to watch over the specimen for a few seconds. Afterword’s, he turn around calmly and went back to his apartment.
As he reentered his room, everything seems quiet in his apartment. Next to his table was a clock. It continued to tick for more problems to solve. Paperwork was spread all over the table and on the floor. It was clear from the mess that the scientist was working hard. But at times, his research was frustrating. It was only through trial and error that he would discover better ways to control the raptors. He walked to his study table and picked up where he left off.
“Ok, where was I?” the scientist said to himself.
Without warning, someone latch onto the scientist’s face. He started to panic, knowing that he was kidnaped. Before he had a chance to say a word, he was knock unconscious by one pistol wipe to the forehead. He collapsed to the ground. It appeared that Jake had knocked the scientist out clean. The target he acquired was Bronzeo Lantiaz. Lantiaz was wanted alive for smuggling live specimens from the United Research facility. Lantiaz disappeared into nothing as he was teleported to a cell in Tecnelov. Another 2,000 credits for Jake.
Target acquired, Jake said to himself.
It occurred to Jake that he has accomplished most of his objectives. He had obtained the research on the TZ-526 specimen as well the research on the remote-control device and the known location of the black-market shipments. One objective remained… Jake needed to find Roman and bring him back dead or alive. He left the study room and proceeded back to the ramp room. He made his way to the first floor and found an exit.
The door automatically lifted up and he could see that his path was almost clear. There were guards patrolling the gate from the inside and outside. The guards had their weapons ready. It was clear they were still hunting for Jake. Jake waited for an opportunity for the guards to move out. Within a few minutes, the guards proceeded to his left until they moved around the corner. Jake exited the arena but kept looking both ways just in case he spotted more guards. There was no one on sight. He managed to crouch-run forward to the gate; climb over it and he made a run for it. Once out of the arena, Jake knew his next task was to develop a plan to capture Roman.