Robin and the others stayed in the Lost Island for some time, before they made their way to the beach.

Once more the technocrafter was overwhelmed by the change of scenery. The soft sand under his feet was completely different from the rough earth on Rucasur. Waves from the ocean rolled onto the shore, their sound soothing to the mind. Everything smelled fresh, salty like on Gaunus but more alive.

While Robin was still marveling at his surroundings, the others were captivated by the real wonder of nature that was before them. At least half a dozen black dots could be seen on the horizon. Islands that floated in random patterns along the ocean, hidden from modern scans and whispering promises about riches and secrets.

“Any idea how to start?” Keran was the first to break the silence and asked.

“I only know that it should be here in the Mystic Sea, the… data I got has no information about how to navigate these islands whatsoever.”

“Can’t we just fly over there with the Hubble and take a look at each island?” Sevastian asked with a shrug.

“If it was that easy, others would have done that already.” Robin said and continued to explain, “You can fly low with a ship like the Hubble here, in theory. However, the electromagnetic storm impacts more than just the scanners when you get so close. It’s said that most of the navigational systems begin to fail quickly after entering the area, as there are irregular occurring spikes in the storm. Therefore it’s hard to get away from the ocean with such a big spaceship, if you don’t wanna fly straight up through the storm - which is a bad idea.

Most people use small ships or even real boats. Then, after getting hit by a spike of the electromagnetic storm that kills the nav systems, they move to the closest island and wait until the eruption lessens and the systems come back online. Small vehicles can stay on the islands without risking them to slowly sink, like they would do if the Hubble landed on them.”

“Also, I’m pretty sure the UAS has already skimmed through this ocean to give every island a visual examination. Whatever is left to find here should be hidden to the naked eye.” Keran added.

“So? What’s the plan, captain?” Landom asked.

“Let’s go back for now and see if we can find someone that is versed in navigating through these islands. Tomorrow we can start some trips with the Melody II and one more ship we should rent. If you squeeze up a bit, two of you will fit onto the copilot’s seat.

So I hope to start the exploration tomorrow as a group of four or five.” Robin explained and got approving nods from the others.

“Good.” He said and walked back to the settlement, “Landom, please arrange the allocation of roles for tonight. Let the girls have a visit to Dreamer’s Hope, too. I’ll move ahead with Keran and start looking for a vehicle to rent. We will meet at the inn later.”

It didn’t take them long to find someone who had a stock of simple Sentinels for rent, the same ship from Corax that the smugglers used during Robin’s first encounter. These ships however had no weapons mounted but instead more storage capacity and bigger fuel tanks to increase the range.

Having dealt with that, Robin and Keran returned to the inn and waited for the others. Half a beer later, Happy, Alena and Landom joined them. Patience had decided to stay on the ship with Timothy and Sevastian.

Night came quickly and at some point Keran and Landom both decided to hit the bed. They shared one room, same as the women. Meanwhile, Happy was still talking to the other adventurers, listening to unbelievable tales of treasures and legends. Alena wasn’t found anywhere and Robin assumed she also had gone to bed already.

When most of the guests had left the inn, Robin moved to the bar and Niu joined him. He ordered a Drifting Island, one of the house’s specialties, for each of them but kept silent.

“Just ask already!” Happy finally said and took a sip from her cocktail. Her eyes went wide in amazement and she gave the innkeeper a thumbs up.

“Good stuff!”

“Thanks, Miss.” The man cheerfully replied and continued to clean some glasses.

“So?” She looked expectantly at Robin.

“Sooo… Patience and Sevastian really do hit off well, don’t they?” He chuckled and grabbed his drink, “They are a good match, not only because of their mutations but they do think alike. I’m happy for her.”

“Is the captain starting with gossip right now?” Niu laughed, “I agree with you, though. However, that’s not what you wanted to ask, isn’t it?”

Robin looked at his drink and put it back on the table - he was the leader of this adventure and today was not the day to get drunk. Instead he took a deep breath and turned to his friend.

“Any word from your family?” He asked what kept his mind busy the last few days.

Happy took another sip from her drink and contemplated a bit.

“No, nothing yet. We left Gaunus before Joseph, my family’s contact, arrived and ever since then there has been radio silence.”

“How did they react to the news of you taking part in the Hubble-mission?”

“I can only imagine my parents were raging at home. They normally don’t tolerate such disobedience, however I just sent them a short message and avoided informing them about the changes personally via comm.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“They didn’t reach out to you at all?” Robin asked, eyebrows raised.

“Nope, nothing…”

“I don’t like that.” He said and carefully chose his next words, “The UAS and I do have a solid agreement, but I experienced first hand that not everyone inside of the organization is in favor of our dealings…”

“The checkup from Ramones?” Niu asked.

“Yes, and what greatly disturbs me is, that like with your family, there should have been another attempt or at least another contact since long… but nothing. I really thought they would try something while we stayed on Rucasur.

“That’s…” Niu said and had to pause to give a yawn, “That’s why you were in such a hurry to leave the planet?”

“Yeah, but it seems I’m overcautious.”

“Maybe it worked and we left...” She had to yawn again, “...we left before they could try anything?”

“I don’t believe it’s that easy. But enough of that, you should really hit the bed!” Robin chuckled when he saw her eyelids starting to droop. However, his grin immediately vanished after Niu actually dropped face first on the counter, fast asleep.

He tried to shake her awake but got no reaction at all. When he heard chairs being pushed back, he looked around and saw that the room was almost empty. There were only six people left and they had all just gotten up.

“Burn in plasma!” Robin cursed under his breath and assessed the situation. Niu was obviously out cold, probably drugged. Was it by the innkeeper who was suddenly missing right now? Must be, no one else was close to their drinks. At least he hadn’t touched his one.

He fired a quick Echo-Pulse and saw that two of the guys in the group had energy weapons holstered. With the other three men and the woman he didn’t find such guns, but they still could carry ballistic ones. He wouldn’t detect those. With a slight surprise, Robin also sensed the alien weapon from the shady guy in the doorway to the back room, but couldn't find it or the cloaked figure itself with his eyes. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to think about that right now.

* Fight imminent

* Attackers intentions are unknown, but killing you isn’t their goal (89%)

* The UAS regulations make it clear that they do not agree with participation in primitive bar brawls

‘You little, useless piece of code… dammit!’ He cursed and concentrated on the approaching group.

“You sure you wanna do this?”

“You shouldn’t have skipped your drink, pal. Now this will hurt a bit…” One of the dudes said and suddenly jumped forward.

He was quick and in an instant appeared before Robin, his fist propped for a right hook. However, Robin was prepared and the moment the guy moved, he already was in the middle of a long kick that connected neatly with the man’s nether region.

Everyone in the room winced and took a sharp breath. That must have hurt…

The guy gave a high pitched yelp and slumped down.

‘One out, five to go!’ Robin thought, but without much hope for his situation. The woman and one man flanked him, while the others closed in on him from the front - slower and more carefully now.

With his back to the bar, Robin didn’t have much room to move and decided on attacking rather than defending. He jumped towards the woman to his side and aimed a fist for her ribs. She nimbly dodged backwards and Robin spun around to confront whoever was behind him. Just in time he blocked a blow from one of the guys, but his arm hurt like hell - must be some strength or hardening type of mutation.

Once more he threw a first at one of the guys and actually scored a hit, before he had to duck down and block a few punches. Pain raced through his body when many hits landed on unprotected parts.

With one last struggle Robin grabbed his untouched drink and battered the glass, with its thick bottom first, into the closest face he found. It shattered into a mix of alcohol and sharp broken fragments. With satisfaction, he heard someone scream in pain, before another wave of fists hit him and he sank to his knees - eyes swollen, mouth bloody and bruised all over.

Just when he expected more attacks to come, the thugs began to scream and yell in pain. When he looked up, Robin saw Alena dancing between the remaining group of four. The guy he hit first was still lying on the floor, whimpering, and the one he had hit with the glass was also out of the fight. However it looked like that not only was his face a bloody mess, but his knee also didn’t seem to be in the right position.

Meanwhile, Alena moved between the rest of the group with amazingly graceful movements. She weaved evasions together with attacks, pretty brutal attacks, into a beautiful dance-like show. Sometimes she still got hit, but it didn’t seem to faze her at all, instead she aimed for her enemy’s weak points with deadly precision. He saw her kicking the knee of a dude to break it, jabbing the throat of the other woman to choke her and one time she even aimed for the eyes with pointed fingers.

Screams and shouts could be heard everywhere, but slowly it was only the thugs who were whimpering in pain. Once more Robin sent out an Echo-Pulse and this time he found an anomaly. Quickly he concentrated his main skill on a specific place behind the bar and his eyes went wide when he realized that the innkeeper was hunkering down there, waiting with an energy gun in his hands.

“A…garwl..” Robin wanted to warn his comrade but his mouth was swollen and bloody. He spat out and tried again, slowly and with a hushed voice that was seemingly drowned by the ruckus which was happening all around him.

“Alena! One… one more, behind the b-b-bar, armed with a w-w-weapon…” He stammered, his face hurt like hell... No, his whole body was a freaking mix of pain.

It seemed like Alena had heard him though, because she quickly knocked out the last guy with another knee-breaking kick, combined with a chop to his neck, and moved over to the bar. In one fluid motion, she pulled out her gun and jumped onto the counter. When the Innkeeper stood up, he found the barrel of a pistol directly pressed on his forehead, before he could even raise his own weapon.

“You better put that gun back down!” She said with a grin on her face.

The man immediately complied and dropped his weapon.

“Okay, okay! I don’t wanna have any beef with you, lady!” He hastily said.

“Yeah, too late for that…” She said, knocking him out in one fell swoop with the butt of her gun.

After hopping from the counter, she squatted down in front of Robin.

“You look like shit, but you got two of them - not too bad, captain!” She laughed one last time, before her cold expression returned.

‘So, she only laughs when she’s in a fight? Sevastian was right, the women in our crew are all lunatics!’ He thought and relaxed a bit. Lunatics they may be, but they were his lunatics and they were awesome!

From the stairways that led to the upper level of the inn, Landom and Keran came rushing down. They observed the mess in the room, with broken furnishings scattered on the floor and six people lying around unconsciously or groaning in pain. Well, six plus their captain, the innkeeper and a loudly snoring Happy on the bar.

“What the actual fuck did happen here?” Landom exclaimed in shock.