Lus tapped his foot nervously as the shuttle descended towards the small landing pad located in Bevas, the capital city of Rika. Really it was the only city on the planet which hosted just a few agricultural communities outside of Bevas. Out in Helios, the least colonized sector in the entire Cinder Rock Galaxy, most planets only hosted one or two condensed populations.
He knew he didn’t have anything to fear from a backwater planet. There would be no scanners, and Rika was technically on the Federal side of the war (not that that meant much out in the wilds of the galaxy), but the thought of being back out in the open after everything that happened back on Vipor made him anxious, nonetheless.
Yonnex-Quniwel was at the helm of the shuttle, with Nippy in the front passenger’s seat. Zer-Dasht and Wsr were in the back seats beside Lusac, the entire team for the upcoming mission.
During Lus’s month stuck on the Argo, the Runners had found three more pieces of the artifact. They only needed four more before they could hand the entire completed set over to their employer. Of course, in getting those other pieces, more trouble had been kicked up so now Captain Tave was having them go for a piece that was far from where anyone else would see them, at a long ago abandoned mine on a moon in an uncolonized system.
For this kind of specialized mission, though, the team would need a collection of anchors and grappling systems, and the Argo was currently lacking enough for all five team members. Thus, they were headed to Bevas on Rika, a rest stop for many of the explorers and expeditions which passed through the Helios sector.
In the city they would be able to find a shop to supply them with not only the climbing gear, but some other items Nippy thought would be helpful for adventuring into mines that hadn’t been touched in years, such as hand drills and industrial grade cutters.
Yonnex-Quniwel guided their shuttle safely onto the landing pad with a quick sigh of relief. It was no secret that the Argo’s assistant pilot tended to overly worry when he was out on his own without Oaty to cover him.
“Nicely done,” Nippy congratulated the Nemarian with a strong slap on his scaled shoulder. “I’ll pay for the spot. Wsr and Lus, you two go scout ahead at the shops. Dasht and Quniwel will handle securing the shuttle.”
Lus undid his seatbelt and stood up to follow the two Kremel from the shuttle while Zer-Dasht complimented Quniwel in a vain attempt to ease the pilot’s nerves.
A hazy, red sun shone up above, with a muted blue filling the rest of the sky. Before them stretched out the low and wide “city” of Bevas, which seemed to contain more advertisement signs than people. Only about half of the ads were electronic while the rest were old school billboards with neon lights on the borders to illuminate their features. The buildings were bland in comparison, mainly shades of gray and brown that all meddled together into a neutral background to further highlight the signs pleading for customers.
The landscape surrounding Bevas was even more bland, being yellow dirt that stretched on in flat plains for miles. A single river ran nearby, full of machinery outputting black plumes into the sky which were almost immediately dissipated by the strong breeze.
“Reminds me of home,” Wsr said with a grin.
“This?” Lusac asked. He supposed some aspects like the factories and dull colored buildings were reminiscent of Treft where he grew up, but the thousands of signs were a little too conspicuous for him to ignore.
“I’m from Pragtin,” Wsr informed him.
Pragtin, the hive of the criminal underworld. Lus had been there only once, and from what he could recall, Bevas looked as mild as a church in comparison.
“I didn’t know people actually lived on Pragtin. I thought it was more of a way place,” Lus said.
“I can’t say there were all that many other kids when I was growing up, but my mom stuck out a living for me and my brother,” Wsr explained further. “Someone’s got to run the pubs for the pirates, thieves, and hackers.”
“And Runners?” Lus probed a little.
“Of course.” Wsr smiled a little broader. “But Runners were normally too high of class for the place my mom ran.”
“I was unaware there were classes of criminals.”
“Only because you were lucky enough to start at the top.” The Kremel smacked his back. “Come on. Enough reminiscing. We’ll have our work cut out for us in finding the right store. You remember what we need?”
“Three anchors, two grappling guns, five alunitanium ropes and harnesses, two industrial-grade all-in cutters, four hand drills, and five small height parachutes,” Lus recited back to her.
“Good. That means we can split up. Remember, we want to pay in valers and won’t do any kind of logbooks.”
“I remember,” Lusac assured his companion.
She bent down and grabbed a fistful of the golden sand at their feet. Lus watched her with interest until she dumped it all over his hair and then rubbed streaks of it across his face. He jerked away with a shout, but she ignored him as she repeated the process for herself, adding some extra smudges to mar the dark green skin of her bare arms.
“What in Suns’ name was that for?” he asked, already reaching up to wipe away the dirt.
“We’re too clean. The poorer we look, the better deals we’ll get.” Wsr rubbed more dirt across her plain clothing. It was typical Kremel fashion, black with a few fur decorations to break up the monotony.
Lus sighed in resignation and scooped up his own bits of sand to stain his clothes: a loose, light colored shirt with sturdy trousers that could blend in with any Human sect.
“Atta boy,” Wsr encouraged. “And one last thing: you want to seem poor, but not desperate. A desperate person gets screwed over as easily as a rich one.”
He nodded, grateful for the advice. “It’s not like I’ll actually be doing the negotiating at least.”
“First impressions are valuable,” Wsr countered. “Trust me. I know a thing or two about swindling.” She twirled a small, gray crystal between her fingers, making it seem as though it disappeared and reappeared to the untrained eye. She then held it out to Lus, and he realized it was his crystal, taken from his pocket without his notice.
“You gotta teach me how to do that,” Lus murmured as he accepted it back. It was about the length of his little finger and twice as thick.
“Save up. My teaching fee isn’t cheap,” she replied with a smirk.
Lus held up the crystal.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Not even enough for one lesson.” Wsr shook her head.
“Sounds like another sham,” he said. That crystal represented four months of pay and could buy him a used hover car on some of the more rural planets in Gemini.
“Now you’re learning.” She winked before pushing him forwards. “Keep your eyes sharp, Lus. Most cheats won’t give it back, even if you catch them.”
“Right,” Lusac confirmed, feeling a little foolish he’d brought it all. But it was his first time off ship in a month, and Rika was one of the planets were using valers was the norm, so most shops would be able to cut off their share when he bought something.
“Let’s meet back here in half an hour. Just try to gauge a few of the stores about our needs and then report back. Once we’re back with the others, we can do a more thorough search.” Wsr ushered him forwards.
“See you then,” Lusac called back as he marched towards the buildings and advertisements. He disliked how childlike Wsr was treating him. He’d been on plenty of rough planets like this before so he knew how to handle himself, but telling the Kremel that would have only earned more teasing after she so easily pickpocketed him.
Almost as soon as Lus stepped foot onto the streets of Bevas, he found someone calling for his attention with every step. It seemed the visual advertisements were not enough to draw the customers in anymore.
Lusac attempted to keep his manner casual as he walked, but with the constant barrage of shouts and the streets becoming more crowded, the memory of Wsr so easily taking his valer was at the forefront of his mind.
As he went, he scanned the various signs to see if he could find any that would be selling the kind of gear they wanted, but everything on the first street was more touristy, selling clothing or trinkets.
He noted that the crowds were almost a complete even mix of Kremel, Nemarian, and Humans since Rika was originally a Human planet. It was nice to not feel so out of place as he normally did on non-Human colonized planets where his species was a minority. The sheer number of stores and people, however, made it difficult to find anything like what he wanted.
With no equipment store in sight, he turned off that first street towards a less populated part of town. Plenty of billboards still assaulted Lus’s eyes as he walked, but there were few salespeople outside of the shops trying to goad him inside. It was a lot easier to think in the more relaxed atmosphere, and Lus was able to locate a shop which specialized in mining supplies. Taking a breath, he stepped in and was greeted by a Nemarian man wearing stained coveralls.
“What can I do for ya, kid?” he asked, eagerly sliding from behind the cashier stand.
“I’m part of a team that’s planning an expedition to one of the uncolonized planets out in the sector. We need some rather specific gear,” he explained tentatively, hoping he didn’t come off as wealthy or desperate, but unsure how to really achieve that balance.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place for that,” the salesman assured him. “We’ve got everything you could ever want for adventuring.”
The Nemarian led Lus to a wall full of shelves stuffed with all kinds of equipment he’d never seen before.
“What exactly were you looking for?” the man asked, still grinning with his overly wide mouth, the black eyes beaming.
Lus recited the list to the shopkeeper who continued smiling despite the length. Once he finished, the Nemarian rubbed his chin, and Lusac swore he started to lick his lips as well.
“That’s a lot of stuff. Must be some expedition. I’ll be able to furnish it for the best price in the whole city, don’t you worry,” the salesman said. He pulled out a holotablet and wrote a rather large amount on it. “Say, about 50,000 cryptin.”
Even with 0 [Common Sense], Lusac recognized when he was being conned. “Huh. We were looking to spend a little less. We definitely don’t have the funds for that. Thanks anyway.”
“It’s the lowest price you’ll hear from anyone, I promise.” The Nemarian grasped Lus’s arm as he turned back to the door. “But it goes up if you walk out. You won’t find it cheaper.”
Lusac shrugged. “Oh well. I have to try.”
The orange scaled being stepped in front of Lus’s path, blocking him from leaving. “47,000. At that price, it’s an absolute steal.”
“Sorry. We really can’t afford that,” he pressed while attempting to bypass the man.
The Nemarian spit a few curses but allowed him to leave while spewing out more warnings that it didn’t get better than what he offered.
Back on the street, Lus took a moment to recollect himself and wish Wsr was here with him. It was a lot harder figuring this stuff on his own than he thought it would be. He didn’t dare linger in front of the store for long though in case the shopkeeper decided to press his luck again. Lus hastily stepped away from the mining shop and started down the street again, still scanning for another suitable store.
He passed another store that sold similar wares to the other, but he noticed a greedy Human behind the register, and that sent off an internal set of alarm bells, so he kept going. Hopefully Wsr was having better luck, but part of Lus wanted to be the one to find the store in order to prove to both himself and the team that he could handle these kinds of tasks.
At the far end of the road, he came to one more equipment shop, and this time, to his relief, he saw a rather bored Kremel as the cashier. It seemed a lot more put together than the last place he attempted, so he took his chances and went inside.
“Hi. Welcome to Vwwtl’s. What can I help you with?” the female Kremel asked in a robotic tone.
“Hi. I’m looking for some equipment for my group before we set out,” Lus explained. He listed the items, and the woman showed only the faintest hint of even listening. When he finished, however, she already had a holotablet up with everything and a tidy 19,000 cyptin as the total.
“Will that work for you? If you want to sub out the alunitanium cables with something like irocap rope, it’ll knock another 1,000 off,” she said.
Lus blinked in surprise. That was even cheaper than what Nippy told him to look for originally. Apparently, he’d found a very good spot.
Before Lus could answer the cashier, someone else entered behind him, and the Kremel’s eyes went wide.
“Give me all the valers in the register, and no one gets hurt,” a gruff Human woman said.
Lus turned around, keeping his hands out in the open to face the robber. She wore all black with a metal mask obscuring many of her features. He noted a piece of white blonde hair sticking out from the hood of her jacket that surrounded her head, and that her skin held a deep tan. A blaster stretched out from her hands, aimed directly at the cashier.
“The money,” she demanded more intensely.
“I-I,” the Kremel stammered as she raised her hands in the air, glancing down at the register.
The robber moved closer, still brandishing her blaster, and as she shoved past Lus, he decided to make a move. If this store got robbed, they’d lose their chance to buy their gear at the lowest price possible, and he really wanted the clout of having found this place before Wsr. Not to mention that the cashier looked pretty close to having a panic attack, and he didn’t trust the thief to not shoot her in that case.
Slamming his body into the woman’s, he knocked her off course and distracted her enough to pull the pistol from her hands. In the next instant it was trained on her as he waited for her to surrender.
“You little dichen,” she yelled as she launched into him, expertly flinging the blaster from his hands.
In the next instant they were on the ground, wrestling for the upper hand. She pulled out everything from biting to spitting while Lusac tried to keep himself from being pinned down. He wasn’t doing so well with that 5 [Strength], but he did his best to use his extra height and reach to his advantage. They were locked in a sort of stalemate when shouting called their attention and ended the brawl.
“COPS! Hands in the air,” a man shouted. Lusac looked to see a Kremel pointing a blaster at them.
The woman on top of Lus spit one last time as she relinquished her hold on his arms and allowed herself to be dragged off by the officer.
Lusac stood to see the robber being cuffed while someone else talked with the Kremel cashier. That left one last officer who was staring at Lusac as if she wanted to commit murder on the spot.
She was a Human, and a rather pretty one at that. Her auburn hair sat right at her shoulders while her eyes gleamed a brilliant shade of brown. A touch of panic set in when a sense of recognition passed through him, but she obviously wasn’t with the Corporates, so he passed it off as a face familiar to someone else he once knew.
“Officer Rhine, get his statement,” the officer with the cashier ordered.
“With pleasure,” she said. “Let’s go somewhere without any distractions.” She grabbed Lusac’s arm and hauled him outside the shop and into a small alleyway.
Before Lus could think of his escape, the woman threw him against the wall and pinned him there with her forearm. She leaned in close as she spoke words that sank Lus’s soul.
“Where. Is. Leviathan.”