The desert sun rose quietly above the mudflats. Streaks of light radiated across the sky as a few hundred cracked and dishevelled buildings poked out at a small decrepit bay. It was a solemn sight, but human activity could be observed and a few ships were seen hovering overhead. The roads were paved and crackled, small amounts of shrubbery cascading across the murky landscape. Clouds quickened overhead, sweeping through the overcast and into the horizon beyond. I stood at the bow of the ship, hail flailing in the hot wind as I stared into the mud-baked sands. A horn pierced the air as we arrived and Ellis cut thrusters causing the vessel to fall back.

The general stood at the bridge of the ship barking orders as we proceeded to land. He flipped a series of buttons and wires to enact landing gear. Thrusters burst as smoke billowed from the window streaking into the sky above.

“There it is West New-Arakkis… old Arakkis was nicer but most of it was torched by Collective troops a couple of years ago. Maybe ten or twelve.

Here is where we sell some of our cargo. Offload merchandise in exchange for goods. The rest goes to Archius. As you can see I didn't show you one portion of the vessel when we first arrived. The bulk of the ship. The cargo hold.” Ellis breathed.

Metal clanged as he threw open the hatch. Sparks flew as it crashed into the wall. Casting a slender hand Ellis pointed downwards towards a dark abyss. Placing my foot down I felt for the first rung before lowing myself into the hold.

Around me, an aroma sifted through the air. A pile of wood lay before my feet it was splintered and yellowed with age. Hundreds of them cascaded throughout the steel walls. I placed my hand against the corner steadying myself to find four cargo containers.

“Bokana wood, I picked it up on the coast, it's incredibly durable and lightweight so it catches a high price in the markets

These four cargo containers are from the Merchant's guild. Ore that I was commissioned to give to a nearby refinery" Ellis pointed out. He tapped his hand on an enormous steel crate. It shifted as he spoke with the crate swaying in the flight.

"The rest is scrap, metal to be melted down and refined that I trade along the way" He barked over the sound of the engines.

Suddenly the ship halted causing me to be thrown forward. I caught myself on the first crate having it dig into my stomach.

“Sir…. We are cleared by the sheriff for landing.” Sparky's voice rang over the loudspeakers.

I clutched onto a nearby cargo strap bracing for impact.

The hovercraft came down fast spraying mud into the air as it landed. Ellis and I lowered the bay doors as two ruff-looking scavengers approached and waited for us to land. They wore plastered mechanics jumpsuits and had wrenches in hand. Sweat could be seen glistening on their greased faces. Waving commands at the general they directed us to a safe platform where several more workers came out to unload the cargo.

Stepping down from the forward hatch I placed a foot into the sand feeling the ground crumble beneath my step.

The general came out and approached a scruffy-looking human who wore a silver flight helmet, it glinted violently in the sun.

I grunted as four workers entered the ship offloading a variety of merchandise.

“Morning Mr. Dart” He inquired.

Dart wore a silver suit that was half caked in dirt. His tie was flustered flying about in the wind.

“Mornin Ellis… How much do we have?”

“1.34 tons of scrap, plus 10 yards of the coil and the capacitors you ordered.”

“I'll give you 12341 quands and a free fuel refill….

“Sounds good” He muttered.

“How come you're late?” Dart inquired. He cast an eye on the vessel's engines as he spoke.

“Picked up a dropper on the way. He repaired Sparky”

“Here… he did?” Dart asked nervously.

"Yes," Ellis replied.

  The robot approached the railing on the vessel's deck, a rifle glinting in his hands as he cast a frivolous glance across the landing bay infront. A few workers backed away from the hull and returned to their usual duties.

“Yes. No harm intended I’m sure… is that a Kestle Uniform he’s wearing?” Dart asked.

Ellis turned to me and handed me a brown cloak

“My fault” The general muttered.

Dart turned to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry… Best cover that up there's still a bounty on your captain, old Ellis here.” He spoke.

“So this is the drop?” He asked.

His eyes wandered across my body as if to find something wrong.

“He ain’t look like he's injured. What happened to you?" the man inquired.

I stood back startled by the blunt nature of the question.

“Nothing… nothing happened to me” I replied hastily.

Ellis stepped forward blocking Dart's view.

“He's a convict. Trespassed into Collective Government Space...”

The man laughed. He shook his head for a moment before turning to Ellis.

"I'm surprised you got exile for that, wouldn't it be forced labour?" Dart inquired.

“What?” I replied

“Don't be so modest… you were pretty popular” Ellis breathed.

He placed a hand around my neck and began to edge me towards the town.

"Hang in there kid, I was exiled ten years ago, this place isn't so bad, we still have radio contact and some parts are pretty civilized" Dart barked as we walked away.

“Thanks” I muttered in confusion,

Dart then placed the contents of a pouch into the general’s hands. The leather bag was wrinkled and weathering at the edges yet its contents still clinked at the touch.

“Thanks” Ellis replied.

“Have a nice visit. Remember just mention my name and you'll be fine!”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

We walked for some time before nearing the edge of the town. Thick concrete and mortar walls could be seen sticking up from the ground. Their edges were crumbling and distraught. Shrubbery hugged our feet as we walked the road. After a few minutes, we approached the first residence, a rusted steel building that glinted in the sun.

“There is a tavern down here … we need to see the Sheriff and I have something else to drop off" Ellis muttered.

As we continued along the dirt path I began to see the truth. The streets of New Arrakis were paved with poverty and mud. The once magnificent buildings were stained in a mixture of blood, sweat, and sand. The people who lived in its sun-scorched hills walked by and didn't want to have to look twice.

In the past, it had been a Collective research outpost, a masterwork of engineering equipped with the foremost technology known to the galaxy. Housing a small research staff of a hundred, they abandoned their project and compound due to a lack of funding along with an influx of insurgent attacks. The settlers cleared what robotic guards remained and moved in. Surprisingly after only one bombardment from passing government fighters, the population was left to their own devices.

  The preset generator and multitude of buildings fashioned an ideal place to start civilization if you can even call it that. Once we arrived at the town's derelict entrance two armed guards stood in front. They were hardened by the world around them their faces scarred from many battles and their guns half drawn, you could see their once pristine armour scratched and warped, the perils of many battles etched into the metal scars.

  Ellis waved his hand and they let him past a series of increasingly taller walls. The inner portion of the town was less muddy but no more civilized. Scum and bandits filled the streets galavanting with a boisterous nature. Hanging around the dishevelled buildings and ruins of a former laboratory were crowds of undesirables. Citizens were hardened by the endless horrors invoked by the wasteland. I dodged the arrival of an orange hover skiff and continued walking mud splattering over my rubber boots. A strange substance was pooling out of the sewer and onto the street.

  For some time we wandered the winding mud-soaked roads, Ellis made various stops along the way unloading cargo and signing yellow-stained documents. A mercenary force seemed to run the town, followed by a few dishevelled police officers. They looked at us menacingly, one clutched a steel bat and played with it in his hand twirling it vigorously in the palm of his glove. A glint of sweat streaked down my face. Ellis turned to me.

“Don’t sweat” he said

“We're in the middle of a desert!” I replied

“It is classified as a wasteland and doesn’t sweat in front of police, correction” he mumbled.

The street had once been highly manufactured steel lamposts towering above all. I dug my feet into the ground and shuffled it around to reveal the ground was once built on durable concrete. Desert storms had strewn a blanket over enveloping much of the former remains.

  Galloping along the sidewalk I kicked a stone into the gutter to watch in horrifying shock as a gang of sewer rats devoured the rock, somehow their teeth had drawn blood from the stone. The stone then did the unexpected and lashed back with a ferocious claw causing it to cower in fright and the others to flee in terror.

“Strange” I whispered

We kept walking along the rotted wood, the sents and sounds of the town wafting before our eyes.

  Suddenly a group of citizens walked in front of us on the boards. All four police officers had disappeared from sight. The people seemed normal in the beginning, their faces covered in an array of wraps and armour, eyes showing no hint of emotion. However, when they analyzed the area and were sure the guards had moved onto the next zone they swarmed Ellis as a viscous hoard of thugs. Brandishing knives, broken glass and makeshift weapons pulled off of the streets of the gloomy metropolis. Their leader spoke his gnarled face hidden by a blue-stained bandana.

“Going anywhere?” he hissed.

For a moment time seemed to stop, every breath drawing out hours.

“As a matter of fact we are,” the general shouted.

  Ellis pulled out two pistols from his ragged cloak and I drew one hidden in mine. The citizens hesitated for a moment, their expression questioning the events and forthcoming, a few pausing to inspect their foe with beady eyes and twitching fingers. Ellis remained calm and stern almost smiling as he watched them squirm. Our eye's met, cold and unwavering from both sides.

  In the end, they incessantly cowered away to falling back into the endless shadows of a murky alleyway. Ellis holstered his pistol once more and I kept mine at my side. However, not all of the inhabitants were unkept lowlives and criminals. A few hard-working miners could be seen crossing the street to a nearby tavern and humble settlers searching for newfound opportunity were strewn throughout the lane running various stalls and markets. The smell of roasted pork and smithery drifted through the air. A few settlers had begun raising a community farm, using welding tools to construct a steel base.

  A teacher could be observed lecturing young children on how to write Collective numerals through the mirky window of the town’s school. An old man ran up to the general, destitute and clearly dishevelled from his ragged clothes and gaunt face. Ellis pressed a few coins into their palm, whispering kind words as we worked our way up the street. Good is always found in the heart of evil, just as evil can be sought in even the brightest of times.

  We walked patiently by a vast array of shrubbery and greens coming across a burned-out pod that was pushed onto the side of the winding concrete road.

  The pod seemed to be a kind of mechanical craft and apart from visual signs of looting and scorch marks from welding tools, the citizens seemed to give it a wide berth. An aurora of fear is instilled in its wake. There were red design lines plastered on the side and a medium-sized powered steel door. A drill could be seen on the bottom, perhaps to stabilize the craft by digging downward or to ensure it could crack into the concrete. The road parted in its wake as the charred ground was cast about its feet.

Ellis paused and inspected the tube, familiar with its shape and build he motioned for me to come to his side.

“Do you know what this is?” he spoke.

I pressed my hand against the steel. It was cool to the touch and soft to my palm. I ran my fingers along the hull searching through my mind.

“No… It looks like a ship escape pod according to my memory, however industrially modified to carry three times the weight.” I replied.

Ellis muttered calmly to himself before he pulled out a knife and jabbed it into the door's interior. The gears hissed as it sprung open revealing a scurry of rats to sprint out. I yelped as one ran across my foot into the alleyways behind. The interior was simply a metal cylinder. Hold's and grips were spread throughout and what looked like a charging port lay within.

“The collective often do not install information about their own systems to its own subjects. It is a drop pod, suitable for a squad of four droid soldiers.

  They often are seen when transport or large-scale cruiser is performing an assault or a vessel is being destroyed. Instead of landing, collective soldiers will shoot these into the ground and release squads of troops onto their foe below. Ceasing assets and neutralizing any residual anti-air or insurgent forces. Since cannons have a hard time taking out all of the pods which fall at an incredible speed, it is a barbaric yet effective way to fight” he answered

“Who would have sent it?” I asked.

“This seems fairly old, possibly from the time of Arakis’s first destruction or when the mercenaries cleared the Collective from these buildings.” he scoured.

  We continued to walk along the concrete passing shops offering a variety of contraband and regular items. One thing that particularly caught my eye was a heavily armed shop that sold a series of needles and chemicals. Its grimey windows were reinforced and barred. The door had a security camera placed out front. On the sign in front, it called itself a Cognitionist. The script was blocky and mechanical. When I raised my arm to point at the location Ellis quickly answered my question.

“It’s an information store, you inject the chemicals into your brain along with a series of microchips to gain knowledge.

Those were a relying factor in the downfall of society and caused severe separation of the rich, middle and poor classes almost ensuring divides forever. Quite similar to the process you underwent and quite more uncivilized, brutal and expensive. The information in that building comes nowhere close to what lies dormant in your head, mere shadows, whisps in comparison.” He replied

I wanted to venture inside and peer among its dusty shelves and mysterious array of chemicals however he grasped my arm lightly and we continued to slither along the road. For some time we continued down the bustling streets, pausing only to take a breath or note the time.

  On top of a nearby roof, a sharp cry was heard. Ellis whipped out his pistol, knocking a carton of cabbage to the side and blasted a lone figure who was hunched on a collage of shingles. The cabbages rolled onto the murky floor, leaves slowly turning brown in the mud. The dead-eye shot had nailed him between the eyes causing the bandit to fall forwards and land face-first into a puddle of manure. Blood slicked out of the corpse turning the fowl water red. Mud stuck to my boots as my heart raced.

  Clutched in the dead man’s grasp was a large tube which when further examined seemed to be some form of an improvised rocket launcher. I hastily aimed my pistol and scanned the area around us. The streets had stopped dead, and all inhabitants screamed and rushed for cover. Suddenly three more of the bandits appeared, two came from the alleyway and slashed Ellis in the hand causing him to drop his pistol.

  He quickly dealt with them with three strokes of his own yellowed blade however he recalled his hand nursing it in his jacket. The third bandit stood on top of a residential roof and pulled out a sniper rifle, he aimed at Ellis but I was too quick, shooting him three times in the head before he even could fire. The makeshift armour he wore collapsed inwards as his body hit the roof and fell sinking into the mud below.

“Quick, let's get off the streets” he scurried.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“In case you haven’t noticed I have a price on my head” he whispered.

“Where are we going again?” I asked.