“I can’t believe you got me for one mill,” I complained as Haru, Sparky, and I made our way to the Mauler through the long corridors.

“Well, you should’ve done as the guards did and left once they got to ten K,” Haru countered.

“I still can’t believe you made rock, paper, scissors a gambling game. When statistically speaking, as soon as you start losing, the chances of you winning is slim to none,” Sparky added.

I stopped, turned, leaned forward to look Sparky in the eyes, and said, “I didn’t ask for your opinion, Sparky.”

“To paraphrase my imbecile of a teacher. I don’t give a fuck.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded and continued walking.

After several minutes, I noticed that it became very quiet and then noticed that Haru and Sparky had disappeared. I looked around confused, then shrugged and continued walking to the hangar, the long corridors giving off an ominous feeling. It made me feel alive and gave me the need to chase something and run. You know what? This is my ship. I can do whatever I damn well please with it.

I broke out into a full sprint, and after a few strides, I began doing cartwheels and wall runs until I made it to the long stairwell. Instead of going down the stairs normally, I activated the cybernetic implants in my legs and jumped. I hit the wall at the bottom of the first flight, rebounded off it, and jumped down to the next, the next, and the next until I reached the bottom of the stairwell.

Feeling elated at the exertion, I walked through the airlock door and met with Haru and Sparky. “About time,” Sparky said snidely.

I looked between the two and the door I had just walked through, “How did you get down here so fast?” I asked.

Haru pointed down the hall, “There’s a lift just down there. I thought you explored the ship?”

“Oh,” I said, then added, “Well, I didn’t explore that much.”

“Clearly. Now, where are we going?” Sparky asked.

“We are going to go get recruits,” I answered and began walking to my ship. The black and red paint job glinted in the fluorescent lights of the hanger as I approached.

“Yes, I know this. But where are we getting recruits?”

“We are getting them…where we get them,” Haru answered.

Sparky froze, “Are you telling me you two don’t have a plan?”

“Noooooo,” I hedged as I opened the airlock door to my ship, “you are saying we don’t have a plan. Haru and I never said we don’t have a plan.”

“But no, we don’t have a plan,” Haru said.

“Haru! We needed to tell her after she gets shot and almost killed!” I scolded her as I boarded my ship

“Well, she’s smart. She’ll figure it out eventually,” Haru countered, following me.

Sparky stayed frozen to the spot she stood and mumbled under her breath, so low that I could barely hear her, “I may have made a mistake taking Violet up on her offer,” then she reluctantly boarded the small black and red vessel.

***

As space straightened and went back into place, we laid our eyes on a massive planet with a never-ending storm raging on its surface and the five moons orbiting the gas giant. One of which had a thriving city covering the surface of the moon. “Welcome, to my playground,” I said lovingly, gesturing to the planet and its moons.

“She means, Asakalabaum,” Haru translated, pointing to the city moon.

“Hey! Stop ruining my fun!” I snapped, “You’ve already fiddled with my chair and changed its settings.”

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“Well, sorry for making it more comfortable!” Haru countered and turned in her chair.

“HA! Comfortable!? Those are default settings!”

“They’re better than your settings then!”

“You take that back!”

As the argument raged on, Sparky went to the beds in the back and laid in one of them, rubbing her temples, saying, “Four hours… four fucking hours of this pointless blathering… four FUCKING hours!” then an alarm went off on her wrist watch, which she quickly silenced, “FIVE FUCKING HOURS!!”

“Oh, stop complaining, Sparky!” I said, “Or I’ll turn this ship around and make it ten hours!”

“Just land,” Haru said, pinching the bridge of her nose in defeat.

“Fine, fine. We’ll be landing in a few minutes. So, get comfortable.”

“Good. I’d like to get on solid ground and out of this ship as soon as possible— AHHHHHH!” Sparky sat up and returned to the cockpit before she screamed as I flipped several switches and poured all power into the sublight engines. The sudden lurch as the inertial dampeners switch off and then stay off. As Sparky hit the back of the ship, she yelled, “Did you divert power from the inertial dampeners!!”

“Yep!” I yelled back, focusing all my attention on flying as Sparky yelled a torrent of curses at me. “Yeah, yeah. Hold that thought, Sparky. Mommy has to find a parking space.”

Haru, clutching the arms of her chair in fear, turned her head and said, “I know what that means. Sparky, strap in! Now!”

A wide, devious, and slightly insane smile spread across my face as I aimed for the edge of the gas giant, “This is going to be so fun!” I said, then pushed the throttle of the ship to maximum speed.

As they hurtled toward the planet, the feeling of gravity took hold and continuously grew. I felt as though weights were slowly being added to my body, crushing me. Soon I could barely move my arms, and colors began to drain from my surroundings, leaving everything in black and white. Then my chest tightened as my heart struggled to pump blood to my brain and extremities. At this feeling, I felt I had enough and activated my cybernetic implants to move my arm toward a nearby button, pressing it and re-activating the inertial dampeners.

As the gravity of the fast-approaching planet stopped affecting me, color returned to my vision, and I pulled back on the yolk just enough to get in a suitable orbit around the planet while not losing any speed. Then I flipped three switches to my left and heard the top of my ship open up, and a holographic display of my nearly empty fuel cells refilling came onto the dashboard in front of me.

“Haha! That was fun, wasn’t it!?” I laughed and turned to Haru. She had passed out from the immense G-forces. I frowned and turned to look to the back of the ship and saw Sparky lying face down on the ground, unconscious. I looked between them and scoffed, “Lightweights.”

Turning back to the holographic display, I watched the fuel cells refill. As they reached half full, Haru stirred and groaned. I didn’t hear what she said. It sounded like she just mumbled to herself. I shrugged and continued to guide the ship around the planet until the fuel cells filled. By the time they finished, Asakalabam had come into view, and gravity gave the Mauler plenty of speed.

“Huh, what-what happened?” Haru asked as Sparky crawled her way up to the front of the ship, looking more pale than usual.

“Hey! So, we just refueled with the gas that comprises the gas giant. Hydrogen works wonders for my neutron engines. And due to the gravity slingshotting us, we’re about to land. Very forcefully,” I said happily.

“What?!” Sparky yelled and began to go on a rant.

Ignoring Sparky’s yelling, I aimed the ship at Asakalabam, and gravity threw them at the moon city. The moon grew exponentially larger as they drew closer. I quickly reached up and flipped a few switches above me to send a docking request to the spaceport I would be landing at and reached to my left to rest my hand on a touchscreen panel. My cybernetics connected with the screen, and I received complete control of the ship’s unique features.

One of the unique features being gravity manipulation tech. I installed it myself and can only change the lower half of the ship’s weight, but it does the job. As they entered the moon’s atmosphere and the ship began to heat up, a confirmation signal sounded in the cockpit, and I activated the gravity manipulation tech reversing gravity. The ship immediately leveled out of the nose dive and began to shake as it continued to fall. A holographic display activated and showed the number of meters and feet before we hit the ground.

Twelve thousand meters, or thirty-nine thousand feet, and dropping. My heart raced as I saw how fast the numbers ticked by, and my attitude plummeted. I felt alive. Soon I flipped a few more switches, and the reverse thrusters kicked in, slowing the ship further. A timer came onto the holographic screen and began counting down from ten. I held onto the yolk of the ship for dear life.

Nine.

Haru screamed, cursing my name.

Eight. Seven.

Sparky held a hand over her mouth and sat on one of the beds holding onto anything else with her free hand.

Six. Five.

I began to laugh uncontrollably at the chaos I managed to create within a few minutes.

Four, three, two, one.

The Mauler abruptly stopped as it hovered over a landing pad a few feet below. I flipped a few switches on a panel to my right, released the landing gear, and gently lowered the ship onto the platform. Once safely on the ground, I shut off the ship and turned to see a frazzled Haru and a very green Sparky.

“We’re here!” I exclaimed excitedly, “Welcome to Asakalabam! An absolute shit hole of a moon and where we can find plenty of redshirts. Maybe.” Haru shakily stood and flipped me off as she went to the airlock to leave the ship. Then Sparky lost her lunch.

***