Opening the hanger door, I moved slightly to the right as I casually dodged a plasma bolt that Sparky fired at me. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed the number of bodies on the floor. Some looked to be regular criminals, and others appeared to be police officers.

Then I looked up at my ship. Sparky had built an automated turret that fired at anything that moved, and she hastily turned it off once she realized who it was coming through the door. While Haru lay on top of the ship in as much sunlight as possible, wearing a string bikini with just enough fabric to cover her more privet parts. And the dock worker that signed them in stood above her, using a piece of sheet metal as a fan for Haru.

The man looked terrified, so I fixed that. I pulled the 1911 from my pocket and fired at the man. The bullet went through one of his eyes, making him fall backward and off the ship.

“And you’re back. How was the trip?” Haru asked, not sitting up to look at me.

“It was okay. But I didn’t get what I wanted to get … exactly.”

“What does that mean?” Sparky asked, perplexed.

“It means I got us a job,” I clarified.

Haru sat up and looked at me, “You got us a job atop the one we’re currently doing?”

“Yep,” I confirmed, pulling out the blueprints and the list of materials needed from my bag. “This is for you, and this is for us,” I said, handing the blueprints to Sparky and holding up the list.

“What is this?” Sparky asked, looking at the blueprints.

“Don’t know. Your dumbass teacher was working on it with Jin before you killed him.”

“You saw Jin?” Haru asked as she jumped down from the ship and approached me.

“Yep,” I confirmed, unable to help but look at her beautiful tits as she approached me.

“How is he? I haven’t seen him in forever.”

“He’s dying.”

Haru’s smile disappeared, and she put a hand on her chest, which did nothing to stop me from looking at them. “He’s dying?” she asked.

“Yep.”

“But … but the best bartender ever can’t die! I need his drinks!”

“Yep.”

“What can we do to help him?”

“Yep.”

“Violet! Stop staring at my chest!”

“No.”

Haru huffed, turned on her heel, and walked back into the ship to get dressed. I stared daggers at her ass as she walked away. Sparky shook her head and asked, “Well, I’m assuming this device is supposed to save this Jin?”

“Yep,” I confirmed as the door to the ship closed, giving Haru some privacy. I then pulled out a device and turned it on, and a stream of Haru undressing came on screen.

Sparky got fed up, snatched the device from my hands, and threw it. “Even if I could decipher the chicken scratch my former teacher calls handwriting. I still need a place to build it. And your ship isn’t big enough for that,” Sparky said.

“I’m well aware. That’s why we’ll stop by my place and prep a bit before we start,” I answered. Then retrieved the device Sparky threw, continuing to watch it. To my disappointment, Haru had already finished changing back into the harem pants and crop top. “Damn,” I cursed before putting the device back in my pocket.

Haru exited the ship and asked, “So, where to next?”

I jogged up and boarded my ship, “Home base to resupply and prep.”

“Sounds good,” Haru agreed.

Sparky stood there a second and said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Keep it to yourself!” I yelled back and began the take-off sequence for the ship. Luckily, Haru had convinced the dock attendant to open the hangar doors so she could sunbathe. Otherwise, we would have some trouble taking off.

As they rose up and out of the hangar, I saw a small building on fire in the distance, and a smile played on my lips as I watched. “What’s that?” Haru asked.

“Looks like an orphanage is burning,” I said.

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“Oh, my gods! Did you set an orphanage on fire!? Is that why the cops came after us?!”

“What?! No,” I said defensively. “I’ll tell you the story later. For now, let’s go.” Then I pushed the throttle forward and sped off into the stars.

***

“So, let me get this straight,” Haru said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You killed some thugs. Interrogated an orphan for information. Then told the orphan to kill everyone inside his orphanage and set it on fire. Then you stole ingredients for ribeye steaks. Talked to Jin. Then killed twelve officers and three civilians after revealing your true identity to them as The Fifth Reaper. And now we are going to kidnap virgins.”

“A few things wrong there,” I countered, “One, the orphan has a name, and it is Baun. Two, we need more than just a few virgins for the job. And three, those ribeyes were delicious.”

“That is neither here nor there! You told an ORPHAN to KILL people! And you didn’t get plates for the steaks!” Haru countered back, shaking her half-eaten ribeye in the air.

“Well, I’m getting old and need an apprentice to teach. Plus, plates are for chumps,” I countered back, taking a bite of her ribeye like it’s a bagel.

“You’re twenty-five!” Haru countered again.

“Yes, and assassins die young. Just look at my master. He died.”

“He died at age seventy-six and managed to cut off your arm!”

“Yes … well … I put a bomb in there hoping to kill him.”

“The explosion took your legs and your left eye!”

“Yes … well … umm … I shouldn’t have fought him when he had the high ground. The point is he’s dead, and I’m the galaxy’s greatest assassin now.”

Sparky examined me as she swallowed a mouth full of steak. “That explains all the cyber tech in you,” Sparky said, stating the obvious.

“Yep!” I agreed, shoving the last of my steak into my mouth and then wiping my hands on my pants. Then turned to the ship’s navigation counsel to my left and began entering in coordinates.

Sparky looked over my shoulder as I entered the coordinates and stopped chewing as she saw them. Quickly swallowing, she asked, “W-where are we going?”

I finished entering the coordinates and looked over my shoulder to give Sparky a knowing smile, “Oh, you know.”

“Home base?” Sparky asked, her voice getting a little higher.

“A real fucking home base,” Haru answered, finishing her steak.

I laughed, hit a few buttons, flipped some switches above me, and pushed the throttle forward. Space stretched and bent as we entered hyperspace, and stars flew past at an incredible speed. A few seconds later, we emerged from hyperspace at the edge of an asteroid belt. I smirked at Sparky, who was starting to turn green. “What’s wrong, Sparky? You look a little green,” I asked innocently.

“Oh, nothing,” Sparky answered, her voice still a little high.

Laughing again, I pushed the throttle forward and entered the asteroid field. I then put on my headset and pressed a button twice on the side of it in quick succession. Then a male voice came through the headset, “Please state your docking clearance code.”

“Victor Victor Victor Five Five Five. Code: Seven Three Six Zero. I’m back, baby.”

The man on the other side of the line went silent for a moment as he verified the docking clearance. “Welcome back, sir. Docking bay one is cleared for your arrival. Sending orbital drift charts now,” the man said.

“Ten-four,” I said as I received the orbital drift charts.

“I’m going to change before we arrive,” Haru said, standing. Sparky took over the seat when Haru closed the door.

I immediately took out the video streaming device and watched Haru pick out clothes. Sparky reached over and took the device from my hand, “Focus on flying!” Sparky chastised.

“Hey! Stop doing that!” I complained, not looking where I was flying.

Sparky was about to protest when she looked out the viewport and exclaimed, “Look out!”

I turned and saw a massive asteroid coming straight toward us. I immediately pushed the yolk forward and sent the ship into a dive. I barely missed the massive asteroid when I had to roll to avoid two smaller asteroids and barely squeezed between them as they collided.

Warning lights flashed in the cockpit as the ship’s onboard computer spoke, with the voice of old earth’s 1960s Bitchin’ Betty, “Pull up! Pull up!”

“I know!” I yelled back while pulling back on the yolk and bringing the throttle back. The ship made a sharp drift and avoided colliding with another asteroid. “Fuck this!” I cursed as I pushed the throttle all the way forward.

The Mauler sped forward, and I began evasive maneuvers. The ship rolled, dove, ascended, and made sharp turns throughout the asteroid field, narrowly missing hundreds of asteroids as I flew. All the while, Bitchin’ Betty blared, “Pull up! Pull up! God damn it! You’re the worst piolet ever! PULL! THE FUCK! UP!!”

“I regret giving you sentience!” I screamed as I narrowly weaved through a cluster of massive colliding asteroids. Then everything went quiet as we reached a clearing in the asteroid belt.

A dwarf planet with crisscrossing lines of lights snaking across its surface floated there, its gravity and thin atmosphere pushing the asteroids around it like a swimmer through ice water. I gently rolled the ship to get it prepared for landing. As I rolled, an asteroid that hid in my blind spot scraped against the wing of my ship, creating a loud and awful scraping sound that reverberated through the ship.

“What was that?!” Haru asked from the other side of the door.

“Nothing!” Sparky and I answered simultaneously.

The man on the headset spoke, “That was some fancy flying, sir. Next time stick to the drift chart.”

“Yeah, will do. I’m going to activate auto-piolet and change my … everything. Over and out,” I said.

Haru entered the cockpit, and I pushed a button to activate auto piolet. Turning, I admired Haru’s fashion choice. She now wore a fine brown suit with a brown skirt, a white dress shirt, and high heels. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she now had fake glasses. Haru noticed my stare and looked down at herself, “What? Did I miss a button?”

“No, no. Just haven’t seen that suit in a while.”

“True. But considering where we’re going, I figured I’d take it back out of storage.”

“Speaking of, I have to change as well,” I said and walked past Haru, intentionally leaving the door open so that Haru could watch.

Haru closed the door leaving me alone in the back cabin. I grumbled, “Aww, I was going to give her a show.”

Then I heard Haru on the other side of the door, “What’s wrong with you?” Haru asked.

“You weren’t here for it,” Sparky groaned.