Lupis watched the viewscreen until dawn, debating his many options. On one hand he could mull about on the ship until his broken leg healed. But he knew now that there were survivors, and they most likely included his captors. He was not sure what they hoped to find out there, but it was likely when they saw how hostile the planet seemed to be, they would be back eventually. And if that happened, he was not in a tactically advantageous position to fight off several armed opponents, while he himself was unarmed. He looked down at the knife that he had found and frowned. Not completely unarmed, but lightly armed. He had killed Titans before with less.
“Are there any Titanian lifeforms or survivors within scanner range?” The bounty hunter typed in his query to the computer on the floating holo-display interface.
“Affirmative.”
“Track all and display.” He quickly typed the command.
A moment of silence followed as the Triumph’s sensors scanned the area. After sending out a combination of thermal imaging, sonic pulse waves, radio waves, wide angle EM scanners and parametric neutrino imaging, the ship brought up a display of the surrounding area, with a spot highlighted with a few red triangles. These were the survivors he guessed.
“Why did they leave the ship?” He asked the onboard AI.
“The surviving members of the crew feared the nuclear radiation.”
Lupis stopped, and his face scrunched up. He then went back to typing hurriedly.
“What radiation?”
“The radiation that will begin to leak from the engine core in three hours.”
“Three hours?”
“Exactly 3:12:22”
The ship kept the countdown timer up but minimized it in the corner of the display.
“How large of a radius will this radiation effect?”
“The EPZ will be outside of a twenty-mile, 32 kilometer radius.”
“What is an EPZ?”
“Environmental Protection Zone.”
Twenty miles in three hours. That was not promising. That may have been doable with both legs functioning but was not an option at this time.
“Is there any way to prevent or reverse the meltdown?”
“Replace the power core within the next 3:11:41.”
Which he might have been able to do with a fabricator, but the idiots took the fabricators with them. He was sure that there were enough raw materials kicking about within a mile or so of the ship for them to able to fabricate a new power core. Why on Titan did they take the fabricator and leave instead of repairing the ship?
“How far are they?” Lupis typed into the interface while pointing a finger at the red triangles on the floating map before him.
“Twenty-Eight miles, Forty-Five kilometers.”
Great. There’s no way for me to get outside of the radiation zone in time. That’s it, I’m dead.
“Is the ship equipped with anything that might help me get outside of the radiation in time?”
“Affirmative.”
Wait, what? There was something useful that the others did not take?
“What is it and where is it?”
“The ZCAV Triumph is equipped with two auxiliary personal transportation craft, located in the bay.”
“Why did the others not take these?” He typed in his question with furious fingers.
“The Zenith Corporation PTC Z28 only seats one. Extrapolation: Since they would not have been able to all use one, they found it more efficient to walk together.”
Right on. Whatever the reason they decided to leave them behind was the first stroke of luck he has had on this planet thus far. He got up out of the chair and made his way to the elevator. He went down and then headed towards the rear of the vehicle, even though he had looked at a map of the ship, it was laid out in a fairly straightforward and intuitive manner and had no trouble finding it. Once he opened the doors and entered the bay, his eyes immediately fell on the vehicles in question, parked in the corner of the room.
They were relatively small, little more than a seat with a glasstica dome covering them. The two ATV wheels on either side were streamlined into their design. Lupis walked over to one and looked for a handle or a release somewhere to open the hatch. Now he wished that he had time to study a manual, for there didn’t appear to be any buttons or handles that he could see. Great, he thought, they were probably voice activated.
Just when he was about to give up, he saw the outline of a small panel along the wheel well of the craft. He popped it open. There were a few upgrade module slots for cylindrical modules to fit into, along with a control panel. The vehicle was already fitted with three of the six slots, including a module upgrade for an onboard AI, one for an automated self-drive system, and the other was a GP map system. He quickly found the release to the hatch, and it raised up with internal servos powering the unseen hinges. He went back and opened the bay door before coming back to the open vehicle. The bounty hunter carefully stepped aboard and pulled his bad leg in, and the hatch closed automatically when the built-in sensors determined he was all the way inside.
Once inside, a steering panel came out from between his legs. He placed his hands on either side and the craft powered on with no further prompting. He gently pressed the panel and it began moving forward. Even though he had never piloted a craft such as this, it was remarkably intuitive, and he quickly got the hang of it. A moment later and the PTC was zooming out from the open bay door and away from the doomed Triumph.
Lupis pushed the steering panel forward as far as it would go and sped away from the impending disaster and headed for the last location that the ship’s AI had shown him the other survivors were. As the speedy craft rolled through the mossy landscape, Lupis found his mind wandering once again.
* * * *
The Crescent Reach
The spaceship SV Rhapsody docked and after coming to a complete halt, all power except for auxiliary shut down. The pilot chair swiveled away from the viewscreen and Lupis stood up. Stopping only to scoop up his helmet and place it over his head, the bounty hunter made his way towards the rear cargo hatch. He stopped to pull the lever, and the rear hatch opened while the cargo ramp lowered.
The Rhapsody was his personal spacecraft, which were not cheap to begin with, but heavily modified as it was, the ship was worth more than most Titan families made in a lifetime. It was on the smaller side, being a personal transport and not a cargo vessel, but one that had taken him in and out of danger countless times. It had become more than a mere vehicle to him at this point, it was a familiar friend, and a traveling home among the stars. He paused to appreciate his old friend that he had worked so hard to save for, before making his way down the cargo ramp.
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Lupis stepped off the Rhapsody and into the bay of the space station docks. He turned once more to look up at the Rhapsody’s sleek design and tapped some buttons on his armor’s gauntlet to bring up the suit’s internal Net-Comm. It took a moment for the system to calibrate to the EEG thought command feature, and once it finished, he sent a command for the Rhapsody to close and implement security features. He walked out of the dock as the loud clunk sounded behind him, signaling the closing of the ship’s rear hatch.
The spaceport terminal was bustling with activity. There were a myriad of Titans of all the races and social classes going about their business. Astracus was the largest station in the Crescent Reach, and there were as many people here as there were in many small cities back on Titan. It was not just a port, but housed many extravagant hotels and lodgings, boasting a year-round live-in population of nearly five-thousand residents. These Titans were businesstitans, vacationers, workers and a great deal of them outlaws and criminals.
“Do you need orientation, sir?” A friendly female cat asked from behind a desk ahead of him.
Lupis looked in her direction. The orientation desk on the terminal was equipped with programming that one could download through a Net-Comm, which provided a full interactive map of the space station and all the stores and amenities within. He shook his helmeted head in response and kept walking past the desk and the small cluster of Titans loitering around it. This was not his first time to Astracus, and he already knew the lay of the land here.
Lupis continued through the terminal, in his combat armor he cut an intimidating figure, towering over most Titans, all except the largest of predators, and most of them gave him a wide berth as much as the smaller Titans. A group of Trade Alliance security units passed by ahead, guarding a group of TA executives heading for a meeting. Passing by this group from the opposite direction was a pair of Rabbids that went whizzing by on hover-scooters, wearing oversized headphones and engrossed with their datapads, followed by a large group of mostly Rodentia workers, lazing by while joking with each other, headed back to work from a break. Bringing up the rear were a pair of black and white skunk Mustelids donning formal tuxedos complete with top hats and silver canes.
Lupis crossed the busy terminal and pushed his way through a busy wide gate that spilled out into the boardwalk proper of the station. Directly ahead was a town square area, with benches and surrounded by lush greenery, trees and hedgerows. Here there was also a bustle of activity, which he managed to pass through without getting entangled by the multitude of conversations and sales pitches going on everywhere.
There were several marketplace plazas directly across from the square, both on the ground level and the mezzanine above. Exotic markets from every corner of Titan existed here, drugs and liquor were sold openly from the Federated Territories, high quality weapons and armor from renown craftsman in Warsong, weird tribal jewelry from Gunrock and clothing and rugs from Russevia, Lothan and Rodan. High above the top mezzanine was the ceiling, which showed a remarkably realistic and peaceful holo-depiction of a blue sky, complete with a sun shining down upon the station. One could look up and get lost in the image, completely forgetting that you were on a station in the middle of the blackness of space.
On the other end of the main wing stood an imposing casino with patterned flashing lights and holo-ads of scantily clad Titan females, enticing all within range to come participate in the debaucheries that lie within. He sneered under his helmet and headed that direction. His line of work could sometimes take him to some seedy locales, but the casinos of Astracus could be among the seediest of them all.
Six fierce looking Canids wearing all black served as bouncers at the entrance to the establishment. Lupis walked towards the Galaxy Gaming Casino and Lodge, with its comically oversized and gaudy name adorned over the entrance, blinking and flashing comprised of nearly a thousand individual lights.
Lupis passed by the crowd that was waiting in line to get inside. Some of the clientele watched him angrily but none dared to challenge him. Once he strode to the head of the line, he stopped in front of the large bouncers. They quickly bunched together to show solidary, when they saw a large Titan in full combat armor coming towards the entrance. The six Canids were different breeds, two were Wolfen, one a striped Jackal, one a golden Jackal, and two more were Hyenas. The armored figure before them was eye level with the largest Wolfen among them and was an immediate threat to their egos.
“No weapons allowed.” The largest of the Wolfen spoke in a deep growling voice, sizing up the newcomer with fierce eyes.
“Out of the way dogs.” Came the response from Lupis’ recently upgraded helmet speakers, which worked through the EEG function allowing the illusion of speech. “I’m here to see Boss Rancor.” The end result was a commanding robotic voice.
This drew suspicious looks from the Canids. Most of them seemed to be debating whether to start a physical confrontation with the armored stranger, all but the golden Jackal who was already checking in with his Net-Comm.
“We have a suspicious figure out here that claims he has business with you sir.”
“Is he in armor that makes it impossible to see any physical features?” Came the reply over the channel that was linked into all of the bouncers’ Net-Comms.
“Yes.” The blonde Jackal looked the stranger in question up and down dubiously. “He’s likely armed.”
This brought a response from the other five Canids, who stepped forward in unison confrontationally. The armored figure did not flinch or move, as if he had nothing in the universe to worry about from the five intimidating wardogs before him. It was likely the case.
“Send him up.” Came the questionable response, causing them to pause as they all heard it.
“Sir? Did you want us to strip his armor and frisk him first?”
The featureless helmet shook slowly side to side, making it clear that was not about to happen. This defiance once again elicited a strong response from the alpha Canids.
“No, he is my guest. I invited him here. How would it look if I then disrespected him like this?”
“I…I just thought…”
“Do I pay you to think? You are an attack dog. When I tell you to attack something you do it. I will let you know if I ever need you to think. Now send my guest up.”
“Yes sir.” The Jackal answered sullenly, then turned to Lupis. “Boss Rancor will see you now.”
Lupis strode past the stupid dogs without further regard, though they seemed to burn with anger at this encounter. As he walked away through the entrance, one of the Hyenas turned towards the blonde Jackal and snarled.
“You idiot. That was Lupis. Everyone knows he never takes his helmet or armor off.”
“That was the Lupis?” The Golden Jackal replied. “I’ve heard of him, he’s an absolute legend. Why does he never take his armor off?”
The Hyena bent forward in his posture and seemed to revel in his storytelling abilities as he began to respond.
“Well, some of the earliest legends said it was because he is actually a female under the armor. That’s also the reason that he never speaks. Because he is a she.”
“But he did speak.”
“That was a modulator you bloody git. A speaker unit inside of the helmet. You can buy mods to sound like whatever you want.”
“Ohhhh…”
“Other people used to say he was a ghost. An undead spirit of the night.”
“I’ve personally heard…” One of the Wolfen chimed in. “That he was horribly disfigured. Burned in a crashed starship.”
The smaller Golden Jackal scrunched his face up. “But it doesn’t make sense that he could be a female, and what also doesn’t add up is why he called us dogs. He was as big as Koba there…” He pointed to the largest Wolfen.
Koba the large Wolfen folded his large arms together across his chest and cocked his chin slightly upwards.
“You can buy armor that makes you bigger. That could’ve been a female or even a damned Rodentia inside there!”
Lupis kept walking, hearing most of the conversation with his augmented helmet sensors and the cybernetic implants that offset his natural lack of sound. Ahead of him he found two more Canid bodyguards waiting with one colossal Ursid between them that dwarfed them both. This took the bounty hunter aback, as in all his travels he had only seen a scant few Ursids away from their frigid homelands of Russevia. And after having had the unfortunate displeasure of having to hunt one across the tropics of Zandizar, he knew how powerful and dangerous a foe they could be. It was this Ursid that addressed him as he approached the group.
“This way Mister Lupis sir.”
All three bodyguards were dressed in black suits that looked custom tailored and must have cost a fortune. He briefly wondered what kind of mental manipulation or financial incentive it must have took in order to get an Ursid, who were naturally brutish and hard-working Titans, into a suit. Lupis followed them without question, noting the way they seemed to surround him as they made their way to a mag-lift in the back of the casino floor.
As the four large Titans squeezed almost in a comical fashion into the single mag-lift and the doors closed behind them, a single Rodentia on the casino floor stood up and yelled in jubilation.
“Jackpot!”
When the mag-lift stopped at the penthouse of the Galaxy Casino and Lodge, the bodyguards led him down a long hallway, adorned on either sides with impressive artwork, much of it imposing portraits in large ornate gilded wood frames of Titans whom the bounty hunter did not recognize, but had no doubt held importance somewhere in history. A solid mango wood Valencia table holding a pair of silver candle holders was positioned in the hall outside of the large double doors at the end that he was being led towards.
An electronic beep sounded from the large wooden doors and they came open. Lupis walked inside while the three bodyguards waited outside. On the other side of the room sat a crafty looking, portly Rodentia, dressed in a sharp pinstripe suit behind a comically huge mahogany desk. Behind him were several monitors showing several different areas of the casino at once.
“Lupis!” The Rodentia clapped his hands together gleefully. “Finally, I get to meet the famed bounty hunter. You are like an urban legend my good sir. In the minds of the people, stories of you fly around more than many celebrities, you are omnipresent, and yet a ghost at the same time.”
Lupis did not reply, but stood silent, occupying the middle of the room.
“Come, have a seat.” Boss Rancor waved in his direction and indicated the seat on the other side of the table between them. “Now that I have finally contacted you after all this time, we have much to discuss. I have a job that I would only entrust to someone of your...reputation.”