“Everyone get ready.” Ricky began an attempt to direct his companions.
The youngest brother, Rocco, was already on top of the situation, before Ricky even had a chance to describe what he was seeing in the distance. He had his E-rifle shouldered and was scanning for threats.
“I’m getting targets in my Net-comm” Rocco responded, even though he could not see them with his naked eye, the red target triangles were popping up in his targeting HUD, which was synchronized to his E-Rifle. The triangles were indicating range data as well, with this level of technology synched together, just because you couldn’t see a target didn’t always mean that you couldn’t kill them. “Are we waiting?”
“Don’t fire yet.” Ricky responded quickly. “Crap I don’t want to have to kill anyone today. Why can’t we have a normal uneventful day for once?”
“They look hostile.” Rocky asserted flatly while also zoomed in with his Net-comm monocle.
“They’re definitely hostile.” Bingo was watching also, though they all figured his cybernetic enhancements were far greater than a Net-Comm telescopic zoom feature. He was likely viewing data on their heart rates, blood pressure and who knows what else.
“I could try to lead them off.” Amiga offered. “I mean, it’s not like those spears could even really penetrate my skin. It’s probably our safest bet.”
“Same.” Bingo seemed equally unimpressed by the primitive weaponry.
“If you can get a sample of their speech the Net-comm can translate for you.” Reegan added, the concern in her eyes clearly told the story that she too did not want to see anyone hurt.
“They don’t look like they want to talk.” Amiga returned, all the while the large group of natives were getting closer, they were now well within range of the brothers’ E-rifles.
“That’s fine with me.” Bingo took a few steps forward so that he was standing in what would be the front line if the savages continued forwards to attack them. “I’ll have a scrap.”
Rocky stepped forward and cleared his throat. He could see the natives better now, as they would be upon them in minutes if they didn’t slow down. They were members of the cat species, but their spotted markings on their fur patterns weren’t like anything any of them had ever seen before. It was probably worth a shot to try diplomacy first.
“Greetings natives, we mean you no harm. We come in peace.”
Ricky, Rocco and Bingo exchanged dubious looks. Their respective guns were all drawn now and were preparing themselves for when Rocky’s attempts failed.
To their surprise however, the seemingly impossible happened. The charging crowd of angry natives halted their advance immediately upon hearing the strange words of the foreigners to their island. Did they in fact speak the same language and understand?
One of the natives took a curious yet cautious step forward and answered that question immediately. He spoke in a primitive language that sounded largely like gibberish.
“What is that? What’s he saying?” A nervous Amiga asked. “Is this turning ugly?”
“He said it turned ugly the minute Rocky stepped forward. He said that light traveled faster than sound, which is why Rocky seemed bright until he spoke.” Rocco quipped with a chuckle. “He said this Titan trying to talk to us was as impressive as an unsalted pretzel.”
“Shut up you smooth brained buffoon!” Rocky hissed back. “I’d insult you back but I’m afraid I’d never do as good as nature did.”
Rocky’s Net-comm HUD was already busy analyzing the data, but with the small sample size only displayed a thirty percent completion rate. The natives did appear to have a level of curiosity in response to the brothers’ banter and decided to play off that.
“Yeah, it’s OK fellas, we’re not here to hurt you.” Rocky spoke back to the locals who were continuing to keep a safe distance but examining the group curiously. “At least not any more than exposing you all to this giant prat of a brother.”
Rocky waved his hand back to Rocco behind them and the crowd followed his gesture, watching the large Procyon carefully. The natives were a large cat species, and many were larger than even the abnormally large Rocco.
“Yeah, he’s funny right? He’s basically a giant pile of pudding…”
At that point several of the natives began speaking and Rocky fell silent while the Net-Comm was able to pick up enough data to complete the translation process. Another native spoke a phrase and it was enough to lock the language into the Net-comm’s database. A prompt appeared on Rocky’s screen and he activated the translation function immediately.
“We come in peace.” Rocky began, wincing at the corniness of the statement.
“What manner of creature are you?” One of the primitives replied.
“Devils. Demons!” Another one cried in disgust.
“No! We are no demons.” Rocky replied frantically. He would only get one opportunity to avoid bloodshed. “We are travelers. We were attacked. We just need a few hours to repair our ship and we’ll be on our way, far away from your home.”
Rocky watched the others. The natives were suspicious and began whispering amongst themselves. He took the opportunity to continue.
“If you do not attack us there is no need for any harm to come upon anyone this day.” He lowered his E-rifle to prove his point, though by the looks of the gathering, he was not sure if they knew what the rifle was to begin with.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Praise the Phoenix lord on high!” A most eccentrically dressed native spotted cat, with feathers adorning a crownlike headdress raised his voice.
“By Jove!” Eligah, the wizened old prairie dog now seemed interested. “These animals worship the Phoenix flame! The very thing I have spent much of my life studying!”
“He has delivered unto us….” The witch doctor cat continued unabated. “A grand feast from the sky!”
“A grand….?” Rocco scrunched his face. “Oh hell no! Rick, they’re cannibals!”
Bingo surged forward then with supernatural quickness, a cybernetic arm shot through the nearest native, punching through the breastbone as easily as through paper, and emerged holding a still beating heart. Reegan screamed and Rocky dry-heaved at the gruesome display. Even Rocco seem disgusted.
“We are gods of the Phoenix lord!” The wolverine cyborg roared suddenly, his voice amplified mightily, obviously some type of cybernetic enhancement and echoed through the distance.
Amiga picked up on Bingo’s lead before anyone else and activated the jump pack she still wore. Almost instantly her feet left the ground, and she began hovering just above the heads of the gathering.
The crowd of natives stood awestruck before the newcomers. Then, one by one they turned back towards the safety of the jungle and fled for their lives.
* * * *
“Sir, we’ve arrived at Tuscan.” The young Catus bandit with mottled blonde fur helming the controls announced, just as their fearsome pirate lord strode onto the bridge.
Sabre Khan looked around the bridge to each of the half-dozen or so pirates milling about, waiting either for further orders or for the ship to land so they could begin engaging in the types of debauchery that a shore leave commonly called for.
Though the assembled group of bandits were hardened killers, devoid of any outward goodness and were no strangers to cruelty towards their fellow Titans, such was the extent of the Khan’s severe reputation that none of them matched his fierce gaze directly as his eyes studied the room. He knew well the types of activities the men would soon be getting into, but the need to maintain an iron fist of control over his men needed to be tempered by some measure of reward for their service to his employ. Many of them had risked their lives for the plunder they now carried in the hold of the cruiser. The raid on Cyllene had been good to them, and several shifty eyed members of the crew were still categorizing and inventorying their haul.
“I’m not familiar with this planet, do we have someone aboard that is?”
One of the thugs stepped forward, a particularly fierce looking cougar with a single ear pieced with three small hoops, wearing a ripped sleeveless vest and a bandanna covering his head. Some of his fur along his face had been shaved into stripe patterns, a practice that had been popular a generation ago but not quite as popular anymore.
“I’ve been here a few times sir.”
“What is the best place for us to make port?”
“Villa Radussa would be my suggestion. It is a larger port and filled with the riches of the crime bosses of Iscalio”
Sabre Khan waved his hand in agreement. The ship set off on course towards the indicated Villa. This entire planet’s terraforming operation had largely been financed and carried out by the various underworld mob families of Titan. It was unlikely that their large battle cruiser appearing in orbit would not draw attention to themselves, and despite what might seem obvious in the fact that they were all criminals here so there should be ready alliance, in practice nothing could be farther from the truth. There was nothing much that organized crime disliked and distrusted more than unorganized crime…the kind that pirates brought to a system.
Skullia-One travelled across the picturesque landscape, which had so lovingly been crafted by the Iscallian crime lords decades ago. Jade green fields rolled gently from horizon to horizon below them, broken sometimes by displays of enchanted forests that seemed to have leaped straight from the pages of a storybook.
As they passed over a large shimmering indigo lake surrounded by peaceful vineyards which were only interrupted by the occasional worker out in the field or small single-family casa dotting the landscape.
Every bit of Planet Tuscan had been planned by committee and painstakingly crafted to recreate the natural beauty of Iscalio on Titan by the very crime lords that controlled that country. Iscalio was a bit of an anomaly back on Titan. While the Zenith Corporation had managed to take over every independent country on Titan several generations ago, Iscalio was the sole country in which this did not happen through force or corporate buyout.
With its powerful and wealthy crimelords, Zenith had instead opted into more of a partnership with the sunny little country. It was because of this autonomy that projects such as the terraforming of Planet Tuscan, which Zenith and its armies of troops and drones, largely left to its own. Because of this, Tuscan had a reputation as a lawless frontier, but nothing could have been further from the truth. It was not lawless at all, rather the planet was under the laws and governance of the Iscalio Committee, a gathering of all the most powerful ganglords and crime family leaders. Tuscan policed Tuscan.
As the quaint little Villa Radussa came into sight on the cruiser’s view screens, they also saw a large armed gathering assembled to greet the newcomers. Sabre gave the orders to land, which could be accomplished on the outskirts of the deceptively large city where rows of spaceport landing pads were set up to accommodate such traffic. Most of the large gray pads were for much smaller vessels, single seater fighters and recreation craft and medium freighters. There were two larger pads in the very back that were large enough to cater to a vehicle the size of a cruiser, and it was there they landed.
When Skullia-One came to a stop and its engines wound down on the landing platform, a full security team was there to greet the descending landing ramps that opened from the battle cruiser. Sabre was at the forefront of the crew preparing to exit the ship.
What followed was a tense standoff, the gathering of Tuscan security forces seemed to have no patience for a pirate crew on their planet.
“Who is in charge here?” Sabre spoke up to the gathering.
“I’m the leader of the security forces in the Villa.” Came the reply from one of the security officers clad in durable body armor and carrying an assault rifle in the low ready position. “You are obviously the crew of Skullia-One. You’ve caused quite a stir with Zenith Forces recently. What are your intentions here?”
“We aren’t here for a fight.” Sabre’s voice was raspy and caused any listener to lean into it if they wanted to hear him. “We simply wish to repair and be on our way.”
The security officer claiming to be in charge paused momentarily, obviously receiving orders through his Net-comm implant or through the body armor’s interface.
“The boss says the only way your crew will be allowed to port here is if you immediately surrender all of your weapons.”
A cruel smile flashed across the sinister maw of the red wolf pirate. He glanced sideways at the assembly of killers and rogues making up his crew surrounding him. He tried to think of a clever rebuttal, some witty banter that he could exchange with these mafia security guards but quickly settled for a better option.
Sabre Khan went for his belt, retrieving an older style Etcher pistol, back before they had the safety catch built in, and an energy saber hilt that instantly retracted a glowing blade. He growled and opened fire, the other members of his crew joined in gleefully, needing no further prompting to spread their unique gospel of chaos and bloodshed.
It was their goal to spread this gospel across the entire galaxy.