AkuAlu here, I am not gonna lie this chapter hardcore fucked with my head, and my feels as I was editing it so no guarantee on the grammar. Found the char Bios I had done, will post them as part of a side chapter later. so I will probably take a step back from chapter 7 since it is going to be a little tough for me, and instead I might do some flashback side chapters to help show the antagonists I have lined up, along with foreshadowing the poss. main conflict I have planed up the pipes. All in all I will probably be able to start releasing regularly again by the end of next month. Once again I am sorry for the Delays, and I thank all you guys out there for bearing with me. Without further ado Chap 6.
“Good, we will figure out our landing strategy once we get closer, but right now I am going to get me some more coffee, let me know if anything else comes up.”
“Roger Dodger, I will be sure to keep you posted.”
3 Days Later.
“Command crew members, your presence is requested on the bridge, once again all command crewmembers your presence is requested on the bridge.”
“What is it Ghost?” Frank says as he reaches the bridge, while being closely followed by Wolfe, Scarr, Bryan, and Yessi.
“Well, as ordered by you skipper, I am reporting to you that we are approaching Naraku 4 eta is 1 hr.”
“Thank you Ghost.”
“No prob Frank.”
Frank turns to the other crewmembers and says;
“Any questions about the plan?”
Bryan speaks up for the three of them “Nah Frank, I think we are all good here.”
“Good, then Bryan lets go over it one last time.”
“Ok, well Wolfe, Scarr, and Yessi, are going to stay with the ship along with most of the personnel. You, me, the Princess, Henry, and one squad of my men are going to head towards the Sunk’n Norwegian. If I may add, it is still standing. My men are going to stand guard while we go in through the secret passage, load Scarlet into the bases mainframe, and get a copy of Luna’s Kernel. We hightail it back to the ship. Fix Luna and go from there. Did I miss anything Frank?”
“No, I do believe you got everything, however I am curious why did you insist on taking the princess?”
“She wants to see us in action.”
Wolfe snickers and while holding back full-blown laughter says; “You just want to show off for the pretty lady? Don’t ya buddy?”
“First off, fuck you. Secondly maybe I do, so what. This way I can strike two birds with one stone.”
“Oy, ladies knock it off.”
““Yes Frank..””
“Now, we will be using call signs on this trip, people don’t need to know that we are back till we want to be known that we are back. Which also means no Hard-light; we will be running Nano only.”
“Skipper, are we allowed to use are Dark-weaponry?”
“No Bryan, we are not going to be using those on this run. Just standard melee-range combos, no heavy weaponry. Also, we are going to be civil to all those we meet unless, they act inappropriately, then we can rumble. Kapish?”
“Grumble, Grumble, Mutiny, Mutiny, Whatever you say Frank.”
“You know Bryan when you grumble, grumble, mutiny, mutiny, you are not supposed to say it out loud, you are supposed to be scheming or …” Ghost Mumbles
“What was that Ghost?”
“Ya know what Bryan, fuck it. Carry on.”
“That’s what I thought.” Bryan says with a huff.
“Oy ladies please, back on topic.” Frank says getting their attention, “What is the fallback plan if The Secret entrance through the Tavern no longer exists?”
“We blow or bore a hole into the area where the entrance was located. Then we have scarlet override the door controls so we can get in using the backup password.”
“Ok Bryan, and if that doesn’t work?”
“Well, Frank, we would have to come back to the ship and have Solomon and Ghost create a small scale Bridge for us to jump in and then we could take care of the rest from the inside.”
Yessi asks; “Why don’t you guys just warp in from the get go?”
“Well Yessi,” Ghost says while popping up on the holo-deck, “It gets real risky due to the planets fluctuations in rotation, and its natural electro magnetic field. One mistake that is a fraction of a fraction of a digit off, and Poof, you will have warped into lava, or a volcano, or some other possibility which won’t end up nicely.”
“But aren’t you guys Immortal?”
“Immortal, yes. Invincible, No. Pain, is pain, no matter what you do. If anything due to the procedure it hurts more do to our senses being enhanced.”
Frank interrupts Ghost “Besides, it is a major pain to pull a brain and a nervous system out of lava, without warping any lava with the target. Trust me it melted a hole in our ship at the time, and we had to then pick the brain out of space, the poor sod lost a lot of memories.”
“Wait a, how did the brain not get destroyed?”
“S-e-c-r-e-t” Ghost says “But if you stick around you will find out in due time.”
“Ghost, Please ask Henry to come up here I need to clear some stuff up with him, Wolfe and Scarr you guy are dismissed, just make sure that you have one squad of your men a piece stand guard by all of the major entrances to our ship. Bryan you wait here, we might need your mediation skills.”
Scarr and Wolfe respond with “Aye, Aye, Skipper.” and then they both left the bridge. Yessi turns to leave but Frank stops her,
“Not so fast, you and the princess are going to settle this shit between you, even though you don’t remember you did still put her through heck. Besides, her Hissy fit has gone on long enough. Locking herself in her room for 3 days, only having her handmaidens come in and out with food. Ridiculous. If she truly wants our help then she will get along with everyone who is on this ship or we will just drop her off at the nearest Theriocephian Colony, regardless of her status. Cruel, maybe. Efficient, definitely.”
“Roger Skipper, but she ain’t gonna like it.” Bryan says after Frank finished speaking.
“I don’t care, just get her up here.”
A few minutes later
As soon as the princess walks on to the bridge with Henry, Frank starts speaking;
“Look princess, she may have been in the wrong, however your crap has gone on long enough, you either get over it or else. I know you have daddy issues from what Henry told us, but it is time for you to toughen up.”
“I understand, and I would like to apologize to all of you for my behavior, in my isolation let me think things through, and I realize.”
She turns and looks Yessi in the eye; “I am sorry Mrs. Yessicanda for my behavior towards you, I was under much stress and it all came out at once when I saw you. Please forgive my inappropriate behavior.”
“Princess, I too must apologize. Forgive me for my actions and I will do the same unto you. My behavior was unprofessional even if I don’t recall all that I have done, I do feel regret.”
“I do.” the princess says and they both bow towards each other.
“Good.” Frank says cutting into their moment, “Now enough pussyfooting around. Yessi, you need to continue your training in the simulator. Have Azieruth and Seph work with you. They may not be the best fighter pilots; however, they are still decent, perfect for you to continue your training with our modified ships. Princess, go ahead with Henry and start prepping your Nano-suits. We are going to be landing soon and it pays to be ready before hand, just in case.
““Yes sir.” ”
After all the others leave the bridge Bryan asks Frank “What are the odds that old shit hole is still standing, in one piece, while maintaining its quota of scum?”
“Well Bryan, I would say about 95%.
“What makes you say that Frank?”
“This is a backwater system, and the locals are probably still scared of the Biomech barman.”
“True, I guess. Which secret society did he set up out here in the Perseus Arm again in order to protect and hide our base?”
“Let’s see, the Brotherhood of shadows was the Norma Arm, so that means that this sector would be the order of the Wandering Immortals. Remember, it was the first one the Captain had set up to keep our bases hidden.”
“Hahaha, I wonder what has become of this society in our absence?” Bryan says with a smirk.
Frank replies;
“Seeing as where we are going, I would say the local branch has more likely than not took a turn for the nefarious.”
“Anyways, I am going to go make sure that my boys are ready, especially since we are only taking one squad of body guards. Are you sure that we can’t use the Dark weaponry. I imagine once we find the captain he will announce our presence to the Galaxy with a whole lot of ass kicking, so why can’t we go ahead start? Ya know show that good ol go get em attitude.”
“Maybe because the captain is the only one who can authorize the use of those weapons.”
“Sure just be a party pooper why don’t ya…”
“Look if it will make you feel any better if push comes to shove and shit hit’s the fan I give you permission to bring down 1 Heavy battle Tank. Sound Good?”
“Yeah, awesomely so. By the way Frank, before I go. Do you think I could pick up chicks in a Tank?”
“Bryan…”
“And if I could how many do you think I could get on there at once?”
“…”
“I bet you 20 Interstellar chits I can pickup chicks in a tank.”
“You are about to not be able to put that theory to the test.”
“Reading you loud and clear Frank, Ima gonna go suit up.”
Approx 45 minutes later
“Unidentified vessel, this is the Naraku systems defense and protection fleet state your Purpose, Origin point, and Destination.”
Bryan responds over the Comm.’s;
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“This is the free freighter Ragnarok, Coming from the outer rim and looking to pick up some refined dark matter for our engines and to let some of our crew get a lil R&R before we pick up a shipment of unrefined dark matter, then we will be heading towards the highest buyer in the galactic center.”
“Very well, what is your interstellar authorization code?”
“Let’s see … we seem to have a problem Naraku Defense,”
“This is Naraku Defense, go ahead.”
“Well, I was just notified by my assistant and well, him being new, he did not enter it into the Ships computer properly and now it’s gone. I know this may sound bad, but please just give us 1 day for some R&R and to load up, that is all it will take. These guys have been cooped up for months. If the Cap’n finds out, that my trainee just goofed, it ain’t just gonna be his head, he will have mine hung from the ships hull right along side his. Please advise, over.”
“I wont think that will be necessary Ragnarok, I will clear it with my supervisor to let you stay for 1 interstellar day. Just hold position till I get confirmation, and clear you a flight path.”
“Thaaank you Naraku, You are a literal Lifesaver.”
Bryan shuts off his Comm. And Looks at Frank
“What do you think, I still got it.”
“Yeah, Bryan you know it is a little disconcerting you being able to lie so well, right?”
“Told you I still got it.”
“Let’s just hope that they don’t decide to make sure we are carrying unrefined Dark matter and launch a surprise inspection… That could go down bad.”
“Ya know Frank, I am surprised that they are so lax with this. Then again, once you think about where we are.”
“Yep Bryan, we are in smuggler central, the local crime lords probably pay them to look the other way more often than not so it might not be your silver tongue, but someone slipping a little money to them up the ladder.”
“All is fair in love and statecraft.”
“Whatever, hey the lady is calling you back.”
“Thanks fer noticing.”
Bryan turns the comm. Back on and before he can say anything, he hears the female voice say;
“Ragnarok, this is Naraku Defense, You have been cleared for 1 interstellar day’s worth of leave, please stick to either Naraku 1, or Naraku 4 during this trip. The solar storms on 2 and 3 make it rather inhospitable.”
“Thank you Naraku Defense, This is Ragnarok Setting Course to Naraku 4.”
“Course Cleared, Have a nice stay.”
Bryan shuts off the comm.‘s turns to Frank and says;
“We are in.”
“Aright Ghost set the ship to auto pilot and get us to the closest spaceport to our destination.”
“I have some good news Frank, there is one approximately 1 kilick from our destination and it will only take us about 1 hour to get there.”
“Good, Bryan, make sure your boys are wear sneaking type Nano-suits, and make sure that they don’t talk to anyone, tell that to the princess as well. The walls may have ears on this planet and we don’t want to give ourselves away just yet.”
“Roger, I will let them know.”
“Ghost take control we are going to get ready.”
“You got it Frank, and try not to have too much fun.”
As Bryan and Frank leave the bridge, Bryan hollers back; “No guarantees on that last one Ghost.”
Beerman (Bartender) POV
It has been so long since any decent people have come in to my bar. It always was a hive of scum and villainy, but nowadays it has gotten worse and worse. Yet despite all the scum who come here at the same time it is one of the only neutral places amidst all the violence and debauchery on this planet. No one fights here; if they do all other, gangs’ team up against them and destroy the one responsible. That is why this Tavern, once known as the Sunk’n Norwegian was renamed a couple of thousand years ago to The Haven. For that is what it is, the only true haven in the underworld on this planet. Tis a shame that these people don’t know the true value of what is under this tavern but the less they know often the better it is for them.
Criminals these days have no class. I remember several thousand years ago Pirates had real class, had a code of honor that they would follow. It is a shame most of them started heading down the spiral arms towards the center were the prey was bigger, lazier, and the competition more honorable. Now the only types I get are the real low life’s smugglers, traders, and wet behind the ears pirates. Downside to being an android, with a genuine sentience is I remember a lot, even things I don’t want to, such as better times.
A group of what appears to be four people walk in all of them hooded and cloaked. Odd, I see four yet sense ten, six of them remaining outside surrounding the building. “Greetings and welcome to the Haven, what can I do ya fer” I ask the man who was leading the way, odd he seems familiar.
He says, “We’ll be needing drinks, and then maybe something else” as he approaches the bar. As they take their seats at the bar, I realize that one is a woman, and the other three are men due to the way they bear themselves. All of them Theriocephians. I take note of this as it is rare for women to come to this watering hole, but regardless I ask them;
“What’ll ya’ll take?”
The other two asked for beer, the lady asked for water, and the apparent leader of the group asked for a;
“Strawberry sunrise! Are you sure? Aright, ha-ha sorry for my surprise no one has ordered something like that in a long time.”
The man asks me “How long?”
“A couple of thousand years give or take.” I say as I start laughing, “The last one who ordered such a drink was the First mate of a great warship, they had real class, they lived by a code and… look at me going on about the old days to some young whiper - schnappers.”
“What was the person’s name?” he asked me
“Well, Krunk, Frunk, no… Frank Yeah that was it Frank.”
I finish preparing and serving their drinks, and start wiping down the counter. I notice someone rapidly approaching the lady of their group who was seated at the bar in between the other two men. He must be one of those lowlifes who noticed that she is a woman due to her voice when she ordered. This is not going to go well; I can tell that the leader and the man on the far side of the group are of the no nonsense types despite the leaders’ drinking preferences.
He reaches the group I go to tell him off, but before I can speak the Avian Therioceph seated on the far side of the bar wheels around and flying spin kicks the approaching thug in the Jaw. He goes down, hits the ground and does not move, it was a clean Knock out. I go to say something only to notice that the man who was knocked out had a slave token in his hands and that he was going for the lady with it. Before I can say anything 4 of the thugs buddies surround the fellow who is now standing in the middle of the room. I finally holler,
“STOP, in the name of Haven”
“Oy, Did’n ya see Wha he did to oar buddee there we claim combatants rites to this lot. We win dey gilty” Thug number 1 says to me as his three other buddies nod in agreement.
“Bull Shit” I say. “He obviously has a slave token in his hand and was going for their companion; you have violated the right of Haven.”
“Bullsheet bak at yur, ya canna prove nuffin. E just ataked hrm outer nowehres”
The one who is surrounded turns to the leader of his group and asks “Permission to use force to take care of the trash, Speedy?”
“Granted, Ladies Man, just don’t spill too much blood. We don’t want blood on our floor now do we?”
“Righty O.” He turns towards the assailants and says “I will give you fuck nuggets 1 chance to back away. Otherwise you will catch a case of the death.”
“Pis off, Ferk yer soryy avian pale arse.”
“Speedy, I tried, you saw me. Now if Doc asks I tried.”
“Hahahaha, we will see about that Ladies Man.”
“Speedy I am serious, there better not be a snowballs chance in hell that doc gets to poke around in my head.”
After saying that he leaps to the thug farthest away from him and punches him in the throat, crushing his windpipe. The fellow goes down, as he hit’s the ground his head is stomped by the Avian. He turns to the next closest to him and in one smooth motion, he rotates his body while jumping and kicks his temple concussing him and taking him out of the fight. He turns to the two that are left, one lunges forward with a stun baton, yet it was a clumsy lunge. The avian twist the man’s arm back and forces him to stun baton himself in the ear as he was moving, leaving only 1 left.
The ringleader looks at him with shock, as the entire seen took less than 10 seconds to progress to him being the last man standing. The Hare demi who was sitting at the bar tells the Ringleader, “Leave, Final Warning or else you will know true pain.”
as soon as he finished speaking his shadow seemed to grow, the lights dimmed and his eyes started glowing. The ringleader in his state of newly found fear wets himself, comes to his senses and flees the tavern, leaving a hefty bar tab with his now unconscious cohorts.
I look at the man who took down these three as if it was nothing and ask him, “Who are you guys?”
“Don’t you know, My name is the vivacious V.” Said the avian.
*Smack
“What the shit Speedy that stings, Fine, Don’t you remember It’s me Bryan.” says the one surrounded by unconscious bodies on the floor as he removes his hood. I stop in Surprise. As I realize
Wait, if that is Bryan then this must be…
“Yep its your ol pal Frank, lets get the men shadows to take care of these lowlife scum before we get to what we really came here for, sound good Beerman?”