by Alex Guerra
“Dotty, can you trace those coordinates from the video and put it into the map?” I asked.
“Yes, but it will take some time to calculate. This video is over three hundred years old. I will analyze the celestial movement to determine the location at that time,” it said. "This will take a lot of time with our current power."
“Dotty, why did you keep this from Seya?” I asked.
“The enemy ships attacking the Yau cruiser were Darkkon—the same species as Seya. I did not want to cause conflict between you two,” it explained.
“Were the Yau and Darkkon at odds with each other back then?” I asked, drumming my fingers on the table.
“Historical records state that the majority of the conflict was between the Vael Empire and the Yau. The Darkkon Empire, however, did assist the Vael during this time, if only in a more secretive manner,” said the A.I.
“Seya shouldn't have anything to do with this, and she expressly mentioned that she is working with the conglomerate.” I rubbed my chin in thought. “Are the Darkkon still part of the Vael Empire?” I asked.
“Yes, but I do agree with you that Seya seems different from the rest. The Darkkon are still fighting with the conglomerate on the Vael’s behalf. Their territories are near the conglomerate’s, and as such, do most of the fighting.”
“Do you think Seya is playing us?” I asked, suddenly worried.
“No, I have gone through all of her belongings and search queries. I have no evidence to suggest that she is working with the Darkkon or Vael Empires. I would assume that at some point, she left the Darkkon Empire and is now working with the conglomerate of her own accord, but I wanted to bring this up to you in private once you had viewed the video,” replied Dotty.
While I didn’t necessarily like the breach of privacy, I can see why Dotty did it. The added safety measure was reassuring, knowing I wasn’t bringing an enemy to a new world.
“Thank you for your precaution, it will be something to think about. Let’s keep digging before we jump to any conclusions and let me know as soon as you get those coordinates figured out. I want to see where the escape pod went if possible,” I ordered.
“Will do, Arthur,” answered the A.I.
I sat back in my chair and looked at the screen, letting out a long sigh. Accessing the archives, I began reading up on a few of the species found in this region.
Two quick knocks came from the door to which I willed the door open. Seya stood in the doorway, fresh out of the shower in her new white uniform. The air-drying pod puffed her hair up, leaving it a disheveled mess she tried to tame.
“Sorry for interrupting. I wanted to let you know the shower was free before you stink up your quarters,” she smiled at me.
“Gee thanks,” I said, taking a mocking whiff, only to notice that I indeed was not smelling so fresh. “Oh—yeah, I’ll get right on that.”
“Taking up some useful studying during your downtime?” she asked.
I looked over my shoulder at the material displaying a Fanor. It looked way different than what I had imagined—it was much more terrifying.
“Yeah, it’s a lot to take in, but…knowledge is power after all,” I shrugged.
Making my way towards the door, I closed it behind me, leaving myself and Seya in the hallway. She smelled very nice, unlike any fragrance I smelled back home. It was like a perfume that didn’t overpower—something light and almost fruity, yet there wasn’t any soap aboard The Pillar. I tried to figure out if the fragrance was natural or if she had with her some sort of perfume.
She looked at me for a moment.
“Oh sorry, I’ll be making my way to the showers now…Um…dinner around twenty-hundred hours?” I asked, trying to act normal.
“Sure, see you there,” she smiled.
I turned on my heel and went on my way. Art, you idiot, I thought. Why are you so awkward?
SIX
We developed a routine in the following few days of our journey. It comprised of sleeping, eating, sparring, weapons drills, and physical training. There was an extensive amount of extracurricular studying on my end. I included Seya in my evening study sessions which helped immensely. She expected me to know basic etiquette between the various species I may encounter. Her biggest tip was to stay quiet and don’t touch anything. My Darkkon friend insisted that I followed her lead once we made it planetside.
Before we entered the system of Versha Prime, Dotty engaged The Pillar’s cloak as usual. There was never any way of knowing what we would expect when entering a system for the first time. The last thing we needed was unwanted attention drawn to the ancient craft. The fewer people knew about our existence, the better.
We saw the planet of Tudok through the viewports as we got closer to our destination. It was similar to Earth in appearance, with its white clouds, bluish green oceans, and two green and brown supercontinents. I could only imagine what the day-to-day life was like down there.
Dotty placed The Pillar into orbit around the planet, since we would be taking Dagger down to the coordinates given. The large city rested on an expansive cape on the northeastern side of the planet’s smaller supercontinent, and the empire already had a significant amount of military presence.
As we suited up and grabbed our gear, I looked over to Seya who was tightening her boots. “Is there anywhere specific we should go first when we get down there?” I asked, dropping ammo packs into the various pockets of my chest harness.
“I haven’t been to this planet before. Those coordinates were one of ten given to me by the conglomerate for memorization. This destination happened to be the closest from where we were on Harkloon. We'll need to find someone to point us in the right direction—assuming the conglomerate is still active here,” she said, fixing the final clasp on her boot. “There are key phrases we use to identify each other," she further explained, moving to adjust her gauntlets.
Dotty—or the ship—provided her with new armor, like my own, in her assumedly preferred white color variation. It had some differences to it, especially on the helmet, where the sides of the helmet flared out slightly to provide her longer, pointed ears more comfort. Our bodysuits—as I came to call the uniform underneath—were now a black variation.
“So, we’re winging it,” I said, putting it bluntly.
“Winging it?” she cocked an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, figuring it out as we go, I mean,” I said, grabbing the hilt of a collapsible sword and fixing it to my shoulder strap. “And if there is a military force down there, how are we planning on walking through the street kitted out like this?”
“It’s fine. I worked with your A.I. and made fake credentials for us,” she said, reaching into a pocket and tossing a small card on the bench next to me. “We are bounty hunters, recognized by the empire. We should be able to move around freely with these, should anyone question us.”
“Where did you manage to get them?” I asked, examining the card.
“The stuff you could salvage and trade on Harkloon would amaze you. I have plenty of different cards. It lets people trust me enough at first glance to not bother with a second. I complete what I need to do successfully…most of the time anyway,” she responded with a shrug.
“Wait, you have access to Dotty?” I asked.
“Relax. I cannot influence any of the ship's primary functions and you are still recognized as the captain of the ship. I was just looking to help our mission with some support items. I apologize if you feel as if I was going over your head. It is still your ship, but this is my area of expertise. Feel free to head planetside without any weapons, if you want," she said, holstering her blaster. "I would rather bring some security.”
“Nah,” I muttered, giving her a stink face and shoved my blaster into its holster with meaning. Grabbing the card, it had a portrait of me already on it. When did she take a photo of me? I wondered. I couldn’t knock her for working with Dotty, she did do us a favor. It made me realize I should keep a closer eye on her, thoug
h. If not for safety, then to possibly learn a thing or two.
“Arthur, I wanted to confirm with you that the power core is indeed coming from the planet. It is somewhere within the same city as the coordinates given by Seya,” said the A.I.
“In the city?” I asked, turning to Seya. “What if we get close enough to the power core signature?”
“If we get near the signature first, before making contact, we can mark the area and come back when we have support. If not, we stick with meeting up with the conglomerate and seeing what we can do from there,” she answered. “That is unless the thing is out in the open, then, we grab it and run. I am not about to start tossing merchant stands in search of something that may not even be there.”
“Fair enough,” I said, grabbing my helmet and placing it under my arm.
We stepped aboard Dagger and prepped for launch down to the planet. She fiddled with the dataslate on her gauntlet and beamed over a local map of the city. Once we got close enough to the ground the GPS would begin tracking us and updating in real-time. She had begun marking a few potential areas to begin looking for a contact of the conglomerate.
We entered a low energy signature posture and activated the camouflage on Dagger before exiting the hangar. We descended towards Tudok while the larger ship maintained its current orbit. The inky blackness of space turned into a dark blue, as we penetrated the upper atmosphere until we dove through some cloud cover, opening the sky once again in a lighter blue.
We would need to land the ship somewhere away from the city and take the hoverbike in. Dotty alerted me, that due to their age, flying the ships within the city was out of the question. I mean, a Model-T back home is still a rare sight in the wild, but it always turns heads when spotted in a parking lot or on the road.
We found a good landing spot at an open, grassy area surrounded by trees, a few miles away from the city marked as Gwei-yon on the map. The ramp dropped, and we rode out on Seya’s hoverbike, as I swallowed my pride and took the rear seat, yet again.
Dotty had marked the air as breathable, cutting off the oxygen supply from the suit, I breathed in the semi-sweet air that entered my helmet. My HUD marked the planet's gravity at ninety percent of Earth’s. Combined with my enhanced body, my armor and pack felt as if I had gone out in gym clothes. The climate was rather temperate and would pass for a warm day back home in Colorado. Given the fact that I was the only human around, I decided to keep my visor down and retractable faceplate down, because much like my ships, my appearance may draw unwanted attention.
Speeding through the forest, we reached a road that would lead us the rest of the way into the city. Along the way, I had taken note of some of the fauna, flying and scurrying around the trees. They weren’t exotic in flamboyant displays of colorful furs and feathers like I'd seen back home, instead, their appearance was rather dull and uniform with their surroundings. What stuck out to me was the orchestral sounds of their calls and chirps. The forest came alive as the hoverbike flew over the broken gravel and dirt, its high-pitched whine frightening the animals into song.
Upon entering a clearing from the tree line, the city became visible at the bottom of the hill. The dirt road carved a cruddy path through the wild bluegrass and below, the city stretched on for several more miles. Small tents and stands spread out around the outskirts. Further into the city, the tents became larger, more compressed, and jammed.
I took a closer look over Seya’s shoulder. Between the radiant hues of the city, were flat, dull gray uniforms patrolling the streets along with large, bulky vehicles that appeared to be armored transports. Compounds with high walls and watchtowers stuck out against the colorful city.
With help from Dotty, I used my visor’s zoom feature to survey the area and managed to spot some aircraft parked near the center of the city in similar gray colors.
“That’s quite a police presence down there,” I said over the comms to Seya.
“If only that were the case,” she replied. “No, unfortunately, that is the occupying imperial troops. Police presence will be scarce in occupied cities.”
“And if I needed to report a crime? I take that up with the military then?” I asked.
“You suck it up or risk fixing it yourself without getting caught by imperials. They don't care what the people do, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their daily routines,” she said over the comms.
“So, these credentials you worked out with Dotty, they’ll work right?”
“They should,” she replied, which failed to relieve my anxiety.
As we approached the nearest entrance, I caught my first glimpse of the local aliens. Most were bipedal and humanoid with the rest evolving, or devolving, into more animal-like creatures.
The hoverbike took us through crowded streets, slowly weaving through pedestrians and storefronts. Finally, it became so crowded that we decided to park the bike and continue on foot. Seya armed the bike’s security with a nonchalant tap on her gauntlet’s dataslate as we walked away.
We strode through the bustling streets. The riot of local vendors and people filled the air in a garbled mess of noises I had never heard before. This wasn’t any shouting and talking you would hear at the food court of a mall, this was absolute noise pollution. I turned down the audio receivers of the helmet, dulling out the crowd as we proceeded along.
We were two caped “bounty hunters” armed to the teeth. The crowd watched our every move as we weaved through them, most of which moved out of the way, or looked in other directions, as I gazed upon them with curiosity. Creatures of every shape and size you could think of, littered the area—slime creatures, gas people in vac-suits, and more tentacles than I cared to count.
Everything will be fine, so long as I don't run into any six-foot-tall spider people.
As we rounded the corner, I bumped into someone.
The creature turned around to see the cause of the interruption. It looked down at my visor, which reflected its scary face back at it. As it turns out, it was an eight-foot-tall spider creature and not the shorter one I had hoped to avoid. While I yelled inside my helmet, the creature would have only heard a muffled scream. I scurried around and fell back in step with Seya, no doubt confusing, if not upsetting the entity.
“What the hell was that thing back there?” I asked Seya, feeling the sweat forming on my brow.
“What do you mean?” she asked, still on track.
“That huge spider!” I answered, with butterflies in my stomach.
“What you encountered was a member of the Okidna people,” Dotty interjected.
“Is there a problem?” asked Seya.
“Not really, it’s just…back on Earth we have something similar—nowhere near as big though.”
“Aw, did you get scared?” she jabbed, tilting her helmet at me before scanning the street for our next move.
“I don’t want to talk about it. I am trying to forget that such a thing even exists, okay?” I said.
“I did not realize you had such an aversion to the Okidna people,” she replied
Dotty, what the hell? I thought you were probing around my mind this entire time. You never bothered looking into what I might be afraid of? I thought to the A.I.
It was not clear. I apologize that I had not taken notice. I will make a note for future references.
You mean those things are your allies?
Yes. Although they are isolationists, a large number have recently joined the Galactic Conglomerate. The Vael Empire are encroaching on their colonies along the outer rim of the galaxy, reinforced and guarded by the Darkkon Empire.
The thought of this made me continue to sweat and bite back the bile creeping up my throat.
Up ahead, four military personnel walked through the streets, coming right towards us. Seya kept moving, not showing any hesitation in front of them. They would most likely spot us among the crowd. As we passed them, they only gave us quick nods, never slowing down.
“Looks like they weren’t th
at interested,” I mentioned after the patrol was no longer in sight.
“It’s not too uncommon to see bounty hunters, especially in a place like this,” said Seya.
“So those were Vael soldiers?” I asked.
“No, they were of the Darkkon Empire, though not purebloods by the looks of it,” she said.
“Purebloods?”
“True Darkkon people, like myself,” she explained. “Their gear may have been supplied by the Vael, but those were clearly conscripted personnel of the Darkkon Empire.
“So, it’s a mixed society?” I asked.
“It has been for the past few hundred years. With the seizure of worlds and expansion of the empires’ territories, the Darkkon establish a foothold, guarding against any resistance. Much like what you see here.” She gestured her hand to the surrounding buildings. “Part of having your home claimed by the two empires is the mandatory conscription, which funnels more soldiers and military personnel into the ranks of the Darkkon. The empire often positions them back on their own planets, and then, forces them to uphold the new imperial laws against their own people.
“I can see now why the conglomerate was formed,” I replied.
“Precisely,” she said. “Though, the Vael are now using less aggressive means in seizing planets than they have in the distant past. But manipulating markets and economies still leave people desperate. When there is no other option left, the planets submit for the prospect of some form of relief. This allows the Vael and the Darkkon to seize lands with minimal collateral damage. It does take a long time to rebuild cities from the ground up, after all.”
“So, Darkkon is essentially the muscle, and the Vael is in charge?” I asked
“In a sense, yes. But the Vael is much larger and has an impressive army of their own.”
“Where you in the Darkkon military?” I asked.