Galactic Bandits Compilation

by Duke Campbell

  Calico’s face went from pouty to full on sad. It was an expression intended to show how much pain she was in, and how she’d been wronged.

  “Don’t give me that sad face bullshit.” Regan said. “You tried to kill us—”

  “I had to or else—” she interrupted.

  “No!” Regan interrupted in return. He would leave no room for her excuses. Not this time. “You failed. And now you will help us get around this place, or we’ll leave you here to rot.”

  Regan was serious, and Straya and Calico could both see it in his eyes. Calico stood and nodded her head. She didn’t say a word, but continued to wear the pout.

  As they stepped out into the hallway and began making their way back to the armory, Straya had Calico walk ahead. Straya kept her gun unholstered and walked next to Regan behind their prisoner. She leaned into Regan, putting her lips up to his ear.

  “You’re sexy when you’re firm,” she whispered.

  Regan just smirked.

  “Keep it cool, Straya,” he said. “We have work to do.”

  Arkei waited for them at the armory door, but Reverie had disappeared. Before Regan could ask for her whereabouts, Arkei explained, “Reverie went to find Bob. She doesn’t have much interest in weaponry, so she thought she’d see what our confused human friend was up to.”

  That made sense. Bob had been missing since the battle with Mephistopheles had ended. Regan wasn’t worried, but since Bob’s brain hadn’t been working right, and his memories were a tangled mess, Regan didn’t want the little guy to get confused and lost somewhere. They were on an alien moon after all.

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Regan replied.

  Arkei turned her gaze toward Calico.

  “Mephistopheles changed the access panel permissions,” she said. “Open the door.”

  Calico hesitated, but Straya put a pistol against her back. Calico then sighed and lifted her bound hands to the panel, placing her thumb on it. The scan engaged and the door unlocked.

  While Straya found a post to bind Calico to, Arkei quickly scanned the room, her eyes wide.

  She lifted all sorts of weapons from the wall. Big ones, small ones, and strange ones that seemed to overtake her entire arm. She reminded Regan of a little kid, her excitement almost contagious.

  She showed Regan many of the weapons, calling them out by names that Regan didn’t know. As cool as it all was, he was a bit wary about picking up weaponry he knew little about. And Arkei seemed to notice this, as she brought a holster pack over to him.

  “This would look so cool on you!” she exclaimed, snapping it around his waist. It sat low on one side where the gun holster was and had a leather sash that went over his shoulder across his chest. It was full of pockets and eyelets to fasten anything he wanted to it.

  Regan admitted to himself that he felt pretty badass wearing it, but again, he wasn’t sure how much use he’d be in a gunfight.

  “You know,” Arkei started. “I haven’t seen you use a gun yet.”

  “Yeah, I’ve always been more of a melee type of guy.”

  “Do you have any experience with firearms?” Arkei asked. “Beyond the simulations, of course.”

  Simulations? Oh yeah, video games.

  “Oh, sure,” Regan said, but then stopped himself. He could be honest with Arkei. After everything they’d experienced, she was by his side for life. “But I wouldn’t say the simulations were very accurate. I should probably get some hands-on training before wielding an actual gun.”

  “Well, I’ll have to teach you sometime,” Arkei said, before turning back toward the weaponry again.

  She was putting everything she liked into a pile in the corner of the room. It was more than they’d ever need, but they were looting this place, so why not?

  Even if we don’t use them all to blast away our future enemies, we can certainly sell some off for a quick buck.

  Then he caught Calico’s gaze. She was watching him, and only him.

  Something different went on behind her eyes now. She was looking at him with respect. She had given him enough glares in the few days he’d known her for him to recognize that this look was new. Part of him thought it was another trick, but part of him thought it was something else, something she wasn’t as good at hiding.

  Then Straya gasped. But it wasn’t a gasp of fear or panic, rather, a gasp of joy. Everyone turned to look at her.

  Her chameleon skin was running through colors at a rapid rate, as if Straya was standing on a rainbow and the colors were moving through her like waves. From her expression, it was clear that her skin changes were caused by pure excitement, and Regan saw why.

  She had uncovered a box of Universal Translators. Hundreds of them, still in their original packaging.

  Straya waved an arm over the box. “Can you believe it? A whole box of these things! This is super illegal. I love it.” She faced Regan. “There’s a shitload of money to be made with these. It’s better than finding pure gold doubloons. They are worth more, weigh less, and we could sell these off and never have to worry about money again.”

  “Except the only place you can offload them is on the black market,” Arkei noted.

  “That’s the only market I know,” Straya said, winking at Arkei. She tossed the devices back into the box and pulled it off the shelf. “We’re taking these.”

  As the pile kept growing, Regan had to wonder just how much room they had on Arkei’s ship.

  Damn. Maybe we should just buy a new ship!

  Just then, Bob entered the room, followed by Reverie.

  “Right on time, Bob!” Regan said. “I’m headed to the species hall to look at the specimens. We have to figure out how to save them, and who we’ll bring with us as new crew members.”

  “I can help you with that,” Reverie said.

  “Thank you, Rev. Bob, maybe you can start loading this stuff onto the ship? Or better yet, maybe we can find equipment to help you haul them? Surely Mephistopheles didn’t carry all this stuff by himself.”

  “No problem,” Bob said. “But why don’t we use the new ship?”

  New ship? Seems Bob’s brain is still a bit screwy.

  “Whatever you think, Bob,” Regan said, keeping his fellow human’s spirit up. “Calico, where can we find a cart or small vehicle to help haul this shit?”

  He expected Calico to hesitate, but instead she just answered him without a fuss.

  “They’re in that room by the front hall near the entrance,” she said. “Hopefully you didn’t destroy them when you blew up the door.”

  Arkei smiled at her sweetly. “If we did, then you can help carry everything instead. I wouldn’t have had to blow up the doors had you simply cooperated with Regan.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Calico said with a groan. “Come on, I’ll show you where they are.”

  The front hall was a mess from the battle with Mephistopheles, with his dead body still spread out on the ground. Regan’s axe had been wedged deep in his chest by Arkei, where it still remained.

  Arkei walked up to the body and put her foot on his neck, ripping the axe out of him. She wiped the blood on her former master’s cape, before twirling the axe around.

  “I’ll put it back on my ship,” she said.

  “You should put it on the new ship!” Bob suggested.

  Arkei simply nodded at him. By now the entire crew recognized it was best to just go with whatever delusions Bob had. Brain damage was nothing to mess with.

  Straya secured Calico to another post after she opened the door to a large storage room. It was full of many maintenance items, including several large floating platforms. They hovered on their own, able to carry large loads.

  “Bob, Straya, and Arkei,” Regan said. “Want to load up the loot?”

  The three of them nodded, grabbed a platform, then made their way back to the armory. Meanwhile, Reverie and Regan began inspecting the cryopods.

  They had screens on the sides of them that revealed the species and de
tails that pertained to them, but they didn’t say the status of the specimens. Regan knew that Mephistopheles had unethical means of studying these creatures, so he wondered how many of them were on the verge of death.

  “I don’t want to let anyone out if they’ll be in pain,” Regan began. “We’ll handle the ones in better condition first.”

  “I can tell what condition they’re in,” Reverie said. “It won’t take too much of my power to go through all of them.”

  Regan nodded. “We should start with building our crew then worry about the rest later. Choose species you know will be agreeable and helpful.”

  Reverie nodded and placed her palm on each of the pods as she walked by them. There were mechanical bases with many buttons and dials, with screens describing the species, and glass containers on top, which each held a specimen. They were frozen still, but based on the readings, they were all alive.

  The murky liquid in each pod concealed the species within. Regan had to rely on what the screens said for further information.

  Soon, Arkei, Straya, and Bob came walking back through the hallway with their floating trailers full of looted items.

  As they neared the door, an alarm blared. It wasn’t loud, but it was sudden and made everyone jump—everyone except Calico, who stayed still, and maybe even snickered.

  Regan noticed her stillness, her composure, as if she knew something the rest didn’t.

  Arkei reached for a dial near the front entrance and silenced the alarm.

  “Uh… Maybe we should get the hell out of here?” Straya suggested.

  “Mephistopheles has the alarms set to go off if so much as a foreign microorganism floated into his perimeters. He was greedy and paranoid. Trust me; the number of his stupid false alarms I’ve woken up to over the years is countless.”

  Since Arkei spent most of her life in his service, everyone accepted her response and returned to their tasks.

  Even so, Regan looked back at Calico, who seemed less than convinced. He shook his head, choosing to ignore her. He had work to do.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  As Regan continued looking through the species in the cryopods, he started to feel overwhelmed. He had originally seen them when he first entered, but inspecting each of them one by one was something entirely different.

  They were no longer just specimens to observe. They were living things. And Mephistopheles imprisoned them.

  Reverie reported that most of them were wounded. They found many healthy specimens too, but most would have difficulties once defrosted. This job felt too big for him to tackle.

  It was the first time since Regan had been on this adventure that he felt inadequate to help someone. But unlike his previous challenges, this one wasn’t a matter of immediate life or death.

  In fact, these specimens could stay frozen for thousands of years and not age a moment. He could leave them for someone else to save, but the thought still weighed heavily on Regan. If things had gone differently, he’d be frozen just like these poor creatures. Mephistopheles had them kidnapped from their homes, their families, their communities, and from their lives. It was unsettling to just leave them there, and since he had the power to change their lives for the better, he should.

  Regan knew that Reverie could sense this conflict in him. He cared for the good of all. He wanted this galaxy to be better than what it was. But he couldn’t figure out how to help.

  She put her hands on him.

  “I know you want to help them all,” she whispered.

  “I’m worried for them, but there are too many for us to bring with us,” Regan replied.

  “They aren’t your responsibility,” she said.

  “No, but I can help.”

  Reverie nodded and smiled at him. “We should take a few strong ones to be a part of our crew. The others… Well, we should alert the Intergalactic Council.”

  Regan sparked up. He hadn’t considered the Intergalactic Council.

  “Would they help?” he asked. He thought of Earth’s councils and politicians and how long it took for them to do anything worthwhile.

  “They have their problems,” Reverie started. “There’s no doubt about that. But in an instance like this, where most of the species of the galaxy are represented, they will act quickly. If they didn’t, then the entire galaxy would be furious at them, and a galaxy-wide uproar is not something that anyone wants.”

  Regan sighed, relieved. “Good. We should take advantage of that, then.”

  But then Calico couldn’t keep quiet. “You’re fools,” she said. “The Intergalactic Council is a corrupt powerhouse. They’ll destroy these specimens with one well-aimed bomb.”

  “What are you going on about?” Regan asked.

  “They want no evidence of this place existing. Why do you think Mephistopheles got away with what he was doing for so long? It’s easier to ignore this issue than fix it.”

  Regan groaned. Sadly, this made more sense. If the governments back home had taught him anything, it was that corruption ran deep, and that the richest sycophants had the strongest connections.

  Dammit, Calico.

  He faced Reverie. “They’re frozen, so we’ve got plenty of time to figure out a better solution. For now, I need you to identify which species we should release to build our crew. When Arkei returns and opens up her ship’s loading bay, we’ll start moving the pods in, and worry about integrating them into our group later.”

  Just then, Arkei entered, overhearing the end of what Regan had said.

  “About that… I’m a little concerned regarding the size of my loading bay.” She idly scratched her head as she looked at the growing pile of loot just outside the entrance. “We’re bringing too much stuff, and my ship’s just not big enough.”

  Straya and Bob arrived right behind her, walking alongside floating trailer beds full of weapons, electronics, and other treasures.

  Straya stood before her trailer, as if defending it.

  “This is good stuff,” she stated. “If we need to pick only one platform, mine will give us the best value. I chose items that we can sell off for good money while not taking up too much of our inventory space.”

  Arkei pleaded her case, “But we need to hold on to a few weapons too. Some of these we couldn’t even buy on the black market.”

  “Guys, that’s why we should use the other ship!” Bob shouted in return. “I’ve been telling you there’s a bigger ship, yet you all keep ignoring me!”

  Regan considered this for a moment. Here he thought Bob was having another episode. Could he really have stumbled across the greatest loot of all?

  “Bob, let me get this straight. You’re saying you found another ship—not just Arkei’s ship?”

  Bob gaped at Regan, looking rather offended.

  “What have I been saying this whole time?” he exclaimed. He then pointed at Arkei. “You think because she messed up my brain that I can’t remember anything? I get that I’m having some difficulties here and there, but come on, cut me some slack!”

  “Okay, okay,” Regan began. “Show us this ship.”

  “Finally!” Bob waved at them to follow him.

  Straya removed Calico from the post, mumbling, “Just in case she comes in handy again,” then the whole group followed Bob. He led them to a hatch that opened up to a long hallway.

  Regan inspected the hallway they walked down, peering through the many open doors on both sides of them. Those that were open revealed luxurious and sporty small ships and vehicles.

  Regan looked at Arkei.

  “How come you didn’t check out this hallway?” he asked. “You must have known about it.”

  Arkei nodded. “Sure, I knew about it, but Mephistopheles wasn’t one to have large ships. He liked to travel in style, but still wanted to stay under the radar regarding size, so he stuck to small crafts. Nothing that could hold us all.”

  Like a collection of sports cars. But then what the hell is Bob talking about?

  Then t
hey saw it. At the very end of the hallway was a huge hangar housing a massive space yacht. It was ten times the size of Arkei’s ship, and gorgeous to boot.

  The sides were sleek and detailed with designs. It had sweeping windows and even a large deck up top with a significant balcony.

  Even with all the alien settings he’d explored, this yacht was the most beautiful thing he’d come across. Regan couldn’t guess what something like this would cost, but he grew excited realizing that it would soon be his.

  This is mine. Holy. Shit.

  In fact, the ship was so big that Regan assumed Mephistopheles had constructed this entire hangar just to house it. The hanger was a huge circular room with a glass ceiling.

  Arkei confirmed this assumption, saying, “Well, that’s new.”

  Bob looked from the bottom of the ship all the way up to the sky, his eyes wide.

  “Holy crap, guys!” he shouted. “It’s another ship!”

  Regan laughed. The poor guy had managed to remember the yacht just long enough to get them there, only to completely forget about it the moment it was in front of his eyes.

  “It’s all good, Bob,” he said. “Once again, I owe you an apology.”

  “Well, I think there’s no question that we’re changing ships!” Straya announced inside the large echoing room.

  The ship clearly impressed Arkei, but Regan could sense something was off about her. She didn’t light up the way she had when they found the weapons.

  “What’s up?” Regan asked her.

  “Nothing,” she said.

  “Come on, what is it?”

  “It’s just… my ship…” she started. “She and I have been through so much together. I know she isn’t the best ship in the galaxy, but she has always been reliable. Now we’re just gonna ditch her for this gaudy thing?”

  Regan supposed trading in one ship for another wasn’t as easy as it was in War Games 2. It was more than just a ship to her; it had been her home.

  Even Regan had nostalgic memories aboard her ship, but the yacht was too good to pass up.