by L. S. Mercer
He returned to his meditative position in hopes to do exactly that, but for minutes nothing happened. He began to feel somewhat foolish, just sitting there, staring forward at the entrance to the room.
The entire ship echoed as it put on its landing breaks, signaling to Adrian that it had finally arrived at the Kharan spacedock. The idea that the trip was over satisfied him, making him finally feel relieved that he was free from Voore. He arose from his meditation and made his way to the departure platform.
* * *
Adrian opened the door to the pub, immediately irritated by the amount of Kharan patrons that turned to stare at him as he entered. The pub was by far the ugliest one he’d ever been in, even surpassing the incredibly low standards that he’d set before entering. The walls slathered with a strange, unidentifiable green slime and the seats torn to shreds.
Sebastian and Elias followed closely behind, uncomfortable with their surroundings.
“I don’t think we should be here.” Whispered Sebastian.
Adrian responded with a gesture to silence him.
“I think it’s rather nice.” Said Elias, poking the strange substance on the wall.
Adrian walked over to the where the bartender was standing behind the bar, gently pushing a couple of drunk Kharan out of the way as he moved past.
“I’m looking for a ship to take me off planet.” He said.
The bartender just stared at him, narrowing his eyes as if Adrian had just insulted him.
A boisterous laugh came from the corner of the room, causing Adrian to turn it its direction.
“You won’t find a captain willing to fly you around.” Said the voice.
He stepped into the light to reveal himself. He was the biggest Kharan that Adrian had ever seen, with horns that curled around his head like a goat. His eyes were yellow like the sun and trained on Adrian like a masterful marksman.
“And why is that?” Asked Adrian, already getting irritated.
“Because we don’t like humans here.” Growled the Kharan.
Adrian allowed himself to chuckle out loud, visibly angering the Kharan, who began walking up to him.
“Is something funny?” He growled, flexing his muscles to show how strong he was.
Adrian leaned in close as if to whisper into the Kharan’s ear.
“I, am not, human.” He hissed.
The Kharan remained quiet, unsure of how to respond.
Suddenly, Adrian slammed his fist into the Kharan’s stomach, sending him flying across the room. Everyone in the pub stood up to engage him, but he didn’t flinch. He looked around for Elias and Sebastian, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Cowards.” He thought to himself, amused by their constant display of weakness.
“You can’t just-” Started the Bartender.
Adrian quickly turned his head to him and stared.
“Nevermind.”
Every Kharan in the room took a step towards Adrian when he’d turned his head, luckily for him he sensed it. Turning back to the crowd of angry patrons, he lifted his hand and gestured for someone to try and take him on. One by one, they all rushed him. He calmly took each one on, having no fear of fatigue or of being harmed. Once they were all too tired to fight him, he scanned the room for the big one.
“Now, to send a message.” He whispered, loud enough for them all to still hear him.
Raising his hand again, he motioned for the energy within him to grasp the Kharan by the throat and drag him closer. The Kharan lifted from the ground, clenching his neck for dear life as he involuntarily floated closer to Adrian.
“I am truly sorry.” Whisper Adrian, followed by a fit of hateful laughter.
The Kharan screamed in agony as he choked to death, all of the air being squeezed violently from his body. The rest of the patrons stared in horror as their massive friend became nothing but a prune. After the Kharan’s last breath, Adrian released him from his invisible grasp.
“Now, I need a ship.” He said, turning back to the bartender.
“I’ve got a ship.” Said a woman’s voice from the entrance to the pub.
Adrian turned to see a sharply dressed, blonde woman standing there, staring at him with a look that could have been interpreted as being impressed.
“And you are?” He asked.
He couldn’t show it, but he found her rather attractive. Her beautiful light blue eyes told him that she was likely from Ostillion, which would be a plus in his book. The only thing he didn’t consider at the time was the fact that he was no longer human, and could never really be with someone.
“I’m a woman with a ship.” She replied with a grin.
“Fair enough.” He muttered.
Adrian gave the bartender one more silent stare before deciding that he’d scared him enough, then followed the mysterious woman out of the pub.
They left at a fast pace, but as soon as they were outside, the woman came to a slow walk. Adrian assumed she wanted to speak with him, so he did as well.
“So what’s your story?” She asked.
“Don’t have one.” Adrian replied.
The woman stopped walking and gave him a stern look.
“Everyone has a story.” She said. “No story, no pilot.”
Adrian smiled in his mind, he wished that she could see it.
“Fine.” He said. “I escaped from prison to this place, and now I want off.”
“Not really a story but I guess it works.” She replied. “I’m Helen Slater, former captain of the Arc19.”
“Adrian Blackwing.” He said.
Helen’s eyes went wide and she grabbed his arm, leaning in closer to him.
“That’s not possible.” She whispered, looking around nervously.
“News travels fast.” He thought.
“You’re dead.” She claimed.
Adrian chuckled. It wasn’t every day that you’d get to hear such a thing said to you.
“Almost.” He replied.
Just as he spoke, a bunch of Kharan guards rushed towards him from all sides, armed to the teeth with the latest in pulse weaponry. Adrian knew he could take them, but he decided against it since he’d already made enough of a scene at the pub. Helen threw her hands in the air and nudged Adrian to do the same.
The guards quickly slapped shock rings20 to their wrists before giving any explanation as to why. It was obvious that someone must have called them after Adrian’s little explosion in the pub, but he was sure none of them would talk for fear of being executed by his new power.
“So, why are you arresting us?” Asked Helen as she pushed at one of the guards with her shoulder.
“Shut up.” Replied the guard.
All of a sudden, the guard slammed hard into the ground without warning, dead on impact.
“You might want to answer her.” Said Adrian with all the calmness in the world.
The rest of the guards stared at each other with confusion filling their previously blank expressions.
“I turned you in.” Said someone from behind the guards.
Sebastian stepped out and moved to meet Adrian’s gaze.
“You have become consumed with rage, and you’re too dangerous!” He shouted.
Elias too stepped into Adrian’s view.
“Did you think this a wise decision?” Asked Adrian, remaining calm knowing that he could easily kill all of them.
Sebastian remained silent, but Elias shook his head no.
“So you will execute him immediately?” Asked Sebastian, his nerves seeping through his attempt at confidence.
“Sure.” Grumbled one of the guards as he gestured for the others to grab Elias and Sebastian.
“What is this?” Shouted Sebastian as he was being cuffed.
The lead guard growled at him in response.
“I think this is a misunderstanding.” Sebastian whined.
The guard clicked the buzzer on the shock rings, causing everyone to be electrocuted.
The only two unaffe
cted by the shock were Adrian and Elias, while the other two fell down on their knees from the intense pain.
All of the guards surrounded the prisoners and began to herd them in the direction of the market.
“You’re gonna love this.” Whispered Adrian.
Helen shot him a grin.
“Oh I’m sure.” She replied.
19 Arc- A large transport ship that was turned into a battleship back in the war for Ostillion. After the war it was decommissioned by the council as a safety measure due to its level of pulse energy consumption.
20 Shock Rings- Handcuff powered with electricity.
Chapter 8
A loud explosion erupted within the ship, forcing Damon to fly out of bed like a tornado. He immediately ran to where he thought it’d come from, hoping that the Eyres were alright. As he entered the cargo room, he could see a tiny flame atop a broken down dirt racer21 located in the center.
“Alloy?” He asked. “Copper?”
A shuffling sound came from the corner of the room.
“Guys come on out.” He demanded.
Just as he’d expected, the two came hobbling out from behind one of the cargo bins; their heads lowered to the ground in shame.
“What happened?” Asked Damon.
Alloy opened his arms wide, gesturing a big explosion.
“Boom.” Muttered Copper.
Damon looked back at the racer.
“I’m not mad guys.” He said. “Just try and be a little quieter.”
The Eyres nodded in unison and immediately ran back over to the racer with renewed excitement, as always.
“Okay.” Muttered Damon to himself.
He turned back and started to head to his quarters when a call started beeping in the communicator room. Damon raised his brow as he made his way over to the terminal. He hesitated for a moment before taking it, slowly putting his finger on the answer button.
“Damon?” Asked Aela.
There was a slight interference with the signal, causing her to come across choppy.
“Hello princess!” Shouted Damon.
Her slightly pixelated face shot him a smile.
“As much as I’d love to exchange pleasantries, we have a problem.” She said.
Damon leaned forward and cupped his hands together.
“Shoot.” He commanded.
Aela leaned in as well as if she were about to tell a secret.
“The Kharan may or may not have a massive pulse bomb.” She whispered.
Damon’s heart sank. He had no idea what to say to her.
“How do you know this?” He asked after a moment.
“I’ll send you the readings we just picked up. Tell me what you think.” She said.
Damon nodded.
As the readings came in, his stomach fluttered a little. It showed a transport ship emitting massive amounts of energy, unlike anything he’d ever seen. The only explanation was that a bomb or some other type of weaponry was aboard.
“Okay, so you want me to check it out?” He asked.
Aela slowly nodded, giving him an eerie, dread-like feeling.
“Suicide mission coming right up!” He shouted.
Although it was meant to be a joke, Aela didn’t find it very funny. He assumed that she would’ve on any other occasion, but this wasn’t exactly a joking matter.
“Don’t worry princess!” He laughed. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s probably nothing really, but we need to check it out either way.” She said.
Damon nodded, figuring it would probably be better not to say anything.
“Be careful.” She ordered before cutting the signal.
He sat in his seat for a moment, wondering how long he’d survive working with the Alliance. First, he’d been complaining that he didn’t want a tedious scouting mission, now it was starting to sound good.
Damon clicked the intercom button on his communicator to talk to his crew.
“All hands, we have a mission!” He shouted.
The Eyres could both be heard whining from the cargo room, making Damon chuckle to himself as he moved towards the cockpit.
Alloy, unhappy with the timing of the mission, waddled in and sat in the passenger seat. He gave Damon a thumbs up as he strapped himself in, ready for the trip.
“Copper?” Damon asked into the communicator.
“Ready!” He shouted.
The ship lurched forward, sending them directly into enemy space.
Within moments, they were in sight of the three Kharan planets. Damon scanned for the frequency that Aela had sent him, receiving nothing as he did so. Setting the ship into a slow push, he continued to refresh the scan.
“Nothing.” Said Alloy.
Damon shook his head in response and scanned again. Finally, a ping shot through the screen, signaling that he’d finally found the signature of the pulse reading. It appeared to be in the middle planet, the trading center. Damon lowered his head in disappointment. The trading center was the busiest planet out of all three, with thousands of Kharan packed into the streets at any given time.
Locating the signature was going to be easy, but not getting caught on a planet that was almost entirely exclusive to the Kharan was going to be nearly impossible. It was no secret to anyone in the galaxy that the Kharan hated every race aside from their own. They still allowed traders from other planets, but they weren’t very nice to them at all.
“Alloy.” Said Damon.
Alloy immediately tried to pretend that he was sleeping, knowing that Damon was going to ask him to do something that he didn’t want to.
“I know you’re awake.” He said. “Look, we just need to find this thing and then we can leave.”
“Fine!” Groaned Alloy, slapping his hand against his leg.
“I’ll go!” Said Copper.
Damon spun around with his eyes wide, not knowing that the other Eyre had been in the doorway.
“Well, okay.” He replied. “Then Alloy can stay with the ship.”
Alloy let out an enormous sigh of relief. As he did so, the communicator room erupted in sound; someone was trying to force a transmission.
“Come in smuggler.” Said a deep, raspy voice.
The voice was unmistakably a Kharan.
“Well hello.” Said Damon, trying his hardest not to be rude in any way.
“State your business.” Demanded the Kharan.
“Well, I’m a smuggler.” Said Damon with a chuckle. “I’m here to trade.”
The voice remained silent, certainly not amused by Damon’s sense of humor.
“You’re clear to land human.” Grumbled the Kharan. “We’ll be watching you.”
* * *
“Passport sir!” Demanded the desk clerk.
Damon patted down his pockets, knowing he didn’t actually have one.
“Would ya look at that.” He said. “Must have dropped it somewhere.”
The clerk rolled his eyes.
“Next!” He shouted.
“Wait.” Begged Damon. “Can you just let me through without it? Just this one time?”
The clerk just stared at him, completely emotionless.
“Look my little guy here is sick.” Complained Damon, pointing down at Copper.
Copper let out the fakest sounding cough that Damon had ever heard.
The clerk looked down and made a disgusted face.
“Fine, go.” He grumbled.
Damon and Copper immediately ran through the gate as it unlocked.
“Remind me to teach you how to act.” Whispered Damon.
Copper gave him a weird smile and then nodded.
Pulling out his scanner, Damon continued through to the spacedock exit. The scan indicated that the frequency was on the move, making him wonder how small the device had to be. There was no way to transport anything bigger than a pod of small guns through the streets of the trade district without attracting attention. The signal immediately turned towards them as they walked past the stalls
, so Damon and Copper ducked behind a cart and waited for it to pass.
As the mysterious object came into view, Damon couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was a man of sorts, tall and wearing a small blue cloak over his head. He was clad in an entirely metal battlesuit and cuffed like a criminal. The scan had to be wrong, a person wasn’t remotely capable of putting off that much energy. Then Damon spotted another prisoner with the man, an old friend of his from a ship he used to work on called the Arc, Helen Slater.
Damon activated his communicator and called Aela to see if she could explain the situation any better.
“Hello?” She asked after a moment of ringing.
“Aela!” He whispered.
“Damon, you can’t call me from Kharan!” She shouted. “You’ll blow your cover.”
“We might have a bigger problem than that.” He muttered. “That reading you sent me, it’s a person.”
Aela remained silent for a moment as if to process what was being said to her.
“That’s not possible.” She finally said. More to herself than to Damon.
“I’ll follow him and keep you updated.” He said.
Damon didn’t allow Aela to say anything after, he simply shut off the communicator.
“let’s go.” Whispered Damon.
Copper let out a little whimper but still followed his master’s lead.
The two followed the prisoners through a shady alley. They tried to stay out of sight as much as possible due to Damon’s bounties, but it was becoming quite a chore. It almost seemed like the guards were parading them through the streets or something, Damon couldn’t help but wonder what the two had done.