《Spaced Out》


 Chapter 1: Jumping!

    ''BZZT'' An electrical bolt arced from the circuit board to Gabe¡¯s finger. ¡°Ow! Fucking dick!.¡± He had shouted from the sudden shock. He rubbed his index finger and thumb together to alleviate the pain that he was suddenly caused.


    ¡°God damn. Fuck that hurts.¡± In hindsight, Gabe should¡¯ve probably disconnected the power from the board as he was working on. Letting go of the tool it rolled harmlessly onto the carpeted floor of his room.


    Reclining back in his chair he brought his hand to his face and thought. What would I do with a teleporter? Sure at first he was building it simply for the fun factors like traveling to Egypt, having a drink in Rome or dance in Tokyo. But after the months flew by he started to think about the implications that could benefit society. He could totally patent it and make his own transportation service and let the money slowly come in...or he could totally just rob a bank and get away with no one being the wiser. His train of moral thought broke after that. He could rob several banks and acquire more wealth than he would if he did any of the aforementioned benefits.


    Gabe began to salivate just thinking about the things he¡¯d be able to do with all the money he¡¯d get. He¡¯d have like three wives. Two cars with gold plated rims, four plasma-screen TVs, and a 3 story house just to accommodate everything. He broke from his fantasy and began to work back on the project with a newfound determination.


    He looked up at his second monitor to double-check his wiring. "Spot on!" To be completely honest, the image was just his own diagram that had been poorly drawn on a paint program that came with the computer. He had made a smaller scale teleporter that received power but required a tremendous quantity of power, so he slightly altered the design, in theory, was a more optimized one for the larger final project.


    The last spark flew into the air as he wielded the last piece onto the board. ¡°YES!¡± He said on the top of his lungs.


    He stroked the side of his precious creation. ¡°Time to get you hooked in!¡± The giddiness levels in his body rose to levels that were previously unheard of. He sprinted out of the room slamming the once open the door to his room and jumped down the stairs. He nearly face-planted a landing on the last step wrong but good thing railings exist, right?


    Clearing the final stairs leading towards the basement he came to a skidding halt, comically the dust on the ground was kicked upward. He stared in amazement at the fruit of his labor. A giant 2-meter tall cylinder stood unpowered. He smiled like a kid in a toy store with everything being marked free. The unimaginable riches that awaited him in just mere moments filled him with increasing glee. He just couldn¡¯t wait to move out his parent¡¯s house and live somewhere gated off complete with its own pool.


    Gabe reached over to an empty slot in the side of the cylindrical construct. He connected the male and female connectors together. The machine began to sputter to life. Lights on the control panel began to slowly fade and fade out. A soft ''Dum Dum'' faded in and out through the speakers. The sound wasn''t exactly a part of the machine''s purpose but damn did it make the place feel intense.


    Gabe approached a wooden desk. On top, a stuffed teddy bear sat next to a big red button with a thick cord leading down the leg of the deck to the machine. He grabbed the teddy bear and gave it a squeeze. It played its pre-recorded message: ¡°I love you!¡± He chuckled and threw it into the open doors.


    He stood behind the desk and started a countdown. ¡°Countdown in... Five! Four! Three!¡± He paused. Who was he counting down for? The only person in there was him. He slammed down on the button, a quiet ¡°That was easy.¡± played. At first, the machine slowly vibrated much like a clothes dryer first being turned on. It quickly became more and more violent until pretty much all of the neighborhood could assume there was a small earthquake.


    Gabe hid behind his desk. He knew it wouldn''t save him from an explosion, but it gave a slight form of safety. The basement lights flickered rapidly for a few seconds before it ultimately just shut off leaving the only source of light being from the sparks the teleporter.


    Now completely ducked behind the wooden desk, he could not see what the teleporter was doing anymore. Then he heard a loud ''Ding'' much like a toaster oven finishing. He peeked above and saw that the teddy bear had completely vanished.


    ¡°YUSH!¡± He yelled both his arms held high above his head. ¡°It Worked!¡± He slammed the button and ran to the open door of the chamber.


    At first, nothing happened.


    Damn this was gonna be one helluva bill against his power usage. The door slammed closed. He began to feel really giddy at the fact that his labor is starting to bud its fruit.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± It finally hit him, the most important thing ever. He did not add a way to pinpoint a location to where he wanted to go or a way to return.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He began to scream and bang against the side of the machine. Everything was going wrong in a matter of minutes. He should have also put an emergency stop inside just in case. But he for some dumb reason decided against it. His vision began to distort and become blurred.


    The light seemed to be getting brighter until it became blinding. He put his arm in front of his face as a shield.


    Then everything flashed.


    Seeing as he didn''t end up at the bottom of the ocean, he unshielded his face to allow his eyes adjust to an unfamiliar sight. It was a large room, much larger than his dank basement. Multiple lights and buttons were seemingly everywhere. There were also large windows looking forward was a more sunken area of the area that had a set of 3 chairs paired with a singular screen in front. On the middle most chair, a pair of long, triangular fuzzy gray things slightly peeking out.


    He tilted his head to the side trying to make sense of what that could be. The whole room began to tremblein short spurts. he had caught his balance on a nearby protruding metallic rod. Once the post transportational ear ringing stoppedhe could begin to hear the sounds of the environment, and it was a lot of yelling.


    The voices he heard spoke in an unintelligible voice.


    Gabe continued to stare at the two fuzzies frantically move side to side until their owner decided to leave the chair. The creature swung backward to immediately face Gabe. They stood there in silence for several seconds in awkwardly unsure of what to do. In the meantime, Gabe received a good look at the clearly alien person.


    She was apparently female, at least judging from the well noticeable breasts she possessed alongside her hair being cut short with two long bangs drooping downward, ending at her collarbone. Her face was strangely human except for her eyes, strange enough they had a more feral animal look to them. Her outfit was pretty peculiar too, it consisted of a gray skin tight tank top tucked into a pair of cargo pants adorned with a waist cape. Behind a gray tail swished back and forth.


    She pulled a metallic object from a holster on her hip which resembled a gun but wasn¡¯t anything that Gabe had ever seen. He put his hands up. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot! I come in peace!¡±


    She yelled at him. It obviously wasn''t something he could understand. In almost a blink of an eyeshe closed the distance between them. Once she got close enough she grabbed the back of his neck and kicked the leg from beneath him. He landed on his stomach. He attempted to pick himself up but found that he couldn¡¯t. She had placed a boot on his back forcing him to stay down. She delivered a swift kick to his face and everything went dark.


    By the time he woke up he found he was inside a room with several metal crates of varying sizes scattered around. Looking around he found that he wasn¡¯t alone in the room. The wolf-girl had her boot on top of a small crate with her gun in her hand.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for whatever I did, But I swear it was on acci-¡± She pulled the trigger of her gun. The muzzle produced a red laser blast that was almost too fast for him to see but still slow enough know that it was fired. Gabe stopped talking and she pulled out a device from a pouch on her side. The tiny device had wires that began to squirm around almost like it was alive. She walked closer to Gabe and placed the device near him on a crate.


    The device flipped itself and resembled a spider with long spindly legs. It began to scurry around dodging boxes and using others as jumping platforms. In the short amount of time that it had been moving around it had already latched onto his pants leg crawling upwards, Gabe tried to swat it away but ended up just falling on his butt. He screamed and flailed around.


    every time he tried to grab it the device would just slip through his fingers. The device continued to make his way into his ear where it planted itself leaving out a piece of the body like an earbud.


    At first, it his ears rang loudly but calmed down as time passed.


    He hadn''t noticed before but the wolf girl had been standing right next to him, she peered down at him and spoke. ¡°How¡¯d yah get on my ship?¡±


    Gabe widened his eyes in surprise. She was now understandable. Whatever this piece of technology was could convert languages into another language as if they themselves spoke it. Th- She shot her laser again.


    ¡°If yah don¡¯t answer. You¡¯re gonna get spaced.¡±


    ¡°At first I was broke so I decided to build a teleporter to go inside of bank vaults and become rich without trying any effort of actually obtaining it a legal way.¡± Gabe took a deep breath. ¡°But it malfunctioned, not really malfunctioned more like a design flaw and, and¡­¡±


    She looked at him angrily as he spoke. ¡°Blitz!¡± She yelled.


    A few moments later and a voice sounded over on the intercom. ¡°Yes, cap?¡±


    ¡°Translator ain¡¯t working.¡±


    ¡°Oh it¡¯s working,¡± he responded. ¡°It just has no data on this creature¡¯s language.¡±


    ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that we got-¡±


    ¡°A new species, yes.¡±


    ¡°So what you ¡®sppose we do with it? I vote that we sell it to a rich Gorr¡¯rakkien¡±


    Gabe had no idea what a Gorr-whatever was but it reminded him of a certain green giant slug. He frantically shook his head repeating ¡°No.¡±


    She laughed. ¡°At least we know one word of its language.¡±


    Blitz simply replied, ¡°noted.¡± He paused for a moment ¡°Or perhaps you can recruit this one to your merry band, We, after all, Don¡¯t know anything about it yet...I personally would like to study this one.¡±


    Well, it was a better choice than being made into a slug¡¯s bitch. Gabe put his hands together and nodded his head rapidly.


    She opened up a silver crate and pulled out a collar.


    ¡°Put it on. For now, on you belong to me.¡±

 Chapter 2: Crew!

    ¡°Alright...Look left...Now right.¡± Blitz held a tiny light in one of his tentacles. ¡°Fascinating!¡± He clicked the light off.


    ¡°What¡¯d yah learn Blitz?¡± The wolf girl was sitting on a cluttered desk in Blitz¡¯s lab. Her right leg folded over her left, her arms crossed accentuating her breasts.


    ¡°His eyes react to light!¡±


    ¡°...¡± The wolf captain stared at him in silence. ¡°...Most creatures do.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just saying I just confirmed that he is quite like you.¡±


    The captain pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. ¡°Just like me?¡±


    ¡°Correct, he seems to be almost exactly like you except...lesser.¡±


    Gabe stared at Blitz unsure of what to make of him, it was a look of disgust and intrigue. When had first heard Blitz over the intercom It was assumed that it was an A.I. or something. He had never been more wrong. Blitz was a squid-like creature that had a smooth surface for a face and big, round pupil-less eyes that looked like they were filled with mercury. Blitz¡¯s body was very similar to a snake combined with a squid. Ten tentacles squirmed around on its back. The varying tentacles increasingly got longer the as it went upward.


    To be completely honestly just looking at the exterior of Blitz¡¯s anatomy was a good idea of why he might have become so enthralled with becoming the ship¡¯s primary scientist.


    Blitz slithered a tentacle to the head of the examination table, pressing a button, turning on a screen that showed the inner workings of Gabe. ¡°Fascinating!¡±


    The captain uncrossed her legs and sat slightly more upward. ¡°Is that¡­ A heart?¡°


    ¡°Yes, Cap.¡± Blitz emotionless face turned to face her.


    ¡°There is only one?¡± She looked pretty unimpressed. ¡°Seems the similarities ends at the skin.¡±


    ¡°Ow! Fuck!.¡± Gabe exclaimed as he felt a prick. He had failed to notice one of Blitz¡¯s tentacles that had grabbed a syringe and had drawn his blood. He removed the vial from the syringe and placed it into a machine.


    A chart appeared on the screen, probably displaying the contents. Gabe wouldn''t know since the words are not in English.


    ¡°Now this is strange. His blood is very high in metals.¡±


    ¡°So...¡±


    ¡°So, Captain Anaya, his blood is valuable to the Sellophans, Cartollians and the Oozes of Zendraks seven.¡±


    ¡°I hate doing business with every single one of them.¡± She snarled. ¡°Especially the Sellophans, They don¡¯t know when to stop with their tentacles.¡±


    ¡°Gross.¡± Gabe found that he really disliked tentacles, sneaky little things.


    ¡°What.¡±


    ¡°Remarkable!¡±


    Blitz¡¯s tentacles cupped Gabe¡¯s face and began slightly turning it at different angles. ¡°It seems it is happening faster than expected!¡±


    ¡°Explain.¡± Captain Anaya crossed her arms again.


    ¡°The translator must have finally begun to pair his language with the data it had of our language. I suspect in a few hours it will sync with his and allow us to fully understand.¡±


    ¡°Captain Titties, Can you please tell this squid to get its nasty suckers off my face?¡± Gabe tried to pry the tentacles off his face. Gabe felt his head swirling with a whole lot of well basically everything. Every now and then the ringing he first heard would return and the touch from the tentacles at the moment was beginning to irritate him.


    ¡°Blitz.¡±


    Whether or not what he said was translated didn¡¯t matter but to his fortune, the creature was told to stand down.


    ¡°Right. Protocols.¡± Blitz removed his tentacles from his face and moved one to where his mouth should have been and gave a fake cough.


    Captain Anaya slid off the desk and walked over to him. Her height was imposing considering that she was still tall compared the table that sat more than a meter off the floor combined with Gabe¡¯s. She bent slightly forward which helped slightly in making her shorter, slightly. Her shirt revealed a massive valley in between her cleavage. ¡°It¡¯d inconvenience me to call yah a slave in Vorlan territory. So tell me your name.¡±


    Gabe had to force himself to tear away from her body. He looked up to meet her face. She had this horrid smile. If she was trying to look friendly she was failing horribly. In fact, she looked like more like she wanted to gobble up a baby.


    ¡°Gabe.¡± He said.


    ¡°Gabe?.¡± She pulled back from the boy giving her chest a little bounce. She looked at him confused. The name Gabe in her language was apparently really close to the word ¡®Gavve¡¯ In her native language. Which roughly translated to ¡°Ass.¡±


    The squidy snake man slithered in front of the captain. ¡°Gabe, I have a few questions for you to answer. For legal purposes.¡± Even if he was a part of a group of mercenaries he was still a scientist first. So logging information made sense.


    Gabe guessed that if he spoke one word and they understood, they¡¯d definitely ask him questions to test how far it went.¡°Keep your tentacles away from me and I¡¯ll answer whatever you like.¡± Gabe said leaning back on the table in an attempt to get away from the featureless face that continued to get closer to him.


    The Blitz didn¡¯t stop his advance, he must not have understood. Gabe nodded and agreed but not before pushing his face back.


    Gabe nodded seems it was easier to say ¡®yes¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯ and using gestures since the captain and the scientist both pretty much learned that much of English.


    ¡°Excellent.¡± He wrapped a tentacle around a metallic item that flickered a hologram of a screen. ¡°What is your species and where do you come from?¡±


    Gabe had no problem telling him that he was human but hesitated on the second part of the question. Simply shrugged on the last question. They didn¡¯t have to know where he was from.


    The captain came back to relevancy. ¡°Do yah have any particular skills?¡±


    ¡°That isn¡¯t one of the questions I require.¡±


    ¡°It is one of the questions I require if he¡¯s gonna stay on board.¡±


    Gabe lightly scratched at the metallic collar on his neck as he thought. And an idea came to his head. If he was going to be here he might as well get fuck with them a bit. ¡°Alright, Captain Titties. Prepare to have your ears blown off!¡± He covered his right hand¡¯s thumb with two fingers and tucked his left thumb. He connected the two hands and slowly pulled away.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Amazing?¡±


    Anaya and Blitz both had mixed feelings about the situation. The captain decided to just stay quiet with a confused look on her face. Gabe was having a pretty good chuckle at their reactions, maybe living on a ship going to who knows where wouldn¡¯t be so bad after all.


    Then Gabe¡¯s stomach started to growl. He had not eaten since breakfast which was pretty much just eggs and bacon.


    ¡°We¡¯ll continue this later. Gabe, follow me¡±


    Corridor after corridor. The whole place felt like one could easily get lost. They eventually came to a small room with a large table in the center complete with another wolf girl eating at the end.


    ¡°Captain Anaya!¡± She gave up a two-fingered salute with a fork still in between her fingers¡­ Gabe started to second guess this whole eating thing once he saw the food on her plate move. Noticing the metallic collar around his neck she asked. ¡°Got ya self a new toy?¡±


    ¡°Shut it Rhenixa.¡± Captain Anaya shoved Gabe closer to the table.


    From the closer perspective, Gabe took in the sight of the similar colored wolf girl. Except her chest was nearly flat and her hairstyle had one bang going down the side instead of two. Her feral eyes were also a noticeable red. Her outfit consisted of a slim combat vest with a tight undershirt and shorts that barely went down her thighs.


    ¡°Well, Potentially new crew member. I¡¯m Rhenixa Anaya.¡±


    Gabe was hesitant for a moment but ultimately decided to sit two chairs and across from her. needless to say they sat there in an awkward silence.


    In the silence of the room, he continued to watch the girl dig into the still squirming food. Even the fork she used to stab into the gelatinous goop didn¡¯t seem to kill it.


    Before he hurled up whatever contents that might have still been in his stomach. He asked a question and hoping it would translate.


    ¡°Sisters?¡±


    It looks like his question didn¡¯t translate very well. Damn, looks like he''s going to go for a while without that answer.


    Before she put another fork-full into her mouth she said. ¡°I¡¯ve been all over this galaxy and that ain¡¯t a language I ever heard.¡±


    Captain Anaya had slammed a tray filled with things of every color underneath the rainbow. Giving him a bit of a spook making him jump.


    ¡°Christ!¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s new, new.¡±


    Rhenixa didn''t even flinch from the noise instead she made a finger gun and winked. ¡°Got yah.¡± and turned back to the food.


    Feeling a bit ignored he picked up a spoon and began playing with the lightest colored goop. Which was pink. He tried to imagine that it was a salmon smoothie. Just not in a cup.


    His stomach growled again. In the war of food. His gut was winning against his mind¡¯s decision to not eat.


    He took a spoonful and brought it close to his mouth. But then he felt something begin to burn in his ear. Actually, the burning was coming from the translator itself. Gabe dropped the spoon in place for the ear. In his efforts of pulling at it, he managed to only move it slightly. It began to smoke heavily.


    ¡°Oh fuck!¡± Rhenixa stood up so fast the chair she was in fell to the floor lying on its back. She nearly sprinted to the side of him.


    Anaya sat there continuing to eat. He technically wasn¡¯t anything more than just someone she slapped a collar on anyway.


    She turned the side of his head to look at the device, yup it looked like it was ready to explode. Surprisingly when she started to tug on the device and thanks to her races natural strength allowed her to rip the earbud piece out.


    Landing on the ground the device arced electricity and promptly exploded.


    Caressing his ear Gabe turned to face Rhenixa and muttered: ¡°Many thanks to you.¡±


    Rhenixa nearly choked. ¡°DID...DID YOU JUST SPEAK CALORIC!?¡±


    Gabe hadn¡¯t noticed at all that he didn¡¯t speak that in English. ¡°Did I?¡±


    Anaya burped. ¡°Yup, The accent and the structure is a bit weird, But that¡¯s basic Caloric.¡±


    Rhenixa was standing with both her hands on the table. She began shouting. ¡°Blitz! Come quickly!.¡±


    Seconds later the creature slithered into the room. Gabe thought to himself that he got here relatively quick. He must¡¯ve known some shortcuts to make up for his slow slithering speed.


    Rhenixa pointed and shouted, ¡°HE¡¯S SPEAKING CALORIC!¡±


    ¡°Interesting.¡± He slithered closer. Noticing the smoking wreckage on the floor. ¡°I did have a theory of the slow translation of his language.¡±


    ¡°Go on.¡± Anaya propped her boots on the table while tipping her chair back.


    ¡°Very well. Instead of doing the intended translations, it did the opposite. Due to the complexity of his language it caused a dump of the knowledge it contained of the Caloricean tongue.¡± He moved closer to Gabe. ¡°The programming must¡¯ve chosen to do so in the case that it couldn¡¯t perform its basic tasks as a fail safe.¡±


    Now that he mentioned it Gabe had stopped feeling like his mind was being clouded by a thick haze. He actually felt clear, more in control of his thoughts.


    He spoke again in Caloric. ¡°Guys. Remove can?¡± He started to fiddle with the collar.


    ¡°Unless Captain Anaya says so, that stays on.¡±


    ¡°It stays for now.¡±


    ¡°Tough luck...Also don¡¯t play with it so much, its rigged with explosives.¡±


    Gabe froze in the middle of his actions.


    ¡°Alright! I¡¯ve decided our next job!.¡± Anaya said taking her legs off the table. ¡°We head for Eos station.¡±


    ¡°I require a more in-depth look into his mental functions.¡±


    ¡°Waaah!¡± He wrapped a tentacle around Gabe¡¯s leg and dragged him towards the lab.¡±


    When the two left Rhenixa turned to Anaya


    ¡°Eos?¡± Rhenixa questioned. ¡°That¡¯s controlled by Zelgrek¡¯s clan.¡±


    ¡°I know the danger.¡± She paused. ¡°But it¡¯s the closest station with slave trade in refueling distance.¡±

 Chapter 3: Eos Station!

    ¡°Interesting, the neuron wiring stayed connected even after the head unit is severed. ¡±


    Blitz held multiple silver bar objects around Gabe¡¯s head, each metallic rod was connected to a singular box on top the desk in his lab. Both of them stared at the ever moving topography of his brain. He also had several pads attached to his face, according to Blitz the pads were to measure the activity in his noggin.


    ¡°Leave it to the aliens to master what neurosurgeons dream of,¡± Gabe spoke in English. Not because he didn¡¯t want to try to say it, but just because he was speaking his mind.


    Gabe reached out to touch the cord of one of the cords attached to his face.


    ¡°What happens if stay?¡± He asked. Even if he could understand the words understanding the actual structure was completely different. It was like having a dictionary in his head and just as useful since he could only say the direct form of words.


    Maybe he could learn from Anaya¡­ or Rhenixa, She was pretty cute¡­Wait what was he thinking? He knew he would eventually have to come to turns with liking some Xenos but still, he¡¯s literally been gone from Earth for only a couple of hours at best. Oh well.


    ¡°Most likely, nothing.¡± Blitz gently used his tentacle to gently push Gabe¡¯s hand away from the wires.


    ¡°Complete no harm?¡±


    ¡°Well... it¡¯s nothing to worry about. Without the head, they are practically useless. No worries.¡±


    For some reason, this made Gabe actually worry. The idea of having things just floating around inside his skull wasn¡¯t exactly something he¡¯s too okay with.


    The sound of sliding metal echoed around and the room began to darken. The window shutters slowly descended and the artificial lights turned brighter.


    Microphone feedback could be heard over the intercom along with three taps. Rhenixa then could be heard over the ship¡¯s intercom. ¡°Ahem¡­ Attention crew members of the Warden. This is Officer Anaya speaking. We will be jumping for Eos Station in five minutes. Prepare for immediate departure on landing.¡±


    Gabe pulled the wires from his face, stepping away from the examination table. Blitz didn¡¯t realize he moved until he got to the door. ¡°Where are you going?¡±


    He turned around toanswer the question. ¡°Food.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know about Eos?¡±


    ¡°Not really.¡±


    ¡°Not even the warlord, Zelgrak?¡±


    ¡°Not care.¡±


    Gabe turned around and walked right out the door. He truly did not care, he¡¯s been through a lot in just a short amount of time. He¡¯s been shot at, kicked and had a robot burrow in his ear only to have it blow up a short time later. Everything that sort of happened left him in a very melancholy mood.


    Entering the small cafeteria he noticed the room looked pretty much the same. Even the chair that had been knocked over. Even his food tray had been sitting there untouched.


    Taking his seat he picked up his spoon and brought a small amount to the front of his face. He gave it a curious sniff, there wasn''t a smell.


    ¡°Still fucking gross.¡± Gabe dropped the spoon not being able to muster the strength to stick the foreign semi-liquid in his mouth.


    He pushed the tray out of his safe space. He began to think about all the foods that he missed back on Earth. Pizza, bagels and last but not least Pizza bagels. He took an accusatory glance at the slop. That was definitely not a pizza bagel. He sighed and crossed his arms on the table.


    The oppressing hum of the ship left him feeling more than a little tired, The adrenaline that had been produced for most of the day had finally died off. He laid his head down on his arms. His eye felt really heavy. In minutes he was knocked out


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    A high pitched ringing woke him up. He looked around ¡°The hell?¡±


    In his groggy state, he noticed a few wall signs beginning to glow. Almost like they were leading him somewhere¡­


    He wiped the saliva that he produced from his mouth and walked in the direction the blinking signs were leading him.


    Several lefts and several rights later he was brought to a small room. Pressing the button on the side of the door raised the metal slab upward. The beeping was coming from a small device that sort of looked like a walkie talkie. He looked at the red flashing button and pressed.


    ¡°Ugh, finally!¡± Rhenixa was whispering. ¡°We need your help.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s the rundown, A deal went south and we got captured.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Okay...¡±


    ¡°There is a weapon under my desk, Find a bar named Lucky Lady Cantina, order the Caloricean ale, It¡¯s a code. Then ask where we are, tell them you¡¯re a bounty hunter.¡± *Click* She must¡¯ve turned her communicator off.


    ¡°...¡± Gabe stood there, Should he really help them? After all, he doesn¡¯t even have the skills to pull off a rescue. ¡°Fuck it.¡±


    It¡¯s not like he could really do anything else about the situation, He could either stay on the ship and die later or go out and try to do something and then die. Besides he had an idea of something that he might want as a reward.


    Gabe looked for the gun underneath the desk. Lifting up out he inspected it. It was much different than what Anaya had during the first meeting but still looked equally foreign. He stuffed it into his waist.


    Five minutes had passed before he managed to find the door and then operate the door controls to exit. As the two doors slid open He saw that for a space station it was awfully sandy. And for some reason, there was a sky.


    Then the pungent odor hit him. He pinched his nostrils. The longer he stood at the doors the longer his lungs burned. It was like someone was lighting a dumpster full of rotten eggs on fire.


    They did say that this place was in Vorlan territory, so perhaps this was what they breathed? Gabe could only imagine what the vile aliens would look like if this was what they lived off of.


    Stepping outside onto the sandy deck was a nightmare come true. Being transported without shoes left his feet vulnerable to the worst material that could have been found on Earth. Gabe did not like sand, It was coarse, rough and irritating and got virtually everywhere.


    The thing about space stations was that they were designed to replicate the needs of the hosting species as much as possible. This particular space station was very dry and had an artificial sky implemented.


    Alongside his displeasure was a shocking realization of just how alien this place was. To his right, he saw humanoid creatures wearing full metallic armor of different colors sitting on crates or standing in circles talking. To his left, he could see a 3-meter tall insect with a long horse face carting off crates to other locations of the docks.


    As much as he wanted to stay and stare at all the weird and amazing things. He felt extremely vulnerable. Hightailing it to the nearest door he poked his head through first. He had almost thought he had walked into a midwestern market street. Complete with the dusty sand blowing places and to his shock. More Creatures! A few that had been standing next to the door turned their heads to see who just walked in.


    He faced the group of dangerous looking warriors. He gave his best award winning ¡®I-come-in-peace smile¡¯. He turned towards the ship and thought that maybe he could just run back to the ship and let the crew fend for them- The ship door had been on an automatic close timer. Looks like he had to complete the mission!


    Walking aimlessly around the dusty street. ¡°Fuck. She could have told me where to look.¡±


    Eventually, Gabe had pulled up to a building with a wolf dude leaning, what were they could again? Oh yeah, Caloricean. He spoke that language might as well ask this dude.


    ¡°Hey.¡± He said


    The alien looked down at him. He was a tall chunk of pure muscle. His eyes had been an off yellow. He wore a yellow suit of armor with vertical stripes. The bottom of his face was obscured by a black mask.


    A huge puff of gas was released from the sides of his mask. He said nothing. He just stared for at least a minute and which made Gabe feel really uncomfortable The wolf male bent down matching his height and stretched his hand out to lift the collar. He looked Gabe in the eyes blowing out another stream.


    Gabe resisted the need to the swat his hand away. ¡°Where Lucky Lady Cantina?¡±


    The alien stood back up slowly and tilted his head to the left indicating the building he had been looking for was in front of him the entire time. Gabe stepped to the side of him, The wolf still not saying anything continued to watch his every move.


    ¡°Fucking weirdo.¡± Gabe made sure to say it in English and under his breath.


    Gabe looked around the room. He saw so many things that were amazing in its own ways. A green woman scantily dressed danced in the middle of the bar. Her clothing if you can even call it that was more like two pieces of cloth that went over her breasts and meeting together at her crotch.


    He walked towards the bar and sat on a stool. For such a disgusting smelling place the inside of this bar was kept fairly well. The creature at the bar turned around. He saw a very familiar alien. A spidery horse-faced alien. Now that he was putting one and one together. These were the only things that weren¡¯t in full armor and wearing a breathing mask, well them and him. These must¡¯ve been the so-called Vorlans. Can¡¯t say they didn¡¯t match his description of what they most likely looked like.


    The bartender Vorlan didn¡¯t say anything but stare at him. Its intense compound eyes staring deep into his soul.


    ¡°Uh. Caloricean ale?¡± Gabe took a shot in the dark since the creature didn¡¯t exactly look like it had a mouth to speak normal words with. The creature turned its back to him going into a room.


    The bartender had disappeared for more than a few minutes and Gabe was beginning to feel bored watching the blue stripper. And then his vision went dark and he felt a someone put something over his head. He was lifted from his seat carried off.


    ¡°Get the fuck off me!¡± He struggled to hit whatever was carrying him but it felt hard and hurt his hands so he stopped. ¡°Let me the fuck down!¡± His protests still continued, though.


    Eventually, he was let go of. When the bag was released from his head he found himself in a beautifully carpeted room. Two chairs were in front of him, they looked pretty comfy. And to his surprise, it was a male Caloricean. His hair had been a dark brown. His tail looked really well groomed as oppose to the shaggy looking ones the two girls possessed.


    The male Caloricean pushed his glasses up.


    ¡°Take a seat.¡± He motioned his hands in an outward manner.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do,¡± Gabe spoke in his native tongue obviously ecstatic that this was going to be quite civilized.


    ¡°Now what can I do for you, little-escaped slave.¡±


    Wait why did he think he was an escaped slave? Oh, right the collar.


    ¡°Not a slave.¡± Gabe retorted.


    ¡°Oh my dear boy, Why else would you have a slave collar if you weren¡¯t one?¡± He leaned forward to emphasize his words.


    Actually giving thought into it. He technically was a slave. Perhaps he would have to do something about that later.


    He decided to drop this topic for now. ¡°I need help!¡±


    The male Caloricean leaned back in his chair and interlocked his fingers. ¡°With?¡± he paused for a moment. ¡°Where are my manners. In order to do a proper business transaction we haven¡¯t introduced ourselves.¡±


    The way he also spoke was leagues different than the way the two girls spoke. They must¡¯ve had a regional dialect from wherever they each grew up.


    The man stood up and extended his hand. ¡°Valik.¡±


    Gabe accepted his hand spoke his own.


    ¡°Now what do you need help with?¡± He flashed a toothy smile.

 Chapter 3.5: Eos Landing!

    Rhenixa faced a metallic box with multiple lights slowly blinking. A microphone protruded from the very center of the box, she pressed a clear button turning it a bright yellow, She leaned forward until she was a few inches away from the microphone.


    ¡°Ahem¡­ Attention crew members of the Warden. This is Officer Anaya speaking. We will be jumping for Eos Station in five minutes. Prepare for immediate departure on landing.¡±


    She tapped the button turning it back to its original colorless state.


    ¡°Aaaaah.¡± She audibly sighed leaning back in the chair. She brought her hands to her face and moving them downward.


    Everything about this mission was risky, Anaya shared some of the details to her but it still didn¡¯t make a whole lot of sense why they were going through with it.


    The M.O went like this. They would meet the slaver with no weapons and discuss the price of an and she quotes ¡®rare and exotic species¡¯.


    But the risky deal with the slaver wasn¡¯t what bothered her, what did was the fact that they were going into a contested space by a rival warlord named Zelgrek. Zelgrek was a fairly known greedy merc that earned his name by capturing Eos and a few other stations in just a few stellar cycles.


    And once you crossed him, you were just as good as dead. He wouldn¡¯t even need to send his men after someone. He would place an incredible bounty on your head that it became priority number one of most low-level scum bags.


    And unfortunately, Anaya¡¯s mercenary team had a bounty on their head. They were walking right into a literal landmine.


    ¡°Just what are you thinking Anaya.¡± In the past, Anaya had brought them into really shifty situations. But they all had turned from good to bad. This was bad going to worst.


    The more she thought about it the faster the anxiety would rise in her chest. She decided she needed to get her mind off the clearly impending doom. She got up and left the communications room.


    Her mind currently occupied by the massive amounts of pessimism she nearly walked right past the slithering squid-snake. This was just the distraction she needed. ¡°Hey, Blitz.¡±


    Blitz had nearly turned the corner leading to the actual medical lab of the ship, something that was practically unused since they didn¡¯t currently have a combat medic causing Blitz to pull a double job.


    ¡°Yes, Rhenixa?¡±


    ¡°What are yah doing?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m preparing for the visit to Eos Station.¡±


    ¡°No, I meant-¡±


    ¡°Why am I not with Gabe.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°He said he wanted to eat.¡±


    ¡°You didn¡¯t stop him?¡±


    ¡°He sounded like he wouldn¡¯t listen to my protests.¡±


    She sighed. ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°Officer Anaya.¡± He turned around and continued slithering off into the direction he intended.


    Even if they were going to sell him off in a couple of hours. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to know a little more about him. Besides, maybe she can find a reason to convince them to stay out of Zelgrek¡¯s hair.


    She entered the kitchen lounge combo and noticed the human snoring, his food pushed further away from him. He really didn¡¯t look too far from how a Caloricean looked. If any he looked like one that had hit its maturation stage.


    Watching his calm form gently move up and down, She couldn¡¯t help but be drawn closer to his strange appearance. Walking as soft as possible she studied the soft breaths he took, he was so calm as if nothing was going on, Oh how ignorance is bliss.


    She reached out, her hand brushed away part of his unkempt black hair from his face. The hair stayed behind his ear.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    To a Caloricean his color was something she¡¯d expect to never see on something resembling her species. It was so alien, the darkest she¡¯s ever seen was on one of her people was a dark brown. To her, that was the extent of the darkest, of the lightest it was a pure white. But that was limited to sub-species that lived pretty isolated lives on the 3rd moon of Claroicea. but at the best, the most common would be a silver or light gray.


    Gabe¡¯s face briefly contorted. In a shock, she pulled her hand away from his face. In the sudden moment, she had noticed his teeth and they too were something unusual, just how could he tear into flesh with canines that small?


    If this a human, they are pretty inferior... she thought to herself. He was like an inferior copy of her race with just about everything that made them perfect gone.


    Maybe if he wakes up before they sell she¡¯ll have a conversation about this. It¡¯s a shame he was pretty interesting.


    A familiar microphone feedback sounded through the speakers. The only locations that had access to the ships broadcasting system were ship¡¯s bridge and her office. So canceling out herself as making an announcement, obviously. It must¡¯ve been Anaya.


    ¡°All hands to the hangar door.¡±


    Rhenixa turned to leave through the door, she took a final glance to making sure he wasn¡¯t awake.


    Approaching the hangar she spotted the other two members of the crew who had been patiently waiting for her. Anaya tossed a breathing mask in her direction. The contents of the atmospherics on Eos Station was poisonous to most species that weren¡¯t Vorlans. The gaseous mixture was actually much worse on her species. A mask was always a must.


    She put the mask over her mouth and clipped the straps together behind her head.


    ¡°Yah ready, Rhenixa? Blitz?¡± Anaya asked as she hovered her hand above the console.


    ¡°Yes, Cap.¡± Blitz didn¡¯t actually need a mask considering it¡¯d be redundant to put one on a mouthless entity, his race actually was more plant-like in nature, regardless of the situation his body would convert the air into something breathable for him


    Rhenixa gave a meek thumbs up. If she spoke now the courage she built up just to walk to the door would be drained straight through her mouth.


    Anaya slammed the button down. Reaching behind her she flipped her waist cloak upward transforming it into a convenient hooded robe.


    The two door slid open slowly and the trio entered the Station. The entire thing felt surreal because as they walked off, the dock had been completely deserted. For a space station, especial Eos this was weird.


    ¡°Anaya I have a bad feeling about this.¡±


    Anaya¡¯s eyes were glued to a tablet she pulled out.


    ¡°I agree with Officer Anaya.¡±


    ¡°I know, I feel it too. This is probably a setup.¡± She paused to scroll on the table a little longer. ¡°The message says that our contact will meet us in the north sector.¡± She pointed forward towards the door directly in front of them. The area was immense, a perfect square.


    They began walking. The only sounds that could be heard were the artificial wind kicking up the sand into the air. Once through they noticed a figure in the distance.


    A lone alien in black and silver armor wearing a cloak that obscured most of his features. The figure didn¡¯t make any movements just a pose with his hands on his belt.


    As they continued to walk forward Blitz his mind. The alien raised a single open hand in the air.


    ¡°Cap, I¡¯d prefer it if we turned back.¡±


    ¡°I agree with Blitz, This feels like a perfect-¡±


    The alien closed his hand into a fist. Blaster fire began to appear from all sides.


    ¡°Ambush.¡± Rhenixa sighed. The trio jumped behind several crates. And drew their weapons. Rules number one of doing merc work, If the message says no weapons, bring small weapons.


    They returned fire in the general direction that the blasters came from.


    ¡°Anaya I hope yah have a plan!¡± She was positioned over the crate letting out a stream of gunfire.


    A lone merc fell to the ground dead as he changed his position to flank them.


    ¡°Yeah! I have one thing in mind.¡± She stood up and threw the blaster pistol to her side. ¡°We surrender!¡±


    The alien in the brown cloak threw an open hand in the air and the firing dissipated. He approached the buxom captain with a blaster rifle loosely grasped in his hand. Standing several meters away.


    ¡°I was looking forward to delivering your head to Zelgrek.¡± He felt really dissatisfied with the results of how quick the capture of the infamous Captain Anaya had been. ¡°Whatever, I¡¯m still getting paid for your capture.¡±


    Anaya didn¡¯t say a word. In fact she looked really calm. What the hell kind of plan was that? Surrender?


    Rhenixa threw her weapon over the side as did Blitz.


    The stout creature sighed once more. ¡°You could have really made this fun, you know.


    She simply shrugged and turned towards Rhenixa ¡°Contact the ship.¡±


    ¡°Wha-Why?¡±


    ¡°Just do it!¡±


    Rhenixa turned to the side to be slightly behind the crates pressed pulled a tiny device from a pouch, clicking the button on the side.


    After a few seconds, the line was received.


    ¡°Ugh, finally!¡± Rhenixa was whispering. ¡°We need your help.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Here¡¯s the rundown, A deal went south and we got captured.¡±


    ¡°Okay...¡±


    ¡°There is a weapon under my desk, Find a bar named Lucky Lady Cantina, order the Caloricean ale, It¡¯s a code. Then ask where we are, tell them you¡¯re a bounty hunter.¡± *Click* She must¡¯ve turned her communicator off.


    Rhenixa dropped the communicator on the ground seeing as the bounty hunter¡¯s men were literally just a few steps from seeing her.


    The bounty hunter yelled his order for them to be taken to his employer.


    ¡°Hey watch it!¡± One of the minions of the pushed Rhenixa a little bit too hard.


    ¡°Shut it.¡± The grizzled voice sounded, even more, intimidating come from the cycled airway of his mask.


    She growled at him while she kept walking. He promptly put a boot to her back causing her to fling forward into the sand.


    ¡°Try that again, asshole! I¡¯ll rip your fucking throat out!¡±


    ¡°Rhenixa, quiet.¡± Anaya had appeared next to her to help her up. But was really passing along a message.


    ¡°Just play along, stick to the plan.¡±


    Plan, What plan? There was a plan?

 Chapter 4: Warlords Domain!

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m fully aware of your master¡¯s capture.¡± Valik tapped his knuckles


    ¡°Well?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°What? Why!?¡± Gabe stood up and slammed his hands on the desk, leaning forward slightly into Valik¡¯s personal bubble.


    ¡°Because, My acquaintance. You don¡¯t look like you have a single credit to your name.¡±


    Gabe backed up and looked down, just now noticing he wasn¡¯t wearing any shoes this whole entire time. And to think he was doing quite well this far, only to be stopped by the ¡®No shirt, No shoe policy¡¯.


    ¡°Any other method?¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± Valik brought a finger to his mouth. ¡°I can see that you¡¯re extremely desperate.¡±


    Gabe stared with a look of extreme determination. He really wasn¡¯t desperate at all. But if he got this far, he damn well wasn¡¯t going to give up and go home, besides he didn¡¯t exactly know how to fly a spaceship.


    ¡°How about you agree to do a little gardening for me?¡±


    ¡°Sure!¡±


    ¡°Since we both know Zelgrek has your master. I¡¯m sure you could do a little more.¡± He paused for dramatic effect. ¡°Kill Zelgrek for me.¡±


    ¡°Will do!¡±


    ¡°Alright my boy, I¡¯ll give you the information on his compound and where he is.¡±


    Gabe eagerly extended his hand to confirm the deal, The brown haired Caloricean accepted the shake.


    ¡°My bodyguard, Ven, will escort you, after that, you¡¯re on your own.¡± Valik pressed a button on his desk allowing the doors behind Gabe to be raised upward.


    Gabe turned around to leave to meet his bodyguard. ¡°Oh, one more thing. If you fail, A bounty on your head will be the least of your problems.¡± Valik winked ¡°I¡¯ll be in touch.¡±


    Gabe continued through the doors merely taking note of the obvious threat that was said. Upon entering an area that looked like a waiting room considering the few chairs that had been placed in the room. He spotted a very familiar wolf man.


    Gabe approached the acquainted person, apparently, he had been the bodyguard. Big shock. The Claroicean man shot out his usual steam.


    ¡°Can we not do the bag thing.¡± Gabe really didn¡¯t like the aspect of being dropped off at a location that he had no escape route too.


    The wolf man gave a short but audible chuckle. He turned his back to reveal a pair of stairs. This was obviously not the way they came in, but Gabe followed anyway.


    The walk was very uneventful. Gabe would occasionally spot an alien he had not seen before. Most of the time it was just empty corridors with a lot of sand. Eventually, they came to an area where the sand just stopped and gave way to a cold metal floor. The around here started to burn less and actually didn¡¯t reek.


    Two elevator shafts were in front of them. His guide stopped moving to press the button. His guide turned to look at him. Gabe nodded and pulled his blaster from his waistband. The brolic guide stepped to the side to allow him in. He held out a tablet, which he took with him as he entered the elevator shaft.


    Pressing the button to go to the lower floor. Gabe waved goodbye to his quiet acquaintance. Descending to the lower levels, now seemed like it would be great time to-


    The elevator¡¯s door opened to reveal a fully armed mercenary sitting on a stool. Gabe froze in place. But nothing seemed to happened. He stepped out of the shaft and moved closer to the merc that did nothing.


    He waved his hand in the face of the motionless watchman. Seems like he was slacking in his job, and fallen asleep. Wait. Gabe thought about how he could carry out this situation. He could kill him and leave it at that. But he¡¯s never killed anyone before. He grew up in a sheltered suburban neighborhood.


    But he knew that if the guard did manage to wake up he¡¯d try to make him swiss cheese. Gabe ran his hands through his hair, Now wasn¡¯t the time to question whether or not he was able to kill someone.


    He was sure thing tho, He was going to take that sweet ass rifle that he had. He reached out for the stock before he got close the guardsman shook slightly. His position changed the blaster rifle was now in between his legs making it much, much easier to grab. Taking a hold of the rifle he pulled it back with haste. At this point, it didn¡¯t matter whether the guy woke up or not Gabe was now in position for ordering.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Actually, let¡¯s have a little fun with this. He kicked the side of his thigh. The guard snapped awake with a snort. He looked around frantically and spotted the intruder, he reached for his missing gun.


    ¡°Ahem.¡± Gabe pressed a button that seemed to power it on. The alien put his hands up real quick.


    ¡°Caloricean.¡±


    The alien sounded still half asleep as it spoke in its own tongue.¡±


    ¡°Caloricean!¡± Gabe repeated what he said only slightly louder and the gun pointed.


    It took the creature a minute to realize what he wanted ¡°Y-yes, A little.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Gabe smiled a little this was actually going a lot better than he thought. ¡°Strip.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°You heard, Strip!¡±


    The merc started with his helmet, His face was revealed to be very piggish, The skin tone was pink, it had two small curved fangs that bent upwards.


    The next to come off was the armor. Unfortunately, the pig alien wasn¡¯t wearing anything underneath the armor. So Gabe¡¯s first sight of nudity in this galaxy was a shriveled up, light pink corkscrewed penis.Well, this had been fun until this moment.


    Gabe commanded him to get on his knees after he placed the armor on the floor next to him. Immediately Gabe turned the gun around and gave him a swift baseball swing to the face. The pig man fell to the floor, missing part of his tusk.


    Gabe collected his armor and wore it. He was about to ¡®tactically do this shit¡¯. The armor fits very loosely, well it did come from a pretty round pig man. Gabe shuffled uncomfortably down the halls. Not even the boots fit him, they had been at best 4 sizes too big.


    But somehow even though he looked suspicious as can get, no merc really bothered him. He guessed that¡¯s why employing them was typically a bad idea seeing as they would come and go as they pleased, so there was no ¡®true¡¯ way to keep track of them all.


    Pulling out the tablet displayed a map of the area. A red blip displayed his current position. A red circle indicated where he needed to go. To his luck, this place was pretty linear with very little detours. And it seems he was very close to Captain Titties.


    Looking around it was a large square area. Three people sat on the other side of the room. But they didn¡¯t seem very interested in very much. Her location was in one of three rooms. He decided to go with the first door on the right.


    Pressing the button opened the door to a very welcoming sight. Anaya was standing naked, her large breasts glistened with sweat as they raised and lowered with every breath, her arms had been bound to the ceiling. Her tail slowly swished with calmness. The area above her lower entrance was completely hairless.


    Seems the only hair that she had was located on her head and tail. Her face contorted to one of disgust as she sniffed the air.


    ¡°Disgusting. A Gor¡¯lok, I was wondering which one of you would break order¡¯s first, why couldn¡¯t it be something good looking?¡±


    Mesmerized by the golden bodied captain he ignored her comment, Gabe crept closer allowing the door to close behind him. He walked closer placing a gloved hand gently only her well-toned stomach.


    He looked upward. Even if she did have a wild nature to her looks he couldn¡¯t help but find some attraction within her animalistic eyes. But passed her eyes he spotted her bindings, the pieces wrapped around her wrists were metallic but there seemed to be nothing holding her arms up. He passed back in front of her, removing the stolen helmet.


    ¡°I take back what I said.¡± She began to smile. ¡°Now let me out.¡±


    ¡°First a deal.¡±


    Anaya sighed and rolled her eyes, obviously too impatient for this. ¡°Whatever you¡¯re about to say, I agree.¡±


    Gabe smiled at her compliance.


    ¡°There is a control panel behind me. Pull the lever down.¡±


    Gabe did as he was instructed. The lever came down with ease. And just like the lever, Anaya was pulled to the floor, no free of her restraints she collected her clothing and things from the corner of the room.


    She held out her hand in front of Gabe. He stood there for a minute before sighing. He handed over the blaster he never got to use.


    She fiddled with the gun before facing Gabe again. ¡°You¡¯re washing when we get back.¡±


    She pressed another button, the gun made a high pitched whine. She aimed at the door and let loose a massive concussion round that blew the door outward.


    Gabe¡¯s ears rang, He shouted. ¡°The door wasn¡¯t locked!¡±


    ¡°I know.¡±


    Seems she had a little bit of rage that she wanted to let go of. She walked out the wreckage of the door frame and instantly began firing off the kinetic rounds. Gabe made a mental note of not pissing her off.


    ¡°Rhenixa and Blitz!?¡±


    She stopped firing. And looked back to Gabe still in the room.


    ¡°Follow me!¡±


    She started to run down the hall with Gabe behind her. They came to another door, similar to the one she had.


    ¡°Stand back!¡± she yelled


    She overcharged the gun again and blasted the door again.


    ¡°Door still wasn¡¯t locked.¡±


    They entered the room. The only life form in the room was Blitz.


    ¡°Nice to see you Cap, Gabe.¡±


    Anaya lowered the rifle. ¡°Where¡¯s Rhenixa?¡±


    Blitz came closer to his rescuers ¡°Zelgrek has her.¡±


    ¡°Damn it!¡± Anaya actually looked pretty pissed at this moment. Gabe remembered the extra part of the deal that, Kill Zelgrek.


    ¡°Take Blitz to ship, I have Rhenixa.¡±


    ¡°Change guns with me.¡± Gabe took the concussion rifle ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡±


    Technically this was the smarter choice since leaving would result in a fate that may or may not be worse than attempting to kill the warlord.


    Blitz and Anaya left the room making a right and heading for the exit elevator.


    Gabe¡¯s missions now both coincide with each other. He walked out the door and headed for Zelgrek.

 Chapter 5: Warlord Zelgrek!

    The Blaster made a high pitch whine as Gabe imitated the button pressing Anaya did. He took aim at a pair of double doors, Noting that this time the door was locked. He pulled the trigger.


    The force of the shot was actually too much for him to handle. The recoil forced him to be pushed back a few meters forcing him onto his butt. The air escaped his lungs with a loud ¡°Oof¡± as the stock collided with his chest. Confirming that he did make a solid hit. It did damage but not a whole lot. A large circular hole


    ¡°Whew. Damn.¡± He had expected the hole to at least be big enough to slide on by. Using the gun as a crutch he picked himself up. He walked over to the hole to at least see what he was dealing with.


    Bad Idea was Bad. As soon as he poked his head through. He spotted maybe seven on the ground and maybe ten guys on upper platforms before they started firing in his direction. Falling to his knees he was able to avoid being shot.


    The mercs on the other side of the wall didn¡¯t stop firing. It was actually safe to say that all the lasers that were going through joined together to create one big laser.


    Leaning as close as possible to the metal for cover, he looked around the room for a plan. To the left was the corridor that leads to the cell that Blitz was being held. Going right was the nothing but a stack of crates that took up most of the small room.


    But then he looked down. It was a small grate possibly being an air duct. The lightbulb in his head went off. He squirmed away from the clearly disadvantageous position to his escape plan, his smaller stature was perfect for the hole in the ground.


    After struggling to lift the grate, It was pretty heavy, after all. He threw the gun in first and slithered down only to be rewarded with cramped spacing leaving him only enough room to lay flat on his stomach. There had been barely any light. Fortunately the duct he was in only had two directions. Forward and back, luckily his destination was forward, and so he wiggled onward.


    Just a few minutes in and he already found the first source of light. Getting closer he saw that it was another steel grate that was inside the next room. Pushing it out was a lot easier than it was pulling. Grabbing the sides he pulled himself out onto the floor of the room. His escape plan left him pretty much unnoticed. But that wouldn¡¯t last long seeing as some of the mercs were stacking up at the door to either breach or just spray the ever loving fuck out of everything on the other side.


    He aimed high for one of the more heavily armored mercs, his finger lightly touched the trigger before he rethought his action.


    There is no telling if he would be able to kill all of them. But it was guaranteed he¡¯d shoot at least one of them. He¡¯d have to think of something clever to make it out alive...Or he could not shoot them at all and run to the nearest exit. The area behind was practically clear since most of them had been positioned closer to the entrance. So he did just that, He dropped his aim and took off in a mad dash. Just in time too because it only took a matter of seconds before he saw lasers fly past him.


    ¡°Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!¡± Gabe somersaulted forward past the doors archway. As fast as he could he stood up on one knee and shot the door¡¯s control panel, the door shut almost immediately.


    ¡°I guess that actually works.¡± Gabe stood up and turned around only to receive a swift headbutt to the face. He dropped his blaster.


    ¡°Goddamn! What the fuck?¡± His voice was muffled covering his nose with both hands. Taking a few steps he looked to see what the hell hit him.


    His question was swiftly answered by something grabbing his leg and throwing him across the room.


    Gabe groaned seeing his vision split with stars bouncing around.


    ¡°Gabe!¡± A voice called out to him. He responded with a gurgle.


    ¡°Gabe!¡± The voice called out again this time he managed to sit up and looked for the source of his name calling.


    The voice called out once more and he found out where it was. It was Rhenixa she had been chained to the wall. Her face looked distorted with worry. Why was she so worried. ¡°Get up!¡± She yelled.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Gabe¡¯s leg was grabbed again and he was thrown to another side of the room.


    Gabe laid on the on the cold metal floor until he heard Rhenixa call for him to stand a fight, she also called him a ¡®Lemrex¡¯ whatever the hell that was it probably wasn¡¯t good. Gabe stood on his feet, unsteadily but still, he stood.


    Meeting his opponent was a two and a half meter hulking lizard man. It¡¯s clawed arms hung close to it¡¯s sides much like a raptor. Most of the body was pretty bestial while keeping a humanoid figure, the creature¡¯s long tongue came out its mouth to lick the corner of it¡¯s face.


    ¡°Run!¡± Rhenixa yelled a command that Gabe didn¡¯t need to hear because he was already thinking it. But before his brain could execute the command for his legs to move. The creature wrapped its thick tail around Gabe¡¯s foot.


    ¡°Waaah.¡± Gabe¡¯s legs were picked up once more but instead of being thrown across the room. The lizard held him face to upside down face. It¡¯s tongue came out and started from his forehead down.


    Taking the initiative, Gabe used a little of his own mouth action to bite down on the pink exposed flesh. The beast screamed in pain and backed away dropping Gabe on his back.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Fuck.¡± Gabe groaned slowly lifting himself from the floor, green blood trickled from his mouth.


    ¡°Rhenixa, What is?¡±


    ¡°Zelgrek.¡±


    ¡°Zelgrek?¡± He had thought he would¡¯ve been fighting a creature that was closer to a human. Not a goddamn human-raptor hybrid that was fed steroids on a daily basis.


    The creature roared and began running towards him at max speed. Gabe narrowly escaped being crushed to death by the charge by rolling to the side. Despite having some muscle, he doubted he could make a dent in something that looked probably took after alligators, he had to find a weapon to fight with.


    The monster straightened itself upward giving the appearance of him being taller. It let out a throaty roar at Gabe. The heat from its mouth reached him from across the room. Good thing his nose was filled with blood, he had guessed its breath probably didn¡¯t smell like cookies.


    The beast decided to walk forward instead of making a mad dash for Gabe, seems Zelgrek was testing Gabe¡¯s abilities. Apparently, it ruled out that he wasn¡¯t dumb enough to stand and take it.


    Gabe took steps back and to the side in concert, not wanting to close any distance closer to him. Anything within a few meters to Gabe was known as the kill box since his tail would undoubtedly wrap around his legs.


    ¡°Gabe!.¡± Rhenixa yelled out.


    ¡°I¡¯m busy!¡±


    ¡°Duck!¡± Gabe didn¡¯t know what to make of that command. Then a laser narrowly missed him. Some of Zelgrek¡¯s goons had made it to the upper platforms of the room they had been in. This took an unexpected turn.


    Zelgrek hissed and actually spoke with it¡¯s animalistic face. The language was not one that Gabe knew.


    His minions stopped firing and watched the fight that was going on. For a complete monster, Zelgrek had some form of an honor code that he stood by. But Gabe did not, he spotted his blaster off to the side and made a run for it, Surprisingly he was able to touch the handle. Picking it up was rather hard considering Zelgrek stomped down on it snapping it in two but allowed a single round to go off.


    Now Gabe was left with a metal stick, and with that metal stick, he would slay the evil beast that stood in front of him! He pulled the metal upward to Zelgrek¡¯s chin the most it did was change the direction he head was orientated.


    The retaliation shot was a tailspin straight to the stomach sending Gabe slightly airborne. Hitting the wall with extreme force. Gabe slid downward to see a furious creature charging at him. Surprisingly rolled forward and managed to slip in between his legs causing the impact to hit nothing but the wall behind him.


    Now Gabe was really out of options, punching it was out of the question, Shooting it was now exhausted. His metal club was just as useful as punching. Maybe he could create a diversion and run awa- A large machete-like knife was thrown from the top floor. Looking up, Rhenixa was free and leaning on the railing were one of the goons had been.


    Seems that stray shot that went off must¡¯ve hit the chains that were binding her.


    ¡°Make it good!¡± She yelled cupping her hands around her mouth.


    Gabe dove for the knife. Zelgrek saw the minor advantage he was given and charged for the knife himself.


    Gabe turned around laying on his back and stabbed upward. The knife penetrated Zelgrek¡¯s reptilian skin. His eyes went wide as his body lifelessly dropped to the ground.


    Rhenixa dropped down from the upper platform. ¡°Impressive, but yah got your ass handed to yah. Most of the time.¡±


    It¡¯s true Gabe wasn¡¯t a strong fighter. If anything he was more of a technicist then anything. Sadly that skilled proved useless in a fight.


    Gabe rolled his eyes and pulled the knife out of the corpse.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just go.¡± Gabe sounded exhausted.


    Rhenixa grabbed the back of his shirt. ¡°Yah gotta cut a path for us first.¡± She pointed to the still warm corpse of Zelgrek. ¡°Those mercs yah left alive won¡¯t fight if their employer is dead.¡±


    Oh, right, he did run away from like ten guys. Gabe sighed and sauntered over to the corpse to perform a decapitation.


    Fifteen minutes later and it seems Rhenixa got the control panel working again.


    ¡°Ready?¡± Holding the head at an arm¡¯s length, Gabe nodded.


    She pressed the button and the doors swung open. Heavily armed mercs swarmed the two with tactical movements. Each one soon dropped their aim when they saw the desecrated corpse. One by one they took their leave. Most not even bothering to say anything to each other, after all their relationships together had been one of work.


    Alongside them were Gabe and Rhenixa walking out. They reached one of the two Elevator shafts that Gabe came from.


    ¡°Wait.¡± Rhenixa stopped walking to put on a clear mask. She turned to Gabe who was standing and watching. ¡°Put a mask on!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± He questioned her.


    ¡°So you don¡¯t die?¡± She said with a tone of voice as if he should have known the answer.


    ¡°I came without one.¡±


    ¡°So you can breath?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, little.¡±


    She squinted her eyes at him, she now had more questions that she wanted to be answered.


    They rode the elevator up, mostly in silence. After all, she barely knew anything about him. And then his entire attitude looked like he didn¡¯t want to talk about anything anyway.


    Reaching the ship was pretty simple. Most of Zelgrek¡¯s forces decided to jump ship and head to other places to find work.


    As soon as they both entered the door they were greeted with Anaya throwing her arms around both of them and shouting something. Her breath smelt of berries.


    ¡°C¡¯mon! Celeberashe!¡± Her words were slurred as she ushered the two to the kitchen. ¡°Blish and I raided Zelgresh¡¯s storage and found half a million credish!¡±


    Seems she was drunk, and inviting the crew to get drunk with her. Gabe was down, after all, he did get thrown around a room like fifteen times.


    Sitting at the table she put two large glasses in front of them and poured the glasses almost full. Seems her size definition of ¡®shots¡¯ was the same as a normal cup.


    ¡°Hey, Gabe!.¡± Anaya had a dumb smile on her face. ¡°Think yah can beat your Captain in a contest?¡±


    Gabe stared at her with a determined almost serious look. He never backs down from a challenge.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± Rhenixa sounded almost worried.


    ¡°Contest, Accepted!¡± Gabe said downing his glass for them to start fresh.


    Oh speaking of rewards, He wanted Anaya to free him of his slave collar, Well he guessed it could wait until after he kicked her ass after she kicked his.


    Turns out the ¡®alcohol¡¯ they were drinking had no effect on the human digestive system, it was essential just crushed berries to Gabe.

 Chapter 5.5: Warden Up Party!

    Gabe¡¯s eyes fluttered open. At some point during the contest, he had fallen asleep in Captain¡¯s room. The alcohol didn¡¯t lead him there, it barely had an effect on him. Since he wasn¡¯t drunk in the slightest he remembered exactly how he got there. At some point, The buxom captain ¡®coerced¡¯ into somehow getting into bed with her.


    Looking at the snoring wolf girl, Anaya somehow managed to use his left shoulder her personal pillow.


    Waking up next to a bombshell should have made him happy. But instead, he felt nothing. Something inside him just felt very wrong. Like something was missing.


    Gabe tried to shrug off the thought by continuing to lay down and remember the past, to see if it¡¯d bring him happiness. Even if he was battered, bruised, And almost sold as a slave. Last night was almost the best he¡¯s had in almost a week, time on Earth included. So what if he¡¯s probably not going to see earth again, He fought and killed the equivalent of Ridley.


    Captain Anaya¡¯s soft snoring oddly made him feel homely. Actually, maybe one day he¡¯ll go and take them to Earth, maybe. Right now though he couldn¡¯t exactly trust anyone with anything.


    He scratched the back of her head, Her face twitched into a sleepy smile.


    Rhenixa decided to stop a few drinks in, She realized her body weight set her limit pretty low, so she stuck to what she could handle, besides this was pretty entertaining.


    Gabe slammed the drink on the table. Giving Anaya his best shit-eating smirk.


    This action infuriated the captain. She tried to imitate him, her drink was much slower, the only thing that was successful was more alcohol going into her head.


    She slid the cylindrical pitcher back over to Gabe. Catching it he tried to tilt to pour but only managed to get out enough to fill a third of his cup.


    ¡°Empty.¡± He put the cylinder back down.


    ¡°Well, Go get another, the kitchen is right behind yah.¡± She leaned back in the chair the front two legs became suspended.


    Gabe stared into her eyes, she was unwavering. He got up and walked away to the kitchen. It didn¡¯t take him long to actually find where she kept the drinks. The kitchen was pretty small. It had a small two basin sink and a refrigerator.


    Once he left, Rhenixa spoke up. ¡°Hey, Captain.


    Anaya made a grunt of acknowledgment as she slowly rocked with one foot.


    ¡°Back when we got captured¡­ Yah said you had a plan?¡±


    A plan? Gabe could overhear the two wolf girls talking from the kitchen. And this peaked his interests.


    ¡°Oh, Yeah. It went well, more or less.¡±


    Rhenixa¡¯s expression changed to one of you¡¯ve-gotta-be-kidding-me. ¡°What was it?¡±


    Anaya came back from the chair¡¯s back legs allowing the front to touch the floor again. ¡°The plan was to test him.¡± She squinted one eye and threw up a hand. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid. like I would ever fall for one of Zelgrek¡¯s plans. Though I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d end up dying. That was pretty impressive.¡±


    Gabe had no idea what to make of this. At first, he felt used like he was a tool. But then, on the other hand, she literally trusted her life, Blitz¡¯s life and Rhenixa¡¯s life on someone she¡¯s literally only known for a couple of hours. He began to feel an overwhelming sense of pride and as if he was wanted.


    He decided now was the best time to come back into the area of celebration. He returned with two large cylindrical tubes one steal with an orange liquid beneath a glass lid and the other with a purple liquid. ¡°Ready?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    They had another round of ¡®shots¡¯ before Anaya inevitably lost. At which point she ended up getting extremely angry. Using her brute strength to pin him to a wall, calling him a ¡®son of a Lemrex¡¯ and dragging him to her room.


    She eventually just passed out with him still under her. He didn¡¯t really complain about it mainly from the fact that he didn¡¯t have a room for himself or A few hours later and this is exactly how he got in this situation now.


    He took a deep breath in and out. Maneuvering his body to move overtop of Anaya most of his arm became free without disturbing her too much. But his forearm and hand still remained trapped underneath her back. Using his dominate hand he lifted her up slightly to slip from her.


    He slid from her bed and walked to the door. Turning around to check on her one last time before he left. She didn¡¯t even stir, maybe the drinking contest was a little too much. He gave a slight smile and pressed the door release button.


    He continued to the bridge, spotting a familiar squid alien.


    ¡°Heya, Blitz.¡±


    The tentacled creature turned around to the sudden noise. ¡°Hello, Gabe.¡±


    ¡°You weren¡¯t partying?¡±


    ¡°My body doesn¡¯t require physical nourishment.¡± He left his tentacles to absent-mindedly toy with the console that was now behind him.


    Gabe nodded. There was an awkward silence between the two. He placed his hands in his pocket. ¡°What are you doing.¡±


    Gabe¡¯s Caloricean has gotten much better than he was when he first learned it. Mostly from just hearing the way he heard various people speaking.


    ¡°Some minor calibrations, As I also do not need to sleep. I keep the ship in check while the others are¡­¡± He paused to think of a better choice of word. ¡°Busy.¡±


    Then a beeping went off. A light flashed on the console. Blitz turned around as if he was reading something.


    ¡°It¡¯s someone called Valik?¡±


    Gabe remembered the brown haired Caloricean, it was kind of hard to forget someone who openly makes a threat to your face.


    ¡°Oh, It¡¯s for me.¡±


    The squid man nodded and pressed the button. The larger screen that was in the front of the cabin went from a flat black to an image of a well-dressed, excellently groomed and well-mannered wolf man.


    ¡°Ah, My boy!¡± He extended his arms as if he was giving a virtual hug. ¡°I knew I could count on you!¡± His voice had been very enthusiastic


    Gabe continued to stand with his hands in his pocket. Not really wanted to speak to him.


    ¡°With how fast Zelgrek¡¯s men were leaving the station, I swore it was going to explode.¡± He gave a wide and toothy smile. The whole unnerving smile thing must¡¯ve been a race trait. Because no matter who he saw they still looked like the big bad wolf.


    ¡°My sources tell me you fought one on one with Zelgrek, Now tell me, boy, how did you accomplish that?¡±


    Gabe just shrugged. Some things were better left to the imagination. Especially since whoever told him about Zelgrek probably saw him holding his severed head.


    ¡°Well, my boy, I called to give my thanks, But I must go and expand my network, Toodles.¡±


    He began to get up from his chair before he stopped midway. ¡°Oh and one more thing. If you ever need my services to clean up some warlord¡¯s, It''s free of charge.¡±


    The feed was cut to black. Gabe stood still, he didn¡¯t exactly want to make hunting criminals a hobby of his.


    An arm came across his shoulders giving him a freight.


    ¡°Oh, yah made friends with Valik, did yah?¡± A familiar mature voice came from his left ear.


    ¡°You know him?¡±


    Gabe looked to the left to spot Anaya¡¯s face inches from his. Her breath smelling like a tropical fruit bar.


    ¡°He isn¡¯t my preferred source for intel, but I heard he¡¯s good at what he does.¡±


    She walked over to her chair and sat down. She had been wearing what she fell asleep in, a tank top without a bra underneath and a pair of black shorts.


    ¡°Hey, Captain Titties, I want to talk about that deal you agreed to.¡±


    ¡°Did yah want to be captain?¡± She said that answer without a moment of hesitation.


    ¡°No,¡± Gabe said just as fast. ¡°I want collar off.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s simple.¡± She gave that race trademark smile. ¡°Just pull it apart.¡±


    ¡°Explosives?¡±


    ¡°Do I look like I trade in slaves? That collar is just a tool.¡±


    He guessed she had a point. She seemed more like the raid a cargo ship and sell the goods back to them at a higher price kinda gal.


    Gabe did as he was told. The collar came off without a problem, today already was starting off pretty well.


    ¡°Hey, Blitz.¡± She called out still lounging in her chair.


    He had been effortlessly tapping away at the console. ¡°Yes, Cap¡±


    ¡°Can yah find Gabe a uniform that would fit him?¡±


    Blitz didn¡¯t answer back he just finished his calibrations and slithered off somewhere.


    She turned back to Gabe, ¡°Welcome to the family.¡± She smiled.

 Chapter 6: Fuytis Landing!

    Gabe adjusted his belt, the pants he was given weren¡¯t a perfect fit, but they fit when a belt was applied. The shirt he was given was just a plain t-shirt. Seems Anaya had a love of uniformity because the colors matched the rest of the crew, Grey on top and black on the bottom. The only quip he had was with the hole in the back that was obviously for a tailed individual.


    He stepped outside the door to his room, Yeah the captain was also kind enough to provide him with his own personal space. Rhenixa was leaning on the side of the corridor waiting for him to get dressed.


    ¡°Not half bad.¡± She meandered around him getting a look at every angle. She gave him a slight pushing him forward. Even though she was just as big as him, which somehow by Caloricean standards was unusual, She still possessed that outrageous strength.


    ¡°Ready?¡± She cocked her hip to the side and placed resting her hand on her side.


    Coming to a stumbling stop he turned back around to face her, giving her a thumbs up.


    She looked around, She looked at the ceiling of the metal corridor. She looked back him squinting one eye. ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± Gabe¡¯s displeasure was voiced in his native tongue. ¡°Mean¡¯s good or yes.¡±


    She nodded slowly several times. Before turning around to leave for the mission. Her silvery tail swished calmly left and right. Denying him from staring at her butt. He had to do a light jog to catch up.


    ¡°What¡¯s the mission?¡± He asked finally keeping a pace with her.


    ¡°It''s an easy one. We are scouting.¡± The turned a left at the corridor.


    ¡°Scouting for what?¡±


    ¡°Weapons!¡± She almost sounded a little too enthusiastic about her answer. ¡°When we got captured we lost a lot.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know if-¡±


    ¡°Shhhh.¡± She put a finger to his mouth. ¡°Scouting mission begins now.¡± With her free hand, she pressed the door release. The mechanisms in the door could be heard as they slowly forced the hydraulics to pressurize the cabin.


    What awaited them on the outside was lush greenery. For the mission, they had landed on a place called Fuytis. A beautiful Earth-like planet that was known to have clean waters, Giant trees and most important of all, Giant insectoid aliens.


    The oxygen content of the planet had been slightly above the norm for gaia worlds. Most of the more ferocious creatures didn¡¯t really hunt until nightfall when their camouflage actually worked. But other than that it was listed in multiple galactic sources as one of the top resort areas.


    ¡°Captain, We are about to begin our mission.¡± Rhenixa pinched the microphone that was attached to her neck. This form of handless communication was often the preferred method of relaying information since there were times where one needed to shoot and give orders at the same time.


    ¡°Got it, Be safe.¡± Anaya''s voice was received through the earpiece in both their headsets.


    ¡°So what are we dealing with?¡± Gabe had approached a very colorful flower.


    ¡°Don¡¯t touch that!¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Gabe stopped short of the plant¡¯s bulb.


    ¡°When agitated the plant releases spores,¡±


    Gabe thought of mushrooms that did that and they were more or less harmless, unless you had asthma, but he still failed to see how the plant was dangerous. ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°The spores have hooks on them that slice up your lungs up as yah breath. Making yah drown in your own blood.¡±


    Gabe looked back at the colorful plant and back away slowly raising his hands up as if to appear non-threatening to the plant.


    ¡°Now c¡¯mon.¡± She started to head into the thick shrubbery entrance of the giant forest.


    Gabe tried to catch up to her. But got caught on the thorny exterior of a bush costing him a few seconds.


    Gabe was absolutely awestruck at the scenery, back on his home planet he saw a few wonders, but nothing was as breathtaking as this. The trees were thick at the base but eventually thinned out as they threatened to pierce the sky. Which itself was also just as amazing, not a single cloud one could almost make the comparison that it was the sea being suspended above their heads.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Gabe.¡± She brought him back to his senses from his wanderlust. ¡°Did your planet not have anything like this?¡±


    ¡°It did, but¡­¡± He stretched his arms out and spun in a circle. ¡°Nothing like this!¡±


    She smiled. A bird landed on a branch in front of them. It was colorful like most of the foliage. The head crested upward making it seem like it had a mohawk. It cooed softly making the tree¡¯s limb its perch.


    Another flew by and joined it. This bird looked nearly identical. Except for its slight variation in colors.


    ¡°That reminds me.¡± Gabe didn¡¯t really speak that part for Rhenixa to understand. ¡°Are you and Anaya related?¡±


    Rhenixa stopped walking to turn around. ¡°No...We-¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a member of my clan.¡± Anaya chimed in. ¡°Anaya is just my family¡¯s name.¡±


    ¡°Oh so. Anyone could be an Anaya?¡±


    ¡°Not just anyone, only people me or my family accept. She¡¯s Rhenixa Anaya just like how you are Gabe Anaya.¡±


    That was pretty off-putting. Just the sound of that was gross ¡®Gabe Anaya¡¯ Maybe he¡¯d use his full name when referring to the clan. But something now bothered him.


    ¡°What¡¯s your actual name then?¡±


    ¡°Selarixa, Selarixa Anaya.¡±


    Gabe has no idea what he was actually expecting.


    ¡°Enough talking, more scouting.¡± She ordered the two. They began walking again.


    They spent a little while on the trip without talking. Until they came to a cliffside. Rhenixa ran ahead and laid on her stomach pulling out a pair of binoculars


    ¡°Lenrex¡¯s shit.¡± She handed Gabe the device. At first, he looked at the minimalistic rectangular design they had. And then put them to his eyes.


    ¡°In the clearing.¡± She directed Gabe to where he should be looking. ¡°You see the markings on the shuttles?¡±


    In Gabe¡¯s perspective what he could see was twenty to twenty-five lightly armored men running around, giving orders or just sitting around. Looking a bit to the left he spotted a small gray ship that had a black emblem painted on the side.


    ¡°The moon with a slash?¡± He responded.


    ¡°Yeah, this shipment belongs to Galori.¡±


    He put the binoculars down to look at Rhenixa.


    ¡°He¡¯s pretty bad news. We might have to call this mission off.¡±


    Gabe picked the device back to his face. ¡°Or not.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need Galori sniffing our trail. I can assure you he¡¯s much more competent than Zelgrek.¡±


    Gabe handed the binoculars back to Rhenixa. ¡°We do it without getting spotted then.¡±


    ¡°How? Between the two of us, we have one knife.¡± She questioned his reasoning putting the binoculars back into a pouch on her hip.


    ¡°Simple. We wait for nightfall.¡± He pointed to the setting sun.


    She grabbed his head and looked him and moved her head around causing him to follower her with his eyes.


    ¡°Have you gone mad? The night will kill us.¡±


    He gave her a stupid smile. ¡°Go big or go home.¡±


    He got up and started to head down a side path. He paused and waited for her. Rhenixa¡¯s fight or flight intuition was conflicting with her interests. She was pretty sure she would be able to reach the ship safely if it came down to it. But a single ambush from a creepy crawler could make all the difference. But she was starting to become a little enthralled with Gabe¡¯s species. She bit her lip as she weighed her options.


    She let out a defeated sigh. ¡°My life is in your hands.¡± She got up from her position to reach Gabe.


    ¡°Teach me some of the dangers of this planet.¡± He asked as they headed towards the camp.


    The first thing she started off with was massive insects. At first, this worried him. But for some reason, he was confident that they would stay away.


    The next thing she told him about were the passive killers, the plants. That ranged from the deadly spore releasers to the ones that made you trip balls for hours on end.


    Then Gabe tripped over something sending him right into a shallow river crossing. Rhenixa started to laugh at his misfortune. Before he could get any anger out he saw what exactly he was dealing with.


    He had tripped over the discarded shell of Theronipi. minus one HP, right?. The Theronipi was a crab-like insect that stayed near water sources to hunt and breed. Out of all the insects in this forest. Apparently, this was one of the smaller ones. It had been slightly over 3 meters.


    Staring at the curved claws gave Gabe an amazing idea.


    ¡°Can you give me one of the claws?¡±


    Rhenixa was mostly confused by his needs. But she still broke it off the husk. The leg parts were a bit too flexible for Gabe¡¯s liking. But that was easily fixed with the help of a vine and branch.


    Gabe crudely made a spear. It probably wouldn¡¯t pierce anything harder than chitin. But that had been enough.


    ¡°Now we both have weapons.¡± The spear had been slightly taller than him.


    She thought she began to understand his methods. If they were going to be fighting in the dark, they¡¯d have to make it as quiet and untraceable as possible. Clever boy.


    He made a few more of his spears just in case he would end up losing one. He had a total of four. It took them two and a half hours to reach the tree line of the jungle. By then the sky was now dyed deep orange. Everything had been prepared for their attack. The only thing that stood in their way now was a way to lure them over into the green expanse.


    They spent the last few moments of sunlight bickering about what would work and what wouldn¡¯t work. Gabe threw out some idea¡¯s that were farfetched. He suggested she could use her ¡®charms¡¯ to lure some of the more doggish patrolmen. She rejected that idea almost immediately, besides they were trying not to get spotted.


    They both immediately agreed on something a little more conventional. If they were going to act primal. What was more primal than fire?

 Chapter 7: Fuytis Base!

    Gabe watched over the camp. Very few guards were actually keeping watch. They¡¯ve must¡¯ve thought that a base hidden on a planet filled with nothing but jungles they were utterly safe. Boy were they going to be so wrong.


    Gabe imitated a bird call from earlier. This had been a signal to Rhenixa to begin the first step of the plan. He heard the call be returned. In the distance, a small light started to flicker to life, in the matter of minutes the fire grew substantially and kept growing until it was the size of a large bonfire.


    From Gabe¡¯s concealed bush position. He saw a few of the watchmen perk up from their sitting positions to alert the others. They scrambled to pick up their weapons, fumbled to their feet. A good handful of them formed formations before starting into the green expanse.


    Under the vantage of the darkness, Gabe followed close behind staying within the bushes and shadows of the trees.


    They formed a semicircle around the roaring fire each person observing the surrounding environment, except one. He pulled out a communicator. Gabe assumed he had a higher standing in the group considering he was leading the group into the fire.


    Gabe moved quietly in the darkness to a nearby tree with a vine wound tightly around one of the lower branches. He whistled the same bird call he used earlier. The same call was given back. Gabe took a deep breath and used his make-shift spear to cut the vine. The vine flew upward at an accelerated pace. He turned back to the men on the defense. Two pieces of cloth fell into the middle of the group. The cloths flew open filling the area around them with orange dust clouds.


    During their time in the forest, Gabe had an idea to weaponize the razor spores. The plants grew on thick stalks so what they decided to do was cut them a few centimeters away from the bulbs as to not to agitate the plant too much, wrap them in their shirts, tie them closed with a vine and hoist them over the fire area. Effectively creating a simple chemical warfare.


    Over half the men that ran out were on the ground either coughing up blood or bleeding from their noses. The mostly quiet forest was filled with screams of pain and incomprehensible alien languages.


    Gabe smiled in the success of the plan. The other rest of the men were either smart to cover their faces or just plain lucky to be out of range of the dust clouds.


    The ones that were out of range were quickly taken care of by Rhenixa. The stragglers were left for Gabe. Hey threw his spears into the guts of those who were preoccupied trying to help their asphyxiating comrades. The total lack of leadership and lack of direction of an attack left many to fire blindly into the tree. Out of the five spears, he threw wide causing them to fly somewhere into the jungle and stick harmlessly into the ground.


    The two had managed to escape the assassination attempt and ran back into the direction of the base. Both Gabe and Rhenixa stepped out into the carnage She extended a bent arm. Gabe took her hand in his. The two shared an adrenaline filled handshake.


    They had both become shirtless due to using them as bags for their bombs. The only difference was that Rhenixa¡¯s compact chest was hidden behind her combat vest. Although her front was covered her slightly toned arms and her slim sides were left uncovered, paired up with her short shorts she was very dangerous to anyone who looked at her.


    ¡°Fuck yeah! That was great!¡± Her tail was swaying rapidly to reflect her mood. ¡°What¡¯s the next step?¡±


    Gabe grabbed a blaster off an enemy corpse along with a few spears that weren¡¯t thrown in the direction of the spore clouds. ¡°We go to their base!¡±


    ¡°Yah can¡¯t be serious.¡± She dropped the weapons she was carrying. Her tail stopped it¡¯s swaying to and fell to the ground.


    Gabe had already started to walk in the direction the fleeing enemies went. Rhenixa was hesitant at first but she grabbed the dropped weaponry eventually joined him in the journey.


    Noticing Rhenixa at his side he smiled. They continued to walk the silence of the darkness. They made it nearly 3 meters from their original position before she tackled Gabe into a nearby bush.


    ¡°Rhenixa, The fuc-¡± Gabe was cut off by her hand covering his mouth. Seeing Rhenixa in the moonlight, her ears had become twitchy moving in several different directions. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Shhhh.¡± The tackle put her on top of Gabe. Her thighs spread across his mid-section. It wasn¡¯t hard to guess that he was getting the wrong idea of this.


    ¡°Rhen-¡± Gabe tried to speak but his voice only came out in muffles.


    She got closer and clenched her hand tighter. ¡°Shut up!¡± her voice slightly above a whisper.


    Just a few meters from them was a tree that began to move. The slender foliage seemed to have uprooted itself and begin levitating only to be slammed down seconds later. More trees began to uproot themselves and reposition. Turns out they weren¡¯t trees at all. They were claws that belonged to one of the native inhabitants of the planet.


    Gabe could see slightly above Rhenixa¡¯s head and it left him in awe of what he saw., the creature was so large he couldn¡¯t even see the body. All he could see was the shadowy underbelly of the creature. The giant insect sauntered in the direction of the corpses. A starving beast wouldn¡¯t give up an opportunity for an easy meal.


    Once the creature passed by Rhenixa relaxed her grip and let out a sigh of relief. ¡°That was way too close.¡±


    ¡°Better get to it then.¡± Gabe placed his hands on her and sat up, changing the position from her sitting on his stomach to now being within his lap. She made a quiet vocal noise at the sudden change.


    Rehnixa locked eye contact. She had just noticed their color. They were very blue, actually, they were closer to violet than anything. This was encapsulating to her, This ¡®human¡¯ was filled to the brim with just weird traits, weren¡¯t they?


    ¡°Rhenixa.¡± Her staring was actually starting to cut into the precious time that they had. The base was bound to send a larger patrol to investigate ten of their men dying.


    ¡°Oh, Right.¡± She stopped straddling him and got back on her feet. ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡± Her movement became pretty rapid. She seemed embarrassed, for a race of aliens that didn¡¯t mind being seen naked, it seems that they only become flustered for showing an interest in something.


    They continued until they got to the edge of the tree line. Once they stepped out into the clearing their only source of cover would be the multiple grounded shuttles and buildings.


    The base was a scrambled mess of men running to their respective squads. Others lining up to get information on the situation.


    Gabe looked at Rhenixa and gave a thumbs up, she returned one and nodded her head. They both took off in a mad dash to the nearest shuttle. Rhenixa¡¯s strong legs allowed her to reach cover much faster.


    ¡°The weapons are in there and there.¡± kneeling behind the shuttle so pointed to two adjacent buildings about three meters away. ¡°I¡¯ll take the further building. We meet up back here when we get the crates.¡±


    Gabe nodded, they both went towards their separate buildings. Leaning on the side of the building he could see they actually had two guards posted here. But unlike his previous encounters, these guys looked like they¡¯re doing their jobs properly.


    He leaned back over to his side of the wall. To be quick and silent he could probably throw one of his spears, actually, that¡¯s exactly what he was going to do. If the other guard didn¡¯t react in time he could probably throw another or something. The plan will probably come to him as he went on.


    He pulled one of the spears off his back and reared his arm back for a throw. Before he even managed to turn the corner he saw the guards run off towards the entrance of the compound.


    Then the screaming and blaster fire came through. Whatever that was it was entirely fine with him. He went straight for the door and it looked like these people were actually competent, it was locked. So he did what he knew best. He shot the control panel, that sorta worked.


    The door now was now freaking out. It was closing and opening at random intervals. He took a step back and counted to five before taking a sprinting roll. Upon entering the building he was greeted with a massive room filled with crates of varying sizes.


    The first one he unlatched was filled with junk. At least it looked like junk. Gabe kinda wished Rhenixa was here. He had almost no clue what was valuable to take and what wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°Whatever.¡± He flipped the box on its side so that it stood long. He pushed it near the door and waited for it fully open before wedging it. Now one problem was solved.


    He opened another crate. ¡°The hell is this?¡±


    It was filled with round devices that had multiple buttons aligned the side. The lights slowly flashed red. he must¡¯ve activated when he picked it up. He threw it back in and went for another box.


    This box was smaller and longer than all the rest.


    ¡°Oh hell yeah!¡±


    Opening it revealed a weapon that piqued several of Gabe¡¯s interests. It had a short barrel, and a revolving cylinder right in front of the trigger. Gabe was definitely taking this with him. He set the weapon aside.


    The weapon seemed to use actual physical objects since within the crate was a series of tubes aligned in a row on the foam.


    Then for a moment. The screaming and blaster fire had seemingly stopped. But a constant heavy thumping remained. Curious he stepped outside the malfunctioning doors to see a giant claw cleaving shuttles in halves. Bodies laid on the ground, a few missing limbs others looking almost completely melted. The alien insect found the commotion of the camp and must¡¯ve associated it with food.


    ¡°Fuck.¡± He muttered.

 Chapter 8: Dangers of Fuytis!

    The creature turned its attention to the building that Rhenixa was currently in. It clicked it¡¯s mandibles before ramming its thick skull into the building. The exterior held but showed minor cracks. Something had to be done to protect his compatriot.


    ¡°Fuck, Fuck, Fuck¡± Gabe shifted uncomfortable as he knew what he had to do. And he knew he didn¡¯t like it.


    He ran out into the open screaming and waving his arms trying to get the giantbug¡¯s attention. When that didn¡¯t work he pulled out the blaster he retrieved from one of the corpses.


    ¡°Hey! Over here.¡± He aimed and fired at the insect.


    The blaster¡¯s fire ricocheted off the carapace sending it to the ground or high into the sky. This natural armor explains why a compound full of soldiers couldn¡¯t take it down. Yet his efforts still failed to get the creature¡¯s attention.


    Even a fly could get the attention of something larger than it, he had to be more annoying, but how? The creature reared it¡¯s head back for another strike against the building.


    Gabe looked around the wreckage of flaming shuttles, mutilated corpses and torn up ground. Wait, those shuttles had weapons of their own, Not particular big weapons but still, they were a mounted on a ship guns, they were big enough.


    Some meters away he saw a shuttle, It was damaged like the others, but the damage didn¡¯t look to be fatal to the machinery.


    Only one problem remained after that. He¡¯d have to reposition the damaged shuttle to fire. He thought to himself. A storage had to have some kind of machine for heavy lifting. It wouldn¡¯t be as efficient if they moved large amounts of crates from point a to point b by hand.


    The creature rammed the building once more. Parts of the roof were starting to cave in. He had to move faster. In his frantic scanning he did spot a some sort of vehicle, it was small, and rectangular. But, it had two axis and four wheels, that counted as being usable to him. Now all he had to do was go underneath the bug, Open the door to the cab, and activate it, while being next to it¡¯s thick, bone stomping, tank shattering claws. No pressure


    The anxiety was rising in his stomach, he began to feel light headed, the slightest touch could be enough to make him throw up.As much unease that sat within his stomach he couldn¡¯t let her get eaten.


    Captain Titties would probably do worse things to him if he somehow managed to return without Rhenixa. He swallowed the lump that was within his throat and took off towards the creature¡¯s legs.


    Saying he took off in a sprint wasn¡¯t actually true. His ¡®sprint¡¯ wasn¡¯t very fast at all if anything it was like a fast jog. Guess that¡¯s what happens when you live a lifestyle of staying up late and eating junk food.


    The creature took a step back as Gabe walked underneath. A claw closest to him slammed down a few feet to his right. The ground felt like it gave away underneath him, in reality, the force from the impact made him momentarily airborne. Unable to catch himself he fell flat onto the ground. His arms and legs felt like jello from the impact. Still his determination to get rid of the immediate danger prevailed. He stood back up and started to shamble the rest of the way.


    He pulled open the door to the driver side and Jumped in the driver¡¯s seat. He was greeted with a very minimalistic compartment. There was no steering wheel, no gear stick. Just a blue screen, and a compass looking dome. touching the screen made it come to life, The screen flashed words, if you could even call them words, they were more like symbols.


    Either way, he couldn¡¯t understand it. He had to get someone to teach him about reading and writing. So he did what he could do best; keep touching it until something happened.


    And eventually, it did. The vehicle started to vibrate slowly and began to move slowly. Instead of doing the easier thing and trying to learn how to turn, He hopped out to push on the sides. His actions altered the vehicle''s path. It was now careening towards one of the more salvageable looking shuttles.


    He hitched a ride on the back holding onto one of the many bars. Just in case he needed to use his body way to shift the course. The vehicle began gaining speed as it hurdled over some of the uneven terrains.


    The vehicle slammed into the back end of the shuttle spinning it in the direction of the bug. He had jumped off moments before the vehicle made its impact. He squeezed himself through one of the giant holes that littered the midsection of the shuttle.


    The creature took a few more steps back to ram into the building again. The building would not be able to take any more hits.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± The same kind of setup for the vehicle was in the shuttle, this one did have a more user-friendly interface and multiple screens. One screen showed an outline of the ship, which currently had over half the sections either flashing a red, or stayed in a constant red. Another screen showed information in what looked like numerical values. But what Gabe was more interested in was the joystick. Apparently this controlled the weaponry system, seeing as when he moves downward the twin-linked guns moved upward. He pressed the trigger attached to the stick. The barrels let loose large kinetic based rounds that upon impact made a minor explosion. Out of the two guns only the right was aligned to make contact.


    The insect stopped it¡¯s ramming when its head got forced to the side. He now gained the anger of his foe.The left gun missed the head entirely and hit the side of the building. This was all that was needed to cause the building to collapse within itself.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The monster started to turn around. He fired more shots, each hit seemed like it was doing less damage than the last until it entirely stopped flinching from the impacts. When the smoke cleared from it head, it actually didn¡¯t look like it made any penetration.


    It raised it head upward into the sky, the mandibles twitched momentarily before bringing it back down spraying a thick clear liquid from its mouth. At first glance it seemed to be doing nothing but alarms started to ring and the outline of the sections on the screen started to just black.


    Gabe decided that was a good signal to evacuate his station. Upon exiting the shuttle it metal began to strain against itself and crumple together in places that the thick liquid touched.


    No longer preoccupied with the shuttle it started the familiar movements to spray work up another spray from it¡¯s throat.


    It¡¯s attack was interrupted as a fiery smoke cloud covered its head.


    ¡°Gabe! Get to the shuttle!¡± Rhenixa was on the creature¡¯s blind side firing. Shooting the weapon he had put aside.


    He smiled so it was a grenade launcher. He took off towards the shuttle. The grenade launcher was still not doing any damage whatsoever. Which wasn¡¯t her plan to begin with. All she needed was to get it to one her side of the compound.


    ¡°That¡¯s right fuck face! This way!¡± She yelled at the creature.


    At this point, it wasn¡¯t interested in eating either of these two. It just wanted them dead. It lifted one of its claws and slammed it in the direction of Rhenixa. Her adrenaline drunken body allowed her to react causing her to roll forward going underneath the creature.


    She stood and took off for the shuttle¡¯s open back door. The mega insect wasn¡¯t going to allow her to get away so easily. Its body shook violently, the underside convulsed in multiple places and started to drop giant disks into the ground.


    Almost a meter tall and meter in diameter the pure white disks struck the ground with great force. A couple fell in front of her making her fall backward onto her butt. The disks cracked and opened releasing a thick slime. Within the slime were opaque copies of the monstrous creature.


    The shells had been so clear she could almost make out the internal organs slowly beating. In moments she was now surrounded by smaller versions of the giant insect. She started to squirm her way back from the few creatures that swarmed together in front of her.


    Lasers began to fly in the direction of Rhenixa. Some of the copies exploded upon impact with the gunfire. Green blood showered downward onto Rhenixa.


    The lot that survived the volley took cover behind several claws. A few of them hissed and dispersed from their cover once they realized they still had the superior numbers. Gabe gun down some of the bravery ones.


    ¡°Come on!¡± He extended an arm to Rhenixa. She pulled herself up using his body weight.


    ¡°Thanks for the save.¡± she pulled the grenade launcher back up and began firing into the more denser packed areas of the horde.


    The two of them made a tactical retreat to the shuttle. Once entered Rhenixa shut the door. the little buggers bit at the hull looking for a way or trying to create a way to enter the metal box.


    Rhenixa kicked on the thrusters frying any of them that got too close to the back end. The shuttle lifted itself high above the treeline. Out of the grasps of the creature and it¡¯s swarm. Gabe sat down on a crate and sighed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Mission complete?¡± Gabe kicked his feet outward into the open space.


    ¡°It¡¯s not all that happened.¡± She pressed a button on the console. The back door slowly slid open. The gusts of wind rushed through the compartment.


    Several small explosions were heard in the In the distance. Then a giant black and red cloud dominated the area. A shockwave raced across the trees indicated by the trees being pushed away from the compound. Once the main explosion settled, The smoke and fire rose high, higher than they were flying.


    ¡°No way.¡± Gabe was at a lost for words.


    ¡°Go big or go home, Right?¡±


    Gabe turned around and looked at her in the cockpit. His mouth formed a smile, ¡°Yeah, Go big or go home.¡± He had almost forgotten that he was in a group of people that valued money more than they did for lives. Not saying that the destruction wasn¡¯t needed, but sometimes there is such thing as overkill.


    By the time the shuttle landed next to the warden the sun was just starting to rise, it was now dawn. The night and day cycle of the planet was actually much shorter than Earths. The night¡¯s on Fuytis lasted approximately four hours.


    The two were covered in dirt, blood and grass stains. Their hair an absolute mess, especially Rhenixa¡¯s, usually it¡¯s well kept and brushed. But now it was disheveled and matted in places.


    The two stood side by side as the door started to open up.


    ¡°You did pretty good, Gabe.¡± She gave him a hearty punch on his arm.


    He flinched and rubbed the spot she punched. ¡°Thanks.¡± sneaking into military compounds and fighting giant insects. This was now going to be his life.


    When they both stepped out a very tired and angry Captain Anaya was leaning on the Warden¡¯s landing gear.


    ¡°What the fuck did you two do!?¡± I only asked you guys to scout!¡±


    The two looked at each other in silence.


    ¡°We...kinda got carried away,¡± Rhenixa spoke up.


    ¡°We did get the guns.¡± Gabe pointed to the shuttle.


    Anaya sighed releasing a fraction of her anger. ¡°What happened to your communicators...and shirts?¡±


    ¡°Gabe¡¯s plan.¡± Rhenixa ratted him out without a second¡¯s hesitation.


    ¡°...Human...Method?¡± He gave the most bull shittery answer that he could conceal behind the cultural difference.


    ¡°Now, why the hell was there a massive fucking explosion?¡±


    ¡°...Bugs¡± Gabe hesitantly answered.


    Anaya looked confused.


    ¡°Titaphalanx matriarch.¡± Rhenixa chimed in clarifying the situation.


    Anaya opened her mouth to say something but sighed once more. She released the crossed arms she held underneath her breasts. ¡°Go get some sleep, We leave tomorrow morning.¡±


    Gabe saluted her saying something along the lines of ¡®aye, aye Captain Titties¡¯ With that she left.


    ¡°Heya Gabe¡±


    Gabe made a noise to show his attention.


    ¡°Where did you get the idea to use the environment?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± He sat down on the ground to give his body some rest. ¡°From a few movies.¡±


    ¡°Movies?¡±

 Chapter 9: Expedition!

    Gabe laid on his bunk with his arms beneath his head. Having literally nothing more to do after dropping the crates off in the storage rooms. He had already spent twenty minutes telling Rhenixa about films.


    He chose to tell her about the one that pertained to the mission first. It involved an alien that came to his planet and hunted highly trained soldiers and was defeated by sticks and rocks. She of course laughed it off saying ¡®That a species with the technology choosing to hunt lessers was utterly ridiculous.¡¯


    He turned to the side looking at the wall. What was a blank wall was a rack that contained only one gun, the grenade launcher. He was really feeling out of place in this action-packed universe. He was a human that couldn¡¯t tell a vending machine apart from a suicide booth, not that it existed here, but still, This was a world he wasn¡¯t ready for.


    Hell just because of this his status onboard the Warden was a little less than an unpaid intern mercenary.


    He flipped over onto his back.


    ¡°Gaaaah.¡± He officially couldn¡¯t get rest, He sat up. All of the mysteries of this unknown universe was driving him insane. He had to do something to run away from his problems. He left his room to find something.


    Gabe walked past the lab, seeing that Blitz was in there he took a few steps back and entered the lab.


    ¡°Heya Blitz!¡± Gabe gave a singular wave that started from his eyebrow.


    The creature that had its back turned faced him. ¡°Gabe, Hello.¡±


    Gabe walked closer to the squid man. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡±


    ¡°Ah good to hear that your Caloricean is getting better, just some tests.¡± He turned back around, his tentacles twitched slightly. Gabe moved from being behind to his side to see what he was working on.


    There laid a corpse of a large rat-like alien. It had four arms and two legs. The skin above its ribs had been sliced open and peeled apart.


    Every so often the corpse of the creature would squirm as if it were still alive. Gabe¡¯s mouth curled into a disgusted frown. It would seem the squid alien has a tendency to be a bit of a ¡®mad scientist¡¯.


    ¡°Volrum, they¡¯re Incredibly resistant to death.¡±


    ¡°Incredibly resistant to death?¡± That string of words did not fit with almost anything Gabe knew. Blitz turned on a machine that made a high pitch screech, flashed, instantly vaporized the creature leaving nothing behind, not even ash.


    ¡°Now,¡± He turned back to Gabe, his unblinking, black abyss of eyes making direct contact. ¡°Was there something you need?¡±


    Gabe glanced back at the table and back at the featureless face several times. ¡°Uhm, could you tell me about the written language?¡±


    One of Blitz¡¯s tentacles pulled a chair up facing it toward the examination table, Gabe took the seat.


    ¡°After the Galactic Union formed, all writing became unified and is now known as the Galactic standard.¡± Blitz placed uncurled a tablet from his tentacles in front of Gabe.


    Turns out that the alphabet contains 36 characters that formed into it¡¯s own language which almost every alien spoke. The language never evolved anything past basic nouns, most aliens weren¡¯t exactly thrilled with giving up their native tongue so they continued to use it on daily functions.


    The Galactic Union would only enforce the use of the language on public places such as stations, colonies and their own ships. Apparently not using it on public services was an offense that was punishable by death or being locked away for years.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Gabe put down the tablet. ¡°This is actually kinda simple.¡±


    ¡°Because it¡¯s based from Caloricean. A majority of the forces from the Galactic Union are actually Caloricean males and females.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah?¡±


    ¡°Caloriceans are often known to enjoy fighting. That¡¯s why you see so many as mercenaries.¡±


    Blitz¡¯ slugged off to another part of the lab leaving Gabe sitting at the table.


    ¡°What can you tell me about them?¡±


    Blitz didn¡¯t even bother turning around. ¡°You have three sources to learn. And two might be willing.¡±


    Right, That was a dumb question. He was holding onto a tablet filled with information although he¡¯d have to decipher it. But then again he¡¯d always be able to ask both of the Anayas.


    So to get a bit of insight into both the written language and the history of Caloriceans he decided to browse what the tablet had in store.


    It really didn¡¯t last long for him to give up. He¡¯d need to really study if he wanted to learn how to just open up tabs on the small device. He felt like an older person trying to figure out some new fangled technology. Which in a way wasn¡¯t wrong, the way these things were made were leagues above smartphones and actual tablets.


    Even after finding the setting to set the language to Caloricean, The ¡®internet of space¡¯ had worked was like an entirely new animal. Sites and searches were nearly impossible as the thing sort of lacked the functions.


    He sighed, feeling frustrated he got up from the table and walked towards the door. ¡°Thanks Blitz.¡± The girls were probably a better source of information anyway.


    ¡°Anytime, Gabe.¡±


    Gabe started off for the bridge. There he found not one, but both wolf girls talking about something.


    ¡°I think we should go.¡± Anaya had her hands behind the back of her head.


    ¡°Seems like a textbook set up,¡± Rhenixa said cocking her hip and pointing lazily at the screen.


    ¡°Look. I¡¯ll throw up another scan. But there hasn¡¯t been any movement for a few hours.¡±


    Gabe leaned on the wall right in front of the door. ¡°Whats up?¡±


    They both looked at him. ¡°Pick one, go or stay.¡± The captain demanded an answer.


    ¡°What?¡±


    Anaya moved her neck around, cracking it. ¡°Should we investigate a mysterious signal or not?¡±


    ¡°Oh, Hell yeah!¡± He wasn¡¯t exactly really all that excited to explore the unknown, but it gave him a chance to escape his current mindset.


    ¡°This is why I like you around, Gabe.¡± Anaya shot Rhenixa the biggest shit eating grin she could muster. Rhenixa growled in retaliation and left the bridge.


    ¡°I might¡¯ve agreed with you too soon but, what signal were you talking about.¡±


    ¡°Some abandoned ship. Scans shows shit-all information on it.¡± She turned towards the console and typed something. The screen magnified until they saw a vague black object floating around in an empty system. The only masses were the brightly burning star and the slowly rotating ship. The size was at least 4 times the size of the warden. Probably held close to a thousand more passengers.


    He continuously stared at the monitor trying to make out the strangely shaped silhouette of a ship. As the ship rotated, light beams from a nearby star began to illuminate the sides. The side showed there was lettering painted onto the ship¡¯s side. Something piqued Gabe¡¯s interest.


    ¡°Can you zoom in?¡± Gabe leaned in forward towards the monitor.


    ¡°Why?¡± She questioned him squinting an eye.


    ¡°I think...I think I see something.¡±


    She shrugged and zoomed in on the side. The camera zoomed itself blurring slightly but quickly enhancing the image. The ship¡¯s lettering was now readable in high resolution.


    ¡°V...O..Y...A...G...E...R?¡± Gabe made out the word. ¡°That¡¯s English!¡± Gabe¡¯s sudden outburst shocked Anaya. Now several questions were in his head. What is a vessel with the human language written on it?


    She began to pet her suddenly fluffed up tail back down to it¡¯s normal size.


    ¡°Voyager? You know of it?¡±


    ¡°No, not at all. but, I think I might.¡±


    ¡°Anything valuable?¡±


    Gabe shrugged. ¡°The last I checked, my people were barely able to go to space easily.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s consider this a curiosity mission. Since I am curious to what your people have.¡± She stood up from her chair. The breasts beneath her tank top bounced from the speed she got up with.


    ¡°Get ready. We leave on my command.¡±


    Gabe looked down at his attire. He had already been suited in his combat clothing.


    ¡°Ready?¡± He said as if to question her decision in expression.

 Chapter 10: Voyagers Voyage!

    ¡°Everyone stick close, Gabe lead.¡± Anaya unholstered her blaster pistol, turning it off its safety function.


    ¡°Wha-Why!?¡± Gabe reflexively turned towards Anaya who seemed to be enjoying herself.


    ¡°It¡¯s your people, they won¡¯t shoot at yah.¡±


    ¡°So I''m a shield?¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°Yup.¡±


    The two girls were smiling and nodding their heads. Gabe sighed as he learned his purpose in this mission.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just get this over with.¡±


    Anaya pressed the button. Air released from the side¡¯s of the door as the pressure matched the other side. Slowly the door opened to a darkened airlock. The group turned on their flashlights and walked forward.


    The airlock was a small yet big enough to allow the trio enough room to walk around and investigate. Around the sides were glass closets that revealed rudimentary, compared to what they were wearing right now, space suits.


    Rhenixa was opening closets left and right, Anaya was busy breaking open locked boxes and anything else that looked like it contained treasure.


    Looking at the ceiling Gabe actually found direction in his now hectic life. And that direction was a sign that said ¡®Elevator¡¯. Looking back at the two girls, one obviously getting frustrated at the amount of work she¡¯s doing to find so little.


    ¡°Hey, you aren¡¯t gonna find something on a low level.¡±


    Anaya kicked a lock box, it clattered across the room at extreme speeds. and joined him in the elevator. The other joined shortly after she finished checking the crew lockers.


    Gabe pressed the button with an ¡®up¡¯ arrow. The elevator made a slight drop as gears began to engage. The mechanism actually sounded like it was struggling to perform its duty. The trio dropped their weapons to a more relaxed position as they waited for their stop.


    ¡°Well this is pleasant.¡± through the speakers a smooth jazz song was playing lightly. Gabe began humming to the music that was playing.


    Rhenixa turned her head to face him.


    ¡°What? I like this song.¡± The elevator reached the upper floor, they resumed raising their weapons outward.


    Their target was the inky blackness that was another corridor. They entered, the area was a lot bigger than the airlock, the look of the room had a very ¡®waiting room¡¯ feel to it. Green benches had been displaced from their original positions Some were thrown across the room glass had been shattered. Newspapers littered the floor. Even though there was a sign of a fight there was no blood, no bodies, nothing the area just looked like a miniature tornado blew through.


    The trio fanned across the room to investigate the scene.


    ¡°Goddess.¡± Rhenixa looked at one of the benches, they had once been bolted to the ground. Even with her beastial strength tearing up something that had been attached to the floor was almost impossible.


    The darkness was almost debilitating Gabe. He looked around and found a map that still had power to it. He began to read it off.


    ¡°South, airlock. West, engineering, medical bay. East, Mess hall, residential, restrooms. North, bridge, information center.¡±


    Anaya stood next to him to get a look at the map. ¡°We split up. Rhen, go West. I¡¯ll go East. Gabe get the light¡¯s on.¡±


    ¡°Aye, Aye Captain Titties.¡±


    ¡°Why do yah keep calling me that?¡± Anaya finally questions her nickname. ¡°What does it even mean?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± Gabe paused to think of a save. ¡°Just a nickname.¡± He cheekily smiled.


    She shrugged off the answer and went to her designation. Rhenixa put a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°Be careful.¡± And walked off.


    Now Gabe was alone. He dropped his shoulders, Inhaled and walked forward. The darkness he entered was a long corridor. The entirety of it was bare save for a few posters advertising some products onboard.


    Every couple of steps lead to an opening on the left or right going to another room or series of halls. He continued to move forward. The eerie lack of sounds in the area left Gabe with red flags waving.


    Reaching the end lead to another elevator. He pressed the up arrow again. This ride was a much shorter one. As the doors opened, light spilled through the revealing he was no longer within the ship¡¯s lower levels. He was now on the bridge.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Giant glass windows made up a majority of the walls. The ever bright sun was shining bathing the room. Against the contrast of space, it was very aesthetic. Everything had been spaced away from each other but gradually came closer as it went closer to the nose of the bridge.


    Gabe approached the captain¡¯s chair. ¡®Finally.¡¯ he thought to himself. ¡®Something I can actually work.¡¯


    It wasn¡¯t that he knew how to work it. But since everything was ever-so-neatly labeled it made it a lot easier to figure out what needed to be done. He saw a panel that had ¡®power¡¯ written on it. There was a meter on the screen next to it. The colored bar sat at the lowest setting, Gabe pulled the lever upward, raising it to the max.


    At first, the lights began to fluctuate but steadily became constant. ¡°Good job, Gabe,¡± Anaya said over the commlink.


    ¡®Ding Bong.¡¯


    ¡°Hello, citizen.¡± A male voice came from nowhere


    Gabe jumped from the unknown voice. ¡°H-hello?¡±


    ¡°I cannot identify you as a resident of my ship, citizen. Who are you?¡±


    ¡°Uhm. Gabe.¡± He looked around for the source only noticing a speaker system.


    ¡°Hello,¡± The voice paused, the tone changed. ¡°Gabe.¡± The voice paused again to change the tone. ¡°I am the Voyager¡¯s Virtual assistant, V.V.A, or as the crew calls me, Veva. Are you by chance, answering the distress signal?¡±


    Gabe thought for a second, perhaps he can learn something from the machine if he plays around. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here on the behalf of the maintenance team.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to disappoint you but, everything is nominal.¡±


    ¡°If everything is okay, Then can I ask where is everybody?¡±


    ¡°This vessel has been in hibernation mode for,¡± The voice paused and changed in tone again. ¡°Three hundred seventy-five years and ten days.¡± The voice changed back to its normal tone. ¡°The crew and its passengers status are, unknown.¡±


    ¡®Three hundred and seventy-five years!?¡¯ how could it be that long? He was literally just on early a few days ago! Even if he was hanging around in space with its weird concept of time. At best it would probably be a couple of years.


    He thought back to his teleporter. Perhaps what he made wasn¡¯t a simple break-down-reassemble transporter and he had made a wormhole that threw him into a random time and space.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been doing passive scans and I am receiving weird readings,¡± the shift began once more. ¡°Gabe.¡± Shifted back. ¡°They tell me that you are, pure human?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°This is strange, the pure human strain was eradicated when the outbreak on Earth.¡±


    ¡°Outbreak?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I must inform the fleet.¡± There was silence between the two for several moments. ¡°The fleet is not responding.¡±


    Gabe went over to a seat and sat down. ¡°Veva, What were you doing out here?¡±


    ¡°The current mission was to search and colonize potential planets.¡±


    This didn¡¯t sound too good. Now he was curious about the condition of his home planet.


    ¡°Veva, What can you tell me about the outbreak.¡±


    ¡°Not much, the outbreak happened so fast only a few sources were created but were left on Earth.¡±


    ¡°Great .¡± Gabe rolled his eyes. The lights changed from a bright light to a flashing red. Gabe shot up from the chair.


    ¡°Non-human Intruders have been detected in the east wing and west wing. Civilian casualty prediction, zero percent, Opening airlocks.¡±


    ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t!¡± Gabe shouted at the artificial intelligence.


    ¡°I cannot stop, this my primary protocol to protect.¡±


    Gabe ran to the elevator door in an attempt to stop the areas from being flushed, V.V.A saw this and closed the door before he even reached the door. ¡°I cannot allow you to interfere.¡±


    ¡°Gah, Rhenixa, Anaya. Go back to the warden.¡± He decided to tell the girls remotely.


    ¡°Why, I just found some cool stuff?¡± Rhenixa was busy voicing her complaints.


    ¡°Yeah, Whats up?¡±


    ¡°Just go! Hurry.¡±


    There wasn¡¯t a single response just static. The A.I must¡¯ve been disrupting the transmissions as a protocol to isolate intruders from squads if they were split up.


    ¡°Airlocks will begin opening in twenty-five seconds.¡±


    Gabe went back to a chair and sat down, He was powerless to stop the machine from doing what it was programmed to do.


    ¡°Airlock flush complete. Fleet evasion underway.¡±


    The ship¡¯s engines began to come alive. The subtle hum vibrated the floor very slightly. Looking through the glass Gabe could see that the stars bending towards him. In a moment he was surrounded on both sides by walls of light.


    Gabe and the voyager stayed in the vortex for only moments before slowing down in front of an orange planet.


    ¡°Intruders are no longer in detected within my systems.¡±


    Gabe sighed. And put one hand up to his face leaning on the control panel. ¡°Thanks, Veva¡±


    ¡°For your protection, Gabe.¡±


    ¡°That was sarca- Whatever. Where are we?¡±


    ¡°Unknown. I had not planned an escape system.¡±


    ¡°So we are lost, right now?¡±


    ¡°For the moment, yes. Another jump will be available in approximately, oh.¡±


    ¡°What now?¡±


    ¡°It seems my energy reserves were not ready for a sudden jump.¡±


    ¡°And that means?¡±


    ¡°I will be shutting down until they recover, we also jumped within the planet¡¯s gravity field.¡±


    Gabe leaned back in his chair and relaxed. ¡°So, we are crashing?¡±


    ¡°I can calculate your survival rate if you would like.¡±


    ¡°No...it¡¯s fine.¡±


    The glass began to show the heated friction as they went further into the planet¡¯s atmosphere.


    ¡°As you wish, Gabe¡±


    Even if he had only met the Anaya¡¯s for a few days, he really wished they had gotten off in time. It¡¯d be a real shame if he¡¯d lost his literal only friends in the entire galaxy.


    The planet¡¯s surface had become quite visible before V.V.A closed the shutters on the bridge. ¡°Impact is imminent, Brace yourself.¡±


    Gabe gripped onto the seat his body had been rocked about but he remained seated. His teeth gritted hard against each other. The force of the landing started to prove too much for his body, he lost consciousness.

 Chapter 11: A Voyagers Voyage From The Voyage!

    Gabe shot up from the position in the chair, He started to cough which turned into violent gagging. His eyes began to water, every breath he took was painful. In a short amount of time his eyes began to adjust to the darkness.


    Fires started almost around the room, the ceiling could not be seen as smoke covered it. Gabe got up from the chair but immediately fell to his knees. His vision began to turn hazy from the amount lack of oxygen.


    The air filtration system kicked on. The smoke was sucked downward into the vents located on the sides of the rooms.


    ¡°Good evening, Gabe¡±


    Gabe continued to cough in spurts as his lungs cleared up.


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you...Have done that...Sooner?¡± He was using the armrest of the chair to hold himself up.


    ¡°I could not, My systems are still on limited power. I prioritized your safety once I was able to.¡±


    Now completely standing and coughing only moderately, Gabe took out his blaster and aimed it at the window. The view had become completely dark, It was unlikely the bridge was buried since the stars could be observed from the deck.


    ¡°Wait!¡± The intelligence made a sudden outburst.


    Gabe closed one eye and aimed down the sights of his blaster. ¡°I¡¯m sure broken glass is the least of yo-¡±


    ¡°Can...Can you take me with you?¡± V.V.A interrupted Gabe¡¯s reasoning.


    Gabe dropped his arm to the side in confusion. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve spent three-hundred-seventy-five years without activity, without interaction, without¡­¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re lonely.¡±


    The artificial intelligence was silent for a moment. ¡°Yes...I was lonely.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think a computer would have a sense of sociability.¡±


    ¡°I was created to adapt and keep the crew happy.¡±


    Gabe wasn¡¯t sure whether or not he was feeling pity or empathy with this computer. Beneath the surface, they were both practically one and the same, lost in a time in alien worlds. But the AI did try to kill his new friends. Gabe¡¯s feelings were really conflicting.


    ¡°...¡± Gabe hesitated with his answer. ¡°...Okay.¡±


    ¡°Thank you.¡± The robotic voice felt as though there was a tinge of emotion to it. ¡°I will lead you to me.¡±


    The elevator door unlocked and swished open. The light above flickered to life but quickly died due to the power restrictions.


    Gabe assumed this was how he was being led. He entered the elevator, the door closed behind him. The elevator began to move downward without the buttons being touched. The ride was much longer than that when he first came up.


    The lift eventually came to a stop and released its doors. The corridor he was now going down was less friendly and more maintenance heavy. The walls had instead of being flat metal were pipes of varying sizes. In between the gaps were cables.


    The maintenance lights on the floor strobed going straight to an intersection and turned right. He followed. Every now and then the pipes would blow excess steam possible to alleviate the heat from the crash.


    Eventually he came to a metal door. There was no marking, no designs. Just a bland, grey door. The door unlocked itself and raised upward.


    He was rewarded with a minimalistic circular room. Wires were virtually everywhere.


    ¡°So this is you?¡± He walked all around the room. Looking at the computer chip that was V.V.A.


    ¡°Yes, Please be careful when you remove me.¡±


    He placed a hand on the potato chip sized chip and pulled upward. The chip came out without much resistance. V.V.A was now in his palm at his mercy. He stuffed the chip in his pocket, he¡¯ll figure out what to do with later.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± He looked around, finishing this minor quest made him feel like something grand was suppose to happen, but nothing did. Guess he¡¯d go with his original plan and leave.


    He retraced all of his steps to the elevator. Instead of going to shoot out the glass he went to the airlock like a normal person.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    This time the door didn¡¯t need to pressurize this time so the mechanism worked almost instantly. Gabe looked down at the 4 meter drop. The way the ship landed it had left the nose slightly on an angle. The ground was dirt or rocky but sand, great. Gabe was facing against his hardest enemy yet.


    He took a few steps back and launched himself off the edge. Before he made contact with the ground he tucked his body inward and rolled. The sand caused his recovery to shift in balance landing him on his back.


    ¡°Haaah.¡± He let out a sand as his entire body was now covered in sand. He walked away from the wreckage to get an accurate description of the damage. Fires had sprouted from almost every vent that allowed for the ship to disperse heat.


    Even if he was going to use the ship as a makeshift shelter he¡¯d have to find a way to extinguish the flames. But first he¡¯d have to find a source of water, which seemed like a rarity on this planet. So he abandoned any hope of salvaging the ship and let it burn.


    ¡°Alright.¡± He was now standing. He pointed north ¡°Eenie¡± He pointed Northwest ¡°Meenie¡± He moved to point towards West ¡°Minie¡± He stopped in direction of southwest. ¡°That way.¡± He began his journey into the night of the desert.


    When morning finally came Gabe had been walking for hours. The twin suns were high above, sweat beaded down his face. He dragged his feet in exhaustion.


    He had been walking shirtless with his shirt wrapped around his head to keep his sweat from his eyes.


    His expression was that of a zombie, his eyes baggy, his lips dry and his legs burned from the constantly shifting sands.


    ¡°Waaaaateeerrr¡± He groaned and dropped to his knees.


    In all honesty, he should have searched the ship for water, sure it would¡¯ve been three hundred year old water, but at least he¡¯d die faster from drinking that then he would having his bones bleached in the scorching heat.


    He dropped to his stomach as he laid there he wondered if the girls were looking for him. It was probably unlikely, after all he hasn¡¯t exactly proved he was any more useful than just knowing how to use his environments.


    Before he closed his eyes to resign to his fate, he saw a small reservoir of water. He pushed himself off the ground to get a better look, It was probably another mirage. The first time he thought he saw a thorny plant start dancing.


    He fixed his positioning and rubbed his eyes. The image stayed constant to what he perceived. His self preservations kicked in, he didn¡¯t even remember how he was standing or how he was sprinting to the small lake.


    The closer he got, the more sure he got that it was a legitimate source. When he reached it he was one hundred percent sure he wasn¡¯t going to start drinking sand.


    He stepped into the ankle high pool, he bent down to scoop some water into his mouth. The cooling liquid wet his dry tongue, refreshed his dry lips and quenched his thirst.


    ¡°Aaaah.¡± He sighed cupping the water in his hands letting it waterfall over his head. For some reason the water started to bubble and vibrate. But he hadn¡¯t noticed from his splashes.


    Then he remembered that he had a V.V.A in his pocket he stepped back into the blistering hot sand. He reached into his pocket. As he was looking downward he noticed that the water had overflowed onto the sand as it rushed past his feet.


    The pond collapsed into itself and a 5-meter yellow-horned pillar was erected in its spot.


    ¡°Wha-¡± Gabe wasn¡¯t able to finish the sentence before the yellow pillar began to fall in his direction, doing a quick run to the left he was able to narrowly dodge the impact. The pillar then began to burrow itself into the sand, disappearing from site.


    The ground began to tremble all around him. He pulled his blaster out from the holster and shot into the ground. The sandworm roared and the trembling dissipated.


    He sighed point at the ground in all directions. ¡°That was a little too e-¡± series of dust clouds started to shoot out from the ground almost 10 meters away. He shot in the direction of one of them. The sand that was currently being pushed away simply moved to the side and missed the laser.


    ¡°Oh boy.¡± The best thing to do now became obvious, he tried to take off and run. His clothes had been wet causing them to become heavier, the sand was still sand so it was safe to say, Gabe was fucked.


    He turned back around to face the speeding dust spewing monsters. He fired so more ineffective shots. The worms were dangerously close at this point. Gabe¡¯s fate had been sealed...if it weren''t for the three levitating sand vehicles that formed around him. One of them actually managed to ram the nose into one of the worms. It squealed and pulled out.


    The remaining worms burst from the ground. One went airborne in an arch over the vehicles and harmlessly landed on the other side. The other emerged just underneath catching the vehicle in its maw. Chunks of metal flew from the sides as the sand boat was crushed from the middle. Bodies fell down and landed in the sand.


    The two other sand boats fired harpoons that had been attached to rope. The spear penetrated deep into the creature, purple blood oozed from the wounds.


    Gabe looked down at the body that had fallen close to him. The person had looked quite humanoid except they had a long scaly tail that thinned out the closer it got to the tip. They also had quite leathery looking hands that looked more like claws.


    The armor wasn¡¯t exactly high-tech, sand colored leather vests, tight black pants and a helmet that segmented itself the more it went downward.


    The boats fired another two harpoons into the worm, then began to pull back into both of the machines. The entire upper half of the worm was now suspended leaving it only to thrash about in an attempt to escape.


    The boats released its passengers who threw spears and shot arrows into the worm until it died. The aliens cheered in their victory. Bows were held high in the air, spears were pointed to the sky.


    Then one of them started to walk towards him. Their armor was decorated with crudely made knives and bones of what was probably other inhabitants of the planet. They walked with an oddly feminine sway. They removed their helmet to reveal short braided red hair.


    Gabe decided not to move, they¡¯d probably catch him anyway.


    ¡°Hey.¡± He waved a hand to them. ¡°Thanks for the he-¡±


    She backhanded him sending him to the ground. She said something in a very serpent language. Before he knew it a crowd was starting to gather between them, all of them still cheering and yelling.


    ¡°Ugh, I probabl-¡± He tried to pick himself back up but she kicked him even further away, he skidded across the sand.


    ¡°This shit again?¡± Using the space she provided for him he got back up and put his fists upward to his face. Now was the time to fight.

 Chapter 12: Pit Viper!

    The reptilian girl swung wide, He managed to block the hit, compared to Anaya this chick was amateurish, pretty much just swinging her fists at him. She threw another clawed fist at him his shoulder took the hit. She had also been a lot weaker compared to her, the fight was actually fair.


    He swung back at her. She ducked the punch and retaliated with a jabbed towards his stomach. He gasped as he was forced to take a few steps backward from the strike. She wasn¡¯t going to allow him time to recover she recklessly charged inward leaping into the air to deliver a downward kick.


    Her body telegraphed her movements, Gabe ducked. The kick left her awkwardly positioned as she was coming down. He sent a shoulder to bash her way before she managed to land. Now she was the one on the ground.


    ¡°Take that you bitch!¡± The fight had obviously enraged Gabe. His vision was nearly red with fury, there was a quiet thumping somewhere in the back of his head.


    She got up on her knees. Gabe swung towards her face. She blocked it with an arm and headbutted him in the groin. He was now in excruciating pain he hunched over in reaction.


    She was now in the advantageous position. She delivered a knee to his face. His body twisted and he fell into the sand. The crowd was obviously loving the fight, if they weren''t cheering their hardest, they were now.


    Her clawed hand gripped Gabe¡¯s hair, she pulled him upward to face her. She headbutted him once more. He fell to the ground again. At this point, blood began to flow from his abused forehead.


    Gabe¡¯s vision began to double. Two version of his opponent appeared. She showed that she posed for the crowd. She threw her arms upward, facing entirely away from him. The fight had been no more than two untrained fighters flailing around in the sand for ten minutes. And the crowd was loving every second of this brutal deathmatch.


    His breathing was haggard and shallow. There was a throbbing that beat with the sound of a thousand drums going through his skull.


    Using what he could muster from his straining muscles he managed to get on his feet. She threw a left punch and then a right punch. He was able to avoid both of these punches by moving backward.


    His back one of the savage watchers, to preserve the one on one, the watcher shoved him back into the makeshift arena. He stumbled forward, she kicked his leg from underneath him. He fell to one knee.


    Then one of the crowd handed her a crudely made looking sword, Its handle was made of leather, the blade looked to just be a sharpened piece of metal that was jagged in almost every direction. She was planning on ending the fight here and now.


    She stopped just short of a few feet from Gabe. He looked upward into her slitted eyes. She gripped the sword in two hands. She brought the sword high into the air and swung downward. Gabe closed his eyes.


    But he felt nothing. His head still felt attached to his body. He could still hear the crowd cheering. He reopened his eyes. Instead of being directly right in front of him she was just now approaching.


    ¡°What?¡± Gabe was utterly confused, he was sure that he was decapitated. She began her now familiar movements. She gripped the handle with both hands and brought the blade high.


    Now that he had known what she was doing dropped lower to the ground, narrowly missing the blade. The miss left her entirely open to a counter. Gabe reached forward wrapped his arms around her legs and pulled forward causing her to drop and release the sword, flinging it in the sand. Gabe put almost everything he had into a punch aimed at her stomach. She actively flinched from the hit. Gabe peeled himself away from her. He stood away from her still writhing body on the ground, he spit out his blood into the sand.


    His body was exhausted. He sauntered over to the fallen sword, picking it up he approached the downed girl. He stood there hesitantly. Then he noticed, the crowd was actually silent. They had been silent since he made his comeback.


    Every single one of the lizard people waited in anticipation suspense. Not a single one of them thought he was going to make it out of that situation alive. He looked around the crowd. It was like he was being surrounded by statues. The stares got to him, he was able to snap back to his normalcy, He dropped the sword, the blade sunk into the sand leaving the handle sticking upward into the air. He did not exactly want to kill her, but he was technically just acting out of self-defense, a trait he¡¯s learned that saves his life on a daily basis.


    Besides, killing someone with a blaster is one thing, decapitating a head is another. He knew from experience just how gruesome it could be. Actually, know that he wasn¡¯t constantly getting punched, He finally got a good look at the girl. She bore similar appearances to Zelgrek, not all but some. Perhaps the two species are related.


    He wiped his forehead the best he could to clear the blood.


    The crowd was quiet for several more minutes, but burst into the loudest cheers he heard that day. In a testosterone filled excitement most of the savages headbutted, locked hands in a shake. Apparently, this was something unexpected yet welcoming.


    One arm was wrapped around his shoulder. ¡°Hey, get-¡± another was wrapped around his other shoulder. Then one was touching his head and rubbed the top, scruffing up his hair even further. The creatures picked him up and began carrying him to one of the sand ships.


    ¡°Put me down!¡± He struggled within their embraces, but he was too tired to be any effect. ¡°Let go of me!¡±


    In his movements he was able to get a look behind him, the lizard girl he was fighting was now getting up clutching her stomach, slightly hunched over. It seems just like the reptiles of Earth, the belly was their ultimate weakness.


    Her face was red, redder than her hair had been. She stared at Gabe with an expression of anger.


    He was practically thrown onto the vehicle. A lot of the savages hung onto the sides of the railing or joined him on the outer deck.


    The red headed girl also joined him in the same ship, she was leaning on the railing, giving Gabe a death stare.


    Fortunately for him, his body hurt too much for him to really care about her or anything else. One of the lizard men banged on the side of the cockpit, The ships began to levitate and took off. The ship behind them was dragging the massive worm through the sands.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    He looked over the side occasionally to see anything new, sadly it was just sands and an occasional giant rock.


    The ride took maybe a half hour to stop, by then the sun was already starting to set. The destination was a large tribal village, The buildings all around them were made from bits of random metal and cloths. As soon as they approached the ships were surrounded by others of the same race, they unhooked the worm and took it somewhere, presumably to be cut up and served as food.


    The few remaining lizard people helped some of the injured ones off. A few helped the lizard women who for the entirety of the ride said nothing and stared.


    Gabe was left alone by everyone, the others were either talking or walking away with others. The lizard girl bumped past him, He followed her movements as she approached a muscular caped individual.


    He looked at Gabe condescendingly, then back to the female, she told him something, she was obviously pissed. He backhanded her. She put her hand to her face and backed off. He walked to Gabe.


    ¡°Offworlder¡­¡± He spoke in Claloricean, his voice was hoarse and his accent was terrible but he still spoke it. He put a hand on the hilt of his sword. ¡°You spared my daughter¡¯s life after combat?¡±


    Gabe was much shorter than him, His head reached the around the man¡¯s chest. It was safe to safe he was one of the physically stronger one¡¯s, he was a little frightening ¡°Ye-yeah?¡±


    He eyed Gabe up and down, ¡°Weak.¡± He snorted and spit at Gabe¡¯s feet. He turned to his daughter and jerk his head upward. She walked towards them both. ¡°She¡¯s yours.¡± He turned his back and walked away. Leaving the two to awkwardly to stand next to each other.


    Gabe scratched the back of his neck. ¡°So uh, do you speak Caloricean?¡±


    She nodded. ¡°Most can, They trade with us.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you speak it earlier?¡± Gabe questioned her.


    She gave him a serious look. ¡°Do you speak to insects that you kill?¡± Her voice was noticeable hoarse speaking it, but not as bad as her father¡¯s. ¡°Now my life is forfeited to you, my father already disowned me.¡±


    He clapped his hands together, ¡°Alright! This is going to be fun!¡± His tone was full of sarcasm.


    In the distance an orange glow started to rise, the sound of drums being rapidly beat dominated the area.


    ¡°Come, Time for the feast.¡± She walked past him in the direction of where the sound was. The area they had come to was pretty clear, A few metal tents with cloth tarps hanging overhead. Several long tables were laid in the sand. A lot of the residents of the village were already there, drinking or eating soups of yellow flesh.


    A massive bonfire sat off to the side, headless corpses of dog-like animals were skewered all around the sides. There had been a few fight¡¯s in the sand, apparently fighting was something so deeply ingrained in their psychological culture that was how everything was settled, somehow stole something of yours? Fight them, Someone wanted one of your many wives, Fight them for it. If death occurred it would have been chalked up to the hazards of fighting someone much stronger than you.


    But in Gabe¡¯s case, he was an outworlder that fought and won against a member of one of the most influential of tribes, this meant he gained instant acceptance to whatever tribe he fought. In the terms of a deathmatch when lives were put up for the reward, the act of sparing the other¡¯s life meant you wanted to have them as your subordinate. A life for a life in many aspects.


    Gabe was seated at a table with the lizard girl, whose name he found out later to be ¡®Sala¡¯zara¡¯. Their language was heavily based off words that rolled off their long, forked tongues. Apparently, she had been one of the chieftain''s daughters.


    Sala¡¯zara had a total of seven siblings, four sisters, and three brothers. Apparently, the chieftains were supposed to marry off their children to other tribes to cement relations. So it was understandable why he was so pissed that she wasn¡¯t killed, returning home as a slave to someone else was worse since he could see her as if she was a mark of shame upon his bloodline.


    Gabe learned many other things about them, apparently their race was known as Cartollians, the planet was Cartol, apparently they did loads of trades with other races because of a toxin that is produced in the worm¡¯s saliva that causes the brain to release a vast amount of chemicals, but when induced to the body in a low amount can enable the release of pain, making it very popular amongst mercenaries...and would explain why Gabe didn¡¯t think to immediately pull out his blaster to shoot her.


    Gabe watched Sala¡¯zara tear into the animal flesh, her sharp fang-like teeth easily pierced the rough exterior of the meat. Upon closer inspection of her face revealed she didn¡¯t quite have skin like him. There were tiny segmented lines going around everywhere, her flesh had been covered in dark colored scales. Then something clicked in Gabe¡¯s head, he reached into his pocket and felt around for V.V.A, even though he was inactive Gabe would have all the time he needed to make something for the small chip.


    ¡°Zara.¡±


    She tore a chunk of the meat from the bone. ¡°What?¡± Her tone of voice was still pretty agitated.


    Gabe ignored her obviously rude behavior. ¡°Can you fly one of those?¡± He pointed to the sand ship.


    She gulped down the food that was in her mouth and looked at him. ¡°Yeah.¡± She paused and looked him in the eyes before asking the remaining ¡®why¡¯.


    He smirked. ¡°Just wanted to know.¡± He took a bite from the meat. Surprisingly it was strangely delicious, reminded him of grilled chicken.


    The rest of the night was spent without saying anything else to the lizard girl. She probably wouldn¡¯t have been guaranteed to do anything for him anyway, salty bitch.


    Since there wasn¡¯t a tent for him to sleep in he had to spend the night with Zara in her¡¯s. Being the equal to a princess, she had a pretty cozy set up. It was a large bed with animal furs strewn about probably all from the animals she hunted.


    Upon entering Zara grabbed an injector that was sitting on a table near her bed, a neon blue liquid swished in the vial underneath the trigger. She injected the liquid straight into her neck. Apparently, this was her normal nightly routine, injecting the toxin straight into her bloodstream to avoid going through the withdrawal of the worm saliva stimulate.


    The stimulate was highly addictive, so if she injected it at night before she fell asleep she wouldn¡¯t get into unnecessary fights while at the peak of her high. Unfortunately, Gabe was now in a room with a drugged out lizard women.


    Her eyes began to dilate, the colors looked more vibrant. She stared at Gabe hungrily, her tongue fanned out of her mouth she licked her fangs. She got real close to behind him and threw him on the bed.


    He managed to get out an ¡®oof¡¯ from the impact, He turned around to face her but she had been too quick, She pushed him down with one arm laying him down on his back, she gained a clawed grip on the front of his pants and torn them off, everything below the pants waist belt was now exposed.


    ¡°Uhhh, Zara...¡±


    She climbed overtop of him and began to straddle him. She leaned upward and undid her armored vest and tossed it over to the side, Her breasts weren¡¯t very large but they were very firm they were practically glistening with sweat, she glided her hands upward feeling every curve of her body ending at her breasts where she played with her nipples.


    She reached downward and removed her own pants. Taking his now stiffening member in her hands she guided it¡¯s head to her entrance. She pushed it ¡°Aaahn~¡± she released a small moan.


    Gabe¡¯s mind started to go primal, the feeling of being inside of her was much different than a human, Her insides contracted much more than he thought was possible. His arms that were previously on bed found their way to her body and up to her medium sized breasts.


    She bounced up and down as he thrust deeper into her. She let out more lewd noises the harder he went into her. Eventually, he found his way up to her neck. He gripped her throat between his hand. Her expression changed from one of pure pleasure to one of befuddlement. She still continued to moan loudly as he flipped the position, she was now underneath him her hands were wrapped around his hand that was lightly choking her.


    They continued for half an hour in the drug-fueled sex before he pumped her full of his seed. By then they both had been exhausted and they fell asleep next to one another. Perhaps having her loyal to him wasn¡¯t going to be so bad.

 Chapter 13: Trials!

    ¡°Rhenixa, Anaya. Get back to the Warden.¡± A highly static voice said through her earpiece.


    ¡°Why? I just found some cool stuff? Rhenixa had been holding a black piece of metal with a clear plastic strip in the handle, sparks could be seen within the core, she had found a shock baton, probably once belonging to one of the security teams.


    She hit the side of a metal frame, sparks visible arched from the metal then quickly dissipated leaving the smell of burnt oxygen.


    ¡°Yeah, What¡¯s up? Anaya questioned through her mic.


    ¡°Just go! Hurry.¡±


    She flicked the power switch to the ¡®off¡¯ position¡¯ pocketing her newly acquired stun weapon. She wanted to know why he was becoming frantic, the ship was dead. That was until the alarms started blaring.


    ¡°Captain, I think we should go.¡± She was greeted with the more static, In the north part of the corridor, blast doors slammed shut. This was her cue to get the hell out of there, seconds after a few doors shut, more opened up to the vacuum of space. Objects were forcibly pulled outward. She went from sprinting to crawling to reach another section of the ship.


    The air in the ship was getting awfully thin, the sides of her vision were turning black, oxygen deprivation was starting to take hold of her.


    She clawed her way using the grated floor to guide her to the exit.Reaching the next room she shimmed to the side of the doorframe punching control panel shutting the door and breaking the interface. The pressure to return to normal. She huffed and puffed as she regained air in her lungs, her vision was no longer tunneled.


    ¡°Yeah, Captain we really should go.¡± The same static went through. She peeled herself off the wall and continued to the room the middle of the room. Seems the room she was in was now was locked on both sides, except the door she broke still has a chance to be opened.


    It was time for her to do her speciality, breaking shit. She unhooked the baton, she flicked it downward extending the baton, she ripped the panel from the box throwing it to the side, she jabbed the baton straight into the exposed wiring.


    Sparks and electricity buzzed and arched into the air. Random lights that were littered around the interface, dimmed or grew brighter until it ultimately just broke entirely. Now that the power control was offline, she used her insane strength to lift the door.


    The door only lifted a few inches from the floor, her face reddened in the struggle to lift. An extra pair of hands appeared beneath and helped raised the door.


    ¡°Thanks, Cap.¡± Rhenixa saluted Anaya who was currently wearing a breathing mask, She must¡¯ve had a much worse time than the simple crawling she had to do.


    Currently she was brushing her hands on her pants. The door had seemingly cut her palm open as there was blood smearing. ¡°Something must be happening on Gabe¡¯s side. Everytime I call him I get static.¡±


    ¡°I think the ship is jamming us.¡±


    She started to walk towards the northern corridor to the elevators.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t he say that we should leave?¡±


    She pulled her blaster out, it made a high power squeal. ¡°I¡¯m the captain I¡¯ll be making the calls.¡±


    Just as she said that the ship seemingly sparked to life, they could hear the engines coming online, The sound it made was similar to the blaster being powered on. It continued to get faster the longer they stood there.


    ¡°That sounds like a warp drive...¡±


    Anaya holstered the blaster and growled, since she couldn¡¯t call Blitz and tell him to sever the dock, it was either save Gabe or the Warden.


    She punched the wall, She hated being given an ¡®A¡¯ and ¡®B¡¯ choice without having the option of making her own option ¡®C¡¯. She didn¡¯t say anything she just stomped her way back to the warden, Rhenixa followed.


    Once they were past the docking clamps she spoke through the ship¡¯s intercom. ¡°Blitz, get us as far away from here as possible.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing, Captain Anaya.¡± The ship detached from the hull side and engaged its engines sending them a good few meters away.


    The Voyager began to flash pulsate blue. The ship stretched itself out then disappeared. Anaya came storming through the bridge.


    ¡°Get a track on that ship, we aren¡¯t losing another one of my crew!¡±


    Blitz was using every single one of his tentacles on everything that was possible for him to physically do.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°Captain Anaya, There is nothing to track.¡±


    She punched the side of her chair, storming off. Rhenixa stared into the the darkness where the ship had been.


    ~^~


    Gabe awoke to find Zara sitting at the foot of the bed re-braiding her hair, somehow during the night it came undone making her hair incredibly flat.


    He himself got out and stretched his body, his body felt stiff and pained in several spots. He had gained the attention of the lizard woman. ¡°For a mutated Caloricean, I expected you to die, Not many can handle us while under the effects of the Saz¡¯k.¡±


    Gabe¡¯s arm was behind his head as he arched his back. ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯m not a mutant or a Caloricean.¡±


    She turned fully towards him, she was fully dressed in her armor. ¡°If not, then what are you?¡±


    Gabe smiled. ¡°I¡¯m a human.¡± For some reason he felt an overwhelming sense of pride saying that.


    ¡°Human?¡±


    ¡°Yup, human. Probably haven''t heard of us, but... we¡¯re kinda the ultimate badasses.¡± After basically fighting and winning several alien fights he felt like he should introduce his species as something only legends speak of. Plus when would he get another chance to fuck with her?


    She went wide-eyed for a second, probably thinking she could have entirely avoided this outcome if she didn¡¯t assume he was a tailless dog person.


    ¡°Oh? My fath-.¡± She stopped ¡°The chieftain still hasn¡¯t accepted you as a member of the tribe. He believes you should be tried.¡±


    ¡°Is that so? We¡¯ll let¡¯s get to it then.¡± He started to walk towards the entrance.


    She began to chuckle. ¡°You might want to check something first.¡± She was pointing towards him. He looked down, he was still wearing his shredded pants with his member exposed to the air, the warm air made it feel as though he was covered.


    ¡°Actually, I think you owe me a pair for last night.¡±


    ¡°They were ugly anyway.¡± She got up from her position and went towards the tent flaps. ¡°Stay here.¡± and walked out.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I can!¡±


    Gabe sat back down on the bed and patiently waited. She only took a few minutes to bring him a new pair. The pair she had broughtto him were brown and probably made of fur of an animal.


    She was standing at the front of the tent when Gabe walked out.


    ¡°Better. Now come.¡± She turned and walked forward Gabe followed behind.


    On the way there he saw several kids playing around in the sand, well, wrestling, but still playing nonetheless. The approached a rather large metal shack, two fully armored Cartollian guards stood at the front, they had round black spiked shields and jagged looking spears. Zara approached them to say something that made them part from the door.


    She waved him over with a nod of her head. he entered first, the place was had a heavy smell to it, almost like a burning coal smell.


    ¡°Hey Zara, What am I looking for?¡± He turned around to find that Zara was nowhere to be found. In fact, nothing there was nothing around him it was pure darkness, yet the haze somehow was illuminated. He looked around for the door he entered, but couldn¡¯t it¡¯s like it never existed.


    ¡°Zara!¡± He shouted looking in seemingly every direction. ¡°Zara! What is this!¡± He quickly became frantic over the loss of the lizard woman he thought had accompanied him into the doorway.


    He picked a random direction and began heading in that way. The darkness seemed to stretch on for miles and miles without an end in sight. After a few minutes his pace slowed to a slow walk.


    Had this all been a trap to seal him in a fate that was worse than death? Was he to live a life of endlessly wandering in the dark void of nothing. He called out Zara¡¯s name once more, she didn¡¯t return the call, he was all alone in the room of darkness.


    He sat down with his legs in front of his face, if his fate was to sit here and let his mind fall to insanity before he starved to death, then so be it. There was absolutely nothing he could do to challenge this fate.


    To Gabe it felt like hours had went by as he sat in the darkness. Walking just felt like it was pointless. Going somewhere while going nowhere was by far the most infuriating thing that was most likely ever to happen. Gabe looked up, something was compelling him to glance away from his position. Oh? A door?


    A bare white door was standing tall in front of him, The door had not been there before... or maybe it has been. Either way Gabe wasn¡¯t going to question it, the first solid object he found in hours. Peeking behind the door revealed it was literally just that, a door with nothing behind it.


    He shrugged, with nothing to lose he turned the knob. Blinding light poured from the openings, he shielded his eyes. Moments later the light subsided to reveal a familiar place, his room. He looked back behind the door, the darkness was now gone all that was there was there was the cream colored walls of his hall.


    He stepped back from the door, What exactly just happened? How did he exactly get back here?


    ¡°Gabriel, Are you okay?¡± A female voice was heard from behind him.


    He turned back towards the hallway, an older blonde haired, blue eyed female was holding a laundry basket. She had looked maybe close to her forties.


    ¡°Mom?¡± He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts. ¡°Y-yeah, I¡¯m fine!¡±


    His mom put the basket full of clothes down on the floor. ¡°Are you sure?¡± She put a hand up to his head. ¡°You look very pale.¡±


    He gently put his hand on her¡¯s to remove it from his head, ¡°Yeah mom, I¡¯m fine. I thought I saw a roach fly around, heh.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯ll call an exterminator later, disgusting creatures.¡± She picked up the basket and started to walk away.


    ¡°No need! I can handle it!¡± Gabe was really confused.


    She sighed, ¡°Alright, if you say so. But If I find one anywhere in this house, you¡¯re paying.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, Don¡¯t worry I got it!¡± Gabe was nervously laughing. His mom hung around for a moment before leaving.


    He fully entered his room at this point. It was almost exactly how he remembered it before he left. In fact, he walked over to his desk, The teleporter conduit was sitting on the desk. Gabe started to think this was related to the ¡®precognition¡¯ he had when he was fighting Zara, but that wouldn¡¯t make sense He saw the future, not the past.


    He stepped out of his room went downstairs and went to the basement. The teleporter was inactive and the hole in the panel was still unsealed. It was official, He was now in the time and place where he botched the jump.

 Chapter 14: Visionary!

    ¡°Alright, Alright. Let¡¯s break this down.¡± Gabe started to pace around the basement, ¡°I woke up, Zara took me to a building.¡± He sat down in a nearby chair to think.


    ¡°She said something about going to her father for a trial.¡± and crossed one leg over his thigh, putting a curled finger to his lips. ¡°I was wondering around in darkness and ended up back home.¡±


    He switched legs, ¡°I think I¡¯m in the trials, right now.¡± How quickly he figured it out probably meant that it didn¡¯t matter whether he knew or not. Now that that matter was settled a new issue arose, How did he get here? It was obvious that it probably wasn¡¯t real since Zara had literally no idea what a human was and the chieftain chose to speak to him in Caloricean instead of English. Let¡¯s put it to the test then!


    He got up from the seat and went upstairs. He emerged from the depths and out into the kitchen. The basement and the kitchen were separated by a singular door. He picked up a knife that was left out on the counter. He pressed the cold stainless steel blade on his palm, he took a few breaths of bravery.


    ¡°Three...Two¡­¡± He slid the blade downward, blood splattered across the floor ¡°Aaaahhhh Mhmhm.¡± He screamed at first but closed his mouth to muffle. He ran to the sink and instantly turned the faucet on while his hand was under. The original idea was that he was put underneath some form of hypnosis and that just like a bad dream, he¡¯d wake up from physical harm, that showed to be pretty much a failure. The only success was that he now had a bleeding hand.


    ¡°Stop being a bitch!¡± A voice called from the adjacent room.


    ¡°Fuck you, Lance!¡± Gabe returned a response.


    A shuffling could be heard behind Gabe. ¡°Fuck did you just say to me?¡± Lance was the taller, older twin brother. Being Twins the two had similar facial structures, the only difference was his hair, although they were the same color he took looking different as a priority, He shaved the sides of his head and left the top moderately short.


    Gabe turned his head around, ¡°H-h-hey Lance.¡± He stuttered the hey in an enthusiastic way.


    ¡°Whoa, what the fuck did you did?¡± Lance had seen the blood on the knife and on the floor. He got closer and saw his hand.


    Gabe thought of a way to lie his way out. ¡°I¡­ tried to catch the knife?¡±


    He stood there in silence for a second. ¡°You¡¯re a fucking idiot.¡± He walked away to grab the towel that was hanging off the oven door. ¡°Here, don¡¯t move.¡±


    Gabe stopped the faucet, Lance wrapped his hand the towel. ¡°Thanks, Lance.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, Yeah, Anytime.¡± He was applying slight pressure to the cut. ¡°How¡¯s that ¡®teleporter¡¯ of you¡¯res coming along?


    ¡°Oh, uhm, well, It¡¯s going.¡± Gabe gave him a trademark Anaya smirk.


    ¡°By the way, don¡¯t you have to go meet Phil in a bit?¡±


    After being in space surrounded by a numerous amount of aliens for an extended amount of time, Gabe had totally forgotten his prior obligation he made before he tested his machine.


    ¡°Shit, you right.¡± He started to leave the kitchen.


    ¡°Just wrap your hand before you start touching door handles, I¡¯d rather not see what I look like in a casket.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Gabe was about to grab the door handle, but did an 180-degree turn and went for a first aid box in the bathroom. It took him a few minutes but he managed to wrap his hand to a perfection where it wasn¡¯t too tight and it wasn¡¯t too loose, he walked out the front door.


    The sun was shining, the weather was warm considering on Earth it was summer. Gabe was walking down the sidewalk, He had agreed to meet with Phil at a local coffee shop. He stopped halfway there. Why was he was doing this? Even if he proved that it wasn¡¯t some sort of induced hallucination there still wasn¡¯t a point in continuing on a path that¡¯ll lead him away somewhere. He turned back around to head home, The scenery had changed.


    ¡°What.The.Fuck.¡± He stood in shock.


    The buildings around he became run down, broken or had fire blowing out of the windows. The sun was experiencing an eclipse. The air was heavily saturated with a thick haze that smelt horrible. Black ships could be seen flying through the air in groups of three. Gabe started to sprint home.


    He burst through the door, to his dismay he found no one in the living room. He ran to the kitchen where his brother was last seen. The scene that awaited him was nightmarish, His brother and mother laid on the floor in a bloody heap. A male wearing a black uniform stood next to them, His face was hidden behind a black metallic mask with a white triangle intersecting the two eye goggles.


    The person spoke in an uniteligentable grunt. The alien figure started to move towards him, he ran out the door. The location changed once more, he was onboard a ship. The room he was in was very bare, a singular black uniformed alien sat in a chair. Gabe looked to the walls, a good majority of them had been glass windows with a view of open space.


    Gabe felt something in his hand, It was a Cartollian sword. He gripped it hard, the grip made a sound as the leather wrapped around the handle received pressure. The person stood up from their seat, put a clawed hand on their helmet and removed it.


    Gabe¡¯s eyes went in wide in surprise, The face was revealed to be Anaya, he shook his head and tried to remember that this was still not real. She produced her own blade and ran at him with a strike. He blocked the downward swing raising his blade above his head. He shoved her forward with a shoulder bash, He swung diagonally, she blocked it, he repeated with another swing to the other side. She blocked that one too. He changed his direction by swinging upward, she stepped to the side and swung when he went forward, His back was now bleeding profusely.


    ¡°Yah gotta try harder than that.¡± She smirked at him


    This infuriated him, He came at her wildly. His strikes had almost no thought to them, they were hard to predict and hard to counterattack against. One swing sliced at her leg another cut her stomach, another cut the muscles in her arm. She got in one block and pushed him away, the amount of blood she was losing was too much, her body dropped to her knees. She could no longer hold the sword in her hand, she kneeled defenselessly.


    He approached her with the sword held loosely in his hand. Her head had been down, he picked up the sword in both hands as he did so, she raised her head to reveal it was Rhenixa¡¯s, at first he hesitated but brought the sword across, her head fell to the ground and rolled slightly, her body fell harmlessly to the side.


    Once again, the head changed again, to his. He punted the head across the room. The jumpy dreamlike scene didn¡¯t end after this, He approached the seat and sat down. The room was entirely empty, If this had been a trial of strength, wouldn¡¯t it had ended by now? He crossed his leg, his rage and adrenaline were starting to die now. Maybe it was entirely something else they were trying to get to. Wait. the reason for the trials actually came clear to him.


    He woke up on the floor in a room surrounded by the two heavy guards, the chief, and Zara. He¡¯s never felt so much clarity in a single moment than he did then. He sat up and instantly looked for the chief,


    His face twisted into a sinister smile, ¡°I want to fight you.¡±


    The chieftain face went into a smile himself, You saw what you wanted?¡±


    Gabe didn¡¯t say anything, He just stared with the fire of desire in his eyes.


    The chieftain gave out a hearty laugh, ¡°I accept your duel, Tomorrow at midday!¡± He turned around, signaled his guards to leave with him.


    Zara approached Gabe and extended and arm for him to grab and pull himself up with. She asked him a question. ¡°Why did you just challenge him?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m going to show the universe that Cartollians are to be feared.¡± Gabe¡¯s vision provided him with enough reason to make a weak race that rarely ventures into space, the greatest. In reality, this had been him projecting his anger that his race was practically non-existent.


    Zara smiled with most of her fangs showing, this had been her genuine smile. She knew what he meant by this, she could already smell the blood that was going to be spilled.

 Chapter 15: King Cobra!

    ¡°Aaah..hah...hah.¡± Gabe sluggishly swung the blade, He was breathing was short and rapid.


    Zara was cracking her neck while knocking every blow off to the side. ¡°You¡¯re gonna die like this.¡± she deadpanned. ¡°For a ¡®badass human,¡¯ your endurance is pretty lacking.¡±


    Gabe hunched over the sword¡¯s tip slightly dipping into the sand, ¡°Shut up! unlike you, I¡¯m not hopped up on drugs!¡± His breathing started to stabilize from the short break. He took another lazy swing at Zara.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you?¡± She questioned knocking the sword back the same way it came in, ¡°He takes Saz¡¯k almost twice a day.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Gabe remained silent and didn¡¯t move to attack.


    Zara displayed a toothy grin, ¡°It¡¯ll hurt your ¡®human¡¯ pride! Hah! Haha!¡± She wasn¡¯t exactly wrong, yes, he wouldn¡¯t feel like he¡¯s doing something on his own power, but, even before that Gabe had a strong opinion on drugs in general. He didn¡¯t even like taking cough medicine, He preferred his body using its own strength to overcome the weakness.


    Her laughter was making Gabe¡¯s already sour mood go further south. He mustered, even more, strength and swung at the distracted female. She grabbed the blade with her hand, a very small amount of blood trickled out. Her expression changed drastically.


    ¡°You also have to be able to penetrate or scales, or else.¡± She grabbed the blade and threw it backward sending Gabe¡¯s arms upward, she pointed her blade at his throat, ending the spar in her victory. ¡°This wasn¡¯t the same creature I fought yesterday.¡± She lowered her sword from his throat.


    ¡°It¡¯s obvious that you had Saz¡¯k in your body.¡±


    ¡°I did not inject anything into myself!¡± He protested.


    ¡°You might not have, but you were wet when you beat me, yes?¡±


    Gabe thought back to the moment he drank and bathed in the liquid in the worm¡¯s mouth, he nodded.


    ¡°The only creatures that were around that produced liquids were Salak¡¯zak worms, You ingested Saz¡¯k in its raw form.¡±


    ¡°...Why are you helping me, you could easily fight me and kill me.¡± Gabe decided to switch the topic, not wanting to think that something he did wasn¡¯t of his own power.


    She sat down on the sand, stabbing her sword into the soft surface, staring off to the ever calm sands. ¡°I wondered that myself,¡± Gabe decided to sit down next to her, she turned her head to look at him, ¡°I hated you for your victory against me, I even planned on killing you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for not doing that.¡±


    Ignoring his attempt at being comedic she continued. ¡°After I was with you last night, I sat on the bed and wanted to, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it...but I can now see I would have been foolish to do so.¡±


    She sat back up and extended a hand, ¡°Come on, we have a lot of work before you face my father.¡±


    Gabe looked at her face, She had a genuine smile. He grabbed her hand and pulled himself up, He was now feeling invigorated from the fact that someone believed in him, sort of. She plucked her sword out of the ground, Gabe got into what he assumed was a proper way to hold a sword. The two sparred most of the morning away, She allowed Gabe small breaks to recover stamina, those slowly diminished as they were a part of the training regime she had to increase his endurance.


    By the time they finished the sun began to set, the once bright yellow sand now had a deep orange glow as the light reflected.


    Gabe drank from a water pouch that Zara had brought with her, She sheathed the sword in the scabbard that was attached to a large reptilian bear creature known as a Kalik. ¡°You¡¯re still going to die.¡± She said while tightening the straps on the creature.


    Almost struggling to not spit out the water that was currently holding in his mouth. He replied, ¡°I thought you said I got better!¡±


    ¡°Better, yes. Stronger, no. even if you were trying you still couldn¡¯t penetrate my skin. And that¡¯s what would be your death.¡± She approached Gabe and extended her index finger, she lightly scratched the surface of his skin and drew blood.


    ¡°You, on the other hand, are very soft, even without a sword, I could kill you. Once he realizes that, he won¡¯t hold back.¡±


    ¡°So, even after all that I have to rely on the drugs?¡± The slice didn¡¯t exactly hurt, but he could feel his blood cooling down the outside of his skin, He took a piece of cloth that Zara handed him and wrapped it around.


    ¡°Yes.¡± She answered him, as she got on the creature¡¯s saddled back, ¡°Although you can survive if you get put on the defensive from the very start.¡±


    Gabe got jumped onto the creature, wrapped his arm around Zara¡¯s waist and they rode off back towards the tribe, the journey was almost done in silence. The mood was pretty heavy, even for Zara, since she belonged to Gabe, if he lost, she¡¯d most likely be killed on the spot. Her father already disowned her once, he wasn¡¯t going to forgive her failure he¡¯d make sure to erase anything that reminded him of weakness.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    In Fact, the ¡®trials¡¯ that he wanted to Gabe to perform was nothing more than simple brainwashing. It was simple but had a pretty high success rate in killing off-worlders who try to make a home in the tribe. The room would be filled with a toxin that would knock the victim unconscious, they¡¯d throw a brain invading parasite into the room and allow it to nest inside the victim. The parasite would ¡®borrow¡¯ thoughts to bring the host to a submissive state where it would then take control. Very rarely would the host be able to break free from the control, but when it did they would emerge thinking they had perceived something that was regarded to as fate. And try something stupid that would get them killed. In Gabe¡¯s case, it was challenging the chieftain.


    The plan would have been a flawless success if Zara hadn¡¯t decided to help Gabe out if she didn¡¯t believe he was up to something big.


    When they arrived they noticed something, the few amount of sand ships they had were doubled. The markings on the sides also differed from the ones of Zara¡¯s tribe. This one had a white claw scratch going diagonally. They jumped off the Kalik, Something didn¡¯t feel right to her, she grabbed the sword off the side and they headed inward to the tribe center. There was a bustle of activity, apparently, another clan came to watch the fight, probably to see who the strength of the newcomer who challenged one of the strongest war chiefs.


    Gabe and Zara stood side by side as the crowd parted into a giant semi-circle.


    ¡°Offworlder! I hope you don¡¯t mind, But we moved the execution to tonight!¡± the chieftain extended his arms standing at the furthest point in the circle.


    ¡°Hey, Zara.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Inject me.¡±


    She gave him a smile and unlatched an injector from her waist. She stuck the injector underneath his neck and pulled the trigger, He flinched momentarily but stayed still, the liquid drained into his body. It then occurred to her that he wasn''taCartollian, The amount in the vial could''ve been too much for his foreign body, Oh well, if whether he died because he couldn¡¯t pierce the scales of her father or because his heart exploded she¡¯d still be killed. She flipped the sword around catching it by her blade, presenting him the handle. He grabbed the handle and made his way towards the center.


    Even if he did drink the stuff raw, this felt different, everything sounded louder, he could feel just about everything, the sand that was carried through the wind blowing past his exposed skin down to the insides of his boots.


    Veins began to show up underneath his skin, they had been enlarged and pulsated. Anything that wasn¡¯t within his direct eyesight blurred. His hearing had been enhanced so well that he could even hear his own heart beating away in his chest, the beats accelerated almost twice the amount they had already been going at, A form of anxious adrenaline was welling inside of his body. There was probably other ingredients mixed in with the refined solution that made him feel this different than just the Salak¡¯zak saliva. He gripped the leathered handle of the blade tighter.


    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± He roared walking in unison with Gabe to the middle.


    The two met in the center of the circle but stayed a good meter away from each other. The chieftain was much taller than Gabe, only giving him a slight advantage over him, But the boy was still squishy removing that height difference.


    Gabe¡¯s eyesight cut everything that wasn¡¯t the chief out of sight, to him there were only two people. The two waited for a few minutes, just playing mind games of who would strike first.


    Somewhere in the crowd drums began to beat, they synchronized with Gabe¡¯s throbbing ears, enticing that feeling to grow stronger, his heart to beat louder. The chief made the first move, He made an overhead swung towards him, Gabe ducked and rolled forward, standing back up at behind the chief. He turned around and also gave a swing of his own, It was blocked. The chieftain¡¯s sword didn¡¯t even budge, Gabe¡¯s blow just deflected right off staggering him backward.


    The chieftain laughed, ¡°Even on the Saz¡¯k you¡¯re still weak!¡± He stomped forward, sand flew high in the air as he closed the small distance between him and Gabe. He had aimed towards his abdomen with a horizontal swing, Gabe managed to connect his blade but instead of doing the same and deflecting, he rode with the force propelling him closer to the crowd.


    Zara was actually shocked, she assumed that juicing him up would be enough to defeat the war chief, but even with the possibly lethal dosage, he was still too much for Gabe to handle. That¡¯s when she got the idea that they should play a little dirty.


    Gabe rolled another one of his slashes, but this time he had followed-up with an attack, It was an overhead swing, Gabe brought the blade upward using both arms but the chieftains strength was far greater, He pushed down effortlessly, The blade was being redirected to the side but still managed slice a good chunk of flesh off his shoulder, It wasn¡¯t too bad of a cut, but underneath the Saz¡¯k¡¯s effect made him vulnerable to any type of cuts, as he would bleed out from the enhance circulation.


    Gabe backpedaled away from the chief, even trying to ride his attacks were still dangerous. Gabe kept his distance from the war chief. If he swung he would dive in the opposite direction and head to a different section of the circle.


    Every now and then the war chieftain would taunt him telling him to stop being a coward. But those fell on deaf ears as Gabe continued to prolong his lifespan in the arena. But what Gabe did hear was a hissing whistle that grabbed his attention. It was Zara, she had been standing next to her mount. Gabe nodded, the current positioning was perfect. She gave her creature a stern clawed smack to the ass sending it into the crowd in a frenzy.


    The beast rolled through the crowd, some managed to dodge, others were trampled. The beast was now in the center of the ring, clawing at both the attendants. Gabe was small enough that he managed to dodge a good amount of the swipes. But the much heavier chieftain took them all, He was covered in bleeding scratches before he drove his sword down on the beast¡¯s neck, The blade went all the way through the neck and exposed itself on the other side of the throat. Gabe took the opportunity to sprint into a sliding dive, cleaving the chieftains leg in two. He fell to one side with a pained hiss. The now laying down opponent was ended swiftly when Gabe jabbed the sword straight into his throat, the initial stab didn¡¯t kill the chieftain the blood pooling in his throat was the real culprit.


    Now that the fight was over, His body started to push away the adrenaline, the first to subside was his hearing, The crowd had been cheering to almost thunderous levels, the blood, the carnage, everything. They were in love with the scene.


    Gabe looked around, With the chieftain strongest chieftain dead, even by an unfair circumstance, no one dared to challenge Gabe¡¯s ascendance to the tribe¡¯s throne. The next feeling to come back was his touch, A warm clawed hand held onto him, looking to its owner, it was Zara. She had a predatory smile on her face, that¡¯s when he realized he also had one, their eyes locked onto each other. Unblinking they both knew what they wanted, and it was very carnal, She led him off to her tent.

 Chapter 16: Infiltration!

    Zara once again was the first to awake, she was fixing her hair. Gabe tried to move but found that his body only jerked upward. Zara was alerted to his sudden consciousness.


    ¡°Oooooh fuck.¡± Gabe struggled to lift his arms, he barely got them a few inches above the bed.


    ¡°You probably won¡¯t be able to move for a while.¡± She got up to get closer to his face. ¡°The dosage I gave you was enough to lay a full grown Kalik on its back. ¡°Gotta admit, you continue to intrigue me especially since you¡¯re still alive right now.¡±


    Apparently, the Kalik they used during the fight was just a juvenile, and judging by the massive height of the bear-like-reptile, he could only guess what an adult one looked like, but it was enough to realize the dosage was most likely lethal. Wait, wasn¡¯t that the amount she takes during the night? Oh, man.


    Gabe was feeling just about everything from last night, all the way from his injured shoulder down to the strained muscles that were trying to recover from blocking some of the old chieftain¡¯s hits.


    ¡°How do you feel now that you¡¯re the new chieftain?¡±


    ¡°Everything hurts!¡± He groaned out. ¡°Please, don¡¯t ever inject me ever again.¡±


    She smiled, ¡°As you wish chief.¡± She got up from the bed and started towards the tent opening.


    ¡°Wait where are you going!¡± Gabe was feeling pretty vulnerable as of right now, he didn¡¯t exactly want the closest thing he had to a bodyguard right now to leave him unprotected.


    ¡°Hunt, we¡¯ve run out meat since we¡¯ve held two feasts.¡± She hesitated at the flaps. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, No one is going to bother the person who claimed the old chieftain¡¯s daughter then killed him.¡± She turned and left leaving Gabe to stay motionless.


    He sighed, I guess I''ll just sit here and count sand.


    ~^~


    ¡°I¡¯ve grown fond of the boy too, but I¡¯m no miracle man.¡± Valik pushed up his glasses, reflecting the artificial sunlight of Eos.


    ¡°It¡¯s a giant fucking spaceship, how could yah not notice something like that!?¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± He paused for a second leaning closer towards the video screen, bits of his brown hair fell out of place, his expression turning stern. ¡°He didn¡¯t appear in either Vorlan or Tusian sectors.¡± He drove his finger onto his deck, ¡°You can start looking yourself in any of the places that aren¡¯t there.¡±


    The transmission shut off leaving Anaya with a blank screen, she ran her hands through her hair. She turned towards the remaining crew member on the bridge, ¡°Finding Gabe will be pushed as priority number two, right now we have other things to do.¡±


    Rhenixa had been on the bridge with her. Although things got way less fun for Rhenixa she understood that, Blitz was practically neutral to the whole situation, When your lifespan can go into millenniums it¡¯s probably hard enough to establish personal connections with people.


    The only reason Rhenixa wanted Gabe back was for two reasons, one she hated to lose anything that was considered her¡¯s, she was pretty selfish like that. Two like most of the people who met the human, they found him interesting. Even if she did disapprove of the results of Fuytis, it was still a success that she didn¡¯t think was even possible.


    ¡°What¡¯s the mission?¡± Rhenixa had her hands behind her head, waiting for the details.


    ¡°A ship heist.¡± She paused,


    Rhenixa dropped from the position she had been relaxing in. ¡°What!? With the three of us!?¡±


    Anaya put up a hand to signal she wasn¡¯t done with explaining the plan.


    ¡°The Ithori rebels are paying us to infiltrate an Ithori Republic ball and give them information regarding a ship, they¡¯re doing the heist.¡±


    ¡°Well then, what¡¯s so special about this cargo?¡± She asked leaning forward


    ¡°Apparently, it possibly contains information on the ¡®corrupt¡¯ official Shurta Krahvi.¡±


    Rhenixa leaned back in her chair. ¡°Ah, so it¡¯s an easy run through then.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know about easy¡­¡± Anaya grabbed a red piece of cloth that was hanging on the back of her chair, she threw it over at the smaller wolf girl.


    Rhenixa caught it and straightened out the clothing in front of her. A halter top red dress that flowed all the way to the floor, two circular holes were cut from the sides, there was a common trend in formal Caloricean clothing to show off parts of the female stomach to further accentuate their strong curves and muscles. Other than the intricate design the dress was pretty but plain, just like the girl herself. That was Rhenixa¡¯s dress. Anaya pulled another dress out, this one had a cross section of straps on the back but had a disconnected midsection that would only be covering only her breasts.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Yah can¡¯t be serious.¡± Rhenixa held the dress in one hand.


    ¡°Dead.¡± She smiled making the simple comment knowing full well how she felt about the situation. She left the room to go change. Rhenixa¡¯s ears drooped at her words. Out of all the things that could ever be done acting like a hoity-toity high-class Caloricean bitch was the exact reason she joined up with the mercenary clans.


    A short jump and a quick change later Anaya, Rhenixa, and Blitz were standing on the bridge. Anaya and Rhenixa could barely even be recognizable as the murderous duo, Rhenixa¡¯s short hair was done in series of curls and drills. Anaya had a simple ponytail. Their height was also slightly altered by the high heels. The ship entered a planet¡¯s atmosphere revealing a city, The sun on this side of the planet had already set, the party was most likely already in progress by the time they entered the atmosphere.


    The building they came up to almost like a giant dodecahedron with multiple circles at every point. ¡°The message said to land at dock twenty-four.¡± Anaya pointed a finger to the supposed numbered docking port. Blitz turned the ship to the left and decelerated for landing speeds.


    ¡°Rhen, We aren¡¯t here to have a good time so we¡¯ll find the loosest lips and leave.¡±


    ¡°Yah don¡¯t have to say that again.¡± she mumbled under her breath.


    ¡°Oh and Blitz.¡± She turned towards the squid man. ¡°As soon as we get off I want yah to hide the Warden somewhere. I don¡¯t want anyone recognizing the ship.¡±


    ¡°Understood, cap.¡±


    ¡°Alright Rhen, Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Rhenixa didn¡¯t even bother with waiting for her command she already left for the airlock. Upon entering the station they were greeted by a lavish display. Red carpet and giant columns, Blue hung high on the ceiling, they were embroidered with the flag of the Republic. The two girls walked side by side down the carpet. Rhenixa was having a hard time not stumbling along the soft surface. Some of her steps were overly too heavy and she¡¯d trip over her own weight.


    ¡°Walk normal,¡± Anaya spoke in a hushed voice trying to look inconspicuous.


    ¡°Ugh. I...can¡¯t!¡± She was gritting her teeth. Every time she took a step she was getting more visibly angry.


    The two approached an Ithori man, The Ithori were one of the more reptilian races of the galaxy, when one was put next to a Cartollian one could easily mistake one for the more well known aggressive space reptiles. The main difference was that they were nearly always bald, even the females. Rarely one could find an Ithori with facial hair in the form of bears, this particular Ithori was known as Eri Lovura, a disguised rebel planted within the government and their ticket to getting inside the party.


    ¡°Ladies,¡± The Ithori spoke in Caloricean, unlike the similiar species the Ithori lacked the long forked tongue. Anaya smiled and limply put her hand out, he took it and kissed her finger lightly, guests all around them were taking glances at them. A few of the males even envied Eri¡¯s date.


    She interlocked her arm within his and started leaning on his shoulder as they turned to go into the main hall. Rhenixa had ignored the display between the two as she had been immersed in just trying to get her footing right, not to mention interlocking with someone and walking the same speed with them was nearly impossible for her.


    Even if Eri Lovura was a ¡®government official¡¯ he wasn¡¯t told the details of matters that were on the ¡®need to know basis¡¯. That¡¯s where the mercenary beauties of the Warden came into play, the Republic wouldn¡¯t think twice about one of them being spies since a majority of Caloriceans would regard this as a waste of time.


    Anaya and Eri maintained a very professional, Man and his plus one date appearance. As they entered the main hall, seemingly upper-class music and low chattering could be heard. he began giving her the details of the guests and their occupations.


    Anaya was discreetly looking in his eyes to receive the contact locations.


    ¡°The man there,¡± He was looking at a couple that was standing by an set of stairs that spun almost endlessly upward. The man wearing traditional clothing consisting of a black military vest adorned with several shining medals and a golden three barred cross. ¡°That¡¯s Ori Tulvhah and his wife Sari, He¡¯s directly responsible for the labor camps scattered around our planet.¡±


    Anaya stared at him confirming every detail on his face. He turned to another official that was drinking next to a group of Ithori, ¡°General Sava, Not much to say about him. He keeps to himself mostly, except when he partakes in his favorite hobby of authorizing lethal interrogations.¡±


    The two began to walk to a more secluded part of the room before he named off another potential target Anaya had noticed something missing. She broke the embrace and looked around the room with a stern yet confused face. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± noticing her expression.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Rhen? She was just with us!¡±


    Eri noticed as well and started to look taking quick glances at every one of the guests in the room.


    ¡°Fucking shit.¡± Rhenixa was having a hard time trying to wade her way through the sea of guests while trying to keep her balance. She had gotten lost in the crowd when the two pretend couples went off to the side somewhere. She¡¯d just rathered had just muscled through everyone but the whole point of this mission was to not be destructive or disruptive, that was until she walked face first into what felt like a solid wall.


    ¡°Mmmm fuck.¡± She fell onto her butt and held her nose as that was what took the brunt of the impact. She opened up one eye to see if she really did just headbutt a wall. It turned out to be a young Ithori female.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m very sorry!¡± The female noticed the other downed female and extended an arm.


    ¡°It¡¯s fiiiine!¡± Rhenixa took her arm but didn¡¯t expect the amount of strength that was used to pull her upward. Rhenixa was merely on few inches in front of her face as she was stopped right before their lips met.


    ¡°I never thought I would find an attractive Caloricean here, Are you with someone?¡±


    ¡°Uhhh, yeah. I came with my sister and her date.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re free~?¡± She trailed her words at the end giving it a mild sensual tone.


    ¡°Yah could say that...¡±


    ¡°Good! It just happens that I needed a dance partner.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think yah¡¯d wan-¡± She was cut off as the Ithori female took her hand and led her to the middle of the ballroom.


    ¡°Oh no.¡± Eri had noticed a crowd forming around the center. ¡°This just got¡­ very complicated¡± he pinched the bridge nose.


    ¡°What? Anaya was still looking around in the opposite direction looking for her lost crew member.


    ¡°Look over there.¡± He pointed to the growing crowd.


    Anaya saw the two females dancing, ¡°Who is she dancing with?¡±


    Eri let out a massive sigh, ¡°She¡¯s with Shurta.¡±

 Chapter 17: Soir茅e!

    Violin-like instruments played out aduet symphony, The sounds bounced off the walls making the two players sound more like an orchestra. Shurta held her hands on the wolf girl¡¯s waist, They swayed back and forth gently to the music, a silence between the two as they stared into each other¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t think I¡¯m a very good dan-¡± She was trying to ¡®politely¡¯ pull away from the girl using civility but was cut short mid sentence.


    ¡°Shh shh.¡± Shurta put a finger up to the wolf woman¡¯s lips. ¡°Don¡¯t say anything.¡±


    The violin duo looked at the two females dancing, they looked at each other and nodded, their graceful piece began to fade, going quiet until it was just barely audible. The violinist on the left stopped playing entirely and let the remaining one play out the rest of the softening notes.


    Rhenixa felt pretty nervous, she worried that her inability to do something as simple as dancing could blow their cover, especially since the standing order was not to stand out, which by the looks of the starry-eyed guests she failed entirely on several accounts. The two swayed gently in place, slowly rotating. In the corner of her eye she was able to spot Anaya and her pretend date who¡¯s name she already had forgotten. Anaya¡¯s face told several emotions, she was definitely confused at how she even managed to get into this situation, she was also worried. Rhenixa blinked twice and rapidly looked around the room. This meant either to go around looking for leads about the MO, to her misfortune she had no idea she was currently up close with the target. Or it meant that she was currently unsure what to do, It was more than likely that she had no idea what to do.


    Anaya took the latter meaning, she disappeared into the crowd asking questions and showing off her charismatic skills.


    The resting violinist picked his instrument back up, there was a pause allowing the other to finish the last notes of the high class song. As the last note fell he began to only use the higher sounding strings to produce a form of tensity. The other picked up what the other had been playing out, they joined the high note bowing. They both quickened the pace. The girls also moved accordingly to the music. One of the violinists started to stomp their foot on the ground throwing down a bass that echoed through the room, the crowd mimicked the new beat clapping their hands or stomping their feet. The song was an iconic Ithori folk song. Finding an Ithori who didn¡¯t like the song was scarce.


    Shurta took the lead, She intertwined their fingers and pulled one arm behind her, pulling Rhen closer. She backed away releasing one of her hands, Rhenixa saw where this was going She rolled herself back towards Shurta, The distance that was closed between them left Rhenixa¡¯s plump butt facing the woman. The two swayed together in this backward embracement for a moment.


    Shurta raised Rhenixa¡¯s arm high above them, Rhenixa did a tiny spin allowing her to face the Ithori. They stayed in a close proximity of each other, looking into each other eyes, They began to lean backward, Rhen placed her leg above Shurta¡¯s thigh. The song ended and the everyone cheered. For a moment two were bathing in the spotlight, a slight amount of sweat beaded off their foreheads, their breathing was also heavy due to their performance.


    Shurta turned towards Rhenixa. ¡°You weren''t as bad as you were trying to say.¡± This caused Rhenixa to look away and blush. She thoroughly enjoyed herself dancing with a person and for a crowd.


    ¡°I never asked for your name. Could you tell me it?¡± Shurta gave a seductive smile.


    ¡°Oh...uh.¡± Rhenixa probably could have used her normal name but this was a stealth mission where everything hinged on being a ghost making a fake name would have been on the safer side. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ Perxa¡± Hopefully she didn¡¯t follow Caloricean news, as that was the name of the woman who was recently found dead from a murder-suicide.


    ¡°Perxa, huh? Cute.¡± Shurta started getting closer to her, entirely bypassing her personal bubble. Then an arm went around Rhenixa¡¯s shoulders, the owner was none other than Anaya. Her breasts squeezed against Rhenixa¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Hey, Sis. Mind if I have a word with yah?¡± She looked forward and gave a wink to Shurta.


    ¡°Oh this is your sister?¡± Shurta was the one to speak first, ¡°By all means, go ahead. I¡¯ll be right over there.¡± She pointed to a table with a series of colorful refreshments.


    Anaya gave her a toothy smile and pulled Rhenixa just a little ways away. Her false expression turned to seriousness. ¡°That person is Shurta Krahvi.¡±


    Rhenixa¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Are you serious!?¡± She brushed a stray hair to the side and sighed. ¡°Why does everything always get more complicated? She looked around once more. ¡°Where¡¯s the other guy?¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°He said he was going to go contact the others about the recent details.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­So the mission is over?¡±


    ¡°Not until he comes back with further orders.¡±


    Explosions erupted from several locations around the room. Several guests that were relatively close were thrown to opposite ends the others that were too close to the danger zone weren''t so lucky, some lost limbs that flew everywhere or died. The smoke rose to the ceiling destroying the visibility of the glass roof and the artificial lights on the inside. The glass rained downward as blaster fire raced to the floor. Several armed Ithori rebels repelled downward onto the floor from overhead ships.


    Guards rushed inward to protect the guests and return fire. The ballroom became a war zone. The higher ranked VIPs were escorted out of the room. Rebels tried to cut them off by rushing through the docking ports.


    Rhenxia and Anaya had dropped to the ground covering their heads to try to shield their faces from the incoming debris and gunfire.


    Anaya was the first to stand, in the confusion she shot at both rebel and republic, no one could really tell who was shooting who in the smoke, fire and raining glass.


    ¡°Get up!¡± Anaya yelled at Rhenixa who complied without hesitation. ¡°Start running to the landing pad!¡±


    Rhenixa nodded and ran off, Anaya stayed for a little longer, she fired her small pistol, the laser found itself cutting through the open faced helmet of a republic guard. She killed a few others then stomped off to the docking bays. She was pissed and wanted to answers and who else better to yell at than the employers themselves.


    ~^~


    Gabe moved his fingers, He was amazed that it only took three hours. ¡®Amazed¡¯ wasn''t exactly the right word to describe. It was a coalition of emotions, relieved that he could move again, angry that he spent the totality of three hours lying on a bed without any more of entertainment. He slid off the bed, he attempted to stand on his weak legs, they held but he wouldn¡¯t try jumping or running for a few more hours. He left the tent, He held an arm above his head to protect his eyes. The sun was still very high in the sky, must¡¯ve been about midday. He glanced around once his eyes fully adjusted to the light.


    ¡°Whoa.¡± The place was nearly a ghost town, when Zara said that she was going to hunt, it must a tribe-wide activity if it left the place like this. Since there was almost no one here he decided now would be a good enough time to get acquainted with the layout.


    The tribe center had been more or less the area for duels and feasts, not much actually been around it, in fact they left the old chieftain¡¯s body still in the center. It¡¯ll probably be dealt with later on. He wandered around in the place, not much was offered in the tiny tribal village, a few places that seemed to be shops, which he decided to stop by at a peculiar looking one. There was bits of machinery either hanging from the overhanging ceiling or laid out on a workbench. At first there didn¡¯t look like anyone was around so he went inside, peeling the tent flaps to the side. The first thing he saw was a old Cartollian male. He remained motionless in a chair, as Gabe got closer to the seemingly dead reptile man he noticed he had been missing a leg, no doubt the reason he remained here. He also saw that his scales weren¡¯t a deep tan like the majority of the race, he looked pale, sickly even. He crept over to the side of the motionless crippled lizard.


    ¡°Hello?¡± Gabe said in a slightly hushed voice.


    The old Cartollian rocketed awake. He made growls and hisses he swung a club like blade wildly around the confined space. One of the random arcs began to fly towards Gabe, He put his arms up to protect his more fragile face. But a familiar scene played out, he was standing further away from the old man.


    ¡°Whaaaaaaa?¡± This was definitely going into the ¡®to learn about¡¯ list of items in Gabe¡¯s inquiry book. This time Gabe decided to hang back.


    ¡°Hey old man!¡± He yelled from across the room.


    The old Cartollian did the same movements of hissing and thrashing around, he eventually calmed down and looked at Gabe, One of the old man¡¯s eyes was greyed out, he must¡¯ve been blind there.


    He snorted before he began to talk. ¡°Who you!¡± His Caloricean must have not been that well, Gabe was entirely used to hearing only Zara talk. He must not have met many of the wolf people as she had.


    ¡°I¡¯m Gabe, the new chieftain!¡±


    ¡°New chief? Baah.¡± He spits onto the ground. ¡°Weakling like you?¡± He turned around in the swiveling chair and tugged on some kind of welder that was hanging above his head.


    ¡°Yeah, I killed Zara¡¯s father¡­.If you want I can show you the body.¡±


    ¡°Nah, I believe. Why you here?¡± Sparks began to fly from in front of him.


    Gabe got closer to the Cartollian. ¡°Just looking around.¡± From what Gabe could see the man was wielding pieces of metal to a metallic frame of a plantigrade leg. Seeing this Gabe got an idea, ¡°You like to build.¡±


    The man stopped working and sneered at him. ¡°I create!¡±


    ¡°Yeah? What some rare materials?¡±


    The expression changed. ¡°I¡¯m listening.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the items, but you have to bu-create something for me with them, deal?¡±


    He looked like he was going to deny, but in this situation, there really wasn¡¯t a reason to not go for it. ¡°Deal.¡±

 Chapter 18: Ride On!

    The air was cool and refreshing as the two flew by on a two seated speeder. The vehicle looked as though it would fall apart at any minute. The engine was making a high pitched whirring noise that continued to go higher. Any sand that was flying around within the air was hitting with the force of a bee sting. In the back seat Gabe held onto anything he could, the force of the wind was making his hair flutter around violently.


    ¡°That way!¡± Gabe shouted and pointed overhead. The mechanist Cartollian only glanced above his head to see where he was pointing. He changed direction and pushed on the handles.


    The vehicle was pushing over two hundred miles per hour, Gabe was having a hard time just trying to keep his eyes open, Strangely the lizard man didn¡¯t seem to have any problems with the wind cutting across his face. Gabe later learned that this was them having a clear membrane over their eyes for protection against the sand.


    The sun was still high above and they were already halfway there, The time it took for Gabe to reach this distance was almost a day. Gabe¡¯s efforts to shield his face led him to look at the fast-moving sand below, a small dust cloud blew beneath him. A tiny Salak¡¯zak worm breached the ground and bit at his ankle.


    ¡°Ow Fuck!¡± He tried to kick off the worm, it was firmly attached to his pants leg. He slammed against the speeder¡¯s side, It slightly pushed the vehicle off course.


    ¡°Stop!¡± The Cartollian commanded him as he regained steering from the vehicle.


    Gabe continued to beat his leg and the worm against the side. ¡°I can¡¯t! Ugh¡­Tiny Salak¡¯zaks!¡±


    The Cartollian ducked his head and leaned further forward, increasing the speed. The engines spewed large flames out the back. Gabe turned around backward facing the tail end emitting flames. Due to its small size, he easily lifted his leg up to the back seat and yanked on the creature until it came loose...along with a piece of his flesh.


    ¡°Damn thing had a death grip!¡± The worm thrashed wildly with a bloodied mouth. He leaned over and put it in front of the flames, head first. It screamed and squirmed but ultimately went limp as it¡¯s body charred. Gabe let go once it stopped moving letting the wind carry it off.


    While he was still facing the end he saw several large mounds and one massive mound following behind them. He reached behind him and rapidly tapped on the man¡¯s back. He was obviously getting annoyed and shouted.


    ¡°What!¡± He made a slight glance backward and saw what was following them. He turned the throttle and increased the speed. Two of larger worms surface exposing only parts of their backs, The sand was now splitting between them, being closer to the looser sand allowed them to gain speed, there was only a matter of time before they reached them.


    ¡°Can you go faster!¡± Gabe shouted at the driver.


    He made a low growl grabbed something on the side of the speeder and handed it to Gabe. It looked like a metal tube with a handle, the addition of a trigger led Gabe to believe that it was a gun of some sort. He pointed at the closest of the worms and lightly touched the trigger. The weapon ejected multiple metallic spikes at extreme speeds. A few of the spikes found their way into the soft flesh, the creature pulled back and moved away from the vehicle.


    ¡°Woah.¡± The weapon surprisingly had a hair trigger and no noticeable recoil. Soon after that one peeled away another took its place as the lead. The largest mound still had yet to show itself. Gabe continued to fire off into the sand, protecting themselves the worms went back to the deeper parts of the sand which greatly slowed them. That was until one of them surfaced right in front of the vehicle and opened its many toothed maw, the Cartollian pulled a hard right, the two managed to avoid getting swallowed by the creature, but the sudden jerk caused Gabe to drop the spike shooting gun.


    ¡°¡­¡± He turned back around to face the lizard man¡¯s back. He also looked back at the boy and said nothing. The look of disappointment had already been on his face since he first met Gabe. The two just drove on with silence.


    Another smaller Salak¡¯zak worm emerged from the ground and sent them flying high into the air. The two separated mid-air from the speeder. Gabe fell and rolled next to the vehicle. The Cartollian had been grabbed, His robotic leg was ripped to shreds by the time he fell back down. He started to crawl towards Gabe and the speeder, he made it halfway there before the same worm came from the ground opened it¡¯s mouth dropping him in without any effort.


    Gabe blinked his eyes and he was just seconds again from when he just fell, taking no time to fuck around he yelled at the man. Thanks future sight. He thought to himself


    ¡°Roll! Roll to the side!¡± The man heard him and did so, the same pit opened up only dropping sand into the dark, fleshy abyss. Gabe picked up the speeder, his eyes danced around the controls, it looked similar to a motorcycle¡¯s controls. Gabe did not know how to drive a motorcycle, but today seemed like a good day to learn! He jumped on the front seat. At first, he was hesitant to grab the handle bars but he eventually took them and revved the engine to life. He sped in a straight line towards the one legged Cartollian. He extended an arm for the man to latch onto as he¡¯d pass by him.


    He managed to grip onto Gabe but didn¡¯t manage to pull himself up, some of the smaller worms managed to catch up while they had been stopped they started to swarm the man. Using bits of metal from his prosthetic he speared a few. Gabe leaned left dipping his side dangerously close to the ground. The old man was slid onto the side of the vehicle allowing him to climb up to the back seat. Leaning back over to the right he balanced out.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°There!¡± The old man pointed to a cave opening. Gabe mimicked what he did earlier to increase speed, but, the speeder this time was losing speed. The engine started to sputter.


    ¡°Shit!¡± Gabe desperately revved the engine, seemingly making it worse.


    ¡°No, no, no, That pedal and that thing!¡± He was pointing to some of the mechanisms that Gabe failed to trigger before trying to boost.


    The massive worm that was sauntering behind them had finally caught its way back up. Gabe attempted to jump the motor back to life by doing the same thing The massive worm breached the ground, tsunamis of sand were thrown into the sky, blackening the sky. The teeth on this beast were like small boulders, even if they managed to not get digested they¡¯d be forced to live inside the belly of the whale.


    The engine sputtered back to life. Gabe whipped the speeder into the direction of the cave and kicked it off going into the overdrive mode under the guidance of the creator.


    Even going that fast the area around them began to darken, until they were inside a tunnel, The star mouth worm began closing its mouth around the duo.


    ¡°Ngggn.¡± Gabe gritted his teeth hard as he clenched the handles with fervor. He shot from the worm¡¯s mouth. They were out of the oven but still remained in the frying pan. The cave came up quick. The Worm opened its massive trap again, but slammed into the cave¡¯s entrance, rocking the entire formation.


    Gabe sighed, ¡°Did I ever mention that I really hate sand. Because I really hate sand.¡±


    The old man lets go of his grip on Gabe¡¯s clothing, holes appeared where his fingers bore into.


    ¡°This better be worth the trouble.¡±


    ¡°I think you¡¯ll like it!¡± Gabe was pretty doubtful of even continuing on, considering all that could be left of the ship was a crater.


    They continued through the cave system until they came to a clearing. The old man looked at the sight with starry-eyed. The ship was mostly intact, well it wasn¡¯t a crater, but it most certainly would never be spaceworthy again. Seems like this voyage was the Voyager¡¯s last voyage.


    Gabe slowed the vehicle to a halt and dismounted, he grabbed a random piece of metal for the Cartollian to use as a makeshift cane.


    Gabe walked a few feet away from him and stood with his arms outward. ¡°So, old man, worth it?¡± He gave a shit-eating smirk. A piece of the hull fell behind him, Gabe recoiled from the sudden impact.


    ¡°What do you need to be created!?¡± It seems the old man has never seen this much scrap in one place before. It was an instant deal winner.


    Gabe smiled once more at the old man. ¡°You know those four legged things with the hook tail you guys eat?¡±


    ¡°Cheraks?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, those. They¡¯re cool, make me a metal shell of them.


    ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± The man was confused seeing that it was just a simple request. Something that wasn¡¯t even worth being brought here.


    ¡°Yup. Just that.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± The words baffled him


    ¡°Just a little project I''m working on.¡± He started towards the speeder again, we¡¯ll come back later for materials.¡±


    ¡°Yes, we will.¡± Even if he wanted to bring some material back they¡¯d be slowed down significantly and they¡¯d have to come back with multiple larger speeders. The old man climbs on the back and they sped off towards the camp.


    Instead of going the same way and running the risk meeting the mother-of-all Salak¡¯zaks again the old man guided him towards a better route, it was a bit longer but it was still overall the safer route.


    Zara had been waiting at the entrance. Seems the hunt had been finished quite some time ago seeing as she was nearly asleep on the rock she had been sitting on. Gabe slowed down in front of her.


    ¡°You waited here?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°I finished everything I had to do but, Isn¡¯t it common for a lover to wait for her man?¡± She tilted her head and squinted one eye slightly. She made the question seem like it was the most absurd comment she¡¯s heard.


    ¡°Well, no but¡­¡± Gabe had his train interrupted by the legless old man behind him.


    ¡°Sala¡¯Zara?¡± He began speaking in the tongue of Cartollians. And she responded. The conversation bounced back and forth for several minutes before Gabe started to feel a little left out and neglected, ¡°What¡¯s he saying?¡±


    Zara locked eyes with him and changed back to Caloricean, ¡°He was just confirming that you and I are lovers and that the chieftain is dead¡­¡± She paused and started to snicker, ¡°He¡¯s also saying that ¡®this mutant Caloricean has the biggest suvinks he¡¯s ever seen.¡±


    He wasn¡¯t sure what ¡®suvinks¡¯ were but from the context, it had to be positive. The old man chimed up again in the language, Zara nodded and looked back to Gabe. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you at his shop later, He wants me to gather others.¡± she walked off in the distance of the more densely packed area.


    Gabe revved the speeder once more to bring it back to speed. He wasn¡¯t exactly in a hurry to reach the shop or crash into a building, he took his time, even on the speeder it wasn¡¯t a long ride, in fact, it was pretty much just a right turn and a straight shot.


    Once they did get to the shop, the mechanist went straight to work on that Cherak shell. Every now and then Gabe would say a modification that he wanted. And every time he said something the old man would slightly growl.


    ¡°Can you also make the tail hollow too? And make it open and close like this?¡± He connected his two index fingers to do a pincer-like movement. ¡°Actually, can you give it two tails? That¡¯d be so sick!¡±


    This went on for hours. At some point, Zara entered the shop and leaned on a nearby workbench. She didn¡¯t say much. But seeing what Gabe was doing she decided to fuck with the old man by saying random nonsensical modifications herself. Like giving it a 6 legs instead of the agreed upon 4 legs. Some of the bullshit she spouted Gabe had even agreed with and was allowed to be in the final version.


    Night had fallen by the time they finished the shell. Suspended above the table was two halves of a heavily modded Cherak. It had six legs, two tails, a mouth that could open complete with a row of razor sharp teeth, and a clear head casing. Thinking back on it, they might have gone a little too overboard with the ideas. Well, they did say hindsight is 20/20.


    ¡°Awesome?¡± Gabe didn¡¯t exactly know what he wanted to say, on one hand, everything was perfect to what he wanted, but to his dismay, the thing was off colored and looked like a junkyard build.


    Zara could not control herself, she began laughing also hard as possible. Which Gabe suddenly learned they have an impressive air capacity as she had been laughing for minutes. The thing was obviously a piece of shit. Thinking back on how he even got to space in the first place, maybe designing things was not his forte.


    Rather than feeling embarrassed about his design choice, he instead headed to another workbench, a lot of the material had come in throughout the day, At the bench that Gabe had was a crate filled to the brim with wires and motors, his ¡®true¡¯ specialty.


    A motorized crane inside the shop moved the hunk of metal to his side, he cracked his knuckles and began working into the night, A couple hours into the night everyone had fallen asleep pretty much where they had been standing, except Gabe ¡®cuz sleep is for the weak.

 Chapter 19: Round Two!

    ¡°System synchronization complete. Voyager Virtual Assistant Online.¡± The now moving robotic creature panned its head around the room to gain a sense of its surroundings it stopped once it saw Gabe. ¡°Good morning, Gabe.¡± The now robotic assistant cocked its head side to side.


    Gabe¡¯s eyes had deep bags. Staying up all night typically worked on Earth because the days were only 24 hours. On this planet, day and night seem to be extended. ¡°¡®Sup.¡± He yawned audibly.


    The robot looked around the room, presumably scanning. ¡°Where are we?¡± V.V.A asked.


    Gabe had his arms folded onto the table, He rested his head on top, He yawned once more. ¡°Not Kansas.¡±


    The robot continued to scan around the room. Hus gaze ended on the sleeping lizard woman on the floor. ¡°Non-Human detected!¡± V.V.A went into a defensive stance and lashed his two tails around wildly. His body pulled on the harness that it was still connected to. The claws scraped against the table sending sparks high and low. Gabe''s head sprung up from the massive amount of commotion.


    The two lizard people also awoke, Zara grabbed jumped to her feet and released her blade from its sling. She yelled at the robot in her native tongue.


    ¡°VeVa! Stop!¡± Gabe was standing in front of the robot¡¯s jump path in case it managed to break free from the harness. At first, the Robot was hesitant to halt its current actions. Eventually, it accepted the command from its now human master. He went into a more relaxed stance, well as relaxed as a robot can get.


    Zara placed the sword back in the sling that hung from her hips. She kept her distance, she felt as if she¡¯d need her sword quickly so she kept her hands on the handle for a quick draw.


    Gabe let out a long breath of relief, his hands were put on his waist ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask Veva, in the three hundred years, did you ever see any aliens?¡±


    V.V.A was hesitant in disclosing such information, but it released any secrets that were made those years ago were practically pointless to keep.


    ¡°Once. They were aggressive on contact.¡±


    ¡°But that was one time?¡±


    ¡°They attacked with an approximately two thousand ships¡±


    Gabe was silent as the robot spilled its databanks.


    ¡°Their forces were wiped out in fifteen minutes. Not before sending their doomed ships into colony ships.¡±


    So, VeVa was a robot that held a grudge against aliens because of a conflict, Who knew a robot could even develop such a strong emotion.


    ¡°Alright Veva, unless I give the command, do not attack anything.¡± Gabe had been really tired at this point. He heard the story but changing his mind manually would take way too much effort.


    The robot lowered its ahead and accepted the command. Gabe turned around and spoke Caloricean to Zara, ¡°It¡¯s fine, it won¡¯t attack.¡± Upon hearing those words she slowly released her grip on the handle.


    ¡°Gabe,¡± VeVa called his name. ¡°This design is very inefficient, Mind if I change it?¡±


    Gabe turned around and shrugged. ¡°Go ahead.¡±


    Veva bit down on one of the extra set of the legs. The metal cracked and split as it was ripped from the body. Veva did the same on the other side.


    ¡°Okay¡­¡±


    ¡°This design is forty percent more energy efficient.¡± The robotic leg spasmed as energy was being depleted.


    A six-legged creature didn¡¯t seem like a good idea in a biological stance either. So no wonder to wanted to ditch the extra appendages. Once again signs pointed to Gabe not being a designer.


    ¡°Gabe.¡± Zara moved closer keeping her eyes locked on the construct. ¡°What is that..thing?¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°Just a little something from my planet.¡± Gabe looked out towards the entrance of the shop. The sun hasn¡¯t quite risen yet. He turned back to her. ¡°Wanna see something cool?¡±


    She looked at him perplexed, The mechanist behind her smiled, he was already on board.


    ¡°Sure.¡± From her perspective, the man who defeated her, killed her father, survived a lethal dosage of Saz¡¯k had created life from metal, What else could he have that could amaze her? She was wholeheartedly curious now. They set off in one of the larger speeders.


    They traveled outward to a random location. Gabe had not told them where they were headed. The desert sands kicked up high, not enough to blind anyone but enough to be prominent. A familiar now filled cave showed in the horizon.


    The winds whipped loudly around the speeder. Talking had to be done in the form of yelling. The old man mechanist yelled something to Zara who repeated to Gabe.


    ¡°Why are we heading into a Salak ¡®Zak nest!?¡±


    ¡°For round two!¡±


    After that, any questions she had was promptly ignored with a smile. After a while of traveling in complete circles, Gabe was able to stir up enough noise to get the worm to chase after him. Since this hovering ship was made specifically to hunt Salak ¡®Zak worms it severely outclassed the large worm in speed. He¡¯d slow down to allow it to catch up.


    They came to a stop 20 meters away from the advancing creature.


    Gabe turned the engine off and faced the large robotic Cherak. ¡°Alright. VeVa, try out your new toy.¡± He snapped his fingers and gave a wink.


    ¡°As you wish.¡± Its claws bore into the ship¡¯s hull, the metal creaked as the blade-like appendages tore the metal apart, locking itself once it had a good grip. The metal spikes on it¡¯s back started to glow bright orange, the bits of metal covering over them melted off revealing the wiring underneath. Pods extended from being in between spikes and rotated at an insane speed, electricity arced from coil to coil.


    Both tails moved wildly as if they were trying to lock onto the moving dust that was kicked up.


    ¡°Gabe, I cannot get a lock on the target.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, we¡¯ll wait for it to get closer. I¡¯ll let you know when.¡±


    ¡°Understood, Gabe.¡±


    The mound of dirt began to turn to flesh as the creature got closer. The occupants of the speeder began to feel unease from the approaching creature. Seconds went by, the creature exposed more of its body.


    ¡°Gabe, I have a lock, should I fire?¡± VeVa questioned, the coils on its back went from a low orange to a blue-white they were almost bright enough to light up the entire desert.


    ¡°What''re the chances you¡¯ll have a successful hit?¡±


    ¡°Fifty-six percent.¡±


    ¡°Eh, wait like ten seconds then fire.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, by the way, Veva. I did some routing around in your chip, I getting annoyed by that pause you did on certain things.¡±


    ¡°I know, I can see everything you changed.¡±


    Zara and the old man were nearly hysterical at this point. Their opinion went from brave man to suicidal maniac in the manner of seconds.


    The maw of the creature breached the surface of the sand.


    ¡°Percent?¡±


    ¡°Ninety-six percent¡±


    ¡°Cool, Fire!¡±


    Veva¡¯s back arced electricity in the air, It opened its jaws, A glowing blowing trail could be seen leaving. The speed was immense, The sand that was being pushed around cleared a circular path for the projectile. The projectile started to drop in height, it skimmed across the sand digging a trench in its wake. It only took a matter of seconds for the tiny shell to reach its destination. Upon contact with the flesh, it pulled inward ripping away the protective skin. A crater began to form on the impact sight, in seconds the entire upper half of the worm¡¯s face was blown off, What didn¡¯t disintegrate from the force flew away almost twice as far.


    The shell continued to travel, the soft flesh wasn¡¯t nearly enough to stop the bullet. It landed into the cave, collapsing it further, A massive dust cloud erupted in the distance.


    The smell of burnt oxygen and cooked worm flesh now filled the air. VeVa¡¯s body darkened, his eyes flickered on and off. ¡°Power consumption at eighty-seven percent.¡±


    ¡°Alright, you can disengage railgun mode.¡±


    Veva¡¯s body unhooked from the ship and dropped to the floor, It was still online but in a temporary recharge mode.


    Gabe looked out into the distance. The worm had a perfect curve blown out of the side.


    This was Gabe¡¯s true skill, he was brilliant with electricity and wiring. He could do almost anything with it, after all, he did wire the transporter himself.


    ¡°VeVa, I want you to tell me any optimizations you can think of.¡±


    Zara grabbed Gabe and turned him to look at her. Her face was filled to the brim with confusion.


    ¡°What the fuck was that!?¡± She pointed over to the destruction of the weapon.


    ¡°Something harmless being made dangerous.¡± He yawned as he gave the explanation.


    She let go of him and leaned back over the railing to look at the destruction. She¡¯s seen blasters, plasmas. The closest that she could compare this to was a spike thrower, but that used gas to expel it¡¯s bullets and would cause less damage than this thing.


    ¡°Hey, Think we can surprise the tribe with this?¡±


    She turned back around to Gabe, Her face was still confused but she still smiled. She knew what she was stuck with. She knew that he was going to do big things, but now her expectation had been raised.

 Side tale: Rhenixa

    ¡°What the fuck was that shitshow!?¡± Anaya slammed her fist down on the console. ¡°Yah could have at least gave us a heads up!¡± She pushed a few strands of hair away from her face.


    ¡°We apologize for that Miss Anaya. But you understand we might not have gotten that chance again.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t give a damn about any of your chances! My crew and I nearly lost our lives in that fight!¡±


    Rhenixa rolled her eyes, stuff like this happened all the time, it was a mercenary thing at this point in her life Rhenixa had memorized it all down to a step by step process. Approach the employer with anger, threaten them, offer compensation and profit. She didn¡¯t need to be there for anything. She left the bridge and left off towards her room.


    She pressed the button for the door lock release to enter. Her room wasn¡¯t exactly decorated with much, she had the basic set up, a neat bed and a desk with tiers of shelves. The bed was neatly made but her desk was cluttered with valuables. well, valuables to her but junk to anyone else. She walked over to her desk she eyed it for something. It took her only a moment to find the object but she found it, a black armband with a white triangle designed onto it. Underneath the badge was words written in Galactic Standard. The most immediate translation of the words would be Staff sergeant Torinya. The armband was a memento to her days back in the Galactic Union, she smiled as she remembered the final days before she joined Anaya


    Rhenixa took cover besides several others wearing a similar outfit to hers. The only difference was that they had helmets and camouflage vests compared to her black one.


    ¡°Damn.¡± A blaster ricocheted off the slab of concrete. The Clarocean male poked his head back behind. He spotted Rhenixa, ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡±


    ¡°Staff sergeant Rhenixa Torinya of the City guard!¡± She adjusted her beret as it came toofar forward from her movements.


    ¡°City guard? You guys are still alive?¡±


    ¡°Yes! We still contain at least four hundred units!¡± She puffed out her chest. ¡°We¡¯ve been tasked with reinforcing dangerous sectors due to our acclimation of the city.¡±


    ¡°Look,¡± More blaster fire came from overhead, Bits of the rock formation chipped. ¡°Four hundred is a great number and all but that is not nearly enough.¡±


    She looked solemn for a second. She honestly was trying to make best of the situation, but when an entire planet rebels to the point of pushing the Galactic Union into defending a few blocks within their embassy, bringing four hundred soldiers was not very helpful.


    ¡°If you really want to help us, see if you can get the General to send more walkers over here, Our long range radio man was killed somewhere up there.¡± He pointed towards the source of the blaster fire.


    He pointed to his radio on his chest, this was a smaller more squad based radio. The range wasn¡¯t very far but it would do its job for most of the way.


    ¡°I¡¯m on channel 72!¡± He peeked over the cover and fired a volley, The intensity of the returning fire calmed a bit, He must¡¯ve suppressed the one¡¯s firing.


    ¡°Go! I got your back!¡±


    Rhenixa plucked two grenades from her belt, She nodded, he nodded. She pressed the buttons on the sides. A small bar began to fill up, she chucked the grenades into the direction of the enemy. The first grenade released a plume of smoke. The other erupted a high pressured explosion sending debris everywhere.


    ¡®Chk chk¡¯ ¡°Squad move! ¡®Chk chk¡¯ She relayed over the radio. She got up from the cover and ran towards the embassy. Three other city guard members followed close behind. Red lasers flew past her at insane speeds. So close she could smell the burning oxygen they left behind. Impact craters would form in front of her threatening to trip her. Her dash got her 3 meters away, she hid behind a destroyed artillery walker. The top gun was blown clean off, no doubt from a rebel suicide squad.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Back here, was pretty much safe from any and all attacks, but that didn¡¯t mean that she could take her time to get to the embassy. 2 meters further and she was at the medical lines. Which was typically just a painkiller station. Blasters would cauterize wounds by the time they exited the other side. Other than grafting not much could be done for the injured.


    She approached a massive building, The steps themselves seemed to reach into the heavens. This was common architecture for the Galactic Union when they wanted to show off the size of their dicks on planets they would build massive structures like this. At the roof was several high ranking officers. Most of them used the roof as a vantage point to get a bird¡¯s eye view of the battlefield. Each of them was frantically running around giving out orders on radio. Except one, his white uniform still in pristine condition.


    ¡°Sir!, our forces on the bridge can¡¯t handle any more pressure! I already sent most of my unit to reinforce but-¡±


    Rhenixa was cut off my a raised hand. He pulled the binoculars away from his face. ¡°No need. The rebels will be broken by the time we sustain heavy casualties.¡±


    ¡°Sir, we have to do something! We can¡¯t just leave them on their own!¡±


    He looked down at her arm patch signifying her rank. ¡°Staff sergeant Torinya, here.¡± He handed the binoculars to her. She took them unsure of what he wanted. ¡°Look.¡± Five bombers flew overhead, their engines made no sound but could be felt, This was very distinctive of The GU¡¯s technology.


    She put the binoculars to her face and zoned in on the drop location. It was a close air mission. The bombs dropped in the general vicinity of the fight. She watched as the darkened part of the city was lit up.


    ¡®Chkk¡¯ ¡°Damn..., ...treat! ...too close!¡± ¡®chkk¡¯ A voice over Rhenixa¡¯s radio could be heard. The voice came in choppy but it was easy to tell what he said.


    ¡°...General.¡± She put down the device and looked at him. The sound of bombs exploding could be heard in the distance. In seconds the bridge that was being fought over was nothing more than rocks over a river.


    ¡°Two cycles, Torinya, Two cycles. The city is leveled because of this conflict.¡± His tail swayed back and forth solemnly. ¡°We¡¯ve fought nonstop, why? This place isn¡¯t even important. It took me this long to realize why we are here. Have you figured why?¡±


    ¡°General Shoriya...¡±She took a few steps away from the man who was driven obviously driven mad.


    ¡°We are here to kill or be killed. The last time I received any orders? Half a cycle ago.¡±


    He leaned over the perch, We are only prolonging our own deaths by fighting. Rhenixa backed away to a couple feet away.


    ¡°As Guardians of this city, General Shoriya I am placing yah under arrest for treason!¡± The three others of her group raised their arms and took aim at the General.


    ¡°You, a police officer, is arresting a general? Don¡¯t make me laugh.¡± He raised two fingers and looked the other way, three well-placed blaster shots found marks into her squad member¡¯s chests. Everyone around them stopped moving about to see the commotion.


    ¡°What?¡± She reached for her holstered blaster.


    ¡°Don¡¯t Staff sergeant.¡± Three previously cloaked caloricean males revealed themselves, Their armor was pitch black and looked to be made more of a protective metal. Their helmets covered their entire face. They stood like statues aimed at Rhenixa. This was no doubt his personal bodyguards.


    He leaned off the perch, ¡°I¡¯d rather see this city burn before I die by a city guard.¡± He spat on the ground. Rhenixa growled at him, She knew doing more would result in her death. He snapped his fingers, his bodyguards sprung to action they grabbed her arms and handcuffed them to her back. One of the guards kicked the back of her knee make him fall to the ground. She let out a small yelp as her face collided with the concrete.


    The screech of a high powered blaster went off, in front of her she could see the bodyguards drop one by one, soon blood began to pool underneath her. She flipped to her back and maneuvered her body to sit upward. The general and his posse laid dead on the ground. A ship was hovering above her. She looked around, it looked like everyone except her died. A spotlight shone on her.


    In a second it landed across from her, A female waltzed out the door, Buxom Caloricean with silvery hair approached her, She pulled her blaster out and aimed at her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give yah one chance. Since you¡¯re from Clarociea. Join my crew or die here.¡±


    Rhenixa looked around her, Her squad was killed by the Galactic Union and she was about to too. No reason to stick around with them anymore, She deserted. The planet was later bombed to the point of being a giant crater.

 Chapter 20: Home Bound!

    The Sun rose high in the sky. Gabe stretched his arms out and yawned. He sat up and looked next to him. The lizard girl was still asleep next to him. Her calm breathing reminded him of when he slept with Anaya, to Gabe this felt like an eternity ago, inreality perhaps only a week ago. At some point, he was going to find them again. And perhaps Gabe would take Anaya up on that captain position, whether she was kidding or not.


    He got up from the bed, He tried his best not to disturb her, which apparently was good enough. She still woke once he touched the sand floor. Must be some sort of natural instinct to be a light sleeper, that or the drugs made her hypersensitive to practically everything around her.


    ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± She leaned upward, the thin protective membrane covering her eyes blinked itself out of the way.


    Gabe shrugged. ¡°Dunno. Think I might blow this popsicle stand I kinda have some questions that need answers. Besides, I think I¡¯m starting to enjoy the sand.¡±


    She also got up. ¡°Blow this popsicle stand?¡± the mixture of English and Caloricean left Zara confused about the expression.


    ¡°It means to leave.¡± He explained the expression to her in most simple way possible.


    ¡°Oh. How? We don¡¯t have any space traveling ships.¡±


    ¡°Might be able to salvage something from my people¡¯s ship.¡± Once again this wasn¡¯t something that Gabe should be allowed to do. He¡¯s sucked at designing which is detrimental to ship building and he¡¯s never tried to make a propulsion system. He lifted the tent¡¯s flap to look out, VeVa perked up and turned around, it had been waiting at the entrance.


    ¡°Good morning, Gabe.¡±


    ¡°Morning Vev.¡± He put a hand on the robot¡¯s head. ¡°How¡¯s the solar panel¡¯s doing?¡±


    ¡°They are working well, I recommend a battery storage upgrade.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do about that.¡± He began to walk forward toward the town center. Zara walked on the opposite side of the robot. She didn¡¯t trust it, to begin with, now that she knew that he could fire a limb severing projectile made her trust it even less.


    Gabe looked at Zara, something was almost rather different with her appearance. It was either the fact that he hasn¡¯t been fully conscious of her looks or that he¡¯s become a total xenophile, either way, somethingwas different. Her skin was still the same tan, Her tail still barely moved behind her. Everything was still the same yet something was off. A random Cartollian running by broke his stare. Then another ran by, then another, and another. A whole crowd was moving past them.


    A lot of yelling and frantic speech was going on.


    Gabe looked around, hundreds of people were pouring out of seemingly nowhere.


    ¡°Zara, what are they saying?¡±


    ¡°Invaders?¡±


    He glanced at Vev and nodded. ¡°Understood.¡± The robot took off down an alleyway between a clay building.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go meet these invaders.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s¡± Her savage smile came back, whatever was different was now gone. It must¡¯ve just been his imagination, he swore that there was something...off about her. They both ran off towards the commotion.


    Approaching the center they found a group of armed militarists. Two Caloriceans females and three Ithori males. They stood in front of their landed dropship. The two Caloriceans were armored pointing at the crowd, they stood behind the three Ithori. Two of the Ithori stood behind the most decorated one with their guns relaxed.


    Gabe pushed his way to the front of the crowd.


    ¡°Careful around these savages.¡± One of the Ithori said aloud.


    ¡°They¡¯re so animalistic..¡± Another one said.


    Good to know that lizards had a slight bit of racism between each other. The decorated Ithori stood motionless looking as regal as possible. He looked around briefly.


    ¡°In accordance with the Emperor¡¯s law! Everyone here must submit to integration with the Galactic Union or be eradicated!¡±


    ¡°Wow! Join or die. That makes my life so much easier.¡± Gabe shouted from the crowd.


    The Galactic Union officer looked disheveled, perhaps he was hoping that these ¡®savages¡¯ wouldn¡¯t understand him and the order to exterminate would be in full effect.


    Gabe stepped out into the middle, from the distance the Ithori easily towered over him, not like it really mattered anymore most aliens were bigger than him, to begin with.


    The Ithori looked really confused. Almost disgusted at the sight of Gabe, he snapped his fingers, one of the Caloricean came forward. ¡°What is that?¡± He pointed at the small human.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, sir?¡±


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®you don¡¯t know¡¯ he¡¯s Caloricean is he not?¡±


    The other wolf person in the back sniffed the air. ¡°He doesn¡¯t smell like one.¡±


    This whole ignore Gabe thing was getting a little old and quite frankly annoying. He responded. ¡°I¡¯m a Human!¡±


    ¡°Hooman?¡± The Ithori was still confused, He pulled out a pad and searched all possible terms that could lead him in the direction of finding something on this species.


    ¡°Ah, and undocumented and illegal species! The mission objective is now to seize that creature for documentation.¡± The Ithori officer nodded his head at the closest Caloricean.


    ¡°Alright hands up!¡± The wolf person took out a pair of handcuffs and approached with a blaster pistol drawn. Gabe did so and allowed them to arrest him.


    ¡°Hey, can you stand like right there? Gabe pointed his cuffed hands at the sand a few feet away from him.


    ¡°What, why?¡±


    A blood splattered as a tiny object pierced the skulls of the two Ithori standing side by side. The round continued and buried itself deep in the sand. A crater with a foot wide diameter remained. The shot was much weaker than the one that was used on the giant Salak¡¯zak worm. But was still strong enough to leave a cavern between the two craniums. The two bodies fell simultaneously. In the current confusion, Zara grabbed the Caloricean in a headlock and held a blade to her throat. Gabe grabbed the blaster from other distracted Caloricean and pointed it at her.


    The crowd was also stunned, they just witnessed five heavily armed Galactic Union soldiers get captured in a matter of seconds. Once they did register they cheered their glorious leader on.


    ¡°Alright! If you want to live, you¡¯ll do exactly as I say!¡± Gabe yelled.


    The Galactic Union officer had almost no chance to react, everything happened so fast it was like he blinked and the tides had already turned. Gabe looked in the distance of where the projectile came from.


    VeVa had set itself on top of one of the clay buildings as a sniper position. Once it received the confirmation it jumped down, due to the short charge of the shot and the sun being up, the solar panels recharged most of the power that was used up already.


    ¡°Now drop all your weapons.¡± He commanded.


    The Caloricean that was being held at gunpoint growled as she unclipped the strap to the heavier blaster, it dropped directly into the sand. The officer threw his pistol off into the sand closer to the crowd. Zara¡¯s capture didn¡¯t even get the chance to touch her weapons as Zara was the one to disarm her. Once disarmed the survivors were herded into a guarded group. They kneeled on the ground with their hands on their heads.


    ¡°We should put their heads on spears to send a message.¡± Zara offered a plan to do with them.


    Gabe looked at the group and then back at the ship, it wasn¡¯t large but it wasn¡¯t small either it could fit maybe fifty people. He looked towards the Caloricean, ignoring the officer. From his knowledge of militaries back on earth, asking the higher ranked would prove to be completely useless. So the common foot soldier would probably be the better choice.


    ¡°Hey, Is that ship space ready?¡±


    The Calorciean female looked at her officer and back at Gabe, he was still handcuffed. Her expression was confusion, she could betray her employers or die and honestly, they didn¡¯t pay her enough to really die, she was afterall a part of the excursion team ¡°The only thing it can¡¯t do is a jump.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Is there a ship around that can?¡±


    ¡°The purity, the carrier we came from.¡± She looked back over to the Officer, you could tell he wanted her to hang for her betrayal. She shrugged ¡°I¡¯m not going to die over a something he could easily find out.¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡± He turned towards Zara who was now holding a blaster. ¡°Gather up like thirty people, we¡¯re going to space, C¡¯mon Vev.¡± They started towards the ramp.


    ¡°What about them?¡± She yelled.


    Gabe stopped at the ramp. ¡°Oh yeah, Bring the girl I was talking to, do what you want to the rest.¡± He entered the ship. It was definitely different from the Warden. Everything was sleek and less gray. The control panels had blue screens, holograms displaying various things one had a slowly rotating planet. This was obviously not going to be the same as the old ship.


    He explored the ship. In fact, this ship was nothing more than a transporter. It was eighty percent storage bay and twenty percent cockpit. at some point he also had Veva chew through the handcuffs.


    Veva approached the hovering planet display, it stared for a moment before jamming its tail in the nearest port. The planet disappeared but showed the solar system then switched to the galaxy.


    ¡°Gabe, I¡¯ve found data in this ships logs pertaining to where we are.¡± Veva unplugged from the port.


    Gabe approached the robot. ¡°Yeah? what¡¯d you find?¡±


    ¡°We are currently in the Zephyr system.¡±


    ¡°Remember three hundred years old. I don¡¯t know where that is.¡±


    ¡°It is a system inside the Milky Way Galaxy.¡±


    ¡°Oh cool! Are we close to home?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m curious, why would you wish to go there?¡±


    He shrugged. ¡°I have a lot to catch up on. Plus I really want to know if I''m one shot away from being extinction.


    ¡°In that case, Yes. we are just a few jumps from the Sol system.¡±


    ¡°Fuck yeah!¡± He brought his elbow downward.


    Zara approached the two she shoved the Caloricean female forward she made an audible ¡®hey¡¯ but was ignored. ¡°Everyone is on.¡±


    ¡°Great! Can you fly this?¡± Gabe asked the girl.


    ¡°I went through the training but never flew.¡± She looked away embarrassed.


    ¡°Good enough for me, to your ship.¡± Gabe turned towards the cockpit windows and did his best to look completely badass.


    The Caloricean female sat at the center console and kicked on the engines, the soft vibrations kicked on. The ship blew sand in all directions, in a second it already in the sky. She repelled the landing gear. In moments they were already in space. Gabe looked down at her, her unbreaking stare at the console proved her lack of proficiency with it.


    Once they reached orbit they could see the ship. It had a very ovular shape with a section of the front cut out. In all it was very pleasing to Gabe, This is what he wanted to cruise around with. Although it could do with a better paint job, the white and blue colors were a little too cop-like for him.During the approach, they could hear over at the communications part of the ship, Galactic standard. Seems the Purity was trying to get a hold of them. Everyone turned and sort of stared at the source. No one wanted to answer. They turned to the pilot who in turn darted her eyes around the room.


    ¡°I can¡¯t!¡± She was visibly nervous. ¡°I¡¯m not a ranking officer!¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s better than not answering them.¡± Gabe reasoned with her.


    ¡°They¡¯ll destroy us on sight if we¡¯d answer.¡± Zara also put in her two cents.


    The caloricean women sighed and pressed the button to connect.


    ¡°Purity too DP-2-3. You¡¯re returning ahead of schedule, Everything okay?¡±


    ¡°Uh yeah DP-2-3 to Purity, This is Private Foriya. Everything is fine, Nothing is wrong!¡±


    ¡°Private? Where¡¯s your commanding officer?¡±


    ¡°He uh, He decided to take a nap on the way back.¡±


    There was a slight silence on the purity¡¯s end before they came back. ¡°Roger that, release manual controls private. We¡¯ll bring you in.¡±


    After that, the connection was severed and she disengaged manual controls. She turned around in her seat to face everyone else. She sighed.


    ¡°Good job!¡± Gabe gave her a thumbs up


    ¡°Keep on proving your usefulness.¡± Zara put a hand on her shoulder she was giving her a thinly disguised threat.


    The ship jerked suddenly as they were ensnared in the ship¡¯s gravity beam. Gabe turned to Zara ¡°Tell everyone to get ready, we are boarding in a few.¡± She nodded once and went to the cargo holding area.


    He turned back to the window and watched the purity slowing growing bigger.


    ¡°Gabe, every time I run scans of you, they keep coming back¡­ with different results.¡± Veva brought that up almost at random.


    ¡°Like?¡± He questioned back.


    ¡°There is something inside your skull, Something inorganic.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, long story.¡± He turned his head to face Veva. ¡°Short story, It¡¯s a broken translator.¡±


    ¡°Curious, In theory, we could repair it and integrate.¡±


    ¡°Do you know how many games that always goes wrong in?¡±


    ¡°To my knowledge seven hundred forty-two.¡±


    Gabe sighed ¡°It was a joke, add a little humor to your circuits.¡±


    ¡°If you wish, Increasing humor to sixty-percent¡±


    Gabe rolled his eyes, they were almost inside the docking bay.


    ¡°Hey! Foriya, was it?¡±


    She perked up and looked at Gabe, ¡°Yeah!¡±


    ¡°How many people crew the purity?¡±


    ¡°Like a hundred minus the four, you killed back on the planet.¡±


    ¡°Cool. Vev I want you to stay here I have a slightly bad feeling about this.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Idling.¡±


    The dropship began its landing procedures. Once the landing gears touched down Gabe smiled. He told the wolf girl to follow him. He made her walk ahead of him. As such a prisoner should. Going down the ramp they spotted the semicircle of thirty soldiers aimed at the group. Every Cartollian in the docking area had their hands on their heads. In small groups, they were being escorted away.


    ¡°Well, fuck.¡±


    Two heavily armored Union soldiers aimed at both of the two, The Union soldiers races were obscured by the armored plating and masks.


    Another one of the higher ranked looking officers came forth. Except he was a Caloricean with neck length hair.


    He eyed Gabe up and down. ¡°You have some nerve coming to my ship directly.¡±


    Gabe shrugged. ¡°I tried.¡±


    The officer turned to the female. ¡°Good job in leading them here. I¡¯ll make sure you receive the proper accolades. Now return to your station.¡±


    ¡°Uh...yes sir!¡± She saluted and ran off down the corridor behind them.


    ¡°Take him away.¡± The Caloricean officer nodded his way down another corridor.


    One of the guards grabbed Gabe by the shoulder and pulled him backward. Veva watched from the window of the cockpit. His prime directive was to protect humanity at all costs and as of right now it seemed like a good idea to take action. Veva jumped from the cockpit down to the loading area and down to the ramp. He laid close to the ground allowing his mechanical body to disguise itself as a piece of junk on the ship. He stayed that way until the docking area emptied out. It only took a few minutes before they found no other life forms on the ship, He slid down the ramp and bolted for the nearest vent. He ripped open the granting using his teeth once an opening was made large enough he crawled his way through. The robot went through many corridors at random.


    Technically, It wasn¡¯t at random. He was following a trace of radiation that his sensors picked up on. The closer he got the more he was sure he was reaching the engine room by the time he reached another grate. He shoved his head forward sending the plate flying. He crawled from underneath he was now in a corridor with a door on his immediate right. His sensors told him that¡¯s where the radiation was the highest. Opening the door revealed an Ithori working on a console. Veva pounced on the man before he could even make a sound, using his razor sharp teeth he tore the throat out the poor creature. He didn¡¯t stop gnawing on the alien until it no longer thrashed about. Blood was splattered and pooled around almost every space in the console room.


    Underneath the console, he tore away at the plating and pulled on random wires, until something happened. Eventually, something did. The lights went out, the soft hum of the engines, everything turned off.


    Gabe sat in a glass cell with two other Cartollians. The door had a red light on the handle. In a few seconds, the area went dark and emergency power came on everything was now bathed in red. The light above the handle also disappeared. Gabe gave the door an inquisitive push and it released.


    ¡°Hell yeah!¡± He walked out opened all the adjacent cells with ¡®his people¡¯. About 15 of them were on this side of the wing, the other half must¡¯ve been kept on the other side of the ship.


    ¡°Shhh.¡± Everyone nodded, this began as a stealth mission and it was damn well going to end as one.


    Gabe took point going to the end of the room was a door, he had one of the lizard people lift the door, Another squeezed underneath he gave the all clear signal and everyone poured through one by one. A good thing about Cartollians was that they were still predators on a basic level, they still knew how to hunt instinctively on their own.


    Any Union soldiers they encountered were swiftly mutilated by the Cartollians claws. Some even stayed to eat bits of the dead. Gabe also acquired a few blasters of his own. He made his way towards the bridge, the lights came back on. But it was too late, the damage was already done to troopers in the hallways.


    He started towards the door when he heard a scratching towards above him, Veva came crashing out of a vent moments later.


    ¡°Hey Vev, What¡¯s up?¡±


    Veva was landed on his back from the fall, his chassis was heavier at the bottom of the robotic body causing him to flip in his current position. Gabe helped him to his feet.


    ¡°Mission Directive completed for now.¡±


    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Gabe was sure he was going to insert a joke into that sentence. Around the corner, a familiar red-headed lizard popped her head around the corner with three other armed Cartollians.


    ¡°Ah! The gang¡¯s all here!¡± Gabe smiled when he saw Zara.


    She nodded ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    ¡°More than ever!¡± He pressed the door control for the bridge and stepped to the side the lizard people poured in the room but fired no shots. Gabe joined after the last of the group went in. Inside was mostly the unarmed side of the personnel. The officer and a handful of pilots.


    ¡°Alright, will the highest ranking official please step forward!?¡± Gabe stood at the center of his tribe''s men.


    The Caloricean male stepped forward. ¡°Heh, you really do have have some nerve.¡±


    Gabe exhaled a little bit of air from his nose. He fired point blank into the Captain.


    ¡°I¡¯m the new captain, Any objections?¡± No one said anything ¡°Good! First order of duty is getting the rest of the people onboard...you and¡­ you two¡± He pointed at two Cartollians and one pilot. ¡°You¡¯ll fly and bring back as many people as possible!¡± Zara repeated his order in their language.


    ¡°Annnnd you! Tell the rest of your people to stand down and gather in the landing bay.¡± The pilot nodded and got on the comms immediately.


    ¡°Alright Vev, plug yourself in, We leave for Earth when we get everyone!¡±

 Chapter 21: Home...

    ¡°Gabe, the last ship has returned with all one hundred and forty passengers are confirmed.¡± Veva unhooked his tail from the console.


    ¡°Awesome! Now, let¡¯s head home!¡± Gabe smiled sat in the captain¡¯s chair. Zara sat on the armrest and slightly leaned backward.


    ¡°Home? What is your planet like?¡± She crossed one leg over her other. She slowly stroked Gabe¡¯s with her claws.


    Veva went over to another console and inserted one of his tails. The pilots flicked through the data that was appearing from the info dump.


    ¡°Well, It was full of people, but how I remember it is pretty green.¡±


    ¡°Green?¡± She stopped stroking his head and cocked her head to the side, the concept of colors was lost on her. Cartollian eyes were very similar to night hunting reptiles, they couldn¡¯t see bright colors but in the dark they could see just about everything. Even with that Gabe used the English word for green making the meaning even more obscured.


    ¡°Uhm, like a color of a ...plant?¡± He tried to explain it the best he could. ¡°You¡¯ll see when we get there!¡±


    She slowly blinked and continued petting her lover.


    ¡°Coordinates have been plotted, we are ready for warp!¡± One of the pilots yelled out. This news pleased Gabe.


    ¡°Alright! On my count! Three! Two!¡± Before he hit one two Cartollians barged onto the bridge interrupting the moment and startling most if not all of the occupants of the room.


    ¡°Chieftain!¡± The bigger of the two spoke, the bridge of the Purity was fairly large, enough to fit six pilots and Gabe¡¯s personal posse with room to spare. Zara got off the armrest and stepped to the side, Gabe swiveled in the chair to look at the two.


    ¡°This one says she knows you.¡± The smaller one threw a small Caloricean female on the floor. Her short brown hair was dishevelled. She was laid out on the floor, she pushed herself up enough to look directly at Gabe, part of her face was blocked by the chaotic hair pattern. Gabe looked at her, she was the soldier that helped them on board. He looked back at the Cartollians, they licked their lips and knife-like teeth, seems what they like to eat their prisoners instead of letting them go free. He looked back to the girl it was clearly obvious she put up a hell of a fight before they subjugated her.


    ¡°Oh, Froyo, right?¡± Remembering her name wasn¡¯t exactly high on Gabe¡¯s list, he assumed that she had got caught during the initial raid by some random Cartollian. But he wasn¡¯t evil, she did prove that she was useful for a while, this will be her ¡®one¡¯. ¡°C¡¯mon, you¡¯re missing history.¡±


    ¡°Y-yes sir!¡± She scrambled to her feet and ran to the opposite side of the chair. The largest lizard man sighed through his nose and left, his partner joined him without saying another word. Foriya let out her held breath. ¡°Thanks.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t thank me yet. You¡¯ve still got a lot to prove.¡± He swiveled back to face the front.


    Zara noticed a familiar situation. Gabe was gaining quite a few people from sparing their lives. At first she was mad that he took another female underneath his wing, but calmed herself to actually look at the female, her hips like almost all Caloriceans were voluptuous, her breasts were much bigger than Zara¡¯s as well. There was no way she wasn¡¯t going to turn down the chance to play with Gabe¡¯s newest pet. Before resuming her position on Gabe¡¯s chair, she said one thing to Foriya. ¡°Welcome.¡± and gave her a toothy smile. Her hunger was on an entirely different spectrum. This sent a chill up her spine.


    Gabe inhaled a breath of air. ¡°Start the J-¡±


    ¡°Captain! Galactic Union fleets emerging from warp!¡±


    ¡°Just¡­ fucking jump.¡± He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.


    ¡°That won¡¯t stop them from follo-¡±


    ¡°Just jump! I¡¯ll fill in the blanks later!¡± Gabe was becoming furious from the constant interruptions.


    The crewman turned back around and pushed a lever forward. The engines began spooling up for the massive amount of speed the ship was about to launch with. Four giant warships flew in from warp. They were at the very least eight times the size of the Purity. A button began to flash on the arm of the chair, Gabe unable to resist what a human does, he pressed the button, The screen in front of him flashed white eventually coming to an image of an Ithori,


    ¡°Captain of the purity,¡± ¡®click¡¯ Gabe pressed the button, he didn¡¯t even give the Ithori a chance to read him his list of crimes on a galactic scale.


    ¡°They¡¯re weapons are locking on!¡± A crewmember on the opposite of the bridge yelled out.


    ¡°Not bad.¡± Zara commended the warship¡¯s quick response. But their response wasn¡¯t quick enough they were already launching, the stars in the distance began to stretch before they knew it they were surrounded on all sides by light walls. Gabe leaned back in his chair. Zara stayed almost unnaturally calm the entire time, probably due to the fact that she¡¯s seen him do neigh impossible things and come out on top. Foriya on the other hand was gripping the arm of the chair so much she made a dent in the metal.


    ¡°One hour until we reach Earth.¡± The Veva said disconnecting its tail.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite a while, Veva.¡± Gabe put his hands over his eyes. He slouched in the chair.


    ¡°Yes, I only said it was close. I never specified at the time.¡±


    ¡°Right, thanks, Veva.¡±


    Zara looked over to Foriya and started to chuckle, it wasn¡¯t that long ago that she was the one that was surprised by these situations.


    ¡°What? You must not know the firepower of an inquisitor class ship!¡± She tried to rationalize her fear. But fell upon deaf ears, since Cartollians rarely traveled to the stars.


    Gabe reopened his eyes and looked at the wolf girl, for a moment he thought he was seeing Rhenixa. He shook his head the image corrected to the right female. The similar outfit really didn¡¯t help, actually something seemed a little too close, they both had nearly the exact same thing, except this chick, wolf, girl, whatever, was wearing pants instead of those skimpy shorts.


    He interrupted Zara¡¯s constant teasing of the female, ¡°Hey Froyo, what do you know about a Caloricean named Rhenixa.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty common name, I knew at least three during basic training.¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    ¡°Right, nothing forget about what I said.¡± He began to yawn. Seems the actions from earlier today had finally begun to hit him.


    ¡°Froyo, did that captain have like his own room or anything?¡± He looked at her sluggishly.


    ¡°He did.¡±


    ¡°Lead the way.¡± He yawned once more.


    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± Out of habit, she saluted him. And right faced to the door she seemed to have forgotten that this point she was no longer a part of the Galactic Union.


    ¡°You can drop the military formalities, you know. I''m not an officer.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Oh. Heh, right.¡± He cheeks heated slightly when she realized her folly.


    She led them down several hallways they passed several Cartollians and Caloriceans walking or standing together, seems that not all of.them being used as food. But it made sense that those two races got along. Both races practically loved to fight, making them brother''s in arms after a few quick spars. Although, spotting an Ithori alive was much rarer.


    She stopped in front a white door that couldn''t have looked anymore bland.


    ¡°Through there.¡± She approached the door controls and pressed a button, the door slid to the side. The first thing that was noticed was the massive bed. Gabe looked like He¡¯s finally seen heaven he went straight to it.


    Zara had injected herself with one of her vials of Saz¡¯k. Foriya started to walk away but was halted by something grabbing her tail. Zara looked at her with a predatory grin. To Zara this was going to be test the wolf girl¡¯s worthiness. In Cartollian culture it wasn¡¯t uncommon for the chieftain to have multiple lovers but she sure as hell going to let him have any weak females around him.


    ¡°Wha-¡± She was about to voice her complaint but the juiced up Cartollian was strong.she dragged her into the room and closed the door. No escaping for her prey now.


    Gabe was laying on his back when a brown blur landed next to him, he jumped in surprise the soldier known as Foriya was upside down on her back against the wall at the head of the bed. She let out a small grunt and an ¡®ouch¡¯. Looking at the girl revealed that her combat vest was removed along with her undershirt. Her breasts were hugged by a green sports bra that allowed for a slight sway as she tried to correct her positioning. Zara¡¯s body was great and all, but larger breasts had a certain magic to them that made them all the greater. Gabe could feel himself start to get lewd ideas just by looking at this female.


    Zara stepped closer cracking her neck, she was entirely naked. Her tanned body was pretty stunning in the soft lighting of the captain¡¯s cabin. Judging by the liquid from in between her thighs and the familiar eyes of the primal Cartollian, Gabe already knew where this was going and knew how it was going to end.


    He maneuvered his way behind the still adjusting wolf girl. He put his hand underneath her top and raised it, her breasts immediately fell out and jiggled momentarily before coming to stop, She began to blush and her eyes widened.


    ¡°Just go with it, we¡¯ll both make it out alive.¡± Gabe whispered in her ear from behind whilst still slowly groping her bountiful breasts.. She kept her mouth closed and nodded, her face turned a deeper pink as the blood rushed quicker due to the Caloricean¡¯s dual heart set up. What he said mostly a half truth, together they could entirely overpower her attacker but, he did have his own ulterior motives.


    Releasing one hand from her groping her he undid the top of her pants. Zara practically tore her pants off disregarding the fact that Gabe was already working them off. That¡¯s when Gabe learned that they do in fact have underwear in space and Foriya¡¯s were black.


    Zara crawled onto the bed, she let out low predatory growls. Her eyes locked onto one spot and one spot only, her lips. She climbed over top and forcefully pressed her lips against hers. Zara¡¯s tail coiled it''s way around her leg up to her thigh and pushed it''s way past her underwear. She let out a muffled gasp, Zara¡¯s tongue entered her mouth.


    At first, she tensed up but slowly she accepted the foreign muscle. Zara¡¯s tail continuously rammed her insides causing her to make muffled lewd noises.


    As the two went at each other Gabe thought to himself, if only Lance could see me now. That''s when he realized. He hasn''t been to his hometown in over three hundred years, he knows where he was going to make his first stop. Gabe¡¯s face changed, he just now realized his twin brother was now long dead. It¡¯s upsetting to him that he didn¡¯t realize it sooner. His past week had been pretty chaotic, he actually was pretty thankful it distracted him from his reality.


    Then he felt his pants come off. At some point, while he was thinking about home Foriya started to enjoy herself and the two had changed positions. Froyia was on her hands and knees facing Gabe while Zara was using her snake-like tongue pleasure her. She looked straight into his eyes, her lust was positively spilling out from them.


    ¡°You looked pretty sad, captain.¡± She wrapped her hand around his shaft. ¡°I¡¯ll cheer you up!¡± she winked and took his entire penis her mouth. Now that he thought about it, he wasn¡¯t nearly as lustful as he did when he came into contact with Zara, was it possible that Cartollians contained an aphrodisiac venom? Most signs point to yes.


    Well, nothing kills a boner faster than thinking about your dead twin brother. Gabe smiled and enjoyed the feeling of the wolf girl giving him a blowjob. Zara stopped tending to the wolf girl to meet her lover¡¯s lips. After her share of lip service she pulled.the wolf girl back, she spread her legs and separated her nether lips.


    ¡°Ravage her.¡± Zara was giving less of a suggestion and more of a command.


    The wolf girl was practically begging, her breathing was fast and shallow. Well if it was desired Gabe would oblige, the tip of his penis kissed her lower lips, she shuddered from the feeling. He pushed himself in she lewdly gasped. He went at her for several minutes before the instigator herself joined in. Her purpose this time was to break the girl through a final orgasm. She pinched at her nipples, and wrapped her tail around Gabe¡¯s shaft to quicken the pace. At first it was a weird sensation but he slowly warmed up, hey, at least he can say he¡¯s gotten a tail job now.


    With a number of sensations she was feeling at once she came not just once but a total of four times. After her fourth Gabe was at his limit. He emptied everything he had pent up inside of her. She was passed out on the bed next to Gabe. Zara climbedover top of Gabe. Seems her fun was just beginning.


    It was the longest hour yet, but effectively both girls were asleep and Gabe was feeling more than drained. Veva waltzed through the door.


    ¡°Gabe we¡¯ve arrived.¡± he sat in the middle of the floor in a very doggish manner.


    He sat up to look at Veva. ¡°Thanks, Vev, can you calculate a course to Sunshore city?¡±


    ¡°Calculating location, it''s possible. Why would you want to go there? a better choice would be a more popular city.¡±


    ¡°It''s my home.¡± he deadpanned. The emotions he.was feeling.right now were mixed.


    ¡°understood, anything else you¡¯d like? Like pants?.¡±


    Gabe looked down, he actually couldn''t remember where those things were thrown. He waved the robot off, ¡°Nah, just give us a few minutes, we¡¯ll be right out.


    What seemed like a robotic grin the VeVa left the room. Gabe looked at the two sleeping females. Time to confront his past, or was it his future?


    He slapped Zara on her butt. ¡°We¡¯re landing soon.¡± She didn¡¯t even open her eyes she just grunted and twitched.


    Just like that Gabe was wearing nearly the exact clothing as a Galactic Union soldier, a black combat vest, A grey t-shirt black pants and black boots. This attire was hell of a lot comfier than the sand colored leathers he had on. He stepped onto the bridge, while he was getting ready they were already going through the atmosphere. Once they got over the cloud coverage, everyone saw the remnants of what was human civilization. It was horrifying to Gabe, buildings were overtaken by plant life, streets were split as thick vines sprouted from the ground and entrapped things. Of course that was nothing compared to the once busy streets being completely empty aside from the abandoned cars. Gabe¡¯s emotions finally surfaced, He wanted to cry but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was from nostalgia, loneliness, or anger. He forced himself to hold back his emotions, but just about anything could break him at the moment.


    He pointed a nearby parking garage. ¡°Land there.¡± in his peripherals he could see the two females he was with come next to him. He exited the bridge with a short sentence. ¡°C¡¯mon.¡± Veva also followed him out, it was just as much as his home as Gabe¡¯s.


    ¡°This is Earth?¡± Zara questioned


    ¡°Yeah, it is.¡±


    ¡°I advise caution, my sensors are still picking up traces of infection.¡± Veva quickened his pace to the front of the group, possibly to scan the areas before Gabe arrived at them.


    Gabe didn¡¯t say a word, he just pulled out a blaster, any dangers that arose would have to deal with that first.

 Chapter 22: Home Town...

    ¡°I know it¡¯s a bit late, but could you tell me about the infection?¡± Gabe stumbled over the uneven pavement.


    ¡°I am currently establishing a connection with one of the satellites right now, estimated time is unknown, I cannot tell you when the information will be ready. What I do know is that it¡¯s not airborne.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a rel- did you just say, ¡®connection¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I did.¡±


    ¡°Like the internet?¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that sooner!?¡±


    ¡°I assumed you knew, Humanity wouldn¡¯t suddenly turn everything off because they left Earth.¡±


    How could he have been so stupid, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone from his time period. As a memento from his life, he carried his phone and wallet on him the whole time he was in space. He just never saw a reason to use his phone considering its battery would have died anyway.


    ¡°Hey Vev, can you charge this?¡± He held up the dead piece of technology.


    Veva grabbed the device with a tail and inspected it. ¡°its old, but I could, however, I will need some time.¡±


    ¡°That''s good enough for me.¡± He turned to the girls. Zara was inspecting an aluminum Dr. Cola can that had been littered on the street. Seems the shininess and coloration attracted her vision. Foriya was sort of just standing around awkwardly with her weapon down keeping an eye on the surroundings, you know what they say, once a soldier¡­


    Gabe walked up to a random storefront. He placed a hand on the glass and looked inside. He wasn¡¯t exactly familiar with this part of the city, at best he had been in this part six times ever.


    ¡°Ah, good.¡± He picked up a nearby trash can and through it at the window. The glass couldn¡¯t withstand the attack, the entire thing shattered like at once resembling a waterfall. He had turned away from the scene to protect his face.


    Both Zara and Foriya had both been alerted to his actions. Gabe simply shrugged, ¡°What? I don¡¯t know when I will I ever get another chance to do this.¡±


    ¡°But, why?¡± Foriya was confused, she knew he was sad about his planet falling to ruin, then why would he go and destroy more of it? Zara seemingly just didn¡¯t care.


    ¡°Sometimes human nature is the hardest impulse to control.¡± He crawled through the shattered window. From their perspective, he disappeared into the blackness of the building. He unlocked the door.


    ¡°Well C¡¯mon, there is something I want you guys to see.¡± He disappeared into the darkness, the two girls were left outside to look at each other. Zara was the first to walk inside after a second of hesitation Froyia walked in. Zara walked in between aisles of bright multi-coloured bags and random miscellaneous foods.


    ¡°Catch!¡± Gabe threw a small white package at Zara.


    She had to back up a few inches but she managed to catch the package. ¡°What is this?¡± she grabbed one corner of it and dangled it.


    ¡°It¡¯s a snack! The best snack around, actually.¡± He held one out for Froyia to take. Once she held out her hands he dropped the white packaged snack food onto her palms. She gave it an investigative squeeze.


    ¡°It¡¯s... soft,¡± Froyia mentioned.


    ¡°Yeah, these things almost never go bad, especially if they¡¯re kept cold like this!¡± The two girls watched as he undid the wrapper to junk food, a yellowish sponge cake revealed itself from the wrappings, he took a confident bite out of it. ¡°How I''ve missed you human food!¡± Nothing says comfort like unhealthy sugary junk food made on Earth! A smile appeared on his face. Imitating him the two girls undid the wrapper and took bites, their reactions were...very different. Zara upon having the spongecake touch her tongue she nearly vomited, she spit out the food somewhere in a corner. Foriya was reaction was practically nonexistent, apparently, she could not even taste it.


    ¡°Right, sorry. Forgot about the whole, not being a human thing.¡± He finished the rest of his snack in a few bites. There would be more times to figure what they would like. They exited the store using the currently unlocked door.


    VeVa had been sitting on the sidewalk since he gained most of his power from sunlight, he decided it would have been pointless to stunt the charge of the phone so he had waited for them.


    ¡°Gabe, your phone is useable now.¡± He held the phone out for Gabe to hold the phone in his tail, Gabe took the device and gave it a quick look and sighed.


    ¡°...No service, guess no one paid the bill¡± He threw the piece of useless metal over his shoulder wherever it went would be anyone¡¯s guess.


    ¡°There is one place I have to go to I need to know if my house is still standing after these years.¡±


    ¡°it is highly likely that it was sold.¡±


    ¡°Nah. Not this place, my dad¡­¡± Gabe hesitated for a moment and recomposed himself. ¡°My dad, he built that place with his bare hands, practically a family heirloom.¡±


    Most of the journey to his home was spent in silence, mainly from his focus to find answers about his family after he was sent to the future. Every now and then Zara or would question what something was and he¡¯d explain it to them, but ultimately they just looked around at the destroyed beauty of his home city. The fastest way from the city to the outskirts where he lived was by train, at best it¡¯d take about five minutes but with most of the city¡¯s power being inactive they were left hiking it. The sun was already starting to set by the time they approached the neighbourhood. The house that Gabe once lived in was once just ahead of them.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°This was where you lived?¡± To Zara most of this architecture was strange. Wood and concrete, as well as other materials, weren¡¯t as available on the desert planet. His home stood leagues above the chieftain¡¯s hut. Gabe turned to her smiled and started to go forward, waving for the two girls to follow.


    ¡°Gabe, I am detecting a high amount of radiation in the area.¡±


    Gabe hesitated in his walk to the house. ¡°Is it dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Unknown, there are slight traces of the same type within your body.¡±


    ¡°Then it¡¯s gotta be safe.¡±


    ¡°That logic does make a whole lot of sense.¡± It didn¡¯t matter what VeVa was saying, It was ignored as Gabe walked to the front door. As soon as he even touched the doorknob he was assaulted by an excruciating headache.


    ¡°Whoa, You okay?¡± He fell backward into Froyia. Causing her to catch him in her arms.


    Images flashed through his head, most made almost zero sense, some were literally just colors it took a moment before the colors and nausea went away. Everything went back to normal in a moment.


    ¡°What? Oh, yeah, yeah. I¡¯m fine, Thanks.¡± He got out from the woman¡¯s embrace


    She looked at him with a with a worrying expression. Even for a creature she barely even heard about until today, that was definitely not normal.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll stay out here, where I''m not going to have my brain leak through my ears.¡± She took a few steps away from the spot she was previously in. Zara shrugged and also stayed outside.


    ¡°Gabe, you¡¯re radiation levels have just spiked to unsafe levels.¡±


    ¡°I''m fine.¡± for the first time in a long time his voice was stern. He pushed on, his head was pounding. Causing him to be a little more than irritated.


    To his fortune, the house was actually still the same as it was three hundred years ago, of course, there was a lot more yellow tape warning about radiation, but was still the same. He went immediately to the basement, or rather what was left of the basement. Where his machine once operated proudly was a crater. It wasn¡¯t as if it was exploded. But more that the ground was simply gone.


    ¡°Gabe, if you get any closer to that area. Any more exposure and you will die.¡± VeVa warned him.


    Gabe barely heard the voice over the pounding. ¡°Yeah...got it.¡± Staring at the fate of his basement led him to believe that the after he jumped time and space the machine imploded in on itself and entirely caked the house in a space radiation. He turned and went back upstairs. The further he got from the ground zero the less impact it had on his brain, the thumping calmed.


    ¡°How¡¯s the download going?¡±


    ¡°The signal was weak, but I''ve managed a good portion.¡±


    Gabe sat down in one of the chairs in the kitchen. ¡°Tell me what you know.¡±


    ¡°There is a lot of information, would you like it shortened?¡±


    ¡°Sure, why not?¡±


    VeVa began with the days before the evacuation of the Human race, He gave police reports of missing people, signs of cult-like activity when the bodies were found. Most bodies were found to be ripped apart, shredded or dissolved around the abdomen. Later riots sprouted with seemingly no cause. He played audios of the news reports from the events at first they suspected that it was a massive outbreak of drugs or a viral infection of the brain, but it turned out to be false when no drugs or infections were found in the autopsy reports, however a large quantity of mucus was found, the cause of the build up however was unknown. VeVa skipped over the few years of chaos, the victims of the riots began to show signs of sickness, pale skin, dry eyes and an overwhelming amount of mucus draining from their face. By this time the CDC was already talking about alternatives to dealing with this.


    Even later over half of the United states population was either dead or quarantined, the news reported people being killed on sight if someone showed the slightest chance that they had symptoms similar to the others. At this point the CDC and NASA were talking about abandoning Earth as a lost cause and moving the healthy to another planet seeing as the mortality rate was over one hundred percent, they theorized that the Human population would be wiped out if they sat idle on the decision, the President authorized increased funding to the space program. Needless to say, those in quarantine zones were appalled and rebelled.


    ¡°That¡¯s all that I have downloaded so far.¡±


    ¡°Vev...I this sounds like some kind of zombie apocalypse¡­¡±


    ¡°I do not have any records of the dead coming back to life.¡±


    Zara burst in from the doorway seems she had an urgent message that overrode her will to stay on the outside, away from the radiation. ¡°Gabe, we have company, your call if we attack them.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± He had remembered that the Galactic Union was on their tail, seems they had nothing better to do than track down the rogue ship. He went to the front of the house.


    Froyia was inside as well, she had taken cover beside the window peeking slightly out to keep an eye on the enemy, she was ready to fire when given the command. Gabe approached the window himself, It was not the Galactic Union, near the house across the street from them were two APCs with four human¡¯s standing guard in a perimeter. The armor they wore was nearly military grade, a little mismatched here and there but none the less still very official looking. They were breaking in through the door, every now and then a few would emerge with duffel bags filled with...stuff and went back in.


    ¡°Should we attack?¡± Zara was feeling eager, a bit too eager there would be no way they¡¯d make it out alive if they attacked.


    ¡°No¡­¡± Gabe sat and watched as they ransacked the house, it took them only a few minutes but they left with haste.


    ¡°Human vitals confirmed,¡± VeVa stated the obvious.


    ¡°Thanks, I really couldn¡¯t tell.¡± As much as he wanted to go out and finally talk to those of his race, He knew that humans were the most dangerous in times of struggle.


    Once he was sure that they were gone, he took a step outside, the sun was barely there anymore the sky was painted with a dim orange glow. The two girls stood beside him Zara put a hand on his shoulder. As much time as she spent around him, she could tell when he was troubled by something. And so far this was worse she¡¯s seen him.


    There was a loud crack and Gabe felt something warm splatter on his cheek. As if it was in slow motion, he watched his red haired lizard woman lover fall backward. He wiped his cheek and looked at the liquid it was blood, her blood. As if everything went back to normal speed, she collapsed onto the ground. Her body squirmed and pain. The loud cracking continued, Froyia nearly tackled the stunned Gabe into cover. She yelled something at him, but he couldn¡¯t exactly hear her for some reason, he watched her move but couldn¡¯t do anything with his body. For the first time he finally felt what it was like to have someone that he cared for dying. This whole time that he¡¯s been in space it felt like he was never truly losing, even when he was it was counter acted by that future sight that he had and he¡¯d turn the situation around, here there was nothing. Just a bleeding out Zara.


    He looked over to VeVa. The robotic companion was also at a lost of what to do. The person who shot Zara must¡¯ve been a Human, causing the robot to internally fight with his programing, was it to attack and protect Gabe or was it going to kill humans and disobey the prime directive it was given. It wasn¡¯t long before they were surrounded with guns pointing at them. At this moment Gabe snapped back into control of his body, To help Zara he¡¯d have to do something smart, He got up from the spot raised his arms and shouted.


    ¡°We surrender!¡±

 Chapter 23: Blood!

    ¡°I haven''t even been following you for a cycle yet and I''ve already been captured three times. Is this common for you?¡± Froyia tested the strength of the handcuffs currently on her hands, they were made sturdy but were no match for a Caloricean. Easily the chain link connecting the two cuffs could have been snapped apart. But, Zara¡¯s life was in the hands of the humans that were leading them. She thought it would be best to contain herself and not put herself in a position where she recently made lover would also want to kill her, her life already was in his hand¡¯s, she didn¡¯t want to lose his kindness.


    ¡°More or less, yeah.¡± Gabe was continuing to stare at Zara obviously pained state. Gabe didn¡¯t know why, but the same feeling he got earlier was acting up, it was a sudden urge to protect her. An urge that went deeper than what he knew he could feel. The source of why he felt this way was still unknown, considering that he met her like a week ago.


    The human that carried her was a tall man, Zara being closer to Gabe¡¯s height was much shorter than the man, but he was thinner. He body didn¡¯t look large enough that he would be able to carry a full grown woman, but Cartollians weighed significantly less than due to their bone structure being on a whole different level to humans, he had very little problems carrying her.


    ¡°Wait, three times?¡± He looked over to shackled Caloricean, He knew she was trying to get his attention away from Zara, He knew that¡¯s exactly what he needed, worrying wasn¡¯t getting them in a better situation. He continued the small talk. ¡°I know about now and when you landed. What''s the other time?¡±


    One of the humans shoved her forward, most likely to get her to close her mouth and focus on walking. She growled back in retaliation turning back to Gabe she continued her defiance and talked. ¡°During your coup.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. How¡¯d you even get caught?¡±


    It seems she didn¡¯t think he would ask what happened, She gave a slightly embarrassed chuckle and started to fidget, ¡°I was bored so I was heading to the shooting range. When I left my bunk the lights went out and a few Cartollians brought me to you.¡±


    Gabe could tell this was an obvious lie, everything in her body movement was getting out of character for her, her typical behavior was to be relaxed in situations that would make most uncomfortable, whatever was being left out was highly upsetting to talk about for her. Probably if she trusted Gabe a lot more she¡¯d be more willing, but he decided not to pry.


    ¡°Quiet!¡± One of the men escorting Gabe shoved him. Already being in an emotional state he snapped.


    ¡°Look asshole,¡± Gabe turned around to face his assailant, their face was obscured by a green bandana that was tied around their mouth. What Gabe could see was the exposed upper part of the face, it was dirty and heavily scarred. ¡° I am not afraid to turn the rest of my race into a legend. I¡¯ve made creatures the size of buildings die.¡± Although most of the warlords he¡¯s killed were from being lucky and cheap tricks he still did have a track record of killing quite a few things.


    ¡°Try me, kid.¡± The man got closer to his face, making absolute sure eye contact was being made.


    ¡°Take this cuffs off me and we¡¯ll settle this man to man.¡± The one thing Gabe had forgotten in his time around mercs and space lizards. Humans are dicks.


    They stared at each other for a whole minute before a smaller male, dressed similarly walked up from behind, he smacked the back of the man¡¯s head.


    ¡°Ty, we don¡¯t have time for this.¡± His face wasn¡¯t covered by anything revealing that he was relatively young and that he had much softer features.


    The man walked past Gabe making sure to shove his shoulder into him. Once the man known as Ty was at least ten paces ahead of them he spoke up once more. ¡°It isn¡¯t safe to travel during the night.¡± It wasn¡¯t a threat but Gabe was a lot more compliant being told this instead, after all, whatever happened during Earth could still be happening and more active during nightfall.


    ¡°Alright.¡± He turned around caught up to Froyia, They walked side by side thankfully the rest of the Humans didn¡¯t go too far, the commotion between Gabe and Ty must¡¯ve been something they stopped to watch.


    ¡°If you guys need a planet, you¡¯d fit right in on Claroicea.¡± She joked but Gabe was too far angry to laugh about it. He went back to looking at the man carrying Zara.


    They reached the human camp before night fell. In fact, the camp was actually a place that Gabe still knew, The police station. Of Course, it looked different now, the barbed wire fences and armed guards gave that away. In a post-apocalyptic Earth, a secure location like this must be a haven.


    Most of the group split up leaving around four people escorting the Gabe and Froyia. While the others took Zara to another location. Minutes of walking they were led to a man. He looked well fed compared to a good portion of the humans they had passed reaching to this place. He wore a hat very reminiscent to those of cowboys. Sweat stains could be seen around the collar of his shirt.


    Just moments before he had been talking to someone with an eye patch, they had started to leave just as Gabe arrived. He eyed Gabe silently, the atmosphere was so tense it was nearly palpable like a mist slowly engulfing the room. Gabe¡¯s attitude wasn''t helping either, he tried to hold back the urge to punch this guy into a pulp for just being in relation to the band of humans that shot Zara.


    ¡°Someone care to explain why an alien and a kid are standing next to me?¡± He extended his arms and motioned around the room for someone to speak. It didn''t take long for someone to respond.


    In fact, it was very expected that no one was surprised to see an alien after all Earth was in a constant state of disaster it would probably take a lot to make these people surprised.Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°We found them while we were trailing Keller''s men. We shot one of them and the robot that was with them ran off.¡±


    ¡°A robot?¡± He looked around the room spotting only the men, Gabe and Froyia. ¡°Well, where is the robot?¡±


    ¡°The robot ran off by the time we captured those two.¡±


    He looked back the two captives. ¡°Where is my hospitality. Uncuff these two.¡± He snapped his fingers and waited, it was very obvious by his southern accent that he was not from around here.¡° I am so very sorry for these idiots who fired at you. Abel by the way.¡± He extended a hand out to Gabe. He looked at it for a moment, He anger began to subside just slightly. As trustworthy as this guy man seem he probably wouldn¡¯t hesitate to stab a baby in its crib. Gabe shook his hand.


    ¡°Gabe, the girl is Froyia, she possibly has Stockholm syndrome. You have another one of my friends, she¡¯s Sala¡¯Zara and she was shot by one of your people.¡±


    ¡°I will make sure that we do all that we can to help your friend.¡± As he said that several people in the room left. ¡°As I can see from you two¡¯s appearances you¡¯re not from Earth. So the colonies worked?¡±


    ¡°Dunno, I¡¯m from here. Just not from this time.¡±


    ¡°Pardon?¡±


    Gabe pulled out his wallet with his ID, He showed Abel. He got closer and squinted, ¡°This here says you¡¯d be over a few centuries old.¡±


    ¡°Momma always told me to respect my elders.¡± He let out a quick chuckle. The way that he reacted was about the same as someone finding out that the sky was blue. Not like that would give them any useful tips or a way to survive ¡°Your last name, Capursi. I reckon I heard that before...Boys do any of you know any Capursi?¡±


    A smallish male that Gabe recognized as the one who gave him the warning stepped from the crowd. ¡°I know a few Capursi.¡±


    ¡°You do?¡±


    ¡°Me and my sister.¡±


    He laughed, ¡°Alright, Take your grandpappy to his living accommodations. Gabe, I have a favor to ask you in the morning.¡±


    The softer faced boy nodded his head and turned out indicating that Gabe should follow behind.


    ¡°I don¡¯t trust that weird sounding guy¡± Froyia leaned into his ear and spoke softly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t either the way he talks seems too friendly,¡± Gabe responded in a hushed voice, not that anyone could even understand the two.


    ¡°I think we should escape when they leave us alone.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to risk the safety of Zara, we stay until she¡¯s at least forty-five percent better, then we leave, forcefully if we have to.¡±


    It was a short walk down the street once they left the station. The space they were using for sleeping happened to be a restored, mostly restored hotel. They went up the stairs to the third or fourth floor. They stopped at a door with the numbers 324.


    ¡°So are you really a Capursi?¡± The boy asked he looked roughly around the same age as Gabe.


    ¡°Yeah, for as long as I can remember.¡±


    ¡°Then... Are you like, my great great grandfather?¡±


    ¡°Hah. no, I never had kids. You¡¯re probably from my brother¡¯s bloodline.¡± Gabe started to think about the math of the situation. ¡°If everything went right, then you¡¯re my great, great, great nephew.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty...strange.¡± The kid looked a bit anxious for a moment like he was full of questions but had nowhere to start. ¡°I...have to go relieve one of the guards for the night watch, I''ll tell my sister to go meet you in the morning.¡± The boy started to walk off.


    ¡°Hey, you never told me your name!¡± Gabe called out to him as he was already halfway to the stairs


    ¡°It¡¯s Lucas!¡± And with that, he descended down the stairs.


    The two entered the room, seems the locks were busted. Good to know, the room was run down, the carpet was missing in several places. Appliances and other things were broken or downright gone and vines entered through the windows.


    ¡°Cozy,¡± Froyia said as she accidently knocked over a mug that was on a table. ¡°So who was that kid, he had similar eyes to you.¡±


    ¡°Apparently, one of my brother¡¯s descendants.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about humans, does sharing blood make him trustworthy?¡±


    Gabe plopped down on the couch, its deterioration wasn¡¯t as drastic as most of the room, but it was definitely one of the better pieces of furniture.


    ¡°Probably not. It¡¯s possible we aren¡¯t even related, we humans can share names and have no relations.¡±


    ¡°Your race is very much like mine.¡± she sat down next to him except she put her back towards Gabe and leaned on him.


    ¡°Oh yeah, Caloriceans have clans full of non-blood relatives.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ How¡¯d you learn that?¡±


    ¡°Apparently, I somehow got myself into a clan.¡±


    ¡°Which one? Roriya? Yellifiya? Bon-fif-fiya?¡±


    ¡°Anaya.¡±


    ¡°What!¡± Foriya shot upward and looked at Gabe, her eyes were wide in surprise.


    ¡°Is there something wrong with them?¡± Gabe was genuinely confused.


    ¡°Is there something wrong with them!?¡± Everything is wrong with them! I¡¯ve never met one personally, but I¡¯ve seen reports that involved them.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°And they always go and make situations worse, Just before I joined you we were getting reports about an attack on an Ithori officer party, The building was nearly leveled before the Galactic Union stepped in! Reports said that the stolen ship belonging to Selarixa Anaya was in orbit.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds about right.¡±


    ¡°What did I just get myself into? She leaned back onto Gabe and covered her eyes with her hands. ¡°If I''m found with an Anaya, that¡¯s a death penalty.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna take a guess, but, since you basically deserted wouldn¡¯t that be a death penalty?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯d be a shoot on sight, being in affiliation with a highly known criminal like that lands you a warrant for extreme torture or ¡®interrogations¡¯ as they call it.¡±


    A pair of metallic claws appeared from the window, It was VeVa. It had climbed its way all the way up to avoid detection. It dropped to the floor.


    ¡°Afternoon, Gabe.¡±


    Gabe suddenly got up from the couch causing Froyia to frantically flail her arms around as she fell onto the cushions. ¡°Perfect timing, I want you to stand guard in case of intruders.


    ¡°Understood, Gabe.¡±

 Chapter 24: Donuts

    The sun rose, The familiar sun. Not some alien star in an Alien solar system light years away. The sun that Gabe grew up with. The room began to fill itself with the light of early morning. Gabe was fully awake he had fallen asleep on the couch with Froyia next him. Half her body dangled off the couch, Her body armor was casually thrown on the ground, And something Gabe learned last night was that she barely ever had any support for her breasts, especially while she slept. The shirt she had on was very tight fitting caressing her curved waist and displaying her true bust size even going as far as to showing the nubs of her nipples poking at the fabric. This would have been a perfect moment if she hadn¡¯t been snoring.


    She had been using Gabe¡¯s lap as a pillow, Using his practice in moving quietly against Zara he successfully moved her head to the couch without waking her, with minor mistakes. He stretched his body and looked for VeVa.


    ¡°Vev!¡± He whispered. ¡°Vev, Come out!¡±


    On command, VeVa erupted from his hiding space in the shadow of a chair. ¡°Good morning, Gabe.¡±


    ¡°Morning.¡± He replied before yawning. He started to head for the door. ¡°I¡¯m going to take a walk, Make sure she¡¯s safe.¡± He pointed a thumb to the snoring woman on the couch.


    The robot went over to Froyia and sat down in front. Gabe nodded and opened the door and took a step forward. He was greeted with a sideways fist into the nose. He recoiled grabbing his nose. He groaned in pain.


    ¡°Oh shit! I¡¯m sorry!¡± A female with short black hair grabbed onto his shoulders. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting you to open the door!¡±


    The commotion had woken up Froyia, she was holding a broken chair leg and in a defensive position for a swing at the intruder. Veva was also ready as it was charging the railgun for a quick shot. Gabe pulled his hands away from his nose, Blood slowly trickled down.


    ¡°Gabe!¡± Froyia called out to him, anyone could see that she was still mostly asleep, her movements were overly sluggish and it looked as those was barely conscious. ¡°Are you okay!?¡±


    ¡°Fuck...yeah, Yeah.¡± He raised a hand and waved it a few times. ¡°I was behind on getting punched, It was bound to happen sooner or later.¡±


    Froyia was hesitant but she eventually dropped the chair leg. VeVa was much quicker to disregard his hostilities. Gabe took a seat on the couch and held his head backward. There was the silence that went on long enough to make sure that everyone was calm.


    ¡°You must be Gabe?¡± The black haired girl cocked her hip to favor one side, her arms crossed.


    ¡°Yeah, and you are?¡± Gabe raised his head slightly blood slowly came out his nose.


    ¡°Lyn, Lyn Capursi. My brother told me that you¡¯re an uncle of some sort?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s entirely possible. If you have a family photo I might be able to confirm it.¡±


    She rolled her eyes, ¡°Saying I were to believe you and my brother that you¡¯re really a part of our family, how are you even still alive?¡±


    Gabe leaned forward, his nose already done dripping. ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a family secret.¡± He looked left and right quickly, he held a hand up and motioned for her to get closer. When she was close enough he simply said. ¡°Magic.¡±This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± She started to look extremely unamused. ¡°I want a straight answer.¡±


    ¡°Fine. But promise me you won¡¯t laugh at me when you hear it.¡±


    ¡°No promises.¡±


    Gabe sighed, ¡°I was trying to build a teleporter I forgot to put in a switch to stop the countdown...I somehow ripped a tiny hole in time and space and sorta slingshotted myself three hundred or so years into the future.¡±


    She stifled a laugh with a cough. ¡°Doing something without fully thinking it through, yup. You¡¯re definitely a Capursi. Well, as far as I''m concerned at least.¡± She looked over at the wolf girl leaning on the window sill. ¡°How long have you actually been you know, around in this time?¡±


    Gabe shrugged, ¡°I lost count, about a week or two? Maybe longer.¡± But since I answered a few of your questions, mind answering a few of mine?¡±


    ¡°Shoot.¡±


    Gabe¡¯s face took a serious emotion change. ¡°How¡¯s my...friend doing?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s doing fine, If we didn¡¯t have her strapped down she probably would have broken more than someone¡¯s hand. Last I checked she was awake.¡±


    ¡°What are we waiting for!? Let¡¯s go to her!¡± Gabe started to go for the door when Lyn grabbed his arm, turning him back to face her.


    ¡°Hang on. I was told that you¡¯ll be able to see her in time, But I had to bring you to Abel.¡±


    ¡°Fine whatever, let¡¯s get it over with.¡± He was back into this feeling of aggression.


    Abel was standing at the gates of the police station, waiting for Gabe. His hands in his pockets. The smell of fire lingered around the area. He had two armed men standing by his side.


    ¡°What do you want to be done?¡± Gabe was short and blunt.


    ¡°Good morning to you too.¡± He said tilting his hat.


    ¡°I¡¯ll accept, whatever it is...on two conditions.¡±


    ¡°I see you¡¯re no stranger to making hasty decisions. What''re your terms?¡±


    Gabe got closer to him so close the two were almost breathing on each other.


    ¡°Zara, I heard she was doing much better now. I want to see her now.¡±


    ¡°Done. Your other wish?¡±


    ¡°Have someone take Froyia to my ship, I¡¯m going to need it.¡±


    ¡°Also done, Anything else? Slippers, coffee?¡± He chuckled. His smile faded the mood matched Gabe¡¯s attitude. The eye contact the two made were practically always a test to see who would waiver first.¡°Keller, A big man, with too much power over us... I need him dead.¡±


    ¡°Why do you need me? You look like you guys could kill him yourselves.¡±


    ¡°I know it doesn¡¯t look like much, but we have a lot of innocent lives, families. If I risk sending one of my men. He¡¯ll know and he¡¯ll come after us.¡±


    ¡°And you trust me enough to kill him?¡±


    Abel took a step back putting his hands on his hips. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you even a lick. But you came with aliens, that¡¯s enough information for me to know that you aren¡¯t on his side.¡±


    ¡°Consider him dead. Now, where is Zara?¡±


    ¡°The donut shop. I take it you know the way?¡±


    Gabe smirked and turned away after taking five steps he turned back around to a question. ¡°Yesterday, Lucas said it was dangerous during the night, why?¡±


    ¡°¡®Suppose you wouldn¡¯t know, would you?¡± He took a deep breath and exhaled. ¡°Alright, The Locust, they¡¯re nocturnal hunters. They¡¯re the reason Earth went to shit.¡±


    Gabe crossed his arms once more. ¡°Where¡¯d they come from?¡±


    Abel shrugged. ¡°Wasn¡¯t born yet. They¡¯re old, probably closer to your time.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡± Gabe walked away leaving the man to do whatever he was doing.


    He approached the double glass doors and pushed inside. Seven armed guards that stood at least twenty feet away from Zara. She was hysterical, she thrashed about strapped to a table. Blood was puddled around her, compared to all the puddles around, her blood was the least. She hissed, snarled and cursed at everything in the room.

 Chapter 25: What?

    ¡°She¡¯s gone berserk!¡± Froyia shouted taking a step back, ¡°Nothing is worse than a crazed Cartollian.¡± Froyia leaned her back on the wall close to the entrance, if she had to make a hasty retreat she¡¯d be one of the first to reach safety.


    ¡°The hell did you guys do!?¡± Gabe looked at the cowering people garbed in white clothing, a few were trying to stop the bleeding of one other who was currently missing a hand. Just about everything thing that was done to him made him bleed out faster. Yet no one answered Gabe.


    He reiterated his question, ¡°What did you guys do?¡± He could feel his rage building, once again his feelings for this Xeno was reaching levels of absurdity. Perhaps he should have VeVa look at him.


    One of the armed men currently stationed to protect the medical practitioners spoke up after minutes of faulty communications, ¡°Nothing, They removed the bullet an¡¯ closed the wound.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, that wasn¡¯t so hard, now was it?


    ¡°If¡¯n you can calm this beast down, I¡¯d appreciate it, Rather not lose a hand¡¯er two.¡± He looked over at the fastly paling man who looked as if he wasn''t going to see tomorrow. Gabe looked back over Zara. Her normally feral eyes looked wild, lost void of any real intelligent thought. His determination was renewed, he¡¯d try anything to get her back to her normalcy.


    ¡°Now those guys didn¡¯t manage to piss her off, then why is she like this.¡± Gabe¡¯s question was directed towards his best-known source of xenology, Froyia.


    She shrugged. ¡°She hasn¡¯t had that stuff in a while. So maybe it¡¯s withdraw?¡±


    Stuff? Gabe had to think for a second, ¡°Oh shit...You know, you have a fifty-fifty chance of being right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m aware.¡± She crossed her arms underneath her breasts, making their size once again apparent.


    ¡°If we successfully just make an even more crazed Zara, you know we¡¯ll all die, right?¡±


    ¡°Still aware.¡± She scooted closer to the door, Still the ever-same loyal coward.


    Gabe smiled, ¡°Do you have any with you?¡±


    Froyia uncrossed her arms her facial expression was exchanged for a mildly worried one, ¡°No, I thought you had some.¡±


    ¡°Great, such a simple solution and we step into a situation like this.¡±


    ¡°I think she has some on the ship since you need me to fly back here any way you¡¯ll take it then.¡±


    One of the chains holding down Sala¡¯zara¡¯s arms began to break, her incessant pulling caused the metal to weak on the links. It was only a matter of time before the raged induced humanoid lizard girl would begin her murder spree.


    ¡°No time!¡± Gabe shouted turning his attention to Zara. The armed men were just one squeeze from turning her into swiss cheese.


    The presumed leader of the group put his hand on Gabe¡¯s shoulder, ¡°If¡¯n you plan on doing something, do it now.¡± Gabe held his head down to think of something, He began to have a flashback of a much simpler time.


    ¡°So, Captain Anaya, his blood is valuable to the Sellophans, Cartollians and the Oozes of Zendraks seven.¡±


    Now that he understood Caloricean, remembering the past words became quite clear to him. He raised his head, looked the man in the eyes then at the knife on his vest, He took a hold of the knife and pulled it from the sheath causing the man to flinch but he did not do anything more.


    ¡°I¡¯m about to do something very stupid.¡± He drug the blade across the palm of his hand. In seconds blood began to pool in his hand. He looked at the woman, and sighed. He approached steadily to one side. It wasn¡¯t clear if this would exactly calm down the raving beast, but it had to do something if Blitz said it was valuable to them. Nothing was ever gained but standing around.


    ¡°Zara!¡± He shouted her name, whether or not she was aware of it was irrelevant he still got her attention.


    He turned his hand to drip his blood on her face. At first she shifted her head back and forth trying to avoid the stream of red liquid, but a little must have gotten inside her mouth seeing as her snake-like tongue started to lap up the liquids on her face. Her movements stopped thrashing she was entirely satisfied with her meal, Gabe looked into her eyes they began to go into those full moons he was so familiar with.


    A minute or two later he stopped the blood feeding, one of the people around gave him a rag to wrap around his hand. Zara sat upward once it was over, so looked around the room, she saw the carnage that was left of the room, At some point, the man without a hand had fallen unconscious, she turned to Gabe.


    ¡°You¡¯re race is very squishy.¡±


    Gabe chuckled and sat down next to her, ¡°Good to have you back.¡± Everyone was able to release the breath they were all holding from the intensity. Zara tried to move her arm upward but the chains stopped her.


    ¡°She good now?¡± The man came back to Gabe, ¡°Next time just give her a Snickers.¡± He blinked and ordered his men to release her. Gabe got up to make room for the guys releasing her, He stood next to Froyia.


    ¡°Huh, Guess I should make sure I''m not pregnant. Don¡¯t want you to give me a mouthful of blood.¡± Froyia joked.


    ¡°Wait, rewind for sec¡­ Pregnant?¡±


    Froyia actually looked surprised. ¡°You spent how long with them? You didn¡¯t even bother to learn how they reproduce?¡±


    ¡°The question never really came up in my head so I didn¡¯t really ask!¡± Gabe was now more than a little bothered.


    ¡°Well, I guess in this situation she was going berserk for maternal reasons, like finding nutrients that she was being starved of, which so happens your blood had everything she needed.¡±


    ¡°So these intense feelings that I¡¯ve been having we-¡±


    She interrupted his question with a continuation of her lecture, ¡°Cartollians believe it or not are very psychological. So basically you guys are kinda¡­ bonded?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you have some feelings too if-¡±


    ¡°The bonding only work with the opposite sex.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°I see¡­¡± The thought of Gabe literally having a child, hit him hard. He had always thought that he was incompatible with every species, so the possibilities of having a hybrid child was both exciting and terrifying at the same time.


    ¡°But hey, props to you not everyone can get a Cartollian knocked up.¡± she wrapped her arm around him. Embracing him in a one armed side hug. She was obviously mocking him at this point.


    ¡°Since when did you become so snide?¡± Gabe asked her.


    She smiled, ¡°Gotta pick your battles before you make them.¡±


    After a bit of teasing Gabe, Froyia was sent off to get the ship. Zara was allowed to rest a tiny bit before they went out on the mission.


    The two crossed an intersection, the streets were void of any signs of life, whether they made noise or not would be totally pointless since you¡¯d have to be blind to not see a near six foot tall, red haired lizard woman. The mission was to scout out Keller¡¯s base which happened to be on the other side of the city. It would be entirely foolish if they rushed in without even a half assed plan.


    ¡°Gabe, your people are so...strange. Your people are so soft, yet you build towers that touch the sky.¡±


    ¡°Yeah If I were to explain to you all the weird things we do, you¡¯d and I would be talking for a few years.¡±


    There was an awkward silence between the two as they walked down the sidewalk. Gabe, of course, was the first to speak.


    ¡°So Froyia told me that-¡± Before he was able to finish that sentence he was shoved out of the way. He stumbled a good foot away before regaining his balance.


    ¡°Zara, What the fuck! Oh.¡± He was looking at a seven-foot lobster looking monster. Zara was busy holding its claws at bay. Her strength was either not at its peak anymore or the creature was simply stronger.


    ¡°The sword!¡± She yelled out in between her gritted teeth.


    Gabe ran up behind her to pull the blade from the sheath she had on her hip. When his hand touched the handle the creature that he assumed was a locust forced Zara onto the ground making him drop the blade.


    ¡°Ngh!¡± She grunted as her back slammed onto the ground.


    The blade skittered near a storm drain and stopped, threatening to fall in if even an aggressive gust of air hit it.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see another Locust skittering across to him. He scrambled to his feet and went for the storm drain. Its shell could be heard scraping against the concrete The Locust made clicking noises as it clawed its way towards its prey. Presumably to communicate with the other one.


    The locust didn¡¯t make it in time to give kill an unarmed food source but it got damn well close enough to swipe at Gabe. He lifted the blade to defend his body from the oversized creature but in a ray of blinding light. He closed his eyes to protect them from the light.


    ¡°Huh?¡± He opened his eyes. he was no longer in the same situation. But he was in the same location. The time had also changed, from what was mid day turned to night in just a matter of seconds. He looked around, the overgrowth was gone, the Locust he was fighting was gone, the one on top of Zara was gone, what replaced everything was a sidewalk full of people. In the street he could see a limo and three other cars, all black.


    ¡°W-What.¡± Gabe stood in the middle of a busy sidewalk holding a sadistic looking machete. The people around all avoided him. Judging by the clothing he has on, a good majority of the people probably thought he was going to some convention or something.


    The area was similar to where he was, but, everything was completely different. There was a neon sign hanging on the building next to him which in fact didn¡¯t exist a few seconds ago.


    Just ten meters away there was an explosion on the leading vehicle, that¡¯s when all hell broke loose. What could be assumed to be zombies well, what else could you call a group of shambling pale individuals? ran to the remaining vehicles from the end of the road. The occupants of the vehicles disembarked and began to fire assault rifles. A slightly heavy set man was ushered out of the limo but it didn¡¯t take long for the group to become overwhelmed and have the man¡¯s escort get grabbed.


    In the corner of the street, there was an alleyway, someone had yelled out ¡°Senator! Over here!¡± The assumed senator must¡¯ve been balls to the wall afraid to trust a hooded man because he ran to him. Gabe decided that it probably was safer than to be there so he followed.


    The hooded man and the senator travelled through some complex path, Left, Right, Right, Left. It didn¡¯t take long but the path ended up at an abandoned loading dock, in other words pretty much a dead end. Gabe nearly lost them several times but he hide behind a dumpster and watched the scene play out. The senator turned around to face the man that was now behind him, his face was a mixture of shock and fear.


    ¡°What the hell! You said you were going to help me!¡±


    ¡°Senator Mann, I did help you. I got you away from the Infected.¡± He removed his hood, revealing black dreadlocks and dark skin. ¡°But, I¡¯m also going to kill you. So you¡¯d need like a second person to help you now?¡±


    Senator Mann spits on the ground, ¡°A Host. I hope you rot in hell.¡±


    ¡°Sorry Mann! Already been there and I like it better here!¡± He removed his gloves, his fingers had looked like they were burned until the skin melted off and had metal claws grafted to the bone. ¡°But Senator, if you just agreed to not pass the law that made us public enemy number one...I wouldn¡¯t be here and you wouldn¡¯t have pissed off all of U.S.I.¡±


    He took a step back, ¡°This is why I voted for it! All of your infection spewing scum!¡±


    ¡°Ouch that hurts, Mann.¡± He put a hand on his chest to mock a blow to his heart. ¡°I¡¯d love to hear you call me more names, but I heard that there was breaking news about a senator going missing and I¡¯d love to go see that develop.¡± He pulled a small device from his pocket and clicked a button, The doors of the loading dock roared open. Over thirty people here inside the loading deck but they looked pale. Gabe assumed these people were the so called infected. The senator looked at the horde and back to the man standing in front of him.


    ¡°I thought you said you were going to kill me, you coward!¡± Senator Mann yelled.


    ¡°I turned these people myself, So technically, I¡¯m killing you through them.¡± He started to turn away from the senator, using his clawed hand he tapped on a piece of metal, The ¡®ping¡¯ that was created alerted the infected to the food in front of them. They took off full sprint to Mann. He tried to run away but backed himself into a corner. The infected began tearing into his flesh. He screamed at the top of his lungs, The sounds he made increasingly became less human as his vocal chords strained until they themselves were ripped from his body.


    ¡°Clara, The Senator is dead. Who¡¯s next?¡± The man spoke into his phone. Then he spotted Gabe hiding behind the dumpster. Gabe instinctively backed away from the threat.


    ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡± The man questioned, He glanced down at Gabe¡¯s Cartollian blade, ¡°You here to fight?¡±


    He felt uncomfortable as he stared into his eyes, They were sickly, bloodshot the pupils were nearly white. ¡°Ugggghh.¡± Gabe had no idea what to do in this situation It was the first time he¡¯s seen someone be so sadistic. A fight was the last thing on his mind


    Before the conversation was able to continue from that moment the blinding light once again appeared. Once he opened his eyes again he was several feet away from where he was making him directly behind the Locust that attacked him. Now was not the time to try and figure anything out, He¡¯ll do that after he saved Zara. Using the element of surprise he snuck up on the locust he was previously fighting and impaled the creature. He took a step back as it thrashed about bleeding on the ground, the cries of that creature alerted the one fighting Zara. It let go of her to deal with the greater threat.


    Zara sighed once the creature left her alone. But she wasn¡¯t going to allow it to help out its friend. She climbed on top and clawed her way into the monster until she moved enough exoskeleton to start ripping out its internal organs. With the rage she had built up it didn¡¯t take her long to finish the job. Before long both creatures were both dead or bleeding out on the ground. Gabe approached her.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± The amount of worry that he had for her just about doubled now that she has a bun in the oven.


    She growled and kicked the creature. ¡°Yeah.¡± She didn¡¯t even hide the disgust and anger in her voice.


    He let his guard down in relief. ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll actually never believe what just happened.¡± He let her know the details of the events that transpired, The infected, The explosions, although he did omit his fear for the man.


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t even aware you had left.¡± She was sitting on a nearby bench, well she was sitting on the backrest and using the bottom for her feet.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the crazy part. It felt like I was gone for like twenty minutes but when I got back...It was like nothing changed.¡±


    ¡°Heh, I¡¯m not even entirely sure you¡¯re a ¡®badass human anymore¡¯¡± She reused the term he told her. ¡°I think you might be something entirely different now.¡±


    With traveling to another dimension added to his list of things, He wasn¡¯t entirely sure he was either. Either way, he quietly began making names for himself.

 Chapter 26: Keller!

    ¡°You see that guy over there?¡± Gabe pointed to a forward into the compound, A lone man was leaning against a waist-high road barricade. Zara picked up the binoculars and looked through them.


    ¡°Not really.¡± She said without any hesitation.


    Gabe looked over at her and chuckled, the binoculars were facing the opposite direction. He took the piece of metal and glass out of her hands and corrected the positioning. ¡°Better?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± She began to look in the correct direction, ¡°Looks like we could kill him without any problems.


    ¡°It looks that way, doesn¡¯t it? But look up.¡± She turned her attention to the tower a few meters in the back, ¡°The guy is just a decoy.The real threat is the heavy weapons in up there.¡±


    ¡°Couldn¡¯t we just use your robot to destroy the tower?¡± She questioned.


    ¡°Yeah, but VeVa only has enough power to shoot off once...The other four towers would still be a problem.¡±


    ¡°This place similar to a S¡¯hinok shell.¡±She pulled the binoculars away from her face, ¡°We should just level the place with the ship.¡±


    ¡°We could.¡± Gabe placed an arm around the female lizard-woman. ¡°But, I actually have a plan. Look again.¡± She raised the device back to her face. ¡°You see that giant black thing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah? Is it a ship?¡± She questioned.


    ¡°Correct.¡± A voice that wasn¡¯t Gabe¡¯s spoke up, it sounded robotic. The duo turned around to find VeVa. ¡°That ship is a prototype, before the creatures known as Locust appeared.¡±


    ¡°Oh? The robot speaks Caloricean?¡±


    ¡°I am an Artificial intelligence, linguistics is simple.¡± The robot walked to the middle of both. ¡°I¡¯ve known the language since I was given this vessel.¡± He sat down and looked out the window.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you speak it sooner?¡± Gabe turned away from the window so he could speak without worry of being seen.


    ¡°I can see the progression of the child, It is half human therefore I will cooperate with aliens.¡±


    ¡°Alright, Whatever.¡± They turned back to the prototype ship.


    ¡°If it¡¯s a ship, Why haven¡¯t the human¡¯s went to space yet?¡± Zara criticized.


    ¡°To prevent any spread of the Locust, ships were required to have an onboard assistant.¡±


    ¡°And that ship doesn¡¯t have one.¡± Said Gabe


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°So.¡± Zara faced the robot. ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡±


    ¡°Correct again.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, VeVa. What are the chances that Keller is using this to control everyone.¡±


    ¡°Gabe, are you being rhetorical?¡±


    ¡°I might be.¡± He smiled, ¡°Forget my previous plan! I got something better.¡±


    ¡°Zara, remember how I said this was going to be a scouting mission? Well, it¡¯s not going to be we are going to take over with the three of us.¡± Upon hearing this Zara smiled.


    ¡°It¡¯s all I needed to hear.¡± She jumped out the window without a second thought.


    ¡°What.¡± Gabe ran to the window. They had been scouting on the third floor, a jump from this height would be lethal. As he peered over,he saw that was climbing downward, she was climbing downward. He claws hooked into the cracks of the building with ease she practically dropping a floor by the minute. Gabe leaned back from the window. He gave VeVa a thumbs up and they went for the stairs.


    Zara was standing by the front door with her hands on her hips. Her tail had been moving in a snake-like fashion. She pointed upward to the sky, ¡°Sun¡¯s almost down. We better hurry.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    The compound wasn¡¯t exactly far away but it was most likely going to be a one-way trip, whether they died or not they¡¯d most definitely wouldn¡¯t be heading back in one day.


    Gabe looked up to the sky, they might¡¯ve had approximately a half hour before nightfall. Making haste the trio went straight for the compound they practically threw any idea of stealth out the door as they approached the guard.


    ¡°Yo.¡± Gabe threw up a hand gesture. The guard who was relaxing instead of doing his job snapped to attention. His overall apparel was less professional than the one¡¯s that went on the raid earlier yesterday. His uniform consisted of a black hat, black t-shirt, and black pants.


    ¡°Halt!¡± The guard raised his gun at Gabe. His eyes flickered over at the lizard woman standing with literally no sense of fear. Then he glanced at the industrial-looking robot dog. ¡°The hell is¡­¡±


    Gabe raised his arms up. ¡°No need to shoot...I just have something to say to Kellen.¡±


    The guard said nothing for several minutes only giving a confused expression. ¡°You mean Keller?¡±


    Gabe nodded. ¡°Yeah, That guy.¡±


    The guard continued to keep his gun aimed at the trio but spoke into the radio piece attached to his shirt. What he said was quiet but every other word could be heard. ¡°Three...unknown...lizard...bright eyes¡­¡±


    Just a few minutes later and two other guys came walking out, ¡°You¡¯ve gotta be shitting me, you really ain''t high!¡± A similar dressed man spoke up. He was followed by a female also in the same attire, though her eyes were obstructed by dark sunglasses.


    The newly arriving man turned toward the female. ¡°Hah, guess I really owe you a drink.¡± She smiled sinisterly. He finally turned to Gabe, ¡°C¡¯mon, Keller agreed to see you.¡±


    Gabe dropped his hands and followed the man into the compound.


    ¡°What¡¯s the plan now?¡± Zara asked Gabe.


    He shrugged. ¡°Dunno, I thought we were going to have to fight our way through the gates.


    ¡°Keller does not have a reason to shoot you on sight, Gabe.¡± The trio plus escorts walked to the center of the compound, the scouting mission did almost nothing to map out the place. It was built like a fortress. Where it looked like it would end was literally just a way to reach into the deeper parts. They¡¯ve must have sectioned off parts of the city and repurposed them to be At the center was a residential area filled to the brim with people, families, even. And Keller was in the center sitting on a bench.


    His appearance was that of an older man, perhaps in his later end of the sixties. His gray hair was brushed to the back. Several men surrounded him, all armed yet none looked at him, they faced outward toward all threats.


    The escort stopped a few meter short, The human barricade was open enough for one person to step inside.


    ¡°I was under the impression that you were evil.¡± Gabe stopped walking when he was close enough.


    The old man leaned forward on his cane. ¡°I¡¯m not as young as I used to be, My ears aren¡¯t as good as they used to be.¡± He motioned to the empty part of the bench. ¡°Please.¡±


    He was hesitant for a moment but, he eventually took a seat. The two sat in silence for a moment, ¡°I¡¯ve been told that you were some kind of baby stabbing fascist leader.¡±


    ¡°Hah. Is that so?¡± He smiled. ¡°Do you still believe that to be true?¡±


    ¡°Not really, no.¡± He shook his head. ¡°I can¡¯t see why would anyone want to spread something like that now.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not from around here are you?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no.¡±


    ¡°Ah. you must be a traveler then.¡±


    ¡°Unintentionally, yeah.¡±


    The old man began to gaze into the distance, as if he was reliving a memory, ¡°Nearly three hundred years ago, A small company decided to play God. That company was trying to find the cure for a disease that plagued humanity since the dawn of time.¡± the old man paused for a moment.


    The gears clicked in Gabe¡¯s head something that plagued humanity since the dawn of time? ¡°Death?¡±


    The old man nodded. ¡°That company eventually succeeded. The only problem was the creation of an alternate life, The Locust. The company tried to keep everything underground at that point. They destroyed files, killed personnel and even burned down the building, but the Locust refused to die. They got out.


    He took a deep breath. ¡°Keller Industries was blamed for all that went wrong with the world.¡±


    Gabe had suspected this old man was leading to this.


    ¡°Many people passed on the knowledge that I was worse than the devil himself.¡± He turned his head to face Gabe, ¡°I spent the better half of those centuries trying to rebuild civilization as penance.¡±


    He was surprised to hear that this old man was actually over three hundred years old, the experiments they conducted must¡¯ve been a success if they worked on him.


    ¡°Listen, old man, I was actually tasked with killing you.¡±


    ¡°If that is how it is, I am at your mercy.¡±


    ¡°Hold on, seeing you and how everyone has basically killed my murder boner.¡± He paused for a bit. ¡°How about you scratch my back and I''ll scratch yours.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve spent half my life trying to rebuild what was destroyed. What can you have that I haven¡¯t tried.¡±


    ¡°VeVa.¡±


    The old man¡¯s face lit up. ¡°A VeVa?¡±


    ¡°Yeah it¡¯s an-¡± Gabe was cut off by an explosion was off in the distance. Gunfire echoed deep into the city.


    Radio chatter was a lit on the guards all around them. It took mere seconds for one of them to turn around. ¡°Sir, Locust are pouring into the city.¡±

 Chapter 27: Trapped!

    ¡°All citizens please evacuate to the nearest safe zone.¡± A voice pre-recorded announcement constantly blared over and over. Sometimes being muffled by the sounds of screaming and gunshots.


    Gabe was sitting on top of a street barricade, he swung his feet rhythmically as he recalled Keller¡¯s desire to protect the people of his city.


    ¡°Can you please help rescue some of the citizens? then bring them to the dock.¡±


    He sighed. ¡°Old man, you¡¯re lucky I don¡¯t want to be the only Human around anymore.¡± He pulled the blaster from his holster. He took aim and fired. The Locust that was approaching slumped and had fallen to the ground. The use of an energy-based weapon against a Locust was as efficient as one could get.


    Waves of humans ran into the ¡°protected¡± safe zone. ¡°protected zones¡± were nothing more than fortified parking lots. Metal linked fences and concrete road barricades secured a perimeter.


    ¡°Zara, how are you doing?¡± Gabe spoke over his shoulder.


    ¡°When we met, you were not afraid of me. Why are they afraid?¡± She peered over at the closest family towards her. A mother was holding her children close to her.


    ¡°That''s because they didn¡¯t see a space orc¡¯s dick or make a crater on the side of a mountain¡±


    ¡°How do I talk with them?¡±


    ¡°Just smile.¡±


    There was a moment of silence between the two. After a couple seconds. Anyone in the area heard children screaming.


    ¡°This is why your race is weak, your children are scared of everything!¡±


    Gabe laughed in retaliation, a few more Locust turned up, they were swiftly dealt with by the superheated projectiles. They couldn¡¯t even get close to the parking lot, at least not when Gabe was on watch.


    That¡¯s when the luck began to run out. An Earth-shaking rumble had commenced, the usual one or two Locust that showed up turned to four or five. They would enter the scene from alternating sides, shop windows and from manholes. Gabe could handle a few but not every single one, Zara wasn''t fairing too well either. Her strength still wasn''t one hundred percent. They were forced to make a retreat to the top of the garage that was connected. The narrow ramps made it a little easier to contain the stream of Locust, doing so only bought them a minuscule amount of time.


    Gabe stood amidst a handful of families, it wasn¡¯t the biggest group of survivors, but some Humans are better than no Humans.


    He had looked over the edge of the building. Locust, everywhere. If you saw one there would be at least five to ten more clawing at the edge of your vision to reach the trapped people.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Jumping would probably be a good idea. But the objective was to keep everyone alive. He glanced over at Zara, she was making light work of the few that funneled to the top ramp. The corpses were a great source of keeping them within containable numbers. Her swordsmanship was no joke, must¡¯ve been because she was the chieftain¡¯s daughter.


    He continued to scan the ground for a way. 10 feet away he could see a school bus. The only problem was that the distance from the top floor to the roof of the bus was far too great for anyone but Zara, even for her it was unlikely she¡¯d come out uninjured.


    But if he managed to reach the bus, he could hotwire the vehicle and go on from there. The only problem was that he still needed to reach the bus without being swarmed by the Locust or having everyone break a limb.


    He looked around for anything that could be used as a means. He stopped his search when his view was filled with a yellow and white truck, the colors of a utility vehicle.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Gabe exclaimed. ¡°Zara! Cover me.¡± He tossed the blaster into her hands and sprinted past the corpse barricade, vaulted, landing on the other side before could react.


    Once she did see him she immediately turned her priority from protecting the citizens to just clearing a way for Gabe.


    He sprinted as hard and as fast as he could. Two Locusts blocked his path. Zara was able to pick off one of them creating a wide gaping hole where the mandibles should have been. The other one was much luckier as her proficiency with a blaster wasn¡¯t as trained as her bladework.


    He ducked under the swipe and rolled forward. If he slows down he¡¯d most likely be swarmed in seconds. The second swipe was accompanied by a missed blaster shot. The Locust had almost lost a claw and Gabe an arm.


    The albino creature chased after Gabe, drooling and snarling.


    He let it follow, in fact, he ran towards another that was about to cut him off. He dropped to the floor and slid.a good portion of the distance. The Locust was now just a foot from him, he stood motionless. The creature readied a swing. He stuck his tongue out taunting the creature. At the last moment, he dodged out of the way for the attack causing the claw to spear the Locust that was chasing after him. It struggled to release its weapon buried deep within its comrade¡¯s flesh.


    ¡°Nice going, fucko.¡± he ran off towards the truck.


    Zara¡¯s protection continued, it wasn''t the best but it still did some work. The ones that lived were easy to avoid, they weren''t the brightest. The run wasn''t very long, the truck was just 30 feet from the survivors. But it was also out of the range for the blaster. After 25 feet the energy would dissipate, a safeguard so that a stray shot did not continue on forever until it accidentally killed something.


    Reaching the truck his initial reaction was to try the door, if it was unlocked he¡¯d be able to have more resources to his arsenal. Unfortunately, it was locked. Adding to the misfortune two more Locust found him.


    ¡°Shit.¡± the creatures were approaching from both sides of the vehicle. He back himself over to the hood. The Locust that was on the right jumped to the roof, the one on the left charged forward. Gabe rolled under the vehicle and came out from the side. He emerged from the side. Giving them the slip, he opened the side compartments on the bed of the truck. Thankfully these things were never locked.


    The first compartment had nothing, the second, ...a pair of socks? the third¡­ A claw slammed into the opening. The locust that was on the hood went for an impaling downward attack. Gabe went back underneath the truck and emerged on the opposite side. The other that was approaching him was clawing its way underneath.


    ¡°Not today.¡± He kicked the creature right in the face. Launching himself further out the other side. He opened the closest compartment finding a cable. Before he could search any further the truck began to tilt.


    ¡°Uh oh.¡± He backstepped, the truck was flipped. The Locust that was on top ended up on its back. The one that flipped it climbed over top the truck.