Outlaw Star: Locked and Loaded
Disclaimer: I do not own Outlaw Star.
The ship 'X-R6Y' is completely made up (fictional) and words which are in Italics are thoughts. I don't know everything about Outlaw Star so some of the things I say may be wrong. The story is set about 2-3 years after the end of the final episode of the Outlaw Star anime. Enjoy!
'Gene. GENE!' Shouted Jim. Gene jumped up and hit his head on a ceiling and was soon back on the floor. Rubbing his head he said 'Ow! Hey, this isn't my bed. Where are we?' Jim laughed at his friend and said 'I've been wondering that for a while now and by the look of the interior it's the X-R6Y model we were working on.' Jim sighed 'I think the owners had planned to kidnap us.' Said Jim, stating the obvious. Gene sat up against the side of the ship, looked at Jim and said 'So. You figured out how we're going to bust outta here?' Jim looked back Gene and replied 'Hah! I was wondering when you'd ask.' Gene smiled and Jim continued on to say 'They seem to have overlooked the fact that although this ship is fast it has substituted structural density for speed.' Gene's smile grew and he said 'Sooooo... basically we're gonna smash through it.'
'I know it's a crude plan but, yes, that's basically it. Oh one minor thing though.' Gene tilted his head in confusion. 'They confiscated your caster shell handgun.'
'Damn. Well okay so we bust down the door, get my gun and then make our escape.' Said Gene
'Yup' replied Jim.
Gene leapt to his feet and said 'Let's get going then.' And just as he said this he ran at the door and went to charge through it when it slid opened and he smashed right into the wall on the other side. 'Huh? That was weird. You wouldn't have thought they'd just leave the door open for us to escape.' Said Jim as he walked through the doorway and into a long, dark hallway where electrical appliances flashed every now and then.
Gene got off the floor and brushed his shoulder and said 'Does seem a bit weird but who cares. They might just have forgotten to lock it. So, which way Jim??'
Jim thought to himself and then answered 'I think it's left to the cockpit and I reckon they'd keep your gun there for safety.'
Gene laughed and shouted 'Then what're we waiting for? There's some ass to be kicked!' Jim sighed and ran after Gene, who was already half way down the corridor. They turned a few corners left and right and got to a door.
Jim grabbed Gene's arm just as he was going to charge the door again. 'Wait, this ship needs at least four pilots to operate. That means it's four against two, well one since I'm not exactly the brawn of this duo.'
Gene put his hand on Jim and smiled 'Don't worry about it; I'll take 'em all. I'm pretty pissed off with them abducting us, and they didn't even pay for our services!' With that said he turned and ran through the door, he'd expected this door to be open to but didn't expect the floor to be covered in blood and slipped into the front of the cockpit. 'Ow! What the hell is wrong with this ship?' he said as he rubbed his head and got back on his feet.
'Gene, you should come see this.' Whispered Jim in a tone filled with obvious fear. Gene tip-toed over and looked in the same direction as Jim was staring. There, in front of them were the bodies of four pilots, hanging from the ceiling. Three of them had no arms or legs and were producing a slow, consistent flow of blood. They couldn't see the fourth properly and had to shift round to the side of the others. There was…. a human like figure cutting into the poor pilot, who thankfully was already dead, with a long sword. The being stood about 8ft tall and whose skin was a see through substance, which revealed the creature's insides. It had quite an athletic build and had wires running through its' body like veins and arteries. Gene and Jim didn't know what it was; they'd never seen something so, different.
Finally finding his voice after the shock Gene said 'W…What the h… hell are you?' The creature, finally sensing their presence turned and lowered itself into an attacking position. Jim jumped behind Gene and Gene raised his arms in defence. The creature loosened its' grip on its' sword and stood upright.
'Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking I assume?' asked the creature in an artificial voice. Gene opened his mouth to speak but was cut off. 'That question was rhetorical. It seems these people wanted to kidnap you, well; we couldn't have that could we? I am under strict orders from my superiors to protect you Gene and Jim and I have done for the past few months.' Said the creature in a not-quite-human voice. Feeling this may be the only time he could speak Gene butted in with; 'What the hell are you? Where are you from? Who sent you? Why do we need protection?' The creature smiled, but there was no happiness in the grin he made only cunning.
'Now now Gene, What's with all the questions? From what I've seen you're the sort to shoot now ask questions later. Ah yes, the famous caster shell gun, you've caused quite a bit of damage with that over the years. You'll find it's in the cabinet over there.' The creature pointed across the room to a small, rusty cabinet with a single door on it. 'Oh, before I go there are two things I'd like to point out. One, I'm not your ally OR friend, you push me I'll push back. And two, curiosity killed the cat Gene, curiosity killed…' In a flash the creature darted across the room faster than Gene and Jim's eyes could follow and as he passed Gene he stabbed him through the stomach and whispered in his ear 'The cat.' Gene collapsed to the floor clenching his stomach. Jim looked back but the creature was already gone. His head snapped back to Gene.
'Gene!' he shouted. Gene was kneeling on the ground coughing up blood. 'A first aid k… kit would h… help.' Sputtered Gene. Jim nodded and hastily looked around the cockpit for a first aid kit. As he searched he knocked into the corpses hanging from the ceiling and got covered in their blood. One fell to the floor and continued streaming blood. Jim pulled his shirt over his mouth because of the sights and smells. He found the first aid kit in the same cabinet as Gene's caster shell gun. He grabbed both and darted back over to Gene, who by now had lost a lot of blood. Jim lifted up Gene's top revealing a nasty gash in his stomach. He hurriedly stitched up the wound, Jim was no surgeon and his sewing was messy and erratic. Gene winced with every stitch and, still coughing up blood, managed to force out the words 'Thanks, Jim' before he passed out to the sound of Jim shouting his name.
Gene awoke with a groan and found himself inside a prison cell. He tried to sit up but his injury forced him to stay put. Noticing the movement in the cell a familiar face stepped into view and look at Gene. It was Jim. 'Easy Gene, your wound is nowhere near healed up yet.' He turned to the cell bars and shouted. 'And being stuck in this cesspit of germs and waste doesn't help!' A large figure walked up to the cell, he was quite tall and burly. 'Ah shut up in there!' he said in a coarse tone of voice and spat at Gene and Jim. He walked away shouting abuse at the other prisoners as he passed their cells but none of the other prisoners replied. Gene looked at Jim. He was covered in blood stains and dirt and smelt as bad as he looked.
'What's up with the cheery folk 'round here then?' said Gene. Jim laughed and turned back towards him. There were tears welling up in the corner of his eyes, he looked like a broken person.
'When you passed out I wasn't sure what to do so I took the ship to the nearest planet. When I landed the police checked the ship and found the bodies hanging from the ceiling, I was covered in their blood and they arrested me right there and then, I shouted after you and they thought you were my accomplice.' Jim sighed. 'They threw you in here with me and now we just get food brought to us every 6 hours. That prison guard is the only one who's ever on duty here, 24 hours a day. I never hear him sleeping or eating….. He just walks up and down this corridor all day.' Gene looked around the cell. It wasn't much to look at, prison cells never are. There were cracks in the wall and a bunk bed which barely fitted into the width of the cell.
'So, what's the plan Jim? How're we gonna bust outta here?'
Jim laughed. 'Escape!? You can't even stand Gene, we aren't going anywhere for a while. Plus these cells are practically indestructible. They must be two metres of solid gold.'
Gene looked at Jim 'Gold?'
Jim nodded 'It's dulled down to make it look like any other metal but its solid gold. Probably because gold's so un-reactive. Because it's quite malleable they make the walls two metres thick.' The prison guard walked past and looked into their cell.
'I see sissy boy over there's finally woken up. Must be a whole week he's been out for.' He laughed and walked away.
'What about the bars?' Said Gene, taking no notice of the prison guard's remark.
'Somehow they're really hot but they don't melt. Escaping is the least of our worries, what do they plan on doing to us?' Jim paused. Tears began to trickle down his face 'It's all my fault Gene. If I hadn't brought the ship down here we wouldn't be in such a mess' Jim really was a completely broken man. There was no hope in his eyes; they even seemed devoid of life.
'None of this is your fault. If you hadn't brought us down here I might've died.' Jim took no notice. Gene sighed 'Looks like we'll be here for a while. I guess we should just rest.' Jim snorted and wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
'Aren't I usually the sensible one?' Gene laughed half heartedly; he couldn't believe how this had turned out…. Who or what was that creature he saw? What did it mean by protecting? Who are its' superiors? Why was Jim in such a state? Thoughts rushed and buzzed around in his head and he started to feel dizzy and light headed. As he passed out he remembered the point at which he got stabbed and his stomach jolted with pain. Then there was darkness.
Gene woke up in, what he guessed was, the middle of the night. Jim was sleeping on the top bunk and Gene lay slumped on the wall opposite. The cell was full of little beams of light crossing the room and Gene thought they tracked movement but when he saw that they were coming from the wall opposite the cell entrance he guessed they were holes other inmates had drilled in an attempt to escape. Escape. The one thing he needed most to do but knew he couldn't. He tried to get up by pushing himself up the wall but to no avail. 'What the hell are we gonna do?' said Gene to himself. He lifted his top revealing the cut in his stomach. Jim's stitching was rushed and haphazard but it did the job. Jim. Without Jim Gene could already be dead, why did he blame himself for what happened? Then Gene remembered, the guard said he'd been unconscious for nearly a week. Jim wouldn't have coped well on his own, especially with the guard shouting abuse at him every time he walked passed. It would've chipped and scratched at his spirit, knocking every ounce of hope that he had out of him. Gene looked back at Jim in his bed moving restlessly. He must be having a dream, or a nightmare. Jim awoke with a scream, beads of sweat rolled down his face. Gene smiled 'A night-.'
'Another nightmare wimp?' shouted the prison guard. Jim flinched at the sound of the guard's voice. 'You insignificant scrap get more worthless every time I see you. Get back to sleep!' Commanded the guard. Jim sat there shaking
'Shut up.' He whispered below his breath.
'What was that? Insect!'
Jim's faced sharpened 'I said SHUT UP!!' and he threw a pillow at the guard which hit the bars and incinerated instantly. The guard sniggered and walked away. Gene looked at Jim and smiled. 'He's not finished yet'. Jim, noticing that Gene was awake, laughed and scratched his head. 'Prison always brings out the worst in me.' They both laughed. Jim lay back onto the bunk and went back to his nightmares. Gene sat there, looking at the remains of the pillow burn themselves out. As the last flame extinguished so did Gene's consciousness.
The next morning Jim and Gene sat in their cell. There was a cold silence throughout the prison wing. Gene was thinking about how to escape. Jim just sat there shaking slowly. He'd already accepted the fact that there was no way out until something clicked inside his head. 'Hey, Gene. Listen.' Gene stopped thinking and listened. 'What? I can't hear anything.' He said with a puzzled look upon his face. 'Exactly. Where's the guard?' Gene noticed it too. He hadn't seen him for hours. 'Your right. Maybe this is our chance.'
'Yeah, but how? The bars will just disintegrate anything we try to break them with.'
'Have you tried the bed?' Jim shook his head. He pulled it into the middle of the room. He was clearly struggling so Gene tried to get up. He did! With a bit of hassle he slowly made it up onto his feet. 'Things are looking up' thought Gene. As quickly as his hope had risen it soon fell with a hard crash, splintering into millions of pieces because as they pushed the bed towards the bars it burst into flames and all Gene and Jim could do was watch it burn to the ground. Suddenly there was a slam, like the opening of a door, and Gene and Jim heard voices. One was the prison guard. But the other wasn't a natural one. It was one that shot fear into the hearts of the pair.
'Looks like you've got a new roommate.' Sniggered the prison guard, pushing the translucent creature into the cell. The guard closed the bars and, noticing the remains of the bed on the floor, said 'No. Escape.' He then turned and walked down the corridor, leaving Gene and Jim with the psychotic animal they knew nothing about. Gene and Jim felt uneasy, one of them on either side of the cell with the creature in the centre. Jim noticed that the creature didn't have his sword with it.
'Gene.' Said Jim as he dropped Gene's caster shell gun onto the floor and tried to kick it across to Gene. The creature stopped it with his foot but Gene was determined to get his gun and lunged at the creature. The creature ducked and Gene crashed into Jim and they both fell to the floor. Gene winced as the pain from his wound returned. The creature picked up Gene's gun, unloaded it and threw it at him. Jim helped Gene to his feet and they both watched the creature hold out it's left hand in a fist and slid two fingers from his right from his left and through the air. There, in front of them, materialised the sword.
'I leave you two alone for two minutes and you end up in here!' The creature laughed sarcastically. 'As I said, I'm here to protect you. So get ready, we're leaving.' With that said the creature slashed across the bars of the cell, creating a way out. The creature began to leave. Gene and Jim stared at each other and decided to follow the being, even though they did not trust it. Gene's wound was making walking difficult, a jog painful and a sprint impossible but he kept up with the creature as best he could. Jim ran next to Gene helping him when he saw him cringe in pain. They went down a corridor and took a left. Above their heads red lights pulsated and a siren sounded. An army of guards, led by the heavily built guard that Jim and Gene and learned to hate, began chasing the three down the corridors. The leader was screaming for Gene and Jim (and the creature) to stop and also at the guards to stop them at all costs. The creature seemed to be having a good time. He toyed with Gene by slowing to let him pass then sprint past him, laughing every time. Whatever this creature was, it enjoyed taunting and pain. They rushed down more corridors until they came to a corridor of windows and what looked like an exit at the end. There were four guards between them and freedom and maybe forty behind them chasing. The creature ran ahead and cut the guards down before they knew what hit them.
'Next time he slows down crunch him and leave him for the guards behind us.' Jim whispered. Gene nodded. As he predicted the creature did slow down and Gene and Jim crashed into it and it fell to the ground. Gene nearly fell but was caught by Jim and carried on to the exit. Before the creature could get up the army of guards behind had closed in and had enveloped him with bodies. He smashed through and began killing each and every one of them. Even the ones which got passed and tried to reach Gene and Jim. Maybe he is protecting us then thought Gene as he and Jim burst through the doors into the blinding light of a sun. They were both stunned for a few moments but then carried on running. The prison had no gates and when Jim looked back thought it looked like a derelict building crumbling in the shadow of some huge skyscrapers. 'Hey Gene, I can see a spaceport.' Jim pointed into the not so distant distance. Gene looked around and noticed that they were on the outside of a gigantic mega city. The spaceport was behind a series of terraced houses and a large dome shaped building and they made there way towards it.
At first they advanced as quickly as they could, weaving through the terraced houses. The houses they passed were three storeys high, each identical to the last in structure. The only way to tell them apart was to look at the colour of the front doors. Jim was in front and Gene lagged behind, hindered by his injury. Jim looked behind him at his friend and then beyond him and figured they weren't being followed yet. He waited for Gene to catch up and then they continued at walking pace. They were both shattered, they hadn't had any proper exercise in over a week (only if you would count fixing engines as exercise) and they both breathed heavily. Jim noticed that Gene's stomach was bleeding. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around Gene's wound. Gene's stomach then rumbled and Jim found some loose change in his jacket pockets and asked. 'How about a bite to eat?' He asked.
'Sounds like a plan.' Answered Gene. They had walked down nine streets of houses before they found a giant mall, it was the domed shaped building they saw after breaking out of the prison, so they knew they were still going in the right direction. The streets they'd already walked down weren't busy, only a few people going in and out of houses. The mall, however, was packed. It was a sea of people. There were two lines of people going through it, each about six people wide. One was going down the other going up the shopping centre and the shopping centre stretched for what looked like miles to Gene and Jim. It looked as though you needed to know exactly where you wanted to go before you got there so you could start shifting to the edge of the lines and break away at the store entrance. For a few moments Gene and Jim watched countless amounts of people cussing and cursing whatever they could because they'd missed their stores and been carried all the way around for another chance. The task of finding (and getting to) a food stand seemed very daunting to Gene and Jim. They went to look at the map. The map was written in three languages. Two of which were the most spoken languages in the universe, English and Silgrian, and another language which they both presumed was the local dialect. Clothes shops were illuminated with green lights, restrooms with blue and food sites with red. They looked for the closest and cheapest sounding bistro. 'Convict Hideout, where our only crime is our low prices.' Gene smirked. 'Life's full of little ironies.'
Jim ran his finger over the map 'Fifth shop on the left hand side. Remember it.' They both made their way to the river of people. They looked for a gap in the line. Gene found one, grabbed Jim and jumped into the line. They were squashed between a very smart looking businessman who looked a lot like a lizard, two bistro staff who seemed to be arguing, but they spoke in a language Jim hadn't heard before and could not understand and a couple of strange orange skinned, 3 armed creatures holding (what looked to Jim like) a baby close. The line moved at a moderate pace like a slow river. The air was filled with the random footsteps of people and the conversations of a few individuals trying to shout over the sound of the footsteps. The whole thing sounded like a downpour of rain. Jim stayed as close as he could to Gene; he couldn't see above people and relied on Gene to find the bistro. Gene was amazed by the amount of shops he could see. Each one with its own neon sign flashing and advertising. It looked as though you could get anything in this place. He began looking for a sign for the 'Convict Hideout'. He found it. It was next to a suit fitting shop. The sign for the 'Convict Hideout' had the name of the bistro with a thief's mask outlined in red neon lights.
'Come on.' Said Gene to Jim. Gene grabbed Jim's sleeve and made his way to the sign. He almost missed it because of the mass of people pushing him like a tide down the mall. He managed to grab the door handle and haul himself and Jim out of the sea of people. They went to the first free table they saw and sat down.
Gene grabbed a menu and looked for something they might enjoy. Jim looked around 'Convict Hideout', its walls were stained with blood and there were all sorts of messes on the floor. Jim instantly regretted choosing this place. It wasn't busy, apart from Gene and Jim there were only three other customers. One was what looked like a businessman, an overworked businessman. He looked untidy and his tie was hung loosely around his neck, there were a line of empty beer bottles in front of him on the bar counter and as he finished another bottle his head slumped into his arms and he fell asleep. Next to him was a tall lizard like alien, well at least Jim thought he was an alien. By definition the term alien means: differing in nature or character typically to the point of incompatibility so it was more likely that Gene and Jim were the aliens. At first glance the lizardman resembled a Saurian but on closer inspection this lizardman lacked the strong and inetlligent look that every Saurian has so Jim presumed that it was more lizard than man. As the businessman fell asleep the lizardman looked at him and shook his head, he then muttered something under his breath which Jim couldn't quite catch (and even if he did Jim doubted he'd have understood the lizardman.). The third customer sat alone in the corner eating some food. He was covered top to toe in a skin tight suit. To Jim it looked a lot like a combat and reflex enhancing suit that the Universal army use. Gene looked up and down the menu several times trying to look for something cheap and tasty to eat. On his tenth time going down the menu Jim interrupted him and whispered.
'Hey Gene, look at the guy in the corner. You don't think they'd have tracked us down so fast do you?' Gene looked over Jim's shoulder and asked the same question to himself. After pondering the question for a couple of moments he decided they were safe.
'Nah, no way. That… thing we left 'em with probably killed 'em all and so I'm guessing no one could have raised the alarm.' Gene returned to looking at the menu and Jim started thinking about the creature they'd seen. That's twice he's helped us now. But why? Jim was about to ask Gene about it when a waitress butted in.
'You guys ready to order?' Gene and Jim looked up and saw a beautiful waitress looking back. She had long wavy golden brown hair. Her face was quite minimalist with fairly small wide blue eyes that glistened in the flickering light above them and a cute nose. She also had quite an athletic build but at the same time it was fair and smooth. A short skirt and tight top put practically every part of the body on show. Jim thought she looked more like a stripper than a waitress, but there was something about her face made him think. Gene thought to himself Wow. The things I'd do to…
'Suzuka!?' Enquired Jim. 'Is that you?' Gene snapped out of his fantasy and took a second look at the waitress.
Thanks for reading, Reviews are welcome!
Unfortuanately I haven't started on chapter 2 yet and I will only add it once i've finished chapter 3 so, it might be a while for the next chapter to be added. Sorry