The sun shone brilliantly down on the sands, the new day casting away the chill of the darkness in favor of nigh unbearable heat. It made work in the town hard and painful, and could kill a man out in the desert. Not that this bothered Kade. As he strode scross the sand and into the ring of sorry structures trying to pass themselves off as a community, his cloak twirled around him as it held Kade's own personal breeze around his body. He smirked at a few envious gazes that fell on him as he walked. This sort of device was rather expensive, but Kade had done rather well for himself in the past few months.
The money that he'd taken from his master on that first night had gone into a house, furniture, and basically everything he needed to live on his own. Among the valuables Kade had taken had been a number of small devices, and the boy's own cleverness mixed with the parts he'd swiped had quickly led to more money. He had a good business going for someone so young; in truth, it was a goodbusiness for anyone. However, while Kade was doing better than many of the regular townspeople, the others from the organization were not having such good luck. Without the master, they had nothing, and contrary to the Monkey Team's plans, things may very well have gotten worse.
The master had been an evil man. Kade knew this, and he wouldn't try and justify his projects; he considered his need for food and shelter good enough to justify his own actions as part of the master's group. However, one thing Kade had to admit was that the man had had good control. Without the leadership, many of his low-ranking men had turned to aimless robbery in an attempt to get by, and the number of space pirates choosing this lonely corner of the galaxy to refuel had grown, and the crews that had come strictly to buy the master's weapons had seen fit to continue their visits.
Still, Kade wasn't worried. It was hard to worry him as long as he felt he had things under control, and with a recreation of one of the master's nastier weapons tucked safely in his sleeve, he didn't care how many pirates came. In fact, he was going to see some right now.
He came to a stop in front of a medium-sized house, with a small ship in the back that looked like a pile of spare parts that had ben welded together with wreckless abandon. Though Kade was sure he could remember someone else living here only a week before, he pushed the thought from his mind and wandered inside to see if these pirates had anything interesting for sale.
Two cold stares greeted Kade on his way in, making him consider turning off his personal AC and hope the sun could warm him up a bit. However, a more friendly face came next; well, at least the third man looked happier. He could tell that Kade had money.
"Welcome, my friend. Please, have a look around, and see if there's anything you wish to purchase," the third man offered. Kade bowed his head before starting to look. These guys had a little of everything! Jewels, parts, animals, weapons, food... As Kade lifted up an odd little box with a curious look on his face, one of them men reached for him. He was jerked away, and his breath caught. His heart sped up, and a beeping came from inside his clothes.
Bzzzzzz! The man let go as a sharp pain went through his body and made him go limp. The other two went for their blasters, but one didn't make it. His head exploded, and Kade turned the weapon pulled from his sleeve toward the last one. The thing looked like a USB 2.0 flash drive, but the man had just seen what it could do. He took his hand off of his blaster. "Okay, kid...don't do anything hasty..."
Kade had a small, mocking smile on his face as he continued his browsing, the third pirate always in view. He came to the animal cages, and something caught his eye. A little monkey, asleep in a cage. It made him remember that night. "I think I'll take this guy. And the parts in bin 2 over there. Now, with my discount, what does that come to again?"
"F-free, sir. Have a nice day." And so, Kade headed home, even more sure that there was no reason to fear pirates. He set his mind on the monkey, and a wonderfully aweful idea that had lodged itself firmly at the front of his mind.
