Two
21 Guns
We landed on Revonnah and began unloading the supplies. Gwen was shocked to see the devastation the Elder One conflict had caused. "Is this what happened when the X'Andi invaded?" she asked.
"Yeah," I answered.
"Tetrax told me a small portion of the story how you lot formed the Outlaws. From freeing Gavin to investigating a crash landing on Kashmir," she said.
I picked up where Tetrax left off. I was tending to the victim, while Tetrax conducts a background check on her. "Is she going to be okay?" Gavin asked.
"She received minor injuries during the crash. She's going to make it," I answered.
Tetrax manages to get some results. "I've found something. Her name is Princess Ramona, she's from the planet Dyras and get this. It was recently invaded by the Incurseans," Tetrax said.
"Incurseans?" he asked.
"They're a toad-like alien race, bent on warmongering. Over a millennia ago, their world was destroyed when a noble warrior tried to unite the Incursean Empire. Their current leader, Lord Emperor Milleous, like his ancestors is a tyrant. Like him and his ancestors, he possesses a ideology that everything in the galaxy must be conquered to compensate for the loss of the Incursean homeworld," I answered.
"I do not want to cross their path," he said.
The princess begins to wake up. "I think she's waking up." She wakes and finds herself in a strange place. "Don't be alarmed, Your Highness," Tetrax said.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"Kashmir," Tetrax answered.
"I'm on the wrong planet. I was heading to Galvan Prime to get help," she said.
"Take it easy, Your Highness. You've been through a lot. Let's just take it easy and one step at a time," he said.
"The black box data checks out. She was heading to Galvan Prime," I said.
"My ship came under attack by the Incurseans. When they invaded, I was forced to flee my homeworld to the safety of the Galvans. They pursued me relentlessly until all who oppose their rule are eliminated. Some of my people sacrificed their lives to save me. I got into the escape pod, program the coordinates to Galvan Prime and I escaped. One of the Incursean fighters shot at my pod and that's how I ended up here," she said.
"If the pod crashed here, it wouldn't take the Incurseans long to figure out where she crashed," he said.
"Gavin's right. I'll do a flyby to see if you were followed, Your Highness," Tetrax said.
He leaves the house and heads to the spaceport. He flies his ship to the upper atmosphere. "See anything?" Xylene asked.
"It looks like the pod left some debris," Tetrax answered.
"We need to get off world and fast before we attract any attention. Come back down and we'll devise a plan," Xylene said.
Later, Tetrax arrives back at the house and sat down on the chair. "There's a chance it'll take the Incurseans a day to figure out where you are, Your Highness. Even now, you're not safe here," Tetrax said.
"What do you suggest?" Gavin asked.
"We can't take her to Earth. The last thing we want is to get your homeworld involved in a war with the Incurseans," he answered.
"Also, its too risky to head into Incursean space. We need to head to the Moebius Traverse," Xylene said.
"Are you suggesting we head to the only lawless sector in the universe? I'd rather stay here," Ramona said.
"Look Your Highness, the Moebius Traverse is neutral and just about every military force wouldn't dare set foot in the traverse without starting a intergalactic incident," he said.
"Plus, my homeworld isn't equipped to deal with the Incurseans," Gavin said.
"It's the only option available to us. I know you want to go back home, but right now. We need to keep running," she said.
"I concur," Ramona said.
"Good, we need a pilot who knows the Traverse inside and out," he said.
"What about Gluto?" she asked.
"He's retired, but I do know another pilot who can help. I hope he and his gynoid are cooperative," he answered.
Morning came; Gavin leaves the house first to check for Incursean patrols. "It's clear," Gavin said.
We left the house. "I can look after myself," Ramona said.
We begin to make our way to the bar. "I know you want to prove yourself. If what Tetrax said is true, then they could be here already. So where is it we're heading to?" Gavin said.
"It's a bar where pilots, bounty hunters and smugglers usually hang out. It's called the Leaking Engine. If you want transportation or someone to look for at the right price or something smuggled off-world. Then the Leaking Engine is the right place. My advice, don't order any of the drinks. It'll turn your intestines inside and out. The pilot we're looking for is Rancid," he answered.
"Rancid?" Ramona asked.
"He's a space Elf and he fought in the Osmosian Uprisings. Azmuth tried to recruit him for the DNA Force team, but he was on another job at the time." We arrived at the Leaking Engine. "We're here," he answered.
We entered the Leaking Engine, the bar was busy with aliens having drinks and conversing. Gavin then gets a sense of déjà vu. "Okay, now I'm getting déjà vu," Gavin said.
"I take it you've seen this before?" she asked.
"In person, no. On film, yes. I got a bad feeling about this," Gavin answered.
Tetrax manages to find what he's looking for. "There, if Pi is here, it means Rancid can't be that far. And there he is, sitting in the booth by himself," he said
We walked over to him, while Gavin sits at the bar. He makes conversation with the bartender. "What do we have here? You must be the guy who defeated the Galton Gang? I heard something that. Anyway, thanks for getting rid of them. They were making a dent in my profits," the bartender said.
"Glad to be of help," Gavin said.
"If you're thinking about going into the bounty hunting business. You should check you the terminals in the far corner of the bar. Every week, the Plumbers and various intergalactic law enforcement agencies upload the latest most wanted criminals through the terminals. There are seven levels. Levels one to four list criminals who committed less serious offensives. They're worth around between a thousand to a hundred grand. Levels five to seven list the more dangerous criminals. These can be from warlords, terrorists, you get the idea. The level five to seven fetches a huge payday," the bartender said.
"How much on average?" Gavin said.
"No less than thirty million," she answered.
He turns his head and notices a new image uploaded on one of the terminals. "Is that an Incursean?" he asked.
"Yeah, its common for law enforcement agencies to list certain Incursean officers. That guy I've seen in the news recently. He's responsible for spearheading the invasion campaign of Dyras. His name is Gen. Gomez," she answered.
He gets up and walks to the terminal. He downloads the information onto his communicator. He notices someone leaving the bar and follows him. The individual gets his communicator and Gavin aims his pistol at him.
"If there's one thing I don't tolerate and that's a spy," he said.
"Like everywhere in the galaxy, everything must belong to the Incursean," the spy said.
"Turn around and don't even think about using that communicator," he said.
The spy presses the button on his communicator. "You're too late, I've alerted the Incurseans and they're on their way to capture the princess. Who knows, they may spare you," the spy said.
He kills him with the pistol and he heads back into the bar. He heads to where Tetrax, Ramona and I are sitting. "We got to go; the Incurseans already know the princess is here. I killed an Incursean spy," he said.
"You're not kidding," Tetrax said.
"We should head to my ship. Pi, get the ship ready, we're leaving and we're bringing some guests with us," Rancid said.
Later, we arrived at Rancid's ship; Tetrax and Xylene were surprised to see Rancid's ship is actually the Black Rose. "Is that the Black Rose?" I asked.
"I thought it was destroyed during the Pirate Queen's Last Stand?" Tetrax asked.
"That's what I thought. I found it floating in a asteroid field near Arcadia. The engine was badly damaged, but the ship itself was salvageable. It took me seven months to repair the Black Rose. Not everyone was please to see the Rose," Rancid said.
"Is it fast?" he asked.
"The Rose has a drive core powerful enough to go into light speed. If we're going to the Moebius Traverse, I suggest we head to Tantalus Station. If I recall correctly, Dyras has a embassy based there," Rancid answered.
"Right, we can go the station ambassador and get help. Hopefully, my people should be there," Ramona said.
Gavin then hears something and he gets one of his pistols out. "We need to get moving. I can hear the sound of frogs?" he asked.
"The Incurseans are here. Let's go!" I shouted.
We boarded the ship the moment they arrived. We left the port and headed into space. In cockpit, Rancid sat down in the pilot's seat with Pi co-piloting. "There's an Incursean blockade trying to prevent our escape," Pi said.
"That's not good. Those are Dreadnaught class ships," Rancid said.
Tetrax and Gavin enter the cockpit. "They must want Ramona really that bad," Tetrax said.
"We can work what happened later. Right now, we need to head to the Tantalus Station," Gavin said.
"I got to agree with the human. Hang on, we going into light speed. Beginning light jump in five, four, three, two, one." Rancid activates the drive and we jump into light speed. "And we successfully avoided the Incurseans," he said.
"I don't like it. They went through a lot of trouble to find Ramona. I would like to know why they're after her. Something doesn't add up," Gavin said.
"You're just paranoid," he said.
"Gavin's right. Before we left, the coordinates on Ramona's escape pod suggested she was heading to Galvan Prime. Then she gets shot down and crashes on Kashmir. Something's amiss here," Tetrax said.
"Pi, how long will it take to get to the Tantalus Station?" he asked.
"We should arrive at the station in six hours. I suggest we rest up," Pi answered.
Gavin heads down to the cafeteria and contemplate on what's happened. Back on Kashmir, Molly arrives as the Plumbers arrest the Incursean squad. "We found an Incursean outside the town," the Plumber said.
"This day just keeps getting weirder," Molly said.
"We also found someone dead outside the alley near the Leaking Engine. It's a clear indication he's a spy for the Incurseans." He shows her a Incursean coin. "We found this on him," the Plumber said.
"First, we got a dead spy and now an Incursean hit squad. I guess whoever was in that escape pod must be worth something to the Incurseans. Examine the pod, I need to report this to Plumber Command," Molly said.
Back on the Black Rose, Gavin takes out a photo of Molly out of his jacket pocket and looks at it. He then experiences a flashback back when he was a pilot on Earth. He and his friends were celebrating his promotion. "Well now, Second Lieutenant, congrats to you Gavin," a pilot said.
"Do we have to call you sir?" another pilot asked.
"All right, that's enough. You got assignments tomorrow." They leave him and Gavin soon notices Molly Gunther. "Hello beautiful, what's a nice gal doing in a bar full of military personnel?" he asked.
"I'm visiting a friend actually. You seem to be in a good mood," Molly said.
"I got promoted to Second Lieutenant. The pay grade is nice, but I'm not sure if I want to book flights all day," he said.
"You'll do fine. My name is Molly Gunther," Molly said.
"Mine's Gavin Harlock," he said.
Gavin snaps out of his flashback and puts the photo back in his pocket. I entered the room and sat opposite him.
"Thinking of anyone special?" I asked.
"I've been about the first time I met Molly Gunther. I first met her in a bar; me and some of the pilots in my unit went out celebrating my promotion. We were dating for seven months before," Gavin said.
"If you don't like to talk about it. Then that's fine," I said.
"I've been meaning to ask. What is the Tantalus Station?" he asked.
"The Tantalus Station is the only space station in the Moebius Traverse that accepts Plumbers. Also, there are a number of embassies on the station. This makes it easier for species to find. Given the Traverse is mainly lawless," I answered.
"We've arrived at the Tantalus Station," Pi said over the tannoy.
We docked at the docking station onboard the station. We left the station and we were greeted by a Plumber escort. "Our apologies, Your Highness. Its only a formality." She gets a scanner out and she scans Ramona. "You're clean." She scans Xylene. "So are you." She scans Tetrax and the alarms go off. "Please surrender any keys, loose change, and weapons." Tetrax surrenders his firearms, while Rancid throws his sword and firearm to the ground. She then scans Gavin and the alarms go off. "This is interesting. According to my scanner, you're supposed to be dead," the Plumber said.
"Is that a problem because I ended up on a penal colony and spent the last two years as a gladiator? Until Tetrax and Xylene freed me recently," he said.
"These scanners are designed by Azmuth himself. Those scanners can't fool us, Second Lieutenant. The Station Supervisor is going to have a field day with this." She gets her radio out. "Ma'am, we got a situation. It's not the Princess that's the problem, its one of her guests. Wait, you know him? Okay, I'll send him up." She puts the radio away. "I'll have my men escort to you four to the Dyran embassy. As for you, the Station Supervisor's office is on the top floor and let's say that you got some explaining to do," the Plumber said.
Gavin places a listening device on her before he heads up. He leaves the docking bay, while the other head to the embassy. In the office, Gavin enters the room and notices all the classy furniture. "Armed guards at the door, classy furniture all round. You're not from the Moebius Traverse or any part of the galaxy? Which means you're from Earth, am I right?" She turns around and Gavin recognises her. "Okay, I wasn't expecting my former CO to be running the station," he said.
She walks up to him. "Take off the helmet." He presses the silver button and he removes the helmet. She slaps him in the face. "We thought you were dead. Then Max says to me, anyone who lands in that colony is dead. He never did like loose cannons," she said.
"Good to see too, Col. Sitwell," he said.
"Call me Antonia, we thought you were dead. Molly took your death really hard," she said.
"Who is this Max?" he asked.
"I was recruiting potential Plumbers and you were on top of my list. But Eli and Max thought you were a loose cannon with a problem with authority," she said.
"I still got that problem. Is me being alive going to be problem?" he asked.
"Not at all. In fact, I've taken care of things. I got your legal status changed from deceased to living. Plus I've taken care of taxes you owe to the government and all that," she said.
"Thanks and one more thing. Can you keep this between us because Molly and I didn't leave things in a great state," he said.
He leaves the office and heads back down to a district. He heads into a bar and begins to listen on the conversation between Ramona and the ambassador. "I'm glad you made it out in one piece. We feared the worst," the ambassador said.
"So did I, Ambassador. What's the latest on Dyras?" Ramona asked.
"Our latest intelligence reports suggest the Incurseans have already found the weapon and are in the process of digging it up," he answered.
Tetrax arrives and sits next to me. "The Princess is safe at the Ambassador's office," Tetrax said.
"I think I may've stumbled onto why the Incurseans are after her," Gavin said.
"You placed a bug on her. Its a violation of her privacy," Tetrax said.
"We barely made it out of Kashmir," Gavin said.
"With the power source in your possession. We may bought ourselves some time," he said.
"For how long. If they suspect my necklace is the key to powering up the weapon. It can put the entire galaxy in danger," she said.
"So that's why they were after her." The blackout occurs, leaving parts of the station without power. "Is this meant to happen?" Gavin asked.
"No and its weird. The station's emergency power generator should've kicked in," Tetrax answered.
Gavin puts his helmet on. He grabs something and slams him to the floor. They looked down on him. "Incursean Infiltrators, the Emperor's elite assassination squad. They're known for using cloaking technology," Tetrax said.
"If they're here, then Ramona is in danger once again," Gavin said.
Tetrax gets his communicator out. "Xylene, Rancid, we got a problem," Tetrax said.
Outside, I, Rancid and Pi were standing outside the Ambassador's office when the power went offline. "Pi, flashlights." Pi converts her hands into torches. "Hmm, odd the emergency generator hasn't kicked in," Rancid said.
Pi accesses the stations network. "I have detected multiple breaches in the security network. Someone has shut down the power to the main and emergency generators," Pi said.
My communicator bleeped, she answers and listens to the message. "We got a problem. The Incurseans have managed to followed us," I said.
"It would make sense given that this MO matches the Incursean Infiltrators," Pi said.
We burst into the office. "We have to go. The Incurseans are already here," I said.
We left the office and flee back to the hangar. "Pi, get the generators back online before," Rancid said.
"Warning, due to power failure. The station's oxygen supply is offline," the station's computer said.
"If the oxygen doesn't came online along with the power. Everyone on this station will die," he said.
"Pi, activate infrared vision," Rancid suggested.
Pi switches her vision to infrared. "I'm detecting multiple cloaked signatures and they're heading this way," Pi said.
She defeats them. Back at the bar, Tetrax and Gavin were having luck dealing with the intruders. "Warning, due to power failure. The station's oxygen supply is offline," the station's computer said.
"That's not good," Gavin said.
Tetrax picks up a Incursean Infiltrator and slams him to the wall. "What did you lot do?" he asked.
"Standard Infiltrator protocol, acquire the package, eliminate witnesses," the soldier answered.
Tetrax knocks him out. "If we don't get the power back on. Everyone on this station will die. My helmet's got a built-in oxygen unit. I can get to where the generators are," Gavin said.
"The generators are located at the bottom of the station. If you're going to that, you need Pi's help. She's the only one who can fix the glitches in the system." Gavin leaves the bar and heads down to the generators. At the centre, my communicator goes off and I answer it. "Xylene, we got a plan to get the generators online. But we need Pi's help. Pi, if you're there, I'm sending you Gavin's communicator frequency," he said.
"Got it," Pi said.
At the generators, Gavin enters the area and notices an Incursean squad guarding the generators. "What is taking them so long?" one of the Incursean soldiers asked.
"I heard they ran into trouble. Plumbers more like, right now, we need to make sure no one gets here," another Incursean soldier answered.
Gavin draws out his pistol and manages to kill them all. "That's too bad because I just got here. Pi, I'm at the generators, what do I need to do?" Gavin asked.
"Turn the network hub on and I should be able to access the station's network." Gavin turns the network hub on. "Right, I'm in. The Incurseans have uploaded a virus into the station's computer system. Its what causing the generators to go offline. I'm creating a cure program, hopefully it should destroy the virus," Pi answered.
"You better do it fast because it looks like reinforcements are on their way," Gavin said.
The reinforcements arrive and Gavin was able to take them out. "I'm uploading the cure program. It may take a couple minutes, I suggest you hang tight," Pi said.
Gavin notices one of the Incurseans was awake and he walks up to him. "Well now, I guess your conscious. Now then, you're going to tell me why you lot attacked this station and what makes the Princess a valuable target. I only gathered bits and pieces so far. I was hoping you can fill in the rest," Gavin said.
"I will never betray the Emperor," the solder said.
"I knew who would say that. You've seen what's happen to your buddies over there. I hate to see what I can do further. I'm from Earth and when I was young, I used to dissect frogs as part of my science class. I would love to imagined what would happen if I did the same thing to an Incursean," Gavin said.
He becomes scared by that thought. "Please, don't do it," the soldier panicked.
"See, the frog was already dead by the time the dissection began. To see it performed on a live specimen would be a most curious thing. You better not scream because it'll make my job a lot harder. Stay put, I'll go and get a scalpel," Gavin said.
He becomes terrified as he's about to leave. "Please, don't! I got a life to live for. I'll talk, I'll tell everything," the soldier cried.
"That wasn't so hard. Let's start at the beginning, the moment when you lot invaded Dyras," Gavin said.
Back in the city centre, Pi is uploading the cure program. "There, cure program uploaded, the virus has been eradicated," Pi said.
"Okay, what do I need to do next?" Gavin asked over the communicator.
"There should be a lever, pull it and then release it. It should jumpstart the generators," Pi said.
The lights came back on and power was restored. "Power is back online, oxygen levels have been restored," the station's computer said.
"Well that's good to hear," I said.
"We need to regroup; I got some new information that can shed light why a Incursean Infiltration team attacked the station. Bring Ramona and the Ambassador with you. Those two have got some serious explaining to do," Gavin said over the communicator.
Back in the present, we finished unloading the supplies when we heard the engine blow up. "Guys, we got a problem." We walked up to the ship and met up with Rancid. "We still got engine problems. So we're stuck here until get it fixed," Rancid said.
"I thought you got it fixed after the Trivium Siege?" Tetrax asked.
"So did I, I've been managing to keep it together until now. It'll take me the best part of a day to get it fixed. However, the generator is still functioning. We still got power and hot water," he answered.
"That's good to know," I said.
Rook Shar comes running towards us. "There you are," she said.
"What's wrong, Shar?" Gwen asked.
"It's Blonko, he still hasn't said a word and we're worried about him," she answered.
We rushed over to the home, Da waits for us and we arrived. "Thank the spirits you came. I've been worried about Blonko. He hasn't said a word since his return from Trivium. We tried everything to make him talk," Da said.
"I've seen this before. Excuse my language. Normal remedies cannot cure him. He's suffering from PTSD," Gavin said.
"What's PTSD?" she asked.
"It stands for post traumatic stress disorder," Gwen answered.
"When I was in the air force, I seen guys like Rook go through it. Some are reluctant to talk about their wartime experiences. While others only sought suicide as a means of comfort. It's not a pretty sight. I know what the condition does to a being. I'm going in there to talk to Blonko," Gavin said.
"What makes you think you can get through to him?" Da asked.
"I know what I'm doing. It could take a while. I better pray things go smoothly," Gavin said.
Gavin enters the house and the sun begins to set. "It's getting late, we'll be in the Black Rose if you need anything, Gavin," Tetrax said.
One of the Plumbers get the radio working and I listened to Green Day's 21 Guns. We got back onto the ship and called it a night.