Chapter 3: Leap of Faith: Trust in a Stranger

"It's been two years since that little bastard Starwind has insulted the integrity of the Kei Pirates, we have been patiently biding our time to rebuild our strengths." ,The words spoken by the Tendo King whose back remained to shadow of his subordinate. "you are the best we have offer, you are nearly ready to destroy Starwind, but I have a little exercise for you first…you are to destroy that annoying C'tarl C'tarl who aided Starwind to prove your strength to us. Being rid of her will weaken the will of that man dramatically." The king had spoken with such certainty it was assured that he had faith in this man. Only a few words passed after the moment of the king's laughter had ended, "So shall it be done my lord." The shadowed man turned from the tendo king and headed to his ship, raising his armband and speaking into the communicator, "Lagos…start up the ship and direct it for Tenrei, it's time for the hunt." His word spoken as his face was lit by a disturbing grin, the grin of a man who enjoyed hunting his quarry to their bitter demise; one whom collected trophies of his conquests.

"You call this traveling arrangements!" the voice of Haomaru's companion yelling out from the open cargo hold as the two had left hastily from the space port. "Why not buy us High class seats, C'tarls do not travel in such meager conditions you know!" she growled at Haomaru, whom gave her no response and had only looked at her with no reaction on his calm face, only words to answer her anger. "As I have said before, if the defense of those I test is weak, then they are not worthy of my funds. It's a simple rule, and the defense of this current ship was a joke and not worthy of any currency." Aisha scowled at the calm words and turned her back to him. "Let's move on shall we?" was all that Haomaru said to her as he resumed his stride. His pace continued despite the C'tarl's stubbornness, and eventually she had run up to him and yanked him around to face her. "Alright buddy look here, if you are going to be by my side you'd better start BUYING your tickets and not stowing away, I hate this cramped up trash and this "defense weak" garbage. I won't put up with it Damn it!" by now her claws were digging into his skin, but once more got no serious response from the feline.

"Then don't travel with me." Was all he said, leaving Aisha for a moment to be stunned for about a second at his casual attitude about her anger, she shook her head and had moved in front of him before he could blink or step forward again. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, I don't care how you live." She saw the reaction in his eye and gave a little grin inwardly, "you can't get rid of me that simply, there's something about you…your so damn strange, and I'm gonna find out what it is." Were her final words to him before she moved ahead and continued her pace. Haomaru had to admit, she was stubborn enough to follow with him; he allowed himself to smile before continuing on after her into the woods of the Tenrei.

"It's been a while since I've had such a promising kill like this one, you know that Lagos?" "Yes sir, the last promising kill was over 15 years ago." The robotic voice spoke with the lack of emotion expected of a bucket of bolts, it had been built as a cybernetic AI with no emotion. It was the perfect traveling partner for the esteemed Pseudo King, whom now was the best that the 108 Stars had to offer. The mythical Pseudo King, the living shadow whom followed every command of the Tendo king without a word or thought against his word. The one bounty hunter who was considered true scum, for always killing victims even when the bounty paid or asked for the bounty head alive, "I believe that her head will make for another fine trophy to my collection." He spoke the words almost with glee. "You've not been this excited since that one kill 15 years ago sir, what makes this one so special?" he only grinned to Lagos and brushed his mane of blue fur back from his face, "This beast will be just as entertaining…, she may even be worth raping for that matter…I know that the last one was." Lagos gave an empty laugh at the attempted humor before returning to man his station. He smirked upon hearing the mechanical voice of the computer speaking, "Now entering Tenrei, prepare for landing procedure to begin."

"Are you gonna keep sleeping or what? I'm bored of being in this area, we're supposed to be exploring!" the exclaimed C'tarl had long finished her exploration of the area, but still got no word from the resting Haomaru, who finally opened his eyes and had looked to her with a smile. "The planet is wonderful, almost at total peace." Aisha just blinked at him, before grabbing his arm and yanking him to stand, "Let's get going already!" He only nodded to her as they began moving. It had been over 7 hours since had arrived on the planet, their non-stop exploration was wearing down on them both; nightfall was creeping over the edge of the fading light in the woods. After some complaining from Aisha, Haomaru had finally settled in to make camp in a shaded area by some trees. As the fire crackled Aisha seemed to be restless still, though he'd paid for a luxury tent and provisions for her; she was still troubled about something. She looked out from her tent at him; the feline had been sitting under the tree by the fire in meditation for the longest time. She almost jumped when his eyes shot open, in the night fire the glow of fluorescent green fire and for a moment she was staring, before speaking and sounding irritated by his actions, "What the hell is it! Your jumping like that makes me nervous!" Haomaru had only frowned softly, this worrying her just a little more. "We're not alone, stay here Aisha." Was all he said as before she could protest he had darted into the forest; headed towards the Pseudo King's landing area.

"Alright boys, watch the ship and you Lagos, I'm leaving you in charge. I'm going hunting, it may take a while just keep the ship ready for us to go." Pseudo king smirked and had leapt from the ship, his chrome-like armor gleaming under the deep moonlight as he sped into the forest; now seeking his quarry out. The Pseudo king followed his scanners as it homed in on Aisha's signal from the distance, "I can hardly wait to taste your blood." His voice silent upon the evening night, though his thoughts were brought back to reality for a moment as his sensor system blipped briefly and then disappeared. "Damn thing must be on the fritz." He uttered to himself as he continued on towards his target. Unknown to him, the target had been Haomaru moving hastily towards the ship. Haomaru's eye narrowed upon the broad ship of design, he recognized the insignia on the side and had almost snarled, "108 Stars…" was all he spoke as his clawed hand moved to the sword in its sheath.

The Pseudo king's ship was rumbled by a heavy slash against its side that had compromised the hull, "warning ship under attack, weapon of unknown origin, damage to mid-section of west wing hull. Inner hull breach on lower decks 15-27." The damage to the ship was coming on quickly as Lagos worked with his inhuman speed to set the ship's defenses online, soon the ships guns had been online and firing blindly on auto-targets all around the ship. "Ship scan the area for hostiles, what is causing this damage?" the ship answered him within moments, "Scan reveals one hostile, unknown species with use of an archaic slicing weapon." Lagos blinked as he tried to think of what it was, before hearing the ships' latest warning, "Danger, outer core reactor has been compromised, emergency bulkheads in place.", the blows came more swiftly around the ship, each slash causing more damage to the ship's hull that grew in measures. "Time to end this…" Haomaru's words came coldly, as his eyes became a cold distant midnight blue, he had stood before the ship's gunfire without fear; as he gathered his inner soul's chi for the final attack on the ship. "Shoreline Tsurugi Style, Shoreline Tsunami." The attack was stated moments before his body became swelled with force. The sudden gain mass had caused the ship's scanners to read his body mass wrongly, "Enemy's height estimation at 60 meters and growing, system sc-." The ship's dialect was cut off, as the ship exploded at that instant. The blast enveloped the area it had landed within, and yet Haomaru was no where to be seen. "Aisha…please be okay." Haomaru's words of worry went unheard as he rushed through the woods desperately. Finally the Pseudo King had come across the fiery C'tarl's presence, "Aisha Clan Clan, the pleasure is all mine." Aisha had turned to the figure and growled deeply in his throat, as she caught sight of the weapons emerging from the silhouette of her foe's form.