Chapter 8: Welcome to Hysperia
Naruto has always prided himself for being able to overcome any challenge life has thrown in his way; nonetheless some tasks were beyond his Feranian wit and prowess. Naruto always crashed his former vessels due to a combination of high risk missions and his poor understanding of their proper care and handling, which was one of the reasons he relied so much on his onboard navigation computer Anveena to do most of the work and help him handle whatever vessel he step onto. His former vessel, Shadow Clone, was a sturdy and rather simple old Federation gunship which proved to be more of his taste.
Now before him in the cockpit of the Daring Fox a wide array of screens, consoles, controls and readings made Naruto cringe with fear of pressing the wrong control or touching the wrong screen. Anveena had been upgraded but there was so much and Navigational computer could do and Hinata though a quick learner was in a very similar position to Naruto given her humble origins.
"Anveena, display the manual please" said Hinata to what a dozen screens displayed the different quirks and characteristics of the rather advanced ship.
Sighing Naruto and Hinata ordered Anveena to close all screens and just leave the basic navigation instruments and leave the rest for the autopilot.
"Ten-Ten should have remembered I am no good with complex technology" whined Naruto as he relaxed on his chair.
Hinata also feeling a bit useless during her first mission replied in a similar tone "I find this technology too strange. I always crashed in the simulator, even on beginners' level"
Both sighed again and after a brief silence shared a light laughter.
"Maybe we should get a pilot" said Naruto thinking aloud, not being used to have company around.
Hinata though, was pleased to hear him say that. Naruto must have felt lonely many times during his solo missions. Now that he had reliable company the thought of having more comrades seemed less scary for him. She smiled for Naruto and the already positive influence she may be permeating on him.
Both continued to enjoy the silent hum of the ship as it traversed the hyper space along with the color display entering through the cockpit windows. The quiet though didn't last long when Naruto's stomach made his loud introduction.
Hinata laughed lightly as she made her way to the small dinner area of the vessel where provisions should be stacked, but to her surprise all she could find where bottles of water, milk cartons and industrial amounts of instant ramen.
"Huh, Naruto? Are these our provisions? Shouldn't we have other things to eat besides instant food?" asked a slightly irritated Hinata.
"Yeah! Ramen is the most absolute delicious delicacy given to the Feranians! Comes in several different combinations, has all sorts of ingredients and the best of all it takes no time to cook! Honestly I can't conceive how Feranians lived before Ramen!" said Naruto with fire in his eyes.
Hinata seeing she wouldn't have a civil conversation with Naruto about food just replied "It's ok for a quick meal but I would like to cook other things. If I recall you enjoyed them last time we had lunch together. Let's get varied provisions on Hysperia and I will make us some fine meals I have been wanting to try.
Naruto pouted a bit for not being able to get Ramen everyday but he did enjoyed those lunches with Hinata back in Augya.
As they both went their separate ways on board the vessel to explore it more thoroughly, Anveena signaled both to be aware that the ship was entering the Hysperian World's space. Both quickly went back to the cockpit and strapped themselves on their seats as the ship re entered normal space.
Naruto quickly got hold of the ships basic controls and quickly placed the Daring Fox dangerously close to the thrusters of an incredibly large cargo ship.
Hinata was bit surprised over the harsh maneuvering but knowing Naruto had more experience didn't ask. Nonetheless Naruto knew that perhaps Hinata was confused over his tactic so he just said "The energy debris of the cargo thrusters will cloak our signal as we approach the planetary check points. Once we clear them, we dive for the planet's atmosphere and we fly low until we reach the old docks of the Factory hives on the planet. That way no one will know we are on the planet so they keep their guard low"
Hinata made an awed expression; no lesson on the training program taught her this kind of tactics. Kurenai had mentioned that Justicar often made their presence known while a dedicated team of retinue made the undercover work while all sights were on the Justicar. Naruto though, was alone so insertion and everything else was performed by him.
The Daring Fox continued to cloak itself on the energy debris left behind by the massive freighter as they slowly passed the check points. Finally after two hours of tense slow flight the planet was within sight.
The sight left Hinata a bit surprised, unlike Terra Hysperia Majoris had a thick layer of smog covering the surface. Nonetheless the lights of the Factory hives were strong enough to outline the massive structures doting the planet with several concentric rings of lights and buildings connected by long lines of lights which probably were transit tunnels.
Outside the window Hinata saw hundreds of cargo freighters and smaller ships flying around in a nightmare of metal and thrust fire. Naruto though didn't pay much attention and being cleared of the checkpoints pushed the Daring Fox from behind the larger vessel making a straight line to the planet's surface.
Hinata quickly secured herself to the seat remembering the knowledge of how bumpy a high speed atmospheric insertion could be. In moments the dark space was replaced by lines of furious fire as the ship began to grace the atmosphere in its high velocity entry. Hinata clenched her teeth shut trying to suppress the panic that was rising from this very new experience. Risking a glance to Naruto, he was the complete opposite. His hands were tightly grabbing the controls and his eyes were focused n the flames in front of him, he stared at them as if he could see something others couldn't.
The ship finally stopped shaking and the fire on the windows was over now casting a low orange glow through them.
Hinata finally managed to open her mouth and asked "Aren't atmospheric insertions dangerous? This ship must have inertial dampeners and speed regulators, we could have burned out back there. Don't you think?"
Naruto reeled back from his extremely focused state and setting a course turned to Hinata "Well ships are way sturdier than ship builders like to admit. And that kind of insertion was to fool anyone tracking falling debris. Up there is a never ending line of ships so sometimes they crash and the debris fall to the planet. Using that to my advantage we crossed and quickly fell below the sensors notice. Not to mention, is always very exiting!"
Hinata sighed acknowledging the wide gap of experience she and Naruto had. He has been doing this kind of things for years. She better shut up and learn quickly.
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The Daring Fox had been navigating through abandoned sections of ancient factories until the first hive came into view. Naruto diverted the vessel from the main route and instead went around the hive and into smaller adjacent structures were small vessels were landing and lifting.
"That's our destination. Those landing docks are not supervised by the planetary security forces since they are in non profitable areas of the hives. Those areas are usually run by small time crime lords who usually extort the locals and deal with smuggling of every kind. The docks themselves are free to use but to guarantee our ship's safety we have to give a tribute to the local lord" said Naruto as he was changing clothes cleverly hiding his gauntlet and a light combat armor beneath a black jacket with cargo pants, heavy boots with metal plates, biker gloves and a plain white shirt.
Hinata had prepared her wardrobe with a varied assortment of clothes as to be able to blend in any kind of situation. She chose for the mission a similar outfit to Naruto except her boots didn't had any plating and her shirt was lavender and tight fitting. She also procured herself with light security armor just in case they got in unexpected trouble.
As the main door opened a current of stagnant air stroke both hard making Hinata feel dizzy for a moment not being used to the polluted environments of other planets.
"Sorry for that, should have warned you about it. The air recyclers of the older factories are long overdue and their air recycling quality is poor at best" said Naruto as he gave her a small re-breather device that can be quickly worn and not interfere with sight or movement.
"The air recyclers tend to fail from time to time so that thing may come in handy" finished saying as he walked ahead.
"Don't you need one too?" asked Hinata with a bit of concern
"Nah, as long as there is some oxygen around I can breathe without trouble. I can also hold my breath for an hour if I have to. The re-breather device is to filter poison or too much carbon dioxide" said Naruto casually.
Hinata quickly started walking behind amazed by his words. Feranians were truly a resilient species as if to walk undaunted by less than enjoyable conditions.
"Why is this factory world so…wrecked?" wondered Hinata as they both walked the connecting tunnel from the dock into the hive.
"These planets never had indigenous life nor could sustain any, so there are no environmental issues to consider when establishing factories. The hives actually are different layers of factories being constructed across the centuries. These places hire anyone willing to work for long seasons but since there were no families or average social structures to begin with. Anarchy quickly took hold of the more neglected areas where the workers community made their living. Eventually criminals and smugglers found very profitable businesses to be conducted here as providers for this varied assortment of species. The planet has a council of Factory Masters which are very ruthless business men who are easily bribed to look the other way" said Naruto while looking through the stained windows out into the planet's surface.
"Why does the Federation allow this to happen? Shouldn't they exercise more control on worlds like this?" asked Hinata
"Ideally yes they should. But since these planets conduct a large part of the federation's industrial output, they look the other way as long as they don't dabble in seriously destabilizing activities. Manufacturing small arms for the Soundya Systems would be one of such activities" finished saying Naruto.
Hinata remembered that teaching Naruto about the grey in moral situations was extremely hard. That Naruto acknowledge the sad reality of these worlds was probably a great achievement in his education. Still she grimaced at the thought of how Kurenai finally made it through him.
As they continued walking down the connecting tunnels, a small fat bearded man approached them with a huge yellow and probably stinking grin.
"Greetings good travelers! I am dock master Toni. I see you have graced my docks with your rather unique vessel…" spoke the little man as he was cut short by an annoyed looking Naruto when he threw a bag full of some hard metals unto the little man's stomach.
"And you won't see it or any other if I see as much as a scratch on it! There is your payment, more than enough for a month of docking" said Naruto with a startlingly aggressive tone.
The little man was certainly insulted but the towering form of Naruto quickly changed his expression as he fumbled with the bag to see its contents. The man's grin returned to his face when he saw the small treasure inside.
Closing the bag and concealing it quickly from other's looks he bowed and made way for the wealthy visitors as he escorted them further into the slums of the Factory hive.
Hinata meanwhile couldn't help but wonder what was the great prize Naruto paid to the little man as to have he as a good animal looking for further reward?
The little man spoke again with much respect "And to what business do we host such a kind investor?" finished while fondly patting the small bag.
"Guess you can help me on this. I am basically looking for a good business opportunity and these worlds always have stuff going on" said Naruto while looking around.
The little man's grin disappeared and a troubled look came to his face, stuttering he continued "Well the grounds have been quiet lately since the shift in the council of masters so every entrepreneur has been laying low" said the squat man.
Naruto turned to look at him with a grin of his own "Saw what was in that bag? Do you imagine the kind of things I did to secure such amount? I have much more of it and a good chunk will be yours if you help me get a good contact"
Toni looked around nervously but placing a firm hand on the bag replied "I will have any info relied to your vessel, master. The nearby area is relatively safe but for a few gangs, stepping further into the Levels would signify more risk for you and your companion. Though it seems you pose a greater risk than most. Please enjoy your stay and be sure to tell me if such a generous patron needs anything"
With this Toni doubled back and disappeared behind a door.
Hinata approached Naruto and commented "That was easy. Now we wait until we hear from him and we can set to see if anyone is truly smuggling small arms"
Naruto looked at her a bit surprised and replied "Well that was actually to give word that someone is cocky enough as to presume himself fit for the job of smuggling weapons. That in turn will make the appropriate parties to take notice of us and the vessel. Judging us from afar they will determine to keep us out, kill us or contact us for the job. It will be a gamble to see if things will go smoothly or not, but don't worry one way or another I'll get them!"
Hinata once more belittled herself for thinking things were so simple, on another note she had underestimated Naruto's skill as a Justicar, he did knew how to go through this stuff. Still she was worried about his last statement of getting the job done one way or another, something told her he was used to things not going smoothly.
"So what do we do now? You think it will take time?" asked Hinata as she looked around for any suspicious glances casted towards her.
"It will take the time it needs, that's why I paid one month of dock rights beforehand. On the mean time we go about playing our roles as a couple of rogue spacers looking for profit to be made with any kind of business" replied Naruto as he started walking into the slums Toni just warned them about.
Hinata made an awe expression and quickly fell in step next to Naruto "And how did you got the payment for Toni? Last time you mentioned it you didn't had much money with you"
Naruto got very nervous and scratching the back of his head replied "Not having the money doesn't mean I don't have any kind of wealth Hinata. People in these places don't have any real need for Federation's currency less they leave the planet. Here in these Factory worlds, having sufficient spare parts is enough wealth and currency for them, the ones I gave to Toni are particularly popular, hard to come by and very valuable"
Hinata again was awed by Naruto's street knowledge but another question came up "And where did you acquire such parts?"
By this point Naruto was already ahead browsing stuff from a street vendor while casting nervous glances at Hinata.
Hinata knew that Naruto was hiding something potentially illegal about his activities and a dozen related felonies jumped into her mind, but remembering her job she wouldn't question what actions needed to be made.
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Naruto and Hinata continued to explore the lower levels of the old hive as to try and ascertain the "climate" regarding any suspicious activity. Smuggling was a traditionally common crime among the Factory worlds since a lot of old abandoned assembly lines could be easily repaired and re purposed to manufacture some low quality goods or counterfeits. Usually such activities helped to keep some flow of wealth to the poor and desperate of such worlds from rioting and destroying the higher levels. Thus it was allowed with occasional raids to keep face before higher authorities.
Still when weapons of any kind were involved it begged further probing from authorities since weaponry for space or terrestrial combat required more advanced technology, experienced labor, and important people looking the other way. And that kind of activities beg for the subtle touch of a Justicar to ensure the galactic community that the Federation is ever watchful.
"If smuggling and counterfeiting are more or less allowed felonies to occur, why we are so interested in small arms?" asked Hinata as she and Naruto kept exploring.
"Basically because the weapons made in these worlds can be confused with ones being manufactured in a species home world or to arm separatist militias in some other worlds. Since the Uchiha Pact formation the Federation has been extraordinarily watchful of weapon flows across its territories, especially places like the Soundya systems" replied Naruto.
Hinata recalled her implanted memories and remembered that the Soundya systems were a small but wealthy cluster of worlds placed right in the border of both the Uchiha Pact and the Enterran Federation. Many times on the past 300 years both factions have clashed among these worlds having the Federation as the last victor when Admiral Namikaze destroyed the Uchiha incursion.
Still the people in these worlds have grown to dislike both factions and have requested several times for their independence recognition. But lacking numbers, a great Factory world and a sizable fleet makes that dream impossible to achieve and thus leaves the people of Soundya open to be swayed by both rival factions.
"Those weapons could be being directed to a particular group attempting to undermine the Federation's already weak mandate over Soundya. A revolt and subsequent loss of Soundya to the Uchiha would seriously piss off Granny Tsunade!" finished Naruto.
"Not to mention if the Factory masters of this planet are behind it, it probably means that the Uchiha's reach within the Federation may be long" concluded Hinata.
"Now you are getting the hang of it!" exclaimed a smiling Naruto to a proud Hinata as they both entered a crowded bar in the lower slums.
Within the bar some patrons took notice of the tough looking Naruto and scuffed at his sight, still many eyes remained firmly glued to Hinata's sweet body. Hinata noticing the many stares her new body attracted felt somewhat bothered, but managed to keep her composure. As to ease the stares Naruto placed his hand on her hip and quickly moved her to one of the tables.
As Hinata went crimson over his bold touch Naruto quickly whispered "Sorry, but with this no one will bother you less they want to have their butts kicked"
Hinata nodded her approval and sat with Naruto noticing how the once lingering eyes busied themselves in their drinks.
As the skimpily dressed waitress serve them their drinks, both Naruto and Hinata had fallen silent not having much to talk about at the moment as, literally they waited for the "test" to begin. Hinata decided to start a conversation and distract Naruto from the giggling waitresses casting looks in his direction.
"So, have you done jobs like this before?" asked Hinata as she tried to drink the awful thing she had been served.
Taking a full swig of the glass Naruto answered "Well, not exactly like this. It usually was to stop an envoy of weapons headed there already. Like what I did with Tayuya when we met. I am not trusted with covert operations since at some point guns start blazing and I am right in the middle of it. This time though all we have to do is confirm or deny that the Factory masters are manufacturing and smuggling weapons. An in and out kind of mission, no violence is expected"
"Have you ever tried this sort of missions before?" asked a rather nervous Hinata.
"Once, with that Shikamaru fella from your bout with Sakura, he was investigating anomalies regarding the smuggling of Auracyte, an extremely valuable mineral used in cutting edge power plants or Dreadnaught generators. The mission was to establish if the company designated by the Federation was diverting Auracyte cargos to unstable systems, greedy trade guilds or foreign powers" said Naruto.
"Shikamaru requested my help to serve as back up and to infiltrate the mining facilities in the asteroid belt from where Auracyte is extracted, while he conducted a formal thorough investigation on behalf of the Federation. Plan A was that the company would slip up and Shikamaru would catch them on their own lies or covering attempts, plan B was for me to go directly to the source of the Auracyte and look for any odd activities" continued Naruto as he took another glass of beverage.
"As I conducted my very boring surveillance, I noticed how small drones took part of the Auracyte in the regular transports and moved in a different direction to that of the mining station. The drones were taking small amounts of Auracyte and taking them further into the asteroid field. It was hell to follow them without crashing into a few asteroids, but Shadow Clone held together. After an hour of silent trailing the drones came to wide area with no asteroids and perhaps the largest freighter I have ever seen. The drones were slowly filling the freighter's cargo hold with pure Auracyte, a single trip from that Freighter could easily fill the Auracyte demands for ten worlds or a hundred Dreadnaughts. Whoever did that could have expected to become rich in a single day" finished saying Naruto.
Hinata was deeply interested by the story and encouraged Naruto to further tell his story.
Scratching his head Naruto proceeded "Seeing this development I could finish Shikamaru's investigation in a second but Anveena told me that her passive scanning had revealed the ship's cargo hold to be full and its engines were powering to move out of the sector. I didn't had much time to think and the next thing I was storming the vessel to stop it"
Hinata nodded furiously while prompting Naruto to conclude his story to which Naruto nodded a bit embarrassed.
"The vessel was largely automated so it had few crewmates, making it possible for me to fully commandeer the ship by taking the bridge. I quickly overcame the crew and the local security measures against intrusion but the bridge had been shut tightly with a reinforced gate which would prove dangerous to blow away. So I decided to shut down the ship's core and force the vessel to remain in place with auxiliary power. I made my way to the core but never being good handling technology instead of turning it off I ended up overloading it. Me and the crew managed to abandon the vessel and put a safe distance before the ship exploded with a mountain of wealth on board which burned brightly as a supernova. The explosion sent a lot of debris that destroyed several automated mining facilities and delayed legal Auracyte deliveries"
Hinata made an uncomfortable "oh" and went back to her drink despite its terrible taste.
Trying to save face Naruto concluded "But not all was a loss! The investigation concluded the company's corruption and the shockwave of the explosion made a lot of high diplomats and traders fall to subsequent investigations as they scurried to salvage their losses! In a way that explosion was for the best as the Federation now closely monitors the Auracyte deposits!"
Hinata smiled kindly but then again Naruto finished his job with a bang, which was her duty to stop from happening. Going from surveillance to boarding ships was a bit extreme for her taste. She only hoped this mission wouldn't end in a similar way.
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After several hours of drinking and spending time at the bar, Naruto decided that things were moving slowly and so he called it a day. Naruto also pointed to Hinata to "toughen" her look since he had to warn several male patrons attempting to invite Hinata for drinks.
Hinata attempted to get a scarier look to her face but the best she managed was a cute comical scowl which made Naruto roar with laughter in the now emptied halls of the ancient hive. Hinata huffed her embarrassment and made a point to look for tips to get a more threatening look. She would send a letter to Anko!
As they were returning to the ship, Hinata heard a low melodious sound coming from a side hall. Such sound was the first nice thing she experienced since arriving to Hysperia Majoris and it was luring her slowly guiding her steps as she blindly followed the sound.
Not knowing how long she had been walking lost in the music's spell Hinata finally arrived to the origin of the music. Slumped on the floor with a long brown cloak covering its body a lone flutist played away as if not noticing Hinata's presence.
Hinata's eyes noticed the few blood red strands of hair falling from the opening in the cloak where a long silver like flute with several carvings and rare curves sprouted sideways and long slender fingers played on it. Hinata had a vague feeling of seeing the color of such hair somewhere else but the music was slowly fading away her thoughts and all that remained was the sweet melody which invited her to seat and listen forever.
At some point Hinata regained her senses when she noticed how Naruto was wrestling with the cloaked figure while screaming something at her. She blinked several times as the sound started to make sense once more.
"Hinata! Wake up!" screamed Naruto while trying to get a hold of the cloaked figure.
Hinata rose to her feet when the stranger tore off the cloak making Naruto stumble backwards. The person was the furious looking redhead known as Tayuya whose eyes were spurting fire.
Hinata saw how Tayuya raised her flute to her mouth and remembering her previous experience she lunged at her slapping the instrument from her mouth. Tayuya was a bit surprised of having her instrument taken away and in a spite of fury threw a punch at Hinata who evaded it gracefully clasping her hand and tripping her to the ground where she immobilized her with a holding move.
Naruto finally took the cloak off him and hurriedly returned to the fight only to find a cursing Tayuya completely subdued by a serious looking Hinata. Naruto picked up the flute and gave Hinata a small piece of line to bind Tayuya's hands.
Hinata took Tayuya back to her feet while Naruto approached Tayuya with a playful smile on his face "Oh Tayu-chan, such a bad girl and here I thought we parted as good "friends" why do you fell back to such low tricks like using Thornian sensorial music?"
Tayuya blinked recognizing the person speaking so casually to her. Once she recognized the sly man who had stolen her first kiss she went red of both fury and embarrassment and tried to bite his head off.
Hinata managed to restrain Tayuya but couldn't help to be suspicious of Tayuya's red face as she tried to attack Naruto.
"Uzumaki you bastard! Don't tell me you followed me all the way here just to get back at me for outwitting you on Augya?" spat Tayuya with a grin as she tried to infuriate Naruto.
"You didn't outwit me! if I recall I shot you down and captured you!" responded an obviously insulted Naruto.
"You barely caught up with me! I am the one who should be ashamed of being caught by such a lousy pilot!" screamed Tayuya back at Naruto.
"You fell first!" responded and indignant Naruto.
"I was piloting a modified old light cargo ship, you were piloting an old federation gunship; those don't fall unless completely smashed! You are a lousy pilot while I managed to bring down a mighty Justicar!" said a proud smug looking Tayuya.
Naruto wanted to respond but was beat. Hinata on her side considered Tayuya's words and she really was impressed by her pilot skills, even if she was a criminal.
"Anyway, what the hell are you doing on Hysperia? Getting back in trouble?" said Naruto trying to save face before his brand new aide.
"I am stranded! And it's your entire fault! When I lost that cargo the thugs who hired me took my ship and any possession I had as compensation for the bust! I managed to get back my flute and some clothes and I have been trying to leave this heap of rusted metal for almost a month!" screamed Tayuya while remembering the bitter memories.
"And using Thornian tricks is your "honest" way of getting off planet?" said Naruto.
"I tried but the only jobs available for a young lady like me implicates wearing very little clothing or having to remove it afterwards" said a red Tayuya "You can't blame me! I was desperate!" finished while a couple of tears threatened to leave her chocolate eyes.
Hinata couldn't help but sympathize with Tayuya, she had seen the working girls of Hysperia and she rather starves than wearing such garments.
Naruto grinned imagining Tayuya in such garments but something clicked in his head "Wait! The thugs who hired you are on this planet? Where? How do I contact them? Who are they?" said Naruto in full seriousness placing his face uncomfortably close to Tayuya's.
Tayuya went red with such closeness and for a moment remembered the passionate kiss he stole from her while his hot breath washed on her. But a second later she reared her head back and gave a powerful head butt to Naruto.
"What the hell?" screamed Naruto while holding his face.
Hinata slammed Tayuya against a wall and hardened her grip on Tayuya to further immobilize her.
Tayuya grinned and replied "You owed me that one! And if you want my help I want a few favors in return"
AN: DONE!
Hello everyone, just finished a new installment on which I have been working for almost three weeks. I expected to end it way sooner but work has been a bitch lately and so I was delayed greatly. But I managed to pull through, and on my birthday nonetheless!
I broke my rule of one chapter at a time but this story is so much easier to write than my main project since it started on a whim and I feel more relaxed writing it.
I don't think I will be able to upgrade any of my stories before Christmas or new year so in case I don't see you people. Merry Christmas and a happy prosperous new year may you and your loved ones stay well and in good health!
Read, enjoy and review!
