Ch 3. New Plans
A lone Beowulf ran through the forest, fear coated it's eyes as it limped through the undergrowth. Turning its head it checked to see if the...thing was still chasing him. The beowulf didn't know what attacked him, but it's survival instinct told him to run. It ran as fast as it could, making its way through the forest. Before it could jump over a tree there was a sharp pain at the back of it's head and then nothing.
BP lowered his rifle, the Hung Jury. A trusty omolon scout rifle, he had swapped it for Rose. Having decided to go with the scout, Although he liked Rose he, himself, needed something a bit more sturdy and reliable. BP breathed out and slung it over his back. Walking back to the crash site BP heard a low growl, a black wolf jumped at him. Drawing his last dance he discharged it and a trio of arc bullets tore through the wolf.
That was another thing BP found out, the dark creatures were more susceptible to energy weapons than kinetic ones. He didn't understand why but it made no difference. Stowing it on a front holster BP continued to trek forward.
"So, Sparky anything new?"
"Other than the usual stuff not much"
"Have you at least been able to find a way to set up a makeshift communications beacon?"
"With the materials we have, nope"
BP sighed, his hand palming against his moonfang helm. "Let's head back. Andromeda should be waking up"
"You should get some rest as well"
"Not tired"
"...you should let Andromeda take the shift tonight"
"I said, I'm not tired"
"Fine. Just know that I worry for you"
"You're my ghost, you always will"
Moving his arm he stepped through a bush, upon entering the site he was surprised by what he saw. Near the edge of the area he saw a tall metallic tower. There were some lights flashing, a crude metal dish, and hanging on the side of it was Andy.
"Um….Andy? What's that?"
The Eliksni Hunter looked down at him "A communications tower!" she yelled out
"How did you…"
"In case you forgot, we Eliksni are well attuned with machines. It's part of our culture" The hunter dropped down and looked back at her handiwork.
"Well I'll be. Does it work?"
"Yep, but we can only receive messages as of now"
"Well it's a start"
"Yup, also good news. Turns out this place isn't so barren as we expected"
"So there's a town?"
"More like a city"
That caught BP's attention, so this planet wasn't as underdeveloped as he thought it was.
"Do we know where it is?"
The hunter pointed west "that way for a good 30 miles"
BP nodded "how are you doing on ammo?"
"I've got 5 more mags for my pulse. I've run out for my shotgun though"
BP nodded "what kind is it?"
"Buckshot, it's called the Xenoclast"
BP nodded, walking into the ship he rummaged around a bit and found a green ammo pack. Taking it with him he tossed it to Andromeda.
"That has 6 shots. Make 'em count"
She nodded and the two set out for the city. While they walked BP thought about what they would do in the city.
"You know we won't be able to take off our helmets, right?" Andy said
BP nodded "yes, you are correct"
"And what if they ask for us to take it off?" she asked, worry in her voice
"Well...we'll see what we do. The better question is, what will you do once we get to the city"
She hummed for a bit "I was hoping to figure out what kind of technology is being developed here. I'm hoping to find the pieces I need to repair something"
BP nodded "sorry to bother, but why are you still a Dreg? I would have assumed that with the amount of light you have you would have matured into a captain by now"
She looked at him "well...Although that would be suitable, I prefer being more nimble, lithe, agile than my fellow Eliksni"
BP nodded"I'm guessing it's also a deception tool?"
She cocked her head "how'd you know"
"Looks can be deceiving, is all i'm saying"
The two continued to banter playfully for a while, walking for an untold amount of time.
As the sun settled and the moon rose, BP took to the rigorous task of maintaining his weapons. Examining the barrel he cleaned it out and lowered it. He noticed Andromeda observing him, with curiosity. Having taken off her helmet, BP noticed how she had her hair dyed a hot pink. It contrasted well against her dark skin.
"Can I help you?"
Her luminescent eyes widened and she looked away bashfully. BP simply shrugged and his optics returned to the task at hand.
"Um, yeah. I've noticed that your last dance is able to fire at full auto, I thought Omolon only distributed them as a three burst"
BP nodded and examined the firing mechanism to his sidearm. "Typically, yes. But, those that know their way around the vineyard, modify their weapons to better suit them. For starters, my last dance has control SAS, ricochet rounds, full auto and dragonfly.
The sight was changed to make it easier for target acquisition. The rounds give me better recoil control. Then there's full auto, I did some finicking with it and made it shoot fully automatic. Works well in the crucible. Then there's dragonfly"
"How'd you do that"
"I don't know, space magic"
Andromeda snickered at that. "Think you can help me with my Jian?"
BP scratched his chin "Doubt it"
"Why?"
"Well, the user is what makes the weapon. It's all about preferences, and how you utilize your weapons"
She nodded at that. BP finished assembling his Last Dance and stowed it. Putting away his cleaning kit he noticed Andromeda's confusion.
"Hm?" he asked
"The scout rifle, you're not going to clean it?"
"Nope"
"Why not?"
"Don't need to"
"Oh"
The two sat in silence, eventually it was andromeda that decided to call it a night and head to sleep. BP kept watch like last time. He stared into the dark sky but a shift in the foliage caught his attention. He made ready for his sidearm but waited for a bit.
"Who's there?"
No one answered. His helmet transmitted itself onto him, looking around he couldn't find anything of unknown. That was until a bullet plinked off of his back. Turning around he didn't see anybody.
"Weird"
He waited a bit, a faint rustle of leaves alerted him to the person. Turning around he dodged the bullet and looked at where it came from. Diving into the bush he found nothing.
"Sparky, I need your help"
"How so?"
"Someone's trying to kill me"
"...can you be a bit more specific?"
"Just, try and send a pulse out. Can you find anything that can help me mark him?"
Walking out of the bush he stayed alert, whatever this was, knew what they were going up against. After a bit he saw on his helmet hud a disc. On it was a blue dot, marking Andromeda. Then there was another dot, red.
"I was able to find something but what you're seeing isn't real time. I can keep sending out pulses but you're going to have to predict where he's going to be next"
BP nodded, after a bit there was a second pulse and the red dot was closer. He noticed that it was behind him. Counting to three he saw the pulse again and the dot moved to his left. He felt a wave of Solar energy engulf his hand.
Counting to three once more he saw that the dot stopped and was currently to his right. Another pulse and it moved to go to his front. Counting to three again and the pulse showed the red dot in front of him. Counting to three, BP let the solar energy take control and he threw a small glowing hammer.
From the bushes emerged a man, he wore all black but had a white mask. By the time he saw the hammer it was too late as it caved his face in. The hammer bounced back and BP grabbed it mid-air.
"Brutal" Sparky quipped
BP walked up to the body, rummaging around it he saw a simple grey pistol. He didn't know what he could use it for, maybe give it to Andromeda to see what she can do with it. He also found a wallet with...plastic cards? He would need to do more research on that and have sparky help him. Lastly, he found a grey thing as well. He looked at it front to back, there was a small button on it. Pressing it the thing opened and there was a clear screen in the middle of it.
"Huh, neat" looking over it he pressed the button again and it closed. Looking back at the body he charged some solar energy and placed his hand on the body. It immediately burnt up and finally dissolved.
Walking back to the camp he noticed the thing beep rapidly, pressing the middle button he saw it expanded. On it was an image of a man wearing a hood and a white mask, a frequency line appeared next to him.
"Sampson, come in sampson. What's your status?"
"..."
"Sampson! This isn't funny, where are you?"
BP hung up and stowed it into one of his satchels. Trekking towards the camp he sighed and sat down on a log. Slinging over Hung Jury he whistled a tune to himself. All the while the moon illuminated him overhead.
"BP, Look!"
He felt his brow twitch, turns out Eliksni like to sleep...a lot, so after an hour of debating to himself he decided to carry Andromeda towards the closest city. After a bit she woke up and decided to stay where she was. He gave her the thing from last night and she marvelled at it, taking apart quickly with no caution whatsoever for him.
Currently she was standing on his shoulders pointing at something.
"Andy, I can't see what you're seeing. Get down and let me jump"
"Fine" she got off of him, jumping up, he let the light cover him and floated for a bit in the air. What he saw was a massive walled city. His optics widened and he descended to the ground.
"Well? What are we waiting for let's go!"
"Wait, Andy!" He grabbed her arm and stopped her from running.
"What?"
He tapped his head "helmet"
"Oh, right" she laughed awkwardly at him and her helmet transmitted onto her. Turning around BP led the way but buckled as Andromeda climbed his back and sat on his shoulders.
"Really?"
"You've got the longer legs, your strides are bigger. Besides, let me work on this device. If I can reverse engineer it then we can find out how it works"
BP sighed and continued the trek towards the city.
Bit of a filler. Hope you enjoyed it.