Chapter 6

Tech landed the ship on the outer part of a nearby town near the mountains of the dessert planet.

"This will have to do for now," Tech said as he powered down the ship.

Echo was unconscious to the world even though his eyes darted back and forth processing whatever that damned computer was putting in or talking away from him. Tech knelt down by Echo and the wires and computers connected to him and like always, got back to work.

Hunter walked through the doors of the sleeping chambers the bad batch shared.

"Any progress?" Hunter asked

"Not yet. Though I did manage to find a new program that might help us out but, I will need some more equipment if I am do complete it properly." Tech said

"There's a town down the river from here, maybe 2 or 3 miles." Hunter said, grabbing his backpack, "I can go take a look around and see what I find. What equipment do you need?"

"Just this," Tech held out a holocron with the image of handheld device that Hunter had no idea what it was used for.

"Right, I'll look out of that." Hunter said taking the holocrone and putting it in his back pocket. Hunter threw his backpack on and headed towards the door. "I'll be back before night fall." Hunter let the door closed behind him.

The suns were rising in the North, one following right after the other. Hunter threw his poncho over his head and threw his hood up over his head, and traveled the 3 miles to the village.

Once Hunter arrived there were people of different species roaming through the outside market place. He relaxed a bit realizing it wouldn't be hard to fit in. He made his way to a near by food stand and grabbed a few colo claw fish and deep-fried Nuna legs and pulled out his credits he brough with him. He packed the food into his backpack after handed the credits to the owner and turned around to look for the device that tech needed.

"Hey," Hunter approached who appear to be the salesman of this junk store, He was clad in a torn-up hat and a vest with a white shirt underneath that was drenched with sweat and dirt. He had an uneven, unkept beard and wrinkles around his face. "I'm looking for something, you have anything like this laying around?" Hunter held up the holocrone that Tech gave him that had the image of the device Tech needed.

"I don't know. How much you have on you?" The salesman said rugging his scruffy beard.

Hunter sighed and held up only half of the credits that he had in hopes that the salesman would think that's all he had on him.

"Hmmmm, a little extra credit and I could have helped you, my friend." The salesman turned around to walk away.

"How about this, this is all I have." Hunter said taking out two thirds of what he had on him.

"Much better, I knew you were someone with common sense, this way my friend." The salesman guided him to a far pile of junk where he dug through and pulled out many different devices. "Eh? What do you think? You like?"

Hunter examined each of them and noticed that none of them match the imaged that he showed him. "Are you serious? These aren't at all what the image I showed you looks like."

"Ungrateful I see, that will cost you double!" The salesman exclaimed.

"Give me the item I want, if you have it, and I will gladly pay what we agreed on." Hunter said narrowing his eyes.

The salesman took a second and stared back before leaving for a second and coming back with a handheld device that looked similar to the one Tech needed. "How about this? Does this fit to your liking?" He said mockingly

"Yes, I will. Thank you for your business," Hunter said in the same tone right back to him with his eyes locked to a cold and heartless stare as he handed his credits over for the device. He hoped it was what Tech needed.

Making his way back through the town one of the suns started to set, This planet must have shorter rotations, Hunter thought started to making his way back to the ship. The faster he walked, the faster the sun set it seemed. The town was getting dark and a few lights, here and there, started to turn on and illuminate the street just barely enough to see what was in front of you. The closer he got to the edge of town, the more Hunter felt like he wasn't alone anymore. He started to walk cautiously, his hand slowly reaching for the knife on his forearm. Every few feet he could see a figure dash from one hiding place to the next in the corner of his eye.

After about a mile out of town, the figure still following him, Hunter changed directions. Heading towards the mountain base with more rocks and more cover to hide. He stopped every know and then and looked behind him, sure that who ever was there was gonna make their move anytime soon. Hunter then turned the corner and quickly picked up a small rock and tossed in the direction he would have walked towards, making it appear as if he was still walking.

As soon as the figure turned the corner Hunter pounced and tackled them to the ground. The figure quickly adapted and elbowed Hunter in the face, making him let go of his target. The figure proceeded to get on top of Hunter and punch him in the face. He tried to guard himself as best he could. As one of the punches reached close to his face he grabbed their wrist, twisting it in an awkward angel, sending them over Hunter's head and onto the ground. He got onto his hands and knees and swiftly crawled over to the figure on the ground getting on top of them, sending punches their way as well. He was met with a foot to the face as the figure was easily able to move their foot, sending Hunter to the ground grabbing his face. He quickly used his momentum and kept turning, driving an elbow in their ribs, sending them to the floor and Hunter quickly stood up and grabbed the hood that hid their face and pulled it off.

Hunter started in wide eyes as he couldn't believe who was before him.

"Rex?"