Southern desert is a lawless place, where the rule of the Imperium doesn't reach, not because they can't, but the fact that the place is enormous and has absolutely nothing to offer makes this place a very inefficient place for conquest. However, life still flourishes in this land.
As every day, the lawless land's hub is full of drunken lads and criminals alike. You can always find some blood and teeth on the floor no matter when it's the time you enter the hub. Due to the scorching heat of the southern desert, every habitant of the area has darker skin no matter the race. So, it makes it easier to bully the newcomers who dare to step into this land without even tasting a beating first.
The hub's door got wide open, light from the sun illuminated the darkroom. It's the afternoon, so there aren't a lot of people in the hub, but the person who entered afterward got everyone's attention. A girl wearing a leather jacket entered the door without even looking around, straight went to the bartender, and asked for a cup of "sunflower juice". The bartender seemed to understand something and thus went back to the kitchen to pick up something.
At this moment 3 locals stand up and walk towards her., the leading person's arm is as wide as the girl's thigh, "Eyey, lil grill, wat can ey get ya? Can ey git ya some nice milk becuz lit sims that you nid some milking in yar bone" Strange tone indeed yet still understandable the rest of the hub burst in laughter, they laugh because it is always enjoying seeing a slaughter in an afternoon of this place.
But Monika pretends that she didn't hear whatever they said, she's just calmly waiting for the bartender to come out so she can get going. The locals aren't happy about this response, it seems like a lesson of manner is going to be taught in this hub.
One of the subordinates raised his fists, but half of a second later, he felt an immense pain from his wrist, by the time he inspected his hand, it was already on the ground. Monika cleaned the stained blood on her short sword with a tissue on the table and slid it back to the holster with extreme proficiency. As the handless man falls on the ground crying in pain, the other two run away with a long scream of terror. For a captain of the imperial navy bulling locals might be out of her job description and she might be penalized for it, but who is she kidding in a place where emperor's light cannot shine upon, order and rules need to be taught in a hard way.
Monika grabs a silver cup from the table, using that to adjust some of her loose bangs. The bartender came out of the kitchen with a gasp of horror, then looked at the suspect adjusting her hair. "What …. what have you done?" the bartender asked with a tone of fear: " Do you have any idea who those people work for? Yea sure, you came in tough but who will protect us after you are gone?"
Monika slowly puts her cup down then turns to the bartender with a confident smile on her face: " Give me the thing I am looking for and I shall dispose of the rest for you." Monika is quite confident about her skill, after all, she's both gifted and well trained in combat: "I was sent here to get rid of the manufacture of this sunflower juice of yours. Would you be a kind, sir, to tell this little poor girl here where she can have an audience with the producers? ~" Monika's smile is both spine-chilling and heartwarming, a strange combination indeed.
Before the bartender can say anything, both of them get interrupted by a burst of loud laughter, a guy who's eating in the bar is laughing hysterically. Monika got startled a bit, not because the way he laughs sounds like a dying pig, but she didn't see or sense him the moment she entered the hub. She approaches slowly and sits across the guy. Monika crosses her hand under her chin and looks straight into the man's eyes "what's so funny mister?" she asks. But the ebony-skinned man did not answer, he just continues eating his fries without even glancing at Monika even for a split second, it is strange because most men cannot even take their eyes off someone like Monika.
The dimming sunlight that shines across the broken panel's projects in the lightless bar. Every other customer stops what they are doing and focuses on the mental brawling between these two. One is a captain of the imperial navy, and the other side is just an owner of the bar. The wager was already done before the fight was finished.
When he's finally done with the fries he cleaned his hand thoroughly with the tissue, the way he's cleaning it as if every bit of oil from the fries it's like the bane of his life. But at the same time, Monika is still patiently looking at him as if she's enjoying what she's looking at. When he's done, he finally looks at Monika in the eyes.
"There's really no good way of putting this, so I will just be as straightforward as possible: You messed up big time, lady." Despite the unclean-looking face and the unshaved beard, he spoke with a surprisingly formal gothic accent, which is something a local here cannot learn if they haven't studied in the capital for their entire lifetime.
"What's your name?" Monika is curious about this individual, his attitude is completely different from the way he presents himself, her guess is that this person used to be a city folk but then got washed up to this place.
"Fane Dreyer. my lady. The owner of the hub." He drank a full glass of water, and refilled another cup, the desert area dries the body like nowhere else in this world.
"I don't really understand why you said I messed up big time. Please, enlighten me." Monika's attitude changes based on how's she treated.
"That was a surprising attitude, I thought you would also slice off my arms because I looked at you differently." he then moved his body a bit forwards to Monika:" Let me tell you something young lady, YOU came into my hub without knowing the rule. That, I won't say anything about it because we always keep an open mindedness attitude to every new customer. HOWEVER, YOU CAME INTO MY HUB, ASKING FOR NON-SENSE AND START SPILLING BLOOD AMONG MY LOYAL CUSTOMERS THEN ASKING FOR WHAT?" He chuckles: "ENLIGHTENMENT?" Then he slammed his hands on the table: "You imperial soldiers always apply your own ideals on others but guess what? We are doing just fine. But you? You are not going to." His tone changes completely from polite to enraged, apparently this person had some previous bad experience with the imperium soldiers and Monika's action didn't help as well.
Monika noticed there's a small crack on the reinforced hard wood table. She however is not a bad person, or at least relatively speaking. Monika asks for compensation, but Dreyer pointed his finger at the unconscious local who just lost his arm on the floor:" This guy belongs to an extremely powerful local boss. You made the mess; you pay the price."
"What is the price?" Monika asks carefully.
"Your hand. On. The. Floor, the same way you chopped off his, the rule of the dessert is simply equality, nothing else."
"Not gonna happen."
"..."
"..."
The killing scents are even noticeable from outside the hub, people start gradually leaving the hub, but they didn't leave yet, they have all known the owner for a long time, and they surely know whose ass is going to get kicked today. All of them are the people who cannot endure the imperial rules and therefore all of them are happy to see a person they have respect for teaches an imperial officer a lesson.
Monika moves her left foot a bit backward for a better stance, but as she moves, Dreyer suddenly appears on her side. "So fast" she had an inner gap, Dreyer's speed is unproportionate to his body size, the only way someone can achieve this is through body modification, and Dreyer's speed just tells Monika that this person is either used to be the special forces or someone was used to be a high-ranking officer. Just about Dreyer hit Monika on the back of her head. Monika lowered herself to dodge the attack at a speed that's as well unachievable by a normal human being. Just at the moment she is about to pull her sword, she realizes that Dreyer already got her arms then catapults her to the hub's wall. All of it happened so fast, the only thing people heard from the whole fight is the noise of Monika's body hitting the wall. The impact was hard, the wood on the wall shattered by the force and if Monika isn't also an enhanced soldier, she might have already broken her spine multiple times. Monika tried to get up but soon she fell unconscious a few seconds later.
"Brat." Dreyer looks at Monika without a hint of regret or mercy. He then takes out a short cigar, smoking it like an old captain "These younglings have no respect these days, isn't it?". The bartender said it while cleaning up the mess. Dreyer did not respond; he's just too bothered about all of these things happening in the hub. Before all of it, he was an esteemed colonel on the border of the southern desert guarding against a chaos spawn hole. During his time of serving the imperium, the land was flourishing, unlike the desert, we see right now. That's the point when he's sick of the bureaucracy of the imperium then leaves out everything he fought for. After a few years of struggling, he decides to enjoy his retirement by opening a hub, where everyone can come in, have fun, and tell crazy stories.
Of course, in the Dried eye hub, every day there's bloodshed, but never ever there was a serious injury done in this place, everyone here will forget the fight after a round of drink, this is why Dreyer was unhappy with what Monika did with the locals. When he feels a bit better, he uses his cigar cutter to cut off the ignite part. He then crouches down on the ground to give a close inspection of Monika. He got to admit, even for a retired old soldier who used to work in the Imperium office, Monika's face and her physique is still top tier compared to the servant-maid of the local lords. He then releases a long unfortunate sigh, unfortunate not because he feels sorry about the girl but himself. The reason he needs to follow the rule is that technically his hub is under the rule of the local boss. He needs to do a lot of things he doesn't want because of it. He's done enough hurting for the imperium, now it's just merely the change of the people he serves. He felt like he's like the guard dog for his whole life. Just the moment when Dreyer held Monika's hand and was about to sever her hand from the arm. A strange mechanical noise suddenly toned out of nowhere.
"What is that?" "What the hell is happening?" "Is that a... a Necron? on this planet?" Everyone outside of the hub is whispering in shock about what just happened.
Trazyn is here not because he wants to but to fulfill the bargain between Nova and him:" Make sure that Monika comes back in one piece." Normally Trazyn couldn't care less about the life and death of those inferior beings, all he wants to do is just collect the things he wants and move on to another target, but a bargain is a bargain. if the term is stated as a whole piece then need to get this Monika human back to Nova in a full piece.
"Who are you?" Dreyer has no change of emotion even when he sees a big robot that looks like nothing he has ever seen in his life.
"None of your business, I'm here to pick up the girl." Trazyn said it as if Dreyer is like a piece of meat that knows how to talk.
"Not gonna happen, she broke the rule she gotta pay before she leaves."
"What rule? Can't even believe anyone would be willing to stay in this place, needless to say to be a guard dog of someone." Trazyn's tone is full of arrogance. But he apparently already knows about this place before coming in: "The choices are rather simple if you ask me, either I leave with the girl or I still get what I want but you will lose more than you can lose."
Both of them had argued with each other for the next 30 mins until Dreyer agreed that Trazyn can leave with the girl.
When Trazyn is about to teleport, he decides to stop and watch the sky for some time while carrying Monika in his arms like a groom carrying his bride. That's the time when he sees that Monika restored her consciousness for a few seconds, just within these few seconds, he remembered a promise he made dozens of lifetimes ago, a promise that made Trazyn decide to keep exploring the world instead of sleeping away for another few millennia.
Beyond the dune, a green meteor slides across the sky, but it suddenly turns itself heading towards the nearby stronghold far away from the hub. After the shine of bright light, and a small earthquake Trazyn teleported away with the unconscious Monika.