A/N: I'm very happy to announce that alongside this chapter, I've also completely rewritten chapter 1: The Arrival. To anyone wondering as to why I've done this, it's because I'm simply not happy with its quality in comparison to more recent chapters. I believe that the first chapter of any fanfiction, is supposed to represent the fanfiction and its quality as a whole. In its current state, I don't think that chapter one does this very well, and I aim to rectify this.

That, and I also discovered that I much prefer writing in the present-tense, instead of past-tense. I'm considering doing the same with chapters 2, 3 and 4 at some point in the future, though they're not a priority at the moment. (Curse me for being a perfectionist, lol.) Expect improvements to writing, grammar, formatting and any other small changes that I've decided needs to be made.

I'm also going to give this chapter a warning for a particular scene that one can describe as 'somewhat suggestive'. You'll know what I mean, when you get to it.


ANGEL CITY, PLANET ANGELIA,

THE FRONTIER,

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO...

A young boy's heart pounds in his chest, as he sprints through the backstreets of Angel City as fast as his legs can carry him.

"GET BACK HERE, KID! I KNOW YOU ROBBED ME!" A man behind him yells out.

As he dodges clueless bystanders who neither knew nor wanted anything to do with the altercation, the boy continues running, until he sees the entrance to an alley a ways ahead of him.

The boy sprints into the alley and quickly pulls over a garbage can, spilling its contents onto the ground in hopes it would slow down his pursuer. To his fear, he looks over his shoulder to see the man jump over the garbage can after him, and was now quickly catching up. The boy skids to a stop and turns around as he swiftly pulls a small folding knife from his back pocket, and quickly flicks it open before pointing it straight at the man.

"Back off, or I'll slice you open!" He threatens, as he points the knife towards the man, who quickly comes to a stop about fifteen feet away from him, upon seeing the weapon. Usually, a quick show of his blade would be enough to deter anyone from pursuing the boy any further, if he found himself being chased.

The truth was, the boy had stolen from him, or rather, his store. But it wasn't much, only a small sandwich to stave off the hunger. The boy hated feeling hungry, and it was something he felt all too often lately, ever since he ran away from the orphanage.

"YOU'RE GONNA NEED MORE THAN THAT, KID!" The man growls, as he pulls the side of his jacket away from his waistline to reveal the grip of a pistol sticking out of his waistband.

Upon seeing the man was armed with a far superior weapon, the boy turns and begins running again, the man quickly giving chase. However, the man quickly gains on the boy, and tackles him to the ground once he's close enough to do so. The impact from the tackle knocks the boy's knife out of his hand, as it skids along the ground a few feet.

"I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU KIDS STEALIN' FROM MY STORE!" The enraged man roars as he forces the boy onto his back, before he wraps his hands around the boy's throat and begins squeezing.

"I'M GONNA ENJOY THIS, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The man remarks, his anger quickly turning to disgusting satisfaction as a sick grin etches across his face.

The boy scratches and kicks helplessly as he tries to break free from the man's grasp, to no avail. The boy could no longer breathe, and soon, darkness begins creeping up on the edges of his vision. Not much longer, and the boy would die, strangled to death by a deranged store owner.

In his final moments of consciousness, the boy reaches out and desperately claws the ground next to him in search of his lost knife. His fingers eventually feel plastic and metal, and wrap around the knife's handle in a tight grip, the boy's knuckles quickly turning white.

In an instant, the blade plunges straight into side of the man above, the man roaring in pain as he briefly relents on his grip on the boy's throat, just long enough for him to gasp for another breath of air before releasing the knife and going for the pistol concealed in the man's waistband.

After a few seconds of struggling, a deafening crack echoes through the alley, startling birds from their perches above.

The man immediately cries out as he releases the boy's throat from his grip, the boy quickly crawling backwards out of his reach until he finds his back pressed up against a wall.

The man desperately presses his hands over the gunshot wound in his stomach in an attempt to stem the bleeding, as he keels over onto his side, groaning in pain. The pool of blood beneath him steadily grows larger and larger, until his arms suddenly go limp, and the man exhales loudly, never to take another breath.

The boy stares at the man in horror, as he realises...

He... He killed him...

Daniel Cooper gasps for breath as he stares down at the bloodied pistol in his hand, his amber eyes wide in horror. That was the exact moment he learned a harsh lesson, one that he would remember for the rest of his life...

Kill... or be killed.


PLANET FASTOON,

CERULLEAN SECTOR.

As Daniel finds himself staring down at the Hammond P2016 pistol in his hand, he quickly shakes his head and pulls himself out of the flashback. He continues threading on the suppressor on the end of the pistol's barrel, until he hears a click that confirms that it's secured to the weapon.

He'd gone to Zurkie's Gastropub to commission the storage apparatus from Ms. Zurkon, considering she built and sold her weaponry of her own design. After trading some of his leftover Raritanium as payment, she told him that she'll have it ready in a few hours. In the middle of all that, BT suddenly informed him that he'd located the Ark fragment in the Cerullean Sector, on a planet designated 'Fastoon'. Naturally, Daniel wasted no time in getting to Fastoon to secure it, before someone else did.

Upon breaking through the thick clouds of Fastoon's atmosphere, he immediately learned that Fastoon was a dry and dusty world. As a result of the thick clouds of dust reflecting a large portion of the planet's sun's heat away from the planet, Fastoon's surface temperature remained on the cooler side.

Now inside his Crow sitting on the outskirts of a slum built in the ruins of an old city, in a large plaza with what appears to be a destroyed fountain in the middle of it, Daniel figures that he would need weaponry that would be a bit quieter, upon seeing that the slum was densely populated. And so, he equipped himself with an R-97 Compact SMG from one of the duffle bags located underneath his Crow's troop seats, and outfitted it with a suppressor like he'd just done with his pistol, so that he could minimise attracting any unwanted attention from the natives, if he had to use them.

As he steps out of his Crow through the side door, Daniel then orders BT to find him the quickest path to the Ark fragment, a HUD marker subsequently appearing in front of an alley on the other side of the plaza. The Pilot begins jogging across the plaza towards the alley, at the same time, not knowing he was being watched.

A lone, hooded figure wearing a dusty, military-green cloak crouches on the edge of a rooftop overlooking the plaza, watching the black-armoured Commando.

"So... you can apparently bring down a Seekerpede single-handedly, and yet you can't help but stand out like a sore thumb?" A feminine voice remarks, "Where do you find these people, Skipp...?" The figure mumbles in mild annoyance, as she stands up and begins sprinting across the dilapidated rooftops out of sight.

Back to Daniel, as he jogs past the broken-down fountain in the centre of the plaza, he passes by two aliens wearing masks over their faces and sitting on said fountain, who were in the middle of a conversation. When he gets close to them, they both immediately stop talking, outright gawking at Obsidian as he jogs past. Once the Commando is out of earshot, their conversation continues.

"Wait a minute; he's that guy on all the Emperor's wanted posters! Obsidian, I think his name was!" One of the aliens says to the other.

"What did he do?" The other alien replies with a shrug.

"Didn't you hear? He saved all those people locked up on that train in Nefarious City!"

"That was him? Well, what do you think he's doing here, then?" The other alien asks.

"No idea, but I'm not sticking around to find out!" The first alien suddenly announces, as he then quickly stands up from the partially-destroyed fountain and leaves the plaza at a brisk pace.

After Cooper enters the alley, he finds that it's rather quiet compared to the slums outside it, with nothing within besides the odd dumpster or the few specks of trash or mound of dust speckled along the ground.

As he continues speed walking through the alley, a trio of masked aliens suddenly walk into the alley from an intersecting one, and upon noticing the Commando, their demeanours change from smiling and laughing in conversation, to anger.

"HEY! You Resistance members know well enough that you're not welcome on Fastoon!" One off the aliens calls from the other end of the alley, his voice echoing slightly.

"I'm no Resistance member, now get out of my way." Daniel sternly orders, as he continues speed walking down the alley, getting closer to the aliens.

In response, the three aliens form a sort of wall, preventing the Pilot from moving any further, as he comes to a stop.

"Look, we appreciate you and your friends saving those people on that train in Nefarious City, and bringing them back here to their families, but we don't want you here." The middle alien tells him more softly, after seeing that being antagonistic simply did not work on the Commando.

"Like I said, I'm not with the Resistance, now move it—" Daniel tries to explain and order, as he's suddenly interrupted by the alien on the left side of the 'wall', so to speak, who was also wearing goggles over his eyes, likely to protect them from dust.

"You Resistance members can all go to hell for all I care! Do you have any idea how much trouble you lot have caused for us since that last stunt ya'll pulled here?!" The alien yells in frustration.

"Now, the Emperor sends Troopers down here every month to search for 'Resistance activity', and drag away innocent people for being 'suspected Resistance members'!" The frustrated alien says, as he steps closer to Obsidian.

"Hey, back up—" The Commando firmly orders, as he starts raising the muzzle of his SMG towards the alien native in warning.

"I LOST MY GODDAMN SISTER BECAUSE OF YOU LOT!" The alien suddenly snaps in a rage, as he suddenly closes the gap with the Commando and grabs and wrenches the muzzle of his SMG to the side with a surprising amount of strength.

"GET THE FUCK OFF OUR PLANET—"

In an instant, the alien is silenced by the Commando's bracer blade plunging straight into his throat. The alien's eyes widen in shock, before the Commando throws the alien off him.

The alien falls to the dusty ground, emitting gurgled gasps and desperately grasping at his neck to stem the bleeding, before soon succumbing to shock. The other two aliens are frozen in shock upon seeing this, but before they can react, Obsidian swiftly brings up his R-97 and lets off a suppressed spray into the other closest alien, who falls against a nearby dumpster, dead.

The remaining alien yells in fear, as he turns and begins running down the alley away from the Commando. Like the previous alien, Obsidian calmly squeezes off another burst into the back of the fleeing alien, who collapses face-first onto the dry, dusty ground. Then, after the spent brass ejected from the SMG clinks to the ground, all is silent, as blood begins oozing into puddles underneath the dead aliens' bodies.

Most people would be distraught, or at the very least feel some regret in circumstances such as this one. Daniel felt... nothing. He'd taken so many lives over the years, the vast, vast majority of which while he was serving in the Militia, he'd grown numb to the act of killing. To him, killing was often no more than a chore that simply had to be done, in order to survive. In Daniel's mind, it was either him or them. So, it might as well be them.

Then suddenly, Daniel feels a presence behind him, and the Pilot almost instantaneously turns around and raises his SMG towards it in alarm.

Standing a few feet behind him, was a figure wearing a dusty, military-green cloak, a bandana obscuring their face, as they stood with their gloved arms raised in the air to clearly demonstrate that they intended no harm to the Commando.

"Relax, big guy. I'm a friend of Phantom's." A feminine voice reassures.

"Who the fuck are you?" Daniel demands, his eyes watching the figure like a hawk, still somewhat uneasy from the woman suddenly sneaking up on him, as he lowers his R-97 upon learning that she was a friend of Phantom.

The figure slowly moves her three-fingered gloved hands to her bandana, pulling it down from her face before also lowering her hood, causing the green cloak covering the rest of her body to part somewhat. Underneath the cloak, the woman wore a fancy, blue, single-breasted, vest and simple white button-up shirt buttoned all the way to her neck, with plain black pants and thigh-high brown leather boots. As the woman put a hand on her hip, it revealed she wore matching leather gloves that went up past her elbows.

To her facial features, she had pale-red, mid-length hair and green eyes. She also had perfectly smooth, pale skin, with what appeared to be mild makeup in the form of lipstick, mild blush and eyeliner on her face. While she clearly resembled an organic lifeform, the thin, but distinct black lines in her 'skin' dictated that she was in-fact, some kind of robot.

"My name's Haleigh Coggs, and if the rest of the Resistance finds out what just happened here, they're not going to be happy with you, let's just say that much." Haleigh says, pointing a chastising finger towards the Commando.

"And what makes you think that? Those bastards attacked me, they didn't give me much of a choice." Daniel retorts.

"Because you did have a choice, multiple in fact! You could've just walked away, and they were all unarmed, it wouldn't have been too hard to knock them out!" Haleigh angrily defends. "And that last guy was already running away, he wasn't even a threat anymore!"

"And why should I have given him that mercy? He sure as shit wouldn't have, if the roles were reversed." Daniel retorts again, causing Haleigh to scoff in annoyance.

"You clearly wouldn't have come here, if whatever it is you're here for wasn't really important..." Haleigh figures, as she puts her hands together and paces in thought.

"So, I'll tell you what: I'll tag along with you and make sure you don't needlessly kill anyone else along the way, and help you with whatever it is you're doing here. That sound good?" Haleigh offers, taking slow steps towards Daniel as she points the tips of her fingers towards the Commando in proposition.

"...Fine." Daniel begrudgingly accepts with a sigh, rolling his eyes.

Haleigh smiles as she then walks over to a nearby dumpster, to retrieve a large piece of grey fabric from it. After shaking it out, loosening some dust from it in the process, the fabric reveals itself to be another hooded cloak, stained from dust and worn from use. The bottom of it was tattered and frayed in stiff comparison to Haleigh's cloak, which ignoring the dust, was kept immaculate.

She presents it to Daniel with an outstretched arm. "Here, put this on."

"Why?"

"A man armoured and armed to the teeth isn't exactly subtle. It's why this happened to begin with." Haleigh explains, gesturing to the three corpses. She then tears a red poster down from the alley wall, and shows it to Obsidian. It turns out to be a wanted poster, depicting the armoured Commando's helmet and crescent-shaped visor in all its glory. "And in case you haven't noticed, you're a wanted man, Obsidian."

Just my luck, not even here a week, and I'm already on a damn wanted poster... Daniel internally remarks, as he begrudgingly takes the cloak from Haleigh and puts it on, throwing it over his shoulders. Once he has it secured around his shoulders, Daniel then puts the hood up over his helmet, as he then turns and continues walking through the alley, stepping around the bodies of the aliens as Haleigh follows close behind, putting her own hood and bandana back up.

"So... is it true?" Haleigh suddenly asks, looking at Cooper apprehensively.

"...What?"

"That you... killed a Seekerpede in the city?"

"Yeah?"

"Damn. That explains why there's so many wanted posters of you around, then." Haleigh reckons. "Just make sure you don't do anything that'll piss off Nefarious as much as that did for a while; let the heat die down."

Daniel scoffs. "Trust me, I don't plan on going back to that shithole of a planet anytime soon."

"That shithole used to be the home of tens of billions of people before Nefarious took over, just so you know."

As the Commando and the robot continue through the alley, the HUD markers Daniel's following eventually brings them onto a busy street, which they turn and continue down, passing by aliens of various different species.

As they continue through the slums, Daniel following the markers on his HUD laid by BT, he couldn't help but wonder as to why the Resistance wasn't welcome on this planet.

"Why is the Resistance not... welcome here?" He asks.

"You can blame the Lombax for that one." Haleigh replies. "Came here for Zoni knows what right after a mission, and ended up leading a bunch of Nefarious' Troopers here."

"Who is the 'Lombax', again?"

"Don't you know her? You know, Rivet, the one with the white fur?" Haleigh answers as she looks a him in question, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I didn't know she was the 'Lombax'. Daniel replies.

"Anyway, they chased her halfway across the city, and left a trail of destruction trying to capture her. She eventually lost them, but then they thought her hideout was somewhere here in the city. Now, they search the place once a month, and lock up anyone with the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, because of all that, a lot of the people here hate the Resistance, for a bunch of different reasons."

Daniel hums in understanding.

"What are you here for anyway?" Haleigh asks.

"I'm looking for something." Daniel answers ambiguously.

"And that is...?"

"Something you do not want Nefarious getting his hands on, believe me." Cooper assures.

"Ooh, so secretive." Haleigh teases.

Eventually, Daniel and Haleigh arrive at a large building at the end of a junction, with a big, broken glass dome on top. Upon entering the building through its large, open doorway, it reveals a huge, bustling indoor market set up inside of the interior of the building, packed with stalls selling all kinds of wares, from clothing to pottery and furniture.

"Ark fragment located. Marking your HUD." BT informs Cooper through his helmet radio, as a HUD marker appears above one of the stalls on the opposite side of the market.

Daniel carefully navigates through the crowd of aliens towards the HUD marker, taking care to not accidently bump into anybody on the way, with Haleigh following close behind.

Upon getting within view of the stall, Daniel sees the Ark fragment resting on a shelf behind the stall's owner, the light it's producing making it hard to miss. Upon closer inspection, it appeared the Ark fragment had some rusty metal bent around it to form a sort of stand, the result of which making it look vaguely like a lamp.

As an alien woman walks past the stall, the owner of said stall whistles at her, getting the woman's attention as her head turns to look back at the stall owner.

"Hey lady! You wanna buy this lamp I made? I'll give it to you for a thousand bolts!" The stall's owner bargains, as he quickly grabs the 'lamp' from the shelf and presents it on the table at the front of his stall.

"What kind of lamp is worth a thousand bolts?!" The woman laughs. "It better be a damn good lamp for that price!" She remarks, as she steps closer to the stall in curiosity.

"Oh, trust me, it is!" The stall owner reassures with confidence. "You wanna buy it, or what?"

"Well, why don't you tell me what makes this lamp sooo special, that makes it worth that much to begin with?"

"Well, it doesn't need power, and it never turns off! So, if we end up getting another blackout like the one the other day, you'll be set!" The stall's owner answers.

"What do you mean it doesn't turn off? Isn't that kind of the whole point of a lamp?"

"Look, if ya' ain't gonna buy it lady, then beat it!" The stall owner demands, slamming his hands on the table in frustration as the woman briskly walks away to look for something far more worth her time and money. The stall owner then returns the 'lamp' to the shelf behind him, with all the other crudely-made trinkets, as he waits for next potential customer to walk by his stall.

"You came all the way out here... for a lamp?" Haleigh asks Daniel incredulously.

Daniel ignores her, instead focusing entirely on the Ark fragment. While he could just purchase the Ark fragment from the stall's owner and save everyone involved the trouble, his last resupply with Ms. Zurkon had left him running low on bolts, too low unfortunately to be able to afford it. Not in the mood nor willing to bargain with the stall owner for the Ark fragment, Daniel's grip on his R-97 tightens underneath his cloak as he prepares to take it by force.

As he takes a step forward to do so, he's suddenly stopped by Haleigh grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Not everything needs to end in violence, Obsidian. Just buy it from him." Haleigh chastises in a whisper.

"I don't have enough to afford it." Daniel informs, as he shrugs Haleigh's hand from his shoulder.

"Spend all your bolts on that armour of yours?" Haleigh remarks with a small laugh, as she suddenly materialises a glowing chip of some kind into her right hand, and hands it to the Commando. Upon taking hold of the chip, a window appears on his HUD, informing Daniel that it contained exactly one-thousand bolts.

"Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome. Now, hurry up and buy that 'lamp' and get out of here, so I won't have to babysit you any longer."

As Daniel walks in front of the stall, the stall owner's eyes light up upon seeing the potential customer.

"I'd like to buy that lamp you have there." Daniel says, pointing to the 'lamp' in question.

"Now, we're talkin'! I've been tryin' to sell this thing all day!" The stall owner says with a friendly smile, as he turns around and retrieves the Ark fragment from the shelf, and sets it down onto the table to present it to Daniel just like he did to the woman a few moments ago.

Before the can even open his mouth, however, a young Cazar suddenly sprints up to the stall on all fours and deftly snatches both the Ark fragment and the chip from Daniel's fingers, before quickly running away with both into the bustling crowd.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE, YOU FURRY BASTARD!" The stall owner calls out after the fleeing Cazar, as he tries to jump over the table to chase after him, and only ends up falling flat on his face when his foot gets caught on the edge of the table.

Daniel lets out an audible growl in annoyance as he takes off after the Cazar, his boots pounding against the cracked and broken tile floor, as he yells out several commands for the Cazar to stop, which are ignored. Haleigh calls out to Cooper to not hurt the Cazar, too, as she sprints to keep up with the Commando.

While Cooper certainly wanted nothing more than to put a bullet into the Cazar for his thievery of the Ark fragment, he didn't exactly want to attract any more attention to himself, some of the bystanders watching on as he chases the Cazar through the market. With this in mind, using the Gravity Stars on his belt or his Time Shift, was completely out of the question.

As the Cazar dashes though the bustling crowd of aliens at an impressive speed, he suddenly skids into a turn as he runs out a side door and into another busy street. Daniel follows him out the door and into the street, almost running into an unfortunate native who was just about to walk through it into the market in the process.

Due to his own inexperience with his Grapple as well as the stress of the whole situation, the idea of possibly firing said Grapple at the Cazar to trip him up and stop him, unfortunately never enters Daniel's mind, as he continues sprinting after him.

The Cazar then quickly takes a turn down a quiet side street, populated with far less aliens than the main street he was on seconds before. Thanks to Daniel's superior endurance as a result of his experience and training, he was now steadily catching up on the Cazar, who was visibly beginning to slow down, and panting heavily from exhaustion.

The Cazar risks a peak over his shoulder to see the armoured Commando gaining on him, and quickly turns and runs through the open doors of a random building on the side of the back street.

The Cazar's bare feet slips on the waxed wooden floor of the interior of the building, a bar, and he falls to the floor. The 'lamp' also crashes to the floor, its crude construction quickly undoing itself, freeing the Ark fragment from its 'stand' as it rolls along the floor and underneath the bar.

Daniel quickly catches up to the Cazar, and pins him to the ground before he could attempt to pick himself up and escape, the fast movement of which causing the hood of his cloak to fall off his helmet. He flips the Cazar over onto his back and grabs him by the throat with one hand, and raises his other into a fist, ready and absolutely willing to beat the Cazar into giving up the Ark fragment.

Then, Daniel notices that the young Cazar was shirtless, his fur dirty and matted in some places. And his shorts – the only piece of clothing he did have - were also dirty and worn from use, with several holes in it.

It was only then, when he hears a loud rumble emanating from the Cazar's stomach, does Daniel notice the Cazar's ribs protruding through his pelt as he pants heavily, desperately holding onto the glowing chip with the sum of bolts on it in his clawed hand while the other struggles against the arm pinning him to the floor.

He was hungry. Starving, even. And desperate, too, if his previous actions meant anything. The entire time Daniel was chasing him, he never noticed any of these things. And now, there was nothing but pure fear in the young Cazar's eyes.

Daniel lowers his fist, realising that the Cazar was no different now, than he was many years ago.

"Keep the bolts, you need them more than I do." The Pilot tells the Cazar in a sudden act of sympathy, as he releases him from his grip. Almost immediately upon being freed, the Cazar gets up and runs out the bar's back door on all fours, out of sight.

"Aww, so you do have a conscience!" Haleigh coos behind him, having watched it all from the doorway of the bar.

"Only when people aren't trying to kill me." Daniel dully remarks, as his eyes quickly scan the floor for the Ark fragment, only to find that it was suspiciously missing from where he'd thought it would be.

"Looking for this?" The Cazar bartender asks Daniel, the alien holding the fragment of the Ark in his hand.

"Oh, thanks." Daniel thanks the bartender, as he approaches the bar and extends a hand over it towards him, relieved that his mission was finally over, despite the little hiccup involving the young Cazar.

Then, the bartender quickly draws his arm back, bringing the Ark fragment out of Cooper's reach.

When he sees this, Daniel quickly draws his Smart Pistol from his holster, and points it at the Cazar.

"Hand it over, now."

Upon seeing Obsidian's Smart Pistol pointed at him, the bartender only laughs. "You have some serious balls, Commando, I'll give you that! Though, I suppose that should be expected..."

After hearing the shuffling of clothing and a series of clicks and clacks around him, Daniel then notices that he has blasters trained on him from every direction, from patrons around the bar. His left hand twitches as he prepares to activate his Time Shift, before Haleigh suddenly speaks up.

"I'm sorry about him, Mr Vyrnix! He's just really fond of his possessions, as you can see." Haleigh says to the Cazar behind the bar, as she grabs Obsidian's hand and wrenches it downwards with strength that was fairly appropriate for that of a robot.

"Clearly!" The Cazar bartender now known as 'Mr. Vyrnix' says with a laugh, as he waves a hand, and the patrons immediately lower their weapons. Haleigh glares at Daniel, silently commanding him to just listen to her, as he begrudgingly returns his Smart Pistol to its holster on his hip, still glaring at the Cazar behind the bar.

"Hey, Isaac! When was the last time someone pulled a gun on me?" Mr Vyrnix asks an alien standing next to the bar's back door. "Never!" He quickly says before the alien can provide an answer.

"You're probably the only person in the galaxy who has the balls to do something like that, and in my own bar! And for that, you have my sincere respect." Vyrnix admits. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Obsidian." Daniel answers curtly, still glaring at the Cazar through his visor.

"I already know that, from all the wanted posters around the place! I mean your real name."

Daniel remains silent. He sees Haleigh give him a glare out of the corner of his eye and nod, silently telling him to answer the Cazar's question.

"Lastimosa. Tai Lastimosa."

"Tai Lastimosa... I'll remember that name until the day I die." Mr. Vyrnix admits. "Look, Mr. Lastimosa, I'm willing to give whatever... this... is to you, But I need something in return." He says, nodding to the Ark fragment in his hand.

"Great, more bolts I don't have." Daniel quietly mumbles.

"No, I assure you it's not money I want." Mr. Vyrnix reassures, taking Daniel by surprise for the fact that the Cazar actually heard him. "I want a favour, so to speak."

"What kind of favour?" Haleigh asks, stepping forwards in front of Daniel slightly.

"I have reason to believe that there's some slave traders operating in an old factory on the outskirts of the city. The one near Kerch Avenue, I believe. Unfortunately, as of currently, myself and my men are stretched thin fending off a rising drug epidemic on Fastoon." Vyrnix explains, as he picks up a glass from the bar and begins drying it with a hand towel.

"So, I was thinking; a Commando like yourself would be able deal with this problem far more easily and efficiently than ten of my best men could." The Cazar reckons, as he continues drying the glass, nodding towards Obsidian.

"So, you want him to go and deal with these slave traders, and in exchange, you'll give him what he wants?"

"Exactly! And if you find anyone being held captive, be sure to send them my way." Mr. Vyrnix confirms with a smile. "I take it we're at an agreement? I'm a man of my word."

Before Daniel can open his mouth to reject the Cazar's offer with some tasteful words, Haleigh speaks up.

"Absolutely. We'll deal with those slavers for you, Mr. Vyrnix."

"Hey, I never agreed to—" Daniel speaks, as he's almost immediately interrupted by Haleigh.

"Zip it!" Haleigh whispers to him in a hushed hiss, as she then grabs Daniel by the arm and leads him out of the bar and back into the side streets. After being dragged by Haleigh a few paces, Daniel suddenly stops in his tracks and tries to yank his arm out of the bot's grip, only to find it was unsurprisingly far stronger than it looked.

"Who the fuck was that asshole? Why the hell are we doing his bidding?" Daniel asks Haleigh, his patience with her growing thin.

"One: That was Wyll Vyrnix, the 'mayor' of Fastoon. And two: I'm trying to help you." Haleigh informs, raising a finger for each question answered.

"Help me? It would've been far easier for the both of us to just shoot the bastard! Now, we're running one of his errands, no thanks to you." Daniel rebukes.

"Are you nuts? Do you seriously think you could take on all those guys in there at once?" Haleigh asks incredulously.

"And what makes you think I can't? I killed a Seekerpede, didn't I?" Daniel replies in frustration.

Haleigh groans in annoyance. "I'm trying to teach you that not everything needs to have a violent outcome. And since you seem to have a habit of making enemies wherever you go, I'm trying to stop you from adding him and the people of Fastoon to the list, just because you have an itchy trigger finger."

Daniel opens his mouth to object, but seemingly predicting this, Haleigh silences him with a finger to his helmet's respirator.

"And despite Mr. Vyrnix's outward appearance, he actually does a lot of good to help the people of Fastoon, like stopping a rising drug epidemic — As you already heard, and bringing in food and supplies, and maintaining Fastoon's infrastructure, to name a few. You kill him, and you'll doom all the people on this planet that need his help."

Haleigh then loosens her tight grip on his wrist, then moves her other hand to gently hold Daniel's own. "I know that you're not just a mindless killer, and that you do have a heart in there, somewhere. So, put it to good use and help me deal with these slavers, so we can get your 'lamp' back. Deal?"

After a few moments of silently mulling it over, Daniel sighs in defeat. "What the fuck did I do to deserve this shit...?" He mutters to himself as he shakes his head in annoyance.

"That's the spirit!" Haleigh says sarcastically. "Now, come on, let's get moving!" She says as she releases Daniels hand and gestures for him to follow.

The robot and the Commando both continue through the streets of Fastoon for a few more moments, before Haleigh eventually speaks up again.

"So, Tai..." Haleigh teases, as a smile creeps onto her face underneath her bandana.

"Not my real name, just so you know."


After spending some time moving through Fastoon's streets, and eventually ascending to the rooftops in order to avoid the bustling crowds, Daniel and Haleigh eventually arrive at the slave traders' factory, overlooking it from the top of a nearby building. The factory was shaped like an 'L' and looked derelict and abandoned, the large label painted on its side describing its name and commercial purpose worn from years of neglect. On the way there, Daniel had learned that Haleigh was excellent at climbing, and was able to scale entire buildings like they were nothing, putting even Phantom's skills to shame.

"You see any ways in?" Daniel asks Haleigh, as he quickly scans the factory's exterior for any potential entry points. Meanwhile, Haleigh produces a set of binoculars from underneath her cloak, and begins search for a way inside, as well. Any potential ways inside that Daniel sees, were either blocked or boarded up with signs stating: 'WARNING: DERELICT BUILDING — KEEP OUT' on them.

"What about that power line, over there?" Haleigh says, pointing to said power line, which was leading from one of the many surrounding buildings straight to the factory. If it was inactive, they could easily use it to zipline over to the factory's roof, and then continue planning their approach from there.

"Good eyes." Daniel complements.

"I'm a robot, of course I've got good eyes." Haleigh replies sarcastically, as she stows her binoculars back into underneath her cloak.

After checking that the power line was inactive, Daniel and Haleigh use it to zip line to the roof of the factory, then move slowly and as quietly as they can across the roof, to avoid creating too much noise and potentially informing the slave traders' inside of their presence.

Looking through the cracks of a boarded-up skylight window, Daniel and Haleigh see several aliens tied to the support beams inside the dim factory below. Every single one of them was blindfolded and gagged with rags, presumably to prevent them from calling for help or seeing their captors. There were also several old abandoned machines in the factory floor below.

"Are you going to throw another hissy fit if I kill any of these guys?" Daniel asks Haleigh, who scoffs.

"Of course not, they're slave traders, for Zoni's sake! If anything, death is a mercy compared to what will happen to them if people find out what they're doing here."

"Duly noted." Daniel replies, double checking the ammunition on his R-97 Compact SMG.

"Cooper, my scans are detecting a possible entry point leading into an isolated room on the opposite side of the factory's roof." BT suddenly informs Daniel, as a HUD marker subsequently appears above an open skylight on the other side of the L-shaped building. "You can use it to discreetly access the factory's interior, and avoid attracting notice from those inside."

Daniel silently thanks the Vanguard for his input. "Over there, the skylight. We should be able to use it to get inside." He passes on to Haleigh, as he points towards the skylight in question. They both then continue slowly and quietly skulking across the roof of the factory, until they reach the skylight.

After double-checking that the room was clear, Haleigh drops down onto the floor from the skylight, making little noise as she does so. When Daniel does the same, he lands and makes significantly more noise than Haleigh did, which could only be attributed to his higher-than-average weight of two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, not including his gear.

"Hey! Who's in there? I can hear you, y'know!" A voice suddenly calls out from beyond the room's door.

"Oh, shit!" Daniel exclaims, silently chastising himself as he raises his R-97 towards the door. "Sounds like it's time to fight our way in!"

"Not yet it isn't! Hide there, and wait for my signal!" Haleigh orders Obsidian with a whisper, pointing a finger towards the corner of the room behind a shelf, as she grabs a chair from a nearby desk and sets it in the centre of the room facing towards her.

"What? Why?" Daniel asks hushedly, keeping his R-97 and focus on the door.

"Just do it!" Haleigh hisses.

"Fine, suit yourself, then!" Daniel replies as he then hides in the corner and conceals himself behind the shelf.

Once Obsidian was sufficiently hidden, Haleigh pulls her hood and bandana down and throws her cloak behind her back, before partially unbuttoning and spreading her white shirt wide open to reveal her cleavage, as she stands with her hands on her hips, and with one foot on its tip-toes.

"Oh, for the love of Zoni, who's—" The voice says in frustration, as the door opens and reveals one of the slave traders, as he's then cut off by Haleigh.

"Hell-oo, handsome~" Haleigh says in an alluring tone as she raises her arms behind her head and leans back slightly.

The slaver's eyes go wide when they see Haleigh, and he lets out a low whistle. "What's a gorgeous lady like yourself doing in a place like this?" The slaver asks, his attention entirely on Haleigh, (or rather, her chest) and thankfully nowhere near the Commando hiding in the corner of the room behind the shelf.

"Oh, I'm just looking for some fun, if you know what I mean~" Haleigh replies with a seductive wink, as she smiles at the slaver. "And you, look like just the kind of fun I'm looking for."

"Oh, it must be my lucky day!" the slaver remarks quietly, as he enters the room.

"Oh, it is. Now, shut that door behind you. You wouldn't want to have to share any of this, now would you?" Haleigh tells him, gesturing widely to herself.

"Oh no, you are all mine, beautiful!" The slaver replies, a sick, perverted grin flashing across his face as he happily closes the door behind him without so much as taking his eyes off the bot.

"Now, sit yourself down." Haleigh orders the slaver in a commanding tone, her eyes directing him to the chair in the middle of the room. The slaver looks at the chair for a moment, appearing to hesitate briefly. "What's wrong, do you not want a quick lap-dance before we get started?"

The slaver goes slack-jawed, and he just can't sit down on the chair fast enough. "Sorry, I just haven't had any action in months!" He admits, as he jitters slightly in the chair from excitement.

"Oh my, you must be all pent up!" Haleigh says in feigned worry. "Don't worry, I'll help you out with that in just a moment." She adds.

Daniel notices the emphasis Haleigh put on the word 'moment', and takes this as his cue. Quietly drawing his Data Knife from his vest, Daniel slowly begins creeping up behind the sitting slave trader, taking extra care to not make any noise as he does so.

"Three... two..." Haleigh counts quietly. "One!" She says noticeably more loudly.

Taking that as his cue, Daniel uses his other hand to cover the slaver's mouth from behind, and simultaneously plunges his Data Knife into his throat with frightening proficiency. The slave trader struggles for a second or two, before his movements eventually cease as his arms go limp. Knowing from experience that it was now safe to do so, Daniel removes the blade from the slaver's throat, and wipes the blood away onto the alien's shoulder as he then returns the knife to its sheath.

"Works every time!" Haleigh remarks, a satisfied smile appearing across her face as she buttons her shirt back up.

"I'll be honest; I had no idea what your plan was there, for a bit." Daniel admits. "And why'd I have to do the dirty work?"

"Because I hate getting blood on me, it's disgusting." Haleigh explains. "And hey, it worked out in the end, right? Or are you trying to say that you wanted to give him a lap dance?" She asks jokingly.

This draws an audible chuckle from Daniel, a small smile creeping onto his face under his visor as he walks over to the door and cracks it open, taking a peek outside the room they were in.

Outside, there were several walkways overlooking the factory floor below. On said factory floor, there were multiple old shipping crates and containers, and more slave traders, comprised of a variety of different species, many of which visibly armed with weapons of all kinds and no slaves to be seen.

"Let's deal with the guys up here first." Daniel recommends, after noticing that there were significantly less slavers present on the upper levels.

"Good idea. Let's split up, you take this side, I'll take the other." Haleigh agrees.

"Got it." Daniel replies with a thumbs' up.

As Haleigh pulls her bandana and hood back up, she gets down low as she begins silently moving to the other side of the upper level across a catwalk, taking out a slaver unnoticed along the way. Daniel activates his Cloak as he moves forwards to temporarily mask his movements from any slavers.

Daniel crouches behind a wooden crate, where there's a slaver sitting on it on the other side facing away from him. While there were other slavers ahead, they were not currently looking towards him. Drawing his Data Knife again, Daniel repeats the action of covering the slaver's mouth and slitting his throat open, the invisible Pilot flickering slightly in the process, before dragging and hiding his corpse behind the opposite side of the crate, out of sight.

He moves ahead and gets behind another crate when his Cloak runs out. Thankfully, there was a convenient piece of sheet metal propped up against the walkway's guard rail, giving Daniel the perfect cover for him to remain unseen by the other slavers across from him while his Cloak recharges.

However, this plan goes out the window when suddenly, one of the slavers walks past Daniel's crate at a brisk pace, presumably searching for the missing slaver Daniel took out moments prior.

Activating his Time Shift, Obsidian whizzes past all of the slavers in the blink of an eye, all of them then subsequently fall to the floor in rapid sequence, their throats slit by the Commando's knife.

Looking to the other side of the factory floor, Daniel can see Haleigh taking out the last of her slave traders by putting him into a chokehold from behind, before gently lowering his unconscious body to the ground.

She looks over at him and makes an 'OK' gesture, which Daniel returns, communicating to each other that they've both dealt with all the slavers on their respective sides of the factory's upper level.

As Haleigh quietly moves across another catwalk towards the Commando, she soon regroups with him as Daniel scouts out the rest of the slave traders below with his helmet display's zoom function. There was at least ten slave traders they would have to deal with, many of them within direct line of sight from each other, making the idea of simply gunning them down with his suppressed R-97 a fruitless one, if they wished to continue remaining unnoticed.

"See those two on the other side of that big container?" Haleigh asks, pointing out the two slave traders in question, who appear to be in conversation with one another. "They're out of sight from the others."

Daniel immediately understands what she's suggesting, as he readies his R-97 and takes aim. Haleigh then materialises a weapon into her right hand, one that Daniel doesn't recognise.

"It's silent, if that's what you're wondering." Haleigh reassures, seemingly predicting what Daniel was about to ask her. "You take the one on the right, I'll take the one on the left. On three." She says, as both her and Daniel take aim.

"One... two... three!"

Simultaneously, a suppressed round flies out of the barrel of Cooper's R-97, while what seems to be a sawblade flies out of Haleigh's weapon with a click. Daniel's shot hits the head of the slaver on the right, dropping him instantly, as Haleigh's sawblade hits the other slaver in the neck, almost outright decapitating him in the process, and he too hits the floor, dead.

"What's that thing?" Daniel asks Haleigh, nodding to the weapon she has in her hand.

"Buzz Blades. Ms. Zurkon sells them, but I have to warn you; they're not cheap." Haleigh replies. Daniel makes a mental note to look into these 'Buzz Blades' with Ms. Zurkon later, as he greatly approved of the idea of having a silent, yet lethal weapon on his person at all times.

"How do we go about dealing with these guys? Doesn't look like we'll be able to do it without being noticed." Daniel asks, gesturing to the group of slave traders below, who, were all standing within line of sight of each other. If him and Haleigh were to alert them, they could end up alerting the rest of the slave traders in the other section of the factory, and then this whole escapade would get a lot harder.

"Oh, that's easy: Distract them." Haleigh replies matter-of-factly.

"Distract them? How are we going to do that this time?" Daniel asks her. "What, are you gonna go topless and do a little dance, while I sneak up and stab them?" He remarks sarcastically.

"Don't be so perverted, it's a lot simpler than that." Haleigh retorts with a small laugh. "Though, that probably would work, y'know..."

"I wasn't being serious." Daniel says sternly. "Now tell me, what does this 'simpler' method entail?"

Haleigh doesn't reply, as she quickly fires another Buzz Blade over towards the group of slavers standing near each other. The Buzz Blade hits the concrete floor a bit away from the group, and the crumbling sound produced by the Buzz blade imbedding itself in the concrete reverberates throughout this section of the factory.

"What the hell was that?!" The slave trader nearest the Buzz Blade's impact site yells out, as he and the other slavers in the group turn to look at it, as he then slowly walks towards it to investigate.

Now that every slaver present was now looking towards where the strange sound originated from, this left two slavers at the rear of the group completely out of the fields of vision of the other slavers.

Seeing this, Daniel finally understands what Haleigh's plan entailed, as he aims his R-97 towards the two slavers. Another quick countdown later, they both slavers meet their end and join their allies in the afterlife at the hands of the robot and the Commando.

As the final slaver discovers the source of the strange sound, that being a Buzz Blade courtesy of Haleigh, he quickly turns around when he hears the sound of his nearby compatriot fall to the ground dead behind him, only to receive another Buzz Blade to the face, ending his life instantly.

"That's all of them." Haleigh declares. "Hey, we make a great team, y'know?"

Daniel scoffs. "We haven't been in an actual fight, yet. This here's just a warmup." he replies, gesturing to all the dead slavers around the place as he swaps the magazine on his R-97.

"Aww, you buzzkill." Haleigh morosely remarks, her shoulders slumping.

"I'm serious. I'm looking forward to seeing if you can fight as well as you can sneak around."

"You know nothing about me, Commando." Haleigh says with a sly smile.

Haleigh and Daniel then proceed through a set of doors at the very end of the upper floor, and pass through an abandoned, dilapidated office area, with no slaves or slavers to be seen. After they exit the offices, they proceed down a staircase that intersects into a hallway, with another doorway at one end, the other leading back to the previous section of the factory.

As Daniel cracks the door open slightly to peak beyond it, he sees another wide factory floor much like the last, this time with the soon-to-be-slaves himself and Haleigh were here to rescue, under watch by the remaining slave traders. There were also several old, rusty machines scattered around the factory floor.

The area directly beyond the doorway was quite sheltered from the little natural light was pouring into the factory, and was quite dark as a result. This would give Daniel and Haleigh the perfect cover to remain undetected while they advanced on the slave traders and formulated a plan.

Thankfully the old, rusty door doesn't creak whatsoever when Daniel slowly pulls it open, and he and Haleigh crouch low and sneak into the next section of the factory, undetected by the slavers thanks to the dark.

"Get down, someone's coming!" Haleigh suddenly warns Daniel from behind, prompting them both to take cover behind an old machine.

A slaver is then seen heading towards the set of doors Daniel and Haleigh came through moments ago, walking slowly and carefully to make sure he doesn't trip on anything hidden in the darkness. Daniel then draws his knife in preparation to take him down when he gets close.

"Don't! We need him alive." Haleigh quietly whispers to Daniel.

"Why?" Daniel whispers back.

"We need to find out who their boss is. We'll need to bring them in alive to Mr Vyrnix, and that way, he'll be more than happy to give you back your lamp, and this whole operation will come crashing down."

"Why should we go through the trouble? If he's the 'mayor', won't he just publically execute the bastard for being in charge of something like this?"

"Probably. But, it'll send a message to anyone else who's thinking on going into the business of slave trading on Fastoon."

"Fine." Daniel accepts.

"Damn it, I can't see shit back here..." The slaver says, as he gets closer to the machine Daniel and Haleigh were behind.

"He's mine." Haleigh whispers to Daniel, as a pair of gloves tipped with razor-sharp claws suddenly materialises over both of her hands.

As the slaver unknowingly walks past her and Daniel, Haleigh lashes out, grabbing the slaver by the scruff of the neck, before throwing him over her shoulder and slamming him onto the ground behind the machine next to Daniel.

The slaver groans in pain on his back, as Haleigh clamps her clawed hand over the slaver's mouth, the other on his shoulder to prevent him from moving.

"Now... who's your boss?" Haleigh asks him, taking her hand off the slaver's mouth as her glowing green eyes glare at him from above. The slaver remains silent, his eyes staring up at her, wide and full of fear.

"Answer me, or I will tear your face open." Haleigh threatens with a growl, digging the tips of her sharp claws into the slaver's face.

"I-it's Damien, the big guy with the tattoos!" The slaver suddenly says. Haleigh looks up at Daniel, silently asking him to verify the slaver's information.

Daniel looks over the old machine they were behind, and uses his helmet display's zoom function to search for the leader in question. Soon, he sees this 'Damien', his big gut making him stand out among the other slavers, most of which were either skinny or average-sized, and had tattoos all over his arms.

"I see him, he's here." Daniel informs Haleigh, who then releases the slaver's face and smiles as she cups his cheek.

"Good boy."

Arcs of electricity suddenly erupt out of the tips of Haleigh's claws like lightning. The slaver convulses uncontrollably on the floor for a second or so, as Haleigh then releases him and he promptly goes limp, his brains fried from the sudden shock therapy session.

"Don't worry, he'll just snooze for a while." Haleigh reassures. "You should get yourself a pair of these Tesla Claws from Ms. Zurkon; they would've greatly helped you out in that alley."

"Noted." Daniel replies, as he and Haleigh begin moving up towards the rest of the slave traders.

Soon, after further scouting out the positions of the slave traders, Daniel sees that they won't be able to take out any more of them without being noticed.

"Time to go loud Haleigh, get ready." Daniel informs her, as he pulls a Gravity Star from his belt, and prepares to throw it at a group of slave traders ahead.

Haleigh raises an eyebrow. "You had throwing stars on you this whole time? Wouldn't it have been easier to use them instead of creeping up on those guys with your knife?" She asks.

"These aren't ordinary throwing stars: They're Gravity Stars." Daniel informs, as he throws it near a group of slavers talking to each other.

The instant the Gravity Star hits the ground, it quickly levitates a couple of feet in the air, as it glows and begins producing its gravity field. Instantaneously, the group of slavers as well as some small pieces of loose debris get sucked into the gravity field and float helplessly, as the other slave traders as well as the slaves watch on in confusion, alongside Haleigh, who is stunned by the sight.

As Daniel then opens fire on the other slavers taking cover behind various machines, the Gravity Star implodes, and the resulting shockwave sends everything caught in its field flying outwards, including the slavers unfortunate enough to be caught in its radius.

"IAN! GET YOU AND YOUR BOYS' ASSES IN HERE, WE'RE GETTIN' JUMPED!" The slaver's boss yells into his communicator after taking cover behind one of the machines. Ian however, never replies to his boss, already dead as a result of Haleigh and Daniel, as the line remains static over the sound of gunfire.

"IAN, ANSWER YOUR DAMN COMMUNICATOR, YOU LAZY SACK OF SHIT!" The boss roars again, only to pocket his communicator in frustration when the answer remains the same, as he joins his underlings in fending off the sudden threat hiding in the darkness.

"HEY, watch where you shoot! Don't hit any of the slaves!" Haleigh warns Daniel, as she joins him in firing upon the slave traders with her Buzz Blades, the Commando yelling out an acknowledgement over the sounds of the battle.

As him and Haleigh take out some slavers closest to them, Daniel takes this as the opportunity to push up on the slave traders and keep up the pressure on them, as he notices they were merely firing wildly into the darkness. Daniel then uses his Jump Kit to move from cover to cover as he pushes forward. As a result of his fast movements, his hood and cloak is blown off his head and over his shoulders, revealing his true identity to the slave traders as he exits the darkness.

"That's the guy from the fuckin' wanted posters!" One of the slavers calls out, as Daniel continues moving from cover to cover, taking out some more slave traders along the way. Haleigh begins moving up out of the darkness too, staying low and moving quickly to avoid being hit, as she takes cover behind a machine.

Daniel throws another Gravity star towards a group of slavers behind cover, in such a way so that they'll be pulled out from behind their cover by its gravity field. Just like he intended, the Gravity Star pulls the slavers out of their cover, making them ripe for the picking. A few bursts from his R-97 later, and their corpses are flung outwards by the Gravity Star's implosion. Some slaves tied up to a nearby support beam are pulled towards the Gravity Star, but thankfully remain attached to the beam even after it implodes.

The slave trader's numbers were now beginning to falter, but the ones remaining had hunkered down behind their cover, and now that Daniel and Haleigh were now out of the darkness, they could now see their targets somewhat. All this was now making it difficult for Daniel and Haleigh to return fire without being hit.

"Can you get a shot on those guys?!" Haleigh shouts to Daniel over the sound of gunfire, as she reloads her Buzz Blades.

In his current position, Daniel couldn't. But, he had several tricks up his sleeve to choose from, to give him the edge he needed in this situation.

"Haleigh! Stay down and hold your fire, I'll handle those guys!" Daniel informs, and before Haleigh can reply, Daniel activates his Cloak with a flick of his wrist, as he draws his hammer and rushes out of cover towards the slavers. He knew from his experience that melee attacks of any kind would only cause him to briefly flicker while he's Cloaked, instead of completely deactivating it and revealing him outright like firing his weapons would do.

Leaping over a broken conveyor belt, Daniel's boot lands on the head of a slaver crouched on the other side. As a result of the Pilot's weight, the alien's head slams into the concrete floor with a crunch as the combination of the impact breaks his skull.

Cooper continues sprinting through the factory floor past one of the machines, and takes the jaw off of a slaver behind it with his hammer as he sprints past. Right after he takes out another slaver with his hammer, his Cloak deactivates, and he quickly materialises his Burst Pistol into his palm as he begins firing at the startled slave traders taking cover together in a row behind some machines.

After seeing the few men he has left fall to the acid-infused rounds of Obsidian's Burst Pistol, the slaver's boss decides to cut his losses, as he quickly takes off running towards a nearby doorway with a faded 'EXIT' sign above it, abandoning the remaining half-dozen or so of his underlings.

"I'll get him, you handle the rest!" Haleigh calls out as she sprints after the fleeing slave trader, through the same exit door.

"Got it!" Daniel replies, as he throws another Gravity Star towards the group of remaining slavers, pulling them out of their cover and into the gravity field. After taking them all out, the Gravity Star's implosion soon spits their lifeless bodies outwards. Then, as the dust settles, it gets quiet, the smell of blood lingering in the air.

After a quick look around the room, Daniel confirms that the last of the slave traders have been dealt with, with only their boss unaccounted for. Though, Haleigh was probably introducing him to her Tesla Claws right about-

A muffled gasp suddenly emanates from one of the nearby slaves, still tied to the support beam and gagged and blindfolded, catching Daniel's attention.

Daniel then remembers that he wasn't alone — The slaves still needed to be rescued.

Drawing his Data Knife, prepares to remove the blindfold from one of the aliens tied to the nearby beam. The moment he touches the alien's face to remove the blindfold, the alien emits a muffled cry as she begins desperately trying to pull herself away from Daniel, only managing to move a few inches as a result of her restraints.

"Relax, damn it! I'm trying to help you!" Daniel's filtered voice reassures. This elicits a response from the alien, as she then calms down, but was still nervous evident from her shivering, or was she just cold? It was fairly cold inside this old factory, now that Daniel thought about it. Either way, it was time to free her and the rest of the aliens from their restraints.

Two quick cuts later, the gag and blindfold fall from the woman's mouth and face to the floor, the woman gasping for breath as soon as her mouth is freed to move again.

"Thank Zoni you came for us when you did! They were getting ready to bring us to who knows where to auction us off like animals!" The alien woman cries out, as she gasps in apparent pain. "Hurry up and cut these damn ropes, will you? My legs are killing me..."

Daniel quickly gets to work cutting the ropes binding her and the other two aliens to the beam. After another few moments of cutting, the rope falls slack to the floor. Upon being freed, all three aliens immediately fall to their knees, as a result of being forced to stand in that position for who knows how long.

One of the aliens, a young man, looks up at Daniel, and his eyes widen when he sees him. "Wait a second — you're Obsidian!" The young man says in awe.

At that moment, Haleigh returns through the exit door, carrying the slaver's unconscious body over one shoulder.

"I take it that's all of them dealt with?" She asks as she approaches Daniel, gesturing to the slave traders' corpses scattered around the floor, as she then lays the unconscious slaver boss onto a nearby conveyor belt.

"Yeah. Now, help me cut these people loose."

"I will, just give me a sec..." Haleigh replies, as lowers her bandana and grabs some of the fallen rope from the floor and uses it to restrain the slavers' boss, tying his wrists behind his back and doing the same with his ankles.

As Haleigh is doing this, the woman on her knees looks up at the slavers' unconscious boss, and a look of barely-contained rage burns across her face.

"You BASTARD!" She snarls with tears in her eyes, as she uses her rage to will herself to her feet with surprising speed, as she starts weakly hitting the unconscious slave trader.

"Hey! We need this bastard alive!" Haleigh tells, putting herself between the woman and the slaver. After a few moments of struggling against Haleigh, the woman gives up, her anger still simmering.

"I hope the only reason why you're doing that, is because you're going to make him pay for what he did, right?" The woman asks, glaring at the slaver.

"We're taking him to Mayor Vyrnix, how does that sound?" Haleigh replies.

"That sounds perfect, to me..." The woman answers, as she smiles and wipes the tears from her face.

"And hey, that was risky throwing one of those Gravity Star things so close to those slaves!" Haleigh admonishes Daniel. "What if they got pulled into it and got hurt?"

"They wouldn't have, because they were tied up! I knew they'd be fine, and look, they were!" Daniel retorts.

"But they still could've— Wait, how did you know the ropes would hold?"

"Because I checked! You see how thick those ropes are? Even if a hurricane came through here, they would've been fine." Daniel explains.

Haleigh remains silent as she stares at Daniel with her mouth slightly agape.

"What?" Daniel asks, slightly uncomfortable from her staring.

"And here I was thinking you were a lost cause... Looks like you might still have a chance after all, Tai." Haleigh suddenly says, a warm smile appearing on her face.

"For the last time, that's not my real name." Daniel groans.

Daniel and Haleigh then proceed to cut the ropes restraining the rest of the slaves to their beams. It all goes off without a hitch, until Daniel is freeing a young woman who is tied to a beam by herself and sitting on the floor, instead of standing like the rest of the slaves. He notices that one of her pants legs is rolled up, exposing a set of bloody bandages wrapped around her calf.

"Can you walk?" Daniel asks her.

The young woman tries to move her injured leg, only to wince in pain. "N-no..." She weakly replies.

"How did this happen?"

"I tried to get away, a-and... they shot me..." She answers through pained gasps.

"Haleigh, I need some help over here!" Daniel calls out to the bot on the other side of the factory floor, who was helping some slaves to their feet. Haleigh quickly jogs over to Daniel and the injured woman.

"What's wrong?"

"Bastards shot her when she tried to escape." Daniel explains, gesturing to the woman's injured leg as Haleigh kneels down to inspect it, gently feeling it to determine if there was any swelling, the woman wincing in pain again when she does so.

"That leg's broken, I can't give her any Nanotech until its reset. And if that wound's infected, it'll only seal the infection in there, and she could lose her leg, or worse." Haleigh explains.

"What do we do, then?" Cooper asks.

"The only thing we can: Take her to a doctor." Haleigh explains, as she stands up. "There's a hospital not too far from here. You may bring her there, I've gotta get the rest of these people and that slave trader safely to Mr. Vyrnix. I'll pick up your 'lamp' while I'm there."

"Okay." Daniel acknowledges, as he uses his exo-enhanced strength to carefully pick the woman up and carry her over his shoulder, being careful to avoid moving her injured leg too much in the process.

As he carries the woman out the exit door, he hears Haleigh shouting to get the attention of the slaves behind him, as she explains that she'll be escorting them to the mayor of Fastoon.


After getting directions to the hospital from a passerby, Daniel eventually arrives at the hospital Haleigh mentioned. Similarly to the surrounding buildings, the hospital was dilapidated and worn-down, with some of the windows sealed up with metal or wood. When he walks through the front doors into the hospital's reception area, the doors shutting behind him on their own, Cooper sees that some effort was put into maintaining the interior and making it look at least presentable.

Walking up to the receptionist's desk, he sees a male alien sitting at it sorting through paperwork, and speaking to someone on the other side wearing a long white coat. A doctor, if Daniel had to assume.

"Hey, are you doctor? This woman's hurt, she needs help!" Daniel informs.

The doctor turns to look at Daniel, and he gasps upon seeing the injured woman on his shoulder.

"Mindy?!" He exclaims in shock.

"You know her?" Cooper asks.

"She's my sister-in-law! She's been missing for days!" The doctor explains, before turning to the receptionist. "Get my assistant to the emergency room right now, and tell her Mindy's here!" He orders, the receptionist doing just that, grabbing a communicator on the desk, and doing just that.

"Quickly, this way!" The doctor tells Daniel, gesturing him to follow.

Daniel quickly begins following the doctor through the halls of the hospital, passing by other hospital personnel as they look at the Commando carrying the woman over his shoulder.

"Where did you find her?" The doctor suddenly asks.

"I found her tied up with a bunch of other people in an old factory not too far from here. Some kind of slave trading operation." Daniel explains.

"Oh, dear god..." The doctor remarks in shock.

"Don't worry, the people responsible won't be causing any trouble ever again." Daniel reassures.

"Well, that's reassuring to hear, at least." The doctor admits.

As they reach a particular room, the doctor quickly opens the doors as he beckons Daniel inside. As Daniel enters and the doctor helps him gently set the woman down onto the vacant bed in the middle of the room. Right after they do this, another woman in teal scrubs suddenly bursts into the room, panting heavily, presumably the doctor's assistant. Her eyes widen when she sees the woman, Mindy, on the bed.

"MINDY!" The woman screams, as she rushes to the side of the bed beside the doctor. "Thank Zoni you're okay! Where have you been?!"

Mindy doesn't reply, seeming only semi-conscious at that point, probably from to not being able to sleep from the stress of her situation. The doctor's assistant then notices Mindy's dirty, unkempt appearance, as well as the bloody bandages on her calf.

"What happened to you?" She asks worriedly.

"Some slave traders got her, shot her in the leg when she tried to escape." Daniel explains, as the doctor inspects Mindy's injured leg.

"Oh my god, those animals! I've heard rumours about them being here on Fastoon, but I didn't think they were true!" The doctor's assistant replies.

"If she was shot, there could be a bullet as well as some bone fragments still in there. They'll need to be removed before we can begin treatment." The doctor explains. "Get her prepped to be x-rayed." He tells his assistant, who nods in acknowledgement.

"Zoni bless you, sir! You're an angel!" The doctor's assistant thanks Daniel profusely, as she wheels Mindy's bed into an adjacent room, presumably to begin the x-rays on her injured leg.

As the doors close behind them, the doctor turns back to face Daniel. "That woman you just saved is my assistant's — my wife's sister." He corrects. "Now listen, if you ever need medical attention that nanotech can't fix, you come here and you see me, understand?"

"I will. Thanks for the offer." Daniel thanks genuinely.

"It's the least I can do, after what you've done for us, and for those other people, from the sounds of it. You're a goddamn hero, mister." The doctor says, as he gives Daniel a quick, friendly pat on the shoulder before he then joins his wife and sister-in-law in the other room.

Daniel stands there completely still for a few moments, as he dwells over the doctor's words.

"...No. I'm not." The Pilot mumbles to himself.

Then, Daniel is interrupted by a chime from his communicator. Upon producing it from his satchel, he sees an unknown frequency on the communicator's holographic display. Daniel answers, not exactly knowing what to expect.

"Hey, it's me." Haleigh Coggs' voice answers. "All the slaves are safe, and I've got your 'lamp'. There's a plaza down the street from the hospital, meet me there." Haleigh explains, as she hangs up before Daniel can reply.

Daniel then leaves the hospital and begins walking down the busy street towards the plaza. How Haleigh had the frequency to his communicator, was anyone's guess.


Daniel arrives at the plaza Haleigh mentioned, which had an open market set up within it much like the previous one he and Haleigh went through, with several stalls and ships parked within it. After initially seeing no sign of Haleigh, Daniel opts to lean against a large broken spire located in the centre of the plaza, while waiting for her arrival.

After a few minutes of waiting and closely watching the crowd for any signs of the bot, Haleigh suddenly appears beside Daniel, the Commando having heard no signs of her approach, prompting him to raise his R-97 halfway before realising it was her.

"You need to stop sneaking up on me..." Daniel says as he lowers his SMG, concealing it back underneath his cloak.

"Relax! Why are you so tense all the time?"

"Do you have my 'lamp' or not?" Daniel deadpans irritably.

"Quit being such a grouch, I have it here." Haleigh mumbles, as she produces the Ark fragment from somewhere within her cloak and hands it to Daniel, who stows it into his satchel for the time being.

"Mr Vyrnix gave you his thanks for dealing with the slave traders for him, and he said that you've got a favour from him anytime you want it."

"Is that so? I didn't think he was the type to give favours to people." Daniel remarks.

"No, he isn't. You seriously impressed him, and that's no small feat." Haleigh explains, as the two fall into a comfortable silence.

"How is the girl?" Haleigh asks after a few moments.

"As it turned out, she was the sister-in-law to some doctor there. He told me to come to him if I ever need medical help, as a thanks." Daniel recounts.

"You see? That's what happens when you keep your finger off the trigger; nobody had to die for no reason, and now you've made a couple friends. Friends you're absolutely going to need if you're planning on staying here in Polaris for long."

When Daniel turns to look back at Haleigh, he finds that she's completely vanished from his side without so much as a trace.

Daniel silently lingers over Haleigh's words for a few moments. He then radios BT to tell him to bring and land the Dropship at a closer, and preferably more discreet location, as he stands up from the broken spire and begins walking through the market. As he walks past a parked ship, he suddenly hears a 'Psst!' emanating from the rear of the ship.

Looking towards the source, Daniel is admittedly unnerved slightly when he sees a pair or eyes looking at him through an open slot in the rear door of a ship.

"You look like the kinda' guy who walks around with lots of Raritanium. I'll buy it off ya' for cold, hard bolts, if you're interested. No questions asked!" The person on the other side offers.

"Who are you?" Daniel asks the mysterious stranger, his grip tightening around his R-97 under his cloak as he quickly checks his surroundings to make sure it wasn't some kind of ambush.

"Oh, my apologies, mister. The name's Jim Cognito. I deal in selling and installing ship mods, like advanced weaponry, armour, and when I can get my hands on 'em; Hyperdrives."

Daniel's interest peaks when he hears Jim say 'Hyperdrives'. Was this just the spacecraft technology he needed, in order to travel to other galaxies? He had to find out.

"Tell me more about these 'Hyperdrives', Jim." Cooper asks.

"Well, a Hyperdrive is fairly self-explanatory: It allows a ship to reach Hyperspeed. Most ships you see nowadays would take hours to reach the Bogon Galaxy, for example, while a ship with a Hyperdrive can get there in minutes." Jim explains, Daniel's eyes widening behind his visor upon his suspicions being confirmed.

"Do you have any in stock?" Daniel asks hopefully.

"Not right now, I'm afraid. I had to stop sellin' the Hyperdrives I had in stock before, because I learned that they were defective, and blowin' up in my customers ships. Couldn't have all that bad press, you know." Jim explains.

"The guy I was gettin' 'em from in Bogon swore that they were fresh off production line, so I ain't done business with him since. And with Nefarious' little war with Bogon on the edge of the galaxy, it's been difficult to get anything in from them lately. So, I'm sorry to tell ya, but I probably won't be able to get a workin' Hyperdrive in for ya' anytime soon."

"Well, you let me know as soon as you get one in, I'll buy it and have you install it in my ship, it that's alright?" Daniel tells, giving the mysterious stranger the frequency to his communicator as well.

"Pleasure doin' business with ya'. But, perhaps I could take some of that Raritanium off your hands? I'll give ya' fifty percent for it."

Daniel takes a few moments to mull over Jim's offer. "Make it sixty, and we have a deal." He barters.

"Done."

The total amount of bolts Daniel receives in exchange for the Raritanium at sixty-percent of its original value, brings his current balance to around thirty-thousand bolts.

"If ya' ever... err... come across any more of this stuff, you come straight to me, ya' hear?" Jim calls out to Daniel as he walks away, the Pilot raising a thumb in the air in acknowledgement.

With Jim here to purchase Raritanium from him, getting his hands on some more Raritanium was beginning to sound like a very lucrative way to make some bolts. But he wouldn't be going anywhere near Corson V to get some, not for a while at least.


THE CARTER BRAXTON,

THARIA.

Not long after leaving Fastoon, Daniel was contacted by Ms. Zurkon to inform him that she'd finished constructing the storage apparatus for the Ark fragment. After travelling to Zurkie's to pick it up, Daniel soon placed the recovered Ark fragment inside, to ensure that the apparatus could mask its energy signature, and prevent Nefarious from detecting it. Thankfully, it was up to spec, preventing even BT from detecting the fragment, and soon Daniel returned to the Braxton on Tharia.

After storing the apparatus in a secure location on the Militia carrier, Daniel was only about to drop off his weapons at the armoury, when BT suddenly contacts him via radio with some unfavourable news.

"Cooper, I am detecting multiple unknown vessel signatures entering Tharia's atmosphere."

"Oh shit, is it Nefarious?!" Daniel asks worriedly. Did Nefarious somehow managed to track them to Tharia? If that was the case, it meant that himself and BT had a massive battle ahead of them.

"Unlikely. Scans indicate the vessels' outer hulls are primarily comprised of wood." BT informs.

Daniel promptly realises what this information means. "Pirates." He growls.

"Lock and load, BT. It's time to welcome our guests." Daniel orders the Vanguard, as he prepares to rearm himself for his next encounter with the Space Pirates.


A/N: I hoped you all liked this chapter, as well as meeting Haleigh Coggs, who I will confirm is Phantom's girlfriend.

And just for future reference, you know how I mentioned in chapter 2 how Daniel's gloves have retractable claws built in to them? Yeah, I'm retconning them, because I'll admit that I completely forgot they existed, and when I got the idea for the 'Tesla Claws', I knew that they would eventually be invalidated and forgotten about anyways. Yes, that means that Daniel will eventually be getting a pair of his own Tesla Claws, by the way!