Chapter 1
They say nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say... I'm Walker, Cybernetic Organism from the planet Andoria-6, former UAE Lieutenant of Delta squad. Space Bounty Hunter. Two years ago, I heard a scream in space. But I suppose from the beginning is best.
***
Two years earlier, Theta Derilla 115, 3098
On the Planet Theta Derilla. A busy spaceport planet owned by the Unite Astronomical Empire. Approaching the Bunker Cantina. A place where bounty hunters can get their contracts, licenses, and hang out before they head out or rest when they've returned from a job.
"Walker!" Over my shoulder, Vesper waves at me. She looks as good as ever with her large, round, pert breasts and the bobbing braid that reached between her shoulder blades. She actually saved me from being court marshaled martialled got me off on an honorable discharge after I disobeyed an awful order. It wasn't hard. The leader of our team was a dipshit, and if I hadn't pulled my weight on the team, we would have lost people. As far as I know, that captain still leads people to their deaths.
"Vesper. Fancy seeing you here." I say.
"I'm on my way to get my license. Figured I'd follow in your footsteps now that my term is up with the military."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Lieutenant Walker, are you worried about me?"
"I know you can take care of yourself." I'll never admit that I am worried. This was a hard life and Vesper was tough, but she could be emotional and naïve to people's true intentions. But I still trust that she is capable of finding her way. We walk the rest of the way to the Cantina together and I hold the door for her.
When we get inside, we part ways. I find a table while she goes to file the paperwork to become a hunter. I ordered a couple of cold ones as she came back with her new license. Smile smiles at me, showing it off, while I clap my hands sarcastically. While I was sitting there, it didn't take long for some of the guys to ask her to join their crew. It didn't surprise me. She looks as good as she did when I left the team and the military. That was a decade ago. I really wish I hadn't turned her down when she told me how she felt, but that's ancient history.
I counted four before she finally accepted, and the fifth one seemed more interested in her medical background from the military than her looks. I knew the guy. He just lost a medic to the best way of them starting a family. It was always good to see a hunter retire without having to bite the dust. I nodded when she looked at me for my approval. "Jax is an expert hunter, a good leader. You'll be happy working with him." She frowned when I hadn't asked her to work with me but I think she needs to get a few hunts under her belt before I take her to those parts of the universe.
She walks away with her eyes, watching me as she walks away. I take a sip of the beer as she heads out to meet the crew. Sitting there with the beer in my hand made me think of a time before I had left her and the rest behind. Our team wasn't the usual team; we were killers sent throughout the known universe. Staging coupes and paving the future for what we have now. Honestly, now that I look back, we didn't really make a difference. It's still crooked politicians looking for ways to keep their dirt from surfacing. I went rogue because of it. It was just ironic that we were being set up. The same way we set up so many others.
I leave some credits with a few taps of a holo screen before I look at the job board. I grab a bounty that had been sitting there for a few weeks. No one took it yet. "Thirty mill. Don't mind if I do." Riktor Kiondr murderer, thief, mercenary for hire, usual space trash. I slip the poster into my pocket and I leave the cantina. Vesper waves to me as I walk to my ship. I wave back to her and enter my ship, the SC Samurai. An old ship, but it has lots of potential and can adapt to new tech easily. That's how I got a light jumper for my Faster Than Light drive.
I take off headed for Bonobos Nebula. It's in intergalactic space so it's not patrolled by the Federation of Extraterrestrials or the United Astronomical Empire. Which makes it lucrative for bounty hunters like myself, but dangerous for everyone. That is the last time I see her alive.
Upon my return to Theta Derilla I notice that Vesper and her crew aren't there yet. But I figure they must be running late. I head into the Cantina, find a table and order a cold beer. Now as a cyborg drinking beer is obsolete because I'll never get drunk but the taste. The taste is what does it for me. I look up at the screen to see the name of a ship that is too familiar to be coincidence.
"The bounty hunter ship that attempted to apprehend the space pirate Jaek Emorson was hijacked, and the occupants killed. This is the video released by Jaek Emorson shortly after the tragedy occurred." The newscaster explains and if I had a heart, it would have dropped to the floor or stopped. One of those expressions, but I only had a mediocre reaction, and hearing the news decreased its efficiency by forty-five percent.
"That's too bad... Vesper, shoulda, came to my crew. All she could have to do is bend over." Argent, a reptilian, jokes on the television. I stand up walking towards his table. His human mechanic is trying to whisper something to him. "What's the matter Walker? Struck a nerve?" He shoves the human aside and stands from his chair. "Cyborgs don't have nerves or feelings. Isn't that right, Cordilla? As far as I know, Andoria-6 is not the only cybernetic organism. But walkers like me. That which resembles humans is not unique to my planet. Cordilla is like looking at a female version of myself. She doesn't have hair though she has adopted a wig. She looked haggard, like he pulled her apart and reconfigured. This was the work of Argent known doubt. The only difference between him and a space pirate is his license to hunt criminals. It would be a service to the bounty hunters if I were to put a bullet in him here and now.
"Nope, not gonna happen not here." The owner Mary has us call her. She is an alien native to the planet Nibiru. They look human but live longer and sometimes have pointy ears. I am not sure how old Mary is. But I just clocked my first century as a regular and she's been here the whole time. She stands there between Argent and me.
"I was just coming to order another drink." I say.
"Walker, I like you. Thats why I am telling you now to go sit back at your table. I'll bring you another soon." She doesn't buy my story. I didn't believe it when I told her I was going to kill Argent.
"Mary, c'mon let me and the borg have a little fun." She turns to him.
"I'm saving your life so that Borg doesn't put his fist through your skull. Now, I suggest you and yours leave."
"You're going to let the borg stay?" I look around as the room goes silent. "Excuse me Argent? You forget where you are, I can allow and remove anyone I want, now leave." The room is staring at Argent as he walks by and bumps my shoulder.
"This isn't over."
"It never is..." I return to my table and wait for a drink. If I could scowl,I would. But I only have eyes, or cameras. Depending on the perspective you have on whether I am alive. That debate has crossed my processors many times. Vesper always thought I was a living being. That's why she told me my species has an organism in the name. Mary brings a bottle, not that it made a difference to me whether it was beer or eighty proof. My core reactor would burn it and I would have a slight increase in my heat. "Sure you want to waste the good stuff on a drunk like me?" I ask.
"You are the most sober person I know, Walker, plus after that news I know you need a stiff drink, so on the house." She says.
"I thought it was always in the house?" The bourbon has a whiskey taste to it, a good one, I slam back the first and savor the second drink Mary pours for us.
"Ha-ha, you're nice Walker, but not that nice." Mary pours herself another drink. "You want to talk about Vesper?"
"Not unless you have some information on Jaek Emorson."
"That worm, I wish! I'd love to pay the one who brings me a picture of him with a bullet in his head."
"What was Jax doing in that part of the universe, anyway?"
"To my understanding, they picked him up in the Milky Way. Then got told to bring him to Lyra Palioxis."
"The prison galaxy that was abandoned by the FET?"
"The very same. Suppose Jaek is pretty high up the chain there for someone to pull a move like that."
"Or there are FET that are working with the pirate clans." I say and finish my drink. "Do you have the bounty for Jaek Emorson?"
"Why? What are you going to do, Walker?" She doesn't normally give me looks of concern, but this one was probably the most concern I even saw on her yellow oval face. Her black eyes widen and she chokes a little while, swallowing her drink.
"I'm going to put a bullet in his head."
"You want to do something crazy, don't you?"
"What? I'm a bounty hunter. Hunting pirates is what I do."
"Yeah, but when you do something crazy, usually it's bad, it makes us look bad." Mary places a hand on mine.
"Name one time I've gone too far."
"Well, there was the galactic cruise ship."
"That was not my fault."
"Right... And the casino on the Moon Titan at Venus."
"Okay, that one I have no excuses for."
"And the bank robbery on planet Retopia."
"You've made your point, Mary. But I am going to Lyra Palioxis. A galaxy that is only criminals, so we don't have to worry about if I do something crazy." I say, standing and leaving the table.
"That's what I am worried about." Mary clears the table. I help and at the bar she gives me Jaek's bounty. Then I walk out of the Cantina to my ship and head out but I have to make one stop along the way to see an old friend.
On the way to Lyra Palioxis, I make a stop at a star to dock at a space station known as Salton's Outpost. Salton is loyal to himself and if I press the right buttons, he'll give me names. I know Salton has dirt on everyone. "Salton's outpost is SC Samurai asking for permission to dock."
"Permission granted, come in, Walker , tell me what I can do for you." Salton's voice is not only annoying, but it has a disgusting sound to it. But he's my only shot at getting at who really sent them to the abandoned galaxy and for what?. I leave the ship through the docking hatch and enter the outpost. Salton is waiting for me. The station is one room one room. Salton sits in his motorized chair. Some accident crippled him while working in space. But he has the best access to info and explosives this side of the universe. "Walker, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I'm not here for pleasure, just business." I say with disdain.
"Well... How may I be of service?"
"I'll need some magnetic charges and any info you have on Jaek Emorson." "Jaek Emorson? Why would you be after him of all the pirates to go for?"
"He made the mistake of killing a friend of mine."
"You don't have friends, Walker."
"Who?"
"Walker, you have another ship docking." Integra's voice comes into my head. I look at Salton. sitting in his hover chair behind his desk. I draw my pistol and shoot into the desk. The bullet goes through the desk and into his leg, and he falls to the floor.
"What the hell, Walker?" Salton shouts in pain.
"Who did you call Salton?" I demand. His anger turns into worry.
"I-I have no clue what you are talking about."
"Don't mess with me, Salton." I put the barrel to his chin. Then hear the airlock close. I look at the camera. I recognize Argent and his crew.
"Walker, come out. I know you're there."
"Just a minute. Let me freshen up." I look around. This was not the place I wanted to get into a shootout.
"Torch the door." Argent's men are cutting through the door with arc cutters. "That was a dumb move, Salto." I say. "You know they're going to kill you too right?" "That wasn't a part of the deal."
"Argent doesn't make deals, he cuts off loose ends."
"Walker, get me out of here!" Salton grabs my jacket.
"I don't have to do a damn thing for you." I shove him off me.
"You owe me Walker, remember Bonoboz." I look at him, then I look around. Argent is almost through the door. I drag Salton to the escape pod and throw him inside then put in coordinates for the ear.
"Where are you sending me?"
"The Solaris System."
"What?! Are you malfunctioning? They'll put me in prison.."
"I could always leave you here with Argent."
"Nevermind! anywhere but here with that psycho dinosaur." I flipped the switch and I sent Salton out into the frontier for Earth. They are halfway cutting out the door, so I just grab what I can, some explosives and ammo for my weapons. I managed to snag two frag grenades.
"We're through." I hear from across the room. I toss a frag grenade into the airlock. "Fuck!" Argent jumps through the door hitting the emergency lock with his tail leaving the rest of his crew to die when the grenade detonates. I leave the station knowing how much I just pissed off Argent.
Lyra Palioxis, a galaxy I don't frequent, it's a lawless place filled with criminals. The only place in the known universe that is governed by killers and heathens. But since the trail on Jaek leads me here. I'm in this graveyard of a galaxy. Ships from FET and UAE even some of their own are scattered through the galaxy making it quite defensible, hard to navigate and easy to make enemies get into targets. Flips of some switches on the upper display board activates the cloaking refractor on the ship, camouflaging the ship in the background of outer space to cover my approach.
"Walker, what do you plan on doing?" Integra came over the speakers in the ship. I kept packing the bag. Going over inventory. Three mags for the rifle, three for the pistol. Six magnetic charges and frag. The Hemingrave hemlock Modular Battle Rifle. My hands slap a magazine and charge the rifle instinctively, the biometrics recognizing me as the owner and cycles from fire to safety. I swing the rifle to my back and do the same with my pistol before placing it in the holster. I place my plasma sword on my belt. I toss the straps of the bag over my shoulder and head to the airlock.
"Walker, are you ignoring me?"
"No Integra. I am just preoccupied."
"Well, what's your plan to get to the target, Jaek Emorson?"
"Simple. Cause mayhem until he comes out of his hiding spot, then kill him."
"Are you sure you aren't taking things a little too far? I mean, how do you plan on getting close enough to kill the target?"
"You let me worry about that, Integra."
"Understood, Walker. Is there anything you want me to do once you leave?"
"Take the ship to Dryke 42. I'm fairly certain he will go there."
"And what will you be doing while I wait for you on dirty Dryke?"
"Oh, you know, Integra, what I do best." I pull the charging handle on my rifle. "Defeating the bad guys." I'm sure after my response, if Integra had eyes she would have rolled them. I grab the bag of mechanisms for mayhem and go to the cargo bay. A benefit of being a Xyborian is having the ability to survive in the vacuum of space. Believe me. No one in space expects an intruder from space. "Integra, open the cargo bay."
"You got it Walker." The feminine voice of the AI on my ship opens the cargo hatch. Sirens and lights go off as the cargo hatch opens. I hold on to a rail, not wanting to be sucked out by the pressure change.
"Keep a seat warm for me, Integra." I say.
I walk to the edge of the loading ramp and jump into space. I am not free falling as much as I am floating through open space.The criminals built a space station for themselves after taking over the prison. That's my target. I turn my body to face my ship, which has gotten further away. "Integra activates the shields." I watch as the force field flows over the ship like a blanket of thick liquid. I fire a round from my rifle, the bullet ricochets off the shields and the recoil propels me towards the spaceport.
I turn my back to my ship, and I am descending towards the spaceport. I reach into the cloak over my shoulders and activate the light diffuser's camouflage to mask my approach to the port. I let my rifle free float around my torso, with my right hand I brought my bag of goodies to my front and opened it. Reaching into the bag for a magnetic charge. I look at the port, getting closer.
I grab a bar at a man door to enter the port, taking a magnetic charge I place it on the door and set the detonation for five seconds. The countdown starts, and I move away from the blast radius.
The charge goes off and it sucks the debris out into space with a group of people who get sucked out with it. Some are already dead, others are not so lucky. "Bad way to go."
I enter the space port, alarms, and lights are signaling a drop in air pressure. I activate the emergency door and that brings the air pressure and the gravity back inside the spaceport.
"Walker, my scans show you have hostiles moving towards your location." Integra tells me over the internal radio in my cranium.
"I guess we better not keep them waiting." I joke, swinging my rifle to my front and aim it down the corridor. "How many are there, Integra?."
"I don't know Walker. A baker's dozen."
"Integra, did you just make an inappropriate joke?
"Is that what that is? It felt funny in a not so good way."
"You'll get used to it." The grenade is in the bag, and I have to press the counter button. I hold the grenade a little longer, then toss it down the corridor. I hear it skitter across the floor until it stops then panic as they try to turn back but it was already too late, the grenade explodes and tears a hole in the wall, everything getting sucked out into space gravity goes out on the floor and I almost missed my stop. My fingers wrap around the bar that keeps me from being sucked out into space. I keep the bag, but I lose my rifle and my plasma sword. "That was close."
"Scans show a group of baddies headed to an escape pod." Integra tells me, I pull myself towards the center shaft. I've already gone this far. I might as well finish this. Instead of heading to the escape pods to cut off Jaek, I head down towards the core reactor. The thing that keeps the port in space and keeps the gravity on.
"Integra, is there any way I can take the port out of the sky?"
"What do you mean, Walker?"
"I mean sending this port into reentry with a boom."
"Maybe if you put all your explosives in the reactor and detonated them. But I don't think it is a good idea." She's right. I know it's crazy, but I am feeling kind of crazy.
"I suppose it's as good as any."
"Walker, you won't make it if you do that."
"Where is your faith, Integra?"
"File Faith.EXE does not exist."
"Hilarious. I'll make it."
"Just don't leave me hanging, Walker. I'm too nice to be sold for parts."
"It never even went through my processors." The grenade removed the artificial gravity from the upper decks. I navigate the space port towards the center shaft. Then it is straight down to the reactor. My feet land on the catwalk two sections above the reactor room. I move towards the door leading down to the reactor, but a plasma launcher blows it open. Through the smoke and rubble, Argent walks through the cavity left by the launcher attached to his blaster rifle.
"Walker, did you miss me?"
"Like a plague." I say, getting to my feet. I launch myself at Argent, pointing his rifle up as he fires, causing more debris to fall over us. We fall to the catwalk above the reactor after I tackle him. Argent is nice enough to break my fall, but my plasma sword falls away into the reactor, causing it to start a malfunction. I roll to my feet, drawing my pistol. Both of us fire our weapons,but we are both out of ammo. I holster my pistol and launch myself at Argent when he does the same. Argent's fist collides with my head, rattling the loose items inside it. Then another to my torso. He throws me away from him. I slide across the metal grating under me, sparks showering the floor beneath. I roll back to get to my feet quickly, but a kick to my face puts me on my back again. But I roll with the blow and get a little distance between us and catch my footing.
"I'm going to crush your head."
"This is becoming tedious." I say. My fist collides with his fist. Argent growls as my fist breaks into his hand. With the right fist, I deliver an uppercut. The gravity goes off, sending us into the air. When it's restored I tie it with my attack to hit Argent with more force, but his tail pulls me out of the air slamming through the catwalk to the reactor floor, the impact replaces my vision with static from the fall, then it returns. Argent jumps down, his foot landing on my head. Causing my vision to flicker again.
"It's really a shame, Vesper, your friend. I offered her a spot in my crew as my bunkmate. But she refused, so I sent her out with the rest when I rescued Jaek. She did not die well, Walker. Not like you will." While Argent is talking, I look around for something to help me get out of this situation. I spot the bag with the explosives. "Any last words, Walker?"
"Argent." I grunt as my hand reaches the strap of the bag. "You talk too much." I elbow him in the groin, and it gives me enough to escape from under his foot. I grab the bag and swing it. The bag smashes Argent in the head. He turns away from me, trying to use his tail to make me back off, but I jump over the sweep and, with the malfunctioning artificial gravity, I land on his back. The bag goes over his head. I attach the magnetic charges to Argent with some straps. Then I activate the magnetism on the charges, hopping off just in time for Argent to get pulled towards the reactor. I see his rifle and pick it up.
"Walker, you can't leave me like this." Argent tries to reason with me. They always try to bargain. Or beg. Argent did both, but I ignored him. "I don't have to do a damn thing. Goodbye, you overgrown Salamander. See ya never." I say, then use his plasma launcher to put a hole in the wall. Letting it suck me out into space. Shortly after I enter space,I am falling from the gravity of Dryke 42's moon, pulling me towards it and the planet. "Well... I guess I should have thought about this before I decided to just freefall."
"Are you in trouble, Walker?" Integra's voice comes into my head. I keep falling, getting faster. Debris falling around me, then the explosion in the Port run by the pirates pushes me faster.
"You know, I might have gone a little too far with this one." I say through the radio in my cranium. "But yes, I might be in a little trouble, Integra." My arms and legs spread away from my body, but it's no use for slowing me down. "I need you to come pick me up." I feel the heat from both the explosion and the speed as I get closer to the planet.
"On the way."
"Sooner than later, Integra, I can't survive reentry."
It burned the jacket and camouflage device up first. Just as I feel my exoplates heat to red. Then The ship catches me, I am lucky enough to escape the falling debris. My ship is not so lucky. It's pegged and hurtling toward the ground. The crash landing on Dryke 42 was alright. But the ship’s mangled. I take the chip out of the display and place it in my port so I can bring Integra with me.
"Walker? Walker! I knew you cared!" I immediately regret letting her integrate with my system. But because she is a logistic bot, she increased the efficiency of the nano tech that is repairing my body. I grab a new jacket and throw it over my shoulders. Then I leave the ship. "So, Integra. Do you know where I will find Jaek?"
"What kind of AI sidekick do you think I am? His escape pod landed safely three hundred meters east of our location." Integra was quite useful. I'll have to get another ship for her to operate soon.
"Ready to finish this?"
"With pleasure, Walker." Climbing from the rubble of the crashed spaceship. It served me well over the years and deserved this glorious crash over being junked into a heap in some yard. I grab whatever ammo I have left for my pistol. The only weapon I have left, my favorite. Then I walk towards the location. I have no doubt that Jaek thinks that I died in the explosion that still has pieces of the port falling into the atmosphere. So I have the element of surprise at least a little.
"Walker, what are you doing on Dryke 42?"
"I'm looking for a bounty quick score to get me back to earth." I continue down the street. My Smart Pistol 10 is the only weapon I have left.
"Who's the mark?"
"Jaek Emorson. A reptilian wanted by the Federation." I kept my head on a swivel as I approach the location my neurolink gives me a notification that I'm close.
"You don't normally take bounties for the federation., Is this personal or just business?" Finch typed in some information. "I heard about your friend, Vesper. My condolences."
"It's a hazard of the job. But thank you. Now, what do you want?" I say.
"Wow... I call to see how an old friend is doing after they have a close friend die. And you think I only want to talk about business?"
"Finch... Because it's you, yes."
Finch gasps, offended. "Well, since you asked, I have a bounty I want to contract to you." She says and I stop.
"So you can rip me off on the credits again. I don't think so."
"But, Walker!"
"Absolutely not."
"Walker, just listen to me."
"No comprende."
"Walker, please, just hear me out."
"No! Goodbye Finch." I end the call and draw my pistol and kick open the door. I fire the pistol. Pop! The auto target system wounds some and kills most of them. Out of the five sitting at the table, three are dead. A gorilla, a crustaceous alien and a human. Jakek and one other are still alive. I approach and flip the table, spilling the card game over the dead ones. Another bullet puts an end to the squirming. Jaek crawls for his laser pistol, but I kick it away from him and put another bullet in his head. "That's for Vesper." I climb the rest of the way to the roof and walk out of the building. The ship needs to be repaired. I call Finch back. “Finch, I’ve had a change of heart.” I say when she answers.
“You don’t have a heart, Walker.” Finch says with a chuckle.
