Neobadians

Ethan Everton’s spaceship almost escaped. He was careful not to crash, blazingly, into an iceberg.

A giant creature broke through the ice. He almost landed into its mouth, a worm. Creatures here are always very hungry and dangerous.

Ethan should watch himself, not to mention Headhunters were hunting them. Humans in white armor who knew how to survive the freezing conditions of Neobadia.

Ethan’s ship was no match, but he would protect his wife. She had a bounty on her head: dead or alive.

This is Ethan’s home world, he has never been anywhere else, and he never planned to be, that’s until Killarla came into his life, his first and only wife. They were more than just lovers; she was his best friend too.

Ethan grabbed her hand and pulled off the burning rubble off her legs. She was a dirty mess but nowhere compared to his spacecraft. The starboard wing and nose was crunched. They are lucky to be alive.

Ethan could not buy all his wife wanted when spaceships were common. She was not happy with her spaceship, she overpaid for it. Now it was scrap. In hindsight she was glad she had insurance.

They ran, leaving their pricey yet cozy spaceship. They had just enough Nectar to keep them warm for a time. They hope to find shelter before they run out of Nectar.

If only Killarla did not steal a hunter’s mark. She made a profit of twenty thousand credits. Ethan didn’t know where she got the money to buy a spaceship for their travelling business. They made considerable profit by going to different countries and continents in the wide winter world of Neobadia.

Later they began to lose money when there was too much commercial competition. Ethan didn’t know his wife lied to him; but as soon as the Headhunters landed, hunting them, she tried to tell him the truth.

They are running for their lives and he is protecting her. But she didn’t want Ethan to get involved. She didn’t want his protection.

Ethan quickly attached a barrel to his gun, gripping the trigger, ready to defend her at all costs.

She took the Longman rifle from him as two plasma bursts nearly hit them. These Headhunters were not playing fair.

Ethan and Killarla missed a jump onto a nearby iceberg. They fell into the freezing water, but it did not faze them; not cold at all since they both had taken the Nectar.

The Headhunters who ejected from their spaceship had to dive in, while the others were hovering above in their spaceship.

They came at them with plasma guns while Ethan popped up, flanking them, making a distraction; then Killarla came out of the icy waters and used the Longman on them. Their bodies floated under the ice until a worm devoured them.

Then there suddenly was a “pop” and they and the worms felt the stunning force of the spaceship. The Headhunter ship called a Hawk electrified the water.

She wanted to protect herself as she sniped two more to death that were coming at them. The Headhunters thought they had caught their bounty, but Ethan and Killarla had generator suits for charging their weapons. When they were electrified their suits were charged and unharmed. Killarla bought these suits, but she never told Ethan where.

“Killarla, why did you take my rifle? Did you know I would die for you?”

She nodded in agreement.

“No, I won’t let you. It’s my fault this happened. I will turn myself in. I cannot let you suffer like this; I got greedy… and—I love you, Ethan Everton. I cannot let you have a price on your head. It is only a matter of time I pay the penalty, my life.”

He took the Longman rifle from her and hugged her. “Look Honey, stealing a mark is a dangerous offense, they could lynch you for that.”

He started to head towards the Headhunter’s spacecraft to see if there were more inside, but before they could walk inside the entrance ramp creature wolves scared them away.

Ethan’s not a poacher looking to kill creatures, illegally, for their meat and Nectar. But he wanted to survive, even if he had to kill the animals on Ice Rock without a paid permission slip for a mark.

Ethan had no choice but to reach high ground to shoot two of the wolves while his wife Killarla had a knife with her cutting at them.

They went back quickly to the Headhunter spaceship. Once they ran into the upper deck, they heard a monitor on the nearby bridge. The door was wide open; the enemy looked like they had run off. President Jack Holeson was making a speech, and he said the names of the prisoners they let go. They turned their lives around during prison camp, and one was found framed and innocent.

After Ethan wasted away, angrily, watching the monitor, he heard nothing but silence after he pulled the plug. Ethan searched everywhere in the spaceship; there was no trace of her, the Headhunters caught her, or a wolf ate her alive… who knows?

Ethan went to see if Killarla’s commlink on her wrist was still working. She was not answering…

“Here’s a pair of zoomers.” He decided to use them, nope, still no sign of her.

He wanted to protect her, now she might be dead anyway. Ethan guessed he had two more miles of walking time left before the Nectar he ingested wears off; he better keep moving. He will go back to his town from where those Headhunters chased him from. He knows Ice Rock very well as a traveler, but before he went off, he decided to wait for her here.