“Okay, you can bring us down. But first talk with Landom, he is in charge until I’m better. I just need some rest and should be up and running in no time.” Robin said wearily.
“Aye, Captain!” Happy confirmed and cut the connection.
Robin let his head fall back on his pillow and massaged his temples.
“What is wrong with me lately?” He muttered as he tried to rub away his headache.
“Maybe I just need some proper rest. When was the last time I slept without worry? Certainly not on our way back to the Mereus Cluster and definitely not since arriving… Ugh.”
Lately, he was stumbling from one straining situation into the next. His dealings with the UAS and the repercussions he feared never allowed his mind to rest.
It was time he finished this chapter of his life and moved on, leaving all this political nonsense behind.
“Just a few minutes, then I’ll get up…” Robin muttered while he slowly drifted into a restless sleep.
***
“He needs to rest. Something isn’t right.” Niu said, “Has Timothy already given him a check up?”
“He did. His results are normal, he is just exhausted.” Landom said, his brows furrowed.
“Why didn’t you want me to mention the scanner?” She asked, “There is definitely something strange happening. I can’t think of any plausible explanation why it fail-”
Landom cut her short mid sentence with a raised hand and shook his head.
“I have an idea that would explain it, but it’s neither the right time nor the right place to discuss such things.”
Niu tilted her head in confusion but kept her mouth shut. Landom was right, this ship had eyes and ears everywhere.
“Should I bring us down?” She asked to change the topic.
“Wait for another hour. We give Robin some time to rest and then land over there.” Landom said and pointed at the small clearing they found before their scanning system had failed once again.
“Okay, I’ll give the others a heads-up.”
Roughly one hour later, the small Humbler Jingur set to land between lush trees and bushy shrubs.
“When I was still training to become a pilot, there were a few lessons about landing a ship out in the wilds, away from proper pads or hangars. Never really listened to the instructors - why would I ever land away from civilization?” Happy chuckled, “Now however, I barely ever get to see landing infrastructure. Beat me, I was even stumbling over my words when I finally had a Flight Control to talk to at the space station.”
“In your defense,” Alena said, “you were on your way to the bridge of a capital ship. Those things aren’t meant to land in the wilderness.”
“Or landing at all.” Sevastian added with a laugh.
“So you see what burden I’m willing to carry just to entertain you folks?” Happy complained in fake anger. Her eyes however never left the ship’s controls as she was about to touch down.
“Whooop!” She cheered a moment later and a heavy jolt went through the ship. The whole vessel shook and the others had to support themselves on chairs and walls to avoid falling.
“What was that?” Sevastian gasped, “I heard of the saying ‘Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing’ but never imagined that you would also live by that!”
“Have you seen the landing gear they slapped on this thing? I could land a Destroyer on those feet. No need to micromanage a perfect landing if this bathtub can survive being dropped the last few meters.”
“Nice!” Sevastian laughed heartily and gave her a thumbs-up.
Alena glanced at her brother fooling around and a warm feeling rose in her chest when she saw him returning to his quirky self. Before a smile could sneak on her face, she steeled her expression and chased the others out of the ship.
“Landom went ahead to wake up Robin.” She said, “Won’t be necessary now, I suppose. Off you go. I don’t want to catch any of you slacking off!”
***
When everyone had assembled outside of the little ship, Robin took stock of their situation. He was feeling a bit better after getting some sleep, but the constant headache remained. He first got an update from Landom and was now inspecting the clearing.
“We won’t stay long.” Robin said, “However as it is our last joint adventure, I propose to set up camp for the night.”
He looked at his friends. Alena and Landom were watching their surroundings, weapons hanging loosely at their hips, while the others stood around in a relaxed manner. They didn’t expect any trouble and everyone agreed that a night at the fire might do them good.
“Over there.” Landom said and pointed at the other end of the clearing, far away from the UAS ship and whatever surveillance it may have aboard to eavesdrop on them.
“Patience, Timothy, Ang’Tue.” Robin called, “You set up camp. Landom, Alena - we will discuss how to approach the other ship and plan the search for TechnoBlood. I want to leave here in 45 minutes so we still have most of the day to finish our Cetro-business and switch to campfire-mode.”
Everyone began to scurry around and start their tasks, only Sevastian stood still and seemed a little lost. Robin noticed that the bulky man looked at his arms with disappointment and frustration. A small smile crept on his face.
“Damn, Vlasov!” He barked loudly, “Don’t just stand there like a tree. This isn’t a hotel - go and get the booze and any provisions we have left or do you think we want water for the party tonight?”
Sevastian blinked once, then twice before he perked up.
“Booze? I don’t think we have any left!”
“Do you really think Happy would pass by a space station without restocking?”
“No! I mean, what?” Sevastian’s confused expression slowly turned into a wide grin, “Ohhhh yeah!”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
After she saw her brother rushing back into the ship to search for Happy’s hidden stock, Alena turned to Robin who was walking next to her.
“Thanks.” She said and slightly inclined her head.
“For what?” Robin grinned, “Now, tell me: how will we find TechnoBlood?”
***
The group had to travel for a few kilometers through the forest before they reached the place where they had located the other ship.
“I’m still not convinced that it was a good idea to leave the camp unprotected!” Sevastian grumbled while he pushed a few low hanging branches away.
“It isn’t unprotected, we’ve set up the acoustic-traps. For the animals here on Seavis this is more than enough to scare them away.” Landom explained for the umpteenth time.
“But the booze-”
“Damn it! Like everyone else you didn’t want to stay behind, so stop nagging, Hulky!” Niu cursed.
“Can you all just shut up?” Alena hushed them, “We are close to our destination so put in some effort one last time, will ya?”
There was a collective grumbling but at least the bickering stopped.
“There it is!” Timothy hissed and put away the tablet with the map he had used to guide the group. Slowly he fell back behind Landom while Alena sneaked forward to scout the clearing.
“Seems clear.” She said after returning a few minutes later, “No one is here.”
Robin nodded and led the others out of the thicket.
A small ship, definitely a single seater without any space for comfort, stood in between a field of flowers that were probably yellow. In the background the Mereus just rose to its peak on the horizon and a soft breeze carried over the fragrance of mint. The scene was mesmerizing and could have been directly from an advertisement, if the ship wasn’t looking as if it was patched together from old, scrapped machines. Thick metal plates used as armor, stitched together by rough weld seams, were surrounded by loosely hanging cables and tubes.
“I don’t recognize the model, but I’m amazed that this thing can even fly. I wouldn’t dare trust my life to that.” Patience gave a small whistle of appreciation as she inspected the patchwork-ship.
“Alena, weapons up!” Landom shouted with a hint of panic in his voice when he spotted the ship and quickly readied his own gun, “Proceed with caution, no wandering around!”
“What is it?” Robin asked and sent out an Echo Pulse that came back blank.
“Ship offline, no energy source nearby.” He informed his security officer.
Everyone else quickly hurdled together, forming a half circle to protect each other’s backs.
“Keep your senses up and don’t stop your G-Anomaly for even a moment!” Landom hissed.
“Alena, check the ship. Timothy, go through the log again and look for any clues we may have missed in the report.”
“What should I be looking for?” The researcher said, his nose already glued to his tablet.
“Cetro, hopefully…” Landom muttered, lost in thoughts.
“...or?” Timothy asked, guessing that wasn’t what disturbed the man since they had already looked for those before.
“Everything is clear, nobody inside!” Alena reported, both her hands and one ear still pressed to the ship’s hull.
“I don’t know, but my instincts are screaming at me right now.” Landom finally muttered, “I don’t like this….”
In silence, the group stood together and waited for something to happen.
The tension slowly dropped after nothing moved even after a few minutes.
“Are you sure? Who could be interested in searching for TechnoBlood?” Robin asked, unconvinced, “Other Cetro? Mercenaries? Doesn’t make any sense. Why would they let Seavis Flight Control track their ship if they were on a secret mission…”
“These ships can be somewhat stealthy, yeah.” Landom said, “But it’s not perfect and you are way more suspicious when you’re caught sneaking around compared to a random ship that just hops from one settlement to another. It’s not forbidden to be here after all. Your senses?”
“Still nothing.” Robin shook his head, “Wouldn’t they need a bigger ship for anything other than a scout mission? This one is obviously only for one person.”
“You are right, but still… something is off.” Landom said and hesitated for a moment before he continued, “I can’t be sure. Let’s hope I’m wrong and it’s just a Cetro scout that found a trail to the hiding place of their defected community. We are here for a talk, not to fight. We have met their High Priest before, so they should know that we come without ill intentions.”
“The ship could very well be one of the Cetro’s. Maybe the last few days have strained your nerves more than you like to admit?” Robin asked but Landom only shook his head, not wanting to say any more before he was sure. When he looked at Alena and Sevastian, who once both were hired guns themselves, they only shrugged.
“Nothing in the logs. No data about the pilot, no data about the owner, no hints about where they were before entering Seavis.” Timothy said when he finally finished his search.
“Should we return?” Happy asked but Patience immediately shut down that suggestion.
“No! We are so close to the answers we were looking for. Landom, please tell me we can keep going? It’s only one dude, isn’t it? Rob?”
There was a moment of silence and only the wind that rustled the leaves above made any sound. Robin clenched his fists in frustration and was just about to call the retreat when Alena interrupted his thoughts.
“I smell blood. Fresh blood - a lot of it!”
“Burn in Plasma!” Landom cursed and nodded to Robin.
Silent as ever the weaponized BWT drone zipped forward to the other side of the field, following where the wind came from.
“Let’s go!” He said and marched on with the others.
Robin monitored the information he got from ROMAS, blasted off an Echo Pulse every few steps and concentrated his mind on any itch his passive sense might send him. If there was someone using stealth modules or other highly sophisticated technology, he didn’t want to stumble blindly into a trap and if it was a Cetro, well he would sense those fanatics even faster.
Ignoring his throbbing head, he kept going.
The group slowly advanced and crossed the clearing. No one spoke and after they entered the forest on the other side, the tension once more increased. Still, no one wanted to turn around. Too great was their curiosity and they felt safety in numbers. They didn’t have a hostile relationship with TechnoBlood and whoever had used this ship came here alone.
After marching into the thicket, the drone only flew a few dozen meters ahead of them. Just as ROMAS sent an info to Robin’s interface, Alena raised her hand to order a stop. She squinted her eyes and then pointed at something hidden behind another tree ahead of them.
Landom moved in a circle to flank whoever was ahead while Ang’Tue melted into the shadows and completely vanished from sight.
- Entity spotted
- One lifesign detected
- Race unknown
- Features hidden
“Not helpful…” Robin muttered under his breath and took another few steps until he finally got feedback from his senses. He inspected the image that formed in his mind and his guts clenched when the figure didn’t light up brightly.
“One person, not a Cetro.” He whispered over the comm and saw that Landom immediately tensed up.
When Alena and Landom had reached their position and Happy, who had the third and last energy gun, also confirmed ready, Robin sent the drone.
Quickly the others rushed forward, weapons at the ready and aimed at the dark figure that sat on the ground with its back leaned against a boulder. They were completely draped in a black cloak that hid their features and dark smoke billowed out from their feet.
“Oh shit. I knew something was off…” Landom muttered, then he turned to the stranger, “Hands up, identify yourself!” he shouted but was greeted only by silence.
“Oi! Hands up I said!” He yelled again.
The figure still didn’t move but Alena gave them updates over the comm.
“They reek of blood, there also is much blood pooling below on the ground. They are still breathing, heavy however. I see no guns, but the fog is obstructing much of my vision.”
“Don’t let your guard down!” Landom gave them a sharp reminder, “If this is what I think it is, be even more careful. These things are really dangerous, no matter their condition.”
Before the others could ask what he meant, Landom switched from comm back to the voice projection of his helmet.
“We have no hostile intentions.”
…Silence.
“What are you doing here?”
…Silence.
“What-” Landom hesitated, “What is one your kind doing here?”
Finally, that got a reaction when the figure let out a deep guttural laugh, mixed with coughing.
“Hunting!”