|
Registered User
Currently Offline
|
Posts: 1023
Join Date: Jan 2008
|
I've kind of hit a wall with the Captain Midnight & Rovers storyline. So I've been fleshing out this story a little bit. Let me know what you guys think of my sci-fi adventure...
As the Razor Wynd decelerated out of interstellar space the scrap heap of the galaxy, otherwise known as the planet Shu, loomed into view. Shu’s surface was made entirely out of organic metal and had been designated as the dumping grounds for the Intergalactic Coalition of Sentient Beings (ICSB). It was the perfect place for any Technoid to avoid detection. These cybernetic organisms are a hybrid race of living tissue and machine which blend in well with the piles of metal debris on the planet’s surface.
One such Technoid had landed himself on the ICSB’s most wanted list garnering a bounty of fifteen thousand credits and that was precisely why Erin Karr was here, for she was the Coalition’s best bounty hunter and had tracked this criminal from the capital world of Katar, within the Inner Core, to the junked planet here on the galaxy’s Outer Edge.
Her ship, the Razor Wynd, is a light Chimera class transport ship that she had acquired in a game of chance several months ago while on holiday. She had since had it outfitted with roof mounted photon rockets and four forward mounted plasma cannons as well as light armor plating. The cargo hold is large enough for her to accommodate two dozen captives so long as they were packed in tight like sardines.
The Razor Wynd extended its landing gear automatically in response to the atmospheric alarms that sounded throughout the cockpit. Erin instinctively grabbed hold of the controls as the ship entered the dense atmosphere. Two anti-air rockets soared toward the ships bow and Erin had to bank sharply right to avoid a collision.
“What the hell?” she cursed herself for not expecting an ambush.
She knew her ship would’ve been spotted by anyone on the ground watching but still she didn’t think the Technoid would’ve had a defense system in place. Erin berated herself and promised not to underestimate this enemy again. She found a clearing large enough to land in amidst two large cranes that were used by robotic workers to move larger piles of junk around to the compacter that sat twenty meters off to her left.
The cargo ramp hissed as it was lowered. Fully armed with energy blasters and hydro daggers, Erin disembarked on a quest to find her prey, Archimedes Thane who was wanted for everything from bullying small business owners into paying protection money to the murder of Fredeh Nydon, an ambassador from the Ruus Colony.
She quickly took in her surroundings and headed off in the approximate direction that the rockets had come from. Along the way she noted several discarded weapons that look as if they were still in working order and even some parts to a robot of some kind. Even though Erin worked as a bounty hunter deep down she was a tinkerer at heart. She loved to fix and build things on the side as a hobby and this world presented her with loads of opportunity.
“After this is over I’ll have a look around” she promised herself and she kept walking past the piles of junk that called out to her.
She heard voices up ahead but couldn’t make out what they were saying. The voices weren’t robotic however as she had expected, which means there were other species here as well. She slowed her pace and treaded carefully trying not to make a sound. Peering around a four meter tall pile of garbage she saw a holographic image talking to another one.
Then Erin noticed the holographic projectors lying on the ground. They had been turned on. Archimedes was probably using it as a distraction. She quickly turned around expecting an attack from behind, but no one was there. Her heart beat loudly in her chest drowning out most other noise. Then a large shadow fell over the area and it was plunged into darkness.
Activating the lamp on her belt, Erin was able to send out a small beam of light which would at least help her not to trip over everything on the ground. She walked over to where the holographic projectors lay and watched the recording. Two men in heavy cloaks were talking together about an ancient order of Druidic Knights.
Erin, remembering her history, recalled that they were originally scholars and philosophers who promoted peace. Then the Druids divided into the groups, one which kept on with the teachings of the order and the other whose sole purpose was to seek out power. The two sides plunged the galaxy into war until neither group survived.
She bent down and picked up the projectors stashing them both in the small satchel she carried with her. Then she continued her trek through the junkyard rounding a corner and coming face to face with the anti-air rocket launchers that had fired upon her ship! There was no one around to operate them.
“They must be part of an automated defense system” Erin surmised as she looked around for any sign of her quarry.
Walking up to the first launcher, she took out a small toolkit from her satchel and removed the control panel. Then she cut the wires which activated the targeting system and the firing mechanism before moving off to do the same to the second launcher. That’s when she noticed someone was watching her.
Drawing one of her energy blasters out of its holster she made her way around the left side of the launchers out of her watchers sight. Then she came up behind where she felt the presence. To her surprise it was only the head of a robot that seemed to still be partially functioning.
“What do we have here?” she asked herself holstering her weapon as she reached out to pick up the head.
“Do not touch me!” the head shouted at her as its eyes lit up.
“I don’t mean any harm” Erin replied backing off a couple steps “how is it you still function?”
“Solar and lunar power cells” came the reply “I am constantly recharging.”
“Well, where is the rest of you?”
“Back down the path you came from” the head replied “I was dismantled three days ago by a Technoid.”
“Archimedes” Erin said under her breath then speaking up so the robot head could hear her “do you know which way this Technoid went?”
“Scanning memory banks…he headed eastward.”
Erin turned to face east and started walking away when the robot shouted at her again “you are leaving me here?”
She paused in her tracks mulling it over. She could use an extra set of eyes to track this criminal down. She turned back to the robot to ask “what kind of robot are you exactly?”
The head thought it over a moment recalling its primary functions “I am a Deployable Resource for Observation, Infiltration, and Demolition” it replied mechanically “and I am also programmed for Combat.”
“A Combat D.R.O.I.D” Erin said thinking over what that meant “it seems fate has brought us together. Do you have a name?”
“My designation is GRPH-0N.”
“I’ll call you Gryphon” Erin said as she picked up the robotic head and turned back the way she had come.
“Do you know why it suddenly turned pitch dark?” she asked Gryphon as she gathered up the various robot parts and began welding him back together.
“It was due to an eclipse. They happen at least once a day here due to the nature of Shu’s five moons.”
Hours later when Erin had finally reassembled Gryphon she noticed the sky had finally regained its brightness. She opened the Razor Wynd’s built in weapons locker and started handing the robot energy blasters, one for each of his four hands. Then the two of them were ready to head back out into the garbage.
As soon as they exited the ship Gryphon spread his metallic wings and took flight heading eastward in an effort to scout the area looking for traps prior to Erin walking into them. The robot seemed to enjoy being able to move about on his own again and even carved some strange patterns in the sky as if he was putting on an air show.
Erin wasn’t sure that was appropriate behavior for a Combat Droid and was definitely concerned that the robot would draw attention to him, but there was nothing she could do about it. Gryphon had gotten so far ahead he was now out of earshot. But then she sighed with relief as the robot seemed to come to his senses and doubled back to her position flying low to the ground.
“My apologies miss” Gryphon said as he noticed the look on her face “I seemed to have momentarily lost my head.”
She smiled at that and turned her thoughts back to her objective. Blaster fire erupted from the mangled metallic trees ahead causing Erin to dive behind a pile of discarded building materials for cover. Gryphon was hit twice on his torso before taking to the air. The robot fired all four blasters at once into the tree line before weaving out of the way of more incoming fire.
As Gryphon kept the shooter busy, Erin moved stealthily around the rubbish flanking the trees. High up in one of the trees was Archimedes Thane armed with a scoped long rifle. It took Erin a moment to make out his form as his body seemed to blend in chameleon like with the tree. She carefully took aim with her blaster and squeezed the trigger.
She heard a mechanical grunt of pain as the Technoid tumbled out of the tree. He yelped in surprise as he stared up into the face of Erin’s energy blaster. Then looking over her shoulder he saw the flying robot land a few paces away with more energy blasters pointed at him and knew he had no chance of escape.
“I give up” Archimedes said pleading “please don’t kill me. Killing the ambassador was an accident.”
“What about the half a dozen other warrants I have for your arrest? Were those accidents as well?”
“No, I willingly did those” Archimedes replied getting to his feet “I freely admit I am crooked but I’m no murderer.”
“For your sake, you better hope the Coalition sees it that way” Erin said motioning for him to hand over the rifle.
__________________
|
