“Barkeep! Hit me with one of these!” Leonn shouted, pinging the barkeep the molecular structure for a liquid that contained an awareness drug. His limited memory of earth told him the drug was called “caffeine”. The robotic barkeep nodded and began to compile the drink. GrK abstained from any such luxury. Leonn scanned the tavern, looking for anyone who might know something.
“Whatcha looking for, stranger?” said an odd looking creature. Five uneven mechanical legs held up a writhing mass of furred heads and furrier tentacles. Leonn approached cautiously.
“I’m looking for an outlaw by the name of Khraz. He’s a ZarachOn casino owner who is wanted for many crimes: murder, attempted murder, selling tratt, and illicit dealings inside his casino.”
“I think I’ve heard of him. His casino operates on the moon of this planet. Good luck to you,” said the creature, which Leonn now recognized as a Fur’l’usk.
“GrK. I’ve located Khraz. Let’s move out.” Leonn caught the drink flask from the bartender while pushing through the membrane door. He placed the flask into his suit’s fluid intake for later. GrK followed him out, his multitude of tentacles undulating, moving him along.
The moon was pretty barren. Several solar collectors and satellite arrays dotted the surface. The only thing really noticeable was the sign in flashing neon lights: “The Fringe Casino”. Several ZarachOns and Nexi traveled in and out. Leonn and GrK approached the airlock.
“By the rights bestowed to registered bounty hunters by the Inter-Dimensional Justice Act, I order you to open this door,” Leonn commanded through the comm. system. “Failure to do so will result in your immediate termination for obstruction of justice. Khraz-ayituanaak-aanaayatayya and all drones under his command are required to give up at once. Failure to do so will entitle me to use force up to and including plasma, laser, explosive, and projectile assault,” Leonn rattled off.
“Stuff it, Hunter! You’ll find no cooperation here!” a voice
from the other side of the comm. grunted. Leonn raised his bolt cannon level
with the door.
Leonn smiled. “Why do they always have to do it the hard way?” he asked, nodding at GrK. Leonn’s bolt cannon spat three explosive rounds in a second, demolishing the doorway. The ZarachOn behind it lay collapsed in a pool of its own blue blood. At least most of the ZarachOn was. Parts if it also decorated the walls and ceiling in a mural of gruesome depictions. Gamblers and bookies around the room turned and stared at the two armored bounty hunters in the doorway. A sudden uproar coursed through the room, and credit chits were scattered every which way as the room was emptied. A sign bearing the ZarachOn glyph for “Employees Only” hung over a door on the far wall. Leonn kicked it down.
Leonn and GrK reached the end of the winding hallways, piles of demolished corpses at their backs. Leonn raised one gloved fist and rapped on the door in front of him.
“Khraz! We know you are in there. Cooperate and you will survive. Fail to do so, and your death is assured. This is an arrest, under interdimensional law,” Leonn said coolly.
The door slid up, revealing a slightly bloated giant insectoid creature. His mandibles undulated endlessly. He looked at the two heavily armed bounty hunters, and sighed.
“I need a minute to assemble my things,” Khraz scrambled on his three tripods of legs to the computer console by the wall. He hit two buttons, and a whirl of machinery resulted. Within seconds, Khraz was fully armored and out of the newly opened escape hatch, the only sign of his leaving the discus-grenade he shot out behind him. Leonn and GrK exchanged looks and quickly shot up the escape hatch after him.
Leonn burst into the surface of the moon as the shockwave from the grenade spat piles of earth after him. GrK sputtered out several seconds later, his battlesuit mangled.
“Leonn, do not worry about me. Within a few minutes my suit will repair the damages.” GrK crashed into the surface and small arms shot out from his armor. Fusion welders glinted as nicks in the ceramic power armor were rebuilt.
Leonn didn’t take much notice of GrK, however, as he was busy dodging a stream of white-hot plasma bolts. He responded with explosive bolts from his boltcannon. The chain of bolts fed through, and the ammo-synthesis power cells were reading low. The gun beeped in several seconds with a friendly message.
“This weapon has no ammunition. Please restore ammunition before firing again. This weapon has no-“ Leonn ditched the gun and began firing grav lances. Khraz, having effortlessly shrugged off the bolts, responded in kind and nullified Leonn’s beams.
“GrK! Hurry up! Nothing I do works on this guy!” Leonn shouted, just as an idea popped into his head and his grav lance read empty. He began jetting up through the atmosphere. Khraz saw this as a retreat and rushed to cut him off. Rushed past Leonn’s previous position, leaving him vulnerable to the EMP shockwave grenades dropped silently before the “retreat.”
The shockwaves tore over the exposed back of Khraz’s suit. Systems shut down immediately, leaving Khraz a barreling ton of fixedform alloy and deadened firepower.
Leonn retracted the empty grav lance, but not before removing the concealed bead pistol. Stashing it in his ammo pack, he freed both of his gloved hands. His solar wings extended and began focusing energy, siphoning it from the sun and surrounding atmosphere. The tips of his gloves glowed and channeled this energy to the growing torpedo energy floating between Leonn’s hands. The temperature dropped and winds subsided as the suit absorbed solar, thermal, and kinetic energies from the surrounding area. The ever-growing sphere of enclosed torpedo energy pulsated as it hovered between Leonn’s cupped hands.
Furrowing his brow with concentration, Leonn focused what psychic power he had into executing his signature technique. The torpedo, now hovering on its own accord, began to form into a claw-like shape around Leonn’s right hand. Clutching his wrist for support, the energy finished its transformation. Wings folding, Leonn shot forward, claw extended. As the manifestation of laser-charged plasma tore through Khraz’s near-indestructable armor shell, Leonn fired his thrusters in reverse. Focusing the energy back into a torpedo, he unleashed it, sending the destructive sphere coursing into the newly ruptured opening.
The sky darkened for a second as the amazing energy of the torpedo unleashed. The body of the bloated ZarachOn was ripped to shreds, as shards of fixedform alloy scattered in the blinding flash that ensued. Khraz’s disembodied head plummeted to the ground slowly in the minuscule gravity of the barren moon. Leonn dived in his suit, catching the head and removing the memory chip. Plugging it into the data port on his helmet, he then drifted to the ground, utterly exhausted.
Leonn’s mind raced, even though his body remained immobile. It all seemed to go too smoothly, his paranoia beckoned. Great bounty with almost no hunters on it? Lacunian waylaid by dark presence? Skittish Fur’l’usk freely giving away information? This all seems rather conspicuous. He activated the data chip, hoping the small crystal would contain the answers he wanted.
GrK, his suit now almost completely repaired, floated over to Leonn’s side. “I am sorry to interrupt, Leonn, but it appears we may have company.”
Leonn looked up just as something flashed over the screen in the viewing port. He diverted his attention back to the data chip, locating this disturbance. As it opened, and he scanned the data, his green eyes widened.
“GrK! This whole hunt was a set-up!” he shouted, as the approaching Lacunian’s vortex laser began to rotate.