Waypoint

Never Celebrate too Early

I awoke differently this time. I didn't spend several minutes sitting down and zoning out to the vastness of the field. I had a goal in mind and I wasn't wasting any time.

I fired up everything and immediately ordered FTARI to propulse toward a field station I'm actually allowed in.

Coming up big transparent steps, I darted around the station until I finally found the right creature. It was sitting half asleep behind a tattered wooden stand that read, "Take it and leave; don't get me caught!"

The moment I came within three feet, it jolted out of his seat, nearly making me jump out of my suit.

With wide eyes, I asked, "I'm looking for, uh, highly advanced radio communication parts."

Again, it slumped in his chair, but with an expression like it was about to say "A long time ago....", and then make me stand here for hours, only to find out that what I want isn't available anymore.

"You know, a long time ago,"

I instantly rolled my eyes and leaned against the small wooden stand.

"Before planet Karva was overtaken by the evilness of the jewel of Shiva, the king ordered a fleet of cargo ships to drop off highly advanced radio parts. It had decided his city was no more than a waste dump, carrying dreams of an intelligent civilization like none other, until one day it was intercepted.

The king heard nothing else from the fleet, and slowly but surely, Karvians slowly rotted away.

Then, centuries later, a wandering trader happened to come across the lost fleet. It described it as wrecked and abandoned. It tagged it before leaving and never went back. The parts on board are contraband nowadays, but that abandoned fleet is your only option. "Here," It slapped my arm, as I was half asleep, and handed me an envelope with a tiny chip in it.

I shook my head in confusion. "What does contraband mean?"

"Means if you get caught with them, ya' could end up in some nasty business with the LFO. Now shuffle off, I can't have anyone else on my operations."

I opened the envelope carefully. It was a chip that looked very familiar. It looked like the exact one Charon gave me for the jewel. I sighed and turned but halted dead in my tracks, almost dropping the tiny fragile chip.

"Crap"

I snuck it into a small pocket on my hip and took cover behind an empty stand.

Then suddenly, an explosion broke out. Scraps of metal rained down. As I peeked over and looked down the flight of stairs, the large open area where crafts would park. At least 300 creatures in dark armor approached the other creatures. Shooting some and taking others hostage. They held blasters the size of a wrench, yet they guaranteed to put a clean hole through even the strongest metal.

Screams broke out until a larger and meaner creature emerged from the large crowd. It was the size of my craft and coincidentally began heading in its direction.

What the heck am I supposed to do?

A whole village worth of hostiles just jumped an entire space station!

You're probably asking, "Unnamed character, why are you so scared?" Well, those hostiles are known as the Vendetta Empire.

Now, I'm not gonna go on a rant like that seller did back there about the darling of Karva, but I will say this; Mercy is nothing to them.

They pick their target, and they get the job done.

My heart raced as the big hostile, who I assume was their leader, entered Sky Walker and searched the entire thing. I instantly remembered the fifty or so extra tanks I threw in the corner, and soon enough, it came out with all of them on his shoulder.