Omega Tales: the Tyrant King

Chapter III

The journey towards Melidan was quick and rather uneventful: the pirates didn't dare attack again and Astrid's condition seemed to improve by the hour. The ship landed at the planet's capital, Gorialis, for repairs and replenishment.

Javier had a meeting at the local Republic's embassy. This gave James enough time to visit the city; he was given a modest amount of republican credits as compensation for his help during the ship's boarding, so he headed to the market district.

Before arriving he had fantasized about the place, naively imagining the landscape of the capital to be spectacular, filled to the brim with tall and futuristic buildings, but this was far from reality. Most of the city looked more like a glorified slum clinging to its past, old riches now ridden with poverty and despair.

The people who lived there looked at James with curious or, more often, suspicious eyes: his tall stature and clean uniform made him stand out among the crowd, so much so that he caught the attention of many bizarre figures. A particularly pushy one of them, a shopkeeper eager to scam an outsider, yelled out to him.

"Hey there, any need is here"

James turned to his side and looked around, unsure if he was the one being called out.

"Yes, stranger, come look at merch"

Approaching the stall, an overweight and sweaty middle-aged man sat behind it, he spoke in a weird yet likable manner.

"What?"

The eyes of the shopkeeper lit up at the opportunity, he adjusted his cap and cleared his throat.

"Oh, plenty of different products: synthetic clothes, polymer boots, medicavit, liquid meat..."

He could've gone on for an hour, so James interrupted him to ask a real question.

"Do you sell weapons?"

A mix of astonishment and malice appeared on the man's face

"Oh, in that case, follow me"

He clumsily stood up from his dusty chair and walked towards the building behind them, approaching a metal door that opened as soon as he placed his greasy finger on the handle.

Automatic lights turned on as both stepped inside to reveal all sorts of items placed on top of countless shelves: the shopkeeper moved through that mess swiftly, used as he was in navigating such a disorganized warehouse. He reached for a red plastic container, quickly removing the lid that covered its perilous insides: various handguns of different sizes and a few extravagant boxes.

"Choose"

He whispered to his customer

James inspected the guns, weighing them in his hands and judging their conditions: all of them seemed rather old, some of them were heavy and musty, and others looked like they had been stolen right from the dying hands of their previous owner, none of them were registered. Finally, he chose one that seemed the least likely to explode if used and handed it to the shopkeeper.

"Ah, a classic"

He said with a tone of excitement while toying around with the gun, revealing the inner spirit of an expert.

"Castillo model 10, old hag from Expansion wars, still popular in the East, slow but packs a punch"

He finished his sentence with a giggle.

"400 is the price, for 500 with ammo and holster as well"

James nodded and took out his credit slot, a little black triangle chip, but as soon as he did, the man's face turned to wrath.