Starbound - Book 1

Chapter 2 - Gas Money

"KIKUYO! GET OFF THE SHIP!!" August yells out as he begins running toward the Captain's Quarters, Kikuyo's fins perk up as he notices the Apex warship firing at the wooden pirate ship. August runs and grabs Kikuyo's arm, and yells out into his wrist watch, "Command, return to Ship! X-101, STAT!" A red beam of energy fires down onto the two, and sends them barreling into the stars.

The general who had issued the command watches as August flees. He turns to his assistant. "Find them, and when you do, shoot them down, I don't want any humans out of my watch, do you understand?"

August falls onto his face on the cold metal floor of his starship. "Agh...Great timing..." He wiped a bit of the blood from his jacket onto his jeans leg. Kikuyo stepped up from the cold floor, there were purple bruises all over his chest. August eyed the wounds carefully.
"We gotta get you something to wear, Kiko..."

Kikuyo looked at August in disbelief, "Too...big," was all he uttered.

"I'm sure there are some shirts that can fit you...When I was a kid, I had this shirt with a picture of Captain Canada on in. That thing covered my legs," August shrugged headed to the cockpit.
"Alright, time to check out this solar district..." He sits down in the comfy leather seat, and put his hands on the dashboard, and after punching a few buttons he spoke, "Computer, check the coordinates for the Gate Outpost Access Point."

"Processing your command..."
"Please enter passcode, or state print record match."
August groaned, "This is pointless..." He presses his thumb to the fingerprint scanner, and waits for the computer to process his command. Kikuyo just sat in the neighboring seat hugging his legs, watching August argue with the computer, and whimpered sheepishly.
"Scan complete, welcome August Stratos. What is your command?" the computer manages to beep out, despite the number of cracks on the screen, one for some reason, covered by a band-aid.
"Right..." August sighs, "Check the local system's Outpost Warp Gate."

"Please hold while we process your command....Process complete. Coordinates are X5678 , Y2671, Outpost, approximate fuel needed, 40% of current fuel fill. Refill on fuel source is needed. As an advisory precaution, you might want to refill on the nearest Echrius Site."

"Yeah, whatever..." August said ignoring the option, "Activate Light Drive, Outpost, Gate..."
The ships thrusters ram themselves to life, and the computer starts speaking rapidly.
"HTL Drive Online, Thrusters Active, Hyper Warp Access Allowed, Proceeding To Create Taco."

August looks over at Kikuyo who was sitting in the chair watching all of it happen, "Hey, you know the guy back at the Avian ship? He looked pretty official..."

Kikyo nodded and put his hand on the command panel, opening a new tab and opening a video, the title reading, "USCM". August sat back, "Oh a video! Computer, any popcorn on deck?"
"No sir.
"Damn!"

The video beeps, "3...2....1...."
'United! Systems! Colonial Marines! We're big! We're tough! And our guns are mean!'
The United Systems Colonial Marines, are the head of the universe! Founded in 2020, after the Apex-Human Diplomatic Wars as a peace treaty, the intelligence from across the universe has come together to reserve and protect the peace! Lead by our leader the Miniknog and the head jurisdiction of Congress, those who disturb the peace shall be punished! We are the USCM! United! Systems! Colonial Marines! We're big! We're tough! And our guns are mean!

We are not singing this again!'

August stared at the screen as the video ended, and he blinked a bit, the shook his head, "United....Systems..." he stood as the ship suddenly stopped above the Outpost Gate. "Time to head out Kikuyo," August says rubbing his head and putting on his blood soaked jacket.

Kikuyo nods warily, and begins walking towards the launch pad outside the small ship, August following behind him, pressing the warp command button and onto the launch pad. The two once again blast off into a red beam of energy and land on a large asteroid floating through the depths of space. Strangely, oxygen. "So this is the Delta Marsh V Gate, huh...?" He eyes around the area suspiciously and walks towards a purple launch pad, besides it are two pedestals with faces of different races on them. In the middle, a glowing white ball hanging by a thin thread.
"It's like a space disco party..." August joked. Kikuyo tilted his head making eye contact to August, not sure of the term, 'disco party'. August shrugged, "Human 70's things...Sorry big guy," August and Kikuyo step onto the pad and it opens a GUI. August taps the 'Launch' command, and a large purple energy sphere opens and sucks the two in. Kikuyo, who wasn't used to this flailed frantically in confusion. "Chill out, bud. It's just a warp," August laughed a bit. His smile slowly faded into pain as he held his head, "Aye....my head is pounding..." Kikuyo stopped flailing and looked to August with concern. August noticed Kikuyo's worry in his six eyes, "D-Don't worry about it...Just a slight headache..."

Kikuyo's expression didn't change as much, but he still withdrew. As the two landed outside to a separate launch pad, ahead of them they saw a large, metal building. In front of the building, a small Erchius Gas Station called the Outpost. August stared around and started for the gas station, he checked his pockets to check how much money he had at the moment, "Hope they take single dollar notes..."

August opens the door of the station and the cardboard cut-out of a pig with large cartoony eyes saying "Welcome!" is the first thing to greet him. besides the jingle of the welcoming bell on the top of the door.

A Fungarian looked up from the counter, the race were usually warriors, this one was

dressed in a flowery green 70's madras shirt, and baggy khaki pants. "Welcome to the Outpost, how may I help you?" the Fungarian said in a flimsy and annoyed voice. Kikuyo scrunched his nose at the awful and putrid smell the worker let off. August gagged a bit, and covered his nose, "Yeah...How much for a gallon of Erchius Fuel?"

The worker nodded to a shelf of 1 Gallon Erchius Tanks. "500 Cubits, or 50 notes," he says. August just stares, "I'm sorry, say that again?!"

The worker simply stares at him with it's two, "Yea. 500 Cubits. Pay up or get out."

Just then, the door of the store jingles, and a green haired old male, walks into the store. His eye was practically bulging out of it's socket. Hair practically covered his face, his back hunched over and dressed in a ratty scientist's lab coat. Kikuyo backs a bit, and keeps quiet, he was tense, August could tell already, because whoever this was, it was definitely an Apex...was this person a member of the same military that had wanted him dead? Followed by Apex, was a tall, mechanical figure. It almost looked like a knight in shining black armor...Under it's helmet, was two glowing red eyes. August stared at the metal man quietly, and it almost felt it was staring back at him. The worker chews on a piece of gum and looks at them, "Welcome to the Outpost. How may I help you?"

The Apex grins and nods. "I vud like to pick ap an' ordar I had made about a veek ago?"

The worker pulled out a box from under the counter and puts it up, "You were accepted, Doc. No doubt...Going to kill everyone once again?"

August looked at the worker, "What?"

The Apex professor looks at August with a slim smile, "Oh, a human..That's a rare sight to see," his smile grew into a twisted smile, "If you're in the tournament I might just enjoy having KNI ripping you to shreds..."

Kikuyo let out a low growl, and the mechanical man grips it's black blade in it's hand tightly, glaring daggers towards Kikuyo, causing him to back off in fear. August noticed the strange thing going on. He folds his arms, and clears his throat, and standing in front of the worker. "How do I sign up to this tournament?"