SWRC: OC-49 (Part 1)(Book 2.675)

Chapter 3 Atron, Senex-Juvex Sector.

Atron was a small, unassuming Seneca-Juvex world.

Compared to it's far more prosperous relatives, Atron appeared as a small farming community world like Raada. This was a mask however, as Atron was a vastly prosperous world considering its Outer Rim standing and neighbours. Worlds in the Outer Rim were often hard pressed to drum up business with the Core Worlds but those located in the Senex-Juvex Sector were considered an exception.

Not everything there was sunshine and rainbows though...

Tye glanced cautiously along the street before him as he followed Vax with C.T to where they were going to acquire their mission supplies whilst on planet.

He could feel the familiar senses provided by his ancient Phase 1 helmet and the security it gave him as he watched the low life's around them. Being in the underbelly of Atron meant that a lot of these shady characters lurked about.

And an intact Phase 1 helmet was worth a lot on the Black Market to a collector. 

When they finally reached the store that Vax had told them about for their mission supplies, Tye lingered behind as Vax entered, though C.T noticed his lingering but made nothing of it. C.T just assumed he was possibly talking to and/or helping someone outside out. That was, after all, what his major defect had turned out to be, after a little encouragement from Vax.

C.T couldn't have been more wrong.

"What are you after?" asked Tye, turning to face the man who had been following them.
"You aren't easily fooled," said the man, before getting straight to the point. "The helmet. How much are you willing to pay to part with it?"
"What you have to offer can't measure up to its worth," said Tye. "No price anyone can offer could possibly measure up to its worth."
"Everything has a price," said the man, believing to sneakily reach for his blaster.
"This 'thing' doesn't," said Tye, having seen the movement before it had even begun.
In quick succession, Tye blocked the gun out of his way, sending it to the ground, and ramming a quick punch into the mans face as he grabbed his wrist to jerk him forwards and put him off balance as he met the jab.
Tye felt the sickening crunch of the nose breaking against his knuckles.
The man screamed and crashed onto his knees on the ground as the blood gushed out of what remained of his plastered nose.

Tye simply stood there and looked at the pitiful excuse of a man in a heap before him as C.T and Vax joined him.

"Next time you think about stealing from someone," whispered Tye to the man in agony. "Remember what happened right here. Right now."

The man hardly heard any of Tye's speech as his pain seemed to cloud every other aspect of his mind.

"Seriously?" asked C.T with his arms folded. Tye could feel the disbelieving look, the raised eyebrow and the touch of a smirk, from under C.T's helmet and returned them with his own smirk and shrugged his shoulders, though no one could see their faces.

Vax, however, looked pissed...

Several hours of berating later, Tye was finally released from Vax's yelling. While their 'talk', which Tye would've deceived more as 'I'm yelling at you, so shut up and listen or you won't live to next week!', hadn't gone nearly as smooth as one would have hoped, it did serve to solidify one distant thought within Tye's mind.

Something drastic had changed in the time that they'd seen Vax last.

And Tye wasn't the only one who was suspicious of their mentor and saviours erratic behaviour.

"Something's wrong with Vax," whispered C.T from the bunk above him.
"Whatever made you think that?" muttered Tye in return, reaching up and running his fingers along the ships bed underrailings above him. "He's seems to have become a loose cannon since the Gorse Incident."
"But what caused it?" asked C.T, rolling onto his side. "He seemed perfectly fine the last time we saw him."
"The last time we saw him was nearly 13 years ago," said Tye, a moment before his wrist communicator began beeping. Tye silenced it and amended, "Exactly 13 years ago. A lot can change it that space of time."
"We're a good example," said C.T. "We've all changed a lot since the Fall of the Republic."
"I think everything has," said Tye as he closed his eyes.
"But has it all really changed for the better?"