Pirate Assassin

Chapter 8

"After Enigma bonders, Warpers are the next most valuable people to the United Galactic Government. These special people can, as their namesake suggests, warp to another place, whether next door to their neighbour's house or a pland thousands of miles away, all in the blink if an eye and a faint expulsion of air. The individual power of Warpers range from transporting only the individual to the greatest so far being Howard Dyekis, who could Warp an entire Dreadnought-class ship. No matter their power, they are incredibly useful in surgical strikes or emergency messengers and many an operation has succeeded against overwhelming odds thanks to this exclusive bunch."

-excerpt from the documentary titled Assets of the Government

Juetan V was the tourist attraction in the Juetan pland system. Just outside the port were a plethora of stalls which stretched to the town's edge where the jungles began. The paths which had been set led upwards to a myriad of ruins, and the highlighy being the ruins of a temple standing at the peak of the low mountain. From afar, it looked like the peak of a volcano sutrounded dense forests. The wild life were kept safely away by low voltage electric fences which lined the path, designed to stun or shock rather than kill. Zack, Fint and Jist ran the entire way with their weapons in hand. True, they were skeptical, but it never hurt to be cautious. Zack wasn't much of a hound so he didn't bother to see whether Kelv went this way or not. If he didn't, the other four would be scouring the town. They reached the top, the base of the temple and stopped. The gates were closed and a sign was hung saying: Restoration in progress. "Kelv couldn't have come here. Its locked and I don't think she'd be here anyway," Jist said. His ACT beeped and there was some unintelligable mutters. Jist seemed to get it just fine and he shut it off and said, "The men just found a strange man lurking around the fountain in the square. He didn't look local and was speaking with a strange accent."

"Might just be a foreign tourist," Zack said but Fint said, "Well, wouldn't hurt to try." Zack shook his head. "There IS something here. We need to get inside." He paused. "Let's head a bit into the jungle. We'll seem suspicious if we hang about a restricted entrance."

He led them into the trees till they were hidden from the path. He pressed a button on his ACT and lifted up his arm closer to his mouth so that he could speak softly. "Any leads?"

"None," came a whispered reply and the communication broke off. "Who was that?" Jist asked questioningly.

"An informant."

"Are you certain its not a PIRATE informant?"

"If you had been listening, I didn't give any information. I was asking for leads and if you thought about it," Zack snorted, "if I were betraying you, why would I ask for leads?" Jist kept quiet. "So what do we do?" Fint asked Zack, "Should we check out the guy Jist's men found?"

"No, it'll be a waste of time. Call your men off him, Jist." Jist complied, a little reluctantly. "I'm positive Kelv went inside. We need to find a way in."

"Climb?"

"No, its protected. It's probably sensored or electrified."

"I don't see any sign of entry," Fint said as he frowned, "If he really did go in there, how?"

Zack's eyes scanned the visible forest perimeter. His eyes lit up on something. "What is it?" Fint asked, noticing the gleam. Zack pointed to a tree with long branches to the fence. They climbed up and jumped over. Fint slipped and fell but luckily, he was over the fence. Zack helped him up. "That was close, Fint. If you had fallen down face forward, you could've cracked you skull or your neck! Everything okay Jist?" He turned to Jist who was looking at the temple. "Jist!" Zack called again and he jumped, "I asked if you were okay."