Chapter 24: Hostile Takeover
“Now this is a lot better than waiting at the Crimson Spinner.” Reed muttered before finishing a drink he ordered at a bar.
“A couple more drinks to keep me drunk, a few rounds around this dead city and probably a few target practices while waiting for my fearless leader to straighten things out with Blake Mason.”
Reed signaled at the bartender, who shook his head in annoyance at his customer who just ordered his seventh drink.
“You don’t look too happy my good man. Give me one more of this and keep it cold.”
The bartender gave a silent nod before turning away and making Reed’s next drink.
Reed flips a nearby spoon with his fingers, waiting patiently for not only his drink, but Jaden and Kida’s return from the bounty hunter lair. Spinning the spoon from finger to finger, he did a few tricks flawlessly for a moment. However, gravity soon caught up when he dropped the spoon by accident. Not willing to stop, he reached down to pick it up.
Before he even reached the spoon, a foot came in and stepped on the spoon. Reed looked up to see two armored male humans, both armed with pistols, looking down on him with an expressionless look on their faces.
“Greetings gentlemen? Can I help you?” Reed said.
“Brad, this is Reed Robinson right? From that bounty.” one of the men said.
“Yeah. It’s him.”
“Wow. Autographs already? I am at a disadvantage.”
Not willing to suffer his sarcastic jokes, both men raised their pistols and began firing. Before they could begin shooting, however, Reed jumped behind the bar counter and used it as cover. Everyone else in the bar, including the bartender, was startled by the gunfire and began to panic, screaming and running out of the bar or taking cover behind objects. Taking out his rifle, Reed returned fire, forcing the two men to seek cover behind nearby pillars.
After several turns of gunfire, one of the men took out a grenade, pulled out its safety pin and tossed it at the bar counter. Landing right next to Reed, he gasped, grabbed the live grenade and shouted, “Thanks but I prefer my grenades cooked rather than live.” before tossing it back at the men. The grenade exploded close to one of the men in midair, knocking him onto the floor. His partner shielded himself from the blast before checking up on him, only to find out that he was killed in the blast.
Turning back to Reed, he jumped back to his cover when he saw Reed shooting at him from cover. Getting tired of the gunfight, Reed resorted to his Omega Energies. When the man began shooting from cover, Reed deflected all the bullets that flew at him using his Omega Energies, startling the man. He then began advancing towards the man, pushing away all lead that was shot at him.
Once he was close enough, Reed punched the man’s arm, disarming him, and aimed his rifle at his face, forcing him to raise his arms in submission.
“Trust me good sir, death by gunfire to your head is like mating in comparison to what I can do with Omega Energies. You willing to be my friend?” Reed threatened. In response, the man reluctantly nodded.
“First question: Who are you two and why are you trying to kill me?” Reed queried.
“Bounty hunters. We were sent by Blake Mason to deal with the Liberator Alliance.”
“Liberator Alliance? He knew of our rebellion?”
“He also knew that you and your friends came in via a Salvager transport ship, parked in one of the alleys in the city.”
“How did he know about all this?”
“That Salvager Warlock, Kida Mors, told him. She came in with your leader, Jaden Highland, and handed her over to Blake Mason before telling him all that.”
“That double-crossing bitch! I knew she was far too pretty to be on the good side.”
“She was supposed to be leading us but broke off before we even left our hideout.”
“How many of your men are finding us?”
“Almost everyone in the bunker. About twenty of us.”
“And Mason?”
“He left with Jaden Highland, planning to send the bounty to Dark Viper via his private Salvager frigate.”
“Damn it! I need to warn the others.”
“Um…can I go?”
“If you be a good boy, sure.”
Reed lowered his rifle and watched as the bounty hunter slowly walked away. Instead of leaving quietly, the bounty hunter picked up his pistol and tried to shoot Reed. However, a bullet blasted through his head, shot dead by Reed. Thinking that the others were in danger, Reed rushed back to the Crimson Spinner, hoping to reach them before the bounty hunters find them.
Back at the alley where the Crimson Spinner has landed, the first person Reed saw was Jaina, seemingly repairing or modifying the ship’s exterior. Reed stopped before her before bending down and breathing heavily, exhausted from sprinting.
“Reed. You alright?” Jaina asked when she saw Reed. She ceased her meddling of the ship before helping out Reed to standing up straight. As he stood up, blood was seen on Reed’s cheek, causing Jaina to worry.
“Reed! Are you injured? There’s blood on your face.”
“What?” He wiped his face, smudging some of the blood onto his hand.
“Hmm. Must’ve flew from that headshot.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll try to heal you, although I never actually used a first aid kit. Aww man! I won’t forgive myself if I make it worse! I should contact my Mistress and send a real doctor for…”
“Whoa Jaina! Calm down. I’m not hurt. I’m just exhausted and this blood isn’t mine.”
“Really? Well, thank goodness then. You had me worried.”
“You’re worried about me? That’s unusual.”
“I don’t like you Reed but we’re in the same team. If you get hurt, I will help you out, whether I like it or not.”
“Huh. I guess I should start being nice to you.”
“Yeah you should, lest I stop worrying about you.”
“Anyway, I came back to warn you all of something. Mason’s bounty hunters are searching for us. We need to prepare.”
* * *
“So, Mason’s got Jaden and he sent almost every bounty hunter after us.”
Gavin said.
“That’s what she said.” Tareshah replied.
“Actually, Reed found out about it.” Jaina answered.
“Right on. We need to prepare for those bastards.” Reed said.
“This unit is prepared for combat.” Vader said.
“C’mon. Let’s head outside. I don’t want any blood on my ship.”
Everyone complied and the entire crew walked out of ship. With weapons in hand, the crew prepared for combat.
Minutes later, footsteps were heard coming from the alleyway leading to the rest of Qurrentine. Everyone, except for Reed, raised their weapons, prepared to deal with the intruder. Eventually, a trio of armed aliens walked in, dressed in apparel similar to the men who attempted to kill Reed previously. Their weapons were not raised, however, and the trio stopped just as they exited the alleyway.
“They don’t seem to be hostile. What are they up to?” Jaina asked.
“Bounty hunters don’t always walk in and open fire. I’m guessing these guys are offering to let us live if we pay them. Bounty hunters only care about money and credits. Still, keep a sharp eye out for trouble. They may have some tricks up their alien sleeves.” Tareshah replied.
One of the bounty hunters, seemingly the leader, approached Reed and began to mutter out words in a language unknown to Reed. He pointed at Reed threateningly, shouted every once in a while and continued speaking, not realizing that Reed could not understand his language. Regardless, however, Reed understood from his bodily movements that he was trying to scare him. Once he stopped his ranting, Reed turned to the rest of the crew.
“Did anybody understand this green bastard? All I understood was ‘you’ and ‘Reed’.” Reed asked.
“This unit barely understood the broken output of the alien individual. It was littered with slang and grammatical errors, along with a few vulgarities.” Vader replied.
“Well I don’t care how great his…alien language is. I just want to know what he said.”
“Piecing the words together and translating it, I believe it is safe to assume that the alien wishes us to surrender Reed in exchange for minimal damage to all our systems. We must reach a consensus in order to respond.”
“Oh? I think we all have a consensus right? You all like me too much to get rid of me.” Reed replied.
“No offense Reed but none of us likes you and we would probably be happy if you’re gone.” Gavin answered. “Still, you’re one of us and we aren’t backstabbers.” In response, Jaina and Tareshah turned to Gavin and nodded. “Vader, I think we all reached a consensus.”
“Acknowledged. 3 units prefer keeping Reed. 1 unit prefers to surrender Reed. Final results: We keep Reed.”
“Hey! I can’t believe you wanted me gone Vader!”
“My preference was based on the calculated chances of survival without your humor and sarcasm distracting us. In addition to the minimal damage to our software promised by the alien, it would seem logical to surrender you to them.”
“Huh, that would explain it then. So, which one of these three idiots do you want Vader?”
“This unit has chosen the alien in front of Reed, who appears to have a preference for threatening and bargaining with us in a foreign language rather than destroying us when the chance was present. This stupidity makes it reasonable to assume that the alien was damaged at facility default.”
True to his words, Vader raised his rifle and shot the alien in the head, killing him. In reaction, the other two aliens returned fire while Reed and the rest jumped to cover. The ensuing gunfight made enough noise to attract the rest of the bounty hunters searching for the group to that site. Slowly, the number of bounty hunters began to outnumber the crew of the Crimson Spinner, effectively pinning them down.
While behind cover, Reed was reloading his rifle after wasting all his ammo through blind fire. He pulled out the magazine, reached out a new on within his pocket and pushed it in. Once he was done, he heard a loud scream coming from in front of him. He looked up to see Gavin, lying on the ground while holding on to his feet. He was shot in the leg and he lay on the floor in pain. Jaina, shocked by the sight, ran up to him to provide cover.
In retaliation, Reed fired back and hit one of the bounty hunter snipers. Reed was forced back into cover, however, when a few shots barely missed him. Suddenly, a loud roar, followed by a slight tremor, was heard and several loud stomps followed. Reed took a peek and saw a massive demon cutting through the bounty hunters from their flank. He then recognized the demon as A’trus Hathgrave, Kida’s demonic minion.
Realizing the danger, the bounty hunters turned and shot at Hathgrave, pelting him with bullets and wounding him but barely even stopping him. He continued his assault while Reed and the Crimson Spinner crew picked off the distracted bounty hunters one by one. Eventually, the assaulting bounty hunters were wiped out, leaving only a badly wounded Hathgrave and his Warlock, who walked in from the alleyway. Despite learning that Kida was responsible for Jaden’s capture, Reed realized that she just saved their lives.
“Those mortals…wounded me…my mistress. I…can’t assist you…lest that I die…” Hathgrave managed before Kida stroked his shoulder to reassure him.
“You did well Hathgrave. You deserve some rest.” Kida said before rubbing his wounds, healing them using her Demonic Energies. Despite the healing, Hathgrave was still fatigued from the fight. Hence, Kida dismissed him.
Reed ran to Jaina, who was tending to Gavin’s wound.
“Hey Gavin. You alright?” Reed asked.
“Bastard got me in the leg!” Gavin muttered while growling in pain.
“Jaina, I know you’ve never used a first aid kit before but go into the Crimson Spinner med bay, take a first aid kit and try to heal his wound.” Reed said.
“But Reed, I don’t want to make his injury worse.”
“Jaina, don’t worry. I know how to use one. Just…grab a first aid kit from the med bay and I will guide you through.” Gavin reassured Jaina.
Reluctantly, Jaina nodded and she went into the Crimson Spinner to retrieve a first aid kit. While she tended to Gavin, Reed turned to Kida, who was merely watching them, and approached her with Vader following him.
“So, you knew about what I did then?” Kida asked.
“Stop reading my mind and I may forgive you.” Reed answered.
“This unit is programmed to protect Jaden Highland. If Kida Mors proved to be a threat to Jaden Highland, this unit is authorized to kill Kida Mors. However, Kida Mors has threatened all our functions. My self-preservation program may require your termination for your actions.” Vader said, attempting to threaten Kida.
“You won’t have to do that Vader. I never intended to let you all die. It’s not part of my plan. I just…um…miscalculated in a sense.” Kida replied.
“I knew there was something suspicious about sending you and Jaden to Mason alone. What plan are you talking about?”
“Something which I invented and kept to myself.”
“Start sharing Kida.”
“Actually, I still followed the plan Jaden and I agreed on. It is just that something we learned forced me to change. The new plan was to surrender Jaden to Blake Mason and earning his trust, giving him the assumption that even though I wasn’t under the influence of Magical Overflow, I am still his ally. After all, my eyes were no longer glowing. He may suspect.”
“Now why would you change your plans? After all, you’re still against him. Why earn his trust when you’re supposed to kill him then?”
“Thing is that I found out that he’s a male siren, possibly the only one alive.”
“You’re kidding me right?”
“A male siren is a rare form of half-siren created from the mating of a siren and a male human. According to historical facts, no male sirens have survived birth. This unit believes that Blake Mason may be an unrecorded rarity, a survivor.”
“Vader’s right. Mason even proved that he’s a siren. He managed to eliminate Jaden’s glow.”
“So, he’s a male siren. Why would it matter?”
“In case you forgot, sirens are invincible. The only known way for a siren to die is through giving birth and since he’s a male, I don’t think any babies are coming out of him. If Jaden and I fight him, we won’t be killing him anytime soon and his bounty hunters would slaughter us.”
“I see. So, what did you intend to do?”
“After I gave up Jaden and earned his trust, I decided to tell him about the rest of you, hoping that he would order one or two of his men to hunt you down silently. We could then capture them and interrogate them on the identification of Mason’s ship, where there are fewer bounty hunters and he’s most vulnerable. Alas, he knew of your rebellion and believed that you guys are a much bigger threat. He decided to send all his bounty hunters in an all-out assault.”
“So he sent every bounty hunter? That means that these idiots we just killed are just the call before the storm.”
“Exactly. The rest are still searching for you all. We must find his ship. Problem is that his ship has stealth systems which make him undetectable in the radar, unless we managed to get our hands on his credentials and hence, his coordinates.”
“Scanning complete. The identification of Blake Mason’s transport is B2943401M. Uploading the ship’s coordinates into Crimson Spinner’s radar.”
“Say what now Vader? You managed to find Mason’s ship.”
“Yes. My long-range infiltration systems allowed me to hack into the databanks of one of the consoles at the ship docks. It would seem that Blake Mason’s ship was once docked there before being transferred to the bounty hunter lair. It was simply named, “Blake Mason’s Ship” in the databanks, followed by the id of his ship.”
“If his ship was no longer docked there, why would the databank still have the id of his ship?”
“Deleting the id of the ship from the databank ensured that it can no longer be accessed normally. However, the id is still saved in the console’s history. I hacked through the firewall and gained access to the history files. Blake Mason’s ship was amongst the “last 10 years” category.”
“Good job Vader. We don’t have time to waste. We must pursue him and save Jaden. Kida, you better help us if you wish to earn back our trust.”
“Reed, even though he has fewer bounty hunters, Mason is still a siren. Even if he is all alone, we can’t kill him conventionally.”
“We’ll just have to think of something. I won’t abandon Jaden.”
“Well, this plan was downright foolish from the beginning. Let’s go.”
* * *
Jaden opened heavy-laden eyes, waking up from a long period of unconsciousness. Her sight was blurred and her headache made it hard for her to concentrate. She blinked and shook her head several times to regain her senses. The electrical shock that made her fall unconscious weakened her and she barely remembered everything that happened before. Regardless, she remembered one thing: Kida gave her to Blake Mason willingly while she was helpless.
Once her eyesight recovered, she finds herself in what seemed like the cockpit of a ship. She tried to move, only to feel her body restrained. She looked down and saw a long piece of wire wrapped around her arms and her abdomen, tying her to the chair she was sitting on. She struggled briefly, causing the chair to spin slightly, but ceased when it was clear that she could not free herself from the tight bind.
She then observed her surroundings and comparing it to stories she heard of Salvager ships, she assumed that she was in the cockpit of a frigate. Next to her was another chair, similar to the one she was tied to. Controls were installed on the panel in front of it and like the chair she was tied to, that chair could spin. She turned to the controls and reached out for it with her legs in an attempt to control the ship. She raised her legs and realized it too was tied together by a similar piece of wiring. Regardless she tried but the controls were too far away. Eventually, she dropped her legs, exhausted from trying.
The cockpit door opened and a familiar man walked in with a smirk as he glared at Jaden. She stared at him as he approached the other seat, trying to remember the familiar man before her and why he would tie her up.
Eventually, as he began to prep up the ship controls, he spoke on the ship intercom, “Alright. Ship’s functional again. Go back to your stations men.” He then silently spoke to himself, “That’s what I get for relying on a frigate three centuries old. Still, this baby has the best stealth systems, something which the Salvager engineers left out to make way for other stupid ‘improvements’ and functionalities.” Listening closely to his voice, it finally hit her.
“Blake…Blake Mason. You’re the bounty hunter leader.”
“Seems like the stun gun may have muddled up your memories a little.”
“And Kida gave me to you!”
“Well, she is Viper’s agent. If you decided to trust her, then that’s your failing.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“To Dark Viper of course. The bounty specifically mentioned: ‘I want Jaden Highland alive and intact’. I’m a bounty hunter and I’m just doing my job.”
“Why are you helping Dark Viper? He’s a monster. He murders innocent people!”
“Did I mention that I know Dark Viper long before he even got that cheesy nickname? Yup, why wouldn’t I help a friend?”
“Because he’s a traitor to my people.”
“And I’m a siren so why should I care if a few hundred Salvager humans die?”
“A few hundred? Hundred thousands of humans die in the Grand Betrayal! You sirens are fortunate that you are all made to be invulnerable and immortal. You never know what it was like to lose a lot of your family and friends in an instant!”
Mason remained silent for a while, no replying to Jaden’s words. Seconds later, he managed, “I do.”
“Yet, why help Viper?”
“Look, I don’t know what your problem with Dark Viper is but I’m just doing my job alright. Nothing personal, just business.”
“He killed my entire family! I’m the only survivor!”
“Then I’m sorry. Your family ends with you.”
Jaden remained silent, realizing that nothing will change Mason’s mind even though it became clear for a while there that he knew what it was like to lose a lot at once like she do. She turned the chair to face the windscreen, unwilling to face Mason, while very upset with how her mission to avenge her family turned out. Her glowing eyes began to tear up, wetting her blindfold slightly but she fought back, unwilling to appear weak in front of her enemies.
She decided to face her impending end with courage and fortitude.
Mason looked back and forth between her and the windscreen, seeming disturbed by the sight of her depression. He then muttered out, “You know, I wasn’t always a bounty hunter. I’ll admit that I was once in your position: Helpless and depressed. Hmph, at least you face your doom without fear. Take heart from the fact that you tried, alright?”
Jaden turned to Mason and subtly read his mind, “Goddamn it! Why do I always have a weakness for sad women?”
“Why can’t you just let me go and forget that this ever happen?”
“I just can’t do that alright? Try to understand the position I am in now.”
“I can’t…because something is holding you back. Something you fear. I can tell.”
Mason remained quiet. In his thoughts, he knew exactly was Jaden talking about. Regardless, he refused to acknowledge her words.
Suddenly, a voice spoke through the intercom, “Commander, scanners have detected an identified ship in intercept trajectory.”
“Specify the ship design.”
“Looks like one of the old Salvager transport ships normally used by Iblisan’s men, except crimson in color.”
“Inconceivable. Brace yourself men. We may have to fight some intruders.”
“Yes Commander.”
“Commander?” Jaden asked as the conversation ended.
“Like I said, I wasn’t always a bounty hunter. Hmph, I may have underestimated your crew. I never thought they would survive my bounty hunter onslaught.”
