“It’s for the best, I think,” Elyek said. “Do we really want to leave our new, one-million-senlar spaceship floating untended in space? We should also consider the possibility of us needing a quick getaway.”
“You make very valid points,” Ember said to Elyek.
With that sorted, we took the small shuttle towards Necrus. The ever skillful and useful Elyek was flying confidently. As we got closer to the planet, I noticed the air space - no - the space... space? Fuck it! The area around Necrus, was much more built-up than any of the other planets we had already been to. There were all kinds of ships, space stations, and other crap. I had no idea what most of it was.
“Attention, Uprising: Please state your business on Necrus,” sounded a voice over the communication device.
“We are looking to visit the Juntos bank and hire some crew on your fine planet,” Elyek replied.
“Sure,” came the response. “How many on board?”
“Currently, three crew members.”
“Okay, Uprising. Docking Bay three hundred and ninety. Nice and close to the Juntos main branch for you. I’m sending over coordinates now. Enjoy your visit.”
We all let out a collective sigh. It looked like the Uprising hadn’t been marked as of yet.
Elyek navigated through all the space traffic easily, and docked very smoothly.
I was beginning to think they might be a much better pilot than Calegg. Not that it mattered. Elyek was always on hand to help if needed.
I did a quick comms check with Calegg to make sure we were still in touch. His voice came back clearly. I was happy with that, as we had learned our lesson of not having communicators once before. We stood next to the exit of the ship, and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. We were as prepared as best as we could be for the completely-unknown. We wouldn’t be able to carry weapons here openly, according to Elyek, especially firearms, which wasn’t a problem for our odd band of misfits. We all wore hooded cloaks, which was not uncommon, though only Elyek had their hood up and carried a couple of concealed knives. Ember wore the sword we had taken from the Fystr in a scabbard on her hip, hidden well by the cloak. and I had Havok on my back. He was covered in cloth wrapping so you could not tell what he was.
With bated breath, we left the ship, Elyek leading the way. We were stopped by the dock guard, as Elyek predicted. I could see what made the Mazltor race recognizable now. They were basically fucking demons. The two guards were huge, scary bastards with a really dark-blue skin and black markings. They had horns protruding from their foreheads. I assumed they were of the Tri-bor caste.
We were made to go through a scanner.
“No firearms on Necrus. If you have any, please return them to your ship,” one of the guards said. When no one moved back towards the ship, he gestured to a metal doorframe. “Please step through here,” he continued. I just couldn’t pair this genial, very normal persona, coming out of this hulking monstrosity of a demon.
We all stepped through, and thankfully none of our weapons set off the machine.
“What is that?” he asked, pointing at the heavily wrapped Havok on my back.
“It’s an antique axe. I’m looking to sell here if I can find the right buyer,” I said, as if I was carefree. I wasn’t. I was stressed to bits.
“That’s okay. Be warned against using it. That would be a jail sentence. I will mark it down against your ship and name.” He pulled out an electronic pad.
“Name?”
“Shaun Sutherland.”
“Captain’s name? “
“Shaun Sutherland”
He gave me a, ‘Well done, smart ass’, kind of look. “Okay. That will do. Enjoy your visit.”
And with that, we were off to the bank.
Necrus was like nothing I could have ever imagined. The sheer size and scope of the urban jungle was awe-inspiring. The whole place was hyper-modern, crossed with gothic architecture.
I was so glad Elyek was at least a little confident here because I was bewildered, and I reckoned Ember was the same. We walked through the packed streets. The majority of the aliens around us were three-foot demons, with rapidly-beating miniature wings on their back. They didn’t fly high, or particularly fast, but they all buzzed about busily a few feet from the ground. Elyek told us these were the Im-bor.
We finally arrived at the bank. It gave a whole new meaning to impressive grandeur. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was like a Tsar's palace.
The foyer was a huge, domed area with ornate desks lined all around the circular periphery of the room. As we stood near the entrance, Elyek leaned over to talk, “We will need to speak to an upper-manager for this withdrawal.” It seemed like their earlier confidence was beginning to ebb away.
“Come on,” Ember said enthusiastically. “We're here. Let’s do this.” She marched over to a desk without a customer. There was an Im-bor behind the desk. This close up, I got a good look. He had a fine set of long, sharp canines in a fake and very unnerving smile.
“Hello, fine and valued customers. How may I be of assistance today?”
We all stood waiting for each other to talk, but nobody did. All in all, it was a bit embarrassing. Me being me, I jumped in without thinking too much about it - Probably both my best and worst quality rolled into one.
“We need to speak to a senior manager about a high-value account,” I said, proud of my recovery.
“Of course. And which account would that be?”
“I would like to keep that private until I’ve spoken to senior management.”
“Without an account name, I am
