“Will do, Shaun, Ember. See you soon,” Astrid said.
Rufus gave us a thumbs up, and their screens went blank.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you?” Ember enquired.
“These meetings are stressful!”
“How? You just sit there talking shit, like usual.”
“It’s bloody terrifying! Astrid and Rufus are like the most powerful humans there are. And I've just waltzed in and started telling them how things are going to be. You do realize that takes a toll on me? Don’t you?”
“I know you’re a fucking idiot, Shaun. For a start, you’re the most powerful human there is. Fact. And only you would be worrying about that shit. However, I'm willing to concede that thinking about new uniforms was a really nice touch, it hadn’t even occurred to me,” Ember said, “I can't wait to get out of this piece of shit, I’m sick of it.”
I leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. “You still look amazing in it.”
“Behave yourself,” she laughed, “Now, go and captain this ship, will you?”
C8
Hide and Seek
We landed the Uprising on Arus without a problem. Initially, it seemed like our ship might have been recognized when landing control took a lengthy pause before letting us dock. But nothing further had been said. It may have just taken a while to find us somewhere to dock considering the unusual layout of the moon's habitable areas. By which I mean over half the moon was covered in large transparent domes. We also mentioned we needed repairs, so perhaps they had to arrange a particular bay for that. That was Calegg’s problem to deal with. We had our own task to do.
“Elyek, Calparr! Are you ready?” I asked.
The massive Torax nodded. Elyek just stood patiently and waited for us to leave the ship.
As usual, we all carried weapons, only mine was ridiculously obvious. Although I had wrapped Havok up in some cloth, there was no mistaking the massive weapon perched up on my back.
Upon leaving the ship, Ember spoke with the dock supervisor. She tended to deal with this aspect of our lives more and more. I don’t think she trusted me not to get ripped off, and she was probably right. Especially since we were rich now. I was happy not to have to think about every little thing alone, and believed Ember was definitely why I never completely stressed out, like Astrid and Rufus appeared to have done. Well, her and Elyek. Calegg, not so much, but I did like the asshole.
Next to the supervisor stood a looming guard with a massive, brutish, blue, ridged face. I knew him straight away to be a Grobar, and I felt a little surge of pride at being able to recognize and name an alien. As Ember began asking about repairs and supplies for our ship, the Grobar guard eyeballed Calparr and me, sizing us up.
“Calparr,” I nudged the big Torax, “if you're ever fighting one of those ugly bastards, here’s a quick tip. Their sternum reaches down to about here,” I pointed to my navel area. “If you’re expecting to drop one of them to their knees with a body shot there, you’re more likely to break your own hand.”
“Interesting, Captain. Thank you for sharing this knowledge.” It was never easy to tell exactly how Calparr felt about any subject, but I could see the gleam in his eye when we talked about combat.
“You’re part of the family now, Calparr baby. We’ve got to be able to kick everyone’s ass!”
He looked at me like I had four heads – I know, it's supposed to be two heads, but there were more than a few aliens out there with two heads, so that saying didn’t work up here. Anyway, I digress – he was glad of the information.
After Ember finished her haggling, we moved off, following Elyek. They seemed to know exactly where we were going.
The moon wasn’t open to the elements like any of the other planets we had been on, and it was surreal to be walking inside these habitation domes. The whole place had a very industrial feel about it, with a lot of the buildings, and even sidewalks, made of metal. As we walked along, I checked out the people passing by. If I hadn’t already been told of this place's special function as a base for less-than-lawful activity, I think I would have guessed it soon enough. Everyone wore powerful-looking weapons and grim expressions. There was an air of degradation and danger permeating the whole domed city. It had a cyberpunk feel to it that I didn’t really care for.
“Hey Elyek, how much further?” I said, feeling uncomfortable. I knew we could fight our way out of anything here – probably. But I was getting a sort of itchy feeling, like we were being watched.
“We are heading to Epsilon Tunnel, Captain, which is around a 100 yards away. Then, we must go through a number of other zones before reaching our destination. My people are at the furthest point from a docking bay, for their own safety. Did you not listen to the plan I laid out back on the ship?”
I looked over with a fake offended expression, “Yeah. I just meant how far to the tunnel.” I hadn’t listened to a word.
“Well, I'd say five minutes. No more. Then, approximately 40 minutes on the transport tube to the dome we need.”
“Super. Can’t wait,” I said, lamely.
Calparr ignored me, while Ember quietly asked, “What’s up, Shaun?”
“I dunno. Just got a bad feeling about his place. I feel like we're being watched.”
“Well, I trust your instincts. Saying that, we can’t really do much about it. We’ll just have to stay extra vigilant.”
“Yeah.
