Mercenary. Scrapper. Part 2

“Lower your weapons, Serena.” Wolfin said very quietly. “Ignore the growl.”

Feeling her teeth gritting, she didn’t lower her weapons, still trying very hard to see a single sign of the danger she sensed in the dark. A minute passed, and she heard a heavy sigh and a warm palm lay on her wrist, gently pushing the hands down.

“Lower your gun.” the man repeated.

“But…” Serena fell silent, seeing the glowing eyes looking at her calmly.

“Please. Trust me.”

Serena felt conflicted, though slowly allowing him to lower her hands.

“What the fuck is that thing?” she hissed, hiding her sudden anxiousness behind anger.

“You’ll see soon enough. She’s quite friendly.” Wolfin smirked.

“She?!”

“Come on.” Wolfin slightly squeezed her wrist. “Sheath your weapons. We’re almost out.”

Serena knew that he saw the total wreck that she was at the moment – panicked and tense. He must have seen it – after all, his eyes could see in the dark. She forced down her comment and calmed her breathing, sheathing her blade and then, with a few seconds of thought, the gun.

“Good.” Wolfin seemed to be happy she listened to him.

Serena felt his hand on hers again, putting her palm on his shoulder once more. Gritting her teeth, the woman traced the lining of the straps to the one on his back once more. This time her grip was harder.

“I feel you trembling…” Wolfin’s tone seemed teasing. “Are you afraid?”

“Shut up!” Serena hissed at the man as he continued his way.

Soon she saw the darkness parting, giving way to the dim light coming from the outside, and, finally, released the leather strap on Wolfin’s back, feeling more confident. She glanced behind her, but found no indication of anyone being there. Still, she increased her pace, pushing through Wolfin and walking out into the dim rays of the sun that was only rising on the horizon.

She felt the suffocating sensation of the caverns dissipating, and calmed her nerves, finally seeing the outside. Stopping a few steps from the entrance to the tunnels, she glanced over her shoulder and saw Wolfin leaning down to pick up a stone that fit perfectly in his fist. The woman slowly turned to face him, understanding that he could be plotting to knock her out with it, throwing it at her, but the man looked at her, smiled and leaned over the rock wall next to the entrance with his back, knocking three times with the stone on the wall next to him.

Serena tilted her head, not understanding what he was doing, when suddenly a sound of someone – something – moving came from within the dark tunnels. The woman frowned, not understanding the strange mix of shuffling and scratching that came from inside. The sound grew louder with each second, until Serena saw a gigantic creature bursting from the dark.

The smooth, crème-coloured chitin body, consisting of a multitude of sections, dozens of thick legs, moving fast and allowing the creature to grasp at the smallest holds in the coarse rocks around it, this titan of a centipede jolted out and onto Serena in a blink of an eye – which the creature had six.

As the head of the creature darted towards her, Serena managed to catch the spiky mandibles and, as the creature screeched, pulling her up from the ground, pushed at the neck of the thing with her legs, not allowing the monster to shred her body with the sharp ends of its legs.

“Dalilah! Down!” Wolfin shouted.

Serena felt the creature freeze, and saw the back pair of its eyes slowly look behind it, while the other four eyes were fixated on the woman.

A low, rumbling growl emanated from the throat of this immense creature, and the centipede lowered down, her smaller mandibles clicking against each other. Serena shot a quick glance at her holster, and the creature hissed, ramming the woman’s back into the ground.

“Dalilah!” Wolfin’s voice sounded closer and more stern. “Let her go, now!”

Serena felt her legs shaking under the pressure of the gigantic body, but the centipede slowly leaned back, watching the woman closely.

“Serena, let go.” the man approached, running his palm on the side of the centipede.

The woman glanced at him and saw him nod. Returning her eyes to the foul muzzle of the rumbling creature, Serena slowly let go of the mandibles, still holding her hands up to catch them again if the creature attacks her once more.

“Good girl…” Wolfin scratched the centipede on its forehead.

The creature rumbled – this time it was softer – and leaned into the man, allowing him to pet it.

“See?” the man chuckled. “She’s friendly.”

Serena allowed herself to fall back to the ground, relaxing her muscles and catching her breath.

“Friendly… you fucker!” she exhaled.

Chapter 7. SS Axathaal

“Hunter, we are being hailed.” Lyssa’s voice threw the man out of bed in a matter of a split second.

“Put it through!” Hunter saw the screen coming to life and walked over to it, seeing the face of a man he would rather not have seen ever again.

“Hunter!” Lindon Dorn Gray-Linn greeted the man with a nod.

“Lindon.” Hunter returned the polite nod, feeling his teeth gritting.

“Your ship notified me that your captain is… not aboard?”

“We’re on a job, Lindon. She’s out.”

“Perhaps, we can be of help to each other then. I have a job here as well.” Lindon tilted his head to the side. “Let’s meet man to man and have a conversation like civilized people?”

Hunter felt his hand turning to a fist.

“Fine.” he said, not really wanting for Lindon to get involved.

“Your ship or mine?”

“Don’t care.”

“Yours it is then. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” Lindon nodded again and the screen turned off.

“Lyssa!” Hunter grabbed his shirt from the seat in front of the office table, where the screen stood.

“I have run the scanners again, Hunter. Still no sign of Serena anywhere in our vicinity.”

“Any thoughts?” the man dressed up, making himself presentable for the Veluthian captain who was about to visit.

“I suspect she might have lost her communication device.” the AI sounded calm. “However, there is a possibility that the sandstorms might have impacted the communication between the ship and her earpiece.”

“Fuck!” Hunter felt anger rising once again and forced it down. “Keep trying!”

“Of course.”

The man walked off, leaving the captain’s quarters, and heading towards the back of the ship to meet Lindon. His earpiece came to life and Cipher’s voice came through:

“Hunter? Is everything alright?”

“No. Serena’s still nowhere to be found and this Veluthian fucker wants to talk.” Hunter felt frustrated. “It’s been six days! Tell me that you have good news for me?”

“I’ve spoken to our informant and he said Serena hadn’t contacted him yet.”

“Shit!”

“You think something might have happened?”

“Cipher!”

“I know, I know. We’ll keep trying… Keep me updated to what the fucker says, alright?”

Hunter switched off without replying, walking up to the airlock door and already seeing Lindon waiting on the other side. As soon as the door slid open, Lindon bowed politely and smiled:

“Hunter. A pleasure to see you, good man.”

“Likewise, Lindon. What brings you to this distant planet?”

“Business. I’ve been sent to investigate a certain number of disappearances of Veluthian men and women around these parts.”

Hunter felt a wave of fear grasping his back with a shockwave:

“What?”

“Imagine my surprise seeing two Veluthian ships right here…” Lindon tilted his head. “You look disturbed. Is everything alright? When will Serena be back? I would like to speak to her.”

Hunter didn’t know how to reply, suddenly feeling anxious about the fact she hadn’t contacted them yet.

“I…” the man exhaled, gathering his thought. “Serena said she’ll be back, but she is absent longer than we anticipated.”

“Where is she?”

“She was out on a scouting mission. She ordered us to gather information with the locals while she scouts the surrounding canyons in search of our targets. She was supposed to check in every evening.”

“But she hadn’t?” Lindon’s eyes squinted in anger.

“We lost communication during the sandstorm.” Hunter saw no reason to withhold information.

Lindon looked away, falling into thought, and a few moments stayed silent, before saying:

“When was the last time you’ve received an update from her?”

“Six days ago. Just before the sandstorm hit. She reported she had found the main camp of our targets, but when she was about to send us the coordinates, the communication cut off.” Hunter gritted his teeth.

“Did Lyssa get her position?”

“Negative.” the AI replied. “Scanning was inconclusive due to the beginning sandstorm.”

“How inconclusive?” Lindon’s voice sounded harsh.

“When attempting to scan for her position, the electromagnetic interference in the atmosphere has made it impossible for my systems to locate her precise position. I have managed to calculate the approximate location where she could have been, however, there are hundreds of kilometres of sands all around with vast number of cave systems underground, and due to the remnant electromagnetic fields after the storm, I am unable to get a deep scan of that set of locations to find Serena.”

“What about the emergency beacon on her hover bike?”

“No signals have been sent, commander Lindon.” the AI replied.

The man took a few more seconds to think, then met Hunter’s gaze:

“Alright. Here’s what we’re going to do…” he saw Hunter’s eyes growing dark. “I have fifteen men at my disposal. We can leave Cipher and Pher here to keep an eye for Serena to return; meanwhile you and I will take our ships and scan the surrounding locations in search for her.”

“And what about your business?”

“Here’s the thing, Hunter… If my assumptions are correct, Serena may have been caught by the same person or persons who are killing all the Veluthians around these places.”

Hunter felt his face becoming pale:

“You think she could be dead?”

“I think that Serena is a much more dangerous opponent than those these people have encountered in the past. I do not doubt that even if she got caught in their sight, she may as well be hiding from sight just to get away from the pursuit.” Lindon suddenly stepped up and slapped Hunter on the shoulder. “Have a little faith in Serena. She’s not that easy to take down.”

“And the lack of communication?” Hunter felt anger taking over.

“This may be caused by her cutting the line in order for her not to be found.” Lindon glanced up. “Lyssa!”

“Yes, commander Lindon?” the AI replied.

“Arrange a secure line of communication between out three ships and all the crewmembers. Protocol Dead Silence. If we are to find Serena, we need to stay under the radar.”

“Yes, commander.”

Chapter 8. Sands

It was a strange sensation – sitting on a moving tank of a bug, which was extremely long, agile and quite fast. Serena wondered how Wolfin managed to tame such a beast, but kept silent, deep in her thoughts.

“There…” Wolfin pointed upward. “I found you right there.”

Serena glanced in the direction he was pointing and found the tangled roots, covered in thorns. Now her torn and bloodied clothes made much more sense. The centipede slowed down at the short tap on its chitin armour on her back and stopped right next to the place, where Serena was found hanging unconscious.

The woman jumped off the creature, walking up closer and taking a good look around, thinking how long of a fall she experiences that day. Realising that her hover bike was somewhere on the top of the tall cliffs, Serena grabbed her hair in frustration.

“Fuck!” she hissed, not knowing what to do.

She lowered her arms and thought for a few more moments, before walking up to the rocks, jumping and pulling herself up to the first of many jagged boulders protruding from the cliff wall.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Wolfin asked her.

Serena didn’t stop for a single moment, climbing up:

“I need to find my hover bike.”

“Get back here, you’ve barely recovered!”

“Oh, fuck off!” the woman hissed, already feeling her body beginning to ache, but continuing her way up.

“Serena!”

This time she didn’t answer, forcing through and just reaching up and pulling herself to the next rock. Ignoring the aching and the trembling in her body, she managed to get quite high up before feeling her fingers slowly starting to slip, losing grip.

“Shit!” she growled, looking for a bit of a shelf to climb to and have some rest.

She heard the clattering and rumble somewhere near and closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to the stone wall.

“Scorpi!” Wolfin’s voice sounded right beside her.

She looked to that side and saw the man grasping at the spikes on Dalilah’s spine, while the beast stood on the wall, as if it was used to climbing such steep cliffs.

“Serena, please!” Wolfin reached his hand out to her, offering her to grab hold of it.

The woman looked up – the edge of the cliff almost as far from her, as when she began her ascend – and felt her resolve leaving her.

“I know you can do it!” Wolfin said, his voice ringing. “You’re strong and stubborn! You can climb anything! But right now, I am offering you to spare yourself the trouble and the time of climbing this cliff on your own. Come on, give me your hand and we’ll go and find your bike together.”

Serena took a look down and felt her head spinning – she managed to get quite a ways away from the ground.

“Fuck…” she looked to the hand Wolfin was offering her, and understood that he was right.

Gritting her teeth, the woman took her left palm off the rocks and reached out, but as she shifted her weight, something under her feet cracked and she slipped down. If it weren’t for the quick reaction of Wolfin and his ride, she could have easily fallen from the cliff once again. The moment she started falling, the man caught her wrist and Dalilah clattered with her mandibles, beginning to climb once more, finding the tiniest footholds for the hundreds of legs this beast had.

Wolfin pulled Serena up behind him, not letting go of her hand, even though she caught herself on the back of his centipede. The woman watched the rocks and roots flying by – the creature Wolfin tamed was almost as fast on the vertical surface as it was on horizontal. Very soon Dalilah screeched quietly, twisting over the top of the cliff and finally coming to a stop.

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