Evil Horizon (Part 3)

The Meido remained in its position in the royal purple nebula. The exterior of the hull still mended and closed where explosions from before had tore open its skin. Only now as it had been sitting idle, would it have the completely dedicated resources to mend at high speeds. The Meido was a warship. Able to recover very quickly. This however did not mean the ships AI was happy or content with its role. It was a perplexing situation when the thing the Meido was created to do; was not interested in anymore.

The two crew members busied themselves with their work as they pondered over what it meant to have MIA watching over them. In voice only the ship had manifested itself. Both of them knew that at anytime Mia could manifest herself has a hologram or even produce an android version of her consciousness. Liam spoke up over Aiko Looking over the files now shared between the two hunters. “Mia, can you connect to my OBC (On board Computer) and sift through these files with us?”

Again there was a long pause, maybe 5-8 seconds before Mia began to acknowledge Liam. The pause was long enough that Aiko even paused scanning the files.

“I am unable to comply Liam.” Was the cold response from the sluggish computer.

Realizing that Liam was the person Mia chose to go to the other ship, a feeling began to form in Aikos gut. “Mia, explain your actions. Why did you send Liam to the Bettle?” Instantly Mia responded with, “Liam was expendable. I did not need Liam to complete my mission.”

Aiko and Liam heard Mia use “I” and it sent chills down their spines. “You sent me over there to die?” The male asked flat out.

“Yes, but you survived; and you brought back valuable information. I have more use for you now.” Not sure how to feel about all of this, the humans didn’t feel like listening to anything else Mia had to say. Judging by the content of the computer core, it didn’t feel like the risk of Life was worth what they got in return. There was next to useless information recorded in the memory core. This only served to annoy the humans more.

Perhaps feeling their distrust, Mia asked an odd question. “Did you find anything worth while?” Aiko sat down in the captains chair and shook her head. “Mia I’m suspicious that you may know the answer to that.”

Liam sat down and wondered privately how he could resume his mission when the AI and the Prey may be aware of his intentions. He listened to Mia ask again if the information gathered from the bettle was “Worth” their while. He thought to himself, “This ship is going to kill us both.” He paused and looked at the form of Aiko, “No: This ship is going to kill me.” Eyeing up the only human counterpart he had, he reasoned that perhaps he could capture Aiko and get away from the ship in one way or another.

Inside the helmet of Liam, the OBC reported repairs to his armor and sword were complete. He was in the best condition he could be if he was going to try and take down Aiko. His heart rate doubled for a second. Then slowly, as the adrenalin passed, his heart rate slowed. The clasp that held his sword tightly in its sheath clicked open. Aiko turned her head towards him. For a second they just stared at each other.

Gradually a pulsing notification became aware to the pair. Mia reported “Captain, there is a distress call coming in from a small ship. Its in our galaxy.” Mia narrowed down the location within seconds. “It is coming from a small scout ship named the-“

Both humans spoke out loud as they remembered the log from the core of the Bettle. “The Pinto.”

Several moments passed as Mia began to deduce why they would know this information. “I believe my reasons for sending Liam over have become valid.”

The large forest planet had little for the survivor of the Pinto to offer. Some fruit bearing trees that were early for their season. They had flowers but there was little for him to eat. There were some tree nuts too, but again it was too early for them. The thickly forested mountains became a literal maze for him.

On several occasions he had become lost. For fear of being tracked by any bounty hunter fraction he had everything that could be tracked, or used to be tracked with: off. He had battle armour back at the ship, but while roving, he chose to venture without the assistance.

He had been planet side for nearly 24 hrs by now. He crawled into the large hole in the window of the Pinto and brushed off his armour as he stood tall. The humble vessel had come to a rest atop a plateau deep within a mountain range. The terrain was next to impassible by anything with more than two legs. This made sleep a peaceful thing. He had began to assume he was alone on the planet; it was never a good thing to assume.

He removed his armour and pulled out the scraps of rations he had found earlier in the day. Most of the ship was intact. All beside the cargo bay located on the bottom aft of the vessel. The night was falling as he pressed the food into his mouth. He stood in the best location possible to see the spectacular view this planet had to offer. Standing next to the front view port to the left side of the large trapezoid shaped window.

The full moons had illuminated the entire valley. As dark as it was, it was very bright on this particular night. He wanted to figure out how long the nights would be. He could have easily done that by using his armour's computer. Being cautious had gotten him this far however; he had his life as evidence he was doing something right.

As the last rays of the giant sun edged into the horizon, he sighed and tried to ease his anxiety. He finished off what was perhaps a very dried out, or even expired meal. Brushing his hands together he walked over to a storage closet at the aft of the bridge area.

The cabinet opened to a large hallway of handheld weapons. Sliding two energy based weapons into a belt, he threw it onto his hips. He fastened gauntlets onto his arms, a high pitch whirl could be heard. He slung a large sword over his shoulder. The belts tightened automatically. Looking more like a warrior now he pulled a helmet over his shaved and scarred head.

His armour class was not the heaviest set up there was, mind you he knew there was many who swore by that. He figured he rather be fast and nimble rather than slow and sluggish. His armour powered up and greeted him. “Jaecar, power levels restoring to normal levels. Will we be hunting tonight sir?”

He said almost foreboding; “I cant be sure, better dressed for success and all of that.” He mumbled perhaps something his father would say.

Jaecar stood next to the window and looked out. The sky was alive with stars. But among the stars was the streak of burning debris from the lunar monitoring station.

As he watched on, his ears were blasted with 13 loud sonic booms one right after the other. He knew what the sound was. He had heard it several times before just before one of his friends was about to die. “Captain Jaecar, drop pods have landed 25kms from your location. The Black have made planetfall.” His OBC warned. He sighed and acknowledged his loyal companion. “Looks like we will have company tonight “Oh.” Do your best to hide any energy signatures.”

“I will comply sir.” It responded.

“We are now in the company of rather dangers people, I would rather if we never met.”

The Meido began to slow its approach to the planets orbital reach. The sophisticated sensors invisibly hammered the surface of the planet. Slightly nervous the two seemed curious in what happened to Pinto. They however were more nervous about being transported at the whim of the ever present AI.

“Mia, anything yet?” Aiko asked politely,

“Captain there is countless life forms on this planet. It’s finding ONLY human life forms that is the challenge.” Aiko feeling slightly brave responded.

“Work faster, we need to know the connection between the bettle and the Pinto.”

“Yes captain.”Still sitting in the first officers chair rather casually, Liam had his sword drawn and was spinning the tip into the floor plateletting.

“Anything I can help with Aiko?” He said starring at his sword. Mia alerted;

“I have detected 14 human life forms on the planet. However 13 of them are fading from my sensors.”

“The Black hide their life signs for obvious reasons. They must have just made planet fall.” Aiko reasoned.

“Confirmed Captain, There is a recent ion trail left behind from possibly 2-3 cruisers.” Aiko raised he hand to her mouth and seemed to be thinking. Liam however was not much of a thinker.

Standing Liam slid his sword into its place and left the command deck. He likely knew they would track his movements throughout the ship. It perhaps was part of his plan.

The docking port had a compliment of nimble Sparrow and Swallow class vessels. There were also a handful of gunships that were in the process of being refitted. The AI seemed to be nearly caught up on building its quota of ships; The hangar was nearly out of space.

Walking up to a gunship named Mercy, Liam stood expecting the aft doors to remain shut. To his surprise they opened. Grumbling he sat in the pilots chair “you know Mia, you are like every woman I have known; one minute you want to know everything about me, where I’m from and what I do.” He slammed the thrusters into full power, “then we don’t see eye to eye on something and you give me the silent treatment and hope I die. How very Human of you.” The hangar sprung its iris-like door open as the Gunship Mercy raced towards the planet.