You are reading: The Final Bounty
Written by Dethnus on 17 Jun 2017 04:01.
Vayr strapped on the last binding on the vaulting boots and waited for the slight stinging sensation from the synchronization to pass. Slowly, he could feel the commands from the boots in his mind, courtesy of the neurolink. Yes, these would be handy.. At least, until they found a buyer.
Greymane and Hammer walked into the cockpit as the ship descended towards an abandoned planet. It was where this 'mark' was that the Hellhounds had been hired to retrieve. As soon as the Cerberus landed, they were supposed to receive further details. If it wasn't for the 3 million units, Vayr would have told that bitch to find herself someone else.
"That it, captain?" Greymane asked, handing Vayr a pack of his own special brew. It was great stuff, but took long to make. Greyman was obviously excited about this job.
Vayr nodded and ripped off the cap of the packet, downing the contents savagely. Hammer sat in one of the seats opposite of Vayr and followed suit. Greymane decided to lean against the doorway and watch the planet grow larger.
"Any details on this planet?"
Vayr shook his head at Greymane. "Was abandoned hundreds of years ago after it became inhospitable, from what Jackel says." Vayr pressed a few buttons and brought up the report. "Wildlife began returning a few decades ago, but there was no reason to repopulate it after the settling of the Carsuss Galaxy."
"Odd to hear you speak so much, Captain," Greymane said with a smile.
"Shut up, asshole," Vayr snapped, downing his remaining booze. "I just want to get paid."
Hammer nodded and raised his packet in toast. The mute was good company for Vayr. Couldn't run his mouth about every little damn thing.
"I'll go let the others know. Who do you want on this mission?"
Vayr stood and stretched. The Cerberus was in the planets atmosphere with no issues. A good start, for once. "Get me Slayer, Jumper, Wartooth, and King. Have Poet, Dog, and Jester on standby. The rest of you check our supplies and take a break. I don't trust that bitch as far as I can throw a ship."
"You can throw a ship. A small one."
"Not far, though."
Greyman laughed and walked off. Vayr growled and observed the planet. It's surface was a wasteland. There was no other way to describe it. Ruins dotted the areas Vayr could make out and desert covered the rest. This job better not be a damn waste of-
The ship shook violently as a deafening sound ripped through the air, sending Vayr and Hammer to the floor. Red lights appeared on every console and alarms screamed throughout the cockpit. Vayr barely managed to stand up in the turbulence in time to see the surface of the planet come to meet the Cerberus.
Vayr awoke in pain, his vision obscured by blinding light. He cursed as he tried to stand, only to realize his left arm - the real one - had been broken. What the hell had happened? Vayr growled and forced himself to stand with the sole support of his mechanical arm.
His returning vision showed him surrounded by the wasteland he had been observing, as well as the burning wreckage of his ship in the distance. Dammit… Vayr started running towards the wreckage. As he ran, he assessed his body's condition. Arm seemed to be broken in one place, an easy fix, and a number of lacerations on the body. Other than that, only some slight bruising. He needed to get back to the ship.
The Cerberus was done for. Vayr had known it even as he woke up, but seeing the wreckage up close drove the point home. The most this ship would be good for is scrap parts at best. Well, wasn't this a damn fine mess…
Vayr jumped into a hole on the side of the Cerberus and came into the main room that connected the bunks and the cockpit. Well, what was left of it, anyway. Now, it was a room barely held together by the support cage of the Cerberus and covered in blood and flesh.
Greymane was dead, his head was still somehow intact. Wartooth was dead, half his body torn away. Dog, Jumper, Slayer, and Poet were dead too. Vayr checked the bunks. One side was completely crushed, making King, Jester, and Stone dead, and Jackel lay bleeding heavily on the floor. Vayr checked his pulse, but found it gone. He moved to the cockpit.
Except, there was no cockpit. Hammer had been made into pudding by the impact, along with the front of the ship.
"Fuck…" Vayr moved through the ship to his own quarters. The fires hadn't seemed bad, but he probably needed to hurry. It would be annoying to survive this just to die by returning to the ship. It took him all of five minutes to find a first aid kit still in tact and mend his arm and body. Too long. Vayr grabbed his gear from the armory and ran out of the wreckage.
Distance. Vayr vaulted into the air with the help of his new boots and barely landed before the Cerberus exploded into a shower of debris. That explained how he had survived. He must have activated the boots before impact. Vayr flexed his left arm, feeling out the newly healed bone. At least he hadn't received anything more serious.
Still, there was the matter of getting off this damn planet and figuring out what cost Vayr his ship and his crew. Something told him that bounty was…
In the sky above Vayr, a ship descended slowly. He started to vault up to it, but held himself back. Almost two dozen guns on the ships base were pointed at him. That design looked familiar, though.
A small opening in the ship appeared and something fell from it. Vayr watched as the object - a supply pod - fell to the ground not far from him. What the hell was going on? Did they shoot down the Cerberus? No, there was no other ships on the radar. A bomb, then?
The ship took off, leaving the smell of exhaust heavy in the air.
"No use in worrying now, dammit." He muttered.
The pod was the same type used in the army, Vayr found out when he approached it. They used them to send soldiers the small comforts or added supplies. The shock-
absorption kept the contents from being ruined.
As for what they had given him, Vayr didn't know whether to scream of laugh. Inside the pod was a bottle of German Kelly's finest brew, a 1.5 million unit bottle of booze, and a letter. Vayr read the letter twice before crumbling it up and tossing it to the side.
'You should never have left. -M'
That bitch, huh? Vayr grabbed the bottle and ripped out the cork with his teeth. Then he started walking.
Kelly lived up to his reputation at least.