Hard Luck Hermit

In spite of Tooley’s protests, Kamak intended to continue stalling before their inevitable visit to Paga For. He took another job that would get them closer to their final destination, and get them paid along the way. Tooley complained slightly less about this one, since it had a higher payout. Unfortunately, it also came with higher stakes.

“Alright, Corvash, this is a bit more violent than the jobs we’ve done so far,” Kamak said. “Though, admittedly, much less violent than that time you shot the fuck out of a bunch of cannibals. So you ought to be fine.”

Since the bounty’s paycheck was so good, Kamak was trying to jump on it ASAP, and he was explaining the details as they traveled. Tooley was already taking them into the atmosphere of the planet their target was hiding on. The low groan of the Hermit’s wings unfolding undercut the mission briefing as Kamak spoke.

“We’re on a manhunt this time. Weapons hot, take no prisoners,” Kamak said. “Some chucklefuck career criminal named Wagam finally crossed a line. Killed some people, including a few kids, and then iced a cop or two on his way off planet.”

While Doprel’s internal anatomy was still unclear, Corey was pretty sure he could hear the alien’s jaw clench.

“Yeah, figured you’d hate that, Doprel,” Kamak said. “Anyway, cops chased him far enough to shoot him down over this unhab planet, and then those desk jockey fuckers gave up, figured Wagam would never escape the planet anyway. Families of his victims aren’t so inclined to let the bastard live out the rest of his days on a peaceful vacation getaway.”

A feeling Corey understood all too well. Sometimes he thought about the cult back home, all getting off scot-free after ruining his mothers life, and it made his blood boil. Some things demanded punishment.

“It’s been a couple swaps since Wagam crashed, so we’ve got a lot of ground to cover,” Kamak said. “Doprel, Corey, you’re doing a flatscan of the area around the crash site, in case he hasn’t gone far, or just left behind some clues about where he went. Me and Farsus will stay on the ship while we sweep the landmass for any signs of him.”

“Why are you staying on board? Trade places with Doprel,” Tooley said.

“You know damn well Doprel’s fingers are too fat to work the surface scanner,” Kamak said. Doprel held up some of his prodigiously thick digits for emphasis. “And Corey doesn’t know how it fucking works. So it is what it is.”

“Ugh, fine,” Tooley groaned. “Speaking of scanning, get the thing booted up and then buckle your seatbelts. Atmosphere’s a bit thick, so it’ll be bumpy.”

The ship started to rattle noticeably even as she spoke, so everyone hurried through their last preparations and then buckled up. The planets sky was choked with atmospheric haze and thick clouds, giving them zero visibility as they cut through the upper atmosphere.

“Swear to spirits if you crash us into the planet I’ll make hell even worse for you,” Kamak mumbled. Tooley did not respond to his snide remark and focused on landing. The best rebuttal was to prove him wrong, after all. In spite of the rattling and rumbling that plagued the ship, Tooley kept it steady and brought it through the tempestuous skies. With one last ship-shaking bit of turbulence, Tooley pitched the controls upwards and brought them to a steady coast over the rocky surface of the lifeless world, unfolding the ship’s wings to better coast through the atmosphere. Kamak ignored her smug look in his direction and unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Alright, ground team, grab your shit and get ready to go,” he ordered. “I’ll get the scanner going, Farsus, you go hand out the toys.”

“Gladly.”

Farsus started with the boring ones, just to get them out of the way; scanning tools, climbing equipment, and inhalers to keep their blood oxygen at safe levels while traversing the oxygen-rich planetary surface. Once the technical stuff was out of the way, Farsus got to the fun part. With a swift, dramatic motion, Farsus cracked open his gun safe.

“As we are the first hunters to visit this planet, and it possesses no live game, we must assume our target is still armed and stocked with ammunition,” Farsus said. He disregarded a shelf of small arms and focused on long guns. “For a situation such as this, I would normal recommend an ambush tactic with the Larodam, but Corey is tragically untrained in sniper rifles.”

“Yep.”

“The Tan Dalan, then,” Farsus said, as he handed over a long-barreled rifle with a sizable scope and sturdy stock. It was almost distressingly large, but still light and easy to move. “Ideal at mid to long range, but steady while firing automatically. Perfect for an ambush requiring less precision, or a conventional gunfight.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“And for Doprel: the special occasion,” Farsus said, as he hefted a weapon that looked more like a ship’s cannon than a conventional firearm. Doprel hefted the titanic, multi-barreled gun with ease, and Corey made sure to take a quick step behind him. He didn’t want to be anywhere in front of a weapon like that.

“This is your stop,” Kamak snapped. “Let’s get moving.”

Tooley opened the hangar doors, and Doprel led the way onto the surface of the planet. Corey was glad he’d invested in boots, because their deployment zone was coated in a layer of fetid, ankle-high water. It was thick with globs of what looked like algae, and Corey realized he was wading in the primordial soup that might one day spawn complex lifeforms on this planet. He really hoped he didn’t have anything weird stuck to his boot that would muck up the process.

He probably didn’t have to worry about fucking up the planet’s development too much, because the crash site ahead of them had well and truly fucked it already. The small, single-passenger vessel had practically broken in half on impact, and torn a large, jagged scar across the surface of the planet as it skidded to a halt. Even the cursory glance of an amateur could tell that the ship was never flying again, and a closer examination revealed that it had already been stripped for parts, and any storage spaces had been ransacked for supplies.

“Well, we know he’s definitely not using his ship as a base,” Corey said. The rocky terrain and pools of stagnant water made it impossible to pick up a trail to where he’d gone next, however.

“Given the cloud cover...and the abundance of puddles,” Doprel noted, as he sloshed massive feet through troughs of wet slop. “I’d want to go somewhere with rain cover.”

He pointed to a nearby ridge with many rocky outcroppings and possible cavern openings. That seemed like a good idea to Corey, so he followed along. The hike across uneven terrain started to drag on, so Corey made some conversation to pass the time.

“So, that’s a pretty big gun for our resident pacifist,” he began. He had seen Doprel wield firearms before, but usually of a more conventional size.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Doprel said. “And I’m far from a pacifist. I do this for a living, you know.”

“Still. It seems uncharacteristically...destructive.”

“Like Farsus said, this is a special occasion,” Doprel said with a shrug. Shrugging didn’t come naturally to his species, but he’d picked up the habit from hanging around all the others.

“So what’s the occasion, then? Why bring out the big guns for one dude?”

“You heard Kamak,” Doprel mumbled. “He killed kids.”

“Oh. Sorry. Hope it’s nothing personal.”

“You know, it’s really not,” Doprel said. “My species comes out of the egg sac mostly fully formed. Really, it’s kind of weird to me that you guys spend so long being so tiny and stupid. But the fact kids are so helpless just makes me all that more mad when someone hurts them.”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad somebody on this ship has principles,” Corey said.

“Only by comparison,” Doprel said. He then pointed to one of the peaks of the rocky ridge they were just beginning to climb. “Keep an eye out from up there. Good vantage point in case me digging around spooks him.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

While Corey went up, Doprel went around, swinging wide around the base of the rocky outcroppings. He poked his head, and his scanner, into every opening he saw, and found nothing. While he continued a fruitless search, Corey struggled up the jagged slopes to find his perch. The igneous rock usually had a smooth surface, and the pervasive moisture of the atmosphere meant every surface was slick. Eventually, Corey clambered to the peak and took a seat on a relatively stable rocky ledge.

The difficult climb didn’t even pay out with a good view. Everywhere Corey looked there were just more rocks, more puddles, and more weird goop in the puddles. There was also no sign of Wagam, so he didn’t even get that. As Doprel’s search started to drag on and swing wide, Corey began to feel like this was all wasted effort. Hopefully the other team would have more luck.

As he started to feel a little light-headed, Corey took a quick hit from the inhaler Farsus had provided him. After everything he’d been through, he’d feel like a real idiot if he died from having too much oxygen in his blood. With his immediate survival assured, Corey tucked the inhaler back into his belt and made sure it was securely fastened. He took a quick glance down at his belt to be sure, and something caught his eye -another eye, looking right back up at him from a hole in the mountain.

“Fuck,” said Corey and Wagam in unison.