Story The Tau Ceti Gang - A Serial Starbound Adventure - *What's up with Hart? Find out!*

The Tau Ceti Gang
A Starbound Adventure by Trowzers

This is a serialised adventure story, with each chapter around 800-1000 words long.
I have some idea of the plot lines but it's very open, so if you have an ideas for the story or characters or other feedback, let me know! If your suggestion fits into the plotline I might be able to add it into the story
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CHAPTER LIST

Chapter One... Introductions
Chapter Two... Escape!
Chapter Three... The Tau Ceti
Chapter Four... Science Station
Character Catwalk!
Chapter Five... Cake and Bounties
Chapter Six... A Floran's tale
Chapter Seven... Hart to Hart
Chapter Eight... Laundry Day
Chapter Nine... Sandstorm
Chapter Ten... All Your Base
Chapter Eleven... Horror Show
Chapter Twelve... The Mistake
Chapter Thirteen... Desperate Measures
Chapter Fourteen... Fame
Chapter Fifteen... The Dread Pirate Hunter
Dread Pirate Hunter... Episode: 'Green Star Sunset'
Chapter Sixteen... There And Back Again
Chapter Seventeen... Question Time
Chapter Eighteen... Modern Tracking
Chapter Nineteen... I Have A Bad Feeling About This
Chapter Twenty... It Belongs In A Museum
Chapter Twentyone... A New Quest
Chapter Twentytwo... Loose Threads
Chapter Twentythree... Fan Meetup
Chapter Twentyfour... Delivery Run
Chapter Twentyfive... The Continuing Adventures of Captain V
Chapter Twenysix... That New Ship Smell
Chapter Twentyseven... Revelations
Chapter Twentyeight... Apple's Story
Chapter Twentynine... A Leap Of Faith
Chapter Thirty... This Little Piggy
Chapter Thirtyone... The Matter with Matasoids
Chapter Thirtytwo... Welcome to Hulltown
Chapter Thirtythree... A Voice Returned
Chapter Thirtyfour... Hidden in Plain Sight
Chapter Thirtyfive... Trust Funds Run Dry
Chapter Thirtysix... Hartless?
Chapter Thirtyseven... Hangovers

 

CHAPTER ONE
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Brandis rolled over and stretched her neck, feeling every ligament creak. The last thing she remembered was fighting a purple Zolbeast, but her memory after that was hazy. Brandis knew seven ways a purple Zolbeast could kill you, and right now it felt like she had experienced every one of them. Her bones ached and her muscles felt bruised. Wincing, she sat up.
CLONK!
Her head knocked against wooden bars. “Ouch!” she cried, and lay back down, rubbing her brow ridge. “What the heck?”
“It is good to see you are still functioning.” The metallic voice somehow managed to convey concern.
“Hart!” Brandis carefully opened an eye, and saw her Glitch companion sitting in a second cage to her right. She also realised her proximity to the roof of her cage was because she was sitting in a top bunk. As she slithered gingerly to the floor, feeling even more new aches and pains, she exclaimed “Florans, huh?” It was a statement of the obvious. Nobody else would make cages out of hardened sticks and vines.
“Indeed” replied Hart. “It seems the Zolbeast was part of their guard system. While we were occupied with it, I'm afraid they took us both by surprise.” Hart was sitting quite comfortably on the lower bunk of his cage, as though he had been there for a long while. Brandis turned to her own bunk and stepped back suddenly.
“And who is this guy?” The lower bunk was obviously occupied, a blanket thrown over a humanoid-shaped lump.
“I do not know.” replied Hart “It has been unconscious since I arrived. It has been at least eight hours.”
Brandis picked up a corner of the blanket and raised it slowly before reeling back in horror. “By all the Libraries, it's a stinkin' pollen duster!” She backed against the wooden rails, staring at the at the now exposed pink corolla of a Floran's head.
“No need to get insulting, ape.” a deep, soft voice fluttered, as the Floran rolled over to face her. “I am awake now, and awake I have been for some time. You need not fear my hunger.”
“Whatever you say, sprout.” said Brandis, “but I think I'll stay right over here.” She flinched as the Floran brushed off the blanket and sat up on the bed, ignoring Brandis. “I heard your arrival.” it said, nodding at Hart “I congratulate your cleverness. You are less useful to them now.”
“What's it talking about, Hart?”
The glitch made a static-like sigh. “I pretended to be a peasant Glitch who'd been captured by a rogue Apex slaver.” He nodded apologetically at Brandis. “I thought perhaps they might relax their guard if they thought I was a simple Glitchan farmer. Maybe they would give me a chance to escape. But this one seems to have seen through my guise.”
The Floran blinked it's large, dark eyes. “Your clothes told me. Glitch do not usually wear such modern things. Our captors will not realise, they are too worldbound.”
“Our captors. You think we'll believe you're a prisoner too?”
“That I am, ape, whether you believe it or not.”
Brandis glared at the Floran. It scratched at a pink petal on it's brow, unconcerned. But before she could think of a witty comeback, loud footsteps drew her attention to things outside the cage.
Four Florans, holding long, sharp lances entered the room. “The hairy one is awake!” screeched the first to enter gleefully, staring at Brandis. “And the traitor weed. Unless it chooses to show it's worth?” It leered at the Floran in Brandis' cell.
“I will not eat a sentient.” replied the Floran coldly.
“Too bad, too bad!” hissed the Floran guard, raking it's spear over the cell bars and making Brandis jump. “Then we leave you with your dinner, until you get hungry enough, yes? Just don't wait too long. Us guards get awful hungry too.” The Floran seemed to sniff in Brandis' direction and she recoiled in disgust.
The guards moved on to Hart's cell and tapped the vines, which uncoiled and allowed them to move the bars aside. “Can I return to my farm, strange creatures?” exclaimed Hart in surprise.
The guards grasped the Glitch by the arms and began to haul him out, stating “Lucky you aren't tasty, simple machine. But slaves make good trade. You're only changing masters.”
“Wait!” Brandis yelled, but in moments they were gone. She groaned and laid her forehead against the bars. “How am I going to get out of this mess?”
“We.” said the Floran behind her.
“Wha?” mumbled Brandis, without turning around.
“We are both in a mess, together.” It said.
“By the almighty Ape.” sighed Brandis, finally turning to face her cellmate. “What's your name, anyway spr... you Floran.” she finished lamely.
“Verden.” answered the Floran. “And Verden might just know a way out. If you help.”

 

CHAPTER TWO
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“Ow! Watch it!” Brandis shoved the floran's woody elbow away from her face for the third time.
“Accept my apology.” Verden replied, strain in it's voice “This is difficult.”
“Well it's not easy for me either, saladbrains.” Brandis muttered under her breath. If she had thought that one day she'd be standing alongside some murderous corsage attempting a prison break, she might have answered the Ministry summons and met her fate, rather than hacking that cargo ship's nav computer and leaving her home forever. But what's done is done, she thought to herself. And Verden sure knew a lot about how the floran cages worked.
Verden had shown her some blunt, thorn-like bumps on it's palm – small enough to overlook unless they were pointed out. “These control the vines.” it had explained. “Different patterns for different tribes, like fingerprints. But vines can respond to similar patterns.” Verden had shown her that if he touched the vines just right, they loosened slightly. Maybe enough for her to wrench a bar out of place, if they worked at the same time. The trouble was, with Verden manipulating the vines and Brandis trying to pull at the bars, there wasn't much room. To make things worse, the floran smelt just like fresh coriander, and Brandis hated fresh coriander. She tried not to think about how she smelt to the Floran.
The bar shifted suddenly, flinging Brandis' face back into the floran's elbow, but she hardly noticed. “It's working!” she cried, twisting the bar more freely. In a moment the bottom of the bar popped free of the vines, and she was able to swing it completely out of place.
“It's narrow. I can fit. But can y...?” The floran stopped, seeing Brandis' stern expression.
“I'll find a way,” she replied darkly, sucking in her stomach, and flattening out her leather tunic. Apes were stocky after all, she couldn't help it if she looked a little more solid than most.
Verden put a a shoulder through the gap, and then elegantly stepped through to the other side. Brandis' exit was better described as 'desperate squeezing' but soon she too was standing outside the cage. “Come on, we have to find Hart before they sell him to some scrap merchant.”
Quickly but quietly, they crept out of the room into the hallways of the floran dungeon.

The place was eerily deserted. Brandis and Verden armed themselves with long lances they found in what looked like a guardroom. It made it harder to be stealthy, carrying such a large weapon, but Brandis still felt better once she was armed. When they reached a branch in the corridors, Verden tilted his head back for a moment, and then whispered “Your friend. Smells this way.” Brandis followed him without comment.
They rounded a corner and...
“Hart!”
“Brand!”
The Glitch was standing behind a wall of bars.
“Don't worry, I've come to rescue you!” Brandis whispered loudly.
“No, I've come to rescue you!” Hart replied.
“Wha? How'd ya figure that?” replied Brandis, forgetting to whisper. “You're in a darn cage!”
“Gate.” replied Hart, rolling his LED occulars. “You're inside.”
“Oh.”
Before they could debate further, Verden stepped forward to remove the simple dropbar that had been holding the door closed.
“This way!” hissed Verden, and they followed the floran down the corridor. The air here had a fresher smell, and Brandis guessed that they couldn't be far from the surface.
As they ran, Hart turned to Brandis. “There's something I need to explain. At the exit there's a...”
“Halt right there, my Glitchen friend.”
A human stepped out in front of them, blocking the way. He was wearing a stained red cloak that might once have been quite regal, from the tattered gleam of gold embroidery. The knees of his pants were torn. His face was unshaven, and smudged. If it wasn't for the gleam of the shiny, shiny pistols he held in both his hands, Brandis might have called him scruffy.
He squinted at Brandis and Verden.
“I don't see any Glitchen princess.” he said, peering behind them.
“Just a bit further on.” replied Hart. “If you'll step this way.”
He gestured Brandis and Verden aside, and the stranger moved past, his weapons trained on them both. But as good as two guns are, they can't cover three people.
“Look! There she is!” cried Hart, and as the man turned, the Glitch clocked him neatly on the temple with a closed fist.
“Good job!” cheered Brandis, as the man dropped. “Grab his shinies!”
Hart shook his head. “Leave him. He's going to need all the help he can get once we take his ship.”
“But my Drifter!” Brandis gasped. The Drifter was the Apex cargo ship she had 'commandeered', and had been her home ever since her escape.
Hart gestured to the pile of tattered rags on the floor. “This gentleman said there were no other ships in orbit. I'm afraid she must have been taken.”
“Nooooooooo!” cried Brandis. Stinky and cramped she might have been, but the Drifter was hers!
Verden had been silent until this point, but now said “Then my ship is also gone.” He shook his head and turned to Brandis. “We must hurry to this man's vessel. Before our ship's trace fades.” Without looking back he strode down the corridor out of the floran dungeon.


Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions about what might happen next!

 

Hmmm, I'm wondering if I should double-space between lines to make this more readable? What do you think?
Personally I find the line length the biggest problems when reading on forums - so I window my browser and make the page narrower.
If only there was a way to do that within the forum software... ideally for readability a 'page' should only be about 15-20 words long or people start to drift off.

If you have any feedback let me know - I'll be working on Chapter 3 this afternoon

 

CHAPTER THREE
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“So this pirate guy believed you straight away, when you spun your story about the Glitchen princess?”
Hart nodded “I guess sometimes I can be... convincing.”
“Huh” Brandis shrugged and checked the computer scans again. They were waiting to see if they could pick up trace of any ships entering FTL drive recently, but the scan was taking some time.
She knew it was dumb luck that the florans had tried to trade Hart to a greedy pirate, who was willing to try to rescue a Glitchen royal in hope of a reward. If he had been traded to a hard-nosed slaver or scrapper, it might have been a very different story.
Hart had explained, with admiration in his voice, how the pirate had deployed a small bot to create a distraction which lured off many of the floran guards, and then quickly shot the remaining florans with his pistol.
“It was obviously the kind of thing he had done many times before.”
Brandis huffed. “Well, a crack shot he might have been, but he certainly wasn't a good housekeeper.” She knocked empty sarsparella cans off the console. The cockpit was full of rubbish and random objects. In fact, every part of the ship she had seen so far was crammed with unsorted boxes and strewn clothes. And the size of the ship – it was huge. She could have driven her little Drifter into the cargo hold. But despite it's size, it seemed the ship was empty of other humanoid life. Brandis had been expecting to battle a pirate crew for control of the ship when they beamed up using the transmitter they had stolen from the human, but the scans had confirmed they were the only ones on board. It made her feel a little bad for leaving the ship's previous owner unconscious in the middle of a floran dungeon.
“Did Verden find what he was looking for?”
Brandis shrugged again. The floran had apologetically explained that it had been some time since it had eaten and gone in search of the ship's kitchens. She only hoped Verden found what he was looking for.
The console buzzed, and Hart and Brandis leaned forward. “Trace?” Hart asked. Brandis was a far more experienced navigator.
“Yes and no... there's two traces that might be FTL, but also another much stronger signal.” She scrolled through the readouts quickly. “Oh bananahammer!” she cursed, leaning back and covering her eyes.
Hart leaned forward and tried to make sense of the numbers. “I don't get it.” he said. “It's a... forest fire? On the surface?”
“Not a forest fire.” replied Brandis, her hand still over her eyes. “It's a big, greasy, smoking crater. A Drifter-shaped crater.”
“Oh cogs.”
Brandis sat back up and wiped the tears that had leaked traitorously from the corners of her eyes. “Yeah, I'm sorry, you had your stuff on the ship too. I forget sometimes.” She sighed deeply. ”Anyway, the FTL trace also originates near there, so I'm adjusting our orbit to take us closer and see if we can salvage. We'll be there in a few minutes.”
After a few minutes which they both sat through in silence, she turned on the close-range scanners and brought up a visual of the wreck. The smoke and cloud make it impossible to view it directly from orbit, but the heat sensors and other scanners made it pretty clear the ship had broken open in orbit, and what made it to the surface barely resembled a ship.
“Problem?” said Verden behind them. Brandis and Hart turned. Without thinking about it, both of them dropped their gaze to the half-chewed something in the floran's hands.
“It's a roast beef sandwich.” The slight irritation in it's voice was the most emotion they had heard from the floran.
Brandis waved a hand vaguely at the ship display, which still showed the smoking remains of her old ship. “It seems we're only looking for your ship now, and whoever took it.”
The floran looked at the display for a few moments, frowning. “My apologies. But this is a FTL trace, yes?”
Brandis nodded grimly. “Two ships. Both headed the same way.”
“Then will you help me?” The floran looked at Glitch and Ape imploringly “There is something on my ship that I cannot afford to lose.”
Brandis grimaced, showing her large, square teeth. “I just want to get back at those po's that toasted my ship. As for rescuing your stuff.” She shook her head “I don't really care about that. Let's just get on and find who did this.” She and glanced at Hart, who nodded in agreement.
“Well let's hope this vessel, whatever it is...”
“The Tau Ceti” Hart interrupted, after a glance at the display.
Verden continued “This Tau Ceti. Let's hope she is fast.”

 

CHAPTER FOUR
________________________


There had been a few tense minutes as Brandis' blunt fingers stabbed at buttons and flicked through logs. Finally, she ruffled the long dark hair at her temples and said “This must be it.”
She brought up information on a small science station, positioned in the sparsely populated Tetrali system. “It's a gamble. The FTL trace only gives us a direction, not how far the ships are travelling. But the Tetrali system is the only thing in this direction – unless they are going out past the nebula stream, and then they could be headed anywhere.”
Verden frowned at the station statistics. An independent science station, aligned with no particular race, with just over one hundred scientists and staff on board.
“Why this station? Maybe they went to a planet?”
“Yeah, it hardly seems like the place for ship thieves” added Hart.
Brandis shrugged. “A guess? Somewhere to start? But there's also a coincidence.” She brought up an entry in the ships logs. “This ship, the Tau Ceti, docked at the science station briefly just four days ago.”
“Does it say why?” Hart asked, LEDs flicking over the readouts.
“Nope, this guy was as good at keeping records as he was at cleaning, so we've only got the nav logs. So you folks wanna roll dice for one of the planets or can I get this sucker going? 'Cos it's five hours travel, whatever time we start and Knowledge-knows I want a shower and a nap.”
It was quickly decided that the Tetrali station was their best bet and Brandis kicked the ship into warp, careful to set their exit point far away from the station so they could survey it before they approached too closely.
“All done! Nap time, ladies” Brandis wondered if it was ironic or correct to refer to Verden that way. The floran had a deep, earthy voice, but was slender as a sylph. She just didn't know enough about floran biology to tell either way.
“Ship.” she said to a flashing display “Point me to the nearest bathroom.” She was gratified when a map appeared, a flashing arrow pointing just around the corner. She was truly impressed by the automated systems on this ship. No wonder it's previous owner had been able to run it all by himself.

Five hours later a soft chime began to sound throughout the ship, and the three travellers assembled at the bridge looking much more relaxed. Brandis had felt awful putting on her sweaty clothes again, but she had nothing else to change into and no time for laundry day. Hart's white enamel paint was shiny again, but as he didn't sweat his clothes were in much better condition And the floran, well, the floran still smelt like coriander.
“One minute until we exit warp.” She warned. After a moment, the displays flickered back into life as they began scanning the new system.
Before Brandis could begin to absorb the data stream, the ship communicator crackled into life.
“Approaching ship: identify yourself.” demanded a voice.
“Oh nads!” hooted Brandis, thumbing down the volume.
“I thought we were supposed to be out of range?” hissed Hart.
“Approaching ship: This is Station Security Officer Brusk. Identify yourself immediately!”
“We are out of range!” Brandis snapped, ignoring the voice and tapping the screen frantically. “They have a security satellite web. At a science station! I guess I should have expected that, out here in the boonies.”
“Approaching ship. Tau Ceti: we have you identified. Open your video channel or prepare to be fired upon.”
“We must reply.” Verden tapped an elegant finger on the display that showed the ample weaponry on the satellite network.
“Ok, ok, but let me talk and stay off the screen.” Brandis said to the others, and taking a deep breath she flicked on the video channel.
“Officer Brusk!” she said a little too brightly. “Tau Ceti here. Sorry for the delay, you caught me in the can.” She smiled broadly at the screen, which now showed a stern looking female human in a security uniform.
“Who am I speaking to? Where is Captain Vernier?” Officer Brusk spoke in a clipped, short bark.
“Welllll, I'm... the captain's assistant of course. Brandis.” She thumped her chest. “Pleased ta meetcha. The captain is indisposed right now.”
The woman managed to scowl even more deeply. “Probably has a hangover. You tell your captain that we don't need him any more. The floran researchers managed to recover the vessel by themselves.”
“Floran researchers, eh? And where would these researchers be now? On your station?”
Officer Brusk glared at Brandis. “Why do you need to know, pirate?”
Brandis' grin froze on her face. “Well.” she said, thinking hard. “So... did these researchers by any chance recover the pilot of the vessel?” She felt an anxious tapping on her ankle, from the side Verden was sitting.
“The pilot? No, I don't think they did.” The woman began tapping at a panel out of sight of the screen. “No, there's still a bounty out on the floran pilot.” She sighed. “I guess you're interested in that bounty now.”
“Of course” the kicking on Brandis' leg increased and became quite painful, but she ignored it. “A girl's gotta make a living.”
“Well listen here, you sweaty pickpocket.” Officer Brusk pointed at the vid screen violently, making Brandis flinch. “I've wasted enough time on those floran researchers, violating all the security protocols and bringing in scum and bounty hunters from all over the system. They're not associated with our station, and they're not here anymore. If it wasn't for that softheaded research manager, I never would have had them at the station in the first place, but he's all 'oh, we have to help out our fellow researchers, Brusk, you need to loosen up a little, Brusk'. Well, they're gone now and I don't have to deal with them any more. If you want the bounty, look it up on the net, like any other filthy space-scrounger. Unless you have any business with this station, you can just rack off!”
The video link cut off abruptly.
There was a moment of silence.
“Well, I think that went well.” said Brandis, rubbing her bruised leg.

 

Some people might be interested to know what the characters so far look like, so it's time for:
CHARACTER CATWALK!

Here comes Brandis. She's wearing her favourite leather jacket with fashionable side zipper, fully compliant with all the Ministry protocols.
She wears her hair in a ponytail and the popular 'lady muttonchop' long sideburns.
Ever practical, Brandis wears brown pants and boots equally good for kicking down doors or stomping through swamps.
Outfit comes with a specially 'aged' appearance, including scratches, dirty knees, and a faint odour of sweat.
Brandis: "Hey, ya didn't have to mention that bit!"


For our fashion show, Hart has unpacked a blast from the past! Here he is in some fine Glitchan gear, of soft cotton accessorised with tan leather boots and a belt with a golden buckle.
Brandis: "Hey, that's what you were wearing when I first found you stowing away on the Drifter!"
Hart: "I thought it was a little more fashionable than my usual gear."
And isn't he right! Look at how that royal purple brings out the white of his enamel? Much nicer than the modern gear he usually wears!


Even the mysterious Verden is here on the catwalk today!
Verden: "Wait, what? Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Keeping to the classics, Verden usually prefers a long black robe that offsets the soft pink petals and tan skin and leaves...
Verden "What are you doing in the bathroom? Where is my robe?"
But here we see Verden is ready to accessorise, right down to the... ow! Perhaps we'd better move on.


Officer Brusk has only appeared briefly but already she's made a deep impression.
I mean really deep. I mean, ow that pistol is realy digging into my neck...
Really I'm not an intruder. I'm a fashion commentator!
That deep grey uniform really brings out your blue eyes.
I swear!
Argh!
Don't put me in the cell!
Ow!
....

Well this is your fashion commentator signing out for now. In the meantime we leave you with this question "Is orange the new black?"

 

CHAPTER FIVE
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“Ship huddle!” announced Brandis suddenly.
“A what?” said Hart.
Verden was looking around, alarmed.
“Gees, you guys, it's just a team meeting.”
“Is this an Apex custom?” asked Verden, perplexed.
Brandis sighed deeply. “No, no. Back on Glory Prime, it would have been called a 'committee adjunct session' or some crud. Ugh, you guys gotta get out more. Anyway, we need to look up this bounty and stuff. Maybe there's a meeting room or something around here.”
“Why can't we discuss this here?” asked Hart. “I'm pretty sure this entire vessel is a cesspit.”
“Because that's not how it's done!” replied Brandis, crossing her arms stubbornly.
“Then I suggest the ship's galley.” Verden said, lifting a delicate finger. “It's more... in order.”
“Alright! Coffee and cake! You know how this is done, Verden!” she clapped the floran on the back as she went out the door.

When she arrived at the ship's galley, she could see it was far more than just 'in order'. The stainless steel shone spotlessly, the floors were clear of the debris that scattered the rest of the ship, and the benches held only a few sparkling kitchen utensils. Brandis plopped down on a chair next to a long wooden table, and swung the ceiling-mounted monitor so that she could see it.
“Ah! This is more like it!”
As Verden and Hart entered, a small hoverbot drifted from a space behind the fridge, it's green LED display flashing. |QUERY?|
Brandis pointed at it “Hey! Kitchen bot! We need meeting food... and coffee!”
|COFFEE| |YES| flashed the bot. |FOOD?| |MEETING?|
“Cake!” explained Brandis. “And um... cake for florans?” she looked at Verden but the floran just shrugged.
|CAKE| |YES| |FLORAN CAKE| |YES| The bot drifted away into a service vent in the ceiling, as Brandis began tapping the displays. After a moment she looked up to find Verden and Hart staring at her expectantly.
“Ah, so either of you know how to find these bounty listings the security chick was talking about?”
Hart just shook his head “Grew up in a castle, remember.” he said.
Verden looked surprised at Brandis “I thought bounties would be your thing?”
“I'm a navigator not a pirate, dammit Verden. And well, I did some inter-system pizza delivery. But bounties? I mean, I'll punch people if I have to but fighting is more Hart's thing.”
Hart looked offended “I only fight for noble causes. I don't kill for money.”
Verden rubbed his forehead “But this is a pirate ship, yes? Maybe it will know.”
“Ask the ship! You are full of ideas today, Mr... er Verden...” she turned to the display. “Ship! Display bounties current for this sector.”
After a moment, the screen filled with a list of names and thumbnails of faces or face-like appendages. Brandis began to scroll through the list but it was soon clear it was very, very long. “Gees, we're gonna have to sort this. Ship! Display only bounties for fl...”
“Wait, wait! Back up!” yelped Hart suddenly, stabbing a metal digit at the screen with a clink.
“What?”
But Hart only began to chuckle and point. “Apple!” he said snorting “Apple! Hahaha!”
Brandis glanced back at the screen. “Holy Ape, it's me!”
Still giggling, Hart leaned forward to select the entry for 'Apple Brandis' next to a very familiar face.
“Apple Brandis. Apple Brandy. I see.” said Verden, a jagged grimace widening in what Brandis guessed was a smile.
“So, my parents were into puns. We had to take what fun we could get.” she sniffed grumpily, causing Hart to fly into a fresh fit of giggling.
“Ahhhh I'm sorry,” he said, at last “I just never realised I didn't know your first name until I saw that … Apple! Haha, oh I'm so sorry I'll stop now. Ahem.”
Brandis glared at him. “Well, anyway, I guess this was probably put out by the Ministry after I escaped. They don't like the idea of Free Apes even this far away from their territory. Huh – 'last sighted in the Colvados sector'. I haven't been there in ages!'
“I wouldn't worry too much” said Hart. “It says they are paying for information, not... you know. And only 500 pixels. I'm sure you'll be safe.”
Brandis snorted “An insult, 500 pixels. I'm worth more than that. Well, it doesn't say much about me. Let's see what they want for you, Verden. Ship! Bring up any recent bounties in this sector for florans, particularly any under the name 'Verden'. Is that all you go by, Verden, while we're sharing names?”
“Verden-ault-rusver-cir. It means 'green-one-who-gathers-clouds' in the Old Tongue.”
Brandis almost held the comment back “But you're not...”
“Our kind also have their puns.” said Verden, grinning a strange zigzag smile again.
The moment was broken by a buzzing sound from above the table. The service bot hovered slowly from the ceiling vent, whirring hard under the weight of a heavy tray. It lowered the tray to the table carefully and then began distributing cups and plates.
“Whew, about time, I am starving.” said Brandis, grabbing a chunk of dense brown cake from the tray and taking an enormous bite.
As the computer display pinged and began displaying search results, a strange expression crossed Brandis' face.
“Meatloaf. Of course.” She said, putting her 'cake' down slowly.

 

CHAPTER SIX
________________________


It was only after Brandis swapped her 'floran cake' for a slice of proper chocolate cake that she took a good look at the bounty on the display. “Well, Verden it looks like they're really interested in you.”
The bounty entry declared that Verden-ault-rusver-cir, a tan coloured floran with pink petals, was wanted alive for a reward of 500,000 pixels on delivery, or 50,000 pixels for information leading to capture. 'The subject is highly dangerous' stated the bounty 'and is in possession of forbidden technology'.
“And it occurs to me,” said Hart slowly, “that although you were generous to aid us in our escape from the floran dungeon, we actually know little about you.” Hart gestured in a way that highlighted the pistol he was now holding, aimed casually at the floran.
Verden sighed. “Suspicious is natural. I have nothing to hide from you. You wish to search me?” The floran slowly held it's long thin arms outwards, letting the long black robe fall back from it's hands to show they were empty.
“There's no need. I can tell when someone is wearing a weapon.” Hart tapped a finger near his oculars.
“You can wha?” exclaimed Brandis, “You never told me that before. Glitch aren't supposed to be able to do fancy stuff like that!”
“It's a long story,” said the Glitch “but before we met someone saw fit to give me a couple of augments.”
“Then why point that at me?” said Verden, nodding at the pistol in Hart's hand.
“Because there are ways of being dangerous even when unarmed.”
“Dontcha think this is all a bit of an overreaction, Hart?” Brandis was looking between floran and glitch as if she suddenly wondering who she could trust “I mean, greenie here's had plenty of chances to hurt us if they wanted to.”
“That's correct, but we're aiding in recovering their ship. Who knows what their long term plans are, once we are no longer useful?”
“Let me tell my tale, then.” said the floran, lowing his hands slowly to the table. “It will make things clearer.”
“Go ahead then.”
“It began long in the past. My clan name, 'rusver-cir' - the cloud gatherers, is an insult among many florans. We left the surface long ago, and mingled with other races. They regarded that as a betrayal. But we also forbade the killing of sentient creatures for food, and that was an unforgivable weakness to the more savage clans. We had the greater technology through our trading with the other races, but we were not warlike. Some of the more brutal clans with access to space technology attacked and scattered us.”
Hart shifted impatiently in his seat and the floran quickly continued. “This will become relevant, you will see. Our clan survives, but in many different places, some living in secret among more savage tribes. We still keep in contact when we can. And that is how we learnt of a floran tribe's research into a new weapon.”
“The forbidden technology mentioned in the bounty?”
“Yes, although the technology is only forbidden by other races, not by the florans. It is a biological agent, in the form of a seed. When it is fired into the body a creature such as a humanoid, it grows... into them. It takes control of the nervous system. Developed from the vines the florans use to binds their cages, it means that the creature can then be controlled.”
“Woah, you mean plant zombies?” Brandis looked horrified.
The floran nodded. “Aware enough to complete tasks, to be useful as slaves or even soldiers, but with no will of their own. And they can only be controlled by florans of the right tribe.”
“And you have these seeds on you.” Brandis drew back from the table.
“No, I have no weapon on me. I did not lie. But the genetic code of the seeds - a copy is on my ship. My clan did not wish the name of florans to be tarnished among the other races any further. We sent a team to destroy the lab. I was among them. We succeeded in the first part of the mission, but we also wished to recover the genetic code of the seed, so that we could create an antidote in case anyone else tried to use this weapon.”
“And you left the code on your ship and went down to a planet?” Hart asked in bemusement.
Verden sighed deeply. “When we left the lab we were pursued. Some of my team were killed and the rest of us separated to confuse our attackers. The clan that captured us – I had a cousin there once. I went to the planet hoping to hide out there until my trail cooled, leaving the code on my ship until I knew it was a safe place to hide. But my cousin was gone, the tribe more violent that I anticipated and I was captured. But I am not stupid.” He glared at Hart, “I encrypted the information on my ship. Only I can unscramble the code. That is why they still seek me. Floran tribes often fight among each other for supremacy, and the ones who pursue me do not know how to make the seed. They will stop at nothing to find out.”
The ape and glitch glanced at each other.
“We need to discuss this.” said Hart.
“Ah yeah. Alone.” said Brandis, still looking at Hart oddly, surprised at his new commanding tone.
Hart gestured to a large pantry at the back of the kitchen. “No offense.”
Verden nodded “None taken. I admire caution in my companions.”
When the floran was safely locked in the pantry, Brandis turned to Hart. “What's the deal, sparky? We've been floatin' round these systems for nearly a year and you never mentioned weapon scanners?”
Hart groaned and massaged his forehead “We were couriers! There really wasn't an opportunity to mention them. Besides, I didn't ask for these upgrades. They were installed against my will.”
“And how exactly does this scan work huh? You got a perv upgrade in there too? Magic clothes remover?” Brandis huffed, red-faced.
“It's not like that at all! I swear! Besides, I'm a glitch. What we find attractive is rather diff...”
|ALERT! ALERT| Every panel in the kitchen began to flash red.
|WEAPONS LOCK DETECTED! ALERT! ALERT!|
A communications line hissed open “I thought I told you guys to rack off!” came the furious voice of Officer Brusk.
Brandis leapt towards a nav panel. “Maybe before we continue this discussion, we should warp away from the science station.” she suggested.

 

CHAPTER SEVEN
________________________


When the Tau Ceti was safely orbiting a minor planet further into the system, Brandis turned to the glitch sitting quietly beside her.
“When I found you hiding in those banana boxes all those months ago,” she began softly, “I assumed you were just another glitch who wanted to see the stars. But now I'm wonderin' if that's all there is to it.”
Hart shook his head sadly. “Some parts of my past, I.. don't want to reveal right now. They're too personal. But I did run away from my home planet – in a rather unusual way.”
“What was so unusual about it? If ya don't mind saying.”
“Well, you see I was...” Hart paused and lifted his hand to a slight dent in his temple. “I was damaged in battle. It was a mortal wound. But unbeknownst to the lower classes, our royal family had some contact with more advanced races. To save my life, I was sent away to a human planet to be repaired. But the humans... they didn't understand the nuances of glitch society. They didn't just fix me, they made me function even better. They overrode the glitch programming block, not understanding what it was for. They augmented my scanners and my strength and speed. When I woke, I realised I would never fit in on my old planet again. If I ever let anyone know that my programming blocks were gone I would be hunted down and killed. So when the humans tried to return me to the glitch, I escaped. I spent a long time stowing away on vessels, moving from place to place, always on the edge of starving, or being caught...”
“Until you ended up on the Drifter, huh?”
Hart nodded.
“And I was so happy to find another runaway that I hired you as my assistant an' bodyguard without hardly a question. Well, I know what it's like not to fit in at home.” Brandis patted the glitch on the shoulder. “I still trust you, sparky. But what about our vegetable in the crisper?”
“Who? Oh, the floran. Well, if the story is true, Verden would surely agree to playing the bait to try to recover the genetic code. And I feel it's my duty to try to find out the truth. If this weapon is real, we should get the code to someone who can develop an antidote.”
Brandis nodded firmly. “I don't wanna escape the Ministry, just to have the rest of the galaxy turned into a plant zombie battleground. I agree, we help the sprout. But I'm gonna keep my eyes open.”

“Right, well, here we all are again!” said Brandis, trying to cover up the uncomfortable mood after they released Verden from confinement. “Now that we've decided we're all on the same side, let's get down to business.” She sat back at her place at the table, and grabbed a fresh cup of coffee from the hovering kitchen bot.
“I agree.” said the floran, still seeming cool as a cucumber, especially after his stay in the pantry. “We must not wait too long. The floran's may destroy the ship when they realised they cannot decrypt the information. Then there will be no chance of making an antidote.”
Hart leaned forward “I had assumed the information was on a memory cube, but you talk about the whole ship?”
Verden smiled it's jagged smile. “I did not trust the information to something so easily stolen as a memory cube. The code is encrypted as part of the ship's operating system.”
“Ha! That'll be much easier to track!” hooted Brandis.
“But harder to recover.” added Hart. He pointed at the screen still displaying Verden's bounty. “They say to send a video message to this address with proof of capture. That seems to be the best way to get more information on their location, if you agree to being our bait, Verden?”
The floran nodded “It seems best.” He said simply.
Hart continued “I say Brandis pose as the bounty hunter... I'd prefer to keep my role off-screen.”
Brandis shrugged. “Ok, I guess it'll be just like dealing with Officer Brusk. Thinking on my feet and all that. But what should I say?”
“It's up to you, captain.” said Hart, with a wink.

|VIDEO STATIC|
A female ape appears on screen, a pistol held to the head of a nervous floran. The floran has it's hands bound.
“Hey po-brains! I got 'ya floran right here. Better get back to me before I fancy a salad! Contact details in the metadata.”
|VIDEO CUTS OUT|

“Do ya think that'll get their attention?” Brandis asked, as Hart removed the cuffs from Verden's hands.
“I think we'll find out very shortly.” The glitch answered, LEDs flickering in anticipation.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT
________________________


“Eughhhhhwwwwwwwwww!” Brandis prodded yet another pair of dirty underwear into the garbage unit. “This place is disgusting!”
While they waited for a response to their video message, Brandis had decided it was time to get her clothes cleaned. But the laundry room was proving less hospitable than a floran dungeon. Piles of dirty clothes showed all too clearly that the former captain of the Tau Ceti was a member of the 'inside out, backwards, forwards' underwear efficiency club.

After tentatively picking at the piles of clothes, Brandis had finally retrieved the floran lance she had brought on board, and began to use it to shovel through the piles, throwing the most offensive clothes straight into the garbage. Finally she had cleared enough space to actually reach the wash units, and wrapping herself in the cleanest towel she had been able to find, she threw in her clothes (except of course her leather jacket which she did not trust to even the most advanced laundry bots).

While she waited, wrapped in the giant purple towel, Hart came through the door looking jubilant.
“This place is awesome!” he exclaimed, holding out a long, narrow box.
“This place is the pits!” responded Brandis, clutching at her towel. “Look at this mess!”
“But look at this pistol!” Hart responded, shoving the box at Brandis.
“Yeah, it sure looks fancy and shiny and all.” she replied without much enthusiasm.
Hart pulled the box back, looking offended. “It's a Pinstorm NDL 389! These things are really expensive – amazing range and accuracy, best stun setting of any beam weapon and the charge efficiency is 15% better than the Tromp Firestalk... eh, you don't care do you?”
Brandis shrugged “So long as the gun goes pew pew, it's alright by me.”
“Brandis, we're probably headed into battle with a tribe of warlike florans. You should take this stuff more seriously!”
“I guess you're right, Hart. You know I'll fight if I hafta, after that deal with the drunken Hylotls in that bar on Septis VII, but I guess I'd rather avoid that kind of stuff.”
“That might not be a choice this time.” said Hart, walking out the door.

Brandis poked through the clothes piles morosely. She liked adventure, sure! But killing always made her feel icky. She still felt guilty about leaving the Tau Ceti's previous owner unconscious in a floran dungeon, likely to end up as the main course at the next banquet. She kicked at a pile of laundry angrily, releasing a stench of BO so strong it was almost visible.
“Ewwwww!”


It was another four hours before they finally received a response to their video. Brandis was much more cheerful now that she had clean clothes, so she had decided to help Verden, who was clearing the garbage from around the bridge. They had just filled a fourth box with empty sarsparella cans when the communications station pinged softly. “Sounds like we got mail!” said Brandis, switching on the intercom and calling Hart to the bridge.
“They replied in text format only?” said Hart, when he finally arrived from somewhere in the depths of the ship carrying yet another box.
Brandis brought up the message. “Yeah, they ain't giving too much away.”

|APE. HEAD FOR FARANOR ZETA III. ON ARRIVAL MAINTAIN ORBIT AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS|

“Faranor Zeta III is uninhabited as far according to the charts.” said Brandis, consulting the nav panel. “It has a breathable atmosphere, but the place is a sandpit – no surface water. Would florans want to hang about there?”
Verden examined the planetary data “Florans hate the deserts. But maybe this is why they choose it. To discourage other tribes.”
“Or they want to make the switch in orbit, or lead us off to yet another place.” Hart rubbed his chin. “We should prepare a possible strategy before we warp.”
“Well, sparky,” said Brandis slapping Hart on the back “That sounds like your area.”
Hart grinned. “I must say, I've been enjoying coming up with ideas. I've found a few things on the ship that may help us.”
Verden looked into the box he was holding “Gas cannisters?”
“Oh this is just part of it! For the rest you'll have to come down to the shuttle hanger.”
Brandis' eye lit up. “We have a shuttle hanger? Well, what are you waiting for? Lead the way!”

Next Chapter

 

Great story so far, but don'tcha think "Septis VII" is a little redundant?

 

PS: here's your Pinstorm NDL 389:

feel free to re-colour it.

 

Haha it's hylotyl for the 'seventh planet of the seventh system'

Thanks for the gun! I've been hoping for some illustrations/fan art as I haven't had time to

 

If you ever need more guns, just ask. Only guns though, I'm not really good at much else... and I'm only good at guns b/c of this:

 

Getting close to 200 views - thanks guys! Feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you think. This story has a ways to go yet - but there are other arcs I could tell after this one. The more interest I get the longer I will write

 

CHAPTER NINE
________________________

In one corner of the cavernous cargo bay, near a sign marked 'Shuttle Hanger', Brandis stood with her hand on her hip.“It's not really a shuttle is it.” she said after a moment. “More of a... pod, really.”
“It's a two person shuttle.” said Hart indignantly. “Anyway, what are you complaining about – the Drifter was only twice the size of this whole cargo bay.”
Looking around, Brandis had to admit he was right. The shuttle bay was just one small part of the huge cargo hold. Brandis wondered yet again how the former owner of the Tau Ceti had managed to run the huge ship on his own. Maybe that explained the mess. Most of the area was piled with unidentified crates and containers, but the area around the shuttle launcher was clear. In this space, Hart had piled a range of boxes and equipment. Brandis noticed that the glitch had already strapped the Pinstorm pistol to his side with a fancy black webbing holster.
“Now some of this equipment is going to take some explaining,” said Hart, striding along the row of boxes. He tapped at a tall box with a finger like a teacher tapping at a blackboard. “These are injection missiles, which might come in handy. I've got compact explosives, side arms, these... “ Hart held up a flat box the size of a pack of cards with buttons on one side “These are like skeleton keys for electronic doors. Very illegal. Really, really useful.”
By the time Hart had reached the end of the first row of boxes, Brandis was rolling her eyes out of boredom. However, Hart's excitement at the gadgets and weapons seemed to have rubbed off on Verden. As they exclaimed in hushed awe over a high-powered sniper rifle, Brandis interrupted. “Folks, this is all good fun lookin' at these toys, but we can't make plans until we know what we're dealing with at Faranor Zeta III. How about I get us headed there? It's still an half an hours warp away.”
“Yes, yes.” Hart nodded, distracted. “Let's get going. Now Verden, you're going to really like this one! These explosive caltrops have a remote timing devices which syncs...”
Brandis huffed and walked off. She liked Hart better before he turned into robo-Rambo.

Half an hour later, Brandis felt the familiar shuddering thump run through the ship as the Tau Ceti exited warp above Faranor Zeta III. She quickly read the results of the environmental scans. “No other ships in orbit. Nads! This planet is the sandpit from hell.”
Hart and Verden, who had managed to drag themselves away from the weaponry in the cargo bay, looked to Brandis for explanation.
She pointed at several sections of the scan. “Wind speeds planet-wide are a minimum 100 clicks and hour, and you don't wanna know the maximum. The whole surface is being scoured by high-velocity sand. Hard to scan, and impossible to transport through. An' if you tried to walk around without armour, you wouldn't be able to breath for the sand up your nose, let alone see.”
Hart shook his head. “The perfect place to hide a base. It would have to be shielded though.”
“Hmmm then I might be able ta' pick up the energy signature of the shield. Probably won't be able to tell anything else tho'.” Brandis tweaked the scans and while she waited, she felt her eyes drawn to the swirling real-time view of the planet. It was streaked with lines of yellow and white, and savage storms curled the sandy wind into slow coils.
“I do not know how any floran could bear to live there.” said Verden, with dread in his eyes.
The scanner beeped. “Well, there they are.” she said, pointing to a spot in the maelstrom of sand and wind. “I can't tell anything about them but the size of their shield, which is probably just how they want it. An' it looks like they've found us too!”.
The communications panel crackled:
“Vessel in orbit – Tau Ceti. We identify you as our previous contact. Prepare to meet our shuttle for exchange of your prisoner.”
Verden reached forward and thumbed the mute button. “This is not acceptable. We must recover the code from my vessel.”
“There's nothing in orbit here but us!” exclaimed Brandis. “Their shuttle hasta be taking off from the surface, an' if your ship is here, it's on the surface too.”
Hart stroked his chin. “We could demand to do the transfer on the planet. The shuttle could handle the wind, it'll just be a bit bumpy. It's the only way we'd be able to deal with both the sand and their shield. These storms would make it hard to attack them from orbit even without the shield, unless you had really heavy weapons.”
“And do we have really heavy weapons, sparky?”
Hart shook his head. “Not enough to penetrate a shield like that. We need to get inside.”
“Then demand to exchange me at their base, yes.” Verden smiled grimly “They are desperate to break the encryption. And we will be on their turf. They will agree.”
Hart nodded. “Give me ten minutes to prepare the shuttle. I have a plan.”
“And I suppose you expect me to pilot a shuttle almost blind through that mess?” Brandis stabbed a stubby finger at the panel displaying the screaming gales on the surface of Faranor Zeta III.
Hart and Verden shrugged simultaneously.
“Holy banana breath.” sighed Brandis.

Next Chapter

 

THIS IS AWSOME I personally think this should part of a book series or something....I think the story is AWSOME and I like how you included some pixel art for the charter catwalk and thank you for entertaining me

 

Thanks Joe! I appreciate your support

 

CHAPTER TEN
________________________

The shuttle jounced hard as it hit yet another wind shear. Brandis' teeth snapped together with the shock, almost biting her tongue, and Hart hit the ceiling with a soft 'clank'. “Careful!” he yelped.
Brandis turned sharply to avoid another blast of wind. “Hold yer bolts. These wind shifts are hardly showin' on the scanners with all this flyin' silica!”
“At least you have a seat!” Hart complained, renewing his grip on the back of Verden's chair. There was barely room for him to stand behind the shuttle's two seats. To make things worse, everyone was strapped with equipment, and loose boxes were crammed into every spare space.
Brandis swatted at a small box marked 'Explosives!' that had shifted onto her nav panel after the last jolt.
“Nearly there! The shields have just dropped and we're passing the perimeter.”
The hissing of sand against the hull lessened as she reduced their velocity. As they neared the ground, they heard the occasional 'tak!' as a larger piece of matter hit their hull. Brandis brought the shuttle to a sandstill mid-air, although the front window still showed nothing but dim yellow sunlight and sand flurries. Then the sand fell away from them like a sheet of yellow cloth as the shield raised again. They were hovering in open, dusty air, inside a dome-shaped hole in the flying sand. Below them nestled a small collection of buildings and a landing pad where three floran vessels sat covered in dust. Huge fans roared to life, blowing the sand that had gathered on the buildings and ships while the shield was down. Just outside the shield were even larger fans, blowing at the piles of sand that would otherwise collect against the shield and bury the base.
“Did it work?” Verden was peering at the displays of at the quiet base below.
As he spoke, small puffs of smoke rose from a dozen places over the base.
“Indeed! Success!” Hart peered through the windscreen. His voice brimmed with excitement. “At least half the missiles made it through the sand, it looks like - and all these airborne particles masked their approach. A good spread of hits. The missile AI is even better than I anticipated – all the main buildings scored at least a few hits!”
Brandis looked worried. “But according to the scans, the base goes a little ways underground.”
Hart nodded “We will still have to be careful. But hopefully this will have dealt with the bulk of our adversaries. We must move quickly though, before the surprise wears off!”
Brandis brought the tiny shuttle in to land on an empty portion of the landing pad, then slipped on her gas mask. It made her feel half-suffocated, but the powerful gas the injection-missiles had sprayed inside the base after they speared through the walls might affect them even outside on the landing pad.
They leapt out of the shuttle, guns ready and pointed at the door of the nearest building. But it was quiet except for the howl of the winds outside the shield.
“Quick, Verden, which one is your vessel?” Hart executed a combat roll and took cover against the side of their shuttle.
Verden pointed to the smallest of the floran craft, and they ran towards it, zigzagging just as Hart had instructed. But as they neared the vessel, Brandis slowed. “Ah crumbs.” she exclaimed into her sweaty gas mask. Up close it was clear the vessel had been partially dismantled. Open panels showed gaping holes where computers and machinery should sit. Through the windows they could see hanging wires. Verden climbed swiftly up side of this ship, using the open panels as handholds, and peered into the bridge. “The main computer system has been removed.” The floran jumped back down to Brandis and Hart as though the four metre drop was just an unusually long stair step. “They must have taken it inside to work on the encryption.”
“What? We're entering the base?” hissed Brandis.
Hart shrugged. “I had hoped we would not have to, but the gas will work for some time yet. I had planned for this circumstance.”
Against Brandis' whispered protests, he led them to the large door nearby. It was obviously the entrance to some sort of cargo bay. He placed the small door hacking device against the control panel, and after a few button presses, the door hissed open.
Brandis cringed at the doorframe until she saw Hart yell 'Clear!' and walk boldly into the cargo bay. Brandis followed, but stalled when she spotted the crumpled forms of at least a dozen unconscious florans, collapsed on the floor next to their rifles. “Looks like they'd set up a welcoming committee.” she muttered.
Verden crouched next to a floran with long yellow petals, and slapped it lightly on the face. “Out cold.” Picking up a rifle, Verden added “At least these are stun weapons. They were still determined to capture me alive.”
“Yes but this seems like overkill to pay off a bounty hunter. I doubt they intended to go through with our deal.” Hart headed for the back of the hanger, Pinstorm pistol at the ready. “We'll have to search the main complex to find the ship's computer. Are you ready?”
“Nope!” Brandis remarked under her breath, but Hart was already opening the door.

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