Chapter 22 : Cannons

"I apologize for coming late," said Axion.

"It's alright. I heard the story," said Admiral Maskmana. "Today, we're going to learn about weaponries inside our Astra spaceship. Lucky for me, Lahap has already mastered his spaceship study for this semester. He'll give you a tour of the spaceship weaponries and I'll give you a review after class. Feel free to ask me if you need anything."

"Yes, Admiral!" said the team with a salute.

"Axion, a moment," said Admiral Maskmana, stopping Axion from following her team.

"What is it?" Axion asks.

Kaizo glances back in suspicion at Axion before he leaves the room.

"I need you to tend to something," said Admiral Maskmana. "I received several reports about an increasing number of missing aliens," said Admiral Maskmana.

"Missing aliens?" Axion mumble.

"Yes," Admiral Maskmana nod.

He showed various documents on the spaceship's holographic screen. List of reported missing aliens spread around the room. Axion takes a quick scan on the computer. Sight reading case reports.

"You want me to investigate this?" Axion asks.

"Yes."

"Hmmm… I assume this is going to be our team's next mission then?" said Axion.

"Indeed."

"Why?" Axion asks.

"Why?" Admiral Maskmana asks back in a confused tone.

Axion folded her arms. "These kinds of cases are usually the Intergalactic police's field of work. Stations like Astraeus, TAPOPS or TEMPUR-A hardly take this kind of job unless it involves someone with an important position or item with great importance. I'm not saying Intergalactic police only work on small easy cases. But unless there's some specific reason, stations like us don't usually act," said Axion.

"You're right. The intergalactic police have been working on this case for a while. But they couldn't solve it. They couldn't find any lead and the missing alien case keeps rising," said Admiral Maskmana. "That's the main reason. The other reason is, they thought since you're a bounty hunter, maybe you can find something that could help with the investigation."

"I see…." Axion reply.

"How long do you need to get prepared?" Admiral Maskmana asks.

"Three days is minimum. One week is better. Less than that, I can't guarantee the result," Axion folds her arm. "I'm pretty proud of my capabilities. But I want to be sure and take down as many risks as possible," said Axion.

"I understand. Once you're done gaining information, you can report to me and I'll make this your team official mission," said Admiral Maskmana. "It's about time you move without my instruction."

"Understood," Axion replied.

Axion walks out the room and she immediately rejoins her team.

"Axion, where have you been? You almost missed the fun part," said Rum as she tries out the space cannon.

"Just the toilet," said Axion.

Kaizo looked at her, wondering about her conversation with Maskmana.

"You��re supposed to train your aiming. Not just randomly shooting!" said Lahap, protesting at Rum.

"I am aiming. Just you see… I never miss," said Rum. She aims the asteroid stone and begins to shoot.

"Don't waste our ammo!" Lahap protested again after Rum shot a few rounds.

Rum stopped. She looked out and smiled. "What do you think?" She confidently asks.

The whole team looked at the giant asteroid Rum just shot. A rough sculpture of a smiling face can be seen on the asteroid's surface.

"Did you just make a smiley face on a rock?" Ramenman asked.

"Yep. Pretty accurate, right?" said Rum.

Axion burst into laughter. Ramenman follows with chuckles.

"Unbelievable. You just waste our ammo for that?" said Lahap.

"Hey, you told me to practice my aim," Rum shrugs. "Who else can precisely carve an art with cannons like me?" said Rum.

"No, no. She's right. Making "art" like this needs precision," said Ramenman as he tried to hold his laughter.

Lahap looked at them in disbelief.

Admiral Maskmana looked at them from behind the door. He nods in approval before he returns to the ship's command room.

"By the way, did you get in trouble for coming late?" ask Ramenman.

"Not really. You guys did well explaining about what happened in the cafeteria so he let me off easily," said Axion.

"Anytime," said Rum as she jumped off from the cannon station.

"My turn?" said Axion.

"Sure," Rum replied.

Axion hops on the cannon station and begins aiming scattered asteroids.

"Milt might get in trouble because we tell on her," said Ramenman.

"You think so?" ask Rum.

"I don't think Admiral is someone who would be bothered by petty things like this," said Axion as she shoots the cannon. "But if it goes overboard, he would probably act. After all, having bullies in the station is not good. Both for the station's cadet's quality and his reputation."

Suddenly they heard a loud explosion. Axion pulled her face from the aiming scope. She smiled. They all looked at the asteroid. The asteroid is slightly bigger than the one that Rum shot. A hole can be seen through the asteroid, making it seem like a donut with ragged edges.

"Huh. Impressive," said Kaizo.

"How did you do that?" ask Ramenman.

"By shooting the same spot over and over again," said Axion.

"Good work," said the Admiral who suddenly appeared behind them.

They make a line and give a salute.

"I think we had enough lessons for today. And enough making a mess," he said as he looks at the asteroids.

The team chuckled.

"Let's go back to the station," said Admiral Maskmana.

"Yes, sir!"