The Deal

While Akira carried Pako out of his house, far away in the depths of space, the captain of a bandit group sat in front of a hologram communicator, waiting for a certain someone to contact him. The guy was big and beefy with two short tusks flanking the bottom of his jaw. His whole body was covered in tattoos.

"I don't think she is going to contact us," his subordinate, a blue-skinned female humanoid, said. She wore tattered, dirty clothes, and like her captain, she also had tattoos all over her body, including the top half of her bosom that was poking out of her tight vest.

The room the two were in was round and was covered in snaking pipes and cables. There was hardly any light.

"She will," the captain said in a husky voice. "They need that thing more than we need money."

"Still--" the blue-skinned alien started. But a pillar of grey light appeared in the center of the room. Then, a second later, a see-through figure of a cloaked person materialized.

"We have been waiting for you," the captain said and stood up, towering over the blue-skinned girl.

"And we have been waiting for you to deliver us the stone," the cloaked figure said. Her voice was full of dignity but still free from any harshness. "We had had a deal."

"Somebody backstabbed us," the captain said. "We know the planet where he took it. We'll get it back from him. Give us some more time."

"My master hates waiting," the woman said. "We gave you a chance, and you failed and wasted our precious time. It will be better if you'll tell us where it is. So that we can go and get it on our own."

"Sure. I don't mind that," the captain said. "Pay us the remaining half."

"We'll pay after retrieving it."

"No," the captain barked. "Money first. Information later. We don't trust you."

"But we did trust you. We paid you half in ad--"

"Don't give me that crap." The captain had now balled his fist. "I told you. My men will get the stone back. Just give us some time. If you can't give us that, then give use the money and I'll tell you where the stone is."

"We can't give you any more mon--"

"Then cut this crap and wait for us to retrieve it back."

"Fine. But this will be your last chance," the cloaked figure said. "Don't break our trust this time. You know what we are capable of."

"I know. I know." The captain waved his hand. "I've heard the news. Grevat no longer exists."

"That's right," the cloaked figure said. "Then I don't--"

The cloaked women's image flickered, and she dissapeared. The captain had shut the link. "Bitch is eating my ears."

His brown-skinned subordinated looked at him, horrified.

"Don't worry, Lesa," the captain said. "Universe is big. The alliance failed to locate us in these many years. Do you think a bunch of terrorist wannabes will be able find us?"

"Still--" the blue-skinned girl started but was cut off by a thin guy who burst into the comms room.

"Bad news. Bad news," the thing guy shouted, breathing hard.

"Now what?" the captain asked, glaring at thin guy.

"The masked guy who destroyed our attack drone," the thin guy said, cowering away from the big captain, "is now one of the ten holy knights."

The captain lumbered up to the thin guy and lifted him by his neck. "Is this a joke?"

"No, sir." The thin guy choked out. "I'm being completely honest."

"I think we should give up on getting the stone back," Lesa said.

"NO." The captain continued to choke the thin guy.

"We can't go against a holy knight!" Lesa was now jumping on the balls of her toes. "This is a suicide mission."

"We won't be fighting him," the captain said and let go off the thin guy's neck.

"Then how will we get the stone back?" Lesa asked.

"Don't worry." The captain turned around and started walking out of the comms room. "I have a plan."