“This is the least exciting part of the job, the walking around and asking folks questions. Hope you’re up for it.”

“My last job had long periods of waiting around, I think I can handle this.” 

Zenith nods. 

“Xenon, sleep mode.” The S.T.E.E.R. softly lands and turns off the engine but the rig remains assembled. 

The duo gets to visiting various businesses and some personal homes to ask about who they seek. The majority of the residents make it a point that they don’t pay much attention to whoever lands here. Others simply say they didn’t notice. But a few are selectively silent on the matter but one helpful Epetdrntam suggests they head to a little saloon at the edge of town. 

With the first hint they’ve gotten they make their way over. 

It’s a bit more run-down than the other buildings in the town. Perhaps it’s just older but a few of the holes in the side panels and scratches seem to be from living beings. The sign above the door translates into “The Ellipsis.” 

Inside they see a few customers, each at their own table and working on their own drinks. No music plays and the atmosphere is deprived of any levity. 

“What’ll ya have?” The bartender asks the human. 

“Bit of information if you can spare it,” she answers. 

“Part of the job,” he supplies back. 

“You seen an Ardenlev by the name of Lex The Trident?” 

The bartender, an Oers, tenses up immediately. His furry long ears point up, a clear sign of stress in his species. 

“N-no, can’t say as I have. Never heard of ‘im.”

“I uh, don’t believe you?” Zenith says.

“W-why not?” 

“You’re clearly scared of somethin’, makes me think that you aren’t being honest. Sorry.” 

The bartender darts his red eyes upward, pointing with them. 

“I ain’t seen no fella by that name and there ain’t no one like that staying here.”

Zenith picks up on the hint, unlatching her holster buckle. 

“I gotta say,” a noticeably high voice starts to say “that wasn’t very subtle of ya. Thought we’s was friends.” The being it belongs to is none other than an Ardenlev. “Might kill ya after this.”

Upon seeing a natural enemy of her species, all the hairs on Ealnem’s body stand at attention. An almost instinctual effect takes over as she straightens her back and balls her four fists. Her eyes lock onto him. 

“I take it you’re Lex The Trident?” Zenith inquires. 

The Ardenlev in question is dressed, somewhat hastily, or perhaps just lazily. Clad in white plexi-leather, his clothes are in stark contrast with his obsidian black skin. A thin shirt half tucked into his pants is mostly unbuttoned to let his porous skin breathe. A wide-brim hat tilted to the side to shield his wide eyes that almost sit on both sides of his head. Tailored boots that have been crudely modded in some way.

His jacket does a poor job concealing his armaments. A bandolier across his chest houses numerous bullets of varying types and a powerful hand cannon; a prototype weapon he stole on his third job. The megacorporation that developed it cannot go after him for stealing it as its specs are in violation of several galactic treaties. Whether he was aware of that when he stole it or knows it now remains unclear. 

He takes his weapon out from its holster and scratches his large, protruding ear with it. A clear threat, if an incredibly unsafe thing to do. 

“Might I ask who’s wondering?” He says with venom in his voice. 

Zenith remains undeterred.

“My name’s Zenith Gee, I’m a bounty hunter and I’m here for you.”

He spins his gun around. The prototype weapon was originally labeled The 916 Turbine by the Hippocampus Group. While it can fire standard kinetic slugs, its unique function makes it especially deadly. The weapon was designed to primarily eject rounds from energy cartridges, storing a bit of energy from each one in the firing mechanism; essentially making the weapon more powerful over time. Its upper limits are theoretical as the research couldn’t continue. It can potentially pierce the energy shield of a dreadnought class ship if it can withstand the energy storage. This makes personal energy shields almost worthless against it. Though Lex doesn’t fully understand this design principle he has noticed the weapon becoming stronger as he’s used it. 

He has since named it Anthrax. 

Because of its top-secret development, Zenith doesn’t have any knowledge of the weapon but her trained eyes can tell it’s not at all a standard shooter. All the more reason she has to stop him. 

He stops spinning the gun that simply by existing could start another intergalactic war. 

“On what charges?”

“Thirty-six counts of murder, eighteen counts of armed robbery, a-” Zenith starts to list off his crimes but Lex doesn’t seem particularly interested as he takes aim with his gun. Zenith pushes the bartender back and flings herself backward while grabbing Ealnem. Lex shoots and narrowly misses. 

The shot fired is a metal slug, having missed the bartender it goes through the floor and hits the indestructible crust underneath. It ricochets and goes through the roof. 

The few patrons of the saloon now start to panic, trying to flee. Lex fires off two more shots toward Zenith and Ealnem who use tables as cover. Despite the bounty hunter continuing to list off his crimes, his shots don’t find their marks. 

“Why are you still telling him all that?!” Ealnem asks while a bullet nearly hits her lower right arm. 

“He has a right to know what he’s under arrest for,” Zenith says, matter-of-factly. She is calm as she lists off the rest of his crimes. Lex walks over to the front door. 

Now that she’s done with his crimes Zenith reaches for her guns. 

“You can swallow your pride and come quietly or let your ego blind you; but you will be brought in. I wanna help you, will you let me?” Zenith asks. 

Lex responds with a slug whizzing inches from her head. 

The human doesn’t flinch. 

She has her answer. 

Zenith deeply exhales as her hands rest on top of her guns. The anxious energy around her disappears and cold, hard focus arises. 

She quickly turns and kicks the table she was hiding behind. With the low gravity, it goes flying toward Lex who manages to jump out of the way through the door. 

“I’ll compensate you later!” she says to the bartender. 

The bounty hunter chases after Lex and predicts he’ll be ready and waiting outside. 

As she exits, she jumps and twists in the air, dodging a bullet that would’ve found its way into her lung. She rolls as she hits the hard crystal floor, ignoring the pain from the impact she brings her bracelet up to her mouth. 

“Energy shields up!” She commands. Lex has to reload his gun. Ealnem exits the saloon as the bracelet Zenith gave her lights up. A dome of exponentially rapid shifting energy forms in front of the Nogailma and the human. The shield shifts from one form to another so quickly that it can’t be seen but provides ample protection from most forms of energy rounds. 

Ealnem moves over to the side while Lex is focused on Zenith. 

“Last chance, Lex!” Zenith shouts, her hands hovering over her guns. The Ardenlev responds by sharply whistling. 

“COME ON OUT, FELLAS!” He shouts. 

From the top floors or roofs of the building across the way emerge several beings, all armed with weapons. They aim at the bounty hunter. 

“Take cover!” Zenith says to Ealnem while ducking behind a fruit cart. 

The summoned crew opens fire as Ealnem rushes behind a building. 

“Xenon, come here and rear up!” Zenith says into her bracelet. It beeps back, signaling that her S.T.E.E.R is en route. As shots ring out from all directions, the town erupts into chaos. Folks scream and run around looking for safety. Zenith hopes that none of them get hurt in the crossfire and steels herself to end this. 

Ealnem peeks out to see Lex run into one of the buildings, presumably to load his gun with energy cartridges. Metal slugs can be fired immediately from most guns, but energy cartridges can take some time to cycle up, a drawback for their various advantages. 

“Lex went into the red building with the green trim,” the Nogailma shares. 

“Thanks, I’ll end this quick,” Zenith replies. Just then Xenon strides by her side. With this tactic programmed into it, the S.T.E.E.R travels in front of her. The bounty hunter walks into the middle of the road. Xenon rears up, blasting more gravity at its front. 

The shooters up top fire at the rig, but the gravity engine deflects the metal slugs and dissipates the energy rounds. Zenith waits patiently for her moment. 

The shooters are amateurs, they all started shooting at the same time and thus need to reload at the same time.

Xenon rears down and moves to the side.

 Zenith’s eyes swiftly scan over all the shooters. 

There are ten in total. 

Then Ealnem sees it, how the famed bounty hunter earned her reputation.

With incredible speed she pulls out Bone and Vapor, her twin 8-shot revolvers and less than a second later makes her shots. 

She releases 12 slugs with extraordinary precision. 10 fling the weapons out of the hands of the shooters, 2 in the shoulders of the ones that were close to firing again. She ejects her spent rounds and replaces them in one smooth motion. 

The cacophony of unruly gunfire is silenced by the masterful shots of Zenith. 

“Any further action against me and I’ll be forced to arrest you,” the bounty hunter says to the defeated group. “You two, get them medical attention,” she picks the two closest to the shooters she injured. “The rest of y’all, go make sure the folks in these buildings are okay. Understood?”

The unarmed attackers seem to understand that while they had her outnumbered, she has them hopelessly outmatched. They all nervously nod to her commands and get moving. 

“And try not to associate with fellas like Lex, okay?” She adds. “You’ll end up hurting more than just yourselves.”

They all murmur in agreement. Zenith nods, hoping that got through to them. Ealnem walks over to the bounty hunter, a mixture of awe, respect, and a little fear forms in her after the demonstration of her skills. 

But the fear goes away when Zenith shyly smiles at her for a moment. 

“I try to give everyone a second chance,” she says. 

‘It’s more than they deserve,’ Ealnem wants to say, but doesn’t want to disrespect her sentiment so instead says,

“Here’s hoping they don’t waste it.” Zenith nods again and focuses up. 

“Let’s get Lex.” She steps closer to the building he ducked into when a figure flies out, colliding with her. The human falls back, hard; and Ealnem just barely gets out of the way. She goes to get Zenith up while looking at the figure. 

It’s Lex, floating in the air. The crude modifications on his boots are anti-gravity propellers. He aims his dangerous weapon, now loaded with plasma rounds, at the duo. 

“MOVE!” Zenith yells. The Nogailma dives out of the way while Zenith rolls as fast as she can. 

The shot hits nothing but crystal which violently disrupts the energy, making it explode against the ground. The distance they covered wouldn’t have been enough to keep them safe but the energy shields absorbs the blast. 

Lex starts flying out of town. 

Zenith scrambles up and mounts her trusty Xenon. 

“Hop on!” She says to Ealnem who just got to her feet. 

“Go! You’ll be faster without me!” She starts running after Lex. Zenith urges her S.T.E.E.R forward to catch up with her bounty. 

The home planet of the Nogailmas, Xegchean, is a large rocky one with intense natural gravity. The beings that originate from there are physically stronger because of it. Though she hasn’t been there in quite some time, Ealnem still remembers the days and nights she spent running through open fields and plains for the sheer fun of it. And her body still remembers. 

With the speed of a predator after prey, she sprints after Lex, closing an alarming amount of distance between them in very little time. Zenith, seeing that Ealnem has a surprising skill of her own, adjusts Xenon to only support herself. The S.T.E.E.R. goes faster without the additional weight. 

Lex’s boots, though crudely made, are effective. And he has a head start. He dares a quick look back to see he hasn’t lost them. 

At first, he was heading to the landing area where his ship probably was parked but with them so close behind, there’s no guarantee he’d be able to take off without getting caught. He turns to head to another town far off in the distance. 

The duo turns to keep after him, losing only a bit of speed. 

Flying at this speed without proper protection is dangerous, but Lex the Trident didn’t gain all his notoriety by playing it safe. He turns, flying blindly backward to shoot at either of them. 

His first shot is aimed at the bounty hunter, who already veers out of the way by the time he pulls the trigger. The plasma round explodes harmlessly against the crystal ground, nowhere near Zenith. He then aims at Ealnem, perhaps noticing her for the first time. He shoots but the Nogailma leaps high into the air, avoiding the blast completely, and hits the ground running, literally. 

Lex takes more potshots, but none touch his pursuers who are getting closer.

They all get to the outskirts of the town. 

He knows he lost too much speed flying backward to aim at them so he turns again and tries to make his boots go into high gear. 

But that exact moment was what Zenith was waiting for. He slows to turn around and she takes aim. Not at him but at the ground slightly ahead. 

Performing some preposterous trigonometry, Zenith fires, and her slug ricochets off the crystal and clips a conductor on Lex’s boot. 

Even the most boorish anti-grav technology has paired failsafes, if one malfunctions the other will stop. Unfortunately for Lex, he was flying at a high speed in a horizontal position over the hardest known substance in the universe. 

He falls and ungraciously rolls into town, immediately causing chaos in the populace that was milling about. 

Ealnem hopes the fall would take the fight out of him, but as soon as he slows to a stop he has his gun aimed at Zenith. 

The bounty hunter sees this and knows she doesn’t have time to turn.

“Xenon, stable!” She commands as she jumps off the rig. The human soars through the air as the S.T.E.E.R disassembles itself. The energy round Lex fires off narrowly misses her foot. The rig turns back into its crate form and slides across the ground. Zenith lands with a somersault on a roof of a personal home but doesn’t have time to rest as Lex gets another shot ready. She manages to outrun a shot that punches a sizable hole through the prepackaged building, revealing a half-dressed gentleman to the elements. Zenith continues to run and jumps to another rooftop, dodging shot after shot, each increasing in diameter. 

Pt. 2 End