A

stream of brilliant light tore through the blackness of space. The bridge of the Avenger 076, a mercenary spacecraft, watched in curiosity as the light fell onto a nearby planet.

Captain Jim Bayrum slouched into his chair. No longer as young as he once was, the mercenary found it difficult to stay sharp after going thirty-six hours without sleep. He wearily glanced at the cup of coffee by the armrest. The coffee wasn’t doing its job. His heavy eyelids struggled to stay over his throbbing red eyes.

Ever since it had been discovered that the Judges did indeed exist, rich rewards were being offered left and right for the capture or killing of Judges. The bounties offered by the Federation were next to nothing compared to the riches being offered by the heads of the underworld. This hapless crew of money-hungry mercenaries happened to be one of many who had entered this great race to be the first to find the notorious Judges and their elusive hideout.

A young crewman responded to the captain, “Sensors detect abnormally high energy readings. It’s a teleportation stream.”
“Oh?” The captain’s interest was piqued. “Any kind of identification signature?”
The crewman shook his head and replied, “Nothing at all.”
“Nothing?” The captain’s eyes grew wide as he jumped out of his chair and clenched his fist. “Great, this could be it—our first big lead! Trace its origin now!”
The crewman tried to follow the captain’s orders. But as soon as he began checking the computer, his expression changed to bewilderment. “The trail…disappeared. The particles dispersed almost immediately.”
A grin managed to sneak upon Bayrum’s face. “Interesting. Very interesting.” Bayrum slumped back into his chair and let out a sigh. “Right now it could be anything. I want to thoroughly investigate this. Pinpoint the destination of the light. Oh, and tell Sorren to get up here.”
“No need.” Sorren entered the bridge. “I came as soon as I saw the light.”
Fear struck deep in the hearts of the crew as Sorren walked into the bridge. His dark gray robe, tied with a cloth belt at the waist, draped to the floor, swaying side to side as he walked forward. A large hood covered his face, making it hard to see what his visage. “I want you to check it out,” said Jim. “Hopefully, we’ll have our first target.” Bayrum rubbed his chin a bit. “Do you mind handling this on your own? I don’t have crew to spare. I’ll need all my men to investigate the possible origin of the stream.”
“I work better alone anyway,” said Sorren.
“I’m glad that won’t be a problem.” Bayrum looked Sorren in the eye. “Our scans of the surface aren’t showing much aside from ruins. The planet may very well be deserted. Just do a brief search of the area. We’ll be back in a week to pick you up. Is that enough time?”
Sorren headed for the elevator. “I’ll see what I can do.” After Sorren had left the room, the tense atmosphere that filled the bridge was lifted, and all of the crewmembers heaved a collective sigh, relieved that he was gone.
One of the crewmen said to Captain Bayrum, “I don’t see why you had to go and hire an assassin like him.”
Captain Bayrum laughed heartily. “I’ve worked with him several times in the past. He has never let me down. He might seem unpleasant at first, but he’s really not that bad once you get to know him.”

Sorren stood motionless in the descending elevator. The elevator doors were crystal clear, allowing him to look through each and every floor as he went. Each floor of the ship was long and fairly wide but there were only seven floors in total from top to bottom.

Originally a small cargo ship, the Avenger 076 had been refitted for general mercenary use. The overall structure of the ship was simple in design, shaped almost like a rectangular solid. Some of the cargo space inside had been sacrificed to make room for more living space to house a larger crew. For combat situations, the entire hull was reinforced from the inside out and the exterior had multiple camouflaged turrets. Most of the ship was lightly armored to maximize agility. The seemingly defenseless appearance allowed it to be seen as an average cargo ship. Heavier plates of armor were secured around the bridge and the engine room, which the crew had considered to be the most vital components.

The elevator came to a halt and the elevator door opened. Sorren walked into the docking bay, which was bustling with activity. The bay was only able to accommodate a handful of space fighters and shuttles.

The space fighters they had on board were Fuzers, which were typical among mercenary circles. They were easily identifiable by its butterfly-like design. The fragile spherical cockpit was nestled safely between two thick boomerang-shaped wings.

Despite the craft’s odd-looking design, the main reason for their popularity was because Fuzers were perfect for the growing needs of a mercenary. Buying a Fuzer was affordable and easy. Though their starting performance was poor, mercenaries could constantly refit the ships with upgrades as they worked their way up. More importantly, mercenaries could modify Fuzers to deal with specific scenarios. However, it was practically only used by mercenaries because, in the long run, it proved to be far too time consuming for anyone else to consistently upgrade the ship to acceptable levels of performance.

They only had four Fuzers in the bay. Though the ships were few, the ardent mechanics worked feverishly to ensure that each and every ship was in perfect condition. As veteran mercenaries they knew all too well that scouring the unexplored regions of space could lead to unforeseen and dangerous circumstances. They had to be ready for anything: pirates, fugitives, rebels, terrorists, zealots, and maybe even…space monsters.

However, what they feared most in this forsaken region were the violent Anarchists. The Anarchists were a fearsome group of extremists. For some unknown reason, they had access to technologies far more advanced than anything in the Federation. Against any other foe, the mercenaries might be able to escape; however, to escape a fight from the Anarchists would be near impossible.

Sorren proceeded past the diligent workers and headed for his shuttle. He had left his shuttle at the very end of the docking bay, as close to the exit as possible. This was because Sorren wasn’t really cut out to be a pilot, and he knew that very well. If he were to steer his shuttle around the docking bay, it was quite possible for him to snap a wing off a Fuzer or even knock a few helpless mechanics into space.

An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he sat in the pilot’s seat and buckled himself in. Sorren glanced over to his left side and found his sword propped up against the wall.

The sword was his life. It was not a special sword by any means. In fact, he had just recently purchased it from a thrift shop. It didn’t matter what kind of sword it was; he just needed one by his side. It was his security blanket and he wouldn’t go anywhere without it.

His fears subsided and he took the shuttle into space. From the cockpit he could see a glimpse of the planet ahead. He was about to switch on the autopilot, but hesitated when he noticed a strange object shooting through space. He had a bad feeling about it.

Sorren initiated a comlink with the Avenger 076. “Command, are your sensors picking up anything? I think I see something—but it’s not showing up on radar.” Wary, Sorren eased up on the throttle and waited for a response from the captain.

“Our friend seems concerned,” Captain Bayrum said to his crew. “Does anyone have an answer for him?”
“Sorry,” one of his crewmen replied, “I don’t understand it myself. Whatever it is, it’s not showing up on our radars either. Should I bring up a visual?”
“Please do.”
A room-enveloping hologram was projected from the floor of the bridge and the entire bridge became like space itself. The mysterious object in question was revealed in the center of the room, near Captain Bayrum’s chair. It appeared to be a black, egg-shaped object, no greater than six yards in length. Its exterior was of a finely polished crystalline coating. On the front it had the basic design of the human eye etched in, and on the back was the engraving of a mouth.
Everyone on the bridge gawked at the object.
Captain Bayrum got up from his chair and broke the silence. “What is that thing?”
“It doesn’t look organic. Could be an artifact from the lost civilization of Erdaska,” said a mercenary uncertainly. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life before.”
“Sir.” A crewman stood up with a look of surprise. “We’re picking up a signal coming from the object.”
“A signal? Decode it immediately,” ordered the Captain.
“I can’t!” He hammered away at the computer, panicking. “That was the first thing I tried, but now it’s hacking into—”
The ship trembled. All the monitors of the bridge began flickering on and off. The displays, instead of performing their intending functions, now showed the face of a woman. A large glossy visor was over her eyes and a strange black chain was attached to her neck. The woman appeared to be cramped inside a dark cockpit.
“You cannot land on this planet.” A woman’s voice came from the speakers and it was believed to correspond to the woman on the screen, however, her lips did not move as she spoke. “Have your shuttle return to your ship.”
Bayrum was a little shaken at how eerie the whole encounter was. He regained his composure and said, “You have no authority over us.”
“Authority and law do not matter,” the woman said. “You cannot land here.”
Captain Bayrum paused and tried to think of the best way to approach this. “Is there any kind of deal we can strike? I’m sure we can work something out.”
“No,” said the woman. “Leave immediately…or face death. You have no options.”
“Are you threatening us?” snapped Bayrum. “We are citizens of the Federation! I suggest you leave us alone, unless you want to be in trouble with the Federation fleet.”
“The Federation? My apologies, then.” In an instant the woman’s face disappeared from all of the display screens, and the screens returned back to normal.
Captain Bayrum fell back into his chair. He wiped off the sweat from his brow and took a few deep breaths. “Now that wasn’t so bad. I thought for a moment there—”
A violent tremor ran across the entire ship. Sparks of electricity began bursting through all of the electrical systems. All the computers and lights shut off completely.
“A virus has terminated existing systems,” said the voice of the computer. “Emergency systems are now online and functional.” Red lights dimly lit up the bridge and the crew tried their best to remain calm in their state of fear.
The emergency communications was activated. “This is Sorren speaking. The black object is now pursuing me. Requesting back-up or further orders.”
“Keep going,” Bayrum said, “we’re coming to help.” Captain Bayrum then told the rest of his crew on the bridge, “Get those systems back online!” Everyone nodded in response and immediately began working on repairs.
The captain ran to the elevator. Since the power was down and the elevator door wouldn’t work, he kicked open the side hatch and slid down a long ladder that went all the way to the docking bay.
Dashing into the docking bay, Bayrum shouted, “Let’s go, let’s go!” He hollered as he ran toward his own Fuzer. “Let’s get these ships out of here now!”
The pilots answered the call of their captain. Captain Bayrum and three of his best pilots hopped into their ships, put on their helmets and locked themselves inside their cockpits. The Fuzers scrambled out of the docking bay like birds taking flight and they rocketed into space one after the other.
The space fighters slowly moved into a triangular formation and set their sights on Sorren’s location. With the full acceleration of their boosters, they managed to catch up to Sorren quite easily.
“Sorren,” said Captain Bayrum through the comlink, “we’ll cover you. Don’t look back. Just head for the planet.”
Sorren tried his best to ignore the strange spacecraft that hovered around him. An unnerving feeling crept over him. Sensing the danger, Sorren tried to squeeze as much power out of the engine as he could. It was risky to enter the atmosphere at full speed, but it was a risk he had to take. There was no telling what that black ship was capable of.
The Fuzers opened fire, blasting the mysterious craft with highintensity lasers. Every shot was smoothly reflected off the surface of the black ship. The black ship continued on, unscathed. However, the ship seemed annoyed by the Fuzers’ attempts to injure it and, all of a sudden, began maneuvering sporadically, as though it had lost control of its thrusters.
“Lasers have no effect,” said one of the pilots, “Time to try out the missiles.” He moved his Fuzer ahead and, with his excellent piloting skills, managed to keep up with the black ship despite its odd maneuvering.
“Watch it,” warned Bayrum, “don’t get too close!”
The black ship reversed its momentum, suddenly accelerating in the opposite direction. The mercenary didn’t see it coming. It was too late for the Fuzer to evade. As the black ship rammed into the Fuzer, the pilot screamed. In the blink of an eye, the Fuzer was shattered into space dust.
“Did you see that? It just ripped right through!” shouted a pilot, sounding deathly terrified.
“Don’t bother thinking about it,” Bayrum said. “Just blow it apart!”
“Roger that,” the pilots answered.
The remaining three Fuzers hastily surrounded the black ship and launched a round of their missiles, hoping to end the conflict in one blow. When the missiles got closer to the strange craft, the missiles began to decelerate as if time was slowing down; each and every missile that was fired came to a steady halt. It was then that a giant red net of energy could be seen floating around the black ship, ensnaring the missiles in its sticky web.
“What is that?” asked a bewildered pilot.
The net of energy grew in intensity. All the missiles exploded in unison, unleashing a massive, amplified shockwave that caught all three Fuzers off-guard and enveloped them in a breath of fire.
“AAAAAAAARGH! I-I CAN’T SEE!”
“IT’S COMING BACK! WATCH OUT!”
“TOO LATE! I CAN’T GET OUT OF THE WAY! I’M—” CHAPTER 7 Desert Nights