Chapter Text
Landing on Iyama was simple enough . Despite the entire planet having once been a thriving ecumenopolis, people had condensed to more reasonably sized cities. These settlements were now connected by a sea of concrete jungles with no native wildlife to reclaim the wreckage. A single building stuck out in the sea of twenty story tombstones. An old factory, now in ruins, on the outskirts of the capital. My ship landed on the roof of the factory with a dull thud. Discrete landings often meant forgoing official docking areas. The last thing the mission needed was a tip off from a bureaucrat with some extra credits in their pockets. My hood on my cloak was pulled up as I stepped into the cold wind whipping between the abandoned buildings. In the distance the lights of the Old Empire’s capital shone.
The Guild intel placed my target in the city. An interesting choice by my target, given what they were accused of. Keeping a brisk pace, I figured I could make it to the capital in roughly a night’s journey. The plan was simple enough, dart between buildings to avoid anybody or anything that decided to pick through the ruins. What I had failed to consider was that the locals were better at hiding from the rest of the galaxy than I was.
“Traveler, please wait!” I took a deep breath and turned around to see a young emerald pellucid. “Traveler, please, my family needs help. You look like you are a good hunter. Yes?”
“Of sorts, but I-”
“Then you simply must help!” the pellucid interrupted. “A monster took something very important from my family!”
“Then if you know what is good for you kid, you’ll keep it down. All that damn yelling is going to attract anything looking for a snack." Rather than let myself be caught up in whatever nonsense this kid was spouting, I turned to leave. That was until a hand grabbed the back of my cloak.
“Can you at least get me home, traveler?” I resigned myself to what I was about to do.
“Sure kid.” The pellucid’s eyes lit up and they pointed towards their home.
“It’s this way.” The direction the kid pointed wasn’t backtracking for me, but it also wouldn’t take me closer to my destination.
“What kind of monster is this anyway?” I asked.
“It’s big and it likes to eat metals.” Well that didn’t narrow things down at all. The few kinds of wildlife left on the planet either ate inorganics, organic waste, or people. As we made our the way through the ruins, the feeling of being watched started to become impossible to ignore. From behind a wall I heard a whirring sound. Thinking fast, I grabbed the kid and jumped out of the way as a massive, spiderlike robot crashed through the wall of the building we had been moving through. Worse still, a piercing scream like scraping stones against each other came from the kid. Damn it, this wasn’t one of Iyama’s beasts it was a fucking rouge scrap collector. They had been commissioned by the Old Empire in an attempt to clean up the ruins across Iyama.
“Hey, kid, take my robe and get somewhere safe.” A tracking device inside the pocket of my cloak was turned on as the robes fell over the pellucid’s shoulders. The young pellucid gawked at the three robotic fingers on my left hand. “Stop staring, and get out of here!” I pulled the kid back to their feet and made sure they were moving before turning my attention back to the scrap collector. A red eye atop the spiderlike machine scanned the room. To keep its attention on me, I bashed the pommel of a hidden blade on a nearby hunk of rusted metal. Sensing the movement and noise, the collector’s attention was fully on me now. For a machine four times my size, the damn thing moved incredibly fast. The bottom of of its body opened up to reveal two additional arms that tore into the metal behind me. The bits of scrap being shoved into a compartment inside the collector. Whatever programming this thing was following, it no longer made a distinction between biological and manufactured parts to collect anymore.
Rather than sticking around to find out what the inside looked like, I saw my chance to put some distance between myself and the collector. Sprinting out the massive hole in the wall, the decision was easy, lead it away from my ship and from the direction the kid was heading. The process of luring the collector away was made easy by the various nooks and crannies that made up the abandoned industrial district. Make noise, hide, find an opening to retreat, repeat. It wasn’t until I had found a large factory that the opportunity to escape presented itself. Throwing open the large shipping door the collector now had a “feast” that was more enticing than continuing to chase me. Putting some space between myself and the collector, I retrieved my tracking display.
The kid had stopped moving about halfway through my trek. As I approached the destination I heard the faint sound of celebration. What appeared to once be some kind of repurposed shipping facility was now a thriving community. The loading bay was alight with people celebrating the return of the kid. Not one to leave behind my gear, I approached the building. As soon as I appeared from the darkness the music cut off abruptly. Every eye in the room drifted to one of two places. The collar around my neck, a gift from Station 86. The rest looked at my three robotic fingers, a gift from the Mystic Order.
“Traveler! You’re back!” The voice of the kid cut the silence. Before the young pellucid could get close, they were stopped by their parent, an amethyst pellucid. The reaction was... expected. The regularity of the response didn’t make it hurt any less.
“Just coming to get my cloak back, kid, that’s all.” I scanned the crown looking for a leader of some kind. An elderly human stepped forward, long hair gray with a beard to match. They gave a small nod to the band, the celebration would continue momentarily.
“Perhaps, Nomad, we could speak privately? Your things shall be returned, I assure you.” I gave a nod in response and disappeared around the side of the building where things were quieter and darker. I didn’t have to wait for long as the elder reappeared with my cloak. I quickly took it back and wrapped up again to protect myself from the cold night air. “You have an impressive beard, I must say. Reminds me of my own when I was younger.” The elder found a comfortable spot to lean on the wall next to me. “Thank you, Nomad, for helping the young one get home safe. Please forgive the looks, the people here forget that they have pasts just as checkered as your own I’m sure.”
I pushed myself off the wall, “I should get going.”
“Please, Nomad, wait,” the elder pleaded, “That collector... it’s different from the others we’ve seen. I think your skills are exactly what we need.”
“I’ve already wasted too much of my time. You’ll need to find someone else.” The elder sighed, and rushed to catch up. Putting a hand on my shoulder. Against my better judgement I stopped.
“At least let us give you some food and a place to rest. It’s almost dawn, and you look like you’ve been awake for a while.” Scanning the horizon that peeked between buildings, I realized they were right, the sun was coming up, and I needed some rest. I gave my acceptance with a nod. Following the elder back to the celebration seemed to keep the locals enough at ease around me. The elder guided us to a ghol with ramlike horns, who was stirring a large pot of soup. He would occasionally take a sip before adjusting the seasoning.
“Hello, elder, our guest is staying the night then?”
“Yes, I wanted to give him proper thanks.” A crude bowl of repurposed aluminum was produced and a ladle of stew was poured into it. The broth was rich and complex, as if it was trying to make up for the less than flavorful vegetables that made up the body of the stew. As our path through the commune continued, the elder led us to a private room covered with a green tapestry. “I’ll let you use my private chambers tonight. The communal sleeping area might not be the most comfortable for you, I take it.” The chambers were simplistic. A cot on the floor and a small shrine that made me tense up. “Ah that... please Nomad, rest easy. I left the Mystic Order long ago. That’s just here for me to focus my thoughts during troubled times. Please rest, I have preparations to make for the morning.”
The elder took some books with them as they left. I had never been one to protest a warm bed, and I quickly drifted off to sleep. My sleep was not a restful one however. The same memories came back to the surface, planning the heist, the Mystic Order finding us, the fallout being pinned on me. Djed, selling me out. Again I was back on Station 86, the burning in my neck where the collar attached. Another shock from the warden jolted me awake in a cold sweat. From the sounds outside the room, people were moving quickly, making last minute preparations for a hunt. I gathered my precision scope laser rifle, hidden blade, and padded armor. The plan was to slip away in the fervor of preparation. The elder seemed to have known that I was planning on leaving and caught me at the edge of the settlement.
“I don’t expect you to change your mind, Nomad, but it’s not too late to help us.” I pulled my cloak tighter.
“Sorry, elder, my answer is still the same.”
“I understand Nomad,” the elder sighed, “If you ever change your mind. I will keep a spot at the table open for you.” With the elder’s blessing I made my way. Well not necessarily to my destination. I don’t know if it was curiosity or some kind of loyalty, but I decided to follow the hunting party at a distance. The collector had made a very easy to follow trail of destruction. The hunting party was so focused on the collector, they didn’t even notice as I trailed behind. The first amateur mistake of many I would come to witness. Eventually the group tracked the collector to another factory where it seemed to be making a nest of some kind? Rather unusual for a robot of this kind. One member of the group broke off to scale a taller building nearby. It was my opportunity to do the same.
I found a vantage point directly opposite where the scout for the party had broken away. The scope on my rifle was all I needed to see what the group was getting up to. The elder instructed the hunting party to fan out. Three members made their way to the east and three more moved out to the west, finding broken walls to hide behind. The elder took point and approached the massive pile of scrap and discarded machines. Something seemed off though. Everything was too quiet as the elder began to dig through the pile. My concern was quickly pushed away as the elder found what they were looking for.
The elder pulled out the hilt of a lightblade. My chest tightened and phantom pain shot up from the three missing fingers on my left hand. I felt my trigger finger instinctively squeeze, but before my shot could fire the pile of junk exploded. The collector had burst out and I lost track of the elder. The group flanking to the east called out for the elder and began firing their blasters at the collector. Those morons had completely blown their cover and now they were being charged at by a massive machine. Their shots rang out, unable to slow down the collector. As the machine reared up, preparing to grab one of the hunting party with the arms from its underside, a blade of pure energy sliced through the back legs of the collector knocking it over. As the collector flailed, the elder jumped onto its back cutting open a hole in the armor to give the other flanking party clean shots into the innards of the collector. Just as quickly as this fight had begun it seemed to be over. The six members of the hunting party reconvened with the elder and started the search for whatever it was they actually came here for. What the group didn’t see as their search continued was that the legs that had been cut off by the elder were being reconnected.
As soon as the collector was functional, a process that seemed to have gone impossibly fast, the collector’s leg swiped at the hunting party. Hurling the elder and two others in different directions. The four members left standing looked to the elder for any advice on what to do. It was clear that no response was coming. From the building across from me the lookout made a signal for retreat. Finally having orders from someone got the four into gear as they began coaxing the collector away, not unlike how I had the night before. As the sound of metallic clanging and rumbling grew distant, the watcher ran down to collect her two injured companions and the body of the elder. Some quick first aid was applied to get everyone moving.
It was at that point I had decided that I had seen enough. My rifle was stashed under my cloak and my journey towards the capital had resumed, after all I was here for a contract. In fact, there was no point in helping those amateurs. If the collector’s surprise had hit me, they would have just left me for dead with that same disgusted stare I was greeted with. The code was clear. Don’t get attached. The Guild doesn’t deal in good deeds.