Chapter 6

Talkorr was a ship graveyard. The Planet's Surface was covered in the wrecks of hundreds of ships from dozens of races. There was scarcely a square mile of the surface not covered in debris of some kind. It made the planet a favorite place for Scavengers, Pirates, and the assorted detritus of intergalactic society to set up shop, as materials for repairs of damaged ships and equipment were plentiful and there were hundreds of places to hide in any given stretch of territory.

Arkillo was no different. A Vorn from the Planet of the same name out in Sector Six-Seventy-Four, Arkillo had grown up in the cutthroat society of that jungle world. The Vorn were, largely, nomadic tribes in their native territory, squabbling over resources and hunting grounds amongst each other. A predatory race, the Vorn were uniquely adapted to the Higher Gravity of their steaming jungle world. They had the strength to shatter mountains with their fists, and were just as durable, with the stamina to match. To compound matters, their fingers were tipped in razor-sharp claws, and their mouths were full of fangs and tusks.

In short, they were almost Saiyan-like in their capabilities, though most Vorn wouldn't be considered a match for anything more than Low-Class Saiyans. Arikillo was different, though. Where most Vorn preferred to go straight at you, attacking relentlessly and ruthlessly till you were dead, Arkillo was an Ambush Predator. A Serial Killer who operated in places like Space City Robinson, Thanalgar, the Capital City of Planet Thanagar, and Dashi on Planet Brench had to be sneaky by necessity. He would have long since been captured if he wasn't. His sneak attacks also had the propensity to instill terror in his prey, something that helped him as terror would make his prey commit mistakes.

It would also get him selected for the Sinestro Corps in the future, but that was neither here nor there. The point was that Arkillo had the sort of power that could alter the landscape if he put effort into it, but enough stealth capability to suppress that power to the point where it wouldn't show up on scanners like my scouter. All this was in the dossier that Shayera handed out to us to read over as we entered the Thalkorr system and began to approach the planet proper.

"Where are we landing?" Questioned Tros Karn.

"Barter Town. There's a small facility there that will let you dock if the credits are right." Answered Shayera.

"It's Talkorr, the place is lousy with scum. Are you sure they'll keep quiet?" Queried Darl Veld.

"If the credits are right? Yes. Barter Town's the closest thing Talkorr has to a legitimate settlement." Nodded Shayera.

"Meaning the scum are only part of the population instead of all of it." Scoffed Tros Karn.

"I'm not too worried about Barter Town. We can handle whatever they'll throw at us. What I am worried about is Arkillo. My Scouter is gonna be useless, and so are the scanners you guys have. I can sense power, but without a point of comparison, I won't be able to tell Arkillo apart from anywhere else." I warned.

"What do you mean you can sense Power?" Asked Shayera.

"The Temple taught me to sense the strength of opponents without needing a scanner or scouter. Like I said though, it's less precise and needs a point of comparison to pick out individual opponents." I reiterated.

"You know, you could've mentioned that beforehand. I could've worked it into the plan somehow." Pointed out Shayera.

"Sorry, Cap." I muttered, sheepishly.

"Don't go too hard on the kid, Shayera. He's new at this." Reminded Tros Karn.

"Still, it's good to know for future hunts." Added Darl Veld.

"Right, so the plan is unchanged, though if you sense anything you think the rest of us ought to know, speak up. We'll figure something out on the fly." Huffed Shayera.

"Pun intended?" I grinned.

"You know, I didn't even realize I was doing that. Not important right now. Barter Town's got a number of bars, clubs, and other such spots. We'll hit those for intel gathering first." Responded Shayera, refocusing.

"Sounds good. A guy like Arkillo hunting on-world is gonna have plenty of rumors to track down." Agreed Tros Karn.

"If he's hunting, you mean." Scoffed Darl Veld.

"He's a Vorn. I read the file, they're pretty Saiyan-like. He'll be hunting." I insisted.

"What do you mean?" Questioned Shayera.

"Well, it's like how Saiyan Instincts are to go looking for fights, 'cause we're a warrior race. Vorn are a race of predators, they're instincts are to go hunting for prey. I can suppress my Saiyan instincts 'cause I spent half a decade at the Temple. Something tells me Arkillo doesn't have the same kind of training, though." I informed.

"That what your Gut's telling you, Kid?" Queried Darl Veld.

"Yeah. I mean, at least it makes sense to me." I nodded.

"Arkillo is also a criminal known for being unstable. Even if he wanted to suppress his Vorn instincts, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be able to do it for long." Concurred Tros Karn.

"I still think we'd be better off busting up some local crime syndicates to try and track down potential boltholes he could use to lie low." Sighed Darl Veld.

"It's three against one, Darl. You're outvoted, even if this were a democracy, which it isn't. I'm the Captain, what I say goes, and I say we hit the bars and clubs looking for intel. If we don't get any worthwhile leads, then we can go shake down the local criminal element." Intoned Shayera.

"Fair enough." Conceded Darl Veld.

"What about the Kid? He looks like a teenager. You think we can get him into a bar?" Asked Tros Karn.

"Plenty of races look young but aren't. Besides, Barter Town may be a more legit settlement, but it's still Talkorr." Shrugged Shayera.

"That doesn't mean we're gonna let you order a drink, though." Added Darl Veld.

"It wouldn't do much anyway. I had to drink an entire barrel of Wine-Fruit Cider back at the temple to get even a little buzz during festivals. Something tells me we don't have the credits to shell out for that even if we wanted to." I admitted.

"That sounds either really useful or like a horrible curse. I can't decide which." Frowned Shayera.

"Comes with being strong, Cap." I shrugged.

"Anyway, make your final preparations now. Once we get on-planet, we'll be all business for a long stretch." Commanded Shayera.

"ETA on landing is twenty minutes, by the way." Informed Darl Veld.

"Right. I guess I'll just sit here, then. Not like I have a bunch of prep I can make, anyway." I shrugged.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Kid. I managed to whip something up for you over the week. Follow me." Grinned Tros Karn.

He led me out of the Common Area, down the Hall, and into the Ship's Armory. It was the first time I had been allowed in here. I guess after so long training and learning under their tutelage, the crew decided I'd earned a bit of trust. The long room actually took up half the length of the ship going the other direction from the crew quarters and had a bunch of weapons in cases lining the walls alongside various suits of armor on stands. It was all lit by a blue glow.

Tros Karn walked over to a piece of armor made from some sort of flexible nanoweave. It was the same black and saffron color as my robes, with attachments on the shoulders to hold various weapons in a magnetic grip. Looking at it, I could see it was some sort of advanced polymer made up of nano-scale links woven together like some sort of sci-fi take on a chainmail vest.

"This here's a Nano-Chain Hyperpolymer Vest. I spent some time whipping it up for you. It should tank a few blasts from some of the less powerful weapons and should even tank a single blast from something like the Neural Impactor. A Plasma Disruptor is still gonna hurt, though." Nodded Tros Karn.

"I don't know what to say." I blinked.

"Then don't say anything. Consider it an investment in keeping our newest crewmate alive." Shrugged Tros Karn.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." I responded.

I really did. They may not have realized this, but by giving me this vest and taking me under their wing, Shayera's crew was showing that they cared more about me than anyone else in my life ever had other than the Temple. Even at the Temple, some of the Masters were less than enthused about my presence, but everyone on the Nth Talon was invested in helping me learn and survive. It was almost enough to make a guy cry. Not that I'd dared to do that in front of anyone on the ship, lest I be teased mercilessly.

"You're welcome, Kid. Put it on and then meet us in the Common Area, we should be landing soon. Time is credits, after all, and we're about to be on the clock." Nodded Tros Karn.

And with that, he headed out of the Armory, leaving me in here, alone, to put on the armored vest. I did so, shrugging it on before looking over at some of the weapons on display. I didn't really need anything but my bare hands, mind you, but it might not be a bad idea to grab a knife or something for intimidation purposes. After all, it was hard to intimidate hardened criminals into giving me intel with this baby face of mine. I selected a Czarnian Vibroknife, a piece of edged alloyed metal that had a stud on the guard you could press that would wrap it in a vibrational field. This sort of knife should be able to cut through most cheap or common armor that the kind of criminal scum that had to flee to Talkorr could get a hold of. It would do for intimidation purposes.

Securing it on the magnetic clamp on the left shoulder of my new vest, I headed out of the Armory only to notice that the rest of the crew had taken guns of various kinds to use as sidearms when they weren't in melee range to use their Nth Metal Maces. As I walked into the common area, I got a questioning look from Shayera.

"You sure you don't want something with more range or punch than that knife?" She questioned.

"I'm good, Cap. I don't even really need the knife." I answered.

"Then why take it?" Queried Shayera.

"Look at this face. I look like I'm a teenager. Do you think I can intimidate hardened criminals into giving me intel looking like this?" I asked.

"Kid's got you there, Cap." Chuckled Tros Karn.

"Fair enough." Nodded Shayera.

Just then, we hit atmosphere as the Nth Talon descended down onto the world of Talkorr. Darl Veld maneuvered the ship expertly down toward one of the more neatly and visibly cleared sections of the ship graveyard of the planet below, and soon enough, we managed to land in the makeshift spaceport of Barter Town. Darl Veld powered down the engines and came out to join the rest of us in the Common Area, tightening a gunbelt with some sort of ion pistol in a holster on it, before nodding at the rest of us. I nodded back, as did the others.

Then, we left the ship and headed out onto Talkorr, Shayera taking the lead. . .

XXXX

Barter Town was interesting to look at. All the buildings here were clearly made out of materials salvaged from scrapped shipwrecks. When combined with the dusty plain that the Town sat on, it had a very Space Western vibe to it as a town, at least in terms of architecture and geography. Since Darl Veld had already transferred the credits to the makeshift spaceport, we were able to effectively stroll right out onto the streets.

"All right, everyone take a Bar or Club, do your thing, and then meet back at the Spaceport. We'll share what we found out on the ship. Have your communicators set for Gamma Frequency, just in case we need to coordinate." Ordered Shayera.

Everyone did so, tuning the communicators in their Helmets to the correct frequency. In my case, I didn't have such a Helmet, instead having to pop on and fiddle with my scouter to tune into the correct frequency. I got it done, though, and signaled that fact to the others. Once everyone was wired up correctly, we all headed our separate ways. My Chosen spot was the Last Blast Cantina, advertised with a sign that had a shot glass and a plasma blaster pistol on it.

Entering, the place looked like it had been set up out of the hulk of the engine room of one of the crashed starships. Lights had clearly needed to be brought in from elsewhere, and a series of exposed cables and pipes ran along the walls and ceiling. Along the walls, screens that had been used for reactor status readouts instead displayed drink specials or Galactic Sports Scores. The Clientele was varied, though segregated. The front room seemed to be filled with a mixture of Human-looking aliens, Randians, Thanagarians, and the Odd Daxamite, judging by the level of power rolling off the two patrons in the Corner.

That was interesting to me. Daxamites were like Kryptonians in that they gained a shitload of power from absorbing Yellow Sun Radiation, though their weakness was, interestingly enough, lead instead of Kryptonite. They did share the Kryptonian Magic weakness with their cousins, of course, and if things got rowdy, I'd be leaning on my mystic training from the Temple to equalize the situation. There was no way I'd be strong enough to deal with pissed-off Daxamites without abusing that loophole, after all.

Regardless, it wasn't the front room I wanted, it was the back room, where all the non-human-looking aliens were. It was also here that the Bar was set up, and a Red-Skinned Korugaran Hybrid was tending bar. I knew she was a hybrid because her ears were only slightly pointed, and her hair wasn't the jet black of a Korugaran. If I had to make a guess, I'd say she had some level of Katarthan Ancestry, the Red hair and Red Eyes said as much. Regardless, she was wearing a cutout dress as she poured drinks, all while a hulking, rocky-skinned, Branx Warrior watched on.

I wasn't sure why a Korugaran Hybrid would be working as a bartender in a dive like this, especially one that could have passed for a model. I didn't think that Sinestro had taken over Korugar just yet. We were still pretty early in the timeline if Krypton had only exploded eighteen years ago, after all. There shouldn't be a Batman or Superman on Earth yet, for instance, which also meant Hal Jordan shouldn't be out of the Air Force yet. I was pretty sure that Sinestro hadn't taken over Korugar until shortly before Hal had gotten his ring. Why the Bartender was working here when she had other options was beyond me. The Branx Warrior, on the other hand, I could hazard a guess.

The Branx Warriors were generally associated with the Citadel, though the PTO made use of some as Mercenaries from time to time. While they weren't as strong as the Average PTO Grunt, being on par with the average Low-Class Saiyan Warrior in terms of strength, there were a lot more of them than there were PTO Troops or Saiyans. Really, the Citadel had begun cloning them almost as soon as they conquered them for use as shock troops. Giant, Stony, Four-Armed, Warriors of a decent level of power were in demand by literally any Empire worth its salt, after all. Sending batches of Cloned Branx Warriors to fight as mercenaries made a lot of credits for the Citadel.

This one couldn't have been one of the clones, as those almost never went AWOL, which implied a couple of interesting things about this particular Branx Warrior. It might have had something to do with only having two arms. All Branx Warriors had four arms, it was only Hybrids that had two. That meant that either someone of a different species had cared enough about what is essentially a stone monster to have a kid with them, or more likely, that the Bouncer here was a failed experiment by the Citadel and fled to Talkorr to avoid being purged with the other failed experiments.

Regardless of the reasons behind why these two were here on Talkorr in the ass-end of the Universe, I bellied up to the bar and the Bartender looked over at me. She cocked an eyebrow and looked over at the Branx Warrior, who just shrugged. Shrugging to herself, the Bartender turned back to me.

"Aren't you a bit young to be in here?" She questioned.

"If I'm old enough to risk my life on the battlefield, I'm old enough for a drink." I retorted.

"Fair enough. What can I get you?" She queried.

"Do you have anything similar to Yasai?" I asked.

"Fraid not, Kid. There hasn't been a whole lot of call for Saiyan Booze since their planet went bust. I'm wondering how you know about that, though." Answered the Bartender.

"It doesn't matter. I guess I'll just have whatever the house special is." I pressed on.

"That'd be Ungaran Fire Ale. We just grabbed a giant shipment of it unexpectedly. It fell off a dropship if you catch my meaning. We're running a special. Three Credits per bottle." Offered the Bartender.

"Good deal. I'll take one." I agreed.

Shayera had given me a few hundred credits as a discretionary fund for this trip and I slapped down the small, metallic, discs that the Oans tried to enforce as a sort of Intergalactic Currency. Credits had picked up steam in most of the Universe in spite of the Guardians rather than because of anything they tried to promote them. It had largely been down to Cooler, brother of Frieza, who had begun using credits due in part to Frieza claiming they'd never catch on. Family rivalries in the Cold Clan had resulted in the adoption of the Oan Credit by Cooler, who had gotten his allies in the Citadel to adopt it as well, which snowballed from there. Honestly, life could be funny like that sometimes.

Regardless, I swapped the money for the drink, the purple-colored bottle looking more akin to something you'd get Grape Soda in. Looks could be deceiving, though, because Ungaran Fire Ale was powerful stuff, at least it was if you were a normal person. For someone strong like I was, it wasn't much different from anything else. I'd have to drink an entire keg of the stuff to get a buzz going.

That was useful, as it allowed me to keep ordering drinks while subtly probing for information about potential disappearances. What I found was interesting, but more than that, it was a potential lead.

"I've heard that the Calth Syndicate over in Scavenger's Drop has lost a couple of salvage crews lately. That wouldn't be unusual in and of itself, but one of the crews had a survivor who ran back into Scavenger's Drop raving about a monster attacking his crew." Offered the Bartender as I paid for my sixth drink.

"That's nothing but Parakat Shit. There's no lifeforms native to Talkorr that are still around. They probably ran into a squad of enforcers from Salvage Cove trying to screw with a rival operation." Rumbled the Branx Warrior.

"I don't know about that." Mused, taking a sip of my drink.

"What do you mean?" Questioned the Bartender.

"I mean that you may want to avoid that area for a bit." I insisted.

"Why? You know something we don't?" Queried the Branx Warrior.

"I have reason to believe that there's a Vornian Hunter on-world who's given into his instincts." I answered.

"That's not good. I've heard Vornians can be pretty hard to kill. Wasn't there one in Galactic News recently? Some serial killer on the run?" Asked the Bartender.

"Yeah, Arkillo. Like I said, you may want to avoid that area." I nodded.

"And how you'd you know that?" Demanded the Branx Warrior.

"Because my crew and I are going to capture Arkillo. We're bounty hunters." I grinned.

"Bounty hunters, huh? Lapdogs of the Guardians without even knowing it is more like it. I think it's time you left, Boy." Scowled the Branx Warrior.

"I haven't finished my drink." I protested.

"Too bad. Leave now or I'll make you leave." Snarled the Branx Warrior.

"Vodrin, don't. Not today!" Hissed the Bartender.

"Stay out of this, Kida! This Kid needs to learn that Talkorr doesn't want any of the Oan's watchdogs around, whether they know they are or not." Scowled the Branx Warrior, Vodrin.

"How do you know he's an Oan Bounty Hunter? He could be freelance!" Defended the Bartender, Kida.

"Because it's the Guardians who posted the bounty on Arkillo." Grunted Vodrin.

"That doesn't mean that I'm working for them. My crew could take all kinds of bounties from anywhere." I pointed out.

"I don't care. I'm gonna give you one last chance. Leave before I make you leave!" Snarled Vodrin.

"No. I paid for my drink. I'm gonna finish it." I refused.

I lifted the bottle of Ungaran Fire Ale to my face just as my Scouter beeped out a warning, letting me know that a power level of one-thousand-three-hundred-fifty was closing in on me. Not that I needed to know that from the Scouter since I could feel the power from Vodrin spiking. I raised my own internal Ki just as Vodrin's fist struck me and sent me flying out through the back and front rooms of the Last Blast Cantina and out of the door into the street outside. I immediately skipped up to my feet and dodged to the side as Vodrin came dashing out of the Cantina in a lunging punch that I sidestepped away from.

"Thank you, sir, May I have another?" I grinned.

My training with the Czarnian Grav Plates over the past week had gotten me to a level where I was roughly equal with Vodrin in terms of power. Unfortunately, I hadn't been able to test that at all while on the Nth Talon, and now my Saiyan Instincts were singing at me to fight. That was probably why I'd taunted Vodrin like I had. After all, there was no way a taunt like that could have been ignored by the pissed-off Branx Warrior.

True to form, Vodrin let out an engaged scream and dashed forward to try and smash another punch into me. This one, I parried with a Bong Sao, what the Temple of the Great Khaz'ro called the Wing Fist, effectively turning his punch aside with a movement of my forearm and setting myself up for an elbow strike to his head from the side, all in a single, fluid, motion. The point of my elbow crunched into Vodrin's Temple and sent him staggering to the side. I followed that up with a kick to the side of Vodrin's knee that slammed into the joint and sent him crashing to one knee.

Channeling Ki into the palm of my hand, I practically shoved the Ki Ball that formed into the back of Vodrin's head with a flash of light and a loud roar. As if an Explosion had been set off in the middle of the street, Vodrin was blown up, a crater forming in the dusty plain that formed the street in front of the Last Blast Cantina. Vodrin wasn't down for the count just yet, though, managing to pull himself out of the crater.

My scouter beeped at me letting me know that the beating I'd just given him had dropped Vodrin to a power level of eight hundred, not that Power Levels were a good indication of combat strength. Case in point, Vodrin pulled something out of his tattered vest. Some sort of metallic tube that he pointed at me. He pressed the stud on the side of the tube and I found myself being blown back into a parked hovercycle from the yellowish bolt that struck me flush in the chest. The hovercycle folded around me and its mini-reactor cooked off from the impact, the blast of which was entirely funneled at me, thanks to the way the alloy of the hovercycle had folded around me.

Fortunately, thanks to Tros Karn's vest and my own improved strength, I was only moderately wounded from the burst of ruptured plasma and could still fight, though I probably didn't want to keep this going much longer. The street was scorched black and turned glassy in places around me from the heat of the plasma wash, but I was still ready to go. With a growl, I took to the air using the Sawtooth Ascension Mandala Technique, soaring up into the sky before bending my hands into a mudra and channeling mystic energy into the Lightning Net Spell, even as I janked to the side to avoid another bolt of yellow light from Vodrin's tube.

The net of mystical electricity shot forth from my outstretched hands and rushed to envelop Vodrin, who had been expecting me to try something else as he was dodging to the side. The Lightning Net Spell covered an area however, and he was struck by its rightmost section and locked in place as the net surged mystic electricity through his body. He slumped to one knee and I flew downwards, smashing a knee strike into the back of his head, knocking Vodrin out.

As I landed, I grunted feeling the pain of my burns from the Plasma Wash of the destroyed Hoverbike and grabbing the Tube-like weapon. Deciding to scan Vodrin and send the scan over to the Nth Talon to see if he had any bounties, I got a message from Shayera.

"Are you all right? We heard a pair of explosions." Questioned Shayera.

"I'm fine, Cap. Just a pissed-off local who wanted to fight." I responded.

"And you didn't defuse the situation?" Queried Shayera.

"No, but I did get some good intel." I answered.

As I said that, the Nth Talon's criminal database came back with a positive ID. Vodrin had two separate bounties on him, one from the Citadel for his desertion and one from the Guardians for his part in the destruction of a Town of Thirty Thousand People on Planet Kormorax. Apparently, the Citadel Bounty wasn't mutually exclusive with the Guardians' Bounty either.

"I also apparently managed to pick up a bounty, Half a million Credits on Vodrin of Emana Branx." I added.

"You know what, I don't want to know. At least you got intel. The rest of us haven't gotten squat. Apparently, they can smell Police coming here. The locals were able to figure out that we were Ex-Wingmen right away and wouldn't say anything." Sighed Shayera.

"Meet at the ship?" I asked.

"Take Vodrin to the Barter Town Bounty Office first. They'll put him in a stasis cell and pay you as soon as they get the confirmation from the Central Bounty Board." Ordered Shayera.

"Right. On my way." I nodded.

Then, I hefted Vodrin's Unconscious form, aided with a Spell of Slumber to keep him knocked out, and used the Sawtooth Ascension Mandala to fly my way to the coordinates that Shayera sent to my scouter. The local branch of the Intergalactic Bounty Office took custody of Vodrin and then offered some Healing Liquid for my burns, which I gratefully accepted. Two hours later, I was healed up, five-hundred-thousand credits richer, minus forty grand for the healing liquid I'd used, the Town Council to repair the street, and to pay out the owner of the destroyed Hovercycle. That was just the cost of doing business, though.

As we reconvened on the Nth Talon, I learned a couple of things from the others. The first was that my intel pointed to territory that was held by the Scavenger Gangs. These were criminal syndicates that scavenged parts and materials from the various wrecks of ships and sold them on the black market. Pirates looking for components or embargoed governments looking for raw resources would then buy up the black market parts and materials at a hefty markup. It was big business for the Syndicates.

The Calth Syndicate I'd been told of was a mostly Ungaran outfit that ran a Scavenger Port called Scavenger's Drop. Their main rival, the Nui Syndicate, was a primarily Korugaran Syndicate that ran a Scavenger Port called Salvage Cove just a few Galactic Standard Kilometers to the west. Between those two Scavenger Ports was a large field of wrecked ships and other salvageable things the pair of syndicates fought over constantly. Now it looked like Arkillo had taken up residence in the field of wrecks and was attacking Salvage Crews from both syndicates.

The second thing I learned was that the tube I'd taken off of Vodrin was a Branx Photonic Weapon. Those things were known to pack a pretty hefty punch, though as Photonic Weapons, they mostly packed that punch in the form of the kinetic impact of the hard light bolts. The one I'd been hit with was a Holdout Weapon, so it wasn't exactly a military-grade thing. It was still pretty damn powerful when combined with the plasma wash from a destroyed hovercycle, though.

Tros Karn insisted I hand over the weapon for reverse engineering. Apparently, the Branx almost never sold these to anyone, not even on the black market, and Tros Karn had a few ideas for Photonic Shields that he might be able to pull off if he had a working Photonic Weapon to crib the hard light generators off of. I, of course, was being voluntold into helping that project as part of my ongoing education, not that I minded too much.

The last thing I learned hadn't come from the others but from a self-scan with my Scouter. The Zenkai I'd undergone after the fight with Vodrin had been small. I'd only been moderately wounded, after all, which was the bare minimum to qualify for Zenkai. I did get one, however. From one-thousand-three-hundred-fifty to one-thousand-five-hundred-twenty-five. It wasn't a massive jump, an increase of just about thirteen percent over my previous power level, but then again, it wasn't as if Power Levels were completely reliable in battle, after all.

Once we'd had dinner, we would be heading for Scavenger's Drop to try and find Arkillo. My stomach was doing flips the entire time through the meal, which was some sort of kabob that was common in Thanagarian Cuisine. By the time Darl Veld lifted us up out of Barter Town, I was practically vibrating in my seat with anticipation. When we arrived at Scavenger's Drop, Tros Karn and Darl Veld would be staying with the ship to ensure no one tried to steal it.

Leaving Shayera and I to track down Arkillo ourselves. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the first part of the hunt for Arkillo. Predictably on a world like Talkorr, Rugulo gets into a fight in a Cantina. It's almost mandatory for stories like this to have a Cantina Fight at some point and I couldn't resist. Fortunately, he got the intel before the fists started flying so the Crew had a lead, at least. Now they just need to follow it.

I'll have some more images up before the next chapter, which will involve the arrival at Scavenger's Drop.

Stay tuned. . .