Chapter Text
“What’s it lookin’ like out there, Cap’n?” Mirage, my hired right-hand man comes up to me and slaps me on the shoulder. He looks down at me when the most lopsided smile I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Dusty,” I deadpan. This is probably the fifth time this hour he’s come up to me and asked me the same damn question.
For weeks, we’ve been trying to track down a pirate and her crew who are trying to find priceless relics left by the people who originally inhabited the Outlands. Partnered with—or, more accurately, employed by Loba Andrade, the biggest treasure hunter the Frontier has ever seen—the notorious Pirate Queen, Ajay Che, has been wreaking havoc on the Outlands trying to get a hold of whatever power is promised to come with the treasure.
Several months ago, I accepted a bounty on Che. Known simply as the Sky Marshal, if someone caused problems in the Outlands, I am usually the one people called first. However, this contract I took on the Pirate Queen just gets more and more complicated as time goes on. She’s a slippery one and always one step ahead. Trying to catch her has been a real thorn in my side. But now that I know where she’s headed, it’s about to get a whole lot easier.
“Captain, I suggest we change course. My readings suggest that we’re coming up on a dust storm. One of the biggest this year.” Crypto calls to me from one of his many computers.
While I normally worked alone, when I heard how much of a strain this journey was going to be for me, I bit the bullet and hired a crew. While they were the biggest band of misfits I’ve ever met in my life, at least they got along.
Mirage and Crypto came as a duo. Either I hired them both or not all. Crypto specialized in monitoring routes, the atmosphere, and general surroundings. While I always get the final call on navigation, he’s the one making the educated suggestions. Mirage, on the other hand, specialized in… well, I’m not exactly sure. All he’s been doing this entire time is using the ship as a personal jungle gym. I’ve considered pushing him into the vacuum of space a couple of times, but Crypto insisted that his specialty is more “up close and personal” and that I need to just wait for Mirage to showcase himself.
The other two of my crew are also terribly out of place. I was able to get my hands on one of the best Outlands explorers, Natalie Paquette. She usually calls herself Wattson, but it’s just as much of a mouthful as her last name. The last person that I hired to be a part of my crew, was the famed chemist, Alexander “Caustic” Nox. I had a hard time giving up my morals for this one, but I needed someone who knew their way around an ultimate weapon. While my ship had all the artillery you could think of, that firepower could still go out of commission. Having someone who knows their way around corrosive gas would give us the edge we need. Especially when we have to go up against Che.
“But the radar says we’re on their exact course. Dust storm or no dust storm, if we divert now, we won’t catch up to them in time.” I get out of my chair for the first time in hours, walking over to my expert.
“If we go down in the storm, then we won’t catch up to them at all,” he simply says, not even looking at me. “Better to divert and have to play catch up than actually end up dead.” His words are very to the point and quick to make me sound stupid.
I grunt, reluctant to follow his recommendation. “Fine. Mirage, change tracks for me, please? Since you’re already over there.” I turn to my chair and see him lounging in it like it was made for him.
“Aye, Aye, Capt’n!” He lazily salutes me then begins pressing buttons on my helm controls. He pulls one of the many levers and the ship jerks suddenly, almost sending us to the floor. I start to walk up to him, fist clenched. I swear to god I’m going to kill him.
But I’m not even close to being the quickest. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the chemist rush him and grab him by his neck. Caustic slams him against the opposite wall, getting inches away from his face. Mirage tries to remain calm but his eyes dart back and forth, looking for a way out.
“Let me be very clear, Mirage,” Caustic roar is low, powerful, and I can feel it rumble through the floor. “If you ever do something half as reckless as that, I will personally see that this crew of five turns into one of four.”
“Look, so I jerked it too hard. It’s not like I sent us into a mountain,” Mirage chokes out. He’s struggling to breathe but I think his pride is getting in the way of him asking for mercy.
Caustic finally lets go, the calmest frustration I’ve ever seen written across his face. “Next time, I’ll make sure my chemicals spill. Then you will be wishing we had crashed into a mountain.” I look at Caustic, impressed. I knew the man was hardcore back in his heyday, but I figured he just lost all of that when he decided to work on chemical weapons full time.
Suddenly, I feel a tug oh my jacket sleeve. I look down to see Wattson showing me a map. “Captain,” her french accent floats beautifully around the ship, “I don’t believe what we picked up was an ordinary dust storm. The myth says that the world will start to become corrupt when the relics are disturbed.” She points out the front windshield. I look and see the ship we’ve been tracking sitting in front of a temple opening that’s been carved on the face of a large mountain. “And I think we found who disturbed it.”