We walked to where we parked the Swift, two engineers walked out and approached Celestine.
"Everything good?" Celestine asked them.
"So far yes, we replaced some torn down parts that we have in the inventory. As for the engine, I haven't seen one of those... Probably black market" One of the engineer replied.
"Anything else that you've added?"
"We couldn't change the computers in the 20 minute time frame. We also changed the captain's chair into what you would like"
"Excuse me?" I raised my voice.
"Ignore him" Celestine told them, and the engineers walked out.
"It's my ship" I complained to her.
"Is it really?"
We saw Luther walked in to join us.
"I have prepared everything I need for this mission, I assume you have the same as well?" We nodded yes. "Very well. Lets start the team briefing?" He walked in the ship.
The ship was a little bit organized which amazed me. It looked the same as it was before but I could feel something is different.
"Mind if I interface with the nav system?" Luther asked me.
"Sure" I replied. He walked to the table and put his palm in the screen.
"I could get used to this new chair" Celestine told me.
"Get down there." I demanded her. She ingored me.
"All right guys lets talk shop." Celestine told us.
"I have the coordinates, terrain, and tools needed to have a success rate of 97.5%" Luther said.
"What about the 3%?" I asked.
"That is the allotted error margin" Luther replied.
"Which means we have a high chance of winning this. So stick to the rules" Celestine looked at me. We moved closer to Luther.
"I will do it professionally"
"Good, Luther explain the best way to do this. And do me a favor dumb it down for someone here" Celestine requested Luther.
"We are tasked to retrieve items 3 & 4, they're on two different planet Bliteum, the forest planet and Illuvies, the snow planet. I already requested the engineering to add necessary climate clothing to respective plants we'll visit. I have transferred the photos of the items and where to find them on your holowatch. Celestine and I will retrieve all the items, Rover will be our getaway pilot and back up in case of emergencies"
"You mean I won't get out of the ship?" I asked Luther.
"You will secure perimeter and ensure we have a quick extraction. Basically, all you have to do is make sure the engine is running."
"So you'll be the bodyguard?"
"Mostly. I have built-in self defense and protective programming to help my self and others"
"Okay. Everyone is good then?" I asked everyone.
They all agreed. We moved to the cockpit, Celestine positioned herself on the captain's chair while me and Luther on the pilot.
"Alright, prep for take off" Celestine ordered as she sat on the chair.
"Inputting coordinate" Luther announced.
"Initiating lift" I announced while making the Swift move vertically.
I maneuvered the ship to leave the carrier. I moved it a few miles away. I scanned the area to find a warp point and went close to it.
"Warp point reached" I announced
"Hit it" Celestine ordered.
"Warping in 3... 2... 1... Boom" The ship entered into jump warp
It only took about five minutes for the ship to finish the warp and we are transported to Bliteum, the forest trash planet. From the view here on space it looked like any other forest planet, except this one has a metallic sheen to it.
"Landing coordinates charted" Luther announced.
"Please prepare to land" Celestine ordered.
I landed the ship as she instructed on the coordinates Luther gave out. We were in the middle of the jungle but you can really tell this was a dumping site due to the rusted and scrapped metal around the place. The planet has adapted well with this as evidence to the tree wrapping the scraps around and some of them are even looks metallic.
As we landed I enjoyed the view from the cockpit while the guys spent no time in setting up a surveillance drone. They tried to let it fly but it won't transmit any video. I catch up to them to see if I could do anything as they keep trying to operated the drone.
"We're not getting any video feed." Celestine said.
"Must be wrong with the camera or controls?" Luther questioned.
"Bring out the other one"
Luther took out another one. He started to set it up but I stopped him.
"The drone's working fine. It's not transmitting because we have too much interference on this level" I told them.
"What makes you so sure?" Luther asked me.
"Because I turned the radio on as soon as we touched the atmosphere, it was doing fine until we landed. Now it's total silence."
"Try deploying the High Altitude Drone Surveyor." Celestine asked Luther.
They launched the drone, it flew out like a rocket. The drone was activated and Luther has control, he pressed the scan button and the drone zoomed around the area. It didn't took a long time for the drone to pick-up the location of the item and plot the safest route.
"Safest course plotted" Luther told Celestine as he sends a copy to her.
"Alright Rover, you know your job."
"Keep the engine running" I told her.
"Okay, we'll enter the forest. Since it has a heavy interference, radio silent until we get back"
Both of them advanced into the jungle, I went inside to the cockpit and sat there thinking of how I made an easy money. Somewhere inside my ship, where I keep my McGuffins, number 45 opened up and releases a sound that was inaudible to me.
A few miles away from where Celestine is, something opened its eyes. The giant beast stood up and roared in anger that echoed throughout the jungle.
I heard the echo of the roar, I was wondering what could've made the sound. My mind thought of things from the scraps falling down to the engine. I wanted to contact them to give them a heads up but I remembered that they went silent and probably heard that too.
"Did you hear that?" Celestine asked Luther.
"Probably just a strong wind" He replied.
The beast roared again, he moved north. His movements were swift that it knocked out trees and shook the ground as he moved.
"That's not normal" Celestine said with hints of worry.
"What should we do?"
"Move on, but keep your guard up."
A few meters from where I parked the ship, a giant chrome figure swooped past me. It looked somehow like a gorilla with metal plating integrated on his body. The beast angrily charged to Luther and Celestine's direction. I panicked, I know I should stay in the ship but my body took a riffle, shotgun, pistol, and a belt of grenades and chased after the gorilla.
Luther and Celestine continued walking near the cliff when suddenly the gorilla found them. Luther quick on his feet pushed Celestine away as the gorilla tossed him aside. Celestine stepped back when she saw the gorilla, Luther jumped behind the beast trying to subdue it. The gorilla grabbed Luther's shoulder, sratching a part of him skin and voice box and threw him near Celestine
"Stand back. My Protect Programming is taking effect." She told Celestine as a form of reassurance. His voice was raspy.
He gorilla charged to kill Luther when suddenly. Bang! As shot was heard from behind. Luther looked over and saw me with the guns. I shot the beast again but the gorilla did not die. He turned to me and roared, he picked up a giant rock and hurled it at me. I dodged the rock and continued to firing at him. I used my nimbleness to move around while shooting him.
I got close to Luther, I tossed him a shotgun and a pistol to Celestine. He joined me in firing at the gorilla but it wasn't enough to kill him, only to piss him off. We continued firing while moving around.
Luther managed to hit the gorilla in his teeth which hurts him. The beast turned even more aggressive as he starts throwing rocks and trees around.
One of the trees he threw was near Celestine. Without any thought I jumped in to save her, I was on top of her. Normally this would be a romantic moment but the gorilla just grabbed Luther. He holds him up like a rag doll.
Luther struggles to get off the animal as it nibble on his leg. The gorilla will tear Luther in half, so I shot him behind the back. The gorilla bit off Luther's leg and brake the other one but lets him go. I advanced so that I could keep Celestine out of harms way.
The gorilla threw Luther's leg at me I dodged it but I did not realized Celestine was still behind me. The leg hit Celestine which threw her off balance, she screamed as she fell down. I turned back to catch her, I caught her. Luther distracted beast, I tried to pull her back in. Our hands slipped and she fell directly to the water below.
Full of rage I charged the gorilla with the belt full of grenades, he charged as well. I jumped, wrapped the grenades on his mouth like a gag. The animal struggled to get me off of his back, I tried my best to stay on him until I secured the belt on his head, as soon as I secured it I jumped off the beast.
The gorilla stopped for a while and looked at me, his mouth unable to close due to the grenade gag. I screamed at him taunting him, he screaming opening his mouth, he bit the grenade with the strongest chomp he can muster. The grenades exploded blowing his head off and causing some of his metallic parts to bend due to the shock, Luther reacted faster than me as he used his body as a shield so that I wouldn't be hurt.
The blow back knocked Luther out, with Celestine falling down I had no choice but to drag Luther back to the ship.
As we arrived I placed him on the table to see if I can do anything. But before I could work on him he wakes up.
"We need to retrieve the item" He said in his damaged voice
"We can't get that damned item now. I mean look at your legs, how many more of those things do you think is out there?" I told him.
"But this is a time sensitive mission and we must at all cost get the item"
"Celestine will get it"
"We do not know if she survived the fall or not. Besides if she survived, the chances of her making it back here is 45.8%"
"Well I'll assume that it's the probability of failure."
"It's not" He sharply replied.
"I know. Can you track her holowatch?"
"Her signal is all over the place"
"Well can you hone in on that to make sure we get where she really is?"
"I could try but this will take long"
"The ship does not leave without her captain, make it back" I said under my breath
Elsewhere Celestine survived her fall wakes up, her head buzzing trying to figure out what to do. She thinks to herself 'This is not good' as she walked towards the jungle.