Chereads / Stellar Born / Chapter 9 - Easy Pickings

Chapter 9 - Easy Pickings

The Captain cradled the laser gun in his hands. Unlike his previous crude pistol which was terribly mismatched, both visually and in the physical proportions, the laser pistol was sleek and midnight black. If comparing the two, the old ballistic pistol was akin to a crappy, mass-manufactured, cheap Secpad while the new laser pistol was akin to a custom-built, high-class Secpad that was visually appealing.

The barrel of the laser pistol extended around 50% longer and it possessed black flat angled sides that were closer at the top and wider at the bottom. The barrel itself was huge while being in one piece, while the only detachable aspect of the pistol being a small, green, square indentation at the back of the barrel.

The Captain pressed the small green indentation, causing it to spring out into his hand. It was a rectangular object that was green on one tip and the rest was black.

The Captain was ecstatic. It wasn't often one could get his hands on a decent quality laser pistol like this. Laser weapons were generally more expensive than ballistic weapons as they incorporate more complex technology to generate powerful lasers. The upsides being a laser round that is more dangerous in certain situations as well as cheaper energy cells for replenishment instead of magazines.

Even then, anyone could tell the quality of the gun in his hand was far beyond any normal laser pistol.

The Captain looked towards the shaking shop owner who looked like he was about to cry.

"How did you get this?" He asked.

"Some miner came a few years ago and traded it for a lump of unknown unimat" The shop owner blubbered.

Normal matter and materials generally refer to natural elements found natively in the universe. Unimats however, do not. Unimats stand for either Uni-Matter or Uni-Materials depending on localization. They refer to materials that originate from a different universe and or are partially or entirely connected to energy in other universes. Because of this, unimats can break the laws of physics in the universe and do miracle-like feats.

The discovery and utilization of unimats are, according to history books, what kickstarted the great human expansion as they allowed for crucial technologies to be developed such as FTL (Faster Than Light) travel and many other interesting feats.

Due to the bizarre nature and complex laws of the other universes, there are numerous different unimats, with a large portion of less common unimats being completely unknown. It wasn't uncommon for people to try and figure out the properties of unidentified unimats to possibly find the next best product to sell.

Unfortunately, the Captain didn't have time to consider all the possibilities as the grunts of the remaining gang member dragged him out of his thoughts. They stood up and tried to locate him through the dust-filled air, barely visible air.

The Captain reinserted the energy cell back into the laser pistol which made a short high-pitched power-up whine. He then peeked above the counter and immediately shot into the cloudy smoke.

ZEEEO

The laser round whizzed past the head of one of the gang members. He fell to the floor in fright.

"Wasn't he supposed to be easy pickings?! Why is he so difficult to kill! He even has a laser pistol!" He groaned.

"Stay here " The Captain dictated, leaving Dae at the counter as he crouched and aimed his pistol into the barely visible store. He slowly moved in, heightening his sense to ensure he would see them before they could see him. This was the best moment to completely finish off the gang as the dusty air provided cover while his greater senses would give him an advantage.

The gang members scrambled around. They were unable to locate each other and resorted to just shouting to try and group together.

"Hey, I'm here!"

ZZZEOOO

The sound of a laser appeared, shortly followed by the drop of a body to the ground. The three gang members were frightened out of their wits, and upon realised that this wasn't an enemy they could take, they ran. While half their team and their leader were killed, they still assumed they could them on as they didn't have any guns left, however, the tides had shifted and running was likely the only way they could survive.

The Captain could hear the hurried footsteps of the three black tattooed gang members. While he would have like to eradicate them he still had to make sure Dae was safe. The fact that they ran in different directions further affirmed his thoughts.

He walked back to the counter and tapped the desk.

"Let's go Dae, this place isn't safe"

"Are they gone?" Dae asked.

"No, but we have time to get out of here in case they try to fight again"

They hurriedly started running back, the Captain slowing his pace to match Dae's average speed while being slightly ahead to cover him.

Dae felt slightly embarrassed. While he definitely didn't expect to be in a gunfight right after being awoken from cryogen, he was deflated that he couldn't do anything to help. Instead, he ended up being dead-weight that had to hide the entire time. He vowed to learn something that could help the Captain in this type of situation.

'Maybe I could use my powers to help somehow?" He theorized.

As they started running back towards the port-arm, they were met with the sealed doors that separated the two sections. He quickly put his hand onto the secpad and continued on as soon as the door slid open. Eventually, they reached their vessel.

He had Dae walk to the vessel while he placed the nav chip onto a small console at the side. The console beeped as it analyzed the coordinates as the Captain followed Dae back into the vessel. He closed the walking platform and reignited the engines quickly. As this happened four robotic arms extended from the walls of the port and latched onto the hull of the vessel.

"Are we still being attacked?" Dae asked as he misunderstood the impact of the four arms to be gunshots.

"No, it's the external jump calibration mechanism. It'll align our vessel just right to jump to the coordinates on the chip"