"You can't touch the stars with shackled hands,
A king who won't hear, never understands.
You can't rule the skies with clipped wings,
A king deaf to truth always fails."
Logan is furious right now! The damage to her Trooper pod—something she had owned long before Jared even came into the picture—was a massive blow. She had saved for a long time to bought it, and now her partner destroyed it. To make matters worse, he doesn't have anything useful to offer as fair compensation.
But as the song "Heart of a Lion" blares through the radio, the upbeat melody gives her an outlet for her anger, letting the thunderous guitar riffs mirror the intensity of her emotions while the sweet, soulful voice of Jean Arvin provides a soothing contrast. It's almost as if the song taps into the emotional storm inside her, offering both an energetic release and a calming effect.
This is not the first time the Libero boyband have calmed her with their music. Moreover, she is not the only one who has experienced healing after listening to them. It seems as though there is a certain magic carried along with the melody, especially in Jean Arvin's versatile vocals. He is truly talented!
When the song ended, the radio made a crackling noise, breaking the quiet that followed.
"…and that was 'Heart of a Lion' by The Libero boyband, who stopped their band activities after the band's lead vocalist, Jean Arvin, went missing yesterday, following a pirate attack on his tour ship. The search for him is still ongoing."
Logan sighs, feeling sorry about what happened to her idol. She didn't know him personally, but his disappearance had caused huge chaos across the galaxy. Arvin was becoming a legend, with his music bringing people together. No matter their gender, status, or race, everyone loved his songs.
She had planned to find him; in fact, this whole drama of chasing Haul was actually to gather a huge amount of money to fund the search for Jean.
Suddenly, something drew her attention. A huge starship of Earthling Space Police Federation fly above Esteban, one of Kraa's moons. Logan's eyes widened as she saw the fleet. Haul landed there for an emergency landing because Jared had damaged his ship earlier. Now, with that massive starship of ESPF landing their way there, Logan had a bad feeling about this.
"Don't let them catch you, Haul, We need your bounty." Logan growls, her lips narrowed, showing how much anger she holds right now. "I swear, Jared, if Haul get caught... I'm going to divorce you!"
She adjusted the pod's path and fastened the speed into Kraa's atmosphere, following the pinpoint location that Jared shared.
The pod's engines hummed as Logan flew through the layers of the atmosphere, her chest tight with worry. A destroyed pod meant they'd have to use public transport now—a huge level down. She also worries that Jared might be badly hurt and need expensive medical care. If that happened, it would mean more money to spend. On top of that, the mission failed, and all their money spent on capturing Haul was gone.
The man brags that he was the last Argonarian human species from planet Martian, but all he did was keep being a failure.
Logan gritted her teeth. Asking Jared to join her bounty hunter team was a bad idea. That man got a dog, and even the dog make more money than him so far!
As the pod flew lower, Logan focused on the radar and saw the thick smoke from Jared's destroyed T-pod. Jared was crouched, digging through the debris, salvaging what he could sell later, so the damage wasn't that grave.
They will need a new pod. She has to hurry back so she can search for regroup, and continue the pursuit. There's no time to whine about destroyed pod, once they got Haul, she'll be able to buy a new one. However, a breaking news update notification dings on her smartwatch.
Great News!! The Galaxy's biggest serial killer, Haul The Orkan--Captured by Commander Baxter!!
"Damn it," she slams on the steering wheel. Haul—the bounty she'd been chasing for days—had been caught by the cops. They got him! Haul had surrendered without a fight?! Logan couldn't believe it. And if the police had him, no one would get the bounty!
"Shit!" she cursed, her anger for Jared bubbles up, almost exploding.
Logan landed close to the wreckage of the destroyed trooper pod. The airlock hissed as Jared jumped into the pod, clutching a still-functioning machine partition. The atmosphere around her was heavy and suffocating, like a storm about to unleash, and Jared knew better than to provoke her now.
His own wound had already gives himself enough trouble, it keeps throbbed painfully, and the sting of his failure weighed heavily on his confidence. His heart was under the pressure of all the mistakes he'd made.
Jared didn't want to stir up more trouble; he'd already dug himself into a hole deep enough. It was better to remain silent, let the tension hang in the air, and focus on doing what he needed to do. His self-doubt gnawed at him, but he didn't dare speak a word. At least, not now. Silence felt safer than anything else.
***
Landed on Minerva, the mother ship headquarters for the bounty hunter alliance BattleLion, Logan walked ahead, silent. With her beanie hiding her hair, she seemed cold, while Jared stood tall, his spiky brown hair messy from the battle. A scar marked his forehead, his intense brown eyes looked tired from losing a trooper pod.
Jared wiped the blood from his forehead and noticed Logan looking at him. Her face was unreadable, but her gaze was sharp behind her glasses.
"What?" Jared asked casually.
Logan snapped in frustration. "Why don't you ever listen to me, Jared?! Why am I even here if you don't take my advice?! If I told you to stop, you stop!"
"Well, you don't know what it's like on the field!" Jared shouted back. "You just sit back, chilling with soda, and tell people what to do, as if they're idiots!"
"Well, you ARE an idiot! Look at us now—you lost my trooper pod! Instead of getting the bounty, we lost an asset!" Logan's eyes glared as if she wanted to swallow Jared alive.
Logan swiped her credit card on the gas dispenser, then picked up the nozzle and began refueling the trooper pod she had borrowed, filling it until the tank was full. She continues, ranting: "You need to know that I'm here because I feel bad for you! I found you and your dog eating trash from the dumpster, and now that I gave you shelter and food, the only missions you've successfully completed are the ones where your dog did all the work! This is unfair, and I'm thinking to cancel our team!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the tank was fully refilled, and she turned and stormed off.
"Fine then! I'll pack up all my stuff, and I'm taking the dog with me! I found him!" Jared retorted.
"No, I'm taking the dog! You will only make him die starving and abandoned in his own poops! I'm the one who bathes him and feeds him. He'll be happier with me. You'll only use him for money!" Logan said to Jared, who was walking behind her.
"Oh, no, lady, he loves me more! I found him on the floor of the dog market, almost dead under someone's boots! Besides, he's adventurous, just like me!" Jared insisted, following Logan into the cafeteria at the docking bay.
They walked toward two bounty hunters who were smoking at the cafeteria. One of them had an eagle tattoo under his vest. That was Maverick, whose trooper pod key Logan had borrowed to pick up Jared from Kraa.
"Hey, Mav, here's the key I borrowed. Thank you so much, and I already refilled the gas," Logan said.
Maverick nodded and then turned his attention to Jared, eyeing his bloodied appearance. Slowly, a mocking grin appeared on his face. "Hah, I can tell another bounty was missed today, huh?"
Next to him was Mino, Maverick's sidekick. Following Maverick's mockery, he smirked. "Another one for the 'Top Bounties I Almost Caught' trophy list."
Both Maverick and Mino laughed at Jared as they listed the bounties he had missed. Some of the stories were even made up, which sounds straight up as cruel slander, which only made Jared want to knock out one or two of Maverick's teeth even more.
"You need to remember that bad days exist," Jared said, glaring at Maverick. Though he seemed calm, his glare was a passive-aggressive warning.
Logan could read this situation, knowing Jared. He was about to do something stupid out of raw emotion again. "Come on, it's not worth it," She tried to pull Jared, but the man was unmoved like a statue.
Maverick noticed the glare but wasn't intimidated. Jared is half the size of him. Besides, he was always that loser who failed the chasing mission. What can he do against a pro like him? He puffed smoke into Jared's face, adding more to the humiliation, expecting Jared to cough. But Jared stood still, his sharp glare never leaving Maverick. Unaffected. Maverick grinned. "I feel really sorry for your girlfriend. She works so hard for you, but you always mess everything up, and you still call it a 'bad day'? That's bullshit!"
"You know, there's another thing that's bullshit, and I'm about to turn it into a lump!" Jared lunged into Maverick with a tight clenched fist. A fight broke out between them in an instant. Jared couldn't take the mockery any longer, so he beat Maverick up. Maverick tried to defend himself but was caught off guard by how strong Jared was. He really did not expect that the kid really got such inhuman strength despite his reputation!
***
Ten minutes later, both Jared and Maverick sat before Flaggot, the owner of the Minerva and leader of the BattleLion bounty hunter alliance. Both of their faces were bloodied. Jared's blood had already dried, while Maverick was still wiping away the blood dripping from his nose and cheeks. His face was swollen from the beating, and he tried hard not to admit that he was lucky the people in the cafeteria had stepped in to save his life.
Flaggot was an Earthling with a large head with white hair. His brown hair had gradually turned white, so he dyed it silver. His face looked like it had been overworked for three decades. His thin, slender, and small frame was covered in flashy fabric designed for comfort in varying temperatures.
Despite his appearance, Flaggot was a legendary bounty hunter in his golden days. He had earned countless scars from the battlefield and refused to fix them with plastic surgery, wearing them proudly—his robotic left leg included. That was why everyone respected him.
"He—" Jared pointed at Maverick with his thumb, hesitating to speak because Flaggot was looking at him as if he lacked maturity. "---mocked me."
Maverick silently giggled at how stupid Jared sounded. Beating someone because they stole your wife? Understandable. But beating someone up because of mockery? How old are you?
Flaggot gave no reaction, no change in expression, not a word. He kept all his judgments to himself, but Jared believed the leader was judging him in the worst way possible, even worse than how the other bounty hunters mocked him.
Flaggot looked at a piece of paper and read it. Then he glanced at Jared. "Also, your partner, Logan Hebron, requested a divorce and mentioned that she wants custody of Herman. It's not just a bad day for you, kid."
"Sir, we are not a married couple, she is a---" Jared corrected him, as Flaggot seemed to think that Herman was their son.
"I don't care. Divorce is a divorce. Who gets married these days?" Flaggot signed the 'divorce' paper without hesitation.
"Sir, my dog—!! I can't lose my dog!!" Jared stood up from his chair.
"Sit back down!" Flaggot hissed in a shockingly loud roar, instantly making Jared sit back down. All he could do was exhale.
As Jared watched Flaggot sign the team termination contract, which meant losing his dear dog, his jaw clenched. His mind raced, strategizing various ways to get his dog back. He had gotten his dog before he joined Logan, and now she had taken him away from him? No way!
Jared had to return to his unit and steal Herman when Logan wasn't looking. It didn't matter if he had to give up all his belongings—Herman was no bargain!
Jared walked quickly into the elevator that would take him to his unit's floor. When the door opened, a familiar figure stood inside unexpectedly. It was Archiles, his rival. Archiles always show up at the worst times. He was dressed in a worn but stylish combat suit, his smirk as annoying as ever. Archiles is handsome, with thick eyebrows and sharp, fiery eyes. He had the kind of look that would make him the hero in any heroic story, a natural-born leader with a presence that demanded attention.
Rolling his eyes, Jared stepped into the elevator, knowing it would be a war with Archie. But he hoped that the thought of stealing Herman would keep him focused and save him from another "war."
"Well, well," Archiles said, stretching. "Komob! No bounty this time?"
Jared tried to ignore him, but he couldn't. He had to respond. "Well, if it wasn't mommy's pet. Weren't you supposed to be in Jinqe, drinking expired milk?!"
Archiles got mad when Jared mentioned the name of the planet where people send their elderly parents to nursing homes and shot back, "I'd rather be Mommy's Pet than an ass hunter!"
When the elevator doors opened, the two boys stormed out, beating each other up. Archie's flashy hair was now messy, and he would need to redo it before his upcoming date with a hunter hot mama, Rosalia, at the bar. But he didn't care—he needed to teach Jared a lesson!
Without further ado, Jared found himself back in front of Flaggot. This time, with Archie.
Flaggot looked bored when he saw Jared's face. "What is it now?"
Jared pointed at Archie with his thumb, about to say something, but Archie was faster. "This is a misunderstanding, Mr. Flaggot! We were just sparring!"
"Uh, yeah. S-sparring," Jared followed.
Flaggot narrowed his eyes, clearly doubtful. But this pair is the most consistent combination that causes Jared to enter his office for involved in a fight. These two boys must be really close friends! He started to believe that they were probably sparring partners; they just didn't know that dojos existed.
"You see," Archie continued, "we're equals, right? Our builds are the same—same height, same weight—though I'm definitely smarter. But, well, we both wouldn't miss a chance to spar when we see each other, considering our tight schedules." To make sure this really was a misunderstanding, Archie gave Jared a side hug and whispered to him, "Smile, dumbass, or he'll punish both of us!"
Jared smiled for an instant.
Thanks to Archie, Jared was saved from another penalty for fighting with a fellow bounty hunter. Getting out of Flaggot's office twice in one hour was an achievement only Jared could get. On his worst days, he could get in and out of Flaggot's office five or six times.
"Bad day, eh?" Archie asked as they both left Flaggot's office. He wiped dried blood from his lips, "You know, you can't just go around beating people up when you're mad. Sometimes, you need to ignore them and focus on bettering yourself. Let them laugh, silence them with achievement. That's how you shut them up. If you can't even control your emotion, don't be a bounty hunter!"
Archie tried to start another war, but Herman is more important now. Jared really needs to get to his unit. The plan was to pretend to take all his belongings, but he would only take Herman with him.
No way he's going to lose his dog son!