Agents of Mystery

As the stars streaked by the sleek looking black spaceship, Vorian thought about his current mission. Having gotten the information from Strellon, a purple-skinned alien, who was also Vorian’s closest friend and partner, he knew that it could be trusted. Yet, there was a tiny chance that Strellon had been mislead in the first place. Though, Vorian knew that Strellon was very meticulous and went through all the aspects of each mission to weed out any and all forms of trouble. Still, one had to be cautious. And Vorian knew how to be cautious.
Even though he had checked his weapons and gear before heading out, Vorian pulled out his RCPP from the holster under his right shoulder. Usually referred to as Rippers, a Rapidly Charged Particle Pistol was designed to propel tiny fragments of an alloy by means of a power source. The guns can hold a vast amount of fragments, enabling the user to fire more rounds without having to reload as often. Plus, the power source can be manipulated, higher or lower, to give each shot more or less of a punch. If the gun is set to its highest setting, the particle that is fired can easily go through walls, steel and certainly more than one human body at a time. Hence, the name Ripper.
Vorian’s Ripper was custom built. It was installed with a more powerful power cell that over time can recharge itself. The pistol will fire only in Vorian’s grip, preventing anyone from using it against him. The gun can also be fitted with a line-of-sight virtual targeting system. The user wears a special contact lens on the eye that shows an enhanced image of whatever the gun is pointed at. It is especially useful for looking around corners and even in low visibility. Sniping is also much easier.

Because of the nature of the technology that provides the gun with its high velocity producing rounds, there is virtually no kickback. This allows the user to basically hit whatever they are aiming at. In Vorian’s line of work, this is by far the most important feature.
That brings us to what Vorian’s line of work is. He is a savior. A hunter of the vile retched and corrupt that plagues this galaxy. Though, he is not a contract killer or a merc. Sometimes he must kill. He does not enjoy having to hurt anyone. But when he tries to retrieve what does not rightfully belong to that person, things can and most often do go bad.

Vorian sat in the back of the shuttle along with ambassadors and dignitaries from both worlds. A few humans sat amongst the tall, purple-skinned aliens. The Skrellinions were in the process of setting up diplomatic channels with the government on Earth.
Vorian knew that he must be the youngest one aboard at age sixteen. And being aboard was due to the fact that his father, Enbarr, was piloting. Vorian himself wanted to be a pilot and with his father being one of the best, it should be easy.
Vorian was having a conversation with one of the Skrellinions when the ship lurched and most everyone was either thrown to the floor or pinned against their safety restraints.
In the coldness of space, a wing of fighters converged on the shuttle and it’s escorts. The fighters opened fire as soon as they were in range. Red hyphens of energy lanced out carrying with it the power to destroy.

There were four Protector-class ships trying to ward off the incoming fighters. Two of the escorts were obliterated within the first few minutes. The other two put up a good fight, giving the shuttle some time to send out a distress signal and drop into the closest planet’s atmosphere.
Vorian had come into the cockpit while his Dad was wrestling with the controls.
“What’s happening, Dad?” Vorian asked with fear creeping into his voice.
“Seems that somebody doesn’t want us to deliver our cargo, son.” Enbarr looked back at him.
The shuttle jolted hard. Vorian was thrown into a wall and collapsed to the floor. The copilot who had unbuckled himself for a moment was thrown head first into the console. There was a loud, wet snap. Enbarr knew that his copilot had just broken his neck.
Red lights were blinking all over the control console as gray smoke began to pour out from the boards. There was yelling and cries coming from the passenger compartment.
One fighter had followed the shuttle down into the planet’s swirling atmosphere. Angry red shafts of light spewed out of the fighter’s weapons systems. Most of the shots burrowed into the aft section of the shuttle causing pieces of it to fly off. A few pieces struck the pursuing fighter. The pilot had to back off when he realized that his craft was damaged. He was supposed to make sure that the shuttle and its occupants did not survive. But with his fighter having troubles, he decided to break off the pursuit. He figured that the shuttle was either going to blow up soon or everyone would die in the crash.
The shuttle was close to exploding. Enbarr pressed some buttons on the console. A screen showed him that the fire-suppressant systems were failing. The fire was growing out of control. Vorian began to rouse from unconsciousness.

A black line of smoke littered with debris trailed from the rapidly descending shuttle. With a bright flash and a loud boom that followed, the shuttle broke into two sections. The two parts began to diverge from one another as they rocketed towards the planet’s lush covered surface. When the two pieces finally crashed, there was a significant and vast distance between them.

Days after the crash, Vorian awoke in a strange, but comfortable room. He remembered bits and pieces of the crash. People screaming. Fire. Burning. Pain. Pulling Skrellinions from the wreckage. Searching for his father. Feeling cold. Watching his skin slough off.
He tried to move his arms, but was unable to. He could not even sit up. The only thing he could do was to move his head.
“Dad?” Vorian’s voice was a harsh whisper.
“Oh, good. You are awake,” a voice replied from somewhere in the room.
“Oh Dad the shuttle fire,” despite being sixteen years old and nearly a man, it was just too much to handle and Vorian began to cry.
A being came into Vorian’s view. Covered in purple scales with long white hair and silver pupils, the Skrellinion bent his seven-foot frame over Vorian. A large purple hand with black nails caressed Vorian’s head where some hair still remained.
“I am truly sorry, young one. Your father did not survive. His actions did save you. And your actions saved some of my fellow brethren. I am here to help you. I am Strellon.”

Vorian could not imagine life without his father. When his Mom had died, Enbarr focused all of his love and attention onto Vorian. They were inseparable. That is why Vorian was on that shuttle because Enbarr demanded that he be allowed to come with on his flights. Most of the time, the military allowed it. Sometimes they did not because of the danger or the nature of the mission simply did not allow it. This time however was one of those times that Vorian was allowed to come along. No one expected what had happened. No one was even sure of what did happen. The thing that mattered now was that Vorian recover from his burns and injuries.
After that first meeting, Vorian became very comfortable whenever Strellon was around. Vorian was told that he suffered third degree burns over ninety percent of his body. His left arm had been fractured in two places. Luckily, he did not sustain any internal injuries. He was told that he alone had pulled three Skrellinions from the wreckage.
“We are forever in your debt, brave one,” Strellon had said to Vorian on more than one occasion.

A light blinked on the navigation console and Vorian’s thoughts returned to the present. The display showed him that he was entering the Kross system. With a yellow sun and eleven planets, the Kross system resembled Vorian’s own Sol system. But instead of only having, one planet that bore life; the Kross system had three. Planets three, four and six were capable of sustaining life without the need of costly terra forming or encasing the inhabitants in structures.

His destination was the fourth planet, Lekton. Vorian began inputting data into the nav-computer to have his ship make its way through the system in such a way as to put off anyone tracking him. He also decided to come into the planet on its dark side. It would take another thirty minutes or so for the ship to complete its instructions.

Vorian recovered from his injuries at a rate unheard of, even with medical technology being very advanced. This did not go unnoticed by Vorian. In less than two weeks, he was up and about. Although, he still had trouble with his hands. Because Vorian had put his hands on metal and other heat absorbing materials, the fingers on his right hand had to be amputated all from the middle knuckle. Luckily, his left hand only needed to have one finger removed, his ring finger.
Besides the amputations, Vorian’s body was a maze of scars. From his face and down to his ankles, red raised scars crisscrossed with white and pink lines. Most of the hair on his head had been saved, but the rest of his body was basically hairless.
Being sixteen and full of teenage hormones, Vorian had asked Strellon a serious question before he was able to get up.
“Is my manhood still there? Because if it isn’t, then you can forget about fixing up!”
“I assure you it is where it is supposed to be,” Strellon could not help but hide a small smirk.
When Vorian had questioned Strellon about his rapid recovery, Strellon got very serious. Strellon explained that Vorian was aboard a secret hidden space station. This place was a research center above Skrell. There were a handful of scientists aboard and few people knew about it.

Strellon explained that they had been researching a new technology that would revolutionize the known galaxy. Someone had discovered an ancient alien civilization that was now extinct or gone from this galaxy. During the search of the alien’s home world, Strellon had found something very intriguing, but very mysterious.
A semi-intelligent nano-biot or rather a lot of them were found on that world. Not knowing the dangers of it, the team was allowed to set up a laboratory in high orbit above Skrell. This way if the SIN-biots were found to be harmful, no one besides the scientists would be hurt. The station could be quarantined or destroyed. So far, the SIN-biots proved to be more of a good thing than bad.
Vorian asked Strellon, “Where does that put me? Why am I here?”
“Because” Strellon began calmly “we, no I, decided to inject you with the SIN-biots. Most of them are all inside of you, right now.”
Before Vorian could object, Strellon raised his hand to cut him off, “I did what I did to save you. You were dying. And being so far from Earth, we had no way of getting any donor skin for you. We did what we could with what skin you had left, but it was the SIN-biots that repaired your body. After I injected them into you, it was only a matter of a few days until they adjusted to you and began to fix you up.
I am sorry. I did not want to lose you. I felt that since you risked your life for my people, that you deserved something better than death. I hope that you will see that I meant only to help you.”

Vorian sat with wide eyes. Now he knew why he was out of bed so quickly. Why his arm was not broken. Some fear began to creep into his thoughts. So, he voiced them, “I just want to know if I can live a somewhat normal life with these things in me. Or will you be removing them?”
“Well that depends on you, Vorian,” Strellon pulled out a device from a pocket. “With this, you can interact and essentially manipulate the SIN-biots in you. It is like a computer and will be surgically grafted to the underside of your right forearm. That is, if you allow us to do it.”
Over the next few days, Vorian worked with Strellon on how to work the machine and its tiny counter-parts. Vorian was told that when the device is installed, he would be able to tell the biots to change his appearance or to “grow” his fingers. The only drawback is that the little guys had to eat.
Strellon explained that after repeated use of the biots it would require them to be charged back up. Inserting a nutrient rich substance that is very rare and cannot be duplicated did this. The substance is found on remote planets throughout the galaxy. It is processed down into a liquid and then stored in capsules. The capsules are then placed into a special port in the forearm computer. The length and duration of its effects are based solely on how much the SIN-biots are used.

As he neared Lekton, Vorian put the ship on manual. He liked to do his own flying when he could. The planet had minimal defenses. There was only one large spaceport, but that is not where Vorian was heading.

Like a hot needle through flesh, his ship The Raivos pierced the atmosphere leaving a streak of orange light and a sonic boom in its wake. His destination was closer to a city that shone with tiny sparkles against a network of low buildings and structures that reminded him of toys he used to play with when he was a boy.
He did one low fly-by to get his bearings and decided to put down a little ways away from the city. Landing struts emerged from the underbelly of the ship as spurts of white gases shot out from several exhaust vents. The noise of the engines winding down mixed in with the sounds of the planet’s nocturnal life. The ship was completely black, but when looking at it, it was hard to discern where the ship started or ended.
Inside, Vorian grabbed his gear and gave some final commands to the on-board computer. The door popped out and slid back, revealing a forest with blue trees. A light mist swirled around hovering just above the ground. Vorian got out of his ship and the door slid forward and snapped back into place.
The air was humid and alive with sounds. Vorian did not like to be hot, which was to be expected. The suit he wore was black and had its own cooling system. Even though it was tight fitting, it circulated cool air around his body. Vorian was grateful for it. That was just one of the features his suit offered. It had many more features, like providing protection against energy and projectile weapons. The suit could also mimic most textures or designs, allowing the user to blend in or to take on the look of any uniform.
He turned his right forearm over to look at his computer. With his left hand, he inputted some data and immediately the fingers on his right hand grew to look like a normal hand. Vorian was right handed, so he could shoot better with it. The SIN-biots allowed him the use of his hand for a time. The computer also provided him with maps of the area and various sensor readings. He checked to make sure he was heading in the right direction. He began to walk towards the city and the night swallowed him up.

Vorian crouched behind the corner of a building in the slummy part of the city. His suit made him into a living shadow. He poked his head around to get a good look. Just as he thought, only two guards had been posted at the doorway. He looked down at his weapon, a tiny screen on its’ side told him that he had a full clip and that it was set at moderate energy use. Meaning he could get more use out of the energy pack than he would from the clip of “bullets”. He stood up. Took a deep breath and rounded the corner.
“Yeah so I tells this girl to get on her knees-“, one of the guards was saying.
“Look, we got a visitor.” the other guard warned.
The man in black wasted no time in wasting the two guards. With two quick discharges of his gun, he got both of them right between their eyes. He let out his breath. He quickly searched the bodies for anything useful and took their weapons. He didn’t want some passerby happening to pick up one of these guns. He also dragged the bodies back around the corner and covered them with garbage.
The building the two were guarding did not seem to be very distinct. It looked pretty much like every other building, except for a holo-sign above the door. Red’s Snapper was what it read with a three dimensional lady opening and closing her legs.
The man in black stood to one side of the door and knocked. A voice came from the other side, “Yeah?”
“Lemme in, I gotta piss!” the man in black did his best impression of one of the guards.
He heard a bolt slide and the door began to open.

With reflexes of a cat, the man in black grabbed the man’s wrist with his left hand to pull him out and put his right arm around the guy’s head to break his neck. In doing so, he spun inside and around the man. The door closed by itself.
Once inside the smell of sweat and sex was overwhelming. The air seemed to be foggy with the stench. A quick look around, the man in black made sure no one else was on the first floor. He put the body of the dead man in a closet. Next, he went to the stairs and listened. He could hear the sounds of women moaning and men grunting, beds squeaking and walls pounding.
Vorian pulled out a tiny picture from a hidden pocket in his pants and looked at it, burning the image into his brain. Cautiously and as quietly as he could he ascended the stairs. The first room he passed had its door partially open and as Vorian crept by, he looked in. A man on top of a woman
Nope not in there, he thought.
He moved along. A door was opening at the end of the hall. She stepped out into the hallway. She had blood on her hands and she seemed to be in shock.
“I, uh, he, uh ” her voice quivered.
The man in black rushed to her.
“Tels.” he said more than asked.
“Huh?” she turned her big brown eyes up at him.
“My name is Vorian.” the man in black replied. “I’m here to take you home. Your parents hired me to find you and bring you back.”
“She’s not going anywhere!” a voice from behind Vorian boomed.

Vorian spun around with his gun coming out and aiming at the voice. But he could not shoot. The man, who Vorian had seen in the first room copulating, now had that same woman as his hostage.
“Now I know a smart man like yourself wouldn’t think of harming an innocent. So why not lower your weapon and kick it over here.” the fat greasy man murmured.
“Looks like you got the wrong guy.” and with that Vorian shot one time.
The girl screamed as the fat man’s head exploded and his body fell to the floor twitching.
Vorian ignored the protests of the girl and grabbed Tels’s arm. He led her down the stairs and out into the night.
He did not realize it was cold until he saw Tels shivering. She was only wearing a lace bra and panties. He put his arms around her and took out a device from his pocket. He pressed a button on it. Down the street, a light appeared and grew larger. A sleek black hover car appeared. It pulled up right next to them and the door slid back to reveal the passenger compartment.
Vorian placed Tels into the seat and buckled her in. The door closed. He made his way to the driver side when a shot ricocheted off the roof. Vorian ducked. The driver side door slid back and he dove in.
Shouting commands to the nav-computer and pushing buttons here and there, the car lurched forward.
They raced into the darkness.