The Second Book of the Alienbutt Saga. The Rise of Mr Fluffy. Part 5.

Blackarachnia soon reached Duke Ramboe’s ship. He was unaware of events going on around him as he marched through the station, and wouldn’t remember how everyone quickly moved out of his way as he approached. Those onboard the stations were all bounty hunters, each at the top of their game. They had all spent years hunting down the most dangerous criminals in the universe and now fought a brutal war, but all sensed that here was the apex hunter of their kind. Here was the ultimate hunter in the universe, his ferocity unmasked for all to see. All that saw the look on his face knew they didn’t want to become the focus of his attention, even for a moment. As he reached Duke Ramboe’s ship he saw ground crews already preparing it for flight and loading supplies onto it. The ship was a custom model, built to its owner’s own design, at sixty feet it looked sleek and fast, and Blackarachnia knew it packed enough firepower to give even a dreadnought pause. It usually had a crew of just four personnel but could be fully automatic and just flown by one person. A nervous member of the ground crew approached Blackarachnia and gave a trembling salute.
“Sir, Ramboe called ahead to say that you would be using his ship. It will be ready for flight within the hour.” He stood waiting for a response, becoming more nervous as the silence continued.
“I will wait on board,” Blackarachnia finally said and walked onto the ship without another word.

Since escaping with the injured Nifty, Blackarachnia had swung between the terror of losing his new wife and anger for allowing this to happen; then guilt had kicked in at the fact he hadn't killed the assassin when he had the chance. He had been aware of his old companion Hydroponic trying to coax things out of him but it was all a haze. Then as they approached the space station he had heard of Wickede’s return and the news that Alienbutt was not with him. There were no details in the report he had seen, just that Wickede was back but Alienbutt wasn’t.
He had spent his entire life alone, making no friends, caring for nothing. He became a bounty hunter because it was easy for him and he quickly became the best. He tested himself against the most dangerous criminals, hoping that he would finally feel something, that it would fill the void within him. Then by chance he had run into Nifty at some stupid function where he was acting as a bodyguard to Wickede and the sight of her blew him away. In an instant he changed as he finally felt something, that he later discovered was a little something called love. He couldn’t get her out of his head, but she wanted nothing to do with him.
Then soon after meeting her, he had come across Alienbutt and something else clicked in his head. Before he knew it Alienbutt had become his friend as he had taught the strange alien what he would need to survive in the coming war. The ice-cold bounty hunter and drunken ex-taxi driver had made the most unlikely of friendships as each influenced the other in their search to become complete people. He was a different person when next he met Nifty and this time she did give him the time of day, and the void inside him began to disappear. Now Alienbutt was gone and Nifty was alive only because of a stasis booth. The life he had glimpsed so briefly was gone, but he would make those responsible pay for taking it away from him and leaving this strange pain he could not switch off.
He knew of the Secret Order who were behind all these events. He had a name to start off with and that would be all he needed. He would start there with the unfortunate owner of that name and then hunt down everyone connected with the Order.

To be continued.
All images are mine.