Chapter 167: 167. Through The Nebula

The first energy bolt slammed into the hull.

BOOM!

Sparks sprayed across the cockpit as alarms blared. Owen was thrown from his co-pilot’s seat, hitting the deck hard.

Gorvax was already at the controls. His robed form didn’t flinch as the ship lurched. His hands moved across the interface, evading and calculating.

“Damned Pirates.” His voice was cold as he ran a scan across their ship. “The Rift Scavengers. A Tier 5, two-star to three-star crew. They are known for choosing the ’dead’ in ’dead or alive” bounties”

Owen pulled himself up.

Gorvax’s featureless face turned toward him. “I’ll handle the ship. You board them.”

“Board them? In this space?” Owen said as he pointed towards the screen that showed they were still moving pretty fast through space, though they had dropped out of warp speed.

Gorvax tossed a small device; a tether anchor, no larger than a fist. “It will pull you across. Just don’t miss.”

Owen caught it. His CE pulsed at 460. He was eager to test his new efficiency.

—

He stood at the airlock. The tether anchor hummed in his grip. Beyond the hull, the pirate vessel was a sleek, ramshackle thing; modifications welded onto its frame, mismatched engines, scorch marks from old battles. Experienced bounty hunters.

The airlock cycled and the outer door opened. The cold void rushed in.

Owen launched himself using Momentum Shift. CE cost: 5. The tether anchor fired and a thin line of energy pulled him faster, cutting through the darkness. The pirate ship grew larger. He angled his body and landed on its hull with a magnetic thud.

His boots adhered to the metal. He was inside their perimeter.

—

He found a maintenance hatch, tore it open, and dropped inside.

The corridor was narrow, lit by emergency strips. Two pirates were already waiting. Both had energy blades that glowed blue and pistols holstered at their hips. One was a reptilian with cracked scales. The other was avian, feathers matted, beak sharp.

The reptilian grinned. “It’s the False Fist. Hehehe. They say he’s worth double alive.”

Owen rolled his shoulders. “Oh? And here I thought you took no live captives.”

The avian hissed. “Oho~, we don’t!”

They attacked together. One high, one low. Both coordinated.

Owen’s Dragon’s Eye tracked them. He used Momentum Shift to evade—left, then right. CE cost: 12 total. The reptilian’s blade passed his throat. The avian’s kick caught his side, a glancing blow, but enough.

POW!

His CE dropped to 445. Ultra-Regeneration kicked in, costing another 8 CE to heal the bruise.

Faster than Vrex. Weaker hits. But they’re working together.

He couldn’t afford to get surrounded.

—

Back on Gorvax’s ship, two small attack drones were launched from the pirate vessel.

They were fast and Streamlined, and their weapons charged.

But Gorvax didn’t dodge.

He raised his scythe. One swing, smooth, effortless, absolute. The blade phased through the ship and passed through both drones like butter.

SHING!

Their cores detonated in small explosions that caused their fragments to scatter into the void.

Then Gorvax spoke into his comm. “Stop playing and End it.”

—

Inside the pirate ship, Owen stopped evading and planted his feet. The reptilian alien lunged forward with his blade aimed at Owen’s chest. Owen feinted. A 10 CE jab to the face. The reptilian flinched, just a fraction.

Which Owen exploited. He channeled 40 CE into his fist. Cosmic Impact Fist. He drove it into the reptilian’s chest.

CRACK!

Scales shattered. The pirate flew backward, slammed into the bulkhead, and slid down Unconscious.

The avian hesitated, his blade wavered.

Owen used Momentum Shift to close the distance. 5 CE. Then a 30 CE punch to the avian’s knee.

CRACK!

The pirate’s leg buckled. He dropped to one knee, his weapon clattering.

Owen’s fist hovered an inch from his face. “Yield.”

The avian dropped his weapon.

—

Owen tied them both with cable from the wall. The reptilian groaned, waking. His cracked scales leaked faint ichor.

“Who placed the bounty?” Owen asked.

The reptilian’s eyes darted. “The Crucible. Someone leaked your description. Five hundred Cores for False Fist.”

“And any news on the Enforcer around there?”

The avian hissed. “The Tribunal Enforcers are offering a reward for information on the Tier 4 gardener. The one called Gorvax.”

Owen’s jaw tightened as he stood.

Then Gorvax’s voice came through the comm. “We need to move faster.”

—

Owen returned to the ship via the tether anchor. The pirate vessel drifted behind them, disabled.

His CE had risen to 480 from the stress and ambient absorption. One step from two stars.

Gorvax set a new course not directly to Kaelos, but through a nebula of ionized gas.

“We’ll lose any followers in there,” he said.

Owen flexed his hands. “Who’s this ’someone’ on Kaelos?”

Gorvax was silent for a moment. “Just… a former associate.”

But Owen felt something through Gorvax’s featureless face. A tension. A weight. This “associate” was more than Gorvax was making them out to be.

—

The nebula swallowed them.

Visibility dropped to zero. Sensors scrambled. Owen’s Dragon’s Eye was useless—the ionized gas scattered light.

He had to rely on Gorvax’s navigation.

Something moved in the clouds.

Not a ship but Larger. A silhouette against the gas, segmented, flowing, immense.

Desolate beast. Tier 4? They couldn’t tell.

Gorvax’s voice was barely a whisper. “Quiet. Let it pass.”

The creature drifted by. Its form blotted out what little light remained. It didn’t notice them. Indifferent. A predator too large to care about prey so small.

It vanished into the gas.

Owen exhaled.

—

They emerged from the nebula.

Ahead, a basic world: Kaelos. Sprawling industrial cities covered its surface, connected by glowing transit lines. Orbital rings circled the planet, dotted with docking bays and defense platforms.

The ambient energy here was denser than Veridian Crossing.

“We will land in the lower districts,” Gorvax said. “My contact doesn’t like attention.”

Owen studied the planet. “What’s their name?”

Gorvax didn’t answer.

His comm buzzed. A text message appeared on the interface.

“I know you’re coming. The Enforcer is already here. Be careful.”

Gorvax’s hand tightened on the controls.

“We may have walked into a trap.”

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