Chapter 1

El-Dorado in the clouds

[Part I - Golden city under twilight]

It seems I have it in me to invite trouble. That's what I thought, me, Gene Starwind, as the moment I reached my destination, some lowly bar, I came face-to-face with the unsettling mouth of a raygun pointed at me. Even though that ended up being just a hint of the much bigger troubles yet to come.

Even if that joint is the only of its kind in town, it has all the characteristics of said town, a run-down mining settlement: cramped, filthy, scarcely populated. The reason for my presence in this forsaken place is that I'm chasing after a serial-killer wanted in Heyfong as well as several other star systems. This town is the hometown of this bird of ill-omen, apparently. And the reason I was headed for the one bar, is because I thought there'd be no better place to inquire the whereabouts of a reckless, stupid killer than where alcohol flows generously. 

A bird of ill-omen. A reckless, stupid killer. That's precisely what stands in front of me, pointing a raygun at me: Billy McLaglen. Not as tall as me, but still a tall, slim figure. Short blond hair, clean-cut facial features: definitely good-looking. Surely he's popular with those ladies that go for looks. That is, if he wasn't wearing these run-down clothes and hanging out in lowly bars, gun in hand. But considering I ran into my bounty so quickly, maybe I really should consider myself a lucky dog. 

"Wow, now that's disturbing. Can't foreigners freely enters bars in this town?"

I addressed him cheerily, making sure to show that both my hands were empty, in an attempt to calm him down. 

"Sh.. shut up! If you try to play smart I'll kill you too, just like this dude!"

Billy said in a loud voice, like barking. Looking closely, his face is red with agitation, his hand is getting white from holding the gun too tightly, and is trembling a bit, too. Since I was pointed a gun at as soon as I entered the place, I didn't notice at first, but there's a guy lying face down at Billy's feet, a big black burnt spot on his back. No pistol holster at his waist, and empty-handed too. Good grief, he's about the same age as me, but he's killed dozens, and apparently he's just a short-tempered brat like the eponymous Billy-the-Kid. 

"You're the one who shot that old dude?"

"Look around, who else do you think could do something like that?"

As billy suggests, I look around the bar. There are around 10 people staring at us. About half of them carry a gun at their waist, but all of them are just looking down to the table, avoiding my gaze. Behind the bar, there's no trace of the bartender. Maybe he's hiding behind there, or just ran away. 

"I see. You're right, there's nobody else who seems like they would shoot an unarmed man in the back."

"You, y.. you sound like you want to be dealt with too!"

It looks like he picked up my sarcasm and was properly offended. His face's veins are popping out. If they could somehow burst open and let him bleed to death, that'd come handy. 

"Why did you kill him?"

"He was playing it smart and patronizing me. 'A youth like you shouldn't be drinking all that much', so he said, even though that bastard was doing exactly the same thing. Who the hell did he think he was? So I got rid of him."

A hopeless idiot. Very slowly, I pushed away my coat to show Billy the raygun hanging in its polster on my waist. 

"So chief, would you throw the same big words at someone actually holding a weapon?"

Billy was slightly taken aback by my contempt.

"Hey, if you haven't noticed, my gun's been aimed at your stupid hear the entire time. No matter how much of a fast-shooter you are, you don't stand a chance!"

"Is that so?"

And and the same time, I quickly pull out my gun with my left hand and point it right at his face. Billy, who's attention was on my right hand, realized suddenly that a gun nuzzle appeared right in front of him, made a blank face and stared with his mouth open like an idiot. Usually a right-handed person would pull with his right hand the gun hanging on his left waist. But that means reaching from all the way across the body's width, which is a significant motion. Pulling instead with the left hand can save a few precious fractions of a second, and that's a trick I like to use. Of course my aim won't be as good since it's not my dominant hand, but at that distance, it doesn't really matter.

"How about that?"

The blood quickly drew from his dumbfounded face, rendering him very pale.

"You.. you really that to die that bad?"

He said, in a trembling voice. 

"I could say the same to you. If I see the slightest motion in that finger, I'm talking a shot. So what says you, chief?"

Billy froze in place. Except for the hand holding his gun, which is trembling. Did that guy really kill dozens? 

"Big-bro, enough fooling around."

The voice came from behind Billy, from the backdoor. My partner, Jim, is guarding it. Looks like he made his way inside to see what is going on. Jim Hawking, only 11 years old. Still a brat, but nevertheless reliable and always aware of the situation. Not that I ever told him that though, he would just get cocky about it. 

"Yo, Mr. Billy. If you but move a finger, you'll get it from me too."

Jim moved toward us as he made this announcement. His short hair and freckles really befit his young age. Apparently he appeals to the girls' motherly instincts. Most people just view him as a harmless, clumsy brat, and have no idea just how good a mechanic he is. 

Jim is holding with both hands a humongous needle-shotgun, in stark contrast with his small frame. That gun only has a range of less than 10 meters, but shoots thousands of small metallic needles, shredding everything in their way. A fearsome weapon. No need for a good aim with such a weapon, that's why I gave it to him, but looking at it, if we shoots from that angle, I too will be having a taste of those needles. That's a bit frightening. 

"Who.. who the hell are you two?"

Billy's voice is getting increasingly high-pitch.

"Outlaws, same as you, chief. Today it's bounty-hunting though."

"Mr. Billy, why don't you gently drop your gun and put your hands in your back? Unlike my Big-bro, I like to do things the gentleman's way."

Jim fetched a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket and is dangling them purposefully. The moment Billy turned to Jim, I step forward and slam hard my gun's handle in his face. From the feeling, I can tell he just lost a few of his front teeth. Next, as billy leans forward from the shock, I unleash my right punch on his temple. His head twists violently and he collapses in front of me. 

As I pick up the unconscious Billy, thinking that whole thing was a walk in the park, I get a call notice from the transmitter integrated into my piercing. It's from Melfina, another of my partners. 

"Gene, something is approaching from the sky above!"

Just as she said that, a huge mass of steel pierced through the bar's ceiling, in thundering noise. 

"Jim, your shield!"

As I'm shouting that, I let go of Billy and I crouch, deploying my own force shield, which is integrated into my gloves. That was a close call. Together with the shield's characteristic high-pitch deployment noise, a wave of bolts from a rapid-fire pulse-laser came raining down on us. Next, a squad came down from the open roof and began sweeping the bar with weapon fire. Looks like their intention is to eliminate everyone indiscriminately. I could hear the screams from the bunch trying to hide in a corner of the room, as they fell under a flood of laser beams. 

From what I could see through the shield's blue light and the raising cloud of dust, the assailants are round-headed with a wide black-glowing body, thick hands & feet, about 3 meters in height. Triforce Corporation's latest model of battle-droids. They're even carrying short-range GCUs (Gravity Cycle Unit) on their back. I pick up Billy while the droids continue to sweep the place with the pulse-laser built into their right hand. 

"Big-bro, the shields won't hold much longer."

"The ceiling! Let's blow up the rest of the ceiling!"

And having shouted that, I start firing volley after volley of laser shots at the ceiling. Jim, after a brief moment of puzzlement, gets my intent and starts to do the same with his needle-gun. Already weakened by the hole opened up by the droids, the ceiling quickly begins to creak heavily under our fire. 

"Jim, the window!"

Shouting that, I can see Jim nodding and we both make it to the nearest window, smashing through its plexiglass and landing on the street outside. 

"Gene, Jim, are you alright?"

Melfina, who was posted outside for surveillance, is rushing towards us. Melfina is a cutie with long flowing black hair, but she's also a highly-advanced android that holds the key to a mysterious treasure known as the "Galactic Leyline". But no matter how you look at her, she just looks human. The human race in its current state could not produce an android like that. On top of it, according to Jim, she's the one with the most common sense in our bunch. 

"We're alright... but that wanted poster really didn't say anything about such an army of bodyguards."

Jim said half-jokingly as he got back up and cleared the dust off his clothes. 

"Of course it wouldn't. Otherwise people like us would never even try to go after him in the first place. Geez, I bet half the people Billy killed were actually killed by this squad."

I voiced those complains while still sitting on the ground. Looking at the crumbled remains of the bar, I'm wondering how in the world we're going to fetch Billy out of there. We can deliver a corpse and still claim the reward, but we still need a corpse. Pondering about that while looking at the bar's ruins, suddenly its collapsed roof flew away, accompanied by strong ground shaking. In a cloud of dust, a large shadow raised from the center of the rumble. One of those battle-droids. It has taken a beating here and there, but appears to still be functional. And it's holding Billy in its left arm. 

"No way..."

Jim is taken aback.

"That's the new model for you."

I said, while slowly getting back on my feet, my eyes locked on the droid. It looks like it noticed us too, as its viewing lens is turning this way. 

"Big-bro, it's looking this way! What do we do?!"

"Yes, what shall we do?"

Jim and Melfina are looking worryingly my way. What should we do? That's my line! Currently we're all standing in the middle of this large street. Large, and completely empty. Undoubtedly, anyone who was there has long run away after all that fuss. No shelter, no cover whatsoever: nowhere to run. And our shield batteries are already empty. We're in a really bad fix this time. 

"Oh, Ms. Suzuka, hello."

Melfina suddenly said nonchalantly. I have to disagree with Jim there, someone who can casually greet an acquaintance under such critical circumstances cannot be praised for their common sense. Speaking of which, why is Suzuka coming over this way? I still didn't take my eyes off the droid in front of us, but I could see Suzuka from the corner of my eye, rushing towards it. Suzuka, a beautiful woman with long, glistening black hair tied up, wearing a layered kimono over her tall, slender body. Not unlike a concubine from a wealthy merchant. That is, if she wasn't carrying that long, very menacing kendo sword. She's also known as 'Twilight Suzuka'. That's because once she's set her eyes on a target, that target will be dead before the sun goes down. A high-skilled assassin. 

Through some course of events, she ended up joining our group in the search of the Galactic Leyline. I wouldn't really qualify her as a friend, more like a temporary partner-in-crime, chasing after the same treasure. She's mostly acting on her own. Even for accommodation, while we're staying in cheap, dirty hostels, she's always staying in luxury hotel suites, living like a queen. But then, she'll come to our place just as we're about to have launch so that she can conveniently join the meal. No shame, really. Therefore this time, to keep our shares a bit bigger, we didn't tell her about this job. 

"Billy McLaglen, I hereby place you under arrest for suspected serial killing!"

Stopping one meter short of the battle droid, Suzuka made this announcement. 

"Billy is still unconscious!"

Just as Jim made this uncalled-for remark, the droid made its move. It raised its right arm, a contraption opened and the nuzzle of a pulse-laser appeared. The same instant, its arm was cut clean in half and fell to the ground with a dull sound. In the blink of an eye, at a speed the human eye could barely follow, Suzuka raised her kendo sword from below and severed the droid's arm in one clean swipe. Was it some obscure oriental witchcraft, some hidden TAO ability? If I had to guess, it's just the result of intense, dedicated training. In any case, she'll cut any material cleanly in two with that wooden kendo sword of hers. That's Suzuka's fearful assassin technique. 

"What happened, are you already out of tricks?"

Suzuka asked the droid, a smile on her face, while calmly setting back into fighting stance. A panel opened on the droid's chest and a missile pod came out. But before a single one could fire, Suzuka's kendo sword was slicing through the droid from the top of the head, all the way down. 'Bamboo-cutting', so to speak. Each half started to sway, then tumbled to the ground. Billy, who was being held by the left arm, fell to the ground together with the left half of the droid's body. Crushed by some of the weight, he moaned in a low voice. 

"That won't have brought much rust to my blade.."

Suzuka said, making fun of the situation. I don't think her wooden blade will ever rust, though. 

"Ms. Suzuka, how cool!"

Melfina said, as carefree as always. Mel, you're not realizing that we just lost our big prize, now do you? Suzuka headed towards the still half-conscious Billy, and declared again:

"Billy, I'm placing you under arrest. The bounty on your head, dead or alive, amounts to 300.000 won if I'm not mistaken."

Suzuka then turned our way, and said with a particularly malicious large smile:

"Well look who's there. Nice to see you all."

I am jinxed alter all. At this time, I really thought so.