Mission to the Desert Planet

          In a sense, the universe consists of billions of stars, each have its own systems, and its own life in it. Countless of species and aliens are out there, waiting to be discovered by civilized race with intent to boldly go where no one had gone before. New frontiers and new civilizations are waiting to be found. Some preferred not to be disturbed, just observed. Some have the technology advanced enough for space travel and conduct first encounter. Some have a post-civilization state, and many possibilities all science fiction cannot contain in stories of all races.

          Welcome to the age of peace and exploration. 15 years after the war with the Black Sentient Creatures now known as the Goordans, a new era of peace came after Terra provided a full support to the Federation, and are ready to explore the unknown frontiers with returned technological advancement taken from them as probation. Gone has the corrupt governments that plagued so many of the Terran people, creating a utopia deserved by all cherished Terrans. Colonies are established, and joint operations between alien races are more common. The Scyllas are finally able to return to their homeworld after so many years of slavery, rebuilding their old empire, and returned the lives of so many families lost.

          But, despite all that peace, there are some people who doesn’t feel like it. Some are doing their job as it is, and it is enforcing justice under the most secret of operations, like a particular government organization of the Aqura, mostly dealing with cold cases and threats unable to be publicly announced. One such organization with a particularly experienced Aquros named Capisa.

          …in which he is currently doing his job.

          The peace of a small Terran colony was disturbed when a random shark alien just jumped out of a house’s window, raining down the glass pieces to the people below. He was followed by another Aquros wearing a formal environment suit his race was known for. He was chasing the Aquros on the relatively flat rooftop while trying not to be shot by a bullet-type gun, which could rupture his suit if he wasn’t careful.

          Just as he thought it was a dead end, the runner’s suit suddenly had lights around it and some whirring sound, before he made a very high jump that broke the floor he was on before. He swore under his breath, then tried to find a way down. Using his agility, he went down with make-shift ‘stairs’ which included an air conditioning system, a canopy, and a table. The Aquros realized he was gathering to much attention, so he said, “That goddamn thief! He stole my rations!”

          Somehow the colonists bought the story and tried to find the thief, but he had disappeared. He didn’t mind, though. He climbed down the table, and the colonists resumed their daily jobs, as if nothing happened.

          Just then, he was approached by a child Scylla, running to him carrying a pad. He thanked the young lizard-looking alien and saw some random scribbles on the pad, but he knew what it was. At night, he came to a local water hole; a bar full of aliens from all over sector who were visiting the small colony in the middle of a red rock planet.

          An Aquros came to his chair. He was clad in the same civilian environment suit model like the gray scaled Aquros. This one had a darker shade of gray and some scale pattern with black color.

          Then a human waitress came. The other one turned his head to the waitress. “I want two Aquran Vodka, please, with an assortment of Khuman fruit as its side.”

          As she left the scene, the other Aquros returned his gaze to his colleague and said, “That’s one hell of a chase, Capisa. You’re not one for a desk job, eh?”

          “Being a field agent is better than sorting out black documents,” said Capisa.

          “What I’m more surprised is how your cover story is convincing enough to some of them. Are you sure this is how you want to do it? Pretending to be a representative of S’hor Trading Company?”

          “It’s not undercover if it’s official. Now, back to topic. Where is that shark?”

          “Ya know, being such an arrow is kind of out of the theme in our organization,” said the Aquros smiling. He stood up, then said, “C’mon, Mako, I’ll take you there.”

          Being called a ‘Mako’ is quite the same as being a ‘greenhorn’, but the Aquros was his mentor and the one giving Capisa the chance to become a special Black As’karan, an organization to uncover conspiracies normally rejected by official As’karan affairs. If he never saved that old shark, he might still be a representative, without any secret behind the counter.

          With some secret codes to the bartender, they went through the staff door to the room below them. One of the Black Sites As’karans kept from public, it was used for some uncommon prisoner, like the one Capisa had been trying to catch in that planet. There were many operatives in there, something very uncommon, given the fact that it was a small colony. The only reason they were there was because of the Aquros being in one of their Black Document, a list of names beyond the normal wanted list. The Document was not the only one in existence; it’s merely an Aquran version. Greyhounds, the Federation, and the new Warriors had a version of the list. Blacklist, X Files, and others of some sort.

          “So, who’s he? A Jet dealer? Enemy to the government?” asked the older As’karan.

          “His name is Ordesa Bah’nal. He’s number 224. Suspected to sabotaging a Saurian Saucer to crash on Terra in 2287 Terra Year. The Terrans thought it was an accident but the As’karans knew who did it. Went by the name Nabkuk, resided in this colony for 5 years, previously living on orbit.”

          “Yes, he’s quite a problem. But which Black Document are you referring to? You’re missing some points.”

          Capisa gave his senior the Document. He scoffed. “What in the Abyss is this?”

          “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

          “S’Hor, if you want to keep bad sharks on the line, you can’t just refer to a one-hour outdated Document! You know what, screw the paper and folder. This is ridiculous. Why are they insisting with updating the info every hour?”

          In his mind, Capisa, too, thought the update was unnecessary and kind of silly. He did it two times before. First, when he was still a ‘Mako’, 13 years ago, when he gave his controller a three hours late Document, he was outraged by his outdated information. Then 5 years ago, if it’s not for his field companion, he wouldn’t have known that five hours before he opened the Document, the suspect he was tailing had just started making a deal.

          “I mean, how they can find fresh info in just an hour?” thought Capisa. “Goddamn reality is so harsh. Why can’t we return to the old movie ways of rummaging old documents and finding the answer?”

          But the thing is, despite Capisa’s love for classic Terran movies, the truth was harsher than he thought it would be. Some Aqura had interrogated the unfortunate shark alien for a while, but when the Black As’karan came, they were given a leave.

          “Okay, S’hor, here’s the new intel they gave us. Remember, it’s updated every half hour.”

          “I got it, Fas’ren. Let me do my job, okay?”

          “One more thing. You don’t want to break his windpipe.”

          Capisa had prepared himself in diving to the interrogation room, a giant aquarium with nothing in it. Basically, it’s just a glass tank.

          After he swam inside, the place was locked down, with only the two of them inside. The suspect Aquros was tied to the bottom of the tank, seated on a bolted chair. They exchanged look for a while before the other Aquros said, “What? You want to take your wallet back now?”

          “I want you to tell me your co-conspirator, Bah’nal,” said Capisa with a calm tone. “We know your purpose here is to assassinate an Aquros due to your conflict with the drug dealers.”

          “You think you know anything about the world of criminals, As’karan?” said the Aquros with a scoff. “You security guards can only find money with guarding aliens all around the world. C’mon, tell me everything about what you’re accusing. It’s an honor to hear all my achievements.”

          “Oh, you want to play it that way, huh? How about this? You tried to assassinate the Aquros, but he found you and you left a trace. Your kind of operation is using an accident as a cover to your crime. Desperate and out of credits, you resort to pickpocket to buy some knacks that can help you in creating an accident, whenever you go. Unfortunately, I am also a working shark, and I need the credit card in my hand wallet. End of story.”

          “Nice job, As’karan. You might want to get out of being a security guard to a cheesy private investigator. Your theory on things is so goddamn bad it makes me wanna…”

          “Then someone told me that you’re afraid of losing water.”

          This finally caught Bah’nal. He wasn’t a jerk anymore; he was serious and somehow paying attention when Capisa told him about that.

          “How in the Abyss do you know that? Who sold me out?!”

          “That’s an irrelevant question. I’m the one who’s supposed to be talking here, and…oh, by the Leviathan…”

          Both could see that the water ceiling started receding, indicating that the water was pumped out of the room. This started to make Bah’nal uneasy, which Capisa tried to exploit.

          “What in the Abyss are you doing?!”

          “Oh, they may have forgot to close the drain off,” said Capisa with a chuckle. “The water in this place is filtered every hour, you see. But, they still need to drain the water. We don’t have a good circulation system in this planet, so we use local colony tech to do it.”

          “This is not fucking funny! Get me inside a suit!”

          “Relax, they will give us a suit with fresh salt water inside. We just have to wait.”

          “We’ll dry out in this tank! Come on, dude, this is not funny!”

          “Will you shut up and wait?” said Capisa with a slight threatening tone. “Aqura can survive without aquatic environment for 5 minutes. Maybe there’s a slight headache along the way, gasping for breath, but if you just try holding some water inside your gills you may take the saturated water for a while and extend your time outside the water. That’s what a good friend said to me. Just let running water into your gills and your blood will flow after a while. That’s why we use the new nanotechnology environment generator with only 2000 credits to…”

          “Ahdir Ban! He’s in Ahdir Ban!”

          “Eh? What’s that? We’re breaking the surface now, so I have a hard time hearing you!”

          “My contract is in Ahdir Ban and his name is Ardelk Ef’hran! Please, give me a suit! I’m begging you!”

          Just as he said that, before the surface of the water even reach his gills, Capisa gave signals to an unknown Aquros to return the water. In his mind, he couldn’t believe the Aquros would fall for a redundant water recycling system. Maybe he really was afraid of losing the aquatic environment. Maybe an old trauma that became a phobia. Capisa wasn’t sure, though he wasn’t bluffing when he was explaining to Bah’nal about the limit of an Aquros outside of water. He learned it from experience.

          As Bah’nal was taken into custody, Capisa was greeted by Fas’ren, who was waiting for him at the top of the aquarium. The Aquros sighed and said, “You almost broke his windpipe there, Capisa. There are flaws, but you’re still one sadistic Mako.”

          “I’ll take that as a compliment Kandarr. So, his contract is in Ahdir Ban. Do you know which sector it is?”

          “It’s basically a Terran colony in sector G56. Before you go there, though, you might want to really use a true enviro-suit instead of a nanotechnology one. It’s frickin’ hot there.”

          “It’s a desert planet with no water except moisture. Yes, your pad is giving that information a minute ago.”

          Kandarr made a smile. “I know you can do it, kid,” he said. “Your transport will be ready in about an hour. I’ll send you the photo of the target to you along the way.”

          “Wait, how about my own cruiser?”

          “Are you seriously going to a run-down colony with an expensive ship? Send it to the nearby space station and I’ll take care of it for you. Oh, and one more thing, Capisa.”

          The older Aquros put one of his hands over Capisa, who gulped nervously. Kandarr then started talking in ancient Aquran language, to which only Capisa knew the meaning. Silently, he acknowledged the suggestion, and they both hugged each other, before Capisa leaving to his room.

          After finishing the job, he might want to go to the Scylla’s main planet to relax and have some good Scyllan beverages. He was looking forward to it, or may be meeting old friends along the way…

          “Maybe later,” he thought. “Finish the job, then get the drink. Not the other way around."

          The door opened to the more crowded bar. It was midnight after all. True to his words, he didn’t ask for another drink, but go directly to his hotel, preparing for the mission to come.

          Little did he know what the trouble and surprises he might get after reaching the desert planet….