There is a prompt to make a short story and if you haven't seen it and want to get involved here's the post.
@theinkwell/the-ink-well-prompt-45-see-this-post-for-prompt-and-rules
It's exactly what Flux needed, some time off-world, and what better place than the capital of free-space, Jex. He'd kept to himself for most of the journey, but now coming to the end of the flight he decided to hang out in the common room. The ship itself was kitted out with all the amenities you'd want for a passenger ship the captain had made it comfortable for his guests over the years. When he made it down to the Common room he was surprised to see it relatively empty, all but one old Triskan sitting in the corner of the room engrossed in a data-pad.
Flux decided to sit in the room anyway, while he waited. Most of their time was spent in silence without the Trisken acknowledging Flux, until while lost in thought he heard him speak.
"Business or pleasure?" The Trisken asked.
"Sorry?" Flux taken off guard by the Trisken looked over at him.
The Trisken stood up and took a seat closer to Flux, he was badly scarred, his skull cap and parts of his Exo-skeleton had been cracked or chipped this guy has seen some stuff Flux thought to himself.
"What has you traveling to Jex?" The Trisken asks with a labored breath as he sits down.
"I just needed to get off Beskin, decided what better place to head than the capitol. Never been before." Flux leans back in his chair after speaking, making himself comfortable. "You?" He asked.
"I had to get off Zun-Kulla, work dried up. Heard about someone making a name for themselves on Jex, thought it might be worth getting in with them while it's still early days." The Trisken just stared at Flux after he finished speaking. "You any good with that thing?"
The Trisken gestured to Flux's blaster on his hip, Flux brushed his hand over it instinctively, the cold steel concealed beneath strips of leather. "Not the worst shot." Flux replied.
"You got the eyes of a killer. Tell you what, barely anyone on this ship has given me the time of day, the ones that have don't seem they'd last long in a firefight. You though look like the right one for my kind of work. When you get down planetside, contact me if you're looking for work. Money is supposed to be good and as I said, no better time to get in with someone who's starting out." They both exchange contact details and soon after the conversation drifts off back to silence, the Trisken engrosses himself in his datapad once more.
The trip was finally at an end, Flux stepped out in the cool night air of Jex. The docking yard wasn't much to look at. But, it was filled with ships from all over the galaxy he even spotted one from his home planet Beskin. Most of the ships were antiques and had been heavily re-fitted, re-modded. Old reliable pieces of crap, he thought to himself as he passed.
Looking at the cityscape in the distance he was blown away, nothing on Beskin was close to this place. The buildings were so bright they seemed to make the night sky glow with every colour imaginable. He had to refer to his data-pad for directions of the place he was staying. As he was leaving the main gate of the dockyard he was offered transport to the city center, but declined. He'd spent enough time onboard ships and wanted to see the city and enjoy the walk.
As he walked through the city, the initial buzz of people on the streets turned from being amazing to be being more intimidating. The more he walked, the more he noticed tension. It seemed like every second person was either begging or trying to sell him stims in one form or another, half of the names they used for them, he didn't even recognize. He was glad he was armed though, as he imagined it would be the only defense he would have in this place.
He wasn't far now from his destination, but as he walked he heard heavy gunfire and the low rumble of engines in the distance. He carried on trying not to think of it when a small transport ship came around the corner a few streets down. It fired wildly behind, missing most of the shots, striking not only buildings but the street below. Flux ran from the main walkway, to get cover in a doorway of a building. Two heavily armoured transporters then came around the same corner in pursuit of the first, also firing. The chase carried on down the street and around another corner to an off-road. As quickly as it had started it was gone, the gunfire and engines become lower off in the distance, and once more the sounds of people and advertisements resumed as if nothing had happened.
"What was that about?" He asked a nearby Rotchi who ducked for cover by the building too.
"They're known as the High Flyers. A group of narcotics producers, who not only create it but also distribute it. Probably the only thing they enjoy more than that is modifying their ships and causing havoc." Flux was dumbfounded. "You must be new. The ones in the pursuit are a local militia, their original job after the war was protecting people, acting as a kind of law enforcement, but when the High Flyers grew they turned to focus their attention solely on them."
Flux, dusted himself down, while also double-checking to make sure he hadn't been hit. "I'd make sure you haven't dropped anything in the scramble. Jex isn't the place a newcomer would want to be without money." The Rotchi said.
Flux nodded. "Yeah, I have everything, my blaster, data-pad." He hits his left side pocket as he says data-pad.
"Good luck on Jex I hope your stay is pleasant." The Rotchi says while he walks, as they pass by, trips and stumbles falling into Flux. "You okay?" Flux says while helping him back to his feet. "Just the excitement, I'll be fine."
Flux finally makes it to the place he's staying, he speaks with the person behind the counter and after everything is sorted out he goes to pay. The machine bleeps. "Try it again." The person behind the counter says. He does and the machine bleeps once more. "Nope, doesn't seem to be anything on it. Got another account?"
A cold streak runs through Flux. "What do you mean. I have over Five Thousand FST's on there, it's everything I have! Try it again." The person behind the counter shakes their head. "It's empty. You must have been skimmed."
"Skimmed? What, what am I suppose to do?" Flux says in a defeated tone. "Nothing you can do. Find the one who did it, but, Jex is a big place so good luck with that. No money, no bed. So if there's nothing more I can help you with." The person behind the counter gestures to the door.
Flux slowly walks outside thinking back on the last few hours on Jex, the city, the fire-fight, the Rotchi. He sits down against the building, looking down at the ground. Then he remembers the Trisken from the transport ship, he takes out his data-pad to write a message. "About that work you offered me. Is it still available?"
Thanks for reading my story, part 2 is now available here if you want to continue reading.
@killerwot/a-trip-off-world-part
