Vahl put down the four sets of armor and weapons onto the desk, not saying a word in reply but nodding his head. Umana watches as he quietly spreads the armor out and takes out a box of tools from under the table, working on the armor to try and keep himself occupied. Umana picks up some of the weights around her, clearing some space and cleaning to pass the time. Vahl remained quiet after she finished, clearly not entirely in the mood to talk much.

“What do you want to do next Vahl? Should we try getting a spot on a merchant ship?”

“No.”

“What would you like us to do Vahl? Whatever it is, ill try to support it.”

“Fight.”

“I see, that is fine with me. But I don’t like dealing a killing blow, so do those yourself. Let’s not doing anything rash first and rest for awhile.”

Vahl nodded, not having any issue with getting his hands dirty with the blood of pirate scum.

For the rest of the night Vahl continued to work on adjusting and repairing the armor, each set was way too small for himself but slightly too big for Umana. The first thing he did was to repair and reengineer the framing and covering of the armor to fit Umana and her extra pair of arms, he then used clippers and a heat gun to bend and remove some of the larger metal plates that covered the frame. After he finished the armor was far lighter than it was before but sacrificed some of its already low protection value. Four small but thick plates covered the pectoral area of the chest, protecting the heart but allowing some movement. The abdomen area consisted of thin small plates that would have trouble defending too much against a projectile but would stop a few laser bolts from a laser pistol. The back and four arms had even less plated area, but the legs had two larger plates added onto the front and wrapped around the back of the thigh. All this work only needed one set of the original armor to make and was cleaner, more flexible, more comfortable and easier to move in.

The next morning Umana put the armor on an did not have much trouble adjusting herself to the weight. Vahl began working on his own set of armor, but even with the three remaining sets he would not be able to achieve the quality he envisioned in his head. Vahl would have to strip all three of the armors from its plating and combine the metal framings and undercovers to just barely be able to fit around his entire body. This would likely take him a few days at least. After he fits the framing and covers, he would need to reform most of the plating and place them in creative ways to cover as much flesh as possible with the little amount of plating he had.

When Vahl wasn’t working on his armor the two would spar against each other, trying to absorb as much fighting experience as they could. The recent fights to the death with the pirates seemed like it provided them with a lot more combat experience than the pit fights they had no trouble with. The pirates were untrained and bad fighters, however the two had no doubt the commanders of the pirates would be far more skilled than the pirates. Umana figured that for the leaders of the red skull pirate gang to control the large number of pirates they had, they were most likely people who followed and trained under an adventurer class. They also probably had equipment that is far better than the worse than dirt equipment the pirates carried. Any fight against a commander would likely be the toughest fight for them yet.

After constant sparring and engineering, they both felt like they have grown a lot. Umana became faster and could fight against larger opponents that used their large size to fight, using their weight against them and fighting in a hit and run tactic. Vahl learnt more ways to use the massive body he had and to gain more speed with it, turning on a dime and using his entire 500 pounds of thick muscle and bone to attack quickly. From their experience fighting together they had worked out a good way to abuse their abilities and completely overwhelm opponents weaker than them. Umana’s ability as an envoy improved, becoming capable of improving Vahl’s fighting morale in combat and increasing his stamina to fight longer. Vahl would use his body and armor to act as a wall that absorbs every blow, only moving to charge and attack in an all offensive rage that gives gaps for Umana to shoot through, abusing the opponent with ranged attacks that they can only see when it slips through a gap that Vahl creates.

After seven days, and only taking breaks to eat and sleep, the two had prepared themselves enough to not fear fighting against any small to medium number of pirates. The heat had died down around the area and there were no Red Skull pirate patrols around looking for them. Umana quickly put on her armor and prepared her laser rifles, making sure they were at full capacity. Vahl cleaned his doshko and started to don his armor which only managed to cover the bare minimum of himself, large metal plates covered his abdomen and chest with small gaps running in-between them. Small parts of his arms, legs and back were covered around the joints offering little to no protection besides from the metal frame and under armor. Vahl would take and modify other set of the golemforged armor in order to add to it, in the future he planned on making the armor into a large amalgamation of metal plates that covered his entire body and weighed a few hundred pounds but that would take a while. He would also have to fashion a helmet for himself and Umana in some way.

The two left the house, attracting the attention of those around them to the equipment they wore. They could tell it was heavily modified and the armor plating looked a lot cleaner and cared for when compared to the mass-produced version. The two moved down the street, people naturally moving out of their way. They passed down a side road, keeping an open ear for the sounds of pirates. Down an alley an old man who seemed to own a small food stall was being harassed by three pirates, trying to calm them down as they smash parts of his shop, probably trying to extort some credits out of him to get them to stop.

Vahl walked further down the alleyway towards the pirates un-noticed and hid his body behind a gap between two houses and a large pile of garbage, obstructing him from sight. Umana stood beside him, unhidden and in plain sight. Umana picked up a piece of scrap metal, banging it on another larger piece of metal and dropping it. One of the three pirates looked in her direction, curious about the noise. The pirate is shocked for a little bit but turns to his pirate companions.

“Eh, isn’t that alien bitch the kasathas we were told to look for?”

One of the other pirates looks at Umana, gazing at her for a bit.

“Uh, I dunno, but there aint that lizard guy they talked about wit’ her”

“So? What if he just aint with her? We could take her and give her to da higher ups for a raise. They won’t recognise her anyway.”

“Oh shit, nice thinking man.”

The two pirates grab their friend, stopping him from doing more pointless damage to the store. The three pirates walk towards Umana, who turns around and runs behind the corner out of sight.

“Shit, don’t let her get away idiots!”

Two of the three break into a sprint, chasing after Umana to not let her get away. They seemed eager to get a raise and perhaps even a promotion, but one of the pirates does not sprint, only breaking into a jog and keeping an eye out for the vesk the lady is always reported to be with.

The two sprinting pirates make their way to the halfway point of the alley, passing by a large pile of discarded junk and garbage. The blunt side of a large doshko enters the sight of the two in front, smashing into their skulls and clotheslining them onto the ground with a great metal smack. The two pirates fall to the ground, one was dead with his skull caved halfway in and mushing his brain, the other pirate bleeding from a cracked skull and knocked unconscious.

The third pirate that was smart enough to not sprint pointed his gun at Vahl who emerged from his hiding spot and shot his chest. The bolt hit him and left a small burnt sizzling area that caused Vahl to laugh from the tickling feeling, the pirate immediately turned around and ran the opposite direction. He pushed over garbage and signs trying to slow down anything flowing after him. Peeking his head around to look back a large vesk wearing a lightly plated combination or armor stood still, unmoving. The pirate turned his head back in the direction he was running, focusing on getting as far from the vesk as possible. Behind him he hears two shots from a laser rifle, ducking his head in time to see one pass over him. The pirate moves to the right, hoping that the second shot was aimed around his body. The second laser bolt arrives, but instead of passing by his side like the pirate hoped, it strikes him in the back of the head and cooks his brain. The man falls to the floor and his body scrapes against the ground before his lifeless body grinds to a halt.

“You killed him? You usually are against that sort of thing.”

“Well yes, but if he got away, we might be in danger. It puts a bad taste in my mouth, but you taught me to recognise evil, and he was evil. Nice swing by the way.”

“Thank you.”

The two gathered the three pirates together, noting the presence of the red skull face paint. They realised that one of the pirates who took Vahl’s swing to the head manage to live. Umana seems impressed that he lived, however Vahl is almost offended by it.

“Must have a damn thick skull.”

“Huh, bastard makes me look weak, he just got lucky.”

Vahl picked the unconscious man up and draped his unconscious body over his shoulder like a rag. Umana took the undamaged gear of the other pirates and gave it to Vahl, who became a baggage carrier in a split second. The two check on the old man, who unfortunately didn’t speak the same language as them so they couldn’t help in any other way besides cleaning up for him. They waved farewell to the old man and left to get out of the area before pirates came looking for them.

They headed in the direction of home. The people around them had different and unique expressions on their faces. Some people had looks of fear, they saw the strength and power that the two had and feared what would be done against them with it. Some people were confused, they knew of the pit fighter Vahl and never knew him as the person to fight against pirates. Some were excited, finally seeing a group of people powerful enough to stand against and fight against the pirate leaders.

When they arrived home the first thing, they id was to tie the captured pirate up and make sure he didn’t die, they bandaged his head and bound him to a chair. Vahl went back to work at his engineering desk, taking apart the new armors and stripping the plating off the frame. When he finally finished adding the new plates to his own set the amount of surface area protected by it nearly doubled. An assortment of irregularly shaped thick plates covered most of his front and back, with little to no gaps. Around his arm and leg joints were smaller plates held together with small metal rings, allowing for flexibility and protection. Even more plates could be added to protect more area around his limbs but after everything is covered most additions to the armor would be accessory or just for added weight to increase the damage of his charges and melee attacks. The armor probably weighed around one hundred pounds in its current state.

Vahl inspected all the weapons that they took from the pirates, they were cheap and all the same model, they looked as though many of its parts were taken out to make them even cheaper. Inside the rifles were basic laser mechanisms but most of the parts responsible for creating a stronger bolt were removed and only a small fraction of them remained. Vahl removed the few parts that remained from the rifles, putting them into the two rifles that Umana used instead. After he finished the two rifles were slightly heavier but packed a lot more of a punch than they did before. If one of the bolts hit a pirate with the typical unmodified armor, they wore it might cook their insides in just one hit.