Over a dozen floating Eazels hovered above the ruined and crumbled wreckage where once a monotonous-looking shop for spaceship and other miscellaneous parts once stood. Unlike other Eazels that tended to have no coverings they instead wore a harness that had multiple pipes pointing outwards that spat blue fire propelling them in burst at speeds far exceeding those of their natural sluggish drifting. They moved like vultures now diving into the wreckage and extracting the items kept in the contained transparent boxes which were strangely unaffected by the collapse of the building. Despite the aggressiveness of the intent the procedure was measured and uniform as if the same process had been carried on dozens of times without issue and they didn’t expect any deviations this time either; pity them that their expectations don’t always match up to reality then.

An Eazel moved a bit of rubble reaching towards a glimpse of plastic when a hand shot out of the rubble, extending to an inhumanly length in a moment before grasping the corner and dragging the floating metal jellyfish closer. With a scream of alarm that sounded like grinding metal it fired its harness trying to break free of the deadly grip but it had barely started before a second hand grasped onto it and pulled it down onto the ground where it slammed hard into the ruins.

Wendy stood up shaking off the heavy rubble like it was made of cardboard with a look of absolutely murderous rage in her eyes. The Eazel in her hand seemed to tremble a bit before she tore off its harness and started to bash it against the ground without the slightest restraint like a squirrel cracking a nut. Metal cracked and deformed under the weight of her blows but the structure held; right until she lifted the metallic alien to her mouth and with a horrifying smile she bit down on the attacker tearing pieces of metal like it was made of marshmallow.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Warden said to his not listening bodyguard as he stood up stepping behind his secretary. She had protected him at the last moment rolling him beneath her body but it hadn’t stopped all of the debris and there was a sharp pain in his left ankle making him fearful to put weight on the limb. He eyed the remaining Eazel dispassionately that were slowly putting down the items they grabbed before turning to face the pair. Tentacles were raised and Warden noted that there was an object affixed to the wires in the brief second before he dived back down behind the rubble on the ground, wincing at the pain in leg.

A noise like discharging static and a flash of green light ratified his decision and he got a front row seat to see how three beams tore into Wendy’s body before the bloody holes were replaced with pink naked flesh a second later. Wounds that would have taken months or years to heal, if ever, disappeared like they were never there and not for the first time Warden wandered what it would take to put her down permanently; and hoped he would never find out.

“Stay back, Sir,” Wendy said growling politely at him as she leapt forward at the closest one. With a sound that Warden interpreted as fear and alarm the Eazel scooted backwards with bursts of blue flames from its belt. Wendy twisted her body unnaturally to avoid another two lasers that blasted bits of the already ruined building. The attacking Eazel as if grasping the method by which it could be saved immediately started to ascend into the sky putting some space between the pair.

Its practical attempt to create safe distance was thwarted as a beam of green light burst out from the rubble and Undo stood up, an amorphous transparent blue statue, holding a weapon that looked similar to those wielded by the attacking Eazels. Three beams of light fired concurrently and hit creating massive white-hot gouges that destroyed the Eazels harness and sent it plummeting to the ground. The Eazels scattered distracted by the new assailant and an unfortunate one dodged right into the path of Wendy who grabbed the robotic jellyfish and slammed it down into the stone floor causing its body to buckle and it to scream in agony. A flurry of blows crunched into the alien but thankfully Wendy abstained from using her teeth once more.

More and more of those beams came from those strange objects and Warden stuck his hand out from the rubble yanking one of the objects from the twitching ‘corpse’ before pulling it right off the twitching tendril. The object in question was an ovoid blue-green shape with a large hole on one side and a smaller hole where the tendril was originally attached in. He gave it a cursory glance for any buttons or triggers, but if there was a trigger then it would be inside the hole that was unfortunately inaccessible by his relatively thick fingers. Once more he noted that he missed his service weapon and he needed to get a new one as soon as possible.

Pulling himself into a crouching position he was in time to watch as Wendy shrugged off a few more of those green beams while Undo was hit parts of his body splashing apart before he reformed instantly and returned fire. He had picked up one of the fallen Eazel’s weapons and with the aid of Warden’s secretary/bodyguard the Eazel’s were retreating. Warden frowned as he noted that had still grabbed various pieces of equipment despite the situation of duress they were in; it seemed they valued the items just as much as their lives. That spoke of a dedication that was beyond that of a small-time bandit. Although he supposed that small-time crooks wouldn’t use explosives in the first place; or maybe the process of blowing things up was more common here. He had no frame of reference for how things worked on this planet.

A flash of light impacted his body sending pain shooting through his chest and he immediately ducked to the ground ducking beneath the rubble as a green beam tore apart the space above his head. His chest was sore but unhurt; the beam hadn’t actually landed yet and now with him once more safely behind the rubble it never would. He cautiously stuck his head out to watch as Wendy took a step back blocking the line of sight between him and the Eazel. It was the appropriate response for a bodyguard but it did mean that nobody was preventing them from getting away. Undo also seemed to have decided against any pursuit, instead trying to pull up some of the rubble and Warden realised that there was a fourth person buried beneath the rubble of the building. He had been protected by Wendy and Undo could probably be squished and turn out just fine judging by his jelly-like body. The Eazel who was running the shop might not be as lucky.

“Are you okay, Sir?” Wendy asked running to him as he pulled himself off of the ground, her eyes never leaving their fleeing enemies or the incapacitated ones on the ground. She came to a sudden stop moments before she reached him perusing his face. “Your eyes are glowing, Sir.”

“They are?” Warden asked immediately. “Got a mirror?” At the shake of her head he pulled out his silver lighter and held that up to his eyes trying to angle the light to get a better look, but staring at him was just his usual blue orbs.

“They just faded, Sir,” Wendy explained. “They were radiating purple light just now.”

“Classic signs of Psionic use,” Undo stated as he shifted the debris. “I’m sorry you seem rather strong, could you perchance help me excavate my friend.” His words were said in that false politeness of somebody who was really under a lot of stress and Wendy hesitated before she looked towards him.

“Render him assistance Wendy,” Warden said immediately causing his bodyguard to nod and go help. Despite her size she was easily able to lift up the stone and shift it easily while Warden went and limped over to a broken piece of rock and started examining his leg. “Oh, there the pain comes,” he remarked keeping his voice deliberately level. “Wow that is not as light as I thought.” With the fight over and the adrenaline fading some of the pain that he had automatically ignored started trickling back.

His left ankle was severely twisted and there was going to be a massive bruise on his left calf where some debris had landed but thankfully the bones weren’t broken. For the moment he could still move although not without considerable pain. His eyes went to the Psionic Enhancers; he was by no means stupid. Those flashes of the future were no doubt as a result of his newly obtained Psionic abilities. He was tempted to take another puff just in order to dull the pain but decided not to overindulge at the moment, he wouldn’t use his Enhancers to escape pain.

“We’ve got you Biffteer,” Undo stated in his uninterpretable voice and Warden turned to see as the excavation proved successful. The Eazel seemed to be a bit battered and he barely seemed to be able to float leaving Warden to conclude that the floating ability was not inherent and required some sort of energy from its user. It also appeared to be slow; as the necessity of the rocket harnesses pointed out.

“Thanks,” the Eazel weakly stated before turning to him. “I’m sorry but the convertors may take a bit longer to get ready.”

“We do need them by four days at the very most,” Warden said seriously getting sharp looks directed towards him that informed him that it probably wasn’t the time; an assertion which he disagreed with. “Forgive me if I am reluctant to talk around the hot porridge, but lives rest on our venture as well.” He stood up wincing at the pain in his leg and Wendy practically leaped over lending him her shoulder as she gently tried supporting his weight.

“I see,” the Eazel, Biffteer said quietly. “There is likely nobody else on this colony that would be able to meet that order, especially with the ongoing thefts. I guess I will have to do my best then. I’m not sure what parts those scoundrels stole though. There may be further issues if they took something vital.”

“Hopefully if there are I can retrieve them,” Undo stated. “Damnit I was prepared for this and they still caught me off guard.”

“Is this a repeating occurrence?” Warden asked slightly incredulously. Had Choir sent him into a war zone again?

“There’s recently been a string of thefts of parts,” Undo stated taking Warden’s shape once again causing his eyebrow to twitch in annoyance. “Biffteer asked me to help beef up his security so I decided to guard it myself. Too bad they still caught me off guard with that explosion. Well at least we got a few,” he said pointing at the two downed Eazels and Warden could not determine whether they were alive or dead, he hoped the former. Theft wasn’t a death sentence and despite the size of the explosion it probably wouldn’t have killed a normal Eazel; the race seemed incredibly tough, no doubt a result of being metal in nature. “Maybe I can ‘question’ them and try to get their location before the cops arrive.” His words left no doubt as to just how gentle his questioning would be.

“Hopefully there’s no need for that,” Warden said, frowning at the implied brutality. “Wendy, have you got their scent?” he asked.

“I do, Sir,” Wendy said nodding solemnly. “Their flames give off an oily smell. I can easily follow them. Should I begin, Sir?”

“In a moment,” Warden said turning towards Biffteer. “Do you perhaps have any form of gun that would find their fit in my hands?”

“I do but with your apparently limited budget you wouldn’t be able to afford it,” Biffteer stated. “I can extend credit to somebody who seems eager to catch the people who blew up my store but I do expect to eventually be recompensed.” Despite his rugged state his limbs swayed in an erratic manner. “I have recently got my hands on a very unusually made Regis weapon. It was collateral from a non-payer but I doubt I would be able to sell it in this political climate and it would most likely end up as a curio. Undo could tell you how much I hate selling to people who will just use my hard work as an ornament. I will give it to you for fifty scales payable when you can afford it.”

“Fifty scales,” Warden said whistling to himself. That was two convertors worth and probably damn expensive for a gun but time was his true enemy, not money. He had bigger debts waiting for him and with a much shorter deadline. “I accept, let’s see this firearm.”

“It’s under there,” Biffteer stated pointing with half a dozen of his tendrils. “Just let me…” he paused seeing a massive pile of crumbled stones and one large L-shaped stone. “Would somebody move the rubble?”

“Wendy please will you dig up my new weapon,” Warden stated at the same time as Undo walked over to the pile. The jelly-man proved quite strong as he shifted a decent amount of the smaller stones and Wendy easily moved the massive boulder and scooped the rest of the stones up in her hand as soon as she was assured that he wouldn’t fall over as soon as she left.

Warden watched, while trying desperately not to fall over, as a red plastic box was dug up. Immediately once it was dug up Biffteer moved over and picked it examining it carefully before he gently unsealed to the sound of releasing air. Almost reverently he reached into the box and pulled out a thin pillow on which a weapon that could charitably be called a gun sat.

It had the basic shape of a pistol with a grip, barrel and trigger but it was significantly blockier then a gun with a larger square bulky barrel that ended in a muzzle that was wider than any he had seen on a pistol before. In addition it had the cylinder of a revolver but the entire body was closed off like the two designs were fused together. Lastly the gun was coloured red and gold in the most ostentatious display of a weapon he had ever seen.

All those minor complaints were forgotten as Warden reached in and picked up the weapon feeling the familiar heavy weight in his hands as he turned it over examining the curves and weight. The gun seemed to thrum with eagerness in his hands, or was it his imagination that the gun wanted to be used. Bringing the gun up to eye level yet aiming it away from his face he noted that there was a glowing engraved image of what may be a lion’s head on the top of the barrel.

“What ammunition does it require?” he asked as he held the pistol in a one-handed firing stance although he kept his hands off the trigger. Despite the weight it felt rather natural and he wondered just which species was so close to humans that even their weapons were interchangeable.

“It’s solar powered, I believe,” Biffteer said. “The battery charges automatically. When the Regis head runs out of light then it needs to be recharged. You can just leave it under the sky to recharge then.”

“Wendy, give me a target,” Warden said pointing upwards and his secretary obliged throwing a piece of rubble skyward. In one motion he aimed, fired and felt a burst of recoil and a bright red flash from the muzzle. Surprisingly he clipped the small piece of rubble knocking to the side before it fell and Wendy caught the rubble again. A quick glance was enough to confirm that the head had maybe faded in light but it was almost imperceptible to his eyes.

“You should probably avoid discharging your weapon in public,” Undo stated looking at the gathering of Eazel that had slowly, nervously showed up in the wake of the explosion. “It makes people nervous, and there are the cops,” he said pointing to a group of Eazel slowly drifting towards them. “Biffteer and I will take care of the questions and then we can go hunt down the thieves afterwards. Okay?”

“That sounds great,” Warden said as he sat down watching his newly acquired weapon, the throbbing in his leg a manageable pain and one that he would soon avenge; non-lethally if possible.