As soon as Igor stepped out of the threshold of the transfer station control room, he had an ominous premonition.
The captain of the interstellar pirate ship, Valerie, followed behind him. Seeing his solemn expression, she couldn't help but chuckle and said, "What's wrong? Relax, I didn't let them do anything to your little babies. It was just a routine check. You don't want to have any more accidents after boarding the ship, do you?"
The red-haired, blue-eyed young female Alpha patted Igor's shoulder, took two steps forward, and shouted to the crew, "Why are you guys so slow? Please ask our guests to get off! The spaceship is about to depart!"
Igor's expression was slightly cold: "I told you not to disturb them."
Valerie turned her head to look at him and smiled slightly: "Are you negotiating with me? Don't you need anything from me now?"
She looked at the disheveled Igor with a frivolous look, her bright red nails tapping her chin. "Actually, I only agreed to this because you're quite good-looking despite being a Beta. Otherwise, do you think you can hire us for such a small sum? Young Master, we are businessmen, not a charity organization."
The excuse Igor had made up before was that he and his friend had driven a mecha into space for vacation without telling their families, and accidentally passed through a wormhole and arrived at a deserted planet outside the Federation. Because they left in a hurry without bringing any identification and did not want to be called by their parents, they were unable to cross the Federation border through normal channels. Without a clue, they ran into a nearby flight transfer station and asked Valerie for help.
He pretended to be completely unaware of the other party's true identity as an interstellar pirate, and only wanted to return home safely as a member of the caravan.
Now it seems that the character of the naive and innocent person was created too successfully.
Strictly speaking, his words contained too many coincidences and illogical points, but Igor looked like a real good-for-nothing young master, and Valerie, who had been dealing with aristocrats for many years, knew very well how unreliable these young people were who were pampered at home and were ready to be thrown out to marry and harm others at any time.
So she believed about 70% of the story that Igor told her hesitantly and with a shameful look on his face, and didn't want to bother to find out the remaining one or two points. She happily planned to set sail after counting the number of people and make a small profit.
Valerie had no idea that Igor, who was standing next to her and was pale and humiliated by her words, was thinking of three hundred and sixty ways to blow her head off.
The gray-haired young man hurried to his mech, anxiously trying to stop the crewmen who were laughing and surrounding the cabin door, banging on the windows. Captain Valerie, assuming he was worried about the little lover she had left behind in the cockpit, stood back and watched with a calm smile, neither giving orders to the crew nor admonishing Igor's actions.
These young people with extraordinary imaginations lack the harsh reality of society. She looked at the slightly chaotic scene in front of her and thought nonchalantly.
Hugo felt like he was suffocating - even though he didn't need to breathe at all.
The Azathoth in its eyes has now become a collection of negative energy, even interfering with the signal processor in its brain, making the images captured by its eyes, which should have a clarity close to that of a miniature telescope, filled with a large number of mosaics and a bunch of black patterns with strange shapes and unclear meanings.
Azathoth sat in the co-pilot seat, motionless in the face of the chaotic noise outside, his face hidden in the shadow of his hood, like a silent statue.
At that moment, the side of the asteroid where the transit station was located was facing away from the sun. The atmosphere beneath it was cold and empty, with only the searchlight atop the control room, floating in the air, radiating a pale, distant light in all directions. This cool light filtered through the translucent glass on the side of Igor's mecha, illuminating Azathoth's pure black cloak and casting his shadow high on the cockpit wall.
Hugo's eyes blurred, and he had the illusion that the shadow on the wall was distorting into an ugly, weird and disgusting shape.
The locator inside the mecha was still on, and the small red dot flashed regularly, becoming the only thing with color and warmth here.
The humans outside the gate were completely unaware of this. Even if they sensed an unknown, curse-like aura oppressing their senses, these pirates, who had long wandered the universe, would have thought it was a common symptom of lack of oxygen and cosmic radiation.
Igor stopped them and endured the young people's anger and energy that had nowhere to vent. They argued that Valerie and her team were a newly emerging force. The federal border trade channels were complicated, and it was not easy to stand out among them. It was very likely that there was an unknown powerful backer behind them.
But no matter how great her future achievements might be, she now had to promote her old subordinates to win their hearts and minds. This led to a wide range of qualifications among Valerie's subordinates, many of whom had no idea how cruel the ecology of the lawless land was, and believed that they could do whatever they wanted because they had access to semi-official smuggling trade routes.
If Igor were alone, he wouldn't mind hiding his head and trying to get into the territory first. However, with Azathoth and Hugo around, Igor even considered killing everyone around him, grabbing the spaceship, and driving away!
Anyway, no matter if the interstellar pirates were on the trade route or were robbers, they all had direct or indirect involvement in the deaths of several innocent people, and they were all sentenced to life imprisonment in the federal court.
Of course, he was just thinking about it...that's it for now.
Azathoth could hear what they were arguing about.
Initially, the conversation was reasonable. The crew wanted the two men inside the mech out for a basic body search, and Igor expressed his desire not to offend his friends by strangers. He also stated that their clothing was so simple that even the naked eye could confirm they were not carrying any large-scale lethal weapons. As for other dangerous goods like radiation and drugs, the ship's onboard security equipment was fully capable of handling the task.
After all, in the technological age, this is not a step that must be taken by humans to ensure safety. The pirates just want to vent their emotions in this way and gain a sense of accomplishment in dominating others.
Igor's seemingly weak but uncompromising behavior further escalated the conflict.
The crew members with low quality chose personal attacks.
"What the hell do you have the guts to show off in front of me!" A male Beta pushed and looked at Igor's mechanical prosthesis on his left leg and the unhealed wound on his right leg with contempt, the sarcasm in his expression was self-evident.
"And you're still driving a mecha? Do you think you can pretend to be Federal Marshal Igor Sullivan by spending money to replace a broken leg?"
Igor: "..." You're not right, it's really possible.
"I heard he's the spiritual idol of people like you. No matter how awesome your idol is, he still has a bounty of tens of millions on his head and won't dare show up." The other man clearly didn't know how to quit while he was ahead. Even when other crew members thought the topic was too dangerous and pulled him back by his sleeve, "Let me kindly advise you, don't really think you're a hero. Get down here with your men and get checked honestly, or we brothers will kill a pretty boy like you..."
The door of the mecha cockpit was suddenly opened from the inside.
At the same time, Igor punched the speaking man Bata in the face, knocking him down on his back with tears and blood on his face. He covered his nose and cursed loudly, probably because his bones were broken.
"I may not be as capable as Igor Sullivan." Igor rolled up his shirt sleeves and rubbed his wrists as he spoke slowly, "but I'm more than capable of beating up a scumbag like you."
Valerie, who was watching from the sidelines, frowned. When her crew members gathered together to teach Igor a lesson, she finally said, "Okay, look at what you look like now."
"We're a serious caravan now." She glanced around sternly, emphasizing the word 'serious'. "You can no longer act as you please. I admire courage, but I hope you'll use your brains before you act or speak. You guys," Captain Valerie casually pointed at a few people, "take Kirk to heal his wounds. Everyone else, stop watching and return to your posts. We're ready to depart."
After reprimanding her subordinates, she led the first officer aboard the spaceship to Igor's side, her expression slightly softened as she said, "They were a bit too harsh earlier." Regardless of how incompetent Igor might be as a young noble, Valerie had no intention of antagonizing him until he was abandoned by his family. Furthermore, judging by what had just happened, the impulsiveness of young men could easily lead to unexpected consequences.
"But I hope you also understand that we're helping you out of 'good intentions,'" she said, hinting, unashamed of describing her cash-for-goods transaction as charity. "Please don't go beyond the limit and make me feel like my momentary kindness was a mistake."
In that case, she wouldn't mind doing as the crew members said and killing these people and abandoning their bodies in the wilderness.
The universe is so vast. Even the most powerful family can do nothing when faced with their own children who have committed suicide and ended up missing.
Igor seemed to be threatened, his face turned pale and he didn't say anything.
Valerie didn't care about his response. She looked up at the open cockpit of the mecha with a little curiosity - Igor's appearance was so outstanding. The little lover who was treated as a treasure and protected by him desperately should at least be a stunningly beautiful beta, right?
But all she saw was a thick darkness. The control room's searchlight spun away, leaving the night as dark as a curtain. Only the locator's persistent red light flickered, each flicker faintly illuminating the sculptural figure standing in the darkness. It made her wonder if it was a living being or some kind of humanoid artifact.
Staring at the cockpit and thinking for a little longer, Valerie suddenly felt a nauseous dizziness. She never got seasick, but now she felt like she was tossed in the wind and waves, facing the invincible nature itself, with a vague sense of panic and weakness.
She swayed a bit, and was supported by the first mate behind her: "Are you okay?"
"It's okay." The moment her shoulder was touched, Valerie jolted awake, completely unaware of what had just happened. But her instinctive alertness prevented her from peering inside the mech. She forced a calm smile and said to Igor, "Let them rest in the passenger cabin. We'll have someone pack your mech in the cargo hold and transport it to its destination."
She walked away with the help of her subordinates, and when she was about to enter the cockpit of the spacecraft, she couldn't help but look back.
The first mate asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Valerie said absentmindedly. In the distance, Azathoth, draped in a black cloak, was whispering to Igor. The searchlight spun back, illuminating the field of vision with a pale white light, as if nothing had happened.
"Let's go, make the people below behave themselves, and set off now." The captain ordered.
She ignored the strange feeling that came from nowhere and prayed to God in her heart as usual: I hope that I can reach the federal border war zone smoothly this time. It would be even better if I can receive the reward from the young master and make more money.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
