[27] galactic space force.
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The Galactic Space Force, aka the GSF, was a red and black battlecraft the size of two cities. It had the shape of a spider, with its body acting as the central command. No one was allowed to go there unless they had the necessary identification or permission. Its eight legs were known as Towers, labeled from A to H. Those in charge of the towers, playing a crucial role in ensuring the smooth running of the organization, were called Galacticos. While the officers working under them were known as Galactics.
Wolf parked the jetcar in an empty space in the GSF's parking lot—it was half the size of the battlecraft. But unlike the one he left The Anastasia on, this was for vehicles only. The largest allowed was a hover-trailer truck.
He wrapped Sister Mary in his jacket and stepped out. A silver droid with the number 55 on its left side hovered in front of him. White light glowed under its body, around its wrists, and from the headset it wore. It scanned him and Sister Mary with its eyes. Droids were the first line of defense in the organization, having stopped many suicide bombers and terrorists.
With a cheerful tone, the droid said, "Welcome back, Wolf—coyote number 20,345. You have been away for months."
"Thanks, Droid-Anna 55," Wolf said. More coyotes came out of their vehicles and headed to the battlecraft with Droid-Annas escorting them. "We should go." He wanted to pay Skully immediately.
"Yes, follow me."
They arrived at the cab station and waited for a gyrosphere—a ball-shaped ride used as transport between the parking lot and the towers. The cab station had three sections: Coyotes, Staff, and Visitors.
Wolf stood in the coyotes' area and watched the Droid-Annas hail gyrospheres through the antennas on their headset. The other coyotes stared at him, but he didn't acknowledge them, continuing with his business like they weren't there.
"I recognize all of them," Wednesday said cheerfully before saying their names. "I see the twins Snow Bunny and Snow Rabbit, Wild Puma, King Roach, Jack Rabbit, Father Antelope." She gasped. "Oh my, is that Unicorn?"
Wolf's curiosity got the better of him. With the way Wednesday said his name, he had to know "Unicorn" and see if he was worthy of her fangirling.
He glanced over his shoulder and spotted him immediately. The dark-skinned man stood out like a sore thumb. His appearance was similar to that of a jester. He was tall and had a lean physique. His rainbow-colored hair was styled in a jelly roll, white makeup coated his face, and he had the word UNICORN on his forehead.
Unicorn caught Wolf looking at him and smiled. "Seen something you like, little boy?" he asked, getting the attention of those around. They glanced between him and Wolf, waiting to see what would happen.
"Don't let his calm demeanor fool you," Wednesday said. "Look at this."
Wolf's retina-lenses scanned the cage Unicorn held; a white sheet covered it. It had a decapitated head inside. Wednesday zoomed in and revealed fingers sticking out of its mouth, making Wolf want to puke.
"Unlike you, he's a coyote that enjoys killing. He only takes bounties that allow him to do so. Even though he's not ranked in The 100, some believe he's the best the GSF has ever seen with how quick and efficient he completes the bounties. It won't be long before he breaks through and takes the top spot."
Not all coyotes shared Wolf's ideal of not killing their bounties, but he despised those like Unicorn who went to extreme measures. This was the type of thing that made him not want to work with other coyotes. Because if he did, he would end up questioning why he worked for the GSF. He didn't want to do that. This was his parents' legacy, and he wanted to honor them until death.
Multiple gyrospheres arrived, and Droid-Anna 55 entered one of them before calling Wolf. He went in and placed Sister Mary on the seat next to him. The air conditioner made for a cool atmosphere, and the perfume inside calmed him down.
"Where to?" a monotone voice asked, resonating in the gyrosphere.
"Tower A," Wolf replied.
"That would be one hundred credits."
Wolf placed his wristtab above the scanner on the dashboard, and a ding followed.
"Payment complete."
Arriving outside Tower A, Wolf got out—followed by the droid—and slung Sister Mary over his shoulder. The gyrosphere's door closed before driving off. Coyotes, staff, and visitors had different entrances into the tower, allowing the GSF to maintain order and know who's who when they entered the battlecraft.
Wednesday recognized more coyotes as Wolf headed for the entrance. When she mentioned their names, he was impressed at how creative they were. Something like Hell Rooster was a name he would have loved to have if he wasn't Wolf. The AI also gave him their birth names, trying to not make a big deal about hacking their GSF accounts and spying on coyotes who caught her eye from time to time, saying she was doing it for his benefit.
With the nano-bug technology and how different Wednesday was from other AIs, Wolf wanted to have a serious conversation with Rainbow. A black market techie like her shouldn't have had access to things like these, not when everyone else didn't.
He had pushed aside thoughts of Rainbow not telling him everything that went on with her life. But with Wednesday quickly advancing to levels he may never be able to control—and the existence of nano-bugs—it was time Rainbow told him the truth. She was hiding something. He always suspected it. But because her tech saved his life on many occasions, he turned a blind eye. Not anymore.
"Wolf, are you alright?" Wednesday asked.
Wolf got out of his trance and realized he was holding Droid-Anna 55's hand while standing on the large escalator inside the tower. It led to the numerous elevators that went to different sectors of Tower A.
Drones hovered above him, scanning the coyotes that entered the tower—they were the second line of defense. If they found out you were an imposter, they would shoot you with a stun gun and then order the droid you were with to arrest you. Then you'd be sent to Tower H where you'd be interrogated.
Wolf stopped in front of one of the elevators that led to the reception hall and waited for it to come down.
"Wolf, Hell Rooster is standing beside you," Wednesday said.
Moments ago, he wouldn't have reacted to that name because he didn't know the man existed. But after Wednesday bigged up the coyote as being the coolest in the organization, sweat covered Wolf's hands. He wondered if he would look cool in the man's eyes.
Hell Rooster spared Wolf a glance, the mop of curly brown hair on his head danced when he turned his head. He wore a black jacket with silver spikes on the shoulders and sleeves, a white plain T-shirt, and black jeans ripped on the thighs. A cigarette sat between his index and middle finger while he blew smoke out of his nose and mouth. The sunglasses on his face were a bit too much seeing as Venus wouldn't see daytime for the next one hundred and seventeen days, but they still amplified the dark-skinned man's cool persona.
"Have we met before?" Hell Rooster asked before taking another drag of his cigarette. When Wolf didn't reply, he shrugged and waited for the elevator to come down like everyone else.
"Omg! Omg! Omg! He acknowledged your presence. Aaaaaaa! The best and sexiest and smartest and coolest and beautiful coyote acknowledged your stupid dumb existence, Wolf. Omg! Why? Why you? Why you!"
Wolf almost forgot Wednesday was an AI and not an obsessed fangirl who happened to assist him in completing bounties.
The elevator arrived and those in front entered first—Wolf being among them. The rest waited for the next one. As the door closed, he locked eyes with Unicorn, and the man winked at him.
When the door opened, they had arrived at the reception hall. It was divided into two sides: one was for confirming the completion of white and green zone bounties, and the other was for red and yellow zone ones. The droids remained in the elevator and went back down with it. They weren't allowed in this part of the tower.
Wolf and fifteen others headed for the red and yellow zone side—Hell Rooster was among them and it seemed his bounty wasn't a person or a machine like the rest. He reached in his jean's back pocket—his jacket moved to the side, revealing the hilt of a lightsword strapped to his hip—and took out a blue card before heading to the teller.
Gold stars glowed above the tellers' stalls, ranging from one to five. But there were six stalls. Wolf craned his neck to the last one—where Hell Rooster was—it had the word "Private" on the wall above in gold. It made sense why he didn't have someone with him like the rest.
Wolf went to the one-star stall, meeting a female, brown-skinned synth. The GSF only allowed synthetics to work as tellers—part of an agreement with Pluto in exchange for letting coyotes hunt bounties that escaped to the planet. It was also the reason for the usage of droids.
"Welcome." The teller stared at her datapad as the camera above the bomb-resistant glass scanned him. "Wolf—coyote number 23,547."
Damn! He had dropped rank from the time he got out of the jetcar until he got to the teller, falling over three thousand spots. It was his own doing though. He hadn't taken a bounty in four months.
"That was fast," Wednesday said before snickering. "Hopefully, capturing Sister Mary will help you rise."
"It says here you took a red zone bounty for the first time." The teller looked at him and smiled again. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Wolf replied.
"May you show the camera your bounty so it can be verified it's the right one."
"Sure." Wolf unwrapped the jacket and raised Sister Mary above his shoulders. She stared into the camera as it scanned her before a ping came from inside the stall.
"Your payment has been sent to your account. Best of luck, Wolf—coyote number 1,290." She looked past Wolf and nodded at someone behind him.
A hand touched Wolf's shoulder. He turned, meeting the cold blue eyes of a bulky galactic. His white uniform had three silver stars on both shoulders, and one above his left breast. "Hand over your bounty," he said with a hoarse voice.
Wolf gulped before giving him Sister Mary. The GSF hired large and muscular men and women as their law enforcers. No coyote—no matter how insane they were—dared to mess with them. The Galactics were the GSF's third line of defense, with weapons built into their bodies, making them super-cyborgs.
While the galactic took her away, Sister Mary mouthed, "See you soon," before disappearing behind a metallic door next to the stall for private bounties.
Wolf turned to the teller. "Is that it?"
"Yes." She stared at him.
He headed for the exit. "That was easy."
"That's because it takes hours to get to a stall in the other reception hall because many people prefer white and green zones," Wednesday reminded him.
"You're right. What now?"
"Pay everyone you owe, then we rest for a couple of days before going on another hunt."
"Sounds like a plan. Do it before I forget."
"Already did."
"Then why did you tell me as if you hadn't done so? What if I had disagreed?"
"You wouldn't have. I know you."
Wolf didn't know what to say. Should he have been happy or worried? Those were questions he would ask himself after he spoke to Rainbow. For now, he had to get back to The Anastasia. He needed a hot bath and a long sleep.
"How many credits do we have left?" he asked.
"Ten thousand."
Wolf choked on his salvia. "From two hundred and fifty to ten? How many people did I owe?"
"Too many to get you killed the moment you left Venus."
"Wolf." A lean, brown-skinned woman with wavy purple hair under her white cap appeared beside him. She wore a white uniform with five silver stars on both shoulders, and one above her left breast. Standing at six-foot-four, she looked down at Wolf. She was high-ranked compared to the bulky galactic.
"That's me. And you're?" Wolf crossed his arms.
"I'm Galactic Veronica, and I'm here under the request of the Director," she said. "She wants to see you."
"The Director wants to see us? Things just got interesting," Wednesday said.
Wolf raised his brow. What did the Director want with him? He hadn't spoken to her in years. "Lead the way."
He had nothing better to do anyway. Maybe the Director wanted to finally tell him about his late parents' last bounty. Decades ago, they had been assigned a special mission away from the system. Only the Director and members of The Council knew where they had gone before claiming they were dead. The woman had refused to tell Wolf what that mission was no matter how much he begged, stating it was confidential and would put his life in danger if he knew.
"It's time for the truth," Wolf muttered while following Galactic Veronica.
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