II. Co-Pilot: Strife

36 hours earlier

An old ship entered an abandoned planet. It was a desert planet. The surface of course covered in sand, however the air did not sting due to the heat. It was soothing and almost welcoming. As it hovered slowly you can see that it's not entirely made of sand but of vegetation as well. The trees may resemble those of cactus but they are not like it. 

As it landed the engines were killed, the doors opened and out was a polar bear. But this was no ordinary polar bear, this one is standing up right. He was wearing a combat boot, blue camo pants with submachine guns strapped, his arms wrapped with belt of bullets, his chest are adorned with utility belt filled with bullets, and his back are two heavy duty machine gun rifles. He walked out with a certain swagger.

He tapped his throat for a little bit. He pulled a tiny drone out of his utility belt, he activated it using his holowatch and let it fly. The drone flew for about a minute or two then his holowatch pinged "Object Detected. Safe Path Secured.'' He walked like he was grazing through a tulip far. The planet, though abandoned yet it does not have any signs or reminders of ancient civilizations. His path led him to a tree stub, he paused and scanned it with his holowatch. "Object Confirmed" his holowatch replied. 

The polar bear closed his holowatch and took out something from his utility belt yet again, this time it resembled a laser cutter. He used it to cutaway the stub, he continued to cut the stub slimming it down. After a few minutes of trimming material a small translucent crystal was retrieved. He smiled and bagged the item. He paced slowly back to his ship.

As he reached the area where his ship was parked. He laughed and said, in a slightly robotic voice mixed in a few bear growl "How I wished all the jobs ends up like this". He entered his ship. He approached the cockpit area and place the gem near the dash. He turned the engine on and the ship lifted up. "I don't want to jinx myself but damn… But damn this is so easy"

As he reached a considerable distance, he opened the ship's sound system. As the music buzzed throughout the ship he begun to bop his head to the rhythm. 

Just a few clicks from Strife's position, people worst that scavengers are seen. They were bandits, dressed in flamboyant outfits that gave an aura of violence. They're also riding hover bikes designed for low attitude travel. They started the hover bikes and chased after Strife. 

Back at the ship, Strife apparently on the second song on his playlist, is still oblivious to the presence of the bandits. He turned the ship to it's autopilot and admired the beauty of the crystal. His holowatch rang, it was of unknown number. He tapped the number and dragged it across the ship's dash, automatically answering the call. 

"Hello there." Strife answered. 

"Did you find the item I have requested?" A bald green alien with thick goatee asked on the other end of the line.

"I do" Strife smiled. "Do you have the half of my pay?" He said to assert his dominance.

"I do" The alien replied.

Strife opened his holowatch "Well I don't see it on my account right now?"

"Well deliver the item"

"Our deal was that I will find the item, once I have you give me the half. The other half is when you have it on your hands" Strife insisted.

"I'll pay you once you hand it to me" The alien asserted his dominance. 

"That wasn't the deal"

"Let's just say I have altered the deal a little a bit"

"Well if that's how you want to play. I have terminated our contract, I can now sell this thing to the highest bidder. Goodbye"

"Wait!" The alien shouted. "Perhaps we can come to an agreement" his voice changed to a fit a man pleading for mercy.

Strife smirked "Give me my half. Then I'll deliver the item" he paused for a while. Suddenly his ship alarmed. Strife looked at another screen. It was an alarm indicating enemy presence. "Well, I changed my mind. Double the pay"

"What for?"

"I was looking at my radar over here and seems like there has been a few uninvited guests. And they could compromise the delivery"

"Couldn't you handle it? Our deal said that you can." The alien became worried.

"Well I can. The rate change is die to you being a petty little chore" The bandits on Strife's tail started blasting. The polar bear did his best to evade. "Well they started shooting at me. I could give this to them to save myself…" Strife said as he evaded the shots. His face showed struggle, but it was just a bluff. "What's it gonna be?"

"Fine." The alien finally gave in and sent 500,000 credits. 

Strife smiled "Pleasure doing business with you" he ends the call.

The bandits fired at Strife. He dodged it with ease. They move to the second phase, they shoot out tiny magnetic mooring line, hoping to slow down the ship. Strife saw this and dodged them like normal bullets. The bandits fired another. Two moorings attached to the ship, Strife smiled. He maneuvered the ship to do a quick nose dive. The bandits whose bikes are clamped on Strife's ship. 

Now there's two bikes that are just dead weight. But that's not what Strife sees. He piloted the ship with exaggerated movements. By moving the ship he effectively made the two hover bikes as makeshift wrecking ball. He heaved up and down, grazing only a few bandits. He kept the violent movements until the bandits were forced to change position. They were now in front of the ship. Strife smirked. He opened fire on the bandits hitting most of them. This forced the other bandits to retreat.

With those distractions out of the way, Strife punched the boost on his ship. He got out of the planet's orbit and headed straight to a warp point. Strife turned the autopilot on and tried to rest for a bit. His holowatch rang. Without looking he dragged it to the ship's monitor.

"I am enroute." Strife said.

"Well let's just meet at the docks then Mr. Strife" A woman's voice was heard.

Strife opened his eyes. "Well we could, but I have a previous engagement I need to finish… I'll just call you Ms. Julia"

"I'll see you when I see you then" The woman then ended the call.