Chapter 23: Scavenging.

Bruce Lee is an icon. A man of vision. A man of indomitable will… He and I had little to nothing to do with each other… I was beginning to hate our training. I never liked doing rote work. I felt like a monkey on a typewriter… Huh… That feels more insulting now that I am technically a kind of monkey. Also more relatable…

I was expecting an awesome training. Something to blow my mind. Something like those old Martial arts movies. Er, well, maybe like those movies except without the montage, I guess. It frustrated me, even though I was improving.

My mindset wasn't in it, or so that's what I say. I was thinking about what to do. The trainer was clearly a human. It brought strange thoughts… was he a Yamcha? I hope he wasn't a Yamcha… I want to say a Roshi, but… he was… not a great character.

I mean, it occurred to me that the man was clearly capable but missing something key. Obviously, I could have awakened his Ki, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to. Which didn't make much sense to me. Like… As he was, I wasn't sure what giving him ki would do. Would he surpass me? I highly doubted it, but my sense of inferiority before him concerned him. My monkey instincts telling me he was so much better than I… Even if I could vaporize him with a ki blast.

It boiled down to prison logic. Let's go with that. I can't beat him in a fist fight or with a shiv. Which meant I shouldn't fight him. Instead, I should join him or whatever… Ugh! Why did I feel so strange about this idiot!? He was just a human! JUST A HUMAN! Not even Ki awakened. Why should I be afraid of what he could do? Which means… I'm just going to keep training through rote methods… Fuck…

Luckily… as my sanity wore away, salvation came. A mission. The crew was called up to the bridge. I was on the captain chair we hadn't changed out yet.

"Everyone! We got a salvage job!" A round of whistles… "Salvage?" I said, tasting the words. Trying to understand if I actually liked the taste of them.

"Yup. Salvage. We need money. Our finances are in serious trouble and salvaging a ship is easy money." Heads nodded. "Is… do you even need me for the job?"

"Not really, but if you want to join you can?" I was about to say no… But… I noticed the trainer… "Sure I'll join. If anything, I can see what the buzz is about." Also get a break from the trainer…

Our course was set. The ship lurched forward as we ceased our aimless drifting to save fuel. The ship was buzzing with activity like an active beehive. People moved back and forth. Equipment was brought to the hangar bay as they pulled it from the zero-g storage bays. Because apparently storing stuff in zero gravity was better or something.

It wasn't immediately that we found the salvage spot. A few days, I think. Time was weird. The helmsman was glad to explain it.

"Time is separated into two archetypes. Universal time is based off the rotation of the universe as a whole. Or so the scientists say. Which makes it hard to do calendars and leads to simple solution like 2030 in the year of the fractured council… or something stupid like that.

Other times based off solar calendars. Which is dependent on the planet itself and its surrounding solar system. Ships often go off the universal calendar. Time can be funky in space, so fleets often have separate time zones when together with the head of the fleet acting as the timekeeper."

Or so he says… Which meant I had more days to train and wanted to bash my brains out. The day we got in range, or in the sector of the salvage in question, I nearly jumped in joy. I watched from the captain's chair as we closed in on an abandoned ship. My mind is aflame with questions.

"What's the protocol for salvage operations? Do we dock directly or?"

The ever-present helmsman was more than willing to answer.

"Direct docking is a big no-no. That's how you get crews being wiped out by mysterious diseases or hitchhiker Furbles… Don't ask. Instead, we load up a shuttle to carry a team and have them spacewalk to the docker and open it up. From there we check the ship for survivors and take anything not bolted down. Once done we deal with the ship. Either by vaporizing it or shunting it onto the nearest planetoid or sun.

This is because people use these lanes, and they need to be clear."

Ah, like a freeway pile up needing clearing.

"Hmm… Why would the governments contract pirates though?"

"They don't. Governments operate through legal government contractors to keep space lanes clean and clear. We were contracted through a private entity to clear the space lane here. Private entities come to us pirates because space is huge, and junk is everywhere… This could mean the salvage in question could have living people or actually be a possessed metal death trap."

Event Horizon vibes here…

"That… happens?"

"Yup."

"But your happy?"

"Salvage jobs are extremely well paying and though toss-ups… We do have you. A literal planet wrecking monster. A single ship or weird alien creatures are hardly a concern. Which means we can actually take those high paying jobs!"

He was super excited.

"What if we don't remove the ship?"

"We pay huge penalties. Especially if we say we cleared it and a ship crash into the debris."

Sounds fair. "Does that mean I'll be joining the shuttle crew?"

"Yes, in fact if you make your way to the hangar bay now that'd be great."

A second passes. His smile slowly grew a little stiffer as I just look at him. When it's clear to him he isn't really sure what else to do, I move. "Sure thing. How do I keep in contact with the bridge?" He sighed in relief. Afraid I wouldn't actually do my job. Mm… Now that I think about it, it's almost like they let a tiger on the ship. Explains why the crew has been so respectful and careful around me.

Except the armorer and trainer… But they're weirdoes…

"When you get to the hangar, they'll give you a space suit. The helmet will have a comm link to the bridge."

I nod and make my way to the hangar. When I get there, I see a grizzled bear of a man I barely remember. "I'm the boarding party leader." Right, I saw him in the training area once or twice. Him and a few others look to be fellow soldier types… The others explain their respective specialties, but honestly… Did it matter? Not to me.

A sit rep was given as we got on the small shuttle. A weird boxy thing that barely squeezed our party in.

"We first need to confirm if there are any survivors on the craft… Are you listening captain?" The way he said it was, a little more disrespectful than I'd like.

"Hmm?"

"I said, we need to first find life signs on the ship." I stared at him. He stared back. The helmets are clear like fishbowls. His voice oddly clear over the team comms. "DO you understand?" He bites out.

"Ah… sure. But there's nobody on the ship. I checked." Ki sense radar…

He looks unconvinced but doesn't argue. "Understood, but if we meet any survivors, you're taking a cut captain." Again, the way he said my name was like he was chewing glass. And I assume he was threatening my paycheck? Not that I really needed money… I think… Never bothered to check my balance.

The shuttle jerks a little as we slow and stop. "Helmets secured if you haven't already." A few of the stragglers went ahead and did so. The cabin decompressed slowly until the air was all sucked out. Each of us staring at our fishbowl helmets… These need a change. A note for my future self.

The ramp opens to the blackness of space. Each of us slowly… Okay I wasn't actually moving slowly.

"Captain what the hell!? How the… How are you doing that?"

I turned and stopped to the flabbergasted crew.

"I can fly…" I trail off the boarding officer just staring at a loss.

"Well… Shit…" I almost laugh at the almost defeated tone. I end up helping them to the main airlock. One of the pirates, a punk-like guy messes with a panel and pops it off. From there he plugs stuff in with some help and soon enough he's doing something with a minicomputer as he… hacks into it? I wasn't sure.

"Doors locked…" He finally says after a good five ten minutes.

"I know its locked. Unlock it." The boarding captain replied.

"I mean, somebody engaged the emergency locks. We need a plasma torch to open it up."

The boarding captain swore.

"A problem?" I, the good captain, decided to step in, or fly in.

"The plasma torch is expensive, cuts into the profits."

"By a lot or a little?"

"It's not much if it's this one door, but if we have to do every door, we could lose money. Depends on how locked tight this place is. It also takes forever, meaning we may have to use more oxygen, which costs more. And recharge the batteries in our suits, which costs energy, which costs money…"

Ah… Nickel and dimed to death, is it?

"I can open it then." He gave me a look. I couldn't quite place it, but I was certain his face was stuck like that at this point.

"Uh… sure. Give it a shot… captain." They made way for me as I flew up to the hatch. Thick and hard. I punched once. The metal denting in… Mm… I ki enhanced and gave it another go… the dent was much bigger. This would be easier with a hand hold… I look it over and fire a five fingered ki laser from both my hands into it. The energy punched slightly into it, mainly due to me controlling my strength. Not trying to blow the place up.

I stick my fingers into the gaps and pull. The door shudders and something snaps. A slight gap opening as I reach my hands into, the opening and pull and peel. Until finally, the steel door opens like a tin can.

"Done…" I sigh patting my hands off. I turn to the dumbfounded boarding parties' stares.

"Can you, uh, do that inside?"

"Definitely. In fact, it'll be easier with a proper footing."

"Uh, you mind going first captain?" I could almost feel the respect now.

"Sure. Anything I need to keep an eye out for?"

"Not sure captain. Can you sense if the ship has any automated defenses? Or security of any kind?"

"Ah, no can do. I can only kinda sorta sense living things." He almost seemed relieved by that.

"Right then, since you can take a licking, you'll go first sound good captain?"

Meat shield? Meh… "Fine." I fly inside letting myself touch down on the ground. With a little work I wrench open the second air lock. What followed was fairly boring. Sure, the atmosphere was horror movie perfect, but lacked anything scary. Once we secure the ship a proper crew is brought in, and the ship is brought back online.

From there we begin tearing it apart. And I mean tearing it apart. Wires were stripped from behind panels. Computers dismantled. Even the panels were often taken due to them using higher value metals. They worked so fast we had the whole place stripped within a day or two. From there I got to shunt the ship into a near planetoid and call it a day. Fun stuff!

I got onto the bridge just as the ship began to make planetfall the bridge crew cheering as we finished the job and my first salvaging job! A moment was taken, beers brought out as the crew enjoyed a moment across the ship. I sipped at my ice-cold brew as I sat on my chair overlooking the joking bridge crew.

I didn't notice it at first, but each station had that lived in look. Or perhaps they cleaned it up before my arrival to make a better impression? The sensor bro had saucy pictures hanging near all the different lights and buttons. The girl that calculated our trajectory and jumps had a pile of suspicious magazines under her desk. The only normal-ish one was the comm officer and he had a pile of garbage at his station. Strangest part was it was always clean when I first show up and seemed to accumulate garbage over the day.

As I was looking over our crew the helmsman came over.

"Good work cap! You saved us a lot of money and time! A cheer for cap!" A cheer echoed out making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"So, what'd you think of your first salvage job.

"Boring." Didn't even have to think about it.

"Boring's good cap! Usually, these things are death traps!" The crew agreed as they continued to celebrate my eyes locked on the endless abyss before us.

"Say… What do you think happened to that ship anyway?" I found myself asking.

"Hm? Dunno. Space is mysterious. Ships drop off the radar for no reason, new species showing up out of nowhere." Tips his beer towards me. "Hell, even stories of massive creatures simply erasing things from existence."

"Ah, you mean like that one?" The crew laughed. "Good one cap!" He laughed, but turned mid sip, only to spray his beer everywhere as he openly gaped at the sight before us. Everyone noticed and looked. Frozen for an instant. The helmsman blinking.

"HANDS OFF INSTRUMENTS! Fucking shit…" He swears and cusses as the crew backs off. A massive space manatee thing makes its way through. Multi-eyed glowing. Blending in perfectly with the stars as it moves. Blocking out the sun, yet its skin takes on the sun's hues as it passes. Space almost seems to flow around it. Debris simply ceasing to exist as it floats on by…

Silence fills the bridge crew.

"I need another beer."

The navigator says, getting up she grabs another beer from the cooler. The others follow suit with mild grumbles. Only once everyone is sufficiently drunk do they start laughing about what just happened.

"Well, hopefully our future salvages aren't that interesting!" Oh, how wrong he was.

Because we got more salvage missions. Almost like fate was playing with us. The next one had zombies… I mean, they didn't do much and I could sense them. Boarding was much the same, but I was careful to be around when we made contact with the lifeforms. Well, because they were zombies. A few determined lances of energy cleaned that up.

The next ship was larger, but it was clearly off its rocker. Apparently, it had an AI that went rogue. When we booted it up the defenses went crazy. Had to fly through the ship disabling them all and blowing up the AI core before it could self-destruct the ship.

Next one was even better. Mysterious aliens. They crawled through the vents and everything. We even had the security team with us, trainer and all. It was easy enough to follow them around, but they were tricky buggers. Essentially making the ship, which was also the biggest ship we had salvaged yet into a massive hive. Nearly lost a few people, the trainer too as he wrestled one and barely managed to beat it to death.

Which cemented a decision I had been putting off. The next training session. Before we could even begin, I stared him down. Obviously, he didn't flinch.

"Trainer. I can't keep doing this. I learn best when I fight. And doing this rote work is wearing at my nerves like industrial sandpaper."

"Well, if you're asking for an easy way Rettas, I don't got one."

"No, but I got one." He looked, confused.

"In fact. With your permission instructor I'd like to awaken your ki."

"Ki?" I let my ki fill the air. I could tell he sensed it. Felt it.

"Would you let me?" The fact I was even asking… No. It was more efficient if they allowed it. He looked conflicted, worried even, but in the end relented.

"Do it."

I put my hand to his chest. He was taller than me… And let my ki pulse into him. Fill him. I couldn't let some random schmuck kill my only possible answer to something likely better then super Saiyan. Nor could I let him die with these feeling bubbling I my chest. I felt the ki take hold, his body absorbing my ki with a ravenous hunger. I pumped and pumped like I was filling a gas tank until it stopped.

Once done I stood waiting… and waiting… waiting… Eventually it became clear as he took to sitting in a trance that this may take a while. Frustratingly that meant playing gatekeeper…

Sigh… Maybe I should have just done it earlier?