Chapter 6: Scavengers

The sun of Xarrack is a K-type orange dwarf star, slightly cooler than the more common stars found in star systems with habitable planets. At about 11 billion years old, it is one of the oldest stars in the galaxy. Perhaps that's why Xarrack has had so much time for its abominable life forms to evolve. 

The planet was one of three that orbited this dwarf star. Once every century, their orbits brought them into proximity, creating a meteor shower that exchanged flora and fauna between them. And the names of the other two planets?

'Uglash and Xhodon.'

Acala squinted, watching the pod's A.I. calculate the trajectory of the planet for the next collision. It was soon... less than half a decade maybe.

Adjusting her broken armor plate to prevent it from digging into her raw wounds, Acala re-tied the makeshift straps around Spina to secure her on her back. Then, she turned her attention to fitting the water filtration device where the transponder should have been. It had been a difficult morning's work, salvaging the pod from the inside out.

"Power cables... scrap... fuel cell...?"

She muttered to herself as she detached a handful of sturdy wire that connected the energy converters to the emergency first-aid treatment dispenser. Unfortunately, the dispenser was completely out of the healing agent and any other ointments, except for some rubbing alcohol that a slacking technician had stashed under the exhaust.

So far, she had managed to gather a couple of empty power cells, several tens of meters of cable, and a complete air-water filtration device. It wasn't much, but it was all she needed to survive... for now.

The morning sun was climbing to its noon chair as she turned her gaze toward the vast expanse of toxic green fumes and burning red sand. Her shoulders slumped for a moment. The output was only about 82 kilometers to the east, and while she could fly that distance easily in under a minute, carrying a broken pod and an injured, unconscious Saiyan across the desert would not be such an easy task.

For a moment, it didn't seem such a bad idea to just leave everything there and fly off to the outpost. At the very least, she could preserve some energy and keep herself from being vulnerable.

She glanced down to see a second tail wrapped around her waist, Spina's, whose eyes she last checked were glazed over with fever. Acala's brows knitted together as she tried to think of something that might save her the trouble of looking after the little kid...

'What a pain in the ass...'

Gently setting the little Saiyan down, Acala began to rummage through the pile of junk she had scavenged throughout the morning. Aside from hard machinery and alcohol, she had found an old emergency kit fitted under the pilot's seat. Inside, she found old rations, a shattered power cell, and a plasma gun that was out of charge—junk. However, she did come across an old scouter that was partially functional. After a few not-so-gentle taps, she managed to get it working, though the display was fuzzy.

The ration was stale and revolting, but she forced the cardboard bar down her throat anyway. Spine, still very much asleep, was far too injured to eat anything. So, she had to juice the fruit she got from the roulette and drip the liquid down the child's throat. Her wounds had healed visibly, but now she was down with a severe fever. Bit of counter-productive considering it meant she had to lug around a sick kid on her back.

When she was ready to start, Acala decided to check her current power level with the scouter. Just to see if the system was telling her the truth. She looked down at her hand and the device began to beep.

{Power Level: 1,043}

'Correct!'

She thought with a bit of excitement, she had just gotten a major power boost from doing nothing... well, dying wasn't exactly doing nothing but still,

'What about you, little guy?'

She turned the device to Spina, curiosity getting the better of her foresight.

{Power Level: 129}

The reading didn't surprise her for a moment, then she slapped the scouter a couple more times just to check if it was finally giving out. A 129 reading for a little kid, a half-dead low-level warrior who wasn't even an adult yet? At 7, that was an impressive feat for someone of Spina's class. 

'But, of course, no match for me.'

Acala thought with no little amount of pride, she was also 'just' 7 standard universal years old, and considering hers was now above 1k... she was even stronger than an average High-Level Warrior!

'Heh...'

A faint smirk crossed her lips. 

'I should probably start...'

And that wiped that smug look off of her face, within minutes, her muscles were screaming in protest. The weight of the pod combined with the exhaustion from using the Oozaru form and her still very battered body was surprisingly unbearable. She gritted her teeth, letting out a snarl as she pushed herself forward, the pod dragging behind her.

Securing it with the cables from the pod's circuitry was a good idea. Not only was the harness not heating up under the sun, but it was also sturdy enough to hold together as she trudged through the sand, leaving deep gouges to show the weight of the object being pulled.

Each step was heavier than the last, her boots were sinking into the blustering sands. The cruel dwarf star was bearing down hard upon her, its unrelenting heat nearly baked her exposed skin. Every step was a desperate struggle, her body protested, muscles strained as she pulled the pod over the loose sand. 

The heat shimmered off the ground, creating mirages that caused distortion, it even made her feel as though she hadn't even left the crash site yet.

She could still feel the little Saiyan's weak, tiny tail wrapped loosely around her waist. Spina's feverish body was clinging to her back like an unwelcome guest. Every now and then, Acala would glance over her shoulder, nudging the girl with her tail to check on her silent companion.

Her mouth twitched with irritation.

"Just... a few hours longer,"

She muttered to herself, less to boost her morale or motivation, more just to cling to her life. 

Her mind would, occasionally, drift to the far-off outpost. Even if it had been abandoned for years, there was still a pretty good chance she'd find more than just simple shelter there. Equipment, water, food, and weapons were at the very top of her mind and preceded only by a need for medication to break Spina's fever.

After some time of walking and dragging, not only her feet but the hunk of metal as well, Acala noticed that the ground seemed to shift a little. The red sands gave way to a field of dark, sun-scorched rocks, with protruded edges like numerous little teeth of a meat tenderizer. She cursed under her breath but pressed on nonetheless, each step ground the heels of her shoes deeper into her blistering feet. 

The pod scrapped and bounced across the uneven ground, creating such a racket that could be heard dozens of miles beyond the horizon. 

An hour of uncomfortable journey later, the red sand and jarring rocks gave way to something far worse. Acala paused, glaring narrow-eyed at the ditches of poisonous green mud that spouted putrid fumes into the sky. Her lips twitched in irritation as she surveyed the landscape ahead. The ditches of viscous, toxic sludge stretched for a mile or more, puffing up fumes that made her throat burn and her eyes sting. 

With a resigned sigh, she adjusted the makeshift harness stretching back to the pod. One of the cables had been rubbing the exposed meat of her waist, causing the wound to open up and bleed again. 

'Great!'

She grumbled, taking the first step around the bubbling pit of sludge. Her worn boots sank into the muddy, unstable ground, a blast of putrid air decking her on the face. Behind her, she felt Spina's limp form shift slightly, her tiny tail twitching in a fevered half-conscious state.

'Guess the runt's awake for the show,'

She thought, glancing over her shoulder. The little Saiyan's eyelids fluttered but didn't open, and her body remained slumped from the wounds and exhaustion.

A sharp hiss pulled Acala's attention away from the child. A few meters ahead of her, a creature's spindly limb slithered out from one of the open pits, armored with greenish-black scales and ending in a three-pronged claw. She tensed, her tail pulling Spina further behind her back, and her ki flaring defensively.

The creature pulled itself into full view... ugly son of a... a six-legged beast covered in a black carapace, each limb tipped with a sharp identical claw designed for slicing and ripping through flesh and hollowing out bones. Its face was only distinguishable by the many, glossy and milky white eyes that fixed themselves on her. 

It was a feral creature, evolved as a scavenger, probably having smelled the sweat and blood from her wounds. Its hunger radiated from its stance.

"Alright then..."

Acala growled back, ki surging through her body.

"If you want a meal, you'll have to earn it."

The creature pounced...