Alan had an idea. A reckless, silly, stupid idea, but why not? He waited another few minutes keeping his eyes on the entrance to the energy compound till he spotted a human in a suit. The 5th member of the party he'd been spying on, returning.

He quickly left his hiding spot and walked deliberately past the 4 other men. He put on his most arrogant smile and waived, attemting to look as self-important as possible. “Hey guys, you must be earthlings too. Well, except for you big guy! I think you might be an armadillo.” He gave his cheekiest grin.

“Move along stranger.” The leader said threateningly.

“All right, all right.” He looked deliberately at the entrance to the energy supplier. “I get it. I’m in a rush too, got to get ahead while you still can.” He arrogantly dismissed the four, “I know how important it is to get ahead of the competition.” He winked and walked quickly to the security shed outside the complex. There was an audible silence from the crew before one of them shouted.

“Hey stop! What do you mean by that?” The big scaley guy asked.

Alan kept on walking. Moving deliberately, ignoring them, he headed for the security shack.

The men looked at each other nervously, clearly uncertain about the newcomer. The leader had a grim look. To him this was a clear risk to what his boss wanted, a threat to his monopoly. If his boss found out someone else had gained a generator while he hadn’t...well, he wasn’t about to find out. In that instance he made a fatal decision. “Get him!”

In a moment everything had gone according to Alan’s plan. Alan sprinted the last few steps as 4 men pursued him. Each pulling out a weapon, 2 assault rifles, a pair of submachine guns and a massive energy club from their rings. Shots rang out as Alan leapt to duck behind the security checkpoint.

As he landed, he felt a hot sting in his thigh. Trying to stand up, his left leg buckled. He examined where he felt the stinging, and it looked as though a bullet passed through his leg. With some effort he leaned against the wall and propped himself up. “Well, that went splendidly.” He quickly removed the nanotube for healing and injected it into his leg. Willing to the nanites to move swiftly.

Trying to ignore the blood running down his leg, he peaked around the corner to see the 4 men spreading out, guns pointed in his direction. Removing his energy pistol, he leaned out briefly to return fire. Though he missed, it slowed their advance as they scattered, giving him some time for the nano healing to work.

On the other side of the security fence the reptilian guard dove into his security shed, as the fifth companion ran up toward his comrades, “What do you think you’re doing ?!” Alan didn’t recognize the sleekly dressed man in a tailored suit, but heard a heavy spanish accent.

“It’s another human trying to purchase a generator, Carmen! We’ll take care of it quickly and get out of here.” He quickly explained.

The suit wearer immediately grasped the situation. “Fine, let’s get it done quickly, we don’t need to alert the authorities” He withdrew a pistol. The five men moved forward.

Well, that worked. Alan thought. In Cosmos, all combat was allowed, and on most worlds somewhat tolerated. However, in Mairkness it was bad for business.

ROOOAR!!!

A heart stopping bellow sounded from the security shack at the same time the Dinoguard emerged wielding an oversized energy repeater, shocking the other combatant. He launched a rapid assault blasting away 1 of the humans in a moment. The others reacted by turning their fire toward the guard. “Get the other guy, I’ll worry about this one.” The leader turned his submachine gun on the guard and sought cover behind crates around the area. Bullets flew only to meet an energy shield which stopped them instantly. The armored behemoth wielding a club and the tailored man came after Alan sprinting toward his cover. Alan fired a few shots at the armored guy only to see them fizzle against his skin.

“Can’t get past my armor huh?” He mocked. He swung his club, missing Alan, but smashing in the side of the building. Thinking he'd put Alan at disadvantage he left himself wide open.

“How’s this!” Alan didn’t hesitate, he pulled a painful amount of energy through his system, and directly punched the armored opponent, hoping to shock him. In that moment 2 things happened. Unfortunately, the scales nullified his energy transfer significantly, preventing the scorching energy to stop short. Instead, the energy in his hand condensed, writhing in his hand. Unexpectedly, armadillo grunted as Alan’s fist, reinforced somehow, launched the giant backward. “What on Eart…!” Alan didn’t have time to finish before waves of pain began to push through the adrenaline. He grasped his arm and screamed, and began to writhe on the floor.

Unbeknownst to Alan, the calm deliberate step of Carmen could be heard, the fine Italian leather giving a faint squeak as he approached. As he drew nearer, pistol leveled, he briefly threw an irritated glance at his shoes, reminding himself to throw them out when he returned home.

“Sorry, it’s only business.” The man spoke using the well-worn cliched line, which Alan barely registered.

Alan could only groan, as he lay there. His only consolation, being that when he died, he’d still have just enough time.

Shots fired.

Alan, arm incapacitated, pain racking his whole body, didn’t register the bullet. He looked up only to see the melancholy look of the primly dressed Carmen. His suit had a number of evenly spaced holes, and his gun was no longer raised, but had fallen to the ground at his side.

Carmen spoke, “What a shame.” more to his suit than anything else, before he collapsed.

A few moments later, Alan felt someone grab his arm. He wanted to struggle, but couldn’t move. A slow hiss was heard and Alan felt a cool wave move through his body. The icy sensation swept through his body steadily, relieving the pain as it went.

Slowly opening his eyes, he panicked slightly as he caught the fearsome face of Frank, the dinoboss of the energy depot. Looking over him. In one hand he held an energy rifle, in the other a small capsule for pain relief.

“Your species is sure going to have a rough time if this is how they're going to play the game.” he grunted, as he hauled Alan to his feet.

Alan nodded, unsure if he'd be able to stand if the scaly hands holding him up let go.

“Your Hu-Man stupidity keeps surprising me more and more. It’s laughable to attack on Mairkness, we’ve set the rules here for maximum penalty if you’re an aggressor. We don’t let anyone ruin our business.” He grunted and motioned his guard to pick up the loot from the other fallen humans

The Guard spoke up, “We get twice the loot.” He grinned maliciously.

“And doesn’t help when someone tries to shoot one of my favorite customers, either” Frank chuckled.

Alan sat down on a fallen crate.

“Thanks Frank, I’m glad you count me as one of your valued customers.”

“Well that still remains to be seen, but if things turn out alright then I don't mind being in your good regards.” Frank smiled. Somehow, when Frank smiled, Alan got this sinking feeling that Frank was looking at prey.

“Did you end up selling him the generator?” Alan couldn’t help but ask. He was both curious and eager to change the subject.

“Of course not! I let him know that I’d only sell to him if he offered twice the cost! Of course, I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d sold you the last one I had available” Alan blanched at the revelation. “You should have seen his face, but they nearly bled me dry of my VE stores.”

Alan clenched his fist. They hadn’t been able to get a generator in the first place! His only consolation was all the energy they’d just purchase. As the aggressors they’d have a 24-hour ban from Cosmos, including access to their rings. Which should work perfectly with the timeline. He then heard a muffled shuffle.

Turning they saw the armored giant trying to crawl away. Before Alan could say anything the Dinoguard walked over and picked up the club and bashed the armadillo twice across the head. Then reached down to retrieve whatever dropped.

Alan’s stomach turned as he realized what the giant might have overheard. Frank, unaware of Alan's worry, pointed to his ring and initiated a transfer. “Here’s a few hundred credits. We’ll call it your share of the spoils. Also, those nanobots will stop the bleeding, but you’ll need real medical attention for your hand.”

Alan still held his hand. Flesh had ripped itself from the tops of his fingers, and it seemed as though it had been crushed. He didn’t try to move it, as he was sure his wrist had been broken in multiple spots.

A few minutes later he was on a transport and Alan was whisked away toward the medical center. An hour and 500 credits later his hand was put back together, without even a scar. Amazing really.

It was during this time that he realized he’d had notification from the previous day.

Combat Review:

Scenario 2 vs. 1. Position: Invader. Difficulty: Easy. 2 Melee Kill Minimal Damage sustained.

No reward

Scenario 1 vs. 1. Position: Invader. Difficulty: Very Easy. 1 Melee Kill Minimal Damage sustained.

No reward.

Scenario 3 vs. 1 Position: Invader: Difficulty Very Easy. 1 Melee Kill Minimal Damage...

…

…

Total 44 Level F Monsters Killed.

Reward. 1 Stat point for 5 F Ranked Monster opponents killed. 10 additional kills needed for the next award.

Reward 1 Stat point for 10 F Ranked Monster opponents killed. 20 additional kills needed for the next award.

Reward 1 Stat point for 20 F ranked Monster opponents killed. 35 additional kills needed for the next award.

Progress toward next award. 9/35

Combat Review:

Scenario 6 vs. 1 Position: Invader, Ambusher. Difficulty Hard. 1 Ranged kill, 2 Explosive Kill, 3 Other Kills.

Reward 1 Stat point for 5 E Ranked Monster opponents killed. 10 additional kills need for the next award.

Progress toward next award. 1/10.

Alan could only groan. He’d been so focused on shopping with his mom and getting the generator he’d neglected to allocate 4 additional stat points.

Well, I guess it's better in the long run, I didn’t allocate before the fight. I might have been tempted to put it in strength or speed. For now, though I think I’d better get some new cloths, weapons, and get my droid back. Then I'd better get to a geneticist, and maybe get some items identified. He eyed the 3 unknown vials in his ring’s inventory.

Personal Modifier

Currently

Available: 4

Description

Credit Balance:

65,000

Strength

(3/10)

135 LBS Bench

Items:

Basic Tools

Electronic Tools

Food Ration

4-Wheeler

Energy Pistol

2 gallons of gasoline

EV Exchange Generator

3x Vials Contents: Unknown.

43 F Monster Nyamisium Core

1 F Monster Nyamisium Core (Special)

Speed

(3/10)

8 MPH Jog

Intelligence

(3/10)

100 IQ

(VE) Capacity

(4/8)

400 Unit Cap

150/400 VEU

(VE) Production

(5/8)

5 UPH