Scavenging(Zenni)

[hewhostandsalone]

Part 1: The Deal
Having gained new motivation and gotten himself cleaned up thanks to the words and actions of some rather unlikely companions, Gerrek Zig found himself searching for a way to assist his group and improve their chances of survival. If they were going to make things work, they'd need additional training implements, possible escape plans, and certainly additional housing. Zig liked the house that Drexx had set up already, but he wanted to be prepared in case they recruited more to their cause. His search for resources had brought him to a massive junkyard. The place must have been two or three square kilometers in size.

There was a lone being that presided over the massive hills of refuse. He was half the red alien's height and seemed to be constantly scowling at everything in sight. As Zig approached he took a serious expression. The purple skinned man turned around and looked up at him with that same scowl and questioned, "What do you want?"

The hulking lizard looked down at him and extended a hand. "I'd like to work for you. You're the owner of this place, right? In exchange for helping you do what you need, I'll require free reign to gather parts from this place for my own use."

The little man seemed appalled at such a suggestion at first, but when Zig offered his assistance the smaller being turned around and put a hand to his chin in deep thought. Such a large and sturdy figure would surely be able to assist him gather what he needed and make his own job much easier. He was so willing to help, too, how could he turn him down? Good help was, after all, so hard to find these days. Especially for aliens.

He turned around with an eerie and uncanny grin, "Sure! We aliens have to stick together, don't we?" He smirked deviously and then raised a single finger into the air. "I will give you a list of what I need. For each piece you bring me you may take an item of your own from this place. Are these terms agreeable?"

Zig took the one hand the littler alien had stuck into the air and shook it in a friendly and slightly comical manner. "I accept that deal. Show me what you're looking for and I'll get right on finding it."

[hewhostandsalone]

Part 2: Collecting
The first item he'd been sent to retrieve for his so far unnamed employer was a capacitor, particularly a larger one if possible or two smaller ones if the larger one could not be located. His boss had informed him of the exact power rating he needed on the device and Gerrek had made a mental note of such before heading off into the mounds of junk to search for one that might be usable or a couple that could be salvaged to make a single functioning unit. The search took him most of the day, but he managed to find what he was after. He had to dig through most of a building sized mound of things, but with his strength and ability it wasn't too difficult. He actually managed to find two of the smaller capacitors as well as two larger ones. From the looks of things this dump was primarily for abandoned or old vehicles and machinery. A gold mine for the sorts of things he and his very strange boss were looking for. He gave the larger capacitor to his boss and took the other large one for himself. He wondered what the purple humanoid was building, but it wasn't his place to mettle. He was just doing his job for now.

The following day he was sent out to gather large coils of wire, both insulated and uninsulated. It was convenient that his employer had asked for such, as it meant he could search for wire for himself, too. Building a decent space-ship would require large lengths of different sizes of wire for the sake of keeping things running smoothly. The aluminum based superconducting cables that Earth technology used right now were cheap, light, and power efficient. It was this sort of technological advancement that made Earth competitive when it came to space travel and such. This was also one of the many reasons Zig happened to like the planet so much. As he worked he began to wonder if digging through garbage, or at least that's what most would call it, for the purpose of mounting a potential escape if things got tough was really worth it. Despite clouds hanging dark and heavy overhead, not a drop of rain fell. It was very windy outside, but not very cold, so the wind was more pleasant than anything.

On the third day the purple humanoid got a bit more specific in what he wanted. He needed a control panel, complete with all the keys, buttons, and knobs that one might generally find on a vehicle. He also requested numerous sheets of usable metal. Obviously this alien already had a headstart on Zig when it came to what they were building, and from the sound of it they both had similar designs in mind. But the third day would bring an unexpected surprise!

[hewhostandsalone]

Part 3:Gift-Wrapped...

As the red alien awoke the third day and went back to the junkyard he did not encounter his previous boss. There was no sign of him. That is, until a large portion of rubble went flying, scattered across the junkyard in smoking, semi-molten bits. Zig dove behind another pile and peered over the edge to see what in blazes was going on. It was then that he realized he hadn't been helping the other alien piece together a space ship. He'd gathered parts for him to construct a high powered man operated laser turret. He sighed and shook his head before stepping out and walking casually towards the turret. At least he was walking until it pointed at him. Then he stopped and his eyes went wide, "The Hell do you think you're doing?" Zig asked, looking quite peeved and a bit uneasy about his current situation.

"The humans think they can kick around an esteemed scientist and weapon developer? I'll show them a real classic from an angle they won't soon forget! And I can't have anyone ruining the surprise, so you're the first to go, lizard boy." The alien gave a short, rather unnerving speech in an almost high pitched screech. Clearly he was angry and seeking revenge, but this was not the way to go. And if this alien was allowed to attack the Earth, he'd damage the reputation of all aliens as well as causing an uproar with the citizens of Earth.

Gerrek shook his head again and raised his hand, "You might have made a real devastating weapon, but I'd bet it's little more than a glass cannon. Even if you fire and put me down to rest, you and that cannon will disappear, too." He started taking steps toward the machine when a single, fist width beam of energy shot from the machine and smacked a pile of refuse behind the red lizard, scattering it just like the other. "Please. It's barely at five percent. This junkyard is just a warmup. Now die!"

Gerrek had just enough time to put up his energy barrier before the next shot connected with it and sent him crashing through several smaller heaps of metal. He was cut up and bruised after just that one shot. His vision blurred and he looked around. He could barely move his left arm. Apparently it had taken the brunt of the shot and he hadn't even had time to realize. How fast was this laser? It seemed slower before, but that last shot was almost instant. "Ten Percent!" The other alien screeched again after the smoke started to clear from his second shot.

Gerrek loosed two energy orbs at the machine only to find out a very upsetting fact. The weapon had energy shields as well. And the blasts had almost no effect. He found himself narrowly avoiding another bolt of energy from the turret. A small crater was blasted into the ground as it shot passed the red alien's hip and hit the ground next to him. He was knocked several meters to the side and skidded to a halt, still on his feet. With a determined look Zig dashed forward and shot a couple of energy blasts at the ground near the machine. He leaped over the shot through the smoke, having expected such an attack, and landed behind the machine.

He began struggling to push forward through the force field. It slowed him almost to a crawl, and it took most of his strength to keep from being thrown across the junkyard. But he noticed one thing that made him worry no longer. The power source didn't have enough energy to sustain the turret fire and the force field at the same time. As long as he kept the pressure on it wouldn't even be able to turn and aim at him, let alone take a shot at him.

He began to dig into the ground with his boots, taking fast, choppy steps to try and force his way through. He glared up at the purple alien. He finally got one hand all the way through the field and took a shot at the power generator beneath the makeshift chair that his ex employer was sitting on. The purple fellow had been jamming and slamming on the controls trying to get them to work while Zig broke through. And with the power disrupted from that blast, Zig stepped inside the field and grabbed the purple fellow by the neck, pulling him close and giving him a toothy grin.

"I might not look it, little punk, but I'm a mercenary. I've done a lot of fighting and traveling from planet to planet. If you thought a half assed cruiser cannon was gonna off me like that, you should have known better. As of right now this cannon belongs to me and you can go back to slumming it in the cities of Earth. I understand that times are tough for our kind, but trying to take revenge and destroying countless human lives is not the way to go. They're blind to what's really happening. I don't know enough myself to say for sure. Just stay out of trouble and don't make anything harder than it has to be on your fellow aliens. I consider this junkyard and this cannon as payment for me helping you and sparing your life after you threatened mine. Now get out before I change my mind."

He tossed the other alien out of the force field and looked at his wounds. Nothing major...well...heavy bruises and some numbness in his left arm. And lots of cuts. Well, okay, so he was hurt. He shrugged and sat down in the seat of the cannon, turning it off and disconnecting the generator and capacitor. He'd use this for his ship since it was nicely assembled and practically gift-wrapped for him.

(OOC: Zenni, Please.)

(Word Counts for each post starting with Part 1: 398, 479, 986. Total word count is 1863)

[ammy]

1110 zeni awarded. Nice job.