He felt like the floor had suddenly become the deck of a ship in the middle of a violent storm. He fell over and clung to the wooden floor that swayed and bobbed. Nausea pushed its way up his throat.
Through the spinning room, he could see his women screaming and falling over too.
Jokah called out, "I could kill you while you're under my vertigo code, but you're too much fun. I'll save you for later like the motherfucking snack you are."
The room spun but he managed to focus on Captain Jokah as she stumbled out of the bar. The other pirates followed.
When Jokah and the pirates left, the feeling of vertigo went with them. He lay on the floor, gasping for breath.
MISSION FAILED
"Shit!" Scarlett stumbled to her feet. "She got away again!"
"Indeed." Chetaara poked her foot at Jokah's severed arm. "Yet we have done significant damage. I count this as a victory."
"Baby, I love you, but this is not a victory." Scarlett jabbed a finger at the door. "She's got the second gem."
Fala sighed as she climbed to her feet. "We can still do this. We have two more gems to find."
Byron closed his eyes. "Two down, two to go."
Chapter 16
Back on the Icarus, Fala pointed on the starmap. "The next gem is on the planet Arrion."
Scarlett tapped keys. "Wow, that's like two hyper-minutes away, right around the corner."
She punched keys before shoving levers and launching the ship into hyperspace.
OBJECTIVE: COLLECT THE THIRD DARK STORM GEM
REWARD: 2000 XP, 400 CREDITS
While the ship flew through the vortex of light, Byron asked, "What kind of planet are we dealing with this time?"
"This one's rich as fuck."
Chetaara smiled. "Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. Arrion is one of the oldest and most advanced civilizations in the Galaxy. Because of their status, most of the banks in the universe are based here."
Byron shrugged. "So hopefully no sword-swinging pirate bars."
"Hopefully," Xana murmured.
Scarlett widened her eyes at her. "What, you didn't think that was fucking awesome?"
Xana smirked. "Not really, no."
"Well, this planet sounds like a motherfucking snooze. Full of tight assed trillionaires. I'll take a drunken bar brawl over an artsy fartsy tea party any day of the week."
Chetaara laughed and stroked her shoulder. "You have a different perspective than the rest of us, sweetheart."
"Good thing, too, otherwise we'd be hauling widgets right now."
The ship dropped out of hyperspace over a planet swarming with starships.
Fala studied her tablet before pointing at the planet through the window. "It looks like the gem is located here, on the island nation of Chichewa."
Scarlett tapped on keys. A portion of the screen zoomed in to show an overhead view of a wide and luxurious building.
Chetaara narrowed her eyes. "What is it?"
"A museum." Fala rolled her eyes up. "The gem is in the Zakale Museum. Of course. It is an important artifact but they must not know the significance."
Scarlett put her feet up on the console. "That's gonna be interesting."
It didn't take long to get permission and guidance to land, and within minutes the Icarus flew over a dazzling ocean to a lush island. It made its way to the spaceport that was as far from the rundown spaceport of the pirate planet as he could imagine. Here, Byron's ship made its way to a landing bay next to starships so big, so decorated with gold and jewels, and so sleek that it made the Icarus look like a garbage truck.
When the ship landed, Byron decided they should try a more subtle approach. He carried only his Scorpio pistol and the other women carried small pistols as well. He couldn't talk Scarlett into just one, so she brought two.
They walked down the landing ramp and Byron breathed in the perfume of flowers swaying on the spaceport's edges. Male and female aliens walked the streets of the city, some followed by robots or alien servants.
"I don't see too many humans," he murmured.
Scarlett shrugged. "Not many humans are rich enough to be here. The human race barely got out here a couple hundred years ago, so they haven't gotten enough clout to join the banking clans."
"So you mean that the humans don't have much power. It's like an old boy's club except with humans are kept out instead of women and minorities."
Scarlett nodded. "Yeah, same shit, different Galaxy."
They walked to the museum, a huge building with a crystal sculpture standing in a courtyard out front. The sculpture gave off a musical tone as it spun and swayed like a dancer.
As they approached the ticket counter, Byron read the sign, "Today's Featured Exhibit is Arts of War: Weapons Across Cultures in the Galaxy."
A alien woman behind the counter smiled, but threw an uncomfortable glance at Byron and the women trailing him. He could only imagine how he looked to her with his armored jumpsuit. Fala's clothes had been cut off so she wore one of Chetaara's bikinis
"How can I help you?" she asked.
"Yeah, we're here for the exhibit. How much?"
She pointed to the glowing panel next to her counter. "It's donation based, so whatever you can give."
MUSEUM DONATION
PAY Y | N
The menu had a slider he could adjust to pay a certain amount. He had just enough to pay ten credits for each of them.
From the look of annoyance the museum cashier gave him, he didn't think it was enough, but she waved a hand and the museum's logo glowed on the back of his hand.
He moved with his group to the entrance, a pair of crystal blocks. Instead of sliding open, the huge doors faded away and disappeared.
Inside, rows of different guns, bombs, and blades greeted them. One glass case held a massive gray robot covered in spikes. Another display had swords of various shapes and sizes, some still red with blood.
An alien tour guide stood in front of the exhibit, talking to a large group of visitors as she pointed to a sign. "Here you will find the largest collection of weapons and military gear in the known universe."
Some of the other patrons stared at Byron and his group, especially Chetaara's bikini.
Byron gave one human man a grin. "What? Never saw a half-naked cat-girl in a bikini before?"
The man rolled his eyes.
Fala studied her tablet as she walked past the tour guide and deeper into the museum. "It should be right here."
They stopped in front of a display showing various suits of armor.
Fala led them to one suit of armor standing to the far left side of the display. The armor was bulky and black, but covered in gems in various shapes and sizes. A shimmering haze around the armor told him it was protected by a force field.
She nodded. "That is Dark Storm's armor. It has been mislabeled. They think it belongs to the Fancasi tribe of Helm."
Fala pointed at one glowing red gem. "There it is."
Scarlett looked around. "Now what?
"We could just try warning the museum about Jokah. I could tell them I'm from the Coriolus Museum of Interplanetary Studies, and that someone is going to steal it. They will listen."
Byron chewed his lower lip. "I don't think they're prepared for someone like her. I think we should hold onto it for safekeeping."
Scarlett grinned. "We swipe it?"
Byron gave one of the armed guards a pointed glance. "I'd rather not get into a firefight. We could damage some of this stuff and innocent people could be hurt."
"And we could have our asses blown off."
"Yeah, that too."
Xana nodded her chin at it. "I can turn invisible to take the gem. But how would we get past the force field?"
Chetaara pointed at a thick cable mounted on the ceiling. "The force field is powered by that cable. If we cut it, the field will go down but would trigger the alarms."
"If I can find the alarm room, we could cut the feed."
Scarlett's gri
n widened. "Now we're talking Mission Impossible shit. Can we lower Byron down on a rope?"
He shook his head.
Before they could talk more, the wall behind them exploded.
The explosion rocked the museum. The shockwave hit him and threw him crashing into a display of guns. Pieces of the wall rained down on him. Smoke flooded the air until he couldn't see or breathe, and screams choked the air even more.
He groped through the clouds until he found Fala, coughing and trying to sit up. "You okay?"
She nodded and he saw blood running down her face. "What happened?"
He crouched down lower. "Jokah is here."
Byron grabbed her and pulled her to where his other girls hid behind a display of miniature battleships.
Women in black bikinis charged through the hole in the wall before Jokah strode into the museum. She had black leather wrapped around the stump of her missing arm.
She spread her remaining arm and turned in a circle to face the terrified museum patrons. "Ladies and gentlemen, the true work of art has arrived. I'm talking about myself, of course."
Some of the security guards started firing their guns. One of the pirates went down, but one pirate had a huge gun like a bazooka that unleashed a ball of energy. The energy blast incinerated the guards in seconds.
Byron watched from behind cover. "How did they get here so fast?"
Xana shook her head. "They, um, must have planted a homing device on our ship. I'm sorry, I should have scanned for it."
Chetaara rubbed her shoulder. "It was a mistake anyone of us could have made."
Jokah cupped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, Byron? Sweet Cheeks? I know you're here. You and your bevy of beauties. And I know you know which one of these lovey old trinkets has the gem."
Byron put his finger to his lips and his crew nodded.
Jokah put her remaining hand on her hip. "Oh you're being shy? I know how to shake you out. I'll turn this place upside down. Ladies, code fourteen!"
This time, he was ready.
He and the other girls grabbed hold of the floor, chairs, and anything else they could when the wave of dizziness and nausea came over them.
Jokah's vertigo code sent the museum into a frenzy. Her eyes glowed as people began screaming, throwing up, and falling down.
Byron closed his eyes to avoid seeing the room twist and flip.
"Oh, never mind!" Jokah called out. "I found it! Like a glowing red needle in a haystack! So obvious when you know what you're looking for."
He opened his eyes to see Jokah pointing at the suits of armor.
The pirate with the laser bazooka fired it at the armor. The whole display exploded, sending pieces of metal and glass flying. The blast snapped the power cable on the ceiling in half, and it swung back and forth, gushing sparks.
Scarlett whispered, "Well, I guess that's one way of getting it."
Jokah hopped up to snatch the glowing red gem buried in the shattered armor. "We have the gem!"
She raised her arm and sang, "Everything's coming up my way--"
Scarlett held up her guns to Byron and jerked her head at Jokah.
He shook his head. He could barely see straight with Jokah's vertigo code throbbing through his head. He didn't want to shoot at her and risk killing innocent peope. He wanted to wait out the vertigo, but didn't know how long she could keep it going or what kind of cooldown it had before she could use it again. He had to shut it down, permanently.
The sparking wire gave him an idea.
He leaped out from behind the display he used for cover to grab for the wire. Fortunately, he managed to make up for the confusion of the vertigo and seized hold of the wire's end.
He jammed the wire into Jokah's leg.
Sparks burst off her skin as she went flying. The vertigo ended at that moment as she landed on a pile of broken rubble. He had a faint hope that she would die from the electric shock, but instead, she went into seizures.
Her pirate clan swung around to fire their weapons at him.
Laser bolts slammed into the wall and floor around Byron from their rifles. A few hit him in the arms and chest, and his health bar dropped by thirty points. He didn't let the shots stop him from firing back with his gun while scrambling backwards for cover. Chetaara and Scarlett started shooting too while Xana turned naked and invisible.
Jokah screamed over the fury. "You fried my bloody NRG implant! I'll kill you for that!"
Byron ducked out from behind a display of daggers to fire rounds. The pirates had retreated behind a weathered statue of a powerful warrior, and pieces flew off at the impact of the gunfire.
As pieces of the pottery showered over them, Scarlett called out, "And you were worried about damaging some of this shit?"
Over the thunder of destruction, Jokah's voice rang out again, "Sorry, Sweet Cheeks, don't have time to play. I have one last gem to find. Hope you don't mind me borrowing your girlfriend!"
As she cackled, Byron looked over at his girls. Chetaara and Scarlett looked back at him, and it hit him.
"Where's Fala?" he yelled.
He looked out to see Fala stumbling as Jokah dragged her along out of the hole in the museum wall.
He got up to chase after her when something rolled up against his foot. A small green ball.
"Grenade!" Chetaara shouted.
He dove for the charred statue just as the grenade blew. The explosion shattered his ears and sent the statue tumbling over him.
He groaned under the weight of dozens of pieces of rock. He couldn't move, and must have blacked out, because he woke up on the museum floor with Chetaara shining her healing light on him.
"Fala," he gasped.
Chetaara shook her head.
Byron closed his eyes.
Scarlett punched the floor with her metal fists, leaving cracks in the marble. "Shit! She got the third gem and took the professor with her. Now what the fuck do we do?"
MISSION FAILED
Byron ran his fingers through his hair. He had to agree with her. They survived but lost the way to the final gem.
Xana looked down to see Fala's tablet lying next to him. The screen had cracked but she picked it up and smiled. "We go after her and the last gem. In that order."
Chapter 17
It took Xana only a few minutes to connect Fala's tablet to the computers aboard the Icarus and a few minutes more before she called out, "Got it."
The others gathered around the screen as Xana pulled up a map of the Galaxy. Chetaara stood behind him with her arms around Byron's neck, and she had taken her clothes off again so he could feel her naked breasts pressing against his back. He was pretty sure she was trying to turn him on, but he forced himself to focus.
Tapping keys caused the map to zoom in on a single planet as Xana said, "Um, so according to the decryption program, the last gem is on the fourteenth moon of Exatrixa."
Byron folded his arms. "Can we narrow it down?"
Xana nodded. "Well, yes. The tablet has the energy signature for the gem, so we can track the same signature."
Scarlett had her feet up on the console while she reached out to tap buttons. "That moon is pre-industrial. Swords and spears kinda shit."
Chetaara nodded. "Sometimes, the simplest technology is best."
"True. As much as I love to burn a hole in a punk's ass, I love chopping off shit even more."
Byron sighed. He felt horrible about losing Fala to the pirates. "I'm guessing Captain Jokah has or will have the location of the last gem by the time we get there. That's where we can find her. Once the Black Thorn is at Exatrixa, we can try to rescue Fala."
Scarlett slid her feet to the ground. "So we're setting course for Exatrixa, right?"
Byron pressed his fists on the console. "Not quite. I want us to make a stop first. We weren't ready for Jokah before, but I want us to be this time. Find the nearest supply depot where we can stock up on weapons."
Scarlett rubbed her metal hands together. "Oh, yeah. I like the
sound of that."
She punched keys and the ship launched into hyperspace.
As the rainbow swirl of hyperspace filled the windows, Scarlett smirked while reaching out to stroke Byron's crotch. "Well, we got some time to kill--"
Treasure Chest: Venus Online 3 (LitRPG Sci-Fi Harem) Page 10
