Beautiful pinks and oranges surround the ship. It was like travelling through a thick, colourful gas cloud. The swirls of colour were mesmerising to look at, and then instantly, they were gone, replaced by the black, starry space and a small rusty orange planet.

“We have arrived in Mercury’s orbit.”

“Thank you, Aal.”

The ship shudders as it hits what little atmosphere the planet has and starts steadily descending to the surface. Too be honest Mercury was disappointing to look at. I’d heard of tales of the many mining colonies and busy cities that run right through Mercury, a place for criminals and bounty hunters to thrive, many places filled with opportunities and the merchants dream, but all that I could see was a desert wasteland. Doted across the deserts where white domes, EMTs (Electromagnetic Launching Tracks) and energy farms.

“Captain! A security drone is attempting communication. Shall I accept?”

“Yes, let security through main coms.”

“This is Officer Everrelius. May I ask why a Kyōsō Model Crew Ship is here?”

“This model is custom built. All weapons are replaced in favour for nonlethal alternatives. And as for the reason. I’m just a traveller, I came to Mercury to visit the great cities I heard about.”

“Very well. I’ll need to ask you to give my drones access to navigation to escort you to Zone 265. Welcome to Mercury traveller.”

After I allowed the drone to access the ships navigation console, I headed down into the observatory to look out at mercury as I travelled to the landing dock. As I approached the surface, I could see the more intricate features of Mercury’s surface. Around the white domes were towns and roads with mechanical pedestrians, the EMTs had many workers and machines around them, with solar collectors and materials ready to launch, and the energy farms had drones collecting the solar power ready to send to any colony that needed it.

Underneath the ship I see the ground open up to reveal a landing bay ready to harbour my Crew Ship.

“Enjoy your stay traveller. Stay safe.”

The blast doors above me started closing, almost plunging me into darkness, until the indoor lights of the dock turned on. When the blast doors completely closed, the outside space started to fill with oxygen, ready for me to exit safely. I went into the ship’s engine room, grabbing some tools and a step ladder. I descended one more layer into the ship’s airlock, descending the spiral staircase to the floor of the ship hanger.

“Welcome to Zone 265. Enjoy your stay” The automated voice was sweet.

I approached the back of the ship, removing a hidden panel, using the step ladder to reach it. I carefully removed the Internal Atmosphere Monitoring System’s motherboard. As I finished, I headed out of the hanger, through a wide hall, straight to border security.

A droid greets me at its booth. “Welcome to Zone 265. May I please have your name and ID number.”

“My name is Bobby Calmi and my ID would be B-15022336-SC357-C”

“Any weapons?”

“Only my Picsa 9mm and a taser.”

“You may proceed. Enjoy your stay.”

As the door leading outside border security opened, a fresh cool breeze came wafting through, and the light of a million holoimages bombarded my eyes. I could see a wide, underground city going down for miles. Mesmerized by the sight, I stepped towards the edge of the catwalk I was standing on. Below were cars and trains whizzing past each other, touching nothing but the magnetic waves designated for transport. As I looked back up, a massive holoimage caught my eye. The advertisement in the middle of a roundabout like area, depicted a beautiful woman promoting and drinking a canned drink.

I walked along the catwalk, going down a flight of stairs leading down onto the street. The street was busy with pedestrians and different shops selling varying items.

I approached an employee at one of the stores. “Excuse me, would you know where the closest teller is?”

“Oh. There’s one just down the block from here. Can’t miss it. Bright blue sign right above it.”

I was a little surprised by how casually he spoke, but the more I listened to the conversations going on around me, no one here spoke formally. It was a little refreshing, compared to my father’s strict speech and the maids formal demeaner.

I reached the teller, pressing the withdraw option. The teller asked to select an account to withdraw to. I groaned internally, selecting ‘create account.’ The teller asked for my ID and to set a password, and a new account was quickly created. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to create an account. I entered my father’s and my own pin into the machine withdrawing the maximum amount that it would allow out of my father’s account. The teller spit out a small round disk that displayed the amount withdrawn converted to the currency of mercury, Gold.

I walked down the street looking through all the shops that were put on show, varying from grocery stores, second hand shops, bars, jewellery, real estate, to mercenary hire, feeling like one massive mall.

I came across a mechanics shop. I entered, heading straight for the customer service desk.

Behind the desk was a gruff, bearded man. “What can I help ya with darlin’?”

“Do you happen to have a motherboard similar to this one?” I placed the motherboard that I extracted from my ship onto the bench.

“Ah, I’ve got one exactly like this one, minus this small modification.” He said, pointing to a very small cylindrical attachment.

“Is it possible to remove it?”

“Unfortunately not. The last time I tried, I broke both parts.”

“You saw a part with this modification?!” I almost leapt onto the bench in excitement, but I composed myself before speaking again. “You’ve attempted to remove this modification before?”

The man laughed. “You’re not from around here are ya?”

I was taken aback by his assessment. “What gave it away?”

“Your speech. It’s too ridged. I could almost mistake you for bein’ a Martian.” The man looked at the motherboard closely. “I’ve seen this modification once before. A client sold me the motherboard for a cheap price. Is it made by PhasCo?”

“No, it’s made by the Calmi Corporation.”

“Calmi? Never heard of it.”

I was a little surprised by his comment. “Can you tell me who the client is that sold you the mother board with that modification?”

“Client information is confidential. Hmm? I didn’t say the modification I got was attached to a motherboard.”

I panicked, but I didn’t let it show. I quickly thought of a way to fix my mistake. “I assumed it was a motherboard modification, seeing as though this one is a motherboard modification.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” The man rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed.  

“Could I get the same model of motherboard from your store?”

“Sure thing.” The man went to the back of the store, grabbing a mother board that looked identical to the one I had. “That’ll be 150,000 Gs.”

As I walked down the street, motherboard in hand, I thought to myself. I finally got a lead to my sister’s whereabouts, but I can’t go any further without talking to the man that sold the mechanic the motherboard.

I looked up to see a discreet sign in an alley way pointing down the alley that had the name Mercenary’s Tavern. I entered the alley, passing multiple neon lit businesses, stopping at the tavern’s entrance.

The inside of the tavern was full of loud, drunk men, relaxing or joking with friends. I approached the bar that was run by a slender lady, who had red eyes and short, blonde hair.

“How may I help you?” The lady was polite, having a kind look in her eyes.

“Umm.” It felt like everyone in the tavern had their eyes on me. “Is this where I come to request a bounty?”

“Indeed, it is.”

“What kinda jobs do you except.” I tried to sound more casual.

“We accept any job. It’s up to the mercenaries to accept them.”

“Is it possible for me to hire a mercenary to steal customer records from a store?”

“Here in Mercury? It might be difficult finding anyone willing to do it, but it will be possible. After making the payment, the job should be done soon.”

After paying the fee and explain more the job in more detail I ordered some food. I sat down at one of the tables to wait for the food to cook. While I was seated, I heard some men talking near me about something.

“Have you heard the talk around town? It sounds like Ronin just took out another pirate ship. Just rushed in head on with those two swords.” One man said to the other. “Have you ever seen him fight? He's like a terrible whirlwind cutting through flesh and metal. I've never seen a bullet touch his skin. If he ever does get hit, the bullet will just bounce right off, not a single burn.”

“Speak of the devil.” The other man pointed out Ronin’s arrival.

Ronin came through the tavern, all eyes on him. He was covered from head to toe in a metallic armour with a red ornamental plume. He wore casual shirt and jeans with a leather jacket over the top. Attached to his hips were two katanas one significantly longer than the other. He headed to the reception before retreating to a more secluded part of the tavern.

The tavern returned back to life, the mercenaries relaxing quite a bit.

Once my food was ready, I took it with me out of the tavern, heading back to my ship.