Sci-Fi Mercs: Phase 1 Episode 2

##### Character Appearances

This episode features Puyo and Shane, and details the commission they decide to take on together.

##### Start

There is rising tension between Shane and Puyo however they have been left to their own devises on the Rust Bucket as Seban and Val are in extended rest thanks to the celebrations of the success of their first mission as a crew. Sheila suggests that the two take on a mission of their own as a bonding exercise and a way to refurbish their funds. Puyo is desperate to get some air away from their metal can of a ship anyway and he cannot stand Shane's burning glare much longer so the two begrudgingly agree.

Sheila reveals that a business man known as Gabba The Hut has contacted the Hollow providing a generous sum of money to any that heed his call. She informs the two mercs that the mission will be a simple transport mission to retrieve cargo for Gabba. Little risk, big reward, practically a no stakes mission impossible to resist.

##### Gabba

The Rust Bucket enters the atmosphere and the two mercenaries meet up with Gabba for more information on the mission. The two mercenaries meet Gabba at his grand manor house in the countryside where they find him surrounded by Glockers. Gabba is grand and stocky and he always seemed to be smoking a cigar that was almost as fat as he was. Gabba tells Puyo and Shane that his delivery is of three live creatures and that they are incredibly fickle and require to be shown displays of dominance to maintain control over. Gabba gives Puyo and Shane a few credits initially to ensure that they complete the task and retrieve his shipment for him. He lets them go and tells them to make haste with a hearty laugh.

##### Arrival

Shane and Puyo take the Rust Bucket and quickly make their way to the location. Before they know it, their ship is hovering over Federation territory. Shane refuses to continue with the mission and Puyo observes his uncooperative nature, he makes some relatively futile attempts at comforting Shane and ushering him to continue with the mission. He mentions the sum of money that they will secure for the team and then Shane ultimately tails along with Puyo to the border gate where the two are interrogated by the Guardsmen. Puyo does the talking with the Guardsmen and provides registration for their vehicle and states their purpose in the city. The Guardsmen open the gate and allow Shane and Puyo passage into the city.

Once in the city, they take the Rust Bucket and park it in a shipyard. Puyo and Shane walk to the remaining coordinates by foot. The two mercs end up outside of a dingy bar that seems to be the place that they were looking for. The pair enter the bar and see a meek little man with a curly white moustache wiping down the counter with a cloth. They walk up to the counter and it seems as if the man already expected their arrival. Puyo addresses that they have come for the cargo and the barkeep signals one of his men, named Ben, to come and help them retrieve the cargo.

Ben takes Puyo and Shane out back to see three cryogenically frozen containers that are sealed airtight. He takes two under his arms and Puyo and Shane just about struggle to grab the other and begin to move them back to the Rust Bucket. They load all of the containers onto the Rust Bucket and they fasten and secure them into the storage area in the hull of the ship. The boys thank Ben for his help and they seem to part ways. Puyo and Shane fly out of the Federation territory and back to Gabba where they are to deliver the cargo.

##### Missing Cargo

Shane and Puyo return to Gabba and start unloading the cryochambers from their ship when they realise one of the three Glockers is missing. They present the two Glockers to Gabba and he is absolutely furious. Gabba enlightens the Mercs; if they do not retrieve his third Glocker within the next 12 hours, he will have his men hunt them down to the end of the galaxy for their negligence.

Puyo and Shane make haste under the threat of Gabba. They use a tracker provided by Gabba to find the location of his last cryogenically frozen Glocker and enclose on the location. When they arrive at the location they find an abandoned part of town with a few warehouses and a rundown home that looks to be completely neglected with no perpetrator in sight.

Puyo tells Shane to keep an eye out and decides to follow the tracker into the abandoned house as the beeping persisted. As Puyo is about to step into the house, his eye catches the glint of a tripwire and he launches himself back into the street. Puyo and Shane devise that they will have to enter the house through a different entrance as the front door appears to be booby-trapped. They proceed with caution as there may be more booby traps going onwards. Puyo catches eye of a window and Shane helps him crack it open so they can enter. Looking through the window, the house appears to be quite dark and its hard to make out anything from inside. Puyo offers to go first as he knows the risks of entering now that they know it may be riddled with traps. Puyo steps in through the window and carefully steps into the room. Shane now follows behind Puyo step-by-step and they both attempt to illuminate the room the best that they can with the gear they have available.

As Puyo continues to step forward, beneath his foot he hears a small click. His heart drops as then the floor board erupts into splinters and smoke fills their already restricted vision. Through the smoke they can see that a labour bot has arisen, likely planted to stop Shane and Puyo in the pursuit of the Glocker. Puyo and Shane try to quickly evacuate from the building. They manage to get out into the open outside of the house where they had been before. The labour bot follows behind them spraying them with bullets and threatening them with its mechanical whirrs. After a couple shots from Puyo's pistol the bot falls to pieces and the signal from the tracker dissipates leaving the two clueless.

After a few moments of confusion the signal remerges further away from Puyo and Shane in one of the warehouses nearby. The pair follow the signal into a robot-making facility where there are abandoned robots on assembly lines. Far from the entrance, a man begins to walk towards them, a familiar face, with a Glocker trilling and fawning over him. It was Ben from the bar. Before Ben could speak or explain himself, Puyo and Shane weren't testing their luck, and Puyo quickly drew his sniper landing a perfect shot between Ben's eyes. The Glocker sprinted over to Puyo on all fours, trilling, purring, and soothing. Puyo and Shane are finally able to take the final Glocker back to Gabba.

##### Extraction

Gabba expresses kindness to the mercenaries and is overjoyed when they bring him his final Glocker. The Glocker finds trouble unlatching from Puyo however Gabba quickly displays his dominance by punching one of his servants, causing the Glocker to come over to him and begin trilling and purring like it had over Puyo moments before. Confused, Shane and Puyo decided to take the reward credits and head back to the ship.