Thousands of years after Earth became uninhabitable, humanity colonized other planets and moons around the solar system. Amid rising crime rate, the Galactic Space Force (GSF) set up a legal contract where registered bounty hunters (known as Coyotes...
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Wolf occupied the left bunk, taking the bottom bed. He had the nano-ring on one hand while he used the other to search for the activation button. He forgot to ask Rainbow how to use it, and Wednesday wasn't any help. The earpiece had run out of charge, meaning the AI was out of action for the meantime—the room didn't have a charging socket.
Blue Eagle and Silver Crow took the right bunk, sitting on the lower bed recalling their toughest bounty hunts through the years which didn't interest Wolf. He would go down that rabbit hole another time. He had pressing matters to deal with.
"What is that?" Blue Eagle pointed at the nano-ring.
"Salvation," Wolf replied, not glancing at them. He had one more trick up his sleeve regarding the ring. He grabbed it with both thumbs and index fingers and moved them in the opposite direction, hearing a click before a blue holo-display appeared above it.
"What kind of ring is that?" Silver Crow asked, her worn-out eyes full of wonder. She should have been sleeping—they all should have. But in the bounty hunting business, it was best to finish the job before relaxing. It wasn't the best motto, but weirdly enough, it was shared amongst coyotes.
"Salvation," Wolf repeated.
"You said that already, but what does it do?" the old man asked. He and his wife stared at Wolf attentively, like school kids eager to learn about this thing they had never seen before. Nano-tech wasn't something new in the system, but most people couldn't afford it. The two old coyotes had no idea it was a nano-ring. Not yet.
"Let's find out." On the holo-display were his name and picture. Rainbow must've designed it specifically for him. Below them was a space to enter his password through voice command or text. "Old school. I like it."
He entered his password—thisisnotthepassword—and the screen changed to dark purple with white words. There was one file on the screen. It read: Weapons and Gadgets.
He pressed the file and hundreds upon hundreds of folders appeared on the screen. Blue Eagle and Silver Crow stood from their bed and sat on the floor next to him.
"What are they?" Silver Crow asked, sitting farthest from him.
Blue Eagle pointed at the screen. "Maybe it contains weapons and gadgets," he said sarcastically, earning a smack to the back of his head.
Wolf chuckled before clicking on each folder in turn until he had got through most of them. All handheld weapons in the system had their own files. And in each one, the weapons were categorized according to size, firing power and range, and durability.
"This is crazy. Rainbow is crazy," Wolf muttered while his heart raced. All those times he called Rainbow wanting to talk and she said she was busy working on something that could make his life easier, this was what she meant? No one protected him more than her. Even without blood relations, he and she were more of a family than most.
Wolf recalled their last conversation:
"Anyway, how are you going to find the money to pay Skully?" she asked.
"I have to find a bounty that pays as much as I owe him," he said.
"But that would mean—"
"Yes, a Red Zone bounty."
"You are insane. I know you do not value your life, but this..."
"I'm not stupid. I know how dangerous it is. That's why I'm here. I want your best weapons."
Wolf chuckled. She had taken "I want your best weapons" literally, and gave him everything. He would have died a long time ago without her.
"What kind of ring is this?" Silver Crow asked, looking between Wolf and Blue Eagle.
"I don't know," Blue Eagle replied before he faced Wolf. "Well?"
Wolf shrugged and continued perusing the files until he reached the last one. It caught his eye and that of Blue Eagle and Silver Crow—they raised their brows and their mouths formed an O-shape. Unlike the other folders which were brown, this one was red and wasn't named after a handheld weapon. It had the name Wolf hated the most.
"Destroyer," Silver Crow read out loud. "That's your..." She fell silent after Blue Eagle shook his head at her. "Sorry," she added.
"No need to apologize." Wolf never understood the need to apologize when you meant what you said. Lying was worse, and he respected people who were always honest with him, even if it hurt his feelings. In the end, he would get over it.
"What do you think is in there?" the old man asked.
"Let's see." The young coyote opened the file and a warning sign appeared on the screen:
Use this weapon as a last resort. A LAST RESORT. It can only be used once, and when that happens, the ring—along with everything else in the vicinity—will be destroyed.
Wolf pressed the word "continue" below the message and the screen changed. In front of them appeared the Destroyer weapon and the three gazed at each other without saying a word. They started reading the instructions that followed. Once they were done, they looked at each other again with smiles on their faces.
"Finally, we have a weapon powerful enough to beat the nuns," Blue Eagle said.
"They will pay for what they did to Lord Orc. Every one of them," Silver Crow said before looking at Wolf. "You never told us what this ring is."
"It's a nano-ring," Wolf answered, getting loud gasps from both. Leaving them to come to terms with the revelation, he read the instructions again, memorizing everything so that when the time came, he would know what to do without having to reread it. "Thank you, Rainbow. I'll quickly put an end to these traffickers," he muttered.
