Muunraker/Prologue

Muunraker

Prologue The Metal-Faced Man

"Oh, Jace."

The young Human female named Kim had just experienced the pleasures that the male Zeltron had to offer her. Other than those two little words she managed to say, she was speechless. She now just laid in bed while the Zeltron softly kissed her neck.

The Zeltron was an operative with the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service, better known as MI5. He was the agency's newest member, Jace Bont. Being Zeltron, he had the ability to manipulate pheromones and could get almost anyone into bed. He gave Kim one last kiss on the lips before pulling back the sheets and rolling out of bed. "Sadly, I must be going."

"So soon?" Kim asked in a seductive voice.

Jace began putting his clothes back on. As he reached for his pants, he said, "I'm sorry, but the galaxy needs me."

"So do I," she responded, biting her lower lip. Still lying in bed, Kim propped herself up on one elbow. She looked up at him and watched him cover his muscular chest with his shirt. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair.

Jace smiled at her, leaned down over the bed and gave her a long kiss.

- - - - - - - - - -

Only a few blocks away, another MI5 agent was in a different apartment building. Shasta Moonreaper was lying prone on a balcony with binoculars up to her face. There was a slight breeze that picked up in Salis D'aar, the capital city of Bakura. Her blond hair fluttered as she felt the breeze whip past her as the sun began to set. This was one of the rare days on Bakura that didn't have rain.

Shasta was on one of the taller skyscrapers looking out over the rest of the city. Through the binoculars, she could finally see the two men she was looking for in a shorter building across the way.

The two men were talking, but she had no way of knowing what exactly they were saying. Her fellow MI5 operative, Bont, was supposed to plant a listening device in that apartment on which she was spying so she could hear everything. But apparently he didn't.

One of the men had his back turned so she couldn’t see his face. But the man she could see was the Human she was after. He was an illegal arms dealer named Klay. Klay was known for having "connections" within the underworld and traveled from planet to planet supplying lowlifes and scumbags with heavy-duty weaponry. Klay had always managed to slip past the authorities, until now.

MI5 had him in their sights.

The door behind Shasta opened and Jace Bont sauntered out on to the balcony.

Shasta took a look over her shoulder. "Where the hell have you been? You were supposed to plant that bug in the apartment so we could hear what they were saying."

"Sorry," Bont responded. "I was brushing up on a little Bakuran culture."

"Well," Shasta continued, "we were supposed to find out where he was moving his stash of weapons. Now we need to bring him in alive to question him."

As Bont knelt down next to Shasta, he grabbed the second pair of binoculars from Shasta's duffel bag and used them to look between the slats on the balcony to the two men on which she was spying.

Klay and the other man walked away from the window and out of view.

Shasta got to her knees. "They're leaving. Let's get 'em." She put the binoculars back into the bag and pulled out a blaster pistol and an attachment that converted it into a long-range sniper rifle. She attached the two pieces together and charged it up.

"Now it's gotta be set to stun," Shasta told Jace.

Shasta looked through the scope of the rifle at the window where the two men had been standing. She slowly started to move the rifle to the right where she saw a landing platform and a speeder parked and waiting.

"Sure you can get him at this range?" Jace asked her.

Shasta hesitated and glanced toward the rookie agent. "I'm one of MI5's top sharpshooters." She looked back through the scope. "I'll get him. But since we can't kill him, you'll have to use the grappling hook and zip across to that landing platform to secure him."

Jace reached into the bag and pulled out a device that looked like a blaster, but there was a metal arrow protruding out from the barrel. He lifted the binoculars back up to his face.

As Jace and Shasta waited, the two Humans walked out on to the platform. They could now see the face of the other Human. He was tall, built like a limmie player and had...a metal jaw? Everything from his upper lip to the top of his head was normal. But the lower half of his face was shiny durasteel.

"What the hell is that?" Shasta exclaimed, examining the strange metal-faced man through the rifle's scope.

Bont recognized the man right away. "I might have guessed..."

Shasta asked, "Do you know him?"

"Not socially," Bont responded. "His name's Jaws. He kills people."

"Maybe we oughta take him in, too," Shasta said, again focusing her aim on Klay. "Get ready."

Shasta had Klay lined up in the scope's crosshairs. Beside her, Jace Bont stood up and aimed the grapple gun at the frame around the door leading out to the platform. Keeping his eyes on that particular spot, he waited for Shasta.

Shasta pulled the trigger, launching the blue stun beam across to the next building. A split-second later, Bont fired the grappling device. As the beam hit Klay, his body fell limp. The metal-faced Jaws immediately ducked down alongside the speeder. Over toward the door leading back into the building, he saw the arrow portion of the grappling device attach itself to the wall.

"Damn," Shasta said. "He's behind the speeder. I can't get him." All she could see through the scope was the speeder. Jaws was hiding on the other side, out of her view.

On the platform, Jaws' eyes followed the grapple line and noticed which balcony it had come from. And there was a Zeltron zip-lining down toward him. Jaws drew a blaster and shot at the Zeltron. He was moving so fast down the line Jaws couldn't get a steady shot. He ducked behind the speeder as another stun beam came from the balcony. He immediately broke cover, spun around and fired blaster bolts at Shasta.

"Sithspit!" Shasta dove down to the prone position again to dodge the incoming fire.

Jace Bont released his grip on the zip-line and landed on the platform. As he landed, he rolled and fired a blaster at Jaws. Jaws hopped up and over the side of the speeder as the blaster bolts hit the exterior of the vehicle. He slid over into the driver's seat and started it up, being careful to stay low so Shasta couldn't get a decent shot.

"No you don't," Jace said as he got to his feet and ran for the speeder. Running across the short platform, Bont leaped at the speeder just as it took off. He managed to grab one of the back fins on the vehicle, so he took off with it.

Up on the balcony, Shasta watched as Jaws' speeder flew further through the city with Bont hanging off the back of it. She looked back toward the platform where Klay's unconscious body was lying. She would have to go down there and secure the arms dealer, since her new teammate was off chasing some other target that MI5 wasn't even interested in. She quickly threw the equipment back into the duffel bag and reached up for the grapple zip-line. "Damn rookie..." she cursed Jace.

- - - - - - - - - -

Further into Salis D'aar, Jace managed to climb into the back of the speeder. Apparently Jaws didn't know he was there. The metal-faced criminal hadn't turned back to look, and his blaster was sitting on the seat beside him.

The wind whipped past Jace as the speeder made its way through the city, dodging other speeders. Jace took a quick look down toward the surface below. He estimated they were well over 200 meters above the ground. Pretty far if he were to fall... He then steadied himself and snuck up behind Jaws, blaster at the ready. Jace then stuck the barrel of his blaster in the back of Jaws' neck.

Jaws was startled.

"Lower this thing," Jace ordered. "I'm finally bringing you in."

Jaws suddenly yanked the controls hard to the left, throwing Bont off-balance. The speeder swerved into oncoming traffic. Other speeders jerked out of the way, avoiding a collision.

Bont fired at the dashboard of the speeder, destroying the controls in front of Jaws. "Now you'll have to land."

With the controls damaged, the speeder jerked downward slightly, throwing Bont off-balance once again. With the MI5 operative off-balance, Jaws quickly leaned toward the back seat and backhanded Bont's blaster, swatting it right out of his hand. Bont looked over the side as the blaster fell down toward the ground.

Jaws then reached under the passenger seat and pulled out a jetpack. Bont looked up just in time to see him powering it up. Without saying a word, Jaws gave Bont a salute and leaped over the side. Bont watched as Jaws fell below him. The dashboard exploded, causing the now pilot-less speeder to tilt sideways at an angle.

Bont realized if he stayed in this speeder, he was going to die in the crash. He decided there was only one thing to do. Steal Jaws' jetpack.

Bont immediately jumped out of the speeder.

In free-fall, Bont was dropping head-first. He could see Jaws start up the thrusters on the jetpack only a few dozen meters below him. The thrusters slowed Jaws' fall which allowed Bont enough time to catch up to him. As Bont rapidly approached Jaws, he heard the speeder crash into one of the buildings above him. Ignoring it, Bont reached out and grasped Jaws' leg. The force of Bont's fall pulled the big man's leg so much that it caused Jaws to flip sideways. The thrusters then propelled the two of them toward the side of a building.

Jaws tried to maneuver the jetpack but it wasn't designed to hold two full-grown adult beings. The jetpack was descending while it was trying to ascend. The pressure on the turbines got to be too much and they started making a whining noise. Jaws knew that all the weight was too much for the pack to handle, so he began kicking at Bont's hands, which were grasped around his right ankle. He continued to slam his left foot into Bont's fingers.

Bont gritted his teeth, trying to fight the pain. Jaws continued to kick. Bont held on for dear life. But, the pain was too much. His hands began to slide over Jaws' boot and finally...nothing.

Bont found himself falling yet again, luckily, only for a second. When he lost his grip on Jaws' foot, he was only about 3 and a half meters from the ground. He fell the 11 feet and landed hard on the ferrocrete. He twisted his ankle and fell back on his butt. "Ahh!" he yelped. He was in some pain, but he would heal.

Some of the Bakuran citizens rushed over to see if he was okay. A couple of them helped Bont to his feet. Bont glanced up and watched as Jaws got away on the jetpack. "Frak," he muttered.

Chapters: Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Epilogue