"Captain, I think it's better to refuel here or by the time we reach the next station, we'll be only on 10% fuel." A young humanoid male, wearing a silver bodysuit armor said, pointing at two screens.
The first screen showed an empty region with a single blinking dot called 'Proxima'. The other screen showed the fuel of the ship. If they continue their journey until their destination, they'd risk running without any backup fuel.
"No." The Captain, a middle-aged humanoid-male, with facial features similar to the young man, replied instinctively.
In doing so, he accidentally let out the green gas from his mouth.
The young man coughed at the bitter smell and waved his hand, dispersing the gas.
"Ah, shit! Why can't you stay quiet, you dumb kid?" The man glared at his nephew who stiffened at the sight of his throbbing neck nerves.
"S-Sorry but the…guide said we shouldn't run without an emergency fuel supply." He muttered weakly.
"Haah!" The captain rubbed the back of his neck and smacked his lips in frustration. "I told you, Ash, colleges don't teach everything. Things work differently out here."
Saying so, he pointed to the radar map showing the blinking dot and nothing else. "We're just a few hours away from the spaceport but did you see any other ships on the radar? Forget that, did you see anyone else in the last five days on this route?"
"N-No? But why? Even though we're pretty far, even a moderately busy spaceport would show have at least a hundred ships on our radar!" Ash wanted to answer, but he only ended up with another question.
"Exactly!" The Captain whistled and leaned back into his pilot chair.
The spaceship continued to move at unimaginable speeds, with space itself twisting and twirling around them. Everything around them went by in a blink and they continued to travel towards their destination—a spaceport much farther away.
"Exactly? Why does no one come here? And we're not moving close to the spaceport either, we're very far away…almost like we're trying to avoid any ships that might be going there." Ash frowned.
"Well," The captain gave him a sharp gaze before breaking into a wry smile. "You're sharp, kid. Just like your dad."
Ash smiled at the compliment before he cast his eyes downward in sadness. "They killed him for what? He's just an average cop, not even that powerful."
"Because he tried to dig into this." The captain pulled out a green crystalline powder and snorted it.
His body shook with ecstasy and drool leaked out of his mouth as his eyes lost focus.
For a few minutes, he stayed like that, shaking sometimes, while staying still the others before he released a puff of green smoke from his mouth.
The ecstasy in his eyes was replaced by calmness but his body still shivered slightly from the aftermath.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "Ah…the cheap version is still great. The premiums are colorless, smokeless but costly as fuck." The captain licked his lips.
"Y-You…do you also do it?" Ash asked with a trembling gaze. "M-My dad, your brother died because of that stuff!"
"Huh?" The Captain gave him a dismissive glance and pointed to the empty seats behind them. "I lost six members of my crew over the years, all for stupid reasons. If I don't do this shit, I'd literally go insane. Your father's death—that stupid bastard poking his nose where it doesn't belong—is only increasing my dose. Thank god this shit hit the market by the time I got into this trade."
Ash stayed silent at those unkind and blunt words until his eyes suddenly widened and he pointed to a blur on the radar. "What's that?"
"Oh shi—"
The spaceship went still for a moment before it was thrown out of its orbit and rolled in space like a dice. Sparks flew out and tattered metal pieces scattered everywhere.
"W-What the fuck?" Ash rubbed off the blood flowing from his forehead and stared at the three gold-colored spaceships facing them. "Who are they?"
The nearest star system was 100,000 Astronomical Units away. It had two stars and some eight or nine planets. But it's empty, barren, and one of those unlucky places with no aura.
That makes it certain that they didn't trespass into any area. Then that meant the attackers weren't the cops or the army.
Before Ash had time to think, the spaceship's door forcibly opened and a few humanoids stepped in.
"S-Sir!"
The Captain, no, his uncle knelt on the floor and called out in a respectful tone. But his voice was trembling and his body shaking.
Ash followed his lead and kept his mouth shut, his body overcome with a terror he didn't even understand.
"You know your sins?"A rough but clearly young voice sounded in the ship.
Ash raised his head ever so slightly and took a clear look at the beings that entered.
They were humanoid, somewhat shorter but with obvious golden skin and scary black eyes with golden dots that seemed to be pupils.
The speaker was the shortest of the three that entered but looking at how he was standing in the middle so relaxedly, he was the leader.
"Our sin…is we…we tried to pass through this route belonging to you without trying to offer the tribute we should." The Captain looked up with genuine remorse and said in a pathetic voice.
Ash felt ashamed and angry. Even when the news of his father's death hit, his uncle didn't show this much remorse. But now—
A golden light flashed past Ash's cheek before he could even react, breaking his skin and spilling out a line of blood.
"Arghh!" The Captain cried out in pain.
Ash's mind which was just feeling the pain of the cut on his cheek froze when he saw his uncle holding onto his severed hand.
'N-No! This is just a bad dream. T-This is jus—'
"I ask again, generously, what is your sin?" The young man with golden skin and black eyes stepped forward and bent in front of the crying middle-aged man.
There was a sadistic smile on his face as he felt another being writhing in pain.
"I…I thought…" The Captain bit his lip to the point he was bleeding and tried to think of an answer.
He wasn't an adventure per se. He spent most of his life as a pilot for the goods and only fought some dogfights. It's his first time facing someone like this. And perhaps it'd be his last.
'What if I say something wrong and he kills even Ash out of anger?'
"Do you look down on me so much that you refuse even to answer?" The young man's smile collapsed into a cold expression and one of the men behind raised their hand.
"Arghh!"
Another hand was cut by the golden light. It happened with such speed that the hand hit the ceiling and sprayed blood like a fountain before falling down.
A golden light prevented any blood from ever grazing the young man. He once again gained that creepy smile and clutched the middle-aged man's hair to make him up look directly into his eyes.
"I ask again, with even more generosity, what was your sin?"
