King of None [Claiming Kanassa DE]

"Old ships, new ships," Beamed the sketchy Raiti Zacro salesman, "red ships, blue ships! Whaddever the fuck you want- We got it!"

Abo's eyes were wide with awe. Wand's were far less impressed.

The seven foot tall Zoon Seijin put his hands on his hips, surveying the shipyard with evident lust. Stacked high on metal frames were space ships of every style and make, with their features ranging from deadly cannons to... Cool paintjobs. One had to be very careful in a situation like this.

Luckily, Wand was just the man. "Alright," Began the sickly green majin, "Take us in the back."

As they paced around the perimeter of the used spaceship lot, the salesman pitched crap left and right. "This one should get you a thousand trips to Shikk and back," The salesman crooned, "And keep ya lookin great while you're at it!" The ship was glitzy, that was for sure. Wand kept moving, undeterred by the brenchian's feeble attempts at finesse. Abo and his sentient arm blaster Jasper shared longing glances.

Wand was a highly established crime boss. There was no way he was getting anything less than the best of the best. "Let's see some of the house mods," Wand requested firmly, "I want to know what you boys have done work on for your personal use."

The salesman seemed reluctant, but he had no reason to believe wand didn't have the zeni to back up his claim. And so, the three aliens paced down the personal garages of the Raiti Zacro mechanics.


The ships inside the tightly sealed garage were far less glamorous than the ones on the outside, to say the least. And so were the faces operating the place: ugly and work worn mechanics paced left and right, each one no doubt gathering tools and putting in long hours to his or her personal pet project. But what the ships lacked in style, they made up for in brute mechanic power.

It seemed to be a common trend that average low cost cruisers were picked up by the engineers and heavily modified: their engines were overhauled, and their gunnery was pimped to an almost ridiculous extent. The price tags were enormous, ranging to over 46,000 zeni.

"This particular model," said the salesman, far out of his element now, "Is not currently under work. The Sterling Kraken. Seems to be, an... Er... Well, I mean it's got some arms there, and- uh,"

A silhouette appeared out of thin air, stepping from the shadow to the side of the ship. "She's a beauty, isn't she?" The brenchian mechanic interrupted the bumbling salesman. His hair was a bright florescent green, and his skin a brilliant violet. "Four hydraulic arms fitted to a standard G-12 Galactic Pin Cruiser. We've completely gutted her, putting in a new engine that can carry the load." The mechanic clearly had some fire in him. His eyes danced around the room, as if he was anxious for excitement. "Each arm's got a three hundred and sixty five millimeter automatic plasma rifle, and her com receivers can run circles around most systems in the galaxy."

"...So why is nobody working on it," Wand said suspiciously, not quite trusting the young, yet strangely beared mechanic.

"Because the project was my father's, and nobody wants to touch the thing." The mechanic looked down. "My name is Graeb." As much as Abo wanted to talk to the impassioned mechanic, his instincts told him to keep his mouth shut when Wand was talking business.

"Ever since my father passed away, I've been the only one to touch the ship." He bit his lip. "I don't like to mess with it too much though."

"So not for sale."

"No."

"Well that's settled. Let's see what else you've got-"

"But I'll fly it for you."

Wand paused, astonished. People on the asteroid didn't just offer favors like that. And Graeb didn't look like he was much of a pilot. "How long you been flying ships?"

The young mechanic paused, and then allowed his grin to trickle through. "Listen, If you want to walk out of here with the best ship on the asteroid, you're talking to the right guy. I'll fly you anywhere you wanna go for 3,000 zeni flat, right now. I know you've got money. I know you have places to go. I need that. The Kraken wasn't meant to sit in a shipyard for the rest of it's life." Graeb was fully smiling now, but it was almost a grimace of insanity. "Just take me off this goddamn rock."

"...That's quite alright," The salesman began with a smile, not wanting to lose thousands of Zeni over some starlusting mechanic, "Let's go see what we can find outside, howwabout dat-"


Twenty minutes later, Abo climbed a thin steel ladder into the side of the Sterling Kraken. The cruiser's four arms extended out to either side of it while it was on the ground, hanging loosely and giving off the impression of a rather basic starship.

"We trust him?" Abo questioned his employer meekly.

"Yeh, yeh." Wand dismissed the question quickly, trying to change the subject. "Hey, listen. You're sure it's just that girl- On the whole planet Kanassa, it's just that one girl?"

Abo looked over at his employer dumbly. "Aye aye, just her." Abo wondered if Wand was nervous about storing the illegal cargo on Kanassa. "Nobody around us to see nothin."

Wand paused as he climbed the ladder, looking out at the massive cannons on each arm of the Kraken. "Good. This awtta be quick and easy."

Abo wasn't sure what he was making such a big deal about, it was just a cargo hiding spot.

---

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Wand spoke anxiously, his ear pinned to the radio. It seemed something was going on elsewhere in space. "Shit—"

"Summn' wrong, Boss?" Abo asked, standing up from his chair in the main cockpit of the vessel. The Silver Kraken had a relatively comfortable interior. Jasper was plugged into a wall outlet, Wand lounged in the captain chair, and Graeb fiddled diligently with the controls. He seemed to be a passionate navigator, but his skills were less than ideal, and so he had no moments to spare.

Graeb seemed oddly shy, as if he felt unworthy to be in the presence of such experienced crime lords... Which was odd, considering he'd apparently lived on Raiti Zacro his whole life.

"Looks like the SSE is pulling some big shit— Reports from all across the galaxy. Maybe Kanssa's next—"

Abo twiddled his thumbs. He looked kind of dumb their sitting in a seat far to small for him. "We could always turn somewhere else, heh?"

"No," Wand sat back down in his chair, reclining it as far back as it would go. "Fuck it. SSE or no, we're taking over Kanassa."

The zoon-seijin's eyes widened with shock. Jasper blinked in the corner. "Heh?"

"That's right," Wand was grinning now, unraveling his plan to his crewmates, "We're gonna turn Kanassa into my own personal cargo port and shipyard. None of those Zacro assholes will ever bother me again. I'm graduating from that shit stump and building my own empire right here."

It became clear that this was Wand's plan all along.

Abo was concerned for Maxxie. "Waddabout the girl—"

But Wand clearly was not in the mood for any back talk. "Shut your mouth, longskull." He cracked his knuckles as the ship approached its destination. "If she's a problem, you'll take care of her. Simple as that. There's a reason why you're the browns around here, and I'm the brains."

Abo did just that, closing his wide fish lips. He didn't usually feel empathy for targets in his missions, but for some reason, he hoped that the girls wasn't on the planet, because Wand would certainly make him kill her.

---

"We're entering the atmosphere," Graeb warned, his voice half filled with tension and half with excitement, "Bracing— Now!" The ship clunked slightly as they hit the layer of oxygen, and then continued to gently descend. The brenchian in the cockpit flicked a couple switches, and then opened two large holes in the control panel. He grinned excitedly, and then pushed his arms inside. Suddenly, the ship jerked.

"I have manual control over the Kraken's arms now," Graeb grinned, twiddling his fingers and feeling the ship respond to his movements.

"Perfect." Wand was ready to wrap this little mission up. Once they cleared out the planet, he could get to work building his new crime empire. The majin chubbed his way over to the largest window and peered down, pulling a microphone receiver from the wall and pressing a button on the side with his thumb.

"This planet is now under the control of Wand Dabera. Anyone who's got an issue can come out and get their head blown off, or forever hold their peace."

The ship's loudspeaker echoed across the dead empty landscape.

The Kraken's arms pulled into the air as it hovered, looming over the bare destroyed landscape with mighty force. Graeb was practically giddy with excitement. Wand paced back over to his chair and plopped down with a smirk. This should be easy.

Abo stood up and paced over a window, bending down so he could peer out. If anything went wrong, he would be the first one sent out to put down a troublemaker.