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Chapter 69

Tuxa

As Egad went into the train with Galen, Uniko, Zhal, Chaos, Hatred, Zarch, Tommy, Bishop, and Gareth, he was surprised to see Mick jump through the hatch with Xen a short time later.

"We set the interceptors on autopilot, to go park back in the Weapons van. Ticcoran and Victor took over our spots." Mick explained, readying his dual pistols, and Xen priming his Dragonclaw X revolver.

Xen looked around. They were in an air ventilation room. He looked down at the floor, seeing a Vhaldaria Security Force Guard laying on the floor with gunshot woulds. Xen bent down and checked his pulse. It had flat lined hours ago...

Galen bared his teeth at the sight. "Cailus and his goons have a lot to answer for."

"We won't do any good just sitting here. All of the fallen soldiers will get a proper service after this is over, but we need to stay focused." Xen reminded.

The group then exited the ventilation room, going into the interior hallways of the train. They stepped into Car 11, going down a hallway. When Egad tried to open the door to Car 10, the touchpad said "Access card required."

"Great... We're going to have to look through all the corpses for access cards." Egad sighed. "Damn you, Cailus..."

Everyone then spread out, keeping in contact via encrypted radio. As Bishop, Tommy, and Gareth looked over the corpses they found, they took time to give the victims a small but meaningful Aryndo prayer for forgiveness, and peace in the next life. Mick wandered off further down the car with Xen, noticing that off to the side was a door. He opened it, seeing that it led into a dim kitchen, the lights off.

Mick switched on the lights, revealing a chaotic sight! Broken dishes, ingredients, and silverware were scattered everywhere, along with punctured containers of marinara, the red sauce splattered throughout the room!

"Wow! Must have been some frantic cooking in here..." Mick said, struggling to keep a straight face as he realized what he said. "I mean, they got all this tomato sauce everywhere..."

"Either they're bad cooks, or this is a chaotic new style of cooking..." Xen said, shrugging his shoulders. He knew what he said did not help Mick clamp down on his laughter.

Mick and Xen ventured further into the kitchen, and into the food storage area when they noticed several dots and splatters of a different shade of red going toward the storage area. The splatters didn't look like marinara sauce. It didn't smell like it, either...

Mick then heard whimpering coming from behind a door that led to a food storage compartment. Mick motioned for Xen to cover him as he slowly walked up to the sliding door. Once in front of it, Mick threw it open, aiming one of his pistols at the occupants inside!

Inside was a bipedal, anthropomorphic creature, appearing like a cross between a lizard, and a bighorn ram with fluffy fur in places, the rest of it's body adorned in thick skin, it's horns extending from the back of it's head along the sides. Aside from a broken shock collar, it adorned no clothing, aside from a band on it's arm with a bar code. It currently held a dying mercenary in it's arms, a knife at the merc's throat, eyes wide with fear. Mick recognized the species from files Anthony obtained, as well as from news reports. This was a Tauntaun, no doubt from the battered freighter from beyond the galaxy. It was obviously male, as the Tauntaun sported some impressive genitalia with a brawny and sculpted body, including six-pack abs and barrel chest. He wasn't young enough to be a child or teenager, but he wasn't old or middle-age either. He was a young adult.

"Xen! Radio Uncle Ryan! Get him in here!" Mick said. Xen took off to find Egad, contacting him on the radio. Mick put away his pistol, slowly approaching the frightened Tauntaun.

The Tauntaun tightened his grip on the merc, holding the knife up to it's neck as his breathing spiked.

"Hey hey, take it easy." Mick raised his hands. "It's okay, I am not going to hurt you. It's okay, it's okay..."

"You are not taking me alive..." The Tauntan whispered. "He promised us all jobs... He promised us all jobs, homes... He's lied, he's lied to everyone..."

"If you think I'm with Cailus Foxmoore, you are mistaken." Mick said, remaining calm despite the tense situation. "Plus, if I had any intention of harm to you, I would have already blown your brains out. You don't need to be afraid of me. If you feel you need to kill the merc, then go ahead. But I'm not going to hurt you. You have nothing to fear from me."

The Tauntaun tensed up, back against the wall as Mick moved closer. Though after seeing Mick showing no hostility, he slowly put the knife down and shoved the dying merc aside. The tauntan curled up in fetal position, tears running from his eyes as Mick sat down next to him, putting an arm of comfort around his shoulder.

"It's okay, man. It's okay..." Mick said as Egad came into the area with Zarch. "We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help."

Egad bent down, and looked at the Tauntaun as it threw it's arms around Mick, slight sobs shaking it's body.

"My name's Mick." Mick said. "This is Egad, Zarch, and Xen. What's your name."

The Tauntaun looked in Mick's eyes, and spoke.

"...Tuxa. My name is Tuxa."

"There's no need to be afraid, Tuxa." Egad said gently. "I'm here to stop Cailus and his men. He's grown too ambitious and too violent. I can't let him run amok anymore. You and your friends from the starship are almost out of danger, you just need to stay calm. I'll take care of Cailus personally."

Tuxa then retrieved something he had stuffed behind the gap in his broken shock collar. A VIP Card Key!

"You may need this..." Tuxa said. "That merc grabbed it off the chef here before they shot him and threw his body overboard..."

Egad gently took the Card Key into his hands, gently rubbing Tuxa on the head and calming him. "Thank you, Tuxa. Don't worry. We will set things right."