

The Raid on Yootoo Casino

A _Revelation Book Series_ Story

by W. T. Stevens

Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright 2020 William Stevens
_FREE_ _Study guides for middle school and high school learners can be found on_ RevelationHQ.com _. Just click the "Stories and Study Guides" button!_

Hey! My name is Will. By day I'm just the average social worker, but at night, when nobody is watching, I heroically sit at my desk and type sci-fi. This is an introductory, sample story of a space opera series I am writing more and more of every day. If you are interested in the universe I have crafted and would like to follow the progress of these characters, I implore you to visit and follow my social networking pages to stay up to date with my releases:

Facebook.com/revelationbookseries

Instagram @w.t.stevens

This is my first time releasing on Smashwords, so I apologize if there are formatting mistakes. I wanted to experiment with different ways to tell a story like this. I wanted to use "verses" instead of "chapters," but the table of contents would not generate properly if I did this, so hopefully my little end-around isn't too confusing. I wanted to use certain fonts to denote radio broadcasts and the like, but these fonts do not transfer well to other formats. As I continue to grow my following and collaborate with artists and people that are better at this whole digital thing, I intend to push to make this series to stand out from the average novel. So stay tuned ♪

For now, just know that "BZZT" denotes a voice coming through a radio.

And I recommend listening to the songs playing in the story, if you haven't already heard them, for a more immersive experience ♪

One last note, Gender is a fluid concept in outer space. At times, new characters are introduced and it is not immediately clear what gender the creature may be, so they/them will be used in this situations.

Cover Art by Carlos Trigo ♪

<https://www.instagram.com/carlos_trigo/>

For Fan Questions and Fan Art: revelationbookfanclub@gmail.com
Introducing the Six Galaxies

**In the not so distant future . . .** the Revolution and the Empire have waged war for a millennium. The Revolution began as a band of warriors seeking to reorganize the systems of government during the so-called "Peace Times." The Empire, on the other hand, was once made up of the several royal families of the most advanced races in the Six Galaxies. This latter group is now led by the Emperor, who rules as a tyrant by using religion and war to gather the masses under his name. Countless battles have been fought in this cosmic struggle for supremacy between two distinct ideologies; one of freedom and self-determination, and the other of dogma and power. Many battles have been won, and many battles have been lost, and the two-sided coin of destiny keeps turning.

The Six Galaxies is a super-society, spanning countless solar systems and consisting of several societies, all joined under the rule of the Emperor. The Emperor has made many promises to his people of an unlimited energy supply and a prosperous union in space, yet it is the very same Empire and army which have brought pain and suffering in establishing these systems. The Revolution, once equal in power to the Empire, is struggling to keep pace in this arms race. The Emperor's skill with the dark arts and his ever-growing military might has exacerbated the Revolution's ability to maintain a strong presence in the cosmos. If the Revolution ceases to fight back, however, the Empire will soon have complete control over the Six Galaxies.

The Emperor's decision as to whether he will eradicate a planet or force them to join his nation is arbitrary, but in swaying the public to carry out these genocides he uses nothing more than one criterion. In this universe, there is but one factor that determines whether a society ever becomes capable of space travel. Building a society in space is impossible without an unlimited energy source. Of course, any society that reaches space must first gather scientific prowess and be capable of the necessary cooperation in order to survive space, but it is still impossible without an unlimited energy source.

On Earth, humans pull energy from the environment of the planet, such as the energy generated by wind and water, or fossil fuels, which are harvested from the Earth. In the Six Galaxies, the many races of space merely rely on one substance. It is called crystl. Crystl is a densely concentrated piece of free-flowing cosmic energy. It is the only known form of power that can enable high-speed, intergalactic travel. Crystl can be harvested in its raw form in small deposits on certain planets, but it can also be found in empty pockets of the cosmos. This strange substance, however, was never detected by Earth's scientists.

The pilots of the vessels created in the Six Galaxies can cross a galaxy in the length of a song, depending on the level of traffic and cosmic hazards on the route. It is still unclear to the public how crystl is produced on such a massive scale, and the powers contained within this resource are an even greater mystery. Regardless, the Emperor has used his political power to supply seemingly limitless energy, in the form of crystl, for the entire population of the super-society. His grip over this resource allows him to rule over his people with an iron fist and enact strange laws that only give him and his army more power.

Crystl is a unique energy source in that it also functions as the nation's currency. Individuals earn crystl credits by performing jobs for other individuals or for the Empire, and these credits are considered valuable because they represent a small piece of the Empire's crystl reserves. The reserves lie in an impenetrable fortress on the Emperor's space station and center of the Six Galaxies, Galatron Center. The scientists of the empire have created this monstrosity to be the center of all trade and commerce in the super-society. All the crystl, as well as other resources, belong to the Emperor first, and everything moves through him and his political officials, who determine how best to allocate these resources across the Six Galaxies.

Our story is merely one small part of this universe, but it is a part that is rich with the super-powered substance crystl. In the "Peace Times," five royal families who ruled over societies capable of space travel, arrived in space around the same time. They created an agreement to live without war and formed a nation of five galaxies. Nationalistic pride and territorial disputes, however, caused many of the nations to rebel against each other, and after 5,000 years the Revolution formed. They proposed a nation ruled as one Empire, with no royal families to rule over the masses. The Revolution did well to abolish the royal families, but, without a face to rule over the Empire, a power struggle began, and the Emperor claimed the super-society for himself. Now, the Emperor and his imperialistic army has invaded the Milky-Way Galaxy, which the invaders call Odeen, and the nation is now known as the Six Galaxies.

The Raid on Yootoo Casino

By W. T. Stevens

A Revelation Book Series Story
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Travel Log 1 //John Smith// Astral Year 17,890 //// Location – Planet Zandús

When I was younger, I often wished for many things. I would wish for candy or toys when I was really little, but as I grew up, I would wish for things that are more valuable. I wished for money, a fast car, a cute girlfriend, stuff like that. Then, when I became an adult, my wishes got more serious. I might wish to have more power in the world, or maybe to see my parents again. I had one wish, where I desperately hoped and prayed that, one day, aliens would come down and take me away to space, and I got to live the rest of my life in a starship, like in that song by the Highwaymen. What I was really wishing for, I've found, was to escape. To escape from all the problems and bull. Space has been a cruel teacher. Now, all I wish for are the things I already had. And there is nothing more depressing than knowing I can never, ever go back.

It's just me and Zaydi—well I guess he now goes by Falco. He saved my life when we were on Earth, so part of me will always be indebted to him. We're both not handling this space thing very well, but we have made some major progress in establishing home base. We were able to set up shop in a small, abandoned garage in a fishing and port village, on a planet called Zandús. This was not only a safe distance from any Empire bases, but the climate and beaches of Zandús are unrivaled by any other planet in the Six Galaxies. There are a lot of other races hiding from the Empire here, so it is easy to blend in. It is true that we were on the run from the Emperor and his army of brainwashed, intergalactic warriors, but we are living in total paradise. Even people in Hawaii would be jealous. The water, or I guess it's technically some kind of acid, anyway it's always warm.

Falco and I have dangerously high bounties, each of us have a bounty of 50 million crystl, just because we're humans and, for some reason, the Emperor wants all of us dead. The garage is large enough that we can store our ships, yet inconspicuous enough that no one could believe it was housing two of the most wanted creatures in this part of space.

Oh yeah, I guess I should add that the word "alien" is pretty offensive up here. Alien has this context of invaders or something and most of them are proud to be called by their unique race. We're all aliens, if you really think about it, so you refer to others in different ways, but it can be hard with so many kinds of folk around.

Falco and I would not have made it this far were it not for a group of rebels we met after hitching our ride to space. That would be a lot to get into right now, but they helped us immensely. Those soldiers of the Revolution are intense. These guys have been fighting the Empire for centuries, and their wisdom and experience has provided us with much needed support. We helped them with their mission to cause some damage to Empire turf, in exchange for their help in establishing a place we could be safe.

They taught us everything we needed to know to live in space. They taught us how to use translators, how to best utilize spacesuits, and how to fly and maintain ships. Most importantly, they taught us how to find work and to create a home for ourselves. Living in space requires an intense attention to scientific detail. One must be sure that the conditions of a location, such as the weather and even the planet's elements, are suitable for long-term survival. But you must also be able to choose a place that is relatively peaceful and has a strong economy with lots of available jobs. And, in our case, you want to be as far away from any Empire bases as possible. That's so you don't run into any Empire officers.

One of the more exciting parts of space are the Coupewings. Coupewings are... how can I explain this? They're like the Model-T Ford of spaceships in the Six Galaxies. These two guys from the Freyr galaxy had this idea to make a ship small enough to carry one or two individuals, but fast enough to cross a galaxy in minutes. They sold their idea to the Empire and now just about everyone is driving these things. Car manufacturers on Earth would be surprised to notice how similar the interfaces and interiors of cars are to Coupewings. Falco and I think they pretty much just look like cars, just a bit bigger. The designs on these things that you can get are sick! You get them with all these crazy colors and patterns, it's up to you! I drive the Hummingbird VX99 with a nice red and black, two-tone coat. She's purty, I tell ya.

Falco has become quite the space shipwright since we escaped from Earth. He claims he was able to make some minor adjustments to the formulae used to develop the Coupewing ships. He said that because the ships are powered by super-powered star crystls, a great deal of energy isn't used in the propulsion of the ship, and just burns off in the form of heat. If you find a way to absorb that energy back into the ship, he claims, you use something like 30 times the level of efficiency. I don't remember the exact numbers, but without a doubt we are the fastest crew in space.

Those Revolution rebels actually haven't visited us in some time. I assume they think we have a hold on things, but things are getting pretty dire for them, so they just might not have the time. We have been amassing a nice supply of crystl credits, and I have been building my reputation as a bounty hunter. I've been trying my hardest to not kill any of my targets. So far, I have been successful.

Everything about living in space is exhausting. I'm depressed. I'm afraid. I'm tired. I don't even know why I am alive. For some reason, we just keep fighting. One day the Empire will catch us and execute us. Until then, I don't really care what happens.

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**Chapter** **1**

John had just returned to the garage from a long, brooding walk on the beaches of planet Zandús. Zaydi was hard at work on his Coupewing ship. Zaydi did not notice John enter over the noise from Zaydi's work and music. The music played through a large amplifier Zaydi had made himself.

John was somewhat relieved that Zaydi had not noticed him, as he was still in the lonesome mood that comes from spending time in one's own head. Zaydi, an inexhaustible extrovert, could become an overwhelming conversationalist if John was not in the right mood to talk. The lights that Zaydi made shined a cool blue, and they reminded John of the lightshows one could see at concerts on Earth. This was Zaydi's intention, as his ADHD combined with the loneliness of space made him restless, and he spent all of his time recreating inventions from Earth. Both John and Zaydi loved music and parties, so anything that could make life in space more enjoyable was much needed.

John realized there was no way he was going to get Zaydi's attention for several hours, so he started recording a log. Der Kommisar, an 80's hit song by Austrian pop sensation Falco, Zaydi's favorite artist and inspiration behind his codename, was playing loudly. On Earth, Zaydi, who was originally born in Yemen before being sent to the United States for schooling, spent many summers with his cousins in Pittsburgh. They owned an auto shop where they specialized in installing audio units and detailing the exteriors of cars. Zaydi's work was always exceptional. A student of astrophysics at Carnegie Mellon University on Earth, his immense knowledge of electricity and physics and eye for detail made him a very skilled spaceshipwright.

John finished his log and was struggling to think of anything to do. He had heard the song and the German lyrics too many times this week and decided to unplug the amplifier.

"Oy! You have to turn it off before you unplug it!" Zaydi yelled from underneath his ship.

"Sorry, man. This song just... sucks. I'd rather listen to you blab about science than this weird, Eurotrash music."

"Yeesh! That's pretty offensive, dude. I don't say anything when you insist on listening to that rockabilly country of yours."

"Don't give me that, Zaydi. There is a distinct difference between rockabilly country and classic rock, and you know it."

"I like foreign music because I speak five languages! I guess you like country because you're from Pennsylvania," Zaydi rambled, as he pushed himself out from underneath his Coupewing, "but that doesn't mean I have to respect it!"

The tensions between John and Zaydi were often high, with limited resources, limited things to do, and limited interaction with the outside world, their inner stress was compounded with many factors, leading to many verbal confrontations. But, like most men, especially young men, these issues would not last long, and they could go back to being best friends in moments. Zaydi and John both secretly admired each other for staying strong despite being fugitives lost in a distant world.

"And stop calling me Zaydi! I go by Falco _only_ , got it?"

Falco put away some of his tools and washed his hands by using a sanitation chemical and wiping the grease away with clothe. There was little water on Zandús, and Falco had to produce his own using a large water extractor machine, so it was foolish to waste on washing off. The boys set up some foldout chairs, which they discovered in a trash can upon first moving into the garage. These old chairs had become cherished items. They positioned the chairs so they were facing outside the garage. The boys sat down and began watching ships fly through the horizon, over the pink oceans and orange clouds of Zandús. Living on the space pirate paradise Zandús is like living in an eternal golden hour. The view of the red sands of the beach and the palm tree-like plants was only interrupted by a small road that had formed from crowds moving to and from the beaches. The breeze was light, and it was a beautiful day. Falco changed out of his work clothes into a stylish and colorful jacket, which he wore open, revealing a gold chain. His dark skin and colorful style contrasted with John's all-black coat and boots.

"You want a can of Slarf?" John asked Falco.

"Ooh, did you get more? Where are you getting all these credits, are you holding out on me?" Falco joked.

"Stopped for some on my way home from my last job. How long have you been working, exactly?"

"And you're still just their driver?"

"Yep," John lied.

The bounty hunts worried Falco, as he did not have the moxie to go on these quests with John, so he helped John by upgrading their weapons and armor. He also worked on making various adjustments to their Coupewing ships. Despite all of these skills, he still did not believe in himself as a fighter. Falco wished he had some of John's courage, but he also enjoyed his work with Coupewings.

"Come on, man. There's no way they let you bring home that big of a piece unless you're doing some fighting."

Falco was starting to see through John's deception. John took a mighty breath of his Slarf and belched out some of the pink gas.

"Drivers are important, my guy."

"I guess you're right." Falco was still suspicious, but John would become aggravated if Falco pressed the issue further, so he dropped it. "I do have one question. Do you guys... kill... your targets?"

John had the feeling that the real reason Falco asked was in order to determine whether John had killed someone, not really the members of the squadron from town.

"I have not killed anyone, yet. I prefer to take these creeps in so they can sit in prison, maybe figure some things out, and come back to society as a better sort. But if it comes to it, and I feel like I have to protect myself, and I have no other options... then I think I would, but it hasn't happened yet."

This time John spoke the truth. He did have reservations about killing the creatures he hunted. This led to the media giving him a certain title, being dubbed the "merciful hunter." This occurred much to his own dismay, as the nickname made him sound soft.

"Well said, my friend. They talk about you on the news a lot. One reporter said there are rarely individuals like yourself, who have bounties from the Empire but who target other criminals. Especially a criminal that refuses to kill the other criminals! Your justice has brought you a lot of supporters."

"My... justice?"

"Yeah, man! You're the merciful hunter! Empire bounties are either for Revolution members or dangerous criminals, like traffickers or murderers. Since you aren't targeting the rebels, and you aren't killing criminals... people say you give evil dudes the chance to reform their ways and live meaningful lives, or something like that. I read about it in the Revolution Magazine. That's really awesome, man. You're like a hero or something."

"A hero, huh?"

"Yes!" Falco laughed. "That's really what they're saying about you. What, do you think you don't fit the bill, or something? What's a hero to you?"

When Falco asked the question, a gust of wind blew and some things hanging on the walls of the garage rattled. A group of beachgoers was passing the garage, and Falco gave them a wave.

"That's a funny question. I don't have to answer that."

"Oh, come on. We have nothing else to talk about. Tell me. What motivates you to get up and fight crime," Falco jeered.

Falco is a very supportive friend, something with which John is unfamiliar. It was true that there was little going on in their lives now that they were a galaxy apart from Earth and had no other friends, so John decided to humor his friend.

"Fight crime? I don't know if it has to do with fighting crime, but I've always thought that a hero was someone who always kept fighting. Even if you're _passed_ your last breath, a hero keeps fighting. Kind of like what we're doing right now. We _should_ just give up. Like, go drive our Coupewings into some big, bright star, or something like that, but we don't. We're both heroes."

"Ha! That would be something. I don't think we could ever agree on what song to listen to if we did that. And I'm no hero, man," Falco replied.

"Well I don't really care what people are saying about me. I'm just doing these hunts so we can survive."

John is a reckless person. Part of him really wished that, one day, when he goes on a hunt, he will be killed, and that will be the end of his time in deep space. His incredible luck and burgeoning skill as a fighter seem to point to there being more to his fate. Not to mention, his concern for his friend, Falco, being alone in space without him, has motivated him through many dire situations. Both of them were caught in this strange situation. Both of them were young, 23-year-olds with their entire lives ahead of them when they were unlucky enough to escape Earth. They both wished they were dead but were also forced by their biology to struggle for survival.

"Well," Falco sighed. "Nothing to do."

"Want to go for a drive?" John asked.

"Let's do it. Dibs on driving this time!"

"Agh!!"

The boys put away the chairs and made room for Falco's Coupewing to exit the garage. Falco insisted on being the driver for this ride, and John apathetically accepted his resolve. The two bickered about what music they would listen to for this trip, and ultimately decided it would be fair if they mutually decided on a playlist. The first song would be John's choice, then the next would be Falco's. This would be the only way they could agree to let one another choose music. The first song was to be Moonage Daydream by David Bowie.

"Wait til ya see what I did to my ship," Falco flashed John a sneaky grin.

"I don't like that look," John laughed.

The music was loud.

♪ _I'm an alligator,_

I'm a mama-papa coming for you,

I'm the space invader,

_I'll be a rock 'n' roller for youuu_ ♪

The two of them prepared to go on a cruise around the Freyr galaxy. As long as they did not hit any traffic, Falco's Coupewing, a black and electric-blue X777 model, should be able to cross the galaxy in three minutes. The boys would require all of the necessary supplies, however, as if they might never see the garage again. Any circumstance was probable, if not likely, including being robbed or bothered in some way by another crew. Whether it might be Empire officers or merely bounty hunters, the boys had to come prepared for anything. They each grabbed their blasters and their blades. Guns and swords are the main weapons used in space, though these weapons may take many forms depending on the user and their tastes. Falco also grabbed a small bag of homemade weapons he created using scraps from his Coupewing work.

After these tools were loaded into the Coupewing, the pair put on their suits and helmets. The suits used by creatures in space are usually tailored to the wearer. This tailoring process also involves modifying the technology in the suits based on the needs of the user. Some organisms require different protection. For instance, the armor worn by John and Falco must be able to withstand excessive heat and radiation. This is to protect them from harsh environments as well as thermal blasts from weapons or ship accidents. Other races may have no need for this protection, and their suits would have other technology programmed into it. These suits allow for all of the super-society to be able to mingle and move about freely, planet to planet or spaceship to spaceship. All of this technology is only made possible, however, through crystl, which lines the suits and are used to charge weapons. Most facilities and ships in the Six Galaxies also utilize an artificial element known as Zodygen, which can be breathed by any race requiring respiration.

John and Falco also each enabled the translator function of their helmet-masks. This incredible hardware not only enables one to breathe and blocks the face from the conditions of space, but also connects to the Intergalactic Translator. This technology works by connecting to the central nervous system of the user and passing a small stream of nanobots through the brain. The nanobots travel through the brain, then back into the helmet to refresh. While they are in the brain, they are able to alter both written and spoken language that is recognized by the user's cognition and translate it to a language the user understands. For example, if the boys were listening to a radio station in space and they were using the translator, every word on the broadcast would be translated to English. This also applies if they were reading books or messages in a public place. This makes it possible for any race to do business with another, and it can even be used to communicate with animals. There are some glitches in the technology, however, as some words are not easily translated between certain languages.

The last thing they put on was a small, metal ring. These rings are a powerful piece of hardware that instantaneously gives one access to the Network. The Network is a complicated and immense technological world that exists in space. It is similar to the internet on Earth, but it is controlled by a brilliant artificial intelligence. Its purpose will become clear as the story goes on. Both the Intergalactic Translator and the Network were developed by the highly intelligent Vepinots from the planet Pinot, and it believed that both technologies are somehow made possible by crystl, though these are some of the most closely guarded secrets in the Six Galaxies. Falco eventually intends to travel to Pinot and work amongst the scientists there, but he is unable due to his high bounty.

Falco entered the Coupewing on the driver's side, and John entered on the passenger side. The roof of the garage, an A-shaped roof, started to open, revealing the pink sky. Both sides of the roof detached from one another and became vertically straight. Falco pressed the ignition button with his ring and the circuits visible on the interface of the ship began glowing. Falco's Coupewing roared and slowly started levitating. The battery beneath the ship, which is powered by crystl, shined a bright blue, and John watched as large archs of electricity became visible around the ship.

Falco input a command on the screen that caused the ship to move straight up, and once they were high enough to avoid any collisions, Falco launched the pair beyond the clouds. In moments, they were beyond the reaches of planet Zandús, just in time for Bowie's chorus and the elevating guitars.

The two gazed in wonder out into the infinite cosmos. They watched as Zandús' planetoid neighbors orbited the big yellow star at the center of the solar system. The two did not always speak when they went for drives like this. They both appreciated the silence. Going for rides in their Coupewings was the best entertainment they had, for if they tried to travel they risked being caught by the Empire's officers or bounty hunters. They would never get caught on a simple drive, however, because Falco's ship circuit designs were among the most efficient in space. The ship was flying over a large asteroid belt. When they went for a cruise, all they had to worry about was enjoying the views.

"Okay, so explain again why your ship is so much faster than mine," John turned to face Falco.

"Seriously, John? You're worse than some of the undergrads I had to teach. Pay attention this time," Falco was focused on driving and on what was in front of them, and he was unable to turn to face John.

"Alright, alright."

"So, crystl has a lot of really peculiar properties. It was hard at first to get the hang of messing with it because it is completely unlike anything on Earth. We never discovered anything like it. Never ever. We never even noticed it! Anyway, the stuff is practically like free energy, but I've ruled that out because the universe is, presumably, a closed system."

"Nothing's free, man."

"Exactly. But this stuff pulls energy from the environment. Like, it literally sucks it up and stores it like a battery. Unlike a battery, however, you cannot run a charge through it. I would know, I literally zapped the heck out of myself almost a dozen times trying. It can power some tech wirelessly, but only if that tech is using a magnetic antenna or another way to draw in the current. The rebels told us that it wasn't such a closely-guarded secret in the past, but the Emperor won't tell anybody how it works. All our ships and technology work by pressurizing the crystls, forcing them to expel energy. Over time, the low-quality crystl sold at energy stations burn up and that's when you go get refueled."

"So, it's almost exactly like a battery or gas, but not?"

"Yeah! That's a good way to put it. You use it to charge things, but it can't run a current without some extra steps. I have run some tests, however, and it seems the crystl you get from energy stations has some other elements added to it. This is to cause its composition to be notably less efficient than the raw crystl we've extracted from parts we've gathered when scavenging."

"Why's that?" John asked, as he located and opened a can of Slarf in Falco's backseat.

"Because the Empire wants to horde all the pure crystl for themselves, so no one has more power than them. I'm telling you, man, the Revolution Magazine has a lot of good points about how the whole crystl system and all the energy stations are corrupt. The Emperor wants all the raw crystl for himself and he won't tell anyone the reason. Let me get a breath of that."

"That's messed up. It's like everywhere you go, nothing changes. The guys at the top are just trying to screw everybody else. Catch."

The next song was One Thing Leads to Another by The Fixx.

"Falco, how do you listen to such obnoxious music?"

"I could ask you the same question! But bro, that is exactly why we have to _join the Revolution_. It's our chance to get some revenge for what the Emperor did to our home."

"I ain't joining some stinkin' rebels. They have all these quotas and you have to help people for free most of the time. I heard, all they do is give you a room on their base and some food, but you gotta earn everything. Would that really be much better?"

"It's not about that! You get to help others and they're trying to reform the Empire!"

"Yeah, but you don't make any _money_. Besides, everyone's saying those guys don't have long."

There was an awkward moment of silence, as both feared for their rebel friends' lives.

"I hope Guise and the rest of those guys are alright. I'm just saying, maybe it wouldn't hurt to go after a Revolution bounty, just once. It would give us an excuse to go see those guys and maybe find out what it's really like on Grihaprivesh, their stronghold. It's hard to wrap your head around it, but they have been fighting this war with the Empire for hundreds of years."

There are two kinds of bounties in the Six Galaxies. There are Empire bounties for criminals, rebels, and species deemed unworthy by the Emperor. But there are also Revolutionary Bounties, which are usually for high-ranking political figures or classified information within the Empire. John usually targeted Empire bounties, as he did not want to raise his bounty by becoming associated with the Revolution.

It would be impossible to relate many of the events of this story without first describing the overall shape of the cosmos. As scientists on Earth discovered, the universe is a massive web-like structure, where matter is attracted to itself.

Long ago, the universe was denser and smaller. In addition to this, its composition was much less varied. There was little variation in density, except for small, random differences in some locations. These places had more gravitational pull than their surroundings and so matter continued to be drawn there. These spaces grew larger, and developed even stronger gravitational influence, pulling in even more significant quantities of matter for billions and billions of years. The dense spaces grew to become the first stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies, while the spaces between them became great cosmic voids.

Presently, after 13.8 billion years, matter is still slowly, joining together different groups of galaxies in a complex network of filaments of matter, shaped like a web. Spanning millions of light-years, these filament-chains of galaxies act like great cosmic highways, connecting vast, shining cities of stars and matter that are more densely concentrated.

John and Falco continued their joy ride around the Freyr galaxy along one of these cosmic highways. After a few more song choices, they eventually decided to listen to the Network, which provides access to a series of radio channels only accessible to individuals in the Six Galaxies. They did this because their favorite songs were becoming stale, and there is nothing worse than starting to dislike a great song because you have played it too many times.

In space, the Network includes a system very similar to the radio stations on Earth. The entertainment and resources one might typically find on the internet are also included in the services provided by the Network. The Network is accessible through many devices, and Coupewings are sold with access to the Network's music channels and the AI interface, which contains all of the music ever produced in the universe. In fact, the music of Earth, especially "oldies," is immensely popular among space folk. Despite media propaganda that depicted humans as a lowly, unintelligent lifeform, many still believed one good thing that came from Earth was pop music.

BZZT "Thank you for tuning in to channel 8900QXSFP, Oldies but Goodies, broadcasting live from Yootoo! You're vibing with the one and only Fotafratoya. It is nearly the third horra of this astral day, only seven left. The traffic in and around Yootoo is as bad as always, but the music just keeps playing! Next up, Slide by Slave!" BZZT

The song started playing and Falco began to dance in time with the music. John became a little nervous when Falco took his hands off the wheel, but then joined him by snapping his fingers to the rhythm of the song. Falco took John's change in attitude as a chance to show off what his updated Coupewing could do.

"Now, John. Remember how I said most of the energy in crystl just burns off in the form of heat? Here's what happens if you find a way to store that excess energy."

Falco pressed another button. Just then, two large audio speakers emerged from the back of the ship. The bass thundered loudly, though the speakers were outside the ship.

Falco had to scream over the sound, "Those speakers use the excess energy to deliver over 500,000 watts per channel! That's a lot! But really, they just function to redirect the crystl energy back into the ship! Meaning..."

Falco pressed down hard on the acceleration stick, and everything around the ship seemed to suddenly stop moving. Planets, asteroids, and everything they passed seem to be frozen, as they sped through spacetime in ways physicists on Earth would never have been capable of pondering. When one approached the speed of light, all other objects in the universe seem to come to a standstill. A skilled astrophysicist on Earth, Falco can only scratch his head in wonder each time he sees it happening. The technology inside the ship allowed John and Falco to be immune from the effects of approaching near-light speed despite the strange properties of the magical energy source. John observed each ship they encountered. He saw a family of Vepinots holding what seemed to be a newborn in one ship. In another large ship, there was a small party being held, and it seemed like they were dancing to the song playing on Falco's amplifiers.

"Haha! I love this song. I still can't believe that aliens love funk," said John.

"I mean, our first introduction to life out here was nearly getting our heads blown off. Who would've thought most aliens just love to get down?" said Falco, as he carefully maneuvered the ship.

"You're right. Whenever we notice a party or somebody dancing it always looks like they're having such a good time. I wish we could party with them, but it's not worth the risk."

"It's the worst! Why, why, why did the Emperor have to go and put those bounties on our heads? With the crystl we're bringing in, we could be living the life! I would love, just once, to go somewhere we can just chill. I want to go to Pinot so bad!"

"That is _deep_ in Empire territory, my dude. No flipping way we're going out there."

"I know, I know. I just wish I could learn the answers to all of my scientific musings. I know they're on that planet. Where would you go?"

"Honestly," John thought for a moment, "I like Zandús! Anywhere with a beach is alright for me."

"Ha! You're a simple guy, John. At least you know what you like."

BZZT "Hey there once again this is 8900QXSFP, I'm Fotafratoya. You are jamming with the best, the greatest, the most funktacular jams in the history of the universe, broadcast from Yootoo in the fabulous Yootoo Casino! Your place for dancers, gamblers, intergalactic cuisine, and, of course, Slarf!"

"I hate this guy," said John.

"By the way, I have a special announcement! I'm supposed to inform our listeners that, for the next astral day, Yootoo's system, F1, and the lawless system, F367, are going to be passing each other for the first time in over 500 astral years! So, for all you frugal pirates out there on Zandús, now's your chance to save some crystl on a trip to Yootoo Casino! Everybody knows that officers aren't allowed in the casino, so come relax with us for a night. You know I'll be here! Now back to more Jimmy Douglass!" BZZT

John and Falco both looked at each other. The moment MC Fotafratoya and his shrill voice mentioned Zandús, the boys knew they had their invitation. But even though the casino was a safe spot for even the worst criminals, there was no guarantee they would make it out alive if anyone recognized them as humans.

"Yo, Falco."

"I don't know. Should we?"

"C'mon, man. We haven't had any fun for months! This is our chance to get out of that stinkin' garage for a night."

"You're right, but I'm not interested in that kind of stuff," Falco's face grew stern. "It's too big of a risk to go in there. We could die."

John was upset, though he understood Falco's position. The two could very well be targeted by anyone at any time, even in a protected area like the casino. In reality, Falco wanted to relax just as badly as John, but he feared what might happen if they were to go there.

"I guess you're right." John sighed.

"Although," Falco thought of a way to rationalize the journey. "It is closer now than it will ever be again as long as we're on Zandús. I did hear about a pretty large Revolution bounty for a guy that works there. His name is Sefweui, and the rebels have a bounty out for 30 million crystl to anyone that can catch him."

John was well aware of the bounty. Sefweui is the fifth commanding Admiral in the Emperor's regime, and far more powerful than any fighter John had encountered. The bounty was unrealistic. Any bounty worth that many crystl might be game for a hunter of John's level, if it were an Empire bounty. The Revolution is financially unstable, and thus they are unable to provide large rewards to anyone who carries out their jobs. Technically, the boys had higher bounties than this character, but the Empire has more resources and can provide a heftier reward for their capture. If the two were successful at hunting Sefweui, the rebels would reward them by offering high positions or some other benefit, and the crystl would be secondary. John saw, however, an opening to convince Falco to go to the casino.

"Thirty mil isn't bad for a Revolution bounty. I'd think they'd give us some sort of high position if we can take him down! Isn't that great, Falco? We could be high ranking rebels if we do this! Why didn't you tell me sooner!"

"Wait... so you actually do want to _join the Revolution_?

"Oh yeah! Of course! If we can be officers!" John knew he had Falco on the line, and he did not feel bad about his deception because he knew Falco would enjoy the casino.

"I don't know. It could be risky. Besides, I've never fought anyone. Shouldn't we call the guys in your crew?"

"Let's see..." John made a show of getting up to look behind his seat. "We have two blades, two blasters, and a sack of bombs. Should be enough! It'll be a covert operation."

Falco laughed, "A covert operation? Well, if you say so. Man, I'm excited now. Do you think we can really pull it off and join the Revolution? Don't you normally work with a big team? There's only two of us."

"Stop asking so many questions, buddy! This way there is less people to split the proceeds with. And if not, we die. It's not like we're going back to Earth anytime soon. Who cares?"

"Why is everything you say so true? Alright, I'll put in the coordinates." Falco took a moment to adjust some entries on the ship's operating system. "We wasted a bunch of crystl on this cruise, but if we leave before the end of the duatna, we won't have far to go to get home."

"Ah, so it's a heist with a time limit! Those are more suspenseful. We'll do this one with style."

"Now I'm really excited! How much crystl do you have on you? I know there is a cover charge."

"A what?"

"Like, it costs money to get in. It was a popular thing on a lot of night clubs on Earth."

"Wow, so they take your money before you even get to do anything?"

"Pretty much."

John tapped his ring and a small blue screen was cast in front of his hand. This is the interface of the Network. He made a few gestures with his finger and had access to his crystl reports.

"I have about 150,000 crystl remaining."

"Dang, bruh! I only have 3,000 something. Fighters make all the good money in space. Cover charge is 100 crystl."

"That much? That's the price of an armor upgrade!"

"We could sneak in? We are on a heist," Falco replied.

"There you go, bud! Now you're using that big brain of yours."

"Technically, individual differences in brain size do not account for a significant gap in intelligence. Intelligence is more closely tied to how permeable the matter of the brain is and how fast it can send signals and process data," Falco explained.

"Okay, okay, okay! Just step on it, already. We'll figure out how to get in once we can see the place!"

John's desire for a speedy flight would become compromised. After another funk song from the radio, they began approaching planet Yootoo. They were astounded at the level of traffic they witnessed. Coupewing's and other space vehicles stretched for thousands of miles in bumper-to-bumper traffic. They neared the middle of the fourth horra of the duatna, when most low-level workers would be on their way home or, it seemed, the casino. Their ship was completely stopped as they waited for the traffic to move.

"Man! How does this even happen?" John screamed.

"This is flipping ridiculous." Falco uttered. "But it is an incredible view of space. I like system F1. Look at all those gas giants. There must be at least 10 of them. I wonder how that happens."

Falco pointed to a series of large planets in the distance, beyond the line of ships waiting to enter the airspace of Yootoo. Each of the planets seemed to be a different color, as they were each rich in different gases. One of the gas giants resembled Jupiter, as it was covered in streaking gas clouds of alternating colors, and these stripes spun rapidly.

"Gas giant?"

"Like Jupiter or Neptune. They're all gas because the outer edges of a system have less gravitational pull from the star at the center. Gas has less density; thus, it flows to the outer reaches and settles into gas giant planets."

"Hmmf. Great."

The F1 system was known for its large surplus of gas giants. It was also known for only having two terrestrial planets. The planet closest to the star, called Yot, is made entirely of dense metals. The next planet is Yootoo.

Yootoo is one of the homes of one of the first of the five ancient races to make it to space. The Yoot society was able to discover crystl deep within the society's mines, and quickly realized it's potential for hyperspace travel after some experimentation. The Yoots are a very industrial society, and their hardiness and efficiency has been linked to the planet's super-active volcanic state. Over 85% of the planet's exterior is composed of giant volcanoes. The rest is a large, boiling ocean. Water escaped through the volcanoes and settled into a large basin formed by a meteor strike from deep in the planet's history. Much of the society's farmland and rural settlements were taken over by the massive construction of the casino.

The planet's high volcanic activity and immense overpopulation have created high levels of smog, though this does not bother most of the races of space and the casino remains a popular attraction. At some point during the fallout of the Peace Times, the Yoots decided to concentrate all of their resources into the maintenance and expansion of the casino. What was once a society of farmers benefiting from fertile soil has been transitioned into an immense megalopolis. The casino has signed a pact with the Empire, which allows for the casino to be a safe place for criminals to enjoy themselves. This was arranged through the skillful political maneuvering of admiral Sefweui.

A descendent of the royal family of the Yoots that first decided to travel to space, Sefweui is one of the five admirals of the Empire, and he oversees all the functions of the casino and the Yoot race. He is responsible for the conversion of all the farmland of the planet into a massive garage and resort system for the casino. This process took hundreds of years, but this allowed the casino to be opened to the whole of the Six Galaxies for business. The garage lies behind the large resorts that face the beaches of Yootoo, and the casino is constructed on top of the garage.

As John and Falco neared the front of the long line of traffic that was leading into the planet, they noticed how the casino itself stood at the top of the massive construction of the megalopolis that is the whole of Yoot society. This giant casino stood like an impending cathedral at the top of this world, above even the all-encompassing smog, as if it were some sacred object. It was untouchable and unstoppable.

"Will this traffic ever end?" John screamed again.

"Dude! You're giving me a headache! I'm the one driving, just relax!"

"I just want to get there already so we can party! I mean... take down Sefweui."

"You really don't think this hit is too big for us? I know the bounty is low because it's for the Revolution, but he is an admiral for the Empire, y'know?"

"It'll be fine. Yo, what's this?"

Suddenly the boys' attention was drawn to the source of the traffic. There was a series of booths designed to assign ships to their spots in the garages of the casino, which were visible immediately upon entering planet Yootoo's atmosphere. There were rows upon rows of thousands of these small booths, each with a long line of vehicles waiting their turn. Eventually, it was the boy's turn at the booth. Falco and John put on their helmets and Falco rolled down his window.

"Welcome to Yootoo casino, sirs!" A bug-eyes, insectoid creature with thin arms cheerfully greeted them.

"Hi! Where do we go?" Falco asked confusedly.

"Some new customer's, huh? Two of you? That's 200 credits please."

"What?" John shrieked. "I guess they collect the cover charge here?"

"Yes, sir. So no one can get in without paying, sir," The creature answered cheerfully.

"Okay. I'll get it, John."

Falco handed the creature his ring to be scanned for crystl credits. After a moment, the creature returned it with a set of three pins.

"You will wear two of these, yes? The other will stay in the ship, sirs... Your ship will be impounded if you forget to leave a pin inside of it and park in the garage, sirs. Is this fair, sirs?"

"Yes," They both said, somewhat disappointed that they would not be breaking in.

"Good! Now please sign this."

A small screen emerged out of their rings with a space to sign. They both signed it and then looked towards the creature.

"The nanobots will escort you now, sirs."

"The nanobots what?" Falco asked.

Suddenly, a cloud of black dust surrounded their ship.

"Hey, what is this?" John screamed, his voice growing hoarse.

"The nanobots will now take you to your spot in the garage. The casino is not liable for any of the damage caused to the ship by the nanobots. Enjoy your stay, sirs!"

The ship became completely surrounded by black nanobots, and the boys had the feeling that the ship was moving at an incredible speed, but the stabilizers inside the Coupewing made it difficult to discern what might be happening outside. The boys waited for what would happen to them next.

END VERSE 1
Chapter 2

Just as quickly as they had covered the ship, the dust cloud of nanobots vanished, and the boys were suddenly in the garage of the casino. They put on the pins, leaving one behind, and exited the ship. All was dark in the garage. All with exception to some bright, glowing arrows on the floor. They followed the arrows down a long corridor and eventually noticed light coming from around a corner. The garage was damp and smelled of waste, so the boys were desperate to find the exit. Once they turned the corner, they were greeted to a massive, sprawling series of elevators and a variety of races attempting to enter them.

"Hurry it up already!" One creature yelled.

"I don't got all day! I want to gamble!" said another.

The boys got in the line, which was moving quickly.

"Y'know..." Falco made some light conversation while they waited. "This whole process really reminds me of the time I went to Disney World as a kid."

"Really?" said John. "I never got to go. If it's this much waiting, I'm glad I never went there."

"Yeah?" Falco chuckled. "I was a kid, so I don't really remember much of it."

"You know what?" John said. "Pretty much everyone who tells me they've been there says the exact same thing."

Eventually they were allowed to board an elevator with a few dozen other patrons. The pair were sandwiched by two large, smelly creatures. John and Falco's helmets hid their discomfort. Finally, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to a massive bridge. This bridge was bustling with other visitors to the casino and some small, brightly colored shops set up by street vendors.

When the doors opened, all of the creatures on the elevator roared with joy and quickly made their way into the crowd. Falco and John were left alone standing on the elevator as they took in the scene before them. The bridge led to the doors of the massive, bright casino and its brilliant arches and columns.

"Yo, get off!" the elevator operator looked at the boys angrily.

"S-Sorry!" Falco stammered.

They made their way towards the casino, and they were amazed by every sight. The view from the bridge of the massive volcanoes surrounding the megalopolis and the resorts beneath was astounding. Several street vendors tried offering them various souvenirs. It was obvious that the artisans of Yootoo were not employees of the casino, and they were desperate to make sales quickly. They offered incredible tapestries and garments, each with ornate designs of volcanoes and agricultural landscapes.

As the boys made their way past this market, they noticed a brilliant fountain filled with a rainbow-colored fluid, and a vast liquid and lights show exploded with grandeur in front of them.

"This is like Las Vegas!" Falco looked excitedly at John.

"Yeah. Um... my anxiety is pretty high right now. Let's get in there."

They approached and entered the large doors of the casino as part of the massive crowd. They had left their weapons in the Coupewing and were thus permitted to enter without going through security protocol. As they entered, several groups of customers were angrily giving up their weapons to the security bots. The security bots were heavily armed with obvious blasters and had sharp, metal blades for arms.

One angry customer smacked one of these robots on the head to show his frustration with being required to give up his weapons.

BZZT "Threat detected!"

The robot fired a shot in the direction of the man. The customer's space armor suit absorbed the shot, but it knocked him off of his feet.

"Hey! What gives!" the man yelled.

BZZT "Give up your weapons or suffer consequences. The casino is not liable for any death as a result of security protocol."

The man fearfully gave up his weapons as Falco and John scurried away from the scene. The translators the boys wore quickly decoded the signs on the walls, revealing the layout of this giant, indoor amusement park.

Yootoo Casino is split into two distinct sections. The lower area houses the entertainment park. At the center of this floor there is a large bar, which faces the main stage. The floor above it houses large roller coasters and other physics-defying rides, and above that floor are all of the casino games, though slot machines can be found on any floor.

Behind the main stage was a private elevator, which allowed key figures to make their way to any floor at any time. Two large staircases led high paying customers to the elevator above the center of the main stage, so everyone could see the highest paying customers. The VIP room is the final stop for this private elevator, and all of the patrons of the casino can look up to see the massive window where the elevator stops. It is easy to tell that the purpose of this room is for one to be able to gaze upon the entirety of the casino. Dozens of notable celebrities, some even with bounties, could be seen socializing all across the casino

"Let's just check out mainstage for now. Maybe get something from the bar?" Falco asked John, trying to talk loud enough over the crowd and the excessive music.

The two wandered about confusedly, trying to take in their surroundings, when they saw the bar at the center of the room. The bar was a massive, multi-leveled square structure. The bar was surrounded by rows upon rows of slot machines, but most of the room was taken up by a large stage. The stage contained a band of nearly 300 musicians of all instruments and musical styles, and several groups were performing elaborately choreographed dances. At the center of the stage, there was a large curtain, which would open and close when new performers were introduced.

John noticed that there were no officers present at the casino, and he began to relax. He did notice several armed robots in busy areas that seemed to be responsible for keeping peace. They found a spot at the bar with a good view of the stage. There was a reptilian dancer putting on a presentation, and all of the creatures surrounding the stage were throwing tokens at them. The dancer was flicking their snake-like tail back and forth.

"It seems this place has its own economy," Falco said.

"What do you mean?" John asked.

Falco pointed to a long line in front of a booth. Each creature who made it to the front of the line was seen trading their crystl or crystl credits for the tokens.

"They are throwing their tokens on the stage in support of the performers, not crystl. Most likely because only the tokens have value in this place. I assume those tokens are also used at the casino games. I wonder why the system is set up like this?" Falco explained to John.

A bartender approached them and the boys both jumped out of their seats. The bartender had caught them off-guard. This creature was humanoid in figure, though he had an extra pair of arms and green skin.

"Woah! Sorry, guys. Didn't mean to sneak up on ya. What are we having?"

"No worries!" John said quickly. "What you got?"

"We have everything! Slarf, sulfur concentrate, rare fungi. I can make you whatever you enjoy on your home planet. I just noticed you have helmets on. You must be a pretty exotic race to need a helmet here! You know we have Zodygen, right?"

It is true that many popular locations in space have Zodygen to enable all of the major races of the Six Galaxies to breath on foreign planets, but the boys usually left their helmets on to disguise their race. Being recognized as humans would put them in danger on any planet, even a protected area like the casino.

The pair looked at each other nervously after this comment about their race.

"We'll just take some Slarf," said John.

"All of that trouble and you just want Slarf. Always the same thing. Whatever."

The creature walked away to retrieve their order. John overheard the bartender say he needed to look for new work.

"Hey, this is starting to feel pretty familiar." John turned to face Falco. "So... if this place has its own economy, those tokens must be really important, huh?"

Falco was bemused with watching this particular dancer. The creature on stage had very similar features and parts to a human.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! This is pretty normal, right?"

"You perv," said John.

The bartender returned with their order.

"Here you go. Any snacks today? Here's a menu."

John looked over the menu and failed to recognize anything. He laughed. "Falco, you in the mood to try somethin' new?"

Falco laughed and the bartender looked at them confused.

"We'll try...hm...the glob gobbles! Those sound funny."

"Alright. One plate of glob gobbles. Be right back."

"You shouldn't waste money like that," said Falco, as he gulped his Slarf. "Those could be disgusting and now we gotta pay for 'em."

"Relax. Let's just enjoy ourselves. Look! That dancer is standing on their head!"

"To be honest, this is pretty overwhelming. I don't think we have a chance at Sefweui. Let's just hang," said Falco.

"Ha! I knew it. This whole time I had no intention of going for that bounty."

"You jerk!" Falco laughed. "I should have known. You've never had any interest in the Revolution."

The bartender returned and handed them a plate of glob gobbles.

"Here ya go. Enjoy. I'll be making rounds, but if you need anything let me know."

The boys stared down at the meal. A group of eight, slug-like creatures were squirming around in a fatty sauce on the plate. Glob gobbles are a popular snack first discovered on the planet Zardia. Grown and cultivated in the ground, like carrots or turnips, these creatures are a crunchy, zesty and flavorful slug-like organism that are packaged in thick boxes, so as to not let them escape, though they move quite slowly. They are incredibly healthy, containing all sorts of valuable vitamins and minerals. One end of them is a ring-like mouth with dull, little teeth.

"Oh, great. Delicious," Falco said sarcastically.

"Well, wait. Don't knock 'em til you've tried 'em," joked John.

As he reached to grab one, it dodged his fingers.

"Woah! Hold on there!"

John was able to grab it, despite some resistance.

"Welp. Down the hatch."

"You are a disgusting fiend. That thing is still alive! You've had too much Slarf today."

John bit down on the creature and its juices exploded in his mouth.

"Well, hey it's pretty crunchy and...wait. This is really good."

"Yeah, right."

"No, I'm serious. Falco, you have to try one!"

"Is this another prank? There is no way you are convincing me to put one of those in my mouth."

"Falco! I'm not lying. This is amazing." John ate another one. "They're like salty and crunchy and awesome. It's delicious."

"Okay. I'll eat one. But if this is another prank, I am no longer your friend."

"Just try it!"

John handed one of the worms to Falco who eyed it inquisitively.

"No harm in trying something new, I guess." Falco put the creature in his mouth and started chewing. "Well, the texture is actually nice and..."

Falco's eyes opened wide and he grabbed John by the shoulders.

"This...is...delicious! Oh my! I have never had a more satisfying blend of flavors. The flavor profiles and composition are absolutely incredible! What complexity, what saltiness, what deliciosity!

"I told you! I wouldn't lie about food. Try it with the sauce!" John urged.

"Mmm!"

The two laughed about the glob gobbles and then finished the entire plate. They ordered another round of Slarf and finally started to relax. The overwhelmingly loud music that was once making them uncomfortable was now enjoyable. The entire casino was filled with bright, neon lights and loud music, and the large, rambunctious crowd was fierce. Unlike refreshments on Earth, like soda or alcohol, Slarf is completely non-toxic and immediately exits the human body through burping. It contains no calories and causes a release of pleasure chemicals in the brain. The boys had little reservation about the substance, considering its healthy properties and they were both twenty-three, so they consumed it plentifully. They were starting to feel the effects.

"This ain't so bad. I'm glad we came here, Falco. Finally, somewhere to spend our extra crystl."

"Yeah, it ain't so bad. But, wait. At least humor me. If we _were_ going to try to take down admiral Sefweui, what would be the first step? You have more experience than I do."

"Okay, just to humor you." John thought for a moment. "Well, the first thing would be to case the joint."

"What the what?"

"Case the joint! Establish an infiltration route. We want something in here, so we gotta find out where it is and when it will be there. Also, how to get there undetected and then how to get out."

"And how do you do that?" Falco asked.

"Well, just look around. We could just wander around this whole place and try to find the generators, or maybe a security office where the computers that run all of the security in the building are, but that would take forever. The job is out of our league."

"Okay...but how would we do it? If it _were_ possible, that is."

"I guess we would need inside help."

"Inside help?"

"Yeah. Someone here who already knows all the stuff we need to know. Someone who could help us control the situation a little better."

"So, like, someone we know who works here?"

"Yes. If we knew someone here that would be a big help. But we don't."

"Right. So, it's impossible. I get it now. Oh well. Let's just enjoy ourselves."

"Agreed."

Just then, an announcer began talking over the speakers surrounding the stage and bar.

"Alright, give it up for Allli from the planet Hoya! She's one of the last of her race. Don't we get the best dancers here at Yootoo? Next up, we got a girl from a planet that was just recently taken out by the Empire. Anyone ever hear of a stinky planet called Earth? She's relatively new, but you know her, you love her. Give it up!"

The crowd became unruly and began gathering around the stage in larger numbers than before. Falco and John got excited. It had been almost a year since the last time they saw another person.

"You mean, they got a girl from Earth to start dancing here? That's awesome! We finally get to see a human again!"

The curtain was suddenly pulled back. Standing there in an elaborate and gaudy costume, adorned in countless gems and veils, was Sora.

John and Falco's jaws both hit the ground. They had briefly known Sora on Earth before their escape to deep space. John had been starting to develop some romantic feelings for her when they became close, and he had all but forgotten about her since arriving in space. The spotlight hit Sora and the crowd grew quiet with anticipation as she walked towards center-stage.

"This is so flipping embarrassing..." Sora thought to herself.

Once she stood at the center of the stage, the large symphony band erupted into a hardnosed rendition of the song Those Shoes by the Eagles.

♪ _God knows you're lookin' good enough,_

But you're so smooth and the world's so rough,

You might have somethin' to lose,

Oh no, pretty momma,

_what you gonna do in those shoes?_ ♪

The song was her choice, and the lyrics of the song were the only thing that powered her job as a dancer. Sora had lost her son during the destruction of Earth. She walked alone in an eternal resentment against the Empire. Though she held a deep hatred for the Emperor and his nation, she found a safe place in the casino and was able to use her strength and cunning to work her way into a position as Admiral Sefweui's Chief of Espionage, for which she received intense training under his supervision. Her job was to use her position to gather valuable information from the casino's customers for her master's political and business ambitions. An Asian-American on Earth, her black hair seemed to have been bleached to blonde since coming to space.

She began dancing and shaking her hips, and the crowd erupted into a frenzy.

"They really enjoy this crap? What a bunch of idiots..." Sora thought.

♪Got those pretty little straps around your ankles,

Got those shiny little chains around your heart,

You got to have your independence,

But you don't know just where to start ♪

The crowd began hurling tokens onto the stage as Sora pulled off some truly acrobatic dance moves. With each move, one of the silky veils covering her would fall off, sending the crowd into roars of applause. Her experience as a professional wrestler in Pittsburgh's International Wrestling Cartel made her a skilled entertainer, and she showed all of her athleticism on the stage.

"Yo, Falco. I have to get closer."

"Uh-huh." Falco's voice cracked. "How are you going to get her attention if you don't have any tokens?"

"I'll think of something. Wait here."

John got up from his seat at the bar and started pushing his way to the front of the crowd.

"Excuse me, sorry. Sorry. Excuse me. Pardon me."

He accidentally pushed into some of the crowd, including a squishy, jelly-like blob creature.

"Hey!"

"Watch where you're going! We all want to see the human."

John found a spot near the corner of the stage and tried to wave at Sora. She was concentrated on her dance and on winking at customers who were throwing many tokens. John realized that he would not be able to get her attention, and that he would have to do something risky. He decided he would take off his mask. Her seeing his face and recognizing him was his only chance of being reunited with an old friend. He took off the mask and did his best to stand out from the others.

Sora's dance took her to the part of the stage where John was standing. The creatures standing around him became infatuated as she grew closer, but John was determined to catch her gaze.

"Psst. Hey!" John called.

"Huh?" Sora recognized a voice in the audience. "Who was that?"

She took a moment's pause in her dancing to look down at the group closest to her feet. When she saw John's face, her surprise threw off her balance and led to a misstep in her dance routine. She gave John a nod and gestured toward the bar, and then continued to dance.

"Did you see that?" one creature turned to his acquaintance.

"I've never seen Sora misstep before."

"I wonder what happened."

"Man, she is so cute!"

John pushed his way back to the bar and reclaimed his seat by Falco. It seemed that Sora had finished dancing while John was walking back to the bar.

"Yo, put your mask on!" Falco reminded John.

"It's fine, man. I think everyone here is just trying to party. Nobody even has their weapons on them."

"I don't know..."

"It feels good to take that sweaty thing off. C'mon!" John insisted.

Falco took of his helmet hesitantly.

"It does feel better. Alright, Zaydi, no more worrying," Falco said to himself.

"That's the spirit!"

Just then, the bartender returned with two more cans of Slarf.

"These are on the house, guys. Just make sure you give me a good tip."

"Is it really on the house, then?" John asked.

The bartender walked away angrily saying, "What planet are those guys from? You try to do something nice and they just give you an attitude!"

Just then, Sora appeared in the corner of John's eye. She no longer wore the veils that had been covering her on stage, she now wore excessive jewelry and a small outfit studded with various colored diamonds. This was the first time the trio was together since they were on Earth almost a year ago. She also wore a golden tiara with the words "Sefweui's Choice" engraved on the center plate.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora seemed annoyed.

"Hi, Sora," Falco's voice cracked. "I like your hair. When did you dye it blonde?

"Zaydi, is that you? Please don't say you like it. They did this to me. Do you really like it?" she ran her hands through the long, blonde hair.

"Yeah it looks fine. You mean they forced you to dye your hair?"

"You think I ever would have done this to myself? Come on, man. They force me to a lot of things. Okay, I don't have time for this. I have a quota to meet tonight, but it's good to see you. I'm glad some others made it. That gives me hope. Maybe if you guys come back a night I'm less busy we can hang out."

"Wait!" John interjected. "You have to go?"

"I have a job to do. I will be off soon so you can try to meet me in my room. I would give you my card, but it's only for high payers. It really is great to see other humans. Why are you guys here? Do you even know how a place like this works?"

"High payers, huh?" John remarked.

"I'm a dancer. These idiot customers like it when I get all dressed up like this and I get them to hand over their tokens. The idiots waste all their hard-earned crystl on the tokens and then they just give it right back for nothing! Idiots. Oh well. You can exchange your crystl or crystl credits at the booth over there. Private dances, however, can be paid with crystl credits... Wait! Why am I explaining this to you? It's not you like you have any money," Sora did not seem happy to be interrupted by old friends during her shift.

John was eager to spend more time with Sora, and he felt confident in his current amount of crystl credits. He normally would never waste money on something as meaningless as a private dance with somebody, but these were odd circumstances.

"It can't cost too, too much..." John thought to himself. Then he said, "Well, I guess I'll get a dance from you."

"Seriously?" Falco was surprised by John's forwardness.

"Can you even afford it? I guess that would work out. Don't think you're getting some kind of discount because you know me. See this crown? There are many expectations on me and if I don't bring in the tokens tonight... Well, I don't want to know what happens."

"That's fine. I won't hold back on the crystl if you don't hold back on the dancing."

"Tsk tsk tsk. John you haven't changed. Whatever you want. But don't come crying to me about the price," her Pennsylvania, country accent came out, which would sometimes occur when she spoke to John.

"Hey, we're high rollers in space, Sora. Have you seen our bounties?" John joked and nudged Falco on the shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever. We're super rich," Falco was not enjoying John's stupor nor his attempt to impress Sora. "I'll just wait here."

"Cool. Falco, wasn't this a great idea?"

"Hey! I don't have all night, John!" Sora still wore an angry expression.

"Okay, let's go," John said.

Sora took John by the hand and started walking him away from the bar. Another dancer had begun on the stage, and the music from the band behind her thundered throughout the casino. Bright, flashing lights and massive crowds of people mingled throughout every inch of the building, but Sora navigated the busy corridors with ease.

Sora led John down a long hallway with red walls ordained with golden embroidery. She led him by hand. The cool firmness of Sora's hand made John nervous, as it had been a long time since he last shared the company of a female human. John and Falco did well with some of the local girls in Zandús, but the difference in species often complicated things. This was a woman, a real, human woman. They turned a sharp corner and she began unlocking a room with a symbol of the casino engraved in it.

"What's wrong, John?" Sora asked as they made their way into the small room. "I thought you had experience with this kind of thing."

The room was tiny, and most of the space was taken up by a circular sofa with several movable cushions spread about around it. Inside the room, there was a faint smell of perfume and some light R&B by a band from space was playing. The lighting was a gaudy pink and the walls were mirrors.

"Listen –" said John, as Sora pushed him down against the sofa. The hard push was unintentional, but Sora took some joy from it. "I just want to know what you're up to and all that... We knew each other on Earth... I'm just happy to see you made it."

"I feel the same way. It was terrifying being abducted and it's even worse being a slave here, but..." She took off the crown with Sefweui's mark on it, and she began dancing. "Sefweui has protected me. I have worked my way up the ranks and have garnered many freedoms. I am entitled to three meals of day, of my choice. I choose where I sleep. And I only have to work with the high paying customers, none of the sloppy low-class guys. It's amazing you could afford a dance from me. What have you been doing, exactly, old friend?"

"I'm a bounty hunter," John lowered his voice.

He knew the hit on Sefweui was out of his skill level, and the Revolution bounty was not nearly enough credits as the job was worth, but Sora had information, and if a mask of false bravado was enough to get some of it out of her, John might see an opening to take down Sefweui after-all and free her.

"You say you have inside information... If I was to try to run a hit on your master, Sefweui, how should I go about it? You could be free if I took him down, y'know," John said.

"Oh, please," Sora scoffed as she turned away from John and continued dancing. She looked at him through the reflection in the mirror. "You couldn't take him down in your wildest dreams. As much as I hate to admit it, he is a skilled fighter, a blade master. He walks around like a shogun with that big, dumb sword on his waist. You would need inside help to take him down. Do you want another song? It costs double the price of the first one so..."

"It's fine. What if I caught him off guard?"

"Listen," she turned and stepped closer. "I get this spiel a hundred times a day from bounty hunters trying to act tough and win me over. You can't pull it off. I won't help you, got it? I am protected under Sefweui. I don't care if I'm not 'free' or whatever. I can earn more privileges by gathering intel and making him money. Soon, I will be able to live outside the casino. Then, I will be able to get out of here for at least a little bit of time every day. I can finally have some peace and quiet and I can think."

"I guess you're right," John was too dumbfounded by Sora's dancing to think of a retort.

"I am right. Look, John. It's not just you and me and that Zaydi kid that are all alone in space. It's everybody! Not a day goes by where someone doesn't come in here saying that they are the last of their race or that the Empire destroyed their home world. Everyone is fighting for survival. You saw the crowd out there! They say there are only five races allowed in the Six Galaxies; the Gargonauts, the Vepinots, the Yoots, the Harconians, and the Ra-mans, who are supposedly extinct. But not a single guy in that crowd outside looks the same! Everyone that works here is a prisoner of the Empire or some other kind of slave."

She made a show of removing her diamond shoes and John could not concentrate hard enough to think of anything to say. The R&B music playing in the room took a dramatic turn, as the band added a violin-part in the bridge to the second chorus.

"Have you heard the song Those Shoes by the Eagles?" she asked him.

"Isn't that the song that was playing while you were dancing?"

"That's the one. Those lyrics help me remind myself why I'm doing this. I gotta ask... What would you do if you were wearing my shoes?"

John thought for a moment about Sora's position. He was never one to do what somebody else wanted him to do. He did not understand Sora's motivation, and he believed he would have ran away a long time ago. He really did not want to make Sora upset, so he decided to drop his proposition.

"You mean those pretty little strappy things there? I don't think I could walk too good," John joked. "No, I know what you're saying."

Sora had an abrupt burst of laughter, which surprised John. John took the humor between him and Falco for granted at times, but it seemed like Sora had not had a laugh for a long time.

"Leave it to you to have jokes during a serious conversation. Listen, I appreciate your concern, but I am safe here, even if I am a 'slave' or whatever. I also appreciate your credits."

This time, John noticed her drawl. He was reminded of the night they met at a dive bar in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, before the fallout on Earth. He remembered how they spent that cool summer evening dancing in the small bar, where they stole all of the attention away from the band. John was hopeful that their romance would continue, but everything on Earth changed the very next day.

"I appreciate the dance. I realize I can't convince you. Besides, the hit on Sefweui is my partner's idea. I'm not _that_ dumb," John told her.

"I don't know about that."

John and Sora both laughed. John remained unconvinced of Sora's resolve, and he mustered all of his confidence into one final attempt to let him free try to free her.

"Sora, it sounds to me like you're accepting the fact that you are being exploited, which don't sound like the girl I met on Earth."

Sora stopped dancing. She shook her head and sat next to John, her hands covering her face. Her cheeks became flushed and her eyes began to water. She sat very close to John and he could feel the cold skin of her legs. He put his arm around her, but not romantically. For John, this action was like a reflex, something he learned long ago to comfort his friends during tragedy or loss. She choked on her tears. She desperately tried to hold them back with her palms, but the rush of sadness was too great. She pushed her hands against her eyes even harder as she spoke.

"John, you know I had a son on Earth. If there is any chance, any small sliver of a chance that he's still out there... I need to be alive. My boy needs his mom. I will stay alive as long as possible for him."

John now understood her motivation and what she meant by the shoes she had to wear. Sora rested her knee on John's lap, and it became clear to him that she required that same physical comfort she gave him when she first took his hand that night. He struggled to understand what she might be going through. John and Falco often joked that they had nothing left to live for, that dying did not really matter anymore, now that they were so far from home. Sora had a reason to stay alive, and he could not imagine how conflicted she must have felt. He held her tighter and felt tears watering in his own eyes. The two of them sat alone in this small room in this giant city on a foreign planet. They held each other without speaking for a moment.

"Exploited. That's a big word for you, John. I've realized that sometimes, even on Earth, your best bet for survival can be taking advantage of the stupidity of the male ego."

She stood up and recomposed herself.

"Sorry about that... I'm so glad you came here today. I have not been able to burden anyone with my emotions in quite some time. I appreciate how caring you can be, John." Sora wiped her eyes and stood up on the sofa to dance. "Let me make it up to you. I have a feeling you'll like this next move."

Meanwhile, Falco had grown tired of watching the dancers. Watching Sora's performance had been enjoyable, but the next three dancers were not humanoid in figure, and Falco had become very uncomfortable. He decided to watch another band at a different stage, as they were playing some popular blues and jazz classics from the 1950's, without dancers.

Falco realized he had to use the restroom. Restrooms in space can come in many forms, so he was hoping he could find a place that was not too crowded. This would give him the extra space he needed to learn how the restrooms work on Yootoo. Falco walked all throughout the casino, past every twist and turn and large crowd before he found an area that was not crawling with patrons.

"There's gotta be one around here somewhere. I don't know how much longer I can hold it!" Falco thought to himself.

Falco noticed a sign at the end of a large hallway for some restrooms, and it did not seem that anyone was using these. He bolted down the hallway. The hallway intersected with another in the shape of a plus sign, and before Falco made it past this intersection, two official-looking figures crossed his path without noticing him. Falco recognized one of the official's helmets from the Revolution Magazine. He used his ring to check the Network, and sure enough, he had found Sefweui.

"That must be the helmet that has all of the information about the Empire stored in it. Why would he just wear it around in public like that? Is he afraid of people trying to steal it?" Falco thought.

The two officials stopped in front of an elevator, which Falco realized was the other side of the VIP elevator behind the stage. Falco knelt down behind the men, with his back against the corner of the intersecting hallways, and he listened to their conversation.

"So, as you can see, investing in the casino is a guaranteed profit. I can only extend an offer to become a shareholder, however, to those who can, in some way, help the casino grow, your highness."

Sefweui was a tall man with blood-red skin. He was discussing his business plans with a notable politician from the Empire, hence the honorific he used to address them. The politician's name is P. Kube, a portly figure with purple skin and a blue suit. He gained an esteemed reputation for being an aggressive investigator and successfully trying many criminals who were involved with the Revolution.

"You are truly a skilled businessman, Sefweui. I would be more than happy to provide the casino and yourself some extra protections. How certain are you that my investment will lead to these speedy dividends?"

"Oh, very certain! You see, all of the criminal customers of this place need somewhere to be safe from the Empire. But what happens when they are here? Well, they pump all of their dirty crystl back into the Emperor's system! Even innocent, law-abiding citizens come here for the excitement. They come and they spend all of their crystl very quickly, and the house never loses! They all come here thinking they will strike it rich, but all of the games are rigged! No one ever leaves wealthier. Everyone comes here and turns all of their crystl into tokens. They spend tokens on dancers, the rigged games, rooms at the hotel, and ultimately they leave with nothing but their Coupewings... Unless those get impounded for breaking the rules!"

"I see! So, the casino never actually loses money. Those are valuable shares indeed. It is wise that you hold them so closely."

"Yes. Our partnership will prove very lucrative. Soon the Emperor will see what value I bring to the table, and I will no longer be the 5th Ranked Admiral. I will be the Emperor's number one man! And all of my most trusted associates will reap the rewards of that, including yourself. Ever since we took all of the land from the lowly farmers and peasants and forced them to start working in the casino, this business has made me the richest man in the Empire! We are capturing more and more exotic lifeforms to add to the value of this place every day," Sefweui had practiced this pitch many times.

"I will be investing right away! Let me make a few calls, master Sefweui."

"I appreciate doing business with you, your highness. Please, enjoy all of the luxuries we have to offer. Get a taste of why this place is doing so well."

"Of course!"

Falco sat in horror as he listened to their conversation.

"Man, this guy is really messed up!" Falco thought. "Wait a minute...he's right there, and I'm right here...I could do this myself!"

Falco felt around in his pocket for a small electrical bomb he had snuck into the casino.

"Wait I can't do this here. I'll definitely get caught. And what if he is immune to the heat from the electricity? I have to weigh my options," Falco thought carefully.

When John and Falco had first entered the casino, Falco noticed a worker fixing a system of metal wiring being passed through some channels along the walls of the casino. He realized that the security robots were likely drawing energy out of these currents using the antennas mounted on their heads, which wirelessly drew power from the walls. It was an admirable system which meant the robots would never lose power, unless the power supply was cut-off, but there was no telling what might happen if one of his bombs happened to damage these channels. It could lead to an explosion or cause fires in places throughout the casino.

"If only I knew more about how this place's circuits work..." Falco thought out loud.

"Who's there?"

"CRAP!"

Sefweui drew his sword and the politician pointed his blaster at Falco.

"He's got some kind of bomb!" Sefweui observed. "Quickly! Move into the elevator. I'll send a security robot on him and that will be the end of it. No one will ever know he even existed!"

Sefweui pushed Kube into the elevator, and a security robot that was on standby inside emerged as the doors closed. The robot had a large antenna, and an even larger arcs of electricity flowed from the walls, through the air, and were being channeled into the robot's head.

BZZT "Threat detected!"

The robot sped towards Falco, now on his feet.

"This is bad!"

The robot came at him with a sharp metal blade, but Falco was able to avoid the vertical slash. Without thinking, Falco jumped on the robot's head to avoid being cut by the slashes from the robot's arms.

BZZT "Threat detected!"

"Well if you're a robot, that means you run on electricity. So, if I add a charge!.."

Falco smacked the bomb against the antenna. The bomb went off and flashed a few large streaks of blue electricity all around them. The bomb was powered by a small piece of crystl Falco had salvaged. The robot's circuits became overloaded. Its head started spinning and eventually a spark came out of its chest, followed by smoke. Falco lay face down on the ground. His suit protected him from the electrical surge, but the momentum of the blast still knocked the wind out of him. He no longer needed to use the restroom.

"I did it...I won a battle. I'm so awesome..." he wheezed as he tried to get up.

The electricity in Sora and John's private room cut out briefly.

"What was that?" John asked Sora.

"I don't know. I've never seen that happen before. We have a crystl generator in the basement that powers the whole casino. Maybe they had to turn it off and it took a second for the backup to come on."

Sora sat on the cushions and starting strapping on her heels. She gathered up the jewelry she had taken off during the dance.

"That was fun, John."

"Yeah, it was. Will we see each other again soon?"

"I'm technically still not allowed to leave the casino, but, soon, I will have my own room in one of the resorts if I keep working well. Maybe you can come visit sometime. Until then, I'm pretty much stuck here. So, the only way you're seeing me is if you have the crystl. I have an image to uphold around here. What kind of bounty hunter are you, anyway? You seem to have a lot of crystl."

She took his ring and scanned it to collect her earnings.

"How many songs was that?" she asked lazily, as if it was something she had said many times before.

"I lost track during your special move," John chuckled.

"Oh yeah? We'll just do five."

"No worries."

"Man! You must really be raking in the crystl! Good for you, kid."

Sora had a large grin on her face and really did seem impressed with John.

"Hey, they might as well call me Johnny Paycheck."

"Ha! Hey, I forgot you're a salt of the Earth type. I sure miss folk like that. We're pretty far from Pittsburgh now...though sometimes this place doesn't feel too different. You should come back soon. Here, if you show them my card you can get in without a cover charge. It has my room number on it. Do not try to come to my room, y' hear?"

"Well how generous. Thanks."

The two sat in silence for a moment. Sora stood up and slowly opened the door back out into the hallway. John had basically forgotten about the casino and the bar and had to quickly come to terms with reality.

"Here, John. We can walk back to the bar together, but I have to find more customers," Sora said disappointedly.

John's heart started to sink a little.

"Is this really goodbye?" he thought to himself.

"Man... it was like we were in our own little world for a second..." Sora said.

She held his hand as they began the long walk back to the bar. The walked past all of the slot machine players and gawking observers, who stared jealously at John. The pair walked in silence with heavy hearts. Falco was sitting in the same spot, but he was out of breath and noticeably disheveled.

"What took you two so long?" Falco yelled at them.

"John was the first customer to ever receive a certain, special service," Sora laughed.

Falco looked at John angrily and made it clear he was not happy that John was having a good time.

"It was good to see you both. Hopefully we can catch up soon. Stay away from Sefweui."

When she said the last words, she looked directly at Falco. She remembered how John had said the hit was Falco's idea, and she wanted to be clear to them both that it was a bad idea. She walked away as John watched.

"Who's the perv now?" Falco said, still ticked off at John and feeling the stress of his encounter with the security bot.

"I think I'm in love," John looked at Falco seriously.

"Huh?" Falco's angry expression changed.

"She's just so caring and nice... She's still worried about her kid. That's really awesome. What an incredible woman and mother. And her skin is so soft," John rambled like a boy who had just talked to his junior high crush for the first time.

"Woah! Maybe you really are in love with her, if you're saying things like that! Isn't she part Japanese or something? You better hope she's not a so-called 'dragon woman.' Very powerful. Wait a minute! I have to tell you something really important!"

"What is it?"

"I saw Sefweui."

"Forget it, man. You heard the girl. Wanna try some casino games?" John smiled a criminal smile.

"No way! That's what I was going to tell you. This whole place is a scam! It's just another way for the Emperor to take everything from everyone."

"No duh. Ever hear 'the house always wins?' People don't seriously come here to get rich. Everyone knows casinos are a complete scam. They know they're just throwing the money away," John, who knew the job would be impossible, became annoyed with Falco.

"It's more than that. This Sefweui guy is really messed up. He forced all of the Yoots to work here and took away their land to build this place!"

"Hm. And he is keeping all of these workers here as slaves. Dang. I really want to try to take this guy down, but I don't think we can. Even if we got him by himself, he's a really strong fighter."

Falco's passion grew, and the momentous sounds of the trumpet players in the band were filling him with resolve. John seemed like he was interested in taking up Falco on the mission, but he would need to be further convinced.

"You're strong, too! Yo, John. Does Sora still like you?" said Falco.

"What? Don't ask something weird like that."

"Well, you guys were a little sweet on each other on Earth! Maybe she can help us!"

"She said she's tired of guys trying to free her. She said it was impossible without inside..."

"Inside what?"

"Inside help."

"Like you said!" Falco's enthusiasm rose. "We can do this if we get her help! I figured out how to take out the security bots."

Falco told John about what happened when he encountered Sefweui. They both sat discussing the present situation as they faced the stage and watched more dancers. John's ambition was brought to a boil as Falco listed off all the ways Sefweui has destroyed the government and economy of planet Yootoo, and how Sefweui had used his prestige as a member of the royal family to force the entire society to work in the casino. John thought back to the street vendors who were desperately trying to sell their rustic, homemade crafts. These were the same individuals who Sefweui had wronged.

"So, you can take out the robots just by using those bombs?" John looked at Falco.

"Adding any electrical current to the robot's hardware will cause the circuitry to malfunction. No Empire officers can get in here, no one has their weapons, and the robots can't touch us!"

"Interesting."

"And, Sefweui is almost always in that big room at the top of the casino. How's that for casing the joint?"

Falco pointed up to the large window that overlooked the entirety of the main stage and bar area. The bartender returned to check in with them, alarming them once again.

"So, are you guys good?"

"We're gonna close out," John told him.

"Cool. That'll be 90 crystl."

"That's a lot of Slarf," John joked and handed his ring to the bartender. "I'll get this Falco. You can pay for our next refuel."

The bartender took the ring and said, "It was mostly for the glob gobbles. They don't really stay alive too long on this planet. Sorry, but you don't have enough credits, man. I saw you go for a dance with Sora. You know it's like 30,000 crystl for each song with her, right?"

"WHAT?" John shrieked. "That girl ripped us off!"

"She ripped _you_ off! You idiot. Maybe she is a dragon woman..." Falco said as he handed the bartender his own ring. "How many songs did you get?"

"She said she charged me for five. All of the work I've done over the last month...my 150,000 crystl is gone, man!" John threw his hands up in rage and nearly pulled his hair out.

"Five? You were gone way longer than that. I guess she did give you some preferential treatment," Falco said coldly, "but not much."

It was not so much that Falco was jealous of John for finding romance with Sora. Falco had always seen Sora as just a friend, but he did feel some rage because of John's luck in reigniting a bond with a woman he had already known on Earth. Falco, like any man in his early twenties longed for that same attention.

On the other end of the spectrum of young-adult, male romance, John had immediately began plotting his future with Sora when he decided he loved her. He was already deep into the fantasy of going for rides in his Coupewing through the Six Galaxies, listening to hard rock music with Sora. With a girl like Sora at his side, there would be nothing else in the universe he would require. This fantasy had come to an abrupt halt, and he now had doubts in his mind about Sora. Falco had done an impressive job in casing the joint, and perhaps Sora only scammed him because of her responsibility to the casino. His hatred for Sefweui, which started as merely a spark, had now been ignited by the flames of young love. John resolved that he would free Sora at all costs. The only question that remained was whether that fire would be capable of burning down the centuries-old casino.

Falco finished his business with the bartender, remembering to give him a large tip.

"Hey, thanks guys! Come back soon. My name is Miike, by the way," the bartender seemed pleased with the tip and walked away from the boys.

"How are we gonna get back to Zandús, Falco?"

"It's cool, remember? We're close to Zandús for the next few horras or so."

"Yeah, but the Coupewing is in the garage. We have to think about our exit, too, not just the heist itself. It seems we don't just need the help of one person. We have to hope Sora can really help us by recruiting some others. If we're gonna run this hit, we gotta recruit Sora."

"How _do_ we get our Coupewing back, exactly?" Falco wondered out loud.

The two looked at each other frantically, as the reality that the exiting process had never been made clear to them hit them hard.

"Yo, Miike!" John yelled across the bar at the bartender.

"What now?" The bartender groaned and walked over to the boys. "What's up, guys?"

"How do we get our Coupewing back?"

"Ha. So, you have two options. You can go down that big elevator you came up to get back to the garage and look for it. Basically, you'll show your pins from the parking booth to the elevator operator. He'll take you to your floor and then the pins will glow as you walk in the direction of your ship. The ship has another pin inside, which will glow the same color as yours. The other option is to just have one of the valet guys pick it up for you. That runs about 100 crystl, of course."

"You guys sure know how to gouge your customers. Thanks for the info."

"Yeah, it's pretty messed up. Have a good duatna, guys. Just four horras left!"

Miike left and the two rose from their stools. Falco was excited by John's newfound enthusiasm for taking down Sefweui.

"Four horras?" Falco did a rough calculation in his head, "That's like eight hours. Let's split up and look for Sora's quarters. Once we touch base with her, we can go get our weapons from the Coupewing," Falco stated.

"You'll have to teach me that conversion again... I still can't get the hang of time out here. She gave me her card. It has her room number on it, but we will have to sneak into that part of the casino."

"I have an idea, but if there's a chance she's on the enemy's side, we better be careful."

The two shook hands and grinned at each other.

"An evil warlord and trafficker and just four horras to take him down until Zandús is too far for our ship," remarked John. "I'm getting pumped up for this one."

END VERSE 2
Chapter 3

Sora had just finished her shift and was in her private changing room. The room was filled with racks, where various outfits were hanging. Sora sat in front of a large mirror surrounded by lightbulbs. She scraped off the makeup and gems that had been plastered to her skin, and she changed into a comfortable, punk-style outfit designed by Sefweui's fashion artists, Yootoo artisans also enslaved by the casino. She heard a knock on the door and she quickly opened it. Sefweui entered. His immense size and height gave him a domineering presence. A large blade sat in its sheath on his hip. He removed his helmet, revealing his dark, red face.

"How is my little pet?" he said condescendingly.

"Fine. You will be pleased with my earnings tonight, master."

"I always am. Did you learn anything that might be useful to me?"

"There are two other humans here tonight. They each have bounties of 50 million crystl."

"You don't say?" Sefweui's voice rose and he began to smile. "That's quite a lot of money. It is still hard to believe the Emperor is so adamant about ridding the Six Galaxies of your puny race. Thank you for telling me. Where are they?"

"I assume they will try to rescue me, like the others."

"Good, I will set another trap. This is the fifth day in a row you have been able to help me capture a bounty, but none as high as this! Security bots will be guarding your room tonight. I'm afraid I have to ask you to stay in during your break, so we can catch them. Their bounties will be a nice bonus to the day's profits. Do you want me to stay with you? You will feel safer with me by your side," he grinned.

"I worked very hard for you tonight, my master. I need to rest so I can continue to work at this level."

"My poor, little darling. I promise that soon we will be so rich that the Emperor begs for a piece of my power. Then, we can live in his massive palace on Galatron Center and you will not have to work. He will share with us his secret for Eternal Life. Can you imagine? The two of us, spending the rest of eternity together in the cosmos. Wouldn't that be nice, my pet?"

"Of course, master. I want nothing more than to be your slave forever. Please, keep me safe from all the scary aliens," she pulled herself close to him.

As a Yoot, Sefweui is a humanoid creature with dark red skin. On his head he has two small, pointed ears that resemble horns. On his forehead is a bulging spike. In ancient times, the Yoots would adorn these spikes in order to attract mates. In modern times, the size of the spike signifies how much power one has, though its ancient purpose remains biologically significant. When Sora clung to Sefweui in diffidence, the horn began to swell with his excitedness.

"Oh my! You stupid girl. You mustn't call them 'aliens' because you may offend our guests. Regardless, you are such a hard worker. I hope you will continue to serve me well. I have arranged for us to spend the entire day together on your day off. I look forward to hearing what becomes of these humans." He wrapped his hand around her head and lifted it up to his. "If you really want to live outside the casino, you will help me trap more bounties. I look forward to seeing you again soon. Good day."

Sefweui released Sora and she fell to the ground. He closed the door and Sora let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry John," she thought to herself. "I really hope you don't do something stupid."

She gathered her necessary belongings and left the changing room. She began the long, silent walk from the changing room to her living quarters. She thought of Sefweui and his plan to raise his position in the Empire. She thought of the countless slaves working in the casino, who had once been proud owners of land and governed themselves. She thought of the other dancers, who were also abducted from their planets after the Emperor decided their societies were worthless. Whether it was possible or not, the thought of spending the rest of eternity with this wicked man filled her with rage.

"I can't let my anger rule me," she thought. "I have to stay strong. I have to survive. I have to... for my son."

Despite only being twenty-three years old, Sora had been wed and bore a child with a man on Earth. This man turned into an alcoholic, and she had to force him out of her house and raise the child on her own for three years. When the Emperor began torturing humanity on planet Earth, she was separated from her child and spent a great deal of time trying to find him. This was the source of her grudge against the Empire. It was then that she was captured by a group of bandits from space, who brought her to Sefweui to be added to his collection of endangered species.

"Help me!"

Sora overheard the cry for help from further down the corridor. The hallway was off-limits to regular customers because it was where the changing rooms were located, but, sometimes, aggressive customers would force their way in.

Sora sprinted to the source of the cry, and she recognized the voice to be Allli's, another dancer at the casino.

"Please help me!"

"Shut your mouth!"

Allli was desperately attempting to hold off P. Kube, the wealthy politician who had earlier made a deal with Sefweui. He was feeling a boost of confidence with his new business partnership, and he felt slighted when Allli refused to provide him with a certain service. Sora was able to find them just as P. Kube started grabbing Allli.

"Oh yeah! You're mine now. No one is going to save you because Sefweui and I are partners. I gave him so much money that I can do anything I want!"

"Yeah, right!"

Sora leaped through the air and grabbed P. Kube's neck with her arm as she came down.

"What the?" he stammered.

"Sora, is that you?" Allli tried to look up to see what was happening but was being smothered by the politician.

"Hi-yah!"

Sora summoned all of her strength. Her powerful body, honed by Japanese martial arts on Earth, had grown stronger because of the conditions in space. Her new espionage training coupled with her will for survival made her a powerful fighter. She quickly rose through the ranks of the casino with her fighting and performing, making her Yootoo Casino's Chief of Espionage after only a year. She executed a judo throw and P. Kube's head smashed into the ground, rendering him unconscious.

"Phew," Sora was relieved that the fight did not last longer.

"Thank you, chief!" Allli looked up at Sora with sadness in her eyes, and then began to wail with her sadness and rage. "I can't do this anymore!"

Sora knelt beside Allli and held her in her arms.

"You're okay, girl," Sora told her.

"Sora, you don't understand. On my home world, I was a princess. I taught the youth of our realm how to read and write. My life was filled with purpose. I cannot be a slave anymore! Please! You have to help me escape from here. I just can't do this anymore! Please save me, chief!"

She wailed again in her rage, though this particular race did not shed tears. Sora held her close and reflected on her own situation.

"Come on. You can spend the night with me in my room, if you want," Sora told Allli.

"That's okay. I'll...I'll be alright, I think. It's not like it's the first time. This guy..." suddenly she recognized who the man was," This guy is an official from the Empire. He is responsible for the execution of my brother, the king of our planet, Hoya. My brother worked for the Revolution, and they were well on the way to adapting our country to the Emperor's new laws. Why does he take so much pride in destroying my family!"

She kicked the corpse of the politician. Blood poured from his fractured skull, and his body did not react to the kicks from Allli.

"Sora! I think you killed him. You are so strong. What would we do without you to protect us?"

Sora, like John and Falco, had experienced a tremendous change in muscle mass and strength upon adapting to the conditions of space, and she too was impressed by what her body could now do.

"I wish I knew how to help you, Allli. We are all prisoners here," Sora's face grew solemn.

The two eventually went their separate ways. Sora ordered some robots to dispose of the body, a regular occurrence in the casino. Sora's heart was filled with sadness at the thought of what might have happened to Allli had she not arrived when she did. A somber saxophone could be heard playing through the floors below. This was just another day of life in the casino. She walked under the cool evening winds that blew through the open windows of the hallways, which also let in some of the neon lights and sounds from the city below. She watched the now familiar tracings of the of the nearby gas giants' orbits. When she reached her room, she flopped herself down on the bed and the tears began to form in her eyes. She bit her tongue and did her best to start counting sheep.

Sefweui would not care about the casualty if the customer was truly trying to harm his stock, so she had no fear of punishment for the death of P. Kube, but the sound of Allli's cries echoed in her mind. She, just like Allli, knew that it was not long until her soul would not be able to stand this cruel treatment. She did her best to sleep, but after a half hour of restlessly tossing and turning in bed, and knowing that her break would soon end, she opted for a bath instead.

She made her way to her private bathroom. She poured several chemicals into a tub, and suddenly the basin was filled with a large, bubbling bath. She laid down and tried to relax. She lit several candles, and all was finally quiet. Her mind began to settle down, and she felt her body start to become less tense.

"I told you we'd find her if we crawled around in the vents."

"WHAT?" Sora screamed. "Who's there! I'll kill you, stalkers!"

Suddenly, John and Falco both fell through the ceiling into Sora's tub. She was already standing outside of it and wrapped in a towel when she started beating them with a large rod she detached from the wall. Eventually, she realized it was them. In order to be cautious, she decided to tie them to chairs in the center of her room, before they could wake up, in case they were going to try something strange.

Several of the other dancers and band members in her wing overheard the noise and came to Sora's room to see what was happening. The security robots did not realize what was taking place inside the room, and so they remained on standby outside Sora's door. When the dancers and musicians saw the boys tied to chairs and their chief ready to interrogate them, they decided to stay and watch. This was a common occurrence, as the employees took joy out of punishing some of the less respectful customers.

Eventually, the boys woke up.

"What the? Hey, John! Wake up!" Falco yelled.

"Wha...huh? Sora! What's the deal!"

"What are you doing in my vents! You trying to sneak a peek or something?" Sora was very upset with them. "Don't tell me this is about Sefweui."

"That's exactly what it's about!" barked John.

"Sora, listen. We know things didn't work out so well on Earth, but we want the chance to help you," Falco tried to explain.

"We're gonna get you out of here!" John stated proudly.

"Give it up, losers," called out one of the band members.

"Sora, kick these creeps' butts."

"Yeah. Sefweui is untouchable!" remarked a dancer.

"When are you gonna beat these guys up, Sora?"

"Huh?" Falco was surprised.

Sora held up her hand and the small crowd grew quiet. She looked at John and Falco disapprovingly.

"I thought I asked you guys not to bother me," Sora said. "I appreciate your concern, but I get everything I need here."

"It's not just about you, Sora," explained Falco. "We're fed up with this Sefweui guy's whole act. He's just trying to rip everybody off and he doesn't care about others. When we were trying to find you, we basically searched this entire place. We saw the slaves hard at work in the generator room. We saw the cooks, who work all day and night to prepare meals without any rest, and who are never allowed to eat! Listen, we just want a little help with our plan. You don't have to get your hands dirty. We're going to take him down and free everybody in the process!"

Some of the other performers grew more serious.

"Do these guys actually want to help us?"

"Sora, who are these guys?"

"Quiet!" Sora said loudly, and the group became completely silent. "I don't want your help. I don't need saving. This isn't about playing hero or being rebels! This is life or death now! Don't you see? All we can afford to do is stay alive."

"But what kind of existence do you really want for yourself?" Falco declared. "Listen, if we all work together, we can do this."

Some of the observers began to take Falco seriously, and they looked to Sora for her approval. Each of them had become one of Sefweui's pawns against their will, but no one had ever seriously wanted to help them. Sora was like an idol to most of the workers at the casino, and they always counted on her leadership in complicated situations.

"No. No. No. No way. Why would we risk everything we have gained for ourselves here? Go take your Revolution talk elsewhere," Sora insisted.

"Do you not hear yourself? The rebels want to help people like us. If we take down Sefweui, we will, for sure, all have a place to go. It is up to us as individuals to carry out justice where it is needed!" Falco quoted one of the Revolution Magazine's slogans.

"Save it, Falco," John interjected.

"What?" Falco looked confused.

"If she doesn't want our help, we won't help her," said John. "It's her choice."

The crowd, Sora, and Falco were all shocked.

"Oy, John! What's with the sudden change in attitude? What happened to taking down Sefweui! Wasn't the whole point to free her? What gives?" yelled Falco.

"Being free is her decision to make, Falco. She decides what that means for herself. That's freedom," John explained.

"Aren't you ticked about your money?" Falco was outraged.

"Sora," John looked at her and she became tense. "Let us go. We won't bother you anymore."

Sora was frustrated, and she was even more frustrated for letting John see her cry twice in one day.

"I thought you were Johnny Paycheck? I can refund the crystl if it makes you feel better."

"Keep it," John told her.

"What?" Sora gasped.

"What gives, chief? Are these guys mad because you ripped them off, too?" one other slave asked.

"G-good," Sora hesitated, and she then began to untie them.

The crowd dispersed as she did so, and the humans were left alone in Sora's room. Sora's face grew despondent and serious. The trio stood in the center of the room, facing each other. Falco noticed Sora's eyes watering.

"I'm glad we came to an understanding... You might want to go back through the vents on your way out. There are security robots by my door and..." Sora began to tell them.

Falco looked at John, who said nothing. The boys gathered their things and made their way towards the door.

"Wait, didn't you hear what I just said?" Sora yelped.

John closed the door behind them, and Sora heard a loud crash outside her room.

"Idiots! Those robots will kill you in a second!"

Sora scrambled towards the door in horror. When she opened it, she saw the two, armed robots lying in a heap on the ground, unable to function. She watched as John and Falco slowly walked down the hall. Some of the other workers who saw what took place ducked for cover as John and Falco passed, as they were now terrified of the boys after watching them destroy the powerful robots.

John and Falco made their way out of the casino. Finding their way back to the elevator was no small feat, but they managed after some dedicated searching, and they got an even greater sense of the layout of the casino, noting the location of the generator room in the basement. As they crossed the bridge that led from the casino to the elevator, they looked back one last time at the gaudy casino. They went through the process of showing their pins to the elevator operator, and when they entered the garage, they followed the lights from their pins to Falco's ship. Falco popped the trunk and they both stood, looking out into the few visible stars of the night sky through the open walls of the garage. Each consumed a can of Slarf that Falco had stored in his ride.

"So, we're giving up?" Falco asked.

"I guess so. We did good finding everything, but we only have two hours and no inside help. There isn't much we can do."

"It just makes me so mad!" Falco smacked his fist against the exterior of his ship.

"Yeah. It's a bunch of bull, but she did say she gets a lot of stuff for working here. Maybe she's right."

"I want to take this guy down, John! For justice!"

"What are you talking about, dude?"

"He's messed up, man! Someone has to do it!"

"It can't be helped," John shrugged.

The garage was a horrid, soggy place. There was little sound, but the echoes of clamoring voices and the wind from the outside mixed all around them. Just then, they heard what sounded like a large crowd walking in their direction.

"What's this?" asked Falco.

The two of them got down on the other side of their ship. John threw his glowing pin out into the empty space of the garage to illuminate the group that was moving towards them. They saw what looked to be a group of a few dozen, armed creatures, each wearing hoods. Falco and John had been suspicious of Sora's intentions when she robbed John of all of his credits, so perhaps she or somebody else had sold them out to Sefweui in exchange for a prize.

"She sold us out!" John cursed.

"This isn't good, John. They must have found out we're here. I knew we should have kept our helmets on!" Falco panicked.

"Stay calm, man."

Eventually the group was organized in a large row, and the boys could not get around them. One of the hooded characters stood forward.

"This is it, Falco. Be ready," whispered John.

The two of them were unarmed, but they both took an athletic stance and began watching for an opening to run. John wondered what sort would be trying to target them in a so-called "safe place." Was the invitation for pirates from Zandús a trap?

"These must be undercover Empire officers..." he thought. "We're dead."

"Yo, John."

It was Sora.

"Are you there? I changed my mind," she said, her voice echoing against the hard walls of the garage.

The boys breathed a sigh of relief. They stood up and stepped in front of the crowd. All of them lowered their hoods, and John and Falco recognized several faces from the casino.

"Sup, guys!" said Miike, cheerfully. "Sora decided we should all help you out. She says you're both really strong, and you're going to help us beat Sefweui and reclaim our freedom."

"I decided I couldn't go another day living this tortuous life. This isn't all of the folks I've recruited to help us, but they wanted to come with me to help with the plan. You know, I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, too," Sora told them. "We have some of the dancers and token vendors on our side. These guys here are from the headlining band that's performing tonight. We have had many plans for escaping for a long time, but we lacked the power to carry them out."

Another character moved forward and said, "Yo. I'm the lead singer of the band, name's Bon Ami. We're gonna help you guys carry out your plan from the stage. We'll do our best to keep everyone's attention away from you. I hope our tunes don't distract you while you're trying to fight! I've been waiting for my shot to link up with some rebels."

"We also have some valet employees that will help us escape. I hope you don't mind if I crash at your place tonight," Sora asked.

"No problem," said Falco. "What about everyone else?"

"Everyone is figuring out where they're going, but the valet guys have been thinking about this for a long time, and they are excited to use the nanobots to ensure everyone has a ride home. A lot of us have nowhere to go, so they might head to the base of the Revolution, Grihaprivesh. We have all been planning for this moment for a long time," Sora answered. "This is our final gambit at freedom. We're counting on you two. Thank you for not forcing this on me. I realized that if I can do anything to help my friends escape from this prison, I will not hesitate."

"Okay. Well we only have one horra left, or 100 minutes, before our ship can't make it back to Zandús. We should plan a signal for when it's time to bounce." Falco finished his can of Slarf and burped out the pink vapor. "Let me see if I have any spare parts in my Coupewing. I had a good idea just now."

"Most of us have to get back to the casino soon. We will have to organize this mission quickly," Sora explained.

"Okay," said John. "Here's the plan."

END VERSE 3
**Chapter 4** **ENTER ACT III**

"Ladies and gentlemen!" The lead singer of the band grabbed the microphone. "We have prepared a fantastic show for you tonight!"

The crowd roared, and the band thundered out a raucous crescendo.

"We hope you're all ready for a night of revelry and sweet, sweet _freedom_! Me and the other 300 or so members of this band are pulling out all the stops tonight! We are doing so in honor of the master of parties, the boss, the great... Sefweui! Can we get the spotlight on the man of the hour?"

Bon Ami's enthusiasm absorbed all of the patrons of the bar and slot machines, and they hurried towards the stage to observe the special performance. The spotlight operator, who was also part of the newly formed coup, followed the singer's orders. The spotlight was able to locate Sefweui, who was clearly drunk, sat at a table near the bar with a group of diplomats and celebrities. Sefweui enjoyed the attention and made a show of the light being shined on his entourage.

BZZT "It seems Sefweui isn't in the VIP observation room, yet. Once the situation gets rowdy, we'll wait until we see the elevator ascend to his lair." BZZT

Sora's message was transmitted to a series of earpieces quickly assembled by Falco, so all of the many members of the newly formed squadron, including the lead singer, could communicate through either radio or their rings.

BZZT "Got it," answered the singer.

"Loud and clear," read John, who covertly blended in by playing a slot machine game, using tokens provided by the token vendors.

The band started a rendition of the song You Belong to the City by Glenn Frey, and the crowd began gathering in large numbers for one of the band's most popular songs. It was not long into the first chorus when the entire area of the main stage was filled with patrons of the casino. Sefweui began to panic, as this was not a planned portion of the program. The horn on his forehead began to swell with anger at these unforeseen events.

BZZT "Let's start moving our group towards the generator, Falco. Only ten minutes left," Sora's voice chimed in the key players' radios.

BZZT "Roger," voiced Falco, who had stationed a group of armed workers near the entrance to the basement. "I'm glad John and I were able to case the joint while we were looking for you."

BZZT "Stop trying to act cool!" voiced John.

The crowd grew into a frenzy as the band transitioned into another fan favorite. A group of the high price dancers entered through the curtain at center stage, each holding a large stack of the casino's prized tokens.

"We have partnered with the amazing dancers of this establishment to bring this audience a special treat!" Bon Ami declared.

"Free tokens for everyone!" a dancer chimed.

The dancers began throwing large supplies of tokens into the area surrounding the stage, causing a massive brawl among the clients of the casino, who were all desperate for the tokens.

"What is going on?" Sefweui roared and pushed the others at his table away from him. The stubby horn on his head throbbed and looked as if it were about to burst. "Where is Sora?"

"She was late to her shift today! No one has seen here!" one of Sefweui's employees informed him.

"I need to get to the VIP room so I can see what's going on!" Sefweui growled.

BZZT "So far so good! Take out that generator!" the singer's voice buzzed in Falco and Sora's ears.

Sora and a large group of employees under her command joined Falco's group by the generator room. The security bots guarding this area of the casino quickly closed in on their group of more than 30 newly determined rebels. The forces of the coup were blocked by a squadron of over a dozen of the security robots, each heavily armed. Many of the force bristled with fear when confronted by the robots, but their focus was drawn to Falco, who stepped forward.

"What are you doing?" Sora yelled.

Falco drew a device from his sack of gizmos.

"My new weapon. This will surely make me a feared warrior throughout the Six Galaxies!"

"Threat detected!" buzzed a robot.

"Behold! A powerful invention of humanity... the Tesla coil!" Falco said confidently.

"You are such a nerd, dude!"

Falco hoisted the Tesla gun he had created using the salvaged antenna from the earlier robot. He made several adjustments to the device using parts in his Coupewing throughout the planning phase of the mission, such as a handle for holding and firing the new weapon. He pressed the trigger and the coil began to hum. Several streams of electrical current flashed from the device, as it had been supercharged by crystl. Each stream was channeled into the large antennae on the heads of the robots. The robots of the large defense squadron, and the robots that were forcing the generator slaves to work were within range of Falco's weapon. Their circuits were overwhelmed by the added charge, and the robots instantaneously exploded. Falco performed a moonwalk to celebrate his victory.

"I'm a flipping beast!" Falco declared.

"Don't get cocky," Sora reminded him. She ordered the rest of their squad, "C'mon! We have to take out the generator. We have to get John his few seconds of cover before the backup power supply re-illuminates the casino!"

Lights and music filled the casino as the band thundered on. Bon Ami followed up a string of dance moves with a high-energy leg kick, which further excited the crowd. He delivered the final high note of the song and tossed his pink sunglasses into the crowd.

BZZT "John," the lead singer started, "are you in position? Remember that song you chose? Well, we're down to five minutes so it's about to start playing. It takes us about four minutes to get through the song, aight?"

BZZT "Oh, I'm ready," said John as he also removed his sunglasses, which he wore as a disguise, and he rose from his seat at the slot machine.

BZZT "Four minutes left! Is everybody ready? We're going to play _that_ song, everybody!" Bon Ami buzzed.

Just as the band began their cover of Rock with You by Michael Jackson, Falco and the slaves in the generator room were able to stop the flow of electricity. John selected this song because he and Falco often practiced Michael Jackson dance moves together and this was their preferred hit. The band agreed when they remembered the song contains a very obvious signal. John, Falco, and Sora would need to use a moment in the song as their signal to leave on time to reach Zandús, even if they could not take out Sefweui.

During the third chorus of Rock with You, at around the third minute of the song, there is a key change. A key change is a device in pop music where everything in the song is brought either up or down by a step, allowing singers and musicians to show their mastery and deliver climatic high notes during a crescendo. John would be listening for this signal during his fight with Sefweui, in case his communications with the group broke down.

With both the most popular dancers throwing countless valuable tokens and the band playing their most popular songs, the largest crowd ever gathered around the main stage of Yootoo Casino had erupted into madness, and Sefweui had no choice but to use the elevator to ascend to his private observation room. When the singer noticed the elevator rising behind the stage, he gave the planned signal to start John's part of the plan.

"Let's hit it!"

The band erupted into a thrilling symphony of trumpets and other brass instruments, just as all of the power in the casino was cut by Falco and Sora's group. John stood in a spotlight that had become loose during the madness of the raid.

♪ _Close your eyes,_

Let that rhythm get into you,

Don't try to fight it,

There ain't nothin' that you can do,

Relax your mind,

_Lay back and groove with mine_ ♪

"Listen to me Sefweui!" John stared into the window of the VIP room as the rest of the casino grew dark.

Sefweui was watching from above. He was being guarded by an entire platoon of security robots as he observed a wall of security monitors, "Who's that? Is that filthy human responsible for all of this? How are you going to get to me? I'll kill you first!"

"My name is John Smith. I'm from Earth, and I'm here to claim your bounty in the name of the Revolution!"

BZZT "You don't have to make such a show of it!" Sora barked.

♪ You gotta feel that heat,

And we can ride the boogie,

Share that beat of love~ ♪

John used the rockets in his space boots to launch himself gracefully from the stage area to the VIP room.

"He can fly?" Sefweui's jaw dropped.

♪ _I want to rock with you ♪_

Crash! The window shattered as John burst through it.

♪ _All night~ ♪_

A dozen security robots in the room immediately fixed their sights onto John. John, still airborne, pulled from his pocket one of Falco's electrical bombs and casually tossed it into the air, causing all of the robots and monitors in the room to explode. John's momentum carried him in the direction of Sefweui, who sat at the other end of the table. Using the rocket boots, John performed a roundhouse kick across the length of the table. Sefweui was still drunk from his activities on the main floor, and he could not react in time. When John's boot connected with Sefweui's helmet, John reignited the rocket thruster on its sole, blasting off Sefweui's helmet and knocking him to the ground.

John stepped on Sefweui's chest and pointed his blaster at his face.

" _This is a hold up_ ," John informed him.

The room was filled with smoke from the explosion of the robots. In this moment, one of the robots used what remained of its processor to fire a shot at John. John's armor absorbed the blast, but Sefweui capitalized on the diversion and was able to free himself. Sefweui disappeared into the cloud of thick smoke and drew his blade.

The stage had been set for the final battle. Sefweui tried to hit John with a horizontal strike in the darkness. John noticed him at the last moment, and he was able to block the cut with his own blade. Crystl energy surged through their blades while they were locked, illuminating their faces, and they stared into each other's eyes.

"You're strong?" Sefweui chuckled. "Aren't you that _merciful hunter_? I don't really have to be afraid of you."

Sefweui took a step back and prepared for a lunge attack. John's adrenaline began flowing as the thunderous music below continued into the second chorus of the song.

BZZT "The Coupewings have been successfully positioned. There are about 500 ships ready to fly. We parked them on the bridge to the elevator. Chief Sora, we were able to position your ride, the X777 model, at the entrance of the casino. We received word that several Empire vessels have entered Yootoo's airspace, so we're getting out of here. If we all split up it will be impossible for them to catch us." a valet worker informed the group.

BZZT "Everybody! Make your way to the bridge! Rendezvous at Grihaprivesh!" Sora ordered.

The large crowd of rebels that had helped Falco disable the power supply ran to the bridge and found ships. It was not long before all of the workers had escaped, following orders from Sora. Falco and Sora stood by Falco's Coupewing and waited for John. Most of the crowd of the casino was still involved in the massive brawl for the tokens, and they did not seem to realize that there was a coup going on around them. The song entered the final bridge to the last chorus. The battle in the VIP room continued.

"Do you really think you can defeat me! Do not let my low Revolution bounty deceive you. I am the most powerful man in the Six Galaxies! I have no rivals in blade combat! I have the full force of the Empire behind me! You will never win!" Sefweui laughed, and John realized the man was drunk and off balance.

"Don't be so sure of yourself!"

The two blades clashed as Sefweui revealed himself a second time. John grit his teeth. Sefweui had a distinct size advantage and was incredibly strong. John needed to use his blaster if he was going to win this fight, but he needed both hands on his blade to block the powerful Sefweui.

Sefweui laughed. "Now you realize what a grave mistake you have made! I am unstoppable in this house! You are so pathetic! Ha... It's making me laugh..."

John could see the scorn in Sefweui's eyes. John realized the great evil of the man he was facing. This evil gaze reminded John of the moment he shared with Sora in the private room. John thought of all the workers who were desperately fighting for their freedom below.

"I won't lose to you."

"Huh? Where are you getting this strength?"

Sefweui's lost the grip on his blade and John was able to overpower him.

"Huh?"

Sefweui's drunkenness affected him greatly, and John was able to perform a quick vertical strike after being freed from the horizontal block. The slice dismembered Sefweui's dominant arm, and he dropped his blade as he fell to the ground.

"Hey, please don't hurt me! I have money, girls, booze! Anything you want! Be reasonable!"

"I'm starting to realize something," John told him. "You and all these other Empire guys are all the same. You all do whatever it takes to bring yourself as much power as possible, and you never take a moment to think about how your actions really affect those you see as beneath you."

"I will become the most powerful man in space! I'm going to get out of here and..."

John kicked Sefweui to the ground as he tried to crawl away. John again pointed his blaster at Sefweui.

"You are a pathetic excuse for a man, but I don't have to kill you. Beg! Like my momma and dad begged for their lives when your crappy Empire ruined Earth!"

"You won't kill me! You're a coward! You're the _merciful hunter_! You won't kill anybody. What, do you think I'm not worth killing? Ha! I know you're just another cowardly human!"

John fired a warning shot at the ground next to Sefweui's head.

"Beg!"

"I don't have to grovel with the likes of you. I know you're scared. You realize that if you kill me, you will have to face the full force of the Empire! Do you realize how much military power you will be up against? The entire force of Six Galaxies, no – _the entire universe_ – will be out for you!"

"I'm used to it."

The third chorus began, and John shot Sefweui in the face, through his horn. The horn deflated and blood poured from it. Sefweui was dead, and the lights of the casino returned with the power of the backup generator.

♪ _I want to rock with you,_

I want to groove with you,

ROCK,

All niiiiight,

_Rock you into daaaaay~_ ♪

BZZT "John, did you catch that? That was the key change! We gotta go!" Falco's voice buzzed in John's ear. "Just one minute left or Zandús will be too far for our current crystl! We can't really stop to get more right now, there's about a dozen Empire ships on their way. They're going to try to trail us!"

BZZT "Did you get all that?" Sora hounded him.

"I'm coming!"

Falco and Sora sat in Falco's Coupewing at the exit of the casino. Falco was staring at his wristwatch, an old Casio he had been able to bring with him from Earth, and Sora tapped her foot impatiently.

John rocketed himself out of the darkness of Sefweui's VIP room. He took one last look at Sefweui, the first man he had ever killed. John was disappointed in himself for going against his code. His rage had taken over, and, besides, it seemed there would be no changing ideologies for Sefweui. John reasoned that Sefweui must have gotten what he deserved.

John jumped through the broken window of the VIP room. Smoke and dust rose from the floor below, as customers of the casino continued to brawl over the tokens on the ground. It would be a long time before Yootoo would return to normal, but this victory would become the start of Yootoo's great reconstruction. As the song ended, the musicians began the process of fleeing the casino.

"Do you think he'll make it out?" Sora asked Falco.

"Hey, guys!"

John opened one of the doors to the backseat and got in the ride. He took off his helmet and took a deep breath.

"John! Did you?.." Sora looked at John, hoping for some sign that Sefweui had fallen.

"Yes...It's over now," John told her, as he settled into his seat, "Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"Rock the Casbah? Who let Falco decide on the escape song?"

"No time for this! Let's go," Falco yelled.

The Coupewing roared as Falco pressed down a switch. They launched deep into the night and were instantaneously flying over the neon resorts and beaches of Yootoo.

BZZT "Did you all make it out?" Bon Ami's voice buzzed.

"All good here," Sora answered. "What about you and the rest of the band? I know the other workers were able to escape."

BZZT "Of course we made it, girl!"

"Well, everyone," Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Mission successful. We will touch base on Grihaprivesh. Well done, everybody."

Some cheers and applause could be heard from the other end of the radio signal. Just then, a fleet of Empire ships began trailing Falco's ship.

BZZT "Hold it!"

BZZT "You're under arrest! Don't make us shoot you down!"

The fleet of Empire ships appeared in the night sky of Yootoo nearly instantaneously. The blasters beneath the ships were glowing with energy, preparing to shoot if the crew gave them reason. Falco tried to lose them by performing a somersault with his ship, but the Empire pilots were too skilled.

"Woah, these guys are fast! I don't think we're gonna make it. We're still in the planet's atmosphere!" Falco was panicking.

"Just go hyper speed!" John urged.

"We can't!" Sora spoke quickly. "We have to leave the boundaries of the planet or we might vaporize ourselves! Don't you know going hyper speed within the boundaries of a planet is a capital offense? Just because you guys are already criminals doesn't mean I have to be one. We could seriously injure ourselves or die if we try that! Just let them arrest us!"

"Meh. Who cares? We ain't got much to live for anyway," said John.

Falco laughed, "I guess we don't really have a choice."

"No! Wait! Let me out!" Sora yelped.

John slammed the launch stick from the backseat, and the ship started glowing. There was the sound of a loud explosion, and suddenly the crew found themselves flying through space. They were approaching the speed of light, and everything they passed was locked in spacetime. The Empire ships that had been trailing them on Yootoo had most likely been vaporized behind them, and Falco and Sora breathed sighs of relief. It was eerily peaceful in space after the battle that was just had. They observed the passing solar systems as the ship automatically took them in the direction of system F367. The crew was extremely fortunate that the ship survived the launch.

Sora stared in amazement at the sights of space travel. This was her first flight in space since being abducted. Her eyes began to water.

"Wooooo!" Sora screamed.

"Ow!" John and Falco both held their ears. "What gives?"

"I did it! I made it out! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Woohooooo!"

John and Falco smiled at each other.

"Hey wait!" John put his hand on Falco's shoulder. "Don't we gotta get that bounty! 30 million crystl!"

"Woof. You guys will be sitting pretty," Sora told them, shifting in her seat, "We will have to go to Grihaprivesh to claim it."

"Don't get too excited," Falco explained, as he carefully guided the ship, "I was checking the Revolution Magazine while we were waiting for you, John. It turns out the bounty is actually for his helmet. So, it's back to work once we get to Zandús."

"Aw! What?"

"That makes sense. Realistically, you got incredibly lucky. No one should be able to beat Sefweui head to head like that. The helmet contains all of the data for his various business transactions and communications with the Empire. It would likely provide the rebels with a great deal of information for strategizing their next moves. Oh well," Sora sighed.

"You mean this helmet? I thought I should grab it because it looks pretty cool," John pulled the helmet out of a bag.

"Holy –"

"They really should call you Johnny Paycheck!"

"Are we rich or something now?"

Falco and Sora held back their excitement, but the entire crew was pumped about the prospect of never needing to fight for crystl again. Perhaps their troubles had come to a temporary end.

"Let's stop at Zandús first, so we can pick up John's Coupewing and our utility ship. I think I need a nap or something."

"Oh, by the way. I know we're all really happy about what just happened, but I need to say something," Sora turned to face the boys, "just because you're the only guys out here, don't think you're entitled to me in some way. I don't care if you're the last humans in space."

"Hear that, John?" Falco laughed. He never had romantic sights on Sora, but knew John was enamored with her.

"Ha! I would not expect anything else from you," John told her.

The crew settled back and continued their banter. Each of them talked about their many heroic actions during the raid. Sora stared out the window into the vastness of space and hoped for all of the other slaves' safety. Just then, a radio broadcast interrupted their music.

BZZT "This is breaking news! Three humans from the blacklisted planet Earth were sited today at Yootoo Casino. They are being accused of a multitude of crimes. They are responsible for the abduction of over three thousand employees from the casino, as well as stealing over 500 Coupewings and other vessels. They are being charged with the murder of at least twenty Empire officers and the destruction of their ships, and for the capital offense of going hyper speed within the boundaries of a planet. These are incredibly dangerous criminals, and the Empire is encouraging all businesses to be wary of these heartless murderers. Lastly, these humans have been accused of murdering Admiral Sefweui and the notable politician, P. Kube, in the most breaking story of this news cycle! Each of these humans have received new bounties," the reporter stammered suddenly before revealing the new bounties, "Technological savant, Falco: 130 million crystl! Martial arts and espionage wunderkind, Sora: 165 million! John Smith, the _merciful hunter_ , 200 million crystl! Experts are saying that an organized attack on Empire property of this magnitude would likely point to involvement from the Revolution. If these humans are allied with the rebels, the raid on Yootoo Casino will be forever recorded in the annals of history as a terrible loss for the Empire." BZZT

"When are they going to stop calling me that?" John groaned.

"I got one, too?" Sora pursed her lips angrily.

"I guess the Empire just sees you as another person on the run that should be dead. Those are some seriously high bounties. That should put us in the elite category. Maybe some of the smaller fries will stop pestering us now," Falco said.

"Yeah," John replied, "but that also means more elite groups will be targeting us, too."

Sora was observing her nails and spoke as if she was not paying attention, "Let's be extremely cautious when we gather your things from Zandús. There's no telling when we will be discovered. I think we should have some time to rest, but let's head to the Revolution base to collect the bounty and see if they can offer us some protection," Sora explained.

"Play Private Eyes by Hall and Oates," John ordered Falco's ship's AI and the song started.

"Nice," said Falco.

The three of them continued their conversation and came up with the plan as they enjoyed the song. The ship was flying smoothly, and they watched as they passed planets and other astral bodies. Falco pointed out several celestial objects and explained the underlying astronomical principles to John and Sora, who were not listening.

"I'm still not sure about these rebels," John told them. "But I do know I'm happy to be flying around space with you two."

"Let's make a pact!" Sora announced.

"What?" asked John.

"To never abandon each other. No matter what happens, this crew stays together."

"Of course!" smiled Falco.

"Obviously..." John smirked. "That goes without saying."

...

END.

# NEXT TIME!!!...

How will Sora fair in her new life outside of the casino with the boys?

Will the rebels be trustworthy enough for John to lower his suspicions?

How will the Emperor respond to this new threat to his regime?

Will the mysteries surrounding crystl ever be uncovered?

What happened to planet Earth?

All this...in the next exciting edition of _Revelation_!

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