Information

Galex
Legacy Name: Authorize

The Common RA-001
Owner: Pureflower

Age: 5 years, 11 months, 3 weeks

Born: April 23rd, 2018

Adopted: 5 years, 11 months, 3 weeks ago

Adopted: April 23rd, 2018

Pet Spotlight Winner
April 15th, 2022

Statistics

• Level: 45
   
• Strength: 80
   
• Defense: 12
   
• Speed: 8
   
• Health: 10
   
• HP: 10/10
   
• Intelligence: 84
   
• Books Read: 72
• Food Eaten: 0
• Job: Pawnbroker

A Matter of Time

The tick of the wall clock was the only sound in his office.

It was a sound he usually found soothing, but not tonight. Tension was a heady, lingering stench. He'd had to lock down half the cell blocks and even reduce the gravity over in violent crimes. Two seasoned guards were still in the infirmary. It was a miracle neither had required off-planet medical aid. The transportation forms were a nightmare.

As if he needed any more of those.

The inmates of Maxicon V were the worst criminals not only in the six surrounding galaxies.

They were the worst in the entire universe.

The single-life-term inmates were practically college professors compared to some of the scum hidden away in the maximum security levels down near the planet's core.

The red light started blinking on the surveillance terminal. He didn't bother to flip the view switch. He could picture the raging gleevok in his head just fine. He didn't need to see sixteen writhing limbs the color of raw liver or hear the squeals of a pig being gutted to know that Xeek was unhappy with his living arrangements.

Maybe if he hadn't decided to devour half the life forms on a defenseless planet, the Universal Council would have been more sympathetic about letting him have a viewscreen in his cell.

Galex took a sip of coffee and sighed. Budget cuts for the third year running. Some airhead on the Council probably hadn't liked the light fixtures in the Debate Hall bathrooms.

His thoughts turned to his big brother. Solarin was in the midst of that nest of hornets but Sol had always had a way with people that Galex sorely lacked. He was a total golden boy, the kind of smooth-talking man nobody ever got tired of listening to.

Sol apprehended criminals and Galex saw to it they never again saw a proper sunrise.

Sometimes even he liked his brother better than himself.

Another red light, this one on the white collar block.

Galex had over two thousand inmates to worry about, each of them a potential blinking red light. Zillionaire Club rejects were pretty low on his list. Probably one of the Trillium Diamond Heist bandits trying to get a rise out of one of the more volatile Platonium Forgery operatives. Galex snorted and took another drawn-out sip of coffee. Two hours into a twelve-hour shift and the night was already long.

A third light, this one armed with an annoying chirp.

His eyes flicked up to the top of the board. Each of the dozen lights was set into an iron plate with a toggle switch to the right. These twelve were the planet killers, the most dangerous scum alive.

The switches would flood the targeted chamber with gas. The designers of the prison were 98% confident it would be enough to take the Twelve Terrors down.

Galex was a planner. He has his own strategy to make up for that 2%. Nobody...not even the Universal Council...knew about The Last Resort.

A single switch made of infinium, the strongest of metals. A subtle shift of his finger had the power to make the prison go up in an inferno so hot, the planet might go supernova.

A fourth light in violent crimes. Sweat trickled down between his shoulder blades. He really had to get a maintenance guy to take a look at his office. The surface of the planet was -70 degrees yet his office felt like a sauna.

Two more lights. His hand was trembling as he reached for the phone. Protocol demanded he signal the communications tower if the number topped five.

The seventh light made a mockery of his hope that he was overreacting.

Vice Warden Rill answered on the second ring. "You still up, Boss? I'd think after wrestling with that miserable vreena, even you could win the battle with insomnia."

"Aren't you seeing this, Rill? I know it's a full moon but seven in one hour...make that eight."

There was a pause. "I've got no lights, Boss. You sure you weren't dreaming?"

Tired, yes. Sleeping, no. Insane?

Maybe.

"Do a reboot, Rill. You know the equipment in this place was old when your grandfather was still in diapers."

Rill grunted in agreement. Galex could hear him flipping switches and cursing when he smacked his head on the underside of his desk.

"Holy asteroid belt! You're right, Boss. Must be another short circuit on this end. Want me to call up the reserve?"

There was no humor in Galex's laugh. "I'd say they're a skeleton crew but they'd be missing half the bones. We'll give our restless friends a warning shot."

Every inmate had an implant behind the left ear. It would release a gentle but powerful current that acted as effectively as a potent sleep drug. Six of the lights went dark. Even the planet killer couldn't fight his own brain waves.

Xeek's light continued to blink.

Despite his occasional violent outburst, Xeek was definitely not one to pass up an opportunity to sleep. Galex clipped his stunner to his belt, checking to make sure the charge was good. "Rill, you have comm. I'm going to check this out."

"In the middle of the night? Can't it wait until morning?"

"I've known this slimeball to sleep two hours past lights on just to spite us. Something isn't right and I've got to find out what it is."

"Just be careful. I only have two guys on that level. One just got cleared to return and the other's green as grass."

"That's 80% of our force these days. I want you on full lockdown until I report back."

"Good luck."

The older guard wore a sleek black walking boot that looked almost identical to a standard-issue. Only someone who knew what to look for could spot the walking aid for what it was. The rookie had that wide-eyed look that said he hadn't ever been in fear for his life.

Galex sincerely hoped that look would still be in place at the end of the hour.

Xeek was sitting on his cot, calmly watching their approach. His piggy little eyes narrowed against the glare of their flashlight beams. A gentle dripping sound came not from the sink next to his cot but from a fresh wound on his arm. A perfect pattern of twelve diamonds he'd clawed into his shoulder.

Xeek chuckled, his voice barely a whisper.

"She's coming for us, Warden. All of us. More importantly...she's coming for you.

"Who's coming, Xeek?"

"The embodiment of real universal power. She will hunt down every last fool stupid enough to interfere with her plans. The strong and might will rule as nature intended. You pathetic humans should have kept to your backwater planet. I wanted to watch my space soaps but watching you be ripped apart will be more amusing, I think."

A tentacle whipped out, stopping just short of the force field that would be generated if Xeek tried to pass it through the bars. The tip wriggled half an inch from Galex's nose. He didn't flinch. Pulling the stunner from his belt, he hit Xeek directly between two of his seven eyes. The mammoth miscreant dropped with a sound like boulders rolling down a hillside.

He slapped the young guard on the shoulder to get him moving. The boy reeked of fear.

Rill picked up before the phone finished ringing. "I saw the whole thing, Boss. I didn't even know Xeek knew that many words."

Galex downed the last of his coffee, making a face. Cold.

"I want you online with the Council first thing in the morning. I don't care if they have to send half the traffic cops from Vega. I want more men and I want them yesterday. Something big is on the wind. Human and dumb as I am, even I can sense it."

He set the holophone down with a gentle click. Rill's image vanished. The clock was once again the only sound in the room. It was an antique barely bigger than his hand, something his great-grandfather had carved. A souvenir from Earth, the only memento of his childhood he'd bothered to keep.

The sound of it had soothed him as a boy, a heartbeat to compliment his own when Galex went away to the Academy and left him feeling lost.

Now it sounded like a countdown. He wished he knew what zero would bring.

credits:

profile template by piers.
story by Pureflower.
Background Image from Here

Pet Treasure

Pet Friends