There were hundreds of satellites surrounding the planet, but a large portion of them were positioned close to the planet's atmosphere, orbiting around it and keeping watch in case any intruder tried to enter — most likely armed and ready to kill without hesitation.
"Wow," Nemesis said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Good news. The satellites didn't detect you. We've passed the danger zone," Nemesis said.
Upon hearing that, a wave of relief washed over me. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the situation.
"But it's curious," Nemesis added.
"What is?" I asked again.
"They really didn't spare any expense. These satellites are state-of-the-art, equipped with weapons capable of vaporizing anyone in an instant. Only a few beings would be able to withstand them, and only a couple would come out completely unscathed," Nemesis said.
I suppose she was referring to Gid and herself. As for me… I think some of my current aliens could resist those weapons, but I'm not entirely sure of their power, so it's better not to try anything too risky.
"Either way, it doesn't matter how much they spent. They can't locate us even with all that technology," I said.
"Yeah, I guess Larkos would never expect two beings like us to come and defeat him," Nemesis said.
No matter how smart that man is, how could he imagine that Nemesis and an alien capable of turning invisible would try to arrest him? No matter how intelligent he is, it's impossible to deduce something like that.
"Alright, we're entering the atmosphere. Let's do this quickly and head back home," Nemesis said.
Home… That word felt strange to her. Until now, the closest thing she had to a home was her spaceship, but surprisingly, she didn't dislike it at all — in fact, she was happy about it.
"I'm right behind you," I nodded.
It didn't take us long to reach the planet and pass through its atmosphere. When I finally got a clear view of the surface, the first thing I thought was "primitive." The planet was covered in dense forests, and in the far distance — very far — I could see water, whether it was an ocean or a lake, I couldn't tell because it was too far away. What I couldn't see anywhere was any kind of artificial infrastructure.
"Bad luck. We didn't enter from the right side… The good thing is that this planet is very primitive. Finding an artificial structure shouldn't be difficult, but… we can't search the entire planet. That would take too much time," Nemesis said.
No infrastructure was visible from our position.
"What do we do now?" I asked curiously.
"I underestimated that Larkos. He deliberately placed a large number of satellites in a specific area of the planet so that anyone who managed to get past his defenses would end up far from his base, giving them time to prepare for an attack or escape depending on the situation," Nemesis explained.
"What do you suggest we do now?" I asked.
"Try searching for a while," Nemesis replied.
"Um… I don't mean to sound lazy or anything, but this planet is huge and I doubt the base is anywhere near this area. I don't think we'll find anything even if we search for days," I said.
"Yeah… that's why I said just for a while. My ship has the ability to detect the exact location of Larkos's base. Don't ask how — it's very advanced technology that's hard to explain. But what you need to know is that it could locate his base in just a few minutes," Nemesis said.
"Why don't we go back to the ship and do that? It would take less time," I said.
"The ship needs to be close to the planet to detect the base, and during that time the satellites orbiting the planet would definitely find us and attack. It's not that we couldn't withstand it, but the satellites would definitely alert Larkos to the presence of intruders and they'd prepare for an attack," Nemesis explained.
"Does that even matter? Not even their satellites were able to detect us. All we'd have to do is park the ship somewhere remote and then turn invisible," I said.
"Yes, but then it wouldn't be a silent infiltration," Nemesis nodded.
So what she didn't want was to make noise and cause unnecessary trouble, saving time in the process.
"…Fine. Let's search for a while, but not too long," I nodded.
"Don't worry, it'll only be a short while. Just stay invisible the whole time," Nemesis said.
"Why? There's nothing here," I said.
"Not at first glance, but it's possible that Larkos has left some traps in case someone managed to bypass his defenses. We can't risk them knowing we're here," Nemesis said.
She meant it wasn't fear, just annoyance at having to deal with more people. Nemesis could crush them all by herself without help, but she didn't want to make too much noise.
"Alright, let's get moving," I nodded.
"Good," Nemesis nodded.
We then started flying in one direction. Since we didn't know where to go, we simply picked a direction and flew toward it, not knowing if we would find anything or anyone.
Minutes passed, then an hour, and we hadn't found any trace of technological presence — just forests and animals. Strange native animals of the planet, although I saw some that looked similar to dinosaurs.
"I think we should go back to the ship," I said.
"No, I think we've gotten lucky. Look," Nemesis said.
Since I couldn't see Nemesis, I didn't know where she wanted me to look, so I scanned all directions and spotted it: a massive structure in the distance.
"Hah, looks like it's our lucky day. We chose the right direction," Nemesis said.
Yes, we had found the pirates' facility, but it was pure luck. We had chosen a direction at random and flown at full speed toward it. It was pure luck that we found the facility. In fact, if we had deviated even a little, we wouldn't have found it even after days of searching. That's how lucky we got. While flying, Nemesis told me that this planet was similar in size to Mars, so it was smaller than Earth. Still, it wasn't something we could explore in a single day even at our speed.
"You're right. Lady Luck seems to be with us today," I nodded.
"Alright, let's head there," Nemesis said.
"Let's go," I nodded.
Now that we had the facility in sight, flying toward it didn't take even a minute. My first impression of the facility was "enormous." It was like a huge factory with various machinery and structures. There were also what I recognized as trucks, but instead of wheels they levitated like in movies and carried large quantities of a red stone that looked very similar to a ruby but glowed with a beautiful red color. It didn't shine too brightly, but the glow was noticeable. Many people were moving around, handling different tasks. From what I saw, there were several dozen people, and that was only the part I could see.
"Hey… there are a lot of people here. How are we going to find Larkos?" I asked.
"Let's search. Today is our lucky day. I'm sure we'll find him if we look around a bit," Nemesis said.
Most of this plan relied on luck and chance… not exactly the best plan.
"Alright, I'll follow you," I nodded.
"We'll fly low to the ground to see if we can overhear anyone talking about Larkos's possible location," Nemesis said.
With that, we both descended to a height where we could hear some of the conversations of the people working. Most were only talking about work, while others were just complaining about the enormous workload.
Since we didn't know where Larkos was or even if any of these people knew his whereabouts… we simply had to keep searching.
After searching for a while, we found someone talking about Larkos.
"Damn, we're here working while the boss is enjoying life. Isn't that too unfair?" one worker said.
"Maybe, but at least they pay well. Have you seen how much Dorolio we're extracting?" the other asked.
"What does it matter how much we extract? The boss is the one who'll take most of the money. Our salary won't increase no matter how much Dorolio we mine," the worker said.
"Either way, that's how it is," the other replied.
But their conversation was interrupted by another person, probably their superior judging by how he spoke to them.
"You two! Why aren't you loading the Dorolio?! The boss needs the next shipment immediately!" the man shouted.
"Yes! To the usual place?" the worker asked.
"Are you an idiot? What kind of stupid question is that? Of course to the usual place!" the man yelled.
After that, both workers started loading Dorolio into that floating truck-like vehicle.
"Looks like we might have stumbled upon a way to find Larkos by chance. What luck," Nemesis said.
Too much luck.
Even though I was surprised by this fortune, neither of us could really get distracted. The workers didn't take long to load the Dorolio and head to the "usual place" the worker had asked about earlier.
We both followed the truck until, minutes later — almost half an hour to be exact — the truck finally stopped at a huge warehouse where more than five workers were eagerly waiting for them.
Without saying a word, the five or more workers began unloading the Dorolio and packing it into fairly elegant boxes made of a material I didn't recognize — definitely not cardboard.
"Great, our job is done and our shift is over. Time to rest!" the worker driving the truck said.
"Good work, and you arrived just in time. The boss is being really insistent about delivering 10kg of Dorolio. Apparently he's got an important client," the worker said.
"Thanks, but we really don't care. Our job was to deliver the Dorolio here and it's done. The rest doesn't matter to us. See you later and have a good day," the worker replied.
Then they left.
The man didn't even react to the worker's words, as if he was already used to that kind of comment.
After packing 10kg of Dorolio into those elegant "boxes," the one who seemed to be in charge spoke.
"Alright, you guys will be responsible for delivering the Dorolio to the boss. Hurry up, he's waiting for you at the usual place. Don't be late. You already know what happens to those who don't keep to the schedule…" the boss said.
"Yes!" the men replied.
They then took exactly five suitcases full of Dorolio and got into a rather elegant flying car.
"Everything looks so cheap. The car is the only elegant thing here," I said.
It all seemed… too unprofessional. I don't know, that was the impression I got.
"It makes sense. The Dorolio is mined here and sold here. The reasons are obvious. Larkos is a highly wanted criminal and he can't risk one of his buyers betraying him and handing him over to the police. So he makes the deliveries here, at his base surrounded by his men — surely armed and ready to protect him — plus all those killer satellites surrounding the planet. Is the place shabby? Definitely. And it's not the ideal place to traffic such a valuable material, but he has no choice," Nemesis said.
"I guess there's no need to say that he probably sends his men to deliver the merchandise, and in case it's a trap, they'd arrest his subordinate," I said.
"Exactly. For Larkos, most of his men are disposable pawns. He may be smart, but he's also cold, ruthless, and calculating. A lover of women and money, like almost all the nobles in this rotten galaxy," Nemesis nodded.