The galaxy's bounty board pinged to life on the Starbreaker's main screen, a vibrant holographic display that filled the small ship's main cabin. The screen was a mosaic of scowling faces, grim mugshots, and criminal charges. Some had ominous red tags that pulsed with a quiet menace: HIGH RISK, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, or the particularly unsettling DO NOT APPROACH, FOR HE WILL EAT YOU.
Aetherion read them like a dinner menu, his finger tapping the screen as he scrolled through the options.
"Hmm. This one's a space pirate king. A classic, but a bit too predictable for my taste," he mused aloud. The pirate's face was covered in a dozen gruesome scars. "That one's a warlord who controls a lava planet. Very spicy, but the texture might be a bit crunchy." He paused on a particularly gruesome-looking alien with too many teeth and an even more unsettling hunger in its eyes. "Oh—this one apparently ate an asteroid mining crew. Y'know… variety is the spice of life."
Lyra crossed her arms over her chest, a familiar look of weary exasperation on her face. Her entire professional code of ethics was being challenged by Aetherion's very existence, and now, his approach to bounty hunting.
"We pick one bounty," she said, her voice firm. "We do it clean. No weirdness. We get in, get the target, get out. One mission, one paycheck."
The System, completely ignoring Lyra's sensible plea, chimed in with its own chaotic suggestion.
[System Suggestion: Why not collect ALL the bounties at once? You're basically the buffet option of justice. Plus, the bonus EXP is fantastic!]
Aetherion grinned, a wide, genuine smile that could somehow be both charming and a harbinger of galactic destruction. "System gets me."
Three days later, the Starbreaker floated, cloaked and invisible, above the turbulent Kresh Nebula. Below, a cosmic disaster was in the making. Three separate criminal factions were having a standoff, a three-way battle for control of a precious resource in the nebula's heart. The pirate king's fleet of rusty, cannon-studded ships was exchanging fire with the asteroid-eater's massive, bio-mechanical vessel. Meanwhile, the lava warlord's armada, a collection of ships that glowed with a terrifying orange heat, was trying to roast both of them.
The battle was a spectacular display of light and fury, a beautiful, deadly dance of lasers and plasma fire.
Aetherion cracked his knuckles, a sound that, to Lyra, was now a personal declaration of war on her sanity. He watched the screen, his eyes bright with mischief.
"Alright, Lyra, here's the plan—"
"You don't have plans," she muttered, already reaching for her emergency comms to call for a rescue ship. She was certain this was going to end with her trapped in some ridiculous cosmic goo.
"Exactly. Step one: chaos."
One Ridiculous Hour Later
The battle was over. The Kresh Nebula, once a beautiful, dangerous place, was now a monument to Aetherion's creative chaos. The pirate king's ship, an intimidating war-vessel, was inexplicably coated in a giant, jiggling jelly bubble. The ship was still firing its cannons, but the bolts of energy were just absorbed by the gelatinous mass, turning the whole thing into a bizarre, cosmic lava lamp.
The lava warlord's ships, once vessels of fire and terror, were frozen solid, each one a giant popsicle floating uselessly in the vacuum of space. Their pilots, if they were lucky, were just very cold.
And the asteroid-eater, a being known for his terrifying hunger and monstrous teeth, was in a nap pod on his bridge, snoring softly, wrapped in a blanket shaped like a pancake.
Aetherion casually tossed three bounty chits onto the Starbreaker's console, the small data chips clattering into place. "Done. What's next?"
Lyra could only stare. Her mind, a finely-tuned instrument of tactics and strategy, had just been completely dismantled by a jelly bubble and a pancake blanket. She was still trying to figure out how he had done it.
That's when they found her. They were doing a cursory sweep of the warlord's now-frozen flagship, just to make sure there wasn't a hidden self-destruct mechanism, when a small, high-pitched noise echoed from the dark corridors. It was the sound of a scared animal, a whimper that broke the profound silence of the frozen ship.
Lyra's hand went to her blaster. "I hear something."
Aetherion, in a move that made Lyra's heart flutter with a mix of fear and fondness, just strode forward, completely unconcerned. He found her hiding behind a cryogenic stasis pod—a tiny girl with huge, terrified eyes and ragged clothes, no older than 18.
She stepped forward, her small voice trembling but defiant. "You're the ones who did this?"
"Yep," Aetherion said proudly, as if he'd just tidied up his room. "Would you like a pancake?"
Her stomach growled so loud it made the System ping with a notification. Lyra, ignoring Aetherion completely, knelt down to the girl's level, her face softening.
"What's your name?"
"Nova," the girl said, her voice a little stronger now. "The warlord… he destroyed my home. I want to learn how to fight."
Aetherion smirked. "Oh, you're in luck. I teach self-defense through breakfast metaphors."
Later That Night
Back on the Starbreaker, Nova was devouring a plate of syrup-covered pancakes with a ferocity that could rival the Void Reaper's. Lyra watched her, a knot of worry tightening in her stomach. She leaned toward Aetherion, her voice a low whisper.
"You're not seriously keeping her with us. We're on the run. We're a bounty-hunting team. This is no place for a child."
Aetherion just took a sip of his coffee.
[System Alert: New Companion Added: Nova (Apprentice, 0% Overpowered)]
He grinned, looking at the floating notification only he could see. "Oh, I'm definitely keeping her with us. Every hero team needs a tiny apprentice who eventually terrifies the bad guys. Think of her as a long-term investment in universal justice."
Lyra just sighed, her hands going to her head. The bounty on Aetherion was worth ten trillion credits. But a quiet, easy life? That was truly priceless, and it was getting farther and farther away.