THE RELIANT

SPACE REDNECKS

John and the rest of the crew of The Reliant were tasked with helping the Alliance authorities find a Revnarian who had killed an Alliance Senator named Victor Taylor. Revnarians were nasty and deadly creatures. John remembered how the Karnins would hire them for assassinations during the Karnin war. He also knew of a few times that Alliance command had also hired them-off the books, of course-for certain political terminations. The Revnarians weren't as formidable as other species like the Morlons or the Kelvarians. But they could be just as deadly as any Morlon or Kelvarian. 

The average Revnarian was tall and slender. Their bodies could easily bend and contort, which allowed them to get out of some precarious situtations. Their tongues could shoot out several inches from their mouths, and the tips of their tongues were split in two and were sharp as razors. Their saliva was poisonous to most humanoids. These things made them ideal as assassins-for-hire. John wasn't sure if the killing of Senator Taylor was an assassination since Revnarians were also ill-temptered-perhaps even more so than the Morlons-and would kill anyone, especially if they were another species, if they so much as looked at them funny.

John had himself tangled with Revnarians a couple of times before, so he knew not to underestimate them or take them lightly. The Revnarian they were looking for was named Globarg and had been tracked down to the planet of Pornax in the Delsar system. John had visited the Delsar system too many times for his liking since he'd been Captain of The Reliant. The Delsar system was one of the most savage systems John had ever been to and was a haven for criminals of all types. The law there was all but nonexistent, and the various planets in that system were generally ruled by ruthless warlords and corrupt chieftains. The Alliance had no authority out there, which John assumed was the reason why he and his crew were tasked with going out there to retrieve this Globarg.

According to the information they had received from Alliance command, Globarg had been spotted at a town called Derado on the planet Pornax. Once The Reliant was in orbit around the planet, John transported down to Derado along with first officer Lisa and ship's android Roger. He decided against going down with the ship's chief of security Bortis even though it went against Alliance regulations. John figured it would draw too much attention-and too much trouble-if they had transported down with a 7-foot-tall Morlon. As soon as they went down, John ordered Lisa and Roger to split up and search around the town for Globarg. They were already getting looks from the others walking around as soon as they transported down. But, so long as they left him and Lisa and Roger alone, John just ignored them. The only thing he cared about was finding this Globarg as soon as possible and get the hell off that planet and back to Alliance space.

It was already dark by the time they transported down to the surface, which John knew would make finding this Globarg a little harder since Revnarians were generally dark-colored. Some Kelvarians were also light-colored, but they were considered the exception rather than the norm. After a few minutes of walking around searching for him, John suddenly received a frantic call from Lisa on his communicator. He took out the communicator and switched it on.

"Captain here," John said as he held the device up to his face. "What is it, Commander?"

"I've found Globarg, Captain."

"Send me and Roger the coordinates, Commander. I'll be right there. Captain out."

John turned off the communicator after Lisa sent him the coordinates of where she was. Lisa was standing in front of what appeared to be an abandoned dilapidated building of some sort. She had her laser pistol pulled out, and it looked like she had already been in a fire fight of some sort by the time John walked up to her. She ran up to John when she saw him coming towards her. She was panting and her pistol was at the ready.

"Commander," he said to her, "what the hell happened?"

"I spotted Globarg hiding out in this building, Captain."