S.P.E.C.T.O.R – [A Sci-fi space adventure with fantasy elements]

The airlock opened, and Adam looked across the short circular corridor that was the docking bridge before he walked across it, approaching the Slingshots’ docking hatch.

[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Is he seriously just going to walk straight in?]

[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Well, how would you advise he captures the traitor then?]

[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): He should pump their ship full of gas to knock them unconscious.]

[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): And what if he’s wearing a space suit, idiot?]

[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Oh yeah.]

Adam approached Slingshot’s external docking hatch before holding his hand over the door controls and waiting a moment until the controls beeped and the airlock started to open, after which he hid behind the door frame just in case Cooper had positioned himself in the airlock.

After the airlock door opened and no shots were heard, Adam carefully looked around the edge of the frame to see that the airlock was empty.

Adam sighed with relief before he stepped into the airlock and placed what looked like a small marble just next to the internal airlock door, after which he stepped back outside and closed the external airlock door.

[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): What’s he doing and what did he just place down near the inner airlock?]

[Justiceistruth: (Earth): It looked like a marble.]

[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): You can’t play marbles with only one streamer. kekeke.]

[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): I believe it’s a shock pellet, what do you think @Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage?]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): I agree, it looks very much like one; however, that’s not something a civilian can easily get a hold of.]

[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): When has anything the streamer uses been normal by civilian standards?]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Fair point.]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): How does this shock pellet work exactly?]

[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): It emits light and sound at such a high level of intensity that the visual and auditory receptors of most species can’t handle it, causing them to get overloaded and therefore knocking the recipients unconscious.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): It also tends to leave the recipients temporarily blind after they awaken, though that usually fixes itself in about an hour.]

As the chat was discussing what the little marble was, Adam held his hand over the door control again and had it closed before the pressure started to adjust to that on the Slingshot.

After the pressure stabilised, the inner airlock opened, and as it did, Adam heard blaster fire impacting the outer airlock before he pressed a button on the wrist of his anti-gravity armour, after which the impacts suddenly ceased.

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): What happened?]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): My guess is that this Cooper guy was waiting in ambush on the other side of the inner airlock and started shooting as soon as it opened. The streamer then activated the shock pellet, knocking Cooper out.]

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Wait, it was that easy?]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): Apparently.]

[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Aww man, I wanted an epic gun fight in space.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): While I agree that would be entertaining, this isn’t Space Rogue, where death means you just try again. People who engage in conflicts in space tend to want to end them quickly.]

[Beczontop (Imperial Down): Yeah, you never know when a stray shot could hit something explosive and blast you into space.]

As the chat discussed Adam’s not-so-epic gun fight in space, the man himself closed the inner door to the airlock again before pressurising it and then opened the outer, after which he stepped inside and reversed the process until the inner door opened and he found Cooper lying unconscious just inside, slingshot on the ship’s corridor floor.

Adam pulled out a pair of zip ties from a compartment hidden in his anti-gravity armour before binding Cooper’s hands and feet.

[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Wait zip-ties? I was expecting high-tech handcuffs or something?]

[Beczontop (Imperial Down): Why, when zip-ties are cheaper, take up less space and do the job just as well? Handcuffs are only used if you don’t want to injure your prisoner, and no one cares about this traitor being injured as long as the streamer returns him alive.]

[Justiceistruth: (Earth): What about prisoners’ rights?]

[Beczontop (Imperial Down): What prisoners’ rights? He’s a traitor, and he lost any such rights when he was found to be one.]

[Justiceistruth: (Earth): But he hasn’t been found guilty yet.]

[Beczontop (Imperial Down): I don’t know how it works on Earth, but here in the Terran Empire, we treat traitors very seriously. If there is enough evidence to prove that someone is a traitor even before trial, then no one will care how he was treated before being found guilty.]

[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): Of course, if that same person is proven to be innocent, then the people who mistreated him will instead be criminally charged, face prison time or death depending on how badly they treated him and forced to pay compensation to the victim.]

[Justiceistruth: (Earth): That still seems wrong.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Maybe it does if you come from a relatively peaceful world, little friend. However, the universe is a harsh place; being nice and kind all the time will only get you killed in the long run.]

[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): But Diva Lorelie is nice and kind.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): And it almost got her killed because she trusted those she had worked with for years. Don’t get me wrong, though, I expect even Diva Lorelie has had to do some things you would find ’wrong’ to survive.]

[OfficialLorelie (Imperial Down): …]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Our little streamer friend has only just started his journey into the known universe, and so far, he has only touched the tip of what it has to offer. He will find many exciting, enjoyable and beautiful things out there; however, the opposite is also true, as he will find and meet the dark, evil and corrupt side of the universe.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): My advice to you all is to consider carefully if you wish to continue watching his streams. While you will see many exciting and amazing things you never thought possible, you will almost certainly see things you never thought could or should exist.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): The universe continually operates on a knife edge and only a fragile balance of good vs evil, light vs dark keeps it from tipping, many times in the history of this universe has it tipped slightly one way as the light shone bright allowing races and species to prosper and grow, while just as many times has it tipped the other way as darkness shrouded the sky allowing the evil and corrupt to come to power and do as they wished.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Remember this, my friends, where there is light, there is darkness, and where there is darkness, there is light. The universe can not exist without both, and while they continually battle against one another, they know that should one of them completely extinguish the other, then the universe will cease to exist.]

Adam stared at the chat as he read what Lord Malacross wrote before he said, ”From the way you phrase that, it sounds like the principle of Yin and Yang back on Earth.”

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Oh? Please tell me more about this principle.]

”I’m no expert, but I once read that the principle of Yin and Yang is a concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. The universe is governed by a cosmic duality, sets of two opposing and complementary principles or cosmic energies that can be observed in nature. Examples of Yin-Yang opposite forces are female-male, dark-light, and old-young. Yin and Yang represent opposite forces that, when they are joined, represent everything in the natural world.

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): While rather simplistic, it is nevertheless still accurate, impressive.]

”But what you described sounded more like a war of good vs evil rather than the two forces working together in balance.”

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): I can see why you would think that, but can opposing and competing forces not balance each other out? Does the light not push back the darkness when the sun rises, only for it to lose ground several hours later as the sun sets, before the whole cycle repeats?]

”But that’s just the natural cycle of a celestial body.”

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Is it? Do you not find it strange that space itself is dark and that within the darkness of space there is still light that we can see?” 

”Errr.”

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Don’t worry about it, little friend, you are still too young to understand the mysteries and complexities of the universe, even I, who have lived for centuries, still know very little. Just remember that it is about balance, light and darkness, good and evil; they are interconnected to one another and cannot exist without each other.]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): But darkness can exist without light.”

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Oh, how so?”

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): Well, if a light shines on you, there will be a shadow; hence, light can’t exist without darkness; however, you can find dark places that are devoid of any light.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Hmm, and how do you know it is darkness and not you becoming inexplicably blind all of a sudden?]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): What?]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Well, if there is no light, how can you see the darkness?]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth):..😵‍💫]