(Unova Syndicate)

(Hidden Location- Planet Xerciam Prime)

Screech! Screech! Screech!

An enormous sixty-foot-tall bird-like monster flew high above a crowed port as numerous traders and merchants fought with one another to show off their goods to the limited number of customers.

The flying monster had a long mouth, a thin nose and weird eyebrows that made the beast appear to have a permanent expression of surprise.

These beasts were called the Dwen and many of the settlers who called planet Xerciam Prime their home used them as transport vessels.

Planet Xerciam Prime had only been recently colonised and much of the planet still had to be terraformed in order to extract the valuable minerals and ores that lay beneath the surface.

The government of the Unova Syndicate had announced tax incentives in exchange for mining companies developing these resource rich planets for the ongoing war with the Earth Federation.

Unlike the Earth Federation whose population consisted of only four major races, the Unova Syndicate was home to millions of nomadic alien species so the government could only wield limited authority.

Many criminals, space pirates and raiders sought refuge in the Unova Syndicate as only a handful of planets had proper rules and regulations.

"Oi! Look where you're going you stupid bitch!" a tiny green alien with knob-like limbs and hands scowled fiercely as a hooded figure bumped into his face.

He slowly raised his head upwards to continue to curse the blind moron who walked right into him when his voice slowly faded away to a whimper.

The hooded figure stood at an impressive seven feet in height with four wickedly sharp blade-like appendages jutting out of its back.

"Did you say something?" a seductive voice whispered softly but to the alien it sounded like a serpent wrapping tightly around its neck.

"Nono!" the alien smiled flatteringly and quickly moved to the side.

With all the lunatics and criminals arriving on the planet now that it had been opened to all settlers, it was deadly to pick a fight with dangerous looking men and women.

Sophie smiled as she saw tiny beads of sweat appear on the back of the tiny alien who dared to curse at her.

Quite some time had passed since Sophie had been unexpectedly transported to this strange new location and her communicator device had been rendered completely useless.

As for what happened, we need to go back to the events of two weeks ago

The last thing Sophie could remember was the emperor saying something about a warp circle and then her world turned to black.

She could have sworn that Lily was held securely in her arms but when she woke up.

There was nobody around.

Sophie found herself laying down in an open field with a gentle breeze brushing against the sides of her face.

A blue artificial sun shone brightly in the sky above and the grass beneath her feet was a weird purplish colour.

The expensive dress made by Adam was still pretty intact but there were two obvious tear marks along the sides of her dress.

Luckily, Sophie had packed some extra clothes in her storage device, so she quickly changed into her combat gear.

There was still some battery life left in her communicator, but she had obviously been teleported somewhere outside of the area of connection for the virtual net.

Sophie had spent the first couple of days scouting around the surrounding area for any threats but there was a surprisingly lack of life.

She did eventually stumble upon a nearby city filled with settlers and miners who were clearing the surrounding forest.

Sophie spent another couple of days observing and surveying the city to see if there were any powerful beings inside, but the highest cultivator she could spot was only in the qi body stage.

The alien workers were speaking in a variety of different dialects and local languages, but the main language seemed to be Terkanaese.

Terkanaese was the common tongue spoken in the Unova Syndicate which meant that this planet was somewhere inside enemy territory.

It had been part of the noble education to learn the main languages of the surrounding intergalactic empires so Sophie could speak Terkanaese somewhat fluently.

Reading Terkanaese on the other hand. not so much.

But why would the royal family have a warp circle that transported people to an empire that was hostile to the Federation?

Sophie had a small guess in her heart that the emperor had somehow messed with the transport coordinates on the warp circle, but it was useless to speculate so she just dropped the matter.

The number one priority was to find out her current location and figure out a way back home.

There was a steady stream of new arrivals to the city, so Sophie blended into the crowd and entered without any suspicion.

Perhaps it was an unexpected boon that her appearance was far from that of an ordinary human as no one questioned her presence among the new arrivals.

The city was constructed of a simple black metalloid material that morphed into the shape of compact rectangles that served as houses.

The buildings were all basically identical in structure and material with the only difference being the size of the buildings.

Sophie saw many different alien species from aquatic lifeforms who moved around the city with helmets full of water on their heads, light based creatures who shifted away from the shadows to even plant-like humanoids that cheerfully flung soil at any unfortunate passersby.

No one seemed to be maintaining any sort of law and order on the streets, so the overwhelming stench of blood was causing Sophie's heart to race.

Rape, murder, stealing. this city like many others in the Unova Syndicate was a haven for those who wished to commit acts of violence without any consequence.

The only place that was an exception to the lawlessness was the barracks of the miners that were guarded tightly by robotic AI units equipped with heavy weaponry.

Sophie pulled out a hooded cloak from her storage device and put it on before trying to find an inn to get some information and spend the night.

There was just one small problem.

Enas credits were completely useless in the Unova Syndicate so Sophie was completely broke.

Hmm a wicked smile surfaced on Sophie's face as she walked towards two thugs that were harassing a young tree-like girl.

Maybe it was time to do some 'good' deeds.

(Fifteen minutes later.)

No one dared to approach the demoness who walked straight through the crowd and headed for a nearby inn.

With every step she took, a wide berth opened up in the crowd to allow her to move unimpeded through the sea of bodies.

Many chuckled and jeered when the hybrid girl had approached some gangsters and demanded that they leave the innocent tree-like alien alone.

No one was laughing now.

They had seen the blade-like appendages on the back of the mysterious stranger shoot forward and tear straight through the flesh of the unfortunate gangsters.

Then the most terrible sight occurred.

The hybrid girl sank her fangs into the neck of one of the thugs and ripped his head off his neck in one smooth motion.

She then nodded at the terrified tree-like girl who had now backed away in fear and then searched the corpses of the two thugs for some money.

Jackpot!

Clearly these two were local bigshots as their pouches contained over one thousand dollars of currency.

Sophie took a small glance at the crowd and smiled inwardly when she saw the scared looks on the faces of the bystanders as she left the scene.

It was important to establish a notorious reputation when dealing with societies like this.

Criminals respected strength and no one was willing to fight a madman.

"Theis that word the?... Respectful Hentle?... no... no... Gentleman?" Sophie squinted slightly and tried to read the sign hung on the inn's entrance door.

The inn was also built in a rectangular shape but compared to the surrounding buildings, it was significantly larger.

Sophie knocked twice and then entered inside once she heard a welcoming grunt. There was a blue gelatinous blob standing behind a counter.

"What type of room and how long?" the blob wiggled slightly, and a mouth appeared from within its murky depths.

"Regular and two nights," Sophie replied in a calm manner.

"That'll be nineteen dollars and twenty pence," the blob jiggled lazily as numerous eyes floated inside its body.

Sophie nodded and reached into her storage device to pull out ten green notes. She placed the notes on the countertop and whispered,

"Keep the change. I need information."

The blob said nothing for a few moments but then a thin blue tendril formed outside of its main body and quickly snatched the notes.

"Call me Q'reanea," the blob suddenly spoke and beckoned Sophie to enter the private room that was connected to the main lobby.

"You aren't from around here are you?"