His shirt was plastered to his back while a cold sweat tickled down his forehead. Breathing heavily, Taiji sat straight upwards, clutching his head with his left hand.
He sat there for a bit, processing. He always thought his family had been killed by a bear. Those were his memories until this echo of the past. But one thing he was certain of was that the Military killed his father and now his mother. His rage and resentment towards them only grew stronger.
"Captain, you have slept for 3 days. Tornell III ETA-1 day and 14 hours." The ship's mechanical voice sounded.
"Got it, thanks," Taiji said quickly while getting out of bed.
He grabbed clean clothes and went on to take a shower. The hot water felt perfect for his tired muscles. A brief moment of relaxation in his chaotic life. He stayed there for a while, just enjoying the feeling, thinking about nothing.
When he got out, he put on normal clothes while his armor sat on the ground, leaning on the sword stand. His armor was made of Techsteel, one of the strongest materials in the universe. It was made to withstand shots from lasers and block magic and abilities from Power users. Its structure made it a great choice for electronics, from where it originally got its name. His armor was modified, allowing him to carry his katana on his hip or back, with a small blade in each of his forearm guards. Shoulder pads were reinforced for absorbing impacts, the same as the chest plate and back plate. Armor on his thighs had a pistol holster on each leg and his right shin guard had a holster for his knife. This armor originally belonged to a Military colonel but he took it off of him after killing him.
He slowly walked towards the cockpit, his muscles still aching. While typing on the control pad, his stomach growled. He remembered he had not eaten anything in more than 3 days. As he stopped typing, he walked towards the fabricator. Every ship had a fabricator. Its main purpose was to make food. The food had a weaker taste than real food, but contained more nutrients, which to him was the more important part.
He wanted to try something different today. He browsed through the catalogue, viewing food from all over the universe. It took him a bit, but he finally found something he thought looked interesting. Food from a small planet in the Milky Way, Earth, caught his eye. Specifically, pizza and burgers. The reviews on foods, visible on the screen of the fabricator, looked promising, with most users stating that it was one of the best foods they had ever eaten. He browsed through the topic variations and ultimately decided on a pizza called "capricciosa, " a type of pizza with mushrooms, ham, mozzarella and anchovies. The burger he chose was a classic cheeseburger with fries on the side.
The fabricator was a bit slow since it was an older model, and after a few minutes, he got both plates of food. The burger was still steaming when he took a bite. It was amazing. The reviews didn't lie; it was truly one of the best foods he had ever tasted. He took a bite of pizza shortly after. He liked the burger more, so he started eating it first. It didn't take him long to fully eat both plates of food. But he was still hungry. He tried different variations of both foods: pepperoni, Chicago, Neapolitan, Detroit pizza types and many different variations of burgers and fries with different dips for fries.
As he finished eating, he finally felt full. He never ate anything to that extent but he liked the food so much he just couldn't stop. While resting, he put on a short documentary on different galaxies. He enjoyed learning about the universe. It intrigued him. He always watched the stars with his mom. Now he could get close to them, but without her. The thought that he could not do anything to prevent her death hurt him. His inability to protect his loved ones strengthened his resolve to get stronger and stop the others from experiencing the same pain he did. That was the sole reason he was going to Tornell.
He pulled up the logs on Tornell on the holoscreen. It was a planet made up entirely of jungles and forests with everlasting rain. Dense forests, violent wildlife, lack of sunlight on the ground due to tall trees with big leaves left it largely uninhabited. The few settlements were primitive, distant and detached from the outside world. A perfect hiding place. But not for him. His objective was a man named Ray.
A couple of weeks ago on the streets of Valon, he heard a rumor about an ex-rebel who fought against the Intergalactic Military. He attacked their bases after the war, similar to Taiji. The only difference was that he had a crew, unlike Taiji. He heard of him a few years before the rumor, on stolen Military comms that his entire crew was killed in an attack on one of the bases in the galaxy near the Military HQ. They were reportedly killed by Commander Shadow. Taiji hoped to get the man's trust and recruit him for his team. At first, he just planned to talk to him, but he changed his mind after he fought the cloaked man on Valon. Because if a lone bounty hunter proved to be such a challenge, he was certain he would need a team to at least stand a chance against them.
He sat there in silence. After a while, he stood up and walked towards his room. He went through the corridor, next to the entrance hatch and into his room. He sat on his bed, staring at his sword. It looked almost exactly the same as it did a few days before. He spotted that the symbol at the bottom of the blade looked a bit brighter. It was still gold, but it shone a bit more brightly than usual. He picked it up and felt the same strong energy as when it possessed him on Valon.
He quickly dropped the sword as his heart thumped. Not quickly, but loudly. He looked at it for a bit and slowly reached out to pick it up. After putting it on a sword stand, he sat on his bed, looking at it. He didn't know how long he had been looking, but he finally decided to leave it and lay back in bed. Not sleeping, just laying.