Chapter One: Silver Hendrix
"So has anyone here heard of where one could find The Expanse?" asks Silver Hendrix, a young 27 year old space trekker who's just arrived to the planet of Kiran.
Laughter erupts when hearing the question from dozens of people in a small bar. A small bar, in a small town, on a small planet. They tend to get a lot of passersby and hear words similar that ilk all the time. They've heard those words for so long from so many people they can't help themselves but laugh.
"Listen hear boy..." the bartender says as he's trying to control his laughter. "There have been plenty of folk like yourself looking for that ship. My advice, give up. It's been 25 years since the vessel went missing and no one's found it yet and no one will probably ever find it."
Hendrix drinks a shot Kalavian Vodka then looks the bartender in the eyes. "Laugh and ridicule all you want, finding that ship is my destiny. In fact..." Silver turns around to face the other patrons in the bar. "It can be some of your destiny's as well. I'm looking for some people to join my crew, I have a ship but no crew to help me man it."
The patrons then burst out with laughter again at his statements. One of the patrons walks up to Hendrix with a beer in one hand and puts his other hand on Silver's shoulder. "Boy you're a funny dude. First of all, none of us would ever join your little rinky dink operation! Second of all, you should be careful who you spout this crap too! You never know one of us could be with Inter Star."
Silver looks confused at the patrons statement. "What the hell is an Inter Star?" he asks. Once again all the patrons burst out laughing. "This guy is a laugh riot! What Inter Star?!?!? That's a good one."
The bartender taps Silver's back. "So boy, you're one of those isolated types aren't you?" Silver nods his head at the bartender. The bartender then says "You lucky, naive, little bastard. I'll fill you in then. Inter Star, more widely known as the Inter Star Empire, is basically the largest governing body in the galaxy. They have control of almost half the planets. One thing they frown upon are those looking for The Expanse. So watch what you say or you could be labeled a criminal by them."
Silver thanks the bartender for the tip. He drops 500 Leu, the standard intergalactic currency, and tells the bartender to keep the change. He gets up to leave the bar but before he's out the door an intimidating 7 foot tall figure walks into the bar with 3 men following behind him. They walk up to the bartender. Everyone looking at the tall man, who looks to be a Trigarlian which are a race of Lizard Humanoids, with fear in their eyes. Silver decides to wait and see what's going on. The Trigarlian leans sits on a barstool and begins talking to the bartender.
"Hey Franky, you're my favorite bar keep. You know that right?" he says to the bartender menacingly. Franky then responds back "Of course I do Mr. Genton." in a very scared tone.
"Well you see Franky, I have a bit of a Leu problem. The problem is I'm not swimming in enough of it. So I'm gonna need a bigger cut of the pie if you still want my protection. So my rate has now officially doubled." Genton says to Franky. Franky then replies with his head looking eyes to the ground out of fear "I-I-I'm afraid I can't do that Mr. Genton sir, you already take a large amount of Leu I earn, if you double the rate that won't be enough for my family to live."
As soon as Franky finishes that statement all the patrons leave the bar very hastily. The only one's left now are Franky, Genton and his two henchmen, and Silver who's sitting in a corner watching all this unfold.
"Oh you need the Leu more than me? Well of that's all then... you know what? I just thought of something, it's not my pissing problem! I'm the big fish in this small hick town on this small hick planet! You mess with me and you're messing with the entire Britax Crime Family! Now where is my Leu you spineless worm!" exclaims Genton as he grabs Franky with one arm and breaths heavily into his face. Genton's henchmen in the background are laughing all the while.
Genton balls up his fist and goes in to hit Franky in the face but just before his fist makes contact it gets stopped by Silver's hand. Silver looks at Genton and says "Now we don't need to resort to violence."
Genton backs up and angrily says to Silver "Do you know just who the hell I am? I'm Genton Jazeera, A Captain of Britax Crime Family! I'm in charge of this whole damn operation on Kiran! Do you honestly think you can get away with interfering in my buisness?!?!?"
"Oh we're doing introductions? Okay I'm Silver Hendrix, the man who's going to find The Expanse! Also, gotta say it been a pleasure meeting you." says Silver very sarcastically. Genton gets very fired up and angry. Genton takes a swing with his right arm at Silver which he easily dodges. Silver then quickly sprints around Genton and his boys stopping at the entrance to the bar. Genton looks at his henchmen and screams "BEAT THIS PRICK TO DEATH!!!!" at the top of his lungs.
Silver puts on a smile, balls his fists up, and gets in his normal fighting stance. One of the henchmen, a human named Gordy, is the first one to go running towards Silver. Gordy has a knife and tries to stab Silver in the abdomen. Silver however dodges the knife with ease and then grabs Gordy's head, brings his knee up, and smacks the knee right into his face using his own momentum from running against him. Gordy gets his nose broken and is knocked out instantly. Both the other henchman and Genton along with Franky all looked stunned by this. Gordy is the second toughest guy in Gentons gang.
Silver with a grin on his face says "Who's next?" very confidently. Genton then yells "GORDY YOU'LL BE PUNISHED LATER FOR THIS FAILURE!!! JONES SHOW THIS SHRIMP WHY YOU'RE MY RIGHT HAND MAN!!!". Jones the other Henchman then proceeds to pull out a gun from his jacket. He has a Plasma GX Pistol, a very small but powerful gun with decent firing speed, at full charge.
Jones aims his pistol directly at Silver and fires multiple rounds at him. Silver dodges the shots with almost superhuman speed. Bobbing and weaving, avoiding every shot fired. Genton watching Silver's dodging abilities says "You must be one of the Mana Wielders. We don't get too many of those types in an out of the way planet like this".
"Yeah I'm a Mana Wielder! And a damn good one at that big boy!" shouts Silver to Genton. A Mana Wielder are a very rare breed, one in a million ever have that king of power. Mana Wielders have the ability to sense and manipulate Mana Energy that makes up all things in the universe. People can use this energy to increase their physical strength, conjure elements, enhance their senses, the possibilities are endless.
Genton tells Jones to take Gordy and get back to their base. "It's been a long time since I've had to use my Mana abilities. You see I'm a Mana Wielder as well, the only one on this planet in fact. They don't let just anyone become a Captain in the Britax Family." states Genton. Silver then says "Why don't we take this outside big man?"
Silver and Genton then leave the bar and step outside. They're staring each other down on an empty dirt road. The towns people, the patrons that ran off, and Franky are all looking at this fight from inside the surrounding buildings. At the same time Silver and Genton both shout "BRING IT ON!!!" to each other.
Genton goes for a right hook but Silver dodges and quickly circles around behind Genton. Within a flash Silver hits Genton's back with over 20 straight jabs. This causes some internal bleeding within Genton and he spits out blood. After this attack Genton stumbles forward and wipes the blood off his face. Genton looks back at Silver angrily with Silver taunting Genton by wagging his finger.
With an enraged look on his face he balls up both of his fists and lightning begins shooting from all sides of them. Genton starts charging towards Silver and shouts "LIGHTNING BARRAGE!!!!" as he rains down lefts and rights powered by lightning towards him. Silver dodges each fist but while dodging one of Genton's rights he doesn't notice raised his leg and knees Silver in the face. This stuns Silver enough for Genton to get in 5 hits with his Lightning Barrage. These hits send Silver flying back a few meters. He lands on his knees and puts on a smile. A cut on his head from one of the punches begins bleeding.
Silver then begins laughing "Okay you win, no more Mr. Nice Guy!" he shouts at Genton. As he says this the atmosphere begins to get warmer and Genton feels it. Flames to gather around Silver completely enveloping his arms in a blazing fire. Without hesitation begins running towards Genton. As he's running he begins shouting "BLAZING...!!!!!!". He get right arm raised going towards Genton's faces. Genton moves his arms up to block. Silver then finishes what he was saying "NUT SHOT!!!!!". While Genton was only paying attention to the right arm going towards his face he didn't notice when Silver got close he sent his left arm towards Genton's genitals. The left fist connects with major force. This sends Genton flying in the air shrieking in agony.
The flames then leave Silver's arms and transfers to his legs. Using flames shooting from his feet Silver Flies up just above Genton. He does a full 360 degree spin with his right leg out screaming "BLAZING AXE KICK!!!!" with the right leg making full impact with Genton's abdomen sending him flying back down towards the ground with even more blood spouting out of his mouth. Silver then floats to the ground to the ground to check on Genton. Genton was completely knocked unconscious by that last attack.
All the people of the town come out of the buildings and celebrate Genton's defeat. As the town celebrates Franky the bartender pulls Silver aside to thank him personally.
"Thank you for protecting my buisness and saving this town. With Genton defeated the authorities won't be afraid to swoop in and round up his gang, their fear of him is what kept them at bay for so long. But can I ask, why did you help me? After all, everyone including myself were laughing and making fun of you." says Franky.
Silver then tells him "I helped because I don't like bullies who pick on those weaker or less fortunate, it's as simple as that. And as for the laughing bit, I don't care. Those who gave up on their dreams will always laugh at those who still dare to dream. I never let it get to me because I have faith, faith in myself and my abilities. I will find The Expanse because it is my dream and I have faith in myself to have the power to make that dream a reality."
"Wow kid, you remind me of an old friend. Look I don't have much to repay you but I do have some info that may or may not help. There's a pilot buddy of mine who's been across the whole galaxy. If anyone would know any information that could lead you to The Expanse, it'd be him. His name is Ian Glencoe. Last I heard he was on the city planet of Ulmarna."
"Thanks for the info. You think I can find people to join my crew there? It's awfully hard finding your way in this vast galaxy alone." says Silver. "Yeah you can find people there who are willing to join starship crews. But you might find it hard to get some willing volunteers to go on your journey." replies Franky. Silver nods to him and walks off back to the space port of the outskirts of town. He gets back on his ship, which is called The Inquisitior, and sets a course for Ulmarna.