Part 2 of a Mites Journal:You don't wanna f--- with me today.

Journal Entry: 23'rd of the 8th month, Part 2.

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"MmmmmMMMmmmm…Say..", the ritzy looking chuian pulled away from the kiss he was locked in and spoke softly, "Why don't I open up a bottle of my Reserve Label Wine?"

"Sounds good to me..baby…" responded the scantily clad female who sat next to him on his couch. The chuian male got up and walked over to a corner of his suburban office, where he inserted a key into the heavy lock that rested against a large wooden chest. Slowly, he opened the top and began to draw out a bottle of wine. As he turned to go back to the sofa, a series of loud knocks, or, more likely kicks, rang out on his heavy wooden door, along with a lot of ranting and profanity.

"Ahhhhh! It's HIM! HIDE ME!" The chuian, in his fear, dropped the bottle of wine he had been carrying. It smashed nicely on his white tile floor. The female jumped up in surprise and ran over to him.

"Honey, what is going on her…" Before she could finish, she was interrupted with a series of gunshots, and a loud clang. She had the uncanny feeling that somone had just put 4 rounds into the doorknob. Both chuians stared at the door in fear, the male looking as if he might wet himself. The doorknob jiggled a bit at first, and then was twisted hard to the right. Next thing they knew, the door had been thrown open, and a fully stretched Mite, teeth barred, eyes wide, and nearly enveloped in a long grey coat was standing there. His green eyes scanned the room, back and forth, before settling on the chuians. He stepped forward, and shoved the female out of the way.

"Raelli, you had better be a damn good talker. And a damn fast one too." The Mite drew his pistol and pressed it under the chin of Raelli.

"I..I…I swear Jurai…I never meant to..I…I…."

The other chuian ran up behind Jurai, jumped up on his back, and began punching him in the back of the head yelling, "Leave my man alone, you, you, ugly snot ass, you!"

Jurai put his gun back, swatted Raelli into a pile of laundry, and ripped the female off of his back by the hair. He stared into her eyes, mostly just to frighten the hell out of her. "You know, bitch, that may have just been the last thing you'll ever do." He walked over to the large glass window behind Raelli's desk, kicked a nice hole in it, and tossed her through. Jurai then watched her fall, shrugged, and sat down in Raelli's desk chair, apparently calmed to some extent.

Raelli jumped out of the pile of cloths, and ran over to the window. "Baby! Where are you? Can you hear me?" He scanned the ground for a second or two, and saw his girlfriend lying in a large bush, dazed, but unharmed. "Geezum Jurai, how did you know that there was a bush there to break her fall?"

"I DIDN'T know that there was a bush there to break her fall." Jurai nonchalantly replied while fingering a pencil. He stood up, picked Raelli into the air by his collar, and pinned him to the wall. "Now back to OUR business. You said that those mechanics were going to help supply a "Huge and well armed Pagan force, ready to wipe the Rulerists from Tresh".", Jurai paused for a moment, and then raised his voice. "NOT ONLY WAS THAT PAGAN FORCE VASTLY OUT NUMBERED, BUT THEY WERE ILL-ARMED, ILL-FED, AND HAD LITTLE IDEA OF HOW THEY EXPECTED TO WIN! And see, I can prove it!" Jurai lifted up his bandaged arm to Raelli's face and growled, then tossed him onto the couch, and walked over to the fridge, where he removed an ice-chest.

"…Oh please…dammit….Jurai…I had no idea that..that…they would all die…I just wanted to.."

Jurai turned from filling the chest halfway with ice and stared right at him. "Let me guess…", he started, his tone of speech now much lower, as if he was remembering as he spoke, "…You…Just wanted to help…" Raelli looked somewhat dumfounded and nodded as he thought he saw the Mite blink back tears. "…I hear that all to often…" Jurai turned back to the chest, planted a 6 pack of Conturian beer, and several wrapped sandwiches in it, and closed the top tightly. He turned back to Raelli, his sensitive side gone, and tossed him a piece of paper, weighted down with a small silver brooch in the shape of a wing. "My bill. I expect the money to be in my account before I leave the planet." Raelli fingered the paper in his hands nervously, then watched as Jurai picked up the chest and exited the office, probably heading for some time off.

***

Jurai reclined on the long fluffy towel, dressed only in his boxers, silently watching the waves roll onto the small stretch of beach. He was alone here, most likely because the only way to get to this small stretch of beach was to jump 60 feet off a sharp cliff edge. The white Ice chest clicked open, allowing Jurai to remove another cold beer from it. Conturian beer was weak compared to the strong liquor on Irogetti, but he was enjoying it anyway.

The wind picked up suddenly, and swirled into what was, for a moment, a small whirlwind beside Jurai. It died down, and in it's place was the clear image of a Mite, long dark grey hair combed down across his right eye, dressed in a black robe with the hood down. The Mite sat down next to jurai, making no imprint in the sand. Jurai shifted one eye, lazily, from the waves to the ghostlike figure. "Nice to see you, Siriu. Beer?", asked Jurai, as he removed a beer from the ice chest and thrust it lightly at the phantom.

Siriu spoke up, while gazing endlessly out to sea. "Come now Jurai. You know I can't drink that stuff anymore. Bad for the heart." The ghost smiled slightly, his gaze never shifting from the blue waters. "In anycase, I've come to give you a warning". Siriu's view turned sharply to Jurai. "Be careful about who you chase next. A big bounty may be more punishing than rewarding…Chase those who need chasing, brother…Otherwise, you are no better than the Rulerists.."

Jurai snarled and turned to respond to Siriu, only to find he had vanished without a trace. "Hah…I'll chase whoever I want. And no grumpy old ghost is going to change that." He muttered under his breath before turning back to face the sea.

***

"I SAID, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!!!" Jurai raged through the thick crowd in an effort to get to the Bounty office. "DAMMIT, WHAT'S THE HOLDUP?"

"NnnnnNews! Rumor has it that Rulerists are massing close to Our star system! At least, that's just the rumor….Mr.Mite, Sir. You can get mmmore down there at the news offices and… "A young chuian who was unceremoniously plucked from the masses by Jurai was quick to answer. Jurai set him down, flapped out his wings, and burst into the air towards the Bounty office, relatively unconcerned. If the rulerists attacked, the chuians and conturians could defend the planet on their own. He was, after all, going out on a bounty. His claws, shortly afterward, made contact with the tile roof of the office, from which he jumped back down to the city streets.

***

Jurai adjusted his eyes to the dark room which was the Bounty Office. A young Conturian secretary sat at her desk, typing away diligently. In the corner of the room stood a member of the lonish race, a long spear strapped to his back and several grenades hooked to his belt. His eyes slowly watched Jurai as the Mite made his way along the walls, examining the posters, each showing a picture of the one who's bounty it featured. Jurai scanned most of them, not finding any bounty that he felt was worth his time, until he came to one near the end. It was fairly new, and featured a picture of a Ranec holstering her pistols after what was obviously a tough fight. He would have passed it up, but the pricetag at the bottom, the price on the head of this young Ranec, cought his attention. 960,000 uni-credits, to be payed upon evidence of death. That was enough to buy him another ship, and enough gear and food to supply a crew of 200 for over a year. Jurai raised his eyebrows and snatched the poster off of the wall. He walked over to the receptionist's desk, thrust the poster in her face, and simply said, "Scoop. Now."

She looked up at him, then at the poster. A file cabinet was opened by her quick hands, and from it she produced a large tan folder marked 'Sakura, Misuka.'.

"Ok, here it is. Careful though, I hear she's a mean one." The secretary winked at Jurai and handed the folder to him.

"Hah. So far, no one has been mean enough." Jurai smiled and exited the dingy office, but not before curtly waving goodbye to the lonish warrior, who all the time had been taking in all of his actions with interest.

***


Later that night, Jurai sat in the central command room of the Maimed Wing, going over the data that he had been provided with on the ranec. It certainly was much less than any other bounty he had taken, and would most likely require several months of searching. Another thing worried him, however. The Ranec was a pagan soldier. But hey, the pagan army would never miss her. They had lost so many already…What was one ranec? One of the newly hired Crewmembers, a roger, walked into the room and told Jurai that the ship would be ready to lift off within the next 2 days. 2 days was plenty of time to acquire everything he might need.