Alpha Squad - Vecto: Voyage

Part 4.8

The prologue of Vecto: Vengeance has been made into a Mario Maker level! If you have the game for the Wii U, search for this ID: 912B-0000-01BA-8AF8. Share with the tag #WhoIsVecto.

(Previously: Vecto, disguised as Rob, surprises Erich and Trip by showing up at their room.)

Vecto scanned the sixteen-year-old kid and noticed his arm was shot by a bullet. "It's unfortunate you were shot," he said.

Trip looked at his bandaged arm. "Oh, yeah ... n-n-nothing to be terribly concerned about."

"Well, seeing that you made it alive, I guess you need your rest, huh?" Erich said, clicking for a bunk to align above his. A ladder with broken bars slid with it as Erich gestured.

"I am fine," Vecto said, standing by a wall.

"He m-may be afraid of heights like me," Trip suggested.

"Oh, well take the bottom bunk then," Erich offered. "Don't worry about it. I'll take the top bunk." Erich climbed the ladder and slumped across the upper bunk.

Cutlass' snore interfered.

"Should we wake him?" Erich asked Trip, guessing he might want to know Rob was alive.

"I-I'd rather hear his snore than his m-mouth," Trip coldly said.

Erich shrugged, then looked at Vecto. "So how'd you find us?" he asked curiously.

Vecto walked over to the bed and awkwardly sat down. He had no reason to sleep but knew he had to fit in.

"I found this place through the ship's database," Vecto responded. "I lost my TAC in space and needed a place to stay." They were true statements. He had indeed lost his TAC--although he didn't necessarily need a residence. He could have easily hid. However, for him to fit in with the human race, he had to study their ways. And what better way to do that than with Erich, Trip, and Cutlass.

"Oh, well, feel free to make yourself at home," Erich said. "We can get you a new TAC in the morning. But you know, I was wondering. Why were you over there fighting the pirates, anyway? Are you trained in some martial arts or something? You weren't that bad out there, you know?"

"I have done a bit of self-training in the past and seemed to have been caught up in the middle of the fight."

"Oh, s-so you're like Erich, huh?" Trip butted in the conversation. "Y-you should have seen him at the p-p-plaza, kicking butt left and right!"

Vecto paused, looking at the pieces of Erich's suit on the nearby table. He had heard that Erich's father was head of the biological labs at a bounty hunter base called the Golen Station. Perhaps he was a hunter. It would explain the suit, Vecto speculated.

"You are a bounty hunter, aren't you?" Vecto asked. If so, he thought, it was even more reason to keep his identity secret.

"Well, not completely," Erich admitted.

Vecto paused as Cutlass' snore echoed across his shield.

"I was raised in bounty hunter school as a child," Erich explained. "It was all I knew, but I couldn't allow myself to kill anyone. So I was transferred to the creature's division for my test." He scratched his arm. "Up against merics ... well, they're tentacle creatures on planet Arcous that steal energy. I know it sounds strange, but I couldn't kill them either."

"Why not?" Vecto questioned. "Wasn't that your job?"

Erich stared back at the ceiling. "It takes more skill to save a man than to kill him--the same for creatures, although I understand we need some for food. And well, sometimes, you just gotta follow your heart. If you've got enough conviction about something, then don't do it. There are always other jobs. So I left and boarded this ship."

(What else will Erich reveal? Find out more in the next installment of Vecto: Voyage!)