Roshma Book 1: The First Steps
Chapter 12: Rabbit's Trail

We flew over the forest along the trail hoping for any sign of an enemy base. Luckily, we had been given scout drones by the military. Otherwise, I don‘t think we could have ever found the pirates base.

The drones were state of the art technology and supposedly cost about 1 million Cinni a piece. The army had lent us not one but two drones. They were small, with a circular body and there was an eye on their front side as well as two little arms that kind of flew behind them as the floated through the air. They should make this mission a lot easier. However, even with the scout drones it was still a game of cat and mouse. Polanski was looking for certain pieces of hay before they can become needles but in our case we were simply looking for one needle among millions of straws of hay.

It was a tedious tasks but none of us were ready to give up yet. We opened the boarding hatch at the bottom of the ship and let the two little guys free. Their progress was tracked progress on a special hologram box with a keyboard. The hologram box was divided into two projections and let us see what they saw. A keyboard let us interact with the drones. Each of the drones went a different way but both hologram projections showed the same things: trees, trees, and you guessed it, more trees. I was almost expecting to see a giant building or an enemy star cruise; no such luck.

Our patients was starting to wane after an hour. Fortunately, one of the drones came through with some useful information. We found what we were looking for along the Rabbit’s Trail. The pirate’s base was a giant hangar with a couple buildings attached to it. I was surprised something this massive had stayed hidden for so long. This was most likely due to the fact it was so heavily armed. Anyone unfortunately to replace it met their demise. The base was surrounded by a wall, which was equipped with several daunting anti-air cannons. The question at hand now was: how would we get in? We would have to outsmart the pirates.

We put our heads together to try and figure this one out. Everyone brought something different to the table. Even with this collective effort seven of us were drawing a blank. The eighth man had the answer, in this case Jin. A smile spread across his face. He didn’t tell us what he had in mind, instead he marched over to the drone control box and started furiously typing.

Mott confronted him asking, “What are you doing?”

He quickly responded, “I’m having the drones run a diagnostic scan, I’m trying to replace the range of the enemies detection system so we can stay with a safe rage. Otherwise, we’ll be shot out of the sky.”

Mott asked, I know I ain’t a genius, but I how is the radar going to pick us up? Even if we show up on the radar we are hidden in the trees they won’t be able to see us.”

Jin shot Mott’s idea down, “I wouldn’t bank on that idea. The radar may not pick up small disturbances like an occasional bird flying by, but this ship is big enough that it would cause some kind of disturbance. The anti-air guns could be synched with the radar to fire wherever the disturbance appears. The synchronization is probably almost one to one meaning we could be blasted out of the sky in a moment’s notice.” That was a humbling thought. We were insects that could be swatted out of the sky at any time.

A.J. with a look of horror in his eyes asked, “How far are we outside of kill range now?”

Jin replied with an air of confidence. “Relax man we are still four miles out of range. Jin typed something else in to the keypad and then the automated voice gave us the coordinates to the base. Jin then messaged these coordinates to the Zatt military base and also synched them with our own ships navigation system. I was beginning to wonder who was smarter Jin or Jon.

So now we had done the impossible, and found base that was not supposed to exist. I rejoiced in this small victory, but there was another problem. How would we go about attacking it? We decided to call the drones back to the ship; this would give us time to gather our thoughts.

None of us could agree on the best course of action. A.J. suggested that, “We get slightly outside the mile radius of the enemy radar and fire a direct attack on the base, and maybe the defense system wouldn’t have time to react.”

A.J.’s plan seemed solid to me. However, Jin brought up a good point, “Even if we destroyed the base, we would then have to deal with the pirate’s starcruiser and Polanski said, “Going up against it would be suicide.”

Jin claimed, “The best approach is we somehow take out that radar scanner and then sneak into the base. This way we catch Karantis and his crew by surprise. Hopefully, we can hold them off until the Zatt military could come and provide backup for us.”

No one contested his plan because it seemed like it could work. The problem was all of our plans seemed like they could work but they always went wrong.

Jon spoke up, “Just how are we supposed to take out the radar? Did anyone think of that?”

I knew I hadn’t thought of anything. Looking around most of the crew looked a bit confused. However, Katotta looked cool and confident, this worried me. My eyes fixated on her intently waiting to see what would happen next, I had to know what she was going to pull out of the bag. Her hand finally came up and in it were two shiny silver shells but they didn’t look like ordinary shells. Instead of a tip that came to a sharp point, these shells had a flat tip with three thin jagged barbs protruding out of the front.”

Mott asked Katotta, “Where did you get those and what do they do?”

Katotta was smiling ear to ear, this was her moment. “I got up early this morning and while you boys were sleeping I was talking to the infantry men. We talked about riffles, ammunition the usual. They suggested I take these disruptor shells. These shells are great for a stealth mission, and work particularly well as radar jammers. Shoot them from far away and then enter the enemies midst unnoticed.” Was there any end to her awesomeness?

Jin asked Katotta, “Do you think you can make a shot from over a mile away?” There was something different about Katotta, her eyes were cold and focused she said, “It won’t be easy but then again, I’ve been shooting most my life. If anyone can make this it’s me.”

We traveled four miles deeper into the forest and towed the line between safety and imamate death. Everything, was riding on Katotta. She had to make an impossible shot on a place that wasn’t supposed to exist to fight an enemy that was out of our league. Godspeed Katotta Godspeed.

Enter Katotta

Everyone was looking to me to make a shot on a target that was over a mile away. This sounds like a ridiculous request, but I’d done it before. My record was pretty much perfect except for that incident in the hotel room, yet bouncing back from a previous failure so soon was hard.

My hand was getting tired holding these two shells. They were at least twice as heavy as any shell I had shot before I loaded the chamber and it was time to jam. It turned out we would have to lower the entrance ramp and I would have to lie or crouch down on it to make my shot. That didn’t sound too bad. I found it hard to believe that one of these shells would be enough to knock out the pirate bases radar, but the men that gave these shells to me assured me they would do the trick.

Confidence means nothing without action to back it up. I got in position on the ramp and suddenly my confidence began to slip away. There were many variables that I hadn’t thought about. The biggest problem was that the flora of the jungle was blocking my shot. Usually, one would shoot through leaves and trees. The shells have enough stopping power to go through trees and even walls and still kill. However, this shot would be taken from over a mile away so even the slightest variable could ultimately ruin my shot.

I sat back took a deep breath and tried to assess my situation before coming to the conclusion we were going to have to reposition the ship. I called Jin and commanded he, “Put me up above the tree line.” Jin did exactly what he needed to, but he did it so fast I almost lost my balance and fell off the ramp. This what happens when your lady in a group of men. They have their way of doing things and I don’t always know if it’s the best way, but it gets the job done.

Enough prolonging the inevitable, the time was now there was a shot to be made. However, when I attempted to take the shot, new problems emerged. It was really windy up here without the cover of the trees. Also, when I lie down on the entrance ramp to take my shot; the ship wasn’t exactly steady. I felt my tripod as well as myself slowly sliding toward the edge of the ramp and I’m not going to lie it was terrifying. I imagined falling hundreds of feet to my death. Despite these variables I tried to get ready to make the shot.

I finally got into a good position, but there was still so much more I needed to consider before pulling the trigger. The drop of the bullet, the wind and even the rotation of the planet itself. I was one of the best snipers to ever pull the trigger, but this was partly due to my riffle. She costs millions of Cinni and it had something called a smart scope.

Said scope could zoom in on targets up to five miles away, had thermal and night vision as well as an intelligence system. The scope also had a built in A.I that would tell me the proper adjustments to make before I took the shot. The A.I told me the direction? Speed of the wind and how to calibrate my scope to make the shot. Of course, I could never use a riffle like this in competition, but this was a matter of life or death.

I lie there for close to half an hour trying to get the right angle for the shot. I was concentrating so hard that I didn’t even notice the beads of sweat that was dripping down my face. I would try and get the shot lined up, but every time, the ship would move a little bit and my calculations would be thrown off. I finally got a good read, I took in a deep breathe, relaxed my arms, squeezed the trigger and released. I felt a shock face move through, However, it dropped a couple hundred feet in front of the tower.

Giaka! I can’t believe I missed. Had I lost all ability to make a shot? This was two shots missed in two days. Luckily, I had one more chance to get it right. I had done what my scope had told me, but maybe this shot was beyond the capability of the A.I. The problem was these shells were a lot heavier than the synthetic shells I usually fired and the A.I couldn’t adapt. The heaviness of the shells along with altitude we were taking the shot from caused the bullet to have a higher drop rate than I had accounted for.

This was the last disruptor shell I had it was do or die. I looked down the scope changed my angle and cleared my mind. A prayer came off my lips. Yeah I’m one of those people. Only religious when it is convenient. When I was driven to my wit’s end. Breathe in, relax the arms, finger on the trigger and release.

The shell had hit one of the main watch towers. I almost jumped for joy, but didn’t want to fall off the ramp. I reentered the ship everyone was congratulating me and passing me on the shoulders and hosting me in the air. I got my groove back.

Enter Mott

Katotta was amazing, how did she do it? She may not have had our abilities, but I was sure could kill me if she wanted to. I’d be setting there watching the box, unaware I was in any danger. Then she could shoot me from over a mile away. I would never see it coming it was a terrifying thought. As she entered the ship was calm and collected like nothing happened, I was glad she was on our side, don’t wanna be on the wrong side of her barrel.

Jin put the ship down in an area uninhabited by trees a couple hundred feet from the perimeter of the base. This may not have been the smartest place, but he wanted to take advantage of the fact we were invisible to the defenses. That way if we could get out quick if things went south. I called the military base, correction; Tyerow called the military base. I hated to talk to people on a com, it was awkward. Tyerow told us we needed to stall for them for a couple of hours and then they would send any free unit they could to storm the base. The military wouldn’t be able to back us up for a couple of hours, but this was more than we usually got from them.

This should be easy, the element of surprise was on our side for a grand total of two minutes. The outside wall wasn’t guarded we walked in like it was nothing. I guess their confidence in their defenses was misplaced. Inside of the wall the base was nothing special just a giant hangar. I guess it housed the starcruiser. On each of the four corners of the giant wall surrounding the base were the anti-air cannons which gave us so much trouble. I was so glad to be on the other side of those now.

It was at this moment when we noticed two pirates standing guard at the entrance of the hangar. They saw us as well and immediately their hands went to their holsters. However, Katotta was too quick. She killed one with her plasma pistol. The other pirate reached for his com-link but he was too slow and met the same fate. I wish I could convince this girl to love me she was perfect.

There was still a small chance they didn’t know we’re here, but I knew that wasn’t true. There was a keypad on the door and two guys on the ground who probably knew the code but they were dead. She had shot them in the head, but she had metaphorically shot us in the foot. There was only one option now and it would blow our cover to hell, but we used brute force to blast the door open.

That’s exactly what we did. The door was open now, but an alarm was also going off. There were pirates rushing towards before we even entered the door, we were fish in a barrel.

Pirates surrounded us on all sides, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the ship which was in the hangar. She was a beauty with a sleek black and red exterior. She had four wings and a whole ring of thrusters except they weren’t on the very back like most ships but they were on the sides towards the back. The very back of the ship came to a point probably making it truly unique. The most amazing thing about the ship was its sheer size. I wondered how the ship fit in the hangar which didn’t extend above the tree line, but it was evident that part of the ship was being held underground.

I was suspended in wonder as time stood still, It was hard to peel my eyes away from this beauty and return to the present situation. The present situation being we were surrounded by pirates. The admiral had expanded his crew since Adaven, there were some pirates I didn’t recognize, but the rest of the crew were familiar faces. The new recruits included a really short Zatt with lots of tattoos and no hair on his head. Also, an Elvin Zatt in a giant mechanical suit of armor. I didn’t even know things like that existed, looked like something straight out of a graphic novel.

I looked and saw the Admiral obviously pissed off that we had found his hideout. Missing was the cool demeanor he had in Adaven. Karantis was visibly shaken his mouth was twitching slightly and he eyes were wide. However, he soon regained his composure. Karantis let out a hardy laugh before lecturing us, “You hit me hard last time I’m still looking to replace all the pirates you killed but I found a couple. We’re always hiring. I’ll pay you more than the government does. I don’t know how you found us? You guys got skill; skills that surpass your predecessors. I commend you for that, but if you think you can come into my house and kill me along with my crew then you’re greatly mistaken. Tyerow Hawkins couldn’t handle me and if any of you are man enough to come fight me, I will take you on.”

If fate existed, she was calling out to me now. I was the strongest, it had to be me it had to be me. The Admiral was strong if he gave Tyerow trouble and I was going to have to blled if I wanted to win, but I was living on borrowed time. I should have died on the streets years ago, but here I am. Well better let my crew know, “Can you guys handle these clowns because I’m going upstairs to teach the Admiral a lesson?”

Westcon shouted, “Don’t die.” I swallowed hard, there was a lump in my throat and it just might have been fear, an emotion that lay dormant deep inside of me. I was never scared in battle, not even on the first mission, but something about the Admiral made me question my confidence.

I started climbing up a ladder. At this top of that ladder stood the behemoth admiral. As I reached the top of the ladder, he gave me a hand and helped me up. After that, we opened the door to a room which looked to be an observation deck. There room was full of computers and wires running throughout like veins. He addressed me, “Nah, this room won’t do, not big enough too much important stuff.”

I was following this man across a catwalk when I asked had to ask, “You are really enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” We boarded a service elevator. I looked out and the others had begun fighting. My knuckles gripped the bar until they turned white, my nerves weren’t only for myself but also my comrades.

The Admiral bragged, “Every day I wake up and roll the dice. So far I haven’t got a bad roll. I lived a dangerous life but have yet to die. However, everything is up to lady luck. I’m not the young man I used to be. You may be the one to kill me.

He paused and stared straight through me with his four orange eyes. After a period of silence he continued to speak, “Then there’s you, a handsome young fellow with his whole life in front of him. You probably have a beautiful girl waiting for you when you get home and I bet you live a comfortable lifestyle. But you’re like me; you roll the dice everyday too. However, you don’t have to roll today. You can walk away if you desire. He proceeded to open a door that lead to the outside of the hangar. Or you can walk through this door and roll the dice but I can assure, you ain’t as lucky as me.” I wasn’t sure if I was.

That’s what I did, I walked through the door. We got outside and faced each other then he said, “You want to see my luck?” He pulled a knife out from under his coat and sliced off his finger. A purple liquid dripped out the nub as the finger fell to the ground. He then reached down and picked up his finger and placed it back on the nub. Soon the finger was reattached and the wound had closed. He laughed manically. Maybe I was in over my head, but fighting was my only option. The dice had now been cast.

I charged him but he didn’t budge. He tried to squash me with one of his monstrous fist but, he was too slow. My elbow connected with his rib cage. This should have brought a normal Zatt to the ground but this guy wasn’t a Zatt, and he sure wasn’t normal.

The fight went on this way for a while with me striking and dodging. Every time I was unsuccessful at dodging one of his giant mits there was a pain that would radiate through my entire being. He must have cracked a rib when he hit me in the chest because I was having trouble breathing. Every time I did damage his wounds would quickly heal.

He laughed, “This is quite fun.” I had to disagree. I tried to kick him but he grabbed my foot and threw me to the ground. I lie there for a moment unable to get up, “Would this really be the end? Is this how Mott Blixer dies? The Admiral walked over to me and pulled out a revolver from his belt. The chamber started to spin and glow orange.

I screamed out, “NO” and then I blasted the revolver from his hand. The revolver flew from his hand and landed about 15 feet away. His hand exploded, he fell back in pain holding his hand which now looked withered. There was smoke rising off of it and the bone was visible in some places. It was so visceral, it was disgusting.

However, my efforts were in vain. His hand started to regenerate and we kept fighting. I used the opportunity to beat up on the Admiral get off all the free punches and kicks that I could. If he didn’t have his instant healing ability and crazy strength, he would just be a chump, he was a sloppy fighter.

As the fight continued on, I seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Then I lost focus for a minute and took a good hit to skull I felt my forehead split and warm blood flowing from it and it ran down my face obstructing my vision. I struggled to maintain my balance, as well as consciousness, but it was also at that moment when I noticed the Admirals wounds were healing a lot slower now. My attack plan changed from using mostly physical attacks to blast attacks since he seemed to have trouble healing.

I danced around him showering him in a barrage of blast. His long overcoat was now smoking and tattered and a purplish blood dripped from him. Karantis lost his cool demeanor, he was visibly frustrated, He shouted, “I thought you were a man but it looks like you’re a coward, content to run away.”

Soon my energy ran out and it was back to fistycuffs. I needed to end the fight and fast, and I had a crazy idea a new technique the combined and energy attack with a physical attack. It went like this I would charge up for a blast but then I would hold back the energy; I would deliver a punch and then right after I landed the blow release a stream of energy. (aka Mott’s exploding punch). It took me a while to regain my energy, but his attacks were getting even sloppier which made it easier.

Now was my moment. Well, here goes nothing, I recklessly charged the pirate who reached down to grab me but I side-stepped and punched him right in the chest and then released. Boom, exploded backwards, it worked.

This should have been the point where I was victorious, but he got right back up. However, there was a giant wound on his chest. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial, which was full of a red liquid. What he did next made no sense. He crushed the vial in his hand and then charged for me. I tried to move out of the way again but I was tired from my big attack and not fast enough. Two of his fingers pierced my shoulder. He got me I a spot where my armor had chipped away.

I felt a burning sensation as the finger entered my skin and I fell to the ground. The admiral coughed he was in pain, his chest had not healed yet. Then he proclaimed, “That there is my loaded die, why I’m going to win. The vial contains a poison passed down by pirates for many generations called “Pirates Brew” and you’re not immune to this one either. Don’t worry it’s a slow poison you have about three hours to live.”

I screamed out, “You squell and tried to attack him, but I couldn’t move fast enough and he knocked me to the ground. I lie there unable to get up and he walked over to where his revolver had landed and picked it up off the ground. The next thing I knew, it was against my head.

He laughed, “Don’t you wish you didn’t come to work today? I bet you wish you’d never followed the Rabbit’s Trail. Mott Blixer had the opportunity to walk away with his life, but he had to be a hero.” This was what it felt like to be helpless.

I felt like I was going to cry but I answered him, “I don’t regret that I stood up to you. Someone had to do it. What are our lives worth if we don’t fight for them? Even if we lose this war. I would rather die like a man than give up without a fight. All my life, someone has been trying to take something from me and all my life I’ve fought as hard as I can just to hold on. You were right, every day I do roll the dice and I face the consequences of that roll head on.”

He retracted his gun and walked back into the hangar, “Take what time you have left you can say your goodbye to the others if they are still alive.”

I cried as soon as he left. There was no point in holding back the tears. My story ended here I was going to die. It took all my strength just to get on my feet. My body was shaking and my legs felt like they were full of lead.

My last thought weren’t about me, I could only think about my team. There would be many more missions before the war was over and now they would have to do them all without me. Who would die next? Would it be Westcon, Tyerow, maybe even Katotta? I reached for my com-link, I wanted to tell Katotta, “I was sorry that I dragged him into this mess.” My hands were too shaky, I’d have to tell her in person. I wanted my mom to hold me now and tell me that everything was going to be all right, but she was long dead now.

My eyes turned toward heaven, so did my clinched fist, “Elohim, if your real then why have you forsaken me? My parents are dead, practically my whole family is dead. The only family I have left is my uncle and my team so will you let me at least see my team before I die?” I fell to the ground again. The hangar was so large it took me about half an hour to walk/crawl around to where our ship was parked.

At that moment, I saw Westcon and Jin run by and get into the ship, but they didn’t see me. I also saw a giant tank roll through the wall of the hangar. The pirate whose head was once cloaked in cloth was now driving the tank. This could be very bad. I didn’t how long it had been since the ship had started up, but the weapons systems and shield may not be online yet. If the tank shot them now they would be sitting ducks the ship may even be too damaged to fly away.

I uttered my last good-bye because I had found my place and it was right between this tank and my crew. The tank had a giant plasma cannon, I heard it hum as it took in energy. I was going to die from the poison anyway might as well go out swinging. I focused all the energy in my body to create a shield around me.

Westcon, had come back onto the ramp now, “Mott what are you doing?”

I yelled at him to get back inside where it was safe. I looked straight into the face of the enemy pirate and screamed, “You should have killed me when you had the chance Admiral Karantis.” I wasn’t sure he heard me, but it made me feel comfort in my decision. The tank spit a white hot stream of energy. I crossed my arms on my chest and braced myself for death. “aggh” it hurt so bad the energy was burning through my arms. All I felt was unbearable pain. I held it for as long as I could, but it kept coming then I couldn’t hold it anymore. The pain disappeared. The world faded to black.

Enter Tyerow

The whole ship erupted into an outrage. Westcon, rushed out there with an antitank gun. It was reckless. He didn’t know how long it would take the tank to recharge but that didn’t concern him now. A rage had taken over. He got a lucky shot off as he screamed obscenities. His shot connected and the damaged tank retreated back inside the warehouse. Meanwhile, A.J. and I carried Mott’s corpse back onto the ship.

He was still hot to the touch, both arms were burned completely off at the forearms and there was a crater in his chest he had taken the full force of the blast and because his sacrifice our ship was safe. Still I held out hope maybe there was a small chance he survived. We felt for a pulse, but it was no use there was none most of his skin was charred and his corpse was giving off smoke.

Jin choked back tears as he announced over the ships speaker system, “We are now ready for takeoff, let’s leave this godforsaken place. The military will be here any second and I think they are going to air strike this place.”

Our ship left the ground and it was the most turbulent take off I’d ever experienced. Despite being strapped in my whole body shook. However, I could hardly blame Jin in the current situation we were all shook by the death of our leader and friend. I and saw Katotta with her arms around A.J. as he sobbed uncontrollably on her shoulders. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t real but that didn’t work either.

Westcon got up his voice was shaky and tears in his eyes he said, “That man on the ground there is my best friend, I love Mott Blixer. I’m filled with regret. The last words I said to him were, ‘“Don’t die.”’ It was a joke, but it was too real. I put up a front all the time all the time to convince you that I’ve got it together, that I’m not scared, but this is the real me and that man on the ground is my brother. He’s all of our brothers.” I couldn’t hold back and neither could anyone else we all cried.

We were all broken, all beat up. As I looked over at Katotta I saw that her right arm was bleeding. It looked like she had been shot in the arm. Turned out the pirates had a sniper too. All of our armor was cracked and we were bloodied up pretty good. I had never been beat up this bad in my whole life, but I didn’t care at the moment. There was so much pain and suffering in the air I could feel it.

I was a religious man with strong faith in Elohim, but all my life seemed to hold was suffering? I didn’t deserve this. I wanted to give it all up to curse the heavens, it would be easier that way. However, I knew that Elohim didn’t kill Mott, that responsibility belonged solely to Admiral Karantis. My mind wonder to a passage from Elohim’s teaching, “A new day will dawn for those who stand long.” I clung to that verse with all my heart. It may be a long while but the light would dispel the dark, and one we would see an era of peace. At least that’s what I told myself it was how I would get through this, but right now I needed time to heal.

On the contrary, we are not Gods, but we are extraordinary beings burdened with a grand responsibility. I wished it could be someone else, but we are the only ones who can bear the burden of Yonda’s forces. Whatever he throws at us we take. It’s not fair. I’m only 19 I may never have a wife, kids, or family of my own or at the very least live to see it. It would be so much easier if I knew how far away the finish line was, but mortal being don’t have that luxury.

An hour passed and I had sort of regained my composure for a moment. Tears came over me again when I saw Jon crying over Mott’s body. Jon kept a lot of emotions inside, and had a really hard time expressing himself, but in this moment it was obvious how he truly felt. Katotta sat behind me. We shared sorrow together. I finally broke the silence and asked, “Does Mott have any living family? We need to call them they deserve to know.”

Westcon informed us between tears, “He has a great uncle that lives in Mako City. Said uncle is a member of the Hall of Counsel named Charles Blixer. We searched Mott and found his com-link strapped to his belt, someone it didn’t get too damaged in the battle. These things were amazing. I swear they should have broken by now.

He picked up and said, “Hello, Mott how is it going?”

I swallowed hard, I was to be the bearer of bad news, “This is not Mott he is dead I just thought you had the right to know.”

There was a long pause and then he said, “I have a plan. It may not be too late. Don’t go to Polanski’s come to my place when you get back to Macco City.”

I was intrigued what could he have in in mind? I replied, “Okay.” and then disconnected.

End of Mission 3

Author’s note

The military did an air strike on the pirate hangar but Admiral Karantis and his men escaped in there ship. However, there operation was shot as, this particular guild of the Arcane Pirates only had three members now. (the Admiral the Tyberian and the man in the cybernetic suit). Our hero’s good names were restored and the war would go on much longer than half a year. As for Karantis, he left Zatara and quit working for the Raikai. However, he went back up into space and still plunders star cruisers for the time being. They say he bears a scar on his chest one that never quite healed, a wound inflicted by the great Mott Blixer.