The Wandering Cyborg, part 1.

There's a muffled boom as an explosion fills the viewport, blinding Angel momentary. Angel jerks the controls back, just barely pulling the ship out of the way of the second missile. They flick at the small touch-screen interface on their left arm, the phone-sized screen buried in the artificial skin of their cybernetic arm.

Why the fuck does a research ship have missiles?! Angel thinks to themself.

With a flick of a switch, the EMP launchers on the underside of their ships wings activate and extend. Angel pushes the controls forward, straining the engines to their limits as they chase the blip of their target on the rad-video. There's a small jolt throughout Angels body, as the acceleration mufflers kick-in. Soon, the stolen research ship can be seen even through the front viewport. There's a popping sound as the EMP launchers fire, launching two balls of pure electricity at the other ship, one after the other. The research ship swerves to the right, easily dodging the first EMP blast.

Amateur, Angel thinks to themself as the second blast collides with the ship. The ships ion engines flare up before flickering off, leaving the ship helpless.

Angel pulls back the controls, slowing the ship down until its floating alongside the other ship. Angel flicks on a boarding acceleration muffler, freezing the ship in place as the outside airlock extends and connects. With a button press to activate autopilot, Angel starts running down to the airlock to get their target. They grab their blue-shooter, one of the only things Angel had all those years ago when they woke up on this very ship, no without a single memory of their past

They slide their blue-shooter into the holster on their belt, the long gun fitting in perfectly. Not quite as powerful as some of the newer models, but ten times more reliable. Also attached to the belt is just about anything a bounty hunter could need; zip ties, emergency anti-biotic and phage injectors, even a small foldable survival knife.

The circuits in Angels cybernetic legs whirr as they run down the central ship corridor, doors leading to other parts of the ship on either side. Angel arrives at the end of the corridor, two other pathways splitting off to either direction to form a 'T' shape. Angel doesn't go down either one, instead stepping forwards to press a button on the opposite wall. There's a hiss as the airlock opens, the wall itself splitting and opening up. They step into the airlock, as it closes behind them, tapping impatiently while they wait for the locks to undo.

As Angel steps into the research ship with their gun raised, they realize it'll be easy to find the target. The ship is composed of a single long corridor, every room in the ship connected to a door along it. Angels' breath fogs in the frigid air as they slowly step down the dark corridor, the only light being from emergency lighting strips on the ceiling.

They slowly creep down the corridor, briefly opening each door to check inside. They pass a chemical analysis lab, barracks, canteen, engine room, and a couple other labs before finally arriving at the bridge door.

Suddenly and without warning, the emergency strip lights shutoff. Angels' cybernetic eyes flicker onto night vision automatically, giving them sight despite the oppressive darkness.

Nice try, Angel thinks to themself. They approach the bridge door, which is clearly lifeless and deactivated.

Angel grips the manual unlock with both hands, grunting as they twist it to unlock the door. They step back, switching their blue-shooter to nonlethal and raising it as the door slowly opens, the door sinking into a compartment under the floor. Angel slowly steps forwards, taking a cautious step into the bridge.

Suddenly the lights flicker back on at full brightness, blinding Angel. There's a sound to the left, and Angel throws themself backwards as a blade swings right through where they were milliseconds ago. There's a clank of metal against metal as the target steps into view, wearing a set of ancient earth medieval plate armor. They take up an offensive stance, the longsword lowered slightly towards the ground.

The two stare at each other for a solid three seconds, the air tense as they wait for the other to make the first move. With a sound of metal screeching, the target steps forward and stabs downwards. Angel rolls to the side, grunting in pain as the blade nicks their arm. Angel fires at their target, shout of pain coming from inside the armor as they jolt and drop the sword. They take a step back, and another, before collapsing backwards with a loud thud.

Angel breathes heavily for a few seconds, catching their breath before they slowly approach the target. They hear the target breathing, the chest plate slowly rising and falling. 

Thank Mechane they're alive, Angel thinks as they kick the sword away. Holstering their blue-shooter, they kneel down besides the armored individual, reaching for and undoing the chinstrap keeping their helmet on. To their surprise, it feels like actual, real lab-grown leather instead of animal leather. Slowly they pull off the targets helmet, revealing the scaled face of their target.

The kobolds face is covered in light blue scales, lighter cyan scales making up the underside of his chin, and purple scales doting his face in a way similar to freckles. The kobolds snout is unusually short, confirming them as Angels target and allowing them to fit in the helmet. With confirmation of their target, Angel starts the process of taking off the kobolds armor. After a few seconds of trying, Angel gives up. The armor is closed shut with several bio-locks, meaning that unless the kobold takes it off, its not coming off .

Angel mutters several insults directed towards the kobold as they grab his feet and start dragging him down the corridor back to his ship. The armor screeches against the floor as its dragged across it, leaving an awful ringing in Angels ears.

Nearly an hour later, Angel has finally got the kobold into the brig for temporary holding until they can get back to a enforcement satellite. The moment the cell door is locked behind them, they slump into a seat just across the room from the cell bars, groaning with exhaustion. They gaze around the room, looking everywhere except the scratches left in the metal floor of their ship, their beautiful ship.

The entire room is about four meters wide, and six meters long. Cutting the room in half is a wall made of solid plexiglass, a door the only visible feature. The cell itself is simple, only containing a simple cot, a small stall sunk into the back wall with a toilet and sink, a table and chair attached to a wall across the bed, and a nutrient paste dispenser just to the right of the table.

After a few minutes Angel stands back up. After a moment they glance down at the interface in their arm. They tap it to activate it, navigating through several menus before finding what they're looking for. They hit the auto-navigate, letting the ships AI take control of flying the ship back to Sol. Angel presses a button, using the image of the kobolds face stored in their cybernetic eyes to do an identity scan. Angel soon finds their record, just as he begins to wake up.

"Rise and shine... Ronak." Angel says, reading the name listed. "Tell me something, how does someone go from being both a mechanist priest and a head researcher of Civer Cybernetics, to a terrorist?"

Ronak jolts awake on the cot, looking around in alarm. He stands up, pacing around the cell with obvious fear on his face. Or more accurately, fear obvious to Angel, since kobolds aren't exactly a very expressive race.

"No... no no, no!" His hands clasp together as he looks at Angel in desperation. "Look, Angel, I know it sounds like-"

"Yeah, and the bounties just-" Angel freezes in place as they process Ronaks words.

"How the hell do you know my name?" Angel demands as they stand up and approaches the clear wall dividing them, eyes narrowed at the kobold. Ronak stares blankly at Angel for a moment.

"I... its... well... alright, fine." Ronak sloaly sinks into the cot, as Angel pulls their chair closer to the plexiglass and sits down.

"Well... okay, I know your name because... I used to know you, or at least be familiar with your existence." 

Angel feels themself freeze in even greater shock. They lean forward, realizing that they might finally get an answer, years after they gave up searching for their past, they might finally learn about it. At Angels widened eyes, he quickly adds, "But something happened. I don't know how, why, or when, but I just... forgot. I don't know why. From what I can recall, you were a part of some kind of secret program. Whoever was sponsoring it... I don't know what they were after, maybe a super soldier? You're... Well, the prototype." Angel leans back, clearly unconvinced. "And... that's all I know." Angel stares at him for a solid five seconds, before scoffing and shaking their head.

"Yeah. Right." Angels voice is incredibly skeptical. "Why am I even bothering? I'm the seventh most popular bounty hunter, tons of criminals know my name." Ronak approaches the plexiglass wall, holding up his hands in desperation. Before he can speak, Angel silences him with a glare. Angel turns their back on Ronak, swiftly walking out of the room and leaving him behind.

Angel walks towards the bridge, thinking about Ronaks words.

Its insane, he thinks to himself as he steps into the bridge.

He's clearly desperate, he thinks as he stares out the front viewport. The ship zooms past the 

The last thing he thinks as space and the light from distant stars swirls around the ship, sucking it into swirling vortex of spacetime is;

Why does it seem so believable?