March 2018 Challenge: Moon Gems of Vaalsa

[Meshon]

Archie maneuvered his ship towards the run-down spaceport with mixed emotions. He was elated at the prospect of the score ahead of him. Gems that appeared in an alien temple only once a century, pure solidified moonlight... He and Salazar had been planning this heist for months but when the Galactic Patrol had blown up their cargo hauler and Archie had taken the last escape pod... Well, he had to accept that Salazar was gone for good. But of course that meant the score was all his...

"Approaching craft, this is Kudzu Spaceport Control. Please return to orbit and adopt a holding pattern. There are no available bays for landing."

"What!?" Archie spluttered. "What about Bay 3, it was open an hour ago!"

"That bay is currently occupied by a craft registered as Salazar's Ghost," came the static-obscured reply. "The owner has hired a speeder and is not expected back for several days. Bay 2 will be available in approximately four hours."

It could not be a coincidence. The old scoundrel had somehow survived the exploding ship and even beaten Archie to the surface of Vaalsa. A speeder. Well, Archie knew the route Salazar would be taking, and he had four hours to kill. He powered up the weapons systems and headed off over the crags and jungle to see what he could do to slow up his old "friend."

As soon as I saw the theme of this challenge I knew I had to jump in with a story about a pair of scoundrels you may have met before...

### Latest WIP ###

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[Tonquani]

Cool story Meshon! Looking forward to seeing where this goes...

[ThomasR]

I have a question Meshon. When you draw, do you draw fast or slowly ? When I go hand drawn, it seems I cannot take my time and I feel it's a real shame.
I'm glad to see the adventures of the Salazar's Ghost go on and the linework is top notch as always

[Meshon]

I have a question Meshon. When you draw, do you draw fast or slowly ? When I go hand drawn, it seems I cannot take my time and I feel it's a real shame.

I think I tend to hustle, though it takes me awhile anyway. There is something both appealing and terrifying about using a pen on paper with little to no chance to make changes after the ink touches the page.

However, I have noticed that I tend to sketch things in pencil first. I'm trying to do that less with hand drawn stuff but it's hard for me to plan without some pencil lines in first.

Based on the maps I've seen you draw, the don't look rushed at all!

Cheers,
Meshon


Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[Mouse]

I love your drawings, Meshon

Looking forward to more of it

[Meshon]

A thundering roar from above made Salazar look up from the controls of his speeder as he wove nimbly between canyon walls. A small TM71 Starhopper hovered above the steep jungle-covered walls, and a voice boomed from the soundsystem in the little craft.
"So, you made it out of our last predicament and aim to cheat me out of my share of this score?" came Archie's voice. "Let's see if I can't even things up a bit…"
With that the ship launched ahead and out of sight.
"He's not going to find anywhere to land other than at Kudzu," mused Salazar. "What's he thinking?"
As if in answer to his question came a burst of ship weapons fire and a crashing roar of falling rock from somewhere not far ahead. As Salazar sped around a corner he had to veer hard and slam the reverse thrusters, barely coming to a halt at a solid wall of rubble blocking the canyon ahead. He slammed the control board with his fist.
"That old space-dog," he said, with just a hint of a grin. "I could go over, but I'm not ready to leave the speeder behind. Time for a back-track."

### Latest WIP ###

[kacey]

This looks great meshon!

[Meshon]

The Obsequiously Sinister Messenger had finally pulled into orbit, and Archie was rushing through his shut-down. He dropped through the hatch into humid air and jungle cacophony.
"A speeder!" he hollered at the deck attendant, who nodded and directed him towards the lift.
"There's just one left, the other guy looked at both of them but I think he took the older one for some reason," the attendant told him. "Print doesn't know speeders."
If the GravSlab B counted as new on this planet, Archie wondered what kind of piece of junk Salazar had taken off in. No matter. The GravSlab came standard with null-cooled fusion coils, which would work just fine with the boosters Archie had brought. There was even a mesh bag of sweet-smelling round green fruit in the passenger seat.
"Banotans," the attendant said. "They're just ripe, delicious! Mind you..."
But Archie had already tossed him a credit risk and was waving goodbye as he hammered the throttle and raced out of the bay. He'd install the boosters once the Spaceport was out of sight and then he'd really get some speed!
***
A resonance induction magnet. Salazar must have guessed he'd use the booster. The bastard knew him too well. The power cells in the GravSlab were almost completely drained, but Archie had managed to get the thing to limp up to the collapse he'd caused earlier.
"On foot from here," he groused to the canyon walls that rose around him.
He ate one of the banotans and found the juicy fruit very refreshing. He tossed the mesh bag into his pack and grabbed the satchel that held his last trick and slung it over his shoulder. He started walking.

### Latest WIP ###

[Abu Lafia]

Ah, the sweet smell of Banotans! Excellent work Meshon, can't wait to see the map/story of this next feud between Archie and Salazar unfold! Love how you depict the jungly canyon maze with those different "layers" of rocks and trees. Will you keep it bw, or are you planning to colour it?
After reading this cool story of yours about the two scoundrels, my fingers are itching to jump in and draw something too, but i'm running a bit low on ideas for another feud atm ... feels like i paid a visit to the Mind Eater Pub on Carabon V last night ...

[Meshon]

Ah, the sweet smell of Banotans! Excellent work Meshon, can't wait to see the map/story of this next feud between Archie and Salazar unfold! Love how you depict the jungly canyon maze with those different "layers" of rocks and trees. Will you keep it bw, or are you planning to colour it?
After reading this cool story of yours about the two scoundrels, my fingers are itching to jump in and draw something too, but i'm running a bit low on ideas for another feud atm ... feels like i paid a visit to the Mind Eater Pub on Carabon V last night ...

Right? That place is nasty!
I'm planning to colour this one. It's totally inspired by your incredible sci-fi maps. Also, looking at them inspired me to tell another story about Archie and Salazar. One of these days we'll have a book about them!

Cheers,
Meshon

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk