2 : In A Strange Land

After a rough week and a half at jumpspeed, the Vespera rattled into orbit over a sludge brown sphere, toxic looking streaks of green marred what little of the rust coloured surface that was visible through the gaps in the thick atmosphere of smog. Around the planet hung a second shell of wrecked and decaying ships in progressively more pieces. Orbital elevators protruded through the smog layer, thin filaments of infrastructure that dragged clear trails through the refuse. Punctuating the shell of tarnished metal were occasional structures. Fat, industrial stations, distinguished from their surroundings by blinking lights that guided the way in, cutting through the dull, unfriendly glow of the looming brown dwarf nearby.

“Aw, what a sight,” Ty smiled, taking off his hat as he scanned the viewscreens with a reverent smile.

“You are excited to be here?” Moses asked in disbelief at Ty’s obvious joy.

"I'm always excited to head back to Magnasanti," Ty grinned as he flipped his hat back atop his head. "It's the closest thing I've got to a real home out here. And it's where I got Vessie. Really no place like it."

Ty directed Moses towards one of the stations that hung like tarnished midges around the planet, opening a comm channel.

"Hey hey, Tsu-Belle. Guess who?"

A moment later, the comm crackled in response, the signal fuzzy, but a rough voice cut through the static with a gently chiding tone.

"Tyranus? It's about time you hauled that scrap heap back here."

To Moses, it was obvious how Ty perked up on hearing the voice, the captain leaning into the comm console as he talked. "I know, I know, I'm well overdue for a checkup. But that's what I'm here for."

"Just great!” She sounded just as pleased as Ty. “Bring the old girl into the hangar one. Let's see what you've put her through."

"Roger that, Tsu-Belle. And it's good to hear your beautiful voice again."

"Yours too, darlin’,” she replied.

Ty grinned as the Vespera manoeuvred around the front half of a wrecked leisure yacht that was being hauled on hydraulic arms by fat tug drones. He lined her up with one of three hanger maws, each illuminated with flashing light buoys. There was a heavy thud as the docking arms secured them in place and vacc shields went up over the open ends of the hangar, securing them from the void.

"Come on. You're gonna love Tsu-Belle." Ty smiled, heading down the lift with Moses and stepping out of the hold into the slightly acrid air of the hangar.

The hangar bay was massive enough to fit a ship thrice the size of the Vespera,with thick rails supporting the docking arms that hung from the ceiling. The floor was stained with years of oil, fuel and other byproducts of industry, tacking their boots as they walked. On the far wall, an airlock slid open and a short, simian figure stepped out, her body was covered in a thick, yellow fur stained with years of hard work and she wiped all four of her greasy hands on her equally greasy coveralls.

"Tyranus! Get over here, you little troublemaker," she smiled as Ty nearly disappeared into the four lanky arms that embraced him.

Ty returned the hug with just as much vigour. "Hey, Tsu-Belle. How's life been treating you?"

"Oh, you know me, darlin’.” She shrugged playfully. “There’s nothing I can't complain about. But work has been good and my hips have even been cutting me some slack recently. What about yourself? Not getting into too many fights you can't win?"

"Nope. Actually, most of my fights have been wins recently and a lotta that's thanks to my new pilot," Ty grinned, gesturing to Moses. "She's a sharp one. And she's got a few extra talents that come in real handy. Moses, this is Tsu-Belle. She pretty much raised me."

"I put’cha to work more like," she laughed, extending a hand to Moses who took it with a smile. "Damn good to see someone's keeping him safe out there."

"Captain Tyranus is being very good at taking the care of himself," Moses smiled.

"Oh! And she's a good liar!" Tsu-Belle cackled, elbowing Ty playfully. "So, you here for another tune up?"

"Please,” Ty nodded. “And maybe even some repairs. We took a nasty pull from a grappling magnet and I've been feeling a bit of wobble in the jump ratio since."

"Probably those old spooling coils. That's either gonna be an easy fix if they’re just misaligned, or a hard one if one of them is warped.” Tsu-Belle scratched her head behind her ears and then waved casually. “Ah, but don't you worry none, darlin’. Me and my boys will get her up to shape in no time."

Ty clapped Tsu-Belle on her shoulder, resting his hand there for a moment. "Great! And I can even pay you for more than just parts this time."

Tsu-Belle scoffed incredulously "No kidding, huh?"

"Straight laced honest. Moses has been earning her pay and then some.” Ty beaming towards Moses. “I'm telling you, Tsu-Belle, this is where things finally start turning around for me."

Tsu-Belle patted his hand on her shoulder. "That's what you said the last few times, darlin’. I'll believe it when I see it."

Ty shook his head emphatically. "I'm not kidding! My bounty is up almost a thousand creds since she joined up.”

“You and that bounty,” Tsu-Belle sighed, rolling her large grey eyes. “Is gettin’ you in more trouble the only good thing about her?”

Ty shook his head, face plastered with an anticipatory grin. “That’s the best part, she's completely unregistered. A legal blind spot. There's not even any records of her homeworld in any database I can find."

Both pairs of Tsu-Belle’s small round ears twitched up. "Really now? That's a rarity. You from the Span?"

"I do not knowing," Moses said, violet from the attention. "I did not leaving my world by ship."

Tsu-Belle's eyes glinted curiously. "No kidding? You really are something special, girl."

Moses giggled. "Tyranus Captain is saying that many times."

Tsu-Belle chuckled along and gently shoved Ty towards the airlock that she had come through. "Anyway, enough gum flapping, you go make yourselves comfortable. I'll give your girl the full deluxe treatment."

"You're a legend, Tsu-Belle!" Ty grinned, flashing her a thumbs up.

"If I was I'd be paying myself more!" She laughed dryly, returning the gesture as she headed to the Vespera with a few others in coveralls.

Ty continued through the airlock and down a few halls lit by flickering blue tinted rails in the ceiling, eventually coming to a simple, slightly disorganized lounge. Several mismatched, torn and stained chairs and couches sat around the room. A cracked screen hung on one wall showing a game of hoverball, and a table in the centre boasted a stack of old data tablets loaded with magazines and articles.

Ty sighed contentedly as he slumped back into one of the couches. "Ahhhh… No place like home, I swear."

"You are having a very strange home," Moses said, sitting with him, cautiously examining a stain on the armrest.

"Home doesn't just mean where you're from. Home's where folks care about you. It's wherever you feel like coming back to whenever shit gets rough. And this place is home enough to me." He looked over to Moses. "What's your home like?"

"Oh. Jur? It is… Jur is very different from anywhere else I have been," she said softly, her gaze drifting as her tendrils shivered. "It is quiet. At night, the only sounds are being the waves at shore and the galgata songs. And it is many wetter. The air is being so dry here."

Ty cocked his head slghtly. “You should have said something. Once I’ve got the ship back I'll show you how to adjust the life support in your room if you want. Make the air a bit more humid. Maybe it'll make the ship feel a bit more like home."

"Maybe," Moses nodded, smiling hopefully.

***

Several hours passed before Tsu-Belle returned, tapping her earpiece and dismissing the holographic display in front of her eyes.

"All good news, darlin’. I've run her through standard diagnostics, nothing major. That wobble was ‘cause you're pushing her too hard as usual, but I realigned the coils and you should be good. As usual of course, your g-diffusers need replacing, but I still can't find the parts."

Ty gave a dismissive hand wave as he pulled himself away from a riveting match of hoverball. "I told you not to worry about those things. A rough jump is the least of my worries. But thanks anyway. I'm just glad to hear she's in good shape."

"You better keep her that way," she chuckled, passing him the data tablet. "Anyway, if you can pay me this time, here's the invoice, darling."

"Absolutely. No problem, Tsu-Belle," Ty smiled, counting out and handing over the requisite credit chips when Moses leaped from the couch with an excited cheer alongside a score buzzer on the screen.

“Ceca!” She paused hopping in place when she realized that Ty and Tsu-Belle were looking at her. “Sorry,” she added shepishly, face violet as her tendrils curled on themselves.

“No need to apologize, darlin’“ Tsu-Belle chuckled, pocketing the credits. "I could get used to this if you ain't careful, Ty.”

"Well hopefully you will,” Ty agreed. “Speaking of, you heard about anything that might be up my alley? Something weird so I can really put the newbie through her paces."

"Weird, huh?" Tsu-Belle mused, furrowing her brow for a moment. "Go find Mirl. I heard him talking about some strange subspace transmissions he was listening in on."

"You're the best, Tsu-Belle," Ty smiled, hugging her once more before hurrying off, Tsu-Belle watching after him with a soft chuckle.

"Um. Tsu-Belle?" Moses asked timidly, lingering behind her captain.

"Hm? Speak up, darlin’. No need to be shy."

"I am wondering a question. You are loving Tyranus Captain like you are his mother. But you are not even being of the same kind."

"Shit, but that hardly matters,” Tsu-Belle laughed shortly. “That little idiot got off the transport with no clue where he was going, no money and just the dirty old clothes on his back. I wasn't about to let some freeloading punk stick around, but I couldn't bring myself to kick him out into the black. So instead I put him to work. Imagine my surprise when he actually turned out to have a knack for ships,” Tsu-Belle shook her head and chuckled and Moses could feel the fondness radiating from her. “It wasn't my intention at first, but I admit I got attached to him. He never talked much about where he came from, but from what I can gather, he didn't have much of a home there. So I gave him one here. He may not be my blood, but he's my boy near enough."

Moses smiled softly, nodding and putting a hand on her shoulder like she had seen Ty do. "You are being the good person, Tsu-Belle. I am hoping that whatever gods you are following are smiling on you."

"Thanks, darlin’," she chuckled, putting a hand on her arm. "Hey, while you're out there with him, do me a favour and make sure he keeps himself straight alright?"

Moses nodded, the tendrils around her head floating loosely. "I will."

"Atta girl," Tsu-Belle grinned, leaving Moses in the lounge. With a smile on her face, Moses, gently ran her fingers over the bone and shell talisman around her neck.

"Sri Nenrjt, Tyranus Captain."

***

With the Vespera given a final cleaning and dent removal, Ty stood on a catwalk in the hangar fawning over his ship. He ran his hand over the ID plates and gave the polished figurehead an affectionate pat, purring like a cat in a sunbeam.

"Oh, don't you look gorgeous, girl~"

Tsu-Belle smiled, taking as much pride in his reaction as the work itself. "Glad you're happy, darling. I even topped up your munitions, no charge."

"Aw, Tsu-Belle, fantastic work as usual," Ty grinned, hugging her.

"You damned flatterer," she chuckled, wrapping all four arms around him. "Where’re you off to next? Mirl give you anything to go off of?"

"Yep! I think there might be something big on the other side of those signals."

"Well just try not to get yourself killed, alright, darling?"

"You know I can't promise anything,” Ty said with a cocky smirk.

"I know. I know," Tsu-Belle chuckled. "Anyhow, you get on outta here. Come back if you need anything."

"Promise," Ty nodded, heading up into the cargo hold and tipping his tricorn as the bay doors clamped shut. He sighed contentedly, heading to the lift and tapping his comm.

"All crew to the bridge. Prepare for reactor initiation."

When the lift doors hissed open, Moses was standing by the navigation panel, saluting as he stepped out.

"At ease, Moses. I appreciate the thought, but this ain't that formal of a vessel."

"Oh. I am sorry. I had seeing it on a… the moving pictures?"

"Holovid."

Moses nodded emphatically. "Yes! A holovid!"

"Well, I ain't gonna stop you, but you don't have to worry about that much right now," Ty chuckled, sitting in his chair and lighting a cigarette. "Anyway, we're cleared for launch and you remember how to initiate the reactor, right?"

"Yes!" Moses nodded, going to salute and then raising a slender thumb instead.

“That’s more like it.” Ty nodded approvingly as she sat at her console and tapped the screen. A moment later, a soft, thrumming pulse washed through the ship, the hull vibrating softly. A soft whine accompanied the rising pulse until, all at once, the noise fell into a quiet background hum.

"Reactor initiation complete. All fuel cells at optimal performance," the computer announced pleasantly.

"Smooth as butter, Moses. Now take us into orbit outside the debris field."

"Yes, Tyranus Captain!" Moses nodded, decoupling the docking arms as the vacc shields went down, the Vespera gliding out into the cluttered space over Magnasanti.

With the ship in a stable orbit, Ty stood up, dropping the butt of his cigarette into a coffee mug and taking out his comm.

"Hey, Dana. Can I borrow your expertise on the bridge for a bit? I got something that might pique your interest."

"What is it?"

"An old buddy of mine picked up some odd signals that we need deciphered."

There was no response, but a few minutes later, Dana stepped onto the bridge. "Let's see what you've got."

Ty tapped his console and the view screen switched from the exterior display to the waveform of the fuzzy recording that played over the intercom. After a couple seconds of static, the signal was broken up by flickers of murmuring sound, faint and high pitched, a semi regular pattern of pulses almost indistinguishable from the background static. The sound continued sporadically for a minute before the static returned and the recording ended.

"So. What do you make of that?" He prompted.

Dana was silent for a moment, brow furrowed in thought. "Where did these signals originate?"

"That's the exciting part. Mirl said he couldn't get a solid triangulation in time, but he traced the signals out into the Span."

"What is being the Span?" Moses asked. "I am hearing Tsu-Belle mention it too."

"Ah. Right. How much do you know about the structure of the galaxy?" Ty asked, Moses' blank expression giving him the answer he needed. "Alright," he nodded, tapping his console and bringing up a rendering of an ovular ring of systems with a large, offset cluster to one side. "This is the galaxy. That big cluster of stars there is the galactic core, that side is the Core Rim and the other side of the oval is the Reaches where we are now. I've always thought the whole thing looks like an eye looking sideways," he chuckled mostly to himself. "That big empty space in the middle is the Central Span. There's almost nothing there but an unregulated, uncharted void."

"Then where is the signals coming from?"

"That's the fun part," Ty grinned. "Once Dana cleans up those signals we'll have more to go off of, but discovering something new is always exciting if not a good payday."

“Does Mirl know roughly where the signals originated from?" Dana asked.

Ty waggled his hand noncommittally. "He got it down to a couple cubic lightyears near the Reaches. I'm gonna at least get us close in the meantime so you've got about a week to figure them out."

"Plenty of time," Dana nodded. "And I expect a cut of whatever we find."

"Only fair."

Dana plugged her comm into her skull plate, loading the recordings into her neuralnet processors and beginning a deep analysis.

"I'll let you know what I find," she said, already halfway through the door.

Ty grinned, hopping into the captain's chair and nodding to Moses.

"The area Mirl found is loaded into the nav com. Take her away, Moses."

"Yes, Tyranus Captain!"

***

On long weeks like this at jump speed, Ty always felt most at home. He wandered the decks of the Vespera, leaving Moses to watch the controls as he climbed through the engine access shafts, tuning up a few components. Here, bathed in the thrum of the drive manifold and the warmth radiating from exhaust ducts, the rattle of jumpspace sending waves of rocking vibrations through the hull. He laid his hand on the bulkhead as a patch of turbulence sent a metallic groan through the hull.

"Easy, girl," he muttered softly, shutting the panel he had been working on when his comm pinged, disrupting the zen like pulse of the engine.

Ty tucked the soldering pen into the toolbox, tapping his comm.

"Go ahead."

Moses’ voice came with a panicked warble. "Tyranus Captain! There is something being outside!"

"Outside? I'll be right up," Ty said, slamming the toolbox shut and hurrying up the ladder and back into the engine bays, grabbing his hat and jacket from the railing he had hung them over. The elevator up to the bridge gave him just enough time to worry before he stepped out to the bridge, eyes going immediately to the main viewscreen.

“Holy shit…” he muttered, taking off his hat in awed reverence as he walked closer to the screen.

The streaked expanse of jumpspace on the screen was almost entirely filled by a bright yellow form, streaked with green. The thing was organic, alive, and shaped like a squid if it were drawn by someone who had only had a squid described to them by a drunk fisherman. A mass of red, feathery arms trailed behind the body for several kilometers, though the main bulk was not much larger than the Vespera. About halfway up, the ridge along the side was broken by four glossy, iridescent blue and purple eyes, each as wide as Ty was tall, yet appeared beady in the bulk of the body.

“We are not being in danger?” Moses asked, her fingers hovering over the weapons controls, Ty quickly waving her down, grinning.

“No, not at all. This is incredible, actually,” he said, tapping the comm. “Hey, Dana! Check out the exterior view. You aren’t gonna want to miss this.”

Ty hurried up to his chair and set the computer to record the sensors. “This, Moses, is a once in a lifetime kinda sighting of a real, live, star whale! Old spacers say that when one drifts your jump, your journey is blessed with good luck.”

Moses looked a little confused, though Dana’s voice on the comm seemed to preempt her question. “They’re a very rare creature, one of the few beings known to be able to survive the conditions in interstellar space, and one of only two known to thrive there. They are assumed to photosynthesize like plants, though they’re hard to capture because they’re rare and hard to study since they collapse under atmospheric pressures.”

Moses nodded, watching the creature’s arms drift, her own tendrils twitching slightly. “It is… very strange. But pretty.”

On the screen, the star whale banked away from the ship and Moses’ tendrils rose sharply as the creature warped and stretched away from view, passing out of the jumpspace field.

“You good?”

“I… Yes. It was being.. Very loud,” she said softly, gently stroking her tendrils down.

Ty had heard nothing. “Loud?”

“Not making noise, but loud like… the invasive you do not like.”

“It’s a good sign, Moses. I think it means you’re meant to be here,” Ty grinned, clapping her on the shoulder. “It was telling you good luck!”

Moses returned the grin, snapped out of her brief daze. “Yes! I am believing it to be a sign from Non that I am going towards home.”

“Love the optimism!” Ty said with a thumbs up. “Hey, who knows, maybe your buddies on Jur on the other side of that signal.”

“Unlikely based on what Moses has said on her species' technological development,” Dana interjected like a conversational wet towel.

Ty rolled his eyes so hard he nearly fell backwards. “Ah, stuff it, party pooper.”

“Alright. But I guess you don’t want to hear where that signal is coming from,” Dana said, cutting off Ty’s protest by closing the comm.

Ty groaned and rolled his eyes as he stood. “I’m gonna go see what she’s on about and finish that tuneup. Call me if you see any more miracles.”

“You will being the first to know,” Moses nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

“And remind me to teach you about contractions later,” he chuckled as the lift doors hissed shut.

***

Following the faint trace of Dana's tracking ping, the Vespera rounded a dark green nebula, following the source of the beacon to an uncharted system. Ahead of them, the scanners took in a red star system that bathed the two planets in a soft pink light. The signal traced to the innermost planet, in the stars' habitable zone and covered almost completely in rich azure oceans.

"Nice place," Ty remarked, looking over the scans. "Warm, sunny, breathable atmosphere, drinkable water. It's practically paradise."

"It is reminding me of home a bit," Moses smiled slightly, her tendrils twitching.

"Must be a hell of a home. Take us in, Moses," Ty said, marking the source of the signal to a small archipelago in the northern hemisphere. With steady hands, Moses brought the ship into the atmosphere, the hull rattling slightly as they descended.

"I am reading one life sign on the surface, Tyranus Captain," Moses said, bringing up an aerial view of a peninsula of radiant orange sand. There was a small garden along a grassy patch of atoll and a structure raised above the water just off shore. "I do not knowing the type."

"Hey! Maybe they're uncontacted. There's a good bounty for uncontacted species," Ty grinned, seeing credit marks as the ship touched down about five hundred feet out from the garden. "Let's go check it out!" He said, his pace hurried as he went to the lift.

As the cargo bay doors opened and the ramp descended into the sand, Ty took a deep breath of the tangy air.

"Oh yes. That's nice," he sighed, stepping down into the orange sand and scanning the beach. "Where'd that person go?"

"I am believing they are inside. And... Afraid," Moses frowned, gesturing down the makeshift pier to the small bungalow that sat raised above the water.

"Ah shit. Figures," Ty sighed, shaking his head as he started walking towards the house, bringing his hands up and cupping them around his mouth.

"Hey! Whoever you are! Come on out and talk!" He shouted, spotting a bit of movement and the glint of red sunlight off metal in one of the windows. Ty stopped, looking towards the window and raising a hand, Moses stopping just behind him.

“Who sent you?” Came a barked response in a Core Rim accented Galactic Gommon, though Ty couldn’t place the dialect. “How did you find me?”

He raised his hat slightly from his head in polite greeting, one hand near his hip. “I’m Dreadlord Tyranus Nobel,” he said with a charming smile. “And I followed my natural curiosity and a weird signal.”

Ty flinched when he saw the figure disappear from the window, and again when the front door flung open. The person inside the house was clearly human, tall and handsome, almost as dark as the gunmetal plating, backlit with green that made up the visible part of their left arm. Their right arm held a thrumming energy pistol. Their short dreadlocks were sun bleached and their weathered skin had enough scars to give Ty pause for thought as he went for his own sidearm.

“What signal?” the stranger demanded, narrowing their eyes, one green like the glow of their arm.

“If I knew, I would’ve been more specific.” Ty shrugged, nonchalant to find himself in the familiar position at the end of someone’s gun. “Full honesty, I was expecting to cash in on an uncontacted species bounty, maybe a smuggler’s dead drop or something.”

The stranger raised an eyebrow, the tension in their body relaxing as they lowered his gun with a sigh. “So is that it? You’re just some pirate?”

"Just a pirate?" Ty scoffed, spreading his arms as he strutted towards him. "I am no mere a pirate. I am Tyranus Alexzander Nobel and I am the Dreadlord!"

With a dumbstruck look of bemusement, the stranger shook their head. “Dreadlord? You absolute cartoon.”

“Shove it. Just cause I let you point a gun at me doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you insult me too,” Ty said through gritted teeth, rolling his eyes. “What about you? What’s your story? Sitting out here on an uninhabited planet in the middle of void’s ass nowhere isn’t something normal people do.”

The stranger shrugged. “I’m not a normal person.”

“No kidding. So why are you all holed up here on your own?”

The stranger sighed heavily and rolled their eyes. “I was hiding.”

“Well whoever you’re hiding from might be interested in knowing about the signal that brought me here to your idyllic beachfront property,” Ty said nonchalantly, looking around the modest settlement. “Sure would be a shame if anyone else found out about this little slice of paradise.”

The stranger folded their arms and furrowed their brow. They stared down Ty with a disbelieving scoff. “Are you threatening me, you little punk?”

Ty’s face shifted to a theatrical mask of shock. “Threatening? No! No. Just… offering to make a deal. You obviously didn’t know about the signal that we traced, and I’ve got a lot of lost fuel and time to make up for coming out here. Gotta keep the ol’ bird flying, y’know?”

“So what do you want then?”

“Something that’s gonna net me a tidy profit. If you’ve got credits we can cut right to the chase. Otherwise…” His eyes settled on the strange make of pistol that the stranger held, the bulk of which showed glowing marks of charged energy similar to their arm. “Maybe you’ve got a few more toys like that?”

They staunchly shook their head. “Not happening.”

“Well that’s a shame. Guess I’ll have to see who else is interested in these coordinates,” he said, taking out his comm and talking out loud as he typed. “For sale… Highest bidder… Location of tropical world in the Reaches… Only inhabitant, human, black hair, heavily scarred…” A pulse of plasma fried the comm in his hand and Ty yelped as he dropped the molten lump.

“Get out of here, kid,” The stranger glowered over the barrel of their pistol.

“Poor attitude…” he muttered, wincing slightly as the stranger again lowered their pistol. “You know this doesn’t change anything. I still know your coordinates. So if you’re not willing to make a deal, I’ll find someone who is.”

As Ty turned heel and stormed back to the ship, the stranger raised their pistol at Ty’s back. A crackle of pasma showered hot sand up a few feet to Ty’s left as Moses’ tendrils whipped up, her unseen force knocking the stranger’s aim off and lifting them from the ground.

Ty spun with a scowl, staring daggers at the stranger. “Nice try, ass. I gave you the chance to make a deal. That’s bad business to try and shoot me in the back.”

“I don’t make deals with pirates,” the stranger spat back, struggling fruitlessly against Moses’ grasp.

“Well maybe we just take what we want, leave you alive and call it even for trying to shoot me in the back,” Ty said, strutting up and yanking the pistol from their grasp and giving it an experimental twirl.

“Fine, take it if that’s what you want. It's a piece of junk to you anyway.”

As Ty lined up a shot at a dune, the pistol gave a dissatisfied buzz and the energy within went dark and inert.

“What the- Fine. I can crack your security later. Keep them there, Moses,” he said, heading towards the bungalow in a huff. Inside, Ty was surprised to find the floor to be metal and riveted. Kicking aside a grass woven carpet, he found a sealed airlock. Grabbing the handle landed him with a harsh electrical shock.

“What was that about my security?” the stranger taunted as there was a beep from somewhere beneath the airlock and the lights around it turned red.

As Ty swore and tried to break into the surprisingly sturdy structure, Moses looked to the stranger.

“Why are you being afraid of the people who are being looking for you?”

The stranger, still floating in her grasp took a moment to pull their gaze away from where Ty was trying fruitlessly to blast through the hinges, their face pensive as they sized her up.

“Because… if they find me, they’ll make me do things that I don’t want to. And do things to me that I don’t want to happen.”

Ty’s frustrated scream pierced the idyllic calm. Moses took out her comm, showing the stranger a readout of the signal they had followed.

“I do not know if this will be helping, but this is how we are finding you. I will making sure that Tyranus Captain is not to be selling your place. Maybe this will help you not be found again.”

The stranger’s scowl softened slightly. “Are you sure you’re pirates?”

“Yes!” she chirped delightedly. “And instead of just doing a stealing on you, for our helping, you can giving us some of the piece of junks?”

The stranger paused for a moment, though they didn’t have long to think before Ty shot their house again and they winced. “Look. I don’t want to give those up. They’re dangerous and your captain is an idiot. But this planet is basically untouched and I can point you towards some easily harvestable natural resources. If you help me figure out where this signal is coming from and stop it.”

“I think that as long as he is making the credits, Tyranus Captain will not be minding where they are coming from,” Moses smiled, holding up her comm. “Dana friend. Would you please showing on my comm the place of the signal?” Her comm chimed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Dana replied.

“The signal is coming from this way,” Moses said, following her comm towards the garden, the stranger floating along beside her.

“That’s great and all, but could you please put me down?”

“Tyranus Captain is saying to keep you.”

“Yeah, but we made a deal, you and me. I have no reason to hurt you and nowhere to run to.”

Moses looked at him, seeming to hesitate until they both saw Ty grab something from the Vespera.

“What is your house made of…?” Moses asked, but the stranger just laughed as she put them down.

“Tougher stuff than that,” they said before the sound of a thermal breaching charge sounded across the beach followed by bellowed swear words.

“You can keep trying! You’re just wasting your charges!” the stranger shouted.

“Shove it!” Ty hollered back.

“Listen, Tyranus, right? I can get you stuff more valuable than those weapons, but you gotta help me first.”

“Oh yeah? Who do you think you- Hey! Moses! What the hell? I told you to hold them!” Ty barked, storming across the orange sand.

“You did! But I have been making a new business,” Moses beamed proudly. “A good business of helping them and they will be showing us to the place of resources.”

“A fair deal, I reckon. I can even pinky promise if you want. Pirates pinky promise, right?” the stranger asked, extending their clawed metal pinky towards Ty with a look so smug it threatened to break their strong jaw clean off.

“Yes!” Ty snapped quickly, slapping their hand aside. “I mean- I don’t need your damn pinky promise! Just… tell me what she actually arranged with you.”

“You help figure out how to jam the signal that led you here, then I show you some valuable resources. These waters are full of blue pearls that someone rich will pay plenty for,” they said, gesturing out across the idyllic seas.

“They are making the truth to us,” Moses said, giving Ty a smile.

“I… it's telling the truth, remember? And fine,” he relented. “I gotta do something to break even on this and if I gotta spend a few weeks on bright sandy beaches, so be it.”

“Then it's a deal,” the stranger said, extending a hand for Ty to stare at for a minute before shaking.

“Fine. Moses. Since someone fried my comm, lead the way.”

“Up here!” Moses nodded happily, leading them over the peak of the atoll and down towards a squat irrigation pump control box to the stranger’s obvious confusion.

“I set this up ages ago though…” they muttered, kneeling next to the squat box. “I would have noticed if something was amiss.”

“Well, time to start noticing,” Ty said, pulling a knife from his belt and prying open a panel.

“No need to be so rough,” the stranger muttered.

“Relax, a few scratches won’t hurt it. Now, does anything look outta place to you?”

The stranger crouched and examined the interior, shifting some wires aside, their eyes widened as they revealed a small beetle like device, glossy black with a green underglow. It sat on the power line like an aphid on a stalk.

“They did find me,” the stranger muttered, their breath shaking as they reached in and pulled the device from the wire. As they retracted their arm, the device buzzed angrily, several long, spidery limbs unfolding from its underbelly. The green light pulsed and it began to emit a beam that scanned over the stanger.

“Oh no you don’t,” they snarled, the metallic plates of their left hand shifting and creaking as they crushed the device, sparks and a sludgy oil leaking out between the plates of armour, the beetle’s light drowned out.

Ty’s surprise was poorly masked by an attempt at a cool smile as his eyes stayed locked on the intricate robotics and angular grey metal. “That’s something you don’t see every day. Your arm and that bug look pretty similar, huh?”

The stranger broke away from Ty’s expectant look with a poe face, but there was a noticeable wad of nerves that they swallowed.

“Is this from the ones who are searching for you?” Moses asked, feeling the stranger’s rising anxiety.

“Yes,” the stranger sighed, wiping the oil on the mauve grass. “I guess they found me after all, and if you found me it won’t take them long.”

There was a moment of dour silence that hung over the beach like a storm cloud until Ty spoke.

“Well… we helped you find that thing. Let us know where those pearls are and we’ll leave you to deal with whatever that was.”

The stranger shook their head and gave a humourless laugh and they straightened up. “Sorry, captain. But we’ve got to go. All of us. Right now. Unless you want them to find you here too.”

“So what if they do? We had a deal,” Ty’s hand drifted to his hip as he spoke.

“You don’t know these things like I do,” they snapped, jabbing a metal finger at the pirates. “If they find you, you’re as good as trugg crap.”

Moses stepped back slightly, she didn’t need to try and sense the fear that was clear on the stranger’s weathered face.

Seemingly the only one who didn’t understand the gravity at hand, Ty scoffed. “I’d like to see ‘em try and kill me.”

As Moses stepped in, about to interrupt when her comm interrupted her.

“Moses? Are you with Tyranus? I can’t reach his comm.”

Ty rolled his eyes and snatched Moses’ comm from here. “I’m here, Dana. My comm is currently solidifying thanks to our ungrateful host.”

“I see. You should get back to the ship. Long range sensors just picked up a large… something entering the solar system. The sensors can’t decide if it's a ship or an asteroid, but it's on a direct course for this planet.”

The stranger didn’t waste time swearing like often Ty did, sprinting through the sand towards their house.

“Hey! We had a deal, bastard!” he shouted, chasing after him.

“That was before the Scovex arrived!”

“The what!?” Ty exclaimed. “What if we kill these guys? Then do we have a deal?”

“If you try and fight those things alone you’ll all die,” they spat.

“Then fight with me!” Ty said, causing the stranger to stumble for a moment and stop in disbelief.

“You want me to die too?”

“We had a deal. You owe me.”

“I don’t owe you shit, kid,” the stranger snarled, anger clouding the shock as they broke away from Ty and ran for their bungalow.

“Coward!” Ty shouted after them, turning and running for his ship with Moses’ comm. “Dana! Get Vessie warmed up, we’re gonna defend our mark.”

“You’re an idiot, Tyranus. This ship is three times as long as the Vespera.”

“We’ve hit bigger. We can take these guys.”

“I swear if you get us killed.”

“Then swear! I’m not gonna let some rust buckets kill us.”

Dana closed the comm line in frustration.

As Ty’s heels hit the cargo ramp, the ship’s engines began to fill the air with an ozone stench and light static charge. Moses was only a few steps behind him, pausing as the Vespera began to lift off, looking back towards the stranger. Across the beach, the stranger had stopped, meeting her gaze from their doorway. For a moment, Moses thought that they wanted to come with them, but they turned and disappeared.

***

As Ty vaulted over the armrest into the captain chair, entering a course on the nav computer, the stranger opened a comm channel that Ty accepted.

“What do you want?”

“I want to try and convince you to run,” the stranger said.

“Not happening,” Ty said.

A heavy sigh came over the line and the sound of machinery could be heard behind it. “Then I guess there’s nothing for it.”

Ty watched on the viewscreen as the structure shifted as though affected by an earthquake, the seas bulged and parted as the wooden structure fell away from around the partially submerged form of an angular, black and gold fighter.

“Nice ship. What’s with the change of heart? he asked as Moses took over pulling the Vespera away from the surface, the freighter looming over the fighter.

“I’ve seen enough innocent people fall to the Scovex.”

At that Ty laughed. “I’m hardly innocent.”

“But you have a crew,” The stranger said simply.

Ty looked to Moses and she offered a nervous smile. “A damn fine one. What’re your weapons like?”

“I have a few defences, but not enough to deal with a Scovex ship that size,” they said. “The Scovex are efficient and organized. If you aren’t very careful, you’re going to get yourself and your crew killed, kid.”

“Don’t call me kid. I can handle these guys. I’ve made a few mods to the old girl and she’s a lot tougher than she looks,” he grinned, patting the console.

“I wouldn’t bet on us in a sustained fight, Tyranus,” Dana said over comms. “At least not against the Scovex.”

“Care to fill me in what we’re up against?” Ty asked.

The stranger responded before Dana could. “The Scovex are a biomechanical parasite. A hive mind of adaptive nanites. Whoever or whatever created them programmed them to consume living things and self replicate. They learn fast and are very dangerous in large numbers.”

“What kind of weaponry will we be up against?”

“Energy weapons similar to my gun,” The stranger explained, quietly relieved to hear one experienced voice. “And tech like the drone we found but on a much larger scale. Living machines engineered as part of a telepathic hive mind and built around organic nervous systems. They can also attack your mind directly, like nothing you’ve ever seen. You can’t modulate your shields against it, and you can’t hide from it behind steel plates.”

“That sounds like a good excuse to warm up my new plasma mortars,” Ty interjected as the ships cleared the atmosphere. “Moses, get ready for the tightest flying of your life. Dana, can you try and beam into their mainframe and hack their motherboard or whatever?”

The line was dead silent for a long moment before Dana spoke.

“I’ll see what I can do. But biomechanical systems can be frustratingly proprietary. I can’t promise what I usually can.”

“Understood. How far away is the ship?”

“Six point seven two lightyears and closing,” Dana reported. “I estimate we’ll be in weapons range within six minutes.”

“We all still have a chance to get out of here,” the stranger said warningly.

"Not a snowball’s chance in hell,” Ty said firmly. “But you better be good on your end of this deal, stranger.”

“Are you seriously still thinking about money?” The stranger gawked.

Ty shrugged “Creds make the galaxy go ‘round, baby. We got a deal?”

“Fine,” the stranger relented. “Credits are no use to a dead man anyway.”

“Then it's good that I don’t plan on dying today,” Ty grinned, warming up the plasma mortar batteries. “Moses, bring us in and keep us close to that ship. Stanger, keep ‘em off our flank and try not to die before I get paid.”

“Sure thing kid.” The stranger ended the comm, bringing the fighter alongside the flank of the Vespera.

The two ships streaked through space, leaving the planet behind them and closing in on the Scovex frigate. Soon, the visual scanners could get a read, displaying the ship ahead of them. It hung in space, wide grey plates backlit by blue and green lights, looking almost like it was carved from the dull rock that made up much of the bulk. It cut a silhouette like a distorted insectoid creature with mandibles as long as the Vespera, a wake of tinged blue mist trailing behind it.

"Tyranus Captain. I am feeling a very strong presence of mind," Moses said, a slight worried waver in her voice.

"What're we dealing with?"

Moses’s brow furrowed. "Something... It is hard to be saying. Many minds, but few thoughts."

"So they're idiots?" Ty smirked.

"No. They are not,” Moses said humourlessly. They are doing a feeling and thinking in one mind. All together. All hateful and strong."

“You think you can help with whatever that psychic weapon?"

"I may be,” she nodded. But I do not thinking I can focus on this mind and doing flying."

"I got the helm,” he nodded, taking control of his ship back. “Dana. Can you help with weapons?"

"Yes. In fact, I can put those drones to use if you adhere to our usual deal."

"Do it and foot me the bill later," Ty said, rolling his eyes and taking over the helm once Dana pulled the weapons controls to her room.

Ahead of them, the sagging underbelly of the Scovex frigate swelled and hull plates shifted, the belly tearing open and disgorging a swarm of smaller ships. The fighters unfurled sharply curved wings, quickly closing in on the two ships.

"Hold onto your asses! You're about to see the Dreadlord in action," Ty grinned, leaning into the controls with his whole body.

The stranger’s ship opened a wound in the front of the swarm and the Scovex fighters returned bursts of concentrated plasma that crackled over the Vespera’s shields. Ty dove the freighter through the gash and into the heart of the swarm, two fighters that couldn't evade shattering across the bow. From the sides of the Vespera, rows of weapons lobbed wide arcs of plasma through the space, searing through the smaller ships under Dana's calculated accuracy, her mind plugged directly into the firing controls.

As the first volley tore through the ships, a deep droning resounded, unheard, but felt in the deepest recesses of Ty's mind. The force pressed on his mind, pulling his concentration, the Vespara drifting into the path of another fighter, listing in the impact. A moment after, the pressure lifted and he looked over to see Moses, her tendrils writing around her head, her eyes shut tightly in focus. With a smirk, Ty righted the ship, dipping above a large blast from the frigate. The blast that Ty evaded grazed the wing of the stringer’s ship disintegrating the golden yellow energy field protecting it.

The stranger’s ship shuddered again as it was enveloped in a tractor beam, pulling it towards the Scovex frigate. Dashing another drone fighter, the Vespara cut through the swarm, a thick cable launching from her prow. The electromagnetic claws gripped the hull of the allied fighter, slowing its pull towards the frigate.

In the cockpit, the stranger cried out, red trickling from their nose as the Scovex’s psychic waves battered his mind. A harsh, echoing multitude of voices drilled into his subconcious.

No longer can you hide, halfbreed. Cease any further resistance and come to us finally.

In the psychic cacophony, Moses' voice cut through the drone of their weapons in the stranger’s mind, washing the throbbing pain out like a rush of sudden warm summer rain.

You are being alright. Focus on me.

As she pushed back on the intruding psychic influence, the cargo hold of the Vespara opened, a swarm of sleek white and green military drones slipping out in formation, all under Dana's lead. The drones descended on the frigate like angry wasps. Several drones unloaded into the glassy dome that produced the tractor beam, slugs shattering the eye like aperture to sever the beam.

As much damage as Dana’s drones could do, the Scovex ship seemed to heal it back as fast. The metallic plating grew back thicker where it had been broken and the fighters began to thin out the drones. The systems of the stranger’s ship flickered back to life and the comm link came back online. The engine sputtered and groaned, but failed to ignite.

“Hang tight, stranger,” Ty said. “We’re pulling you in.”

“Can’t say no,” the stranger replied as the Scovex began to wear through the distraction Dana’s drones provided. Once the stranger was safely in the cargo hold, the doors sealed and Ty’s voice came over the intercom.

“Welcome aboard, sailor! Get on the lift and get up to the bridge. All hands on deck!”

“I’m still of the firm opinion that we should run away,” the stranger grunted, pulling themself from their cockpit.

“Too bad. This ain’t your ship, and this ain’t a democracy. Now hustle to weapons!” Ty commanded as the ship pitched suddenly to one side.

The stranger didn’t break stride stepping onto the bride, looking over the weapons controls. “How are we looking?”

“Shield stability at fifty three percent.” The ship computer announced.

“Ignore her. Vessie’s always been a pessimist,” Ty scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Start blasting anything that isn’t us.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” The stranger asked, recentering the reticule and firing the mortars.

“I’m not just stubborn, I’m also really good at what I do. Now just shut up and shoot. You can criticize me when we’re dead,” he said with a dismissive wave.

“No I can’t!” they protested, tearing Scovex fighters from the sky.

Ty dove the Vespera in a wild evasive pattern, close to the Scovex’s stony underbelly as what was left of the drones regrouped on them, shielding the Vespera and keeping a corridor clear for the stranger to unload an overcharged battery of plasma into the opening where the fighters had come from. Black ichor gobbed together in space, leaking through the freshly blown lacerations.

“Hell yeah! Keep the heat on!" Ty grinned, laughing as the hull plates rearranged and twitched, sparking as the frigate banked away.

As the Vespara swooped past the side of the hulking vessel, his laugh was suddenly cut off as Moses suddenly cried out, a trickle of rich maroon blood running down her face from the gill slits above her mouth. Doubling over under the strain, she clutched the console for support as a wave of buzzing pain needled into the minds of the crew.

Ty grimaced, pulling himself away from the controls with some effort, approaching Moses' station and grabbing her shoulder, pulling her to face him.

"Hey. Focus up, Moses,” he said as levelly as he could manage. “I can't have you cracking under pressure. You got a crew relying on you," he said firmly, though the concern was clear in his face. "We're all relying on your special brain. A brain that those metal bugs could never replicate. You’re the real deal, Moses. You can’t be beaten by a fake brain. You're stronger than these assholes, right?"

Moses' eyes opened as he spoke, looking down at him and nodding, taking a deep breath and steeling her resolve, the prickling warmth of his skin grounding her.

"I am. I am stronger," she said through gritted teeth, her tendrils writhing up again as she pushed back against the Scovex assault. The buzzing pain began to subside and Ty grinned, reaching up and gently wiping the trail of blood from her face.

"That's the ticket. Keep it up just a bit longer. We're gonna take these bastards out," he said, clapping her on the shoulder and hurrying back to the captain's chair. "Hey stranger. You know these things. They got a weak point somewhere?"

“The exhaust vents on the dorsal side,” they said, not looking up from the controls. “There’s usually a gap there. If you put enough heat on it, it can interrupt their regeneration temporarily. I don’t know where exactly. It's different each time.”

"Got it," Ty nodded, tapping the comm on his station. "Dana. Scan that ship. There should be an exhaust port on top of this thing. Find it and feed it to the targeting system."

"Ugh. Right," Dana responded, her tone tense as she shook the pain from her mind. As the processor attached to her brain stem rebooted she pulled away some of the drones in a coordinated flight. The helix formation swirled around the frigate, taking in a scan of the plating that was fed back to Dana's mind. Once she had the model, she ran analysis programs, syphoning processing power from the ship's computer.

"Got it," she said as the weapons console displayed the scans of the ship, a point along the dorsal ridge of the frigate highlighted.

“That looks right,” the stranger confirmed.

“Then light 'em up, gunner!" Ty grinned, pulling the Vespara up and spiralling over the frigate, keeping low over the rough armour.

Across the deck, Moses let out a strained cry, her face contorted under the strain of the mental assault. The buzz of pain prickled at the edge of the crew's minds, barely held back by her efforts. Through the harsh buzz in the fringe of their consciousness, the stranger took careful aim at the small vents, unloading a barrage of plasma. The plates around the target buckled and shattered, black bubbles spraying out from the wound as the ship seemed to heave and throb, slowly deforming.

"That's it! Dana! Focus the drones on that spot!" Ty commanded, the drones circling in and laying a cascade of plasma into the growing wound. The frigate seemed to writhe in space, curling up and tearing open the wounded underbelly in the process. Globs of thick black sludge seeped out as the trail of vapours that propelled the ship slowed and trailed off.

Moses suddenly grasped and collapsed, but when she did, there was no longer the hanging buzz in their minds. As the frigate leaked into the void, it listed and twisted into itself, a green burst blinding the sensors as it activated some kind of hyperlight drive. Ty launched to his feet, the Vespara drifting to a halt among the swarm of now dormant fighters.

"That’s right! And tell everyone just who sent you running! Dreadlord Tyranus Alexzander Nobel!”

Moses suddenly gasped and collapsed, but when she did, there was no longer the hanging buzz in their minds. Ty’s laugh died off as the situation sunk in. An instant after his gloating he dashed across the bridge to where Moses lay slumped over her console. Unable to even guess how to check for a pulse on her species, Ty pulled her up over his shoulder and down the lift to medbay.

Despite his smaller stature, Ty moved surprisingly quickly down the hall, passing a couple of doors and tapping the wall panel of one that opened up into a clean, white room bathed in harsh light.

Laying Moses down on her back, his brow furrowed in worry. "Computer. Medical scan. Full body."

"Scanning," the dispassionate robotic voice responded as a cluster of mechanical arms descended from the ceiling and began working over Moses. They scanned her, took temperature readings, blood samples and a handful of other things Ty never understood. After a few minutes, the voice announced the results.

"Analysis complete. Patient is suffering from depleted blood nitrogen levels. Three brain hemorrhages. High blood pressure. Increased cortisol levels. Neurological sodium deficiency. Minor gill hemorrhaging. Minor-"

"Computer," Ty cut the machine off. "Run triage analysis and treat in order of severity."

"Analyzing. Triage complete. Running treatment."

Once more the arms descended over Moses, injecting her with what the computer determined she needed. The stranger had a surprising amount of worry adding to their furrowed brow for looking at someone they had just met.

“That’s all we can do for now,” Ty sighed, his shoulders still tense as he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to leave.

“Do you have any idea what you asked her to do out there?” the stranger asked, lingering behind.

Ty stopped in the doorway, but didn’t turn as he responded levelly. “Her job.”

The stranger grabbed his arm and spun him to glare in the captain’s frustratingly unfazed face. “Then you should do yours. If you’re a leader, it's your job to keep your people safe. You failed that today. Whatever bloody title you call yourself, it doesn't mean shit if you can’t be a capable captain. No amount of confidence makes up for-”

In their tyrade the stranger hadn’t noticed Ty’s blaster until they felt the metal against their gut.

“We’re alive aren’t we? I ain’t happy that Moses got hurt, but she knew that this was dangerous when she signed on. I told her and she accepted the risks. And besides! If it hadn’t have been for me, you’d be dead on that fucking beach back there, or whatever worse shit you think the Scovex can do. So if you’re so bent outta shape over how I run my ship then maybe I can leave you and your busted up, rinky dink little fighter adrift in the middle of the Reaches and see how long it takes them to find you a second time.”

The stranger sighed, letting go of Ty’s arm and pushing him back. “You’re an idiot, kid. But you’ll learn like I did. Or die along the way.”

They didn’t wait for Ty’s response before they stormed down the hall.

“If you wanna stay on my ship, don’t call me kid. I’m the captain. My way or the skyway. Understood?”

The only thing Ty got in response was a view of the stranger’s back and the lift doors shutting in front of them. Once the lift was gone, Ty cursed his way back to his quarters to get a bottle of cheap whiskey on his way to the bridge. With the bottle on his lips, he set in a course back to Tsu-Bellele’s when his sulking was interrupted by Dana on the comm.

"Before you set course, Tyranus, I have a request."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"These Scovex ships have some exceptional technology on board. I would like the opportunity to collect and study it."

"We've already lost enough on this trip,” he said, setting a return course to Magnasanti. “I’m not in the mood to stick around in a damaged ship."

"I bet you that we could fetch a reasonable price from the surplus. I know a few people who would be interested in paying for this technology."

Ty smirked slightly, taking another drink and clearing the navigational computer. "Good to know this ain't gonna be a total bust then. Point me to the good stuff."

"Gladly, Tyranus.”

***

Dana directed him around the debris field for the next few hours, collecting parts from the fighters, loading them into the increasingly cramped cargo hold. As she began sorting through and taking meticulous notes and scans from each piece of technological viscera the stranger voiced their quiet protest as they attempted to repair their fighter, though she provided a pithy reassurance as she took several of what she believed to be nerve bundles and or comm systems up to her quarters.

“I’m serious,” they called after her. “You remember that they're a hive mind. If there are any active nanites, they could destroy this ship and call the rest of them back.”

“I’m exceedingly careful.”

Dana left him to his repairs and began to work on the salvage. She managed to get one powered. The stranger began developing a headache. She stabilized the output frequencies and the stranger winced, standing up from their repairs. She began decompiling the neural code and the stranger doubled over in the lift. She wired her cortical processors directly into the input nodes and the stranger staggered down the hall through swimming vision.

A heavy knock sounded on Dana’s door and she gave a frustrated groan at the broken concentration, unlinking herself from the nodes. She briefly checked the hall camera to see the stranger sitting on the floor outside her quarters and clearly distressed.

“What do you want?” she asked as the door slid open.

“What are you doing?” they ground out, pulling themself shakily to their feet in front of Dana. She was pretty sure they were trying to be intimidating.

“Attempting to decipher the neural code from the ships we destroyed. Why?”

The stranger pushed her aside and stormed into her room, looking over the table of Scovex biotech soldered and cauterized into a bank of customized computer equipment.

“H-HEY!” Dana snapped, her composure and dispassionate expression immediately twisting as they pushed her. “Get out!” she shouted, grabbing their arm and pulling them away from the table. The stranger was still unsteady and despite being almost a foot shorter than them, she slammed her palms into their chest and shoved them back.

“Get out! Don’t touch anything! Get the hell out of my room!”

“Whatever you're doing hurts me. Stop it,” the stranger growled back, finding their footing in the doorway.

“It hurts? Oh good! Then get out of my room!” she shouted, hauling back and punching him in the chest. The stranger gasped and stepped back out into the hallway, winded as they looked across to Dana who’s eyes were wide and dilated, breath fast and ears prickling red. The stranger’s posture slumped slightly and they leaned against the opposite wall, meeting her panic with a sigh, already in too much pain to fight more.

“Whatever you’re doing hurts. I can feel it in my head. The Scovex are all connected and I can feel it too. So please stop.”

Dana glared at them, her jaw still obviously tense, white knuckle fists shaking at her sides. “Fine. I’ll work on something else. But stay the hell out of my room.”

She turned and flipped a switch, the nodes growing dark and the stranger gave a heavy breath of relief. Dana stepped up to the doorway, still seeming tense as she took a moment to regain her composure and brushed her hair back into place. She took a deep breath and held her elbows, not looking them in the eyes.

"So. Without invading my privacy, what exactly are you experiencing?" she asked levelly, rocking slightly on her heels.

“Are you kidding me…?”

"No. Help me understand what's going on and I'll do what I can to not cause you pain. But you know more about this than I do at the moment," Dana said, finally looking up at them. "I just want to understand."

The stranger staggered forward a half step. "And I'm trying not to feel like I'm about to have a fucking seizure!"

“Then tell me why. Shouting at me isn't going to suddenly make it go away," she said, her hand drifting cautiously to the door controls. "I am trying to understand what is going on and if you're just going to be belligerent I can't help you."

"Well I need to know what you're doing first.”

"I already told you,” she sighed annoyedly. “I'm trying to decipher the Scovex biocode so that I can understand their technology and how I can use it."

"I mean what are you physically doing to it?” They sighed. “You have to be fucking around with its core because my brain feels like it's on fire."

"I had managed to power up one of the component nerve cluster pairs and wire into it, yes. It was the only piece I could adequately connect to,” she said, looking back to the black metal cased nerves.

"Void’s sake…” The stranger breathed heavily, shaking their head. “I thought out of anyone on this ship you would be smart enough to understand."

Dana’s brow furrowed. "There is a lot that I don't understand. But I want to.”

“Why?” The stranger almost demanded.

Dana hesitated. “Personal curiosity.”

The stranger gave her a heavy sigh and a deeply incredulous look.“Then if you can’t be dissuaded, I should fill you in on a few things before you call those things back here.”

“I’m listening,” Dana nodded, quietly repartitioning a sector of her memory and beginning to record.

“I'm assuming you know the basics about the Scovex. They're nanites that create living machines to consume materials and living things to expand and reproduce. Their nanites operate in a hive mind, linked with each other through a psychic connection from the organic nerve tissue they harvest from lifeforms and synthesize themselves. The nanites are capable of manufacturing larger machines called protoforms, like the drone or the ships we fought. They attempt to mimic useful adaptations of organisms that they encounter to adapt in a given environment that they’re overtaking.

“Did they cause those scars?”

“No. Well actually…” the question gave the stranger pause for thought, their gaze drifting to their metal arm. “This happened because of the Scovex, but they didn’t do it.”

“I’m listening.” The smile returned to Dana’s face, though it didn't reach her eyes, which were locked on them attentively. The stranger sighed, eventually giving in.

“On my home, I was offered a sizeable sum of credits to participate in a series of lab trials. The program that I was in combined my nervous tissue with Scovex prototform nervous tissue. I was also exposed to partially active nanites. They wanted to see if the Scovex’ adaptive nanites could be useful for improving organic life. If they were strong enough to survive the infusion, they’d make the fastest athletes, the smartest scientists.” They paused and lowered their arm. “The toughest soldiers.”

“And you were strong enough to survive,” Dana mused. “Why…? What made you special?”

“I never found what made the mutagen compatible. People who died, their bodies rotted away into nothing almost overnight, and if someone didn’t make it they didn’t tell the rest of us any details."

“Can I take scans of you?” Dana asked, looking them up and down like meat at the butcher. “I’d like to see how the nerve cluster is interacting with you so that I can hopefully unlock their secrets without hurting you.”

The stranger chewed their lower lip pensively. “Alright. but you have to understand that possessing knowledge about this stuff is dangerous. You've already made yourselves a target in their eyes, you’d also be a target of the people who ran these experiments."

“That implies they’ll be able to find me,” Dana said with a smirk.

“I’ve been running for decades and they still found me,” the stranger warned.

“But I’m smarter than you are.”

“And modest,” the stranger said with eyes rolled as they returned to the infirmary. Dana had the medical system move Moses to the recovery bed and directed the stranger to lay down on the white and steel recliner as she booted up the spider-like assembly of triage arms. That seemed to put the stranger a bit on edge.

“You know, I’ve seen horror vids that looked a lot like this,” they chuckled in an attempt to diffuse some of their nerves.

“Don’t mind the clunky equipment. This ship was never designed to have more than a basic infirmary. I've helped Tyranus install better equipment, but there's only so much you can do for something this old," Dana said as the arms descended around them, moving over them with a variety of flickering lights. The stranger flinched slightly when one arm took their blood. On Dana's screen, the scan results compiled themselves together into a clear view of the stranger’s anatomy. They were mostly human, though their skeleton gave her the most pause for thought. Though laid out in a familiar arrangement, the bones themselves were formed of interlocking metal plates and intricate circuitry. The entirely robotic arm also extended to most of the left side of their torso. Though most of their organs looked normal, their brain waves were also unusually active and seemed to echo on the scanners as though they were reading interference from other brain waves.

"Fascinating... I'll have to spend some time unravelling this before I can understand it fully, but I have never seen biotech like this before," Dana said, downloading a copy of the scans to her internal memory as the arms retracted. "I'll contact you if I have further questions," she said, rather curtly leaving them in the infirmary, already focused on the task at hand.

“W-wait! Can I see?” the stranger asked, scrambling to their feet.

“Check the medical computer. The screen is on your right,” Dana called over her shoulder.

“Oh…”

The stranger sighed, steadying themself and staring at the empty doorway for a moment before turning their attention to the results, their heartbeat racing. A pained expression settled over their features. They only had a moment to be horrified at their nature before their comm pinged.

“Can you come to the commissary? I wanna talk,” Ty said in a tone that didn’t leave a lot of room for objection, even if the stranger had had the energy for it.

“Gimme five. I’ll be there soon.” Buying themself a moment to look at the changes that had been made to them. If they had known back then that they were going to turn out this way they wouldn’t have signed that contract for all the credits in the galaxy.

You are not disgusting.

The stranger bolted upright at the sudden intrusion to their mind. They hadn’t noticed Moses roll over, her black eyes half open and tendrils drifting softly around her head. The stranger calmed slightly, thinking back to her.

If you knew what a normal human looked like you’d think differently.

Moses weakly shook her head.

Besides, you should be resting. They thought, standing up quickly. I gotta go.

What is your name?

My name? Why?

I am… liking to know my friend’s name. Moses smiled, her eyes closing as what little consciousness she held onto drifted past her. I am… Moses…

The stranger stood in the infirmary for a long moment. They could feel Moses slip away from their mind and her tendrils settled as she slept again. They leaned down and pulled a blanket over her gently, pulling a word to the front of their mind. A word dusty, old, and unused for so many lonely decades.

***

“Howdy, stranger,” Ty called, waving the stranger over to the table and sliding a glass of red tinted synthesized liquor towards them.

“What’s this?” they asked, eyeing both drink and company suspiciously as they sat.

“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot.”

The stranger rolled their eyes, their metallic fingers clinking on the glass. “An incredible understatement.”

“Yeah, well I’ll take blame for my part. I figured it'd be a bit uncouth to just leave you adrift," Ty said, taking a sip of the artificially sweet liquor. "We're on our way to a friend of mine for repairs. She should be able to help you fix your ship too. If you got credits?"

“Depends if the feds closed my accounts over the last eighty years,” they shrugged.

Ty’s eyes narrowed, trying to discern if the stranger was joking or not. Their sun beaten skin was well lived in, but they barely looked half as old as that number implied. “Well lucky for you I’m a bit light on manpower at the moment and you’ve proved yourself pretty capable and most importantly, hard to kill. You want a job?”

They shook their head. “I think I might be too much trouble for you if I stayed.”

“No such thing!” Ty scoffed, waiving his hand dismissively. Besides, where some people see trouble, I see an opportunity. And you seem ballsy enough to pull your weight, plus I like that you're not afraid to stand up for yourself. So here's my offer, we put your repairs on my tab and you work with me until we're all settled. After that, if you wanna stick around, great. If not, we go our separate ways and deny we ever met each other."

After a long pause and a longer drink, the stranger set down their empty glass and said, "One condition.”

“Damn near anything,” Ty nodded, though his exuberance was short lived.

“I want my gun back. The one you stole from me."

“Oh come on,” Ty wined almost petulantly, but he relented after a stern look from the stranger. “Fairs fair I guess. I couldn’t turn it on anyway, no matter how cool it is.”

This made the stranger crack a genuine smile and push their glass towards Ty, who obliged them in a fresh pour before pulling the still inert pistol from his belt and sliding it across the table alongside the drink. “Here. To seal the deal.”

“I appreciate it,” They nodded, twirling the pistol around a metal finger. As they spun it, panels on their forearm slid aside and the weapon seemed to dismantle itself, the parts stowing inside the prosthetic.

“I- How!?”

“Magic,” the stranger chuckled cryptically, wagging their fingers at Ty.

Ty folded his arms and huffed. “Fine. Keep your secrets. Just make good use of 'em while you’re here.”

“For sure,” they nodded. “So long as you don’t patronize me, kid.”

“And don’t call me kid.”

The stranger stood ram rod stiff and gave a comedically wide salute. “Aye aye, Dreadlord Nobel!”

“Better,” Ty said, cracking the barest smirk. “Now, go pick a room that’s not occupied and make yourself comfortable. We’ve got eight days to Magnasanti, so get comfy. Dismissed!”

***

The vibrations of the hull rocked the crew into a jumpspace lull for several days. When she had recovered, Moses came to her new friend’s quarters. The strangers' mismatched eyes lit up a bit on seeing her at their door.

“Hello! It is good to be seeing you. How are you feeling comfortable yet?”

“It’s definitely nicer than some pillows shoved into an empty torpedo bay. But… I admit I’m a touch nervous. I’m not used to being around so many people for so long,” they said, stepping aside and letting her into their undecorated quarters.

“Having people around is good,” she nodded empathetically. “I was too alone after I left home. I was finding Tyranus Captain, and he has been helping me to be making a lot of more friends. And he has already helping you make a friend!”

“Be careful who you call friend,” they warned despite themself. “Could get you hurt.”

Moses put a hand on his angular shoulder. “People get hurt very often. It is the way of Ran and Non that we have to be facing hardness and overcoming. So that we are meeting Fhet when we are strong enough too. You are not to blame in this.”

The stranger offered her a faint smile, patting her outstretched arm. “I can handle hardship by myself. What I can’t stand seeing is innocent people getting dragged into the crossfire.”

Moses nodded with a sage understanding. “Too often we cannot stop someone hurting. But we can be helping. And that can be as healing to you as to them.”

“That’s hard to do when you don’t know what kind of healing you need. I guess I’m just…” They paused, catching themself. “Anyway.” The stranger let go of her arm and clapped their hands in the way that humans do to show they want a conversation to end or change topics. Moses was not human and she persisted.

“In my culture I am being a Del. A healer, though some are saying priest. But, if you are hurting, I would be liking very much to be helping at you.”

“That’s very kind, but… why?”

“Because you were being there when I was healing,” she smiled. Her teeth were fine, numerous and pointed. There was a long moment before the stranger offered her a smaller, blunter smile and a single nod.

“Thank you, Moses,” they nodded fondly. “Maybe later.”

“I am glad that you are staying with us,” she smiled, touching their forehead briefly, a shared, dusty, old word echoing between them as she went about her business.

***

As jumpspace gave way to the refuse brown skies of Magnasanti, the stranger didn’t bother hiding how unimpressed they were.

“What happened to the finest mechanic in the sector?” They scoffed.

“Don’t judge the location too harshly. This is the place I got Vessie.”

“Oh,” They replied, completely unreassured. “How reassuring.”

“Aw, stuff it,” Ty said, waving them off. “You may find fancier mechanics than Tsu-Belle, but you won't find a better one.”

The stranger nodded incredulously and Ty rolled his eyes as he opened a comm channel, the line not giving him time for greeting.

"Ty! Didn't I just patch up that rust bucket not a quarter rotation ago?"

"That you did, Tsu-Belle,” Ty confirmed sheepishly.

"You were supposed to take this job to repay me, not add to your debt," she scolded as Ty guided the Vespara through the wide shield gates.

"I know,” he said like a scolded teenager. “But I got a hold full of rare alien tech. I figure it should settle us up to bare evens. Maybe a lil something for daddy if I'm lucky."

"We'll see about that," she sighed sceptically as the docking arms engaged.

The stranger reached over Ty’s shoulder and cut comms.

“Woah, woah, woah! No. You cannot give her that tech. Or anyone.”

“What about Dana?” Ty asked, raising an eyebrow incredulously. “Besides, Salvage laws are clear. They shot first so it's salvage, not theft.”

“You’ll get people killed, you greedy idiot,” they implored him. “These aren’t just any spare parts, you saw what the Scovex can do.”

“Repairs aren’t cheap. You gotta do what you gotta do,” Ty said with a simple shrug.

The stranger moved around to the front of Ty’s console, all six feet of him looming over the captain. “Look, I know you’re all about making a quick buck, but this is seriously dangerous.”

“Yeah, I know. Dangerous shit always fetches a premium rate.”

The stranger brought their metal fist down on the console, chipping the glass. “Damnit, Ty! I’m telling you that for the good of everyone else in this sector you cannot sell this stuff!”

“Then what am I supposed to do with it, genius?” Ty demanded, getting as up in the stranger’s far as he could. Which was not much. “Cause you and I got a couple million creds worth of repairs to cover and neither of us are going anywhere without a payday.”

“Who’s the fussy prick?” Asked Tsu-Belle, stepping out of the bridge with Moses. “And what’d I hear you screaming about a million creds of salvage?”

“Prospective new hire, though I’m starting to get second thoughts,” Ty ground out, taking a breath and stepping away from the stranger and gesturing between them. “This is the aforementioned best mechanic in the sector.”

The stranger tried to remember how to give her a polite smile. “Sorry. Never been good with first impressions. But I have my reasons to be so adamant.”

“Well Ty’s got salvage rights, but how about letting me see what you’ve got that’s so worth being this excited about. I might not even buy it if it's gonna come back to bite me,” Tsu-Belle said, one hand reaching up to preemptively and effectively silence Ty’s protest.

Ty stood by in huff, watching Tsu-Belle pick over the scrap; the stranger was giving a long winded explanation that Dana would have loved, but he found little more interesting than background static.

“So what am I even looking at here?” Tsu-Belle asked, examining the holographic readouts on her goggles. “And why does it stink like that?”

“The scrap came from a Scovex swarm,” The stranger explained. “They’re an incredibly advanced biomechanical parasite. Sounds valuable, I’m sure, but if you sell this to someone who doesn't know any better, they run the risk of being consumed and starting a nanite infestation. The Scovex kill anything they can and molecularly disassemble anything else. The stink is probably decomposing nervous tissue.”

“How do you neutralize the nanites?” Tsu-Belle asked, flipping the goggled up her face.

The stranger shook their head and folded their arms. “If there was a way I knew of, I would have tried it ages ago.”

“Can you control it?” She asked, turning over a hunk of interlocked gears in her hands.

“I might be able to, but I don’t know anyone else who could even try. Even then…” They gave a noncommittal waggle of their hand. As their mind searched, they glanced at their fighter. “What about this instead? It's a vintage model, just needs some repairs that I’m sure you could make quick work of.”

“Maybe…” Tsu-Belle thought out loud. “It's a nice looking fighter. Could use a new coat of sealant. This thing looks like you stored it in salt.”

The stranger chuckled, starting to believe Ty’s claims about the mechanic. “The tech inside is pretty rare these days. It's just a little rough around the edges.”

“That’s what they all say,” Tsu-Belle chuckled, waving to get Ty’s attention. “I’ll give you one and a half million creds for the scrap. One seventy five if you throw in the lemon.”

Ty, finally tuned in, nodded. “How about two million and put the fighter’s repairs on my tab?”

“You never grew out of being a greedy shit,” Tsu-Belle smirked. “One point six.”

“One eighty.”

“One seventy. Not a credit more.”

“One eighty and I take your next slag run to Coradai.”

"Hah! Deal," Tsu-Belle grinned, taking Ty's hand and shaking it before calling over her shoulder to a few burly aliens. "Alright! Get this scrap to reclamation and take the fighter to repair bay six. Run a full diagnostic. I'm gonna start on Vessie."

"Pleasure doing business, Tsu-Belle.”

As Tsu-Belle's mechanics took the old fighter for repairs, she looked at the stranger, wiping the clunky goggles off on her coveralls.

"You said you might be able to control this stuff. How?" She asked, holding up a mostly intact drone, its glassy, membranous wings swinging limply.

The stranger sighed dejectedly. "I've never tried, but theoretically I could tap into the hive connection. It would be dangerous if I couldn't keep a handle on it. It...also means they might be able to find me."

"Well good news, I'm gonna be melting most of this down,” Tsu-Belle nodded to the stranger’s surprise and relief. “I'm a traditional mechanic, not a biotechnician. These are more valuable to me for the dutritanthium construction and trace elements.”

The stranger’s shoulders finally retreated from their earlobes as they relaxed. “Just.. Be careful.”

“I always am,” she nodded in sage understanding. “Lots of dangerous old shit comes through here. And I’ll take good care of your ship too.”

“Thanks. And.. I’m sorry for earlier. My social skills aren’t what they used to be.”

Tsu-Belle waved her hand and laughed humourlessly. "Manners are for core system hobnobs and people who have something to hide. Go make yourselves comfortable. Well take it from here.”

“Come on, buddy, there’s a great diner on this station,” Ty called, waving for them to follow him and Moses to the airlock. “They got cark nibs better than you’ve ever had.”

Their gaze lingered on the Scovex salvage being loaded into a hoverskiff before they finally tore their gaze away. They looked up from Ty and met eyes with Moses over him. The pair shared a moment of reassurance and the stranger finally broke a smile.

Trusting them seemed like a fair price for now.