《Love Like Oil》


 Stripped Bolts and Leaking Lines

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    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


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    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


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    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


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    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


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    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


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    "RACERS¡­


    START


    YOUR


    ENGINES!"

 Crucible

    A rumble passed through the No Safety Measures like a coiled predator ready to pounce, Lix licking her chops as systems engaged and the engine trembled. Power coursed through the sleek vessel in time with the menagerie of ships strewn about her in a grid. Jack, for his part, sat reclined in the seat behind the pilot''s chair with a grin. The pad in his hands, as well as the tilted holoprojector on his chest, displayed every possible facet of the ship one could possibly dream of.


    "Jack? Shields?" Lix hissed, her paws working over each other, the thick coverings keeping her from clacking her claws together.


    "I''ll engage them when we get closer to the asteroid belt. Just focus on flying, love." Jack didn''t turn his attention away from his datapad, his fingers ready to adjust power output at a moment''s notice. For now, there was no juice to the shields whatsoever, he''d engage them when they got closer to the asteroid belt. Everything that could be spared was powered down to reduce heat and draw on the reactor. It wasn''t as if the shields would protect them from the lasers and direct ballistic fire that surely would be pointed their way either, as it could only displace dust, micrometeors, and other debris that would punch holes in the sleek little vessel at the speeds they would soon be flying.


    Ters was a testament to that.


    Silence, aside from the roar of the drive in the No Safety''s back, filled the cabin as Glorious Angela daintily waved her hands over a red light in an expansive ball room aboard the Racer''s Heart, a crowd of the galaxy''s wealthiest watching with bated breath as it turned a glowing yellow. The same such tension bulged the wiry muscles in Lix''s arms, her legs trembling as a line of drool ran unfelt down her muzzle to drip onto her flight suit. Time slowed to an unbearable crawl, Glorious Angela''s calm grin and slightly squinted eyes dripping with a promised violence that sang like a thread gliding along the edge of a sharpened knife as her metallic hand fell so terribly slowly.


    Like a guillotine.


    Then¡­ the world was green.


    Lix felt her head snap back into the headrest as the No Safety Measures surged forward, along with a sea of racing vessels, the negligible gravity from the nearby planet enough to affect them even from its great distance. Several flashes of light behind her lit in the Kux''lar''s eyes as racers jockeyed too hard for position, their noses crumpling upon each other to become the first casualties of the race in blooming clouds of debris and freezing clouds of vapor.


    Jack whooped as he worked his fingers into overdrive, turning to watch Lix''s paws as she feverishly worked the controls. Unbeknownst to her, every juke, jive, roll, and strafe was met with a quick power diversion that gave extra juice to whichever thruster might currently be powered.


    "One coming in on the port quarter, ten degrees high!" Jack called out, already diverting power from the belly thrusters to the dorsal.


    "She''s never been this responsive!"


    "You know it, baby!"


    Lix dove, avoiding a mindless racer in the process of escaping the wing of a larger vessel, before ripping the nose of the No Safety back up to slip into nineteenth place as eighteenth spiraled out of control with seventeenth a crumpled mess on her starboard side. Pure joy screeched from the raptor''s maw as they finally passed the orange safety line projected by several drones, indicating that they were now far enough away from the Racer''s Heart and observation stations for weapons free.


    If it had been chaos before, the buzzing hive of racing starships descended into pandemonium the moment they crossed that glimmering barrier. Raildrivers, lasers, point defense cannons, and rockets of every shape and size turned the already deadly jumble into a fiery dance of death and debris. A mass of racers met their end all at once, Lix rolling to avoid a fire-and-forget missile that streaked into a ship too harried by point defense batteries to flee, deadly fire from gimbaled weaponry turning the unorderly cloud it became into a field of deadly debris.


    "Asteroid belt five thousand kilometers and closing, pour on the speed!" Lix demanded, her paws frantically working the stick to slip beneath a trail of rotary cannon fire that missed every shot, the small but deadly fast rounds speeding off to destroy something, somewhere, at some distant time.


    "You''ll have it, elevate! Incoming starboard!" Jack braced as the No Safety suddenly shifted upwards several dozen meters, two racers slipping beneath her as they jousted for position, the quickly dying plume of an explosion lighting the already chaotic darkness as ablative armor detonated and taking a chunk of hull from the opposing vessel. "Aaaahhhahahaha this is fuckin'' racin''! They droppin'' like virgins at a communal bath!"


    Lix met his holler with one of her own, her eyes narrowing with glee as her power dipped. A glimmer crawled across her cockpit''s viewport as the No Safety''s gravity system engaged, its shields creating a tight, protective bubble around her fuselage. Jack cursed as Lix rolled to avoid a three way pincer of racers as they fought for position, the first of the asteroids looming ahead like a field of mines.


    "Entering the lane in twenty seconds." Jack called, quickly flipping between screens on his datapad. A wide path of drones marked stark yellow holograms for the racers to follow, deadly rocks littering the space between them that promised a swift and inglorious death to all without the skill to avoid them. Lix found herself licking her chops once more, her paws pressing over top one another as she poured on the speed.


    "Suuuuper wheat and vat grown meeeat¡­"


    "Ship nearly over top of us, another hovering at our port side. Keep an eye on that starboard quarter, that one has a nasty railgun."


    Lix could feel her heart hammer in her throat as the edge of the asteroid field drew closer and closer, each and every racer itching to pierce that initial veil into the deadly blanket of death. Tiny adjustments kept her from a flaming end tangled in the wreckage of the ships Jack called out, her left hand twitching on her thruster control to avoid an errant line of point defense fire from a distant battle as yet another pair of racers smashed into each other, ending their run for good.


    "Add a little water and then some heeeeat¡­"


    "Entering field!"


    Jack''s stomach did a flip as his securing belts dug into his suit, the No Safety Measures inverting to slide beneath the first tiny asteroid to break formation with the vessels eating real estate around her airspace. A kaleidoscope of explosions lit the entryway to the field as unprepared racers pancaked on the first of the floating stones, sending the heavy rocks that had been undisturbed for untold years on tumbling intercept courses into other ships that burned thrusters red in an attempt to escape. Fans screeched and raved with every death, hundreds of high-speed drones capturing every maneuver and failure in real time for their hungry eyes.


    "Running hot on the belly thrusters, give me a sec!" Jack hollered, fervently adjusting power flow to ease the strain on the multiple thrusters about the sleek racer. They lacked the powerful housings he was used to on the Gerthtrude, but that was fine. Nothing a little ingenuity couldn''t fix. Lix twisted the speedy little ship aside, avoiding an outcropping on the rock, as she blasted out into the field proper, easing into seventeenth place as sixteenth fired backwards at her nose with a swiveling rotary cannon.


    "Bastard! Lix will eat face!"


    "Slurp him up like a fuckin'' bowl of noodles!"


    "Sluuuurp!"


    Lix roared, slamming the throttle with a spin that tossed the No Safety around the tracking line of fire like a top, her fellow racer struggling to keep the ass end of his boxy vessel aimed properly towards the sharp arrowhead gaining on him. Several deep gongs, like steel slamming on steel, rang through the cockpit like a drum, a series of angry alarms blaring in the duo''s ears.


    "I''ve got it!" Jack unhooked from his seat with a short leap, sprinting towards the engine room with a glance down at his chest monitor. The plating had held but something had gotten knocked loose between the captain''s cabin and the engine bay itself. The Human skidded to a stop as the ship lurched, Lix deftly dancing around something or other, as Jack followed his datafeeds to the fault. "Damn wiring. Always wiring, limp dicked connections weaker than toilet wine!"


    Still grumbling, the mechanic wrenched a multi tool from his suit as he went to work removing the floor paneling, revealing a nest of wires, tubes, and circuitry that would boggle a lesser mind. Too bad he was a lesser mind.


    "What in the slimy ass oozing slam fuck is this wire set up?" Jack hissed, sifting through the mass with a glove covered hand, his eyes whirring to search for any fault or loose connection.


    "Jaaack! Lix getting heat warnings!"


    "Just fly, lizard!" Jack grumbled as the bulky forearm of his EVA suit pressed against the tight sides of the compartment, his teeth clenched in frustration as several more heat warnings lit in his face. "Gods damn it." A part of him simply wanted to start pulling and jerking, but experience told him that would simply cause more loose wires. "Where are you?" Blues and greens and reds merged into a dizzying array of color that pulled the Human''s eyes about like a caught fish before he took a moment to begin the arduous task of tracing each and every line.


    Lix hissed, baring her fangs at the speedy vessel ahead of her as it dipped to bring her into its cannon''s line of fire, her hand twisting the flight stick to slip around a smaller asteroid no bigger than the No Safety Measures itself. A ship off to her right lit the cockpit with an orange of burst fuel as a missile slammed into its drivebell, the lack of oxygen and the unforgiving vacuum of space snuffing the flames into frozen vapor.


    A line of rotary fire nearly bore a hole through the cockpit the moment she slid from view on the asteroid''s far side, her hands working overtime to slam the dorsal thrusters with power. Heat buildup drew her slitted eyes to a warning panel on her left, worry beginning to creep up her throat as several system screamed for mercy that wasn''t going to come anytime soon.


    "S-Super wheat super wheat super wheat super wheat!" Another deadly barrage came barreling her way, the No Safety juking to the side and under a fellow racer who was too busy trying to survive a two-way attack between a sleek custom cargo shuttle and bulky passenger liner that had been outfitted with oversized engines and enough weaponry to make actual racing skill a secondary to being the only ship left on the track. Streaks of missile fire and point-defense roared from the fat ship before hot lines of devastation crawled across her hull, some unseen laser weapon eating away at the hull until she went dark, listlessly tumbling into a rocky asteroid she could no longer avoid.


    A wordless cry split Lix''s maw as several rounds plinked off her precious racer''s port side, impact warnings roaring in her ears as she banked hard to avoid further damage. A smaller rock, already spinning from clipping another pilot''s wing, nearly ended her dreams right then and there, her eyes widening with terror as she reared back on the throttle to watch the unassuming ball of stone careen passed the cockpit. The maneuver had saved them, but the heat just continued to rise.


    "Jack? Jack! Lix needs you!"


    "Working on it!" The mechanic hollered, his face pressed against the deck as he forced his arm deep into the open compartment, tracing a tertiary junction for power distribution for the electronic temperature detection system. His other hand nearly swam to press a mass of wires away from the thick cable as he finally found the end, several connections hanging not quite disconnected, but loose enough. "Fuckin'' tighter than my asshole when the tax man comes around!" With an angry shove he forced them back on their receptacles, squeezing the spades around their slots to ensure only a direct hit would knock them free once more.


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    Throwing safety to the wind, Jack didn''t even reset the floor panel before rising to race to the engine bay, forcing open the hatch with an override code and coughing as a wave of heat slammed into his chest. The initial bay was tight, a secondary door, thick and heavy, barred access to the engine itself. He''d need to don a radioactive resistant suit to even think about going in there. Thankfully, everything he needed would be in here.


    "Gonna loose weight in this heat¡­" Jack wiped the sheen of sweat on his forehead as he rushed to a master control panel, nearly falling to his ass as the No Safety began to twist and twirl. His hands jerked to grab the expansive touch screen, fingers working the touch controls like hyperactive spiders to manually direct extra coolant to thruster systems and battery banks that blinked red with heat warnings. "All right scaly lady, go wild!"


    Lix trilled as her warnings vanished one by one, thrusters responding with the sharp snap she was so familiar with. Pure ecstasy painted across her muzzle as she twirled the sleek shuttle around another battery of rotary fire. Meter by meter, the No Safety Measures gained on the boxy transport only to lose ground to avoid being perforated and meeting the frigid vacuum of space with naught but regrets and blood-filled throats.


    "Get off Lix ass!" She screeched, spinning around a sizable asteroid as more and more racers died en masse, be it to the very field they were flying through or each other. Jack tapped his ear to tune in to the general announcer broadcast as he continued to cycle coolant to the most affected systems, bringing the overworked vessel down to a tolerable temperature. The race announcer was a wiry little critter, not too dissimilar from rats that lived in the ducts back on Koorka Station that everyone was so fond of turning into jerky.


    "Aaaand we have Kaliko in the Ocean Motion motioning no more! Looks like she took a few too many missiles! Right behind her is her cold-blooded murderer himself, Henkil Otana, I''ve no clue who that even is but the list says he''s the intrepid captain of th- ohhhhh it doesn''t matter! He just plowed straight into that rock like it was making kissy faces at him! We''re just over the halfway mark of this run and we''re down racers by half! What a blood bath!"


    Jack knew the crowds, safe and protected in their viewing stations, would be going wild with each and every death. So too would the betters, investors, and ring runners; The real money behind the league, each and every one of them watching to see how best to spend their money. On the other side would be the champions, the established ''Roid Racers just watching as the fat was cut from their craft. His dark mood was washed away as Lix screeched at the pesky vessel barring her progress, the Human whispering encouragement under his breath.


    Lix suddenly found herself squeezing her eyes shut as the ship ahead took a nasty mass driver round straight through her middle from above, lights going dark before another sent her tumbling into the void with a burst of oxygen, internal pressure racing out into the cold embrace of the abyss. Lix snapped her head up high, searching for whoever had put the racer into an early grave, her eyes wide with fear that she would be the next to eat a powerful mass driver round. Her comms panel lit with a familiar greasy grin as a fighter slid into view from above, obviously well worn but very much cared for. ''Spitfire'' was emblazoned across her fuselage, a squirming figure waving at her from the pilot''s seat as the ship inverted over the No Safety Measures.


    "I hope you return the favor, lizard!" Mo''Ona grinned across the comms channel, his ratty face slick with some strange manner of oil. "I don''t do freebies."


    "Thanks for the save," Lix huffed, juking the ship forward to avoid the listless debris that had once been a gorgeous shuttle. "Still don''t trust you, but thanks."


    "I''ll take what I can get. See you at the finish!" Mo''Ona saluted, flipped Lix off, then cut the channel before his mean little refurbished fighter began to pull away.


    "Bastard." A hiss was all she had time for as the field of asteroids dwindled in size but grew in number. This was what she lived for. The firefights and ship to ship combat was a thrill to be sure, but nothing compared to zooming between the little floating balls of death as her engine redlined and roared. The No Safety Measures dipped, dove, dived, twirled, swerved, and danced to her tunes, the vessel weaving a tapestry of drive plumes behind her. Gradually, the weapons fire died as the head of the pack pulled well away, the fabled twenty, leaving the slower and less skilled behind. Lix found herself solidly in twelfth place, thirteenth so close behind as to be scraping the paint from her thruster panels, and eleventh carving a path ahead of them with accurate railgun fire into asteroids small enough to be pulverized.


    Jack cursed as he rejoined her, Lix''s eyes widening as he ripped her oxygen helmet from the wall.


    "W-What Jack doin-gnah!" Her words were slapped back down into her throat as the mechanic roughly shoved her head quills down flush against her neck, the helmet fitting snuggly over her long scaly muzzle with a click. "J-Jack! Lix wants know!" Her fangs bared beneath the helmet''s visor as he quickly connected the air tube to an oxygen bank bolted to her pilot''s chair, not saying a damn word as he did the same with his own helmet stored on a hook at his waist. Lix didn''t even have time to look back at the Human as he trudged off back the way he came, vanishing into the depths of the No Safety as several warning klaxons sounded throughout the ship.


    "Ignore those!"


    "Lix not like this!" The Kux''lar hissed as cool air blasted her face, a warning that life support had been disabled reaching her ears before several encroaching asteroids forced her attention back to the cockpit''s viewport. Whatever the mad Human was up to, she''d just have to trust him. Jack, for his part, grinned at the little bit of extra power turning off life support had given them, pouring it all directly into the fusion engine. She was running at the very edge of her temperature control, and several sheets of shielding would need replaced. Pipping too, if he had to guess, as this kind of heat could start warping tubes if he wasn''t careful about when and where he abused the power.


    Against his better judgement, the excited mechanic tapped away at the master control in the engineering bay to disable warning alerts to the cockpit. "Shhhh baby girl, you just keep churning away for your daddy, yeah? I know, I know, you''re gettin'' all heated." Grinning, and setting his heels as the No Safety was sent into a spin to avoid another racer that had clipped an asteroid, Jack placed a gentle hand on the bulkhead. "I''ll fix you up riiiight. All new parts and upgrades, get that nasty fuel cleaned up outta ya. Oh yeah, I''m gonna be neck deep inside ya baby." Another spin nearly sent jack into the very wall he was caressing. "If we live, that is. Celebratory fun and all that."


    In contrast, Lix was sweating bullets, if reptiles even could sweat, as her familiar shuttle seemed to pour on more speed than she ever remembered it having. Stars waltzed in her eyes as she flew a deadly path with her fellow racers, her heart beating in tune and time with the pulsing engine of the No Safety Measures. All else faded between the twisting turns and twirls as her nose fought for the extra inches that placed her into ninth place, then eighth, then seventh and sixth as the final stretch came up to greet them.


    She could feel Jack''s presence behind her, his metal hand on her shoulder a bolstering bulwark as she frantically snapped between risking everything for that hairpin turn around a rock that would earn her several more feet and avoiding an impossible gap that would tear her dreams, and life, from her chest. The league was a distant entity, as was every station, planet, and problem in the galaxy. All that mattered was that next turn, that next breaking strafe, that next neck snapping acceleration.


    Finally, looming like a sleeping God, came the pulsing yellow finish line, several ships fighting for space around her as Jack whooped and hollered, his job done. All that mattered now was the flight stick, the throttle¡­


    Inches creeped by as she flew so close to the vessel beside her, the proximity so small Jack could have leaned out of the airlock and kicked Lix''s opponent, as the finish line screamed nearer with every breath.


    "Yes! Yeeees! You got it, girl! Get in there, tear him up!" Jack screamed, pumping the air with a fist. Finally, just as the finish line met the No Safety''s nose, the opposing vessel lost thrust, something shuddering in the rear with a visible waver, letting Lix pull ahead just enough to squeak by in fifth place.


    "Gnaaaah! Gaaaaahahahahahaaaa!" Joy the likes of which Lix had never felt flooded her chest as she pulled the nose up high, the No Safety Measures tumbling up and safely out of the asteroid belt like a popped cork as she launched herself from the pilot''s seat with an ecstatic squeal. Jack had just enough time to reengage the life support systems before catching her, the Kux''lar wiggling in his arms like puppy on sugar. "Jaaaaaaaack! Jack, we did it! Fifth place! Top five! Top five!" Another screech tore through the cabin as she attempted to bury her head under his neck, checking the oxygen levels in the ship before ripping the helmet from her head and doing just that.


    "Fuck yeah!" Jack likewise pulled his head free, his face slapped with bright blue quills that quivered with overstimulation, the man twirling the raptor about with gleeful laughter. "Fuuuck yes! I knew it! I knew ya had the grit! I knew I picked right! Best pilot in the fuckin'' stars right here! Woooooooooo!" Balance left the man as he fell, Lix''s kicking paws quickly adjusting as she straddled the larger Human, her thin chest heaving against his as they both fought for breath.


    Silence gripped the No Safety Measures as Kux''lar and Human locked eyes, both brimming with the adrenaline of victory and survival, both bearing the souls of two lonely fools hammering away at unobtainable dreams drifting through the stars like dust on a cosmic wind. Here, tumbling through space, alone and unseen, their hearts still hammering from so many close calls that nearly took both their lives...


    Lix was the first to press her scaly lips to Jack''s, several false starts as the two twisted their heads this way and that as they tried to find the perfect angle to marry their respective anatomies together. Trembling claws worked at fasteners and buckles and zippers, Lix ripping her flight suit off her shoulders to reveal Jack''s sleeveless jacket underneath. It had become her good luck charm, and little could part her form it. Those same fingers, still trembling, feverishly searched blindly along the Human''s broad chest for the connections of his own suit, snapping each one free and whining into the man''s mouth as the search progressed slower than her growing excitement demanded.


    A tongue traced along fangs as Jack twined his fingers into Lix''s quills, the Kux''lar muttering half formed demands for him to keep going as he reached down with a free hand to help her unbuckle his EVA suit. Her claws slipped inside the moment the front of the bulky suit parted, pressing against the sweat slicked undershirt and pushing the sleeves down hard alloy arms. Jack lifted his front, Lix attacking his tongue with her longer, thinner appendage, as the Kux''lar inexpertly undressed him.


    Inexpert, but so very eager. Hands free, Jack found them roaming her flat chest in much the same way, his rough cybernetic palm gently pulling the fabric of her flight suit down her scaled shoulders, the heavy fabric spilling to pool around her thicker hips. Grinning, and panting for air, Lix sat up just enough to run her hand up her belly, tracing the waterfall of off-pink scales that ran up her throat to her chin, and sliding Jack''s stolen¡­ conquered¡­ jacket to the floor.


    Her flight suit met a similar fate as she stood, her legs pulling free as both clawed hands traced those sleek scales back down to her waist, slowly revealing the tight part of her cloaca normally hidden beneath her suit.


    Jack grinned as he clutched the extra cloth bunching around her legs, each paw daintily rising from the mound to reveal Lixistruzsias in all her glory, a predatory grin splitting her fang filled muzzle as she stepped over him with the slow teasing gait of a hunter. Liquid excitement dripped down her soft inner thighs to color her killing claws that tapped the deck as she made slow pace down the corridor, her tail descending to slither along Jack''s face like a sensual snake.


    Like a sailor to the song of a siren, Jack rose to follow, his EVA suit joining Lix''s flight gear on the floor. All he was left in was a thin undershirt and boxers, the unsightly bands of alloy steel around his shoulders where his implanted arms connected to his body riddled with scars that Lix didn''t even acknowledge. She waited for him to catch up, his hands wrapping around her belly from behind as he bent down to stalk after the shorter reptile, Lix leading him like a pied piper into her quarters.


    Grinning over her shoulders, hip hiked with a tilt to her high raised ankle, Lix flopped herself onto the diminutive cot with a twirl, spreading her powerful legs wide. All it took was a welcoming flick of her tail to draw Jack in closer, his fingers tracing a smooth path along the pad of her left paw and down her inner leg, the Kux''lar hissing with need and displeasure at his slow pace.


    "Jack¡­"


    All the man did was reward her with an evil grin, sliding into position on his knees between her raised legs to blow an infuriatingly gentle breath along the length of her ankle and calf. Lix''s eyes lit with frustration, her tail gently coiling around his neck in an attempt to pull him down further. It was all for naught, as the man easily resisted her demanding tugs.


    Lower and lower his head sank, his face so tantalizingly close to her scales as he painted a line of teasing agony along her inner thigh, his lips hovering over her moist mound as she quivered and whined, her hands beating on the thin mattress.


    "Please!"


    Lower¡­. lower¡­.


    "Yes!"


    Then¡­ Jack passed right on by to breathe on the opposite thigh.


    "No!"


    The man couldn''t help but surrender a chuckle as he pressed his lips to the soft scales of Lix''s inner thigh, nibbling and kissing a trail up and down the her leg as Lix squirmed and begged and gnashed her fangs at the air in a desperate attempt to do something, anything to get relief from the torture her mechanic was dragging her through. Up and down each leg, with special, slow care to each inner thigh, Jack continued to rile the pilot up. His lips left wet sheens of need along her scales as Lix screamed and cried, finally sitting up to place her claws on the back of his head.


    "Please!"


    Yet, still, he resisted her forceful shoves and only graced the very outer edges of her glistening, needy lips with more wet kisses. Around and around, he kissed and nibbled and blew, rivulets of need pouring from Lix''s deepest depths as she pressed her hands to her eyes and twisted and bucked and groaned. He was so close, so damned close... Yet he couldn''t be further from where she wanted him at that moment.


    "J-Jack, Jack by the stars, please! I-I''ll give you anything!"


    His crooked grin was all the answer she received, his lips pressing into the depression where her legs met her hips, the valley that surrounded the quivering folds of her cloaca shining with his wet kisses. Finally, his cruel streak seemingly at an end, Jack hovered his mouth over her sensitive lips¡­. so very still, as Lix watched on with struggling breaths.


    When his tongue finally parted her folds, Lix screeched. The teasing, the torture, the waiting¡­


    Her cabin was thick with the scent of her need as Jack delved deep, Lix''s legs quivering with shotgun spasms as the first glorious release of the night wracked her body with all the power of a starship drive imploding. Jack grunted as he felt legs cross over the back of his neck, trapping him right where he wanted to be.


    "J-J-Jaaaack gn-n-n-nnaaaaaah!"


    Forcing himself free from his scaly prison, Jack rose to the call as he slipped from his undershirt and boxers, his member throbbing with a need of his own as the Human crawled over the comparatively diminutive Kux''lar, his girth nestling snuggly in the valley between her thighs.


    "Ready?" The question was quiet as he pulled back his hips, his tip parting Lix''s folds like a relentless tide, slow and steady.


    "I-If you don''t f-fuck me I''m gonna bite you, jackass!"


    "You''re wish¡­" Jack slowly burrowed himself into the Kux''lar''s depths, her maw split in a wordless cry as another divine release tore through her body, her claws gripping at his back as her tail curled around his leg. "Is my command."


    "A-Ahhhaaaaa! Oh, by the stars! Gnah!"


    "Yeah, sing baby!"


    Lights danced in Lix''s eyes as she finally felt the man''s hips meet hers, a powerful pulse deep in her depths stealing away all thought as Jack began to pummel her mind into mush with measured, firm thrusts. Lix found herself unable to think, unable to even speak, her breaths coming in quick panicked gasps as her entire existence narrowed to this tiny cabin tumbling through space.


    Nothing else could ever matter after this.


    She didn''t want anything else to matter after this.


    And as the third, and no where near final orgasm, of the night tore her senses apart, she decided she wouldn''t have it any other way.


    Jack chuckled as Lix balled her clawed hands into little fists and beat on his chest in futility as he just¡­ kept¡­ going. Her begging never held any substance, no direction, only pleas for him. Mind numbed cries for this moment to never end, but as all good things do, so too did this exaltation of victory.


    A grunt, a scream, pleasure made audible, as stars burst in the duos minds culminated in a squeezing tumble as Jack pulled free at the last moment, painting Lix''s hip white with proof of his satisfaction. The Kux''lar couldn''t even find the energy to care, or the air to tell him it was far too early after her last unfertilized lay to get pregnant. That is¡­ if a Human and Kux''lar were even genetically compatible.


    These thoughts vanished as Jack pulled her further onto the cot, their exhaustion and sweat mingling into a miasma of fatigue that banished even the worry of where her ship was tumbling to.


    This¡­


    Lix had done it. She''d survived, she''d made it to the leagues¡­ she was a ''Roid Racer, and¡­ more importantly¡­ the Kux''lar felt her eyes roaming over the tired man held in her grasp, his strong arms manhandling her into a position where he could lay his head on her chest¡­


    This was paradise.

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 Friends In Low Places

    Jack hadn''t expected Mo''Ona to even know of the Last Stop Staryard, the place was either a mythical legend to those that had either heard tales of the deadly repository or an off-limits deathtrap to those that knew the truth. However, he found himself pleasantly surprised when the little rat-lizard''s eyes lit up with recognition on Lix''s datapad. Stars danced around his pupils like fleas on narcotics, his tail wagging with such fervor that the hairless appendage blurred in the holoscreen.


    Following the fiasco in the Vents, both Jack and Taran had thought it best that the duo return to the Stripped Bolt until things cooled off. Lix had eagerly made use of the couch in Jack''s diminutive room, her maw full of Meelk, super wheat and vat grown meat, while using his holo computer to call the only person she knew that might know about the Last Stop Staryard. A master salvager, all-around shady character, and one who, maybe, didn''t want her dead?


    "The Last Stop? Yous know wheres the Last Stop is? Yes! Mo''Ona is your guy! Ohhhh, yous won''t regret this, I tells ya!" Lix couldn''t help but smile as the little Hux balled his little grubby hands into fists with excitement, bouncing in the chair he was standing on so he could be eye level with the communication panel in his ship. It was a bit of dump in the background, little piles of this and that strewn about the tight corridors as his species were want to do, but the chaos had a sense of order to it that only a Hux could decipher. A stack of unused books was the only reason he could be eye level with the communication console¡­


    "Well, unless you''re gonna try and cash in on my unofficial bounty again." Lix grinned, her tongue licking the side of her chops. Mo''Ona had the decency to look at least a little abashed, his claws scratching the back of his neck, fleas scattering to the floor in search of safe harbor.


    "Naaah, that''s been pulled. A little birdy told me a few of those posters be betting on yous now. It''s goods ta be¡­ ya knows¡­ good at what ya do." His nervous scratching turned into full on fur rending clawing, flecks of dirt and grime falling to his paws as he groaned in relief. Lix''s smile faltered, a questioning glance at Jack offering no explanation. Perhaps he was just a dirty guy?


    "Anyway," Jack interjected, the left side of his face covered with a thick gauze pad. "Shit''s not a cake walk. We''ll make it as smooth as we can but the area is council patrolled. Kill on sight, no warnings given, no arrests, no fines, a decent amount of the salvage out there are dumb hopefuls just like us."


    "Yeah, so the stories go. Half dead ships an'' half dead souls. I hears it be haunted." Mo''Ona snickered, his scratchy voice grating on the mechanic''s ears. "I''s guessin'' we needs a pinger?" Jack only nodded at the inquiry as he rubbed his chin. Getting one would be a feat in and of itself. Illegal tech such as pinger satellites were highly regulated and most often used by mining companies in search of specific deep ore deposits in an asteroid that scanners couldn''t touch. Minerals such as platinum, cobalt, and palladium were the usual targets of said pingers.


    In space, the best way to vanish was to hide your heat and electrical radiation, usually with shielding and sinks. Pingers, despite their small size of about a cargo crate, gave off deceptively similar signals to that of a ship with middling stealth tech. Normally a passing security vessel wouldn''t even register, but the kind of hardware roaming about the Last Stop Staryard? A pinger was damn near a requirement to even approach, something to get council eyes looking elsewhere, if even for a moment.


    Not that using such deception would guarantee them access to the mysterious yard, far from it. It would only mask their approach, their weaving crawl into the heart. Once there, the debris and dying drives of all manner of ships would act as a curtain from any scans that may pass over them. Massive walls of alloy and metal obscuring the electronic eyes of their pursuers and sequestering them in a tomb where time stood still. Following that would be the real danger, actual radiation. Many of the ships in the Last Stop were capital, or even bigger, bearing engines and drives that seeped deadly radiation like tiny dying stars. Too long exposed without proper gear would see them all just another group of corpses drifting amongst the wreckage.


    "Yup, we''ll need a pinger," Jack''s sigh was a long and tired one. "An'' the only place I know we can get one is back down in the Vents." Word had reached him of the Rippers begrudging acceptance of his use of chemical ordinance down below, the Keelhaulers daily foray into the markets having screeched to a raging halt in fear of the new guard coming to clean house. On Jack''s end, he was surprised his fellows on the outer ring hadn''t questioned his brief firefight themselves, but the fact that he hadn''t pursued the upstart gangsters further must have been enough to clue in that he was there on personal affairs. Self-defense was a daily occurrence in the Vents after all, and most would chalk up his interactions with the new gang as an instance of wrong place, wrong time.


    Then again, what concern was it of theirs what Mad Jack did in the Vents? As long as Roarks flowed properly on the outer rings, the Vents were left well enough alone. Such rules were all well and good but¡­ he was going back down, in search of highly suspect technology, that would simply scream to those that knew him where he was going. It was a bad mix, one prone to volitation. He would have to prune some of the thorns off before they pricked his side if this venture was going to go smoothly.


    "Lix, lovely scaly lady." Jack reached over to force the raptor''s head close to his, smooching her on the side of the muzzle. His reward was a content warble, Mo''Ona looking everywhere but the holoscreen. "Keep talkin'' shop, I''ve gotta few calls to make."


    "Alright, go be brooding and mysterious, white meat."


    "Oh, I''m gonna. I''m gonna brood so hard." With that, Jack waved her off with a parting smile that faded the moment he turned his back, his metallic hand fishing in his pocket for an external comms unit. It was the very same one he''d demanded Lix bite, and she''d refused, the last time they''d graced his shop. It had been more than a little time since he''d talked to the crew who had banded together to push out the old blood and entrenched money. Most wanted nothing to do with him after his acquisition of the Stripped Bolt, and he felt much the same in turn. Deeds had been done, bridges had been burned, feeling hurt and backs stabbed.


    It was best to let bleeding beasts lie, after all, but now old rules were starting to rear their heads; respect, trust, protocol, things he couldn''t just ignore and go about his business as he pleased much like how he was want to do. No, there were expectations now. Jack was the old guard, the very same entity he had once taken fire and steel to, only his business was profit oriented instead of power. Make no mistake, the mechanic was under no illusions that the two went hand in hand. In order to ensure that the profits of the outer ring flowed properly they needed to walk a fine line between strong arming as much Roarks as possible from those simply passing through and cultivating a sense a loyalty from Koorka''s long term citizenry. It required one of two things, turning the workforce into a mob of sorts focused on enforcement with a modicum of respect, or being a symbol of the community yourself, as Jack had chosen. The latter meant you needed a bit of grit to back up your bark however, meaning the infamous mechanic needed to stay fit and upkeep his reputation.


    A reputation that kept his old crew at arm''s length.


    Saaf had been one of them¡­


    In addition was Cordal, the outer ring''s best provider of raw material, be it nickel, copper, steel, what have you, Cordal was your one stop shop for any and all tradesmen. Jack himself still used the frog like amphibian whenever he needed metal for fabrication work, only the transactions were often wordless and faceless. Back during the big push, Cordal had been their supplier and logistics officer, rounds didn''t fly without supply after all, and the jittery frog man always seemed to find what they needed in the strangest of places.


    Next had been Liliana, a fellow Human and the outer ring''s beloved doctor. Be it a laceration, crush, fracture, tear, bleed, amputation, even an abdominal evisceration or a dreaded tummy ache¡­ Liliana would be there to call you a fool and fix you up. Jack had lost count of the number of times she''d stitched him back together or provided him a batch of aerosol pain killers for his cybernetics. It was also no secret the good doctor was as good with a rifle as she was eloquent with her speech. It was her that convinced Jack that he needed to step back and simply focus on his shop and his trade.


    And who could forget good ol'' Marty? When it came to keeping a movement fed, no one could do it like Marty. The master of noodles and mountain of muscle had also been a whirlwind in the streets, rampaging through the old hat''s rank and file like a hurricane. Hand in hand with Jack, he had racked up a higher body count than a natural disaster, and been the sole reason they''d even been able to push into the outer rings themselves. That he''d settled for a simple ramen stand had been a boon.


    Last, but certainly not least, had been Tik''Tik, a wiry, jumpy little avian beast that stood no taller than Jack''s hip. A Vector, if he was to be believed, but the mechanic had never seen another quite like Tik''tik before or since. He had been the movement''s communications officer and liaison to the inner rings, keeping the peace and ensuring the violence never reached the richer sectors of the station and, therefore, keeping the authority figures off everyone''s backs. Quick of mouth, or beak, and sharp of wit, the snappy little bird had taken great offense to the manner in which Jack had obtained the Stripped Bolt and vanished into the inner ring to work traffic control and hadn''t spoken a word to anyone since. It had hurt for a time, they''d all fought hand in hand, feather, and claw, after all. But Jack found himself more angry than offended as time went on.


    Only one would answer his call, that being Liliana. Several deep breaths and false starts accentuated the tumultuous state that Jack''s relationships had become before he simply switched to speed dial, slapping the comms unit to his ear with a hiss as his metallic finger stabbed at his sensitive flesh. For a moment, he thought the woman might not pick up¡­ when she did, he almost wished she hadn''t. An ear rending scream was the first thing Jack heard, the man pulling his comms away with a grimace as Liliana''s voice was only barely audible through the din of her¡­ patient.


    "Jack. Need more meds?"


    "Is¡­ this a bad time, Lily?"


    "Appendix burst. No Roarks for anesthetic. Thought I''d let him drink booze to dull the pain, the idiot, he''d bleed like a sieve."


    "Riiiight." Jack shook his head as the sound of tearing flesh reached his ears. "Anyway, got a message to relay to the rest of the old crew, if you don''t mind."


    "What did you do? Or about to do. Stay still, you didn''t pay for reconstructive."


    "About to do. I need shit down in the Vents and some new gang is going to start shit so¡­" Jack trailed off, several moments of pained moaning, crying, and screaming filling the digital space between them.


    "Ah, the Keelhauler group? I''ve been getting complaints about them from my trainee clinics. They''re bad for business. Look I''ll run interference Jack, but you''ve a history of collateral damage. Keep it contained."


    "Yes ma''am." The man saluted to the air, a crooked grin on his face.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "That means lose the chem warfare. You think I don''t know there''s a cleaning op because of you?"


    "Aw, come on." Any further protest was silenced by the whir of some drill, or a saw perhaps, and the neat slice of cutting meat. Whoever Liliana''s patient was, he had gone silent.


    "Shut up Jack. I know you''ve other methods, quit playing games and do it right. Control, remember our therapy sessions? You want to be labeled Mad Jack again? You killed Saaf without even consulting us. He had it coming but he was part of the crew. I know he had the Gerthtrude, but still¡­"


    "They never stopped calling me Mad Jack."


    "Because you never gave them a reason to. I''ll talk to the others, what business are you running that is going to put you up against the Keels?" Jack pondered whether or not to lie. How much should he involve his old crew? The more others knew, the more information got out, the greater risk of operational security breaches. This was, however, Liliana¡­


    "I need a pinger¡­ you know I''m running with a ''Roid Racer, right? I wanna outfit her ship with Sev-¡­ I wanna hit the Last Stop." Liliana sucked in a breath, her teeth chattering.


    "Gods damn it Jack¡­ I''ll¡­ why are you going back there?"


    "Best ship parts. And I''m sure you know stuff''s drying up with the corpos crackin'' down on some smuggling operation or such." More than a little time passed in silence, the only sound being that of a wet surgery.


    "I don''t approve, but I can''t stop you. Just¡­ keep your head in there Jackie. Look, I''ll tell everyone else you''re pushing the Keelhaulers out for business purposes, making amends with the Vents, which it will."


    "Oh¡­ Shit, yeah it will make ''em like me a bit, won''t it."


    "Yes¡­ ugh, how are you a business owner?" Another round of sliced flesh and the whir of surgical tools filled Jack''s ear as Liliana continued her work, grumbling under her breath about the futility of men''s stubborn streaks, how Jack was going to get himself killed or worse, and most likely end up as a target to get pushed out himself. The man, at least back in the day, had always teetered on a knife''s edge. On one side was a capable, useful, and streetwise mechanic. The other¡­ a bloodthirsty, violent, and loose cannon of a man that didn''t just damage potential business, but filled body bags. A great deal of progress on the Human''s mental state had been made since the old crew disbanded had been made, but drifting motes of the old Jack still lingered.


    Or drifting embers more like, smoldering remains of Mad Jack that a select few remembered and the rest collectively endeavored to forget. Liliana refused to let slip from her mind the monster they''d willingly let loose on Koorka when it had been convenient. It wouldn''t be responsible, or fair to Jack, to let history fade.


    "Just reign it in a smidge, okay Jackie?"


    "Sure sure¡­" There was more Jack wished to say, much more. Let''s get the gang back together. Play darts, shoot pool, have a drink and listen to some tunes. Let''s enjoy the peace, or what passes for peace on Koorka Station, that we worked so hard for. Business is good, the populace pockets a relative amount of the money they make which in turn gets spent where we want it to be spent, and bodies don''t pile up in the gutter. We did good, we won, let''s act like it.


    But¡­ he didn''t. There really wasn''t anything to say after all, nothing that wouldn''t just be just wasted air.


    Koorka won.


    Jack¡­ Jack had gotten the Stripped Bolt as a consolation prize.


    The silence following the call dropping felt¡­ final. There really wasn''t any going back to this old crew. With a sigh, and the heavy acceptance that his old friends¡­ weren''t¡­ the mechanic began to unbuckle the effective nerve and caustic grenades from his bandolier. He''d have to find a different way to get an edge in combat beyond his cybernetics.


    An epiphany chased away the melancholy of Liliana''s call, Jack rushing to his workbench to rummage through several oversized drawers and chests before removing his arm mounted oxyacetylene torch and accompanying tank. It was a smaller one than he was used to using, one that nestled nicely at the small of his back on his belt, but it would do. Metal clanged on metal as the small magnetic hardpoint surface of his left forearm grabbed hold of the specially made tool, one he''d used so very often during work that it felt almost like a second skin to wear the device.


    On the lower settings, the normally precise and cutting jets of heat would turn into gouts of searing flame. Not quite a flamethrower, but close enough for the Human to pretend¡­


    Liliana might complain but only after he returned with the pinger. Either way, her approval or lack thereof was future Jack''s problem and that guy was an asshole. He never listened to present Jack''s advice and just did whatever off-the-cuff nonsense that came to mind in the moment. That being said, those moments made for good memories down the line for future-future Jack, who tended to be a wise old dodder, but he was better off than future Jack.


    Present Jack returned to Lix with a heavy heart, his conversation with Liliana leaving him feeling just a tad bit more lonely in the vast empty galaxy than he did before. His downcast eyes fell on Lix, the raptor still deep in her conversation with the overly excited Mo''Ona.


    Perhaps¡­ Not so lonely¡­


    Still, it seemed all the old connections he had tried to make were going out of their way to avoid him and for what? Because he''d been a little violent in the past? It didn''t make sense, not to Jack at least. Didn''t everyone have at least a little blood on their hands in this day and age? Sure, he probably had a bit of a fresher coat on his¡­ but did that really matter? What was one extra, two, three, four lives more than the next? Then again¡­ Lix herself had taken her very first life today.


    He could see the aftermath even now in the way her tail coiled just a bit tighter. In the way the claws of her feet curled as if she was on edge. Tension trembled nearly imperceptibly in the Kux''lar''s thin shoulders, and her eyes looked a bit wetter than usual. There was a fine tight rope Lix was balancing on; in the center was a restless state where she ignored that niggling voice in the back of her skull. To one side was panic, disbelief, and terror, while the other held a dangerous sort of dissociative nonchalance where her brain shut out all care of the situation in order to protect her from the pain of caring.


    Jack knew where she''d fall, and it was important that she did fall.


    As if without a care, the Human joined his reptilian captain on her call, Mo''Ona jabbering away about all the things they might find.


    "Skrunkles, breathe," Jack chuckled, pulling Lix into his lap with a squawk as he joined her on the too small couch. "You think you can make your way to Koorka so we can talk shop?"


    "Skrunkles? Skrunkles¡­" Mo''Ona scratched at his fur, flicking away fleas and dirt as he rolled the word around in his mouth, seemingly approving. "Neeeh, yeah! I likes it! Skrunkles will meets yous there! Gots ta fly!" A flurry of fur and a naked tail preluded the Hux flinging himself from the comms panel before the feed went dark, Lix giggling into Jack''s embrace as the duo melted into the man''s couch.


    "Ya doin'' okay, scaly lady? After earlier I mean." The mirth died from Lix''s giggles as she squirmed her way deeper into the man''s arms, a trill tumbling from her maw as her tail wrapped around his legs in a possessive bind that forced them together. A surprised grunt left the man as the deceptively strong appendage trapped him. There was no escaping for him now, nowhere for his sweet, sweet mammal heat to go except into Lix herself.


    Where it belonged, of course.


    "Still kinda shaken up. Never had to shoot a guy before."


    "Hopefully you''ll leave the rest of the shootin'' to me." Jack pulled the raptor closer, rolling to stuff her between the back of the couch and his own body. It was right where she wanted to be, her digitigrade legs twining with his own as best they were able. Little love nips trailed up and down Jack''s neck, a trill accompanying each one like a siren call.


    "Nope."


    "Great."


    "Yup. What, did ya think I''d be all teary eyed, oohhh, I killed a guy? He was gonna shoot my Human." She nipped him harder.


    "Your Human?"


    "Mine."


    "So, what did Skrunkles say?" Jack adjusted, manhandling the lizard into a more comfortable hold.


    "Skrunkles?" Lix opened her eyes, looking up at the bottom of the man''s jaw.


    "Yeah, Mo''Ona, the skrunkly little Hux."


    "Hm. He is pretty skrunkly. He''s still piddling about the Racer''s Heart doing daily salvage runs. Should have seen his face when I told him you know the Last Stop''s location."


    "Oh yeah?" Jack nuzzled down on the Kux''lar, receiving a purr in return. "I had a feeling the grubby little bastard would know about it."


    "Know about it? Salvagers like him touch themselves to dreams about the Last Stop apparently."


    "Now that''s an image I want burned out of my skull." A disgusted grimace flit across Jack''s face as Lix''s giggles returned, her tongue flickering out to lick at the gauze pad that still covered his injured cheek.


    "Speaking of burning, what''s with the torch?" Metallic tak-tak-taks rang in Jack''s ears as she tapped the oxyacetylene torch attached to his arm. The low profile device was just barely able to avoid poking her scales, which would have put a serious damper on cuddle time.


    "Ah, I got chewed out."


    "What? By who? They''ll get nipped." Fangs snapped at the air, which was currently occupied by Jack''s neck.


    "Ow, you fucker! By Liliana-"


    "Who is Liliana?"


    "Down girl, she''s a friend." Jack chuckled at the heat in the Kux''lar''s voice, rubbing the angry flesh where he''d been bitten. "An old friend, one of the crew that helped me push out the old, bad business."


    "You mean like Saaf?"


    "Bad business like Saaf but no. Saaf was actually part of the old crew too." Lix adjusted, wriggling until her serpentine body nestled nicely against the Human''s for optimal warmth theft. Her eyes sparkled with interest, a fish latched on the end of a sharp hook ready to be reeled in. Jack hadn''t just kept his time at Koorka close to his chest, the man had tossed it in a crate and locked the lid. There was no way she wasn''t going to pounce on this chance with both paws, and killing claws, forward.


    "Tell me about them." It wasn''t a request.


    "Ai''n''t much to tell really. There''s Liliana, the doc, she''s a Human like me. She was sorta the glue of the crew-"


    "Crew glue."


    "And kept us all in line, objective focused. Used to serve as a medic on some planetary defense force." Jack squeezed until the lizard wheezed for her interruption. "Then there was Saaf, ''nough said about that bastard. If we needed gear touched up or moved about the station, he got it done. Could make what we needed too." Lix whistled through her fangs, thinking.


    "How''d he end up in charge of a docking station?"


    "Stole it, the gooey fuck. Paid a slicer about the sum of two Gerthtrudes to hack the deed into his name. My baby was already stored there and after we all had our heated separation, he decided to gouge me takin'' her back."


    "Why did he keep the fat girl under lock and key?" Purple hazed between the spaces of Lix''s face scales as the Human''s heat permeated throughout her body, her blood warming and tail-tip wiggling.


    "Didn''t approve of how I got the Stripped Bolt, which is a story for ''nother day. Now¡­ who else¡­ Ah, someone ya know." He teased, grinning at the raptor''s curious churl. "Morty, can''t run a revolution on empty stomachs. The big guy was also knockin'' heads with me out on the front."


    "I can see it."


    "Next was Cordal, a Yorga. Think of ''em as frog men."


    "What''s a frog."


    "I dunno, that''s just what I''ve been told to call ''em. I ai''n''t got no clue where he got it, but that little moist dude could get any kind of raw material and Saaf could make it into whatever we needed. Guns, ammo, gear, you name it, he could get the stuff to slap it together. Still on the outer ring, I order from him all the time." Lix smiled at that. At least some of Jack''s old friends were still around. Maybe she could meet them?


    "And then there''s old Tik''Tik. He''s a Vector, twitchy little bird fellas that live about forty years at the speed of improperly snorted illegal narcotics. He was our liaison between the outer and inner rings, keepin'' all the fightin'' out here so the big wigs over there stayed where they belonged. We promised better tourist flow, meanin'' more Roarks, from cleaner clients. An'' we delivered¡­ just not like the little guy liked." Jack grimaced, frowning. Of all the old crew Tik''Tik was the most¡­ innocent. From the first war room meeting at the Oil Change bar, which was nothing more than an unused storeroom now, he could tell the Vector wasn''t made for blood and guts. Poor fellah¡­ it was good he''d gotten away. "He works Koorka traffic control now."


    "Swimming in Roarks you mean, dang. Maybe I should leave you for the bird."


    "You''d come back when you see his," Jack snickered for a moment. "Pecker."


    "Fuuuuuck off."


    The duo delved into juvenile laughter for several moments, Lix laying her head comfortably in the crook of Jack''s neck. The metallic tang of cybernetics was barely perceptible through the skin of his throat, hinting at an old wound that needed more than nature could provide.


    "Did Liliana do that?" She asked, poking where the metal stench was strongest at his bobbing Adam''s Apple.


    "Glck! Oi, easy. But yeah, nearly took my head off, ''bout lost my throat to ricochet down in the Vents at the tail end of all that mess. She gave me a new one."


    "Is Liliana still on Koorka?"


    "Yup. Far side of the ring. Has a few clinics down in the Vents where she sends students of hers." Lix made to say how nice that was but was interrupted with a yawn instead, her maw opening wide in Jack''s face to grace the man with a view of far too many teeth and a gullet that was the bane of Meelk. The mechanic released his hold on her shoulders just long enough to poke her tongue with a metal finger, snatching it away as her mouth snapped shut.


    "Glack! Eugh! Why?"


    "You expose the tongue; it gets a pokin''."


    "Do it with something else than your finger, weirdo!"


    "Oh, yes ma''am!"


    "Shuuuut uuup!"


    With that, the lazy lizard returned her head to the crook of the Human''s neck and settled in for a nap, whether he wanted to or not. Chuckles rose from the trapped Human as he begrudgingly joined her, wiggling deeper into the worn cushions of his couch as the reptile in his arms drifted off into dreams. There was much work to be done, and she''d need all the rest she could get. Not to mention, he''d have to see just how useful this Mo''Ona really was when the little Hux arrived.


    If he was anything like his fellows in the Vents, he''d be invaluable. The little rat-lizards were some of the best scavengers in the galaxy, and as long as you could get past their smell, decent all-around folk. Though their love for the Roark would most likely supersede whatever affection they had for you, as long as you lined a pocket or two in their little vests with some funds, they''d be loyal.


    Or as loyal as rat-lizards could be, at any rate.


    That being said, Jack wasn''t going to just up and forget that this Mo''Ona had taken up an under the table contract to end Lix before she''d even made it to her first race. That was atypical Hux behavior. Most avoided conflict like a plague, sticking to the shadows of society and finding success through stealth and guile. If Skrunkles was anything like the other Hux Jack used to know, he was about to be a tired little bastard.


    Unlike the Human, and now Lix who was a growing racing celebrity, Mo''Ona, even though he was a racer himself, could blend in with the Hux population of the Vents easily enough. A change of clothes, a little ruffling of the fur, and viola, you have a new Hux. Now, how the other Hux would react to him was another story all together, but they generally left well enough alone. In the end, it didn''t really matter.


    What did, was that pinger. Without it, the plan was dead in the water. Getting to the Last Stop Staryard needed a pinger, no if''s and''s or buts about it.


    With Lix out cold, or out warm, in his arms, he had no reason to hide the dread from his face. There was no doubt in his mind that the gear they''d find there wouldn''t just give them a fighting edge in the races, it could damn well rocket the Kux''lar into the history books¡­ he just¡­ had to go back¡­


    Jack had to go back to the Last Stop Staryard.


    Back to the Eros II System.


    "Ambition culled, the stars dimmed, ice crusted home again¡­"

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    "Skrunkles, you manage to get that little side project I asked you to done?"


    "Keeeheheh yeahs! Haaaah¡­ Befores the drones got theres, just likes Jacks asked. Skrunkles¡­ tireds¡­"


    "That''s what I''m fuckin'' talkin'' about lil'' guy!"


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    was

 Convoy

    Fire was something of a scared entity to humanity, less of a form of energy and more of a symbol. Other species didn''t quite understand it, but historians chalked it up fire being the initial steppingstone in humanity''s technological growth. From those crackling flames came the very first steps towards the distant stars, to leaving the chains of their home world and sailing the endless cosmos. Psychologists claimed it had more to do with a hypnotic effect the dancing flames had upon simian minds. They would cite the collective habit of Humans to gather ''round a campsite, perhaps play a little music or eat a meal, and make jolly. Either way, be it the historians or psychologists or neither who had it right, it was well known to be rude to interrupt a Human during their thousand-yard stare through the roiling flames.


    Especially if said flames were of a funeral pyre.


    Jack nursed his fourth bottle of unknown liquid, uncaring of the less than savory taste or lackluster burn in his already numb throat, as Rippers whooped and hollered and made merry around him. At least, the young ones did. Similar pyres, smaller and less prevalent, formed a circle around Taran''s burning corpse, his bones slowly turning to ashes as his fellows celebrated his victories and achievements. In the Rippers, you were the culmination of your efforts, of your results... And Taran was a man of many such victories. Jack wouldn''t forget that it was his promise of riches that drew the man in and urged him to fly towards the sun, burning his wings and sending him crashing to the churning waters below. It was his plan, his assault, and in the end, his fault that Taran now lay as nothing more than slowly sizzling bones.


    Another tally mark, another friend to drink in remembrance of, another body in Mad Jack''s wake.


    Tearing his eyes free, Jack looked up to the roiling party in the Ripper''s home, a storage facility in the Vents turned into a massive communal home. The upper deck, which had once been an expansive stretch of single unit cargo bays, had been converted into homes much like a slum only... far homelier. Each one seemed to connect to the next be it with streamers or string lights or collected bits of colorful metal, all of them marked by their owners and able to roll down a privacy shutter. It was communal, how the Rippers lived, together as one dysfunctional unit. It looked cozy¡­ it looked¡­ like a great way to ensure loyalty to the ''family''.


    The lower deck was an open concept atrium of tables, couches, social pits, and entertainment areas full of partying gangsters passing around their haul from the hangar bay, a massive space designed for all manner of camaraderie and only further entrenched a feeling of belonging in any young and malleable Ripper. From a room in the far back, however, wafted forth the sweet smell of a feast currently being cooked and that, more than the safe space to sleep, the better survival in numbers, and of course, protection from the very gang one had joined did more to lock in the new recruits. Outside these walls, when one was on their own, hunger was a constant companion. Hunger and the fear of death, be it from a shank they didn''t notice in an alley or in some shoot out in a corridor they had walked a hundred times before.


    It made Jack sick, this trap¡­ luring in the hopeless and angry and hungry, turning them against all who didn''t bear the Ripper name and receiving loyalty in return. Most never truly realized the price they were paying, how they''d traded one yoke for another. Perhaps the food wouldn''t taste so grand once they realized they were slaves in a gilded cage. Or¡­ maybe they wouldn''t care at? On a station like Koorka, whoever filled your belly might as well be God.


    Above it all sat a towering man who ran it all, Edward Vines, leader of the Ripper gang, and someone Jack couldn''t give two shits about. He was here to say his goodbyes and leave.


    "Brothers! Sisters!" Edward boomed, his smile a jackal grin of control and desire. "Let me just say how damn proud I am of y''all! Outnumbered, outgunned, but not outmanned! For every one of you were worth ten of those feckless Keelhaulers!" A resounding applause of roars and mindless adoration filled the warehouse, Edward holding up his meaty hands for silence. "Today we feast! Today we remember the fallen! Today we remind Koorka who the fuck we are!"


    "Ugh, shut the fuck up big ma-" A wave of sharp pain raced around Jack''s chest as Liliana cinched tight yet another layer of bandages. The mechanic''s torso has been pock marked with dozens upon dozens of purple-black bruises, deep and welted, turning his body into a caricature of a cratered moon surface.


    "Can''t believe you''re still addicted to using yourself like a damn living shield." The doctor hissed, tying off the final wrap just a bit more roughly than she would a normal patient. "You''re just as idiotic and thoughtless as you''ve always been. You''re supposed to be treating Lix better than you did me and look at you! All shot up like a range target!" Lily''s free hand swiped the back of his head, the medically trained woman knowing exactly where to hit to make his implants glitch, cascading his vision into a dizzying array of colors and lines.


    "Gah! Bitch, you''re going to make me drop good hootch!"


    "Good! Like you deserve a drink after pretending to be a ballistic dummy!"


    "I''ll make you drink it and drown ya!"


    "Is this some Human mating ritual?" Lix asked, wandering over. The Kux''lar was covered in garlands and streamers, a stick of mystery kabab in her left claws still steaming. "Cause if so, I want in on the fuck fest. Lily''s pretty hot, hotter than you at least, Jack."


    "Keep her, this woman has teeth on the inside." His complaints died as Lix sniffed about his new bandages, her slit reptilian eyes casting up at Lily''s in some wordless conversation before she pressed her scaly head under his chin.


    "Thanks Lily, for patching him up. I''ll keep an eye on him."


    "He''ll need it. I''ve already sent meds to the Stripped Bolt. He''s got several bruised ribs he needs to baby."


    "Got it." At that, Lily left the couple to their privacy, Lix using the opportunity to carefully lean her weight on the man''s side. "Jack needs rest."


    "What we need is to get a move on before Arington shows up. Where''s Skrunkles? Besides, need to get ya flyin'' something again. Aren''t ya a racer or some such?"


    "He went into a back room with some Rippers. Maybe Lily will wanna join him?" Lix''s teasing tone reached the woman''s ears, bringing a wretch from her throat before she moved out of ear shot. Snickers, fake for the sake of the party, died on the Kux''lar''s lips as she laid her scaly muzzle on Jack''s shoulder, her eyes wet with concern. "I¡­ didn''t know Taran that well¡­ but it seems like a lot of people liked him."


    "He was a¡­ well, none of us are good folk down here but¡­ he was an honest one. Can''t ask for much more ''n that." Jack''s voice was quiet, like a whispered breeze, the din of the party threatening to rip them away. "Lix¡­ think we go anywhere when we die?"


    Silence filled what little space was between the two as the ''Roid Racer contemplated the question with the effort such heavy subject was due. Her people had their own religion, that all would return to the egg from whence they came to be born anew¡­ but that seemed like it would be a cold comfort here.


    "Are you¡­ a religious man Jack?"


    "I didn''t used to be. Back in the day I would be livin'' life like nothin'' waited us when we died. Then I started loosin'' people. Lots o'' people, left an'' right, some o'' ''em my fault an'' some of ''em not¡­ an'' the thought of there bein'' just¡­ nothin''?" The melancholy reached a fever pitch as Jack downed the rest of his drink in one long pull, reaching for another that wasn''t there. "That''s terrifyin'' Lix. I don''t want there to be jus'' this¡­ this void when we go. That everyone that''s gone is just¡­ poof, ya know? Ooooh you won''t even know you''re dead, it''ll be like bein'' asleep, fuck off¡­ I hate that¡­ just¡­ knowin'' nothin''¡­ So yeah, I¡­ I guess maybe I am¡­ just a bit, in some way. I started seein'' all these patterns an''¡­ ya know, the stars looked a bit different."


    "Different how?" Lix inquired with a soft tone, her claws searching for his free hand, making his fingers wrap around hers instead of another bottle. "What did you end up seeing?"


    "I dunno, but it was better than literal nothin''. I think, maybe there is somethin'' out there but¡­ I ai''n''t smart enough to figure out what it is. Still fuckin'' scared shitless o'' it¡­"


    "Maybe that''s enough? Or¡­ maybe thinking on it is part of the process. It''s better than those zealots that just blindly believe in something without question anyway. In the end, it''s what brings you peace, I suppose."


    "Does it surprise ya? That I¡­ might not be as loose with my mora- ow!" Fangs closed on his thigh, the sharp snap of teeth silencing him.


    "Hush. It doesn''t surprise me at all and you shouldn''t be ashamed. In fact, I''m happy you shared that about yourself and I''m more than willing to help you think those thoughts through to a healthy outcome."


    "You sound like Lily¡­"


    "Ugh, you have so much training to do on what not to say to your girlfriend¡­ In fact, I thi-ack!" Lix found her tail wrapping around the Human''s waist as he lifted the Kux''lar to his shoulder, holding her like a sack as Lily returned with a double set of kababs. Jack saw she had more to say, more to accuse¡­ surely by now she would now of Tik''Tik''s departure. Not only was that a loss for him¡­ but for her as well¡­ they''d all been family once.


    Once¡­


    That had been another life, another family, one that now lay broken most likely without hope for repair. Jack had new priorities, and one of them was currently beating on his back and demanding he return her to the deck. Turned backwards as she was, her flailing paws and tail waggling in her Human''s face, she couldn''t see the heavy stare that lingered between Lily and Jack. There was a goodbye in those few moments that seemed to stretch on longer than either should have let. Words were left unsaid, feelings left unexplored, and both knew it was for the best. Happiness just wasn''t in the equation for the two of them, not together, be it romantically or as friends. Sure, Lily would continue to supply painkillers and plug his wounds when he staggered into her clinic. Beyond that however¡­


    This was it and they both knew it. The old crew was gone, Koorka Station only had stories to tell of their grandeur, their voices hushed whispers of a bygone era while the titans would brood in their own territories. Maybe that''s why Jack had jumped feet first into this adventure Lix had dumped at his boots¡­ What had once been days of violence, planning, gunpowder, and nightmares¡­ had devolved into the monotony of fixing ship after ship after ship¡­ Jack only had a turning wrench and tales of what he had been to look forward too. While the former wasn''t so bad¡­ to do so for years? It was maddening to think of¡­


    Jack was rotting.


    And Lix was his escape¡­ though¡­ perhaps the spunky lizard had become something more.


    "Are you just gonna stand here? Or am I your new decoration?"


    "You''ve always been my new decoration."


    "Yeeeesh¡­ that one was pretty bad. Wanna try again?" Jack smiled one last time as Lily shook her head, mouthing something along the lines of ''treat her right'', before tearing into her kababs and walking away. The doctor didn''t look back. Lily had always tossed a two-finger salute or flipped her hair with a grin before¡­ not this time¡­ No matter, Jack had everything he needed to get back to the Last Stop Staryard. The Gerthtrude was always ready for whatever he threw at it, the pinger was safe and secure in her hold, Skrunkles was a crack pilot to accompany them, and Lix would make his fat ship dance. Now he just had to get the crew in and out without dying to the myriad hazards that awaited them.


    "Alright!" Jack adjusted the fuming Kux''lar on his shoulder, earning an ''Oomph!'' as he knocked the air from her thin chest. "No more dragging our feet. Let''s get this show on the road. You need to get that scaly ass back in a pilot''s seat anyhow."


    "Fucking finally, my claws have been itching to fly again! Even if it''s your fat girl. She''s growing on me."


    "She grows on everyone."


    "Like a scale fungus, but sure. I''ll message Skrunkles to finish his orgy and meet us at the Stripped Bolt." Lix'' eyes unfocused while she accessed her comms as she ignored the jeers and catcalls from the Rippers watching Jack cart her away, their minds thoroughly in the bottle. "Can we change out that crazy claustrophobic bucket seat for a racer''s module like mine?"


    "No." Jack thought to the almost racing bike-esque command cockpit on the No Safety Measures. Lix would straddle the actual pilot''s chair like¡­ well¡­ a racing bike, her muzzle right in front of the displays and her paws on the controls. Supposedly the strange configuration would assist in the high speed maneuvers demanded of a pilot. "You look hot in the bucket seat. Besides, I cut and padded that tail hole for you and by the stars, you''re gonna use it."


    "Fine fine, now put me down!" Chuckling, Jack waited until they had left the hubbub of the memorial service, easing his cargo down onto her paws. A nip to his chin let him know how she felt before his arm was in her claws. "So, we''ve got everything we need now, huh?" Excitement bubbled underneath the pilot''s barely controlled countenance. It had truly been too long since she''d flown, since she''d felt the responsive twist and turn of roaring drive bells behind her and the power of a rumbling ship under her paws. Adrenaline had run dry in her blood, it felt as if years had passed since the final preliminary race. Lix needed to get behind the controls again. The Kux''lar needed to put a ship through her paces and push it to the absolute limit of its prowess. If not, she''d go mad soon.


    Whirring automatons and the crackle of heavy machinery grated on Lix''s ears, or ear holes to be more precise, as they returned to the comfortable home away from home that was the Stripped Bolt. The shop was in full automation putting the No Safety Measures back together, leaving certain panels free to more easily install the parts they brought back from the Last Stop. None of the outer damage that had left a gnawing pit in Lix''s stomach had been left, every blemish, scratch, and dent had been repaired, leaving the sleek ship gleaming like factory new. The pile of warped pipes and charred plating sitting off in the marked corner, for recycle and meltdown supposedly, brought a smile to her face. Memories of the crunchy response her controls had given her were like a kick to the tail, but now she''d run like new.


    "There''s my giiiiiirl! What all do we need from the Last Stop to get her running, along with the weapons to go on her two hardpoints I mean."


    "A drive to pilot module command sensor, it''s one of the parts that burned out and I can''t find a replacement on Koorka." Jack started listing off on his mechanical fingers, each one lifting with a gleam from the overhead lights. "And a fuel heat monitor, Koorka usually has a supply but the parts embargo saw to that. There be about fifty million of ''em in the Staryard. That little sucker right there will keep the girl grounded, without it the coolant systems can''t get a good enough read on the temp in the engine."


    "Ah, more fallout from pushing her so hard¡­"


    "Yup, don''t worry, we''ll have ''er roarin'' in no time."


    An alarm, nearly drowned out by the hard-working machines, drew the duo''s attention to the entrance and the Hux who hobbled in with the goofiest, most self-satisfied grin one could find on a rat. His new limp did little to dampen the rodent''s good mood as he gingerly sat on a crate near his new crew. It was obvious what he''d been up to, and the silent glare from Jack had the little half pint pilot snickering.


    "Fine, fine, Skrunkles not talk about the amazing time he just had. We ready to go? Uh¡­ we get a brief or what?"


    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."Yeah so, here''s the plan. Y''all gotta stick to it or we''ll wind up as vapor before we even get close to the Staryard." An air of professionalism fell across the small band, Lix bouncing on the balls of her paws as her predatory eyes thinned to slits. "We''ll need to fling into several FTL lanes, but one of which we''ll input a manual emergency exit near the third quarter stretch. From there it be a boring little drift to the next flinger. It''s active don''t worry." Jack lifted his hands in placation as Lix and Mo''Ona both looked at each other in worry. Dead flingers weren''t uncommon, either abandoned or deactivated as new lanes were established, leaving the old ones nothing more than literal dead space. Oh sure, one could rig the internal power systems to activate¡­ but who would want to get flung into a random region of space? "Trust me, leave the flinger to good ol'' Jack. Now, the moment we leave the fling lane we hard burn down from the exit while launchin'' the flinger via Skrunkles''e railgun. We''ll be goin'' dark an'' council ships will be all over it. If''n it looks like we''ll get caught, we all start tossin'' the same signal on bursts."


    "What''s stopping ''em from coming after us in the Staryard?" Lix wrung her claws, her tail wrapping around her own legs as nervous energy filled her veins. "And what kind of presence does the council maintain there?"


    "A full assault fleet, they hold the whole system down as a no-fly zone. You pull up the area we''re goin'' though and all you''ll see is a blok globule." Jack wandered over to his workbench for a datapad, his fingers dancing over the screen before returning with a quick search. It displayed a region of space core-ward of the galactic center from their position that was just¡­ blank. It was rare for a blok globule, those terrifying regions of space where literal nothing resided, to form inside a galaxy, which usually meant something catastrophic happened. Or much more likely, that something was being hidden. Everyone knew to avoid them either way, it just wasn''t worth the hassle of finding out. "Once we''re actually inside it though, it''s a maze, so Skrunkles will dock back on the Gerthtrude via tow cables." A smile crawled across Jack''s face, crooked and cocky. "It''ll be all you then scaly lady. We gotta get deep in the Staryard an'' quick. We won''t be followed inside it. Nasty debris fields, hazardous radiation everywhere¡­ the works. If someone gets inside, they let the Staryard kill ''em. Gettin'' back out will be much easier, just gotta get through the flinger quick is all."


    "An'' theys won''t have anyones waitin'' for us on the far side?" Skrunkle''s little nose wiggled as he crossed his arms, his eyes gleaming with desire.


    "The far side is dead space, no idea how long one would have to wait an'' they ain''t wastin'' a capital ship on blockade duty. It be a simple plan but we gotta go quick, that''s why you two ''Roid Racers are at the helm. Once we''re in the Staryard we can slow, cold roll through the fields until you find the parts ya want and I''ll spacewalk ''em into the Gerthtrude. Skrunkles, that mean you too."


    It was as if he''d proposed to the rat, tears streaming down his furry muzzle as he hiccupped with joy. Dreams of the untold loot and fields of parts just drifting in the black, free for the taking! Normally he''d have to be careful about his scavenging, especially in person, lest he take a boot to the ribs or worse. Further still, looting the crash sites after every Asteroid Race was an even deadlier affair. Every wreck, every rock, every blind corner could potentially hide another drooling scavenger waiting to disable his ship and pop his little rat skull for a nice haul. The rush, the thrill that came with the threat of death, was half the reason he even risked the trips in the first place. This though, this was treading council territory, this was the stuff of legends.


    "Dooooh! I''s gotta go! Meet yous outsides! This will be great I tells ya!" With his whipcord tail a blur, Mo''Ona abandoned the briefing for his own ship, the Spitfire. It was an ugly thing, a repurposed shuttle with welds holding her oversized engines on her fuselage, but she was fast. It was exactly what they needed if they were going to survive the initial run from the flinger to the Yard, especially Skrunkles. His mass driver would be launching the pinger, so all eyes would be snapping his direction the moment they left FTL.


    "There he goes," Jack offered a hand to the still bouncing Lix, her talons closing around his fingers as he pulled her towards the airlock. "Ready to get off this station?"


    "Ready to get back in a pilot''s seat, you mean? Thought you''d never ask."


    ***


    Once again, Lix found herself snugly in the pilot''s seat of a space craft. The Gerthtrude greeted her like an old friend, the strange sphere controls comfortable in her paws. Ships of all shapes and sizes formed a queue before her, the line stretching far ahead and promising a long wait. Not so terribly bad but the lack of actual traffic meant her favorite pass time, watching other ships come and go, had quickly become stagnant. Throwing the vessel in autopilot, the Kux''lar hopped from the seat with a stretch that turned into a screech as her mind wrestled control of her body away, making the reptile bend and twist and flex until the pain culminated in a glorious release of tension. Skrunkles, his ship latched to the side of Gerthrude''s fuselage via magnetic tows, was off¡­ somewhere in the bowels of the ship.


    Jack, however, was in his cabin. Supposedly there was some minor damage he had to take care of. An oscillating growl left Lix''s maw as she squeezed into cockpit''s lift, swiping at the second deck button. To say he had damage and then park her at the controls where she couldn''t leave for a few hours? The Human had much training to endure if he was going to earn the title of Perfect Mate, but he''d get there kicking and screaming. Skrunkles wasn''t on the main thoroughfare that ran the length of the second deck, dark red running lights illuminating the passage and each crew cabin, nor was he bumbling about the galley at the end of the hall.


    "Hm¡­ most likely rifling through Jack''s tools in the cargo bay¡­" Which meant, thankfully, she had the mechanic all to herself. Images of pouncing him onto his bed and messing the sheets ran through her scaly head, her tail drifting back and forth as the tasty thoughts slammed her like a speeding hauler. It had been far, far, too long since the celebration after the last race and Jack had proven he was very good at celebrating. "I bet we could smack out a quick atomic cloacal suplex session while waiting on the flinger queue ah¡­. oh¡­" Lix froze in Jack''s doorway, the sight of his left arm simply detached and left on the table while he worked at some internal bits and bobs poured icy water over her growing need. "That''s unsettling."


    "Need a hand? I''ve got one for rent here ya can borrow. Just clean it before ya return it." A resounding CLANG nearly brought Lix out of her scales as the man raised a rubber mallet and brought it down with full mechanical force on his own detached arm, finally pinging out a minor dent from some errant round he''d suffered while assaulting the Keelhaulers. Lix squinted at the offending noise, her eyes drawn to the bare socket in his shoulder full of painful looking connectors, sensors, and skin to alloy grafts. Was¡­ was that bone in there? Nausea rose in her throat as she tore her eyes away, but not before noticing the subdued gray SA stamped into the black metal just below the primary connection. She''d seen that stylized emblem before¡­ on Jack''s revolver.


    "Huh¡­ SA again, like your gun? What was it¡­ Sevar Armory?" Jack flinched, small¡­ nearly imperceptibly, but it was enough for a predator species like Lix to notice.


    "Yeah. They made quality shit, ya know? Too bad they went and got snatched up. Means I gotta do all the repairs myself." Huffing, Jack reassembled and lifted his arm back inline with the open socket, grinning at his queasy amore. "Wanna do the honors? Give it a good push!"


    "Ugh, ew! Noooo, Jack that''s messed up just¡­ put your arm back on!" Lix turned sideways, presenting her barrel, staring at the mean mechanical connections that sparked to life at the proximity of the cybernetic. "Nooooooo."


    "Yeeeeah, come on! It''ll be fun! Just give ''er a good hard push straight in!"


    "I''m gonna hurl if this thing like¡­ clicks or something¡­" It did, indeed, click when the Kux''lar gave it a solid shove, her scales shivering as Jack tested the arm, his other hand reaching for an inhaler of painkillers. "Ooooh, that always smarts." An overhead alarm, as gentle as an elevator ding, alerted the crew to their upcoming flinger departure. "Ah, looks like it''s our turn."


    "Yup yup, let''s get up there." Jack simply waved a hand, bowing to let her pass. He was rewarded for his chivalry with a bat of reptilian eyes and a tail in his hand, one he let slide until the tip was between his fingers.


    Then he pinched the shit out of it.


    "Gnah! You fucker! Ack!" As usual, there wasn''t truly enough space in the lift for both of them, meaning the poor Kux''lar was squished to the cold and unforgiving metal as Jack purposefully leaned a good deal of his weight on the laughing pilot. "Jaaaaaaaack I''m gonna get squiiiiished! You''re fat!"


    "Hmmmm¡­ which deck was the cock pit in¡­"


    "You''re holding up the lift! Skrunkles will need up too!"


    "Ah you''re right, but like Hell am I getting stuck in here with him." Relenting, Jack thumbed the top floor selection, giving Lix one last press against he wall as she ineffectually beat on his shoulder. In reality, the wave of heat from his mammalian body was a welcome change from the cool pervading temperature that filled the cabin. She lingered on his side a moment before leaping into the pilot''s seat and threading her tail through the custom-made hole.


    "This is captain Lix of the Gerthrude to fling ring number eight-niner-two-one, awaiting fling authorization."


    "Fling ring to Gerthtrude, that''s good copy, you''re green for fling in ten."


    "They love their rhymes, don''t they?" Jack mumbled as Mo''Ona joined them, skittering on all fours not from the lift, but from a tight squeeze out of a junction panel. "How the fuck did you get in there?"


    "Ohhh ''dis ships a beauty! Her guts are almost sparkly! Neh!" The Hux covered his head as Jack rounded on his diminutive form, his maw split in a scared smile. "J-Justs lookin''! Didn''t touch nothin''s, honest!  Be bad if''n the ship messed up while Skrunkles is on it."


    "Hm. True¡­ but use the lift like everyone else, I don''t want your¡­ fur bugs in my systems."


    The temporary weightlessness of a fling prompted the two to cease their squabbles and park their asses in crash couches, both securing themselves with six-point harnesses. Mo''Ona had to stand on his seat, lest the buckle rest on his face. It had been some time since Jack had flung, not since they''d returned from the last race, limping and victorious. That¡­ feeling of displacement, of subtle wrongness brought up a bile filled burp from deep within his belly.


    "Alright Jack, just so I''m clear, on the next flinger you do some secret handshake or something?" Lix asked as the view outside the cockpit turned from a black void to a starry nebula.


    "Not this one, just follow the next two jumps. It''s the third where the fun begins."


    "So''s¡­ what exactly yous be doin''? Overridin'' a flinger?" Skrunkles wiggled his nose, his eye boggling in curiosity.


    "Yup. That particular lane passes right by the Last Stop Staryard and used to link up to a flinger at a fork there. Council has had it disabled for the longest time."


    "Why though?" Lix tilted her head, her fangs chattering. "What''s the point of disabling a flinger to a massive debris field and then listing it as an astronomical hazard zone on star charts?" True to her words, the navigation panel listed an area not too far, cosmically at least, from their projected flight path as a no-fly zone, claiming a star had died or collapsed or some such and took a system with it. Jack didn''t answer, stoically sitting through the next two jumps until they arrived at the aforementioned third flinger.


    "Alright¡­ no time to gawk."


    "Yeah, computer is telling me I''ve three minutes to fling before the next vessel arrives."


    "Roger that, open a one-way comms channel to the flinger." Jack stood, brushing off the minor grime and dirt from his pants. A bit of warmth bloomed in his chest as Lix did as he asked, even though it seemed nonsensical. These periodic flingers, jump after jump through the Great Black, weren''t like those around planets or space stations. These were unmanned and automated by AI programs. The most traffic they saw were the periodic servicing they received every half galactic cycle. Jack didn''t even want to know how the people who kept track of that time got their jobs¡­


    "And we''re linked, channel open to the flinger, automated systems confirm connection. Do whatever secret cloak and dagger thing it is you''re gonna do."


    It was a simple phrase; One he whispered to the dark of his cabin every time he lay his head upon his thin pillow. The words were ingrained, burned into his mind¡­ dementia could take him and all that would be left would be those words¡­


    "We''re headed for the Eros II system, y''all ever heard of it?" Lix and Mo''Ona shook their heads, silent at his hesitation. Jack hadn''t been back for a very very long time¡­ The man shook his head, clenched his fists, and took a breath. "Ambition culled, the stars dimmed, ice crusted home again¡­" The automated systems didn''t ping a confirmation or sound an affirmative, the only indication anything had happened was Lix glancing at her navigation panel.


    "Course changed, we''re headed straight into the heart of that blok globule you were talking about¡­ yeesh, if there''s no flinger there it''ll be a hard burn for seventeen years to get back out."


    "There''s a flinger. Skrunkles, get to the Spitfire, it''s showtime."


    "Yeeeessss!" Paws scurried on the deck as the Hux leapt for the lift, remembering Jacks words, his tiny claws saluting as he slowly slid down out of sight. Lix let a moment pass, awaiting the tell-tale thump of releasing mag clamps, before turning to Jack. The man''s face was stone, his mechanical eyes hard, and were his hands of flesh and blood, they''d be white knuckled with the grip he had on his own crash couch.


    "Jack?" It was as if he''d been snapped from a trance, his head shaking and eyes blinking.


    "Yeah, yeah, let''s do this. Skrunkles, you in flight yet?"


    "Spitfire''s rattling an'' rollin''! Ready ta slip in the flinger with yous!"


    "Alright both of you remember to go transponder dark the moment the little rat launches the pinger and burn hard away from each other. Make for the debris field you¡­ you won''t miss it."


    Nothing was left but the plan. Like falcons in formation, the Gerthtrude and Spitfire, the latter comically smaller, aligned with the humming ring before slowly inching forward. The weightless stretch grabbed hold of the crew once more, the cosmos thinning and slicing away into black nothing before popping them out like balls through a pressurized hose. There was no time to admire the admittedly gorgeous system they found themselves in. Thick roiling cosmic gas clouds interfered with the protective viewport displayed on the inside of the cockpit, turning the backdrop from a black expanse to fields of purples and blues. Closer still were several rocky planets idly orbiting what¡­ appeared to be a¡­ star? Only something was very wrong with it, it seemed as if something was¡­ surrounding it?


    "Quit gawking, full burn down towards the debris field! Fifty degrees ventral! Mo''Ona, launch the pinger dead ahead!" Engines roared and drive bells sang as the duo of vessels rocketed away from the shining flinger behind them, the small mining satellite Taran had died for blasting into the void with a CRACK. "Transponders going dark, pinger singing in five seconds." Jack flung himself into the navigator''s seat to assist, leaving Lix to focus on flying.


    And she''d have to bring out all the stops.


    Before her, stretching between the planets and forming their own rings in the gravitational pulls, was a debris field that spanned half the solar system. Ships of every manner of design, shape, and use floated like corpses in water, each and every one glinting the staccato light of the distant sun. The need for such speed became quickly apparent, several flotillas of capital ships, each and every one larger the Racer''s Heart, hovered around a space station that boggled the mind from its sheer size, able to put even moons to shame. Sensor readings and alarms filled the cabin as sweeps blanketed the area, most focusing on the loud broadcasting pinger. Lix blanched, her desire to see the new system dying quickly as one of the massive dreadnaughts began to come to life, a wing of fighters leaving her side as tiny little blips on her sensors.


    "Full burn into the debris, they can''t see us in there. Aim for that dead freighter, thirty degrees ventral and twenty-five port."


    "Yeah yeah, got it! Skrunkles, you copy?"


    "We''s gotta move, theys fast. Too fast!" Lix worked her claws over the spherical controls of the Gerthtrude, dipping the vessel down into the field of shattered ships and sheared metal. The Gerthtrude screamed in protest as several sharp impacts rang against her hull, harmless yet loud. Port and starboard thrusters sang red as Lix pushed the fat freighter to her limits, the Spitfire barely visible on her sensors as it weaved between the rows of derelicts. A beam of light, the telltale flash of a mass driver shot, lanced from the distant capital ship to zip the pinger from existence, leaving nothing but space dust and drifting atoms. "Whats was that? Skrunkles never seens a shot travel that fast!"


    "Anti-matter railgun, keep flying!" Jack hollered, his fingers dancing across the navigators panel to paint a course through the dizzying array of chaos. "Aim for the tear in her side! Scanners already can''t snag us, they sure as stars won''t see us in there. Those fighters close in an'' we''re dead, they sport neutron beams. At least they did last time I was here." Sparks scattered from the belly and roof of the Gerthtrude as Lix threaded the gap in the much larger freighter''s belly, twirling the heavy vessel on her thrusters to kill her speed before she slammed into the oncoming inner bulkhead. The metal grew red hot from the burning engines, slagging before freezing just as fast in the absolute zero of space. The Spitfire joined them not moments later, both vessels running dark as the dreadnaught''s patrol circled the dense field like vultures. "Niiice, now we just wait for the heat to die down. They''ll poke an'' prod but as long as we avoid that space station, we''ll be alr-"


    "Jack what in the Great Scale was all that? What happened to the freaking sun, why is the debris field half a damn solar system?" Lix swiveled her pilot''s seat as Mo''Ona joined them on comms, his face just as tight and confused as the Kux''lar''s. "What the stars is an antimatter railgun? I though only engines could be antimatter. And the sun! There were¡­ these¡­ things around the sun an-"


    "Look just ignore all that, it''s council bullshit. We''re just here for par-"


    "They just shot a target the size of a briefcase from several planets away!"


    "And now they can''t even tell we''re here." Jack''s hands rose, palms out, trying to calm the lizard. Lix sighed, taking them both in her claws.


    "That''s not what really caught my eye though¡­ Jack is there something you aren''t telling me about this place?" That the man couldn''t look her in the eyes told the Kux''lar everything she needed to know.


    "Why ya makin'' a big deal outta this? We''re here, we''re in the Last Stop Staryard! Let''s let the heat die down and go shoppin'', yeah?" His smile was weak¡­ worried¡­


    "Jack¡­ what''s the Sevar Plantary Defense Corps?" The tension¡­ the fight¡­ left Geoffery ''Jack'' Morgan''s eyes, his half metal half flesh shoulders slumping. The moment he opened his mouth to protest he found the words dying on his lips, cast aside from Lix'' worried squeeze, her claws clenched around his hands and refusing to let go. Jack sighed, his head tilting as if was suddenly too heavy to hold upright. "It was plastered on the side of every ship we passed¡­ and it just happens to have the same name as your gun? Your cybernetics? What''s going on?"


    "Ya want to know? Ai''n''t gonna let it go?" Lix simply stood, silent as the void that surrounded them while she was pulled to the cockpit. Out in the distance, just barely visible through the tear in the freighter they were hiding in, passed the thick debris field and dreadnaught returning to its vigil beside a sun that seemed to be swarmed with¡­ something Lix couldn''t make out, was a planet Jack indicated with one curved metal finger.


    It was barren of atmosphere, its crust a distant landscape of ice¡­ and yet¡­ even from this great distance, without even using the viewport''s zoom function¡­ Lix could see the horrid gashes along her surface.


    "That''s¡­ that''s Sevar¡­ that''s uh¡­" His finger straightened, indicating the largest blemish upon the frozen planet''s surface.


    "Jack?"


    This would be when old Jack lied through his teeth. This would be when the old Jack redirected, discarded the worry, focused on the goal at hand¡­ But Lix?


    It was getting impossible to lie to Lix¡­


    Damn her¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    ¡­


    "That''s home."

 The Truth in Lies

    "That''s¡­ home?" Lix shook her head, eyes brimming with confusion, as she looked between Jack and the distant frozen planet. Pieces began to click into place¡­ Jack''s armor, his skills in command and combat, his strange bouts of temper¡­ his gear¡­ That stylized SA emblazoned on the grip of his revolver and hidden within his cybernetics burned in the Kux''lar''s mind, her sad eyes finally settling on that dead ball of ice still orbiting its strange sun. It was like a corpse drifting in a current. Yet another mystery was the truly mind-boggling debris field, this Last Stop Staryard. "I''m¡­ wait, hold on, I''m so confused¡­ what is this place, Jack? What''s Sevar? What''s wrong with the sun? Why is this debris field so damn massive? Wha-" Her claws reached up to rub at her temples just behind her tympanum, desperately trying to chase away the growing headache stabbing between her eyes. Jack sighed, dropping himself in the Gerthtrude''s navigator seat with a heavy thump.


    "It be exactly what I said, that''s home. The city I was born in was¡­ somewhere in that big ol'' scar." He waved a dismissive hand at his former home planet, scoffing at the ball of frigid ice. "And this field is where the council kicked our asses¡­ All Sevar and council tech, all for the taking, none of the rest of this matte-"


    "It does matter."


    "Lix, come on¡­" Jack leaned forward with a sudden heat, resting his metal elbows on his knees. "Knowin'' this shit ai''n''t safe."


    "Fuck off, Jack. I''m a ''Roid Racer, I don''t exactly have the safest career path." Lashing her tail, Lix hissed almost baring her fangs. "No wonder you just knew all about this place¡­ a-and how to access the dead flinger¡­ so¡­ so were you part of¡­" The reptile''s gaze drifted back out the viewport, back to the expansive sea of drifting destruction slowly swirling outside of their hiding place. "Part of all that?"


    Jack said nothing for several moments, his breathing deep and measured. He didn''t even acknowledge when the lift beeped, drifting down out of sight. It seemed Mo''Ona was joining them, though he''d never left comms. Tentatively, almost scared, the little Hux padded onto the bridge with his eyes locked on the still silent Human.


    "Fighters¡­ freighters¡­ ''Dis place ai''n''t no dumpin'' groun'' for the council¡­ that''s a dead fleet out theres." The silence stretched, Jack smirking as the Hux reached a trembling paw into his suit to retrieve a can of beer he''d snagged on the way up. "Skrunkles¡­ had a feelin''¡­" Gingerly, Jack took the proffered booze, snapping the tab open with such violence that drops of alcohol splattered the deck.


    Gulp¡­ Gulp¡­ Gulp¡­ Gulp¡­


    Lix watched as Jack downed the can in one long pull, errant little rivers of beer running down his undulating throat¡­


    "That¡­" Jack finally mumbled as he slowly got his breath back, tossing the can at a nearby trash receptacle. "Is the last stand of the Sevar Planetary Defense Force after we told the council to go fuck themselves. So when we wouldn''t negotiate¡­ they sent in fleets to attack, blockade, and¡­ well, for a while it looked like we were gonna be just fine¡­ They couldn''t hit the planets." Jack''s hand waved aimlessly, indicating the lifeless balls of rock drifting about the system.


    "Hold on, the council attacked an entire system? Why in the stars would they do that?" Skrunkles nodded along with Lix'' question, his tail still held between his paws.


    "We¡­ Sevrans were a uh¡­ industrious folk. Always pushin'' the boundaries of tech and mechanics. If''n ya couldn''t sling a wrench or program or fight¡­ ya usually ended up slave labor. Most everyone could do somethin'' of all three, or at least two. Ya social status was dictated by what ya could do and competition was somethin'' nasty." Restless energy filled the man, his foot tapping a rapid beat upon the deck before he stood to pace the bridge. "We figured out somethin'' pretty groundbreakin'' at the time¡­ somethin'' good enough to spread to the whole system." Stopping, Jack stared wistfully at the distant star, its light intermittent and dim. "We figured out how to make and harvest antimatter like fuckin'' wheat."


    That brought up the company short. Antimatter was something the council had recently announced they''d discovered, an entire galactic news piece had been aired just to gloat and let scientists not on the council''s inner circle ask their twenty questions. It had sent the myriad corporations into an uproar, the research and development department of the galaxy''s governing body was meant to further discovered tech, not invent new ones¡­ But alas, as usual, the council simply grinned down its nose and thumbed away the minor infraction.


    "Ya''ll know antimatter is a fickle little fucker, yeah?" Jack began to pace, gestating with his hands. "It meets matter as we know it an'' decides, aw fuck, I don''t wanna be seen with this shit, and annihilates itself. That be where ya get the big fuck off energy release, tracking?" Lix and Skrunkles nodded their heads, silent as they followed the Human''s circular laps around the bridge. Antimatter existing was common knowledge, how it worked was¡­ less frequently known. "So yeah, that energy be a whole freighter load. Problem bein'' storin'' and transportin'' the stuff. Well¡­ we Sevarians made a system of utilizing orbitin'' satellites an'' carefully controlled refinery stations." His pacing stopped, a metal finger pointing at the distant sun. Lix could now see the strange anomaly that caused the star to look so strange was in fact a dizzying cloud of satellites buzzing about the sun like flies on a corpse. Lines and lines of ships ran to and from the massive nearby station, the entire operation overseen by the many carriers and frigates drifting silently close by. "A dyson swarm of sats collect the antimatter produced by the star in vertical cells for collection and storage in vacuumed, zero gravity canisters an'' kept in as near void as possible, upright towards any gravitational pull." Now the Human was getting excited, his pacing growing in speed. "It threw our whole system for a loop! By utilizin'' planets, or much much better, stars, we could be collectin'' an'' harvestin'' positrons, er¡­ antimatter, like a friggin crop!" Lix whistled at that¡­ the mere idea of a system of people discovering and harvesting a fuel via stars? Then her wonder turned to fear¡­ a single people¡­ one she''d never heard of¡­


    "That¡­ sounds like something the council and table of corporations wouldn''t approve of in the slightest. Were the Sevarians member species of a conglomerate or mega-corp?" Jack''s face fell, not into sorrow, but into an angry sneer.


    "Nah¡­ we were an insular people. We had Sevar and the planets in this system. Sure, there were traders and explorers that would come to this lonely little dot on the star charts but¡­ we done been graced with several rocky planets brimmin'' with natural resources and food that let us focus on our cultural draw, mechanics and technology. Until the council came knockin'' an'' offerin'' us an eye boilin'' sum of Roarks for the antimatter tech." The mood turned sour; all one needed to do was look out the viewport to see the result of the council''s offer. "Even was gonna let us in as members of the Whisper Box bankin'' conglomerate if''n we gave ''em the tech they wanted. We told ''em to shove off, we was gonna patent it through several lesser bankin'' entities an'' sell the tech ourselves. Our leaders saw us as the next fuel empire¡­"


    "Dat''s not something the council lets slides." Skrunkles sighed, shaking his head. "Shoulda took da deal."


    "Yeah¡­ maybe¡­ We tried to jump ahead of the council by prepping ourselves for total war. Every home, every manufacturin'' plant, every bit o'' infrastructure on the home planet an'' our colonies were refurbed for scorched earth tactics. Those that refused were¡­ forced or executed¡­ Weren''t a popular decision. Not a few days later the flinger was seized by the council. Communications went first, couldn''t broadcast nothin'' about them just takin'' our solar system. They told the galaxy our sun was collapsin'' due to outlawed tech or some such." Lix joined her Human, wrapping her claws around his cold metal arm in support.


    "And you fought back."


    "And we fought back." Jack whispered, gazing out at the destroyed fleet. "We were holdin'' our own at first. Planetary defenses kept their fleets fightin'' us outside o'' orbit. Factories pumped out drone after drone after drone that carriers took to orbit an''¡­"


    Hesitation¡­


    Perhaps¡­ regret?


    "An'' we took steps to give our pilots and boarders the best possible chance in¡­ in fightin''¡­" Lix reluctantly released his arm as he rose the metal hand to his face, his hard eyes staring through the alloy at a past that no longer existed¡­ at a home frozen¡­ "If''n ya space walked over ta any one o'' them fighters out there you''d find a corpse and a control panel that''s just two sockets. Ta fight in orbit an'' attack the council fleets¡­ we done¡­ we took some liberties wit''¡­ ourselves. These¡­ these cybernetics would allow us to jack into Sevar ships and pilot as fast an'' responsive as our brains could handle. They served as weapons platforms too¡­ That''s what they called us¡­ Jacks¡­"


    Lix remembered how the torch she''d begged him not to use slotted so seamlessly against his forearm¡­


    "But¡­ hold on¡­ you said you lost them in a shop¡­ while working on a shuttle you said the jacks gave out?"


    "Lied¡­ very very few shops an'' maintenance bays still enable gravity. That''s why all of ''em are on the edge of the rings at Koorka. There were a kernel of truth though¡­ I did lose ''em to Jacks¡­"


    "But I just thought¡­ you''d lost them in a different shop¡­ ugh, never mind¡­ so the Sevarians made themselves these¡­ commandos with cybernetics and whatnot." Lix ignored the growing frustration building in her bosom. How many times had her Human lied or bent the truth?


    "Yeah," Jack sighed heavily. "We were good an'' always let the drone swarms soften up targets. That combined wit'' our planetary defense cannons¡­ we were holdin'' them back. We knew it wouldn''t last, they had the flinger and time. We''d transitioned our food source to three-dee printed proteins and hydroponics but we was runnin'' out fast. An''¡­ gettin'' sick of the lab meat¡­"


    "Was thats the final nails? Resources?" Skrunkles hopped into the navigator''s chair, his little paws kicking.


    "Nope. It was betrayal¡­ once we started killin'' off everyone who wasn''t all in on Sevar sovereignty the opposin'' voices wen'' quiet. It¡­ that nearly broke us¡­ killin'' our own people jus'' to stave off the council¡­ but it was that or surrender to the council. An'' they did¡­ as we expected. We jus'' never thought they''d have someone at the head of Sevar authority doin'' it too. Someon'' sold the council our tech an'' they did that." Anger once again spiked the man''s words as he pointed a trembling finger at the distant sun. "They stole our star and used every asset to defend the swarm. Once it was in place we done threw everything we had at breakin'' their blockade or gettin'' an ambassador through the flinger. This¡­" Jack spread his hands at the carnage that lie outside their little hidey hole, the drifting wrecks impassive and uncaring. "This is what came o'' that. Without the star¡­ all covered up like that¡­ Sevar froze¡­ they waited until we all froze ta death. Losin'' your star, it does fuckin'' horrid things to a planet. It was like the ground was comin'' apart."


    Once more, Lix found herself pressing up against Jack''s side, and to her relief she found a mechanical arm accepting the embrace.


    "Who¡­ who sold you out?" Her voice was tentative¡­ gentle¡­


    "Ha! Oh, you know the bitch. She got a cozy gig raking in more Roarks than she knows what to do with and everyone loves her traitor ass¡­" Silence weighed the next few moments like a heavy blanket. It seemed almost painful for Jack to admit¡­ "Glorious Angela¡­ y''all''s ''Roid Racing League announcer sits on the biggest ship made with our tech in return to for her part in snaggin'' the council Sevarian antimatter systems. I went to see the Racer''s Heart engine bay¡­ they had an observation platform an'' everything, gloatin'' to the fuckin'' dead. That thing was Sevar make in all but who built it¡­ bastards¡­"


    The puzzle was becoming less and less foggy for Lix, piece by piece the bigger picture came into view¡­ Jack''s all-to-eager offer to join her crew, his outbursts and training, his skill as a mechanic and technician¡­ the way he''d glared at Glorious Angela during their trip to the Racer''s Heart. Had she known? Had she known the man staring daggers into her soul was one of her own people? Surely she knew¡­ she knew and just stood there smiling. Lix squeezed herself to Jack''s side¡­ the entire situation was a mess¡­ if it were her species, would she have done the same? Would she have put all her dice in her own corner even when dissenters were being given the bullet¡­ or would she have looked at the leviathan threat of the council and caved as Angela had? She''d been right there¡­ the one responsible for the fall of the Sevarians and Lix had no idea¡­ That hardly was the pervading thought in the Kux''lar''s skull though¡­


    "Why didn''t you just¡­ tell me? Why all the cloak and dagger¡­ why try to hide it?" Lix pulled on Jack''s arm until the man reluctantly looked into her slit reptilian eyes. Just as she hoped, the fight fell away the moment they locked gazes.


    "It weren''t safe. The council hunt survivin'' Sevarians at the first sight to either put us down or make us work. They done wiped out our history, fixed up everything so much as a text that had our name on it came up blank. They erased us like we were never there, said our system blew from a star¡­ an'' just waited¡­ Time did the rest, ''sides when I first met ya I didn''t know if I could trust ya." That was true¡­ but not the point.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "And after?"


    "After¡­ what?"


    "After we became this? You can''t say it didn''t come up." Jack winced, pulling the Kux''lar to his side as Mo''Ona tactfully hopped down for the lift.


    "I''ll make us somethin'' to eat." The Hux chuckled nervously as he beat a retreat. Lix nodded thankfully, surprised the little guy was showing even a modicum of understanding.


    "It ai''n''t that easy, Lix. What, I say I know a place ta get ya parts an'' it just so happens to be my old home after the council stole our tech and wiped us out? Not like we were the good guys either¡­ killin'' off our own like that." Lix huffed, snarling and gnashing her fangs at his dismissal. Confusion killed her thoughts as she wrestled for what she was trying to say.


    "Gnah! I mean¡­ what I''m tryin'' to ask is¡­ were just using me to get at the ''Roid Racing League? Did you see an in for¡­ I dunno¡­ somehow getting back at Angela?" The truth of the matter spilled forth like water from a clogged drain as Lix settled on what had truly been bothering her. Jack wasn''t some restless soul looking for the next big thrill, or at least that wasn''t main driving force behind his actions. No, Lix was worried about something more personal¡­ "Jack, did you use me?"


    "Yes¡­"


    The admission was quick, nearly silent, and leaden with regret.


    "At first¡­ yeah, I did. I saw an overeager lizard up to her scaly neck in trouble an''¡­ yeah, I used our trip to the Racer''s Heart to get a look at the ship an'' start plannin''."


    "And¡­" Lix choked back a growl, her eyes glowing with heat. "And now? Was any of¡­ this¡­ real or just an act?"


    Jack looked down¡­ smiling sad and small¡­


    "Now I see my Kux''lar¡­ ya corruptin'' me¡­ scaly lady¡­ it weren''t real at first but¡­ ya done sank ya fangs in now."


    "Gnaaahhh¡­ I''m supposed to be upset with you¡­ and I am¡­ but that saved you from sleeping in the cargo bay¡­" Lix licked Jack''s cheek, the anger fading from her eyes and replaced by hurt. "I need¡­ I need to go think for a bit¡­ can I steal your cabi-"


    "Our cabin." Jack interrupted with a gentle but firm bark. "Our cabin, an'' yeah. It''s all yours¡­ feel free to rummage but uh¡­ the crate with my armor is heavy as shit. I''ll uh¡­" His smile wavered, worry that he''d finally fucked up like he had with Lily spiking his barely warmed heart. "I''ll keep an'' eye on our vulture patrol, yeah?"


    "Yeah¡­ you''re still my Human, Jack. I just¡­ need a second to catch my breath."


    "Sure, sure¡­" Lix let her claws gently drag on his arm as she left, wrenching her arm back to maintain the contact as long as she could. Jack didn''t look back, heavily plopping himself in the Gerthtrude''s pilot seat and pulling the command console over his lap to lock him in. A side panel opened to produce a warm beer he''d stashed for rainy days.


    And today''s forecast had suddenly turned gray.


    ***


    Lix hadn''t wanted to abandon Jack on the bridge, his only view that of his fallen brethren in what had quickly become not a salvage yard but a mass grave. However, she didn''t quite trust her own head at the moment, her thoughts a jumble of confusion and warring emotions. They hadn''t been hiding in this dead freighter for even an hour but Jack''s revelations both explained so much and left the Kux''lar reeling with new questions. How had Jack survived? What had been his role in the Sevarian government? Had he been a rank-and-file soldier or technician or¡­ had he been part of the decision to execute those who didn''t fall in line with going against the council? What if the council found out she had a Sevarian on the crew? Was that why he had stopped her registering him with his real name on the Racer''s Heart? Wouldn''t his picture alert¡­ someone? Did having Jack anywhere near the No Safety Measures jeopardize her entire racing career?


    The more she thought about it, the less stable and wise it seemed to have Jack on her crew¡­ but at the same time, he''d been ground zero in front of Glorious Angela and¡­ nothing had happened. By the stars, if it weren''t for Jack, she wouldn''t have gotten as far as she had. Nor learned as much as she had¡­ or¡­ or¡­


    Had delicious noodles¡­


    Nearly froze in a craze filled attack on a port to get the Gerthtrude back¡­


    Would never have seen the Vents or the open-air markets built into a corridor boiling with people and smells and life¡­


    She wouldn''t have lived through a dog fight with Tors or made it to actually race in the final preliminary¡­


    She wouldn''t have learned to shoot¡­ or¡­ or¡­


    The memory of Jack''s hands upon her scales and his warm breath washing over her jawline whilst they tumbled listlessly through space¡­ their celebration after they''d placed in the preliminary¡­ that glorious release with her held so tight against his chest she could hardly move. That torturous teasing session beforehand that made her see stars¡­


    The way his smile had started so empty but now¡­ now that crooked grin felt warm and genuine¡­


    Was Jack fucked up? Yes, sure¡­ many people were. Was he malicious? Sometimes¡­ but never to her¡­ His eyes had looked so worried when she''d told him she needed to think¡­ that she needed¡­


    "Oh, by the Stars, Lix! You told your mate you needed space." Her paw slapped up to her forehead in a resounding clap that reverberated through the galley. Her deep wonderings and wanderings had brought her to the end of the second deck hallway, Skrunkles looking at her bemusedly through whiskers covered in chunks of Meelk at the table. Lix simply growled at him before he pushed over a portion for the Kux''lar, his grin never dying even as she crossed her arms. Yet, sidle into the opposite bench she did anyway.


    "Mans troubles?"


    "Oh no. No no no, I''m not getting relationship advice from you." Nonetheless, Lix tore into her meal like only a predator can. Mo''Ona simply shrugged, returning to nibbling away at lightspeed his own portion.


    "Suits yourselfs. Mo''Ona got lots of experience with doin'' da wrong ''tings.


    MONCH MONCH MONCH


    "Oh yeah? I doubt you''ve had to deal with that." Her tail pointed to the roof, at the Human sitting above them blissfully unaware of their conversation. "I''ve only ever seen you chase easy tail or guys."


    "Thats cause Mo''Ona bad ats romances but goods at bein'' a sluts. Buts I''s know yous and Jack gots a good ''ting goin''. Yeah yeah," He took a moment to fill his cheeks with Meelk, chewing through his words. "Thatsh jus'' me talkinsh¡­ mph¡­" A loud swallow followed by a sleazy wink nearly sent Lix retching. "Everybodys got skeletons in ''dey closets. Really likin'' someone thoughs? That real loot right theres." Finishing off his last bite, Mo''Ona tossed his tray noisily at the sink before leaving, his little paws scrabbling on the deck as he nearly faceplanted from the drop off his chair. "Ya scareds, don''t glare, ya are! But who cares! Galaxy is a dumpster we''s all tossed in an'' it''s on fires. We could alls die tomorrow, or¡­ heh, in an fews hours. Fuck ya fears, keep Jack." With that, the Hux scampered off, leaving Lix slightly peeved that Mo''Ona of all people had talked sense in her presence.


    Little rat was walking false advertisement.


    In retrospect, he was right, her misgivings, while some had merit, were ultimately pointless. Who cared about law when there were so many, and of those many were constantly in flux or changing, that you''d eventually end up legislated into being a criminal and not even know it? Why was she worrying over whether or not Jack was safe to have around when the whole galaxy wasn''t safe? Like she''d said earlier, she flew through asteroid fields! Forget him being from Sevar, if he hadn''t been caught yet then what was the worry? If he did, they''d deal with it. It was like her pops had always said; You''re a strong Kux''lar Lix, bring home lots of stories and eggs.


    "You got it Papa. Your little newt is gonna bring home the wildest story ever." The eggs would be a bit more difficult though¡­


    ***


    Jack wasn''t one for worry. It was a waste of time and effort, he always thought. Nor had he really any reason to worry most of the time¡­ That being said, Jack was worried. Lix''s words swirled in his head like locusts, his fear-


    Fear¡­


    Jack hitched a breath at the realization. He was scared of losing Lix.


    "This was why I didn''t tell ya, damnit." Jack growled to the empty bridge. "For fuck''s sake, like she wouldn''t have put two and two together. I shoulda looked somewhere else¡­ found a fuckin'' way." Regret wrestled with his anger and fear, leaving his mind a torn mess in its wake. Sure, there was a smorgasbord of parts and systems and weapons floating all around them for kilometer after kilometer and beyond. Legends were made about this place by the select few who remembered after all¡­ but none of that mattered if Lix cut him loose as a liability when they returned to Koorka. She''d be wise to do so, he decided. He''d just wanted to come home¡­ Now he''d put her at needless risk. Having a Sevarian on the crew painted an invisible target on her back that only the most powerful could see. Secrets and lies were the currency of the council, of business, of life in this fetid galaxy¡­ and she had a big one just sitting right next to her¡­


    Worse still was the view¡­


    That damned view.


    Jack couldn''t see a great swath of the carnage outside the tear in the freighter''s belly, but he could see enough. He could recognize Sevar ships and council ships and drones galore¡­ could hear the static and screams over the comms¡­ could feel his fighter shudder as he diverted power away from weapons to thrusters, ignoring the safety alarms blaring about overheating engines and drive bells. They''d lose ten or so drones, breach a council frigate''s defenses, and start hammering away at external weakpoints. Communications, thin armor junctions, bridges, escape pod vectors¡­ nothing was beyond reproach when swarming a council vessel. They''d hear the broadcast, watch as a few pods jettisoned or crashed into the destroyed evacuation tubes to cause even more damage¡­ watch as atmosphere vented and the ship broke apart¡­


    On to the next, his arms painfully slotted into the Sevar fighter''s control panel and his head pounding with a headache so fierce his flight suit administered liquid painkiller directly into his veins.


    They were faster than the council ships, more maneuverable, more responsive and quick¡­ But it just didn''t matter when there were so many. It seemed as if the council fleet blotted out the stars, each one picking at some planet or another only to be driven away by ground side planetary defense cannons. Each shot was costly, every one draining more and more resources and minerals from the planet they were stationed on. Each one a drain on Sevarian life¡­


    Jack knew¡­ they all knew¡­ the council just had more. More ships, more people, more hungry eyes looking at their antimatter tech and caring little for what they lost to gain it themselves. In a way, the disrespectful low ball offer for them to join a conglomerate owned by the council''s own bank had spurred the insular people into just the reaction the council had wanted. If they were smart, they''d have leveraged from the inside their power and affluence¡­ but no, Jack had no misgivings that wouldn''t have worked either. No¡­ as another fighter split apart in flames that were quickly snuffed out, Alaster''s ship if Jack remembered right, he knew they''d have ended up as nothing more than the council''s intelligent serfs.


    Was this any better though? Complete annihilation as a free people that killed its own as opposed to a vassal state?


    It was too late to ponder it, too late to negotiate, too late for peace.


    The Sevarian people would die here¡­ At the very least they could give the council something to remember them by, but it was a cold comfort when faced with all they''d sacrificed. By the stars, his own body had been placed upon a chopping block in the name of fighting off the council. It all seemed so pointless now, worthless in the face of slowly encroaching demise.


    Poetic perhaps, at least. He''d go to his grave knowing he had fought to the last and lie bleeding in his fighter. Or go out in a blaze of frozen vapor and drifting ship parts. That, at least, killed his despair a little, going down fighting against overwhelming odds. What guy didn''t dream of that at least once or twice when the lights were dim or on long shuttle flights? Unfortunately, when it came to the council¡­ that''s all he really had left.


    Fantasies¡­


    Jack jumped when a warm touch fell on his arm, his head snapping to glare at Lix before his eyes softened at her gentle smile.


    He''d never noticed she had a very tiny snaggletooth on the left side of her muzzle¡­


    "Just me." Whispers died on his lips as Lix climbed into his lap, curling into a scaly ball with her muzzle beneath his chin. It¡­ this¡­ was warm¡­ and real.


    "You''re not ma-"


    "Sh¡­ just sit there a second." Lix snuggled in, wiggling closer and closer to the man, as if she could steal the very source of his body heat. Worry and aches faded into background noise as her ear was filled with the steady thump of his heart, each beat filling her with a determination she didn''t understand. Not quite¡­ not yet. "Hm hm hm hmmm hm hm hm¡­. hmhmhmmm hm hm hm¡­ hm hm..."


    "Are you humming that damn Meelk song?"


    "Mhm." Jack sighed, his chest lifting the Kux''lar up and down in his exasperation.


    "Sorry I ran off like that." Lix whispered into his shirt collar.


    "S''okay¡­"


    "Mh. Not really, left ya worried and sweating. Just had to get my thoughts straight, is all. I''m¡­ upset that you didn''t feel you could trust me but at the same time I understand why you didn''t say anything." Lix pulled back just enough to grace the man with a single, reptilian eye. "And none of it¡­ well yes, it does matter. This place¡­" Her gaze turned to join his out the viewport. "It''s important. These were your people, your home¡­ I can see how you''d want to keep it under wraps. It''s¡­ dangerous, knowing this place exists."


    "Yeah¡­ it is."


    "And so is everywhere else, just different flavors. Some are easier to stomach and some are¡­" The Kux''lar waved a hand at the debris field. "Harder to swallow. But you''re here, I''m here¡­ if I can help you get some kind of closure out of this¡­ that makes me really happy. And I''ll be glad to have you by my side in the races." A wet sensation crawled across Jack''s chin as Lix licked him, the man squeezing the lizard to his chest so hard she squeaked. "There ya go, squeeeeze me tight. You were right, had you told me all this even halfway into¡­ um¡­ us¡­ I don''t know how I would have taken it. But now¡­ You''re my Human. You brought me to your home to help me realize my dreams¡­ Jack, I''d be honored to have Sevar tech on the No Safety Measures. I''d be honored to fly with a piece of your home on my ship."


    "Fuck, Lix¡­" Jack shook his head, willing the moisture in his eyes to dry before he embarrassed himself. "If¡­ if we get a shot at¡­ at Angela?"


    "She''s all yours. All of this? I still don''t know what to make of it, but if I''m shallow about the whole thing¡­ bitch hurt my Human."


    "You realize what you''re sayin'', right?"


    "No. Who gives a fuck? Galaxy is messed up, I don''t see it getting any better. As far as I''m concerned, aside from Papa, the Gerthtrude and No Safety Measures are my home. And my home has Jack in it." Lix straddled the man, shifting until she towered over him. "You''re mine, and I''m yours. My Human¡­ your Kux''lar¡­ isn''t going to happen any other way. Ground rules though, you lie to me again and I''m biting your balls. You gotta be truthful with your captain from now on, no exceptions. I''m not letting you get into a situation where you can get me wondering about your honesty again."


    "That so?" Jack let his hands roam Lix''s scales, slipping his fingers under the hoodie she''d stolen from him what felt like a lifetime ago. The reptile trilled, her killing claws flexing as she curled her paws and shuddered. Lix was naught more than putty in Jack''s hands, the man sculpting her into a needy, whining mess.


    "No, I''m disciplining you. After you straight up lied to me? I''m keeping my eye on you, jackass. You''re under a magnifying glass! I''m¡­ I-I''m putting my paw down¡­ Yes. Yes! Yes? Gnah, Jack¡­" Lix pressed herself into his touch, craving more, demanding more. It had been so long¡­ too long. "Fucking don''t you dare tease me again!" She huffed in his face with a hiss, her breath heated and fogged.


    "That so? Well, guess what?"


    "What? What! Jaaaaaack, please!" Her tail blurred behind her, smacking the control panel in her excitement. Growls and hisses grew in volume as Jack continued to explore her, making her hips twist and back arch and head loll. It was then that Lix remembered¡­


    Jack was inherently evil.


    "That patrol is gone. Let''s get out there and snag us some ship parts!"

 The Last Stop Staryard

    Were it possible for someone to angrily, perhaps grumpily, pilot a star ship then a photo of Lix would be the poster for such a heated movement. Her glare, hot enough to melt steel, stared ardently ahead as Jack snickered in the navigator''s seat. For his part, the man was doing a fantastic job of painting every bit of debris, derelict, and drifting hazard that his Kux''lar girlfriend was contemplating ramming into at full speed onto her control console''s display. Even Skrunkles couldn''t stop himself from snickering once Jack had regaled him with the tale, the little Hux trying his damnedest to avoid drawing the pilot''s ire towards him as he sat uselessly at the comms officer''s panel. That Lix continuously rubbed her thighs together only worsened her mood. It didn''t help, in fact, it made things so much worse. At this rate, she''d need to change her jumpsuit, Jack had riled her up something fierce. She was ready to go the extra mile, to ride that Slip ''N Slide all the way to the ramp and the base and launch into a lake and the fact that the Gerthtrude''s bridge was small enough she could still smell the Human was only making things all the harder. Normally she''d abscond for his cabin and take care of business with her tail, or better yet, drag the man into the shadows to finish what he started¡­ but no, Jack had chosen a place fraught with danger to get the Kux''lar all needy and bothered. There would be consequences¡­ hard and rough and sweaty and nipping consequences.


    Perhaps even full on biting, with teeth!


    "Head snrk, head on bearing two-two-four at a negative seventeen degree pitch." Jack bit his lip as he programed in a general direction for her to follow, the instructions wired directly into her command console screens. "I remember a decent sized patrol skirmish out in that sector, pretty deep in the debris, so we should be shielded from scans." His eyes twinkled with mirth as Lix continued to glare at him in the reflection of her instruments, her tail lashing in agitation.


    "Copy that." Fangs clenched, Lix rolled the Gerthtrude down and aside to slide through two mangled ships as the fat cargo freighter creeped from its hiding place. It was as if a smaller animal was crawling from the eviscerated belly of a much larger predator, the frigate they''d been hiding in masking them from the ever watchful eyes of the council fleet in the distance. The somber graveyard, as well as a passing council fighter marred by age and the unrepentant cold of the void, quelled much of Lix''s desire. Said fighter still held its pilot clutched tightly to its seat, an embrace of metal and cold, pilot and ship drifting for eternity. Visible through the cockpit, the dead Human floated limply in his harness as the Gerthtrude passed close enough that one could open the airlock and touch the punctured fuselage. As quickly as it had come, the jovial air about the bridge died to be replaced by a high tension focus. Jack and Mo''Ona cleared their throats as Lix adjusted in the her seat, the fire in her belly dying to a smoldering ember she could ignore.


    For now.


    "These fighters will have exactly what I need to get ya No Safety Measures up an'' runnin'' again. Not to mention all sorts o'' weapons."


    "What kind of stuff did you guys standard issue?" A dull scrape skittered across the Gerthtrude''s roof, the debris becoming more of an amorphous cloud. Jack ignored both it and the gnawing knowledge that he''d have to do so much repair painting when they returned.


    "Mostly laser, nice high-powered beams that cut right through armor an'' utilize integrated proton batteries to keep the power demand on your systems down." To accentuate his point, the mechanic pointed at another derelict council fighter, its insides visible through a clean burn that cut through her side like a chef prepping a fish. The edges of the metal had that telltale sloppy edge of high intensity heat. "Ya gonna have to charge em whenever you dock, but it be worth it."


    "Ngh¡­ Skrunkles'' head hurt¡­"


    "I like lasers over ballistics, no offense to railguns." Lix hissed as she rolled the Gerthtrude to avoid a troop carrier that still had weakly flickering lights, that stylized ''SA'' stark across her hull. Jack''s people lied inside, a tomb of steel and cold. "Also, lasers are cool."


    "Right, ''cause cool factor is what we''re lookin'' for here." Jack adjusted several vectors on Lix'' guidance. "As long as that fat carrier over there stays put we can gut an'' scrape whatever we want from these." Behind him, Skrunkles had to wipe the drool that was slowly dripping down his split muzzle. The Hux found his mandibles chittering, slipping from his gullet against his will as excitement grew. Oh, how he wanted to explore every silently drifting vessel for sweet, juicy salvage. "Would you stop droolin'' on my floor you mutant hybrid mishmash? You''re makin'' a mess, leakin'' like a-"


    "Horny Kux''lars?" The two men descended into muffled giggles once more, unperturbed by Lix'' angry reptilian bark.


    "I''m gonna space you two, I swear on my scales. We''re five hundred yards out but¡­ I can''t see jack through this debris field."


    "Good thing I''m right here then. Maintain headin'' at a slow burn, in fact, I''m goin'' to divert power from weapons to shields. Should push away some of the smaller trash." True to his word, the debris cloud grew in density until Lix was flying blind, using her instrument panel to follow Jack''s indicated course.


    "Ugh¡­ dropping the viewport shield, we''re just scratching up the cockpit like this." Darkness descended upon the crew as a hefty blast shield slowly covered their only view of the outside. Bits of metal crunched under the heavy slab of alloy, red running lights illuminating the now protected bridge. Within moments, a series of camera feeds lit the console in front of the Kux''lar''s muzzle, her eyes squinting before the harsh white light turned a gentle green. Each view had the angry, fat barrel of a PDC just below it, the bristling weapon systems primed and ready to rend apart the Gerthtrude''s enemies. The visibility wasn''t much better¡­ but it was an improvement. "Skrunks, take over PDC control and see what you can do. Lix, I''ve got eyes on our shield, I''ll let you know if anythin'' starts to poke at us a bit too hard."


    "Skrunks? Gehheeeeee, movin'' ups in da worlds. Got two nicknames nows!" Snickering through his whiskers, Mo''Ona used said fat cannons to gently bat away sheared bulkheads, drifting fuselage, and shattered cockpit glass. Each piece would have netted him a pretty Roark at the smelters, his soul dying a little with each discarded scrap, until he reminded himself he was here for the big score. "Hngh¡­ shoulds we scans? Get a bit of eyes arounds us?"


    "Nah," Jack waved the idea away. "Same interference that blinds the council fucks makes us blind too. ''Sides, pingin'' a scan might slip through an'' alert ''em if we''re unlucky."


    "Creepin'' it is! Skrunkles good ats creepin''." An alarm killed what little joking mood the crew may still have had, the klaxon quickly silenced as Lix worked the controls.


    "Yeesh, nasty radiation spike popping up on sensors, and we''ve got debris started to wedge into the directional thrusters. It''s like flying through a tangle hazard¡­" Gently rolling the control sphere in her paw, Lix killed all thrusters to pull the nose almost ninety degrees high. Were there any gravity to pull on her passengers, they''d have most likely burped a bubble of nausea. Reversing thrust, the ''Roid Racer pilot eased the fat vessel backwards out of the webbed mess of stray conduit and broken ship parts. It was like guiding a bus through a jumbled jigsaw puzzle, only every piece was a jagged sleeve of sharp metal.


    "We''s free! Twists port thirty degrees, dorsal thrusts at five percents. Threads us through the next stretch!" It was easy to forget Mo''Ona was, against all odds, a skilled pilot. In fact, that underestimation might be the very reason why he was so successful in his endeavors outside the cockpit. "Justs a little mores¡­ goods to go!"


    "One of the starboard thrusters is getting stuffed up. I''d blast that crap out if it didn''t shove us into more trash¡­" Claustrophobia wasn''t common among the Kux''lar, and Lix had never thought herself of having it, but when the Gerthtrude started to feel stuck? Perhaps she didn''t feel the tight constricting corridors upon her own scales but the Gerthtrude certainly did upon her hull. In turn, Lix felt herself fidgeting with her feet, her claws clacking over one another as nervous energy began to build in her thin chest. She didn''t much like feeling as if whatever she was piloting couldn''t move. "Gnah¡­ losing more thrust on the starboard quarter¡­"


    "Looks like I''ll have to go clear it. Skrunks, ya gotta pull double duty." The little Hux simply saluted, adding the ship''s shield array to his visual overlay. Jack was halfway to the lift when Lix stopped him with a hiss.


    "Oh no, did you forget about the radiation, monkey man?"


    "I''ll have my suit on, scaly lady. It was literally built for space walks, under fire no less!" His carefree grin didn''t ease the lizard''s worry. "I''ll keep an eye on my rad shielding, yeah? Toodles, captain." His boots slipped into the lift as he was rewarded with an angry hiss, Lix''s glare following him down until the tiny elevator took him away from her piercing sight. He''d pay for that¡­ still, it was true they probably needed a spacewalk. It wasn''t like she could clear the blockages by wiggling the ship, or the blast of simply turning on the thrust would be enough to jettison whatever was lodged in there. Skrunkles simply shook his head as he watched the Kux''lar follow her Human on the cameras, waiting until he was suited up in that creepy armor before tapping the comms with a single tiny rat claw.


    "Okays, linking Jack''s unit to the ship¡­ comms are greens."


    "Jack? This is the Gerthtrude, how copy?" A grumpy hiss was still audible in her voice, but the edge was blunted.


    "Muffled but readable. I only had time to fix up the armor, I think my comms got jiggled aroun'' a bit."


    "Well un-jiggle it you dumb¡­ thick necked¡­ banana eater."


    "Heeeey, you''re gettin'' there ya dusty, dull scaled blank eyed lizard." Jack''s pitying praise did little to sooth the Kux''lar''s ire as he made final preparations in the cargo bay. His zero-g canister was filled, his oxygen cool and refreshing, and his black on red paint job free from blemish once more after the careful application of a brush. The only real addition he needed to add was a magnetic tether, one that slotted nicely onto his external gear belt. Jack flipped the wide disk around and secured the magnet to his own armor with a dull clunk. It would serve as his lifeline, should the worst happen and he lose grip on his freighter.


    The airlock klaxon, dulled by his helmet, was a familiar sound, as was the weightless pull stopped short by his mag-boots as gravity left him. Now that he was separated, his expression hidden inside his helmet, he let the cocky grin and energetic facade fall away. Soon, it was replaced with a tightly wound tension¡­ a fatigue¡­ A part of him didn''t want to go out there, a part of him wanted to return to the bridge and make little Mo''Ona take up the torch¡­ but no, salvager he may be, this was his home. He wasn''t going to run from the dead fingers clutching at the edges of his bones. He''d felt the call of his specter kin when he''d made the short walk to the Keelhauler hangar bay, that faithful jump made worse by Tik''Tik clinging to his leg¡­ Now here he was once more, braving the vacuum in his old armor¡­


    In this dead stretch of space¡­


    Jack had held it together in front of the crew. Now his face hardened.


    In anger¡­ in exhaustion¡­ in grief. Whatever his people had become in the end, they were still his people. He had lain upon a cold table and let saws and scalpels cut away the flesh and bone he''d been born with and replaced them with painful, if powerful, cybernetics. He had fought side by side with those who wanted to see their home be more than just a slave state, a well pampered vassal for the council. Jack had shared those dreams, shared in the lofty vision of Sevar as an economic powerhouse instead of just another division of the Whisper Box and its million banks.


    "Hey fellahs¡­ been a minute." Quickly, Jack slapped home his tether as melancholy dragged him away from the ship, the airlock slowly easing shut to truly drown him in the sensation of¡­ of¡­ what was he feeling? Jack didn''t know¡­ he searched his own head as he drifted between two melted slabs of a destroyed Sevar fighter larger than his body by half. Gently, he reached out with one hand while tugging on his tether, bringing his face to a clean stop just before the faded SPDF. It was as if his hand, the cybernetics exposed to the cold of deep space and safe within its protective alloy casing, was weighed down by an engine block. Slowly, he traced what he could of those familiar letters, imaging the rest as he scratched the burnt fuselage. Sevar Planetary Defense Force¡­ To think he''d been so proud when he got his wings and implants he''d almost had gotten a tattoo¡­ That would have been disastrous in the long run. Not that it mattered, Sevar was an erased memory, and those remaining few dared not breathe a word of their origins.


    The council''s hunt squads were no joke, their implants and gear top of the line and constantly updated. Most even had brain software that uploaded the latest and greatest tactics directly into their neural network, no need for long weeks of training to master a skill. Jack had only ever tussled with said teams once and barely escaped to tell about it. Or¡­ not, as it were. These were the very same men that had made up the team that whisked away Angela after her defection, intel and all, without so much as a trace of their passing. Council boogeymen, through and through, plaguing the nightmares of every surviving Sevarian.


    "Jack? All good out there? I don''t like you in that radiation, hurry up and clear the thrusters."


    Lix''s voice snapped the man from the mental cage he''d erected around his sanity, the man forced to physically shake his head to banish the creeping dread. With one last look to the destroyed section of ship, he gripped his tether tight and pulled.


    "Yup, just makin'' sure I do this shit right. Rather waste five minutes than forget somethin'' and drift off into the void."


    "Ugh, everything out there wants to kill my Human. Speed it up, or you''re painting my claws when we get back to Koorka Station."


    "You paint your claws?" Jack''s boots landed firmly back on the Gerthtrude''s hull with a satisfying, and relieving, thunk. Now came the annoying part, leap frogging said tether every few steps or so. It wasn''t that he had to just¡­ protocol was so ingrained that he found himself following the safety rules of his mechanic certification course as if it were a second way to breathe. Three points of contact at all times, set tether, test tether, move forward, and repeat. It was like an inchworm tyring to run a mile, all effort and very little progress. However¡­ As Jack pushed away another fridge sized slab of alloy, this one trailing broken cables and wires, he saw the wisdom in it. At least here, surrounded by snag hazards and debris so thick it clawed at his suit, the tether was a literal lifeline that would save him should he get snagged.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    "Lots of interference¡­ but I think that radiation is coming from the route you plotted." A grumble, familiar and reptilian, slithered across the comms as Lix did as she did, worry and hiss.


    "Probably a reactor breach of a bigger frigate or so, we used ''em as carriers sometimes. They used different engines from us lowly cargo freighters and shuttles." Grunting, Jack rounded the final bend to the starboard quarter, his eyes fixed on the affected thruster. A broken cable wound around the nozzle ending in a fat wad of melted metal. Instead of getting blasted out to some unknown sector of space, the cable had gotten caught around the drive bell to swing the unsightly ball around and back into the thruster itself. A lot like those stupid cup and ball games Humanity had brought from earth. "Little fuckin''¡­ I see the problem, standby."


    "Skrunkles will sit. Gerthy''s seats much more comfortable than Spitfire''s."


    "If I find even one bug on my ship, it''s your ass, Skrunks."


    "Don''t threaten Skrunkles with a good times." Jack could only scoff in disgust as he yanked on the offending cable, sending the mass sailing off into the distance to bounce off larger debris like an intergalactic pin ball. "Aight, y''all should have a green thruster."


    "Make distance and I''ll test it, or you''ll follow that ball of metal. I like my Human alive and in the ship where I can nip him." Lix flipped between her cameras, carefully tracking Jack''s progress before releasing two quick bursts of power from the previously clogged nozzle. "We are good! Get your ass back in here before you can only give me girl babies."


    "I¡­ uh, don''t think I can give you eggs?" Jack mumbled as he started the slow journey back to the airlock. A message ping lit in his helmet visor, a simple picture from Lix. The contents made his stomach drop, the blood draining from his face as real terror took him. There¡­ upon his cot¡­ was a perfectly oval egg, red in color just like Lix''s scales. The blankets had been bunched up around the little oval and a pillow propped to ensure it didn''t roll.


    "That should give you some incentive to get us home safe, Papa." Jack could only answer with choked gurgles, his fingers limp around his tether before Lix began to giggle. Her muzzle, scrunched with effort, stared back at Jack through their comms link with sparkling eyes. "You should see your face."


    "That''s¡­ what''s so funny? Oh stars, when did you lay? Why didn''t you leave at the Stripped Bolt?! Fuck, does that mean it needs like¡­ care an'' shit? What do we do?"


    "Jack, Jack calm down!" The Kux''lar, and now Hux, couldn''t hold their laughter any longer. "It''s unfertilized you dolt, I laid it a few days ago. Only thing it''s good for is an omelette."


    "Fuckin'' Hell Lix, ya shaved a year of my lifespan!" Jack eyed the picture once more. "You¡­ eat ''em?"


    "Good protein. Better than tossing the thing, though it''s not as healthy for the Kux''lar that laid it. You can make some okay scratch selling your unferts on the market."


    "That''s fucked up." Jack, the journey to the airlock complete, simply held tight to the entry latch. "That''s real fucked up."


    "That''s just how we Kux''lar do things. I''ll make it for ya when we get back! Papa taught me how to fry ''em good."


    "I guess I deserved that. Now let''s get a move on before I lose my actual mind." Jack slapped his tether onto the airlock hatch, opting to just hang on for the ride. His heart still hadn''t come down from its frantic pace. "Cruel ass walkin'' handbag. Un-tanned leather belt¡­"


    "Yeah yeah, now get in here!"


    "I''ll hang on out here, might need to clear another blockage." Jack idly pushed aside an entire collum of ship trash. "We''ll be gettin'' there soon anyway, already used the Gerthtrude''s nav computer to calculate the drift the debris cloud would have wandered over the last few years. Should be tons o'' good picks. Skrunks, you keep an eye out too."


    "Oh, Skrunks is verys keeping eyes out."


    "Calm down you insatiable thing." Lix teased, her fangs glistening in the low light of the cabin. "So¡­ how many times have you come out here Jack? Is this why the Stripped Bolt has so many parts?"


    "I''ve been out here a few times, three before this trip. An'' no, I use business practices to get my stock. Too risky to wander out here for a resupply."


    Once again, and to his displeasure, the line went quiet as Lix focused on simply flying. Of course, Jack didn''t blame her. Navigating the thick cloud of metal and plastic had to be taxing, though he''d have liked to have something to distract him from the drifting dead SPDF fighters. These were simply too damaged, scouts most likely, and might have what he needed but¡­ better to make the trip out to real salvage. Besides, he could already see most had destroyed, or pillaged, weapon systems. Most would be in the hands of some council goon or as a trophy, but they weren''t the first team to slip past the antimatter refinery''s ever watchful eyes. The Last Stop Staryard was infamous for a reason, Hell, just making it here and taking a trophy back was enough to earn yourself a legend. It was the only reason Sevar hadn''t been completely forgotten, but the stories were few and dreadfully far in between. Most who sneaked in just wanted salvage, not history.


    Not that anyone would believe them¡­


    A part of him wanted to turn the Gerthtrude homeward¡­ to return and stand in the devastation of his people and let their ashes cover his boots¡­ or to fly her directly into the heart of that damned station and piledrive the fat freighter right into the most populated hab. Alas, he''d never make it halfway to either destination before swarms of nimble council fighters melted him, and the crew, inside the Gerthtrude''s bridge.


    "Skrunkles sees big cluster of readings aheads. All sorts of stuffs¡­. radiations too, not too bads¡­"


    "That''ll be it. I ''member relatively where that little spat used to be. Just took a lil'' math at the nav computer to calculate where it might end up."


    On the bridge, Lix found her eyes widening as the debris field thinned just enough to see a smattering of both council and SPDF fighters drifting together in a deep orbit around the distant sun. It was as if two vipers had latched onto each other, dying in the enemy''s coils as venom played havoc on their insides. Corpses of pilots long dead and preserved by the absolute cold sat still in their cockpits, their eyes hidden behind flight helmets or darkened viewports. No doubt about it, this was a graveyard through and through. Swallowing her sudden trepidation, Lix angled the Gerthtrude towards the tangle of death and metal, her tail lashing in the hole Jack had cut for her.


    "Want Skrunkles to go too?"


    "Huh? Bwah?" Talons clacked over each other as the Kux''lar nervously ran her feet together, her killing claws flexing as the sudden voice shattered the tension in her chest.


    "That''s¡­ yes, please¡­"


    "Ha! Skrunkles can smell ya worry from heres! Don''t worries, salvagin'' is my forte! I''ll keeps your mans safe." Lix didn''t even have time to pin the little rat with a glare before he was down the lift. Nonetheless, she was grateful for his help. If Jack wouldn''t get his dumb ass into the ship, then at least he wasn''t alone outside.


    Mo''Ona, for his part, found himself with no shortage of enthusiasm. The Hux was still shucking on his suit he''d brought over from the Spitfire still latched to the Gerthtrude''s side. Excitedly panting, he sealed the zipper only when he was in the airlock, Jack raising an eye at him from outside. He had paused only to slip an empty duffel bag sporting a hardy zipper around his shoulders. It took him to stand on the tips of his paws to reach the latch, bouncing happily as the hatch swung outward after a quick depressurization cycle.


    "You seem hap- ack!" Jack raised his hands as Mo''Ona scrabbled across the outside of the airlock, his little paws grabbing onto his own suit before the Hux settled in at his back. "Oi."


    "Skrunkles is backpack. And keeping eyes on Jacks. Lix looked ready to bites little olds meeee¡­" Little paws tippy tapped on Jack''s shoulder as the field of derelict fighters and shuttles finally came into view, his whipcord tail wagging inside the sleeve of his suit. "Oh, oh, looks! Looks looks! Ahhhh, theys in such good conditions!"


    "Yeah," Jack reached up to adjust the trembling rat. "Council likes to use neutron weaponry in their fast squadrons. Ballistic and missiles clean up the rest. Most here though¡­ you''ll just find empty ships."


    "Empty ships wit'' loots! Ah¡­ aha¡­" The bouncing rat''s exuberance died as he noticed Jack''s blank stare ahead. It was a cold look, one that gazed through the silent vessels and beyond to something only the Human could see. "Should we''s¡­ stay outta the cockpits?" Sighing, Jack shook his head, ensuring Mo''Ona had a good hold on his neck.


    "Hang on tight, lil'' guy. We''re gonna have to space walk. Lix, I''ll hop over on your word. I know what I''m looking for. Don''t forget to take a gander at their hardpoints, everythin'' out here will fit on the No Safety Measures."


    "Oooh, you know what a girl likes."


    "And Huxes!" Mo''Ona wrapped his arms tightly around Jack''s covered neck, even though his own tether was attached to the man''s belt. Even still, he couldn''t keep his eyes off the smattering of ships. It had been obvious that once upon a time the cloud had been much more dispersed, as upwards of several to hundreds of kilometers could span the gap between two warring ships in a space battle. Time, gravity, and perhaps even a council tug or two, had bunched them together. With a huff, Jack kicked away from the Gerthtrude and out into the tightly packed field. It made sailing through the debris a breeze, their progress hindered only when Jack had to push away an errant slab of metal or two. Behind him trailed a thick steel spool still connected to the slowly motoring Gerthtrude, Lix sliding the fat cargo freighter into a holding pattern not too far away as Jack touched down on the first intact SPDF fighter.


    It was like stepping back in time as he thumbed the airlock''s manual release, his hands moving on autopilot to slip into the derelict craft. Skrunkles immediately disengaged from his back to explore, but Jack¡­ Jack stood rooted in place as not even a gust of air slipped out of the ship''s innards. There wasn''t much to it; to the right was the engine bay, a tight little affair, and to the left¡­ the cockpit. The walkway was narrow and gunmetal gray, leaving the single seat surrounded by panels and switches in such a small space one would have to swivel the chair around just to sit down. It wasn''t much¡­ just a fighter after all¡­ Jack didn''t know what he''d hoped to see, what he thought he might find.


    The inevitable is what greeted him.


    Still latched into her pilot''s seat, a woman with identical cybernetic implants sat with her mechanical arms slotted into receptacles built into the ship''s control console. Most of the switches were flipped to divert power to the engines and weapons. Life support, interior lights, even power to the communications panel had been redirected to more important purposes. Shaking, Jack turned the seat just enough to gaze into the frosted over helmet¡­ at the woman within¡­ from her eyes ran twin crystalized lines of blood.


    A. Arlington¡­ her chest plate said.


    "Ya did good sister¡­ lot''s o'' council wrecks out there." With one final pat to the dead Sevarian''s shoulder, Jack knelt and began to pop free frozen bolts in the deck with a multitool he''d slipped into his gear belt. One by one they drifted along the cabin only to be snatched by Mo''Ona''s reaching paws. Already his duffle bag full of components, parts, fasteners, and errant piping he''d uninstalled faster than Jack could have thought possible.


    "Oh! Goin'' fors the coolant-fuel regulator?" The little Hux squatted with a pair of jury-rigged tools that disassembled the floor panels even faster than Jack''s professional power spanner. Within minutes, the duo had a trench built all the way from the cockpit to the engine bay, the Human and mutant rat working in tandem to remove cables, connectors, and of course, the master computer cores in both the cockpit''s command console and the engine bay''s temperature control unit. It was the very same system the mechanic had been forced to hotwire during Lix''s last preliminary race, resulting in an overheat event in the entire engine bay. This length of conduit and electronics were vastly different. At a glance, it looked hardier, heavier, and all around better built. "Niiiice! Oh, oh oh oh! Skrunkles never seen this brand. Titanium connectors¡­ whats gen is the controllers?"


    "Sevar generation, good ol'' proprietary tech. All our conduits were made with silver an'' the environmental observation unit is made with a five-point zero gigahertz CPU for direct communication from engine to cockpit. Lix will be runnin'' damn near cold with these response an'' reaction times."


    "Eeeeee! That means-"


    "An uptune to the engine. I can get a fuck-load more performance out of her with cooler runnin'' temps. This will take care o'' mainly fuel flow and coolant temperature but with a pilot to drive command module, she''ll make the most out of every drop of fuel we stuff in the No Safety Measures Hooooh, she''s gonna purr like a horny bitch. I can''t wait to hear it, fuuuuuuck yes."


    "Even mores uptuning." Mo''Ona''s tail wagged, his paws carrying him to the cockpit to remove said module. It was much more simple affair. "Whats engine does Lix gots?"


    "Oh dude," Jack moaned, needy and heated, securely coiling the wires around the module they''d just scavenged from his dead sister in arms. "It''s a Haikyu Seventy-Eight, Bunson edition. So fuckin'' fat and glorious and full of-"


    "Powerrrrr¡­ Skrunkles loves the ways Haikyu set ups theirs piping."


    "Right? That shit is fucking sexy, drop ya panties sex-"


    "Boys," Lix drawled over the comms. "You aren''t going to start making love over there are you?"


    Jack nearly vomited.


    Mo''Ona shook his head yes with an enthusiasm that sent him floating across the cockpit. With a simple toss, Jack flung the rat down the short corridor into the engine bay to finish removing the pilot module himself. This one¡­ would need an adapter of some kind. Nothing he couldn''t fabricate in the Stripped Bolt. Just like that, they had everything they needed to get the racing ship up and running again, better than ever.


    "So''s¡­ why not just takes one of ''dese fighters? Parts are top shelfs, stuffs you couldn''t gets on Koorka." The little rat spread his arms, gesturing at the walls around them as he floated boneless in the corridor.


    "As much as I love my people''s tech, Lix still has the faster an'' more maneuverable ship. We put a lot o'' quality parts an'' materials in our designs but they are still mass produced. That engine back there ai''n''t got shit on a Haikyu. We were buildin'' for war, not races. ''Sides, we show up with a whole Sevar fighter Lix will be pinged as a terrorist and blown outta the stars ''fore we can even blink."


    Skrunkles nodded at that, peeking out the still open airlock. Each of the Sevar ships had a mean looking dual laser system under their noses, the barrels longer than he was tall and the power bank wider around than the Hux'' entire body. Judging by the melted hulls on the council ships, Mo''Ona guessed they''d put out some nasty heat.


    "Lix, see a hard point you want? We have anything you could dream of as long as it''s lasers." Jack lightly kicked Mo''Ona into open space, the little Hux flailing until his tether pulled tight to the Human''s belt. Chuckling, Jack pushed the suddenly pouting rat back out the airlock twice more when he pulled himself back before he received a response.


    "Ummmm¡­ they''re all the same¡­ but take the one from the fighter you''re still on. Something poetic about getting them all from the same source." Nodding, and grabbing Skrunkles under his arm like a flailing football, Jack simply walked out the airlock and to the belly of the fighter, his mag-boots holding him fast to her surface.


    "Ngh! What Skrunkles do to you? Stop bullyings Skrunks."


    "Don''t make it so easy then." The Hux ceased his struggles as the impressive laser system came into view, his face behind his helmet gleaming with glee.


    "Oh, there''s two, sides by sides¡­ ngh¡­ Lix! No Safety don''t gots the space for both! I wants the other ones." It¡­ was only fair. As much as the rat disgusted her at first there was no denying Mo''Ona was growing on Lix.


    "Sure sure, all yours. Let''s grab ''em and jet. That''ll be everything we need right? How''s your radiation shielding holding up?" Jack shot her a thumbs up, kneeling so he and his newest rat acquisition could get to work. Lix smiled, wide and toothy. Things were looking up! It would also be good for her soul to see the No Safety Measures whole once more. The ''Roid Racer missed being straddling the motorbike style seat and leaning into the turns, of feeling her rare engine rumbling and purring. Oh, how excited she was to hear her racing shuttle after the new parts and tuning!


    "Shieldin'' holdin'' up like the line in a pilot''s license distribution center. Ain''t goin'' nowhere." That just worked to put the Kux''lar even further at ease.


    So great was her excitement that she almost missed the sensor ping¡­


    "Uh¡­ boys, might have trouble here¡­" Lix could see Jack cease in his work, Mo''Ona still rapidly removing bolts and cables as the Human gazed up at the Gerthtrude.


    "Oh yeah?"


    "Yeah, sensor pings, just on the cusp of our range. Really scratchy¡­ hard to¡­ see¡­" Trepidation grew in the Kux''lar''s chest as she forwarded her sensor readings, anxiety beginning to bite at her paws. She wasn''t a technician nor mechanic; she couldn''t pick out a ship''s make and model from silhouette alone. Jack however¡­ He''d said the council never came out into the debris field, but what if things had changed? How long had it been since Jack had visited?


    "Fuck. Mo''Ona double time, we gotta get these free yesterday."


    "Jack? Talk to me." On reflex, Lix found herself flicking extra power to the PDC''s, the Gerthtrude rumbling with energy and bristling cannons. Anything that got close would have to endure a fusillade of skull rattling fire, a volley she''d seen eviscerate a shuttle like it was paper. That new found confidence waned, however, when a second wave alerted her to incoming¡­ something.


    Then a third¡­


    And a fourth¡­


    "Jack, sit rep, what are we looking at? I thought you said they don''t patrol the debris field."


    "They didn''t," His voice was hurried and panting, his cybernetics pushing the first laser towards his stalwart cargo freighter before joining Mo''Ona on the second system. "Not with manned ships. I know those shapes¡­ fuckers reverse engineered our fuckin'' drones." Risking the wasted time, Jack risked a look into the dense debris fields around them. He felt like an insect trapped in a spiderweb and he hadn''t even felt the silky strands until they were around his neck. "And if they''re anything like ours¡­ they''re suicide drones."


    Suicide drones that would pop holes in even his hardy freighter¡­

 Flight of the Gerthtrude

    It''s said that hindsight is twenty-twenty, that to retroactively look back on your problems with new information causes the solution to become obvious. Of course, such narrow thinking often ignores that one has that new little tidbit of information but it always seems so obvious. How could I have been so blind, one often thinks upon introspection. Such was Jack''s musings as he worked in tandem with his ratty crew mate to remove the second laser from its housing. Though Mo''Ona worked faster, his paws trembled with adrenaline and fear. Elation and dread pulled at him in a tug-of-war that had the Hux teetering on the edge of fleeing. This was, however, exactly what he wanted; that soup of terror and excitement that made life worth living.


    "Fifty kilometers and closing fast, hurry up what you''re doing or bail!" Lix found she had to bite her tongue to keep from cursing, her fangs piercing the soft flesh and filling her mouth with blood. If those drones had neutron beams they''d cook her like a pot roast inside the cockpit. Jack and Skrunkles would return to deep fried lizard, crunchy and sizzling, instead of an ace pilot. Lashing her tail within its seat hole, the ''Roid Racer willed her Human to work faster. For his part, Jack was busy not only removing bolts and panels and wires but also deliberately and successfully beating himself up internally. Of course the council wouldn''t sit on its laurels. No, they''d continue to steal Sevar tech for themselves and twist it to their own needs, like they did everything else. If those drones were even a fraction like the suicide swarms his people had used back in the day, they''d pummel the Gerthtrude with laser fire on approach before latching to her cockpit and explode, killing the pilot and rendering the vessel useless. Unless¡­ they''d switched out the laser for those damned neutron beams. The council hated waste, after all, and the Gerthtrude was a fine vessel.


    "Move those claws Skrunks, we need to be gone yesterday!" Jack pulled free the final bolt on his side, stuffing the high-quality fasteners into his suit, before going to work on the underlying panels protecting the battery housing. Skrunkles was even further along, finishing out his last few connecting cables before shuffling over to help Jack finish. With the rat-lizard''s dexterous paws and frighteningly effective custom tools, they had the laser free and floating in no time. "Hop on ''lil guy." Jack pat the laser with his free hand, grinning inside his helmet like a gremlin.


    "What''s? W-Whys?" Still¡­ He obeyed despite his fears. Jack''s plans, while often insane, were just fun and in the end, isn''t that why he was here? There were safer bets to make, easier circles to wriggle his way into, but none made his heart pump like this crew. As long as he didn''t die it would be okay, at least, that''s what he told himself as he straddled the laser like a mount. Mo''Ona didn''t even have time to shout as Jack planted his mag-boots and heaved, the now disconnected laser soaring towards the Gerthtrude as speed only mechanically assisted cybernetics could muster, the fighter drifting in the opposite direction from the force. Jack grinned as the weapon, and its passenger, sailed away, bending his knees to follow suit. This would be much faster than flying back under canister thrust and every second counted.


    Yet as his arm came down, so too did his grin.


    One moment the space next to the Sevar fighter was empty, the next¡­ as if emerging from the aether¡­ floated a single silent drone. It took several blinks to reassure Jack that he wasn''t seeing things- that his implants weren''t glitching.


    But no¡­ the familiar fuselage and angled hull of the drone, no longer than a personal cab, hung there like a bird that had just found vulnerable prey. Beneath it bristled the tell-tale barrel of a neutron cannon in place of the normal Sevar laser suite, its broad flat barrel vibrating. As much as his pride had wanted to say it was the superior skills and high-tech edge of his people''s elite pilots¡­ of people like him¡­ it was, in reality, these drones that had let them wither under council siege for so long. These were the reapers of the Sevarians, now stolen and repurposed to serve their conquerors.


    Jack had only enough time to launch himself haphazardly towards the drifting laser as Lix and Mo''Ona''s terrified shouts filled his comms. With a barely perceptible vibration, the area behind him was blasted with angry neutrons, his ocular implants highlighting the deadly accurate beam. The only reason Jack wasn''t on a slow path to death from cooked internal organs was the fact that the beam hit his alloy cybernetic arm instead of his still flesh and blood body.


    The Human tumbled through open space, Mo''Ona''s eyes snapping open wide in fear just before impact- just before Jack bodily slammed into his small frame, knocking him flailing and screaming into the void.


    "Skrunks!"


    "Jack, watch your ass!" Lix''s voice pulled the man''s eyes from the tumbling form of the Hux on a long path towards deep space, his head ducking as a line of fury and fire burst from the Gerthtrude''s forward PDC battery, cutting off the encroaching drone and forcing it towards a new target. "I need to maneuver! Launching tows!" Another burst of fire warded off a quick response from the deadly drone as it tried to bring to bear its neutron cannon towards the fat freighters bridge. A twin launch of thick cables zipped from the aft cargo bay to slam into the twin lasers with magnetic disks, sending both spinning in place. Jack bit his tongue as the world spun, only the surety of mechanical steel keeping his fingers locked to the laser''s battery array instead of getting flung into the void. "You two hang on, I''ll reel you in!"


    "Skrunks fell off!"


    "What?" Her voice was quiet, unbelieving, and it was only then that Jack remembered¡­ Lix hadn''t lost anyone since she''d taken on this new crew. He remembered that feeling, of watching other squads lose pilots and boarders and never really took into account that it could happen to him. An untethered event was a deadly one; if Mo''Ona couldn''t right himself and use his canister, he was as good as dead.


    "Skrunks fell off¡­"


    "W-Well¡­ well go get him!" Were he a less focused man, he''d have laughed. Laughed as the Gerthtrude banked and twisted, Lix desperately trying to bring more cannons into line. Metal debris and plastic trash bounced off her hull, gouging deep lines in her paint and showering the cold empty space with sparks.


    It was a dizzying kaleidoscope of color and terror, Jack''s home planet, the Gerthtrude, the distant antimatter fuel refinery and oscillating sun behind it¡­ He couldn''t even see where the little Hux was, lost in the inky black and thick debris fields.


    Jack couldn''t see Mo''Ona¡­


    He couldn''t see¡­


    ***


    Mo''Ona was a Hux of no family, assets, or home. By the stars, he could count his friends on one paw- two claws even. Said claws scrambled at his suit, searching for the gas canister he knew wasn''t there. It had been lost the moment Jack had slammed into him, the force breaking the old and jury-rigged clasp made from scrap metal. Only his seals and helmet had solid material, the rest going into smelters for that extra Roark or two. Roarks that would now be the death of him¡­ Instead, Mo''Ona closed his eyes and accepted the fact that he had two options left; a slow end as his oxygen ran out, or a fast and painful one via breaching his helmet.


    It hadn''t been supposed to end this way¡­ or¡­ no, it had. He always knew it would. Mo''Ona had lived fast and loose, burning bridges and building new, albeit weaker, connections in their place. Not a one had lasted longer than a cycle, nor had he planned them to. Not like this new attempt. Jack and Lix seemed like a good place to try and stick it out for the long run. Now, that long run had turned to him tumbling through open space and debris out into the Star Sea. There was no sign of the Gerthtrude or Jack or¡­ or anything. Even if they wanted to find him the interference from the field would kill his pleas for help.


    Not to mention¡­ that drone¡­


    No, his newest and final friends were busy fighting for their lives. Skrunkles would be yet another casualty of the Last Stop Staryard. It made sense, to cut their losses while a swarm of death came their way. It''s what he would personally do, after all, one has to think of survival at the end of the day. That is¡­ if Jack survived too, it would be poetic to die here amongst the corpses of his people. Either way, Mo''Ona accepted that his story ended here, in the cold and the empty and the dark. ''Twas bound to happen, this inevitable end at the jaws of his own thrill seeking. Deep down, he always knew he''d die alone and scared¡­ it was simply the lot of a Hux.


    "Pi-¡­ mms you fu-¡­"


    Mo''Ona flinched, the sudden voice of Jack, angry and loud and filled with static, had him ducking his head in instinctual fear.


    "What¡­ Jack?"


    "I ne-¡­ a com-¡­"


    Frantically, the still tumbling rat lizard hybrid twisted and gazed at the thick debris field around him before his back slammed into a slab of steel, throwing him off into a completely new direction. Hope and anger inflamed in his heart; hope at rescue, and anger at the false chance Jack was providing. There was simply no way he''d find him, in fact, it was a miracle that his transmission had made it this far. That small ember of hope quickly died out, melancholy seeping into his bones as he curled into a ball¡­ and said his goodbyes.


    Perhaps in another life, he and Jack could be real friends¡­


    ***


    Jack had been given impossible orders before, even told his superiors to piss off once or twice. This one, however, took the cake. Retrieve a tiny Hux, already visually lost, while spinning wildly through space, all while your only way home was stuck in the middle of dog fight with a deadly drone.


    Oh, and another flight of drones were incoming.


    "Fuck''s sake¡­ okay okay okay, what to do¡­" Had Jack been a flesh and blood man, fully organic, Mo''Ona would already have been lost to the great Star Sea, as it was, the cybernetic mechanic had options. Choking down bile, Jack rewound the last few minutes of visual input his left eye had captured, all the way to the moment of impact that had sent the little rodent salvager off course. "Alright, now then¡­" Taking into account the position of the Gerthtrude in the background, and tracing that to the derelict fighter behind him, allowed a rudimentary angle the rat would have been flung into. Now all he had to do was¡­ was get over there somehow. Above his head, the Gerthtrude twisted and banked to avoid a direct hit to her bridge, an invisible neutron beam slicing harmlessly into the lower cargo hold well away from Lix''s position. The force upon the tow cable, and therefore, the laser, was enough to snap Jack''s head back. Deep breaths were the only reason he avoided painting the inside of his helmet as the stars continued to dance in his eyes.


    Round and round and round the laser spun, his target vanishing and reappearing with every desperate blink of his eyes. Slowly, Jack gathered his boots beneath him, swallowing the lump in his throat as he deactivated his mag-boots. Only his death grip upon the laser''s frame held him fast, only his grip connecting him to the Gerthtrude¡­


    "Gotta go at an angle¡­ remember the conservation of mass in zero gravity¡­" Twice, thrice, and a fourth time the little plip on his helmet swung by, the distance between him and Mo''Ona''s survival rapidly diminishing with each moment he hesitated. There was no calculating this jump¡­ no math that would ease his nerves¡­ "Jump early¡­ watch your angle¡­ jump early¡­" Shaking, the mechanic reached for his belt to grasp at his gas canister¡­


    And leapt.


    His angle had been slightly off, nothing a burst from his canister couldn''t correct. A coil of cable flagged uselessly behind him, trailing like a steel snake as he adjusted his course towards Mo''Ona''s last known trajectory. Against his better judgment, against his instincts screaming at him to return to the Gerthtrude, Jack angled his traversal canister behind him and accelerated. A mad dash towards certain death.


    "Mo''Ona, I need a comms ping!" Nothing¡­ nothing but the omnipotent scratch of white noise. "Ping your comms you fuckin'' rat!"


    Once again¡­ silence. Debris whizzed by as Jack poured on the speed, his mechanical eyes zipping irrespective of each other as he searched the gloom.


    "¡­ at¡­ ack¡­"


    "Mo''Ona, I need a comms ping! Give me something to track!"


    That little bit had been enough, however. Enough for Jack to get a rudimentary idea of where the little Hux had been flung. Desperately, and more than a little aware of the dwindling amount of hydrogen swirling in his canister, Jack adjusted course and prayed to whatever God would listen that he had enough air in the little tank. Mo''Ona had somehow changed direction harshly, but not so much Jack couldn''t curve his trajectory in pursuit.


    The liberal use of gas had proven worth it, Mo''Ona''s brightly colored EVA suit flitting in and out of view between slumps of debris and broken ships. In a fit of despair, the Hux had curled himself into a ball, wrapping his covered whipcord tail about his trembling body. Jack didn''t even grace him with a warning, bodily slamming into the little ''Roid Racer with arms outstretched. Within his helmet, Mo''Ona screamed in terror before clinging to Jack''s chest so tightly his claws bent within their gloves. Immediately, Jack nearly emptied his canister in the opposite direction, their tumbling path slowing down.


    "J-Jack?"


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."Need to get back to the Gerthtrude, ain''t no fuckin'' tellin'' what the fuck''s going on."


    "J¡­ J-Jack¡­"


    And yet, Mo''Ona wasn''t listening. His mind was a muddled fuzz of confusion, his eyes bulging with disbelief. This wasn''t how Hux were treated¡­ this wasn''t how he was treated¡­ No, he was used to being kicked, smacked, shoved away¡­ No one had given him a second glance when his usefulness ran out or, more likely, his greed got the better of him. This was new and unexpected¡­ and it made his throat burn. His little rat brain had shut down, the only thing consciously keeping him going was to hang on for dear life to the only friend that had ever stuck his neck out for him.


    The only friend that came back.


    ***


    Metal groaned as Lix twisted the Gerthtrude''s control sphere like it had stolen her purse, turning the freighter on its axis while spinning her about with the port quarter thrusters. PDC''s desperately attempted to track the strangely flickering drone, its sensor signal slipping through her radar suites like oil in a gear. The snarled curses in her home language went unanswered as the damned drone pulled evasive maneuvers she''d need implants to replicate, her eyes bugging at the nonsensical path it was carving through the debris. Worry, if not outright terror, pulled at her thundering heart as she once again was forced to twist the Gerthtrude around odd angles to protect the cockpit.


    Where was Jack? Had he gotten Mo''Ona? Were there other drones out there she couldn''t see? Where had this one even come from? Was she about to sling her new lasers into her crew? Had it been a mistake to send Jack after Mo''Ona? Jack¡­


    What would Jack do?


    "Trust your crew¡­ trust your crew¡­" Lix forced her breathing under control, reverse thrusting through a tiny gap in the debris as the wound spools reeled their haul ever closer. Once secured to the hull, the tow cable bays would open and their new weapons would be stored safely inside. It wasn''t the proper way to use the devices, but it was more than effective enough given the situation. "Jack? Mo''Ona? I need a sitrep!" Static, and the distant sound of a voice too vague to understand, crackled across the comms. Another slicing barrage of neutrons screamed by her viewport like an angry flashlight beam, the cockpit overlaying a visible spectrum to assist the almost panicking pilot. Tow cables grew taught as the Gerthtrude spun on screaming thrusters, a rattling volley of PDC fire encouraged the council drone to belay its next run. Every moment counted for her crew, every precious second another chance at survival. One of the lasers whizzed past her vision, the Gerthtrude trailing the weapon around her fuselage in a spiraling dance.


    Lix was no fool. Guilt ate at her gut like a ravenous parasite.


    She had ordered Jack retrieve Mo''Ona out of reflex without weighing the options or the hazards. She had started dancing the Gerthtrude around like a runaway top without taking into account where her crew was. Had she been the reason Mo''Ona lost grip on the laser? Was it her fault both he and Jack were now somewhere in the debris field with no tether and only the slightest hope of somehow clawing their way back?


    All distractions¡­


    What was done was done. Lix could almost hear Jack growling at her to focus, to trust her crew and ensure there was a place to even float back to¡­ In the end, all she could do was dig deeper.


    "Double down¡­ Either my Human comes back or I die out here¡­ simple¡­"


    ***


    "Where''s your gas canister, rat?" Jack demanded as they began to slowly drift back the way he had come, the can in his metal hand sputtering like a dying engine. There just wasn''t enough left to get back, not at a reasonable speed.


    "S-Skrunkles losts it. The claps on my suits brokes!" Still trembling, be it from the adrenaline of being rescued or disbelief at being¡­ well¡­ rescued, Mo''Ona reached for where the canister once sat upon his belt. The Gods hadn''t seen fit to magically return the can now on path towards the galactic ecliptic. At this rate, the return trip would take the clinging duo upwards of ten minutes to arrive back at the Gerthtrude and that was assuming she stayed in one spot. With a deadly drone nipping at her heels, not to mention the multiple wings of reinforcements, Jack decided he didn''t have ten minutes. Conviction hardened his hammering heart as he activated the environmental seals on his helmet normally reserved for a suit breach, the neck locking in place while he reached behind himself to run his hand along his neck. It took some fumbling, but he found the nearly flush tube that supplied his oxygen.


    Mo''Ona nearly screamed as Jack tore the tube free, oxygen screeching out into the void as nothing more than freezing vapor. Quickly, the Human angled the end of the tube away, grinning as they began to pick up speed. Less than he hoped¡­ but speed nonetheless. The effects of losing fresh oxygen were immediately apparent. It wasn''t like holding his breath in atmosphere, oh no, the burn in his lungs started only moments after he had removed the fresh supply of life-giving air. Water pooled at the bottom of his eyes as pressure built in his sinuses, the grasping fingers of a headache curling around the back of his skull. Debris and dead ships zoomed past his view at ever increasing speed, his helmet indicating the optimal angle of thrust for him maintain. The only adjustments he allowed were from his passenger, Mo''Ona''s little rat claw raising or lowering the still discharging hose to avoid slamming into a slab of metal or through tangles of cables.


    "Gettin'' hot in here." Jack mumbled through swampy, humid air. He could feel the temperature rising within his helmet, an alarm icon blaring in the corner of his vision. An oxygen meter, he recognized, one that was falling with alarming speed.


    "No talks! Stays awake! Lix, we''s coming!" Skrunkles slapped the side of the Human''s helmet with a tiny paw, gently jarring the man alert. Slow, shallow breaths raised and lowered his chest, the Hux clutching to him chittering in fear his eyelids began to droop once more. "Lix! Please¡­ reads¡­" Another slap to Jack''s helmet left his paw tingling in pain, even through the thick gloves of his EVA suit.


    "Comi¡­ nd unreadab¡­ peat you¡­"


    "Lix! Jack''s beings stupids!" Silence answered his cry but the sound of his captain''s voice had filled Mo''Ona with a spine tingling shot of joy. They had a chance, however small, to survive this haul gone wrong. It wasn''t something that had truly hit him, even when Jack had wrapped his arms around his curled body. No one survived losing tether on a spacewalk, no one¡­ and yet¡­ this insane crew was trying to do just that.


    "My captains¡­ s-shits¡­ Mo''Ona fucked up nows¡­"


    ***


    Breath came to Lixistruzsias in rapid little gasps, her legs tense against the yaw rudders as her maw trembled the words to her favorite ditty. Jack''s hoodie, now more like a second skin, had been wrapped around her nose. Every inhale filled her nostril''s with the Human''s scent, the fabric heavy with it even after all this time.


    "Coming in broken and unreadable, repeat your last? Just keep heading the way you are!" Claws clacked on metal as Lix spun the Gerthtrude, tilting her down as the drone tried to fly beneath the vessel''s nose and towards her vulnerable underbelly. Nothing would stop its neutron beam from killing her from behind¡­ Already her Human''s poor ship had been pierced with the angry beam, internal heat warnings from the environmental sensors informing her the galley and guest room were just a tad bit hotter than the rest of the ship, an anomaly the automated systems couldn''t understand. "Suuuuper wheat¡­ and vat grown meeeat- come on you blasted thing, gimme a good angle."


    "Lix! Skrunks can sees ship! Drone passing forwards port nose! Angles ten degrees downs." Lix slammed the control sphere forward, angling the vessel towards the wily drone as her feet worked to activate the rear lateral thrusters. A flash of gunmetal grey whizzed by the view port, a beam of neutrons lancing by the port side fuselage only feet from where the cockpit had once lain. With a reptilian roar only a predator could produce, Lix spat hellfire from both forward facing PDC''s, the skull rattling rounds tearing through the drone''s thin outer plating like wet paper in a shredder. Sparks and metal showered the space behind the now tumbling ship as lights within died, the ''Roid Racer''s roar escalating into a victory cry.


    "Then some heat, you fucker! Gnaaaaah! It''s Meeeeelk!" Another volley of rage filled fire split the drone in half, Lix continuing her twirling spin until the aft cargo bay line up with the location of Mo''Ona''s last desperate message. "Opening cargo bay door now, talk to me little guy."


    "Five degrees starboard¡­ neeeeh¡­ Jack hangs in there¡­"


    "What''s wrong, what''s the matter with Jack?" Fear and bile rose in the Kux''lar''s throat as she flipped through her PDC cameras until the distressingly small plip that was her crew came into view. Jack was listlessly flying as Mo''Ona held a hose attached to the back of the man''s armor. The scene of her nightmares faded as they floated all too slowly into the cargo bay, her claws shutting the thick doors the moment they were safely aboard. "H-Hang on in there, we''re getting the fuck outta here!"


    A task easier said than done, as the drone''s reinforcements made themselves known. An extra wing had crawled its way onto sensor range, bringing the total number bogies inbound to a terrifying sixteen. The numbers just weren''t there; it was flee¡­ or die.


    ***


    "Jacks! Jacks! Breathes!" Mo''Ona fell boneless to the floor as the cargo bay doors sealed, atmosphere venting back into the hab as pressure returned. Desperate, he hooked his little claws and tried to drag the Human and his heavy armor deeper into the safety of the bay, his little booted paws scrabbling on the metal in futility. "Please, justs once let Hux''s be strongs!" No God or star or entity drifting in the black answered his prayer. Squeaking in frustration, Skrunkles instead focused on the powerful clasps holding the man''s helmet secure, his vision blurring as unspoken burned his throat and mist clouded his eyes. A claw broke as he heaved and squeezed and jerked, blood running from the now throbbing finger. One clasp finally came free, followed much more slowly by a second and third. Finally, the heavy metal helmet came free, revealing Jack''s sweat slicked face to the cool air of his ship''s air recyclers. "Breathes!" Rearing back, he slammed home his still gloved fist onto Jack''s unmoving chest, a spike of pain lancing up his and dragging a whimper from his maw. "Please! Jacks gotta breathes!"


    Only the Human''s slightly waving fingers, asking for space, told Mo''Ona he was still alive. Chittering in glee, he gently raised the man''s head in hope it would ease the strain on his air way, his forehead pressed to Jack''s cheek. Tiny coughs gradually turned into deep, gasping inhales.


    "L-Lix¡­ scaly lady¡­" Wheezing, the man sat up assisted by the little rat-lizard hybrid who had slipped behind him to push with all his might. "We''re in¡­ bet ya¡­" He grinned, slapping his hands down behind him before he could fall back onto the rat pretending he could hold him up. "Bet ya can''t get back to the flinger in ten minutes¡­"


    ***


    Lix allowed herself a moment, just a moment, to rest her head on the Gerthtrude''s control panel before sitting upright. No, she wasn''t wiping tears from her eyes or willing away her shaking breath. She was a professional, one who prided herself on staying cool and collected in the pilot''s seat. Jack''s voice, and yes even Mo''Ona''s terrified chitters, felt like a cool balm upon a vicious burn. Her crew was back, they had the parts and the weapons¡­ they''d done it. Now to just get away with their haul.


    And of course, a challenge was exactly what she expected from her Human. It was her just deserts after sending him on a suicide mission¡­ One he''d succeeded at, of course. It was time to show that she could keep up.


    "Ten minutes, eh? Bring it on."


    Roars screamed from the Gerthtrude''s primary thrusters, her drive bells burning red with passion and heat that beat in time with Lixistruzsias''s fluttering heart. Like a shot from a gun, the fat cargo freighter slammed forward, dipping beneath a clump of debris. The trail of clear space left in her slow crawl was exactly as wide and tall as the vessel itself, nonetheless, Lix aimed directly for the winding tube as if it were a highway to the Heavens. Shards of metal scraped and plinked off her hull as she worked the control sphere like a baker kneading dough, the thruster indicating crawling into the yellow¡­ then, where it belonged; in the red.


    The encroaching drones adjusted course, uncaring of the damage they received at the hands of the Last Stop Staryard''s debris field, closing with concerning speed. In the distance, the massive carrier standing vigil over the antimatter refueling station began to show signs of life, its nose beginning to laboriously turn in their direction.


    Heated huffs left Lix''s maw as her blood began to boil; pumping through her veins like fuel through an engine. It had been far, far too long since she''d pushed a ship to its limits, not since the preliminary race in fact, and her racer''s heart demanded she slam home the thruster bar and leave it there. Debris fields twisted and wobbled into looming asteroids in her mind''s eye, her lips stretching back into a reaper''s grin full of fangs and need and lust.


    Lust for the track, lust for the speed, lust for victory.


    Lix dropped the cockpit''s protective shielding before descending down into the debris field itself, dodging an errant beam of neutrons from the first wave of drones that danced about her like angry bees, the newly arrived wing filling the very passage she was trying to use to escape. A raucous scream of metal on metal filled the raptor''s ears as broken ships and drifting trash were slammed aside by the Gerthtrude''s thick armor, her PDCs answering the drones in kind. Most dodged, one directly into the trash field to bloom into a quickly dying plume of fire and oil.


    "Gnaaaahahahahaha!"


    Glee filled her heart as she pulled the nose high, breaching back into the tight corridor with another volley from her bristling cannons, another drone falling prey as its algorithms couldn''t decide between the incoming fire or braving the debris.


    Lix hadn''t even heard Jack and Mo''Ona join her from the lift, but she did feel her Human''s hand come home upon her shoulder. In that moment, there was nothing¡­ nothing she couldn''t fly through.


    "Five kilometers out, ya got this."


    "Fuckin'' right I got this. Sit down, your mate is stacking drones."


    Just as Lix was moving in for another run, the belly of the Gerthtrude scraping a new line of clear space in the tunnel of debris, the space ahead of them split as if God had poked a finger through the blanketing slabs of broken metal.


    "Railgun from the carrier, keep going! It can''t get a good lock!" Jack stumbled his way towards the navigation panel, no longer content to be a bystander. "See if you can get the drones behind us." Mo''Ona scrambled up Jack''s back to perch like a bird, his claw pointing out bits on the panel Lix had no time to care about. PDC control was wrenched away from her, Jack blasting period lines of Hellfire to ward off the more active drones. All she had to do now was fly, and fly she would.


    Another biblical lance from the carrier zipped through the Last Stop Staryard like an enraged beast, debris and salvage alike vanishing into dust not four hundred feet from the vulnerable Gerthtrude.


    "Diverting power from auxiliaries, gonna give the shield more juice but it''s about to get cold in here."


    "We can handle it, I''m two hundred kilometers out!" Lix snarled, juking the Gerthtrude into the side wall of the corridor as a sickly green beam of neutrons lit her heads-up display like a comet''s tail. Proximity and damage warnings blared across the bridge, Jack silencing them with a flick of his metal fingers and mentally cringing at yet another system he''d have to repair. It would all be worth it, he reminded himself. "One fifty and closing!"


    Temperature readings in the engine bay rose as Lix redlined the drive, dipping and rising to try and shake the drone''s targeting processes. Were she going any slower, the second wing of drones would overtake her and pummel them with enough beams that no amount of fancy flying would save them from.


    One drone, riskier than the others, clipped the Gerthtrude''s port side, spinning into a spectacular cone of debris as the harder armor gave no quarter. Its nose sheered into metal shavings as it was pushed bodily out of the corridor, several drones dipping back to avoid meeting the same fate.


    "Got your ass!" Jack whooped as he released a glitter canister from their aft launcher, the very same he''d utilized on Ters so long ago. Unlike that dogfight so long ago, however, Jack hadn''t primed the canister. Instead, it slammed into the lead drone with enough force to crumple its plating and remove it from the chase. Better to leave an obstacle then to cast obscuring glitter over a neutron beam''s nose. Jack simply didn''t know enough about the tech to determine if that would drop its efficiency.


    "One hundred kilometers!" Lix hollered, her voice tinged with worry as the debris field thinned. Thinned¡­ and revealed the carrier much closer than previously thought. It was like staring down the gaping gullet of a leviathan, the massive barrel of its rail cannon aimed right at them.


    "Givin'' ya everything but life support! Burn the drive bells out!"


    Seventy¡­


    "Jack! The flinge-"


    "Just fly!"


    Forty¡­


    "Carrier gonna fires!"


    "I fuckin'' know, quit yellin'' in my ear!"


    Twenty¡­


    "Ambition culled, the stars dimmed, ice crusted home again!"


    Then¡­


    Black¡­


    As the carrier''s railgun zipped directly through the middle of the circular flinger.

 Co - Pilot

    The space between flingers was nearly infinitesimal, less than a hair''s breadth, far less than that even. Twas so by design, as the strange tech allowed travel over vast distances by folding space so that two distant points became homely neighbors. So when the Gerthtrude went from near death to lightyears away, Lix found herself shaking and shivering from an overload of adrenaline. Jack had taken over, gently prying her claws off the control sphere and praising her piloting skills as she nodded and collapsed on the navigator''s bench. Even Mo''Ona sat wringing his paws as if he''d just finished a hard workout. Lix had been thankful, as she had no idea how the man had squeezed his way into the flinger queue back to Koorka Station. The silence that had followed their escape was a roar¡­ the shot sent their way by the council carrier couldn''t have been more than feet from them.


    That had been an entire day ago.


    A day the Kux''lar had spent wrapped up in her Human''s sheets sequestered away in the Stripped Bolt and ardently ignoring the niggling voice that told her the council most likely knew exactly who had snuck into the Last Stop Staryard and probably had more than a little evidence in the form of drone recordings. It was something Mo''Ona had said he''d work on and subsequently vanished, they hadn''t seen him since. The Gerthtrude wasn''t exactly a common ship after all, so how he expected to ''work'' on it was beyond her. However, no strike teams or men in suits came banging on their door nor scary net mails nor intimidating calls¡­ It allowed for the exhausted ''Roid Racer to sleep and sleep and sleep¡­ only, Jack wasn''t here. Desperately she wished he''d walk through that damn door and join her under the covers¡­ to flood her with his body heat and let her squeeze her muzzle under his chin. Several times she''d started to call him to demand he do just that yet hesitated. He was putting the No Safety Measures back together without her. In the end, the Kux''lar laboriously rose to stretch and screech and scratch her haunches before trudging out into the garage as naked as the day she hatched.


    Or¡­ floated¡­ as it were.


    Jack deactivated the gravity whenever he worked on ships, it made the process so much easier, or so he claimed.


    Languidly, sleep still holding her in its clutches, Lix lazily kicked her way up to the No Safety and her Human working diligently within. The cockpit was a jungle of hanging cables as the mechanic used the opportunity provided by installing the new parts to upgrade or reorganize existing systems. Lix wasn''t nearly as skilled at navigating zero gravity as he was, and her flailing tail rang out her approach on the airlock wall.


    "Psheew, lookin'' good scaly lady." Jack winked from his nearly upside-down position under the pilot''s seat. Never one to pass down and opportunity to show off, the Kux''lar slowly ran her long tongue along her chops, turning to show off her rump and thick tail. It was just another in the long line of teasing she''d tormented the man with since they''d returned, including shoving her unfertilized egg into his arms once the heat had died down from their successful venture. He''d blanched when she''d offered him half an omelette, to his surprise, selling your unfertilized eggs was a huge market among the Kux''lar. More for her, she guessed, not that it was common to eat your own egg. Gently, she pressed herself down to the deck as best she could and ''stalked'' along the walkway, her head low and talons clicking as she used her tail to keep her fast to the deck in the low gravity. "What are ya up to?" He asked with a crooked grin and raised eyebrow.


    Oh, that grin. There would be no denying her this day.


    "I''m huntin'' ya." She hissed, snapping her jaws gently by his ears before nuzzling his neck. "Anything I can do to help?" The question turned into a purr as her Human hesitantly worked his jaw before pressing his lips to the side of her muzzle, leaving them there before pulling away with a wet smack. Jack was no romantic, and neither was Lix, but she was still a lady and knew what felt good. Her tail undulated in pleasure as she stared down with lidded eyes, approving and heated. Gently, she hooked her jawline under his chin, locking herself to the man as she let the rest of her body float. "Man, my head''s all frazzled. I don''t even know how to start processing the last few days."


    "How ''bout where ya most flabbergasted?"


    "Hm¡­ ''kay. So, you''re from some high-tech planet that tried to buck the council and got betrayed¡­ Now your system is a giant refueling station using your people''s stolen technology for antimatter, it sounds like a supervillain movie¡­ if I hadn''t seen it, I would call you crazy. I might do it anyway." Lix trilled, shuffling closer to the Human''s sweet, sweet monkey heat. The warmth was familiar, and his scent lulled the Kux''lar into a sense of safety she found was absent anywhere else.


    "Yeah¡­ shit happens, I guess."


    "That was a tad bit more than a stuck turd, Jacky." The heat that bloomed from his cheeks against her chin left her with a toothy grin, her ivory fangs glistening in the low light of the cockpit. "Oooh, Jacky gets your heart pumpin''! I''ll have to remember that."


    "Uh-huh. Sorry I didn'' tell ya all that sooner. About¡­ home I mean, not¡­ Jacky an'' shit. Lily called me that."


    "Mhm¡­" Her grin faded. "Like I said, I get why you didn''t tell me at first but after a while? After you made love to me in my own bed? Kinda¡­ sucked, dude."


    "I just ai''n''t think it was important."


    "Gnah¡­ you''re so¡­ male and dumb. I''d have actually known what was going on instead of following your lead like a lost hatchling. You know, because I trusted you?" Her nostrils flared as she felt the muscle in his neck tense, a tiny whir of actuators from his weird eyes whispering in her ears as he looked to the side, ashamed. "Yeeaaah, I''m cheating! I''m going for that low hangin'' fruit."


    "I mean, look I- I said it be dangero-"


    "Dangerous to know? My whole life is dangerous. I fly through asteroid fields for fun and could get offed for being in the League whenever we leave the garage. Ya broke my trust, babe." Lix nibbled at the man''s jaw, ignoring the shadow of facial hair that was growing. I wasn''t lying when I said I kinda lost some faith in ya. Gonna have to build it back up, Human."


    "And how do I do that, Kux''lar?"


    "Survive while being on my radar," A lick to his cheek let him know he was still hers. "And keep being my Human, but you''re good at that."


    "I''ve had practice." The bravado was false, however, his gut twisting at the sound of her disappointment. Trust, communication, understanding, honesty¡­ commitment¡­ all the things Lily had said he needed work on, all the things the doctor had tried to work on- tried to help him improve. He just¡­ well, he didn''t love Lily. It hurt, in a way, to admit that to himself. A part in his heart had decided that there just wasn''t anyone for him, that he wasn''t built for romance or relationships.


    Too much work, he said.


    Better off by myself, he''d decided.


    For a while it worked, perhaps too well, as he became so used to solitude that it twisted and mutated into a comfortable and easy routine¡­ no expectations, no connection to foster and maintain, no bloom of love to feed. It was simpler and there was¡­ safety in that. Cowardice, he decided, and perhaps a little bit of lost hope, had stopped him from trying to settle with someone again. Lily is my last shot, he''d told himself.


    She was it.


    If he couldn''t swing it then he wasn''t meant to be with anyone. He''d been all too eager to accept that ultimatum and wash his hands of everything else. Focus had become his love, improving his garage and pulling in the Roarks while the universe twirled around him. Memories of the adrenaline, the satisfaction, of carving out Koorka Station with his friends¡­ who were now either dead, terrified of his presence, or simply coexisted with him, were all the sustenance he needed. That is¡­ until the routine became stale. Days into weeks into months, the cycle stretched and left him behind.


    Stagnation¡­


    Oh, how hungry it was.


    Then Lix came into his garage, huffing and puffing and speaking in third person as she panicked. At the time he found it annoying, if a little adorable, and homed in on her fear as a source of Roarks. He''d planned to rake her over the coals, dragging her for every little bit of money he could- especially after she''d let slip she was a ''Roid Racer. They had money, they had to, all racers did! It wasn''t until he sat and thought about it, sat and thought about where Glorious Angela ended up, that he turned his plan on its head. The mechanic had known damn well where the traitor had gone¡­ what lay in the belly of the massive ship she now called home¡­ The Racer''s Heart¡­


    Yes, he''d used Lix¡­ at first his goals had been to help her become the best racer she could be. The plan had been to outfit her and propel her into the big leagues¡­ if only to get aboard the Racer''s Heart and rip Angela''s throat from her neck¡­ then¡­ well¡­


    It had been the noodles¡­ The spicy bowl of carbs made by none other than Morty, one of the only friends he still had left. Stars had burst in Lix''s eyes, wonder filling her voice and pleasure at a new discovery. Jack had felt the first cracks then, the ice around his heart starting to warm ever so slightly. Things had only gone downhill from there as he started having fun, started to enjoy himself with Lix. Showing her life on Koorka, working on her ship, seeing her innocence grow into experience- the pure unfettered joy when she''d placed in the preliminary¡­ Something inside him, old and smoldering with embers of hate kept alive by the anger of betrayal and¡­ well¡­ watching his home become a military state before falling to the greed of those who swayed the galaxy beneath the strings on their fingers, finally had the last few feeding tubes ripped from its gullet. It was slow to perish; even now he could feel that old oil bubbling beneath the surface¡­ Love was encroaching upon it, and soon it would dominate the landscape of his soul and push back the greasy tar.


    Like a wolf herded to into quicksand.


    Lix had her claws deep in him, that he couldn''t deny¡­ and he''d lied to her- worse, used her.


    Truth¡­


    "Well ah, scaly lady, if''n ya say to be honest then¡­ I guess¡­ a confession?" The Kux''lar purring under his chin nodded.


    "That''d be a good start. What''s up?"


    "When I met ya¡­" Jack started quick, his words dying in his throat as he wracked his brain for the right words to say. "I''ll be honest with ya¡­ I saw ya as a way to make a fat stack o'' Roarks an'' get close to Angela. I uh¡­ used ya to get into the Racer''s Heart to¡­ I¡­ I dunno, get back at Angela? Kill ''er? Damn the consequences. I¡­ hadn''t thought that far an'' when we got there. I would ''ave had a plan but¡­ I didn''t want to ruin your chance in the races. I didn''t want to ruin what we had." The man swallowed hard, his hands unmoving as they clutched a wire bundle. "Sorry¡­ scaly lady- I jus-"This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "Hush, I figured something along those lines. I assume you feel different now?" She raised one of the scaled ridges over her closed eye, a satisfied, if cocky, smile curling her lips. "Still plan to use me?"


    "No. Nah, I don''t. If this¡­ if us were a fight then ya whooped my ass."


    "Damn straight I did. You''re my Human now."


    "An''¡­ ya my Kux''lar." Lix purred into his warmth. That had been much more natural compared to the last time he''d said it. She knew getting him to cave would be like pulling fangs, and by the stars was it, but this? Hearing him admit it? To hear Jack give up against himself and admit he''d fallen for her?


    Finally¡­ it felt right.


    The resulting silence was comfortable and warm despite the chill of the garage. It was a place she could stay for however long it lasted. Jack, the poor man, just couldn''t handle it. He was still new to all this lovey dovey stuff, Lix decided. That was okay, she''d train him up.


    "You know how to assign slave cables?" The mechanic asked, unwilling to let the quiet drag.


    "The ones that transmit data from the cockpit to the engine room, right? They''re color coded. I''m no engineer but I can take that off your hands at least." She shooed the man away to do more technical tasks, whapping his rear with her tail before flagging the appendage high to give him a view of the goods usually hidden underneath. By the stars she was needy today¡­ if Jack didn''t help her with these urges by the time the daily cycle was up she was pouncing him, no doubt about it. He hadn''t fully left before a groovy beat began to pulse through the garage, one that had the Kux''lar showing her fangs over a shoulder in a toothy grin as she began to bop her haunches to the beat, sending her lightly tumbling through the zero gravity. Jack only exacerbated her need by clicking his tongue and shooting her a wink, his boots vanishing as he pulled himself passed her small room towards the engine bay.


    Worry began to fade as she linked each cable to its corresponding connection, the newer lengths salvaged from the Last Stop Staryard obvious by their off-white design as opposed to the original charcoal black. Still wiggling to the music, her rear and thick digitigrade legs continued to drift aimlessly, yet that was simply of little concern. Slave cables were simple, yes, but any mistake would send signals to incorrect systems and cause all manner of erroneous readings in the cockpit. So while the work was easy, Lix still had to pay attention.


    Which left her thickly muscled rear unattended.


    One cable, two cables¡­ three and four¡­ fix, six, then seven¡­ it wasn''t until she tried kicking one away that the Kux''lar realized her mindless booty boogie had been slowly entangling her in a web of conduits like a fly under the watchful eyes of a spider.


    "Ugh, nggghhh¡­ gnah! Crap! How in the stars did I- uuugghhhh! J-Jack!" Lix found herself twisting, her arms and paws and feet now caught as well as she floated belly down half-way up the cockpit.


    Not to mention her tail was¡­ well¡­ in quite the vulnerable position.


    "What''s up?" She could hear the man using his cybernetics to pull himself towards her, heat blooming beneath the scales of her muzzle as a need burned between her legs. Maybe this wasn''t so bad¡­ "Did you fini- oh. Oh, well hey there scaly lady."


    "J-Jack¡­" Lix twisted her head to look over her shoulder as best she could, a cable lying across her muzzle for a moment before the weightlessness of zero gravity took it away. "I''m um¡­" Legs tensed and struggled, widening in an instinctual need to display for her mate. "I could use¡­ I n-need¡­"


    "Some help?" Jack grinned, drifting closer to run a hand along her haunches. It was as if he pushed a growling hiss from her gullet. He knew what he was doing, he freaking knew!


    "I-If you t-tease me again I-"


    "Y''all shush an'' let me do an inspection. Hmmmm¡­ looks like this docking port back here sprung a leak. A bad one," Lix gasped as he grabbed her paws, his fingers splaying her scaly toes, and wrapped a cable around her lithe ankles. "Might need to dig in it a lil'' to see what''s up." Uncontrollable shivers assailed the reptile as the cruel man traced a line between the slightly raised ridges of her scales, his touch painting an erratic river down her haunch that was reflected in the growing pool of slick need that grew at her slit, held fast by the lack of gravity. A pond of desire that filled her with both embarrassment and lust.


    ¡­


    Really? Now? This was what he was going for? Lix rolled her eyes but if it got Jack to finally ease the burn under tail she''d play along.


    "Oh for fuck''s sa-¡­ gnaaah¡­ I um¡­ yeah, started leaking a little while ago. You might need to go hands on, I''ve no idea where it''s coming- from!" Lix shuddered, her claws squeezing on nothing as he ran a metal digit along the inside of her thigh, tracing where his lips had graced her during their celebration so many cycles ago. "Ngh- please don''t tea- ah! Come ooonnnnn!" Jack grinned, crooked and evil, as he grabbed a handful of her rump, squeezing to watch the scales dimple. Chuckling cruelly, his free hand wrapped a loose cable around her lithe ankles, careful of the killing claws protruding from her gently kicking paws, yet she didn''t struggle. The familiar scent of her desire filled the cockpit, Jack sidling into place behind her to run his fingers down along her now bare spine.


    "Gorgeous¡­" He whispered as her tail wrapped gently around his neck. "Ya like a Y-Star Verono, sleek an'' fast an'' deadly. Now, let''s take a look at that leak."


    "I-It''s pretty bad¡­ fluids everywhere¡­" Jack snorted as Lix moaned, heated breath huffing into the cockpit as he ran a metal digit along the folds of her cloaca. One hand pressed firmly into the middle of her spine while the other worked to spread the puffy, demanding lips of her entrance, her tail squeezing his neck in need as she kicked hopelessly against her bindings.


    Only¡­


    "Gnah! Fuck! Your fingers are so freaking cold, holy shi- ngh!" Stars burst in the raptors eyes as the euphoric sensation of those very same frigid digits wrapped firmly around the base of her neck, the alloy tips depressing the scales and muscle beneath just like a love bite from another Kux''lar. Just like a mating bite¡­ Lix felt her legs tremble and a not at all professional squeak scatter from her maw like a puff of air. Against her will, she felt her tail hike high and her legs tense in preparation to be mounted by her alpha. "Nnggghhhglk! J-Jack- mph!" The sensation of fingers on her tongue, the tangy taste of her own fluids racing across her taste buds, stopped her short. The squeeze on her neck and the growl in her ear sent her instincts wild, her lips closing around her mate''s fingers to suck and lick.


    "Amazin'' what a quick net search can do, I did my homework." Jack purred in her ear, his free hand still squeezing tight around her neck. "Old pack instincts only useful for the bedroom now, but I read they be fun as Hell." Lix could only nod quickly, the fire in her belly flaring into an inferno as he squeezed her. Soon, his fingers were warm and slick, a thick string of saliva connecting her maw to his hand as he popped the digits free and vanished once again behind her.


    "Fuck fuck fuck yes, that¡­ ggglllk! Keep- please- ah, I can''t-"


    "Shhhhh, just hang there scaly lady, let alpha do ya right."


    "Gnaaah, that''s so fuckin'' corny and hot and fuck me before I chew outta these cables and pounce you!" Lix''s growl turned to a needy whimper as the fingers returned, warm and slick this time, to pierce her defenses. He only went knuckle deep, her walls trembling with long suppressed desire, as he curled the tips just right to caress and feel. Nerves rang out like lightning and Lix felt the first of many peaks slam into her like a barreling shuttle.


    Finally¡­ she''d needed this weeks ago!


    "J-J-Jaaaaack, yes yes yes¡­ nghgnah! Right there¡­ yeah that''s-gnneeeeeh¡­ that''s the stuff that''s been leaking lately!"


    "Hmmm¡­ these are pretty slick fluids! Must be lubricant. Why ya got so much, lady? You''re gonna have really high pressure if you over fill."


    "M-Maybe you need to- gah! E-Easy, ohhhh¡­ b-bleed the line? I''ve got a r-release valve somewh-ere!"


    "Hmmm, I think I found it, pretty deep along the pipe." Lix saw stars as Jack worked the two digits inside her, the tips wiggling and pressing on everything vulnerable. She struggled against the cables and conduits, not to escape, but to feel their pressure on her limbs and reassure her that she was one stuck Kux''lar.


    "Ahhhh! Keep g-going! You might need- need a tool! It''s got a weird valve stem!"


    "That so? Well," The sound of her Human''s zipper slowly coming undone was the purest music to Lix''s ears, her eager grin growing as she nodded like a hyper teen being offered their first blunt.


    "I''ve got a probe, we can get real deep an'' find the source o'' that leak." A familiar heat settled on her entrance, drifting globes of her essence floating lazily through the air reflecting her strained face as she tried to press back into the source of her discomfort.


    "A-A probe? You aren''t one of those mechanics who go digging for every little i-issue are ya? I just need that leak handled!"


    Please


    "I pride myself on my work, miss! Don''t ya worry¡­ I don''t charge pretty scaly ladies extra. That being said," Lix could practically hear his evil grin. "This is the Big and Meaty requesting docking permissions in the Raptor-lane, how copy over?"


    ¡­


    "I''d leave if I wasn''t tied up."


    "Ha! Okay, okay, no more teasin''." Slowly, Jack eased himself closer and closer to his Kux''lar, her body twitching and writhing in ecstacy as that wonderous stretch wracked her body with another squealing release of pleasure. Lix found her focus shattered, especially between the wonderous invasion and the still clenching hand at the base of her neck. Any attempt to warble a mating call fell short as her lungs simply ignored her commands.


    Jack''s wrapped an arm around the hanging reptile, his embrace warm and caring, as he began work himself deeper and faster, her pleased trills and trembling body a work of art that eclipsed anything he''d seen.


    "Gnh, J-J-jahaaack- guh! Ah ah ah, I l-love- hnng!" Thoughts turned to mush as he continued to help her forget her worries and fill her with warmth.


    "Shhhh, just hang there an'' feel it. Ya deserve this." Another body twisting climax ripped through Lix''s brain as her mate continued his assault, the hand around her neck leaving to wrap around her other side. Her tail, now loose and free from its hold around his neck, slammed into the bulkhead- his side- the tangled cables that twisted about her chest and legs, anything within reach fell victim as Lix let go of all control¡­ falling into the dream Jack had woven for her.


    "Ngh-no! Leave i-aahhhh!" Her wishes were answered as Jack leaned over her back, his hips working like twin pistons as sweat beaded on his brow, to latch his teeth to her neck. The squeeze wasn''t as strong¡­ and his teeth weren''t nearly as sharp as a Kux''lar''s¡­ but to Lix, it was as if liquid lightning had been poured down her throat. Stars twirled and danced as nebulae burst behind her eyes, a waltz of soul shattering euphoria that had her singing like a bird while Jack pulled her tight to his chest, the duo slipping free of the cables to float entangled and free in each other''s embrace. The warmth that filled her as Jack shuddered behind her, the instincts fulfilled, her mate''s teeth on her neck¡­


    Lixistruzsias broke in all the best ways.


    She twisted, she turned, she squeaked in pain and pleasure as his softening member slipped free from her sore entrance, only to wrap herself around the Human in an inescapable hold. Claws worked his shirt away to reveal a scared chest glistening with sweat, yet her target lay higher. Jack''s shoulder was, unfortunately, metal and alloy, yet the flesh at the base of his neck was red with effort. Screeching, Lix leaned down to latch her jaws and fangs into his skin, her eyes wild with desire and love. Killing claws slashed at the air behind him as she wrapped her powerful legs about his waist, wishing for nothing more than solid ground with which to pin the man against and never let go. Their heads bounced off the floor, sending them tumbling listlessly as Lix continued to hump against the man, a claw reaching down to guide him back within her folds as her desire refueled his engines.


    "Please, please, please!" She was not above begging, all those little nips, those tiny love bites, had been leading up to this¡­ Jack simply laid his head on hers, holding her tight as she clamped her jaws down hard. The taste of blood, minor of course, scattered across her tongue. Just as sudden, Lix leaned her head back to lap at the gently bleeding bite marks. It was a perfect horseshoe emblazoned across his skin, over his neck and chest and back. A mark¡­ her mark¡­


    Mates.


    Wild and untamed, she took her revenge, her powerful haunches a blur as she chased that wonderous peak once more. Jack could only wrap his arms around the raptor as she clenched in so many different ways, her fangs still firmly in his neck. Both grunted as the Human''s back slammed into the ceiling, twirling them about, followed quickly by Lix'' tail slapping the wall to send them careening down the hall towards the engine bay. A trail of fluids followed, tracking them like a sordid creek, until a boot caught the still open airlock.


    Like a flock of released birds, Jack and Lix burst into the garage still entangled in the throes of their love, grunts and squeals filling the empty air until finally both slammed into the wall of the Stripped Bolt¡­ and their pleasure. The sensation of Jack''s love filling her doused the roaring wildfire in Lix''s gut, her eyes closing as a sigh of utmost relief slithered from her throat.


    Finally¡­ both slumped into each other''s embrace, Lix lapping at his bleeding bite mark with a satisfied shudder.


    "Thank you, thank you so much."


    "Hey, I''m a lover, I did my homework."


    It was all she needed¡­ and he realized, exactly what he''d always wanted¡­


    "Stay with me, even after the league¡­ mine, mine¡­ mine¡­"


    The Jack of old would have balked at the demand¡­ but he wasn''t the Jack of old anymore. In fact, he blanched at the thought of a life without his Kux''lar¡­ without his mate¡­ so he nodded. Nodded and squeezed until Lix began to sing, her purrs and trills oscillating off the inner walls of the Stripped Bolt as they floated without care or worry.


    Yes¡­


    Hers¡­


    "Always, ya got me. To the stars¡­ scaly lady."


    End of Love Like Oil


    To Be Continued¡­