Sky couldn't take her gaze off of the small-framed woman in front of Kirrik. Something about her fiery demeanor and striking hazel eyes rang a bell of familiarity in the back of Sky's mind. She wondered if she had seen her before in the Atometry or, given her mechanic nature, when she sold her fighter after she first left Millik. Either way, she was captivated.
An old Terric appeared at the door and yelled towards the group. She overheard the woman's name: Nox. She ran it through her memory but still didn't come up with any matches. It was certainly a mystery, but one Sky was more than eager to solve.
The Terric made his way closer to the group and Nox changed direction, facing Sky for the first time. Nox froze, her lips slightly parted as if taking a breath. Sky studied her face intently, making note of every line and curve. Nox blushed and hurriedly turned away.
'She's shy,' Sky noted. 'I can work with that.'
The Terric stamped a long metal rod into the ground as he walked up to Kirrik. Nox moved to his side. Sky watched them both intently and saw Nox sneak another glance her way. Sky gave her a bright smile and the mechanic blushed again as she looked down.
"You've been gone a while, my boy," Bugu told Kirrik. He pointed his rod toward the Nova. "That ship of yours has seen better days, too."
Sky thought the Terric was cute, in an odd sense. He was half their size and a ball of matted white fur with eyes that took up most of his otherwise featureless face. His antennae drooped more than most Terrics she had seen before. Sky fought her urge to run over and hug him.
"I've never seen a Terric with a Human son," Sky heard Zaius whisper to Diah. "That's definitely a new one."
Diah let out a soft laugh and poked Zaius in the side with her elbow. Sky's attention shifted to them. Something had obviously happened between the two since she last saw them. They were much friendlier. No, definitely more than friends. Sky tried to think of when this major development had occurred. Everything had become a blur since she took Imi's chip and got lost within the endless amount of data and plans. Still, she couldn't help but be happy for them. Diah seemed like a genuinely good person, and Zaius had become a lot more engaged since she came into their lives. It was nice to have the two of them around and not feel like she was alone anymore.
Sky wondered how long she could stay in the picture without being too much of a nuisance, however. Her gaze turned back to Nox, who was angrily spouting something at Kirrik again. It was time for Sky to start forging her own path.
###
"And that's not something he's able to do," Nox yelled at Kirrik. "Bugu can barely move around, much less crawl into the spaces necessary to fix that junk heap. You either let me fix it or get it out of here."
Kirrik felt himself getting angrier by the second.
"I don't want you within a hundred feet of that ship," He responded. "You clearly don't appreciate the fine craftsmanship that went into her creation, nor do you understand how much of a delicate process repairing her is!"
"Why do you keep calling it a her?" Nox questioned loudly. "It's a ship, you jackwagon!"
"Thank you!" Imi said from Kirrik's side with her hands in the air.
Kirrik let out a groan of frustration. Their conversation was going nowhere. He knew Bugu was the only one capable of appreciating and fixing the Nova, as he had many times before. In fact, only Bugu knew how much the ship really meant to him. There was no other option.
"Who is this child, anyway?" Kirrik asked Bugu with an arm outstretched in Nox's direction.
"Ah yes, introductions are quite necessary," Bugu chirped. "You seem to have brought a whole group with you."
He tapped the ground in front of Nox with his rod.
"This is Nox Gans, my daughter and protege. That makes her your sister, Kirrik, so be nice. And please, tell me who this wonderful woman you've brought with you is! A wife, perhaps?"
Kirrik felt embarrassment, confusion and a dash of shock mix into an emotional cocktail that left him speechless. There was no possible way he was family with the gremlin in a mechanic outfit. He refused outright.
Imi stepped forward and reached toward Bugu's hand.
"I'm Imi. I'm not his wife, just his partner-in-crime," She said, amused. Kirrik could tell she was relishing every second. "We have a few travelers with us that need to get to Vensha and we ran into some problems. Any help is welcome."
Imi gave Kirrik a hard stare.
"Regardless of who it's from."
Nox stuck her tongue out at Kirrik. He knew there was no chance of winning the fight. A dejected sigh left his body.
"Don't worry," Nox goaded Kirrik. "I'm the best mechanic outside of Bugu down here. I'll make that flying trash pile into a ship truly worthy of being called the best."
__________________________________
Ravig waited patiently for the signal to finish encoding. He was frustrated at how the situation with Speaker Nollak had gone, and even more frustrated that he let it happen that way. Nollak was right, though. He needed her to follow through in order to implement his own plans. Regal was too self-absorbed to remain the leader for the Kunar. He didn't have the bite that Ravig did.
"Well, well," Rhessian tittered on the other end of the holoscreen. "If it isn't the chosen one coming to do his own work. To what do we owe the pleasure? Is Rana too caught up in other things to tend to you?"
Ravig remained calm in the face of Rhessian's jests. He knew the clown of a commander was just wanting to drag him into another fight for the fun of it all. Ravig refused to give him the satisfaction.
"I want an update on your status and your pursuit of the Nollak girl," He ordered.
"My, how forward," Rhessian responded. "At least ask me about my day first."
Ravig felt his claws dig into his palms.
"I won't play these childish games, Rhessian. Tell me what I need to know, and do it now."
Rhessian looked away from the screen. He silently mouthed something at an unknown party. Ravig felt the frustration building further.
"No, he wants an update," Rhessian muttered to the other person. "I told you to send it. What do you mean I never told you?"
"Rhessian, if I don't get my update right now, I will take the Requiem, track you down, rip your mask off and shove it so far into your sternum that you split in two!" Ravig screamed at the screen. Enough was enough.
"There's the general we know and love, Rhug," Rhessian mocked with the smarmiest of smirks. "We're moving into place and should have the girl to you soon, Ravig. We've brought in a third party to ensure our success."
Ravig crossed his arms in contempt. He didn't like the idea of bringing in someone else, especially when there were already two Regime members on the job. The situation was getting messier by the day.
"This plan of yours better go smoothly," Ravig warned. "I would hate to see what happens to you if it doesn't."
__________________________________
Diah listened intently as Nox labeled off the large number of things that needed to be fixed up for the Nova to be operational again. She could make out a few obvious things, like engine parts or the comms array, but the rest eluded her. Zaius seemed just as confused. The two were pressed up against each other on a large green couch in the corner of Bugu's small living room. The Terric sat in a lone chair on the opposite end while Kirrik and Imi lounged on the floor. Sky leaned against the wall behind them.
Nox circled the large holotable in the room's center. She had pulled up a diagram of the Nova and highlighted all the broken bits and bobs. Her hands and face were crusted over with oil and grease.
"You'll also need a sub-synaptic sparker and a cooling wire for it to go into that cannon you burned," Nox finished. She dusted her hands and looked at the rest of the group. "I don't know who's paying, but it's going to be a pretty steep price."
"Come on, Bugu," Kirrik chuckled. "You know we'll make good for it."
Bugu's eyes flashed a bright pink three times. It seemed like the old Terric had fallen asleep. Diah wasn't sure at what point during Nox's lecture he had checked out.
"What's going on again?" He asked drowsily.
"They're trying to get out of paying," Nox interrupted. She gave Kirrik a dirty look that he returned in full.
"Bugu, we can cover half of whatever needs fixing but until we get this girl to Vensha, we're not going to be getting much of a payday," Kirrik explained.
Diah sat up and tilted her head at Kirrik. She wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting. In fact, she thought the trip was a favor to Zaius for Gen. That was, at least, how Kirrik had made it initially seem.
"Who said anything about getting paid?" Diah inquired sincerely.
Kirrik shot her a glance of annoyance. Diah realized she had made a big mistake.
"They're not even good for it, Bugu!" Nox exclaimed. "Are we really going to let them get out of paying? We need that!"
Bugu raised his rod in silence and pointed it at Nox. She dropped her hands by her side with a look of defeat.
"We'll take your half," He told Kirrik. "We'll need you to do us a favor in return for the rest, though. Nox has something she needs help with, but hasn't found the right group of people to help her."
Bugu's compound eyes glanced over everyone in the room.
"Perhaps this group will be what we need."
Nox moved to the holotable and swiped away the Nova's diagram. The table flickered as it loaded what looked like a map of Elontra. She kicked the side of the table and it clicked loudly, solidifying the image. Diah could see every pipe, every building and every transport system outlined in incredible detail.
"This is where we are," Nox said as she tapped the map. She moved her hand toward the outskirts of Elontra. There was a large set of blocky buildings with transport systems running through them.
'Mining facilities?' Diah pondered. 'Or maybe some sort of train depot?'
"There's been a large amount of Kunar coming in and out of the factories recently. Like huge ships of them," Nox explained. "Anyone working there has been tossed out or killed and it's sent everyone into a frenzy. I can't stand by and watch the abuse anymore. I want some people to go and investigate, but everyone in the city is scared."
"So you want some kind of investigation or mercenary team?" Kirrik asked wearily. "You can't just treat us like some kind of guns for hire."
"That's exactly what we are though," Imi responded next to him. "A job's a job. We can't afford to be picky right now."
Kirrik rolled his eyes. Diah felt Zaius scoot up from behind her. He cleared his throat.
"They could be using the factories to refine something," He speculated. "They export a lot of Zanathum, so maybe they needed more places to smelt it."
"Why would they be so secretive about it?" Nox pushed back. "If it's just Zanathum, why not let us help?"
"The only things that would require that much Zanathum are ships or weapons," Sky voiced from the wall. "Both are products that would raise a lot of questions for anyone in the High Prime or Collective if they found out."
"War," Imi simplified.
Diah's mind reeled at the possibilities.
'Is that why they kidnapped me?' She reflected. 'As a pawn of war? That would mean that they know who I am, who my mother is, and all of the ties that we have.'
'At least someone is stepping up to take what's theirs,' Her internal Wyrna hissed. 'What have you done aside from make things worse? Do you even think you can save me?'
Diah ground her teeth in frustration. She needed to make it back and check on her mother, regardless of what the voice in her head told her. If anything, Wyrna could warn Gallard of the Kunar's plans. They needed to do something, anything, to prevent a war from igniting. Diah couldn't stand by and let an entire universe burn when she had the ability to stop it.
"How long will the Nova take for repairs?" Diah spoke up. Her tone had become more authoritative. Nox turned to her in surprise.
"About a day," She answered. "The Nova won't even lift off the ground until then."
"Then we do it," Diah affirmed. "Zaius and I will go and check."
Zaius reached around and interlaced his fingers with hers once more as a sign of agreement. She felt his warmth behind her and an added sense of security. She knew she could handle her own, but it was nice to know he was there too.
"I took you out in ten seconds," Imi stated as she stood. "I can't in good conscience leave you two to go alone."
"Do you even have a conscience?" Diah remarked, miffed by Imi's comment.
"I didn't agree to anything," Kirrik stated with his hands raised. "I'm not getting mixed up in any acts of war."
"Then your beloved ship stays in the scrap heap," Imi said as she extended her hand toward him. "We both know you're not going to let that happen."
Kirrik took Imi's hand and pulled himself up. He dusted himself off and moved toward Nox. Their height difference was notable.
"You promise you'll take good care of her?" He intoned. Nox stared him down.
"I'm the best, so my work has to reflect that," She taunted. "That old thing will be brand new. You won't recognize it."
"And I'll help her," Sky added. She threw herself off the wall and closer toward Nox. The latter grew red in the face. "If you really are the best like you claim, I want to learn from you."
Diah tried to hide her smile. Sky was nothing if not direct. She could tell Nox, however, wasn't really putting the pieces together.
"It's settled then," Bugu said. He tapped the ground with his rod and his eyes glowed white. "If you four are going to investigate the Kunar, I know someone who might be able to help."