Space is cold, really cold and extremely hot at the same time when facing a star. It felt like Xander was in a sauna and a freezer at the same time, as much to his displeasure he had to suffer this because it was his job. Well not really of job more like forced child labor, you see Xander worked on Weyland-Yutani interplanetary transports. Currently he was working outside the ship on a broken transceiver that took damage from a small asteroid. He hated this part of his "job" being forced to EVA to fix damaged parts of the ship's hull. He always wondered why they would make him EVA when an android could do it just fine but then he remembers the same answer, every time the same answer. He was the ships Tunnel Rat, the ships non-existent all-knowing engineer.

By non-existent Xander meant that no one on board the ship knew he was there, just the Captain, first officer, chief engineer, and the chief medical officer. No-one else knew that a 17-year old kid traveled throughout the ship's via hidden tunnels fixing damaged equipment, minor hull breaches, and the periodical trip to the engines to stop them from overloading before the other engineers could even find out. Sure the other engineers could fix those problems but they all had years of experience and were all "invaluable" as they were called, Xander was just some kid who happened to master engineer and was expendable by Wey-Yu standards.

Sometimes Xander kind of hated that his worked-obsessed father made him read the entire blueprints and layouts of multiple cars, boats, planes, jets, spaceships, hell he even made him memorize the entire building plans for a particle accelerator to ensure that Xander would get a high paying job with Wey-Yu engineers, but every time Xander remembered that was the best his father could do since his mom died in child birth and his dad had to provide for both of them for all those years.

"Done, the transceiver should be up and running again Don" Xander said over his com.

"I told you to call me Chief you snot nose brat and yes the transceiver is working again. Now get back in here the waste disposal system has clogged up again and I want it fixed before we dock with the Roman or your ass is grass."

"Ok, Don"

Xander chuckled as he switched off his com. He really loved to mess with Don or "Chief" as he wanted to be called. Don always had a problem with a 17-year old and the ship who possible knew more than him probably because he had a massive god complex.

Xander entered the airlock, and took off his space suit, look to see if anybody was around then moved into the connecting hallway and moved to a panel that had a small, faint white wrench on it, the sign of a Tunnel entrance. He heard faint footsteps heading his way from down the hall, Xander quickly pulled of the panel and crawled inside and put the panel back before the footsteps passed. He turned and began to crawl toward the storage level were his "room" was, it was about a 15 minute trip with how Xander had to be quite and that the tunnels were at times confusing even to someone who travel them every day.

He arrived at his "room" in the storage level that was just an extra mattress and pillow, tarp, small lamp, old mini-frig, the various manuals and blueprints of the ship, and a photo of his late was about to hit the sack when he remembered that Don was expecting him to fix the waste disposal system so he got up walked over to a small closet and pulled out a full body suit that said "Tunnel Rat WD" WD for waste disposal. After putting and his suit he enter the tunnels. The tunnels were always tight on space but with the suit on he could barely move easily. Xander looked on into the tunnels, they were dark he could barely see but he continued on the waste disposal. He really hated this part of the "job" but he had to do it was his forced duty as a Tunnel Rat and Xander remembered how he became one. He remembered the day it happened, the day his father "sold" him.

Xander was 13-years old when the Wey-Yu men came to his house, they said they were there to offer him a job when turned 18 but that they would take him to be trained for it. They said that he would be taken to a Tech school for proper training, where he'd be living amongst other similar students and would be given a high position in The Company's engineering division after he graduated. Xander jumped at the chance with no knowledge that it was a setup, or that his dad sold him into Wey-Yu forced labor in order to pay the bills and debts he accumulated. Xander became aware of the trap and soon as he stepped into the car were one of the men sedated him, where he woke up he didn't know but he knew that Wey-Yu would become his new home. So for two years he was trained in ship engineering, part construction and replacement, and engine operations. They made him learn how to crawl through the hidden tunnels quickly and quietly, very rarely did he see another person besides his instructors but was able to find out that mostly every ship had a tunnel rat usually someone who owed high debts to Wey-Yu. When he was 15 he was assign to his current ship the Tombstone. Everyone hated the name because it brought on ominous feeling.

Xander drifted in his memories until he reached waste disposal and automatically saw the problem, too much food was stuck on the sides of the shaft and caused a block up so Xander pulled out his plasma cutter and sliced the through the food blocked the waste fell through the disposal system.

"That was easier then I tho…" was all Xander could say before the ship wide intercom come on.

"Attention all crew this is Captain Anyo speaking, prepare for arrival and boarding with the Roman in 1 hour."

"I wonder why we're boarding with the Roman,"Xander thought "It's a military ship, I wonder what's going on?"