Chapter 2 - Redemption
The bad part about fleeing the Empire out of desperation was that you didn't have the foresight to take anything with you. Domino had the clothes on his back, his instincts, and the ship that he was in. Though, the further he had gotten away from the Empire's threatening border, the more he began to realize that he would need monies. Fuel was something that he was going to need, and pretty damn soon.
While there were fuel outposts available, the problem was that the ones outside the Empire didn't cater to Irkens, some signs actually translated to 'will shoot on sight'. He knew that leaving the Empire meant going into a place that didn't care for Irkens, but it was either risk that or be set for deletion at the hands of Red and Purple.
He put the ship in autopilot and rummaged the back for something. He could do with a disguise chip, or something as simple as a weapon. Yes, a weapon sounded good, because weapons insured your safety. His own battle knowledge and PAK extensions could only go so far.
He found a shroud in the furthest crate, and with a defeated sigh he decided that anything was better than nothing. Now he had to figure out how to get monies. The one thing he didn't want to do was whore himself out, he did enough of that after they caught him. He shuddered at that memory.
With the shroud he went back to his seat, seeing that he was heading for a meteor outpost and reading the signs. No Irkens prohibited, but it never said anything about shooting. He hoped that it was a good sign and proceeded to move the ship into port.
"You just ran away from your home, and now you're going to have to talk to outsiders." He said to himself, "You can do this, Dom." He got up and pulled the shroud over himself, masking his face well. After one more moment to catch his breath he stepped out on the bridge, avoiding eye contact with miscellaneous aliens and pushing himself into the small shop.
"He told Myx that everything's going bad." A female Vortian spoke out to something wrinkled and hairy. "I ain't got a home anymore. Now that the Empire's Tallest got picked off they're sayin' the treaty with Vort's no good anymore. I'm not lettin' those Empire dogs enslave or kill me just cuz they want my goods."
"You're the best arms dealer in this area, Z." The alien grunted out, "If anythin', you should take down some of them Irkens and gut their eyes out. I'll let'cha."
Domino wanted to leave. Yep. Just as he walked in he suddenly had the urge to leave.
He turned around automatically, moving to step back out until a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Hold it!" The female's voice was sharp.
Domino squeaked. "Y-yeah?" He just hoped to Irk his Vort dialect wasn't shitty.
"Your ship is an Irken special." She said, "I saw you getting out of it."
"Oho." The wrinkled alien grinned.
"Only Elite gets those ships." She continued.
Domino knew all eyes were on him, and he cautiously turned around. He expected to see a gun in his face but all he saw was the female's pink eyes full of mirth. "So what'cha do? Steal it?" She asked.
"...pretty much." Domino answered, grinning nervously. "I kinda knocked the owner out and escaped Irk as fast as possible."
"No way! Irk?" Another voice boomed from the store, "No one survives the heart of the Empire! You must be an assassin."
"That could explain the two Tallest deaths. Aren't they crowning two new assholes?" The female tilted her head curiously, and Domino nodded.
"They're complete idiots, I give them a week." He said honestly, "There was supposed to be a third…but he was seen as defective."
The female snorted, "Defective Irkens are horrible. More dangerous than the non-defects."
"I wouldn't say that…" Domino trailed off, but then he thought about a certain defective Irken and shook his head. "Okay, I change my mind."
"Zet, this fella just escaped Irk, poor shit's prolly out of fuel." The wrinkled alien called out, "Give 'im some high-grade guns." He eyed Domino with a grin. "My eyes ain't so good but you look big, prolly gave those pints a fright."
Domino opened his mouth to speak but cut himself off, his hands wringing anxiously. "I could use some fuel if you'd be so kind."
"Aye! I'll pay for it." He replied gruffly, "Anythin' for anti-Empires."
The Vortian approached him again, holding out a couple of weapons. "Here hun, let's give ya a fightin' chance."
Everything was working out better than he thought it was, and he wondered just what was happening. Though, Domino wasn't going to complain. He smiled slightly and took the guns, slipping them away. "T-thanks, both of you."
"Call me Zetiya, hun." The Vort winked at him, "Anythin' for Antemps."
Domino used that moment to leave, he needed to fill up his ship and get out before anything bad happened. Though, his luck seemed to have a time limit, because the third person from inside the shop approached him and began to make small talk. Domino could see the gun on the alien's holster and that's all he could look at.
"Yeah, yeah, I got to go now." He said politely, "Thanks."
He just didn't realize the alien was standing on the edge of his shroud, and time seemed to slowly pass by as it unveiled his true form.
"IRKEN!" The alien snarled, alerting everyone around him.
"Shit." Domino hissed out, grabbing for his gun. "I'm not here to hurt anyone!" He shouted.
"You lyin' piece of shit! The only good Irken is a DEAD Irken!" Another snarled.
Domino wasn't the one to shoot first, and he almost tripped over himself getting inside the ship, starting it up and pulling out while the pump was still in the tank. He could feel a stinging pain to his shoulder where he was shot, his robes clotting up the blood that surrounded it.
"So much for getting out safely." He said to himself.
He continued to speed through the expanse until he was sure no one was behind him, setting the ship into autopilot before getting up to look for a first-aid kit. He settled himself down when he found it, ripping the bloodied sleeve from his body and treating the wound. He let out a sigh then, leaning against the wall for a moment so he could relax.
Somewhere between laying back to relax and having a gun in his face, his PAK seemed to go into stasis mode, because he didn't notice when a ship boarded his own and the Vort female from before forced her way inside.
"I'll take my guns back, sweetie." She said when he opened his eyes.
Domino almost hit his head against the gun in shock, gritting his teeth and looking up at her. "D-don't shoot- I really did steal the ship!"
She snorted, "The day I believe a fuckin' Irken is the day I lose my brainmeats."
"Look, um..Zet? I'm being very serious here. Why would I lie in front of a lethal weapon that could blow my head off?" He looked at her pleadingly.
"Humor me, then." She inched her gun away from his forehead, "Why would an Irken leave the Empire willingly?"
"I'm defective." He said immediately, finding the gun pressed into his head now, "Not in the way you think!" He shouted. "I-I left because I was risking getting deleted and I refuse to become another fucking Tallest!"
She quirked her brow, staring at him. "You're that third Tallest." She looked thoughtful then, finally moving to sit in front of him. She kept the gun out, just in case.
"My name's Domino." He tried to smile, "Yes, I was supposed to be a Tallest on this Day, but I decided to leave."
"I assume all those Irkens wouldn't pass up such an opportunity. What made you leave?" She questioned.
"I hate the Empire." He said simply, seeing the look of shock on her face. "Yeah, I'm really defective, because everything the Empire is and how it's run just doesn't make sense to me. When I became taller it just…" He glanced to the side, away from her. "Everything became weird. Then I learned about everything, and it just made me hate the Empire further."
"Shit. I never thought I'd hear that from an Irken." She broke out into a small laugh. "Honey, you're just a sitting target out in this place."
He finally relaxed when she set the gun down, shrugging. "I'm either deleted at home or just risk it all here, I chose the less dangerous." He smiled reassuringly. "It seems to be working out so far, I got free fuel and guns and you didn't kill me."
She smirked in amusement. "Antemps are everywhere, honey. You'll be shot dead quicker if you don't have anyone to backup your story. How about I make your life a little luckier? Ditch this ship and join mine. Antemps all over this place know who I am and you'll be safer than a Flooxian newborn."
He quirked his antennae quizzically. "What do you get out of it?"
She grinned widely then, "Hun, look at you. You're an Irken with Antemp beliefs and a pretty tall one at that, you're definitely a threat to the Empire as long as you're alive. Now imagine if you had as much power as those two you call idiots."
Domino watched her, thinking carefully. "What are you saying?"
"I'm sayin' be a beacon of hope for everyone the Empire fucks with. With a little help, I can give you everything you need." She looked confident in her suggestion, but he still had doubts.
"What if I refuse?"
"Honey," She sighed, touching his cheek. "If you do then you'll be dead quicker than you think, and then what? You left the empire for nothing! All us Antemps are lookin' for a way to demolish the Empire, there's even talks of a resistance forming. Imagine yourself as part of that, the first Irken to ever go against their kind. You'll be known everywhere! If you die, then no one will know your story."
The more he thought about it the more he realized that she was right. He needed to be out there. He needed to be heard. Because, what if he wasn't the only Irken in the Empire looking for a way out? What if there were more like him? Someone had to give them a reason. He took a breath and nodded, "I'll do it."
Zetiya smiled, taking his hand and bringing him to his feet. "Good, now let's grab whatever you think is valuable and bring it on my ship. We can send this one somewhere."
"Nothing is valuable here, it's just full of random crap that belonged to the Irken I stole it from." Domino gave the back another sweep, picking out another med kit and two boxes of snacks.
"Why would you steal a ship?" Zetiya questioned, watching him pick through everything. "You are really tall, I'm sure they would have given you one."
"I was under time restraints." He explained, "If I just asked for a ship, they would have asked why I needed one, and I just left before The Great Measuring. My handlers assumed I was still locked up in my room and getting prepared. I had to climb out the damn window." He quirked a grin, "There's guards everywhere that would have taken me back to where I was supposed to be, and once I snatched the ship there was an alert on my sudden disappearance."
She leaned against the wall, grinning with amusement at the story. "That sounded like a fun escape."
"Yeah, hiding in the bushes to avoid security is really fun." He replied blandly. "After Miyuki and Spork got killed, security was beefed up." Domino finally stopped searching and moved to the door, "Let's blow the ship up."
"Calm down there, Dom." She ushered him into her ship, a somewhat larger one full of weapons and actual rooms. "While blowing up an Irken special sounds pretty nice, you need to think ahead." She pulled out a remote and played with it until the Irken ship began to move on its own. "Two minutes after you left a couple of Irken ships passed through the outpost, heavily armed Irken ships at that. They interrogated everyone. I had a feeling something was wrong when they marked you as a fugitive, so I directed them in another direction and tracked you down. That Irken special has to be found." She proceeded to shut both hatches, looking out the window while piloting the other ship away from hers. "It's better to send them on a wild chase than to have them going to every outpost out here scaring everyone."
Domino watched the ship get farther and farther away, looking over at the remote in her hands and smirking. "That's a nifty piece of work."
"It's how I got to board your ship without your permission." She smirked at him in return. "Irken technology is full of holes and back doors, that's why they love Vort tech so much. We make our shit more secure and efficient."
"That's what Miyuki wanted for the Massive." He said casually, moving to set down everything.
"The Massive?"
"It's supposed to be a massive ship, everything about it screams Tallest cruiser." He sat down up front, "Almost like the palace on Irk, but more portable."
Zetiya took in the information quietly, heading to the main chair and setting a course. "You have just given us an upper hand, my friend." She grinned, turning the ship away from the one that was long gone, darting forward. "I have a friend who is working on a resistance, pretty paranoid but he's leader material. Irkens love to play with shit that doesn't belong to them, and if they're going to make that ship with our tech, then they're going to make themselves a target."
"What is he?" He asked curiously.
"He's like my third cousin fifteen times removed or something." She shrugged casually, "Vortian. This time is a really bad time for us, with talks of the treaty with the Empire going to shit. Everyone's either up and left or stayed on Vort to prepare for a battle. My friend never trusted the treaty, left a long time ago. He always told us that they were going to turn traitor, that Irkens weren't trustworthy, and he was right."
Domino frowned at that, "And you want me to meet this lover of my species?"
She snorted in amusement, "If you met him on your own he'd shoot first and ask questions later, but with me he will just scream at you and assume I'm being tricked."
Domino glanced at the pile of weapons sitting in the back, "You know, that win-win situation really doesn't sit well with me."
She laughed then, "Honey, relax. He won't shoot you dead if I tell him not to. You'll need him, anyway."
"Need him for what?" He asked, fiddling with the tie to his robes.
"Information. My friend is very deep with the Antemps. He knows everything there is to know and what connections you need to make. I assume that outside information isn't available in the Empire, so you need to know who to trust, who to avoid, and what you can do. If you actually want to make a name for yourself, he's where to start."
Domino nodded slowly, "What's his name?"
"Lard Nar."