Act 2, Chapter 2

The two ships met up closely for a better transmission signal. As they talked, Mina kept her eyes on the Smuggler while he was staring at Mina's ship. The parrot continuously glared at her, as usual.

"What kind of work?" Mina asked. "Just so you know, my work isn't cheap. I've got really important bills to pay."

"As we all do, Lady." Said the Smuggler. "Anyway, yer ship's got blasters?"

"Of course."

The Smuggler pointed to the side, "Y'see all those ships flying around way over there? Those are Dr. Nefarious' ships. Do you know of him?"

Mina's eyes darted to the side, "Noooooo…"

The Smuggler put his hand to his chin, "I think you do, actually."

"Huh?"

"'Cuz I just now noticed Nefarious' ships look awfully similar to the one I found ya floatin' around in…"

Mina's eyes twitched. She felt sweat drops immediately start to fall, "W-well, uhh, that's just because-"

"To pull a stunt like that on such a villain, ya must have guts of steel. Or maybe they're made outta titanium or somethin'?"

The woman paused, eyes wide open, as her heart beat faster. Out of everyone she knew, nobody else had figured it out that quickly. Or at least nobody else had spoken of it. "Yes, they are..." Mina stopped herself and stayed completely still for another second. She slightly opened her mouth and was about to speak before the Smuggler unintentionally interrupted her, "Yer watch is one strange hologuise. I dunno if I've ever seen one where the disguise literally grows from the gadget."

"It's actually not a hologuise. It's- It's a.." Mina looked down at her left wrist and saw her hand starting to tremble. She squeezed her eyes shut and slightly shook her head, "Never mind. So, what about Nefarious' ships?"

"I'd very much appreciate it if you eh.. 'Took care' of em for me. As you can see, they're patrolling a massive side of this sector. And I can't get to where I'm tryin' to go. So I'll need you to-"

The parrot joined in, "Squawk! Shoot em dead! Shoot em dead!"

Mina's eyebrow raised, and one corner of her mouth slightly curled into a smirk. Being paid to shoot down ships belonging to her old boss sounded like all kinds of fun. "With pleasure." She said, "I'll charge you… 5,000 bolts?"

"Deal."

Mina stroked Athena's blaster controls with her thumb and excitedly flew towards the swarm of ships. Without a plan, Mina began firing at the sensor ship, which declared a hostile entity, and called on the other flyers to attack. Multiple ships flew past Athena and fired quickly. Mina squeaked as her ship was hit, gripping her wheel tightly. With a flick of her thumbs, Mina began shooting rapidly at each of the ships, instantly breaking down the first ship. Mina gleefully shouted, "Screw you, Doctor! HAH!"

Mina's mind strictly focused on just shoot, shoot, and shoot. Every time she landed a hit, her smile stretched wider. She hit another ship, "That one's for Roger…" another shot, "That one's for my old arm…", three more blasts in a row, "and that one's just for fun-" Suddenly, a red light on her wheel turned red. Athena was entirely out of ammo, and Mina's horrified gaze watched outside her windshield as there were still enemy ships ready to fire again.

"Ohhh shit-" Mina said right before she harshly turned her wheel, making her entire ship roll sideways. While gripping her hair with one hand, Mina desperately tried to come up with a better idea. An enemy ship fired a missile directly at Mina's ship, and she rolled the ship sideways again. She heard an explosion outside and noticed that when she moved, the enemy shot at another enemy behind her.

Mina continuously made the same moves, causing the enemy ships to shoot at each other, until there was just one left. With no other option, Mina turned Athena's thrusters on as high as they could go, and flew full speed into the final ship, breaking it apart. Mina sat back in her seat and put her hands over her head. She grinned and spoke aloud, "Yeahhh… You like that, Doctor? All your baby ships are destroyed. Just wait until Ratchet and I-"

Athena's engine made a horrendous BANG sound, then started letting out a drawn out metallic screech. Mina's eyelid twitched as her fists balled up, "Aaand there goes my baby ship."

The Smuggler had stayed in his own ship and watched from a distance the entire time. When Mina's severely dented ship came into view, he immediately pressed the communicator button to speak to her, "That was uhh… Somethin'." He cleared his throat, "You really do have guts as strong as titanium don't ya?." He transferred the bolts to Mina and she immediately sent them to her debt collectors. A notification on her watch stated that the payment for the month was paid off, and no other bolts were due for another month.

Mina gave a quick glance to the Smuggler then back at her watch. She whispered to herself, "I wonder what else I can get outta this guy…"

The Smuggler let out a soft grunt and nodded his head, "Well now, I best be on my way-"

"Wait. Hang on a second." Mina interjected. "I need to do one more thing. I just need a little more."

The man sighed heavily and shook his head, "Lady, there's plenty of other thieves and mercenaries and what-not in this galaxy who'd love to befriend... someone like you."

Mina furrowed her eyebrow, as she wasn't sure as to whether or not she should be offended by that.

The Smuggler continued, "I got other things to do-"

His parrot squawked, "AWK! Get lost!"

Mina sneered at the parrot before keeping a cool head. She blurted out, "I don't wanna meet up with random strangers across the galaxy, okay? I want to make more deals with you."

The man paused, having only a blank expression on his face. "Why me specifically?" he asked.

"I just…" Mina shrugged her shoulders and almost reached up to touch her bangs before she pulled her hands back down. She had an awkward grin on her face as she let out more words with a slightly higher pitch, "I just think we work really well together, y'know? I mean, you always know where good jobs are, and, of course, I'm a genius engineer and a skilled fighter."

"'Genius'...?" The Smuggler mumbled to himself as he saw Mina's ship rattling. The Smuggler and his parrot whispered to each other then nodded their heads at the same time. "So, how skilled of a fighter are you?" He asked. A hint of doubt could be heard in his tone of voice.

Mina's eyes didn't meet the Smuggler's. She muttered, Uhh, before putting on a more confident face, "Skilled enough?"

"Good. 'Cuz I got an idea. There's a battle arena in the Korthos sector. Winners get all kinds of prizes 'n such. Weapons, mods, and of course, lots of bolts. Basically, I want ya to maybe win a round or two and hand over, I'd say... fifty-fifty of whatever ya earn? How's that sound to ya?"

Mina cocked her head and narrowed her eyes, "You want me to fight people for prizes?"

"I understand if you don't wanna. I just figured a robotic engineer such as yerself would be able to handle fightin' against weaker organic creatures..."

"No- I mean, yes. Being made out of metal really added a lot of physical strength. I'll do it."

The Smuggler gave Mina half a smile. "I reckon you'll do just fine. I'll be thanking ya after the first round." He shifted his ship's gear to prepare to fly away before leaning back into his mic with a deep voice, "See ya there, Lady..."

After the Smuggler quickly flew off, Mina shrugged and made her way towards the Korthos sector. Athena hadn't made such a big jump yet, and because of the damage caused by the last battle, Mina had no idea if the ship could even handle it. The ship charged for the jump, then the engine made another BANG sound before slowing back down. Charged again, failed. Charged one more time, and the ship made the jump to the next sector. Athena shook and vibrated after the jump, and some controls took longer to work.

The gas odometer showed that Athena was virtually out of fuel and needed to land immediately. Luckily the Battleplex was just a few miles away. Mina approached a very large ship with flashing lights. Athena's radio picked up an advertisement for the Battleplex, confirming that this ship was the right place. As soon as Mina made a rough landing, Athena was entirely out of fuel. Mina sighed and rolled her eyes before hopping out.

She glanced from side to side to see several stray Agorians watching her as she approached the entrance. Some would stare and growl, others would laugh under their breaths and whispered to each other. Mina pointed her face towards her feet and glared.

Her watch lit up and showed a text message from Ratchet that read, "I arrived on Torren IV. I'll let you know how things go."

Mina responded to the message by saying, "Ok."

Ratchet replied almost instantly, "Your nav unit says you're in the Korthos Sector going towards an Agorian battle arena? What are you doing?"

Mina didn't answer and walked into the front doors of the battleplex lobby to see groups of Agorians playing arcade games. The sight was rather humorous, as the Agorians were massive creatures and the arcade machines were so tiny compared to them. A familiar voice came from one of the arcade games. It was a game based on a recent holo-film that starred Captain Qwark as the lead role. Haven't seen him in a while. Is that what he's been doing this whole time?, Mina thought to herself as she continued scanning the lobby. Surrounding the lobby was a ring of large statues commemorating famous fighters. Across the arcade was a line of patrons putting bolts down to make bets on who wins and who dies in each competition.

A hologram of a Terachnoid was sitting up on top of a platform in the lobby to greet spectators and contestants. Mina looked up to meet his gaze.

"Welcome to the Agorian Battleplex, miss!" The Terachnoid greeted.

Mina smiled, "Hey. I was wondering, can anyone sign up to fight in these battles?"

The Terachnoid couldn't help but laugh, "You got something to prove? Well, alright then! It's your funeral. What's your name, miss?"

"Uhh… Minerva."

"'Minerva'? Hah! Were you named after your great grandmother or something?"

Mina's eyes squinted and she shifted her gaze to the side, "I think I was named after a neighbor, actually."

The Terachnoid ignored Mina's comment to continue typing, "Alright, aaaand- Last name?"

"Oxford."

The Terachnoid wrote down her name on a holographic pad. "Okay, Ms. Minerva Oxford…" He mumbled while typing. "You're all signed up! Go through that entrance over there. Our employees will let you know when it's your turn to battle."

Mina nodded her head to thank him then walked off to the arena's entrance. Lots of other soon-to-be contestants were mingling among each other. They all didn't even try to hide how out of place Mina looked to them. Every Agorian, one after the other either shouted a vulgar comment, or just laughed at the sight of the much shorter woman.

She ignored the chatter and folded her arms as she leaned up against a wall. Mina made attempts to not look anyone in the eye, which was difficult as there were Agorians everywhere. One walked past and bumped into her roughly enough to make her let out a quick, high pitched groan. The Agorian snapped, "Watch it, you shrimp!"

Mina sneered, "Excuse me? I'm just standing here minding my own business- You watch it."

"Aw, look. The little girl wants to order me around!"

Mina gritted her teeth and readied her stance, about to spit out insults. Before she could, an arm draped across her shoulders. She glanced down and saw three fingers covered in green spandex. Oh no-

"Allow me to handle this," Captain Qwark whispered into Mina's ear, then loudly spoke to the Agorian, "Random citizen, I apologize for this young one's words! She is naive and full of pent up rage! You know, she never left behind her rebellious teen years." Mina glared at Qwark but stayed silent to avoid further aggravation. Qwark continued, "Save your energy- She'll be seeing you in the arena!" Qwark's sudden intervention caused the Agorian to lose interest and walk away with a dirty look in his eye.

Qwark removed his arm from Mina's shoulder and she turned around to raise an eyebrow. Part of her wanted to be upset by his sudden appearance, the other part decided to thank him. "Thanks, Qwark." Mina said without making any eye contact.

"Anything for an old cadet of mine!" He began, "What a coincidence it is to run into you here. Ratchet just so happened to send me here to talk to these Agorians as they hate Nefarious as much as we do."

Mina put her hands in her pocket and started to face away from Qwark, "Yeah? Did you discover anything worth reporting?"

"WELL, these guys say they've run into Nefarious' troops multiple times and apparently there's a rumor floating around about an employee of his."

"Oh, really?"

"These Agorians are saying they heard that Nefarious recruited an engineer recently… An 'organic-looking' engineer, as they said... Sound familiar?"

Mina's entire body stopped dead in its tracks. She knew she was already giving suspicion with her uncomfortable facial expression. Mina looked at her feet and ran her fingers through her bangs as she thought, He knows too much. What should I do? Do I have to kill him? No! Why would I even think that?

Mina looked up to see Qwark smirking at her. She scoffed and waved one hand in the air, "Come on- That description could fit anyone, Qwark." She said, "Hell, it even fits Ratchet. Speaking of Ratchet, you realize he's been searching for Clank for almost two years now, right? Have you been helping him at all? Or were you too busy working on that movie?"

"As busy as I was playing the lead role in a flawless cinematic masterpiece, I made plenty of time to assist our dear friend-" Qwark's communicator blinked and he opened his text messages, "For instance… Ratchet just now texted me this: 'Are you still at the Agorian Battleplex? Mina just got there. Can you make sure she doesn't do anything stupid?'"

Mina glared at Qwark's smiling face. The hero continued, "Which I did. You're welcome. And what have you been doing to help Ratchet for the past year, Little Miss Upstanding Citizen?"

The woman's eyes focused on each Agorian passing by. She desperately tried to come up with a response before quickly sucking herself back into the conversation, "Actually, I've been working the entire time. You know, I've got that debt to pay off-"

Qwark interrupted, "Riiiight."

"... And after Clank's disappearance, Ratchet and I weren't talking until we bumped into each other on Quantos earlier today-"

"OH- I see." Qwark folded his arms and shook his head with an arrogant grin on his face, "Makes total sense that Ratchet would rather work with a successful hero slash actor such as myself, instead of a gold digging woman-child."

Mina's cheeks started to burn and she felt her hands shaking. Qwark's condescending expression and tone nearly sent Mina into a fit of rage. Instead she shoved away her anger and clapped her hands together and clenched her fists. "WELL," She spoke with loud, drawn out sarcasm, "At least I've been working to help my family instead of working just to kiss up to Ratchet. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready to beat up some Agorians because I've got bolts to earn and a handsome weapon smuggler to impress." Mina turned around to walk away.

Qwark let out a fake cough, "Hypocrite."

He was just loud enough for Mina to hear, and she turned her head back around and said, "And by the way, I'm surprised Ratchet still talks to you after you worked for Tachyon. Working for a villain while your friends are trying to defeat said villain… That's pretty messed up, don't you think?"

Mina twirled around before loudly walking away. Fighting a bunch of giant, beefy reptilians was a much more appealing scenario than hearing another word out of Qwark. One of the back doors opened to reveal a heavily beat up Agorian, covered in blood and bruises. His fellow fighters cheered for his victory and punched his shoulders, congratulating him. Mina couldn't handle looking at him for longer than a few seconds.

The voice of the front lobby Terachnoid came over the speakers. "You're up next, Minerva."

Qwark shouted from the other side of the waiting room, "Remember, Mina; Overconfidence is a flimsy shield!"

Mina's ears lifted, giving away the fact that she had heard Qwark, but gave no other response to his words. She didn't bother going to the armor render as her body technically already was armor. She could already imagine all the laughter from the crowd due to that fact. Armed with only a simple pistol, Mina was ready for the fight.

The elevator lifted Mina up into the middle of the arena while the announcer introduced her to the spectators, "Up next is a young Markazian lady who must have quite the death wish! We happily introduce Ms. Minerva Oxford!"

The crowd roared with laughter and booing. Regardless of the ill introduction, Mina gave a confident stance. Beefy reptilians had to be no match for a beautifully crafted cyborg such as herself. It had to be easy.

Agorians summoned left and right began firing their flails and guns without warning or hesitation. Mina let out a yelp as she leaped for cover as a ball of fire barely glazed her back and singed her bodysuit. Without much plan, Mina yanked out a pistol and pulled the trigger. She looked in horror at the sight of all of her bullets missing their targets. Despite the Agorians having such big bodies, they were surprisingly difficult to hit directly. One got too close behind her and Mina swung around to punch him in the jaw with her other hand. He was knocked back several feet away and the crowd gasped in utter shock.

Mina grinned with pride at her small victory. The spectators were chattering among each other as if they had never seen a short lady battle such big men before. Mina was too focused on her one hit to notice another Agorian rushing up behind her. He swung his pulsing arm at the back of her head, practically throwing her across the arena. She let out a scream that was blurred out by the sound of her body smacking against the floor. Her gun was thrown far away from her.

As she struggled to get back on her feet, a different Agorian picked her up by her neck and belt to throw her against another fighter. She screamed as she bounced off the Agorian, then fell to the floor. Mina felt her circuitry sparking and overheating. She rolled over to try and push herself up off the floor. Instead her arms gave up and she fell back down.

The crowd wouldn't stop cheering for Mina to lose. Ever spectator was chanting phrases such as, "just kill her already", and "destroy that little thing."

No way am I gonna die here. This is such a lame way to die. Mina got back on her feet, glaring at a single opponent. She dashed in his direction and swung a punch at him. He was knocked out immediately. Another one down, two more to go.

Mina gestured for the others to come to her. That ticked them off enough to rush at her. Before one got too close, she ducked to headbutt his legs, breaking his knees in the process. The Agorian let out deafening cries of pain as the last one attempted to apprehend Mina. With quick thinking, Mina grabbed hold of the Agorian's arm to throw him off to the side, fracturing his bones in the process. The woman stood still in complete surprise, observing her surroundings as she slowly realized that she had already won the round.

"The winner is… MINERVA OXFORD!"

The crowd stayed silent for a few more seconds before slowly deciding to cheer for the winner. Spectators let out a mix of excited cheers and confused chattering. Mina shrugged off the mixed reviews and let herself off the stage and back out into the lobby.

Mina walked into the lobby and the same Terachnoid's hologram at the front lobby appeared to dispense a bottle of champagne for Mina. She looked back up at the Terachnoid in confusion, then snapped, "Are you serious? I could've died in there! Surely there's more to my prize than this."

The Terachnoid let out an irritated sigh, "If you want bigger prizes, you need to win more rounds! Each one is harder than the last. So maybe you should take a break if you're feeling unlucky. But hey! Your name will always be on the list." His hologram immediately disappeared.

The woman groaned in discouragement. She walked towards the exit and noticed Qwark was surrounded by a horde of Agorians giving him attention. Qwark called to Mina from across the room, "You did a decent job, former cadet!" He had to wriggle away from the Agorians, only to be pulled back in. He shouted again, "If I could sprinkle some of my own raw, manly power onto you, I would!" Mina tried to hide her displeased facial expression when she noticed how increasingly aggressive the Agorians were becoming around Qwark. He was visibly uncomfortable as he kept slightly raising his hands and attempting to back away.

Maybe I should… "Hey, Qwark?" Mina's voice was raised just loudly enough for Qwark to barely hear her, "Do you want me to let Ratchet know you're here? So he can pick you up?"

Qwark had to carefully push a persistent Agorian away from him, "Ah, yes! Certainly!" He whispered, whining through his teeth, "Do it soon!"

Mina gave Qwark a sad smile before she made her way to the outside of the back of the Battleplex, assuming she'd meet the Smuggler there. Her theory was correct. The man appeared in front of her with a pleasant look on his face, his parrot on his shoulder gave the usual glare. "Congrats on yer win, Minerva..." The Smuggler said her name in a much deeper, slower tone.

"Thanks. By the way, you can just call me Mina." Mina stretched one arm behind her head and gave a cocky grin, "So, did I do good?"

"Depends. What'd you get for a prize?"

Mina put her arm back down and lifted up her other hand that held the bottle. "Apparently, winning one super deadly round wasn't enough to deserve much. I was given some champagne and that's it."

The Smuggler sighed and shook his head in utter disappointment, "Think you can go back in for a few more rounds?"

Mina glared, "Uhm, no? Have you ever been chucked across a battle arena before? It's not fun."

"Aw come on now, Minerva. I was rooting for ya and everything. That's all yer willing to do? What a shame."

Mina growled with bitterness in her eyes, "Hey, I risked my life just because of our deal-"

"I'd assume a full-on robot couldn't possibly be killed by some meaty reptiles. Unless yer not as strong as you've been claiming ya are. Shoulda known you were all talk. Anyway, you owe me a thousand bolts."

"A thousand bolts?!" Mina exclaimed, "For what?"

The Smuggler's parrot squawked and flew around his partner to grab a piece of paper from his pocket. "Squawk! You were supposed to die! AWK!" The parrot cackled. Mina observed the paper and figured out it was a receipt; a receipt for a thousand bolts that the Smuggler paid in bets that Mina would be killed.

"You bet on me to die?!" She seethed.

"Well I would have bet on you to win, but," The Smuggler inhaled through his teeth then continued, "I figured you weren't gonna last much longer. Was supposed to get twice as many bolts in return for yer loss."

"Well," Mina mocked him, "Maybe you shouldn't have placed a bet on me."

The Smuggler put his hands on his hips and bent his knees to better meet Mina's eyes, "Maybe you shouldn't have taken on a job if ya knew you couldn't handle it."

"Wow. Alright, then." Mina rolled her eyes, gripping her champagne bottle and turning away. She circled her thumb around the cork of the bottle and smirked before she turned back around to look back at the Smuggler, "This sucks. We made a good pair and I was starting to like you. I guess I'll just take off and make better deals with friendlier smugglers. But first-" She popped open the champagne, "I'll down this entire bottle so I can forget that we ever had this conversation."

Mina walked off slowly while chugging her bottle. The Smuggler's parrot flew in front of Mina to let out a squawk, "Fifty-fifty! Fifty-fifty! SQUAWK!"

Mina took the bottle away from her lips, making a 'pop' sound. She swallowed, "What?" Turning her head, Mina looked at the Smuggler, then at her bottle, then back at the man again. "Oh... Right."

The Smuggler approached Mina without a word. After a short pause, Mina held up the champagne, "Go ahead." She offered, "I don't have cooties."

"I might."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

The Smuggler gave a sly smile as he accepted the drink, sipping it down. Mina sank to the ground and put her head up against the wall of the building. "That was so not worth it." She groaned. "Sorry I disappointed you, I guess."

The Smuggler wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand before returning the bottle to Mina. The man grunted, "I'm more disappointed in yer fighting style. Ya barely even tried to shoot at the Agorians. I know you know how to shoot. Y'got no excuse for how you handled that fight. You really only won because of dumb luck."

Mina was slurping down more of her drink, shrugging in the process, "If I'm being honest, dumb luck has saved me on more occasions than I can count. Fighting on foot by myself isn't as easy as I thought it would be."

The Smuggler reached for Mina's free hand. Bottle in mouth, Mina was pulled back up to her feet. "What I meant was," the man continued, "You can't rely on strength alone if ya wanna win fights."

Mina glanced down to see the Smuggler's hand still holding hers. He let go quickly and cleared his throat, "Here, lemme teach ya somethin'." He pulled out his dagger and handed it to Mina. She placed the champagne bottle on the ground.

Mina twisted her wrist to look all over the weapon, "Is this so I can stab you for betting on my death?"

"Sure." The Smuggler stepped back and gestured towards himself, "Come at me and slice me up."

"Gladly." Mina grinned and ran at the Smuggler, swinging the dagger. A few quick swishes later, the man threw Mina to the ground without a single effort. She shrilled before she hit the ground, then immediately turned her head to look up at the Smuggler.

"What the…?" Mina faltered, "What the hell was that?"

"You're too tense." The Smuggler pointed out, "When you came at me as quickly as you did, all I had to do was quickly but carefully move you out of my way. You were too stiff to react."

Mina looked up and down her own pose as she processed what he had told her. The Smuggler held out his hand to lift Mina back up. He took the dagger from her hand, "I'm gonna run at ya with this, and I want you to try and do what I just did, alright?"

"Okay," Mina, walked backwards. "Try not to stab me."

"Yer a sweet gal. Sure, I'd rob you blind but I'd never hurt ya."

"Aww. Aren't you the nicest guy in the galaxy?"

The Smuggler ran and quickly swung the knife at Mina's face, causing her to jump back and let out a squeak. She placed one foot backwards and tried to relax enough to move quicker. The swish echoed in Mina's ear right before she grabbed the Smuggler's wrist and twisted her waist, throwing him to the ground.

The man groaned as he hit the ground, then let out a laugh, "Ah, there ya go! Now you're gettin' it." He stood up and stepped back, "Again."

Mina smiled as the Smuggler ran at her once more, she laughed while throwing him back onto the ground. The entire time, the parrot flew idly in the air, glaring down at the scene before him. The parrot flew down to dive bomb Mina, squawking in the process. Mina ducked, and the Smuggler asserted, "Don't let anythin' distract you- Keep your eyes on yer target."

"Then get over here." Mina relaxed her stance and let the Smuggler run at her again, and again. Each time she was able to miss the dagger and make sure he hit the dirt every time. The next time he came at her Mina lost her footing and ended up on the ground herself. As soon as the Smuggler made it within a few inches of her body, Mina jumped up, fist balled, and punched the man right in the groin.

The Smuggler choked out a painful yell before collapsing, clenching his hands around the injury. The parrot vigorously flapped his wings while angrily squawking.

Mina clenched her mouth in horror, "Aw man! I didn't mean to hit you that hard!" She carefully approached the man, who was laying down on his side and writhing in agony. "Uhh, are you okay?" Mina asked.

The Smuggler could only mumble inaudible noises of pain.

"Oooh that doesn't sound okay…" Mina crouched down and gently grabbed hold of the Smuggler's arms, "Here-" She lifted him up off the ground, and he started to gag. Mina shuttered, "Please don't throw up on me."

"No promises."

Although the Smuggler was nearly twice her height, Mina was able to assist him in standing back on his feet. "I am so sorry, oh my gosh." Said Mina. She didn't let go of the Smuggler's forearms as he kept his hands on his groin and shivered. He stared intensely into Mina's eyes and she quickly grew uncomfortable. She raised an eyebrow and asked, "What?"

"I can't tell if you're bold, or just plain crazy." The man groaned.

"I'd say a little bit of both."

The Smuggler gagged again, "But I do know that out of every experience I've had in this galaxy… You are by far the most interesting person I have ever met."

Mina let go of the man and shrugged with a smile, "That's a good thing, right?"

"Oh, yeah."

The Smuggler's parrot flew down and perched himself on his shoulder, giving a furious sneer at Mina. The Smuggler paid no attention to his companion and straightened his back while trying to power through the pain. His normal speech pattern started to return, "You really are somethin', Minerva."

"You don't have to call me by my full name. Literally no one does."

"It's pretty. I like it."

Mina's smile stretched wide, "Alright, then… So, do you wanna go out with me?"

The Smuggler's normal stance and tone of voice returned immediately, as Mina's straight forward request caught him off guard. The parrot squawked angrily, "We have work to do! SQUAWK!"

The man carefully but firmly patted the parrot's head, "You hush." He told his feathered companion. He cleared his throat and looked to Mina, "Yeah. Yeah I'd like that."

Mina looked to her feet with a self satisfied grin. "Sorry to be that person," she said, "But you'll have to pick where we go. I don't know any appropriate date spots in this galaxy."

"Don't worry. I happen to know a nice place. It's right on the outside of Axiom City on Planet Terachnos. I'll upload coordinates to yer ship-"

Mina clenched her teeth at the reminder, "I forgot. My ship's all outta gas."

"Oh, I gotcha covered." The Smuggler pulled a tube out from his belt and put it in Mina's hands.

Mina shook her head in refusal, "Whoa, whoa. I am not gonna siphon someone's gas-"

The Smuggler interrupted Mina by putting his hands on her shoulders and turning her to face the parking lot. He pointed to one of the ships that was several yards away, "Look. See that ship right there? I've been payin' attention. It belongs to the Agorian who threw ya across the arena."

Mina furrowed her brows as her eyes widened. She held out her hand, "Gimme the tube."