Imperial Guard – 003 The Infinite Depths of Space

Chapter 8 New Horizons

In many ways, the energy beings from a previously undiscovered realm, whose name could only be expressed as a feeling of joy, were like the Hytharians and Xhi'tha. A hive mind. Each individual was able to represent their entire race as a whole. Many of them were present in the embassy wing, where representatives of other worlds had gathered as well. What began as an attempt to explore new frontiers in another galaxy had resulted in the discovery of an entirely new plain of existence.

"Your universe is very different from ours," one of the creatures explained to Raeth. "We had to alter ourselves and our technology substantially in order to sustain ourselves. These alterations are draining our energy reserves. We shall have to return to our own universe soon."

They also had some trouble in explaining the concepts on which their universe was based. Due to the telepathic link it was possible to show instead of tell, but where the mental images were like pictures of their birthplace to the aliens, to Raeth it was a kind of beauty beyond his full comprehension. In their reality, there were no stars and planets. What he saw with his mind's eye, were rivers of glowing particles, moving to and from fountains of light, with what looked like their ships travelling along these streams. It was like an entire dimension of energy in a perfectly balanced state.

Because the true name of their species could not be pronounced, representatives of other worlds had come up with nicknames as a way of addressing them. They accepted this and it helped to ease communication. Very often these nicknames were derived from those of creatures similar in form to the aliens.

For example, the humans had decided to call them Nymphs. Not only was this a reference to a large family of insects with a great resemblance to the aliens, it also referred back to ancient mythology as being a name for certain minor deities associated with nature.

For resembling a similar creature, native to Sogowa Prime, Raeth's people had decided to call them Fharii. Although this was a larger bird-like creature, they had the same fore and hind wings, but with a different shape and built for speed, and they came in a variety of different species with unique color patterns. Flocks of Fharii were often believed to be able to predict the weather, especially in more traditional cultures and there was some scientific truth to that as the fast flyers often flew ahead of approaching weather systems.

"We look forward to continuing relations with your kind, should we find a way to stabilize the connection between our realities."

"That is our wish as well, Raeth, House of Meztar. We shall need to find ways for our kind to survive outside our own universe."

With the direct mental link between him and one of the creatures severed, Raeth took a deep breath in relief. Their way of communication was so direct, so much more efficient for relaying information, but at the cost of putting a great strain on mental resources. This wasn't so much noticeable when the link was active, due to the artificially induced euphoria, making the transition all the more feel like a blow of exhaustion.

"Your thoughts on them?" Trezka asked, rubbing her own temples.

She and Jirro stood at his sides, having been locked in the same conversation with the Fharii that flew up with a flap of its illuminated wings, leaving them standing on the meeting spot in the middle of a small circle of flat-topped trees put in large stone pots. Flexing his tail and muscles, to shake the rubbery feeling, Raeth still wasn't quite sure. The Fharii were so different from anything else encountered. They could very well be hiding malicious intent, and nobody would know.

"I think they are a peaceful… people, for the lack of a better word. Not sure if their way of 'life' can be compared in any way to ours."

"Do you think they're acting truthfully?"

The way Jirro threw out the question, seeded some doubt, but there was one thing that made Raeth lean toward a strong 'yes'. Something he experienced during their mental conversation.

"I'm inclined to think they are. During our conversation I… I didn't mention them directly. But I felt they could sense the thought. There's something about them that reminds me of the Drej. And when that thought crossed my mind, I felt something. A kind of… pain. A pain similar to losing a loved one. It's hard to describe. It was brief, but it was definitely there."

"The Drej are capable of hopping between dimensions," Trezka pondered out loud. "They could be their enemy as well."

"Let's hope they are," Raeth expressed his own thoughts. "For the sake of having that in common."

He was about to turn around and head back to the center of the plaza, when a Hytharian construct approached them. This machine body had taken the form of a centipede, raising to an erect position on a few sets of rear legs. Although still a little unsettling, Raeth was glad they had respected his wishes not to use a mechanized clone of his people. The eye-like optical sensors even had an unusual kindness designed into them. That in combination with the mandibles and antennae made its face remarkably expressive.

"Greetings, Raeth, House of Meztar. We meet again."

"Moiseh. We almost didn't, if you get what I mean."

The construct nodded.

"Yes. We did not anticipate this as the outcome of our experiment. The appearance of the Fharii, as you call them, was unexpected, as well as their hostile response to our probe's scan. We did suffer some loss of material during the ensuing battle and we are pleased with your intervention."

"We had to do something. They threatened the lives of everyone aboard the station."

"We regret our handling of the situation. Our ability to make mistakes is a reminder of who we once were in the past. Forgive us for our mistake."

Their acknowledgement surprised Raeth. The Hytharians had come so far. Evolved away from their biological forms. Became more machine in their quest to gather and preserve knowledge. Even they had not forgotten who they once were. Even they could not fully shed every flaw they once had.

"That is all right. I don't think my own people would've handled their response any differently."

The construct nodded again.

"We will meet again, Raeth, House of Meztar."

The trio watched in fascination as the mechanical creature, modeled after an insectoid form common on many worlds, skittered away on its multiple sets of legs. Although their portal did open up a whole new galaxy to explore, full of unique experiences and opportunities, Raeth deduced from that last comment that the Hytharians did not plan to leave their home galaxy behind forever. Trezka grinned. The corner of Jirro's beak was curved slightly upwards. Raeth smiled.

"It sure is an exciting time to be alive."

The embassy wing was a huge layered complex centered around a series of stacked plazas, connected by spiraling walkways in between, with plenty of open-air meeting spaces under a huge domed roof, offering an unobstructed view of the stars. Every layer used its own color of large stone floor tiles and the gardens, fountains and decorations created a serene environment for discussions and negotiations. For more private sessions, plenty of large conference rooms were available, situated around the open area. Many members of the Myr'shala's crew were present, free to spend some more time off after the whole ordeal.

Aside from diplomatic talks, there was plenty of room for entertainment as well. The Fharii were masters of energy manipulation and their technology and natural abilities in this regard were so advanced that they were like magic. Mesmerized by watching the creatures make ordinary objects float in the air by manipulating gravity itself, passing them between each other as if playing a game, Jacky couldn't tear her eyes from the sight.

"Have you ever seen anything like it?" she asked Baika and Itan, who watched the spectacle with her.

They both shook their heads.

"They're so… divine looking," Baika said. "And that feeling when they're 'talking' to you." Jacky nodded. The whole ship had witnessed the first contact through the telepathic link. That she had been down in main engineering made no difference. "Do you think this dress uniform looks good on me?"

Flattening an ear, wondering if her friend was even serious about this question, she looked to the side and into Baika's eyes. This was so typical of her. To change the subject into something completely unrelated to the previous topic.

"Whyyy, wouldn't it be? We're all wearing the same thing."

The female version of the Imperial Guard dress uniform used the same pants as the male version, with gold trim around the ankles as the only difference between it and the standard red duty uniform. The top, which held the middle between a buttonless dress shirt and a collared jacket for males, was different. The male version exposed a vertical line of the wearer's chest while the female version used a wraparound design with a closed front. They too wore the same rank insignias on the stiff black collar, edged with gold trim and a small pin in the shape of the Imperial Guard seal on the left side of their chest.

"I dunno," she said, lifting her elbows, as if to test her mobility. "Feels kinda tight."

Jacky chuckled.

"It's supposed to."

"Yeah well. Itan's looks more comfortable to me."

The big Goureg laughed.

"Maybe you should ask Raeth if you can wear the male version."

"Well, why shouldn't we wear the same thing?"

"It has something to do with other cultures," Itan replied. "Some might consider it 'suggestive' for women not to cover their breasts."

"I could always wear… what are those things called? A bra?"

"Makes no difference," Itan said with a shrug. "The uniforms are designed to comply with what is considered appropriate in as many cultures as possible."

"So… men are allowed to flaunt the size of their chest, but we women have to be wrapped in tight?"

Jacky couldn't help but be amused by her friend's line of thought. She liked that about her, but she also had the tendency to not let something go until she had a satisfying answer. Even if such an answer did not exist.

"Bai, let it go. We barely have to wear this in our line of work anyway."

"Fine," she grunted.

"Hey, what do you think about that new girl? I heard Raeth is thinking about making her a member of the crew."

Baika frowned.

"What's her name? Seylah or something? Do you think we can trust her?"

"Maybe we should give her a chance to prove herself," Itan replied. "Might just be a rumor, but I heard she might join us in engineering."

"Well, I don't have a problem with that," Jacky said with a shrug. "I have faith in Raeth's decision."

Being reminded of her time at the Academy, Jacky knew all too well what it was like not to fit in. For different reasons perhaps, though the feeling was the same. Seylah had gone through a difficult time, or so she heard. The last thing she needed on her road to recovery was people picking on her. If it was Raeth's opinion that she deserved a second chance aboard the Myr'shala she vowed to make her feel welcome and appreciated. If her efforts reflected her own desire to become part of the team that was.

As the lights in the enormous dome above their heads dimmed to a low level, the Fharii began to gather under it, floating high above the crowd that had gathered to interact with them. Forming a circle, the creatures extended the tendrils that formed their wings until they were about twice their normal size. Bowing their heads in unison, their bodies glowed brighter, pulsating with their life's energy in its mystic blue color.

As they released that very energy, spreading waves of glowing particles along a horizontal axis, like ripples in a pond, the crowd cried out in admiration like they had done so several times before. It looked like a ceremony and Jacky had the feeling that this was their farewell. During the talk she, Baika and Itan had with one of them, they explained that being outside their own universe put a significant drain on their energy reserves. They could only be here for a limited amount of time, before they had to go back.

"Dear friends. The time has come for us to return to where we come from. We believe that this experience has been beneficial to us all. It is our wish to continue relations in the future. We will now leave you in peace."

With a final combined release of light particles, the Fharii disappeared. The lights turned back to their previous brightness, and what followed was a moment of silence in which everyone shook the feeling of the telepathic connection. Rubbing the side of her head, Jacky noticed her companions and the people around them suffered from the effects as well. A mild lightheadedness that didn't last long. Covering her mouth as she yawned, she took a deep breath afterwards.

"I love the way they make you feel when 'talking' to you, but it's kind of exhausting."

"Doesn't help that we've been up for quite a few cycles," Baika said while suppressing a yawn of her own.

"They really are leaving," Itan said, nodding in the direction of one of the holographic screens above the plaza's center.

It showed the Fharii's ships entering the reactivated portal one by one until all had disappeared. Right after that, the blue coloration at the center of the portal disappeared and the lens-like aperture grew back to almost filling the space within the ring.

"Did they just restore the portal to its original function?" Jacky asked.

Her question was answered positive when, after about a millicycle of speculating what could've happened at the other side, the first of the ships that passed through reappeared through the gateway. Among them, the Un'thara, the first Imperial Guard ship to cross the boundary between galaxies. Unscathed like the others, it appeared like they hadn't received a visit from the Fharii, or at least hadn't dealt with the same kind of misunderstanding.

"Uiisa," Itan said, rubbing his belly after his stomach emitted an audible growl. "I think I'm gonna go grab a bite. You girls wanna join me?"

"But we just ate, or… how long was that ago?" Baika asked, flattening an ear.

Jacky shrugged. Itan smirked.

"So? I'm feeling a little hungry."

"Why is it that men are always hungry? Didn't I see you munching on something before you joined us?"

This time Itan shrugged, continuing to smirk.

"Fine," Baika sighed. "I think we're done here anyway."

"Two cycles left until we leave," Jacky said while checking her wristcom. "Should be enough."

Freya, I need to tell you something. Freya, I would like to have a word with you.

Having returned to the Myr'shala after the official first contact with the Fharii, he had been monitoring her location, so as not to have to ask her for a moment alone in anyone else's company. Jirro knew he wasn't a man of apologies. He wasn't very good at it, and rarely had he felt the need to offer them in the first place.

But this time it was different. Despite his quick action on the bridge during a critical moment, and Raeth's invitation to join the talks, his Ginjha's order remained in effect. If he wanted to be a part of the Myr'shala's crew, a part of this family, apologies were needed. He felt this too. He had been unreasonable. Imaala's letter. The whole matter concerning his father. He had no right to vent his anger like that.

"Then why do I feel so frustrated?" he thought while grinding his teeth, while making his way down to deck four.

His wristcom indicated Freya's current location to be in the gym, with none other than Le'tan. Figuring this was as close as it was gonna get to catching her alone, without having to invade her quarters, which could have the opposite effect of what he wanted to achieve, he decided to take his chances.

The only thing he wrestled with was how to start the conversation. Pretty sure Le'tan would be kind enough to grant them a moment alone, he now struggled with an opening sentence. The last thing he wanted was to frighten her. Keep a neutral face. Maybe even try to smile. Listening to the rhythmic sound of his heavy footsteps, claws scratching the deck as they tried to find grip, he covered the distance quickly. Maybe too quickly for his own comfort. Did I think this through enough?

Shooting a glance as he walked past the windowed bulkhead, which offered a look inside the spacious gym, he saw Freya occupying a floor mat. Le'tan trained with his fighting staff, called a yuchiik. Taking a deep breath, he watched the automatic doors slide open as he approached them. The composite tiles felt springy under his large feet and the cool dry air inside, tuned to the ideal environment for athletes, would've been energizing if he was here to work up a sweat.

"Why am I nervous?" he thought, threading carefully as Le'tan noticed him entering.

Le'tan paused his training when he entered. Freya was in the middle of a yoga session, stretching her arms and legs into various shapes while doing breathing exercises, undisturbed by his entering.

"Hi, Jirro."

"Hi. I eh…"

When he nodded in Freya's direction, Le'tan nodded.

"I'll give you a moment."

"That's a nice yuchiik. Your own design?"

It was customary for a practitioner of yuchiika, called a yuchiikana, to design a number of yuchiik for their own use. This was practical for several reasons. Although there were limits to the length and weight of the staff in official competitions, the freedom of creating a personal weapon within these boundaries allowed the yuchiikana to adapt the yuchiik to the length of their arms and legs because of their species' great physical diversity. This determined the types of moves one was able to make.

Training weapons, like the one Le'tan held in his right hand, were often highly personalized, while competition weapons, which were susceptible to damage, used simpler designs. The main grip, a rubberized section of the wooden staff, was placed in the middle, with two smaller ones placed near the ends. The wooden parts between these grips were often decorated in numerous ways, in Le'tan's case with engraved texts and markings.

"Yes. Don't let me keep you. We'll chat later."

"That was a pretty strong signal," he thought, watching Le'tan leave.

Freya hadn't paused her yoga session. Like Le'tan she was dressed in the standard activewear composed of a black tank top with Imperial Guard seal on her chest and matching shorts. Currently in the middle of a pose, taking calm breaths with her eyes closed, she didn't seem to notice him until he was about four steps away from the edge of her mat. This startled her somewhat, at least enough to break off her session and take on a kneeling position.

"Freya? Can I… have a word with you?"

Her ears made a jumping motion and her tail swept the mat with quick movements a few times before she put it to rest.

"Y-Yeah, sure."

Okay. Not a great start, but not a bad one either.

"I eh… I'm not very good at this but… ehm. About what happened earlier in the mess hall. What I'm trying to say is… What I did was wrong. I never should've yelled at you like that and I'm sorry I broke your flute." Her expression had changed from surprise into one of disbelief. He had gotten that reaction to one of his attempted apologies before. He suspected it meant a whole lot to her to hear him say that. In the back of his mind, he knew he was doing the right thing, though it still made him feel rather uncomfortable, especially when she didn't respond right away. "Can you… forgive me?"

"Salu helped me repair my flute. It still plays as before." She got up from her kneeling position. Being an Orkeht, she appeared small before him and he instinctively lowered himself on his legs to bring his height down, even though he couldn't go low enough to match her. A faint smile appeared on her face. "You're a bully sometimes. But somehow, I know you've got two big hearts in there, and they're in the right place. Am I right about that?"

He had no idea how she did it, but he could swear he felt his cheeks turn red. And there was a pretty good chance that they were.

"I… guess," he muttered under his breath.

"I forgive you." He breathed a slight sigh of relief. "But never, ever treat me or anyone else aboard this ship like that again." She didn't even have to point a finger, scolding him like that. Their difference in rank didn't matter right now. For a moment she didn't care that he was her superior and he didn't either. "Promise me!"

"I… I promise." She smiled again, a little wider this time. "I would also like to explain to you why I got so angry."

"First things first. You need a hug. Prepare yourself."

"I eh…"

Before he knew it, she had thrown herself against his belly. Even in his crouching stance, she couldn't reach past the lower half of his chest. As he rested his enormous hand on her back, she purred in response.

"You see? You need to loosen up." After releasing him she took a step back, as if to study the result of her act. Not wanting to admit to her that it felt strangely comforting, in order not to encourage her to do it again, he answered with a chuckle. "Now tell me. Everyone knows something's bothering you. But you never talk."

"Please don't tell anyone else," he began. Throwing a look over his shoulder to see if Le'tan had slipped back in, he didn't see him anywhere. He then looked back at Freya and he seemed to have her full attention. "It's about my kharii. He has tried to contact me. My mate sent me a message that he came to our house. And that is a strange thing because… because he…"

"It's all right. Go on."

He sighed.

"My hahme died while giving birth to me. My kharii has always blamed me for that. It's because of him that I grew up an orphan."

The gasp and look of shock on Freya's face were only natural. She was a sensitive girl. She sympathized with the people she cared about. And right now, she cared about him.

"Maybe… maybe he wants to apologize to you. Like how you wanted to apologize to me."

"Perhaps. I'm not sure. I still need to find out."

"Does Raeth know?"

"No, not yet. I haven't told anyone else."

"I'm sure he'll understand." Humming in response, not really having an idea how to handle the situation, her advice didn't sound so bad. He had already taken the step to tell Freya, and it was more than obvious that Raeth was burning with desire to find out about at least one of the reasons for his outbursts. "You know what? You should try out this yoga stuff with me. Doesn't matter that we're not human. It's really relaxing."

For the first time since the beginning of their talk he laughed. He knew she wasn't joking. It was provoked by the mental image of himself performing the same kind of moves he had seen her make.

"Maybe some other time."

Freya shrugged.

"Your loss."

"Wey, they're taking shots at me! I've taken cover, but I can't move."

Pressing himself against the breached hull on the inside of a destroyed ship, Thylun watched the bright-colored shots zing past him and hit the inner bulkhead. Trezka, Masai and Nami were ferocious. The zero-G arena had turned two groups of friends against each other, only this time it was meant to be a game, enjoyed by the spectators as well as the combatants. This held especially true for Trezka and Weyan. Their rivalry had turned them into mortal enemies, letting nothing and no one stand in the way of beating each other.

The way the game was meant to be played was pretty standard. A team battle, in this case between six groups of three players. The battlefield was a starship graveyard, with the simulated wreckage of several vessels of different sizes. While some of these held steady, others slowly revolved around a central axis, making certain cover spots temporary and allowing for surprise attacks.

Their illuminated battle suits kept track of all direct and indirect hits from the various types of simulated ammunition. A hit not only disabled the target's weapon for five ticks. It also granted them a five tick immunity cooldown in which subsequent hits did not result in more points. Powerups could be obtained through randomly dropped packages. These contained things like shield boosters and different ammo types, like bouncing bolts, cluster bolts or even high yield explosive bolts. So even though none of these were capable of causing any kind of bodily harm, their suits did simulate impacts by applying localized pressure when hit.

Thylun had already experienced this firsthand, having taken a few hits in various places. The girls were good. Very good. He had to admit that his team, composed of Weyan, Azdar and himself, was the only one capable of counterbalancing them as they had left the other teams behind in terms of score. Being two points short, and with less than two millicycles left on the battle clock, they had to act, without getting hit, to have any chance at beating them.

"Wey!"

"I hear you! I hear you! I can't reach your location. Kind of in the middle of something myself. Can you break out?"

"I've got one shield boost," he said while checking his weapon, which was also his interface with the game. The interface projected on top kept track of stats, inventory and time left and offered players a map, to keep track of player positions. The locations of enemy players were only displayed if they were within twenty steps of distance and someone was coming. He had to act now. Go deeper into the wreckage and risk being boxed in, or take a chance. No way. I've got a fifteen tick shield boost. Let's see if I can make it.

The enemy player was almost upon him, closing the distance to the breach in little time, made possible by propelling oneself through the air. The player dropping in through the gap turned out to be Nami, gun ready and firing as soon as he appeared in her crosshair, only to see her shots being harmlessly absorbed by his activated shield.

"Damn it, Thylun!" she growled in frustration, as he disabled her weapon with a single well-placed shot, then made his escape through the same breach in the hull.

"Sorry 'bout that!" he said gleefully, making use of the remaining time of his powerup to launch himself toward another piece of wreckage.

As he sailed weightlessly through the air, the immense crowd that seemed to surround him on all sides, praised him for his actions with a round of cheer and applause. They were able to follow the battle in detail with tiny spherical camera drones attempting to capture every highlight wherever the players went, in addition to other cameras built into their suits and weapons.

Firing a couple of shots in mid-air at other players that ducked away in response, his shield took a few more hits, before he reached a crevice between the hulls of two ships that had collided with each other. Admiring the amount of detail put into the simulation for a brief tick, from the dents and charring on the piece of hull he stood on, to the twisted and torn metal around the impact, he had to find cover quickly, for Nami, knowing that he had run out of a shield to protect him, opened fire.

"She's not happy," he thought, being slightly amused.

She was out for revenge for sure.

"Thy, you're close to my position," Weyan's voice sounded in his ear through their in-game commlink. "I need your help. Azdar and I are inside. Trezka and Masai are teaming up on us. You might be able to drop in behind them."

"I'm coming!"

Spotting the breach near the point of impact between the two ships, he checked his surroundings, then used the curved and twisted pieces of simulated metal as cover to make it to his point of entry. The combat suit's abilities allowed him to walk and even run on every surface, no matter its orientation and the lack of gravity in general allowed for some spectacular moves.

Damn, I've been spotted.

A series of shots ricocheted off the destroyed hulls, following his feet as he dashed toward the safety of the ship's innards. They were fired by three different players and one of them was Nami, closing in on his position.

Almost!

The breach was close. A lucky shot hit his leg, disabling his weapon for five ticks, granting the shooter's team a point.

Darn it!

Getting hit again didn't matter now, unless the cooldown ran out.

Four ticks.

Just a few more steps.

Two ticks.

"You're not getting away!" he heard Nami yell, not looking back to see how close she was.

Safe!

His cooldown had run out, making him vulnerable to losing points to another team. He heard the heavier whine of a large caliber bolt being fired. If this was Nami, she wanted to ensure a hit.

At this range? Talk about overkill.

As he slipped through the hole, using another piece of metal under the right angle to launch himself, he dropped down quite a few steps, as the crashed ship had pierced through a number of decks. Tumbling down, the flash of the explosion lit the damaged innards around him.

The simulation was very detailed. More twisted deck plating and bulkheads. Broken conduits and sparking wires. The occasional flickering of control panels. He passed three decks until his body bounced off a solid surface, which felt much too soft to be real, but the goal of the game was having fun. Due to the way the holographics were tuned, it was almost impossible for anyone to get hurt.

It also turned out he had made it to the right level by accident. Using his suit's abilities to get back on his feet, orienting himself in such a way that he walked on what should be the floor, he heard the noise and saw the flashes of gunfire around the corner of the corridor ahead. Moving forward through a shower of sparks, he checked his rifle's display, noticing he had a large number of bouncing shots left.

"Thy! Are you there? Can you see them?"

The map on his rifle's display showed a number of location indicators. Those of Weyan and Azdar and, because they were within the twenty tick circle, Trezka's and Masai's. And they knew he was there.

What the-

Pressing himself against the bulkhead as the shots bounced off every surface, narrowly missing him, he switched to the same type of ammo, guessed the angle based on the location of the targets and fired away.

The air was filled with a storm of bolts flying in both directions. Keeping the trigger pressed, he let loose a continuous stream, watching the counter of this special type of ammo rapidly approach zero. He had been collecting powerups from the start and because of their trickiness they were not as rare as some of the other ammo types, with the forgiving amount of ten shots per powerup.

There was yelling around the corner and because he didn't see an increase in his team's points, he continued firing until he ran out of shots and his gun switched back to regular ammo. Pushing forward, and with only ticks left on the battle clock, he dashed around the corner to the left, finding a small cargo bay in which the four players of the Myr'shala had been engaged in what looked like a personal fight.

"You lose!" Masai yelled, popping up on her belly on top of a container which she had been using as cover against his bouncing barrage.

"I don't think so!" Weyan interrupted.

One by one and shortly after another, his fellow crewmates popped up from behind their cover, threatening each other by pointing guns. Switching from Masai to Trezka and back, Thylun realized they had reached a standoff situation, especially after he heard Nami's voice behind him, and heard the whine of her gun as she charged up a shot.

"You're mine now!"

Until his gun powered down and so did those of the others. Looking at his rifle's interface, the battle clock had reached zero. The fight was over. He could hear the cheer of the crowd outside the ship. The thing was, they were still one point behind the undisputed winners. And judging by the look on Trezka's face, she knew this too.

"Told ya I'd kick y'r butt," she panted.

It was the toothy grin she shot Weyan that did it. Knowing he had been beaten fair and square, his friend let out a frustrated growl.

"So close!"

"You win," Thylun admitted his defeat. "It was a good game."

"We'll talk later," Trezka decided. "We gotta get back to the ship or they'll leave without us. But it was a good game indeed."

"Revenge?" Azdar asked.

Trezka laughed.

"I'll take you guys anytime."

Epilogue

With the Myr'shala on its way to their next destination, Raeth still had one thing left to do before closing the Ophelion chapter in the ship's log. He had left her in the care of Jetreycka during his absence, but he hadn't yet decided what to do with Seylah, the girl they had rescued from the clutches of the Hazarr Syndicate, although technically she had been a member as much as a victim.

Her own story, although hard to verify, mattered though and there was the concept of second chances. Jetreycka had put her trust in the girl, so he was willing to grant Seylah's request, provided she was able to back it up.

His order to have her go through a full medical checkup came through and as the sickbay doors moved aside for him, he found her sitting on the edge of one of the beds with a white cotton-like sheet wrapped loosely around her waist so it covered the space between her legs. His sudden appearance startled her a bit, judging by her tail and ears making an upward motion. As Salu studied the results of different tests on the monitors, Moa put away the last of the equipment they had used to examine her inside and out.

"Moiseh. Raeth, House of Meztar. Welcome aboard."

"I'm Seylah. Hyami… for helping me out."

He estimated Seylah's age somewhere in the beginning of her twenties. Her face was still like that of a girl and her voice lacked that adult deepness. If there were any fresh injuries, they had been healed without a trace and apart from some minor scarring on her shoulder, she appeared healthy, at least from the outside.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that you're in good health," Salu concluded. "You've got a bit of a sweet tooth, don't you? Blood glucose levels are a little elevated, and you've got a cavity in one of your molars, but I can fix that in no time."

"Hyami, Salu."

"Seylah, can I have a word with you?" She nodded, rubbing her hands in a nervous gesture. She seemed a little tense, though he would be too in her position. Uncertainty had played a major role in her life, that was for sure. "Jetreycka seems to put a lot of trust in you. She told me you had nowhere to go, so I'm going to be frank. I'm considering making you a member of my crew. You will hold no rank, so every officer aboard this ship will be your superior. Other than that you will be just as much a member of this crew as anyone else. Do you accept these terms?"

"Yes, I do."

Her answer came quicker than he expected. At least she seemed eager to shed her immediate past and start anew.

"Good. Then there's one more thing I'd like to know before I give you your uniform. What makes you tick? What're you good at? And don't answer with thievery and kidnapping, because I won't have that on this ship. This is our home between the stars. Treat it with respect if you wanna be a part of the family."

"I… I'm good with tech. Computers. Engineering. I even helped to improve the blink pack technology. The device they used to…"

"Hmm, so you are good at kidnapping. But we can always use a techy. Get some rest first. You'll report to Majih in main engineering two shifts from now."

"I won't disappoint you. Hyami… for having me."

Raeth nodded, humming in approval.

"Then the only thing left for me to say is, welcome to the family."

Raeth and the crew of the Myr'shala will be back for episode 4:

"Homestead"