Pulsar Company is a year old today. Holy fucking SHIT. It honestly feels like just a few months ago that I dropped Grimm Retreat for Pulsar Company, and not long after found out about Koikatsu and made the characters in there instead of learning to draw.
I'm considering rewriting probably the first three chapters of Pulsar Company to be more in line with the rest of the story. At the very least, chapter 1 will be rewritten since I'm not too happy with how I handled the introduction of Nax and Kyra.
Read and review.
Nax, Lexi, and Kyra sat on one end of the table in their YT-1300, while 'Ash' sat on the other end. Knockout stood to the side, watching over the two sides, while Arfive sat in the back. Katy was patrolling the freighter, and Sidewinder was… somewhere, with the only hint of his existence being intermittent scan pulses to keep an eye on anyone trying to approach the freighter.
Normally, they would have done this inside the apartment, but given the potential for the killer to be lurking, they opted to take this somewhere more secure. After a long, uncomfortable period of silence, Nax was the first one to speak. "…So, how do we know you're telling the truth about who you claim to be?" he questioned, his and Kyra's expressions ones of people who appeared to be annoyed, but were at least giving the situation serious consideration. Lexi, meanwhile, was far more neutral on the matter, more so from her not having met 'Ash' before.
Ash sighed, and slowly reached for her mask. She slowly pressed down on the seals, and it hissed as it came loose. Taking the mask into her hands, she let her blonde hair fall out, and Ash kept looking at the table as she set the mask down. Finally, she looked up, and Kyra and Nax's expressions shifted instantaneously.
'Ash' was, in actuality, Kelah, still alive and breathing. Her face bore scars she must have sustained during the attack – she was blind in her right eye, a cataract having formed over it. Two knife scars ran along her face, one vertical along her right eye, and the other diagonal across her face, towards her left eye. Her neck had a soft blue pulse glowing around it, as did her chest, roughly where her heart was. "…Surprised?" Kelah asked, and Nax and Kyra could only leave their mouths hang.
"…We thought you were dead." Kyra said, still shocked to see Kelah alive.
Kelah shook her head, somewhat amused by that comment. "Technically, Kelah Voto is dead. There just happens to be a woman named Ash who is a dead ringer for her and has the same injuries Kelah had when she died."
By this point, Lexi had grown fed up with this little reunion. "Hey," she nudged Nax. "Who the hell is this, and why do you two act like you know her?" she asked.
Nax glanced at Lexi. "Remember when we were telling Eath about those insurgents from Tatooine?" Nax answered, and before Lexi could respond, Nax continued to speak. "She was one of them. We couldn't find her body, so we thought she was dead."
Kyra pushed whatever Nax had in mind out of the way and brought herself to the forefront. "…How did you escape from the compound, Kelah? The Empire ripped it up pretty good."
Kelah's face soured. "…After Tenan was shot, I just… lost it. I jumped out of cover and started blasting every Stormtrooper that I could see." she answered, seeming ashamed of herself. "…It didn't do me any good, though. Caught a bunch of return fire, bolts tore my lungs up. Saber tanks blasted the wall open and I got caught under the rubble before I blacked out." she elaborated, before taking a long pause to collect herself. "…When I came to, the compound was wrecked, and everyone was dead. Val, Emel, Tenan, Blii, all of them." Kelah finished, and Nax and Kyra gave each other a funny look at the mention of Blii's name, but Kelah seemed to ignore it. "…I managed to haul myself to Mos Eisley, got patched up, and hitched a ride to Coruscant. I was pretty much a cripple, until I found a cyberneticist here, so…"
Kyra and Nax exchanged an unsure look. "…Kelah?" Nax said hesitantly, not sure how to break the news to her.
"Yes?"
"Val… Val… wasn't dead, Kelah." Nax said, and Kelah went dead silent. "…When we got there, she was bleeding out, barely conscious." he continued, and Kelah stared through him. "…She died in my arms, Kelah. I buried her just outside the compound, rifle and all."
Kyra took her necklace off, and showed it to Kelah. "…She gave me this before she died."
Kelah took the necklace into her hands and examined it closely, the faintest hint of tears beginning to show themselves. Brushing her bangs out of the way, she brought the gem to her left eye. After a while, she handed the necklace back to Kyra. "…Keep hold of that, Kyra." she said as Kyra put the necklace back on. Kyra nodded in response, and then Kelah looked to Nax. "…So, you mean to tell me that Val… could have lived?"
Pausing to answer, Nax held his tongue. "…I don't think so, Kelah. It was an hour drive on speeders to the base from Mos Eisley – how long did it take you to get back on foot?" Nax asked, and Kelah clasped her hands together.
"…At least a day, Nax. I had to sneak around several Imperial patrols, and a Tusken raiding party, which meant I had my face down in the sand, trying not to make a sound." Kelah replied after thinking on it for a bit.
"…Then she probably would have died anyways, Kelah." Nax said grimly, and the group went silent out of respect for Kelah, except for Lexi, who leaned in to Nax's ear.
"Who's Val?" she whispered.
"My ex." Nax answered back, and then Lexi went silent, shrinking back into her spot.
Kelah finally collected herself, sitting up straight. "…So, what are you doing on Coruscant?" she asked, her tone low, before she glanced at Lexi. "And who's the Zeltron? Friend of yours?"
Nax sat back, his arm resting over Kyra as he pulled her closer. "Doing jobs for the Coru-Hivers, mostly." he said, before looking to Lexi. "As for her, she's Lexi, a friend of Kyra's. Would have brought her along to the base if she wasn't staying at my friend's house in Mos Eisley."
Kelah raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Knockout, and then back to Nax. "Your friend's house? Why was she there?" she questioned.
"Because Kyra was a slave, and so was Lexi. The slavers who Kyra had escaped from were using Lexi to seduce me so that I would tell them where she was." he answered, and Kelah's eyes widened.
"Really?" she asked, and Kyra nodded shamefully. "That… explains a lot about how you acted, Kyra, with you always sticking close to Nax. He was protecting you, wasn't he?" she continued, and Kyra nodded again.
"That's also why I reacted the way I did when you mentioned Emel would flog me if I didn't get up early. The slavers had beaten me almost constantly for at least a week before I escaped." Kyra said, and Kelah nodded her head in understanding.
"…So, you left Lexi with your friend because you were afraid she was with the slavers? Why take the risk and let her live?" Kelah questioned, confused at Nax's motives.
"Because she mentioned Kyra by name, and I'm not one to just take a life for the hell of it, Kelah." Nax responded, and that gave Kelah some pause, perhaps triggering some sort of self-reflection over her own actions. "…I think that's enough about us, Kelah. What's brought you to Coruscant of all places? I thought someone like you would stick to the Rim." Nax asked, already knowing full well what her answer would be.
Kelah hesitated, before caving in a little bit. "…I came to Coruscant to join back up with an organization that helped me get on my feet when I was still a young girl, slicing terminals and draining bank accounts to make ends meet." she responded, sounding sullen. "I… abandoned them in a show of what I thought was defiance, but I now realize it was arrogance that had blinded me."
That, admittedly, was not what Nax had been expecting to hear, but at least it helped to confirm what he already knew. "Which organization was this?" he continued to pry.
Kelah looked straight at Nax, and still visibly hesitant, relented. "…When they brought me in, they were the Synthskin Union, but the specific group I was with is the Transhuman Ascendancy, now."
Silently, Nax nodded, following along. Kyra and Lexi also opted to listen in as Nax straightened up and sat forward. "I see. So, let's move to more pressing matters, Kelah. That transponder I didn't even know I had – why did you want it?"
Kelah shut her eyes and breathed in. "The Anzat that almost killed you - he had a batch of stolen transponders belonging to the Ascendancy that were taken by Luddic sympathizers." she explained, opening her eyes again. "I was tasked with retrieving them, and I suspect he's been using them to mark targets for… feeding on, for lack of a better term. The other three transponder marks were already dead by the time I got there."
Lexi suddenly shot forward, eyes wide open. "Wait, you said these were Ascendancy transponders stolen by Luddic sympathizers? And you think these were placed on the victims without their knowing?" she questioned, and Kelah nodded. "…I think this Anzat is trying to spark a gang war. Who were the other three victims?"
"A Twi'lek that ran a mechanical shop, a major Aug Family enforcer, and a minor functionary for the Hutts."
"Two gang members, and it would have been three more had you not saved our asses." Lexi stated. "I almost forgot Desani, too."
"Who?" Kelah asked, unfamiliar with the name.
"Hiver lieutenant. We were investigating her death, when the killer ended up revealing himself to me." Nax quickly answered, before pointing at the transponder Kelah had held in her hand. "That's also probably how he got the transponder on me after he realized Kyra and Lexi wouldn't let him feed."
Kelah closed her hand and put it to her mouth. "…Then that would have been six dead gang members, three of them important to some degree, and all evidence would point to the Ascendancy…" she mumbled quietly, letting out a light gasp of horror. "Maker, it'd be like the war with the Black Sun all over again…" she continued, before suddenly looking at Nax. "I have to get this to my superior. Going after this Anzat isn't a direct order, but I'll try and push him to let me go after him." she said, standing back up, and Knockout obliged her, stepping back. "I'd suggest you do the same, Nax." she said, finally moving to leave. She paused mid-stride, however, and glanced at Nax. "And Nax, Kyra?" she said quietly. The pair looked at her inquisitively as she bit her lip. "Stay safe out there. I mean it. Stay away from the apartment for now." she finished, disappearing from sight as Knockout escorted her off the freighter.
Nax and Kyra exchanged unsure looks with each other. Kelah had just wished that the two of them would stay safe. If only she knew the truth about the attack on the compound. They silently agreed that it would be best to keep the truth from her. That was, if they crossed paths with her again. Knockout returned, his weight crashing against the floor signaling so. "Kelah has exited the perimeter, Master Strag." he boomed, before tilting his entire torso at an angle to look at Lexi. "It appears something is troubling Master Sapphyra." he said, before walking off to guard the entrance ramp.
"Lexi?" Kyra said to her, and Lexi looked up. "Something wrong?" she asked, and Lexi's head sank into her palm.
"You tell me, Kyra." Lexi answered bitterly. "Does the prospect of the underworld going up in flames a second time mean anything to you? Because it sure as hell does to me." she flatly stated, crossing her arms and sitting back. "Even though we weren't killed, the other gang members were, I don't think I need to tell you just how much the Hutts alone could tear this place apart in a war with the Ascendancy, let alone if the rest of the Synthskins got involved." she continued, shaking her head tearfully. "This is my – no, our home, Nax." she quickly corrected. "We let whoever's behind this get away with it, and we'll end up in their crosshairs sooner or later."
Nax pulled out his datapad and tapped away at it. "Lexi's got a point. I'm bringing this up with Vopa." he said as he sent a message to him. Three seconds had barely passed when Vopa replied with 'Meet me at the Mare's Leg.'
Standing up, Nax motioned for Arfive to follow him to the cockpit. Kyra, however, stayed where she was instead of following Nax. She moved over to Lexi, threw her arm around her, and pulled her close, with the slightest yelp of surprise coming from Lexi. "Lexi, look at me," Kyra requested, and Lexi did so. "We'll bring down the people behind this, whoever the hell they are." she said with such fierce determination that it actually shocked Lexi. She had been so meek and quiet for the few months they had known each other, that this was pretty much unprecedented.
However, Lexi managed to pull away and stare Kyra in the eyes. "And if it kills us?" she poised, and Kyra simply shook her head.
"I have a feeling it won't, Lexi." Kyra responded confidently.
Vopa leaned over the counter, setting out three shots of whiskey out of courtesy for the three of them. However, to his surprise, the three of them abstained, even Lexi, who normally would have downed it within a second of him putting the drink down. The front window had the blinds shut, and the door had been covered and locked, with the lighting dimmed a little bit. It was, admittedly a little bit overdramatic. "Lay it on me." Vopa said to Nax.
"Do you want the bad news, or the worse news first?" Nax asked, and Vopa raised his eyebrows as he poured himself a drink.
"Let's go with the worse news, Nax." he replied as he downed the shot in one go.
"Someone's trying to start a gang war in the underworld." Nax flatly answered, and Vopa barely reacted how Nax was expecting.
Setting the glass back on the counter, Vopa gave a nonchalant shrug. "So?" he casually said. "This shithole of an underworld has people trying to start wars all the time. Who cares? It's not our problem." he continued, pouring another shot and downing it.
"Except it is our problem." Nax snapped back, and Vopa paused, before motioning for him to continue. "This involves the Anzat killer. After I found him in the apartment building, he knocked me unconscious and slipped a transponder into my duster – one belonging to the Ascendancy."
Kyra sat up and tapped on the counter twice. "Did Desani have a transponder on her?" she questioned, and Vopa looked to her, visibly thinking for an answer to that. Eventually, he nodded 'yes' to her question.
"We didn't have time to crack the encryption on it, but it was stolen, so the point is moot. Was that an Ascendancy transponder, too?" Vopa asked, and Nax gave off a look that told Vopa the answer was, more likely than not, yes. "…So, the Ascendancy has this Anzat kill Desani, and tries to kill you three?"
It was now Lexi's turn to speak. "Not exactly." she said while staring absent mindedly at her shot glass. "Around an hour ago, I was about to turn in for the night, when I heard a crash come from the bedroom of our apartment. Nax and Kyra usually keep the door locked, so I knock. No answer, so I listen in."
"And?"
Nax suddenly interjected. "The killer had broken in through the window and was looming over us. My dumb ass was too slow to stop him from paralyzing Kyra, but he couldn't focus on paralyzing me when I was bearing down on him, so we brawled and beat the hell out of each other." Nax exposited, before finally giving in and downing the shot. "He got more than a few good hits on me, but I was mostly just stalling for time until Lexi could break the door down and shoot him." he continued, motioning for Vopa to pour him another shot, to which he obliged.
Vopa considered pouring himself another shot, but wisely decided to stay at least a little bit sober. "So, how'd you survive? I assume Lexi broke the door down and drove him away, at the very least?" Vopa asked, glancing at Lexi.
"No, actually." Nax answered, earning a surprised look from Vopa. "Remember that woman who was with the Ascendancy that I asked you to look into?" he asked, and Vopa nodded, curious where this was going, or how this was relevant. "She showed up through the window, too, and went after the killer. He threw her towards me, but she extended some sort of arm blade and stabbed the wall with it to stop herself, retracted it, and dropped down, ready to beat this asshole within an inch of his life." he continued to talk, before stopping to down the shot again, setting it aside. "When he saw that he was about to fight an agent of the Ascendancy, and a pissed off bounty hunter, he made the wisest choice he could and got the hell out of there."
"Did you at least see his face?"
Nax shook his head, resting his head on his hand. "Nope. He was masked, but the woman from the Ascendancy tagged him with her droid, so she at least knows where he is, provided he didn't get rid of the tracker." he answered, before suddenly sitting straight again. "Which reminds me – the Ascendancy isn't at fault."
That roused Vopa's curiosity. "Sure as shit sounds like they are. Care to explain?" he asked, and Nax looked behind himself at Arfive, who was sitting idly, running calculations absentmindedly. With a single whistle, Nax woke the droid up, and he immediately played the recording from the ship.
"The Anzat that almost killed you - he had a batch of stolen transponders belonging to the Ascendancy that were taken by Luddic sympathizers." Kelah's hologram repeated, her voice filtered by the recording and her face obscured by her hood. Vopa's expression went from one of mild interest to a full on 'oh shit' look.
"The Pathers are trying to organize a war between us, the Union, and the Hutts." Vopa realized, stroking his chin in deep thought. "…but why? They don't have any stakes in businesses that we control, same with the Hutts." he pondered, seeming to stare through Nax.
Lexi's look of absent-mindedness changed to one of pure horror. "They're planning some sort of attack." she said, completely deadpan and as dryly as she could. Glancing over at her, Vopa waited for her to elaborate. "That magrail attack from about ten years back – I did some digging, and the Pathers did something similar by pitting the Hutts and Black Sun against each other to cause chaos, just so they could slip by and kill an official from Cestus Cybernetics trying to extend the olive branch to the Union." she stated calmly, visibly soured. "…It just so happens that they had to kill over four hundred people, too."
Vopa seemed even more troubled now. "I'll have my slicers pull triple time on getting those datapads sliced. Odds are pretty good that whatever they have planned will be on them. It's just gonna take a few more weeks."
Lexi shook her head in frustration. "That's too long, Vopa. Give me the datapads and I'll have them cracked in a few days." she said, a hint of protest in her voice. "Odds are, I have more experience cracking Pather codes than any of your slicers. It'll be faster if I do it." she continued, and Vopa was about to turn her down, until he saw the pleading look in her eyes – a look that called out to him that this was personal to her, and that she wanted revenge.
Vopa breathed a sigh. "…Fine. I'll send the datapads over to the ship as soon as I can." he conceded, and Lexi bowed her head in appreciation for his understanding of her motives, even if it was nonverbal. "By the way, Nax," Vopa said suddenly, catching Nax off guard. "You really should name that thing." he half-joked, before shooing them to the back entrance. "Now, get gone, before a curfew patrol comes knocking and asks why the damn lights are on!" Vopa half-whispered, and just like that, the group left the cantina, and Vopa was, once again, left to his own devices. He quickly took another shot, before pulling out his datapad.
Nevda automatically piloted the ship with her scomp-link, taking in the sights and sounds of the lower levels. Sidewinder pressed himself up against the cockpit glass, just as mesmerized by Coruscant as he had been the first day Kelah had him. Deciding to take her eyes off the skylanes and let the autopilot handle the job of piloting for her, Nevda turned her gaze upon Kelah, who, strangely, had come back with her mask off. She was deep in thought over something. "…So, what did you find at the last place, Kelah?" Nevda questioned, dipping the ship down a little bit to go under an overhang.
Kelah furrowed her brows, seemingly a little bit upset that Nevda had broken her out of her pseudo-trance. "…Remember when I told you about those two recruits we had who were boyfriend and girlfriend, the ones that I said were probably dead?" she questioned, and Kelah lightly nodded her head so as to not disconnect the scomp-link accidentally. "…They were alive, Nevda. The Anzat I've been chasing was about to kill the both of them when I stepped in and managed to drive him away." she continued to speak, and Nevda was about to chastise her for letting him run, only for Kelah to instead pull out a tracking dart and give a cheeky smile. Nevda gave a chuckle in response.
"So, what did you do about their transponder?" she questioned, before leaning forward to scratch Sidewinder on the chassis, earning her the droid equivalent of purring.
Stashing the tracking dart back into her jacket, she put her fingers under Sidewinder's arms and toyed with them for a bit, before sitting back in the copilot seat. "I let them know who I was."
Nevda suddenly jerked the ship down in shock, before immediately correcting her course. "You did WHAT!?" she shouted, looking at Kelah wide-eyed. "Why would you trust someone with that, Kelah? What if they snitch on you and the Pathers found out? Did you think of that?"
Kelah crossed her arms. "They won't, for two reasons." she said, holding up one finger. "We have a common enemy in the Anzat and the Path." She then held up a second finger. "You haven't seen the lengths her boyfriend will go to to protect people." Kelah finished, and Nevda narrowed her eyes in response, but remained silent, focusing instead on flying back to Ascendancy territory.
As Kelah exited the turbolift with Sidewinder trailing behind her, she passed the Vanguards, who stood at attention, ever vigilant. Sidewinder was briefly distracted by the one to Kelah's right, and floated up to their head to examine them, but quickly returned to Kelah's side once he didn't react. Kelah kneeled before the Grand Ascendant, and set her bag with the transponders out. The Ascendant scanned the bag over with one of his 'arms', before grabbing it and handing the bag off to another Vanguard, who took it into a side room. "Voto, was there any trouble in retrieving the transponders?" the Ascendant asked.
Kelah remained still. "There was a slight disturbance that came with getting the fourth transponder, however, I've uncovered something far more sinister." she answered, and the Ascendant leaned forward, waiting for her to continue. "I have uncovered a plot to destroy the Ascendancy."
"Elaborate." the Ascendant demanded, fully at attention.
Kelah lifted her head to look at the Ascendant. "Two of the four transponders were on members of the Aug Family, and the Hutts, both of them killed. The Aug Family transponder was on the body of a major enforcer, while the Hutt one was a minor functionary." she explained as well as she could.
"…What of the remaining two transponders?"
Kelah cleared her throat. "The Kluun sector transponder was on the body of a Twi'lek mechanic. I couldn't find anything solid regarding gang connections, so she is the outlier. However…" Kelah said, slowing herself down to put it as best she could. "…the person the Hiver transponder was on was still alive when I got to him. I managed to catch who I believe to be the one using the transponders, however, he got away after I had Sidewinder tag him with a tracking dart." she explained, and the Ascendant remained silent, taking this information in. "The man that I caught was an Anzat – all of the deceased were killed in a fashion similar to the way an Anzat feeds. I also found out from Nax – the hiver mark – that one of the Hiver lieutenants critical to their logistics, was also killed by this same Anzat." Kelah finally finished, lowering her head to look at the floor again.
The Ascendant sat back, putting his hands together in a sort of regal, inquisitive look. "And you believe this information is credible?" he questioned, and Kelah nodded once. "…I see." was all he said. "The Path are trying to coordinate a war between the minor Union factions, the Hutts operating on Coruscant, and the Hivers to get them to target us. Very, very clever of them." he said, before lowering his hands to the arm rests of his throne, before snapping his gaze to Kelah. "Very well, Voto. I will trust your judgement on this matter. You have my full blessing to stamp out this plot, by any means necessary." he said, taking on a far more authoritative tone. "Now, go."
Kelah stood up and bowed. "Thank you, Grand Ascendant. I will not fail you." she said gracefully, before turning to leave. She heard the Grand Ascendant getting up, but she didn't stop, even as the Vanguards stamped their electrostaves against the floor.
Entering the turbolift, the door quickly shut behind her, and Sidewinder quickly moved in front of her face, his photoreceptor as wide as possible. He gave off a curious 'dwoo-dwoo?' and Kelah simply smiled at him and scratched his chassis. "Of course we'll get their help, Sidewinder. They probably know more about the situation than I do." she answered, and Sidewinder spun around excitedly.
Lexi wearily grabbed a datapad from the small pile that had accumulated on the table in the lounge of the ship. One of Vopa's guys had dropped them off earlier last night, and she had chosen to opt out of sleeping in favor of working on slicing the datapads.
Sluggishly, she pulled out her own datapad and attached the term-link cable to it, and her own slicing program was loaded in automatically. It had taken pretty much the entire night, but she had cracked through one set of encryption keys for the datapads. This new cell had seriously beefed up their security, and for all of the work she had put in cracking the original codes, only a little bit of it was applicable to her new task.
She waited and waited as the slicing program worked its magic, before it suddenly hit a roadblock, stopping all progress. "…Son of a..." Lexi muttered under her breath, getting up and going over to the conservator, practically flinging the door open, and pulling out the last energy drink that they had.
About to crack it open and down it in one go to continue her work, Nax suddenly stopped her. "You're still up?" he said from the hallway. She turned and looked at him, letting him get a full look at her tired visage. "Scratch that, how long have you been up?" he asked, suddenly more concerned now.
"All night." Lexi replied, totally deadpan. "Gonna crack these codes if it damn near kills me." she continued, gesturing at the table, and Nax's eyes widened at the state she had left the area in.
Nax shook his head once, and then frowned. "Like hell you are, Lexi." he said in a very annoyed tone. "I want you at your best, not half-asleep." he continued to chastise, before looking over at her datapad, its slicing program laid bare for him to see. "And I'm not a slicer, but even I can tell your code here has a bunch of typos and errors." he continued, before looking back to Lexi. "Get some rest." he said, finally finished, and he sat down roughly where Lexi had just been sitting.
Instead of following his advice, Lexi stood there for a minute, before putting the drink back in the conservator, moving over to where Nax was sitting, and promptly collapsing on top of him, her head landing squarely in his lap, earning a surprised yelp from him. "I didn't say sleep on me!" Nax complained as Lexi settled in.
"Too bad~!" she teased in a singsong voice, rolling over to look up at Nax, a little bit of her energy having come back to her, even though she still looked like she was about to die of exhaustion. She cracked the tiniest bit of a smile. "…You know, Nax, that's usually not the first response someone has when I practically throw myself on them." she said with a small giggle.
In response, he simply sighed. "It's a bit too early in the morning for me to be able to put up with these kinds of shenanigans, Lexi." Nax responded, although despite his words, he seemed to be accepting of his new position as a pillow.
Again, Lexi smiled and sat up, before moving on to Nax's lap, throwing her arm around his neck to provide an anchor, and she nestled her head into his chest. Nax was done verbally protesting, but that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed. Instead of just throwing her off, he let her lean on him, waiting for her to finally fall asleep as her breathing grew ever slower and her movement more still. Just when he thought she had gone to sleep, though, she suddenly spoke. "…Nax? Can I ask you something?" she groggily asked, her head not moving in the slightest. "…It's a little bit personal, so you can just tell me to frag myself if you don't want to answer."
Trying to get as comfortable as he could, Nax decided to indulge her a little bit more. "What's on your mind?"
Lexi's head shifted to look up at his face a little bit. "What was your family like?" she asked innocuously.
Nax paused for a moment to think of how to answer that question. "…Dad was… alright, given the hand he was dealt. Hiding on Tatooine to escape Lostur was probably a fine idea to him – starting a family wasn't." he responded, before looking down the hall to see Zeethree dawdling about. "He worked us pretty damn hard maintaining the moisture farm, but he wasn't cruel about it. Definitely a tough love type." he continued, seeming satisfied with his answer. "Strict as hell about what we could and couldn't do when we were kids, though." he added.
Lexi held herself a bit closer together, and looked up at Nax. "What about your brother? What was he like?" she continued to press.
A nostalgic, wistful smile appeared on Nax's face. "Oh, he was a damned blast. We always got on each other's nerves, but it never moved past a 'you moved my shit, so I'm gonna move yours and maybe do something else' kind of deal." he explained, and Lexi's eyes lit up at the prospect of Nax having that kind of relationship with his brother, one she had wanted when she was a kid. Nax's eyes suddenly lit up, and he burst out laughing, before quickly controlling himself. "Shit, like there was this one time where one of my friends had gotten hold of a few T-16s, so my brother and I went joyriding with them through Beggar's Canyon, blasting as many womp rats as we could." he began to fondly reminisce. "Some other guy in a T-16 showed up, so it basically turned into a pissing contest between the three of us on who could do the stupidest stunts."
"…Like?" Lexi asked with significant interest despite her tiredness.
"Like threading a gap so thin you were basically guaranteed to clip your wings if you made the tiniest little mistake." Nax answered, still grinning at the memory. "Or buzzing sandcrawlers just for the hell of it!" he continued, sitting back a bit. "Man, that was a fun day."
"Was your dad mad at you?"
Nax began to laugh. "Oh, you have no idea. He was positively pissed that we did something so reckless and dangerous." he continued to retell. "But I think somewhere deep down, he was proud that his Mando blood was showing in us both. Still got our asses confined to the homestead for two solid months, though, and Val had to visit me for once."
Lexi began to laugh at how ridiculous Nax's relationship with his brother had been. "…So, what about your mom?" she asked, and just by the way Nax's expression changed, she could tell she had ruined the mood.
Nax's suddenly sullen look had told it all to Lexi, but he still felt the need to answer her. "…She died not long after my brother was born. Neither of us ever got to know her." he said in a matter-of-fact manner, and Lexi felt immensely sorry for him. She had decided that she was done asking questions, and had now returned to resting in Nax's arms.
She went back to drifting off to sleep, but again, something shot to the forefront of her mind. "…Hey, Nax?" she quietly mumbled, almost inaudible. Nax looked down at her with a modest amount of curiosity. "Can you lean down a little bit?" she requested. Not seeing the harm in obliging her, Nax leaned over, and Lexi sat up to whisper in his ear. "Thanks for getting me away from Lostur, Nax." she whispered as quietly as she could. "…I know I wasn't your main concern, but I appreciate what you did anyways."
Nax smiled back at Lexi. "If I'm saving one slave, I might as well try to save as many as I can." he said as Lexi nestled her head further into his chest. "Besides, I appreciate having a slicer on hand. It's nice not needing to have droids do all the work with electronics." he continued, and Lexi took that praise to heart.
Biting her lower lip, Lexi sat back up a little, and she gently stroked Nax's cheek with a certain amount of affection. She blushed, before returning to her resting position one final time, and immediately fell asleep in Nax's arms.
Having waited for a while and deciding that she wasn't going to wake back up again, Nax looked down at the sleeping beauty who was using him as a bed. "…The things I do for you two." he said with an exasperated, yet amused sigh, getting up and carrying Lexi bridal style to the crew quarters to put her in bed.
As he carried her, he passed by Zeethree. "Ah, Master Strag!" Zeethree said to get his attention, and he hissed quietly to get Zeethree to quiet down. "Kelah has returned, she's waiting outside the ramp with someone else, an acquaintance of hers, I believe." he prattled on in a significantly quieter voice to keep Lexi from waking.
Nax nodded carefully, before thinking of what to order Zeethree to do next. "…Have Knockout clear the mess of cans in the lounge for me, would you? I'll bring those two to the cockpit once I've dropped Lexi in her bed. Also, put Lexi's stuff somewhere Kelah and her friend won't find it." he ordered, and Zeethree nodded.
"Of course, Master Strag." he politely responded, before heading to go fetch Knockout.
Turning back towards the door to the crew quarters, he reached his hand out as best he could, and the door slid open for him. Stepping in, he moved to the right bunk and set Lexi down on the covers, before pulling them over her. As Nax stood back up, out of the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw Lexi looking at him with a smile on her face, but he blinked once, and she had settled in, lightly snoring.
Thinking nothing of it, Nax moved to leave, at least until he heard Kyra yawning. He turned and saw her sitting up in the bunk, stretching her arms out. She looked over her shoulder, saw Nax, and greeted him with a warm smile as she got out of bed, coming over to him, and the pair walked out of the crew quarters. "Good morning, Nax." she said in her usual noble tone.
"Morning, Kyra." he responded, still in a little bit of a daze. "Sleep well?" he asked, and Kyra smiled and nodded. Nax set his hand on her shoulder. "That's good to hear. I didn't make breakfast yet, and Kelah just showed back up with her friend, so you'll need to wait a bit."
Kyra tilted her head to the side and smiled again, shutting her eyes. "That's fine, Nax." she said in a kind voice, seeming impossibly regal despite the fact that she was still wearing her nightwear. With that, she gave Nax's hand a gentle squeeze, before heading into the lounge.
Nax went the opposite direction, towards the airlock. He reached around the corner and flipped the switch, causing the boarding ramp to hiss and slowly squeal as it lowered down. Slowly, Kelah and her companion were revealed, both of them masked up, weapons dangling from hip holsters that slightly jutted out from their coats, or in the case of her companion, her robes. The two of them quickly moved up the ramp, and Nax closed it behind them.
Kelah took her mask off, seeming appearing relieved that they were in private, while her acquaintance kept her mask on, before hesitantly taking it off, revealing a wide-eyed redhead with fractured green irises that seemed to have some sort of cybernetic capability, as blue 'fragments' would move across the surface of her eye. "Nax, this is Nevda, my pilot." Kelah introduced the two of them.
Holding his hand out, Nax gave her a friendly half-smile. "Nice to meet you, Nevda." he greeted, and Nevda shook his hand, but otherwise remained silent, staring in awe at him. Kelah quickly moved on, and the three of them moved into the passenger lounge, with Kelah and Nevda taking seats beside Kyra. "You two eat breakfast, yet?" he asked, and Kelah and Ash nodded, so he prepared to make eopie egg sliders with bits of nerf sausage in them for himself and Kyra, and a third plate for Lexi when she woke up.
Kyra looked over at Nevda, slightly confused. "Kelah, who's this?" she asked, and Nevda simply rested her head on her hands, giving Kyra a sort of cheeky grin.
Kelah leaned back in her seat and glanced over at Nax, before turning back to Kyra. "That's Nevda, she's my pilot, Kyra."
Nodding once, Kyra gave Nevda a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you, Nevda."
"Feeling's mutual."
The three of them chatted amongst themselves for a while, before Nax came to the table with breakfast. Immediately, Kelah and Nevda stopped talking and suddenly got serious. "So, here's the deal." Kelah said, her expression stone cold as Sidewinder came out of her bag and hovered over the table, producing a hologram of Coruscant, drawing Kyra, Nax, and Nevda's attention. "I've got the go-ahead from my superior to take down this killer, and I had Sidewinder tag him with a tracking dart just before he escaped." she said as Nax and Kyra began to eat. A yellow dot appeared deep within the hologram of Coruscant, roughly around level 1300. "Assuming he hasn't noticed the dart, this is roughly where he should be." she continued, pointing at the dot.
Kyra paused for a second to swallow, before she looked at Kelah. "And if he has?"
Kelah responded with a casual shrug. "We have a secondary lead with some datapads that might bring us to the Pather cell this Anzat is probably working for." she explained, and Kyra silently continued eating.
"So do we." Nax thought to himself absent-mindedly. However, instead of staying quiet, he decided to ask a question. "So, since it's an Anzat we'll be facing, any suggestions for what we should bring?"
Kelah paused to think for a while. "…You mentioned that he didn't paralyze you and Kyra at the same time, so I can only assume he either doesn't have the ability to do it to more than one person, or he can, but fighting you rendered him unable to do so. There would be three of us…" she theorized, leaning over the table and looking up at Sidewinder. "…but I think it'd be better if we brought along some sort of droid as well. Sidewinder is nice, but I don't think he can handle an Anzat." she said, sounding fairly confident in her assessment, much to Sidewinder's offense. She then looked back to Nax. "Do you have a combat capable droid that isn't as… conspicuous as your B2?"
Nax nodded once, setting his food down and whistling. Immediately, everyone could hear the telltale sound of droid motivators at work, and shortly thereafter, Katy rolled into the lounge, while Arfive watched her intently from the corner of the room. "Kelah, this is T3-KT, but we just call her Katy."
Nevda and Kelah were both giving Katy intense looks, and the T3-unit simply tilted her head and let out a questioning 'bwo-dwoo?'. "…Is that…?" Nevda slowly said, and Nax nodded immediately.
"Yep – a functioning T3 droid, probably older than damn near everything on this planet." Nax responded, even sounding a little bit surprised himself at the words leaving his mouth. "She's got a blaster mounted in her head, and a fire extinguisher that could probably be tweaked to shoot out CryoBan, plus a shock prod." Nax explained as Katy demonstrated her toolset.
Thoughtfully stroking her chin, Nevda must have had about a million ideas running through her head for how to tweak Katy, getting a kind of gleam in her eyes that one would expect from a mad scientist. Katy simply looked at her, her photoreceptor wide as a saucer, with bits of purple and pink energy pulsing through it occasionally. She let out a wary 'dwoo?', and Nevda's grin only intensified. "The extinguishers in my ship use CryoBan. I can probably hack something together for her to use." Nevda said, even still brainstorming just what she could do to Katy.
Perhaps feeling left out, Arfive warbled angrily, opening his panels up to display his fire extinguisher and shock prod. Katy let out a trill that almost sounded like a giggle, which only served to infuriate Arfive further, earning a snicker from Nax. "Sorry, Arfive, but she's got the blaster, that's already a pretty big step up from your arsenal." he teased.
Kelah also chimed in. "That aside, Katy has her weight balanced more evenly. I think we'll use her." she said, and Arfive immediately threw an even bigger tantrum, charging up his shock prod, only for Katy to shock him, immediately making him back down.
Everyone had a laugh at how easily Arfive had been made to submit. As Nax and Kyra continued to eat, Nevda got up and left the ship to get her tools. When she had gotten back, the two of them were finished, and they were chatting amongst themselves while Nevda worked on Katy, with some help from Arfive.
The plan was, relatively speaking, quite simple. Sidewinder would scout out the building with a scan pulse, as well as sending video footage to the ship, and to Nax's, Kyra's, and Kelah's helmets, while they all breached the building from one of the small windows that led to the basement. From there, they would search the apartment, take whatever they could, and get the hell out.
There were only two slight issues. First was the Anzat himself, who, apparently, wasn't home, as demonstrated by the lack of any signs of life within the building, from both the scan pulses and Sidewinder's video feed.
Second was the possibility that the old man that must have been working with the killer also lived here. While he was significantly less of a threat, at least on the surface, he may have some sort of trick up his sleeve. Assuming that it wasn't just some random homeless person that had been controlled or duped into doing the killer's bidding.
Sidewinder gave a tweet in everyone's ear to signal that the building was clear, so the four of them dipped into the shadows of the alleyway between the killer's building and the next. Kelah sidled up by the basement window, and, drawing her blade, carefully cut the glass out without as much as breaking it, and she set it aside, before flinging herself in. Nax and Kyra were considerably more careful, putting their feet on some sort of support as they entered, before turning around to let Katy in as she 'crouched' down as low as her servos would allow her. Sidewinder floated in behind Katy, and the entire group was inside the building.
Almost immediately, there was an onsent of dread as they switched their helmets and photoreceptors to low-light mode. The thing they immediately took note of was the strange sculptures dotting the room. Getting closer to the statues, the group realized they were statues of brains. Most were human, but a few were Twi'lek, Trandoshan, and Bith brains, among several others that they couldn't identify. Nax picked one of the brains up and read the written inscription on the base of the statue. "…Freeman." he said out loud, before noticing that they all had names on them – names like Vao, Shephard, Calhoun, Ordo, and Shan. "He's one creepy son of a bitch, isn't he?" Nevda idly commented over the comms.
"I'll say." Lexi responded, still sounding a bit tired even though she had woken up from her nearly day long rest a few hours earlier.
Nax set the sculpture marked with the name Freeman back down, and drew the Deecee, pivoting towards the hinge door that led to the rest of the building, with Kelah and Kyra forming up on him, and Katy taking up the rear in a sort of arrowhead formation. Cautiously, Nax opened the door, sticking the barrel of the Deecee through, and it was a complete atmospheric change from the sculpture room.
While the sculpture room was nothing more than bare duracrete floors and walls with some plastoid tables set out, the new room was apparently a study, with shelves stocked with datapads, beautiful wood paneling, and what seemed to be professionally painted pieces of art, all signed with the name Caliban Bullen.
There was one painting of a woman in a long white dress in front of a Parantha tree in full bloom, pink petals slowly falling to the ground. She had long, white hair, similar to Kyra's, but she looked much, much older, roughly in her fifties. Kyra had no idea who this woman was, but she felt some sort of familiar connection to her. Maybe she had just seen her before in passing?
Whatever the answer was, Kyra wouldn't be able to dwell on it. "Run another scan pulse, Sidewinder." Kelah demanded, and her droid trilled in response, sending out the pulse as directed. The attention of both Kelah and Sidewinder was turned to one of the shelves. "He's picked up two faint pulses that weren't there before." she said in a hushed tone. Kelah motioned for Sidewinder to attach himself to the wall, which he readily did, and he pulsed again.
Putting one of her Bryar pistols away, Kelah held her fingertips out, appearing as if she were tapping at something, and then the entire shelf slowly swung out. "The hell? Who puts some stupid holo-serial secret entrance in their home?" Lexi commented out of disbelief, getting a chuckle from Nevda over the comms.
Kelah took point from Nax, the five of them moving into the revealed 'tunnel' that went a bit further down, Sidewinder consistently running scan pulses that, for Kelah, were getting closer. At the bottom of the stairs was another hinge door, but it looked like it had been made to hide something. Trying to open the door, Nax quickly found that it was locked. There wasn't even some sort of panel Katy or Sidewinder could hook into, just an analog lock.
Kelah produced a fusion cutter and managed to melt the lock down in around a minute, and the door slowly swung out. Looking inside what was in the room, they were collectively mortified at the sight. Rusty surgical instruments were spread around the room with varying states of use – dried blood had been splattered against the duracrete walls, seeming to have gotten there many years ago. Electrical coils on the left and right sides of the room occasionally arced electricity across towards a middle conduit, and then towards another conduit on the opposite end of the room, causing a man to shout in pain, or otherwise weep. Blocking their vision of the man was the same old man that Nax had seen when investigating Desani's death.
Quickly moving the Deecee into a ready position, alongside Kelah and Kyra, Nax pointed the blaster at the man. "Don't move a muscle. You turn, I shoot you." Nax harshly cautioned, idly tapping his blaster for emphasis. However, this had the opposite effect, and the man turned to Nax. Having already decided that he wasn't going to deal with someone who wasn't going to listen, Nax just shot a bolt directly into his head, slumping him over.
"Son of a bitch, Nax!" Kelah loudly cursed, with Katy and Sidewinder joining in quickly to chide him.
Nax simply gave an annoyed shrug. "I warned him, and he didn't listen. Too bad for him." he said as if this was a completely unjustified reaction. He was about to continue, when Kyra poked him in the back to get his attention, before pointing at where the man had been.
In his place was now a very large, and very angry mottled alien with an orange-brown hide and a face uglier than an Ugnaught's. The skin of its former appearance strewn about the floor around it, looking more like a deflated balloon than what was supposed to be a person. The alien flashed a manic grin. "…Sekhuo is very upset with you, meatsacks!" he said in a psychotic voice, before positioning himself as if he were about to charge.
They collectively realized what his plan of attack was, and scattered as soon as he charged, but instead of running out the room or into a wall, the alien's arms lengthened to cover the room, and as he charged, managed to grab Kyra and Nax, pulling them into a bone crushing embrace that was only made manageable by the armor they were wearing, but only barely.
The alien looked to Nax, and its wicked grin intensified. "…Sekhuo remembers you…" it said in a low, hungry voice, before opening its gaping maw to reveal a 'tongue' that opened like flower petals to reveal a mouth lined with teeth, gnashing and waiting to feast. Looking for options, Nax spotted his Deecee on the floor several feet away. Thinking fast, Nax struggled for his knife, and before the alien could react, he managed to free the blade from its sheath, managing to jab it into the approaching tongue. Both the tongue and the alien seemed to scream in an unholy unison of what sounded like hundreds of voices at once, and the alien stumbled back, letting Nax and Kyra go after some extra struggling on their part.
Nax dived for the Deecee, while Kyra took the opportunity to unload with her blasters, putting bolt after bolt from her '44 and CR-2, and yet despite its increasingly grizzly wounds, the alien just would not go down and die. Nax quickly grabbed the Deecee off the ground, reinserted the loose magazine, and hosed down the alien in a spray of blaster fire, the ammo counter in the magazine ticking down to empty. When the magazine ran dry, the alien was still alive, and now it had recovered enough to try charging someone again.
This time, it picked Kyra as its target, and reformed its arms into what could only be described as giant battering rams. Kyra had accidentally backed herself into a corner, and was just now realizing this, as she started to visibly panic at her mistake. As soon as Nax saw what was about to happen, he threw the Deecee to the floor and went into a dead run, leaping onto the back of the alien before it could charge Kyra. With a fierce roar, the alien tried to shake him off, but he dug his heels into the alien's back. Realizing his knife was still stuck in the tongue of the alien and not wanting to find out if his dad put a set of knuckleplate vibro-daggers in the suit or not, Nax pointed the whipcord directly at its neck and fired, the hook punching through the hide and perfectly embedding itself, causing the alien to roar in pain, now gurgling from having its throat punctured. Working quickly, Nax wrapped the fibercord around the alien's neck to be as tight as possible, fighting against the bucking bantha that seemed to have roused itself within the alien. When he was done, he leapt off the back of the beast, and began pulling the fibercord, causing the alien to stumble backwards a bit, before grabbing onto its own end of the cord and pulling back, moving Nax considerably closer. "Kelah!" he shouted, and without him needing to speak further, Kelah ran over and grabbed hold of the cord, her augmented strength helping greatly to turn the tide in their favor, if only for a few moments.
Kyra had evidently taken the time Nax used to tie the alien's neck to get out of the way, and ran over to join the two of them, but just as she did, the cord began to pull apart. "It's not gonna hold!" Kelah shouted, sounding overexerted. Three blaster shots rang out from behind them, coming from their left and hitting the alien in the back, the sudden shock from being shot enough to make its grasp falter for but a moment, and Sidewinder took the opportunity to shock the alien as it fell over backwards. As soon as he realized the alien was toppled, Nax released the fibercord from the launcher, sending it to lash at the alien's back. The alien landed on the ground with a heavy thud befitting of its weight, but it was, against all odds, still alive. It moved to get up, but Katy quickly rolled up and sprayed him with CryoBan, freezing him in place. "…Master, I've…" the alien gurgled out in a pathetic display. "…failed… you…?" it continued, its voice growing weaker and more distant. The tongue lolled out of its mouth as its head rolled to the side, knife still attached. Carefully, Nax reached down and yanked the blade out, flicking it in the air out of disgust.
Kyra kicked the alien's head. "Is it still alive?" she questioned, sounding unsure of what would happen if it were.
Kelah drew her arm blade and stabbed it in the alien's head. "Now it is." she said confidently, re-sheathing it while Nax went to go pick up the Deecee. "…So, this is his torture room?" Kelah said out loud, and Kyra shrugged in response.
"Guess so." she replied, still looking at the body of the alien. "…but why would an Anzat need a torture room?" she questioned, before looking at the end of the room and noticing what the alien had been hiding behind his massive bulk. The others noticed, too, and quickly ran up.
Chained to the wall was a heavily emaciated Zeltron man, who barely had the strength to lift his head. "…Heh, never thought anyone'd be crazy enough to come down here for an old man like me." he said in a dry, raspy voice. "Didn't expect two Mandos, either."
"…We didn't know anyone was down here." Kelah replied as she pulled her fusion cutter out and began to break the restraints, slowly freeing the man. Once he was freed, Nax caught him and held him to help support his weight.
"Can you walk?" Nax asked, about to take a step forward.
The man shook his head meekly. "'Fraid not. I've been chained up there for Svala knows how long, it's a miracle I can even move my damn mouth..." he murmured in response.
The commlink buzzed in Nax's ear, before automatically turning itself on, with Nevda's voice coming through. "Hey, uh, scanner's going off." she said, alerting them all to their situation. "You've got about twenty minutes before the Imps show up, so I'd get what we came for and get the hell out of there."
"Got it, thanks Nevda." Kelah responded through the comms, and quickly began to devise a plan. "Nax, you wanna take him to the ship? We'll clear the place out."
Nax nodded, carrying the Zeltron over his shoulder, trying to keep him from getting hurt. "Don't forget to take the paintings – they might be worth something. A little extra spending money never hurt, especially with what we're pulling." he suggested, and Kyra nodded in agreement, before the group split, Nax taking the Zeltron with him, while the others scoured the apartment.
"…Your name was Nax, right?" the Zeltron asked.
"Strag, yeah." he responded, and the Zeltron went silent for a moment, as if trying to remember his own name after so long.
"…Markan, my name is Markan…" he finally said, his voice getting increasingly weak.
Looking at him from the corner of his viewplate, Nax raised an eyebrow. "Why were you down there?" he questioned, only for him to get no response. Wondering if the Zeltron had died, he quickly realized that he had simply chosen not to answer.
Nax opened the front door to the building, poked his head out, and moved quickly once he saw that the streets were abandoned, heading into the back alley they had entered from. "…I was down there for… torture. The Anzat, he was using me to feed…" Markan finally answered.
"But I thought Anzat feeding is fatal?"
"…Zeltrons are a special case." Markan answered, which only aroused Nax's curiosity further. "…We're both telepathic species, and Anzat can somehow use that to feed off of us without killing us. Usually, we just go hollow after a few days in their hands."
This was news to Nax, especially the idea of whatever a 'hollow' was, but that could be answered later. For now, his curiosity was on how Markan had survived so long. "…If he kept you as long as he did, what kept you going through the torture?"
Markan paused again. "…My love for my daughter." he choked out as Nax neared the landing bay where the ship was docked.
The Anzat had just finished another set of hunts – more snacks than anything else. A few Twi'leks, some Bith, and a nosy Devaronian brat that had gotten into his business. Nothing too special, but the Bith were a travelling band, who would make for some fascinating stories.
As he neared closer to his home, he heard the telltale sound of wailing airspeeder sirens. Believing it to be just some fire elsewhere, he continued, unabated. However, as he got closer to his home, he found that the sirens were getting closer, not further, to the point where he could see the lights brushing against the walls of hab blocks and apartment buildings with an orange glow in the air.
As he rounded the corner, however, his concerns were confirmed when he saw that plasma fires were scorching his home, being battled by droid firefighters.
Either the prisoner had gotten free and set fire to the place, or, more likely, this was a targeted attack. However, the realization of what his home burning suddenly meant to him hit him in the chest like a bantha herd – every one of his trophies had likely been melted away, as well as his countless masterpieces and unfinished stories.
The building could easily be replaced, but the countless hours, nay, years of his life he had dedicated to his work had just gone up in smoke.
And all he could do was watch.
Nax set Markan on the couch in the lounge, and Zeethree fetched him a bottle of water, which he opened and immediately gave to Markan, helping him hold the bottle. Kyra was silently watching the scene with Katy and Sidewinder, while Kelah had gone to the cockpit to talk with Nevda.
As Markan drank the bottle, Nax crushed it and tossed it into the trash, before hearing footsteps down the corridor. He turned to look, and Markan tried as well, and it turned out to have been Lexi, looking at the two of them from the archway, specifically, she was looking – no – staring at Markan. Tears began to well up in her eyes. "…D…dad?" Lexi meekly choked out, and Markan immediately seemed a thousand times more energized than he had been earlier.
"Lexi!" Markan shouted back, and Lexi quickly ran over to embrace her father, weeping with joy.
This would have gone up a few hours earlier, but I fucking had paperwork to fill out which took way longer than it realistically should have, so you get the one year anniversary chapter about twenty minutes before the end of the day.
I had some trivia shit prepped, but I'm tired, so it goes in the next chapter.
'Till next time!
-Tweak