The journey to the outpost began in silence. The medium sized ship was able to quickly reach a strange shimmering circle and fly through it. The stars became long white lines as they sped through the tunnel-like dimension, and then were spat back out another opening into the empty expanse of space. Seto looked out the window and realized that the planet he had been trapped on had vanished. He made a noise of surprise, he hadn't expected them to have traveled that fast.
A memory of when he and Greer escaped surfaced in his mind, and he found himself too curious to keep quiet any longer. "Was that a jump point?"
Baulrad glanced back at Seto momentarily, his beady eyes wide. "Why, yes it was!" He smirked, one tusk catching on his upper lip. "Seems somebody catches on quick."
"Is a jump point some kind of teleportation system?" The half human queried.
The otherworlder shook his head for a moment, stopped, and then shrugged. "Well… Sort of. It's a bunch of constructed wormholes that ships can use to get around faster. It really saves on fuel."
Seto looked at the shimmering circle and frowned. "When I was on that prison ship, we never went through one of those."
"Well that's not surprising, bigger ships can't use jump points as often. There aren't many wormholes set up that can handle large ships like that. They can try to use smaller ones, but that's a good way to get your ship destroyed."
He heard the sound of buttons being pushed. "But there aren't jump points everywhere, especially all the way out here at the edge of the galaxy. Sometimes your route is unlucky and you gotta hope you stocked up on supplies."
The half human turned his attention back to the front of the ship, and found himself surprised by what was in front of them. He moved from his seat to stand behind Baulrad's large chair so that he could get a better look.
In front of the ship was a gigantic floating outpost made out of mismatched pieces of metal. In the middle was a large glass sphere that had metal reinforced around it and a pillar going through. Six limbs jutted out of the main sphere and led to spheres of a smaller size, made of the same mismatched metal and glass. On top of the pillar in the middle were several floating metal circles, and connected to the bottom of the pillar, below the sphere was a large rectangular building with what looked like an opening.
Baulrad grabbed his control column and began to lower them towards the rectangular building at the bottom. "Ah, we made it." He looked back at Seto, and motioned to the floating building. "Welcome to Graeham Outpost."
The ship reached the rectangular building and slowly moved into the opening. Once Baulrad had landed the large spacecraft on the ground, the opening behind them slammed shut, and a new one opened in front of them. The ship slowly rolled into a much larger area, and came to a complete stop.
The large alien pressed a few buttons before the lights on the ship powered down. He stood up out of his seat, stretched his large arms out, and then walked to the end of the ship. He pushed a large blue button by the edge of the ship, which opened the back and pushed the ramp out once more.
When the ship was open, Baulrad motioned for Seto. "C'mon, let's go." He gave a grin that showed off his yellowed teeth. "Don't worry, if anyone gives you trouble just let them know you're my assistant."
Seto frowned and arched his eyebrow. "How will that help?"
"You don't wanna piss off the person who is in charge of repairing your ship," Baulrad answered with a wink, and then turned to exit his ship.
With a nervous sigh, Seto slowly followed after him into the artificially lit area and instinctively scanned his surroundings.
The room was most likely Baulrad's workshop. Seto could see shelves stockpiled with scrap metal and tools, a large desk covered in different kinds of tech, and several ships scattered in the open area. The ceiling had several large tools hanging down from it, with many different stations with buttons to operate them. There was a shut door at the edge of the room, and when he looked up he could see windows on the upper level. The door probably leads to those.
But the thing that Seto found the most interesting was the disorganization and the building itself. The room was messy, and the metal walls were several different colors from a bright yellow, to a mossy green, to a dark black.
It was the exact opposite of the Karalis spaceship, and that fact sent a wash of comfort through him. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Seto Kaiba felt safe.
That feeling seemed to be all that his body needed to finally give in. The stress and exhaustion he had been holding back hit him like a tsunami wave, and he found that he couldn't fight back anymore. His vision swam, he felt his body begin to fall, and then everything went black.
When awareness began to return to Seto, he found himself struggling to fully awaken. His whole body felt exhausted, his limbs were sore, and he heard voices that sounded like they were underwater. What happened?
With as much effort as he could muster, Seto slowly forced his eyelids to open slightly. The bright lights of the room made it hard to notice much, but he did see a figure standing above him. A thin figure that was wearing what looked like… A lab coat…
"NO!" Seto yelled out suddenly as adrenaline forced him awake. He threw himself away from the figure and crashed onto the hard floor. As fast as he could he righted himself, and scrambled backwards away from the figure. His eyes scanned for any escape, but his vision was too blurry to notice what he wanted. He couldn't find an exit, where was it?!
Then another figure appeared, much more large and bulky than the other. Seto tensed up as he pressed himself further against the wall, his hand slowly forming into a deadly claw as panic overtook him. "No! St-stay away from me!"
"Seto, it's okay, you're not with the Karalis. Look around you, tell me what you see!" A voice gently encouraged, a voice that didn't sound like the Karalis Scientist.
The half human took a few heavy breaths and blinked carefully. The fuzz over his vision slowly disappeared, and he found himself in a lab-like room… but it wasn't the same one that haunted his memories.
He swallowed down a lump in his throat. "I… I see different colored metal, there's a computer on the desk, and…" He looked upwards, the hulking figure now someone he recognized. "And I see Baulrad?"
"Good, very good…" Baulrad said with a relieved smile. He knelt down next to Seto, but didn't try to touch him. "Are you feeling better now?"
Seto wasn't sure if better was the correct word. He felt like he had just had a heart attack, he was still exhausted, and now his mind was fresh with the memories of what the Scientist did to him… But the panic gripping him had begun to ebb away. "... A little…"
Baulrad nodded, and then let his smile turn into a frown. "I'm sorry I made you scared. You passed out, and so I brought you to the doctor on board. I didn't think about how you might react around someone similar to the Karalis you told me about."
"It's fine." Seto could feel his hands gripping his shirt tightly. "You didn't mean… I-It's fine..."
A gentle clearing of the throat made Seto jump and turn towards the source. The doctor, whose lab coat was now folded neatly on a counter, gave him a gentle smile. "If it is okay with you, may I continue your check up? I promise I won't do anything you are uncomfortable with."
Seto was starting to feel overwhelmed again. On the Karalis ship there had been no mercy, and now he was practically sandwiched by two aliens who were doing their best to keep him calm and not harm him. It was a lot to handle after just passing out…
He glanced between the doctor and the lab coat and eventually sighed. "Alright…" He softly whispered, and then quickly continued, "Can Baulrad stay?"
"Don't worry, kid. I'll be here the whole time." The large alien in question promised, his smile still present and bright.
The half human still wished he could be anywhere else, but his friend's gentle confirmation made his situation a little easier to handle. He slowly stood up, and went back to the doctor, silently hoping it would be over as quick as possible.
"... Malnutrition, dehydration, sleep deprivation, scar tissue, infected wounds…" Baulrad hummed as he read the list the doctor handed him. "They sure diagnosed you with plenty of stuff!"
Seto followed after the large alien, holding onto the soft blanket he had been given. After his panic when he woke up, and the stressful check-up, he felt even more exhausted than before.
"Now that you're on the Outpost we can probably get you to a healthy weight easily enough. Exercise would be a good idea but now while you're still injured. Your wounds and scar tissue are an easy fix as long as we keep up with medicine…"
Baulrad scanned the list a few more times and then shoved it into his pocket. "Well, we can worry about most of that later. First, we both should get some rest!"
The idea of going to sleep was a tempting one, but Seto quickly shuddered at the suggestion. Ever since he escaped from the prison ship, any brief sleep he had was always plagued with nightmares. Would it be the same here too? I'm supposed to be safe, I don't want those nightmares, not anymore…
"Can we…" Seto's voice caught in his throat, and he forced himself to start over. "Can we do something else first? Maybe you could give me a tour of your workshop?"
The rest of his request was unspoken, but he suspected Baulrad knew why he didn't want to sleep yet. To his relief, the large man gave him a quick nod and motioned for him to follow.
Baulrad was smart enough to know that Seto was too tired for a full tour. So instead he and Seto sat down on opposite sides of the desk, as he chatted idly about the different types of parts for space ships.
Eventually, as he listened to the gruff but calming words, Seto's heavy lids got the best of him. He let his head slump forward to rest against his folder arms, and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.
Seto spent the next few days in a similar fashion, sitting in the workshop as Baulrad explained the inner workings of space ships to him. It was a very complicated business apparently, as nearly every ship could be built differently depending on the manufacturer and what planet it was made on.
"Not every ship that gets built will be a perfect, shiny vessel, especially out here in the edge of the galaxy where we have to scavenge. But most of the time that's fine, especially if you plan for your ship to be specialized for a certain task." He pointed to the small, red ship he was using to demonstrate. "Like this one, it is small and has a strong engine. Very good for flying fast, but not very good if you get in a fight."
The half-human nodded his head from where he sat criss-crossed with a holographic screen in front of him, taking down notes on everything his mentor said. Seto knew eventually he would be able to remember it all with ease, but his mind and body were still recovering from his ordeal.
Baulrad waited for a moment to let Seto finish awkwardly typing on the floating keyboard, and then continued. "For mechanics and their assistants, it is important to know what parts can work together and what can't. Building ships and repairing them depend on that, as well as your knowledge on the electrical side of things."
Seto turned his blue and yellow eyes away from the screen, looking at the large man. "How long does it take to make a ship?" He couldn't help but ask, his mind set on getting home as soon as possible.
The mechanic seemed to notice what he was thinking about and sighed. "Listen, kid. I know you miss your planet, but you're going to have to be patient with this. Rushing through this process, especially when you're inexperienced, could make it take even longer than before. The first thing you have to worry about is making sure you got it right." He gestured to his own large ship. "This one took me years to build-"
"Years?!" Seto exclaimed.
Baulrad jolted slightly from his sudden volume. "Well, years on my planet anyway. Time works differently out in space, not every planet has the same number of days or months, and space travel can be tricky when it comes to distance and time."
His words barely registered to Seto, who was too busy registering what he had said the moment before. "Years? It could take years? But…" He forced himself to take a deep breath. "I've been gone for too long already…"
The man in front of him let out a soft sigh, and moved to sit down next to him. His sudden weight on the plush seat made Seto jerk out of his thoughts. When he had the half-human's attention, he asked,"Is this about that brother you told me about?"
"Mokuba…" Seto nodded his head and turned to stare at his new baggy grey pants, his hands squeezing the fabric. "When I was on the prison ship, there was a part of me that thought I would die, and that I would never get to see him again. That kid is only thirteen, he has been through too much already. I just want to get back to him as soon as possible…"
The two men were silent as Seto tried his best to stop himself from crying. He wasn't sure why, maybe from recent events, but it had become more difficult to put up his usual cruel facade. His emotions seemed to pour out easily, especially around the kind presence of Baulrad.
He sniffed and wiped his eyes, turning his mismatched gaze to the alien. "I… I know you're right, I need to be patient; Believe me, I'm trying to be. But none of that will change the fact that I miss everyone on Earth so, so much... "
Baulrad was quiet for a moment, his beady black eyes regarding the half-human with sadness. "I know, kid. Being seperated from family is hard, especially in a situation like yours… But you know, I bet that brother of yours will be even happier to see you if he knows you did your best to get back safely."
Seto thought of his little brother in his mind and smiled. Mokuba had always been so protective with him, often fretting about if Seto had gotten enough sleep or had breakfast before work. He knew if he rushed back home in a barely functionship ship, Mokuba would probably lose his mind. "Heh… You're right. He'd be so mad if he found out I did something like that…"
Baulrad grinned and then reached out, his large hand landing on Seto's head and roughly ruffling his hair. The half-human grunted as the hand pulled away, leaving his hair a mess and sticking out in several directions.
"Ha! He sounds like a smart kid, then, just like his brother!" He moved back to the ship he had been repairing. "Well then, we should probably keep working on your lessons. How about I show you the different wires for ships now? If you do well, you can help me with the rewiring."
Seto made a determined noise and nodded. He swiped the hologram away, letting it fade as he jogged over to join his mentor by the large, jumped pile of wires. Baulrad is right, I need to take my time with this. But I'll do my best to learn all I can, and then nobody will stop me from finding my way home.
A few more days passed of learning and practicing with his mentor, watching him smooth-talk customers and repair their ships as if it was what he had been born to do. Seto still wasn't allowed to work on a real ship, only the broken down half-ships Baulrad had lying around. He didn't mind, he was smart enough to know when he still had stuff to learn.
It was thanks to his constant observing that he saw something that garnered his interest. It was after finishing repairing a ship for some prissy alien that had flown off with their friend, leaving their ship behind to be repaired. It sat around the place for two days before Baulrad was annoyed enough to do something about it.
He went to his desk and angrily typed something in, revealing what looked like a messaging system. A red light shined, the prissy alien appeared on the screen looking annoyed until he saw the mechanic's face and paled considerably, and Baulrad politely threatened to throw the ship into the vast expanse of space if the man didn't show up and pay for the work done on it.
It seemed his barely hidden threat worked, because the prissy alien was quick to return less than a few hours later, paying double the credits that had been decided on, and flying away on his ship before Baulrad could lecture him or throw the ship out.
"Ugh, I hate customers like that…" Baulrad grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest. "Don't have any sympathy for people just trying to do their jobs. He's lucky I didn't triple the charge, huh?"
Seto didn't answer, his mismatched gaze focused on the screen that the man had used a few hours before. Only when the man tapped his shoulder did Seto snap out of his daze and spin to face him.
"You okay, kid?" The large man asked.
"Uh… yeah…" Seto muttered, his gaze turning back to the computer. "So, you can send out messages with that thing?"
Baulrad had proved several times that he caught on quickly, and this was another of those times. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and was quick to reply. "Yes, you can. But you have to know who you're looking for and have a specific place you can send the message."
Seto nodded weakly, the gears in his head already turning as he tried to recall all the places that Mokuba might go to. "Do you think I could-"
"No, no!" Baulrad quickly cut him off, shaking his head. "Absolutely not."
"Why not?!" Seto demanded with a glare.
Baulrad looked at him like he was crazy. "You do realize that you are still a very-wanted criminal, right? The Karalis have taken over dozens of planets, and I bet they have your face plastered everywhere. They don't forget easily, kid."
"So?" Seto challenged again, still angry.
"So, if you send out a message from this distance, there is a chance they could intercept the signal. Then they could find you, and everyone here would be in danger!" Baulrad easily countered, motioning to the desk again. "And there's a good chance that your brother might not even be able to answer the message, then you'd be putting everyone in the line of fire for nothing!"
The half human jumped to his feet, sending a challenging glare at the much taller alien. "I'm not stupid, I know all of that! I know my brother probably won't respond because I don't even know how long I've been gone! I'm not asking for that!"
"Then what exactly are you wanting to do?!"
"I just…" Seto's anger deflated as an image of his brother flashed through his mind. He sighed and reached towards his neck, grasping Greer's necklace in his hand. "I don't want to try a live message, I know that won't work… But maybe just a recording? I know a computer in our home I could send it to, he could find it if he checks it."
Baulrad groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Seto…"
The human took a deep breath and forced himself to settle down. He looked up at his mentor with hopeful mismatched eyes. "Please, Baulrad. I know it might now work, I know he may never see it… But if there's the tiniest chance it would work, I want to try." He squeezed the necklace tighter, imagining the locket he had lost. "I want him to know that I'm alive."
His mentor stared down at him with a hard black gaze, unflinching for several seconds before his eyes softened the slightest bit. He lowered his head and let out a defeated sigh. "Alright." He finally acquiesced,"Alright, alright, we'll fly a little ways away from the Outpost, and you can send one message. But only ONE, any more would be too risky."
Seto's eyes widened, and a smile appeared on his face. "Thank you Baulrad, thank you!"
Baulrad's cheeks turned a slight pink at the eager praise and he gave an awkward smile. He reached out and ruffled Seto's hair, something that was becoming a habit. "Come on, kid, we're between customers. Let's do this while we have the chance."
They flew out until the Outpost was barely noticeable, just a dot in the distance. It was pretty far to go just to send a message, but Seto knew it was the safest for everyone aboard to do it the careful way.
Baulrad slowed the ship down to a halt, pressed a few buttons, and then turned on autopilot. When he let go of the steering wheel, the ship remained smoothly hovering in place with little trouble.
The large alien tapped a few buttons until a holographic screen popped up, displaying the same red light that appeared when he had been messaging the stuck up alien earlier in the day.
Once everything was finished being set up, Baulrad backed away and turned to look at Seto. "Go ahead, kid. I'll be in the other room until you're done."
"Thank you…" Seto whispered through his nerves. He was relieved that Baulrad knew he would need some privacy to record the message, a chance to open his heart to the little brother he dearly missed.
He turned his attention to the screen, and felt his heart jolt as he stared at his own reflection on the screen. He was still not used to his new appearance, his dark green skin, streaks of hair, mismatched eyes, and ear still a constant, painful reminder than he was half-Karalis.
Seto took a deep breath to steel himself before he fully faced the screen. In his mind he counted down as he gathered his thoughts and prepared to speak. Five, four, three, two, one…
His shoulders slumped and his Karalis ear twitched as he gave a weak smile to the camera. "Hey, Mokuba…" He instantly cringed. "That was a shitty opening… Ugh… I don't know how to start this…"
He looked up at himself on the screen, and decided to focus on that. "I know I don't look… Like myself… But it's me, Seto. I wanted to let you know, I survived the explosion, I'm still alive, little brother."
Seto imagined how Mokuba would react, he would probably be frantic, wanting to track down Seto and bring him home. He needed to prepare for that. "Please don't worry about me, I'm okay…" He cringed again. "Well, not really… A lot of stuff has happened since I had to leave Earth. Most of it hasn't been good…"
Images flashed through his mind without his permission. The Scientist, his torture, the explosion, Greer… His hands balled into fists, nails on his human hand digging into his palm.
"I… I don't know what I'll be back. I have help, but… Things are complicated, Mokie. I just want you to know that I'm trying to come home, I will come home. Don't forget that, okay?" He weakly finished.
The half human turned to call for Baulrad, but he hesitated as he realized he had forgotten someone. "Oh, yeah…" He turned back to the screen and gave a sheepish grin. "If Yugi and the others are there, please let them know that I'm alive and… That I'm sorry for the way I acted on Earth. When I'm back, I want to make up for it."
He reached up and placed his hands on his chest, his heart warmed by such an idea. Perhaps it was foolish, but it gave him hope that maybe… maybe something like that could happen one day. No, it will! I'll get home, I'll see them all again, I will! No matter how long it takes, I will see them again!
Looking back at the screen one last time, he gave a determined nod. "So… Until then, please take care of each other. I'll see you again "
Seto had thought of so many other things he could have said, things he could have explained, but nothing seemed right when he was in the moment. The shorter the message, the bigger chance it would get there faster. Besides, I can tell them all those things when I'm back home.
Once Baulrad had returned and stopped the recording, clicking a few more buttons until the screen proudly declared 'Message sent'. Seto took a gulp of air. The deed was done, hopefully it would make it to Earth.
The alien removed the ship's autopilot as he gave Seto a kind glance. "I know I am rather against this whole thing, but since we're doing it now… I do genuinely hope the message gets to your brother."
Seto let out a weak chuckle and smiled at his mentor. "Me too…" He shuffled his feet slightly. "Thank you for letting me, I… I'm glad we at least tried."
The large alien smiled and ruffled his hair. "I am too, kid. Now how about we send this off, and then you can help me repair that new engine we got?"
The half human gave an eager nod, excited to get his hands on the engine and tinker. It would take his mind off the message that they had just sent off into space, and help him focus on learning to make his own ship. The sooner he built his own ship, the sooner he could go home.
I won't know whether or not that message makes it to you. He thought, his heart swelling with determination. But we'll both have to be patient, it will take some time to make my ship, but as soon as it's done, I'll make my way home to all of you. Mokuba, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, everyone… Please wait for me.