Jack Kelly set the heavy crate he was carrying down onto the hoverloader cart at the base of the freighter's ramp. He stepped off of the ramp and fished a grimy handkerchief out of his coverall pocket and used it to wipe the sweat from his brow. He squinted up at the smog-filled sky, searching for the glowing spots that would indicate where the suns were behind the clouds. He couldn't find them. Race Higgins stepped off the ramp next to him, panting. He shook his head, flopping his ears, then shoved his sweaty hair back and out of his face.

"Glad that's done," Race said, tongue still lolling out from between sharp teeth. His nose twitched, and he turned as Elmer Kasprzak stepped down next to them. "You stink."

Elmer glared at him. "Like you don't," he grumbled.

Race laughed, shoving his hair back again, as it had flopped forward into his face. "Let's get out of here."

"Gotta check with Denton first," Jack reminded him, grabbing Race by the shoulders as he started to head for the lockers at the back of the dock and steering him towards their supervisor's office. The rest of the crew that had been unloading the freighter fell in around them.

Denton, a tall, broad-shouldered human man with greying hair, stepped out of his office to greet them. "That last ship done?"

"Yes, sir!" Jack called back.

"Then you're all clear for the day. See you in the morning."

Jack, Elmer, and Race wandered towards their lockers together. They peeled off their coveralls and stuffed them into the laundry bin at the end of the lockers, swapped out heavy steel-toed magniboots for street shoes, and made their way out of the dock gate.

Proserpina was one of the busiest planets in the Mid Rim. It had a larger population than any other planet of its size class in the entire Mid Rim, as well as many larger planets both in the Mid Rim and the Core worlds. Often called the "Coruscant of the Mid Rim", much of the planet—the inhabitable sections, at least, so everything that wasn't near the poles—was covered in a single giant city, just like Coruscant. It had begun as a port between hyperspace lanes, and, as more high-traffic routes were established, only continued to grow thanks to its convenient location.

Jack had spent his whole life on Proserpina and its moons, Cyphus, Crorix, and Taothea—mostly the planet itself, although he'd been able to hitch a ride on a few supply runs to the moons over his life. Neither Race nor Elmer had been born on Proserpina, but both had come to the planet when they were still fairly young, and neither talked much about their homeworlds, and both considered Proserpina more home than anywhere else. Not that any of them were particularly happy there, but it was still home.

After work, as usual, they headed for a small cantina only a short walk away from the docks. This made it popular with visiting crews as well, meaning that the bar was always busy. When they walked through the doors, the place was packed. They had to squeeze through the crowd to get to the bar, where Albert, a young Felis who tended the bar, was flitting around making drinks. He grinned when he caught sight of them, nodding in greeting, his whiskers twitching.

Race took a seat at the bar, Jack and Elmer on either side of him. As soon as he was free, Albert stopped in front of them, leaning on the bar as he surveyed them. "You guys look exhausted," he said, producing three plates of food and passing them out to the new arrivals, followed by three glasses of blue milk.

"Ugh, you're the best," Race groaned, pulling his plate closer to him. His ears perked up as the smell reached his sensitive nose and he grinned. "Thanks."

"No problem," Albert winked. He grinned at Jack and Elmer, then flitted off down the bar to keep working.

Elmer rolled his eyes. He and Jack traded glances over Race's head as the Canus dug into his food. "When are you going to suck it up and ask him out already?" Elmer asked, nudging Race's arm as he turned to his own food.

"What?" Race asked. "Who?"

"Oh, I don't know—Albert?" Elmer said.

"Why would I ask Albert out?" Race asked. "We live together. We're friends."

"Sure," Jack rolled his eyes. "Friends."

"And what do you mean by that?" Race demanded.

Jack started to answer, but stopped when Albert stopped in front of them again.

"Have you guys heard?" Albert asked, grinning and leaning in, whiskers twitching.

"Heard what?" Race asked, propping his chin in his hands and cocking his head to the side, eyes eager.

"About the pleasure cruiser that burst into the solar system last night and parked itself in the middle of the high dock."

"Fancy," Jack arched his eyebrows.

"I'll say," Albert snorted, miming wiping down the bartop as he chatted. "It's a pretty legit pleasure cruiser, too. One of the ones made to look like an old sea ship, masts and solar sails, a transparisteel dome to lock in atmosphere—more fashion than function, really. Seems they were attacked by pirates in the outer rim and got beat pretty bad. Lost some crew, needed the hospital here for some others."

"What pirates?" Elmer asked.

"Who knows," Albert shrugged. "There's so many crews out there. It was stupid of them to go past the Mid Rim—if even that far—in a ship so poorly protected and without proper defenses. They were basically sitting ducks. They're lucky any of them got away."

.*.*.*.*.*.

Davey stood, arms crossed, in front of a large transparisteel window. On the other side, Charlie's body floated in a blue-tinted bacta tank, eyes closed behind the oxygen mask over the lower portion of his face. He was in a medically-induced coma while his body repaired itself—as much as it could—with the aid of the bacta. Once the worst of his wounds were healed, in a few days' time, he would be removed from the tank and would undergo cybernetics surgery to replace the leg that had been amputated after the attack a few days earlier.

They had been lucky to find such a good hospital so close, but, even at the best speed JoJo and Skittery could coax from the engines, it had taken them almost twenty-four hours to reach Proserpina, and by that time it had been too late to save the boy's leg, even with the help of Davey's magic. In fact, the magic was probably the only thing that had kept Charlie alive long enough to reach the planet.

Spot stepped up next to Davey, his oversized ears low on the sides of his head, tail twitching under his long coat. He stuffed his paws into his pockets and hunched his shoulders up as he stared at the boy in the tank. "How is he?"

"He'll live," said Davey. "They had to take the leg, but he'll live. And the cybernetics program here is fairly good, so the implant will be high quality."

Spot nodded. "Poor kid."

Davey sighed. "Yeah. But he's strong. He'll pull through. He'll need all the help he can get, though."

Spot nodded again.

"How are the repairs going on the ship?"

"Could be worse," Spot said. "JoJo and Skittery did some research before hiring mechanics to help them. It's not the fastest—and it won't be the cheapest—but they assure me that it will be worth it. So far they've patched the holes in the hull. They're moving on to reinforcing the bubble next. Romeo, Finch, and Specs have been working on the solar sails, and they're making good progress."

Davey nodded. "Have you been able to reach their father?"

"No, sir. They say he's in the Hapes Consortium and unreachable."

Davey muttered a curse word under his breath. "Of course. Why bother about your children when you have business to attend to?"

Spot bit his lip for a moment before moving to the next topic: "We've figured out who it was who attacked us."

"Metalbeard?" Davey said.

"Yes, sir."

"I figured as much."

"We're lucky that any of us made it out of there alive," said Spot. "You know his reputation as well as I do."

"Charlie and Katherine are the ones who saved us there," Davey murmured.

"Sir?"

"You don't know?" Davey turned to Spot. "Metalbeard—as he's known now, not that he always has been—is their uncle. Undoubtedly, he's trying to get to their father. That's why his men took Katherine. Hurting Charlie was almost certainly an accident, and one that the few who escaped likely paid dearly for."

"I had no idea," Spot murmured.

"Metalbeard was angry when his brother inherited the full share of their father's business. Nevermind that there's no way in the galaxy Metalbeard would have been fit to run it—he's always been into the more questionable side of business. He likely would have run it into the ground trying to get rich quick, and poured all of his profits into spice running, gambling—that sort of thing. When his brother cut him off, when Katherine and Charlie were children, he spiralled. Ran off to the Outer Rim. Everyone thought he was dead for years.

"About a decade later, our ships in the Outer Rim started to come under attack. Around the same time, we heard the first rumors of the pirate called 'Metalbeard'. I joined one of the runs. That's how I was able to confirm his identity. The attacks died off a few months later as he spread further out into the Outer Rim. The last assault can only have been him beginning to make another move for his father's company. Or maybe just directly against his brother—who knows."

Spot arched his eyebrows. "That's… Wow. I never knew."

"They don't exactly advertise the relationship. I don't even know if Charlie and Katherine know about it."

Spot sighed and shifted his weight. "Would've been a nice thing to know before I let JoJo plot our course through the Outer Rim."

"I never thought he'd go after them. Previously, ships carrying one or both of them have been spared from Metalbeard's attacks. I have no idea what's changed…"