Ten years had gone by. After a decade of wandering around looking for a place to call home I was still searching. By now I've given up. I just rome the verse aimlessly. When I run into trouble I dispatch the antagonists and call it a day. I considered becoming a mercenary, but that's what most people do. I'm not most people and I don't want to be.

"Hey Naui, I'm getting a reading from that wreckage over there."

Enter Fahu. A Dagon I picked up on the outskirts of the Mantar galaxy. Dagons are quite interesting beings if you get to know them. Picture a man about 6'10 inches completely muscle bound. Now imagine on that same man long black hair with the texture of cornsilk, long red claws on his hands and feet. Five finger and toes, but each with an extra joint. Fahu has white eyes. Something that was considered a curse by his people since they have black eyes. His skin is white as well and a little bit like snakeskin, however, the shape of his face resembles a cat, slightly.

"What kind of a reading?"

"I think it's the life support."

One if the things that made me decide to keep him was probably his voice. It has a deep gravelly pitch. When he gets angry it booms nicely.

"Life support? That thing looks ancient."

"Indeed, but if a sufficient supply of power was transferred to the life support system, then it could run almost indeffinitely."

He's also quite smart. I realized that having a friend out here would have its benefits. If I had someone to talk to I wouldn't go space crazy and have the help I sometimes needed. Sponge Guy is still my best friend, but he isn't much of a fighter. Dagons are born fighters, so there is another benefit of keeping him around.

"Well, let's investigate then."

"Are you sure that's wise? We don't know what's in there."

"Precisely. And we wont know unless we look."

He grinned and shook his head.

"You're wreckless for such a small creature."

"I may be small, but I can take you out. Or have you forgotten?"

"I remember. I have scars from your last 'lesson'."

I smiled as I walked closer to the wrecked ship. We are what the Imperium considers 'Pirates'. We find crashed ships and take what we can find. The imperium doesn't pay us much mind since we are kind of the clean up crew. Less for them to deal with when we are done.

We boarded the ship to look for any survivors.

"Stay here and see if there is anything of use. When you're done here head to the storage area."

"What are you going to do?"

"See if anyone is taking advantage of the life support."

He nodded and I headed down the corridor that led to the bunks. Sponge Guy was on my shoulder where he belonged. I went into the first room and saw nothing that indicated someone was staying in there. There were a few books on the nightstand and an amulet hanging from a tac on the wall. I walked up to it for a closer inspection. It had a strange symbol on it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about it though. My senses didn't detect any sort of aura. I had come across a few things that had auras. They had proven to be more trouble than they were worth. This one might fetch a little coin though and not be any trouble at all. I put it in my pocket and headed across the hall to the next room.

This room was a mess, but no signs that the slob was still around. I didn't even bother looking for anything in there. I walked into the third room and knew right away that someone had been in it recently. In fact, someone was still in here, but trying to hide in the closet. I went about my duties letting them think that they were concealed from my highly adapted senses. Even Sponge Guy knew they were there. I think it's a female. Somewhat young, human, and scared. I took everything that looked like it would be of value and left the room.

I found Fahu in the storage bay. He had found a few things as well.

"Anything of use?"

"Yes. I salvaged what I could from the engine room as well."

"Good. Let's get going then, shall we?"

"All right."

We had just stepped off the ship when the girl decided she would attack. She went straight for me. I stepped to the side and she fell on her face. Fahu looked at her with disgust.

"What is that?"

"It's a human female."

"I see. Not very aesthetically pleasing."

"Not really."

"I'm glad you don't look like that anymore."

"I concur."

I had indeed gone through a transformation. I had shed my human skin and grown a nice coat of fur. My ears had changed position on my head and grew out pointed with tufts at the end. My teeth were more formidable since they were fangs and I had a nice set of claws. I now resembled my favorite earth animal. The Lynx. I had always loved the markings on their faces not to mention the fact that they were a feline. The only downside was that now I couldn't wear shoes. My paws wouldn't allow them. I was always walking around barefoot now, but that just meant I could walk silently.

"I'm going to kill you!"

The girl was up again. She had a pearing knife in her hand and was coming at me. She swiped and I easily grabbed her wrist and twisted it, bringing her to a kneeling position. She was very weak, probably from starvation, and couldn't protest with any real force.

"Why would you even try?"

"You're monsters!"

"Monsters?"

"You're not human!"

"You retard. Humans are pretty much extinct now."

"What?"

She stopped squirming and I let her wrist go. Her hands dropped to her sides and she looked totally shocked. I figured this would be as good a time as any to get back to our ship and go cash in on our finds.

"Wait! What do you mean humans are extinct?"

I shook my head and sighed.

"I said 'pretty much'. Not totally. You humans have horrid hearing."

"How did it happen?"

"They pissed off everyone. Ambassadors from other planets visited to congratulate them on finding space travel and the fucking human scum attacked them. They captured them and started running experiments on them. The other planets got angry and attacked earth with much superior fire power. The few humans that survived were either sold into slavery or managed to run away. No one knows or cares what happened to them."

She just stared at me. I know she believes me. I turned away and walked to our ship which was a few yards away in a clearing. I sat in the seat and powered up the ship. Fahu didn't even ask about the human. Most others would inquire if we should help her. I like Fahu because he doesn't have that sentimental side.

"Where to now?"

"We need to find Borgos so we can make a little money."

"Right."

It was a long flight to Meritos. I decided to take a cat nap.

When I woke up the ship was shaking.

"What's going on Fahu?"

"We are being pulled into a space colony."

"Fuck. I didn't want any interuptions."

Our ship was pulled in and secured. Shit. This isn't going to be fun. I can tell already. I looked at Fahu and he had the same dejected look on his face. A face appeared on the communications screen. A smug round pokmarked face.

"Ew."

"This is captain Jack Gerold of the space colony 'Omega seven'. You will be disarmed before stepping foot onto our colony. If you cooperate, you will live."

I chuckled. He is really an idiot. Something to his left caught his attention.

"What? What do you mean you can't get the door open? Use the scrambler."

"Sir, we are."

He looked at me again.

"I command you to open the door."

"Command this."

I saluted him int he way I salute everyone that gets on my bad side which was a little more difficult now that I had paws instead of hands. I figured he would still understand it if I raised my middle finger to him."

"How dare you!"

I looked at Fahu and saw that he was laughing. I smiled and looked back at the screen.

"Look, shitfuck, we aren't coming out."

"Then We'll just have to fry your ship."

"Fry my ship? You think that will work?"

I heard a loud boom and the shock shield activated itself.

"Damnit!"

Fahu and I were laughing now. This ship is indestructible. Anything that they can throw at us, the ship can take. I'm not worried about it.

The screen went blank and I felt another blast. After 4 or 5 of them they seemed to give up on that approach. I heard banging at the door.

"Now they knock? That's a little backwards."

"Why not let our guests in? We shouldn't be rude."

I nodded at Fahu. He was thinking the same thing I was. We hadn't been in a good fight for a while and our bodies were itching for it. I opened the door and several armed men ran in and pointed their guns at us. We went quietly for now. I want to remove the captains face. Anyone with two first names shouldn't be so arrogant. Anyone that's human shouldn't be arrogant either. We were led through a maze of corridors. We came to a large door that was made out of solid gold and trimmed with gold as well.

"I would sue whoever decorated this for pain and suffering."

"Don't forget mental anguish."

"Good point Fahu."

The door opened and I saw the man that had appeared on the screen sitting behind a solid gold desk.

"Someone needs to learn a lesson in tasteful decoration."

"Indeed."

"Do you know the penalty for resisting me?"

"Having to look at your face?"

He slammed his hand down on his desk and his face twisted up in anger.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

"The village idiot?"

He motioned to one of the guards and I felt a sting in my neck. I fell to the ground and blacked out.