Nature of the Beast
One-Shot Series: First Star I See Tonight
Part 4: Gotcha!
*Note: "Klick" is just another term used by the military. It's the same as a kilometer. I couldn't find canon Cybertonian distance measurements, so I'm sticking with military units. Klik is a time measurement.
*Coma turns into a high-tech U-2 spy plane. Corvus turns into a more angular Bugatti Concert.
Chapter will be a bit longer than my usual fare. :)
Zodiac was really beginning to enjoy working aboard the Intervention. With such a large ship and such a large crew manning it, there was never a dull moment. Such constant activity kept her on her pedes, kept her processor sharp. Tiring after a while, but the good kind of tiring – that kind of physically/mentally satisfied tired you got after finishing a project you were proud of, or winning a game of tag or chess. After being bound to Cybertron for as long as she had, ship-less and frankly rather bored, she hadn't realized how much she liked this kind of tired. Or how much she'd missed it. She'd been having trouble with her power down protocols before the mission thanks to her processor simply being too active whenever she wanted some down time. The Intervention's constant activity (and sometimes childish antics) had pretty much fixed the issue.
She didn't see or interact with many of the other crew members, busy as they were in other areas of the ship, but Neutrino she saw frequently, the particle physicist captain popping in regularly to see how things were going. Sunflare she saw even more of. The radiation specialist was that odd mixture of social skills and pure awkwardness you tended to find among well-adjusted scientists. He had started out letting her have the bridge to herself, but at about the twentieth solar cycle mark she had grown used to him enough for him to stay in the bridge with her to take readings of his own without her forwarding them to him. She got to know him a little better after that, the mech occasionally sharing information with her to break the silence. She didn't mind, and even offered information of her own – about the Sky Painters, a few of her fears, her love of astronomy and the universe as whole.
Today, solar cycle twenty two of the mission, she even began talking about more sensitive issues, such as the discrimination Predacons like her tended to face. She was one of the lucky ones she said. She'd never had to deal with that scrap.
"Why's that?" Sunflare wondered. He was curious. He himself had a Predacon friend named Darter, and she suffered from that almost weekly.
"I dunno, really," she admitted thoughtfully, "I mean, Predacons are labeled as savage beasts I think mainly because we have animal frames, and Shockwave did clone some during the War to help the 'Cons. Maybe that's where the stereotype came from? I'm honestly not sure. But I think I got off easy because of my horrible people skills. Predacons as a rule are, like, super strong and have pretty big tempers if you tick 'em off. Some are a bit prideful and egotistical, too. I kinda sorta broke that mold I guess. I'm not proud. Plus, I think scientists are less likely to discriminate than non-scientific people because they have actual data backing them."
Sunflare nodded. "Makes sense. They say ignorance breeds prejudice. If more 'bots could see that Predacons are just as intelligent as the rest of us, maybe this could be put to an end. Lucky for you guys you got the White Hound helping represent you."
He heard the Avioid snort a bit derisively and turned in time to see her shake her helm.
"Yeah, we do. But representing only does so much. In an independently thinking society like ours, there's no such thing as a hive consensus of opinions among individuals. Sure, yeah, it can happen in small groups of maybe up to three or four people who all share the same thoughts, ideas, and opinions. The bigger the group is though the more chances there are of opinions to vary from one another – and for those opinions to clash. Trying to get every city-dweller on the same page as the Predacons, to empathize with them, is pretty much impossible. You've seen how well that's working between Autobot and Decepticon."
"Doesn't mean you shouldn't try. And am I asking for a hive consensus? No. I'm just asking for them to understand that what they think about you guys needs revision."
Zodiac shrugged. Admittedly she was a practical pessimist. If the odds didn't look good, she tended to pick the worst outcome. Buy hey, that was the beauty of it – if you expected something to fail but it didn't, you'd wind up pleasantly surprised. If it did fail there was no harm done.
The mech grinned. "There's something in that." Bit of an oddly dark way of looking at life, but Zodiac made a good point. Some 'bots just had that logically dark outlook on life and they rolled with it because they were smart enough to know that not everything went as planned.
She smiled and went back to her work.
IACON OBSERVATORY FOR INTERSTELLAR RESEARCH
LOCATION: 88 KLICKS OUTSIDE IACON'S OUTER RING
One week later...
Smokescreen had honestly never been at any of the observatories before. He knew they worked together with the Earth space agencies like NASA and ESA by exchanging findings but that was about all he knew. Other than glancing at the occasional media headline over some special finding, like gravity waves, he'd never held any interest in the field. He was clever in many ways, but he wasn't a scientist. Too many numbers involved.
Now though? Now was a little different.
He now followed an exceptionally tall black Seeker with cobalt wisp and speckle patterns on his body and wings down one of the many halls of the multiple buildings that made up the facility. He was fascinated by the many diagrams, maps, and work spaces they paced on their way, and his jaw dropped open a little ways at the colossal, high resolution, three-dimensional model of Cybertron and its host star in the main rotunda of Stellar Research, each orbiting and rotating in real time.
"Whoa..." Smokescreen stopped in his tracks to stare and reach out, touching the tip of a digit onto the hologram.
The wispy-speckled Seeker looked back with a huge grin. That reaction never got old. Whenever someone new came into the building they were always stunned at the detail, the sheer effort put into the model. To the scientists working in Stellar Research it was just something pretty to look at, the slow rotations of each body a calming sight. To newcomers it was the most awesome thing they'd ever seen. Lieutenant Smokescreen was no exception. Funny how he'd garnered an interest in the field, though. He was apparently after the elusive little bird-former whom he'd seen flitting around the observatory complex occasionally.
"Impressive, isn't it? Took us almost eleven stellar cycles to make that model. Most of it involved salvaging old Golden Age documents from the Hall (what was left of them after the sacking of Iacon, that is) until our satellite network was bumped back into working order about seven stellar cycles back, but some of it was done more recently. What you're seeing is a live feed."
"How do you get the live feed?" asked the Elite Guardsmech, blue optics round. He poked at the hologram again. So cool!
"We've got a whole fleet of satellites up there now. We also get readings from a base on Luna-2. If Cybertron so much as shifts a single plate by a quarter of a klick, those bad boys will pick it up, and the map gets updated real time. We also got ground based sensors to help us out. Old mech can't pull mesh over our optics," he laughed. "Same thing for the star, but those guys are a bit farther out. Can't get 'em too close or the poor things get washed in solar particles that mess with instrument sensitivity. Too far and the readings get fuzzy."
Smokescreen abandoned the hologram and followed Coma once more. They passed more space-nerds as they walked down more halls, Coma waving at a few of them and earning waves or smiles in return. He had always considered scientists cold, having known only two or three during the War: Ratchet, Knockout, and Shockwave. None of them were what you'd call "genuinely friendly" personalities. But these mechs and femmes they passed, even the Seeker Coma who had graciously offered his help after Sanskrit had led him into Stellar Research...they were all so nice. They were multiple fields of study working together with one goal in mind: discovery.
'If only 'Bots and 'Cons could work together so well, huh Optimus? You ever think that's gonna happen?'
He got no answer. Of course. Though he suspected Optimus had been the hint giver, a ghost, a memory, couldn't talk back.
Primus, he missed him. Watching him die the first time had been painful to watch. But the second time had been agony for them all. And yet the funny thing was, he wasn't truly sad about that. The Prime had been ready and willing to die that time, and Primus had no doubt rewarded him a hundred fold for it. The big guy was no skin flint when it came to rewards. He knew Optimus could hear him from where he was though, which is why he tried to talk to him every chance he got, keep him updated of the general goings on or events he might missed when he wasn't watching over Cybertron and simply enjoying his vacation.
His thoughts were interrupted when, after passing into another rotunda in another building – this one possessing a model of planetary systems that changed every few kliks – a voice called out:
"Coma! Primus, there you are! What took you? You're never late!"
A bronze, black, and silver mech with many body features resembling an Earth crow but who obviously had a vehicle form flagged them down from across the rotunda. A Corvid; didn't see too many of those. Curiously enough, the new mech had a purple Decepticon crest on his lower arm. Instinctively Smokescreen flinched back. Every other time he'd dealt with that symbol he'd been attacked.
Coma laughed, "Relax. This is who I arranged for you to meet. Smokescreen, meet Corvus Rho. He's the usual navigator for the CERF Intervention. Clever scoundrel's on leave after he weaseled his way out of a mission in order to lengthen his time on solid ground."
Corvus Rho cackled light-sparkedly. He held out a hand in greeting to the blue and yellow mech Coma had brought him, "Nice to meet you! Heard a lot of good things about you."
Hesitantly, Smokescreen accepted the offered hand and shook it. This was the first truly nice 'Con he'd ever met if Knockout wasn't counted. It was a bit weird. But he liked having a stereotype he'd formed unconsciously shattered into a zillion pieces. Not all Decepticons were bad people. Corvus was solid proof of that. He was a bit sly and conniving like was stereotypically expected from 'Cons, but he wasn't malicious about it. He just sounded a little lazy in the work department. He knew some 'Bots who were the same way.
"I'll leave you two to your little problem," Coma said. "I gotta get back to my lab and help the newbies with their analysis of a chunk of that meteor we got recently. Have fun!"
The tall Seeker left them with a cheerful wave.
"Alright," said Corvus. "Tell me exactly what's going on here. Coma only gave me the abstract. I want the whole article. Word for word if you have to. Can't help if I don't know the whole story."
And so, word for word as he requested, Smokescreen told of everything that led up to this meeting – the crash, the search and his methods, even his chat with 'Bee at Macadam's last week. Corvus was grinning by the end of it, and he laughed when Smokescreen showed him the tiny data pad he'd been using as a lead to find the owner.
"So you're the one she crashed into," Corvus surmised with a sly smile, "Imagine that. Neutrino told me to find the data pad she lost when I shoulda been askin' 'round for a person. Who woulda thought, eh?"
"So you know the owner?" asked the Elite Guardsmech.
"Well, I wouldn't say 'know her.' I'm acquainted with her, yeah. I've seen her a couple times zippin' around runnin' errands for some 'bots; helpful little thing. Shy though. Not much of a people person like yours truly here. Heard her name a few times connected to this branch. You ask me, a name like hers oughta be in Stellar Research, not Planetary Sciences," he chuckled loudly.
"Who is she? I need to get this back to her."
Smokescreen was further confused (and somewhat exasperated) when Corvus chuckled loudly again, obviously finding something amusing about the situation.
"Her name's Zodiac," he explained with a smile.
"Zodiac..." the other mech repeated. Finally! Finally he had a name! After nearly an entire lunar cycle he finally had a name.
Corvus continued: "Yep. Captain Zodiac of the CERF Tieyeian Bolt. Finest navigator ever sparked so go the rumors, and a real astronomy enthusiast. Exo-planets is her thing in this branch. But you ain't gonna find her here, pal. You don't keep tabs on the comings and goings of research ships, do you? That might've kept you from running all over Iacon lookin' for her."
"What's that got to do with this?"
Corvus laughed: "'Cause little Zodiac ain't even on Cybertron, Smokescreen. She's in the Hydrax Nebula with Captain Neutrino and his crew. Has been for nearly the past lunar cycle. S'why you haven't been able to find her. She's not here. Zodiac's the one who replaced me as navigator aboard the Intervention."
Smokescreen did not resist the urge to smack a hand to his faceplates. He felt like such an idiot now. He hadn't even bothered to check out the space-faring aspect of the CERF. That was kind of a big deal with them, especially since he'd seen some of the vessels come in. But that the little femme was the captain of one such ship, and one of the most advanced, fastest scout ships in the Fleet no less, was so cool to him – a navigator, astronomer, and captain all rolled into one! Corvus only laughed more at the reaction.
"When's the ship get back?" he managed to ask.
"Another deca-cycle or so. Mission was for a lunar cycle so they could get compositional readings of the Hydrax since it collided with the Iridni on a pretty recent cosmological time scale – just fifty thousand or so stellar cycles before the War really got started. The Iridni has a lot of heavier elements in it while the Hydrax has more lighter elements in it. Wanted to see if such a setting might lead to more terrestrial planets being formed than gas giants or metal-heavy stars forming. Well, that's what Neutrino told me. But they needed a good navigator since it's a starburst nebula, so it's kinda crazy in there. Lots of young protostars in there givin' off lots of energy that can screw with a ship's systems. Get hit by an outburst from one of those puppies and there goes your ride home until the damage gets fixed."
"Couldn't they just 'bridge out?"
"Nah. See, with the crazy energy mayhem going on in there, spacebridging in or out is not a smart idea. The vortex could get ripped apart on the ship's end as all that energy washes over it. So you'd just be burning Energon on a portal that's gonna keep collapsing on you."
The Elite Guardsmech's optics widened. "So...if they get hit, they're stuck out there in the nebula with a bunch of super dangerous baby stars until another ship can get in and tow them out?"
"Yep. But don't worry. The Intervention's a tough ship, she's got some talented engineers aboard, and she's got Zodiac and Neutrino at the helm. They'll make it back on time. You'll see. I'll say right now – she'd really like that d-pad back from ya. Captain 'trino said she panicked at the meeting when she noticed it was gone."
Smokescreen was silent for a moment. Then, thanking Corvus for the name and what ship she was on, he turned and headed back the way he had come. Corvus watched him, smiling, as he rounded a corner and disappeared. Astroseconds later his blue and yellow helm popped around the corner, the mech grinning and offering a final wave in his direction before vanishing for good.
Corvus didn't stop him or call him back. He would've offered despite his laziness to get the data pad to Zodiac for him when she returned and traded places with him, but he sensed he wanted to do it himself. He was the energetic type, unhappy if he wasn't doing something. Besides, that was one less task he had to do. More free leave time for him. He did so love his spare time – and using it to charm the ladies. There was a 'Con femme at Macadam's he'd been after for some time now, a sly femme resembling an Earth fox, and slagged was she hot...
He grinned. Now he just had to hope his Captain or his SIC didn't thwack him upside the helm for lying to their faceplates to avoid a mission.
Again.
CERF INTERVENTION
HYDRAX/IRIDNI NEBULA
Five solar cycles later...
Zodiac was settled into her favorite nook between the ship's four interconnecting shielding matrices to review some of her findings. She felt the most secure there, and the engineers who dotted the deck were appreciative of her need for space. A few had been somewhat annoyed to see her there the first few times, thinking her field might interfere with the devices, but after a few more times they had seen there was no risk. So they let her. Plus, Sunflare held a certain amount of sway with the engineers, being buddy-buddy with their chief, so that helped. She sat huddled in the nook, listening to the thrumming purr of the engine. It was soothing to her, much preferable to the loud electromagnetic roars of the T Tauri stars outside. That was why her crew focused on true main sequence stars – not only because they were more likely to have planetary systems, but because T Tauri stars were incredibly, annoyingly loud. As a Predacon, her audials were more sensitive to any and all kinds of noise, whether actually sonic-based or electromagnetic. Though she wasn't as sensitive as some other builds, the little Avioid could only take so much noise.
The astronomer was just beginning to get comfortable when the one noise you never wanted to hear on a ship started going off: Alarms.
Zodiac sat bolt upright as the normal pale blue lighting of the ship was replaced with warning red. Around her, the shielding matrices flickered dangerously. Panic began to race within her.
"All hands! Something big just hit our rear and port-side! Shields are at eighty percent and scanners are goin' haywire! What the Pit just hit us, people?!" Neutrino's voice boomed over the ship's loudspeakers.
She barely took notice of the engineers sprinting around frantically. Three of them stopped at the shielding matrices, but they didn't need to shoo her out in order to work on them. They yelped in surprise when she shot out of her nook in a faint clap of thunder and zipped down the halls, fright lending power to her velocity cascader and speed to her wings. Something was wrong. She didn't know what, and what worried her most was that no one else knew either. That was a bad sign. Surely...no, surely Star Seekers wouldn't be dumb enough to go into a starburst nebula to have a pot shot at the Intervention? Besides, what loot was there to gain in attacking a research vessel other than astronomical data or Energon? There were other ships out there, cargo or trading vessels, that were much easier to attack than a gigantic freighter-class ship and had much more valuable cargo to snatch.
Within astroseconds she had reached the bridge. To say it was in a state of chaos would be putting it too lightly. Neutrino, Sunflare, and a few specialists were desperately trying to get the scanners online. Right now the ship herself was blind, as were her occupants. With only the broad panoramic windshield and the portholes dotting the ship's frame, their vision was incredibly limited.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"Wish I knew!" Neutrino growled. He did not offer any clarification, concentrating as he was with the controls.
"Something hit us hard in the old bird's stern! Knocked our external sensors for a hard loop!" Sunflare explained quickly.
The alarms only seemed to grow louder. Zodiac was clueless as to what she could do to help other than grab the ship's steering controls and peel the whole crew out of here. From the look on Neutrino's faceplates, it looked like he was considering that more and more with every passing astrosecond.
A frantic voice cried over the loudspeakers: "Captain! Double breach on engineering deck! Something just punched clear through the walls!"
"Do you have visual?" demanded Neutrino.
No voice replied to him directly, but in the background multiple voices could be heard shouting alongside blaster fire:
"SHOOT!" The sounds of weapons fire drowned out some of the shouting; "...going for the engine! SHOOT IT!"
Neutrino's optics went round in horror. He swore hoarsely as he saw the previously stable readings from the infusion core fluctuate wildly before dipping dangerously into the red. Before he could voice his suspicion, his SIC beat him to it:
"...Spark eaters!" Sunflare cried in realization. He swiftly typed in a series of commands, examining the readings as they came. His marigold optics widened as he reported: "They're goin' after the infusion core in the engine room! And once they're done there they'll start feeding on the crew! Frack! How come they never showed up on our sensors before the preliminary strike?!"
The particle physicist knew Corvus had lied in order to get more time off. He did it pretty frequently – but he just hadn't thought for a second his "fear" might not be unfounded. He knew that spark eaters were no mere story, and all pre-War reports (and some more frequently) said they were drawn to the unique energy signature of Energon. Obviously some had been in the nebula feeding off the energy of the young stars, and with a big Cybertronian research ship filled with Cybertronian crew wandering into the Hydrax, the first ever to enter the starburst nebula since the two originals had collided, it was a veritable feast for them.
"Probably used the energy outflow of the Tauri stars to hide themselves," Neutrino guessed darkly.
He stood up, motioning for his SIC stiffly;
"'Flare, with me. Get every battle-trained body you can find on this heap of metal and get them down there to help us deal with 'em. You get the rest of the non-fighters outta there and stay with 'em. Zodiac, stay up here in the bridge. When I give the word, you're gonna help make sure the engine room is sealed from the inside via wireless override after we seal it from the outside. We'll use excess coolant in the Intervention's liquid helium reserves to freeze those suckers to death. If it doesn't kill, at the least it'll freeze 'em solid for a while and give us time to book it out. Hit 'em with a concentrated burst it'll freeze 'em up in an instant. Space is relatively the same temperature; they ain't used to sudden fluxes. Soon as we've flung 'em outside, you get us the slag outta here, you got me?"
Zodiac hovered stiffly mid-air, watching the two mechs leave. The pressure she realized she was under hit her with the force of an oncoming train. Normally she would've passed out from her fright response, but instead her fight response kicked in. Her royal blue optics flashed as she zipped around the bridge, checking systems and stabilizing those that were unsteady, waiting for Neutrino's signal. From the way the readings from the engine were leveling out, it seemed the crew had succeeded in drawing them away. But that meant the crew themselves were now targets for the spark eaters.
"How many are there?" she demanded anxiously into address system's microphone.
"Three!" answered a mech engineer gruffly. "And frag they're big! And ugly!"
Speech devolved into shouts, cries, and blaster fire. Then, she heard the tell-tale banging and hissing of the bulkhead doors slamming shut. And then the sound of the spark eaters trying to force their way out: BANG! BANG! BANG!
"ZODIAC NOW!" Neutrino bellowed.
In a flash the Avioid's talon struck the override command to seal the engine room from the inside. Quickly she then opened up the reserves of liquid helium, funneled them through the ship's ventilation ducts, and flooded the chamber with the super-chilled substance in a thick, heavy mist. In moments the banging of the spark eaters against the door subsided until all was silence. They waited a few moments to be sure.
"Alright. Unlock the doors, 'Zee," She obeyed Sunflare's order. "Cogwheel, Plasma, Blueshift, Vela – get in there and shove 'em out the airlock. The instant they're done, turn this tub around and get us the Pit outta here."
"'Kay."
She waited. About half a breem went by in near total silence. Then, "Book it, kid!" said the gruff engineer mech from earlier. "Get us the frag outta this joint!"
The Avioid complied, spinning the mighty ship around as carefully but as quickly as she could. She warned them to hang onto something just before she put the engine into overdrive, the Intervention roaring out of the starburst nebula in a mad haste. On the scanners, three targets blipped, growing fainter and fainter as the ship drew further and further away. Once clear of the thickest, active regions of the nebula and drawing near the fringes, the astronomer opened up a communication line to Iacon.
"Spacebridge Control, this is navigator Zodiac. We had a run in with some spark eaters in the nebula and need to get home for repairs. Over." She did her best to keep her voice level, but a quiver worked its way in.
[Anyone injured?] a concerned female voice demanded. [Do you need extra medics on site when you arrive?]
"Um...lemme check. One klik." She flipped on the loudspeaker once more. "Hey, guys? Anyone get hurt?"
"Couple of dings, scrapes, and nicks, but otherwise we're good. Lemme guess: operator's asking if we need an extra set of hands?" answered the ship's medic, Wailer.
She turned her attention back to the Hub operator on the line: "Uh, no. Not really. Minor injuries only. Wailer is tending to them now."
[Alright. Locking onto your coordinates now, Zodiac. Safe flight. And welcome back.]
The line went dead. Ahead of them in the star-studded blackness opened a titanic turquoise-green portal. She slowed the ship out of its hurried pace and gracefully eased it into the portal. All around them was swirling greens and pale blues for almost a full breem as the ship traveled thousands of light-years in mere moments. The Intervention trembled slightly in the wormhole. Then the colors ended abruptly to be replaced with a familiar metallic landscape far below and golden-bronze sky of her home all around her. She slowed the massive vessel further, banking down and around towards the Iacon Docking Bays. Steadily, slowly, like a great bird coming in to land, it cruised into its designated docking bay. A jolt came as the clamps attached to the exterior and held it in place.
"Nice flying, femme."
She jumped. Neutrino was standing behind her with a proud smile on his lip-plates. He had a few dings on his chestplates and arms, but they had been welded.
Wordlessly, Zodiac managed a shy smile back. "Ah...thanks."
"Now, let's get my crew back on solid ground. And get you something for your efforts. I think you've earned something."
OFFICES OF THE CYBERTRONIAN EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH FLEET
INNER-CITY REGION, IACON
The following solar cycle...
"I think the CERF oughta consider getting some more Predacon pilots on the force. These guys are scary good at the flying business. You should've seen Zodiac! It was like she was flying a bigger, clunkier version of herself out there! Honestly, I think my ship's size almost hindered her, but she still managed."
Neutrino and Sunflare sat in the main offices of the CERF having just finished a report on the mission. The heads of the organization sat around him at a table in a semi-circle. Some looked hesitant. Most, however, looked intrigued at the concept. Corona sat to one side, representing the Stellar Research branch. Neutrino himself represented Astrophysics. Sunflare was really just there as a witness and voucher.
"We've heard reports of Captain Zodiac's talents from her crew of beast-mimics. While we think the idea is sound, the notion will have to be passed through the Council since we are under their jurisdiction. And you know that they have an unfortunate bias when it comes to Predacons. They don't trust them. Politicians have always been fearful of them since they pretty much live outside their rule of law, under their own governing body. However, if we brought the suggestion to the Predacon Council, which meets in the next few lunar cycles, and had them back up the idea..."
The head of Cosmology, Freeze-Up, trailed off. He looked uncertain but in a positive way.
"Now that's an idea," admitted Corona. "While each tribe has an alpha – a leader – Predaking is in charge of maintaining higher order in the tribes, and his tribe lives just outside Iacon. His word carries a lot of weight, and he's had concepts passed before, which is why Predacons are a little better off than they a stellar cycle or five after the War ended, when the Council was still more or less trying to get itself together. If we worked with him to get this through the Council...I think both parties would benefit from this. We need good pilots – Predacons, the flying ones, are some of the best out there."
"Mm," grunted Freeze-Up. "If I remember right though, something similar to this was attempted about eight stellar cycles back by some other Predacons. Never got anywhere though...Not enough voices."
"Yeah, but this time it's not just a few individuals," Sunflare argued swiftly, eagerly. "They've got the CERF backing them on this lap. We're sure to get somewhere this time. Even if we just get the two Councils to debate this – not even decide anything, just talk it out – that'll be progress. Now, I know Predaking's got a bit of a fire against our Council, but maybe this'll help mend the rift he made. If he won't do it, at least the other alphas will be there to talk. I know they're a little more eager to treat with them than he is. I know the Sky Painter's alpha will speak since Zodiac's part of his tribe."
"Speaking of our little navigator – anyone got a bead on her location? Work? Home? We could call her in as a testifier of sorts when this comes around. She sounded to me like someone who wouldn't take the Council's scrap," suggested Neutrino. "She's a captain. Proven her value. They'll listen to her."
"I'm...not so sure she'd be thrilled about standing up to a bunch of 'bots twice her size, sir." Sunflare said. "But as for location...I think she's at the Observatory. Still going over her findings, I think. She checked in just this morning. Despite the sensors getting hit by the spark eaters, we still got a lot of good readings. Plus she's one of the best planetary nerds the CERF has, so she has to go over other findings from other ships as well. After a little over a lunar cycle in space, she's probably getting swamped."
"Ho boy..." Corona groaned. Whenever Zodiac got swamped she tended to be a little more volatile than she usually was. She was only one femme after all, could only do so much. And due to her social anxiety, she was hesitant to go up to someone and ask them for help. "I'd better call and make sure she's not working herself into her grave, then."
Author's Note: One more chapter before the little one-shots start. Then the cuteness really starts.
