=====A=====

It's amazing how much life can change in a few short months.

That was the thought I had as I watched the Karnan sunrise move over the distant horizon, its light gently flowing over the jungle beneath me. We had been traveling for a few days. I had spent the night up high in one of the taller trees, laying on top of a particularly large and flat branch. Keeping watch on this planet we had found ourselves on. Given everything that had happened recently, I should have been a lot more tense, more focused on the next objective. And yet, at that moment… I wasn't.

Part of it was meditative. I still couldn't sleep, as even with Gaia's blessing giving me back a lot of the human experience, it was one thing that still eluded me. That said, I had picked up a few meditation techniques which allowed me to 'rest' my thoughts. Another part was just time, having acclimated to my current circumstances.

But, of course, the largest part of that peace came from Koriand'r laid out on top of me.

Head against my chest and legs intertwined with mine, the feeling of her warmth and light made it easy to just be in the moment. My arms were wrapped around her bare back to keep her close, though that wasn't really needed; Kori had amazing unconscious balance. Whenever she fell asleep on top of me, that's where she stayed until she woke up or I removed her (and that second one could get a little tricky). Her hair blanketed both of us, though a few thinner locks swayed in the light breeze, letting me catch more glimpses of her burnt-bronze skin in the growing light.

While this was far from the first time we had ended up like this, there was something different about it this time: It was the first time in a long while I was completely 'unplugged'. I was detached from all datastreams and networks, including the Silver itself; the power couldn't stretch across the vastness of space. That constant hum of information I had become used to was missing, save for the sporadic radio waves that sometimes crossed the planet. At first it had been unsettling, a silent void that disconnected me from everything I had become accustomed to. And I can't say that I exactly enjoyed it even now. But… I also felt weirdly free.

There were no constant news reports I had to keep track of, no global statistics I had to parse. No sudden villain attacked I had to be prepared for, no crisis I had to prevent. The only thing I had to worry about was getting me and Kori back home. And right at that moment, it was just me, her, and the sunrise. And the feeling of her presence and warmth against me just let me be.

The day crept up over the trees before finally reaching the two of us, Kori shifting in my arms slightly as the light of her home sun kissed her skin. Slowly, as the dawn light sank into her, she took a deep breath and awoke. She pulled herself upright and stretched her arms above her head, blocking the sun such that all I could see was her surrounded by a halo of light. As her stretch finished her hands came to a rest behind her head, and she smiled at me with lidded eyes. "Good morning."

I smiled wistfully at the woman straddling me. "You know, it's very hard to keep watch when you make it so I can't help but look at you."

She hummed and shifted her weight, the muscles of her body flexing in a way I know was deliberate. "I am sure you will manage. You are very… skilled, after all."

I snorted before sitting up myself, shifting so that she ended up in my lap. "Well, you certainly made sure the jungle knew that." I remarked. I managed to tear my eyes away from her and back towards a mountain peaking over the horizon. I couldn't see it, but I knew our destination was just in front of it: a settlement of some sort, the closest to our landing position which I had been able to locate via radio waves. I looked back at her and spoke softly. "We're almost there. Ready to go?"

Kori's expression sombered a little, and after a moment she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her forehead to mine, eyes closed. "Just… a few more minutes like this."

I settled, arms coming to rest around her back. "Of course."

It was later that morning that we reached the base of the mountain, and the settlement nestled there. It was a bit of an odd sight, to be honest. This wasn't the first alien city I had seen, but Sellac-4, for all of its vertical sprawl and air traffic, still made sense as a metropolis that had grown around a spaceport. The town we just reached though clearly had two different architectures on display.

The first seen away from the mountain, an array of sprawling structures with rounded edges and elongated foundations. The buildings themselves were shades of tan and brown, and appeared to be made of some kind of clay-based concrete on close inspection. Rarely any of them had a second floor, instead opting for small terraces and cellars. It was a little odd to me, but looking at it from a distance I could see how such a town organically developed.

The same could not be said of the building that clustered closer to the base of the mountain. They were ugly and boxy, a series of dark metal prefabs that were arranged in organized rows. There were a number of tracks between the buildings that led into shafts carved into the side of the mountain, with motorized carts hauling materials out to the buildings. They were the epitome of function over form, to the point that they barely had any form at all. The big dividing line between the two spaces was a futuristic-looking rail line that cut straight through the city and disappeared into the surrounding jungle.

According to the Gordanian radio chatter I had picked up, this was Wirc-2155, a mining town that supplied the local Gordanians with rare-earth metals. Said metals were used in the construction of starships, which were brought up into orbit and used in their orbital shipyards. This town was likely just one of a long logistical chain, stretching across the continent and bringing supplies to the primary manufacturers.

So that's how I found myself moving towards the manufacturing side of town, looking for anything I could get my hands on. Materials of course, but the primary thing we needed was information. I had noticed that radio signals were limited the moment I got here, and Kori confirmed that Gordanian settlements used tight-beam emissions to satellites for their communication networks. So if we wanted a better picture on what was happening on this planet, I'd have to do some infiltration.

Skipping from rooftop to rooftop while under optical camo, I made my way towards the tallest prefab building in the settlement. It had a parabolic dish sitting atop it, which made it the best candidate for being the network hub. At around five stories tall it was the tallest structure in this otherwise squat town, and had a number of thick cables looping around the exterior. As I got closer, I subvocalized "And you're sure that's not the administration building?"

"It's not," Kori's voice came across the comm, from her position just outside the settlement. "Gordanians prefer their primary command structures to be bunkers deep underground. Their communications array, while not unguarded, will not contain the majority of their guard staff."

One of the first things I had done once I had made sure Kori was ok was make us a new pair of Zeta ansible communicators. Given how we were cut off from any other support, having a way to keep in contact was crucial, and while the process of making them was rather involved, it was something I had already practiced doing within my nanite body for just an occasion like this. I did have to go digging for raw materials first though, so this wasn't quite something I could do on command.

On that note, I really wished I could have just used Zeta Beams to teleport us back. While doing so was technically possible, in practice it was… tricky. We might have been able to connect to Earth's Zeta tube network if I still had my ansible (and the Lantern hadn't destroyed Kori's), but without that I had no connection to work with. I could try using a Zeta Beam to launch us back to the Sol System in the same way we go here, but that would require both a massive amount of power and processing. And I also didn't want to play roulette on which gravity well we'd end up in a second time.

So, that left us with finding a ship to fly us back in a timely manner. The biggest problem with that though was the 'timely' part of the plan. See, ever since the Citadel had taken control of the Vega system, Starslip drives had become heavily restricted to the civilian population. Inner-system travel was still common, local impulse drives were good enough that going from one end of the system to the other only took a week tops. But outside of the system, non-military space travel was rare. There were a few freight ships that were the FTL equivalent of long-haulers, maxing out at 3 lightyears a month. Which was fine for big cargo ships running to the nearest systems, but they didn't have the fuel capacity to get us to Earth, even if we were willing to go that slow.

I already miss my Psion ship, I thought. In hindsight I was very lucky to have picked the ship I did out of that Psion hangar, as that thing could clear 24 lightyears in a day. Of course hunting the Psions down for another one was a pretty dicey prospect given how anything of theirs that wasn't heavily defended moved around, so we had one option left: steal a military ship.

As I got closer to the elevated rail line, I commed "I don't suppose we could just use their communication system to call down the ship we need, and just hijack that?"

"Unless they have changed their ship-building doctrine, no." She replied. "For all that they are raiders, their military organizes their battlegroups around a central capital ship that can open a large Starslip envelop, carrying smaller ships along with them. To get to Earth, we'd need to take a carrier-class. " There was a pause. "While I don't doubt that you could control the entire vessel, I don't think we'd be able to get one out of the system before being intercepted. Which is to say nothing of stealing it in the first place."

"We'll file 'stowing away on a carrier, tricking them to the edge of the system, and then shoving the crew out the airlock' under Plan B." I said, carefully jumping towards the rail's support pillars. Just on the other side I landed on the roof of a large warehouse, belonging to the train depot where materials were gathered before being loaded into freight elevators up to the raised platform. Down below I could see large containers being moved around by drones and hovering dollys, along with a few people overseeing things.

However, right below me, I managed to spy an open metal crate next to an inactive dolly, its innards taken out and a number of hi-tech tools scattered around it. Likely it was under some kind of maintenance, an idea reinforced by how the metal crate was full of those rounded devices which I had seen on the bottoms of the dollys, which let them hover. There was also no one around. Lunch break, perhaps?

Seeing an opportunity, I slipped down to the ground and landed next to the crate. I had to decloak my hand as it got close to the devices, but rather than grabbing them there was a ripple that extended from my limb. This ripple extended over the metal domes and moments later they disappeared.

Somewhere between my trying to access the Green Lantern's power suit and… whatever it was that the Scarab had done that opened me up to the Bleed, I had collected a lot of information about dimensional mechanics and how my nanites used them. This translated to something I had been trying to make work for months: hammerspace. More specifically, I finally figured out how to set up a harmonic anchor so that I could use the Bleed to store things other than my nanites. And, you know, not lose all of it in the gap between universes.

This was rather fortuitous considering I had been cut off from all of my resources. Now at least I could pick up every remotely usual piece of junk so I could use it for crafting later like a demented RPG character.

Still, I didn't linger too much and was quickly moving back towards the tower. Even though I was cloaked, that didn't mean I could afford to be careless. I still had to gain access to the main communication array, which meant getting inside the building without any convenient holes in it. Damn thing didn't even have windows. Would that I could just touch the dish on the roof and then use technomancy to gain access to the computers connected to it, but that wasn't exactly an option. Not on this planet.

Being on this world felt… strange for me. It wasn't the first time I have been off-world since I had awakened to my elemental nature (though I didn't really understand it back on Sellac-4), but now I was much more aware of the absence of ambient magic around me. I wasn't a mage that could draw in and use mana from my environment, but I was finding out that some amount of environmental magic was needed to work my stuff at a distance. In short, no mechanokinesis. Which I thought was bullshit, given how I was still using effector fields as a carrier, but now if I wasn't directly touching something I couldn't use magic on it.

And since the mechanokinetic field need some range to push/pull myself, that also meant that I couldn't just fly up to the top of the building. Sure I still had my aerokinetic flight form, but that wasn't as subtle, and I didn't want to trip any sensors that I might not have been aware of. So instead as I reached the building adjacent to the comm tower, I formed a grapnel on my arm and launched it at the building, sticking and pulling myself up Spiderman style. Then began my slow search for some access point into the structure, which took me all the way to the roof.

Thankfully some things were consistent across all buildings even those made by alien technologies. Such as the need for ventilation, and a building with no windows needed some wide vents. It only took a little bit of searching to find a convenient ventilation shaft I could pry open and crawl into. Of course, then I had to navigate through the veritable maze of chutes and shafts that such a building required.

Eventually though, I found what I was looking for. Passing by a grate I spied a large, dim room filled with metal pillars. These pillars had panels with terminal ports on their sides, and I was quite certain I was looking at the equivalent of a server room. Popping open the vent I quickly slipped inside, climbing up the wall and out of any line of sight. I was still cloaked, but I didn't want to give anyone who wandered in here reason to look in my direction. After I situated myself into a darkened corner, I formed a thin, cloaked mechadendrite and extended it towards the closest pillar console. It quickly found a port in the back, and moments later… "I'm in." I subvocalized, network data filtering into my mind. "What am I looking for?"

"You would know better than I, my technical knowledge of Gordanian systems is quite limited." Kori admitted. "See what information you can get on the shipyards in orbit."

For the next minute I set in parsing the data from the servers. I hadn't worked quite this 'delicately' with Gordanian systems before, but my previous experience with them helped a lot. As such it wasn't too long before I had a readable shipping manifest and work orders. "Ok, going by these time tables and distances, the nearest spaceport is… crap, about an eighth of the planet's circumference away." I said before taking a moment to convert the distance. "That's over five thousand kilometers, so we don't want to do that on foot. Looks like it's mostly for getting things into orbit, but there does appear to be a military shipyard right above it. That could be our ticket."

"Assuming that they have a carrier-class docked, or are currently close to finishing one." Kori pointed out. "Unless you think you can build a smaller, more powerful one in secret using what's up there."

"...Maybe, but we shouldn't count on it." I conceded. "If the ship your sister brought counts as a carrier, there's nowhere near enough materials being sent from here to build that. Then again, these servers only have data for this logistical line. We'd have to go to the main spaceport to get a better picture." I left it unsaid that I wasn't comfortable trying to build my own FTL engine. Did it interest me? Yes. Was I willing to bet our lives on some advanced tech I had never made or tested before? Not unless there was no other choice.

"Where security will no doubt be stronger." Kori reasoned. "Is there anything else you can gather from here?"

I parsed through a few more files. "Some local reports, mostly dealing with the local Karnan population. Specifically how they're 'managing' them."

While the planet was functionally the Gordanain homeworld, it wasn't their world of origin. They had lost their cradle world at some point in the past, and had moved into Karna shortly after allying with the Citadelians for their conquest. The native Karnans were instead a race of humanoid felines, most resembling a mix of a human and a tiger. Their bodies were covered in short fur and had a very subtle muzzle shape to their face, and were just about what I would expect from more near-human aliens.

They were also the Gordanian's primary slave labor on the world, established after they conquered it. Gordanian slavery functioned via a sort of caste system, sorted by roles and the limited liberties of the slaves. On one end they functioned more like indentured servants, expected to work when told but otherwise having some freedoms. And on the other end was full chattel slavery. And Wirc seemed to run the full spectrum of castes. "I can't make sense of the latest report," I muttered. " 'Male Regression approaching this month, prepare reinforced cages. Succeeding head of Kazgurat expected to be Namsie. Add daughter to the Chattel Index to ensure compliance.' "

"...Did you say Regression?" Kori said after a moment. "That's… yes, now I remember my old lessons. They are talking about dealing with transformed Karnans."

I tilted my head. "What do you mean 'transformed'?"

"Some Karnians are shapeshifters, they periodically transform into a more primal and bestial state. I believe that it is linked to the phases of the planet's moons." She said, "More specifically, the men and women are aligned to different moons, and are sometimes offset from one another. This results in their society periodically shifting from patriarchal to matriarchal, to account for some of their population not being in a state to govern."

I blinked as I took all that in. "So that's what 'Regression' means? They're dealing with a shift in internal power structure? I would think that they would try to stomp that sort of inconvenience out."

I could imagine her shrugging. "It's ingrained into Karnan culture, and I imagine the Gordanians don't think it's worth the effort. More than that, you said that they were planning to do something to the expected leader's daughter. That means they're trying to cow someone into submission."

"Someone in a position of influence." I reasoned. "But not someone they can just stamp out for some reason."

"We need to look into this more," Kori said, "But I think it might be a good idea to get some potential allies."

You know, I probably should have expected I would someday walk into a hive of scum and villainy.

That's where Kori and I found ourselves heading a few days later, walking down the winding streets of the Karnan side of town. I had spent most of my time since the comm tower investigating and hacking into every system I could find in Wirc, all so that we could have as much information as possible before we settled on a plan of action. It was a tricky thing, as there was no convenient repository of data which clearly explained the local situation in its entirety. But, after hacking dozens of computers, intercepting radio chatter, and even ease-dropping on a few conversations, we got what we needed.

The 'Kazgurat' appeared to be a Karnan crime syndicate, one that was functionally the government in several areas. Considering the Gordanian occupation, they had been a big thorn in the lizards' sides ever since the conquest a hundred years ago. But no matter how hard the Gordanians tried they could never completely stamp them out. So the criminal element was tolerated to a certain extent, with a slight back and forth so long as the Karnans still fell in line and worked.

But what the Gordanians didn't know, and something I had only found out by overhearing a back alley conversation between some important 'community leaders' I was following, was that the Kazgurat was state sponsored. It didn't look like a full rebel movement, but it seems the real Karnan government was working their own angle to not be completely powerless. More than that though, that gave us a potential ally. The enemy of my enemy may not be a friend, but a common foe can make cooperation go a long way.

Of course, we had to introduce ourselves first, and Kori was particularly eager to be doing something other than waiting around. Since I had the skills and equipment needed to do all the information gathering, we decided it would be best if she stayed back at the abandoned home at the edge of town I had managed to find and procure. Tamaranians were quite rare off their homeworld these days, and we didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention. Though that left how exactly we were going to meet with this Namise. We both agreed we didn't have the skill to pull off being completely inconspicuous, so we opted for a different approach.

I walked in front of Kori as we headed in between a particularly close pair of Karnan buildings, noting the lotierers across the street who took a sudden interest in us. I was dressed as my Stack persona, smooth plated armor covered by a green cloak. Kori wore a black, lightly armored bodysuit with some discreet (but visible) servos at points on her arms and legs, subtly implying cybernetics where there were none. Her hair was in a Karnan-style braid, but more importantly some Mask holograms gave her exposed skin the appearance of being covered in auburn fur. Her face did prove to be a bit of a problem though, as her lack of a semi-muzzle would be tricky for the holograms to account for. So we opted for her to wear a mask over her lower face, contoured to give her the appearance of a Karnan jawline.

Karnan Freelancers were uncommon, and a legal gray zone under the Gordanian occupation, but they still existed. Free agents were useful for dealing with awkward or unpleasant issues the lizards couldn't be arsed with. Freelancers were considered mercenary by nature, so people wouldn't exactly be friendly with us, but we figured it would be best to approach as a sort of 'know quantity'. After all, people know how to deal with mercenaries: you make a deal.

Hidden in a little nook between the buildings was a stone stairway leading down, terminating at a plain metal door at the bottom. As we approached, I spied the camera sensor at the top of the frame, and the mechanical lock at its side. I had already gotten the code for this week by staking out the door earlier and waiting for someone to come by, so I quickly flipped the levers in the correct sequence and let us inside.

The inside of the building was exactly what I expected it to look like. The room was large and wide open, with tables scattered at irregular intervals. One wall was taken up by a bar, with a Karnan bartender behind it pouring drinks. The walls and ceilings were covered in inline lighting, casting the whole space in garish tones. There were a handful of terminals lining the opposite wall, meant for gambling most likely. Speakers around the room played music, a strange mix of drums and strings which gave me an almost mournful feeling.

The patrons of the bar themselves were a mix of both Karnans and Gordanians. You'd think that the Kazgurat would only work with the former, but I supposed that enough of the latter were unhappy with their lot in life that they were willing to work for someone else. And all of them looked surprised and alarmed at us entering. This wasn't the kind of establishment that new people just walked into, especially without escort. And we did not look like the normal 'clientele' either.

I stepped to the side to let Kori step in front of me, the woman stopping to take in the room and its now tense occupants. The two of us walked past all of them and towards the back, towards a pair of particularly burly Karnans standing in front of a set of stairs, leading to a second level terrace that overlooked the bar. They were dressed in thick dyed leathers, and stared intently at us as we approached. "I'm here to see Namise." Kori said as we came to a stop before them.

"No."

Well he's certainly direct, I thought, looking at the guard who responded. Kori was undeterred. "She will want to see me. I come with tribute." She said, holding up several small bars of lanthanum, the rare earth metal which functioned as a sort of secondary currency for the town. The 'tribute' was something of an old Karnan tradition according to Kori: those that were not trusted must prove their worth before any talk can happen. I didn't know if that was still a thing, but greasing some palms surely couldn't hurt.

The guard took the bars, turning them over in his hands for a few moments before pocketing it. "No."

I saw Kori's fist clench for a moment before she relaxed, forcing herself back into her role. Kori wasn't particularly adept at going against her instincts, and right now they were telling her to confront the man's disrespectful behavior. But if we wanted this meeting to go well, she needed to remain in the persona of a cool operator, as that was most likely to get results with our target. She took a moment to look back at the bar, noting that several of the patrons had gotten to their feet and were staring at us intently. She looked back at the guards. "I see."

So we moved on to another part of the old tradition.

Kori slipped back at the same time I moved forward, our sudden motion causing the guards to reach for the hilts at their sides. They weren't nearly fast enough though, and I grabbed both before slamming them together. Dazed from the impact, they couldn't stop me as I simply hurled the pair behind me back into the bar floor. The two smashed through a table, sending drinks flying and knocking over the patrons sitting there.

I'm pretty sure the 'declaration of martial prowess' was supposed to come with a bit more warning, but we both wanted to get a move on.

The men I threw stumbled to their feet, and I moved to put myself between them and Kori. However… "What in the name of the Empty Night is going on here?" A voice behind us said. We turned to see a Karnan woman walking down the stairs, amethyst eyes narrowed in annoyance. She had pale fur and wore a set of loose white robes that complimented it. She was otherwise unadorned, but there was no mistaking the aura of authority she radiated. She reached the bottom of the stairs and took in the scene before turning to Kori, leaning forward dangerously. "Is there a reason you have walked into my Den, or have you simply come to find a grave to lie in?"

Kori didn't back off, nodding her head towards the other woman. "You are Namise, correct? We are here to offer our services. And we have a very particular service in mind, one which you will be very interested in." She paused a moment before adding "I offered tribute to your guard to see you, but he just took it and still refused. This resulted."

Namise let out a sort of chuff, which I assumed was a sigh. "Tribute? Seriously? What, did you walk out of a high tale, expecting that to work?"

Kori was silent for a moment before she spread her arms a bit, and I swear she was channeling a bit of me as she replied "Well, I am a fan of the classics."

The other woman barked out a short laugh before her lips quirked. "If we are following the classics, you know how the next part goes, right?" She gestured to the rest of the bar, and how every patron was on their feet and staring us down.

"By all means, let my 'champion' prove his worth." Kori replied. "But perhaps we can still talk in the interim? It will save time after all."

Namise considered for several long seconds, and I could see her weighing the situation and its outcomes in her eyes. Finally, she called out "Put him through his paces, but nothing too much. I want this building still standing when you're done." She then turned and walked back up the stairs. "Come along little huntress. If you impress me enough I might let you both walk out of here alive."

Kori looked back at me and placed a hand on my shoulder, a glint in her eyes. "Make sure we're not disturbed… but have some fun too." She said before she followed the other woman.

I arched an eyebrow behind my mask, and looked back at the gathering mob of bar patrons. "If you insist."

I had gotten a lot of practice over the past few days of remote hacking the local systems the old fashioned way (without magic). And the sound system wasn't particularly secure either. It only took a moment to crack into the system.

"You know, it occurs to me…" I said to the room as the music cut off, and I tossed my cloak to the side. "For all the nonsense battles I've been through lately… it's been a while since I've been able to not worry and just beat some wholesale ass."

The new music started to play in the bar, and there was a moment of confusion at the unfamiliar beat. I was sure they'd pick up the dance moves pretty quick though.

[Playing track 142: Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation]

~A little less conversation, a little more action, please,

All this aggravation ain't satisfaction-in me,~

As the Lyrics kicked it, everyone took that as their signal to move. The two I had tossed aside moved first, pulling out blades and charging. I stepped into the attack, letting the blades slide off my armor as they missed my joints as I stopped between them. An elbow drove into the solar plexus of one before I reversed motion and drove my fist into the other's. I took a step back as they keeled over, grabbing their lowered heads and smashing them together a second time, making them collapse.

~A little more bite and a little less bark,

A little less fight and a little more spark,

Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me.

Satisfy me, baby.~

While this was going on, I was still able to keep an ear on Kori's conversation with the crime boss through our earpieces. "So," I heard Namise say, "Why are you here? And I'm not talking about your 'offer', that's your excuse. What exactly do you need so badly that you would come here and risk my wrath by trashing my bar?"

"I need an FTL capable ship. One that can go at least 30 light years without refueling. The faster the better."

~Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music,

Drifting through a summer breeze,~

The rest of the bar patrons got over their surprise quickly, and charged me. The closest ones had to round a table to reach me though, so I stepped forward and kicked said table at them. The force of the sliding furniture sent several of them sprawling, but the rest came running right at me. While I didn't frequently fight like a human being, I favored soft styles when I did, but something about the music was causing me to take a loose brawlers stance instead.

I stepped back and around them as they came at me, positioning myself so that I only had to deal with one at a time, if only for a second or so. That second was all I needed to dodge or deflect their attacks before I took them down in one or two strikes. My form was pretty sloppy to be honest, but super-strength and durability made it so that no one noticed.

~It's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it,

Come along with me and put your mind at ease.~

There was a long pause before Namise answered Kori. "That… is a very tall order. Even if we don't particularly care for the Citadel's order, that doesn't mean we can get around their regulations easily. And a ship with those specs falls under heavy restrictions."

"That wasn't a no."

~A little less conversation, a little more action, please,

All this aggravation ain't satisfaction-in me~

One particularly nimble Karnan managed to slide between my legs while I was distracted, springing up to try and land on my back. I managed to twist my torso around in time to grab him by the throat in mid air, causing his eyes to bulge as he started to choke. This was a little much for a bar fight, so I set him down. By slamming him into the bartop.

I then proceed to drag him down the whole counter, smashing his head into every glass and bowl still on there. I almost got all the way to the end before I reached a stooped gray-furred Karnan, the old cat having remained sitting and watching the entire fight with a bored expression. Just before my improvised dishtowel reached him, the old man raised his glass to take a drink, and the younger man sailed right past him before hurling off the bartop to a heap on the floor.

~A little more bite and a little less bark,

A little less fight and a little more spark,

Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me.

Satisfy me, baby.~

"No, it wasn't, but that brings me back to why we should help a pair of Clanless that just wandered off the street?"

"Access codes to the Gordanian's internal monitoring network. Specifically, admin access to the Chattel Index." After a little digging we found out that the index was a list of names of slaves who could be transferred to the Chattel caste at any time. The names weren't publicly known, but on top of just stripping away what little protections these people had at a whim, it was used for intimidation. After all, maybe your name was on the list, so maybe you shouldn't risk acting up. I just barely heard Kori's tone shift as she tried to hide her emotions. "Your daughter is currently on the Index."

~Come on, baby, I'm tired of talking.~

Some of the more wary ones had hung back, and I had to duck out of the way of some thrown bottles. Well, no I didn't, I could have easily let them shatter against me without harm. But that wouldn't have been sporting, and I wanted to hide just how tough I was for the time being. I ducked left and right as they desperately threw anything they could get their hands on, but I was forced to snatch a carelessly thrown metal stein out of the air before it collided with the old man.

I stopped, wagging my finger at the thrower before I hurled it back, striking him in the head and dropping him.

~Grab your coat and let's start a'walking.~

"What?! How could you possibly know that?!"

"We are very competent, and have already been able to take a peek. And we don't care for the Citadel's order either. As a show of good faith, you get these for free. You can use this information to prepare, or perhaps even edit the Index if you think you won't be noticed."

There was a long stretch of silence. "How… generous of you." Namsie eventually said, her voice even. "Of course, if you're as competent as you claim, you know that these codes are only good for the next two weeks, if that."

"Of course, which brings me to our actual offer. In exchange for a ship, we will install a back-door into the Gordanian's systems, sending you the codes every time they are updated. You can use the ones I just gave you to verify we can do that."

~Come on, come on (come on, come on),

Come on, come on (come on, come on),

Come on, come on (come on, come on),~

The number of combatants was starting to thin, so the ones remaining tried rushing me all at once. They were a bit smarter about it than the last group, immediately spreading out to come at me from all sides. I grabbed a wooden chair in each hand and whipped them around, holding the Karnans and Gordanians at bay for a moment. When one got brave and moved in with a nasty metal claw, I thrust a chair at him and trapped him between its legs. I used it to move the man and pin him against the nearby wall.

When the rest tried to close in, I simply beat them with the chair in my other hand, hitting them hard enough that the furniture was in splinters by the time they were all on the floor. I looked back at the one I had pinned and kicked him. Through the chair. He let out a wheeze before he collapsed to the floor.

~Don't procrastinate, don't articulate,

Girl, it's getting late, gettin' upset waitin' around…

Yeah!~

"...You have two weeks. Come back to me when the job's done. I… can't personally get my hands on what you're looking for, but I have connections in high places. Finish the job, and I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to get you your ship."

"We will get it done."

~A little less conversation, a little more action, please!

All this aggravation ain't satisfaction-in me!~

The last one remaining was a particularly large Gordanian, pulling a large chain out from somewhere. He whipped it around his head a few times before lashing out at me. I ducked under the horizontal swing, then sidestep the vertical swing. On the third swing the Gordanian managed to wrap the chain around my arm and attempted to yank me towards him. His grin disappeared when it didn't work, and I instead held my arm up and back, raising my leg high and stepping on the chain to pull it tight.

The Gordanian stumbled as he was pulled towards me, his back ending up facing me as he tried to regain his balance. I stepped in and grabbed him by the waist, before tilting back and suplexing him. His head actually made a dent in the floor before he went limp.

~A little more bite and a little less bark!

A little less fight and a little more spark!

Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me!~

Finally, the bar was still, everyone either unconscious or having given up the will to fight. I looked around for the bartender for a moment, but when I couldn't find him I walked up to the old man and dropped a few lanthanum bars on the bartop next to him. "Sorry about the mess."

The man just grunted and raised his glass to me before taking another drink.

I shut the music off and went to get my cloak, and that's when Namise and Kori came back down the stairs. The crime boss scowled as she took in the destruction, but I could tell Kori was smiling at me behind her mask. "I do believe we've made some progress."

Off to my side, one of the Gordanians who had been playing dead carefully got up, picking up a broken piece of table leg as he did so. As I looked at Kori the man charged me, bringing the bat down in an overhead swing at my head.

Without looking, my hand lashed out and grabbed the bludgeon mid-swing, stopping the attack cold. Still looking at Kori, I grinned under my helmet. "Yeah, I'd say so too." I smoothly ripped the table leg out of my attacker's hands and smacked him on the head with it, putting him down for real. Without another word we left the bar. Though I couldn't help but notice that Kori went slightly out of her way to step on the neck of a Gordanian as we walked out.

As we left the alley and headed back to our little base, she leaned in and said "I'm surprised you didn't go with Freebird."

"I just wanted to beat everyone up, not demolish the entire block."

=====A=====

A/N: Was that first scene entirely necessary? Probably not, but it's been a few months and I wanted some fluff, so here you go.

So, two main things. The first is, as I'm getting back into the swing of this, I've decided this serial's going to be a little different. It's going to cover a much larger stretch of time than the others, so in between each Jacob and Kori chapter there with be a chapter back on earth following what the heroes (and villains) are up to. This is because I'm trying to set things up for end game, and it will be a lot easier for readers to follow if they can see what's happening behind the scene while the two play at being Shadowrunners in the Vega System for a few months. It will also let me give some screen time to character who I think need it.

Secondly, fun news, I might be developing carpal tunnel! Wait, no, that's not fun, it's the opposite thing. *Sigh* Yeah, I started getting wrist and hand pain after typing or using the mouse for long periods lately. I need to get that checked out, but be aware my (already glacial) writing output may take a hit in the future.

But onwards! To Victory! And getting the rest of this story out of my brain! And wrist pain!