Chapter 22.
When the Chips are Down.

Rhuba watched the clock.
It had been a week since Garagus left, and yet she waited for him to answer her calls.
There wasn't much to catch up on. But she just liked to hear his voice.
Also, she wanted to grill him over what she said at the Strip Club.
It took a while, but she finally understood where she went wrong.
"come in my back room..." She growled. She could only imagine the restraint he had not to laugh in her face then.
Giving up again, she got dressed for her daily training before work.

Ear mufflers on, she went for a jog around the docks. Doing her best to ignore distractions and focus on getting strong enough to make him work for her affection and admiration.
She thought of imposing a new rule to motivate him.
No sex until the power gap is so big, he feels like her Alpha again.
Until then, glory will be hers.
And with Wash-Kun to keep her company until that day comes, it will be easy.

"Miss, Miss!"

"Sorry, I don't work here." Rhuba waved off the man trying to catch her attention and continued her jog.
On her second lap, she saw him again. With two more flagging her down.
"What do you want?" She asked, pulling one ear off as she skipped by.

"Please, we need your help. We're from the planet Dishia, Cuppa and Palete sent us."

Stopping dead in her tracks, she turned to the three men.
"Dishia?" She looked at them. They didn't even look to be from the same world as each other, much less Dishia. But how would they even know her connection to that world, let alone Palete and Cuppa specifically?
"Who are you?"

"We know which planet that blanket you love so much comes from."

Rhuba's eyes widened. No one should know that. No one alive anyway, except one person. Who'd never say it to anyone.

"We need you to see someone on this ship." He pointed to a ship that docked recently.

Rhuba set down the earmuffs and prepared herself.
If this is a trap, they'll know the full-scale horror that comes to those who piss off the Saiyans.

As Rhuba walked up the ramp, the doors closed behind her, and sitting across from her, she saw Garagus.

"What are you…"
Words were ended as he grabbed and held her close and the people who flagged her pulled out their ID badges.

"We're with the Galactic Patrol. Seven days ago the people who run this station attempted to murder your husband, and killed several of our officers."

"S-sorry, what?" Rhuba couldn't break away from Garagus' hug.

"He was exposed to the vacuum of space for approximately seven minutes before we got him inside."
"Or to be more specific, before he let him." The officer remembered some of the junior staff thinking he was a ghost when they heard him banging on the airlock to be let in.

Rhuba stared at Garagus silently, wondering how in the world he wasn't dead.
But more importantly.
"they tried to kill you?" Hate is a powerful emotion and the GP could practically see it dripping from between her teeth as she spoke.

"There's a lot for us to discuss. But the GP have allowed us to take our ship and leave."

"hu-ho, I'm not going anywhere until I'm knee-deep in the guy who runs this place!" She turned her glare to the officers. "Who else is in on this? Sterling?" Her eyes widened as she considered her next words. "did my friends…?"

"No!" Garagus told her that most of the other dancers and waiting staff are all in line to be killed too as soon as their debt is paid.
The only customers allowed to leave are the ones able to pay their debts with cash up front or were never exposed to any of the illegal goings-on during their entire stay.

"Some staff are permanent employees of the station. There are two under floors of apartments and even a school where people have raised families. The enemy is the private security and the ones they answer to. But we won't know for sure until the arrests begin." Explained the officer in command.

"I want to punch someone!" Rhuba growled. "Gus, come on!"

"I have to agree. It's by my mercy that the station isn't on fire right now. You're not leaving us out of this."

The GP looked unconvinced. But Garagus suggested something.
"You don't want us to hurt anyone. I get that. But what about their drones? Can we smash those up? Throw them around, scare them shitless?"

"I have work in an hour, so if you let us help, I can get you a key card to all the rooms on the first floor."

"Thanks, but we already have access to the floors." Checking the time, he announced that the scheduled assault was due to happen in the next ten minutes.

Garagus and Rhuba stared at each other, then made a break for the door.

"Stop them!"

The GP attempted to grab them, but Garagus could easily hold them back while Rhuba set the airlock to open again, then on her word, the pair of Saiyans shot off onto the dock before landing among the shelves of tools and spare parts.
From there, Garagus followed Rhuba's lead back towards the main Casino.

The two of them walked in, grins donned, eyeing up the security camera.
"Think they'll recognise me?"

"I hope so."

The undercover GP around the station was alerted to their potential interference. But were told to proceed as planned.
If anything, the pair of them getting into trouble with security might prove a good diversion.

Garagus went to the strip club while Rhuba acquired Yena and Uraal at the casino.
"What are you doing?" "We're on the clock." They told her over and over before seeing her husband walking up with Ruble. "I thought you left?"

"Just stay beside us," Rhuba told them as she backed them towards a corner.

"Rhu, tell us what's happening. You're scaring me."

Before any explanation could be given, a team of three security guards started marching towards them.
"Manager wants to see you two."

With fearful eyes, Ruble, Uraal, and Yena could see Rhuba and Garagus tense up. Readying for a fight.
However.

The three security guards were blind-sighted by random visitors, carrying blaster pistols.
"Galactic Patrol, Everybody down!"

As guests started panicking and cowering behind walls and tables, a fight broke out between the security staff and the officers. The casino, the strip club, the hotel, the docs. Anywhere a guard patrolled, A GP was there to arrest.

Garagus looked up at the security camera. It was staring at the arrested security guards on the floor.
"Could they have escape pods?"

"I have no idea. But there are ships everywhere." Turning to her friends, Rhuba told them to retreat to their rooms, call their partners or family and pack their bags.

After escorting Rhuba's friends to their rooms, Rhuba and Garagus could hear excitement taking place in the shipyards.
Running outside, GP members were being rammed by drones. Not enough to be deadly, but enough to injure if any hit dead on.

"Mine." Rhuba rushed over, grabbed the drone and smashed the left thruster, causing it to spiral and crash after she jumped off. "Did you see that?" She looked over her shoulder to see Garagus flying overhead, firing blasts at two intercepting drones, both of which exploded and rained shrapnel on the ground.

"Sorry, missed that. What did you say?"

"nothing…" She clicked her tongue as he landed beside her.

"Well, good job on that drone. Fantastic landing too." Garagus watched her eyes light up before hugging him. "What did I say?"

"Nothing. Come on, we got robots to smash."

"How about we free our ship first?" Garagus suggested as he grabbed her ankle as she hovered in the air.

"Fine. You free the ship, I'll smash bots!" While being dragged along like a balloon over Garagu's shoulder, she fired shot after shot at the drones whizzing about trying to attack the patrollers.

Once at the ship, they faced a new problem.
"How do we turn off the magnets?"

"I have no idea, I was a waitress." Rhuba watched Garagus' back as he tried to understand the controls of the ankers keeping their ship in place. The drones were distracting on their own, but they couldn't hear themselves think over the sounds of the alarms and the flashing yellow lights were worse. "oh FU-…"

Suddenly, the entire outside of the station was depressurised as the external shields were switched off.

Engineers, welders, stewards, and even guests were blown off their feet as the air was pulled into space.
However, the gravity stayed on. So those swept off their feet found themselves choking on the floor. All but Garagus.

Who in dead silence, grabbed Rhuba and pulled her aboard their ship before shutting the airlock and began repressurising.

He spoke to her. But even inside the ship, the air was too thin to speak loud enough for her to hear.
Again and again he tried to speak until she finally heard him ask if she was okay.

She wheezed and coughed, asking how he was still moving.

"It's not my first time." He smiled, carrying her onto the bridge. "Those bastards just killed hundreds of people just to save their own asses."

Checking the computer and external sensors, he could detect a small amount of atmospheric pressure in the station.

"The station is repressurising now, seven percent and climbing. By then it'll be too late."

Rhuba felt dizzy but found her way to his side to check if the ship was ready to fly and land on a planet.
The workers actually completed their jobs, it seemed.
"Take the helm, I'll put a suit on and smash those magnets."

"No. The drones will just ram us. The ship is still worth money for as long as it's docked. If we're going to leave, we need to end this, Now."

Rhuba could hardly look at him. Her head was still spinning.
"Okay, I'll follow your lead. Just tell me the plan."

"You put your suit on, and meet me at the Casino."

"What if they depressurise you again?" Rhuba asked.

"Trust me, they won't pull that stunt a second time."

"How do you know? It's already at nine percent, what if they're setting it up again?"

"Because I'm about to rip this station a new asshole." Standing in the airlock, he watched through the door as Rhuba hopped one-legged to get her suit on.
The air was thin when the door opened, but breathable enough as he took off.

Rhuba watched the readings as she stuck her helmet on.
From twelve percent, it suddenly shot up to nineteen, twenty-six, thirty-three.

Every time Garagus smashed open a hole through an airtight floor, the combined pressure was shared.
Violently traumatic for those inside, but it made those outside who somehow survived the initial shock breathe a little easier.

However, he left the first few floors untouched. From what the GP told him, he was left to think only those on the higher floors were directly responsible.
Those on the docking level and below were just workers and guests.

For his extremely hostile actions, every drone on the station was targeting him.

As the drones charged towards home from below, some of them started blowing up from behind as Rhuba flew up to meet him, dawning a full space suit so she could breathe properly.
Working together, the Saiyans enjoyed smashing the drones.

Rhuba punched through one, then used it as a gauntlet to smash the next before ripping a third in half while Garagus targeted the larger ones with focused energy blasts.

On the docs, the GP soldiers that had clung to life long enough to try and revive others along with civilians, would see debris crash on the floor all around.
"What's the situation? Report!"
 "The docs were depressurised momentarily," The GP wheezed into his scouter, struggling to keep his eyes open as he did chest compressions on his teammate. "I don't… I don't know how many losses we've suffered-, but there are, civilians, civilians are dead too."
"Acknowledged. Stand by for medical and evac deployment."

Inside the buildings that were still fully pressurised, staff and guests could hear booms and bangs. Those near a window had witnessed the depressurisation and thought they were under attack.
Ruble had locked herself in the bathroom. Closed rooms in space stations are typically all airtight. So even if the window in her room breaches, she'll at least have air, water, and facilities to use until rescue comes.
She only hoped her friends came to the same idea. It was too scary to check on them to make sure.

"Where are the drones coming from?" Garagus asked, smashing yet another one.

"uh… Oh!" Rhuba dropped down from above, pointing out a hanger where the drones return to every forty hours for maintenance. "And there's another hanger on the other side of the station where they're housed for charging."

"I don't want to split up…" Garagus aimed his palm at the nearest hanger. One good energy blast will level it. However… "I promised I wouldn't seek to kill."

"They tried to kill us! You twice!"

"I know… But do you know for sure that there are Only drones and hostiles in there?"

Rhuba rolled her eyes, but even she didn't want innocent blood on her hands.
All those years trying to avoid war didn't deprive her of any lust for violence.
"I'll go in. You watch from the outside." She told him as they both flew down together.
The moment she landed outside, she nearly smashed through the metal railing.

"Still not the best at landings, I see?"

"Shush!" Rhuba went inside and put her fist through every docked drone she found.
Some of them woke up and began aiming to ram her.
In such close quarters, it was hard to dodge and evade, and using an energy blast could start a chain reaction if they explode.

Rhuba was about to smash one to the ground but saw maintenance workers taking cover on the walkway below.

Rather than bash it down, she prepared to whack it aside.
But before she got the chance to, the power lights turned off and the drone started falling.

"Watch it!" Rhuba grabbed onto the landing gear, struggling to support it as she carried it somewhere safe.

"Rhuba!" Garagus charged in and kicked a second drone aside before she got rammed from behind.

Suddenly, the drone Rhuba thought had run out of charge came to life again and thrusted her through the ceiling.
Like a rocket taking off, Rhuba watched the ground get further and further away before she breached the outer shields.
For the second time that morning, she was thrown into a vacuum.
In a panic, she had lost the wits to think of an escape strategy as the drone's momentum carried her off.

Garagus pursued.
Charging energy that in combat would have been used for an attack blast was instead used to propel himself faster towards the drone.
Reaching out, he grabbed the drone and pulled it away with him, not realising right away that an unconscious Rhuba would only continue on her trajectory.

Letting the drone free, he desperately tried to follow where she would have gone.
However, space was pitch black. The light from the station did little to help him see the woman he wanted to save.

Not even the lights of her space suit guided him. There was simply no hint of where she had gone. Without his scouter, he couldn't even track her energy reading, and by the time he grabs one from the ship, her signal will be flatlined.

And after searching, his lungs felt too tight. And unlike him, she hadn't practised letting her body deal with the lack of pressure.

In the vacuum of space, no one heard his bloodlust roar.
The rage of a Saiyan.
No, the rage of the Saiyan race was about to come down like a hammer on everyone below.

An energy blast capable of destroying the whole station, taking everyone and all the docked ships with it was focused on the central building.
Unleashing this single blast would leave this empty region of space to be where his mummified body remains forever after his lungs give out.

'So be it.' He thought, feeling his tears boil on his cheek as he fired the blast.

The close region of space lit up like a newborn star as the deflector shields took the hit, protecting everyone from the attack.
Not to be deterred, Garagus started to head towards the station.
Getting below the shields will allow his next blast to end it.

But as the Saiyan charged in, he saw several drones being destroyed by someone in a…

'Space suit!' He said inside as he dropped below the shields and took a proper breath.

"Where have you been?" Rhuba demanded. "Did you see that blast outside?" She flew up to meet the 'attacker', not realising it was her own husband who had someone forgotten that her space suit has its own supply of oxygen.
His pulling the drone away was all she needed to come back on her own. She assumed the drone had returned to base to fight Garagus, she had no idea that he was up there searching for her the whole time.
"Hey, are you alright?"

"I'm fine…" His palms were shaking, his face looked like he'd just seen their home planet get blown up again.

"No you're…" She flew past him to smash a drone that was approaching and then returned. "You're anything but fine. What's wrong?"
No answer, he just hugged her.
"Garagus, we're in a fight!" She saw another drone coming. "We're in a fight! WE'RE IN A FIGHT!"

Grabbing the drone one-handed, Garagus pulled it close.
"That blast came from me." He announced. "It was a warning shot fired at your shields to demonstrate what comes next if you don't surrender."

After throwing the drone away, he was caught in Rhuba's stare.
She was confused at why he'd fire a blast like that at the shields, even if it was a warning.
"Aren't we having fun?"

"I chased after you when that drone hit you. I pulled it away and I couldn't see you. I thought you'd fallen into space."

"Fallen?" She smirked. "You know I can fly now, right?" She observed his face. Now was not the time for coy jokes. "You thought I died?" His silence, and struggle to look at her said everything.

Taking her hand, Garagus landed with Rhuba following behind on the docks. New GP teams had landed and were storming the station. Each of them wore suits that would protect them if there was another episode of depressurisation.

"We're done here." He stated to the officers who met with them.

"You sure you don't want to blow up more evidence?" The commander challenged. "We just got a signal that they've issued a surrender. So I guess your unauthorised assault worked in the end."

"Glad to be of a nuisance," Rhuba smirked, holding Garagus' hand. "What now?"

Signalling someone over, the commander instructed them to board their ship and wait for a debriefing.
"I'll have someone shut off the ankers for you. You'll be free to go as soon as everything is cleared."

"What's needing cleared?"

"We were promised currency for helping."

"Really? When was this agreed." Rhuba's face turned red when she found out Garagus knew the station had been tricking them for months and never told her. "Idiot! Idiot, Idiot, IDIOT!" Punctuating each word with a smack to the head, "Can I go get by things from my room?"

With an armed escort, she and Garagus were walked to her room so she can pack her belongings.
She responded with mild irritation when Garagus made sure to pack her work uniforms along with the ears.

It wasn't long before the Galactic Patrol gained full control over the station. The drones were all deactivated and the ones in charge of the whole smuggling and trafficking operation had been arrested.

While Rhuba went to go check on her friends. Since none of them saw her or Garagus fight drones, she had to play dumb about her role in it all.
"Where is Gus, I thought you'd be with him?"

"He's in the strip club, he said he was trying to mix a drink up."

Yena, Uraal and Ruble looked instantly alarmed.
"He's going to poison himself if he doesn't know what he's doing."
"We better go get him."

When they arrived, Garagus was just sitting with a bright yellow glass of fruity.
"Ladies." He watched two of them go behind the counter to find that none of the harder stuff had been touched. After all, neither himself nor Rhuba could stand them.

"I forgot you two have baby throats~" Ruble teased as she poured herself and the other two something much, much stronger. "If the GP hadn't come, we'd all have been killed."

"Krona…" Yena looked at the stage. "Just a few weeks later, and he'd have survived."

Rhuba didn't know him, but he seemed nice.
She and Garagus both raised glasses to him and drank to the memory of everyone who was murdered working for the station.

"We need to wait on our partners to come back. The ships they're piloting are evidence. It could be months before we get to leave. What are you two doing?"

"I can't wait to get back out there. We're off to go find a planet to settle on."

Garagus closed his eyes.
Back to being on a ship. From a tiny box, to a much larger one that tried to kill him, to the original ship.
"I can't wait…" He forced a smile. "I just hope we find a planet soon. I literally don't care what it's like."

"Don't say that. You could end up on a planet ruled by big gross bug monsters."

"Hey now, kinda racist there, Yena." Ruble crossed her arms. "My piloting coach was an insectoid. She was lovely."

"You know what I mean." Yena refilled her glass. "Anyway, what do you think will happen until we get picked up?"

"I guess we just drink ourselves silly and wait."

"I like that plan!" Yena was about to grab another bottle. "wait… I have an idea. Grab some bags."

Garagus took watch over the Casino. Most people were too shaken up to think about playing. But Yena came with four tokens in hand.

"no…" Uraal immediately knew what those were. "you cheating bitch!"

"So you don't want in?"

"I never said that…"

Rhuba watched with amazement as each token put in reliably spilt out more tokens.
Yena explained to her how the con worked, and why she was so nervous to talk when they first met.
"But since our bosses aren't here anymore…" She put in another while Ruble came running back from behind the counter with the first three tokens.

"My turn."

Rhuba looked around. No one was watching them cheat.
But she did have one question.
"Won't the GP seize all the money? Those tokens are just pieces of plastic on their own, aren't they?"

That sobering revelation ended the fun.
"Darn it!" The ladies all yelled together.

"Sorry."

"No, you're quite right. But here." Yena handed Rhuba one of the con tokens. "Let it be a reminder of this place, or at the very least, us."

"Thank you." Rhuba gave each of them a hug.
After leaving Dishia in such a hurry, she wanted to have a chance to do this goodbye the right way.

"Gus, do you want anything?"

"Oh, I already got my reminders." He grinned, lifting Rhuba's case.

Rhuba shook her head. She knew he was talking about her most hated outfit. But she did promise him.
"We should go. Thanks for everything girls." Rhuba took in her friend's faces one last time before she and Garagus walked to their ship.

A GP was standing by, waiting for the go-ahead to release once they were aboard.
Waiting for them, was Garagus' debriefing officer with the compensation for his assistance.
"Though it has to be said. This ship is an original, one of King Cold's scouting vessels from years ago. I'm sure that has a story behind it."

"Not one I'm willing to share." Garagus stated. "I helped you. You're paying me. We're square."

"Indeed. However, if you ever find yourself in need of more money. A man of your talents could be handy for us." He produced a card and offered it to Garagus. "Be in touch."

Rhuba was spinning in her chair, waiting for the door to lock and for them to finally be on their way.
As the pair took their positions, it feel so long since they'd felt free.
The controls were almost unfamiliar.
In fact…

"What? Are we on the right ship?" Rhuba looked around at what else had changed. "I guess they modernised it for the new buyers?"

"So it'll be faster then?"

"Maybe?"

Garagus carefully took the controls, and the ship drifted out into space. But when he tried to bring up their previous destination, there was another problem.
"Our flight plan is gone…"

"Oh, they rebooted everything…" Rhuba apologised. "They did warn me…"

"Oh well," Garagus asked her to look ahead. "Pick a star."

"Um… Second star to the right?"

"As you command."

There was a loud, 'hum' as the ship powered up and then they felt the sudden jolt as they took off at light speed.

"That is fast." Rhuba squeezed the casino token in her palm. She'll need to find a place for it later.
"I'm going to go unpack our things."

As Rhuba went into their room, she was hit with the sight of all the boxes still needing to return to the cargo hold.
"A job for tomorrow."
Putting her clothes away, then snuggling her blanket, she found her uniform packed away at the bottom.
"Oh why not…"

Garagus waited for her return on the bridge.
While the ship guided itself, he was running through the updated manual and the settings.
Then he heard her clear her throat from behind and when he turned, he saw Rhuba in her outfit.
Her skirt was on, but her tail was hanging freely.
"Well? You like~?" Her adorable blush was beyond charming.

Without a single word, Garagus reached into his pocket and pulled out a small disk and stuck it into the terminal.
This one disk was the real reason he wanted to visit the strip club on his own.
Just to get the song.
The earworm song that for far too long forced Rhuba to do a stupid dance that she hated.

"Darn you…"

"It's catchy~" Garagus teased, rocking his shoulders to the beat. "listen and learn, it is time for prancing~"

"I will kill you..." Rhuba sighed as she wagged her hips for him.

Author's note: Did you know that when someone dawns clothing, it's actually spelt 'don'?
Because f*ck me.

Also. Confession time.
At this part, "Not even the lights of her space suit guided him. There was simply no hint of where she had gone."

I was trying to imagine in my head the hopelessness he'd feel and put that into words. And in my first draft, I genuinely didn't think of the most obvious out.
I was thinking "Would the lights on her space suit be good enough? She won't have long in a vacuum, and if he doesn't find her soon, she'll die."

No joke. I completely forgot the No.1 job of a space suit, is to keep the occupant alive in space. The whole reason she's wearing it is in case they depressurise the station again. And I was trying to demonstrate the urgency of a woman stuck in a vacuum who can self-propel her body by flying.
*Lame trumbone noises*