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Tony had been tracking a signal in his ship for several days now. It began as a weak blipping of SOS in galactic standard morse code, something he’d stumbled across on his way elsewhere. He’d followed it out of curiosity, or perhaps boredom. It’d been a while since something interesting had happened. Now he was four days in halfway through his rations, but the signal was stronger now, giving a definite location rather than a general area.
Getting nearer, Tony could easily see why someone had sent out an SOS. There was a large asteroid field, causing him to turn off auto-pilot and making him seize the controls himself to guide the ship through. Knowing my luck, this mystery-ship is gonna be in the middle of this blasted field, he mused, veering around a slowly rotating rock.
Another ten minutes and he was a little unshocked to find his guess had been right. There, in the middle of everything, sat a small three-seater ship. Its lights were either off or too dim to see, and as he neared he could see the bottom of the ship had a ragged hole. If Tony knew this model right, and he was nearly 100 percent sure he did, then the hole would have been in the cargo hold, which had an airlock in case of pirates.
He lowered the power in the thrusters, pulling in close beside the ship before locking onto its signature to keep his own ship from floating off. He rolled his shoulders back to ease some tension and climbed further back in his own small ship to grab a spacesuit. It was one of his own creation but he hadn’t stabilized the nano-particles enough to make it mobile. He stepped into a small closet-like room and shut it, air hissing out before he pressed a button. Hatches in the side of the walls opened, and little flecks slid out, quickly covering his body. In seconds, he was fully equipped. Flexing his fingers to make sure they settled around his fingers correctly, he popped open the door and stepped out, heavy metal boots clomping on the grating loudly.
I need to think of something to store the nano-bots in, but what would work? Stepping into a separate room is all well and good when you have time, but in a hurry? It’d be detrimental. Needs more thought- later.
A few weeks ago he’d found some old songs from Earth, a bunch compiled on a disc he’d picked up while scavenging from an abandoned ship. His favorite so far was Metallica, though he did enjoy AC/DC as well. He was humming Enter Sandman while grabbing an extra oxygen pack, shoving it into a pocket that opened up after he tapped a spot on his side. He descended some steps, stepped into an airlock and pushed a button to shut it behind him. Pressing another button opened the door to the void outside, and he floated up but activated the thrusters in his suit to push him toward the other ship.
The hole in the cargo hold was Tony’s focus, so he changed his trajectory slightly to get to it, slipping into the dark room seamlessly. He flipped around and sent some spare nanobots to fill the gap so the airlock wouldn’t be compromised; his visor was showing dangerously low oxygen levels and he didn’t want to use up more than was necessary. Once his nanobots finished, Tony took cautious steps toward the airlock, as the steel under his feet kept groaning dangerously. Finally, he reached the button and pushed it, the door sliding open with a whoosh. Stepping inside, a red warning popped up on his visor, showing that there were life signs nearby but very low vital signs. He could only assume they were suffering from hypoxia with the levels of oxygen left in the room, quite possibly starvation and dehydration as well. He had no idea how long the ship had been stranded, but figured it had to have been a long while.
The door to the cockpit slid open and he immediately saw a dark form slumped over in a corner, unmoving and Tony could barely see the rising and falling of their chest. He stepped closer and kneeled down, nearly reeling away at the species in front of him. They were nearly human, but pointed ears were usually a warning sign. Carefully, he pulled up the man’s lip, paling at the sight of the longer and sharper canines. Definitely a Ruxlack.
Tony had to have a moral dilemma and decide fast, because the man didn’t have much time, but he didn’t know if he wanted to save a possible war criminal. Ruxlacks were universally renowned for their skill in battle, their cunning and their bloodlust. They would ride in on rusty ships from the last planet they conquered and would rape and pillage another planet. Peaceful ones have been documented, but their species’ conditioning was so brutal it’s rare. The Federation actually had bounties set for any proven violent Ruxlack. Anyone in need of an easy buck usually went after them, since even though they were turned in all the time they were violent enough to keep up a high bounty.
Staring at this one, all skin and bones and pitiful looking, he felt a resigned sigh slip out. He pulled out the oxygen tank, leaning toward the man and situated the mask over his mouth and nose, pressing the button on top to begin the flow. The instant the man inhaled a real breath of oxygen, his breathing picked up, unconsciously sucking in deep breaths. Tony watched carefully for any signs of him waking up, but his breathing soon evened out. The ship creaked and he realized he needed to get them out. He grabbed the man and dispatched even more nanobots to cover the vital areas of the other man before he kicked the side of the ship out, the weak metal giving with ease. Engaging his thrusters, Tony flew out of the ship with mystery-man in his arms and his own ship in front of him, his nanobots trailing behind, trying to keep up.
Once in the airlock, the door hissed shut behind them and Tony disengaged the nanobots from them both, sending them back to the room via the vents. The Kruxlack was still unconscious, so Tony kept the low-gravity on and carried him to the small infirmary across the hall, setting him on a thin bed. Tony kept thinking this was a horrible idea, so he finally grabbed a pair of ‘cuffs, cuffing the man to the bed by one wrist. The portable oxygen pack was soon replaced with a bigger tank, leaving Tony with the situation of what could he do now.
His eventual decision was to turn autopilot on and to send them to the nearest space port, which was about three days away, and to grab some food for himself and for the Kruxlack when he woke. Fifteen minutes later saw him sitting perched on the edge of a chair, absentmindedly eating a subpar salad. Tony suddenly got the bright idea to use this time to see if his repairs to JARVIS had worked.
“Jarvis, could you play Back in Black for me?” he called, tilting his head to see if it worked. There was a moment of silence before the song began to play through hidden speakers. He grinned triumphantly, mind already calculating how to make it better when a noise from the bed startled him from his thoughts. He looked up sharply, eyes narrowing as he watched the man’s eyes open and look around with fear in them.
“Alright, buddy. I caught your signal and followed it and found you, so don’t think I’m a pirate or bounty hunter trying to turn you in. And on that note, I hope my trust isn’t displaced and you’re one of the rare peaceful Kruxlack, because I’m really not in the mood to deal with a prisoner. So, spill,” Tony said with a fake air of casualness surrounding him.
“Er,” was the only response Tony got for a moment before the man managed to gather his wits. “My name is Stephen, and I am one of your peaceful Kruxlacks, so uh, no need to worry,” he introduced, looking uncomfortable. Tony couldn’t really be surprised.
“Great to know you won’t kill me in my sleep, if you’re being truthful. And I’m Tony, Anyway, when was the last time you ate a solid, because I need to know whether to be careful with your solids or to just give you an IV.”
Stephen stopped to think, free hand reaching up to rub at the beard on his chin thoughtfully. “It’s only been about two days or so, if I’m remembering correctly, but it got kind of hard to tell the last week,” he said slowly, voice still hoarse from disuse.
Tony nodded, handing Stephen the extra sandwich. “Eat slowly until you’re full, and if you don’t, don’t blame me for throwing it up, just do it in a toilet,” he instructed, leaving and quickly returning with some water, seeing Stephen had already taken a couple of bites. He handed it over before undoing the handcuff, since he’d set JARVIS to monitor Stephen while he was getting the water.
The sandwich was about halfway eaten before Stephen called quits, guzzling the water bottle before slumping against the bed. “Where are we going?” he asked lowly, sounding like he was almost afraid of the answer. Tony realized he probably still thought Tony was going to turn him in for his bounty, even though he wasn’t violent as of now.
“To a space port, but not to turn you in. Don’t need the money anyhow. Just need to refuel and restock, and drop you off if you’d like,” Tony explained calmly, watching Stephen’s reaction carefully.
Stephen frowned. “If I’d like? You’re not gonna kick me out, even though we’ve just met and I’m one of the most dangerous species in the known universe?” he asked skeptically.
Tony shrugged. “Been tracking your signal for days, so that practically makes us friends, and I know you’d be hard pressed to be able to do anything, with your species’ reputation. I’m tired of being alone and you seem like the perfect type to stay, nothing to lose, everything to gain.”
The silence was nearly palpable, making Tony sweat nervously, wondering if his upfrontness was a mistake. Suddenly a shy smile lit up Stephen’s face. “You’ve made some rather valid points,” he conceded. “Yeah, I think I’ll stay. Like you said, nothing to lose.”
Tony wasn’t sure how to answer for a moment. “Er. There’s only two bedrooms, and I’m taking the captain’s quarters, but the other one is all yours,” he offered awkwardly.
“Thank you, Tony, however this room should serve me well for a few more hours, I feel hesitant to leave the oxygen. My oxygen isn’t high enough yet,” he said, voice trailing off at the end in thought.
With a snort, Tony asked; “What, you a doctor or something?”
Stephen grinned, eyes devious. “Of a sort.”
Tony had no idea what he was getting into, but it looked to be interesting at the very least.