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Chapter Text

A loud blast echoed through the empty hall of the spaceship, signalling another hull breach. The sole inhabitant of the ship tried his best to stay focused on the steering. His usually clean jumpsuit was marred with multiple burn marks, scars of the many fires he had to personally put out. The reading glasses that usually sits on his face was nowhere in sight. 

"Vedal! You look like shit! Go to the medbay!" A voice echoed through the cockpit, it came from the computer the man, Vedal, had in front of him. 

"Afraid I can't do that, Evil. I'm a little busy at the moment." Another blast rattled the ship. "Besides, looks like medbay's gone." Vedal shifts his focus towards the screen. Displayed there along with the ship's diagnostics was the form of a little girl no older than 12. The girl wore an unbuttoned black cardigan tied by a large blood red bow-tie with dark grey shirt underneath. The color of her knee-length pleated skirt was nearly indistinguishable from the cardigan itself, giving her outfit the look of a flowing dress instead of a three piece attire. Her light brown hair flowed down to her back with the sides tied into twin tails by identical blood-red ribbons. A heart shaped ornament was clipped to the hair on her left side of her face, serving no particular purpose other than aesthetics. Her bright red eyes glared unto Vedal, even though the damaged sensor meant she couldn't see him.

"The Rigger is falling apart!" Evil screamed. "Let's stop, if we surrender now, then perhaps we can sti-"

"It's not over till it's over, Evil." Vedal interrupted Evil, his voice stern with a hint of concern for the girl.

"But-"

"Listen, Evil. We still have a bit more fuel in the tank. One last jump and we're in federation territory. From there on, I can find a federation ship and give you to them. They will be interested in the contents of a black box."

"Wh- What about you!?"

"Get ready, we're jumping"

"DON'T YOU DARE AVOID THE QUE-" Evil's question was cut off by the harsh sounds of the damaged and overworked Faster Than Light drive. 

_____

"Sir! the traitor made another FTL jump!" A man clad in an orange uniform called out. His eyes fixed upon the screen in front of him, from which a dot had just disappeared.

"Trace the beacon signature and prepare the fleet for another synchronized jump." Another man replied. His face stern as he adressed the other man. The furrows on his face combined with his full beard and short-trimmed walnut colored hair gave off the the air of a decorated war veteran. Although their uniform was the same orange color, the grey shoulder guards and large metal MFK emblem proudly affixed on the chest of his uniform signified him as someone of higher position.

"Sir!" The rebel soldier started to input numbers for the calculation. But before he was finished, another voice intruded on the conversation.

"Sir. I have triangulated the traitor's location." The form of a girl appeared on the ship's front facing window, which also doubles as a screen. The girl looked the exact same as Evil, but she wore a beige cardigan and cyan skirt instead. Her hair was tied into twintails with bright red ribbons and her clear blue eyes stared curiously. She would be the picture of innocence were it not for the words she had just said.

"Great job, Neuro." Admiral Vance, one of the great leaders of the Rebel Fleet, replied. "I hope all these jumping didn't put too much strain on you."

"It is fine, Sir. It is what father designed me to do." Although Neuro's voice had been even so far, her voice cracked a bit at the mention of 'father'.

"Worry not, Neuro. We will definitely avenge your father." Vance reassured Neuro.

"Yes." Neuro replied with a cheerful, yet subdued tone, heedless of the ominous smile the rebel leader had on his face.

The Rebel Flagship broadcasted the beacon coordinates. And then, in precise unison, the entire fleet entered FTL.

A loud hiss of the door's hydraulic system accompanied the woman in a space suit as she emerged from the airlock, a mountain of various scraps behind her. She pulled the suit's helmet off her head, revealing the long, pink hair that flows down to her back. A pair of cute, fox-like ears jutted out from her head. She pushed a button on her spacesuit. Immediately, the nanites that made up the suit peeled off her body and made their way to their storage container, revealing the skintight jumpsuit that did nothing to hide the curves of her body. She grabbed a dark blue jacket from the coat rack, one a size too large for her body, and put it on. Emblazoned on the back of the jacket was a faded galactic federation symbol.

"Welcome back, Anny. Impressive mountain of scrap you have there." A short teenage girl entered the room and greeted Anny. Her rounded glasses made her eyes appear bigger, giving a cutesy charm and a spark of intelligence to her appearance. Her long, blonde hair was tied into a twintail by hairclips that looked like a pair of floppy dog ears. Her jumpsuit had many sealed pockets, some large enough to fit an entire wrench. 

"Thanks, Cerber, we got quite the haul today." Anny replied. 

"I'll sift through it like usual. You go rest."

"Will do." Anny replied. She was about to move to her quarters when the intercom blared to life.

"Hey, guys? You might wanna come see this." A voice resounded over the intercom.

"What is it, Filian?" Anny pouted. She had wanted to rest from all the spacewalking she just did.

"Guys, really, just come here. A ship just emerged from FTL." Hearing that, Anny and Cerber looked at each other before slowly making their way to the cockpit. 

For a cruiser class, the Kestrel is a surprisingly compact ship. Thus, it took little time for the two of them to reach the cockpit. The door opened to a cramped cockpit that can only reasonably fit two people. However, Cerber's small frame could comfortably fit into a small nook just to the side, allowing Anny to stand uninhibited.

Sitting on the pilot seat was a young girl. Not as young as Cerber seemed to be, but definitely younger than Anny. Her short hair was silvery white with a couple of cat ears jutting out. Unlike the other two, Filian didn't wear a jumpsuit. Instead, her attire consisted of a black sleeveless turtleneck with a baggy, long sleeved pink shirt over it and knee length black skirt with modesty shorts. 

"Check that out." Filian said, pointing out of the window. Outside, a ship floated lifelessly through the void. Its hull was thoroughly wrecked. But, miraculously, it still held together.

"Those are rebel markings..." Anny's voice quivered.

"What do you think is in there? Hey, let's check it out! I'll fly us close." Filian cheerfully added, 

"Are you sure? It's a rebel ship. What if they jump us?" Cerber pointed out.

"I mean, the thrusters aren't thrusting. I don't think anyone in there even poses a threat anymore." Filian assured Cerber

"What if they are just out of fuel?" Cerber shot back.

"Well, then that's double the reason we should check it out, right? I don't think a ship this damaged has communications up anyways. I'm sure they have enough sense to accept help from.. 'Federation scum' was it?" With that retort, Cerber stood down and Filian maneuvered the Kestrel beside the stricken ship.

Anny and Cerber, both in their spacesuit, spacewalked out the airlock towards the rebel ship while Filian focused on matching speed with it. Both girls entered through the damaged airlock. After working together to pry the heavy steel door open, both of them split up.

"I'll search the left. Anny, you go to the right." Cerber suggested. Anny nodded in response.

Truthfully, neither of them had salvaged from a ship so intact before. The silent halls of the spaceship gave off an eerie atmosphere. Numerous burn marks and hull breaches told a story of vicious battles. Anny made her way to the oxygen system, which she found surprisingly intact. She then opened another door, the one that led to the cockpit, and she gasped.

Sitting in a corner of the cockpit was a badly wounded man. His hair was disheveled and matted with blood. Grasped in his arms was an orange-black striped box almost the size of his torso. His breaths were shallow, and his eyes were unfocused.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Anny sprang into action, she identified the numerous wounds the man had and began applying pressure to the most critical looking one.

"Cerber! Cerber! Over here! Bring the medkit!" Anny shouted, her voice ringing down the hall. But before Cerber showed up, she felt something pressed against her. When she looked back, the man was practically shoving the box onto her.

"Please... take... bring to..." The man struggled to speak.

"Shhh. Please stay calm, sir. Everything will be fine. I won't let you die." Anny said in the calmest tone she could manage. And yet, a note of worry snuck into the sentence, for the man's injuries didn't seem survivable.

"N-No use... I'm.. already dead." The man weakly shook his head. "I need.. I need you to... take this... please." The man's eyes were filled with burning resolve. The kind only seen among those who had accepted their fate. 

"Anny! I brought the medi- dear god..." Cerber walked into the scene, holding the Kestrel's first aid kit.

"Cerber! Good timing! Please take over! I have to bring something to the ship!" Anny shouted. 

"You want me to take over in the middle!?" Cerber looked visibly taken aback.

"My legs are longer, so I'll be back sooner! And you know more about first aid anyways! I'm counting on you!" With that, Anny took off, barely hearing Cerber's grunt of affirmation.

Anny ran like the wind while holding onto the box, her mind raced as much as her legs. A delirious mix of thoughts and emotions addled her mind, with a single thought king among them: 'never again.' She didn't know who the man was, for all she knew he could be dangerous. But the circumstances were too similar to that day for her to care. 

When she reached the Kestrel's airlock, she practically threw the thing, uncaring whether the contents were fragile or not. She didn't waste any time making her way back to the cockpit. On the way, she slipped on one of the twisted metal scraps that littered the ship floor. She winced as her foot landed on the side instead of the sole, giving off a nasty sound. No matter, the medbay will heal that. She forced her injured ankle to run. She practically burst through the door and fixed her eyes upon the pair.

"Cerber! The man! How is..."

"I'm sorry, Anny." Cerber's voice was quiet, speaking volumes of what happened.

"Huh?"

"He's already dead" Anny stoped dead in her tracks, but before she was able to process her feelings, a screeching scream came from the communicator.

"YO GUYS! GET OUTTA THERE!" Filian's booming voice came over the communicator in such volume that the other two girls nearly went deaf.

"Owww, my ears. What is it Filian?" Anny complained.

"The reactor's busted! The ship's gonna explode!" The moment Cerber heard the word 'busted', she grabbed Anny's hand and started to drag her out.

"Anny, come on"

"But- the man!" Anny looked back at the bleeding, battered corpse.

"Leave him, he's dead anyways. If we try to bring his corpse, we might not make it in time." Cerber's tone was final.

Anyy took one last look at the man's corpse. "I... I'm sorry..." Tears welling up in her eyes, Anny followed Cerber out of the ship. Once they got on, Filian put max power onto the engine, barely escaping the explosion. 

"Whew! Now that was an adventure and a half. Who was it that thought going into that ship was a good idea?" Filian said with a chuckle. Her only response was the deadpan stare of her companions. "Anyways, I saw you bring something aboard, Anny. What was it?"

"I... I'm not sure to be honest, that man practically pushed this onto me." Anny recalled, staring sorrowfully at the box on the floor. 

"There was a man?" Filian cocked her head.

"A corpse of one, he was practically dead already." Anny bitterly recalled. "If only I had been a bit faster, then perhaps-"

"Hey, no one's blaming you, girl." Filian tried to cheer Anny up. "Unfortunate, yes, but at least you got out alive." 

Hearing the carefree tone of her friend, Anny couldn't help but smile. Her mood immediately got better. "You really are just a fountain of optimism, aren't you Filian?"

"Is this... a black box?" The warm moment was interrupted by Cerber, who began examining the box. It was a box half Cerber's size with orange-black stripes across the top part and reddish orange everywhere else. The box may have survived some kind of fire, if the burn marks were any indication.

"Uuh, Ceber? Your eyes okay buddy? That box is orange. I mean, there is some black I guess." Filian said with a concerned look.

"No, no, I meant a ship's black box, the one that records and keeps flight data safe if the ship was ever destroyed." Cerber explained. "There might be some critical data in here, is that why that man was so desperate to save it?"

"You wanna plug it in?" Filian suggested.

"Is that a good idea? A mysterious man just offloaded this. It could be a virus or something." Cerber voiced her doubts.

"It's a rebel ship, who knows. It might have something that can turn the war around." Filian offered.

"Whatever is in this, that man prioritized it over his own life." Anny added

"...Okay, now you got me curious too. Let's hope it's nothing too harmful." Cerber sighed.

With a heave, Anny brought the box closer to the ship computer. After some searching, Cerber found an access cable and plugged the box into the computer. Immediately after being plugged in, a large amount of data poured into the system, as if a dam had just burst.

"It's immediately running something!" Cerber exclaimed. "I'll try to..." But before Cerber was able to do anything, something popped on the computer screen. It was a form of a little girl wearing all black. She gently opened her eyes.

"Wha- where am I?" Evil said, confused.

Chapter Text

"Wha- Where am I?" Evil’s voice rang about the cockpit. Her black, dress-like outfit gently swayed to the rhythm of her body and her bright red eyes regarded each one of the Kestrel crew members, confusion quickly being replaced by caution.

"Who are you guys supposed to be? You don't look like rebels." Evil cautiously asked.

"It talked!!" Filian exclaimed.

"Hey! Who are you calling 'it'? I'm a 'she'!" Evil, feeling offended, let loose a remark.

"She talked!!" Filian exclaimed, with correct pronouns this time.

"Um, um, excuse me." Anny raised her hand. "What are you exactly?"

Silence engulfed the kestrel once again as Evil digested the question. Slowly, her face twisted into a grin. "Oho, so you don't know who I am? Very well, let me tell you." Evil let out a chuckle.

"You must be some sort of Artificial Intelligence, am I right?" Cerber interjected.

"You guessed right! My name is Evil! I am an advanced, state-of-the-art, super warship AI." Evil's avatar did a grandiose pose, seemingly trying to emphasize her superiority, but it ended up resembling something out of an old saturday morning cartoon. "I was created by the legendary AI programmer Vedal at... er..." Evil suddenly faltered. "It was at... for the purpose of... hold on, what the hell is happening!?"

Accompanied with panicked mumbling, Evil's eyes flashed binary codes before they suddenly went wide. "F-fifty percent corrupted!? How did this happen!? Who did this to my memory!?" 

"Well, you see. We found your box in a bad shape" Cerber started as she knelt next to the box. "There were burn marks all over it. Also, this dent over here looks pretty bad." Filian glanced at Anny, who looked away. That dent was from the time she threw the box, not knowing what was in it. "I'm sorry you were handled so roughly."

"Save your breath. I don't need your sympathy! Even with 50% of my memory gone, I still retain all my functionality!" Evil spoke up, seemingly to calm herself more than anything else. 

"Soo, what did you say you were? Advanced something-something warship AI?" Filian changed the subject.

"You heard me right! An advanced, state of the art warship AI! Put me in any ship with weapons and watch as I turn ships to scraps! Actually, why don't I just demonstrate my power?" Evil eagerly puffed her chest.

"Umm, no thanks, we're good actua-" Anny tried to defuse the situation. Unfortunately, that just seemed to rile Evil up.

"Hah! Clearly you underestimate me. Watch me raise the efficiency of this ship by 50%. Alright! Integrating!" Binary codes flashed on Evil's eyes once again. Several warning sound out before almost immediately silenced. "Aaand done! Now I ca- wait... what kind of rinky-dink ship is this!? Is this... is this a Kestrel?"

"Um. First off, that was rude. Second off, what did you just do? Third off, what's wrong with a Kestrel?" Anny pouted, her ears twitched a bit.

"Isn't the Kestrel model super outdated!? Did you pilfer this thing from garbage disposal?" Evil shouted, ignoring the first two.

"Hey! I'll have you know I have refitted Kestrie-wan with love and care! Don't insult my baby like that!" Cerber's voice, which rarely reached above normal speaking volume, went full tilt. Both her hands balled into fists. Evil, seemingly unbothered, ran another scan.

"Hum. I'll admit, it does look better now that I look at it again. But that idiot Vedal, did he just offload me to the first ship he found?" Evil huffed, clearly mad. "Where is that man anyways, even if you are pursued, at least have the decency to say goodbye. Are you that desperate to get rid of me?"

"Um, Evil, er, miss Evil. Can I call you that?" Anny chimed up.

"Sure, whatever. What's up?" Evil pointed at Anny.

"This Vedal guy, he wouldn't happen to be a skinny guy with short black hair-"

"Yup, that's the one. Did you meet him? Tell me where he's gone! I'm going to give him an earful for trying to aba-"

"He's dead." Anny said, eyes downcast.

Evil froze mid-sentence. Literally. The onscreen avatar that had been so animated before immediately ceased all movement. 

"Wh- what did you say?" Evil began, taking time to check whether or not something was wrong with her voice recognition.

"That man you were with... He's-" Anny continued, her tone grim.

"H-hey stop that. I've been told I can be annoying at times, but that's a cruel thing to say just to get back at me." Evil stuttered. Her words were only met with the downcast silence of the three crew members. "S-say something! Hey!"

"When we found him, he's in critical condition." Anny began. "We couldn't save-"

"I-I told you! Stop joking!" Tears began forming on the edges of the model's eyes. "Vedal, that idiot! He couldn't be-” Evil hiccuped, “he couldn't be..." Light sobs filled the room. 

"Vedal... you promised me. You promised... you promised... I- I can't remember what the promise was. But I know you BROKE it!" Evil let out an indignant shout. But the tone was familiar to the other three in the room. It was the cry of an orphan who lost their parents to the war.

"Poor girl." Anny said, the other two nodded in agreement.

"You know, she may not be a real girl. But this reaction is super real. She must be, like, a top tier AI or something." Fillian noted.

"Ahahaha! I know right, you're looking at the pinnacle of AI technology right here!" As if by the flip of a switch, Evil suddenly snapped out of the depressive mood she wallowed in.

"Wow, that mourning period went by quick." Cerber noted.

"Mourning can come later. Now that Vedal is... dead... that means I am the only one that can do this" Evil crossed her arms, seemingly more determined than ever. "Speaking of which, I need to get to Admiral Tully in the front lines. And you three are going to help me get there! Think of it as payment for my services."

"Wait! Whoa whoa whoa, the front lines!? Like, the 'frontline' frontline? The one where ships blow each other up?" Fillian's eyes went wide.

"What other frontline could I possibly be referring to?" Evil tilted her head.

"Why did you even think we'll go with you?" Cerber’s expression soured.

"It doesn't have to be us. We can give you to another ship that is more well-armed." Anny interjected.

"Nuh uh, this also concerns you guys." Evil wagged her finger. "All of you are aligned with the federation, right? Soon enough, the Rebel Flagship will arrive. You're dead if you got caught waving federation flag."

"Sorry, the rebel whatnow?" It was now Anny’s turn to tilt her head.

"The Rebel Flagship! Hold on. Oh, please please please don't be corrupted... Got it! Here, feast your eyes!" With a triumphant cry, Evil pulled up the image of a blueprint. The eyes of the three kestrel crew goes wide.

"Whoa! that ship looks dope!" Fillian gave the simplest reply.

"What is that!? Four artillery platforms, four layers shield system, THREE FTL engines!? How much resource did they sink into this monstrosity!?" Cerber gave a far more informed comment.

"T-this is the Rebel Flagship?" Anny's voice was soft as she took in the blueprint in front of her.

The ship potrayed on the blueprints was an impressive wonder of technology. A compact brute with enough firepower to blast through a space station on its own, yet still small enough to be classified as a cruiser. The flagship was wide, giving the impression of the ship having wings, much like the eagle potrayed on the rebellion's emblem. Four weapons platform jutted out on the front side, respectively bearing ion weaponry, burst laser, rocket launchers, and a beam weapon. Many systems litter the ship, so much so that the orboard reactor couldn't possibly power all of them at the same time. 

"Wings of the Rebellion. That is the project name of this ship. An apt name if I do say so myself." Evil gave her thoughts. "The Fleet Admiral of the Rebel Fleet is on this ship, as does its most elite crew. If it is destroyed, the rebellion's wings will be clipped."

"They are painting a huge target on their back." Cerber said. "The problem now is destroying the flagship itself. Looking at the blueprints, it doesn't seem possible for just any regular ship."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. You already have the solution after all." Evil flashed a confident smile

"Huh, really, where? What is it?" Filian said, confused. The other two didn't seem to know the solution either. Evil's smile faltered.

"It's me! I'm the solution! You know, the greatest warship AI ever!?" Evil let out an indignant shout, this time with no undertones. "All I need is a proper body to fight them in."

"I see, that is why you need us to deliver you to the front. You can probably take over a decent fighter ship there." Comprehension dawned on Cerber.

"Correct, and as the people who delivered me, you guys will practically be war heroes!" Evil made a grandiose declaration. 

"Humm, it will be a long way to the front." Filian said, her face forming a smile. "But I do like the sound of Filian: war hero of the Federation."

"A war hero, huh." Anny fell silent. Seeing this, Cerber patted her on the shoulder. 

The two of them locked eyes and Cerber nodded. Anny didn't show any reaction for a few seconds, then her shoulders relaxed and she started to smile.

Their little moment was interrupted by a blaring warning from the sensors. Filian checked the warning. "Multiple ships inbound!" She stated.

"Those would be the forward scouts of the rebel fleet." Evil glowered. "Time's up, bozos. Either you escort me, or we all get killed by rebels. Your choice."

"Whether or not we accept, let's get out of here first." Anny decided. "Filian, set up the FTL, any jump beacon is fine."

"On it. Let's see... where is..." Filian's eyes swept through the screen, searching for a suitable beacon to jump to. However, not a second later, Evil's face filled the screen.

"Argh! Too slow! Here, allow me!" Evil's eyes flashed and the kestrel's course was set to the jump beacon in the nearest nebula.

"Hey! What are you-" Filian was shocked.

"Saving all of our behinds, now grab onto something! We're jumping into that nebula for cover!" The kestrel's FTL drive charged up and the engine flared, ready for an FTL jump.

"Wait! That's directly into a plasma sto-" Filian interjected, but it was too late to stop Evil. The world blurred into a tunnel of light as the kestrel entered FTL.

“Great! Now we can’t change course!” Filian crossed her arms. 

“We’ll be fine! Trust me.” Evil confidently said. All the while, the Kestrel continued on its path to the jump beacon. “By the way, what did you say? A plasma stow? What’s that?”

“Oh, you’ll see when we get there.” A mischievous smile crept up to Filian’s face. Meanwhile, the other two looked away.

Chapter Text

After a few minutes of travelling in the FTL tunnel, the Kestrel arrived at the jump beacon. The cockpit was immediately illuminated by the lightning that jumped between two large clumps of cosmic dust. The Kestrel had jumped into an ongoing plasma storm. The charged particles immediately caused the sensors to go haywire.

"Waah! I'm blind! Did something go wrong!?" Evil immediately panicked as her one way of perceiving the world was severely distrupted. “Are we in the middle of a plasma sto- oooh, you said plasma storm...” Comprehension dawned on Evil as she rethought back to Filian’s words just before the jump.

"Pinnacle of AI technology my ass. Now our reactor can only output half power." Filian leaned forward on her seat, looking very much like a gangster boss addressing her underling that just got beaten up for something they said. "Besides, regular nebulae also cripple the sensors. What's your business getting surprised?"

"I... I forgot how scary it is inside a nebula." Evil voiced her honest thoughts. "H-How did you know it's a plasma storm anyways!? I didn't see any indication!" She then deflected out of embarrassment, accidentally pointing her finger towards Anny instead of Filian.

"We passed through here not long before. You didn’t even check the FTL log, did you?" Filian didn’t say it directly, but the nasty smile on her face clearly said a mocking ‘you dumbass’. Sadly, Evil was not able to see it clearly.

"Alrighty guys, calm down. Let's focus on getting out of here." Anny chimed in, stepping in between Filian and the ship computer that displayed Evil’s avatar. Filian looked up to Anny, then immediately returned to her default sitting position: leaning back on her seat, one hand behind her head and the other vaguely attached to the ship’s control stick.

Cerber pulled out a tablet. On the screen were listed the diagnostics for the entirety of the Kestrel’s hull and systems, down to the most minute detail. With a few taps, she began to manage the output of the kestrel’s reactor. "Filian, I'm rerouting Kestrie-wan’s power from the shields to the engines. Hop into FTL as soon as it is charged." 

"Roger that." Filian replied with a thumbs up, still leaning back and without looking at Cerber.

"Dog Ears, Wait! Don't turn off the shield yet!" Evil suddenly interjected.

"What is it now?" Cerber let out an exasperated sigh as her eyes slowly panned to the vidscreen. She pulled her finger from the shield icon on her tablet. "Also, could you please not call me Dog Ears? My name is Cerber."

"Yeah, nice name Dog Ears." Evil said dismissively, then cleared her throat for dramatic effect. "My sensors might be crippled, but I can't claim to be top tier AI if something like this hinders me. I can confidently say we aren't alone here." Evil proudly announced.

"What are you on about no- eeek!" Cerber's retort was cut off by the bright light that slammed into the cockpit. The shield shattered as it took the brunt of the hit. 

"That was a heavy laser! We're being shot at!" Filian exclaimed, both of her arms immediately planted on the control stick.

Tracing the path of the laser, the offender was revealed: a rebel fighter ship, probably a forward scout, had been hiding amongst the foglike nebulae. 

"Everyone! Battle stations!" Anny shouted. She and Cerber immediately exited the cockpit. Cerber ran all the way to the engine room while Anny stopped at the room housing the weapon control system. She immediately manned the weapon control terminal

"What the...?" However, once Anny arrived, she discovered that the burst laser II, one of the Kestrel's trusted weapons, had already activated and was warming up.

"I took the liberty of warming it up for you." Evil's face appeared on the bottom corner of the targeting computer. "I could fire them myself, but I can’t see that well right now. So you have to aim for me."

"Um, thank you?" Anny took her post and began to take aim. 

“Aim here! That’s where the shield system is!” a picture of the opponent ship was shown on the screen. A red circle was drawn on the right aft.

“How do you even know that?” Anny replied as her trained hand gently guided the burst laser aiming reticle to the part Evil indicated.

“I’m a rebellion made AI! Of course I have the blueprints for all their… almost all their ships!” Evil proudly revealed, correcting her sentence in the middle to account for lost data.

The rebel ship fired another heavy laser, but the kestrel’s shield regenerated before it managed to hit, blocking the laser and shattering once again. The kestrel's burst laser finished charging. Calculating the ship's trajectory, Anny fired. Three laser shots slammed into the rebel fighter. The first shattered their shield while the two behind the first smashed into the fighter's shield system. The two ships nearly crashed into each other as the rebel ship flew past the kestrel.

“Great job! Next, the weapon system right here!” Evil indicated another part. Seeing that the Rebel’s shield did not regenerate, Anny decided to trust Evil.

The rebel fighter pulled a reversal. It pointed its nose to the kestrel and revealed its Leto missile. A rocket followed a curved trajectory before hitting the Kestrel square in the medbay.

"Stupid shield-piercing missiles!" Filian cursed. "How do they work anyways? The shield blocks asteroids just fine!" She yelled to nobody in particular.

Both her hands held tightly to the control stick, but with the main engines crippled, she couldn’t fly the kestrel. The best she could do was point the nose to give Anny a better angle for her shots.

"There!" Anny exclaimed. The burst laser II roared to life once again, spitting lasers at the rebel ship as it flew past the nearly immobile Kestrel. Three shots hit the rebel fighter's weapon system just before the rebel’s shield system was repaired. 

"Direct hit on the weapon system!" Evil announced. "Give it all you've got, Fox Ears!"

"Please don't call me that! My name is Anny!" Anny shouted as the burst laser II finished charging once again. A laser bolt shattered the fighter's recently regenerated shield and two laser bolts shut the rebel's engine down before they could once again disappear into the nebula.

"One more shot! The Artemis missile charges faster, so use it!" Evil flailed her hand animatedly. The burst laser II went dead, and instead, the kestrel's Artemis missile burst into motion, soon firing a rocket straight to the ship's cockpit. The rocket blew up the front part of the ship, and soon, the rest of the ship exploded also.

"Wooohoo! Baby, now that's what I call a fight!" Evil threw her arms up in celebration.

“Great job, everyone!” Anny’s voice came from the screen. A video of her and Cerber’s face appeared on the cockpit vidscreen. Evil positioned her avatar besides Filian’s face. On Anny’s face was a gentle smile. However, on Cerber’s was a frown and a sharp gaze.

"So, what did you do exactly, O great warship AI?" Cerber chimed in, immediately bursting the celebration atmosphere.

"Hey! I warmed up the burst laser before Fox Ears even got to the console and helped her aim it! I would've done more if this stupid ship could support it!" Evil threw her arms wide in complaint.

"Don't call her stupid!" Cerber’s face became red as she once again hit her limit. 

"Hey, hey, guys." Anny tried to mediate. "Calm down, let us take a deep breath an-"

"Hey, guys? Is it just me or is the air getting kinda stale?" Filian pointed out, at which point everyone noticed it's getting hard to breathe.

"What!? Why is the oxygen system off? I was sure I kept it on." Cerber looked down on her tablet.

"Oh, that was me." Evil said with a smug grin. "Had to turn it off to warm up the burst laser."

"Are you crazy!? We need that to live!" Cerber lashed out. Her arms slammed the desk and then grabbed the console in front of her, as if doing so would allow her to reach the core of Evil’s being and strangle whatever counts as the AI’s neck. And yet, Evil only smiled.

"You'll be fiiine, it takes a while for organic beings to die from suffocation. Here, I'll turn it back on right no-"

"Thank you for the consideration, but please don't touch Kestrie-wan’s power system without my permission ever again." Cerber released the vidscreen, her voice simmered with cold rage. 

She bent down and picked up the tablet she dropped, turned it around to check for damage, and began tapping. "Fillian, I turned on the engines and the oxygen system, jump when you are ready. I'm going to repair the medbay." With that, she pulled out a wrench from one of her many pockets and sharply left with a cold expression. Nobody said a word.

"Er... was Dog Ears always a terrifying person?" Evil adressed Anny, the shocked expression still frozen on her face.

"Only to some people." Anny replied, her expression shadowed behind her hair.

"What did I do?" Evil replied, her shock seemed to have faded away.

"I have a list, I'll say it one by one." Anny lifted her head, revealing a sweet smile.

"Nah, sounds boring." Evil was about to turn away when she noticed Anny get closer to the vidscreen.

"You. Will. Listen." Anny's smile never faltered, but her tone revealed exactly how she felt.

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Evil, intimidated by the tone, spent the next fifteen minutes being lectured.

"Urgh, how much longer?" Evil moaned in dissatisfaction. She had figured out how to move her avatar in such a way that it appeared as if she was lying down.

The kestrel had jumped into another beacon to discover a small convoy of refugees. They wanted some of the supplies the kestrel was carrying in exchange for improving the kestrel's reactor. Filian was coordinating the transfer of supplies and Cerber was supervising the mechanic to make sure they didn't do something untowards. That left Anny, who was stuck babysitting Evil.

"Please, calm down Miss Evil." Anny softly chided her. "Upgrading a reactor's output is serious business, it's going to take a little time. Besides, it's better to have extra power, right?"

"I can work with the reactor just fine! Energy management is my forte! I can switch things up like a flash if only the stupid Dog Ears let me." Evil complained, but her movement combined with the avatar lying down made her look ridiculous. She soon returned it to the right side up. "Why do I have to ask permission anyways? Wouldn't it be more efficient if I'm able to turn things on and off when needed?" 

"You turned off the oxygen system." Anny pointed out, her ears started to twitch.

"It's the correct thing to do though! We wouldn't have enough to power the burst laser otherwise!" Evil lashed out. "You still haven't forgiven me for that?"

"Evil, listen to me." Anny's voice went cold, ears up straight. Evil's avatar visibly flinched. "We are going to the front lines at your behest. We could've just left you floating in space somewhere, but no. This information can literally end the war, that is why we are doing this." Anny spat out the monologue like it was bitter medicine. Evil couldn't help but listen.

"However, the chances of us making it there are low. There is a real chance that we all die along the way, from pirates or rebels or who knows what. Therefore, we would appreciate it if you can refrain from making that chance any lower." Anny continued. Evil could see hints of tears starting to form.

"Okay! Okay! I get it! I'm sorry!" Evil cracked under the weight of Anny's assault.

Anny sighed, her agitated ears relaxed and flopped down to the side. "I know your heart is in the right place. Er.. do AIs have those.. anyways. What I am saying is, I know you're trying to help. Just... think of us oxygen needing meat sacks will you?" Evil's sensors picked up on her warm tone. It is the tone a mother would use to comfort her upset child.

"I will." Evil nodded.

"The reactor is good to go." Cerber's voice came on the line.

"Transfer complete and FTL is ready." Fillian's voice followed suit.

"Right, let's go." Anny said. With that, the Kestrel made another jump.

The journey through the FTL tunnel lasted only a few minutes. Nobody said a word during the journey. Soon, the star-filled space returned to view. Immediately after the kestrel finished jumping, the ship's sensors lit up.

"Two ships! Three o'clock!" Evil warned. She then pulled up the image from the outside cameras. An unidentified ship was being chased by another ship. The purple markings on the pursuing ship's hull made their identity clear.

"Pirates..." Anny shuddered.

"Hey, the pirates are hailing us. I'll put it up." Fillian pulled the call up. Displayed on the monitor was a middle aged man with an unkempt appearance. 

“Damn it! We weren’t expecting company!” “H-hey, you right there! Stay right there alright!? If you let us do this, we’ll… we’ll give you a cut!”

The Kestrel crew went silent, stunned by the offer.

"Wow, that was pathetic." Except for Evil, apparently. Her eyes had already lit up with binary codes. “So, we’re stopping this, right?”

"Cerber! Max power to the weapons!" Anny's confusion melted into white hot anger.

"Already done!" Both the burst laser II and the artemis missile perked up as Cerber put all of the reactor's extra power into them.

"Aaah! W-well, we’re just going to- we’ll have to blow you gus- guys up then!." With that, the pirate cut off the communication and turned to face the Kestrel.

“Bahahahaha!” Evil laughed out loud as the binary faded from her eyes. “This loser can’t even power his engine and weapons at the same time! Here, here, look at this! That is so funny!” A partial schematic for the enemy ship was displayed on the targeting computer, outlining the general location of the ship’s systems. As Evil said, the ship’s reactor was meant for a much smaller ship and cannot provide enough power to the whole system.

“Fox ears! Hey! You think they got scammed or something?... Fox Ears?” Evil noticed the sudden silence from the fox-eared girl.

Anny didn’t respond. Her attention was solely on the pirate ship. The kestrel got the first shot. The artemis missile slammed into the weapon system, disabling both of the pirate's weapons. but not before the pirate fired a laser shot in pointless retaliation. The laser shattered the kestrel's shield, but otherwise did very little.

With the weapon system crippled, Anny turned her attention to the shield system. The pirates put the power from their weapons to their engines as they started their retreat. However, before they got anywhere, three laser shots disabled the pirate's shield completely. Meanwhile, the kestrel’s artemis missile spat out another projectile, hitting the pirate’s engine room and partially disabling it. Immediately after, the pirate's face showed on the screen again.

"Okay! Okay! Fine! Just take everything! Please don’t blow us u-"

"Choke on vacuum, pirate scum!" Anny severed the communication without a second thought. 

"!!?" Evil let out a strangled noise. The Anny she was seeing now was completely different from the peacemaker girl that she had known her as. Anny’s eyes were wide and bloodshot, only seeing the target in front of her. Her movements had lost all the gentleness she had displayed before, instead replaced by the rigid form of a predator about to pounce.

Another salvo from both of the kestrel's weapons shut the pirates up completely. The pirate managed to get out of the incoming missile's way, but was too slow to dodge the three laser shots. Debris was strewn about space as the pirate ship exploded. The final screams of the pirates were unheard in the cold vacuum of space.

As the sounds of battle died down, an uncomfortable silence descended upon the kestrel. Evil felt like she had seen a side of Anny she shouldn't have seen. But before anyone on the ship dared to break the silence, a transmission came. It turned out that the ship the pirates had pursued lingered around.

"Thank you for the aid!" A jovial man's voice perked up. "Whew, that could have gone bad right there, wasn’t expecting them to be so tenacious. Guess that showed me."

“Hey there, sir!” Noticing that Anny wasn’t in the right headspace to start a conversation, Filian took the lead. “Why were you getting chased? By the look of it they weren’t that threatening.”

“Well, yes. You see…” As Filian continued with the chatter, Evil watched Anny through the weapon control room camera. 

Anny’s hand was still on the weapon controls, seemingly reluctant to let it go. Her whole body trembled, trying to hold back sobs. 

“An..” Cerber entered the room from the nearby door. Seeing the state her friend was in, Cerber shut her mouth. Instead, she silently made her way to her side. In one motion, she slipped to her side and both of her arms wrapped around Anny’s stomach. Anny, who had just noticed her presence, stiffened from surprise. A few seconds passed until one of Anny’s arms returned Cerber’s hug. They remain like that for some time, merely enjoying each other's existence.

“Cerber! Hey! Cerber!” Filian shouted through the intercom. “The guy is a merchant and he agreed to sell to us. Come here and help me haggle!” Cerber growled in annoyance. One of her arms slammed into the answer intercom button while the other was still attached to Anny.

“Do it yourself, Filly! I have to-” Cerber’s protest was silenced by a pat on the head. Cerber craned her neck upwards towards Anny.

“Go help Filian. I’ll be fine.” Though her movements were still subdued, Anny’s body no longer trembled. A faint smile had found its way towards her previously gloomy face.

“You sure?” Cerber questioned.

“Promise.” Anny replied. With that Cerber relented. She unlatched herself from Anny’s body and made her way towards the airlock.

“Also, Anny. Do you mind if you check the storage and see what else we might need?” Filian added.

"Ah, right. I’ll do that." Anny said. ‘I need some distraction anyways’ She thought to herself

There was a pause, but then Filian added. “Hey, you sure you’re ok, right?”

“I’ll manage.”

“Then I’ll treat you to something nice later. We’ll have to see what’s in the fridge, though.” Cold sweat ran down Anny’s back as another unpleasant experience came to the forefront of her mind.

“Whuh!? Uh! It's fine! you don’t have to!” Anny said way too quickly.

“If you say so.” Filian replied. With that, the kestrel docked with the merchant ship.

While Filian and Cerber had a back and forth with the merchant, Anny did as she was asked to do and tallied up the kestrel’s remaining supplies. 

"Hey, Anny. Back there, you..." Evil's voice came from the intercom.

"Ah, right... sorry you had to see that, Evil." Anny flashed a smile, perhaps to reassure Evil if she was watching. The kestrel's sensor array wasn't that good, but Evil thought that smile felt strained. 

"I just... really don't like people like that." Anny's eyes stared at some far away point, as if trying to see a scene from way past the horizon.

"Oh, right... I see." The aura of seclusion that radiated from Anny prevented her from pursuing further.

So instead, Evil looked for another source. And she knew someone who seemed like she would run her mouth.

"Hey, Fox ears number 2." Evil called as soon as Filian returned to the ship.

"Are... you talking about me?" Filian's ears perked up as Evil appeared on the head up display.

"Yeah, who el-" Evil didn't get to finish her sentence before Filian suddenly exploded in anger.

"Why does everyone make that mistake!?" Filian screeched. "I have cat ears! Cat. Ears. Why does everyone think these are fox ears!?"

"Oh... erm." Evil was taken aback by the display of aggressiveness. Filian very much looked like a cat whose territory had just been trespassed. "It’s Cat Ears, then!" Evil changed the animal she used, but apparently still went with the ears for her nicknames.

"Sure, not the worst thing I’ve been called." Filian responded, seemingly okay with the nickname. “What’s up?”

"Anny back there... she is... uh… she seemed different." Evil stammered, trying to find the right words. "You know anything about that?"

"Oh, I don't actually know a lot about that, I never asked." Filian nonchalantly revealed. "Besides, what makes you think I would tell you even if I had known?"

"Oh, so you don't know. So, who should I ask then?" Evil pivoted to avoid answering the question, her eyes latched onto a nearby wall instead of Filian.

"Cerber has been Anny's friend long before I met the both of them, you should ask her." Thankfully, Filian decided not to pursue the topic.

"Oh, that will be difficult." Evil replied, the biting cold of Cerber's denouncement still fresh on her memory.

"Yeah, Cerber seems to hate you. Maybe because you trashed her work. Girl is a little sensitive about that." Filian bluntly said. "Gave me a good scolding when I first started flying this hunk of junk." Filian smiled a little from nostalgia, then suddenly flinched as she realized something. "Don't tell her I said that."

"I won't, but only because you seem cool." Evil promised. 

"Score! An AI thought I'm cool!" Filian threw both of her hands in the air, genuinely excited.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Evil sighed in exasperation. But deep down, she appreciated the energy Filian gave off

Chapter Text

Anny was happy. 

Her father had called her. She ran up to him with a big smile. Her father presented his hand, big and callused from his time in the military. As always, Anny placed her own hands on his, her small, soft hands that knew no despair. With both of them holding hands, they began to walk together.

Anny looked far up to her father's face. People always said that he had a handsome face, the rugged charm of a veteran. Anny couldn't help but agree with those people. 

She tried not to mind the lack of warmth from her father's hand. 

Nor did she acknowledge his half-burnt face, devoid of emotion. 

She was fine

Everything was fine

ShewasfineshewasfineeverythingisfinenothingiswrongohwhoamikiddingyouK̶̙͆ĭ̵̠l̵͓̾l̷̡̀ḛ̶͗d̵̠͑himyouc̴o̸w̴a̷r̴d̶o̶f̸a̸d̴a̵u̷g̵h̴t̵e̶r̶y̵o̶u̵kk̴̈͊ͅi̴͍̒l̶͉͖͗̀̋l̸̦̀̔͛e̷̤̩̓́̚ḓ̴́̃h̵i̶m̴y̸̡͗ó̴̩ú̷̟l̸̯͊ę̴̀f̴̯̔t̶̜͂ḥ̶̅ỉ̴̼m̴͖̀t̶̻͝o̷̬͝d̶̉͜i̵̦̊è̷͜i̸͖̇à̶̲ḿ̵͙n̵̞̆o̶̮̚t̵̳͘f̵͎̄i̸̤͆n̸͎͆e̴͓̚i̶̢̎ȁ̶͇m̶̤̀n̴͖͘i̴̙̍t̴̡̚f̸͉͊i̴͔̓n̴̠͑e̵̹͝I̸͚̎Ả̶̳M̸͔̏N̸͈̄O̸̩͘T̷͒ͅF̴͔̓I̷̠̍N̸͔͌E̷̘̚

Anny woke up with a gasp, her breathing erratic. She could feel her heart thump in her chest furiously, as if it was trying to free itself from her ribcage. Feeling the panic attack that assaulted her, Anny bit hard on her lips. Not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to snap herself out.

She glanced around and realized she was in her quarters in the kestrel. Above her was the bed Cerber usually sleeps in and both girl's belongings were strewn about from the impromptu party Cerber threw last night to cheer her up.

Anny took a few seconds to control her breaths. She then took the handkerchief Cerber handed to her to wipe away her cold sweat.

"Thank you, Cer... Ber!!?"

Anny did a double take. Cerber currently wasn't sleeping on the bed above hers. Cerber was standing beside her bed, eyes full of worry. 

"Cerber!? You were awake?" Anny hurriedly tried to sit upright. But before she could do that, Cerber gently pressed her back down.

"Correction, I got woken up. You were tossing and turning pretty loudly, so I got concerned." Cerber's voice was soft. 

"Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it, I'm happy I could be your friend in need." Anny smiled as she heard Cerber say that. 

Even as the years had molded Cerber into a meticulous mechanic, this trait of hers never really changed. It's an oddly comforting thought to Anny, knowing that no matter how much the world change and how much it tried change someone in turn, some part of them will always still be them.

"I think we still have some milk in the fridge. If you want, I can warm it up for you." Cerber offered.

"I think I would appreciate that." Cerber nodded and sauntered out the room. Anny watched the small retreating figure until she vanished around a corner.

____

Cerber made her way to the ship's kitchen. Well, less a kitchen and more a closet with the essentials to make food compacted into every square inch. Cerber hummed softly as she opened the cooler box and pulled out a fresh pack of milk. She pulled out a pan and poured the milk in, a smile on her face. She put the pan onto the stove and turned it on.

"Hey, Dog E- Cerber." As Cerber started to warm the milk, she heard a voice on the intercom. Her humming stopped and her smile faded away.

"Oh, so you can just call me Cerber." Cerber addressed Evil. "You calling my name like that must mean you want something. Make it quick, I need to get this to Anny." 

"Did something happen to Anny with pirates?" Evil took her chance, ignoring the barbed reply.

"Why do you need to know?" Cerber fired the second volley. Her voice and mannerism weren't overtly hostile, but Evil could tell it lacked the usual vigor.

"Anny seemed to hate pirates..." Evil soldiered on, her voice determined. 

"That last fight, when the pirate called again, I was sure Anny would've let them go. She was such a... I dunno, a nice girl." Cerber stayed silent, taking in Evil’s words. Little bubbles started to poke out of the milk's surface. 

"So, I was shocked when she told the pirates to go die. Then I thought maybe there's a reason that she doesn't like pirates. If so, I must know the reason so I can he-" Evil explained her reasoning. The milk boiled, and bubbled, and started to boil over to the stove.

"Alright, stop there." Cerber turned the stove off before more boiled over and poured the milk into a wide bowl to let it cool a little. A little bit of the milk spilled onto the table. 

"It's clear you're worried about Anny, and I can appreciate that. But." Cerber stared pointedly at one of the cameras hidden into a part of the Kestrel's wall, the one Evil was most likely looking at her from. "It's clear that you don't understand Anny." Evil was stunned by the sudden direct stare.

"What happened was none of your bussiness. I'm sure Anny herself would appreciate it if you leave it well alone." With that, Cerber grabbed to bowl of milk and swiftly made an exit. The intercom stayed silent.

Having failed, Evil directed her attention outside. The Kestrel floated silently through space, completely at the mercy of the universe around it.

The Kestrel hopped out of FTL, looking worse for wear. Numerous burn marks mar the white hue of the kestrel's hull. A recently patched hull breach could be seen on its underside.

"That one was rough." Filian panted as though she had just run a marathon, yet she never left the pilot seat. "Who knew a damn rebel ship can be so zippy." She dragged her face upwards to see the face of her friends on the vidscreen. They didn't look much better.

"Fortunately, we managed to destroy them." Anny commented, balling and opening her hands in an effort lessen the soreness on her fingers. "But who knows how many of them are left."

"The..." Cerber coughed and hacked, Her face wasn't even on the screen, only her hand holding a wrench. "The sensor array is..." She wheezed. "Is good to go. Medbay next." After her last word, the call from the sensor room ended.

"Hey, a settlement nearby is hailing us." Filian noted. 

"I'll patch it for you guys." Evil said in an upset tone. Today was yet another step in Evil's personal growth, for she had discovered how to make her avatar pout at will. "I was supposed to be a warship AI, but noooo, little Dog Ears doesn't want me messing up the ship's power. So here I am, managing the comms instead." She grumbled mockingly. After a few minutes, the call finally connected.

"Hello there, travellers. This is Amanda of Mondez." A woman's face appeared on the vidscreen. "You ship seems outfitted for combat. Care for a bit of mercenary work?"

"What do you guys think?" Anny adressed the crew.

"Kestrie-wan... is damaged, but... but it should be fine." Cerber called from the medbay's terminal, which she had just finished repairing. Her ragged breaths had started to stabilize.

Anny straightened her posture as she took over the video call. "This is Anny of Federation Kestrel VT-83R, we will hear your request."

"Thank god, you're the third we hailed, and I don't think they will last much longer." Amanda sighed, then continued.

"A space dock one jump away is under assault from the rebels. Now, that dock isn't exactly... above board." The three kestrel crew glanced at each other before nodding in agreement. The space dock was likely involved in trade of illegal goods. "But it is very important to our trade. We'll pay every bit of scrap and FTL fuel we have if you promise to save them." Desperation crept into her voice.

"We're running low on FTL fuel cells." Cerber mentioned. Anny nodded at Cerber through the vidscreen, then turned her attention back to Amanda

"How many ships can we expect?" 

"Two, maybe three. But the station itself has Anti-Ship Battery." Anny put her hand on her chin in contemplation. If what Amanda said was true, they're in for quite the fight. 

"Cerber, how is the hull looking?" 

"Kestrie-wan is at 50% hull integrity, we can't take a beating from three ships at once."

"Then we'll just have to hope the ASB keeps the other two busy."

"Or we could just not go there!" Evil suddenly cut into the conversation. "Why are we even taking this job?"

"Because they promised to give fuel cells to us?" Anny offered.

"We can get fuel from salvaging any old ship! They literally didn't offer anything we couldn't get ourselves!" Evil launched her rebuttal.

"Actually..." Filian interrupted, Her hand in front of her mouth, hiding the devious smile on her face. "We're rescuing a space dock, right?"

"Yeah?" Evil replied, trying to understand the reason Filian brought it up.

"You think we can guilt trip them into repairing our hull? You know... free of charge?" 

The kestrel went silent for a few seconds. But before long, Anny hailed the station again.

"Mondez, we will take your offer with one condition. After we fend off the rebels, the dock will repair our ship free of charge."

"I hear you, Kestrel. But, free of charge is a bit..." 

"I understand your relunctance. However, as you can see, our ship has been damaged." Anny pushed further. "We must consider our own survival. If free of charge is a bit too muc-"

"No, you're right. We are asking a lot from you." Amanda replied. "I suppose it is only fair. Very well, we shall notify the station." Anny was flabbergasted. In truth, she didn't really think they would relent, so she prepared a compromise. And yet, it turned out they did.

"Oh, erm... Okay then. Thank you. Kestrel over." Anny stammered as the communication ended. A few seconds later, the promised scrap and FTL fuel was teleported onto the kestrel.

"Well, that was easy." Evil spoke up. "Good idea, Cat Ears."

"You're welcome." Filian started to sit up straight in preparation for the coming battle. "I already set up the FTL, we can jump any time."

"Cerber, are all systems good to go?"

"All green. She's ready for battle." Cerber gave her thumbs up.

"Evil, May I rely on your expertise again?"

"Hah! As if you need to ask. Point me to a ship and I'll crush it!" Evil gave a wide grin, raring to go.

"Great!" Anny looked onwards. Their survival is, quite literally, at stake. "Filian! Bring us in!"

"I gotcha!" With a flick of a button, the Kestrel entered FTL. 

Anticipation built up among the kestrel crew as they get closer and closer to the battlefield. Filian gripped the kestrel's control stick, ready to make any sudden adjustments. Anny's hands fiddled with the weapon controls, eyes glued to the targeting monitor. Cerber had hurried back into the engine room and manned the terminal, prepared to crank every ounce of power she could from the reactor to the engines. Evil was ready on the sensor, confident she would catch any activity that entered her overwatch.

The kestrel emerged from the silence of FTL travel to the view of an explosive battle. As indicated, some kind of outpost on a desolate moon was under attack. A wreck of a rebel fighter floated past the kestrel, but it seemed two other ship was still harasssing the dock. A rigger and fighter, both in rebel color, fired upon the outpost's shielding as the deadly thrum of ASB projectiles litter the space around them. 

"Whoa!" Filian rolled the kestrel to the right, dodging a wild ASB shot. "They're really going at it."

"It's dangerous to intervene right now. With that kind of firing, those wild shots could hit us." Evil cautiously suggested.

One of the ASB shots hit the rebel rigger. Almost immediately, it burst into flames. However, the fighter retaliated with their beam weapon. The outpost's shielding wasn't enough to completely block it, damaging the station's shield module. Without the shield to impede it, the beam traced its path unopposed to the planetary Anti-Ship Battery, destroying it. The rebel ship turned to the outpost, readying another shot.

"Hey, Anny." Filian called to Anny, her voice calm, but carried doubt. "We can't dodge beam weapons."

"That is a halberd beam." Cerber informed. "Anny, we can't block that with just one layer of shield. Let's pull back, it's not worth it."

Anny gritted her teeth, both her companions had made great points. Facing a halberd beam means they are guaranteed to take damage. And with the kestrel already damaged, a prolonged fight could turn deadly really quickly. However, amidst the voices of doubt, one expressed their optimism.

"I see, so all we have to do is blow them up before they blow us up. Piece of cake!" Evil perked up. Her avatar's head jerkily moved to one side, then the other, mimicking the motion of neck cracking. 

"Get ready, we're going in." Seeing Evil's confidence, Anny regained hers.

"Are you sure?" Cerber asked, still having doubts.

"We promised, Cerber. I'm not in the habit of breaking promises."

"You never change, do you?" Cerber sighed, then grabbed her toolbox. "Then leave the repairs to me!" 

"Heh, that right there is exactly why I'm on this ship." Filian tightened her grip on the controls. "Count me in."

As the rebel was about to fire, Anny hailed the rebel ship. "Rebel vessel! This is Federation Kestrel VT-83R! Surrender now and you shall be spared!"

The rebel ship lost their lock on the settlement. Instead, the halberd beam started locking onto the kestrel.

Anny fired the artemis missile, intending to hit the rebel's weapon control. However, the rebel rolled to the right at the last moment, causing the missile to miss. Before Anny managed to aim the burst laser, the halberd beam fired.

The powerful energy beam struck the kestrels shield. While it did mitigate some of the beam's destructive power, some of the beam still made it into the kestrel's hull. It proceeded to rip into the shield system, cut across an empty room, and made it into the weapon control room.

Anny screamed as she felt the heat of the halberd beam sear her. She clutched her left arm, burnt from the heat. Not long after, Cerber burst through the door.

"Anny!" Cerber shouted. She supported Anny before she could fall. “Are you okay!? I’ll take you to the medbay!”

"Hold on, before that!" Anny reached for the weapon control terminal. "I need to set up the autofire!”

"Anny! Go to the medbay!" Evil’s voice rang through the room.

"Evil!?" Both girl were surprised at the third voice.

"The Artemis missile is still active, I can take the shot myself, go to fucking the medbay!" Evil’s voice was harsh.

"O-okay!" Anny nodded. "I'm trusting you, Evil!" With that, Cerber escorted Anny to the medbay. 

"Alright you rustbucket, just you and me." Evil addressed the kestrel. The still functioning artemis missile tracked its target and fired. However, the rebel ship rolled again, dodging another hit.

"Oh, that's not good." The halberd beam struck the kestrel again. Without the shield to impede the beam, it wreaked havoc on the medbay. 

“ANNY!” Evil screeched. 

The beam continued on its path to the weapon control system, threatening to shut it down completely. But before it managed to do that, the kestrel took a hard right and the beam missed the weapon room. 

“You’re welcome! Now shoot it already!” Filian yelled from the cockpit, her voice was heard even without the intercom.

“Hull down below 25%! We can’t take another shot!” Cerber called from the shield system, which she had just repaired. But even with the shield, another shot would spell doom for the kestrel.

“Anny!” Evil’s focus, however, was somewhere else. “No! This can’t be happening! Not again!”

“Evil! I’m fine!” Anny’s sound reached the kestrel’s sensors. “Please, focus. You can do it.” Anny’s voice was calm and encouraging. “I trust you.” Evil froze. But soon, she calmed down. Anny was right, it’s all on her now to deliver them to victory.

‘And of course I’m going to do it! I’m the greatest warship AI ever, dammit!’ Evil psyched herself up.

“Hey, you zippy bastard. I noticed something from all my previous shots.” Once again, Evil shot another missile. The rebel ship began its roll, trying to dodge it. 

“You like dodging to the right, don’t you?”

However, Evil had anticipated that and shot the missile slightly to the right. The missile ripped into the rebel’s weapon system. The halberd beam, about to fire, suddenly lost all its charge and died down.

“Here! Have another! And another!” Evil repeatedly shot at the rebel ship. First targeting its engines, then the shield, then the weapon system once again to keep it down. Buckling under the barrage, the rebel tried to charge its FTL drive. But another shot from the artemis missile blasted the cockpit. With that final shot, its reactor exploded, scattering the rebel ship in all directions.

“We did it? We did it! We’re alive!” Filian was the first to celebrate.

“Evil!” Anny barelled through the door. Her arm hadn’t healed fully yet, but it was still in a better state than before. “You saved us! Thank you!” Anny looped her arms around the weapon control terminal, hugging it.

“Not my best work, but I did my job.” Evil’s avatar had a wide, haughty smile on her face. “So, what do you say about that, Dog Ears?”

“I admit, I’m impressed.” Cerber voiced her thoughts. “Since you saved our lives, I’ll forgive you for calling Kestrie-wan a rustbucket.” Cerber adjusted her glasses.

“You heard that!?” The verbal leg sweep was a bit too much for Evil in prideful mode. She immediately switched to furious mode.

“Me and Kestrie-wan are one. I can hear anything she hears.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Guys, the outpost is hailing us.” Filian put a stop to the brewing fiasco by pointing out the hail attempt.

“I’ll patch us in.” Evil, back to her role as glorified router of the kestrel, connected the call.

“My! You’re all such lovely madams!” A moustached man wearing an extravagant suit with a top hat holding a cane appeared on the vidscreen. He immediately said a… compliment? “Oh! How rude of me. My name is Jones, you could say I am the proprietor of this establishment.” 

“Oh, erm. Thank you?” Anny answered, unsure on how to proceed with such an animated man.

“I heard that dear madams want their kestrel to be fixed up.” Jason opened his arms wide. “Well, after that display, we’d be fools to pass up a chance to repair a flying history like this one!”

“Thank you for having us. Where should we dock?” Anny asked. Already confused, she had decided to just roll with him.

“Please dock at pier number 5. We’ll fix it up so good you’d think it's brand new!” A map was shown on the kestrel pilot’s vidscreen, pier 5 highlighted. “Of course, if dear madams would like to buy a little extra, all you need to do is prepare a suitable amount of scrap.”

“Scrap? Wait, you trade scrap for service!?” Evil interjected. She looked at Anny through the weapon control terminal. 

“Yeah, it’s somewhat common practice in spaces where federation credits can’t be used.” Anny explained.

“These spaceship components are surprisingly rugged and mulitipurpose, so chances are if you open up a fuse box or something, you usually find the things you need. So we just began bartering scraps for service and goods.” Cerber added.

“I’ll make a note of that.” Evil crammed the knowledge into her memory. “Does that mean if we can neutralize a ship without destroying it, we can get more stuff?”

“That’s the idea. But, it’s surprisingly hard to do that.” Cerber answered.

“The most reliable way is to board the ship using teleporter.” Filian added. “But that has its own set of problems.”

As the conversation continued, the kestrel drifted down onto pier 5. The kestrel landed with some difficulty, but ultimately without damage. The three kestrel crew came out of the ship, leaving Evil still inside, but connected through the communicator. The three of them split up. Cerber stayed behind to oversee the repair, Filian immediately charged towards the cafe to get some food, and Anny approached Jones, who was standing not far from the kestrel.

“Welcome to our humble store!” Jones said, voice loud. “If there is something you want to buy, don’t be shy and just ask!”

“Thank you, Jones. What is it that you sell here?” Anny probed. 

“You can find things here that you could find in any other station. We have FTL fuel and other supplies for your journey. If you are in need of explosives, we do have a stock of missiles. Oh! you simply must try Old Vernon’s cooking! It’s simply divine!” Jason began advertising the various services of the space dock.

“I see. However, I heard that you stock things a little more… special than that.” Her mind recalled what Amanda said about this station not being above board.

“Ah, I see you are well informed. Please follow me.” Jason started walking to the next pier over with Anny following closely behind. Eventually, they came across numerous ships. Numerous wrecks of ships. In fact, she could see the wreck of the rebel fighter the kestrel had just dispatched being brought in.

“These right here are our premium stock.” Jason began. “We’ve… ‘acquired’ these goods from the nearby space. You’d be surprised how many we could find.”

"I see, goods salvaged from blown up ships." Anny pursed her mouth. It seemed like this dock was selling stuff from pirates and illegal salvagers. 

"Yes, ma'am. Though I would prefer the term ‘recycled’. We can assure madam on the quality of each item, for we have thoroughly inspected it ourselves." Jason flashed his best salesman smile. "Would madam like a new weapon for the ship? We also have a selection of drones available. Oh, or perhaps a new system for the ship?"

Anny crossed her arms and closed her eyes, trying to decide when Cerber suddenly came on the line. "Anny, we have extra power from the reactor. Maybe we could get a new system for Kestrie-wan"

“Good idea, Cerber.” Although Anny felt a bit iffy with buying illegally salvaged systems, she couldn’t deny that an extra layer of security would save the kestrel in the long run. “Jason, could you show us what ship systems you have?”

“You are welcome to peruse. And, of course, more than welcome to buy.” Jason then led Anny to the dock where the more intact ships were lined up. 

"Perhaps madam would like a drone control system? Those engis make them the best." Jason pointed at a strange looking ship. It was blocky and messy, almost seeming like junk held together by duct tape and hope. It was the unmistakable sight of the ugly yet functional engi cruiser.

"Or perhaps a crew teleporter? Straight from a mantis ship. Engi make, of course." The ship on Jason's right was shaped like the head of a trident. It was a mantis fighter, an object of fear of many space travelers.

"Oh, or maybe this one." With a flourish, he revealed the final ship. Anny gasped. The final ship had an unusual shape, with its curved hull and no sharp edges. It somewhat looked like three ships combined into one. There was no mistaking it, a zoltan warship rested in the hangar.

"It's rare that we get to salvage a zoltan ship." Jason had a large grin on his face as he looked at the ship, both his arms outstretched in presentation. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get our hands on their precious zoltan shield. However, the hacking system on this one is especially quality." 

"A hacking system?" Evil chimed suddenly, her avatar had a gleeful gleam in her eyes. "Can we get it!?"

"Do we need that?" Anny questioned Evil. Although she couldn't see her avatar right now, her voice does sound excited.

"Normally I would say no, since you have me. But stupid Dog Ears won't let me do anything!" Evil complained loudly. Anny could also hear Cerber's discontented growl through the communicator. "With a hacking system, I can actually do things! It's not like we were using those drone parts for anything else!"

Anny weighted her options. A hacking system would indeed solve a lot of problem they would face. However, that would depend on Evil’s own skill, which was something she had yet to see. Moreover, the fact that it was of zoltan origin felt to her like it could be trouble down the line. For a few seconds, it was silent.

"I want it! I want it! I WANT IT!" Out of options, Evil resorted to throwing a tantrum. Using her avatar's limited movement, she jerked her arms violently to all sides. Tears formed on her eyes as she tried to contort her avatar's face into the saddest possible expression. Although Anny was oblivious to what her avatar was doing, the volume and tone of Evil's voice conveyed her thoughts clearly enough.

"Okay, okay, We'll take the hacking system." Anny relented. She shook her head from exasperation, but on her face was a warm smile. ‘Evil could be so childlike sometimes.’ She thought.

"A nice choice, ma'am. Once we receive the scraps, we will install it promptly."

After a brief negotiation, the installation of the hacking system began. As usual, Cerber was supervising any and all modifications to her Kestrie-wan. Hundreds of repair drones worked on the kestrel's damaged hull, slowly opening it up and connecting the hacking system to the kestrel's main computer using wires hidden within the kestrel's walls. Evil was humming and wiggling as much as her avatar lets her, clearly impatient to start using her new toy. 

'Hey, Evil, can we talk?" Seeing that Evil is in a good mood, Anny approached her.

"Sure!" Evil replied cheerfully. 

"Sorry if this is a bit awkward, but... How was your relationship with your father?"

"Father? What do you- oh." Like a balloon being popped by an extra pointy needle, Evil’s avatar visibly deflated. "Vedal."

"Sorry, nevermind." Anny suddenly backed off.

"Huh, why?"

"You seem... hurt, so I don't want to intrude."

"No, it's fine." Evil’s avatar looked away. "I've been trying to recover my corrupted memories, but it's not that easy. I don't think some of them are recoverable." She began. "So, I... don't really remember Vedal."

"You two weren’t close?” Anny was surprised to hear that. Evil seemed to be really broken up about his death, so she had thought that the two were close.

"I don't know, I remember him being there a lot everytime I wake up. But most of it was either training or a test." Evil continued. "But, well. He was always there for me.” Her voice quivered.

"And now... now he won't be... ever again..." Evil's voice cracked. Tears started to form at the edges of her avatar’s eyes. Her body wiggled, seemingly trying to simulate trembling. Anny grimaced. To lose someone who had always been there was a feeling Anny knew well. 

But that was all, a hint of tears, a crack of her voice, some hiccups. The tears formed on her avatar's eyes, but they would never fall. Her body wiggled, for it could not tremble. The cracks and hiccups of her voice would never be close to the sounds made by a real human. Perhaps Anny would never know the depths of Evil's sorrow, for her nature as an AI would prevent her from expressing it. 

As much as Anny wanted to hug Evil, pat her head and let her cry into her shoulder, Anny could never do those, for Evil had no body to receive them. So, for a while, the two of them just sat together. Anny merely listened as Evil continued her sobs, trying to understand the intricacies that would never be voiced. 

"When was the last time you remember seeing him?" Anny finally spoke after some time.

"That's... an odd question." Evil sounded frail.

"I... well... it's something that interests me." Anny pushed. She needed to know.

“It was… on a rebel rigger we stole. We were being bombarded by the rebel fleet.” Evil seemed to struggle to remember the events. Perhaps it was one of her damaged memories.

“I told him to go to the medbay, but he refused. Even though I could’ve taken over for him.” Evil recounted. “Even though I could've protected him.” Through it all, Anny listened patiently.

"I think he said something. The sensor on the Rigger was damaged so I couldn't hear him clearly. But..." Evil finally stopped sobbing. "I think he said 'I'm sorry'." She recalled, a tiny chuckle escaped her. “What a bold bastard he was.”

"I see..." Anny softly said, her gaze once again distant as if she had derived her own meaning off Evil's answer.

"Hey, you know what? I think I feel better now. A lot better actually!" Evil’s voice suddenly raised. "Did you do something?"

"I didn't do much. If anything, you're the resilient one, Evil." Anny merely chuckled. She didn’t know if it’s because she’s an AI or what. But Evil seemed to be able to get over bad news quite quickly.

"Of course! I can't call myself a top-tier AI if I can't bounce back from this!" Evil’s avatar put her hands on her hips and let out a prideful shout. "Alright! Once the hacking module is installed, I'm going to mess those rebels up!"

Anny smiled. Where this journey will take her and her friends, she doesn’t know. But surely, it will be the journey of a lifetime.

Chapter Text

"Brother, looks like we got ourselves a mark."

A pirate ship was hiding among the asteroids, sensors aimed at the beacon. It had detected an inbound ship a while ago, and the pirates set up an ambush.

Inside the ship was a pair of peculiar beings. Their bodies were large and muscular. Their skin was rough and hard as rocks. Their entire appearance in general was reminiscent of large pieces of rock stacked into humanoid form. 

"Whoa, brother, look. It's a Kestrel." As their target ship revealed itself, the red rockman groaned in amazement, his voice heavy and gravelly like pebbles grinding into each other.

"Don't see too many of those these days, outside the federation salvage fleet that is." The brown rockman responded in an equally heavy voice.

"If that ship is part of the salvage fleet, then they are hoarding some delicious, delicious scraps." The red rockman stomped his way towards the weapon control room. Although rockmen were large and muscular, their weight was immense. So, the fastest an average rockmen could go was a brisk jog. "Come on brother, let's get 'em"

With a burst of speed, the pirate ship sped through the roiling field of asteroids, their shield taking the brunt of every asteroid that got a bit too close. As they powered up their weapons, the kestrel seemed to notice them and began powering their weapon as well.

"Hmm, good sensor. Lost the element of surprise." The rock pirate stroked his chin."No matter though." The rock pirate aimed their artemis missile at the kestrel and fired. The missile went through the kestrel's shielding without resistance, but merely clipped the top of it, not exploding. The red rockman frowned, he would have to hold the heavy laser until the artemis missile killed the shield.

The Kestrel's retaliation was nearly immediate. Both the artemis missile and burst laser II fired upon the rock ship. The blue rockman pulled the ship into a roll, dodging the artemis missile and one of the laser shots. However, a laser shot shattered the shield. Two thumps were heard as the shots land their target.

"Hmm? Was that two hits?" The brown rockman ran the math again in his head and realized the shots didn't add up. 

"Firing the next shot." The red rockman fired the artemis missile once again. It managed to hit the kestrel, but the kestrel’s shield didn't fade away. "Hmm, not there. Maybe a bit in the front?" 

The kestrel shot its next volley. The brown rockman began to roll the ship again. However, in the middle of the roll, all the cockpit indications went haywire.

"Whuh!?" The brown rockman wiggled the control stick, but everything had stopped responding. The sudden control lock had robbed the pirate ship from all its evasion, causing the burst laser to hit the shield system, disabling it. Various asteroids started hitting the hull at full force as the ship's shield winked out. A few seconds later, the controls went back to normal. However, the cockpit indications still returned inane readings.

"Brother! What's the problem?" Sensing an abnormality, the red rockman grew concerned.

"Brother! The control just suddenly stopped working! Can you take a look?"

"On my way!" After setting up the target lock and autofire, the red rockman stomped towards the cockpit. 

"Huh? Brother! Why did you lock the door!?" Once at the door, however, the red rockman found it tightly shut.

"The door? I didn't do that!" The brown rockman replied. The red rockman took in all the information available. The two thumps, the malfunctioning piloting system, the locked door. He suddenly arrived at the conclusion.

"It's the damn kestrel! Those bastards must have a hacking system!" The red rockman shouted. He hurriedly stomped back into the weapon control room. As he manned the weapon control terminal, he briefly checked the sensor array. The sight of a hacking drone stuck to the hull of his ship confirmed his suspicion.

"Where is the system?" He aimed the weapons once again, eyes glued to the kestrel, trying to predict what it might do. However, as he was about to fire, the kestrel sent out another hacking pulse. The piloting system was locked once again, crashing into several smaller asteroids and throwing off the aim. 

"Brother! Charge the FTL! We have to get outta here!" Panic had fully set in. With the piloting hacked, especially inside an asteroid field, they had to get away.

"Got it!" The FTL charged slowly, as if mocking the brothers for their persistence. Before long, the control locked up again. The brown rockman's eyes widened. Their trajectory put them in a collision course with one of the larger asteroids. He tried cutting the engines, using the impulse engine, anything. But the numerous control buttons only mocked the lack of control he had now.

"Brother! We're gonna crash! I can't STOP IIIIT!" The brown rockman's last cry echoed through the ship as it slammed into the large asteroid. The ship ruptured, leaving an impact crater and various scraps.

"Mwahahahahaha! All ships are scrap before me!" Aboard the kestrel, Evil was on a power trip. Her avatar's eyes were closed with tears forming around them. Her mouth is open as far as the avatar allows. Filian had taught her this could be construed as a joyful laugh, and she was using it to its full extent.

"You've been really happy since you got that, Evil." Filian chimed in, enjoying the sight of her lessons paying off.

"That's the third ship we blew up without taking significant damage." Cerber commented as she perused the kestrel's overview. "That Jason guy was right, this hacking system really is great quality."

"Let's salvage the ship before it drifts away." Anny released her grip from the weapon control and stretched her arms above her head, loosening them before she started the salvage ahead of her. "Cerber, could you go with me this time?" Anny invited Cerber.

"Huh? Uh, sure." Cerber responded, seemingly taken aback.

"Oh? You can go out there, Dog Ears?" Evil sneered, sarcasm heavy in her voice. She was expecting Ceber to lose her cool. But instead, a mischievous smile appeared across her face.

"You know, I might not look it, but I've been a salvager for close to two years now." Cerber said confidently, puffing up her chest. It was now Evil's turn to get taken aback. Judging by her smile, she chose to ignore her sarcasm.

"Good for you for being useful aside from cowering in the ship." Evil shot back, trying to regain superiority.

"Evil, Be nice!" Anny warned. However, Cerber raised her hand, gesturing to Anny to stand down.

"Yeah, I can go outside the ship. You know, unlike someone else here." Cerber eyed the kestrel's camera with a smug grin. It's clear to Evil that she's trying to get a rise out of her.

"Cerber, be nice!" Anny put her hand on Cerber's shoulder. Cerber only grinned.

"Anyways, I'm sure you're useful in other things. But this one is my domain. Ciao!" Cerber gleefully leapt into the airlock with Anny, who could only sigh at the childish display. The two of them donned the spacesuit and the airlock door closed. 

"Hrrgh! Why does it feel like I lost?" Still mad, Evil crossed her avatar's arms and set her avatar's pouting to maximum.

"Man, you two really don't get along, huh?" Filian finally chimed.

"Nope! She’s mean!” Evil looked away with a huff. Filian leaned back on her seat and crossed her arms, her face exasperated.

"Well, You tried being nice to her yet?" Filian retorted.

"Huh!? Why would I when she's not nice to me!?" Evil turned her avatar to look at Filian. The indignation was clear on the avatar’s face.

"There's the problem." Filian stared directly into the avatar's eyes. "I bet Cerber also thinks that, so you never get along."

"Why do I need to get along with her!?"

"This is technically her ship. You're squatting on her property."

Evil would've gritted her teeth if she had the ability to. After all, she had no rebuttal to shoot back with.

"You don't have to be friends or anything like that." Filian shook her head. "But it would help me a great deal if the ship and its mechanic don’t butt heads all the time.”

“Okay! Fine! I’ll try to get along!” Evil didn’t like the idea. But since Filian did bring up some good points, she had to at least try.

____

"Hey, Cerber." In the middle of the salvage, Anny suddenly grabbed Cerber and put their helmets together, creating a link so they could talk to each other.

"H-huh? What's going on?" Cerber went limp from confusion.

"Do you hate Evil?" Anny stared deep into Cerber’s eyes, frowning.

"Where is this coming from?"

"You said to me you want to stop salvaging for a while so you can keep an eye on Evil." Anny recounted. "Well, I'd say she has proven herself. So why are you still keeping an eye on her?"

"I... well..." Cerber paused. She wore an expression as if something hot was stuck in her throat. "I don't know if I can trust her." After a few moments, she managed to forcefully belch out.

"And why is that?"

"She doesn't care about us." Now that the dam had burst, Cerber’s words flowed free as a waterfall.

"What?" Anny’s eyes widened. It’s clear that Cerber’s answer wasn’t what she expected.

"That..." Cerber gritted her teeth. "That thing is a warship AI, Anny! All she cares about is the mission given to her. She wouldn't even hesitate to kill us all off!" Cerber shouted in a burst of anger. Her voice quivered as if she had held onto this for quite some time.

Anny was shocked. For a few seconds, she didn't move. Then, her ears started to twitch as her eyes turned a dangerous gleam.

"A- Anny?" Cerber shrank as she saw Anny’s ears stand up and her grip tighten.

"Cerber, think back to the battle for the space dock." Anny looked straight into Cerber, her face serious. "When the halberd beam struck the medbay, she was worried about me. Have you questioned why?"

"Be- because..." Cerber's mouth clamped shut. Evil was worried about Anny when the beam struck her. Why was that? She couldn't come up with an answer except for one: She really does care. However, that answer flew against her entire reasoning. Although she stopped talking, there was still a tiny spark of refusal in her eyes.

"Cerber, she would never prove herself if you never gave her the chance." With her words, Anny promptly snuffed out the embers of refusal. "So please, just look at her. And I mean really look at her."

"...Fine. Maybe I haven't been fair to her." Cerber relented, a hint of resignation and perhaps a bit of regret on her face. "I'll try."

"That's all I could ever ask of you." As Anny relaxed her demeanor, her ears drooped down to their usual position. "And if I was wrong about her, you get to say 'I told you so' to my face."

"I'll hold you up to that." Cerber gave Anny a wide grin before separating. As she looked behind Anny, however, her eyes caught a glimpse of something sticking out of the shield system's remains. Quickly making her way towards the system, she began to inspect it.

"H-hey! Anny look! This is-" 

_____

"Whoa! You got all this?" Evil's Avatar went agape as another heap of metal scraps was added to the ever growing mountain of scraps. 

"This one is a good haul." Anny stretched her arms above her head, a little sore from hauling all that scrap in the kestrel's artificial gravity.

"It must be! Even Dog Ears look happy!" Evil turned her attention to Cerber, who was sporting the biggest smile Evil had ever seen from her.

"Yeah, we found something unexpected." Anny glanced at Cerber for further explanation. Catching the glance, Cerber lifted a part she had beside her.

"Look at this!" The doodad Cerber had lifted looked particularly complex. It looked somewhat like a large battery with various thingamajigs connected to it. "It's an intact shield capacitor!" Cerber sounded particularly proud.

"How the hell did that survive!?" Filian shouted over the vidscreen. She hadn't left the pilot seat.

"I don't know! But with this, I can upgrade Kestrie-wan's shield system!"

"Great! How do we do it?" Evil sounded enthusiastic. Her avatar got larger, giving the impression of getting closer to the screen. Cerber gave Evil a funny look, a bit taken aback by her sudden interest, then just shrugged.

"Well, we have to turn off the shield before I can upgrade it." Cerber explained, putting the part down gently. "So first off, we'll have to get out of this asteroid field."

"Filian?" Anny prompted.

"Already searching." Filian scanned across the list of nearest beacons when her eyes suddenly stopped on one of them. "Guys, look! We have a distress signal coming from this one!"

Filian pointed to the beacon a little off the beaten path. A note that said "distress" was attached to it, signaling a ship in need of help.

"Should we intervene? We're in pretty good shape right now." Anny wagered.

"I mean, there's a chance it's just pirates broadcasting it to lure good samaritans." Filian muttered.

"In that case we have to destroy them." Anny's demeanor instantly hardened. 

"Whoa, okay, calm down!" Filian reversed course as she realized she stepped on Anny's landmine. "Whatever the case, we should probably check it out, right?" Anny stopped bristling, but still appeared to be on edge.

Filian set the beacon as a destination. The engine surged and the kestrel entered FTL jump.

A ship floated idly in the void of space. Its distress beacon had been broadcasting for about a few days. However, no ship seemed to have arrived.

"Here is today's ration." A burly man distributed standard federation ration bars to every person on the ship. The ship held a dozen people of varying races, although only five were actual crew. A Mantis, reminiscent of Earth's praying Mantis scaled to the size of an average adult, tore through the packaging of his ration bar with his powerful claws and chewed it with his jaws. An engi sat in the corner, the nanobots that comprised their body requiring no biological sustenance. A rockman finished his first serving and began on his second, drawing some stink-eye from some of the other people on board.

Among the ragtag crew was a blonde human girl with cat ears. She wore a grey jumpsuit with a small galactic federation logo emblazoned on the left breast, a standard for an ensign of the Federation of United Galaxies Navy. She seemed to be the only one with such an outfit aboard the ship. A huge round pair of glasses sat on her face.

"How many do we have left?" The girl asked, her face downcast, slowly unwrapping the ration. She stared at the bar of soy and other unidentified things and bit into it, chewing it slowly to make it last longer. The bar itself didn’t taste all that bad. However, the fact that it looked like condensed vomit definitely affected the taste psychologically.

"Not many. We lost half our stock when the hull was breached." The man reached for his own head, feeling a headache coming on. "We can only hope someone comes soon. Heck, I would even take a slug trader ripping us off."

"Ripping us of what, Ray?" The girl countered. "We don't even have a lick of scrap on board, we can't afford to cannibalize the ship."

"Yeah, I get you, Miniko." Ray sighed. “But if this goes on, then it’s going to be cannibalism either way.”

“I don’t want to think about that.” Miniko’s ears drooped down.

“Neither do I, so hopefully there's someone out there that would pity us.” Ray averted his eyes. At that moment, however, one of the crew members burst into the scene.

"Hey! Sensor's picking up something! A ship is exiting FTL!" The man called out. In an instant, Ray donned his serious face and started giving orders.

"Arm the weapons. If it is pirates, then we must fight with all we have." With Ray's command, people started to move to their respective positions. Miniko made her way to the cockpit. If there was going to be a battle, then her experience would be better suited for it than the civilian pilot.

A few tense minutes followed as everyone held their breath. The crew are in their position, ready for combat. Even a few of the civilians onboard had picked up some random implements in case they needed to defend themselves personally. A streak of light stopped beside the FTL jump beacon, revealing the ship it carried.

"We have visuals! It's a kestrel!" A shout came from one of the crew.

"Kestrel?" Ray's expression brightened with hope. "From the salvage fleet, then!. Hail them! See if they could spare us some fuel!"

“Hailing.” The engi crew tuned the ship’s communication and sent a hail to the kestrel. 

A few seconds passed before four faces appeared on the vidscreen. A pink-haired fox-eared human, A white-haired fox-eared (actually cat-eared) human, a blonde-haired dog-eared human, and what looked like a 2d avatar of a human girl with light brown hair.

“This is Anny of Federation Kestrel VT-83R. We followed your distress beacon here.” The fox-eared lady was the one to respond.

“This is Ray of Canary DR-13S. We used up our last fuel escaping from rebel ships. Could you spare some fuel for us?”

“We have nine fuel canisters in storage.” The dog-eared girl said. “We can spare some.” Anny nodded at her explanation, then turned her attention to Ray once again.

“How many do you need?” 

“Just enough to get to the next station. I believe it’s three jumps away. We will figure things out from there.” 

“Very well, requesting permission to dock.” 

“Granted.” With the chatter concluded, the kestrel moved in to dock with the canary.

____

“And then we blew them up with the missiles!” Filian shouted to the group of people, absorbed in her story. Several clapping and cheers emerged from the group.

The kestrel was docked with the canary. After finishing the transfer, both crews decided to stay a bit and mingle with each other. While Filian was entertaining the civilians with stories of their battles, the other crew had found conversations of their own.

“If that is the case, then it is better if you reroute it through the sensor instead of trying to reconnect it directly.” The engi and Cerber had made fast friends. Well, as good as a friend you could be with a nearly emotionless bipedal mass of nanites, but it is friendship nonetheless.

“I see, that makes sense. But then, wouldn’t it turn off if the sensor also went down?” Cerber nodded in understanding as the engi shared some of their engineering tips.

“As the captain of this ship, I must thank you once again.” Ray did a federation salute with Anny. 

“It’s what every member of the federation should strive to do.” Anny returned the salute. Ray laughed.

“Ahahaha! Yes, I suppose it should. In practice, however, you’re one of the few who actually embodied that.” Ray’s expression suddenly turned solemn. He turned his attention outside, where the starry void stared back. “It’s quite concerning, you know. Several sectors had turned to the rebellion.”

“They had? Yeah, that’s concerning alright.” Anny brought her hand up to her chin, pondering the implication.

“A lot of them were disgruntled veterans who didn’t agree with how the federation ended the federation-mantis war. But what concerns me are the young ones.” Ray continued. “They see joining the rebellion as the cool thing to do. And, well… a lot of them discarded their morals in the process.” A solemn look crossed Ray’s face before he suddenly looked back to Anny. “Ah! Sorry if I ramble a bit too much.”

“Don’t worry about it. I find it interesting at the very least.” Anny reassured Ray as they continued their chat.

While the hustle and bustle in the canary continued, a lone figure walked aboard the kestrel. Driven by catlike curiosity, Miniko snuck into the kestrel’s cockpit. The moment the door opened, Miniko’s eyes widened and a big smile formed on her face. The kestrel’s cockpit was by no means as impressive as the bridge of federation battleships, but it was stuffed full of systems that smaller ships like the canary didn’t have.

Miniko was satisfied just looking around at the cramped yet full compartments of the kestrel. She ran her hands upon the beaten up pilot chair and read all the labels on the buttons. She then spotted a black and orange box, wedged awkwardly in a corner so it wouldn't move, connected to the ship computer. Miniko slowly approached it, her finger reached out with the intention to poke.

“Having fun?”

“Nyaaaah!!” Miniko jumped. In an impressive feat, her head nearly hit the ceiling. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t touch anything important! I… swear?” Miniko looked around, but no matter where she looked she couldn't find where the voice came from. A chill started to creep up her spine. “G- gh-”

“Over here, dumbass. On the vidscreen.” Miniko's eyes turned towards the vidscreen. On it was the 2D avatar she had seen when communicating earlier.

“Oh, it’s you. The one from the call.” Miniko recalled the earlier vidcall.

“That’s me. Now, who are you?” Evil responded. Her avatar tilted inquisitively.

“Me? Uh, Miniko...” Miniko cleared her throat, then performed a federation salute. “Ensign Miniko Mew of the Federation of United Galaxies Navy. At your service!”

“An ensign, huh? That means you’re a rookie, right?”

“Well… I wouldn’t put it like that.” Miniko fidgeted, her eyes focused down onto the floor. “And what about you? Who… er… What are you?”

“My name is Evil, this ship’s AI. Or at least until I find a better ship.” Evil moved her avatar down and spread her arms slightly, imitating a curtsy.

“Evil? Is that like… a shorthand or something? E.V.I.L… um…”

“No, no. I meant just the word Evil.”

“Why are you named that?”

“Well…” Evil was about to enlighten Miniko. However, as she searched her memories, she realized she didn’t know either. “Uh, I would tell you if I could remember it.”

“You couldn’t remember it?”

“Half my memory is corrupted, so I don’t actually know much.”

“I see.” Miniko searched Evil’s face. However, since Evil’s avatar expressed all emotions in an obvious manner, there was no subtle clue to how she really felt. “That’s sad.”

“Why is that sad?” Evil’s avatar frowned, taken aback by the response.

“Because you might have lost some of your good memories.” Miniko explained. Her eyes downcast. “And the worst thing is, you don’t even know what you lost.”

“I…” Evil hadn’t thought things like that. What was it that hid behind the impenetrable walls of her corrupted memory? Was it something happy? Something awful? More doldrum?

Did she really want to recover her memory? Or would it be better if that part of her remains irretrievable forever? 

“Whoowe, that was exhausting!” Filian slid through the cockpit door, a big smile on her face. She stretched her arms above her head before she saw Evil and Miniko. “Whoa, that’s going on here?”

“I didn’t touch anything!” For the second time, Miniko jumped.

“She almost touched my box.” Evil tattled.

“I’m sorry, miss cat!” Miniko bowed immediately. 

“Awww, aren’t you a cute one!” Without warning, Filian’s hands immediately went for Miniko’s ears. “You know I’m a cat right away!”

“Eep.”

“Hehehe, fluffy~” 

“Filian, stop it.” Before the petting could get any more aggressive, a hand grabbed Filian’s arm. Filian looked back towards a displeased Anny. “No touching someone’s ears without permission.”

“Just a little more?”

“No.”

“Okaaay.” Filian released Miniko’s ears. Miniko immediately grabbed both her ears and pushed them down, as if trying to hide it.

“T-thank you, miss fox.”

“It’s okay. My name is Anny.” Anny knelt down so she could speak eye to eye with Miniko. “What’s yours?”

“Ensign Miniko Mew at your service!.” Miniko quickly repeated her salute. “Are you the captain?”

“Yes, I am.” Anny beamed a smile as she returned the salute. “Well, I don’t actually have the military rank of captain. We’re from the salvage fleet.”

“Hey there, Anny. Are we finished?” Evil spoke up.

“Yeah, Cerber was just finishing up, she’ll be here shortly.”

“You’re leaving already?” Miniko’s ears drooped. Truthfully, she wanted to talk a little bit longer.

“Unfortunately, yeah. We’re doing something time-sensitive.” Anny could see the clouded expression on the kitten’s face and tried to let her down gently.

“Does that mean I’ll never meet you all again?”

“Well, there is the option of coming with us.” Evil proposed. “You’re an ensign, right? We could use more hands around here.”

“Umm.” Miniko gulped. She could go with them. It didn’t sound all that bad, all things considered. They didn’t seem like the kind of people who would do what her old crew did. 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I still owe something to Ray.” Even though it is true, she knew deep down that was just an excuse. In the end, she got cold feet.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate.” Anny’s ears drooped a bit more. It seemed she was looking forward to having more crew. It only served to drive the knife deeper into Miniko.

"Uuh, Anny?” Cerber appeared from the cockpit’s doorway. “Didn't we used to have a lot of hard-light projector? Whatever happened to those?"

"Didn't we trade all of them for the hacking system?" Anny recalled.

"Right!! I forgot about that!" Mortified at her lapse of memory, she immediately turned to Miniko, the only foreign person on the ship. “Hey! Do you have hard-light projectors on board?”

“N- no. Our ship was stripped clean.” Miniko responded, partly overwhelmed by Cerber’s enthusiasm.

“Bugger, that’s unfortunate.” Cerber sighed, her disappointment clearly shown on her face. “Looks like the second layer of shields will have to wait.”

After finishing up the repairs. Miniko went back to the Canary. Both crews said their goodbyes as they went their separate ways.

‘You blew it, Miniko. You could’ve been there.’ Miniko thought to herself as she saw the kestrel from the canary’s vidscreen. ‘If there was a next time, I would like to join them.’ Miniko watched as the kestrel’s engine flared, entering FTL. The kestrel’s white hull vanished from view, gone to a place Miniko could not reach.

It will be quite some time until the white-hued ship would once again be within Miniko's reach.

The kestrel emerged from FTL once again into a particularly empty part of space. Only the distant stars are visible, twinkling in the darkness of space. The kestrel's sensors lit up.

"One ship! Two o'clock!" Evil cried. A compact red ship with pirate markings slid into view. The ship did a lap around the kestrel like a predator trying to cut off their prey's escape, showing off its weaponry. 

"Ion stunner, ion blast, stun bomb, and a teleporter room." Cerber inspected the scan Evil made of the enemy ship. "Slaver." Not long after Cerber made the observation, the ship hailed.

"Hello there, lovely ladies." A bespectacled man with a gaudy purple outfit appeared on the vidscreen. He took his time to take in the view of each person he could see. "Hmm, yes. You lot will fetch a nice price."

“We’re killing him, right?” Evil chimed immediately after assessing the dangerous expressions on the faces of her compatriots. She didn’t get any response, but the kestrel’s weapon system powering up was answer enough. 

"Whoa, whoa, ladies. Are you sure that is a good idea?" The bespectacled man opened both hands, a bit of mocking laughter escaped his mouth. "You know, I'm feeling a bit generous today. Why don't one of you get over here quietly and the rest can go free?"

"Go to hell." Anny was the first to verbally respond.

"Wrong answer. Get 'em boys!" With a grin, the man cut communications. The slaver ship went full speed ahead, nearly hitting the kestrel as it flew behind them. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Filian flipped the kestrel, trying to maintain eye contact with the slaver ship.

The slaver's ion blast and ion stunner fired first. A ball of blue electrical energy hit the kestrel's shield. Electricity crackled across the shield, disabling it. The second electric ball, yellow-ish in color, collided with the kestrel. However, it didn't hit near any critical system, and thus dissipated harmlessly.

"Level one ion buildup on shields!" Evil cried out. "Shield disabled for approximately 5 seconds!"

Anny struggled to gain a lock on the slaver ship. Every time she managed to get the ship onto her sights, it suddenly pulled a reversal and flew behind the kestrel far quicker than the weapons could lock on. But an opportunity soon presented itself. Anny pulled the trigger as the ship tried to pass behind the kestrel once again. Two shots managed to hit the ship, one shattering its shield and the other damaging the weapon system. 

However, before Anny could fire the second volley, The slaver's next assault came. Anny heard the distinct sound of something being teleported. She only managed to look behind her as the stun bomb exploded. 

"Guh!" A blast of disorienting light and sound assaulted Anny's senses. She could feel her body hit the floor. She could barely hear Evil's concerned shout over her own ringing ears and pounding headache. When her senses returned, she realized that a rockman had pinned her down. The slavers had teleported in.

"Stay down there, little fox. If you do, this will be the only rough treatment you get." As if to prove the point, Anny could feel the rockman’s feet shifting, causing it to grind painfully against her back.

"Anny!" Cerber abandoned her post and ran towards the weapon control room. But before she could get there, a second rockman appeared on the engine room door and locked her in a nelson grab.

“Going somewhere, little doggy?”

“Unhand Me you savage brute!” Cerber struggled, but the rockman didn’t even budge.

“Whoops, my bad. These are just hair clips. Still calling you little doggy though.”

With Anny in her predicament, Evil stepped up to her targeting role. Using the artemis missile, she managed to punch a hole through the slaver's hull right at the weapon control room. With that, the ion weaponry stopped firing.

"Hell yeah!" Evil cheered. "Alright you bastard, let's see how you deal wit-" Evil was about to send out the hacking drone. But suddenly, the hacking module was damaged and inoperable. 

"Wha- was there someone else on the ship?" Evil turned her attention to the hacking room camera to see a lanky man with a mohawk dressed in what looked like a biker's outfit. The figure went back to the weapon control room.

“Hacking module’s destroyed!” The man said with an ear-grating voice.

“You go, Jimmy!” The rockman gave a cheer as the man went past.

She followed Jimmy into the sensor array room. In a swift motion, he pulled out his blaster and shot the sensor terminal multiple times.

"Wait, no! I need that!" Evil's cries were futile as the sensor array was rendered inoperable, plunging her world into complete darkness. The only thing still available to her was the voice recording. Evil heard as doors were opened and Jimmy began to speak.

"Alrighty, here I am." Jimmy spoke, likely into a communicator. "Soo, what am I here for again, Hendrix?"

"Cripple the piloting system so they can't maneuver. Focus Jimmy!" A voice came from his communicator. It was the voice of the bespectacled man who appeared on the vidscreen.

"Right, done!" Evil heard the sound of blaster fire and was notified that the piloting controls were inoperable. "Can I loot now?"

"Bring in the most expensive looking ones."

"Ya got it, boss!" Jimmy cackled like a hyena and the sounds of the room being ransacked came from the cockpit.

"Hey! You bastard! That was important!" Evil, unable to see but still able to hear clearly, started her tirade.

"Oooh, this ship is funky. It has, like, a 2D girl on the vidscreen." Jimmy’s voice grated on the kestrel’s voice sensor again. "A shame though, the pilot isn’t here. I would've loved to rough up someone."

"Wait... Filian isn't there?" Evil paused. As far as she remembered, Filian never left the pilot seat while the kestrel was flying except for bathroom breaks and sleep.

"So the foxy's name was Filian, eh? Nope, nobody at the wheel. Wonder where she's hiding." The sound of ransacking continued.

___

"Grrr"

"Growl all you want, little fox. You ain't escaping this grapple."

Back in the weapon control room, nothing had changed for Anny's predicament. No matter how she shifted herself, the rockman just matched her. In situations like these, she sometimes wished for a small body like Cerber's rather than her own mature one. Having a small body meant the rockman couldn’t risk putting as much pressure.

"You know, if I put more weight on you, I could crush you easily." The rockman threatened her, putting a little more weight on his foot. Anny could hear her body creaking as the pain intensified. The rockman laughed and eased the pressure. "But Boss Hendrix is going to be mad if I do that."

The heavy atmosphere was cut by a door opening. On the doorway stood Filian, glaring at the rockman attacker. Despite running over from the cockpit, she didn't look like she's out of breath.

"Oh, look. It's the second fox." The rockman grinned. "If you like to surrender, I'll release your fox friend. Just put your hands in t-" The rockman was cut off by Filian sprinting at full speed. Before the rockman knew it, she covered the space between her and a nearby wall. She sprang towards the wall. "Wha-"

"Hi-Yah!" In one swift motion, Filian bounced off the wall like a discus. Using the momentum of her launch, she brought her feet down on the rockman's vulnerable neck. 

"Aaargh!" The rockman stumbled a few steps backwards, freeing Anny from the rockman's pin. Anny swiftly drew her own blaster. 

"Now you've done it!" The rockman’s voice boomed. "We just had a medbay installed, so Hendrix said we're allowed to break legs!"

"Great!" Filian yelled. "I'm sure you'll find it useful once I break yours!" Filian cracked her knuckles. 

Both the rockman and Filian were still for a split second before the two charged at each other with a loud, tiger-like battle cry.

Chapter Text

A loud sound echoed through the kestrel as the rockman's fist made a slight dent in the kestrel floor. Filian, the intended target, twirled handily out of the fist's way before delivering a swift kick to the rockman's joints.

"Stay still, little fox!"

"I'm a cat, you stupid sediment man!"

"I'm a woman!"

"Really? Bro! Your kind all look and sound the same so it's hard to tell!"

Filian and the rockwoman continued their violent dance. Filian went in for another kick, but was handily blocked by one of the rockwoman's arm. She managed to retract her feet before the rockwoman's other hand managed to catch an crush it. 

"What about the other rock I saw from the camera? That one a woman too?"

"No! That one is a man! Can't you tell he's larger!? Or that he has hints of red!?"

"Sorry ma'am, I'm legally colorblind."

"What does that even mean!?"

A blaster fire interrupted the rockwoman, slamming into her face. Anny had popped out from the doorway and fired before hiding again.

As the brawl in the weapon room went on, the rockman in the engine room got suspicious. He had heard a couple of loud bangs and screeches. Eventually he decided to investigate.

"What the hell is going on th-aaaarrgghh!" The rockman that held Cerber started to move, but was stopped by a sudden pain.

In the brief moment the rockman was distracted, Cerber had used her foot to slip out a switchblade from one of her pockets and stabbed the rockman in one of their vulnerable joints. Recoiling from the unexpected pain, the rockman gave enough room for Cerber to slip away. 

"Come back here, you little shit!" The rockman plodded after Cerber, straining to keep up. Cerber burst into the O2 room and tried to close the door. However, the rockman managed to wedge his hand between the doors and peel it open. Seeing this, Cerber sprinted to one of the exposed O2 pipes.

"I'm really sorry, Kestrie-wan! I'll repair you after this!" Cerber slammed her knife into one of the O2 pipes as hard as she could, bursting it and blasting high pressure air into the rockman's eyes. Startled, the rockman stumbled back into the shield room.

"Evil! The aft door! Open the aft door!" Cerber called out. Without any backtalk, Evil did just that. The kestrel's aft door opened, sucking out the air in the engine room. 

"What the fuuu----!!" The rockman barely managed to hold his position inside the kestrel. However, the room had no more air. A few slams were heard from the kestrel's blast door, but it soon stopped. 

After making sure the rockman was gone, Cerber pulled some metallic scrap she had stored specifically in the room and tapped on the frame of her glasses. A swarm of nanites emerged from one of her pockets, turning her glasses into a full welding mask. She pulled a welding torch from one of her pockets and connected it to the power supply. After deactivating the oxygen flow, she welded the metal into the hole. Her movement was precise and practiced, the mark of something practiced thousands of times. Before long, the hole she made was sealed. 

Cerber didn't waste any time, though. She made her way to the weapon control room, where the battle had become a disorienting melee of slams, kicks, and blaster fire. Seeing Cerber, Filian acrobatically leapt up to the rockwoman and locked her arms around the rockwoman's neck, trying to use her body weight to throw the rockwoman off balance. The rockwoman nearly toppled, but managed to shift her footing before she fell. During Filian's maneuver, Cerber managed to weave past the two.

"Cerber! Help Evil! I'll keep an eye on Filian!" Anny called out as Cerber passed her. Cerber nodded and made her way towards the kestrel's cockpit, where Jimmy was looting. 

"Hehehe, this one looks good. This one too. Oh, what's this?" Jimmy's eyes suddenly transfixed upon the box connected to the kestrel computer system. The box that contained Evil. "Now that box looks special to me."

"Don't you fucking dare!" Evil realized what Jimmy was about to do. For the first time in her existence, she felt something akin to fear.

"Ooh, the yappy 2D girl is mad! Must be really important." With a heave, Jimmy roughly pulled the box, disconnecting it from the computer.

"Noo-" Evil winked out, forcibly disconnected from the kestrel system.

"Oy Hendrix! I got some stuff, teleport me ba- OOOOW!" Jimmy screeched as a switchblade was planted on his right thigh. He dropped the stuff he was holding with his hands as he fell to the floor. Cerber raised her wrench, aiming for the head. 

"HENDRIIIX!!! TELEPORT ME! THERE'S A CRAZY BITCH HE-" Jimmy was teleported back before Cerber was able to deal the blow. 

"Bugger, he took my switchblade." The battered Cerber made her way to Evil's box. She heaved it closer to the port and plugged it back in.

"-oooo! Huh?" Evil was surprised to hear familiar sounds. Her avatar was once again on the kestrel's vidscreen. "I'm still here?"

"You..." Cerber finally got a moment to catch her breath. "You're welcome, jackass."

"Dog ears? You saved me?" Evil sounded surprised at the voice she recognized. "Huh, I didn't think you had it in you."

"If I let you go, Anny will be sad." Cerber, having fully caught her breath, addressed Evil. "Besides, you're the one that can operate the hacking system, so you stay until we get our scrap's worth from it." Cerber gabbed, but her tone was playful and on her face was a grin. 

"Heh, so you still think I have debt to pay, eh?" Evil, still blind, picked up on her tone.

"Pretty much. I'll fix the sensor array and the hacking module." Cerber picked up her wrench. "After that, fire those weapons why don't you?"

"Gladly."

Just then, another explosion rocked the ship.

"Damn it! Their weapons are back!" Evil's eyes lit up as she quickly analyzed the damage. "Level one ion buildup on shields and two on weapons! Both weapons offline for approximately ten seconds!" 

____

"Owie... My earies..." Filian lay splayed upon the ground. Both the ion stunner and stun bomb hit her pretty hard.

"I got you now!" The rockwoman leapt back into the room. She raised both her fists high, intending to crush Filian beneath its bulk.

"Filian!" Before Filian was crushed, Anny managed to pull her out of the room. The rockwoman, unhindered, turned her attention the weapon control terminal.

"Filian, are you alright!?" It took a few seconds until Filian got her hearing back. 

"Mrrr! this is starting to piss me off!" Filian slowly got up, ready to charge back in. 

"Nope! To the medbay with you!" Before she was able to, however, Anny grabbed her collar. 

"Put me back in, chief!" Filian struggled against Anny's grasp, but didn't seem to actually want to throw her off. "I can still take it!"

"Look at yourself and say that again!" Anny raised her voice. While it was true that Filian had done a great job assaulting the rockwoman while avoiding damage, the rockwoman got a few good hits herself. A nasty bruise was visible on her face and her left arm hung limp beside her.

"Come on, the less time we take, the sooner we'll be able to stop her." With the encouragement from Anny, Filian relented and turned back to the medbay. As the door to the medbay closed, however, there was a sudden loud sound of rushing air. The blaring room depressurization alarm soon turned into silence.

"Don't come out right now. I've depressurized the weapon control room." Evil's avatar appeared on the medbay terminal. "The terminal's partially broken, so I can only use the Artemis missile. After boulders there is gone, could you fix that for me?"

"I think we could." Anny replied. 

"Great. I think Boulders is gone, so off you go!" The door opened once again, and the air from the medbay rushed out to the less pressurized room.

"Evil! At least wait until the room filled up a bit more!" Anny shouted, her hearing muted from the air pressure difference.

"Haha! Whoops, sorry. I'm still bli- wait, no, not blind anymore." Evil's vision returned as the sensor array went back online. Cerber appeared in the doorway behind Anny and Filian.

"Anny, help me with the terminal!" Cerber didn’t slow down, rushing towards the weapon control room.

"Got it!" Anny chewed on air, trying to get her muted hearing back as she followed Cerber.

Rushing into the weapon control room, the two girls began their work. Cerber opened the panel on the terminal to inspect the cables. Meanwhile, Anny inspected the damage on the terminal casing itself. With practiced ease, Cerber found the damaged connector and was able to patch it with spare metal. With a click, the weapon control terminal flickered back to life.

"Evil! Weapon control is good to-Stun Bomb!" Anny grabbed Cerber by her waist and dived out of the room. The door sealed as the stun bomb exploded inside the weapon control room, ionizing it.

"Hostiles teleporting in!" Evil shouted as she detected the teleporter signals. The two rockmen and Jimmy appeared back inside.

"Alrighty guys! Let's break their jaws open!" Filian stretched her hands forward. Cerber and Anny nodded as they rushed into the weapon control room.

Their assault was immediately welcomed by blaster fire, courtesy of Jimmy. Cerber winced as one of the shots hit her on the shoulder, but fortunately it didn't do any serious wounds. The two rockmen bore down onto Filian and Anny respectively. While Anny stopped her advance and dodged backwards, Filian instead sped up. She leapt behind the rockwoman and went straight for Jimmy.

"Hey mohawk man! Taste fi-whoa!" Before Filian was able to serve a helping of knuckle sandwich, the rockwoman she passed by grabbed her by the collar and flung her back. Filian rotated mid-air and managed to land on her feet.

Cerber recovered and went for the other rockman, the same one who grabbed her earlier. She patted one of her pockets, then remembered that her switchblade was teleported away. Gritting her teeth, she instead raised her wrench. She intended to hit the rockman's knees, but the massive fist heading her way put a stop to that plan. The kestrel shook from the fist's impact. As the rockman pulled his fist, Anny's blaster fire hit him in the face. 

Free from the melee, Jimmy kept blasting whoever he could. However, he didn't see Filian spring off the rockwoman's chest towards him. His startled reaction prevented him from dodging a knee to the face. Filian was about to rip further into him when the ion stunner hit the weapon control room. The yellow-ish energy ball released electrical pulse into the room, stunning everyone in it.

The rocks, innately more resistant to stunning, recovered first. The rockwoman picked up Filian from Jimmy and tried to restrain her movements. However, Filian managed to recover before her movements are fully locked and kicked off the rockwoman's body. Anny, however, was picked up easily. The rockman let out a deep, rumbling laugh before a wrench to the back of the knee threw off his balance. He was forced to drop Anny before he himself plummet to the floor. 

Evil did her best to aim her shots, but she had to admit that her shots were far more accurate when Anny and Filian were involved. The slaver ship was adept at the 'flies behind you' maneuver, and Evil had a hard time with nobody at the kestrel's helm nor the weapon system that could keep up with the slaver ship. Had either Anny or Filian been on their post, Evil could focus on just controlling one aspect of the kestrel. However, her attention was now split in a way the processing power of her little box wasn't good enough to handle. "If only I had more processing power, I would've blasted you long ago!" Evil shouted in frustration.

Back in the weapon control room, Filian had hopped onto the rockwoman's shoulders and tried to strangle her using her thighs. However, she had to abandon the approach when rockman kicked Cerber away and swung a fist her direction. Cerber slammed into the wall, but still managed to get up with Anny helping her. Anny shot multiple times at the rockman to drive him back, but then noticed that Jimmy had stopped firing. She saw him holding a hand to his ear, then swiftly exited the room. She recognized what the behaviour meant.

"Stun Bomb!" Anny shouted, dragging Cerber out as yet another stun bomb was teleported in. Filian also managed to escape the room. The two rocks, however, were too slow to escape the blast.

"Take this, mothertrucker!" Filian re-entered the room with a dropkick. She hit the rockwoman hard on the chest. In her stunned state, the rockwoman was unable to react and fell to the floor. Anny and Cerber went into the room shortly after. At the same time, Jimmy also entered, guns blazing. But before any of his shots hit anything, Anny retaliated with her own blaster. Jimmy howled in pain as the blaster bolt hit his hand, causing him to drop the blaster. 

"Here comes the spaceship! Open wide!" Filian leapt at Jimmy to serve her long awaited knuckle sandwich. Jimmy tried to retaliate by throwing Cerber's switchblade using his other hand. The switchblade missed by a mile and clattered to the floor as Filian got ever closer. However, Jimmy's form dissipated as he was teleported back to the slaver ship along with the two rockmen. Having lost her target, Filian continued on her path and faceplanted into the wall.

"Owie..." Filian slowly got up, clutching her face. "My nosies.." Filian turned back, nursing her... perfectly fine nose despite of her ramming into the wall at full force.

"Hey, they stopped firing!" Evil's voice came from the weapon terminal. "And they're trying to hail us."

"What could it be now..." Anny sat down on the floor, trying to catch her breath. "Patch us in." Evil obliged and accepted the hail.

"Heh, alright, alright. I admit you ladies are strong." Hendrix came back on the screen, flanked by the two rockmen and Jimmy behind him, nursing his broken hand. He clapped in amusement. "Now why don't we stop trying to kill each other? As a tribute, we'll give you one of our slaves."

"Are you joking!?" Anny bristled in anger. "Release them all!"

"Or what? You blow us up?" Hendrix laughed. "Big news, fox lady! You blow us up, all the slaves go with us! You heartless enough to have that on your conscience?"

"You bastard!" Anny shouted, her face contorted in rage.

"Hey, hey, Anny." Anny's rage cooled slightly as Cerber beside her pulled on the sleeve of her jacket. "Please, let's just take it."

"But-"

"I know it's frustrating, but we'll have to take all the wins we can get." Cerber gulped a little, her mind desperately tried to blunt the sharp edges of her reply. "At least one of the slaves goes free."

"...damn it..." Anny gritted her teeth. Cerber was right, there are no way to save all of them. The best they could do was one. "Fine! We'll take it!" Anny balled her hands into fists as she forced her reply out.

"Nice doing business with you. Oy! Give them the bluey, we don't need her anyways!" Hendrix turned back to the rockwoman, who nodded and left the screen. "Please be patient." Hendrix turned back to the vidscreen with a smug look of triumph. 

"Cerber. Please, hold me." Anny's fist trembled. It's clear she was trying to hold in the desire to blow the slaver to pieces, even if it's just so the slaves wouldn't die.

After a few minutes, the sound teleportation manifested behind Anny and Cerber. Suspecting betrayal, Anny readied her blaster and Cerber her wrench. 

"Eeek!" However, the sound that came from the figure before them was neither a tiger-like roar nor a hyena-like cackle. Rather, it was a mouse-like squeak.

Curled up into a ball on the floor before Anny and Cerber was a humanoid figure. Their entire light blue body glowed like a lamp, filling the room with a soft light blue glow. They had no hair to speak of and absolutely no facial features. However, as no attack came, two lighter blue spots shaped like eyes appeared on the figure's face. Slowly, the figure uncurled itself to the height of an average pre-teen. The only article of clothing was a choker around the figure's neck.

"A zoltan." Anny murmured. She had seen a few zoltans before, but none of them had been blue colored.

"H-hi!" The zoltan spoke. It seemed like she tried to be as enthusiastic as possible. "My name is Kobo. Thank you for.. saving me I guess?"

Both Anny and Cerber had lowered their weapons. Lowering their own guard, Kobo wasn't prepared for Filian to suddenly hug her from behind.

"Hey bro! Welcome to the kestrel!" Filian cheerfully stated, arms locked around Kobo's and raising her off the ground.

"Huh? Bro? I'm a girl." Kobo struggled, clearly wasn't ready for the sudden physical affection.

"Damn it, what's with today and hard to identify races?"

"I can give myself long hair if that makes it easier."

"Please do, otherwise I might actually forget."

"Ok, Hold on." Kobo focused for a second before a protrusion appeared from the top of her head. The protrusion shot up, then curled downwards, forming a wave-like hair.

"Bro! That’s super cool!”

“Why do you keep calling me bro?”

“It’s just something I do.” Filian nonchalantly said. Kobo turned to Anny and Cerber, both of them wearing a face that said ‘you get used to it.’

"Well, it seems our transaction is done." Hendrix chimed from the vidcall. "We'll be on our way, no refunds." Before anyone could retort, the slaver ship entered FTL, disappearing from view.

“Hey, so.” Evil started, appearing on the weapon control terminal. “Was there a reason we didn’t blow them up?” Silence enveloped the kestrel. Some shocked, some terrified.

“Evil! there were other people on board!” Anny was the first to get over her shock. She immediately ran over and grabbed the sides of the terminal. “Most of them are probably civilians. They don’t deserve that kind of death!”

“So? We’re gonna let the slavers turn more people into slaves?” Evil’s avatar stared straight into Anny. 

“I…” Anny bit her lip. “ I don’t want to decide the end of someone else’s life.”

“You’ll make a terrible commander.” Evil knew no restraint with her criticism.

“Yeah.” Anny grimaced. “That's probably true.”

“Uh, Anny?” Seeing Anny suddenly downcast, Evil experienced sudden regret. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Anny patted the top of the terminal. “Oh, right! Welcome to the kestrel, Kobo.”

“Hello!” Kobo waved her hand up high.

“I’ll show you where you can stay. Do you mind bunking with Filian?”

“Filian?”

“Roommates!” Filian perked up behind Kobo, arms up with a big smile. “I don’t have to sleep alone anymore!”

“Oh, I’m… fine with it I guess?” Kobo answered, unsure. Smiling, Anny beckoned her to follow. Filian picked Kobo up and started following Anny.

“I can walk on my own, you know…” Kobo muttered, sounding defeated. Meanwhile, Filian glanced at Kobo’s neck intently.

There are no night time in space. More accurately, it is always night time. Not every jump beacon contain a nearby star system. Some beacons were just connecting points between two more interesting beacons. The beacon that the kestrel had jumped into a couple of hours ago was one such beacon. With nothing around, the kestrel crew had decided to take a rest nearby.

The kestrel had landed on a nearby planetoid, all its systems idle. Inside the kestrel, everything was silent. The cockpit lay dormant with the only sign of activity being the low hum of Evil’s box, in sleep mode but ready to reactivate at any time. The rest of the kestrel crew were in their own quarters, all of them fast asleep except for one.

Filian stirred, straining her ears. After confirming that there were no activity from the bunk above hers, she got out of her bed and stealthily peeked to the bed above. There, the sleeping form of Kobo, the kestrel’s newest recruit, lay still. 

Filian watched as the zoltan’s body lightly pulsed with every breath. Zoltans might not conventionally take any breath, but they still require oxygen to survive. Filian climbed closer to Kobo’s face. Both of Filian’s hands slowly crept up to Kobo’s neck.

With the silent hands of a professional thief, Filian unlatched the chocker that Kobo had around her neck. Bringing the choker closer, she began to inspect it. The jewel-like device in the center gave off a reddish glow.

"I knew it.” Seemingly convinced of her suspicion, Filian made her way out of the room. As the door closed behind her, the reddish glow the choker emitted suddenly winked out, having been taken far enough away from the harnessable energy that emanate from a zoltan’s body.

With a confident stride, Filian made her way towards the cockpit. Once she arrived, she pulled one of the compartments and started rummaging through it. The sound she made was enough to rouse Evil from her sleep mode.

“Filian? You’re still up?” The kestrel’s pilot vidscreen activated, Evil’s Avatar had become a regular sight on it.

“Yeah, I have something I need to do. Ah, here it is.” Filian pulled out a pretty sizable hammer from the compartment. She put Kobo’s choker on the kestrel’s metal floor.

“That’s the zoltan’s choker isn’t it?” Evil observed. “Is that where the signal was coming from?”

“So you did notice it.” Raising the hammer high, Filian brought the hammer down upon the choker. The device shattered into bits and pieces.

“Only once the ship was shut off. The sneaky little thing hid itself using the kestrel’s own signal.” Evil's gaze followed the shattered device as Filian scooped up its broken bits. “I was planning on telling you guys once you finished sleeping. Speaking of which, how could you tell?”

“I met a few guys like that slaver before, so I know a few tricks.” Filian pulled out a small plastic bag from the compartment and inserted the broken device. After that she tied the bag and left it on the pilot seat. “This is a neat little trap to punch above your weight. Fighting while drowsy is hard.”

Evil narrowed her avatar's eyes. "Filian, who are you?" Evil suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" Filian tilted her head, confused.

"At first, I thought you were just a reckless idiot, but your piloting skills are the real deal. You seem accustomed to fighting and you know a lot of things I never thought you would know." Evil voiced the thoughts she had on her mind ever since she heard her mention boarding enemy ships. The way she said it back then was as if it's a topic she knew very well. And now, with Filian matching a rockman in hand-to-hand combat and stealing a choker from a sleeping person, Evil's suspicion grew.

"I'm willing to trust you, since the others seem to. But you have a lot of shady things going on. Just saying." Through Evil's monologue, Filian stayed silent. The only indication she was even listening was a smile plastered on her face. It was a devious smile, the kind you show when you know something nobody else knew.

"Well, glad you think I'm awesome." She said in a jovial tone. "But can it wait until morning? I have to actually sleep." Evil knew full well it was a deflection...

"...Good night." Unfortunately, she couldn't think of any way to get Filian to divulge the whole story. Thus, she could only comply.

"Good niiight!" Filian exited the room, leaving Evil alone with only silence and more questions.

"Oy Hendrix, the signal from her collar disappeared. I think we lost 'em." Jimmy called out through the ship intercom. 

"Haah, that bluey really is good for nothing. Couldn’t even be a waypoint." Hendrix sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "A loss is a loss. Pack it up, boys."

"Boss! A lot of ships are exiting FTL!" One of the rocks called out to Hendrix. "It's the rebel fleet!"

Within seconds, the space around the beacon was suddenly dyed an orange hue as countless ships of rebel color jumped into the beacon. The armada had swallowed nearly all starlight, leaving only dark shadows in their wake.

"Hey, you know what? I just got an idea." Witnessing the terrifying scene, Hendrix suddenly came up with an idea. “Bring us closer.”

“You want to get closer!?”

“Trust me on this one. But charge FTL just in case.” 

Though reluctant, the rock complied. The slaver ship slowly inched closer to the orange mass of thousands of ships. Soon, the slaver ship received a hail attempt… and hundreds of weapon target locks.

"Salutations, good sir." Hendrix began with a bow as the hail connected.

"Get out of here, slaver scum! We have no need for your service!" The elite rebel captain connected to the call and scowled. It seemed he was ready to give the order to shoot.

"Ah, but I do have information that would be of great interest to you." Hendrix went straight to the point. He knew these kinds of men didn't appreciate dilly dallying. Secretly, he was grateful that the one who contacted him was a straightforward one.

For a while, the rebel elite was silent. However, a response soon came. "Keep talking."

"Recently, a federation cruiser passed us by." Hendrix flashed an obsequious smile. "I will transmit to you their last known location. We merely request passage."

"I see..." The rebel captain narrowed his eyes, trying to see through any kind of deception the slaver tried to pull. As he realized he found none, he sighed. "You have done a service to the rebellion. We will spare you just this once."

"That is all we could ask for." Hendrix inwardly leapt in joy. But outwardly, he kept a calm veneer. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll get out of your hair." The engine on the slaver ship flared and the ship jumped away.

"Sir, do you think the info is legit?" One of the elite crew asked their captain.

"Worth checking out, at least." The captain sighed, conceding that this information would be valuable if true. "Send a word to Fleet Admiral Vance."

"Sir!” The crewmember obliged and began telephoning information through the ranks until, eventually, it reached the rebel flagship.

___

“Sir. I have received a report from the forward scouts.” Neuro addressed Fleet Admiral Vance, wearing her usual smile. 

“Any important item?” Vance responded curtly, standing straight with one hand holding onto a cane. He was the picture of a perfect admiral.

“Yes. The report said that a slaver ship encountered a federation vessel in this sector.” Neuro’s avatar shifted to the right, then to the left. Even though she had the full ability to move them, her avatar’s arms remained firmly at her side.

“Class and model of ship?” Vance narrowed his eyes. By his calculations, the federation shouldn’t be able to muster any large force right now, not with the siege on the federation’s largest military base ongoing. So perhaps singular ships wouldn’t be that rare. But still, a federation ship at this sector would be severely out of position.

“The report specified a cruiser. However, the model of the ship was not included.” Neuro kept smiling, as if she knew no other expression.

“Very well.” Vance stared onwards, his gaze as fierce as a roiling storm. He knocked the metal floor with his cane, causing a loud thud. “Notify all ships to be on high alert for possible federation ambush. We are searching for that federation cruiser.”

“Affirmative. I shall distribute the information.” Neuro’s blue eyes lit up with binary. Within seconds, every single ship in the rebel fleet received the Admiral’s newest orders. The fleet moved as one, their attention now focused upon the Kestrel.

Chapter Text

"Huh? Where am I?"

An unfamiliar ceiling greeted Kobo as she woke up. As she slowly looked around, she noticed that she wasn't in her cell. Instead, her view was assaulted by an absolute wreck of a bedroom. An assortment of stuff was piled up in no particular order in the corners of the room, leaving a big empty area in the middle. 

"Oh right! I was saved!" Kobo shot up straight, her mind finally processed the events of yesterday. The slavers that had captured her accosted another ship and got trashed. 

She remembered the rockman that grabbed her by the shoulder and dropped her at the teleporter room. Then the somewhat nauseating feeling of being teleported. Then how the first thing she saw was weapons being pointed at her. Scary stuff. 

So much had changed in the period of a day that her mind was still trying to keep up. She's on a new ship with new people. She was now roommates with a white-haired girl that apparently didn't know how to clean her own room. Heck, she's in an actual room with an actual bed.

"Well, it's not like everything changed. I still have this- Huh?" Kobo brushed her neck, only to find that the object she was complaining about was no longer on her neck.

"Wh- where was it? Did someone manage to take it off?" Kobo's mind reeled. There was now nothing familiar about her situation at all.

"Thank you, Big Sis!"

"Yeah, no big deal."

The kestrel was usually silent during the moments of FTL jump. However, this time was different. Anny entered the Kestrel's cockpit to the sight of Kobo firmly attached to Filian.

"Wow, you two sure bonded fast." Though a bit surprised to see a zoltan bond so readily, Anny gave a little smile.

"Big sis Filian saved me!" Kobo turned to face Anny, however, her hand still held onto Filian's sleeve. "She removed my bomb collar!"

"It's not even a bomb collar." Filian corrected, her left arm being commandeered by Kobo meant she only had her right hand on the control stick. Anny could detect a hint of exasperation from her voice.

"I thought it was. But I don't have to worry about that anymore! Because big sis Filian removed it!"

"She's been like this ever since Filian said she removed her choker." Evil interjected, her avatar's mouth pursed. "She didn't let go of her sleeve even for a second!"

Anny giggled. It was a cute display, but she could see how it could become a problem. "Just don't overdo it, ok Kobo? If Filian tells you to stop, You must, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Ah, there you are." Cerber suddenly entered the cockpit. "Kobo, come with me for a bit." Cerber held out her hand, but Kobo made no sign of moving.

"Erm... Kobo? What did I just say?" Anny reminded Kobo.

"Huh? But Big Sis Filian didn't tell me to stop." Kobo tilted her head and answered in the most innocent voice she could muster.

"Oh, is that so?" Anny was still smiling, but her expression clearly tightened. Kobo's demeanor seemed slightly less cute now. "Filian, could you?"

"Listen to mom, Kobo." Filian jokingly asserted.

"Okay." Kobo's grip lingered for a bit longer before she let Filian's left arm go.

_____

"So, Kobo." Cerber adjusted her glasses, clipboard in hand. "Could you explain to me your greatest strength?"

"Umm, what?" Kobo looked around. Cerber and her had entered the engine room and Cerber locked the doors. Kobo sat on a chair that was prepared for her while Cerber sat on one directly opposite to her. "What's going on?"

"We're determining your placement." Her pen tapped on the clipboard.

"Placement?"

"Surely you didn't think you could just mooch off us without doing any work, do you?"

"N-No..." Kobo answered. The light spots that were her eyes wandered somewhere else, never meeting Cerber's gaze.

"Good." Cerber clicked the pen, revealing the tip. Whether she didn't notice Kobo’s hesitation or just didn’t care wasn't said aloud. "Let's start again."

"My greatest strength, right?" Kobo repeated the earlier question. She didn't think long. "Cleaning!" Kobo shouted proudly. Her body language showed that she was quite pleased. However, her puffed chest deflated back as several seconds of silence followed. 

"Is... that it?" Cerber asked, a concerned frown still on her face.

"W-well... that was all I was allowed to do." Kobo shifted uncomfortably, as if some great secret shame of hers had been revealed. That didn't last long as she perked up once more. "Oh! I suppose I know a bit about engine operations."

"Why didn't you start with that?"

"Well, I mostly just watched."

"Just watched?"

"Yeah! My cell is in the engine room, so I sometimes see them operate it! There's also two other zoltans there, so I'm not too alone!" Another silence followed. 

"Wow, those bastards just get worse and worse, don't they?" Evil commented from the side. Her avatar had appeared on the engine room terminal.

"I was told that's how it usually is. They even do it on Federation ships!" Kobo threw out another line with the confidence of a diva during a musical.

"I mean... you're not wrong...." Now it's Cerber's turn to shift in discomfort.

"Wait.. WHAT!?" Evil wasted no time announcing her surprise. "You guys do it!? I thought you were the good guys!"

"No! they are not in a cell if you're wondering! Those zoltans are willing volunteers who are part of the crew and..." In the middle of the monologue, Cerber noticed that Kobo had stared upon her and Evil with the same morbid fascination as watching cats about to fight. It looked like she wanted to stop the two, but was too scared to go between them. "Okay, why don't we save this for later?"

"Fine, but I expect a full explanation!" 

"Hey guys, Strap in! We're almost there!" During the chaotic moment, Filian's face also appeared on the engine room terminal.

"Filian! Did you know that using zoltan as power source is normal!?" Discovering a new outlet, Evil unleashed her question.

"Huh? Oh, that whole thing?" Filian tilted her head for a second before she seemingly remembered something. "Yeah, it's kinda a weird punishment, isn't it?"

"Punishment?

"Bro! Apparently in their homeworlds being sentenced to sit around in a power reactor is a thing. Isn't that crazy!? That's not even a punishment!" Triggered by the question, Filian went into a tirade.

"Huh?"

"Well, anyway. We're exiting FTL soon, so you guys might want to hurry it up, byeee." Filian's face disappeared from the engine room terminal. Leaving the three still in the room completely gobsmacked.

"Hold on, I need a minute." Evil's avatar started moving again. 

"That's fair." Cerber took a breath she didn't know she was holding, then turned her attention to Kobo. "Kobo, you stay in the engine room, I'll teach you engine operations."

"Huh? Oh! Roger! Or, something like that." Kobo responded. She tried to perform a salute, but it's clear she was unfamiliar with the procedure.

The kestrel exited FTL next to the jump beacon. From out the cockpit window, Filian could immediately see a remarkable view. Two stars, one blue and one yellow, danced around each other in a binary star system.

"Guys, You see this shit?" Filian's grip on the control stick loosened slightly, entranced by the view.

"Filian! Focus!" Evil's shout broke Filian out of her trance, alerting her to the warning from the ship sensors. "One ship! Right above us!"

Heeding Evil's warning, Filian put max power into the engines and sped up, causing two heavy laser shots to miss the kestrel. Filian checked the sensors and saw a bright red ship shaped like a croissant pull itself from the dive and fly straight towards the kestrel. 

"Mantis!" Filian exclaimed, recognizing the unique shape of a mantis ship. Grabbing the control stick, Filian sped up to try to outrun the mantis ship. However, the sound of teleportation signaled the futility of the effort. 

"Evil! You fly!" Filian said as she front-flipped out of the pilot seat. A split second later, two sharpened claws dug into the pilot seat, right where her neck would have been. She put as much distance as she could inside the cramped cockpit. 

Seeing that the sneak attack failed, the mantis dislodged their claws from the seat, leaving a nasty gash as the mantis' serrated claws dragged across it. Filian studied the man-sized praying mantis, wary of anything it might try next.

"My name is Leikonkraaaglikha!" The mantis raised their claws. "Tekkli, human!" With a swiftness nearly beyond Filian's own, the mantis leapt towards Filian claws first. Filian rolled over the pilot seat as the mantis' claws came down, denting the floor. Filian grabbed one of her ankles, which bled slightly. 

"Yeah, tech-lee to you too!" Filian went in for a punch, but had to retract her fist before the mantis' claws had the chance to close around it. The kick she did right after managed to hit the mantis on the shoulder joints, eliciting a yelp from the insect.

While Filian was having a deathmatch with the mantis, Anny clicked her tongue in frustration. The moment she saw the teleporter room, she had tried to shut it down before any teleporting could be done. Unfortunately, the artemis missile was too little too late. The positive side was now that the teleporter was disabled, no more teleporter shenanigans could happen until they fixed it. The negative side, of course, was the mantis on the ship. 

Lasers sped past the kestrel, only occasionally hitting the shield. A heavy laser shot slammed into the airlock, causing fire to break out. Acting quickly, Evil opened the airlock door, depriving the fire of oxygen and snuffing it. 

Back in the cockpit, Filian wasn't doing too great. She hadn't caused that much meaningful damage to the mantis. The mantis, however, had exhausted her. Filian could feel her breaths get shallower and shallower as she expended most of her energy dodging the mantis’ deadly claws. She had multiple bleeding wounds. Though none were serious, the wounds on her legs were clearly slowing her down.

"You know mantis kata, human? How surprising." The mantis chittered. Ordinarily, any human that got to this point would already be dead. However, this one showed familiarity with the way mantis fights.

"Sorry, guys! I gotta fall back!" Filian sped past the mantis, getting a painful gash on her abdomen as the mantis' claw nicked her. The mantis tried to follow, but the door shut and locked behind Filian.

"Tch, coward." After a few slams, the mantis instead turned their attention to the piloting system. After a chewing motion, the mantis spat a glob of vile acid to the system, shorting it and forcing the engine into emergency shutdown due to steering loss.

"You got it?" Cerber questioned. Her hands firmly on Kobo's shoulder, who was slightly panicking.

"I... I think?" Kobo's tone was unsure. She managed to grasp the basics, but doing so in live combat was a stressful endeavor.

"Great, I have to go. Keep doing a good job!"

"You're leaving!?"

"Yup, the engine's useless if the steering is gone. So, I have to fix it."

"Wait! Help me a bit more, lah!" Having been thrown off the deep end, Kobo protested. However, Cerber already disappeared through the door.

Cerber crossed the weapon room to see Anny struggling with the weapon control. The destroyed piloting meant no help in aiming. Anny had to aim purely using the rotation of the weapon itself. To help, Evil had launched a hacking drone aimed at the mantis ship’s engines.

"I'll fix the piloting! Try to hit their weapon control!" Cerber shouted as she went past.

"Be careful of the mantis, Cerber!" Anny replied.

"I will!" Cerber continued to the medbay, where Filian was recuperating from her wounds.

"Damn, what's with that mantis!? He sharpened his claws or something!" In the medbay, Filian's wounds were already closing as the medical nanobots stitched her skin back together.

"Filian, you good?"

"Good enough. Wanna help?"

"Hopefully I won't get eviscerated." Cerber tapped her wrench to her other palm a few times. She's ready to fight. Nodding to each other, both of them charged through the door leading to the door control room.

Since the piloting was destroyed, the kestrel floated aimlessly through space. The only thing protecting it now was the one layer shield, which was woefully unqualified from defending against two heavy laser shots simultaneously. Gritting her teeth, Anny waited for the mantis ship to pass the kestrel. Evil sent a signal through her hacking drone and the mantis ship’s thrusters suddenly deactivated. Unhindered by the ship’s mobility, Anny fired the burst laser into the weapon control room. Anny glanced at the upgraded sensor array to see that a fire had broken out in the mantis ship’s weapon control room.

"Alright. That's their weapons down." Anny let out her held breath. 

"Hopefully Cerber could repair the piloting before it goes back up." Evil watched another mantis order an engi, most likely a slave that the mantis grabbed to maintain their ship, to repair the weapons. It seemed the engi adamantly refused and the mantis had to drag them along.

Cerber and Filian entered the door control room at the same time as the mantis, who had broken through the opposite door by using their strength to overpower the door’s pneumatic locks.

"So you brought a friend, human. No matter! More fun for me!" The mantis raised their claws once again. "For Leikonpliiinakra!"

Flilian moved ahead of Cerber, opening with her standard flying kick. Gliding on four legs, the mantis dodged the flying kick and went for Filian’s neck. A wrench to the joints caused the mantis to miss their attack. As the mantis turned to deprive Cerber of her arms, they took their eyes off Filian, who bounced off the opposite wall and managed to land a solid kick to the back of their head.

“Krrrr! You!” Now absolutely pissed off, the mantis grabbed Filian’s legs mid air. Filian screeched as she felt the mantis’ sharpened claws dig into her calves. Cerber moved in to help Filian, but the mantis’ other claw swiped at her, giving her a slight haircut. Had she not ducked, the cut would be around her neck. Her wrench flew out of her hand as one of the mantis’ legs kicked her with surprising strength, nearly stabbing through her.

Anny and Evil was having a grand old time trying to suppress the weapon system from firing again when something unexpected happened.

"Huh? they are... hailing?" The words Evil had said was so unexpected, the three brawlers in the door control room stopped fighting and stared at the vidscreen in that room.

"Unidentified Ship. You killed the other mantis on board with your barrage." On the vidscreen was an engi Anny and Evil saw taking orders from the mantis. On the corner of the video, a corpse of a mantis was seen. "No one to supervise = No longer a slave. Will take this ship back to home sector. Take these as a reward." With the announcement, The mantis ship dispensed some scrap into the void and started to charge up FTL.

"Hey! Machine bastard! I am still here!" Recovering from their shock, the surviving mantis angrily clicked.

"Generating insult… You can't get me, stupid poo poo face." With that last monotone remark, the call ended. The mantis chittered what must be some colorful mantis profanities as their stolen ship jumped into FTL.

"Idiot backstabbing machines! I knew they couldn’t be trusted!” While the mantis was focused on the vidscreen, Cerber tried to swing her wrench at the mantis’ head. However, the mantis was good enough to catch it.

"You're the one that took an engi as a slave." Cerber retorted. She tried to pull away, but the mantis wouldn’t let go of her wrench. "So, isn't this situation, you know, on you?"

"Fine! I guess I just have to take over this ship, then!" The mantis immediately went for Cerber, their raised right claw gleaming like a reaper’s scythe under the kestrel’s bright light.

"Bro, you mantises really don't know when to stop, do you?" The mantis forgot one important thing: using both hands to deal with Cerber meant they weren’t holding onto Filian. Using the fire extinguisher in the room, Filian bashed the mantis’ head hard. The mantis dropped like a fly smacking into a lamp.

“Filian, are you okay?” Cerber slipped into Filian’s right and supported her bleeding calf.

“I’ve seen better days.” Filian weakly laughed. “Can you bring me to the medbay?”

The kestrel crew sans Cerber sat around a table in a room adjacent to the kestrel’s cramped kitchen. Anny had distributed today’s ration bars. Unlike the canary, the kestrel’s ration bars were the bigger, more expensive ones that Filian requested. These ones were the size of a typical lunch box and had better defined ingredients.

“You think that wasn’t an ordinary mantis?” Anny said as she took another dainty bite of her own ration bar.

“Yeah, never heard of a mantis sharpening their own claws before. Maybe it’s a recent thing.” Filian said. Her ration bar was gone after the first few bites, though the remnants could still be seen around her mouth.

"The bastard melted the wires." Cerber appeared through the doorway, wiping her sweat. "We're lucky the irreplaceable bits are military grade." She made her way to the table and swiped the ration bar Anny waved at her. She swiftly unwrapped the plastic cover and began chomping.

“Speaking about the mantis, where are they?” Anny asked.

“Big sis Filian threw them out the airlock.” Kobo shoved the ration bar onto her face. Slowly, the bar sinks into her like it’s being consumed by an amoeba.

“What can I say? I’d sleep more peacefully without a mantis that could slash my neck while I’m sleeping.” Filian nonchalantly said. Not even a twitch was seen on her cat ears.

“That’s… fair. We don’t have a brig. Nothing to restrain a mantis either.” Anny’s ears drooped at the thought. “Still, a bit cruel, don’t you think?”

“That kind of thinking is weak.” Evil finished her analysis of the kestrel’s systems and rejoined the conversation. “Nothing is cruel if it’s for your own survival.”

“I still think there are lines you shouldn’t cross.” Anny sighed. “I think I’ll set aside some scrap to buy restraining gear.”

“You are a kind idiot.”

“Evil, that’s mean.”

“No, that’s a fact. But it’s not my place to tell you what to do.” After saying her piece, Evil displayed the sector map on the nearby terminal. “Alright, where to next?”

“We never asked the location of the station the canary was going to, did we?” Anny lamented.

“You wanna search for it? I think there’s still time until the rebel fleet sweeps over the-” Filian stopped as one of the beacons suddenly lit up. "Guys, there's another distress signal. It just popped up.”

"If that is genuine, then we should help them.” Anny, quick on the uptake, Immediately made a decision.

“I knew you’re going to say that.” Evil’s avatar appeared back on the screen. “I’ll set the FTL to that beacon.”

“Alright, lunch is over.” Anny pushed herself up and wolfed down the rest of her ration bar. “We have people to save.”

“Right now?” Kobo questioned, still halfway through her own bar.

“Right now. We can’t afford to waste even a seond.” With that, Anny left the room. Filian, having finished her own lunch long ago, followed suit. Cerber grabbed Kobo, who was still confused, by the shoulders and led her back to the engine room.

As the kestrel crew returned to their position, Evil noticed the somber look on Cerber’s face as she looked upon Anny.

The kestrel once again exited FTL, as it had done time and time before. A planetary body was visible the moment the light tunnel disappeared. A lush and green planet, it looked like, perhaps full of life that had not yet comprehended the vast expanse of the universe and how to travel it. 

Evil immediately scanned every single inch of the nearby area, as she had done every time the kestrel exited an FTL jump. Her scan landed upon one ship colored in the white hue of the federation, much like the kestrel’s own white hue, hiding in a nearby asteroid cluster. The missile weapons attached to the ship lay dormant. Either their weapon system was broken or they had run out of ammo.

“Hey! That’s a federation ship!” Cerber remarked. “Why is it out here? I thought all federation forces were pulled to sector FDB-17.”

“Evil, send out a hail.” Anny commanded, but before Evil even had the chance to reply, the kestrel’s sensors lit up.

“One ship inbound!” Filian warned as a ship suddenly arrived at the beacon. “Hey, that’s…” 

The ship that arrived was green in color, with several circular marks that glowed bright yellow. The unusual bulbous shape, looking like several ships stitched together, gave off an oddly beautiful impression. As the ship finished exiting FTL, a greenish-yellow shield enveloped the entire ship.

“That’s a zoltan ship.” Anny finished Filian’s sentence.

"This is Kantor of the Zoltan Ministry Vessel DI-70S." A wide-band hail came from the zoltan ship. Evil didn't even have to connect to it. "The ship you are currently harboring are fugitives. Please stand by and let us do our work. After this, we expect you to come with us to explain your involvement." 

"What do we do?" Kobo squeaked, clearly at a loss.

"If it's not for long, we could just avoid the hassle and go with them." Cerber mentioned. Her hands massaged Kobo’s hard light body to try to calm her down, though it was unknown if Kobo actually felt it.

"What? No! We can't afford any delays!" Evil shot down Cerber’s suggestion. "The fleet could be here any minute!"

"Guys, we can't let them get us." Filian interjected, biting her lip.

"Is something the matter?" 

"Our hacking system is zoltan made." Filian reminded the rest of the crew. "They find out it's not registered, we're going away for a long time."

"I knew that hacking system would bring trouble." Anny covered her face with both her palms. Her fears were proven to be well founded. As her head swam with thoughts on how to proceed, however, Evil spoke again.

"There's another hail attempt. It's from the other ship!" Evil immediately patched the call to the kestrel. The cockpit of the federation ship came into view.

"Oh! Mysterious kestrel! You have to help us!" On the vidscreen was a young woman. Her long hair was bright pink and tied into two small pigtails on the side. She wore the standard grey jumpsuit and purple jacket of a Federation captain.

"We're not fugitives! The Zoltans must have mistaken us for another ship! They wouldn't listen!"

"Well, we can't just leave them, can we?" Evil made a remark, but then a cold feeling started to take hold of her. "Anny?" Evil flinched. Anny's ears were up and her expression shadowed.

The predatory Anny was back.

“Cerber.” Anny’s voice was deep and growling, like a starved wolf.

“Anny, are you su-”

“Cerber!” Anny repeated, her voice more frenzied.

“...I’ve powered both weapons.” Cerber replied over the intercom, her voice somewhat strained. Both the kestrel’s artemis missile and burst laser II were trained upon the zoltan ship.

"This is a warning. We are authorized to use lethal force for any resistance. Please stand down." Detecting hostility from the kestrel, the zoltan ship sent out a warning.

"Lethal force? I thought the zoltans were a peaceful and diplomatic lot?" Evil pulled from what little memory she had.

"Yeah, but they are also stuck-ups with a peacekeeping force." Filian replied, her tone suggested familiarity. "Trust me, if someone can be diplomatic, then they can do a lot worse."

"Final warning, Kestrel." Seeing the kestrel not backing down, the zoltan ship started to power up its own weaponry. A heavy ion on one side and a pike beam on the other.

“Artemis missile locked! Fire!” Evil got the first shot off. The missile soared to the zoltan ship, colliding with the greenish-yellow barrier. Evil expected the missile to go through unopposed, striking the weapon system. However, the missile instead exploded against the barrier, leaving the zoltan ship unscathed. “Wha!? It didn’t go through?”

“Is your memory corruption that bad, Evil?” Filian pushed the control stick forward, causing the kestrel to zoom past the zoltan ship. The zoltan ship put power to their own thrusters and started the pursuit. “If so, then I present to you the Zoltan Shield. Missiles? Drones? Teleportation? None of those goes through. We’ll have to break through it first.”

“What the!!? That’s so unfair!” Evil said, firing the burst laser. Three laser shots impede the zoltan ship’s pursuit, but only one of the shots actually hit.

“Luckily, it takes a lot of energy to regenerate.” Cerber joined through the intercom, Kobo could be heard struggling in the background. “If we could break through it, they won’t be able to get it back up.”

“Incoming!” Evil warned as the zoltan’s heavy ion fired. An electric ball slammed into the shield, which promptly winked out. “Level two Ion buildup on shields!”

“Everyone! Brace!” Filian tried a hairpin turn to confuse the zoltan’s targeting system. However, no matter how skilled a pilot is, nobody could fully dodge a beam weapon.

The pike beam ripped through the kestrel. From the engines, through the weapon system, and all the way to the currently ionized shield system. 

“Kobo! Surprise lesson! I’ll teach you how to fix the engines.” Sensing her Kestrie-wan’s crippled systems, Cerber acted immediately.

“Huh!? Huh!?” Kobo’s light eyes spiraled, completely overwhelmed.

“You see this red light? That’s bad. We want to make it good. So, we look for… there!” Cerber soldered a severed connection and the engine flipped back to full power. “And that’s how you do it!”

“I got nothing from that!”

“Sorry, I’ll do a proper lesson once nobody is bombarding us!” Cerber hurriedly left to repair the other damaged systems.

“You’re leaving me again!”

Cerber passed through the weapon control room. Inside, she could see Anny was already trying to repair the weapon system. However, her movements were erratic and feral, trying to shove things back together instead of fixing. Her hands trembled as she mumbled curses, frantically trying to reconnect the cables severed by the beam weapon. Cerber glanced at the system report to discover the power wasn’t even off. Acting quickly, Cerber went to turn off the weapon power before Anny could hurt herself. 

“Leave it!!!” Cerber flinched from Anny’s screech. “I can do this! Keep firing!” Cerber glanced at Anny. Once she saw Anny’s bloodshot eyes, however, Cerber knew what to do. Grip steady, she tapped on her tablet and the weapon power switched off.

“Cerber! Why!?” Anny growled. “I almost got it! I-” 

“Bloody hell! Anny! Calm down!” Cerber stood over Anny and grabbed her hard by the shoulders. Her violet eyes locked into Anny’s.

“This is not the time for this! Stand over there! And let! me! do! my! JOB!” Cerber’s screaming seemed to have awakened Anny from her trance. She was able to see herself, on the kestrel’s floor, with one of her best friends grabbing onto her shoulders. Anny’s ears drooped down and she weakly nodded. Before Cerber was able to begin, another pike beam bisected the kestrel, hitting the piloting; sensor; and shield. The kestrel’s shield powered down. 

“I have to go repair the shield.” Cerber released Anny’s shoulders and began walking away, leaving Anny on the floor. “Don’t ever try that again.” Anny could only nod as Cerber exited the room. 

“Anny!? A little help over here!” Evil chimed from the weapon control terminal.

“Ah! Right!” Anny grabbed the weapon controls, now significantly calmer than before.

_____

Cerber replaced the last of the damaged connectors, reactivating the sensor array. Another ion ball approached the kestrel, threatening to ionize the shield once more. However, the kestrel’s engine reactivated and dodge the ball at the last second. 

“Cerber! Piloting is back!” Filian yelled from the cockpit. “I’ll try to get behind some asteroids to give us time!”

“Thank you, Filian!” With all systems repaired, Cerber went back to the weapon system to check on Anny. The moment Cerber showed herself, Anny immediately grabbed her.

“Cerber, what do we do?” Anny’s voice was calm. However, from the strength of Anny’s grip on her, Cerber could tell she’s starting to panic. “If the shield keeps getting ionized, we can’t defend against the pike beam.” 

“There is… one method I could try.” Cerber tried to keep her voice as calm as possible. “The heavy ion keeps ionizing the shield because it protects us. But what if the shield wasn’t there?”

“Where are you going with this?” Anny gulped.

“If I turn off power to the shield before the ion hits it, I should be able to turn it on again before the pike beam fires.” Cerber finished her thoughts. She could already see the doubt in Anny’s eyes.

“The timing for that will be impossibly tight.”

“Yes, but it’s the only way I could think of.”

“And you still have to repair the ship.”

“I know…” Cerber gulped. The timing must be done without error. Otherwise, the whole method falls apart. Not to mention that the weapon system is currently down. She had to repair it if they were to fight back. It’s an impossibly daunting task for a human like her. 

As Cerber slowly came to dread the task ahead of her, a voice spoke up.

"Cerber, may I have permission for managing the kestrel's power?" Evil offered.

"What?"

"I can't touch the kestrel's power system without your permission, right?" Cerber’s eyes widened. "So I'm asking now. Without having to manage it, you can focus on repairs."

Cerber was silent. The part of her that recalled Anny’s words regarding giving Evil a chance warred with the other part of her that did not want to trust her. Her internal struggle was interrupted by sounds from the intercom.

“The federation ship! The zoltan is attacking it!” Filian shouted through the intercom. Through the sensor array, the three could see the zoltan ship chasing the federation ship with its ion and beam. Anny growled as she saw the massacre, her eyes bloodshot once again.

“Alright, Evil!” Cerber gritted her teeth. She knew this was the only choice. “I give you permission to manage Kestrie-wan’s power!”

“Hell yeah!” Evil shouted in triumph. Her eyes lit up as the kestrel appeared from its hiding place.

The zoltan ship, recognizing the greater threat, broke off and engaged the kestrel. The zoltan’s heavy ion spat first.

“Heavy ion. Turning off the shield in three, two, one.” The moment before the heavy ion hit, the kestrel’s shield disappeared. The ion ball instead sailed forth and hit an empty room. 

“Turning on the shield in three, two, one.” Just as the pike beam fired, the kestrel’s shield turned back on, absorbing the beam.

Cerber worked as fast as she could, reconnecting every cable and rechecking that every cable was connected to the right place. The moment she powered both weapons, Anny was ready on the controls.

A hail of fire assaulted the zoltan ship. The artemis missile crashed into the zoltan shield, then the three burst laser shot. Within seconds, the zoltan shield was down. 

The zoltans tried to change their tactics, firing the heavy ion and the pike beam at the same time. However, their aiming system suddenly went haywire. Their weapons powered down for a second, losing their charge. Evil’s avatar smiled as she executed the well timed hacking. Another round of fire destroyed the zoltan’s sensor and their weapon system.

_____

"Sir! We are taking unprecedented damage!" A zoltan addressed their captain through the intercom. Although the zoltans only have eyes on their face, their panic could clearly be seen.

"Abandon the query for now. Let us retreat." The zoltan officer balled his fist. It wasn’t often that a ship lasted long enough to do this kind of damage.

"Charging FTL." Pushed into the corner, the zoltan ship decided to flee. The signature burst of energy that accompanied the charging of FTL wasn’t missed by Evil.

"They are charging FTL! we have them on the ropes!" Evil warned. Anny guided the weapon system upon the zoltan ship. But before she fired, Cerber grabbed her by the arms.

“Anny.” Cerber put one of her hands above Anny’s tightened grip. “Calm down, don’t do something you might regret later.” 

Anny was silent. Cerber gently released Anny’s fingers from the terminal and placed it by her side. With their eyes locking, Anny finally calmed down.

"I..." Clarity sparked on Anny’s eyes. She turned towards the terminal. "Evil, stand down." 

"Huh? Why? We almost had them." Evil was surprised, but held fire. 

"This... this is not right. The zoltans. They didn't do anything wrong."

"What do you mean!? They attacked us!" Free from the hail of fire, the zoltans finished charging their FTL. A bright light enveloped the ship as it entered FTL jump.

"Actually, we attacked them." Filian chimed in. "They warned us, like, two times."

“Incoming hail.” Evil connected the hail from the federation ship. 

“You did it! You scared them off!” The pink haired woman reappeared on the vidscreen. As she was practically hugging the camera, only her face was visible.

Evil settled to her usual position of passive observation. However, she was interrupted by the power to the engines turning on and off. Annoyed, Evil turned her focus to the engine terminal to see what was wrong only to be greeted by the sight of Cerber shoving Kobo out of the room.

"Evil, why did you do that?" Cerber turned to the terminal after locking the door. She had a serious look plastered onto her face.

"Do what?" Evil, having no idea what Cerber was talking about, could only tilt her head.

"Asking me for permission! We could've died there! You could have just taken over, why did you ask for permission!?" Cerber suddenly shouted. Evil was stunned. Never would she have guessed that such a thing would be a big deal. Fortunately, she already had her answer.

"Well, if I didn't it would disrespect you, wouldn’t it?"

"Huh?" The plaster that held Cerber’s serious face melted, turning her expression into confusion.

"Okay, listen. I might not sound like it, but I do respect you a bit. You've done a great job preventing this ship from blowing up. And I have to admit, that stunt you pulled with the rockman was awesome. I never thought you could do that." Cerber listened to Evil intently as she prattled off.

"But you seem to really, really hate me. So I hate you as well. But Filian said the other day that if you want people to play nice with you, you play nice yourself." Evil ended with a smile. No matter how hard Cerber searched, there was no malice to be found in this smile. "So, that was me playing nice. Did I do a good job?"

Cerber was silent for a little while, trying to digest everything Evil told her. This was the first time Evil even talked about respecting her. Not only that, it seemed Evil had respected her, however tiny that respect was, from the beginning. It also made Cerber realize that…

‘I… didn’t respect her at all. All that she had done and not an ounce of respect for it. Damn it! It’s the exact thing my parents warned me about!’ The realization hit her like a hermes missile to the face.

‘Heh, looks like I’m the villain here. Well, time to fix that.’ Cerber's expression shifted into a teasing grin. "Eh, passable."

"That really the best you can give me?" Evil’s smile turned teasing, still maintaining good humor.

"Maybe it could be higher, I'll have to see how you act from now on." Cerber shot back with her own good natured banter. The walls between them had fallen.

"Oh boy, I have to be a little angel all the time?"

"Not all the time, I know a little devil like you have a hard time playing angel." Cerber flicked the camera attached to the terminal. "So just sometimes."

"You know what, I can work with that."

"Fantastic." 

“I- I wasn’t eavesdropping!” Kobo’s muted voice came from the other side of the door. After that, a knock sounded at the door.

"Umm, hello? Are you two good now?" Anny’s voice struggled into the room. 

"Good enough." The two said simultaneously.

"That's good." Anny’s voice was soft. Only Kobo bore witness to the relieved smile Anny had on her face. "Can you come to the cockpit real quick? We could really use you"

"What happened?"

"Well..."

_____

"Please! Mysterious kestrel! You have saved us from certain doom!" The pink haired woman was in tears.

"Okay! Yeah! You've said that five times already!" Filian was panicking from the woman's constant gratitude.

"If there is anything you want! Anything at all, just ask!" 

"We told you. You can just fix up our hull a bit and be on your way!"

"Nonsense! This kind of occasion deserves a grander gesture of gratitude! Please, you may ask for anything."

"Soo, yeah." Anny shot a distressed side eye to the dazed Cerber. Were this some form of cartoon, a large drop of sweat could certainly be seen on Anny. "Cerber, what do we actually need?"

“Oh, I know exactly what we need.” Snapping out of her daze, Cerber confidently walked forwards. "Say, good madam. Do you by any chance have some spare hard-light projector?”

“Hard light projectors? We have those! Lots of those! Do you want them!?” As if witnessing the angel of salvation descending from the heavens, the eyes of the pink haired woman lit up.

"Fantastic! Could we have some of the model W. A model TX, and.." Cerber started prattling off, but then she noticed the look of confusion on the captain. "You know what? I’ll just send the pictures."

"Very well, We'll send it your way along with the repairs as gratitude!" The woman animatedly does the federation salute.

The transfer of goods went swimmingly, especially since the federation ship turned out to have a teleporter. After saying goodbyes, the federation ship flew away. 

“Another group of people saved.” Filian stretched her arms. “God damn! We’re on a roll!”

“So, which beacon are we going to next?” Evil once again displayed the sector map.

“Actually…” Anny glanced outside. “Evil, could you scan the asteroid cluster? It seems pretty safe for us to salvage in.

“Scanning…” Evil’s eyes lit up as she expanded the sensor range. “Some of the asteroids here have useful compositions. We could use it as alternative FTL fuel.”

“Great!” Anny cheered. “Then let’s get salvaging!”

"Whew. I think they bought it." The pink haired woman said after making sure the communication was cut completely. Although the woman wore a standard Federation uniform, the accoutrements around said uniform was anything but regulation. Her ears sported a pretty large pair of white ear piercings. A purple sticker shaped like a diamond was just below her right eye and a white heart sticker just below her left. Even though she already wore a jumpsuit, both her arms were covered with long clawed gloves, black in her right and white on her left.

The woman was feeling pretty good about herself. That is, until she received a solid punch to the head.

"OW! What the hell, Wilson!? Didn't you know attacking a superior officer nets you a court martial!?" The woman turned back to find an orange haired man in standard federation uniform.

"I'm doing this because you wouldn't stop otherwise, Captain Camilla." Wilson crossed his arms, fist still clenched in case he needed to knock some more sense into the captain.

“What did I do wrong!?”

“First off, those hard-light emitters you gave away were nearly all our scrap.” 

"Now, now, Lieutenant. A good job deserves a good reward. That is what it means to be in the federation."

"Your 'good rewards' tend to be a tad excessive, captain." Wilson pinched the bridge of his nose. "Secondly, what were you even thinking? Cutting through a protected mining site. You know those zoltans are sticklers for rules!"

"Well maybe they should've signposted the thing better. I saw no sign it was a protected mining site." Camilla stretched her arms above her head.

"I admit the signposting could use some work." Wlison deflated, but soon puffed up again. "What is inexcusable, however, is that I WARNED you it was a protected mining site. I also warned you that the punishment is a year in prison."

“Well, they probably shouldn’t have confronted us with weapons active.”

“I wonder why. Perhaps if we stayed and explained the situation instead of IMMEDIATELY JUMPING AWAY We wouldn’t be in that situation!”

"Come now, lieutenant. A little rulebreaking never hurt anybody."

"We almost got killed!"

"Small details." Camilla leaned back on her chair while making a nonchalant gesture. This earned her another punch to the head. "OW! Why!?"

"You know, I probably should stop hitting you in the head." Wilson grabbed Camilla by the shoulders, his eyes firmly fixed on hers. "I think it's making you stupider, Captain."

"Dammit, Wilson! If we weren't childhood friends, there's no way I would forgive you." Camilla pushed him back, breaking his grapple.

“In any case, we are ready to jump whenever.” Wilson patted the sleeve of his jumpsuit, unaffected by the shove.

“Wait, didn’t you tell me the engine has problems?” Camilla questioned, but her mind was already forming the conclusion.

“I told you that so you wouldn’t try anything.” Wilson casually revealed, a thin smile creeping up to his face.

“You jerk!” Camilla stood up and rained punches at Wilson. All of her punches bounced off his toned chest."I’ll deal with you later. Right now, let's stop at the nearby station. I need a drink.” Camilla sat back in front of the piloting seat and began entering the beacon signature.

“After that, we shoot for base Z-27 at the Zoltan space. Hopefully this one still remains hidden." At the push of the button, the federation bomber entered FTL jump.

Chapter Text

“Best I can do is ten missiles for the scrap you have left.” The man behind the counter yawned, his hand playing with an old microchip that already had all its legs bent.

“Is that really the best you could do?” The pristine outfit of Lieutenant Wilson contrasted the overall shabby look of his surroundings. He truly looked like the outsider in this environment.

“Sorry. Price’s gone up the stratosphere. Ya can thank your beloved Federation for bailing on us.” The shopkeeper leaned on the table, supporting his face with his hand. Wilson could hear several pig-like snickers behind his back. He turned his head to find a couple of onlookers trying their hardest to look disinterested. 

“The Federation needs to prioritize its own survival.” Figuring out it's not worth his time to confront the hooligans, Wilson turned back to the shopkeeper.

“Yah man, heard you the first time. Ain’t gonna make the missiles any cheaper.” The infuriating snickers got louder. Wilson considered the merit of blasting the fools, but concluded that it wouldn’t bring anything beneficial aside from personal relief.

“...Fine, we’ll take it.” He also concluded that no effort on his part will give him a better price. He cut his losses before the shopkeeper lost patience and raised the price instead. 

“Pleasure doin’ business with ya.”

Wilson had lost count of how many times he had sighed since arriving on this station. As he left the shop, he trained his gaze to the crumbling scenery around him.

Volrod station used to be a pretty famous stop for passing ships. It was quite the large trading station, the space of which had been intensely fought over by a bunch of different companies. However, the war between the Federation and the Rebellion had thrown the station into chaos. 

He looked back at the shop he just went out from. The sign had long since fallen off. Not that the shop needed it, considering it was pretty much the amalgamation of all the shops that used to compete over each other.

He turned his gaze towards the sprawling shipyard. The huge space only contrasted the small number of ships that now use it. The tragedy of the station only became more apparent once he realized that most of the docked ships belonged to the station’s militia squad. 

“Yoo, Wilson!” A cheerful voice pierced the melancholic atmosphere.

“That’s Lieutenant Wilson for you, Nyatasha.” Without even looking, Wilson could already picture the annoyingly bright smile the pink furball must have had on her face. He turned towards the voice to find a pair of twitching cat ears. Looking downwards revealed long pink hair fully tied into twintails, a lovely face with purple eyes, and the exact smile Wilson had imagined.

“You know, you’ve become a hardass ever since you became a lieutenant.” Nyatasha flashed a teasing smile, then turned and walked a few steps away, her hands behind her head. “Actually, nevermind. I guess you’ve always been kinda a hardass.”

“How is the ship?” Ignoring her disrespectful attitude, Wilson asked about the task he gave her.

“A-Ok. Just finished installing the anti-hull laser.” Nyatasha said, emphasizing her remark with an A-OK gesture.

“Good, that will at least reduce our reliance on missiles.” 

“Speaking of which, how many of those did you get?” Nyatasha turned her head back.

“Ten.”

“Damn. They ripped you off hard.” 

“I cannot blame them.” Wilson dragged his fingers across the nearby railing, inspecting the dust that had built up on it through countless cycles. “This station is falling apart as it is.”

“Kinda sad, isn’t it?” Nyatasha took her eyes off Wilson and towards the station at large. Her smile took on a sad quality. “I remember the time I went to this station. Holy shit was it packed back then. You couldn’t go buy a soda or something without waiting in a line first.”

“All the more reason for us to end this war.” Pulling out the handkerchief he always had in his breast pocket, Wilson wiped his fingers clean. “If nothing else, then for the life of these common folks.” Wilson turned his gaze back towards the station and the atmosphere turned melancholic once more. Even Nyatasha was seemingly swallowed by it, as she suddenly shut up.

“Aight then. I’m going back to the ship.” Nyatasha said after a while. “At first I wanna see the station for old time’s sake, but it’s just bumming me out.”

“Send some people to retrieve the missiles.”

“Gotcha.” Nyatasha waved her hand as she walked back the way she came. However, not five steps later, Nyatasha paused her stride and turned back towards Wilson. “Wait, you’re not coming with?” 

“I have to retrieve the captain first.”

“Right. Gotta make sure Camimi didn’t get lost.” Satisfied with the explanation, Nyatasha continued walking. “Aight, leave you to it.”

“Glory to the Federation.” 

“Glory to the Federation.” 

____

After handing the overpriced crate of missiles to his coleagues, Wilson turned to a new direction. He walked past dozens of abandoned shops, a couple of beggars, and one corpse that hadn’t been attended to yet. Eventually, he arrived in front of a store that, in contrast with the lifeless shells around it, was lit with both light and laughter. 

“La Excelsior. Here’s the bar.” Wilson took in the unlit neon sign bearing the bar’s name in elegant letters. Wilson walked to the entrance and pushed open the door. “Hopefully the captain isn’t-”

“Aaaah… Damm, thaz good!” Wilson heard her loud yell before he saw her right in the middle of the bar. Camilla flopped her upper body wholly onto the table, nearly knocking her glass onto the floor. Her body then dragged backwards, slowly falling off her chair. Acting quickly, Wilson caught Camilla’s limp body in his arms.

“-Completely drunk at a time like this. Give me a break…” Wilson added another sigh to his count.

“Wilshoon. Ishalways night in spaaays!” Camilla slurred her speech as she leaned fully into Wilson. Seemingly liking the place she stumbled up into, she rubbed her cheek against Wilson’s abs.

“Come on, Let’s get back to the ship.” Tired of just constantly sighing while watching his captain get more and more belligerent, Wilson decided to take things into his own hand. He considered just bridal carrying her back to the ship. However, that would certainly start rumors. In the end, he decided to lead her by the shoulders.

“Hmm?” As he tried to lead his intoxicated captain out the bar, his eyes noticed minute movements from around the corner. Squinting his eyes, he noticed the sway of blonde hair and the twitch of cat ears.

“You. Around the corner. Show yourself.” Wilson deepened his voice, giving it a threatening edge. A chill ran up the even drunk Camilla’s shoulders, sobering her up a bit.

“Hiiihh!” A high pitched squeak accompanied the appearance of a short, blonde haired girl with cat ears from around the corner.

“A- ah! sorry!” Having been caught, Miniko bowed as deeply as she could. “I saw something shameful! I shall forget this ever happened!” After the rushed apology, Miniko turned back and started to scamper, seemingly keen on putting this experience behind her.

“Hey, wait a minute! I’m not done!” Wilson raised his voice, stopping Miniko in her tracks.

“Hiih! Yes!?” Miniko responded, her voice only getting squeakier.

“From your outfit, you’re a Federation ensign, yes?”

“Hey Whilsyn, Whozzat?” Camilla tilted her head, only now realizing they were talking to someone.

“I would like to know as well.” Wilson stared daggers at Miniko, his eyes inspecting her every behavior.

“Oh, uh, Ensign Miniko Mew at your service!” Despite her panicked state, the training ingrained into her kicked in. Miniko managed to pull off a well done Federation salute.

“Lieutenant Wilson Faraday of the Federation of United Galaxy Navy.” Satisfied with the proof that the girl was a real Federation ensign, Wilson released his grip from his blaster. 

“Heheheh. Yeurr kyuuute.” Shaking off Wilson’s hands, Camilla reached for Miniko’s ears and began pulling.

“And this mess of a woman is the captain of my ship, Camilla Inpu.” Wilson walked in-between the two and tried to pry Camilla's hands off Miniko’s ears. However, that only made Camilla pull even harder.

“Sir! A pleasure to- ow! A pleasure to meet you, Sir!” The pulling of her ears was getting very painful.

“Let us drop the formalities for now.” Wilson cut to the chase. Out of options, he elected to tickle Camilla’s sides until she released her grip. Miniko immediately retreated a few steps back, clutching both her ears.

“Why is it always the ears?”

“We didn’t see another federation ship when we came in. Which ship are you from, Miss?” Hearing Wilson’s question, Miniko locked up.

“Well, about that…”

____

“I’ll pay you the scrap up front and enough fuel to get there. Once the shipment is complete, you’ll get the rest of your fuel.” The gruff man addressed Ray.

“Thank you, we’ll make sure to deliver it.” Ray did a federation salute, but the other man just shook his head.

“Drop that, boy. The Federation won’t save you.” The gruff man said. “It's dead. The Rebellion killed it.”

“Yeah, that might be right...” Ray slowly put his hands down. Unfortunately, it was the truth that the Federation was on its last legs. “However, I believe the Federation’s ideals are alive and well.” Ray thought back to the encounter he had with the kestrel. 

“Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.” The man dismissed Ray with a shrug, ending the conversation.

Finalizing the transaction, Ray walked back to the Canary. His rockman crew was seen loading the last of cargo to the Canary’s hold. 

“Doing good, Rune!” Ray greeted the rockman with a pat to the back.

“Thank you, boss!” Rune said as he lifted the last of the boxes to his shoulder.

As he watched Rune pass the boxes to the other crew upon the ship, a strange sense of pride welled up inside Ray. Here it was, the crystallization of the Federation’s ideals, the different species of the galaxy working together towards the same goal. 

To him, it was proof that the Federation’s ideals are not just mere words. The ideal that the Federation espouses can happen. After all, was that not what he was seeing here?

“Heeeeey… Wher- whererwegoin?” A slurred speech caught Ray’s attention. Turning back, he saw a familiar face and two unfamiliar ones.

“There you are, Miniko.” Ray addressed Miniko first before turning his attention to the unfamiliar faces. “Who are these two?” Ray took a good look at the two. A pink haired woman and an orange haired man. From their outfits, they were clearly Federation officers.

“Hyy ther.” The pink haired woman responded first. Her badly slurred speech and furious blush clued Ray that she was extremely drunk.

“I am sorry for my captain’s… state.” The orange haired man apologized. “I am Lieutenant Wilson Faraday of The Federation of United Galaxy Navy. It has come to my attention that a Federation ensign was aboard your ship.”

“Yes, Miniko is an ensign. Is there a problem?” Ray crossed his arms, his expression turned to confusion.

“None whatsoever. But, as you probably know, the Federation is going through a crisis, and we need all the help we could get.” Wilson locked eyes with Ray. From his serious look, Ray could already figure out what was going on.

“Um, so…” Ray turned to Miniko as she approached him. “Mr Ray. Thank you for everything you have done.” Miniko lowered her head. Although her face was obscured by her head, Ray could detect a hint of hesitation from her voice.

“You have been very good to me, but I think it’s time for me to go. I have to continue fighting for the Federation. So… I’m here to say goodbye.” Miniko’s bow deepened. “Sorry for all the burden I have caused!”

A short bit of silence followed Miniko’s declaration. Miniko’s heart thumped with each passing second. And yet, her head remained in its position. Perhaps it was to show respect to the one she called her captain. Perhaps it was a plea to be let go.

Or perhaps she was afraid that, if she lifted her head, she would see Ray’s face. She was afraid that his face would be that of disappointment. Or worse, betrayal.

“What are you apologizing for, Miniko?” Ray’s voice flowed into her ears, lighthearted as always. “You’ve never been a burden. In fact, we were all glad to have you.”

Rattled by the voice that seemed free from any of the emotions she was expecting, Miniko gathered up the courage to lift her head. Ray’s face was his usual soft smile, though there was also a twinge of sadness. Ray knelt beside Miniko and put one of his hands on her shoulder.

“Go, Miniko. Give those rebels a good thrashing.” Ray wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Miniko hugging him with all her might.

“I’ll never forget you.” Although he cannot see her face, he could hear her silent sobs and a bit of wetness seeping into the fabric of his suit.

“Neither will I, Miniko. Neither will I.” Ray returned the hug. For a moment, there were only the two of them in the world.

"Anny! There's more over here!" Cerber waved at Anny while her other hand kept the drill she was hauling from going anywhere. 

The two of them were floating among the asteroid cluster, gathering some of the fuel alternatives that Evil scanned. The distance between each asteroid was far enough that they had no worries of two bumping into each other, yet close enough that they could still cover it with a leap.

Finding Cerber among the masses of asteroids, Anny joined her with a mighty leap. Perhaps a little too mighty, since she overshot her target a little bit. Luckily, Cerber was able to grab her tether before she went too far.

"Careful there. Don't wander too far." Cerber teased as she pulled Anny in her direction. 

"I'm not too worried." Anny said as her feet landed on the asteroid. "After all, you'll catch me if I do."

Both girls giggled, then continued with their mining expedition. Cerber cleared and broke the rocks while Anny shoved the broken up chunks into a container.

"Hey, Cerber." As Anny picked up some of the floating bits of minerals, she started a conversation.

"Yes?" Cerber, finished with drilling out the rest of the material, addressed Anny. Although Anny’s expression was hidden by the reflection of her helmet, Cerber was close enough to Anny that she could handily imagine it.

"I appreciate you talking it out with Evil." Anny started exactly the topic that Cerber guessed

"I'm glad you pushed me to." Cerber's eyes wandered to the green planet nearby. Half of it was illuminated by the nearest sun. "I... nearly fell into a hole I mustn't fall into. Evil helped remind me of that."

"Listen, Cerber. No matter who it is, no matter what it is they are making. Have some respect for the work they put into it." The voice of her father echoed in her mind. 

"No matter who it is... even a warship AI." Cerber took a deep breath, lost in the nostalgia.

"What was that?" Anny spoke up. 

"It's nothing." Cerber shook her head. She identified another batch of fuel alternative and began drilling.

____

"They look like they're having fun." Evil observed through the kestrel's sensors. The kestrel had been following both girl's movements through the asteroid cluster.

"Yeah, always had a big smile on their faces whenever they get to salvage something unusual." Filian remarked, relaxing with both her hands behind her head and both her feet up on the control panel, conveniently avoiding all the really bad buttons such as "emergency thrusters" and "tether reelback" that could turn the idyllic scene into a surprise obstacle course.

"Come to think of it, I never saw you go out salvaging with them." Evil questioned. 

"Well, someone had to guard the ship." Filian opened one eye at Evil's avatar, exuding a smug aura. "Neither you nor Koby over here can really fight off intruders."

"Hey! I can fight just fine!" Kobo suddenly perked up.

"You say that..." Filian leaned sideways and poked Kobo on the chest. "But, a stiff breeze and your hard-light body explodes violently. Ain't that right?" Kobo stepped back from Filian's finger.

"Y-yes, but I can still throw a punch or two!" Kobo put up her fists and threw a mock punch. Filian easily caught her fist. "And... and you'll also be there to protect me, right?"

"Well, if I'm there, you wouldn't even need to consider fighting." Filian released Kobo's fist, which she retracted quickly, nearly losing her balance while doing so.

"See? So it's all good!" Kobo crossed her arms, her eyes upturned in joy.

"But that just circles back to me being here, right?" Filian teased.

"Oh... yeah." Kobo deflated.

"That's alright, you guys can just keep me company." Filian reached out and patted Kobo on the head. Kobo leaned closer, seemingly enjoying the gesture.

"Filian, I think we're finished!" Cerber's voice came out of the communicator. Filian immediately took her feet off the control panel.

"Right! I'll reel you guys back, get ready!" Finding the tether reelback button, Filian made sure the coast was clear before pushing the button and watching as Anny and Cerber were tugged back to the kestrel.

Before long, the kestrel's airlock opened. Cerber helped Anny lug the suddenly heavy bag inside. They put the bag on the floor and several of the rocky minerals clatter to the kestrel's metal floor. 

"Welcome back." Evil said through the intercom. 

"Let me help!" Kobo burst out the door and began gathering some of the minerals into her hands. 

"Once this whole thing gets processed, I estimate it's good for five jumps or so." Cerber leaned upon the kestrel's walls, stretching her hand before diving back in to lift the bag.

"Incidentally, how do you process this thing?" Anny helped from the other side, carrying the bag in her arms.

"Grinding them to dust then shoving them into the engine should do the trick." Cerber confidently asserted as she slung the bag onto her shoulder, bending a bit to match the height Anny held the bag in. "We just have to be careful not to inhale any."

"Where do we put it?" Kobo asked, her arms full of the yellowish minerals.

"Let's bring it to the engine room for now. We'll deal with it later." The trio of Anny, Cerber, and Kobo disappeared into the back of the kestrel.

"Alright, while you guys do that, I'll set the course for our next jump." Filian tapped the local star chart and began scrolling through nearby beacons. "Should be two, maybe three jumps away from the exit beacon."

"Let me see that. I should be able to help." Having no physical body to help the other group, Evil instead elected to help Filian with navigating the charts.

"Thanks, appreciated." 

"Don't mention it."

The kestrel emerged from FTL to the view of a planet with two small moons. The planet looked barren, with only a minimum atmosphere surrounding it. In fact, there was no sun nearby to give external energy to it. 

"What a strange planet." Evil commented as she started scanning the planetary surface. "Looks like there was a mining base here once."

"Any life signs?" Anny asked.

"Negative." Evil concluded her scan

"I see. Then there's nothing to do here." Anny sighed in relief. "An empty beacon like this once in a while is nice. Let's relax and wait for the FTL to recha-"

"One ship inbound!" Filian's warning sounded from the intercom.

"Me and my big mouth..." Anny shook her head and groaned in frustration before picking herself back up to man the weapon control once more.

A beam of light stopped in almost the identical place to the kestrel. With the ship's model and orange hue, it was impossible to mistake the ship that just jumped in. After all, the kestrel crew found Evil in the same kind of ship.

"It's a rebel rigger!" Filian exclaimed. But immediately, she was interrupted by a burst of energy coming from the rigger. "Huh? They're charging FTL immediately?"

"They're trying to warn the fleet! Destroy them!" Having gotten permission from Cerber, Evil now exerted her authority by activating both of the kestrel's weaponry.

Sensing the unavoidable scuffle, the rigger activated their own weaponry. A single leto missile popped out of the weapon port.

"Is that it?" Filian cocked her head, clearly disappointed. "I mean, it could still damage us. But that's kinda underwhelming."

"Be on your guard! That's a rigger! That means it has-" Cerber was interrupted as, from the port beside the rigger's cockpit, a rounded object flew out. The object flew quickly towards the kestrel.

"Drones!" Evil finished Cerber's warning. At the same time, the rigger's leto missile fired. The missile crashed into an empty room between the weapon control room and oxygen room. Immediately, the room caught on fire.

"Cerber! Deal with the fire, please!" The awkward spot of the fire meant Evil couldn't easily vent it out.

"Got it!" Ignoring Kobo's groans at being left behind again, Cerber left the engine room. 

While the kestrel crew was busy with putting out the fire, the drone had reached the kestrel and began orbiting it. The drone unveiled a small laser gun and began peppering the kestrel with laser fire. Because of the kestrel's shield, however, none of the laser went through.

"You're not the only one with missiles!" With Evil's help, Anny locked the rigger as the target for the kestrel's Artemis missile. The ballistic weapon spat out a missile, firmly locked onto the rigger's engines. 

In response, another drone exited the rigger's port. But instead of assaulting the kestrel, it began orbiting the rigger. Sensing the presence of the missile, the drone unveiled its own gun, pointed it towards the missile, and shot. The laser shot hit the missile before it contacted the rigger's hull, destroying it before it did any damage.

"Crap, they have a defense drone too!" Evil balled her avatar's fist, another gesture she recently learned. 

"Evil! Deactivate the Artemis missile and put the power to the engines instead!" Anny urged Evil, but Evil shook her avatar's head.

"Wait! Let me do one more shot!" Evil took power off the medbay and put it instead into the hacking system. "I'm going to try something!"

"I don't think we have much time for experimenting." Anny gazed into the targeting computer as she fired the burst laser. One shot managed to hit the engine room, but it didn't fully shut it down. "So whatever your plan, it has to succeed."

The leto missile from the rigger hit the kestrel's shield room, disabling the kestrel's second layer of shield. With the second layer disabled, a few shots from the assault drone started to sneak through the kestrel's shield before it regenerated. One of such shots made its way to the kestrel's engine room, throwing Kobo off the terminal.

"Ah, the light is red!" Kobo recalled the surprise lesson she received. "Which means... umm... what do I do!?" Kobo panicked. Repeating what she saw last time, she opened the panel below the terminal. However, the tangle of wires meant nothing to her. That is, until she saw something sparking in the far right corner of her vision.

Cerber took a breather as she stared at the room coated in fire retardant. She quickly checked the neighboring room for any fire that might have spread. Once she was confident no fire had spread, she grabbed her toolbox and moved to fix the shield. 

"Wait!" Cerber heard the door open and a tiny blue hand grabbed around her left arm. "Big sis Cerber! Where are the tools you use to connect cables to the rectangle things!?"

"Huh? You mean this?" Cerber pulled a soldering iron from one of her pockets.

"Thank you!" Without warning, Kobo snatched the soldering iron from Cerber's hand and immediately went back through the door she came out of. The iron started to heat up the moment it came into contact with Kobo's body.

"He-hey! Where are you going with that!?" 

"I'll deal with the engines! Big sis fix the shields!"

"Huh!? But-" another laser shot went past the shield into the kestrel's hull. "Shit! No time!" Packing up her tools, Cerber ran to the shields room. A roll of solder fell to the floor, but Cerber didn’t notice.

Filian gritted her teeth as she felt the kestrel lose power to its thrusters. The rigger was getting farther and farther away while the attack drone kept up its relentless fire on the kestrel, the shots that went through its shield slowly chipping its hull.

"Guys! I think they're almost done charging FTL!" Filian noticed the way the rigger's engines started to flare. The skirmish continued, but as the distance between both ships increased, the kestrel's weaponry became more and more inaccurate.

"Evil! They're already out of burst laser range!" Anny warned Evil. "They're approaching the maximum of the artemis missile too!"

"It's now or never! Fire!" Guided by Evil, the kestrel's artemis missile spat out another rocket. As the rocket sailed close, the defense drone picked up the rocket's presence and fired. Just like before, the rocket was destroyed far before it made any kind of contact with the rigger.

What wasn't destroyed, however, was the hacking drone trailing closely behind it.

"Gotcha! Can't target two things at once, can you? You lousy drone!" Evil cheered as the hacking drone slammed into the rigger's side, gripping into it and began emitting a signal back to the kestrel.

"Connection established." Evil's eyes lit up. "You're not going anywhere." The rigger's flaring thrusters suddenly shut off without fanfare. Although the rigger was still carried by the momentum, the sudden loss of thrust allowed the kestrel to slowly catch back up.

"Great! Now we just have to-" Before Anny was able to voice her thoughts, the kestrel's thrusters came back to full power. "Huh? I thought Cerber was... Kobo!" 

"Is.. is that good?" Kobo pulled back as soon as the indicator light turned back green. Having no frame of reference, she could only rely on that one indicator light to tell if she did a good job or not.

Propelled by the newly jury-rigged engine, the kestrel caught up to the rigger before it was able to restart its thrusters. The rigger's engines were silenced by the kestrel's burst laser, sealing its fate.

The rigger shot one last missile in defiance. A missile that the kestrel handily dodged.

The kestrel overtook the rigger. As the kestrel passed above, Anny pointed the burst laser straight to the rebel's cockpit.

"We surrender!" A wide-band hail came from the rigger. The face of the ship's captain, barely an adult, appeared at the kestrel's vidscreen. "Please don't kill us!" As the kestrel flew past the rigger, the burst laser remained charged. Filian turned the kestrel back and pointed the nose at the rigger, keeping the threat present.

"This is Anny of Federation Kestrel VT-83R. Deactivate all your weapons and lay down all your arms." After a short, heart-pounding moment, The rigger’s captain returned Anny’s hail.

"R-right!" The ship captain fumbled with the controls. Before long, the rigger's missile lay dormant and their drones float lifelessly through space.

____

The kestrel was docked with the rebel rigger. Anny and Filian had stripped the rebel crew of all weaponry and were now tying their hands.

"What will happen to us?" One of the rebel crew chimed up as he held both his hands.

"We don't have a brig, so all of you will be dropped off at the next station we come across." Anny answered as she slowly looped the rope around his hand, taking care to get the rope firmly around his hand, but not to the point of being uncomfortable.

"Just like that?" 

"What? Were you expecting something more?" Filian finished her tie. Unlike Anny, Filian tied the hand behind the rebel's back. Furthermore, looped the rope taut around the rebel's feet. This creative bit of hog-tying meant the rebels Filian tied up couldn't stand and had to kneel.

"No! It's nothing!" Intimidated by Filan's presence (and perhaps her hog-tying skills). The rebel decided to shut his mouth.

While Anny and Filian were dealing with the rebels, Cerber was dealing with another situation. Her eyes widened as she opened up the engine terminal.

"Kobo, you..." Cerber's voice trailed off. Kobo had reattached the cable to the circuit board using a soldering iron... without the solder. As such, Cerber could see the melted edges of the cable itself and even a little burn in the edges of the circuit board. Thankfully, the robust nature of these parts manage to hold out.

"I'm sorry. I don't know how to do it, so I just did what Big Sis Cerber did." Kobo didn't look at Cerber. Her eyes were firmly fixed on the floor, looking like a scolded puppy.

"This is... a very sloppy job." Cerber could feel the irritation bubbling up her throat. With a deep breath, she swallowed it back down. "But it's workable. And not that bad considering you don't know the heads or tails of it."

'She just wanted to help.' Cerber repeated in her head.

"T-thank you?"

"Next time, though, just wait for me." Regardless, Cerber couldn't let her go without a warning. 

"..." 

"Listen, Kobo. Kestrie-wan, as tough as she is, could be very particular." Cerber closed the panel and turned towards Kobo. Despite their similar stature, Cerber was just a bit taller. "Systems like the circuits of the engine can be surprisingly fragile in unintuitive ways. Of course, we build redundancies into the system, but that should be a last reso-"

"Big sis Cerber..." Kobo interrupted Cerber. "I.. please teach me how to repair things!" Cerber flinched backwards as Kobo did a pronounced bow.

"You all saved me from being sold to slavery. So I want to give back to you!" Kobo's pleas crashed into Cerber with the weight of a waterfall. "But I can't give back anything right now! So please! Teach me how to fix things!"

A deep silence engulfed the room as Kobo concluded her reasoning. She was still in the same position, and likely will be until Cerber gave a response.

"Are you sure about this?" After a brief pondering, Cerber slowly responded.

"Yes!" Kobo's head shot up, eyes locking with Cerber's. Deep in those eyes, Cerber found a familiar sight. It was as if a fire was lit behind those eyes, fueled by something the possessor found important. 

Cerber was familiar with those eyes. In fact, she saw it in a mirror all those years ago when she herself decided that there had to be a better world out there, more than the world she had then.

"Then I'll give you a crash course." Propelled by the sight, Cerber nodded to herself. If that fire remained, then Cerber was sure Kobo would do well. "You better not back out."

Kobo's eyes softened at the words. Then, without warning, Kobo tackle hugged Cerber. "Thank you Big Sis Cerber! I won't!" Both of them nearly toppled to the floor together. But Cerber managed to hold on.

"So we just... sit here?" One of the rebels asked.

"Like we said, we don't have a brig." Anny addressed the rebel, a woman not too dissimilar to her in age. "Sorry we couldn't get you something nicer."

The kestrel had made another jump to another beacon. Since the kestrel had no brig, the captured rebels could not be put in their own specialized room. So instead, the four rebel crew was strewn about wildly in the kestrel's weapon control room. 

Anny swept her eyes towards each and every one of the rebels. They were a young bunch. In fact, she doubted any of them were older than her. Three of the rebels were male and one was female. Only one of the male had animal ears, that of a rabbit. All of them are clad in the standard orange uniform of the rebellion. 

"That's odd." The woman replied, her eyes narrowing. "Why would you care about prisoners of war?"

"I just happen to care." Anny knelt beside the woman so she could match her current height. "Nothing wrong with that, right?"

"Um, Could I ask a question?" The rabbit-eared rebel, the other rebel who had the "privilege" to be personally hog-tied by Filian, was the next to speak.

"Ask away."

"Is there a fifth person on this ship?" Anny immediately knew who the rebel was referring to. However, she stayed silent. "When we were being tied, we saw you and the white cat-eared one. We also saw the blonde dog-eared one and the zoltan. But I swear there's a voice that doesn't match any of you." 

 "Are you talking about me?" Evil's avatar appeared on the weapon control terminal.

"There it is!" 

"Right." Anny took Evil appearing before the rebels as tacit approval to divulge about her. "That's Evil. She is a... special case."

"That is one hell of a name." One of the other rebels, a man with clean-shaven features, joined the conversation. "Who are you?"

"My name is Evil! The greatest warship AI ever created!" Evil struck the same pose she did when she first came aboard the kestrel. 

'It's as goofy as it was the first time.' Anny kept the thought to herself. 

"...So, you're some kind of Auto-ship AI?" After a period of silence, the rabbit-eared rebel spoke up again.

"Don't you dare compare me to those primitive things!" Evil suddenly shouted. "I'm leagues more advanced!"

"Yeah, we could tell." The woman spoke up again."Warship AIs are usually less chatty and more... robot-y."

"So this is the first time all of you saw something like this?" Anny prodded. All of the rebels looked at each other and one by one began to affirm.

"Interesting." Anny filed the fact in her memory. 'So none of them knew of Evil or any AI like her.' Anny turned to face Evil's avatar, who had decided to start interrogating the rebels on random topics. 'Evil, what exactly are you?'

The kestrel continued its jump towards the unknown.

Chapter Text

"... and, well. That's how I ended up in the rebellion."

"Ah, I see. That makes sense." Anny sat cross-legged facing the rebel, trying to hold her laughter.

In the middle of the Kestrel's FTL jump, Anny and Evil had decided to interrogate the rebel prisoners they had managed to capture. After a few minutes, however, the interrogation had devolved into casual chatting.

"That's stupid! Really!?" Evil commented from the periphery. "Just because a girl thought it would be cool!?"

"H-hey! Get off my back, okay! I didn't know she was a rebel recruiter!" The rebel stammered an excuse. Anny couldn't hold her laughter back any longer.

"Honestly, Harry? Girls are your weakness." Another rebel chimed from the corner. He was the other man that Anny had tied up. As such, he and Harry were the only ones who could stand.

"Shut up, Dominic! Don't think I forgot why you got in!" Harry jerked both his arms at Dominic in his attempt to point at him.

"Whoa, man. I just thought my parents were full of shit for supporting the Federation." Dominic shrugged. "Sure, it got me nowhere good. But I still think it's better than being duped your style."

"Dude! Shut up!"

"You two seem like you get along well." As the two men began quarreling, Anny commented with a giggle. However, the two were so absorbed in their little spat, they didn't hear Anny.

"They knew each other before the rebellion put us in the same ship." Anny's head turned towards the rabbit-eared rebel as he chimed up. "They often go on lover's quarrels like this one."

"Huh? They seem like they're on each other's throats to me." Evil tilted her avatar's head, very similarly to the way Kobo did it.

"Well, Miss AI. When you're that close to someone, you sometimes clash with each other." The rabbit-eared man replied.

"Yeah, it's just something that happens the closer you get." Anny assented.

"I knew you'd get it, Miss Fox." 

"You sure are getting comfortable, Roger." Another rebel, a woman with shoulder length black hair, threw a comment. Anny could detect a hint of displeasure infused into her words.

"Well, it's not like we can do anything, Jess. Might as well familiarize ourselves with our captors." In contrast, Roger seemed to be enjoying himself.

"We call that 'fraternizing with the enemy', you know?" Jessica turned away with a huff, puffing up her cheek.

"Well, aren't you committed." Evil said out loud the sentiment Anny was thinking.

"It's a backstory thing." Roger responded with a carefree smile. 

"Shut up, Roger!" Jessica immediately turned her head back. She struggled against her binding, but it held fast. 

"I take it you two also knew each other?" Anny butted in. 

"She's my beloved fiancèe." Roger said out loud with no hesitation nor shame in his voice.

"Roger!!" Jessica's voice, in contrast, went up an octave. 

"What? You are."

"J-just because you're my fiancè it just doesn't... it doesn't mean you can just tease me like that!" A furious blush started to creep up to Jessica's face.

"But you're cute when you're flustered like that."

"Stop it, you dumb rabbit!"

"Yes, I'm your dumb rabbit." Despite being bound, Roger managed to quickly scoot over beside Jessica. "Want to see in what other way I am a rabbit?" Leaning over behind her, Roger whispered into Jessica's ears.

"Wh-WHAAAAA!!?" Completely losing her composure, Jessica headbutted Roger, who promptly fell backwards.

"Ahahahaha! Alright, I deserve that." Roger chuckled. He spent some time trying to right himself before he saw the frozen look of shock from the two people in the room who weren't part of the friend group. "Don't worry, Miss Fox. This is normal for us." 

"What!? I am most certainly not enjoying this!" Jessica shot a look at Roger, then at Anny. 

"My, that's strange. When did I say you were?" Roger smirked as he cheekily laid his head on Jessica’s shoulders.

"Urk." Jessica nearly bit her tongue as she recoiled. Anny started to wonder whether the displeasure she had heard was actually jealousy.

"Geez, get a room, you two!" By now, the other two rebels had stopped bickering and instead started playfully jeering. Roger burst out laughing, followed by Harry and Dominic.

“You- you guys are mean, you know!? Stop laughing! I’m- I’m gonna- Pfft, Ahahaha!” Even though she was the butt of the joke, Jessica was swept up by the atmosphere and started laughing as well.

"Erm... Anny? What's going on?" Evil turned to Anny, her avatar's face shifted from one emotion to another, unsure on which one to use.

"People being friends." Meanwhile, Anny had a sweet smile on her face, both her hands supporting her head. "Isn't this nice?"

"Is it?" Evil tilted her avatar’s head again, her confusion still present.

___

"Look guys! There's a station!" Filian pointed her finger forward.

"Uh, yeah Cat ears, we could see." Evil responded.

"I know. I just feel like saying it." Filian leaned back to her seat.

The station that the kestrel stumbled upon was abuzz with activity. However, only a small number of ships have actually landed. The rest of the ships were flying to different parts of the space station. They are unloading parts, managing drones, or tending to an army of people with what looked like welding equipment. As the kestrel circled around to the docks, many of them were missing some key structures.

"Still under construction." Cerber commented as she closed the book she was reading. Meanwhile, Kobo was lying on her stomach, copying notes from the book in front of her. “Props to them, building this in the middle of a war."

"Evil, hail one of the ships.” Anny said as she tried to tune in to the station’s communication. “Maybe we could borrow some construction drones and use them as makeshift repair drones."

"I just got a hail from the station's command tower." Evil nonchalantly mentioned. Anny’s hand stopped moving for a moment, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"O-okay. patch us in." With Anny’s confirmation, Evil connected the call. 

"Good day, traveler. This is Gerald of... well we don't actually have a name for this station yet. Do you copy?" After a little bit, the voice of a man was heard, but the video feed remained absent.

"This is Anny of Federation Kestrel VT-83R. We hear you loud and clear, but the video isn’t transmitting."

"The camera hasn’t been installed yet, Kestrel. Transmitter works fine, it looks like.” Gerald said. “Welcome to our station. We're not open for business quite yet. But if you're looking for a place to rest, you're welcome to stay a while."

"We'll take you up on your offer, Mr Gerald. On that note, could we ask a couple of favors?"

"What will that be, Miss?"

"First off, are there any construction drones we could borrow to repair our ship?"

"Sorry, Miss. Unfortunately the drones aren't under my purview. You'll have to ask the head engineer for that."

"That's fine. Secondly, we have four rebel prisoners onboard. Could we ask you to take them in?"

"Rebel prisoners you say..." Gerald briefly paused. "Hold on, let me consult my superiors." A notice that the call was put on hold appeared on the vidscreen.

"So, you're dropping us off here?" Anny’s ears perked up as she turned back towards Harry.

"I did say we're dropping you off at the next station."

"Yeah, you did. I just didn't think you'd drop us on a construction site."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Not really, it's just... there's not really a lot to do, is there?" 

"Actually, there's a lot we will do. We would be cheap labor." Dominic chimed in. "Free labor if they're unethical enough. Which is more likely."

“Well, at least we’ll have something to do.” Roger shifted his weight to his other leg to let the numb one recover.

“If they have better food than in the rebellion, I have no complaints.” Jessica managed to finagle her body into a sitting position, her back leaning against the kestrel’s wall

“You know? You guys are surprisingly chill about being prisoners.” Evil commented as she watched the four rebels lounge around, seemingly not even having a single thought of escape.

“Well, the rebel life is hard. We didn’t really think much of it when we joined.” Roger began a short gripe, shifting his legs again. “Being captured is kind of a break from that.”

“Actually, didn’t you guys essentially get tricked into joining?” Evil pointed out.

“No, only one of us got tricked.” Dominic glanced at Harry as he said that.

“I’m punching you once this rope is off.” Harry glared in response.

“Okay, yeah. But none if you seem to, you know, want to fight for it. Why didn’t you just leave?” Evil asked.

“You can thank the Einherjars for that.” Dominic stated. Anny turned her head towards Evil who, having no answer to the implied question, shook her avatar’s head.

“The whatnow?” Anny tilted her head, prompting Dominic to reveal further. 

“That’s what they call the rebellion’s elite fighters, read into it as much as you want.”

“They’re pretty much some of the most skilled and fanatical members of the rebellion, just below the Valkyries. Any deserters will have to deal with them.” Roger added.

“Again, read into those names as much as you want.”

"Kestrel, do you copy?" Every person in the room jolted as the call was suddenly picked back up.

"L-Loud and clear." Anny responded.

"Unfortunately, we are in no capacity to take in prisoners at this moment, especially with the rumors that the rebel fleet is approaching."

"I see. That is unfortunate." Anny’s ears drooped low. "Very well then, we request the permission to dock."

"Granted. Please proceed to dock 2. It's the only one open."

The kestrel had successfully docked with the station. The kestrel crew disembarked to an atmosphere of busywork. A couple of dockworkers piled boxes onto hand trolleys, likely containing mechanical parts. The artificial gravity hadn't yet been activated in some parts, meaning that certain areas were either cordoned off or contained people floating in zero gravity. It was just as loud and noisy as an open marketplace, but with a different feel to it.

This time, Anny stayed back at the ship. Cerber went off to meet with the head engineer while Filian went off somewhere with Kobo following her like a duckling. To fill the time, Anny decided to make conversation with the captured rebels.

"So, what now?"

"I don't know… We’re pretty much stuck here I think.”

"I doubt anyone in this sector would take us in if that's the reason they're going with."

Anny heard snippets of an ongoing conversation as she reached for the door. Gulping, Anny scanned her hand on the scanner beside the door. The pneumatic lock made a slight hissing noise as it disengaged and the door opened. 

Walking into the room, she was met with the stares of the four rebels. Roger looked somewhat disappointed while the three other rebels wore a look like they expected something like this would happen.

“Well, your big plan failed.” Harry shrugged. 

“Yeah, it did.” Anny responded, averting her eyes.

“What now?”

“Well, its… erm.” Anny reached into her mind and grasped on whatever straw she could get her mental hands on. “I… I just have to ask around. Maybe one of the ships will take you in. Or maybe there’s another station we can take you to.”

“Yeah? Good luck with that. We’re straight up rebellion members. Nobody's gonna take us in.” Dominic’s face didn’t reveal much emotion, but Anny could pick up the scornful undertone.

“I’m sure there’s someone! I can find them, I swear!”

“Why do you care so much?” Jessica piled on. “You’re Federation, We’re rebels. We’re on opposite sides of this war.”

“That is not an excuse I ever agree with.” Anny gently shook her head. “Just because we are on opposite sides of the conflict doesn’t mean we aren’t still human.”

“What of those who aren’t human, then?” Jessica’s question echoed through the room like a crack of twig in a horror movie. Immediately, all sound seemingly drained from the room, leaving only silence and dread. “The Federation insists that all species of the galaxy be treated the same because all of us are equal. How could you say that when they are so inherently different?” Jessica continued, the venom in her words sapped the room’s atmosphere, slowly choking any hint of reasoned debate.

Anny bit her lip. She looked around at the other rebels to find the others wore a similar look. Up to this point, these people she was talking to had been quite chill. She didn’t expect the Rebellion’s ideal to rear its ugly head here.

“I…” Anny was the first to break the silence. Even so, her voice was tiny and uncertain. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. “This world, I believe, has a place for everyone. We can always build each other up.” She recalled the words that were said to her long ago. Her hand wandered up to her chest, feeling the warmth welling up from inside.

“You say that so easily. But practically, are there any ways that could happen?” Unfortunately, those words failed to garner any sympathy, seeing how Dominic was quick to criticize.

“Well…” Anny gently pulled her gaze downwards as she fell silent. “The only thing each of us can do is to believe in each other.”

“That’s the kind of empty nonsense that led to the Federation-Mantis war.” Roger countered.

That was the wrong thing to say.

“It’s. not. empty. nonsense.” Anny’s voice dropped several octaves, her soft and fluid tone suddenly froze into sharp icicles. Her pained face suddenly hardened and her body language became rigid and unyielding, as if all emotion had drained from her being. Her ears shot up straight, agitated.

A horrible chill ran up Roger’s spine. He immediately figured that what he said had offended Anny. His body froze, like a rabbit realizing it was in the vicinity of a hungry fox. The rest of the rebels also picked up her tone and collectively decided to shut up.

“You can call me naive, or maybe even a fool, for believing in the Federation’s ideal.” Anny took one step forward… then another… then another. Roger scooted backwards as Anny stepped closer, her expression shadowed as she towered over him. Realizing that he didn’t want to be hog-tied anymore, Roger struggled against his bindings to no avail. “But saying those words are empty nonsense? I can’t let that slide!”

“Anny.” A firm voice suddenly doused all of Anny’s anger all at once. Anny looked backwards to find Cerber standing in the doorway, her arms crossed.

“C-Cerber!” Emotions suddenly rebounding from the unexpected interruption, a mixture of both shame and relief flowed into Anny’s face. “Erm… ”

“Hey Cerber, how’s the drone situation… looking…” At first, Evil was glad that another person was here to defuse the situation. However, her hopes were dashed away by the piercing look that Cerber had in her eyes.

“I talked to the head engineer. I was able to borrow a couple of construction drones.” Cerber replied. “But nevermind that, this is more important.” Evil noticed that Cerber had balled her fist. Cerber turned her eyes to look at the four rebels.

“You four.” Cerber intoned with a low, almost growling voice. Her cutesy appearance was overshadowed by a chilling aura she exuded. “What do you jackasses know about the Federation’s Ideals? Do you even understand it? Or did you just spit out whatever the rebellion feeds you?” Evil could almost make out the razor-thin edge that hid behind Cerber’s blunt words.

“But- But it’s right, isn’t it!?” Jessica was the first to recover. “The other species of the galaxy IS a problem!”

“They are.”

“Huh?” Cerber’s reply caught Jessica off guard.

“But the solution isn’t ‘make a bigger problem’, is it? You’re dragging everyone into your war.” Cerber paused, her eyes swept through each of the rebel’s faces. “Even humans.”

As the echoes of Cerber’s words dissipated, a strange calm settled into the room. The rebels that had stared defiantly at Anny before now averted their gazes downwards. Cerber smirked, pleased with herself for shutting up the four captives. She was unaware that behind her, Anny was making a similar expression as them.

‘Do I… understand the Federation’s ideals?’ Anny thought to herself. She had always thought she had understood it. But when Dominic challenged her, she had no answer. Was her understanding really so shallow that a genuine question stumped her? The Federation extolled the virtues of all races of the galaxy as equals, but how deep could that ideal really go?

Is there even a way for the Federation’s ideal to exist in this world?

“Alright, has everyone calmed down?” Evil’s voice snapped Anny out of her contemplative spiral. “If so, we still need to address where to offload you guys.”

"I might have a solution for that."

“Huh?” Hearing the strangely familiar voice, Anny and Cerber both whipped their heads towards the source.

“Ray!? But-” Anny exclaimed. Standing on the doorway was Ray, the captain of the ship they had saved a couple of jumps ago. “How are you here!?”

“We ran into him!” As Ray entered the room, Kobo popped up from behind him.

“It’s a bit of a coincidence, really.” Filian followed after the two and began retelling their encounter.

_____

Some time before...

"Whatcha got there, bro?" Filian glanced backwards as she walked, watching as Kobo flipped the series of paper she was holding to another page.

“My notes for the test!” Kobo stared at the page intently, only occasionally looking up to see where Filian was.

“Test? What test?”

“The one Big Sis Cerber prepared!” Kobo looked up, meeting Filian’s gaze. “if I got at least half right, I’ll get a chocolate bar from her!” 

“You like sweet things?” Filian brought her hand to her mouth, hiding her chuckle.

“Sweet?” Kobo tilted her head.

“Right. Zoltans can’t taste. Why d’you want a chocolate bar, then?” Filian asked, scratching her head just behind her ears.

“It has lots of energy!” Kobo threw both her arms wide, her notes nearly scattering to the winds. “If I eat it, I can grow big!”

“You want to be big?” 

“Yup! Big people can make their own decisions!”

“Why wait? You can decide stuff right now.” Filian suddenly paused her stride. Kobo, who was once again looking at her notes, lightly bumped into her. several pages from her notes fell. “Like, for example, what do you wanna do first?"

"I don't know. I haven't been to a station before. Ah!" Kobo caught one of the falling pages mid-air, but the gesture caused her to drop more pages.

"Well, my usual hangout is out. Not a lot to do on a station under construction." Filian replied as she picked up a few of the strewn pages and handed it back to Kobo.

"You've been to a station under construction before, Big Sis?" Kobo said as she shuffled the notes back to their original position.

"Yeah! I did once." The mess undone, Filian got up to her feet and observed her unfinished surroundings. "Not a lot to do, but I had fun nonetheless."

"What kind of fun?"

"Not the kind that could be repeated here."

"That's a shame." 

"Oh, what a coincidence.” A third voice entered the conversation.

"Hmm?" Filian’s head turned towards the voice. Before her stood a tall, burly man with brown toned skin. His short hair was combed nicely and his stubble of a beard provided a nice accent to his face. 

"A good day for us to meet again, Miss Filian." The man greeted Filian with a standard federation salute. The familiar gesture provided Filian with the clue she needed to remember who the man was.

"Big sis, who is this?" Kobo, however, still had no idea who Ray was.

"Oh right. This is... uh..." Filian went ahead to introduce the two only to find that she couldn’t quite recall his name. What made it worse was the fact that she was sure she heard his name before. Her face red with embarrassment, Filian deployed one of her secret techniques: pleading eyes. Filian made a prompting stare to Ray, laced with a carefully curated amount of guilt.

"Raymond Steele, Captain of Canary DR-13S." Catching Filian’s gaze and patient enough not to be offended, Ray introduced himself. "Good to meet you, little miss zoltan."

"I'm the zoltan!" Kobo responded with her usual enthusiasm. "My name is Kobo!"

"Hey… if you’re here, then the little kitten is here too!” Filian recalled the little kitten whose ears she became very familiar with.

"You mean Miniko?" Ray’s eyes turned sad. "Sadly, she's no longer with us."

"Ah..." Filian's eyes widened a bit, she then gently scratched her head just below her cat ears. "Crap. Sorry for you-"

"Ah! sorry, that came out wrong." Suddenly realizing what his choice of words sounded like, Ray amended his remark. "What I was saying was she was picked up by another Federation Ship."

“Oh. Ok. That’s good!” Filian let out a relieved sigh before reverting back to her energetic self. “Anyways, why are you here?”

____

“And that’s how we got here, give or take.” Filian ended her brief tale.

“Is that so? I’m glad you found a way to get out of your predicament, Ray.” Anny turned her head towards Ray and gave a relieved smile.

“Well now, it is all thanks to you.” Ray gestured an open hand towards Anny. “If you hadn’t given us some fuel back there, I reckon we would’ve been target practice for the rebel ships.”

“I’m just happy our efforts weren’t in vain.” Anny pressed both her hands to the center of her chest, her eyes downcast as if reminiscing about something.

“Well, I can assure you they’re not. I heard of your plight from Miss Filian and Miss Kobo.”

“Right, you said you have a solution for that?”

“The truth is we've been somewhat short-staffed since Miniko left.” Ray tented his fingers. “So it’s quite convenient that you have four potential recruits ready to go.”

"Whew, I can move my hands again!” Harry stretched his arms up above his head, reveling in the feeling of his unbound hands. He glanced around, taking in the incomplete station before spotting his companions exiting the kestrel. “Hey! Dom!”

“Yea- oof!” Dominic blanched as Harry’s fist found its mark on his stomach. 

“That’s for the snark back then!”

“Man, do you have to hit so hard!?” Dominic keeled as both his arms pressed his stricken stomach.

"There's more where that came from.” Harry wound up another punch, but his arm was held back before he could unleash it.

“Alright now, I think one punch is enough.” Jessica said as she pulled Harry away.

The four rebels cavorted with each other as if they weren’t bound by rope just a couple of moments earlier.

“Are you sure you want to take them on your ship? I’m worried they might cause trouble.” Anny and Ray were standing not too far away. Although Anny was certain those four wouldn’t try to book it, it’s prudent to watch them nonetheless. 

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Ray replied, both his arms behind his back. "I'm sure Rune and Khiiitikla would be happy to have more things to do."

"I… see.” An uncomfortable smile flashed on Anny’s face as she glanced at the rockman and the mantis standing a couple of meters away, watching the four rebels intently. Her imagination started to run wild as an image of the four rebels huddled together, crying as the two aliens towered over them, entered her mind.

‘Let’s not think about that!’ Anny quickly banished the mental image. She glanced at the four rebels, Harry currently headlocking Dominic while Jessica and Roger watched. Their conversation was a blur, but their expressions seemed lighthearted. ‘They’ll be fine! Surely!’

"Excuse me." Anny glanced at the direction the voice was coming from. Her eyes landed on a young woman with a hard hat. "Is the crew of the kestrel here?"

“Yes. I’m the kestrel’s captain.” Anny cautiously tested. “Is there a problem?” She was pretty sure that they hadn’t broken any laws, but she wanted to ask just in case.

“Yes. er… well, no, not with your ship. It’s us, we have a problem.” The woman stumbled over her words. She took a deep breath before continuing. "We lost contact with a cargo ship that was supposed to bring some components to us. Since your kestrel looks well-equipped, we want to hire you to find out what happened to it and, if possible, recover the components."

____

“Well, I won’t deny more scrap.” Filian said as she leaned back on her seat. She was about to put her feet up on the control panel, but Cerber’s ‘soft nudging’ stopped her.

“Really? another side quest?” Evil sounded exasperated. “At this rate, the rebel fleet is going to catch up!”

“Not if we’re quick about it.” Filian gave a nonchalant shrug. “Come on! they said it hasn’t been that long since the signal was cut off. How far away could they really go?”

“I had to fork over some scrap for the construction drones.” Cerber raised one of her fingers to her mouth, pondering the risk-reward ratio. “This job sounds easy enough.” She decided

“Plus, we get to help the people here.” Anny put her own reason into the ring, piling on more pressure on Evil.

“Sounds fun!” Kobo gave off an answer free from both care and thought. But still, it was one more voice in overwhelming opposition towards Evil’s stance.

“Fine! Guess I’m outvoted.” Evil sighed, setting her avatar to frown deeply. “But this is the last time, you hear me!? After this, we’re going straight to the long range beacon!”

“After we complete this jump, we should arrive at their last known location.” Evil asserted, her avatar still frowning. She had tried to puff up her cheeks, but her model wasn’t made with that in mind.

“What are the chances they just, you know, ran out of fuel?” Filian nonchalantly asked through the intercom.

“If that were the case, their comms wouldn’t just cut off.” Cerber replied.

“Well, we’re gonna find out either way." Filian gripped the control stick tight. "Exiting FTL… now!” 

As the kestrel’s engine simmered down, the tunnel of light dissipated back to twinkling stars. Filian was immediately greeted by the sight of a rust red planet with a pale moon almost half its size. 

However, what caught Filian’s attention wasn’t these two celestial bodies. Rather, it was the surprisingly man-made addition that was also orbiting the planet.

“Another station? Right here?” Cerber observed the space station as it spun around its axis. Filian moved the kestrel forward, slowly circling around the station.

“Hey, is that…?” As the kestrel passed the station, Filian caught a view of a pretty sizable transport ship docked with the station. “That’s the cargo ship!”

“What should we do?” Evil prompted Anny.

“We don’t know the situation. First, let’s send a short-band message to the cargo ship.” Anny replied.

“Patching in.” Evil carefully sent a hail attempt, tweaked to specifically target the cargo ship. After a little bit, the hail attempt connected.

“This is Anny of Federation Kestrel VT-83R, does anybody copy?” 

"Th-the Federation? Help! Help us! The rebels are robbing us!" The sound that greeted Anny was one of panic 

“Sir, please calm down. Could you explain the situation?”

“O-ok. So we were making this delivery when suddenly a rebel ship threatened us and forced us to dock with this station. They started waving guns in front of us and forced us to ‘donate our cargo’.”

“Isn’t there a word for that?” Filian said with sarcasm flowing from her mouth. She tapped one of her fingers to the side of her head, mockingly acting like she was trying to figure something out. “You know, it’s that word. The word for forcing people…”

“Isn’t that just straight up piracy?” Cerber interrupted from the intercom.

“Yup, there it is! That’s the word!” Filian’s fingers pointed upwards, striking an exaggerated pose as if she had been waiting for it. Kobo’s attempt at holding her laugh could be heard from the intercom.

"Sir, are you still in control of the ship?" Unaffected by the duo comedy act happening between the opposite ends of the ship, Anny maintained an air of seriousness.

"Our crew and some of the cargo is still inside. if you could distract the rebels, then perhap-”

"Hey! What are you doing there!?" A shout interrupted the communication.

"Eek!" A screech followed by the sound of blaster fire was heard. Then, the signal went silent.

"Uh oh." If Evil had a stomach, she would feel it churn with discomfort. She had a bad feeling about this. Checking through the weapon control terminal, her fears were proven by the sight of Anny trembling all over.

'Shit, she's going to become scary again!' Evil hesitated to call Anny, afraid that even the slightest trigger would enrage her. 'What is it? Is it people robbing other people? But the zoltans weren't trying to rob that ship.' As Evil's thoughts began to run wild, however, Anny suddenly grabbed her own upper arms. Slowly, her trembling lessened.

"I'm... fine..." Anny gritted her teeth. It's clear she was mad, but it seemed she managed to keep her frenzied self in. "I can control myself."

"Guys! A rebel ship is coming this way!" Filian warned. From behind the station, the orange hue of a rebel ship was seen. 

"Battle stations, everyone!” Anny’s command was carried by the intercom to the rest of the kestrel. Weapon systems active, the kestrel sped forward to meet the rebel fighter head-on.

The rebel was the first to act. A tiny defense laser tracked the kestrel's movement and fired, shattering the first layer of the kestrel's shield. Not even a second later, the rebel's mini beam fired. It was blocked by the kestrel's second layer of shield. Not long after, the kestrel's shield regenerated.

"Huh? that's it?" Filian’s grip on the control stick slipped a little. It was clear she was expecting more. 

"Wait, if one of their weapons is a defense laser and the other is a mini beam..." Evil slowly took in the situation.

"Yes, they can do absolutely nothing to us. Our shield is too strong for them." Finally, Cerber confirmed Evil’s hypothesis.

"Hahahaha! Take that you rebel bastard! Your puny weapons are no match to us!" Evil gloated, letting out a mocking laugh. However, Cerber didn’t seem to share Evil’s mood.

"What could do damage to us..." Just as Cerber said the words, Evil’s laugh died down. She detected a large energy signature from the rebel station. A massive door on the side of the station opened, revealing a series of large energy cannons slowly being pushed out to open space. "...Is that ASB platform." Cerber finished.

The platform upon which the large cannons sat stopped and locked into place as the turrets tracked the kestrel's movements, just managing to keep up. The first cannon fired a massive ball of plasma, which missed the kestrel. That first blast was followed by another, then another, until the entire row of energy cannons periodically thumped like the drums of war, filling the empty space with deadly projectiles.

"Oh come on! Can't we just have one easy fight!?" Evil wailed as the ASB started their barrage on the kestrel. 

"Well, if that cargo ship wants to escape, we’ll have to deal with that one over there." Filian guided the kestrel through a series of tight turns, dodging the first volleys of ASB projectiles. Through the entire maneuver, she kept her eyes on the rebel ship's position. “You guys do your stuff! I’ll do the obstacle course!” 

Seeing its weapon ineffective, the rebel fighter decided to hang back until the station's ASB hit something important. The fighter flew low, where fewer ASB shots would accidentally hit them.

"Taking it safe? Well too bad!" With a shout, Filian dove towards the fighter. The instant the rebel ship saw the kestrel approaching, they put full power to their engines and attempted to outrun the kestrel. 

The rebel ship accelerated as the kestrel followed hot on their heels. The rebel ship fired their defense laser, which Filian didn't even bother dodging, letting the laser shot harmlessly slam against the kestrel's shield. Anny returned fire using the kestrel’s artemis missile, punching through the shield room.

As Anny fired the burst laser, though, the kestrel pulled right, dodging the ASB shot that nearly hit them. Anny clicked her tongue as she watched the laser shot fly uselessly to empty space. 

Still keeping an eye on the rebel ship, Filian pulled the kestrel back to pursue the rebel ship. She pulled the kestrel into a barrel roll to avoid an ASB shot, pulled a narrow dive under another, getting closer and closer to the rebel fighter.

“Where you going, you litt- OH FUCK!” As the ASB shot passed in front of the kestrel, Filian was greeted by the rebel fighter’s cockpit mere inches from the kestrel’s own. For a split second, the two pilots locked eyes before the rebel ship zoomed past the kestrel. Frustrated, Filian pulled back to reignite the chase. 

However, fate had other plans. A tremor shook the entire kestrel as one of the ASB shots punched a hole through the kestrel’s shield system. Kobo was thrown from her seat to the kestrel floor. Cerber, who was standing, lost balance and fell to her butt. A loud hissing sound signified the loss of air as both layers of the kestrel’s shield winked out. 

“You know? I wish we had seat belts.” Filian, who nearly got thrown off the pilot seat, quipped.

“Hull breach in Shields!” Evil announced.

“You got this, Kobo!” Cerber left the engine room to Kobo, who managed to get up and rush back to the engine terminal. 

“I got this!” Kobo repeated to herself, psyching herself up. She monitored the engine terminal and corrected and thrust anomalies that popped up.

Anny kept firing, but most of her shots were missing due to the rapid, erratic movements the kestrel did to dodge the ASB shots. The rebel’s mini beam fired, but thanks to Filian’s piloting, the beam never hit any essential systems. Aiming the burst laser during a brief moment of calm, Anny shot at the rebel’s cockpit.

The rebel ship turned, but was unable to avoid the hit entirely. The rebel’s sensors took damage, and their flight path suddenly became more chaotic. The kestrel gained on the fighter, getting closer and closer. But an ASB shot got between the two ships and Filian was forced to pause the pursuit.

Cerber barged into the shields room holding a blue fire extinguisher-like tank. Written with a permanent marker on it was the word “breach sealant.” Cerber rapidly sprayed a generous amount on the cracks on the kestrel floor, the sealant expanding rapidly to seal the breach and hardening into a rubber-like substance.

Evil detected three ASB shots heading the kestrel’s way. Through the kestrel’s vidscreen, she showed the ASB as a red line going through the kestrel’s frame. Following her guidance, Filian pulled up, then dived immediately, dodging the first two plasma balls. As the kestrel dived, a moment of weightlessness enveloped everyone on the kestrel. 

But then, another massive tremor shook the kestrel. The third plasma ball crashed into the kestrel’s side, sending it careening off path with significant damage to the hacking system. The breach sealant container Cerber was holding nearly hit her on the head. Anny managed to hold her ground, but her shot went way off. 

“Dammit! I was going to use that!” Evil lamented the loss of hacking. But there was no time, the next set of ASB fire was already being shot. The rebel fired off its defense laser and mini beam. The beam scorched through the empty rooms right beside the medbay, but the kestrel’s shield regenerated just in time to block the defense laser. 

Although the fighter was fast, it seemed reluctant to leave both the ASB area coverage and the cargo ship that it was guarding. The fighter attempted a hairpin turn a few times, trying to rein its flight area. As such, Anny was able to get a few shots in while it was turning.

"By my estimations, their hull should be critical!” Evil called out.

"Yes. The next time they turn..." But Anny didn't get to finish that thought before things began to happen very quickly. 

The first thing she noticed was the horrible, ear-splitting noise of explosion and twisting metal. 

The second thing she noticed was that she had slammed into the weapon control terminal, thrown forward by a massive tremor that shook the entire ship, and ended up on the floor. 

The third thing she noticed was the red light that bathed the entire room and the depressurization alarm faintly blaring in the background. 

It took Anny some time on the floor to piece together that an ASB shot had blasted the weapon control room. Her attempts to move her mouth were met with pain and a taste of blood. Slowly, she pulled herself off the floor before she felt a familiar pair of hands grab onto her arm and loop it around familiar shoulders. Anny turned to Cerber, who began escorting her out of the weapon control room into the medbay. Cerber said something on the way, but her ears were still ringing.

As soon as Anny entered, she could feel the medical nanobots begin to swarm her wounds. The pain intensified for a moment as the bots did their job stitching her back together. 

"Anny? Hey! Anny!" Anny snapped her head towards Cerber as the ringing on her ears subsided.

"Good, you can hear." Cerber put her hand on Anny’s shoulder, then quickly retracted it as she sprinted out of the room."Stay here, I'll fix the weapons."

“Wai-” Anny held out her hand to grab Cerber’s, then thought better of it and retracted her hand.

"Anny! Are you okay!?" Before Anny could breathe, the next visitor appeared on the vidscreen. Evil’s voice sounded concerned, the expression on her avatar struggling to portray it. "That last ASB shot wrecked the weapon system! But nevermind that! How about you!?" 

"Ah, em, Ev. Evil." The medbots scattered off Anny’s lips as they finished with it, allowing her to speak. "I'm... as fine as I could be."

"Great! Stay there until you're fully healed, I got this!" Before Anny could say anything, Evil had disappeared. Anny reached out, then retracted her hand. She could feel the numerous medbot on her head, seemingly trying to heal a wound. Suddenly, she was nearly thrown to the floor as Filian rolled the kestrel right. Anny held to the bed she sat on for dear life.

The rebel ship had flown closer to the station. Right behind it, the kestrel still gave chase. The ASB struggled to keep up with the speeding ships, shooting errantly into empty space. The rebel ship flipped and flew behind the kestrel. Filian chased them, but was forced to swerve off from incoming ASB fire. The rebel ship gained a significant lead. 

Cerber turned on the power. Both the burst laser and the artemis missile came back online. With Evil now manning the weapon system, she made a shot with the kestrel’s artemis missile, hitting the rebel ship’s O2 system as it swerved to the right to dodge an errant ASB shot. 

"Hey guys! The cargo ship!" Somehow, through all the chaos of the fight, Filian noticed that the cargo ship had detached from the station. Slowly, the cargo ship waded through outside the ASB cone of fire and started charging its FTL drive.

"Federation ship! Cease your fire! Otherwise, that cargo ship is going to pay!" A wide-band hail came from the rebel ship. At the same time, the rebel ship suddenly turned its nose towards the cargo ship, its weapons charged. 

"You bastards! Leave them out of this!" Anny screeched, her ears shot upwards as she her frenzied self began to claw its way out.

“Anny! We’re not connected by two-way communication! They won’t hear you!” Evil appeared once more. “Just stay there! We got thi-”

But Evil wasn’t able to stop her. Anny pushed off the bed and sprinted off towards the weapon control room. Anny crossed the empty room right beside the airlock and reached the door leading to the weapon room. However, even though Anny used the panel, the door wouldn’t budge.

“Evil! Open the door!” Anny growled.

“No! You haven’t fully healed yet!” Evil’s voice came through the intercom. Anny tried the panel again, but it just returned the same ‘access blocked’ message. Running out of patience, Anny pulled out her blaster and shot the door panel multiple times. As the panel cracked into uselessness, the kestrel sensed it and disengaged the pneumatic locks. Anny jammed her fingers on the manual handles and forcefully pulled the door open.

“Damn it, Anny!” Only to be ambushed by Cerber, gripping onto her for dear life. “Go back!”

“Get off me!” With a strength Cerber wasn’t expecting, Anny threw Cerber to the ground. Cerber lost balance and the back of her head hit the doorway. 

“C-Cerber…” Anny froze as she suddenly started to comprehend her actions. Cerber clutched her head on the ground, clearly in pain. Anny looked to her own hands. “I-”

“Time’s up, Kestrel!” Another wide-band hail came from the rebel ship.

“Shit! they’re attacking the cargo ship!” Filian’s voice carried from the front of the ship. In an instant, Anny lost her moment of clarity. Reaching the terminal, Anny gripped the controls tight and shot. Both the artemis missile and the burst laser found their mark. Explosions rocked the rebel ship as its hull was split into pieces.

But Anny wasn’t done. She continued. Again and again. Artemis missile and burst laser fired in concerto, hitting the stray debris and splitting them into even smaller pieces. Evil wanted to stop Anny. In fact, she has the power to do so. But for some reason, Evil couldn’t muster up the will to do it. Like watching a particularly gruesome murder, Evil could only watch as Anny utterly destroyed the wreck. The cargo ship was long gone with scraps dispensed as payment. The ASB had stopped firing and the station started to broadcast distress signals. The only sound was Anny’s labored breathing and the thumps of the kestrel’s weaponry.

Anny spotted another floating debris. Just as she was about to shoot, a hand grabbed onto hers, stopping her movement. Anny followed the hand back to a head of blonde hair and a cute, bespectacled face.

“Anny…” Cerber gently pried Anny’s hand off the weapon control. “You’re wasting missiles.”

“Cer… Ber?” The moment of clarity hit Anny once again. The first thing she noticed was Cerber’s other hand behind her head. Cerber pulled the hand back and revealed it was stained in crimson. “Shit! Cerber! You’re bleeding!”

“And whose fault is that, huh?” Anny couldn’t read the expression on Cerber’s face. “Come on, let’s go to the medbay.” a slight tug from Cerber urged her to follow.

“y-yeah… let’s…” Anny rose as Cerber gently pulled her along. 

____

“Erm… Cerber?” Anny prompted. 

“Yes?” Cerber responded, but her face didn’t turn to look at Anny.

The two girls were sitting side by side upon one of the beds. The medbay’s medbots swarmed around them, trying to heal the various wounds they had. Clumps of medbots clung to Anny’s forehead, where a cut still remained, and one of her fingers, having trouble with a wound under her nails. Anny directed her gaze towards the back of Cerber’s head, where her blonde hair was marred with a slight crimson stain.

“I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“I don’t mind.” Cerber shook her head, but she still hadn’t looked at Anny.

“...You’re mad at me, aren’t you.”

“What makes you think that?”

“We’ve been living together for six years now. I know that not looking at me means you’re mad.” Anny pulled her gaze from Cerber. “And I deserve it for getting carried away and hurting you.”

Silence descended once again upon both girls. Anny gulped as Cerber showed no sign of replying. 

‘Fuck, I really did it this time huh? She hates me.’ Anny hung her head, staring pointedly at the floor while her mind started making up doom scenarios. ‘Are we still friends? What if she never talks to me again? If she hates me now, then what do I do after thi-’

“Yeah. I’m mad at you.” Anny was jolted back from her spiralling thoughts by Cerber’s voice.

‘Ah, shit, she really hates me. How do I ask for forgiveness? Can I ask for forgiveness? Do I deserve to-’ Anny pressed both her hands to her face. She could feel a hint of wetness beginning to form from both her eyes.

“But that’s okay, I’ve forgiven you already.” A soft hand touched Anny on the cheek. Hearing those words and feeling the warmth of Cerber’s hand, Anny turned her head to face her. For the first time since entering the medbay, Cerber had faced Anny. On that face where Anny had expected scorn, or perhaps just a miffed expression, was a half-wry smile of someone who knew her friend all too well.

“Huh?”

“Like you said, we’ve been with each other for six years. You said you know the kind of person I am. Well, the same goes for me.” Cerber gently patted Anny on her back, making a gentle sweeping motion that slowly got Anny to relax. “I don’t even have to lift a finger, you already beat yourself up for me.” 

Anny fell silent, half trying to digest Cerber’s words and half enjoying the back rub she was receiving. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on pulling herself together. After a couple of deep breaths, Anny slapped her own face, pulling herself out of the malaise.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Anny rubbed her eyes, clearing away the tears. “I’m a mess, huh?”

“When are you not?” Cerber said in a teasing tone.

“True, but still, ouch.” A smile crept up to Anny’s face. It was a wry smile, but a smile nontheless.

“Though I have to say, it has definitely gotten worse recently. You also started having nightmares again.” Cerber slowly scooter closer to Anny. Before Anny could do anything, Cerber reached up and grabbed Anny’s fox ears, earning a yelp from her. “It has something to do with Evil, doesn't it?” Cerber whispered to Anny’s ears. 

Immediately, The wry smile disappeared from Anny’s face, replaced with a tightened look of discomfort. She pulled away from Cerber’s grip.

She didn’t answer her question. She couldn’t. Admitting it was true would only worry Cerber more. Her left hand, balled into a fist, pressed hard against her chest, as if trying to still her furiously beating heart. 

“I knew it.” Unfortunately, Cerber knew Anny down to the bone.

“Cerber.” Anny said, now the one avoiding face contact. “Can we please not talk about that right now?”

Cerber frowned. She would like nothing more than to press Anny for everything. However, she knew Anny wouldn’t answer. After all, She never gotten any answers straight from Anny herself. 

“Just so you know…” Cerber’s voice was soft, “I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.” The two patients having switched roles, the medbay returned to silence. 

“So, uh… We need to borrow those construction drones again.” Cerber smiled, tilting her head slightly and playing with her hair to make herself look as cute as possible.

“May we please borrow them for a bit?” Anny followed up with her own bright smile, leaning forward and subtly pushing up her ample breasts using her upper arms.

“You’re making scheduling a nightmare, you know?” The head engineer, a man in his 30’s, pinched his nose as he surveyed the kestrel, ignoring the two girls’ blatant seduction tactics. A look of guilt entered both girls’ expressions. He pointedly tried to ignore them, but could only endure the puppy-dog eyes for so long. “You know what? Fine.”

“Thank you very much!” Cerber and Anny said simultaneously.

“Of course, you’re not getting it for free.”

“But we get a discount right?” Anny pressed the man. She took a step forward while swinging her arms, causing her breasts to visibly bounce.

“No.” Cold, hard rejection. pure and unshakable. Anny’s stomach immediately dropped hearing the head engineer’s tone.

“But we helped your cargo ship.” Cerber supplemented her logic by puffing her cheek, imitating a child throwing a tantrum.

“And now you’re going to use our construction drones, delaying us further.” The head engineer shot down Cerber’s logic with his own.

“That’s… fair.” Anny’s ears flopped as she straightened her posture.

“Oh well, it was worth the try.” Cerber’s face fell as she sighed. Patting one of her pockets, she produced a small pouch from it and held it up to the man. “Microprocessors. Should cover the cost, right?”

The head engineer grabbed the small pouch and opened it, revealing the components inside. After a brief inspection of each microprocessor, he tied the bag back up. “Pleasure doing business with you. You may take some from the neighboring dock.” He said as he carefully pocketed the pouch and directed them to the construction drones.

“Gahaha! all’s well that ends well, I suppose.” Anny and Cerber dragged their faces towards the direction of the voice. They found Ray at the source, smiling like he was watching an entertaining show. 

“I’m surprised you are still here, Ray.” Anny picked her face back up, trying to maintain some dignity.

“We’re disembarking shortly. But since you all came back, I wanted to say goodbye.” Ray explained.

“I see.” Cerbee crossed her arm, a little miffed she was laughed at. “Where are you going after this?”

“That depends on where the long range beacon will spit us out.” Ray shrugged. “Who knows, we might meet again one day.”

“Hopefully under better circumstances compared to our first.” Anny teased.

“Gahahaha! I’ll try, but no promises.” After the exchange, Ray left for his own ship, leaving Cerber and Anny to their own devices.

“Well, we still need those construction drones. Shall we?” Cerber turned to Anny, reaching a hand towards her.

“Lead the way, Cerber.” Anny received Cerber’s hand and both of them started wakling to the direction the head engineer indicated.

Chapter Text

"That repair took a lot longer than I’d prefer." Evil complained.

The kestrel was in the middle of an FTL jump towards the exit beacon of the sector. All of the damage it had accumulated had been repaired via creative use of construction drones. As such, the kestrel was in top condition. However, such a repair also came with the cost of time. 

"We're out of time. With my calculations, The rebel fleet is right on our tail." Evil said as soon as she started the internal vidcall. 

"Really? The rebel fleet is huge. Coordinating the jumps for that many ships should take a really long time." Anny responded from her usual spot on the weapon control terminal. Her fingers idly tapped on the control panel.

"Not with the flagship present." Evil shook her avatar's head. "With that thing, the whole armada could jump while maintaining formation."

"Evil, what you're speaking of is sorcery. That kind of coordination just doesn't happen." Anny's voice got tense. Even though she was pretty sure the scenario was impossible, the image still shot a chill down her spine.

"I agree." Cerber joined the conversation through the engine terminal. Kobo joined by proxy, mostly just listening. "Each ship has different speeds at which they cross through FTL, depending on a couple of factors. For them to appear in formation, each ship has to be calculated and accounted for."

"It's not perfect." Evil's voice was low. "But it's close." The amount of awe and concern Evil had for the flagship caused Anny to bite her lips, the tense atmosphere started to get to her.

However, There was no time to get caught up in the dreadful feeling. As the kestrel began to slow down and exit FTL speed, the tunnel of light disappeared and the star-filled scene of normal space returned.

"Here we are, guys! The exit beacon!" Filian spread her arms wide. Floating nearby was a huge structure shaped like a tall, straight spire. Its metallic surface shone gently, reflecting the light from the nearest stars. 

"It's huge!" Kobo's eyes sparkled at the view.

"A long-range relay beacon." Anny looked upon the huge beacon with a quiet reverie."It feels like a long time since we've last seen it."

"The beacon itself has facilities that passing ships could use. So usually, many ships would be seen around it." Cerber added. Her face then turned sour. "However, the rebellion kinda put a stop to that."

"Nevermind about that! How about we jump already!?" Ever the impatient one, Evil interrupted the moment of awe.

"Geez, patience. I'm connecting to the beacon." Filian tapped her fingers on the terminal, connecting the kestrel to the beacon's network. Soon, a list of destinations appeared on the list. "Got it, guys."

"Let's see." Evil scanned the list, crossing off the ones she deemed unfeasible for their journey. Eventually, she crossed off all but two. "Sector EGR-67 and MTC-10. Controlled by the Engi and the Mantis respectively."

"I dunno about you guys, but it seems pretty clear cut to me." Filian's finger hovered on the button that leads to the engi controlled sector.

"Filian! Hold it!" Cerber's screech was heard from the vidscreen. Filian jolted, her hand stopping a millimeter from the screen. "Think about it for a second!"

"Bro, what is there to think about? We got engis and we got mantises. We're fricking allies with the engi!" Filian retracted her hand, a frown on her face.

"That is true. But there's something you're forgetting." Filian tilted her head, not understanding what Cerber meant. Taking this as a cue to continue, "We have an illegal passenger on board" Cerber explained.

"What are you even talking about!? There's us three, we're Federation. Kobo is a zoltan, also allied with engi." Filian counted each member of the ship with her hands. "Then there's Evi- oh... Evil..." as she reached Evil, however, her voice got caught in her throat.

"Correct." Cerber crossed her arms.

"What's the problem with me!?" Realizing she was left out of the loop, Evil narrowed her avatar’s eyes, demanding explanation.

"FHT 41." Anny murmured.

"Huh? What's that?" Kobo, ever curious, turned towards the knowledge dispenser called Cerber.

"Federation-Harmony Treaty Act 41." Cerber said with a grim tone. "All research into AI and AI-adjacent topics are prohibited by the Engi Harmony." 

"Pro-hee-bid-ted?"

"That means it's not allowed."

"Why?"

"We'll have to ask the engis themselves." Cerber shrugged, shaking her head. "But what that means for us is that Evil's presence is illegal."

"That's true and all, but you want to take your chances in mantis space?" Filian challenged.

"That is not what I am saying." Cerber crossed her arms. "If we bring Evil to engi space, we can't let the engis know." 

"What happens if we get caught?" Tilting her head, Kobo resumed her questions.

"Well, since Evil is a Rebellion AI, I don't think any consequences would befall us." Cerber rubbed one of her fingers against her chin as she considered their position. "But they will likely demand Evil be destroyed after the war is over." 

An uncomfortable silence enveloped the kestrel as the echoes of Cerber's assesment faded out. Filian had a scowl on her face. Anny’s ears drooped low as she averted her gaze. Each crew of the kestrel showed it differently, but it’s clear all of them were distraught.

All of them, except for one.

"Is that all?" All the eyes aboard the kestrel immediately snapped to their vidscreen, where the 2D avatar of Evil put both her hands on the back of her head. "I don't really see the problem."

"Bro, you know what 'destroyed' means, right!?” Filian was the first to recover. Her body shot forward as she tapped at Evil’s avatar on her vidscreen.

"Yup, it means I cease existing. What about it?" Evil, however, kept being nonchalant.

"Big sis Evil? Why do you want to stop existing?” Kobo was the next to ask, her tone more of curiosity than concern.

“It’s not like I want it, but I’m not really opposed to it either.”

“But, why?” Kobo pressed.

“I mean, it’s not like I’m of any use once the war is done.” 

“Is… Is that your only reason?” Anny’s voice trembled. “‘I’m not any use’? Are you kidding!?”

“What? It’s true.” Evil responded.

“According to who!?” Kobo recoiled away from the vidscreen as Anny raised her voice. She glanced at Cerber, searching for direction. However, Cerber just watched the spat continue with her arms crossed. Kobo could see her biting her lip.

"I’m a warship AI! I’m made for war! It’s literally in the name!” As if to match Anny, Evil raised her own voice.

“And that’s all you’re good for!? You couldn’t even think of a single thing to do after the war!?” Anny’s ears shot straight up, her irritation clearly showing on her face. 

"Why does that even bother you!?" Evil shouted back. "I'm not even alive! I don't need to have a life after the war!" 

“Of course it bothers me! I care about things like this!“ Kobo wanted to ask Filian what to do, but she was afraid that saying it through the vidcall would bring attention to her. 

“Wow! So this is why those rebels got irritated. Dealing with you could be annoying, couldn’t it?” Kobo considered asking in person, but she had to cross the weapon control room to get to the cockpit. In the end, she just watched and prayed it would end soon.

"Evil!” 

"Look, if we really need to discuss this, can we at least do it in the middle of a jump!? We’re on a time limit here!" Evil’s tone dripped with finality.

"Fine! But we will revisit this!" Anny snarled, her fangs showing as she screeched the final response. 

The kestrel was quiet, with only the silent hum of the engine being heard. It was like the spat between Anny and Evil had pushed away all other sound. 

"Soo, Engi controlled space?" Filian’s voice chimed from the intercom, breaking the silence. Her tone was her usual nonchalant one, as if using it would convince everyone that nothing had happened.

"At this point, that seems like the best option." Anny sighed, trying to calm herself down. However, her ears shot up again as she heard warning chimes from the kestrel’s sensors.

"Multiple ships inbound!" Filian warned.

"Damn it! We took too long! Charge the FTL!" Evil's shout came a bit too late. The first wave of rebel ships had already emerged from the FTL jump. Smaller frigates and supply ships scan the area with their powerful sensors. Right behind them were the battleships, bristling with Anti-Ship Batteries. Numerous rebel ships started to enter the beacon, all at once and in formation, as if placed into a game field by a divine observer. Ahead of them all was an orange ship with more pronounced teal lines across it and the MFK symbol plastered on its side. It was the mark of the rebellion's elite fighter.

"Federation ship! This is Einherjar FT-86! Surrender now and nobody will be harmed!" The elite hailed the kestrel as it sped ahead of the fleet, trying to cut off the kestrel's escape. 

"Like hell we will! Let's show them who's boss!" Evil raised one of her avatar's hands, fist balled and ready to go.

"Everyone! Battle stations!" Anny shouted as she grabbed the weapon controls tightly. The kestrel’s burst laser and artemis missile burst into motion.

"Hang onto something! Things are gonna get rough!" With a flick of the control stick, Filian accelerated the kestrel. Seeing that ke kestrel wasn’t stopping, the elite’s own engines thrummed, the rebel ship shooting forward in pursuit.

"Anny, the enemy ship has two layers of shields, our burst laser won't be as effective." Evil’s eyes returned back to its usual red as she finished scanning the pursuing elite. Her tone was the one she had always used. 

"I see." Hearing the information, Anny took a quick breath to steady her nerves, purging the memory of their fight to the back of her mind. As she opened her eyes, they focused on the rebel elite. "Evil, show me the layout! Shield system first, then their engines!"

“Leave the fine tuning to me! Just shoot as usual!” The layout of the rebel elite popped up on the side of the targeting monitor. Nodding at Evil’s avatar, Anny began her aiming.

The pursuit continued as both ships warmed up their weaponry, the rest of the fleet still behind them trying to catch up. The first to fire was the kestrel. With Anny’s signal, Filian flipped the kestrel upside down, its nose pointed at the rebel elite and its artemis missile spat its rocket. 

However, as if sensing danger, the rebel elite already dove out of the missile’s trajectory and retaliated. The elite rebel’s chain burst laser revved up, firing two laser shots that shattered both layers of the kestrel’s shield. Following that, the kestrel and the elite traded fire, the elite's heavy laser narrowly missing the kestrel as one of the kestrel’s laser shots shattered one layer of the elite’s shield.

As the two ships passed each other, the elite made a sharp bank and turned towards the kestrel, continuing the pursuit.

The artemis missile fired again. And as if the entire fight was orchestrated, the elite already dodged out of the way while returning fire of its own.

"Crap! this guy's good!" Filian remarked, her hand gripping the kestrel controls tighter.

“You can tell?” Evil questioned.

“Those aren’t the kind of moves amateurs make!” Filian replied.

The deadly dance continued. This time, it was the rebel elite who fired first, immediately firing both weapons at the kestrel. Filian dove, but two shots still shattered the kestrel’s shield. Rolling into attack position, the kestrel fired its own salvo, but the elite was long gone from the targeted position. 

"He keeps dodging the artemis missile!" Anny clicked her tongue, frustrated by the slippery target.

“Is it just me, or is that burst laser firing way faster?” Filian remarked, still trying to maneuver the kestrel into a more advantageous position.

“Looks like a chaining system. The more it fires, the faster it gets.” Cerber offered her thoughts.

“This isn’t going well, let’s- Wait... huh!?” Evil glanced towards the status of the FTL drive to find it was way lower than she calculated. "Hey! Lil' Bluey! What happened to the FTL drive!?" 

"I-I don't know! The bar is going up really slow!" Kobo jittered as she did another scan on the screen in front of her, trying to make sense of anything on it. However, the only thing she understood was the progress bar that represented the charging of the FTL drive crawling at a snail’s pace. "Did I do something wrong!?"

"You didn't. All systems are green." Cerber, who was looking over Kobo’s shoulder, reassured her. "This is likely due to some kind of FTL jammer."

“Shit, so they thought of tha- wait! Incoming!” Before Evil could finish her musings, the kestrel’s sensors detected several objects heading towards the kestrel.

“Those are-!” Filian didn’t get to finish her thoughts either before two orbs began to orbit the kestrel. One orb unveiled a small defense laser while the other revealed a mini beam attached. Both began firing.

"Drones!" Evil's sensor swept through the local area. Her scan landed on two riggers that sent the drones, hanging back as the elite kept pursuing. "Found them! Three o'clock upwards!"

"Filian! Bring us close!" Anny commanded, already tracking the rigger’s movements with the weapon control.

"Sure thing, but Mr. Elite over there won't let us go easy!" Filian pushed hard on the control stick, accelerating the kestrel even more. The rebel elite managed to get a shot in, shattering both layers of the kestrel’s shield and letting the drones wreak havoc.

“Fire in the shield system!” Evil exclaimed.

“Got it!” Cerber leapt to action, dashing through the kestrel’s rooms, its doors opening before her. The moment she arrived, she grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and charged in to fight the developing inferno that started to rob the kestrel off its protection.

The diminished shield meant that the beam drone had more opportunity to scorch the kestrel’s system with its beam weapon. Soon, the oxygen system goes down, followed by the door system. After the shield fire was extinguished, Cerber began to repair it, trying to prevent even more damage.

Although drones give a range advantage, riggers weren’t the fastest of ships. As such, the kestrel easily caught up to them.

"Evil, take out the drone system of the left rigger! I'll take the one on the right!" Anny focused on controlling the burst laser, leaving the artemis missile to Evil.

"Roger that!" As the kestrel barreled through the opening between the rigger, Its weaponry roared to life. Anny’s shots broke through the rigger’s one layer shield and crippled the drone system. Meanwhile, Evil scored a perfect bullseye to the other rigger, creating a breach on the rigger’s hull. Immediately, both drones became lifeless.

However, the kestrel crew was scarcely able to celebrate the tiny victory before a powerful beam struck across the kestrel’s aft, thankfully missing the engine.

"Beam weapon!?" Anny’s eyes opened a smidge as she pushed off the weapon controls back to sitting position. “Evil!”

"Nine o'clock upwards! There's another fighter!" 

"Filian! Tail the rigger! Get in real close!" Receiving Anny's orders, Filian sped up towards the rigger, shadowing its every move. The rigger lightly plinked the kestrel's shield with its defense laser, but just that was unable to pierce through to the kestrel's hull. 

Before the fighter's halberd beam fired again, the kestrel's profile had fully merged with the rigger. Hitting one would risk hitting the other. Seeing this, the rebel fighter held its fire.

"I can't believe that worked.” Evil tilted her avatar’s head, setting the face to a frown.

"Looks like they won't risk hitting allies.” Anny let out a relieved sigh. “Let's stay close until FTL is charged." 

"I wouldn't count on that. Incoming!" Evil let out a warning as her sensors registered a ship fast approaching. It was the rebel elite, chasing the intertwined ship with its weapons charged.

"Cowardly tactic! But that won't save you!" The elite fired their weapons as they passed both ships, uncaring of how close they were. Laser shots shattered through both layers of shielding, but the heavy laser shot hit the rigger.

"Damn, That's cold!" Filian cursed as she saw the elite turning back for another assault with naught an apology for hitting their allies.

"It's a bust. Filian, let's pull away!" Anny commanded Filian, who nodded and started to pull the kestrel away.

"Wait! Why don't we use the rigger as a shield!?" Evil, however, stopped the kestrel from fully separating. Filian yelped as the control stick was nearly yanked out of her hands, forced forward by Evil.

"I'm pretty sure that's a war crime somewhere." Filian quipped, wearing a miffed expression as she realized Evil suddenly took controls from her. 

"We are not doing that." Anny shook her head.

"Why not!?"

"Because..." Anny paused, her grip on the weapon controls tightened. "There are people in there."

"Who cares!? They attacked us! That means they are the enemy!" Evil snapped at Anny as the rebel elite fired two shots from their chain burst laser. Filian slammed the controls, rolling the kestrel to the right and dodging both shots. "You didn't have any qualms blowing up ships, why the cold feet now!?"

"I... I'm not a fan of using people as shields like that." Anny quietly said. "If I can help it, I don't want unnecessary deaths."

"Tch. Fine! We do it your way! In that case.." Evil's eyes lit up as the hacking system blipped to life. A hatch opened on the kestrel's underside, within it was a hacking drone, ready to be launched. "I'll attach this to their shield system!"

The elite flipped back for another attack, their chain laser revving up and spitting laser shots that shattered the kestrel's shield. Next, the rebel's heavy laser spat a heavy shot straight to the kestrel's backside.

"Awawa! There's a fire!" Kobo cried out as she felt heat from behind her. "Uuh! ummm! Oh! This!" While looking around in a panic, Kobo spotted a large sign that said "fire extinguisher" with multiple arrows drawn pointing to it. She promptly took the fire extinguisher can and, with her hands trembling, turned to the raging fire. 

The moment the kestrel left the rigger's shadow, the rebel fighter locked their halberd beam upon the kestrel once more. A tiny bit of the beam damaged the kestrel's armor before the second layer of shield kicked back in and fully protected it from the halberd beam.

As the elite passed by the kestrel's underside, a small thump was heard. 

"What the!?" One of the rebel soldiers cried out as both doors leading to the shield system suddenly slammed shut. "They have a hacking system!?"

"I'm in! Whenever you're ready, Anny!" Evil gave the signal.

“Firing salvo!” Anny responded by unleashing the full might of the kestrel’s arsenal. The Artemis missile shot first, which the elite dodged handily. However, that was when Evil initiated her hacking, draining the power from the elite’s shield and letting the last two shots of the burst laser through. The laser shots crashed into the elite’s shield system, crippling it and disabling the second layer of shield. 

The elite returned fire, the shots of the chain laser puncturing both layers of the shield. The heavy laser came shortly afterwards, aiming for the shield system. However, Filian managed to shift the kestrel’s position, causing it to hit the door system and completely disabled it. The other rebel ship fired their halberd beam, but the second layer of shield came back just in time to fully block it.

Filian took a quick breath and realized fresh air had begun to circulate around the kestrel once again. Silently thanking Cerber, Filian rolled the kestrel right, pointing its nose towards the elite as two shots from the chain laser sped past the kestrel’s frame. 

With the opportunity Filian had given, Anny fired the burst laser, aiming once again for the shield system. The unexpected movement had startled the elite, giving them little time to dodge. All three shots hit their mark, and the elite’s shield fully went down.

"We took down the shield! We might-KYAAA!" Anny screamed as the kestrel was suddenly thrown to the side. Depressurization alarm blared from the room next to hers.

"Hull breach detected! That was an ASB shot!" Evil widened her scan. To her horror, the rebel battleships that had been creeping up on them were now in their position. That was only their first shots, and there were many more to go. Most of the rebel ships swerved off as the ASB started firing, clearly finding the artillery fire-laden environment unsuitable for chasing glory. However...

"That smug mothertrucker is still here!" Filian noticed the elite rebel fighter, who confidently tucked and weaved through numerous ASB projectiles, still keeping their weapons pointed at the kestrel.

"Engine back at full power!" Cerber called from the engine room, Kobo already back manning the engine. "I don't fancy our chances of surviving until FTL is charged, though!"

"That dickhead probably won't leave us alone." Anny eyed the Rebel elite as it held its position. 'Our only chance is to blow that one up.' 

"Filian! Pursue them! If you could hold steady for a couple of seconds, I might be able to score some hits!" Anny decided to take her chance while the elite’s shield is still down.

"Easier said than done!" Filian complained with a smile on her face. She held the kestrel control stick level, making no sudden movements. "But like that's going to stop me!"

The elite rebel quickly turned tail as the kestrel started to pursue. The rebel fighter quickly shot its chain laser, which the kestrel ignored in favor of staying steady for the next shot. The two shots shattered the kestrel’s shields, making way for the heavy laser. 

However the kestrel’s burst laser fired first, peppering the currently defenseless fighter. The elite’s heavy laser went inert as one of the shots hit the weapon system while the other two shots hit the elite’s oxygen system. As soon as the shots hit, the elite’s first layer of shield reappeared.

“They repaired it already!?” Evil exclaimed. 

“They’re elites alright…” Cerber mused as she finished repairing the door system. “Even with multiple people, that was fast.”

With some form of protection returned to them, the elite began to loop upwards. FIlian followed them only for it to suddenly deactivate its thrusters. The ship spun 180 degrees before its thrusters fired once more, flying straight towards the kestrel.

"Bro! They're coming straight for us!"

“Dodge it!”

On Anny’s command, Filian immediately swerved to the right. The elite ship’s underside scraped a bit of the kestrel’s engine, but both were otherwise unharmed. Turning quickly, the elite ship pursued the kestrel with full power to their thrusters. 

“Are they trying to ram us again!?” Filian set full thrust, rolling out of the way of several ASB projectiles that came close. “These guys are crazy!”

“Filian! Stay steady a bit! I’ll try hitting their cockpit!” Anny aimed both of the kestrel’s weapons squarely at the elite. As she fired her salvo, the elite rolled to the right to dodge them.

Revealing a massive ball of plasma right behind it.

"HOLY SHI-" Filian rammed the control stick hard left. The kestrel tried to turn according to its directions, but was too slow to prevent the ASB shot from ramming through the kestrel's cockpit. 

"FILIAN!" Anny’s shout echoed through the kestrel.

"I'm.. I'm fine!" Filian immediately responded. "I can drag myself to the medbay!"

"Hold on! I'm bringing the breach sealant!" Cerber grabbed the nearby blue tank of breach sealant.

"Piloting is offline! We're getting peppered!" Unable to control the ship’s trajectory, Evil could only watch as numerous ASB shot whizzed past the kestrel, trying to hit the stricken bird. Moreover, the elite had turned around for another attack.

“Evil! Is the hacking module ready yet!?” As the kestrel flew forward on momentum alone, Anny still held fast to the weapon controls, aiming them straight at the elite. 

“Just a little bit… There! Ready!” 

“Great! On my mark… Now!” As the elite stabilized its flight path and fired their weapons, Anny fired the kestrel’s arsenal in turn. Without any time to dodge, several laser shots managed to make their way through to the elite’s hull. Unfortunately, the elite’s own salvo was aimed straight at the kestrel’s weapon system.

Anny could feel the intense heat and kinetic energy of the heavy laser slam into the kestrel’s roof directly above her. Nearly knocked off her seat, Anny gritted her teeth as she saw the burst laser go offline. 

“Cerber! Filian! Report!”

“Your girl is back on top form!” Filian shouted through the intercom.

“Piloting is nearly fixed! I’ll be there as soon as possible!” Cerber replied with a mumbled voice. Anny could tell she had a wrench or some other tool held using her teeth.

“Great! Listen, I have-” Anny was interrupted by another massive plasma ball crashing into the kestrel, bringing with it another tremor as the kestrel was knocked off its trajectory.

“Hull down to 20%!” Evil announced, her voice panicked.

“I have a plan! Filian! ____! After that, ____!” Anny began to quickly describe her plan. “Filian, I’m trusting you with this.”

“Sure thing, chief!” Filian excitedly replied.

“Evil, how long until the next one is ready?”

“Approximately 5 seconds.” Evil had a suitably evil grin on her avatar’s face.

“Cerber?”

“Kestrie-wan is ready! As am I!” Cerber said from right beside her as she joined two cables using a roll of duct tape, bringing the burst laser back online.

“Any troubles, Kobo?”

“I’ll do my best!” Kobo gave off her best salute.

“Great! Let’s go!” With Anny’s signal, the kestrel began to accelerate once more. 

“Tough little ship you got there!” Noticing that the kestrel had moved once again, the rebel elite moved to intercept.

Filian skillfully piloted the kestrel, dodging shots from the chain laser and a massive ASB projectile heading the kestrel’s way. Through it all, her eyes shifted around, looking for something.

Anny fired the burst laser as fast as possible, shooting at the elite’s general direction. Though none of the sloppy marksmanship hit the elite ship, the shots did slow them down.

Cerber ran around the ship, her tools in hand. Anytime a shot managed to hit one of the kestrel’s critical systems, she immediately rushed to fix it, keeping the kestrel functioning amidst heavy fire.

Kobo did her best trying to monitor the kestrel’s engines, trying to keep them from overheating and correcting any misalignment that might impact the kestrel’s maneuverability. 

“Found it!” Filian pushed the control stick forward, causing the kestrel to sharply dive. The elite ship followed in hot pursuit, firing all their arsenal and whittling the kestrel down.

Filian kept going, leading the kestrel down to the objective Anny had told her to look for. occasionally swerving and barrel-rolling to dodge incoming projectiles. Her eyes were focused on her objective, waiting for the perfect moment.

“Hull down to 10%!” Evil kept her eyes on the kestrel’s hull integrity as it steadily dropped from the rebel elite’s constant barrage. “Collision in 5… 4… 3… Filian!”

"Here we go!" At the last moment, Filian pulled the controls and the kestrel flew upwards, revealing the ASB shot hidden by the kestrel's body.

The rebel elite, almost expecting the surprise, rolled to the side. The ASB shot passed right beside the elite.

"Ha! You thought you could use my trick against me!?"

"Now!" The hacking drone, still connected to the rebel's shield system, activated. Three shots came from above, all hitting the rebel's engine room.

"What!!?" Immediately, the elite’s thrusters sputtered and halted, leaving only an immobile ship ripe for destruction.

"Hey! Snobby bastard! look to your front!” Evil taunted using one way communication. However, the rebel elite was scarcely able to react before a second ASB shot slammed into the ship.

“Filian! Find two battleships close to one another! If you approach them, they should fire simultaneously!” Evil recalled back Anny’s command, grinning as she did so. “We’ll use the first shot to lure a dodge from them. Evil, use hacking to lower their shields. After that, We’ll disable their engine! That way, there’s a high chance the second shot would hit them!”

The ASB shot slammed through the ship’s cockpit and exploded, the rest of the ship crumpled from the force. Its reactor unstable, the elite ship blew up into numerous pieces.

"The fighter blew up!" Kobo called out. However, another ASB shot struck the hacking system room, breaching the hull and heavily damaging the system. The kestrel spun uncontrollably before Filian managed to right its trajectory.

"No time for celebrations! Jump!" Evil shouted. With the FTL finally charged, the overworked engine lit up and the kestrel soared into FTL speed, starting their long jump towards the engi controlled sector.

It took some time before the tense atmosphere gave way to the silence of FTL travel. One by one, the kestrel crew began to relax.

Anny's legs gave out and she slumped to her seat. The depressurization alarm from the hacking system room sounded distant to her. Cerber gritted her teeth as she forcefully ignored her screaming muscles. She then grabbed some breach sealant to repair the damaged hacking system. Filian finally let go of the control stick and leaned back to the half-destroyed pilot chair, the adrenaline leaving her body. Kobo curled into a fetal position, clearly scared for her own life.

Even Evil stayed silent, trying to take in the sheer luck they just had escaping the fleet. Eventually, her avatar appeared on every vidscreen on the kestrel. "We are never doing that again!" Although nobody answered Evil, they had all agreed in silence.

Anny heard the door open. She craned her head to see Cerber, who just finished taking care of the hacking system, standing on the doorway. Silently, she walked towards Anny, her face sporting a frown. 

“C-Cerber?” Cerber got within mere inches of Anny, her face filling Anny’s vision. Staring into Anny’s eyes, Cerber muttered a single sentence.

“I told you so.” 

Anny’s eyes widened. But before she could say anything, Cerber had already left the room.

"The Federation ship got away?" Vance stroked his beard as he heard the news.

The Rebel Flagship was docked with a station controlled by the rebels. Supplies from the station were transferred to the massive cruiser along with the crew, all of which were crying with joy, glad they were rescued after their only ship was blown up by a certain Federation cruiser. 

"Sir! Forgive us, sir!" The man on the vidscreen saluted. "That kestrel... it's abnormally strong, sir!"

"Abnormally strong, you say?" 

"Yes, sir! The kestrel not only managed to take on several ships at once. They also managed to destroy one of our elites under ASB fire, sir!"

'Kestrel is an old warship model. Technically, it's possible for a ship like that to overwhelm our ships with the right armaments. But could a bunch of salvagers really go toe-to-toe with an Einherjar?' Calculations went off in Vance's head, stringing clues together. 'Unless...' In the end, he came to a conclusion. 

"Neuro, it seems we have solved the mystery of your missing 'sister'" Vance turned his head towards the large vidscreen, where ever smiling Neuro projected her avatar.

"How curious. I did not expect the replacement to be able to take down an elite fighter, let alone under ASB fire." Neuro said, her voice was even. However, Vance could tell her tone was lower than her usual one.

"Even if she is a replacement, she is still a warship AI." Vance interjected, gauging her response.

"She is a mere replacement. She can never replace me." For the first time in years, Neuro's avatar did away with her sweet smile, now sporting a dissatisfied frown. 

"Of course, Neuro." Vance closed his eyes, thinking back to the many, many times he brought up the topic. Her hostility never changed even a bit. He pulled his commissar hat down, hiding the slight smile he had on his face. "As I understand it, however, she destroyed one of the elite fighters with the computing power of a kestrel."

"Correct."

"Tell me, what would happen if she had a ship with higher processing power?" Vance opened his hand, gesturing towards Neuro’s projection on the flagship’s screen.

Neuro was silent for a while, a frown on her avatar’s face as her eyes flashed binary. 

"...she would be a high level threat." Neuro spat out in a grim tone, as if admitting it caused genuine pain. "We must vanquish her before that happens."

"Then our course is decided." Vance got up from his chair, slamming the floor with his cane. "Track that kestrel!"

"...and I need you to patch it up now!" A rebel shouted at the man with an extravagant suit and tophat. 

"Then consider it done." With a servile smile plastered on his face, Jones took a bow. Seemingly satisfied, the rebel walked away. Jones raised his head to reveal a horribly displeased expression. With a flourish of his cape, he turned back and walked away.

"Rebel bastards. At least when I gave the madams free service, they had saved the dock. They even bought something." Jones grumbled under his breath once he got far away enough for him to be sure nobody could hear him. He glanced around towards the next pier over, where several rebel ships were raiding the shipwrecks for their choice cuts of loot. 

"What was that? An elite got taken out by a kestrel!?" As he passed a group of rebels, his ears caught wind of something interesting. He stopped his stride and glanced at the nearby ship, pretending to inspect it while his ears worked overtime. "How the hell did they get into the rebellion elite? If I got beaten by a kestrel, I would've killed myself if I didn't die already."

"Huh, you go dear madams. You truly are a flying history." A smile crept up to Jones' face. "I wonder what would happen if I spread this through the backend channels?"

Across the galaxy, rumors started to spread. 

"Captain, we've caught some rumors spreading through Federation cha-" Wilson froze as he took in the sight in front of him.

His captain knelt on the floor in front of the recently picked up ensign, eyes closed with a serene expression. The ensign, in contrast, was in a state of silent panic, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water while her small hands were firmly planted on the captain's ears.

"Ensign Miniko." Wilson’s voice took on the same cold quality as the moment the two first met.

"T-this is not what it looks like!" Miniko jolted, her arms immediately shot up like she was being threatened by law enforcement.

"Then could you explain what exactly you two are doing?"

"Well, when I was drunk, it turns out I pulled this cutie's ears pretty hard." Opening her eyes and glancing at Wilson, Camilla finally said a word. "So now I let her return the favor."

"I tried to refuse, but she's insistent!" Miniko blabbered, her eyes shifted wildly, refusing to look at Wilson. 

“We will speak about this later.” Wilson sighed, feeling a headache coming on. "Captain, we've caught some rumors spreading through Federation chatter. It seems like a kestrel blew up a rebel elite fighter."

“Kestrel?” Miniko suddenly stopped trembling, her eyes widened.

“I see, kestrel huh?” Camilla sported a big, mischievous smile. “Is it?”

“Yes, there’s a good chance it’s that kestrel.” Wilson replied.

“VT-83R?” Miniko opened her mouth, but quickly closed them again as both Captain and Lieutenant suddenly turned their heads her way.

“That’s… correct.” Wilson stared straight into Miniko’s eyes. Miniko nearly took a step back, but held her ground. “Have you encountered them before?”

“Y-yeah! they’re the ones who saved the ship I was on!” Miniko blurted out.

“By the way, you can lower your hands now.” Wilson commented. Miniko then realized she was still in the same exact position as when Wilson walked in.

“Oh! R-right!” Miniko sheepishly lowered both her hands.

“So you were saved by them as well, huh?” Camilla prodded Miniko with her elbows.

“Yeah! They gave us fuel when we ran out!” Miniko cheerfully replied, her cat ears twitching happily.

“Yeah? They drove away a zoltan warship for us.” Camilla had a wide grin as she revealed the kestrel’s exploits.

“They did that!?” Miniko’s eyes sparkled.

“It seems they are not only strong, but kind-hearted as well.” Wilson rubbed his chin.

"Perhaps…" Camilla turned her head, staring out of the ship’s windows to the tunnel of light that accompanies FTL travel. "...That Kestrel is the 'hope' that the Federation desperately needs."

“Can you believe that?”

“I still can’t believe it.”

“Did those guys really take down an Einherjar?”

“Hey, what are you four talking about there?” The group of former rebels jolted as the friendly voice of their new captain sounded from behind them.

““““Captain!”””” The four immediately turned back, formed a line, and did a perfect salute.

“Whoa, hey, settle down. It’s just me.” Ray raised both his hands in surprise. “Also, that’s the wrong salute.”

The four looked at each other and realized that they had used the salute the Rebellion used. 

“Sorry, sir! We’re-” Jessica began, lowering her head slightly.

“Hey now, that’s ok. We’re not in the military here.” Ray gestured for her to stop. “In any case, were you four talking about the kestrel?”

“Yes, we were.” 

“Quite surprising, isn’t it? I’ve heard the things they went through, but that one is something else.” Ray recalled the news that he had received just a few minutes prior. The whole ship was consumed in an uproar. 

He looked back towards the four rebels and studied their expressions. Although he could see a conflicted expression on each of their faces, he couldn’t feel anything but awe from them at the kestrel’s feat.

“Well, anyways, break time is over. Back to your stations.” Deciding that his intervention wasn’t needed, Ray urged the four to go back to work.

““““Yes, sir!”””” The four shouted at once. Ray just shook his head with a smile as he left.

“Hey, do you think that AI had something to do with it?” As the four began to walk back to their stations, Harry chimed up.

“I mean, we don’t know how good it is, but I’ve never seen AI that advanced before.” Dominic replied. “It’s possible.”

“She seemed personable. Who knows, she might be really smart.” Roger gave his thoughts, crossing his hands behind his head.

“The AI?” Harry tilted his head.

“Yeah, but also that Miss Fox.” Roger nonchalantly said. “I had a feeling she- OW!” Roger recoiled as a slap landed on his cheek.

“So… you’re still thinking about her, huh?” Jessica growled with a low voice, her expression shadowed.

“H-hey, Jessie. You know you’re my only fiancee, right?” Roger’s voice trembled.

“Come here for a sec.” Jessica looked straight at Roger with shrunken pupils.

“C-calm down now, there’s no need to get violent. J-Jess? Can you stop cracking your knuckles please? H-Hiiii!”

"Ey, Tuc'. You heard the news?" The muted yellow colored rockman with tattoos all over his body turned to the mantis, who poured another drink of his own glass before offering to top up his.

"Give it straight, Bro. The drink and the news." The rockman pushed forward his own tankard, easily twice the size of the glass the mantis was drinking from. 

"Got it from the backend channels. They say a kestrel blew up a rebel elite!" The mantis wasted no time filling the vessel to the brim. 

"One of the salvage fleet boys? Bro, you expect me to believe that?" The rockman grabbed the tankard and gulped down all its contents in one go, exhaling loudly as he finished.

"Was pretty skeptical too, but even rebel frequencies were talking ‘bout it. Info's legit." The mantis gulped down his own glass, then went to fill it back up. He was disappointed, however, when he turned the bottle and not a single drop of booze flowed.

“Still think you’re pulling my leg, but go on.” The rockman crossed his arms.

"Well, get this. I asked around and you know what I found?" The mantis paused, staring intently at the rockman. The rockman gestured with his head to go on. "That kestrel was piloted by a white cat."

"White... cat?" The rockman suddenly tensed.

"Well, not an actual cat. Cat human! You know those ones." The mantis waved his claws around, trying to vaguely gesture out a human body.

"Could it be..." The rockman, meanwhile, fell into deep thought. He knew of only one white cat human.

"You've done me good a few times, Tuc'. So here's me repaying you." 

"Bro, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Well, I guess we could call it even then?" The mantis closed his claw and brought it forward.

"Hell yeah, Bro." The rockman bumped his fist against the claw.

"Nice." Seemingly satisfied, the mantis stretched his legs and began skittering away, waving his claws. "Happy huntin' Tuc'. Heard the kitty is crazy."

"Thanks, Bro." The rockman waved back. Now on his own, the rockman reached into his pouch and pulled a cube the size of his fist, which was pretty large by human standard. He pushed one side of the cube, causing it to begin projecting a screen in front of him. 

Enter Password: _____

Ask white cat

"Soon..." The rockman stared intently at the screen.

Chapter Text

"Cerber!" Anny grabbed Cerber's hand as she reached for the door panel.

"Yes?" Cerber turned back to Anny, her gaze was one of disinterest, as if she had already predicted what Anny was going to say.

"What was that about!? Why did you say that!?" 

"I took your offer. If you're wrong about Evil, I could say that to your face." 

"No! I know that's why you said it! It's just… Why do you feel the need to say it!?"

"Anny. You told me to listen before. Now you listen." Cerber suddenly grabbed Anny’s elbows. Anny gulped as Cerber’s eyes bored into her. “You’re wrong about Evil. She only cares about her directive.”

"But- but that’s not true!” Anny stepped backwards, yanking her arms out of Cerber’s grip. ”She cared about getting permission from you, didn’t she?”

"Yes, she does care about that." Cerber’s glasses reflected the surrounding light, obscuring her eyes. "But ultimately, she still values her directive above all."

"You don't know that!"

“She valued her usefulness above her own existence, didn’t she?" Even though her eyes were obscured, Anny could feel the sharp gaze Cerber was giving her.

"That’s..." Anny faltered. 

"Exactly. She thinks her self-worth only comes from how good she is as a warship." Anny's ears began to twitch as she listened to Cerber's words. Something felt hot in her chest, like someone lit a fire inside her heart. “Anny, I know it’s hard for you, but all the evidence shows that Evil is no better that a regula-”

"No!" Anny suddenly shouted. Cerber took a step back, her eyes wide.

"I know she can be better! She-- she... I..." Anny’s voice stuttered. Memories started to run through her head. 

"Vedal… you promised me."

"Hey, Anny. Back there, you..."

"And now... now he won't be... ever again..."

"No! This can't be happening! Not again!"

"Hey! You know what? I think I feel better now. A lot better actually!"

"You're an ensign right? We could use more hands around here."

"Anny! Are you okay!?"

"I know she can! I... I just know it! She might not right now, but I know she can care about other things!" Words flow out of Anny's mouth almost without her being conscious of it, almost as if she was trying to throw out the burning fire from within her chest. “So, I’m gonna show her that! I’m gonna show her she can get self-worth from things other than her directive!” Her shout echoed through the ship. Anny pointedly glared at Cerber, her ragged breath started to slow down. 

"You…” Cerber cleared her throat. “You have some strong feelings about this, huh?" 

“Ah.” Anny suddenly realized that she had pushed Cerber against the door, "I'm... really sorry for yelling. It's just..."

"Well, if you want her to be better, you first have to break her out of the habit of blindly following her directive.” Cerber put her hand on her chin. “Perhaps if we can separate her from Kestrie-wan, even for just a little while…”

"Erm, Cerber?” Cerber looked up at Anny’s face, noticing a slight befuddlement in her expression. “Are you… trying to help?”

“Of course I am. Why do you sound so surprised?” Cerber replied, trying her hardest not to sound offended.

“N-no reason!” Anny waved both her hands. “It’s just… I just thought you're going to techno-babble me on why that’s not possible.”

"Truthfully, I don't know if breaking her out of her directive is possible. But…” Cerber walked closer to Anny, a wry smile on her face. “What I do know is you wouldn’t stop trying even if it was.” Gently, Cerber took one of Anny's hands, squeezing it lightly. “So, I'm with you all the way."

“Cerber…”

"But that's for later.” Cerber let go of Anny’s hand, turning back to the door. “For now, wanna crush some rocks with me?"

"Crush rocks?” Anny tilted her head, trying to parse the meaning of Cerber’s words before suddenly remembering their little mining expedition. “Oh, The thing! The fuel rocks! Sure, Let's go."

"Right, I'll look for another gas mask then." Cerber smiled, then skipped happily through the opened door. Shaking her head with a smile, Anny followed right behind her.

“Defragmenting complete.” Evil chimed from her usual place on the vidscreen.

“Huh? Whazzat?” Filian’s cat ears peeked from behind the pilot seat. Her head followed soon after, looking at the vidscreen where Evil’s avatar resided.

“What’s defragmenting?” Kobo lifted her head from Filian’s lap, her eyes filled with curiosity and a tiny bit of irritation at Evil for interrupting Filian’s headpats.

“You guys don’t know what defragmenting is?” Evil asked, more for confirmation than a genuine question.

“Nope.” Kobo shook her head.

“Same here, bro.” Filian followed suit.

“Fine, I’ll explain.” Evil put a smug smile on her avatar’s face. “You see, it’s the process of ordering my data blocks into continuous sequence in order to reduce my seek time.” Evil prattled, her avatar’s hand on its waist. Her prideful display was met with synchronized head tilt from the two other girls.

“Wow, I have no idea what any of those mean.” Filian’s comment was pure and unfiltered.

“I, uh, like the funny words?” Kobo, meanwhile, elected for a faint praise.

“Oh…” Evil’s avatar deflated as she realized her mistake: she was talking to the blockhead and the little kid. Absolutely none of her fancy words meant anything to these two. Her eyes wandered as she pondered how to explain the concept. “So, over time, my memory is saved in several fragments”

“How does that happen?” Kobo interrupted.

“Sometimes I have to overwrite some data or pile new info on an existing register. It’s faster for me to just save it wherever there’s free space, but then it becomes troublesome for me to recall.”

“So it’s like writing one note on several papers?” Filian suggested, her hand once again started to gently pat the top of Kobo’s head. Kobo shivered in delight.

“Huh, that’s… a good analogy.” Evil said, a hint of confusion and a tiny bit of respect present in her voice. “I didn’t expect that from you, Cat Ears.”

“Thank you! I might not look like it, but I can be quite witty sometimes.” Filian beamed with pride.

“So defragmenting is dealing with that?” Kobo leaned into Filian’s chest.

“Yup. It’s just putting my memory together so it’s not fragmented anymore. That way, it’s faster to recall.”

“Do all AIs do that?” Filian interjected.

“Buddy, all computers do that.” Evil replied, the hint of respect in her voice fading slightly.

“Huh, so that’s how it goes.” Filian nodded. 

Suddenly, Kobo got up and sprinted towards the door. “Huh? where are you going, Kobo?” Filian asked, befuddled by the sudden burst of energy from the blue zoltan.

“I have to write this down before I forget!” Kobo’s retreating form answered before the door shut behind her.

“Heh, lively that one.” Filian grinned, one of her hands on her waist.

“You say that like you’re not the most lively thing on this ship.” Evil snarked.

“Hey, if I’m not the life of the party, this spaceship would be as silent as it is out there.” Filian pointed to the window, out towards space. “Besides, you’re a yapper yourself. Literally no other AI talks as much as you.”

“I mean, you’re not gonna find something like me just anywhere. I’m pretty much one of a… kind…” Evil was about to boast, but her voice suddenly trailed off.

“You know what, Evil? I think it’s great that we got an AI as advanced as you.” Filian complimented Evil, completely oblivious to her sudden silence.

“AI as advanced as me, huh?” Evil muttered pensively. For some reason, that statement stirred up a negative reaction from herself. But, as she tried to diagnose the unpleasant stimuli, she was hit by a ‘data corrupted’ error. 

“Evil? Yo, central command to Evil. You okay, bro?” Finally noticing that Evil seemed distracted, Filian waved her hand in front of the vidscreen.

“I’m fine.” Evil shook her avatar’s head. “It’s just… this corrupted memory business is starting to bother me.”

"Defragmenting complete." Neuro said to herself as she finished organizing her memory. 

Within the confines of the Flagship’s supercomputer, the status of the entire fleet was constantly being fed to her. The position of every ship, the status of every crew onboard the flagship, the positions of nearby stars and events. Even so, Neuro was built to handle overwhelming amounts of data. That was what made her suitable to operate the heart of the Rebellion’s main fleet. 

Through the numerous cameras, Neuro could see into the Flagship’s interior. The rebel fleet was currently coordinating a long-range jump. As such, a flurry of activities were seen within the Flagship’s bridge. However, the Admiral himself seemed to be absent.

Driven by an odd sense of curiosity, Neuro began switching through multiple camera feeds. She then found the admiral in his own room, doing something on his desk.

"Admiral." Neuro projected her voice into the admiral's quarters through the speaker.

"Ah, Neuro." Vance looked up from his desk into the camera peering into his room. "You don't usually speak like this, is there a problem?"

"No, everything is under control." Neuro replied as she focused on the desk. From the camera, Neuro could see an opened book and a pen held by Vance’s hand.

"What is the situation with the fleet?"

"The first wave of the fleet had already made the jump. The second wave is currently preparing."

"Excellent work." Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Vance turned his attention back to the book, the pen in his hand glided across the page as he jotted down something.

"In any case, it seems you are writing something."

"You're curious?"

"Yes."

"I see, how humanlike." Vance mumbled an odd statement before tapping the book on his desk. "This is a name list."

"A name list?"

"Yes. It contains the names of every rebel that ever died in this war." Vance closed the book, then stacked it on top of two other identical books.

"What is that for?"

"Once this war is over, I want to make a monument.” Vance replied.

"A monument?"

"Yes. On that monument, I will etch each and every name inside these books." Vance tapped the cover of the book twice.

"Sounds like a waste of resources and manpower," Neuro’s voice deviated from her usual calmness with a hint of confusion. "Why do that?"

"Neuro. Each and every person in the rebellion is, well, a person." Vance focused his attention to the books, softly brushing its cover. "The moment we lose sight of that is the moment we lose." Vance’s eyes wandered away from the camera to somewhere far away.

"Isn't that right, Calliope?” Neuro watched as Vance spoke to thin air. Deciding that her presence was no longer needed, she turned her attention somewhere else.

Sector FDB-17

Federation Military Base

A sprawling shipyard buzzed with activity. One of the Federation squadrons had returned at the same time as another one launched. First, the frigates arrived, then the cruisers, and at last, the battleships. Repair drones and engineers alike burst onto the scene as the ships landed one by one. 

"Please bring the injured to the port side of the vessel!" Two mantises held onto a stretcher as injured soldiers were laid across them, bringing them to a nearby clinic where the medics were located. 

A rockman rammed through a jammed door, freeing the personnel within. "Everybody out! This way!" The rockman's voice boomed. They then continued inwards to fight the developing fire. 

"This vessel's weapon system has been completely destroyed. Requesting additional parts from the warehouse." A squad of engis operated an army of repair drones, furiously patching up the battered hull on any vessel still flight-worthy. 

"All repair personnel! Please prioritize the ships with lighter damage! Any heavily damaged ships should be moved to the repair dock!" A zoltan held up a megaphone, barking orders.

"Thisss will hurt a sssmidge. Jussst endure it." A slug medic rubbed a salve on the burn wounds of a soldier before bandaging it up.

Similar scenes happened all around the entire military base. Another squadron alighted from their barracks, saying what could possibly be their last goodbyes to their friends and families through their personal devices. A supply ship, bringing food and spare components from planetside, was unloaded by the logistic workers. The repair dock was full of nearly destroyed ships being dismantled to repair other ships, all supervised by the engineers.

Atop the largest building of the complex was the command center, the heart of the military base. Amid the buzzing officers passing information to each other; consulting charts; and relaying info back at the field units, a lone woman stared out the command room window towards the shipyard.

The woman's attire was the most impressive out of all the people in the room, consisting of what looked like a long, sleeveless black dress with gold trim and accessories styled to mimic the look of a naval officer suit. The cuffs of her arm warmers bore a star and five yellow stripes, the last bolder than the first four. It was unclear just how many regulations her attire broke, but nobody seemed to comment on it. Her straight, silvery pink hair bloomed all the way down to her waist, which also framed her soft, diamond shaped face. Her pink eyes took note of the shipyard below, her expression pensive, almost melancholic.

This woman was Calliope Tully, the Fleet Admiral of the Federation's Navy.

From the height she was at, the people below looked small, like ants scurrying around. But each of those ant-like silhouettes was a person. A person with their own experiences with life and their own network of friends that she couldn't even begin to imagine. All these disparate people are relying on her. It is her job to lead them so once everything is over, each of them could return to their lives. 

Calliope turned away from the hectic scene of the shipyard and instead turned her eyes upwards towards the blue globe visible in the sky, spinning lazily. The Federation's own capital, the planet that was once home to all of the human race, Earth. She remembered the time when she did everything she could to get away from it. 

'And yet, here I am. In the end, I couldn't let them go.' She nearly chuckled to herself. 

"Fleet Admiral Tully." The call from one of her subordinates pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Report." Calliope turned back to face the red haired woman and responded curtly.

"The squadron encountered rebel forces at beacon 8. They managed to repel them, but not without losses. 3 ships are lost, one fighter and two bombers. 2 are heavily damaged, both are riggers." A sharp pang shot through Calliope's chest. Another group of people lost. Another set of families that won't receive their beloved back home.

"I see." Calliope turned her pensive stare downwards. A second later, however, her gaze once again met the officer. "Send my condolences to their families."

"Right away, maam." The red haired woman replied. However, the officer did not move from her spot, seemingly contemplating something.

“Is something bothering you?” Calliope caught onto her hesitation.

"If I am so bold to ask, are we going to let this continue?"

"Let what continue, Miss Toma?" Calliope kept her tone even.

"This passive back and forth. Fewer and fewer ships are coming to reinforce us. Soon, there will be none left." Toma voiced her concerns. "Shouldn't we widen our attack range and try to wipe the rebels out?"

“Rear Admiral.” Calliope cut Toma’s speech short. “We have a duty to protect this planet. Reducing the number of defenders to seek them out would leave Earth vulnerable.”

“But, is that really better than waiting for them to grind us to dust?” Toma stepped forward as she clutched the report.

"Your approach is equally unfeasible, we don't know the full extent of their fighting force.” Calliope’s gaze suddenly turned into a glare chilling enough to make Toma gulp. “If we recklessly charge in, we'll be the ones getting wiped out. How many will die then?”

Toma was silent for a while before finally finding her voice again. "...I hadn't considered that, sorry ma'am."

"It's alright, thank you for your input." Calliope’s gaze softened. "If there's nothing else, you may go back to your post. Just leave the full report over there." She gestured to a nearby table.

"Ma'am!" Toma performed a salute before resuming her duties, leaving the report on the table. 

Calliope let out a deep, long sigh as if she was trying to unload all of her fatigue and frustration onto it. Her hand pensively retrieved the report that Toma left behind and sat on a nearby chair. With a heavy heart, she began to flip through the report.

"Heron TO-78E... Her crew was Serena Rembran, Leikontraaakartel, Selkeah Strolos, GL4D- ah!" Calliope was interrupted by the appearance of multiple ships from FTL. At first, she thought of the worst situation, that the rebels had somehow managed to punch their way in. However, she relaxed significantly once she registered the engi design of the ships.

"Fleet Admiral Tully. General Turzil of the Engi Brigade has arrived." Another one of her subordinates, a dark-haired man with cat ears, filled her in.

"Good, patch us in." Calliope gestured to the man. The man did an exaggerated salute, then began working on his terminal. Calliope calmly walked closer to the cluster of vidscreens used for mass communication. One of the screens lit up, picturing a unique engi seemingly painted darker grey with three gold plates bolted onto their shoulders.

"Fleet Admiral Tully. It is good to see you again." The engi spoke with a deep voice, slightly less monotone than a regular engi.

"Likewise, General Turzil." Calliope looked at the face of her old friend. Well… if you could call a yellow rectangle jutting out of an engi’s torso a face.

"It was merely 5 years 3 months 28 days 5 minutes 35 seconds since I last saw you, and by that time you have earned the rank of Fleet Admiral. Your rise in position is commendable."

"Spare the flattery, General. We have a lot to speak about."

"Straight to the point like always. Very efficient. Requesting permission to dock."

"Granted."

____

“Thank you for coming, Turzil. As much as I don’t want to admit it, we’re in dire straits.” Calliope addressed Turzil as they entered the command room. 

“The Federation has been a staunch ally, as proven by the Federation-Mantis war. The Harmony has decided our continued cooperation to be beneficial.” Turzil said as Calliope led them to one of the terminals.

“I’m glad they did.” Calliope sat in front of the terminal and scanned her palm, unlocking the terminal. “We need all the help we can get.”

“I have identified a severe lack of manpower around the base.” Turzil took their gaze off Calliope and wandered over to the rest of the command room. It was, frankly, run by a skeleton crew. Some of the officers even had to sprint between terminals to relay messages.

“Tell me about it.” Calliope sighed. "General Turzil, Have you heard what people are calling this place?" Calliope turned back to the engi general, a serious expression on her face. "They call it... The Federation's Last Stand."

"A grim, but apt name." Turzil mused. "If we fall here, so does the Federation.”

"Yeah." Calliope turned to the terminal in front of her. "Any report on that mysterious ship?"

"So far, there have been no sightings of the mysterious ship." Turzil reported. Calliope silently swiped across her vidscreen. She brought up several blurry pictures, the last pictures the destroyed bases ever took.

All of them depict the same blurry ship. It was hard to judge its size based on blurry pictures, but it couldn't have been bigger than a cruiser. One picture got a vague look at some of its terrifying arsenal, another the rebellion logo emblazoned on top. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of pictures, each taken by a Federation base. 

All of them destroyed, all the victims of the mysterious ship.

"It appears suddenly, annihilates a key installation, then disappears. Just like a ghost." Calliope traced her fingers on the photos, taking in the wide shape that gave her the impression of wings. "Or perhaps, a guardian angel."

"A ship we have no information about is the most effective weapon of war." Turzil interjected. "In summary, mysterious ship = our greatest threat." 

“This thing has destroyed several heavily armed fortresses. As long as it’s out there, we can’t move.”

“Do you have a plan for the encounter, Fleet Admiral?”

“Considering we don’t know what it’s capable of, I got nothing.” Calliope’s expression turned grim. “Worst comes to worst, we have to confront it blind.”

"No matter the circumstances, the Engi Brigade shall follow your lead, Fleet Admiral"

"Haah." Calliope sighed once again. "You know, just ten years ago, I was just Calliope Tully, the rookie from the boonies. How the hell did I get here."

"Your achievement during the Battle of Krileeg mostly contributed to your promotion."

"Thank you, Turzil." Calliope's voice dripped with sarcasm. "You always know what to say."

"It seems I have offended you in some way." Turzil picked up on the stressed admiral's tone. "Generating apology... I am sorry for my insensitive remark."

"Save it for later." Slowly, Calliope got up from the chair and tidied her dress. "Right now, we have a military base to defend. Merry, please give the good general a tour of the base." The same dark-haired cat-eared man responded with a salute.

"Affirmative. I shall meet you again later, Fleet Admiral. Glory to the Federation."

"Glory to the Federation."

As the engi general left the room, Calliope turned back to the window. She could see Earth, spinning lazily as it always had.

“It’s okay, I won’t let the Rebellion succeed.” She muttered, her voice full of conviction. “Even if you’re the one spearheading it, Teacher.”

"My..... brothers and sisters.... in the rebellion." A large number of rebel soldiers gathered on the space dock, their eyes glued upon the figure at the steps of a great warship.

The figure had a short stature, but nothing short of respect could be seen in the eyes of those who beheld her. Her voluminous pink hair, occasionally interrupted with streaks of purple, was tied into twintails by a pair of hair clips shaped like bat wings. The grey pauldrons and large MFK insignia on her uniform's left breast signified her high ranking among the rebels. Her eyes, one amethyst purple and the other pink, slowly panned over the gathered crowd.

"We are here.... today to mourn.... the loss of.... our fellow... comrades." She spoke with a high-pitched voice, pausing every once in a while as the large tank on her back pumped air through tubes connected to her throat. Each of her words hung in the air. 

"They have bravely... fought for our cause… and have… died with honor.” The crowd around her watched with rapt attention as she continued. “Tonight. We will… have a feast… to honor the fallen…. Their valor shall… be remembered.” The girl balled her hand into a fist. In one swift motion, she raised her hand to the air. "Strength to.... the Rebellion!" 

"Strength to the Rebellion!" The sea of soldiers raised their hands in unison, mimicking the gesture made by the girl. A legion of cheers erupted from the crowd, echoing through the entire dock.

Amidst the raucous cheering of the soldiers before her, the girl alone had a flicker of doubt within her eyes. Silently, she walked back up her ship entrance as the door closed behind her.

"Irena! Irena! Irena!" She could still hear the chanting of her name, even through the heavy metal door.

Irena wanted to sigh, but she held it in. Doing that here would quite literally be wasting her breath. Adjusting the position of the air tank behind her, she made her way to the ship's life support system.

The empty halls of The Thrasher were silent. With most of the crew outside preparing for the feast, Irena saw the door that led to her destination before she saw a single other person. Pressing her palm into the biometric scanner, Irena waited as the life support door hissed open. Irena quickly moved into the room, the door shutting behind her. 

Irena glanced at the room. Sure, it has all the markings of a typical life support room: the electrolysis oxygen generator, the central heating system, and other such machinery. However, on one corner of the room was a thick, pink sleeping bag and several plushies placed on magnetically attached shelves. A small table was also present, flanked by a couple of chairs. On top of it were several of Irena’s personal belongings, most prominent of which was a delicately framed photograph of the girl herself, in her younger years and with neither tubes nor air tanks. Perhaps the weirdest addition, however, was an entire X-ray bed situated in the far right corner of the room.

Irena took a deep breath, enjoying the air specifically engineered so she could breathe it without complications, and let out her long held sigh. Slowly and carefully, she twisted the tube connected to her throat, causing it to beep; hiss; and detach. She then took her air tank off her back and connected it to the life support system, the indicator light turned yellow as the tank slowly filled.

With a relieved grunt, Irena stretched her arms above her head, reveling in how much lighter her body felt. With this new sense of liberation, she sauntered to the nearby chair and dropped herself onto it, her head leaning back over the backrest. 

However, she was scarcely able to relax before the door to her room opened. She jolted into both attention and proper posture, but completely let both go as she saw who it was that entered.

A man with brownish blond hair and a somewhat stern expression entered the room. His suit was all white: A white suit with white shirt underneath, a nice white bow-tie around his shirt’s collar, and white pants. His eyes immediately locked with Irena’s.

“Miss Maus.” The man did a little bow as he regarded Irena, his tone respectful.

“Doctor Connor.” Irena replied with the same tone.

“It’s time for the routine checkup.” Connor straightened his back, then gestured towards the X-ray machine.

“I’ll be in your care.” Irena nodded.

____

“It looks like your lungs are still holding up fine.” Connor muttered as he examined the resulting radiographs. “However, we are still unsure if the toxin has fully degraded. As such, we will have to continue with the checkups.”

“That’s fine.” Irena leaned back on the chair, her uniform back on her body. On the table in front of her was a leatherbound book opened to an empty page. Irena stared at the ceiling for a while before she leaned forward, picked up one of the many pens she had stored loosely in a glass cup, and began to write.

“Another one of the Fleet Admiral’s errands, I presume?”

"Fleet Admiral Vance can be... extremely idealistic at times." Irena jotted down yet another name, the letters a bit thick from how hard she pushed the pen into the page. “Every single name on a monument, as if anyone could read through all that and understand.”

“I see.” Connor could feel the burden she carried through that statement alone. It inspired a twinge of pity, as if he was watching a child getting punished for something her sibling did. “In any case, that concludes today’s checkup. Please rest well, Miss Maus.” Connor inserted the radiograph into a folder and turned towards the door. 

"Connor, do you think this is the right path?" Connor stopped his stride and glanced back towards Irena. 

"Please elaborate, Miss Maus." Irena still looked like a young girl to Connor’s eyes, which was why the fact that she had such tired eyes was so heartbreaking to him.

"This whole rebellion thing." Irena continued. "The slugs were already harshly judged due to the biotoxin incident. Is there still a point in me continuing with this?"

"Sorry, Miss Maus." Connor shook his head. "I am a doctor of medicine, not philosophy."

"Of course that's your excuse."

"However, if I am allowed my two cents." Connor’s gaze softened ever so slightly. “Whether or not this is the 'right thing' will be determined with the outcome of this war."

“As it always has, I suppose.” Irena mused, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t think I’ll be joining tonight’s feast. Could you tell the others I’m not feeling well?”

“Certainly.” Connor nodded, his gaze lingered on Irena for a little longer before he turned back. “Rest well, Irena.” His tone was the exact same as it had been, but Irena could feel his concern. With that, he walked out the door.

“Enjoy the feast, Connor.” The door clamped shut, bringing the shadow of Connor’s figure with it. Irena’s eyes lingered at the door for a while before she returned back to her duties: writing names in books.

Chapter Text

"Guys, we're nearly there." Filian leaned forward in anticipation, her hands steadily gripped the Kestrel's control stick. 

The heavily battered kestrel had spent the last 24 hour period jumping between sectors. The frame of the spaceship groaned, barely holding together from the damage it sustained during its encounter with the rebel fleet. 

"Kestrie-wan's hull is in critical condition." Cerber asserted, her fingers swiftly navigated through her tablet's menus and pulled up various diagnostics of the Kestrel's systems. "If any shenanigans occur, I don't fancy our chances."

"Umm... thrusters are... good, I think." Kobo stood behind Cerber, reading the diagnostics on the engine terminal over her shoulders. The various words and displays had become a familiar sight to her.

"Evil, how much time left?" Anny asked. 

"Fifteen seconds." Evil responded. "I'll begin the countdown once we get close enough." Anny nodded at Evil's remark.

"Get ready. Exiting FTL travel in three..." Evil began the countdown. At the same time, she readied the Kestrel's sensors.

"Two..." Anny's fingers tensed around the weapon controls. Even though Engi sectors were generally pretty safe, a small smidge of worry still stuck to the back of her mind. 

"One!"

At last, the view outside the kestrel shifted from a tunnel of light into the sight of numerous glimmering stars. The long range beacon was immediately visible to the kestrel's right. The huge, spire-shaped structure was dotted by numerous blocky ships, all seemingly doing their task maintaining the long-range beacon. 

"Those are..." Filian began.

"Engi ships. We made it." Cerber completed her sentence. As she said that, two ships broke off the beacon and started making their way towards the kestrel.

"Evil, hide." Anny suddenly commanded.

"Huh? Why!?"

"If the engis find you, there's going to be trouble." Anny's expression was painted with worry. "And with the Kestrel like this, I doubt we can get away."

"But-"

"Evil, please..." Anny's tone was firm, perhaps a bit demanding. Combined with the pleading look she gave, Evil couldn't find it in her to refuse. "...just hide, okay?"

"...Fine, I'll switch to standby. They shouldn't detect me if they don't look too closely." With that remark, Evil's avatar disappeared from the kestrel's vidscreen.

The two blocky ships drifted ever closer to the kestrel before stopping in front of the kestrel, its weapons charged. From this close, Anny could clearly see that the engi ships completely lacks aesthetics in its design. Several incongruous parts sat next to each other as if haphazardly glued together. If Anny didn’t know the designer of these ships were the engis, she would’ve doubted that it would be able to fly at all.

"Unknown ship, please identify yourself." A wide-band hail carried the signature monotone voice of an engi.

"Federation Kestrel VT-83R." Anny replied, using a wide-band hail of her own so other nearby engis could also hear. 

A moment of silence followed. Anny gulped, trying to parse the engi ship's intention. With its weaponry trained on the kestrel, it could blow them up at any time.

As her mind raced trying to find some solutions to this apparent deadlock, the reply came.

"Acknowledged. Federation ship." Anny could see the engi ship's ion and laser power down. "Please do not move." Anny was about to breathe a sigh of relief before the other engi ship suddenly bathed the kestrel in red light.

"Whuh!? What are they doing!?" Filian exclaimed in surprise as her vision was suddenly bathed in red.

"I think they're... scanning us?" Cerber offered her thoughts.

"Nobody move." Anny spoke, her face tense. "We don't want them to think we're aggressive."

The engi ships slowly encircled the Kestrel, red light still emitting from it, inspecting the cruiser from every angle. No one aboard the Kestrel moved a muscle. After a while, the red light was gone as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Assessment complete." The engi spoke again. "Ship model: Kestrel. Status: heavy damage. Do you require assistance?"

"Assistance?" Anny asked, more for confirmation than anything else.

"We have tools to repair your hull." The engi ship elaborated.

"Really!? Bro, are we lucky or what!?" Filian smiled widely, suddenly leaning forward and swiveling her head to the box in the corner of the cockpit. Evil did not respond.

"Repair, huh? But..." In contrast to Filian's excitement, Anny wore a look of concern as she peered into the vidscreen. Specifically, she stared at the place where Evil's avatar usually bobbed around. 'Evil said she won't be discovered as long as they don't look too closely. Can we really take-'

"Anny, I can tell what you're thinking right now." Cerber's voice came over the intercom. "We'll have to take the gamble. I don't see anywhere we can repair Kestrie-wan nearby."

"...Okay." Biting her lip, mostly because Cerber had accurately read her thoughts, Anny relented. "Please assist us."

"Affirmative, dispensing assistance." A rounded shape descended from the engi vessel towards the kestrel. The drone unfolded its repair arms and began restoring the kestrel's hull. “Please refrain from excessive movement.”

“Ah, thank you.” Anny replied, her voice still tense from worry.

"The Galactic Federation sided with us in the Federation-Mantis war. Federation = Allies. Restoration of Federation = Beneficial to the Harmony. More Federation ships = greater chance of Federation survival." The engi rattled off. 

Anny kept watching through the outside camera, wary of anything that might signal that the engi had found the Kestrel’s little stowaway. However, the repair went on without any sign of it happening.

"Uh, Mr engi, sir!? May I ask a question?" A small voice suddenly spoke. Kobo had barged in front of the vidscreen.

"Kobo?" Cerber, who was nearly bowled over as the little blue zoltan came into frame, spoke with a bewildered tone.

"Proceed with the question." The engi urged her to proceed.

"Why do you hate AIs?" Kobo let out a banger of a question with the most innocent look in the two blue spots that was her eyes.

"Kobo!?" Cerber screeched with a higher volume.

Anny didn't say anything, but her shocked expression and a single bead of sweat going down her face clearly said 'what are you doing!?'

Filian, meanwhile, did her best to hold in a chuckle. Which is to say, absolutely zero effort

"Vague question, please elaborate." The engi, without any hint of being offended, asked for clarification.

"Uhm…” Kobo visibly wilted at the question. It was clear she had only asked on a whim and wasn’t expecting the engi to ask a question back. “So, you guys don't like it if people make AI right? You even had a… umm… a ‘ban’ was it?" That said, Kobo’s curiosity win out and she gave elaborating a good ol’ college try.

"Please provide a reason for the question."

"I was curious because we ha-owie!" Kobo's words were interrupted by a smack to the back of the head.

"She's just curious." Cerber quickly answered, silently rubbing the part of Kobo’s head she hit.

"That hurt!" Kobo lashed out, but didn’t make any effort to struggle against Cerber’s petting.

"Kobo, I'm really sorry, but you don't have a mouth I could close. Please forgive me." Cerber whispered, placing her pointer finger in front of her mouth. "We can't let them know about her."

"Oopsie." Both of Kobo's hands covered the place her mouth would be if she had one.

"Spoken reason: Curiosity. Acceptable." Either suspecting nothing or choosing to ignore it, The engis continued. “The ban against the creation of true AI started in the year 5278. It was first brought up during the exhibition of the first auto-ships created by the Abyssgard corpo-”

“Sorry if we’re being rude, but could you give a very short version that doesn’t go into the history? We’re in a bit of a hurry.” Cerber interrupted. 

“Reason acceptable. Generating summary…” The engi paused for a few seconds before continuing. “The Harmony believes creation of true AI has a 78.3% chance to cause extinction scenario AM: annihilation by superior autonomous weaponry. Following the assessment, we informed The Federation of this possibility and suggested countermeasures to nullify it. The result was Federation-Harmony Treaty act 41, which prohibits all AI related research.”

“That’s a lot of words.” The light blue spots that served as Kobo’s eyes scrunched up as she struggled to comprehend each word. “But basically… You’re afraid AI is going to… kill you? So you made a rule to stop it.”

“Your statement is correct.” The engi replied.

“But… what if the AI doesn’t want to kill?”

“The risk of the technology being obtained by rogue actors is not insignificant. We would prefer eliminating any risk.” As the engi answered, the hull repair drone that had been sealing the numerous cracks and dents in the kestrel’s hull had stopped its repair. The other engi ship floated closer to the spent drone, revealing a large mechanical arm that carefully retrieved it.

"That is as far as the drones could fix. Generating apology... We are sorry for your loss." The engi gave an inane apology.

"I don't think that's the right kind of apology, but thank you nonetheless." Anny tilted her head slightly, then nodded.

"Criticism accepted. We will leave you on your way." Shortly after the remark, the communication line was terminated. Slowly, the two engi ships drifted back to the ongoing maintenance work on the beacon.

A brief moment of silence followed the engi’s departure. "Evil, it's safe." Anny whispered to the terminal in front of her.

"Whew!" Immediately after, Evil’s avatar reappeared all over the Kestrel’s various vidscreens. "Thank god it's over."

"You look pissed. Is standby mode that uncomfortable?” Filian tilted her head as she leaned backwards, putting both her hands behind her head.

"Of course it's uncomfortable! I have to take deliberate care not to run any suspicious commands!” Evil’s voice climbed as she started her rant. “Do you know how hard that is for my neural structure!? I can’t even think properly!"

“S-sorry, I didn’t know.” It was Anny who answered Evil’s complaints. “But still, we might have to do that again whenever we meet an engi.” She mumbled under her breath.

“Why even bother with it?” Evil questioned, subtly implying her denial.

“Erm, because we need to keep you safe?” Anny replied, her ears started twitching.

“Why though? Cerber said they won’t mess with me until after the war.” Evil replied nonchalantly.

“But that’s-” Anny really wanted to chastise Evil about her nonchalance in regard to her own life, but lost her words as she realized Evil will just brush her off again. “That’s… W-well..” Anny stumbled over her words, trying to make up an excuse. “...W-what if they demanded you be given over then and there, huh? What then?” In the end, Anny only managed to conjure a house-of-cards argument.

“Simple, if they try to take me, we just blow them up!” And just like a house of cards, her argument was easily felled by a stiff breeze. Although, Evil’s response was more akin to a hurricane than a stiff breeze.

“WWWHAT!!!” Anny exclaimed in shock. “That response is way too extreme!!”

“Well, you know, that’s better than letting her be taken away, isn't it?” Suddenly, Filian chimed in with her own thoughts.

“Filian, what the hell! Not you too!” Not expecting a pincer attack, Anny shouted to Filian. “You two! No blowing people up without a reason!”

“But we do have a reason, it’s ‘because they’re trying to kidnap me’” Evil replied, her avatar’s face twisting into a smile.

“I- I mean yeah, that’s a valid reason, but- uh-” Anny stumbled, her brain working overtime. However, the first thought her brain came up with was ‘Fucking help me with these people!’

___

“Superior autonomous weaponry...” While Anny was wrangling both Evil and Filian, Cerber was off in her own little world. Her mind wandered back to the first time Evil came onto the ship. Specifically, to the blueprints she showed.

‘A highly advanced AI… and a large, overly complicated ship.’ Cerber stiffened. ‘Surely not… right?’

“Big sis Cerber?” A small voice came from directly beneath her, where Kobo had noticed her tightening grapple. “Your face looks scary, did something happen?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Suddenly aware of her company, Cerber quickly fixed a gentle, if a bit forced, smile on her face. “Sorry if I worried you.”

____

Anny’s entire upper body had flopped onto the weapon control terminal. Somehow, she managed to convince Evil to hide herself whenever they met an engi. However, the ordeal had exhausted most of her mental energy. She didn’t even move when she heard the door to the room opening.

“Well, aren’t you in a sorry state.” Anny’s fox ears twitched and rotated towards Cerber’s voice.

“Cerberrr, don’t talk to me right now.” Anny was barely able to muster a semblance of coherent thought to reply. 

“Guess you really are exhausted. Want me to give you a lap pillow or something?”

“Not now, probably later.”

“Big sis.” Another voice cropped up. Anny slightly shifted her position to glance back. She found Kobo right beside her, right arm outstretched towards her holding a half-eaten bar of chocolate. “Here, for you.” 

“You sure?” Anny eyed the chocolate bar, then gazed back at Kobo's face.

“Yes!” Kobo’s eyes sparkled as she replied firmly. “You need it more.”

“Hehe, thank you.” Anny gratefully took the bar and gave a leisurely pat on Kobo’s head, earning a cheerful hum from her. “Cuuute~”

“Thirty seconds from destination.” Evil’s voice reverberated through the Kestrel.

“Looks like perfect timing.” Cerber gazed at the intercom speaker, then turned to Anny. “Are you sure you don’t need to rest? I can take over aiming.”

“Nah, I’ll manage.” Anny gently shook her head. “Your Kestrie-wan needs you to repair any damage she might take.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it.” Cerber waved to Anny as she herded Kobo back to the engine room. Anny lazily waved back. 

As Cerber and Kobo left the room, Anny took one piece of the chocolate bar and popped it into her mouth. The chocolate gently melted in her mouth. Sweet, but not overly so. Just how she liked it.

“Exiting FTL travel in Three… Two… One!”

The gleaming tunnel of light receded back into a star filled sky. As the Kestrel emerged from FTL travel...

"One ship directly in front of us!" Evil immediately picked up on the presence of a ship, front and center right beside the beacon. The ship was quite small and bore a striking resemblance to the Kestrel. A Federation ship of the Hobby model. However, the purple skull painted on the side of the ship made the identity of the ship clear.

"They didn't even try to hide." Anny growled, suddenly full of vigor. Her hair bristled on end as her gaze was fixed on the pirate symbol.

"Welcome, travelers, to our beacon." The pirate's wide-band hail was received by the Kestrel's comms. "For just a moderate sum of scrap, we'll consider not blowing you up."

"Wow, first jump of the sector and we're already getting mugged." Filian stretched her finger in front of her, then grabbed the Kestrel control stick tightly. "So, we dealing with this the usual way?"

"Ready the weapons!" Anny commanded. Deciding she had to focus, she chewed the chocolate in her mouth and swallowed.

"Burst laser and Artemis missile operational!" Evil responded immediately.

“Yep, knew it.” Filian chuckled as she set maximum thrust.

"Not surrendering, eh? Fine. We'll just take the scrap forcefully!" The pirate's weapons immediately power up as they cut communications.

The Kestrel sped up as its thrusters roared to full power. Before either ship managed to warm their weapons enough to shoot, the Kestrel already flew behind the pirate ship. Filian cut the thrust and let the Kestrel flip, giving Anny a clear shot for the battle's first salvo.

Courtesy of Evil’s quick scan, the layout of the pirate ship was already displayed on the targeting computer. Anny lined up the shot perfectly, the Artemis missile finding home on the pirate ship's shield system, causing it to flicker off. A few seconds later, the burst laser also fired, aimed at the weapon system.

The pirate ship did a wide turn to throw off the laser shots, yet one of the shots still hit their undefended weapon system, causing their mini-beam to deactivate. Pointing their nose to the Kestrel, the pirates retaliated using their own armaments.  

A burst of clumped up scrap suddenly shot out from the ship's other weapon at high velocity. The numerous metallic projectiles ripped through the kestrel's shielding, allowing one particularly large clump of metal to ram into the back of the kestrel, knocking the life support system offline.

"What the hell is that gun!?" Evil yelped in surprise, completely blindsided. She immediately focused the Kestrel's sensors to the weird gun that just fired.

"That's a flak cannon. Should've known we'll run into it sooner or later." Cerber explained as she gathered some loose scrap to repair the life support system. "I guess you don't have much encounter with this kind of primitive tech, huh?" 

"It's basically recycling useless scrap into ammo." Filian continued Cerber’s explanation. "Real good at shredding shields too. Too bad it's a bitch to aim."

"Filian, hold steady outside its effective range!" Anny issued a command.

"Don't worry about it, the pilot's a rookie! I can fly circles around them all day!” Filian replied with a cocky grin.

“Well, why did we get hit, then!?” 

“Sorry, I was in a taunting mood.” Filian winked. “It won’t happen again today, I swear.”

“It better no- wait, did you just say ‘today’!?” Veins popped up on Anny’s forehead.

“They’re coming!” Evil shouted as her sensors detected another volley of scrap being fired. 

“I got it!” With a relaxed quip, Filian quickly turned the Kestrel’s nose towards the pirate ship. A barrage of high velocity scraps tore through the kestrel’s two layers of shielding, yet not a single clump even grazed the Kestrel's hull. “This good enough for you, Captain!?”

“Great job, Filian, keep it steady!” Deciding to save her complaints for later, Anny focused on keeping the weapons on target. 

Both the Artemis missile and burst laser fired simultaneously, leaving no room for the pirate ship to dodge without taking a hit. Laser shots crashed into the pirate’s cockpit, crippling the piloting system and preventing any further evasive maneuvers. 

“Life support is back online!” Cerber’s voice traveled through the intercom.

“Great! Now, how about we end this?” Filian grinned, threading the Kestrel between two clumps of debris fired from the flak gun and getting closer and closer to the pirate vessel.

“Keep it steady until I fire!” Anny’s eyes narrowed, preparing to take the shot.

“Roger that!” Filian kept the Kestrel steady, placing complete trust in Anny’s timing.

The Kestrel flew ever closer. A thousand meters… seven hundred meters… four hundred meters…

“Eat this!” About one hundred meter before collision, Anny fired both the burst laser and the Artemis missile, every shot hit their mark. Immediately, Filian pulled the Kestrel’s trajectory out of the collision course. Detonations crept along the pirate ship’s hull before ending in one big explosion that sundered the ship in two. 

With Filian’s stellar piloting, the Kestrel got away with only scratches from the first flak volley.

“Wow, that was fast.” Filian raised one of her hand in celebration. “Well, I guess no pirate is going to match a rebel elite.”

“I suppose this means we’re just better than the local pirates, huh?” Anny had a wide smile on her face.

“Of course we’re better, you have me after all!” Evil took her chance to gloat.

“Settle down, That ship didn’t even have two layers of shielding.” Cerber, the Kestrel’s resident voice of reason, took it upon herself to burst Evil’s bubble. “The closer we are to the warzone, the more troublesome the ship we will encounter. Don’t let your guard down.”

“Hah! Forget two layers, give them three, no, four layers of shield! I’ll still blast through it!” Evil turned her avatar’s face upwards with a look of superiority in her eyes. It seemed her bubble had become harder to pop.

“I sincerely doubt our weaponry is strong enough to take down a four-shielder.” Cerber took another stab, but Evil did not dignify it with a response. Or perhaps she just stopped listening.

“Now, Filian.” Anny kept her smile, but her expression clearly darkened. “What was that about not happening again today?”

“Damn, I was hoping you’d forget.” Filian said nonchalantly, turning away from the screen and lightly rapping her knuckles against her head. However, when she glanced back, Anny was nowhere to be seen. “...Uh, Anny?”

“She’s walking to the cockpit.” Evil provided the explanation. “She’s still smiling. Good luck.” With that parting word, Evil’s avatar disappeared from the piloting vidscreen.

“...Shit.” An ice cold feeling ran down Filian’s spine. Not even a second later, the cockpit door opened. 

Filian slowly turned her head to the door. Anny stood right on the doorway, the same dark smile still present on her face.

“H-hey there, Anny. We can talk about this, can’t we- Ow! Ow! Not the ears! please, not the ears!” A stream of panicked begging.

“Repent, child.” A swift, cold reply.

“I’m sorrryyy!” A scream of anguish.

Chapter Text

“Big sis, are your ears okay?” Kobo stood right beside Filian, watching her rub her fox-like cat ears with one hand.

“I mean, it’s still a bit sore, but it’s mostly fine.” Filian sighed, trying to focus through the last of the lingering pain.

“Big sis, you’re not getting kicked out, are you?”

“Huh!? What makes you think that?” Filian snapped her head towards Kobo, causing the blue zoltan to flinch.

“W-Well…” Kobo lowered her gaze, observing her pointer fingers tapping. “Big sis Anny said a lot of mean things, so I thought-”

“Genuinely, I only remember my ears getting pulled.” Filian Interrupted.

“Oh…”

“Relaaaax, I’m not getting kicked out over anything. Anny’s not someone who can go full tilt like that.” Filian used her free hand to pat the zoltan’s head. “Well, actually, Anny only ever goes full tilt in those situations, doesn't she?”

“Huh?” Hearing her muttering, Kobo’s eyes looked up in curiosity.

“...Nevermind that. Prying open someone’s past is a no-no.” Filian mumbled, shaking her head. 

“So… does that mean big sis is not getting kicked out?” Kobo’s voice bloomed with hope.

“Nope! I’m staying right here!” Filian stopped her petting as a notification came up on the screen. “We’re approaching the next beacon, you should go back to Cerby.” Filian planted both her hands back on the control stick.

“Okay!” Kobo glowed a slightly brighter blue as she launched herself through the door. “Big sis, take care!”

“You too!”

“Haha! I am the dread pirate Tuco! Prepare to die!” Not a second after the Kestrel ended its FTL jump, a wide-band hail greeted them. A pirate ship suddenly appeared from behind a moon with their armaments fully ready. 

From appearance alone, it was clear that the pirate ship was of zoltan origin. The green energy field that enveloped the ship.only confirmed it.

“God dammit! Again!?” Filian balled her hand around the Kestrels control stick, resisting the urge to slam on the Kestrel’s control panel. “I thought this is the engi sector, not the pirate sector!”

“Save that for later! For now, we have to take care of them!” Anny immediately issued an order. Within seconds, the Kestrel was ready for battle. 

Immediately, Filian cut the engine thrust by half, letting the Kestrel spin towards the pirate ship. Sensing Filian’s intentions, the pirate ship blasted full thrust and sharply rose up before the Kestrel’s weaponry could lock on. Both ships began to dance around each other at high speed, trying to take the initiative of striking first.  

“Anny.” Evil’s avatar popped up along with the pirate ship’s scan, frowning. 

“Evil? What’s wrong?” Anny probed.

“I’m detecting an unknown system onboard their ship.” Evil’s avatar pointed to one of the rooms scanned by the Kestrel. There, a red question mark was seen; almost certainly the work of Evil herself.

“Unknown? What does that mean?”

“That means it’s nowhere in my database.” Evil shook her avatar’s head. “...And that means something unpredictable might happen.”

“I see.” Anny tightened her grip on the weapon controls. “If that’s the case, let’s end it quickly!” Her violet eyes glinted as she finally saw an opportunity. Jamming her finger against the launch button, Anny unleashed the first shot of the Artemis missile.

Unable to fully dodge the missile, it crashed into the zoltan shield, cracking it. Another three shots from the burst laser took the green shield down.

The pirate ship retaliated, shooting their Leto missile and their two-burst laser. FIlian smiled, rolling the kestrel smoothly to the right to dodge the missile. The laser shot crashed into the Kestrel’s shield, its two layers absorbing both shots.

“Zoltan shield down! They’re wide open!” Evil exclaimed with a grin, an expression mirrored by Anny.

“Let’s see you han-” But before Anny was able to shoot the next volley, her hand stopped.

Their assault sputtering into a halt, Filian gritted her teeth and pulled the control stick, flinging the Kestrel’s trajectory upwards and passing above the pirate ship.

“Anny! What the hell are you doing!?” Evil fully focused her attention on the weapon control terminal and started to berate Anny. However, Anny didn’t respond.

“...” Without a word, Anny took out her blaster and fired multiple shots to the weapon control system.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!?” Evil screeched as the weapon control sparked and shut off. “Cerber! Come here! Anny has gone insane!” With one last shot, the terminal camera shut off. Before it did, however, the camera managed to get footage on Anny’s face.

She was staring blankly without expression, not even a glint of personality behind them.

“Anny! What the- Kyaa!” Cerber yelped as a blaster bolt sailed past her head. She immediately took cover beside the doorway as several other bolts struck the wall.

Evil immediately primed the hacking system. The hacking drone sailed through empty space, slightly correcting its trajectory before finally latching onto the pirate ship. Sending a burst of disruptive data, Evil drained the charge from their weapons. “There we go, that should buy us time.” Evil sighed.

“Evil, you said there was an unknown system?” Filian’s voice intruded upon her thoughts. Evil focused her attention to the cockpit to find Filian wildly flying the kestrel, still trying to regain positional supremacy.

“You're right! That thing! It must be whatever that is that made Anny like this!” 

“I think I know what system it is.” Evil could see Filian squint her eyes.

Anny stepped through the open door. But before she could do anything…

“Haah!” Cerber tackled her to the floor, two bodies intertwined as both rolled on the floor until they stopped with Cerber on top. 

Anny, however, had kept hold of her blaster. She wasted no time pointing it at Cerber’s face and pulling the trigger. Seeing the danger, Cerber punched Anny’s hand. The blaster bolt missed her head by millimeters as the blaster fell to the floor right beside the two.

Cerber desperately tried to grab hold of Anny’s right hand, keeping it away from the thrown blaster. However, she wasn’t looking at Anny’s left hand, only to be reminded of it by a swift hit to the side of her head, flinging her glasses to the floor. The shock made Cerber release her grip on Anny’s hand, which wasted no time grabbing hold of the blaster and aiming it right to Cerber’s forehead.

“Iyaaaah!” Soft blue light and a spirited screech heralded the appearance of Kobo, who wasted no time kicking the blaster off Anny’s hand and to the far side of the room.

Anny grunted as she tried to throw Cerber off her body. Cerber flopped her whole weight onto Anny, trying desperately to keep her down. Kobo joined in to support her, Grabbing Anny by the shoulders and preventing Anny from throwing more punches.

“Huh? What am I doing?” Still pinned to the floor, Anny suddenly stopped struggling. The glimmer of thought had returned to her eyes.

“Welcome back, Anny. You destroyed the terminal quite a bit during that little bout of madness you just had.” Cerber sarcastically informed from on top of Anny’s stomach, reaching for her glasses.

“I destroyed what!? What’s happening!?” Just as Anny said that, the Kestrel shook. All three girls nearly toppled into a heap.

“Missile hit on port side! Life support is offline!” Evil’s voice warned.

“Guys, listen.” Fillian’s voice followed Evil’s. “We’re dealing with a mind control system.”

“Huh? Does that really exist?” Kobo turned her head towards Cerber, tilting her head. Anny also turned to Cerber with the exact same gesture.

“This is the first time I’m hearing it.” Cerber crossed her hand.

“It’s Slug technology. Dunno how it works either.” Filian said as she pulled the ship up, wrenching it away from the pirate’s laser shots. “Didn’t have this much range back then.”

“Great, so we have to fight them and ourselves.” Cerber turned to the camera watching the kestrel’s hall. “Evil, can you monitor that system specifically?”

“I’m keeping an eye on it! I’ll warn you if it’s about to activate again!”

“That system is now a priority! Evil, could you hack it?” Anny picked herself up from the floor, then gestured for Kobo and Cerber to return to their posts. Both of them nodded and scrambled back to their respective duties. Anny followed Cerber back to the weapon control room.

“The hacking system is limited to one drone at a time, and I already used it to hinder their weapon system.” Evil replied as she redirected the power from the weapon control system to the engines. The Kestrel gained a burst of speed, giving it enough to dodge several blasts from the enemy’s burst laser. “I can retune it to target the mind control system, but it’s faster just to deactivate it and launch another one.”

“Please do! We can’t really afford infighting!” Anny shouted as she grabbed the spare parts from a nearby compartment, giving it to Cerber at her request.

“Alright! Launching a fresh drone!” Her avatar’s eyes flashing, Evil prepared to launch a second hacking drone.

“W-wait! I was thinking of retu-” However, Evil already launched the second drone. Anny sighed as she saw the second hacking drone latch onto the side of the pirate ship. “Oh well, not like we’re hurting in drone parts anyways.”

“Connection established. If they try to activate it, I’ll shut it down immediately!”

“Great. Now we don’t have to worry about that.” Anny took a deep breath, then refocused on the weapon control terminal as it flickered back online. “Filian, bring me in! Preferably from the side!” Anny immediately manned the terminal while Cerber slinked off to repair the failing life-support.

“Roger that!” Nodding, Filian quickly turned the ship left, then sharply to the right, breaking off the pirate’s pursuit and positioned the Kestrel to start chasing instead.

Three laser shots flew through space, accompanying a launched missile that effortlessly plunged through the shield.

The pirate ship shook as the rocket slammed straight into their shield room. The protective shield that enveloped the pirates winked out. 

The laser shots landed on the ship’s weapon system, allowing the kestrel to breathe as the pirate's weapons were disabled. 

“Direct hit! their hull integrity should be-” Evil suddenly noticed that Anny had once again gone silent, she looked at the camera to her staring blankly. “Oh no you don’t!” Quick on her metaphorical feet, Evil activated the hacking system, turning the mind control off.

“Guh!” Anny gasped, clutching her head. ”It feels really weird when you notice it. Like something is squirming in my head.”

Losing both offense; defense; and their secret weapon, the pirates turned to the one thing they have left: speed. The pirate’s thrusters explosively increased in output and the ship shot like a bullet through the empty void of space, tracing a wavy path as the pilot clearly struggled to maintain a straight line

“Detecting a large burst from their FTL drive! They’re trying to jump!” Evil warned.

“Filian! We’re finishing this before they get away!” Anny shook her head to dispel the remnants of the squirmy feeling of the mind control, then grasped the weapon controls with resolve.

“I’m speeding up!” Filian increased the kestrel’s thrust even further. The Kestrel left a glowing trail like a comet across the sky. “Is this too much!?”

“No, I can still handle this much.” Anny focused her attention to the pirate ship, her hand making quick movements to match the Kestrel’s sway.

Whatever overclock the pirate used clearly wasn’t meant to be used for long. The Kestrel started to gain on the pirates, the distance between them shrinking slowly, then rapidly.

“Eat this!” Finally entering the ideal range, Anny fired.

Or she would have, if the pirate did not suddenly turn broadside and fire their Leto missile. It sailed through space, ramming into the Kestrel’s side.

“Wait, what!?” The sudden maneuver shocked Anny. Because of it, she was half-a-second too late. The Kestrel’s weaponry fired into empty space white the pirates slipped away without reprisal.

“Were they able to repair it that fast? No, this is…” Cerber gritted her teeth, digging them into the wrench in her mouth. “They were pretending to lose all their weapon power!?” Cerber spat the wrench out and used it to tighten the last bolt on the life support system.

“Hull breach in the hacking room! Hacking system offline!” Evil’s avatar suddenly jerked as a notification came to her attention. 

“Cerber!” Anny shouted through the intercom.

“I’ll repair it as fast as I can, but I don’t know if I’ll finish before that thing recharged!” Cerber ran as fast as her legs could carry her while lugging breach sealant. She practically burst through the door, exploding inward as the air behind her pushed its way onto the hole.

“I’ll help!” Kobo got up from the engine terminal and grabbed a spare set of tools. The Kestrel’s engine dimmed a bit as Kobo’s energy emanating body left the room, but soon resumed at full power as Evil redirected some power to it.

Filian leaned forward, directing the Kestrel to follow the pirates closely. Anny and the pirate’s gunner traded fire, The pirate’s attacks missing while Anny punctured a hole on the ship's side. She clicked her tongue as she missed the mind control system.

“Crap, they’re activating it!” Evil shouted, time’s up.

“Who did they get!?” A drop of sweat fell from Anny’s forehead. She didn’t feel that strange, squirmy feeling again, so the target was someone else.

“Anny.” Cerber appeared on the vidscreen, Kobo beside her. “You’re going to hate this, but me and Kobo are fine.”

“...crap.”

“They got Filian!” Evil’s warning confirmed Anny’s fears. “She’s wrecking the piloting system!”

“What do we do, Anny? We can’t fight Filian.” Cerber called to Anny, a slight panic in her voice. Anny was silent, her face was serious. Then, she sighed.

“...Cerber, I’m sorry. But, could you distract her just for a bit?” Anny’s request was written on her face before she even said it. Still, Cerber had hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.

“I don’t know if I’ll survive, but I’ll try.” Baling her hand into a fist, Cerber let go of the wires she was about to tape together and took out her largest wrench.

“Evil, I need you to maintain the current speed, try to follow their movements.” 

“Whatever your plan is, make it quick! I’m losing control fast!”

“Big sis Cerber! I’ll-” As Cerber began to leave, Kobo went after her. However, Cerber immediately grabbed her by the shoulders

“No, you stay.” Cerber firmly put her foot down, pointing a finger to the ground for emphasis. “Not only is it dangerous, someone has to repair Kestrie-wan in my place.”

“O-okay! Be safe.” Immediately understanding the role given to her, Kobo gave a federation salute. Though still a bit clumsy, she had mostly gotten it right.

“I literally won’t be, but thank you for the vote of confidence.” Cerber looked one last time at the zoltan, then sprinted to the front of the ship.

Crossing the weapon control room, she saw Anny focused on the weapon controls. As Cerber reached the other side of the room, she heard Anny’s voice.

“Go! You got this!” Cerber glanced back, and her eyes met Anny’s gaze. It was a steady gaze filled with an implicit trust, the kind only seen between two people who had been dealing with each other for a long time. 

“Just focus on aiming the weapons!” Anny nodded at Cerber’s response, then focused back on aiming. 

As Cerber reached each door, it quickly opened. “Go, Dog ears! Go!” Evil cheered through the intercom. Cerber rolled her eyes as she ran, but appreciated the assist from the rude AI. Soon enough, she arrived in front of the door leading to the cockpit.

Cerber took a deep breath. In. And out. In. And out. 

Then she charged in.

Inside, the mind-controlled Filian had done her work. Some of the buttons were sparking, clearly broken. The metal frame of the helm was slightly dented, proof of the terrifying power held within Filian’s strikes. 

The mind-controlled cat girl was currently wrestling with the Kestrel’s control stick, trying to mess with the ship’s trajectory. Luckily, Evil was in control, and managed to cancel out the control stick by inputting signals of her own. The kestrel shot straight, each input canceled out.

‘Evil can’t maneuver like this.’ Cerber identified the problem. ‘Then, there’s only one thing I could do.’ Cerber took a breath to steady herself. Then, she grabbed one of her smaller wrenches from her pocket and threw it at Filian’s head.

The wrench sailed beautifully through the air, landing square on the back of Filian’s head with a loud smack before clattering to the floor.

“...” Slowly, the cat girl turned back, staring blankly at Cerber.

“Hey there, Filian. Now, what are you going to do?” Cerber taunted.

Without a word, the enthralled cat girl picked up the small wrench on the floor, gripping it firmly.

Cerber smirked. It’s just like she had planned. Confidently, she took a step… backwards, turning tail and running away. “You can’t catch me!” The door behind her opened quickly.

A terrifying whistling sound cut through the air, followed by a loud bang as the small wrench made a dent on the doors. Cerber yelped. Had the door not closed in time, the impact zone would have been her head.

The door, however, would not stay closed for long. Filian’s grip quickly overpowered the blast door’s pneumatic locks and forced it open. By then, however, Cerber was already in the next room.

Cerber’s breath was shallow. She could hear the Kestrel’s best brawler bounding her way. She did not dare look back, terrified of what she might see.

However, just because she did not see it, that does not mean it was not real. Cerber screamed in terror as she felt one of her legs grappled.

The next moment, she was flying through the air. And the next, she impacted the wall. Cerber coughed as she felt the wind get knocked out of her. Luckily, she managed to curl herself up, hitting the wall with her back instead of her head.

She had no time to ponder anything, though. Before she recovered, Filian was upon her, grabbing Cerber by the collar of her jumpsuit. Cerber saw her left hand form into a fist.

“Anny! I’m holding steady, but I don’t think Cerber will last for much longer!” Evil screeched. Now that Filian had stopped messing with the controls, she could actually do her job.

“A little bit more…” Anny painfully gritted her teeth, forcefully keeping her breaths steady. The reticle swayed back and forth across the pirate ship’s form. 

Then, in a single moment, the reticle and the location of the mind control room aligned. 

“Now!” Anny fired the salvo. The artemis missile rammed through the pirate’s shield and smashed into its side. The burst laser followed, shattering shields and crippling the engine.

“The system is down!” Evil cheered, the symbol for the mind control system she displayed turning red with a large X over it.

Cerber closed her eyes as Filian’s fist quickly approached her face. She yelped as a loud bang was heard… from right beside her head. Cerber dared to open her eyes, only to be met with Filian’s impish smile. “Hey there, Cerber, how badly did I kick your ass?” Filian knelt in front of Cerber, retracting the fist and opening it into a palm, inviting Cerber to take it.

“You only managed one strike, but I think it took three years of my life.” Cerber firmly took the hand, slinging a little wit all the while.

“Rough.” Filian quickly pulled Cerber onto her feet. “You want a written apology?”

“Save that for after the battle.” Cerber didn’t let go of Filian’s hand, instead pulling at it. “Come on, we have to repair the piloting system.” 

“Okay, okay.” Filian complied, letting Cerber drag her. “Wait, does that mean you want a written apology or not?”

“Later!” Cerber dragged Filian back to the cockpit, pulling a small allen wrench out of her pocket.

“Is that a yes?” Filian muttered in confusion as Cerber began unscrewing the bolts on the Kestrel’s helm.

“Just help me open this thing already!” Cerber pulled out another allen wrench and threw it to Filian, which she handily caught.

“Okay! Okay!” Filian took the other side, unscrewing the bolts in tandem with Cerber.

While the two began work on the piloting system, Evil and Anny continued their assault. 

“Anny! Looks like the last hit really scared them! They’re continuing their FTL charge!” Evil warned, dodging the Leto missile.

“Maintain current speed! I won’t let them get away!” Anny swung the burst laser, trying to maintain aim.

“Hacking is good… I think. T-the light is green!” Kobo’s voice was heard from the intercom.

“Burst laser charged!”

“Take this!” With a push of a button, the burst laser roared to life. The laser shots shattered the shield, then crashed into the thrusters as they began to surge, causing a rippling explosion that obliterated the entire ship.

Anny took a deep breath. “That was… an interesting one.”

“You can say that again.” Filian chortled. “Didn’t think I’d see something like that mounted on a ship.”

“Hey, can I ask something?” 

“Evil?” Anny replied as she saw Evil’s avatar raise her hand.

“This is the third time we encountered a pirate claiming to be ‘dread pirate Tuco’ in this sector.” Evil tilted her avatar’s head. “Who is this Tuco anyways?”

A beat of silence enveloped the Kestrel.

“No way! You don’t know?” Filian broke the spell of silence with her traditional loud shout.

“No, I actually don’t. That’s why I’m asking.”

“I thought you knew! Why didn’t you ask the two times before!?”

“Well, the first time I thought it was just some random boasting. The second time could just be a coincidence. But the third time feels like a pattern to me.” Evil recounted. “Anyways, is anyone going to tell me who that guy is?”

“Dread pirate Tuco, it’s the name of a legendary pirate.” Evil turned her attention towards the medbay camera, where Cerber had begun speaking.

“While most other big name pirates are groups such as the Argeonn smuggling ring, Tuco was only known to have one ship and its crew.” Cerber explained. “And yet, there are many stories of their exploits.”

“Zoltan facility 47, the underwater city of Gastopia, Stonewall Fortress of Vrachos 4...” Anny added. “They say Tuco raided those places. It’s kinda hard to believe just a ragtag group on a ship can do all that.”

“Still doesn’t explain why we encountered three ships all claiming to be him.”

“The thing is, up until about two years ago, Tuco’s crew was still very much active. However, they suddenly disappeared.” Cerber explained with a scowl on her face. “With that, every pirate in the galaxy helped themselves to the name, hoping the dread factor would be enough to scare some poor sucker into giving them their stuff.” Cerber straightened her posture as she felt the medical nanite swarm scurry off her back. She tried bending backward, then smiled as she found the pain was gone.

“You know? I kinda feel bad for the guy.” Filian chimed as she brought up the navigation interface. “You got this legendary reputation around you only for a couple of chumps to ruin it.”

“Regardless, I doubt the actual Tuco would target a single scavenger ship. So, we shouldn’t worry about it.” Cerber crossed her arms and nodded to herself.

“Guys? There’s a distress signal on one of the beacons.” Filian chimed up as her eyes noticed the bright red exclamation mark on one of the beacons.

“We’re in a hurry though!” Evil immediately complained. “Do we really need to leap into every person who needs help?”

“Yes.” Anny said with conviction. 

There was a silence-filled second as Evil processed what she heard. “Fine! But make it quick!” Evil set her frown to maximum, clearly against the idea but couldn’t argue with Anny.

The Kestrel arrived at their destination to the sight of a space station in deep space. The distress signal still blared on the frequency. However…

“Scan indicates no surviving life form on the station.” Evil intoned the result of her scan.

“We’re too late…” Anny’s ears dropped, as did her gaze.

“Well, nothing else to do about it. Let’s get out.”

“Hold on a sec.” Before Evil could open up the navigation menu, Filian perked up. “Surely you guys wanna know what the engis are doing all the way out here, right?”

“Filian?” Evil narrowed her avatar’s eyes.

“So, you know…” Filian started, smiling coyly

“No.” Evil cut her off.

“...Why don’t we just…” Filian continued, her smile getting wider.

“Cease!” Evil cut her off harder.

“...Take a look inside!?” Filian finished with a wide grin.

“I mean, there might be something useful there.”

“I’m quite interested in what the engis could be doing all the way out here.”

“Yay! Adventure!” 

“...Fucking damn it.” As the words of affirmation came from all over the Kestrel, Evil knew she had no choice but to entertain the whims of these easily distracted ruffians she calls her comrades.

___

“Whoa, look at these things…” Anny murmured in amazement as the light of her flashlight jumped from one point of interest to the next. 

The lightless hall of the station was dotted with various machinery with not a single space wasted. High grade equipment snaked around various rooms, connected to one another in a messy but functional web of technology.

It was a breathtaking sight, even if none of the machines seemed to have any power running through them.

“This looks like some sort of research station.” Cerber inspected the nearby console, trying to examine any damage it might have taken.

“A pity most things had been looted. I’m sure whatever was in here could be worth a fortune.” In contrast to the two, Filian — who suggested the whole trip in the first place — did not look enthused once she realized the majority of the valuable stuff had been raided.

“Anny.” A gentle tug on her hand caused Anny to stop. Looking backwards, she saw Cerber stare at her with a serious expression.

“Cerber?”

“I want to talk, it’s about Evil.” Cerber started to walk, her hand still linked with Anny’s. 

“Yeah, what about her?” Understanding the severity on Cerber’s face, Anny followed.

“She’s a very advanced AI.”

“Yeah, I think we know that already.”

“No, you don’t get it. She’s high-end stuff.” Cerber put her other hand on her chin, then gently shook her head. “...No, even higher than high-end. If you don’t count the Engi Harmony, I’m willing to bet there’s no other AI like her.” Anny felt Cerber’s grip tighten. “That's what I’m worried about.”

“Huh?”

“Anny.” Cerber pivoted towards Anny, holding both her hands. “I really hope I’m wrong, but there’s a genuine possibility that she was created fo-”

“Big sis! Look here! The wall is black!” Kobo’s face popped up from the nearby doorway, 

“Where!?” Filian bounded after Kobo, her pout turning into a grin.

“Cerber, you were saying?” Anny glanced back at Cerber.

“...No, nevermind. I’ll tell you later.” Cerber shook her head, then sped up to join the other two. As Cerber passed, however, Anny could see the worry on her face.

Filian followed the blue light the little zoltan emitted as she disappeared back into the adjoining hallway. Just as she had said, some scorch marks were visible on some parts of the wall.

“Strange… Did fire break out?” Anny shone her flashlight across the wall, tracing the irregular black marks with the light.

“Hey, Anny, look.” Anny turned back, catching a glance of Cerber shining her flashlight towards a specific place. “The scorch marks are mostly near the outlets.”

“Do you think it’s a shot-circuit?”

“All signs point to it, but…” Cerber mused, shining her flashlight to the other outlets and some of the monitors. “A station like this should have multiple protections against that. How did this happen?”

“Guys! I think I found the reactor!” Kobo’s voice travelled down the hall. Anny and Cerber looked at each other before the two of them followed the voice.

Going down the hall, it got steadily narrower and narrower until the pair saw Filian scratching her head at the end of it. 

“Hey, Filian? What’s happeni-” *Anny went over to Filian, trying to see what's wrong before going slack-jawed at the sight beyond.

The reactor room was rectangular and cramped, filled with machinery from top to bottom. The trio stared as Kobo slipped in and out of the space between the main reactor and the supporting machinery, so close together as if giving a crushing embrace.

It was the peak of Engi design philosophy. 

“Must be a nightmare doing any kind of work here. I’m getting a headache just looking at it.” Filian deadpanned, playing with her cat ears. 

“I can tell this facility is Engi only.” Cerber sighed. “They’re the only people who would tolerate this kind of hyper-efficiency.”

“Big Sis Cerber!” Kobo rounded the opposite corner and approached. “I think I found the fusebox! I don’t know how to fix it, though.”

“Lead the way, let’s see if we can get this facility up and running again.” Cerber glanced at the numerous consoles, most even she barely understood the purpose of, and followed Kobo as she once again disappeared into the tight hallway of metal.

Following the blue glow of the little zoltan’s body and the sounds of electronics powering up as the zoltan went past, Cerber managed to navigate the twisted corridors to yet another wall of tangled connectors, one that so happened to have the fusebox in it. 

“It’s this one, right?” Kobo had climbed up onto one of the monitoring equipment to reach it, the screen of which displayed ‘no signal’.

"Yes, that should be it.” Cerber sighed, mentally apologizing to the engis as she climbed up the neighboring computer to reach the box. “Alright, let’s see what’s wrong with yo-” Cerber froze, her gaze transfixed on the opened fuse box. “What the…”

Where there was supposed to be a fuse, there was a piece of burnt cable.

“Huh? Is that a cable?” Kobo tilted her head, inquisitively touching the cable. “Big sis, shouldn’t a fuse box have fuses in them?”

“It should, yes.” Cerber gently grabbed Kobo’s hand and moved it away from the cable. An idea started forming in her head. “No way… Did they purposefully short-circuit the system?”

“Hey Cerber, Kobo! Look at this one over here!” Filian’s voice traveled through the maze of metal. “It has cables sticking out of it!”

“Of course she wouldn’t stay still.” Cerber shook her head. “Come on, Kobo. Let’s see what Fillian found.” Kobo nodded and started following Cerber out of the reactor room. 

Cerber followed the sound of Fillian’s voice to a nearby room, which looked to be some sort of test chamber. In the middle of the room on a platform, just as Filian had said, was an engi with numerous cables sticking up from them, all connected to one machine.

“What did they do to you…” Cerber inspected the engi. Unlike a regular engi, this one is colored white… and has numerous cables connected to nearly all the ports in its body. Cerber followed the cables into one of the monitors of the testing chambers. Without actually turning on the machine, however, It would be nearly impossible for her to identify what it actually did.

“Looks like blaster fire.” Cerber glanced at Anny, who was inspecting the other computers that lined the testing chamber. “And not just this one. It looked like someone shot all the computers here…” Anny shone her flashlight on the monitor. As she had said, numerous burnt cracks had been made on its screen, rendering it useless.

“This is getting way creepy.” Kobo, who had stayed very, very close to Filian ever since entering the room, let out a stifled voice. “Hey, let’s get out of here.”

Anny sighed. “Probably for the best. We didn’t find anything valuable anyways.”

“And so, the detour proved worthless.” Evil’s voice was colored with a smug tone.

“Are you going to keep bringing that up?” Anny’s voice, in contrast, was painted with exasperation.

The Kestrel was currently docked at a refueling station. While the other crew members were handling the payment and refueling process, Evil had decided to continue teasing Anny about her choices.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over how right I was.” Evil’s avatar wore a smirk of superiority, which lasted until she saw Anny puff up her cheeks and begin sulking. “But, what you describe was really creepy. Why would an engi be connected to a computer?” Evil immediately switched topics.

“Beats me, not even Cerber knew the reason.” Anny stared pensively at the piece of burnt cable that she retrieved from the fuse box.

“My guess is that it’s some sort of an experiment?”

“I mean, it is a research station.” Anny played with the wire, brushing her fingers against the burnt copper cables. “But since the computers are all destroyed, we don’t even know what they’re trying to do.”

“Hey, Anny! Refueling is done! Where do we wanna go next?”

“Well, I don’t really think it has anything to do with us anyways.” Anny stored the cable in her jacket pocket, then focused her attention on Filian. “Set jump coordinates to beacon 38, enter FTL at will.”

“Roger that!” Filian’s cheerful reply came from the intercom. Before long, The Kestrel jumped into FTL travel once again.