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And here is Chapter 19 of Shadow of a Freelancer, not much action like in the previous ones but opens up for the ending of the next Chapter. Please comment and vote!

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Mors Mortis Prison Transport (7:30 PM)

"There's a ship inbound... its weapons are active!" Zeig yelled and a moment later he said "They're targeting us."

"What!?" Louie yelled as he hurried over to the scanner consol and checked the instruments.

"It's just as I said, one moment nothing was there and the next there was a ship with its weapons hot and targeting us!" Zeig yelled back at Louie.

"Shit... I didn't plan on having an enemy ship on us this soon. Well at least the chances of it being an Outcast, Electus or I.F.H.W. ship are low. We have pirates!" Rrahkarr said as he grabbed hold of the flight controls and tried to pick up speed and distance themselves from the enemy ship.

"Fuck... pirates? Charging shields." Zeig said and tried to charge the shields. It took several minutes and thanks to Rrahkarr's expert flying skills Zeig was able to say "Finally, shields up!"

"Do you see any weapon systems?" Rrahkarr asked as the ship shook from taking a hit.

"No I can't find any." Zeig yelled.

"No worries then, this guy sucks." Rrahkarr said as he made the ship move at angles it wasn't designed for and managed to hold it together. "Hey Louie, Zeig and I can handle everything up here. Would you please watch over Aurora, in case she wakes up?" Rrahkarr asked as he dodged several blasts of the enemy's energy weapon fire.

"Yeah no problem, just try not to get hit." Louie said in a sarcastic tone as he exited the bridge

"Oh yeah no problem, I'll just buzz around him like fly." Rrahkarr said back and laughed as he easily evaded all of the incoming fire.

"You enjoy this don't you?" Zeig asked.

"Yes I do, I haven't this kind of fun in over four years." Rrahkarr replied with a grin as he changed direction and continued to evade.

Rrahkarr continued to evade while laughing. He actually opened a channel with the enemy under pretenses of surrender and when they answered them he started mocking and making fun of them. This of course pissed them off and caused them to fire more. Rrahkarr couldn't help but laugh as he continuously mocked and belittled their helmsman. He was having a great time until he heard a faint beeping coming from somewhere.

Zeig heard the beeping sound too as he asked "What's that sound?"

Both of them looked at the consols but nothing was blinking, glowing or making any sound whatsoever. Rrahkarr then looked down at the device on his left arm; the one he had activated back at Mors Mortis, and smiled. Zeig noticed the smile as Rrahkarr changed direction and increased speed. The further they headed in the direction he turned in, the more the interval between the beeps decreased and the beeping sound got closer and closer to the point of being annoying before it suddenly stopped.

"Ok it looks like the enemy will be destroyed in a minute." Rrahkarr said.

"What do you mean? There are no other ships out here other than us and them, hell we don't even have anything to destroy them with." Zeig yelled.

"Just watch the sensors, in a moment another ship should appear for a brief second on them before vanishing again... just before this asshole is destroyed." Rrahkarr said.

Zeig watched as Rrahkarr continued to dodge the enemy fire only taking a second hit since the pirate vessel found them. Just as Rrahkarr said, another ship did appear on the sensors for a brief second to Zeig's surprise before disappearing again. Then; to Zeig's surprise yet again, the enemy vessel was destroyed. It was blown into many small chunks of which no one could have survived.

"What the hell just happened?" Zeig asked.

"You'll see in a minute." Rrahkarr said, not being helpful. In just a moment they were being hailed by a vessel that the sensors said wasn't there. Zeig looked doubtful as he opened a channel with whoever was hailing them.

"Attention Mors Mortis transport vessel, this is the Freelancer vessel Ira. Lower you shields and decrease your speed or you will be fired upon." A feminine voice said over the speakers.

"What!? A Freelancer ship out here, you got to be kidding me."

"I am not kidding, reduce your speed and lower shields!" the voice said with hostility.

"Fuck..." Zeig said as he lowered the shields and Rrahkarr started to stop the ship.

"Take it easy Zeig, we'll be fine." Rrahkarr said in a barely audible whisper; not letting his voice be picked up by the microphone, while smiling.

Zeig scoffed at him but tried to relax as the voice said "I've detected an emergency beacon from a Freelancers power armor. You will release any Freelancer prisoners you have on board before being brought to Inner Haven for sentencing."

Zeig was confused; he didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't know that the newer versions of the Freelancers power armor came with emergency beacons in case they were captured or stranded. He looked over to Rrahkarr who was trying not to laugh. Finally after seeing the look Zeig was giving him Rrahkarr decided it would be best to speak up.

"So Inner Haven is still around? How's the war going between the A.T.W.F and the I.F.H.W?" Rrahkarr asked, this time allowing her to hear his voice.

"Have you been living under a rock all your life?" the voice asked in astonishment.

"Well no... just for these past four years. Has my voice changed so much you don't know who I am Nerah?"

"How do you know my name?" Nerah asked.

"I gave you all the info you needed." Rrahkarr said and leaned back in the chair he was in.

Nerah started going over what he had just said and said. "Four years... his voice has changed and he knows my name... SHADOW!?" Nerah yelled.

Laughing Rrahkarr responded "Yes Nerah it's me. I activated the emergency beacon in my armor after acquiring it after we escaped our cells on Mors Mortis. I knew only you could track it."

"We, boss?" Nerah asked.

"Boss? How do you know her?" Zeig asked.

"I'll explain in a little bit Zeig and to you too Nerah but please, do a ship to ship docking procedure." Rrahkarr said before he set the ship up for ship to ship docking. He then activated the ships internal comms and said "Louie, could you please bring Aurora up here?"

It was a few moments later that Louie came in but he wasn't carrying Aurora, he was leading her by the paw. "She woke up a few minutes ago. I told her we were friends of yours and that we all escaped that horrible place together." Louie said as Aurora looked at each one of them.

"Well I'm relieved you're awake. Are you feeling alright?" He asked her.

She nodded her head at him and smiled slightly before Rrahkarr said "Good. Now you two spoke of wanting to go take care of family business?"

"Yeah, as soon as possible would be nice." Louie said.

"Well you can use this ship to take care of that then." Rrahkarr said as they all felt something clamp onto the ship.

"What was that?" Louie asked.

"My ship, I think you know it." Rrahkarr said as Louie thought about it for a moment.

"You don't mean the Ira do you?" he asked.

"Damn, I wish you were up here earlier and could have told me that it was his ship." Zeig complained but had a slight smile "You knew the whole time it was your ship didn't you?"

"Guilty." Rrahkarr said as he stood up.

"Docking procedure complete." The transport ships computer chimed.

"Well if you want you can come on over, I'll introduce you to Nerah." Rrahkarr said as he got up and led the way off the ship and onto the Ira.

*******************

Onboard the Ira (7:50 PM)

Rrahkarr walked onto the Ira and stopped for a second before inhaling the air and sighing. He looked at them and said "Now we are truly free."

They nodded their heads and took a deep breath just as he did before following him as he set off towards the bridge. While they walked, Aurora hurried up to Rrahkarr's side and hesitated a second before slipping her paw into Rrahkarr's. He looked down at her when he felt the little paw slip into his paw and noticed she was looking around.

She looked a little unsure and scared; probably from losing her mother and being taken away from her home, then being brought to that hellish place and getting to meet him and everything else that had happened so far. It was all just too much for her to take in.

She didn't know quite how to act around him; even though her mother had always told her about him she was still uncertain, she really didn't know anything about how he acted or was like. Though when he looked down at her as she looked up to him; he squeezed her paw gently and smiled, there was something there that reminded her of her mom... a certain kindness.

He too was a little unsure of what to do; having a child that is yours suddenly thrust upon you can be a daunting task. He didn't know what to do at all, hell he didn't even know anything about her other than her first name and that she was his daughter. Though he had a lot of time to get to know her, and he would be able to tell her about himself... and sooner or later he'd have to tell her about her heritage.

It didn't take long for Rrahkarr to lead them all to the bridge and once there Rrahkarr stopped and said "Well, let me introduce you to Nerah. Nerah say hello."

"Hello" Nerah said then added "A pleasure to meet you, I am Nerah; the Ira's AI main computer."

"AI? The last AI computer I knew still sounded like a computer. I couldn't tell that you weren't a person." Zeig said.

"Well unlike other AI's I am self aware." Nerah said.

"A self aware AI? How interesting..." Louie said and had a pensive look on his face.

"I'm not the only self aware AI, there are plenty out there but only two others as sophisticated as I am." Nerah said.

"Oh and where are these two other AI's?" Louie asked.

"One of them is onboard the Freelancer ship Gula; his name is Boris, the other was saved on a hard drive and belongs to the traitor Freelancer Delta; her name is Krystal. All three of us were created by A.T.W.F scientists and were to be installed onto the flagships of the first, second and third fleets." Nerah told him.

"Ok enough with questioning her, now how about you introduce yourselves... oh yeah by the way, Nerah we will not be returning to Inner Haven, cut all connections with them... they can't be trusted anymore." Rrahkarr said.

"...Done boss."

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(Three Hours Later)

Rrahkarr and Aurora watched as the Transport ship that Louie and Zeig were on flew out of view.

Both Louie and Zeig had taken showers and got a few sets of new civilian clothing while onboard the Ira. While they were taking showers, Rrahkarr had taken their old armor and; after a few modifications, presented to them the latest Freelancer power armor. Of course he had modified both sets; Louie's to be lighter and thinner but more durable while Zeig's was bulkier but provided more defense.

After Rrahkarr presented the new armors to them he went and took a shower to wash all the blood off of him. While he did that both Louie and Zeig slipped their new armors on over their clothing. They found them to fit perfectly and when Rrahkarr came back they gave their approval and asked where he had learned how to modify power armor... to which he didn't answer.

Rrahkarr only smiled as he led them to the galley and kitchen. He went up to a food replicator and replicated some T-bone steaks with baked potatoes for the three of them before asking what Aurora wanted to eat. A few moments later she got a large hot plate of macaroni and cheese covered in ketchup. Both Louie and Zeig acted like barfing but all in good fun as they smiled when she looked at them.

After they ate is when Louie and Zeig grabbed their extra clothes and said their farewells. Before they left, Rrahkarr had went and retrieved some things from out of the Ira's armory. He brought them several weapons with plenty of ammo to start a small war. They thanked him for arming them and again they said their farewells and boarded the transport to head off to wherever it was they needed to go.

So here sat Rrahkarr and Aurora on the bridge watching as the transport flew off. They were by themselves now, just a father and daughter. Yet now that Louie and Zeig were gone, there was that awkward silence between Rrahkarr and Aurora.

"Boss, it's great to have you back aboard." Nerah said to break the silence.

Sighing Rrahkarr said "It's good to be back and free from that place. So... what can you tell me about what's been going on out here?"

"Not much to tell you the truth. When you were presumed dead, most of my systems were shut down. I've been sitting in a hanger bay for the past four years... at least the mechanics kept up with the maintenance." Nerah said.

"So how did you get out of the hanger?" Rrahkarr asked.

"I used one of the sentry bots you had built to start up all of my systems. I blew a hole through the hull to get out after I detected your emergency beacon. I didn't care if it was a trap or not, the chance to know for sure if you were alive or dead was too much to pass up." Nerah said.

"I'm touched you care so much. Well you don't have to worry about going back to Inner Haven. There are too many traitors around to go back there... besides." Rrahkarr said as he looked over to Aurora "That wouldn't be a very safe place to take her." Rrahkarr said as Aurora looked at him with tired eyes.

"Getting tired?" he asked to which she nodded her head.

"Well come on, follow me." Rrahkarr said and got up.

Rrahkarr started walking and Aurora quickly caught up to him and slipped her paw into his again. This time he didn't look down but gently grabbed hold of hers as he led her down the hall. The first stop they made however wasn't a room for her to sleep in but the med-bay.

"W-What are we doing here?" Aurora asked in her little curious; yet tired, tone of voice.

Rrahkarr considered telling her the truth but decided to tell a little white lie instead by leaving only a few details out. "I need to get a blood sample from you; I... need to check your blood for anything out of the ordinary."

"Oh... j-just like mommy use too?" She said as Rrahkarr picked her up and sat her on one of the exam tables.

Remembering that Sara was a great doctor and also that she knew of what was in both Lliam and his blood made him think that Sara may have checked Aurora every so often for any variables in her blood like they had. "Yes, just like mommy use to." Rrahkarr answered as Aurora held out her arm.

Rrahkarr smiled as he dug out a new syringe. He popped the top off and gently grabbed onto her arm before sticking the needle in and drawing a small amount of blood. Aurora winched a little to which Rrahkarr apologized. Once they were done in there Rrahkarr led her up a deck to a room next to his.

He pulled back the covers on the bed before Aurora said in a shy and embarrassed voice "Um... do y-you have a-any PJ's I c-could wear."

Rrahkarr smiled before bringing her over to a large replicator. He told her to stand in the middle of it; of which she did, before he said "Nerah, scan and replicate a few PJ bottoms and tops please."

The scan was over with after a moment and in the next a couple pairs of PJ's materialized on a tray next to her. Rrahkarr turned around as Aurora quickly changed out of her clothes and dressed herself in the PJ's before jumping onto the bed. Rrahkarr went over and tucked her in then sat on the edge of the bed.

"So, did you mother ever do anything before you went to sleep?" Rrahkarr asked.

Aurora nodded her head and said "Sometimes mommy would t-tell me about you."

"Oh... well since you've been told a lot about me, how about you tell me a little bit about you for now? All I know is your first name." Rrahkarr said.

"Ok, my n-name is Aurora Sue Morris, I'm in third grade and I j-just turned six years old."

"Six... and you're in third grade?

"Uh-huh, mommy said I'm r-really smart. That's w-why I got to s-skip grades." Aurora said with a little difficulty.

"When's your birthday?"

"April twenty fifth, twenty t-three thirty five."

"Just a couple months ago which would mean... I'm so sorry." Rrahkarr apologized.

"Why a-are you sorry?" she asked.

"I'm sorry because you were taken from your home and didn't get to have a birthday party." Rrahkarr said.

"It's ok..."

"No, when we get to where we're heading I'll throw you a big birthday party." Rrahkarr said and smiled.

"Really?!" Aurora said with glee and a smile.

"Ok calm down, it's time you get to sleep." Rrahkarr said as he re-tucked her in. He then stood up and started walking towards the door but stopped and said "Good night little one."

"Good night daddy." Aurora said as she turned onto her side.

Rrahkarr couldn't help but smile at that as he walked out of the room. "Daddy huh... it's going to take a while to get use to being called that." Rrahkarr thought as he headed down towards the med-bay.

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August 28, 2342 - Outside the Ira's Med-bay (1:00 AM)

Aurora stood outside the med-bay where Rrahkarr was. She had woken up from a bad dream and was scared. She wanted to be with him and at that moment she got this peculiar feeling. It kept telling her to start walking. When she did she found that the feeling was drawing her to the med-bay. She didn't know how she knew he was in there, only that the feeling was telling her he was here. She stood outside the door to the room he was in, afraid to go further; her mother had told her all her life that he was her father but she was a little afraid of him.

"Maybe I shouldn't bother him." She thought to herself.

She was about to turn around and head back to bed and try to fall asleep when the door opened in front of her. Rrahkarr stood there, looking down at her with a slight smile; he had sensed her presence outside the door and wondered why she was still up.

"Why are you still up little one?" he asked gently.

"Um... I can't sleep." Was all she said and looked down at the floor "He doesn't have time for this?" She thought to herself.

"Ok come on" He said as he easily and swiftly scooped her up into his arms "Let's see if we can get you back to sleep" He added as he carried her back up to where he had put her to bed.

It didn't take long for him to walk back up to the upper level; being that the turbo lift wasn't that far from the med-bay. He walked into the room and sat her on the bed before he sat down next to her "Do you usually have trouble sleeping?" he asked.

"N-No...but sometimes I have n-nightmares that wake me up. I couldn't g-get back to sleep, mommy usually p-played some music to help me fall back asleep." She told him.

"Music huh? What kind did she play for you?" He asked.

"Uh-huh, all kinds." She said simply.

"Nerah." Rrahkarr called.

"Yes boss?"

"Can you play one of the more... mellow playlists I have for Aurora?"

"I'm sorry boss but none of your playlists are here anymore." Nerah said to him.

Rrahkarr's eyes went wide as he said "What happened to them?"

"The Zel'tar ordered that all your files be transferred over to the Inner Haven main computer. They wanted all the original files, no copies... and they wanted ALL your files." Nerah told him.

"Great, one more thing for me to hate them about... let's see, let's see." Rrahkarr said and tried to think of a way to help Aurora get back to sleep. It was a few moments later that he got an idea and snapped his fingers "Nerah, don't you have some guitar designs in your replicator list?"

"Yes boss, you were the one who put them there." Nerah said happily.

"Right, well it has been awhile because I forgot... is there a classical acoustic design one on the list?"

"Yes there is, there are also three electrical designs, and four other acoustical designs." Nerah informed him.

"The classical one please." Rrahkarr asked and no sooner then he said it, did a classical acoustic guitar materialize on the replicator in the room.

It was a rich golden brown color with darker streaks in it from the wood it was made from. It had the usual six nylon strings, and the fret board had 20 frets on it total but only sixteen of them were easily played on due to the shape of the guitar. He could smell the wood it was made from which reminded him that the guitar had just been made before it was copied into Nerah's database. Rrahkarr plucked a string and immediately cringed at the sharp tone the string played. Aurora too, cringed after he plucked the string.

"Sorry, give me a second to tune this." He said to her.

He quickly tuned the guitar to the basic strings of E, B, G, D, A and E. He then strummed the guitar and it rang out. He smiled as he remembered the first time he tuned the strings of a guitar. He had tightened them so much that the metal strings he was using snapped and almost hit him in the eye when he was seven. He then proceeded to do a few figure exercises to re-familiarize himself to handling a guitar. At first he started slowly but after a few minutes he was breezing through them with relative ease.

After he had his fingers limbered up, he played a few chords. C, F, G, C minor, G minor and a few others. The whole time Aurora was amazed and all her attention was on how his fingers moved across the neck of the guitar. He stopped shortly and looked at her.

"I'm going to play you the first song I learned how to play on the guitar. Forgive me if it's a little off...I haven't played it or the guitar in seventeen years. Now how did it start again...oh yeah" Rrahkarr said and placed his fingers on the fret board.

He placed his index finger on the fifth fret of the fourth sting and his pinky on the seventh fret of the first string. Then with his left paw he began finger picking the strings. After picking the fourth, second and first strings twice; open picking the second string, he lifting his pinky and placing his middle finger on the fifth fret of the first string and played in the exact same motion as before, only he plucked the strings three times instead of two.

After repeated that again, he moved his paw down and had his index finger on the second fret of the fourth string and his middle finger on the second fret of the first string and played exactly like he did on the other frets. This time however when he changed frets he placed his ring finger on the third fret of the second string and played on the forth sting, second string then open on the third string.

After repeating that again he moved his paw back up and played what he did before. He did that a few times to get use to the pattern before he stopped "Ok here I go." He told her then started to play. Once he started on the second time around he started to slowly sing the words to the song.

(Try listening to the song as you read (Silent Lucidity))

Hush now, don't you cry

Wipe away the teardrop from your eye

You're lying safe in bed

It was all a bad dream

Spinning in your head

Your mind tricked you to feel the pain

Of someone close to you leaving the game

Of life

So here it is, another chance

Wide awake you face the day

You're dream is over...

...Or has it just begun?

There's a place I like to hide

A doorway that I run through in the night

Relax child, you were there

But only didn't realize it

And you were scared

It's a place where you will learn

To face your fears, retrace the years

And ride the whims of your mind

Commanding in another world

Suddenly, you hear and see

This magic new dimension

I will be watching over you

I'm gonna help you see it through

I'll protect you in the night

I'm smiling next to you...in silent lucidity

After that line, Rrahkarr changed from playing the rhythm and played the solo that went there. Only instead of the metal rift that was normally there, he played it in a relaxed and calm acoustic way as it rang out. After the solo was done he went back to the rhythm and continued singing.

If you open your mind for me

You won't rely on open eyes to see

The walls you built within

Come tumbling down, and a new world will begin

Living twice at once you learn

You're safe from pain in the dream domain

A soul set free to fly

A round trip journey in your head

Master of illusion, can you realize

Your dreams alive, you can be the guide but...

I will be watching over you

I'm gonna help you see it through

I'll protect you in the night

I'm smiling next to you

(Silent Lucidity by Queensrÿche)

Rrahkarr finished by playing the rhythm a few more times before he realized that Aurora was almost falling over. He set the guitar down and leaned it against the wall near her bed as he smiled. "Well I see you're about to fall off into that dream domain." Rrahkarr said.

She nodded her head before asking "What is t-that song? I like it a l-lot."

"It's an old, old song. By a band back in the twenty first century called Queensrÿche. The song name is Silent Lucidity... my brother liked that song too."

"Your brother?" She asked before she yawned.

"Yes, I wish you could've met him." Rrahkarr said.

"Uncle Lliam?" Aurora said.

When she said uncle Lliam it almost sounded like she knew him. Rrahkarr looked at her as he said "Yes... Uncle Lliam. Did your mother tell you about him too?"

"Yes, she said h-he died. But before me and mommy w-were taken they found him." Aurora said to the surprise and shock of Rrahkarr.

Unintentionally raising his voice Rrahkarr said "What!? What do you mean they found him?"

Before she could answer Nerah yelled "HANG ON!" just as the ship was shaken violently. Aurora held onto the bed but Rrahkarr was thrown across the room and slammed into the wall.

After the initial blast the artificial gravity shut off along with most of the power. Nerah was still able to speak and said "Boss, we're under attack from an unknown target. I didn't even detect them on sensors. I just detected the energy blast before it hit us."

"How bad is the damage!?" Rrahkarr yelled as he and Aurora floated through the air.

"All primary systems are shutting down... propulsion, gravity, life support, sensors... the list keeps going." Nerah said then added "Boss... we've entered the gravitational pull of a nearby planet... we'll enter the atmosphere in less than ten seconds, impact in a minute and a half."

After Nerah said that Rrahkarr looked around and noticed that the replicator had lifted off the floor; not being fastened to the floor allowing it to be moved from room to room if needed, and was free floating next to Aurora.

Rrahkarr acted as fast as he could and thanks to being near the wall he kicked off it and flew towards Aurora. He caught her just as he started feeling gravity return as the ship fell towards the planet. Since the ship was falling they still experienced zero-G. Rrahkarr watched as the replicator hovered above them in horror.

"Nerah how much time left?" Rrahkarr yelled out as alarms were going off all over the ship.

"Five seconds boss. Four... three... two... one." Nerah counted down.

At the last second Rrahkarr calculated where the replicator would be and where he would be. When he went towards Aurora she was heading towards him and had slowed him down considerably. He wasn't near anything to help him move out of the way so when Nerah said one Rrahkarr was able to place Aurora on his left side before the ship hit the ground.

The ship looked like a fireball when it hit the ground and it hit it hard and it was only luck that kept the ship intact but Rrahkarr wasn't so lucky. He had managed to keep Aurora out of danger but when they hit the ground he slammed onto the floor while Aurora hit him and rolled off to his left just as the replicator landed on and crushed his right arm.

Rrahkarr screamed out in pain as his arm was crushed under the seven hundred pound machine. Three inches above his elbow; just a quarter of the way between his elbow and shoulder, and down was crushed and the bone had shattered. His free paw was on the side of the replicator pushing on it. He was putting all his strength into trying to push it off; but even with his strength the way he was pinned made in impossible for him to move it.

Aurora was screaming from his side as blood pooled out from under the replicator. Rrahkarr could no longer feel the pain coming from his arm let alone his arm at all from shock. The lights were flashing as sparks arced from a couple spots in the room where wires had been exposed from the crash.

Rrahkarr looked to his side where he heard Aurora screaming and crying by his side. He tried to smile as he said "Hey... are you ok?"

With tears clearly flowing Aurora nodded her head as she sniffled. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." Rrahkarr said to calm her down. He then said "Nerah... are you there?"

"Yes boss... there's just enough power left."

"Were you able... to take any readings on the atmosphere... of this planet?" Rrahkarr asked as he tried to focus.

"Barely... I was able to see that the atmosphere is comprised mostly of oxygen with mixes similar to that of earth. I was also able to get readings on the gravity... it's an eighth more than Earths." Nerah told him.

"Great... that means this is heavier... then it should be." Rrahkarr said as he attempted pushing on it again with no success.

Just then there was a small explosion from somewhere on the ship. Rrahkarr could tell right away what it was and said "Nerah... are there any bots left that you could download yourself into?"

"Luckily, there's one left undamaged."

"Download yourself into it and lead Aurora off the ship." Rrahkarr said as his vision started to blur a little; the pool of blood growing slowly.

"No I don't w-want to go!" Aurora screamed and started to cry again.

"Listen Aurora... I'll be fine. Go outside with the robot that Nerah is going to... download herself into and wait for me." Rrahkarr said as the door to the room was pried open.

The bot that entered was a simple humanoid model built for operating simple controls. It moved clumsily as it entered the room. "I don't like downloading myself into these things... sometimes I can't properly control them. Oh well, this way please Aurora." The bot that Nerah was in said.

Aurora was still crying but no longer sobbing as she got up and walked over to Nerah. She looked back at Rrahkarr as Nerah exited the room and hesitated before following the bot. Once she was gone pain overcame Rrahkarr's face as he looked around the room for something to pry under the replicator.

"Shit... I should have asked Nerah to bring a damn pry bar or something." Rrahkarr said to himself.

He searched himself and the area around him and came up with a couple things that he could use to try and pry the machine off of his arm as well as a knife that was on him. He set the knife aside as a last resort option. Every so often he would hear sparks arc out of exposed wires and feel small explosions from the ship.

He used the objects he found but they were no use. One of them managed to move the replicator but snapped as the weight was put on it and caused Rrahkarr even more pain. He decided to rest for a second but as he did thoughts of what Aurora said about Lliam entered his mind.

"Was she serious when she said he was alive?" Rrahkarr thought as he took a couple deep breaths of air "If he's alive... then... that's what... that's what Sara meant when she said he was waiting!"

Just as Rrahkarr put two and two together he heard something he didn't want to hear. He heard a high pitched scream echo through the ship from outside. It was too low to be certain animals and to high for others but was high enough to be a small girl screaming. Aurora was in trouble... all sorts of thoughts raced through Rrahkarr's mind at that point. The most pressing thought was getting to her as soon as he could... it was overriding every other thought as Rrahkarr looked down at the knife next to him.