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Chapter 1

"Routine Cargo Run"

The forest glistened in sunlight poking through the canopy, an occasional unfamiliar animal noise drowning out the cacophony of insect and bird chirps around him. Ravanos worked his way through the dense forest, checking his scanner HUD occasionally, looking at the various blips highlighting a few trees. But not the right tree.

Ravonos frowned, and pulled out a small handheld device, and tapped a few controls on it. He moved it around until an indicator came up, pointing in the correct direction. He proceeded to work his way through the forest. He was brown and white Nitharian Lycan with an adequately muscled build. He dressed in a brown leather vest, a black tank top with leather pants, carrying a scabbard on his belt with an ornate blade hilt in it, and wore a leather-like armory bracer, which stored a small number of energy weapons, on his left arm.

"Rav?" A voice crackled through the com, "There's a Kratathi patrol ship in the system. They don't seem to be actively seeking anyone out though. More like just standing watch. We're not detecting anyone else on the planet aside from you and those in the listening post."

"Good to hear. Let me know if anything changes." The Nitharian Lycan mused as he walked along the path. "I'm detecting multiple flexures in the area. It seems a lot of Alliance natives use this planet as a drop point." He glanced around the grove, full of massive trees, "I guess the trees make a great storage area. I shouldn't be long, Zhal. Rav out."

He worked his way further into the forest, until he came across a massive tree, the flexure key lighting up as he moved it closer. "Rav to Kosa'var. I think I found it. Stand by." He placed the flexure key in a knot on the tree, a small holographic panel appearing on the device. He entered a sequence of commands, and a portal appeared over the tree's trunk. "I'm going in now."

He stepped through the portal, shining his light around inside the tree. It looked about how one would expect the inside of a tree to look. Fresh wood surrounding the interior, the grains in the tree looking warped and considerably larger than they would normally look. He shown his light onto a metal case, then proceeded to pass his hand over it, a holopanel appearing with the shipping information.

---

Item: Classified, safe for courier transit

Origin: Agrozi 4 Research Facility

Final Pickup Officers: Captain Ravanos Sironis Altieris, Administrator Zhalvir Sironis Procyonis

Courier History:

10:70:82 Picked up by Darsallas Trading Corporation.

10:82:06 Taken to Talvad 3 Grove, left for pickup by Zhalvir Transit.

10:89:02 Zhalvir Transit Arrival, Captain Ravanos Entered Grove storage.

Destination: Orgot 9 Research Facility

---

"Yep, this is it. I'll be returning momentarily. Rav out." He hefted the case, and carried it out of the tree, placing it on the ground to retrieve his flexure key. He shut the device off, the portal snapping closed and pocketed the device. He hefted the case up, calling out "Rav to Kosa'var, I'm ready to return, send the gate."

A gateway snapped open in front of him a moment later, and he stepped through into a largish room, definitely a cargo storage area of some kind. A large black male Nitharian Lycan with a decently muscled build, dressed in a long, black leather coat, a blue tank top and leather pants, also carrying a scabbard with a blade hilt on his belt and a black leather armory bracer on his left arm, stood behind a control panel. After Rav had entered the ship, the Nitharian manipulated the controls, closing the portal to the planet.

"Welcome back. Went well I hope?" the black Lycan inquired as he stepped closer. His fur shimmered slightly in rainbow iridescence as the lighting reflected off of him.

"Yep, went okay, Zhal. Very beautiful site too, wouldn't mind exploring here someday." He dusted some moss out of his fur and off his jacket, then dusted off his head. "Though a touch more nature than I usually like." He stepped closer to the black Nitharian, leaning in to give him a lick on the nose. "Glad to be back though."

Zhal smiled, returning the playful noselick to the brown and white Lycan, before stepping out the transit room's door in the main corridor, Rav following behind. "Let's get that to the vault then. Zhal to Nezra," He called over the com.

"Nezra here," a female voice replied.

"Break orbit and set course for the Orgot 9 research facility, then transit to hyperspace."

"Understood Zhal. Nezra out." The com cut off.

The two walked down the corridor to the vault, Rav gazing around the corridor at the Dicoric-era runes painted above some doorways. "I really need to explore your ship more someday, you put in so many details I miss versus other Firehaven class ships. The runes around the doors are a nice touch."

The runes themselves, when translated, read:

I, of the Skoll'zhatis, beseech Fenrir of Void, Skoll of Chaos and Hati of Time, to protect this abode and those that inhabit it from any and all curses, and enemies that may come before it.

They were a traditional ward painted on homes in Firehaven thousands of years ago out of superstition, but it had become tradition to decorate anything in or from Firehaven with the runes, and Zhal saw his ship as no exception. He had been extremely creative when decorating the ship with the runes, going so far as to have them painted on the hyperspace aperture ring outside the ship in a luminescent paint that glowed when exposed to certain energy fields.

A male voice called over the com, "All personnel, prepare for transit to hyperspace in 3 minutes."

Zhal chuckled, "I wanted my ship to be something unique. And I just needed someplace that felt like home away from home to me." He stepped up to a wall, placing his paw on a panel, a hologram fading to reveal a door, sliding open as they both stepped in.

Muffled mechanical rumbling echoed through the corridors as blast shields moved into place for the hyperspace jump, green lights illuminating the corridor as the ship indicated it's readiness for the transit. "You have a home in Firehaven too? I always thought you put the runes up because of the Forgebreed construction facility there."

Zhal smiled, "Yeah, I have a home there, don't go very often though. Can't wait to show it to you someday." He smirked, "And just because I'm a Forgebreed doesn't mean I consider a factory my home," He chuckled, elbowing the other Lycan. He walked up to one of the vault doors, entering a code, the metal door sliding open. "Speaking of homes, this sure beats living out of a tiny scout ship, I'm sure."

"Very much so. Thank you for giving me a chance." Rav placed the metal case inside the vault, then pressed the panel to close the door, leaning on it for a moment. "Especially after I tried to stab you the first time you met me..."

Zhal laughed, "Stabbed AND shot. You missed both times, thankfully." Zhal smiled, and nodded, "You're welcome." He snickered, "And at least you're not Lycosi. I thought that tiger was gonna rip my throat out when I approached him."

"Wow, Lycosi, really? He seems like such a sweet guy now... You really have a thing for the aggressive types, you know?" Rav smiled, pushing himself off the door, "And thanks for keeping after me regardless of that. I don't know where I'd be now. Probably my cargo stolen again, left for dead."

"I'm very persistent when I see someone who needs help." He eyed the Nitharian. "You barely ever get enough sleep though, even now."

Rav hesitated for a moment, then shrugged, "Guess I'm still on edge all the time, I'm not sure."

"You seem a lot more relaxed now than you used to be. You certainly were on edge when you got here. Barely ever out of your quarters except to help with a shipment. Barely talking to anyone." He rubbed the Lycan's ears, "You slept with your blade under your pillow."

Rav flattened his ears, "You knew?"

Zhal pointed to his eyes, "Multi-spectral sensors, remember?"

"Oh, right... I'm so sorry about that," Rav said apologetically. He stepped in, giving the big black Lycan a hug, leaning his head on his shoulder, "Thank you for everything."

He smiled, "You're welcome." He nosed the Lycan's ear, "I still expect you to tell me why you left the Skoll'zhatis Alliance someday though. It's so rare for someone to just resign. And you're an Altieris. The pack could've easily helped you out."

"I didn't want to bring them into my troubles." Or get myself kicked out. Ravanos nuzzled into Zhal's neckfur, inhaling his simulated scent, "Someday, I'll talk about it." he said quietly. He didn't really want to talk about it though. Zhalvir had already helped him out of his previous situation, heaping more onto the kind Lycan didn't seem fair.

"But you're still in the Order of Archivists aren't you?" Zhal asked.

"In the reserve, yeah. I'll likely get recalled if there's an impending collapse somewhere and they have an urgent need for nearby Archivists. Though Tarchavi is still borrowing my ship right now."

A male voice called over the com, "All personnel, prepare for transit to hyperspace in 10 seconds..."

As the voice counted down, Rav and Zhal grabbed some handholds along the corridor. A few seconds later, the ship started shaking as it accelerated rapidly, before jolting as it transited. "Hyperspace transit complete. 6 hours 22 minutes to destination." The green lights snapped off in the corridor, switching to a slowly pulsating blue.

"Your inertial dampeners need work," Rav chuckled. "I'll have to see if I can do something about that."

"You've already done plenty here Rav. You don't have to rebuild my whole ship," Zhal laughed, as they resumed their walk to the corridor. "I don't know a whole lot about the Archivists, other than you guys are considered bad omens to outsiders. What do you mean by 'impending collapse'?"

"Maybe I do..." He snickered, then eyed the Nitharian thoughtfully, "Well, our task is to archive civilizations on the verge of collapse, right? If there's one that's occurring at an accelerated rate, they will pull reserve Archivists to get as much done as possible before the collapse. A good example would be an accelerated supernova that happened a while back. We needed to pull as many Archivists as possible to archive that world before it occurred. I filled up my seed ship fast and was just redirecting all my drones to other ships. We even had a bunch of evac ships folded into the system. We still didn't get everything from that one."

Rav stretched, thinking for a moment. "I'm still convinced there was something questionable going on with that star. They don't just randomly go supernova halfway through their life." He shrugged, "And the 'bad omen' thing is pretty aggravating. Just because we happen to be archiving a civilization, other species think we're actually the cause of the collapse. And outsiders can be pretty...aggressive toward us regarding it. A year of training minimum in the Order of Warriors, or equivalent training in a major pack is required to join the Order of Archivists because of it."

Zhal folded his ears some, "Guessing they don't believe you when you try to explain it, can get tiring after a while I imagine. I can see why you don't wear the badge often," He said. "I'll make sure no one hurts you though." He rubs Rav's ears. "Did you guys run scans on that star while you were there?"

"We did. There was something off about the scans, but we found nothing conclusive since we couldn't scan it for very long, being preoccupied at the time." He looked down at his Archivist badge on his jacket. "I honestly should stop wearing it unless I'm on a mission. Though outsiders do also give us a wide berth, most of the time, so it's useful if I don't feel social, which until I got here, was all the time. And thanks for protecting me, glad to have my own floofy body guard," He giggled, then poked Zhal on the nose, "Anyways, back to our previous conversation, you should tell me why you never joined the Alliance to begin with someday. It's extremely rare for a Forgebreed to not join up after construction, since they kind of force a training on you."

Zhal shrugged, "Not much to tell really. While the training does encourage a path, it doesn't force it and allows us to make our own decisions. The Alliance simply didn't feel right to me. They asked me to join a couple Orders just to 'make sure.' Tried out Order of Engineers for a bit, followed by Order of Science, but as I said, didn't feel right. Took on a couple civilian jobs throughout my life, eventually earned enough to buy a ship, and started my courier business."

Rav eyed the black iridescent Nitharian. Most of the time he gave off the aura of a simple mentor, but sometimes, very rarely, his eyes betrayed that he had far more wisdom than he was letting on. He seemed almost like he wanted to say more, but always stopped short of it. This was one of those times, but he wasn't gonna push the subject. "Well, I'm glad they gave you the option to live your own life." He smiled, then the Lycan stretched and yawned.

"We've got a few hours to the outpost, why don't you get some rest? You look like you need it badly."

"I really look that bad right now, huh?" Rav stretched some more, his eyes definitely feeling a bit heavy. "I... I guess I should. You'll let me know if anything happens?"

Zhal nodded, giving the Lycan a rub on his ears, "You'll be the first to know, if it's urgent. You need your sleep, first and foremost."

Rav smiled, "Thank you. I'll talk to you soon Zhal." He gave the black Lycan a gentle kiss on the muzzle. He stopped for a moment, thinking. "Umm, speaking of the Firehaven runes. Since they're printed on things that come from Firehaven too, do you... have them on you?"

Zhal stopped as well, his ears blushing a bit. "Well.. Um, yes, yes I do."

Rav arched his brow, waiting for him to say more. "Well, where do you have it?" he grinned, eyeing the Lycan.

Zhal snickered, "It's umm... printed on my... left ass cheek. Though you'd have to look pretty hard through my fur to find it."

Rav blinked a few times. "You're joking, right?"

Zhal's ears blushed more, "Nope."

Rav just placed his paw on his face, blushing fiercely himself. "Oh for Skoll's fucking fiery balls..."

"You can look for it later if you like." He snickered, giving Rav's ass a playful squeeze.

"I... I think I will take you up on that." Rav laughed. "Okay, guess I should sleep for now."

Zhal nodded, chuckling. "Please do, will make things so much more fun." He winked. They made their way to the crew deck, stopping at their quarters. "Huh? Oh right, we live together now," he laughed. He'd only been on board the ship for six months, but Rav and Zhal grew close rather quickly, deciding to share quarters. He only formally moved into Zhal's quarters today. From three rooms down.

"You forgot already? Geez, maybe I should just move you back to a closet or something," The Lycan snickered. "Get in there, get some sleep. You need it. I'll see you soon."

Rav saluted, "Aye-aye sir!"

Zhal laughed, "One aye, we're not pirates."

Rav snickered, "Quite true!" He smiled, "See you soon Zhal." He closed the door and dimmed the lights in the room, unhooking his scabbard and hanging it from the wall. He then took off his clothes, before flopping onto the large bed. He turned over on his back, then looked up at the window, but the blast shield was closed due to being in hyperspace, so he couldn't see out. "Ugh. Asero, enable window holoscreen." A holographic visual obscured the blast shield, showing the orange and red energetic clouds of hyperspace flying past.

He'd spent four months living out of a small Archivist scout ship, with no windows or holotech in the sleeping quarters. While his ship was by no means inadequate, as it had a combo galley-mess, and a single restroom and shower, and a cargo section he retrofitted into a makeshift gym, it was still a small space to live in. Even the bedroom doubled as a medical bay, housing two beds. In other words, claustrophobia-inducing. He had no idea how one of those ships was supposed to handle a maximum crew of four. Ever since he'd been on the Kosa'var, he'd found it much easier to sleep if he could see outside. Or at least, simulate seeing out.

"Wake me in..5 hours?" Rav called out to the ship's avatar.

"Will do," A male voice said, "Sleep well Captain Ravanos."

Rav winced at the full title, "Just call me Rav please, Asero. I'm not very formal with friends."

"Will do. Thank you, Rav. I will wake you in 5 hours," The male voice called back.