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Voyages of the Mara

Arc 2: Edge of the Law

Chapter 5: Deception

Lazar Warden.

One of the most infamous and feared crime lords on the Dirt Palace; a master criminal in his own right, dealing in many Black Market supplements, not the least of which being Humanoid Trafficking, the very thing Felix and the Hope crew had sworn never to be part of. A big name in organized crime in the White Star sector and with a substantial bounty that would allow any hunter in the entire galaxy to retire on Denver XII for two lifetimes.

The crew of the Mara's Hope knew nothing about the man, beyond the rumors. They especially had not been aware that it had been, in fact, Lazar, who had put out the bounty on Grunikan Officer tags. The ad for them had been from an anonymous benefactor; collect the tags and drop them off at a set location in the ad, had seemed rather straight-forward. But now they had learned the identity of the man they had collected those tags for, and that same man was now calling them to his personal manor aboard the Dirt Palace to give them another job, one that promised to pay well.

They were brought to the aforementioned manor aboard a Limo -not one of those gas-powered limos use centuries before, but a repulsor hovercraft designed to resemble one. More status-symbolic than practical, but easily recognized -every thug and junkie in their path on the way to the manor moved out of the way, terrified by the very sight of the vehicle. They were more afraid of the hovering car than they were of whoever might be inside of it.

Gustav was watching out the window as they passed said people, seeing the looks on their faces. He grimaced, eyes narrowing suspiciously before looking at Felix and Amber; he and the shark had accompanied Felix to this meeting, leaving Jessica at the ship and Zack to wait at the motel; they didn't want him running his mouth off to the most dangerous man in the entire star system...

"Felix I don't like this," said Gustav. "Lazar Warden is notorious; should we really be consorting with someone like him?"

"Normally, I would say no," returned the dolphin. "But, the way that man made it sound, this job pays well; if nothing else, we should at least hear him out. We don't like it, then we leave; it's as simple as that."

"Are you so sure of that?" Amber asked, rotating her pistol in her hand. "I've heard some pretty crude rumors about this guy; saying 'no' to Lazar Warden could have us floating out in open space."

"My thoughts exactly," Gustav agreed.

"Which is why we're going in prepared," Felix pointed out, tapping the pistol on his own hip with a finger.

"You say that like you expect a fight," Amber remarked.

"There's an old saying," began Felix. "A fool goes looking for trouble, but one who assumes it'll never find him is a dead man." He shook his head. "I'm not saying I trust Lazar; just the opposite. But if he thinks I'm going to let him get in our way, he has another thing coming to him."

Amber leaned forward. "Then why are we even going to see him?" She asked again.

"Like I said, his little messenger insisted the job paid well," replied Felix. "I want to know if it pays that well. If it does..." His gaze shifted to stare out the window, "we may be able to quit this whole racket before the next month."

At that, Gustav and Amber both fell silent. Felix still had the well-being of Mara Colony at the fore of his mind -the people who depended on him, and them, to provide for them, even going so far as to make a deal with a devil to achieve it. They nodded to him agreement, suddenly feeling more certain this meeting would not end badly for them.

The limo suddenly began to slow, before coming to a full stop. The driver up front looked over his shoulder at them, and stated plainly. "We're here."

They glanced out the window, towards the home of Lazar Warden... and suddenly felt smaller. The place was huge, larger than every single pre-fabricated house at Mara colony assembled into a single structure, six stories high and built symmetrically from one side to the next. Between the limo and the front door was a very long sidewalk, made of shiny metal that a first they mistook for gold as they stepped out. Halfway down the sidewalk there were fountains on both sides, mounted with statues of the same man, larger than life and made of solid gold -real gold, unlike the sidewalk.

The statues were of an anthropomorphic rat, tall and thin, dressed regally in custom attire resembling a cross between a two-piece suit and a long coat that hung all the way down to the back of his ankles but left his front completely bare to reveal the rest of his tuxedo-level of attire. He had a smug face and one blank eyeball, perfectly combed scalp hair with a center-parted look, standing with his hands tucked behind his back, his legs together and his tail curled up to a 'U' shape; the statues had the tail sticking out from a different side, but otherwise they perfectly mirrored each other.

The three of them walked down the path, the driver remaining in the car as they headed for the house, passing between the two statues, which all three of them were eyeing incredulously as they walked between them. "A limo, a mansion the size of a luxury cruise ship, and golden statues," said Felix. "Think this 'Lazar' has got a big enough ego?"

"Big enough?" Amber echoed. "If it were material, it'd be a planet."

"These statues are twice as big as me," Gustav added. "Think he's compensating for something?"

"We'll know soon enough," replied Amber. "When we meet the 'big man' in person."

They continued on their way across the property, approaching the front doors, which were designed in an older fashion of private homes on city planets, sliding open as they neared them. They stepped through the doors and into the lobby, suddenly feeling as though they'd stepped into the palace of a king. Like the exterior, the interior was designed in a symmetrical fashion as well. The ceiling was three stories tall, with a perfectly centered golden chandelier hanging from it, lighting the room.

Directly ahead of them was a pair of staircases, leading up to the second floor, meeting on a balcony overlooking the lobby. Directly below was a set of double doors where two men in suits similar to that of the one who had contacted them at the bar, stood guard. The walls of the lobby were lined with doors leading to other parts of the mansion, but their destination became clear as the two men ahead stepped aside and one of them tapped a button on the wall, causing the doors to slide open with a hiss, which led to a short corridor.

"Leave your weapons on the table in the corridor," one of them said.

"Fat chance," Amber retorted. "Your boss wants to meet with us, I'm keeping my gun."

The rat looked at her over the rim of his sunglasses, his gaze stern. "I don't believe you understand, miss. His house, his rules," he retorted.

"Then we will go right back the way we came," retorted Felix. "We know that your boss is probably surrounded by bodyguards who'll draw on us at his command; either we go in there with our own guns, or we don't go in at all."

The two men glanced at each other, before one of them turned away and put a finger to his ear. "Front," he stated. "They refuse to give up their guns; how shall we proceed?" There was a short pause as he listened to the response from the virtually invisible communicator in his ear, his partner keeping an eye on the three while they waited. "Understood," he said after a while before turning to face them again. "Lazar understands your concern; he'll let you see him but warns you that his guards will be watching."

"Let them," said Felix. "We don't trust your boss; we don't expect him to trust us. Just trust that we'll get the job done if we decide to take it."

With that, the three of them carried on, walking past the guards and heading into the corridor, approaching the door at the far end, which opened as they approached, and they entered a large office, decorated much like the rooms before with walls and carpeting painted with bright colours, and with more similarly dressed bodyguards standing at each corner, all of them giving the three marine morphs death stares through their sunglasses. One of them had a titanium knife in his hand, which he was fingering ominously as he glared at them.

"Typical," Amber whispered. "Gang boss surrounded by hand-picked thugs, who try to make themselves look dangerous so we do whatever he says; this guy is predictable."

"If he were that predictable, Confederate Law Enforcement would've caught him long ago," stated Felix, keeping his voice low.

They approached the desk, stopping as two of the guards stepped into their path. Whomsoever was in the chair had the back turned to them, until the crew were near. They turned around, and the three of them saw another rat, a scrawny-looking one in the most expensive-looking clothing they had ever seen, made in the likeness of an Admiral in the Confederate Armada and composed of material that seemed to almost shine in the light of the room when he moved, with golden-inlaid epaulettes, cufflinks, and buttons alike. His hands were smooth for a rat, his nails appeared freshly manicured, and his scalp hair was neatly combed and parted to one side.

He'd actually be quite handsome for a Rodentian, except that his eyes threw off his looks -they had a sickly colour that Felix wondered was even natural; the first thing he thought of when he saw those eyes was of a chemical spill he'd seen once where deadly liquids of multiple colours had mixed and formed a complete, messy, green-ish yellow. The eyes of that rat reminded him of that chemical spill, and were the only thing marring this male rat's outside appearance. Something else caught his eye though; held in between his hands was a Grunikan officer tag, like the ones that the Hope crew had been collecting.

"Welcome to my mansion, gentlemen and lady," the rat began. "I am Lazar Warden, owner of this fine property. Allow me to expressed how pleased I am that you accepted the task my associate asked of you."

"We haven't accepted anything yet," Felix stated, firmly. "So let's get one thing straight first; we're not taking this job until we know more about it, so let's start hearing some details, from the top."

Lazar's men twitched noticeably, clearly not liking the dolphins tone as their employer tilted his head curiously. "You are the first pirates I've wanted to hire that care to know what they're doing more than the credits they're being offered."

"Scum don't have standards," retorted Felix. "We do."

"Scum, you say?" Lazar asked. "If you refer to pirates and smugglers as 'scum', what does that make you three?"

"Struggling freighter-people with trust issues," Gustav returned for Felix, crossing his arms as he spoke.

Felix smiled inside. 'Nice, big guy,' he thought.

Lazar eyed the three for a moment before shrugging. "Very well; clearly you're not interested in pleasantries," he stated, standing up from his chair and beginning to pace behind the desk as he began. "Although I do ask you try to be a little more courteous; I have paid you much of my money already, while you were collecting these for me." He showed the officer tag in his hand. "I'm guessing you already figured out I was the anonymous contractor that put up the bounty for these, yes?"

"It crossed our minds," returned Felix. "I admit, I'm curious as to why you'd want those things; far as we can tell they're just junk."

Lazar laughed at that. "Ah, to be ignorant," he said, before stepping around the desk to stand in front of Felix, holding up the tag for him to see. "Look closely at it; what do you see?" He asked, waving it slightly.

"A flat piece of metal with a holographic lettering system, displaying a name that once belonged to a corpse now floating out in oblivion," Felix returned in a glib tone, trying to sound like he didn't actually give a damn, though he wondered what point Lazar was trying to make.

"This tag is made of pure platinum," replied Lazar. "That metal is not even found in this entire sector, which although helps add to its value, the true value is in what message they send when you meet with a Grunikan."

Amber tilted her head. "There are crime lords in the Empire?"

"But of course; thousands of them, with deep pockets and private armies at their disposal," replied Lazar. "Like any Grunikan, many of them seek to express their dominance over other races when you meet with them. But if they see these tags, hanging up on your wall when they arrive, it intimidates them, because to them it appears that even their elite soldiers of whom the empire prides itself upon have fallen by your hand. It makes them more negotiable, and can mean big profit for whoever possesses these tags." He pulled back the tag, staring at it again. "And this one, carrying a General's crest... one look at this will inspire terror in my associates in the Empire."

Felix nodded. "So it's like a status symbol to them, having so many tags," he said. "It makes them unwilling to pick a fight with you." He snorted. "These Grunikan bosses sound like cowards." He shook his head. "Anyway, back to the job?"

"Of course," began Lazar. "At the mention of my Grunikan associates, that brings me to the matter at hand; a ship, stranded in the vicinity of Argo II, disabled by some of my own men. It was on its way to a Grunikan forward base being established in the system for the war effort, a base which has now come under attack by the Confederate fleets, which has bought me a window of opportunity to seize the ship while the Armada is unable to retrieve it, and that is where you come in."

"What's on the ship?" Felix asked.

"Grunikan commodities not available in this part of space, or so my informants told me," replied Lazar. "This window is not open for long, however, so time is of the essence; most of my usual pilots are unavailable, so I needed some new blood and, since your group has been so kind as to deliver these tags to me," he held up the tag again, "I picked you for the job, once I heard you were back on the palace."

"So it's just a standard retrieval job, then?"

"Simple as that; pick up the cargo, bring it back here, and you get paid," said Lazar. "Because this cargo means a lot, I'm offering you a very generous sum of credits; one-hundred and fifty thousand. I'll pay you ten up front for expenses, and the rest to you when the job is done."

"That is quite generous," agreed Felix, nodding. "This cargo must be valuable."

"Quite," returned Lazar, finally ceasing his fingering of the officer tag in his hand, placing it onto his desk and turning to Felix. "So, do we have a deal then?"

Felix eyed the rat for a moment, before he put up his hand. "Let us talk it over amongst ourselves for a second," he said.

"Of course," said Lazar, before glancing over to one of his guards in the corner, motioning for him to step over, and letting Felix and his crewmates take it, so that they could speak privately.

After moving to the corner, the three spoke amongst themselves in hushed voices, sharing their thoughts on the job offer. "I don't trust this guy, but that's certainly a lot of credits," Amber stated.

"Especially for such an easy job," added Gustav. "But that worries me; jobs that easy never pay so much; he's hiding something."

"I don't doubt it," agreed Felix. "But with the money we made before, and what we could make on this, almost all of that debt will be gone, and we can still keep enough to finally finish restoration of the colony; that'll take quite a load off of our backs and allow us to focus more on finishing the rest."

"I say we go for it, then," said Amber. "It's only a cargo pick-up; we can be done in a matter of hours."

"Maybe so, but he hasn't said what the cargo is," Gustav pointed out. "Remember, this guy is known for some dirty deeds."

"As long as it's not some sort of bomb, I don't see the problem," said Amber.

"He said 'commodities' not available here in the Confederacy," said Felix, rubbing the underside of his jaw thoughtfully. "We don't know they have out there in the Empire; that could be anything, and I don't think he'll tell us more than that."

Gustav grimaced. "That's what bothers me... what if we're picking up something we'll regret later?"

Felix let out a sigh at that, understanding Gustav's dilemma; Lazar Warden wasn't exactly the 'honest' sort. There was no telling just what the 'cargo' he wanted was... but they needed the credits; they needed to finally get out from under the heel of the White Star Government, and the payment for this job would do just that. He thought once more about the colony, and how badly its people needed to finally be able to build a proper future, and more about how he and his crew needed to get back to an honest living.

"We need this," said Felix. "This could bring the change we've been looking for. Let's take the job, and hope for the best."

Amber nodded in agreement; Gustav still looked skeptical, but he too gave a slow nod, giving his support. Felix turned away from them, making his way back over to Lazar's desk. The rat had already re-seated himself, and was watching the dolphin expectantly as he approached the desk, hands folded before him as he waited patiently for the dolphin to give his answer.

"We've just agreed," said Felix. "We'll take the job."

"Excellent, good sir," returned Lazar. "Felix, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

Lazar extended his hand. "I thank you for accepting this job, and look forward to seeing it completed," he said, gratefully.

Felix looked at the rat's hand, feeling a pit in his stomach as he slowly raised his own, feeling his fingers trembling as they drew closer to the palm of Lazar Warden. Every fibre of his being was telling him not to do this, but he had already agreed to the job. Swallowing his concern, he willed himself to grasp the rat's paw and shake it, suddenly feeling like he' just stuck his entire arm into a giant pile of filth...

~~~~~

Felix sat quietly at the bar counter; it was the slow hour of the night, when everyone had stumbled out. Zack, Amber and Gustav had all retired for the night, while he was left with his light drink, and his thoughts. He stared into the bubbling brown liquid of his glass, through his mind racing the same question over and over again... There were so many things about this job that seemed wrong to him, but still he had taken it. From the moment he'd left the home of Lazar Warden, he'd had the overwhelming desire to wash his right hand, soon his arm, and then before he knew it, he'd been taking a full shower, as if he'd been crawling in a dumpster recently and wanted the smell off of his person. Lazar was the worst scum of Confederate space, dirtier than a Gelk's dumping ground, and he'd just made a deal with him despite knowing all of this.

So the question was... did he make the right decision? Was he acting for the good of the colony as usual, or was he just tempted by the money?

"You," a voice spoke suddenly, rousing him from his entranced state, "are looking at that glass like you just lost your home." He saw Angela leaning over the counter, looking at him curiously. "Everything okay?"

Felix opened his mouth to answer the gecko girl, but the words died in his throat, causing his muzzle to fall shut with a click of his teeth. He let out a long sigh before he leaned on his elbow. "I'm not sure," he replied. "I feel like I just shook hands with a devil, who proceeded to cover my arm in evil, and even though I took a long shower I still feel soiled."

"Lazar Warden," she said, plainly. "Possibly the cruelest man in this entire shithole; he may come across as civilized and well-mannered, but underneath he's a sleaze and has no regard for others; you have something he wants you either give it to him or he slits your throat, guns you down or both. Refuse him and he has his hand-picked monkeys beat you like a drum."

"Sounds like you've met him?" Felix asked, curiously.

She grimaced. "He buys girls from the brothel every month, sometimes six at once," she replied.

Felix's eyebrow arched. "Six? Got a lot of stamina, that one."

"He doesn't even bang them," stated Angela. "He lets his guards do it while he watches them."

Felix's face fell flat, before a disgusted grimace found its way onto his features. "I... can't even come up with a response to that," he said.

"Me neither," returned Angela, before she stood back upright, crossing her arms and leaning against the shelves behind her with a sigh. "There are some twisted people in the galaxy, and a lot of them can be found right here on this derelict hunk of metal."

"And how do you avoid the ones you're afraid of pissing off?" Felix asked very suddenly, before even realizing the question had left his mouth.

Angela eyed him quizzically, tilting her head. "Avoid him? You just took a job from him."

"I'm afraid of what this job might lead to," replied Felix. "He wouldn't say what the cargo he wants us to pick up was; only that it consisted of 'commodities' that can't be found in this part of space. If it turns out to be something that really shouldn't be in the hands of someone like him... how do I avoid him and his thugs?"

Angela rolled her eyes, considering an answer for that question. "Well," she began. "Knowing where they have control helps."

This time it was Felix who gave the quizzical look. "Go on."

"Lazar may be big but he doesn't own this whole bucket; nobody does," explained Angela. "For one, the hangars, and this bar aren't his; these belong to another crime lord, names Aaron Schroder. Lazar and his men can come through here, but he won't dare cause any violence; not unless he wants to rouse Aaron and risk a turf war."

"How does that help me? The hangars where I land have the cheapest toll, but going from there to here goes right through Lazar's turf," Felix pointed out.

"If you want to keep doing business here on the palace, you may have to spend a little more on a docking bay, namely the ones that're right across from here," replied Angela. "Aaron's pricey because most of the big entertainment areas belong to him; people spend a lot because they want to be close to the action, though in your case you want to stay out of Lazar's reach. That's your best bet."

"I don't know if we can afford the extra expense," Felix said. "The hangar where we land normally costs two hundred credits a day; the ones nearest to here cost quadruple that, and it's not like they give out wristbands to show you already purchased it once the same day."

Angela shrugged. "That's really the only advice I can give you Felix," she said. "And I suggest it because Schroder's the only one who can challenge the small army that Lazar's got working for him. Like I told you before, I like your crew, and I don't want to see you guys get gunned down out there. If you think you might piss of Lazar, the extra expense is the only way to keep landing here and stay out of his way."

Felix sighed again. "You're right... I'm sorry; you're trying to help and I'm being a jackass," he said.

She smiled. "It's okay; we all do that when we're stressed."

Felix nodded to her. "Thank you," he said, before another question began to nag at his mind, remembering something that Angela had said to him before. "Do you remember when we spoke a few nights ago, about what it is that brings us all into this life?"

She nodded. "I do," she replied.

Felix straightened his posture, eyeing her with curiosity. "So... how is it that you ended up here? Or... is it something you don't want to talk about?"

Angela frowned, her gaze drifting away slightly as she considered her answer for him, falling silent. Just when Felix was about to say that she didn't have to tell him, she spoke again. "Well, as I mentioned, sometimes the very people we trust put us here," she began. "Keep in mind, it's been a long-time since I talked about this, since, around here, nobody really cares to listen... until now."

Felix nodded to her. "Take your time... but you can stop anytime; if it hurts to talk about it, then I won't push."

She nodded. "I know... but I want to. It's been too long since anyone was willing to lend an ear," she assured him. "I don't have any tears left to cry anyway."

Felix felt a sting in his heart at that comment, and braced himself, knowing he was about to hear a tale that would make his own pale in comparison.

"To make it short," began Angela, "my brother, Carl, worked for humanoid traffickers just like Lazar, as one of their smugglers. He'd pick up young men and women who were sold into our equivalent of the Grunikan slave trade; forced labor, prostitution and sometimes gladiatorial events -yeah, those still happen around here. He was also an extreme addict, to some really expensive drugs; he never had any trouble paying for them, he gave me money to live but I never became part of his trade, until I became a victim.

"One day, he needed his fix, but it had been a slow month; he had no money, and no girls to sell. But, he knew his employer had eyes for me, so, he came to me at home, started chatting with me about 'decisions he may regret'; I was so stupid for not seeing it coming, but the moment I turned my back, he put a chloroform-soaked rag over my face and I passed out in seconds. Next thing I knew, he was bound up, naked as a newborn, and in the back of my brother's ship." Felix's eyes widened and his jaw fell open, and he was left sitting there in stunned silence for a full ten seconds at least. "Your brother; your blood relative... sold you?"

She nodded. "Yep," she replied, glib.

"For. Fucking. Drugs?"

"That's right."

Felix was almost stuttering as he tried to come up with a response, tripping on his words for a full minute before he finally calmed down enough to speak coherently. "I-I-I I can't believe this..." He said. "A few nights ago, I was pouring my heart out, telling you about all of my problems, and you said there were those who had it worse. Never once did I think that you were one of those people..." He looked at her apologetically. "Angela I... I am so sorry." He grabbed his head. "Damn it I feel like such a douchebag now!"

"Hey, hey, don't feel bad," Angela said, assuredly. "Like I said... I don't let it bother me anymore. I've grown accustomed to this."

Felix nodded, and took a few breathes to calm himself down. "Okay... so... how did you get out of it?"

"Sheer, dumb luck," replied Angela. "His employer, who kept me for himself, turns out he had a heart condition. So while he was fucking me, he had a heart attack, and died with his willy in my twelve-year-old pussy."

Felix stared, mouth hanging open.

"And... maybe I was too blunt about that?"

"A little," Felix returned, before clearing his throat before he brought both hands to his face, running his hands down his face. "I really... can't ask this any other way. How are you not... I don't know; damaged, by that? Most people who go through an experience like are distant, paranoid... maybe a little crazy. You seem... fine."

"I was a spoiled brat, whose supporter sold her at the drop of a hat," stated Angela. "I realized, nobody was ever going to just hand anything to me again; something else I learned on the streets, so I learned, adapted, adjusted; I learned how to spot the good guys from the bad -mostly thanks to there being a lot more of the latter."

"I'm surprised you ever trusted anyone again," said Felix.

"Oh for the first few years, I didn't," replied Angela. "I looked at everyone like they'd knife me, fuck me or sell me. Until I met someone who was different; her name was Carlotta Josina."

That name struck a chord with Felix, ringing a bell of familiarity in his ears. "The singer from Eyrie?" Felix asked.

Angela beamed, nodding her head approvingly. "You know your pop culture."

"Her music plays on the trams on Denver XII," replied Felix. "Her voice is amazing."

"I thought so too," returned Angela. "I was living off my body at the time and ironically it turned out she was a Lesbian, so I approached her."

"That part I didn't know," Felix whispered. "So what happened then?"

That question caused a frown to cross Angela's features, biting her lip as she considered an answer to give him, his hands clenching the edge of the counter tightly until, with a tired sigh, she answered. "She looked at me... and started crying. It'd been so long since I'd shed some tears myself I'd almost forgotten what they looked like. But then it was what she said that brought tears to my eyes too."

"What did she say?"

"She said, she had come to that..." She smiled. "'Den of inequity' -always loved that term- of her own volition, because apparently she had declared bankruptcy -lost her home, her accounts, her agent; everything, gone." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that, she'd lost everything she'd worked to achieve. So she had taken a job to be a lounge singer here on the Dirt Palace; she had chosen to come here - she had a choice to not come here. I didn't have that choice... part of me was jealous of her, but there she was; she should've been pissed off, but instead all she thought about was me, and how she pitied me... how I did not have the things she once did.

"Sure enough, just like I'm telling you now, I told her my life story, and when it was done... she hugged me so tightly. My brother had never even held me like that; I was a stranger to her, some sixteen-year old whore in a pirate's den, yet she was holding me like I was her daughter... and I guess, when she did that," she smiled. "My heart started beating properly again. I was no longer dead inside, and I became a better person for it."

Felix frowned. "What happened to her?"

Angela sighed, sadly. "She passed away. Unfortunately, she'd been sick with Alberon's Disease, even when she arrived at the Dirt Palace; she spent two years, singing in this very bar, and got me a job as a barmaid here, before it finally claimed her." She rested her arms on the counter. "As you no doubt know, Alberon's is also called the Ghost Cancer, because without routine blood tests you don't even know you have it until you only have a short time left, and unlike other sicknesses, that last term is where all of the pain is. She was in agony for two weeks, before her heart and all of her organs failed. For the next four years after, I continued working here. And now here we are..."

Felix let out a long groan, putting both hands on the back of his head as he lowered it down onto the counter, laying there for a moment before elevating his gaze to look at her again, feeling a tear in his own eye. "Angela..." he said, softly, but had no words left.

She shook her head at him. "I know... I've had a hard life, but I'm young yet. I can still build myself a future," she said. "Even if that future is here on the Palace, at least I know I'm in control of it now."

He nodded to her, and slowly stood up. "After everything you've told me," he said. "I don't think I'll ever take what I have for granted again." He fished out his Credrive to pay for his drink, holding it up to the cash register to make the link, and was displayed the amount, and put in a twenty credit tip. "You deserve far more than what you have, Angela. I hope one day, what you really deserve, finds you."

She smiled weakly at Felix. "Maybe someday..." She said, but as the dolphin turned to leave, she spoke again. "Felix."

The dolphin paused, mid-step, before turning to look back at her again. "Yeah?"

"Can I stay with you tonight?" She asked, eyeing him in a wanting manner. "I think... after reliving my life like that... I don't think I want to be alone tonight."

At first, Felix felt a rush of heat rising to his face... but he saw the look in her eyes, and felt a pit in his stomach once again. He could see her need, and saw the same loneliness he'd once seen on his mother's face, years ago when he was still a child, brought on by remembering his father whom Felix had never met. She needed someone then, just as Angela needed someone now... and maybe Felix did too.

He nodded to her. "Of course."

She nodded back. "Let me just finish up here, then we can go," she said.

Felix walked over to the front door, standing to wait for her as she finished her shift-end duties, cleaning the counter and checking the bottles, before signing out from her shift and saying good night to the rest of the girls working with her. She put a jacket on to cover her nearly-bare upper torso -most of the girls dressed to be eye-candy for male customers, as it was proven to sell more drinks every night- before joining Felix by the door, and walking at his side to the motel.

"I appreciate this, Felix," said Angela.

"Hey, after sharing your life story with me, it's the least I could do," returned Felix. "I just wish I could find your brother so I could kick his ass from here to Attilaen Prime."

"Unfortunately, I doubt he's even still around here," said Angela. "I heard a while back he relocated to a place out in the Rock Belt Sector, so as much as I'd love to see someone shoot his balls off, he's out of reach."

"Ah," said Felix. "That is unfortunate."

Angela shrugged. "If we're lucky, someone out there offed him for us," she said. "I don't really care either way."

Felix nodded once again, and led Angela into the motel, past the front desk and down the hall to his room, which he unlocked and held open the door for her, allowing her to enter the room first. She stepped inside, smiling rather pleasantly at the dolphin as she passed. Following her, he himself entered the room, closing the door behind him, before he let out a sigh, glancing at Angela as she shed her jacket and hung it over one of the chairs at the table, which he repeated for his vest.

"I can ask the front desk for a spare mattress," said Felix. "You can take the bed, and I'll sleep on that."

To his surprise, Angela chuckled and turned to him. "That won't be necessary," she said.

"It won't?" He asked.

"No," she replied as she walked up to him with a sway in her step, raising her hands to place them on his shoulders. "I think we both could use some real 'company' tonight, don't you, Felix?"

As she moved closer to him, Felix was about to ask what she was doing, but before he could, her mouth touched his, and her impossibly soft lips kissed his own. Felix stood, stunned and wide-eyed by her action, having completely caught him off guard, and remained frozen as her arms wrapped around his back and held him tightly, her leg sliding against his as she deepened the kiss. He could feel every curve of her body, and could taste her lips against his own, but he wasn't sure how to react... this had never happened before.

It wasn't like it was his first time being with a woman; he'd had his own teenage romances years back, but all the times he had seen Angela, he hadn't ever pictured having such a night with her. She was a beautiful gecko, though; attractive both on the outside and in, and despite the decent man of his mind telling him that this was wrong, he found himself putting his own arms around her, and returning the gecko's kiss, a passionate fire burning between the two of them.

For a long moment, they held it, until Felix slowly pulled back and met her gaze, his sky blue eyes looking into her azure ones, once more seeing his reflection in them. "Angela... a-are you sure this is okay?" He asked.

"I wouldn't have come here if I didn't really want it," returned Angela, backing Felix towards the bed until the backs of his knees met the edge, and he dropped onto his backside, looking up at Angela in wonder. "I told you once before, you need to live a little, and so do I... so why don't we both just seize this opportunity to help each other live?"

That was consent enough to make Felix less conscious about what was happening, and made no move to stop Angela as she knelt down, fumbled with the rim of his shirt, and lifted it over his head, before she tossed it aside and pulled back, reaching behind herself to unclasp her rather revealing tube top, leaving her upper body completely uncovered. With that, she crawled onto Felix's lap, throwing her legs around his middle, and kissed him again, as deeply as before.

They sat there, entwined together and tasting each other, before Felix turned them over and laid her down beneath him, his hands exploring her form as he pulled back to breath, but not without planting a tender kiss on her bare chest, which made her moan in glee. After a moment to catch their breath, they began make out again, more vigorously than before; her scaled breasts were pressed flat against his chest as they embraced tightly, grinding their bodies together and basking in the blissful company of one another...

They had made love twice that night, both of them relieving so much pent up tension unto one another. By the time Felix awoke the next morning, slightly hung over from the drinks he'd enjoyed the night before, his body still felt tingly. And for the first time what felt like years, his sleep had been restful, his dreams filled with better times of his life, and hopeful visions of what might come. Too long had it been since he'd actually slept well, and he actually found himself welcoming the new day.

He glanced adoringly at the beautiful gecko girl draped over him, sleeping soundly and contently with her head resting on his chest. He tried to shift a little to get comfortable again, realizing her tail was wrapped around his beneath the sheets of the motel bed. As he moved, his skin brushed against her scales. The feeling of them was oddly gratifying; he'd once wondered if scaled beings like Angela were rough to the touch, or if their scaly skin was smoother than it appeared. Now he knew it was the latter, at least for geckos; Angela's scales felt as soft as cotton beneath his hand, albeit he could feel the creases between each one, giving it a rugged feel at the same time.

He was grateful to her for giving him such an amazing night; he felt most of his stress had ebbed away, and now, he felt much better. Absently, he draped his other arm over her and shut his eyes again, wanting to sleep just a little longer...

A knock sounded on his door. He was about to tell them to go away when the door suddenly hissed open, and Amber stepped through. "Hey Felix, you..." She paused when she saw him lying in bed, and her eyes widened when she saw the body lying next to him. Her gaze met Felix's for a brief second before she turned around and faced back out to the hallway. "I'll come back later," she said briskly, before stepping back through the room door, letting it close behind her.

Felix let out a groan. "I forgot to lock the door..." He whispered, scolding himself.

Outside the room, Amber stood with her back to the wall, the stunned look remaining on her face as she muttered to herself. "Awkward..."

~~~~~

After that accidental walk-in, Felix knew some explanation was probably needed to Amber. He didn't want her thinking he had become like Zack, and started spending money on women, nor did he want any of them to think Angela would have sold herself to him. Reluctantly, he woke her up, and informed her that it was time for him to leave for work.

She answered him with a smile, and said, "let's meet up again, next time we're both feeling a little stressed, shall we?"

"I... I wouldn't mind it," Felix replied. "Thank you, Angela..."

And with that, he showered, dressed himself, and left, paying for his room at the front counter and leaving Angela to depart at her leisure before he left the motel behind, and met his crew outside. Neither Gustav or Zack said more than 'hello' to him, while they were discussing their plans for the day; their casual nature told Felix that they didn't know about what Amber had found him doing, although the shark herself was eyeing him rather blankly; he couldn't read her expression, but he assumed she at least wanted an explanation.

"Amber, uh..." He said, keeping his voice low.

"Enjoy your night?" She asked. She was actually smiling.

"You're not mad?"

She tilted her head. "Why would I be?"

"I thought... maybe you'd be concerned I was becoming like Zack."

She chuckled slightly. "Felix, even though I saw her from behind, do you think I didn't recognize Angela?" She asked.

"What does the 'who' have to do with anything?"

"Because if it hadn't been her, then I'd be worried," replied Amber. "I've always known she was fond of you; not in a long-term kind of way, but I always knew she liked you."

"So you knew something was going to happen... you just, didn't know when."

_ _ "Let's not discuss that part," said Amber with a forced smile and casting a look at Zack and Gustav who were still talking. "That was just as embarrassing for me as it was you."

"Right," returned Felix. "Well then... let's get to the ship and get to work, shall we?"

"Sure," replied Amber. "It's not every day you get to work for a sleazy crime lord."

"Sure isn't, huh?" Felix asked. "I think this'll be a day we long remember."

Amber nodded sarcastically. "Or want to forget as quickly as possible."

~~~~~

Part of the job description was for the crew of the Mara's Hope to join up with two privately-owned ships, owned by Lazar, who would accompany them to the disabled ship, in the event that any evacuation team was already there to extract their fellow soldiers. Most of them saw through that ruse easily enough; yes, the ships would protect them, but their real purpose for being there was to watch the Mara's Hope and make sure its crew did not try to screw him over.

They had every intention of doing the job; they were just picking up a batch of luxury commodities Lazar probably wanted to add to his collection. A quick and easy job, with no weight on their consciences... they hoped.

They left the Dirt Palace shortly after checking out of the motel, returning to the Hope to rejoin Jessica, who slept in that morning but awoke when her room received the alert that the airlock was open. She stepped out to greet them, and they told her about the new job they had taken.

Unsurprisingly, the doe looked just as skeptical as the rest of them. "I know it's bad to break a deal, but do we really want to work for this guy?" She asked.

"No," Felix, Amber and Gustav answered simultaneously.

"Yes," Zack answered alone, causing all eyes to fall on him. "The guy is filthy rich; he's paying us a hundred and fifty grand just to pick up some junk. Whatever we're grabbing, I don't care if it's bright and shiny or has a stench as powerful as the Red Nebula's EM field, it'll be worth it."

"I wish we were as optimistic as you were, Zack," Gustav remarked.

"We're not working for him for long," stated Felix. "Just looking at that guy gives me the creeps and shaking hands with him made we want to sterilize my hand; let's get this job over with, and then never see him again."

"Agreed," stated Amber.

"Geez, guys; you really are too picky, you know that?" Zack remarked.

Everyone rolled their eyes before turning to head for their workstations, except Jessica who headed for the hygiene area to shower for the morning. Zack threw up his arms in defeat, before he began to head back to the engine room.

Before they parted, Felix grasped Amber's shoulder to get her attention, and spoke low to her. "I need you to make sure all of our guns are ready," he said. "And keep an eye on Lazar's ships."

"You don't even need to ask," returned Amber, nodding to him.

He nodded back, and let her climb into her seat at the turret, while Felix proceeded to the bridge, taking the helm as always and beginning the pre-flight diagnostic to check all flight-relevant systems. Engines and oxygen recyclers were functional, the hull was intact and the ship was powering up nicely; she was ready to go, and so he powered the engines, and prepared to depart.

Flying slowly out of the hangar, he spotted Lazar's ships; two Escort-class Hoplite model vessels made by War Flyer;s. The Hoplite line was still widely in use, but these were older models that boasted less firepower than the originals, having only six guns, three on each side, and were ineffective at engaging enemies head-on due to the flat face of its hull. To compensate for this, War Flyer's had created what became known as the Frigate-class, while the older model was rebranded the Escort-class -a cheaper option for VIP's and private security forces. The Frigate was faster and had stronger armour and shielding to make up for its lack of forward firepower, and was equipped with an anti-armour cannon on the underside, making it ideal for taking on Grunikan ships.

Good thing even crime lords can't get their hands on military-class vessels around here, thought Felix, feeling a little relieved.

"Come in Sneaker; this is Lazar 2, checking in."

Sneaker, the nickname Felix had given the Mara's Hope in order to conceal its true name from Lazar, not wanting to give him any indication of where they lived; it was a stupid name, but it was all he could come up with on short notice. It wasn't until after he had called it that he understood he'd named his ship after a shoe.

He replied to the transmission, holding down the transmit button and speaking clearly into the microphone. "Sneaker here; all systems go. We're ready to begin."

"Lock in the coordinates that the boss gave you and prepare to depart; we'll go on ahead to ensure the way to the target is clear."

_ _ "Roger that; locking in coordinates; preparing to depart in two minutes."

"Copy that. Give us thirty seconds, and we'll be off."

_ _ "Affirmative."

And so, he waited, watching the Hoplites outside until they left and counting down the minutes until it was time to depart. The jump was only one system away, and wouldn't take more than a couple of hours to reach at most. It wasn't exactly a fond idea though, to be going back to the same star system where Argo II was located. The bad memories of that star system were still lingering in his mind, of that survivor that Zack had killed, and the state of the other bodies in that colony... a most grizzly scene that, now that he had begun thinking about, had forced its way back into his head.

Those people... those corpses... the state they were in. It was hard to believe there was someone out there cruel enough to make a weapon capable of doing that to whole colony. In the two and a half short years since Felix and his friends had begun flying in space, he'd seen many things, but nothing as sickening as that. It made that pit in his stomach return just thinking about it; he shook his head, trying to force the memories out, but they had anchored themselves now.

"Damn it," he grumbled.

Still, he wasn't going to let it distract him from his job. Finishing the count down and hitting the alert button to warn the crew of the imminent jump he activated the warp drive, sending the ship off at faster than light speeds towards the neighboring star system.

~~~~~

It was quiet aboard the disabled Grunikan vessel, despite the life support systems still being active. When Felix, Amber and Gustav, along with four of Lazar's gangsters, boarded the ship, they had encountered little resistance. The ship's marines were still alive, but had been few in number so far, attacking them only one or two at a time and easily overwhelmed by the seven armed anthro's venturing through the ship.

The vessel was fair-sized, and it was taking them some time to cross it. After running a scan of the ship, they had learned the layout and were following the map, projected on a holographic disk, through the corridors of the ship. They found the guard room, which had already emptied of men following their intrusion, and were now heading towards the back of the ship where the cargo hold and engine room were located. Something about it struck the Hope crew as odd, though; this ship did not look like a freighter. It was more like a cruise liner vessel, like the one they had infiltrated before meeting Lazar, without the VIP lounge, and not quite as large.

"I'd have thought this place would have more security," said Gustav. "If the cargo we're looking for is so valuable, why is this place so lightly protected?"

"It's valuable in this sector," one of Lazar's enforcers, a large bovidian by the name of Odie -a gazelle, to be exact, stated. "But the Grunikans have an entire planet of it; rare to us, expendable to them."

"I thought Lazar said they were luxuries?" Felix asked.

"Ithican Lobster is a luxury too; is that so hard to find around here?" Odie asked.

"It wasn't, until the Grunikans seized the planet where it comes from," Felix reminded.

Odie shrugged. "Point is, they can spare it, but we won't find anything else like it in the entirety of Confederate Space."

"I'd still like to know just what that 'cargo' is," Amber whispered to Gustav.

"Me too," replied the Orca. "But we'll just have to wait and see; these guys aren't going to tell us."

"Which means it's probably something we're not going to like," Amber returned.

"My thoughts exactly."

They pressed on through the ship, finding more resistance along the way. A Grunikan trooper leapt out from around the corner, igniting his energy blade and cutting down one of Lazar's men quicker than they could react; the others backed off fearfully, but Amber, who was at the back of the group, raised her rifle without hesitation and shot the Grunikan right in the neck, melting his throat and arteries in that one, well-placed shot. The Grunikan soldier went down, dying seconds after hitting the floor, with only a twitch to mark the last of his life escaping.

Odie, who had put up his carbine in preparation to shoot the Grunikan before Amber had done the deed, looked over his shoulder at the shark, an impressed look on his face. "Nice shot, toots. You didn't even flinch."

"I've been doing this for years," Amber replied. "I'd go so far as to say, probably a lot longer than you guys."

"And what makes you think that?" Odie asked as Amber decided to take the lead.

"Like you said," replied Amber, stopping mid-step and looking over her shoulder at him. "I didn't flinch." And with that plain answer, she continued walking, keeping her rifle raised as she peered around every corner, keeping her back to the farthest wall.

"Damn, I like her," Odie remarked.

Gustav chuckled as he walked past the bovidian. "I wouldn't even attempt it, friend."

"Why's that? Most women like me."

"Amber is not most women."

Odie shrugged, and walked past Gustav. "That's what they all say, 'till I start helpin' them with their tension, and then they all scream the same way."

Gustav shrugged back. "Your funeral," he whispered.

Any other resistance was met more or less the same way; with Amber shooting them fatally with a quick-draw, her skills speaking volumes of the marksmanship training she had undergone on Trident IV, in all her years as a colonial militia; she was as good as any marine, maybe better, as she had been fighting Gelks her whole life, beings that were dumber than Grunikans, but just as scary as one. She'd stared death in the face enough times that she didn't hesitate to put a plasma sphere right where she needed to end their reign of terror.

Finally, they reached the end of the ship, coming to an open room with two doors, one of which led to the ship's cargo bay, the other led to the engine room. Felix stated making his way over to the cargo bay door, but stopped as he heard Gustav addressing Odie. "Where are you going? Cargo bay's over there."

He peered over his shoulder, and saw the Gazelle wasn't heading for the cargo bay. He was crossing over to the other door. "That's not the cargo bay," returned Odie. "But your cargo is in there. Some of it's probably in here too... the stuff that matters, anyway."

"What're you talking about?" Amber asked. "What could Lazar want from the engine room?"

Instead of answering, Odie simply opened the door, and a shriek from inside told Felix that the room beyond was inhabited. Odie stepped inside, and the crew could hear him calling out after firing his gun at the ceiling. "All of you winged rodents, pipe down," he said. "Your masters are dead, so that means nobody is here to claim you... except for us."

Felix had heard enough; he sprinted over to the door, and peered into the room, seeing a cluster of individuals cowering at the other end of the room, staring with small, glassy eyes filled with terror, and their large ears laying flat against their fuzzy skulls as they cloaked themselves with their wings protectively -wings that were growing from their arms, blanketing them and laying slack on the floor. Their arms ended in three-fingered hands with skinny thumbs, their whimpering mouths full of small fangs as they trembled in terror at the imposing gazelle glaring hungrily at them.

Nocturnians.

The room was full of Nocturnian slaves.

"I-I don't get it," said Felix. "Where's the cargo Lazar wanted?"

"You're looking at it, aqua boy," Odie returned, grinning widely as he eyed the Nocturnians in the room almost hungrily. "These guys, plus those in the quarters where you were heading; this is what we're here for."

"Are you insane?!" Felix exploded, his rage hitting a boiling point as it suddenly became clear to him what he was here for. "These are people, not a commodity!"

Odie turned to Felix, his brow furrowing suspiciously as he regarded the dolphin with a hard stare, studying him like a predator. "People are a commodity, pal," he returned. "Besides, these are just Grunikan slaves; they're nobodies."

"They. Are. Living. Beings!" Felix retorted.

"They're your paycheck, punk!" Odie retorted, standing almost nose-to-snout with Felix as he glared at him. "If you still want to get paid, I'd simmer down and start rounding them up to take to your ship; Lazar wants 'em by tonight."

"This was not the damn deal!" Amber shouted. "We were hired to move cargo; we don't do humanoid trafficking or slave trade!"

"Your boss lied to us!" Gustav added. "This is not what we agreed to do!"

He turned on them, raising his handgun and aimed it directly at Gustav. "This is exactly what you were hired to do," he said. "Lazar said you were to pick up cargo, and that's what you're going to do if you still want your money and, from this point, to keep your lives long enough to spend it."

"This is not cargo," stated Felix.

Odie turned the gun on him next while the other two gangsters drew their weapons on Amber and Gustav. "It is, and you're going to move it, like you were hired to do," Odie said firmly. "Now get them to your ship."

Felix glared defiantly down the barrel of the pistol, his blue eyes filled with rage as they met the gaze of the gazelle, showing no fear as he said, plainly and full of rage. "No."

Odie narrowed his eyes again, the two of them standing frozen for a moment, simply staring at each other. One could almost see lightning bolts shooting from their eyes, meeting halfway and colliding, until Odie pulled back his pistol. "Of all the smugglers the boss could have hired, he picked one with a fucking conscience," he said. "Well there's a way to work with that too."

Without warning, he spun on the Nocturnians, raising his pistol, and fired. The red sphere, no bigger than a marble, exploded from the barrel of his pistol and struck the closest Nocturnian in the shoulder, making him cry out in agony as his flesh seared instantly, the strong smell of burning fur immediately filling the room and sending the other Nocturnians into a panic, hiding behind their wings and pressing themselves flat against the glass separating them from the main reactor core. If Odie fired another shot, and ruptured that window, it would expose the Nocturnians to the reactor, and the emissions from it would kill them all in seconds, not to mention flood the rest of the ship within minutes.

"Oh look; one of them needs medical attention," Odie said, callously. "You should really take him back to your ship and have that pretty doctor of yours examine him." He looked at Felix, studying his expression, but the dolphin as too stunned to make a reply, simply staring in horror at what the gazelle had just done. "No? Maybe another one..."

Reflexively, Felix brought up his scattergun, pressing the prism-tip at the end of the barrel into Odie's chest threateningly. "You fire that gun again, and I'll splatter you all over this room!" He warned.

"Do that, and your precious little ship will be turned into dust faster than you can say 'boom'," Odie retorted. "You're replaceable, so quit with the idle threats and finish the job my boss is paying you for, right now."

Felix glanced at the wounded Nocturnian, seeing the burn on their shoulder was already starting to spread, two other standing over him and cradling him, whispering softly to him. Felix turned his gaze back to Odie and lowered his gun with a grunt. "When this is over, your boss and I will have some choice words."

"I doubt it," he returned, before holstering his pistol. "Now move 'em out."

The gazelle stormed away, rejoining his colleagues, and they moved to stand off to the side to observe. Amber and Gustav walked up to Felix, both of them staring at him as if he were a stranger. "Felix, what're you doing?" Amber demanded.

"We can't take these people to Lazar; you promised we'd never take part in humanoid trafficking!" Gustav hissed in protest.

"I'm not!" Felix hissed back. "But right now we don't have a choice; we don't do this, they'll blow up the Hope and kill us where we stand." He looked back at the wounded Nocturnian. "And if we don't get him to Jessica right away, that burn will eat right through his shoulder and possibly his heart too. We can't leave these people with Lazar's men; there's no telling what they'll do to them." He looked at them both pleadingly. "Just trust me, alright? I-I-I'll think of something, I promise! We just... we have to do it. At least until we're out of here."

They both regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, before they nodded. Felix stepped aside, letting Gustav walk in to the engine room and try to talk them down, while Felix and Amber headed over to the slave quarters -what they had previously thought was the cargo bay, and opened it, stepping inside to a room full of fear...

A large number of the people inside this room were Nocturnians, but majority were other races, and most of them females, with a small collection of males who were shackled to the walls. Canines, Rodentians, Avians and Reptilians alike, all of them barely clothed and covered in marks of abuse, their faces filled with terror as the saw the shark and dolphin who had entered their chambers. Already some of them were backing away, most of the eyes on the guns they carried, which they no doubt wondered if those weapons were intended to be used on them.

Felix passed his scattergun to Amber, along with his pistol, motioning for her to back away before he stepped into the room, holding up his hands to show he had no other weapons on his person. "All of you, please; I am not here to hurt you," he said. "I'm here to take you away from this place."

"Are you with the Confederacy?" One of them asked.

Felix hesitated to answer, before he replied, reluctantly, "no."

"Then who are you?"

"My name is Felix; I'm a star captain," the dolphin explained, hoping he could use his tradesman voice to persuade them. "I was hired to take you all away from here."

"Hired by who?"

Felix wished the vixen at the back had not asked that question... but unfortunately, they had. "I will not lie to you," he said, expression his refusal to deceive them, not like Lazar had deceived him. "I was hired by Lazar Warden."

"The fucking crime boss; are you mad?!" One of the males shouted. "If he_sent you, we may as well wait for the Grunikans to come back! We at least _know what they'll do to us!"

"I'm not going to let that happen," Felix said, lowering his voice a little so that his words would find Odie or his cohorts. "I'm not turning you guys over to Lazar or the Empire; I know you all have no reason to trust me, but right now I'm the only thing standing between you and Lazar's intentions. I'm begging all of you... please, trust me. Long enough for me to get you off of this ship and away from Lazar; let me help you."

The slaves exchanged worried looks, some of them hopeful, others suspicious. He understood their reasons for being so; given the lives they lives, trust would not come easily to them. He heard Gustav's footsteps outside, and looked over his shoulder to see the Orca running with the injured Nocturnian cradled in his arms, one of the mobsters quick to follow him down the corridor.

This sight caught the eyes of one of the slaves too, who looked at Felix questioningly. "What happened to him?" She asked.

"One of Lazar's men shot him, to force me to cooperate," replied Felix, his face clenching, on the verge of tears. "Please, all of you; you have to trust me. If you don't they'll kill or do worse to all of you; these men are heartless."

The vixen eyed him curiously for a moment, considering him, until eventually she turned and looked at the others. "We go with him," she stated.

"You can't trust him!" One of the males protested.

"Do you see any other choice?!" She demanded. "It's him or the Grunikans; you want to stay there and be their cock-sleeves and test dummies for the rest of your lives? Guaranteed, that will be a short existence; this is the only chance we have, and I'm taking it!"

Her words seemed to move the others, as most of the other slaves seemed to share her thoughts on the matter. One by one, they got to their feet, and began to move towards the door. Felix turned to Amber, retrieving his pistol from her before he ran over to the males chained to the wall, shooting out the bolts to free them, and stating plainly. "The decision is yours; follow me or stay here to suffer." And with that, he turned away, letting them decide for themselves what they wanted to do as he left the room, motioning for the slaves to follow him.

Gustav had evidently convinced the Nocturnians in the engine room already already, because they joined the party without much encouragement. Felix and Amber took the lead, escorting them through the ship's corridors with Lazar's thugs following them at their flanks. Many of the slaves had some physical issues that impeding their progress; limping, caused by old or recent wounds of the abuse of the Grunikans. One of the vixens in the group stumbled, falling to one knee and grabbing at her leg where a deep, fresh scar could be seen.

One of Lazar's men didn't care about the scar, though, and simply kicked the Vixen in the ribs. "Get up, bitch!" He yelled.

And at that moment, the gangster found himself staring down the barrel of Amber's rifle. "Don't harm the merchandise, pal," she said. "You don't want to deliver bad cargo to your boss, do you?"

The gangster went silent, and Amber moved to help the vixen stand up, winking at her to show she wasn't serious about her being merchandise, before they continued down the corridor.

Felix stayed at the lead of the group, leading them back to the Mara's Hope, the gears turning in his head as he tried to come up with a plane to get these poor souls away from Lazar's men, considering every option he could think of. The most obvious answer -and one he kept coming back to, was to try and flee the area with them, and fly them somewhere safe, but there were multiple complications he kept finding with that idea, including any that involved turning them over to the Confederate Military.

But every imagined scenario he thought of ended the same way; with the Hope grounded, and his crew under suspicion of criminal activity. Worse yet, the longer the Mara's Hope was away from New Mara Colony the worse things would become; taking them to the Confederacy was not an option, not while the colony still depended on them.

The ship was in sight, the boarding tube leading from the Grunikan vessel out to the Mara's Hope creating a bridge for the slaves to cross to the open doors, where a very surprised-looking Zack stood in awe of the crowd heading their way. He stepped aside as they rushed onto the ship, with Felix ushering them on board hurriedly, doing a quick head count of them as they passed him. Amber was the last one aboard, and Odie nearly stepped on as well until Felix stood in his path.

"Where do you think you're going?" Felix asked.

"To make sure you deliver the merchandise," he stated.

"No one comes onto my ship unless I say so," Felix said firmly. "Zack, go start the engines." He looked over his shoulder at the rabbit, seeing him still standing there. "NOW!" He roared, and Zack ran out of sight, heading for the bridge.

"I wasn't asking for your permission; this comes from the boss."

"I don't answer to him," retorted Felix. "Now back away."

"This is not up to you; you work for Lazar, and I represent him, so you will move aside and let me on," stated Odie.

"I don't work for Lazar, not anymore," stated Felix, levelling his gun with the gangster's stomach. "Consider my contract broken."

Odie burst out laughing for a moment before he faced Felix again. "Do you even realize what you're doing?" He asked, before his grin faded and he said with a murderous tone. "No one. Says no. To Mr. Warden!"

Felix lowered his scattergun just a little pulled the trigger. The gangster's left leg exploded off of his body; his eyes shot wide open, followed immediately by a horrified scream as he fell to the ground with a smoldering stump where his leg used to be, grabbing it and writhing in agony as he clutched the stump.

"I'm happy to be the first," Felix stated the coldest tone in which he had ever spoken... "Tell Lazar he can go fuck himself if he thinks he's ever going to get these people."

Without another word, he backed up into the ship, not even flinching as Odie's cohorts emerged from around the corner at the other end of the boarding bridge, drawing their weapons and firing at him. But the shots flew wide of their target, and Felix had already ducked in cover, hitting the button to close the cargo bay doors and waiting until they sealed shut before he turned and started making his way over to the bridge, the slaves currently scattered throughout the cargo bay eyeing him fearfully until he was gone from sight.

Felix crossed the corridor to the bridge, looking up into the gunnery turret to see Amber in at her post -perfect- and then headed for the bridge, where Zack had already triggered ignition and the ship was powering up. The rabbit turned to him with a questioning look before voicing the obvious question.

"What was all that about?" He asked. "And why do we have a ship full of people; where's the cargo?"

"They were the cargo," returned Felix, ushering Zack out of his pilot seat before he set down his scattergun and placed himself in the chair. "I can't believe I didn't see it sooner; one of Lazar's businesses is humanoid trafficking." He slammed his fists down on the console, hard enough to make Zack jump from the sheer volume of the impact. "How did I let him sucker me like this?!"

Without another word, Felix seized the tiller, disengaging the Mara's Hope from the Grunikan transport and pushing the throttle forward, accelerating the Hope to full speed in less than a minute, putting dangerous strain on the engines. He wasn't thinking cautiously at that moment, though; he was furious, and driven to keep those people far away from Lazar. Even as the ship's warning system alerted him to the weapons of Lazar's ships powering up and locking onto him, he didn't flinch.

"Felix, those guys are after us!" Zack warned. The dolphin didn't reply, merely turned to the navigational computer to lock in coordinates to make a jump out of the system. "Felix; are you even listening to me?!"

The sound of the Hope's gun firing caught the rabbit's ear. Amber had begun shooting at the crime lords vessels, but the Hope shook slightly as it took a hit from one of the gangster vessels as well; no hull breach, but the ship's top had taken some damage, the shields having failed to protect it from harm. But on it flew, remaining intact even after a direct hit from the thug vessels.

Felix tapped the intercom. "All hands, brace for warp speed in five seconds!" Laser beams and plasma spheres raced past the Mara's Hope, flying into clear view of the viewport in front of the dolphin, but no matter how many he saw he did not alter his course or change his speeds. "Mark!"

And with that, the Mara's Hope was gone in a rush of speed as a warp bubble formed around it, leaving behind the Grunikan transport and the two gangster vessels, their onboard crews now left with the question of what to say to their employer when they told him that the very pilots he had hired had just run off with his 'cargo'...

~~~~~

Jessica was as gentle as she could possible manage as she applied ReGel to the layer of Residue Coolant Gel she had already placed over the burned shoulder of the Nocturnian, apologizing silently as she head the bat-like humanoid hiss in pain. The RC-Gel did its job of stopping the burn from spreading any further or deeper than it had. She looked at the grotesque wound with disgust and pity; the damage was deep, and could become permanent; they would have limited use of their left arm and, unfortunately, their wing as well, for a long time... perhaps even for the rest of their lives.

She could feel only sympathy welling up in her heart as she treated the poor creature. Years of oppression under the heel of the Grunikans, and then the target of a crime lord seeking to use them for the same purpose as their previous 'masters'. Spending their entire lives being exploited for their extensive talent in mechanics and engineering, and now this one, laid out on the table before her, was free... but it had cost him the full use of one of his limbs. If Nocturnians were anything like Avians, losing their ability to fly was sure to be traumatic for them...

And yet, mixed with her sympathy, she could not hide her wonderment. A living, breathing Nocturnian; never had she seen one before in her entire life. The anatomy of the one lying before her was intriguing, with a lean framed body and skinny arms, along with their thin, leathery wing membranes, which were almost clear enough for her to see the veins inside. Their bat-like appearance might be intimidating to most but as an aspiring doctor, the opportunity to see one up close and study their anatomy was quite a treat.

Fortunately, the Nocturnian couldn't see her eyeballing him in such a manner. She had to put an eye mask on him when she'd found out he was intolerant of light, and she needed light to work. She'd been surprised to learn he knew how to speak common dialect, having always heard Nocturnians had their own language; she didn't imagine Grunikan Slave Masters would give their 'servants' much education. But this one had been able to communicate with her enough that she was able to come to a compromise with him; Nocturnians were used to being in the dark anyway since they hated bright light.

When she was finally done applying the ReGel, she covered the wound with some bandages to protect it from exposure to any contaminants. "There you go," she said, in an almost motherly voice before reaching up to move the operating light out of the way so that the bat-like humanoid could sit up and allow her to remove the eye mask, revealing the glassy, golden orbs hidden beneath it. "I've done all I can for now, but you're going to be just fine."

The Nocturnian nodded. "Thank you," he whispered; his voice was somewhat raspy, which at first had made Jessica think he was sick, but after hearing a couple of other Nocturnians speaking common dialect, she'd noticed that was normal for them; their vocal cords were normally meant for emitting sharp shrieks and clicks, through which they normally navigated and communicated with each other, but still capable of speaking other languages given time.

Jessica smiled warmly. "You're welcome."

The Nocturnian saw that smile, and immediately pulled back from her, eyeing her fearfully. Her smiled faded and she blinked in confusion. "Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

"When your mouth arched like that," he said. "Every time my former Mistress had that look on her face, I was strapped down to a table for her daughters to torture me."

Jessica cringed at that answer, turning away from her patient and leaning against the wall. "It's normally used to expressive positive feelings," she said.

"Well, if that applies to the Grunikans as well, I would hate to see their definition of 'negative'," he remarked, wrapping himself in his wings and hiding most of his face beneath him, with only his eyes and his main of spiky hair growing from the back of his skull left to be seen. He glanced over at Jessica, noticing the look on her face -a look he very easily recognized; a look of sorrow. He lowered his wings a little and looked at her. "I am sorry... I didn't not mean to hurt you."

"You're the one who has been hurt," said Jessica. "I saw the scars on you, even through your fur." She looked at him again. "You've been through a lot, haven't you."

He hid his face in his wings again. "I have no desire to relive it right now," he said.

She nodded to him. "You can rest in here for the moment; I'll be right back," she said, stepping away from the wall and heading for the door leading out of the infirmary, which opened for her as she approached. She paused and looked over her shoulder. "Do you want the lights off?"

"Yes, please," he returned.

She nodded, and tapped the button on the wall to shut off the lights to the room, filling it with darkness barring the light coming in through the open door. "Just try and rest for now," she bade. "I will make sure nobody disturbs you, and I'll go check up on the others."

Without another word, she stepped out, letting the door shut behind her. Not two steps from it, she heard raised voices, coming from the lounge area. Out of curiosity, she walked over to the door leading to the lounge area, peering through after it opened, and entered a room of tension, seeing Felix and Zack were the cause of the raised voices, and she caught part of the conversation as the entered.

"...seriously man, what the hell were you thinking?!" Zack demanded.

"That's the third time you've asked me that in the last minute; I was _thinking_that we'd been duped!" Felix retorted.

"And you still don't get it; I mean, what were you thinking taking those people when Lazar was after them?!" Zack reiterated. "Do you have any idea what the hell that guy is going to do to us?!"

"And what would you have me do?!" Felix demanded. "He never said the so-called 'cargo' were people! We swore never to take part in humanoid trafficking, no matter how grim things got! Stealing people's freedoms so others can exploit them; that's what the Grunikans do, not us!"

"Dude, this is Lazar-mother-fucking-Warden!!!" Zack shouted. "The son of a bitch will dice us into mincemeat after what you did!"

"What we did," Amber interjected. "Felix didn't act alone; Gustav and I were against it too once we found the slaves."

"If we had known that Lazar wanted us to move people and not actual cargo, then we'd have never agreed to this," Gustav added.

"But we did agree to it; pissing off Lazar was exactly what we didn't want to do!" Zack stated. "We should've just taken the money, now we've got a ship-full of people that Lazar wanted, and no idea what to do with them!"

Felix fixed Zack with a glare that made Zack recoil in terror, backing away three steps from him and putting up his hands defensively. "Did you actually just say that you'd rather sell people to scumbags?!"

"No; I didn't say that!"

"It sure sounded like it," stated Gustav.

Zack threw up his arms. "Will you guys just get off my back?!" He yelled. "I'm not any more supportive of this than you are, but we made a deal, which we've now broken, with a guy who kills people just for speaking to him before being spoken to! How the hell are we supposed to fix this -how to we get a complete homicidal maniac off of our backs?" He gestured in a random direction. "We can't even go back to the Dirt Palace now; he'll kill us before we'd land!"

"No, he won't," replied Amber.

"And how the fuck do you know?!" Zack demanded from her.

"Because there's an agreement between all of the bosses there," said Amber. "Nobody shoots down any ships that're looking to land in the station."

"You're going to trust a deal made by crime lords?" Zack asked, incredulously.

"Crime lords consider themselves men of business," said Gustav. "Breaking a rule is like breaking a contract; it looks bad for them, and unlike legitimate entrepreneurs these ones have private armies of thugs. Lazar may be the biggest name in the Dirt Palace but he's not the only name; not even he can take on all of the other bosses. So we can trust he won't do anything that might spark a war with his rivals."

"Angela already told me a way to avoid him too," said Felix. "I didn't try Lazar as far as he could throw him, so I started looking into ways to keep away from him. There's a hangar that's near our usual place; the territory it's in belongs to a crime boss called Aaron Schroder. He's the head of most of the entertainment places on the Dirt Palace, and owns the hangars that're closest to them."

Everyone looked at him. "If there's been a hangar near there the whole time, why haven't we been using those?" Gustav asked.

"Because they're quadruple the price," replied Felix. "We were still trying to save money -we are still trying to save money. But if we're going to avoid Lazar while continuing to do business on the Dirt Palace, we're going to have to start taking the extra expense. We're not out of this yet."

"I think you're all forgetting the main problem, though," a voice ran into the room, and everyone turned to see Jessica stepping inside, not looking pleased by what she heard. "Our main concern right now is -or at least should not be whether or not we can keep going to the Dirt Palace. We have a ship full of escaped slaves -refugees. We need to take them to the military so they can be protected."

"We can't," returned Felix.

"What do you mean we can't; why not?" Jessica asked.

"Lazar _double-_screwed us," said Felix. "If we take the refugees the Confederates, don't you think they'll want to know where we found them? They'd need us to represent them; the Nocturnians are foreigners. Even if they're whole planet belongs to the Grunikans, and we all know that means they're slaves, the Confederacy will still have to see them as illegal immigrants according to law, unless someone can represent them. If we do that -we, as the crew of this vessel, represent them, then we have to tell the law enforcement bureau where we found them."

"Which will result in us being prosecuted when we tell them we were salvaging cargo from a wreck, under contract by a notorious crime boss," Amber completed. "In short... we'll lose this ship, and be under suspect."

"We'll lose everything, all over again," correct Felix. "Now... I know this may be selfish, but we can't take them to the Confederacy; not when we stand to lose everything we have ever built."

"So you'll hand them to Lazar?" Jessica asked.

"No," Felix returned, plainly. "I will never let them fall into _his_hands either." He took in a deep breath, his expression changing to a firm look, full of an unyielding determination. "We're taking them to Trident IV; we're going back home."

Everyone gawked at him, except for Amber, who seemed to expect this suggestion from the dolphin. Jessica's expression was a mix of shock and relief, and Gustav, though stunned at first, looked approving shortly after. But Zack was looking at Felix as if the dolphin had lost his mind, eye twitching and a grimace forming.

"Are... you... insane?" Zack asked slowly, drawing out the last syllable of 'insane'. "Where the hell are we going to put them? The colony is over-capacity as it is!"

"There are hundreds of abandoned colonies across Trident IV," replied Felix. "Old Mara and Ingrid weren't the only collection of prefab structures left behind. We'll open another colony, and house them there; give them a new home."

"Felix, you realize what will happen if the Confederacy learns about this, right?" Amber asked. "We're breaking about eight more federal laws with this plan of yours."

"We've been living on the edge of the law for the last two years," Felix pointed out. "We take these refugees to the Confederacy, Mara Colony loses us. We take them to Trident IV, at least both we and them have a chance. We'll support them, just as we've supported Mara."

"Felix," Gustav began.

The dolphin leered at him; perhaps an excessive reaction for him to have, but it had happened. The Orca remained steadfast, not bothered by the look, and listened with a straight face as Felix spoke again. "Don't tell me you're going to try and talk me out of this too," said Felix.

"No," he replied. "I'm just going to warn you, that this endeavor's going to get costly, not just resource-wise, but people-wise. We'll need someone to look after them at the new site; a militia detachment, of which we're short in number in the first place, and technicians to fix up whatever colony we reopen. Plus, if we want to make the second colony official, then we will have to buy the land for it. All the progress we've made on the debt will be lost and put us right back at square one." He put his hands on the table between them. "Can we really do that to them, again?"

Felix felt as though his heart had stopped, as the realization of his suggestion suddenly fell upon them like a meteorite. He hadn't even considered all of that, but Gustav was right; even if he could give them somewhere to find shelter, they needed people to maintain it. The Nocturnians, being natural engineers that they were, could maintain the colony themselves but they could not protect it, or pay for it themselves. They were not soldiers; Grunikans did not spare soldiers, and it was hard to get anyone to join the Militia on Trident IV.

He was trying to do the right thing. He was in a gray place, standing in the center line between the right and wrong sides of the law, trying to do the right thing for others by doing the wrong thing himself, but now he had put himself into a hole he'd dug himself, and it was now too deep for him to get out. Whatever decision he made now, it would be his colony that would be put into danger because of the choice he had made on that colony; leave the colony without its supply line by taking the refugees to the Confederacy, or put an even greater strain on it by expanding it further.

"By the stars," he said, falling back and landing on the couch, suddenly feeling his legs turn to jelly. "What have I started?" He asked, but nobody answered him, even as he leaned forward, burying his face in his hands for a moment before he slid his palms along his snout and leaned back against the couch again. "Well Amber, Gustav, both of you supported my decision to keep he slaves out of Lazar's hands... what should we do?"

"I think we should try your idea to reopen one of the old colonies," said Gustav. "We'll have to put some of them to work, and Brunhilda may have to find some way to encourage more people into the militia, so we can protect both."

"Leave that part to me," said Amber. "But if we're going to open another colony, we need to make sure it's one with turrets; more turrets, less militia required to defend it, but I'll talk to Zambrano and Brunhilda, and see if we can't convince some of those techs to transfer to Militia. The presence of the turrets should make it more encouraging."

"How's that?" Felix asked.

Amber smiled. "One of those turrets fires four shots per second, one for each barrel; they can bombard a swarm of invading Gelks and wipe them out fast. At New Mara, with the turrets now active, we'd only need twenty-five militia per shift to adequately defend the walls from the Gelks."

"So the second colony, turrets are a must," said Felix. "I can work with that." He looked at Zack. "What do you think?"

Zack rolled his eyes with a light groan before he shrugged. "I can't talk you out of it... and, now that I've had a moment to cool my jets I think it's the right thing too. Might be a good way to thin out the overpopulation problem of New Mara a little if some of the techs and militia move to another location," he said.

"The new colony is going to need a doctor, though," Jessica said, matter-of-factly. "You all know what that means." All gazes slowly turned to her. "This could be my last voyage with you guys; unless one of the refugees has some medical experience... I may be the only other qualified person to provide health care to the colonists."

"You don't think Doc Hanson could handle both?" Amber asked.

"He's old, Amber," Jessica returned. "He has his hands full with one colony, but two? It'll overwhelm him." Her ears lay flat against her skull. "If it comes to that, I may have to remain at the colony. I'm not saying it's guaranteed, but I am preparing myself for it."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group at that notion. A decision Felix had made, and the others now supported... knowing it might cost them a member of their group made their act of liberation feel bittersweet, even Zack who, not so long ago, had been questioning Jessica's contribution to the Mara's Hope and its crew.

Felix couldn't stand the silence for long, and eventually stood up to break it. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. "For now... let's get to Trident IV, and get these people some shelter."

"They all look like they're hungry too," Gustav said. "Should I see if we can feed them?"

"By all means, go ahead," said Felix. "Give them the fresh food; keep the non-perishables for ourselves unless we need to dip into them too. Amber, Zack; help him out, and Jess... go about examining them, making sure they're all healthy."

The group nodded in agreement, and began to clear out while Felix sat to let all of the recent thoughts sink in, constantly asking himself if he had made the right decision, not just for those refugees, but for everybody in the long run; this was a big undertaking he was about to embark on, suddenly becoming someone who would start an unauthorized refugee care facility under the nose of the Confederacy -an action that could put him in prison for several years.

He couldn't worry about that now, though, he had a ship to fly... and he had to prepare an explanation for his mother and the colony. He also still hoped to have a few choice words with Lazar Warden.