Welcome
to
Cat-chan's Short Stories

---

Hello. This is where I keep any short stories that aren't long enough to have their own wikis. I hope you enjoy them, and feel free to leave a comment or constructive critisizm. Thank you for visiting.

---

This is a list of my finished/in progress novels/stories. Feel free to have a look and read if you want.

Finished Stories:

-My Precious Son -horror story
-No Angels Come -romance, action story

In Progress:

-a daughters wrath -sequal to My Precious Son/horror
-A Little More of An Angel -sequal to No Angels Come/romance, action
-Cat Coven -action
-The Sketchbook -horror story/co-owned by [Akayume]
-Sun and Clouds-romance, action, fantasy
-Love In Rotting-romance, family
-The Counter-Death Act-Action, Romance, Fiction
-Zombie Princess Action, fiction, romance NEWEST!

---

This is also where I write experimental short stories that have some level of potential. If you like them, please tell me and I may consider continuing them.

The stars against a black sky is the most peaceful sight. Even though those stars are billions of miles away and many of them are dangerous planets made of lethal gases... lethal gases that cause them to shine so brightly. Despite being so dangerous, from afar they look so warm and inviting, and stand for so many hopes and dreams, each one having been wished on by some unknowing child, or studied by an ambitious astrologist. Every night as a child, Jaesa had laid in the grass of her backyard, looking up at those stars. By the time she was nine, she had every constillation memorized and tracked in its new monthly position. She was a leo, and thus always kept track of her lion in the sky. In the year 2037, life was peaceful. Unlike the ideologies of several thousands of people, technology hadn't progressed to that of hovering crafts or robot housekeepers just yet, though there were some impressive things in the works. Thanks to the first openly gay president, who was also a woman, focus had been taken off of war and into medicine and space exploration. Which had been probably one of the best decisions in history... had it not been for the attack on America that was a consequence of such actions. No one knew who was attacking the USA this time... or why. And after a while, no one cared to know for how long they had planned it. For now, Jaesa's father and mother assured her they were safe, because they lived in a backwater, unknown town in Utah. So she let her worries escape her by looking up at those stars.

Her short, black hair fanned out around her head in the wet grass, her body eaglespread under her pajamas, a simple pair of boxers and a large shirt that had been her mother's from when she was a kid. Jaesa searched the sky for her lion, her only friend at the time of her life, and she found herself frowning. What Jaesa's bright hazel eyes hadn't expected to find was a bright light shining down on her. From the center of Taurus, a firey orb was hurtling... or soaring. She sat up, her hair falling around her shoulders again, and then stood, watching it get closer, and closer, until it zoomed over her head, a ground-rumbling crack of rolling thunder following in its wake. It was a ship. Shaped like a star in the back, with several jet engines, long in the body, looking almost like a spoon. She licked her lips as she watched it disappear over a hill and then turned, running into the house. "Mommy! Daddy! Did you see the plane?" she asked, going to her mother in the kitchen.

"No, sweetie. What plane?" her mother asked, looking down at her. Jaesa looked almost exactly like her mother. "We didn't see or hear anything. Are you feeling alright?"

Jaesa blinked up at her mother, then at her father, who was watching her with concern, and she shook her head. "No... I don't feel alright, mommy. That plane was bad." she said carefully. "I don't wanna live here anymore..."

Her mother smiled down at her and stroked her short hair, kneeling to look her in the eyes as she did. "Jaesa... Nothing is going to happen. I promise." she said softly. "You can trust me."

---

---

Fifteen years later...

The memories still burned Jaesa's retinas when she slept. She opened her eyes slowly, the hazel flickering with a hidden violet before it vanished, the mental image of her childhood slowly fading as she sat up. She let out a shout and groaned with an inward hiss, a hand going to her head as she sat back, having hit her head on the bunk above her... again. She grumbled some profane curse words and swung her feet out from under the sheets, sitting forward so she couldn't hit her head again and angrily snatched up her boots, pulling them on. She laced them up, then stood, looking around. The rest of the crew was already up and gone. Good, there was no one around to laugh at her. She continued to grumble to herself as she pulled off her black tanktop and tossed it aside, grabbing a clean shirt from the general closet where all the crew members got their clothes, and pulled that on instead. It ended at her elbows and fit her rather well, which was a surprise. Too often she would grab someone else's shirt instead and would have to tuck it in, tie it back, or make do. She adjusted her shirt, pushed some stray black and red-tipped hair behind her ears and grabbed her work belt. She hated her life.

When she was a child, there was no signs of technological advancement from her government. But all too soon did she and the rest of the world realize that the president had been keeping things from them. Including the several spaceships and living stations out in space. All at once, the president had become their enemy and their hero. Of course, that president died in the midst of a mob attack, just as the Earth was being evacuated from an alien attack. Apparently, they'd also been studying space more closely than people had thought. Aliens WERE real, and over the course of Jaesa's short life, they had taken over, and humans like her had become the aliens. She checked all the pouches and loops on her workbelt to make sure the tools were all there, and she left the bunk room, going down the hall to the cafeteria. She'd slept in too late, and breakfast was no longer being served. She hated it when they did this... this meant she not only missed a meal, but was going to get a severe tongue lashing from their boss. She growled and stomped onwards through the deck, not looking out the windows that littered her left and right, giving panoramic views of the open space outside them. She'd been impressed by it once... at some point in time... but now it was all too familiar.

The deck of this ship was longer than it was large. In fact, it was the same style of ship as the one she'd seen as a kid. At first, the human race thought these ships were the ones attacking, but instead turned out to be the ones helping. They helped evacuate the Earth, but unfortunately not everyone could get away. Including Jaesa's parents. The population of Earth, well over 7.8 billion people, dropped immensly to a measley twenty thousand over the course of five years. It was slowly going down the drain. There were couples who tried to continue having children, to build the human race again, but there were only so many couples, and they could only have so many children while living on a spacestation. Jaesa was almost sickened by the memory of watching the earth explode in a silent blast, large chunks of rock and magma flying everywhere like a paint spray. She blinked the image away and turned a corner, tracing her fingertips along the cold metal of the wall as she walked, her boots the only sounds she could hear for a while. When she finally ran into someone, it was the someone she didn't want to see. She groaned and rolled her eyes, grimacing as she approached him. "Well, g'morning, Cap'n sir!" she said with a fake smile and an overly enthusiastic salute. "Fine spacey morning today, isn't it?"

The monster she was speaking to looked a lot like some form of altered praying mantis. It had green skin made of billions upon trillions of tiny blades of grass, which was soft to look at, but dangerous to touch. His six arms were thin and lanky and each ended with boney, feathery fingers which had yellow claws at the tips, and he had two legs, yes, that would otherwise look human... had they bent forward at the knee instead of backwards, and had the knees been a slight bit higher towards the thigh instead of so close to his ankles. He didn't wear shoes because there were no shoes that could fit a Cralian's feet, his feet wide with only three toes and looking almost dinosaur in shape, with a single clawed toe on the back of his heel, like a bird's. He also had a tail, but it was short and had feathers at the tip, and it seemed the tail was.. out of place on his body because of how small it was compared to how big the rest of him was. It was obvious it was not used for balance. Cralian's didn't have outter ears, but their inner ears worked extremely well. In fact, if Jaesa had shouted any louder than normal speaking volume, she would have given him a headache. His face was round and his eyes were tiny slivers with large orbs that coloured almost the entire inside of his eyes blue, and his nose was pointed with an upward hook on his nose. Anyone else would think it was simply a horn. Nope. It was his upper lip that hooked upwards like that, and his bottom jaw hooked upward to match. "Jaesa! You're late AGAIN!" he hissed at her, glaring at her with his tiny slitted eyes. "Do you have an excuse for me this time?"

Jaesa winced at his voice. It was like nails on a chalkboard. "Well yeah. 'Course I do. Your other crew members are all assholes." she shrugged, her hands on her hips. "I mean.. they never wake me."

"Maybe you should learn to wake up with the first alarm, instead of sleeping like an earth rock. My crew members think only of themselves. You should stop relying on them to wake you." the Cralian growled, his words sounding almost breathless. He pointed a yellow claw at her as he spoke next. "This is your last warning, Jaesa. If you're late one more time, I'll drop you into cold space."

Jaesa rolled her eyes visibly and scoffed. "Right. Your threats are empty to me, cap'n. You wouldn't hurt me like that because I happen to be your best engineer, even IF I sleep in like an earth rock." she snapped. "The worst you would do is drop me off at the next dock and I would have to find work on another ship. Oh me, oh my, what will I ever do, ya know?" she said and grinned.

The captain sneered at her and he hissed in annoyance, his four hands all resting on his hips and he shook his head at her. "You know you shouldn't speak to me that way. I won't always take it so lightly on you because you have spunk."

Jaesa let out a haught laugh and shook her head, moving around him and down the hall. "Don't kid yourself! You and I both know you take it lightly on me because humans are protected by law." she shouted and waved over her shoulder at him as she heard him growl again, shouting curses at her in his own language. She sighed and went to the work deck, stopping when she saw the only other human on this ship: "Kolbin." she greeted snidely. Well, he wasn't so much a human as an alien whose species had a humanistic appearence. One could always tell the difference between a human and a Dothario because Dotharios like Connor had orange veins beneath their skin because of an atmospheric difference on their planet, unlike humans, whose blood was blue before it hit oxygen. Besides that difference, Dotharios and humans were exactly alike.

"Jaesa." Kolbin said back just as rudely. He was tall, standing at almost seven feet, and was well toned and muscled from his years of work, and he wasn't the dumbest either. His blonde hair spiked upwards on his head in all directions, and his blue eyes stayed on his belt as he pulled a screwdriver loose. "Why do you always have to argue with the captain like that? He really will kick you off the ship one day. You shouldn't take him so lightly."

"You should say the same to him." Jaesa scoffed. "Besides, it's in my nature to fight with him. It's in every living thing's nature to fight with another for power, dominance, authority, the last word." she shrugged, flicking the back of his slightly pointed ear as she passed him. "It's just something you'll have to get used to."

Kolbin growled and rubbed his ear, glaring at her, his screwdriver gripped in his other hand. "Fuck you." he snapped. "Just stay in line! How hard is it?"

"Too hard. Just shut up and go to work." Jaesa yawned, waving him off. She loved tormenting him like this.

"FINE!" Kolbin growled, turning and stomping through another gate that hissed as it opened and then crunched as it closed, leaving Jaesa alone again.

Jaesa chuckled to herself and grabbed what supplies she would need for her assigned jobs for the day and shook her head. For some reason, he was too fun to mess with.

"I swear you two will be married someday." came a grumbling voice from the back door to Jaesa's left, where she'd come in only moments before. Standing in the doorway was a creature that looked slimey to the touch, but was actually just... shiney. And clean. Higrans like this one were an unusually clean species, yet still very self sefficient. He was short, maybe about three feet tall, but still thin and lanky, with long arms that allowed his four knuckles to touch the floor as he walked. His shoulders were naturally haunched, and his skin was a toad green in colour with hundreds of gray spots on the back of his head that slowly faded into a single line down his back. His species had no tail, but instead large ears that could almost be mistaken for wings because they connected from the sides of his head to his hips in almost wing-like fins. His snout was long and slender, not unlike an anteater, but shorter, with dozens of teeth on the top and bottom jaws. The faces of Higrans was strange in that it sloped in an anteater-like way, but their eyes were low-set and closely spaced in the front of their skull, and their noses were placed directly below them as two small slits, before their faces extended into long snouts. Naturally, he didn't wear a shirt because of his ear fins, and his pants were low set to match for the same reason, leaving his green, slimey-but-actually-just-really-shiney chest and ribs exposed. He had no knees, but rather high ankles and long feet, so they were more walking on the balls of their feet the entire time. To see them sitting on their entire foot was a strange sight indeed...

"Yeah, right, Crud. No way!" Jaesa laughed, shaking her head and sticking her tongue out at him. "I would rather jettison MYSELF out into space than be together with that prick."

Crud, the Higran, rolled his spotted yellow eyes and stepped further into the room, hoisting himself up with his long arms onto the work bench and starting to apely pick through the tools, muttering to himself. "I swear, you both are in denial." he mumbled, studying a miniature smelding tool. He checked the fuel level and made a satisfactory "hmph" sound, stuffing it into his belt. "But no matter. You're not interested in mating any time soon anyway, am I right?"

Jaesa raised her eyebrow at Crud and shrugged her shoulders, looking down the barrel of a laser nail gun. "No, not really. At least not in the procreative sense." she chuckled. "Why? What's it to you?"

Crud shook his head with a modest shrug and grinned a tiny, toothfilled smile at her. "Nothing. I was just thinking... you know.. I have this brother.."

"EW! Crud! No! Nothing against you or your species, but Higran is HARDLY my type." Jaesa said and laughed again, though she couldn't hide a small blush. "And you are hardly the type of alien to pimp out your siblings." As she said this, she shoved the last of her needed tools into her belt and turned, heading for the hatch that would lead out and to her destination, Crud hot on her heels, bouncing between walking on his hands and using his feet to just allow his hands to drag on the floor.

"I wasn't pimping them out, persay, I was just offering." Crud said and laughed a hissy, snorting laugh. He pulled on his long gloves that reached his elbows and adjusted them to fit, his four fingers poking through the specially tailored holes, and then adjusted his slightly-sagging belt, looking up as they entered their station. "So what are we working on this fine day?"

Jaesa chuckled and walked with a natural sway to her hips as she entered the large ship hanger, several ships parked on either side of them, all of them being worked on by dozens of mechanics. "We're working on a Lifter. 23,000 cc's, with fire-proof wings and E500 engines." she said smoothly, smirking proudly at what they would be working on.

"Wow... We hardly EVER get the good ones!" Crud said, obviously impressed. "How did we get this one? Did you have to pull any strings? Trades? Dirty favors?" he asked, raising an invisible eyebrow.

Jaesa shot him a mean look and threatened to back-hand him, making him flinch and she laughed. "No. Nothing of the sort. I just told Jujon that he could have the next one. Besides... This thing's got bets on it."

Crud tilted his head at her and then narrowed his eyes. "Bets on it to win? Or to lose?" he asked suspiciously.

"Dude, does it matter? Either way, we get paid twenty percent." Jaesa shrugged. "I mean... yeah, we can rig it up to lose, or rig it up to win, and get paid commission for that, as well as the twenty percent for the outcome of the race.. or we can do an honest day's work and just hope for the best."

"Uhm... Have you forgotten what kinda business we're in?" Crud asked with a sarcastic chuckle, another snorty laugh. "But I guess you're right."

"Damn straight. By the way, we're bet to win." Jaesa grinned and bonked the top of his head, laughing. "Have you forgotten who owns this ship?" she asked, motioning to the large space craft as they came upon it, standing below it by fifteen feet, and shorter than the ship itself by at least thirty. "Kulron is the most famous space racer in the history of the sport!"


"This is.... Kulron's ship?!" Crud asked in awe, staring up at it. Sure enough, on the side of the ship was a large painted print that read Kulron in both english and in Kulron's home planet language, which was a series of twisted figures, dots and slashes. Of course, Crud understood this langauge because Kulron was a Higran just like him.

"Yeah! Dude, how could you miss that?!" Jaesa teased, pointing up at the painted name on the ship's hull. "It's bright red paint! Hello!" she laughed. She looked down at him and smirked. "Do you love me yet?"

Crud blinked and looked at Jaesa, then smiled as wide as his tiny mouth could, his yellow dotted eyes almost tearing up--if Higrans could cry. "You did this for me, Jaesa?! You sly Tberian!"

Jaesa laughed again and rubbed the back of her neck, shrugging with one hand on her hip. "Hey, you practically love the guy. You're actually border-line obsessed with him, I think, I've never seen so many pictures of him in one place than in your bedroom." she grinned. "So. When I heard he was in town for a race, I made an offer to get his ship. So you better work right on it."

"DUH!" Crud snapped. "What are we standing around for?! Let's get to work!" He jumped excitedly on his strange feet, and waved his arms in the air for a moment with a happy yelping sound and ran to the ship, hugging one of the landing gear's legs before stepping onto his lift to fix the belly.

Jaesa laughed and rolled her eyes at Crud as she watched him, her hands still on her hips, and she admired him, shaking her head. "Clutz! If you don't calm down your bloody excitement, you'll break the damned thing!" she called out, laughing. She blinked and looked back over her shoulder when she heard a couple aliens talking behind her about something... odd. Having been raised around several types of alien species, she could almost fluently speak several languages. Except those that required a second voicebox or a lower octave. She kept her face turned towards the ship she was supposed to be working on, but kept an ear turned towards the aliens.

They were Illosions--their species name given to them by humans and just seemed to stick, a cross between poison and illusion--an alien species that was bright red on their backs with scales that covered them from head to toe to tail, spikes trailing along their sides, arms and legs, and few but very sharp teeth. Their tongues were forked in their mouths, long and poisonous, but their faces had no nose. In fact, their foreheads stuck out more than their noses or chins did. They had no noses because their eyes were naturally heat-seeking, thus eliminating the need for a sense of smell. In almost every sense of the word, they were snakes. They stood on three legs that were in a single line from the middle of their bellies to the base of their tails, each one a different length, going from tallest to shortest, and they had two arms, but each hand only had two fingers on it--an index and a thumb. Their language was thick and had a lot of "R" sounds in it, not to mention hisses and clicks. It had been a hard language to learn, one of the few that Jaesa had to use her auto translator for in her earlier years, but it was also the most common. There were more Illosions than there were humans now.

Concentrating hard, Jaesa could determine that they were gossiping about a new ship coming in, one that they hadn't seen before in any of the many interconnected galaxies. They feared it was a ship of space pirates, or some sort of alien species that would declare war, which was a valid fear for anyone to have at this point. But what concerned them most was where it was coming from. They couldn't track it before it appeared in their own little nebula and there was no traces of a planet on the ship itself. At least not that passing satellites could catch. When the conversation between the two started to shift to a more private discussion, Jaesa tuned herself out and she looked back at Crud, who had moved on to filling the gas tank. She chewed her lip, wondering if this visiting ship wouldn't mind taking on another passenger, or crew member--or two, if Crud wanted to go with her--and she headed onto the ship to help him, shouting out, "No, not like that, Crud! You'll break it that way!"

---

The halls just before the race were thickly congested with alien spieces and a few humans here and there. Naturally, the humans weren't dressed as well as the aliens were, but that wasn't Jaesa's main concern. She pushed between everyone, hearing protesting shouts and growls from whomever she collided with as she did, Crud close on her heels. She raced to the main room of the stadium that overlooked the racetrack and leaned over the banister of the second floor, looking down and out for the creature that would be driving their masterpiece of technological work. "Ya see him, Crud?" she asked loudly above the voices of the thronging people behind them.

"No! Not yet!" Crud said back, frowning in deep concentration between the railings of that same banister. He put a hand over his eyes to block out the lighting from the large, rounded sun ceiling and squinted a little harder, his bald brow pinched together comically. Finally, he gasped and pointed with a long arm and thin finger, his face showing an expression of ecstatic enthusiasm. "THERE!" he cheered. "JAESA! THERE!"

Jaesa blinked and looked to where Crud was pointing, then smiled slowly. Sure enough, there was Krolin, a bright red Higran with poisonous yellow earfins, standing on his four knuckles and watching the people pass by, seeming bored as he waited to be called to his ship for the race. As a contestant of the space race, he was fenced off from the passerby's, as a safety precaution, only his crew in there with him and a lift that would take him to his starting point when the race was about to start. She grinned and admired the sight of him and his crew, then nodded and grabbed Crud's arm, hoisting him up onto her shoulders easily. Higrans were light, afterall. He clung to her shoulders as she sped back through the people to the holotangic staircase that led to the first level, jumping over the last five steps and landing on the floor roughly, running clean into an Illosion. She gasped as the ugly snake-like creature quickly spun to glare down at her, it's mouth already foaming with defensive poisons and it's claws at the ready. She chuckled nervously, gave a small wave and squeaked out a, "Sorry.. My bad.." before turning and beginning to run, hearing the Illosion shouting curses at their backs. Illosions were scary aliens to get into fights with. A human rarely won in a fight against one. She weaved through the crowds until she finally reached the gate into the fenced area where the racers were and she slid her access card, waiting for the approving beep before opening it and stepping inside, closing the gate and holding it closed until she heard the laser locks shut.

Crud slowly slid himself down from Jaesa's back when he knew they were safe, and he looked around slowly. The first room they entered into was a round one, with about twelve doors, evenly spaced, all numbered. "Shit. Do you know Krolin's ID number?" he asked softly, seeming perterbed now.

Jaesa looked back over her shoulder and scoffed slightly, pulling herself from the gate and putting her hands on her hips, instantly going to the door numbered eight. "Krolin is always number eight. Jeeze, Crud, I thought--ya know, as his biggest fan--that you would know that?" she teased, grinning. She went to the door, looked at the keypad and frowned. "But I don't know the combo... that could be trouble." she muttered, stroking her chin with one hand.

Crud hobbled over on his knuckles to her and looked up at the pinpad, his long snout pinched together in a pout and he sighed. "Well.. it was fun while it lasted." he grumbled. "C'mon. Let's go back and watch the race like the normal people."

"No way, Crud. Not only are you the farthest thing from 'normal,' but this is important to you. And hell, I wanna meet the guy too." Jaesa said, shaking her head. She leaned in closer to the pad and studied it, as if trying to find the fingerprints on the buttons with her bare eyes, and she raised a hand to the pad, ready to try a combo in her head. They were always five-digit codes, but with a slew of numbers to choose from, there were thousands of possibilities. With her finger hovering above the first number, the door suddenly slid open with a startling hiss and Jaesa let out a small scream, stumbling backwards. She caught herself on one knee and looked up, her blue eyes finding the door's commander.

Standing there was a partially finished android. The blue metals it was made of, and yards of wiring that laced throughout it could be seen in the right side of it's face, along with the plastic ocular orb that wasn't properly covered by asthetic skin. This hole in the android's face stretched from the window's peak of its fake, raven hair to the crook of the bottom jaw between its earlobe and its chin. The other half of the face was a naturally tanned complexion with a brown eye and a slight, unnatural blush. This skin covered its neck and hands, though some pieces of its knuckles were skinned away to reveal more of the metallics beneath, and the rest of the android was covered in a blue crew member's jumpsuit. The android looked at Jaesa with a blank and unemotional expression, obviously regarding both Jaesa and Crud with station-filed identifications. After a moment, the android spoke in a very thick, deep voice, one that wouldn't be expected from a robot. "Objective?"

Jaesa blinked at the android and then looked at Crud with a confused frown. "Our objective?" she asked in a hurried whisper. "I didn't know Krolin had a fucking android! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get passed these things?!" she hissed.

Crud shrugged helplessly and looked back up at the android, searching his tiny brain for a response or excuse. He scratched his bald head between his earfins and sighed. "Maybe we should just-"

"Oh! Please, Tristan, stand down!" came a light growl of a voice from behind the android. After a moment, the small Higran that was Krolin squeezed himself between the android and the doorframe, looking at Jaesa and Crud. He blinked his bright yellow and orange-spotted eyes at the two and slowly smiled. "Fans?" he asked simply, hopping forward. His jumpsuit was similar to the android's, but was instead a bright green with some product placement patches here and there.

Crud stared agape at the fellow Higran in front of him and had to shake himself from the trance to bow in the formal Higran way, clearing his throat. "Yes! HUGE fans!" he said quickly.

"As well as the mechanics of your ship.." Jaesa mumbled under her breath as she stood up again, dusting off her knee. She looked at Krolin, then at the android, and back down at Crud. "Well? Here he is. Tell him how much of a fan you are. Or should I be the one to tell him how many pictures of him you have on your walls?" she said and raised an eyebrow with a smirk, folding her arms under her breasts.

Krolin tilted his head as he listened to Jaesa, then looked at Crud with a small frown. "Wow.. A real fan?" he asked slowly. There was something about his voice... it was light, almost innocent.

Crud blushed a little, his toad-green skin turning almost purple, and he looked at Krolin, hobbling forward on one hand and his feet, rubbing the back of his neck with the other. "Eh... yeah.. I'm a huge fan." he said slowly. "I love the way you race.. those turns are killer on the wings and yet you make it work."

Krolin slowly smiled at Crud as he listened to him and then nodded excitedly. "Awesome! Come on in! You're the first people I've seen outside of my crew and race officials for years!" He reached forward and grabbed Crud's hand, pulling him inside passed the android, who respectfully stepped aside at Krolin's beckoning, and his plastic eyes turned to fix on Jaesa again.

Jaesa blinked under the android's gaze and she tentatively stepped forward, inching her way around him slowly with a nervous smile. "Heh... S'cuse me, Tristan." she muttered, using the name she'd heard from Krolin, and finally fit inside, looking around. It was a normal waiting hangar, impenatrable glass all the way around aside from the back wall where the door from the main room connected, and the left wall where a large lift was started and waiting for the race to start so Krolin could board it. Inside the hangar were a couple couches and a table of simple tools for last minute suit adjustments and hanging around the room was Krolin's crew. It consisted of a couple rare alien species and a Dothario male, who were lounging lazily, also waiting for the race to start. Jaesa studied the Dothario cautiously, biting her lip as she moved inside the room, stepping up behind Krolin and Crud. "Wow.. VIP seats, Crud. How'sat for you?" she asked cockily.

Crud smiled blissfully as he looked around and swooned in a sigh, feeling like he'd faint, or already had and was simply dreaming. Surely, if this were real, Krolin would never have invited him into the waiting lounge of the space race to hang out before the big starting line up. "I can die happy now, Jaesa!" he chuckled. He looked back at Krolin and didn't waste time beginning to ask questions in their native tongue, pulling him aside to do so. Krolin was more than happy to oblige, strangely.

Jaesa eyed the pair as they hobbled off to a couple stools to talk to one another and she looked around at the other creatures in the room. Aside from the android and the Dothario male, there was a Tberian and an Ugerlo. Tberian's were said to be natural backstabbers with hundreds of hidden agendas, but no one would tell based on looking at one. They were beautiful creatures. Somehow, the most ugly aliens were also the most attractive, with very fluid movements and a gentle, round appearence to their bodies. Their arms and legs were long and thin, as were their bodies, very boney but still appealing, and their long necks connected to slender heads with no ears and large eyes. Back in 2005 on the planet Earth, this appearence would have been considered the sterotypical alien. Now... it just was as it was. This one was female, which was apparent because she was wearing a knee-length skirt that showed her white legs and a purple long-sleeved shirt that made her white skin seem all the more pale. She had no hair on her head, which made the fact that she had no ears obvious, and she couldn't wear shoes because there was no way a shoe could fit the feet of a Tberian. They were too round and oddly shaped. Any attempts at making a shoe for a Tberian often fell asunder. Her black eyes looked up at Jaesa and seemed to study her in return for a moment, her face blank, and she looked back down at her schedule template without a word.

The other alien, the Ugerlo, had dark skin, a dark brown with green stripes down his sides and violet eyes with slits for pupils. Ugerlo's had small, pointed ears on the sides of their heads, small, rounded noses and rough-looking skin. Aside from a rump of feathers on his head that could easily be mistaken for hair, and an elongated neck, Ugerlo's were the other most human-looking species in the galaxy aside from Dotharios.

All the people in the room aside from Crud and Jaesa were wearing their crew member jumpsuits, and it made Jaesa feel a little out of place. She shifted on her feet, just now feeling the abandonment of Crud's running off, and she looked around at everyone. "I'm.. uh.. My name's Jaesa.." she said and waved weakly. "Who are all of you?"

It took a small moment of silence before the Ugerlo spoke up first, with a peaceful and friendly voice, smiling reassuringly. "My name is Gnact. I'm the weapons specialist." he introduced himself with a similar wave. "This is Cherosa, the team manager," he said with a motion to the Tberian woman, "that's Juco, our odd-job man," a wave towards the Dothario this time, "and I'm more than sure you've already met Tristan--he's our top mechanic and body guard." He chuckled and waved at the android, who came to Gnact at his beckoning.

"Yeah.. I figured." Jaesa chuckled at Tristan again nervously. "Hey.. why do you call him Tristan anyway? I mean.. he's an android... doesn't he have an identification number?" she shrugged. "All the androids I've dealt with in the past have... They wouldn't respond to anything else."

Gnact shrugged and smirked at Jaesa. "Tristan isn't like other androids. He's specially made by Krolin, weapons engineered by moi, and personality features by Juco." He smiled at Jaesa with a tilt to his head. "Tristan doesn't mean anything, by the way. It just seemed to fit."

Jaesa nodded a little with an uneasy smile and looked at Juco, who was sitting back in a chair with his booted feet up on the coffee table, and his arms crossed over his chest, eyeing Jaesa seriously. His blonde and blue-streaked hair was wild on his head and his pale skin made the orange veins beneath the surface easy to see. His bright blue eyes moved up and down Jaesa's body and when he noticed she was watching him too, he looked away with a small, defensive pout and an orange blush. Jaesa frowned in confusion and looked back over at Crud and Krolin, wondering what they were talking about. She understood Higran well enough, but they were being hushed now, no doubt because Crud finally got his excitement under control. She jumped a little defensively when a loud buzzer went off above their heads and she looked up and around at the speakers.

An announcer's voice came over the loud speakers and onto the single screen in their tiny booth, but was planted all over other screens around the stadium. "Ladies and gentlemen! Aliens, creatures and humans alike! Welcome to the seventeenth annual SpaceRace!" he said professionally. "I'm your host Gorck, and I'd like to ask the racers and their crew to please enter the starting line-up! We'll be starting momentarily, so get those last minute fixes up and out!" The speakers clicked off and expressions were exchanged between the small group.

Jaesa looked at everyone else in the room, and of course the Tberian, Cherosa, was already up and headed for the lift with very smooth movements, her tablet under her arm. Juco was the next to get up, followed by Gnact, and she brought up the last of the group behind Krolin and Crud. She stopped just short of the lift though, putting her hand on Crud's shoulder as he approached it and waited for them to be off. The starting line-up wasn't their place.

Krolin blinked and looked back over his shoulder when he saw Jaesa and Crud hesitate and he smiled kindly. "Would my two biggest fans like to help me get ready for my race?" he asked with a tilt to his head.

Crud blinked and looked at Jaesa excitedly. "CAN WE?!" he asked, seeming confused and excited, like a child at an amusement park. "PLEASE!" He bounced under her arm and chewed his bottom lip anxiously, looking up at her with pleading spotted eyes.

Jaesa looked down at Crud and frowned a little, shaking her head with a sigh. "It's nice of you to invite us, Krolin. But the line-up is no place for mediocre engineers like us. In fact, we might even get in trouble with our boss if he saw us out there." she shrugged. "So thanks.. but no thanks."

Crud frowned in disappointment and looked down at the floor in defeat, but looked up when Juco spoke up for the first time since meeting the two. "I'll go and Crud can take my place. Tell your boss I wasn't feeling well and Crud was my only option." he shrugged, stepping off the lift.

Crud let out a happy squeal and jumped up onto the lift without hesitation, nor waiting for Jaesa's approval--or lack thereof. He patted Krolin on the back and gave a thumbs up at Jaesa as Cherosa pressed the button for them to go out and the lift began to move, the glass pane door sliding once the lift was outside and moving down a swift decline to the racetrack.

Jaesa growled a little at Crud's exuberance and she turned back to Juco with a frown. "Thanks." she muttered. She went to the door and stopped at it, turning to find the android had also stayed behind. "Why'd he stick around?" she asked with a jutted thumb towards the android.

Juco shrugged noncholantly and nodded back at him as he spoke. "See the holes in his artificial epidermis? Bad accident at the last race. Was standing right behind the engine as Krolin turned it on. We're not gonna let him back out there until he's fixed." he said and smiled a little, showing perfectly straight, white teeth. "Why did YOU stick around? Are you really that afraid for your job?"

Jaesa almost glared at Juco over her shoulder and pushed the button to open the door without even looking down at it. "No." she said simply and spun on the ball of her foot, stepping out of the booth and back through the hallway to the main room of the stadium. She had a front-row seat with the rest of the pit crew downstairs and she wanted to make sure she got her seat.

Juco raised an eyebrow as she left and then looked at Tristan, who had watched Jaesa leave with an analytical glaze over his plastic eyes. "Might as well go after her, hm? No fun waiting around here."

"Statement confirmed. Tracking Jaesa Kitra." Tristan said simply, his voice rather monotoned as he did, the rest of his body turning to face the same direction his face was and he started for the door. Quite obviously, he was now following Jaesa's heat signature, print signatures of everything her hands touched, and carbon footprint. She hadn't gotten too far ahead, but it was simplest to let Tristan lead, and more efficient.

"Jaesa Kitra.. Nice name for a human." Juco muttered to himself as he followed Tristan, locking the booth behind himself as they left it, and he looked around boredly at the other creatures whilst they made their way through the crowds. There were a lot of people gathered around for such a small race. He guessed the sport was gradually becoming more and more popular. Finally, they followed Jaesa's prints to a secluded room and Tristan wasted no time nor energy in picklocking the code, allowing them to enter without permission. Juco stepped into the room and looked around again. Several pit crew members were lounging in seats and stuffing their faces with various alien cuisines, and Jaesa was tucked away in the back corner of the room, watching the starting line-up on a large-screen tv instead of out the panoramic window that lined the entirety of the front wall. He smirked somewhat and made his way over to her, pulling up a chair smoothly. "You're not a very sociable person, are you?" he asked with amusement.

Jaesa jumped a little at his voice and she sneered at him. "No. Not normally." she grumbled. She turned back to the screen and pulled up one knee, tucking the foot comfortably on the back of the headrest of the seat in front of her. She rested an arm across her pantsed leg and sighed, the other hand going through her hair. "Why did you follow me? Only pit crew members are allowed in here." she grumbled. She could already hear the others talking about him and could feel their eyes on her. "You're gonna get your ass kicked and mine fired."

"Calm down." Juco snarled back. "For crying out loud, be friendly. I just let your pal go out onto the race track to keep him happy. Shouldn't you be nice to me?" he muttered, looking ahead at the television screen. He adjusted the seat he'd grabbed so it was backwards to the front of the room and sat on it with his legs spread and his elbows up on the back of the seat, his chin on his arms. "Plus, technically, I AM a pit crew member. Just not one of yours." he chuckled.

Jaesa rolled her eyes and shook her head to herself, glaring ahead at the television screen. It was large and flat with a great picture, but no sound. The only sound they'd get during the race was the announcer describing the turns and layouts of the racetrack as it was met by the racers themselves. She tapped her foot against the back of the seat her feet were planted upon and she grimaced, watching Crud on the line-up with Krolin, Cherosa and Gnact, all of them preparing the racing ship that she and Crud had worked so vigorously on together earlier that morning. Something didn't feel right about that Cherosa character, but she tried to shrug it off as just being stereotypical about Tberians. She bit her lip as she watched Krolin's suited figure pull himself into the cockpit of his racer, and she hoped the damned thing would start okay. She'd been having trouble with the ignition during the tune-up because, apparently, some wires had come lost during the last race, which had not only endangered Krolin's life, but also nearly put his winning streak in jeopardy. Her blue eyes scanned the screen and she frowned, getting up from her seat and moving to the panoramic window, leaning on the sill and looking down and out. Lightly touching the glass with her fingertips produced a small box over her eyes that magnified what she was looking at, and her frown deepened. Something was wrong. The engines wouldn't start and the countdown was already starting. She blinked when she saw Crud jump to the rescue and give the back right engine a good smacking with a wrench, sending it into submissive roaring and lighting up his entire right arm in a rush of bright blue flames. "CRUD!" she growled at the window as she backed away from it and turned, running to the door.

Juco had watched her all up until she was about to run, and just before she reached the door, he grabbed her arm to stop her. "What happened?" he asked seriously, frowning with concern, while the android behind him seemed as placid as ever.

"Crud got hurt! Something was wrong with the engines!" Jaesa insisted and went for the door again. She grunted, though, when she felt strong arms around her shoulders and she was lifted from the ground and pulled back from the door. "HEY! Lemme go!" she growled, kicking her booted feet and struggling to get out. She recognized the orange veins and scarred arms anywhere. "Kolbin! Lemme go!" she insisted.

Kolbin frowned down at the back of Jaesa's head as he held her off the ground and away from the walls and he turned, throwing her and sending her flying into the arms of another crew member, a larger, stronger one, and he turned to face Juco and Tristan. "Outsiders. We know you're from the pirate ship that just docked yesterday." he said to the two sternly. "You're not taking her with you."

Juco and Tristan both frowned deeply and Juco shook his head. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." he said, standing from his chair and putting his hands on his hips, Tristan moving to stand beside him stiffly. "We are from the new ship that docked yesterday, but that's because we're here for the race. C'mon, let her go, her friend is hurt." he said smoothly.

Kolbin growled and pulled out a laser pistol in a swift movement, aiming it straight at Juco's heart. "No. Both of you leave." he instructed. "Or I'll shoot you both where you stand." He cocked the pistol and a small humming came from the barrel as it glowed with a beam, ready to be launched at Juco's heart.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, KOLBIN?!" Jaesa screamed. "For crying out loud! Dotharios never fight with one another like this!" She growled and kicked some more, all her struggling not really helping against the goliath that had her held fast in his arms. "Ogman, put me DOWN!" she cried. "Crud needs help!"

"Crud will be fine." The room went silent as all eyes fell on Juco. "Trust me." He looked at Jaesa and smiled charmingly as she narrowed her eyes at him. He turned and swiped a hand through Tristan's stomach, his hand easily flying through the digitized image. "It's a hologram." he explained briefly. "Tristan is with the crew. And taking care of Crud."

"Hologram terminated." Tristan said briefly before the image disappeared and Juco patted the box on his belt that had produced it.

Kolbin and the other pit members all glared at Juco and Jaesa had no idea what to think. She glared at him for a moment, then growled and finally shifted enough to plant a strong elbow in Ogman's sternum, making him cry out in pain and drop her instantly. She let out a cry as she landed on her feet, one ankle instantly shooting with pain into her knee, but she stood and made her way to Juco. "What the hell are you playing at?!" she shouted, pushing Kolbin's gun aside as she passed him, going up to Juco and glaring him right in the eyes. She stopped, though, and gasped a little. There was something familiar about those eyes... She spun around to face Kolbin, but didn't have much time to think as a stun beam from the pistol hit her shoulder, sending paralyzing shocks throughout her body. She groaned in pain and instantly fell limp on the floor, her eyes staring up at the ceiling with blurred vision, melted together by her tears and dizziness.

After a moment of footsteps, Juco and Kolbin both leaned over Jaesa and it was then she could see the similarities. Kolbin pushed a button, letting her hear the beep, and Juco disappeared. Another hologram. A hologramic copy of Kolbin, to be exact, altered slightly so it wouldn't be so obvious. "Sorry, Jaesa." he said softly, his face looking... cold. "Crud will be okay, and so will you. Trust me.. you'll thank me." he said softly and sent another shock beam into her thigh, making her cry out in pain as blackness overtook her. The last thing she remembered was the sound of the announcer's voice over the loud speakers, talking about Crud's being helped on the line-up, and the sound of several heavy pairs of boots as they left the room. She couldn't feel anything.. couldn't see anything.. yet she still felt aware enough to know she was also being carried from the room. Simply because the sounds of the booth got fainter and fainter. Finally, she gave up trying to understand with her impairments and she let unconsciousness take over, falling into a deep sleep.

---

When Jaesa finally came to, her head was pounding with a headache and all of her extremities felt weak and limp. Her blue eyes fluttered open and she looked around, frowning at the single bright flourescent light overhead as it shined right in her eyes. She squinted, blinked and turned her head slowly, at first not sure if she could. The room was small, no larger than a closet, really, with a few feet between the steel bed she was on and the wall, only enough room for walking space. The walls were metal, laced with computer chips and piping, making it look like something out of an old space movie from the early two-thousand years, she guessed was just for looks. She turned her head upwards again, pausing to frown at the light again before turning it the other way. On her right, near her feet, was a door with a keypad lock. A single door to gods-knew-where. She groaned at a pounding in her head and closed her eyes, concentrating hard to try lifting a hand. It wouldn't work. Something was holding her down, and she couldn't tell if it was the after effects of the taser or something more tangible. She lifted her head slightly and looked down at herself. She couldn't see what was holding her down because a large white blanket was covering her body from her shoulders down to her booted feet, though her feet felt cold, so she guessed her boots had been removed. She gently laid her head back down and squinted helplessly up at the lights before her ears noticed a faint beeping sound. She blinked and tried to find where, turning her head this way and that until she found above her head, slightly to the right, was Tristan. She let out a small yelp as her blue eyes found his glazed and glassy ones, and she stared up at him.

Tristan was solid still, his fake eyes staring down at Jaesa as if analyzing her, his hands by his sides. When she yelped, he stood straighter and blinked once, obviously shutting down any analysis he had going. "Patient two-zero-two-five-seven is now awake and alert. Heart rate: normal. Respirations: adequate. Blood pressure: normal. Mobility: minimal." he sited casually.

Jaesa gaped up at him and it was then that the door suddenly slid open at her feet and she gasped, looking back down at it. Kolbin came into the room smoothly and approached the side of the table, looking down at Jaesa gently. "Ah. You're finally awake. You've been out for several hours, ya know." he whispered, knowing her hearing would be sensitive at first. "Tristan hasn't left your side since you got here."

Jaesa groaned again and looked up at Kolbin with an expression of hatred and disgust, and she wanted to ask exactly where "here" was, but her voice didn't seem to be working either. She turned her head away from him and glared at the opposite wall instead.

Kolbin sighed lightly through his nose and looked at Tristan. "Tristan, please keep watch outside the door. And tell the cap'n to get Jaesa's friend ready for a visit." he ordered. Tristan gave a single, abrupt nod and turned on his heel, his metal feet clicking against the floor as he headed around Jaesa's bed to the door and out of the tiny room, closing the door behind him, leaving Kolbin and Jaesa alone. "Jaesa... I know it's going to be hard for you to understand.. but I saved your life yesterday." he said softly, reaching a hand forward and brushing some of her black hair from her shoulder.

Jaesa felt the light touch, and the softness as her hair was removed from her shoulder, followed by a sudden breeze. Her shoulder was bare.. was she naked under that blanket..? She blushed a little, unable to help it, and her mind tried to concentrate on the softness of Kolbin's fingertips on her skin. This man was a monster, who had turned on her, endangered Crud's life and kidnapped her away and she had no idea where she was.

Kolbin frowned down at her and shook his head with another sigh, moving around to the other side of the table so Jaesa would be looking at him, and he had to control his anger when she simply turned her head the other way again. "Jaesa, please. Don't act so childish and listen to me!" he growled. "That space station we were on was set for destruction at the end of the space race. I saved yours and Crud's lives! Along with several others! You should be thanking me and the Captain!" he snapped. "When you're well enough to move, I'll take you to see Crud, and you'll see for yourself that he's alive and well. Just as much, I'll show you the video log of the space station's destruction. We recorded it just as we left.." He frowned down at her again and saw a sparkling tear leave her eye, but it was only the one. She wouldn't allow any more than that escape. But that single tear was enough to let Kolbin know that what he'd said had sank in, whether she believed it or not, it was there in her brain now. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, running his hand back through his blonde hair and he turned, going back around the bed to the door and putting some buttons into the keypad, letting the door slide open. "Get some more rest. I'll be back for you in a couple hours." he grumbled before he stepped out, letting the door close behind him, but it didn't lock.

Jaesa waited until she heard the door hiss closed again before sighing and turning her head slowly to look up at the ceiling. Now she felt tired and dizzy, and too weak to deal with what he'd told her. She pushed it to the back of her mind and wondered how Crud was doing, if he really was okay like Kolbin told her he was, or if everything was just an illusion--a hologram like the ones Kolbin had tricked her with. She started to second guess what really was real all of a sudden. She blinked back more tears and chewed at the insides of her cheeks as a way to toughen herself up and she closed her eyes. It felt like the room was spinning when she did that, so she opened them again to ground herself, breathing deeply. She could feel the burning spots on her back and thigh where Kolbin had shot her with the taser beam. She still hated him for that, and had to bite back looks of pain on her face from the burns, feeling them itch and call out to be soothed. Finally, she couldn't take just laying there, even after only a few minutes, and she took in a breath before trying to move her arms, sliding them up so her hands were by her ribs, getting her bearings against the steel examining table she was on, then pushing herself up to sit. She felt an insatiable urge to vomit rise to her throat with the rest of her body, but she swallowed it back, breathed deeply and counted to ten, then tried to move some more. She had been right before--she was naked under that blanket. Well not completely.. her thin boy-shorts underwear was still on, but her bra was missing, along with the rest of her clothes. She grumbled something in some alien language and swung her legs over the side of the table towards the door, holding the blanket against her chest and breathing some more. She could see from this angle that the floor was made of a gel material. If one stood on it for too long, they would begin to sink--unless one was wearing the proper footwear, which she guessed Kolbin had. She bit her lip and wondered if this was to prevent her from escaping or just to soak up any blood or vomit that may have escaped her. She looked at the door, saw it was still unlocked, and took another deep breath, holding it in as she forced herself onto weak and shakey legs, falling against the wall for support with a gentle yelp of surprise. She hadn't expected her leg to be so weak. The shock must have numbed the muscles for a while. She grumbled another curse and limped quickly to the door, falling out of the tiny room and into a long hallway that ended abruptly at her right in another wall, and continued on for about a quarter of a mile at her left. There were no other doors, just hers. She licked her dry lips and looked down the hall to make sure no one was coming, then adjusted the blanket around herself so it would hold itself up, tied in a knot over her left shoulder, leaving a slit in the blanket for her wounded leg, and she started to limp down the hall, both hands on the wall for support. She was determined to find Crud and get the hell outta wherever she was.

A small voice in Jaesa's mind began to wonder if the hall really led anywhere at all. After about ten minutes of limping, she'd only gotten about twenty feet from her door and was still going with no end or change of direction in sight. She growled and pushed herself off the wall, still limping but awake enough to not need support, and she glared ahead. She suddenly heard footsteps that were not her own, but instead heavy and booted, and she couldn't tell from which way they were coming. She looked behind herself and saw no one, then looked ahead again and frowned. "H-hello..?" she called. She gasped slightly when the footsteps stopped at her beckoning and she looked around again. She was starting to get scared. Maybe she shouldn't have left that room? She opened her mouth to say something again, but a scream escaped her instead with a robotic voice of, "Greetings," came from behind her. She fell forward to the ground and spun to see what had scared her, her eyes wide.

Tristan was there behind her, looking down on her with a straight face, and his hands by his side. "Greetings, Jaesa Kitra. You were not in your room. The captain sent me to find you." he said simply, his lips barely moving, his eyes unblinking. "Do you need assistance?"

Jaesa breathed deeply, her heart still pounding against her chest like an enraged Cthalien in a cage, and she growled as she pulled herself up. "NO! Gods dammit, you fucking robot prick! Don't scare me like that! Where the hell did you come from, anyway?!" she yelled, her face red with anger.

Tristan blinked as her words sank into his vocabulary bank and translating system, which broke her words down into binary code for him to understand, small flashes coming from his fake eyes to indicate he was processing what she'd said and he blinked again in understanding. "Apologies for startling you, Ms. Kitra. I came from the command deck, back that way." He pointed back down the hall from where they'd both come, then his hand returned to his side. "You are injured. Do you need assistance?"

"No!" Jaesa growled again. "Stop asking me that! I'm fine on my own! Where's Kolbin?! I'll kick his puny ass!" she grumbled, her hands in fists, her left fist not as tight as the right because of the shot to her back she'd had before. "And where's Crud?! I want to see my friend!"

It took another moment for Tristan's system to log what Jaesa had said, but when it finished, he simply nodded once and turned on his heel, heading back the way he'd come, his movements jerky and clumsy.

Jaesa frowned and blinked at Tristan in confusion, wondering why he wasn't working as well as he had been before, but she followed after him just to see where he was going. She stayed silent, limping slowly, though it was as fast as she could go, and she saw her door come up shortly, followed by the abrupt wall. "Tristan, we can't go this way, it's just a wall." she said, a bit softer now.

Tristan didn't answer as he came upon the wall, his eyes straight ahead and his movements a little glitchy, and he came closer and closer to the wall. Expecting the thunk of metal on metal, Jaesa watched him, but was taken aback when he walked right through the wall instead, the image rippling with his entrance. She should have known to second guess the wall among all things, and she followed him through the holographic structure, a little irritated with the fact that there were crew members and doors and people scrambling about like chickens with their heads cut off, and everything was loud and rushed. Tristan led her through the crew members as they moved about--a few of them stopping to watch Jaesa limp passed in her simple blanket wrap, and she had to hide a blush--and to another door labeled Command Deck. He lifted a hand to the identification scanner to his right and it beeped in recogntion, sliding open for him and Jaesa to come in. "Captain, Ms. Jaesa Kitra is seeking Crud the 'most badass engineer on this ship'," he said, the last part of the sentence in Crud's own voice and obviously a recording, "and Leutenant Kolbin Ngorfin." he announced.

"Alright, Tristan, thank you." came a calm voice from behind the back of the captain's seat. It slowly turned around and Jaesa wasn't too surprised to find Krolin on the other side of it. She put her hands on her hips and Krolin smiled at her widely. "Jaesa!" he cheered. "Tristan, go plug yourself in for neuron's sake! You're running down your battery."

Tristan nodded once and turned, walking off to a side of the room and plugging himself into the wall through a cord in his open leg, and Jaesa approached Krolin with a look of impatience and almost malice. "What the hell is going on?!" she growled.

Krolin frowned at Jaesa and was about to open his mouth to speak when a cheerful shout of, "JAESA!" came from one of the opened doors of the command deck. Crud seemed to shoot out of the doorway and right into Jaesa's back, hugging her from behind tightly. "You're okay!"

Jaesa let out a yelp as she was slightly tackled from behind--though not enough to send her off balance--and she tried to look at Crud over her shoulder. "Duh! Except for a little taser numbness in my leg! I'm surprised you're alive after that engine blast on the race track!" she said and reached around herself, easily pulling Crud off her and holding him in front of her to see. She gasped and her eyes widened. Crud's entire left arm, including his ribs and left side of his collar bone were completely metallic now, made of wires and gelatin ligaments and rods. Along with his left ear fin and part of his left leg, and somehow his right eye got damaged and he was currently wearing an eyepatch. She blinked and shook her head, breathing heavily and she put him down, unable to take it in. "H-how..? Why..?" she panted, a hand on her head as she fell backwards.

Jaesa nearly screamed when she felt someone catch her as she stumbled, and they were strong arms with bright orange veins and a tanned colour, but despite being strong arms, they were gentle hands as they caught her. When she looked back, she saw a concerned Kolbin holding her up. "Be careful.." he whispered and gently helped her slide to the floor to sit. "I thought I told you to get some rest?"

"How can anyone rest when they're worried about their best friend? Or where the hell they are?" Jaesa asked him angrily once she was seated and her legs were folded beneath her, her hands limp in her lap as she glared up at him, her eyes tearing up. "How can you expect me to?"

Kolbin sighed and knelt on the floor with her on one knee, and he rubbed his eyes with a hand before looking at her. "Jaesa.. I know you're stressed and upset.. but you have to rest. You have nanobots in your blood that are measuring your health and repairing your leg where I shocked you--sorry about that, by the way. And it's why you're feeling light-headed."

Jaesa blinked at Kolbin with wide, panicked eyes. "WHY?!" she shouted suddenly. "A fucking bandaid, orange juice and a nap will do that just fine! Get them out of me!" she growled, then had to pause and breathe for a moment, her eyes drooping a little. She wobbled on her seat and Kolbin caught her again, Crud taking a small step forward subconsciously, wanting to help.

"Jaesa... please listen to the guy... Kolbin's the one that fixed me up. I've never been better!" Crud said, moving his robotic arm and bouncing a little in place. "See? I'm fine, don't worry about me. Just listen to Kolbin for once, yeah?" he begged. "I want you to get better. My best mate has to be in good health."

Jaesa frowned at Crud and she studied his prosthetic arm and fin and parts of his leg and she felt her breathing pick up again. She was falling into a panic attack--something she hadn't had since she was a kid. She collapsed against Kolbin again and her eyes fell closed, her entire body falling limp. She'd passed out again.

Kolbin sighed slightly and shifted her around a little, then looped his arms under her and lifted her bridal-style into his arms, standing from the floor. He looked at Krolin and Crud and frowned. "I'll take care of her. Just fly us out of here. We need to keep moving. The next nebula awaits." he said softly and turned. He stopped and saw that half of the crew was watching and he scowled. "Get back to work!" he snapped, and they all scurried off, and he shook his head with a roll of his eyes, stomping out of the command deck and carrying Jaesa back to his personal quarters down the hall, the outside noises of the ship instantly cut off by the sound-proof door as it slid closed with an irritated hiss and he moved to his cot, gently and carefully laying her down on it and making sure she was comfortable. He sat in a chair beside her with a hand on her arm and he sighed, hanging his head. "Damn you, Jaesa. You never listen." he growled to himself. He got up, grabbed a syringe from his desk and went back to her. It was a magnetic syringe that pulled the nanobots to it from her blood and he extracted them from her leg. "You'll feel this in the morning." he warned, even though she couldn't hear him. He set the syringe aside and wrapped her leg in a ripped piece of his bedsheet, tying it in a firm knot and then looking at her sleeping face again. "I hate you." He got up with a growl and moved to leave the room, but stopped when the door hissed open before he could reach it. "Crud." he greeted.

"Kolbin.." Crud greeted back and shifted a little. "Is she okay?"

Kolbin sighed slightly again and he nodded, raising his eyebrows at Crud sympathetically. "Yeah. She's fine. You're more than welcome to stay with her, but I have work to do." he said softly. "Just don't touch anything in my room." He slid passed Crud in the doorway and headed off down the hall.

Crud watched Kolbin go and nodded at his instructions, hobbling into the room and looking down at Jaesa hesitantly for a moment before pulling himself up into the seat beside the cot. He frowned at her and watched her, then sighed and pulled himself onto the cot too, wrapping his long arms around Jaesa's shoulders and resting his head against her. He sighed again and frowned at himself, but he didn't move, feeling comfortable that way, and he fell asleep too.

---

---

When Crud woke up again, who-knows how long later, he was a little surprised to see Jaesa was still asleep. This time it was less like a coma and a little more like a pleasant nap. Sitting next to the bed was Kolbin, also half-asleep, with his laser pistol in his hand and a dead look to his eyes. When he noticed Crud was watching him, he blinked and lifted his head a little more to look at him more directly. "What?" he asked.

Crud blinked, shook his head and settled again, still snuggled up to Jaesa. "Nothing." he muttered. He frowned at Jaesa's neck, not moving, then looked back at Kolbin and cleared his throat a little awkwardly. He couldn't help but get the feeling that Kolbin didn't want him here, but was too nice of a guy to just up and ask him to leave. "Do you... want me to leave you two alone?" he asked with a slight grin. "I mean... Jaesa's so pretty when she sleeps." he joked. "It's better to admire when you're alone with her."

"Yeah, and you would know that by experience." Kolbin scoffed, leaning his head back against the chair again and slightly closing his eyes. "You can go if you want. Doesn't matter to me." he grumbled. "I just had nothing better to do."

Crud frowned a little and shook his head as he got up, hobbling down off the bed and towards the door on his knuckles. He stopped when he reached it and as it slid open with a hiss, he looked back at Kolbin. "Ya know, she really likes you. It may not seem like it... but she's usually an ass to the people she really likes." he laughed. "Just don't be an ass back... That's usually a recipe for disaster."

---

Back to: [The Black Cat in Your Path]'s house
                 Cat-chan