Addressed to Juniper

*Written by Turnipink and Greggy*

## Chapter One - *Welcome to Froyt Station*

While Tanya was unable to hear it, one could easily hear the cacophony of hisses and bangs in their head from the laboring below on the shoddy space station her ship was navigating itself towards. While large in size, it was clear that most of it was entirely uninhabitable, looking long-abandoned and only recently refurbished in any sense. A few of the engineers in their scrapped-together exosuits glanced up to her ship as it slowed in its approach. It was likely that the vessel was worth more than the space station itself given the condition of both. Even still, the accordion-like airlock that extended to meet her ship from the station's dock looked intact, so there was hopefully no fear of being sucked into the vacuum of space.

Tanya was both incredibly nervous and grateful that her three month journey was finally coming to a close. One can only stay trapped inside a small space ship by themselves for so long without it getting to them, and the lack of windows really did not help. She paced as her ship started to dock, wondering what could be on the other side. At this point, anything was better than inside that sad excuse for a ship. She had gathered up what few possessions she was allowed to bring with her in a messenger bag, save for her rifle strapped to her back nessled between her wings. As the door got closer to opening, she paced faster and her heart raced and she hoped this would be a new start.

Several locks could be heard sliding out of place, and the ship lightly shuddered as the airlock on the other side filled with air. There was a knock followed by the door opening anyway to reveal a hunched-over individual. While they were clearly insectoid in nature, they had a short, sharp beak more fitting for an avian. Their back had two limbs looking appropriate for wings, but there was no flesh to indicate they had any. More than likely, their wings had been torn apart, and they removed what shreds of them remained long ago. Their neck was in an odd, craned shape akin to vulture- in fact their entire posture was very reminiscent of the bird.

Atop their head was a wide-brimmed hat that was torn in a few places along its edge, and hanging down were two strings tied below the alien's neck. Dragging on the floor behind them was the bottom of their ragged duster that had clearly caught itself on a hundred and one sharp objects left on the ground- which also explained their sturdy boots that were fitted for wide feet and accomodating for large talons.

"Eh... Tona?" The alien finally spoke up after giving more of a look to her ship than the Kurlak herself. They straightened their neck out some as they spoke, looking the woman up and down with exhausted eyes.

"It's Tanya," she said as she looked around. Her expression slowly shifted to one of just sheer horror. She knew it wouldn't be good or even kind of bad but not to this extent. She looked at the alien before them and noticed what was once a fully functioning pair of wings. She couldn't take her eyes off them and how her beautiful, feathered wings could become husks of their former glory. Her wings which were wrapped around her brightly colored coat snapped to her back tight and she let out a little whimper of fear. The ship was looking like a five star hotel at this point as she just stepped further back in her ship. She shouldn't be here, she should be with her friends again where it was safe and things were perfect and living wasn't going to litteraly tear her to shreds. But instead she's here, whereever 'here' is.

"That's what I said, now get moving," The alien barked out their order, "Ham'll be here any minute now to take the ship off, and he gets pissy when you mailmen take too long. So let's go, chop chop." Without even waiting for a response, they turned away, marching off down the ribbed hallway that connected Tanya's ship to the station's dock.

"Why should I? You don't own me, why should I listen to you?" Tanya scoffed. She sat down with a pout on her face and her nose in the air.

The alien stopped, drooping their head down with a groan. "Rhya dammit, of course I get the difficult ones every- Yer right, I don't own you, but Ham owns this ship now. So you can come with me and we can talk work, or he can throw you out and you have no idea where the hell to go and end up getting stuck in the dock when they vent the air out in about two hours," They explained, not even bothering to turn around to face Tanya before they continued stomping off, "Take your pick. I can't be damned to stand here for an hour kissing your ass to make you hurry up."

Reluctantly, Tanya stood up again and followed the alien. Despite wishing things were different, death was still not an appealing option. It took her a moment to get balanced but soon she was able to keep up.

"Yup, they usually got enough sense to follow after that," They huffed, pausing for a moment before adding with a dry chuckle as they continued along without much visual regard for Tanya following, "*Usually*... Poor bastard. Name's Annil. Before you ask, I already took the liberty of selling your ship off to Ham before you got here. Expensive thing like that would get picked apart otherwise, and I doubt you own a shipyard out here that can keep it safe from looters or hijackers."

"And what will they do with it now? It's not like it has manual controls for obvious reasons and where is 'out here'? I was stuck on that damn ship for... I don't even know- I didn't have the ability to even look at the time or date in there- and right now the inside of that windowless ship that could make someone go mad seems like the better option." Tanya shouted. She was grateful he had been facing forward so he couldn't see her have her tantrum.

Unfortunately for Annil, he still had to hear it. "Xetasi," He answered simply as the two were finally out of the narrow corridor and in the station proper. In all fairness, its residents had definitely done their best to make it home. The duo looked to be in a sectioned off part of a large dome, with their section obviously serving as the dockyard. There were a few stands selling various wares- even an open bar with an old rug and mostly-functioning lights affixed to the top of its stand in an attempt to look nice. The two were cut off by a pair of children running past, one an Agatrop and another a Drodo- the former quickly tackling the other as they both laughed.

Soon enough, the two were approached by a stout human. He stopped short in his waddle, looking between the two before settling on Annil. "Hey, Ann. This the one the ship brought?" He scoffed, clearly unimpressed by Tanya.

"Unfortunately," Annil replied with a short laugh, "She made sure to let me know the *manual controls* are disabled. You're gonna have a hard time there, Ham," He warned with sarcastic fright.

"Oh *no!* You sold me a defective ship? Aw, hell! Whatever will I do without the manual controls?!" Ham cried out before bursting into laughter at Tanya's expense before waddling past them into the airlock, "Well, good luck, Ann. Try not to let this one fly into the zapper this time!"

Tanya just huffed and crossed her arms while she bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from saying anything that could be used at her expense again. She wanted to cry but she refused to give them the satisfation of seeing her break down. Instead, she channeled all that energy into making herself a walking ball of anger. The only reason she was even following at that point was because death would be her only other option and so far from what she had seen, everything except following, lead to death. Xetasi was not a name she had heard before landing there and it made her realize when they said nowhere, they meant it because to her knowledge she hadn't even seen it on any of the maps. Not even the ones the messengers used to deiliever mail, and theirs was *incredibly* up to date. It really made her question everything she thought she knew.

"That's Ham, if you couldn't tell already," Annil remarked, jabbing a clawed thumb back at the airlock before gesturing for Tanya to follow as he resumed his walk. "Anywho, welcome to Froyt Station. Get used to it, 'cause this is home. Ham's bringing your new ship tomorrow, so you got time to get settled in before I put you to work... Oh, right, almost forgot." He stopped for only a moment to reach into his duster and produce a small drive before tossing it back at Tanya and continuing walking. "There's your cut for what I sold the ship for. Five-hundred-mil'."

Tanya caught the drive and put it in a pocket on the inside of her coat. She didn't know what she would use the cubits on and at that moment, it didn't matter as even her and her love of all things expensive, knew that she most likely wouldn't have the means to ever have that much again. She looked around the station as she walked behind Annil and ,from what she could tell, she was from a very different world and way of life and it scared her more than she would like to admit.

"You hungry at all? Or do you just wanna get on with the tour?" Annil asked, stopping near the open bar and gesturing his head over to it.

"I'm fine," Tanya mumbled before her stomach betrayed her and growled. Feeling embarrassed, her face went bright-red. "Yeah, okay, maybe I'm a little hungry."

"Well, I'm not. Get yourself some grub and head through that gate over there when you're done eating. Keep going 'til you find the courier office," Annil pointed over to a large, bulky door that was obviously one side to an airlock. However, it was left open, revealing a little of the same dirty sprawl on the other side as the dock. With that, Annil left Tanya without any further delay. The Aoshanti manning the bar gave Annil a brief wave before glancing over to Tanya and gesturing her over with a hospitable wave.

Tanya went over and sat on one of the bar stools, fixing her coat so she wouldn't be sitting on it. "Uh, hi. What is something people generally like?" She said as she tried to make proper eye contact with the Aoshanti and look less awkward.

"Well, that isn't much of an introduction, now is it?" The Aoshanti scoffed with a cheerful smirk- or as much of a smirk as a beak allowed- before holding her hand down to Tanya for a shake, "The name's Laetibe! Laetibe Betus! You must be the newest mailman brought in, huh?" Already, it seemed that Laetibe was quickly throwing together something for Tanya to eat after their handshake, snatching up a few pieces of meat that had been frying on a grill along with some bits of herbs haphazardly strewn across a counter.

"My names Tanya and what do you mean new mailman? I'm not exactly messenger material; and speaking of messengers, if there are others, then shouldn't there be at least one other kurlak around here?" Tanya asked. She looked down at the counter and tried to process the events of the last while. At least whatever Laetibe was putting together looked good.

"I mean, you're just in the dock area. There's a whole more station to gawk at behind the gate over there," Laetibe explained with a cock of her head as she jabbed a thumb back at the open airlock that Annil had walked through, "There's probably some over there somewhere, I'd guess. If not, then they're all out on deliveries... Wai- Hold on a second, did you just say you *aren't* a messenger? Isn't that like... What you people do?"

"Yes, but a fair amount of us still get assigned to other tasks since you can't run a whole company with just one type of worker. I was one of those few. I didn't exactly choose to be here either" Tanya replied. She pulled out a little metal trinket shaped like a flower to hold onto and her shoulders relaxed a little. "At least some others might be around. I was worried for a second you were going to say something worse liked they had died or something."

"Oh no that definitely happens," Laetibe quickly assured with a quick nod before slapping together a small pile of spiced -up sizzling meats onto a plate and setting it down in front of Tanya, "I'd say, uhm... A fifth of you guys end up croaking? At least, that's what Annil says. He's probably met more mailmen than men-men to be honest."

Tanya's face lost all color when she heard her chances of dying. Her wings pressed right against her back and she held onto her flower for dear life. Despite the lack of appealing presentation, the food looked good but at that moment she couldn't bring herself to eat it or even really move.

Laetibe's hospitable demeanor slowly tapered away upon realizing how unmotivating she was for the newcomer. "Ah- Um- That being said!" She exclaimed after a short clearing of her throat, "You guys have started dying a lot *less* as time's gone on, so I'm sure the recent statistic would be a lot nicer... Plus, it's usually newbies that end up dying- Um- Which... You are a newbie... *but* if you make it past your first few deliveries, then you're pretty much set to be not-dead."

"Y-yeah, but I-I have ...nothing. I-I never learned." Tanya sputtered. "I don't even... I.. can't." She couldn't stop herself from crying this time as tears started to run down her cheeks,

"Oh- Uh- Oh no, uhm- Uh," Laetibe stammered, unsure of how to handle the situation she was partially responsible for. The other few patrons either looked on in discomfort or apathy as the Aoshanti tried to think of something that would comfort the poor kurlak- or at least get her to stop crying. In a moment of panic, she grabbed an empty whiskey bottle and smashed it against a counter- not the one people actually ate off of- with a yelp in hopes the shock of it would at least stem the tide of tears. Admittedly, it was not her brightest idea.

It definitly scared her as she stopped crying and in an attempt to get out of there as fast as possible and not embarrass herself further, quickly eat the food she was given. She wanted to take her time and enjoy it but her small shread of dignity was on the line.

"I can't believe that worked," Laetibe mumbled with a blink of surprise before tossing what of the bottle remain in her hand into a trashcan nearby. A part of her regretted creating a mess she would need to clean up later, but what's done is done, she supposed. "Anywho, it won't be so bad. If you're new, I'm sure the other mailmen will help get you up to speed no problem!" The Aoshanti assured.

"T-Thank you for the food, it was good. I'm sorry about all that." Tanya stammered. She pulled out the drive to pay and put her flower back in her inner pocket. Hopefully things wouldn't be as hard as she thought they might be.

Laetibe waved her hand and shook her head at the presentation of the drive. "Naw, keep it. First meal is on the house. That's how the old guy ran it, that's how I'm gonna run it."

Tanya stuffed the drive back into her coat before she stood up and wiped what was left of the tears on her face. "Thank you, uh, I hope things go well." said Tanya as she turned to the gate and walked towards it with a wave goodbye.

"Just makes sure you come back here often! I'll give you the evil eye every time you come through the dock if you don't!" Laetibe called out with a wave of her hand, clearly joking by the short laugh she gave afterwards. As Tanya approached the gate, she would find it flanked by two armored individuals with wide-brimmed hats standing guard with rifles slung across their backs. Thankfully, they didn't seem interested in stopping her, and the kurlak was free to pass into an entirely new section of Froyt Station.

Whereas the dockyard section was a mixture of order between the airlocks that connected docked ships and the more hectic nature of the quick stalls set up nearby them, Tanya found herself in a sprawling mess of a shanty town thrown together with whatever scrap metal and fabrics the locals had available at the time of its construction. To their credit, however, they had put considerable effort into making the place look as nice as they could. After all, they had to *live* there. Cheap paint was used to cover the surfaces of mismatched metals for some buildings, and colorful lights were strewn about the public space in an almost festive manner.

The kurlak was immediately positioned in the middle of a rounded plaza just outside of the open airlock, several pathways extending out from it to form narrow 'streets' as individually designed abodes clashed against one another and were packed tightly together. Looking upwards, she would find catwalks stretching between elevated buildings packed almost just as tightly, obscuring much oif her view of the section's true ceiling. Surrounding the edges of the plaza, most of the buildings had a portion of their wall facing it carved out, allowing easy access to restaurants and assorted shops. In the center of the plaza, an inactive water fountain was the set piece for a small band of musicians playing for tips- they even had a box nearby where one could slip a drive into and specify a donation amount. Of course, a few gave their tips in the form of homemade foods rather than cubits.

Tanya turned on the spot a few times, taking in everything. As she looked she noticed how thrown together everything was and as impressive some of it was, it felt wrong. It felt more like a project made out of last weeks scrap then a home. The clashing colors and how every nook and cranny was packed just made everything nausiating to her. She looked franticly for Annil so she could get out of here faster, she assumed he wouldn't be far from the plaza as she started almost running around, searching for him.

Almost quite literally, she would bump right into a towering Agatrop that let out a loud huff of air that blasted against her face. It seemed that she had blubbered right into his way, nearly causing him to trip over her. Slowly, he turned his head down at her, towering over the comparatively diminutive kurlak.

She quickly stepped back a couple paces as she looked up at the Agatrops. "I-I'm sorry about that, sir." She then turned to look around above her to see if she would run into anyone while flying. Clearly that wasn't an option because of how tight everything was. It was really making her miss her home and how everything was wide open and optimized for someone with wings.

The Agatrop stared at her confusion for a moment before clearing his throat in a loud growl and reached behind himself. Before Tanya could possibly have the opportunity to produce her rifle in defense, he seemed to reveal but a simple bowl. It was rather deep and rather bumpy- making it clear that it was a homemade product- and was painted with an imprecise but caring hand.

"Care for a bowl, ma'am," He asked in a voice that sounded more like a statement than a request as he held the bowl out in both hands, "Made here in Froyt, five-K. It's good for food... spitting... holding things... decorating." Closer inspection would show the pack strapped to the Agatrop's back with the words 'POTTERY SHOP' painted directly onto the fabric.

Tanya, being more intmidated into the decision then anything, produced her drive to pay for the painted bowl.

The Agatrop snarled into a smile, gingerly handing the bowl to Tanya before taking the drive and plugging it into a port in the side of his pack. After which, he held it back out to the kurlak with a slow nod. "Thank you for your business, ma'am. Don't put the bowl in the dishwasher. Have a good day."

Tanya opened her mostly empty bag and put the bowl in a spot that should be padded enough to keep it from breaking and slipped the drive back into her coat once again. "Um, sir. Do you know where someone by the name of Annil might be?"

"... Don't you work for him? You're a courier, right?" The Agatrop questioned, pointing a clawed hand over to and near one of Tanya's wings.

"...Y-yeah? I think I do. I just got here," Tanya replied.

"Oh, I see... Don't worry, I know how to get to the post office from here," The Agatrop slowly assured, turning around and lumbering away as he gestured a hand for Tanya to follow, "I live next door to it. Annil's a nice guy, doesn't shoo me off for it."

Tanya followed him toward the post office, thankful that someone knew where to go. "Do people usually shoo you away?" she asked.

"Wasn't always," The Agatrop muttered as he stomped down the street, "Plugged up an air leak with my head 'til they could cover it up proper. Haven't been able to think as good after, lost my real work and then my house. Had to camp in alleys, but people don't like that much. Annil lets me stay in his alley."

"Oh.. Well at least you have some place now, right?" said Tanya. She wish she had some better words for him in that moment instead of the most generic cookie cutter thing possible.

"... I did say I live next door to te post office, right?" The Agatrop replied, though it almost sounded like a question, as if Tanya's response had made him doubt if he actually divulged that information or not.

"Yes, you did say you live next to the post office." she reassured.

"Good... Not sure why you'd be askin' that then," The Agatrop remarked, not catching on that the kurlak had been trying to comfort him. "Ain't so bad though... Think I like makin' bowls more than bein' a guard."

"Your bowls are quite pretty." Tanya admitted as she tried to pay attention a little more and not run into stuff.

The Agatrop slowly turned his head to look down at Tanya with a sincere smile before reaching into his pack for a moment. He produced a cup made in a similar fashion to the bowl he had sold Tanya earlier. "Here, I make cups too," He chimed, handing the cup to the kurlak, "Don't tell nobody though, but... They're just tall, skinny bowls."

"Thank you, I'll be sure to take care of it." She said with a giggle as she slipped the cup into her bag as well.

Soon enough, the two would arrive at one of the larger buildings of the shanty town, painted primarily with a dull blue. There was a large painting above the front door depicting an envelope with two wings coming out of either side, but otherwise no words to indicate any brand name for the office. Compared to many of the smaller abodes thus far, it was a sizeable complex with four windows on either side of the front door, and its height extended above Tanya's line of sight where a different building hanging over the street blocked her view.

"Well, here we are, ma'am. If you ever need any more bowls or other pottery, I'm in that alley right there," The Agatrop said, pointing to a narrow passage between the post office and another nearby building.

"Thank you, and I'm sure I'll eventually need another bowl," Tanya replied with a little wave as she walked into the post office. The lobby was rather small, and on either side of Tanya were hallways that branched off to sets of doors to rooms yet unknown. Directly in front of her, however, was Annil himself sat behind a desk going through paperwork with a grumpy expression that seemed rather typical for the insectoid by that point.

His eyes lazily glanced up at the door, doing a double take before he looked up proper with a sigh. "It's about time you got here," He grunted, heaving himself out of his seat and spitting in a nearby bowl- it looked as if it were made by the same Agatrop Tanya had spoke to. "C'mon. Unless you wanna pass out on the job, we better hurry this up so you can get to your room and get some shut-eye," He said, waving the kurlak over with little explanation further as he shambled towards one of the hallways.

Tanya prayed she wouldn't mess up horribly and die or something on day one. The fast pace of whatever Annill was going to be showing her did not help any worries she had going forward. At that moment, she figured saying nothing was the best option as she quickly followed behind him.

Annil abruptly stopped outside a door with the number ***37*** etched into it. A few of the other doors nearby looked more secure than door 37, and a small few even had been painted over to look nicer, replaced entirely, or even had some small designs painted onto and around them for a little personal flair.

"Here's your room. You want a lock, buy one yourself," Annil introduced, pushing the door open without the need for any sort of actual mechanism, revealing the door handle was quite literally just a handle affixed to the door. The room itself was very cramped. It was only wide enough to fit the admittedly long bed inside of it, and long enough for someone to take a few steps inside before hitting said bed. Beside the door was an empty shelf for the kurlak to put whatever she might like on it. Above the shelf was a clock hanging from the wall, a few buttons on its side to change the time or set an alarm.

There was a thin slab of metal affixed to the wall by a hinge, allowing it to be pulled down and used as a makeshift desk while one sat on the bed. The desk looked already pulled down. Atop it, there were a few blank sheets of paper, some crude coloring instruments, some tape, a few writing utensils, a small music player, and a little basket with some snacks and assorted treats. "Few of the other couriers pitched in to get you this stuff," He explained, gesturing a hand to the goodies on the desk, "Let you spruce the place up a bit. You're allowed to get fancy and do whatever like some of them that painted around their doors, but I'm not getting involved in any graffiti disputes. Bathroom's down the other hall, toilet painted on the door."

"Okay, I'll uh, be sure the thank them and all," She said as she looked around her small room and grabbed the pen she had in her bag to write 'buy lock ASAP' on her wrist as the thought of someone just waltzing in was not appealing. She could hardly imagine what this would be like for a male kurlak in all their nine foot, six winged glory. Probably hard to stretch out their wings and all but they probably found ways around it.

"Housing's free as long as you work. Water's free, but if we go over the limit, I shut it off for everyone," Annil continued before tossing a few papers onto Tanya's desk with a huff before placing a small package atop them with a little more care, "Papers got your schedule tellin' you when you need to get up and get movin'. You're gonna be delivering this box here to Tulip- that and a few crates Ham's gonna be loading on your new ship. Simplest job we got."

"Okay... I uh... I haven't actually been a messenger for the UGPS for more than a month and I-I haven't flown a ship in almost three years now." Tanya said with a nervous look on her face.

"Well, some encouragement for you to get this right then," Annil huffed, a frown forming on his frown upon realizing his fresh meat was even fresher than he initially thought, "You screw this up, and the folks on Tulip might not survive. So you better start dreaming of flying ships because you're gonna be flying one tomorrow, and you're gonna drop off cargo to the planet. I don't have time to walk you through flying a ship and licking an envelope closed like I'm training a toddler to piss in the toilet. Now get to sleep so you don't pass out on the wheel and crash the ship into the town."

Tanya felt like she was going to be sick. Out of every job she could have gotten, she just had to get the one where people's lives are on the line. Hopefully whatever ship she would get would at least be simple to understand. She didn't say anything more to Annill as she stepped into her tiny room and put down her bag. She picked up the schedule and took a good look at it before she took the tape and put it on her wall.

With that, Annil turned away and reached to close Tanya's door. As he shut it, he hesitated for just a brief moment as he glanced up at the kurlak before letting out a quiet sigh as he shut the door fully, leaving Tanya alone with her thoughts.

She gathered up the various gifts left for her on the desk and put them on the shelf for safe keeping. After she opened her bag and placed the plate and cup stacked on top of each other also on the shelf where she could see them to add a little color to the room. She got her pen again and wrote down 'get some pjs' as she realized for the time being, she only had what she was wearing. Tanya flipped the desk back up and flopped down on the bed, praying to Veeris in an attempt to prevent things from going horribly wrong in the morning.

## Chapter Two - *The Off Folk Went Down to Tulip*

Tanya, to her displeasure, had woken up again. She peered over at the clock on the wall and groaned when she noticed the time was an hour and a half before her shift even started. No matter which way she turned, or fluffed her pillow, or repositioned her wings, it just didn't feel right. Knowing that if she slept then that she would most certainly be late, she sat up and stretched out her wings as best she could and left her tiny room to go take a quick shower. Even a quick shower could take away some of the stress, she thought.

"You're up early," Annil spoke up the instant Tanya had stepped into the lobby towards the bathroom. He had his legs propped up on the desk, and he was surrounded by just as much paperwork as there was before as he scribbled something onto a clipboard's document, "Just don't get tired on the job." He didn't even look up to Tanya as he spoke, too preoccupied with his own work. He was wearing the same clothes she last saw him in, implying that he either had a very limited wardrobe, or he hadn't slept at all.

Tanya jumped a little when Annil spoke to her before just sighing and continuing to the showers. She didn't even bother to hold her wings correctly around her wasit as most Kurlak women do but rather just let them just droop down in what would look like an uncomfortable position. She didn't really care as she hadn't seen another Kurlak this whole time, so being judged for not having the most proper of manners right then wasn't really crossing her mind.

Thankfully, it didn't seem Annil cared either- or perhaps he just didn't notice given how busy he was. Sure enough, the bathroom Annil mentioned the day prior had a toilet so tastefully painted on the door, complete with stink lines. Upon entering, it looked as though Tanya had managed to catch one of the other Kurlak having just finished their shower. At least, she was pretty sure he was a Kurlak. It was hard to tell with the lack of wings beyond the small nubs and scars on his back as he was in the middle of drying his hair in front of a mirror while quietly humming a tune, oblivious to Tanya's presence.

Tanya, upon realizing there was what seemed to be a male Kurlak in the bathroom, straighted up and held her wings properly. Her face turned a bright red and she wasn't sure weather or not to be embarrassed by catching him naked or horrified by his lack of wings. She couldn't even bring herself to move as she awkwardly stared at him.

After a moment, he would finally turn around and stop in noticing Tanya. "Oh- Uh, hey. You must be the new one Annil just brought in, right?" He greeted as he casually brought the towel down from his head to cover himself up.

"Y-yeah- I got here y-yesturday" she stuttered and almost sighed in relief as he put the towel around his waist. She wanted to ask about what happened to his wings but thought that would be rude. After her three month trip here, she had forgotten just how much bigger men got then her and it was almost intimidating how much taller he was. "I-I'm sorry, I should have mentioned m-my name. I'm Tanya, n-nice to meet you."

"I'm Kang," He greeted in turn, smiling down to Tanya with a much more calm demeanor than herself as he offered his hand down for a shake, "I think I saw your name on the schedule. You're supposed to wake up an hour from now, right? I get it though. It was pretty hard for me to sleep right when I first got here- pissed Annil off a lot with that." He let out a small chuckle as he shook his head at the thought.

"Yeah, it didn't feel right and my wings couldn't stretch out properly and such," Tanya said before she realized it may have not been the best idea to bring up the wings or lack of wings, causing her face to turn a bright red once more from the flood of embarrassment that came back.

His smile dropped in realization of why Tanya must have been so nervous as he gave a glance at his own back. "Oh, right," He hufed before waving a dismissive hand at her as his smile came back, "Don't worry about that. Most of us have managed to keep our wings here. Annil might be a jerk sometimes, but he takes care of us pretty well."

"I'm g-going to be honest. I-I'm not even really a messenger and I don't know very much about what I'm supposed to do. I haven't flown a ship in a while now," Tanya confessed. Her look of embarrassment turned to one of great shame, guilt, and fear while she thought about how wrong this could go.

"Ah, don't worry about that either. I'm sure a few here weren't messengers either," Kang shrugged in response, "Annil always gives an easy job first time around. The ship's are pretty basic too... Maybe a little *too* basic if you ask me, but I guess there's no bells and whistles that would confuse someone who hasn't flown much."

"Well at least there is that, I guess" Tanya supposed. She really wanted to give him a hug and be held and feel safe. She couldn't help but try and hold back tears as she tried desperately to gather herself. Since landing, it had been one big event to the next and all she had was herself. Everything was new and unfamiliar, and it was terrifying. When Tanya was on the ship, she thought she was prepared. She thought that things would be just fine but now she wasn't so sure about any of that. She didn't care that he was just wearing a towel or had no wings anymore, it was just nice to be in the presence of someone who understood and felt more like home. "I-if you ever want to talk again or anything, I'm in room 37."

"If we both get good schedules for it, I'll be sure to drop by," Kang assured with a nod before stepping past Tanya towards the door, "For now though, I gotta hit the hay. Just got back from a two day delivery job, so I'm beat. Good luck with whatever Annil's got for you!"

"Thanks, have a good night!" Tanya said with a little wave. She looked around for a clock in the bathroom. She wasn't quite sure how long was acceptable to use the showers considering that water was limited. Eight minutes seemed like an okay time, she thought as she looked around to see how everything worked.

The shower was definitely the right decision as Tanya felt her muscles relax and that weird, grimy feeling was gone. The shower was thankfully not that difficult to figure out but that seemed to be in line with just about everything there being as bare bones as possible. After carefully drying her wings, putting her hair back up in a tidy bun and getting dressed in her lovely, colorful coat, she felt her stomach rumble. Assuming that she had to find some food herself, she hurried down the hall to grab her stuff. Before she stepped into her room, she took a moment to pass by the other doors and admire all the little personal touches left by the others.

She took a quick look at her schedule once more before she put her messenger bag over her shoulder. She peered over at her rifle leaned agaisnt the wall as she tapped her foot on the floor before she grabbed it and slung that over her shoulder as well. Stepping back out of her room, Tanya headed towards the front desk while she messed with the position of her rifle to be properly between her wings. Once she arrived at desk that was more akin to a mountain of paper, she sighed and looked at Annil. "Hey, uh, what's around here anyways?"

Annil slowly looked up from his paperwork with a somewhat confused expression. "What... What's around- You need to be more specific, Tona. You're in a town on a space station. There's a lot of things *around*," He sternly replied.

"Well, in this case, a place to get a lock and somewhere to find a decent breakfast. Maybe some other useful spots I should know about and my name is not Tona, it's Tanya" she clarified.

"Most shops are closer to the plaza up front- that big open area in this section near the docks," Annil answered, "There's a few different places to eat. As for a lock, you can probably get one at some general store, try asking around if not. I don't bother buying locks, so I wouldn't know." He simply shrugged as he finished before looking back down to his paperwork.

"Okay, thanks," Tanya sighed as she stepped out into the very cramped town and headed down towards the plaza. There was a lot to look at- almost too much- but she kept her eyes peeled for any shops that might have what she was looking for. She felt her stomach growl once more and decided breakfast was more important at the moment.

After some searching for the plaza, without a guide in the still-unfamiliar town, Tanya would end up in a small, rectangular clearing in the mass of cobbled together homes and shops. She found herself seemingly flanked on all sides by the latter, most of which had one wall completely open to try and better entice people to peruse their wares or, more relevantly, eat their food. There were also a few stands haphazardly strewn about the clearing, making the small commercial area far less organized than the plaza. Even still, there was a small band playing music in the center of it all, though their sounds melded with the stereos of shops the closer one got to them. It was a noisy mess both visually and auditorily.

The amount of stuff that was happening in one place made Tanya's head hurt. However, she pressed on in search of a place she deemed decent enough to eat in the small clearing. She passed by each of the shops and scanned them over for something more familiar to her for breakfast while she watched where she was going. She didn't find anything she recognized unfortunately and just sat down at a shop that seemed to serve something nice.

It would be a few moments before what looked to be a Drelnar approached Tanya with a small clipboard in hand. She was dressed just like anyone else there with little indication that she actually worked at the establishment Tanya chose at near random. "Howdy, sug', what can I get ya?" She asked with minimal enthusiasm.

"Oh, uh, can I get a tea, two eggs, bacon and toast, please," said Tanya with a little smile. She kept her wings much closer to her back then usual and carefully studied the others in the area. She looked down at herself and felt a wave of nervousness wash over her as she sat there.

After the Drelnar finished writing down the order, she looked back up to Tanya and asked, "How'd you like your eggs, hun?" While it was pretty clear to her that Tanya wasn't in the best of moods, she was too busy to sit down and have a talk with her, especially when there were already others waving to get the Drelnar's attention.

"Over easy, please," replied Tanya who had grabbed her charm out of her coat to hold while she waited. Her shoulders relaxed a little while she felt all the different patterns carved into the metal.

"Sure thing. It'll be out in a minute," The waitress assured with a quick nod, giving Tanya's shoulder a single pat as she walked off to address someone else's order after sliding what was presumed to be Tanya's oirder on a counter where two cooks were working in view of the patrons.

She continued to look around, only then noticing just how different things were there. It was obvious as soon as she stepped on the ship, but she noticed there were layers to how things were set up, down to the choice of painting they chose to put on the wall. As much as things were different, this was her life now and something in her gut wasn't so sure about that.

It would be about ten minutes before Tanya's food was ready, but the waitress had been attentive enough to bring a glass of iced tea to her small table in the meantime. Eventually, the fooditself would arrive. While few things were visually impressive on Froyt Station, the same could not be said about the food which smelled just as delicious as it looked. "Anything else I can get ya, hun?" The waitress asked as she set down Tanya's plate in front of her.

"No, thank you," Tanya said as she picked up her knife and fork. She stared down at her food before shrugging and eating it without a fuss. It was a relief to not have her stomach rumble in protest.

As Tanya would enter the docks, she would almost immediately be met with a wave from Laetibe at her small bar, attracting the gaze of Ham who seemed to be having a drink with the Aoshanti. "Well, well, well, if it ain't Ms. Manual Controls! You're gonna love the ship I pulled for you, 'cause it's got nothing *but* manual controls!" He exclaimed as he hoisted himself up from his barstool.

It took every ounce of willpower to hold back any select words she may have to say to him as he made fun of her remark from the day prior while giving a little wave back to Laetibe. "Great, amazing even, lets get this over with," grumbled Tanya.

"Aw, come on, don't be like that," Ham scoffed with a shake of his head as he gestured for Tanya to follow him, "I know it ain't some UGPS penthouse suite, but these folk've put a lot of hard work into Froyt, you know. You'll get used to it. Hell, you might even 'ppreciate it... You'll definitely like it here a lot better than *Tulip*, that's for sure... Can't believe Ann's sent you there for your first delivery."

Tanya felt her heart drop. She knew things wouldn't be easy but now it felt like there was a tonne of bricks on her shoulders. "D-do you have any advice?" she asked as she followed behind Ham.

"Uhhh... How much you got in that rifle there?" Ham asked, pointing a finger gun at her firearm as he led her towards one of the extended airlocks open in the dock.

"Uhhh ...Two magazines worth. That's all I was allowed," Tanya replied, now feeling more dread wash over her as she didn't think she would actually need her rifle just yet.

"Two mags doesn't tell me nothin'. There could be six bullets, hundred bullets, thirty *watts*. Whatever, just keep it close and mind the locals," Ham suggested as they both stood in front of the airlock as Ham put his hands in his hips, "When we settled Froyt, we divided up us from the folk that were a bit... off. The *off* ones went down to Tulip. I mean, they named an entire planet after a flower, so that tells you everything from the get go, right?"

"Yeah, I thought it was a pretty unusual name. A joke even," Tanya responded "But, uh, how *off* is *off*?"

"It varies, really," Ham answered with a shrug, "Planets are big places. All the off folk settled different areas on Tulip. I know the coordinates you're goin' to, but can't right remember what town is there. I'm *pretty* sure you're headed to the ones that actually named the planet, so... Pretty off, I'd say. Just don't agitate them and you'll do just fine. Ann told me you were a bit braindead in the ship flying department, so I left you a manual... And don't worry, I wrote it. It isn't some ten thousand page textbook with only five useful pages scattered 'round inside of it."

"O-Okay, I'll read that. It's just been a while since I've actually needed to use a ship," Tanya gulped. Many thoughts were going through her head about every small thing that could ruin everything and her head tried to file everything away in a desperate attempt to collect herself.

Ham looked over Tanya for a moment before letting out a sigh and patting her shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do just fine. Don't overthink it. Fly the ship down, land near the town at the coordinates, deliver the crates and- you got the box Ann gave you, right?"

Tanya pulled her messenger bag up to pull it open where the box was safely stored in one of it's compartments. "Yes, it's right here."

"Good," Ham asserted with a nod, "Yeah, just take that and the crates on the ship where they need to go, then fly the ship back here to Froyt. Don't feel ashamed to fly it real slow... I mean I'll be laughing at you if I'm still here when you get back, but getting laughed at is a lot better than killin' everyone in the docks, right?"

"I guess, yeah. I just need to remember how and all, I think," Tanya figured.

"And if you do crash, try to crash on the planet, not Froyt," Ham joked as he pat Tanya's shoulder again before pushing her towards the airlock, "Now go get 'em! Don't forget to close the airlock and wait for me to pull it back before you fly off!"

She nodded as she walked down the airlock to her new ship. Tanya was very sure it couldn't get worse then the windowless ship she was stuck in as she stepped inside and took a look around.

The ship provided to her made the ship she had been banished in look like a luxury cruiser by comparison. While it was bigger than her room by virtue of it being a cargo shuttle, it was still a rather cramped space. It looked to be just one room that made up the ship with an airlock entrance that she was walking through and another in the back to load or unload cargo, of which there were two carts with four crates stacked up on each.

Between the 'cargo area' and the pilot's seat, there was a toilet against the wall with a table that could swivel out from the wall in front of the toilet. The toilet cover was padded, indicating it was Tanya's only seat besides the pilot's seat, which at least looked comfortable enough. There was one section of the interior hull covered with a thick plate of metal welded into place. The controls for the ship looked extremely barebones. While there was a rudimentary navigation system, it looked like the ship had but a single, weak laser to work with as a weapon. Upon closer inspection, it didn't even look like there were any controls for a quantum breach drive, not that the shuttle looked like it had one.

"Oh sweet Veeris," Tanya mumbled as she looked on in horror. She grabbed a pen and scrap of paper from her bag and scribbled down 'get basic cleaning supplies' as she headed towards the pilot's seat and sat down, fixing her coat in the process.Taking a look at the controls, Kang had been right, too simple. Even the most basic of ships used at the UGPS were more complicated then this. She opened the manual just to double check she knew what she was looking at before she closed the airlock.

From the small windows of the ship, Tanya could see the accordion-like tube that connected her ship to the station's port slowly shrink away, leaving her floating in space. A careful squint of her eyes would allow her to see Ham watching from one of the windows at the port, waving at her before giving a thumbs up. At that moment, it seemed she was entirely on her own save for the advice given in the manual.

Tanya took ahold of the controls and tested to see how this ship even ran. The ship might have been simple but that would mean nothing if the ship handled like trash.

At the very least, the controls seemed responsive- if not a little sensitive as the ship immediately lurched forwards as soon as Tanya nudged the flight stick forwards even a little. In addition, the roar of the thrusters made the entire craft shake upon their initial firing up, and the entire ship very audibly hummed to life.

She jumped a little in her seat as she was jolted forward before she took a deep breath and reminded herself that this was even more simple then what she learned on. This time much more carefully she pressed forward on the stick and double checked she was headed in the correct direction.

It didn't seem like there were any ships ahead of her- a kind gesture from Ham to let her leave the station more easily. Sure enough, Tulip was a pretty hard planet to miss. While the basic navigation systtem directed her towards the planet on a small screen beside the window, Froyt Station was quite literally orbiting it. As for the specific place on the planet she needed to land, the screen flickered a few times as it showed a small image of Tulip with a bright red dot indicating where she needed to go. Beside the image was a more detailed set of data such as the specific coordinates along with her own coordinates in relation to the planet. Tulip itself seemed like a nice enough planet to live on. While there wasn't much land, what there was looked pretty enough from space.

As she followed the direction of the red dot, she couldn't help but hear Ham's word of caution about the inhabitants of the planet as she looked at how beautiful everything was from above.

## Chapter Three - *Basic Instructions*

Soon enough she would make it to her destination and almost too carefully landed her ship. Tanya leaned back in her seat and sighed while she prayed to her god that things would go smoothly. She double checked her rifle and grabbed her bag before she hit the button to open the back hatch. It stalled halfway through opening as a small valve let out a sharp hiss. After a moment, a piece of metal fell out of place before the hatch finished its opening, laying down against the ground like a ramp. Upon closer inspection, the piece of metal looked to be a coin that had somehow gotten stuck inside of the door's mechanisms.

Outside the ship, Tanya would have a surprisingly pleasant view. While it was certainly no metropolis, the Kurlak was greeted by a small hamlet of a town. There were a few small prefabricated buildings in the center of the village surrounded by shoddier homes clearly built on-site. While a few people glanced her way, most of the townsfolk seemed too busy with their own matters to pay Tanya much mind.

Tanya stepped out of her ship, looking around before she looked back at the crates in the back of her ship and pulled out the package that she had in her messenger bag to see who it was adressed to.

The package had a few fields written on its label from the name which read 'Orchid' to the address which detailed a shack with several red flowers painted on its front located near the center of town. It seemed that the village did not yet have any actual addresses per se, and relied instead on the descriptions of buildings. On top of the crates was a small pad- a manifest- that gave the same delivery instructions with a little more detail, showing a small picture of the client. She looked human, red hair, brown eyes, and rather tan. As well, it specified that she required the client's signature when dropping off the cargo and package at the shack.

This town was nothing like back home with how much it seemed to be patched together. Closing up the back of her ship, she headed into town to see exactly where she was to go. At the moment, the people seemed rather calm, not anything like she imagined it to be. She almost felt bad that she was carrying a weapon through town when it seemed like everything was fine. Some houses- if she could even call them that- didn't seem very safe and from what she could tell, there weren't any real shops either. Annil mentioned that this deilevery was a matter of life and death and it really made her questiton just what she was bringing here because so far nothing looked wrong. Eventually, she would arrive at the shack in the description. She knocked on the side wall, hoping she wouldn't have to go all around town to find her.

"Oh, hey! You're the delivery guy, right?" Chimed a sudden voice from behind Tanya before a man quickly stepped into view with a quick wave and a bright smile. Like many of the others in the town, he was dressed in hide clothing made from the local wildlife, although he was one of the few who looked clean shaven.

"Yeah, I-I am. I'm looking for the person that lives here actually. Do you know where to find them?" She asked with the best fake smile she could muster.

"Oh, her? Ah, yeah, she's my wife. She's out right now though. Fishing, I think, but I can go ahead and take these boxes," He assured with a wave of his hand as he slapped the top of one of the crates with a cheerful demeanor, "Gotta get this stuff distributed ASAP, after all. Thanks for getting it here."

"Y-you're welcome, this also arrived for her" She said as she pulled the package out from her bag along with the manifest to be signed, handing them over to the man. "Can you also sign this for me please?"

"Oh, yeah, no problem!" The man chimed with an eager nod, taking the pad from Tanya and quietly humming to himself as he looked it over with a slow nod. "Contents of the crates unmarked... Good. We're a privacy-concerned bunch here on Tulip," He remarked with a shrug before scribbling down a signature onto the pad before handing it back to Tanya, "Hey, and you tell them guys up there I said thanks too, you hear?"

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell them." Tanya said with a wave as she took off to enjoy a moment of her gift of flight before landing back at her ship. Her wings felt much more stiff then usual but it was still a relief to fly again. She couldn't help but smile a little at how smoothly things went this time as she waited for the door of her ship to finish opening. Still, she wondered why these people were such a concern. Boarding her ship, she pulled out her pen once again and jotted down on her wrist 'Ask a few questions'. She sat in the pilots seat once more and with a little more confidence, took off back to the station.

As Tanya returned to Froyt, Ham was still there, waiting to greet her with his arms out wide. "Look at that!" He proclaimed with a laugh, "You didn't crash, the cargo- I'm assuming- was delivered! You didn't crash- again! Easy as pie, and lookin' at you, it seems like the locals didn't give you any trouble none, huh? You better head off to Ann and give him the good news."

"Everything was delievred and no one really seem to even care that I was there. The one person I did talk too seemed overly happy though," Explained Tanya. She waved to Ham as she started back towards the post office "I'll definitly go tell Annil about my return, I need a nap anyways I think."

"Oh, howdy, Tanya!" Laetibe called out from her stand with a wide wave of her hand to get Tanya's attention, "Guessin' the delivery went good, huh? Need a drink? Bite to eat?"

"Yeah it went just fine. I'll be back later for something to eat, just have to report back." She said with a small smile before she continued walking. As she reached the post office, she looked in the alley to see if the Agatrops was around.

Sure enough, the Agatropian claymaster was there. There were a few chairs, a large mattress on the floor the the Agatrop himself was sleeping on top of, a miniature fridge, and a hotplate. Beside the bed was a footlocker with a small lock keeping it shut. There were a few multicolored lights hanging from strings connected to either wall of the alley, giving his home a sort of festive feel to it despite it being a homless put-together in an alleyway.

Tanya was a tad jealous that the Agatrops had a better place to live then she did and she wasn't even homeless. Noticing he was asleep, she left the alley and went into the post office.

As expected, Annil was at the front desk, still sorting through paperwork and fiddling with a number of touchpads at his disposal. He stopped to glance up at Tanya as a bit of minor surprise crossed his expression. He glanced over at the time on one of his pads before letting out a, "Huh... You made decent time. Good job." He pulled himself up in his seat a little before hjolding out his hand, "Alright, hand over the manifest and the delivery's complete. Not so bad your first day, huh?"

Tanya pulled out the manifest from a little pouch on her bag and handed it to Annil. "No, probably because no one cared I was there. Based on what Ham told me I was sure something would go wrong"

"Yeah, told you I'd give you an easy one, right?" Annil scoffed as he took the manifest from Tanya. He looked it over before reaching for one of his pads with his free hand, "I mean, whatever Ham said, he was right to say it. Huge bandit problem on Tulip... Clan wars too. I sent you to a quieter spot. It's got swamps surrounding it, so it's hard to charge the place."

"I'll keep that in mind. Probably should get more bullets too. I wasn't allowed to bring much. I'm going to go rest for a little while. See ya." Tanya said before starting off towards her room.

"W-Wait, hold on..." Annil quickly piped up, still looking down at the manifest and his pad as he glanced between the two.

"...Yeah? What is it?" she asked.

"Was the client alright when she was signin' this? Her signature's all sloppy compared to how she usually does it," Annil explained as he held up the manifest and the pad for Tanya to see. On the pad was a series of signatures all looking roughly the same and contrasting against the one on the manifest.

"She wasn't in town when I arrived. Her husband was though, he signed it. I'll look next time though if I messed up." She explained.

Any hint of satisfaction from Annil's face evaporated before Tanya's eyes. A mixture of frustration and dread came over him as he slowly looked down at the manifest before dropping it entirely, letting it clatter onto his paperwork before he slammed his fist down onto his desk in a violent outburst. "Orchid doesn't *have* a husband!" He shouted in fury, "And even if she *did*, I gave you *specific* fucking instructions on the manifest! Get *Orchid's* signature! ***Orchid's!***"

"And I knew nothing about the client or how anything works there." Tanya quietly said. "You can doc my pay or whatever. I fucked up, I know that, but I also hadn't done anything like this in years. I was lucky to even be able to have a ship simple enough to get there or else I don't know what I would have done."

"That wasn't luck, *I* made sure Ham got you an easy ship to fly!" Annil snapped before his hands frantically scrambled against his desk to grab the manifest and hold it ouit for Tanya to see as he stepped around to practically shove it in her face. "And you knew nothing about the client!? How about this!? Her face! I gave you a picture of her fucking face! Right there! And above it! Instructions to get *her* signature! Do you even- *Fuck!* Didn't I tell you that the people there might *die* if you screw this up?! Well, I couldn't have predicted that you couldn't follow basic instructions! No, now, they *will* die! Guaranteed! They would've been better off if you just crashed your damn ship! But now you gave away fucking ***artillery shells*** to Rhya-fucking-knows-who!"

"People already have died because of me. Do you even know why I'm here...?"

"No, I don't care!" Annil interrupted with a wave of his hands, "I don't give a single shit about your backstory or this fucking pity party you're about to drum up right now to distract from your screwup! Now you and me, we are going down to Tulip to *fix it* before that entire fucking town is reduced to *rubble*. Do you understand!?"

"Okay and if we fail I'd rather you just kill me. It would be better that way." She quietly said.

"Oh fuck me, of course I get the god damn drama queen- Come on," Annil groaned as he gestured for Tanya to follow as he stomped out the post office doors, "For two fucking seconds can you get your head out of your waxed and polished asshole and think about the bigger picture here? Do you think planets like Tulip show up out of nowhere? Or Froyt? Do you think this shit just sprouts up overnight!?"

"No because until now I've never left Veer. I never knew anything else. So how would I know." she replied as she followed behind him.

"I don't know, maybe basic fucking common sense?" Annil scoffed as the Froyt resident gave him a wide berth as he marched forwards and into the port. Ham glanced up from a plate of food at Laetibe's bar, about to greet Annil with a smile before spotting Tanya in his tow.

"Oh... No... Something's wrong, h-" Ham started.

"Not now, Ham. My ship. It good to go?" Annil questioned, not even stopping as he marched towards one of the airlocks connected to what looked like a proper small corvette, dwarfing Tanya's ship in size as they headed to the far end of the port that she hadn't had the opportunity to visit. It seemed Annil's ship was one of the few of its size allowed to dock directly with the station.

"Uh- Uh, yeah- Ann, what's happened?" Ham asked as he quickly followed the two.

"Shithead handed out artillery shells to a random asshat pretending to be Orchid's husband," Annil explained, jabbing a thumb back at Tanya before slamming his fist against the panel to open the airlock that connected to his ship.

Tanya didn't even look up. She knew everyone would probably hate her when she returned, it was pointless to try and change that now. She almost wished she got the death penalty instead of being sent here, at least then she wouldn't ruin things more.

Ham looked to Annil with surprise before glancing down at Tanya. Annil was already marching through the airlock, grumbling to himself. "Hey, uh... Tabitha, was it?" Ham spoke up in a quieter voice, "Hey, look... I... I know how Ann can get, just... Try not to take it too personally, alright? Just fix this, do what he says, and this'll blow over, got it?"

She nodded and followed Annil to his ship. Tanya was surpised she hadn't broken down yet and prayed she wouldn't until this was over.

Immediately, Tanya was made aware of just how impressive Annil's ship was compared to hers with the size wasn't indication enough already. While it was pretty utilitarian in its facilities, much like Annil himself, it was clearly built to last and perform with excellence. It even took going through a hallway before the two arrived at the ship's cockpit featuring three available seats.

"You, left seat behind mine," Annil ordered as he shuffled to the seat front and center, slamming himself down into it. Even the controls of his ship looked top-notch, even by Tanya's own standards as what looked like a wall in front of the seats lit up to reveal it was, in fact, a screen showing the view in front of the ship- a big upgrade to a simple plane of glass separating them from the void of space. A user interface came to life promptly after as Annil shoved the manifest into a small port on his dashboard.

Tanya sat down and buckled herself in, not even bothering to really look at everything in his ship that was leaps and bounds ahead of her own.

*"Greetings Annil,"* rang a feminine, robotic voice as the ship slowly left the dock, presumably already clearing the airlock, *"It appears you are heading to Tulip and your heart rate is exceeding safe parameters. Did you remember to take your medication before procee-"*

"Shut it, not now," Annil barked, carefully floating the ship away from Froyt before propelling the ship forwards towards Tulip at breakneck speed, "Shirley, autopilot us to Tulip A-37. I'm taking Tona to the armory. When we land, you're gonna fly back up and keep an eye on ground-level."

*"Understood, Annil,"* The voice replied as Annil heaved himself up from his seat and gestured for Tanya to follow.

"Come on. You're gonna need better shit than that thing down there," Annil ordered as he left the cockpit, "Especially since we don't know where eight crates of fucking artillery shells ended up."

She followed, wondering what exactly he had planned. Hopefully she wouldn't be given anything too heavy. That and she couldn't help but feel irritated when her name was mispronounced once again. It was like adding salt into an open wound this time even though she knew he never had said it correctly.

It was a short walk through a few turning halls before the two came upon a set of much bulkier doors. Given how they opened automatically as they approached, it could be assumed the ship's AI opened the doors for them- that or Annil didn't care about locks. What was inside was much more interesting than such a question as Tanya was met with several racks of arms. There were a few rows of neatly organized rifles all of the same make, a different sort on the rack beside them, and so on. It seemed Annil was always prepared to field a small army from his own ship with various rifles, carbines, sniper rifles, pistols, and so on- There even seemed to be what looked like a few rocket launchers, and as well a few crates labeled for the different explosives and grenades they contained.

As she entered the room, Tanya couldn't help but be impressed by the wide array of weapons. She thought back to her old life when she brought to a similar room and was given the rifle she has now and how many models there were just for the UGPS, so it was almost a surprise to see just how much varitey he had. Though she felt a twing of anger run through her when she realized he didn't know just how much more advanced her weapon of choice was from most of the UGPS.

"Take your pick. You got time since Shirley can't get us to Tulip any faster than she can," Annil sighed, immediately going for one of the sniper rifles he had along with a few appropriate magazines before going for one of his carbines, "... I trust you know how to actually shoot a gun, right? Or are you just as good at that as you are following basic instructions?"

"You really don't know anything about me, do you? I was a part of a special division in the military on Veer, that was my job. All I need, if you have any, is bullets that fit into a standard issue UGPS rifle," Tanya remarked.

"Now why would I have mailman bullets in my personal armory? You think mailman guns are just that popular across Aoshtai, that it?" Annil scoffed with a shake of his head as he set down a magazine and turned to look at Tanya now that he finally had the time to elaborate his thoughts, "Out of every mailman that's ended up on my doorstep- *and you're not the special one that's the only not-mailman either*- You are by far the *most* in-your-own-world I've met. I tell you an entire town of people might be fuckin' *dead* because of what you did, and your immediate response was 'Oh I haven't done this before! Harrumph! Just dock my pay- *Whatever*!' If you really were in the military, I'd expect you to have even a single fucking *ounce* of understanding of what's going on right now- to at least *give a shit* enough to not try and go into fucking backstories and justifications! And then you stand here and you ask if I've got any of your fucking *mailman bullets* and get pissy with me because I don't know about your military background? As if that's more important than the *lives* at stake here? No, I don't know shit about you, and until you *show* me you're *worth* knowing shit about, I plan on keeping it that way."

"Fine then, just something similar, preferbly on the lighter side if possible. But don't think I don't understand shit or the severity of it all, don't think I haven't been through shit, there is a whole lot more I could say but you'll just come back around and use it to insult me," snapped Tanya.

"Look at that, she can learn after all," Annil gruffed with a shake of his head as he approached a rack. He glanced over to Tanya again, craning his neck to get a better look at her firearm before snatching up the same make of rifle he had grabbed for himself along with three magazines worth of ammunition. As he set the gun down on a counter for her to grab, he thought for a moment before shaking his head and groaning, "Fuck me... How can you be military and not know how to follow orders? And on top of that, be so naive to trust a random asshole calling himself someone's wife? Did you even ask for proof? See if he had the key to her house? Ask a townsperson to verify?"

"That's for another time, there is a lot more to it than you think," she said as she grabbed the rifle off the counter along with the magazines.

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this," Annil remarked before gesturing for Tanya to follow him out of the armory, "It's gonna take a few hours before we land. Knew we shoulda had Froyt orbit closer, dammit..." He quietly grumbled over the matter as they walked down a hall, "I can't imagine the folk of that town tryin' to steal Orchid's cargo, especially not from a Froyt delivery. Asshole had to have been fucking spying from the bandits."

Tanya just stayed quiet for now and reached into her pocket for her little trinket to hold, rubbing it between her fingers as she tuned out Annil for the most part.

Annil eyed Tanya as he walked before letting out a frustrated huff at her silence. "Real eager to tell your history, but what? Learning info on the town you screwed over not investing enough for you? Not a single damn question about who you just helped bomb a town?"

"Quit bringing up my history, that doesn't matter right now. Right now I'm trying to just not think about every tiny possiblity that could have happened until we get there and know what happened so I don't screw up more then I already have and actually fix this. From what I can tell, they are outsiders and a bunch of scumbags who intend to do awful things but other than that we don't know what we are going to find when we get there." Tanya said in a serious tone.

"What we find depends on how fast the asshole scampered off to whichever boss he works for," Annil muttered, "Original folk of Tulip are the bastards we had to kick out of Froyt. We woulda just killed 'em, but... I thought it'd be a... a chance at redeeming 'em... Stand them on a planet, let 'em settle down and have families... That kind of shit... Instead, the assholes who took charge fought each other over the supplies we left them. Now they're going after the good folk that've tried to settle there, pissed off that we kicked the bastards out, so they're taking it out on Juniper... That's... The name of the town." Annil almost seemed sad in his tone as he continued along, a contrast from his usual annoyance and anger.

"So... What this is a planet wide mafia?" asked Tanya. "If thats the case I never thought I'd get mixed up in something like that again but at least I have an idea of how they work now."

"Mafia's too fancy a word for a bunch of asshole bandit clans," Annil retorted with a shake of his head, "There's two kinds of people: People that create. That's us. Them? They destroy. For the bandits' sake, I hope that town is still standing, because I'm not giving them a second chance."

"Well, right now we can only hope." Tanya replied.

## Chapter Four - *Welcome to Grillsand*

As the two neared the small village of Juniper, its fate already was made apparent to both Annil and Tanya. Plumes of smoke rose high above what was mostly an assortment of ruins. While it was hard to spot details from their height, it was safe to say that the town had been decimated in the time it took to get back to Tulip. The bandits clearly wasted no time in seizing the opportunity provided to them.

Surprisingly, Annil didn't explode into a fit of rage. He stared down at the remains of Juniper in solemn silence as the ship slowly descended to land, taking up far more space than Tanya's shuttle had as it was probably just a few meters away from being too large to handle planetary landings. As the ship shuddered on its impact with the ground, they were both given a much closer view of the devestation of Juniper. Most notably, the entire village seemed empty. There were a few bodies near the edges of the town, positioned in such a way that they died either in a firefight or were subject directly to artillery bombardment.

The inner village itself seemed completely devoid of anyone, corpses included.

"... Come on," Annil muttered as he unbuckled himself from his seat and reluctantly shuffled to his feet before marching away from the cockpit, "Gotta look for survivors."

Tanya nodded as she unbuckled herself and quickly took off her coat before grabbing the gun given to her by Annil. She followed him to the door while saying a prayer in her head for the town in hopes that maybe a miracle would happen and make things just a little better.

As the two stepped out of the ship's airlock, Annil grabbing a first aid kit off the wall and tossing it back at Tanya as he went, the silence of Juniper was near deafening save for the small fires that still burned in a few of the larger buildings that had since collapsed in on themselves. Annil looked over to the poor frontline that some of Juniper's guards lay, then to the town itself before pressing on towards Juniper's center in silence.

It took every bit of willpower Tanya had to keep pressing forward. She couldn't help but wish she wasn't so careless or even just not arriving here at all, that some accident had prevented her or that her punishment was never changed. She made a mental note that if she could, later she would bring something to more properly pay her respects.

It would be a few short minutes that seemed to drag on for hours as the duo shuffled deeper into the ruins of Juniper. There were telltale signs of just how much work was put into building the community that were barely visible through the rubble and soot, details Tanya missed in her hurry to finish the job and leave. A small flier littered the ground near one home, advertising a town-wide musical event set to take place a week later. There were two small, knocked-over goals along with a leather ball abandoned inbetween two piles of rubble. There was the occasional string of small, colorful flags strewn about, no longer connected by the once-proud dwellings of Juniper. In some respects, the village likely mirrored Froyt Station when it still stood.

As much as she wanted to tear her eyes away from the now destoryed town, she couldn't help but keep looking on in horror. The silence was beyond deafening at this point and so far, it seemed like it wasn't going to get any less quiet as she noticed the lack of life in the town.

While the few prefab buildings in the center of the town seemed to still stand somewhat tall, even they had mostly collapsed in on themselves or had holes directly blown into their sides. Even still, "This ain't right..." Annil quietly muttered as they continued, "Where is every..."

He was cut off as he suddenly stopped in front of Tanya at the corner of the prefab ruin they were beside. His strength seemed to visibly escape him at whatever was ahead out of Tanya's view around the building. However, only a few steps forwards revealed what had frozen Annil in place.

While it was certainly nowhere near the entire population of Juniper, there was at least half an answer to where the village's residents went. Corpses had been haphazardly and disrespectfully tossed on top of one another into a large pile in the center of town. It seemed there was little discrimination in who the bandits chose to kill- likely anyone that proved to be in their way of sacking the village. Most disturbingly, they threw the youngest of their victims on the top of the mound of bodies, likely to send a chilling message along with a more literal one stabbed into a sign post nearby:

*To Froyt*
*We want a ship off this planet. Everyone you don't see here is in the Grillsand Clan camp. You have one week to get us off of this shithole before we burn every single one of them alive.*
Tanya stood silently next to Annil as she took a small piece of white cloth out of her pocket and folded it into a little flower before she knelt down for a moment to place it infront of the bodies and said a quiet prayer in her native tounge. She took note of the faces of the former residents of the village and how disrespecfully they had been laid to rest. As she stood back up, she brushed her knees off, in the back of her mind hoping Annil wouldn't get upset with her for taking that small moment for a prayer.

"... At least it's something," Annil muttered in regards to Tanya's prayer, slowly shaking his head before looking to the demands stabbed into the sign post once again. "... We can't let the rest of the town be slaughtered... Even if it means letting these pieces of shit fly off Tulip," He determined after a moment of thought.

"...Yes but wouldn't that give them a chance to attack the station?" Tanya quietly said, "...I know you said they aren't like the mafia and this probablly is a stupid idea but I assume they still have a boss or someone in control, they won't last long without one I assume."

"f we take out their boss, a new one takes his place," Annil retorted with a shake of his head, "Even if that takes time, they'll all still want the same thing... Getting off of this planet. As for Froyt... Dammit... They'd think it's us heading back if we gave them my ship. We'd have to fly back, get a different one, fly here again... I don't want to risk those fucking animals killing off a few hostages just for the fun of it in the meantime..."

"Well... It seems that leaves us with one option which is in a sense, giving them a taste of their own medicine." Tanya replied, "It's risky as all hell though. I assume it's a rather large group? Well, anything is large when you're outnumbered so don't answer that one."

"A taste of their- Wh- Tanya, *no*," Annil quickly shot down her implication, "If a single one of them gets shot, the whole camp will be on us. More importantly, they'll be on the hostages. I'm giving them my ship, and that's that. I'm not risking anyone else from Juniper dying today. These assholes are evil, but they're not stupid. They won't attack Froyt and have every ship in the system on them when they haven't even established themselves off of Tulip yet."

"That's fair, I didn't think of that. The problem then becomes, how are we getting back?" asked Tanya.

"I'll send a message from the ship before we fly to Grillsand. Ham should be able to pick us up," Annil explained before slowly turning away, "... Take a good, long look before you follow me out to the ship, Tanya. I don't want you to forget Juniper... Not just so you don't fuck up again, but because nobody else is going to remember it." With that, Annil started off away from the center of town.

Tanya had already promised herself she wouldn't as she looked on towards where she had set the little cloth flower down before slowly turning away and taking a closer look at the town as she took her time with her walk back.

The brief trip to Grillsand was, as expected, quiet and tense. The ship would pass over a small swamp that merged into a forest that then tapered off into a rocky desert separated by a small ridge of mountains. The aforementioned camp soon came into view, looking a very different make than the once-thriving Juniper. Palisade walls marked the borders of the camp sectioned between short lookout towers. Large tents made from the hides of animals made up the majority of the camp's buildings surrounding a central metallic structure likely built from scrap metal.

Most notable other than the camp itself was its population. It certainly did not look like such a relatively small encampment could hold the sheer number of people flooded about. There were a large number of wagons and tamed animals surrounding the camp's perimeter. The ex-residents of Juniper were easy to spot, the lot of them being packed into a small, fenced-off area surrounded by guards armed primarily with crossbows. In fact, much of the camp possessed little in the ways of technology past even gunpowder save for what they could get their hands on from elsewhere such as two artillery cannons surrounded by small stockpiles of shells. Only a small few of the bandits at the camp wielded actual firearms.

"... It's not just the Grillsands," Annil realized with a look of horror, pointing a finger down to the various banners hanging from wagons or logos painted directly onto them, "He's brought every fucking clan together for this... He's taking them all off-world..."

Tanya looked down at where Annil was pointing, it didn't take long before she felt as if she was going to be sick again and prayed things went somewhat smoothly, even if it was just this once. She noticed the lack of really any firearms and thought back to the armory with it's array of various weapons and how the door seemingly did not have a lock. "...Annil, please tell me you have some kind of lock on the armory door." Tanya squeaked.

"Even if I did, they'd still have access to the ship's weapons... And plenty of time to break whatever lock I'd put," Annil sighed as the camp's inhabitants almost all looked up to Annil's ship, watching it slowly land with intense glares. "... I'm gonna assume you know how to take apart your gun," He stated as he reluctantly peeled himself from his seat, "Gonna want to do that now and stuff it deep in your bag. They'll take it otherwise."

"Y-yeah, I know how. Hopefully, this goes even a little okay," She said with a sigh. Tanya clearly had taken apart her gun more times then she probably should have as it took mere seconds break it down and set its components in a small, hidden compartment at the bottom of her bag. She took a couple deep breaths, walked over towards the door, and waited for Annil.

Annil, however, remained still for a moment as he considered his next move. He was unmoving, silent as he stared out at the viewscreen to the camp outside of the ship and the people of it. "... Just... Go on ahead to the door if you remember where it is. I'll... I'll be there in a minute, Tanya," Annil requested.

"...Understood," Tanya said in a rather quiet voice before she walked down to the door and waited, trying to keep her emotions in check as she told herself repeatedly that she could get upset later and that maybe it would eventually be okay. No matter how hard she tried, she kept thinking back to the ruins of the town and how it could have all been prevented if she just wasn't so stupid. Knowing it wouldn't look good if she broke now, she stuffed her emotions into the back of her mind for the time being and managed to keep a neutral expression for now.

She would be left waiting by the ship's exit for what must have been five or so minutes before Annil came trudging down the hall with a small, metal box weighing down his hands. On closer inspection, it was clearly some kind of storage device that was promptly shoved into Tanya as he gruffed, "Put this in your bag. Let's get going before they get suspicious."

Tanya put the box in the main compartment of her bag next to her neatly folded coat and took another deep breath as she prepared herself for the worst.

"Now... We're just gonna walk in, they take the ship, and then we make sure the Juniper people are okay, alright?" Annil reminded as he opened the door, letting in the sweltering heat of the outside that made the name 'Grillsand' very apparent, "Don't get all jumpy or anything or you'll make them nervous. Just... Stick by me and stay quiet, that's it."

"Got it..." Tanya replied as she felt sweat already forming on her face from the intense heat.

As the two stepped out of Annil's ship that creaked and groaned under the gravity of Tulip, all eyes were on them as a single individual eased his way through the hungry-eyed mob. "We-hehehell, well, well! I didn't think *you* would come down here in person, Annil! Welcome to Grillsand!" Scoffed the approaching man. He was definitely human, and even more definitely in his later years- or perhaps life on Tulip had taken that much of a toll on him.

More notable than his age, however, was his attire. The man had long since abandoned whatever clothing he arrived on Tulip with in favor of a homemade duster crafted from the hides of Tulip's wildlife decorated with two large skulls of different sapient species on his shoulders. He carried a sword whose blade was a large bone- a little over two feet in length- harvested from what was likely an Agatrop's carcass, swinging it loosely in his hand with a casual demeanor. "Almost feel like guttin' ya all things considered... Could do it too unless you're hiding an army somewhere... But... Then ya'd lose them Juniper folks, huh?" He sneered before pointing his sharpened bone at Tanya's face, "Who's this?"

"She's ju-" Annil started.

"Shut the hell up! I was asking *her*!" The man interrupted with an abrupt shout, nearly whacking Tanya in the middle of his outburst.

"Then you should've fuckin' said- Fuck it," Annil grumbled quietly to himself as he shook his head. He lightly slapped Tanya's arm, signaling her to introduce herself before the bandit lost his temper yet again.

"I'm Tanya," She stated in a voice that matched her deadpan expression. In her head she prayed no more questions would be asked but she had a feeling more might come. The large crowd before her was more than just intmidating as she fought every urge to run or do anything that might cause more trouble.

"Well, pleased to meetcha, Tona," The man chimed before haphazardly tossing his sword Tanya's way, "Hold that for me, will ya? My wrist's gettin' sick of the damn thing." There seemed absolutely no concern on his end with giving a weapon to his enemy. Then again, it was likely the hostages of Juniper inflated his confidence as he gestured for Tanya and Annil to follow him.

"Let's get a move on," He ordered as he turned away and strutted in the direction of the Grillsand camp and its large crowd, "Since you're here, Annil, I wanna introduce you to all the people you and those Froyt fucks screwed over."

Tanya quickly stepped back as the sword hit the sand in front of her before doing as the bastard said and picking it up off the ground. It took her a few moments to balance herself while holding the weapon in a way the blade wouldn't cause her harm. She felt more anger boil up inside her as she followed Annil and the man into the camp. She wasn't his pack animal nor did she want to help a man who targeted the village in the first place but if she ever wanted anything good to come of this she knew that complying with his orders was the only option.

"Hey everyone!" The man called out to the mob as he stifled a chuckle. A few others further in the camp had meandered forth to get a view of what was going on as he gestured both of his arms back to Annil and Tanya. "Look who we got here! None other than Annil! Now, I know some of y'all were born here, so maybe this just looks like a random asshat to you, but *this* here is one of the dogs who stuck us here and left us to die out. Now already, I can see some of ya gearin' up to tear his head off..."

He went silent for a moment, letting the thought linger long enough for at least one member of the crowd to step forwards in eagerness to do just as the man suggested. "*But!*" He quickly interjected, "That'd be mighty dishonest of us, wouldn't it? I mean, we're just here to do a lil' trade of people and a ship. See, Annil. Unlike you Froyt pieces of shit, we're not slimy."

"You know damn well why we had to put you on Tulip, and we sent down upp-" Annil tried to argue, but was silenced by a hard smack that sent him to the ground.

"You shut your damn mouth!" The man screamed, reeling his foot back to deliver a kick to Annil's gut.

Something in her snapped and before she knew what she was even really doing, Tanya threw down the sword and jumped in between that bastard of a man and Annil. The man stopped, blinking for a moment as he stared at Tanya in what seemed more like confusion than anger. "... Wh-... What are you doing?" He asked before gesturing his hand down to Annil, "I'm tryin' to kick Annil. You're in the way, move it."

"No, I won't move. I won't let you hurt him. You can hurt me all you want but not him!" Tanya growled. She started almost shaking with anger as she looked up at him and stayed in place.

While the man seemed unimpressed by Tanya's noble act, he did admit, "Guess I admire the heroism, but I don't really give half a shit about you. So I can hurt Annil, or I can hurt the Junipers. Guess I'll leave that choice up to you."

Tanya looked back at Annil in shock. She didn't understand what good would come from hurting those people from Juniper. They didn't deserve this but they were here because of her and it made the sting of the choice she had to make more painful. "What... what do you want me to do?" she asked Annil.

"Just... Just move," Annil grunted, but looked up in confusion as the man held up a hand.

"No, don't bother. Y'all took the fun out of it, the moment's passed," He grumbled with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Just get up off the ground already, fuck's sakes." Annil looked absolutely bewildered by the sudden change in intent, but didn't argue as he slowly picked himself up off the ground only to be swiftly kicked as the man let out a hysterical laugh.

Annil was sent back to the ground as the man supported himself on his knees, still laughing as he shook his head. "Oh, fuck me, you stupid ass!" He croaked amidst his laughter, "Pfft- Man, oh shit, oh... You know what? I'm glad you got in the way, Tona, that was great. That was like... Formulaic comedy or some shit, hilarious."

Tanya just stared at the man in disbelif. She remembered Annil and Ham saying the people on Tulip were weird but until now, just how off these people really were didn't show itself and she really wished it had stayed that way. Every idea she had of how this would go was thrown out the window as she realized she wouldn't be able to predict anything but rather hope and pray things didn't get worse.

The man sneered down at Annil for a moment, soaking in his percieved act of justice before making a hand motion at Tanya. "Hey, Tona, pick up my sword and hand it here. I don't know why you'd just go and throw shit like that on the ground. You think bone swords just grow on trees?" He scoffed, "'Cause even if they did, there ain't a single tree here."

As she picked up the sword once more, Tanya did not turn her back to him before handing it to him. She felt her heart race when the feeling a dread flooded through her. Not armed he could clearly do some damage to someone if he so pleased and with Annil on the ground she couldn't help but feel giving this man back is weapon was a mistake,

"She's good at fetch, at least," The man mused as he looked over his bone sword for a moment, inspecting it for any damage from Tanya's rough handling of it. After a moment, he seemed satisfied with its state before addressing them, "Well, as much as I would *love* to stand here like an asshole for the next five hours, I've been sick of this backwater shithole as much as everyone else here."

With that, he turned away to address the mob with a triumphant raise of his sword and shouted, "The time has finally come, everybody! After all these years, we can put aside our stupid shit differences and get the hell off of this planet! Now, once we're off, you'll all get the choice of sticking by me, or fucking off to do whatever the hell you want elsewhere. Unlike those Froyt bastards, I'm gonna give you a *choice*. Now load up! Let's get the hell out of here! Take a few Junipers for insurance!"

As the mob roared in cheering and celebration, the crowd was quick to disperse and flood towards Annil's ship. Men, women, and children gleefully made their way to the escape presented to them. Much less enthusiastic was the small group of Juniper hostages shoved along by some of the few among the bandits with firearms.

"Wait, what?!" Annil cried out, quickly forcing himself up onto his feet, "You didn't say shit about *insurance*, Harry! What was all that bullshit about not being slimy, huh?!"

"Don't you dare compare me to you rat bastards," Harry snapped, waving his sword back at Annil and slicing through the air in front of him, "We get up into orbit and then we get shot down, or maybe you rigged the ship to explode, or there's someone in the ship waiting to ambush us. I don't know what bullshit you might pull, so I'm getting some *insurance*. The Junipers will be shot out in an escape pod once the ship's good to jump out of the system."

"Don't do this," Annil begged, "You-"

"And why not?" Harry quickly shot back, "Y'all got some scheme, huh? Something you want to admit?" Annil went silent and eased back with a sigh.

"... I just don't want anything happenin' to them... At least be decent enough to not take any kids. They're scared enough as it is," Annil requested.

Harry glared back at Annil for a moment, but it seemed there was enough humanity in him for him to call out to those escorting the small group of Junipers. The children among them were ordered back to the pen where the rest of the hostages remained.

"Annil" Tanya said quietly, "You could ask him to send me instead. It's not fair for them to be forced into more of this."

"... It's like he said... He doesn't give a shit about you," Annil disagreed with a shake of his head. He seemed significantly more solemn than he had before they stepped off of the ship, especially as he glanced between the five hostages being brought aboard his ship as well as the children of the bandits, "Just... Let's go make sure the Juniper folk are alright, okay? Just focus on that right now." He winced as he stepped forwards, holding a hand to his stomach as he slowly made his way into the camp that was quickly being abandoned.

She followed behind Annil toward the people from the village. She could hardly bring herself to look at them after everything she saw in Juniper. She took note of how Annil was holding his stomach and almost asked if he wanted help with that or if there was anything she could do until she realized he would reject her help anyways at that moment.

A few of the faces in the hostage pen lit up upon spotting Annil and Tanya approach, even if most only recognized Annil and the others only knew Tanya from passing glances. The camp was littered with belongings left behind by the bandits that had been so eager to leave Tulip- even their animals sat in waiting for them. "Oh my goodness... Annil... You have no idea how glad I am to see a face from Froyt," A woman cried out from wthin the pen. As happy as she seemed to see them, she and the others were still obviously weathered from the attack on Juniper. As much as she tried her best to smile, she seemed on the verge of tears regardless of who came to see her.

"Why did they do this, Annil? Why would they... Theyt were just shooting people in the middle of town. And- And there were explosions and-" She started before Annil held up a hand to quiet her.

"I'll explain it all later... For now, just... Old mistakes, and we'll leave it at that," Annil answered as he fiddled with the rope that tied the pen's gate shut, "I'm sorry all this happened, Orchid... But we'll try to make it right as best we can."

Tanya stayed silent as she held back all of her emotions. It was her mistake that landed them here and it was pretty obvious to anyone with a brain. Eventually she managed to say, "I'm sorry," but nothing more at the time.

Soon enough, the gate was freed as the Juniper hostages could slowly file out into the rest of the camp. Meanwhile, Annil's ship roared to life and was quick to ascend into the sky. Unlike many of the Junipers, Annil did not turn his head to look. "We'll be able to get all of you offworld if you'd like... Settle you down somplace else," He offered.

"... No... I... Thank you, but no," Orchid rejected his offer, "Even if... Even if this planet's gonna have some bad memories... Tulip's home... And I wouldn't want to leave our dead behind."

"Annil... Can I take a minute please?" Tanya asked.

"... Yeah... Yeah, you ca-" Annil started, but was cut off by a loud crack that was immediately followed by a nearly deafening explosion. One did not even need to look at it to see the light it cast, blanketing the entire landscape in white as the star Tulip orbited suddenly seemed very dim by comparison for just a brief moment. As the world around them faded back to its regular colors, the sky above the camp was still on fire as streams of smoke flew off in different directions, following chunks of debris that either fell directly down towards Tulip or were sent into its orbit. While Annil had jumped at the initial explosion, he had eased into despair far too quickly compared to the continued panic and shock of the Juniper peoples.

Feeling tears stream down her face as she looked up at the explosion, Tanya couldn't help but feel like that was her fault too. When she noticed the tears running down her face, she quickly turned away and tried to find a more secluded place from everyone else, eventually hiding behind one of the large tents. She finally let the dam break and let herself get upset, sitting down and almost hugging herself with her wings as she cried.

As Tanya left, she could hear Orchid's confusion followed by furious screaming, questioning Annil on what had just happened. She wouldn't be able to hear any of his responses, if there were any. The continued rumble of the explosion had finally died down, and all that was left were the sounds of the recovering Juniper townsfolk and Tanya's own sobbing.

"Thanks again, Ham... I don't know what we'd do without you," Annil sighed as him, Ham, and Tanya stood in the middle of the dockyard on Froyt. While Ham would have normally made some quip about Annil losing his beloved ship, it was very obvious that it was not the time and place for such joking around.

"Yeah, uh... Yeah, no problem," Ham assured with a slow nod, "Figured you two needed help... We could see the lightshow all the way from here. I won't ask questions, but I'm sure the rangers will when they get here. The new ship's on me... I'll, uh... I'll let you two... Yeah." The portly man cleared his throat before awkwardly stepping away, leaving Annil and Tanya be.

"I-I'm... I'm sorry... for everything... I shouldn't have been so careless ...and well ...you already know. I-I think I just... need some time and... Um... What room is Kang's?" said Tanya who had tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Kang?" Annil questioned, looking at Tanya with a confused expression for a moment before slowly shaking his head at himself and sighing, "Room 13, but... Look... Before you head off, I wanna tell you something."

"Yeah? ...What is it?" Tanya asked.

"... I don't want you blaming yourself for all this," Annil admitted after a moment to put his words together, "... You screwed up with the package, sure... But... I was an asshole. I didn't bother to teach you anything, I just gave you a package and said 'go here'... You can't be blamed for screwing up something some asshole made you do that you've never done before... So... I'm sorry for putting you through all this... I really am."

"...No this was both of us ....I didn't help with how I was acting myself and really I still should have been more careful. I was banished here, this is my punishment and I was mad and I was mad at you and the world and just everything and it made me just as careless as you. ...Even with my lack of experence, it doesn't exempt me from reading instructions. ...You still did give me a place to live and a job and such and I do have to thank you for that." She replied.

Annil didn't seem to know what to say, simply standing there for a moment as he took in Tanya's response. Eventually, he would slowly nod before starting off, bringing a hand to pat Tanya's shoulder as a gesture of approval as he left.

Tanya took her time walking back to the post office, giving a little wave to Laetibe at the bar on the way. She looked towards the alley the Agatrops lived and made a note to pay him a visit later before stepping inside the post office and heading towards room #13, knowing full well he might still be out on a job but it was worth seeing if he was around anyways as she gave a knock on the door.

There was a brief silence followed by a muffled, *"Coming! Just... Gimme a second!"* There was a faint shuffling from inside the room and a few tired groans before the door to the room opened to reveal a very tired Kang. "Huh?" He mumbled, confused for a moment before shrugging and letting out a, "Heeey... Tanya, right? What's up?"

Tanya didn't care anymore as she gave him a hug like she was clinging onto him for dear life. "...A lot of things, Kang... Too many things."

Kang nearly took a step back in surprise before slowly bringing his arms down to wrap around her back, taking care not to ruffle up her wings in the process. "Hey... Hey, it's, uh.... Did... Do you wanna come in and sit on my bed or...?" He was obviously not expecting this, but was willing to try and comfort Tanya with whatever was going on.

"...Yes please ....and if you make any trips to Tulip ever ...Well ....I-I don't think those will happen very much anymore," She said. As Kang hugged her it was clear that Tanya took comfort in that hug.

Kang looked down to Tanya with some concern, but said little as he gently lead her over to his bed, keeping her close as he set the both of them down to sit. "I... Ju-... Just tell me what happened, okay? It's... It's alright."

She snuggled close to Kang as she started telling him the events that lead to the destruction of Juniper and eventually the deaths of almost everyone on the planet, all the while thankful for having someone to listen to her. Tanya prayed that from that day on, things would get better, not just for her but the remaining members of Juniper and that those who were lost would be remembered.