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## Chapter 1 Act 1

"New Vini, the place where people come and go from nothing, to something pointless.", Noxu whispers in the crowd, his voice muffled lightly by the helmet. It's the streets, of course it was crowded. With towering buildings three times the size of the ones once on Terra. Street rats where occasionally encountered; most of the streets had a reputation of thieves.

"Mister!", A small Sharzern boy comes up with large eyes, "Have any spare Credits?"

Noxu pauses for a moment, considering the question; then turning away silently: not answering the question. *I know their type, getting money out of people.*He thinks with no empathy.

Walking from the opposite direction was a Minabi who was older than he needed to be. Unfortunately he lived his life in the wrong place to acquire any practical wisdom. The crowded streets were a place he was used to, but maybe the people smelt different. The tall buildings that flanked the street had more floorspace than he could possibly imagine.

"Please?" asked a little Sharzern begger boy, "Have any spare Credits?"

Telasero dug into his deeply lined and rough pockets, he pulled out a single credit and held in front of the boy's face, because when you are down and out, the one random kind act of stranger is enough to make your day.

"Geez mister is that all you got?" asked the boy.

"When I grew up, I would have loved to be have been given the choice to beg" Telasero bent down to tell the boy. The boy wasn't too interested and had already ran up the street planning on how to spend his credit.

Benjamin is in his room, legs crossed, and mumbling in some gibberish sense of words. Trying to recall what his sensei said:

"Turn your attention inward now... inside your imagination. As you relax, mental clarity increases. Memory improves. Focus on your abilities and your skill of learning. Imagine feeling calm and confident, eager to learn. Feel the joy you experience at succeeding in learning a language..."

Before he can even finish recalling his memory, his cuckoo-clock rang. Benjamin opened his eyes, and stretched his arms wide. He picks up his glasses an looks at the clock.

"Lunch? Well, that was quick..."

He quickly change his clothes, put on a hoodie and takes his phone and leaves his house.

Minatos Gordem sat in the corner of a very nice pub. In fact, one of the best on the planet. He ordered one of the most expensive drinks: a Terran wine from thousands of years ago. He didn't have much respect for history or tradition, so the bottle would disappear from existence within an hour. Well, unless you count it soon to be in a latrine. Anyways, having spent his fresh bonus from his last job, he leaned back in his chair and relaxed. This was the life.

XC-65 Altair exited the laboratory. He was given an order to patrol around a rather dangerous area, known for it's abundancy of thieves and beggars.

"MORNING, SIR.", He said to a guard when leaving the laboratory grounds. He went to the docking station and entered the Himmel III assigned to him. He activated 'Cruise mode' and flew to the city. He parked the vehicle and started his patrol.

Oluru was in deep contemplation when he received news of a deadly explosion at one of the basilicums in which the Multidaeus held meetings; 300 patrons had been killed. His immediate reaction was anger; who would dare to attack the sacred space of the Multidaeus? However, this thought was quickly crushed. He began to run through a list of possible reactions to the explosion. Public outcry at the death of fellow sentient beings? Blame placed on the Multidaeus for the death of innocent civilians? The victory over common sense of conspiracy theories involving sinister Multidaean plots to destroy the galaxy? Or, perhaps worst of all, complete ignorance by the galaxy's inhabitants. Any of these could cause problems for the Multidaeus. Perhaps more outcomes would be discovered as evidence came to light. Who had planted the bomb? Had any notable people been killed in the blast? How many civilians were killed versus worshippers of the Multidaeus?

A door opened across from where Oluru was sitting, and a man in long robes entered. For a moment, he was silhouetted by the lights shining from the hallway, but the light levels quickly equalized and the man was revealed to be Soram. His long brown robes were uncharacteristically dull in this lighting, but the sparkle of the gold highlights was still visible. Oluru gave extra effort to control his unnecessary bodily movements; among members of the Multidaeus, perfect stillness was a highly valued and respected trait that displayed devotion and presence of mind. Soram recognized the effort being displayed by his disciple, but he could see the shortcomings. The young Sharzern was still so early along his journey to eventually become a leader, but he displayed every quality that was desired, albeit not as strongly as he would once his official training period was over.

"Your reactions were excessively emotional. We can feel that emotion, in fact we *must* feel that emotion that comes from news such as this, but we must react appropriately at the time. Emotion has a time and place, my charge, but you must learn to identify that place and to effectively control it," Soram instructed. "Since that has now been said, you can be informed that your process of thinking was exemplary. You considered all of the options in an effective ordering."

Oluru was confused at first, but slowly realization came to him. He had received the message informing him of the destruction of the basilicum only because Soram wanted to know how he would react. It was a test, and somehow his mind had been invaded. Oluru could feel anger boiling within him, but then he remembered the instructions he had just received, and he quelled his anger, instead considering what implications this ability could have. What this meant for his future, if every one of his thoughts was monitored.

"Are you still angry?" asked Soram.

"No," replied Oluru, truthfully. Soram nodded and was happy. Influence was working just as it always had.

Docking Area:

Izuna was just getting off of a cargo ship from her last assignment. Her clients had requested for her to kill a Razaak, a large herbivorous creature native to several planets far from here. Apparently it was eating all the fruit bearing trees and trampling things in its path, so it was Izuna's job to put it down. They needed the body to be transported back here as proof that she did the deed. She approached her client, a human male appearing to be in his 30's, about 6'2 and semi built. "Target shows no vital signs sir." Izuna said in a blank tone. "Yes, yes. Here's that mineral you wanted. You said Cinnibellum right? That'some pretty easy stuff to find on certain planets so..." The client seemed to be confused as to why Izuna would want an ore that is somewhat common, but decided to just hand it over and walk away. Izuna walked the other way and sat under an overhang from a building.

Altair was still patrolling. He didn't have a whole lot to do.

*Nothing to do?* Noxu thought for a moment, scanning around before catching onto a large docking bay. *Perfect. There better not be any terrible space crafts up there.*Considering the concept of stealing one; he's had enough of this city, better for some action. Attempting to act as non-conspicuous as possible while going through the narrow tunnel to the bay, only a few were there, lowering the risk of possibly raising suspicion .

It’s Benjamin’s turn to order now.

Benjamin:"One bowl of Flat dry noodles, and also some chilli..."

Waiter:"Hey, it's you again bro!"

The people who works here know Benjamin. Even the residents near this area.

Benjamin had been coming here regularly since the shop opened 5 years ago for cheap Chinese eats. And it’s also one of the most popular restaurant ranked within this area. People not just came here for the price of the food, but also for the fast service. You want a plate of Fried Rice? No problem. Two minutes should be enough for the chef to serve it to you. And 4 credits should be enough for an average meal here.

Benjamin likes to sit alone on the bar chair at the corner of the restaurant. Sometimes, due to the number of customers coming here everyday, his friends invite him to sit by his side. His friends like to chat a lot, too. Benjamin chat so much that the main purpose of coming to the restaurant is forgotten.

The chef also respects Benjamin as one of his greatest customers. He also serve him special treats and delicacies, for free.

Telasero crawls under his ship and into the airlock. It's not the most elegant way to get into a ship, but the tiny rust bucket wasn't designed for luxury. Climbing up through the airlock, he swiped his keycard to engage the power. The whirring fans of the life support tried to start up but took a few whacks to the console before they span at a constant speed.

He slunk into the right hand seat to check the craft's inventory. Oh good, they had loaded up the scrap and had even magnetically sealed the aft door. There was a professional service at this spaceport, he liked coming here, it's a shame not every port in the star region was this classy.

He slunk into the other seat to activate his message centre. He had four messages, one was a generic 'thanks for visiting New Vini West Spaceport blah blah blah', one was from the Scavenger's Union, reminding him that his annual subscription was soon to expire, he had have to reserve some credits from his next payday. It's not something he wanted to do but it was worth it. His third message was from Dubeck. He sounded like he was coming down from a high, he sounded paranoid about a missed delivery and how he really needed the credits. Telasero sent a quick message in response, something along the lines that the delivery had already been made and would be returning soon. His final message was wondering if he needed Multidaeus in his life. He had it as background noise while he rolled himself a nice smoke, he knocked back and relaxed. For now, life was quiet, he had a few credits in his pocket and he was enjoying it that way.

There was a loud noise on the side of Telasero's ship. It seemed to be that of a small child trying to get attention. But it was K, wanting to ask a question. The sound of two people arguing could now be heard outside his ship. It was K and a man yelling at him to stop banging on the door. Slowly the conversation began to stop, but then there was a loud thump on the ground.

"...郊外ライン。Next stop is: New Shinjuku. Change here for..."The intercom now broadcasts in english.

"It's my stop now."Benjamin says to himself.

It's Saturday today, people are bringing their children out, and they also rely on public transport. Especially trains.

And Benjamin had to cram into the trains with the others.

New Shinjuku is not just the busiest train station in New Vini, it's also one of the densest and the populous city in the southern area.

And Benjamin's house is also at New Shinjuku. The area is also patrolled and guarded by police and wardens, so Benjamin has nothing to worry about.

His neighbours are also friendly. Not like those barbarians which people would expect during the night in the market.

Telasero was disturbed in his drug-fuelled day dreams by the sound of clanking on his ship. He peaked out his window to see who it was was, there he saw two men shaped blurs arguing. They were ruining his vibes and needed to go.

He opened his airlock and climbed down out of his vessel, his final drop was enough to sober him up a little. He crawled out from under his ship and approached the bickering men, "hey you two, what's going on?".

K was standing in the doorway, and the man seemed to have the needle from a taser stuck in his chest, and he was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious.

**"Ah yes... hello, sir..."** K looked at Telasero. **"Running Message XB-74."**

K began to blow a strange white, and started speaking.

**"Greetings, [Insert Name Here]. I am K. If you are receiving this message, I am happy to meet you. I have spent all my years looking for a new master. Recently, I found you. I have spent the past few months looking for you, and calculated that you'd be here where you are now at this exact time. Now that I have introduced myself, I ask you to please introduce yourself."**

"No no no" Telasero quickly replied, "I don't need a droid, look at what you've done". Telasero quickly went to the stunned man, he seemed to have passed out. "Listen, I don't need any attention". Security might come over seeing an unconscious man on the cameras, maybe taking a look around, maybe investigate, ask questions, maybe we should go... maybe quiet quickly. Unfortunately, Telasero is still quiet brain-melty to fly his ship. He had planned to sleep it off, but this incident had expedited matters.

"Hey, K, how are your piloting skills?" Telasero asked approaching K and nudging him the direction of the ship.

**"I am an expert level pilot in any ship model. Why do you ask me this?"**

He looked confused, and he looked over to where Telasero nudged.

Izuna noticed the strange white glow, expecting an explosion of sorts, but it turned out nothing interesting had happened anyway. *'Slow day today... Wonder if I should find a new client... No, I don't ask to do things, I'm asked to do things.'*Izuna continued to think to herself for quite some time, and after a while she decided to head back to her creator's lab to drop off the cinnibellum she had obtained. She stood up, and began walking towards the hub of the city.

"err... I don't know how to explain to a robot that is freshly programmed as yourself, but I'm kinda high" Telasero held up his shaking right hand, in case the droid didn't notice the twitching antenna. "My name by the way is Telasero... although if things go badly here, you've never heard of me".

Telasero ducked his head under the ship and crawled underneath. "...the airlock is this way"

K followed Telasero into the airlock.

**"You do not seem to be high in the air. in fact, you seem quite low on the ground. I shall scan you.."**

He attempted to scan Telasero.

"Low to the ground is where I like to be" Telasero said as he swipped his keycard for the airlock, a circular hole opened up in the bottom of the craft. Telasero climbed up the ladder, past the EVA suits and into the main cabin. He looked down the shaft to see if K was coming.

**"You're honestly going to let me scan you? A random servant robot you met just 3 minutes and 42 seconds ago...?"**
**"You seem to be very... interesting..."**

One of the main platforms. Crowded, with large crafts around, most are which heavily guarded. *,*Thinking, scanning the area. He spots a small, relatively shabby craft to the left,He wasn't very experienced with smaller crafts,No one seemed to be around it, or in it. Noxu approached sheepishly, glancing around.

Multus, who has just escaped the Lab, scans his surroundings. They are inside a rather dense forest on a hill, the lab is behind them. As they want to get out of there as fast as possible, they enter the electrical flow of the power cables going into the lab. Effectively moving to the main city where they arrive at the main powerplant. They are rather lucky, because it is night and no one is there. As they hover out, they see a Cat. Making the assumption that it is a rather local creature. They reshape themselves into an exact replica, except that they are made out of metal. After examining the movement of the cat, they move out and begin to explore the area...

\*STARTING UP REBOOT PROTOCOL\*

Altair's vision slowly activated again. He didn't know what just happened- how long was he gone, exactly? As he got the message that hiw mission was over, he returned to his Himmel spacecraft and returned to the docking area. He needed some repairs.

Telasero shouted down the airlock chute, "Are you coming up or not?" before going to the cockpit controls, he flicked various buttons and switches in an effort to get the ship in a mood to start flying. He knocked over a mug of some putrid filth in an effort to find the right screen to get feedback, luckily for the rest of the control, the mug was close to empty. "I could very easily leave you behind, I might even get into less trouble that way"

Soram ambled towards the main hub of activity on the station; this room was generally referred to simply as the Control room. Considering how empty the hallways were, it was evidently an uneventful day in the galaxy, which was good for business, but bad for religion. This was why he was not hurrying, however his walk was intentional.

Eventually, he walked through the opening created by two large, immaculate, sliding doors and he arrived in the mass of data terminals. The majority of the workers were humans. Soram walked over to one of the larger terminals located in the centre of the room, where a burly, gruff man was seemingly distracted from the data he was receiving. Soram was well aware that his distracted appearance was a ruse, or perhaps simply a subconscious reaction.

"Little uptick in crime 'round New Vini, but nothin' too major," the man said, not actually looking at Soram while he began to talk.

"Nothing to interfere with your trip," a woman pitched in. Soram nodded in response.

Multus who had infact seen some kind of robot waking up, followed the robot to a spacecraft and split themselves apart before entering the electrical current of the spacecraft. After a while the spacecraft stopped and Multus left the flow, in just some seconds they have reshaped into cat-form again. Looking around, they see that this place looks like a docking port. Multus is not 100% sure if it was a docking port, but the build schematics he was programmed with suggests so. Swiftly they begin to climb onto the railing to see better...

**"Very well. I am coming."**

He hopped into the ship, and seemed to *staple*his feet to the ground.

Noxu spotted an unconscious man nearby, lying on the ground. Nudging him with his boot. Nothing. *Now there's a chance something dangerous is in there*. he thought, looking up to see the only was in was underneath.*Fortunate...* thinking as Noxu took out a small cylinder looking item, twisting the tip of it- making four large metallic barrels roll out the sides.

"Shouldn't hurt...*much*." He whispered, stepping over the body lying on the pad. crouching to see where the door was exactly located at.

Fellatia awoke from her slumber.
She was cold, but the pod she was staying in had kept her alive and somewhat warm. She looked around slowly, her eyes adjusting to the light. Outside was Ranger, his solar panel deployed. He was still on high battery, but he liked to stay on top of things.

Slowly arising, Fellatia put on her weather suit and exited the pod. She was on Lapetus, in one of the most remote areas to be found. Scavenging had taken her to far places indeed over the last two years.

"Ranger, have your sensors detected anything I need to worry about?"

"Negative, area is clear of animal life, and you know I would protect you."

Fellatia smiled at her companion. "Are you ready to go out then?"

"Affirmative, battery is at 98%"

"Alright then, let's go."

Fellatia and Ranger began walking west, the frozen dirt crunching under their feet. They were looking for old ships, perhaps evidence of the first explorers from Terra. If she could find some old Terran weapons, especially lethal ones, she knew her power and living expenses were paid for. At least for awhile.

Yvonne steps out of the Launch Pad at Horizon. She goes to the market.

*Not a chance to fly this rust bucket*. Noxu thinks, hesitating before going out the back. The unconscious man was gone. Assuming he's waken up, Noxu walks down the high platform steps, leading to a larger one with a small building and several ships docked there. The plating covering the platforms were nearly black, with light blue lines going in random directions. Any other ships without security at all? One thought was in his head. Not today. He would kill to get off this planet, just too many people at once.

"This magic moment-" Cla-chink. The intercom turned off with its usual, strange sound. *I should check that out sometime,*Pat thought as he unlocked his chair and swivelled to face the exit from the cockpit. He seemed to pounce through the doorway; in earlier days with the ship he had learnt that standing in the cockpit was not advised (Unless you wanted a bruised noggin), so jumping from his chair into the wider body of the was his preferred exit strategy. Of course, Pat never would try to fix that strange sound of the intercom. It was part of his ship. The *Benny King*, vessel of the criminal "Trook". Pat snapped on his helmet and grabbed his gun from a latch on the wall. Mentally, he was still listening to the Drifters' song, and he waltzed down the hallway of his ship, moving in what he presumed was the way those singers would have danced. He passed by the first set of living quarters, the airlocks, and the second set. He slammed his gloved hand into a button on the wall, and the ramp began to descend. *Lapetus, the place where... Damn it, I don't actually know anything about this place.* Pat realized he had, once again, just gone to the place where New Vini mafia leader Nova Vinny (Yeah, like that was his real name) had told him to find "Something old, something new, something red and something blue". Pat (Or, as Nova Vinny knew him, Trook) had taken that to mean "I want something new for my "Museum". Give me something and I'll give you money." *Right, that's it. This is the place I'll get paid.*

Having now stopped his "dancing", Pat walked down the now-deployed ramp and was about to hit a button on his wrist when he realized, *Great. This is the ice age planet.* He had learnt about all the planets long ago, but this one had slipped out of his memory, briefly. *Should've just called it "Iceland"*, he thought, not realizing the reference he was making. Now he did press the button he had not pressed before, and the ramp on his ship began retracting, as the ship shut down to conserve energy. Pat removed a small device from a pouch on his suit, and after fumbling with a switch on the side he held it out as he turned a full circle. The device beeped and a screen lit up on the inside of Pat's helmet; this was one of his latest upgrades. The device had sent details on terrain, temperature, possible life forms, radiation, and a few other things that Pat mostly ignored directly to a display in his helmet. All of the data had been gathered from a set of lasers and lidars and other strange beams that emanated from the device when active.

POSSIBLE LIFE FORM DETECTED. NORTH EAST EAST. 2.5 KILOMETRES.

ROBOTIC FORM DETECTED. NORTH EAST EAST. 2.5 KILOMETRES.

POSSIBLE SPACECRAFT WRECKAGE DETECTED. NORTH EAST. 1.25 KILOMETRES. SPACECRAFT TYPE: UNKNOWN.

Pat contemplated the data for a moment. There appeared to be a robot and their biotic companion not too far from his location. A robot might be a good gift for "Nova". But that could also prove a bit problematic, and problematic was not what Vinny paid for. There was nothing else of excessive interest, but spacecraft wreckage, if unscavenged, could prove very profitable. If that wasn't enough, travelling towards the wreckage would also bring him closer to the robot. His decision made, and his target too close to waste energy and time flying to, Pat started the trek north east, aware that the biotic form and the robot had probably seen the *Benny King* as it entered the atmosphere. *If they haven't, then I can be sure they won't be a threat,*Pat laughed. His view screen said the walk should take him 15 minutes. His brain said it was time to play *Show me the Way...*

Fellatia had indeed noticed the the ship.
"Ranger, how close is that ship to our target wreckage?"
"15 minutes. We will arrive at the same time."
"Load your sentry gun, we will see what sort of creature this is when we get there."
"Roger that."

Upon exiting Himmel III, Altair's sound sensors heard a soft 'clank' as if something made out of steel jumped on something. He turned around, wondering what could've made that noise. A Terran who dropped his tools? A ship part?

He slowly walked back to the space ship and saw the glow of 'something' behind it. It was clear that there was an intruder sitting on the railing.

"... and off we go" remarked Telasero as the reactor jets rumbled into life.

He took a seat in the right seat, satisfied that his job was done. It was now time to close this airlock and see what this 'K' character could do. Maybe if he was good and not wanting to get paid, maybe it was worth thinking about keeping him on.

"Piloting and navigation is on the left side... or is it this side. I can't remember, also when you say you're a pilot, how are you at navigating?" Telasero said, getting to an interesting part of his drug-induced journey.

As he walked across the barren landscape, Pat thanked himself for adding heat regulation to his suit. The small view-screen in his helmet was displaying a temperature of -14°C. Inside his suit, it felt far more comfortable than that. With nothing better to do, Pat decided to scan his surroundings again. He re-removed the small, rectangular, grey device. This time, in the process of obtaining the data he performed a 360° jump which lead into the beginning of another series of waltzing movements, to the beat of another Ben E. King song. Gosh, he had the artist stuck in his head, and no one else was getting in right now. The previous four hours of non-stop Ben E. King was probably to blame.

LIFE FORM DETECTED. NORTH EAST. 1.31 KILOMETRES.
ROBOTIC FORM DETECTED. NORTH EAST. 1.31 KILOMETRES.
POSSIBLE SPACECRAFT WRECKAGE DETECTED. NORTH EAST. 650 METRES. SPACECRAFT TYPE: UNKNOWN.
LIFE FORM DETECTED. NORTH WEST. 7 KILOMETRES.
SPACECRAFT DETECTED. SOUTH. 10 000 KILOMETRES.

*So they're approaching,* Pat realized, stopping his rhythmic movements, but keeping his pace equal. From this distance, he should have been able to see the now-confirmed life form and the robot, but alas, there was a hill between him and the spacecraft wreckage. He'd have to ambush them from their; it was definitely close enough. In fact, it appeared to be immediately in front of where the wreckage should be. If the spaceship had crashed, that hill could have been created by the impact. Now moving into a light jog, Pat ran the rest of the way to the hill, reaching the bottom of it in a third of the time the projection gave for walking. According to his last data, the mystery life form and the robot were still around 5 minutes away. *Might as well check up on them,* Pat decided while he mounted the small hill. He scanned again, this time only waving the device in the direction where he knew the Life Form and the Robot were.

Fellatia and Ranger continued on, Ranger still scanning and watching where the other life form was. Fellatia was glad her snow suit was equipped with shaded goggles, a girl was likely to go snowblind in a place like this. The leather and fur suit was made from the skin of a mammal, it itself was a relic she had found some time ago. On her belt was her pistol, a smuggler modded weapon she and Ranger had "Borrowed" from an over enthusiastic employer. She subconsciously turned its safety off.

"Life form detected on the hill up ahead, human, armed. Shall I engage?"

"No Ranger, we have no idea what this persons intent is. Not to mention, they may come in handy."

"In handy? I fail to understand your meaning master."

"Scum of all sorts hide on these fringe planets, we may just collect a bounty."

"We'll see presently, I estimate contact to be imminent."

Multus had not yet noticed how Altair had returned to his spaceship. So believing he was safe, Multus returned into their default shape; A hovering, slightly glowing swarm of metal. Soon they begin to scan the area, effectively noticing Altair. They come into a complete stop, this is the first time they meet another conscious robot...

(Updated to #210)