[h2]The Previous Evening[/h2]

[color=khaki][h3]Nikola[/h3][/color]

Nikola had never been askeed that question before and thus was never given the excuse to come up with an answer, not even for his own sake. He looked over at Dorkface and nodded, she indeed did not have a dorky face and he knew that beneath that animal head was intelligence far beyond what should be there. His mind went off track for a few moments beofre he openned his mouth, an answer had come to him out of the blue of his distraction and it seemed to suit the question quite nicely.

"[color=khaki]You will have to forgive,[/color]" he began, "[color=khaki]My english is... Not good.[/color]" he began to explain the origins of his pet's name.

Nikola came to know Dorkface when he was an adolescent, wandering the streets of his smokey, smoggy island looking for work. He was plonked on top of a crate, taking a break from his job searching, when a small furry creature romped over; it sat infront of the crate, on it's hindlegs, and looked up at him. As a young boy going through rough times he had only one thing to say to it.

"[color=khaki]Go away! Dork face![/color]" to add insult to injury he spat at the little rodent and it seemed to have gotten the message as it instantly scurried off. After that day the little creature popped up constantly and again an again he had to get it to leave by yelling the same phrase, as his english was bad and he didn't know anything else to call it. Eventualy he grew use to having the animal around and with no thought of naming it, Dorkface kind of stuck.

[h2]Sometime Later[/h2]

Dorkface had not slept because Nikola had not slept, the prior night she had followed Nikola to his bed room thinking that it was time to sleep but it seemed that Nikola had other things in mind. From it's position leaned up against the wall, he hefted up a sheet of glass and plonked it down on top of his desk, it had grid lines all over it and upon brushing his hands over it a white light glowed on it's surface beofre a hologram projected upwards. It was a map of Tirbetha; from what he assumed, black beard still had a ship and after scanning the city over he decided that there would only be a few locations that it would be. Why was he intersted? Parts.

He estimated that the ship did not have long left before the engines would break down to the point they could not be repaired, scrap parts would no longer do as they only seemed to last a few months, he kept teling himself that at least, the truth was that the ship was running dangerously low on scrap and with prey fewer and farther between, it was becoming harder to maintain the engines. 

Nikola sighed and looked down at the grated cat-walk beneath his feet, there the engine purred soundly, not knowing the fate that would befall it if parts were to run out; Nikola's heart reached out to it, he wasn't going to let anything happen to his baby.

[h2]The Present[/h2]

Nikola could not wait and hear what Gerlach had to say, he needed to speak with the captain immediatly. Ducking out of the cafeteria, Nikola rushed to the elevator with a small, frightened Dorkface on his shoulder. '[color=PaleVioletRed]Why is he in such a hurry?'[/color] as she was rocked around, letting out a silent sigh of relief as he stepped into the elevator and punched a button to take them to the officer's area, '[color=palevioletred]Going Down.[/color]' she thought as they whizzed downwards.

The doors to the elevator whooshed open and Nikola was hit by the gentle draft of an air-conditioned room, it felt like he was being kissed by thousands of tiny mouths; he looked down to see Dorkface licking his chin. 

"[color=khaki]My captain?[/color]" he hissed, looking around for their one-eyed leader.