Senjen did not entirely expect to disarm the droid. In truth, he was not sure what he was expecting out of anything he did. For the most part, there was precious little time to think about much of what he did; just act and hope his instincts were right. He had the droid’s sidearm now, so he holstered his own and kept it for himself. Aside from preserving ammunition, these alien weapons were overall stronger than his.

The moment he saw them, Senjen braced himself against the edge of the hatch and fired on the droids on the truck trailing them. The trucks were armored, so they could handle hits from small arms. Clearing off the droids was a much greater concern than whether or not he melted the paint. However, this was not what he needed to be doing right now. The other droid was still out there, and there was nothing he could do about it from in here. Letting the droids on their own truck go unchecked could end up dooming them all.

Senjen turned towards the other soldiers. At least one of them was uninjured, and they were all armed. They were better suited for this. “Give them some cover!” He shouted to them, pointing out the back to the other truck. There was no time for doubt or debate; Senjen just had to steel himself, then climb out the hatch to cling to the outside as the droid had been. From there, he had to crawl around the exterior to see if he could find an angle on the droids. At speed, the wind rushing by across the hole in his frame did at least give some much-needed air cooling to his components, at least.

The droids on the truck behind barely stopped to register Senjen’s opening salvo. Their shield drones quickly swung around to cover them as the door charges blew, sending another plume of smoke sideways out onto the road. Surprisingly, the droids didn’t press their attack on the occupants of the cabin. Both droids jumped off and fled as Senjen clambered out of the hatch to climb up.

With a whoosh, a sleek missile uncoupled from the flyer gaining on their position and flew into the back of the second truck. It exploded in a ball of fire, a shockwave rocking the first truck. Their pursuers must have been desperate to prevent anyone from escaping. In the background, the restaurant collapsed suddenly inwards, pulled towards the station’s deckplate.

-

The bodyguard had clipped the repeater to the front of his waistcoat so it wouldn’t float away. It hung at his side now as he climbed up onto the roof of the truck before Senjen. When he glanced down the length of the truck, nothing was there. He then hurried across the roof to the other side and saw Light enveloping the droid before the boss alerted the group over comms about the rapidly approaching wall. He dropped flat to the roof as they made impact.

The truck crashed through into the lobby at high speed, shattering the plate glass facade into a million pieces that travelled with it in a maelstrom of debris. The boss swerved left to avoid a heavy reception desk, and sent the truck careering past a block of elevators towards the glass wall on the other side of the building.

The bodyguard got up, face cut up by shards of glass. There was a clunking on the roof next to him - he turned to find the droid scampering towards him on all fours. Bringing the repeater to bear, he held the trigger down but it's shield drone absorbed the shots. The droid closed the distance, pushed the repeater to the sky with one hand and grabbed his throat with the other.

“WHERE IS THE CHILD?” The droid blared.

“Kiss my ass!” The bodyguard spat.

-

Faced with death at the hands of a desperate QV, the droid deployed a last-resort defense mechanism. Frying its own internal machinery, it generated a massive electric shock. Light’s suit caught it and dissipated it away from his body, but it took enough attention away that struggle over the gun that the droid could push it away. Using its free hand, it unholstered its side arm and shot Light in the abdomen.

The QV grunted in pain, lights swirling as his senses blurred. His suit peeled away from the side of the truck and he floated in the same direction as the truck, towards the other side of the building as they smashed through expensive zero-g furniture.

Senjen was in the middle of climbing up when he saw what was just ahead. As fast as he could, he dropped back down, hanging off the back of the truck as it crashed through into the building. Being behind the truck, he was able to avoid the impact and debris, and when he climbed back up, he was witness to the droid with the boss’ bodyguard in its grasp. Fortune, it seemed, was favoring Senjen here, and maybe the bodyguard as well. He had an angle on it from behind, and both it and the shield drone were occupied. With a bit of luck and the element of surprise, Senjen could still make an impact. He did not even finish climbing up; as soon as he had his upper body over the edge, he took aim with his stolen pistol, steadied his arm, and fired three consecutive shots into the droid’s center mass.

It was only a moment longer before Senjen was finally able to climb up to the roof, and it was then that he spotted Light and had a brief pause of understandable confusion. Why was he even up here? Wasn’t he meant to be driving the truck? Regardless, he saw the shot, and he saw Light start to float away from the truck. As startling as it might have been, it was a moment that gave him a laser focus. Light was his client, and his client was hurt, so there was only one real option in front of him.

“Light!” Senjen shouted. He took a few shots at the droid at the front as he rushed forward, but his focus was Light. He leaped from the edge of the truck towards Light, intent on trying to catch him and use his thrusters to help guide him to safety.

The droid on top of the truck had absolutely banked on Senjen following them outside. Their shield drone had been positioned as a rearguard specifically for that eventuality. What they had not expected was a man with a heavy weapon to be on top of the truck already. Their shield took most of the damage but then had to recharge on the droid’s body. This meant they were totally exposed when Senjen shot them three times in the chest.

Sparks flew as the energy weapon burned through its internals. It didn’t even get a chance to activate its self-destruct failsafe. With its last ounce of power, instead it closed its fist tight around the bodyguard’s throat, choking him. He dropped the repeater, eyes bulging and cheeks turning blue as he scrabbled at the droid’s inert hand.

The droid on the side briefly watched Light’s gel suit as it peeled away from them and the truck. Just to make sure it wasn’t some kind of trick. The electrical pulse had destroyed a lot of its more delicate systems, but the link to its shield drone was still active. As it crawled slowly along the side of the truck back towards the gaping hole into the cabin, the drone popped out of its back just in time to protect against the shots directed at it by Senjen.

~Cardiac arrest warning! Requesting immediate medical attention.~ Light’s suit blared directly into his mind. He coughed up a wad of bloody bile. He felt his suit’s cooling touch on a searing pain in his abdomen. He felt it inject him with a powerful cocktail of drugs that temporarily revived him. He was floating next to the truck as it crashed through a white, open, brightly lit room. They were halfway now, just approaching an elevator block which filled the middle third. They were swaddled in a cloud of broken glass and metal. He saw Senjen floating towards him. He was saying something. His name! He looked past him and spotted the droid he’d shot hauling themselves into the cabin. He could hear that man and his daughter’s voice. The truck began to swerve towards them.

These people couldn’t win. Not now.

“Save the child!” Light spluttered to Senjen, more blood mixing in with his gelsuit.

Senjen was already on a collision course with Light, but he heard what he said. He was responsible for his client, but also responsible to follow his orders. Still, the two were not mutually exclusive. Rather than use his thrusters to slow down, he used them to speed up and guide them as soon as he grabbed Light. As they were floating through the air, Senjen tried to maneuver Light around to his back. “Come on, get those tentacles around me and hold on tight.” He messaged Light directly.

Senjen kicked off of one of the interior walls of the lobby to send them back on a course towards the truck. By this point, he was back to seeing alerts in the periphery of his vision that he was silencing one after another. The extinguisher had delayed the heat issue, but he had not been able to keep calm and still, so he was back on a path to overheating. The gel suit, though, it was cool to the touch, and grabbing it sparked an idea in his mind. QV gel suits could distribute and diffuse heat.

“Focus, Light, stay with me. I’m overheating. The hole in my back, you can use your suit to cool me down.” Senjen messaged him again.

With his thrusters, Senjen aimed them for the nearest opening into the truck’s cabin. He had his gun at the ready, hoping this droid would also be distracted enough when he got an angle on it.

Even though Light didn’t currently have the faculties to coordinate his suit properly, the gel itself was listening to Senjen and knew what to do. In theory, any activity outside of maintaining its host’s vital signs was a bad use of its limited resources. But it could tell from Light’s brain chemistry that it wasn’t an optional course of action. The suit bonded to the Utaysi and pressed against the damaged components, dispersing excess heat.

The lobby was an absolute mess now, with a giant cloud of fast-moving wreckage hurtling towards the plate glass at the opposite end. The boss could barely see out of the wind screen; they didn’t build wipers on vehicles designed for Korit.

“Hey, fish food! What's happening out there?” He called out when he heard the shots ring out. He looked in the half-smashed wing mirror and saw a distorted black shape crawling towards them from outside. It didn’t look like the QV

“Daddy, we’re going to crash!” The girl squealed.

“Don’t worry sweetheart, it’s only a window! Just strap in!” He leant down awkwardly around the steering column to grab the emergency pistol tucked from his ankle holster. Pulling it out, he whirled towards the empty door frame to see the droid’s head appear. Behind it was its shield drone. The boss shot right at it’s head but the shot deflected off the metal. It grabbed the hand holding the pistol and crushed it. The man bellowed out and swerved the truck towards Light and Senjen’s side of the room just as the truck smashed through the second wall of plate glass onto a busy pedestrian street.

Senjen and Light were moving quickly to keep up with the truck. He could see the droid hanging on to this side of the cabin, and he could see its drone was watching him. He could not sneak up on it to gain the surprise he had been relying on, though even at a quick glance he could see it was damaged. Flying in from behind, Senjen had to think on his feet. It was struggling with the Human up front for the girl and might have been prioritizing getting its hostage as the best way to ensure its success. That would have to be enough.

Senjen had time to fire a shot before reaching the truck, but the shield easily absorbed it. With his feet, he grabbed a hold of the side of the truck just before it crashed through the window. The droid was just in front of him, so it took most of the glass shards and debris in his stead, not that it would have done much to affect either of them. Senjen had been relying on stealth and cleverness to get an edge on these droids this whole time, and he had one last trick that came to mind: a bit of misdirection and sleight of hand to deceive its threat assessment. While it was struggling over the girl, he fired another shot that the shield absorbed, then bashed the shield with the pistol grip in a vain attempt to break through. And while the drone watched his seemingly desperate attempt to force his way through up high, his other hand drew his own pistol from its holster down low. He pushed it slow enough to pass through the shield, intent on firing at the droid from within.

The cash truck burst back out into the pedestrian street in a most explosive fashion. Not only did they tear a dozen metres of safety glass off the wall, but most of the furniture and debris from the lobby followed them through the newly made hole. The bodyguard and dead droid who were still standing on top of the truck were cut clean in half, spraying blood everywhere.

A scream erupted from hundreds of bystanders using several transit lines on the street, and people scattered in every direction. Emergency services sirens were getting closer from a few directions, but no one had paid them any attention before now. On Korit, sirens were a near constant ambient background.

With his right hand being crushed to a pulp, the boss was in no position to be driving a ten tonne vehicle. In the chaos the ‘ground mode’ was still enabled, so the only directions available were left or right. He spun the wheel left with his free hand basically by accident, before having to take both hands off the wheel to grab at the pistol the droid was trying to shove in his face. Shots went off, melting the inside of the windscreen. Despite putting all of his paternal strength into it, the pistol was merely a few inches from his head when Senjen shot the droid in the back, bypassing the shield.

The droid spasmed wildly and made one last attempt to shoot the boss but its strength had already failed it. So it activated its self-destruct and switched back to civilian mode, wiping all memory of the operation.

“We are experiencing a traffic collision! Notifying emergency services...” It babbled before going dead, save the flashing red orb in its chest. Its grip loosened, and the boss pried his broken hand from its vice-like grip. He immediately had to use it to haul the wheel left and slam on the brakes, but there wasn’t enough time to avoid the other side of the street. The truck slammed straight into a solid wall and came to a juddering, smoking halt.

Mingled in with the sound of approaching sirens were thrusters. The flyer from back at the restaurant rounded the block of high rise buildings and approached the truck, cycling its forward cannons.

By this point, Senjen had seen more than enough of a pattern with these droids to know exactly what was going to happen when he disabled the droid, so he was ready when the self-destruct started. He holstered his pistols, grabbed the droid, and threw it clear of the truck. However, the inevitable complication came from elsewhere this time. The truck swerved left quickly straight towards the wall. Fortunately, Senjen was clinging to the right side, but he only had a quick moment to react. He let go of the truck and continued to fly forward at an angle towards the wall. His thrusters spun him around, burning at max power to try and counteract his velocity, though they could only somewhat slow him before he made contact.

Senjen engaged his electromanets the moment he came close enough to the wall, though he still ended up sliding along it for a short distance before finally coming to a halt. However, there was no time to stop, and he launched himself back towards the truck as quickly as he could. Now that he was being actively cooled, his mind was not so muddled. He could think and focus, and he could hurry every bit as much as he needed to right now. As he reached the right side door, he saw the gunship starting to come into view.

Senjen reached in through the broken window and opened the door. The truck certainly had some kind of safety features to protect passengers, but he still imagined the crash was rough for a pair of organics. Unfortunately, there was no time to be considerate. He could not stop and check on them; they just had to move. He reached in and grabbed the man and his daughter in his arms to pull them out. “Come on, we’re almost out of this. Just a little bit farther.”

Carrying around three people would be cumbersome, but he just needed to get them off the street quickly. He would bring them into the nearest store and see if he could find some other exit out the back. The gunship could not just go around shooting up random storefronts without someone getting involved, whether it be Korit security or whoever else protected this section of the station.

The dead droid sailed inertly away from the truck at some pace before engulfing the street in a fiery explosion. A Korit security vehicle with a blazing siren and flashing red and blue lights which rounded the corner just before had to swerve to avoid it.

The gunship had the all clear now - there were no operators left on the scene. They were all that remained. But before they could fire, a large metal bolt thudded into the top of their craft. Four claws clamped down on the roof, and strobing waves of energy crackled across its hull. Its headlights flickered and died, as did the thrusters. The cannon stopped spinning as it tilted to one side while floating towards them at speed.

Two figures fled from the cockpit, zooming away with help from thruster packs. The flyer promptly exploded, bathing Light’s suit and Senjen’s protruding parts in a second of raging heat.

“Heat warning! Suit integrity critical!”

And then it subsided, and the attack was finally over.

More emergency vehicles began showing up out of the sky in every direction. An ambulance wailed to a stop a safe distance from the truck. Light was barely conscious, but could sense the logo on the side of the vehicle as it was in relief. Four interlinking sets of Tekeri talons in the shape of a cross, above the slogan ‘For Good Cause’. The cabin doors opened and two Tekeri in the yellow scrubs of paramedics emerged; one young and one old. Hover-stretchers began unfurling from the back to follow as they approached the truck.

“Let go, I’ve got to get her out of here! This will be all over the news, best I disappear!” The boss pushed away from Senjen, making to grab his daughter and head for the closest shop front. The cabin, and Light's suit covering most of the doorway had thankfully sheltered them from the worst of the fire.

Senjen’s first instinct was to head inside the nearest store as well with Light, if for no other reason than to just get into cover and collect himself. However, he did not follow the boss out the back. Rather, he pulled Light off his back and set him down just inside by the door, then took a moment for some damage control of his own. Senjen stumbled briefly, having to catch himself on the nearest wall while several systems re-calibrated. He had just shut down one of his two power cells and transitioned his body into a low-power state. Only critical systems were active, his senses were dulled, and his reactions were slowed, but he would produce much less heat.

Now much more calmly, Senjen slowly lifted Light up and helped support him. The boss had rushed out the back with his daughter, so they were both well out of sight by now. “Okay Light, they’re gone, we just...we need to get some help now.”

Senjen had seen the medics outside. If he was remembering correctly, they healed people, and they could help Light. He was not sure they could do anything for himself, but he had his own diagnostics and knew exactly how long he could last. He was pretty sure he heard some mumbles of approval from Light, so he stumbled back outside with him, walking them both straight towards the Tekeri. “He’s hurt, um...burns.”

The medics floated over with two of the hover-stretchers. The young brown one took Light gently out of Senjen’s grasp and secured him to a stretcher while calling for a healing vat. The vehicle they’d arrived in was an all-rounder designed to give first aid to every known species as well as mechanoids. But in order to save Light’s life, they’d need a specialised QV ambulance. It contained a large mass of gel that had miraculous healing capabilities and not much else. It couldn’t even move by itself. Thankfully one was nearby, so they just needed to keep him alive for a few minutes. The young medic plugged three nodes into the pliant gel and connected them to a medical sac which another small droid had dropped off.

The senior medic deftly examined Senjen wearing a pair of thick AR goggles, spraying conductive foam in a few spots throughout his midsection. After a short time, security personnel sidled over to ask some questions. They were polite but insistent. Firstly, were they both alright? Secondly, would Senjen be alright to surrender his firearms temporarily? Then they began asking about where they’d been, who they interacted with and who that man was who fled the scene. Many units of the security forces had to buy and maintain their own equipment, so no two individuals looked the same in uniform. The only unifying feature was the symbol of Korit’s civilian administration which adorned their headpieces and breastplates.

Eventually, the medic shooed them back a little and took Senjen to the ambulance, where they plugged him into the vehicle’s power plant to keep him stable and connected him up to further diagnostic tools. The grey-feathered Tekeri gently asked whether they might have both of their credit chips on file. The security forces also wanted to see their identification and ship's log.

For a short while, Senjen seemed to zone out, lost in thought while in the care of the medics. Though he may have been immune to physical fatigue, even a Utaysi could experience mental exhaustion. Being pushed from one life-threatening situation to the next took its toll, and it was a relief to finally be able to push the danger out from his mind. He could be calm, he could be safe. It was not a problem to disarm for now, and he answered their questions as best as he could. He could give his own information, but he did not have access to Light’s private data. They would have to wait until he came to for that.

Being hooked into an exterior power supply did wonders to help Senjen clear his head, being that he could quite literally think faster at full power. It went without saying that this job had ended up as far more than he had bargained for, but he had at least come out the other side alive, and even considering repair expenses, it was going to be with a profit. Still, it gave him pause to reconsider the choice to leave his homeworld. With what he had earned, passage home would be easy enough to buy. Though, that would mean giving up on the reason he had come here in the first place, and everything he had seen still kept that desire strong in the back of his mind. Surely he had just gotten unlucky? There was no way every job would be like this. Korit might have been rough, but it was still mostly civilized; this sort of thing couldn’t be a daily occurrence. Senjen had no intention of dying for these dreams, but he surely could not give up so soon. As long as Light recovered, maybe he would at least stick around for a job or two with him?

---

---

The FGC Hospital was something of a shorter high-rise, nestled between two much taller buildings near the center of the city. The vertical layering of the city gave natural divisions to the hospital itself, which was divided into five departments each specializing in the treatment of one of the known sapient species. At the moment, Senjen was waiting in what locals sometimes called “the aquarium”...or at least non-QV locals. It was the department closest to the ground floor, which specialized in the treatment of Quelun-Vosh. Each department was tailored to match, as closely as possible, the idealized environment of the species it was meant to treat, so the QV department was entirely submerged. Specialized gels like those in their suits were used in various rooms, though as they were more expensive, it was simply water that filled most of the space to save on costs.

Normally, non-QV friends and associates could not visit the aquarium in person, as requiring protective equipment was too much of a liability issue. But without that risk, Utaysi were an exception. Still, even just lingering out in the waiting room, Senjen could see in how many ways the space was not designed for him. QV naturally utilized every direction of three-dimensional space, while Senjen was still stuck on the ‘floor’. Their doors tended to be centered on walls, and sometimes led directly upwards or downwards, so there was a lot of climbing necessary for him to get around. What the QV considered furniture was sometimes out of his reach, or otherwise impractical for him to use.

It was far from the first time Senjen had been in this waiting room. He and some of the hospital staff in this section were familiar enough to know one another’s names, but it was entirely possible this could be one of his last times waiting here. With how much he was pacing back and forth along the floor, most of the other QV in the waiting room had taken to floating up above him.

Senjen’s gaze snapped over to the door each time it opened, and after about a half-dozen times, he saw that it was finally Light returning. He took a few, somewhat cumbersome steps towards the door as he looked up at him. “So...don’t keep me in suspense…” Senjen said, clearly anxiously.

Light didn’t reply directly for a few moments. But his skin told an experienced interpreter the story of dumbfounded shock mixed with a complex palette of relief and excitement running through the QV’s head.

“The doctors say it is no longer detectable in the last place it could be found - my arm. They say I am in remission…and, uh…need to send samples every few weeks for a year before my next check up.”

Senjen’s head tilted slightly as he looked up to Light. If he had better vision, Light might have been able to see his mechanical iris focus in on the arm he had mentioned. His words had been straight and to the point, but Senjen could see in his colors the weight that had been lifted off of him. The news was just what they had hoped it would be, but after so many years, it felt strange to finally see it happen. “That’s wonderful!” With a Utaysi, Senjen would have grabbed both of the other’s hands with interlaced fingers as something similar to a hug. However, with Light lacking fingers, he instead reached up and grabbed two tentacles between his middle fingers.

“Well we can’t just lounge around doing nothing with that sort of news. Come on, we’ve got to celebrate! I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer; whatever you want to do, let’s go do it. We just need to stop by the ship real quick so I can get something, then...whatever you like. You can take the time on the way back to think up something good.” Senjen said, finally releasing his grip.

Light returned the embrace. Delicately at first, then vigorously as a fresh wave of relief washed over him. Senjen was a rare exception to his hard-learned suspicion of strangers, tempered through their exploits over the last two years. Light was naturally more tactile with the robot now, which was a relief for him. QV had little regard for personal space on account of their vestigial instinct to shoal in defense against predators.

He patted Senjen’s head and shivered by way of bashful laughter. “That won’t be necessary. There is much work waiting for us.” When the Utaysi insisted, he pondered it for a moment, drifting free.

“Well…It's been a long time since I’ve gone on a proper hunt.” QV had a strong prey drive when it came to smaller sea creatures. When they began to depopulate the oceans on their homeworlds, conservation areas were established in rich ecological zones to maintain food stocks. The concept had transferred to wherever significant QV populations settled. Groups or individuals could pay for a certain amount of time within the enclosure, keeping or eating whatever they could catch.

“But it is so expensive here, and I still tire easier than before...” They began moving together out of the hospital.

“We could go for Sthrirad and talk about old times just as readily. What do you think?” Sthrirad was a gaseous entity that produced psychedelic effects when inhaled. The Tindrel had a more permanent symbiosis with it, but were happy to introduce it to the other species as a temporary mood enhancer.

Something Senjen had learned in the years away from his homeworld was how much the tastes of biological species could be influenced by having biology. Utaysi were about the opposite of QV in terms of their prey drive, being that they did not have one. Their predecessors did, but that was an instinct that had not made the transition to their artificial progeny. Their creators had tried to adjust as few of their instincts as possible, but anything related to food, or acquiring it, was something they had no choice but to change. And of course, there was no drug that would affect both an organic and a machine. Yet, Senjen was still glad to join, especially with what Light had just overcome. There was just one thing that needed to be done first.

“Hmm...let me think about it on the way to the ship.” Senjen answered.

---

Being that living anywhere near downtown Setia was an expensive prospect, Light had been renting a long-term landing pad for his ship out near the fringes of the city. It made for an annoying commute to the hospital, but the automated taxi ride back did give Senjen time to think, and about more than just their immediate plans. Light being cured still felt hard to imagine with how long he had been dealing with his condition, but if it really was happening, then it could mean a new chapter for them. Certain possibilities had been going through Senjen’s mind for a while, and now it seemed like he might be able to act on them.

The space Light rented was, to put it gently, not in the finest neighborhood, nor did it offer many services. There was at least some security on the lot to ward off vagrants, but it was simply a flat, open space with rows of basic landing pads that could accommodate ships up to the size of light freighters. More expensive lots would offer protection from the elements, automated refueling, and maintenance services. This place gave no such benefits. The best it could offer was refueling, at a separate charge, with a tanker that had to be towed around from ship to ship.

What Light was greeted with as soon as the ramp to his ship lowered was a surprise, quite literally. A trio of voices, including Senjen beside him, shouted out the word as the interior came into view. Waiting inside were two familiar faces: a Human and a Tekeri. Both were friends, and as it seemed, Senjen had arranged for them to pay a visit in light of the good news. The Human woman’s name was Rebecca, though for reasons she never explained, she went by “Jess”. She was a parts dealer and mechanic they had become well-acquainted with since their arrival. She was short, especially compared to the much larger species surrounding her, with short, dark hair and a mild tan. Her casual clothes were unremarkable, though at least much cleaner than the rough, stained jumpsuits she usually wore.

Jess was holding a small cake in one arm, while pinching her nose with her other hand. She was in the interesting position of being in a genuinely good mood while simultaneously holding herself back from retching. The cake was a fusion of Human and QV cuisine that was meant to be pleasing to a QV palette, but most certainly not to her.

Light reacted with genuine surprise, drawing into himself. But he quickly recovered quickly upon smelling the eclectic whiff emanating from the cake Jess held, approaching and investigating it with a manipular.

“What a pleasant surprise. Hello…greetings! What a delicious treat.” He patted the Human affectionately on the top of her head. Ruknar the Tekeri approached, and they ‘fist’ bumped warmly. She produced a gold conical party hat and a coiled party blower from the folds of her feathers and offered it to him. Light accepted with a whimsical shiver, sticking the hat on top of his gel and sticking the blower in near his eye. It unfurled with a comical noise before recurling.

“This is very kind of you to come. Thank you. I didn’t want to be a bother; I know how much I’ve asked of you already.”

Jess was still holding her nose, which was reflected in her voice when she answered. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. We knew you were getting your results today, and we all wanted to support you. Sen just made sure to let us know it was going to be the ‘happy celebration’ sort of support, and not, well...the alternative.”

“No more worrying, no more stress, no more hospital visits. You’ve got plenty of time ahead of you, and that’s worth celebrating.” Senjen added, reaching into Light’s suit to pat his side.

Jess cleared her throat, lifting up the cake to call attention to it. “Yeah, it’s wonderful, really, but can we hurry and get this thing out of my hands now? I’ll be honest, I can’t handle the smell a second longer. There’s fish in this thing.”

The group took a moment to file out of the cargo hold, further into the ship. Being a Tindrel ship, it had a low ceiling by the standards of many species. Jess could stand unobstructed, though Senjen often preferred to move on all-fours from one place to another. It did at least have plenty of floor space, so moving back to the habitation area, they could all gather comfortably around the circular table at the center. Neither Light nor Senjen had need of seating, but Jess visited enough that her favored crate was already in the room for her to pull up to the table and sit down. Senjen, on his part, simply curled up on the floor and leaned forward with his arms crossed onto the table.

“Okay, how are these things supposed to work? Are we supposed to burn candles?” Senjen asked.

Jess shook her head. “That’s for birthdays. It’s just a cake; go ahead and have at it.” She answered, pushing it across the table towards Light.

Senjen was noticeably excitable, moving quickly from one thought to the next. “Ah, well, if you say so. Anyway, me and Light were thinking on the way over on how we were going to celebrate. Light was thinking either a hunt, or going for Sthrirad. I say we all go out somewhere.”

"Well alright then, thank you! Would anyone else like some? No? OK, your loss.” Light only gave a cursory amount of time for intervention before shoving almost the whole cake into his mouth. What followed next was an unpleasant show of teeth and half masticated fish. QV were not tidy or hygienic eaters, and often saved bits of flesh inside their suits for later.

“I saw adverts for a horticulture speed run tournament on the way over here. That could be a fun, non-destructive pasttime?” Ruknar offered from a conposed sitting position on the floor. Her voice was croakier today.

“I am happy to do whatever is most appealing to the group.” Light slurped.