Chapter One: The Two Old Birds and a Final Wish.

Li's quarters are only about fifteen minutes quick walk away from the 'port. That would give him twenty minutes to gather stuff, plus a cushion. But …aside from his light armor and his phaser and his phone with all his photos, which he always wears and carries, there's not much in his quarters that he values. Maybe his harmonica? Yeah, sure. "Folks, I'm gonna get my harmonica. Never know when a blues riff might lift the spirits on a space cruise. See you in 40."

Well, that went about as well as I expected, Bowie said to herself as she rushed from the canteen toward her home.

When she left the group she'd headed straight for work, playing out different scenarios the whole time. She debated with herself whether it was utterly foolish to give up steady income for something that seemed decidedly disreputable. Was she truly willing to leave everything for the chance to get off world, possibly for good?

At the canteen, she'd asked Carl for a few days off, and wasn't at all surprised when he refused. Despite being a reliable employee, she knew she was easily replaceable. She paused for a moment, thought how easy it would be to play it safe, and then gave her notice. No going back now.

A quick glance at the clock when she got to her room told her she didn't have much time. She swiped her things off the bathroom shelf, stuffed her bag with whatever clothes were readily at hand, then hesitated for a moment before carefully folding Tau into it's casing and sliding it in with everything else. She'd finished the drone only last month. No sense letting it be sold for scrap by her roommates.

Almost as an afterthought, she took the small gun out of it's hiding place and tried to hide it within the unorganized mess of her bag. It wasn't unusual for people to walk around with weapons, she herself had a knife on her at all times, but it wasn't the norm for someone like her to own a gun and just carrying it made her a little nervous. Why she'd stolen it years ago, she was never sure. But maybe now it would finally come in handy.

After scrawling a note on the wall ("I'm gone. Paid up through end of month. Take/sell what you like. Bowie") she rushed out the door back to the hangar, never looking back.

Veya has her gear stuff in a locker at the port. It always paid to be packed for a quick get away and she always travelled light anyway. She grabbed the worn dufflebag containing her small cache of worldly possession and then returned to the main hall.

She signalled covertly to Cookie that she wanted a word with him.

"It looks like I'm shipping out in a little bit." She says when the young man made his way carefully towards her.

"Probably going to be gone for a while, but it might be a pretty good score."

She punched him in arm in a friendly manner.

"You keep your head down while I'm gone, yeah?"

Even if their relationship with mostly transactional, that didn't mean she wasn't fond of cookie. Hell, in the world she ran in, she was fond of anyone who didn't imediately try and scam or doublecross her.

"Pen?" asks Li.

Bowie hesitates as she walks in, surprised to see people already on the ship. She glances at Veya, and not seeing any reaction, sits as instructed.

The document isn't long, but she would've made them wait even if she had to read an entire novel of legalese. She makes several mental notes as she reads each clause. Despite it being from an official trade union, she's still convinced she's about to become a criminal all for the sake of getting off this rock. Deciding it was worth it, she fishes a pen out of her bag and signs on the dotted line.

Veya's eyes widen when she sees the ship. She follows along barely paying attention to Mr Goggles, her focus is on the ship.

As they proceed through the inside, she delays, sticking her head through every bulkhead she can, stopping to examine the ship in excruciating detail, her eyes as big as saucers.

"Is this one of the original Thalassa class researchers? I wasn't even sure there were any of these left. She's been refitted as a regular merchant, but the scanners, and the original research equipment are still on board. Amazing!"

She listens distractedly to Goggles legalese explanation.

"Uh, huh. Don't tell anyone, sure, no problem."

Veya barely looks at the document presented to her before she scrawls a signature carelessly.


"All these Thalassa class ships had a skiff. Does she still have one?"

Li scribbles the ideographs for "Bored Monkey" and hands the pen back to Bowie.

Li looks very serious. "Certainly." he says.

"Ok, ok." Bowie says slowly, collecting her thoughts and trying to decide if she was content dying young for the chance to do something more exciting than exist at this outpost. "Sorry about your mother," she says awkwardly, before giving Veya a glance. "And your aunt." She grimaces a little, never comfortable with social norms. "I do have a few questions."

"So, on the off chance this butcher is still around, is there something you can give us that makes it clear we're not there to be part of his 'experiments'?"

"Any idea if this raid was connected to the government or a rival?"

"When you say 20%, does that mean of any profit that might come from selling this research?"

"And untraceable often means expendable. If I walk away now and never speak about any of this to anyone, I'm free and clear, right?"

"What can I say?" Veya admits, "I came from a big family."

"So, if I've got this right. We visit a creepy space station where a guys called 'The Butcher' has been performing secret experiments to do with transplants. If he's alive, we make nice with him. Get him sweet for some new trades."

"If he's dead or gone, we rip off whatever we can from the station and split it with you 80-20 and keep the ship."

"Well, I'm in!"