“Johnny...Johnny get up here!” Sangella’s voice called into the ships intercom. 

“Up where?” Johnny replied as he lay lazily on the couch in the community quarters of the ship. 

“Cockpit, where else?” 

“What’s this about?” 

“Those pictures you took last night, you’re not going to believe this!” 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The previous night... 

Richard followed the young man through a set of narrow hallways, passing by several resturaunt staff who didn’t pay them much mind. He continued to eye the man suspiciously, though had since given up asking questions. 

“Alright, through here.” The man finally said, checking over his shoulder as he drew a card out of his pocket. He swiped the card over a white pad and a door slid open, a cool blast on wind blowing past them as the outside city was revealed. A metal, grated balcony stretched down the length of a building, a tall hooded figure appeared to be waiting for them. 

Richard stepped out onto the balcony uneasily, watching as the young man started walking down the balconies length towards the hooded figure. “How can I trust you?” He called after him.

The man turned back, “If we intended to harm you we would have done it by this point. Do you want to hear the truth or not?” 

Richard glanced back towards the still open door, he took a deep breath and followed against his better judgement. As he approached the hooded figure the details of their face became more clear. He was a Neko, though his exact race remained hidden beneath the hooded jacket he wore. He had sharp, chisled features, his eyes overshadowed by his long, blonde hair. 

“Richard Bromwell?” The Neko asked. 

“That’s right. If you don’t mind I’d like to get to the point.” He said, keeping a close eye on the young man to his left. 

“Fair enough.”

“Where is she?” Richard asked. 

“Unfortunately we do not know.” The man said, “We can get into the details in a more formal setting, you will understand why we cannot discuss everything here for long. You see, your enemy...our enemy is treating you to dinner tonight.” 

“Devoras?” Richard asked skeptically. 

The Neko nodded, “That’s right. She is closer to your friend than you could ever imagine. And she has been hunting her for a long time, we will get to that at another time.”

“Can you prove any of this to me?” Richard asked.

“I will forward you the information you need once we’re, uh, out of Devoras’s little sphere of influence.” 

Richard rubbed his chin, it all sounded fishy to him, but then again so did Prila’s disappearance. “Alright then. When can we expect the information.” 

“I will give you my details. Contact us once you are far from here and we will discuss further meetings.” 

“Who are you, anyway? Or is that classified.” 

~ ~ ~ ~

“Torren Folgun?” Johnny asked. “Who is that?” 

“You don’t know?” Sangella asked. 

Johnny shook his head, eyeing up the picture displayed in Sangella’s pilot computers display. “No.” 

“He’s infamous. Wanted by the Alliance.” Sangella grinned, “I wonder what the famous Nova Force is doing mingling with the likes of them?” 

“What did he do?” 

Sangella leaned back into her seat, “A few years back he and his radical group bombed a corporate research facility. Apparently they were doing some shady research on genetic manipulation in humans, or something. They had a pretty large pile of illegal or just immoral practices, though the Alliance wouldn’t crack down on them the way Torren wanted. So they took it into their own hands, killing a dozen researchers or so.” 

“Yeesh. Seems kind of counter productive.” Johnny said with a smirk. 

“They did this several more times, there were rumors they were building their own mercenary army to battle against some corporate mercenary group.” 

Johnny laughed, “I’m sure.” 

“Yeah. They just wanted the publicity, but by the time their wild conspiracy theories became too far fetched they just sort of faded away.” 

“So...” Johnny said, rubbing his hand over his head, “This is big?” 

“I can’t see how it couldn’t be. I mean, I’m sure Kikata and Richard are aware that Torren is to be arrested on site.”

Johnny felt a welling of excitement in his chest, a smile cracking across his lips, “This sounds something up our ally. Finally some fucking excitement.” 

“I know, right!” Sangella said. “We just need to find a way to track them.” 

“Man, I’m so fucking pumped. We should like, make a team name, or something-” Johnny cleared his throat as Sangella’s smile disappeared, “You know, because we’re hunting down...er...”

“I will eat you. I swear to god.” Sangella said, folding her arms. 

“It was a joke!” Johnny said, holding out his arms, though he couldn’t hide a grin for long. 

“You know, sometimes I think you’re an idiot.” Sangella said rising up from her seat. 

~ ~ ~ ~

Atrix’s eyes fluttered open, though she was confused by all the clutter in front of her. Where was she? Why does her neck hurt? Why does her mouth taste as if she had scrubbed her teeth and tongue with syrupy sugar? Though soon things came into focus, the clutter was made up of table legs and chairs, her neck hurt because she had fallen asleep with her neck crooked on the couch. 

She sat up slowly, her hand bracing the side of her head, the slightly foggy memories of the previous night flooding into her head along with a headache. She cringed as she spotted the tub of Fulroo on the table, nearly all of it gone and quite a bit of it on the table next to the box it came in. Her eyes shifted to the right and she nearly gasped as she saw a couch, which had apparently been removed from the human balcony and placed on the table. Issac was still asleep on top of it. She was instantly struck by the churning in her chest as she remembered what had happened, and how she had acted....

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The night before...

“Issac you have to try it.” Atrix pleaded, dipping another snack somewhat similar to a giant pretzel into the bluish colored Fulroo which had about the viscosity of pudding. 

“I’m telling you, he won’t like it.” Richard said. 

Kikata shrugged, “I don’t know, he might.” Kikata said, “I mean I like it.” She eyed Atrix who twirled side to side on the stool happily as she took another bite of the Fulroo drenched cracker, “Maybe not as much as others.” 

“It’s a Neko thing though.”

“Maybe I will try it.” Issac said, standing up from his seat, waivering slightly as he tried to maintain his balance. 

“Here, you can take a piece-” Kikata began though was interrupted as Issac put up his hand.

“I’ll do it. I want to do it.” He said confidently. He set his drink down on the table next to a bowl of chips, which he then dipped his hand into to retrieve one. He approached the tub, which stood about eight feet tall. A metal handle was pushed to the side so that it touched down to the floor and rose up nearly all the way to the lip of the tub. 

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Kikata said, her eyes shifting towards Richard nervously. 

Richard shrugged, “A mans gotta’ do what he’s gotta’ do. Sometimes that means being a dumbass.” He grinned towards his brother. 

Issac turned to Richard. “Hey!” He said, facing Richard squarely, “Shut up.” He laughed to himself and faced the tub once again, “Alright, let’s do this epic dip.” He approached the Fulroo, placing his hands on the side of the container before stepping onto the metal handle. He awkwardly and slowly shimmied his way up the side of the tub until he was finally able to place his hands on the lip of the container. He leaned forward as he moved just a bit higher still so he could peer inside, “Hey, it looks like blueberry yogurt. I like that.” He said with a grin, trying to lean down far enough to dip the chip inside. 

“Trust me it doesn’t taste like blueberries.” Richard chuckled. 

“Let him decide for himself!” Atrix said, scolding Richard playfully. 

Issac let out a groan as he tried to lean out far enough to scoop his chip in the Fulroo, though his grip suddenly faltered, “My chip!” He gasped. His arm smacked into inner wall of the container, feeling his arm saturate with the Fulroo that remained on the inside of the tubs wall. “Oh I got some.” He said, straightening his back and examining his arm. He slid his way back down the bar, tumbling off on the last step and falling to his stomach. 

“Issac!” Kikata gasped, Atrix couldn’t hold back her laughter. 

“I’m good.” Issac said as he got back to his feet, frowning as he noticed a smear of Fulroo across the floor. He shrugged and brought his arm up to his mouth, smelling the Fulroo first before taking a lick of it. He frowned again, “Oh...Richard you were right.”

“You don’t like it?” Atrix asked as if her entire life had been shattered to pieces. 

“No. Sorry.” Issac said laughing, “I think I need to wash this off.” 

“No! Don’t waste it!” Atrix said with a gasp.

“Fine, you eat it.” Issac said, holding his arm up into the air and taking a few steps towards the balcony’s edge. 

“Fine.” Atrix said, grinning. She leaned forward, Kikata’s brow raising and her eyes shifting towards Richard, who seemed just as surprised and intrigued by the display. 

Issac watched, wondering if Atrix would do it, as she leaned forward. Her tongue extended and her mouth opened, engulfing Issac in a hot wind as her tongue jabbed into his side. The bumpy, soft surface slid up the bottom of his arm as she retracted her tongue and brought her lips forward, enclosing them around his arm at the shoulder. Issac stared at her puckered lips, feeling her tongue twirl around his arm gently and with surprising nimbleness. 

Atrix smiled to herself and closed her eyes, getting a strange salty taste along with the Fulroo She pulled away, eyes falling on Issac before darting around to the rest of her Friends, “Yum.” She said with a giggle, “I’ll have to take my Fulroo with human more often.” 

Issac stepped back, examining his arm which was entirely licked clean, only a thin layer of saliva remained. “I. Uh.” He said, unsure if there were any joke that would be appropriate enough to make. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Atrix groaned to herself, her cheeks burning and the churning in her chest turned from uncomfortable to painful. She quickly stood up and hurried towards her room, though was stopped in the entrance to the hall by Kikata. 

“Oh, you’re awake finally. Good.” 

“Excuse me.” Atrix said.

“Ah. Not yet, we need to have a group talk.” 

“Is it about me?” Atrix asked nervously, her ears falling.

“Um...Why would it be about you?” Kikata asked curiously. She could tell Atrix was upset about something. 

“B-Because I acted so...Poorly last night.” Atrix said in a near whisper. 

Kikata snorted, “You were just having fun! You were the life of the party.”

“I was?” Atrix asked.

Kikata nodded, “See what happens when you let yourself have fun?”

Atrix swallowed, “But...” She glanced over her shoulder, “Erm. Issac...He probably thinks...I’m....A complete.” She paused again, hoping Kikata would finish her sentence for her, but when she didn’t she whispered harshly in the Neko tongue, “Slut.” 

Kikata sighed, “No, Atrix. You acted fine. You two didn’t do anything. You both passed out while we were watching that game you both seem to like so much. Maybe next time lay off the drinks a little?” 

Atrix nodded, feeling slightly relieved, “But, when I, err, sucked the uh...”

Kikata laughed again, “Okay that was a little sexy. But you’re breaking your shell. Don’t worry.” 

Atrix nodded again, frowning though as Kikata grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her back into the community quarters. 

Kikata sighed as she guided Atrix back to the couch, cringing as she saw the mess they had made the night before. “Rise and shine.” She said as Issac sat up on his own small couch. 

Issac mumbled as he sat up, his bloodshot eyes glancing between Atrix and Kikata. “Hi.” 
“Before you get cleaned up, we need to talk about something.” Kikata said. She folded her arms over her chest.

“Are we in trouble?” Issac asked, smiling towards Atrix weakly, though he noticed that she was having trouble maintaining eye contact with him. 

“No, as I explained to Atrix everyone is welcome to have their wild nights within reason.” Kikata cleared her throat, trying to figure out where to start, “Last night, while you two were having fun, Richard came upon some new information regarding our missing friend.” 

“Prila?” Atrix asked in a whisper, her eyes widened as she looked up towards Kikata, “What did you find? Is she-”

“We did not learn much about her condition, unfortunately, but we may have found someone who knows more. It’s perhaps more complex than we had hoped.” Kikata said, sighing again, “But before we proceed any further I realize we need to be more honest. The people we are dealing with are not exactly the type that you want to associate with.” 

“Who are they? Who took her?” Atrix asked, feeling a strange rush of both excitement and anger rush through her. 

“According to a recent contact...Devoras is connected.”

“The lady from last night?” Issac asked. 

“That’s right. Though we will remain skeptical until we learn more. Our informant is a notorious leader to a fringe extremist group that is not seen in a positive light by the law. I am certainly distraught that we have to deal with them...But as of right now we don’t have much of an option.” 

Issac ran his hands through his hair, “So. What are we going to do?” 

“Richard and I have made up our minds. But we realize that we are now entering deeper waters than our mission originally called for. I cannot morally continue without each of your consent. Personally, I think it would be wiser for you two to make new arrangements and let Richard and I continue alone. But, you are crew on this ship. So you have to make the choice yourselves.” 

“No. I am staying until the end.” Atrix said boldly. 

Kikata nodded slowly, her eyes shifting towards Issac, “Issac, I am sure accomidations can be-”

“No, no. I want to see this through. I mean, it’s part of our job right? Fighting criminals?” 

“Well...Considering the circumstances.” 

Issac shook his head, “No, I’ll stay. I mean, I’ve already come so far with the ships computer, and well, I was sort of hoping to see more excitement here.” 

“Hopefully things don’t get too exciting.” Kikata bit her lip as she thought about how many other times she wished that had been the case, “We will be recharting some courses. It is important that we keep things quiet-” Her eyes shifted to the human balcony as a small figure appeared in the doorway. We was shocked to see a petite, blonde haired woman standing there, “Uh. Who are you?” 

“Is this a bad time?” The woman asked. 

Issac could not see the woman from where he stood down low on the large scale table, but the voice was oddly familiar...The doctor from the previous day.