The first thing I saw when I woke up was two other bodies sprawled on the floor and hanging off a couch. One of them was covered in scales and had heavily decorated fins, and the other was a pale pinkish white small thing that was face down and prone. I myself was hanging off of one of Yori’s chairs like a discarded hoodie. Yeesh. I haven’t gotten this wasted in a while. And neither had Yori and Noah, apparently. My head was splitting with pain, too. Fuck. I had a hangover. But it was worth it. Yesterday night was the most fun I’d had in a while. We definitely needed to do more celebratory parties.
I un-racked myself from the metal chair, and lumbered over to Yori, then Noah, shaking their limp bodies. Yori didn’t respond, but Noah started to stir after some vigorous shaking. He sat up, and slowly took in the aftermath of our party, rubbing his eyes.
“I haven’t seen a scene like this since college.” Noah groaned.
“I don’t know what that’s like, but I completely agree.”
I sweeped my eyes along the room. It was trashed, to say the least. Cans, cups, and bottles littered the room. Someone had spilled chips all over the floor. The raw fish was nowhere to be seen, but the unmistakable stench of bad fish hung in the air. I scrunched my nose in disgust.
“Yeah, this is bad.” I said. “I’m gonna grab some water.”
I walked over to Yori’s tiny kitchen and filled three cups with water. I handed one to Noah, placed the extra on the table, and gulped mine down. It helped clear my head a bit but I still felt like shit.
“Noah, let’s clean up Yori’s room before they wake up. I still haven’t asked them if it was okay if we stayed here while our ship was getting worked on, and it’ll improve their mood. I hope.”
“You haven’t asked yet?” Noah shook his head incredulously. “What if they say no?”
I smirked. “Yori won’t say no, but if they did, I’d book a hotel room or something. But that won’t happen. Yori lets me crash at their place all the time.”
“But I’m here now. Isn’t one more person too much?” Noah asked.
“Nah, probably not. Yori likes you a lot, so there’s no way they’ll say no. We won’t be staying for that long anyways.” I said.
“Who’s going to be staying?” Yori’s voice piped up. “Saka, I told you to tell me beforehand if you wanted to stay here!”
“Hey, you’re awake!” I said. “Yeah, Noah and I need a place to stay while our ship is being repaired, and I trust you more than the shitty hotels out here. Is it alright?”
Yori sighed. “Yeah, it’s fine. I don’t have any spare blankets or anything, so you’re going to have to go get those on your own. Just don’t mess up my place too much.”
“Thanks, Yori.” Noah said. “We really appreciate it.” I nodded as sincerely as I could.
“Yeah yeah, you don’t have to suck up to me. But both of you are on cleaning duty until your ship is fixed.”
Both Noah and I gave Yori a mock salute, and got to work cleaning the aftermath of our party last night. It wasn’t too bad as far as post-party messes go, since there were only three of us.
Ten minutes later, I threw the last bit of discarded raw fish into the waste disposal chute. Noah put his hands on his hips.
“I think that’s everything?” Noah said.
“Yep, that’s everything.” I echoed.
“Good work, guys.” Yori said, strolling out of the bathroom. Their scales glistened with moisture, and a towel was wrapped across the lower half of their body. Yori wasn’t concerned about covering their chest because the Aeon don’t have nipples, or breasts. “If you want to take a shower, you can go ahead. Towels are over there.” They pointed towards a cabinet built into the wall.
“Noah and I need to go get our stuff from our ship, first. You want to come with, Yori?” I asked.
“Sure, I’ve got nothing else to do. And it’s been a while since I’ve seen your ship.” Yori said, yawning at the end. “Let me throw some clothes on first.”
Yori strolled over to a drawer, rummaged around for some clothes, and walked back into the bathroom to change. Their thick tail swung through the air. I saw Noah stealing glances at Yori. I wasn’t sure if he was interested in Yori’s body or if he was interested in Yori’s body. Maybe it was both. I guess it was his first time seeing a naked alien. And I did the same thing, anyways. The Aeon had a pretty nice physique. Their scale patterns and fins all around their body was mesmerizing to look at. Aeon scales also tended to spark and glitter in the light, and I’d heard they were even more beautiful in the water. I’d never seen Yori swim, though.
Yori reemerged, wearing a big black unzipped jacket, a faded T-shirt with the album art of some old band, and booty shorts. They also had platform boots that raised their height by a few centimeters. As always, Yori was very fashionable. Despite being a suit maker, I’ve never seen Yori wear a spacesuit. They never left the station anyways, so I guess there was no need.
Once Yori was ready, we set out for the small trip back to the Leviathan. The streets were surprisingly the same as usual, even though the news about the Haivu was starting to spread. Everyone was too concerned about their own lives to care about some minor possibility that an enemy alien empire would attack this raggedy station. Eventually, we reached our destination. The repair crew was still working on the ship, and I expected the upgrading to happen sometime after they were done. For now, I still had access to my ship.
I lowered the ramp to get into the ship, and all three of us walked in. Yori wandered around, inspecting the interior of my ship.
“You really need to do some more interior decorating, Saka. It’s minimalist!” They said, spreading their arms in mock exasperation.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Spacecraft are supposed to be minimalist and clean! It keeps the limited space tidy and it reduces fuel consumption!” I protested. The reality was that I was too lazy to add more furniture or anything. But it was true that it was more fuel efficient to reduce weight.
Yori shook their head. “Sometimes you need to sacrifice efficiency for style points. I do it all the time!”
That was concerning, since Yori literally made space suits meant to keep a person alive in the vacuum of space. But their armor had never failed me before, so I decided not to make a snarky remark.
Once Yori fully re-explored my ship, they asked me about the upgrades I had planned.
I stroked my chin. “Well, I’m adding torpedoes, for one. They’re nice for breaking shields, and I’ve been up against some ships with good shields recently.”
Yori nodded. “I hear they’re slow, but one or two of them rip through shields, right?”
“That’s right. Getting hits shouldn’t be a problem as long as we corner them with other weapons. I also got cluster missiles to get rid of small pesky ships, and finally a higher power turret, for Noah.”
Noah perked up. “A higher power turret? What’s better about it?”
“Well, it shoots slower, but it has way more firepower. You’ll have to land less shots, which could be a huge difference in a firefight.” I replied. “Otherwise, I just got some more shield, hull, and thruster upgrades. I couldn’t afford a drive upgrade this time, or a warp drive, so that’s my next goal.”
Basically, the upgrades I ordered just increased our firepower and toughness. We were going to need that if we were going to get involved with the Haivu and stand a chance. It was expensive, but it’d be worth it. My ship still wasn’t anything close to military grade, but it had more firepower than most mercenary ships of its size.
We rested at the ship for a bit, then left with our luggage and dropped it off at Yori’s shop. None of us had any plans for today, so Yori and I decided to show Noah around Maralu Station a bit more. Yori suggested visiting the open air markets nearby, so we quickly found ourselves wandering between colorful stalls and shoving past bustling bodies.
We moved on the current of interest, drifting from stall to stall to see if there was anything worth spending money on. We bought snacks from a confectionery vendor, Noah bought a cheap camera from a photography stall, and Yori bought some patches and pins from a tent filled with art products. I found a pretty savage looking knife from a shady vendor selling only melee weapons, which was nice. I liked collecting knives, and the one I got was cool enough to make me compulsively buy it. Yori and Noah looked at me in concern, though. There’s nothing wrong with collecting knives!
After an hour or so of flowing through the tantalizing market, Yori pulled us away to accompany them on a little errand.
“I’ve been running low on materials for my suits since I’ve been making so many recently.” They explained. “Mind if we stop by my seller’s place?”
“Of course not!” I said, waving my hands dismissively. “It’s not like we’ve got anything else to do anyways. Lead the way.”
Noah nodded his head in agreement.
We walked, took a bus, changed levels a few times, and walked again until we were standing in front of a shitty old warehouse that looked borderline abandoned.
“Are you sure this is it?” Noah asked, nervously. “This looks like a drug den instead of a store.”
Yori nodded. “Well, they need to be hidden. They sell some illegal stuff, or things that shouldn’t be here. I don’t get anything that could get me in trouble but they’ve got the best materials I can work with. Don’t tell anyone about this place.”
“Sounds interesting.” I said. “Might be something useful for us in there, too.”
It was a lot cleaner on the inside than it was on the outside, which wasn’t actually saying much. Random things from weapons to plates of metal to technology gizmos I didn’t understand were strewn about the warehouse’s many metal racks, shelves, on the floor, and propped against the wall. The lighting was dim, but my eyes adjusted quickly. There weren’t many people around, maybe three or four, and they all moved with practiced efficiency. A Sabi wearing an old, aged spacesuit was conversing with one of the customers, fidgeting with a weapon in his hands. It appeared like the Sabi was the owner of the store, and was trying to convince his customer to buy whatever weapon he was holding. Looked like an old kinetic handgun. The kind that races used before they were spacefaring. Only posers used those, they looked cool but were a pain to take care of. They were close to useless in a real gunfight. Hard to find ammo for, too.
Noah and I stuck close behind Yori as they beelined to the nearest junk pile. They kneeled and used their thick tail as support to not fall over, as they rummaged through the small hill of random gadgets and plates stripped from spacecraft and the occasional gravity grenade. I seriously doubted the safety of this warehouse, a gravity grenade was not something you’d like to have rolling around. Those things rapidly increase the G’s of anything caught inside its field, turning anything organic into mush, and crumples anything inorganic. I gave every junk heap a massive berth, and pulled Noah a bit farther away.
“Yori,” I called. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I just saw a few grenades over there.”
Yori’s ear-fin twitched. “Yeah, I come here all the time. Feel free to do some thrifting of your own! I know they have some nice weapons you can’t normally get anywhere else!”
Hmm, that was definitely interesting. I was thinking of getting something close quarters and with a little more kick, so it was worth taking a look around.
Noah saw the expression on my face. “You can go look around. I’ll stay here with Yori and make sure they don’t get themselves blown up. I’ll keep an eye out for anything grenade-shaped.”
“Alright, see you later.” I beelined to a rifle that caught my eye. It was leaned up against a wall, and was probably as long as I was tall. Hmm. It appeared to be some sort of laser cannon repurposed to be handheld. Definitely had a little more kick, but it wasn’t close quarters. This thing would only be useful if I were planetside or something. Otherwise it’d get caught on doorways and narrow corridors. I moved on.
I rummaged through a pile of obscure ship parts and even a speeder frame. A glint shaped like a gun stock caught my eye. I pulled it out carefully so I didn’t collapse the whole thing. Hmm, it was relatively small in size, but still meant to be held in two hands. It was a submachine gun. I wasn’t sure what it shot, though. Flechettes? I already had a nice flechette gun. I wasn’t too interested in submachine guns, either. They were fast, but I liked weapons that did more damage per shot. I left the gun on the top of the pile, to come back for it later if I didn’t find anything better.
“You there!” I heard a voice call out. I turned. “Yeah you, the Togumo! Can I help you?” The voice said.
It was the Sabi who was trying to sell that gun earlier. I guess I emitted too many indecisive customer particles.
“What’s up? I replied, facing the Sabi.
“You seem to be looking for something. May I help you?” He said, crossing his arms. “I understand it can be a bit hard to find things here.
“Yeah, no kidding.” I replied. I swept my eyes over the warehouse. “I’m looking for a gun that’s good in close quarters and has a nice kick to it.”
The Sabi stood there and thought for a moment. “Ah, I may have something that fits that description perfectly. Wait here, I’ll go fetch it.”
He scuttled off and disappeared behind a shelf. A minute later, he reemerged with a cylindrical silver weapon. As he approached, I could clearly see what it was. Yeah, it definitely fits my description.
“Here we are. It’s a laser shotgun, the Paradox 12, specifically. It’s pump action, which is wholly unnecessary for a laser weapon, but is incredibly satisfying. 12 shots before you have to vent the heat, and it destroys anything that’s too close to the wrong end. I think Aeon Special Ops uses these to clear ships. You won’t find anything better than it for its job.”
It looked incredible. The silver frame gleamed in the dim light of the warehouse. It was big enough to be intimidating but small enough to be perfectly fine in close quarters. It looked great, hit hard, and was perfect for my style. I was sold before the merchant finished his sentence.
“You were right, it’s perfect. How much for it?” I wasn’t even going to haggle. It just looked that good.
Thirty seconds later I had my new Paradox 12 in hand. It was beautiful. I slung it underneath my jacket and made my way back to where I left Yori and Noah. They weren’t there, so I figured they must’ve moved. I scanned my eyes around, and spotted Noah jogging frantically towards me.
“Saka, Yori’s in trouble!” He said. “We have to go help them, now!”
A jolt ran down my spine. “What happened? Is Yori okay?”
“Some suspicious looking guys started talking to Yori and started intimidating them. I didn’t catch everything they said, but it sounded bad. I was standing a little bit away so they left me alone, but they all looked like they were carrying guns. Yori willingly followed them, but I could tell it wasn’t anything good!”
“Looks like Yori got wrapped up with the local gangs. It’s the only group I can imagine that messes with Yori. Did you see where they went? We’re following.”
Noah pointed to a side exit. I pumped my newly acquired shotgun. I didn’t know who was messing with Yori, but they were going to have a bad day.