[ 27 hours, 32 minutes, 59 seconds before impact]

...

Juuso Trohon was what he called himself, but the first title was far more than sufficient, and the secondary was simply related to his familiar sect, and one he had yet to earn.

When he had left his home world, one of the many colonies that stood near the fringes, he had hoped for glory. It was a foolish dream, but not an uncommon one for a young Rullah buck. He had trained among the guard, and worked for a time as soldier. When he felt this was not enough, he pushed himself farther from home, and became a mercenary.

After cycles of this, he realized he had reached the edge of the fringe. So, as most do, he enlisted himself to be a protector along the lines. An action that was the single stupidest thing he had ever done in his life. If he hadn't been in the good fortune of ending up in the 33rd division, Juuso knew he would be dead.

Such a career was beyond him.

He understood that, now. How worthless he truly was, compared to the greatest of the great.

If he ever met any from the 33rd again, he would hang his head and claws in shame before them. He had no honor in that regard any longer, for he was a coward. One had left his brothers and sisters to their sacred duty, to turn and hide behind them in the safety they provided. To reap the benefits of others, who would live and die for him, while he ran.

No longer a soldier of the lines, but a failure.

Tainted honor.

If one found themselves with it, their only choice was to focus on improving by other means, or facing it directly.

So, Juuso could not help but feel some sense of pride, when he had come under the good fortune of serving the great shipmaster Yitale. There was more than some semblance of honor to be earned, even if it was in her shadow, as she fearlessly lead them to support the lines. That was a path to redemption. Slow, winding, but if there truly was any path at all, he believed in it. For Yitale was strong, and she bore the marks to prove it. Though not a Rullah vessel, there was a strict code aboard this ship. With it, the shipmaster had begun to draw others like the stars that gathered systems around them.

Still, some of those others were not what Juuso had come to expect. And it was this, which bothered him.

His new crew, and in essence his new pack, was fragile and weak.

The Sirens of the crew were not warriors, and only a few bore scars. With out a doubt, many held the gaze of veterans, but he could find not true proof or the evidence. The most frustrating of them all was his crew leader, Di'her. The medical officer, who oversaw a majority of the engineers.

For some reason, the beast guarded her as closely as the shipmaster's young, though Juuso could find no explanation as to why. It had gotten to the point where he was tempted to ask the creature.

He, as well as the other newer crew, had come to terms with the fact it was intelligent. A sudden surprise, to say the least.

Juuso growled in frustration.

Wandering in the dark, he was growing more frustrated with every rounded corner. Originally he had been trying to follow his crewmate, Ch'Korob, but he had quickly gotten lost in the under belly of the ship, and now found himself traveling aimlessly. He was concerned for the Oxot, and feared that his fellow engineer was suffering from something that he, as a Rullah, could not fully understand.

Still, that didn't make it any less dangerous for Ch'Korob, who had been certainly showing signs of insomnia and delusion. Juuso had decided he would take the Oxot to the medical bay, once he located him.

It was a known point of honor to protect those around you, even from themselves, but in this situation, Juuso had to admit that it seemed as though he was only wasting his time.

Try as he might, the Oxot had lost him entirely when Ch'Korob let his camouflage take over and merged into the shadows. Now, he was the same as an adolescent from his home colony, lost foolishly in the woods on a true night. Wandering without direction.

No matter how far he walked, only scrap metal and empty rooms lay around him, and no clear means of exit had presented themselves.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He let his claws lay still on the cold metal of the hall floor, and he listened. For some reason, he felt the uncomfortable twitch of danger, tugging at his senses. There was some factor of difference, from before, and now. As he stilled his breath, taking in extra air with his vocal lungs, he held in wait.

It was distant and unfamiliar, but somewhere in the black, there was a voice.

Slowly, Juuso came to approach it.

It wasn't a Siren, that had become clear as his translator failed to interpret the meanings of the strange sounds which echoed throughout the dark halls, haunting, and clear. The light seemed to grow, and the shadows dimmed with each corner he walked. His frustration and his anger were forgotten now, replaced by something he had not felt in a long time.

Wonder.

Music from other species was rare, if not just unheard of. Most that existed was kept in a cultural manner, and not often shared with those on the outside. Many species simply lacked the concept entirely, but here it was, unmistakably foreign and real, a deep sound that rang through the empty spaces around him.

Sirens had a language which was song-like in quality, but it was said that they didn't sing for pleasure. Rullah had chants of war, or peace, and yet Juuso couldn't understand a single word.

No matter how clearly he listened, the meanings escaped him. His translator simply didn't know what it was trying to interpret, so when he walked around the final corner, the air he had trapped released in a long exhalation of surprise.

It wasn't a Siren at all.

It was the beast.

The strange music stopped the instant he had stepped into sight, and the creature that turned to face him drew its brows together. The “human” was sitting against the rounded wall of the corridor, leaning back with its head slightly angled towards the surprised Rullah, under a singular, dim, light.

Slowly, the human nodded.

Juuso was always amazed by how much other species could draw emotion and intent on facial posturing, Rullah had always relied more on body language as a whole, but the intention seemed clear.

He could approach.

In a small dip of his secondary limbs, and a nod of his head, Juuso stepped into the small section of functioning light to join the human. Hopefully the courtesy would be enough to permit his unexpected intrusion.

“I didn't expect anyone else to be down here.” The human's voice broke the quiet air. “You should go back to the upper levels before you find yourself lost.”

Jusso held his ground, debating the approach of eye contact. For some species, this would be interpreted as a challenge, for others a sign of respect. Making his decision, the Rullah lifted his head to meet the human's gaze. “I was following the Oxot, Ch'Korob. He is not well.”

“The [chameleon]?”

"I..." Juuso blinked in confusion as his translator failed him yet again. “Yes, perhaps.”

“He is fine. I spoke with him not long ago.”

Juuso blinked again, and then stood awkwardly as the human held its stare back at him. He tried to hide his relaxing posture as the ship-beast finally broke the gaze to push itself up onto its two legs. This was going much better than their last encounter.

As if seizing the strangeness of the situation, the human asked a question that threw whatever guard Juuso had mentally established.

“So, what the [hell] are you?”

Juuso stared.

It was an absurd question.

Rullah, like himself, were everywhere in the galaxy. From the lines, to the inner-systems, to the fringes: for someone to have lived their lives and never seen one bordered on impossibility, and to ask such a question could only be taken as a sign of disrespect. Perhaps Juuso's temper was still smoldering quietly in the background, or perhaps his assumption that the question just been asked in an incredibly rude manner, had fanned those flames.

“I'm a Fracking Rullah- What in all of the void are you?” Juuso had just enough time to realize how stupid he had just been, before the human showed its teeth.

He was disturbed at how many of them it had. Two sets, of angular pointed ones seemed to catch the light, in a way that only hardened enamel layers could. Both upper, and lower, on the creature's jaw. And those were hardly the only teeth present.

If he had ever wondered in the ship-beast was a meat eater, even in the slightest, it was gone now.

Sharp barks seemed to issue from the human's throat, and it threw back its head as its chest heaved, before finally bringing itself under control once more. Teeth, now only slightly visible, formed in a strange gesture he had often seen when the beast was near Yitale.

“I suppose that is the question, isn't it? I've been asking it myself, quite a bit.” The human turned and began to walk, as Juuso followed quietly. “Am I the last of my kind, a relic to the ages?”

Several popping sounds ricocheted through the halls as the human flexed its arms. “Or did they survive, somewhere out there, and I'm simply ignorant of it...” The human trailed off, as silence became eerier and the darkness closed in around them. “Without my people, my culture, and their beliefs... what am I? A guardian, a weapon, or-”

The human spun on Juuso so quickly, the Rullah didn't even have time to fully raise up its second set of limbs in response before the human's nose was barely a tenth of a unit from his face.

“- am I simply a beast?”

Juuso tried not to shudder. His mental warning of danger was simply a shrill, screeching in the back of his mind so loudly it overwhelmed everything. With out a doubt, this was not safe: he, was not safe.

“What do you want from me?” The words rolled out slowly, as Juuso tried to maintain some semblance of composure. Angry white eyes, with small spheres of color that stared back with rage. There could be no misinterpretation now. A Rullah knew body language.

“I simply want you to understand something.”

Juuso slowly lowered back to the ground, as the human turned away and walked off into the darkness.

“If there is any true reason this ship and its crew still exist, it isn't because of Yitale. It's not because of her status as a shipmaster, or what credits she pays me to work for her. It's because of Di'her.” As the sounds of the human's footsteps grew quieter in the distance, one more statement echoed through the halls to reach him.

"If you try to harm her again, I'm going to kill you.”