High above Hittania, Grim sat at a table in Raelik's star tree with Crane, Raelik, and the Astralbian lord's knights. The knights were looking at Crane's hideous, mechanical features with undisguised contempt. He was either oblivious to or consciously ignoring the insult.

"Will the prince be joining us?" asked the grotesque pirate captain.

"No," said Raelik. "He has other matters to attend to, though I will be reporting back to him on this meeting."

"And what is the point of this meeting?" asked Grim impatiently.

"To discuss strategy," said Raelik calmly, and with a hint of condescension. "The Ramshackle Collective will have a crucial role to play in the upcoming assault on the Republic."

"If the role is so crucial, I will want more compensation," demanded Grim.

"I cannot offer more than I already have," responded Raelik. "If you want to leave Hittania empty-handed please leave now and stop wasting my time."

"Fine, but I won't accept responsibility for the star tree stolen by my traitorous first mate."

"Done," said Raelik. "We will both be happier when the rebel has been crushed beneath your boot."

"Won't we just," said Grim, his fist clenching.

"Now," said Raelik, "about our strategy."

The meeting was not a long one, but everyone left feeling confident things would go their way, and hopeful they could extract a pound of flesh from the others, so to speak.

***

Kwa-Kwa was back at the lake once again, offering some fresh meat to the furgator she’d befriended. She'd come out here at every opportunity over the past couple of days. This time, Rahk had come with her.

“C’mon, Freckles,” she said, calling him by the name she’d given him. He stomped over, keeping a wary eye on Rahk. Kwa-Kwa tossed him some meat.

"Okay, your turn," Kwa-Kwa said to Rahk. The Dromean made an annoyed face at his friend, but offered the meat to the gator. Freckles growled and slinked away backwards.

"He likes you," said Rahk. "You can feed him."

"I have to get him used to other sapients or there's no way I'll get to keep him."

"Ol’ Blue doesn't listen to anyone but the Admiral," countered Rahk.

"Well that's… that's different," stammered Kwa-Kwa. "Ol’ Blue is a war hero and stuff. Bringing a pet like this on board is a long shot, but I don't want to leave Hittania without Freckles."

A familiar rumble sounded overhead, and Rahk looked up to see the shuttle returning to the Fort. There was a tug at his hand, and when he looked down the meat was gone and Freckles was chewing contentedly.

"We'll be back, buddy," said Kwa-Kwa, giving the beast a pat on the head. "C'mon, Rahk, let's go see if we're going home."

***

When the shuttle landed, Raivyn finally left the quarters she had holed up in, avoiding everyone as much as possible. Jasken, who D'Jarric had gotten up to speed by comm, was waiting for them in the hangar, along with a number of officers, the fighter pilots, and any members of the engineering team that could break free.

After a brief welcome, the survivors of the Ferryman were shuffled off to the medical wing and everyone else started unloading and organizing crates.

"We should have everything we need, plus enough to help out the Freewill Robots or whatever they're called," Reclan said to Jasken as they pushed a crate down the shuttle's ramp together. Jasken raised an eyebrow.

"The Free Revolutionary Fleet," he corrected. "Yes. Once we've got the parts figured out for our own repairs I want you and Dekken to coordinate with them to ensure they have what they need." Reclan nodded as they got the crate stacked into the right pile.

Reclan spent the rest of the day coordinating with communications and engineering as they attempted to get the ripmed system back up and running. They cataloged all the parts and made sure they had spares, then started setting things aside for the FRF.

Nervously, Reclan reached out to the fledgling fleet with the contact information Jasken had given her.

"This is Admiral Crush," said a confident, feminine voice.

"Admiral," she responded, trying to mirror the admiral's confidence. "This is Reclan, member of Talon Squad, of the Griffon Republic. We have the parts you requested, and we're looking to arrange transport to your location."

"Excellent. When can we expect the delivery?"

"I can be there in five hours," said Reclan. "I'll be able to help integrate Republic parts into your systems and bring a small crew along to help move crates."

Crush chuckled. It wasn't a cruel laugh, but it wasn't warm either.

"First," said the admiral, "we're a scavenger society. We hardly need help integrating foreign parts. Second, I think having the infamous Talon Squad aboard might make my crew a bit uneasy. You may bring along two helpers, but please choose them from outside your squad."

Reclan nearly groaned aloud, but kept her composure. She really didn't want to have to go without Talon Squad.

"Your terms are fair, but my offer to help stands."

Ending the call, Reclan went to inform Jasken and check on the ripmed repairs. Things were going well, but would take some time yet.

She tracked down Kwa-Kwa and Rahk and got them to agree to accompany her.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Take off's in ten minutes," she advised. "Meet me in the main hangar."

***

Out by the mess tent, Raivyn stood staring into the evening sky. Nyx was blocking Lux almost entirely at the moment, with a glimmer of silvery white peeking out from behind a disc of purplish black.

"It's quite the view, huh?” asked a voice over her shoulder. She turned to see Vanbrook offering her a cup of tea.

“Rakka?” she asked, indicating the tea.

Vanbrook shook his head. “Nah, it’s talvan blossom - that’s the one you like, right?”

She took the cup with a nod of thanks. The two just stood there for a while and watched Lux disappear behind Nyx.

“No quips?” asked Raivyn, smirking just a little. “No smart remarks? C’mon, you’ve got at least one good one thought up. I made a fool out of myself.”

“Ah, it was a kiss on the cheek. It was a polite thank you! I’m sure everyone’s forgotten about it by now.”

“You knew exactly what I was talking about, brainiac.”

“Alright,” said Vanbrook with a chuckle. “It’ll take a day or two to blow over.” He took a sip of his rakka and watched for the first silver shimmers of Lux, coming back around Nyx.

***

High above the planet, Reclan was cruising towards the FRF’s position, and not particularly excited to board a ship that had been shooting at her not that long ago.

“Admiral Crush, this is Reclan, requesting permission to land,” she said.

“Reclan, this is Crush. There’s a landing pad right next to the star tree; you’re cleared to land there.”

The landing was a bit rougher than Reclan would have liked, but she managed not to take any paint or bark off of any of the ships, so she figured that was a win. Since the Collective ships didn’t have any atmosphere, the three representatives of the Republic put on their aethersuits, making sure to check each other’s work. After triple checking the seals, they fastened on tool and weapon belts, lowered the ramp, and walked out to meet the Admiral and her crew.

Crush stood with a stocky masculine robot, waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp. Her eyes narrowed when she saw them, the eyelid-like plates that allowed her to emote nearly touching. She drew her sleek energy pistol and leveled it at the Krauqian.

Before her gun was level with Kwa-Kwa's head, everyone on both sides had a gun drawn.

“I suppose I would have felt more comfortable with Talon Squad,” she said, her eyes locked on to Kwa-Kwa. The Krauqian looked around, confused.

“You don’t remember me?” asked Crush, “Huh. I guess you never saw me. You nearly had me in that hollowed-out tree.”

Kwa-Kwa’s eyes, naturally wide to begin with, expanded in shock, then horror. Then the Krauqian burst into laughter, holstering her weapon.

“Wow!” she exclaimed, “You really sent us for a loop! Well, I’m glad we didn’t kill you. No hard feelings, I hope, now that we’re on the same side. War can be a funny business sometimes.”

“Hm,” huffed Crush noncommittally. She holstered her gun and everyone else followed suit.

“Hey, how’d you pull off that psychic attack? You convinced me to turn around when I was right on top of you.”

“I did nothing of the sort. I don’t know why you turned around.”

The group stood still, each side eying the other up.

“How’d the star tree get here?” asked Reclan.

“I flew it,” said Crush.

“Interesting,” said the Dromean. She mulled that over. It sounded like there was more to this Robot than she was letting on, maybe more than she knew. Drixen couldn’t fly star trees, at least not well, but Raivyn’s psychic abilities had allowed her to fly one almost entirely instinctually.

“Well,” she said aloud, “maybe we can discuss this at another time. For now, why don’t we see about getting these parts unloaded and setting up your comms?”

Watching the robots work, Reclan was amazed at their ability to patch technologies together. She happily answered questions when asked, but for the most part she stood back and took it as a kind of lesson in cannibalizing parts. She was particularly impressed with Crush’s abilities. She was clearly more than just the boss. She was an incredibly gifted mechanic, and she seemed to relish getting her hands dirty alongside her crew.

“That should be comms,” said Crush, standing up from where she’d been working.

Ripmed comms were easier to operate than ripmed travel, because a message could be sent in the form of photons, but travel required moving a lot more mass, plus engaging quantum entanglement, meaning it took significantly less energy to have a conversation in nearly real-time than it did to send a ship the same distance at significantly slower speeds.

“Who would you like to talk to?” asked the grease-covered Admiral. Reclan was caught off guard by the question.

“Griffon Keep, Kerucester, on Griffonia,” she answered. She gave Crush the contact info, and they made the call.

“Hello?” came the response. “Who is this?”

“This is Reclan, of the Blue Griffon Fleet’s Talon Squad. Is this Kerucester?”

“Negative, but I will relay this to them immediately! This is the Halberd, en route to Hittania, we intercepted your message.”

"Admiral, can we patch this conversation through to the Wingspan?"

Crush nodded and adjusted the controls.

"Admiral Jasken, this is Reclan, we've got Republic gunship Halberd on comms."

"What?" asked Jasken incredulously. "Captain Kesht, you old space dog! Is that you?"

"Ha! Admiral Jasken! Yes, this is Captain Kesht. How's the Blue Griffon Fleet holding up?"

"Not great," admitted Jasken soberly. “We lost the Arrowhead and the Ferryman. You better patch me through to Kerucester if you can."

"Just a sec," said Kesht.

"Admiral Jasken?" came Skritka's voice.

"Well it's a party now," said Crush, off mic. Reclan flashed her a toothy grin.

Jasken took a moment to fill Skritka in on the situation as it had developed since the Astralbians first attacked, leaving out sensitive details as they were speaking through the FRF.

"I'm sorry, Admiral," said the Prime Minister, but the Halberd is the only help you can expect in the near future. It would have only been a diplomatic envoy in a non-military vessel, but when I requested such a vessel from the Executor it turned out they were all engaged. Luckily for us, the Halberd was available."

"Lucky indeed," said Jasken, smoothing his mustache.

"I'll call an emergency meeting of the Major House. You'll need to be there, of course."

"Understood, Sir," answered Jasken grimly.

"Admiral Crush," said Skritka. "The Republic is grateful for the aid of the FRF in these extraordinary times. May providence shine on your revolution."

"Thank you, Prime Minister," said Crush with a polite nod. She felt like she was getting the hang of this after all.

After the comm was terminated, Reclan and Crush worked together in completing the work around for the ripmed drive system. This took even more delicacy and ingenuity than the comms, as they had been deliberately crippled to keep the ship from fleeing.

"Whew," said Crush, "I'm just glad they didn't rig the ship to blow in case of mutiny."

Reclan slapped her on the shoulder. "Way to see the bright side of things," she said.

Crush nodded appreciatively.

"I noticed you wince sometimes when you put weight on your prosthetic," said Crush. "Come back some time and we'll take a look at it."

Reclan smiled. "You're on, Admiral."

The trip back went smoothly, and Reclan felt good about their new allies. Hopefully their own ripmed would be repaired soon, then maybe they could go home.

Just then, a stark reminder of why home would have to wait appeared on the horizon. The star trees had all risen into the air, and were floating towards Fort Bog Iron and the Wingspan.