Legal matters were a funny thing in known space, the twisting galactic corn maze of law being one that many simply refused to try and navigate. Take, for example, a stolen candy bar, a delectable Rimbar from Argon Inc. in fact. A small length of processed sugar, hydroponic almonds, and some mystery ingredient that everyone knew was vinegar. Now, pretend for a moment one such Rimbar had been stolen from your shop, which would be a sin most dastardly. Not only would damages from the theft be paid out to the you, the valiant tax paying small business owner, but to Argon Inc. for loss of revenue and damaged sales, as well as their packaging company, Velus Shipping. Of course, that wouldn't cover the cost of the security audit that Argon Inc. liked to force small businesses into in order to ascertain why their succulent length of sugary delight had been stolen in the first place…

In the end, going through proper legal channels was a headache few dealt with; Therefore, frontier justice was the most often used form of policing. It worked out well for everyone! The corporations didn't have to deal with legal troubles and could fluff their yearly security reports with low thefts, policing agencies could boast that they received little to no calls concerning petty crime, and entrepreneurs were free to defend their property with impunity! The only loser in such a wonderful system designed by our glorious Council, is the thief who just got shot for stealing a half-a-Roark candy bar. All is well citizen, return to your day.

So when Jack suggested stealing his own ship from a dockmaster he refused to pay, Lix was more than a little worried. The noodles, the wonderful, divine noodles, sat heavy in her belly as he whistled a jaunty tune on his way to docking station twenty-seven about a mile around Koorka Station's outer disk. Once more, the Kux'lar had latched to the back of his jacket to help navigate the throngs of people, her tail coiled nearly between her legs to avoid being stomped on by thoughtless passerby.

"Why not just pay the guy, what's the point of a dock heist?" Lix hissed, snapping at some random Human that got too close. The woman yiped, flinching away.

"Oh, several reasons. Several really good reasons. He's a ball stain on the undershorts of Koorka Station for one, he's gouging my dock release fee 'cause I told him what's what, and third," Jack pulled Lix to his side, a vein popping on his forehead in a rage only a wrench jockey spurned could understand. "He thinks the Veel line of the Yantar cargo haulers beats out their older Gaktu models. Fuckin' used spittoon. Oh, and he shot at me so there's that too. So, four points against old dock master Saf!"

"He… shot at you over an argument about cargo haulers?"

"It's serious business, Lix. And no, he shot at me when I threw a screwdriver at his uh… body."

"You know what? Sure, screw it!" The raptor threw her claws high, sighing. "Let's fuck him up! I'll bite the shit outta him!"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Jack pumped the air, excitement boiling beneath the surface of his jovial countenance. Too long had the Gerthtrude been locked up collecting dust. Once upon a time, the mechanic had offered a towing and emergency mobile repair service, but with his ship impounded and the dockmaster's security turrets set to convince him that coming anywhere near docking station twenty-seven was a bad idea, he'd been unable to pad his bank account with the sweet, sweet Roarks such a charge would provide. Now though, now the Gerthtrude would serve a higher purpose; She would be the No Safety Measure's chariot, carting her from victory to victory and providing a safe haven where she could rest and be repaired. Where once self respecting pilots scoffed at the ugly, blocky hauler, someday soon they'd bestow upon her respect for the treasure she carried in her belly. "I doubt he'll just give her up, but with two of us he shouldn't play games for long." Lix grinned at his enthusiasm, the stars in the Human's eyes infectious. Her own yellow orbs drifted down to the small of his back, to the powerful snub nose she knew was hidden beneath his jacket.

"How far are you going to go to get your ship back?" A curious head tilt pressed her nose into his side, the man's scent filling her olfactory senses as she breathed him in. "Not that I fault anyone for taking back what's theirs, but we should be on the same page."

"This is Koorka Station, how far I go is up to him really." Jack shrugged off the fate of Dock Master Saf, a being not many cared for. In fact, the only reason the Gerthtrude had even graced his dock with her prodigious mass was for the oversized docking clamps that easily took her weight, something most other dock masters couldn't provide. Greasy as he was, Saf could handle the big girl where others could not. "He ain't a good dude, Lixy. You goin' soft?"

"Lixy?" A bite was the mechanic's reward, the skin of his neck turning red from the raptor lady's fangs.

"Yeowch, and after I bought you food!" A smile spread across Jack's face as he rubbed the affected spot. "What, you still hungry?"

"Maybe I am and maybe you look like a snack?" Fangs clacked together as the Kux'lar followed him through the crowd, the pair falling into comfortable silence after his affable chuckle. Lix found herself… smiling. It had been some time since the reptilian racer had spoken to any one person for as long as she had Jack. It was a strange sensation once she realized that it had been only a day since she'd met the man, if that. The sudden introspection made her realize that she had spent more time with the Human than anyone else in recent memory and… and couldn't put a single other name to 'friend' in her mind. The thought made her twist her lips in an unsatisfied frown. Part of her didn't care… really… truly… she didn't… only… she did.

Kux'lar society had evolved from a pack hunting race that had once sped across a megaflora world called Yubla far in the Kuslas system, a planet she'd never seen. Its surface was rich with wet jungles and thick canopies with vines so thick and strong entire villages could be built upon them. Her people had retained that pack mentality into their sentient evolution, Yubla now sporting sprawling mega cities built above the jungles full of nippy Kux'larians that prided themselves of multiple circles of friends. Something that Lix suddenly felt the lack of quite heavily. Her subconscious drove her to walk closer to her newest, and only, friend, her claws brushing against his hip as she sought the interaction that would sooth her mind.

"Uh, come in Lixi- um… Lixist-…"

"Lixistruzsias." She offered.

"Lixystruxus. Right. That's what I said. Why you glued to me all of a sudden?" Jack's grin morphed from its usual customer service plaster to a cocky, self-assured smirk. "I guess I'm just irresistibl- ow!" His reward was another nip.

"Don't be an ass!" Jack raised his hands in a chortling surrender, his expression falling to a more serious countenance as they approached docking station twenty-seven. Just like the erstwhile mechanic's shop, the door was a heavy hatch that could be sealed in the event of a hull breach, damning whoever was inside to a very short life outside the station but with a wonderful view of the stars. Jack waltzed on in like he owned the place, Lix following behind only to flinch at the sight of several overhead autocannons tracking her new Human crewmate like angry junkyard dogs.

The front lobby of docking station twenty-seven was a wide-open affair boasting several long and uncomfortable benches that sat low before a tall opening in the far wall like pews set before a priest's podium, waiting for a sermon that would definitely cost them money. What stood behind said opening was a being Lix had never seen before. It was a… well… gelatinous cube was the only way she could begin to describe the creature. What could only be Dock Master Saf jiggled at Jack's approach, several solid chunks inside the gooey mass floated… angrily to the forefront. A speaker above the desk crackled to life before the Human could even open his mouth.

"Seven hundred Roarks." Saf demanded.

"Saaaf, buddy. Come on, you know that's gouging. From businessman to businessblob, let's be reasonable. Let's get you some Roarks in an amount you know I have, yeah?" Grinning wide, Jack leaned on the desk as one hand slipped into a pocket, his head tilted to the side. Lix padded to join the mechanic, if only to bolster his presence with her own. Saf… turned? Looked? Lix wasn't quite sure. In fact, the Kux'lar wasn't even able to pin down what it was. Silicone based life? Liquid crystal? Some kind of advanced bot? Either way, her scales itched in the same manner as when someone was watching her from across a crowd.

"Customer?" Saf asked, his gel bubbling. Lix hesitated before shaking her head, her reptilian eyes furrowed in confusion, before pointing to Jack.

"With… with him." That placed her solidly in league with sinners and fraudsters, vile monsters and demons from beyond the galactic rim who gorged themselves on the vast void between the stars. At least… that's what Saf thought.

"Look, Saf," Jack leaned to hover his hand over the blob's jiggling surface, not quite touching him. "I'll pay the normal fee plus thirty Roarks for being an ass, yeah? A whole hundred Roarks! Then you and I can never deal again, what do ya say?" Lix felt that itch in her scales grow in intensity. It was the same sensation that plagued her mind right before she would plow into an asteroid during a race, or scrape along a fellow pilot during a particularly tight turn. It was that tiny voice at the back of her lizard brain that warned her of impending danger and death. As good a friend as she believed herself to be, Lix found herself taking several cautious steps away from Jack and his… acquaintance.

"Seven hundred! Or leave!" Saf's entire body jiggled, growing and contracting like some cheap extra in a horror movie. It was an effective deterrent, as Lix found herself less and less inclined to either bite or claw the mass. Jack however simply plowed ahead as he had done in all things in life.

"Look, the absolute best I can do is one hundred, you puffed up booger! I'm sick of you holding my fat bitch hostage 'cause you can't handle simple truths!" Jack sneered, his mechanical arms whirring as he leaned over the counter to poke Saf in his… chest? In his front. It made him wiggle like jello.

"Don't like prices? Should have used different dock!"

"There wasn't a different dock! And you know that!" Lix watched the back and forth grow more and more heated, her hackles rising as it quickly became obvious that a cordial solution was never on the table. Jack hated Saf like suns expanded and moons got bought up and turned into renter hells by real estate corporations. Saf wasn't any better from the looks of it. There were old hates here, something that ate away at the both of them from the get-go, more than just the price gouging. "Just like ya damn brother, ya gonna end up spaced like him. Look, I'll drop another ten Roarks but that's it, ya discharged ooze!"

"Get out of my shop!" Overhead, the autocannons clicked and twisted, their cannons rotating.

"Naw man, I'm sick of you keeping my girl! I'm fuckin' right! People only use your dock for its size and you gouge because of it! I shoulda listened and ate the fees to get a VIP slip on the inner ring instead of playin' under the table with a bowl of play putty!" More of that itching… Lix's eyes strayed up to the turrets, the spinning cannons all centered on Jack. Surely the Human knew, nothing he'd done so far painted him as an idiot. Well… nothing except continuing to screech at a sentient blob of goo as deadly autocannons painted him with targeting solutions. "You know what? Fuck you, ya unwiped sneeze!" Jack ripped his hand from his pocket, Lix having only a moment to watch in disbelief as a grenade spoon pinged away from a flung canister as the opening salvo burst from the cannons.

Cold.

Lixistruzsias had never felt so mind numbingly cold in her entire life. Jack's hand gripped her tail as he rolled over the counter, his body plunging inside Saf as his haphazardly thrown grenade burst in an expanding cloud of hyper cooling gas, Lix following close behind against her will as her new, and decidedly insane mechanic, yanked her inside the body of another living creature.

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The expanding cloud of painful, frigid cold half froze Saf in his escape as rounds tore at the decking where Jack and Lix had stood only moments before, the bottom of Jack's boot now bearing a nice little gouge that he planned to take out of the gooey dock master's gelatinous hide. Lix slurped onto the floor in a shivering terrified mass, her claws fighting the lethargy that suddenly slowed her every movement, as Jack slammed down beside her. Warm blooded as he was, the Human was mostly unaffected by the devasting results of the cryo-grenade, far less susceptible than the reptile and liquid based lifeform next to him. Saf attempted to jiggle and escape, the speaker overhead damaged as his turrets spun, seeking the target that had suddenly vanished deeper into the dock. A solid spike of crystal thrust from Saf's body, sparks showering from Jack's metallic forearm as he covered his face like a boxer, rolling to his feet as the cube desperately tried to remove its frozen half from the floor.

"Shit head." Jack growled, flinging goo before swinging with a mechanical arm at the ice that was slowly growing to consume Saf. The dock master burst in a shower of slush, three semi solid bits plopping to the floor to squirm and writhe before Jack stomped them flat with a squelching splat. "Told ya shit was gonna end up like. Didn't I tell him Lix? He done put down six people for holdin' their ships hostage with those cannons. Why I put the Gerthtrude in here, I'll never know. I'm dumb, Lix. I'm dumb, it's the only answer!" Lix shivered on the deck as Jack picked her up and set her on her paws, the Kux'lar deciding she didn't quite like Koorka Station or the cold or the floor.

"W-What the stars was t-that?" She stuttered angrily. As if nearly getting shot wasn't bad enough, Jack had nearly froze her into a lizard-cicle! Hissing, she forced herself inside his jacket for warmth, grinning as he shivered from her icy scales. Her cold-blooded biology was working overtime to return heat to her limbs, so every degree of temperature mattered at the moment.

"Gah! Damn, woman you're cold!" A sigh left her as he wrapped his arms around her chest. "A cryo-nade. Saf was a Greer, some kinda silicone… dude. All that goo was a secretion, he was actually a colony made up o' those three squishy bits I stomped. Guy bought this dock and jacked up the prices to juuuust under the VIP slip's fee in the inner ring so guys with larger ships like me had nowhere else to go. People been gunnin' for him for a while and gettin' the Gerthtrude back is as good a reason as an- ow!" Lix nipped his neck again, in the same place as before.

"And you didn't think t-to warn me? A quick 'Oh h-hey, by the w-way, he has turrets and I'm going to throw an e-explosive at him'?" Her killing claws tapped the floor as the monkey man laughed, the sound both driving her fury and easing the pain in her cold limbs. Growling, she snuggled deeper into his chest, stealing his warmth. "Shut up!" Her growls died as his laughing only grew louder, her hackles rising as she gazed about at the small but wide back room. Terminals galore displayed a wide array of docks, both occupied and empty, each and every one large and circular. Her tail wrapped around her legs as one ship stood out to her, a fat and blocky thing covered in turret blisters. The aft end bore a wide drop ramp that could easily board a sleek racer like the No Safety Measures, but it was the military styled stenciling on the side that truly caught her attention like a hooked fish.

Gerthtrude.

She was a Boorka Mil-Merk troop transport, most often seen in use by planetary defense forces and mercenaries to move ground forces or smaller craft around without burning fuel. She was fat, ugly, powerful, and covered in point defense cannons, or PDCs.

She was perfect, is what she was.

"I-Is that h-her?" Lix pointed with a claw, trying to press even closer to her living heat rock. Jack's eyes lit with recognition as he squeezed her tighter, his usual grin returning as he rose with the raptor racer in his arms.

"Ooooh yeah, there she is. Lookit her, just sittin' there and not earnin' me money!" A hasty thumping of his racing heart against Lix's back told her how excited the man was to have his ship within his grasp, the only thing between them being several dock workers scrambling on the cameras. "Ah shit, they don't look happy."

"W-Well, you killed t-their boss."

"Yeah, but they don't know that." Lix snorted, looking back to the gooey mass that was once the cutthroat dock master. "Besides, I bet they didn't even like the guy!"

"First f-friend in who k-knows how long a-and he's crazy…"

"You like it." Another bite would have been in the works if she wasn't so cold, bringing him up to a galactic record of three Lix bites in one cycle. Simply along for the ride, the Kux'lar found herself limply hanging from one of his cybernetic arms as he carried her towards a rear door, her legs bending to avoid dragging. She'd just polished those claws only a few days ago after all. Worry filled her as his other hand reached behind him for his revolver, her head shaking.

"No. No! Not while y-you're holding m-me in front of you!"

"Ah. Right. Bad form, lady." Far more gently than expected, Jack set the still shivering reptile in a chair by the monitors, removing his jacket to drape over her chest. "Keep an eye on the cameras and follow my lead." He stood with a grin, winking. "Still got my number, baby?" Lix simply glared back, queuing up a comms request that he answered with an even wider grin.

"Are you g-going to tell me the plan this time or l-leave me in the dark again?" She hissed, wrapping his jacket around her thin torso. It smelled like him, and now that she had it in her claws, it looked… old. Her ruminations faltered as he spun on his heel in nothing but his thin undershirt, several new holes showing the man's pale skin where her claws had torn through the fabric during her time sheltering behind him in the crowded corridor. The flesh beneath was riddled with blast and burn scars, bringing to mind the quick tale of how he'd lost one of his arms.

"I'll just say Saf gave the green light to release the Gerthtrude and I'll fly her outta there! Then you meet me back at the Stripped Bolt, yeah?" Lix looked at the mass array of docking controls, her muzzle flicking back and forth between the different switches, boards, dials, buttons, and touchscreens.

"I-I'm freezing! And I d-don't know th-these controls!" She growled at the man, pulling his jacket tighter.

"Bah… you're right… uh…" A metal finger tapped at his skull as he thought, Lix nearly able to visualize the gears in his head turning harder than the ones in his arms. "Okay okay, how about this. You unlock the docking clamps on the Gerthtrude while I chat up the dock workers and then you hobble your ass down to meet us? We'll fly out together."

"That doesn't fix the f-fact that I don't k-know these c-controls!"

"You'll figure it out!" Jack waved with a two finger salute as Lix hissed.

"And they'll know who k-killed Saf t-too!"

"No one will care, you worry too much! This will go great." It was times like these that the Kux'lar envied other species ability to grow hair. Not only did it keep them warm, but she could pull it out in the case of stupid monkeys and their stupid plans and stupid freeze bombs! The day had been going well, she'd eaten someone else's Meelk ration, then got free noodles, now she was getting flung through goo people and left to hit buttons that did… something! What if she ended up spacing the Human? Not only would she feel marginally bad, she'd have to trudge back to his shop on her own while still stumbling around on numb legs. "Oi, hey! How d-do I d-deactivate the secu- ahhh…. damnit." Alas, Jack had already slipped through the door at the rear of the lobby and into the dock proper. "I'll have to f-figure it out myself if y-you get killed you i-idiot. Totally taking your s-shop if you die…" Offering the now closed door one final glare, Lixistruzsias pulled Jack's jacket to her nose to inhale his scent while searching the many touchscreens and panels for some clue as to how in the world she could release the Gerthtrude's docking clamps.

***

Jack was many things, at least in his own mind: a master of charismatic conversation, a savant of the wrench, winner of the Stripped Bolt's most rugged employee for the last three years, and the seventeenth best evader of taxes on the entire station. As such, his swagger towards the closest dock worker was one he thought was well earned.

"Hey hoss," Jack started with that crooked smile that seemed welded to his face today. "Finally paid up with Saf, so the Gerthtrude is good to go."

"Really?" The younger man blinked in surprise, adjusting his tool belt as he passed. "I thought the boss was going to just up the price if you actually coughed up the dough."

"We came to an arrangement. Hard to say no to the cold stuff, you know?"

"I guess, let me just call up to control and get flight permissions to release the big girl."

"Already done, should see those clamps release any moment now." Jack continued his stride towards his ship, memories of stuffing broken down shuttles into her cargo bay or meeting captains flush with money but strapped for time for an inflight refuel crawling from the depths of his mind.

"I mean, sure, sir. But the dock master will still need to give flight clearance." Jack rounded on the younger Human, his steel hands falling on the boy's shoulders.

"Looook you're thinkin' too hard! I already took care of it with Saf. We go way back. Ya'll just head into the worker lounge and open a launch tube for me once the clamps release. Oh, and I'll go grab my lady friend. She's settling up." That, more than the blatant disregard for protocol, stopped the worker short.

"Lady friend? You? You? Jack, the Jack, with a lady? Is she… damaged or something?"

"Oi."

"Ah… sorry. It's just… you've a reputation." The man looked away at Jack's glare, his arms whirring with a silent promise of pain.

"The future is full of potential and surprises kid. You never know what the next cycle could bring, like a nice lady friend who helps you settle up with a dick of a dock master." Finally, a set of klaxons around the Gerthtrude alerted any nearby workers to stand clear, the docking clamps releasing her fat landing gear. Relief flooded Jack as he smiled, turning back to the young man still held fast in his grip. "See? All good to go. Ya'll head into the nice, safe control room over there and get me a launch tube, yeah?" Still unsure, the man had little choice as Jack released him, his chest heaving in a sigh as he rounded up his fellows. "Hell yeah, Lix, that's my lizard!" Jack's grin had evolved into a beam by the time he returned to retrieve the still shivering Kux'lar, scooping her up bridal style to rush back into the docking bay.

"Hey! I c-can walk!"

"Not very fast my cold-blooded mi amore! Play the part, they think you're my new item who helped me get in good with Saf."

"They what?" Lix growled in the cheeky Human's ear, her arms wrapping around his neck not out of affection but from fear of being dropped. The space between the scales of her face burned purple as she saw a small crowd of dock workers watch her be carted towards the Gerthtrude's lowering boarding ramp, some of them smiling at the 'new couple'. "Oh, you f-freakin' owe me."

"Nah, just look at this new ride!"

"We're s-still gonna get i-in trouble! They'll find Saf's b-body!" Lix hissed, but turned to press in close, looking to steal as much warmth as she could.

"Pshhh, naw." Jack blew a raspberry that covered Lix's disgusted face in spittle, her lips twisting in terror as she fought to avoid hissing or screaming at him. That meant opening her mouth and she did not want to do that at the moment. "Death is the primary way people become business owners around here. I bet you the most savvy dock worker in there will be the new master within the hour. That's how Koorka Station works."

"What?" Lix tilted her head, confused. That manner of anarchy was completely unsustainable. "How is there n-not a constant line of bodies being pushed o-out of airlocks?" She could finally feel her legs again, Jack's warmer blood heating hers.

"There was, at first. About two years ago, though us top dogs kinda settled in. You treat your customers right, and your customers defend you. Those who know how to not run a shop into the ground kinda just got stuck with it, or were pushed towards it. Now, you either earn it or take it, but you better be able to make it work or the folks of Koorka will just off ya and put somebody in your place who is up to snuff."

"So… why d-do you get a pass? What m-makes you different?"

"I'm one of the mechanics who knows what the hell they're doing. Saf fell into the 'asshole' category, he wasn't treating customers right and if it wasn't for those turrets, he'd have been deep sixed ages ago." Jack breathed deep as he ascended the Gerthtrude's on-ramp into her cargo bay, the air within stale with oil and old metal. The wide bay had more than enough room to secure the No Safety Measures within, several wall mounted mag-shelves already bearing every conceivable tool and program module a good technician might need to repair and tune a craft to perfection. "I'll give you a tour later. Let's boogie for now." Jack rushed to the small elevator at the back of the cargo bay, stuffing himself inside and smacking the top floor button. Lix twisted her head about to see that they were currently, of course, on the bottom of only three floors. A concerning rumble passed through the lift before it began to slowly rise, lights and systems booting up after so long sitting dormant, the vessel's AI performing preliminary checks and system diagnostics before flight.

The top floor opened up to a cozy bridge, the left side of the hab dominated by a navigator's station and comms bench while the right led to a small screen suite that would display ship systems, galactic economic and trade data, FTL lanes, a series of inboard cameras, and with the flip of a switch, override said screens into manual controls of the Gerthtrude's many PDCs. But it was the pilot's seat that took Lix's breath away.

The big cargo vessel was no racer, that was obvious, but Lixistruzsias could recognize a well-built ship no matter its speed. The laid-back chair was turned at a ninety, obviously being one that would swivel forward and surround the pilot with screens and set into their hands a duo of sticks that would give them fine control over the heavy vessel. The viewport though… oh, it was pretty… the stanchions and cockpit struts were designed in such a way as to focus the pilot's eyes into flight vectors, assisting in maneuvering the big girl however they needed. It was gorgeous in its simplicity and Lix released an audible whine when she noticed there was no tail hole in the seat. Jack set her down on the comfy navigator's bench instead, jumping into the pilot's seat which swiveled him automatically into the complicated looking mess of controls that he started flicking and twisting like an old ex looking for a one-night stand.

"Docking station twenty-seven this is the Gerthtrude, I assume you guys found Saf?" Several moments passed before a voice crackled over the line. It was different from the young man Jack had tricked down on the docking platform.

"Jack. I assume this puddle of goo is your doing?"

"Franky? That you? Fraaaanky! Looks like someone just got promoted and look man, I don't know what you're talking about. Did Saf have an accident or something? Puddle of goo? Sounds sticky." Jack giggled as the line went silent a moment longer.

"You know what… yeah…. yeah, this is dock master Franky Monroe. Gerthtrude, you are cleared for take-off, proceed into launch tube number seven. Safe travels out there and uh… consider the docking fee waved this time."

"You're the best Franky! You holler if you need any help from the Stripped Bolt, I'll give ya a nice discount. Gerthtrude over and out." Jack laughed, slapping the bulky control module that held the freighter's sticks. There was a bobble head of a thin Human woman glued to it. "Hahaaaa, look at that Lix! What do ya think of ya first day on Koorka Station, huh?" Lix sighed, leaning her head back as she adjusted the mechanic's jacket around her for what felt like the hundredth time.

How did she feel about Koorka Station? It was dirty, dark… dingy… loud and dangerous. It was the ass end of civilization where fools and criminals came to ply their trade and pray on people like piranhas. Koorka Station was a cesspool, a pit where money and good people came to vanish or become twisted into a shadow of what they once were. Mud, sucking and sinking, dragging everything that once may have been shining down into its hungry depths to become just as fetid and filthy as the detritus surrounding it. If one were to ask her if they should visit, Lix would say no. If one were to ask her if they should start up a business here, she'd tell them they were dumb for even asking.

However…

That volatility… the lies… the cutthroat culture… it created a strange sort of dangerous honesty. A sharp sort of crew that wore their intentions on their sleeve and, in their pursuit of Roarks and victory and pleasure, let you know exactly what you could expect from them. Koorka station was a place where, if you could watch your back, held the potential to become whatever you needed it to be. A safe haven, a stepping stone, a fresh start… a chance. All you had to do was pay the blood tax…

Her claws brought the jacket up to her nose once more, her nostrils flaring as she dragged Jack's scent into her muzzle and down into her lungs as she had been doing since he'd given it to her…

Perhaps… Koorka Station was one of those places where the rough hid diamonds… Lix's eyes flickered to the Human as he prepared to engage the Gerthtrude's power drive… very, very uncut and rough diamonds… smelly too…

"You know, I think I kinda like it."