Asteroid Racers were no strangers to chaos, to the mind-numbing tumult of death and destruction dealt at the precipitancy of lightspeed. Such was the nature of the game, their daring race through rings of stone and against each other's grit and hopes. However, it was always behind the impersonal cover of a flight stick controlling multiple thousands of tons of steel and roaring engines, never truly face to face with those that wished them harm. So, when the cacophony of gunfire slewed her way, Lix found herself frozen to the spot.
Shame filled the Kux'lar who had recently believed herself on top of the galaxy, her place among the stars solidified as a 'Roid Racer, held fast in place by fear of death. Hot lead zipped around her, slamming into displays and sparking off the hard metal frames of weaponry and armor in a dazzling spray of sparks. Confusion further whirled in the frozen lizard as her vision spun, pain blossoming in her back as she felt a strong hand pull her over the counter and into safety. At first, Lix expected to see Jack's familiar face when her paws finally rolled her into a crouch. Instead, the crooked visage of Taran graced her terrified eyes, the angry shopkeeper shoving the flachette pistol into her claws.
"Shoot back! And watch your fire!" He shouted, pulling a wickedly thick rifle from behind the register himself. Lix simply sat there, the scales of her knuckles creaking with the force of her hold as more rounds slammed into the walls overhead. Jack's voice, angry and hoarse, filled her ears as the sound of his boots dimmed with distance.
"Get some crossfire on that door, fuckin' leave his ass, he's meat!" The mechanic shouted, his tone one that Lix had never heard before.
"Do as he says! It's fackin' Mad Jack, ya limp necked grease napkins!" Taran shouted, leaning up to fire several rounds of return fire. All Lix could find herself doing was staying in place and shivering as everything descended into chaos and noise, the booming retort of Jack's revolver making her duck her head even further behind the false safety of the counter.
Run.
Hide.
Instinct made demands the Kux'lar saw less and less reason to ignore, the gun clutched in her claws doing little to convince her otherwise. Was there ever a time when she'd held one before? No! Today marked the first time Lix had ever held a weapon, a gun, much less a loaded one, cocked and ready to fire. The starship pilot didn't know the first thing about gunplay! Taran scoffed, more out of annoyance than disdain, as he jerked the weapon system out of the terrified reptile's hands, holding it up in front of her face.
"See this post at the front? The front sight? You line it up between these two in the back, same distance between 'em and level at the top! Then ya line up wit' the target an' squeeze the trigger. Don't put too much o' ya claw on it or you'll pull to the right, too little and ya'll find it pushes to the left. Now shoot!" He shoved the gun back against her chest, grabbing his own rifle and returning to answering the Keelhauler's fire with slung death of his own.
"J-Just line up the s-sight posts…" Lix slowly, with trembling claws, turned the pistol in her grip until the barrel faced well away from her, shakily aligning the tiny little protrusions as more hellfire turned the store's back wall into modern art above her, showering her shoulders with hot metal and broken plastic. Fear slowed the Kux'lar's movements, bestowing upon her a feeling of wading through syrup, as she tilted her head this way and that, trying to bring to bear a singular eye with which to gaze down the sights. It was an awkward affair, but… doable.
She could do this…
For no other reason than Jack was out there…
Speaking of her Human, Lix risked a peek over the counter, twisting her neck so only a single eye peered over the edge at the madness that was unfolding before her. Outside, dozens upon dozens of Vent denizens ran in a disorganized tangle of skin, scales, feathers, limbs, and tails. All sought to flee the incoming wall of death being pushed by a line of raggedly clothed men and women of all sorts of species haphazardly spraying lead death along the halls with poorly aimed weaponry. Each bore a brown line of paint across whatever passed as their face. Most were human, but several rat-lizard Huks and the ooze like Greer, who bore no paint themselves, counted among their number. The latter used no weaponry, only stabbed out at any fool who came too close, dragging them into their viscous bodies to drown them.
Jack stood at the entrance to Pew For You like an unmovable bulwark, directing the two remaining Ripper guards in a crossfire of their rifles as he picked off Keelhaulers with his booming revolver, a wicked grin splitting his face.
"Hop frog, you put rounds down range," Jack slapped the man closest to him on the shoulder. "And you, with me when he puts their heads down!" To the other, who nodded in understanding. Lix gulped as the man she'd spent the last few weeks with snapped his attention back to the gangsters who had since broken formation, taking cover in stores and behind long since emptied street vendors. With mechanical precision, Jack's alloy arms snapped from target to target, the poor fools still out in the open, the Human's revolver barking a righteous fury that bored holes in one, two, three Keelhaulers that had yet to find sanctuary.
Three men dead before Lix could take a breath, Jack's cybernetics offering him inhuman speed and precision that put him head and shoulders above the slum thugs trying to push their weight around. Lix found her lower jaw trembled as she struggled to align the flechette pistol's sights on the sheet metal wall that made up what she thought had been a street meat shop, knowing a Keelhauler hid behind it, until Taran's leathery hand pushed the trembling barrel down.
"Naw, ya need ta pop targets in the open, an' not so far away. Jack's 'tween ya an' them anyway, ya risk hittin' his ass. You'll just waste a needle in tha' metal anyway."
"R-Right… Um…" Taking a moment to swallow and wet her throat, Lix loosened her grip on the pistol until the pain she hadn't realized was plaguing her knuckles eased. "Who are these guys?"
"Keelhaulers," Taran spit, sliding several fresh rounds into his rifle's receiver. "A small upstart group o' deckhands what got kicked of a big ol' starliner. Tryin' they hand at gangbangin' now. Don't know what they doin'. Picked a bad day ta fuck aroun', what with Mad Jack down here an' all." Lix narrowed her eyes at the man's words as he pulled a rolled stick of… herbs from somewhere in his shirt, sliding the bundle between his lips beofre lighting the end with hot brass from the floor.
"Mad Jack?"
"Ha… are ya fuckin' serious? He ain't… naw… ain't touchin' tha'." Taran simply smirked, a cruel and vindictive thing that made Lix grip her new pistol all the tighter. It felt less like the man was looking at her as if she were a living, breathing, thinking person… and more like an uncooked meal… "Nah, these punks jus' shoot shit up an' act like no one can mess wit' em. Thing is, they gots lots of ammo. Not a problem fer the folks up top as ya can see." Taran gestured to Jack as the mechanic began to sprint in time with a Ripper guard, their advance covered by their overwatch who periodically squeezed a round or two well free of their vulnerable backs. "Come on, let's get up there."
"What? Us? I… right!" Steeling herself with a breath that rattled her small but long lungs, Lix leapt over the counter with a war screech that made Taran wince, her flechette pistol clutched tightly in her claws.
***
Jack felt young again, at least, younger than he was. Colors swirled in a frothy soup behind his mind, colors the implants in his brain dulled, as both eyes moved independently in a constant search for a low time gangster looking to make an easy mark of hard men. The Ripper who huffed at his side, a substandard rifle in his hands, dove into cover as several of the brown painted gang bangers poked their weapon's barrels from cover to blindly fire at the encroaching monsters who had already deep sixed three of them in quick succession.
Risks flew as Jack slid into cover behind a thick pile of scrap metal, several loose pipes and fake datapads falling in his lap as the nameless Ripper joined him, already laying down covering fire so his fellow could clear the distance to them. Deep, belly rolling chuckles tumbled from Jack's mouth as he unbuckled the first of his grenades, the colored tape marking it as a simple concussion device.
"Aw, a boring one." Yet affective all the same. Wordlessly, Jack twisted free the small pin and tossed the devastating little ball with an overhead pitch, letting loose a happy little whistle as he waited for the telltale whoomph to slam passed his position. Unlike how he remembered, however, the wall of concussive power barreled into his cover, and him, with the force of an unrestrained starship drive, knocking the mechanic on his ass with a gleeful giggle. "Ha! Haha-hooo! I mixed that one fun!" Adrenaline and joy coursed through his veins as he popped back to his feet, glancing over his cover as a grainy overlay painted several Keelhaulers, one unconscious in a heap, stumbling with bleeding eyes and ears out in the open. The Greer had fared the worst, his silicone body blown apart, and the defenseless colonies quivering on the floor before one of his own fellows blindly stomped him flat. Smoke, both from the constant gunfire that slewed from either side of the hallway and from Jack's overpowered grenade, danced with the fetid haze that leaked from every orifice of the Vents to create an obscuring curtain that turned the battlefield into a macabre stage.
"Get some!" Actuators whirred as Jack's arm popped up with startling speed, a stark green line painting the projected flight path of his shot onto his vision as he domed the first Keelhauler still stumbling confused and blind, his boot covered in the remains of his Greer comrade. The second fell with a splash of bloody vomit spilling from his lips, his bloodshot eyes gazing about at nothing as the pair of Ripper guards laid into the remaining, defenseless gangsters with overwhelming firepower. "Advance, eat up their territory! Let's get a cordon set up!"
"Rippers on they way, Jack." The closest dipped his head, the scarred man not bothering with his usual postering, not to the infamous Mad Jack.
A series of pitter patters drew Jack's attention behind him, Lix sprinting his way, wild eyed and terrified, with the compact little flechette pistol Taran had attempted to pawn off on them clutched tightly in her paws.
"Lix! What in the cross-threaded cunt wad are ya doin' here, scaly lady? Shoulda stayed behind the counter!" A yipe flew from the shaking Kux'lar's throat as Jack roughly pulled her into the cover of a storefront, pushing her behind him as he turned his attention back towards the din of voices marching down the deserted steel corridor like a pack of cackling hyenas. More Keelhaulers on their way to enforce, or avenge, their fellows. Warmth pressed into his back as the pilot peered around his side, the pistol amateurishly aimed under his armpit. "See anything?" He whispered, reaching down with a free hand to adjust her hold on the weapon's grip.
"Lix n-not gonna let J-Jack go alone! Gnah!"
"Shhhh…" A gentle hand reached back to press against her side before returning to the grip of his revolver proper, the cylinder popping open to drop several oversized shells into his palm before fresh rounds slid home faster than Lix could follow. A series of quick clicks preluded the metallic snap of the cylinder returning home before his thumb pulled the hammer back with deadly finality. "Let 'em come to us, like bugs to a spider web."
"W-What a spider?"
"Ambush predator, lots of legs an' eyes. Okay! Crash course, Take ya a deep breath an' just focus on me." Jack adjusted down to a crouch, Lix following on reflex as she pressed closer to his back. "All I want ya to keep in mind right now is a firefight is just a bunch o' angles. Most who survive either cover more angles or get the drop on whoever they are tryin' to shoot. Lot's more to it than that but we're basic bitches today, yeah?"
"Y-Yeah, basic bitches." Lix went to nod, which only served to wiggle her head on Jack's shoulder.
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"Good. We got four guns, four angles, and they comin' to us so we've got a little bit of surprise. Your little needle chucker is decent for about ehhhh I'd say two-hundred-fifty meters or so before ya see some nasty drop off, so no need to worry down here on a station. Now, ya see these two goobers?" Jack nodded at the stoic Ripper guards hiding on opposite sides of the corridor, one behind a vendor stall, and the other in a storefront. "They got set up what ya call intersecting sectors of fire, or a crossfire, meanin' their angles of fire cross over one another."
"That… that means they can… shoot each other's targets?" Lix guessed, her tail wrapping around her own leg.
"Heeey! Now ya usin' ya noggin'! They can also double up on the same target or cover each other when reloadin'. All sorts of benefits. With ya attached to my back like this, our angle is pretty much the same but that ai'n't such a big deal since the hall isn't so big. Now the rest is really simple."
"O-Oh yeah?" Lix shuffled behind the man, a quick pang of guilt flashing through her when she realized she was all but hiding behind him as if he were cover.
"Oh yeah, now we just gotta wait an' kill 'em!" Jack's grin turned wicked, one the Rippers answering in kind. The closest turned with a snicker, his teeth clean but broken.
"She a newbie Mad Jack? Poppin' her blood and guts cherry?"
"Name's just Jack, ya troglodyte." The man simply continued to cackle in much the same way the encroaching Keelhaulers were, their shadows dancing in the smoke that still lingered from the earlier spattering of gunfire and Jack's grenade, swirling with the ever-present miasma that the Vents were known for. Jack could practically feel the heavy stare Lix pinned to the back of his head as they waited, her presence on his back a comfort against the superior numbers coming their way, but her unspoken questions hanging like a guillotine.
"Why does everyone keep calling you Mad Jack?" Lix's tongue flickered to taste the air, leaving a spot of moisture on the back of her Human's ear.
"They can't let old shit go, that's why." A growl left his throat as silhouettes flit about the swirling smog, figures with all manner of weapons jogging, galloping, and sprinting their way as Taran, who had been lazily walking his way up behind them, finally joined the orderly firing line.
"Looks like I be jus' in time, yeah?" His mechanical legs whirred, the rear facing knees bending as he took up position between his own guards and Jack's storefront cover. "Like ol' times, eh Jack? Puttin' down bitches what don't know how to hold a gun." Taran's whisper was shaking, not with fear, but the anticipation of the coming violence. The fat rifle looked comfortable in his hands, as natural the revolver looked in Jack's. Lix, more than ever, felt terribly out of place as she shuffled even tighter behind Jack's broad back, her pistol all but forgotten as she pointed the barrel at the floor. A sturdy hand on her shoulder nearly tore a gasp from her throat, her tail flagging wildly as Jack twisted, forcing her into his position by the threshold of the storefront door as he moved aside.
"Alright, just remember; line up the sights, squeeze the trigger, don't jerk, if they're firin' at ya, stay behind cover, and watch this…" With his hand still on the Kux'lar's shoulder, Jack pulled the terrified pilot back and to the side, deeper into the store. "See? You don't have to press up against ya cover to be safe. Ya just have to put something between your soft bits and the people shootin' at ya. When in doubt, stay in cover, got it?" Lix simply nodded, a fast jerky affair that blurred her vision, whining as her mechanic left her to take up position near Taran.
She'd much rather he stay with her, in the better cover of the storefront.
The time for glaring at mean Humans was over, however. The Keelhaulers reinforcements barreled down the hall and through the thick curtain of smoke and smog with weapons and voices raised, their promises of swift death bouncing off the steel bulkheads like hot ricochet. So focused were they on the appearance of it all, on the aesthetics of their clothes and paint and guns, that they didn't even notice the five figures hunkered in the gloom until Jack and Taran slipped from cover to lay devastating fire upon the vanguard. Their two accompanying guards joined them in barking hellfire, Lix carefully, shakily, lining up her sights on a startled Human who fled into a nearby store, much too fast for her non-existent skills to follow. Instead, the Kux'lar squeezed several flechette rounds into the scattering crowd as more than one fell limp to the ground, hot lead and deadly needles slicing through the air like enraged spirits.
"Moving!" Jack hollered, Taran propping his rifle on the edge of the stall he was hiding behind as the mechanic slipped into the open to sprint several steps closer to the Keelhauler's position, one of the Rippers joining him in a slower jog that let him fire off several suppressive shots on approach. The moment they slammed into new cover, Jack and his temporary comrade in arms began to hammer the hiding gangsters with jeers and periodic gunfire, Taran and the final nameless guard rushing to join them.
Lix, questioning her own intelligence, found her paws ignoring her demands to stay put and instead sprinting with the herd, eating the distance quicker that any Human without cybernetics could ever hope to.
"S-Super wheat! V-Vat grown meat! Gnaaaah!" The head of a Keelhauler peeked from the protective sanctuary of a storefront, a clothing store Lix noticed, his eyes growing wide as the charging Kux'lar fearfully raised her pistol and jerked the trigger in a haphazard series of poorly aimed shots. Every single needle went wide, or high, or low… all except for one. By the grace of the whatever Gods there may be between the distant dying stars, one singular needle flew true, burrowing into the man's eye and dropping him where he stood. It was as if he were a model that could be found in every science class that suddenly had its wires cut, standing tall one moment and boneless the next.
Lix, for her part, watched the man limply slump as if in slow motion, the gun that had been previously held sideways in his rough hand fell to the deck with a clatter as his head rolled on a loose neck, his one remaining eye locked open in surprise and terror and pain. The roaring cacophony of gunfire died to a dull, booming staccato as the 'Roid Racer watched the deluge of red fall from the man's ruined eye socket slow to a trickle. A piercing ring sang in her ears, stabbing her brain in an instant painful headache that made the space behind her own intact eyes throb.
Someone was yelling… yelling her name, but the sound was nothing more than a muffled drone. It was as if the world moved behind a thick sheet of wax paper. Everything was happening in another room, on the other side of an obscuring wall. The dead Keelhauler's singular eye glazed over, his weak trembles finally ceasing as Lix gazed into that dead orb…
The world slammed back into speed as Lix was ripped off her paws, Jack hauling the Kux'lar over his shoulder as he sprinted back to cover as a pair of rounds slammed into his upraised arm while another painted a white-hot line of pain across his cheek and gouging out a line of flesh.
"This is why I wanted ya to stay back!" Jack tossed Lix next to Taran as he ripped another grenade from his bandolier, grinning at the strip of yellow tape the encircled the steel ball. "Chem out!" Taran groaned at Jack's holler as his guards ducked low, the ball sailing to land in the midst of the few remaining Keelhaulers to spew a heavy, acrid gas. Within moments, the poor bastards caught in the smoke found themselves aimlessly fleeing for their lives, the firefight forgotten, as spit and bile flew from their mouths, their eyes bleeding as their lungs shuddered and bled from the inside. The two bit gangsters only made it several steps as Jack pulled Lix back, Taran and his crew picking off the struggling Keelhaulers in what can only be seen as mercy kills.
"Fuckin' shit Jack!" Taran slammed home several fresh rounds to put down the final few Keelhaulers who were now screaming in mindless pain as they vomited out the inner lining of their lungs. "Now we need hazmat cleanup, just fuckin' great.!Ya couldn't just, I dunno, shoot the fuckers?"
"Haaahahaha! I did, I fuckin' did!" Jack spun in a circle, his life of mechanical prowess left behind for that of a circus performer, as his face bled onto the floor. Lix felt her head spinning, her claws still clutched tightly around her new flechette pistol as if it were a lifeline. "You know this shit's always a numbers game and I evened the numbers! Fuck's sake Taran, the least you could do is say thank ya!"
"Baaaah!"
Were it not for the wide grins on their faces, one might think the two men were ready to tear each other's throats out all the way back to Pew For You. Metal shutters and locks galore were slid shut behind the trio by the surviving guards as they entered, the corridor still empty of the masses that had populated the open-air market only ten minutes earlier as a crowd of Rippers arrived, only to turn tail at the sight of Jack's chemical weaponry still billowing in the air. Thankfully, his mixture was heavy enough to contain the deadly toxin to a relatively small area.
Lix fought to ease her violent shivers as Jack stuffed his revolver back into the waistband of his pants and popped a squat behind Taran's counter, kicking his boots up on the half cyborg's register. The proprietor paid him no mind, too busy tapping away at a datapad while gibbering into a comms unit. For her part, Lix just wanted to stop shaking, for her breaths to come in normal, gentle pulls instead of jittering gasps.
"Post action crash, you'll be fine." Jack waved a dismissive hand at the reptile before motioning her closer, gently taking her pistol once she was in range. "Ya did fine, even drew some blood, though I know it probably wasn't any fun."
"I freakin' froze up."
"It happens sometimes, 'specially for those what ai'n't trained."
"Gnah."
"Oh yeah? Tell me more."
"Ooohhhh, stop being mean!" Lix lunged, snapping at the man's side as he dodged away with a sputtering chuckle, only for the air to whoosh from his lungs as the Kux'lar forced her way against him, stealing his warmth. A content sigh left the reptile as the man wrapped his arms around her, pulling her paws off the ground as he forced her into his lap.
"Oi, no fuckin' behind the counter. It's technically still work hours." Taran sighed at the corpse of the guard cooling in the middle of his floor, one of the survivors eyeing the man with a melancholy stare.
"Ah, piss off man." Jack dug in his pockets to retrieve a… relatively clean rag, licking a spot wet before scrubbing at the blood slowly drying on Lix's face. The Kux'lar grimaced, the knowledge of what was covering her face something she had forgotten in the chaos of the firefight. A carnivore she may be, but the blood of a sentient species was still enough to make her queasy, at least when it covered her muzzle. Had… had any of it gotten in her mouth? Best to just not think about it.
"Your face…" Lix whined, shame at her cowardice filling her as she licked the still oozing gash in Jack's cheek. So close… he'd come so close to getting his head blown off because she froze up like a hatchling…
"I'm jus' lightin' the mood." Taran pat the Ripper's shoulder as the man knelt by his fallen friend, the other guard keeping vigil by the store's entrance. "So, if'n ya in a mood ta talk. How did ya like ya little needle gun? The Rokton Model Twelve? Ya saw how it put down that one guy." Lix nodded slowly, her eyes still shut as Jack gradually cleaned her face while she licked his in turn.
"Yeah… I did" Slurp. "I like it… um, how much?" Slurp.
"We spilled blood tagetha lady! Just take it. Ammo ya gotta buy though!" Taran reached over to pat the lizard's thin shoulder.
"For a gangster you aren't so bad… Jack? I'll pay you back if you use your Risks."
"Don't you worry. I know where you sleep."
"Yeah? With you."
"Hoowee, I said no fuckin' behind the counter!" Taran chuckled as Jack tossed several Risks onto the ' No Fuckin' counter, his mind already calculating the bulk purchase of flachettes he would be sending up to the Stripped Bolt. "Can't help ya with hardpoints though, sorry ta say. No one on Koorka can righ' now."
"I was afraid of that." Trepidation filled Jack as he idly scrubbed Lix's cheek, in the same spot, for much too long. The Kux'lar attempted to nip his metal fingers in an effort to cease his ministrations. There was a backup plan, Jack had said as much, however he was loath to actually attempt to use his plan B. It was a foolhardy thing, but a guaranteed payout of fantastic hardpoint weaponry, and more if they were lucky. That being said, there was a reason such a massive stockpile of starship parts lied untouched and, for the most part, unknown.
"Jack… what ya thinkin'?" Taran eyed the mechanic suspiciously, setting his datapad down to pin a worried stare on the man. Lix shivered under the crossfire, glancing between the men as a battle of wills burned. Some silent conversation persisted, one Lix couldn't decipher, as Taran threw his hands wide while Jack simply shrugged, jostling the raptor in his lap. "Naaah man, ya either serious about winnin' or determined about dyin'." Jack's grin widened, though it was thin… scared.
Worried.
"Last Stop Staryard, boss man."
"If it was jus' you… whatever, but don' go an' drag anyone else to tha' death trap. 'Sides, ya need two people ta get in there." Taran waved the idea away, stalking off to clean the corpse from his storeroom floor. Jack was left with an angry Lix who had finally simply grabbed his wrist, moving his hand to a different spot on her muzzle.
"What's the Last Stop Staryard?" She asked, twisting her head about to let his rag hit the still dirty spots of her face.
"Well… that's a hard question to answer, but the short simple way is to say it's a place with a metric ton of salvage. Military and experimental grade shit. Only problem is the system it's in is… well, a no-fly zone and patrolled by the council. Kill on sight. Not that they advertise where it even is."
"So, do you know where it is?" Lix twisted her head the other way, letting Jack all but pet her at this point.
"That old crew I never tell ya about did. I got my revolver from the captain who diddled about in there. So yeah, I know where it is… but we need a second guy and a satellite." Lix finally opened her eyes, their glistening interior shining with incredulous curiosity as she gave Jack's now dried wound one last lick.
"A… satellite?"
"Yup. The question though, is which poor soul to drag along. The Last Stop ai'n't really well known and I'm not keen on bringin' someone who doesn't know the score." Someone who already knew about a super-secret salvage spot inside a no-fly zone designated by the council and who would be dumb enough to help them infiltrate the place… Lix begrudgingly acknowledged that her collection of criminal contacts was sorely lacking compared to Jack's…
That being said, she wasn't totally out of options.
"You wouldn't happen to still be able to contact that old crew?" The 'Roid Racer asked hopefully, her smile fading as Jack shook his head. "Well… maybe I know someone whose shown he is a pretty good scavenger so… maybe he knows about this mysterious Last Stop?"
"And who is this benefactor of salvage you speak of?" Jack adjusted the lizard in his lap, Lix huffing and yiping as the man snuck in a cheeky booty squeeze.
"Freakin' stooop," She growled through clenched fangs. "Taran is right there! Anyway… What about Mo'Ona?"
"That skrunkly little Hux that tried to kill us?"
"Noooo…" Technically it was untrue. Mo'Ona had accompanied Turs in an attempt to cash in on an unofficial bounty what felt like years ago at this point. "He was there… but he also helped us during the preliminary remember? Saved us from that shuttle with the rear turret?"
"Ngh… right… saved by the rat lizard…"
"Be nice, he did help." Lix grinned, successful in her attempt to nip the man this time. Still, many a question lay unanswered, and the racer was done flying half blind. "So, what exactly is the Last Stop Staryard?" For a moment, a brief moment… Lix thought she saw a flash of anger pass through Jack's eyes… Lix forced her head under the man's chin with a comforting churl. Perhaps there was some hidden hurt that this endeavor was unearthing?
"There's a few stories about its origin and they're all dumb. Myself… I've no idea what the place actually is but I can say that there's a shit ton of ships there. Most are abandoned, a lot are derelicts, some are salvagers that got caught and blown to mulch by council patrols. The most widely accepted theory is that there was an uprisin' or a rebellion or somethin' and the council is coverin' it up while slowly pickin' the battlefield clean." Jack smirked, rolling his eyes. "Which is stupid. Either way, it exists. Why doesn't really matter. But the best stuff is Sevar, be it Sevar Staryards or Armory."
"Oh hey, like your revolver!"
"Exactly, that's our goal. Get some Sevar gear on the No Safety Measures and sling her into victory lane!"
The thought felt… fitting. If ship parts were of the same quality as the mechanics revolver, then… well, the bodies moldering back out in the corridor were a testament to the weapon's ability. To have something like that on her ship? Lix found a giddy sort of excitement bubble up in her scaly chest, her arms wrapping around Jack's neck. Not to mention, no one else would have parts like that if the stories of the Last Stop Staryard were true.
They just had to survive sneaking in, is all…
No big deal.