A few days later, while Robin was sitting at home and skimmed through the list of ships the UAS had offered, Jim was on the way to his workshop. It was already past noon and his employees both had the day off again.

When he came to a stop in front of the often cursed door, he began to chuckle and used his mutation to gently push it open. Robin and Patience both were so annoyed by its frequent malfunction that he would never repair it... after all, you had to enjoy the little things! When he stepped into the big hall, it was still dark and after the lights turned on, Jim's cheerful mood dampened slightly.

“Who the hell shall repair all these ships?”, he sighed after seeing the many CTVs and PTVs standing closely packed together, “I shouldn’t give them a day off so often. In the end I’m the idiot who had to do all the work alone.”

Contemplating a moment, he decided the best way to start this was with killing the rest of the booze that waited in his office. He slumped down in his comfy seat and looked into the workshop, sipping on his cup every now and then.

“Next year would be our 70th anniversary, wouldn’t it?” Jim asked into the silent workshop, wallowing in reminiscences.

“Over these years we have experienced so much together, so many tales to tell. Having my own workshop and becoming a respected technocrafter in Seka, that always was my dream. You are the fulfillment of this dream and while I don’t wanna miss one day, I think it’s time for me to look for new adventures and chase new dreams - though, I’m still not sure what exactly it is, that’s calling my old bones out of this city.” Jim muttered to himself and relished in old memories.

“Leaving with Robin, going out into the unknown and experiencing new things every day. Maybe it’s just the excitement that’s calling me…”

He was just over 100 years old, still in his best age. It was time for him to leave his old life behind and to start anew. Once more feeling the thrill of creating one’s own path in this endless universe.

Jim was still mentally preparing himself to leave Rucasur in the coming months, when he heard someone entering the building. He put his empty cup down and walked out of the office.

“Hey, welcome to my humble workshop! How can I help you?” He greeted the man that came in.

“Oi! Ya’ know the door is fucked?” The man grumbled annoyed.

Jim chuckled - once more the door made his day - and observed his visitor, a man in his 50s with long blonde hair. He must have had a bad accident once, as a big scar ran from his left eye down to his mouth.

“I’m Jim Dasbro, owner of this shop. What services are you looking for?” Jim asked again, since the man hadn’t answered and only observed the many ships in the background.

“Right, sorry mate. It’s Mick!” The dude shook his hand, “Tulward should work here, right? Is he available?”

“Ah sorry, he has the day off. Can I be of help or do you wanna leave him a message?”

“Ya’ know where to find him?” Mick asked and scratched his scar.

“No, sorry. He just works here, no idea what he does in his free time.” Jim carefully declined as he was becoming suspicious. What was this about? Has Robin messed something up again?

His casual demeanor however didn’t sit right with the man. He reached in his jacket and pulled out a gun. Aiming it leisurely at Jim, he repeated his question.

“Ya’ better think again about where I can find him!”

Jim just sighed and tapped into his mutation. If you want to scare someone with a metal affinity, you should be better prepared. This was just… lame. However he began to worry about Robin a bit, what kind of trouble did he stir this time?

“No my friend, you better think about what your next move should be! What kind of beef do you even have with the boy that you are pulling a gun?” Jim said and locked his mutation on the weapon. This metal thing would not shoot anyone.

“Ya’ think I won’t shoot ya’? Give me the damn location of the boy!” Mick snarled, not realizing his gun was useless already.

Jim was about to answer, when someone else beat him to it.

“He’s right, you won’t be able to shoot him…”

Jim turned his head to the right where he heard the voice. It was hard to understand and more like the growl of a wild animal than anything else. There, between the ships was… nothing?

Just as he was about to switch targets and search with his mutation, he spotted a slight flickering in the air, as if the light was bent. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, an arm appeared that ended in a big, furry claw. The arm of an animal? Jim didn’t know and could hardly think about it, as whoever was hiding in the shadows pointed an energy gun at him.

Panic rose in Jim, he was still in the middle of reactivating his mutation.

He needed more time, just a few seconds before…

*Zuuup*

Jim only saw a sudden bright flash… then everything turned dark.

***

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

Mick looked around in surprise as the huge bloke in front of him fell to the floor, a perfectly round hole in his head. A hooded figure stepped out of the shadows and looked at him. He felt a shiver running down his spine - even though he couldn’t see its face under the huge hood, he knew who or… what was standing there.

“...if you want to kill a metal mutant, don’t give him so much time.” The figure growled.

‘Creepy fuckers!’ Mick thought but didn’t even move a muscle.

“You messed up our operation on Rucasur. We have to leave this system for now. Didn’t you also get orders to pack up and vanish?”

“Yeah, I’m about to leave with the others. However, I need to pay back the fucker that killed Jarred first!” Mick snarled.

“No, that’s not what was ordered. You are attracting too much attention.” The figure snarled and raised his gun again, slowly aiming it in Mick’s direction.

“Fuck you and your orders! I’ll leave when I’m done here!” Mick yelled, as his anger overcame all fear and reasoning. In one quick, fluid motion he took a step to the side and raised his own gun.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

He fired three shots in rapid succession, it's said that these things are hard to kill, right? Unfortunately, the hooded figure didn’t fall. It didn’t even move an inch. The three bullets hovered in the air before it and fell to the ground with a loud clatter.

“Wrong decision, again.” The figure growled and its gun flashed once more.

***

“How is it, ROMAS? Any updates?” Robin wearily asked. He was sitting between dozens of empty fast food boxes on his couch in the middle of his messy apartment

* Spaden, Hash: contact not available

* Considering the available data, there is a 87% probability he has fled the planet

“Ughh… FUCK!” Robin screamed and kicked one of the empty boxes through his room.

Five days ago they found Jim… dead in his own workshop. With him was the corpse of the smuggler they once met in the Vanguard facility. Patience had knocked him out that day, but when Seka Security arrived, he was already gone.

Robin stayed in contact with Landom Walzor and hoped for any news. But so far, this seemed to be a dead end. There were no clues on who was the one who killed them and the authorities had not much they could work with. Everything pointed towards an attempted act of revenge from the smuggler towards Robin, who wasn’t there. How it escalated from there on remained a mystery.

In his desperation, Robin turned towards TechnoBlood and called Hash. The priest accepted a deal and sent some of his people to investigate the workshop. Robin knew that the Cetro really came and made some tests there as he had to ask Walzor and his people to look the other way for some time. However, Hash later only sent him a short message, notifying him that he steps back from the contract. After that, the man was no longer reachable by any means of communication. Robin even leaked what he knew about TechnoBlood to Walzor, but nothing came up.

“What did they find in there?” Robin asked for the hundredth time already, but no one gave him an answer.

Taking a deep breath, Robin crawled up from his couch and went to take a shower. As the water splashed to the floor around him, he remembered back to the last time he was in such a bad condition. That was after he killed the smugglers. He was a wreck back then, questioning himself and if it had really been necessary to pull the trigger.

Now he wondered whether it would have been better if he had shot the unconscious guy too. Maybe everything would have developed in another way. However, deep down he knew that he was in no condition to think clearly that day… and even if he would have been, he would have never made such a decision.

“Just as everything is coming together and our journey is about to begin… fuck!” He cursed and Jim’s face once again surfaced in his mind.

“Niu has left for Gaunus and is on her way to becoming some important pilot for the UAS…

Timothy is busy with looting the Drel outpost and is rapidly climbing ranks in the research department…

Patience is still indecisive on how to proceed. But she is happy with her new studio and Jim’s death hit her quite hard. Will she really leave Rucasur for adventuring…?

…and there is Jim. He was the one who wanted to join me, to explore the unknown, to have exciting adventures… now he is gone…” Robin mumbled, the water still flowing around him. The last week was hard, every day he fought against a rising depression. Seeing everything in gray, gray and more fucking gray felt like hell in this situation where he was looking for a guiding light. His life literally became colorless.

“Just when I had soldiered through all the hurdles and finished all preparations… the whole thing collapses like a brittle tower.” Robin cursed loudly.

“Fate is a bitch!”

He remained under the shower lost in thoughts a bit longer, before he was interrupted by an incoming call.

* Incoming comm request by: Hutton, Katlina

* Accept?

“Ugh.. I still hadn’t the mind to completely check their list. I hope she gives me some more time…” Robin sighed, “Yeah, open a channel, please.”

“Mr. Tulward, I’ve heard of Mr. Dasbro’s death. My condolences! How are you doing?” Her voice came through the comm.

“Thanks! Well, I feel like shit and that there are no leads at all makes it only worse. I have no idea on how to proceed right now.” Robin answered honestly.

“Sorry to hear that and unfortunately, I don’t have any updates on that topic either. The UAS does not investigate civilian crimes and Mr. Walzor already should keep you up to date about the little they learn.” She explained and Robin knew she told the truth, this wasn’t something the UAS could help with.

“What brings you to call me, Mrs. Hutton?” He asked to change the topic.

“We do have another job to offer, are you interested?”

“Right now? No, sorry. I really do have enough other things on my plate.” Robin directly declined. He just wanted to… whatever, he will find out.

“What do you think about a change of scenery?” Hutton asked, ignoring his refusal, “The job’s location would be outside of the Mereus Cluster and since you’re still lacking a license and a crew, we would provide you one of our own. So, why don’t you use this time to earn some more credits with the UAS? Maybe we would be even able to extend the selection of ships on your list.”

“Huh…”

Robin would lie if he said he wasn’t interested. Maybe this was what he needed right now? If he played this right, he could use this as an opportunity to search for TechnoBlood, continue the completion of his map and start his journey with some slow steps to get used to the dos and don’ts of interplanetary travel…

There was only one question that kept nagging his mind:

“Why do you need me for this job?”

“Mr. Tulward, have you ever heard of the Keeper?”

End of Arc I - Ruca II