At last, Vlqtrn broke the awkward silence as Lus awaited a viable escape route. “I can disable part of the window security system while leaving the floor system off, but the only thing I can turn off is the motion sensor. If you touch any part of the window, the alarm will trigger,” he explained.

“You mean I have to jump out the window?” Lusac did not like that idea at all, but he started to back up anyway.

“Relax. I’ll catch you,” Wsr replied.

“Suck it up, Lusac. We don’t have time for anything else,” Cewi said forcefully.

“Motion sensor is off, whenever you’re ready,” Vlqtrn notified him.

Lus tightened his backpack straps, took a breath, and then ran towards the square of moonlight. As he reached it, he dove forwards, slipping through the opening without even brushing the edges. He didn’t fall long before landing in Wsr’s muscular arms, though the catch jolted his injured shoulder, reminding him that he would need to get that checked out back on the Argo.

The Kremel set him on his feet, patting his injured shoulder in celebration. “Great job, kid. We’re on the homestretch now.”

Lus grit his teeth against the shots of pain. “Thanks, Wsr.”

“Don’t get too comfortable yet. We still have to get off this blasted rock,” Cewi-Bano reminded them. “I can see the guards coming your way. Vlqtrn, are the cameras still out?”

“Yeah. I have them looping again. You guys are safe to move,” the Kremel confirmed.

“Which way is safe, Cewi?” Wsr questioned, taking the lead on getting herself and Lus out of the museum gardens.

“Go east. There are still some tight spots you’ll have to slip through, but there’s a lot less to deal with. You’ll also need to hop the fence. Going through the gate is a bust,” the Nemarian explained.

Wsr did as Cewi suggested, quietly sulking towards the eastern fence with Lus only a few steps behind. They paused behind a bush every now and again at Cewi’s urging when guards were looking their way, but all in all things were going much better than their exit from the warehouse.

Soon they were at the metal bars enclosing the grounds. The fence was too tall for Wsr to boost Lus up so they had to use the grappling system in Wsr’s pack. It was modified from a standard repelling anchor, and instead of shooting a sturdy hook into the solid ground, it launched a grapple upwards at a high velocity.

Lus couldn’t count how many horrific injury stories he’d heard about the device, but Wsr was steady with the device and casually shot the hook up to the top rung of the fence. The claws immediately latched deep into and around the metal, and they were free to start their ascent. Lus went first, mainly because Wsr was a better fit for handling guards if anyone noticed and came to stop them.

He attached the metal cord to his belt that doubled as a safety harness, and then Wsr activated the lifting mechanism which yanked him directly upwards, stopping suddenly as it reached the claw. Lus then climbed over the top of the fence and gave Wsr a thumbs up. In the next second, the rope let itself fall, though at a more manageable speed, and stopped once his feet were on the ground. After he released the hook from his belt, he tossed it over the fence back to Wsr so she could repeat the steps for herself.

In less than a minute, the Kremel was standing next to Lus.

“You two head back from the museum. Stay close, but not right together. I’ll be only a few minutes behind you. I want to see if the guards notice anything during their checks,” Cewi informed them.

Lus was more than happy to comply. The farther away he got from the museum, the safer he would feel. Wsr seemed of the same sentiment and insisted she go first while Lus lagged behind.

The walk back was painfully slow with him having to shadow Wsr. She played it smart and took a rather indirect path back, but Lus couldn’t help feeling that they should go straight there and get packed. The sooner they got off the planet, the safer they would all be. If they could make it onto the Argo and the Argo could make it into the Astral Highway undetected, there would be no chance of them being caught. Yet getting to that point was where the last of the risks for this mission lay, and Lus couldn’t help worrying about it, especially after running into Shent. Cewi made it sound like she’d followed Shent and was confident he was satisfied with Lusac’s story. If that really was the case, they were in the homestretch, just as Wsr said.

At last, the pair arrived back to the run-down part of town where their safe house lay. It wasn’t long after that that they were marching up the creaking stairs back to the apartment to greet Vlqtrn.

“Good job out there,” he said upon their entrance. “And sorry again about all the mixups, Lus. I had no idea a museum this minor would have such good security.”

“It’s alright. All’s well that ends well,” Lus replied with a smile.

“Assuming it does end well,” Wsr said as she sat on one of the chairs. It threatened to break under that kind of load, but miraculously it still held together. Lus half wished he knew where the previous occupants bought this furniture, thinking that in a few decades when he was a Runner captain himself, he might be interested in getting something as sturdy.

They all waited in silence for Cewi-Bano’s return. Once she was back, they would know how successful the stealth part of the operation had been. After ten minutes, Wsr was noticeable uneasy, shifting in her seat which sent squeals throughout the room.

“Shouldn’t Cewi be back by now?” Vlqtrn dared to ask the question everyone was wondering.

Lus forced himself to shrug as though unconcerned by the obvious delay. “She might have found something else to investigate or tie up before coming back.”

“Or she ran into trouble,” Wsr argued.

“What kind of trouble could delay someone like Cewi-Bano?” Vlqtrn thought aloud.

“She’s fine. It’s Cewi we’re talking about,” Lus reminded the group.

“She’s not invincible. As good as she is with a blaster, she’s still just one person,” Wsr said softly, clearly thinking of certain memories she had with the Nemarian. As far as Lus knew, Cewi chose Wsr for every mission she possibly could due to their long running friendship after two decades of working together on various Runner crews. They’d been on the Argo for five years before Lus came along.

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“Are you going to go after her? How would you even know where to find her? She’s not answering her comms which leaves us no way to track her,” Vlqtrn pointed out.

Wsr shook her head. “We’ll give it a full hour, and then we’ll decide what to do. Cewi will come through. She always does.”

And so they waited, the second crawling by as tension continued to build in the room. Wsr hadn’t said she’d go after Cewi-Bano, and Lus got the impression that if it came down it, the Kremel would prioritize the mission over her friend out of duty, both her own and Cewi’s. Lus couldn’t imagine leaving Cewi behind, but if she never came back, they didn’t have many other options.

Only five minutes of the promised hour remained when the door rattled. Vlqtrn smiled and stood from his chair. Wsr did the same, but Lus noticed her reaching for her pistol at her hip and taking a defensive stance. She relaxed however, when a purple Nemarian burst in, bristling with anger.

“Those blasted guards! Who takes forty minutes to do a systems check? And they didn’t even find anything. They’re both lazy and incompetent. That museum is doing itself a disservice by paying them at all,” Cewi ranted as she slid her rifle off her back.

“Well, their incompetence is good news for us,” Wsr reminded her, smiling broadly.

“Yeah, yeah.” The Nemarian absently waved her hand. “We’re completely in the clear. Everyone pack up. We’re cutting it close to make our ride back to the landing pad.”

Lus let out a sigh of relief as he moved to do as she asked. The mission had gone off more or less problem free compared to last time, and he was rather pleased with both himself and the team.

Half an hour later, the team was back down in the tunnel, watching as the crawler returned to them. Their contact was once again the pilot, but she said almost nothing once she arrived and helped them load their belongings. Lusac was grateful to unload his luggage. His shoulder was aching a lot more now from all the packing and carrying, and he was looking forward to a little time to rest it, even if he was stuck between the Kremel.

The ride back through the tunnel was less miserable than the original trip, mainly because Lus wasn’t motion sick to start with and didn’t ever develop the nausea. Still, he was never able to find a good place to relax his shoulder, so he was never exactly comfortable, and it was a relief when they came to a stop. After they got their luggage, their contact led the way back to the landing pad where their ship waited.

“A pleasure working with you,” the contact said, dipping her head. “We’ll take the other half of the payment now.”

Lus had never been a part of the final exchange of goods, but he knew what constituted payment for situations like these. Using digital cryptin was far too traceable, so instead other commodities were traded.

Cewi-Bano produced a large hunk of black crystal from her bag, and Lus recognized the shimmering as that of a valer, a chunk of physical magic which could be used in the creation and programming of golems. It was larger than any valer Lus had seen before, and he recognized that it was likely worth more cryptin than the average person would make in a year of work.

The Kremel accepted the stone and then motioned for the Runners to enter their ship. The business was concluded.

Vqltrn was the first one in the shuttle, and he took charge of organizing the luggage, mainly to protect his tech from being smashed by anyone else’s bag. Lus was more than happy to let the Kremel handle that part with the way his shoulder ached.

He took his seat in the back and enjoyed a chance to properly rest his body after the beating it’d taken from the floor earlier that night. It wasn’t too long after that everyone else was settled and Cewi started the engines.

“Here’s to a softer ride out than we had in.” Wsr smirked as the Nemarian started the lift off process.

“Shut it, or else you’ll pilot next time,” Cewi threatened.

Lus smiled and leaned his head back with closed eyes for a few moments as the craft launched from the ground. He didn’t think the return trip through the atmosphere was as bad as it’d been coming in, but Wsr still complained rather heavily. It helped that he dozed off for part of it, and he actually napped most of the way back to their redevenous with the Argo on the far side of the system by one of the gas giants.

He woke when they landed back in Alpha Bay on the Argo. Mildly embarrassed he’d so easily fallen asleep, Lus rubbed his hands over his face and glanced around to see if anyone was going to comment. To his luck, nobody seemed to care. In fact, Vlqtrn seemed a little bleary too so perhaps he’d taken a chance to get some rest as well.

“Alright. I’m going to run the debrief with Captain Tave,” Cewi said once the shuttle was off. “Wsr, Vlqtrn, you two handle luggage and get it where it needs to go. Lusac, head up to medical and get that shoulder checked out.”

Lus looked up at her surprise and then also realized he was actively rubbing his shoulder without thinking about it.

“You’ve been doting on that thing all night. I think Yqrw would appreciate having his maintenance boy back in working condition,” Cewi explained with a half-smile.

“I’ll drop your stuff off at your quarters,” Wsr promised.

Lus nodded in appreciation as he unbuckled. It would be nice to get some painkillers or something so he could return to his duties properly. As it was right now, he doubted he’d be able to handle crawling around the fsylan tubes for any amount of time, much less all day.

He left the shuttle bay behind and started towards the medical center. It was up several decks, but since he didn’t trust his shoulder to support something as intense as ladders, he was going to have to use the elevator. It was a tiny thing, just large enough for a single Kremel, but that made it a little less coffin-like for Humans and Nemarians. Only those who were physically incapable of using ladders were allowed to use it, and while Lus didn’t technically have a pass, he knew that no one really cared anyway as long as he had a valid reason.

Lus exited on the general crew deck which held things like the cafeteria, recreation center, and medical bay. Inside the medical center, he found the crew doctor, Tremt-Fusi in her office doing some paperwork.

“Lusac,” she said as she stood to greet him. “What can I do for you?”

“I messed my shoulder up on my last mission. Can you get me something for the pain?” he asked.

“Sure. Let me take a look at it first and make sure it's nothing serious,” the Nemarian said. Her purple scales glistened from the humidity inside the small center. She pointed him to the exam bed waiting at the center of the room.

Lus held in a groan as he removed his shirt and sat down. This was his first time seeing the injury as well, and he didn’t like the look of the purple bruising flowering out from the impact site.

Doctor Tremt-Fusi used a couple of scanners across the area, her face unreadable as she watched the screen in front of her. Lus would never admit it to anyone else, but he sometimes wondered if Fusi was actually qualified to treat Humans. After all, medical schools tended to specialize in only one species. But he’d never heard the other Humans on board or even the Kremel complain, so as far as he knew, Fusi did a fine enough job for any of them.

“Looks like you sprained it. I’ll give you a shot of Theraix to speed up the healing process, but I’m going to take you off full duties for a couple of days so you can properly recover,” the doctor explained after she finished her scans.

“I work maintenance in fsylan tubes. There’s not really a light duty option,” Lus pointed out. He wouldn’t mind getting some time off to relax and hang with Avil.

The Nemarian smiled. “Since you’re also a part time chef, I’ll speak with the Cargo Chief about getting you to do food inventory instead. How does that sound?”

Lus shrugged, ignoring the twinge from his shoulder. “I guess that works.”

“It’ll only be for two or three days anyway,” Fusi promised. She went to the supply cabinet to get the shot ready. Lus watched her, trying to decide how he felt about the duty shift. By the time she returned to administer the medicine, he’d made up his mind that this was going to be a good thing. Taking an inventory of all the food onboard would put him in a good place to be able to cook his one recipe properly and finish off the [Perfect Soup Quest], and anything that worked for his system had to be a good thing.