After three minutes, they stopped and Six took control of piloting the Vulture.

“You know the drill. Six dummy hyperjump ships at the same time we hyperjump to base.” Three said.

“Yeah, I know.” Six sets six dummy hyperjumps to planets that criminals hanged out and deployed them as soon and they hyperjumped to base. Three went to the hangar and saw Seven talking to a yellow slug with ten arms and ten legs.

“Seven, Nexeer come here!” Three yelled and they both started to climb the stairs to the upper part of the ship.

“Hi, I’m Three.” Three said looking Nexeer from head to toe.

“Thanks for getting me out of there. I was just telling Seven that I can’t believe that your plan worked.” Nexeer said.

“All my plans work. That’s my job. Come, let me show you around.” Three said.

They walked through the back part of the ship and to the living area.

“You can use this room to freshen up and wait until we get to the base. It’s gonna take us around half an hour to get there. Here is the kitchen. You can eat and drink anything you like. The bridge is off limits.” Three said.

“Uuuuu… Normal food for a change.” Nexeer said and went straight for the fridge.

“Seven, I need you to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t do something stupid. We have to get him in one piece to One. Got it?” Three said quietly.

“Why am I the babysitter again?” Seven asked.

“Because you’re new.” Three said.

“I’ve been new now for six months.” Seven whined but Three already left.

They finally reached the base and exited the hyperjump. The base was a massive ship camouflaged as a big asteroid. They docked at one of the free docks and entered the base. First, they went through the decontamination rooms and after the decontamination went straight to the meeting room.

The whole gang was there and they all looked at Nexeer with confusion on their faces.

“How did you manage to steal the blue Astrum looking like that? Anyone can see you for miles.” Two said.

“Shut up Two.” One said. “Sit Nexeer.”

“I prefer to stand.” Nexeer said.

“Suit yourself. Let me introduce you to my crew.” One said. “I’m one. I run this crew. The one with guns all over is Two, she’s in charge of weapons. You met Three. She’s the brains. Four, sitting next to me, is an android. He is in charge of hacking and data extraction. Five is sadly no longer with us. You met Six and Seven. Six is the best pilot in the galaxy and Seven is a technology and gadget mastermind.”

They were a diverse crew. Two was a Mehai. A race that specialized in weapon manufacturing and lived on a planet that had three times the gravity of earth. She was not only skilled in weapons, but she was also stronger and faster on places with Earth’s gravity. She never left the ship without at least four visible weapons and six concealed weapons. Three was a Vexurian. She had fur all over and looked like Earth’s snow foxes, but had three black lines that started from one point on her forehead and ended as a black tip on her tail. She was very intelligent and creative. There was no situation she couldn’t find a solution for or problem she couldn’t solve.

Four was an android that could hack into any system and process Exabyte’s of data in nanoseconds. He was also the crew’s best spy because there was no virus, spyware or malware he couldn’t program to spy on the target. Six was a Zonosian. Zonosians had sharp reflexes and an extraordinary sense of space, which made him the best pilot in the galaxy. He could pilot a warship through a meteor field and not touch a single meteor. Seven was the newest crewmember. He was recruited after Five died. He was a Thequlian, small but smart. He liked to tinker with technology and make gadgets. He made the crews coms that were undetectable by standard controls. He and Two were starting to be best friends because most of the gadgets he made were for twos concealed weapons.

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“Yea, thanks for getting me out of that prison. However, Three told me you wanted the blue Astrum. Why?” Nexeer asked.

“I don’t think that’s your business. We have been looking for you for five years. All I want is for you to tell me where you hid it.” One said.

“I can’t tell you. The Astrum is too powerful. That’s why I stole it and hid it. It corrupts people. You saw what happened the last time when Zeddicus got a hold of the gem.” Nexeer said.

“Yes, I did. That’s why I need it. To make things right.” One said.

“How do I know you’re not going to do the same thing? No. I can’t help you.” Nexeer said.

“All right then. Six ready the Vulture. We are bringing him back to the black site prison.” One said.

“What? You can’t do that. That’s blackmail” Nexeer sad.

“Yes we can and it’s not blackmail. You won’t help us so we won’t help you. It’s called fair trade.” One said and started to get up.

“Wait. Wait.” Nexeer said. “I hate her.”

“What are you talking about?” One asked.

“Fate. She brought you to rescue me from the prison for a reason.” Nexeer said.

“Fate? What’s fate got to do with this?” One said.

“I’m talking about fate with the capital F. I’m talking about my mom. I saw the symbol on your belt. It’s the same symbol I saw when I was in prison. When my mom pulls an important string of fate I see a part of the future from that string and I saw that symbol.” Nexeer said.

The whole crew looked at him wide-eyed, speechless.

“What you thought I looked like this? Like a yellow slug? No, I’m a shapeshifter. That’s the gift my mom gave me because the way I really look makes it hard to communicate with you mortals.” Nexeer said.

“You are insane.” Two said.

“You don’t believe me. Typical mortals. Ok. This is how I really look.” Nexeer said and shapeshifted into a ball of light. “So, who can tell me what expression do I have on my face?”

You could cut the silence in the room with a knife.

“You see? None of you can see that I’m smiling.” Nexeer said and shifted back into the slug.

“But if you can shapeshift, why did you choose to be a slug?” Six asked.

“To have ten hands so I can scratch myself.” Nexeer replied.

“Can you shapeshift into something less ugly?” Seven asked.

“Like what?” Nexeer asked.

“Anything.” Everyone but One said.

“Alright.” Nexeer said and shifted into a human. “Better?”

“Thousand times better.” Two said.

“So where did you hide the blue Astrum?” One said.

“I gave it to a titan and told him to keep it safe.” Nexeer said.

“A titan? Aren’t they extinct?” Three asked.

“Most of them are. However, this one isn’t. This one is my grandfather. The titan of time.” Nexeer said.

“And where is he?” One asked.

“I know where he is. The problem is when he is.” Nexeer said.

“What do you mean?” Three asked.

“Well, he is in charge of keeping time stable, but there are events that tear time so he moves through time as we move through space to fix it.” Nexeer said. “If his not fixing time right now, he will be at these coordinates. But, if something’s wrong he won’t be.”

“Hmmm… Could we do something to time to bring him to our time?” Three asked.

“Shure, if you want to die.” Nexeer said.

“Seven, do you have anything that can influence time?” Three asked.

“I have a time loop bomb. But I don’t think that’s going to be enough.” Seven said.

“Give me a day and I’ll find a solution.” Three said and left.

“A day? If she needs a day we will have our hands full.” Two said.

“Did you see anything else besides my symbol in the fates string?” One asked Nexeer.

“No.” Nexeer lied. He saw one getting shot.

The next morning Three was on a bridge, doing calculations. Seven walked up to her and asked. “Need any help with that?”

“Yeah, please calculate the length and width of the rip in space-time if we apply this much force.” Three said.

“Alright. The size of the rip would be… Hmmm… Roughly the length of an average solar system and the width of a red giant star. Why?” Seven asked.

“I have a plan. We just need to fill the mines with your time loop bombs, deploy the mines one over the other and recalibrate the lasers to collect antimatter, to make a bigger explosion, while we shoot them into the mines. Such a big rip should get the attention of the titan of time.” Three said.

“You do know that I’m sometimes afraid of you. I know that if you ever want to kill me that I’ll never be found.” Seven said.

“Then just don’t piss me off.” Three said smiling.

Three called the rest of the crew and Nexeer to the meeting room and explained her plan. She ran a 3D simulation over the table and even Nexeer agreed that that kind of rip in space-time could attract his grandfather’s attention.