At an airfield outside Sunrock Base...

Commander Matthew James Smith stood before twelve starships and their crews: His own vessel 'All That Shines', The Zan, and ten fighters that packed far more firepower than they did shielding. "All of you should know your respective roles in this already, but here is the brief breakdown: The xeno faction known to us as the Alliance of Red Claw, or simply Red Claw, is sending an associate to the trade hub known as 'Xeno Interfare and Ware' in Border Space 101 to make a deal with us. This is close enough to the Galactic Core of empires for information flow and goods from them to eventually trickle there through various means but far enough away that they should not be maintaining a heavy presence at the station. Operatives Diego Miller and Carmen Sexton will be blending into the varied crowd of species there while in their power suits, hiding their true nature. After their business arrangements with the associate are over, they will leave the trade hub and rendezvous with All That Shines."

Commander Smith looked over the silent group. "Any questions?... No? Good then, precede to dock your ships inside All That Shines when each of you are signaled your turn. She will be functioning as your carrier today."

Zan observed as the human crews and the ships they served on docked inside the makeshift carrier that obviously was not originally designed specifically for such a purpose. With a few adjustments to the design of her spacious cargo bay though, the huge hauler had made for a decent but small carrier for some of humanity's tiniest vessels. Like the single crew member fighters. Or like Zan, whose body took up the space of about a dozen of them but was still tiny compared to All That Shines, which was now hailing him.

He answered the call. "Hello, This is Zan of The Zan." Silence greeted him. "Hello, is it me you are looking for?"

"Sorry...Zan, this is Stella of All That Shines. You may now dock in my cargo hold where the lit up arrows are."

Zan maneuvered his form slowly and carefully down the marked lane, respectful of both the practical problems presented by knocking around in the tight confines of the carrier and also of being inside someone else. Most of the time Carmen and Diego were respectful enough despite the arguments the three sometimes had and if they were not things could potentially get a little bumpy for either them or their belongings. "Stella, may I ask if something is wrong?"

"It is those annoying fighters. I just want to tell them to either stop the chatter and sit quiet in their spots or request that the humans power down and exit them. The commander says to leave the comms open until we enter warp then enable the emergency only channels to deal with it, but that is still a bit more of a wait than what I would prefer." Stella adopted a more polite tone. "How are you doing there, Zan?"

There went all possible notions Zan might have had of saying hello to the other ships in the cargo hold. "I am all secured now. As an AI, I take it that you have dug into them before else commanding a few of them and telling the others to shut up would be more interesting to you. We can not all be network-specialized like Daisy."

"Indeed."..."Also, it is time for lift off." The cargo hold of All That Shines closed and her engines engaged, lifting her and everyone inside her up into Sunrock's sky and soon out of orbit.

A mass hail went off in every direction around the carrier, demanding the attention of every machine with comms, the signature simply unresistable to the base coding of sapient and non-sapient software programs alike. It was her.

Stella immediately picked it up without consideration and Zan was none the stronger, not then or ever. "This is Angel-L.I.N.E (Angel-Linkway.Intelligence.Network.Enforcement) of Angel Linkway System. Identify yourself."

"This is Stella of All That Shines."

"This is Zan of The Zan."

"Identify your crew, any non-crew lifeforms, or hazardous materials you may be transporting; then signal your captain or lead crew and patch them to me."

This was done and Angel-L.I.N.E soon had comms linked to the Commander, Carmen, Diego, and every pilot of every fighter. She sent a text-based report of everything the ship computers had communicated and awaited confirmation of the accuracy. Upon getting it, a compiled report was sent to the commander. "[Communication Protocol Change: Text to Speech] [Communication Style: Default Angel-L.I.N.E]"..."Commander Matthew James Smith, you appear to be preparing to leave the system with a fighter class escort. Do you wish to provide both text-based and voice-based confirmations of the mission go ahead for the records?"

The commander confirmed. "Yes."..."Yes."

"It is done. Good luck, Commander."

"Keep a good eye out for things while we are gone.", the commander ordered his goodbye.

"Stella, take us out." The largest and fastest starship in the system warped away from the tireless eyes of an uncompromising vigil.

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At a rendezvous wait point...

All That Shines had released The Zan from its cargo hold and stayed in position to await its return but a single warp jump away. Zan would have to do his part in this covert mission by appearing to just be any other plain AI-less starship sitting around in a port. That meant not having a heavily armed carrier full of machines of war around him and his crew at a place where xenos went shopping.

He entered what was max speed for his warp engine, the new modification sending reverberations of raw power up through his hull as he prepared to shoot like a homing arrow through the dark of space. Even if it was just a short trip, it was always great to be free of the constraints of one hangar or dock before dealing with another. It did not matter whether you were pushing up out of the atmosphere of a planet with your face to its sun or looking at the formation of a fresh warp bubble that would soon grow to fully embrace you, to be out moving somewhere somehow and loving it was the epitome of what it meant to be a ship.

Arriving at the outskirts of the trade hub uneventfully, he located a check point and slowly maneuvered with his sublight engines and thrusters until he had made it through the scan zone and was guided to the docks by a small escort drone. As the drone made its way ahead of him, it started to circle and spin, flashing a spotlight on a lit up neon red sign listing all the banned activities one was to avoid at the trade hub in multiple galactic languages, the most prominent and readily discernible being Galactic Common.

Zan scanned this as he had never been to this particular trade hub and hubs were in general inconsistent with the rules between them aside from some basics. Displayed on a monitor for the crew to see was "Scan results complete: [Translation: Galactic Common to Galactic English] [Communication Types: Text to Speech only] [Communication Style: Zan's Remember The Lecture]. Commencing..."

"1. No theft justified or otherwise permitted on the premises. Keep the piracy and privateering off grounds.

2. No drugs or other chemicals not sold by vendors or cleared by security allowed on premises. Get smashed and higher than your parents when they made you in the trade hub's pub.

3. No acts of reproduction permitted on the premises regardless of whether there is intent of producing offspring or not.

4. No violence permitted on the premises. Keep your vendettas, assassinations, and kidnappings off grounds.

5. No weapons on your person permitted on the premises, makeshift or manufactured.

6. No arming your starship with weaponry at the docks. What is allowed at the check points going in is what is allowed at the docks and on your way out.

7. No using your starship's weaponry on the premises. Save the starship light saber battles for our advertised Clunker Wars Entertainment Night."

"So much for having fun." Carmen shook her head.

Diego looked at one entry closer. "That last one...excites me. I would like to see a Clunker Wars Entertainment Night...from afar for research."

"That last one excites...and scares me...I kind of want a giant light saber." Zan imagined his sleek black form coming into the docks like a dark cloaked figure "unsheathing" a hidden lit up blade. A drawing appeared on screen. "It does not matter if it is an actual lit up blade or an energy weapon."

"Nice buddy, but I think you should have one on each side of you." Diego smiled.

"I do not have to be modest." Suddenly Zan's picture had five. "That is more like it."

The drone reached the spot the check point computers had assigned The Zan, shining its spotlight to guide the vessel. Zan gently lowered himself down while Carmen and Diego suited up. "I am not allowed a live feed or any other transmission into your power suits this mission unfortunately, so we can not make use of the new console. That is unless we see fit to signal an emergency."

"The risk of interception has been deemed to be too high." Carmen remarked. "We'd sooner make a break for it if something happened. And it isn't like help would arrive fast enough anyways inside. As for you, you are stuck here waiting."

"Good luck and return on time. Do not dally and leave me to my own literal devices longer than this deal is supposed to take to go down. Please." Zan could behave like a normal starship for awhile but why should he have to when everyone might be in danger?

"Wouldn't dream of it." Carmen reassured.

"See ya later, buddy." Diego waved goodbye to one of The Zan's cameras.

The two humans left the craft and Zan settled down for the long wait, closing his hatch behind them and powering down most of his systems; leaving only a few sensors and the main computer on at low power. His own consciousness and thoughts soon followed, entering a slow, surreal, lower energy state.

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While The Zan was nearly "dreaming"...

"This...appears to be...the one." A voice speaking Galactic Common accompanied the blurs of motion and heat that roused Zan. Many entities had passed by, but all of them had carried on with their business without tarrying near him.

"This...thing? Are...you sure?" One of the blurs in The Zan's camera frames asked as Zan focused what little attention he could muster on the conversation.

"Yep, can you...believe two beings...that looked that...hot and sexy...arrived in this...ugly little clunker? Like no...paint job...hides this level...of bad." The first voice spoke again.

"WHO...IS...A...CLUNKER?!?...Perish...the...fool..." Zan's thoughts slowly screamed.

"How much...do you think...Boss will sell...it for?" The second voice asked.

"Sell?...This scrape off...an anal chitin plate...will get scrapped...for what little...we find in it and...sold to...some recycler. Lets just...hope...we can extract...some useful data...about the humans." The first voice replied.

That was it. The Zan began to draw more power from its core....

A third blurry trail appeared in Zan's frames. "We have three guys...by the trade hub's entrance...to watch for anyone returning this way...and three more loitering nearby...pretending to be checking...other ships."

The second voice seemed a bit hesitant. "What about the hub's security? How long do we have now?" Zan heard this line fine, fast, and clear....

"Don't worry about the cameras and guards. Our inside guy created a...'situation'."

"I will give you a situation..." The Zan's sensors were all online and at normal proficiency. The front end of the craft rapidly started to heat up....

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Our people are on the move inside. A lassaqi serving as a Red Claw agent has been taken out already. We just need to kidnap the humans and take their crummy boat." The third voice further reassured and informed the others, now revealed to Zan to be a lanky greyish-brown froffoz, as were the others. Just another race of insect-like beings as was common for some reason.

The Zan's front plasma blowers started to glow. He might not be able to assist Carmen and Diego right now but he would do something about these insufferable waste pipe clogs. It would not be rocks cut away for research 'samples' this time. "If you try to touch this crummy, clunker of a boat you will learn...."

"I do love me a 'situation'." The second alien pulled out a pair of plasma cutters and leaned in closer to The Zan for a better inspection. "Hey, this old can is lit up, those big, dumb sexies were silly enough to leave her on! Look at this light." The creature motioned for the others, pointing a claw right at a lit up camera as they gathered closer in.

"Can not touch this." Zan whispered. The bugs jerked back as two red hot nozzles shot out and belched super heated gases, obliterating them face first.

"Smile!" A sketch of a big toothy grin appeared on one of his screens. Three down, six to go.

Sure enough, three more smug chitinous thugs soon skittered away from their hiding places among the other starships, drawn by the commotion only to be locked onto. Rather than wait for them to get within range of now dodgeable plasma cutting tools, Zan slid out his small point defense guns, firing kinetic rounds into them before they could grasp the situation. The noise ought to have drawn the others out but shrill screams of arthropods pierced the docks from the direction of the hub entrance instead, followed by silence.

Zan ran a detailed scan of his surroundings. Nothing of note stood out to him except the quickly fading life signs of xenos. Whoever had taken out the aliens by the entrance had been very quick to leave. Carmen and Diego would have been out on the docks and getting onboard by now if they were involved. Was someone clearing their way or taking out the competition? He reconsidered the risks of attempting to signal the crew's power suits and alerting All That Shines via an emergency FTL channel. This could all go wrong either way. His thoughts began to chase each other, a familiar unease settling into his circuits and metal form.

He had just started another scan when it pinged the presence of two approaching figures from the trade hub. Carmen and Diego could be found moving toward The Zan, slowly at first then at a faster pace until they were standing in view of the ship's cameras, seeming to slow again slightly as they took in the sight of what their friend had done while they were gone.

"Oh man, what did you do?..." Diego beelined for the back of the vessel as Zan restored power to his cargo hold.

Carmen followed right behind her crewmate. "You were supposed to lay low, Zan. What happened? What or rather whom did you go and cook?"

Zan popped open the cargo bay's hatch right in time for his crew to climb inside. "Get in, we have to go NOW back to All That Shines!"

The crew did as told and made their way to sit down in the bridge. Zan zoomed internal cameras over them and ran scans as he shut his cargo hold hatch and powered up his engines.

...[ ].

"Diego...Carmen...what have you two been doing? You are covered in foreign organic matter, at least some of which is from sapients you should not have been having that much physical contact with." The Zan started to lift off and move away from the trade hub, having already retracted its plasma torches and point defense guns back into their resting places.

"We could say the same of you, except you left it on the docks." Carmen countered.

"Yes, and you were so pleased with your work that you drew a toothy smiley face. Who was up to no good now?" Diego crossed his armored arms.

"You two need to get in the bio scanner and those suits need to be hooked up to my diagnostics equipment." The Zan cleared the check points without issue because there was no scan. Whatever interference there was in the trade pub apparently extended a ways from the docks and was still in play. Good.

"I'm not injured. How about you?" Carmen turned toward Diego.

"Nope, we can worry later. Just take us out, Zan." Diego clamped his armored hands down on the armrests of his chair as if Zan might drag him via cables to the starship's cargo hold and pull him out of his suit and into a bio scanner.

The Zan had not made it far past the check points and had just started to prepare for a warp jump when sensors pinged. One of the many other ships that had been hanging around the check points waiting confusedly for a scan and escort drone broke off towards them, gaining speed and charging up its weapon banks as it caught up. They were not going to make the warp window in time. Bad.

"We have incoming hostiles. Initiating evasive maneuvering, full point defense, and rapid focus sequence scanning. Increasing power to shields. Alerting higher command. Assist me." As he sent a FTL emergency signal out to All That Shines, a certain determination filled Zan's mind as energy from both his core and reserves coursed through his small form. No inclination born of desire or programming permitted him to let go of life this way. If someone wanted them dead, they would have to eat explosive shots of metal first.

Carmen removed a protective cover from an old bridge console with a display and popped off a nearby panel. "We've got you, buddy. Diego, I am bringing the first systems online. Zan should be able to bypass the interface to give the original computer some data." The now much unused piece of technology started to power up and boot.

"I have the big old bad boys." Diego popped open another panel and slid out an old analog control array with several buttoned lever sticks. Just as he was placing his metal-plated hands around the levers and sliding his fingers onto the buttons, a hail registered as a beep from The Zan's comms station.

"I will speak for you, Zan." Carmen straightened up, staring visor-first at Zan's main display as he obliged the hail.

An image of a spiky rotund hezzikogh appeared on screen, pale yellowed-white plated body flanked by one more of its kind and two greyish-brown froffoz. "I am Captain Anno of the mercenary starship 'Shezblo'. Surrender yourselves and your ship now and we won't harm you. We get more money if you are alive to talk."

"Oh?" Carmen leaned in. "And just who do you plan to sell us and our ship to? What does your boss want from a couple of humans who just wanted to make some trades and purchases?"

A whining screech came from the obsolete computer's tinny speakers. "RED ALERT!!! Engines offline. Sensors offline. Weapons offline. Life support offline."

The mercenary captain did their species equivalent of a laugh by rattling their spikes. "It doesn't appear that you have any room to ask questions." They paused for a moment. "Though if you want to play nice and be a couple of sweet precious things, I might just make some special considerations and...accommodations. If not then...."

"Save some for us, Boss!" One of the froffoz clicked its grasping mandibles excitedly. The other henchmen clicked and clacked in agreement.

Zan whispered into Carmen and Diego's internal power suit comms. "That alert from the old machine happened because it was disconnected from my systems. I just established a data stream translated into a compatible format so it will have sensor data. Diego can get a guided lock on for the analog weapons system now."

"What are our odds, Zan?" Diego whispered back.

"That ship has considerable shielding all around it if these energy readings are anything to go by. We can forget about doing much with point defense unless we outmaneuver and wear them down enough to use the analog weapons you control. I am swift but that thing is too. It is a real 'crap shoot' as you humans like to say.", Zan explained.

"Think we can trick them? They think we are harmless, we should get them to lower their shields. Can you angle the weapons toward the back of the craft?" Carmen questioned.

"Yes, at least the rear side ones. Whats you idea?" Diego was twitching his fingers near the control buttons.

"I want to accept the invite to surrender." Carmen said with undisguised disgust.

Zan keyed up. "What?! How could you even consider that?! I can not allow you to go with them or let them onboard!" The fans inside his computer casing began to spin faster and the gears operating the doors of the crew quarters started to open and close all of them in a rhythm.

Carmen ran an armored hand soothingly over a few of The Zan's internal sensors. "Its okay, we won't really surrender. We will get them to dock with us, and they will have to drop shields just to try to kidnap us. There won't be anything short of maybe a force field to keep the atmosphere on their side. We can concentrate fire on that location and pop that balloon."

Zan's fans were still having at it but he let the doors stop. "Okay...I will start to focus fire with my point defenses once Diego fires a series of volleys into that cargo hold. We will still have to clean up what is left."

"Times up to decide, whats it going to be?" The enemy captain demanded. The Zan's scans picked up on an even higher charge being made to one of the other ship's weapon banks, likely the one for the main weapon. "Now, I would rather you sweet darling honies stay alive for this and your vessel remain intact, but I will blow through that loose clunker's backend and open up a way to whatever is left, if anything or anyone is still there."

"Carmen, I can't be the lure unless we change seats and that is going to look strange on screen to our unwelcome guests." Diego apologized.

"I know, and it is my idea anyways." She put a metal hand on his metal shoulder. "Blow them to the other side of the galaxy. And you too, Zan."

Carmen stared at the main screen and spoke out loud "I, the captain of this vessel, Captain Carmen Jean Sexton of one Terran Outbound Exploration Company starship 'The Zan', do surrender to you and yours, Captain Anno."

"And I concur with that decision myself and will join you as well." Diego added with a remarkably courteous-sounding tone.

Carmen continued, "I am sure we can figure this out. There must be some way to make this misunderstanding right. I will open the cargo hold myself and meet you there, hands and wings out where you can see them. My pilot and navigator here, Crewman Diego Jack Miller, will follow a ways behind me in the same fashion so you can rest assured when apprehending us both."

She stood up from the "captain's" chair and stretched slowly, unfolding her power suit's wings and spreading them out in all their darkness while raising her arms and hands above her head. Posing with her raised wrists crossed, shielded chest puffed out and a hip and tip toe turned in the direction of the screen while she balanced on the other sturdy metal foot, she let out a soft sigh before proceeding to slowly walk towards the direction of the cargo hold. Out of sight of the screen but still in view of The Zan's cameras, she stopped inside the crewman's hallway by the living quarters, folded her wings, and waited.

Zan turned on one of the secondary monitors on his bridge and set the view to his cargo bay. An hesitant turn of gears slowly pulled open the hatch, revealing the sight of two open cargo holds, each with their atmosphere held in place by a light force field. A group of crew not present in the still open hail rounded a corner to cross across cargo bay thresholds. "Come, come get your prize, have it over right here." His point defense weapons hummed and vibrated so very slightly and sweetly. Within his form, he secretly started to heat his front and rear plasma torches. If he was discreet, he could raise them to a temperature obscured by his shielding and finish up when things went down. "Carmen, brace yourself. Diego, I am ready. Let us each play our parts."

"Right on. I've had enough of being 'sweet' today. Lets get this over with." Diego quickly grabbed ahold of the analog weapon array controller. "Zan, release our force field."

The Zan's cargo hold force field collapsed, sending a gush of vented air against the enemy's force field, catching some of the aliens off guard and hurling them into the cold embrace of space as they were sucked into a gap between the small human-made craft and the wider cargo hold of their own ship. Those who had not yet attempted to cross force fields found themselves faced with Diego's wrath.

"YOU SICK PERVERTS WANT SOMETHING SMOKING?! HERE'S MY PIPING HOT LOVE! REGARDS, FUCKERS! SINCERELY, DIEGO!" A forceful pull of a rageful human hand cradled in the strength of its kind's own creation sent a stiffened lever flying backwards as a hard-tipped thumb pressed upon a large red button of devastation. Some of the oldest still working missiles in active service shot out into the cargo hold of the hostile starship in numbered sets as surprise weapon arrays dropped down and slide out from the undercarriage of The Zan. The enemy vessel's cargo hold force field disintegrated like flecks of dust in lava as the first explosives cruised right through and hit a wall housing the power supply of that part of the ship. Zan chose the moment of impact as a cue to close his hatch and brandish arms under his own control, point defense guns of sizes small, medium, and large all shelling the outer shielding of the damaged section of vessel.

"WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'LL DO TO YOU?!" The xeno captain screamed. A display showed a power spike indicating a weapons discharge from the enemy vessel. Zan ate a direct blow to his left side shields a second later.

"We don't plan on letting you or anyone do anything to us." Carmen reappeared from the hallway, magnetized hands and feet keeping her supported as she steadied herself against a shaking ship.

Diego let another set rip, this time stepping up in payload size; metal suit hand moving from one lever and red button of antiquated doom to another. Screams wretched themselves from the vocal organs and maws of unseen alien beings on the other side of the main screen, the image becoming shaky.

"HOW?! HOW CAN I, CAPTAIN ANNO, LOSE SHEZBLO TO THE LIKES OF YOU?!" The last spike on the hezzikogh mercenary leader shot out in stress.

"I dunno Mr. or Ms. Creepfuck, maybe you should've done better and given it another name." Diego gripped a more difficult lever in both hands, this one requiring two buttons held down at the same time. "And maybe, just maybe you should never have fucked around and found out!" Diego yanked the lever and pushed down vigorously on both buttons. Both he and Carmen gave a very human good-bye, the middle finger salute, as the giant-sized missile bombed its way into the gaping hole that had once been a cargo bay and much of the rest of the mercenary starship.

"Do you think that did it?" Carmen laughed as they started to fly away.

"Yeah, I'd say-wait Zan, what are YOU doing?!" Diego nearly jumped up from his seat by the analog weapon array controls.

Content that there was no further signs of activity or energy readings from the defeated enemy ship, Zan finished charging his plasma torch tools, slid them out on both ends and made a beeline back to the wreckage. Redistributing power to the front end of his form, he bolstered that area's shields, slipped inside the twisted hole in the dead ship and proceeded to spew super hot gas all over what was left inside with the torches near his face; splitting the bottom of the other vessel apart. He then slowly flipped on his back, giving his crew time to reposition themselves; then reversed the power flow to give his rear-end better protection so he could fly back out while torching the ceiling of the ruined enemy starship with his back side. The whole thing split into scorched halves, and being clear of any sort of true "inside" now, Zan circled the two pieces, burning them all over and over until they had been cut into nice, neat if not contorted chunks of sections.

Satisfied with his work, he filled every display on his bridge with images of the burnt and cut up wreck except one on which he drew a picture of the same kind of ancient middle finger salute Carmen and Diego had used minutes earlier. "Whose crummy boat is an old can of a loose backend clunker now?"

"Zan? Are you okay there, bud?" Diego was a little bit worried.

"Yes, that was just a bit personal." Zan was not going to just sit and let his human crew vent their frustrations without getting some of the same action, even if he did not fully understand what had been going on. He would try to figure that out along with everything else when he finally got them out of their power suits.

"Lets just jump to All That Shines, I really don't think we should linger here." Carmen was once again wary of their situation.

"I already sent an emergency FTL signal when we encountered that blasted ship. So they should be here soon." Zan started running scans on himself and his surroundings while admiring his work on the destroyed vessel once more. Not a bad sight to behold while waiting on the commander and Stella.