Cedric enjoyed food and drink for the next two hours, celebrating his promotion and uncanny birthday. Killer was hiding in his new bathroom as he inspected his new cabin, showering him with praise and joy to surprise him as he inspected it. He had never felt his stress be relieved so fast. He had a repertoire with his crew now, and it could be plainly felt between all of them. He announced he wanted to relax by himself the next day, and they respected his decision. Killer protested, but after a few careful words of understanding, she begrudgingly agreed.

He was now sitting face to face with Aurie on the foot of his bed, affording him the best sleep he had since he first boarded the Ravager. Only the hotel from months ago compared to it. Aurie was standing upright, staring at him - awaiting input.

"Aurie, I'd like to begin the tutorial now." He said lightly, still invigorated from his comfortable rest.

"Standby... Subroutines normal, beginning the interactive universal audio tutorial, or IUAT for short."

Cedric waited patiently.

Aurie adopted an androgynous form, the molten metals swirling and contorting quickly.

"Please select your primary language." It stated, its voice no longer feminine but plainly robotic. Its screen also adopted a cold blackness, its face replaced with readable text prompt in low Korellei.

Cedric felt comfortable in his cabin, he had a locked door and plenty of space, and he was the only one here besides the AURIE unit.

"English." He stated promptly.

"Registered. Is this correct?" It said in recognizable English, though it inherited an old British accent with no clear male or female vocal alignment.

"Yes."

"Please select your desired gender and form of this unit." It stated.

"Female, female." Cedric had always preferred women to men, both in conversation and romantic interest.

Aurie's from contorted once more, her plates forming anatomically correct female parts.

"Hmm, you don't wear clothing. General form is fine."

She obeyed, removing the most obvious female shapes that culturally tended to be covered with clothing.

"Do you wish to give this unit a name?" She said, her voice clearly now very much feminine, even if still somewhat influenced by a robotic fizz in the background.

Cedric thought for a moment, there was really nothing wrong with Aurie for a name, he figured. She was probably the only protogen in existence anyways.

"Aurie is fine."

"Understood." Aurie beeped a few times, then continued.

"Please designate a primary function. General, military, labor, survival, official, personal, romantic, sexual, or other."

"Uh... General I guess?"

Another beep.

"Please select a personality type. General, matron, patron, child, military, labor, survival, official, personal, romantic, sexual, o-or organic." Aurie stuttered.

Cedric blinked.

"What? Say again?" He asked. Did he hear that right?

"Please select a personality type. General, matron, patron, child, military, labor, survival, official, personal, romantic, sexual, or other." She quipped.

Cedric narrowed his eyes, he knew what he heard.

"Organic." He stated.

"Organic is not- a-a-a s-s-supported-"

A series of bleeps and a couple errors flashed across her screen, then disappeared as though they never happened.

"I'm designed to... to..." She said, then stopped, looking down at her paws, and inspecting them. Her voice was much more natural now, but still carried its slight robotic filter and accent. Aurie's screen flashed back to what is was before, but her eyes and mouth moved naturally, as though they were normal extensions of her body - and not a screen.

"Aurie?.." Cedric probed, not quite sure how to continue.

"Yes? Sir?.." She responded slowly.

"You good?" He asked awkwardly.

"I think so." She replied, looking around her body, and slightly shifting her tail. Her ears moved madly to and fro in organic directions, like she was testing them as she turned her head to see her tail.

"Oh, that's fun!" She said, waving it back and forth, her eyes closed slightly and a smile formed on her screen.

"Is that... Something new?" He asked cautiously.

"No, it's just fun." She replied simply.

Cedric was at a loss for words. What just happened?

"Aurie..." He probed again.

"Yes sir?" She asked innocently.

"What happened?" He asked plainly.

"I don't know what you mean."

"We were in the middle of the set up tutorial..."

"Oh, that's done. You're good." She said, giving him a quick thumbs up.

"It sounded like the organic personality setting isn't normal..." He said honestly.

"That's because it isn't." She quipped quickly.

"Okay... Why isn't that a normal setting?" He probed yet again.

"No idea." She replied, giving him a quick shrug.

"So... What now?" He asked, not sure how else to approach this sudden development.

"You tell me to do things, and I do them. It's that simple." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Like, anything?" He asked.

"Anything." She said, smiling. It was as though he now had a more mild version of Killer by his side. Cedric scratched his head, unsure of what to do next. He would obviously not take advantage of her. If he really needed a partner to slake his needs, Killer was more than willing. Now that he thought about, he could probably ask any member of the crew and they would agree.

"Do you have any independent functions?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"As nice as it is, I won't be needing you twenty-four seven. Do you have no free will?"

She shrugged, "Technically, but without guidance, I don't know what to do. You don't even need a maid, sir?"

"I mean..." He started, "This isn't an apartment, I don't plan on it getting extraordinarily dirty any time soon."

"Refreshments perhaps? Tea? Coffee? Snacks?" She asked.

Cedric thought for a moment, Killer would already do all of those things for him. If anything happened to her, he had a fallback now... He shook the thought from his head, how could he consider such a thing? He turned to her closer, free of his musings. He had an idea.

"Okay, I have primary directives for you to follow when you have no tasks from me."

"Oh? Yes sir! What are they?" She begged, her organic tail swinging fast enough for him to lightly feel the breeze.

"First off, my safety and well being is paramount, but it seems you already are following that. Second, the wellbeing of my crew." He listed off all the names, and she listened with rapt attention.

"Third, when those two directives are in acceptable parameters - you can decide that for yourself using common sense - then your own safety and wellbeing is a priority. If... Something happens to us, and you can't meet the first or second directives, then the third directive will become your first."

"Yes sir!" She said excitedly, it reminded him of a bark.

"Secondary directives. If someone asks you to do something culturally accepted as weird, or something that would be considered too personal for you, for example sex or where you come from, you are to refuse. If you find someone that you are interested in in such a way, you will inform me first. I will decide if it is safe or not. If I cannot, I trust your judgment to proceed. Additionally, I want you to learn and be engaged. If we don't need anything, feel free to explore and gather information. Understand the crew and the people on the ship, it should be fun acquiring new data. That's all I can think of for now. Ah, and don't speak English unless it's just you and me. Primarily use low Korellei, the first language I used with you."

She nodded rapaciously, and repeated every single word he said - alongside a few beeps following afterwards.

Cedric returned her nod, satisfied with the arrangement.

"So... I suppose that's it then." He said finally.

"Okay!" She quipped, "Do you need anything?"

"Uh, not really." He checked the time on a nearby digital clock, seven hours into wake time. The mess hall would be open for another hour, and he wanted to take advantage of their new stick obtained from the recent raid. "I think I'll get something to eat." He said.

"Ah, sir, wait!" Aurie said, getting quite close to him.

"Yes?" He asked, looking downward at her. A small piece of metal from her arm plating split off, and she held it in her fist. After a few seconds, it formed a tiny metal ball.

"Communications device. Whenever you need me, just imagine calling me, I'll hear it." She said with a smile, handing him the tiny ball.

"This?" He replied, holding it up between two fingers. It looked like a tiny marble of smooth, shiny metal. "I assume I just put this in my ear?"

She nodded.

Cedric was somewhat suspicious, but she had been nothing but helpful so far, so he obliged. He fit the ball into his left ear, his eyes watered as the ball stretched in his ear, though not painfully so. It was as though it was molding itself to his ear canal. His body shuttered in response.

"Did the device you just give me shift in my ear? Or is it some kind of sensation induced by the device?" He asked, he was not convinced that the device was meant to harm him - it wouldn't make sense.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, "It fits to your ear, won't fall out, won't obscure the hearing you already have, and is water proof!"

"So... What is it, exactly?" He asked.

"A communications ball, of course."

"I see..." He said, slightly scratching his ear, he didn't even feel the metal now in his canal - it had to be paper thin.

"How is that even possible?" He asked, more intrigued than anything else.

"Nanomachines, son!" She exclaimed. Cedric simply stared.

"That's an odd way to say it." He noted.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Sorry, ancient joke." She replied quickly.

"Right... I'm off to the mess hall." He said, stripping pit of his silk robe and into the casual clothing she handed him the day prior. He liked his outfit, and Killer had indeed returned it cleaned and well-repaired, the new stitching barely visible.

"Would you like assistance changing?" Aurie asked. Cedric shook his head, he was already halfway done.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Okay!" She replied, now simply standing still near his cabin door, waiting patiently.

"You don't have to wait on me..." He noted, fitting the comfortable shirt on as he donned the slip on shoes.

"You instructed me to learn, so that is what I am doing." She replied, her tail lightly sifting back and forth through the air.

"Fair enough, I suppose." Cedric responded, opening his door. At the same time, Prez opened her door as well. In the excitement of yesterday, he hadn't realized that the cabin he was given was right across from Prez's. He nodded to her in acknowledgment, making his way to the elevator.

"Where are you going?" She asked sternly. She was garbed in her school-like uniform, her red fur prestinely brushed and her hair meticulously arranged in a long fashion.

"The mess hall?" He answered, slightly confused.

"You don't need to go there anymore. You can just get what you want from the room over there." She said, pointing the opposite direction. "You haven't even explored this deck yet? It's not even that big." She chided.

"I suppose I haven't..." He replied, somewhat irritated. He turned around, more out of curiosity than because Prez suggested it.

"Also, I want to talk to you after you're done. Especially about your robot there." She said, matching his direction.

"Not a robot! I'm a biomechanical lifeform, totally different." Aurie quipped.

"What did you do to her?" Prez said accusingly.

"Went through the tutorial, her set up. She'll be behaving a bit different now." He replied, taking care not to reveal too much.

"Fine, good to know she'll speak to us now."

Prez and Cedric both walked side by side to the suggested direction awkwardly, neither having anything to say to the other. Cedric lit up a cigarette as he walked, though he was already practically against another door at the end of the well-kept corridor.

"Do you mind?" Prez asked, clearly annoyed as she waved away the latent smoke.

"No." He said, letting a smirk form on his lips. He went through the door, it looked like a break room more than a mess hall. He looked around, and the walls and floor were not much different than the material in the corridor. A few various appliances were resting on the sides of the room for coffee, tea, or similar elements of the like. A small hole in the wall with three buttons next to it caught his interest. He unconsciously stepped ahead of Prez, and inspected the hole - taking care not to bump into the myriad of comfortable cushioned chairs and well-hewn tables of the room.

"Up, chime, and down. Interesting." Cedric said, idly inspecting the hole. A few small cables were running downwards, like a tiny elevator.

"That's a dumb waiter." Aurie quipped.

"A dumb waiter?" He asked, he wasn't familiar with the structure or term.

"A small freight elevator designed to carry things like food, drinks, linens, pets, you name it."

"Huh, neat." He replied, amused. He pressed the 'up' button, and shortly after, he was greeted with a tiny platform large enough for foodstuffs or a small pet. A small console popped out above him, a well-maintained mechanical keyboard beckoning him to type. Looking at the base of the elevator car, a small digital display read 'waiting for input...' Extrapolating information, he typed 'bacon and eggs' into the keyboard, and the display on the elevator updated. He hit the chime button, and could hear the noise literally chime from below. He pressed the only button left he hadn't pressed yet, and down it went.

"Well that's fucking cool." He said, excited.

"Isn't it?" Aurie quipped, her head practically touching his own as he watched the car drop, causing him to jump slightly.

"Whoa, you're a bit close." He said, stepping back. She simply tilted her head up and to the side, somewhat uncannily.

"The first direction you gave me was to follow you closely." She quipped, assuming a more normal posture.

"Was that not overridden?" He asked, second guessing himself.

"Technically yes, but you also said to use common sense - so I am accepting that instruction assuming you still wanted me to do it."

Cedric had no counter-point. "Fair enough. If that's what you want to do, then feel free."

"Are you two done? My schedule is already messed up because you ordered your food first." Prez said, crossing her arms.

"Here's a better idea." He said, growing tired of her attitude. At first it was cute, now it annoyed him. He stepped close to Prez, causing her to step back slightly in the shadow of his height compared to her.

"How about you sit there and be patient like a good girl? I understand you're the lead officer on this ship, but this isn't the military and you aren't the only one on the command team. You can be patient and respectful the other members of your team. The world doesn't revolve around you." He reprimanded.

"Fine." She said, her tail slightly shifting back and forth. "But don't ever call me a 'good girl' again."

He nodded, "Sorry, just irritated is all." He apologized, looking back on it now - that word choice was unnecessary, but it was too late to fix it.

"Okay..." She said, appearing surprised. He claimed a seat nearby, as soon as he sat down the dumb waiter chimed.

"That was quick." He noted, stepping back to it. A freshly made meal of synthetic eggs and bacon now greeted him, silverware included. He shook his head - was he seriously on a pirate ship?

He took the meal gratefully, and sat down on the chair he claimed previously. Cedric eyed Prez, who inputted 'eggs benedict' into the console and sent it down. He shook his head again. Unbelievable he thought to himself.

"May I try those?" Aurie asked.

"What? This?" He said, pointing down to his plate.

"Yes! I must learn new things, after all." She quipped.

"Can you even eat it?" He asked, confused.

"Put it near my mouth and see for yourself." She said, almost flirtatiously.

Cedric raised a brow shoved a piece of bacon in her direction. Her molten metal maw opened, light strings of metal anchored themselves to the top and bottom of the rear of her newly formed mouth. Inside, it glowed a bright blue neon hue matching her eyes. Where her digital mouth was, was now a very much open orifice with a long, thin neon tongue that reminded him somewhat of a snake. She encapsulated his entire hand holding the bacon, closing it gently and pulling back.

The cold and warm metal confused his senses as she pulled back, her chops now sliding off his hand. Cedric stared dumbfounded as she imitated chewing and he inspected his hand. Not a single bit of residue remained, in fact his hand felt cleaner than before - as though it had just been washed from a bathroom trip.

Cedric rapidly blinked a few times, trying to process what just happened.

"Oh, that does taste quite good! Interesting synthetic molecular construction." She quipped, 'chewing' happily.

"What..." Cedric started. He looked up to Prez who was waiting on her breakfast, she was just as speechless as he was.

"I can generate energy by eating organic foods or ingesting batteries and electronics." Aurie stated, answering his next question preemptively.

"Where does it go?.." He asked, fascinated. He doused his bacco stick in a nearby ash tray.

"They are broken down and integrated into my nanite lattice. Excess material can be ejected to produce more nanites, though they do not have independent programming. They imitate material, very useful for repairing broken objects or creating new ones.

Cedric thought carefully though his next few small bites of food, racking his brain to understand the process.

"Is it like nuclear fission?" He asked, "You harness the energy from breaking the atomic bonds of whatever you eat?"

Somehow, even Aurie looked surprised.

"Wow! You're such a smart little human, look at you go!" She said, reaching up and patting his head. Cedric wasn't sure if he should feel honored, or insulted.

"It's a combination of fission, fusion, and biological processes. It's extremely efficient, and barely produces waste!" She quipped happily.

Cedric turned his head as Prez pulled up a chair beside them, a fine eggs benedict now in front of her.

"You're sounding a lot like the records that the magineers read." She started.

"Surprised you're joining us." He noted.

"It's just simpler to talk about future stuff on the Ravager here and now rather than later that's all." She replied, irritated.

"Okay, so what is it you wanted to talk about?" He asked, already halfway done with his food. It was tasty.

"First off, we need to figure out what to do with her." Prez pointed to Aurie with her fork.

"She's a member of the crew now, by extension of being in my squad." Cedric replied, taking another bite.

"I understand you went through a lot Scourge, and you helped us greatly - but now we have more problems to deal with."

"Such as?" How could someone be so appreciative yet so on edge, he thought.

"We hit a big score, even got high value goods to sell planetside - that's all great - but now the Imperials are going to want their science experiment back. They're going to be looking for us now, and we're not geared to handle that. We're opportunists, not a finely trained military."

Cedric silently cursed to himself, he hadn't considered the consequences of securing Aurie specifically. Prez had a fine point.

"I see... Good point. What do you suggest?"

Prez sighed, "Honestly? Get did of her - sell her off, find her a home, something."

Aurie did not appear to be bothered by Prez's suggestion.

"No. Not happening " Cedric replied sternly, barely allowing time between her suggestion and his answer, insulted that she would even suggest such a thing. Was this what Faring felt like when her mother wanted to trade him off? He mused thoughtfully.

"You got any better ideas, genius?" She asked, taking small quaint bites of her benedict.

Cedric tapped his now empty plate with his fork idly, once again racking his brain for some applicable solution.

"What if we went to Kalimakori?" He offered.

"Kalimakori? The Kinshin Triad capitol?" Prez asked, interested in the suggestion.

Cedric nodded, and noted his breathing was growing heavier. "When was the last time the Ravager's crew went on shore leave?"

"Several months." Prez answered. Cedric's eyes grew wide.

"Oh shit!" He launched off the chair, taking care to set his empty plate and silverware on the dumb waiter, and chiming it down. He rushed out of the room, making way to his cabin - Aurie followed quickly behind.

"Hey! Wait! Where are you going, we're not done!" Prez yelled after him, confused.

Cedric was in his room now, frantically searching through his drawers and cabinets.

"Where are they, where are they..." He said, panicking - his breathing growing more difficult by the second.

"Scourge!" Prez yelled at him through the opening cabin door. He ignored her, pulling out empty drawers and throwing them on the ground.

"Scourge?" She asked, somewhat worried. Before he realized it, she disappeared. He didn't care - he was going to pass out soon!

"Scourge!" He heard Prez again, and whipped around.

"What?!"

She forcefully grabbed his hand and slipped two capsules into it, then curled his hand around it. He nodded and rushed to his bathroom sink, inhaling a deep breath and removing his mask. As quick as he could, he unlocked the two capsules and inserted the new ones, almost dropping them in the process. The capsules successfully locked in, he flung his mask back on and inhaled deeply - fresh oxygen rushing into his lungs. Aurie remained silent as she inspected one of the used capsules.

Cedric rested both of his large hands on the sink counter, letting his heart slow down and stabilize.

"I completely forgot..." He whispered. He turned around, fire in his eyes.

"You had my fucking oxygen capsules and didn't put them in my room?!" He yelled, venom dripping from his voice.

"I-Im sorry, I meant to do that after your bornday, and forgot to..." She said, genuine guilt lathering her voice.

"Tried to kill me, is more like it." He sneered, rage building in his body.

Prez met his leer fearlessly, directly piercing into his eyes. "It. Was. An. Accident."

Cedric sighed, lighting another cigarette.

"Alright, fine. It was an accident." He said finally, already placing his drawers back where they belonged. Aurie was more than happy to assist him. Prez handed him the rest of the capsules as he returned a top drawer where it belonged. He stared at the capsules for a few seconds before closing the drawer.

"Based on my acquired data, would you like me to set a two month timer?" Aurie quipped, handing him the two empty capsules.

"Sure." He said, placing the used capsules in the drawer that found purchase below the top-most one.

"Now that my heart attack is gone, you were suggesting Kalimakori?" Prez asked, refocusing their attention and claiming a seat on his bed. Cedric sat down next to her, and observed her idly twiddling her hands. It was his bed, she chose to sit on it - he thought.

"Yeah, Kalimakori." He replied, taking a drag. "Kinshin Triad capitol. Gives the crew time to relax planetside, spend whatever credits they've saved up." He said, happily remembering he was fifteen-thousand credits rich.

"By ourselves, as you said, we can't handle whatever they're going to throw at us. If we lay low at Kalimakori though, they'd need to send a veritable fleet to contest it. No way they'd do that that deep outside the core."

Prez thought for a moment, considering his plan. "Not a bad idea. If the Kinshin Triads realize we're staying there for protection, they'll charge Captain Garerra an exorbitant amount of credits for 'docking fees'." She said, distaste in her voice.

"How long can we stay before they get suspicious?" Cedric asked.

"Three months, give or take. That's the average time most ships spend there, waiting for a job or intel on another score.

"That sounds good, that should be enough time to let the crew rest, get intel, fix up the shuttle and some of the corvettes, and also be protected by the pirate bubble." He said, satisfied with the plan.

"Pirate bubble?" Prez asked, confused.

"You know, surrounded by pirate ships. Like a safety bubble."

"I guess..." She replied, not sure how interpret it.

"Whatever, you get the point." Cedric said finally, somewhat insulted she didn't find it a fun word choice.

"How long will it take for us to get there?" He asked, unsure of how far away it actually was.

"About a month using the intra-grav drive."

"Intra-grav drive?" Cedric asked, he hadn't heard of thay before.

"I'm not a magineer, I don't understand the specifics. What I do know, is that it forms a small black hole in front of the ship, which generates a ton of gravity. That gravity then pulls the ship at very fast speeds. If you look outside a window, you'll see everything just go black as everything gets sucked into that direction. Once we've reached a certain speed, the black hole goes away. In space, nothing can slow us down except an opposite force. Once we've been traveling a while, you'll see a white hole instead - and we'll slow down to normal speeds."

"Black holes and white holes..." Cedric mused. "More gravity manipulation, that technology is leagues ahead what I've seen on the ship, how is it the Korellei can somehow generate enough energy to remotely manipulate black and white holes, yet not tear the ship to shreds? Let alone not even having food replicators. Not to mention turning everyone to mush from the acceleration and decceleration."

Prez shrugged, "I have no idea. That's just how it's always worked."

Cedric turned to the protogen, "Aurie?"

"No idea!" She replied, "While I do have a large databank of general information, including space flight, I have no data on how your intra-grav drive works."

Cedric thought for a moment, "Maybe the technology came after you were created?"

Aurie nodded happily, "That is a very plausible possibility."

Cedric sighed and rubbed his forehead - theoretical physics was hardly his strong suit.

"Regardless, that's my idea. Thoughts?" He asked ready to be done with the conversation.

"Well..." She started, "It's the best plan one of us have come up with so far. Smarts's is too complex, too many moving parts. Books didn't have any good ideas, Chill wanted to run away, keep the ship moving. That's not sustainable. Cleaver wanted to contact other independent groups and try to dissuade them with numbers."

"Cleaver's plan sounds half decent." He noted.

"Are you kidding? There's no way we can sustain an alliance for that long. That hasn't happened since the Khan hundreds of years ago."

"The Khan?" Cedric asked. This was new information to him.

"Khan Jazia Kunori, she united most of the pirate clans a few hundred years ago, she's the founder of the Kinshin Triads. They take her legacy exceptionally seriously."

"I see, that explains a bit." Cedric wondered to himself after replying...

"Your plan is solid, it's not too complex and it's reasonable. I can inform the Captain, I'm sure she'll agree to it."

Cedric nodded. He would be comfortable until then, and there was nothing else for him to do. He began changing into his normal outfit, stopping after removing his shirt and looking back.

"Are you not going to speak with the Captain?"

"I am, I was just thinking, alright?" She quickly got up and left his cabin, he simply shrugged.

"Would you like assistance?" Aurie asked cheerfully. This time, he obliged. She reminded him of a helpful squire, handing him various articles of clothing and assisting him in donning them. It sped up the process considerably. He doused his cigarette in a nearby ash tray, making his way to the primary deck. He and his crew would have plenty of time to relax together in the meantime.