Rend had piloted the Serpent around towards Dev’ji’s last known location, and sure enough both Dev’ji and Kornath were floating aimlessly away from the space station, a line tethering the two together. The Serpent danced to life with yellow light when Rend approached Dev’ji, his Spark transferring to the ship to assist with the recovery. Rend was in his full space suit.

“You can stop now Rend.” Dev’ji crackled over the radio. The alien released his claws from the console. “Omega, get us in the ship right away..”

“Of course master.” His Spark, Omega, responded as a grappling hook immediately fired from the loading bay door. The ship operated without an onboard atmosphere when the weapons were armed. The hook magnetically attached to the tether between Dev’ji and Kornath, yanking them towards the ship. “Master, Erika and Serakia are returning to our original landing pad shortly.”

“Keth!” Dev’ji cursed. “Reopen the radio channel you blasted Spark! They already know we are here.” The radio blared to life.

“Erika!! What the hell?! What happened?!” Dev’ji was furious, spit dotting the inside of his helmet.

“We were ambushed.”

“By what?” Dev’ji was not amused. “There were only two people on that kethin’ ship!!”

“Some metal looking... thing.” Erika sounded battered over the radio.

“That is maddeningly unhelpful.” Kornath chimed in.

“It was a robot of some kind.” Serakia interjected.

“Like a turret?” Dev’ji pressed for more information.

“No, it stood on two legs.” Erika had collected herself.

“You idiots! It must have been a Syn.”

“No boss, won’t no Syn.” Serakia interjected, cutting off Erika. “Not a single scrap of flesh on that thing. Shot us with electric thingys.”

“Erika...”

“Not sure boss.” Erika added. “Thing took me out first. Stung like a bitch.”

“Fine. Whatever. We’ll kill it just the same. Get back to the landing pad.” Dev’ji arrived on the bridge of the Serpent. “We are gonna come get you and then blow them out of the sky. There is enough to loot here that we won’t need that damn ship.”

~~~

Scott was covered in oil and grease as he came out of the engine room. 01 and Alexis were standing outside the door.

“So I got good news and bad news. What do you want first?”

“Bad.” Alexis wondered.

“Good.” 01 said simultaneously. The two exchanged a quick glance. 01 succeeded with a motion from its hand. Alexis rolled her eyes.

“Bad.” She reaffirmed her answer.

Scott shrugged off the weirdness of interacting with a robot. Sparks were one thing, they were vibrant programming that could talk. Syn’s were people with mechanical parts. But full blown sentient robots with a human soul? Scott was pretty sure it was illegal based on the Titan Pact.

“Well, the bad is that I won’t be able to get the Antioch off this starbase anytime soon. Since the virus can’t jump to other systems thanks to Alpha, it is slowly decomposing the entire launch sector. Eventually, it will decompose itself.” Scott started cleaning the stains off of his hands and arms. Alexis shook her head

“Alright, let's hear the good news.”

“The good news is that the sector didn’t overload and physically damage anything. The engine is in the exact same condition it was in when we left Tychon five.”

“Tychon five?” 01 pondered outloud.

“Wow you really don’t know anything.” Alexis was not amused. “It’s the fifth planet in the Tychon system.”

“Forgive me Alexis, but did I do something wrong?”

Alexis steamed.

“Yeah, you’re the reason we are in this mess and now we have to babysit you ‘cause you don’t have a damn clue.” Alexis stormed out, heading back to the bridge.

01 held its head low, shaking it back and forth.

“It’s not my fault.” The digitized voice projected.

Scott walked up to the robot and placed his hand on the cold steel shoulder.

“I know it isn’t, she needs to take it all in.” An odd comfort washed over Scott. “Also, thanks for saving my skin back there.”

01 perked up a bit.

“Of course. Thanks for waking me up.”

A thick dead air hung between the two.

“What’s the last thing you remember? Before waking up I mean.” Scott pressed.

01 shook its head.

“An empty stomach. The cold table in the operating room. The noise of the Hub. People screaming.”

“The Hub?”

“Yeah, the center of the base was called the Hub. Dr. Takh lived there, she helped prepare me for the procedure.” 01 explained.

Scott was renewed, and started to put his jumpsuit back on.

“Do you think you can remember where Dr. Takh lived?”

01 shrugged.

“Pretty sure I could.”

Scott walked right past 01 and headed towards the bridge.

“Where are you going?”

“Let’s go see if we can’t get some answers about you oh-one. After all, beats sitting on this ship doing nothing.”

~~~

Kata’s Spark danced to life, waking her up with green light throughout her cabin.

“What do you have for me Rune?” The beast of the woman stood up, her cybernetic limbs shifting to life. Both of her legs and her right arm were mostly mechanical. She reached over to her nightstand and grabbed some shorts and a loose fitting shirt, pulling it over her head. Her cybernetic eye danced to life, adjusting to waking up. That piece was her pride and joy. Green text flew across the entire room.

“Looks like someone stole some confidential data from SynCorp.” Her Spark spoke as she winced from all the light. She ran her hand through her brown hair and tied it into a small ponytail in one swift motion.

“Copy that Rune. Get a hold of Third Prime Chapman, tell him I will lead the investigation myself.” Kata headed towards her bathroom, starting her morning ritual. Her vitals flashed across the wall from the small projector on the ceiling. The kitchen came to life, starting her breakfast on its own. She emerged from her bathroom relieved, placing the tangled mess of a comb on her nightstand.

"Begin workout."

The room came to life with green wireframe constructs, charging at her with no remorse. She struck in a flurry of mechanics, eliminating at least four with one spin kick. Once all ten had been dealt with another wireframe appeared, matching her stature and height. It moved forward its digital hands in front of its face.

"Recite case file." The two giants began to box in the middle of the room, the digital hits sending small but manageable pain signals to her brain from her digital eyepiece. She ducked and weaved, landing a solid right cross against her false opponent.

"Affirmative. Begin case file N-32." Rend started to flash the pertinent information from the case on the wall behind the wireframe. Calm orchestral music started to rumble through the room.

"SynCorp has filed a report with the Jainus Sector Primes pertaining to a physical and subsequent digital breach of their Tychon V manufacturing plant. The plant on Tychon V specializes in warp drives. The only survivor of the attack was a journalist by the name of Mr. Eui Narn. He was their reporting on SynCorp’s advancements in warp drive tech." Rune was putting some of the dots together as Kata landed two solid jabs, only to be denied a follow up cross.

"Mr. Narn has not come forward, nor publicly presented, any comments or reports about the attack. He is currently under contract with 5 System News, mostly reporting on emerging technologies." The wireframe landed a hard punch in Kata's stomach. Eui Narn's photo and recent articles displayed along the wall.

"5 System News currently shares 2 of its 7 board members with SynCorp, suggesting the attack may be real, but there is also a small chance the attack is a cover up of some kind. SynCorp could be trying to protect its future interests with an attempt to control a narrative about the attack. Mr. Narn has spoke out very few times against SynCorp for its development of technology used in the Titan Wars. His reports represent a small 2% of negative articles 5SN has published with negativity against SynCorp. SynCorp has never attacked Mr. Narn, nor 5SN, about hardly anything. The occasional snarky reply to damning articles are the only evidence of animosity presented, and even then the number of digs against 5SN competitors is larger." Rune was laying out all the facts.

Kata stepped back from an over extended jab and came in with a right uppercut, her mechanical arm simulating a hard hit. The wireframe toppled to the floor as a numbered countdown began. She caught her breath.

“SynCorp wants to know what data was stolen, and by whom. They would also like to investigate the potential involvement of Mr. Narn as well.” Kata scoffed. The company was trying to protect its larger interests to be sure, but the man was badly damaged. At least let him recover before you start pointing fingers.

"Rune. Set up a me..." Pain shot up her side. Damn, the frames are getting better. She breathed deep. Gotta step it up. "...a meeting with Mr. Narn."

“Mr. Narn is being treated at a specialized medical facility on Gytha II-1.”

“Set up a launch for the moon then. And skip the warps too, no need to give me another headache today.” Without warping the trip would take a couple hours to get from the surface to the moon, instead of mere seconds. Kata would need the time to recover from her work out and it would give her time to look over the case file. She breathed deep and took a swig of water.

After finally steadying her breath, she stood up and removed her shirt in one swift motion. Not caring about the shirt, she wiped the sweat from her face before heading towards the bathroom. The pain from the scorching hot water was welcoming. This shower is going to feel so damn good.

~~~

Serakia held the cryo-pack to her stomach, trying to stop the bruising. Rend was looking over Erika’s vitals on the screen as she laid on the table, being prepped for stitches. Kornath was removing his space suit and Dev’ji was manically pacing.

“Omega, scan their ship. How much of your virus were you able to load?”

The yellow light flew through the entire room, stopping on the wall. It displayed a rough incomplete layout of the Antioch. The engine area was shaded brighter than the others.

“Sorry Dev, looks like I was cut off around 6%.” The voice boomed through the Serpent.

Dev’ji slammed his hands on the table in front of him, causing Erika to startle. Rend was not happy his patient was squirming.

“Fayt tu shuna.” He complained.

“Shut up Rend. Just get her taken care of.” Dev’ji ordered. He paced around the small cabin one more time, thinking to himself. Erika was statuesque as Rend completed her stitches. She stood up and pulled her space suit back onto her shoulders.

“Omega, where are they?”

“Unknown. I have been cut off from the rest of the ship’s systems. I cannot track them. Given what I can track though, the ship's internal atmosphere is active.” Dev’ji sharply exhaled.

“Fine, Omega that’s good enough. We are coming to your other half. Everyone get ready to get back out there.”

“Dev’ji, we can’t have two ships on that platform.” Kornath pointed out.

“I know. We are gonna jump it.” Serakia made an audible noise of disgust at the plan. “Shove it. I know what I’m doing.” It wasn’t the original plan, but Dev’ji was making it up as he went. Since he didn’t know where the woman who shot him was, he would do the next best thing. “We are gonna take their kethin’ ship and leave em for dead.”

~~~

“So we are gonna go back in.” Scott started to rummage through his locker, look for extra supplies. His pack was practically overflowing with goods ranging from additional protein pouches, a small water generator, and a portable battery. 01 fumbled with a small blaster, tossing it between its two hands.

“Absolutely not. I won’t allow it.” Alexis protested, her rage growing with each passing moment.

“Hmmmm.” 01 pondered out loud. The two siblings looked at it perplexed. “Oh. Sorry for interrupting your squabbling.” It locked the small pistol to its leg. “Seems to be that I can magnetize individual plates.” 01 clicked its hands together and then reversed their polarity, creating an odd form of clapping without any effort. “Anyway, I would appreciate Scott’s help in finding out what I can about Dr. Takh. Scott was incredibly helpful against the women that attacked us, and I would rather not be left alone.”

“Look I don’t care what you think. You are a machine.” Alexis stepped forward gesturing in anger. “What you think you are isn’t possible. Get that out of your code. We are going to take you back to Tychon V, claim some credits, and move on with our lives.”

Beta buzzed to life as Scott locked his helmet down.

“What did I miss?” Beta yawned to life.

“We are going back into the starbase. 01 thinks it might have some answers about its origin.” Scott explained.

“Oh, sweet. Adventure! Intrigue! Suspense!” Beta did his best booming trailer voice.

“Shut up Beta.” Alexis was the only one annoyed at this point. She stood looking at the pair, her eyes focused on Scott. Please don’t go. Scott wasn’t budging. She was trying to protect him. 01 turned and started walking toward the loading dock. Scott returned the stare.

“I am only trying to help. It is all I ever wanted to do.” Scott said, turning and heading out of the ship. The air settled in silence as Alexis stood locked in place.

“Damn it.” She rushed to her locker and threw anything not bolted down into her bag, leaving her jetpack hanging on the adjacent hook. She checked to make sure she had an extra battery. Alpha danced to life, a small timer reading 14 hours in the corner of her visor. Taking extra precautions, she strapped one blaster her back with a sling. She didn’t want to be caught in the same position again down a weapon. Alexis turned the corner at full speed, reaching the loading dock as Scott and 01 made it to the door to the station.

“Wait for us you two.” Alpha radioed. Scott turned with a smile on his face.

“Thanks.” Scott was genuinely happy his sister had a change of heart.

“Stop.” She put her hand up. “Don’t make me regret this decision.”

“Oh. Sorry dear, we left all the wine and candles on the ship.” Beta joked.

“Shut up Beta.”