Damian’s body blocked most of Nick’s vision. From his spot on the ground, he could hear footsteps and the whirring of doors as people up and down the hall decided that now was a good time to leave. He heard more shouting from the end of the hallway, and a strange sound as another bolt of light shot overhead. It buzzed in midair, setting Nick’s teeth on edge, and smelled of ozone. There was a crash as the bolt dissolved against a bulkhead, and then Triskar’s hand was around Nick’s bicep. Triskar easily pulled him to his feet, and shoved him into an open doorway.

“What’s going on?” Nick asked.

Damian, held in Triskar’s other hand, pulled a gun out of his coat and twisted around the corner, sending a plasma bolt of his own down the hallway. The indistinct shouting got louder. 

“You recognize them?” Damian asked.

“No,” Triskar said. “Bad shots.”

“You’re telling me.” Damian shot twice. This time Nick heard a scream of pain. “You think they’re here for Riesca?”

“We’re far from her territory,” Triskar said. “But that bounty’s pretty big.”

“What’s going on,” Nick repeated, louder. 

“We think they’re bounty hunters after your uncle,” Triskar said bluntly.

“Got another one,” Damian said. “Trisk, remind me what the terms of the bounty were again?”

“Alive, or in a large enough piece to be recognizable.”

Damian cursed. “I prefer bounties from governments. Preferably nice, civilized systems with things like ‘due process.’”

A bolt hit the doorframe they were crouched behind, sending a shower of sparks flying. The afterimage seared itself onto Nick’s retinas.

“They’re getting better,” Damian said under his breath.

"They're getting closer," Triskar muttered.

“What do we do?” Nick asked.

“We don’t sit here waiting to get shot,” Damian said. “What’s back there?”

They had taken cover in the intersection between two hallways. This section was very long and poorly lit. The only door was on the other end.

“If I stop shooting, they’ll come after us,” Damian said.

“Can’t get to cover fast enough,” Triskar said.

“Why are they shooting in a space station?” Nick asked. “What if they break the hull.”

“Qeltan-One gets shot up several times a month,” Damian said. “Every segment can isolate itself if it loses air pressure. It’s why everyone cleared out as soon as the shooting starts. Didn’t want to get caught behind an emergency bulkhead…”

Damian’s eyes went wide the same time as Nick’s did. He turned to Triskar.

“You got anything on you?”

“This was supposed to be a short meeting with an old friend,” Triskar said. “I didn’t bring a weapon.”

Damian thought for a moment, then handed Triskar his gun. “Bend the barrel.”

“You want me to break our only weapon?”

“Just do it.”

Triskar did as he was told and took Damian’s pistol into his hands. With a slight frown of concentration, Triskar bent the barrel down, metal slowly yielding until the gun formed a circle, barrel to handle. Damian rummaged in his pockets and drew out a box of gum, which he shoved into the gun’s fingerguard, forcing the barrel back. The tip of the barrel started to glow red immediately. Damian threw the gun through the door, against the far wall, then started sprinting away.

Nick followed, so he only heard the boom of the explosion. He felt a wave of heat on his back, immediately followed by a chill, and a rush in his ears as an insistent wind pulled him backwards. The wind was cut off a second later by the crash of a heavy metal door sealing the hallway.

Damian laughed. “It worked. Let’s go.”

The trio raced through the space station. Word of the fight must have preceded them, because the halls they sprinted down were deserted, filled only with the echoes of their footsteps. In no time, they reached the door to the hangar, where Triskar shoved Nick and Damian against the wall.

“How many?” Damian understood immediately.

“Three, no, four,” Triskar said.

Nick peered around the doorframe. Four figures, wrapped up in mismatched armor, stood by the ladder to their ship, brandishing guns.

“The ship’s sealed,” Damian noted. “Someone must have activated the defenses.”

“Which means they know someting’s up.” Triskar nodded. “You have your com?”

Damian reached into his coat and pulled out a small metal circle, about the size of his palm. He pressed a button on the side.

“Stargazer, come in Stargazer,” he spoke into the com.

RX-9’s calm voice came out amid a field of static. “Captain, are you there?”

“All three of us, RX,” Damian said. “We’re just outside the hangar.”

“On the other side of the armed mob?” RX asked. “Why would you do that?”

Damian chuckled. “It’s not my best move. Can you come help us.”

“I still haven’t fixed the blaster burns from the last time I helped you out of a pinch,” RX said. “I’m not stepping foot outside this ship. Someone else might, though.”

“Oh?”

“Evech wants to meet the new crew member.”

“I didn’t want to wake her,” Damian said, grinning broadly. “I bet she could make a real good impression if she comes out right about now.”

“She’s already at the door.”

Damian shuffled closer to the entryway and waved at Nick. “You’re gonna want to see this, kid.”

Nick crouched behind Damian, staring through the doorway to the door of the Stargazer, sealed against all comers. With a whir, the blast doors opened and the bounty hunters spun around to see the darkened entryway…

Except the entryway wasn’t dark; it was full. A hulking blue mass threw itself through the door, crashing through the scaffolding, snapping the struts like twigs. Two of the bounty hunters were crushed by the detritus, and that which landed on top of it.

The creature arched its back and roared, giving Nick his first good look.

It was a ten foot long bug. Six legs, thick as tree trunks, supported a segmented body, each segment as big and shiny as a newly-washed sedan, with two large wings beating angrily from its back. One bounty hunter ran at the sight of it while their compatriot lifted his gun and sent an erratic shot into the creature’s thorax. The plasma bolt dissolved on contact, and the creature screamed again. Its forelimb reached out and grabbed the shooter in a rough, three fingered hand. The bug threw the bounty hunter at his fleeing friend. The pair stayed, moaning, on the ground. The whole thing lasted thirty seconds.

Damian stood up and stepped into the hangar, arms spread wide. “Evech, darling. May I say, you are looking radiant.”

“Fleith told me you recruited your crechemate into the crew,” the creature said in a buzzing voice, higher-pitched than Nick would have expected.

“Crechemate’s son,” Damian corrected. “I think.”

“You did not show him to me?”

“You were asleep,” Damian said. “I didn’t want to wake you. I can make introductions now, if you’d like.”

“I would.”

Damian snapped his fingers. “Nick.”

Nick, still crouching behind the doorway, stood up and took a cautious step forward, eyeing the giant bug. 

“Come over here.” Damian waved insistently. “Evech doesn’t bite.”

From the size of the creature’s mandibles, Nick doubted that very much, but he did as he was told and walked over to Damian’s side.

“Evech, this is my nephew, Nick,” Damian said. “Nick, this is Evech, Fleith’s mate-pair.”

Nick stared at her. “You’re Flieth’s…”

“Your equivalent would be wife,” the ten foot tall bug offered. Nick was going to say species, but it seemed impolite to bring it up.

Damian laughed at the expression on Nick’s face. “Yeah, Wreithlings are pretty…RX would call it dimorphic. Evech is the last member of the crew for you to meet.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Nick said in a shaky voice. Several yards away, the bounty hunter Evech threw started moaning more loudly. 

“We should go,” Damian said. “You two can talk more in the ship. Evech, could you give us a hand.”

Damian gestured to the now-unbridged thirty foot gap between the floor and the door to their ship. When Evech stood on her hind-legs and stretched her forelimbs up, the hatch was just beyond her reach. She lifted first Damian, then Triskar up to the hatch and helped them climb in. Nick went last. He hesitated as he approached her.

Evech’s antennae twitched like Flieth’s. “I’m not going to hurt you, little one,” she promised. She grabbed Nick gently, fingers steady as the ground dropped out underneath him. Nick held tightly to her fingers. Her chitin was dry and smooth like Fleith’s, like photo paper.

Evech helped Nick into the ship, then hoisted herself up. The sight of a giant bug climbing into the ship was uniquely awe-inspiring. It looked like it should make the ground shake, but the ship had its own gravity, so Nick didn’t feel so much as a tremor. 

Damian lifted his com. “RX, we’re aboard. Take us out.”

Nick felt the tremble through his feet as the ship’s engines started, carrying them away from Qeltan-One. 

RX’s voice through the com said, “We’re away, Captain. No signs of pursuit.”

Damian nodded. “Good. Jump to hyperspace in fifteen minutes,” he announced. “I’ve got to make a stop, and then we need to have a ship meeting.”