I woke up because of the sun warmly reflecting off of a dwarf planet, that was orbiting to our left, straight through the windshield, painting the room in a beautiful orange hue.

My chair was thankfully rather comfortable, as most shuttles were built to be navigated through longer journeys.

On my right, Temos was still fast asleep. His chin-long blood-red hair covering most of his face.

He set our course to a port unbeknownst to me, which I was still a tad suspicious about.

It probably was stupid to trust him. For all I know, the whole abduction of his crew could have been a setup and he was actually part of Wisp's crew himself, but right now he was the only lead I had.

My research was the most important thing to me. I needed that bounty. If this was all a setup I'd just have to come up with another plan to work around it.

I checked my watch and noticed that we'd been on the road for more than a day now already. The radar showed that there were no other vehicles close by so it seemed we were safe for the moment. I got up, stretched my body, and after another quick glance where I made sure that Temos was still asleep,  I deactivated my gauntlet. Even though I felt extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable without my second arm working, I had to take a break as the electrical impulses started to strain my muscles and hurt my arm after using it for too long.

I went into the back of the shuttle and opened the emergency ratios. Every shuttle had to have those in case you were stranded somewhere for a longer period of time. Inside were just basics for survival such as a simple navigation system, dehydrated food rations, and three big canisters of water, that should last one person for about a week, as well as a flare to possibly grab someone's attention.

The food wasn't necessarily good but it was all we had for now. Temos mentioned the haven we were headed to was crawling with outlaws and pirates, so we expected to be able to stack up our storage there without getting caught by the authorities. Hopefully.

I ripped open the bag with my teeth and held it in between my feet so I could open one of the canisters to start pouring water on top of it.

The food sucked up the water, and in no time I had a less-than-delicious, but at least filling meal. I grabbed another bag for Temos and sat back down in my seat.

I wasn't yet ready to activate my gauntlet again but Temos was bound to wake up soon, so I pulled the bracelet up and grit my teeth when the sore feeling returned.

We were supposed to arrive at the port soon and all I was hoping for, was that none of the scum there would recognize my face. I was responsible for a lot of people's prison sentences.

Temos started moving next to me, so I threw the bag of food that I grabbed for him, on his lap, making him startle out of his sleep.

He looked around groggily, took the bag, and leaned forward, typing around on the navigation system.

"We're gonna be there in less than two hours.", he mumbled, I grunted in reply.

I wished I had kept the disguise chip so I could have hidden my appearance and walked around without the risk of suddenly being attacked as soon as we landed, but I threw it away as I couldn't seem weak in front of the pirate, that was munching away on his meal to my right. I just had to focus, stay out of the spotlight, avoid direct eye contact with anyone and I would be fine. The two hours went by quickly without us sharing a single word. He seemed oddly content which was probably something I should worry about. I docked the shuttle into a free space and extended the plank so we could disembark. Temos led the way out into the filthy-looking city. There were dark, hooded creatures left and right. My eyes followed one slug-like person with suckers like you would see an earth Kraken down his back. Someone bumped into him and bristled up, getting ready for an argument but the slug guy bloated up and stretched his whole body around the person before he could get a word out. Through the clear body of the slug person, I watched the person dissolve almost instantly, and through the suckers on the back, only a skeleton got spit back out. The slug continued its way as if nothing happened. My face mirrored my shock, I ducked my head into my shoulders and decided to just continue walking but then I realized that I had lost track of Temos, and now I was on my own in this rough place. Frantically, I looked around, spinning in a circle hoping to find his fur-rimmed jacket somewhere in the crowd, which now made me very uncomfortable, since no one had batted a lash at the obvious murder I just witnessed. A hand suddenly grabbed my chin, startling me but the grip refused to let me pull back. Temos was all up in my face, grinning when he saw the twinge of fear behind my eyes, that I quickly covered up with a confident expression.

"Get your filthy fingers off of me", I growled at him and, surprisingly, he let go.

"Better keep up Jace. Wouldn't want no one to see a lost, pretty boy around here. That wouldn't end well for you at all.", he spun away and continued walking ahead of me. Begrudgingly, I followed. He was right. I had no idea how to act around these people without the option of backup or being constantly tracked on missions by the agency in case someone abducted me.

"First, we'll have to stack up on food and water. There are many smaller shops that are relatively safe to get to from close to here. Usually, Wisp tends to stick around this or two other ports that are close by to stack up his ship's rations. Since the docks seemed rather busy today, I doubt he is here right now as people tend to hide away from him", he led the way down grimy allies, the orange neon signs didn't help in lighting them up. Instead, they dunked the place into a creepy hue with enforced dark corners, that ruffians could be waiting for us in. Temos didn't seem concerned in the least. Which, I hated to admit, calmed my nerves a bit. Not too long after, he ducked into a small building with boarded-up windows. 

The inside was, surprisingly, not much darker than the outside, due to the many candles flickering on every shelf. There were exotic fruits and other ingredients that made my mouth water, even though I did not trust a single one of them. Temos stepped straight up to the front desk. I kept him in the corner of my sight as I was browsing the shelves, whilst toying with one of the necklaces around my neck.

"Ah Temos, I haven't seen you around here for a while!", an older female voice drew me out of my inspection of a weird-looking bug inside of a flask. I turned to the front desk and saw an older lady hobbling out of the back, pulling Temos into a suffocating hug.

Her gaze shifted over to me.

"Oh and who is this sweet boy?", she asked, which made Temos choke on his spit.

"Ms. Chessfield, this is Jace Quinn. He is accompanying me today.", he wheezed while looking at me, and then his eyes wandered down on me, narrowing in anger.

"Ah, I thought I knew his face from somewhere.", she said as she turned and went into the back of her small shop again, returning shortly after with a piece of paper in her hand that she waved at me.

I sneaked a peak at Temos' still less than impressed face and reluctantly stepped forward, taking the paper from her. Printed on it was my face along with some text, stating me as a bounty hunter working for the authorities. It was a warning flyer for the outlaws.

"You might want to take these down when you see them spread across town." she chuckled, "How come you two have teamed up together? This seems like an unlikely match."

I wasn't sure how trustworthy she was. She didn't seem to be bothered too much by my occupation but I wasn't just gonna tell her that I was out to capture someone she could know.

"He's trying to take Wisp in.", ...thanks Temos.

Ms. Chessfield started laughing heartily.

"And what does that have to do with you, baby?" she asked Temos.

"Wisp took the others. I gotta get them back.", her face went serious then.

"I did tell you not to meddle with his business. Ryan isn't one to let that sort of stuff go and you know it, Temos."

"I know, I sure won't put our lives at risk this recklessly again after I got them back. We need food and water for our trip, Ms. Chessfield.", she nodded and grabbed an empty crate from the back, pushing it into his hands. Fill this up and I'll make it 15 credits for you.", I looked up, surprised at the insanely low price. Temos sighed in relief.

"We owe you.", he instantly started filling up the crate and I stepped forward to pay the price. She smiled at me, I smiled back, "Hopefully we'll see each other soon again, Mr. Quinn.", I nodded and helped Temos carry the crate back to our ship.

"She seemed to know Wisp, couldn't we have asked her if she knew where he was at?", I grunted as we heaved the crate across the plank into the shuttle.

"She does, but she would never rat him out. She's on good terms with most people frequenting this place. I'm not sure how long it's gonna take until he stops by here again, but he will. It's gonna take some patience but if you want this little stunt to work, this is gonna be our best shot.", he wiped the sweat from his brow as we set the crate down, then stepped up to me. With a tug, he tore one of my necklaces off my neck.

"Stop taking my shit.", he grunted as he let the clasp snap back together behind his own neck.