There wasn’t a working clock inside the medical bay, so I had no idea how much time had passed. I found a random ball in one of the cabinets, and after bouncing it against the window a few times, Bryx and Willa joined in, so we spent the time just tossing it around.

Durgo and Roote worked on his broken tablet, maybe trying to fix it, otherwise I wasn’t sure what all they could do with it now.

Zyno was still unconscious, monitor showing his vitals were steady, no physical damage I could see, so I was hopeful he would survive.

Everyone had taken turns looking in the body bag to see Hennor’s remains, but no one said a word about it, always just closing the bag up again in silence. I wasn’t sure if it was for the sake of private grieving, or maybe it was trying to repress the memory of our time in void space, but no one could even bring themselves to say words for the man as an impromptu funeral. Maybe it was all just denial.

I still had the migraine, but the razor point in my brain was slowly working down to a dull throb. Any time I thought of my time in the void the pain got worse, so I wasn’t sure if it was like psychic damage or some magic shit, but I did all I could to keep myself distracted, tossing the ball with the soldiers while talking about any nonsense thing that came into my head.

Bryx and Willa joined in with the small talk too, so I assumed they were doing the same thing I was.

Of course I was concerned over our current predicament, but more than anything I missed my Evie. It had been far too long since I’d actually felt her touch without the stupid inhibitor field, and now that she wasn’t with me it was like I couldn’t even remember what it had been like. I remember she was soft and silky, intoxicating, but the details eluded me. I remember her scent and taste were addictive, but what was the actual flavor? I remembered how she invaded my mind with her presence, almost consuming me, but I couldn’t recall how exactly that felt to have another consciousness overwhelm me.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the break might’ve actually been healthy for us, following along with what Almana had said about how volatile our relationship was—said it wasn’t a real relationship. And yet even trying to think like that, it just didn’t make any sense.

Eve had become a part of my soul, so now it felt like it was missing—like my heart had been ripped out of my chest.

I worried over her, sure, but I knew she was strong enough to survive. Still, her absence was almost as bad as being inside the void.

Suddenly, Zyno started screaming, then turned to his side and puked all over the ground, then started sobbing wildly.

I dropped the ball then rushed over to his side, patting him on the back, “There he is, hey buddy.”

Zyno looked like he’d seen a ghost and started trying to scramble away, falling over the other side of the cot.

The others joined me then as I put my hands up peacefully, “Hey, hey it’s okay bud, you’re safe, you’re back.”

Zyno was hiding behind the cot, hyperventilating as his desperate sobs slowly came to a stop, “A-A-Adam?”

I breathed a long sigh of relief, “That’s right, it’s me.”

He looked around the room, eyes wide with freight, “Where the fuck are we?”

“Jessipie-90.” Bryx answered.

Zyno looked at the group before him, then slowly stood up and adjusted his jumpsuit, trying to show himself calm, “Did everyone make it?”

Almost all at once, everyone looked over to the far bed with the body bag.

“Hennor didn’t.” Roote confirmed.

Zyno rubbed his eyes roughly and tried to clear away his tears, “Shit.” He looked up at the group, “Was it bad?”

I nodded, “Yes.” Then I stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t look.”

Despite my warning, same as everyone else, Zyno had to go see for himself. He moved around us all and headed for the body bag, and once he revealed Hennor’s remains he puked on the ground again.

Willa moved behind him quickly to zip the bag back up, “Adam tried to warn you.” She scolded gently.

Zyno waved her off, “I know, I know, I just…” His words trailed away, then he looked around the room once more, “So what’s going on?”

The team broke down everything that’d happened so far, though it obviously wasn’t much. By the time our brief summary was finished, Zyno seemed like he’d calmed down significantly.

“And now we’re just waiting around for them to figure out what to do with us?” Zyno asked.

I shrugged, “Pretty much.”

Durgo walked over towards the door and knocked on the glass, “Don’t mean to rush everyone, but the last of our team has awoken, so we’d like to revisit the subject of what the hell you plan to do with us.” He said grumpily.

For a clandestine agent, Durgo sure wasn’t very personable. Of course that might’ve been his whole thing; who would ever suspect a spy who acts like a gruff asshole?

The frost on the doorway windows cleared away again, revealing Captain Gadow standing before a few more members of his crew.

“We’re going to have our doctor come inside to run a few tests, please step away from the doors.” Gadow insisted.

Everyone complied and returned to stand before their cots, then a few moments later a woman walked in escorted by two large aliens with guns.

The woman was a grendall just like Zyno, although much more attractive—surprisingly beautiful considering how goofy Zyno looked. Her skin was an even paler green with a subtle teal tint, she had those same classic large black alien eyes, although hers were framed in long dark green eyelashes. She had long, thick green tentacles for hair, a flat nose like most grendalls, but her dark green lips were quite full. She was slender, with petite curves, although she had quite the ass on her. Her uniform was almost the same as everyone else’s, but her vest was white, less bulky, and had a red armband that signified she was a medical officer.

The alien men accompanying the doctor were the same shark race aliens as Wit (a sorrendelm), all tall and muscular, but these guys weren’t wearing funny glasses to disarm their intimidating looks. I noticed the one on the left with dark blue/grey skin had a pistol, while the brown and grey one on the left had a plasma torch—basically a flamethrower that shot out streams of blue plasma. Didn’t think they had much for heavy weaponry on board if that’s all they carried.

The two guards stayed by the door while the doctor moved forward.

“My name’s Doctor Reim, I’m just going to take a few scans to make sure you haven’t brought any foreign contaminants on board with you.” She told us.

Doctor Reim came to me first in the line, producing some white medical gun that had a screen and scanner. She pressed it against me, and I felt a brief flash of warmth, and then I saw the digital display read her the results.

“No dangerous contagions, all clear on my end.” She smiled at me.

I quirked up an eyebrow, “You do realize if I did have some dangerous disease, you just exposed yourself to it here, right?”

Reim’s eyes grew wide, shocked as though she hadn’t thought of the possibility. She looked back at her captain with clear panic on her face, but he just rolled his eyes and waved for her to continue down the line.

“No reason to stop now.” He reasoned.

Reim’s pleasant demeanor dropped as she seemed quite nervous now, as though afraid she would get infected if she got too close to any of us. Honestly, she seemed like she hardly knew what she was doing, scanning everyone in the line and reading the results, but didn’t seem to know what all she was even scanning for.

Once she finished with everyone, she turned back to her captain, looking more relieved now that she knew she wasn’t contaminated, “Everyone’s all clear.”

“Alright, come back out so we can—” Gadow started.

But Durgo stepped forward to interrupt, “Listen, like Adam said, if we were contaminated, you’d already have exposed yourselves. Clearly, none of you have any idea what you’re doing, so either let us help you through this mess so we can all try to get rescued or just push us through an airlock now.”

Reim was quick to leave the room, but the guards remained, while Gadow stayed in front of the doorway, a contemplative look on his face.

“You really have no idea what we’re dealing with, yet you want to jump right in the middle of it?” He pressed.

I chuckled and shook my head, “Dude, either that or we all just fucking die, what the hell kind of choice does that leave for us?”

Bryx nodded along, “Our codes cleared, you know we were coming to help anyway, and since we’ve passed your contagion scans, there’s no reason to drag this decision out any longer.”

Gadow looked around at our team, obviously desperate for hope, but considering all they were dealing with I could imagine morale was in the toilet now. And since the crew that came to rescue them barely even survived the journey and had to be saved from a damaged lifepod, I figured he didn’t see any way his crew could get out of their current situation.

Of course, what other choice did he have?

Gadow let out a long, weary sigh, “Alright, come with me to meet the rest of the crew, and then I’ll tell you what’s really been going on.”

***

Jessipie-90 was probably as big as The Radiance—which was of course massive like an entire city, except the deep space freighter was mostly comprised of storage units, particulate compressors, and filtration systems, so the part of the ship people regularly walked through was much, much smaller.

The hallways weren’t as fancy as The Radiance, but they weren’t cramped either—a mix of form and function. The walls were simple grey plating with black grated floors, with the standard long strips of blue lighting high on the walls. But one thing that was quite different was the ceiling; probably to prevent that sense of claustrophobia, it appeared to be made of some lights or screens that imitated a cloudy day that parted and illuminated more of our path as we walked by.

Must’ve been something to help people from getting all stir crazy on these long freighter campaigns.

We passed by some huge computer array room by the medical bay, a few different lounge areas and even a simulation room, some private bunkrooms, and a huge kitchen and dining room. The rooms seemed like they were all crammed in close together, and yet the rooms themselves appeared quite large—maximizing their use of living space without sacrificing comfort or room for all the khrona crystals.

Finally, Gadow led us to a command center, with a huge round table that had a hologram map display in the middle, with a wide array of computer consoles off to the side. Around the huge table in fancy foldable hover chairs were the rest of Jessipie-90’s crew.

Including our escort, there were 16 people left alive, and all of them looked rather worn and weary.

Gadow gestured behind us, “Please, grab a chair and have a seat.” He offered.

I looked over to see Zyno pull off what looked like a large laptop from the wall, but when he opened it cushions flared out for the seat and back, and when he dropped it on the ground it quickly righted itself to hover at the perfect height to match the table.

I grabbed my own chair and sat beside Zyno, finding the foldable hover chair surprisingly comfortable and sturdy.

Gadow sat down at the head of the table, letting out a loud sigh as he did.

“First order of business, let’s get introductions out of the way.” He waved to us, “Why don’t our guests start.”

Our team went around the circle giving our names and moving through the line quickly, with Durgo taking time to explain who we were, what guild we belonged to, what happened to our ship, and how we ended up in such a mess. He was obviously careful not to mention Eve, saying the warp gate was collapsing which gave us just enough time to slip through in our lifepod.

I understood why he left her out, but I couldn’t help but feel a quick flash of anger he diminished my Evie’s sacrifice—the disrespect. I guess I was starting to understand why that kind of thing was irritating to Eve.

Next, we passed the ball over to Gadow to introduce the crew of Jessipie-90.

We already knew Captain Gadow, Lieutenant Fierra, and Doctor Reim, then we learned Brunt was the blue/grey sorrendelm, while Toku was the brown one.

Most of the crew were wearing their standard black jumpsuit with the bulky grey vest, however some of their uniforms seemed worn or tattered, and a few had the upper part zipped open with the arms tied around their waist with a tank top underneath, while others still were only wearing a tank top and some casual, bulky workpants.

There were two more reptilian alien glizreks, a male and female; the man, Yevok, was dark blue with a few sparse spines on his head, while the woman, Vola, was red with short, spiky, dark purple hair with black streaks.

There were two more grendalls, another male and female duo. The man was named Zemman, and honestly he just looked like a more muscular, less dorky version of Zyno with some huge, long dark tentacles on his head. Then the woman, Cikirna, oddly enough, was nowhere near as attractive as Doctor Reim and honestly just looked like a female version of Zyno, with surprisingly short tentacles, rather skinny and androgynous looking.

There was a new race of people I’d only ever seen in passing, and there were quite a few of them on board. The kebophyns, people who seemed like some kind of goat/minotaur mix. They had thick furry legs with hooves for feet, with furry arms and only three fingers with large stubby nails that seemed to replace the last joint of their fingers. The males had large horns that stuck straight out, while the females had smaller nubs. They had large, fluffy, furry rings around their necks, and their hair turned into manes that seemed to combine with their hairy or furry backs. Their faces were mostly humanoid, but they had elongated snouts with larger noses either like a goat or cow, and they all had big eyes with those horizontal pupils.

There were five kebophyns, three females and two males. The males were quite muscular and over a foot taller than me, definitely looking more like minotaurs. Hekon seemed like the oldest, with grey flecks in his dark brown fur, with the exposed skin around the fur a deep tan color. Unno seemed young, with blonde fur and light skin, one of his horns was chipped, as though he was prone to fighting. For the females, there was Dotte, Saba and Lummy, and they all looked more like cow/goat mixes or even the mythical fawns, around my height, and they were all surprisingly busty—must’ve been the cow DNA or something. Dotte had black and white fur, but didn’t seem like it was from age, more like how Earth cows could be like that. Saba was a strawberry blonde, pale with freckles on her skin. And then Lummy had all black fur, with porcelain pale skin, and even while wearing the jumpsuit uniform and the bulky vest I could tell she had absolutely massive tits—the goth mommy of the group for sure.

Then the last two of the crew were, ironically enough, imphonites, a man and a woman. I’d never seen an imphonite guy before, and the difference between him and the cute short stack females was quite striking; Num was still short, but also surprisingly stout, maybe even beefy, seemed like a classic dwarf for proportions, although he didn’t have the epic beard, just some red stubble. His skin was a darker pink while his hair was red, and he looked surprisingly mean despite his size—or maybe it was due to his size he needed to be mean. The woman, Wynana, looked around Kianna’s age, with darker purple skin and long, lighter pink hair—almost the inverse of Kianna. She wasn’t quite as cute as Kianna, but she was still a sexy short stack—weirdly made me miss Eve even more.

One of the most surprising things about the crew was how they were only comprised of a few races, unlike how everywhere else in the Empire seemed to be a massive melding pot. I wondered if that was done on purpose, like the bosses only put people on these super long tours if they had someone they could relate to, help survive two decades in space if they had someone from the same planet or at least race. Or maybe those people already knew each other and they signed up together; I probably wouldn’t want to spend 20 years working with only strangers. Honestly, the whole idea seemed pretty crazy being out in space that long, I had no idea how they would prevent the crew from going mad. Of course, I was thinking things from a human’s perspective with their limited lifespan; this was an Empire where people would literally take vacations for years and even decades.

Once we were all properly introduced, people started asking each other some rather innocuous questions; the Jessipie-90 crew asked us what it was like being mercenaries and if we mostly worked in deep space and ever experienced an emergency like this, getting stranded along with the ship we were supposed to be rescuing. Durgo and Roote used their classic agent training to spin a little story for their audience, nothing too grand or memorable, nothing that would stick out, but also nothing exciting at all, just enough to satisfy their curiosity.

From there our team asked their crew the questions, wondering what it was like being out in space for so long. Apparently they were given pretty much every available comfort, all with their own private rooms, full service food synthesizers, great shower and bath accommodations, a huge line of helper-bots always available, also with endless kinds of entertainment including one of the most detailed simulators available. I thought The Radiance was quite luxurious, but aside from the shopping district that was like a mall inside the ship, Jessipie-90 nearly had it beat.

I discovered for quite a few of them this was their first long deep space tour, while others said they would only work these longer tours; apparently, it paid out like crazy—like get rich in a single tour crazy. Some people could even retire after one tour if they lived modestly, others would work a full century of tours and then live like kings for the rest of their life.

Despite what I thought, apparently going all stir crazy was quite rare; the company did all they could to make their crew comfortable, otherwise they’d never get anyone to take the contracts.

Once the introductions were done and everyone was well acquainted with each other and how they worked, the conversations died down as Captain Gadow stood up at the front of the table, looking around at the combined crews.

“Alright, now that we’re all nice and friendly, I think it’s time we tell our new guests what exactly we’ve been dealing with.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep