Zarine watched as her tiny friend dissolved into a small silver jewel no bigger than her thumb. It wasn’t the first time she had witnessed a Tixie powering down, but it concerned her because she had no way to help.

  Kiva spoke up, “Is your friend going to be ok?”

  “I’m not sure yet, I don’t have anything to give her power and I’m not savvy enough to dismantle my own equipment. That sort of survivalist stuff was always my sister’s forte.” Zarine replied, shaking her head.

  “Alright, follow me then. There’s some junk further in we might be able to use. This pce has been long abandoned by whomever built it, but most things still work.” Kiva said, turning and proceeding down the tunnel. The pce where they had dropped in was dirty and covered in pnts and moss, but further in it looked cleaner with dim lights along the top edges of the corridor. The opening to the surface was covered by what looked like a grey bubble. Zarine had felt a sort of static sensation when they jumped in. Must be a really fancy image projector. She thought to herself before following her saviour down the tunnel.

  Zarine kept quiet as they travelled down into the facility, as she pondered her situation. So much had gone wrong so quickly. She pulled out her data pad and pulled up the ship's logs. Thankfully all of the Evening Wind’s data was copied to a simir pad in each of the escape pods. It had been a design feature that the corpo guys had gone at great length about, seemingly very proud of themselves. It's like they expected us to crash. She shook her head and tried to figure out what happened.

  According to the logs, the ship had struck something as it was coming out of the hyperne. That impact had nearly torn off one of the rear thrusters entirely. No wonder there was no pressure. We’re lucky we didn’t explode then and there. The second impact was strange though, the energy readings were off the charts. We were shot at! She realized, going slightly pale. It hit the other engine and completely destroyed it, leaving nothing behind. Whatever hit them was way more powerful than conventional weaponry back home. The Evening Wind wasn’t top of the line or anything but it was tough enough to limp away from most battles. Hitting something was one thing but this was way beyond even the Empire’s biggest guns.

  “What’cha looking at there?”

  “Huh-a-woah!?” Zarine yelped as she noticed that Kiva had gotten really close. So close they were almost touching as the woman peered intently at the screen in her hands. Zarine blushed briefly at being so close but noticed the Kiva’s gaze had a tinge of sadness.

  “A recent arrival then? I figured as much.” She sighed. “I suppose that st fireball was your ship then, I’m sorry.”

  “Oh um , thanks. I’m pretty sure everybody made it out at least. According to my log, all our pods were out of the ship before it lost connection.” Zarine replied after swiping through the various screens. “We’re all scattered pretty far though. The closest pod is at least eighty clicks Northwest.” Sis is probably the furthest of them too… She thought, feeling a drop in her stomach. She did the math, Reiana was likely on the other side of the pnet.

  “Awe, I'm so sorry! You must be so worried for your friends!"

  She was close, way too close! Her mind skipped a beat as the woman leaned in to look at the screen. For a moment she was keenly aware of the small details. She could see faded scars across the woman's glistening skin. Maybe they were battle scars, or consequences of living in such a dangerous forest. She didn't know, but they gave the woman a hardened feel. And as such, she was entirely unprepared when Kiva brought her into a big hug.

  "*I can't breathe!*" The woman held her tight against her chest.

  "Let me help you!" She said as she released her death grip. "This pce isn't kind to new arrivals. At least until we get to Gran Portuaria. Everybody ends up there eventually. "

  "How far is that?"

  She looked Zarine over and, after a pause, responded. "Probably about a month on foot."

  "I can't help but feel judged somehow. But wow, that's far."

  "We might be able to get some transportation but that would mean dealing with certain groups that are...unscrupulous?" She paused, thinking for a moment. "Maybe unsavoury is a better way to put it."

  "I'm afraid to ask now, but what makes them so bad?"

  "Well one group is generally okay but will try and take advantage of you because you are a fresh arrival. Another will charge well below their rival but might steal everything you own and then sell you into svery. And the st, well, they're the svers."

  "Ah, business as usual then." She told her of the station that she and her sister had lived on for a while as they travelled further through the tunnels. She told of her work with the salvagers and dealings with the cartels. They tried to maintain an amicable retionship while also staying away from any illegal schemes. It helped that Rei had often worked with what counted as the local police, as a contracted pilot.

  Eventually, they arrived at the end of the tunnel and a set of wide double doors. They were heavily worn with use and slightly off their hinges but easy enough to open, despite their weight.

  The room beyond appeared to be some sort of ancient boratory. It was surprisingly clean in here but the air felt very stale. There was very little dust and some rust here and there but it still looked almost functional. She couldn't guess what all the equipment was for, but there were all sorts of things. Gssware for messing with chemicals, dozens of robotic arms ranging from tiny and delicate to big thick industrial ones, and even half a dozen person sized vats of which one still had a pink goo inside.

  "Very mad science here." She muttered to herself.