The party has to be long over by now. I’m sure I missed all the wild toasts and dancing girls. Oh well. I could still use a real drink, top shelf and taps are probably all gone. Whatever, I’d settle for rubbing alcohol and blue flavored sports drink at this point. Think someone will try and kill me tonight? Eh, probably not. Haven’t seen a note. It’s been pretty reliable so far. I’ll just make this a quick in and out to be safe. Can’t cause any harm.

  Man, this must have been a great party. The same hall used for the Gala was rented out, along with countless others. Every bar and restaurant in the whole of the Economic center was probably being used to some extent. Stands selling street foods and cold drinks litter the streets. Live performance, both planned and impromptu, at every street corner. The whole city was dedicated to a single celebration, and I was stuck playing the worst board game ever invented. Well, second worst.

  Even for a party this big it’s best to keep higher ranks separate from the rabble. Not to say this was anything like that stuffy Gala. Based on all the people still left passed out on the floor. Even the top percent can be belligerent drunkards if allowed. I want nothing more than to join them. I’ll just see if they have any more of that mushroom drink. Wonder if I’ll meet that one ten limbed number again. This late in, not likely. Still, a guy can dream.

  “Take one more step and I’ll rip your asshole out through your esophagus!"

  A guy can also have nightmares. Like my Head of Security getting into a bar fight. What is that psycho thinking? He’s surrounded by five guys. I don’t know what he did to piss them off and I don’t care. I’ll just drink at home and pretend I didn’t see-

  “Get away from her!”

  That was Sugar’s voice. I didn’t see her hiding behind that red scaled moron. And behind her is Fairy. She’s down on the floor, clutching her face. And now it’s personal.

  As tempting as murder is, I’m still trying to get the whole of the Protectorate on my side. So killing a bunch of randos isn’t going to help any. Knives don’t come with a stun setting and I don’t have my sidearm with me. Luckily, I took a class on non-violent de-escalation.

  “Hey Shit Ass!”

  The chair shatters as I bash the closest punk in the face. I didn’t say I passed that class.

  “Sugar, get her out of here!”

  Another bastard tries to get at me. Raze makes sure he doesn’t get too close. Yanking him to the side for a haymaker to the teeth. The biggest of these scumbags grapples Raze. Trying to choke him into submission. Putting anything of yours next to eighty razor sharp teeth seems like a terrible idea to me. Seeing Raze bite down on the assaulting forearm only confirms my suspicion.

  There are two left. Each blocking one of Sugar and Fairy’s paths to escape. One a scrawny little guy almost half my size. The other is around a head taller than me and looks like he actually works out. Normally I’d take the smaller one, but I’m not the smallest guy in the fight for a change.

  All these empty bottles make a good equalizer. I learned to juggle in high school. Also where I learned how to throw a knife. I tried being an entertainer, didn't work out. Comes real in handy at times like this, though. Having half a dozen glass bottles thrown at your face is a hard distraction to ignore. Just need to hope Sugar can get past the scrawny one.

  “YEEEEEEAUUUH!”

  Somehow I had forgotten Sugar was a carnivore with teeth that can easily rip off an ear. I also forgot she was a rabbit with extremely strong legs and large feet. Perfect for kicking someone preoccupied with a bleeding ear directly in their unprotected junk. Think he was actually off the ground for a sec there. He goes down and Sugar picks up Fairy to flee. They are out the door in a white and green flash. Good thing, too. I'm out of bottles.

  “Raze, we need an exit!”

  “I got your exit squishy. Keep those pearlies closed for this one!”

  I shut and cover my eyes. The deafening blast of a flash bang is followed by a chorus of screaming and groans. I open my eyes just in time to see Raze rushing past me.

  “Hurry up warm blood! I'm not waiting around for you!”

  All I needed to hear. Time to book it. Through the corridors covered in trash and drunks. Out to the street covered in trash and drunks. I catch a glimpse of a small Union transport flying away. Must be Sugar and Fairy. Good to see them get away. Raze is on the street corner trying to call a taxi. Guess he came on the same ship.

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  “This way lizard-breath! My ride is this way!”

  A couple taps on my com watch and my courier flies itself round the corner. We pile in and it shoots off. A perfect get away. Remember Tom, breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Plant both feet firmly to help ground yourself. The adrenaline will pass. Man, it's been a long while since I did something like that. After the academy it was pretty hard to sneak off to be a delinquent. Only thing that sucked was still not being drunk.

  “So… you want to tell me what that was all about?”

  “Those… pricks… were…”

  Raze is breathing pretty hard as well. Rackter are crazy fast in short bursts but they run ragged real fast. I was told that if you can outrun a Rackter for the first hundred meters you're home free. Not sure how true that is, not going to be the one to test it.

  “Take a sec. We have all night.”

  Is that an inhaler? Raze uses an inhaler?

  “Yeah, yeah. Get a good look. Short lungs. Better than your tiny dick diseases.”

  “Oh, how original. Just tell me what happened.”

  “Fairy had a fainting spell. Stayed out too long without her meds. Some of the local scum thought it was pretty funny. I didn't.”

  “Fainting spell?”

  “Yeah. From her wasting disease."

  “Her what?!!”

  Datapad, where is that datapad? Looking up Crossing wasting disease. Here we are. A muscular condition which causes degradation, heart murmurs and chronic fainting. How am I only just hearing about this?

  “Did you really not know? Fuck, I knew you were a shit boss, but even I gave you more credit than this.”

  “There is no way she has something this serious. I read her files.”

  “And who handles the files for you exactly?”

  “... Oh my Space God, I'm a shit boss and a worse friend.”

  “That we can agree on.”

  “Why? Why would she hide that from me?”

  “Because she looks up to you, stupid.”

  “Fairy is a meter tall, she looks up at everyone.”

  “Not like that. You make this so much more annoying than it has to be. Fairy respects you. Probably the only one on your whole damn ship that does. She didn't want to fail you.”

  “So instead I failed her. Fuck me.”

  “Not my type.”

  “Bite me.”

  “That I might do.”

  Look out my windows at the long way down to the ground, considering jumping. Thought there was one person here I wasn't a disappointment to. I already knew I wasn't on that list.

  “How long does she have?”

  And Raze is laughing at me. Great.

  “She's not going to die, Captain Dumbass. We'll, now she's not. Union medicine, ain't it a gracious bitch? Fairy will be doing treatments for her whole life. And she will get a whole life. Had Crossing joined the Union even six months later than that she'd be dead by now. In a way, I saved her life.”

  “You?”

  “Yeah, me. I was on the Titan Eater for that mission. Might have even walked through her village that day. Don't really know now and don't have the care to check. You can thank me later.”

  This guy saved her life. Now I really do want to jump.

  “Oh get over yourself. Not like either of us are actual doctors. All we did was get her to the right people.”

  “My mom.”

  “Huh?”

  Can't believe I'm about to say this to this guy. I just need to let it out.

  “I lived on Space Earth when Humanity joined the Union. Dad had been dead for a long time and mom, she wasn't doing so well. I never learned what she had. We couldn't afford a doctor. The Union sent their medical frigates. Later I learned that's almost always the first thing to be sent. Second only to food. There were so many people who needed to be seen, it took three weeks until our number came up. By then, she was gone. I've never told anyone that.”

  Telling painful secrets is the definition of bittersweet. On one hand, the weight is lifted, on the other, it's like watching her wasting away in front of me all over again. Being forced to relive it all in my mind. Can't even blame anyone since I'm the one doing it.

  “I had a brother.”

  “Had?”

  “Yeah, had. I actually have five brothers. I'm the healthiest of the bunch by a lot. Almost every Rackter has a birth defect of some kind. Carron, he was the sickliest. Joining the Union fleet, that was his dream, not mine. Yet, here I am. We are all pathetic in our own ways, aren't we?”

  “... yeah. Yeah we are.”

  We are all here for our own reasons. And no matter where you come from, that reason is the same. That's one thing we all have in common.

  “Hey Tom, sorry to ruin the therapy session, but has that note always been there?”

  Huh, how long has that been there? Somehow we totally missed that staring us right in the face. Guess I should take a look at that.”

  “What does it say?”

  “There will be another attempt on your life at 3 AM Protectorate time. A bomb has been planted in your private Courier. Your Best Friend: R.”

  “What time is it?”

  “2:79 AM.”

  A Protectorate hour is eighty minutes.

  “... we should jump.”

  “Yeah, let's go.”