Upon Celestial Tiger: Chapter One

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A small, fast space yacht. The last owner named it Celestial Tiger.

Three small bedrooms (with bunks), one bathroom. Very small storage hold. combined dining/living area. Everyone's going to hate each other by the end of this road trip.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f11/19/46/08/46/small_10.jpg

TIMESKIP - A COUPLE DAYS

The crew of the Celestial Tiger managed to track the little red ship for several days, although they didn't catch up with it because it made very good time. Eventually they'd track it to near a small space station in unclaimed space, where the trail would get lost among the trails of other ships.

Luka tried in vain to get the trail again, but inevitably they'd have to ask around. Damnit.

As for room sharing, she'd spent as much time as possible in the cockpit and only slept when strictly neccisary, which meant avoiding awkward sharing a room with rigel. Ahem.
She wasn't sure why it was more awkward than any other guy, it just WAS okay?

She brought them into orbit of the station. "I can't find their trail." She admitted.

Swarm pooled together. "We should ask someone."

Rigel nodded at that then looked to Tala "It is the only sensible choice." He agreed with Swarm. Yeah, he had noticed Luka's aversion to sleeping in the room and intended to talk to her at some point about it. They didn't need their pilot fainting or anything from lack of sleep.

"We could ask around the station." "have you seen a red ship?" Swarm bobbed up and down.

Tala nodded. "We shall dock at the station and ask for news. Bring us in to dock, Luka!" She didn't seem bothered by this detour, a few setbacks were to be expected on a hunt like this. Besides, it gave her an excuse to give people orders, which she enjoyed very much. Being a captain was a good fit for Tala.

Ethan had spent the last few days doing his best to avoid everyone, which didn't really work on such a little ship. He looked pretty relieved at the idea of getting out of here for a while, constantly having people around him was making him twitchy and bad tempered. "Thank God," he muttered.

Luka called a cheerful "Aye captain!" and brought them in to dock.
Oh she'd missed flying, she'd REALLY missed flying.

Once they docked, they'd open the airlock and could head into the space station, which was small and dirty, but not horrible.

A couple of security guards wandered by, carrying guns and looking at them suspiciously.

Tala sniffed the air. "I smell no keepers or Starr yet. Go forth and search for answers!" She told her crew, "And return within the hour!"

Ethan headed for the airlock, a bit desperate to leave this ship for a while.

Luka eyed security and nodded to Tala.

Swarm spread out.

Rigel would stay with the ship, guarding it. He didn't like the way those security types looked at them.

Shane nodded and wandered off to ask about the red ship.

Sawna wandered off to search the docked ships for the one they searched for.

Tala went with Sawna to sniff around for any trace of Starr's scent. If she could catch the dragon's smell, that could potentially help a lot.

Ethan went off on his own to ask around for any news about a red ship. He needed to get away from the others soo badly.

The space station's dock area was fairly large, with spaces for maybe twenty ships to be docked at once. The commercial and residential areas were all kind of cramped, with relatively low ceilings and unusually narrow hallways. There were a lot of people of various species bustling about though, hopefully someone would know something.

(Also feel free to take over here, Starr. You know more than I do.)

Eventually they would find the red ship, though traced of Starr's scent would be old. Apparently it had been traded/sold for another ship. Though the dynamics of those on the red ship didn't match, it seemed when they came here they came as a man, his wife and a teen daughter or something.

Swarm listened into all info they could, catching snippets of gossip.

Luka meanwhile tried to ask after who the red ship had been sold to and what ship they had traded for.

Tala sniffed at the ship, looking concerned. "I am uncertain if they traded off their ship before they reached this station, or if they simply arrived here long before we did, or if they just masked their scents well. Their scent is old," she said.

Ethan was honestly kind of distracted at this point, oh dear. He tried to ask around though, he wanted to earn his keep.

"How old?" Swarm asked. "they had a day ahead of us, how much further could they have gotten?"

"They would have to know a queen would be followed" Sawna said, looking around then to the new 'owner' of the red ship as he came over to them


"What do you want with my ship?" He asked with a sneer

Tala looked at the owner curiously. "Greetings! When and where did you buy your ship?" She asked him. She sniffed the air, trying to figure out the scent's age.

He frowned and watched Tala sniffing around then shook his head "Yesterday, here at the docks, why?"

"We wish to know of the ship's previous owners," Tala said. "Do you know which ship they took? What did they say to you?"

~~
A security guard came over to Ethan. "Excuse me," she said brusquely, "You're reading as non-organic on my scanners. I need to see your identification information."

Ethan frowned. Oh, that wasn't good. He didn't have an ID. "I'm an android," he said, opting for honestly. "I don't have an ID."

"You also aren't wearing a badge," the security guard pointed out.

Ethan bit his lip and tried to think up a good lie. "My badge broke," he said, "I need a new one. Do you have any I can use?"

"No we don't," she said. "Where's your owner? You're going to need to stay with your owner for the rest of your stay here, for your own safety."

Ethan bristled. He didn't HAVE an owner, thank you very much. He was free now, and the assumption that he had an owner was completely insulting. Also he could beat the crap out of anyone who wanted to mess with him, he'd killed several magical shapeshifters, and the pathetic scum here wouldn't stand a chance!
He caught himself before he said anything though, remembering that Asher's plan to free the androids kind of hinged on the androids' harmlessness and helplessness. He couldn't beat anyone up here, and he couldn't say he was free, or he'd be making a huge mess for Asher to clean up down the road.
Shit.
He did his best to push down his rage, and nodded. "My owner's on his ship," he lied, since it was easier than explaining that the guy in his owner file was off at the Guild of Scribes and he was alone here.

"Good, I'll escort you there. For your safety." The security guard, apparently sensing his fury, gave him a condescending smile.

Ethan raged silently and headed back to the Celestial Tiger, his new friend in tow.

"Said they needed a faster ship and went off to buy one with the money for selling me this one. Don't know who sold them one, but they didn't stay here long, less than an hour I'd say." He said and folded his arms "You some kind of cop?"

Rigel was still on the Tiger, watching for anyone to return and making sure they didn't have any 'visitors' in the meantime.

Tala looked pleased. "Cops do not tell you whether they are or not, young one," she told the guy. "We are happy with your assistance!" She pulled a ten credit bill out of her pocket and handed it to him, then led the way to keep looking for signs of the keepers' departure ship.

~~
Ethan returned to the ship, looking furious. The security guard followed, and smiled her condescending smile at Rigel. "Is this your android, Sir?" she asked.

"Sorry I'm back so soon, Master. She wouldn't let me buy anything before she brought me back here," Ethan told Rigel, hoping the guy would catch the cue to play along. He spat out the word 'Master' in a very resentful way though, oops.

Some of Swarm followed after Ethan, worried for his safety. Damnit, they had forgotten all about Android's crappy status outside the guild. They'd all gotten too used to seeing them as equals.

---

Luka snooped around, found a bar and got chatting with some people about any strangers who'd come through here recently.
She was looking for her... uh.. friend yes. that was technically true right? She'd left without a word and they were worried about her. Yep.

---

The part of swarm who'd remained with Tala bobbed up and down. "Do you know who they bought from?"

Sawna followed after Tala, glad things had not escalated any.

~~
"Yes, and I told you not to call me master, just my name will do." Rigel said and looked back to the security guard. "Why wouldn't you let him do what was asked of him?"

Luka would hear of the odd family, two females and a male that had been here barely an hour before leaving again. One of the females had acted like she was drunk or otherwise out of it.

Luka frowned at that. "Did she have blue eyes?" She asked. "When did they leave? " How much time did they need to make up catching them.

--

Ethan nodded. "Sorry, Rigel. Still getting used to having a new owner." He tried to not sound completely pissed off by this situation. Ugh.

"Androids aren't permitted on this station alone, unless they wear a badge," the security guard said to Rigel. "If you have errands to run, you'll have to go with your android, unless you have a spare badge somewhere."

~~
Tala looked with Swarm and Sawna for anyone to ask for information. "A family of three!" She asked a security guard, "Adults and a teen girl! Who sold them a ship, do you know?"

"Can we escort him?" Swarm asked the guard. "Or does it have to be the owner?"

---