Space Station named Defiant

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The two shuttles both grabbed the rogue shuttle in their tractor beams and together towed her back to the shuttle bay where more security officers were ready and waiting to question her.

Esk looked over at James, muttered something under his breath and rolled his eyes.
"So much for some quiet time."

Matt waved. "Hey!" He grinned. "I'm Matt." He noticed the android badge.

"My foster brother." Esk waved a hand vaguely in Matt's direction, sounding exasperated. "and his... buddy."

"Third." Matt pointed at the fox.

"This is our ship's janitor." Esk shook his head.

"Hey, i'm a janitor too! And Third's my reluctant apprentice for the week! Janitor convention! Told you were were a secret club" He snickered to Third.

"Hey Third, hey Matt," James looked delighted. "There aren't enough janitors in the world, it's good to meet you two," he said. He grinned at Esk. "Now you're outnumbered, so you can't make fun of us."

"Indeed..." Third said with raised eyebrows. "And you are Asher's brother, correct? You have met Quinn."

"If you don't mind being hunted by massive forces of evil, Vestia's a good ship to join. Everyone is wonderful," Asher said to John.

John seemed to think on that. "How interesting..."

"You're Asher's brother? Oh man! Then we're like.. almost brothers in that.. our brothers are totally dating one another... "

Esk tried to follow that train of logic and just looked confused.

It took a while for him to catch up.
"Why is the revelation that Kay is sleeping with the robot not in the least bit surprising?"

Matt snorted. "I'm not entirely convinced they ARE sleeping together."

"I really don't want to know." Esk replied flatly.

---

Armin tilted his head at Asher. "Massive forces of evil?"

"Yeah! He's my brother!" James had no trouble following Matt's logic, "Oh man! That does make us basically family now!" He made a face at Esk, "There's nothing wrong with sleeping with robots. Geez."

~~
"The Family wants us all, remember?" Asher told Armin a bit sadly.

Third seemed to snort at this, but said nothing.

~~~~~~

"The Family?" John was slowly growing more and more alarmed.

"Yeah, we escaped them, so they want revenge." Shane said then shrugged a little

Armin shook his head. "And they will not find us, I have faith in that. The weaver shall protect you all."

---

"of course you'll say that, you're a robot who will sleep with anything. " Esk replied cooly.

Matt snickered. "Don't mind him, he's just bitter. I'd ruffle his hair but.. yeah.. touching him, bad plan. "

"oh go on Mattias, try it." Esk snapped his attention back to his brother.

"Nah, I like living. " matt waved a hand dismissively. "See, already bickering just like family! Welcome to this dysfunctional mess!" He grinned.

"What do you want James." Esk asked in irritation.

James shrugged, "Well sure, but that doesn't mean it's not true. If it makes you feel better though, I don't recall Asher ever being especially interested in sex." Of course Asher had mentioned not being scared of showers any more... hmmm....
He smirked, "Luka refuses to leave the dock until you're on Silver Devil with us. It's adorable how much she cares about you."

~~
Asher nodded. "Some of the passengers have long and tumultuous histories, so the Family is unusually interested in us."

"I... Tell me, the Family... They have been going around a few Terran colonies, claiming they can give us eternal life." John looked nervous as he spoke, as if it spooked him. "Do you have any idea about that?"

~~~~~~

"Oh, please." Third suddenly snorted again. Suddenly the air was thick with arcana again, and Esk would suddenly find himself being hugged by a white-faced fox. The fox remained relatively unharmed, as Esk's power would drain the arcana-heavy barrier that Third had built that took the bulk of his energy-sucking ability. "I'll do it for you!"

"Look, the only thing anyone needs to know about the Family is that they want to enslave the galaxy and pretend to be gods" Shane said, frowning then shaking his head "They will go to any length including brainwashing and hurting children to accomplish their goals."

Esk made a face. "The Lieutenant's become delusional. Are we certain she doesn't need therapy?"

"D'aaw your friends care about you man. " Matt snickered.

Esk grunted and stood up. "Fine, let's go."
He didn't get very far though, as Third suddenly decided a hug was necessary. "Get it off me... get it off me, get it off.." Esk looked genuinely freaked out as he tried to disentangle himself from the fox.

"Third!" Matt looked scared. "Are you okay? Let go of him!"

"What?" The fox suddenly jumped up and landed on Esk's uncovered head, balancing on two paws across from each other as the other two were held out like a ballerina. "A little bit of life-force sucking is nothing! Life-force is arcana and arcana is life force! I can create a barrier between me and he that he shall absorb and I shall touch him freely without repercussions other than him possibly attacking me!"

James folded his arms and watched curiously. "Yeah, this is weird," he said to Matt.

Esk's eyes rolled back as he sank into the life sucking thing. His face went blank and he stopped moving, it was like he couldn't do anything other than absorb whatever third had wrapped him in. Creepily, he looked almost.. peaceful.

"Third... " Matt looked really worried. "Seriously... get off him. Now."

Kay had been searching for Matt, and wouldn't you know it, only had to head toward commotion. Once he'd figured there was an ice rink he'd headed in that direction, and now he made his way through the crowd toward the yelling.

Third finally hopped off of him when he stopped moving. "Hmm... Interesting, interesting, now... I do believe, that there is no such thing as an uncontrollable magic. First, we must study the effects..." His maniac grin spread across his face, the madman's personality glinting through.

"Third, leave Esk alone please," James said, a bit worried for Esk even though he didn't like him much. He went over to Esk, looking at him uncertainly.

"Why would anyone want eternal life?" Armin asked. "Ever immortal I have ever met has bemoaned their extended lifespan. It is no gift."

---

After a moment or two Esk let out a gasp of breath, opened his eyes and looked around wildly. "What the fuck did you do?" He demanded. He looked a bit disoriented.

"Third... " Matt reached out to put a hand on Third's head. "Please don't... "

Kay folded his arms as he watched all this.

"Uh oh, we're in trouble now." Matt noticed Kay.

"It's... something a lot of humans crave anyway." John said, looking nervous, "But... I want to know, where they got the idea..."

~~~~~~

"Me? Testing your ability." Third said simply, looking bored again. "It seems to have no harmful effects other than whatever that odd trance you had, and even that wasn't inherently awful... Oh! Incubi! I'll have to look more into that... A visit to the tiny bouty-hunting librarian will help... Yes! We shall FIND WHAT YOUR MAGIC IS!" Third suddenly sounded more gallant. "My reputation as a seeker of arcane magic discovery depends on this!"

James watched Third, slightly puzzled by his attitude, then turned to Kay in greeting. "Hey there, Kay! How you doing?"

"What you gonna do? Figure out some mystical way to control it? remove it? Or just use me as a parlor trick?" Esk spat. he looked to James. "Can we go?" He looked a little pale, something about the fox's behavior had freaked him out. Mostly though, he just sounded annoyed.
He glared at Kay. "enjoying the show too?" He growled.

Kay raised both hands defensively.

"Hey... " Matt looked to James. "Get him back to your ship okay? "

"They are pretty much immortal and have been around a long time and have magic" Shane answered then shrugged "We do know how to kill them though"

James eyed Esk worriedly, and nodded. "Yeah. See you guys later. Let's go, Esk." He lead the way back toward Silver Devil.

Esk stomped off after James.

Matt winced. "Ahh family reunions." He shook his head. "Seriously third.. what are you thinking? Do you.. do you think you could help him?"

Kay came over, watching Esk and James leave warily.

----James and Esk head to SD----