After Thorn gave the Leverians the suit they thanked her, the group soon walked out, but before they left, the scientists turned around and asked Thorn. "Would you like to come with us? We have something for you." After the suit was put into the silver crate, the group walked out of the facility. Once they first started to come out, the snipers activated their camo, though they were still kind of visable, they were hard to see. After they saw that the group wasn't being held hostage, they revealed themselves and began moving back into the ship.

After the suit was secured onto the shuttle, the scientists turned around and waited for Thorn. The scientists was a young male Leverian with a darker blue skin. He had a bright smile on his almost flawless features. The ship that they were in was a medium drop ship, three Navy Issue Arbiters were overhead ready to receive the four smaller ships.

The two frigates took of first searching the area around the facility incase someone had planned to take the shuttle out of the air. They found no one, then the destroyer shot up into the atmosphere looking for any arial threats. Again none.. it was too quiet..

Or... That's what a very small human woman wanted to happen, as she banged her head on the table.  She wasn't Ordriey, not that she knew of.  Thusly, if it was species specific, there was something about her genome that the derelict they'd brought her here to examine and reverse engineer liked.  That seemed to be it.  The ship liked her.  Its airlocks opened at her touch and the systems booted with no trouble.  As soon as one of her Leverian partners tried the same thing, it started throwing error codes and shut down.  At least as far the linguistics team had gotten in deciphering their language.  If only she had an Ordriey to translate...

"HEY!  Get away from that!"  One of the guards that the Leverian military seemed so keen on having everywhere was poking at a genetic sequencer that was still crunching through the cells of the biosuit on the table in front of her.  He backed off as she got back to cataloguing the individual organ components that she could identify.  The process was slow going, but from what she could figure out, it looked like a space suit, with the entire skin a photosynthetic polymer mesh.  She had found several needles behind micromusculature sheathes.  They almost looked like fangs, though designed not only to inject some unknown chemical compound, but also draw.

The thought suddenly dawned on her as she found what appeared to be a small heart, that the suit could literally act as a lung, converting ambient light while out EVA into oxygen and deliver it to the blood stream, absorbing carbon dioxide in the process.  But if the suit could do that, could she modify the technical idea to do something else?

"Hey.  Ah, what's your name, guard?"

"Neras, ma'am.  What do you need?"

"If you would be so kind, could you get ahold of Requisitions?  Tell them I need an octopus.  From Earth, preferably."

"An octopus?"

"Trust me.  Karas will like this one."

---
NEXT TIME

-Thorn makes a breakthrough on the problem of Ordriey tech and her versus the same and Leverians (There's some Ordriey in her family line if confirmed.)
-Thorn explains the idea of the suit to the young male Leverian and procures funding for development
-Thorn hasn't eaten in three days and finds out.

The hustle and bustle of ships through out the docking bay never seises. The guard went to do what he was told and thorn was lost in concentration on this technology. A beeping soon goes off, she is snapped out of the deep concentration. Its her blood sugar level, its critically low. Suddenly a large and blacked ship enters the Leverian docking bay, as soon as it enters it suddenly erupts into flame. Several crew members start extinguishing the flames, suddenly someone yells "Get the pilot out! Its going to explode!" It was a Arbiter, with the name 'Eon' on the side of it.

After three minutes of nail biting silence. Two emergency responders came out one cluching a short female Leverian. She was badly hurt, only being able to pull her ship in before she passed out. Litteraly 20 seconds after the Leverians got off the ship its main witchspace drive exploded, the docking bay wasn't hurt since the sheild was raised, but the sound of the explosion wasn't muffled even a bit, after the ship finished exploding, the docking space around the Eon was littered with chunks of metal. All blackened and smoldering. Some of the ship was still together, sparks hissed as the ships layed in its final resting spot.

Several Leverians yelled "out of the way! Move! She's seriuosly hurt!" The emergency responders hurried past Thorn, the Leverian pilot had woken up and when she passed Thorn, she had tears in her eyes, it was only for a moment. But it felt like those deep, ocean blue eyes stared straight into Thorn. She then was gone, off to the medical bay where she would recover.

Suddenly the head scientist showed up behind Thorn, "Sad isn't it? Watching these poor souls loose their ships.." the scientists then looked over the oridey technology.. "interesting, biological circuitry."
"Yeah, I finally figured out something that was really stumping me." Thorn then explained in great detail ignoring the beeping informing her of her low blood sugar, the scientist nods in agreement, "interesting.. have you figured out how it knows which pattern to take on?" Lots of complicated scientific talk went on between the two until the scientists notices something.. "Thorn.. when was the last time you ate?"

Next time
________________

Thorn finds out what happend to the Arbiter; Eon
The Leverians worry about the growing threat that is the helix virus
The Leverian scientist finally discovers the reason behind Thorn's self-neglect.

With the Eye sitting not far away in the docking bay, scanning both the Ordriey derelict and the Eon's death, she recieved a series of data to one of the screens overlooking her work space.  She kept out of the way of the medics and didn't mind when the other guard left to help with the Eon before it could explode.

"Yeah.  It's sad.  But we've got other things to deal with at the moment."  Her own green eyes couldn't not see the sadness in those Leverian blues as the pilot was rushed off to Medical.  "Maybe this research will help.  Speaking of."

She pushed the Leverian scientist over to a microscope, pointing out what appeared to be surgical scarring on one of the circuit boards of the ship, and the hard lines of tissue.  "I think these components were bioprinted and grafted together.  Like they could arrange the individual cells or promote growth in a bioprinter and then assembled.  I mean, the GSU's been using bioprinted organs for human transplant for five hundred years, so it's not that big a stretch."

When he asked how long it'd been since she'd eaten, she balked.  "You shouldn't be able to hear that beeping!"

"Little one, the mess hall claims they haven't seen you in three days."

"Yeah, sorry, I've been busy."  Thorn turned back to the biosuit on the table, becoming more focused on examining each tiny component.

"You're not hungry?"

"Not particularly."

His data slate disagreed.  With its more powerful processor, it easily accessed her admin account and checked over systems, noting the low blood sugar warning.  "You can't feel it?  Your blood sugar's crashing."

"No, I can't.  When I was young, I got hurt.  The part of me that feels hunger was removed to save my life."

The scientist knew she was lying, he could see the NRM in her neck, attached to the datapad.  Hell, he had control over it, now.  "Alright.  You're on chow log.  I expect 500 Calories every four hours."  A quick touch of his finger deactivated the NRM and deleted its drivers.

"Now.  You had a possible solution?  The Helix virus is still pushing forward."

"Yeah.  It's possible that the Ordiery mix in some of their own genome to their ships, giving a kind of species lock.  Which means I'm either a mutant or part Ordiery.  If that's the case, I'm going to need a skin sample from your test pilot.  That way I can integrate their DNA with the biotech and make a firmer bond.  It won't be much better, but at least your ships'll be tougher.  And more adaptable.  What happened to that Arbiter, by the way?"

"Broken Obelisk is my guess.  It didn't look Helix infested.  The Obelisk likes to jump our ships.  Which is why you're here.  To help us make our ships better and finally push them back."

~~~
NEXT TIME
-Thorn orders a meal and fills out her chow log
-The Ordriey biotech does something unexpected
-The Eon's destruction reveals something new

After the explosion, several leverian personnel entered the destroyed ship. Two minutes pass and they come out of the large ship with nothing other then the complete failrue of the witchspace drive. These attacks were getting more and more common, in three days almost 2 ships have been attacked by the Broken Obelisk. It was getting out of hand. Reconstruction of the Eon will probably start the next day or so. But the smoldering heap in the middle of the docking bay would take months to reconstruct.

Thorn was probing around with the technology, the scientist had gotten off her back for now, but she did need to get something too eat. Suddenly the biotech began emitting a noise that resembled a scream. It began moving, like its muscles where flexing, suddenly it began scampering, it ran directly to the Eon, without anything stopping it it lached onto the ship and suddenly began projecting a different color, it was spreading. Almost like nanites, the black parts of the ship where beginning to fade. Then it detached, a somewhat camoflauged Arbiter stood before everyone. The tech then scuttled back to the lab where it was sitting and then deactivated itself back into its dormant form.

The scientist sits there awe struck.. "brilliant.. also, here's this.." he then handed her a plate of food, it was Leverian iconic foods, such as Herru Berry pie, Jull Grain bread, and Poera Steak. And a tablet labeled "Nutrition intake for: Lisa 'Thorn' Ironheart"
"This meal, is exactly 500 calories, enjoy little one."
"Thanks." She replied somewhat forgeting about the food as she tried to understand the biotech. The scientist then went to inspect the half camouflaged Eon, unknowingly, he left his keycard. "Peculiar" he said looking at the ship. Thorn thought, "if I get a sample of that pilot.. then.."

Next Time!
_-_-_

Thorn makes a risky move in the name of science!
The Eon shows bizarre behavior
Thorn enjoys a delicious native Leverian dish
The scientist is puzzled by the strange reaction of the biotech.

It was safe to say everyone was a bit puzzled.  Granted, Thorn knew she was working on part of the damage control system, but she didn't know it'd do that.  "Do you guys have any biotech in those?"

The lead scientist cocked a confuzed head and raised an eyebrow.  "Well, we have some psychic ability built into the computers to assist with the pilot interface, and our damage control system is based on our sense of touch, but that doesn't explain the device you were working with moving like that."

"It does if my toy was a damage control system."  Thorn took the food offered to her and placed it on the workbench, going back to poking at the little drone on her table.  "Or a camoflage computer..."

"Oh.  I thought it was a cloaking device."

"Why...  Why the shiny fuck would that ship have a cloak?"  She gestured to the obviously cargo designed derelict in a bay not too far off, where other drones were scuttling towards the broken Arbiter.  Brows furrowed and arms outspread, her face was a clear read into her thoughts, wondering why the lead scientist even thought that.  "I mean, with the creep glands and skin based microbes, it'd be a bit of a stretch."

"I suppose we have a difference in culture."

"I'll say.  That said, I'm going to try something."  In stead of eating that which let off intoxicating smells, Thorn picked up a scalpul and sliced off a thin piece of skin from her hand, before placing it in a growth medium to produce a skin graft.  "I'm gonna try making something using this tech.  I need the gene sequence for chromatophores.  You folks have any octopi or squid aboard?"

Looking up, the Arbiter had half camouflaged itself against the back wall, and the lead scientist had left his keycard on the table.  A quick sleight of hand and her own keycard replaced it, and she was off, for just a few moments.  A quick dive through the vents took her to two decks down and as she swiped the card, she slipped in quietly.

It wasn't hard to find the pilot.  Her sobbing filled the nearly empty bay as a nurse stood by, filing paperwork.  She hardly noticed a tiny human drawing the curtains to the pilot's room.  "Hey.  My name's Thorn.  I'm gonna be in charge of fixing your ship.  Making it better.  Are you okay?"


~~~
NEXT TIME

-Thorn gets her sample
-Someone notices the keycard missing
-The scientists hound Thorn to actually eat something!

The Leverian pilot sniffs as she sees Thorn enter. She is out of her scorched pilot suit and in a hospital robe that is two sizes to big. Her suit hangs over head beside her bed. Just looking at the damage one could see that the Leverian took alot of damage. The suit had a gash from the left shoulder down to the stomach, aswell as the right having scorch marks. "Her damage control unit was the first to go." The shy Leverian finally spoke up. "I'm lucky enough to to have lived through that.. Eon didn't let me die.." she then began crying "She's dead now! Its all my fault.." she sighed sadly. "How are you going to heal her? She's already dead.." the leverian couldn't stop.. Thorn felt bad for the Leverian, a concept that was new to her. She wanted to help, but didn't know how. Thorn then took a deep breath and said..

"I'm sorry.. I~" the Leverian suddenly snapped "You don't have any idea.. how it feels to loose your ship, your best friend!"
"Yeah.. your probably right.. but I have a pretty good idea.." Thorn gripped the bed sheets. Her knuckles turned white. She then sighed and pushed this feeling way down.. "you know.. i have the resources to fix it~ her.. I just need something of you.."

The Leverian sighed "what do you need.."
"DNA, a skin sample to be precise."
"Um.. sure.. and your positive this will work?"
"No idea kid.." she then took out a small bag and a pocket knife, "bare with me" Thorn then slit a peice of blue skin off of the leverian, some blueish purple blood seeped out and thorn quickly wiped it up, then putting the cloth of blood aswell as the skin sample into the bag in a Petri dish. "We'll get your ship back up and flying in no time.." suddenly someone walks in behind Thorn. "I thought you might be here.." the scientist chuckled a bit, "i saw you weren't probing at your drone aswell as you barely touched your food. I just brougt you a nutrition bar, if that food was too fancy." He then set down the bar next to Thorn.

Thorn grabbed the bar and opened it, she took a few bites, swalloed and said "want your key card back?"
"I was wondering what happened to that. Anyway, so tell me, what are you doing here?" Thorn took another bite, swalloed and said, "collecting a sample.."
"Well, i think we let Verona rest for a bit, she's been through quite a bit.." he glanced at the scorched pilot suit.

Next Time
===

Thorn learns of Verona's past
The biotech reacts strangely to the new sample
Thorn learns of the Legionairee's ships and their pilot's relationships

"So what happened?"  Thorn asked, looking at the flight suit.  "It looked like you got jumped."

"I wish."  Verona looked away, ashamed that there was no glorious combat death or any great battle to tell.  "I got caught in a meteor storm.  On patrol and a solar magnetic storm started a storm in the asteroid field.  Overloaded my drive getting out.  I killed her."

The scientist, Karas, tried to drag Thorn away, before she jabbed him in the ribs just hard enough to let her get a few more words out.  "No, you didn't.  Your ship, Eon... She saved your life.  We're gonna get her back on her own engines, okay?"

"Good luck.  Now you have work to do, and I'm tired."

~~~

On their way back to the hangar, Thorn tried to keep her emotions in check, but her mind was a concerned roil of anxiety and confusion.  She didn't like this one bit.  "You know her?"

"I do.  She's a good girl.  Smart.  Confident."  There was obviously something burning on his mind as well, but she barely came up to the man's hip, and didn't have a good view of his face.  Chewing thoughtfully on the ration bar, she asked another question. 

"If we can't help the Eon... What'll happen to her?"

"Our pilots develop a kind of symbiosis with their ships."  Karas went suddenly quiet.  "Like the ship is another part of you, but at the same time it's different.  Like a dear friend.  Far too many poor souls lose their ships, and the effects are... She'll undergo counseling.  But she'll never fly again."

"Let's fix that, shall we?"

"Yes."

~~~
NEXT TIME
-Thorn learns about Verona's past as the technical application process begins
-Interesting results are found with the incorporation of Leverian DNA with Odriey biotech
-Thorn gets the DNA sample to start producing chromatophore based skin samples for the biosuit

Karas sighed, "I'm glad you've chosen to help Verona, shes been through alot.." Thorns intrest was piqued "how so?"
"Its.. complicated.. walk and talk with me.." Karas and Thron walked together, his face was clearly grim. "Well Verona was horribly abused, to the point of near death.. her parents, the others at her school. Poor girl.." Karas sniffs "when i found the poor child, she was almost dead, barely able to speak and barely able to move, her parets cried it was because they loved her but.. no love can come from this.." Karas tapped his gem and a schematic of what seemed to be young Verona appeared in his hand. The diagram showed a fractured wrist, dislocated shoulder, leg and arm bone scarring, and a broken nose and uncountable amounts of scarring.. Thorns thoughts were running thousands of miles per minute, all these feelings blowing up at once.. "She's.. like.. me.."
"What?"
"N-nothing..." Thorn was being battered by these feelings, it was too much.. "um.. thanks.. i should get going now.."
"Alright! I'll see you around, good luck." Thorn didn't respond. Her hand was shaking.. she didn't know what to do.

Once she got back to the lab area a box sat on her table. She opened it and looked inside, it was the octopus she needed earlier. She scooted it to the side and then took out the bag of the samples she got off of Verona. The biotech lays dormant on the table. Thorn moves the Leverian sample over to the drone. She carefully puts the skin onto the drone. It bursts alive again this time headed straight for the Eon, it climbs on, knowing the ship head to toe, it enters through the airlock into the burnt out circuitry. Three or four hours pass before the drone is seen again, and suddenly the ship bursts to life, missing half its hull it stays in its current possiton.

Verona,sleeping, suddenly wakes up, tears of happiness in her eyes. "E..Eon.." she moves the covers off herself quickly, she then begins walking quickly, she winces with every step, her stitches beginning to break. She ignores the pain, "EON!! EON!!" She opens the door into the docking bay, a trail of blue-purple blood behind her. She sees her ship almost immediately since the camoflauge had worn off. She runs to it, shaking off the guards as they try to get her back to medical. She falls, picks herself back up and finally reaches the ship. She hugs the hull, some blue sparks flying off the ship as she hugs it. The ship had been reunited with her pilot..

Next Time
♡♡♡
Karas is shocked at the increase bond between Pilot and Ship
Thorn battles her emotions
Reverse engineering processes begin.

It took the girl a while to look at that octopus.  She didn't want to be feeling such a kinship to that pilot, but the harder she worked, the more she felt like that could have been her.  Hell, in some ways, Verona and her histories mirrored each other perfectly.  But she had work to do and a biosuit to produce.  So she buried her emotions and got back to work.

And they started to rise as her research took her in new directions, and she buried them again.  By the time she was ready to start assembling the skin graft, she was emotionally drained and her head hurt.  She needed to finish a few things up, first, though.  She'd figured out that the Creep in the repair drone had been bacterial and bound to deposit metals consumed elsewhere, and was ready to start bioprinting a new suit.  She was ready to mix her self into some new prototypes, but she needed those chromatophores first.

So she picked up the box and found it empty.

"Little fucker... OH, SHIT!"

The creature weighed in at nearly fifty pounds, and was in her lap.  She started playing with the octopus.  Okay, playing wasn't the right word.  Fighting a Pacific Giant octopus over a scalpul and a DNA sample was not going well for the tiny woman.  It had managed to wrap most of its thirty pound mass around her eighty five pound frame and was now firmly holding her wrist across her abdomen, the other arm pinned.

Thorn was far from weak.  For her size, she was exceptionally strong.  But a fully grown and very angry gene modified Pacific Giant octopus is always stronger.  Yelping for help, she fell backwards just in time to see Verona run for her ship.

Karas, was too busy doing two things to help.  At first, he was laughing at her failure to subdue an animal half her mass, then he stared openmouthed at Verona as she ran to her ship.  "Verona!  Bed!"  The barked order was less forceful as he realized what the strengthened bond between pilot and ship meant.

But Thorn was interrupting by kicking and snarling incoherently as the octopus kept her pinned.

~~~
NEXT TIME

-Someone frees Thorn
-With a combination of Leverian DNA and octopus chromatophores, they are successful in making a skin graft capable of changing color and pattern.
-More understanding of the biotech is reached.

Verona notices Karas calling her and turns around, she notices the blood trail and then collapses, she broke her stitches and was beginning to bleed out. "I-I'm sorry Karas, I just had too see her." Suddenly three nurses rush into the docking bay, "come now, child, you need to be restiched." They put the still bleeding Verona onto a strecher moving her away from the ship. "I'll be back Eon.. i promise.."

A guard walks over to Thorn, "need some help?"
"It seems so." Thorn let out a sigh as the Leverian guard pulled the octopus from her with ease. "Keep track of him, we don't want him stealing our ships."
"Wait, he can do that?"
"Yeah.." Thorn sighed and went back to work on the octopus, slitting a segment of skin off she then went over to the ship "where is that bot.." it took Thorn 30 minutes to finally track down the bot who was repairing the witchspace drive. She then grabbed it and put it down on the table deactivating it.

After two hours of hard work and two consumed ration bars, Thorn finally made a skingraft. She slid it on the ship and as if synced, the biotech suttled over to the ship, and 2 seconds later, the skin graft finally begins blending.

Suddenly Karas walks up behind her, "try and make it more synthetic, witchspace will litteraly melt it away.." the scientists then continued on working on the ship repairs.

Next Time
□♡□
Karas works on reconstruting the Eon
Thorn and Verona speak to eachother about Eon
A stronger and synthetic skin graft is researched

"I'll get the iron cell wall sequence from the hull of the original ship.  Genetic extractor is chewing away at it, now."

The next few days were simply greulling lab work, alongside off and on watching the Eon come back together.  Many ideas got presented, most of which made Torn wonder why she'd even been hired on. horn Moreover, watching the young pilot Verona moving around with more confidence and life to her stepwas both unnerving and joyous for Thorn.  She knew the pilot's sense of self was in that ship.

The idea she pitied and feared simultaneously.  It seemed counterintuitive for someone to care so deeply about anything, especially a starship, that they could let that override their own safety.  She supposed it made sense, though.  If that ship was the only thing to have shown anything approaching love since she was a little girl.

Today, Thorn was adament in her decision to talk with the girl.  So adamant that she made sure her sport bra was still on before she walked into the hangar in a loose tee and BDUs.  "Hey, Keras, what've we got today?"

"Not much.  Just starting the initial bioprints on the suit."

"Good.  I'm gonna go have a chat with Verona.  Seen her?"

"Yeah, she's aboard Eon, helping out with system checks."

"Good."  A half muttered phrase about some privacy escaped her lips as she strode confidently up the airlock and into the bridge.

"Hey, miss Ironhart!"  Verona put a data slate down on one of the consoles, turning to face her intruder with a bright smile  "Sorry about a couple of days ago, I just felt... She felt so powerful, you know?"

"Didn't know she'd take the graft."  Thorn smiled gently, taking a seat.  "How're you feeling?"

"Great!"

"Good."  Thorn looked away awkwardly. "I don't know..."

"Don't know what?  Why are you taking you... Oh."  When Thorn whipped her shirt off and highlighted the thousands of scars on her chest and abdomen, like over the course of fourteen years something had been tearing her apart, she looked away with and awkward blush.

"Keras told me about your past.  I wanted to understand why you took such a strong bond to your ship, and...  I think I understand.  I spent fourteen years as a slave.  If a ship like this..."  She gently touched the wall, feeling the thrumming lifeblod of the Arbiter, and the thundering reactor at her heart.  "If my ship was the only thing to show me love, I suppose I'd feel the same way."

"I'd like to help you understand a little more than that, shorty."

"Hey!  Ruining the moment!"

~~~
NEXT TIME

-The stronger shipskin experiments begin
-The Eon's first tests as the reconstruction continues
-Thorn and Verona come up with an idea

Verona stood up slowly, she grabbed her stomach, she was still sore. They were in the cargo bay at this time, the ship thumping away happily. "Eon is happy, she is glad to be back from her rest." Verona glances at Thorn again,the scars of her past still showing. "you want to try and fly her? it may be a little odd at first, but she'll be more then happy to let you fly. Verona quickly head up to where the cockpit was, the heart beat now louder then before. "Alright Eon, lets fly."

Verona slid into the cockpit chair, she winced a bit at the sliding. She then pressed a few buttons o the console. the ship began to rise slowly, Verona smiled brightly as the ship slowly floated up, "Come on Thorn try it!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, she won't bite." Thorn made her way up to the pilot's chair, the dials and HUD was in a completely different language Leverian dialogue. Thorn took the controls shakily, suddenly the ship started to bob up and down violently, "You have to~ woah!~ be calm when flying~ EEK!~ Her!" Thorn was trying but she just had too much on her mind. Verona, luckily Verona took the controls before they could run into another ship. "Sorry.." Thorn looked down to floor "don't worry about it!" Verona gave a smile "it took me three years to learn how to handle Eon here." Thorn sighed
"I guess. Though.. how about you teach me how to fly Eon."
"Oh, well.. really? Well.. in that case.."

Karas was busy with the thickened skin for the ship, it was challenging, every time he put it through one of the simulated witchspace jumps the skin would litteraly spontaneously combust. He thought to himself, "maybe inserting stronger materials?" Karas then saw the very lopsided Eon flying angled at 30°. Karas chuckled as he just thought of the look on Thorn's face as she heard the A.i talking in her head.

It was quite amusing seeing her trying to fly the Eon. "Oh god! This is nothing like the Eye!" Suddenly the ship spoke to her "Your flying is really dangerous.. maybe hand it over to Verona?"

Next Time
♡♡♡
Thorn learns of the ship's classified matter
The iron skin finally survives witchspace
Karas has a seriuos conversation with Thorn and Verona.

The AI speaking directly into her mind was both surprising and disconcerting, causing a pair of green eyes to look shockedly around and wrench the controls to the right, slamming an Arbiter into dead vertical before the AI finally wrestled away control.

"I have control.  Docking."  The AI sounded uniquely displeased by Thorn's attempt at flying.  "Perhaps you should stay with the Eye.  But considering what I saw of it, I would say you need a new ship."

"Your ship can be a bit of a dick."

Verona giggled at the comment, pulling herself up off the floor.  "No, you're not wrong on that.  But she's my ship.  So you can't fly well, but the way I heard it, this isn't the only Arbiter you've saved."

"I found another a while back on search and rescue.  How I got tied up in this research contract, actually."

"So you're a little bit of a--"  The communications screen lit up, showing Karas's unamused face.  Though anyone who really payed attention could see the slight traces of a smile threatening to curl the corners of his lips.

"Thorn.  Verona.  Lab.  Now."  The screen went dark, and Thorn slumped in the seat while the AI laughed in their minds.

"I'm surprised that man has three kids."  Verona smiled.  Nonetheless, they were to head into the lab off the hangar and speak with Karas about something.  Getting there didn't take long.

"Every test I've done indicates biological material doesn't survive Witchspace."  Karas was stern in this assertion.  "Thorn, this technology may have saved an Arbiter and Verona's career, but she'll never jump again."

"I wouldn't say that, sir."  A quick mulling over the data she'd been handed to cover her butt and she had an idea.  It was on the fly, dangerous, and right in line with her thinking.  But it wasn't her that said it. 

"What if we use a hyperspace field modulator?"  A technician working on understanding the Eye spoke up.

"Huh?"  The terminology had lost Verona some time ago, and she was just starting to pay attention.

"Well, in human and Serpentis Imperium ships, they use hyperspace jumps.  Due to the modified physics there, they carry a pocket of normal space with them, in order to keep the pilot alive and keep the ship from blasting itself to subatomic particles.  What if we do the same with Leverian bioships?"

"We're not building any more bioships!  These things are too much of a pain to produce anyway."  Karas gestured to the Eon, before returning to Thorn.  "I know you wanted to help, but we can't give you this much access to classified materials.  I'm sorry, we're too close to cancel the project, but we need that biosuit as soon as possible.  There was another attack."

"First, this is a prototype.  I'm the contracted researcher.  Therefore, classified doesn't apply.  Second, I have an idea.  Please, just take the jump modulator out of the Eye and give me ten minutes."

Twenty minutes later, a simulated witchspace field surrounded a sample of the Eon's hull, which glowed fiercely, or seemed to, as the barrier dividing it from normal space in a jump field seemed to be stable.  "Inserting probes..."  One of the lab techs carefully set a series of sensors against he hull fragment, reading temperature and radiation.  "Looks a little hot in the alpha band, and a bit more X-ray than normal,  Perhaps a bit hot. But it looks stable."

"See?"  Thorn hugged the technician who had proposed the idea quickly and innocently.  "Your people are more than clever enough to do this.  Okay, I want a working hybrid drive in the morning.  Get to it.  I'll handle the biosuit, and have that operational about the same time.  Verona, I'm gonna need you for some measurements and species gene sequences."

~~~
NEXT TIME

-Thorn and Verona get a working biosuit and production method to Karas
-The Eye in the Sky II gets proposed.
-The Eon makes her first Hybrid jump

Verona looked at Thorn as she hugged the technician. She sighed slight jealousy was heard in her sigh. She then pushed it away, they needed to focus on the task at hand. After alot of work and elbow grease the Eye in the Sky's warp drive engine was removed, being still slightly jealous Verona looked at Thorn's dismantled ship. "So.. do you want another ship? That one you have there doesn't look to stable.."
"Yeah, the Eye in the Sky has seen better days." Though Thorn knew that the ship didn't really change since she first built the ship out of salvaged derelict parts. Also Thorn did note a tone of jealousy in Verona's voice when she gave that technician a hug.

Several more hours passed of the A.I talking and being against the new warp drive, saying that it is a disgrace to the witchspace drive. But after it was installed the A.I calmed down and explored the new addition to the ship. "Verona,I'm plotting a course to a close system. Hop in.. hopefully we won't blow up.."
"That's reassuring. Thorn, you want to come?"
"No, I really don't want to explode."

The Eon slowly pulled out of the docking bay, the camoflauge moderately working. Once the ship cleared the station a distortion appeared infront of the Eon. Suddenly a burst of light sent the Eon through space. When the Eon reappeared, it was completely fine, Verona was overjoyed! She quickly jumped back to share the news.

Next Time
♡♡♡

Thorn learns of Verona's feelings
Karas begins construction on the biosuits
The Eon begins acting strangely with Verona and Thorn.

It wasn't just news that Verona shared as she hopped out of the ship squealing and picked upna squalling Thorn, spinning the smaller one around before kissing her. "Thank you!" The thanks were repeated as Verona slipped from standard into her native Leverian tongue. This, of course being a language Thorn didn't speak.

Karas was more than happy to translate, though. "She says she's glad that her crush wasn't unfounded." The statement caused Verona to erupt into a furious blush and drop Thorn, who gave a squall of surprise before landing on her butt on the floor. Smirking, Karas continued. "Take the day, you two. I'll handle the biosuits and a batch of hybrid drives for five ships. Eye in the Sky class micro scout corvettes, all bio. You've earned it."

"Stay on station. I've got to download that jump data and get a few settings in line." there was an accompanying feeling of a pouting child with that line from the AI.

~~~
NEXT TIME
-Thorn buys Verona dinner
-Time Skip: Eye in the Sky II ready for preliminary testing and AI personality copy from Thorn

-Eon's strange behavior continues

Verona brought Thorn into a hug, putting her face into her chest. She was overjoyed over everything that had happened this day. Verona released Thorn and Thorn smiled aswell, both of them blushed, though Verona's contrasting more to her blue skin. The two then walked off headed in the direction of Verona's room where she would get dressed for dinner which of course Verona herself was paying for. Thorn sighed as the two of them walked around the station, looking out the windows and seeing the hustle and bustle of Eronia's trade hub.

After the two got to the room Verona quickly entered the shower, she purposely left the bathroom door part way opened, it was Thorns choice, only she could decide this.

Two Weeks Later; six sleek ships sit in the docking bay, and several biosuits are being tested out. They are working fine, the Leverians had a batch of special A.Is made from scratch to avoid any complications with the symbiosis. They worked great, and several more were beginning to put in development, the ships resemble the Eye in the Sky, but are better put together aswell as faster and less detectable.

Karas seems more shut up and secluded then usual, ever since the development of the Eye in the Sky MKII he's been on edge, almost seeming like he's sick, only time will tell. Verona and Thorn's relationship is getting serious, though Verona hasn't forgot about Eon not by a long shot, she is still jealous of the two.

Next Time
□■□■

Thorn's decision is revealed from two weeks ago
Karas' continues to dereriate under stress
The Broken Obelisk launches a small scale attack on Eronia

Thorn looked proudly over the six baby ships sitting in the hangar bays, running a hand across one of their noses with a gentle, maternal touch.  The ship crooned in response as it recognized the touch of a genetic donor.  "Beautiful work, Karas!"

"Most of it wasn't me.  These are based on your design.  They have a good bit of you in them."  The response was tight, clipped.  She could see the rings under his eyes as though he hadn't been sleeping.  His expression was pained, and she could see that he'd lost weight.  His gem was starting to discolor, and she couldn't identify his ailment.  Though he still spoke with pride about the eight meter ships.  "The one under your fingers is equipped to interface with your IV.  AIs based on your psionic imprint, especially your curiosity.  Touch of Verona's attitude and her cheer."

When he started coughing, Thorn's minimal medical training kicked in.  "Karas, sit down.  A breeze could knock you down.  Let me take a look at you."

"Don't bother.  I knew this was coming."  He obliged sitting down for her as she picked a medical imager off the workbench.

"What's wrong?"

"Cancer.  It's in his gem."  Verona's shaky voice spoke up from behind Thorn.  When the smaller one turned to look, she could see the tears prickling in the corners of Verona's eyes.  "See how it's turning yellow at the corner?  He's too far gone to save."

"As I said.  I knew this was coming.  Behold, my magnus opus, made possible by a mercenary."  Karas chuckled before standing tiredly.  "I had best get back to bed."

"Verona, if I'd known..."

"Lisa, don't...." She trailed off as thorn wrapped her arms around the woman's waist.

"I know I'm not tall enough for a proper hug, but..."  Thorn buried her face in Verona's abdomen to try to comfort her.  "The GSU has technology to cure cancer.  In any species, they claim.  I'm gonna bring one back.  They won't just give it to me, though."

Verona touched the back of Thorn's head gently, before unzipping part of her flight suit and withdrawing a ring.  "Come back for me."

~~~
NEXT TIME
-Thorn mounts the Eye in the Sky
-Eon has the idea to sneak an Eye II to Earth airspace to retrieve Thorn
-Thorn tries to convince herself to stay and take care of Karas

As Thorn left the docking bay, the old Eye in the Sky flying its last voyage Karas waved Thorn and Verona off, the ships next to each other. The two ships left the docking bay, the Leverian Legionnaire Sigil catching the light of the blue sun. The Cannons of the Eon swiveled around making sure that the cannons indeed aimed, Verona didn't know if she would need them or not, but it was for Karas, the only real father Verona knew. "We are coming up to the jump point," 
"Engage Warp drive, Lisa, i'll scout up ahead, see if there is any Broken Obelisk lurking."
"Be careful Verona.."
"I will.." the warp drive powered up, the engines thumping loudly. The Eon was well alive and ready for a challenge, hopefully there wouldn't be any Broken Obelisk, but there was no guarantee. "Warp Drive.. Active.." 

The Eon entered a distortion, but this time it had a very blue hue to it instead of a red-ish pink color. The Eon soon revealed itself to anyone scanning, the signature on the ship was like a Christmas tree due to the Ionic residue on the ship. As expected a small group of Broken Obelisk suddenly started firing on the ship. "Eon! Target Broken Obelisk Destroyers 1-4, begin firing immediately! Reroute power from the camouflage to the shields, tell Lisa to hold position for now!" 
"Of course. Lisa, Pilot Verona asks for you to stay put for now."
"Like hell I would!"
"Lisa! No! Its too dangerous!" Suddenly a blast of a missile hit the shield causing the ship to shake violently. "Shields are stable, 5,500/6,700." 

Back on the Leverian Research Station; Karas sit in his room, staring out the large window with the lights off, only the star light shining in, he worried about the two. "An ocean of blackness, light years apart from my daughter.." he coughed, "The bio-suits are done, all we need now is something to jump off.." Karas closed his eyes, one more sentence left Karas' mouth. "Fly, Fly my child, I will wait for you.."
He sits there, looking out the window, looking on what all he has done.. He closes his eyes, "not today.. Please.." 

Next Time...
- - - 
Karas' condition deteriorates quickly
The Eon defeats the Broken Obelisk party
Thorn goes ahead to Earth
Verona gets injured

(End of thread)