Life and death are strange things... I never understood much beyond the world at my feet and the wind on my fur, yet I lie here on the cold steel of the floor as my own blood flows from me. I used to live a different life... Some would have considered me a pup when I got my pilot's license, but I had dreamed of that day since I figured out I was only chasing my tail. Aviation was my calling, and it served me well. Small crop dusting jobs and local air shows paid enough, but I always saw more to life. When I met Karlus, it was like everything was right. Our plans were to make it big... But he stole that from me when he caused my career ending crash. Killed my plane too ... My savings dwindled as my debts grew... So when Lord Darylln offered me a job, how could I have refused? I suppose even this is better than dying of starvation... I took my shot. Even if I missed , I tried. I didn't surrender in the end. That ship... hauled in from... primals know where... A space ship... I thought it was magical when I first saw it, but it was a curse . I met Tiberius there, and together we found out just how broken that thing was. Miles of wires, tons of broken panels, tiles, walls, bulkheads, and plumbing, and mountains of work to bring it back from the dead. All for nothing. We had been learning about it for months... Then they arrived... Xander and Johan... Xander was in charge, but it should have been me. As Tiberius and I explained the ship, he didn't care. He never cared. He lead us to our deaths. He barely listened to our orientation. Take off from Moonglow went well enough with only one power failure, but navigating that thing was almost impossible... Half the time the power would just go out anyway. Should have been more worried about that in the end... It didn't take long for us to get lost, and once we were nose to nose with an Avian carrier, I knew it was over. Xander wouldn't listen to my pleas to leave, and I tried to keep his scavenging mission working as well as I could, to save us all, but we never had a chance. Tiberius got a suit for Xander from the dead ship, and once they got lost in there on that exploration mission, it was over. I planned on leaving them there... I knew there was nothing left I could do with all the communication failures and strange behaviors we saw through their cameras. I really did plan to leave, but Johan said he saw space lice, power eating bug... and when I heard one in the engineering bay, I knew I had to get it off the ship first. I tried to space it, but Johan told me they could survive the vacuum. So I planned an ambush for it. We set up a our loading skip with all the batteries and power tools we could find, and got into position. Thats when I saw it, a weapon stronger than my wrench. There was a plasma cutter the mechanic left behind on the other side of the room. If I was careful, I knew I could get there before the bug showed up. So I snuck over there to get it. I was about to crawl back to Johan, when I saw the bug. I stood to charge it, but as soon as I stood I felt six explosions of pain... As I hit the floor I saw no bug... no plasma cutter in my hands... no life in my lungs. I saw Johan though... Eyes wide, smoking gun in hand. Murderer. It all happened so fast... So many dying thoughts. It's really over... I can feel it. You know it. Whatever is on the other side... Wait... You are nought but a fading memory.
