"No, I'm telling you, it was definitely cool," says Rease, as we walk down the hall towards nothing in particular. I feel a touch of embarrassment, but I do my best to swallow it. "I was going for like, a pithy line when I shot him, but I didn't actually prep anything." Rease shakes his head, a big smile on his face. "Nah, it was for sure cool." His voice deepens, and his eyes darken, one hand outstretched and in the shape of a gun. "I'd rather die," he says with a gravely tone. "BANG!" We all chuckle, and Caz-V turns to Ella. "Also, Mouse, good call on circling around on the wall. That red haired recruit totally got the jump on us; if you had gone through the course he probably would've gotten you," he says. Ella looks bashful, but she mumbles a thanks in response. Caz-V shoots her a bright, genuine smile. "Antimony, do you have Advanced Training?" asks Ko-lee, and I'm suddenly reminded that I'm an active participant of the conversation.

  "Oh, shit, I don't know," I respond truthfully. I scan my schedule in my headset to find that even that's been cleared away. "Huh. I would've thought that they'd leave that in," I mutter, before shifting my gaze back to Ko-lee. "Looks like I'm free. What's the plan?" She shrugs. "We've got 12 hours. That's a lot more time than usual," she responds, clearly thinking over our options. "We could play Lunaro?" says Rease, with a hopeful look. "We play Lunaro every day," shoots back Ko-lee. "Yeah, because it's fun," he counters. Ko-lee gives a small smile, before continuing. "I was actually thinking about going shopping." Ella perks up. "Oo, I've been wanting to go shopping too! I want to get a few more parts for my drone that I've been working on," says the smaller squadmate. "You've been working on a drone?" ask Caz-V. Ella nods in response.

  "Yeah, it's sort of my hobby. I used to fiddle with whatever tech we had in the colony, and I managed to get my hands on some stuff up here for basically nothing. But like I said, it's just a hobby; I don't think I'd be able to bring it on an operation or anything like that," she explains. "Well, that's two for shopping. Caz-V? Interested?" I ask. He just gives a noncommittal shrug. "Well, I was planning on drinking and dancing, but that won't be until later tonight. Until then, I didn't really have a plan. I was probably just gonna hang out in my room and play on my Ludoplex," he says. "Ludoplex?" I say, with a touch more excitement than I mean to. Caz-V quirks an eyebrow at my outburst. "Yes? You know what that is?" he responds, confusion coloring his words. "I thought you were from Earth." I freeze for a moment, too caught up in the idea of getting to play video games again to come up with a clever lie.

  "I just heard about it somewhere, and I'm really excited to try it out," I say. We've hit a junction; one direction leading off to the hangar bay, another to Lunaro and Caz-V's room. Everyone - including me - is waffling on what we should do, and nobody seems particularly interested in splitting up the group. "Well... what if we do everything?" offers Ella. There's a few moments of consideration as we all warm up to the idea. "Lunaro is later anyways, so I'd still need something to do in the meantime," says Rease, considering. "And there's no time limit on shopping," continues Ko-lee. "So it sounds like we're playing some video games at Caz-V's for a bit, then Lunaro, then shopping, then dancing? Something like that?" There's a round of head nods, and we turn left, heading towards our squadmates room.

  Unsurprisingly, Caz-V's room looks a bit like mine and Ko-lee's, but with a touch more clutter. There's food on the counter; not from the nutrient dispenser, but left overs from somewhere else on the Relay. The desk up against the wall has a small silver box on it, and a cable leads from the box down to a white and blue accented object tucked underneath. It's shaped a bit like a half dome, and has what appears to be two handles coming off the side of it. Draped over the back of a kitchen chair is an article of clothing, along with a holopad balanced precariously on top of it. I'm unable to read the note, but from Caz-V's expression, it's more than a little racy. He's quick to shove the clothing into a drawer, out of sight. On the kitchen table itself are two books; one open, covering the one beneath it.

  "Book books? I wonder why not a holopad, or like, pipe it straight to the headset or something." There are excessive notes in the margins of the open book, and a number of angry red underlines mark various passages. I'm unable to read the words before he closes it and places it in a drawer. "Sorry," says Caz-V, a little chagrined. "Room's a touch messy." Rease chuckles. "If you think this is messy, you'd probably die of a heart attack in my room." We finish filtering in, and for a few moments, we all stand around awkwardly. "Oh, shit, we don't really visit each other's rooms, do we?" I realize, putting a finger on the feeling filling the air. "So, uhm, what games do you have," I say, just to cut the silence. Relief crosses Caz-V's face. "A couple. Acerix, The Nightspoken, Enflamed 1 and 2... uh, we could do Quality Assurance Assurance, it's a pretty good party game," he says, counting the games off on his fingers. "Yeah, Flappy Zephyr and Wyrmius would've been mid anyways. I don't know why I thought that's what he was gonna say," I think to myself. "Sure, I'm down for whatever," I say, pulling out a kitchen chair and sitting on it.

  "Hell yeah! I kick ass at QAA!" says Rease, sitting down next to me. "You own a Ludoplex?" asks Caz-V, a look of confusion on his face. "That's... surprising. They're not cheap." The girls settle in on Caz-V's bed, and Caz leans against the desk, facing Rease. "Well, owned. But yeah, me, Mom, and Pops were running a bunch years and years ago. The client was trying to circumvent import taxes at one of the cities in Venus," says Rease, doing his best to face all of us as he tells his story. "A lot of those places are numbered, so I honestly couldn't tell you where. Prospect 41? Deck 12? District 63?" he shrugs. "I don't know. They're different in all the ways that don't matter, but the same in all the ways that do. Stacks and stacks of dingy living under the ground. Janky metal roads and starving kids and robotic eyes on every corner. Not a fan. ...No offense, Caz-V." Caz-V sighs, his face a a barely hidden maelstrom of emotion.

  "None taken. The Corpus are cutthroat. It's... easier to see that from the outside. But I can't pretend I didn't always know that. Stepping on those below you to rise to the top, I mean... it's part of the learning process. Kindness was just another word for weakness. I knew that, but I didn't know that until recently." Rease clears his throat after a moment of silence. "Yeah. Well anyways, it's rough, and we were bringing in the Ludoplex's. They had claimed that they were trying to avoid the tax 'cause they were some sort of charity or something? Like I said, long time ago, so I don't remember the specifics. The main thing was, when we got into the city, goods in hand, we find out they can't really afford to pay us."

  "Which, to be honest, not super surprising. Mom was always a big softy like that, taking on those sorta gigs all the time. But they usually could offer other stuff; food, repairs on the Chrysanthemum, alcohol, clothes. Mom is- was shrewd though, always shrewd. So Mom, she always wore this rebreather. I mean, we all had masks, but hers was intense. Round, visor over the eyes, dark lenses. It'd filter out her voice when she spoke, so people couldn't tell if she was a guy or a girl." Rease gesticulates with his hand, miming an invisible mask, and adopts a gravely, robotic tone.

  "'I don't believe our debt is settled just quite yet.' says Mom. The client, he can't see her face, can't see her eyes. He's standing there, strong, trying to be brave with the spooky smugglers, and he's shaking, but just a little. She looks at me, and Dad, and looks at the hover lifter with crates of Ludoplex's. ''We'll take what you're offering. And...'," Rease pauses, for dramatic tension, a big smile on his face. "'one of the game systems.' Guy looks at her like she's crazy. 'Cause he's thinking, 'oh yeah, smugglers are gunna want something real fucked up, or dangerous', or something like that, ya know? But Mom just asks for a Ludoplex. And the guy nods his head, all jerky like, and she walks over, and fuckin' rips the lid off a crate with her aug." He gestures to his left arm.

  "She never told me how she lost it. Pretty sure it happened before I was born. So, over she goes with metal arm that looks like it came out of a Grineer scrapyard, and she tears apart an alloysteel box like it's made of plaster. She reaches in, grabs one. Looks at it for a moment, then hands it to me. 'Happy Birthday, sweetie,' she says, in her scary robot voice." Rease laughs for a few seconds before continuing. "Oh man, the look on that guys face. Like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be surprised or terrified or relieved, and so he just did them all at once." My attention is pulled away from Rease as Caz-V hands me a controller. It's shape is like if someone had taken a rectangle, flared it slightly on one side, and then bent it in half.

  "What in the MadCatz is this," I think, trying to figure out how to hold the controller. "He probably thought you'd report him to cityWatch with the whole 'I don't believe our debt is settled' thing. There's not really charity organizations. They were probably just black market dealers. Resellers, trying to make a quick buck," says Caz-V, settling into the final chair. Rease gives him a shrug. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know. But everyone left happy, and no one got hurt, so who cares what the law has to say?"

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Based," I mutter in English. The silver box on the desk flares to life, and I do my best to lock in as Caz-V begins to walk us through the game.

  I triple tap BL, summoning my held item, doing my best to deploy it as close to my feet as possible. "Aww, a gift? For me?" says Caz-V mockingly, sliding in from my right. Only a few feet before he reaches the item - still in it's spawn animation - his avatar slams to a halt. "What?!" he shouts, before Ella giggles. Attached to his foot and holding him in place is a long chain of paper slips that trails back to Ella, who's holding the other end. "Should've cleared your debt," says Ko-lee. "Noooo! Ko-lee?? You're supposed to be on my team! What happened to no nickname solidarity?!" My jump pad having finally spawned in, I fling myself up past the spaghetti of conveyor belts, and drop in my final report. The screen flashes with celebratory text in blocky, Corpus lettering. E.O.D! Caz-V throws his hands up in frustration, but there's no real ire behind it. "Sorry, Caz-V," I say, putting emphasis on the dash. "But it's been months man. You were always next on the chopping block."

  "My dash," he says quietly, a small pout on his lips. "Glad to have you on board, Caz," says Rease, giving him a fist bump. We all laugh, and my eyes graze the clock in the corner of my headset as a reflex. "Oh, damn it guys, I don't know that we're gonna have time for Lunaro and shopping." Rease looks nonplussed at the information. "It's fine, I play every day. I don't mind window shopping with you all." He stands, and we all follow, stretching out our limbs after the hours of intense Quality Assurance Assurance gameplay. I leave my crab claw controller on the kitchen table behind me. "I'll be back for you, video games," I think, before turning my attention back towards the squad. "Alright! No time like the present."

  Calling it shopping was technically a bit of a misnomer. As ships flew in to the relay to have their goods checked in space customs, they often had downtime. So, a hallway that led from the Concourse to the hangers had a bunch of merchants setting up shop. Over the course of hours, people would rotate in and out as ships were cleared, and new merchants took up the space. Finding anything on purpose was a mostly of luck and a willingness to converse with tired pilots looking to make a quick buck in their downtime. The five of us wander past the temporary stalls down the hall; fold out tables with cheap synthfabrics draped over them, and goods haphazardly stacked on and around them.

  Holo projectors and soil analyzers, corpus weaponry and communication devices all demand our attention, all side by side. "Are you looking for anything in particular?" Rease asks the two girls. Ella shrugs. "Just the drone stuff for me." Rease nods, a considering look on his face. "Maybe I should get something to tinker with as well. It's weird not having something to constantly be working on. I tried to get Inlustris to let me into the engine room but they didn't want to let me for some reason." I snicker. "Yeah, for some reason," I say. Rease just shoots me a wink, and my breath catches briefly. "Wink at me like that again and I will smooch the fuck out of you, so help me god," I think. "I'm looking for something to replace my Zaw," says Ko-lee, distracting me from my ever more illicit thoughts about our squadmate. "I know melee weapons aren't part of the standard kit, but I feel naked without it."

  "You know, Heya probably still has it," I tell her. She gives me a flat look. "I wasn't aware that we were taking a trip back to the Unum anytime soon," she responds in a flat tone. "Fair enough," I tell her, feeling a touch stupid. After a moment, she sighs. "I do want to go back at some point. It was a boaldek gift; I don't want to lose it. But I'll still need something in the meantime, regardless." I nod understandingly. "What's boaldek?" asks Caz from my right. Ko-lee thinks for a moment, as we pass by table after table. "So, you know how I said I didn't know my birthday? It's not that we didn't do birthday's at all. They were still celebrated, just all together, on the same day. The term is Ostron; it translates to 'we were all born today', roughly. It's a celebration of life. That everyone who was alive one year is alive the next."

  The topic is dark, but the mood isn't. Just matter of fact, as we move through this slightly crowded portion of the Relay. The rest of the squad continue conversing, but I stop processing them as my eyes wander the space. My gaze passes by a window and a small thrill of excitement shoots through me as I remember that I'm in space. "I hope I never get used to that," I think to myself, as I continue to browse the goods. I'm not really looking for anything in particular, just vaguely perusing the eclectic group of items on display. "Mods would be cool. Just to like, theorycraft some stuff." I have some money from working the customs job, but I'm confident it's not enough to buy a real mod. "Maybe enough to buy a broken one though," I think, before my eyes catch on something peculiar.

  It's almost a magnetic pull as my hand reach out for what appears to be a minijet of some sort. Before I make contact with it, the shopkeep reaches out to stop me. "Sorry, please don't touch," says the man, in heavily accented Origin. "Oh, sorry," I say, feeling three steps behind my physical form. My eyes are locked onto the upper half of some characters scrawled on the side of the turbine. I can't read them, but I recognize them, and it feel painful to rip my eyes away to make contact with the guy manning the stall. "Can you tell me about the minijet?" I hear myself ask.

  "Yeah, IsoFlex FC3. Triple buffered, direct inject. Little noisy, but powerful. Can lift up to 500 lbs, easy. Looking to build a proxy? Maybe a K-Drive?" he asks. I realize I've been nodding for way too long, the action running on automatic. "Sorry, yes. Yeah. Tinkering. In... uhm. Between missions," I say, the lie springing to my lips without thinking. "How much?" The scarred merchant frowns at me. "I'm leaving here in 30 minutes or so. I can't stick around. You have flash on you? I can't take digital." I feel a ball of despair form in my stomach. "Uhm, no... but I, I could get some-"

  "I've got you," says Caz, and I'm suddenly reminded that there is more than just me and the Corpus man in front me here. My behavior is getting odd looks from Rease and Ella, but Ko-lee has that familiar look of intense concentration on her face. Her eyes are locked on the minijet in the same way mine was. I force myself to focus on Caz. "You're liquid? Why?" I ask. He shrugs. "An asset in the hand is worth two in the portfolio," he tells me. The scarred merchant pipes up from across the table. "The transaction is the lifeblood of profit. Nef 13:12. You follow the teachings?" he asks, with a curious lilt. Caz shoots the man a look of disgust, and I freeze for a moment, before I remember that we're wearing facial coverings, and that he can't see Caz's expression.

  "I just like to read," Caz responds, after a moment. It's not clear if the man believes him or not, but he moves on regardless. "Five real," states the merchant. Caz shakes his head immediately, as though pre-planned. "Three and a half. No haggling." The Corpus man laughs, his green eyes shining. "And yet, you will if you want the IsoFlex, Tenno. Four and a half," he counters. "Done," says Caz, dropping credits on the table. The man flinches, and a dangerous glint passes over his eyes for just the briefest of moments. "I don't like to be played with, Tenno," he growls. "To find the true value is to see profit, and in profit, see desire. And only those who see desire will see the truth. Parvos 9:7," says Caz, in an icy voice. The air is thick with tension, and I'm not entirely clear on what the problem is, until eventually the man lifts the engine and shoves it into my hands. "All yours," he grumbles, as I stagger under the unexpected weight of the machinery.

  "Uhm... thanks," I mumble to the Corpus, as he glares at Caz. Eventually Caz walks off, and I trail behind, the proud new owner of an IsoFlex something or other. Caz's pace is brisk, and I'm unsure of where we're headed. "Reimburse me at your earliest convenience," he says, in an unfamiliar, clipped tone, once we've walked far enough away from the stalls. "Hey man, you good?" asks Rease, placing his hand on Caz's shoulder. I'm frazzled; by my discovery, by Caz's seeming personality shift, by everything. I keep hearing a crushing sound, and it takes me an embarrassingly long time to realize it's Caz's fist, opening and closing, crushing the fabric of the TEPA in his palm. I take in a huge breath, and pull myself present, placing the minijet down at me feet.

  "Hey," I say. He looks over, and his eyes are cold and unseeing. "Hey," I repeat. I slowly raise my fist up between us, and it takes a second for his eyes to focus on it. He looks confused, and I reach out with my other hand, and close his into a fist. I see the neurons connect, and his eyes melt, before he gives me a small smile. We tap our fists together, a sign of seemingly multiversal solidarity. Before he pulls his hand away, I trap it with my other, holding his fist against mine. "You with us?" I ask. He sighs in response. "Sorry. Yeah. Sorry, it..." his words hang in the air for a second, and Ella steps up as I let go of his hand. "You don't have to talk about it now," she tells him. His smile gains a few lumens of brightness, and she continues. "Well, let's go drop off Annie's new toy, and then we can go out for drinks. Take our mind off this. How does that sound?"

  "Hell yeah," I say, still feeling somewhat off kilter. I pick up the minijet, feeling the solidity of the Corpus tech in my hands, the weight of it's dense alloy frame through the TEPA's fabrics. I lock eyes with Ko-lee, whose are as wide as mine feel. She doesn't ask out loud why I just spent half my saving on a random jet engine. She doesn't need to. But regardless of her silence, I know she wants to know the same thing I do.

  Why does this bit of Corpus tech have English writing on it?

  Discord!