(The next day...)

I woke up with a curtain of brilliant orange hair covering my face. Sneezing several times as I attempted to wake up, I held Alannah close and closed my eyes in bliss. These are the moments I live for.

"Mmm...happy birthday, love," I heard her breathe as she caressed my cheek.

"Thanks Ali," I murmured. After moving the curtain of hair aside, I finally spotted my wife's face and kissed her on the lips, "This certainly won't be a birthday I'll forget anytime soon."

With a giggle, Alannah rolled me onto my back and straddled my hips. "Oh, I'll make sure you won't. Ready for round...what did we stop on?"

"Who cares," I replied, only to feel all rational thought vacate the immediate area when she leaned forward and kissed me.

So...yeah: we went another round. Surprising, isn't it?

"My, my," Vik mused, "Aren't you an amorous individual."

Don't judge me, Vik. It's hard to resist when my wife has stunning looks on her side.

"Hmm...If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're making excuses."

Oh, I totally am.

"Ah. Well, it is said that honesty is key..."

By the time we were done with this unknown round of bedroom antics, we were both exhausted.

"D-Damn," Alannah panted, "Wh-What time is it?"

"Currently, it is six twenty-two in the morning," Leonard answered.

I frowned. "Did you just speak, Lenny?"

"Yes sir, I did. Not only do I have access to your helmet, I also have access to any other tech you utilize. The old intercom in this room sufficed, so here I am. Oh, and I do hope you realize you did not use a condom last night for your...eight bouts of heated lovemaking."

I felt my jaw go slack, and I slowly looked at Alannah.

She shrugged as she got up from our bed and started getting dressed.

"C'est la vie," Ali said, only to cringe to herself, "Damn, I'm actually sore for once. Bravo, love."

"Um, what if you become pregnant?" I prompted her.

"You've forgotten before in the past, so what's different now?"

"That still doesn't make it any better, love," I hissed, stumbling to my feet and running a hand through my hair, "Fuck, I can't believe I forgot–!"

"Don't worry," Alannah breathed as she embraced me, "We'll be okay, love."

I loosed a deep sigh and returned her embrace. "Alright...we should probably get ready and round up our crew of nutjobs."

"That's why I was actually putting on pants," she replied, winking at me as she wiggled her rear, "That's when you know I mean business."

"Yes, yes. How could I forget," I grumbled, "If it was possible for you to be any more shameless, you'd walk around with no pants on."

"Naaah. If it weren't so cold, I'd just forget clothes altogether."

Attempting–and failing–to ignore the images my mind conjured up, I focused on putting my armor on and breathed a sigh of relief when my flustered expression was hidden by my helmet.

"Ah yes, how nice of you to gear up early for once," Lenny drawled, "To date, this is the tenth time you have forgone a condom, Cylus. Boreas would be ashamed of you."

"Not need to remind me," I grumbled, shaking my head as I fetched my combat rifle and slung it over my shoulder, "One tends to forget important details in the heat of the moment."

"Be that as it may, Cylus, you must exercise caution."

"Okay mom, didn't know you were here all of a sudden."

"Your mother is dead, Cylus."

"And here I thought Vik couldn't understand humor," I growled, "Lenny, power off."

"Very well."

After Leonard fell silent, I loosed a shuddering breath. Son of a bitch...way to sully the mood...

Shaking my head, I beckoned for Alannah to follow my lead. "Let's get moving. I'm sure Boreas and the others are looking for us."

"Yeah, probably," she replied, taking my hand in hers, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Lenny was just...being a bit insensitive."

"What did he do?"

I more or less repeated the exchange I had with the AI, and she facepalmed in response.

"Damn it Lenny...he's only an artificial intelligence, so I can't kick his ass. However, that doesn't bar me from bullying the son of a bitch."

I couldn't help but laugh in response. "You're actually planning on bullying...an AI?"

"Yes, yes I am. The fucker deserves it for what he said," Alannah replied, huffing to herself as she crossed her arms under her chest.

I chuckled. "I suppose I can't argue with that."

It took us a few moments, but we made it to the mess hall soon enough.

"Ah, so the birthday boy finally shows himself!" Boreas chirped as he stood up and threw a small box at me, "Happy birthday, you lucky bastard."

I caught the box with one hand and opened it to frown down at a small chip. "What's this?"

"An active-camo mod. I know Vik can blink you from place to place, but I decided to whip that up for you for the times when standing perfectly still is the only possible course of action."

I nodded in understanding. "Well, I appreciate the thought. Where do I install the chip?"

"In your helmet. Take it off and let me see it."

"Alright," I began, taking my helm off and tossing at Boreas. I handed him the chip, and he got to work installing it. A few moments later, he handed my helmet back with a grin on his face.

"Done," he declared, "Put it back on and see if the mod will show up on your HUD."

I followed his order and put my helmet on. Sure enough, the heads-up display popped up with another option on the left side of the screen labeled "Active-camouflage." Engaging it with a simple thought, my crew gasped in surprise when I disappeared.

"Great, now he can surprise me when I least expect it!" Alexander growled, rounding on Boreas, "Good going, you prick!"

I felt a chuckle rumble through my chest as I disabled the camo. "Don't worry, Alex. I won't use it...much. For now, finish eating up, everyone. We have an heir to assassinate."

"Oh, this'll be a fun fucking adventure," Boreas growled.

"Well, you aren't entirely wrong," Raphael mused, only for a thoughtful frown to appear on his face, "Hey Cylus, can Damien come along on this hunt? I've tried to bring him along with us before, but he's been busy either helping other members of the Voice of Dissent or, as of recent, he's been busy helping Tyr repair damaged vessels."

"Damien knows how to repair ships?" Boreas and I inquired at the same time.

"Well, um, yes. he first fixed speeders and other small vessels back when we were on Crysalis, but he gradually made progress toward ships."

My friend and I exchanged a glance.

"Tyr's going to steal Damien from my brother, isn't he?"

"I think he already has, Boreas."

"No one knew how Tyr swung when my friends and I worked on Du'Vuna, but I definitely wouldn't be surprised if the gear jocky was gay."

I rolled my eyes and turned to regard Ralph, who was understandably horrified. "Go fetch Damien. When you find him, head over to my ship."

"G-Got it," he stammered, standing up and backing away from our table, "I-I'll see you guys soon."

After he ran off, I sighed. "Ralph's gonna worry, isn't he?"

"Maybe," Boreas breathed, groaning, "The poor guy's dealt with enough in his life: our mother was a bitch to us both, dad passed away when he was fairly young, I had to leave after I graduated, and one of his best friends stabbed us all in the back."

"Don't remind me..." Alannah grumbled, shaking her head, "Jinx got what was coming to her."

"Yes, but please don't forget she was Ralph's friend. Don't think I'm trying to defend her–she was still a bitch, and she definitely deserved the torture 101 class Jackson put her through."

"At any rate, we need to get moving," I said, doing a quick headcount, "Boreas, Alannah, Alex, Vik–he's in my head, but I guess he counts. Alright, we're all here. Let's get moving."

"Aye-aye captain," Alex chirped.

After everyone put up their dishes, we left the mess hall and went outside to the airfield. A random assortment of ships were scattered across the plane of steel and yellow paint, so it took me a few minutes to hunt down the Ravager. When I finally did find my ship, the boarding ramp extended down to allow us to enter the cargo hold. Once I reached the cockpit, I sat down and waited patiently for Raphael to show up.

Five minutes later, I heard footsteps approaching. "Hey, we're set to go," Boreas informed me, "My brother and Damien are on board. They're both flustered as hell, but at least they're okay."

"Alright," I breathed, turning the engines on, "Apollihiri, here we come."

Without further ado, we took off and left Sylkiir V.

"So...our destination isn't too far away, is it?" I heard Boreas inquire.

"No, it isn't," I confirmed, "From what the bounty stated, Vallen Djarek was last seen on Apollihiri, a planet in the Strohan system. While that doesn't mean we'll find our target right away, we at least have an idea of where to start."

"Eh, true. I'm just glad we have a lead to work with–no matter how ambiguous it might be," he mused, "What do you suggest our first objective should be once we reach Apollihiri?"

"Obviously, we're going to have to maintain a low profile since this planet's a Federation stronghold," I reminded him, "In other words, I'm going to have to keep quite a few credit shivs ready to hand out so we can slip through security checks."

"Good point. It'd probably come in handy to keep our sidearms close too. Give a guard too much money, and they may want more."

I grunted in response and focused on flying my ship.

"Oh, and I also scrambled your ship designation just to be safe," my partner tacked on, "Sorry, just wanted to say that before I forgot."

"No worries. thanks Boreas."

"Anytime, partner."

After he left, I huffed. "Ready for this, Ali?"

"No, but I guess we have no choice," Alannah replied, unamusement apparent in her voice, "Let's just hope the trail of bodies we'll inevitably leave in our wake won't tip off the proper authorities."

I reached out and took her hand in mine. "Oh please, we're thorough in our work. We won't have to worry about a single thing."

"You got me there."