Geranno tried comforting sierra, "Its alright. I'm sure he'd probably be laughing at us right now for mourning him."

Geranno waiting for merc to say something, but then remembered, he wasn't there.

"I almost miss his snarky comments." Said Gluss. "Theres just a whole layer of conversation that we used to have, that just doesn't happen anymore."

"I've killed at least one member of any race known to us without so much as a wince. But now I feel somewhat dazed about this, despite him not being an actual being with emotions and feelings," Senka said as she observed a dagger.

"He was a good man- Ehm, Robot." Said jed. "I'm just surprised he did it."

"I hate to say it, but we really have to get focused on the jobs at hand," Dewblade said glumly.

Gluss jiggled in response, then turned to the captain. "Where to?"

~Jed shrugged. "We wait for a distress beacon or some other thing to do. Honestly, we currently have no plan."

"Perhaps we make our own plan? I mean, we can't just drift around space waiting for something to do, or even waiting to be ambushed by the rebels. Maybe we warn nearby bases of what happened, get them prepared for an attack," Eclipse suggested.

"Finally you have a use," Senka said with a huff.

"The nearest base is light-years away, besides, rebels don't attack in any sort of pattern." Said jed.

"Wait, who is flying the ship?" asked tess.

"Were on autopilot, why?" Replied jed.

"Does the autopilot know theres a meteor in front of us?"

And with that, jed rushed back to the cockpit

"Dewblade, do you want to see if we can isolate a cure for the chaos iron?" Sierra suggested.

"Me and Merc were supposed to work on the project together...now it seems pointless," Dewblade replied.

Sierra grabbed his giant left paw and urged him forward, saying, "If we work on the chaos iron, we can prevent anyone else from being killed like Merc."

"Hey tess." Said geranno. "Can you teach me how the engines work?"

Tess thought for a moment. "Maybe. D'pends on how fast of a learner you are. I'll at least try."

Dewblade, Sierra, Gerrano, and Tess walked off, leaving Senka, Eclipse, and Gluss.

"Food?" Eclipse suggested.

"We just had dinner." said gluss. "Why are you always so hungry?"

"Well, we're bored," Senka said.

"How about You two talk about battle tactics and i'll bake something." Suggested Gluss

"Oh please, talking battle tactics with him?" Senka laughed. "We'll talk about something this pup understands."

Eclipse glared at her. "I know perfectly well how to plan out a battle... just not so much at acting under pressure."

"Acting under pressure is what battle is all about!" She argued.

"I've studied all the great battle leaders and their tactics, i just can't think too well when i need to use them."

"Knowledge is knowing what to say, wisdom is knowing when to say it. And you, my friend, lack a lot of wisdom," Senka mocked.

"I cant hear you guys right now, but i know you are already about to argue." Shouted Gluss form the kitchen. "Senka, you need to start getting along with people."

"Minashtans argue for reasons. Minashtan nobles argue about the slightest ones. Anything less than perfection is unacceptable."

"What about you? obviously you weren't perfect, or you'd have beat merc. Regardless of if he was a robot or not. if you were perfect, you'd be queen."

Eclipse's words stung a little, because they were true, but she replied, "My life is in battle, not laying across a dozen pillows, having things done for me. I suppose you're right, I'm not perfect, but I AM the closest thing to it on this ship, and in this star system."

they continued arguing as sierra and dewblade worked on the antitoxin. Dewblade had a small piece of chaos iron in a sealed glass box. inside the box there was a flaming candle and a puddle of water. A purple gas floated to the top of the box.

"Now put in the antitoxin," Dewblade said.

Sierra pushed a syringe through a tiny door-like pocket in the box and poured in a yellow liquid, which quickly turned into a gas and followed the chaos iron gas to the top. They mixed to create a brown cloud of smoke.

"Is it still lethal?" Dewblade asked.

Sierra studied the box for a while before saying, "It's too difficult to say...do we have some kind of cell sample we can test it on?"

"The gas attacks the nervous system, and then begins to affect the skin texture and color, as well as blood. Either a skin sample or blood sample could test the effectiveness of the antitoxin," Dewblade replied as best as he could.

Meanwhile, Tess and Gerrano were in one of the engine rooms.

"You see, the Fuel gets pushed into the Compartment that- whoops, i didn't mean to break that." Tess sighed. "Mind handing me the 15 inch wrench?"

"The what?" asked geranno.

"You have a lot to learn, Kid." Said Tess, Reaching into the toolbox.

"Tess, What did you do?" Said the captain over the speaker. "One of the engines just cut out. the left one."

"Working on it, Hottie!" Said tess in reply, even though he couldn't hear her.

"Hand me the screwdriver?" asked Tess.

"Umm..."

"It looks like a chisel."

Geranno handed tess the screwdriver.

"Yep. I think you are getting the hang of this. i'll teach you the tools after i fix this..."

A loud metallic clank was heard, and the sound of a liquid spraying. "Oh you gotta be kidding! These pipes are old. Jeez."

Senka heard a crashing sound, then the sound of rushing water. She immediately followed the noise to one of the engine rooms, only to see Gerrano and Tess wrestling to fix a pipe.

"Need a hand?" She asked.

"Mind handing me a couple of plugs real quick? We don't wanna let out all the oil. Mr. Blue over here doesn't know the difference between a hammer and a spanner."

Senka chuckled slightly as she handed her the plugs and said, "I'm not surprised, neat and tighty mister computer. My people may seem primitive, but we are as advanced in many things as you humans...and whatever Germo is. We know much of earth-styled engines, and the tools required to fix them, but many Minashtans prefer to hold the knowledge rather than do the work. What you see me as, the heartless warrior who will always be ready to get her hands dirty, makes up the smallest percentage in Minashtan population. We are actually a pretty advanced culture, knowledge and wisdom wise."

"I am a Frennan." Said Geranno. "And i never said you were primitive."

"Stop arguing and hand me a couple of bolts." Said tess.

Senka handed her the bolts and quickly tried to end the argument, "I never said that you said we were primitive. It's just that everyone who sees our simple clothing and shelters give away the idea of it."

"There are still humans on earth who don't like the idea of technology." Said Geranno.

"Pipe Wrench." Said tess, holding her hand out.

Senka handed her the wrench and continued to argue, "All Minashtans like the idea of technology and modern ideas, so long as they are beneficial.”

Tess Crawled out from under the pipes. The top half of her was covered with oil. her face looked as if she was wearing a mask. "Let me clean up. Then i can teach you all the tools."

Senka left them to their activites and was nearly trampled by Dewblade as he and Sierra raced around with excitement. She guessed that they had found a cure.

The captain's voice came over the speakers. "Umm, crew... I think i just found an interdimensional portal."

"I would think you would try to avoid such things," Eclipse talked to the speaker, knowing Jed couldn't hear him.

"I'm trying to fly around it but its got a bit of a gravitational pull around it. I'm not sure i'll be able to cut wide enough. even with that engine back online."

"So what's our plan?" Dewblade asked nervously as he went to the cockpit, forgetting about the antitoxin.

"Either we hope the engines are strong enough or we get sucked in." Said jed, maneuvering the plane outwards from the Portal. "Get ready crew, this is a gonna be a bumpy ride."

Senka clung on to a wall as Jed turned the ship abruptly. Her claws nearly tore off parts of the wall.

Anyone not holding onto a wall or anything mounted to the ship fell over. Furniture got moved and knocked over, and gluss ended up absorbing his muffins.

"I think we're getting pulled in." said jed. "I'm not sure the engines can-" a loud noise was heard, like a gunshot, as one of the engines shorted out.

"How can we be out of fuel?" Asked jed.

The ship started spiraling as it was pulled towards the center of the portal.

"HANG ON CREW! WERE GOING IN!"

There was a flash of light, and everything grew still.