” What the hell? Give that back you little thief before I gotta hurt ya.”

I sigh as a tall, gangly man with a scarred face begins yelling at something in the upper corner of the cantina hidden in shadow. The man, who is armed with two nasty looking beam pistols is brandishing a wicked looking knife at the unidentified creature, surrounded by a small group of equally disreputable scum who up until the man’s enraged cry had been playing cards. At his cry the whole cantina became focused on the potential altercation except for one old man sitting on a stool at the bar nursing a shot of something foul and slightly luminescent contemplating a past better left alone. His back is hunched and his long scraggly hair nearly touches the lip of the shot glass as well as obscuring his face. A red bandana is tied around his neck and is tucked under an ill kept beard. He is dressed in a long, faded black duster coat. There is an equally faded black cowboy hat sitting next to him on the bar counter. Leaning next to him is a long, dented metal case. He is an entirely depressing sight to behold. Sadly, the old man is me. My name is William Cash. The commotion does not concern me until I hear the high pitched, sing song reply from the creature in the corner. Damn the luck.

” Bug no thief! Those are Bug’s shinnies! You mean man! Leave Bug alone!”

The creature fires out her retort like a shrill, machine gun. Each word hits me between the eyes. Damn, what is she doing here? I thought I left her behind on the “She’s one of Ours”. the salvage ship which I had until recently been serving on. The name is the Captain’s attempt at subterfuge. She seems to believe it will confuse an enemy. Maybe it could but what do I know? I’m just an old mercenary. Though truthfully I fail to see the humor.

That being said I still am wondering what that little varmint Bug is doing here, several light years away from the ship. You know what? Scratch that. I do know what she’s doing her. She is doing what she does best, get into trouble. As if to prove that point one of the scumbag with the knife’s buddies pulls a pistol and aims it at the corner and fires in the general direction of Bug’s voice. He misses but it causes Bug to fly to a beam over the middle of the room exposing her to view to the distress of the whole cantina.

The cause of the distress is that Bug is a non- human humanoid from deep in uncharted space. There is still quite a bit of xenophobia in the human race ever since the Arathi war some 50 years ago. Even though Bug’s race had nothing to do with it humans just haven’t warmed up to anything outside of the human norm and Bug definitely qualifies as outside the norm.

She stands just under three feet tall and has an almost fey- like essence. She has a long, thick prehensile tail upon which she can balance to make herself look bigger. This she is doing currently. Her arms have natural wings attached at the wrists which allow gliding flight which are currently spread to appear fierce. She wears no clothing but straps designed to hold a myriad of pouches. Though she does have a fine brown fur covering her tough, chitinous skin. The other thing that would catch your eye are the gems. Bug’s people have a strong affinity for gem craft and they always have some placed on their bodies. Which was odd since Bug’s gems weren’t in their usual places but were being held in her hand-like feet. Which brings us back to the scums accusation.

” Give those gems back you freak before we have to get nasty.” The scum yells to Bug with a leer.

(to be continued)

Nullus Anxietas