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Srettia Mumbled to herself and turned up the heat. It was a bit of a waste of power, but falling asleep on the job was never a good idea. Flicking her tongue to make sure the heat was increasing, she checked the progress of her drill. Happy with the progress, she let a smile slide across her face. She took a risk coming to this part of the belt, The nearest naval vessels were at best two hours away, and piracy was always a risk for miners. However, finding this much ore was a rarity, and the sheer amount would let her spend an entire month in a dry sauna if she wished.

Life as a miner wasn't what she thought it would be. She had heard many stories of Aasteran striking it rich. Tales of a lone miner finding a cluster of ore filled asteroids within days of exploring the belt was a far cry from the reality of it.

"Spending hours fighting off cold sleep while a laser drills into an asteroid to get at a small amount of ore seems to be more accurate." She hissed, correcting some minor deviation.

This one, however, was different. The amount of metal wasn't enough to retire on, but Srettia could mine this one asteroid for weeks before she would even have to think about looking for another. "Maybe I'll be able to afford a tug with this." The thought of just setting out and hauling in designated asteroids for the various refineries around the belt might be a better life. Pay is more reliable and removes the luck, but you never hear stories of rich tug operators.

Sighing to herself as the heat finally filled her cabin, Srettia continued her mining. "I'll just have to see how much this dumb rock makes me before I decide. With the ship being in good condition, the resale should be easy if I decided on a tug."

Her ship was by no means top of the line, but she had spent years saving for it. Along with the money meant for higher education, her parents had accumulated for her. She was able to get a ship with a rather large hold and top of the line bordering illegal scanners. Along with the strong engines she had installed on her ship, she decided to go against Anti-piracy weapons, figuring that she could see any pirate ship coming and run away with her scanners. Considering the few times pirates did try to sneak up on her, her plan worked, quickly getting away from would-be pirates.

Soft beeping broke her out of her thoughts, her sensors informing her that her mining laser had finished cutting around the tasty looking silvery grey ore. Smiling that she had found a massive haul after months of scraping by, she grabbed the manipulator controls and activated the mag struts. Extending the grasping arms, she started slowly loading her storage hold.

"Maybe I'll treat myself to some real meat when I get home, none of that artificial stuff... Maybe one right off the rear of a losus," salivating at the thought, Srettia spent the next few hours working towards the goal of a real losus steak.

Warning sounds broke Srettia from her concentration. Panicking, she glanced at her nav control. It was a massive energy signature that was approaching. Screaming to herself as it approached her at a speed, she couldn't hope to outrun. "Wait a second. No ship moves that fas-" Before she could even finish the thought, the ship smashed into the side of the asteroid she was in.

Screaming as she witnessed the ship Breaking into a million pieces, causing the asteroid to rock out of its orbit and slam into the others around it. She nervously eyed the deployed mag struts. Currently, they were barely holding her ship in place as she was violently rattled around in her harness.

Thankfully Srettia was deep enough in the asteroid that the initial explosion didn't damage her ship. Still, she was pretty sure her body was going to have some fun coloration to it tomorrow. Gathering her wits, she hastily looked at the damage readouts. "No hull breaches, just lots of dents and cosmetic damage. I'll be sending the bill to whichever company is responsible for this! " Flicking her tail angrily, she worked to make sure everything was safe. Luckily it seems whatever it was didn't cause too much damage, though she would have to replace two of her six mag struts.

Looking at the data, she noticed that it came from out of the system, whatever it was. "Maybe an experimental ship or a weapon from some secret base." She thought, she'd never seen anything move that quick before, her people would be able to get to the nearest system within the generation going at that speed. Maybe even find a new planet.

As if right on queue, the nearest military patrol was requesting communication. Sighing, Srettia turned the screen on to see a well-dressed and, frankly, impressive-looking officer. A common sight, for her at least. Military men just hit the right spot for her taste. "Mining vessel Lottyim. This is Khasta of the patrol vessel Relarus. We have detected strange activity in your sector. Are you in need of assistance?"

Not quite what Srettia was expecting. A bit rude, honestly, but maybe they were too far away to get a good reading and think she was messing around and screwed up. "Well, I might as well get this over with," she thought while opening her coms. "I'm fine. My ship got banged up, though. Something hit the asteroid I was working in. I didn't manage to get a good reading on what it was before it crashed, unfortunately." Maybe she can get out of whatever was going on if she faked not knowing what happened.

The officer seemed to look at Srettia like he was trying to discern if she was lying or not. Luckily he seemed to relent on his visual inspection. " Understood, pack up what you have, and leave the area. A vessel will move in to confirm and investigate the occurrence. The area is now under the supervision of the Aasteran military."

Srettia began cursing under her breath at the turn of events. "What about the ore? I won't be able to fit it all in my hold, and I just hit a massive vein."

The officer's look told of a man who was used to kicking miners off large finds, which rubbed Srettia in the wrong way. "The area is now under military control. Any ore left after the investigation will belong to the first miner to claim it." Frowning, Srettia knew how this would go. She'd seen it many times after pirate attacks. The military had miners that would swoop in almost seconds after they were finished with their investigation and take what's left.

"So I pretty much just lost the largest haul of my life is what you're saying? At least let me stay and fill my hold!" She spat, maybe a bit meaner than she wanted. Keeping a straight face, the officer replied in a neutral and rehearsed tone that could only be reached from repeating the same line thousands of times. "As per line thirty-seven of subsection Y-three of the free mining agreement, all ore and equipment become the property of Aasteran military in the event of a declared investigation. You may claim compensation for your loss at the nearest refinery location. I recommend scanning as much as you can before you leave. I'll give you fifteen minutes before you're fined for trespassing."

Cursing, she cranked her scanners up to max. She knew it would give away just how powerful they were, which might open her up to more questioning, but she wanted to make sure she got what she deserved.

Almost immediately, she noticed at least seven military ships ranging from corvets to cruisers on an intercept course to her location. Whatever it was that hit her asteroid, it got the attention of a lot of people. Oddly a few seconds of scanning revealed a hunk of solid metal, of an unknown type. Narrowing the scan on the chunk, She noticed it was spinning around just outside the impact point. Already in the middle of retracting her ships grasping arms, she stopped for a moment to ponder, "I think...I think I'll have enough time to grab whatever that is. I'm sure it's worth more than the ore here being unknown and all..."

Quickly retracting her mag struts and extending the grasping arms. She flew as fast as she could to where the hunk of metal was. Lining up the arms to stop the spinning object, she swiftly grabbed whatever it was and started to move away from the wreckage, trying to make it look like she had never stopped. Srettia straightened her tail and stilled her hood as she quickly slammed the ore into her storage, just as an impressive amount of scanning frequencies from the Relarus. The other ships heading her way followed soon after, hitting her ship with hundreds of scans and nearly shutting down some of her systems while doing so. Cursing as she sped away, she sucked in a breath and hoped they didn't catch what she had just done.

Not seeing any incoming coms request, she exhaled and set in a course for refinery B-8, the workers there typically gave her a fair deal, and with the damage to her ship, her big haul just became a bit smaller. Exiting the belt and double-checking that her course was set, Srettia unlatched her harness and put on her light mag boots. She decided it was time to take a look at her prize and grab some water.

Standing outside the main hold, she turned on the mag panels, gently forcing the ore to the back of the hold before forcing the ore to the ground to prevent any loose pieces from hitting her. Srettia eyed up the sheer amount of ore she snagged, smiling that maybe she got more than she thought and made her way to where the real prize was.

Grimacing at the damage she caused, throwing whatever it was into her hold so quickly. She came to a stop not too far away from the... Metal egg? Getting a close look at it, she spotted strange code on the side T.S.N. Quest Results. "A pod of some sort, then..."

Panic, Time to panic, if it's a pod, there is a person in it. If there is a person in it, they will report me for theft of government property. "Maybe I can dump the pod and run away before they figure out I took it."

Tail twitching around nervously, Srettia was trying to formulate a plan. With the Relarus moving in to investigate along with whatever those other ships were doing, she had at most two hours to figure out this mess she got herself into. "Maybe whoever is in the pod died it doesn't seem to be doing anything." She nervously stated.

Then the thought of having a pod with a dead body in her hold hit her like a chilly breeze. With the cold of the storage bay getting to her and dulling her senses, she started heading back to the bridge. She could think of a plan there.

Sitting down in her chair Srettia began to think up a plan. She wasn't too far away from the crash yet, so dumping it seemed to be the best option for now. Taking a look at her scanners to see if anything changed, she noticed the seven ships jumped to seventeen, and the Relarus was on intercept to meet her. "Yup, I'm in trouble," She thought.

Turning to the internal camera to spy on the pod... With the open side door... "Well, there goes the dumping plan, can't just vent someone into space just because I messed up. Maybe I can pretend I saved them. That would be the best result."

Srettia watched the screen as a person started creeping out of the pod, obviously having issues. "Huh, that's weird. That's a pretty fancy atmo suit. Must be a prototype to go along with whatever they were testing." Forcing a smile, realising how screwed she was, having stolen prototype equipment from the military or the government or a creepy corporation.

"Well, let's go meet whoever it is that's going to ruin my life," Srettia sighed, knowing she got herself into this mess. Walking into the storage hold, she steeled herself hoping the test pilot wasn't about to do super secret silence you military things to her.

Looking around, she spotted her target immediately. It was looking around the hold like it was lost in thought. So she tapped the floor with her tail loud enough to gather the male's attention. At least he looked male, even with the suit in the way. He had broad shoulders and thick arms... " Did they remove his horns to fit that helmet? That's a shame." Srettia thought. "I bet they would have been pleasant to look at considering his build."

Smiling at the male who froze upon noticing her presence, she walked towards him. Seeing his reaction to her, she smiled. "Good thing I wore my nice comfy clothes today. Maybe I can work with this he seems to find me attractive." Srettia flicked her tail seductively and stuck a pose. "Hello pilot, I am Captain Srettia Esithn and welcome to my ship. I'm not sure what happened, but you seemed to have crashed into an asteroid I was working near. Seeing that you might have been in distress, I brought you onto my ship."

Smiling, she noticed that the male just stood there, taking in her figure, looking her up and down, not even trying to hide the fact he was leering at her. It felt nice to see a male stunned into inaction, especially one in the military.

Holy shit, it's a talking lizard

Stunned at the odd language, Srettia took a closer look at the male.

No horns.

No tail.

Legs a bit longer than a normal male.

A bit taller and broader than most Aasteran.

Then it rushed over her like a cold wind from the snowy peaks. It came from out of the system, at an insane speed. Its pod had odd writing. It was made of an unknown metal. And it didn't speak Aasteran but some kind of barking language.

Srettia screamed and ran for the door, quickly locking it behind her.

Michael stood in silence on some alien ship. "Well fuck"