Hgedr gently brushed a thin blue substance on what appeared to be a small pinion rack and sighed happily through his four nostril slits.

He was getting close to completing the lock, his favorite part of the process.

Once the bluing had dried, he set it into place in a mechanism held in a delicate vise on his bench.

He firmly passed the rack back and forth, allowing it to mesh with its pinion.

He chuffed with satisfaction. It finally ran smoothly, and it felt near satisfactory.

He removed it again, and with the vestigial prehensile feelers on the side of his head that once allowed his kind to feel their way through the murky lakes and pools that were once their habitat, he pulled down one of several lenses over his fore-eyes.

He peered carefully at the rack as he reached for a small, carefully shaped piece of stone. Letting the stone do the work, he passed the stone through some of the teeth, gently stroking them.

He hummed a deep rumble as he did so, his tail swishing happily.

He loved this part.

As the shadows lengthened, he finally set down the stone and reapplied the bluing.

The door opened and Vkah, his wife of forty years, walked in wearing the quilted robe he had commissioned for her as an anniversary present five years ago.

He raised his upper lip in a smile.

"Quitting time was three hours ago," she said firmly. "It's stew, so it isn't cold, but it still wants for eating, and I still want for company."

She ambled up and looked at the device in the vice.

"Looks like you are making fine progress," she smiled, laying her tail on his. "That certainly some fine brass as well."

"Good brass is getting harder to find each year," Hgedr said as he hauled himself out of his work-sling. "For all that Federation has and all that they create," he snort-chuckled, "you would think they could produce decent brass. I don't know what I will do when old Cjd finally retires. You know his sons actually abandoned the business? They have been running that smelting foundry for over three hundred years!"

"You may have mentioned it once or twice," Vkah snorted, "Come on, old man. You can tell me all about it, again, over stew."

***

The next day Hgedr, a ceramic mug of legaz in his hands, carefully examined a wooden stock mounted in a device almost exactly like a checkering cradle.

He chuffed with satisfaction.

The boy was coming along well.

Speaking of, where was the little turd? He had wanted him to see the lock before he assembled it. The boy had been really looking forward to it.

He shrugged as he returned to his workbench. In his day, an apprentice would live with his master as they should. Their "family" was the craft. It was considered an honor. Now, he was lucky to get half a day out of the child.

It didn't really matter all that much. It wasn't like he was exactly backed up with work these days. He didn't need the apprentice for labor. He just wished to pass along the craft, which he could do one half-day at a time.

It was far more time than his master could spare for him.

He started carefully examining the components of the lock assembly. It was nowhere near as complicated as a fine clock, but they had to be much more sturdy and every bit as precise.

He sipped his now cold legaz as he worked, happily lost in the finish of that pinion rack that he finally managed to fit properly.

The door to his workshop opened.

"Took your time, boy," he chuffed with more irritation than he felt. "You almost missed..."

"Husband..." Vkah said quietly.

He flipped the magnifier away from his eyes and looked up, blinking.

Something was wrong.

"What is it?"

“Jezah, Ulgatr’s mother is here.”

"Hearthfire!" Hgedr exclaimed, "Did something happen to the boy?"

"Not exactly," Vkah chuffed heavily. "You… You need to talk to her."

***

"What do you mean that I'm 'distracting him from his studies'?!?" Hgedr shouted, "I am his studies!"

"Not anymore." Jezah replied forcefully, "As of today, he is being enrolled in the Ak'lun Academic Excellence Program full-time."

"You can't be serious!" Hgedr exclaimed, "You and your fool of a husband are robbing your son of his future!"

"The Bhje'taz and the Ak'lun Corporation are the future," Jezah replied, "and you know it."

"A future of what?!?" Hgedr shouted. "Are they going to give your boy a trade? No. All they will do is teach him exactly what they want him to do and nothing more! He will have no future outside of them!"

"As opposed to having a future with you?" Jezah replied, "At least he will have a reliable income, and benefits, and retirement…"

She sighed.

"Look, Hgedr," she said, "everything is different now. I have to think about what is best for Ulgatr and what will be best for him after we both are gone."

"A trade is what is best for the boy," Hgedr replied earnestly, "Look… I know that my guns and rifles don't…"

He sighed.

"They don't sell like they used to," he continued. "I know that someone can buy something cheaper, and I'll die before I say better, but..."

He winced.

"But I will say that there are things that have better range… maybe or are lighter or more… more..."

He stopped. He just couldn't continue.

"And I understand if you don't have confidence in my trade," he said as the soul left his body, "… my… my skills… my… business..."

He looked down and fell silent.

"Husband..." Vkah said quietly.

He looked up.

"But, please, don't send him there!" Hgedr said, all of his eyes moist with tears, "There are still trades… good trades… I… I know people! I can get your boy in with a jeweler, or a watchmaker, or a tinsmith... or a cooper! Your boy is exceptional, Jezah. He can go anywhere!"

"I know," Jezah replied, "and he's going to the Academic Excellence Program. He tested quite well, Hgedr, quite well. He's been selected for the applied science program. He's going to be one of their technicians, Hgedr… a technician! Do you realize what an opportunity that is?"

Jezah smiled weakly.

"He says it was because of you," she said quietly, "he says that it was what you taught him here about measurement and angles and maths and other things that made him test so well. It's a dry thing for my thanks to be taking him away, but it's a dry world now..."

She looked down.

"I… I must go..." she said as she turned to leave. "This brings me no pleasure, Hgedr. It truly doesn't. I just wished to say it to your face with living words and not over the communicator."

"…Thank you for that, Jezah," he said quietly.

"Goodbye, Hgedr."

"Goodbye," he replied as Jezah, his apprentice, and a great more besides, just walked away.

"Oh, husband," Vkah gushed as she rushed over to hold him.

He slumped into her arms, deeply wounded, for a moment.

"Well," he chuffed. "No sense waiting on the boy. I need to get that lock together before the dust gets in. I still have at least one order to get out."

"Well, get to it, then," Vkah smiled.

After he left, she dropped to the floor, wrapped her tail around her face, and wept.

***

In his shop, Hgedr numbly put the final touches on the finished project, a fine breech loading wheel-lock bush-rifle.

It was quite possibly some of his finest work. It was not the prettiest gun he had ever made, but where it mattered, it was near perfection.

He sighed. The boy was so looking forward to firing it… And he was looking forward to teaching him how to shoot. He and Vkah never were able to have a child of their own, and he…

He blinked back tears.

No. The boy was never his, or like his, or anything of the sort. He was just an apprentice, that's all.

Placing the rifle in its carrying case, he turned his attention to a row of cast lead rods.

He placed each into a swaging die and started the process of making bullets worthy of the weapon they would be fired from. But, unlike last time, and the time before, and the time before that, there was no joy in the act.

There was only a deep sadness that he had never felt before.

His was a dying art, and he was the last master of a line of masters and apprentices that stretched back to the first flash of crude serpentine and beyond. Before that, they were blacksmiths. Before that, they worked bronze. Before that, they worked copper. Before that, stone.

Thousands of years…

For thousands of years, a candle had been carried, lit by those who came before, and lighting the ones carried by those who followed.

But… there was no candle awaiting his anymore.

The flame was going to die…

And for what, flashing lights and glowing screens sold to them from afar? Cheaply made garbage that took every copper… no… every credit spent for that trash out of the community and out of the pockets of his people forever?

The rich were getting richer, and the poor were getting poorer. And people like him, the tradesmen and merchants of the middle class? They were as doomed as the flame of knowledge that guttered in his aging hands. Soon, they would be gone, replaced by yet another Gods damned "Ak'lun Market".

He didn't even have an order after this one. How long was it going to be before the next?

Would there even be a next?

He sighed and looked down at the two score of bullets before him.

Numb, he went through the motions of weighing out forty charges of powder.

***

"You didn't have to come with me, you know," Hgedr said to his wife as their stloop-drawn carriage rolled down a country path.

"Nonsense," Vkah replied as she playfully swatted his leg with her tail. "I felt like a nice ride and always have enjoyed watching you shoot."

She looked slyly over at him.

"It sets me all unsettled," she purred, "My dashing highwayma—"

She was cut off by the woosh of an electric roadster passing them at a ridiculous rate of speed, causing their trusty stloop to snort with annoyance.

"That fatherless beggar!" Hgedr exclaimed, "That was at least fifty kilometers per hour! What crisis gave birth to that! I see no smoke on the horizon! I hear no horns of war!"

He bristled for a moment and then looked over at his wife.

"If I was your highwayman, I would teach him a thing or two about manners… and then take you for a ride in our new conveyance."

"A ride?" she purred, "I like the sound of that!"

"My mother was right about you, you know," he chuckled as he pulled off onto a dirt path. "And I, for one, couldn't be happier."

***

whzzBANG

"You hit the center again, dear," Vkah said cheerfully as she peered down a grassy field with an ornate spotting scope. "It's so tight it is hard to estimate the minute of angle from here."

"That's what I like to hear," Hgedr smiled, his troubles forgotten, as he ran a brush down the rifle's muzzle.

He opened the breech and held the weapon sunward, peering down the muzzle for a moment before setting it down.

"I'm going to retrieve the target," he said as he pulled the sealing wax from his ears. "I will be right back."

He started walking to the target a hundred meters away, but before he got there, a grav-limo flew into view and started coming in for a landing.

He reached back and released the catch on the holster concealed beneath his waistcoat as he approached the limousine.

The doors to the lavish vehicle opened, and the strangest assortment of beings exited.

There were two Vneededp, his race, three of their "friends", the smooth-skinned Bhje'taz in their billowy robes, and one creature that he recognized but had never actually seen before… nor did he ever want to… a human.

He grasped the grip of the intricate clockwork four-shot pistol he always wore, more out of pride than any genuine concern. It was his masterwork, constructed many years ago and still as potent and deadly as the day it was first fired. One twist of the barrels wound the spring for the wheel lock and opened the sealed pan of a barrel, and it only took a single twist of the same to prepare the next shot.

It was a truly excessive amount of firepower. Four rounds could be fired in well under thirty seconds! … If you didn't have to reprime a pan, that is.

Of course, there were six of them… He always regretted not adding the extra two barrels when he built the thing.

Fortunately, they didn't look like highwaymen intent on robbing a gunsmith and his wife.

"Peace be upon you!" one of the Vneededp called as he trotted ahead of the group, arms and hands extended to the sides in order to display no ill intent (or concealed weapons).

"Peace upon us all," Hgedr replied as he reluctantly made the same gesture. "Forgive my suspicion, but why do you approach and approach me here?"

"We approached you here so we could speak privately," the well-dressed Vneededp replied. "My name is Khregzr."

He bowed politely.

"I am Princess Kharrdah's personal retainer," he said with a proud swish of his meaty tail.

Hgedr looked at the other Vneededp standing by the flying limousine, jaw agape.

"Yes," Khregzr smiled. "That would be Her Royal Highness. She and her friends wish to speak with you."

"W-with me?!?"

"Please, this way," he said as he started striding gracefully towards the vehicle, Hgedr stumbling along behind.

"I… I don't know all that… I mean… I don't know how to… I..."

"Her Highness prefers to dispense with all of the encumbrances of such things when she is in private, such as now… especially now."

"I don't understand."

"You will," Khregzr smiled as they approached the group. "Just pretend she is an interested customer. This is far from an official visit."

***

"Oh, my Gods..." Vkah gasp-giggled as she stood just feet away from the crown princess herself! She just couldn't believe it.

"It's absolutely splendid!" the princess said as she held the rifle in her hands. "I have seen these, of course, but all the ones in the palace look like my bedposts."

"Your bedposts, Your Highness?" Hgedr asked, completely confused.

"Yes," she replied, "all ornate and covered with carvings, inset with jewels, and inlaid with silver and gold. They don't look like something that one would use."

She leveled the rifle at the target.

"This," she said with satisfaction, "This was made to be used."

"Y-yes, y-your highness," Hgedr replied, "Lord Marshall Sir Leguar is an avid huntsman."

"Do you mind?" the princess asked as she reached for one of the small horn flasks lined up neatly in the carrying case.

"It would be an honor!" Hgedr exclaimed.

The princess expertly opened the complicated breech and inserted one of the conical bullets he crafted.

"These do not require patches?"

"Not this one, Your Highness," he replied, "The bullet fits tightly enough that no patch is required."

"Ah," she replied as she emptied the flask into the breech and locked it closed.

She then primed the pan and wound the lock.

"I like that it has a lever and not a key," she said as she aimed at the target and pulled the trigger, causing the pyrite-laden wheel to spin.

whzBANG

"Oh, I do like this one!" she exclaimed.

She turned to the human.

"So, what do you think of us 'backward savages' now, Mr. Vargas?" she asked triumphantly as she offered him the wheel-lock.

The human chuckled.

"Hey, you were the one calling your people 'backward', not me," he retorted as he accepted it.

"W-will it suffice?" one of the Bhje'taz asked nervously.

"Oh yes," the human said as he admired the rifle. "It more than 'suffices'."

He handed the rifle back to an extremely confused Hgedr.

"This, sir," the human said with a smile, the fine lines around his eyes crinkling happily, "is damn fine work."

He turned to the group.

"If he is representative of this people's master gunsmiths, we are going to have no problem."

"Oh good!" the princess said as the Bhje'taz around her gurgled a gurgle of relief.

She turned to the even more confused Hgedr.

"I suppose I should tell you why we are here," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Are you familiar with the current state of things in the Federation and beyond?"

"N-no… Your Highness..." he responded, looking down. "I never have concerned myself with all of that. I just… I just make guns, Your Highness..."

"I envy that," the princess replied. "Without going into details that you will become all too familiar with, things are not good."

She chuffed a little sigh.

"In fact, they are so not good that we… and by we, I mean both our people and the Bhje'taz… feel the need to arm ourselves once more."

"Your Highness?!?"

"We are rebuilding our army, master gunsmith," she said calmly, "and that means we will require guns. Your services are needed once more."

"My services?" He spluttered, too shocked to address her properly, "I make… our guns… from before the Federation and the Bhje'taz. What good is my trade against them… um… I meant..."

One of the Bhje'taz gurgled loudly, heaving up and down.

"That device of yours would kill me quite dead, Master Hgedr. It would serve quite well against 'us', but fear not, I know what you meant..."

It turned its strange trilateral head towards the human.

"Mr. Vargas, if you would..."

The human nodded and walked to the limo, now parked nearby, and the trunk opened at his approach.

He pulled out a long polymer case and returned, setting it on Hegdr's workbench.

"Master Hgedr," Vargas smiled, "Do you know what I am?"

"A human, Mr. Vargas."

"Correct," he smiled, "However, were you aware that I am also a Terran?"

Hgedr gasped and backed away, instinctively reaching for his pistol.

"I see my reputation precedes me," Vargas smiled, "Please don't shoot me. They won't send you a replacement."

Sheepishly, Hegdz returned his hands to his sides.

"Are you familiar with what we use in battle?"

"I don't know," Hegdz replied. "I only know that you are… fearsome."

"Yeah," Vargas replied, "both that and the word you kept yourself from saying, too."

He opened the case.

"We use… these," he said as he pulled out an AK47D and handed it to the stunned Hegdz.

All of his eyes popped open as he squealed in shock.

"This!… This is a… gun!"

"That it is," Vargas replied as he picked up a magazine. "However, it is just a little different than your masterpiece. Not better. God no! Definitely not better..."

He took the weapon from Hegdz, loaded the magazine, and cycled the action.

"But it is different."

He fired a round and immediately fired another, causing Hegdz to shout.

"You've solved sealing a reciprocating breech!" he exclaimed as he dove for one of the spent casings. "How?!?"

"You're holding it," Vargas smiled.

“This… this held the powder…”

Vargas cycled the action, ejecting a bullet.

Hegdz, heedless of appearances or even the princess, dove upon it like a starving animal before Vargas could pick it up for him.

"…and the bullet!" he exclaimed. "We have cartridges as well, but this..."

"It contains the powder and the bullet," Vargas replied. "The walls of the case also expand when the powder is ignited, pressing firmly against the walls of the chamber and sealing the breech."

“But… but… Where is the hole for the flash?"

Vargas grinned.

"Now that's the trick, isn't it?" he chuckled. "Want to see another one?"

Vargas aimed downrange and squeezed the trigger, unleashing a burst.

Hegdz jumped up and down, laughing and clapping.

"Of course! Of course, of course, of course!!!" he shouted, dancing around. "Of course, you could make it self cocking!"

"And with these," Vargas smiled, "we protect ourselves to this day against everything this galaxy can throw at us. There are a few other little tweaks and tricks involved, especially where ammunition is concerned, but with the right rounds, one of these can cut down any foe you may face."

Hegdz just stood there in complete awe, gazing at the AK.

"Would you like for me to take it apart for you so you can see the inner workings?"

"Please!!!"

Vargas chuckled as he started to field strip the weapon.

"Now brace yourself," he grinned, "but not in the way you might think."

As the weapon was disassembled, Hegdz's face started to fall.

"...um..."

Vargas laughed.

"Those in the know often have that reaction when they see the inside of one of these," he chuckled.

"Is it too much for us?" the princess asked anxiously.

"It's not that, Your Highness..." Hegdz said very, very carefully as Vargas burst into more laughter.

***

"...So that's the deal," Vargas said as they all sat upon a lawn blanket being served diluted herbed wine. "When Councilor Karashel invited the Terran Union to her worlds, many of them answered the call."

He chuckled as he sipped his wine.

"I certainly hope she realizes what she asked for."

"Are you not a member of their guilds?" Hegdz asked.

"Not exactly," he smiled. "Let's just say I hitched a ride. They didn't mind."

"So, who are you?" Hegdz asked, "If you are not a tradesman..."

"Oh, I am," Vargas replied. "I'm a licensed Terran master weaponsmith and was one for many years. However, before that, I might have had another 'trade', one that you can never truly set aside. The polite term for what I now am is 'military advisor'. I have accepted an invitation by your princess to assist in the updating of your military, its tactics, its training… and its technology."

"And you were willing to help us?" Hegdz asked. "I thought we were foes."

Everyone chuckled.

"If only the world was truly that simple," the princess laughed as her attendant refreshed her goblet. "Foes can become allies, and those one thought friends can become one's greatest enemy," she replied, "and it can happen in the blink of an eye."

There was a gurgle of agreement.

"The thought that I would sit with a Terran was unthinkable only months ago," one of the Bhje'taz coughed as he savored some herbs floating in a flute of pure water.

"The feeling is mutual," Vargas replied. "Strange days."

"Like that curse of which you are so fond," the Bhje'taz replied, "interesting times indeed."

"The long and short of it is that there are parts of the Federation that are our enemy," Vargas said, "and there are parts of it that are not. We just happen to be sitting on one of those parts. You and the Bhje'taz aren't bad sorts. You're good people..." Vargas's expression darkened.

"But being good isn't going to cut it. That's where I come in… That's where both of us come in. Your army is outdated and just ceremonial, and that's far more than your advanced friends over there have. We have our work cut out for us, dude."

"The current plan is that we will serve as the ground defense for both of our people," the princess said, "While the Bhje'taz arm their ships and protect the skies, and heavens, above."

She sighed.

"It isn't much," she said, "but it is the best we can do."

"You are starting out with more than we did," Vargas smiled gently, "You will be surprised what you can do when the time comes."

"Is it truly that dire?" Vkah asked in dismay.

"It is," the princess replied, "I shall not load your back with too much too quickly, but if we do not act with surety and purpose immediately, we shall all be lost. I will NOT be the last queen of our people, and these will NOT be our final days."

"Well said," one of the Bhje'taz gurgled. "If we are to fall, then we shall fall from the heavens, in flames, above the lands that we love."

He raised his glass.

"[email protected]! K’k*dhur% [email protected]! $%th [email protected]! Va~dee'n ~!" it gurgled. "For love, for family, for the sea!"

"Velut Luna," Vargas replied as he drank.

***

"I simply cannot believe it!" Jezah gasped the following day. "Hegdz has been appointed royal armorer?!?"

"Interesting times indeed," Vkah smiled as she continued to pack her belongings.

"How did this come to pass?"

"We were testing Hegdz's latest rifle when she and her entourage happened upon us," she replied, technically not lying, "She and her companions were so pleased with his work that he was offered the position on the spot."

"Amazing!"

"That's one word for it," Vkah said wearily. "He has gone on ahead to the palace while I supervise the transport of the shop, not that there is much to do," she added as the dozens of workmen expertly packed and loaded all of Hegdz's equipment and their personal belongings.

"I'm really just here to say our goodbyes," she said sadly.

Jezah chuffed nervously as she twisted her tail.

“Vkah...”

“Yes, Jezah?”

"I know that I said some… dry words… to your husband..."

"That you did."

"About my son not having a future with him..." she stammered as she wrung her tail.

"And becoming a technician is a wonderful opportunity," Vkah said as she continued to pack.

"But… seeing as how… um..."

"No," Vkah replied.

Jezah flinched, squeezing her nasal slits tight.

"I… I see…" she replied. "I suppose it was too much to ask for…"

"You're not wrong," Vkah replied. "You could have phrased things more kindly, but you are not wrong. Times are changing, Jezah, and faster than any of us are prepared for… I…”

Vkah sighed.

"Your boy is dear to us, Jezah, more than you know," Vkah replied, "And that is why I am saying no. Have him become a technician. It is a good, secure, safe future."

"What?"

Vkah just smiled sadly.

"Give him a kiss for me, will you?"