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Oh boy, already one third the way to the end of this shit show. this one is out so early because yesterday I got really productive. anyway, in this chapter, more people in distress in deep space! this wont go wrong at all!

Edited: Spelling/grammar/phrasing/continuity fixes

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The atmosphere Inside the cockpit was that of another dull day flying in a straight line, boredom and monotony putting the crew on duty in a half awake state, making course corrections and other duties on mental autopilot, waiting for their break. Zach began to disassemble his S-Com for the third time that day when Leph, who was on break, burst into the cockpit, waving a bottle of non-alcoholic imitation champagne. “Happy two months!”
He shook the bottle and popped the cork, which almost hit Serleah on the head. “Hey! What the hell, Leph!?”
“What? Everyone is so zombified that I made up an occasion to celebrate! So, happy two months into our journey!”
Leena sniffed the air. “Is that… non-alcoholic?”
Leph poured himself a cup and tasted it. “Bleg… it has to be. The bubbles are nice, though.”
He handed them each a cup, which he took from the coffee maker. Zach held up his cup. “A toast!”
The other three looked at him quizzically. Leena tilted her head. “What? Toast? Like… toasted bread?”
“A toast! You know, like I say some things, then we clink glasses?”
Serleah downed her cup in one go. “You Humans have some weird customs.”
Her station beeped. “Leph, we’re here.”
Leph jumped into his seat. “Peach! Take us out of hyperspace!”
The ship slowed to a stop. Leena checked her instruments, puzzled. “Um… there’s nothing here.”
Leph switched on his view screen. “This is what I wanted to show you, come here.”
Still confused, Leena stood next to Leph and peered into his screen. “I don’t see anything.”
Leph clapped his paws excitedly. “Exactly! No stars, no planets, nothing! Let me explain: We are right outside the area of space they call Dead Space. Inside, there is nothing, not even any space dust, anything that might have fallen off ships inside, not even the extremely low density barely detectable gasses that float around in normal space. All of it gets pushed to the outside, forming a fine film over the entire area which, as if to add atmosphere, blocks the light from anything outside Dead Space. The best part? No one has a single clue why Its here or what created it!”
The screen was completely black, and Leena got a chill down her spine. “Is it dangerous?”
Leph patted her on the back and laughed. “On the contrary, anything that could interfere with ship systems is absent from Dead Space. In fact, engine efficiency will be up 11% in there. Of course, if we hit the film while in hyperspace it would cause some serious trouble, so we have to pass through it with our ion engines.”
Leena returned to her station and powered up the engines, taking them in slowly. “I don’t read much about spacial anomalies, but I’ll have to read up on this one.”
Serleah yawned as she watched through her view screen as the film of dust, gasses and metal bits flashed and glittered as the ship disturbed its equilibrium. “It’s a dry read, mostly theories that make no sense and experiments that went nowhere.”
Zach frowned at her disapprovingly. “I’ll have you know I did a school project on Dead Space, it was very interesting; reading about the scientists in the shuttle that began to float to the outside of the anomaly, and they started freaking out and hugging each other. Heh.”
“Anyway, it’ll be a few days until we get through. Leena, take us back into hyperspace, and make sure you set the computer to drop out again once we reach the other side.”
Leph said.

The next night, Leph and Leena were relaxing, watching a movie in Leph’s room. It was a documentary about early space civilizations, and how many of them fell. The credits rolled, and Leena nudged Leph, who had fallen asleep. “Hmm…? It’s over already? I thought it was a two hour movie.”
Leena giggled at his bewilderment. “You fell asleep half way though.”
Leph groaned. “Aww, I’m sorry. It was interesting too. Especially the part about the people who almost discovered faster than light travel but destroyed themselves first. Was it just a dream or did they say it was only a few light years away from Atriea?”
Leena snuggled closer to Leph. “Mm hmm. The probability of that is extremely low, too~”
He put his arm around her. “Oh, I bet it is~”
“Leph! Report to the cockpit!”
Right after the message was delivered, Leph felt the ship drop out of hyperspace. He sighed. “Damn, duty calls.”
He stood up to leave, Leena staying on the bed. “What? Not coming?”
She grinned at him. “They didn’t say I had to go too. Besides, it doesn’t sound urgent.”
Leph shrugged and headed to the cockpit. Feldoh and Serleah were the only ones there, and they made their report. “Leph! Feldoh found something!”
“Yeah, it was weird, I was just looking at the scans, there was nothing, then there was something, just inside of our sensor range.”
Leph took his seat. “There isn’t supposed to be anything here, take us in.”
“Leph, are you sure this is wise? We’re just a cargo ship, we don’t have any obligation to explore phenomena.”
“Look Serleah, we don’t know what that is, who knows? Maybe it’s a ship that needs out help.”
As they drew closer, Feldoh was able to get more detailed scans. “It’s a ship! Very low power signature. No distress call.”
Leph shot Serleah an “I told you so” look. “See?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll try hailing them.”
She sent a message to the ship. “Unidentified vessel, do you require assistance?”
She repeated the call three times. She was about to give up when she finally got a response. “Uh… no thank you… we’re all fine here thank you… how are you?” a male voice said, speaking Atriean.
Serleah sat for a moment, stunned. “We’re… good.”
“Um, we won’t be bothering you… goodbye!”
The line was cut. Serleah looked at Leph with the same look he had given her. “You were wrong, they don’t need our help.”
Feldoh wasn’t so sure. “They look damaged, They definitely need help.”
Serleah’s console beeped. “They’re hailing again…”
“On second thought, we do need help-”
The new voice, female and also Atriean, was cut off by the male voice. “-No! No we don’t. Ha ha, funny joke.” Then, under his breath, “Shut up, Meryl!- OW!”
There was a slapping sound. “I apologize, my partner is slightly paranoid. But once he realizes we have no other choice but to trust a stranger or DIE,” She emphasized the last word, as if it was directed at the ship’s second occupant, “I’m sure he’ll welcome the help.”
“Uhh… What can we do, then?” Serleah answered, trying not to laugh.
“We will dock with you, we have power for that much, at least.”
The com was cut yet again, leaving the cockpit in silence. Leph jumped up. “Well! I’ll go greet our guest. Feldoh, oversee the docking, Serleah, you’re with me.”

Leph and Serleah waited at the airlock, speculating about who could be behind it. “What if it’s another person running from a crazy cult?”
Leph laughed. “Oh ha ha. I doubt it. They seem more like the eccentric traveler type.”
The airlock cycle completed and it began to open.
“We’ll soon see…”
The door opened and two individuals stepped out, both dressed in heavy coats. One, a graying fennec fox who looked familiar to Leph, struck a ridiculous pose. “Greetings! This is my assistant, Meryl. And I, as I’m sure you know, am famous bounty hunter Ray Phoenix!”
The female waved, she was a wolf with unusual purple fur. Leph tilted his head and squinted his eyes. “Ray Phoenix? Is that your real name? It does sound familiar…”
His eyes shot wide open with the realization. “Wait-”
“RAY!”
Everyone turned to the source of the shout. It was Rackham, at it looked like something had put the devil in him. He stomped towards Ray. Ray’s ears went flat as he backed up. “Wha- Hey there, big guy! Long time no see! I’ve got a question, why does it look like you’re about to kill me?”
Rackham had Ray backed into a corner. Serleah was about to attempt to break it up, but Leph stopped her, shaking his head. Meryl didn’t seem to be too surprised someone was about to assault her partner. Rackham grabbed Ray by the coat and held him aloft. “No, I don’t suppose you know, do you? You didn’t even stick around long enough to pay your bar tab.”
Ray struggled fruitlessly. “I had somewhere to be, I was chasing a criminal. Tell Leena I said sorry for running off, I meant to return…”
Rackham shook him. “Did you even stop to consider the consequences of your actions!?”
Ray swallowed hard. “Consequences…?”
“Leena is dead. She died giving birth to your daughter twenty years ago! You made a huge mistake, Ray! A HUGE MISTAKE!”
Leph heard a noise behind him, and saw Leena standing there, frozen in place, tail between her legs. Leph wheeled on Rackham and hissed at him. “Rackham! Shut up!”
Rackham turned his head. Tears began to form in Leena’s eyes. “I’m a mistake…”
Rackham dropped Ray. “No, that’s not what I meant…”
But Leena had already run off. “Leena! Wait!”
Rackham ran after her, Leph as well. Ray sat on the floor, dazed both by being manhandled and with the sudden appearance of his daughter. Serleah looked at Meryl. “This kind of thing happen often?”
“Yep. Never with an illegitimate child though.”
Ray looked at his paws. “My boys can swim…”

Rackham had longer legs than Leph, and he caught up to Rackham a full minute later, outside the guest room, which had been given to her when she began working for Leph. He gently knocked on the door. “Leena, you know I never meant…”
Leena’s voice was filled with dismay. “It’s true! I was a one night stand! A mistake that cost a life!”
Rackham opened his mouth, but he knew that, objectively, she was right. Leph stepped forward. “Peach… That doesn’t make it your fault.”
The sobs from the room filled Leph and Rackham with dread. Zach walked up from his room to find out what the commotion was. “Hey, guys-”
The two both shushed him at once, and he put up his hands and walked backwards to his room. Leph tried again. “Peach-”
“Go away! I need to be alone…”
Rackham and Leph looked at each other, understanding passing between them. Leph patted Rackham on the back. “She’ll be OK, it’s not like this is news to her.”
Rackham shook his head. “I know. I did tell her the story, but it was just that, a story. To see her real father with me yelling all that… damn fool stuff, it would make the realization hit pretty hard.”
Leph nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to discuss some things with Ray, maybe you should cool off for a while.”
Rackham shook his paw. “Leph, you can be a real bastard sometimes, but you’ve been a good friend.”
They parted ways, Rackham heading back to the cargo bay, Leph heading back to the airlock. Once he arrived, he noticed a distinct lack of Ray, but Serleah was waiting there. She walked past him. “They’re waiting in the conference room.”
Leph followed her there, and as soon as he entered Ray stood up. “I need to talk to Leena- I mean… Leena.”
Leph sat down. “That’s not a good idea right now. The sudden appearance of her deadbeat dad has been a shock. She needs to be alone for a while.”
Ray reluctantly sat down. “Can we talk about her? I mean… I never knew her.”
Meryl tapped the table, her long head fur flopping down over one eye. “We have a job, Ray. We can’t delay, he’s getting away as we speak, he might even be out of Dead Space by now.”
Leph folded his paws. “So you are a bounty hunter. Who are you chasing?”
“A Human war criminal, calls himself Texas Red. He escaped prison, killed twenty people and somehow evaded both the Solar Federation and the Yerins.” Meryl explained.
“Why the Yerins?”
Ray shrugged. “Who cares? He has a huge bounty on his head, one I can finally use to retire. I’ve been doing this too long. You’ve… You never told me your name.”
“It’s Leph.”
“Leph, you’ve got to continue our pursuit course before this guy gets too far. Meryl can show you the way, we have a tracking device on him.”
Leph nodded to Serleah. “Take Meryl and go where she says. As soon as we get your ship running, you should leave.”
The two left the room. “Speaking of your ship, Feldoh and Zach will have it up and running soon.”
Feldoh stood. “Aye, shouldn’t be a problem.”
He went to find Zach. Leph sat with Ray, unsure about how to feel. Ray was more pathetic than malicious, an old man who wasn’t proud of his past. He coughed, bringing Leph out of his quiet contemplation. “So… can you tell me about her now?”
Leph shrugged. “Alright. What do you want to know?”
Ray opened his mouth, but he didn’t have anything ready. “I don’t know, I’ve never been a father before! Shit… What does she like?”
“She’s interested in all sorts of things, mostly to do with technology and physics.”
Ray was confused. “But… she grew up with those farmers, I assume…”
Leph raised an eyebrow. “The Internet is a thing, you know.”
“Oh. What about… Does she have a mate? If I was around I… would have taught her everything I know.”
“She does have a mate.”
Ray grinned. “Oh? Is he nice?”
“He’s me.”
The smile faded from Ray’s face quickly. “What? But you’re a… wolverine.”
Leph looked at him in a new light. Was this guy anti inter-species?
“And?”
Ray averted his eyes. “That’s wrong.”
“And that’s your opinion.”
“If God intended sub-species to get involved with one another, he would have made them able to have children.”
Leph chuckled. “A religious bounty hunter? Well, I don’t care about the downsides, I didn’t choose to fall in love with her.”
Ray glared at him. “I’m not getting into a debate with you about this. As long as… As long as she’s happy.”
They sat in awkward silence for a while. “So… Do you think she’ll want to talk to me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“I really was going to come back…”
Leph blinked hard, his head hurt. “…I was going to visit her again, I…”
Leph’s brain felt as though it was drowning in a sea of blackness. “…It was just…”
He opened his eyes. “You’re lying.”
Ray was stopped mid-sentence. “W-what?”
“You never planned to come back. You were just in town for some information, and you decided to have some fun.”
“I have no idea…”
“You thought: “I’ll just seduce one of these simple farmers and run off in the night.””
“That’s not true!”
“The first time you thought about Leena since that night was when you first came aboard, when you recognized Rackham.”
“You’ve got it all wrong, I…”
“She meant nothing to you!”
Leph was standing over the table, both paws slammed onto it. Ray was cowering in his chair. “You couldn’t possibly know that.”
“But I’m right. I don’t want you talking to Leena, but if she wants to, I can’t stop her.”
Leph left Ray in the conference room, mulling things over.

Zach and Feldoh dug around inside the bounty hunter’s ship, becoming increasingly confused. Feldoh pressed a button on a wall console, bringing up the specs of the system it controlled. “This looks like the shields…”
Zach turned to look. “But… I thought that one was the shields.”
He pointed across the ship to a similar console. The specs also showed transfer pipes running from the plasma reserves. “Why would there be two shield systems, and why would one of them be tied to the drive?”
“I don’t know… This looks promising!”
Zach pressed a button, and a hatch opened in the floor, almost causing Feldoh to fall inside. After a minute a giant coil of copper wire rose from the floor. Zach and Feldoh looked at the thing, then at each other. “Any idea why there’s a giant electromagnet in the floor?”
“Maybe. But I think we need to get Ray or Meryl.”
Feldoh poked his head into The Frontier and yelled down the hall. “Mr. Phoenix! We could use some help!”
After a minute, Ray walked in. “What is it- Hey! You need to fix the engines first, stop playing with my plasma shields!”
“Plasma shields? I didn’t think they perfected those yet. As for your engines, there’s nothing we can do.”
Feldoh put his paws on the electromagnet in wonder. “I was right! It is a plasma shield! If this thing actually works, that would explain why the engines don’t work.”
Zach looked at him in shock. “What? That’s a leap of logic.”
Feldoh brought up more information on the plasma shield console, an idea forming in his head. “Let me explain it then. The plasma shield created a bubble of plasma around the ship by using that electromagnet, right?”
Ray puffed out his chest in pride. “Yep, I even-”
Feldoh wasn’t listening. “An interesting property of plasma is it only needs a fraction of the energy to keep it going than what was used to heat it. Another interesting thing is, it absorbs energy from some types of weapons, especially ones designed to stun an opponent’s ship with an EMP.”
I dawned on Ray. “That son of a bitch Texas Red used an EMP on us!”
“Yes, the extra energy held in the plasma fed back into the drive, not only breaking most of it, but also wiping the drive computer. In hindsight, you shouldn’t have tied the shield directly into the drive plasma.”
“Uh… that wasn’t my idea.”
Zach shook his head. “That was impressive Feldoh. Took me a second to figure it out. But yeah, we already knew what was wrong with your ship, and now we know why. You have to get your drive replaced.”
Ray did not like the idea. “Replaced! That’ll take weeks; and this guy is dangerous! We can’t let him get away! You need to help us.”
Zach shrugged. “Yeah, well you’ll need to talk to Leph. There’s nothing else we can do here.”
“Talk to Leph… yeah, I’ll just do that.”

Meryl and Serleah worked in the cockpit, trying to adapt the sensor array to the tracking device Meryl brought aboard. Serleah started to re write a subroutine. “So, this Texas Red, I’ve never heard of him. A war criminal, right?”
Meryl pulled a strange instrument from her coat. “Yep, the Solar Federation’s bastard child and worst kept secret. You may not have heard about him, but you might have heard about what he made. Chameleons.”
Serleah was surprised; Chameleons were a deadly and very painful chemical anti-personal weapon deployed by the Solar Federation during the war. They were impossible to see without equipment and delivered a deadly gas that turned the alveoli in the lungs to scar tissue. “We’re chasing the guy that made the Chameleons? Why was he in prison?”
Meryl was facing away from Serleah, but she could hear the emotion in her voice. “Aside from the… inhumane thing he created, he made it his hobby to experiment on POW’s. The Solar Federation says they didn’t sanction his actions, but conveniently didn’t catch him until the war was over.”
Serleah was thinking of what to say next when Zach came strolling casually into the cockpit. “Hey guys, where’s Leph-”
As soon as Meryl noticed Zach, she extended her claws and bared her teeth. “Human!”
She pounced at him. Serleah was fast enough to cross check her into the wall. “Meryl! That’s our engineer! He’s with us!”
She stood and wiped blood from her nose. “Ray was right. We don’t need your help.”
She pushed past Zach and out of this cockpit. Serleah clapped her paws together. “This is going about as well as can be expected.”