Back on the Centurion Eagle, James found himself lying on his bed while healing up his wounded foot.  The acid from the rachni thankfully had not eaten through enough of the armour to hurt the muscle itself, but the skin had been left with a deep marking until his body could patch it up.  Medi-gel helped the process immensely as he rested up for a bit, his feelings rather mixed still about the end of the last mission.  Even worse was that he had no idea why it was bothering him so much, trying to rationalise it to himself.
	"We had to save those people," reasoned FG.  "I mean they were in danger from a bunch of creatures right, they had no way to defend themselves...but...those last ones...they were surrendering I know they were.  God...why does this bother me so much?!  I didn't give two shits about that guy that tried to beat up Leiah, I was gonna kill him if he tried to...maybe they weren't surrendering, but...no.  No they were definitely all frightened and confused, those...rachni was it?"
He reached over for his satchel on the bedside dresser near him and pulled out his photo of Koopin, gazing upon the image of a simpler day.  His thumb rubbed across his face, trying to feel his lover through it.
	"What's wrong with me Koopin?  How come I give a shi-...care even, about some creepy-ass bugs that were attacking unarmed lab workers?  I mean, they had to be dealt with, that's not something to argue about right?!  I wouldn't have thought a single thing if they all just died in the fire together, all at once, I never cared about zombies or robots or nothing...but they didn't.  Those last ones...they...felt that pain before we dealed with them.  But Jax knows about them, he said they'd never surrender, they did fight back!  That makes them...trying to protect their home...underground...under the new lab that got built on top of them.  Was that how it went down?  Were they the invaders...or did we just protect the ones invading?"
He groaned and laid back against the bed, throwing his head hard against the pillow as he tried to set himself at ease.  But nothing would come, he couldn't rid himself of unease and the more he began to focus on it, the more he realised his own hypocrisy, stroking the photograph.
	"...I've done worse things by my own hand...by him...him controlling me but my own hands still...forget it.  You know what just, forget it, I didn't even do anything, let the krogan deal with this if he wants to because who the fuck cares?  ...sorry.  Dammit you're not even here why the fuck do I care what I've got to say!?  ...at least he's not here anymore Koopin...I...I think we're finally free from him.  That's one worry down.  Now all I need to do is find my way back home...get all this sorted out...and then...we can be together again.  Forever...maybe.  If you...if you still want me back by then."
At first he moved his lips towards the photograph, but something stopped him the closer he went.  Doubt rose up inside him, and his head slowly turned to one side before brushing his cheek against it.  He put the picture back into his satchel, and huddled his knees against himself, falling asleep soon after.  Despite his own worries churning in his head, he had a dream just as chaotic as any other would be to blend within it.

He saw himself as a cheerful little dragon, shooting bubbles instead of fire towards strange mechanical drones upon platforms high above him.  The bubbles began to encase them, trapping them, changing them into edible forms of fruit that the dragon ate with a delightful young glee, murring to himself.  But with every step he took rising higher and higher, a sound started to approach him.  A ringing sound that seemed faint at first, but began to rise to such intensity that it almost deafened him.
The bubbles continued to fly, piles of fruit laid strewn around him tempting him with their sumptuous treats as he tried to follow the noise, drifting towards the darkness.  Something yellow began to appear off in the distance.  At first he thought it was a banana, lean and curved being placed upon a long thin red path.  He waddled his way towards it, unaware that the further he walked, the more his form had stripped itself away to become his own true self, lean and saurian.
As he approached it further, the ringing began to turn louder, making him think it was perhaps a bell of golden peal.  It started to swing back and forth, swaying with each sound that he heard.  He walked closer towards it, the bell starting to shift slowly into a rather thin figure.  The darkness began to lift all around him, revealing some sort of small port town with walls on either side of him.  Stone cobbled streets clacked noiselessly under his feet, as he saw the yellow figure sway within the breeze.  From a noose upon the gallows.
The path underneath him began to turn spotty and viscous, dripping into blood that started at his feet, and ended beneath the gallows.  Even before the yellow figure slowly turned its corpse towards him, he knew that it was a koopa.  But not the one he loved.  Instead it was one he had met only once, within a dark street upon a port city.  His breath shook with fear upon realisation, gasping as his legs slowly began to crumble against their own will.  The blood had turned into acid, slowly dissolving his own feet with the most intense of agony, seeping through to the very tendons.
Yet he could not scream, for the world around him had turned silent except for one thing.  The koopa's soulless eyes stared glassily towards him, opening its mouth with a gasping voice before singing with a shuddering echo.
	"tHe grEaT...sSsSiiiiLenCE..."
Soon something began to grow within its mouth, the beak opening slightly with a vomiting choke before the throat started to swell up.  Something burst forth within a shrieking madness, its voice loud and clear across the dreamscape as a dark shadow came from the koopa's throat, shaped like the rachni before screaming towards James.  The koopa's body fell from the gallows, as the shadow rushed through James before a howling darkness came from the gallows itself, dragging James towards it with a vile power.
The floor opening up to reveal nothingness before him, as he grabbed desperately for the noose to hang over the pit.  He could not scream for the howling darkness had swallowed everything around it, even the sounds that he could make as his voice was stripped away.  His claws started to lose grip, the noose twisting in his grasp as his mouth opened wide towards the black sky, silent upon him as he started to fall.
He felt his body drop in slow motion, shifting through the air as the gallows rose up from around him, falling forevermore.  Soon the floor would close itself above him, and as he found himself lost within the infinity of darkness, a thousand screams came to bear down on him, ripping him asunder with their very force of shrieking.  Just before he woke up, he heard a voice through the screams, a faint voice that he felt he had heard before.
	"i...wait...for you...to sing my sorrow..."

Waking up slowly whilst rubbing his eyes, the visions spiralled away into his memory as he looked around his room.  The starkness of its grey walls made him grimace at how blank it was, feeling his head turn heavy with not the best night's sleep he ever had.  At this point he felt nightmares had become tedious rather than terrifying, noting a marked difference between the nightmares he had and the nightmares that were fed to him, by the demon who was now no longer upon him.  Soon he heard a knock on his door, with the voice of Leiah coming through.
	"James?"
	"Yeah?"
	"You better come up to the bridge, I think we've got problems."
The raptor swiftly got into gear and checked his foot, seeing it had rested well enough to handle some walking as he made his way towards the bridge.  The rest of the crew were already there, with Areh filling them in.
	"We got trouble.  Small pirate vessel's gaining on us, looks salarian too."
	"Awwww seriously?" said Lirem.  "Great, okay guys gather round we gotta plan this one."
	"Wait are we being raided?!" asked FG.
	"Yep, we are."
	"Don't you have any cannons or something on your ship?!"
	"You kidding, this is a civilian ship!  If we put cannons on here it's a big ol' sign saying 'please shoot me into space dust', come on!  It's much better to take 'em on by surprise rather than let them take pot shots at us.  Best we got on here are escape pods if we ever gotta leave the ship."
	"I...guess you got a point."
	"Alright, they know we've seen them so let's make this quick.  Jax, Areh, you hold down the fort at the cockpit, duck behind those panels and fire away with all you got, maybe trip 'em up a little with your synthesiser."
	"Got it," said the quarian.
	"Bro, you and me are gonna bunk out at the bedroom corridor, I'll handle the doors, you duck out at the cargo bay entrance."
	"No prob," said Norem.
	"James and Leiah, you two hide out at the bar until this blows over."
	"Woah woah woah," said FG, "until this blows over?  If any of those fuckers are coming into my bar I am not hiding."
	"You sure about this?  This ain't some lady with a toothpick, these are pirates."
	"Uh HELLO, I killed a krogan without using a gun?  And those fucking bug things, I got all the ammo I need right there in the bar!"
	"Hey-ey-ey, don't go coasting on that excuse gettin' all cocky alright?  Besides I'd rather you not start TOO big a fire on our ship but alright...if they try ducking out into the bar you give 'em what for.  Just try not to burn the place down."
	"No problem."
	"Alright, move out."
With military precision, Lirem directed his crew to all different points of the ship layout, the ship slowing down very gradually before coming within docking range of the pirate vessel.  The door lock Areh had swiftly changed to a much simpler civilian-style lock in order to not arouse their suspicion, as the airlock opened by the time their ship had become moored against the invading ship.

The first head to pop through resembled something like a slug, long and lean with a reddish complexion and two bulbous eyes of purest black.  His green armour showed off the lanky figure of a natural salarian, his heavy handgun pointed out in front of him as he approached the front area of the ship.  Motioning two more to follow him, the crew of pirates slowly began to scout out the place, keeping quiet for the time being when they knew something was up.  It was quiet.  Too quiet for them.
They began to spread out, the ship engine turning off almost to the point of a slow hum as three of them went for the cockpit, the other six going down to the other side of the ship.  Four split off down towards the bedrooms, while the last two checked into the bar separately.  The ones heading towards the bedroom were lead by a rather experienced old veteran of many attacks, scars clear upon his face with rifle held up before him.
	"Not a good spot," he murmured.  "Hallway's too narrow, like shooting volus in a centrifuge."
	"It's just a family ship," said one pistol-wielder behind him, "if they have guns they're too rich and stupid to use 'em."
	"Don't underestimate, if they have money to burn, at least one of them took gun lessons."
	"With what, Medal of Duty?"
	"If they understand how to shoot, that makes them slightly more dangerous.  Hold back."
The three behind him all crouched against the wall, the veteran squatting close around the corner with assault rifle in hand and peeking out cautiously for the tiniest glimmer.  So far there was nothing, but any one of the rooms he saw could contain someone willing to shoot.  He put his rifle close to his chest and began to move up along the hallway.
At the same time the three salarians at the cockpit were investigating the surprisingly fancy layout of the place.  The front control panel seemed very professional, fitted out for more expert maneuverability than a regular civilian ship would be.  The map was turned off, which made them suspicious.
	"Were they just coasting on autopilot?" asked one salarian.
	"That's stupid," said another, "what if they hit something, why didn't they just stop in one place, why did they only stop when we came here?"
	"They know we're here," said the third, "they're hiding, waiting for someone to help them."
	"Do we kill them?"
	"Only if they fight back...maybe beat them up a little, they'll make nice hostages if they're a pretty little family of rich jet-setters."
	"Totally...I wonder what kinda stuff they got."
	"I'm sure we'll find out, see if the console's still running or not."

Meanwhile the salarians in the bar felt not a single stir within the area, the smallest flicker of armor-weave shielding glowing around them as they approached the drinks cabinet with a great curiosity.  Or at least one of them did. 
	"Hey, look at this."
	"...what?"
	"You don't see it?  Dextro drinks, on a human ship even.  A lot of 'em."
	"So?"
	"So, humans don't drink that!  Quarians and turians do, you dumbass."
	"Oh."
	"...are you even focused today, you're like half-dead."
	"Look, I don't like you okay?  I don't wanna be in the same room as you so let's get this over with okay?"
	"What, the fuck is your deal huh?!  What did I ever do to you?!"
	"You're in my face that's what, now shut up."
	"Wow, seriously?  Is this about that thing with the boss back on Illium?  I didn't mean to make you look bad because you didn't listen when he was asking about picking up the tab."
	"Well I didn't ask to be here with you."
	"Well neither did I."
	"Neither did we."
James stood up from behind the bar as Leiah stood up with him to immediately throw an arc grenade, shattering through their shields with EMP before James hurled a strong glass of turian lager, firing a hot blast of flames soon after.  The results were predictable as the salarians screamed and fell back against the wall, burning agony rising upon their pale skin as they roasted alive.  The screams alerted the other members of their gang, the three in the cockpit suddenly finding a hail of bullets come pounding down at them from the control panels.
A krogan and a quarian had suddenly appeared from behind them, blasting with shotgun and pistol combined to kill one and wound two.  The two remaining soon found a whole new agony in the form of a brief spasm of electrical surges, shuddering through their omni-tools which briefly overloaded, paralysing them for just a few fatal seconds before being shot in the head.  Jax and Areh waited for further orders from the turian brothers, who soon made their own advance in pushing back the enemy as the veteran in the hallways cried out:
	"STAND STILL!"
	"B-BUT THE OTHERS!" squawked his subordinate.
	"I don't care, they're not our problem now because they're dead, and so will you if you don't keep your head about you!"
	"B-BUT I-GRKH!"
One shot to the panicked subordinate silenced him from afar, as his head and throat suddenly collapsed in on itself with a crumpling sniper shot from down the hall.  The salarian commander fired out from around the corner, peppering a full clip down the hall with a roar of fury before he felt a barrage of bullets come from nearby.  His shields kept him alive, but his allies were not so lucky.  One got a chest full of lead that tore through his armour, the other found his legs mangled underneath as he screamed and crawled up to his superior.
	"SIIIIIIIIR!  AAAAAAGH-"
	"SHUT UP!"

The superior was not so forgiving and kicked the wounded pirate hard across the head to knock him out, taking a chance to shoot a blast of incinerating fire from his omni-tool before running down the hall.  Norem took the swirling shot of fire sturdily, but it threw off his aim as he pinged a shot against the wall and had to duck back into a tight spot.  But the pirate commander became so incensed to kill the sniper, he forgot completely about the other gunman from behind, as Norem peeked to see his brother running up.
	"TECH BURST, BABY!"
Both turians blasted out a sudden overload from their omni-tools, which resulted in the two electrical sparks clashing out into a violent surging storm on the salarian's body.  His strangled scream of electrocution echoed throughout the corridor like a tortured modem, muscles seizing up powerfully as his heart stopped with rending electricity.  The two brothers gave a wink and a high-five, heading back out to check on the rest of the crew remaining.  Once the coast was clear, they all came out from their hiding spots to survey the damage done.
All of the pirate ship's crew were dead, with no others coming to their aid and after a brief reconnoitre of the invading other ship, they realised that they had successfully dealt with every one of them.  The first order of business was to drag all the bodies back to their own ship, leaving them piled up to be dealt with for another time.  The second order of business was explained by Lirem sitting in his chair.
	"Nice work guys," he said while relaxing, "avoided a li'l bad scrape there I think."
	"Pfft that was easy," said FG, "I dealt with worse pirates than that."
	"Hah, yeah I guess you got what it takes to run with us for a bit.  Alright, we cleaned up the place, now let's do something else.  That ship might fetch us a nice price down at the shipyard in Illium, so one of us should fly it down there and fetch us some credits."
	"Wait what about our mission?"
	"It's nearby, we can swing round, hell we can even split up and make it easier.  That ship's so small it only really needs one crew member to fly it, I mean how many of 'em were there?  Not even ten."
	"Makes sense."
	"So who wants to fly a pirate vessel to Illium?  Anyone?  Come on, we can't leave this thing hanging, somebody's gotta have a use for it!"
Nobody said a word, simply shuffling their feet rather awkwardly in an attempt to make him move on.  However this never worked and Lirem saw an opportunity for himself.
	"Alright, dibs on the flying scrapheap!"
	"Woah what?" said Norem.  "Bro you-no come on you can't fly that."
	"Why not?!"
	"Because the last five times you drive something, we end up with a citation, a crater, or lose it in a caldera."
	"That's not true!"
	"Areh?"
	"It is actually," said Areh.  "You got a citation for driving a shuttle into a road, wrecked two tanks into a crater and caldera, OH and there was that ship you drove into a sun."
	"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT I SWEAR!"
	"The shuttle was an accident yes, the tank into the caldera was-"
	"Faulty navigation I TOLD you guys, seriously!"
	"And the ship into the sun was HOW an accident?!"
	"YOU-...you just-shu-ARRRGH!"

Lirem facepalmed before blowing hard out of his cheekflaps in annoyance, stiffening up and walking straight towards the docked vessel.  Norem tried to stop him with:
	"Lirem?  Lirem!"
	"I'll show you, I'm gonna bring back some sweet-ass credits!"
	"Bro, come on, lemme do i-"
	"SHUT UP YER NOT DAD, I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE ORDERS FROM YOU!"
	"LIREM!"
Stomping off in a huff, the turian guitarist closed the ship airlock and separated the two apart.  The sounds of rumbling from the side of the Centurion Eagle could be heard, as Lirem slowly veered off from them heading towards Illium.  Norem patched a signal to him while he was still in range, his brother's face appearing on the viewer.
	"This is really stupid of you, you don't have to prove a point to us."
	"The hell I do, you guys think I'm just some kinda playboy crashin' shit everywhere?!  I can do this, I can get this piece of crap to Illium without crashing, you'll see!"
	"...fine.  If you get there without crashing, I owe you five candy bars."
	"...Taetrus ones?"
	"Just like mom used to buy."
	"...deal!"
With that, the two ships headed off to Illium which was not too far from their current position, practically in the same nebula as them and as a result it only took a day for them to travel.  James kept himself busy in order to ignore his strange dream but he knew eventually he would have to talk to Jax about his weird feelings of guilt.  Thankfully however, the capital city of Illium would give them more than enough distractions to not worry about it.
Upon reaching the city, they were greeted by a beautiful violet horizon bathing the entire forest of skyscrapers within a transient magenta hue.  The sun glinted wearily upon the world, shining spires of purest metal that rose ever higher around them as they started to land.  In truth it resembled the Citadel in design but with the exception that Illium was an actual planet rather than a ginormous space colony.  As a result, it felt somehow more natural to be on Illium than on the Citadel, for James at least.

Landing within the docking area, the Centurion Eagle made its way sleekly in first, explaining the situation of the pirate ship following them to the right authorities so Lirem would not get apprehended by accident.  Despite Lirem's clearly wonky flight navigation skills, he managed to slow himself down enough to land without breaking more than two small structures of the dock, which he was forced to pay back for which in turn was paid off by selling the pirate ship.
The six crew members walked with each other into the main area, with Leiah giving FG a crash course on the purpose of Nos Astra, capital city of Illium.  It was a city of commerce, filled with riches and stock exchanges after being founded by the Asari not too long ago in galactic history.  In galactic terms it was quite a new city, and it showed greatly in its sense of future enterprise and endeavour into the world of finance.  It was a world of luxury, elegance and glamour from all corners.  Yet the more Leiah spoke of the place, the more bitter her tones became to the raptor, which troubled him slightly.
James started to see why the more he walked into it, the group leaving their armour back on ship for convenience.  The richest of the rich, the wafting throngs of "new money" and its richest residents oozing through the crowd with names and clicking fingers in lieu of manners.  It was evident across all species too.  Asari fashionistas, turian prima donnas, human playboys and even volus bankers all congregating in one hive of smug and billing fees.  Lirem and Norem however enjoyed the place, thinking it was a fantastic resort city to unwind while also looking for jobs.  Jax was ambivalent, as was Areh.
Through the parting crowds and indigo walkways that stretched all across the various districts, they found expensive stores, pricey stock markets and even the odd drug seller or two.  Legally even, at a convenience that James thought only the rich would ever get.
	"This place is like fucking Wall Street here," said FG, "only...somehow more blatant."
	"You can buy anything you want here," said Leiah.  "Guns, tools, drugs even long as they're labelled properly.  Yet weirdly it's also one of the most lawful places in the galaxy, all regulated and well-kept by the asari governments.  Even servants you can buy here, indentured ones."
	"...wait, servants?  Really?!"
	"Mmhmm!"
	"Holy shit, money really is no fucking object here.  ...not many quarians in these crowds, there were more of them back on Citadel."
	"Yeah.  I wonder why."
	"...something wrong?"
	"Hmm?"
	"You seem bitter about this place, bad experiences?"
	"Other than the Migrant Fleet not being allowed in this star system, not really."
	"Wait what?!  That's bullshit, why?!"
	"Pfft, pick a reason.  Oh well, least me and Areh can be here on our own even if we got no money."
	"I guess...he doesn't seem to mind though."
He nodded up towards the krogan and the quarian, pointing towards a group of volus discreetly while laughing to each other about something.  After a long while of wandering around to their individual spots of interest, they met up at a bar they arranged beforehand to meet at called the Nostromo, a place unlike anything on Illium itself.

The bar firstly was rather down and dismal compared to other such places on the city.  Whereas other places were more light-coloured or ethereal in their tone, sweeping counters and tables like rivers of silver, the Nostromo had a most wretched design outlook.  Twisted skeletons, visceral probosces and the unsightly expression of long phallic seats with the impression of being stitched together with biomechanical sinew.
It was both uncomfortable and yet fascinating at the same time for James.  The others however did not seem to mind it at all, with Leiah especially enjoying the decor around them as they sat at a table, coloured a necrotic silver.  Even the floors were a mishmash of veins by appearance, like the inside of some old alien ship.
	"I LOVE this place," said the quarian female, "it's so...weird and fascinating, plus the whole colouring reminds me of back home."
	"I know right?" said Areh.  "We love hanging out here whenever we come to town."
	"What's the deal with this place?" asked FG.  "It's like a serial killer trying to do modern art."
	"The Nostromo's based on some old human artist who did stuff like this, some guy who was hugely into his work made the bar like this and well, it's pretty popular!"
	"How the hell is a place like THIS popular on fucking rich street central out there?"
	"They like to call it avant-garde," said Lirem, "what with the uncomfortable symmetry and dark visceral drabness of the place which to them it feels like the fear and confusion of monstrosities out beyond space that all creatures once had.  Basically you put a lot fancy words around it, people'll swallow anything."
	"I sure would..."
Leiah said this as she slowly gripped the back of her seat, the phallic headrest shimmering from the bar lights as her hands glided up behind her, teasing the ridges on the way back down.
	"I could swallow anything with enough...fancy words...heheheheee!"
All of the males looked rather nervously at each other, except Jax who simply chuckled:
	"You know that looks like a penis, right?"
	"Jaaaaax!" said Areh in frustration.  "We know already, Keelah do you HAVE to-...augh!"
	"What?" said Jax smiling coyishly.  "Didn't want her to embarrass herself!  Oh hey waiter's coming."
An asari waitress arrived in a rather bizarre alien suit, lathered in sinew which wrapped around into a serpentine design which ended on her shoulders.  They reached for their menus in preparation.
	"Welcome to the Nostromo how may I serve you today?"
	"Two Ripleys fer me an' my buddy," said Jax.
	"I'll have the Bishop," said Lirem.
	"Same here," said Norem, "but uh make mine a li'l bloody."
	"I will haaaaave," said Leiah, "the Queen thank you."
	"And you sir?"
The question was directed at James who kept looking over the menu, not sure of what he was going to pick before asking:
	"What's the Prometheus?"
	"Oh that's a recent drink we're trying," said the waitress, "it's on special for now to see if it gets any popularity."
	"Hmmmmm...alright I'll go for it, one Prometheus please."

Taking their orders she headed off before soon returning with their drinks.  Jax and Areh got a brownish-yellow drink which to James smelt like a strong curacao combined with energy drink and rum, Norem and Lirem got a white drink with a tint of green that smelt somewhat like a margarita pumped full of cointreau and absinthe, whilst Leiah got a much larger blackish fill that had acid-like green running through it.  James got a powerful whiff of something reminiscent of scotch, strong liquors and grenadine.
James' Prometheus drink was of a delicious-looking pale blue, the scent of it being a mix of what he normally assumed would be ginger, triple sec and sweet vermouth, with some last unknown quantity that he wasn't quite able to detect.  The six of them all drank up, clinking their glasses together in celebration of a new partnership.
	"Yanno you two are alright," said Lirem, "I don't mind having you hanging out with us for a long while."
	"Thanks!" said Leiah.  "We wanna do our best if it means getting a free ride."
	"Hey, if it means a couple of extra hands to move stuff for us then I'm cool with it."
	"I gotta say though," said FG, "this place is a lot more excitable than I thought."
	"What, the city?"
	"No I mean the galaxy!  Always there's something crazy happening, I mean fair enough there's a lotta planets out there but jeez.  Don't people ever like stop or something?"
	"Then there'd be no problems," said Areh, "and we'd all be living in peace.  Problem is that everyone out there is completely different, you got quarians who want their home planet back, you got turians who wanna be the end-all and be-all of the military force, the krogan who've got the genophage thing-"
	"It's more than just a THING Areh," said Jax sternly.
	"But what I mean is that everyone here belongs to a different species who have their own different problems.  I mean, we can only go so far at trying to make everyone get along before some conflict spreads up."
	"What would you suggest?" asked James.
	"...don't force everyone to like each other.  That's impossible, at the very least we should tolerate each other, the ones who aren't bosh'tets."
	"Amen to that."
James clinked a glass with him before drinking up his Prometheus glass, right before horking back a foul sneer.
	"UUUUGH f-fuck this drink tastes like shit!"
	"Snrk, wh-what?"
	"UGH come the fuck on, what the hell's in this thing?!  It's so...augh!"
	"It IS a new drink," said Norem, "maybe they're just experimenting."
	"Well you taste it then."
	"Wooooah hoho noooo, come on that drink's not dextro, idiot."
	"I'll taste it for ya," said Jax.  "You an' me can drink the same stuff."
	"Well alright then," said FG.  "Seriously, this drinks tastes fucking awful."
Jax took the bluish mixture from James and slowly drank up, shrugging a while after from the odd taste replying:
	"I don't mind it, s'not that bad!"
	"Are you serious, this prometheus thing is fucking horseshit, it tastes...flat yet offending at the same time!"
	"I like it!  Come on, you don't have to like it if it don't agree with ya, I'll trade ya.  Come on, my Ripley fer yer Prometheus."
	"...ahhhh alright then.  No point bitching about it."
The two swapped drinks and enjoyed each other's plenty, the raptor liking the brownish-yellow mixture a lot more from its serious kick, yet still rather favourable to take in as they all drank up together.  Lirem found an opportunity to do a small heist operation of sorts for later, whilst Jax and Areh headed back to the ship after finding new parts for the Mako.  James and Leiah headed out to the club to have some fun, showing off some of their dance moves to each other.
Norem decided to return back to the ship on his own after enough wandering, finding a new mission had been left on their terminal.  At least that's what he thought at first before opening it to find it was a note from their boss.

Opening Night at the T'Kina Estate
A councilor and admirer of your music has requested personally that you perform at her estate's opening for a fundraising event.  The opening will be in a month's time from now, do not leave this nebula until it is over.  Do not worry about having idle thumbs, for there will be a possible new development in the same nebula to give you something to pass the time.  Things are about to get a lot more lively.

Whenever Norem read such things from Tulan, he would become terrified.  The boss' idea of what was lively had him break out nearly in a cold sweat, shuddering with past horrors as he tried to think of the best way to break to his brother gently.  He already knew that planning a concert with him was going to be trouble enough on its own.