Love and Blood; Regulars Space AU

Chapter Two

Sigils waved exasperatedly at the mess of his objects on the workbench, murmuring in his native language, Enderian, "Raich-ayawH yuimsu jaew's jaega- HUMBLE!" Sigils called.

The enderman was answered by a small yip and an orange glow. The fox hologram flickered to life beside him on the edge of the desk, being no larger than his paw, and observed the mess of parts and circuits.

Sigils angrily gestured to the two guns that sat in the center of the mess, "Why won't the compact blasters compact?"

Humble padded over the desk, tiptoeing over the mess, and examined the blasters that were meant to fold in on themselves to create small, pseudo-pens.

Humble looked up at Sigils, and responded to the enderman. Words flickered right beside the hologram's face.

[You didn't turn it on.]

Sigils jammed a claw at the hologram while angrily grabbing the blasters, "You're raich-ayawH with me."

Sigils found the power switch and flicked it on. Sure enough the gun hummed with life, then quickly died down after charging. Sigils, already knowing he had lost, flicked the tab back and the gun snapped in half and folded inwards, shaping into a metal pen, being slickly bulkier and thicker than a regular pen. The tab had become the button at the end.

Sigils inhaled slowly, "Humble how long have I been working?"

[Nearly six hours.]

"I took a break didn't I?" Sigils scoffed, jamming the pen in his pocket.

[No.]

"I could have sworn I did," Sigils replied, "Did I really not?"

[You didn't.]

Sigils tapped his chin, "Alright, what time is it, then?"

[1:34 A.M.]

"A.M?" Sigils asked, "Wow I need a break."

[Sigils. Go to sleep.]

Sigils sighed, "Fine. Wake me up if I'm pinged."

Sigils teleported away into the main room, shaking off small green sparks that had formed around him and stopped by the cockpit to check his dashboard for any news. Unsatisfied by a lack of notifications, Sigils teleported to his sleeping quarters and flopped onto the bed, exhaustion suddenly overtaking him.

His eyelids grew heavy as he curled his fluffy tail close and shut his eyes.

***

Sigils woke up to his watch screaming at him.

The enderman shot awake, perking his ears and moving his wrist so he could see the watch. It vibrated loudly and emitted a very loud ringtone that sounded like it could be heard from the next planet over. Sigils fumbled for the accept call button while simultaneously trying to smooth out his fur and make himself look like he hadn't been sleeping.

Albeit, he had only slept for ten minutes.

Sigils pressed the button and a small hologram appeared. Sigils blinked away his exhaustion and focused on the figure projected from his watch.

"Hello, Boss Mans," Sigils mumbled, giving a small wave.

"Hello Sigils," SSundee replied stiffly, eyes focused not on the camera or Sigils, but on something in front of him, "Are you at the Myran yet?"

"Yeah, I've been here for about a day," Sigils replied, "I'm currently at the hangars." And was taking a very nice nap, but that's not important.

"Right, well," SSundee waved dismissively, "I thought so, but when I checked the system it claimed you were still in space." SSundee glanced once at the camera, "You need to start tracking your position, Sigils."

"Sorry," Sigils muttered. He opened his mouth to give an excuse, but couldn't think of any and shut his snout.

"Well, hopefully this can help your responsibility," SSundee whispered quietly under his breath. Sigils pretended not to hear and focused more on the obvious sounds of typing on a keyboard.

"I have been hearing your complaints for a higher ranked mission, but as you may know, it's hard to give you one when you refuse to have any sort of social interaction. And unfortunately, you're one of the best pilots in my division," SSundee grumbled, then sighed, "However, I have one Class A mission that I could give you. It pays very well and is exactly what you've been looking forward to ever since you joined the division. It's a heist mission that will take you across the Blue Hemisphere. It's a total of six heists and should take you roughly two weeks at least. Before you ask, no, it's not a solo mission. There's three others that will hopefully join you. Since we are running low on backup ships, the mission will have to be on your ship, since yours is the best fit for this mission."

"What's the pay?" Sigils asked, examining his claws.

"16 million credits split between the four of you," SSundee replied casually, as if it were normal to be paid 4 million credits. It probably was for the Class A missions in the Insane Division.

Sigils tried to cover his surprise and instead simply replied with, "Alright, cool. I'm down."

"Great," SSundee said unenthusiastically, "I'll ping you later to meet me in my office for you four to meet and go over the mission."

"Alright," Sigils nodded, "I'll just be here."

"I'd hope so," SSundee raised an eyebrow and glanced briefly at the camera, "I'll talk later."

The call abruptly ended.

Sigils inhaled deeply and turned to Humble, then grinned widely. Humble perked his ears as Sigils sat up.
"Four. Million. Credits," Sigils breathed, "That's insane, Humble."

[It's called the Insane Division for a reason.]

"Clearly!" Sigils, "I'd work with anyone for that much money."

Humble tilted his head. [Anyone?]

"Okay, maybe not anyone," Sigils admitted, "There's like- three exceptions."

Humble hummed (ha) and padded through the air, pacing aimlessly. [I still don't understand why the four of you hated each other so much.]

Sigils' smile fell. He reached over and smoothed out the fur on his tail as he took in a breath.

"People change." Sigils murmured, scrunching his snout, "I should go back to sleep."

Humble observed Sigils for a moment before nodding and flickering out of existence. Sigils sighed and laid on his back, gazing at the window on the roof that showed the ceiling of the hangar.

Spending days in the vast expanse of space messed with people's minds. You had to be pretty strong-willed to survive as an astropilot, and even stronger to work with others.

Seeing the same people in the same enclosed environment for sometimes weeks at a time? It changes you. Sure, Sigils was part of the problem, and doesn't pretend that he wasn't. Irritation had set in and was a tricky thing to get rid of.

And yet, from time to time, he wishes he could see them again. Not how they probably are now, but how they used to be. Back when they met in the Star Force Training Academy, all those years ago.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push away the memories. It wasn't going to help him in any way. It would be better to just...

Forget.