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Description
"From solar winds to zero kelvin,
I'm hurtling and pressurized.
If only I could get a breath of you."

He's at a ship's bridge again, standing at attention, gold eyes watching his world on the monitor with mild disinterest. He listens to the threat his employer makes with the same amount of enthusiasm, having heard the spiel a hundred times over. But then the device he helped piece together thrums to life and its muzzle begins to glow white-hot. His gaze darts back to the screen, his world has his full attention now, as does his people's refusal to surrender.

He stares, dumbstruck, horrified, helpless. All he can do is stand at attention, mouth agape, unable to move, unable to breathe as the device threads fissures across the surface of Petropia. Screams blare out over the ship's speakers for several long moments and then it abruptly cuts to static. His employers switches off the monitor and the speakers with little more than an annoyed hiss, and leaves the bridge without even acknowledging his presence.

The floor crumbles beneath his feet, no doubt unable to bear the weight of his guilt. He finds himself plummeting into a chasm lined with the crystals that used to form his home world of Petropia, his people's screams echoing with such intense resonance he's certain he will shatter. But at the brink of fragmentation, everything goes silent.

He continues to fall, unblinking gold eyes watching the chasm walls reflect every single act of selfishness he's committed building up to his unintentional betrayal. He's still alive, still whole. Except now he's cracked and flawed and brittle, with an ache carving at his soul and exhaustion seeping into every nook of his body. He feels his lids begin to droop shut and he reaches out to embrace oblivion.

But then the walls close in and the screams begin anew.

------------------------

Tetrax Shard wakes with a start, his core pulsating madly against his chest, a faint sheen of gloss on his skin, and a roar in his ears. It takes the blink of an eye for him to realize it's him screaming and a fourth of that for him to cease. He sits upright immediately, burying his face in his blocky hands while muttering angrily beneath his breath.

Lately, he's been having dreams and it wasn't long before the nightmares followed.

After several slow, controlled intakes of air, the pounding in his head dies down and the staccato of his core-pulse evens out. He unravels the sheets from his body, rising to change into his battlesuit. With all the adrenaline coursing through him, he knows he's not going to be able to sleep anytime soon and figures he might as well burn it off in the Danger Room. Heavy footfalls echo down the hallway, and Tetrax takes care to keep his eyes focused ahead of him.

The mercenary pauses when he reaches the laboratory, not surprised at the light streaming through the window nor the fact that it's occupied. The chimera prefers to work at odd hours and her schedule hasn't given him or his navigator any problems. He peers into the lab, silently watching Myaxx's hunched form as she tinkers with a new device that he didn't know much about, other than it would be a destructive force that she will sell to the highest bidder. Or will give to him to use for the cause of good.

And if Gluto was in any way involved, it's probably both. The corner of Tetrax's mouth unconsciously twitches up into a small smile at the thought, and he folds his arms across his broad chest. The tension in his body erodes ever so slightly, just enough for him to realize he had crossed the line between casual observation to outright staring. Crystalline features school themselves back to their usual grim countenance as he silently chides himself for being distracted.

He finds it disconcerting, how easy it has become for him to lose his focus whenever Myaxx was involved. And he finds it alarming that he even feels this way in the first place! His emotions used to be so much easier to deal with before the loud, opinionated scientist became something of a permanent fixture on the ship. Similar to how Gluto managed to integrate himself into the ship's navigation system only Myaxx was much, much, much more conspicuous. And though the petrosapian will deny it even under pain of death, the chimera sui generis catches his attention time and time again.

Perhaps the stark a contrast between them is just too blatant to ignore. He doesn't care about the praise of his employers so long as they meet his bottom line. She on the other hand strives for it, craves it even. He's content to remain unnoticed and his deeds anonymous. She insists credit be given where due, namely her. He's ready to slug it out at a moment's notice. She prefers the path of no resistance whenever combat is involved. On the other hand, he's at a loss whenever social graces are concerned. And while she's no socialite, she knows how to play nice with other aliens.

When he is unable to come to a conclusion, he shakes his head to clear his mind. Tetrax attributes his restlessness to the adrenaline in his system and turns to leave without alerting Myaxx of his presence. It proves futile because the faint hum of the door sliding open sounds and is quickly followed by a concerned: "Shard?"

He doesn't know how the chimera always manages to figure out he was lingering outside the lab. He suspects she uses a monitoring device that she installed without his consent. Or her specie has an uncanny ability to detect when they are being watched. But if Gluto was in any way involved, it's probably both.

Myaxx steps out into the hall, one foot still inside the lab ready to exit or reenter at a moment's notice when she states: "You had that nightmare again."

Tetrax doesn't trust himself to face her, but he stops walking all the same. He answers tersely, "I'm fine. It's nothing to concern yourself with." His tone used to mean it's in her best interest to back off. Except at one point in several years worth of working together, his tone has distorted to mean something else entirely and he isn't even aware of it.

He feels her approach and braces himself for an attack, anticipating a rough tackle and a vicious snarl. He's already shifting into a stance to counter her, except the arms that wind around him are gentle and the kiss she plants is feather-light.

"You stupid lug," she mutters none-too-gently against his cheek, the disapproving frown audible in her voice, "I'll drop by the Danger Room in three terran hours so you'd better be finished killing yourself by then." She lets him go and returns to the lab so swiftly and so suddenly the door slides shut before Tetrax even realizes it.

Through the window, gold eyes blink in confusion at Myaxx's hunched form. Tetrax isn't certain what just happened or how it had happened, and it's a herculean effort to tear himself away. Heavy footfalls echo down the hallway, and Tetrax finds himself glancing back every other step. When his hand hesitates over the simulator's control panel a second too long, he realizes he doesn't want to go in the Danger Room anymore.

It takes several blinks of an eye before Tetrax admits to himself where he wants to go. It takes a fourth of that for him to arrive at the lab.

Description
"From solar winds to zero kelvin,
I'm hurtling and pressurized.
If only I could get a breath of you."

He's at a ship's bridge again, standing at attention, gold eyes watching his world on the monitor with mild disinterest. He listens to the threat his employer makes with the same amount of enthusiasm, having heard the spiel a hundred times over. But then the device he helped piece together thrums to life and its muzzle begins to glow white-hot. His gaze darts back to the screen, his world has his full attention now, as does his people's refusal to surrender.

He stares, dumbstruck, horrified, helpless. All he can do is stand at attention, mouth agape, unable to move, unable to breathe as the device threads fissures across the surface of Petropia. Screams blare out over the ship's speakers for several long moments and then it abruptly cuts to static. His employers switches off the monitor and the speakers with little more than an annoyed hiss, and leaves the bridge without even acknowledging his presence.

The floor crumbles beneath his feet, no doubt unable to bear the weight of his guilt. He finds himself plummeting into a chasm lined with the crystals that used to form his home world of Petropia, his people's screams echoing with such intense resonance he's certain he will shatter. But at the brink of fragmentation, everything goes silent.

He continues to fall, unblinking gold eyes watching the chasm walls reflect every single act of selfishness he's committed building up to his unintentional betrayal. He's still alive, still whole. Except now he's cracked and flawed and brittle, with an ache carving at his soul and exhaustion seeping into every nook of his body. He feels his lids begin to droop shut and he reaches out to embrace oblivion.

But then the walls close in and the screams begin anew.

------------------------

Tetrax Shard wakes with a start, his core pulsating madly against his chest, a faint sheen of gloss on his skin, and a roar in his ears. It takes the blink of an eye for him to realize it's him screaming and a fourth of that for him to cease. He sits upright immediately, burying his face in his blocky hands while muttering angrily beneath his breath.

Lately, he's been having dreams and it wasn't long before the nightmares followed.

After several slow, controlled intakes of air, the pounding in his head dies down and the staccato of his core-pulse evens out. He unravels the sheets from his body, rising to change into his battlesuit. With all the adrenaline coursing through him, he knows he's not going to be able to sleep anytime soon and figures he might as well burn it off in the Danger Room. Heavy footfalls echo down the hallway, and Tetrax takes care to keep his eyes focused ahead of him.

The mercenary pauses when he reaches the laboratory, not surprised at the light streaming through the window nor the fact that it's occupied. The chimera prefers to work at odd hours and her schedule hasn't given him or his navigator any problems. He peers into the lab, silently watching Myaxx's hunched form as she tinkers with a new device that he didn't know much about, other than it would be a destructive force that she will sell to the highest bidder. Or will give to him to use for the cause of good.

And if Gluto was in any way involved, it's probably both. The corner of Tetrax's mouth unconsciously twitches up into a small smile at the thought, and he folds his arms across his broad chest. The tension in his body erodes ever so slightly, just enough for him to realize he had crossed the line between casual observation to outright staring. Crystalline features school themselves back to their usual grim countenance as he silently chides himself for being distracted.

He finds it disconcerting, how easy it has become for him to lose his focus whenever Myaxx was involved. And he finds it alarming that he even feels this way in the first place! His emotions used to be so much easier to deal with before the loud, opinionated scientist became something of a permanent fixture on the ship. Similar to how Gluto managed to integrate himself into the ship's navigation system only Myaxx was much, much, much more conspicuous. And though the petrosapian will deny it even under pain of death, the chimera sui generis catches his attention time and time again.

Perhaps the stark a contrast between them is just too blatant to ignore. He doesn't care about the praise of his employers so long as they meet his bottom line. She on the other hand strives for it, craves it even. He's content to remain unnoticed and his deeds anonymous. She insists credit be given where due, namely her. He's ready to slug it out at a moment's notice. She prefers the path of no resistance whenever combat is involved. On the other hand, he's at a loss whenever social graces are concerned. And while she's no socialite, she knows how to play nice with other aliens.

When he is unable to come to a conclusion, he shakes his head to clear his mind. Tetrax attributes his restlessness to the adrenaline in his system and turns to leave without alerting Myaxx of his presence. It proves futile because the faint hum of the door sliding open sounds and is quickly followed by a concerned: "Shard?"

He doesn't know how the chimera always manages to figure out he was lingering outside the lab. He suspects she uses a monitoring device that she installed without his consent. Or her specie has an uncanny ability to detect when they are being watched. But if Gluto was in any way involved, it's probably both.

Myaxx steps out into the hall, one foot still inside the lab ready to exit or reenter at a moment's notice when she states: "You had that nightmare again."

Tetrax doesn't trust himself to face her, but he stops walking all the same. He answers tersely, "I'm fine. It's nothing to concern yourself with." His tone used to mean it's in her best interest to back off. Except at one point in several years worth of working together, his tone has distorted to mean something else entirely and he isn't even aware of it.

He feels her approach and braces himself for an attack, anticipating a rough tackle and a vicious snarl. He's already shifting into a stance to counter her, except the arms that wind around him are gentle and the kiss she plants is feather-light.

"You stupid lug," she mutters none-too-gently against his cheek, the disapproving frown audible in her voice, "I'll drop by the Danger Room in three terran hours so you'd better be finished killing yourself by then." She lets him go and returns to the lab so swiftly and so suddenly the door slides shut before Tetrax even realizes it.

Through the window, gold eyes blink in confusion at Myaxx's hunched form. Tetrax isn't certain what just happened or how it had happened, and it's a herculean effort to tear himself away. Heavy footfalls echo down the hallway, and Tetrax finds himself glancing back every other step. When his hand hesitates over the simulator's control panel a second too long, he realizes he doesn't want to go in the Danger Room anymore.

It takes several blinks of an eye before Tetrax admits to himself where he wants to go. It takes a fourth of that for him to arrive at the lab.