The yacht was a buzz with freq signals.

The light and welcoming sensation the pair were used to had been replaced with several conflicting auras. One end of the ship was ablaze with the collective happiness of the dogs, Spades being reunited with ‘his’ Namegiver multiplied their simple signals to almost an entire human level. The dogs synced their emotions up easily, much like the Savori and Xant briefly wondered if humans were the same.

The thought was extinguished rather quickly however as both he and Rynard drew closer to the ship. The captain snorted disapprovingly. The tall, thin human with the dark temperament had hauled himself up in one of the bedrooms toward the bow of the ship. He felt cold, but unlike the Lieutenant’s wall of ice, the human’s was fragile and sharp, like frozen glass. It hurt to be around it, and the longer they lingered the more he wanted to get away from it.

“I’ll keep watch,” Rynard muttered, parting ways with Xant and climbing up on deck, the best vantage point and only part of the yacht the captain could actually be on without being cramped.

Thankfully for Xant, Jasmine and his own room was in the aft of the vessel away from the seething living bomb, but even her warmth had been dulled.

“Something’s happened,” Rynard growled protectively.

“I’ll find out from Jasmine,” Xant reassured the captain. “Stay alert,”

Rynard gave the nod and then scaled the side of the yacht to stand guard on deck, while Xant made his way up the runway.

As he walked through the halls of the deck his brain was tearing him in two, he needed to get his thoughts straight, speak out the fragments that were clashing together, the other half of him was imploring him to find out what was wrong with Jasmine.

Logic won out this time.

He hurried to his room and opened the case holding his data slates, pulling out a fresh, unused one, activating the touch screen and readying the voice recording-

“Ah, shit!-” Jasmine’s voice exclaimed, a burst of frustration ebbed through the room.

Xant couldn’t ignore that, he walked down the hall and opened her door.

“Jasmine?-

“Ah Jesus-” Jasmine swirled around, “Xant! What did I tell you about knocking…” she collapsed on the bed, head held in her hands, turbulence in her hidden, inner thoughts.

“That I should do it before entering…” The doctor admitted, “I was worried,”

“Yeah, when are you not?” she half-joked, but the jovial sentiment wasn’t there.

Xant looked around the room, it was disorderly, she had been pacing, and an empty drink glass sat on the dresser. She had been drinking again.

He sighed gently and walked over to the dresser, putting down his tablet and taking the glass into the ensuite. Filling it with water to clear her system. As he turned he saw Jasmine standing at the dresser, holding the Dataslate in both hands.

“Is this the one that plays the rain?” she asked, staring at it.

“No, it’s a new one. I was going to use it to-”

In a surprising display of speed and strength, Jasmine smashed the tablet over her knee.

The tablet split in two, splattering blue liquid all over her and the white room.

“Jasmine!” Xant shouted dropping the glass and rushing over to her.

She stood there staring at the smashed device, turning it to look inside.

“There’s no parts…” she muttered as xant wiped her face with a bedsheet, she pushed him away hard “where are the parts?...” she whispered. Xant was at a loss, as he watched her dig her fingers into one of the sides and scooped out more blue liquid.

“I’m not a technician-” he began but it only inspired a fit of exasperation.

She ran her fingers through the goop and then let it drip to the ground.

“Why is it bleeding?” she whimpered “Why is it the same colour as Rynard’s?”

Xant picked up the empty pieces of the dataslate and inspected the blue liquid.

Microfibers swam within it, tendrils of nerves and the glistening clumps of cells.

“They told me,” Jasmines voice was quiet, defeated, “Ryo and Beau said that the inside of the station was alive, that they were experimenting with human and alien DNA, you told me that you had been genetically engineered but…” tears formed in her eyes, “I couldn’t have known just how engineered ‘everything’ was…”

“It is organic, but not ‘alive’, “ Xant tried to reason with her, but he didn’t have the confidence in his explanation, “it can not think and it cannot feel, it can only do what it is programmed to do-”

“Just like you’re programmed to do?!” she was pale, withdrawing in horror at her own words,

“The Rajava recycle those who do not ‘fit the program’, if you're convicted of a crime the Galactic council ‘removes you from the population’, The galactic council controls who is born where and what they do. Where do they get the organic matter to make these things in the first place? Tell me they're not just doing the same thing, Xant, tell me the Galactic Council isn’t the same!!”

The doctor stood there bewildered, her inebriated state made her manic, but he couldn’t find the fault in her logic… Especially since he had no information to fill the gaps.

The human crawled over to him, eyes red and teary, her warm hands cupping his cheeks.

“You are not a thing, you are a person Xant, you are more than that(tool/device).” She looked him straight in the eye, not letting him pull away, Jasmine wanted to instill that truth within him. “You are just as important as I am, no life is disposable, and I won't let anyone tell me otherwise, even you, especially you, do you understand?”

Xant nodded his head gently, “Yes, Jasmine,” he answered, finally understanding her repulsion.

The same blood that powered the dataslate ran through his veins, he was created and designed for a task. Was the difference between him and the dataslate, the same between the Galactic Council and the Rajava?

Jasmine’s hands fell away as she released him from her grasp. Her eyes closed and squeezed out the stress filled tears, shoulders dropped while taking deep, slow breaths.

The doctor stepped over to pick up the dropped glass and refilled it with water.

“I’m sorry Jasmine,” He offered her the glass, “You asked me to make sure you never consumed this much ethanol again, I failed in this task.” his words we reserved, gentle. She took the glass and drank it desperately, shifting to sit on the edge of the bed.

“I’m sorry Xant…” she stated, afraid to move, “I’ve been doing my best, to be the representative of all human kind, but the more I learn about the Galactic council, the more I fear my people couldn't exist within it”

She looked up at him.

Xant, her dearest friend, she had hurt him, tortured him with her emotions, destroyed his mind with her own and now disparaged his entire civilization to his face, and yet…

There he stood.

He placed his gloved hand over hers and returned her gaze.

“Jasmine, when I was damaged, you were the one who helped me. You fight for those who are in pain and have shown me wonders beyond imagination. That there is a life beyond my work and that I am worthy of more.” His ears lay flat on his head and his hand squeezed her’s tightly, “You are everything the Council and the Imperium told me was right, your inclusion should be a celebrated part of the Galactic Council but…” his voice trailed off, and his eyes tore away, closed as though he was in pain.

“Xant? What's wrong?” Jasmine asked, concerned.

“What I believed, and what I have seen these last few [weeks] has me questioning everything,”

Curiosity was in his nature, but he had always looked outward, never within, before her, he had no reason to.

He chuckled to himself.

“Jasmine, the last time you were this intoxicated you asked me for help, and I swore an oath to do as you willed, but now, I need to ask you the same.”

“Anything,” Jasmine affirmed.

Xant clasped the sides of his face relieved,

“I am glad to hear that, Most commanders don’t listen to requests outside of their own…” he stood beside her, gathering his fears and thoughts, laying them out as best he could.

“I spoke with Lieutenant commander Nako, he told me that the other humans had been mistreated because of their lack of freq, but he didn’t tell me how they came to be in the companies possession or what mistreatment they befell, a progenitor company shouldn't be mistreating other lifeforms, it should have been clear to them humans aren't Rajavan vassals. They’re supposed to possess far more intelligence than I, how could they have made such a mistake?-” his ears folded down harshly, frustrated at his own chaotic thoughts. He went to pull away, but she refused to let him, instead patting the space on the bed beside her.

“I’ll help,” she affirmed, blinking back the tears and furrowed her face seriously, “my own mind is… awful, tangents can be hard to tame but whatever you need Xant, I’ll do it. We can work this out together, you fill in my gaps and i’ll fill in yours,”

Xant took up her offer and fell back onto the soft fluffy bed.

“Start at the beginning,” Jasmine offered, falling back to lay beside her friend, “and just let it all out,”

Xant took a moment to compile his thoughts, the ones that would stand still anyway.

“Trust those who have their purpose as their designation,” Xant stated, “Nako is a Lieutenant Commander, in a position of power to protect the citizens and their interests.”

Jasmine nodded her head, listening to his thoughts.

“Nako told me that the humans had been purchased by a Progenitor company, that they had been treated harshly because of their lack of Freq, but how they came in possession of them is worrying, a Progenitor company doesn’t deal with pirates-”

“Pirates? “ Jasmine interrupted. “Where did pirates come from?”

“The Rajavan ship that Nako found you on, he said that it was ravaged by pirates, he also said that the other humans were sold to the Progenitor Company,” Xant explained, “Progenitor Company’s are the population contributors to the entire living galaxy, protected by the military and above a credit score all together, they wouldn't trade with pirates. So if the pirates took the human’s as cargo, but left you behind, how did they end up being sold to the Progenitor company?”

Jasmine’s entire being went deathly still.

Her mind silent, her freq simmered, the alcohol burning.

“Xant,”

“Yes, Jasmine?”

The human closed her eyes.

“We’re never trusting another word that bastard has to say to us, understood?”

The zenthi closed his eyes.

“emphatically,”