The demilitarized tech craft sped away from the dark planet in dark space. It looked different than when it had been an Alpha signal relay ship assigned to untangle the anomaly; its identifiers had been removed, and it looked more like a pricey civilian status adventure vehicle with an unusual modification or two, and a new coat. One of the benefits of going mercenary for alien vehicle enthusiasts. Random wondered, were they aliens if they weren’t part of the Imperium, and sentients if they were? Figured they were sentients either way, had to be to manage nice work like this.

There weren’t any Vedani onboard this time, just a gaggle of Phronium Triangle subterfuge veterans leaving the wreck of their old home once again. They were subdued and, in some way, content. They looked different than when they’d stepped off.

One of them, a lithe woman with her black hair done in a tight bun, gave them their next co-ords. Another unassuming point of hinterspace, surely to a Vedani loading bay. “We may not be seeing you again for a while, or at all.” There had been an errand here, an unexplained errand there throughout the tumult of these recent events, and they’d gotten almost familiar with these former enemies (of the state) turned saviors from ordered suicide… in a conflict they’d initiated, because of trouble caused by the Imperium. There weren’t many other humans to know in their dead-world, though it wasn’t as if things weren’t interesting.

Arriba & Vadr might not have much else to do, if it weren’t errands from them. “So, how about us – are we getting severance? Some kind of new job, Vedani superfood barista?”

“Oibhn might be able to find someone to teach you if you really are interested. You’ll be alright regardless, they don’t operate under human capitalism. I’m not sure what kind of social climate you’d have to find in order resurface anywhere in the Imperium. Surely, you’re not the first pair of soldiers listed dead yet looking for work – you’re just the ones we lucked into.”

Random exchanged a look with Toledo in the copilot’s chair next to them. He made a silent half-shrug, half-nod. “I suppose we could, uh, go down our list of numbers,” Random mused. “Our very short list.”