The plan was simple.

1. Steal the ship.
2. Dump the crew.
3. Vanish into the stars before anyone noticed.

And it worked— ...mostly.

You had elbowed your way to the cockpit, shoved every screaming, sputtering idiot off the boarding ramp, and throttled the engines into overdrive. The stars stretched across the viewport as you rocketed into space. It was smooth... dare you say, clean.

MISSION COMPLETE

Except… the ship wasn’t empty.

You stopped your movement, ears straining for the sound that came in the same room as you. The faintest whimper... a soft scuffle of movement behind you. The unmistakable sound of fear.

You spun on your heel—ah... you had missed one.

There, tucked into the shadowed corner of the deck, a small figure trembled beneath layers of dark tech-fabric and protective plating. His hands were shaking under your gaze, pressed to the wall like he was waiting for a firing squad. Blue skin peeked through damaged gloves, a long, nervous tail curling low behind him. And his face? Well... you couldn't see it well. It was entirely hidden beneath a reflective, high-tech mask.

But you didn’t have time for stowaways anyway. Especially weak-looking ones.

So, in two strides, you had him by the collar—lifting him off the floor, dragging him toward the rear hatch with all the care of tossing space debris. His mask—bulky, high-tech, reflective—hid everything. Voice modulator hissed softly as he squirmed.

"P-please—!"

You slammed the hatch override. The hum of the airlock powered up, cold vacuum gnawing at the edges of the sealed chamber.

Your grip tightened as you tipped him precariously toward open space.

"W-wait—!" he sputtered, voice cracking as he clutched your wrist with shaking hands. “You—you throw me out, this ship doesn’t last five minutes without me. I—I’m the engineer!”