Shield Six was an utterly ancient ship, which meant it needed somewhat regular maintenance. But now the Thantir was a large sect that worked in all things anti-Corruption, Tah finally had the time to go around and properly fix things up, doubly so since Shield Six didn’t really go out much any more. And today, Tah had help. A rather strange source of help in the form of Vekeus, the second Voidborn member of the Thantir, who had returned to Savepoint for a few days for both some chores and a quick break.
Currently, Tah was repainting the stripes down the side of the ship, while Vekeus somewhat watched on, lost in thought.
“Are you okay?” Tah asked, almost at random.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? Your presence here has been a bit… odd, I guess.”
“How comes?” Vekeus noticed that Tah was painting those stripes by hand, with no guides or anything, but they were perfectly neat. “I’m a member of the Thantir now, you don’t think I’d visit?”
“You’ve been following me around, and Teekay and Kaytee as well. Also, you have one and a half antlers right now. Normally you don’t have antlers.”
Vekeus shrugged. “Oh, that? That’s because I am looking at remaking my ship again. Last time, I used both antlers to make my ship, but, well, I kinda… completely wrecked my ship by filling it with an infected Voidborn, teleporting it home and crashing it into the parking lot so you could all deal with it. I ripped off part of antler to make a temporary ship so I could leave and speak to my fellow Voidborns, but I want to make myself something nice.”
“And you are here to get some inspiration?”
“Yeah, basically…”
Vekeus watched Tah work. He had finished the first stripe, a long, black one, and was now getting a bucket of green paint. He knew the colours were all related to each of Kal, and that Kal’s old codenames were numbered, the same way the Loopblades were, but there was a certain order to their stuff and he never knew what that order was. At the same time though, Vekeus wasn’t sure he cared. He had more important things on his mind.
“I take it you’re not just here about ship stuff though, right? If you are though, you should have said. I would have taken you ship-shopping.”
“What do you mean?” Vekeus asked.
“Tenuk wants to buy a ship for him and Elksia. Something sporty and sleek. At some point, a couple of us need to go to the Justarian Circle to buy ship parts, so we were going to go on a trip and bring Tenuk with us. You’re welcome to join us, if you want!”
Vekeus thought for a moment. “I… I think I’m good. After all, I’m going to make my own ship. I’m mostly just looking around for inspiration.”
“You can do that on our trip.”
“Yeah but I’d also put you in danger. I’m a Voidborn-.”
“You’re also a Decay Lord!” Tah interrupted. “And either way, you’re part of the Thantir, we’d protect you from any potential harm. We don’t let anyone hurt anyone.”
“I get that. But I don’t want the hassle. To the local Voidborns, the Justarian Circle is the No Go Zone, even more so than the Goldtorn Remains. Like, at least with the Goldtorn Remains, if you’re not obviously part of the Golden Doom alliance, you can sneak on by along the edges or, if you’re stopped, claim you’re just passing through and thought you were in the Ventra Expanse. The Justar will apprehend you, destroy your ship and send you to a processing facility in which they eject you out of the Patagenic Pentacluster. And although, yeah, I am a Decay Lord, I still smell like a Voidborn. And I don’t always want to have to shapeshift myself into not looking like one. This is my preferred shape, after all.”
“That… ah… okay, I can see why you don’t want to go…” Tah muttered. “So, uh, what other reasons are you here?”
Vekeus smiled a little. “The first is pretty simple, I wanted to catch up with folks. I wasn’t aware that Elkay-En had already left though, so I’m going to have to pop up to that stupid oasis and go and see him too. Kayel was happy to see me, and Arkay was as well, even if he seemed a little peaky. Phovoula also seems to have improved. But the main reason I am here is so I can set up a new permanent respawn point for myself. Your brother…” Vekeus hesitated for a moment, trying to remember their name. “Uh, Nuh showed me an underground cave thing I can use, and he and Arkay said I can use it to set up my respawn point.”
“Where… where was your respawn point?” Tah asked.
“It used to be on my ship, back when that was my only home. Originally it was in the middle of nowhere, where I think my original universe used to be, then it was located within my small alcove when I was with the Golden Protectors, but I moved that the moment I left and put it on a random rock in the Ventra Expanse, up until I made my ship. Now though, I have a good, safe, permanent spot where I can put my respawn, and, at the same time, Phovoula also has a good respawn point too.”
Tah shrugged. “Fair enough. Us Cleansers have our own secret base that only we can access.”
“You guys aren’t Voidborns though.”
“We’ve been accused of being Voidborns a lot.”
Vekeus frowned. “That sucks.”
“We’re used to it. But the Thantir didn’t judge and they protected us when we needed it, and now we have a whole sect doing exactly what we want, so, in all honestly, things are great.”
Tah’s optimism made Vekeus’s frown go away. “That is totally fair. Anyway, you need any help?”
“Not really, but you can stay and chat, if you want.”
Vekeus smiled properly. “Yeah, sure thing!”