Unlikely Friends

The Tharos Expanse was a lawless sector on the edges of known space and had long been a battleground for smugglers, bounty hunters, and mercenary warlords. It was a place where no government dared enforce order, where the strongest survived, and the reckless died fast.Among the stars, Drake Vance was no stranger to the chaos of these regions. His ship, the Black Mongoose, had seen countless battles, countless escapes, and more than a few incidents where he should have been killed. But his reputation as a daredevil smuggler with a silver tongue had kept him alive—well, at least so far.It was here, amid the wreckage of dead ships and drifting debris fields, that he first crossed paths with Tacko Rinn. Tacko was flying a Space Wolf G4, one of the fastest, most agile starfighters in the galaxy, but flying a fast ship means nothing when you're outnumbered and being hunted down.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Tharos Expanse was a lawless sector on the edges
of known space, and had long been a battleground for smugglers,
bounty hunters, and mercenary warlords. It was a place where
no government dared in force, order, where the strongest survived
and the reckless died fast among the stars. Drake Vance

(00:20):
was no stranger to the chaos of these regions. His ship,
the Black Mongoose, had seen countless battles, countless escapes, and
more than a few incidents where he should have been killed,
but his reputation as a dare devil smuggler with a
silver tongue had kept him alive well, at least so far.
It was here, amid the wreckage of dead ships and

(00:43):
drifting debris fields, that he first crossed paths with Taco Rin.
Taco was flying a space Wolf G four, one of
the fastest, most agile star fighters in the galaxy, but
flying a fast ship means nothing when you're outnumbered and
being hunted down. The Dominion had sent three strike ships
to eliminate Taco after he had apparently made the mistake

(01:06):
of having sexual involvements with the daughter of a local
crime lord, a rather risky thing to do, especially when
rumors of possible pregnancy soon followed. Not one of Taco's
greatest maneuvers at all, as this crime lord wanted him dead.
The Dominion enemy ships closed in fast, their long range

(01:27):
cannons hammering the void, sending bursts of charged plasma screaming
past his hull. The G four fighter twisted and rolled,
darting between the jagged remains of a ruined battleship. Using
the wreckage as cover. Taco fired back his plasma cannons,
burning through the shields of the lead attack ship, but
it wasn't enough. They had him boxed in. Censers screamed warnings,

(01:51):
a missile lock on his tail. He spun the ship
into a sharp dive, but the target tracking system wouldn't shake.
The Dominion gunners knew their business. They weren't letting him leave.
And then from nowhere a shadow emerged from the wreckage,
a second ship cutting across the battlefield at an impossible angle.
It was the Black Mongoose Drake had been watching. He

(02:14):
hadn't planned to intervene. He had other things to do,
cargo to smuggle and enemies to evade, But there was
something about watching an underdog fight for their life. That
never sat right with him, But more practically, he figured
that if the Dominion was hunting this kid so hard,
it could mean that he might be worth something. With
a burst of ion thrusters, the Black Mongoose shot forward,

(02:38):
engines roaring as it cut through the fight. Before Taco
or the Dominion ships could react, Drake opened fire his
railgun cannons, spitting rounds of high velocity tungsten into the
lead attack ship's engines. The Dominion pilot had no time
to react. The rear section of the strike ship exploded,
sending debris and burning wreckage into the volod its. Two

(03:01):
remaining allies broke formation. Momentarily confused by the new arrival,
Drake didn't slow down. The Mongoose twisted through space, dodging
the incoming fire from the two remaining attack ships. One
flipped hard into a rolling maneuver, trying to circle behind him,
but Drake was already ahead of them. The ship's ghost

(03:21):
cloaking blinked on, causing the Black Mongoose to vanish from
their targeting radars for just a few seconds, just enough
time for him to reposition. By the time the Dominion
pilots recalibrated, it was already too late. Drake came up
behind them, letting loose a spread of Disruptor missiles that
tore through the shielding of the second ship, sending its

(03:43):
spiraling into an uncontrolled drift. The last Dominion ship, realizing
it was out gunned, and turned to flee. Drake let
it go. There was no sense in making more enemies today,
he thought. With the Dominion ships destroyedoid or retreating, the
battlefield fell into silence, broken only by the humming glow

(04:05):
of dying wreckage floating through the void. Taco steadied his fighter,
his breathing heavy adrenaline still coursing through him. His ship
had taken damage. The G four's shield core was flickering,
the energy levels unstable, but it was still flying kind
of and then through the calms, a signal pulsed a

(04:30):
simple transmission, an open channel from the Black Mongoose. Waiting
for a response, Taco hesitated, then linked the channel. Drake's
ship hovered nearby, battle scarred but untouched and imposing silhouette
against the dark canvas of the stars. For a long moment,
neither of them moved, Then, as if wordlessly deciding something

(04:54):
unspoken between them. The black mongoose turned banking toward open space,
but not before or leaving a coded signal marker behind
an invitation of sorts