Chapter four

Published: May 19, 2026 by

Hegrex sat across the table from Dagrex. They had left their ship in search of sustenance, both knowing exactly where they wanted to go.

Although they had landed their ship a long way from the planet’s main city of Hindlex, they were within walking distance of a small village. It was one of their favourite villages due to the diner that had opened up the previous year. Suszhani’s diner had formed quite the reputation across the wider region since then, thanks in part to their recommendations to their other ‘business partners’ at each space port stop-over.

They had stumbled upon it one night after making an emergency landing on the planet. They had to make a hasty getaway without having time to fully refuel their engines when a deal didn’t quite go as planned. Whilst searching for fuel, they decided to grab a bite to eat and discovered the best Randu (a noodle dish made with tentacles of the purple Octavex) this side of the solar system.

Stepping into the diner via the open door, they were greeted by a waiter standing behind a small pedestal, smiling happily at them with both of his mouths, one set of teeth thin and pointed, the other set flatter and more rounded, designed for chewing tough substances.

“Table for two please.” Hegrex nodded politely at the waiter, noticing the new guy with the two mouths, wondering what happened to the previous waiter. She read the name tag before smiling back and saying the waiter’s name, “Thank you, Davely”.

Dagrex’s eyes widened with excitement as he looked around the busy restaurant. “Oh! And can we have the booth please Davely?” he added, also smiling a cheesy grin back to the waiter.

The waiter nodded and indicated with one of his four arms for the two to follow him, leading them to the booth. They both sat down in the seats of the booth, facing one another. The waiter retrieved two menus from a large pocket in his apron and went to hand them to the booth’s occupants.

Dagrex spoke before the menus even reached them. “Two of your finest Randus please.”

Davely nodded subtly in appreciation at the choice and returned the menus to his apron pocket and walked away from the booth. Using his third arm, he retrieved a small metal box from another pocket, pressing a few buttons on the device’s touchscreen, before returning it to the pocket and then disappearing into the kitchen at the back of the diner.

Ten minutes later Davely returned with their dishes and a large bottle of water for each of them, carrying each dish and bottle in a separate hand, placing them gently onto the table of the booth. He turned and smiled with both mouths, but his eyes had lost their sparkle slightly, trying not to reveal something they knew that Dagrex and Hegrex didn’t.

Dagrex retrieved the chopsticks from the table and slurped down a tentacle greedily, splashing some of the precious Randu sauce across the table and towards Hegrex. She grabbed a napkin and wiped the sauce from her silver jacket before it stained.

“Sorry about that,” Dagrex mumbled through his mouthful of noodles, trying not to let any more sauce or noodles spill from his mouth.

“One of these days I’m going to be sending you the cleaning bill.” Hegrex glared back at him, before looking down at her own bowl and poking it with her chopsticks, her appetite fading slightly. Dagrex was a great friend, but she needed to eat on her own next time. She chuckled to herself as she thought about the scrapes he had saved her from in the past, then looked back up at him, a smile forming on her face, Dagrex smiling back, this time without any food in his mouth. Try as she might, she couldn’t stay mad at him for very long.

She glanced at the clock on the wall, considering how long it would be before the others returned to their ship after making their cargo drop off and hopefully returning with more rations for their next journey. Looking down at the noodles on the table before her, she realised it was this or nothing for a long while ahead, so she had better make the most of it whilst she could. The journey to the city of Hindlex was a long and tough journey, but that was the price of avoiding the attention of the authorities. Picking up a bunch of noodles with the chopsticks, she raised them to her mouth and slurped them down, just as her friend was, although ensuring not to flay the delicious sauce around the table.

They were both so engrossed in their meal that they didn’t see the character dressed in the white, crisp, uniform of the Light Speed Guards enter the diner. He looked over to the waiter, now pouring drinks at the bar, who tilted his head to the right subtly. Following the indication from the waiter, he looked over and saw the pair he was looking for sitting at the booth, enjoying their Randu. Smoothing down his uniform with his hands, despite there being no creases, he then walked slowly over to the table and sat down at an empty seat at the edge of the booth.

“Good evening. Hegrex. Dagrex” He spoke their names, nodding to each of them as he did so.

The pair looked up from their bowls at the visitor to their table. Dagrex slurped down the tentacle that was hanging from his mouth, accidentally sending a splatter of sauce in the direction of the visitor. The sauce landed with a splatter onto the pristine white uniform.

“Sorry about that,” Dagrex said through the mouthful of food, before offering the visitor his own napkin.

The visitor sighed, turned down the offer of a napkin and took a small bottle of spray from his waistband, spaying a small amount over the affected area of his uniform, watching the purple stain disappear within moments.

“An occupational hazard of wearing a white uniform in these back water areas.” The visitor looked unperturbed by the events, his confidence not waning in any way. “Anyway, you know who I am. And I know who you are.”

“Commander Zegrax, I believe” Hegrex held out her hand for the commander to shake, but the handshake was not offered back. Although they had never met in person, Hegrex and Dagrex couldn’t help but know of the Commander of the Light Speed Guards. His face was on every poster in every port, telling people to keep an eye out for smugglers and report them to the authorities immediately.

“Right, now that we have got the introductions out of the way, we can talk business. I have an outstanding warrant for your arrest for involvement in an incident on the moon of Phobos. There are several eye witnesses that saw your craft escaping immediately after a heist.” Commander Zegrax poke, smoothing down his un-creased uniform with his hands once more, a smug smile now appearing on his face.

The pair looked at each other across the table with raised eyebrows, before turning to face the commander.

“Phobos? That’s the moon of Mars isn’t it?” Dagrex replied. “Can’t say we’ve ever been to Mars before.”

“Nope. Never been that far into the solar system. That would be against the Light Speed rulebook. As I’m sure you are well aware, the rules state the asteroid belt denotes the limit of all craft, as to not be detectable by the Earthlings.” Hegrex commented nonchalantly.

“How can you explain the eyewitness testimonies that saw your craft there if you have never been to Mars?” The commander countered.

“Maybe you should be asking your eyewitnesses what they were doing in a controlled area of space?” Dagrex raised both eyebrows in curiosity.

“The witness was very sure. That’s good enough for me.” Commander Zegrax retorted.

“Would these witnesses, by any chance, be making a plea deal to give up others to reduce their own sentence?” Dagrex asked, raising his right eyebrow.

“Well… yes.” Commander Zegrax started responding.

Dagrex interrupted the commander, “Well, I don’t think the courts will believe them and their testimony alone. People in that situation are notoriously unreliable.”

“And like we said, we’ve never been to Mars, so they must be mistaken.” Hegrex finished.

The commander took a deep breath and calmed his frustrations, smoothing down his uniform once more to work out his tension.

“We shall see. I have more lines of inquiry to follow on this matter.” Commander Zegrax stood up, looking down at the pair as he spoke, trying to use his height to intimidate them. “There is one more thing that I would like to discuss whilst I am here, which is unauthorised laser fire. Two blasts were recorded from this region and your ship was the only one in the area with that frequency of laser cannon.”

“You serious?” Hegrex asked with a smile. “The head of the Light Speed Guards is going to write us a ticket for unauthorised blaster fire? What’s that, a five credit fine these days?”

Commander Zegrax retrieved a small rectangular device from a pouch on the belt of his uniform and pressed a few buttons on the touch screen. Holding it up vertically, he used it to scan the two occupants of the booth, taking a three dimensional image of their faces so they could be verified against the Light Speed Guard’s database. After a few seconds a small piece of paper emerged from a small slit at the top of the rectangular device. He peeled the paper away and placed it on the table.

“Here’s your ticket.” Zegrax went to turn and leave, but then turned back to face them once more. “Oh, you are quite correct about the five credit fine, however it seems this isn’t your first offence, so I have also added a mandatory training course on the dangers of unauthorised blaster fire. Failure to attend the training in person at the date displayed will result in an arrest warrant being issued for both of you.”

With that, the commander turned and left the restaurant.

The pair pushed their unfinished dishes of Randus away from themselves, their appetite suddenly disappearing at the news.