#xephyrlight

7. A ship9. Robots

Septimus, the young X that he had adopted from another world where he wasn’t considered a legal citizen, had insisted that Xephyr take a vacation. After some subtle hints from the young android, Xephyr had finally given in, and had purchased cruise tickets for the two of them.

The cruise itself had been extremely enjoyable. Though Septimus didn’t socialize much with other guests, he’d enjoyed the food, and the view, even if he’d been too nervous to go into the ocean.

Which, unfortunately, would cause a problem on the last day of their trip — a group of rogue Mavericks had seen the cruise ship and had considered it an easy target, obviously having not counted on a veteran Maverick Hunter being there and were quickly taken care of.

But try as he might, he wasn’t able to stop the ship from capsizing. But that didn’t deter him from calling for backup, and assisting in making sure that all the passengers and crew were on lifeboats.

"Jump, Septimus!" Xeph urged the young android, who had insisted on sticking with him. The poor thing was staring at the raft, and quickly shook his head, backing away.

"But there’s sharks!" he squeaked out.

"Sharks will not find you tasty, I promise," he insisted, grimacing as the ship continued to sink. "But if you don’t jump now, you’ll be in open water."

The newbuilt was hesitating, but there wasn’t much time left. So Xeph wrapped his arms around Septimus, picked him up, and jumped off onto the last remaining lifeboat. Unfortunately, Septimus let out a squeak and collapsed in his arms, causing him to sigh.