Actually, I had one more problem on my hands.

After I moved the last crate into the hull, I took a nice little stroll over to a different crate labeled WP108, and pulled out a certain laser rifle. I could have done this at the beginning, but it’s possible that doing so would cause problems later down the line.

I took aim at ‘it’ and… fired toward a steel pillar right behind ‘it’. Groaning coming from the direction of the pillar came immediately after, making our stalker apparent. I should have hit a leg, so I’m not a murderer, yet.

“I already had communications intercepted, so no one else should be aware yet of what’s going on. If I can ask you a favor, little miss, please tie that fool up and try not to kill him.” It’s not that I felt bad for intentionally leaving the hangar open to catch an unsuspecting individual. I just wanted a third wheel on the ‘adventure’ we were about to take. If you leave a tiny entrance, brave individuals are bound to take the bait.

“W-what are you doing?” Our dear Soldier A called out.

“Oh, please gag him too.” I felt that he was going to give me a headache if I didn’t do this right away. Luckily, ‘it’ was very good at following orders. I guess I’ll upgrade you to ‘USEFUL’ now.

Anyways, after that small ordeal, ‘USEFUL’ and I brought Soldier A onto the starship and we prepared our great escape.

“Oh, by the way, the other soldiers probably know something is off by now, so we might have a small encounter in a second. Just hold on tight and it will be fine.” I informed ‘USEFUL’ as I took a hold of the starship’s controls.

“STOP RIGH- AHHHH!” Soldiers flooded in after hearing the starship engine, only to taste the smoke of our takeoff.

And so, my journey with a changeling and a third wheel began.

Imperial Soldier Clement Ashire’s Story:

After the raid on the rebel base, I was unluckily enough to be immediately put on evening watch duty. I just want to relax, and this is how I’m repaid? It looks like I have yet another issue to bring up with HR.

Then, to make matters worse, I just so happened to intrude on a great heist after seeing the entrance to the hangar storing captured rebel starships ajar.

I tried to call for backup, but my communications were jammed. As I turned back to make a run for it and grab help manually, the doors shut!

I spotted a familiar looking man and a little girl moving large supply crates into the hull of a starship.

‘Ah! That was the man who actually surrendered to protect the children. It seems he had other plans in mind…’

As I was thinking as such, I suddenly heard a laser go off and felt a sharp pain in my thigh.

“AAAGHHH!” I screamed in pain. Sadly, the walls of the hangar were soundproof, so only the two thieves could hear my anguish.

“I already had communications intercepted, so no one else should be aware yet of what’s going on. If I can ask you a favor, little miss, please tie that fool up and try not to kill him.” He commanded the little girl who had been carrying boxes twice her size earlier.

“W-what are you doing?” I asked in desperation.

“Oh, please gag him too.” Sadly, my desperation was answered as such. And so, I was carried onto the starship, likely to be used as a hostage.

As they opened the hangar to make their great escape, soldiers finally caught on to what was happening and rushed in. Of course, it was too late. The starship blasted off, sweeping through the base before escaping into space. Just like that, the heist was complete.

And so, I now find myself on a starship with two thieves. How have I fallen so far in life...