Zzzyx, aka "Slim," is a rare Andromedan holding a Skyguard Sactioned Residency License with special permission to pursue employment throughout the Sol system; they're currently working as the security officer of Platinum Lion Salvage & Discovery and living in a really, really nice place in Titan Garden's north districts. Slim knows what's up, they know that they're an outsider in this weird little system, that they came here with hostile intent and now find themselves living among the people they meant to subjugate. To that extent, Slim carries themself like a wolf on a leash- not fully tamed, but still ready to show their fangs and let 'em know what they'll get if they try it. The Sol system is filled with a myriad of different lifeforms, though, so for starfarers who aren't Neptunian themselves, seeing a ten-foot-long talking centipede is about as alarming as seeing any of Terra's biodiversity; they usually just throw a quick glance and mind their own business. Some folks do stare, and some folks do get to whispering, and this isn't lost on Slim. While they're fluent in Neptunian, they've been working on learning Common Terran since they took up work with Platinum Lion. They're a fast learner, so they've been able to understand a lot more of the whispers, and occasionally show a little flash of their fangs. Give 'em something to really talk about.
Slim's life as a Solar citizen began shortly after his capture on Pluto. They were part of an Andromedan push to build a secure foothold on the small, seemingly-uninhabited planet that orbits into and out of the system's outer perimeter- being both remote and local, dipping into and out of the populated planetary tracks, it was Andromeda's plan to build an outpost on this world to establish a colonial presence in the Sol system. Andromedans knew their system was moving closer to the Milky Way, and their intent is to get a head-start on establishing themselves as the dominant neighbor of the colliding worlds; Slim was a part of a prolonged effort towards breaking the swell of local resistance from the Neptunian Skyguard and securing that foothold of regional dominance in the system's outer boundaries. The Andromedans were ultimately pushed back from setting roots in Plutonian soil, thanks in part to pilots like Ghost in the Skyguard's Red Banner mechanized legion, pursuing Andromedans into their own defenses and nipping their blossoming advance in the stem. Slim's unit was left behind when the Higher Voices pulled out of the planet, ordered to either dig in and fight or dig down and hide beneath the surface until Andromeda could launch another attempt at taking the tiny planet. Slim chose to bare their fangs and fight, even as the Red Banner Steelframes swept into the fray. It is reported that Slim fought Steelframes directly, dodging around their rending strikes and climing around and on top of their chasses, targeting joints and structural weakpoints with their Heavy Cleaver, a large Andromedan bladecaster with a broad hatchet-like blade under its muzzle that can be gripped on a different bar and swung like an axe into whatever needs chopping. An Andromedan's solid resin weaponry was sturdy enough to hack away at Neptunian Steelframe joints, inflicting significant damage on the machines of the Red Banner legion. Slim fought hard, but the Neptunian push ultimately succeeded, and the Skyguard would come to find the Andromedan defender injured and entangled around the incapacitated remains of a Steelframe. They were taken back to Neptune, alive and in the Skyguard's custody.
Neptune offered Slim a choice. Normally the Skyguard isn't in the business of taking prisoners, least of all from Extrasolar aggressors. They could choose to execute their standing policy in dispatching the enemies of the Patriarch, or they could try something different: Slim caused a significant amount of damage to the Skyguard's mechanized Steelframe units, and the Neptunians wanted to know what vulnerabilities they looked for and how they chose to exploit them. Leaf, the Vice-Patriarch, was personally willing to afford Slim the grace of amnesty, to allow them to live some kind of life in the system they sought to upturn, in exchange for Slim's knowledge of Andromedan operations, specifically, what Neptunian defensive weaknesses Andromeda knows about. Either help us, or face whatever hereafter you believe in. Slim dug in and fought hard, but they also knew that command left them to dig in and fight when they could have risked themselves a little longer to allow them to retreat along with the Higher Voices. They could snap the head off this Skyguard interrogation officer and escape the detention facility through its air recycling tubes. They could hijack a Skyguard starship and link back up with the Andromedan Hive back in the outer reaches, beyond the boundaries of the Sol system... but what would that get them? Another deployment to a new front, to be left to dig in or dig down once again? Slim didn't care much for those odds. They were willing to take their chances with these tiny, furry little Neptunians; if they were lying, Slim was dead anyways. Might as well roll the dice on something better, and if things end up turning Andromeda's way? You can say you've infiltrated the local culture, earn a Merit of Distinction when there's no more front to be redeployed to. Slim's a thinker. Thinkers survive.
Slim's second chance wasn't without caveats. For their service assisting the Skyguard in bolstering its defenses, Slim was allowed to become a citizen of Neptune; if they wanted to leave Neptune, however, they were going to need a sponsor. A sponsor ensures that if a licensed Andromedan were to hop a ship and leave to rejoin their Hive, someone could be held accountable. A sponsor needs to be a reputable employer willing to take on the burden of managing a reformed belligerant and ensuring they become an honest and productive member of the Solar community. Additionally, a sponsor needs to be able to pay a substantial licensing fee to grant an Andromedan clearance to leave Skyguard-controlled territories, ensuring no two-bit outfit is springing an Extrasolar on the cheap. In short, if they wanted to be anywhere but the big ice ball full of fuzzy people giving them side-eyes and mean looks, Slim needed a guy like Tybalt to buy them the rest of the way towards their freedom. Tybalt, it turns out, needed someone like Slim as well, and fortunately, someone like Slim wasn't hard to find if you put an ounce of effort into looking for them. Tybalt had heard about Slim's case when he was fixing to get Banger and Mash out of Cold Storage; it took a little bit of time and a lot of paperwork, but with a little patience and persistence, he'd officially taken an Andromedan prisoner of war under his custody, scoring himself the biggest, meanest security officer a starship could hope to have. He'd been calling them his "special surprise." He couldn't wait to sicc them on the other salvage companies, to see the looks on their faces when they saw what was waiting for them under the Platinum Lion banner. Slim was happy to punch their ticket off of Neptune.
Most of the crew get on well with Slim. Some are curious, but most everyone respects the ferocity of an Andromedan security officer. They're the first Andromedan most of the crew got to know, and since moving their home to Titan Garden, they've gotten a lot more questions than dirty looks. Most of the crew like the idea of such a towering force watching their backs while they're exploring, securing and documenting wrecks like the Dromedary or the Quokka. Most of the crew are cool with Slim... most, except for the good doctor. It was a stroke of ill fate that Dr. Butcher had signed his contract agreement with the Platinum Lion Salvage & Discovery Company before an Andromedan was enlisted to the crew- when he learned who he would be crewing with, bunking with, ~serving with,~ he protested ferociously to the captain, he refused to acknowledge Slim by name and he even threatened to leave the crew before he was reminded that his contract prohibited him from breaching it and his generous sign-on bonus had already been partially spent. Slim didn't recognize Dr. Butcher from the Plutonian front, but they did recognize the glowing hostility steaming out of a bona fide Skyguardian medical officer. They enjoyed rubbing salt in the doc's wounds, really twisting the knife about their sanctioned residency license making them as much of a part of the Skyguard as he was- always taunting in perfect Neptunian, just to hammer it in deep. Figure he musta got real good at stitching up bladecaster wounds, they'd suggest offhand, behind a rumbling chuckle. Dr. Butcher swore an oath, and that oath included Slim. It really racked the Neptunian's nerves that his noble service had been reduced to such desperate straits. Slim thinks its funny as hell.
Security for a salvage crew seemed like an easy job, Slim had a good sense for danger and a sharp mind for adapting defensive strategies on the fly. When you've cut down Neptunian Steelframes like lumber, what's a couple space fleas or opportunistic bandits? Boarding and securing old shipwrecks was light work, the real challenge would be boarding them while they were already occupied by another armed-and-ready salvage company. While the Mammoth was in drydock awaiting its new wings, Slim planned the crew's next move: they knew Amy and Bryce were united by Platinum Lion's aggression, and since tearing the wings off their ship they'd be working together to secure their salvage sites, watching each other's backs while they scrapped old iron, and while they're doing that, their ships will be vulnerable. Once the Mammoth was back among the stars, Slim intended to lead a boarding party onto one of the salvage company's ships while their away teams were out of the nest and attack them from their own escape routes- crews like these always send their best fighters on the away teams, they figured, so their ships would be vulnerable while their muscle was all wreckside. Ship-to-ship combat was off the table now that they knew what that one Mercurian could do if she was in close enough proximity, so Slim's team would need to deploy non-mechanical weapons and hit the crews hard- put them in the infirmary and they won't have time to put their ships back together, let alone do any salvaging. No leadcasters or chain weapons would be permitted in the boarding party, flash- and plasma-casters might be fine but you'd be taking a big risk against Mercurian meddling. Bludgeons, gemcutters, edged weapons... the less mechanical, the better. Slim assessed the Platinum Lion crew and picked Duo Jie, Banger and Mash to round out a quartet of legbreakers for their strike team. Korbo insisted on joining the party- if anyone knew their way around an edged weapon, it was him. The First Mate declined Korbo's request, but the Captain overrode that decision, seeing it as a good opportunity for the Engineer to prove his martial capabilities. If Korbo did well on this job, he could help bolster Platinum Lion's security presence when the company grows into its lucrative future. Slim knew they weren't in much position to question the Captain, so they figured, ehh, whatever. Bring the knife guy. Make it a party of five.
Work progressed smoothly on the restoration of the Mammoth, Tybalt watching carefully as the Jackrabbit II and the Ermine took off from Old Titan Station together, again and again. He tried to keep track of where their salvage was being sold off, but both Scarlet and Viola were much harder to follow than the old market guys Tybalt was used to working with. They had networks of fences and resellers that didn't seem to run through the F-District's auction houses, not in the way Tybalt had been liquidating his company's salvage. Both the salvaged jewels of the Dromedary and the antique relics of the Quokka had been put up for sale in front of the system's wealthiest collectors, folks with deep pockets and immaculate taste. These were high-profile sales to an extremely privileged rung of society, the amount of money Tybalt's target market brought in would instantly make this whole venture profitable. He assumed Red Raven and Timberwolf simply lacked the clout to sell their scrap to Sol's elite, but right around now, while he was deep into his disruptive campaign, he'd learn why their best finds seemed to disappear off the radar: Platinum Lion had developed a Ganymedean Problem.
The Dromedary was lost forty years ago, it was a Quasar Galactic vessel carrying a cargo of gold, jewels and gemstones as corporate tribute to the Grand Bloom of Ganymede, a mandatory gesture in exchange for the favor of the Bloom and the industrial use of Ganymedean ports. It'd been lost for forty years, but when Platinum Lion staked their claim to the wreck, they learned it hadn't been forgotten. Ganymedean tribute had begun showing up in Saturnian auction houses, its source documentation listing it as being recovered from the Dromedary- word of these sales had reached the leaves of the Court of the Nine Gardens, and they had responded by sending their agents to Titan. An emissary had arrived at the Platinum Lion office, requesting Tybalt cancel the auctions and deliver the royal tribute to Ganymedean possession. Taking this emissary for a conman or a thief, Tybalt dismissed them, shooing them out of his office; it was a bold scam, he had to respect the bravado of someone to just walk up and ask for millions of credits worth of priceless wealth be handed over to them, just like that. Tybalt knew his crew salvaged this stuff from an old wreck they secured themselves, it was rightfully theirs. The emissary left without issue, but in the days to follow, it became apparent why neither Timberwolf nor Red Raven contested his claim to the Dromedary. They didn't want to draw attention to themselves.
It turns out the Grand Bloom of Ganymede doesn't take "no" for an answer. Agents of the Royal Honour Guard began to make appearances in and around the Platinum Lion office; darts fired from Ganymedean thorncasters began to stick into surfaces right in front of the crews' faces, warning shots fired from unknown locations. Tybalt would come into the office fresh in the morning and find his filing cabinets had been combed through, the tiny culprits caught on his tertiary security cameras after the primary and secondary had been disabled. The wreck of the Dromedary was getting to be a huge problem for Platinum Lion, but rather than back down and lose out on the enormous take from his auctions, Tybalt ordered his Security Officer to start securing the hangar from Ganymedean meddling. Slim had been busy planning and coordinating a very dangerous and very precise attack on two salvage crews who were already on high alert; Tybalt insisted this was more urgent. Slim, knowing better than to question the Captain, split their time between prepping for the crew's next sortie and buttoning down the homestead. They enlisted Korbo's help in tackling the situation with the Honour Guard, not because they thought he'd be any good at it, but because a broad body like his was more likely to take a Thorncaster dart than they were. Figured if he wanted to be involved, he could be good for cover.
Days later, as new wings were finally being affixed to the Mammoth, Tybalt sat alone in his office, elbows propped on his desk, holding his head in both hands. Between the costs to repair his ship and the liability of his treasure acquisitions, he'd started to think his salvage operation was becoming something of a quagmire. He'd hired the best, he'd paid top credit, why wasn't it working? What worked in his other ventures, and why wasn't it working here? His fingertips tapped against his head... think, think! He'd hired the best.... he'd delegated. He delegated his leadership to the best of the best. Of course, that was it! Tybalt had been successful because he rolled up his sleeves and led his business ventures himself! He'd delegated too much responsibility to his new crew, he'd let too much out of his hands. If he was gonna right his ship he had to dig in and lead his crew himself, more directly, more personally. Just like he used to. He had to take charge. That's it!
It was settled. Tybalt knew if he were to turn around his company's fortunes, he would have to lead the attack on the salvage rivals himself. He pulled up Slim's half-assembled plans and got right to work.