Space Punk Quartet [INTRO — engine hum, gate tone, loose sticks counting in] [DOGS — spoken] Yvonne found an Ark in a shed. [DEATH] Of course she did. [DOGS] Can't fly it. [GLITCH] Of course she can't. [TANGENT] Can Jade? [ALL] OF COURSE SHE FUCKING CAN. [band detonates] [VERSE 1] [TANGENT] Old Fraction hull in a mothballed berth, dust on the fittings, paperwork worse. Huola run, nothing grand to reclaim — discarded stock and forgotten names. [GLITCH] Cargo hold empty. Inertials in. No sacred mission. No war to win. [DEATH] Old comrades don't always summon you back for history, vengeance, doctrine, attack. [DOGS] Sometimes it's simply: “Can you move this Ark?” [PRE-CHORUS — fast call/response] [TANGENT] One system forward— [GLITCH] Providence dead. [DEATH] Eighteen Catalysts— [DOGS] Message received. [ALL] OLD HULL! OLD FRIEND! OLD GATE! NEW BASTARD! [CHORUS] [ALL] OH EVE — NEVER FUCKING CHANGE! Same bad ideas under different names. Old ships running through the same old lanes, someone sees an Ark and starts explaining rates. [DOGS] Same stars— [DEATH] same scam— [GLITCH] same mathematics— [TANGENT] different man. [ALL] OH EVE — NEVER FUCKING CHANGE! [VERSE 2 — rhythm keeps getting knocked sideways] [GLITCH] Machariel enters. Align disrupted. Again. Again. Warp solution fucked with. [DOGS] Big Angel battleship leaning on the door, not shooting yet — doesn't mean there's no war. [DEATH] Tiny Navitas burns itself dry, points the Ark once, CONCORD says goodbye. [TANGENT] Violence doesn't always start with guns. Sometimes it starts when somebody decides you're not leaving when you want. [PRE-CHORUS] [GLITCH] Kill link offered. [DEATH] Credibility established. [DOGS] Ransom channel open. [TANGENT] Five hundred million. [ALL] PAY ME OR WE GANK YOU. [band stops dead] [BREAK — comms only] [DOGS — as Siegfried, flat] Pay me five hundred mil or we gank you. [DEATH — as Jade, sweetly] Ohhh… let me check my bank account, my friend. [beat] [DEATH] How many zeros does five hundred million have? [Silence.] [DOGS] …lol. [GLITCH — perfectly precise] Five. Zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero. [beat] [DOGS] He fucking answered. [band crashes back] [VERSE 3] [DOGS] Customer service for organised crime, please hold the line while we value your time. Eighteen Catalysts somewhere behind, Mach on the bumper, Ark won't align. [GLITCH] Threat remains credible. Target remains mobile. Cargo remains empty. Economics remain horrible. [DEATH] Jade doesn't posture. Doesn't shout “come and try.” Just makes the pirate explain the number he wants her to buy. [TANGENT] That's not bravery through ignorance. She knows exactly what this is. Sometimes refusing somebody's frame is simply taking the fucking piss. [CHORUS] [ALL] OH EVE — NEVER FUCKING CHANGE! Same bad ideas under different names. Old ships running through the same old lanes, someone sees an Ark and starts explaining rates. [DOGS] Same gate— [DEATH] same greed— [GLITCH] same target selection— [TANGENT] same ancient need— [ALL] TO MAKE SOMEBODY ELSE PAY FOR YOUR EVENING. [BRIDGE — half-time, engine pulse] [DEATH] This isn't a victory song. [GLITCH] Nobody here is immortal because the fit was clever. [TANGENT] One system over, a Providence is wreckage. [DOGS] And eighteen Catalysts have already demonstrated their fucking business model. [DEATH] But old revolutionaries age strangely. [TANGENT] The banners go in boxes. [GLITCH] The doctrine becomes archive. [DOGS] And one day your grand return to history is— [ALL] MOVING YVONNE'S OLD SHIT TO HUOLA. [BUILD — gate activation rising] [TANGENT] No anthem. [GLITCH] No manifesto. [DEATH] No glorious last stand. [DOGS] Just an empty Ark, a bad neighbourhood, and some bloke in a Machariel trying to charge admission. [FINAL CHORUS] [ALL] OLD HULL! OLD FRIEND! OLD GATE! NEW BASTARD! OH EVE — NEVER FUCKING CHANGE! Twenty years later and the joke's the same. You can burn revolutions, rename every war, someone will still bump your freighter and demand five hundred more. [DOGS] Same scam! [GLITCH] Same arithmetic! [DEATH] Same refusal to take it seriously! [TANGENT] Same disreputable universe— [ALL] STILL ALIVE. [OUTRO — music drops to gate ambience and chat pings] [DOGS — Siegfried] Jump through the gate. [beat] [DOGS] nvm [beat] [DOGS] bye [gate flash] [Silence.] [DEATH — Jade, amused] Oh, EVE. [small pause] Never change. [one distant Catalyst explosion] [END]
