Sarah's ears no longer rang and she could hear clearly, not that there was much to hear as quiet as Mel was being. The only thing that signaled that the medic was awake was the fact that he occasionally shifted.

The cell didn’t have anything, not even bunks. Maybe they had actually put them in a closet. Sarah got up and went over to the door. A small kick told her it was solid.

"Why didn’t they tie you back up?" She questioned the doctor.

"One, I told them I needed my hands free in order to help you. Secondly, they know I don't present a threat to them." Mel cleaned some smears off his glasses. "I suspect you might have a powder burn as close as his pistol was. How does your face feel?"

She rubbed the side. It was still warm to the touch but it didn't feel too bad.

"Still warm, not like a burn honestly."

"It's probably a minor one then. Your hair no doubt caught most of it. I'll request burn cream when they come back around."

The man Sarah found herself talking with was a far cry from the stuttering, nervous one she had initially met. Mel seemed calm, almost as if nothing could bother him at all. Had she gotten the wrong impression of him? After all, it had been a stressful situation when they first barely met.

"What's going to happen to the others? I didn't really hear Captain Yager give the orders." Sarah wasn't going to bother to ask what his intentions were with her. She had already guessed ransom by the way he had been talking about how valuable she was.

Mel blinked and his expression morphed from one of a calm, clinical doctor to one of a panicked man. He ran his fingers through his hair and started picking at the edge of his sleeve.

"I don't- I don't know. I mean, Heather comes from a well to do family, so he'll probably ransom her and Ash. I mean, that's-that's what he's done in the past. He might do the same with Dave. His father is a high-ranking officer in the Aboloanian army. As for me and-and Claire... we're not worth enough."

Somehow, it didn’t surprise Sarah that Heather came from a high bred background. It was the way she carried herself, so prim and proper. She would've never guessed that about Dave. He seemed to be the exact opposite of military.

"Cap-captain Yager will probably force me to work for him again. It-It wasn’t fun the first time." Mel started to shake. No, not shake. It was more like he was vibrating. "As-as for Claire, Captain Yager really dislikes her. She-she hit him with a hammer once and he's never forgiven her for it.”

"Surely her mechanical skills are worth something, especially on a ship this size."

After all, if it was big enough to hold the Echelon, it only stood to reason that the Steel Eagle would need a large engine and lots of mechanical systems. And for some reason, she couldn’t imagine that many who became pirates had great skill in that area.

"True, but his crew knows better than to hit him with tools. Claire-Claire wouldn't be able to stop herself. Not the best work environment. I just hope he doesn’t throw her overboard."

Sarah didn’t think she knew Captain Yager well enough to say whether he would do that or not. But the crew seemed to know him pretty well.

"What did Dave mean by a deal? Isn't it illegal to make deals with pirates?"

"Yes and no." It seemed like he had calmed himself down. "You can make a deal as long as you don't endanger another ship or their cargo. At least, that's the way Heather explained it to me. She says in international skies like these, the laws are a bit blurry. With us, it was once so bad Captain Yager was raiding us every time we went to the mainland. So Dave worked out a deal with him for a weekly raid. Though I suppose the Captain decided he didn’t like that idea. Or they needed money. But we rarely carry anything that valuable, so I don't understand why we'd be a good target."

It seemed to Sarah that perhaps Captain Yager wasn't the brightest pirate there was. But he had to be doing well enough to have a large ship and a sizable crew and smart enough to elude capture. So maybe he was just lucky or pretending to be stupid. Before she could ask Mel any more questions, the door opened. Toledo couldn't even step into the closet.

"Captain wants to see girl." He grunted before pointing to Mel. "You stay here. Be good."

"Tell Captain Yager that she needs some burn cream. Some of the powder got on her face." Mel stated as Sarah got up to go over to him. "Or something to help it."

Toledo nodded in response and motioned for her to step out. Sarah had barely gotten out when he slammed the door shut. Between the slam of the door and the air whooshing past, it unsettled her nerves enough to make her jump. Toledo caught her on her way back down. He didn't put her down as he started to walk.

"I can walk, sir." She insisted. He didn't respond, so she went with another strategy.

Toledo stopped when he heard his native language come out of her mouth. He blinked and gently put her down.

Sarah nodded.

He motioned for her to keep going and kept close to her.

It had been a bit difficult to get a hold of the books that helped with Alemanian due to the not very populated area she lived in, but not impossible.

It wasn't that odd for someone to be more eloquent in their native tongue than the second language they knew, but most people were better than Toledo was. Perhaps it played into his role as the brute strength of the crew or he didn't want to bother with speaking longer sentences in Aboloanian. Or he didn't see the point with how lousy Captain Yager's listening skills seemed to be. They climbed up a set of stairs and came to a wooden door that overlooked a large open area, the perfect place for a captain's quarters or office. She wasn't sure where the bridge was.

Toledo knocked on the door a couple of times and waited. Then he knocked again.

"Entree-vu!" Captain Yager's voice rang out in a sing-song like manner. "I am ready Fredrick for our guest!"

Either there was a pirate in there with him named Fredrick or he had messed up some slang. She was going to go with the second option given his personality. The door opened and Toledo shoved her in after untying her hands. Maybe the Captain had determined she wasn’t a threat.

" He then closed the door.

As she had guessed, Captain Yager was alone in his office, which hosted a large mahogany desk, a globe off to the side, several maps on the wall with clearly marked paths. There was a coat rack which sported a heavy coat on it, which must've been his winter one. There was a stack of papers off to the side in somewhat of a stack. That would be hard to ignore. Then behind the desk there was a cabinet, probably filled with liquor. It was also mahogany. It was like he had stolen the furnite suite from someone else's office.

"Ah, my young frienda! So good to see you up and about after that unfortuna incident with the boom-gun. I didn't have any place to fire it but the floor, youse see? Anywhere else and I would've damaged the flying tub lemon greatly!" He pointed to the seat in front of the desk. "Please, take a seat-down." She nodded and pulled the chair back, finding it not difficult to slide into. "So, are you hungry perhaps? Or would you prefer something to wet the windsock?" Captain Yager threw the cabinet doors open. "I have several choices for the pallea."

"Some water, perhaps." He probably wouldn't have that in the cabinet. "What did you want to speak to me about, Captain Yager?"

"Ah, you pronounciated my nom-d'Gary correctly. This pleases me." He pulled out what looked like water, but it had little bubbles in it. "I don't have any wagua on me, but I do have fizzy wagua." The Captain poured some into a cup and passed it over to her. It made a fizzing sound before settling down. "I need you, Sarah, to tell me the information I need in order to write a ransomgram."

He got out a pen and removed a piece of paper from the stack.

"Greetings and salutiontations." He stated as he wrote. "I, the great Captain Yager, write this ransomgram to..." He paused. "Who am I salutating?"

"Professor Henri Dupont of Sagican University."

"Ah, you are a scholarete. What subject?"

"Linguist." When that answer received a blink, she simplified it. "A person who studies how a language works."

He nodded as he wrote something down. "Profesore Dupont of Sagition University regarding one Mizz Sarah Hidalgo. I (Captain Yager) demand one million Pars for her return-d'vous to youse. If not, we keep her. Bring the money to these coordinations and no policia.

Sincerely moi,

Captain Yager."

He went to the door and slipped the note under it.

"There! Now, we can pass the clock in pleasant conversationality." He looked to the untouched glass. "Not thirsty?"

Sarah had forgotten it was there. She quickly took a sip. The taste... it wasn’t there at all. It didn’t even taste like water. She put it to the side.

"Let me see..." Captain Yager also drank a bit. He spit it out. "Sacre blue cheese! It's horrible!"

He opened the port window and tossed it out. He returned to the cabinet and pulled out a champagne bottle.

"This is mucho more fitting for a guest." Captain Yager attempted to uncork the bottle. "A chicken pox on this cork!"

"It's all right, Captain. I don't really care for..."

The cork popped off at that very moment and hit the door with a heavy thud. Captain Yager sighed in contentment as he retrieved another cup and poured some into it.

"No, I insist, my frienda. After all, you are about to make me mucho moolah. At least make with the toaster with me." He held up his own cup. Sarah, not seeing any way out, did the same. "Toaster to our fortuitous meeting!"

Just as he was about to drink, the door burst open.

"Captain, are you all right?! We heard a shot and thought that she shot you!"

She recognized the man as Caspian from the Echelon. Sarah wondered if he had pilfered anything from Claire's stash. Captain Yager slammed down his cup, splashing some of the champagne on his hand.

"No, you bumbling idiot! That wasn't a shooty shot, you heard. It was the cork hitting the door! Your ears malfunction just as much as that supposedly existence brain of yours!" He came out from behind his desk and starting pushing him out of his office. "Now, shoo, shoo! Our guesta deserves company with class, something you are lacking in."

While that was going on, Sarah noticed that in his seat, there was a set of keys. They had probably fallen out of his pocket when he sat or got up. She looked back. Captain Yager's attention was fully focused on getting Caspian out the door while Caspian was protesting. Neither were paying attention to her. She stood up and reached into this seat grabbing the keys before sitting back down. She quickly put them in one of her pockets. Good thing they were small or she wouldn't be able to do that.

What was she doing? Surely Captain Yager would notice that he was missing something as important as keys! And if he asked, she wouldn't be able to lie about it. She was no good at lying. It was probably unlikely she would be able to remain calm enough to make him not question her behavior either. But it might be worth a shot if she could help out the others somehow.