"What are you doing out here?" One of the pirates inquired, stepping closer to her. She stepped to the side. The pirates would have to move in order for Mel and Dave to get through. Fortunately, the ones pointing pistols at her just tracked her instead of firing or even warning her. She backed up to the wall, to sell the effect of how scared she was. Though by the way her heart rate was going and how much she felt herself sweating, it wouldn't be a very hard sell.

"Don't shoot! The Captain sent me to go get someone and I got lost on the way back! I can't remember which door his office is...I know it's on the second floor, but all the doors look alike!" She hoped she wasn't overselling it. After all, no one probably thought she was stupid after the stunt with the wrench. But maybe being Liban would help explain her apparent ignorance of a layout of a craft and bad sense of direction. She could understand the first stereotype since Liba used land based vehicles more, even for long distance travels, but the second didn't make much sense to her.

"Now just calm down. No one's going to shoot you, at least not without Captain Yager's orders." The pirate speaking to her lowered his pistol and so did the others. But they still surrounded her. "And with as much as your worth, doll, I doubt that'll come to that. Now, the Captain's been sparse on details about you, so why don't you tell us a little about yourself? Maybe start with how old you are. No older than sixteen surely."

"Eighteen, but I've only been that age for a couple of weeks." Her eyes watched the stairs. Mel and Dave had already started making their way down. "Do you really think I look sixteen?"

"It's mostly the impression you give. You just seem really young. But eighteen's barely not a kid in my book." The pirate came closer, putting his arms on either side of her. Hopefully, she'd be able to duck out if she needed to. "So, what's the Captain doing sending you out on errands? He doesn't usually do that with guests. Why didn't he just call the person he wanted to see over the intercom?"

Good point, Mr. Pirate with teeth missing. Dave and Mel were now halfway down. She had to keep going.

"He couldn't figure out how to use the intercom and spilled some Champagne over it. It created quite the mess. It's "bustito" as he put it." Hopefully, throwing in some Yager-isms would help make her story believable. "He wanted someone to get rid of all the fizzy pop water since it's not suited to his taste."

"Don't know why he ever took that much club soda in the first place. But the rest of the cargo was worth it." They had just a quarter of the way left . "So the Captain sent you to go get someone because you were the nearest person, huh? Now you wouldn't be lying about all this, would you? Not just a little white lie? We don't mind white lies, do we boys?" The other pirates shook their heads. "But we don't like when someone tells us a whopper and young pretty things like you are usually pretty good at things like that. Now you might be telling the truth. But you might not be."

"You want proof." Sarah concluded. "Like going to see Captain Yager?"

"The Captain doesn'the like being disturbed, so let's hold off on that. Maybe just a quick search will do. After all, you have a lot of pockets to hide things in."

He had to be onto her. They had searched her pockets already, though she didn't really recall them doing so. Fortunately, Captain Yager let her keep her papers and there were no indications that they had gone through her luggage. But Mel and Dave weren’t quite to the ship yet.

"That sounds like a reasonable suggestion." She started to unbutton her coat. "Just give me a second."

"I'll give you one thing, doll, you’re committed to this bit. I'll give you credit for that." He turned around. "Now if you two step away from that ship door and surrender, we’ll only beat you a little and we won't report this to the Captain."

Mel froze while Dave let out a curse. He had just gotten the door open. Sarah dashed forward and jumped onto the pirate, latching on him with all her limbs. She knew she wouldn't be able to fight him, but she knew that she had a tight grip. She managed to catch him by surprise and caused him to fall.

"Hey, leggo of me!" He pushed against her face. "And all of you, don't just stand there! Either help me or get them! And someone raise the alarm. No doubt they're all out!"

Sarah simply held on as tight as she could.The pirate stopped pushing her face and started prying her off. She just grabbed something else. When another pirate started helping him, she grabbed onto him too.

"I've known octopi that were less clingy." He commented. "If you don't let go, I'm going to have to get rough."

That was the only warning she got before a fist smashed into her gut. She went down in an instant, gasping for breath. Bile rose in her throat but it had been too long since she ate for anything to come up.

"I warned you." He grabbed her arm. "Now come on and get up. We're going to see the Captain."

"What about the other two? They've gotten into the ship."

"Leave them for now. They won't take off with only two people." He pulled Sarah up. "Now the rest of you stop lolly-gagging and do what I said!"

An alarm did sound, but it was because the docking bay door was opening. Apparently, Heather had decided to hit the switch. The one holding her tightened his grip and started dragging her off.

"Get the one at the switch!"

Sarah hoped that Heather was quick. If she got caught, this would all be for nothing. And where were Ash and Claire? They couldn’t take off without them.

"What ist going around here?!" Captain Yager's voice yelled over both the pirates and klaxon. "I was trying to take a beauty siesta and then all this noisey starts!"

"I think it's because of us!" Heather exclaimed.

There was a loud yelp and then Sarah saw Heather slide down the railing. Meanwhile, Captain Yager was falling down the steps. He managed to catch himself half of the way down.

"My money makers, they are escaping!" He shouted. "Idiotas! They aren't even armed!"

That gave Sarah an idea. The one dragging her toward the captain had holstered his pistol, but it wasn’t secured. Fortunately, Heather managed to make it to the ship, probably because a good portion of the pirates were confused about what was going on and she pushed through them without too much resistance. Captain Yager righted himself and staggered down the stairs. He pressed his hand to a cut on his head.

"I am the okie dokie." He groaned a bit. "Get the aid kit, por favor and danke." Then his gaze turned to Sarah. His eyes sharpened and he let out a growl.

"You little wiper. I give du the VIP treatment and this is how you repayment me?"

He slapped her cheek with the hand that had been pressing his cut. The eye nearest to that slap teared up and the force sent her into the pirate restraining her. She could feel the blood on her cheek. That disturbed her more than the fact that he hit her.

"Take her to my official and watch her." He ordered. "And close the door!"

"I can't, sir! Someone's jammed the mechanism. The door's stuck open!"

"Then do it with knee grease and close it manual laborly!"

When Captain Yager's head was turned and the pirate started to move, Sarah reached back and pulled out his pistol. She aimed it at the pirate captain.

"If you would be so kind as to release me, Captain." She stated. "I don't want to pull the trigger."

He gave out a short laugh. "You, my young friend-a? You don't even know how to usa that t-".

Sarah released the safety and pulled the trigger. She had been aiming for the floor close to his foot, but as usual, her aim pulled to the right.

Even as Captain Yager let out a howl, she pulled away from the surprised pirate and sprinted down the stairs. She hadn't meant to get his foot. Maybe her aunt had been right about warning shots being for others and not the intended target.

"I'm sorry Captain Yager!" She shouted as she made it to the ship. "I didn't mean to!" And she genuinely meant the apology.

Heather opened the door and pulled her in.

"Yager never saw that coming!" Dave was in the pilot’s seat turning the key to get the engine started. "Good shot! How's the radio going Mel?"

"I think I've managed to get in contact with someone, but they apparently don't speak Aboloanian."

"Keep broadcasting the distress code. They'll understand that much at least." The engine roared to life. "Now would be a good time for Ash and Claire to show up."

Those two had the hardest task, now that the pirates were on full alert. Heather looked out the windshield.

"There they are!" She held out her hand. "Give me the pistol, Sarah. I'm going to give them some cover fire."

Sarah gladly handed it over. Heather went to the door, opened it, and started firing whenever a pirate got near the two. Ash ran toward the ship with Claire over his shoulder. She was conscious, judging by the way she was yelling and pounding on Ash's back.

They entered the ship just as Heather fired her last shot. She threw it at a pirate that got a bit too close and shut the door.

"And we're off!" Dave declared as he grabbed the wheel."Everyone hold onto something that's nailed down! I'm turning us around in a rather tight space..."

Sarah latched onto a nearby piece of equipment as the airship turned sharply. There was a loud, metallic scraping noise and the ship shook. She held on tightly and shut her eyes.

The noise stopped and she could tell that they were no longer grinding against the ground. She just hoped the ship wasn't too damaged. Air ships weren’t made for quick take-offs, especially in a confined space. She opened her eyes.

There was nothing but sky in front of them. Dave let out a holler before there was a loud booming noise.

"Yager's always been a sore loser." He commented. "Using cannons against an unnamed ship."

"That's not the Steel Eagle." Heather informed him. "It's coming from a gunship. The Steel Eagle is currently retreating!"

"Thank you!" Mel repeated into the radio over and over.

"Don't start celebrating yet." Ash warned. "Take a look a the ensignia. It's an Aleman gunship."

"Good thing you speak Alemanian, Doc." Claire remarked. She was holding her arm against her body and had a bruise on her face, but seemed otherwise unharmed.

"Being able to say yes, no, hello, goodbye, and asking where the dock office is doesn't make me fluent!" A stream of Alemanian came from the radio. "Um, all I picked I up was the word "You"."

Sarah stepped forward and took the microphone. She pressed the broadcast button.

"You can speak Alemanian? Then you should've been the one on the radio!"

The crew shushed Mel. Then both he and Claire went back toward the infirmary, probably so he could check her out.

She listened to the Alemanian. He seemed rather upset at the lack of response beforehand and it showed in the way he delivered his instructions.

"He said that the gunship will escort us to a base, where we will land and allowed officers to board our ship. If we don’t comply, they'll shoot us out of the sky. And if we resist the boarding, they'll shoot us." She relayed to the remaining crew.

"Here we are making are harrowing escape from pirates and somehow we're the threat" Dave sighed. "We don't really have a choice though. They probably just want to check our papers. It's going to be a hassle, but we'll walk away from it. Let them know that we agree, but the belly of the ship may be damaged, so we'd rather dock than land."

She wasn’t sure what the difference was, but she complied.

"All right, he says to proceed."

Compared to what they had just been through, a little bureaucratic slowness would be welcomed. At least, that was Sarah's feelings in the matter. But the others didn’t seem so happy. Probably not a sign of pleasant things to come.