Sora

“But you have to admit, she has good bones.” The dwarf smiled up at me as he swelled with what had to be false pride. “Get a half decent mechanic working on her, and she’ll last you the rest of your life.”

“Yeah, because you’ll die the first time you try to shift, and it doesn’t matter how good her ‘bones’ are when half of them are exposed. You already started scavenging the damn hull plating.” I glared down at the pudgy man, but he seemed completely immune to it.

Krom had introduced me to Ulyd before he left Paradise with his metaphorical tail between his legs. He said the dwarf owed him a favor and would set us up with a ship, but I was starting to think that it was the other way around.

What Ulyd was trying to sell me was an older freighter, probably pushing two centuries, and covered in battle damage. To make matters worse, he had already started to salvage it. “Seriously, how much did you pay Krom to bring me here?”

Ulyd chuckled from beside me without taking his eyes off what was left of the ship. “I haven’t paid him anything, not yet at least. He makes a percentage of any sales.”

“And there it is. Ulyd, you might be a crook, but at least you’re an honest one.” I turned back towards the wreckage with a sigh.

“That’s about the best you can hope for around these parts. What do you say? You interested?” I could hear the grin in his voice, and I shook my head.

“I don’t mind if it needs a few repairs, but I’m not about to pay for something that can’t even hold an atmosphere.”

“I won’t argue against that.” Ulyd chuckled right before spitting something dark onto the ground. I took a step away to get further from the smell. “Tell yah what though, you pay full price, then I’ll let you use my scrap yard to fix her up. Even give you a discount on the parts from my shop.”

“Sure, so I can buy back everything you just took off it?” I asked, and when he didn’t respond, I just shook my head. “Give me a couple of hours to talk to my mechanic. I’m not committing to anything until they get a look at it.”

“Two hours then. After that, I’m scrapping what’s left of it. You talk to your mechanic, and give him the specs when you do. He’ll know what it’s worth.”

“I’m sure he will.” I turned to walk away, and just as I was leaving the hangar, I shouted back. “And don’t take anything else off the damn ship or I’m not paying for it.”

~~~~~

“Hey Tal, how’s business?” I stepped out of the airlock onto the Lost Lass as I greeted the brown-haired human standing near the entrance. Talin was a pirate who lost her left arm, and most of her shoulder, assaulting a federation military outpost. She said the mechanical replacement was worth it, but I wasn’t convinced, and based on the fact that she retired from piracy right after, I wasn’t entirely sure she was either.

“One asshole dead, and two booted.” She crossed her arms and smiled up at me. “Slow days are nice, eh?”

“They can be,” I returned her smile, before nodding towards the mostly empty room. “Have you seen Sami around?”

Tal’s eyes went wide as she remembered something. “Oh shit, right, I was supposed to tell you to meet her up in A-3. Sanya was covering for me while I was taking out the trash, and a group showed up claiming to be your friends. She wasn’t sure because there were three more than you said, and she’d taken your request to protect Sami to heart, so she’s sticking with her till you show back up.”

“Oh? Am I paying for that too?” I asked just to be coy, but my mind was working to figure out who the extra three people were. Bryce’s messaging spell required a surprising amount of focus to use properly, especially if you were on the receiving end, and that wasn’t exactly my specialty. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than a little of our conversation was lost in translation.

“Nah, one of your friends is covering for it, the blonde one with black eyes. I didn’t catch her name.” Tal snorted at her own description. “Although that probably doesn’t help all that much. Most of them were blonde with black eyes--shit’s creepy. She had short hair? Taller than the other one with short hair, though… Shit, I’m not explaining this well. Anyway, Sanya took a liking to her. Probably going to try to get her to stay for the night if she can manage. Longer if she’s willing to stick around. Maybe you could grease the wheels a bit there? Sanya has been in a slump since she got that message in from her brother, and--”

“Talin, you’re rambling,” I interrupted the poor human. She didn’t exactly have the best social skills, but she was leagues better than most pirates.

A bit of red was creeping in on the girl’s cheeks, but she recovered soon enough. “Dammit, sorry about that. Do you know where A-3 is, or did you want me to walk you up there?”

“If you wouldn’t mind. I’m still getting used to the ship.” That was only about half true. Figuring out the layout of the Lost Lass was my first priority after the mistress allowed me and Sami to stay. I mostly just wanted Tal with me because I wasn’t expecting five people to show up looking for us.

The descriptions that she had given made me think that at least one of them was Thea, which probably meant Bryce was with her, but I wasn’t sure about the other three.

“Of course, it’s just upstairs.” I followed her into the main area behind the stage, and up the stairs, then past a few overly decorated doors before we reached one labeled A-3. “This is it.”

“Thanks Tal, I appreciate it.” I went to open the door, but she reached out and grabbed my hand to stop me.

“I wasn’t joking about Sanya. She’s having trouble making enough to eat right now, and if this keeps up, then she won’t be able to afford the rent on her room. If that happens…”

I nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks Sora. If there’s anything you need, let me know.” Tal let go of me, then turned around to leave before I could even respond. I just shook my head and hit the panel near the door to open it. I didn’t know Sanya very well, and I had no idea who this crush was, but I was going to do my best. That was assuming that this mysterious devil wasn’t going to hurt her.

“Softie!” Thea leapt from the black leather couch lining the wall of the small semi-circular room and slammed into me before I could even get through the door.

“Hey Thea, glad you didn’t explode.” I returned her hug as I scanned the room for the new additions. They weren’t hard to spot. Three devils, very obviously Thea’s siblings, were sitting together with Sanya, Sami, and Bryce.

“You should be glad. It was a near thing,” the short-haired woman laughed. She was definitely the one that Tals had mentioned, and based on how close Sanya was sitting to her, I wouldn’t have to do much to help them along.

“How near?” I asked as I untangled myself from Thea’s grip. She seemed a little drunk.

“Bryce almost walked into a bomb, but Aurora saw it and told Leila to stop her.” Thea’s eyes went wide after she finished her explanation. “Oh right! You don’t know them yet. This is Leila, and her twin Aurora, then Suriel. They’re my brother and sisters that we rescued from Tartarus, and they came to help save you.”

“And why were they in Tartarus?” I didn’t know much about the lower planes, but Tartarus had a reputation. Usually, I wouldn’t care, but I was somewhat worried about Sanya getting in over her head.

“They’re safe, Sora,” Bryce said before adding almost as an afterthought. “Well, so long as you’re not demon nobility.”

“Okay, that seems like a story I’d like to hear.” I glanced over at the trio, and Aurora grinned up at me.

“I bet you would, and I’d be happy to tell you all about it after we figure out a way to leave this place that doesn’t involve cramming all seven of us onto your tiny shuttle.”

“Aw, you’re leaving already?” Sanya pouted, which caused Aurora’s grin to fade.

“I mean, not yet? We’re still going to be here for at least a few cycles, right?” She looked to Bryce for confirmation, and I mentally filed the ‘Sanya x Aurora’ situation as resolved. At least for now.

“That depends on how Sora’s lead on a new ship turned out,” Bryce answered, and all eyes turned towards me.

“Not great. Here Sami, take a look at this.” I tossed her a data-pad before explaining. “Most ships that are captured get immediately processed and added to a crew’s territory, with a few expensive exceptions. One such exception is available, but it was sitting too long and the owner already started to part it out. We could buy it and Sami could probably fix it, but it would take time.”

“Does the owner still have the missing parts? Or would we have to source them on the station?” Sami asked without looking up from the data-pad, and I frowned.

“Both. He has the parts, and he’s willing to sell them back to us for a discount. He also said we could use his scrap yard, but he didn’t mention a price. If I had to guess, we’re going to have to negotiate for every nut and bolt we need.”

“Sounds expensive,” Leila pointed out, and everyone seemed to agree. “Buying might make sense if you have no alternative. But it feels like something of a waste to not use it after you get back to your ship. Would you be willing to sell it to me at that point?”

“Do we need our own ship?” Suriel asked. “We’re planning on meeting with Ashaiya soon, and I’m sure she would lend us one if we just asked.”

“Bryce, has she gotten back to you with a meeting time or location yet?” Leila asked, and when Bryce confirmed Ashaiya hadn’t, she continued. “I don’t think we can rely on our sister to come to our rescue, and as much as I hate to admit it, I’m not sure we should trust her until we know what’s going on.”

Aurora nodded after a moment of thought. “I think I agree with Lei. Even if we go into it trusting Ash, I’d be a lot more comfortable with our own method of escape in the middle of her mortal fleet.”

“That’s dad’s fleet, not hers,” Suriel pointed out, which caused Leila to let out a resigned sigh.

“Not anymore, it’s not. I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the last week, and I never thought I’d be saying this, but Thea was right. Father isn’t coming back. What’s left of his domain is up for grabs, and I get the feeling that Ashaiya was among the first to realize what’s at stake.”

“Wait, that’s not fair,” Thea spoke up from beside me. “Sure, what Ash is doing sounds kind of sketchy, but she was telling the truth when she said she’s doing it to help everybody. I don’t think it was some sort of grab for power because dad died.”

“Thea, I’m not saying that Ashaiya didn’t have the best intentions when she did what she did. Honestly, I’m not even saying that she was wrong, but we don’t have all the facts yet, and until we do, we need to be careful.”

Thea was about to say something when I interrupted. “This seems like an important conversation, but we're on a bit of a timetable. We only have around an hour before I need to leave to make it to the hangar before the ship gets scrapped. We need to make a decision here fairly quickly.”

“Samira, what do you think?”

“I don’t know, captain.” Sami shook her head as she set the data-pad aside. “The price is high, but not unreasonable, and it’s a solid ship. If we had more time, or we were on any other station, then I’d say let’s do it. But getting it put back together in time to help Ithnaa just isn’t possible. At least, not by myself, and not if we want to go back to get the Fury.”

“What about chartering a ship?” Bryce asked.

“That’s a bad idea…” Sami trailed off before targeting me with a concerned look. So, I explained in her place.

“Bryce, you’re suggesting that we lead a group of pirates back to our extremely expensive ship, which is currently disabled, with no way to defend it. If we had a group of people we trusted, then it would be a different matter, but as it stands, the fewer people who know where the Fury is, the better.”

“If you can’t find somebody you trust, you can always just find someone who is afraid of you,” Sanya suggested from where she was trying to bury herself in Aurora’s side.

“What do you mean?” Suriel asked.

“Well, basically, it’s all about clout on Paradise. Sure, credits are important, but reputation is everything--it was the same way back in the Union. If you’re worried about some asshole stealing your expensive ship, you just gotta make sure they know what happens if they try. Of course, if you’re mean to the wrong jerk, then all their friends might get angry and you definitely don’t want that.”

“You’re suggesting that we develop enough of a reputation, that a group of pirates wouldn’t try to steal from us?” Aurora asked, and Sanya shrugged.

“Or you get enough clout that somebody would sell you a ship that hasn’t been half-salvaged. You talked to Ulyd, right?” I nodded, and Sanya grinned up at me. “Yeah, he definitely has other ships that aren’t complete garbage. He’s probably just holding them for someone else.”

“Okay, then it’s easy. We go to this Ulyd fellow and threaten him until he sells us a different ship.” Thea cracked her knuckles, and Sanya’s face went pale.

“No! He’s under Captain Fiona’s protection, and she’s on the council. You definitely don’t want to piss off somebody on the council.”

“What's this council?” I asked. “Leo mentioned that he was on it, but it didn’t mean anything to me at the time.”

Sanya nodded with a deadly serious expression. “The Council of Kings is made up of seven of the most dangerous people on Paradise. Leo earned his spot by having the biggest fleet, but Captain Nora is fighting him for it. If you really do know him, then you don’t even need to work on your reputation. You can just ask him to vouch for you, and you can get whatever you want.”

“Theoretically speaking, what would happen to our reputation if we killed him?”

Sanya blinked at Sami a few times before answering her 'theoretical' question. “Well, when a pirate kills a king, they usually get their seat. If whoever kills them wasn’t a pirate, then there’s a race to avenge them and whoever kills their killer gets the seat instead. Either way, there’s usually a bunch of killing until somebody can actually hold on to the position. Trying to get Leo’s spot though, that’d be a terrible idea, because even if you somehow got past his stupidly big fleet to kill him, then you’d have to deal with Captain Nora and there’s definitely something not right about her.”

I gave Bryce a concerned look, but she was completely lost in thought. Rather than try to predict whatever absurdly complicated plan she was no doubt coming up with, I decided it would just be easier to ask her. “Bryce, what are you thinking?”

“How many people know you killed Captain Leo?” She responded to my question with a question, and Sanya shot up from the couch.

“Wait what? You were being serious?!”

“We destroyed their flagship as we left, but it’s possible that some of the crew managed to escape, and then there’s Krom. He obviously knows, but I don’t know how likely he is to spread the knowledge around.”

“Shit. You are serious. I have to go.” I grabbed Sanya’s upper arm to stop her from leaving and caught her gaze with my own.

“Sanya, I know you’re scared, but you’re safe here.” The poor girl was terrified, and me holding her definitely wasn’t helping. So, I tried a different approach. “If you help us, then we would owe you big time. Trust me, you would much rather have us as allies than enemies.”

She swallowed at my implied threat. “Alright, what do you want me to do?”

“Bryce?” I turned back towards the elf, who was chewing on her lower lip, still completely lost in thought. “Captain, what’s the play here?”

Bryce nodded with a concerned expression before responding. “Sora, go back to Ulyd and buy that ship. Leila, go with them to negotiate. Once you can convert your iron to credits, we’ll sell you the ship at cost. Is that acceptable?” Leila nodded, so Bryce turned to Sami. “Samira, after the sale is complete, I want you working on that ship every waking moment. Try to keep it under a million credits, but otherwise buy any tool or part you need to get us to the Fury as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, captain,” Sami agreed.

“Sora, handle buying anything she asks for and make sure she doesn’t work herself into an early grave.” I nodded grimly, and Bryce continued issuing orders. “Leila, stay with them and keep track of what’s spent. If anything seems unnecessary, then make a note of it and we can negotiate at the end of this.”

“That’s acceptable.”

Bryce nodded to Leila before turning to her twin. “Aurora, help Samira with whatever she needs. You’ll likely be the one doing the repairs when we’re done here, so learn what you can, but don’t get in her way.”

“Sure, I can do that.”

“What about us?” Thea asked and Bryce let out a tired sounding sigh.

“Well, Thea, you and I are going to go meet our new friend Jax at the cantina.”