RavensDagger

  Chapter Thirty-Seven - Captain

  Every ship needed a captain. Someone had to choose where the damhing was going and what to do o got there. There was no such thing as a democratic bridge.

  "Two-Six," Missy said. The younger girl's head rose up from the station she was w at. " you do me a favour and go che this ship's engineeriion? We did put her through some of her paces and we don't know much about her. Just give her a look, maybe poke at the shields too."

  "I do that," Twenty-Six chirped.

  "Make sure to check for booby traps too," Missy warned.

  That was actually a good point. Ivil endeavoured to keep a metaphorical eye oy-Six. If she somehow maer a mine or something, Ivil would yank her away from whatever trouble she'd found.

  "Oh, alright," Twenty-Six said. She stood, then yawned hugely. Ivil might have been somewhat insulted at the impolite gesture if Twenty-Six didn't have a cute little snaggletooth and didn't wrinkle her the end of her yawn. "I'll be careful," she promised before pulling herself away from the station and floating to the back of the bridge.

  They were operating without any acceleratio the moment, so everything was free floating.

  "Did you want to have this discussion here?" Ivil asked.

  "Yes, here work's nicely" Missy said, standing and diseg from her station.

  "I think," Aurora cut in. "That it might be best to have it in a more ral location. This ship must have a mess, or a dining area, yes?"

  Missy gred, but then she nodded. "Fine," she replied. "Probably a deck down or something."

  With everything in the bridge left on stand-by mode or left to automatic systems, they filed out of the bridge and into the main corridors of the ship. The top level was the bridge, with a staircase leading down into a set of corridors id out more or less like a capital E. The two branches oher side lead to the airlocks and some small ste rooms at the rear. The middle branch led down a narrow corridor that e the dderwell.

  There were rooms iween the branches, both helpfully belled. 'Captain' ao it 'First Mate'. There was also a washroom uhe bridge. Ivil extended her senses within and was surprised to find a retively rge room, with a full shower and lockers. It was actually quite luxurious.

  The three of them moved down that narrow tral corridor to the end, where Missy tugged herself down the dder and to the level below.

  This one lit down the middle. On her right, while fag the front, was a rge ste and stowage room, with shelves of bolted down equipment and some access to the internal maery of the ship. On the left, opposite, were the crew bunks. Smaller rooms with little more than a bed and a small eai suit. There was a mess by the front, and another, much more humble, washroom.

  The mess had a table with seating fht around it.

  ting the beds, Ivil made out room enough for seven souls onboard the ship. The Sappho could probably take on a few more, if they were willing to sleep in shifts, but then those same people would be stepping on each other's toes. The ship had a few spacious areas, and a few luxuries, but it wasn't that rge of a ship.

  Aurora floated over to a wall, then tapped a panel, opening a few more lights so that the room wasn't only lit by its standby lighting. It made it much brighter. "Let's sit," she said befently kig off the wall and heading towards the small kitette at the back. It was just a few stovetops, a microwave, and a bit of ste. She moved right past that and to the vending mae o it.

  A mier, as Ivil was sitting herself down, Aurora returo the table and sat across from her. She pced a in front of Ivil, then another before Missy. Ivil stared for a moment before taking the and popping the tab. There stic 'sippy cup' top. It funhe soda out of a little beak with a cheap 'suck valve' that would stop it from spraying all over.

  "Thank you," Ivil said as she took a sip. "So, how do we want to do this?"

  Missy gred, then softened her features. "Alright. A lot has gone down. This time yesterday we weren't even aware that we were being chased by pirates. Now we have one of their nicer ships, their station looked like it was on fire when we left, a dozen ships are in bad need of repair, a few more are unusable, and something like a hundred-odd pirates are firmed dead."

  "That sounds abht," Ivil said.

  Missy smacked the table, then poi Ivil. "No. That's not abht. What we, you, did isn't impossible. But I wouldn't believe that a a full infiltration force could pull it off."

  "And we o talk about our current situation as well," Aurora said.

  Ivil looked betweewo. "So, is the issue that we're in a better position now than whearted, or is it that I was able to get us here in the first pce?"

  Missy licked her lips, then took another sip of her soda. " it be both?" she asked.

  "I suppose," Ivil said with a shrug. She sidered the situation for a sed, then slowed down the sed because she needed more than the oo think this through.

  Missy robably, right to be worried. From her perspective Ivil was skilled in and had dohings that would be impossible for all but an A-Csser. There were a few B-Cssers that Ivil trusted could mao do the same. Sonic Spectre could certainly have made a mess of the station herself, if she was given the opportunity, and she even looked mostly human.

  But no, that wasn't the point. Missy was on edge because Ivil was both powerful, and an unknown. Her situation had been uprooted and ged in a violent way, and while she suspected that the former Warmime was better at rolling with the puhan the average person, this was still asking for a lot.

  Aurora, likewise, had some issues, but they were perhaps simpler to address than Missy's. Aurora wasn't as well-versed in what they had done might mean. Someone powerful rog by and doing something big was... politically irely unusual. Aurora wasn't used to being so close to the a, but otherwise, she robably fine. Ivil imagihat she was more worried about Ivil's iions than her as.

  "Alright," Ivil said. "Let me speak a bit before anything else."

  Missy nodded relutly. Aurora did the same, though without hesitation. "Go ahead, Miss Ville."

  "Just Evelyn, please. We've been through enough that I think we do away with some formality," Ivil replied. She smiled at Aurora and received a small smile iurn. "Alright. So, as you both may suspect, I'm somewhat... powerful? I have a number of cores, yes. What you're no doubt worried about beyond that are my allegiances."

  "I have to admit that I am curious," Aurora said.

  "That's fair. I'll admit straight away, my story about being a professor from Hels is... a lie. A ve cover. But, I swear that I'm not w for Mars or MINT, nor am I really associated with any over in the sor system."

  Missy frowned. "So, what, you're just a free agent? You just happeo be on the Held Together?"

  "Oh, no, that kind of ce is way too uo be true," Ivil replied. "I'm a free agent, yes, but my being on the Held Together wasn't tal."

  Aurasped. "Are... are you here for me?"

  Ivil quickly shook her head, then, on a whim, she reached across the table and carefully squeezed Aurora's hand. It was very warm, and Ivil almost fot what she nning on sayi. "Ah, yes, I mean, no. Hmm... how do I salvage this. Missy, are you familiar with someone named Cire Voyant?"

  Might as well just fling the seer uhe metaphorical bus.

  "The Lunatic prophet?" Missy asked as she sat up. "I... yeah, I know her. We met, o was a bit before she got her rep."

  "I'm unfamiliar," Aurora admitted.

  "The Lunatics had a number of cores that let you predict things," Missy said. "They were... troublesome to use. They, or splits of them, somehow all ended up in the hands of this one girl called Cire. She became a prophetess. She's good. At least, that's what the rumours say. Could just be a psy-ops to keep people away from Haumea."

  "I see," Aurora replied. "And Miss... Evelyn, you visited this seer?"

  "Retly, yes," Ivil said. "And that's what led me to being here, today. I asked the seer something... personal. Perhaps one day I'll tell you what that is, but for now, that's why I'm here. As for what I io do, I assure you, truthfully, that I don't mean to hurt any of you."

  ***

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