Sora

“Hey, Sami, you ready to head back? We’re going to miss the deadline if we don’t leave soon.” I had to lean over at an awkward angle to look under the bulkhead where Sami was working. She managed to shove herself so far in there that I could only see her feet.

“Sorry Sora, but this wiring is way worse than I thought and if I leave now, then I’m going to have to figure it out all over again. Just have Aurora report to the captain in my place. She can handle it.”

I looked towards Aurora, who was leaning against the bulkhead. She shrugged. “I’m not much use here right now, and probably won’t be until Sami finishes with the more technical stuff. Besides, I doubt Lei is going to finish with her negotiation in time. We may as well leave her behind to protect your sister.”

I nodded before turning back to shout into the bulkhead. “Did you hear that, Sami?”

“Yeah, sure, the bitchy one is staying behind. You don’t have to yell. I can hear you just fine.”

Aurora chuckled. “You ready to go? We still need to drop off the newest wishlist with the bitchy one. We can let her know what’s up when we do.”

“Works for me. Any idea how much all of this is going to cost?” I held out my hand as the two of us left the grease-monkey to her work, and Aurora handed me a data-pad. I scrolled through the list, but stopped after the first three items. It was all nonsense as far as I was concerned.

“No idea. Hells, I’m still getting used to all the costs being in credits instead of iron. If I had to guess, and conversion rates aren’t too far off from what Lei is expecting, then we’ll probably stay under two-hundred thousand. Of course, that’s not including tools, and most of what Sami is asking for isn’t cheap.”

“If it's on that list, then she probably needs it. Sami doesn’t ask for much, and when she does, it’s usually worth listening. Besides, you’re the one getting them when she’s done. So, it’s on you to make sure whatever you end up with in the end isn’t the cheap stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Still doesn’t make the price tag any easier.” She waved me off as we started down the stairs to the cargo area. As best as I could tell, the Nebula Runner was just your standard cargo hauler. Most of it was just empty space, and then a few extremely tight crew quarters. If the Fury had an opposite, this was it.

Sami kept trying to tell me that this model was among the best ever released, and Aurora seemed impressed, but I definitely didn’t see the appeal.

“Bullshit. It wasn’t part of the list, which means you pulled it off after Sora left. We aren’t paying for it. In fact, we should be charging you since we have to reinstall it ourself.” Leila was angrily adjusting numbers on a data-pad while Ulyd was waiting with a grimace. He clearly wasn't enjoying the negotiation process nearly as much as she was. “There, five percent off the scrapped plating, and now we can finally start talking about the core you wrongfully removed.”

“Now hold on a moment. Nobody includes the navigator’s core when they sell a ship. Especially not one that was burned out. Anyone with half a brain would know that it wasn’t included.”

“Nice try Ulyd, but my sister and I only have half a brain between the two of us, and this is my week with it,” Aurora interrupted, which earned her a glare from Leila and a chuckle from the dwarf.

“I thought as much, but I was worried that mentioning it would have been rude.”

“Did you come down here just to insult me, or did you have something actually useful to add?”

“She can’t do both?” I asked, as I handed the data-pad over to the annoyed devil.

“What’s this?” She asked, and Aurora answered.

“It’s a list of tools Sami asked for to put our new ship back together. She’s in the walls right now, running all the wires by hand. Trust me, she needs this shit.”

“Alright, I’ll make it work.” Leila glanced over towards Ulyd, who had an obviously greedy look in his eyes. “Have either of you heard from Bryce yet? She still hasn’t messaged me since taking her mana back.”

“I mean, it’s Bryce. She probably just figured you didn’t need the mana anymore and forgot to tell you about it,” I answered, then chuckled. “Not to mention, she has Thea with her. If something serious had happened, then there would be explosions, or earthquakes, or something. As long as your pact is still in place, then it’s probably fine.”

“Does this happen often?” Leila was frowning, but I just shrugged.

“Normally, she’s pretty good about staying in contact, but none of us have working implants right now. Which means she'd have to use a messaging spell, and in my personal experience, that’s a pretty shitty way to hold a conversation.”

“What implants? Is this something that we should have? And why aren’t yours working?” Aurora asked, and I suddenly remembered that I was talking to a pair of devils, who probably hadn’t been out of the hells in a while. If ever.

“That’s a whole conversation. I can explain later, or probably just make Bryce do it, but for now, here’s a summary; implants are tiny computers surgically implanted in your head that you can use to talk to people or watch porn. Yes, you should probably have them, and ours are disabled because we were kidnapped and sold to a psychopath who didn’t like the idea of us doing those two things. Mostly the talking to people part, but I got the feeling they wouldn’t have liked the porn either.”

“Well, I’m sold. Where do we get these implants?”

“Need to find yourself a tech.” Ulyd reminded us that he was still there by answering Aurora’s question. “There are a few hundred of them on Paradise, but if you’re interested, I can point you to the best deal.”

“Best for who? Us, the tech, or you?” I narrowed my eyes at the dwarf.

“There’s no reason we can’t all benefit, now is there?” He asked, and when it was obvious that I wasn’t going to let him get away with it, he chuckled. “Fair enough. It shouldn’t be too hard for you to find a decent tech, but watch out for the ones who aren’t. Neural implants are complicated things, and a bad install can ruin you for life.”

“We’ll be careful.” Aurora dismissed him to address her sister. “Sora and I are heading back to meet the others, you mind hanging back to keep an eye on Sami?”

“I don’t mind, just come get me when you figure out a place to stay. I have absolutely no interest in spending the next week sleeping in a hangar full of trash.”

Ulyd gave Leila a dirty look, but I agreed before he could object. “Sounds good. We’ll swing by to get you once we find out where we’re sleeping.”

Aurora and I both waved goodbye as we left for the Lost Lass. We only made it about half-way out of the hangar before Leila was back to arguing with the dwarf.

~~~~~

“Aurora!” Sanya leapt off the couch and into the arms of the grinning devil. We were back in the private room at the Lost Lass a few minutes past midnight. Bryce and Thea were already snuggled up on the couch next to each other.

“So, what’s the deal? Why’d you pull the mana from Leila?” I asked Bryce as I grabbed the spot next to Suriel. He was sitting by himself away from the two lovebirds, and looking a bit like a third wheel, so I thought I’d join him.

“Wait, you took mana from Leila, too?” Sanya asked as she followed Aurora to the couch. “Suriel almost had a heart attack when you took his! Please tell me you didn’t start trouble in Captain Penn’s territory. That would be really bad.”

Suriel seemed like he was about to object, but Aurora spoke first. “Okay, if you took it all back from both Suriel and Leila, then you definitely have to tell us what happened, because that’s a shitload of mana.”

“I was planning on explaining it once we were all back together.” Bryce frowned as she looked towards me. “Where are Samira and Leila? I’d rather not have to go over this twice. There’s a lot to explain.”

“Lei was still busy with negotiating, and Sami wanted to keep working on the new ship,” Aurora explained. “It shouldn’t be a problem, though. We can just pass the information along when we go pick them up later tonight.”

Bryce still didn’t seem convinced, and now even Thea looked concerned. “Sami should probably be here for this. We need to make a decision, and it’s kind of a big one.”

“I can go get her, but it’s going to take me the better part of two hours to get there and back.” I offered, but Bryce shook her head.

“No, I’ll just send Samira a message and have her pass it along to Leila.” She quickly muttered a spell, and the room went quiet for a few seconds while she sent the message, then she continued. “In the meantime, I wouldn’t mind getting a status update on the ship repairs, along with a briefing on the financial situation from Sanya.”

“Sure! I’ll go first!” Sanya raised her hand from where she was basically sitting on top of Aurora. “We talked to a bunch of vendors, and Mikkel was Suriel’s favorite, but finding somewhere to stay was a lot more complicated. None of the places I picked out were good enough, so we had to go all over the station. We eventually found a neat little place in the middle of Captain Fiona’s sector, which is really, really close to Ulyd’s yard, but kinda far from Captain Penn’s territory. It’s okay though, because Suriel said you’ll probably end up going there more often anyway and it’s super duper close to a transit station.”

“We chose a particularly busy hostel,” Suriel explained. “The rooms are large and private, plus it’s cheap and there’s a lot of traffic in the area. So, we shouldn’t stick out too much. Then there’s Mikkel. He’s a half-demon, and as far as I could tell, fairly honest. The issue is that he only offers fifty credits per iron.”

Bryce cringed, and Aurora cursed, causing my expert deductive reasoning skills to determine that fifty credits per iron wasn’t a great rate. I just didn’t know how bad it was, so I asked about it. “How much were you expecting?”

“We would have liked one-hundred, but were expecting eighty,” Aurora answered and I whistled.

“Damn, that’s not great then.”

“No, it’s actually a serious problem.” Bryce paused to think for a moment before turning towards me. I felt my wallet lighten even before she asked. “Sora, the vast majority of our funds are in iron coins right now. I believe that I should have enough credits to cover the ship repairs until we can find a better option for Leila to convert her iron, but would you be willing to help cover the difference if what I have isn’t sufficient?”

“Bryce, it’s fine. We’ll figure something out,” Aurora interrupted before I could answer, and as much as I hated to admit it, I was relieved. “Leila is pushing back on all of Ulyd’s absurd charges, and so far, it seems like the whole thing isn’t going to cripple us with the cost. If we have to convert our iron at a shitty rate, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“Alright, in that case, let’s talk about how the repairs are going,” Bryce switched topics, and I mostly zoned out.

Engineering wasn't that interesting, and Leila was a much better negotiator than me, so she had handled nearly everything with Ulyd. I basically just spent the entire day napping or reading. It was actually kind of nice not having to worry about anything urgent or life threatening, even if it was just for the afternoon.

The technical conversation continued for way too long, but eventually it switched to something that I was actually invested in.

“…then Sora mentioned implants, but we had never heard of them. Sanya, do you have any recommendations on where we could get some?” Aurora asked.

“Oh, yeah, sure, I know a few places.” Sanya perked up as she had a sudden realization. “Or you could totally wait until you come back to the Union with me! That way, Xan can do your implants for you. He really is the best, I promise!”

I shook my head. “That’s a fun thought, but don’t forget, you’ll need a navigator for your new ship. If Aurora was going to handle that, then she’ll need to get her implants before she leaves.”

“Actually, I was planning on navigating,” Suriel said, which seemed to surprise just about everyone. “Aurora needs the ship to travel to the Anarchist Union, but it doesn’t make sense to lock up all three of us while she’s stuck there. If I’m the navigator, then the two of us can meet with Ashaiya while Aurora handles the wedding.”

I gave the devil a serious look. “Suriel, this isn’t something that can be undone. Once you’ve bound yourself to a nav-core, it’s with you for the rest of your life. Don’t make this decision lightly.”

“I appreciate your concern, Sora, and I don’t mind taking more time to consider the possible consequences. However, I doubt I’ll change my mind. The Aether is something that has interested me for some time now, and becoming a navigator seems like an appealing way to explore it.”

I was about to respond when the door opened to reveal Leila and my annoyed, grease-covered sister. “Alright, I’m here. What’s so important that you needed me to drop everything and come immediately?”

~~~~~

“Is that it? Why did you need me here?” Sami asked once Bryce finished explaining what she’d been doing all day. Thea's three siblings were quiet, and I wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Sanya, meanwhile, had an awful lot to say about it.

“What do you mean ‘is that it?’ This is a big freaking deal! She threatened Captain Aoyama and lived. That’s huge!” Her eyes were wide as she continued, and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. “And of course, you have to join the council! If you don’t, then every half-baked captain on the station will be gunning for you! There’s no way you’ll survive!”

Bryce shook her head with a sigh. “Well, first, it may not even matter what I want. Sora was the one who killed Captain Leo, and as far as I’m concerned, they have the first claim to the position.”

I leaned back into the couch and crossed my arms before responding from the bottom of my heart. “Yeah, fuck that, you take it. I literally can’t think of a single thing that would draw more attention to me and Sami than me being on the council, and that’s the last thing I want. Besides, could you imagine me giving orders to anyone? Trust me, it’s not my style.”

“That’s not what Ithnaa told me.” Thea was trying to hold back laughter, and I gave her a confused look.

“When did you get a chance to talk to her about that?”

She scoffed back at me, actually seeming offended by the question. “Hey, don’t forget who rescued her from Kai’s domain. We were friends way before you two started sleeping together. We definitely still talk.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Weren't You the one who took her to Kai’s domain in the first place, and seriously, ‘way before’? What you actually mean is three days before, and two of those days she was asleep recovering from a hangover you caused.”

“Um, actually, Kai caused--”

“Anyway, about the position on the council,” Bryce interrupted Thea’s rebuttal, and I stuck my tongue out at the little devil. “I’m not interested in leading a bunch of pirates. If Sora doesn’t want the position, then I’ll hold it while we’re on Paradise, but I plan on giving it up at the first opportunity. Are there any objections?”

The room was completely silent, and Sanya shook her head in disbelief. “You guys can’t be serious.”

“We’re completely serious,” Bryce answered, completely seriously. “And your agreement with Aurora will apply to everything you just heard. Is that understood?”

“Yeah, I know when I’m out of my league. As long as I’m in the Union before this all comes back to bite you in the ass, then I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t blame me when it definitely does.”