Tuesday, 27 January 2015

1.6 Pirates and Knights Part 7

“So what happened next?” asks Sam eagerly.

“The three of us escaped to Domino,” says Mia, “We managed to... acquire the Dust Corsair from some unmissed scum. I have been captain since then with Darrac as my first mate and Borin as my engineer.”

“So how come you haven’t gone home?” asks Sam.

Mia is silent for several seconds before sighing.

“I have become adapted to galactic society,” answers Mia, “I’ve done things that are normal out here, but I have no idea how they would fit in back on Earth. And I’m not the person that my family once knew. I would be too embarrassed and ashamed of myself if I returned home to my family.”

“I would say I understand, but I don’t,” says Sam, “I do understand the concept and theory, but I’ve never been unlucky enough to have experienced what is necessary to understand.”

“Good for you,” snorts Mia, “So are we going to New Valletta or what?”

“If we use a warp drive, it should only take a few hours in warp space and several hours using sub-lights,” I say.

“How do you know if we got a warp drive?” demands Mia.

“You don’t have a jump drive and there isn’t a gate in this system,” I reply.

“But what about a hyper drive?” insists Mia.

“I need to keep some secrets,” I say in a patronising voice.

“Let’s get going,” says Mia before cutting the connection.

I turn to face Sam. He looks at me expectantly.

“We got really good scanners,” I tell him in a quiet voice.

***

“This is the haul,” says Mia proudly as we and Lantern stand in the cargo bay of the Dust Corsair.

The cargo hauler is easily worn out and the mix match repairs even more telling once you’re inside. The contrast in the quality of the ship and the quality of its cargo is almost shocking.

The crates of Sektain equipment are a mixture of curved cuboids and cubes of a smooth and shiny greenish-purplish-grey metal allow. There are twenty total. Even if the crates were empty, they would still be worth a lot thanks to how well made they are.

Mia is just over our age, roughly a year older than me. She has a distinct pirate feel to her. Her brown hair is tied back while her eye colour is hard to tell thanks to fact she has had them augmented or enhanced. Mia has an athletic body with even more enhancements or augmentations to it.

I’m also fairly certain that  she is some type of cyborg.

Her clothes are made from a black material that’s very similar to cos-mat while her vambraces and boots are made from made from Sektain metal. Which means they almost definitely have hidden abilities to them. Mia has a red belt of flowing silk and a steely grey armour that covers her shoulders, upper chest and back. On her head is leather hat like that one from Pirates of the Caribbean.

“So how much would you take for all this?” I ask her.

“How much how is it worth?” she replies.

I have my HUD bring it all up. It takes a minute, but I get a figure.

“Roughly seventy thousand pounds,” I tell her, “Give or take a few thousand.”

“So how much are you willing to pay?” Mia asks.

I think about it for a moment. I could name a sum about the same value, but Mia seems to be looking for a profit. And she’s been nice enough to deserve it from me.

“Eighty thousand,” I answer.

Mia pauses for a few minutes before speaking.

“I guess that’s a good deal,” admits Mia, “And you did save our lives and haven’t asked for any reward.”

“So you’ll take it?”

“Sure.”

“I’ve transferred the amount into her bank account,” says Janelle over my armour’s comms.

“The money should be in your account,” I say to Mia.

Mia opens up a holographic display from her left arm. After a moment of looking through it, she looks pleased.

“This all yours,” grins Mia as she waves a hand at the crates.

“So what are you planning to do now?” I ask her as Sam moves to pick up some of the crates with both his hands and his telekinesis.

“I got a bunch of tech and money to upgrade the Dust Corsair with from your money and the salvage rights from the battle,” muses Mia, “But that’ll take time.”

“Thinking of going home during that time?” I inquire.

“Probably,” says Mia, “Darrac and Borin can be trusted to look after the ship. Plus I’ll keep in contact with them.”

She pauses and looks at the doorway.

“Say,” says Mia, “Have you meet Darrac yet?”

I follow her graze and freezes.

I guess I should have realised it, but it still came as a shocked to find out that Darrac is one of the Sektain’s modified humans.

Darrac is tall and slim, but has a look of lethality to him. His black hair is slick and pointed upwards and back. Two black leather wings stick out of his back while long spikes come out of his forearms. His eyes look like those of a cat and I can see fangs sticking out of this mouth. The somewhat bulging muscles don’t help him look nonthreatening either.

He’s wearing the same black clothes that Mia is wearing with the grey metal armour on top. The only bare spots are his head and arms.

“So you’re the heir of the great Sentinel,” says Darrac.

He cocks his head at me.

“You’re pretty impressive.”

Mia laughs.

“So,” says Mia with a silly grin on her face, “Mind if we tag along on the trip home?”

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