Chapter 3
Sara stepped onto the bridge, her thick soled boots echoing softly off the metal decking. Pinpricks of light zipped past the view screen as they passed by planets and stars. Rubbing one of her eyes with a finger, she tried to shake the last few remnants of sleep from her mind.
"Good morning," Sara greeted her bridge crew. "How'd you all sleep? I slept surprisingly well." She plopped into the captain's chair.
"Did you drug him?" Cat asked from her seat with a smirk pulling at the corners of her lips.
"Nope.” She shook her head. “I talked with him and threatened drugging him, but never actually had to do it. For whatever reason, he’s been silent.”
"Maybe he saw reason." Doug yawned as he spun around in his chair. “Or maybe he’s finally tired himself out.”
"Didn't sleep well?" Sara asked.
Stretching his arms over his head, Berg stretched out. "Hard to sleep with that big bastard in our brig. Have you heard stories about Vrak’rir? These guys are brutes. Literally. Maybe he broke out and that’s why he’s being so quiet."
Sara rolled her eyes. "We have a force field between us and him. He hasn’t escaped, not unless he wants to burn every part of his flesh."
"I don't think you've heard the right stories." Doug shook his head. "These guys are tanks, and stars forbid they find their mates. Not even a force field would stop one of these guys."
"Well, I can't help with those fears. I have no clue if he is mated or not." Sara shrugged. “But as long as his mate isn’t in danger, we are fine.”
Cat snorted. "Yeah, Doug. A mated Vrak'rir is only a problem if something or someone gets between them and their mate. Since there's no mate on the ship we're good."
"See?" Sara pointed a hand over to Cat. "The force field will keep him contained."
"I don't know."
Sara turned to Berg. "How goes the sifting through the salvage?"
"Good.” Berg replied with a slight nod. “From what I've heard from the men we've got a solid haul. Pretty sure the debris field was from a warship. Lots of intact tech and some valuable bits."
"Wonder what position our guest had on board." Sara mused. He was the only one found alive, so she wondered if he might have held a higher rank on board his ship. It might be a reason why he would have survived over everyone else on the ship. Otherwise he was just a really lucky dude.
But Sara didn't believe in luck. Not one bit.
"Hopefully someone worth a lot of credits." Cat smiled with a flicker of excitement in her eyes.
Suddenly, the Vrak'rir in the brig started pounding on the walls again, his hollering echoed through the ship. Sara rubbed her fingers over her forehead as she groaned in frustration.
"Hunter." She paged over the comm, her voice betraying the impatience she felt.
"I hear him, captain. Already have the sleeping gas prepared." Hunter responded promptly.
"Actually, let's give the Vrak’rir the benefit of the doubt.” Sara reasoned. It had been a moment since they’d brought him some food and water. “Bring him some food. He's a massively built dude. Probably just woke up hungry."
"And if he doesn't stop once I bring him food?" Hunter asked.
"Then knock him out." Sara ordered, her voice firm but not unkind. She was trying to be nice to this guy. Sure, she intended to sell him for credits, but she wasn’t abusing him. He was fed, in a nice cell with a bed, and a toilet.
"Gotcha." Hunter signed off the comm.
A few moments later, a station filled their view screen as they flew around a moon.
Finally. They could stop here, sell some of the stuff they'd gathered and maybe she could get a clearer idea of who they had on board.
Ships zipped around the station like a bunch of bugs swarming their hive.
It was essentially a space junk yard, where ships came to sell and buy junk.
Maybe while she was here she'd take a look around. She’d always enjoyed the gritty chaos that surrounded a space junk yard.
"Cat, you up for some shopping?" Sara asked.
Cat swiveled in her chair and folded her arms with a grin. "I'm always up for some girl bonding time. Long overdue if you ask me. Too many men on this ship anyways."
Berg frowned at Cat in mock seriousness. "You love us and you know it."
Cat rolled her eyes. "Whatever you want to think, Berg."
Sara shook her head, a soft laugh escaping from her. "Play nice, kids. I still have lots of open cells in the brig, and I’m sure the Vrak’rir would love some company." Actually, it’d probably drive the Vrak’rir nuts to be stuck with other people.
Berg barked with laughter. "Captain, you always threaten, but with no follow through none of us believe you now."
Sara arched an eyebrow in challenge. "Oh, yeah?"
Berg held up his hands as his eyes widened. "No, need to prove it today."
Moving back to the task at hand, she told him, "Get us docked and then head down to the bay. I want as much as possible sold but don't go selling it for less than it’s worth."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
Sara rose and headed to the lift, her boots thumping against the metal flooring. The incessant banging still thundering through the walls of the ship. Cat hurried to join her at the lift doors as they hissed open.
"Honestly,” Cat murmured, “I’m kind of impressed he hasn't busted a hole in one of the walls yet."
Sara shot Cat a dry look. "Don't go giving him any ideas now." She laughed with a small groan as she rubbed a couple of fingers against her temple. “He’s already annoying as can be.”
"Hey,” Cat grinned mischievously, “I'm all for pushing him out an airlock. Accidents happen all the time, right?” She shrugged her shoulders as a dangerous glint entered her eyes.
Sara rolled her eyes. "How do you plan to lug a massively built Vrak'rir all the way over to an airlock? He's going to give one hell of a fight. Not like he’s going to agree to allow you to blast him into the cold of space."
Cat leaned up against the lift wall as she folded her arms in front of her chest. "You saw me fight when you hired me to be a part of your crew." Cat cracked a finger as she referred to her time in prison. “I’ve handled some pretty hairy situations on my own.”
Sara shook her head. "You haven't seen the Vrak’rir in our brig." Her toned turned serious as she recalled his impressive figure. "This is a Vrak'rir on steroids. He probably hasn’t missed a single gym day."
Cat wiggled her eyebrows as a sly smirk tugged at her lips. "Attractive?"
"Heh?" Sara blinked, completely caught off guard by Cat’s question.
"Just figuring out if I need to make a visit to the brig." Cat winked with a playful grin.
Sara rolled her eyes, but when she smiled it betrayed her amusement. "By all means, go on down there. But don't cry to me when it all goes horribly wrong." She shrugged. “He’s more likely to bash your skull in then provide you a pleasurable release.”
The lift doors hissed open, revealing the shuttle bay.
Stepping out, they skirted past all the debris they'd collected and headed over to the docking bay door.
Time to go shopping on the station. With the banging inside her ship, Sara actually looked forward to sifting through other people's trash.
There were a few components her ship needed.
Some a little more urgently than others.
"Where to first?" Cat asked as she glanced around the station.
"We'll check out some pressure regulators for the fuel tank,” Sara replied, “and then check out some relief valves. They need replacing soon, and if we can find some for a decent price, we’ll grab them. Otherwise, we will wait for the next space station or scrap yard.”
"I'll follow you." Cat waved Sara forward. "So, when do we ask about this Vrak’rir?"
"Think I'll need his name." Sara mused as they walked into the space station. It wasn't as busy as she'd feared it might be. Definitely a little hustle and bustle, but she didn’t need to shove her way through the people.
"Stay close." Cat instructed Sara as they weaved through the crowd of humans and aliens.
"I know I found you at a fighting arena,” Sara rolled her eyes, “but I can handle myself in a fight also."
Cat snorted. "Sure. Whatever you want to think, Captain."
Sara frowned as a flicker of annoyance pierced her.
Whatever. It'd only been one time she’d trained with Cat, and Cat had soundly whooped her ass.
Now Cat believed Sara was some weakling who couldn't handle being on some junky space station.
She'd lived how many years without Cat by her side?
But she wasn't about to point that out. If Cat took pride in being a badass, then Sara wouldn’t take it away from her.
As they approached Abash’s shop, she spotted the familiar clutter. The chaotic maze of parts and tools for any and all space ships.
“How’s it going?” Sara asked as the two of them stepped into his shop, the smell of oil permeated the air around his shop.
Abash glanced up from behind his cluttered counter. “What are you two looking for this time?” He asked with mild curiosity as they shuffled around, their eyes scanning the stuff right at their feet.
“Some fuel components.” Sara said as she eyed the disorganized shelves and floor space. Somehow he called this place a shop. Looked like a hoarders dream come true if she were being honest and a little mean, but if a person dug for long enough, they’d find something worth keeping.
“Over in that corner you’ll find all of my fuel components for sale.” Abash directed them with a nod of his chin and a slight tilt of his head.
Good. She was glad he knew how he organized this mess. Otherwise, it would have taken them days to sort through all this stuff.
Sara and Cat headed over to the indicated corner. They bent down and started digging around, carefully pulling aside broken components and tangled cables as they looked for items on their list.
“Don’t move too much of that around now.” Abash called out as Cat heaved a couple of items out of their way.