A Pain in the Arsenal ((Mia, Tetro, open))

[Anonymous]

((OOC: Set after "First Port of Call".))

A switchblade with a pink grip quivered, only recently sunk deep into the metal of the bar. "Holy shit, guys," said its owner, standing up from a bar stool (an action which, in all fairness, made her shorter). "I get dinged by space junk and try to go home to repair my fuel tank, get chased off my home planet by dragons, am forced to spend however-the-hell-long-it's-been here among the perverts and criminals, and you try and tell me I can't have a drink 'cause I look too young? You wouldn't card me if I looked like that guy," she said, pointing to a rather amorphous, multi-tentacled green alien on the other side of the room. "He could be a fuckin' pre-teen and you'd never know, now would you?"

The bartender looked shocked. Clearly a new guy, she thought. "How dare you accuse me of prejudice! Besides, how the hell am  I supposed to know what kind of a day you've had? I've been pouring drinks for your perverts and criminals all day!" He gave a nervous smile to a few customers who had taken offense.

"Yeah, well maybe you oughta take the fact that you don't know shit into account next time, before you make someone really fuckin' mad." She sat back down and smoothed her hair. "Look, I have a mech in back, and a remote that tells it what to do. You might want to think about getting me that drink."

The bartender turned his back, and the customer pulled her knife out of the table. Another imperfection, to match the countless dings, bullet holes, craters, and burn marks already on it. Another man came out from the back. The manager. "What the hell is going on out here?" He looked around disapprovingly at some of the bigger men in the bar, before he noticed the disgruntled girl inspecting her knife-blade. "And what are you doing in here?"

"Ordering a drink," she said irritably, clicking the switchblade back into its grip and extending her right hand, taking care to show the scar from where she'd ripped her identification chip out. With my teeth, as I remember it. "Rikki Neves, recently of Teinar. Who the hell are you?"

The manager stared at her hand in startled recognition. "Right, Neves. What'd you order again?"

"A Sissymaker, please." She ran her hand through her bangs. "No ice."

[Anonymous]

[OOC This is the third crappy post I've wrote in a row >.<

Set after Mr Purple Fox finds a friend]

It felt good to be back on the Cancer again. Now she had something of a crew and knew she was going to get more she felt empowered. If anyone messed with her, her crew or any of her friends on the Cancer they were going to pay. But for today she was recruiting.

     She led Keir and Tetro into one of bars. It was noisy today and a woman at the front was causing a bit of a scene. Oh well, that was too be expected.

     “Why don’t you two sit down, I’ll get the drinks and I can ask the bartender for information,” she said turning to the other crew, “Anything in particular you want Tetro?”

     She then headed across to the bar and stood up on the edge of it slightly, she wasn’t the tallest of people.

     Then she heard a familiar name, Neves. Where had she heard that before…? Oh well, it’d come back to her later.

     “Hey bartender, do you know of anyone looking to be part of a ships’ crew, the name’s Nastusia Manasa by the way.”

     The bartender wasn’t one she had encountered before but hopefully he’d recognise her name. Maybe even the ‘Neves’ woman would.

     She turned to her and smiled, “Got some time to kill?”

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque followed Nastusia and Keir rather closely, still feeling a bit out of place in this galaxy.  He didn't really have any friends except those two, mostly because they were the only ones he knew of that could speak the Kitsune language.  Tetroneaque sat down at a booth with Keir when Captain Nastusia suggested it.  He was glad to be able to kind of blend in a bit better by not standing around.  He didn't want to admit it, but he was a bit nervous.  This bar looked like anyone might decide to mess with him just for being small and fluffy, at least if he had been alone.  He glanced at Keir and settled himself down a bit.

Nothing to worry about.  Your friends are both strong enough to help you if ya need it.  I doubt anyone will mess with you today, so just relax.  Have a few drinks, and enjoy yourself.  He thought to himself.

"Bring me anything you want to.  I'm not picky."  He commented with a happy yip.

[Anonymous]

The manager sent the shell-shocked bartender to get Miss Neves her drink with a gesture and an impatient glare. He grudgingly set about his business, mumbling something about celebrities and unfairness.

Rikki looked over as... a little girl approached the bar. Not really little, but littler than her. She stood on the baseboard under the table to look taller, which, in all fairness, was kind of cute. “Hey bartender, do you know of anyone looking to be part of a ships’ crew, the name’s Nastusia Manasa by the way.”

The name sounded familiar; she'd seen it on a forum somewhere. Ohh, the immortal! Now I remember. This could be fun!

The girl/woman looked over at her and grinned. “Got some time to kill?” Rikki smirked right back. "There's always time to kill. Nastusia Manasa, you said? Damn, I hope you're not trying to order drinks from this stiff looking like that! He'll give you a root beer float with a fuckin' bendy straw."

She extended her hand, this time for a handshake. "Henriqueta Desidéria Valéria Neves. I don't care who you are, you can't pronounce that... that's Rikki, then. Sure, I'm interested." She leaned against she bar as the bartender put her drink down, along with the remainder of the spoon he'd stirred it with. "You got any other members, or are you starting from scratch, in a place like this?"

[Anonymous]

Nastusia took her hand, “Pleasure, and I do have some other crew yes,” she indicated the two males sat a little ways back, “Keir Faser my co-pilot and Tetroneaque Swiftpaw Tailchaser my mechanic. You might have heard of Keir.”

     He had been part of the crew of so many ships, she had lost count and a few people on the Cancer knew him by name, if not face.

     Nastusia then turned to the bartender, “A beer and two Mist Oceans, please.”

     She was sure they’d serve her and if they didn’t she had ID…not entirely accurate ID since she didn’t know her age but ID all the same. The beer was for Keir, hehe that rhymed, and her favourite drink was a Mist Ocean. It was a kind of blue and green swirling liquid that smoked a little. If any human tried to drink it, one sip would cause severe damage to their liver and a whole glass would kill them several times over. Tetro had mentioned he could eat many things that would be poisonous to humans so she was sure he’d be fine with on of those as well. It was certainly sweeter than beer which was just icky.

     “So, what’s your area of expertise then,” Nastusia asked as the drink which placed on the bar in front of her.

     She giggled when she saw one of the blue drinks did in fact have a straw in it. Probably a joke on the part bartender, she didn’t mind however.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque kept raising his nose up in the air a bit and sniffing.  To him this place was almost over stimulating due to the vast amount of varied scents lingering in the air.  Of course the ones he was most interested in were the food and drink smells coming from behind the bar.

"Hey Keir, do you think it would be okay if we ordered some snacks?  Well... you ordered some snacks since the servers will just look at me funny and say something I won't be able to to understand."  Tetroneaque had a mischievous little grin on his face.  To him, a few snacks would likely consist of a twelve course dinner but Keir had yet to see the little Kitsune eat yet.  His train of thought was derailed as he saw the Captain talking to another female at the bar.

Tetroneaque, of course, couldn't understand a single thing being said but their body language seemed to convey a certain amount of friendliness toward each other.  That was always a good sign in Tetroneaque's book.

"You think the Captain has already found another crew member?"  He suddenly asked as he continued to look over at Nastusia and the mystery woman.

[Anonymous]

Rikki looked back at the men Nastusia had indicated. "Huh," she said. "Interesting. Can't say I've ever seen such a... cute and fuzzy space crew..." She waved a bit at the two, and smiled. "Yeah, I've heard of Keir. Been on every ship in the fuckin' docking bay!"

She listened to Nastusia's order. Mist Oceans, eh? Yeah, must be immortal... and never to be outdone, I see. She sipped her drink and swirled it around in its glass. The Sissymaker was one of the more powerful drinks that wouldn't kill a human, and rather an acquired taste. Rikki was surprised when the bartender had actually brought her one; most bars seemed to lack one or more ingredients. Usually the hot peppers.

“So, what’s your area of expertise then,” the little immortal asked. Rikki adopted a dangerous smirk. "Weapons. You can't have a ship these days without a weapons specialist. I mean, who knows who'll be out there trying to blow you up, you know?" She extracted a pink-and-goldtone handgun from the folds of her outfit and started polishing it. "Also, I've got a mech. Works in space, can operate independently from the ship if you ever get into a real clusterfuck situation. No rapid-fire, mostly cannons, lasers, missiles... one of which can blow up a Phoenix in one shot." She looked up and smiled. "The Heartbreaker missile, if that means anything to you."

The bartender delivered the drinks, and she grinned at the straw sitting in one of the Mist Oceans. "What's this, then? All that bitching, and they don't even have bendy straws. What a sad universe." She shook her head and inspected the barrel of the gun. "Yeah, though... a ship without weapons is a cute idea, but you'd get smeared within two hours of doing anything."

[Anonymous]

“No, we shouldn’t be here to long,” he replied to the fox’s question about snacks.

     Keir was glad when Nastusia started talking to a woman at the bar about being part of the crew; that was good. He didn’t want to stay on the Cancer too long what with the possibility of TRIM showing up anytime soon to grab Nastusia. She couldn’t die but she could still feel pain and Keir worried about her, she was like a little sister to him, even though she was a lot older than him. But most of the time she acted like a kid so it was hard not to feel like she was younger.

     Keir probably would have been suspicious of the woman Nastusia was talking to if he didn’t know who she was, but he did know, Rikki Neves, a weapons expert with her own mecha. She would be quite handy, Nastusia was a one-woman weapon by herself but if she didn’t have to serve as pilot, captain and weapon then that would be helpful.

     “Yes it does look like she might have found someone,” Keir replied to the fox’s question, “That’s Rikki Neves, she’s a weapons expert.”

//////////////

Nastusia laughed at Rikki’s comment about Keir; that was true. There were few he hadn’t been on. Like her he just couldn’t sit still for long.

     “Well it’s only me and Tetro who are cute and fuzzy, Keir’s rather normal I’m afraid…apart from the immortality.”

     They were quite a crew really, a kitsune from another galaxy, two immortals one of which could read souls and the other looking like a twelve year old and wielding another power to destroy a planet.

     She liked the idea of some weapons on the Vulpecula though, sure she could act as the weapons but it would be nice not to have to do three jobs. A mech might come in handy as well.

     “Heartbreakers, huh? Quite powerful missiles,” Nastusia replied, “You don’t see too many things around using those.”

     They were quite devastating, maybe a little too devastating but they might come in handy if they spotted a TRIM ship flying around. She’d have to shield the specimens with her magic first though. And she remembered where she’d heard of Rikki Neves now, she was quite well-known on the Cancer, known for her skill with weapons and the fact she had a mech.

     “Well, my ship could use some weapons, I’ve been acting as the weapon myself but actually having some proper ones would save me a job. I would say you’re hired should you want the position. Or perhaps you could meet the crew first before you make your decision. I warn you about Tetro though, he doesn’t speak common.”

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque seemed disappointed that they wouldn't be staying around long enough to sample some of the local cuisine.  His ears drooping down as he gave a sad sigh.

Oh well.  At least I get to have a drink... as soon as Nastusia brings it over.  I wonder how much it cost.  In fact, now that I think about it I wonder what they even use as currency in this galaxy.

Tetroneaque's gaze went back toward the Captain and the prospective recruit for the Vulpecula.  He noticed the new girl wave toward their table.  Not wanting to be rude Tetroneaque tossed a friendly, if a bit shy, wave back toward her.  She seemed nice enough to the Kitsune.

Tetroneaque's attention came back to Keir when the immortal mentioned that the new girl was in fact a weapon's expert.

"A weapon's expert?  That sounds promising.  Maybe give me someone to compare notes with as it were and help me get a little better acquainted with this galaxy's weaponry."  It was an interesting thought for the purple Kitsune and his tails began to swish back and forth slightly.

"Assuming I can communicate with her.  Though if worse comes to worse I guess I can always communicate mind to mind with her if need be."  I'll just need to work on controlling my emotions a bit more when linked.  Wouldn't do to hurt her with some emotional backlash...  He added mentally to himself.

[Anonymous]

Rikki folded her arms and looked momentarily annoyed. "I'm cute too..." She waited as Nastusia deliberated about the decision, sipping her drink periodically. She put her gun away and just sat there, swinging her legs.

“Heartbreakers, huh? Quite powerful missiles,” Rikki nodded contentedly. “You don’t see too many things around using those.” Rikki straightened her back proudly. "And for good reason! I helped develop that one, and I could tell you the people they have selling them now know what they're doing." She smirked. She had made absolutely certain that they wouldn't be sold to any governments. If you wanted a Heartbreaker, you needed a good reason.

Nastusia looked pensive, but Rikki was pretty sure what her decision was. “Well, my ship could use some weapons, I’ve been acting as the weapon myself but actually having some proper ones would save me a job. I would say you’re hired should you want the position. Or perhaps you could meet the crew first before you make your decision. I warn you about Tetro though, he doesn’t speak common.” Rikki smiled gratefully. "Awesome! Sure, I'd like to meet the crew, but I betcha there's nothing I'll absolutely hate about them." She hastily paid the bartender and slipped down from the bar stool, taking her drink with her.

She approached the booth where Keir and the purple fox-person sat. "Hi!" she said pleasantly to the crew members. Well, Keir, mostly. She looked from one to the other. "Keir Faser, I've heard of you...and Tetro, 'zat right?" Tetro probably wouldn't answer her back, but she smiled anyway. "I'm Rikki Neves, weapons specialist. So apparently we're going to be flying through space together for however long..."

[Anonymous]

Nastusia paid the bartender then grabbed the three drinks off the bar and followed Nikki. She placed them down on the table then sat down herself. She pushed the Mist Ocean towards Tetro.

     “Hopefully it won’t kill you,” she said in the Kitsune language.

     She took a sip of her own through the straw, “If it does I apologise in advance.”

     Being immortal she had a high tolerance to poisonous substances, and she liked to test the whole ‘not being able to die’ thing. Keir however was boring and stuck to safer drinks. She didn’t know why, he healed almost twice as fast as she did…unless of course she did die in which case she would heal instantly when her soul returned to her body. Dying wasn’t pleasant though no matter how many times you did it and she had lost count.

     Nastusia then realised she’d better translate for Tetro, Keir however beat her to it.

     He then turned to Rikki and said, “I’ve heard of you as well, you reputation precedes you. Hopefully Nastusia wasn’t wrong in hiring you.”

     “Don’t listen to him,” Nastusia said to Nikki, “He’s just a little grumpy. Tetro is friendlier…but well…He can’t understand you,” she laughed nervously, “Not unless you speak Kitsune…”

     She took another sip of her drink; it was sweet but strong and tasted vaguely of blue food colouring and aniseed.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque gave a friendly smile toward the new girl as he listened to Keir translate.  He nodded his head and continued to grin.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Rikki.  I look forward to working with you.  Perhaps we can create some more interesting weaponry together."  Tetroneaque said, barking out the reply.  He would let one of the two immortals translate for him.

"Oh, I can communicate with you Rikki but only through a mind to mind link.  I won't try that though without your permission or very good reason though."  He added as soon as the thought formed.  He was sure it would make communication much easier between them if she let him do it.  It wasn't as if Nastusia or Keir would always be in presence when he needed to communicate with Rikki after all.  It would have to do until he learned how to speak 'common'... or Rikki learned Kitsune.

Tetroneaque lifted the strange blue drink for a moment.  He was pretty sure it wouldn't kill him, but he took a tentative sniff of the beverage first.  He always took a good whiff of anything before tasting it, as it was a good way for him to get an accurate guess as to how something would taste.  After a couple sniffs of it he gave a happy yip, and took a sip.  It had an interesting texture and the taste was unique and much to his liking.

"Oh!  This is good!  Thank you Captain!"  He raised his glass toward Nastusia and continued to drink.

Mental note.  I simply must get the recipe to this!  He thought to himself as he swirled a sip around in his mouth before swallowing.

[Anonymous]

Rikki listened to Keir's opinion and smirked. "Think of it this way... since you have me in your employ, I'm not working for someone who wants you dead."

“Don’t listen to him,” Nastusia's voice. “He’s just a little grumpy. Tetro is friendlier…but well…He can’t understand you, Not unless you speak Kitsune…” Rikki laughed a bit. "You give me too much credit... I've never even heard of the language." She sipped her drink.

Needless to say, she was a bit freaked out when Tetroneaque started barking. Well now I know why. It kind of makes sense, at least. Keir translated for him. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance Rikki. I look forward to working with you. Perhaps we can create some more interesting weaponry together." She nodded her head. "Sure! I betcha your ideas are way different from anything I could come up with."

Then he said... something about a communication mind-link. "Yeah, I guess we could try that..." she said nervously. "I've never done anything like that before." She lifted her glass to her lips, keeping alert now. Shit, these could be decoys from Aedolis, out to catch me...

[Anonymous]

Nastusia was glad Tetro liked the drink, truth be told though, it was considered more of a feminine drink, but if he liked it then that was all that mattered.

     “True,” Nastusia said when Rikki said if she worked them she wasn’t working for someone who wanted to kill them, “Not that anyone could,” she giggled.

     “Kitsune is an unusual language,” Nastusia said, “A mind-link might be needed though, Tetro doesn’t know much about technology from this galaxy, similarly you might not recognise the technology he uses. Communication will be key. And it that doesn’t work then I guess either me or Keir will have an extra job.”

     Hopefully Tetro’s technology being different wouldn’t put Rikki off. Then again if she was any kind of weapons expert she’d be excited to explore new technology.

     “So, are you in Rikki?”

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque seemed to be having a hard time with his drink as the liquid got lower in the glass.  His muzzle kept getting in the way as he tried to get at the liquid.  His mouth just really wasn't designed to sip from such a narrow opening.  Not to be deterred, he simply opened his mouth wide and drank the remainder of his beverage as if it were an over sized shot.  He licked his chomps and started to make that murring noise again which meant he was feeling quite content.

Then he let out a loud pained yelp as some other patron stepped on one the Kitsune's large bushy tails.  A rather unfortunate chain of events then began.  Tetroneaque suddenly jump up, knocking over his chair.  The chair smacked into the person who had stepped on Tetroneaque's tail, tripping the person.  Tetroneaque was hugging his wounded tail to his chest now as the rather burly looking human fell onto an adjacent table, knocking over the people there and spilling their drinks.

"Keep that damn dog on a leash and out of the bar!"  The angry man yelled as he got up from the ground.

Tetroneaque looked around confusedly, not sure what the man had said but knowing and angry voice when he heard one.  He was still rubbing the part of his tail the man had stepped on.

"Why is he mad at me?  He stepped on my tail!  I should be mad at him!"  Tetroneaque barked out.  He didn't want to start any trouble, especially since he had left his exo-suit control glove back on the Vulpecula which in retrospect may not have been the best idea he'd ever had.

Tetroneaque's barking only seemed to piss the guy off even more as he advanced on the little Kitsune.

"Is the little freaky puppy gonna bite me?  Maybe the two little girls or this punk is gonna do something.  Ha!  No one makes a fool of me and walks away from it, even if they are some stupid purple dog."  The man stated, practically spitting out the words.  Before anyone could do anything however the people who had been sitting at the table the man knocked over came up behind the man and smashed a beer bottle over his head.

"And no one knocks our drinks over without paying us for them ya jack ass!"  Called one of the now rather irate patrons.  Several of the people across the room got up from their table now and advanced toward the two who had attacked the first man.

"Hey!  You mess with him you mess with us!  Let's get'em boys!"  Called the new group, all of whom seemed to be dressed in a very similar style of leather and spiked outfits.

It seemed the whole bar was now erupting into a brawl as more and more of the people found ways to get pissed off at the other folk.

"What's happening???"  Tetroneaque asked his friends as his eyes darted nervously around the room.  He was now holding all three of his tails against his chest now, trying to make himself seem smaller.

[Anonymous]

Rikki would have answered Nastusia, but Tetroneaque yelped at that exact moment, and she turned around reflexively as Tetro knocked his chair over onto the guy who'd apparently caused the yelp. Rikki watched the whole thing with a bemused expression. Well, guess I get that chance to prove myself a bit earlier than I thought. The man started yelling, "Keep that damn dog on a leash and out of the bar!"

She regarded the man distastefully. Didn't it just have to be a big guy. She reached into the kimono side of her top, pulling out her switchblade again. "Is the little freaky puppy gonna bite me? Maybe the two little girls or this punk is gonna do something. Ha! No one makes a fool of me and walks away from it, even if they are some stupid purple dog."

This had better be worth it, she said, opening her mind and channeling her psychic energy.

"Hey," she said forcefully, shoving the man with her left hand, and infusing the motion with telekinetic energy to knock him back. "Fuck off, Philistine. First off, he's a purple fox, second, he's a sentient purple fox, and third, he's with me, and them." She gestured with her head at Nastusia and Keir. "Now, do you want to back the hell off," she said, noticing the men coming up to defend him, "or are you so fuckin' starved for attention that you gotta make a scene of it?" She aligned herself with the two who'd had their drinks knocked over, and braced herself for a retaliatory strike.

[Anonymous]

Nastusia looked at Tetro quickly when he yelped and then gradually watched the events unfold. Bar brawls were common place; she had seen and finished many. When the man who had stepped on Tetro’s tail and started insulting him, Keir looked at Nastusia as if you say ‘aren’t you going to do something’.

     She just smiled as she took about sip of her drink as Rikki stood up as if on cue. Defending her crew mates already, she knew she hadn’t been wrong to hire her. However the brawl might get more out of hand than it already was. She downed her drink and looked up at the man, no expression on her face whatsoever.

     “You called me a girl; I assume that means you don’t know me by face. So I’ll tell you my name, Nastusia Manasa.”

     She paused for effect; hopefully the name would sink in.

     “And if you demand any respect at all on the Cancer you should know that name. Either way if you don’t harassing my crew for something that was your fault, then I will have to teach you respect. Now, are you going to apologise or do I have to break you.”

     All this was said without a single change in expression or tone. She had said it like it was fact rather than a threat. It wasn’t a threat however, if he didn’t leave Tetro alone he would meet the business end of her magic. Perhaps causing unnecessary attention was foolish, Keir’ frown certainly suggested that. But if TRIM representatives did turn up, she could handle them.

[Anonymous]

Tetroneaque was glad that his friends were there to save his tails... again.  He still wasn't quite sure what was going on since everyone was speaking common.  It did seem like time froze once Nastusia decided to step in though.  The whole scene became almost eerily quiet.  The man who had started the whole thing seemed to pause he thought things through.

"Wait, you're Nastusia?  THE Nastusia!?!"  The man's tone seemed awed more than anything else.

"Sorry.  I didn't recognize ya.  I didn't know you had a crew or ship.  I don't want no trouble from ya."  The man stated holding up his hands in front of himself.

"Who the fuck is she?  She's just some little girl with a weird pet!"  On the man's gang called.  The man turned around and backhanded the one who spoke, knocking the teeth clear out of the guy's mouth.

"Shut your hole ya wanker, unless ya want her to turn you inside out with a thought!"  The gang leader turned back toward Nastusia and the rest.

"Like I said, I'm sorry.  Tell your purple fox... your sentient purple fox that I'm sorry too.  In fact, let me pay for your drinks."  The gangleader grabbed the guy he'd backhanded off the floor and shook took something from the guy's jacket.  He went over toward the bar, spoke quickly with the bartender and then hurried out of the bar.  He tossed the barely conscious fellow he'd smacked to his other lackeys and hurried out of the bar.

"What just happened?"  Tetroneaque asked, his head tilted slightly to one side and one ear twitching.  His face was one of utter bewilderment.

Outside the bar however...

"You're nothin but a sissy boss!  Let'in some punk ass girls and a weird animal boss you around.  Aren't we gonna get back at them?!"  One of the punks asked their leader.

"Idiot!  We can't fuck with them!  They're psychic and shit!  Plus, there is a rather huge bounty on that little girl.  We don't have to do nothing but call up TRIM and get that fat reward when they come to take them all away!  Let's go make that call..."  The leader said with a laugh as he led his goons away.

[Anonymous]

Rikki smiled as the thugs started tripping over themselves to apologize. I kinda woulda liked to settle this without naming names, but still that's impressive. She watched them, putting the knife away and leaning against the table.

"Like I said, I'm sorry. Tell your purple fox... your sentient purple fox that I'm sorry too. In fact, let me pay for your drinks." The man relocated his semiconscious toady and rushed over to the bar. A thought occurred to Rikki, and she turned to Nastusia. "Now they know who you are and where you are, they're probably gonna try and turn you in," she whispered uneasily. She slipped cautiously into the thug's mind as he walked out the door. Tetroneaque barked. Shit, I hope he can't tell. I'd never know they knew...

She grabbed her drink and turned her attention to the man outside. Yep, they were definitely calling TRIM on her. She downed the rest of it and turned around. "We really oughta make ourselves scarce." She looked serious. "Where are you docked?"

[Anonymous]

“Probably,” Nastusia replied, still Tetro was her friend and she was defending him, and she hated jerks that picked on people for no reason.

     Keir looked furious at her, “You are an idiot, do you know that?”

     Nastusia smiled at him, “No, just immortal and not afraid of jerks like that or TRIM.”

     He sighed exasperatedly and stood up as did Nastusia.

     “The usual place,” Nastusia said, “I didn’t hide the ship, it just has a barrier around it. If they manage to break through it they deserve to stop us.”

     It was a magical barrier of her own creation; she wasn’t sure if Tetro had been up to the challenge yet so she had stuck to something familiar.

     She started heading out of the bar, “Stick with me and if they catch up to us leave me and head back to the ship. I’ll follow you shortly.”

     “I’m not going to do that Nastusia,” Keir replied.

     “You will because your captain orders it.”