Capítulo 28: Chapter 28: A Pirates Viewpoint.
The bridge was silent as we watched our captain go. The young girl, a Saiyan trudging off after our armorer, George…
"She really just left like that…" Our navigator said with a whistle.
"She is rather goal oriented." I say despite myself. The navigator looks at me with a, no shit look. The same look she gives me whenever I say something stupid.
"Considering her past it does make sense she's goal oriented… Like, wow…" She trails off. I notice the other two studiously ignoring us.
"I agree. Knowing her past was a little… no it was very hard hitting." I look to the navigator. "Honestly it makes your backstory look like a kids story Navigator."
She snorted. "Calling people by their titles are you, Helmsman?" We shared a laugh. "It's honestly very, pirate. We aren't people, not even friends. Just people doing a job together."
"Right, well… Honestly I feel like it has the opposite effect." I couldn't argue against that. Since we started calling each other by our titles jobs have been getting done faster. Instead of calling George the mechanic we just call for a mechanic. We need a pilot? Just call out for a pilot. It's like the whole crew has bought into it with a shocking amount of familiarity. Even the newbies are being integrated at an incredible pace. Maybe the caps onto something with the whole calling by title? Though, we all knew she was just too lazy to bother, or self-centered. Not that it was an issue.
"Frankly… I think she cares more about us then she even thinks to know." I mumble, but nobody says anything as we watch her shuttle leave the ship. It reminds me of something as I look to the empty corner of the bridge.
"Say, didn't we have a gunner?"
"I faintly remember us having one?" The navigator sounds just as confused as me.
"Odd…" Still, the weapons worked fine. Which means they have to be around here somewhere.
"So, what'd you think of her job as a captain just now?" I thought about the Navigators question long and hard.
"Honestly? She was good. No real complaints really."
"Nothing? Not even on her whole, FIRE ALL THE GUNS! Nonsense." Some of the crew chuckled, but we weren't making fun of her. No, instead just hearing her made our blood boil.
"It was perfect. Better then Phillip could ever do."
"Ugh… That guy would just pussyfoot around the situation, and we'd end up bogged down by those ghosts."
I agreed.
"Rather, I'm shocked she managed to cow them. Ghosts don't do that normally."
"Ghosts function off simplified Cost versus Reward systems. She must have done a good job of convincing them we weren't worth it."
"Still a hell of a thing."
I had to agree again.
We watched as she found the hatch and crawled into the opening.
"The hell is a Saiyan anyway?"
I looked over to the Comms as he spoke those words.
"How the hell should I know? They can fly, shoot energy beams and transform into giant apes. And that's what we saw. Honestly if she's to be believed that's just the tip of the iceberg."
He looked at me, leaning back in his chair.
"Right, well, I've never heard of them. And I've heard of a lot of species and groups. Never heard them being mentioned."
"Scared?" The navigator poked.
"Of course! Imagine how terrible it would be if her people waltzed all over our sector!"
We all went quiet.
"She's even weak to them." He hisses out. A silence follows as we let the words sink in. "Think she'll be fine?" The other interjected. Inwardly I was shocked, those two rarely spoke. Me and the Navigator were old hands. Probably older than this ship to boot. For them to add in, or rather to feel so comfortable as to add something to the conversation. Was it a miracle? Or just another of the changes brought on by the new cap?
"She'll be fine. The girls ended civilizations. Nothing inside there can even put a dent on her." The Navigator boasted while I was brooding. But the way she talked about her was unusual for her. She was usually so aloof, distant. Hell, she only ever talked to me, or dissed Phillip, our old cap.
"Didn't know you had such a soft spot for the new cap Rhyla." She glared at me. It was a little unnerving, but I was used to it. Her eyes always felt like they pierced to the bone. Like nothing could hide from her gaze.
"Just think she's the best captain we ever had." A round of grumbled affirmatives follow. It was strange. Stranger still when you consider this suicide of a mission.
"Can we even escape?" Radar spoke up. "If she doesn't come back, I mean?"
"Nope. We're fucked honestly." The navigator spoke cheerfully. "Not like she's going to die like that anyway." Comms added. I was inclined to agree, but none of us knew how strong she was. The only person who knew for a matter of fact was- The bridge door opens; I glance back to see the instructor coming in. His face was hard with concentration and a hint of worry.
He's calmed down, I noted as I looked at him. The man used to always walk around like a stick was up his ass all the time. He rode Phillip around all the time, demanding he live up to his potential. We thought he'd do the same to the captain. Ride her until she calmed down or broke. Instead, well, we're not sure exactly what happened.
Rumor is the two got into a little, ahem, tussle. The old man fought tooth and nail even sending a few people to the med bay for even insinuating he'd done anything to her. When we first saw her, it was obvious she had a crush on the man. There was a betting pool betting on what would happen, but none of us anticipated the current relationship between the two of them.
It was almost like a father daughter thing. Navigator had called it, and the more we saw the more we believed it. We all knew the instructor never married or had kids. The guy was too obsessed with his martial arts. Constantly pushing himself. Believing that in order to become the best he has to train the best.
But after the freighter mission, even if he did defeat the xeno. We all knew how close he was to dying. A ship is an enclosed space, rumors and murmurs travel over and over within these confined halls. Which meant they were heard by everyone well before the person themselves knew.
We all believed he'd crack. We'd thought his stubborn pride would be crushed under our new captain's prowess. He'd lied to himself that she was all muscle. That her monkey form and energy beams weren't all that… Except… He was on the front line on the freighter. Watching firsthand as she vaporized aliens and body checked them with such force they splattered along the walls like swatted bugs.
The men who saw it. Were terrified and elated. Which is even why we dared to take this job. It stunk, it stunk so bad I swear the whole galaxy could smell it. Nobody cared for the data on the ship. Not really. Most of the wanted deals for the data are more out of curiosity than any real push. Decades old data wasn't worth much, not in this era. Not with how technology had a way of ebbing and flowing like the tide.
And the rich guy we got a contract from happened to have a job for us. Even he admitted this job was something someone else was offering through him. A shady deal using that rich man as a medium. Except… even if we didn't admit it. None of us liked taking salvage jobs. A little action here or there helps keep the blood flowing and all that. The pay definitely helps as well. Not so much for our lifespans.
Salvaging was easy money, especially with the captain's obscene prowess. Blasting open bulkhead doors that would have taken hours or days of dedicated welding in minutes. Killing off or destroying any and all threats to our lives with a casual ease. Just seeing it all, just hearing it made us greedy. But we aren't content simply with taking easy jobs. Not everyone wants to make money so easily. We were pirates after all.
This job, if it paid off well, we could easily afford to hire more people and more ships. We could rebuild our pirate fleet to be bigger and better than before. Using our captain as collateral, as our leading piece. We hoped to make our way forward with her as the spearhead. Cutting through our obstacles and helping us achieve our dreams. Or more precisely, my dreams. I glanced at the navigator who shot me a shared look. Almost as if we had both thought the same thing.
It was only fair we helped achieve hers too. We were pirates, not degenerates.
"Instructor, want to bet on your students' progress?" He didn't reply as he walked onto the bridge. Instead, he stared out the window at the pyramid. Since that day after the freighter, he had a sense of presence about him. And as I've already said he had definitely gotten that stick out of his ass.
"Mm… I think it wouldn't be fair too honestly."
"She'll survive right?" The radar man questioned.
"Survive? Easily. Whether or not she can open the door on her own is another question."
We all blinked at that.
"Oh, shit…" Navigator swore.
"We should have given her a computer specialist or something…" Comms guy noted, only now did we realize we may have jumped the gun.
"If anything, she can blow open a door for us." The instructor said with incredible confidence.
"Anyway, I just wanted to see things are. I'll keep the teams at the ready for when the door is open."
And he left. Leaving us to stew.
"I think I'm hitting the bunks. Let me know when the door opens, right navigator?" She flipped me a middle finger, but that just meant she heard me.
There was something… Something important to being a captain of pirates, no, not just being a pirate. An unrelenting will necessary to survive in the endless space, your only comfort being the coffin keeping you alive. If you lacked such will, you would go crazy due to the long periods of time in space. Official governments and militaries had methods or ways to mitigate such concerns, usually by making sure the ship is overstaffed. Giving ships an illusion of always being full.
Pirates had no such luxury.
Next was an almost abrasive selfishness. A sense of self so unshakeable that others find you near insufferable. Death was common amongst pirates. Ships vanishing during routine trips. People vanishing at random with no sense of purpose. Only those that truly only could care for themselves could keep their hearts from shattering from all the loss and still remain whole. The instructor manages to keep himself due to his training. The navigator due to her need to always be aware of where she is and going, a desire born from her childhood. The helmsman for his need to always remain at the helm of his own life.
And me… the armorer for my desire to push myself. To always push the envelope with what I could. Making even the smallest scraps work. I never felt despondent when I was given an impossible task. No, instead it just made me more eager to prove my capabilities.
The last talent necessary is to know when to bear your fangs and when to hide them. A talent our captain seems adept at.
It was to no surprise to me that she managed to open the hangar for us, which meant I had to move our equipment as fast as possible. It was a massive quantity. The constant having to check materials kept me busy and working. The captain though, was a whole other animal. She was resting on a bunk in the forward base we made in the hangar. Her first goal after the first supply drop had been to eat and promptly fall asleep in spite of the work happening around her. Even as people pointed at her and talked about her.
The girl was made of a whole different breed to so casually be able to sleep in this place. This ship was definitely something. He could feel it in his bones, and normally he would be doing everything he can to get off, but… Seeing her? Sleeping like that. And having seen the video of her jaunt through the outer layers of the ship.
Well, he was for damn sure more confident in her then himself.
The moment we joined up with her, her helmet synced with our database. The video made for a good jump scare video, and it also helped relax the recruits to see her casually dealing with those things. I doubted she'd care if we distributed anyway. If anything, she might put her best foot forward, show off a bit, but what was being circulated… It was astonishing.
The moment playing in perfect clarity. The emptiness followed by the consuming darkness. Just staring into it through the video set me on edge. Even more so as she placed her helmet on the ground. The machine slowly crawling forward, slinking just out of sight. Silent, deadly. It's scythe like claws casually cutting through metal as it passed.
And seeing that thing's claw fail to cut her arm… And the way she slaughtered the thing. I'd swear it was fake, but shortly after I arrived, she fell onto a chair. Her helmet at her feet. Black oil, almost like blood plastered on her face as she jammed fistfuls of rations into her mouth. Only to fall asleep in a wink even as we worked. The nonchalance couldn't be faked. Hell, he'd be shaking in his boots!
More than one pirate stopped to look at our captain. The whispers were almost contagious. Even more so as I continued my inspection of the hangar. The ships here were varied but their presence hung over us like a threat. More so than any gun could have. The frigate looked to have belonged to a special forces team. The cruisers were a variety of pirates, spooks, and expert treasure hunters. All who had failed.
And should we fail, our ship wouldn't join this crew, but the expansive graveyard crawling with ghosts. Just the idea of so many AI run ships was astonishing, more so that they were still working. It was terrifying being on this ship. I could almost hear the sounds of scratching and screams in the walls. No, it likely wasn't my imagination. Especially based on that video.
None of us could calm down. Not one of us could even imagine resting, but… Our captain. A girl, barely over twenty, we surmise, just casually slept with hardly a care. Her suit covered in bloody cuts that showed her now healed skin underneath. The girl was a monster, a genuine monster. Her ape form was terrifying, but I suspected that was only scratching the surface.
Just being near her was like being next to an apex predator. The way she lazed and watched with hardly a care. Like a resting titan watching its lesser go about their day. And just as quickly snapped. Her eyes locking on you when she catches something, like a cat finding a toy. She would watch for a moment, the watched crewmember going ramrod straight or redoubling efforts. It was almost a relief she was sleeping now.
She was winning over the crew. More and more of the vets were seeing her as both their ticket and a kid worth fighting under. The instructor had even found himself viewing her as a daughter, though he wouldn't admit it. Well, not without a few drinks. It bothered him, he mentioned as he drank with a little push. He couldn't push away the thought that our captain's attitude matched how he thought his own daughter may have acted at her age. He couldn't even say he hated it.
It was a hunch he had, one that made him more and more attached to the girl. Especially when she helped him unlock his potential as he called it. His power growing excessively, even enabling him to physically pry open some of the ship ramps to the crew's astonishment. And he wasn't the only one to benefit. Some of the older crewmembers have been awakened and began to show near inhuman feats themselves.
It reminded me of a story from my youth. A story of people so absurd they could crush suns with their hands, move planets on a whim. Of primordial creatures so strong that their skin could deflect ship armaments. Their teeth and claws capable of ripping through indestructible metals.
Rettas was nothing special to the galaxy. But the fact she existed was likely to catch their attention sooner than later. I doubted the others had these thoughts. But each of them had a reason to cling to power. To abandon the friends, they lost for the chance at a different future. Even if it means backing the very girl that murdered those, they had called friends.
They lied to the girl good when they said they didn't care. I suppose they lied to themselves. Convinced themselves that the cost hardly mattered. But when they heard the truth of her background. Her life. I wonder if in some way they felt something like Kinship.
Because the final and most important aspect of being a pirate. Is what we want. And she, she was our ticket forward.
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