There was not, as it turned out, an abundance of able and willing volunteers to take on the pirates in this particular corridor. That the quarters all held a handful of captives at most, the largest grouping being a family unit of furry three armed teddy bear people, was not helping the matter. The matriarch of that grouping had accepted a pistol to protect her young and mate so they were safe, and the sweet little green alien nun was praying for Mach's success and safety. At least there was that, as well as the two motivated captives that had been willing to take a baton while canvassing the rooms he didn't have time to check. There had been a third, but she had managed to stun herself with the pistol within twenty seconds of accepting it. The remainder were largely cowed and unwilling to risk their own safety for freedom, and a handful was actually irritated about his breakout. Apparently they, like Dryn claimed, were actually looking forwards to their new lives. Or just hated their old ones enough to accept literally anything else. Between the rain and the witch on Precipero, Mach could emphasize more than a little.

  Soon enough he reached the end of the corridor, where the more lavish domiciles for upper officers were designated on the automap. The door before him had a yellow warning holo hovering over it, which his systems translated into a firmly worded "Do Not Disturb" sign. As Dryn began to speak to him over the neuralink Mach unsealed the door and stepped through in almost pitch black darkness.

  "Those quarters are tagged as belonging to Vari d-T'zFon, the number one most valued captive. Approach with utmost cau-" The ellipses flashed, gone almost as soon as they began. "Oh, you're already inside. May God have mercy on your soul."

  That drew Mach's attention as he began forming a query, though at the same time he raised the brightness of the room slowly. Any coherent thought he might have had died as his mouth fell open; Sprawled out lengthwise on the plushly padded couch, and stirring from her rest, was the most singularly beautiful near-human alien woman Mach had ever seen. Her skin was bronze and shimmered like brushed metal as it stretched taut against sleek but noticeable muscles of not-quite-human groupings, and intricate patterns of thin lines traced down her long neck, underneath the tight white silk chest wrap, down her slender waist, and disappeared beneath the thin sarong that let plenty of hip and long, bare leg show. Those patterns, as she stirred, began to glow with intensifying emerald bioluminescence easily seen in the still dim light. A long fingered hand, tipped with short straight claws instead of fingernails, brushed her long, gently wavy black hair from her delicate face, exposing the luminous stripes that ran across her cheekbones then dipped down towards a small, pursed mouth. She opened her large eyes, and in the reflected light they were deep purple spinels with a black X for a pupil. The only things that, in anyone else, would have counted as a minus instead of just intensifying her raw beauty, was her lack of any discernible nose... And that she was flat enough to land a ship on. To Mach, on a scale of one to ten, she was somewhere between twelve and thirty. He hadn't decided yet, in part because his inner teenager was currently screaming at max volume with the raw glee of finally seeing a real space princess, or at least someone gorgeous enough to pass as one. Inner eyelids blinked at Mach once, then those cross pupils dilated into fully opened diamonds.

  "Oh. Hi, I-" Was all that managed to escape before the woman didn't so much as move from her sprawl as she flowed from it, somehow pulling her legs underneath herself as she pushed up onto her hands and aimed straight at Mach in the same fluid movement. The couch flipped over backwards as she sprung off it like a bolt released from a crossbow, and like a cat turning over midair she spun her legs towards the human. He briefly registered her knees clamping on his breastplate before her posterior slammed into his chest like a cannonball and knocked him clean off his feet. Only plenty of breakfall practice kept Mach from slamming the back of his skull into the super thick carpeting as he smashed heavily into it, and then he still felt a hard enough bump that his head swirled. The sudden flare of pain as clawed fingers scraped at his scalp, seeking purchase to shove his head back and expose his neck. Between her bent arms he saw faint lines that ran from the corners of her mouth up her cheeks to her minimalistic ears split and pulled back, bronze flesh stretching to translucency as her jaw opened up like an alligator. The two rows of jagged teeth which were wet with dripping saliva, and that her thin tongue was attached to the top of her mouth instead of the bottom and pressed flat out of the way to fit more prey inside per bite, was maybe a little bit of a minus. Also that she was about to tear Mach's throat out.

  "Wait, friend! Friend!" Desperation and panic drove his cry. To his immediate relief she stopped mere inches from his exposed flesh, and he noted little slits where a nose would otherwise be flared briefly a few times. Slowly she drew back, the webbing in her cheeks vanishing as she closed her mouth, and Mach couldn't help but notice the screech of claws on plassteel as she slid her hands down his chest. Those spinel eyes fixed on his as she reared back, looking as imperious as a housecat on top of the fridge looking down on humans in judgement, then blinked again.

  "You aren't a pirate?" Her speech was beautiful, but also very strange; Her language was a series of notes and chords that rang like a wet finger ran across the rim of a wine glass, following a beat and tempo and structure Mach couldn't even begin to comprehend. Fortunately their systems were compatible, so at least he knew what she was saying.

  "No, not a pirate! Also not a slaver. Exact opposite, in fact; I'm a captive, and I'm breaking out."

  The luminescent lines on her face and body shifted slowly, turning from emerald green to bright red, as she studied him for what felt like an eternity. Mach was beginning to notice that she was still sitting on his chest, and was maybe five feet tall. And that she smelled nice, in a herbal sort of way. Minty, almost, with the faintest hint of an earthy musk. Unbidden came the desire to touch her shimmering skin, to find out if it was as soft as it looked, to feel what seemed to be tiny little bronze scales that covered every inch. After the display of those razor sharp teeth, any urge to do anything other than be as nonthreatening as possible was easily quashed, so he wisely held still.

  “Why, then, do you disturb my rest?” The meaning was clear, but her tone was wholly indecipherable. She did look a little curious and not offended, but it was hard to tell even with near-humans. “Should you not be on your way?”

  “I...” Mach started, then blinked slowly as he tried to unjumble his thoughts. He was beginning to notice things that were somewhat distracting. He tried again. “I need help to take over this ship. There are other captives, too many to fit on my ship. I can't just leave them to be enslaved while I run away.”

  Quizzicality overtook her expression, the diamonds of her pupils slowly returning to Xs as she studied him. Raven hair brushed against his face as she leaned forwards again.

  “Why?” There was no need for the rest of the question, Mach could easily guess what she wanted to know. It was not like altruism had overtaken humanity's primal desires as the primary drive over the past few thousand years.

  “Because it's the right thing to do.” Truth was easy to speak, even with the guilt that he had, very briefly, considered doing exactly what she suggested. Her eyes opened to diamonds again, and a pulse of bright purple flared in the glowing lines on her cheeks, ran up them then down her neck, and spread out through all the other lines which traced her body. All the tension left her poise, one hand lifting off his chest to idly play with a stray lock of her hair.

  “I will help you.” She declared as her lines blueshifted slightly, becoming indigo. “What would you have of me?”

  Desperate restraint choked back an impulsive response that would likely get him killed, and once he repressed those urges he answered as professionally as he could to the woman still sitting on him. “I'm going to assault the bridge, challenge whoever is in command of this ship, and stomp a mudhole in their ass then walk it dry. Any help you can offer with that is appreciated, but what I need most is someone to watch my back in combat.”

  Hopefully to these aliens grinning meant the same thing as it did with humans, because she clearly was. Yep, those teeth were still intimidating. “Perhaps you should watch mine instead.”

  “I'm good with that option too.”

  A look of surprise crossed her features with a flare of clear blue, her outer eyelids narrowing into a suspicious squint. “Do you not want the honor of leading the assault yourself?”

  Mach couldn't help but laugh at that; he didn't want anything of the sort. He was, after all, just a mailman. “Nope! Doesn't matter who gets the credit, as long as everyone is free to go home, or wherever they want to be. Only thing I ask is to not kill anyone who isn't actively trying to kill us.”

  Spinel eyes opened wide again, and now her lines were as bright purple as the flash had been earlier. “I will still hurt them, but only an amount they can recover from. Eventually.”

  “Good. They might be bad at it, being Vozzies and all, but they're still slaving pirates. They've earned themselves an ass kicking.” The grin became wider and toothier, and with a graceful push and spin that whirled her loose hair around her waist, she was on her feet again. She outstretched a hand to Mach, and he took it as he shifted to climb back onto his feet. Sleek muscles bunched into sharp definition as she pulled him up onto his feet without the slightest difficulty, which was a feat considering the tall human was nearly a hundred and eighty pounds in the armored vacsuit. Beautiful and strong was a combo Mach found highly appealing. Loose fingers trailed to her narrow waist, and the simple belt of gold disks that served as her only adornment, then pulled free a short strip of cloth. Her back arched slightly as she gathered her hair, dim light playing off and emphasizing the gentle curves of her body, and to Mach it almost felt like she was showing off a little as she tied her hair into a loose bun at the base of her neck. He swallowed slowly, then took a breath.

  “So...” Mach started then stopped, shoving down the sudden urge to ask her if she came here often as purple eyes locked on his. He tried again. “Would you prefer a pistol or a stun baton? I have both.” Two of the latter, in fact. Mach didn't feel like that particular needed to be specified, however.

  “Your name.” Command ran through the tonal, incomprehensible words, clear even across species. Mach straightened reflexively, drawing himself up to his full height to tower over the woman as he answered.

  “Mach Kerrison, Captain of the CSPS Winnerbagel! Hailing from Zone 973 of Earth, Sol System!”

  “Vari d-T'zFon.” Vari glided very, very close to Mach, her chest nearly pressed into his abdomen, but her eyes still locked on his, the odd pupils still fully dilated. Her right hand, meanwhile, slid around his waist to grab both of the batons. “Third heir of the T'zFon hegemony, of the Fonic Autocracy.”

  She was a space princess, in the most literal of ways! Mach smiled hesitantly, not sure if these particular aliens viewed showing teeth as a sign of aggression, but also not able to suppress his childlike glee at the situation. Finally, something the recruitment brochure hadn't lied about.

  “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Vari.” A flash of pink raced down her softly glowing violet lines, which then turned a lighter still shade closer to violet. Suddenly, with both flowing grace but a hint of jerkiness that told of impulsiveness, she ran the claws of her free hand lightly across his chest plate. She turned that movement into a step around him towards the corridor, though there was a faint pause once she was abreast of him that came with a trill that, in a human's voice, would have been a whisper.

  “Ours is a shared sentiment.”

  Mach turned to follow her passage, his eyes caught for a moment by the sight of a well muscled back, then in his neuralink a message from Dryn popped.

  “I fear, friend Cory,” The coldly mechanical inner voice of the Xarlozch began with an absurd amount of gravitas. “That our beloved Captain has departed this mortal coil, slewn by a startled Fon. Not for his transgressions, but for the simple misfortune of his enthusiasm mixed with his ignorance...”

  “I'm not dead, Dryn.”

  The ellipses flared, vanished, flared again, then finally yielded to another message.

  “Are you certain? I have composed a fitting eulogy that highlights your compassion, empathy, and sense of duty. I even left out your failings, largely, in respect for the deceased.”

  “Not even injured...” Mach touched his scalp where Vari's claws had scraped. “Well, aside from some mild scrapes. Vari's got some claws.”

  “There is still opportunity to be slain by a Fon, when you remain in their presence. A telltale hint of that being in their psycholuminance; Green denotes aggravation, the darkest shade usually only being seen as their prey is dying. Do you, perhaps, see the red of neutrality?”

  “Red? No. It's more... purple. Kinda violet-ish? What does that mean?”

  Dryn threw up the ellipses yet again. “I fear, friend Cory, that our beloved Captain is colorblind.”

  “We used to be colorblind too! There's no shame in it!” The whippet added cheerily, then reported more seriously. “Second of the pirate assault teams down. Moving to intercept the third.”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Mach couldn't help but sigh as he padded out of the dim cabin, blinking at the bright lights of the corridor. Vari fixed him with a quizzical look, her head tilted ever so slightly to the side, and a flicker of blue pulsing down her body.

  “Arguing with my crew.” He explained out loud, earning a little smile that made his stomach flutter. Silently he threw his rejoinder. “I'm not colorblind, at least not as of my last physical. Vari's glowy bits are very purple.”

  Dryn took a very long moment to respond, during which Mach and Vari approached the end of the corridor, a closed portway between them and the path to the bridge. A quick check of the automap pinged ten pirates on the opposite side assuming a loose formation.

  “I will have to repurpose my eulogy for a later date, then; Purple denotes affection. Assuming you to be perceiving correctly, then the Fon holds no danger to you. At least, not in the commonly held sense.”

  “I'm going to need you to explain that, Dryn.” A twitch came as those three dots appeared once again. “Later. Got things to do.”

  “Enemy combatants engaged.” The joy was palatable, stronger still through thought-speech, as the Whippet reported in.

  “Good hunting, Cory. Leave the rest to me and Vari.” Mach checked the automap, marking off all the previously neutralized and currently being enthusiastically neutralized pirates. Of the fifty three only twenty nine remained, twelve stationary at various duty stations, ten beyond the door, and seven on the bridge. Mach looked at Vari, who had her eyes locked on him as she swayed and shifted in a nervousness that almost seemed like a dance.

  “Got ten waiting for us, likely armed with these pistols.” Thus was it hefted, more out of human instinct than any thought that the Fon needed an example. Still got a little faint green pulse in the violet of her psycholuminance, though Vari seemed to understand. “Likely set to stun, the both of us are apparently worth quite a lot of money to them. I'll charge in blasting, draw their fire, while you slip in behind me.”

  “No need.” Came the reply, followed immediately by a warping of light around her body as several of the amulets around her waist began to glow. Mach blinked at that in surprise.

  “You have a personal forcefield?”

  “You don't?” Came Vari's confused response, followed by her eyes scouring over him appraisingly. Was she looking for the faint shimmer of the shield he did not, in fact, have? “You are a bold one, aren't you?”

  Mach blushed at that, not entirely sure how to answer, and not entirely sure if that was a compliment to begin with. He coughed softly, raising the pistol to position in front of his face. “Are you ready?” He inquired, trying not to notice that her lines were even brighter than before, much like his face.

  Razor sharp teeth showed in a wide, predatory smile. “Yes.”

  “Here we go!”

  The door slid open easily as Mach reflexively took cover at the far edge of it; Vari, however, remained stationary, but not at all motionless, dead center. The instant the gap was wide enough to fit her narrow frame she exploded forwards, her lines flashing from light lavender to brilliant emerald, and through like Cory chasing a thrown strip of crispy bacon, and with a gasp Mach sprung forwards to chase after her. The pistol dropped down as he pushed through, sliding to the right side of the corridor to clear the charging woman, and the first squeeze downed a pirate that was desperately spraying stun bolts towards her. Every single other Vozgarett was also wildly spraying fire with Vari as their sole target, but with sudden and shocking speed she slipped, ducked, and spun through a hail of bolts Mach could barely see. He didn't have time to admire her just yet, however, so he pegged his second Vozgarett straight in the face, then shifted his aim to the left side and dropped two in the furthest panicking pirate. Before he could take out a fourth the woman reached them, and then the real show began.

  The idly movements before had seemed like a dance, but she truly was dancing now; Both her arms moved in perfect synchronization to use the batons to their fullest, one attack flowing into the next on multiple targets at once. A casual right-handed flick knocked a pistol out of a long fingered hand then viciously backswung to smash into a pirate's head so hard it knocked him clean off his feet, then smoothly leading into a lunge that slammed the left stunbaton dead center in another's chest. He locked solid with a buzzing scream then dropped into a puddle, yet before he had even begun to slump Vari spun into her next target. Mach knew he should be shooting, but he was captivated by the performance set to a song only the Fon could hear. The expanse of bare, muscled bronze back that writhed and twisted with every perfectly executed movement was entrancing, and the way it all led down to her waist... Mach's mouth dropped open as he observed the hip movements that came with every strike; Vari rolled, popped, gyrated, and did other indescribable things that caught his eye, every single motion both taking her out of the path of a point blank shot while also transferring her body weight into the following strike. That the sarong exposed an entire leg up to her belt wasn't helping his concentration at all. She spun in a full circle as she dropped into a sweep that flipped her fifth opponent into the air despite his three legs then caught him in the face with a spinning backhand, and exposed a lot more than just a leg. She was... pert, to put it mildly. The sickening, crackling thud of both batons discharging into a torso with brutal scissoring strike went wholly unnoticed.

  “Damn.” Did he say that out loud? Whatever. Underwear was, apparently, a part of Fonic culture, but just barely. Three brutal, sparking lashes dropped the final Vozgarett on the floor to join the others, then Vari raised her arms slowly above her head. Her hip kicked out through the slit in her sarong, and she did a very slow, luxurious stretch. With a few careful placements of her sandaled feet she turned to face Mach, diamond pupils searching his face while her lines shifted from emerald to lavender shot through with pulses of blue and silver. Was she worried about something?

  “You're incredible.” There was nothing but awe, respect, and the truth in his voice. Her spinel eyes widened, and the pulses of blue and silver became cherry blossom pink in rivers of burning lavender. Another little dance came, almost prancing, that made an unstoppable killing machine of a woman into an excited little girl. It made Mach's chest hurt, so he focused on breathing and steadying himself for a moment. Then he picked his way through the carnage, noting that every single pirate was still alive and breathing, albeit just barely in some cases. As he passed her Vari hooked her arm through his, and he could not help but slow his pace just enough so that she could easily walk beside him despite the height difference. Mach was equally glad that he couldn't really feel her through the armored vac suit, and disappointed. Together they strolled towards the final barrier, the entrance to the bridge.

  “How did they even manage to capture you, Vari?”

  He did feel her shrug, more by the slight lifting of his arm than anything else. The music of her voice was gentle, though it did carry a few notes of a complex mixture of amusement and annoyance.

  “I was bored and curious to see what they intended; These creatures had the nerve to plot to sell me into servitude as the royal administrator of a single colony world, as if I were not in line to inherit an empire of dozens of systems. They even proudly extolled that I was to be awarded a generous stipend to establish my own harem, as if I had need of any such thing.” She pulled him to a stop, fixing her eyes on his, while blue flashes sparked in the burning shade of purple. “What did they intend for you, Mach?”

  He coughed a few laughs then scratched his head with the joint of his thumb, pistol still in hand.

  “They were going to sell me into some lonely queen's harem.”

  The blue was replaced with flashes of emerald, pink, and teal. Vari's face blank for a moment then briefly twisted into a pouty little frown. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, the expression and dissonant colors vanished. Their stroll resumed in an odd but comfortable silence, and when they reached the ingress she slowly withdrew her grasp of his arm.

  “Let's finish this.” He stated, albeit with some reluctance. Today had been, overall, a very good day. Inside the seven dots were largely stationary, six at what were likely control stations, and the seventh pacing around the room in an agitated seeming manner. Probably not an ambush, Mach figured, so he triggered the door and stepped through.

  The pacing Vozgarret, bedecked in medals and finery, stomped to a halt and fixed both its pupils on him, its proboscis flicking around angrily. It buzzed in a fury, and as it spoke his neuralink translated it into a veritable tirade.

  “You're ruining my profits, you wretch! Medical bills, repairs, therapy! My bottom line is utterly on shambles, all because of you! There's gaping holes through thirty bulkheads, semi critical machinery destroyed beyond any fixing! Do you have any idea how rare parts for this class of ship are?! Don't answer, that was rhetorical! Because they're incredibly rare, so rare it's infinitely cheaper to just patch this hulk up with scavenged pieces of whatever! And then there's the structural integrity! Ravaged! Ruined! SOSHA would have me killed if they saw the state of my vessel!”

  “...That's what you care about? Profits?” Mach took a step forwards, his foot landing with a heaviness that made Vari pause instead of launching into an assault. “What about your men? We weren't gentle on them.”

  “What about them? You could kill as many as you want and I'll just re-employ more. They belong to me and their lives are worth less than Spesos, so I'll spend them as I please.”

  “So you did enslave them.”

  “Of course I did, it was easy!”

  Mach gritted his teeth, a faint rushing building in his ears. “You are garbage.” Ineloquent, but that absolute truth was all he could manage to force out. From how the pirate captain reacted, jerking back as if it had been physically slapped, that simple statement had triggered some primal response in the tripedal alien. A furious, screeching buzz issued from it.

  A single hand raised then dropped to point straight at Mach.

  “Blast him! I don't even care about the profits anymore, I want this bastard dead!” None of the other Vozgarrets on the bridge responded, instead drooping their heads to pretend to focus even harder on their work. This raised the pirate captain's screed into a screeching, screaming fit.

  “I said blast him! Do as I say this instant, you miserable bastards, and I'll only dock your pay fifty percent to cover the loss!”

  No response came, the bridge crew suddenly utterly motionless. Then, with slow deliberation, they turned to look at Mach; Twelve pupils in six eyes fixed on the human, a silent pleading in every single one of them.

  “YOU'RE ALL WORTHLESS! DO AS I SAY THIS INSTANT!” Mach felt his eye twitch, a dozen encounters with the counter witch back on Precipero replaying in his mind, and just as many complaints filed about her conduct to absolutely no response aside from sudden deductions on his paystub because she had direct control over both. The sad, subtle apologies of the few pirate crew he had interacted with joined his own recall, igniting on his rage like ancient gasoline on a bonfire. The pirate captain began to reach for their own pistol even as Mach threw his aside, his stride launching him into a wild sprint. His vision had grown faintly dark, a grinding roar was all he could hear aside from the now incomprehensible babble coming from the Vozgarret as it flicked its blaster onto kill. His gloved hand clenched into a fist.

  Mach dropped his right foot hard and deep, putting every single ounce of his body weight into the massive overhand straight. Armored knuckles slammed into the pirate's bony faceplate with apocalyptic impact; Well over a thousand pounds-force transferred straight into its skull, folding it over backwards at the waist. Three feet kicked up into the air as the back of the Vozgarett's skull slammed into the decking in their place, and the entire creature became like a ragdoll that fell into a jumbled, boneless heap.

  “fffffffffFFFFFFFFUCK YOU!” was all Mach managed to say, or more accurately, bellow, to what was quite possibly now an ex-creature. Heavy panting came as the man stood over his defeated opponent, both fists still clenched hard enough to ache, though with every breath his vision cleared and the roaring in his ears lessened. The bridge crew looked at him in stunned silence, then, one by one, they began to cheer in a strange, buzzing alien way. Suddenly Mach felt very tired, and more than a little ashamed, so he turned away from the cheering crew and the sole pirate he utterly did not care about the fate of. Vari... was watching him with her hands over her mouth and eyes so wide they were almost popping out of her head, though the lavender was almost white now, and shot through with little sparks of rolling gold. He'd have to ask Dryn what that meant, but later. Instead he gave a silent command to his engineer.

  “Patch me into the Coriander's comms.”

  “Done.” The Xarlozch replied with unusual terseness, which Mach chose to disregard for the moment. Instead he spoke both aloud and via his neuralink, his message automatically translated into understandable speech for both.

  “This is Mach Kerrison speaking; This vessel is now under my temporary command. All Vozgarett still conscious, know you are no longer obligated to participate in any form of piracy or slavery. Cooperate, tend to those wounded in the struggle, and restrain those of you who willingly engaged in your crimes, and you may find the punishment lenient. All captives, know you are freed to return to your lives or, if you so choose, accept the new life your captors promised you with all the profit kept for your own. I'm no slaver, I will not tell you how to live.”

  One of the crew Vozgaretts approached Mach hesitantly, all its shuffling poise communicating apology and an eagerness. For what Mach did not know, so he paused his speech to look at him.

  “You may speak.” The human allowed, his voice still a little rough with adrenaline but mostly calmed.

  “I am the Chief Officer, sir. I am complicit in all our sins, but I have kept detailed records of every single person we have abducted, where and when we sold them and to whom, and for how much. I also have access to all accounts.” Mach raised an eyebrow, then waved at the CO to continue. It seemed to get the point. “If I may; I would like to undo what we have done, restore all who have been wronged to the best of my ability. Our clients were vetted, at my insistence, so there should have been no abuse or loss of life, but the damage to their overall wellbeing is inescapable and undeniable.”

  “That would be a measure of atonement. I am not the one to allow it, however, that responsibility will fall on whichever authorities I deliver this ship to.”

  Vari touched Mach's upper arm, pulling his gaze to her. The gold sparks were less now, but they still flickered into being when their eyes met. She spoke softly, but with authority.

  “As Third Heir I hold significant influence within the T'zFon navy; If you would allow it, I can ensure what this thing promises happens. As well as ensuring all the pirates face justice for their crimes, however compulsory they were.”

  “That would be great, Vari. Thank you, truly.” Mach took in just how pleased she looked for a moment, more flashes of pink joining the gold, then spoke again. “May I ask something of you?”

  “What would you have of me?” Not even the faintest hesitation.

  “Can you assume command of this ship, and get it where you need it to be? I'll have my engineer respec their security so only you have control over the ship's systems, just in case the Vozzies get antsy. They likely won't, because that's just how they are, but I don't want to leave you alone. It'd be a little tiring to defeat the entire crew by yourself, after all.” Her face fell, the pink replaced with lightless grey. Suddenly he felt really guilty, his explanation tumbling out. “I have a job of my own to do, that I pledged to always faithfully complete. Whether pirates or black holes or galactic destruction, the mail must go through.”

  Spinel eyes searched deep in blue, then she let out a mournful tone and left a lingering touch on his arm. Somehow there was more gold than before.

  “I will do this for you, not gladly, but respectfully.” She hooked her arm through his again, this time resting her head on his bicep as well. “Your concern is welcome and appreciated deeply, but I will not be alone; I have my guards, after all. They will easily keep these creatures in line, even without my help.”

  “You have guards?”

  “It is unbefitting of a Heir to travel alone. You don't?”

  Mach laughed softly at the repeated question. “I do, and he is a great guard. Will you accompany me to my ship? I can introduce you to my crew. And...” Perhaps this was a little forwards, but to hell with it; Mach wasn't going to pass up this chance. “I would like to spend as much time with you as possible. What little we've had together so far has been wonderful.”

  “Gladly.”