Bryce

I quickly adjusted the contract with Suriel to provide him with twenty percent of my mana. It was a lot, especially considering that I hadn’t adjusted the amount that Leila was receiving. Which meant, with Thea’s pact taking thirty-five percent, I had less than a quarter of my maximum left.

But I wasn’t overly concerned. What I had left was far more than what I’d likely need, and I didn’t just send Leila with Sora so that she wouldn’t complain about the price of the ship after the repairs were completed.

Word of Sora killing Captain Leo was going to get out eventually, and when it did, our best chance of survival was going to be having as many powerful people on our side as possible.

“Whoa.” Suriel stumbled back a few steps as the contract fell into place. “Bryce, this is a lot more than I was expecting.”

“You might start to feel some side effects, but they’ll pass,” I explained as Suriel sat back down on the couch.”I can lower the mana if you’d like, but I’d feel a lot better if you were capable of defending yourself while walking around Paradise.”

“We’ll be fine. After all, we’re not going anywhere dangerous.” Sanya leaned over to pat Suriel on the shoulder. “You deal with whatever you’re dealing with, and I’m going to go get dressed, okay? I won’t be long.” The satyr bounded off through the halls before Suriel could respond, so instead he looked up towards me.

“I’ll be okay. This is just going to take some getting used to.”

“You can always just use some mana if it gets too bad. Maybe see if any of Sanya’s friends need healing before you head out? Trust me, it helps,” Thea prescribed, and once Suriel agreed, she turned back towards me. “Ready to go, babe?”

“Yeah, just one more thing. Aurora, Suriel, let’s plan on meeting back here tonight. If anybody is unaccounted for by midnight, then we’ll go looking for them together. Understood?”

“Sounds good. We’ll let Leila and Sora know,” Aurora agreed. “You two be careful, alright?”

“Just who do you think you’re talking to? We’re always careful.” Thea waved as the two of us left the room.

~~~~~

It didn’t take long for us to find the cantina once we got back into Penn’s territory, and once we did, we were immediately recognized by a certain half-elf.

“Virra, here!” Shan shouted as she beckoned us over to the table where she was sitting with her orc friend. The cantina was bustling with activity. The bar on the far side was standing room only, and the tables were packed with people either eating, drinking or playing cards. In a few cases, all three at once. The place reeked of grease and stale beer, and the sound of billiard balls colliding was accompanied by patrons cheering.

It all combined to create the sort of atmosphere that was unique to well loved dive bars and a few of the nicer federation prisons. Strangely enough, I had spent a lot more time in the latter than I had in the former.

“You’re here sooner than we expected,” Grun pointed out as we joined them at the table. “You find your friends alright?”

“Yep! Even made a new one. Where’s the human?” Thea asked as she looked around the bar.

“Bathroom,” Shan shrugged before leaning forward to sip from her mug. It looked like she was drinking some sort of sugary soft drink rather than beer. “You leavin’ now? That why you come back so quick?”

I shook my head and put on my best negotiating smile. “Actually, we were planning on staying through the end of the week, maybe even a bit longer. In the interest of saving a few credits, we were hoping to have you vouch for us, depending on what that would entail.”

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“You sure that you just want to save credits? You’re not in trouble already, are you?” Grun asked, before taking a drink from his own mug. His was definitely beer, and it was the strong, earthy type that orcs tended to prefer.

I chuckled. “No, we’re not in trouble with anyone yet, but it pays to be prepared. And like I said, if we’re staying for a week or more, then I’d prefer not to have to pay ten-thousand credits a cycle.”

“Well, if you’re looking for somebody to vouch for you, then you’ll probably want it to be Jax or Captain Penn. Jax likes you a bit already, but the captain’s name means more outside our territory, so it’ll go further.”

“What would be involved in trying to get a meeting with Captain Penn?” I asked Grun, but Jax was the one to answer as he sat down beside Thea. It looked like his nose was broken.

“Need someone with enough rep to introduce you, or a gift big enough that it won’t insult him. I usually recommend both.” He grinned at us. He seemed far happier than a man with a freshly broken nose ought to. “Where are your other devils at? Hopefully, nothing too terrible happened to them.”

“They’re in better shape than you,” Thea said with a laugh. “What in the hells happened?”

“Oh, right, let me fix that real quick.” Jax leaned back in his chair and set the broken nose with an audible crunching noise. “Fuck, that’s better. Nanites should handle the rest.”

“Still worth?” Shan asked with a smirk, and Jax responded with a big dumb grin.

“Every single time.”

“Okay, now I need to know what happened.” Thea lightly punched his shoulder, but Grun was the one to answer.

“He's dating an orc who has never been with a human before.”

“Rix is a bit rough, but I can handle him. Tell me what’s going on? You want to meet with Captain Penn? Why?”

“She wants to save credits,” Shan explained, and I gave a noncommittal shrug.

“We’re going to be here for longer than I expected, and I’d rather not have to pay ten-thousand a cycle to store my shuttle. Then there was another matter that I was hoping you could help me with.”

“We can talk about the credits in a second. First, what’s this other matter?” Jax asked, and I leaned forward to explain.

“I’m looking for a half-elven bounty hunter who goes by Anali. She picked up a member of my crew and I’m looking to intercept her before she can hand them over.”

“We know her.” Grun frowned before shaking his head. “But she’s been keeping her distance. It might take a while for us to track her down, especially if she’s in the middle of a job. Even then, she might not talk to us. We could tell you who her main fixer is, though. Maybe he could give you more information.”

“Why has she been keeping her distance?” I asked, but Shan interrupted before Grun could answer.

“Price first.”

“We can pay. How much?” Thea asked, and Jax chuckled.

“We already know that you have money. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of things on Paradise that can’t be bought with just credits.” He paused to think for a moment before continuing. “I’ll tell you what though, this particular bit of information isn’t too hard to come by, so I don’t mind giving it to you for free. Anali’s fixer is a human named Zen. He runs a bar in Captain Aoyama’s territory, sector eleven, if you’re taking transit.”

“So, this is a test, then?”

“If you’re looking to operate on Paradise without joining a crew, then everything is a test,” Jax responded to Thea’s question before shrugging and turning to me. “Alternatively, you can just build up your rep enough to get your own territory, then you can start testing newbies yourself.”

“How about we call that plan B? In the meantime, what can I do to get Captain Penn to vouch for me?”

“Well, Virra, first you’ll need to get a meeting with him. Then, you’ll have to do something that’s worth vouching for, and that’s a lot easier said than done.”

“And getting a meeting with him means having you vouch for me, right?” I asked, and Jax shrugged.

“That’s probably the easiest way, sure.”

“Okay, what can I do to get you to do that?”

Jax was obviously toying with me, and I was losing patience with him. I could tell Thea was, too. Which probably meant we needed to wrap this up soon, before he took things too far.

“Go talk to Zen, find Anali, and get your friend back. Do all that by the end of the week without pissing off Captain Aoyama, and I’ll vouch for you.” Jax laughed. “Hells, if you piss her off and survive, then I’ll vouch for you anyway.”

“In that case, what can you tell me about Captain Aoyama?” I asked, and Jax wagged his finger at me.

“No, no, no. I don’t think so, Virra. it’s not much of a test if we give you all the answers. Figure it out yourself. Oh, and don’t forget what I said in the hangar, if word of you making trouble gets back to us, then we’re taking your shuttle.”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms to glare at the human. “You’re a prick, Jax, you know that, right?”

Grun and Shan both chuckled at the insult, but Jax just shrugged it off. “Yeah, I’ve been told. Now, get out of here. I’ll cover the cost of your shuttle until you finish the job, but if you can’t do it for whatever reason, then I’m charging you for the entire week.”