Thea

“How much longer are they going to make us wait?” I asked as I slouched further into the uncomfortable chair. Sora, Ithnaa and I were sitting in a small room just outside the council’s chambers on Paradise waiting for them to let us in. It was super boring.

“I have no idea, but hopefully not much longer,” Ithnaa answered from where she was sitting across from me. “Thanks for coming with us Thea, and I’m sorry it’s not as exciting as you hoped it would be.”

“It’s a meeting of the most dangerous pirates on the mortal plane,” I complained, again. “And yet, all they’re doing in there is talking! Somebody needs to teach them how to pirate.”

“Maybe you should teach them,” Softie remarked, and I sat up quickly.

“Maybe I will.”

“Thea." Ithnaa gave me a look, and I sank back into the seat. “You said it yourself that these people are dangerous, and your pact with Sora doesn’t provide you with nearly enough power to challenge them.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m not going to try to fight them, but come on, how many times in your life do you get a chance to beat up pirate royalty?” She stared back at me with a blank expression, and I rolled my eyes at her. “Okay, fine. How many times am I going to get the chance?”

“You know what? She’s right,” Softie told Ithnaa before turning back to look at me. “Thea, I will personally make sure you have the opportunity to fight a pirate king before we leave Paradise.”

“Thank you, Softie. I’m glad somebody is taking this seriously.” I pouted at Ithnaa, who gave Softie an exasperated look.

“I don’t understand how Bryce managed you two. You’re completely insufferable together.”

The room went quiet, and Softie gave me a concerned look, but I just waved them off. “I’m not going to break down every time she comes up in conversation. I’m fine. I promise.”

Softie didn’t seem convinced, and looked like they were about to say something, but was interrupted by the door opening.

Jax, Captain Penn’s human, and the guy who met us when we first landed on Paradise, poked his head in. “Alright, they’re ready for you.”

“We’ll talk about this later, okay?” Softie asked as they stood up and made to leave the room. I shrugged as I did the same.

“Sure, but I’m telling you I’m fine.”

They were holding open the door, but stepped in front of me when I tried to walk through. “I know you’re fine, but maybe we could fix your mascara before going out there?”

“My mascara?”

They batted away my wrist before I could wipe my eyes. “Careful, you’ll make it worse.”

“I didn’t realize that I had been crying.”

“That’s okay.” They pulled out a small damp cloth and started gently wiping at my eyes. “I have some you can borrow that won’t run, no matter how much you cry. Trust me, I know from experience. Here, burn this.”

They handed me the newly darkened cloth, and I incinerated it while they pulled out a new tube of mascara. “Thanks, Softie, and I know I haven’t exactly been pulling my weight since we got back. So, thanks for taking care of that, too.”

“This is the least that we owe you.” They chuckled to themself distractedly as they finished fixing my makeup. “Besides, I happen to like having you around.”

“Well, good. Because I like being around.”

“I’m glad.” They smiled at me as they closed the lid on the mascara. “Now, we should probably go join Ithnaa in the council’s chamber. She can be a little impatient with people she deems beneath her.”

“A council of pirate kings is beneath her?” I asked with a grin as I followed them out of the room.

“Oh? You didn’t know?” They teased without looking back at me. “Ithnaa is a djinn, which means everyone is beneath her.”

“Please tell me she hasn’t said that,” I laughed.

“On more than one occasion,” they explained as we came to a stop outside a finely carved wooden door. “But she’s usually joking, or at least that's what she says. Personally, I think she really believes it. Ready to go in?”

I smiled up at them. “Sure. I mean, if Ithnaa is going to offend a bunch of dangerous pirates, then we might as well be there to watch, right?”

“My thoughts exactly.” They pushed through the door, and as if on cue, we heard our favorite djinn shouting.

Ithnaa was standing in the middle of what looked like the bridge of a massive capital ship. The council was spread out around the room in fancy thrones, maybe an arms-length from each other. Then to top off everything, because the literal thrones weren’t dramatic enough, the entire back wall was just gone. The chamber opened up into the Aether and the center of Paradise.

Staring into the webwork of repurposed ships floating through the purple haze of the Aether was, well, distracting. I kind of just froze up after entering, but was quickly pulled out of it by more of Ithnaa’s shouting.

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“You’re intentionally missing the point. There’s no preventing the war, because it’s already begun. The Syndicate made the first move when they turned Captain Leon against Nora. Now, you can either retaliate together or be ground to dust apart.”

“To clarify, I’m in no way proposing that we ignore the slight,” a beautiful dark elven woman growled from on top of a silver throne with comfortable looking purple cushions. I had never met her, but based on Captain Aoyama’s description, I was pretty sure that she was Fiona. “I simply don’t believe that we can win in a direct conflict. Not against the entire Syndicate.”

“And when have you ever been in a direct conflict?” a monster of a man asked. This had to be Penn, but Aoyama had left out a few rather important details when describing him. The only reason I recognized him was because Jax was standing behind his throne, which looked like it was made of a single chunk of obsidian. The throne, not Jax. He still looked human. “Nora, Dimitri, and I will handle any large-scale conflicts.”

“Will I?” an ancient-looking goblin asked. At least, I’m pretty sure he was a goblin. He looked like a lump of green wrinkles that somebody had rolled in a pile of white hair. Regardless, this had to be Dimitri, and he had by far the most metal throne I had ever seen. It was literally just a pile of skulls in the approximate shape of a chair. “I don’t remember agreeing to this war of yours. Let alone committing my people to it.”

“But you will,” Aoyama argued. The vampire was reclining in an antique looking copper chair with red cushions. Definitely expensive, but way less weird than everyone else’s. “I’ve never once heard of you backing down from a fight, and when your crew gets word of what’s going on, then they’ll demand to go to war.”

“That’s only true if a war is actually going to take place,” a digitized rebuttal came from the only captain who wasn’t physically in the room. Apparently, Takishi never showed up to these things in person, but his hologram looked like a transparent blue man sitting in thin air. “We still haven’t voted on it, and I’m not yet convinced that war is necessary.”

I stealthily rushed up to Ithnaa and pulled on her sleeve. She leaned down so that I could whisper to her. “Takishi is lying about not being convinced, but I don’t know why he would.”

“Is there a problem, Thea?” Aoyama asked, and Ithnaa answered for me.

“Thea was once a celestial of Inim, and even after falling, she’s retained the ability to detect lies. Takishi was lying when he said he wasn’t convinced that war was necessary.”

“Is this true, Takishi?” Fiona, the dark elf, asked. “Are you already sold on this nonsense?”

“It seems as though I’ve been found out,” he admitted while his hologram stared at me. “That’s a very useful skill, and somewhat concerning to those of us who have a strenuous relationship with the truth. More than just myself, no doubt.” He turned away from me, and towards the center most, and by far the creepiest, of the seven captains in the room. “I would like to make a motion to have her removed before we continue discussions.”

Milohsh was unique, to say the least. Aoyama called them a ‘colonized consciousness.’ Apparently, that meant they were a sentient fungus that grew inside living people. They had like a million different bodies all across Paradise, but they were all the same person infesting and controlling different people. There was even a rumor that the people were awake and experienced everything that happened.

“All in favor of having the devil removed from the chambers?” Milohsh asked, their emotionless voice coming through the body of an emaciated elven woman sitting on a throne covered in plants and fungus. It looked like she had actually started to merge with it.

There was a chorus of nays with only Fiona and Takishi voting to have me removed. Milohsh looked towards me and nodded before speaking. “You may stay devil, but if you would humor a personal request, we ask that you report on all dishonesty equally. Either say nothing of it, or ensure that no lie goes unmentioned.”

“Um, sure, I can do that,” I agreed, and I meant it, too. Milohsh was terrifying, and I had absolutely no intention of upsetting them.

“Thank you. Now, please continue with the discussion.”

“Moving back to Fiona’s question,” Nora started. It looked like she was still using Leo’s old throne. Well, unless she enjoyed animal pelts and sitting in chairs that were clearly too large for her. I mean, maybe she did. I wasn’t one to judge. “Takishi, why lie about wanting to join in the war?”

“To be clear, I don’t want to join in a war against the Syndicate,” he truthfully explained. “Like most of you, many captains in my fleet work in Syndicate space, or regularly accept jobs from Syndicate lords. A war would mean massive interruptions to business.”

“And yet, you believe it’s necessary,” Ithnaa pointed out, and he nodded.

“That’s right, but I don’t think we need to be the ones fighting it.”

“What are you proposing?” Fiona asked.

“That we explore alternatives before rushing to a war with the largest crime organization in the Network.”

“There are no alternatives,” Ithnaa interrupted. “Mother is the one who has her eyes on Paradise, and she isn’t like the other lords. She’ll either declare that you belong to her, and use you how she sees fit, or decide that you’re more trouble than you’re worth and wipe you from existence.”

Softie stepped forward as they added their voice to the discussion. “Before you go getting any ideas, working for Mother when you’re not a part of her ‘family’ always ends in one of two ways. She either gets bored and kills you quickly, or if you’re unlucky enough to be interesting to her, then she’ll push you well beyond your limit only to ‘punish’ you when you inevitably fail. It’s all just a game to her.”

The room went quiet as everyone seemed to consider their words, but eventually Penn broke the silence. “I would like to move to a vote on whether or not we go to war with the Syndicate.”

“All in favor?” Milohsh asked, causing Penn, Nora, and Aoyama to immediately vote in favor. While Takishi, and Fiona voted against, and then after a few tense moments, Dimitri joined them.

“Milohsh, that leaves you as the determining vote,” Aoyama pointed out, and they nodded before speaking.

“Our sole responsibility is to the Paradise station itself. The visitors, and even residents, are symbiotic, but not strictly necessary,” they explained before pausing for way too freaking long. “With that in mind, and while respecting the sentiments of the devil, djinn, and kitsune, we do not believe that the station would be safe in the hands of a being such as Mother. We vote in favor of going to war.”

“It’s decided then,” Fiona grimly acknowledged. “If we’re actually going to do this, then we’ll need to formalize a command. I’d like to nominate Aoyama to lead the effort. She’s been on Paradise the longest, save for Milohsh, and her crew has the fewest direct connections with the Syndicate.”

“I accept,” Aoyama responded, like she had known all along that the nomination was coming.

“I nominate Penn,” Nora countered. “He and I have the largest fleets at our disposal, and mine is still recovering from the recent change in leadership. Besides, when was the last time Aoyama gave orders to somebody who could refuse them?”

The vampire glared daggers at the human, but the ancient goblin spoke before she could say anything. “I second the nomination for Penn. He fights like a warrior, and my people are a superstitious lot. I don’t believe they would take orders from a vampire.”

“I accept, of course,” Penn responded before turning towards the hologram of a man. “Takishi, that likely makes you the deciding vote. Either side with me, or have Milohsh make the choice.”

He nodded once before answering. “I’m afraid that I must abstain.”

“It’s decided then,” Aoyama let out a resigned breath before looking the mountain of a man in the eyes. “Captain Penn will lead our forces.”