"I told you she was playing you," Iti'Lup said as she blew a raspberry through her short tuthum trunk as Ali collected her winnings from the ragtag group she was playing cards against.

Ali was just reaching for the last piece of semi-worthless junk on the table when a hand slapped down on top of hers. She looked up to glare at it's owner, the other human at the dirty crate they were using as a table. "That's mine," Jeff said, his voice low in a way she assumed was supposed to be menacing.

"Then you better win it back," she retorted innocently.

"Listen here, new girl -"

"What? Is this where you tell me you run this part of the scrapheap?" Ali asked, only resisting rolling her eyes so she could hold his gaze. She knew that there was a significant chance that he was too dumb or too stubborn to heed any warning she gave him, and if she'd read him right to assume such, she wanted to be aware of whatever move he was about to make.

"This is where you give me back my property or face the consequences."

"No, I won it fair and square," Ali said, keeping her voice calm and firm.

There was a moment of silence, broken by the crackling of the nearby fire, then a screech of metal scraping along the floor and Ali leapt back from the table as Jeff upended it to clear the way for him to charge at her. He quickly corrected course and swung a fist at her, she dodged and slammed one of her spanners into his outstretched forearm before he had a chance to think about another attack.

He spat a curse at her as he grunted in pain. "You want to try that again?" Ali asked sweetly.

"It's rude to toy with your food," Vuncu teased in a soft voice, his tentacles twitching around his head, both giveaways of jetran amusement.

"Sorry, do you want a turn?" She asked, replacing the wrench back onto her belt. Vuncu waved a flat hand horizontally in front of him to indicate no. Ali turned back to where Jeff was still clutching his arm. "So? What'll it be?"

Jeff spat at her feet. "Sleep tight."

Ali laughed at his retreating figure. "I'd be rather more concerned," Kun'Lup said to her.

"Oh, I know that was a warning," Ali assured him, an innocent smirk on her face. If there was one thing she wasn't short of in the scrapheaps of Gooli, it was spare parts to be able to construct warning alarms and traps from. Besides, she'd hung around this clearing long enough to know that no one had any love for that guy. They might not exactly be her allies given that this was the first time she'd really interacted with them beyond selling the better finds to the merchant shacks, but she was pretty certain if they had a chance of winning, they'd help her against any reprisals.

The small group turned back to the mess that lay behind them. "Is there any point in tidying up a junkyard?" Iti'Lup asked.

Ali chuckled whilst Mraawn used his sheer power to heft the crate back upright. Isharates were an impressive sight when they raised onto their hind legs, and their bodies were built for speed and power. She reached for some of the nearest items, a bucket one of them had been using for a seat and a smattering of the smaller pieces of tech they'd been using to bet with.

~-x-~

Ali threw her arms out to balance when the rubble of tech shifted beneath her feet, only just staying upright as the minor landslide stopped. She took a breath, she was getting better at traversing the mounds of scrap but it was still difficult at times. She ached everywhere.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

On the plus side, the subsidence meant new pieces were accessible, and after kicking a few items she'd already determined to be worthless, she settled down so that she could investigate what had just opened up. She was able to retrieve a few pieces to examine without too much trouble, tossing the worthless ones back into the general mess and adding the promising ones to her pack. After that she had to work to open up the hole even further. That had involved a rather precarious action using a portion of rusty pipe as a lever and herself as the counterweight.

When the debris finally settled again she clambered back to the edge of the large nook she'd opened up. She grinned when she saw her gambled had paid off, pushing her hair back out of her face and then deciding to retie her ponytail as a focus to ignore the voices in the back of her mind that would warn her against such antics. She didn't want to think about them right now, she had work to do.

Using her new pipe for both exploration and reinforcement of the hole as the situation depended, she was able to claim a significant number of good finds. Her pack was quickly full and she had to re-purpose some kind of casing as a makeshift tray for as much else as she could carry. That was the law on Gooli, any unguarded patch was free for anyone to loot. And as a solo worker Ali knew once she took her prizes for evaluation, that was - usually - it. She had become good at finding ways to maximise what she could carry.

Her long trek back to a merchant shack ended with a chittering of pincers as she dumped the container on the counter. "You've been busy," Firene said as he started sifting through the items to tally it up. "In fact, I can't remember the last time anyone brought me a haul this good."

Ali grinned as she finished adding the extra items from her pack. "So, it's mine?"

He looked up from scrutinising the pieces between them and held her gaze for a moment, before turning back to his task as if that were her told. Ali bit her lip to stop her cheeky retort, knowing a withering yertan stare when she received one. And she needed him to be in a good mood with her in case it helped her with prices.

After she had finally found a ship in one piece she'd sought out the merchant who'd claimed the area so she could barter for the scavenger rights. That had led her to this very shack and agreeing a price. Since then she had spent the last few weeks working hard towards it. "Yeah," he decided after a moment. He paused as she grinned. "Besides, after hearing what you did to Jeff, you might just break my legs if I back out on our deal."

"Hey, he swung first!" Though she knew he was only teasing her. "So, does this include dinner?"

"Nope, this makes us even on the ship."

Ali pulled a face before rummaging through her pack some more and fishing out a few items and laying them on the counter between them.

"You know, you're the only person who barters with the sachets," Firene observed as he took them to exchange for ration packs and a bottle of water.

"That's because I still remember what real alcohol tastes like," Ali retorted with a wry laugh.

"You're probably also the only person on this sorry rock who still thinks they can get off it."

~-x-~

Ali rested her hands on her legs as she took a breath after forcing the panel back into place. Even her old Hotpot hadn't been this mistreated before she'd got her hands on it. Then again, she hadn't acquired the Hotpot from one of Gooli's many junkyards, finding the cheapest ship she could that she had a chance in hell of making space-worthy.

She straightened up as she dusted her hands off, only to make matters worse as she just transferred grime between them. Her ponytail was falling out of place again, but she didn't want to push it back out of her face because warm water was a premium out here. Ali scoffed, clean water was a premium out here. Why make anything more filthy than it needed to be? She headed back to the cockpit and almost crossed her fingers as she started booting the systems up yet again. This must have been the dozenth time she was trying to get it started, and it had taken her a month of hard graft to get this far.

She took a measured breath as she tried not to let her frustration get the better of her, it would only result in her thumping her ship and causing more damage to fix.

It would have been too simple for her to have been able to win another ship.

The consoles in front of her flickered faintly, and she tracked the progress as the ship slowly came to beneath her feet. She silently promised to give the ship a name if it just please stabilised this time, only to burst out laughing as the machinery came fully to life around her.

She muttered a half dozen thank yous as she brushed off the dust from the main console to check the diagnostic readouts, knowing damn well that she would still have work to do, but she'd jumped the biggest hurdle.