Chapter Eighty-Four - Patterns

They returned to the Sappho. The ship was sitting, waiting for them, and even before they arrived, Ivil knew that Sonic Spectre was by the entrance way, reading from a datapad and Aurora was in her room, doing much the same but cuter.

Interestingly, Missy wasn't there, and it seemed like the corner she'd marked out for herself had been mostly cleaned out.

Interesting. Something to look into later, at least.

As they approached, they crossed through a large windowed corridor that gave them an unobstructed view of the docking station. The Held Together was there, a crew pulling back a gantry crane and some small repair drones from its engine housing. Next to it was the much smaller and sleeker form of the Sappho.

"That's your ride?" Pixie asked as she approached the glass and leaned forwards.

"Yup!" Twenty-Six said. "That's the Held Together over there, and that's the Sappho!"

"Nice names," Pixie said. "The uh... older ship is the Held Together, I take it? Looks like it's barely living up to its name."

"She's a toughie," Twenty-Six said without really contradicting the small pilot.

Pixie nodded. "Some old ships are like that. I love my Nightstalker, and I wouldn't trade it for much, but there are some real old fighter craft out there that still kick ass. You'd need to upgrade them a fair bit, and most are heavy and a little over-armoured, but they're still around because they're just that good. Old ain't always bad, is what I'm trying to say."

Twenty-Six's grin could have lit up the room. "I agree!"

"The other ship, that's... not a normal pattern, is it? Looks like something I've seen a few belt pirates use."

"We stole it," Ivil said. "From some pirates in the belt. It's ours now, by right of conquest."

Pepper blinked, no doubt trying to work out how pirating pirates looped back around to making the theft acceptable. Ivil didn't particularly care about the legality of it. It felt like a morally acceptable thing to do--stealing from thieves--and she rarely concerned herself over morals to begin with.

"That'll do it," Pixie said. "It's a nice little gunboat. What's she armed with?"

Twenty-Six perked up at the query and started listing off the Sappho's armaments. Pixie nodded along, then pointed out that they had some spots that could be turned into hardpoints with a bit of work, either disguised or not. Things that could turn the relatively small ship into a heavy-hitter for its size and weight class.

"You'll want to upscale that top gun. It's just not good. Pirates cheap out on the weirdest things sometimes, but I really think that in this case it's an issue of machining capabilities. They just can't make bigger, more reliable turreted weapons for whatever reason. They'll up-armour everything though, but that just makes them tougher to crack."

Ivil hummed. "We'll see about replacing the main gun, then."

"Yeah, and that space under the bridge? That's a lot of empty room with nothing in it. You could fit a small missile pod module there, no problem. Even if they're just small hunter-seekers, that'll give any fightercraft chasing you something to worry about," Pixie said.

"What about the rest of the hardpoints?" Twenty-Six asked.

"Not all bad, but your point-defence has very limited range. You're going to need at least one more on your dorsal area for full coverage. If I was attacking you, I'd try to come in quiet from your top. Sure, it's within range of your main gun, but you have no anti-missile in that direction. It's kind of a glaring flaw. The side-mounted laser turrets are whatever. Huge power draw for relatively little, but they're versatile and you probably have a large enough reactor and battery bank to make it work."

Ivil eyed the vessel. It was nice enough, she supposed. She'd started to think of it rather fondly, more so than just about any ship she'd ridden on previously, but that had less to do with the vessel itself and more with the people onboard. She had been just as pleased on the Held Together, and just as empty aboard the Imperial Star Dreadnought Purgatorial Oblivion.

They made their way down a level, then to the airlock bridge leading into the Sappho. The ship sat there, quiet and patient until they shuffled through the airlock. "Bit tight in here," Pixie said. "Still, nice to have walking room in your ship."

"It's cozy," Twenty-Six said as they waited for the last of the airlocks to cycle.

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Pixie tensed up as the bulkhead door opened and she discovered Sonic Spectre, in her full Tech Maid of Mars habit, waiting just beyond.

"Pendergast," Ivil said. "Could you please gather everyone in the briefing room? We have matters to discuss."

"Of course," she said promptly with an accompanying bow. "I'll notify the others immediately."

"Thank you," Ivil said. She could appreciate the efficiency. "Does anyone want anything before we begin? The kitchen space is just below, Pixie, and the bridge is up here."

"I guess I could use a drink," Pixie said with a shrug.

"Oh! I'll go get Aurora," Twenty-Six said. "And I'll ask Sana to make tea! She has a whole tea set, and I've been meaning to try some for a while now."

Ivil supposed that turning an important meeting into a tea party wasn't the worst thing that could happen. She watched Twenty-Six dart off, then gestured ahead, leading the ever-quiet Pepper and the curious Pixie towards the front of the vessel.

The bridge wasn't designed as a meeting space, but there were plenty of consoles with seating, and the half-moon arrangement of them and their swivel-chairs meant that the room could serve as that kind of space in a pinch.

Pixie checked out the pilot's seat, then plopped herself down into it. She was far too small for the seat, and Ivil had to restrain herself from mentioning booster seats to allow her to reach the yoke.

Sonic Spectre returned soon enough, carrying a tray with her tea-making apparati, and she was soon followed by Aurora and Twenty-Six.

There was a moment wasted as Aurora greeted Pepper and Pixie, asked about their days, and made some meaningless small-talk as she was wont to do. Ivil remained patient through it all. Aurora would do as she would, her being charming and friendly was part of her nature, and Ivil wasn't about to deny it.

Soon enough, however, the room filled with the bitter-sweet aroma of tea as Sonic loitered around her tray with the unfolding legs.

Ivil took the captain's seat, Pepper sat herself at the rear, out of the limelight, Aurora took over the communications console, Pixie the piloting station, and Twenty-Six sat on the floor, her legs splayed out in a most unlady-like fashion.

"May I begin, or would that interrupt the flow of your tea ceremony?" Ivil asked.

Sonic Spectre paused, and she was clearly weighing the merits of speaking truthfully versus inconveniencing Ivil in a small way. "The brewing is complete. All that remains is pouring everyone a cup to enjoy while the tea is still warm. Do you want sugar and milk?"

Ivil smiled. "Both, please."

Sonic bowed, and soon she was passing out tea cups and saucers to everyone, as well as manoeuvring a floating plate about, one covered in small biscuits and thin chocolates.

Ivil waited for a moment more before relaxing into the captain's seat. "Let's not make this anything too formal. I've received some news that I've shared with most of you already, but what we do about it is important, and I wish to discuss that."

"News?" Aurora asked as she held her cup in delicate fingers.

"Yes," Ivil said. "The Earth Alliance has hidden, in a manner of speaking, an attack force across this area of the system. They're consolidating now. Their heading is Uranus."

"The core cache!" Aurora gasped.

Sonic, the only other member not yet informed, didn't react so obviously, but her attention was felt.

"That's what I suspect as well," Ivil said. "The League of Free Moons might be keeping this somewhat under wraps, at least with the media, but I imagine there are plenty of ways information about the cache leaked to the Earth Alliance. Spies aren't my thing, but I can't imagine such news staying out of their grasp."

Aurora stood and started to pace. She only paused slightly to take a quick sip from her teacup. "This... could be a disaster. If the Earth Alliance captures the cache, that'll be casus belli for every moon in the system. But it'll also mean a significant increase in Earth's power."

"Not so significant," Ivil said. "The Alliance could wipe the League out all on their own with relative ease. The Free Moons are still a small faction, all things considered."

Aurora frowned, but didn't attempt to correct Ivil on the matter. Likely she was well aware. "Does the League know?"

"Perhaps. I only just found out," Ivil said. "In any case, I'm tempted to stop them, but I want to know your opinion on the politics of the matter before I go around knocking heads together."

***