With her hands in her chaps, Maybell slouched along as Sara Jane gave her a tour of the airship.

"How did you get the creds to buy this?" Maybell asked.

Sara Jane whinnied as she laughed. She had grown huge since being implanted with more equine DNA, and purposely wore boots that clopped as she walked.

"I'm a spacer, Baby! We get all sorts of credit from the banker's union. It's you dirters who don't get no love."

"You bought this thing on credit?"

"I put down some real cred, too. But yeah."

"How are you gonna make the payments? I mean, the union will saw off your arm if you welch on them."

Sara Jane made Maybell stop walking by stepping in front of her. Just like her airship and many of her genes, everything Sara Jane had on was brand new. With an expensive alloy duster over the gauntlets and breeches of a gleaming white enviro-suit, she struck a commanding pose.

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Sara Jane [https://i.imgur.com/tOOSgwJ.jpg]

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Maybell responded to the physical nature of Sara Jane's confrontation by slouching even further. She examined the dust from Mu-Beta-Prime that covered her cowboy boots, while her former lover ranted.

"Bitch, you may not remember me well, what with all that bourbon you've been drinking. But you know I never welch on anything."

Maybell apologized to her boots before looking up at Sara Jane. "Yeah, I know. I just worry about you. That's all."

Sara Jane resumed their tour. "I worry about you, too, Baby," she said.

"Thanks."

After leading Maybell down a few more corridors, Sara Jane pursed her lips and nodded. "That's pretty much the whole of the ship, except for this part here."

Maybell craned her neck, looking down the last corridor. "Are those the quarters?"

"Yup! Four cabins, plus two suites."

"So… you gonna show'em to me?"

Sara Jane puffed up with pride. She put a huge gloved hand on Maybell's slender shoulder, gently turning her former bounty hunting partner until they faced each other.

"I'll show'em to you for one reason, and one reason only."

"Sara…" Maybell began.

"No, Maybell. Listen to me."

Maybell straightened her posture so she didn't have to look up so much to see Sara Jane's big horse face.

"You know how much I care about you, right?" Sara Jane began. "How much we care for one another? We're like two ends of a donkey, you and me, and we each take a turn at being the ass. But when we work together, things get done."

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Maybell pressed her lips together to keep from speaking.

"This gunner, he's just one jump away. He killed a good man. A man who didn't deserve to die."

"He killed a mule," Maybell corrected. "A man with stolen goods."

"Baby, you know better than to say things like that. How many times do you think your bourbon gets to you through a mule?"

Maybell tried to find something else to look at besides her best friend, but Sara Jane took up a lot of space these days. "You know I don't drink much," Maybell said in her defense.

Sara Jane smiled big. "I know, Bell. I know. But you get what I'm saying. We are way, way out in outer space here. Out on the frontiers. Nothing good gets this far out that hasn't been stepped on, or been hijacked."

As Sara Jane carried on, Maybell stared at the scuffmarks her dusty boots left on the airship's shiny deck-plate. "A whole mess of those grits are gonna make it to Mu-Beta-Prime, one way or another. Now, you help me bring in this gunner, and not only do you get a cut of the bounty, but you get some of those cigarettes as well."

As Maybell pondered her options, Sara Jane steered her with a gentle hand towards the helm. "Come on, Baby. Let's go up front and talk about old times, hey?"

Sara Jane lounged in the captain's chair as Maybell sat in one of the crewman's. "How many people are you sailing with?" Maybell asked.

Sara Jane threw a big leg over the arm of her chair. "Just one. Well, two, but the other one's a journeyman who stays below decks in the engine room."

Maybell looked around. "There are three chairs up here," she noticed.

"Yup," Sara Jane replied, swinging her leg and saying no more.

Maybell smiled knowingly. "So… this thing pretty much flies itself?"

"Pretty much. I got all the gizmos. And with the warranty, maintenance and repairs are free. In fact…"

Sara Jane grunted as she dropped her leg to the floor while pulling out a clear glass bottle from a nearby storage bin. She set it on her console, making sure the amber liquid inside was properly backlit.

"This is pretty much all I worry about these days," she said.

The clarity of the liquid caught Maybell's eye in an instant. "That's pure Kentucky bourbon, isn't it?"

"Nope." Sara Jane grinned as Maybell's face showed disbelief. "This is Woodford Reserve, Baby. The official bourbon of the Kentucky Derby."

Sara Jane produced two square on-the-rocks glasses, pouring a double-shot of bourbon into each. Before giving one to Maybell, however, she snorted hers down whole. Then, as Maybell licked her chops with anticipation over receiving the gift, Sara Jane poured another glass of bourbon for herself.

"Cheers, Bitch," Sara Jane said, leaning forward so they could clink their glasses.

Maybell almost dared not drink the bourbon. She held the glass close to her nose, letting the vapor waft into her face. There was no salty tinge of seaweed, no nasty stink of sedge. A tiny drop, just enough to cause pleasure, passed between her lips.

Sara Jane whinnied and shook her mane, watching Maybell's orgiastic show. "Down it, Baby! Come on! Let's go!" she said, before laughing and slamming hers.

"No way," Maybell said in a soft voice, detached from her surroundings for the moment. "This is going nowhere fast."

"I got a whole pony keg below decks." Sara Jane clunked the bottle on the console, causing the booze to slosh about. "This stuff here can go as fast as we want!"

Maybell downed her double shot in a single gulp, leaving a sip of it on her palate to make her eyeballs roll back with joy. She snarked at Sara Jane while holding out her glass for more, gasping and catching her breath.

"You know, Horse Ass, your face don't look human no more. There's no girl left in you."

"You got that right, Bitch!" Sara Jane replied, pouring her friend another double.

Maybell shook her glass, and Sara Jane poured a bit more.

"Why you gotta be all queer like that?" Maybell asked with honest sincerity. "I mean, why so much?"

"Ah, Baby. Come on. You know that it's reversible."

"Not really. Your nose and ears and such, they pretty much get stuck the way they are."

After another snort of bourbon, Sara Jane pointed at Maybell with the hand holding her glass. "You've been living dirt-side too long. That stuff's no longer true."

"Yeah. Don't treat me like I'm stupid."

Sara Jane shrugged. "So what? I like me the way I am."

Maybell held out her glass of bourbon for another clink with Sara Jane's. "I like you too, Love. So let's see those quarters, hey?"

Sara Jane stood up with a huge smile on her face. "So… you boarding me?"

"Nope," Maybell said, also standing, and slouching towards the door. "I just wanna see the quarters."

Sara Jane fisted her muzzle, working to control her frustration. "God, Bell. You're such a bitch, hey?"

"Yup," Maybell said as she walked away. "Let's go."