It didn't take much alcohol in my system before I started feeling better about being surrounded by unfamiliar bar patrons outside of my ship. I wouldn't say that I was comfortable, but alcohol certainly took the edge off and helped me loosen up more to the crew.

Not too long after, I spotted Aisling walk in the door, and upon seeing us in good spirits, her own shoulders dropped and a smile grew on her face. I raised my glass toward her and exclaimed "Captain!" The others took note of her as well and raised their glasses in kind to join me. This gave her a little laugh as she approached the table.

"Seems they got you to lighten up, huh?" She said as she sat down on the opposite end of the table from Ray and started to spread some papers around the table, pushing food aside "We still got a few days before Meryll's ready to take off again, and I got something to keep us busy for that too, but for now, let's talk our next job."

I had to wonder if it was normal to discuss tactics around a table in a public place like this while half the crew was getting drunk, but I had no objections.

"Please tell me it's not salvage again, that's left a sour taste in my mouth." Joel whined.

"It's not, but we're not out of that business in the future." Aisling warned, eliciting an annoyed grunt from Joel "First we got a supply drop. Tribals down on Earth requesting aid. They had a blight this year, won't survive winter on their own, so we're dropping rations, gonna sneak some medicine in there too. Skulls insisted."

We were doing... humanitarian work? I hadn't expected that. "Skulls?" I had to ask.

"One of the bigger gangs." Aisling explained "Good people, even if they are profit-mongers. This tribe's good with their farms and their taxes, ain't gonna leave them high and dry cause they had one bad harvest."

She'd said they were profiteers, but they actually took care of their people when things went wrong. Things really were different on the inner worlds.

"Sounds good. And the bounty?" Joel asked.

Aisling rolled her eyes and shuffled some of the papers around, showing a photo of several men "Exclusive contract. Group of three, been causing trouble with those same locals. Skulls would let them handle it on their own, but they crossed the line and nicked the last aid shipment. Been trying to sell it back to the tribals for extortion prices."

"Dead or alive?" Joel asked.

"Skulls want 'em alive for public execution." She replied casually. A public execution for theft seemed a bit overboard to me, but no one else was saying anything "We come to blows, though, shoot to kill. They'll give us partial payment for proof of kill, and I ain't risking any of you on some small-time idiots thinking they're too good for the rules."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Any leads?" Mouse spoke up.

"Gonna have to talk to the locals, they move around a lot. Shouldn't be a hard job though." She leaned over and started gathering the papers up again. "Had to give the Skulls a bit of a discount since we gotta sit in port for a bit, but the pay will be more than enough to make up for the last month."

I had to wonder my own role in this. Sure I'd be hauling the goods in my cargo hold, but would I be much use chasing thieves on the ground? "So... do I get like... a gun or something then? Never shot anyone before."

"Oh you will." Joel chuckled darkly.

"You have nine guns." Aisling declared. I hadn't taken much stock of my weapons systems, but that sounded about right. But she knew what I really meant. "You won't be joining us on the ground, Meryll. At least not for that portion of the job. Even in a small skirmish, the advantage of having aerial support and an evacuation plan can't be overstated. You and Doc will stay on board Theseus."

I was a little bit relieved to hear that. I wasn't sure if I could keep my nerve together surrounded by gunfire, never mind be effective in a real fight. But Theseus versus small arms fire was a different story altogether. "What about Mouse?" I asked.

"Mouse is ground support. We need the numbers on this one." Aisling explained. The boy didn't seem phased by this news, and just nodded along. "Don't give me that look. Kid knows how to shoot."

I had to shrug at her, not really having a good argument to oppose it. He did seem like he was far more capable than I wanted to give him credit for. In fact, I noted, nobody else even seemed to treat him like a kid. He was just another member of the crew to everyone else. Maybe it was time I stopped looking at him like he was too precious to let him be in danger.

"Sounds like we've got a plan." Ray nodded "So what are we doing while we're in port then?"

"Dock work." Aisling declared, eliciting a groan from the crew collectively "Unless you got something better to do?"

"Captain, not to object, but I am... not strong." I mentioned as I watched her rummage through her bag "No one's going to hire the girl who's got the strength of a particularly frail puppy to haul goods."

As if to answer me, Aisling pulled a circuitry blade from her bag and placed it on the table "That's because you'll be busy training." She pushed it toward me "Simulator system. Your piloting needs work, so you're going to be learning the basics, and you won't need to be in the core module to use it. It'll teach you how to maneuver in space and atmosphere, take off, land, act as a support gunship, and dogfight. Now, it's designed to work for a standard ship core, so it's probably not gonna play nice with you, but you'll still learn a lot from it."

As I took the blade in hand, I wondered if this would be at all similar to actually being in the ship. I really hoped it would. Looking down at my hip, I saw the enclosure cover wasn't screwed into place anymore, instead accessible by a sliding panel, so I wouldn't need tools to replace it. I popped it open and slid the blade in next to my personal one, like I would with any other modular machine at my old job, securing it into place and taking a deep breath as I felt the data stream exploring its new hardware. "Alright, what else?" I asked, looking up to see that Aisling had taken a mug of beer for herself and was chugging it down rapidly.

She let out a refreshed sigh and declared "For now, we drink and feast!" To which the others raised their glasses and smiled again.

It would be a long night.