Chương 27: Chapter Twenty-Six - Easy Living

Living in space was easy. Keep air in, keep space out, put something between you and the biggest ball of radiation around. Nice and simple. Expensive, but easy to grasp. A kid could figure it out, and they did. Something like four percent of humanity now lived off-world. A small percentage overall, but in actuality, it was a massive number. Most of them lived on stations orbiting planets and moons across the solar system. You wanted a station? Pick a large, predictable rock, and get building.

People raised on stations would often give newcomers a quick crash coarse on how not to fuck everyone's day up. It was simple too: Don't open airlocks if you don't know what's on the other side. Listen to the station AI if it had one, because it was smarter than you. And if things got heated, fighting happened with fists, knives, and blunt objects. No guns or fancy Core powers, because the vacuum of space was a thin wall away, and it didn't care for excuses. Ivil was planning on breaking all of those rules.

But first, she needed to convince the crew and passengers of the Held Together to listen to her, which was proving harder than she'd initially assumed. For one thing, they didn't seem to know who she was. The assumption was that she was some Martian agent of one sort or another. They didn't have the level of respect she was now used to operating with.

When Ivil told a ship-full of Martians to push their ship into ramming speed and head straight for an enemy force that outnumbered and outgunned them a hundred to one, the response was always a firm 'Yes ma'am, who do you want us to ram first, ma'am?' not this pointless bickering.

"I don't like it, but surrendering is still an option," the captain was saying.

"Yeah, well, it's not an option if they're gonna take my boys," Donny replied with a rather crude grab for his crotch.

"We can hardly fight," Hawke said with a shake of his head.

"But I think, given the option, I'd rather go out in a blaze than just plain go out." Ivil glanced at the more important half of the assembly. Aurora was back from her rooms. She'd switched out of her rather nice dress into a rather nice outfit that was a lot more practical. An off-white jumpsuit, with a jade breastplate covered by a few small panels in a dull brassy colour. It was tight around the neck, with a ring for a helmet which she was lacking, and a small mask which was hooked by her belt.

She had a small deployable baton at the small of her back as well, and a breathing system in the middle of her back. It was the upsold version of the typical uniform worn by a pilot. The kind of thing meant to help with compression issues and designed to survive exposure to the vacuum, but unlike the average pilot's uniform, which was made enmasse to fit as many sizes as possible, this one was tailored. The way it clung to her rear was slightly distracting, actually.

Next to her, Twenty-Six was looking particularly nervous while clutching onto a large wrench. She seemed on the verge of trembling, like a puppy scared of thunder. Ivil cleared her throat. Then she coughed louder and clearer, shutting the discussions up.

"Where's the airlock they'll use to break in?" Ivil asked.

"At the rear," Missy said.

"By engineering." Missy had added a flak jacket over her outfit, and there was a small sidearm tucked under her arm. She wasn't exactly in her warpaints, but she seemed a lot more ready for trouble than almost anyone else.

"Good," Ivil said.

"Captain, I'm going to free your ship. When I contact you again, use the opportunity to run. Donny and Hawke will stay with you." She glanced at Sonic.

"Panderghast will stay on the ship to keep you safe." Sonic nodded.

"I can do as much," she replied.

"I'm starting to wonder who died and made you the boss," Missy said.

"No one died yet, which is why I'm the boss," Ivil said.

"In times like these the person most capable of keeping people alive should be given the authority they need. No?" Missy eyed her for a good long while, then shrugged.

"Well, you're doing something more than quitting." Ivil nodded. She'd never done that before and didn't think she was about to start now.

"Twenty-Six, Aurora, Missy, you're with me." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Why?" both Twenty-Six and Aurora asked at the same time. Twenty-Six looked at Aurora, blushed, then made a small gesture for her to go on.

"Why do you want me to come along?" Aurora asked.

"Because it'll be that much easier to keep you safe." Aurora frowned.

"Is that your mission here?"

"I don't have a mission," Ivil said.

"I really do just want to keep you safe, and it would be easier to do that if you're near. And Twenty-Six, you're too good of a mechanic to leave behind. I know we haven't spent much time together, but I hope you can trust me to keep you safe as well." Twenty-Six gulped, but she nodded all the same.

"Okay. You've been... nice. But these are pirates."

"Let me worry about them," Ivil said. The Held Together shivered as something struck it from the side. It wasn't so hard that anyone lost their footing, just some clamps grabbing onto the hull. The pirates were here, and they were starting to make their way onboard. Ivil adjusted her clothes, then started for the back. It took a moment, but soon she was being followed. Missy was behind her, then the other two lingered behind. It didn't take too long for her to find the airlock.

It was recessed into the side of the cargo bay, past a small engineering room with cramped access to the underside of an engine and some of the ship's life support systems. The passage to the airlock was just wide enough for two people to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder. A panel next to the door was flashing, warning that the other side of the airlock was having its air cycled already.

"Shit," Missy said. She pulled her gun out, which had Twenty-Six and Aurora pausing.

"You really intend to fight?" Missy asked.

"Yes," Ivil said.

"You're not armed."

"I'm always armed," Ivil replied. Missy eyed her, then nodded.

"Care to share?"

"You'll see presently," Ivil said.

"Twenty-Six, Aurora, please stay around the corner. Just in case. Missy, don't fire just yet."

"Gotcha," Missy said. She moved back and around a bulkhead, then she kicked up and towards the ceiling. So far, they'd all been moving through the gravity-less Held Together while orienting themselves 'floor-down.' That was just how most people thought. But Missy climbed to the ceiling and clung to it, only shoulders and head poking out. If someone shot at her, they'd need to be a crackshot or lucky to hit. The airlock finished cycling, then the panel next to it flashed a query.

It wanted to know if they wanted to open the door from their end. A simple precaution, and one Ivil didn't doubt the pirates could work around. She gestured to the panel. The door started to open with a hiss. Air rushed into the Held Together from the over-pressurized airlock. There were three women within. Ivil could feel that one of them had a core. Just one, and it seemed to be in use at the moment. She blinked. It was a weak ferrokinetic power. A spoon-bender, basically.

The door continued to open, and Ivil straightened, holding herself tall and proud in the entranceway. The three pirates were wearing spacesuits. Thin ones, with armoured plates over their shoulders and chest and legs, and with narrow helmets. Purely military gear, not repurposed equipment like what she expected to see.

"Get down!" one of them shouted as she raised a small, stubby gun at her. A shotgun, likely loaded with non-penetrative shells.

"No," Ivil said. She flicked her hand to the side and their guns were ripped away. The spoon-bender tried to use her power at that moment. It failed. Then the pirates were concerned with something else. Notably, the fact that she was pinching their necks and cutting off the blood going to their heads. All three scratched at their necks. It took a long ten seconds for them to stop fighting and for them to go unconscious. One of them had unhooked their magnetic boots from the ground and started to float upwards.

"It's safe," Ivil said. The women weren't dead, and they'd likely reawaken in a minute or so, but she was keeping an eye on all three. If they started to come back awake, she'd cut their circulation again.

"Twenty-Six, did you want a core?"