Dubious company

[Sarah McFarlen]

Sarah waved down the bartender on his way back to the bar and recounted the order.

“She’s paying.” She jerked her head towards Leslie. “Just so you know. Make sure you write that down or something.”

Once the bartender had made a hasty, near-supernatural, retreat into the red-and-black confines of The Revenant, Sarah turned her attention back towards the Admiral.

“Oh, that. Nothing too exciting. I made some friends in the Natio Octavarium, back before they went all creepy recluse on the rest of us. Harold Kane, right? Anyway. I did them a couple of favors, and they offered to loan me a room for a bit when I needed one. Used to belong to some old hand of theirs, back when they were still the Vagrant Raiders instead of playing at being respectable.” Sarah flashed a fox’s grin. “Apparently he didn’t handle the transition too well, someone got shot, and they ended up with an empty room. Worked out okay for me, though. As to the why?

That’s entirely the wrong question, Admiral.” Sarah smiled and raised her hands in an all-encompassing gesture. “This is the Barrier. The Land of Do-as-you-please. The land of why not?”

Leslie had raised an eyebrow in appreciation. ”You’ve certainly gotten around more than I expected from a ship rat. I can’t say I’ve even heard of the Vagrant Raiders, except they sound...Vagrant? And filthy?” She paused. ”Sarah’s right though. Barrier’s the land of -anything goes-. If you decide to decapitate someone for looking at you funny, they’ll only charge you a few bucks for clean-up.”

She raised a finger. ”Still, don’t decapitate anyone. That’d put a damper on our evening.”

“Unless they start it.” Sarah added.

”Yeeeeah...anyways. Been a while, Hitomi. How are things shaking out on your end?” Leslie smirked at a memory. ”Found Mori yet?”

“And, sorry if this is a little personal, but is that an actual sword? I saw the one in Leslie’s quarters. Meant to ask you about it earlier.” Sarah jerked her head behind her, towards the myriad pistols hanging off belts around the bar. “I mean, I’ve heard of bringing a knife to a gunfight, but… Can you actually use that thing?”

Leslie rolled her eyes. ”God, Sarah...you can’t just simply ask someone if their sword works. At least take them out to dinner first.”

“But then I’d be wasting time if it doesn’t.” Sarah pointed out. “We’re not all on Captain’s wages, skipper. Dinners are expensive.”

As she uttered those words, the harried bartender returned with their order, and Leslie practically snatched her drink. ”Speaking of expensive...dig in.” She took a sip and continued. ”I was about to buy Hitomi a sword as well, something more useful. But it wasn’t such a hot idea in hindsight.”

“Why not?” Sarah paused, a wedge halfway to her mouth. “Are you saying the Admiral couldn’t handle two swords?”

Leslie almost burst out laughing. ”It’s the kind of sword you were looking up on the neural net earlier, Sarah. Not the bladed type.”

“There’s no privacy on that ship, is there? It’s like living with the LSF.” Sarah grinned, a touch of crimson creeping into her cheeks. She glanced at the Admiral for support. “See what she does to me? This is why I’m such a nervous wreck.” Sarah plopped a booted foot across her lap, rested it on the arm of the chair, the complete opposite of nervous. “You know, I picked up some interesting stuff on the sensors on the way in. There’s some ancient authcodes floating around out there. Like, pre-colony sort of stuff, just zooming around. It’s neat. It’s like a window into the past.”

Leslie merely smiled politely at that.

“I can show you, if you want.” Sarah offered, reached for her datapad. “I’ve got the codes right here.”

”Doubt I’d be able to make much sense of those, Sarah,” Leslie said. ”Do tell if you find something interesting though.”

“Sure. I shot a request in for some time on the subspace network but, eh.” Sarah shrugged, scooped up another wedge with gusto. “Don’t know if they’ll give it to me. Still. Nice to be somewhere the food’s solid again. How do you guys deal with it on the dreadnoughts?” She turned to the Admiral. “At least we’re moving on the Galley. I think I’d go crazy spending that long in one place.”

---

"This is really sort of a personal project of mine."

- James Arland, on single-handedly engaging an enemy regiment.

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