With the sound of a metal thud a solid metal box was dropped on top of a stack of others' identical to it, with perhaps not enough care or caution. Like a worked drone, the tall, lanky Rogue turned around and walked back out the way he came somewhat frustrated with the menial task he was forced to do. Behind him, yet another Rogue dropped the box he was carrying on top of the last one. A slow line of people behind him each carried another, identical metal box, leading out of the cargo bay, down the loading ramp and into the docking hangar and in a continuous chain. There was still quite a sizeable stack of the boxed commodities to be packed into the large Pirate Transport.
Surveying them, with her arms crossed and a clipboard in one hand was Ashes. It was her ship, after all, the Diamonds and Rust, and it was about to make a 'special delivery', bound for Dublin and to the base of the Liberty Rogues' closest allies, the Mollys. Ashes glanced across at Draya, whom she was standing next to.
Ashes glanced across at Draya, whom she was standing next to. Its great, isn't it? Having a horde of loyal minions to do the hard labour for us, eh?" She joked and chuckled.
"Uh-huh." Draya giggled back. "A little slow though Ythink? Maybe a little incentive might help."
She turned her gaze back to the Rogues loading up her ship and her cargo, they weren't a lively bunch, perhaps they did need some more motivation to work faster. Ashes tucked the clipboard under her arm and then brought her hands up to the sides of her mouth.
"Oi you lot, pick up the pace and I'll pick the hardest workers from the lot of ya to be on the crew, and ride with us!" Ashes yelled at them.
The Rogues stopped working for a second and looked towards Ashes and Draya. Ashes quickly wrapped a hand around the back of Drayas' waist and pulled her closer until their hips touched, and then rested the side of her head on Drayas' shoulder, and winked at the Rogues. They stood dumbfounded for a couple seconds as what Ashes said sunk in. Then all of a sudden, the Rogues broke out into a frenzy as they rushed and pushed passed each other, each man trying to better the last as they rapidly piled boxes into the Pirate Transports' cargo bay. The simple task turned into a disaster very quickly, as pushing turned to shoving, shoving turned to punching and punching turned to...
"Oi! No knives!" Ashes yelled, though her voice could barely be heard above the ruckus being made. "Damn it, I should have seen this coming." Ashes sighed.
The situation was getting out of hand now, she'd have to step in and do something about it.
"The Diamonds and Rust still needs to be gassed up. Think ya can handle it?" Ashes turned to, and asked her friend. Draya nodded in reply, and then Ashes pulled the clipboard out from under her arm and passed it over to Draya, who promptly set off for the fuelling station. Ashes took off in a jog towards the brawl before someone ended up getting knifed.
Jumping up and down, waving her arms, stamping her feet screaming at the top of her voice, nothing Ashes tried seemed to do anything to get their attention. It seemed now these Rogues had completely forgotten about her and were more focused on beating the snot out of each other. Ashes put her hands on her hips and pouted her lower lip out. With an angry gaze on her face, Ashes' eyes darted as she watched them brawl. It didn't look like anyone had gotten seriously hurt yet, but sooner or later someone would.
"Tch, bloody men." Ashes muttered to herself and clutched the bottom of her shirt, and lifted the base up to her chin.
The hangar simultaneously fell quiet, the Rogues stopped fighting and their heads turned towards her with their eyes opened wide. Now that she had their attention, Ashes dropped her shirt back down. As she began to speak, an overzealous Rogue took a step forward, with a hand outstretched to grab at her. Ashes intercepted his hand by grabbing his wrist with her index and ring finger, and pulling the Rogue down to his knees, and then pushing his arm back into a chicken-wing shape. The Rogue let out an excruciating wail of pain as the bones in his arm bent in an unnatural way. The rest of the squabble of Rogues seemed shocked, as Ashes had just brought a rather large Rogue, at least two heads taller than herself, to his knees in less than a second, without even changing her stance.
Ashes blew a puff of air up from her lips to her fringe to blow the loose strands of hair from her face. She still held the Rogues' wrist with her two fingers, but he had stopped wailing in pain now, so Ashes started her sentence again.
"Now, since I have your attention, I want the lot of you to form an orderly cue and finish the job without any more fuss. Clear?" Ashes asked with a firm tone.
There was a murmur of hesitant agreement from the squabble of Rogues. Fear was a powerful thing to have control over in this place. Ashes pulled the helpless Rogue in front of her from his knees and pushed him back into the crowd, no doubt he would get grief from his comrades about being beaten by a girl. Ashes turned away, and when the Rogues couldn't see her any more, she exhaled deeply. It was a terrifying incident that could have easily gone another way. Her heart still thumped heavily in her chest, but the worst thing she could have done was loose her cool in front of them. She took one last deep breath to calm herself, and then went to see how Draya was doing with the refuelling of the Diamonds and Rust
A pair of boots against steel skittered across the Alcatraz hangar flooring as a redhead strolled over to the fuelling station. She pursed her lips, inspecting the area with her hands on hands on her hips.
Alright, looks simple enough She murmured to herself, taking note of the devices. Okay, nozzle there pump is there mhmm oh! No thats not it
Draya stumbled backwards as she heaved a tube out of its holster, tripping backwards to her behind. She winced mildly, frowning at a sore tailbone as she resituated the hose on her lap. With little effort she pushed herself back to her feet, pivoting her head to find the input valve on the transport. She shook her bangs out of her eyes and trudged ahead, determined.
Heeere we go. The girl took the head of the tube between her hands and tugged it towards the valve.
No more than a meter from her destination her grasp suddenly was empty, the hose stopping short and dropping the floor. Draya groaned and whipped her gaze back to the station she had retrieved it from.
What the hell! She grumbled and stormed back to the pumps.
Need some help there, little lady? A male voice spoke up over the drone of the hangar; a mechanic, she decided.
No, no, no. Draya replied in irritation, stopping in front the pump and leaning over to inspect the problem.
After a moment, she nodded in decision, yanking the start of the hose out of its base with a final jerk. Another few meters of slack gave and she smirked in satisfaction, gliding cheerfully over to the valve again. A lift, aim, and thrust of the nozzle and everything was in place. Draya ran back to the pump and flipped the on switch, receiving the gentle white noise of flowing liquid in return. She meandered over to the side of the transport and leaned against the cool plating, a not so subtle look of victory across her face as the mechanic made his way over.
Aha, looks like youve got things in order, Miss? The mechanic extended an arm a few feet away from her head against the transport, giving her a quick smile.
Draya. She finished, responding with a smug smile of her own. Its a wonder they pay you guys to do this stuff; easy much? She gave him a look up and down, realizing that he was a bit handsomer then your average Rogue; kind of a gruff but nerdy but slick thing, she mused.
He laughed, sending her a playful look of scepticism. It aint all fun in games, Draya. Youve got pressures gauges to keep in check throughout the day, running piping and mounting storage units; not to mention refuelling the tanks themselves and everything else that that entails. He took a breath, giving her a knowing smirk. Then youve got to make sure the locking clips for valve access arent rusting over or loose. Those will give you proble-
Come again? The girl cut him off with a slightly worried tone. Locking what's?
Uh, locking clips. You know, snap the hose in, slip the built-on c-ring around the nozzle and give it a few spins. The pressure of that fuel output is some pretty serious stuff; get one of those tubes torn off their valve and someone might get a black eye, not to mention the lovely mess to clean up
Uh oh, Draya lamented inwardly, turning her head warily in a 180 towards the fuel input. On cue, a hiss of released pressure sliced through the air and a spurts of moisture fell against their faces. The mechanic groaned something illegible and bounded towards the pump; Draya stood in her place, dumbfounded and embarrassed. The hose whipped around like a bucking bronco, smashing into buckets and tool cabinets with admirable force as it ejected a raging plume of h-fuel. With a squeak and whine of the emergency crank valve, the unruly serpent shuddered to a halt.
A slosh of wetness splashed against the girls scalp, and she shut her eyes in humiliation. The mechanic threw her a tired and equally incredulous look, shaking his head and tweaking a few more settings on the pump.
Draya cracked an eye open, her lips forming a sheepish smile in response to his accusing stare. Hope weve got enough time for a shower break
While she had witnessed the mayhem, Ashes was lucky enough to have avoided being splashed on by the h-fuel that seemed to be flying all over the place. Ashes couldn't help but smirk at her friends clumsiness, and although no matter how hard she tried to hide it, it always made her break into a smile. She quickly wiped it from her face though as she approached Draya from behind.
"I can't leave you alone for one second, can I?" Ashes asked, although she attempted to keep a serious, firm tone, the sheepish look on Drayas' face made her voice sound anything but serious.
Ashes reached up to Drayas' face and wiped a splatter of h-fuel from her cheek, and then flicked her hand to clear it away. "Go get a change of clothes and wipe yerself down. But don't take too long, cause we launch in ten minutes." Ashes instructed Draya. Draya stood up straight with her hands by her sides and threw a quick salute.
"Aye cap'n!" She replied mockingly, before dashing off quickly so that Ashes had no chance to retaliate to her mockery.
Ashes chuckled to herself as Draya departed. She stooped to the floor and picked up the clipboard she had dropped. Flipping it over, she was relieved to find that luckily the screen hadn't cracked on impact with the solid hangar floor. She switched the screen on and inspected the details of the flight again. They were due to depart at 1600 hours, which was in ten minutes time, but at the current rate it didn't seem likely they would launch on time. That didn't matter, though, Ashes knew she would be able to make up for some time once they had launched. Plus, a shipment of basic goods wouldn't go missed for a few extra minutes even if they were late, it wasn't like they were carrying some super important cargo or anything. Getting back to her feet, Ashes switched the clipboard off again and tucked it into the back pocket of her overalls, which at this point were half unzipped and hung around her waist.
Following the hose with her eyes, Ashes sought to find the end of it, so she could resume refuelling the Diamonds and Rust. She found it to be in the hands of the mechanic, who had already picked it up and was approaching her.
"Thanks." Ashes muttered as she reached out and took the hose from the mechanic, and then dragged it over to the Transport.
The hose was rather old, and looked to be in need of replacement. The nose of it was rather old and rusted on the outside, but it still functioned at least. Ashes lifted the hose into the fuel tank, secured it and then opened it up to allow the fuel to begin to pump once more. It's not like the ships the old hose was used to fill were fancy enough to need a better hose, anyway. Ashes pressed her palm up against the hull panel and stroked it; the texture was more akin to that of brick, rather than metal. The mechanic had followed Ashes back to the ship, and now leaned against it in front of her. Ashes eyed him wearily; he seemed like the sleazy kind with his hair slicked back with grease and a thin face to match his lanky body.
"So you must be the brains of the pair." He attempted to compliment her.
"Draya ain't daft." Ashes replied in defense of her friend. This guy was certainly going about the wrong way of making an impression on her.
"I didn't mean that at all, Miss..." The mechanic leaned back and held up his other hand in an apologetic manner.
"Yotaka. Ashes." Ashes replied, obviously less than pleased with the mechanics' advances, but he took no heed to the tone of her voice and continued.
"Anyway, Ashes, I was jus' saying, you're both smart and beautiful.. one might say you're a perfect package." He said with a smile.
Ashes gave a short huff, and the sound of the hose clapping shut as the fuel tank filled to its' brim interrupted her. Ashes unclipped the hose and heaved it out of the tank. A small amount of h-fuel still left in the nose of the hose spurted out and added its' self to the many stains on the pants of Ashes' overalls. She dropped the hose into the hands of the mechanic, and then slammed the fuel compartment closed. The mechanic continued to look at Ashes expectantly.
"Have fun playing with your hose" Ashes smiled at him, before turning and walking away with a little sway in her hips, but trying to hide the large grin on her face. She was amused at how witty and clever she had been.
It was about time for Ashes to start the pre-flight system checks now, she walked passed the Rogue workers, who were still loading the cargo into the bay, and climbed up the metallic staircase to the upper levels. Ashes glanced down as she walked across the walkway in the upper part of the cargo bay. It never ceased to amaze her how much bigger a ship seemed from the inside. She continued on until she reached the bridge of the Diamonds and Rust, and collapsed gratefully into the pilots' seat. Ashes took a moment to rest and collect herself before swinging around to the command console and booting up the ships' main computer.
Draya sighed softly, walking down a dim metal hallway while wiping her hair vigorously with a damp cloth. 'Nooo...' She whined, taking another sniff at a fiery red lock. 'I still smell like a back alley whore.' Her bottom lip pooched out in a pout to no one but herself.
The girl was quickly learning; to her immense behest; that h-fuel was not the easiest aroma to purge from human hair. She was already going to make them late, but she couldn't admit defeat just yet.
She still had a trick up her sleeve.
'Curacao Rosehips and Lavender?' Draya read quietly to herself, whipping out some kind of canister and noticing the title. 'Here goes!'
Assuming what was probably a pose that looked completely ridiculous, she dropped into stance with her eyes closed and her index finger on the spray-top of the can. In dramatic fashion, she pressed her finger down, and a overpowering plume washed over her hair and... well, her. After a second or two she stopped the flow, freezing in place and taking a few short sniffs.
Her eyes watered up, her lungs burned, and she suddenly felt like taking a chemical induced nap, but the smell of gas was gone. 'Y-y-yes!' She sputtered out, hacking and wheezing amidst the violet tinted mist swirling all around.
Her attention shifted to a pair of strangers stopped in the hallway in front of her, their necks craned back in her direction. 'Perfect!' The young rogue dashed over to the two and stopped, still coughing helplessly.
The first was not blessed by the good lord with rugged good looks, shall we say, with a shabby pair of overalls on and a face that only a mother could love. He was short, squatty, and bald, and her eyes shot to the next one. The second man was considerably taller than the first, with clear pale skin, a fairly clean jumpsuit on, and a chintzy pair of glasses that made him look like a total nerd, she decided.
'You two!' She barked at the pair, pointing and catching her breath. 'How do I- uhm... How do I... smell?'
The question sounded much better in her head.
The first gentlemen leaned forward a little, his eyes closed and his nostrils flared. The dull, ugly frown softened into a particularly serene smile, his patchy thick eyebrows forming a gentle arch above his eye, and his eyepatch. Oh yeah, one eye.
'You smell pretty...' He grunted out simply, opening his eyes and staring at her with a blissful gaze.
'You know that's a scent bomb for spacecraft, right?' The second muttered in Draya's direction. 'As in, a ship goes down and the pilot sits in it rotting for a year? So when someone tows it out of the muck and shovels out the puddle of meat in the pilot's seat, they toss one of those in so working on it is bearable.' He caught a whiff of the girl and winced. 'We fished those out of the Cortez raid last week, didn't we?'
Draya frowned and replied with a 'hmph' expression, turning away from him. 'Oh shush! I smell pretty, I'll go with that.' She pushed between the two, giving the first man a friendly pinch on the cheek before skipping down the corridor.
The tall man sighed and shook his head, turning to his compatriot. 'That girl is impossible... What are we turning into? Really.'
The stocky fellow stood dumbfounded, a vacant smile still across his lips and a hand placed gingerly on his recently pinched cheek. 'Yeah...' He murmured back, still fixated on the girl making her way down the hall.
The second one slugged him and he snapped out of it. 'You too? Jesus...'
---
Draya finally made her way into the hangar area, taking note of the Diamonds and Rust hovering idly before her. The rear hatch was all sealed up, and the primary engines were humming pleasantly. Damn that thing is purty, she thought to herself.
Her eyes darted around the enclosure before stopping on her friend, and she took off in her direction. 'I'm comiiing!' She called out, her boots resounding hard against the flooring as she made her way over to Ashes.
Taking her time to arch her back and stretch her stiff muscles, Ashes finally slumped back into the padding of her captain's seat and relaxed for a few moments. All the pre-flight system checks were done, atmosphere was stable, life support online, gravity drive was functional on all essential decks, and mood lighting active. The engines were beginning their start-up sequence for the first time since being dry docked a few weeks back.
Ashes glanced at the time display in the corner of her neural net HUD. Where was Draya? She should have been back by this time. She sighed, flexed her toes before pulling her thick woolen socks back on and planting her feet into her boots, then forced herself back to her feet with a groan and uttered something incomprehensible to herself in Kusarian tongue as she headed for the metallic staircase that guided her in a spiral downwards into the vast cargo bay deep in the belly of the transport.
On her way out of the ship she crossed paths with a familiar faces Rogue, it was the man she had humiliated earlier by trapping him in a painful lock. It seemed like he had been waiting for her, she tensed herself incase of some form of retaliation.
"What do you want?" She asked sternly as the Rogue gazed at her intently while she approached him.
"Let me fly with you. I want to be part of your crew on this flight." He requested.
Ashes squinted her eyes suspiciously at him. "How do I know you ain't planning some sort of revenge?" She asked.
The Rogue grinned "If I were planning to hurt ya, I'dn't take the trouble of asking your permission." He responded.
That seemed reasonable enough.
"You're right. Luring me into a false sense of security would have been the smart thing to do." She mused to herself out loud. "Welcome aboard. Make yourself useful." She invited him, stepping to the side and allowing him entrance to the ship.
Ashes made her way down to the hangar floor as the ship was sealed up behind her. The ship was starting its final launch sequences now. Ashes stopped to glance around the hangar and see if she could see Draya. Knowing her friend, she was probably off flirting with some random bloke. As if on cue, Draya called out to her and came running over, waving her hand above her head.
Ashes placed her hands on her hips and wrinkled her nose as Draya approached. "You smell like a fancy hotel toilet." She remarked bluntly.
"How would you know what a fancy hotel toilet smells like?" Draya returned the jest, and the pair of them giggled to themselves.
"The ship's cargo bay is sealed up tight, but we can still get access to the bridge from here directly." Ashes said, starting up the vast side of the Diamonds and Rust.
She led Draya over to a cherry-picker like device and clambered up to the top of it, helping Draya up after herself. There wasn't much room for the two of them, but it'd do. The machine groaned as it started up and the hydraulic lift pushed the platform up. Ashes held onto Draya with one arm for support while holding the control lever firmly in the "up" position as the rickety machine ascended them higher, and the hangar floor became distant below them.
"This can't be safe." She thought as the platform reached its peak and extended out until it met with the airlock on the side of the transport's bridge.
The metal groaned as the pair gingerly walked across the platform, not trusting its strength for a second. Ashes finally wrenched open the airlock and the two leaped inside quickly, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Let's never do that again." Ashes decided.
After taking a moment to collect herself, Ashes entered the bridge and took her seat at the captains chair. "Is the ship ready?" She asked immediately.
"Engines are at one hundred percent capacity, ready for lift off." One of the flight-deck Rogues responded promptly.
"Tower, this is Rogue White-15, requesting clearance for Air Lock B." Ashes called through the comm systems to the Alcatraz flight control.
"Roger that White-15. B is clear, but mind the clearance and lose some damn weight." The comm unit replied with a crackle of static.
"Bite me, Flynn." Ashes said cheekily back through the comms as the giant air lock doors opened before the ship like a giant maw.
She glanced across at Draya and grinned. "Ready for an epic adventure?"
'Jenga doesn't ****ing work on a ****ing spaceship!' A feminine roar sounded from the transport's crew lounge.
Ashes chuckled quietly as she stepped into the room, one of many little wooden blocks skittering to a stop before her feet. 'Having fun everyone?' She questioned in a fairly authoritative tone.
The two scroungey rogues that Draya had somehow convinced into playing Jenga snapped to attention, throwing up salutes and respective 'aye cap'ns'. Draya's furious face turned to her friend and popped into a grin instantly. Ashes had to wonder about the wild redhead's mental state.
'Yay! Ashes is heeere!' The girl squealed, hopping up and running over to meet her. 'We were trying to play Jenga, but there were too many bumps and shakes. I lost.' She finished with a pout.
'Just like that time we played strip Jenga, huh?' Ashes nudged Draya with a smirk.
The rogues perked up at that comment.
'Oh yeah, we should do that! I'll set 'em back up.' Draya decided and dropped to the ground to collect the scattered blocks.
The Kusarian looked up in thought for a minute. 'Or better yet, I'll teach these two how it's done. You go take the wheel for a bit, we're getting close to our first jump.'
'Naked boys?' Draya looked up with a look on her face somewhere between shock and curiosity.
Ashes giggled. 'Mmhm, hurry back now.' She slapped the redhead lightly on the tush as she scampered off to the bridge.
The girl kicked up a block skillfully with her boot, landing it between her fingers. The two rogues cocked their eyebrows in response.
'You boys ready to raise the stakes?'
---
The dull hum of the cockpit or bridge was always something Draya enjoyed. Amidst the chaos and bloodshed of her life, it was soothing in a way. As long as you played your cards right, and bit back when it counted, no one could touch you in your little glass bubble. In a way it was just like the sims, like a giant video game, just with riskier odds. But Draya was good, she could play. So as long as she kept her aim sharp and her tongue sharper, the game continued.
But the eighteen-year-old wasn't shallow; she knew the ramifications of her actions. There were very little subjects in life that were black and white. Everything, everyone, had a dark side, even herself. That's why she tried her best to keep some sort of moral decency in place, she wasn't a monster. It made sense anyways. She hit the high rollers hard, and others she acted differently with. She wasn't in the Rogues to amass a huge pile of treasure to swim in while cackling maniacally, no.
'Well'¦ that does sound kind of fun, come to think of it'¦'
No. She had better reasons. The idea 'home' was a novel concept. Life had been tough on her, she knew how to fend for herself, but having a bed to sleep on at night and friends to care about was'¦ something she wanted too. The Rogues were rude and crass, and cruel on a lot of levels, but they weren't all bad. She had a ragtag family now, and when they weren't beating the snot out of each other, they had their moments.
Then there was Ashes.
Ashes Yotaka: pirate extraordinaire. Ashes was fun. Draya had never been an extremely outgoing girl. Living on your own and fending for yourself did force you to absorb a sly form of eloquence that most people didn't have, but that didn't mean she was gonna get all chatty with someone, laughing and having a grand ol' time. But that was then, nowadays she couldn't shut up. Her friend brought out a different side of her; much different. At first she just found herself a little obnoxious and giddy while hanging out with the girl, but lately it had translated into being pretty much all the time. Hell, she wore herself out sometimes.
In the end though, she didn't mind. Ashes was awesome. She never had gotten so close to someone since Jonas, and this time she wasn't letting it slip through her fingers. If she ever needed something, anything, Ashes would be at her back. They were cool like that, and it made Draya smile to herself as she sat with her knees pulled to her chest in the pilot's seat.
'Thanks Ashes'¦' The girl sighed as a swirly blob of space popped up on the HUD.
The large rusty transport slowed to a halt as she reached her final waypoint in the California system, and the ship's scanners ran a quick check on the jump hole before her, to ensure that it was still safe to use. "All checks returned normal, Jump Hole stability is at ninety percent." The navigations officer called from his panel.
"A little higher than average." Draya said to herself out loud. It was nice to sometimes have the time to run checks on Jump Holes before diving through them. The occasional horror story about Rogues who were turned inside out, or just completely disappeared all together would circulate around Alcatraz and Buffalo. It had never happened to them yet, fortunately.
The ship started her dock sequence, and, as if sensing the ship's approach, the jump hole began to gyrate more rapidly and open itself up to allow the entry, and then sucked the ship through the wormhole as it drew closer. The ship shook violently as she was ripped through the hole, and a loud curse in the Kusari tongue rang out from the back of the bridge.
As quickly as they entered the worm hole, they were shot out the other side again back into normal space. The ship decelerated rapidly and began to move by her own engines again. Draya grabbed the flight stick and brought the ship around as the navigations officer marked their next way point by Montezuma. Draya allowed the ship to return to auto pilot and leaned back. She blew a puff of air from her lips up to her fringe and then looked over her shoulder as Ashes returned, walking up behind the seat with her arms behind her back, clipping her bra back into place and then slipping her shirt back over her head.
"Did you win?" Draya asked enthusiastic as ever.
Ashes glanced to the side slightly as she put her arms through the sleeves. "Yeah..." She replied with a slight crimson tone in her cheeks. "No thanks to your driving."
"Oh stop complaining, I know you like it rough." Draya taunted her with a broad and cheeky grin.
Ashes pouted out her lower lip and glared at Draya, who giggled uncontrollably at her friend's disapproving facial expression, which in turn made Ashes start giggling as if it were infectious. It was hard to be serious around Draya.
"Move over." Ashes said as she squeezed her way onto the captain's seat, Draya had the choice of either moving over quickly or being sat on top of. There was barely enough room for both of them to sit, let alone sit comfortably, but they still managed to any way. "Still another thirty clicks to Montezuma." She said to herself out loud as she observed the main screen.
The redhead shivered, attached to Ashes' side as the two made their way across the cool metal docking bay. Much to the twos' annoyance, the brass on Montezuma had called the Diamonds and Rust in to dock. Something about a last minute briefing; whatever that was supposed to mean.
'W-why is it s-s-so much colder h-here?' Draya's teeth chattered helplessly while Ashes gripped her tighter.
'No idea'¦ But you really should have worn a jacket.' Ashes replied, looking up to find a tall, rather serious looking man standing with an extreme air of authority about twenty yards from them. 'Is that'¦?'
'Sylphy!' The girl burst from her side and dashed over the brute, somehow putting him a headlock and feeling her free hand over his head vigorously. 'You have hair! Oh this is great!'
Ashes cocked her eyebrow. Draya and the boss always did have a strange relationship.
'Get the hell off me!' Sylpheed groaned, rolling his eyes as the girl starting giving his short dark hair a noogie. 'Draya!'
She faltered and let go after a second, sighing and taking a step back. 'Fine'¦ Always so serious.' She retorted, making a face at the big-shot.
'I could put you back a Greyhound y'know. 'Rookie' Draya Kirillov.'
'Gosh! I get it, I get it.' She whined back, crossing her arms with a 'hmph'. 'What did you want anyways?'
'We're already behind schedule.' Ashes piped in, strolling up to the two. 'What's the holdup?'
The cold air of the Montezuma seemed to swirl eerily about the scene. Sylpheed's brow creased in thought, Ashes crossed her arms while throwing him a discerning look, Draya sat down and yawned.
'We know that the Bounty Hunters have their eye on this shipment, but that ain't news at this point.' The Rogue continued finally.
'We went to the briefing.' Ashes stated with a tone laced finely with irritation. 'Out with it, please.'
'You might have a mole.' He nodded. 'Can't be certain, but hunter activity suggests it, not to mention a patrol just stumbled headfirst into an ambush by the bastards right along your route not more 'an fifteen minutes ago. They're a step ahead of us. That ain't right.'
'So what do we do?...' Draya murmured from her icy seat.
'Nothing.' Ashes shrugged and ran a hand through her hair. 'That would tip 'em off; we don't want anyone getting shifty. If we've got a rat, the last thing we're gonna do is scare him away.'
'Exactly.' Sylpheed smirked with sly hatred. 'I've got faith in the two a' you. You pin that ****er down and bring him back to me. His ass's got a bullet with his name on it waiting for 'im.'
'And the cargo?' The Kusarian added.
He nodded quickly. 'Mollies are expectin' it. They'll get it; just watch your ass out there. The Diamond's and Rust ain't a pushover, but we ain't gettin' cocky here. I'm assigning two fighters to assist you for bomber support.'
'More friends!' Draya cheered, seemingly oblivious to the gravity of the situation.
Ashes chuckled quietly. 'You can count on us bossman.' She nodded to her friend seated on the floor and started off back to the PT.
The girl moved to get up to her feet, but plopped back down. 'Err'¦' She tried again to no avail; the ground was icier than she thought, the seat of her pants now frozen to the metal plating.
Sylpheed glanced her way, attempting to feign ignorance to her frosty plight, before starting off quickly, leaving her stranded.
Ashes quirked one eyebrow at her friend's predicament. Despite Draya's comical attempts to stand she managed to keep a straight face.
"You could maybe, I dunno... Take your pants off?" Ashes suggested, glancing at the numerous Rogues going about their daily businesses through the hangar all around them.
That would of course mean Draya walking pantless back to the Diamonds and Rust, and praying that she could find a spare pair on ship.
"Give me your overalls." Draya demanded quickly.
"I ain't wearing pants under these either. One of us is going to have to go home pantless; and it ain't gonna be me." Ashes shrugged.
"No way!" Draya refused profusely. She folded her arms stubbornly and refused to move, as if trying to hold herself to ransom; for pants.
It was an oddly shy response from Draya, marked by a slight crimson tone in her cheeks.
"Well, you can always stay here and miss out on the adventure." Ashes said, grinning slyly as she bent over to eye level with the seated Draya.
Draya frowned and pouted out her lip.
"I'm not taking them off." She announced firmly.
Later, on Montezuma.
Two Rogues hauling shipping boxes suddenly stumble across a strange sight. They both stoop to inspect a pair of pants frozen to the ground.
"A woman's jeans?" One asked as he tried to pick them off the floor.
The other Rogue sniffed and wrinkled his nose.
"Smells like toilet cleaner."
Back on the Diamonds and Rust.
The ship's engines rumbled through the ship, creating an ambient background noise that resonated through the ship as she accelerated back to cruising speed. Ashes and Draya were locked away inside the Captain's Quarters, searching through boxes and drawers.
"I can't believe you didn't bring any spare clothes." Ashes said to Draya.
"You don't exactly have a full wardrobe in here either." Draya retorted, pulling a short skirt out of a box and held it up in front of her.
It was pretty, but not very practical to wear on a spaceship. She held the garment out towards Ashes.
"When was the last time you ever wore a skirt?" She questioned Ashes cheekily.
"A situation... might come up." Ashes replied hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, like what?" Draya grinned as she leaned over Ashes' shoulder.
"You know what." Ashes grabbed the skirt from Draya's hands, intent on silencing her friend's jests.
She unzipped her overalls the rest of the way and stepped out of them and pulled the skirt up around her hips and buttoned it up. It was a very short skirt, not one Ashes would have ever considered wearing anywhere civil, let alone where anyone could see her. She promptly stepped back into her overalls and partially zipped it up to her waist; and then tied the sleeves around her waist.
Draya slouched against a wall of the captain's quarters with a bitter look on her face, Ashes seated in thought on the bed. The girl's bright crimson locks were veiled over her eyes, her violet pupils seemingly glowing beneath them in anger or frustration. The upper half of her body was covered in a loose grey t-shirt, one shoulder hanging low on the top of her bicep. Her bottom half'¦ wasn't so much covered, with only a pair of lacy blue panties. Not exactly a great dress code idea on a ship full of sweaty horny men.
The same could be said of the miniskirt Ashes now had on under her overalls.
"You could err'¦ tie sheets around your waist?" Ashes offered weakly.
Draya gave her an apathetic look.
"Or not."
The dull hum of the engines was wearing on her nerves. Draya wasn't a fussy individual by any means, and a fairly liberal one at that, but there was a history that made her the tough cookie that she was; experience that forced her to learn to take care of herself. She'd been cold and hungry and in lack of clothing before, so while the current situation was more silly than serious, it brought back a few unwanted memories.
She really needed some pants.
"Feel like playing strip Jenga again?" The redhead offered, favoring the idea of bumming some clothes off of a crewman.
Not very hygienic, but it would get the job done.
"Not really'¦" Ashes made a face. "Damn speed bumps'¦"
Draya sighed, standing up and flopping face down on the bed. "This trip is gonna suck. I don't wanna hide in here for the next two days! I'm starting to think the ho skirt is my only option'¦"
Ashes looked down to her lap. Ho skirt'¦?
"Wait, I have an idea!" The dark haired girl's eyes popped open. "It may be a little'¦ mean, but it'll get you some pants."
"Hmm?" She responded lazily, her face muffled and buried in the blankets.
"Well, you might have to put on the charm and be object to a little uhh'¦ How do I put it? Male attention?"
"This doesn't sound like one of your best ideas babe." Draya rolled over and cocked her eyebrows at her friend.
"Listen." Ashes reassured, closing her eyes and picturing the plan in her head. "I'll go find the scrawniest bloke on the ship; Michaels maybe? I will convince him that you're uh, interested in him." The girl ended the sentence with full on air quotations. "You just gotta lay down all sexy-like and get him out of his clothes. Then'¦" She trailed off and started digging through some stuff near the nightstand.
The redhead winced. "Not getting much better'¦"
Ashes shot her a frown. "Shush. Look." She brought her hand up, a pair of hot pink handcuffs dangling from her fingers.
Draya looked up at her suspiciously. "What do you have those for, huh?"
She blushed, looked at the pink handcuffs and then back at Draya and cocked one eyebrow. "Bad guys."
"I bet." The girl giggled, hopping up and snatching the cuffs. "So I just convince him to strip, then lock him down?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "We'll have to feed and water him every so often, I'm sure he won't mind."
Draya's mischievous smile stretched back across her lips. "Let's do it."
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