“You’re not a maid,” Alice snarls.
“—and I can learn how to shoot a blaster! And maybe I can learn how to drive the ship! I can do anything, just give me a chance,” I say desperately.
Mathiras sighs heavily. “It’s not about contribution. No one’s upset about that. I just thought—”
“Maybe that’s where you should stop,” Alice retorts. “Just stop thinking. Come on, Helen. You can help me feed Sterre. She’s another useless member of our crew and I’m sure Mathiras wants to get rid of her, too, but it’s not his decision.”
“Kef me,” Mathiras mutters as Alice ushers me to my feet. I peek over at him and he’s got a hand over his eyes, as if we’ve annoyed him into a headache. “Just…kef me.”
CHAPTER 4
MATHIRAS
Am I the asshole?
I ponder this. I’m just trying to do what’s best for the crew, and that means everyone on the ship. But Alice does have a point—I do make Helen cry. A lot. I need to apologize to her, that much is for certain. I can’t stop thinking about the devastated look in her eyes when she thought she was going to be left behind. Like I’d stabbed her in the gut.
It’s still bothering me, hours later, as I sit on the bridge of the Little Sister and wait for the other comms to link in. After the meeting, I’ll have to pull her aside and talk to her. Make her realize I’m just trying to figure out what will make her happiest. She needs to realize that her happiness is actually extremely important to me, no matter how it might seem.
But all of that needs to wait. Right now, I have to focus on the mission we’re about to start. I cross my arms over my chest and pace up and down the bridge of the Sister, waiting as the others file in. Kaspar and Alice are the first to arrive, moving over to sit near the nav station, Kas’s usual spot on the bridge. She squeezes onto his seat next to him, and the enormous carinoux thumps down at Alice’s feet. I want to point out that animals shouldn’t be on the bridge, but at that moment, two comm-links chirp with incoming feeds, and I accept both. One is the bridge on Straik’s ship, and the other is Straik, Ruth, and her sister Ruthie. They nod at me, faces on the screens.
“We’re just waiting for a few more,” I say, and turn to look behind me when the door to the bridge opens again.
This time, it’s Helen, her gaze still slightly fragile and wounded. She quickly looks away from me and takes a seat in the back, and I feel, again, as if I’m a monster. All I wanted to do was ensure she could stay with her keffing sweetheart, because I want her to be happy. Never mind that the thought of her with another male makes me want to punch something.
Another comm chirps in, and I turn my attention to the latest. It’s the crew of the Jabberwock, and my sister’s face fills the screen. She waves enthusiastically at us and then backs away so we can see the rest of the crew on the bridge and takes a seat next to her mate. “Everyone here is ready to go, big brother.”
A moment later, Sophie and Jerrok comm in as well. They give us muted greetings and Sophie puts her cheek on Jerrok’s arm as they wait for me to speak.
“We’re just waiting on Adiron and Jade,” I say.
“Oh, I passed them in the hall,” Kaspar chimes in. “They were all over each other.”
A ripple of laughter rocks through the interconnected comms, and I do my best not to smack my forehead. “Of course they were,” I mutter. Typical Adiron to not pay attention to a meeting time. Before I can decide to send someone out after them, Adi and Jade rush in, both of them with their clothing mussed and looking flushed. My brother just grins, unrepentant, and moves to his regular seat, pulling Jade into his lap. Fine. “Everyone’s here now,” I continue. “Shall we begin?”
I glance around, looking at the screens, at the bridge, anywhere but Helen’s beautiful face. No distractions right now.
“As you all know, we became aware that the Buoyant Star was not housing the treasure it was claimed to have. Instead of finding goods or silks, we found many, many illegal humans and gladiator slaves, all encased in stasis pods, all waiting for sale. To make matters worse, we’ve since determined that many of these slaves are also clones. None of them have been marked with the traditional scarlet epidermis that marks a legal clone, and they have no identification chips. This means we’ve stumbled into some sort of slaving ring that’s likely taking the original slave and using their biological material to reproduce more clones cheaply. Clearly this is illegal, and clearly we’re not averse to illegal things, being that we’re corsairs. We know this is wrong and abhorrent, but it could also impact those that we love. They could be in danger in the future if word got out about what happened on the Star and who was there. So to protect ourselves as well as others, we need to take this slaving ring down. Everyone still with me?”