"Snuck in?" he offered, chuckling. "C'mon, you can come in this way. I won't tell anyone."
"Really?" she asked, her own voice sounding weird.
"On one condition," he said, his hand on the door knob. "You'll have a drink with me when my shift's over."
She blinked at him, as if he were speaking a different language. "What?"
"Have a drink?" he repeated. "With me?"
Her cheeks flushed with heat, and she was thankful for the darkness. "Really? Why?"
"Why do you think?" He laughed. "I want to get to know the only woman pirate."
"Okay," she responded, dumbly.
"My name's VJ, by the way."
"Razia. I mean, I guess you knew that but..." She forced herself to shut up before she made an even bigger fool of herself.
"Nice to meet you Razia," he said, opening the door for her. "So meet me upstairs? About half an hour?"
"Sure..."
Heart pounding, she demurely walked past him into the kitchen, tossing one final look back before slipping into the bar. Almost immediately, the cloud of elation around her evaporated as the loud pounding of music and the smell of sweat and booze hit her in full force. Grumpily putting her hands over her ears, it took her a moment to acclimate. The room was crammed with men wearing halfway-decent shirts and pants watching women in skimpy shorts and tank tops. Razia didn't recognize any of the guys, so she figured they must be crew members of pirates.
That was when she caught a familiar face and couldn't duck in time.
"Hey!" Ganon came barreling over. Before she could tell him otherwise, he swept her up in a big bear hug, lifting her three feet off the floor.
"Get off!"
"What are you doing here!?" Ganon asked, his voice barely audible over the music.
"Nothing!" she yelled back, trying to get away.
"C'mon!" he said, grabbing her hand and yanking her forward, either not hearing or ignoring her protests.
To her annoyance, she found herself facing a table with Sage and his entire crew, who were sharing a pitcher of beer (aside from Sage, who didn't have anything in front of him).
"Hey!" Sage said, his eyes lighting up when he caught sight of her. The rest of his words were muffled by the sound of the club.
"What?" she said.
He tried again, but she gestured to her ear, shrugging and shaking her head. Sage pointed behind her. To her horror, Vel was leaving the bar, three sudsy pitchers of beer in his hand.
"What in Leveman's Vortex are you doing here?"
"What?" Vel said. "Can't hear you!"
She watched, her blood pressure rising, as he sat down in an obviously open spot, sliding the pitchers down the bar. Her eyes swept from Vel to land squarely on Sage, who rolled his eyes and got up to talk to her.
"Relax, he's fine," he said.
"Relax?" she spat, her face livid. "Relax? Why is he here?"
"Because he was wandering around the bar entrance like a lost puppy," Sage yelled in her ear so she could hear him. "So he's now on my crew."
"He is not—"
"As far as they know," Sage said, motioning to the rest of the room, who were decidedly not paying any attention to them. "Don't worry. It's fine."
She looked between Sage and Vel, who was wiping a thick mustache of beer foam off his lip.
"C'mon, have a beer," Sage said, yanking a seat from another table. She looked at it for a moment before sitting down and taking the beer Vel handed to her.
"Not a word to Mother," Razia said, leaning over the table to him.
"Right, I'll just go home and tell her that I went and had a beer at a pirate bar," Vel retorted, rolling his eyes.
"Oh he's fine," Sage said, slapping him on the back. "You were drinking much younger than he is."
She nearly choked on her beer.
"Say what now?" Vel smiled, looking between Sage and Razia's red face.
"You remember that time you broke into Tauron's liquor cabinet?" Sage said, clearly enjoying this stroll down memory lane. "And you drank his entire bottle of top shelf whiskey?"
Razia tried to look mad between coughs.
"I've never seen that much come out of such a small person," Sage said. "What were we, thirteen?"
"You were too chicken to have any," Razia said, the beer starting to loosen her mood slightly. She eyed his lack of drink and smirked. "Still are."
"So, Vel, let me introduce you to my crew," Sage said, abruptly changing the subject. "That down there is Ganon, he's my pilot. Keal is my mechanic and Sobal is my computer guy, Nalton, Paren, Jorwen—they're my body guys—keep all of those obnoxious bounty hunters off my back."
They waved one by one then continued their conversations, ignoring the three of them.
"Why don’t you have a crew?" Vel asked Razia.
"She doesn’t like people," Sage said.
Vel snorted into his beer.
"I just don’t like you, Teon."
"That hurts me." He leaned back into the seat. "After all, I let you sit at my table."
"Your table?" she asked skeptically.
"Yes, actually, you’re not a regular customer, but this table is reserved for me and my guests. So you’d better be nice to me."
"Right," she said doubtfully, looking around. Immediately, she caught sight of at least five top pirates sitting at different tables surrounded by their crews and being tended to by one (if not two) of the shorts-wearing waitresses.
She locked eyes with VJ, standing behind the bar. He smiled at her, and she looked away quickly, blushing beet red.
"What's with you?" Sage asked.
"It's hot in here," she lied, trying to look normal.
Sage raised his eyebrows, obviously not buying it.
She sighed and sulked down a little lower. "I have a date."
Sage laughed. "It must be loud in here. Because I thought you said that you had a date—"
"I do," she said, annoyed that he didn't believe her.
"What?" Sage said, he and Vel sharing the same disapprovingly shocked look.
"With who?" Vel demanded.
She stole a look over at the bar, and VJ winked at her.
"Him?" Sage said, frowning. "Why him?"
"He asked me," Razia replied, snootily.
"But he's a bartender," Vel said disapprovingly. "What do you know about him?"
"First of all, it's none of your business," she snapped, helping herself to another beer. "And second of all...it's none of your business!"
"Damn well is my business!" Vel spat.
She looked back at the bar. VJ had disappeared, and a rather attractive blonde woman was in his place. She was winking and flirting with the assortment of pirates assembled.
In fact, there seemed to be more women now, waitresses walking around in their skimpy shorts and tank tops handing drinks to pirates who probably didn't need any more. Razia started to feel self-conscious in her tank top and baggy pants as they breezed by her.
"I'm outta here," she said, standing up suddenly.
"Be careful," Vel said, grabbing her hand.
"Really?" Razia said, shaking it off and giving him a look. Keenly aware that both Vel and Sage were watching her, she made her way to the other end of the room. She found the staircase, butterflies growing in her stomach as she climbed. She hadn't been on a date in…ever—she was too busy bounty hunting or excavating planets to really focus on dating.
Up ahead, a skimpy short-wearing waitress was locked in an embrace with a man. As she passed them, she recognized the man as Relleck. However, he was too engulfed in his partner to even notice she was there.
For a brief moment, she considered taking him down then and there...but then a pair of blue eyes entered her mind.
Relleck got a pass tonight.
She came to the top of the staircase and pushed open the door to reveal an office of sorts. Dimly lit, plush chairs and couches littered the room with a single window on the front that looked over the rest of the club.
> "You made it." VJ stood behind a much smaller bar, pouring two drinks out of a martini shaker. "I'm glad."
"I thought you were off work," Razia said, shutting the door behind her. Once the door closed, the music quieted to a dull roar.
"I am. This one's on me," he said, walking over and handing her a drink.
"Cheers," she said, clinking her glass gently against his. She took one sip and nearly spat it out—it burned as it went down.
"Too strong?" he said, as they sat down on one of the plush couches. "I thought you were a steely-eyed pirate?"
"I am." Even one sip was enough to make her head a little fuzzy. "But not that steely."
He watched her intently, and the butterflies returned. "So, how'd you get into piracy?" he asked, propping his elbow on top of the couch to look at her.
"Tauron Ball," she said, leaning into the couch. "I was on his crew."
"Really?" he said, looking impressed and extending his arm down the couch. "So you must be pretty good, huh?"
She shrugged, and took another, smaller sip of her drink.
"I've thought about getting into piracy," he said, gently toying with a strand of her hair. It gave her chills. "I don't think I'm smart enough though."
"Mm?" His face was getting closer and closer to hers.
And his other hand was sliding down near her back pocket where she kept her C-cards.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked.
"I'm..." he said, looking at her oddly. "I'm just trying to have a good time."
"Right after you pulled my C-card, huh?" She yanked his hand away from her back pocket. "God in Leveman's Vortex," Razia said, slowly. "You were trying to...to get my aliases, weren't you?" The wheels continued to turn in her head and she grew more horrified. "You...all of those women down there...you're the one stealing their alias information, aren't you?" She smiled. "Santos Journot."
He froze, eyes wide and hands still on her hips.
Then, without warning, he shoved her roughly, and sprinted out the door in the back of the room.
She was on her feet in a second, but the door was locked. She struggled against the knob for a moment before turning around and looking for an alternative way out.
The window caught her eye.
Grabbing the nearest barstool, she hurled it through the window, shattering the glass. The thumping music echoed into the space above. Peering out the window to the ground below, she gulped.
There was only one way down.
Closing her eyes, she took three deep breaths—it was only ten feet—then she kicked off the ground, running for the open window.
She landed in a heap on the bar, smashing some drinks and getting the attention of everyone in the room. With the exception of one person, currently pushing his way through a thick crowd of drunk pirates.
He was nearing the door; she'd have to get there faster than him.
She jumped on the closest table and wobbled as it fell over under her weight. But she was able to use the momentum to land on the next table, then the next, and the next, ignoring the screams from the girls covered in fruity drinks. She made it to the door just as Journot slipped through it.
She turned on her heel and sprinted after him, bursting through the doors and missing the thick arms of the bouncers by just inches as they reached for her to stop her. Journot was running down the street as fast as his nice shoes could carry him. She bolted after him, years of running through forests paying off. She caught up to him in no time, knocking him over and grabbing both his wrists before he could wriggle away.
"C’mon, Razia," he pleaded as she slid handcuffs on him. "Just let me go, will ya? You found me out, I can’t get any more pirate information!"
"Sorry," Razia said, unapologetically, tossing her floating canvas to the ground and unceremoniously kicking him onto it.
"Unhand my son!"
Razia looked up to see an older, short gentleman with gray curls and dark wrinkled skin huffing and puffing toward her. As he came into the light, Razia did a double-take.
"Wait a second… you’re a runner!" she gasped. "You’re…Insurgent, aren’t you?"
The old man gaped at her. Suddenly, her bounty capture had become that much juicier and she cackled. "Let me get this straight, Insurgent has been bank-rolling his own bounty shakedown?" she said, with one foot on VJ’s stomach, proudly claiming her prize as he struggled underneath her.
The old man stammered, trying to think of a good retort.
"Oooh." Razia laughed. "Dissident is going to be pissed when he finds out what you’ve been doing!"
Insurgent cursed and spat on the ground. "You see, Junior? I’m done supporting your half-cooked cockamamie schemes! Now I’m going to have to hear it from the other runners!"
"Aw, c’mon, Pop! Get me outta here!"
"I’ll see you when you get out of jail tomorrow," he said, turning around and walking away.
"Ouch," Razia said, picking up the ropes to her floating canvas. "Well, to the bounty office with you. I am so looking forward to this headline."
After a few minutes of silence, VJ piped up again.
"So, Razia, this may be a bad time to ask, but when I get out tomorrow, do you want to go get a drink sometime? I promise I won't try to uncover your aliases—"
Razia gave him one look before kicking him unconscious.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"How dare you embarrass me!" Dissident seethed.
"Dissident, I—" Razia stammered, shocked. She'd barely gotten back to her ship after turning in Santos Journot before Dissident was calling her. But, instead of the warm praise that she'd expected after hunting and capturing one of the most elusive pirates in the universe, Dissident had opened fire the moment she'd accepted the call.
"You've made me the laughing stock of the webs!" he continued, his grizzled face flushed with anger and spit flying from his mouth. "First by making Sage Teon bail you out of a stupid mistake, now this? Capturing the son of one of the runners?"
"Dissident, he was unfairly targeting your pirates!" Razia sputtered, trying to break into his angry tirade to talk reason with him. "And Sage—"
"I don’t care if he captured me and handed my ass to Jukin Peate himself!" Dissident said. "Such a mistake taking you off probation—"
Razia’s heart caught in her throat. "You can’t—"
"You screw up one more time," Dissident threatened. "You do anything that makes me or this web look bad, and I will kick you out faster than you can say Santos Journot!"
And with that, he angrily ended the call, leaving his words ringing in her ear.
"Well that’s gratitude for you…" Vel offered lightly, from the doorway.
"Shut up, Vel," Razia murmured, standing up and brushing past him.
"Hey, come on…" Vel said, following her. "He was the second most wanted—"
"And you see the thanks I got."
"Why is that so important?" Vel asked, watching her face curiously. "Getting this guy's approval of you."
"Because it is."
"It's important to Razia."
"What's your point?"
"My point is that you've spent all this time trying to not be Lyssa Peate, and I think I finally understand why," Vel said gently. "I know it still hurts that they left you on that pirate ship.”
She was silent, regretting ever telling him that.
"So maybe instead of running from it, you should try to make peace with it," Vel said, wincing as if she was going to explode at him.
"Peace?" She laughed. "As in, make peace with them?"
"Look, why don’t you come home with me? It's Mother's birthday."
"That place is not home."
"Give it one more chance. Give them one more chance."
"They already made it painfully clear how they feel about me," Lyssa said, looking down.
"Well, how about this: if you come home with me," Vel tried. "I will spend the rest of my internship with Dorst."
"What?" Lyssa looked
up at him sharply. "Why would you do that?"
"Well, partially because I'd like to learn something during this internship," Vel said with a small laugh. "And…I think it would be good for you to come to terms with what happened. You’ve been carrying around a lot of hurt for a long time, and I think…I think facing it head on would be healthy."
Razia turned this over in her mind, opting to focus more on his offer than his pleasantries. "And you think that switching to Dorst is enough to get me to play nice with these idiots?"
"Well, yeah. Haven't you wanted to be rid of me for weeks?"
Razia looked forward, unsure of how she actually felt. After a few moments, she nodded. "Yeah, of course I want to be rid of you."
"So, what do you think? Weekend at Mother’s in exchange for your freedom?"
"Deal," Razia said, wondering why the thought of being without her intern was more depressing than the upcoming weekend.
***
Lyssa never thought she'd return to the Manor—let alone twice in a month. This time, however, she was decidedly Lyssa—her hair pulled back into a bun, thick glasses on her face. She didn't want to take any chances that she'd be…recognized again.
Dread took hold as her ship descended onto the planet. She could see the Manor, brilliant yellow paint and long gravel pathways, as they approached the docking station. Per the Serann tradition, the bloodline that had founded B-39837 all those years ago, all of the children of Sostas and Eleanora Peate still technically lived in the house—even after they'd married and started having children of their own, or graduated from the Academy. The elder sisters—having children in the double digits now—took over whole sections, and, in some cases, floors, for their own. The brothers still maintained their own quarters, although most of them only came home on the weekends or for special events.
So, of course, they would all be there for Mother's birthday.
The dread turned into all-out panic as she landed her ship in the fancy ship dock, her mind replaying what had occurred there just a short month ago. For a moment, she almost wished that they would recognize her as Razia again, giving her an excuse to escape quickly. As her ship's engines powered down, she resisted the urge to fire them back up and blast out of there as fast as her ship could carry her.
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