Battlefields and Bloodlines

Chapter 8: Violence and Feelings

Chapter 8:

I made my way back to the common room of the living quarters and found Baker and Carter still sitting there, arguing over a theological interpretation of a certain passage in the book of Ragnarei medical history we had been given.

"Hey! I have news!" I said, interrupting.

"Hey, you. How was the bridge? Everything okay?" Molly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, it was fine. Thrak just wanted to know how things were going and if we had any complaints." I said, sitting down.

"Thrak? Are you on a first name basis with the Primus?" John asked, looking at me, surprised.

"I've been on a first name basis with him. For like, a while." I told him. "I try not to think about the weirdness of it too much."

"Fair." Carter replied.

"What's the news?" Molly asked, leaning forward.

"We're docking on a planet soon. We can go outside the ship. Apparently it's one of those wild places that's just outside humanity's outer colonies so there's a mix of humans and non-humans. We should absolutely go find a bar and see what's up." I said, feeling a little bit of excitement. Not that I was starting to go stir crazy, but I was starting to go a little stir crazy.

"I've never been to a bar." John admitted. "I'd like to see one."

"I've been to bars you two wouldn't dare step foot in. Some real greasy spoons." Molly said. "I vote we definitely find one."

The ship shuddered slightly. We all looked around a little.

"I hope that was an indication of us docking and not something bad." John said, a little nervously.

"I'm sure it was a sign of docking." I said, noticing that Ragnarei had started filing into living quarters, grabbing things, changing out of uniforms, and leaving again. "I see people are already starting to get off the ship. You all wanna go? Explore some?"

"Sure. Just let me go grab my knife. In case things get ugly." Molly said, getting up and hurrying off in the direction of her room.

"Knife? Are bars that bad?" John demanded, a wild look in his eyes.

"A little rowdy sometimes, but I've never been in a fight like Molly has, apparently." I said, eyeballing the direction she went.

"Have you looked in a mirror? You look like the exact person no one wants to mess with." John said, gesturing at me.

"Then that bodes well for your first trip to a bar. Just stick with me. And Molly and her knife. You should be fine." I told him.

Molly came back, we all grabbed stuff we might need and made our way down to the loading level to disembark.

Thrak was standing there, talking with Argyn. He was still wearing his full captain regalia, thick woven pants, sturdy black boots, black shirt with what I assumed was a bulletproof vest over top, and a long black coat that was embroidered with gold thread. Argyn was wearing similar clothes, but his black coat was embroidered with red. They both looked like the very important people they were.

"He makes a good looking picture." Molly said in a low voice as we made our way past them.

"Who? Thrak?" I asked.

"No, the other guy. Red coat. Damn." She muttered.

I gave her a look. "Really?"

"What?" She demanded.