To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Welcome Aboard Ch2

Welcome Aboard

She followed Karega until he led her down a side hallway to a well-used elevator, the station security who had followed them the whole way stopped at the hall and watched as they began to descend. Karega's smile and easy gait never changed.

"May I ask a few questions?" she asked.

"Only a few, your about to travel the stars. I was expecting more than a few"

Alwen smiled, this alien man had quickly put her at easy with the almost effortless air about him "I have four years, plenty of time to answer my other questions, but for now I would like to ask what that was about." She said with a jerk of the head to where the station security had been.

For the first time since they met his smile faded a bit "Not exactly subtle are they, though in their case I don't think subtle was the point" he said calmly.

Alwen quirked her head, he glanced her way and sighed. "An unfortunately earned reputation on my peoples part, reinforced by their own stereotypes of deathworlders. Terrans have recently in the last seventy-five years earned a bad reputation, what with the terrorism, crime, and the rough and tumble life of Terra. Combine that with the Unions preconceptions of deathworlders from a few early deathworlder empires that had made their union necessary, and you can understand why they would tail us whenever we wander into the fancy parts of the station. Though I wont deny that its unpleasant to be always tailed because of someone else's bad reputation. Back in the old days my ancestors faced similar problems on a precontact earth."

"Earth?"

"Old word for Terra, somewhere along the way to the space age we changed over to Terra. Apparently Terrans sounded better than Earthlings or Earthers. Not to mention that the way its spelled in our principle language E.T.s kept calling it EE-arth." He explained his smile returning with ease.

What he said made Alwen a little nervous, Terra had earned the nickname of Hellworld. Its galactic classification was fourteen the highest habitable rating, and its rough reputation was well earned. Her nerves must have shown as Karega chuckled. "No need to worry, your one of us. Even if we were all the worst criminals to crawl out Hell, you're one of us now. Terran pack bounding, human especially, is some of the strongest to evolve. No harm will come to you from us. Besides who hurts a doctor, that's just bad policy."

She giggled at his cavaliere and callous way of dismissing her fears. "Yes I did read something like that. Strong enough to tame other pack predators."

"We prefer continued partnership nowadays instead of saying tame, you'll understand that there is nothing tame about wolves once you meat Kavic. Any other questions?" he asked, interrupting her curiosity about who Kavic was.

"A few personal ones if you don't mind"

"Ask away" he boomed, resting a hand easily on a sword handle

"What's with the swords, and the robes too for that matter. Union law prohibits open or concealed carry of weapons, and what little I know of human fashion tells me those robes are either strange or very outdated?"

"That's a little complicated. Clothes first. I am wearing what's called a kimono, literally means clothes. It's the traditional clothing of an island region called Japan. My own ancestors are from Kenya, birthplace of humanity and a few others. Though in more recent history my family lived in a city called New York and now live on Mars. Kimonos are not from any of those places. But when humanity made first contact a Japanese women named Miyashita Akari met them in traditional Japanese clothing for some reason. As humanity began to travel the stars it was Japanese explorers wearing 'revived' traditional clothing. Since we were just stating to explore those people made humanities first impression towards the union. They expect us to wear kimonos, even a Martian-American-Kenyan man who has never been to Japan."