YOUNG VOLCANOES

𝙞𝙞𝙞

Trinity and Nysirra seemed to get along, which Kura appreciated. Having a team was a distant memory, part of a past life before nanites were put into her skull, forever branding her as a criminal. It was... nice to experience that familiarity once more.

Taizo clearly still didn't trust Nysirra, which she had kind of expected. It took several units before xe trusted her. To be fair, it took her almost as long to trust xem. Even still, for most of the time they knew each other, both held the other at arm's length, unwilling to let themselves trust again.

Leaning back in the pilot's chair, Kura glanced to the side where Taizo stood by the control panel, closely examining the Wanderer's autopilot course. It was still roughly an hour before they would finally exit the warp gate, but xe still insisted on monitoring the route. Noticing her gaze, xe turned, raising an eyebrow in a silent question.

"Are y' okay with this?" She asked, gesturing behind her. "Adding all these other people." Trinity and Nysirra had left the cockpit to explore the ship (Trinity had said something about finding the kitchen), leaving the two of them to monitor the ship's landing. "I didn't exactly consult you about that, and I know you're not a fan of new people—"

"It's fine, Kura," Taizo cut her off, rolling xyr eyes. Xe pushed a button on the control panel, bringing up the co-pilot's chair. "I'm grown; I can handle some people."

It was Kura's turn to roll her eyes as she turned in her chair to face xem. "Yeah, but that's not what I asked, Six. You're like a feral dune-cat. People aren't your thing." She leaned forward, forearms resting on her knees. "If ya think we don't need them, then I can call the course off, and we'll drop the others at a station somewhere. I—" she swallowed, cutting herself off. "It's your call."

Taizo sighed, running xyr fingers over xyr clothed arms, and she knew xe was feeling xyr scars through the thin material. "I might not trust them," xe began eventually. "But Trinity was right. This is bigger than I anticipated." Xe blinked and turned to face front as though signaling the end of the topic. "How are we supposed to find them on Oamia? It's a pretty big place."

Kura sighed, slumping in her seat. She knew when to stop digging. For now. "Got coordinates," she replied, rapping her knuckles against her temple. "If she's not there she said there'd be someone there we can get in contact with t' get her."

Humming, Taizo glanced at her out of the corner of xyr eye. "That's a lot just for a prison break, Sparks."

She shrugged. "Guess I'm just likable, then."

Taizo muttered something under xyr breath.

"What'd you say?"

Xe shook xyr head. "Nothing important."

Rolling her eyes, Kura leaned forward in her chair as the Wanderer shuddered, landing gear deploying.

—

The coordinates Kura had led the group to a dingy bar on a territory island. Though the island seemed relatively unpopulated, Taizo was pretty sure over half the population was at the bar.

Once inside, it was easy to find the owner; they were engaged with a S'ali'an in an intense argument. Kura sighed and strode up to the bar.

"'Scuse me," she began, only to jolt back when the owner and the patron turned to her, yelling at her in S'ali'an before returning to their argument.

Taizo tugged her back by the collar of her jumpsuit, xyr free hand reaching for the gun strapped to xyr hip.

"Kii'se'it,¹" Kura muttered, voice low. "We need 'im for information."

Rolling xyr eyes, the taller of the duo snorted, but xe let go of her collar, a surprisingly gentle hand smoothing it out on the way. "How are we supposed to do that when he won't fucking talk to us?"

Kura pursed her lips, but Nysirra answered instead, stepping in between the two. "Let me handle this," she said, smiling sweetly. Striding up to the bar, she forced herself into the argument, yelling over the two in a language that seemed vaguely familiar to Kura.

Taken aback, the owner spoke incredulously in Standard. "What in th' stars are you saying? Speak Standard, asshat!"

Nysirra tilted her head, and though Kura couldn't see her face, she could hear the scorn in her voice as she leaned in to speak again. And again, Kura found the language only vaguely familiar, but anyone could get the gist of what she said. Make me, fucker.

The owner bristled, leaning in to retort when another voice interjected.

"Quit picking fights with the patrons, Eetu!"

"Fuck off, Shin'kai!"

Trinity watched interestedly as a stocky, dark-haired woman strode over to the bar next to Nysirra, grabbing the owner by the collar. Glancing to the side, they could see Kura restraining a grin and practically vibrating with energy, and she didn't even need to use her nanites to know that this was the one.

"—so stop being a fucking idiot!" Shin'kai punctuated the sentence by slamming the owner's head onto the bar, keeping it there as she leaned in close to his ear. "Got it?"

Blue face flushed purple, the owner grumbled, "Yeah, fuck, whatever."

Seemingly satisfied, she released him, patting her hands on her pants. Straightening, her eyes brushed over the Wanderer crew, double-taking. "Kura?"

"'Lao,² Verity," Kura saluted her, coming to stand next to her and Nysirra, who watched on with her arms crossed. "It's been a while."

The two exchanged a brief one-armed hug, and Verity had a crooked grin on her face. "Something like that." She turned to the owner, who was rubbing the side of his face, grumbling in S'ali'an. "Eetu, you mind if we go to the back room? I think we've got some business to discuss."

Eetu looked like he wanted to protest but seemingly thought better of it. "Fine. Just be quick about it." He fished a key block out of his apron pocket, dropping it in her outstretched hand.

Verity took the block with a grin, tossing it up and down as she turned her gaze back to Kura. "Alright," she said, "let's talk."

¹: Wait.
²: Hey

—

wc: 1k

status: edited

i am so sorry it's been so long! I finished my first year of college in may, and it was certainly a process. hopefully i'll be able to write more this summer and next semester, but here's just a brief chapter to get back in the swing of things. the next chapter will definitely be longer, and hopefully we'll get the whole crew assembled!

also, i have a google doc of the kanian language. it's still a work in progress, but i might try to make it publicly available at some point if anyone would be interested in that!

let me know what y'all thought of the chapter, and four will hopefully be out soon!