Celestria Chronicles

BLACK MARINER ON THE LINE - 1

Ystras always tried to run a neat and tidy bar, as well as he could, but he didn't always succeed. It was, of course, a bar, and he expected the odd beer-soaked mash-up between the occasional love triangle of Kozolequinians, because these kinds of situations came with the job. His hut, still made from locally sourced wood from the Minros forest behind the beach, was his pride and joy. It was also a stunningly beautiful beach, reserved only for the rich and famous in the Empire Of Humanity, who never usually attended because they were too busy strutting around the first ten regions of Celestria, the hub planet of the empire, being typically rich and famous.

Therefore the beach was usually reserved for the rich teenagers of the Empire, sometimes the odd Soorvite school trip, who always had a habit of sticking their second thumb into the shot glasses to test if they were poisoned. After an unfortunate incident on J'uruld where dust from one of the many meteor showers contained Igno rock, a material rather deadly to Soorvites, they were wary of drinking anything served on a planet in the Orien Nebula. But Ystras wasn't bothered. He had his little beach hut bar situated in front of the Minros forest, facing outwards to the ocean blue of Crorst, one of the best beach planets for sunsets in the Orien Nebula. As far as he was concerned, a few planets in the Sunburst Galaxy could fade away into nothingness and he couldn't care less.

It was one day, just as the sun was beginning to set on a particularly glorious day, Crorst's Tri-suns just slipping beneath the cinnabar waves, that a trio of Trovations walked in. The feline beings, standing upright on their four legs, swivelled their right and left eyes to survey the bar and kept their centre eye locked onto Ystras. Their lengthy, whiplash tails flicked and flailed behind them, and Ystras had to grip tightly onto a cloth beneath the bar to prevent him from losing his nerve. He was always nervous when Trovations came to his bar, their tails made him twitchy for his immaculate furniture.

The three Trovations walked to the bar and sat down upon the stools situated before it. Ystras swung up to them behind the counter.

'Hey guys, what can I do for you?' he asked politely. The three looked at each other, somewhat offended. Ystras frowned for a moment and then apologised. 'Oh I'm sorry, ladies. I forgot that Trovations have a forked tail for girls and a trident for the guys, I sincerely apologise.' The Trovation in the centre refocused his attention to Ystras.

'That issss fine, thank you. Three Black Marinerssss pleasssse.' The faint feline hiss came through in the centre Trovation's voice. Ystras turned and began to create the famous cocktail of Crorst.

Whilst adding the layer of Deril Mountain ice, his ears pricked up to what the three girls were discussing behind him. Mentally Ystras checked their ages. They looked to be around 19, in human years, perhaps 25 in Trovation years. All three were particularly attractive, if he was inclined to sleep with a Trovation that was. He was partial to a bit of cross-sleeping, being a bar-owner in Crorst you had to be, because some poor girls that stumbled across the place after a navigation malfunction never seemed to have any Zale on them to pay for the drinks they inevitably bought out of shock. He had managed to bed a couple of species over the years, most notably a Brykthylos, which although he admitted to experiencing what he referred to as a 'sexual enlightenment', the scars down below sometimes said otherwise.

The Trovations had brought out a Halo-Core, a device for contacting people across the Empire, and were in conversation with a human male, around 21.

'We went in, and we got it. We're sssat in a bar on, Crorsssst I think. Excussssse me, sssssir.' Ystras turned around, pausing the drinks mixing.

'What is it miss?' The girl on the right of the group spoke.

'What issss the name of thissss bar?' She had a confident tone of voice, slightly hyped and excited.

'The Setting Suns Bar' Ystras replied, and swiftly resumed his creative process. The girls quickly resumed their conversation.

'Ssssso if you could transsssfer the money now, we can pay the nicccce bartender here.' Said the one in the centre.

'And don't forget to throw in the 1000 Zale each you promised us' quipped the girl situated on the left. She seemed to have lost her Trovation hiss that the other two had. This was one of the reasons that Ystras almost stopped dead in his tracks. He had to save one of the glasses yet to be filled with the concoction from toppling to the wooden floor below when he registered how much money they had just mentioned. 1000 Zale! That was a month's wages for him! And for each girl, that was a quarter of a year's wages! Whatever the three Trovations sitting at his bar had done, he wasn't entirely sure if it was legal, if those figures were being thrown around. He finished off the last Black Mariner and turned back to the three girls.

'There you are ladies, three Black Mariner Martinis for you' Ystras said as cheerfully as he could, hiding his slight shock at the conversation he overheard rather well. A ping from the Halo-Core announced that the money had been transferred.

'Much appreciated ssssir, issss there anywhere we might pay for thesssse?' said the girl in the centre. Ystras pushed the pay-plate over, and the Halo-Core was swiped over it. A several-note jingle announced its transfer.

'Say, it's not really my place to say, but I couldn't help overhearing the amount of money you've just received. You haven't gotten yourself mixed up in anything, outside the law, have you?' Ystras asked with concern. He hated to see young people get involved with gang-crime and the likes; god knew there were enough full cells in Kalvulseah, the prison planet, and far too great a number of those transferring to Prosterothal every day.

'Oh no ssssir, nothing like that. We jusssst accccepted a little bet, that'ssss all.'

'A bet you say? Must have been a fairly dramatic bet to risk all that money for it.'

'That's what you get when you manage to get a rich Torkaxion tipsy in a bar in Region 9 of Celestria.'

'Region 9? That's upmarket to say the least. You girls from rich families then?' Ystras enquired.

'Oh very much ssssso. Would you like to hear of our adventuresssss?' Ystras pushed over the three Black Mariners and grabbed a stool from behind the counter, pulling up opposite the three girls.

'This sounds interesting to say the least.' He checked to see if anyone else was around that might interrupt this tale and found nobody. It was a very quiet evening, and it was only just beginning anyway. And so with the three suns setting, streaming orange and amber through the windows, the hiss-less Trovation began to spin her yarn of chronicling wonder.