To Hell and Back (Hellworlder pirates)

Ch39 Preparations

Preparations

Alwen watched in confusion as Terran sailors bounced a ball between the two ships and tried to figure out the rules to the game, if there were any. As best as she could tell they were all just content to bounce the ball, like children. When the ball fell to the hanger floor fifty or sixty meters below they all groaned, and someone produced a new ball. But as long as none of them were dumb enough to jump in after the ball Alwen didn't care whether the game had rules or points.

They had all been confined to the Hellworlder hanger for the week before the trial officially took place. Alwen wasn't too disgruntled over that decision, the trips into the rest of the station weren't really that entertaining. Alwen had no context for all the stalls that sold illegal and illicit substances, it all looked equally alien to her. Though they did find a grey bipedal alien called a Ceshix who sold tea leaves, though she got the impression that tea had a more narcotic effect on his people from how he talked. He tried to convert her to worshipping one of his own gods by introducing her to a post and insisting it was Krell, whoever that was.

The arena and gambling dens were a little more impressive than the street venders, but they really weren't the kind of thing Alwen usually went in for. Beyond the strange tea merchant this station didn't have anything else that could really intrigue her, and she was happy to spend this last week getting used to the heavy and restrictive armor the Terrans wore into battle.

She had expected more push back when she had decided to join Alice and her marines in the gallery at the trial. She knew the Terrans had plans that would result in something going horribly wrong, it was apparent in the way they all tensed their shoulders and how their eyes seemed colder and more focused. She expected them to say 'hell no', but instead the Captain looked her up and down and ordered a set of standard armor to be made for her. Alice then took it on herself to teach Alwen how to work all the complicated straps and magnetic seals, how to arrange the 'waste plumbing' without getting a rash. And the worst part was the 'bra' she had to wear. The Terran women had been pushing her to adopt the hellish clothing for months now, ever since she had flashed everyone back on Femeri. She had always refused, but now that she had to wear the deceptively advanced armor, Alwen had no choice but to accept wearing the evil thing.

Just wearing the armor was exhausting despite how light weight it was and she had to retrain her body to get used to the way it moved with all that extra weight and the way it restricted her movements. Gato had set up a large obstacle course beneath the ships and had her running it day and night, stopping only when some dumbass had broken their legs on the rope swing someone set up. In a show of solidarity Limey brought out Sin team to run the course right alongside her.

After she had gotten the hang of the course, Gato switched up all the obstacles and she had to start from scratch. And whenever they got bored of running drills they broke up into sparring matches and Alwen got to actually use Makaze in combat, three months of training wasn't enough to put her on level footing with Gato, and certainly not the captain. But it had at least made her competent enough to work one on one with the other marines, and whenever she trained against other equally unexperienced Torweni she was able to win a match or two.

Her brother's crew had viewed her with curiosity at first, and maybe even a bit of reverence. They were mentally comparing her both to her brother, and her father. They were nice enough, but Alwen didn't like the reminder of the people she always had to measure up to, so she kept her distance from them.

She felt the railing bend around her as someone else begun to lean against it, she turned and saw the massive shape of Gato beside her. "Any injuries yet?" He asked pleasantly.