Ace of Gems

Chapter 2

"You did what?!" Mari shouted.

Vira continued standing there as if everything was fine, knowing Mari's anger was more passionate worry than anything else. It was Kel she was truly afraid of. That look the tall, sandy haired mercenary sometimes got, all cold and glinty and homicidal, made her bones wither. Vira did her best to avoid that murderous stare at all costs.

Like she was doing right now.

"I brought everything most important to me, just like the lady said I could," she had the audacity to answer.

Mari looked like she wanted to throw both children out the airlock. "Don't play dumb with me you little weasel."

"The hell's a weasel?" Boid scoffed from down below. He was still partly wrapped up in Vira's sleeping sack, pinned in place by the heel of Mari's favorite combat boots. They reeked of fresh polish, though Boid had enough sense not to make any more inflammatory comments. His last one had earned him a considerable increase of pressure from Mari's boot. Any heavier and he might actually break a rib.

"Shut the fuck up you overgrown rat," Mari snapped.

Hmm, that one I do know, Boid thought to himself. Don't taste too bad neither.

"I knew you were trouble. I should have handed you over to the pigs on day one."

"Don't be mean, Mari!" Vira scolded. "You're supposed to be the nice one."

"What the bleeding nebula is that supposed to mean?" Kelidan finally interjected, having stood quiet and still up until that point, glaring death holes into each of their foreheads. Her words took on a dangerous sing-song lilt that always became more pronounced when she was angry. Mari once told Vira that it was because Kel's ancestors ate a shit ton of potatoes, and that if you had had no choice but to eat that many potatoes for hundreds of years, you'd be mad all the time and a bit silly in the head, too. Vira assumed she was exaggerating, of course, but times like these she couldn't help but wonder.

"It means I've been too soft on her," Mari growled, "and should've knocked her head in a few times to set her straight."

"You wouldn't dare!" Vira screeched.

"ENOUGH!" Kel belted.

The holding area of the Origin 600i luxury ship they had just boarded fell awfully silent. Even Boid grew subdued, no longer struggling beneath Mari's oppressive heel.

"What's done is done. There's no going back now. And angry as you are, Mar, you're not enough of a monster to throw a child out into the void."

Vira gave Mari a pointed look as if to say, see you are the nice one.

"I, on the other hand," Kel warned, "am." She stabbed a gloved finger in Boid's direction. "You so much as piss the wrong way and I will vaporize you before I flush your worthless ashes down the jacks. You hear me, you wee gobshite?"

Boid gulped and nodded as best he could, given his current circumstances.

"Yes, ma'am."

Mari let out a slew of expletives as she lifted her boot and stormed out of the holding area, most likely to hunt down that high class booze she'd been promised.

Meanwhile, Kel leveled her cool, icy gaze at her charge. "You will keep him in line, child. You took in the stray, so he's your responsibility now. If he makes any trouble at all, you answer for it. Are we clear?"

Vira nodded once. "Yes, Keli."

The mercenary made a sound of disgust, then wrinkled her nose. "And give him a bath, will ya? Swear to god he smells enough like a dog to be one."