Outer Olympus

Outer Olympus: Chapter 12

Sasille Sheppard had her life together in a way that always made Viola feel guilty. She'd grown up in the same shattered city, seen the dream of freedom rise and fall, and made something good of herself despite it. Survived the tough times and always found the ways she could help others survive when they were struggling. She was kind, smart, and, stubborn, always seemed to be in a position to lend a hand, everything Viola wanted to be. She had met Sasille when she was eight, when Sasille had been volunteering at a community center event, slipping Viola extra helpings of pie and chatting with her about the latest Romance of the Titans movie. Since then, Sasille had been a constant source of help and a stabilizing influence in the life of Viola and her friends. One day, Viola hoped to be able to pay that back.

Judging from the concealed panic on Sasille's face, however, that wouldn't be today. She strode into the room past Viola, looking around like a surgeon mid-triage. She gritted her teeth, a stress tic Viola had rarely seen.

"Who knows you're here? As in here, now?" she asked, urgency unhidden in her voice, eyes passing over Rune in a way that spoke that something must be immediately wrong to not ask about her. Viola quickly shifted from the little sister persona she often took with Sasille back to the criminal mastermind.

"Everyone here. We ran into Respa on the way in, and that's it," she recounted. Geode stood up, crossing their arms.

"How bad is it?" they asked. Sasille trusted them enough to not mince words.

"Currently a two hundred thousand credit bounty for information leading to your capture," she replied calmly, watching Geode's face fall, "and no, Viola, you are absolutely under no circumstances to try to claim that bounty yourself. That never works," she added, and Viola's face fell as well. "We can trust Respa, but need to act quickly. How long do you think it'll take you to pack up and move?"

"Move to where?" Geode asked.

"Safehouse we have set up in the Makrishev dock for situations like this." Finally, she addressed Rune, "I am assuming you're the prisoner they rescued?" Rune nodded, then looked to Geode.

"You trust her?" she asked, staring intently at Sasille. Viola wondered if Rune knew people like Sasille in the rebellion. Geode nodded.

"Sasille's been looking out for us forever. Plus, she's a pretty committed lilithist, so about the last person I'd think would sell us out," Geode replied. Rune seemed to be convinced by the statement.

"Everything but Taroh's crafting supplies we can get down there in a few hours. Though we'll need some food," Viola told Sasille.

"Yeah, it'd take hours to uproot some of the machine printers," Taroh calculated, "does the safehouse have a welding table? Hard to move those."

"I'll figure something out. You all just need to get down there with everything you can carry as soon as possible. The pantry is kept stocked, don't worry about food. And stay put. You did good to rescue her, but this is beyond the sort of thing you've dealt with before, understood?" Viola frowned, and nodded.

"Laying low is all well and good, but I need to get back to the fleet," Rune cut in, "I don't have time to wait for heat to die down." Sasille didn't look impressed.

"You'd better, because if you run out there now you're just giving yourself up. A friend of mine has contacts with the Dragon's Armada, they're having them reach out to try and arrange something. You got a name they can ask around for to put you in contact with?" Rune looked at Viola, looking for a sign of trust. Viola nodded.

"Kamea Kestrel," she finally said. "She was the captain of the ship I was on." Her face fell a little as a realization dawned on her. "I haven't heard anything about how the battle went outside. Did we win? Did the fleet make it out?"