Love, Against All Odds

II - Chapter 4

A/N: I'm sorry for the late updates folks, I'm really sick and even looking at the screen makes me nauseous. 

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Becca groaned as the obnoxious sound kept grinding against her sleepy mind. Under the cover of darkness, she swatted her hand through the air and grumbled when she missed the nightstand next to her bed. She muttered a curse in Jero a few times and pulled her head out from the covers after another swipe came up empty.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Following the techbit's ringing sound, she leaned over the strange bed's side and saw the illuminated device lying upside down on the floor. 'What the...?' She expected to be in her quarters on the Pacifica that were cold metal, reeking of fuel and old wiring. The foreign surroundings became familiar, including the large, grumbling presence next to her.

Reaching lower, Becca swiped the device off the floor and answered the incoming call before it was too late. 'Damn it, Magnar. You know what time it is here?' she asked in Jero, not even sure herself what time it was, other than it was still dark.

'Is that how you greet all your friends? That's right. You've pissed them all away,' Magnar taunted, her voice its usual heavy timber.

After palming the sleepiness away from her face, Becca glanced over at Kal, who was looking over her shoulder at Becca. 'Hold on, Mag.' She hopped out of bed and went into the sitting room, remembering there was a blanket on the divan. Covering her chilled, nude body, she settled into the sofa chair. 'I guess you got my message.'

'Yes. Sorry to hear about your ship and crew.'

Resting her head against the chair, Becca stared up at the dark ceiling and wished that the fireplace was still burning, but she didn't plan to talk too long. 'Do you know Victor?'

'I have heard a few things.'

'Know what kind of merc he is?'

'He's not merc,' Magnar replied, and her hesitation worried Becca even more. 'I heard he's military.'

'What?' Becca snapped then sighed at her own volume, not wanting to bother Kal. She already suspected that Kal could hear bits and pieces of her conversation, but the Jero tongue kept their conversation private. 'For who?'

'Don't know. But Sallarus should know.'

Becca pursed her lips and considered whether she'd hear from her own contacts about Victor. If it was true that he was military, then the entire mess went a lot deeper than she or Kal knew. Her stomach twisted up. 'Thanks for that. Can you get me off Kander? I need to find one of my crewmen.' She had to get off Kander and find Starr, dead or alive. It would be easy to pay someone to come to Kander and take her through the galaxy, but Becca didn't trust just anyone.