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The avian makes that strange finger-to-the-ear gesture again. "A vow to the gods is very important."
"It is," Kivian assures him. "I will twist in the darkness of the Black Hole of sin for all eternity if I do not keep my vows. My ancestors will weep tears of sorrow! My descendants will—"
"Bring it down a notch," Sentorr warns quietly.
Kivian ends with a cough, clasping his hands over his heart. "Let me just say…much rides on my vows."
The V'tarrian blinks again. He types something into his data pad and then puts his clawlike hand out. "I would not wish to keep you from a religious vow. Swear to your gods that the ship is meant to be yours?"
"I swear it by Holy Mother Fran and the Holy Daughter Jasmine." Kivian's look is utterly sincere as he puts his ring-covered hand into the V'tarrian's grasp.
It is a bit like the human handshake I have seen the females do, but when Kivian pulls back, his rings are gone from his fingers and the V'tarrian tucks something into the front of his clothing. "Come back in six standard hours. You will need to pay an acquisition fee, an offworlder fee for taxation purposes, a docking fee for how long we've held your ship, and any other tickets or fines she has acquired in her stay here."
"Fine. Lovely."
The V'tarrian keeps typing. "Until then, please leave my dock."
Kivian clasps his hands, smacking them together loudly. "I shall do so! Perhaps I will spend the time praying—"
Alyvos surges forward, tugging the captain by his arm. "Let's go pray in quiet at a cantina somewhere, yes? Get out of this nice male's feathers."
"Of course," Kivian states. I follow behind them, and I can feel the eyes of all the V'tarrian's watching us. They might agree to this for now, but I can only imagine what sort of 'fees' we're going to have to pay to acquire the Little Sister back from them. Bribery makes the universe go around, but we have to play this carefully, or else we lose the ship and our credits.
I follow behind Alyvos and Kivian, my hands on my weapons, Sentorr at my back.
"I'm not sure I like how easy that was," Sentorr murmurs into our linked comm as we head into the narrow, crowded halls of the V'tarrian station. "They're going to just release the ship without asking more questions? Either they're extremely crooked or this is a trap."
"Or both," Alyvos mutters.
"We'll be careful," I add in. Now that I have Sophie, I'm not jeopardizing my future with her. "Watch yourselves at the cantina. Don't drink what they put in front of you. Don't talk to anyone. Just hold your glass and listen to the music."
"I'm not sure if a religious man like myself should be heading to a cantina," Kivian says. "What would the Holy Mother Fran think?"
"She'd probably want you to shut your trap," Alyvos comments.
I chuckle, because she probably would.75JERROKIt's a long, six-hour wait for the Little Sister to be released. I expected something along these lines, of course. Paperwork at any sort of station is never fast, and the more palms that need to be greased, the slower things can move. I worry about Sophie, sitting in hiding with the other females inside the guts of the Jabberwock. I know she's safe, but this is the longest I've been apart from her since we've met and…I don't like it. I need her, and the craving to see her continues to grow stronger by the moment, until I'm twitching and ready to start throwing things by the time we leave the cantina and head back to the docking bay where the Jabberwock is stationed. Sure enough, the Sister has been pulled into the adjacent bay, as promised. She looks much worse for the wear next to the Jabberwock, her paint dull and a massive dent right at the crest of the ship, like she's taken a few too many shots to the head in a bar fight.
Sentorr makes a pained sound at the sight of her, and I know he's thinking of his mate. I'm thinking of Sophie, and if the sight of the abandoned ship is going to hurt her. My mate's just so keffing…soft. I wouldn't change that for anything, but I wish I could protect her from moments like this.
Kivian just looks pleased at the sight of her. He puts his hands on his hips, studying the ship, then gestures at myself and Sentorr. "You two. Go and check her out. Make sure she can clear the dock on her own or see if we need to tow her. I don't want to scratch The Silver Mistress if we don't have to." He turns to the avian in charge of the dock. "Let us work out the payment details, shall we? I am eager to get off and return to my prayers."
