Page 55 of Relyn
“Of course,” Rutra said.
“But it won’t do you any good until you clean house.”
“I thought I got rid of all those who were loyal to Alana.”
All the females, Relyn thought. That’s why there were no females on the ship. He thought that only they would be traitorous.
“Did you break up any relationships when you purged the ship? Anyone who might hold a grudge from sending their... friend away?” Relyn asked.
“No, I sent anyone like that out an airlock months ago. I have picked up a few new crew since, though. You being one for example,” Rutra said.
“Well, I’d never heard of Alana before you mentioned her, so...” Relyn said with a shrug.
“That’s exactly what the traitor would say.”
‘“If he were a traitor, he would have flushed me out the airlock the minute we left, and then blamed my death on some accident,” Grom said. “Instead, he’s been training me up, teaching me how to get better at, you know, stuffing Melians in suitcases,” Grom said.
“If he were teaching you well, he would have killed the Melian,” Rutra said.
“Well, we did flush the suitcase out an airlock. We’re not stupid,” Grom said. It was such a convincing lie that even Relyn was impressed.
“I’ll have to think about it,” Rutra said.
“Don’t think too long,” Relyn said. “This information is only good fresh, and I might have a few other interested buyers in line. I came to you as a courtesy, and well, to show good faith, but if you’re not interested, I’ll move along. Are my quarters as I left them?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll let you sleep on it. I’ll leave you two to family matters,” Relyn said, standing up and grabbing a full bottle of the good stuff. Rutra didn’t object and he sauntered out towards the bar.
It was time to “celebrate” his good fortune, so Relyn made his way into Thred’s favorite crew lounge where sure enough, they had a game going. Xeron was definitely eager to see him and his money, especially with a bottle in tow. That signaled he was willing to be sloppy, and had money burning in his pocket. They welcomed him into the game and waited until the second hand before beginning the casual conversation.
“Business with the captain?” Xeron asked.
“Business with the captain,” Relyn said confirming, but then matched the bet without raising.
“Quick trip?” Thred asked.
“Quick trip.” Relyn said.
“So you just repeat every question we ask?” Thred asked.
“Every dumb question.”
Relyn was pretty sure that Xeron actually kicked Thred under the table. They continued to play in silence, but it was clear Thred really wanted more answers and was just trying to figure out how to ask without getting his feet smashed again. Relyn took steady swigs of the booze and went into his slightly inebriated act, even though the drink might as well have been water for all the true effect it was having on him. He started to play a bit sloppier, intentionally overbidding a hand and folding early.
Xeron kept playing, and even started cheating as the game went on. There were five crew members and a growing circle as word had gotten around that Relyn and Grom had returned. They all were curious to know what the pair had found out about their captain’s former love interest.
Relyn spent through the credit stick he’d been playing on, dropping nearly ten thousand credits. After he lost the last hand, he got up unsteady.
“S’alright. I’ll get it all back tomorrow when he- never mind.”
“When he what?” Thred asked.
“None of your business,” Xeron answered, a warning in his tone.
“Right. It’s none of your business. But you might want to, you know, pack some shit,” Relyn said.
“Why would we want to do that?”
