Page 9 of Mated in the Stars
"Aye, aye, Captain."
Sara rose and headed to the lift, her boots thumping against the metal flooring. The incessant banging still thundering through the walls of the ship. Cat hurried to join her at the lift doors as they hissed open.
"Honestly,” Cat murmured, “I’m kind of impressed he hasn't busted a hole in one of the walls yet."
Sara shot Cat a dry look. "Don't go giving him any ideas now." She laughed with a small groan as she rubbed a couple of fingers against her temple. “He’s already annoying as can be.”
"Hey,” Cat grinned mischievously, “I'm all for pushing him out an airlock. Accidents happen all the time, right?” She shrugged her shoulders as a dangerous glint entered her eyes.
Sara rolled her eyes. "How do you plan to lug a massively built Vrak'rir all the way over to an airlock? He's going to give one hell of a fight. Not like he’s going to agree to allow you to blast him into the cold of space."
Cat leaned up against the lift wall as she folded her arms in front of her chest. "You saw me fight when you hired me to be a part of your crew." Cat cracked a finger as she referred to her time in prison. “I’ve handled some pretty hairy situations on my own.”
Sara shook her head. "You haven't seen the Vrak’rir in our brig." Her toned turned serious as she recalled his impressive figure. "This is a Vrak'rir on steroids. He probably hasn’t missed a single gym day."
Cat wiggled her eyebrows as a sly smirk tugged at her lips. "Attractive?"
"Heh?" Sara blinked, completely caught off guard by Cat’s question.
"Just figuring out if I need to make a visit to the brig." Cat winked with a playful grin.
Sara rolled her eyes, but when she smiled it betrayed her amusement. "By all means, go on down there. But don't cry to me when it all goes horribly wrong." She shrugged. “He’s more likely to bash your skull in then provide you a pleasurable release.”
The lift doors hissed open, revealing the shuttle bay. Stepping out, they skirted past all the debris they'd collected and headed over to the docking bay door. Time to go shopping on the station. With the banging inside her ship, Sara actually looked forward to sifting through other people's trash. There were a few components her ship needed. Some a little more urgently than others.
"Where to first?" Cat asked as she glanced around the station.
"We'll check out some pressure regulators for the fuel tank,” Sara replied, “and then check out some relief valves. They need replacing soon, and if we can find some for a decent price, we’ll grab them. Otherwise, we will wait for the next space station or scrap yard.”
"I'll follow you." Cat waved Sara forward. "So, when do we ask about this Vrak’rir?"
"Think I'll need his name." Sara mused as they walked into the space station. It wasn't as busy as she'd feared it might be. Definitely a little hustle and bustle, but she didn’t need to shove her way through the people.
"Stay close." Cat instructed Sara as they weaved through the crowd of humans and aliens.
"I know I found you at a fighting arena,” Sara rolled her eyes, “but I can handle myself in a fight also."
Cat snorted. "Sure. Whatever you want to think, Captain."
Sara frowned as a flicker of annoyance pierced her.
Whatever. It'd only been one time she’d trained with Cat, and Cat had soundly whooped her ass. Now Cat believed Sara was some weakling who couldn't handle being on some junky space station. She'd lived how many years without Cat by her side? But she wasn't about to point that out. If Cat took pride in being a badass, then Sara wouldn’t take it away from her.
As they approached Abash’s shop, she spotted the familiar clutter. The chaotic maze of parts and tools for any and all space ships.
“How’s it going?” Sara asked as the two of them stepped into his shop, the smell of oil permeated the air around his shop.
Abash glanced up from behind his cluttered counter. “What are you two looking for this time?” He asked with mild curiosity as they shuffled around, their eyes scanning the stuff right at their feet.
“Some fuel components.” Sara said as she eyed the disorganized shelves and floor space. Somehow he called this place a shop. Looked like a hoarders dream come true if she were being honest and a little mean, but if a person dug for long enough, they’d find something worth keeping.
“Over in that corner you’ll find all of my fuel components for sale.” Abash directed them with a nod of his chin and a slight tilt of his head.
Good. She was glad he knew how he organized this mess. Otherwise, it would have taken them days to sort through all this stuff.
Sara and Cat headed over to the indicated corner. They bent down and started digging around, carefully pulling aside broken components and tangled cables as they looked for items on their list.
“Don’t move too much of that around now.” Abash called out as Cat heaved a couple of items out of their way.
