Page 10 of Mated in the Stars
“Like he even knows where this stuff is.” Cat scoffed under her breath, rolling her eyes as she yanked another component out of their way. “Abash has no idea. He can’t possibly remember where everything is stashed.”
Sara chuckled softly. “I don’t know.” She held up a pressure regulator that appeared to be in pretty good condition. “Seems he knows how he organizes his chaos.”
Cat snorted. “It was a lucky guess is all it was. There’s no way he knew.”
Sara smirked as she tucked the regulator under an arm. She continued to look through the ground and then turned her attention to the cluttered shelves. She needed a pair, but she’d still buy this one in case the next space station or junk yard only had one. Better to get what she could.
After searching through the components and gathering what they could, Sara and Cat headed back to the ship. As they made their way through the bustling corridors of the space station, Sara took a moment to enjoy the crowds. Though they had plenty of crewmates, it was still pretty sparse and uncommon to run into someone in the halls.
When they entered the ship, Cat took the components they’d gathered. “I’ll go give these to Mara.”
Sara nodded and then headed off in the direction of the junk that was currently being sold by Berg at their airlock. He had a good line of humans and aliens looking through the wares they had to offer for sale.
"How goes it?" Sara asked.
Berg looked up from his makeshift counter. "That warship is making us quite a bit of credits today." A smile grew on his face as he motioned to the decent line they had in the corridor.
So, it had been a warship. A good find on their side. Probably meant they still had a lot of valuable stuff hiding in their cargo bay. They just needed to keep sorting through it all.
"Good to hear." Sara turned her attention to the scrapper overseeing his workers as they dug through what Sara had to offer. "How are you, Voro?" She said with a smile as she recognized them.
Voro turned their beady little black eyes on her, tentacles waving in greeting. "Sara!” You've got quite the haul this day." Their voice a raspy murmur. Their species wasn’t exactly easy on the eyes with their slimy grey skin and writhing tentacles, but they tended to be a pretty decent species. Very trustworthy and helpful. She’d never had one turn on her. And they kind of fascinated Sara, because each of them possessed both female and male sexual organs. They didn’t need to encounter one of their own to have offspring, which allowed them to disperse into the galaxy without a single care in the universe.
"We stumbled across what we thought might be the debris of a warship." Sara informed them with a triumphant smile.
A gleam of interest sparked in his beady black eyes. "Mighty good luck.” Voro congratulated her as they ran a tentacle down one of the items for sale.
Sara and Voro had a long history. She might even consider them a friend. One of the very few she had. "You know me. I always wander across the most fascinating things. Speaking of which..."
"Have something good for me?" Voro slithered up closer like she was about to divulge some top secret to them.
Sara lowered her voice slightly so others in line wouldn’t be able to overhear her. "I'm just curious if you've heard anything about a lost Vrak’rir."
"Lost Vrak'rir?" Voro straightened and their black eyes bunched up as they looked back at her. "I'm not sure what you're asking. What do you mean lost?"
Hesitating for a moment, she said, “I found a Vrak’rir in the wreckage of the warship. Still alive."
"Alive?" Voro’s tentacles twitched with surprise.
"He was wearing a space suite and had just run out of oxygen when we found him. Lucky dude, I suppose."
"Very lucky." Voro murmured as they lifted one of the items Sara had for sale and handed it off to Berg. “I want this one.”
"Maybe." Sara shrugged. "But if someone blew up his ship and I'd bet they wanted everyone onboard dead."
Voro’s black eyes darkened, as they thought about it. "Well, I can't tell you. I haven't heard anything about a Vrak'rir, but if I had a name I could snoop around." They offered.
"I'll do my best.” Sara sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck before stretching it out. “I don't think the Vrak’rir likes me very much. So far, he's only thrown insults and threats my way." She sighed. Getting a name might be like pulling teeth with this Vrak’rir.
"Be careful with his kind." Voro warned as they handed over a credit chip to Berg. "They are a little too hot headed for my taste."
"I'll comm you when I find out his name." Sara promised. "You won't see me cry when I get him off my ship. He’s been a real nuisance."
"Well, I think we're about done here. " Berg leaned back in a chair he’d pulled up while selling the goods, a satisfied smile crossing his face.
Voro hefted the item they’d bought and waved a tentacle in farewell.
"Much appreciated." Sara waved as she left the bay and went in search of her Vrak’rir guest. Time to figure out who he was and how to turn him into some credits. Worst case scenario, she could sell him to the Friren arena. They paid well for muscular Vrak'rirs in their prime. Now there was an idea. Maybe she should see which would pay her better: the people who wanted him dead or the arena that would value a potential fighter like him.
