Starship Mafia

Chapter 2

Special thanks to: My editor for being the Mariyam to my Tamari and the Loona to my Octavia? Angel to my Cherri Bomb? There aren't any good friendships in Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel but you get what I'm trying to say.

And having said that I'm not promoting you to co-writer YET. Or ever actually lol XD.

GHOST, for inspiring me to write stories. Shoutout to the ghost fans reading this hope yall have a great day ur literally the best 💙

That hour long documentary on some mystery flesh pit national park, for being what I watched while writing this.

And gum, for being delicious.

Anyway lets fucking start!

Radio static snaps us out of our brief celebration.

"It's Evelien." Antoni says. Tau, Orion and I walk over.

"We've got a message from some folks on New Ganymede. Apparently some folks down there have some cargo they want you to smuggle off world and are willing to pay 27,000 stells. Orion, Bianca. I'm sending you two down there." We both nod. Antoni turns to Tau.

"Ok tell Yukimura and Iris to set a course for New Ganymede."

"Will do." Tau says, walking away without another word. Were they... upset? I follow them, winding down hallways, huffing a bit. Tau, they were faster than they looked. I find Tau stopped in the training room.

"They can handle it Tau." Yukimura. I wait outside the doorway for Tau to be finished on the radio.

"I have no doubt they can handle it, but I can too, I-"

"Tau." Yukimura interrupts firmly. Tau stops rambling and looks at the hologram, stares at Yukimura for a few seconds, scoffs, and shuts it off.

"Uugh!" Tau shrieks and turns, their wires flash from their arms to a dummy across the room. Just as quickly, the dummy flies across the room and Tau rips an arm and the head off. Dark sand starts spilling from the dummy and Tau drops it, huffing and staring at it on the ground. I walk over silently to a window and sit, looking out into deep space. Tau sits at my feet.

"I just... don't know why I can't go on missions." They look up to me. "Well, I know why but I don't understand." I sigh and reach into my pocket and feel something . I take it out and smile at it. I study the pistol I stole from the collector. It has a violin and heart carved onto the silencer and feels lighter than it should.

"I mean, does anyone here really trust me?" Tau continues.

"I do." I interrupt, looking at them. "But we can't risk people finding out you're defective."

Tau looks away. "You take risks all the time on missions."

I sigh. "It's not the same Tau, things out there are dangerous."

"Things out there are cool!" Tau says, standing up and pointing out the window.

"Cool?!" I say. Were they sane?
"Yes, cool!" Tau echos.

"I mean, look at the things you bring back from your missions. You- you're so bad-ass and cool. I just- I just wanna..." Tau looks at the pistol I'm holding, then the dummy. I sigh again.

"We'll talk about it, find you a disguise or something." I say carefully. Tau looks at me, amazed. "But not this time." I say, standing. Tau nods and I walk away. My radio crackles and Iris announces we've arrived in orbit around the ocean planet. I rush down the halls and step into a drop pod. Orion is waiting. We both nod and the pod drops. We plummet towards a bright and vibrant city on one of the planet's small islands. Most of the planet was water. While it looked peaceful, it was one of the most dangerous planets. They had a strong gravitational pull, all the way to the center. Shallow waters where you could stand were safe, but if you stumbled across a deep spot that went to the center, you'd be dead. The gravitational pull would drag you close to the center of the planet and you would drown. Not anyone or anything could escape it. We land in a small fishing town square and the bright lights and sounds and smell of the sea immediately overwhelm me. My home world Ceres was a large city world, but it was nothing like this. I could handle the noise but everything else was distracting and busy and new. I see a large shoe store in front of me called Pams. Orion leads me to the location from the message, into a slightly hidden alleyway, where we meet with three muscular people with sets of gills on their necks. One of them hands us a crate.