Dreams in the stars | SatoRika space AU

chapter 22

The reptilian shifted to sit next to Satoko, worry clouding their expression, "Ah- shit dude- What happened man. You look like you lost your purpose in life." they winced placing a scaled, clawed hand on Satoko's back.

Satoko couldn't help but smile at this stranger's random act of kindness, a slight warmth growing in her chest, but it was overshadowed by the reality of her situation setting back in, Rika left her here.. Alone on a planet where she could easily get hurt "Well... I basically did.. You see.. I was part of the Earth fleet that stopped here and-"
The reptilian cut Satoko off "Ew, Earth fleet, really? You.. Don't seem like a control freak, though..."

"Thanks, mate. I wasn't finished." Satoko furrowed her brows, oddly, that interruption was a little entertaining and made her chuckle.

"Right, right, sorry!" The reptilian rubbed the back of their neck, chuckling

Satoko rolled her eyes "Right so.. The Earth fleet made me kill a pirate and it just... didn't feel right... and I got into an argument with my girlfriend about it and... she left me here.. alone..."

The reptilian winced "Yikes buddy, that's a lot. I uh.. I'm sorry they did that to you. So you got no money, nuthin'?"

"Pretty much.." Satoko nodded and looked to the ground, kicking up some of the dirt, she didn't know what to do without Rika..

The reptilian gave a nod at this and looked up at the sky "Well.. You can stay in Fera's inn. If you change out of that Earth fleet uniform and join our pirate crew. But you gotta pull your weight on this team, okay?" 

Satoko looked down, a pit in her stomach.. Was she really gonna do this? Become what Rika hated? She didn't really have a choice and hey.. this person seemed nice "Alright. I'll do it! I'll join your crew!" Satoko stood up determined, she would make her best of what she had, if she didn't the Earth fleet wins.

"Awesome! My name is Lez, I go by they/them!" Lez outstretched a hand to Satoko.

Satoko took Lez's hand, giving it a shake "Uhm. Satoko. I'll go by she, they or it. but mostly she."

Lez gave a nod and tilted their head, leading Satoko away as they walked. "Awesome. right, tonight we'll get you a room to be your's for good and a better outfit, just settle in and stuff, right?"

"Right, thank you. I look forward to working with you guys" Satoko grinned a little, feeling a sense of kinship with Lez, already.

Lez laughed and softly shoved Satoko with their elbow "Heh, nerd." 

"Okay, then I know working with you's gonna suck, asshole." Satoko laughed barging Lez back playfully, almost forgetting her dire situation for a moment as they approached an inn, much like one that would be found in old time western Earth, Lez pushed the door open.

Rika slowly dragged herself from her bed, brushing her hair and adjusting her uniform in the mirror, forcing back her emotions, forcing her expression into a calm, polite smile, she had a plan to execute she couldn't let her feelings about Satoko get in the way, since Satoko had been in the way of Rika's captainship for a long time, no more...

Rika stepped out of her room, quickly swerving away from the path that led past Satoshi's room, she didn't have time to explain why Satoko could no longer be part of this fleet to him, maybe he'll be next...

Rika stepped into the fuel storage room, no one was up yet. She walks to the security camera, taking out it's card and putting in a new one, a simulation of an event, this will work... surely. Her new card will overwrite the recoding of her putting it in, no one will know.

Rika adjusts her uniform again and walks to the captains office, since she was next in line she was allowed in, she quickly checked some files, finding a line that stated legally Rika was to be the next captain, perfect. It's set in stone...

Rika looks at the security camera screen displaying a pirate, stealing fuel from their storage, Rika's simulation, she pressed a button to call the captain "Hey, captain, we have an issue."

Rika crossed her arms as the captain entered the control room "We've got a filthy thief, sir."

"Ah. I'll put together a team to go deal with it." The captain turned away to go make an announcement.

Shit.. shit shit.. Rika had to think fast "WAIT! We don't have time, plus we're clearly the only qualified one's here to deal with this, the other's are lazy and all still asleep."

"You make a good point. Let's get this over with, have you got your gun?"

"Of course, sir."

The two walked into the storage room, guns drawn, the captain quickly took note that there was no one present "What.. Why is-"

The lights shut off with a loud sound and Rika pulled the trigger on her gun, however she missed, shit.. 

The captain turned and shot into the darkness narrowly missing Rika "Fuck, where is this bugger??" He back away a little, Rika could hear his footsteps locating him "Rika, try and get the lights back on!"

Rika raised her gun once more, knowing where the captain was now he had moved. "Yes, sir." She squeezed the trigger.

The captain realised all too late.. Rika's voice came from the same location as the first gunshot, she was trying to kill him. Rika heard the sound of the captain's body fall to the floor, and sent a few more shots in the direction of where he fell, making sure he was dead. Rika pointed the gun towards her own arm and inhaled sharply closing her eyes tight as she squeezed the trigger biting her lip to suppress a yelp as she feels the laser fire through her arm collapsing for a moment and panting holding her arm tight, at least the heat of the laser cauterised the wound. She got up flicking the light back on, rubbing the corners of her eyes until tears began trailing down her cheeks, to make it more believable that someone else had killed the captain.

Lez led Satoko into the bar of the inn, it was bustling with life, they walked up to the bar, a bear like creature much like the plushie Rika had bought Satoko and a woman with cat like facial features, who was manning the bar. "This is Fera" Lez pointed at the cat woman, she was an older woman. "And this is Brel!" Lez pointed at the bear like man, about maybe late 20s. "welcome to the crew!"

AN: I actually updated, you're welcome. I hope this was slightly more enjoyable than the last see ya in the next chapter!