Chapter 1
‘That one...’ said the elf, pointing to a small grey ship from amongst the ruins that she and her two companions were hiding in, which lay adjacent to the docks. She was small and youthful, as most elven folk seemed to be, with flowing locks of auburn hair spilling about a red headband, falling about her shoulders and running down her back. She sported an earring of beads and feathers in her left ear lobe and a tattoo of a blood droplet below her left eye denoting her pirate status. She was dressed in a ruffled, short-sleeved white blouse that exposed her shoulders, a brown bodice which hugged her slender frame and her wrists had brown, studded vambraces wrapped around them. She also wore tan trousers held up with a red sash tied around her waist and brown boots completed the look.
‘That one...?’ echoed a wiry gecko-man with disgust. He had yellow skin with black markings and was dressed in tan trousers, with a brown tunic that clung to his thin torso, and brown moccasins covered his feet, ‘...but it’s junk!’.
‘Precisely...’ the elf replied, turning her emerald, green eyes to meet his large orange serpentine eyes, ‘...they’d never expect anyone to steal it!’.
‘That sounds logical...’ added the third figure in a deep voice. This voice belonged to a Triceraphapian, a huge Triceratops-esq humanoid with blue skin, naked to the waist with small bone spikes running down his back and tail and dressed in loose fitting tan trousers held up by a thick silver buckled belt and black boots. Thick brown belts criss-crossed his immense torso and he also wore several beaded bracelets on each wrist. His numerous spikes that had adorned his crest and the main horns that one would expect to see upon his head had been sawn to stumps, with the right stump still retaining the studded metal band of his rank and a tuft of white hair sprouted from under his chin. His golden yellow eyes, which seemed tiny within his huge head, flashed between the various ships sitting in the dock before them.
‘Oh...!’ exclaimed the gecko, ‘...it speaks!’.
The Triceraphapian looked at the small gecko, which wasn’t easy for the big fellow as it meant that he had to turn his whole head. The smaller gecko gulped hard as he locked eyes with the giant. With his thick brows above his eyes, and the shape of his face, it was difficult to judge his mood as it looked as if he was frowning all the time.
‘Now, now boys...’ the elf protested, holding her hands up in a display of neutrality, ‘...we can kill each other later. Once we get somewhere safe’.
’We were somewhere safe, Capraera...’ said the gecko, turning to the elven woman, ‘...until you told this walking tank to pick a fight with the wall!’.
‘Hey...’ started Capraera, '...I didn’t tell Allo-ill to break the wall with his head, I just wanted to know if he could’.
‘But he did...’ replied the gecko, ‘...and now we are cold, hungry and likely to get our tails shot off. Literally. All. Your. Fault!’.
‘Let’s not play the blame game, Keela...’ Capraera said, ‘...the important thing is, we are out and getting off this planet’.
‘In that?’.
‘Yes, in that’.
‘You’re braver than you look’.
‘Thank you’.
‘It wasn’t a compliment’.
‘Hate to interrupt this tender moment...’ growled Allo-ill, ‘...but can you two stop fighting for at least twelve seconds so that we can surmise a plan of some sort?’.
‘Well, luckily for us I’ve already thought of that...’ Capraera said enthusiastically.
’But why that ship...?’ started Keela, before she could explain her plan, '...we have an Acadian Skyflash over there - fastest ship ever built...’ he continued, pointing absently at a sleek blue ship that seemed to be made from a single piece of metal, '...and next to it is a Gregorian Harris - one of the most heavily armed transporters in this section. Why don’t we steal one of those instead?’.
’The Skyflash is indeed fast...’ agreed Allo-ill, turning back to the collection of ships on the docks, '...but it’s not designed for combat. One phaser strike and it would disintegrate like burnt parchment. Even small arms fire would bring it down. The Harris may be armed to the teeth, but it is not capable of supporting life outside the atmosphere. It would become our tomb as soon as we broke orbit. The junker seems to be the most logical choice’.
‘But it’s junk...!’ protested Keela, '...it looks like it’ll fall apart long before we can even think about breaking orbit!’.
‘On the contrary...’ said Allo-ill, ‘...she looks like she could take a beating, and still function. After-all, she’s made it this far...’.
‘And besides...’ added Capraera with a sly grin, turning her emerald eyes back to the docks, '...she’s also unguarded’.
