Chapter 31: Healer’s Discourse — Part 1
Shadow signaled to the other pilots that she was ready to escort them to Ylin. Within an hour, six civilian cargo craft were hovering near the Mercy, waiting for Shadow to finish her lift-off checklists. They weren’t nearly as heavily armed or armored as the Mercy, and Shadow wasn’t surprised that pirates would be a problem for such ships. She had taken the hour to send and explain various defensive strategies to the other Captains, all of which were somewhat familiar with the Storm Clan’s defensive routines. Once they were ready for the journey, Didi pulsed the thrusters, and the entire supply convoy flitted like wasps through the asteroids and into space. Beyond the illusory safety of the planet’s surface, the youthful nervousness of the crew came forward.
“Think we’ll run into the pirates?” Ferret asked, trying to determine what medical supplies to replicate.
“We could.” Shadow said. “Probably on the back run, though. They won’t expect us, so they’ll take stock of our presence and attack us on the return trip.”
“Do you think we can take them?” Didi asked.
“Of course we can.” Shadow said.
The flight to and from Ylin proved so uneventful that Shadow opted for a second supply run. The second trip turned out to be a little more exciting than the first, and after what could be described as a brief pissing contest between her and the pirate flagship, the Mercy limped into dry dock on Sweetsprings, loaded with weapons and medical supplies. The pirate flagship was left so crippled that it had to be towed back to its lair. The ship had been North’s, but North wasn’t captaining it, so Shadow was disappointed with the entire ordeal. It’s sister ship had fled before suffering so much damage that it could not escape, and both ships had been captained so poorly that Shadow was certain that North had been on neither of those vessels. Shadow was both bored and disenchanted, but her crew had gained a sense of cohesion from the battle, and desperately needed experience. Once set down, Shadow gave everybody free run of Sweetsprings. She stayed behind to take care of the minor repairs associated with the skirmish.
Ferret had a transmitter on him, in case somebody started messing with them again. This time Xeti promised to keep his wits about him, in case he needed to use his gray abilities to protect his friends from harm. All Ferret had to do was push the button and Shadow would be in the bar beating people up within a matter of minutes. As for Xeti, he wouldn’t even be visible, if he didn’t want to be, so unless they got the drop on him again, Shadow highly doubted she would be needed at all. At some point, Doc Fredson passed by the exterior of the ship. His brother, apparently, had been injured out at one of the farms, and he asked Shadow not to leave before he could get back to talk with her. After he took care of Yohn’s wounds, which took a couple of hours, he came back to talk with Shadow. He found the smuggler with her hands buried in an access hatch, a massive wrench wrapped into the notch of one arm. She dropped all her weight onto the wrench, her feet hanging in the air behind her as she desperately tried to pit her weight as leverage against the seized connector. At times like these, she disliked intensely the lack of mass her adapted body afforded her.
“Good day, Captain Storm.” Doc Fredson said.
“Good afternoon. Noticed Yohn being rushed to the infirmary.” Shadow said between pulls on the wrench.
“Domestic violence call. They’re always touchy.”
“Really? I’ve seen the women on this planet, I figured they could take care of themselves.” Shadow said, starting to sound a little frustrated.
“The dog took sides, unfortunately, so the Sheriff had to keep three angry creatures from hurting each other.” Doc chuckled. “The dog has bite marks on his leg. Poor guy needed almost as many stitches as Yohn-boy. We don’t know if the husband or the wife bit the dog, but we know by the end of the fight, everybody but the dog and my brother will be cooling off behind bars. I’ll be over to check on the new prisoners soon enough.”
