Upon Silver Devil: Chapter Three

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[I can't say i've ever seen him drunk actually. I haven't seen him in nearly ten years.] Hmm that'd be interesting. [He got tall.] He smiled oddly, trying to make light of what was clearly pretty awkward and difficult.

"Tala is loyal though." Luka pointed out.

"She's sensible, I don't blame her for being suspicious. We know nothing about these people." Esk said.

"You're related to two of them!" Luka scoffed.

"technically only blood related to one of them. And he's only my half brother. "

"still, they're family." Luka said.

"I hate my family."

"Still, personal issues aside, are they the sort to hang out with dangerous people who are a real threat to us?"

"Probably not. They're both too sickeningly idealistic."

"and James vouches for his brother. The two others we met seemed fine... " Luka continued.

"you don't have to convince me, i'll go wherever this ship goes. Not like I have that much choice in the matter is it?" Esk spat bitterly.

"You could just leave." luka snapped.

"Ironically, i'm safer on that cruise ship."

Luka shook her head. "Tala will go wherever the captain goes, as will I. We protect our crew, and we can't do that if we're all separated."

James sighed. "Dump Vicky and get hired by Vestia. Easy. She's huge, you can hide from your brothers."

Esk shook his head. "And miss the drama here? Why would I want to do that?"

Luka smiled. "I think he's starting to grow fond of us"

"I'm starting to tolerate you, there's a difference."

"So you DO have a heart somewhere in there!" Luka grinned.

"mm." Esk grunted irritably.

"I'm blushing about how much he cares," James said. He wasn't of course. "I platonically love you too, Esk."

"Fuck off." Esk told James.

Luka snickered.

Esk stood up. "I'm gonna go eat." He told them and stalked off to the kitchen.

Luka looked at James, trying so hard not to laugh. "James does make a good point though." She called after Esk. "get a proper job!"

James pretended to look confused. "He only said no flirting! Why's he mad?" He asked Luka.

Luka snorted. "He takes himself too seriously."

TIMESKIP - THE NEXT DAY

Much to Acus' frustration, the crew of the Silver Devil were preparing to fly the ship to Vestia in preparation for their extended vacation that they had shoddily hidden behind some stupid job that could have been done in three hours by the crew of Vestia herself, he was sure. Their insolence was incredible.

James was lounging against an empty patch on the the control panel in the cockpit, excited to see what would happen. He was so excited about this, oh my gosh.

Tala was hammering something. It was loud.

Luka was rather delightedly preparing for takeoff. All those preflight checks and suchforth. She grinned at James, his excitement was infectious. "So captain's mad isn't he?" She said.

Swarm was "guarding" the captain, well, more they were lingering near the door to his quarters and ready to raise the alarm should he try to escape.

Esk had wandered off muttering something about coffee.

"Yeah," James sighed. "Poor guy, I don't think he likes us undermining his authority like this. But it's really the best thing to do, for all of us. I'm not sure he bought the 'the First Law is totally in control right now' thing either, oh well."

Luka shrugged. "That's his problem. YOu never know, not being in command for a while might do him some good. He can't really be in a fit state right now for us to perform our usual work. Getting some credits in will help too, Tala's eating us out of everything." She chuckled. "We need a whole cargo hold just for her meals. How DO Minotaurs get anything done? they're always eating."

James nodded. "Yeah, poor Captain just isn't back to his old self yet. Well if he needs a long time to recover, I guess I can always be captain, right?" He grinned. "I sure hope Vestia is prepared to feed a minotaur, or we'll all suffer."

Luka laughed. "you'll always be my captain." She told him, nudging him affectionately in the shoulder.

James gave her a goofy and un-captainly grin. "Yell at someone to seal the airlock for takeoff," he ordered. "If we're ready to do that," he added.

Luka smiled. "I think we need to wait for Esk to get back." She looked disappointed. "but once everyone's on board, we're ready to go."

"He could take one of Vestia's shuttles," James shrugged. "They probably wouldn't leave him on the station."

Luka snorted. "You sure? I would."

"You're the one arguing to wait for him, so obviously everyone cares more than they pretend to," James said in a sensible tone. "Worst case, I fly back in a borrowed shuttle and pick Esk up. It'll be fine."

Luka chuckled. "Alas, you got me. I'm not that heartless. He may be a prick, but he's still crew and.. I dunno... I kinda feel sorry for him. Something awful must have happened to turn him into such a... an asshole... right? or he was just born that way, i dunno."
She shrugged.
"Still, I think we should wait. You could go find him maybe? He said something about coffee. Go drag him back, then we can take off."

James stuck out his tongue at Luka. "I'm captain, you should go get him." But he got up and headed for the door.

"Im not going anywhere near him!" Luka told him, waving. "besides, like you need an excuse to sweep him off his feet." She snorted.

"You're the wingman I always needed," James said with a laugh. "If you ever wanna hop in bed with me, the offer stands." He headed for the space station.

Luka scoffed. "If I ever need something to cuddle, i'll drop you a line." She waved. Nope, sooo not going there. She was fond of James, but not in that way. ew.

Esk remained sullenly silent the whole walk back.

James lead the way back onto Silver Devil and triggered the station airlock to close, before doing the same to the ship's airlock. He went to an intercom panel and called Luka, "This is your captain speaking. Airlocks are closed and all are probably aboard!"

"Who died and made you captain?" Esk asked scornfully.

"AIE AIE captain Bond, all systems are go, I repeat, all systems are a go. Buckle in boys and girls, wave bye bye to defiant, we're outta here!" Luka giggled down the intercom.

"Shit.. she really has lost her fucking mind." Esk took a seat.

"Thank you, whatever-your-rank-is Falk. Engage!" James sat down as well, laughing. "I'm Captain Bond now, isn't it great?"