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.

"Sounds messy." Esk shook his head. "Let's get this thing somewhere it can be butchered then."

"I will, I was only waiting to see if you needed the other or one of the goat things" Dawn said

Esk shook his head. "save them, just in case." He lead the way to the kitchens then.

Dawn was glad he was feeling better and lifted the animal to take it to get butchered, saving the blood for those that may want to drink it.

There were robots to do this for them, which put Esk out a little because while he wasn't really in a state to do something as physical as butcher an animal this big, he WAS rather used to doing all of this sort of thing himself.
He bled it though, using his knife to slit the animal's throat and letting the blood drain into a large bucket.

"If you want to farm those goat things, you'll need grass and open space. Real grass. " He glanced up at Vestia's camera. This place was huge, who the heck knew what was already here.

Dawn nodded and glanced up to the cameras too "Vestia, I probably should have asked before getting so many, but would you be opposed to having those goats on a level that isn't in use?" She asked. Yeah, she hadn't planned well

"Umm," Vestia said. "Uh, sure, I have an unfinished golf course you could use I guess." She wasn't going to offer the park for the goats, she was too proud of the landscaping. But a golf course might work. "You'll need to get it covered in dirt and grass though."

Dawn smiled and nodded "That could work, put in dirt and grass and some fences so we can rotate them so it'll be fully self-sustaining for them." If course she would need help with that, maybe from Ellie and Shane to make sure the right grasses grew properly and all of that. Hm

Esk nodded, she was on her own with that. He could help with fences but that was about his limit
And even then he really shouldn't be doing manual labour.

He finished with the blood letting and left the animal to the robot butcher, hefting up the bucket with a grunt of pain and taking it to decant into something to store it.

(um...moving to Vestia thread, lol)

MAY 12 2790

James didn't have to move in again, since he'd been too lazy to ever move off the Silver Devil in the first place. So instead he double and triple checked everything for departure.

Tala looked at the others as they came in, pacing authoritatively. She was so having trouble switching back from being captain up being first mate. Oh dear. "Are all prepared for departure?"

"Inventory checked, we're all stocked up," James said.

Rigel came back out and looked around to see who all they had here. "I think we have everyone and all we need, so any final good byes should be said now."

Luka went to the cockpit to do final checks before they left.

Swarm settled in, hey, they weren't letting their crew leave without them this time. Someone just try to stop them.

"Let's just get this over and done with." Esk muttered.

"You'll all be happy to know that Vestia let me bring some daggers," James said, "so we can kill any keepers we meet."

"Excellent," Tala said. "Come, let us weigh anchor and set sail in search of justice!" She went to the airlock, checked to make sure nobody was coming to bid them any more goodbyes, and would close the airlock if she didn't see anyone.

"Sensible." Esk nodded to James.

"We are only supposed to be brokering a deal with a mercenary." Swarm reminded them all.

"yeah you know that's not happening." Esk shrugged. He was fairly certain they'd find a reason to go along and make sure it all went to plan.

"Why don't you trust your father?" Swarm asked curiously. "Did he not fulfill the last job you asked of him?"

"Oh yeah, he got Rigel back alright, then killed everyone else. " Esk snorted. "he's an evil bastard, just because he hates slavers doesn't make him any less of a psychotic prick. "

"Then why are we asking his help?" Swarm asked.

"Because he's really fucking good at killing slavers." Esk replied cooly.

"I think I might like this guy. Other than the whole killing slaves and being evil thing," James mused. "Eradicating slavers is good clean fun for the whole family, right?"

Seeing nobody, Tala closed the airlock. "Cleared for departure! Luka, depart at will!" She was so too bossy lately, oops.

Esk glared at James. "He's a dangerous sociopath who cares only about himself, his hate for slavers is self serving just like everything else he does. There's nothing to like, he uses people, manipulates them, twists things to his own benefit. Don't let him get you alone."

Luka called down. "Aye ca.. er.. first mate! " She tried not to laugh, Tala didn't mean it did she? It wasn't like they had a real mutiny brewing, she just had trouble giving up control. Good thing Rigel was so easy going.
Slightly quieter she added "Ready on your command captain."

"Let's go" Rigel said, looking to Luka with a smile then looking back to the others as they lifted off to leave the airlock.

"Right. Not so great then," James said, frowning a bit. Yeah, Hytar sounded like a pretty nasty guy. He still liked the part where slavers died though. "This is gonna be an interesting visit, huh?"

Tala snorted softly. "It is most difficult to resume operations as they were. I keep supposing that I must command Rigel, but Rigel is the one of command again!" Her ears wiggled in self deprecating cow amusement.

"It is an interesting feeling" Rigel agreed and smiled at Tala.

Shane came out of his room and went over to James and Esk, looking to Esk "How is Hytar going to react to seeing you with us again?" He had to ask because he didn't want them to be shot at on sight since he tried to kill him last time.

Esk shrugged. "He'll probably laugh and make some snide remark. I've tried to shoot him so many times, he always finds it funny." He huffed and looked annoyed. "At least Vicky's not here, though maybe that's a shame, she had excellent aim." Yeah it still gave him a degree of joy to remember Hytar's expression when Vicky had shot him. Ahh good times.

Luka got the ship started up and started take off procedures.

Shane nodded and headed to find a place to sit down. "I hope there's no trouble or retribution."

"Yeah, let's hope he's not vengeful or something. Last thing we need is some jerk shooting us when we're trying to free the dragons," James said. He made a face at the mention of Vicky, "Thank goodness she's not here. And I'm not just saying that cause I don't like her this time."

Vestia had opened her shuttle bay doors, so the Silver Devil could leave when ready.

Esk snorted at James' remark and shrugged. "He's never tried to shoot me yet. Guess there's a first time for everything huh?"

Luka headed the ship for open space.

"You might want to wear a vest, just in case" Shane said from his seat.

"Good idea. Vestia suggested packing some vavare silk stuff too, so we can get ourselves armored up," James said. He went to look out a window for a moment, then shivered and backed away. "Man, that's a long way to fall."

Esk looked down at himself, he always wore body armor, he didn't feel comfortable in another else. "I don't think that's gonna be a problem." He pointed out. He smirked at James. "Scared of heights now too?"