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.

"Thanks, man." James smiled at Rigel. "Anyone else wanna come with us?"

Dawn shrugged and glanced around. She wasn't sure if she wanted to wander.

Luka nodded. "Sure, let's stretch our legs."

James headed for the airlock. "Too bad Berit and Trygve aren't here now, they were fun," he said wistfully. "I wonder if Berit has her babies yet, I don't know how long vavare gestation takes."

"Maybe Swarm knows." Luka suggested, it was the sort of thing they might. Personally she found the image of teeny baby spider people rather horrifying and tried not to shudder.

"Good idea. Hey Swarm, any of you still here?" James asked the air.

No answer. Luka frowned. "looks like they took the instruction to find Hytar seriously... " Hmm, well they'd be back, they seldom went far right?

"Oh well, guess we'll have to ask them later. Let's go take a look at this place and remember all the great times we had here," James said.

Luka snorted. "Yeah... " She headed into the station.

Rigel left with James and Luka, looking around at the night time station.

James followed Luka pretty closely. "Gotta love space stations like this. They're always packed with friendly people." There weren't many people out right now, but the ones who were looked kinda shifty.

Tala stayed with the Silver Devil to guard it.

Dawn left the ship alone after a while. She had been debating whether to stay or explore and finally decided to go out.

Luka pulled her jacket close. "They don't look that friendly." She told him.

--

Meanwhile Esk had found a relatively quiet public area to sit and sketch and not be harrassed. People were too busy going about their evening to bother him and this suited him just fine.
He was keeping half an eye out for anyone he recognised as being linked to his father though, mostly because he didn't want to be surprised by that asshole.

---

Swarm searched the station.

"I was being ironic," James said. "This is why I'm staying near you and Rigel, cause these guys are scary as heck." Rigel and Luka both looked a lot more intimidating than he did, at least.
"I'd say we should go to a bar and get drunk, but we don't want to if we're gonna have a meeting soon."

"Right" Rigel said and shook his head "We do not want to go to a meeting drunk."

~~
Danw wandered the streets quietly, just looking around the place. She wasn't looking for anyone or anything in particular, just wandering.

"Not with that guy anyway." Luka agreed.

"Lieutenant Falk!" Someone yelled across the atrium.

Luka froze, hand instinctively going to her gun.

A tanned skinned man with large pointed ears, matted hair and large paws instead of feet bounded toward the group with a ridiculous toothy grin on his face.

"Lope?" Luka let her hand drop to her side.

Lope laughed. "In the flesh. " He grinned at James and Rigel. "Hey." He recognized Rigel but had no clue who the guy with the badge was.

"So your boss is here?" Luka asked warily.

"Yeah, well, not here here. He's on the ship. We got here a few hours ago, he said we could take a little shore leave while he got stuff ready for the morning. I dunno, I think he just wanted rid of us all." He laughed. "Damn it's good to see you again."

Luka looked a bit awkward. "So.. he's on the ship yes? no chance of running into him?" well that was somewhat of a relief.

"Naah, he's not big on the whole socializing with the underlings thing." Lope snickered.

James watched Luka's reaction to try and figure out whether this guy was okay or not. "Hey man," he said to Lope after a few moments, "You're part of the crew of the guy we're meeting?" He smiled. Seemed rude not to smile if this guy was smiling, right?

Lope nodded. "Lope Brightstar, Pilot, engineer, odd jobs." He grinned and extended a hand to shake.

Rigel nodded at the guy "Hello" he said simply

"Good to meet you," James said. He shook Lope's hand. "You and Luka are friends, then?" Or, you know, maybe Lope was just weird. Hard to tell when he'd just met the guy.

"Kinda." Luka explained. She didn't think the guy was totally awful, he was weird sure, but they got along.

Lope shrugged. "What she said. Never contradict a lady." He chuckled. "you're all looking well. This all of you or you got the whole crew this time?"

"There's a few more of us here, not just ones you remember though. And Vicky ditched us," James said. Good riddance, he thought. He smiled brightly.

Lope actually giggled at the mention of Vicky, but turned and matched pace with the group. "Yeah so I hear."

Luka shot James a funny look. Lope was being weird. Wierder...

"So what about you? Is it just you?" She asked.

Lope shook his head. "Hell no. The boss decided to make it a proper field trip. That's part of the reason he made us all go on shore leave. Too much bickering. But damn, you try being trapped on a ship for weeks with a telepath who can't stop reading everyone's thoughts and a girl who tries to stab anyone who gets too close, it's NOT fun. " He kept grinning though. "I dunno where they went, a few of them are probably drinking. We were told not to get drunk but they probably weren't listening. "

"So you hear? Where did you hear about Vicky?" James asked. That giggle was kinda suspicious. Hmm... "So you're just avoiding the others, then? Good plan."

"Oh they aren't that bad, just after weeks of being cooped up with them it's nice to get away." Lope shrugged. "Vicky? oh.. yeah.. she's working for the boss now."

Luka stared at him wide eyed. "But.. she SHOT HIM!"

"shh." Lope hissed.
People were starting.

"What?" James looked stunned. "But she's a..." he realized that maybe Lupe might be friends with Vicky, and censored himself. "I'm sure she's very useful for whatever jobs you guys do," he finished lamely.

"but.. but she shot your boss" Luka repeated a little quieter this time.

"Yeah, the boss doesn't seem to really mind. He said it showed... gumption and exceptional aim... " Lope shook his head.

Luka just looked stunned.