Upon Vestia: Chapter Twenty-Five

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Starr shrugged and looked out the window again. "I don't know. I just want things to be normal."

"I'm sure we'll have many more questions soon," Vestia told Marcus. "Get some rest for now, it'll help you heal up."

He weakly chuckled, "very well..."

Mourn watched Vestia's explanation, he shrugged. Given he was an ex pirate and not exactly the most morally sound person, he probably had a rather skewed view of things. "Slaver medic no wish us harm yes?" He asked cautiously.

"Who cares what he wishes, he's a fucking slaver." Matt growled.

Kay looked tired.

Hewitt considered the problem. "How much control does the younger one have?" He asked sensibly. "Given the tendency of this crew to allow dangerous psychopaths to wander around freely and harbor ex criminals and murderers, it would seem to me these two would fit right in." He smirked.

Matt glared at him.

"He doesn't seem to intend us any harm, but we remain suspicious of him," Vestia said in response to Mourn's question. She was translating her answers to Morse and Common so everyone could hear. "We don't know how much control Amari has, but from what Marcus has said, it seems wisest to keep him away from the rest of you for now. Which is what we're doing. Hopefully we can drop these guys off at the next spaceport, and go on our way without them causing us any trouble."

Ellie looked pissed. "We should NOT have slavers on board," she said loudly. "We should have left them out there to die, that's what they'd do to us, if they didn't just enslave us and torture us instead!"

Asher frowned. "We're being careful, and not giving them free run of the ship. Showing mercy is what makes us better than the slavers we fight. If they make us regret this, we'll make them regret abusing our hospitality."

"There's nothing wrong with just killing slavers," Ellie snapped.

"The kid isn't a slaver, he can't help who his father associated with," Vestia pointed out.

"Then dump him at our next stop, and kill Marcus now," Ellie said. "We owe them nothing. Less than nothing! Marcus owes us!"

"Sometimes people change," Ethan suggested quietly.

Ellie glared at Ethan. "You acknowledged you were an evil piece of shit, and decided to change. This guy Marcus is pretending he was good from the start. He's a liar!"

"I'm with Ellie." Matt nodded. "He can pretend like he didn't have a choice or whatever all he likes, wrap it up and rationalize it however he pleases but the fact remains, nobody HAS to be a slaver, there are always other options." He glanced to Ethan. He didn't actually consider him an ex slaver, he'd been a slave right? forced by the stupid rules in his head. Organic people didn't have laws making them comply, they had free will. That made it worse.

Kay shook his head. [Whatever the case, the fact remains that as Asher said, we need to be better than them. By showing mercy we get to keep the moral high ground, we can rest easy knowing we have compassion still. If we resort to vengeance we become no better than our enemies.]

Matt grumbled.

Mourn tilted his head. "Everyone here no saint yes?"

Hewitt chuckled. "Well I can't say i've ever enslaved or murdered anyone."

"Boring plant man excluded then." Mourn huffed.

Armin bowed his head. "The Weaver teaches compassion, if we allow ourselves to sink into rage and vengeance, our souls shall be corrupted and tainted. We should lose ourselves to our anger. "

Kay nodded. [We need to remain better.]

Armin nodded back. "It is easy to feel hate and anger for those we see to have wronged us, but we lose more in indulging it than we do by rising above. Killing these people will not change the past, it will not alter anything, but we will lose our souls."

Matt kept glaring. "First space station we come to, we're leaving them there then."

Kay nodded [That would seem the be a good compromise.]

Starr looked to Matt then shook her head a little "Marcus was changing, we helped teach him to change. He didn't live long enough for that to bear out in his life, but he accepted that he couldn't be a slaver anymore. I spoke to him after and I have spoken to Marcus. I feel no ill will from him, just fear of what we would do to him or his son. It was our plan as soon as we picked them up to drop them off at a space station."

Matt still didn't look convinced. "Slavers don't change, they care only about themselves and the power it gives them. Once a slaver, always a slaver."

Matt please... Kay tried.

"Don't you start." Matt glared at Kay. "None of you want to listen to me so what's the point? You'll just do whatever you want anyway, you always do." He wheeled back and toward the exit. "Do what you want, just don't expect me to be happy about it."

Kay shook his head. Matt was stubborn as heck, and still really angry.

Ethan caught Matt's look and shrugged. Yeah, he'd been a slave. Didn't mean he hadn't been a shitty person too. He frowned as Matt left.

"Yes, we'll leave them at the next spaceport. Once we've patched them up, we'll have done our part," Vestia said. "What they do next is their business."

Asher looked skeptical at Starr's assertion that Matthew could change. That man had been really vile, from what he'd seen of him. And waaaay too delusional to see the error in his ways. Maybe Marcus could, but he doubted it with Matthew.

Ellie got up to follow Matt, then paused. "Seriously. A bullet in the skull is the best solution here."

Starr sighed and looked down at her hands in her lap. "No, Ellie, it isn't. We cannot murder people for their pasts. We are not judge, jury and executioners, we are flawed ourselves." She was flawed and had killed.

Mourn shrugged. "if they try hurt, we shoot. " Seemed perfectly reasonable to him. If they proved a threat they'd be dealt with right?

Armin kept his head lowered, looking troubled.

Asher nodded. "Like Mourn says, we're not going to let them do whatever they want without consequence. It's not our job to decide who lives and who dies, but it is our job to protect our own."

Ellie sighed. She didn't like this at all. They were so going to regret letting these people on board.

"They are confined to their room until we reach a space station to drop them off at." Starr added softly. "I hope it won't take long before they can be on their way once more." If only to make this crew feel better.

Armin nodded. "I have faith it shall turn out for the best."

Kay frowned, he wished he could be so optimistic.
[It's all we can do. They can't escape anyway. Vestia can seal any blast doors if they try. They're no threat to us now.] He reasoned. Well, no threat to everyone else. They were still potentially a threat to any medic who went to see them. Bah.

Mourn shrugged. "okay." He stood up. "I go back to work now."

Hewitt snored gently in his seat, he'd fallen asleep.

Asher nodded. "We're safe enough." Hey, if the vampires lost control and tried to kill him, they'd have to gnaw through his data bank, and probably would break their teeth on the metal. "I guess the meeting's over," he added, looking slightly amused.

Ellie left. Stupid meeting

Ethan got up and looked at Hewitt. He went over and prodded his shoulder lightly.

Hewitt snorted and opened his eyes. "What?" He snapped.

Kay stood up,nodding to Asher.

Mourn bounded off to get back to work.

Armin held out a hand to Starr to help her up. "All shall be well." He insisted, he sincerely believed that.

Starr looked to Armin and took his hand to stand "Thank you Armin" She said softly. She hoped so, but if Ellie and Matt could be like this against this Marcus, then how would they act to her if they found out all she had done. She tended to gloss over her past so often.

As their meeting wrap up Marcus would wake, he never slept long centuries of being waken at any time to fight in that pit. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he sat up heading to see if he could get water or not, he looked at his son, a idea that was frankly insane toyed in his head. He had to keep him somewhere safe, even if it meant pleading with those who want him dead. "I'm going to assume my request been denied?"

Armin bowed his head to Starr and walked with her. "I fear some of our crew have much anger still in their hearts. I pray they find some peace from their demons."

--

Kay looked to Asher and shook his head. [That went about as well as expected.]

Ethan jumped at Hewitt's annoyed tone. "Meeting's over," he muttered.

Asher wheeled after Kay. "Hey, it could have been worse."

~~
"I really don't think they're ready to trust you that much," Vestia told Marcus. "Try waiting a few days and we'll see."

"Fair enough." He sighed, "Thank you though, honestly..." he searched for a cup for water. "I'm going to assume this is a high end prison? Better then even the gladiator dorms..." he admitted with surprise.

"These are my first class suites. You can't leave them, so I figured you should at least be comfortable," Vestia said. "My brig isn't this nice."

Hewitt scoffed. "Nobody threw any punches, how disappointing."

"Must nicer then a majority of transportation or auction cells." He said the truthfully, rubbing the brand on his arm.

"Hey, the angriest person can't even walk, kinda limits the opportunities for violence," Ethan said. He looked amused. "For a guy who claims violence is for savage races, you're surprisingly bloody minded."

~~
"I wouldn't know, nobody's ever put me in a transportation cell," Vestia joked.

Marcus chuckled, "You are lucky. I've always wondered why your kind choose to do this, coming from someone born and bred into slavery to only be freed recently by most races standards."

"Why I choose to do what? Have passengers?" Vestia asked curiously. The camera tilted slightly. "It's a symbiotic relationship. I keep my passengers healthy and happy, and they do the same for me. It's not like what you've been through, what you went through sounds a lot less humane."

He listen and cocked his head, "Is there more of your kind? Forgive me, my kind... well we been barred from most info till recently."