Homestar Saga

Chapter 52: Literally Pirates

The woman stared at the box for a moment, then threw herself at Yvian. Yvian's hand twitched towards her blaster, but she stifled the ingrained response. The woman hugged her, sobbing into her chest. Protective instincts or not, Yvian wasn't ready for the sudden contact. She stiffened. It took a moment to force herself to relax. Yvian draped an arm around the weeping lady, using her other hand to awkwardly pat the flerg's shoulder. She let the woman cry.

It felt like it took forever, but it was probably only a few minutes. Not more than five. The woman cried herself out. When she released Yvian and stepped back, Yvian handed her the box of tissues. The flerg had dripped snot all over her voidarmor. Yvian activated the cleaning function 

while the lady blew her nose.

"What's your name?" Yvian asked.

The woman dropped another tissue into the trash receptacle next to the med pod. She sniffled again, and answered. "Kolva. Kolva Tegarn"

"It's nice to meet you, Kolva." Yvian gave her a smile. "I'm Yvian."

Kolva placed her hands on Yvian's shoulders in the flerg version of a handshake. Yvian mirrored the gesture. They each squeezed three times, then let go. Kolva managed a small smile as Yvian stepped back.

Yvian went to one of the counters and grabbed the clothes Mims had brought in. She handed them to Kolva and politely turned her back so the flerg could get dressed. The clothes consisted of a single very long strip of multicolored cloth. The cloth was half a meter thick in the middle, but tapered down to ten centimeters on each end. Kolva used the cloth to cover the entirety of her body, leaving only her neck, head, hands, and feet exposed. She was still barefoot, as Mims hadn't been able to find her shoes. Yvian suspected they'd been vaporized when the plasma bolts hit.

Now that the woman was dressed and a little calmer, it was time to ask some questions. Pirate attacks were usually straightforward affairs, but the Captain had insisted they get as much information as they could. Yvian agreed with that policy, but she wished she didn't have to be the one to do it. Normally Lissa was in charge of public relations, but she was busy repairing the Niroco. The Captain had taken a few repair drones and started work on the damaged pirate ships, since the MACdriver had put a hole all the way through each of them. It was just as well, she supposed. Mims hated dealing with new people, and while Yvian's appearance was reassuring, the sight of a human would have filled Kolva with terror. Yvian herself had panicked and attacked the Captain the first time they met.

"So, Kolva," Yvian tried for another smile, realized it looked fake, and dropped it for a more neutral expression. "Can you tell me what happened?"

In fits and starts, Kolva told the tale. She and Velga had purchased their ship several years ago. They'd started out as independent traders, but a run of bad luck had wiped out their resources. With no other prospects, they'd hired themselves out transporting goods for Trelco. Yvian shook her head when she heard the name.

Trelco was one of the larger shipping companies. They mostly preyed on the desperate. Trelco had made a science of paying their freighter captains enough to keep working in the void, but not enough that they could get ahead or seek other prospects. Captains that contracted with Trelco and their ilk usually found themselves trapped, unable to afford proper upkeep on their ships and too poor to purchase the training or equipment to seek other opportunities. Eventually, contractors with Trelco either lost their ships to wear and tear or defaulted on their loan payments and got sold into slavery. Usually both.

That was assuming pirates didn't get them, first. Trelco provided escorts to their freighters, but the fighter pilots they hired weren't treated much better than the freighter captains, themselves. The escorts usually consisted of only two ships, usually run down. The pilots were more likely to abandon their charges then turn and fight. Kolva's escort had abandoned them at the first sign of trouble.