Brass Skies vol 2 (Draft)

Hired Gun part 13

The next morning Asuka woke up alone in the cabin. Dressing quickly and donning the minimal amount of weaponry that she felt safe carrying, she made her way to the mess to grab breakfast. When she arrived, she was surprised to find only a couple of handfuls of the crew there, most clumped at one table but a few scattered off in ones and twos.

She received an offer to join the group, but she ignored it, grabbing a bowl of porridge and fruit and a mug of water, before heading to an empty table.

One of the men grumbled about her lack of response, but was hushed by a familiar voice. "Give her her space."

Asuka looked up to see Peters heading straight for her table. She left out a soft sigh as he sat down. "You are clearly not one to take your own advice," she observed wryly.

"Perks of being an officer," Peters replied before sitting down. "Actually, I need to talk to you."

Asuka's brown eyes narrowed skeptically as she studied him. At last she sighed, "Talk."

***

The coldness of her voice washed over Peters causing him to flinch slightly. "You may hear more about this from Clarabelle or Jezebel later, but once we're done with the two British ships, we're going to be landing in a port in a couple of days, perhaps even as early as tomorrow night or sometime in the following day."

"If you are saying I need to be careful, save your breath," Asuka's voice managed to drop an octave, sounding both husky and menacing as she leaned towards him. "I can take care of myself."

Shaking his head, Peters let out an exasperated sigh. "Actually, you're one of the people I would be least concerned about in that respect. In fact, if you were familiar with the port and town, there are a couple of people I would probably ask you to escort although the port is not nearly as terribly dangerous as you might think, all things considered. It's only marginally more dangerous than the port we just left."

Asuka leaned back slightly, allowing Peters to relax a bit. "Escorting crew on leave is not part of my contract. It would cost extra."

At Peters' chuckle she snorted. "So if you are not here to warn me to be careful, why are you here?"

Sliding into the seat across from her, Peters sat down his porridge and mug. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin flipping it at Asuka who though startled, still managed to catch it. She peered at it then eyed Peters with a tilted head.

Giving her his best grin, Peters replied. "We were wondering if you would be amenable to amending your contract a bit, to earn a few more of these."

"Watashi ga kiite iru." Asuka raised her eyebrows slightly. At Peter's confused expression she sighed. "That means: I am listening, baka."