He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Eighty Eight - Give Me My Nephews

"Your sons?" Jezmi said, in a slightly strangled tone. "Excuse me for saying this, but they don't exactly look like you."

"Take after their mom," the Captain shrugged, the red leather waist coat he wore over a faded T-shirt creaked with the movement.

"Their mom you say," Jezmi continued. "They resemble a little my sister, who happened to disappear pregnant over a decade ago..."

"Well isn't that a coincidence?" The Captain replied, looking her dead in the eye. "Sorry to disappoint, but their mom was a Pirate like this old man. Now if you will excuse me, I need to make sure they got their sorry arses back on the ship."

He drained his drink and got up to leave. "Was?" Jezmi pressed on this one fact.

But the man had nothing more to say to her, instead turning to Jariden and saying; "Thanks for the drink." And with that, he left.

"He lied to me!" Jezmi claimed, infuriated, banging her fists on the table. "Disgusting, cheating scoundrel dared lie to me!"

"Honestly," Jariden made a light attempt to soothe her. "Did you really think he would risk losing his sons, who he raised for nearly thirteen years on a chance encounter with someone who claims that they might be blood related?"

"I am their aunt!" Jezmi was not so easily pacified. "And they are being raised as filthy pirates!"

Jariden shook his head and frowned. "You shouldn't tar all pirates with the same brush. Granted their line of work is... questionable, but I doubt they all chose to be pirates just for a laugh." Seeing her angry pout, he sighed. "When I first went into the glasswares business, I set up a factory with a few artisans, two who I inadvertently poached from another company. That company were, let's say, unhappy that a start up company could take two of their top designers, so sought... well it was revenge really.

"They found a man, who happened to be in dire straights due to his daughter being seriously ill in hospital and he was struggling to pay the hospital fees as well as feed his family. He happened to work for me, but I didn't know him that well, if I had, I might have offered to help him out a bit. Regardless, that other company got to him first and he sold several secrets to that company, including two designs we were due to release. They released them first and suddenly we were sitting on a warehouse of unsellable goods; if we had released them, they would look like copies, no matter that they were of better quality and workmanship. Our reputation would have taken a massive hit before it could be formed. It nearly put my company under, I had to sell the factory and warehouse, let go of most of my employees including that man.

"I don't blame him though. He was desperate and naive and they offered him a ton of money."

"I don't see what your point is," Jezmi scowled, pushing her unfinished drink to the centre of the table.

"Your views are too black and white, Jezmi," Jariden told her. "Just because your nephews are being raised by a man, who happens to be a pirate, doesn't mean that they or he are bad people. Everyone has their own circumstances. Besides, you can clearly tell that he cares for them."

"Family should be raised by family," the stubborn woman insisted, sweeping his views beneath the table as if it were sand traipsed in from outside. With that, she stormed out of the bar, leaving him to settle the tab.

When Jariden caught up with her, he found her arguing with the pirate Captain of the Sabine, causing him to sigh. Granted, he had his own reasons for hunting this ship, but the boy was merely fifteen. There were plenty more opportunities to teach him not to steal from him. His throat became dry as his imagination considered what the boy would look like, teary blue eyes gazing up at him, apologising profusely for his misdemeanours.

"They are my nephews!" Jezmi was shrieking, bitterly, tearing him from his musings.  "We need to discuss your terms for handing them over to their rightful family."

"There is nothing to discuss," the Captain growled. "I suggest you leave before I do something you regret." Jariden attempted to pull her away by her elbow in order that the situation not blow up to be any worse than it already was, but she shook him off.

"Captain!" The boy with the beautiful blue eyes appeared at the entrance to the ship. He gazed down at the man and was sharp to notice his company. His face flushed red as he recognised the man he stole from, but he raised his chin arrogantly as if challenging Jariden. The burning in Jariden's chest increased by several degrees. Oh so you wish to play it that way do you...

"What is it, Zee? You boys better be behaving!"

"Um, we are? Forget that, Captain! Sly says we've got incoming!"

"Incoming?" As if to answer his question, lasers blasted the sand dunes nearby, blowing up one of the smaller air filtration rigs. "Fuck! Get aboard, now!" He yelled at his crew, now completely ignoring Jezmi, who was torn between arguing and running for safety.

Jariden had no such qualms and dragged her along with him. "Now's not the time!" She allowed him to pull her with him for a moment, turning as she heard the Sabine's engines warm up and the ship begin to rise. She cursed before fleeing full speed to her ship, Jariden just about keeping up with her. To his dismay, the freighter, who he had paid passage to tag along with, had already fled. Not that he could blame them, in these circumstances. The hollow ships were nothing but torn up pieces of hot metal now and the Alliance ships were targeting the fleeing pirate ships. The Sabine was no longer anywhere to be seen.

"Get on," Jezmi cried at him, as she jumped into the cockpit of the scout and quickly worked through the launch sequence. She might be pissed off with him, but she wouldn't leave him there to die. He settled on board, barely a second before the scout flew rapidly upward and darted for the atmosphere. Fortunately, as a small fry, they were ignored and were quickly able to make their escape to the Imperial border. But Jezmi could not help but swear nearly all of the way.