Once the excitement from the escape died down, Captain remembered just how boring space travel could get at times. Aurelia piloted the tiny escort shuttle, complaining about how cramped it was, while the Beans chilled out in the back. Captain taught a bit of Standard Galactic to Gnome, and he developed a sort of sign language with the mute Crewmate. He decided to call them Cub, as they reminded him of another mute crewmate of indeterminate gender from a long time ago.
"We need to find the rest of our friends," Captain told the Ald, attempting to perch on her shoulder. "I had a crew of eleven besides me, now nine of them are unaccounted for."
Aurelia did some quick math. "You said there were originally twelve of you -- minus you and Gnome, that makes ten crewmates. Shouldn't you be looking for ten Beans, not nine?"
"One of them is dead," Captain said a bit quietly. "The raiders killed him before taking the rest of us captive."
"Oh." An awkward silence fell over the Ald. "I'm sorry."
"He, uh, outed himself as an impostor and not a crewmate. Um, don't feel bad, I guess. He was kind of a jerk."
"What's an impostor?"
Captain was a pilot, not a Bean biologist, but he tried his best to explain. "They're a Bean, but more dangerous. They sneak into groups of crewmates to kill us. Nobody knows why."
The Ald glanced over her shoulder at him quizzically. "And they look like you? A cute little fluff ball like you, but it's a crazed murderer. Is that what I'm getting here?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"That's messed up." Aurelia flicked some switches on the navigator. "We're getting close to a safe planet. You want to stop here? We can pick up food and fuel."
Captain passed along the idea to the others.
"Sounds good to me," Gnome said. Cub nodded.
Eventually the ship pulled up to a small purple planet blinking with city lights. Cub pressed their face to the viewport and stared in wonder as their craft lowered itself into the planet's atmosphere, slowly falling through the clouds. It came to a soft landing at a star port, near a large and strangely-shaped building. It looked like a wheel, or maybe a planet with rings -- a giant outer circle surrounding a main building, connected with walkways.
"All right, everyone out," Aurelia said, picking up Cub and placing them with the others. "Captain, tell the others to stick with me. We don't want anyone getting lost out here."
"Will do." He did so, warning his friends that straying from the group could mean getting abducted all over again.
The group of three little Beans standing around a tall and scary Ald didn't turn any heads as they entered the star port. To the others, it was just business as usual. Everywhere Captain looked, a new and unusual alien species stared back at him. He saw avian species stretching their wings after long voyages, primates bouncing about on their nimble legs, reptiles loitering near heat registers, and more. He didn't see any other Beans, though.
"Wow, look at all that!" Gnome exclaimed, gesturing widely with her paws. She couldn't read Standard Galactic, but she could recognize food vendors and spacecraft garages when she saw them. And they were there by the dozens. She smiled, remembering why she'd joined MIRA in the first place -- to see all the vibrance space had to offer. The Skeld's crew should get out more, she thought to herself.
"Is anyone hungry?" Aurelia asked them.
None of the Beans had eaten since they were captured. "I thought you'd never ask!"
Once they'd secured snacks (fruit cookies for the Beans, some kind of meat jerky for Aurelia), Captain needed to use the bathroom. For safety's sake, everyone else had to come along too. This being outer space where hundreds of species and, consequently, hundreds of genders intermingled, the hub station's facilities were labelled "who cares, just wash your hands."
"I think she's really nice," Gnome said of Aurelia, standing under a stream of water. Cub squeaked in agreement. The Beans were giving their fur some long-overdue cleaning in the washroom sinks. Captain hunched over the sinks, jetting water on himself until his white fur sparkled. If there was one thing he couldn't abide besides not getting his way, it was dirty fur. Turns out, Cub had unusual, but interesting, curly purple fur underneath all that dirt and dust.
"Guys. Good news," Aurelia said when they all emerged from the facilities. "I asked around while you guys were washing up, and I got recommended a good used-ship lot. I need some more leg room when I'm flying."
She chuckled, squatting slightly to emphasize her long Ald legs.
"Oh, good idea!" Captain nodded. "We'll need more room anyway. Who knows when we might come across one of my crewmates and we need to pick them up?"
It sounded a little too optimistic to Aurelia, but she held her tongue.
She landed the escort ship on the outskirts of the lot, which was way at the end of the hub station. Its engine made a nasty grinding sound as it touched down, and the whole hull shuddered as it came to a stop. Gnome cringed.
"That didn't, uh, sound good," she said to Captain.
"All righty then," Aurelia muttered. "Good thing we're here to get a new ship. This chunk of junk won't handle another flight."
With her ever-present gaggle of Bean friends, the Ald searched the lot for a decent ship. Most of them were too big, being old carrier craft or mass transport, and she knew those would have an equally big price tag. Something a space pirate and three recently escaped hostages couldn't afford. Besides, spacecraft dealers on hub areas like this one were notorious cheats.
And then she found it. The perfect craft, exactly what she was envisioning, sitting at the edge of the lot like a princess awaiting a rescuer. That was the metaphor Captain used when pointing it out, and everyone else was too polite to tell him it was dumb. Whatever.
The ship wasn't big, but it would make for a more accommodating, comfortable flight than the escort ship. That thing was a glorified escape pod. It had little laser turrets mounted on its wings and a generous bubble-shaped cockpit window that would give Aurelia a decent view of the surrounding cosmos. And, judging by its small size and lack of bells and whistles, she might actually be able to afford it. A beefy green Bingfish loitered by the ship, checking the shield generator on the ship parked next to it.
Aurelia approached. "Hey, are you the ship sales guy?"
He turned to face her. "Yeah. Why, you want one?"
"I'm looking to upgrade. This thing looks like it might do the trick." She gestured toward the craft. "My craft is parked over there, as you can see. What say you to trading it in for this?"
The big green alien looked over at the battered escort ship and laughed heartily. It was a mean, crowing guffaw.
"Haw! You want one of my ships in exchange for that hunk of junk? I'm surprised that thing didn't fall apart as soon as you landed. Are you seriously trying to get around in a space lifeboat?"
"That's why I'm trying to upgrade," Aurelia said through clenched teeth.
"Throw in something else to sweeten the deal," he said, picking at the skin on his hands. "The ship for scrap, plus something extra to trade."
"All right, fine." She shrugged. "What do you want?"
The Bingfish looked at the Beans huddled around Aurelia's feet. "Hmm...tell you what. Throw in those little fuzzballs, and we'll call it a deal."
"Hold on a second there, pal," Captain spoke up, his eye narrowing. "Let's get something straight. My friends and I are not pets."
"Yeah, no go," Aurelia added. "They're my companions."
"Hmph. Well, that's a shame," the Bingfish replied. "The white one would make a nice mantle for my wife...Are you sure you won't trade them?"
Gnome understood enough of what he'd said to annoy her, and she moved in front of Captain protectively.
"They're sentient, you freak," the Ald snapped at him. While she gave the Bingfish a piece of his mind, Captain subtly motioned to Gnome and told her, "They usually have the keys behind the desk. Go get it."
Gnome nodded and scampered off.
Aurelia tried to think of a way to buy some time. "You know, the ship isn't just a space lifeboat. Honest, it will be worth your time."
"Hmph. How so, lady?"
"Well, its hull plating is pakarium. Super strong and radiation resistant. It's not the cheapest stuff out there, let me tell you that."
"Oh yeah?" The big green alien crossed his arms. "Then why waste it on a dinky escape pod if it's so valuable?"
"Because escape pods need to be strong, silly! Shrapnel from an exploding ship, laser fire, asteroids...think, man, think!"
"Hmm. I guess that makes sense."
It really didn't -- Aurelia was totally bullshitting him -- but it did buy her some time. And it got his attention off her Bean friends to boot. While the Ald continued to wax lyrical about the benefits of pakarium, Gnome returned. She subtly slipped a blue keycard into Aurelia's hand.
The dealer wasn't even looking at them at that moment; he got distracted by a blue monkey-like alien inspecting a nearby hover-cruiser. He glanced back at Aurelia with a snide expression.
"You know what, lady? I have a customer to reel in. I can't stand around listening to you talk all day. If you don't have the stuff to pay for that craft, why are you even waiting around?"
For an opportunity, that's why. With his back turned as he tried to convince the blue monkey that the hover-cruiser was a steal, Aurelia opened up the spacecraft and hoisted the Beans inside. The Bingfish turned just in time to see her waving cheekily at him before slamming the cockpit doors shut.
"Hey, wait! You can't do that!" he shouted, but she fired the engines, drowning out his voice. "Come baaaack!"
The Ald cackled gleefully behind the ship's dashboard, with Captain perched on her shoulder. "Bye-bye!"
Their new, ill-gotten ship blasted into the sky. Gnome giggled about how she'd never been part of a carjacking before, and Cub didn't really seem fluttered by anything. They just sat in a passenger seat and munched on the last of their fruit cookies.
"Okay, so maybe that was a dirty thing for us to do," Aurelia admitted as they coasted away from the hub planet. "But what can I say. Once a pirate, always a pirate. Besides, we needed a new ride, and that dude was a jerk anyway..."
"Point taken," Captain said. "Hey, this thing has a connection to the holonet."
He tapped on the digital keypad for the small screen in front of the navigator's seat. He typed in "MIRA", hoping to see if he could get any leads from that. His search provided him with a news bulletin.
"Hmm...Skeld Attacked, Crew Gone Missing...that's us!" He scrolled through the story. "It says an investigation is underway. But that's all. What do they mean, and investigation? Are they even looking for us?"
Even though she couldn't understand all of the Standard Galactic he was speaking, Gnome could hear Captain's confidence falter with that last sentence. She wrapped her paws around him.
"Do they care?" the white Bean asked, now in his own language. Gnome purred sympathetically.
To further tank everyone's mood, Aurelia saw a blip of something on the radar. It was a small (but still larger than their ship) craft flying behind them. Except it seemed to be very purposefully hanging just at the edge of her radar, dipping in and out of perception, positioned straight behind them and mirroring every turn and tilt of their ship.
"Hey. Someone's following us..."