If You Love Someone, Blow Them Up.
As was her custom, Persephone Astrid sat perched atop a bar stool in The Fighting and Drinking Pub, mostly oblivious to the rest of the pub’s patrons. It was early in the evening, and the pub resonated with the murmurs and occasional excited outbursts of the regular crowd. An older capsuleer who never said much sat to Persehone’s left, nursing a highball glass filled with amber-colored liquor. The seat to her right was empty. Persephone’s PDA lay on the bar in front of her, and she intently poked at its touch screen, diligently studying to improve her high-speed piloting skills. Occasionally she paused to take a sip from her favorite ale or to munch another chip dipped in tangy sauce. She’d made the effort to look presentable this evening; instead of wearing her usual coveralls she wore a burgundy midriff-length cropped jacket and steel grey high-waisted flat-fronted pants. Black wedge-heeled leather boots completed the outfit, but even with the heels, she was still shorter than almost everyone else in the room.
Looking up from the PDA’s display, Persephone stretched her shoulders and brushed a stray strand of her black hair behind her right ear. Glancing out the large permapane viewscreen which dominated one wall of the pub, she could look directly out into the space surrounding the space station. When Hap, the pub’s proprietor, had cashed in and retired from a life of piracy, he’d had more than enough money to lease this premium plot within the station.
“He’s still out there,” Hap smirked as he set another paper-lined basket of warm chips on the bar in front of Persephone. His brow furrowed only a millimeter as he focused his gaze through the permapane. His eyes, even though they were bloodshot from the vacuum of space, were still keener than most.
“How do you do that?” Persephone asked, squinting and looking and seeing only a tiny fleck out in space. “Can I borrow your binocs?”
Hap fished in the pocket of his comfortable cardigan sweater and retrieved a tiny set of binoculars. They looked miniscule in his hand as he handed them to Persephone, but the active optics were surprisingly powerful.
“Here ya go, Hon.”
“Thanks,” Persephone replied. She held the tiny device in her fingertips and peered into space, turning sideways on her bar stool. The computer-driven binoculars made faint buzzes and whirs as they resolved the image. “Yeah, that’s him all right,” Persephone said sourly, still looking out into space. Through the binoculars, she could see that a fleet-issue Stabber orbited the main docking bay, piloted by Icer Xx, who had become something of a fixture outside Persephone’s home station.
“He must have it bad for you,” Hap noted, wondering if he’d ever done anything so foolish when he was a younger pilot. He hoped not.
Persephone chuckled and returned the binoculars to Hap.
“I figure it’s some kind of repressed crush or something,” Persephone suggested, shrugging. “Since Icer can’t have me, the next best thing is to chase me around and shoot at me. What a weird boy.” She dipped another warm chip into the spicy green sauce and popped it into her mouth.
“What are you going to do about it?” Hap asked, glancing down the bar to watch over his other patrons.
“Nothing I guess,” Persephone replied. “I mean, all he ever does is sit out there, and when I dock or undock he tries to chase me a little.”
“He’s shot you down three times,” Hap pointed out. “That’s more than just ‘chasing you a little.’”
“Oh, he only shoots me down when I’m pursuing him,” Persephone explained. “Never the other way around. When he chases me, he’s too slow and I get away with ease. It’s trivial, really.”
“Oh really?” Hap asked, sensing a story. “It looks like some friends of yours are out there now too.” Outside, the lonely fleet-issue cruiser had been joined by two cruisers and a battlecruiser, all bearing the distinctive markings of The Bastards. Like sharks, the four ships began circling and probing each others’ defenses.
“Oh yeah,” Persephone echoed seeing the impending skirmish too. Sudden faint flickers of light told her that the ships were exchanging fire. As she watched, she continued to talk. “The first time he shot me down, I’d tried to tackle him here in Evati, but my support was too far away to help me, so he got me. That’s fair enough. I learned a lesson right there, ya know?”
Hap nodded, still peering out the window. The fleet-issue Stabber had turned abruptly, and it became easier to see as it ran toward the safety of the space station. The three Bastards ships followed, still firing at the Stabber.
“The second time we’d lured him into a trap near here but away from the station, using Mynxee for bait,” Persephone continued. “Even though he was way outgunned by our larger ambush fleet, he still made it a point to target and shoot me before we all blasted his ship into smithereens. And the third time, we caught him way the hell away from Evati while we were out on patrol, and yet again even though he was outgunned, he targeted and shot me down before going down himself.”
“That’s love all right,” Hap snorted. As he spoke, Icer’s ship entered the station’s docking bay and the three Bastards ships veered away, then settled into lazy parking orbits. “How many of those fleet-issue Stabbers does he have, anyway? They’re not cheap.”
“I dunno,” Persephone replied. “We’ll find out how many he has when he stops flying them because we’ve blown them all up, I guess. Oh how about that, he docked up. Surprise, surprise.” Persephone rolled her eyes. “He does this all the time.”
“Maybe you should go visit him in the docking bay,” Hap suggested playfully.
“Oh good grief no,” Persephone said. “With my luck he’d follow me here to the pub and find out that I hang around here on my off time, and then I’d never be rid of him!”
Persephone’s PDA beeped tunelessly for her attention, and a flashing message appeared on its screen.
“Message from your lover?” Hap asked, arching his eyebrows and not letting go of the joke.
“Nah,” Persephone replied, pushing her stool back from the bar and standing up. “Hellcats meeting in five minutes. We’re going over fleet protocol and tactics with the new recruits.”
“New recruits eh? How’s that going?” Hap asked.
“It’s going great,” Persephone said cheerfully. “Except–” she trailed off.
“Except for what?”
“Except I’m not the new girl any more. Now I have to be responsible and stuff. Can you believe that?” Persephone tucked her PDA into her small courier bag and slung it over her shoulder.
Hap laughed. “Unthinkable! Now get out of here and don’t be late, Responsible Persephone.”
Persephone stuck out her tongue playfully, then pivoted smartly on her heel, turning a textbook about-face. “Catch ya later!” she shouted over her shoulder, waving as she went.
“God, they get younger every year,” Hap muttered as he watched her depart. “Was I ever like that?”
The veteran capsuleer who had been seated to Persephone’s left spoke up with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Heavens no, Hap. She’s much cuter than you ever were.”
Great story, really well written! We learn a little more about you with each one.
Wonderful story telling; well-done and you help add so much flavour to our (as in The Bastards and The Hellcats) world. Icer Xx is a funny boy, loves to smack as well. However, hats off to him for losing so many stabber fleet issues; a case of too much isk, too little brain. Am a bit alarmed that he seems to target you!
xx
F