Ivil Antagonist

Interlude Two - Aurora

Aurora didn't have much to do as they essentially took over an entire pirate ship. She stood off to the side, more than a little awkward as the others got to work.

Twenty-Six, the eager little mechanic, rushed ahead once they were on the ship's bridge. It only took her a moment to break though the locking mechanisms on the ship, then she positioned herself behind the engineering station and started to run diagnostics and push through the engine start-up sequence.

It was... a lot, but Twenty-Six was figuring it out. She'd pulled a physical manual from a locker at the back and had it floating next to her as she actively figured out how an entire warship functioned with casual... optimistic ease.

Aurora had been raised in a noble family, of sorts. She'd been taught the value of competence at a young age. It had been drilled into her that if she found someone exceptional and capable, then it was her duty for herself and her family, to make that person part of her retinue, or at least tie them to her family.

Those instincts were telling her that Twenty-Six was quite the catch. Aurora wouldn't mind hiring her, after this was all done.

Then there were the others. Missy was clearly some sort of spy.

There wasn't exactly a set of mannerisms that gave that away, but... Aurora felt she was right on that mark. Her history pointed towards it, in any case, and the fact that she had a few cores and kept it hidden.

Still, Missy didn't feel like a threat. She might have, under ordinary circumstances, but these weren't ordinary.

Aurora looked to the other woman in the room, the one who'd stationed herself in the captain's seat as if she belonged in the position of greatest power in this space. It suited her, which was a little galling.

When Aurora had set out, her mind was occupied on a lot of matters. This little trip, in an unassuming junker of a ship, was going to be her last break before things became increasingly serious and possibly even dire.

She expected to take the time to study, to learn a little, to practice some skills, then she'd arrive in the Jupiter system and things would take off.

The Held Together was meant to be a secretive little ship, one that no one would give a second glance at. One that someone like herself wouldn't have been caught dead on.

Aurora had a few ideas of who had betrayed her plans--changed at the last minute as they were, the arrival of that Martian fleet around Ceres had shifted things around--and she was looking forward to being able to send some communications back to Phobos. Certain people were going to find themselves short a head.

She shook her head. It wasn't the time for daydreams of revenge.

She refocused on Evelyn, then averted her eyes when she caught the woman looking her way.

Miss Ville was... a mystery. No one interesting should have been on the Held Together. Aurora was... tentatively happy to meet Missy, who seemed like exactly the kind of bad idea of a woman to help Aurora relax for a night or two, but otherwise, the trip should have been quiet.

Then there was the Tech Maid, and her strange friend.

Their alliance was as obvious as their attempts to hide it. More importantly, the Adeptus Ancillia was subservient to Evelyn.

That wasn't entirely uncommon. There were plenty of Tech Maids around Phobos, the moon being so close to Mars. They'd treated Aurora herself with kindness and reverence once she made the fact that she had a few cores public knowledge. That was their entire religious credo.

The way that the Ancillia, Savant Sana Pendergast, Keeper of Pristine Networks, Sister of the Order of the Wet Mop, had treated Evelyn should have been the first red flag that Aurora noticed.

She'd been trained to notice social cues like that.

But no. She saw an attractive and powerful member of the Tech Maids (likely a C-classer, which was exceptional) treating a handsome, equally attractive woman well, and her stupid brain had jumped to the wrong conclusion.

She was kicking herself--mentally--for her prior idiocy.

Yes, Miss Ville was attractive. She was relatively well-spoken for someone who wasn't a noble, and she carried herself with a charming amount of confidence, as if she expected the world to bend to her will.

Aurora might have been... interested, at least, before they'd been chased by pirates and Miss Ville had proven that her confidence in herself was more than earned.

No wonder the Adeptus Ancillia was respectful to her. The woman had to be a B-classer, at least. But... no, C and Bs were usually mutated in some way. Aurora's own cores had changed her in small ways, even if none of them were impressive or all that useful.

Miss Ville was capable of walking into a hostile pirate station, ruining it, and stealing a ship from under their noses all the while keeping three others relatively safe.

Aurora didn't have a good feel for people's actual strength. Her education and experiences were tailored to judging others based on the strength of their knowledge, connections, and usefulness. Outright power of this sort was outside of her remit.

Was Miss Ville an A-classer? That would allow her to look however she damned well pleased. But A-classers were few and far between. Phobos had two A-classers amongst its noble families. Mars had perhaps half a hundred in its ranks, at least according to rumours.

There were, overall, perhaps a couple of thousand B-classers in the entire solar system. There were a hundred times as many C-classers, and someone could go their entire life without meeting even a A-classer.

"Aurora?"

Aurora jumped, then stilled her beating heart with an effort of will and made sure her noble's mask was in place. "Yes?" she asked.

Miss Ville smiled, it was surprisingly docile. There was a smear of blood across the white of her chestpiece. "I know I can hardly impose on you, but do you think you could handle the communication system?"

"Oh, that one shouldn't be too complicated!" Twenty-Six chirped. "Half of this ship was designed to be used by people with very little training."

"Pirates," Missy said. She'd taken a spot behind the ship's helm, which was more of a set of consoles with navigational information on them and controls for the ship's manoeuvring thrusters.

"I can try," Aurora said. "You think it's simple?"

"Needs to be," Missy continued. "Pirates don't have a dedicated training system, they're not an army, or a company, or a nation. They grab who they can and shove them in place. You pick it up as you go. These are fancy pirates, which means that they can afford to have most systems automated."

Aurora found the communications station just a little ways from the others. It was surprisingly close to the captain's seat on which Miss Ville was still lounging. Aurora sat herself down, then buckled into the seat. It was... not comfortable, but better than the seats on the Held Together had been. This was a long way from the luxury vessels she'd travelled in, but it wasn't awful. It was at least, surprisingly, clean.

"Twenty-Six, give Aurora the channel for the Held Together," Miss Ville said. "Aurora, would you please inform the captain that we're about to depart? Then switch over to listening to all channels. I'd like to hear the reaction when we leave."

"The... reaction?" Aurora asked. "Yes, I supposed that's going to be a thing."

She hadn't had time, with the running around, being terrified for her life, and the whole discovery that Evelyn was a madwoman, to really consider the consequences of their actions today.

They'd effectively destroyed one of the more successful and stable pirate organisations in the belt.

That would have repercussions.

Probably good ones, overall, since pirates were scum, but repercussions were going to happen no matter what, and she had no idea what they'd be.

"Are we still... going to Jupiter?"

If Miss Ville decided that Aurora was now her captive, then there was little to nothing Aurora could do.

She wasn't sure she enjoyed this level of powerlessness, this amount of submissiveness to someone else. Even someone as handsome and strong as Miss Ville.

"Isn't that where you wanted to go?" Evelyn asked. "I don't see why we can't continue. Though... I might want to talk to you about what's really going on around Jupiter, because I feel like I'm missing a key piece of the puzzle, and I do hate puzzles."

"Yes, of course," Aurora said. "You can interrogate me at your leisure."

Wait, no, that's not what she meant to say.

This whole situation was putting all of her training and efforts to waste, it was utterly ridiculous.

***