Hate And Heresy

Moya looked all about with calm curiosity. Meek had taken them to the shipyard where spacefaring vessels came and went of every description. The facility itself wasn't very large, as most spacesh.i.p.s that came to their world were only using it as fuel stop, but outside the windows there were many launchpads and mechanical spires waiting to be used. The scale of it all was a wondrous thing to Moya.

"Haven't you ever seen a spaceship yard before?" Meek questioned. "You were purchased by an off-world merchant."

"You'd be surprised how much a matter of perspective and mood can affect your vision," Moya replied. "I'm not goods being transported this time. I can enjoy myself."

"Well, I don't see why you'd be excited about a mostly-empty terminal and a mostly-unused shipyard, but whatever. Just stick close to me. I don't want to have to go find my property in the lost and found."

There were some bits of activity in the facility, but nothing of terrible interest. Unlike the busy hub airports of Kadence or the other large cities, the shipyard terminal they walked through was a large echo chamber. Through the empty halls and unmanned desks the pair walked until Meek brought them outside. They walked along the backside of the terminal passed dusty trucks and emergency vehicles that had not seen activity for some time.

"Not much goes on here, does it?" Moya questioned.

"Well, there isn't much reason to come here," Meek replied. "We're on the outer rim of the system and we don't produce anything any other planet can't. We're just a gas station, really."

"You didn't exactly explain what we were doing here," Moya said, letting her hand brush off the dust of a old truck hood. "You didn't bring the bags either."

"Well, I forgot we need a few days before we can go," Meek explained. "We need a day or so to make sure that my ship is good to go, then another day to put it up on a spire and fire it up into space. But, the crews that will do that don't just hang out here doing nothing all day. I called in the maintenance crew for tomorrow and scheduled a take off for this weekend. I wanted to come look at my ship myself today."

"This sounds expensive," Moya said. "Is this the reason why we're always so close to letting bills go unpaid?"

"Exactly," Meek said. "I bet on being found by my people one day, so I built up the funds to leave and go somewhere else. Mostly money for fuel and maintenance."

"And yet you spent so much money on booze," Moya teased. "You are just out of control."

After crossing the gap between the terminal and a huge hangar, Meek unlocked a heavy padlock and removed the chains from a steel door. The unkempt state of the security told of how long it had been since Meek had been there.

"Love that old-time charm," Moya commented on the security.

"Doing things the old way is cheaper," Meek replied. "Besides, if someone really wanted to steal a spaceship they'd have the means to do it. Wouldn't matter if there was a chain or a digital lock."

Meek pushed the door open to the sound of the metal hinges m.o.a.ning to life. It had only been a year or so since she last entered the hangar, but the building itself was much older. Right next to the door was an old electrical box, and with the lifting of a lever the hanging lights high above came to life.

The hangar itself was built for a vehicle much larger than the one Meek had to store. A considerable amount of empty space was all around the ship and above it, but the blonde enjoyed overdoing things. Although, such an excess of space didn't mean the spaceship was small.

"Goodness, it's large enough," Moya commented. "Can only you and I pilot that?"

"I can pilot it alone, but having you will be helpful," Meek replied. "This ship was given to me for long-distance travel. I needed to be able to respond to a call-to-arms no matter where it was. This is a two-hundred fifty meter baby compared to the other sh.i.p.s in the Ordan navy."

The giant vessel was very smooth in its build, like a giant dull gray sword that grew fatter to a square rear. There were many visible armaments tucked against the body into fitted cutouts, but otherwise the craft appeared as a solid blade with a flat tip. If one didn't know better, they might suspect the ship would cut through the giant metal supports that cradled the craft from the ceiling supports.

"Do the sisters have sh.i.p.s of similar intimidation?" Moya asked.

"Not like this one, but they're good sh.i.p.s," Meek answered. "Because they have superior numbers, I'd like to fight them on the ground if we had to. We don't have a crew for all the guns."

"Did you have a crew at one point?" Moya asked. "Did you kill them too?"

"I'm actually pretty torn about that," Meek explained. "I did have a crew, and they were loyal to a fault. When it became apparent I was turning on my people they pledged to stand with me. I feared for their lives. I ordered them to stay home and live. I didn't want them caught up in my bullshit."

"How very thoughtful of you."

Meek and Moya walked over to the hanging spaceship. Their steps carried into the open space of the giant hangar, adding to the sense of the scale they were audience to. With a small remote taken out of her pocket, Meek called for a robotic arm to drop from the ceiling and place a set of metal steps for the women to use. It was a long climb to the access door.

"What, no escalator?" Moya teased. "I'm surprised you're willing to exercise."

"Keep it up and I'll lock you in the brig," Meek threatened. "Anyway, I've been wondering since the sisters showed up, can you actually fight? Or do I have to watch over you like a child?"

Moya raised her eyebrows and looked away.

"Well, we both know I'm no match for you," she replied. "But would I be a match for your enemies? Who knows?"

"I'm guessing that you aren't," Meek said with a groan. "Maybe your people only have great power after that sacrifice. If that really works, that is."

"So, let me sacrifice one of those sisters. They should be sufficient."

Meek pondered the thought. It didn't sound too difficult to get one of the sisters subdued for Moya, but then the masked woman would have done none of the work.

"What if Maetodon doesn't like that I did the hard part?" Meek questioned. "Does that matter? Whether or not you were the one to take one of the sisters down?"

"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Moya replied. "Our are you really just afraid of me having my way with someone else?"

Meek considered pretending to get angry over the false threat, but instead brushed the words away. She began the climb up the steps to her ship with a chuckle.

"Doesn't matter to me who you want to f.u.c.k, as long as you remember who your boss is," Meek said without looking back.

"Oh, that's no fun!" Moya replied, hurrying to catch up. "You're supposed to get jealous!"