"Tamra, no." Visoca said.

"I didn't do anything."

"You've been festering all this meal, you've made it to desert don't have a tantrum now." Visoca took a bite of her rich chocolate mud cake, "We need to keep face."

"But look where they've put us." Tamra said through gritted teeth.

Visoca didn't have to look, she knew they were at the back corner of the room, they couldn't have been any further from the stage without being outside. Not exactly a place of honour.

"We're back here when we took more ships than any of the other crews. We're back here next to tables of soldiers when other privateer crews are in the front row."

"I am aware of that Tamra, that doesn't change that you need to hold your temper."

"I heard them talking, the high ups think we fluked it and the soldiers think we couldn't have done it without them. Forgetting completely that they refused to help us."

"Tamra."

Tamra stood up, "I'm going to the bathroom." she said before storming off.

Visoca sighed and stroked her forehead, such a small girl as Tamra could get them into a lot of trouble. She was first mate, and in a place like this a small girl with blonde hair would be unlikely to get the respect she deserved. Visoca had to admit she hadn't had as much trouble here, but when you were over seven feet tall and built like a bear people tended to show a little respect. Not that she got much the moment her hand came off her blades. She looked at the table, this end was populated by the bridge crew, used to Tamra and Visoca's arguments. Thankfully the rest of the table didn't seem to notice.

"Captain?" Came quietly from her left.

"Yes Trova?"

Trova was a demure woman, dressed in a severe skirt suit of emerald green. Her green hair was frizzy, and pulled back into a bun for this occasion, barely tamed. She looked uncomfortable.

"I'm thinking of leaving after the meal, this is a bit much." Trova said, "Maybe you could call me back for the ceremony?"

"Go Trova, its fine with me, and you don't need to come back if you don't want to. Its rare to see you off ship so having you here has been a pleasure."

"Thank you captain." Trova returned to her own desert.

Visoca glanced around the room, people were starting to get up from their seats and drifted towards the dance floor in front of the stage. Tables were already being pushed aside, and people still eating were joining the tables along the edge of the hall. Back here they had no issues with that though. Visoca pushed her plate away and got to her feet, a woman hurried over to collect her plate and take it to the kitchen. Only women, the serving staff had been only women, and they kept giving her crew some really nasty looks. Visoca shook her head and headed to the dance floor.

"Visoca!" The deep voice could be easily heard over the music and people talking.

Visoca smiled when she saw the man, he was as tall as she was with pale skin, red hair which could only be described as a mane, and a thick beard. His green eyes seemed to glitter as he smiled at her.

"Hello Edwar, its good to see you again. At last some sense in the crazy place."

"Me. Sense. Wow you must have been having a bad day."

"Tell me about it, I'm lucky none of the girls have caused a scene. One in particular."

"I know what you mean, she's just come back into the hall now."

"You have good eyes there," Visoca said, turning to spot Tamra.

"I'll admit I've been watching her, waiting for the show."

"I kind of wish she'd make a scene, but at the same time she's the First mate, she should know better. Maybe if one of the other girls did something."

"What if you said something?"

"Really? They've not wronged us properly yet, and not insulted us directly."

"They've done everything but insult you directly, wait what's happening there!"

Visoca looked to see Tamra being pulled into the lap of a soldier. There was a short tussle and the soldier managed to land a kiss on her ear. Tamra seemed to freeze and the soldier took this as permission to fondle her chest. Visoca looked away.

"Is he dead?" She asked Edwar.

"Surprisingly, no." Edwar said with a laugh, "But he won't be using that hand for a while, or that leg. Seriously you don't try to hold onto a woman after she's shot you once unless you have a death wish. He's lucky she was on his lap though, I think she had a different leg in mind for that last shot."

"I'm sure she did, what a wonderful way to cap off her night."

"It probably won't be the last either." Edwar said, "The girls serving us almost seemed surprised at how little of that they got from our table."

"Do you think he thought she was a serving girl?"

"I think he was too drunk to care."

"That's a feat, with the watered wine they've been giving us to prevent us making a drunken scene at the the ceremony."

"Watered wine?" Edwar frowned, "We had nothing of the sort, heck with the amount of strong drink on our table I'm surprised some of our smaller boys haven't passed out."

Visoca closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Still doesn't really count as insulting us, but when the girls find out there almost certainly will be a scene. Hopefully that bar they're setting up will solve it for us."

"It won't." said a young man as he walked past, "I heard one woman ask what was on offer and they only offered wines."

"Thanks for the info Toby." Edwar said.

"The girls will definitely cause a scene." Visoca said with a groan.

"Not if we do something about it first, I think loud and showy, so they know they've wronged you."

"Oh no, don't you start a fight!" Visoca said.

"I meant nothing of the sort, I'm hurt you would think so."

"Really, I'm to believe that the king of brawls didn't plan to start one."

"I did not... King of brawls, is that what they are calling me now?" Edwar shook his head, "Wait that's not the point."

"Go on then, what's this master plan of yours?"

Edwar raised his voice so he could be heard by all the people around them, "Boys it seems these people will only serve our girls watered wine. How about you get them something more decent."

Nearby Helta, Visoca's lead engineer a woman some 70 years old tapped a younger man on the shoulder,"You heard him, let me tell you straight away I've been craving a vodka."

The man gulped and nodded, "Straight away Helta, on the rocks?"

The crowd at the bar grew tenfold, and for a while it seemed they were going to refuse to serve the men buying for the women. However a crowd of over a hundred heavily armed men and women persuaded them otherwise. Just.

"So you were planning to start a brawl."

"There's no brawl there, I don't see a brawl, do you see a brawl?" Edwar said defensively.

"It could have been a brawl, very easily."

"I know." Edwar said, "But these people do need some sense beaten into them. And you did come to me for some sense in this crazy place."

Visoca laughed, "I guess I did."

Visoca laughed again, this night was quickly changing for the better. She finally had a strong drink and was talking to a man who respected a woman. Not to mention he told some of the best tales when drunk, she was pretty sure they were one half fiction and the other half over exaggeration but she didn't care. He was halfway through a story about three mercenaries and soldier and a chanter when they were interrupted by shouting.

"Captain! Captain!" The voice was still indistinct, far off.

"Over here!" At least ten voices responded, including Visoca and Edwar.

They glanced at each other, quite embarrassed and Edwar said, "Well we should have seen that one coming."

"Captain! Captain Visoca!" The voice was definitely feminine now and Visoca could almost recognise it.

"Over there!" Edwar said, pointing, "Its your pale girl I think."

"Myna, I wonder what this is about." Visoca was already moving, but so was the crowd, closing in on Myna.

Visoca had to push her way through the crowd, knocking people over if she had to to get through the crowd. Across the room somewhere she heard a weapon discharge, she wondered if this was the cause of the commotion. She found the spot where the weapon was fired and saw it wasn't, the crowd was opening up in front of Tamra, obviously taking her warning shot seriously. Visoca wondered if she should draw her cutlasses to get through the crowd quicker. There was no reason to yet though. Tamra was almost at the girl. Visoca got there a few moments later.

Tamra looked up anger and pain clear in her eyes, Myna was in tears on the floor, "Its Trova, she's been... attacked."

Visoca cringed, the tone of that voice meant only one of two scenarios. She wasn't entirely sure which was the better of the two. She knelt beside Myna and stroked the girl's head as gently as she possibly could, thinking of Trova. Trova never really carried weapons, she didn't know how to fight, it never mattered before, she was a helmsman not a member of the boarding parties.

"Where?" Was all she could manage to ask.

"Toilets, Fire and Ice are with her."

Visoca got up, she didn't need to draw her weapons, obviously her face was enough to scare people out of her path. Edwar was still following her, but kept a respectful distance. Tamra walked at her left gun drawn and ready to fire. Myna got up and ran to join them, she was babbling.

"About half an hour ago, after desert, she left. Said she'd go to the toilet and then head back to the ship. We should have guessed something had happened when she didn't come back past to say goodnight." Myna started crying again, "We should have gone and looked for her."

"Its not your fault." Visoca said firmly.

"But if we had..."

"Stop Myna, now is not the time for ifs." Visoca said through gritted teeth, they were almost at the door to the toilets.

Trova stumbled out into the hall and collapsed. Fire and Ice followed close behind, Fire was trying to use Trova's suit jacket to cover up where her skirt and shirt were ripped. This could have been amusing in any other situation, seeing as Fire and Ice were both nudists wearing nothing but ink. Visoca sighed and knelt down beside Trova, one scenario obviously proved wrong. She looked up at Ice who was waving her huge rail gun at the crowd to keep them at a distance.

"Just wait until I found out which of you assholes did this to her. You'll be dead so quickly you won't know what happened." She shouted at them.

"What happened?" Visoca asked, not wanting to make an assumption.

Fire answered calmly while Ice shouted profanities at the crowd, "I'm really sorry to have to say it is exactly what you fear."

"Who did this to you Trova?"

Trova stopped sobbing for a few seconds and tried to answer, "He.. I don't ... tall..."

"I saw him," Fire said quietly.

"You didn't say." Ice turned her rage on her sister.

"No I didn't, because I thought it more important to stay with Trova than to chase after her rapist." Fire said, "Your temper would have led to her being left alone or you facing a seasoned mercenary on your own."

"Who was it Fire?"

"I don't know his name, he was tallish with skin the colour of a medium beer, shaved head, five o'clock shadow and a battleaxe. Couldn't get an eye colour for you though sorry."

"Are you kidding, that's a pretty good description to go on." Edwar said, "I'll even tell you his name, Cadogan of the axe, insists on being addressed as a Sir. We gave him a lift here from Anglia."

A few others in the crowd confirmed the description matched the man, those who had been nearby even admitted seeing him go to the toilets soon after Trova. Visoca felt frozen in place, she wanted nothing more than to gut this Cadogan. Slowly.

Tamra rested a hand on Visoca's shoulder, "We can't look for him now, we need to get Trova back to the Void Queen."

Visoca took a deep breath, her eyes closed, "Give the order."

Tamra nodded, knowing what she meant. She turned to the crowd and raised her voice, the crowd was silent, everyone heard her shout, "Crew of the Void Queen! We are leaving!"

Visoca eased the sobbing Trova into her arms and stood up cradling the young woman as if she were a baby. Trova really wasn't that much younger than her, 3 years in fact, but they'd been together since Trova was a young innocent teenager running away from home. She was still so innocent, so defenceless. Visoca was responsible for her safety, a responsibility she had failed. People were moving out of the way as she walked the length of the hall, it was a long walk. She was almost at the door when a fat man in a grey suit ran past her and stopped in front of her, arms outstretched and puffing heavily.

"You can't leave yet! There's still the ceremony." He said, gaining a bit of confidence when Visoca stopped walking to look down at him, "If you silly women let this little incident get to your heads you won't be paid."

With great care Visoca balanced Trova in the crook of one elbow, thankfully she was quite small compared to Visoca. Then with her other hand she slowly drew one of her blades. The man shut up when he heard the shing of it leaving his sheath and caught his breath when she rested it on his huge stomach. She didn't say anything, just let him think about what she was doing while she tried to think of a civilised way to tell him to fuck off.

"Move." Tamra said quietly, "This is not a little incident and yes we are letting it get to our heads. If you cannot ensure the safety of your guests we will not stay and if you try to stop us I'm sure our Captain here will happily give you the treatment she wishes she could give to the attacker."

The official seemed to contemplate continuing to block them for a moment on his own, then seemed to look for support. Something in the crowd made him pause before summoning soldiers, the crowd was clumping oddly and shouted commands could be heard.

"Crew the Aether's Dream! We are leaving!"

"Crew of the Bloody Steed! Depart!"

"Crew of the Splendid Omen! Bedtime!"

"Crew of the Persistent Soul! Time to go!"

There were other names shouted too, it added up to over half of the privateer crews there. They were all waiting now, waiting for the official to either call his soldiers or move out of Visoca's way. She didn't move her blade during all of this. With a whimpering snarl he stepped away.

"You'll all pay for this stunt."

Visoca woke, floating weightless in her cabin. She groaned and rolled over, sensing her movement the gravity in her room began to gradually increase until she gently touched down on the floor of her cabin. She didn't have a bed in her room, the gravity fields were just manipulated so she could sleep weightless in the middle of her room, something she had done for most of her life. The lights began to come on and she groaned again, her head was pounding and even the low light in her room sent stabbing pain into her retinas.

"Light low." She growled and the lights dimmed again.

She sighed as she got herself ready for the day with her eyes closed. She must have had a lot to drink the previous night if she was feeling this bad. Visoca frowned, that idea didn't seem right somehow, she remembered watered down wine and only one strong drink. Why did her head...

Visoca moaned and whispered, "Trova."

Even the act of talking hurt her head quite badly, but she ignored it in favour of trying to recall all that happened the previous night. What kind of monster would hurt a girl as innocent and defenceless as that young woman? Visoca sighed and opened her door, wincing as the bright lights of the corridor hit her still sensitive eyes. She stumbled the few steps it took to get to the bridge and stood there, staring out the front view port at the grubby city beyond. Tamra looked up from the screen she had been studying.

"You look horrible."

"I feel it." Visoca thought about all the questions she had, and decided to start with the least painful one, "Are we going to get paid?"

"I've been looking at the contract and they shouldn't be able to refuse."

"Are you sure?"

"We might have had to take them to court about it if they were pissed enough, but with so many captains walking out I doubt they'll put up too much resistance."

"Well I guess we deserved some good news." Perhaps it would be easier if she just stopped avoiding the worst question in her head, "How is she?"

"I've spent the entire night trying to avoid that question, any way I can." Tamra said, "I've been poring over the contract to ensure we get paid, looking into how the court system here works and then going over the contract again."

"We have to go see her."

"I know." Tamra whispered.

"And after that I'm going to find that man and-"

Tamra stood up, "No we'll take him to court, you can't take the law into your own hands."

Visoca turned away from the view of the city to look at Tamra, her hand balled into a fist and she swung at the smaller woman. Tamra didn't flinch though, stood stock still as the larger woman's fist swept inches from her face and hit the metal beside it. The metal rung like a bell as Visoca stood there panting, looking down at the smaller woman. Tamra reached up to rest one hand on her arm.

"You know why we can't do it."

"But they hurt my girl." Visoca said with a strangled sob.

"I know, but let the system do its job."

Visoca took a deep breath and tried to control herself. She needed to be in control, because she needed to go see how Trova was faring. How bad was she?

"Lets go."

"I guess we can't avoid it any longer."

The walk to the medical bay was long, silent and painful. There was no way she could be alright, not after... that. How bad would she be? How would she be reacting? There was no way this was going to be good but...

The door to the medical bay slid open and a woman looked up, she had short grey hair with red highlights and wore a white top over her dusty purple jeans. Most notably though was the symbol tattooed on her forehead in a pale blue which signified she was a doctor, the colour meaning she was a general practitioner. She looked exhausted, deep bags decorated the space under her eyes and those eyes were bloodshot.

"Have you had any sleep at all Doctor Fylla?" Tamra asked.

"Have either of you?"

"I tried." Visoca said, "Possibly with a whole bottle of Vodka with the way my head feels but I can't remember drinking one."

"Probably a stress headache then, do you want anything for it?"

"I think we'd just like to see Trova, if that's alright?"

"She woke up around an hour ago, she's a little disorientated and emotionally unstable but you should be able to visit for a little bit."

"Thank you Fylla."

The door to one of the little rooms opened and Visoca almost cried. Trova was curled up into a ball, sobbing, with her hair still half in its bun and her make up smeared. Where the foundation had been wiped off her face Visoca could see ugly yellow and purple bruises. She sat down on the edge of the bed and gently stroked some of the tangles out of the girl's emerald hair. Trova turned to look at her, tears still running down her face.

"I'm so-sorry C-captain." She said, choking on her sobs.

"There is nothing for you to be sorry about Trova." Visoca said, her voice soft, hiding the anger she felt that the monster had made Trova feel like it was her fault.

"B-but you h-had to leave the ceremony b-because of m-me. We won't get p-paid."

"I've already sorted that all, everyone will be paid Trova." Tamra said as she sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"Everything will be sorted out Trova." Visoca said, "And none of this was your fault."

Trova just began sobbing harder and Doctor Fylla sighed, "It might be best if we give her some peace for a bit. Trova I'll be right outside, remember to call if you need anything, even if its just someone to sit beside you."

"So-Sorry doctor.

"Don't be, it's my job." Fylla said, "And I'm happy to do it."

The stepped out of the room and the door closed and Visoca turned to Fylla, "How badly was she beaten?"

"Badly, but no broken bones, no lasting physical damage."

"Only mental scars." Tamra said.

"I'd call them mental wounds." Visoca said.

"She certainly is very delicate." Fylla said.

"So I'm guessing the rest of the crew won't be able to visit her then." Visoca said with a sigh.

"They can, they just mustn't be emotional, not too many at once and they'll need to leave as soon as I tell them to."

"I'll let the girls know then." Tamra said.

"I'll be in the training room if you need me."

"Please don't kill too many punching bags Captain."

"I'll do what I want."