John held Chris in his arms as the four of them walked out of the improvised cell. Once he was sure Chris was stable, he took a few moments to heal Serena as well. She had been covered from head to toe in bruises and cuts, several of which had started to fester.

  What in the hell happened to these two?

  He shot a couple of firebolts from his hand at that st gang member, setting her on fire. They moved away from her at a slow jog, her screams echoing throughout the storage bay. By the time they reached the exit, the screams ended, the silence telling him she had succumbed to her injuries.

  "That was brutal, John. By the Crystal, did you do all this by yourself?" Serena said, looking at the aftermath of their force entry into this room.

  "Yeah. I did what I needed to do to rescue you two." He said, then stuck his head out into the corridor. It was clear, so they started to make their way to the Phoenix Hawk in silence.

  Once they made it to one of the main corridors, they hopped on a conveyor belt; the main line would take them most of the way to the docks. Hundreds of people crowded the corridors, most with luggage and their families around them. He actually saw a significant number of men for the first time since arriving in this world, and it caused him to chuckle a little.

  Most of them were surrounded by groups of four to six women, and had a dozen children or so hanging off of them. These were this world's version of the nuclear family, the women watching the surroundings while the men tended to the children.

  And they are all getting a chance to survive because I passed Tim's warning off to Katrina. Thank you, Tim.

  On a whim, he pulled out his Link and took a picture of the scene, something to remember the exodus of Parrax by in the years to come. Maybe he should start making a photo album in this world.

  Tanya hadn't left Chris's side since they left the cell, the redhead resting her head against her blue-haired sister. They were identical twins, but John had no difficulty telling them apart. They each carried themselves differently. Tanya was more exuberant and outgoing, while Chris was more reserved but had a sharper tongue.

  I need to get her into an Auto-Doc, then let her rest. My magic can heal wounds, but it doesn't make new blood.

  That brought up the next issue, one decision he wasn't sure he should be making.

  "Tanya." He said, then paused when she jumped, not expecting him to speak.

  "Ah, yes, Captain?" She said, calling him by his title. Coming from her... it hurt a little bit.

  "Listen, we can talk ter about what I did, but I need you to help me with a decision. Chris needs an Auto-Doc and some rest to recover her lost blood. It isn't safe here in the station, but where I am taking the Phoenix Hawk, I can't guarantee her safety. As her sister, do you want to take her on an evacuation transport and follow the rest of the refugees?" He asked. The refugee ships might not be safe either if Timur's gangs were on board, but getting shot at by the Javarians was obviously more risky.

  She thought about it for a minute, opening her mouth to say something a couple of times, but didn't say anything.

  Good, she is actually thinking about it.

  "Captain, are you just trying to get me to get to safety?" She finally asked, taking a direction John hadn't even considered.

  "No, Tanya. As much as I want you to be safe, you are a warrior, and that would just be insulting to you. I was just concerned for Chris's health and well-being. Doesn't do us much good if we save her from one deadly situation and plunge her into another."

  "Hmm... a warrior, huh?" She said and whispered something to herself, but he didn't pick up what that was. "We are coming with you, John. I don't know why, but something tells me there is nowhere safer in this gaxy right now than being by your side." She said, then smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling. "Besides, you will need us with you when you drag Greg back home to face judgment from our parents. It would also be a good time to introduce you to my father! Just make sure you get some Bug guts over the Phoenix Hawk to show off your accomplishments, and he will luv ya almost as much as I do!"

  He ughed at that, a deep belly ugh that felt like forever since he had done so. "Sure, I will run over a few just to make sure the ship is nice and dirty." He had no idea if he would be the one to take Greg home after this conflict, as he was still under INP contract, but he wasn't going to tell her that now that her cheery demeanour had returned.

  He adjusted Chris so he could hold her with one arm, and wrapped his free arm around his girlfriend, pulling her tight into his side. At this moment, things seemed right in this world again.

  "What are you going to do, Serena?" He asked her, curious what her pns were going forward.

  "If you don't mind, I will join you as well. At Ash's suggestion, I had already sent my stuff on ahead before... this," She said, gesturing at the throng of people around them. "Before this all happened. I also would love the chance to help rescue that sorry space elf. Besides, if I am not racing, how else will I be able to repay my debt to you? I don't have my fighter anymore, but I can probably manage your weapon systems or pilot your ship in a pinch if needed."

  "You're hired!" He said, ughing again. It wasn't exactly his original pn to hire her as a mercenary, but a pn was starting to come together all the same.

  "Tanya! Wait, until you hear what happened to- Wait, what happened to Chris? Is she okay?" A voice said behind them. He looked over his shoulder, and another mercenary was boarding the conveyor belt beside them, one that he worked with briefly on his first operation but never got her name.

  "She is fine, Morgan. A lot has happened recently, but she is okay now. What are you doing? Are you and Hager fighting or evacuating?" Tanya asked the big titty goth girl.

  "That is the thing. I broke up with that bastard cause he put our ship down as colteral on a damn pod race with some bck market bookies! When the race was canceled, he went out to Karrax on a high risk job to pay back the debt and got himself killed! So now I don't have a ship, and the bookies took every credit we had left to prevent me from becoming an IDS."

  John almost spoke up, but looked down at Tanya first. "Is she a good person, Tanya?"

  "Who? Morgan? Yeah, she is cool. Ash gets jealous of her from time to time, but that was because of that pink testicle Hager harassing her more than anything Morgan did." She said, then got up as close to his ear as she could to whisper. "Ash has body positivity issues if you haven't noticed, but hanging around Niki seems to have calmed her down a bit. Go ahead and hire her; we need all the help we can get."

  He shook his head. He couldn't understand how a woman like Ash, who had a supermodel's looks, would be jealous of someone just because they had a set of F-Cups.

  A Sorry Space Elf indeed.

  John and his new crewmembers slowly made their way to the INP docks, where the Phoenix Hawk was berthed. They had expined to Morgan what their pn was, and she was okay with joining them to try to rescue Ash. Mercenaries in this world were simir to the adventurers in The Great Cleric, in that they bonded with each other through shared trials and hardships. She would happily accept the danger if there were a decent chance for them to save Ash.

  He would talk numbers with her once they had Ash safely onboard his ship and they were out of danger.

  As they were discussing her using one of the pirate corvettes or doing some other operations onboard the ship, John paused and brought their group to a halt. In front of them, blocking the access to the Phoenix Hawk, were fifteen INP officers, decked out in combat gear. In front of them were two people John didn't immediately recognise, but he could make a guess when the three conscious women with him hissed.

  One, a human male of middling height, had spiky bck hair and was wearing an expensive-looking charcoal grey suit. The other was a tall, raven-haired woman. The sides of her head were shaved, and she was covered with facial piercings. She was wearing a leather outfit that actually wouldn't be out of pce beside his own.

  "Message Katrina... and Greg. Tell him to check out the vehicle bay; there are some toys in there he might be able to put to use." He whispered to Tanya, then stepped in front of her, covering her use of her link.

  "Timur and Cami, I presume! I am Captain John Wayne of the Phoenix Hawk. What brings you to my vessel? Are you looking to book passage out of the system? I hear the Javarians will be by soon, but I will offer you and your... people a special discounted rate!" He called out, standing his ground for now. They were in the open here, with nowhere to dive for cover. He needed to buy some time.

  "Cut the bullcrap! I want my sves back!" Cami shouted, ignoring the gre of her partner. "If you let them go now, we will let you walk free."

  He tried his scouter skill on them, but they were too far away to get any reading. He assumed it had a range, but had never tried it before. It was yet another thing to file away for ter.

  He made a show of looking around, even lifting Chris above his head to look under her, wasting as much time as he could. He cast his barrier spell when her body was blocking his mouth, and he could feel it envelop both of them. "Sves? I don't see any sves here. Or IDS, for that matter. These women are all members of my crew. Are you sure you have the right dock? Maybe they were supposed to be showing up at another ship?"

  She looked ready to charge him and deal with him personally, forgetting she had over a dozen armed guards in police uniforms with her. Timur grabbed her arm and pulled her back, a snarky little smile on his face like he was enjoying this little drama he created. "I see you are well informed, Mr. Wayne."

  "That is Captain Wayne. Mr. Wayne is my father, and I don't like to be compared to him. He makes your girlfriend there look like a submissive woman when his temper is up." John said, lying to cast some more doubts around about who he might actually be. He just hoped his actual father wasn't listening in from beyond somewhere.

  Sorry, Dad. You were awesome.

  "Very well. Captain Wayne. The dwarves with you owe my organization credits due to gambling debts. The dark elf owes the station for damages that occurred during the st pod race, which my organization has also purchased the rights to. As you know from your own recent acquisition of a certain IDS, the w takes debts seriously. Now, please put the woman down and step aside and allow these officers to apprehend the debtors." He said, his tone as greasy as Agent Swind Ling was when he first nded on the station.

  "First, neither debt is due yet, correct?"

  "The race has been deyed indefinitely, and in any case, the dark elf does not have a pod anymore, thus we are collecting on both the dwarves' gambling debt along with the dark elf's damages to the station, as is the terms that were signed."

  "What do you mean she doesn't have a pod? I have sold her one of mine. She was ready and willing to race."

  "One of yours? No matter, the race is off, thus the debt is due."

  "That seems like a rather predatory rule, to be able to collect on a bet when the event was canceled due to a damn invasion."

  "That is well within our rights. It is like on a roulette wheel, you can bet on red or bck, but if it nds on green, the house wins it all."

  "I see." It did make a weird sort of sense, not that he was buying into it. "Before we continue, how much are we talking about? Maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement?" He asked.

  C'mon, Greg, get suited up and get your ass out here. I won't be able to keep my bullshit up forever.

  "The dark elf owes us three and a half million for her half of the station's damages. The dwarves' total debt is much more severe, nearly fifty million." He said, confirming what Greg had told them earlier.

  Hell, I don't know if my ship is even worth fifty million. Actually, it is probably worth a lot more, but damn, that is a lot of money.

  "And this brings me to my main argument. It wasn't the dwarves who pced the bets, but another. How are you pnning on collecting from people who are only adjacent to the problem and not the actual perpetrator himself?" He asked.

  "Simple, as the dwarf in question has fled, his two sisters there are colteral until he has returned. However, since we have it on good authority that he died in a nearby system recently, they are both accountable for his debts. As for the dark elf, she and the dwarf were equal partners in the racing and the damage that occurred to the station, so his part of the debt gets transferred to his siblings, naturally."

  John had to stop and think about that for a moment. Serena's debt, while bullshit, sounded pusible. However, Tanya's and Chris's were straight up insane.

  Movement from the Phoenix Hawk caught John's eye, causing him to break out in a smile. He didn't think the officers in front of him were legitimate INP at all, but some of their thugs dressed up to look official. Whether this decision was going to bite him in the ass down the road, he didn't know, nor did he care.

  "Very well. I have the solution to all your problems. You see, Greg, the dwarf you are looking for, is actually here on the station." He said. "In fact, he is closer than you could possibly imagine. I suggest you turn around and take these debts up with him." John said, taking a step back.

  Coming down from the now-open hangar doors was one of the mobile knights that were in the Phoenix Hawks vehicle bay, a twelve-foot-tall monster, brandishing several rge and intimidating-looking weapons towards the fake police.

  "Huh?" Timur said, turning around just as Greg unleashed a barrage of sers on the fake INP's position.

  One thought ran through John's mind as he pushed everyone back further into the dockyard, looking for some cover for this firefight.

  Fuck I hope they are fake.

  Juia_Darkcrest