Do what you want because a pirate is free

You know what makes Grendel happy? Combat. You know what makes her REALLY happy?

"Is that you?! Is that really how big the Polaris is?!" She squeals happlily over comms as we gently descend onto the pad.

"Do you have the bed ready? A gurney isn't going to survive down this bumpy-ass ramp and he won't survive the trip, we need a med drone." I say pinging Ravi for the pickup.

A hiss off in the distance, and a medical drone zips out and in through the hangar door above.

Kreyla is blown away as the drone lifts Dman off the stretcher effortlessly and whisks him away.

"Mom...uh...Callie, that's freaking awesome!" She says as she watches her crew float away and out of sight.

"You can call me mom, It's what your mother wanted." I say softly. The warm air blows in through the open hatch above and you can hear everybody breathing it in deep. No Hurston polution, no Pyro stagnation, no Microtech cold or Crusader space whale farts. Pure. Clean. Air.

"We have your guy, he's in a bed and Grendel is working on him now." Ravi says over commandeered intercoms on the ship.

Kreyla looks unpleased about that.

"Who the fuck is overwriting my ship?" She growls ready for a fight.

I pat her on the shoulder and smile. "Ravi does what she wants but only within reason. Right?"

"Yup, I mean no harm." Her voice comes from Kreyla's mobi.

Needless to say that freaked her out too. We load up into my C8R and set it down on my home pads for storage, and as we step out I see a familiar red ship land on the pad next to us.

Same candy red prowler, and my heart flutters for a second.

"Damn, who's ship is that?" Kreyla says absolutely stunned.

Dad. But...I hope he's in better spirits after last time.

"Let's head in and check on your guy. We have facilities if the others need them but otherwise feel free to walk the forests." I say with pride in my voice.

Everybody eventually steps off the boat, my mobi pings with every entrance and exit to the kitchens, rest beds and crafting buildings as we watch Grendel work her surgical magic.

"Kreyla, there's a fucking bird out here! Come check this out!" I hear from her comms.

"Yeah, it's a forest. There's going to be birds." She says back with snark.

"No, TEVARIN!"

My heart meets my feet through my butthole.

"You do not harm that bird, full-stop." I growl furiously.

Kreyla looks at me like she's absolutely confused. "You know that bird? We love the Tevarin!"

I hear a crowd outside and I begin to panic. I turn to tell Kreyla to please control her people but she's already out the door.

I turn and run out, still wearing my scrubs and see her crew standing around and trying to catch a chat with Jorg while I sprint over to cut through.

"Jorg! You're going to be okay just ask them to back up!" I yell through the commotion, but that name alone stopped everything.

EVERYBODY stops and looks at me and I have never been so scared in my life.

"Jorg? Do you mean THAT Jorg?" Kreyla says nearly in a whisper.

I nod but he starts to move and I can tell because everybody takes a few steps back to let him out.

He locks eyes with me as he passes me and it was the big bird dad equivalent of "I'm disappointed in you".

"I need to speak with you, follow." He commands me with seething irritation in his voice.

I follow him and I hear whispers and murmurs behind me in the crowd as I follow him before I ping Kreyla on my mobi.

<I'll be a bit, the sun is gonna set soon so make yourselves at home.>

<We can leave if you need us. We'll go as soon as Dman is out.>

<No, I need you to stay. Relax.>

Jorg and I sit at the table directly across from each other and he is staring daggers into my very being.

"Are you really willing to burden yourself with a warrior race living nearby? Do you even know what we Tevarin stand for?" He says coldly.

I explain to him that I've studied every bit of Tevarin life because I was trained by one, made into who I am today by one I see as flesh and blood family.

"I've spoken with others, and they're cautious about the concept but not adverse. Do you know what you're doing, Calliope? Terra is a UEEN stronghold." His tone shifting to a slightly more agreeable tone.

"To be honest with you, dad...I don't. But I just wanna help your people out, and I want you to be my liason with them. You're all free to do what you want but just don't break the law." I say sheepishly.

<Dman is good to go and headed back to the ship, hope your dad is okay.>

Good, our part here is done.

"Your visitors seemed excited to see me. I've never seen humans so enthusiastic about my presence." He says almost smiling.

Speaking of, I ask him to hold one second while I ping some people.

<Come to the meeting room, it's the room off the medical building.>

<Alright! Be there in a second, mom.>

<Mom?>

<Wait who is this?>

<Who is mom?>

Everybody piles in, Kreyla takes the head and the rest of my team scattered around with Grendel at the opposite head.

"So uh...Kreyla, this is my crew, my family, and my fiance."

I go around the table and introduce everybody, and then Jorg's turn rolls around inevitably.

"And this is Jorg Tala, my uh...dad."

Krelya looked freaked out until I explained my childhood, training, and Jorg's place in it all.

She took it well.

"So then who is she?" Arcantha nods at Kreyla.

"She's myyyy...daughter. As of my stint on the Polaris."

There's a rumble and commotion until Deacon speaks up.

"Where's Bella? What happened to her?" He says confused.

I explain Bella is out in the verse somewhere kicking asses and forgetting to take names but doing well.

But now I have to do the hard part.

"Kreyla is the daughter of Katherine, her wishes should she pass was that I adopt her daughter."

"Wait...who is Katherine again?" Verdi says cautiously.

I inhale and sigh deeply. The word "Meerkat" slips my mouth and the table is in absolute shock.

"SHE HAD A DAUGHTER SINCE WHEN?!" Ravi yells.

Kreyla explains that she never knew Kat, grew up believing she died and never questioned it but still loved her despite being absent.

And she mentions she started the Deadrig Dolls and that put everybody on alert.

"The pirate group?! YOU BROUGHT A PIRATE HERE?!" Grendel says ready to kill.

I explain they're more of a "yar-yar sing a song for your life" kind of pirate, and Kreyla looks at me like I'm stupid.

"We aren't here to fight you, or steal anything. We have codes of honor and we don't break them." Kreyla starts. "You saved my guy, and I can't do anything other than thank you for it. We owe you all."

"Spacemoms get shit done." Comes from everybody's mouth at once.

I ask what happens next, and Kreyla said she was going to leave the system because the UEE might be looking for them but promised to stay in touch. Grendel requested a tour of the Polaris before they left and Kreyla happily agreed.

And now I have to fucking buy a capital ship at some point, but the Galaxy is my baby forever. I'm putting in an order for a Perseus tomorrow and they may loan us a Polaris as a loaner until the ship is done at the yard.

We all stood up and everybody came around to shake Kreyla's hand and Arcantha gave her an odd look.

"So is she my daughter too or...?"

Jorg chuckled.

"That makes her my granddaughter then, another first in this new life for me." He says softly.

Kreyla looks out of her element but loves it, Her crew is her family, and this one is mine so it's like a weird ceremonial gathering. Grendel met her crew on the tour but everybody else needs to catch up at some point.

I look out the window and see that night had fallen and note it out loud.

"Yeah, we need to head back to Pyro." Kreyla says with her mind elsewhere. "It was lovely meeting you all, and if any of you wanna come work on the ship with us we are always welcome to company."

"I'll take you up on that offer sometime!" Grendel says and Deacon has that look on his face that says "fuck I guess I have to go too."

She hugs everybody, gives Ravi a mean look probably for the intrusion and heads out to the ship. The side ramp opens up and we see her entire crew there, waiting at the top and waving to us all.

"Think we'll see her again?" Arcantha asks iike she has high hopes.

"I hope so! It's nice having a kid again, wherever Bella is I hope she's doing alright..."

Before we disperse, dad pulls me to the side and holds me tight. "I'm so proud of this life you built." He says. "I gave you the wrong tools for building a family but you came up with your own, I'm proud of you Calliope."

I cry a bit, I fought like hell to get here and I'll fight like hell to defend it.

Arcantha and I make it home and there's thunder off in the distance. It sounds like a storm is rolling in so my mood is magically higher until I hear a knock at my door.

I look out the window and see it's pitch black. There should be lights and a clear view of the pad...oh for fuck's sake...

I open the door expecting to see Marlin but only a note taped to it:

"Negotiations begin tomorrow, the location will arrive two hours before the meeting."

Rain begins to fall, whatever ship she rode in was probably blocking it and the paper melts like sugar in my hand.

See you tomorrow then I guess.