Chapter Forty-Seven - Wine and Dine

Reputation, to some, is everything.

Ivil and Missy returned to their booth, escorting Pixie back as they went. The tiny woman hesitated as Ivil sat on one side and Missy on the other. She glanced between the two sides, then swallowed hard and sat next to Missy. "S-so, Missy, been a while," she said.

"Isn't that what I said?" Missy asked.

"Is it?" Pixie asked. "I mean, yes, sorry. But it has been a while. Are you still with that old junker? Uh... the Held Together?"

"You remember?" Missy asked as she leaned to the side. She wedged herself in the corner of the booth, one leg folded up onto the seat and an elbow on the table. She grabbed her drink and swirled it around. "Yeah, still with the Held Together. Maybe. Sorta? It's gotten... complicated."

"Complicated?" Pixie asked. It looked like she wanted to avoid any sort of actual conversation on her own end.

Missy shrugged. "It's a long story."

"I have time," Pixie said.

"You have time?" Missy asked. "Aren't you the one who's constantly busy with something?"

Pixie made a vague gesture that could have meant anything. "I can make time. It's no big deal. Tell me the story?"

Missy chuckled. "Alright. Might be a few bits that I'll have to keep to myself. You understand? Figured as much. Anyway, started around Ceres. You heard of that Mars fleet flying around? They stopped by the Crevice, usual thing, the fleet came around and it was like letting a cat loose in a hold filled with space mice."

Ivil smiled. She was rather fond of the mental image. Cats were still carried on several ships. In fact, most Martian warships had a ship's cat with its own cat-specific crash crate. And mice... well, there was no getting rid of such small, stealthy pests. Space mice, smice to some, were well-adapted to living in low-gravity environments.

"I heard about that," Pixie said. She looked at the menu on the table and tapped out a quick order for a can of some sort of soda. "Did you run too?"

"We weren't carrying any contraband, or anything suspicious, we chose to stay. Picked up a few passengers. Miss tall, dark, and mysterious here included."

"The Held Together wouldn't normally have been my first choice," Ivil replied.

"Anyway, we got her, another woman, and a Martian Tech-Maid of all things. Then we scampered while the scampering was good."

Pixie nodded along, paying rapt attention... mostly. She was still tossing looks Ivil's way. Had the little bounty hunter recognized Ivil through her disguise? There were only a few images of Ivil out there; the Ivil in all of the propaganda posters was a body double who specifically didn't look exactly like her, despite having some cores that would allow him--the fact that her body double was a man always secretly amused her--to take on anyone's appearance.

"You ran all the way here?" Pixie asked.

"Callisto was our original destination, yeah, but we got waylaid on the way. Pirates."

Pixie sat up straighter. "You had to run from pirates?"

"Run? We got captured. The Held Together couldn't defend itself from a weather satellite, nevermind any kind of actual resistance, forget about fighting off any sort of pirate. They captured the ship and dragged us back to their station."

"Which pirates?" Pixie asked.

"Coven, led by some bitch called... Red Herring, was it?"

Ivil was aware of Pixie's hand dipping under the table. She reached into one of the baggy pockets of her cargo pants and gripped a small handgun. "Missy... is this a trap?" Pixie asked. She sounded disappointed, sad, maybe a little surprised, but that was drowned out by the rest.

"What?" Missy asked.

"She wants to know if we brought her here as part of a trap. You said she was a bounty hunter? I imagine she's fought and killed her share of pirates," Ivil said.

Pixie glanced between the two, then nodded. "That's right. They want me dead, and probably for good reason."

"Damn," Missy said. "No, I can see your angle. Don't worry. This isn't some elaborate trap. We got away from the pirates. Blew up a chunk of their station, some of their ships. That's why I needed you, shortstack."

"Don't call me that," Pixie snapped, but she did let go of the gun and relaxed a little. "How did you get away from a pirate station?"

"Stole one of their ships. Sweet little... hmm, I guess it's a destroyer? Small torpedo ship, real sleek, called the Sappho. Ours now, I suppose. And we got the Held Together out too."

Pixie frowned. "How? Did a Martian patrol happen by?"

"Nah. See tall, sexy and mysterious here," Missy said with a gesture across the booth.

"I've been upgraded to sexy?" Ivil asked.

"Just stating facts, don't get too excited," Missy replied, but a cocky grin stretched on one side of her face.

Ivil did, in fact, get a little excited.

"Anyway, she turned out to be a lean, mean, pirate fucking machine. We killed our way out of the station; left a mess in our wake."

Pixie eyed Ivil for a moment, then her eyes darted away. "I see. Wait, you need me for the bounty!"

"Bingo!"

Pixie sat up straighter. She seemed a lot more comfortable now that she knew why they wanted her. Ivil supposed she understood. Everyone always wanted something out of her, be that her power, or for her to leave them alone. It was hard to please people when she didn't know what their wants were. Not that she often cared to please.

"Do you have all the details we'd need for that?" Pixie asked. "Actually, how do you want to work that out?"

Missy worked her jaw. "To be honest, I figured I'd pass that on to you. What would work best? And yeah, we've got sensor reading for days. Both from the Sappho and the Held Together. Not that the old junker's sensors are worth anything."

"No, that's good, that's good," Pixie said. "I'll have to look over it all, of course, but I'm sure it'll be enough. You did shoot some of the ships?"

"Torps and missiles, yeah," Missy said. "A few direct hits, and then big explosions. Lots of friendly fire, but I hope that that won't count against us."

"Pirates accidentally taking out an ally after you damaged them is somewhat contentious, the bounty office can be assholes, but they'll at least consider it, and I have some good pull with them," Pixie said.

"Cool cool," Missy replied. "So, what's the best way of doing this?"

Pixie swallowed again. A nervous tick? This woman seemed full of those. "W-well, there's two options. You register as a bounty hunter yourself, use the first couple of bounties to fly past Journeyman, and then get your Master accreditation. That means a bigger percentage for a few of the kills, but a much worse one for the others. They'll be looking over everything with a fine-tooth comb, too."

"Alright," Missy said. "We kinda want the money fast."

"Then there's another option," Pixie said. "You let me take the credit, at least with the board. I can let people know that I'm just calling it in, it's happened before with other hunters. Sometimes a cargo ship with a pea-shooter gets lucky and the captain has some contacts in the guild. A bounty should be collected if it can be, you know? Anyway, I'd submit the bounties, and then I take a cut. Say, twenty percent."

"Twenty percent?" Missy repeated. "You haven't even wined, dined and given me a good time before fucking me, huh?"

Pixie's face turned very red. "Maybe, maybe not twenty percent. Ten?"

"Ten is still high," Ivil said. "Especially for so little work."

"F-for you, five," Pixie said. "But no lower! I'm staking my rep on this, you know? If this turns out to be a hoax, then I'm royally fucked."

"It's not a hoax," Missy dismissed. "We have the scans and the ship to prove it. So, how soon do you think you can get this done?"

"You know, telling me it's not a hoax and then asking me to hurry along isn't as reassuring as you might think," Pixie said.

Ivil leaned forwards, catching Pixie's eyes as she did so. "What Missy said was true. We did destroy a number of pirate ships, and killed quite a few pirates while we were at it. You can trust us."

Pixie shifted in her seat. "W-well, if you say so," she said as she broke eye contact. "Anyway, uh, business aside, it's nice to see you again, Missy."

"Heh, yeah, you too. Sorry for, uh, last time. You know how it is."

"Last time?" Ivil asked.

"I kinda did a hit and run," Missy said. "But hey, I'm always on the move, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Pixie said. She was trying to sound casual, but there was some hurt there, Ivil noticed.

***