Navigating without stars

She wiped down the wooden surface for perhaps the hundredth time today. She was bored and that was never a good thing. It gave her mind time to wander which eventually led to pondering that blank spot that was her memories. Loud male laughter came from the far corner and she looked up. Io was in the corner her arms wrapped around one of the regulars. A big burly guy by the name of jimmy who worked at the local mine. It was no secret he had a crush on Io, too bad Io wasn't the marrying type. In fact none of kades girls were likely to get married any time soon.

It was simply a fact of life here on this deserted little mud hole of a planet. Or at least it was at the moment she wasn't really sure if it had always been that way because she simply could not remember it. She finished wiping the counter and noted the bartender trying to get her attention. She sauntered over to him.

"yeah, what's up?" she said

"Kade wants to see you" said the bartender.

He jerked his head in the direction of the doorway that led to the kitchen. She sighed and walked towards the back room dropping her cleaning rag on the side of the bucket they kept behind the counter as she passed. She found Kade in his office and walked in. He was on the phone so she waited until he hung up.

"Ah Aiden so good to see you, how are you?" said Kade

She raised an eyebrow cade had never really shown anything remotely close to caring to any of his girls but at least he wasn't abusive.

"I'm fine sir, a bit bored but that's only because it's usually slow on Tuesday" said Aiden

He smiled at her and for some reason she was worried.

"how would you like to make more creds than you normally do in a month?" said Kade

Her mouth dropped open in shock for a few minutes but she quickly recovered.

"Doing what?" said Aiden

He paused for a few minutes as if weighing his words. She saw the worry pass through his eyes though and wondered at its cause.

"I've been invited to a little soiree on the territorial governor's yacht and he wants me to provide the entertainment" Said Kade

She swallowed she could guess what that entertainment would entail and she wasn't exactly looking forward to being pawed by a bunch of stuffy old men. Still more money than she made in a month was nothing to sneeze at and it would get her out of the contract sooner. So she supposed she could put up with it for a little while if it meant she never had to do it again.

"So you in?" said Kade

"Yeah put me on the list" said Aiden

He smiled at her and typed something into his computer.

"We'll be leaving in a few days but do me a favor don't discuss this with the other girls, I don't need them asking to go too" said Kade

She nodded in understanding and went back to the bar area. Io had vanished upstairs and now there were a few of the regulars sitting at the bar drinking. A group of four had set up in the corner playing what looked like poker. None of them seemed interested in her company so she grabbed a broom and made for the front door.

If they didn't sweep away the sand at least twice a day it would jam up the front door and patrons wouldn't be able to get in or out. She stepped out on the porch with broom in hand and started working the sand out of the door slide and away from the door.

She was still doing so when the first rumble shook the ground. It sounded like thunder so she looked towards the sky. None of the clouds looked dark enough to pour down rain. Hope deflated she liked the rain, it happened so rarely here that she actually enjoyed it. The rumbled sounded again, so she stepped out from under the awning to look for its source. A black cloud was filling the sky in an oddly streak like pattern. It took her a few minutes to register just what she was seeing.

The door slid open behind and a young man emerged. She recognized him as one of the miners that was somewhat new around here. He must have owned Gaia a hefty sum if he accepted mine work to pay it off. He looked to the sky following the plume with his eyes the same as she was doing. Two other men came out one of them was Jimmy and Io came out with him. Their clothes were haphazard like they had dressed in a hurry.

"It's the arcadia" breathed one of the men, then he took off running in its direction.

The other four followed suit and Aiden just watched them go until Jimmy and Io ran past her. Her mouth dropped open in shock. This was Jimmy's so called plan to get them out of here, run away on a pirate ship. She watched them run down the street for a moment still too shocked to acknowledge that her only friend was leaving her behind. Then she shook herself out of it and took off after her. Io was easy to catch because like Aiden she was wearing high heels and a short skirt. They reached the side of a mesa and noted the guys were already climbing it. She looked up and could only see a vague darkly colored outline of what looked like an old warship.

"are you sure about this" said Aiden

Io looked at her.

"Yeah it's my way off this rock" said Io

She reached for the cliff face and started climbing. With a sigh she started up after her. She wasn't even sure why she was doing this. She wasn't interested in becoming a pirate. She just wanted to pay off her debt and maybe settle down somewhere. Io was however her only friend and she was prone to trouble. She often spoke without thinking or misread signals and flirted with the wrong guy. Aiden was always the one to bail her out and this time would be no different. They got halfway up the cliff and suddenly Io stopped climbing so Aiden climbed up beside her.

"What's wrong?" said Aiden

"I'm scared, I'm so high up, what if I fall Aiden?" said Io

Aiden looked down the ground was quite a ways off and the top was quite a bit closer. If she fell from here Io would most assuredly die, unless she hit the water

"then I'll catch you, I won't let you fall Io" said Aiden

The younger woman sighed and started climbing again. Aiden sighed in relief and followed her up. They climbed over the top and several guards were there to greet them. They were marched into the ship and checked for weapons. Io was relieved of the switch blade Aiden had insisted she start carrying. When they checked Aiden all they found was the bottle opener she kept in her waistband. They eyed it with skepticism but took it anyways.

Then they marched them towards a room that looked like a loading dock. The doors were open and the men were positioned on the anchor teeth. Everyone was in walk suits that looked like giant robots so they were quite intimidating. She assumed that was the point so she ignored the attempt and just thought of the suits as clothes. One of them was going down the line asking questions of the men.

One of them gave a seriously stupid answer and the tooth under him folded down. He screamed as he fell. The tooth was righted and she watched in horror as Io was shoved out onto that same thin square of metal. The second guy was vetoed and Aiden was shoved into his spot. She was next to Io and the woman was trying hard to maintain her balance on the beam in her heels.

"hold still" said Aiden

Io stopped shifting and did as she said. She looked a sight less likely to fall to her doom. Jimmy wobbled and fell so his tooth was folded down. Io hadn't even flinched, confirming that the affection was all one sided. The woman in the suit stopped in front of the kid. She wasn't sure why she instantly labeled the person in the suit as a she the suits were genderless. The boy must have said the right thing because he was hauled inside.

The woman stopped in front of Io and Aiden prayed she wouldn't attempt to flirt her way out of this. The pirate woman asked her question and Io opened her mouth to reply. What came out as an answer shocked Aiden senseless for a second. Did she seriously just say she wanted to join the crew so she could sleep with the captain? The pirate was stunned speechless too. She turned to look up at someone standing on a catwalk above them. He shook his head no and the tooth started to fold. For one horrified second Aiden watched Io start to fall.

Then she did the unthinkable and stepped off the platform after her. Io was screaming and flailing as she fell but Aiden had folded her arms around her and pointed her toes. She was deliberately reducing her wind drag to catch up to Io. She passed her and made a split second decision. There was a ledge a few feet away from them on the cliff face.

Aiden shifted her position and then promptly kicked Io as hard as she could towards that cliff. She saw Io hit the wall and scramble for a hold as she plummeted past her. Aiden wrapped her arms around herself and leaned back so she would land on her back. She closed her eyes, this was really going to hurt. She hit the ground with a thud that lifted a cloud of dust and knocked the wind from her lungs.

She felt some of her bones snap and all went dark for a few minutes. She opened her eyes a few minutes later everything hurt but was giving off that telltale tingle that meant it was healing. She sat up some and looked at her legs. They were still hurting quite a bit. She groaned when she saw the bone sticking out of her shin. She reached down and shoved the bone back into position before it healed that way. As she did so her ribs stopped hurting which mean they were healed. She turned her head the guys that had fallen before her had already left, they were somewhat wetter because they more than likely hit the pond. At least that's what the muddy footprints told her. She climbed slowly to her feet. Her legs ached and were somewhat shaky but they were healing.

She looked towards the cliff face wondering if she was going to have to start climbing if Io didn't start climbing down. She heard the sobbing before she saw the woman and instantly felt a bit bad for scaring her but not so bad that she regretted what she did. Io had been one peg or a few feet to her left which would have put her on those rocks instead of the dirt or the pond. The pond would have seen her safe, the dirt and rocks not so much. It was mostly likely a miscalculation on the part of Harlock's crew but it would have been a fatal one to anyone but her.

She limped towards the cliff face not because she was hurt but because she had lost a shoe on the way down. She supposed she should look for that but she really didn't feel like doing that now. The sobbing was getting closer so she waited. She wasn't sure she should say anything for fear she would scare the girl and make her fall. It turned out saying something was unnecessary as Io spotted her before she reached the bottom. She stepped down and rushed towards Aiden, wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

"Oh my god I thought you died, what happened did they reject you too?" said Io

Aiden simply nodded yes because Io was hugging her too hard for her to reply. She was also still sobbing quite loudly and hanging on in a literal death grip. She didn't want to tell her that Harlock's people had never even gotten the chance to talk to her let alone reject her because it would make Io feel worse. If she thought they both were rejected she wouldn't think it was all her.

Io was loosening her grip finally.

"Come on lets go home, poor git doesn't know what he's missing" said Io

Io started to walk off.

"Ah Io?" said Aiden

"Yeah?" she said turning back around.

"Can you help me find my shoe?" said Aiden

Io stared blankly at her for about two seconds and started laughing.