Genre: Alternative Universe – Space Age
Rating: R – For really bad swearing and adult situations… yes, especially from the Titans.
Summary: Space Cargo Guarding was getting old for Robin. He loved space, but surely there were better things to look forward to than getting to the other side of the stargate. Man-oh-man, was he right...
Edited: Dec. 20, 2004
Standard disclaimers apply.
THE MIGHTY TITAN
Chapter Two – Excess Baggage
Cyborg and Robin managed to dodge the authorities amidst the confusion. There were too many panicked people in the streets and just too many inmates for the police to round them all up. In the first place, at least half of the prisoners on their level hadn't been convicted yet, which meant they hadn't been required to wear prison uniforms. Those like Robin and Cyborg were still clad in their civilian clothing, giving them the advantage of blending into the crowd.
"Meet you at the loading dock," Robin told Cyborg above the din of the chaos.
Cyborg nodded and turned to disappear into the mob.
Robin quickly made for the docks. He tried his best not to look like he was hurrying to get away from something, yet he didn't want to take it too slow, either, so he took a Port Worm.
His drop-off was just at the edge of the alleyways leading to the Boardwalk, which for him was perfect. He paid his fare and headed for the loading docks in a brisk walk.
Robin tried not to get so impatient with the tourists and their leisurely pace as they strolled over the planks with their cameras and got in his way, but when a group of ladies approached him, asking him if he could take their picture, he was in absolutely no mood to be accommodating.
He took their camera and pointed it at them. "Say cheese," and without even waiting for them to pose, he took their photo. Without a second glance, he gave them back their camera and took off.
As he reached the docks, he saw Cyborg approaching in the distance. They met at the ship's loading doors and Robin pressed in the codes to allow them entrance into the ship.
"Try to contact Beast Boy and Terra again. Tell them that we're back in the ship and that they don't have to bail us out. Last thing we want is for them to give our names to the police when they go looking for us at the station," said Robin.
Cyborg nodded, flipping his comm open. Beast Boy and Terra were still not picking up, but Cyborg left a message with them both. He shut his comm as the ship doors began to buzz open. "When do you think the witch is going to show up?"
"Whenever that is, it'll be too soon," grumbled Robin.
"Well, so much for gratitude."
Robin took a moment to compose himself from the shock of hearing the flat, gravelly voice that came from right behind him. He tried not to dwell on how she had appeared, unnoticed. She did, after all, show that she could walk through walls.
Cyborg was more vocal about his surprise, swearing to many gods as he looked over his shoulder, a spooked expression on his face.
Robin walked into the ship without a backward glance. "Lady, you put us in jail in the first place. You'll pardon me if I continue to hold that against you."
"I wouldn't expect less," said Raven, falling into step beside him.
Cyborg sighed, hurrying in after them as Robin began to close the doors. "Do we have to let her in now? Maybe she could wait outside 'til morning."
Robin tossed him a weary glance. "That would be perfect, wouldn't it?"
Raven's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, a metallic groan rippling through the walls for an instant.
Robin's eyebrow shot up at the sound. He recalled Raven saying that she was a kinetic, and he wondered momentarily if his ship was in danger of getting bent out of shape every time they managed to annoy her. He wasn't particularly afraid that she would tear the ship apart, especially if they were in space. In the first place, she was so set on having them accomplish the mission. Without a ship, they would be useless. In the second place, if she created a breach while they were in space, they would all be sucked into the vacuum of space and asphyxiate. It wasn't the prettiest way to die. But however certain he was that the ship would remain in one piece, he, like any ship owner, abhorred dents of any kind on the body.
"You gonna wreck my ship, too?" he asked in a dangerously gentle voice. "You're just so lovable, aren't you?"
Her expression flattened. "Like a puppy."
"Like a bitch, is more like it," muttered Cyborg, walking past her.
Robin thought Cyborg's response appropriate enough. He fell into step with Cyborg, neither of them inviting her to follow. She stood unmoving, watching them walk away.
For a while they thought they could leave the hall without hearing her say another word, but she spoke, a hint of conviction at the edge of her voice. "We had a deal. Are you going to go through with it?"
Robin pushed the button to the elevator forcefully. He had just about had it with Raven. "Unbelievable," he said to Cyborg, to which the half-robot nodded. "I let you walk into my ship. Why would I do that if I wanted to run out on you?"
"Because I could rip right through your cargo doors."
Robin scoffed. "Just because you blew a hole through the jail house, doesn't mean I couldn't stop you from doing that to my ship. You're good, but not that good."
The briefest hint of emotion flashed across her face, like she had been surprised, in a good way, and now she was appraising him anew. Robin found it slightly unsettling, but the surprise and appraisal went by so fast that he was able to regroup just as quickly.
She cocked a grin, though on her, it barely looked like one. She didn't look much like the type who did any kind of smile; just an upward curving of lips. "Point taken, captain."
Robin exchanged glances with Cyborg just as the elevator doors opened with a hiss. Wordlessly, they walked into the car and faced the doors.
As he saw her standing at the other end of the hallway, a satchel of her things in her hand, it suddenly occurred to Robin that if he had to put up with Raven for a few weeks, there was little sense in aggravating himself, or the witch. Just when the doors were about to zip close, he pressed a button on the controls to hold the doors open. "So are you coming up or what?"
Robin expected to see another flash of emotion, but she deadpanned worse than ever. He knew then that he was never going to play poker with her.
He thought maybe she wasn't inclined to share elevators, so he shrugged and was about to let the doors close when she rose from the floor and glided forward.
She moved smoothly into the car and set herself down gently between them as Robin let the holding switch go.
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When Terra and Beast Boy walked into the mess hall the following morning for breakfast, they were still slightly buzzed from the indiscriminate amounts of Abalakin wine they downed the previous night. Abalakin wine was delicious, and cheap, and perfect for anyone who wanted to go home on a belly crawl, but the kind of hangovers it generated from its hapless victims usually consisted of black-hole powered headaches; like one's brain was getting sucked out. The ache sometimes got so bad that it was known to cause temporary blindness.
Suffice it to say, Terra and Beast Boy weren't in the best of moods. They were grumpy and they still had on the clothes from when they left the ship to go on their date, so Robin figured that it was best not to get on their case about him and Cyborg getting thrown in jail and having no one to depend on.
Robin shook his head over his breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. They probably haven't even checked their communicators for messages.
Cyborg digitally turned the page of the hologram-projected sports section of the Quadrant Daily as he leaned comfortably back on his seat, drinking coffee.
Robin took out his own comm and activated the projection system for his own Quadrant Daily issue. The paper's menu popped up and Robin jabbed lightly at the financial section icon floating before him.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Terra and Beast Boy shuffling around like zombies, walking as stiffly as they could to avoid any sudden movements to their heads. Terra poured them both some coffee and wordlessly handed one mug to Beast Boy, after which they turned at the same time and froze.
Robin arched an eyebrow and followed their gaze. They were looking at Raven who was levitating in a lotus position at the corner, her face buried in a hand-held book she had picked out from the ship's mini-library.
Terra scowled, scratching irritably into her disheveled blonde hair. "Who the hell is that?"
She was, by nature, one of the most cheerful persons any of them had met, but Robin supposed even cheerful people had hangovers. He didn't feel much like explaining Raven's presence, with Terra and Beast Boy still in the process of detoxifying.
"Raven," was all he said.
Raven didn't even look up from her book at the sound of her name. Robin shrugged; if she didn't care then neither should he.
Beast Boy's brows knotted. "And?"
Robin ignored Beast Boy's question.
Terra made a gesture with her coffee mug, causing some of its contents to slosh out of her cup. "Do we—you know—have to talk to her?"
Robin was about to say that she could run circles around Raven for all he cared when Raven looked up from her book, her expressionless face turned in his direction.
"Captain, tell your cabin-girl that I'd love it if she left me alone." She went back to her book only to re-emerge. "Oh, and tell her to pass that message on to her funky-looking cabin-boy boyfriend." The book rose to cover her face again.
Robin turned back to his paper. "What am I, your secretary?" He ate his oatmeal.
It took a moment for Terra to process Raven's words, but when it became clear to her just what Raven had said, she stalked towards the seat opposite Robin's muttering, "Great… a whole galaxy of girls and you boys had to bring home the one who's a colossal bitch. Robin, what is it with you and women I couldn't stand?"
Robin didn't even honor her remark with a reply.
Beast Boy, still dazed, sat beside Terra. "Dude, did she just call me a cabin boy? Did she just call me funky-looking? Who the hell is this person?"
Robin realized he wasn't going to get out of explaining this morning. He sighed, minimizing the Quadrant Daily. "She's a client. She wants us to go to Karna to retrieve some cargo and then…" He paused. He realized that they haven't exactly talked about what would be done with the cargo, or where it would be dropped off, but he supposed it hardly mattered. Raven practically had them by the balls. She could pretty much make them do whatever the hell she wanted. "Well, we haven't discussed the cargo's destination yet, but we'll get to that eventually."
"How much is she paying us?"
"Thirty million."
Terra and Beast Boy's eyes widened, saucer-like.
"Euphorix credits?" Terra cried, her mouth watering.
"No, Galanthus credits."
Their faces turned sour.
"What!" shrieked Terra.
"Chief…" gasped Beast Boy, blinking. "Are you… are you shitting me?"
Robin wasn't particularly fond of shitting anyone, especially on that morning, when only the night before he had gotten screwed—in a really bad way. He picked up his own mug of coffee and calmly drank some of it.
Cyborg answered for him. "No, he's not. We are going to Karna for thirty fucking million Galanthus credits. Call it a discounted price."
Beast Boy pulled at his own hair in irritation. "Discounted? That's not discounted, that's fucking charitable! What—do we need tax breaks or something? What—how—are you both out of your minds?"
Robin took it in stride. He couldn't exactly blame Beast Boy for freaking out. "More like desperate. If you bothered to check your comms, you'd know that Cyborg and I were arrested last night for drug-possession."
Terra's jaw dropped. "Captain… I didn't know you took drugs…"
"Don't be silly, Terra," said Beast Boy in a tone of disdain. "The chief wouldn't do that stuff. He's much smarter than that."
Robin arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Well—um—thanks BB…"
"He was probably just selling it."
Robin shot them both a glare. "You're both morons. I don't do that shit and I don't sell it."
"We was framed," Cyborg said, lest they flew off topic. He jerked his head in Raven's direction. "By her."
Terra's jaw dropped even lower. "Then what the hell is she doing here? God! Did either of you sleep with her?"
"Nice…" said Beast Boy, winking and nodding in approval.
Terra glared at him, slapping his arm.
Beast Boy flashed a scowl of pain and rubbed where her palm had connected.
"How could you be such a perv at a time like this? The woman apparently framed them for drug possession and then they brought her into our ship, telling us that we have to haul our asses to Karna for thirty million Gal-Creds. Hello! Are all the men in this ship thinking with their Richards?"
Robin didn't particularly like her choice of euphemism. "Terra, my Richard has nothing to do with this, believe me. She got us out of jail—"
"So now we owe it to her to do this pick and drop? Beast Boy and I could've gotten you out on bail!"
"No, you couldn't have." Robin knew he didn't have to explain anything about galactic felonies. Terra and Beast Boy hardly ever bothered with details. "Besides, you haven't even checked your comms. Cyborg and I left messages telling you where we were and that you had to get us out of there. What time is it now? It's ten in the morning! We would have been in that jail cell for fifteen hours, now!"
Terra frowned. "That's not the point. We'd have gotten you out of jail anyway."
"You're right, that's not the point. The point is, the crime we were being charged with wasn't bailable and we were looking at—at least—another two to four Earth months of detainment, not to mention the possibility of having to be put away for fifteen to twenty years."
BeastBoy didn'tknow much about galactic penal laws and Terra wasn't very fond of discussing details, particularly because shewas immersed in the penal system in the worse way, as it is, so they didn't argue about bailable crimes and whatnot.
Beast Boy winced. "Then how did you get out?"
"She busted us out of jail," said Cyborg. "Along with a whole hoard of prisoners. She also tampered with prison records, so it's like the arrest never happened."
Terra's glare became fierce. "I could've wiped your records for you! I'm a hacker, remember? The Euphorix SP police records have pansy-assed firewalls—"
Robin shrugged. "Yeah, I know you could have, but if we broke out of there ourselves without the rest of the facility in chaos, we would've been ID-ied. You could wipe away computer files, but you couldn't have wiped away their memories."
Terra didn't look appeased. "Still! You know she screwed you, don't you?"
Robin rolled his eyes. "If anyone knows that, Terra, it's us."
"Ugh!" Terra got up from her seat, banging her hand on the tabletop as she did it. "With all due respect, Captain… Cyborg, you're both idiots."
Robin exchanged looks with Cyborg. Cyborg shrugged. There was no arguing with what she said.
She turned away, disgusted of the men-folk as she stalked towards the mess hall doors.
Raven, reading quietly during the whole discussion, looked up, meeting Terra's gaze.
"What the fuck are you lookin' at?" spat Terra. She didn't even wait for Raven to reply. She stormed out of the room without a backward glance.
Raven went back to reading her book.
Beast Boy slumped in his seat, wining unhappily. "This'll put Terra in a bad mood for days… and before we've had our coffee, too! You guys sure know how to make a bad hangover worse."
"This isn't the best of days for me either, so quit complaining," said Robin. "Speaking of making things worse, aren't you supposed to be scrubbing the deck?"
Beast Boy groaned. "First you stick us with a lousy contract and now you want me to scrub the deck before I've had my coffee. Jeez, Chief, have a heart…"
Robin smiled. "You're right. You've got five minutes to finish your coffee. I want that deck spotless before take-off." He switched his newspaper back on.
Beast Boy grumbled curses through out his five-minute breakfast.
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Robin sat gazing out of his work chamber window as they sailed through open space. They had just left the Euphorix space coast and in another hour, he would initiate the ship's Light Thrusters, more commonly known as Warp Speed.
The nearest stargate that would lead them to the Karnan space coast was only an Earth-day away by regular, ion-powered, speed, but warp speed could get them there in less than six hours. Any self-respecting Gater would invest on the cost of having and maintaining Light Thrusters. Clients wanted speed as much as soundness when it came to delivering their cargo, and if one Gater couldn't provide the speed, another could. It was a greatly competitive market considering most commercial ships had Light Thrusters. Besides, Light Thrusters came with hyper-drives. Hyper-drives generated speeds that were ten times faster than warp-speed, though such speed could only be maintained for a few minutes and it depleted fuel in massive quantities. But hyper-drives were necessary to lose pirates in pursuit.
Ships classified as Personal Transport Crafts (family ships, sports ships, short-range transporters, space runners, pod-crafts, etc.), or PTCs, with the exception of one or two luxury-model ships, did not have the benefit of Warp Speed. An individual could supe-up their sports ship with Pagnolian-made booster engines (best PTC-compatible Light Thrusters in the galactic market), but the said individual would have to pay a galactic sum of money on insurance, preventive maintenance, taxes and fees to the Galactic Light Speed Registry, a government-endorsed entity that kept track of warp signatures. Most people agreed that paying for the cost of warp speed wasn't practical if it wasn't for business or enforcement, or if you weren't the Tria-planetary Emperor of Sevastopol (who owned one of the biggest Fuel companies in the galaxy). Besides, once a ship, any ship, entered a stargate, everyone traveled at maximum warp speed through wormholes.
Robin tapped his finger against the digital notebook on his desk, staring at theframed photograph of Karna he had on his table.He remembered taking the photograph with Starfire a decade ago andhe had to ask himself why he chose it among all his other pictures to be posted on his office desk. Was it to remember how pretty Karna had been? Or was it to remember the memories attached to the planet when he first saw it?
A moment later, he shook his head of reminiscence, wondering, insteadjust what he had gotten into with Raven D'Belial.
She had called it a "mission", and while at the moment he didn't have enough information to be reasonably worried, he was worried anyway. There was definitely something about the woman that made him harbor certain misgivings apart from the fact that she had procured their services by devious means.
"Do you know that I put up all the locks on my door when I went into my room this morning?" asked Terra who was busy punching codes on her portable mainframe computer. "That's how much I don't trust her."
Robin stifled a sigh. Terra had done nothing but tell him how much she didn't trust Raven. Of course, he completely understood where she was coming from; he didn't trust Raven either, but he'd really appreciate it if Terra stopped talking about it.
He had let Terra into his office so that she could search the galactic database for information on Raven D'Belial. Since Robin was responsible for making sure Terra didn't try to hack into any more classified records, he let her work in the privacy of his office so that she could break into classified records if she had to. It was one thing for Terra to illegally hack her way into records in the presence of everyone; Robin didn't want to put the rest of the crew in the position of lying for her when her parole officer came by to check up on her. If anyone had to lie in that respect, it would be better if it were just him, even if he didn't really like lying in the first place.
Suffice it to say he knew Terra would hack herself some information on Raven D'Belial even if Robin didn't ask her to, so he figured he may as well supervise her activities.
Robin glanced at the monitor on his desk that showed a mirror image of what Terra was doing on her portable. He frowned. "Hey, Gaea," he said, calling her by her hacker name. "Don't do that. Don't XM on the bethesba alphas."
Terra's eyes widened. "No way! You couldn't possibly have know—"
He sighed. "I told you before; what you could do, I could do. Now quit trying to crash the Thyestes federal bureau files."
"But that's the easiest way in! They'll never be able to trace it to us. Besides, their agents are notorious for their brutality—"
"Just don't, alright? The reason I lie for you to your parole officer is because I think you're a good kid and that you could be taught to act responsibly, if not legally. Don't push me."
She pouted, but she did as she was told. Several minutes later, Terra popped open a window. She didn't look too happy. "I've sorted out the random info with reference to her name. Even after I've sorted, I usually have a ton of information on someone after looking for this long…"
"You've only been looking for an hour."
"Like I said, tons of info by now, but look; all I could pull up is this, and it's ancient. The language on the text doesn't translate into any language in the database. The only reason I was able to pull it up is that 'Raven' was written in Old English: Hhræfn and Belial in Hebrew: bellya'al. Just so you know, 'Belial' means 'demon'. Could you get any creepier than that?"
Robin rolled his eyes. "Could you please quit it with how much you don't trust her? I don't trust her either, but I have no choice. We made a deal with her, and even if I want to shoot myself for making that deal, we have no choice. So… please!"
"Fine." She continued to type. "I'll keep working on this, and I'll see if I could translate the text. We don't even know if this text is about her in particular."
Robin nodded. He pulled up the hologram keyboard and punched in some codes. A beep sounded from his processors and hers.
Terra reacted almost immediately. "Hey! What the fuck is your problem? You've blocked my codes!"
"Your destructive codes. You could get into systems and you could get out of them, but you couldn't alter, improve or destroy anything. This is a read-only activity unless you ask my permission and I give it. Savvy?"
"I could break into your system! You know I could!"
"Go ahead and I'll have your parole officer issue a temporary transfer of Guardian. Let's see how you like some other person watching over you and reporting to your PO, someone who probably isn't as lenient and as generous with your salary as I am."
"You suck!"
Robin ignored her, pulling his drawer open and fishing an extra communicator out of it. "You could work on it here, in my office, or you could work in your room. It doesn't matter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have warp speed procedures to coordinate."
He left his office and entered the bridge where Beast Boy and Cyborg were talking animatedly about zero-G hockey. He took Terra's place on the systems board and initiated the warp speed sequences.
It took at least another half-hour to stabilize the course before they all sat back and resumed casual conversation.
"So, seriously guys," said Beast Boy. "This Raven chick; did you… you know…" He jerked an eyebrow and grinned.
Robin didn't even say anything. He just shot Beast Boy an annoyed glare.
Cyborg expressed himself better. "Ever poked a wasps' nest?"
Beast Boy then frowned, confused. "Then what the hell—"
Robin sighed, impatient. "We already told you—"
"I know, I know. You got blackmailed, sure. But I just—I just couldn't believe… it was such an ordinary day, yesterday, then bam; this woman appears out of nowhere and things happened so fast… Terra and I didn't have the slightest clue until this morning—"
"And whose fault is that?"
Beast Boy ignored him. "You were in jail; you got out of jail; she's in the ship; we're on our way to Karna; why are we even doing this? We could—you know, drop her in some planet and just get away, clean. It's not like we're stiffing her. She hasn't paid and we don't have her cargo. We just decided not to accept her mission."
Robin began to shake his head vehemently. "You don't understand. We already said no. We laughed at her… we called her names… told her she was crazy… we just flat out refused to do what she wanted us to do. Three minutes later we had the Euphorix Fuzz-Force shoving our assess into their police crafts. I should've listened to all those fairy tales mom told me when I was a kid: Don't mess with the evil witch."
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Cyborg scoffed. "I had a bad feeling about her the moment I saw her walking into the tavern."
Robin frowned. "You did not. You thought she was hot."
"Well, she is! It don't mean I didn't think she was trouble!"
Beast Boy sighed. "So can't we just leave her somewhere…"
Robin growled. "She's not a box of kittens—"
Beast Boy gave a horrified gasp. "Did you ever do that? Left a box of poor, defenseless kittens—"
"You see why we hardly ever consult you about important matters? Because you've got the attention span of a five year old! Cripes…"
"Forget the kittens!" said Cyborg. "The fact is Robin and I made a deal. We always keep our promises. That's what makes us dependable Gaters."
Beast Boy rolled his eyes but conceded the point in silent acquiescence.
Not that Robin didn't understand where Beast Boy, and even Terra, was coming from. Right now, he still felt he and Cyborg had been bulldozed into pursuing the mission. It sucked that Raven put them in the position to do something they didn't want to do, but he had to hand it to the woman; she warned them she would play hardball, and she did. What he couldn't understand was what was so important about the mission and them that Raven had to resort to such "persuasive" methods.
He remembered her saying something to the effect that they were the only ones who could do the job. There were thousands of Gaters through out the galaxy, and a few of them would have been willing to make a Karnan pick-up for thirty million Gal-Creds. Why did it have to be them?
He sighed. Maybe she was just finicky.
There was a hiss of an opening door. He turned and saw Terra emerging from his office.
She frowned, leaning on the back of Beast Boy's chair. "I couldn't translate the text. I patched into every accessible database in all four quadrants and absolutely nothing even came close to making something of it."
Robin arched an eyebrow. One of Terra's primary skills as a hacker was her speed. She managed hacks a tenth of the time it took other hackers to gather information, which was partly the reason why she got caught. Bored with the easy hacks people paid her to do, she sought out the toughest system to crack, cracked it and got caught in her complacency. The only system she hadn't cracked so far was the judicial one. Luckily for her, under-aged convicts were often treated with kid-gloves. When Robin was out looking for a coordinator and had gotten laughed at by half-a-dozen programmers, he thought maybe he wasn't going to get an experienced programmer to work for himIt was Alfred who suggested QuaYSAR: Quadrant Youth Services and Reform, a program established to give minor-age convicts a chance to rebuild their lives by keeping legitimate jobs. It was like parole, but with guardians who weren't their parents.
At first, Robin wasn't too keen on the idea of putting a criminal on his ship, even if the criminal was only fourteen years old, but after having gone through the potential applicants and going over Terra's file at least three times, he decided to give her a chance.
He was only too glad to realize that she wasn't an evil, unprincipled brat. She was brilliant and bored; that was all. At the mention of space-travel, she begged him to accept her application; she said she would work for peanuts so long as he fed her and gave her a clean place to stay. He had no qualms taking her as his systems coordinator. He liked it even more that Terra and his new helmsman Beast Boy seemed to be hitting it off pretty well. Now the two were involved, in a weird kind of way.
"Where the heck is she, anyway?" asked Terra. "If I were you, captain, I wouldn't let her run around the ship without constant supervision."
"Part of the reason—" Robin began "—why I don't have a dog, Terra, is because I don't like the idea that I have to walk the mutt and then clean up after it on a regular basis."
As if on cue, the bridge doors opened and Raven came floating in. "You've been talking about me in the last hour. My cosmic space is a mess. I couldn't focus."
"Too bad for you," said Robin. He felt he had no reason to apologize. "And since we like talking about you so much, we might as well keep going. What exactly are we picking up in Karna?"
Everyone waited expectantly for her reply.
Raven, for a moment, seemed as if she wasn't going to answer, but eventually, she did speak. "It's not a what, it's a who. We're picking somebody up."
"Not someone like you, I hope," said Robin. He was actually serious.
Raven tilted her head slightly, as if she found his statement amusing. "No, not at all like me."
"Are you related to him… her?"
"Her. Not in the least."
"Well, is she an old friend?"
"Does it matter?"
"I just like knowing what kind of shit I'm going to be dumping in my cargo bay. You know… me, being the captain and all."
Raven turned her gaze to the windows where the galaxy passed them by so fast that everything blurred into one big, blue light zipping them by. "She doesn't know me and she has no clue that we're going to be picking her up."
Robin could feel the worried glances of his crew on him. He scowled. "Is this a kidnap? Because we don't do that."
"No, it is not a kidnap. We're going to buy her. She's a slave."
There was a collective groan and Robin could feel the rush of blood in his face. He was angry. "I told you we don't transport slaves. Lady, I ought to stuff you in a garbage pod and jettison you in space because you're fucking pissing me off like I've never been pissed before. I will not deliver slaves with this ship, do you hear me? People aren't a commodity and I'm not going to—"
"Settle down," said Raven. "We're not going to deliver this slave anywhere. I don't intend to keep her as a slave, but buying her instead of busting her out of Karna is so much easier. Busting her out would be difficult for me… anyway, I need this woman to do something for me, and if she agrees to do it… well, that's where the rest of the mission comes in. If we succeed in it, I could give you as much money as you want."
Beast Boy's and Terra's eyebrows shot up at the mention of "as much money as you want". That was always a crowd pleaser.
Robin let her words sink in before he continued. "And if she doesn't agree to help you?"
"I'll persuade her."
Cyborg shook his head in disapproval. "Somehow, I have no doubt you will. You know what this slave girl looks like, at least?"
"Yes, of course."
"And you have the money to buy her?"
Raven nodded. "I have the money, don't worry. One of you boys will have to do the transaction. Women aren't allowed to purchase slaves in Karna."
"Nobody should be allowed to purchase or sell slaves in Karna or anywhere else," muttered Terra.
Raven shot her a withering glance. "That's right. I'm sure your passion and dedication to the cause will convince the Galactic Slave Traders Federation to give up the trillions of credits their industry is earning. You're an inspiration to us all."
Terra made a motion to attack but Beast Boy held her back.
Beast Boy grunted as Terra struggled to get free of his hold. "Couldn't you, for one minute, be less acidic?"
Raven arched an eyebrow. "Why, so we could get along? What for?"
Robin made no comment. That certainly settled the matter: They didn't like her and she didn't care.
He took the extra communicator and tossed it at Raven. He thought she wasn't going to catch it, but she did, levitating it with her dark powers. She brought it to her hand.
Beast Boy looked mildly surprised, but Terra wasn't the least bit impressed.
"Keep that with you at all times," said Robin. "It's a long range communicator and it works better than the cheap shit they sell out on the market. Don't lose it. I'd rather lose you."
Raven said nothing as she tucked the communicator into her cloak and turned to leave the bridge.
When she disappeared behind the doors, Beast Boy's brows furrowed as he let Terra go. "Dude, is it just me, or did the room's temperature rise when she left?"
Terra shot him a glare. "Why'd you stop me from clobbering her?"
Beast Boy whined. He hated it when Terra was displeased with him.
Robin sighed, rising from Terra's seat to go to the captain's chair. "Look… I'm not going to have fighting and hair pulling in this ship—"
"Hair pulling? What, just because we're both girls we'll pull at each other's hair?"
Cyborg grinned. "Sure! They always do that in mud wrestling and K.Y. Karate."
Terra's frown deepened. "K.Y. Karate?"
Cyborg gave it a second thought. "Oh, right! You wouldn't know about that! It only happened in my dream."
Beast Boy sighed. "Why don't I get dreams like that?"
Terra counted to ten under her breath with martyr-like restraint, seating herself in her chair and turning her back on everyone.
Robin, a man who wasn't given to double standards—usually—, still believed that the reason they got on so well on the ship was because there wasn't more than one woman on board. There were countless things that tied men together; things that were uncomplicated, like beer, zero-G Hockey, women wrestling in mud and illicit dreams. Sure, they may disagree on a lot of things, but most times, it was the uncomplicated things that helped them get along. Women, on the other hand, needed to "bond" on whatever level they were talking about. They had to agree on hundreds of profound ideologies before they considered themselves to be seeing "eye to eye". It wasn't enough that they both thought Finnigan Roberts-Moder IV (Hollywood's hottest young super-nova) "delish". No: with women, it had to be more than that.
"Women are so complicated," muttered Robin as he leaned back on his seat.
"You better believe it!" Terra shot back.
Robin arched an eyebrow. He didn't even realize he'd been heard.
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The Euphorix-Karna stargate spat them out of the wormhole five hours after The Mighty Titan entered it. As soon as the barcodes on the sides of the ship passed the gate scanners, Robin and Cyborg instantly knew, to their great relief, that they weren't wanted fugitives. Raven's ploy had succeeded.
"Ye of little faith," said Raven.
Robin was mildly surprised that she knew what he was feeling. He wasn't usually very transparent, but then he remembered her mentioning that she wasn't a mind reader, but that she had other powers, and he could only assume she was an empath. It wasn't mind reading, but it was almost as bad.
"Stay out of my emotions," he hissed, rising from his seat to get to weapons control. "Terra, scan the area for hostile entities."
"Aye, aye, captain."
"BB, get ready for evasive maneuvers."
"Gotcha."
"Cy, prep shield-generators and power-up weapons, but don't bring 'em out unless we encounter a threat. We don't want any of these creeps thinking we're spooked. Just set them at ready."
A distinct drone began to vibrate beneath them.
"Shields and weapons ready."
Raven arched an eyebrow. "Aren't you being a little paranoid—"
"Captain, NX-Cruisers on fast approach: Very hostile," said Terra. She popped open a window on the corner of each of their panels indicating their coordinates in relation to the ships. "Gang of six."
Robin's fingers flew over the controls. "Red alert, ladies. Shields and weapons up. BB, Lazy Susan tactics. You were saying, Raven?"
"I said it's good to be prepared."
Robin cocked a grin in spite of himself as the lights in the bridge dimmed and the drone of the ship became louder. "Buckle up on my seat. It's going to get a bit bumpy."
This time, Raven did not think about questioning him. She took the captain's seat and strapped herself down with a tight pull.
An extra panel of controls emerged by Cyborg's workstation. He would have to assume control on some of the weapons.
Beast Boy flipped the switches on his board and made a thumbs-up sign. "Ready for Lazy Susan."
Robin activated the magnets on his boots and felt himself being secured to the floor. "Go!"
Beast Boy lurched the ship into booster-drive, a speed faster than ion-speed but slower than warp speed, cutting into the path of the NX-Cruisers. The cruisers went into quick pursuit. Beast Boy gave a delighted whoop, making daring loops and dips as he evaded fire from the compact ships. The cruisers flew at the Might Titan from all directions, but Beast Boy's skills were exceptional and in spite of the rapid fire, only two shots hit their shields. There was no doubt in their minds that Beast Boy was enjoying himself. While leading the chase, the Mighty Titan's sensors scanned information from the cruiser's database.
Several maneuvers later, Robin thought they had evaded long enough to have a complete report. "Terra; analysis of their shields."
"Just in," confirmed Terra. "Agasthenes-manufactured top-of-the-line Grid-Lock brand shields. Virtually impenetrable to most known weapon's fire in all four quadrants." She grinned.
Raven frowned. "That doesn't sound good."
"On the contrary…" said Robin. "Hit 'em, Terra."
"Spiking pulse cannons with Caterpillar virus now."
"Targeting A, B and C," said Robin. "Cy?"
"D, E and F on target."
"Fire at will."
Lasers shot out of the ship, hitting all six in consecutive weapons fire. Beast Boy lurched sideways to make a loop, passing the cruisers by and rocking them violently.
Raven cursed. "Do you have to do that?"
Beast Boy giggled. "No, but it's fun!"
Robin, used to Beast Boy's antics, continued to ready their torpedoes.
The cruisers zipped into view, surrounding the Mighty Titan.
Beast Boy pitched his controls to the side. "Now!"
The ship went into a tailspin, Robin and Cyborg releasing photon torpedoes as they went. The torpedoes caught all but one, but the cruisers had sustained so much damage that they hurriedly backed off, leaving the Mighty Titan alone.
The spin came to a stop.
"Power down," said Robin. "Stand down red alert. Stay at blue alert, but I don't think we're going to have trouble for a while."
The lights came back on in the cabin and the sounds of the ship leveled to its normal hum.
Beast Boy turned on his seat with an exaggerated look of shock on his face. "Dude… I'm so fucking good at this. Seriously, I make it look so easy, don't I? I'm so awed by myself it's crazy. I'm a walking Sixth Wonder of the Galaxy…"
Terra giggled. "That was awesome, Beast Boy."
"I know."
"Too bad powering down doesn't include egos," muttered Raven.
Robin chuckled. Beast Boy's ego had saved them many times, so he wasn't about to complain. "Terra, Cy, report damage."
"Systems are at ninety-nine percent, captain," said Terra. "We need to recharge for a bit. Those photon torpedoes always put a drain on our power core."
Cyborg frowned as he squinted at the screen.
Robin arched an eyebrow. "What?"
"There's a strain at the jib. Dammit, BB…"
Beast Boy scoffed. "You said the jib was solid."
Cyborg sighed. "Right, right…"
Robin cocked a grin. The strain was likely caused by Beast Boy's maneuvering and was no real cause for worry. Cyborg could easily buttress the jib with some Barbaradoor adamantium. "Other than that, is the ship okay, Cy?"
"It's fine. I'll scan for scratches on the exterior later."
"Good work, ladies."
Raven unbuckled her belt. "Are we going to have more of that later?"
Robin shrugged one shoulder. "Probably. Cargo ships are particularly interesting to these gangs. If they're lucky enough to hi-jack a cargo ship, they could generate a lot of profit, whether or not the ship has cargo. In our case, the ship's worth more than the cargo." He flashed Raven a beatific smile.
Raven merely raised an eyebrow.
In the next three and a half hours, the Mighty Titan evaded attacks and engaged in battle, some of them more vicious than the fight brought by the NX-Cruisers. They sustained a bit more damage, but none that would compromise the ship's space-worthiness for the time being. They would have to make repairs after they left the Karna space-coast.
As a pink and lavender planet came into view, Robin remembered how it was, seeing it for the first time ten years ago. He had been so awed by it; the red continent of Gordane staring right back at him like a fiery eye. He didn't know what the planet's name was then, until the little girl he was trying to drive away told him.
"That is Karna," Starfire had said.He shook himself out of his memories. He told himself that the Karnan space-coast had changed since then.
When they reached Gordane airspace, the dangers of outer space were past.
"Engage Anti-Grav engines," said Robin. "Heat shields up."
Cyborg activated the mechanisms and turned the anti-gravity controls over to Beast Boy.
Beast Boy lowered them smoothly into Karna's atmosphere, flying into an easy glide. "Where to, chief?"
Robin arched an eyebrow in Raven's direction. She took her cue.
"Thelsor Convergence," said Raven.
Robin shook his head in disapproval. "Thelsor-Con's only a little better than Scumhaven."
Cyborg gave a derisive snort. "Like she's ever going to make it easy for us."
The Thelsor Convergence was where the three major continents of Karna intersected. Because of its location, most of the planet's raw trade and commerce originated from it. Even off-shore deliveries from Karna's minor-sectors ended up at the Thelsor Convergence, which meant a lot of its slave-trade was conducted there as well.
"We'll park the ship at one of the Ssilithis sector docking domes. It'll be safe there."
"Aye, aye, chief," said Beast Boy, rolling his palms over the controls.
Ssilithis was indeed the safest sector in the Thelsor-Con. Unlike its continental sisters Gordane and Karnan, Ssilithis had laws protecting aliens.
They passed the continental borders of Ssilithis and flew over the waters that made the Ssilithis a distinct alien race. They were sea dwellers, and their continent could be found underwater.
"Aquatic systems on," said Robin.
Cyborg and Terra punched the codes to make the ship sea-worthy. Moments later, Beast Boy had them diving smoothly into the water.
A new world emerged from the panoramic windows of the bridge. Aqua-dynamically designed crafts zipped by like giant fish, their dorsal and tail-fins flapping to propel them. Most of the native ships were sleek and colorful, making the relatively drab alien ships stand out in the fray. Even the Might Titan, fin-like and sleek as it was, looked only slightly distinct.
There were towns and cities clumped in waterproof bubbles. Some of the bubbles were half-embedded into the sea floor, while others stayed suspended in the water, immovable and steadied by permanent tractor beams.
Beast Boy turned the ship towards a large expanse of docking domes. The domes went on for miles, each dome large enough to accommodate as many as fifteen cargo ships, with a lot of space to spare for the littler crafts.
Their barcodes passed another scanner and their entry to the dome was approved. They slipped through the walls, leaving the water behind them and drifting back into airspace. The anti-gravity engines gave them smooth entry.
Beast Boy lowered their ship at an empty docking space and Robin went through the power-down routines.
Robin tossed his Trans-Card to Cyborg. Cyborg caught it. "Get us some fuel and food. Beast Boy, you stay here to help Cyborg with repairs to the ship. I'm taking the T-Craft. Terra?"
"Right there with you, chief!" She grinned, shouldering her backpack.
Robin looked at Raven. "Ready to get that slave?"
"Been ready for twelve years," she muttered.
Robin decided it was too weird for him to ask about.
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The Thelsor Convergence Proper could be likened to a medieval market with stalls for selling wares, shops for providing services, taverns for recreation and race-tracks or wrestling rings for betting. People from many parts of the galaxy ran, walked briskly, talked privately, hollered, barked, gurgled, lurched, solicited, pushed and shoved. It was a constant scene of chaos, but it was, however primitive-looking, highly conducive to trade, big or small.
The proper was surrounded by a thick perimeter stonewall. Along the wall were several gates, each of them guarded by Gordanian, Karnan and Ssilithis keepers. Each gate had a booth with the sign "Collar-Smith" flashing through a trans-language projector.
With the Thelsor Convergence allowing slave trade, slaves, who were always fitted with dampening collars, were only allowed to have their collars removed when they left the Proper gates. A collar smith's primary purpose was to fashion a new collar and key for the newly bought slave. The old collar would then be discarded and destroyed to make sure that the master would be the sole holder of the new collar's key.
Having left the T-Craft in the last Ssilithis craft-lot, Robin, Terra and Raven had little choice but to take a short train-ride to the Proper. Bringing a perfectly good craft into the Proper would be utter folly, since one in every fifty of the Proper's denizens would be prone to jacking it.
Robin walked through the gates without much trouble. He was asked to deposit most of his weapons at the gate, and since the guards at their gate were Ssilithis, he wasn't afraid of not getting them back. He was allowed to keep his bo-staff, his utility belt and the knife hidden beneath his right arm-guard, which was reassuring. At least Thelsor-Con authorities acknowledged the fact that people still had to defend themselves from the Roughs that frequented it.
Raven and Terra didn't carry any weapons, but as they walked through the scanners, their telekinesis was detected. Robin was given strange looks for having two kinetics in his company, because learned as people were in this day and age about psychic phenomena, beings with mental-powers were still relatively rare.
They were required to wear dampening bracelets. Unlike the dampening collars used on slaves, dampening bracelets merely reduced the use of species powers, just to prevent potential mass damage. Their bracelets would be removed when they left the Proper.
Terra was used to the device and slipped her bracelet on with little fuss. Raven showed that she was displeased by it, but she put her bracelet on anyway.
Restricting as the bracelets were, Robin told himself that there was no cause for worry. He wasn't planning on sticking around long enough to court trouble and he expected they would be in and out of the proper quickly enough.
"Lead the way, Raven," said Robin.
She did, Robin and Terra walking behind her.
"I have to admit," Terra said to Robin confidentially. "I'm very curious about this entire thing. Who's this slave and why is she so important? You think Raven'll tell us all about it?"
"If she wants to get her mission done, she has to."
"She hasn't exactly conformed to the rules of the known universe, you know."
Robin thought about it. "Good point."
Raven wove through the crowd in a determined path, hardly stopping for anything.
Interestingly enough, Robin noticed that Raven seemed tense, like she was exerting some kind of effort.
"Hey, Raven," he said. "You alright?"
"Yes." She continued on her path, as if she didn't want to be asked any more questions.
Robin could care less if she wasn't feeling well.
They came to the Slave-Trade section and Raven led them to the more run-down slave shops. Whoever the slave was, she wasn't very expensive, not that cheap slaves were cheap. Cheap slaves still cost a scandalous amount of money, probably made even more scandalous at the fact that most of the discount slaves were inefficient and often troublesome.
Raven stopped in front of the store. The trans-language projector flashed "Lenny's". She dug into her robe and handed Robin a sack. It weight quite a bit and it clinked invitingly. It was the money. "You have to lead from here. That sack has six hundred Karnan decs. The slave costs about that much. If he asks for more, don't give it."
Robin strapped the sack to his utility belt. He had to admit that he was mildly surprised by being handed actual currency. All of the dealings he had had, from depositing cargo in ports to buying a hotdog at a stall, required the use of a Trans-Card. Hardly anyone ever dealt in hard currency anymore. It didn't mean it wasn't accepted, though, and perhaps in slave trading, hard currency was preferred best by small-time merchants. Hard currency was easy to hide from the Galactic Revenue Service.
A slave merchant met them at the door and Robin flipped on his translator.
"Welcome, welcome!" said the Gordanian. He was thin, and tall, but like most of his species, he was muscular, and he still possessed a row of sharp teeth. "My, 'tis a rare day indeed when Earthlings come along, interested in purchasing a slave."
Earthlings and Lunarians, by virtue of their culture, abhorred slave trade, and indeed, it was a rare that they showed any interest in slaves at all, but Robin didn't have to worry about the slave-merchants being nosy. They didn't care whom they sold to, or why a slave was being bought; so long as the customer paid, they didn't ask questions.
"Show me the slave girls," said Robin.
The Gordanian bowed, ushering them into the shop.
Robin was surprised by how quiet the place was. He expected the place to be filled with the rowdy hollers of reluctant slaves, but there was a stillness in the air that he found somewhat unsettling. He wondered if the Gordanian was actually "Lenny".
"This way," said "Lenny", gesturing to a wide hallway. "Stay against the walls. The slaves are generally well behaved, but some will try to grab you in case you have some food on you."
Robin stifled a wince. He hated it already.
The lighting was dim and the floor was covered in hay. It smelled damp and not entirely odor free, but there seemed to be proper ventilation, so the bodily smells of unwashed slaves were free to leave the cramped cells.
Robin could see the outline of slaves huddled in the shadows when he first stepped into the hallway. At the beginning, all the slaves could do was stare at him, but perhaps seeing that he and his companions were human, they skittered to shove themselves against the iron bars.
They began to plead for him to buy them. Though humans weren't generally prone to buying slaves, it seemed that the ones who did were reputed to be much kinder masters.
Robin couldn't help but look at each and every face with growing compassion. They were all humanoid, though none were human.
Humans were rabidly protected by anti-slave laws. Anyone caught trading a human could be punished with death.
Still, the humanoid alien-life forms in the cages looked human enough for Robin to read the emotions on their faces. They were miserable and given a choice, they wouldn't be slaves. Humanoids were preferred over most alien life forms because the structure of their bodies made them more efficient for work. They usually had fingers that were perfect for dexterous tasks; legs and arms that made them limber.
The slaves begging to be purchased were visibly starved; the bones on their arms and faces prominent. It was certain that they were being fed, but until they were purchased, they were only given enough to live. Masters fed slaves a bit more to give them the energy to do their work, but not much more.
Terra turned her gaze away. She couldn't bear to look.
Robin addressed Raven. "Which one is she?"
Raven scanned the faces and shook her head, pushing past him to look closer. "Ask him if these are all the slave girls he has."
Robin did.
Lenny nodded. "That's all of it. Have you looked towards the back? There are a few hiding in the shadows."
Robin translated for Raven and she peered into the cage. She looked for quite a while and Robin was beginning to formulate a suggestion; that maybe the slave girl Raven was looking for was in some other merchant's shop.
But then Raven fixed her eyes on someone and she pointed. "That's her."
Robin followed the direction of her finger and saw a figure crouching in the darkness. Even in the bad lighting, Robin could tell the slave was filthy. He moved closer and he could make out a slim figure, the collar around her neck blinking tiny lights. She was quiet and she stared back with strange green eyes. There was no use trying to make out any other distinguishing features and he wanted to ask Raven if she was sure this was the right slave, but Raven said nothing as he arched his eyebrow at her, so he didn't question.
Besides, he wanted to get out of the shop; away from the ardent pleas of the other slaves. He could do nothing to help them.
He told Lenny that they wanted the girl in the corner of the cage.
Lenny looked at her thoughtfully. "Five Seven Four Two?"
Robin wasn't sure if he heard right. "Excuse me?"
"5742. It's the slave's tag number in this establishment."
Robin exchanged incredulous looks with Terra. "Doesn't she even get a name?"
Lenny laughed. "Earthlings keep pets, eh? When you buy a… what do you call it… dog? Yes, a dog. You get to name it, don't you?"
Dog? Robin stifled a sigh. He hated everything about slave trading. "Fine. Five…six…seven…"
"5742."
"Yeah."
Lenny nodded. "One moment while I get the leash." He left.
"Leash?" Terra hissed. "I hate this place, Robin!"
Robin rubbed his brow with his thumb and forefinger, turning a deaf ear to the other slaves who were still begging him to buy them. When Terra did away with "chief" or "captain", it meant she was very, very upset, and it was bad when Terra got upset. Terra caused earthquakes when she was upset. Even with the dampening bracelet, she could still move a bit of earth. True enough, he could feel distinct vibrations emanating from beneath the floorboards of the small building. "It'll be over soon, Terra. Just calm down."
"Yes, control yourself," said Raven. "You're not the only one suffering."
"Sure, I could feel compassion oozing from you right this minute."
Raven tossed her a withering glare. "I didn't say I was feeling compassion, cabin-girl."
"Figures."
Robin frowned. "Both of you settle down. I think Lenny's coming back."
Raven arched an eyebrow. "Who?"
"The Gordanian."
Lenny reappeared in the corridor holding a tube-like device that fit perfectly in a man's grip. It was white and had a button at the top. "I have your leash right here."
Robin knew a bit about slave-paraphernalia, but not a lot. "Is that—er—does that take the collar off…?"
"No. Collar-keys aren't allowed within the walls of Thelsor-Con; safety measures, you understand. Once you have brought the slave outside the walls, present the receipt I will give you and turn in this leash to the collar smith. The collar smith will provide you with a new set of collar, leash and key, free of charge. The arrangements ensure that you, the owner, will be the only one who has the key to your slave's collar. He may furnish spares, but you must pay him an extra fee."
Robin tried not to look too disgusted. "Right."
Lenny nodded and turned to the cage. He hesitated for a moment. "Before we seal the deal, I am obliged by law to inform you that 5742… isn't very smart."
Robin looked to Raven for a response.
She sighed. "Just get her."
"That's fine," Robin told Lenny.
"Very well," said Lenny. "5742, step forward."
5742 didn't move a muscle.
"5742, step forward now."
She remained in her corner, green, iridescent eyes blinking languorously, like a cat's.
"No," she said with surprising conviction.
The slaves in the cell with her scampered away, bunching together on the other side of the cage.
Lenny growled, the civility he displayed earlier drowning in the deep rumble Gordanians were feared for. He lifted the gadget in his hand and pressed the button on top of it.
An electric hum filled the air and slave number 5742 cried out in pain as she crumpled to the cell floor.
Robin and Terra were shocked.
"Whoa! Hey! What the hell was that?" Robin yelled.
Lenny looked at him, an expression of mild astonishment on his face. "Why, it's the leash."
"Stop that! Give me that thing!" Robin grabbed the "leash" from Lenny's hand.
The Gordanian did not look pleased. "You cannot have that unless you pay—"
Robin shoved the sack in his hands. "Six hundred Karnan decs. Take it or we're leaving without a slave. Count it."
Raven, there better be six hundred in there.
Lenny peered into the sack. "We will count it together at the reception desk. Do you want to get the slave yourself?"
In fact, he did prefer that. He didn't need to watch the Gordanian employing the leash again. "Yes. Open the cage."
Lenny complied easily enough. He dealt the other slaves warning glances before he undid the lock. The door slid open and Robin leaned over the platform of the cage.
He muttered the slave's number under his breath. It felt utterly wrong to him that anyone should have to be referred to by serial number. "Ma'am? We've come to—" he paused, searching for the right word "—take you out of here. If you'll just… come with me, you'll be fine."
The slave, just now recovering from the jolt of the leash earlier, pushed herself from the floor laboriously with her arms. She looked up, staring at him through her soot-stained face.
Thinking that she was afraid of him, Robin slowly showed her the leash. "I'm not going to use this." He tucked the leash into his surcoat, out of sight. "See? I'm putting it away. I'm not gonna hurt you. Just—just come with me, okay?"
Gingerly, she began to approach him.
"That's right," he said in his most non-threatening tone. "Nice and easy. It's gonna be alright."
He extended his left hand in case her gaze caught the knife hidden beneath the arm-guard of his right. Hesitantly, she placed her own hand into it. Robin was surprised at how soft it was.
Lenny must have noticed his surprise. "Tamaranean. They do not develop calluses, and they seldom scar too, which is why masters brand their armbands instead of their skins. Tattoos work for a while, but they eventually fade away, too. An armband will work for the Tamaranean. It's cultural for them. They will wear the band whether or not it's branded."
Robin tried to ignore talk of "branding" as he urged the young girl towards the door of the cage. The girl came forward, eyes transfixed on him. She was filthy; covered in caked mud from heat to toe. He couldn't even tell what color her hair was; she was that dirty. As for her features, she would have to get clean for them to make anything of them. Her clothes were ragged; whole, but with little tears and rips in places. Overall, it looked like an old sack with holes ripped through them to fit her head and her arms. The sack was short, showing much of her muddied legs.
"They captured her in a swamp moon," explained Lenny. "She was hiding in the mud which is why she looks the way she does."
Terra's brows knotted in sympathy. "We're going to get you out of here," she said to 5742.
The slave girl blinked in surprise.
Lenny brought forth a ratty old blanket. It looked itchy and snagged all over, but it seemed clean enough. "Shall I wrap her for you?"
Robin's lips pursed. It infuriated him how much like merchandise they treated people. They couldn't simply say "put this blanket on her"; instead, they would offer to wrap her like a trinket bought at Bloomingdale's.
He grabbed the blanket from Lenny's hands and put it over the slave girl's shoulders. It was then he noticed how the girl called 5742 was staring at his face with vivid curiosity. It was slightly unnerving, but even a tough talking prick like him wasn't hard hearted enough to tell an abused young girl to quit staring at him. He bore the staring with as much composure as he could muster and fared well enough.
They went to the reception desk to count the Karnan decs. There were six hundred. The Gordanian printed out a receipt and shook Robin's hand.
Raven hustled them out of the store, almost as if she was in a great hurry to get out.
"Watch it!" complained Terra when Raven gave the slave girl a rough push that almost sent her tumbling to the ground. "What, do you need to go to the bathroom, or something?"
"Just hurry," said Raven.
Robin had to hold 5742 to keep her from falling. He wouldn't be surprised if the girl was weak from hunger. "Hey … are you hungry?"
She tilted her head to the side, her gaze becoming even more evidently intrigued.
He tried to ignore it, looking over her miserable appearance briefly. "You'll be needing clothes."
Raven frowned. "We'll feed and clothe her on the ship. Let's go."
Robin scowled as Raven hurried them along. "What the fuck isthe rush, Raven?"
"I'll explain later. Now quit asking me stupid questions."
Robin shot her a suspicious glance.
Halfway to the gate they came from, a commotion from the direction of Lenny's slave shop ensued. At first the shouts were unintelligible, but it soon became clear enough.
"Swindlers! Thieves! Stop them!"
Considering his luck of late since meeting Raven, Robin felt his stomach twist painfully. His ulcer. A sure sign that Raven was not good for him and that they were the swindlers and thieves in question.
Terra, still relatively unaware of the kind of trouble Raven could generate, listened to the commotion with naïve curiosity.
Robin grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her in a fast walk, urging 5742 with them. Raven moved just as quickly.
Terra yelped, yelling for him to go easy.
"No time!" said Robin. "Raven, what the fuck did you get us into this time? Yesterday I was a drug dealer and today I'm a swindler and thief. You planning to run me through the entire penal code? You're fucking out to destroy my reputation and career!"
Sure enough, the shouts began to increase in volume, gaining intensity as they went.
"That is not my intention," said Raven through grit teeth.
They were able to flee several yards through before the crowd became uncooperative and began to form a tight circle around them. Medieval as the set-up in Thelsor-Con was, the Thelsor-Con regulars tended to be communal; to offend one of the merchants was usually enough to garner the wrath of the rest of his brethren. Weapons were brought out of their holsters and sheathes. Some of the armed aliens looked capable enough to wield their weapons well.
Terra, realizing partway what they were in for, shot Raven a glare. "If this mob doesn't kill you, Raven, I swear I'll do it for them."
"No time for a bitch fight…" said Robin.
The slave squirmed, wiggling away from Robin's grasp.
Robin sighed. "Okay, miss? I need for you to calm down. You have to—"
She broke free, leaving the blanket behind as she dove between bodies in the crowd.
"Fuck!" Robin tried to go after her, but he was pushed back by the crowd that was gaining hostility.
"Use the leash!" hissed Raven.
"I will not use the leash. God! This turned to shit real fast!" He backed away from the mob that had begun to advance. He bumped against Raven and Terra's backs and realized with a sinking feeling that the circle around them had gotten uncomfortably tighter.
"This is great… this is just so fucking great!" he said, whipping out his bo-staff and extending it. He activated the switchblade in his armguard and realized, to his dismay, that the knife wasn't there. He uttered another oath, knowing that 5742 had more to do with it than anyone else. He couldn't blame the girl, though. In her situation, he probably would've done the same thing. This was all Raven's fault. "Raven, you're a menace!"
"You have no idea…"
"I told you!" whined Terra. "I told you not to trust her!"
"Not the time to nag!"
Raven gave a muted cry, falling to her knees, her fingers digging into the soil beneath her. She gave a growl, eyes shut with effort. Her bracelet flashed bright lights.
The ground shook; Terra's eyes glowed menacingly, and for a moment, the crowd was awed into silence, but the quake faltered as Terra's bracelets blinked rapidly. The tremors rocked to a halt and she cursed under her breath. "These dampeners are killing me!" she hissed to Robin aside.
Robin twirled his bo-staff. If it was just him and Terra, he could get both of them out without having to fight anyone, but Raven was there and he couldn't carry two people. He eyed Raven. His unease grew the more she dug her nails into the dirt. It was like she was going to explode.
"You have to take these bracelets off me," gasped Raven. "You have to—" She moaned, and there was suddenly a strange quality to her tone, like a hundred voices, not of her own, suddenly began to speak with her.
Terra and Robin moved slightly away from her on instinct.
"Robin, I swear, if her head begins to twist around—"
A black-void began to bleed from Raven, enveloping all three of them in its darkness. Robin tried not to be so put out of sorts by it. Terra, however, cursed in panic.
The black and white images of the crowd outside the dark bubble fell upon them, beating on the unearthly shield. The clamor was almost deafening, but the shield was holding them back.
Robin cursed. Safe as they were for the moment, he knew, instinctively that Raven couldn't hold the shield for long. When her powers failed, they would be swallowed in an angry mob and that would be the end of them.
Terra once again tried to raise the earth beneath them, hoping to transport them to safety. The bracelet worked its circuits again. Terra managed to lift them up a few feet, but Robin already knew they were too heavy for her dampened powers. They plopped back down on the ground.
Terra shook her head. "We're in a shitload of trouble."
Raven cried out. "I can't keep this up!" The shield faltered. A crack line, the way cracks formed on glass, trailed from the top of the dome. "The other half of me…" A tiny hole punched through the top.
Robin wasn't a religious man. His parents had raised him to love life and all its blessings without really making mention of any God, and when they were gone, Bruce certainly didn't try to imbibe any kind of theology into him. As far as religion was concerned, Robin had none, but at that moment of desperate need, he found himself praying for some kind of intervention. He didn't know whom he was praying too; he didn't even know he was praying, period, but he looked up, saw the sky through the crack on the bubble and asked for a miracle.
What he got was a bright, near blinding explosion of shimmering green.
To be continued...
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Reflections of Terra: If I die, BB's going to be soooo pissed.
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Closing notes: I am so sorry this took so long. And if you're a "Path to Tamaran" reader, I'm also sorry that's taking so long! These last two weeks have been so bad… death in the family; emergency travel plans. Your patience has been golden; all of you.
If you look closer, 5742 means something. Just a little fun I had. It's not going to be important to the story.