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Chapter 2: In the Same Boat

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So yeah.

She probably wouldn't have done it if she'd realized all her nanotech was back with her ship.

Probably.

"Well, Pierre," she says, grunting in pain as she props herself up along the cliffside, "it looks like you got your wish. I can honestly say I regret it."

Each step Rivet takes sends a shock of pain through her left knee, and while at least it isn't twisted or shattered, her ankle had gotten pretty banged up on the way down as well. It already feels like she's somehow managed to jam her foot into a boot at least two sizes too small.

But it's still bearing her weight. She can still walk. So she ignores the myriad of scrapes and bruises scattered across the rest of her body and counts herself lucky that a little bit of pain is all she has to contend with.

She's suffered through a whole lot worse.

Krell Canyon is a multi-tiered maze of ravines, all narrowing and expanding and converging and branching out like the massive circulatory system of a somehow even larger chasm in the earth. Apparently, it had once been utilized as a great source of raritanium, but over the course of the last couple of decades it had been abandoned completely, falling into the squalor of dilapidated mine shafts, busted mono-rails, and rotting rope bridges barely hanging on by a thread. Judging by the glinting chunks of ore embedded in the walls around her, it hadn't been forsaken due to depletion. But as much as she could use it, it's not raritanium she's after.

Rivet tries to keep to the narrower passages that are far too treacherous for ships to pass through. When she can't avoid that, she ambles along the shadowed wall of the canyon. Given how the vullards had once been so reliant on this place, it's hard to imagine there isn't a path that would lead her closer to the town. But after countless dead ends and forked paths leading in every direction but the one she'd wanted, she's long since lost track of her position on her mental map.

Frowning, her eyes drift back up the cliffside. There's no choice if she doesn't want to still be wandering around down here by the time the Emperor's armada finally shows up. She needs to get back up there and find her bearings. Her knee takes the opportunity to very explicitly tell her what it thinks about that, but she presses on with her new goal despite its objections.

The trickling of running water pricks at her ears, and she finds an exit at last. Her current pathway opens up to a wide gully with an intersecting stream, and on the other side of the water, the ground slopes upward. It's not a gentle slope by any stretch of the imagination, but it's at least vaguely horizontal, so it counts.

"Aaaaagh!"

With only a handful of steps left between her and the mouth of the ravine, Rivet freezes.

"And here I thought we was signin' up fer a proper pillagin'. Not chasin' after Pierre's squishy little pet. Again."

A second voice grunts in agreement, followed by a dull clang that rings out again and again until she snaps, "Oi, would ye knock it off already? Y'ain't gettin' any of it free with just that."

Cautiously, Rivet continues her way to the opening, poking her head around the cliffside to see what's going on.

Parked about twenty or so cubits away is a small ship. One pirate leans against its hull, arms crossed and glaring daggers at her partner as he takes to the canyon wall with his sword, hitting and scraping and presumably attempting to pry a hunk of ore loose from its rocky prison.

"Got a better chance of it than catchin' that bloody lombax," he retorts, and he carries on with his fruitless endeavor. Apparently, the second pirate thinks he has a point. Because she ends up drawing her own sword and joining him.

Rivet ducks back into the shadowy cover of the cliff face just in time for another ship to pass by overhead. The newcomers call out to their cohorts already on the ground, and the make-shift mining ceases. Their chattering voices continue to fill the valley, and shortly afterward, the clanging resumes. This time stronger and accompanied by far more joviality than before.

So much for that route.

There'd been a fork a little ways back. Maybe the other path opened up to the same valley further along and out of sight. With no better plan of action, she turns and makes to go back the way she'd come.

Only to squeak in mixture of pain and surprise as she crashes headlong into something that definitely hadn't been there a couple minutes ago. Her shrill cry is followed by the clink of metal on metal, and she stumbles backward. Digging her fingers into the grooves of the rock wall to keep on her feet, she clamps her free hand over her mouth.

Pierre stares down at her, completely unruffled by the whole thing as he leans against the cliffside on one elbow, a fist resting on his opposite hip. Rivet can't decide whether she's impressed that he'd snuck up on her or disappointed that she'd been too caught up in her own head to notice.

Her pulse quickens when she realizes the ruckus behind her has quieted again. She isn't afraid—not of these clowns, least of all the one standing right in front of her—but being caught in close quarters with anyone made of metal and multiple times her size is something she generally tries to avoid even when she isn't injured.

Despite their previous misgivings about hunting for her, the pirates sound the alarm. Pierre's head tilts thoughtfully in their direction, and she glowers at him, until at last, he pushes himself off the wall. Holding a finger to his mouth, he taps at his collar, filling the surrounding space with a familiar low buzzing hum. There's just enough time for Rivet to flatten her hands over her ears before he cries out, "What are you fools doing?"

His blaring voice vibrates through Rivet's very core, but in direct contrast to his harsh words, he appears to be enjoying himself more than anything.

"I do not recall giving the order to laze about and do whatever. Now, get back out there, all of you, and stay out of my sight until you have brought Rivet to me!"

There's the sound of frantic scrambling and a reluctant, "Aye, Boss," before their grumbling complaints all fade into the distance. Tapping his collar again, Pierre casts her an expectant look. She counters it with one of suspicion.

"You're not expecting a thank you for that, are you? Because just a heads up: it's not happening."

His expression gives way briefly to irritation before closing back up. "Obstinate as always, I see. But no. Things between us are usually not quite so personal. This time, however…"

The fingers at his side twitch upward, and Rivet is suddenly made acutely aware of the hilt protruding from his belt. Of course it would be right now, in her one moment of admittedly self-inflicted weakness, that he finally gets the guts to take her up on all her previous offers to fight one-on-one. She stumbles backwards, wondering how much distance an adrenaline-fueled sprint could put between them before her knee gives out, but abandons the move when he bypasses his sword completely.

Instead, he whips his hat off his head and flaps it around in her face.

She sputters and tries to bat it away, but her efforts all prove to be in vain. He's relentless.

"That was hardly called for!" he snaps, fluttering the hat fiercely about in time with his words. "I did nothing at all to you." There's another vengeful little swish before he withdraws, expression still baleful. Then he shakes the hat out, muttering under his breath all the while, and runs a mournful finger along the severed feather's spine.

Rivet sputters again, dumbstruck by the sheer absurdity of the last five seconds, but Pierre is oblivious, preoccupied instead with smoothing away the wrinkles created from his unexpected assault. Once she's able to find her voice, she reminds him, "You were trying to take me prisoner? I wouldn't call that nothing."

"Believe it or not, there was a just cause behind it." And grumpily, he shoves the hat back onto his head. "But I am no longer certain I should follow through with it. Or if I am even willing to try." He turns back to her and blinks, eye flitting to and fro as though taking in her disheveled state for the very first time. His righteous indignation melts away, and he says, "You jumped off a cliff."

"No, no. I skidded down a cliff," she corrects, miming the smooth descent she'd foolishly hoped for with one arm. "There's a difference. The main one being that I'm still alive to argue about it."

He looks unconvinced, but the last thing Rivet wants is for him to know just how badly she'd botched that whole stunt. Before he can call her out on it, she changes the subject. "So what's this 'just cause' you were talking about anyways?"

Trying to appear interested in what he has to say rather than desperate for a few minutes off her throbbing leg, she plops herself down on a nearby rock. He sighs as if suddenly inconvenienced by her willingness to hear him out, but he's never been able to resist inflicting the sound of his voice on her before. She doubts that's changed much in the few weeks since they'd last met.

"You are here for the fulcrum star," he says at last, and even though Rivet had known, her shoulders tense, and her heart skips a beat. "How did you come to learn of it?"

"What's a fulcrum star?"

Slowly, very slowly, he pivots his head toward her. The look on his face is unimpressed.

Fair enough. She holds her palms up in surrender.

"Fine. I'm here for the fulcrum star." When he gestures for her to continue, she sighs. "I honestly don't know much. I think someone intercepted a transmission or something? As far as I can tell, though, no one's really even sure that it actually exists. But if it's not just a myth and it's even half as powerful of an energy source as they claim it is? We can't let the Emperor get his hands on something like that."

"So they sent you here to retrieve it. Alone?"

Staring hard down at her knees, she lets out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, well. We're stretched pretty thin these days. They asked for a volunteer, and you know me. There's nothing I love more than ruining the Emperor's day, so…" She shrugs.

"Except, perhaps, for ruining my own."

The corner of her mouth lilts upward despite herself, and she admits, "It's a pretty close second."

They regard each other in silence before she continues. "So why are you wasting your time with me if you're after it too? You do realize the Emperor's sending his own goons here, right?" She looks up and beyond the canyon wall with an intensifying sense of foreboding. "They could be on their way right now."

But Pierre dismisses her words with a wave of his hand. "The Captain is heading them off as we speak. Originally, we had hoped to find a buyer for it who was well off the Emperor's radar, but…" His voice trails off, and he eyes her thoughtfully. Then, in a silky tone that puts her on her guard, he says, "In the end, it's most fortunate we ran into each other like this, is it not?"

Rivet's leg would beg to differ. And it does so. In excruciating detail. "Fortunate in what way, exactly?"

He leans against the ravine wall again and watches her in amusement. "Ah, ma chére, you underestimate me still. Forgive me for saying so, but I am not so certain the vullards will be as accommodating to you in your endeavor as you are hoping for them to be."

Those reservations had been niggling at the back of her mind even before Pierre had gotten in her way, and she wilts over the fact that he's picked up on just how unprepared she is.

"I, however, just so happen to have exactly what it is you are needing."

Looking pleased with himself, he extracts a folded square of parchment from the pouch at his side, giving it a little flourish as he extends it her way. He doesn't protest when she leans forward to swipe it from his fingers, just continues to eye her lazily as she unfurls it in her lap. Once she has the chance to look it over, she understands why.

"Seriously? It's in decadroid?"

"Mais oui," he says with a rakish grin. He holds his hand back out, and rolling her eyes, Rivet deposits the map into it. "One can never be too careful, no? In any case, my offer to you is this: come with me to find the fulcrum star. Agree to leave my crew and ships be, thus allowing me to return to Ardolis without accruing a major deficit in the process, and the star is yours. Otherwise, I will summon them here now, and you can waste your time needlessly fighting while I obtain it for myself."

That all sounds a little too good to be true.

She leans back on her hands, tests her knee slightly, and masks the resulting wince with what she hopes comes off as a contemplative look. "Yeah…and why aren't you just doing that in the first place? What are you really getting out of it, Pierre?"

Pierre's confident facade flickers. "I—It's all very…" He flounders, twirling the map aimlessly in the air before stowing it away with a wordless sound of frustration. "It is just as bad for us as the Resistance should the Emperor gain possession of the star. Something this significant…the crew remains unaware. Its existence is known between myself and the Captain only. And there was not much time beforehand to prepare…"

She blinks, ears perking slightly at his words. The defensive way he puffs up confirms her suspicions. Doggedly, he carries on:

"But you have no leads whatsoever into the star's whereabouts, and I—" grinning, Rivet leans forward in anticipation. She wants to hear him say it. He scowls. "—do not know what, if any, perils lie ahead."

"Uh, huh. And?"

"And," he drags out with a phenomenal effort. "I could use someone with your…expertise."

Unable to resist goading him further, she gleefully chirps, "Because?"

His jaw slams shut and fists clench at his sides. To anyone who didn't know any better, it might pose an actual intimidating picture. But that he's less than thrilled about seeking out the star on his own is abundantly clear. He needs her.

Refusing to play along any longer, he huffs and says, "Do we have an accord or not?"

She could keep pushing, but she already knows what she has to do. Like it or not, avoiding another confrontation with his crew is in her best interest right now. And so too is keeping the fulcrum star away from the Emperor.

"Yeah, sure, I'm in."

Which means she also needs to…

Rivet hesitates. It's not the first time they've done this. Not by a long shot. But the mental whiplash she experiences whenever they go from actively sabotaging one another to agreeing to work together always takes some time to recover from.

At long last, she sighs, swallowing her pride and holding out a hand. "Now, help me up, and take me to my ship so I can pick up some nanotech before we go."

He stares at her, straight down the length of her extended arm, and looks to be at a complete loss. "You are injured?"

She rolls her eyes. "I jumped off a cliff, remember? What do you think?"

"Oh, mon dieu," is his exasperated reply, and he rummages through his pouch once more. "So difficult. Always. Why must you insist on being this way?"

She might be more offended if she hadn't already wondered the same thing herself. Eventually, he finds what he's looking for and presses a glowing blue cube into her open palm. She frowns but accepts the offered nanotech.

"I can pay you back. I was in a hurry when I left."

"Yes, that is typically your downfall, no?" The chastising look he gives her is well deserved, but she bristles regardless.

"I don't need you of all people to lecture me, Pierre."

And with that, Rivet crushes the tiny cube in her fist. The effect is almost instantaneous. She lets out a breath of relief when she can finally stand on her left leg without inordinate amounts of pain. Though her ankle is still uncomfortably swollen, that's just going to have to subside on its own as her body figures out the damage is no longer present. There's not much nanotech can do about that. All her most urgent concerns seen to, she takes the opportunity to pat herself down, seeking out any unhealed bumps or bruises. The weight of Pierre's gaze, however, stops her short.

Achy, anxious, and more than a little aggravated at just how badly this entire mission has played out for her so far, she nearly quips that taking a picture would last longer. But the words die in her throat the moment she looks up. Instead of eying her in that way he tends to do when he's being deliberately incorrigible, he frowns, and his attention lingers on a patch of fur above her left elbow that's crusted over with blood. She rubs a vigorous hand through the matted mess, and he blinks, lifting his gaze to meet hers.

"It's fine," she says, hoping her assurance doesn't come off as awkward as it feels. So they unite on occasion in the name of a common goal. It's a means to an end. She doesn't presume to think he actually cares. Shuffling her feet, she tries to figure out how to move things along from there. "I, uh…thanks."

"Was it enough?"

His voice is quiet, the concern in it evident, and it makes Rivet's skin prickle beneath her fur. She's struck with the abrupt urge to be literally anywhere else right now because somehow, that question is more discomfiting than anything else he's said to her over the years.

Her unease must show, because he takes a step back and sighs. "You are of no use to me if you cannot even carry your own weight. In this alliance, remember: I am the intelligence—" he draws himself to his full height, puffing out his chest. Then, as though it's nothing more than an afterthought, he flicks his fingers vaguely in her direction. "—and you are the muscle."

And just like that, the tension falls away. This she's accustomed to handling, and brow arched, she crosses her arms. "You're shameless is what you really are."

Pierre laughs at her assessment, but he doesn't try to deny it.

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A/N: I have it in my head that in order to keep a clear-ish conscience, Quantum only ever leads raids against Empire forces. He lets Pierre take charge for any civilian based pillaging. Also, don't let Pierre fool you. He's absolutely delighted about ranking just under the Emperor on Rivet's list of annoyances.

Pierre catching up to Rivet was the first thing I wrote down for this story. Well before I'd even figured out what they were after or why. Him standing there all dramatic like while waiting for her to notice him just makes me happy for reasons I can't explain.