A/N: I'm pretty disappointed in myself for how long this has taken. But it turns out that knowing what's going to happen is a whole lot different than knowing how it's going to happen. Writing is hard.
It's also been a really strange last seven months, with weird, random health issues popping up out of nowhere and making it more difficult than usual to focus and find motivation. That and the story seems to have gotten away from me slightly. So because I don't want a 9k chapter and the last bit still needs a fair amount of work, we're busting it in two instead.
I remember thinking I'd be lucky to get 5k out of this idea. I don't know what happened.
I mentioned it elsewhere, but Quantum totally doesn't bother with the pirate voice when it's just him and Pierre. Ironically enough, Mr. Showboat himself finds the whole charade to be over the top and ridiculous. Because self-awareness only goes so far.
.
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Rivet rests her forearms on the railing, the wind whipping through her fur and ears. Brows furrowed, she stares unseeing into the canyon below.
Despite Pierre's assurances that they have plenty of time, she can't quell the twisting feeling in her gut that tells her to hurry. That whatever it is Nefarious is working on, the fact that he needs the energy of a fulcrum star to pull it off can only mean that the galaxy as they know it hangs in the balance. And stopping him hinges on Pierre and his map getting her to it first.
Laying her cheek on her arm, she looks to the bow, where the map is splayed out on a small bench next to the helm. Frowning, Pierre turns the map one way. Unsatisfied with that, he tilts it back the other. He casts about at the scenery around them. Leans down to squint at the map even harder. Then, looking uncertain, he taps cautiously at one of the gauges on the console in front of him. Rivet shakes the hair out of her face and turns back to the canyon.
Yeah. They're all doomed. She almost doesn't have it in her to be distressed about it anymore.
"So where'd you even get a map leading to this thing anyways? Isn't it supposed to be like a legend or something?"
"I am a pirate," is his distracted reply. "There are a multitude of maps at my disposal leading to a plethora of mythical treasures."
She smiles innocently. "Got one in there you can actually read?"
His head jerks upward, and his palm falls flat on the bench with a resounding thunk. The vindictive look he shoots her way is pure gold. Voice thick with derision, he answers, "I can read it just fine, thank you."
His fingers tap against the map before he turns back to it in disdain. With a heavy sigh, he beckons her over, and interest piqued, she does as bidden.
"This map," he begins, "is very old. Older, in any case, than the vullards' mining operations. If you have ever wondered why you never stumble upon us chasing after such treasures, this is one reason. More often than not, these ventures prove to be…less than fruitful. The Emperor seems to be quite confident this one exists, however, which is the only reason the Captain and I dredged it up in the first place."
A light on the console blinks, and Pierre abandons his explanation to stare at it in confusion.
"What's that?"
"The Captain, most likely. But he should not be—"
"Quantum?!"
Rivet flings herself as far out of range of the feed as possible without jumping ship. She hasn't seen Quantum since he'd run off, and she doesn't intend to change that anytime soon. She may not have breathed a word of his secret over the years, but there's no telling what might come out of her mouth if they were to actually speak face-to-face. Pierre gives her a strange look before finally accepting the call.
"Oh, good." Quantum's strained voice reaches her ears before his hologram has even fully rendered on deck. "You're there. Have you found the fulcrum star yet?"
"I…" Pierre casts her a brief glance over his shoulder before lounging against the wheel like he doesn't have a care in the world. "We encountered a minor complication upon arrival, but as of now, I am en route to the star."
"I see," Quantum says slowly, looking him over. Gaze lingering on his first mate's hat, he tilts his head slightly. "That 'minor complication' of yours…it wouldn't happen to be of the lombax variety, would it?"
Rivet's cheeks twitch in response to his appraisal, and laughing, Pierre waves the question away. "Do not worry about Rivet, Captain. I have everything under control."
Quantum stands there in grim silence before his stiff posture slumps over. Heaving a sigh, he says, "Well, that makes one of us, at least."
Pierre starts at those words, watching his Captain intently. Clutching the railing harder, Rivet does the same.
"We held them off for as long as we could, but the Emperor must really want this thing. We were able to put a sizable dent in them but took some pretty massive hits ourselv—" An alarm blaring in the background cuts him off, and Quantum shifts his focus to whatever's going on behind him.
"Oh, what now?" he laments, shoulders going taut once more. He stays that way, like he's listening to something they can't hear, before finally turning back. "Look, Pierre, we're all hands on deck at the moment, so I've got to go. You should have a couple of hours until they catch up to your location. Do whatever you need to, but even if you don't manage to find the star, just get everyone out of there before the armada arrives. We'll figure something else out if we have to. But whatever you guys do, do not attempt to engage them."
Another alarm bellows out from his end, and Quantum's hologram pitches and shudders before dissolving away entirely, leaving Rivet and Pierre in stunned silence.
No matter what her feelings are on Quantum after the way he'd left the Resistance, she can't help but be concerned after that transmission. Once Pierre is finally able to rein in his own alarm, he takes a step back, gripping the wheel with one hand while the other rests on his hip. With a long-suffering sigh, he hangs his head. Rivet fumbles around for something encouraging to say, but he beats her to the punch.
"You know," he tells her, and he sounds thoroughly exhausted by those words alone. "If you had just surrendered to me at the very beginning, we would likely be on our way off this planet by now, fulcrum star in hand."
Mouth clamping shut, Rivet returns her attention to the sky around them.
"Wow," is all she has to say to that. Just, "Wow."
.
.
She sits hunched over the map at the ship's stern while Pierre relays a filtered version of Quantum's warning to the crew. Now that she's had the opportunity to peek at it herself, Rivet is beginning to appreciate his earlier difficulties.
She doesn't have to be able to read decadroid to understand that the map has little in common with the canyon below.
There's a river. So. It's got that going for it at least. Even if the real one is far more sprawling than what its depiction would suggest. Northeast of it is a crude little drawing of what she thinks might be a vullard. It's probably meant to represent their village, but if so, that brings up a slew of other problems.
A shadow casts over her, and Rivet's gaze darts skeptically to the text scrawled along the top edge of the parchment. "Are you…sure this is the right map?"
He mutters something incomprehensible under his breath and reaches over her shoulder, finger running impatiently beneath a bit of writing before coming to a rest over the vullard drawing. "From what I have gathered, the star is hidden away in a temple that lies beyond the settlement."
"Yeah, but…" She frowns and chews the inside of her cheek. She won't claim to be an expert map interpreter or anything, but even she knows how to read a compass. "That's not even where they are."
"I had noticed."
She turns it upside down. This way, the town is roughly where it should be in relation to the river, but the lack of any other surviving landmarks makes it impossible to tell if that's how it was meant to be read all along.
"Any chance they were a little too grogged up and got their directions backwards?"
Pierre lets out a disgruntled sound. "Yet another reason we rarely bother with these things."
"Should we go check it out anyways? Just in case?"
He falls strangely silent after that. When several seconds later he still hasn't responded, Rivet cranes her head around to look at him.
"Well?"
He stares out into the distance, hand on his hip and looking extremely unhappy. His mouth opens, bobs up and down, until finally, he relents. "There is nothing there."
"Wait, what?" She's on her feet in a flash. "What do you mean, 'there's nothing there?'"
He spreads his arms wide, expression growing more displeased with each passing second. "Look for yourself."
Swiping the map from the deck, she edges toward the railing.
On the horizon lies the maze of cliffs and valleys Pierre had found her wondering through. She can even spot the edge of what must be the village. But between here and there? Nothing more than a flat and uninteresting expanse of dirt and rock. Not a temple in sight.
"But we have not yet exhausted all avenues. The settlement was already very close, and poor map-making is far more common than I care to admit. We will continue to the other side and see if there is anything there to find."
"Or…since we're close and know what we're looking for at least, why don't we just go back to my original plan and try asking the vullards about it?"
At once, the map is ripped from her grasp, the look Pierre gives her downright scandalized. He shakes the sheet of parchment out emphatically between them, chest puffed out to match, and says, "I am a pirate, we have a map. Involving a third party is unnecessary."
Stunned by such an intense reaction, she raises a brow at him. "Yeah. And the map's a dud. You basically said so yourself."
Eye dipping down to the map, his expression wavers only briefly before he doubles down, shoulders drawn up high and jaw set at a haughty angle. She blinks, mouth falling slightly ajar.
Seriously? That's the game they're playing right now?
She holds her hands up in surrender. "Fine. New idea." Not that she tries all that hard, but it's impossible to keep the ridicule from her voice when she goes on. "Just drop me off near the town. I'll take care of it myself. Then you can get your crew together and head back home, just like the Captain wanted. No one ever has to know you gave up because you're too proud to ask for directions."
Leaning against the railing, he crosses his arms and looks her over, seemingly more unimpressed than anything else.
"Even were I tempted to do so, I would not. There is more to it than just that."
Fists clenching, she snaps, "Like what?"
As if on cue, an explosion erupts in the distance, replacing Rivet's irritation with surprise and concern. Pierre tilts his head toward the rising plumes of smoke in the barest indication of acknowledgment before fixing her with a pointed look. Understanding jolts up her spine, leaving every muscle in her body wound up tight in its wake.
"Call them off."
If he's fazed at all by her sudden demand, it doesn't show, and he simply answers, "No."
It's way too easy sometimes. To forget that while they might be on the same page when it comes to the Emperor, they may as well be in different universes when it comes to much of anything else.
"Let me down, then."
His eye narrows at her, calculating. Again, he tells her, "No."
"Pierre…" she warns through gritted teeth, and she takes a step back, putting what little distance is available on such a small vessel between them. Her fingers twitch in anticipation at her side. For all that she doesn't actually want to hurt him, it doesn't mean she won't if she needs to.
With a scornful sound that makes Rivet bristle harder, Pierre turns his back on her, returning his attention to the worthless scrap of paper she had so foolishly allowed to lure her here. "You and I still have unfinished business to attend to. However, if our next destination turns out to also be a 'dud', as you so put it, you have my word that I will let you off the hook and drop you off wherever you please."
She seethes, glaring daggers right through his unguarded back as he struts off to the helm. Sometimes, he just really, really knows how to push her buttons.
.
.
They give the town a wide berth, but even so, she can practically hear the chaos ensuing within. Pierre veers them even further off course in order to dodge the handful of rogue ships more interested in plundering the mines than the vullards. Rivet just watches it all helplessly.
Even if she tried and somehow succeeded in wresting control of the ship from Pierre, it's not like she would be able to do anything to help. She isn't equipped for it.
But the truth of it doesn't make her feel any better.
So she tells herself that maybe it's better this way. It was going to be a bad day for the vullards regardless once the Emperor's forces finally caught up. At least they'll already be in hiding by then.
Fidgeting, Rivet casts another look skyward before pushing away from the railing. This is taking too long. There's nothing out here. Her one plan had been rendered useless. And it's become painfully clear that her only remaining options are to either stick around and get caught up in the whirlwind of the coming raid, or tuck her tail between her legs and accept defeat. If they're lucky, the fulcrum star is nothing but a myth after all. If not, well…
It's like Quantum had said earlier: they'll figure something out.
She hugs her arms to herself before turning back to the helm. She hasn't so much as looked at Pierre since he'd refused to let her off, and he hasn't tried to get her attention in that time either. Instead, he's intently studying the map and gauges once more as he steers them through the sea of plateaus rising up on this side of the mines.
Sidling up to him, she asks in the most conversational tone she can manage, "Ready to call it quits yet?"
Though he doesn't respond, his expression hardens. It's not really like him to be so unwilling to abandon the cause. Especially one that's become as hopeless as this one.
"You promised to take me back if we didn't find anything."
At long last, Pierre tilts his piercing gaze Rivet's way. Her arms tighten resolutely over her chest. "I did," he says slowly. "And I intend to abide by it."
"So? How long are we going to fly around before accepting there's nothing here?"
He blinks, and her jaw clenches when his scrutiny morphs into outright astonishment. "You wish to give up?"
"No," she spits out. "I don't. But there's not really another choice right now, is there? You realized I was here, instantly knew why, but instead of just leaving me alone and letting me handle it, you had to weasel your way into the mix, didn't you?"
He continues to look awestruck by her outburst, which only serves to make her more annoyed. She throws a hand toward the map. "Well, your plan backfired. And because of it, we can't even ask the only people around who might actually be able to tell us where we can find this thing. So you tell me: what else are we supposed to do?"
He stands there while she fumes, looking completely unrepentant for the part he'd played in this monumental failure. "I would have thought…" He trails off, eye sweeping over the control panel in front of him. After a moment of silence, he shrugs. "Very well. It is apparent this partnership has deteriorated beyond the point of reparation." He says the words almost flippantly, but all Rivet can hear is a taunting accusation. She grinds her teeth together to keep from lashing out about just who was responsible for causing said deterioration. "I take it you would like to return to your ship, then, no? Depending on the crew's whereabouts, I may only be able to get you close."
"That's fine," she forces out.
Pierre returns his attention to the wheel, but the instant he faces the ship back toward the canyon, she begins to second-guess herself. Quantum's estimate for them had been a couple of hours. Even Pierre had seemed willing to continue their search for at least a little while longer. Is she calling an end to it all too soon? When she grips the side rails again, bright yellow swarms her periphery. Her stomach roils unpleasantly, and she tears her gaze further to the left and below them.
"Wait, wait, stop!" Her heart pounds in exhilaration despite Pierre's frustrated mutterings behind her. This entire time she'd been expecting something completely different. A clearing of some sort between the cliff faces. One expansive enough to contain an entire town's worth of buildings. One that doesn't exist because—
"They built into the plateaus. Look!"
He does, and she can see the realization dawning on his own face as he takes in the tattered bridges and crumbling air turbines that she had initially presumed were an extension of the mines. Most of the remaining structures are carved into the rock itself, but now that she's really looking, she can see less natural bits and pieces of buildings left behind, either torn down and relocated along with the vullards or long since raided for scrap by whatever threats linger in this sector of the galaxy.
"The temple," he says, and they share a look, gauging the other's reaction to the revelation as he voices her thoughts out loud. "It is likely to be the same."
Rivet's gaze is the first to fall away.
"So…" Rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly, she clears her throat. "What do you say about extending this partnership just a little bit longer?"
He's silent then, and she steels herself for his worst. She deserves it, she knows. Doesn't mean she's happy about it, though.
"Do tell me again how horribly my plan failed." The barely disguised glee in his voice makes her sigh.
Shoulders dipping down, she grudgingly admits, "It didn't."
"Mmm. Go on."
She narrows her eyes at him, but he's busy staring at the back of his fingertips with that unbearably smug expression on his face. It takes everything in her to grit out, "I…was wrong."
Those words pique his interest, and the glint in his eye when he turns to her is borderline malicious. "And?"
His petty revenge isn't lost on Rivet, however, and crossing her arms, she rolls her eyes up to the sky. "There's no time for this. Are we still looking for this thing or not?"
It's not the apology he'd been fishing for, but he seems amused by it all the same. Squinting down at her, he wags a knowing finger in her direction before heading back to the wheel.
They continue the search with renewed purpose. The map says it's on the outskirts of the town, and while she's hesitant to trust it, it has gotten them this far despite their initial hiccups. Finally, they find a promising lead.
Rivet hops off the ship as soon as Pierre gets them close enough to the ledge. There's a door here. Round, twice her height, and made of metal. Her fingers trace over the grooves at eye level, where the teeth of the top and bottom panels of the door meet, and though it's obviously in disrepair after suffering who knows how many years of neglect, it certainly doesn't seem to be any weaker for it.
"No power," Pierre remarks, and she turns to find him kneeling near the generator, the worn end of a severed cable in his hand. She sighs.
"I doubt it matters. There's no way it'd still work anyways."
Coming to stand at her side, he reaches out and scratches at a patch of rust on the frame. He rubs his fingers together, exasperated, and asks, "Why is it that things can never be simple?"
"Well, if you ever figure it out, let me know. It's been driving me crazy for a while now."
Pierre crosses his arms and rests against the door, looking off somewhere beyond her shoulder. "So. Our options now are quite limited. We cannot enter. We do not even know for sure that this is what we are looking for. But perhaps we could find a way to conceal it at least?"
"Hmm."
Even if they did, Rivet doubts it would hold out for long. Unlike them, the Emperor has all the time in the world to hunt it down, with infinite equipment at his disposal and exactly zero qualms about destroying either the planet or its inhabitants in the process.
If it's here, he'll find it. And now that she and Pierre have gotten this far, she can't bring herself to leave without knowing for sure.
Her tail flicks against her calf in agitation, and her eyes scan over the door. The cliffside. The out-of-commission generator. Anything and everything nearby, in search of even the faintest spark of inspiration.
It turns out to be a lot closer than she'd expected.
Shifting her attention to the cable, Rivet bends down, turning it over in her hands before looking back. It won't be perfect. But she thinks it should be good enough. Casting a glance at her now dubious-looking co-conspirator, she smiles and says, "I think I've got a better idea."
.
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A/N: The more I continue to accidentally fall in love with Quantum, the more I think it's a crime we never really got to see him and Pierre interact together as pirate leaders.
I mean. I guess we're probably supposed to assume that the pirates all learn Quantum is actually their Captain at some point during the final battle and everything is good and happy for them afterwards, but...nah. That's not as fun. :P
In any case, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and have a Happy New Year!