Chapter 12: These Pirates aren't so bad

Nova sat alone in his bedroom, staring at the door as if it were the source of all his problems.

"Alright Nova, let's just… think about the situation for a bit," he muttered. It was a terrible habit, but he found solace in talking to himself since few people around him could help him sort out his thoughts.

Hex and Nitro were good friends, he'd known them for almost seven years, and his sister was a good person, but they weren't the right people to talk to.

"You kidnapped Rose to give her an alibi for why she was helping you… and now you're trying to turn her over to your side." He blew a long sigh and ran his hands across his face. "What the hell am I doing? Why the hell do I care if she gets fired? One less pain to deal with."

He tried to think about what would happen if he left her there. She probably would've been killed by Onyx or arrested and tried for treason at the very least… all because she helped him.

She saved his sister's life by risking her career, he couldn't have left her to that fate.

If the stakes were different… would he still care?

A flash of an image of her ship exploding and her corpse floating through space made him feel sick, "The outcome would've been the same. Wouldn't it?" memories of that dance they shared took place in his head.

A warm, fluttery feeling encompassed his body and he felt a smile tugging at his lips as he remembered how… endearing and interesting she was.

"NO!" he slapped his cheeks, "Bad Nova, stop it! So what if she's smart, selfless, heroic and gorgeous? So what if she's ticking all your boxes… she hates you. Why am I even trying?"

He knew the answer to that, it was because he didn't want her to hate him, because he never hated her.

Despite all their years of fighting, at each other's throats, he never hated her. He hated the UFSH and the other officers he's interacted with, but Rose was never shady, she never did underhanded tactics, she never took bribes or associated with lowlifes. She was a genuine hero… even if she was fighting for the wrong team.

He had to repay his debt to her, and if showing her the truth was one way to repay it then fine, if she hated him even after all of this… then so be it.

After two hours, Nova was still rolling around in his bed unable to sleep. Groaning he slapped his mask on and crawled out of bed in black shorts and a loose white shirt.

"Of course, the air conditioning is on the fritz again," he glared at the unit set to sixteen Celsius but it felt like twenty.

The clock on his scroll read almost 5 am, well that was an improvement, last time he kept waking up at 3 am. Four hours of sleep was a whole new record. "Time for some coffee I guess."

Ruby tossed in her bunk, unable to sleep a wink while her crew snored away. "Stupid Silver, stupid classified documents…"

How could she sleep when her thoughts were constantly plagued by the idea that the UFSH might not be what she believed?

"5 am? Well… I normally get up at this time anyway…" She rolled over and let out a loud groan of frustration into her pillow. "Now where the hell did Hex say the cafeteria was again?"

She eventually found the mess hall, stumbling in wearing black pyjamas that Hex loaned them. Apparently, the engineer was also a fairy godmother since she not only supplied the team with clothes that mostly fit but toothbrushes and toothpaste… pretty much everything they would need to live. The only thing was that they didn't have that much variety, the clothes being mostly pirate-standard outfits and the Solar Flare crew uniforms—a set of military green cargo pants, black shirts and torso harnesses for ammunition and equipment.

All things considered, the clothes weren't that bad, just not her style.

Music wafted through the air followed by the smell of something cheesy being cooked and… freshly brewed coffee.

The smell grabbed her by the nose and before she realized it she was standing at the counter of the mess hall. It was a large open area filled with dark wooden benches and table sets, some plush barrel-type armchairs and smaller tables set near the large open windows that showed the outside space. A large light brown wooden counter stretched across the back of the room separating the eating area from the kitchen.

Behind it, she saw someone making paninis and humming to the tune playing on the room radio, a coffee machine was brewing a pot of some dark and strong-looking liquid.

"One last kiss, before that bliss…" Silver sang with mirth as he lifted the panini press and took two sandwiches, placing them onto a plate. He reached around for the bread bag only to come face to face with Ruby standing there with her mouth hung open.

There was a long pause where they just stared at each other in silence.

"You know, there aren't any space insects on board this ship if you're trying to catch them by leaving your jaw open like that," he said, breaking eye contact and grabbing the bread bag to make another set of sandwiches.

She caught herself and puffed out her cheeks in anger… an act that Silver found adorable.

"W-What are you doing here?!" she hissed.

He raised an eyebrow behind the mask, "On my ship? Or do you mean in my kitchen?"

"I…" she raised a figure then closed her mouth.

He snorted with a light chuckle, "Nah I get what you mean. This is normal," he thought for a moment before getting an idea, "Look, just… sit down for a minute, how do you take your coffee? I'm guessing cream and sugar? Are you allergic to anything?"

Ruby slowly blinked in confusion, "Um… cream and five sugars? Also… no?"

He nodded and gestured to the corner of the room where a pair of armchairs sat under warm lighting.

She wanted to fight back but she couldn't come up with a good reason to argue, so she just did as instructed.

He came back a few minutes later, the music changing to comfortable jazz as he plopped two plates of food on the table, stacked with about five paninis each and two large cups of coffee.

Black, she noted for his cup, the brew didn't seem like your average brew either, it smelled strong and with a hint of chocolate and cherry. Hers was similar except loaded with cream and a dollop of whipped cream on top lightly powdered with cinnamon and drizzled with some red syrup.

She hesitated to drink it despite it looking incredibly appealing.

He sighed and took a sip of her coffee, "See? Not poisoned, and here…" he swapped one of their sandwiches and slipped it under his mask for a bite.

"What's your angle?" she eyed him suspiciously.

He slipped another mouthful of panini behind the mask and took a sip from his coffee, "I think we got off on the wrong foot."

She almost burst out laughing at the irony, "Wrong foot? I think it happened so many times I didn't think there was a right foot."

"I'm serious," he replied, "You're distrustful of me, I can't blame you for that. You think all pirates are evil scum and for the most part, you'd be right."

"Distrustful is an understatement, you lied to me, tricked me to get information and I don't know how you found out about the transport route but I swear to god I…"

"I didn't lie to you," he said with full seriousness, "I didn't use you."

She stopped and glared at him, "Really now? Seems to me like you toyed with me…"

That stung him, but he had to keep composed, "Look, my original intention was to learn some information from you, but I never expected you to tell me anything. Hex hacked their systems while we talked at the bar. I just wanted to…"

"Wanted to what…?" she asked, almost daring him to give her a reason to walk out.

"I wanted to… have a conversation with you. No guns, no suits, no blades… I just wanted to learn more about the person I've been at odds with for the better half of a decade. Just a moment in time where I wasn't a pirate, and you weren't the captain trying to kill me."

She was taken aback by that response. If he didn't lie to her… if that entire night wasn't some ploy to use her then… was what happened that night real? Did it feel as real for him as it did for her?

A small spark of joy almost burst in her chest and she had to shove it back down, remind herself that she barely knew the man.

She didn't say anything, taking a bite of her sandwich and all at once started gobbling it down, "What is this?!"

He chuckled, "Like it? It's my recipe for a special tuna salad three cheese breakfast panini, and no I'm not sharing the recipe it's a secret."

She swallowed a mouthful, "Tuna? The hell did you get that? I heard they were fished out of our oceans on Remnant for like almost a century ago!"

He took a sip of his coffee, "I never said they were from Remnant."

"Huh, still pretty good, coffee's great, is this strawberry syrup?" she pointed at the topping.

He nodded, "Yup, and it's beans from the Omega system's tropical planet. I got a guy there that supplies me, though I'm the only one he sells this particular blend to."

"You sound like you have connections everywhere," she noted.

He shrugged, "I got friends in high and low places, well more like business partners than friends though."

"What kind of business?" she leaned in curiously.

He leaned back, "You'll learn that if you stick around. I take it you've read the documents?"

She all at once remembered who she was talking to. It was strange how easy it was for her to slip into comfortable conversations with him when she didn't remind herself he was the fourth most wanted man in the galaxy.

"I did, what are you implying with that?" she eyed him, "What did you do to the lab? Raid it? Kill all the people there?" a growing anger was bubbling all of a sudden at the thought.

He looked at her calmly, "I'm not some lunatic that runs around playing judge, jury and executioner. A life is a life, and I don't take it lightly."

She raised her eyebrow at him, "So what? You just looted the place and left?"

"I killed one man there, the head scientist," he confessed, "That was… personal though. He… no never mind, if I say any more you'll figure out who I am."

"Why do you hide your face?" she asked genuinely.

He hesitated, "More information you'll learn if you stick around."

"And why should I? Other than the fact that I'm technically your prisoner?"

"Because," he looked at her in the eye, "You deserve to know the truth about the UFSH. They aren't who you think they are. Your campaigns, your deliveries and escorts, the whole war on Pandora, the Faunus… it's all a fabricated lie and you need to know what's really happening under the surface."

She glared at him with hostility, "The UFSH are defenders of the peace and…"

"Upholders of justice, yeah, I get that, but are they really?" he glared back, "You might be a hero, a good person, but are they?"

"I don't believe you," she answered almost… half-heartedly.

"I guess you won't believe me until you see it for yourself," he finished his coffee and shovelled the rest of his food into his mouth. "And we're not evil aboard this ship. We're not like other pirates."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't fully believe that statement," she drank hers down as well.

"Just give us a chance, trust us for a little while at least, even if it's not fully," he asked earnestly.

She wanted to say no, but her instincts and heart were elsewhere, "Why are you so adamant on this? Why not just dump me somewhere and be done with it?"

He thought for a moment before reaching for his mask, "Close your eyes."

"Why?" she was thrown for a loop by the sudden unorthodox request.

"As a sign of trust, I'm going to take off my mask and I'm going to trust that you'll keep your eyes closed. I'll answer your questions face to face."

She hesitated, "… Alright…" and she shut her eyes tightly.

Ruby's heart began to race as she heard the sound of him taking the mask off and placing it on the table. It would be so easy to sneak a peek, to see who was hiding behind the black mask… the identity of the man she'd been chasing across the galaxy was right in front of her.

Yet she didn't do it. She kept her eyes shut tightly, something inside her said that if she opened them now, it would be the worst mistake of her life.

"I'm showing you the truth because you're a good person Rose, one of the few Huntresses out there that give a damn about the people. I saved you back then because you saved my sister, you risked your career to help her, so I gave you an out, but it doesn't mean that debt is repaid. Above all else, I… don't want us to be enemies anymore."

"That's not a good enough of a reason, why would you want me to switch sides even if I wanted to, what reason do I have to even entertain this?"

"You don't have to do anything. As for why? I… I'm not really sure. Maybe it's because I've taken an interest in you." He replied smugly before putting the mask back on. "You can open your eyes now."

She stared at him in mild shock, a blush creeping onto her face, "How did you know I didn't peek?"

"I didn't, but I trusted the type of person you are, and I'm hoping you'll reciprocate it, even if it's temporary."

"The same trust you had in me not to pull the trigger when I had you at gunpoint yesterday?" she asked almost…teasingly. Was she… flirting with him?

He shrugged, "Nah, even if you did pull the trigger, the safety was on," he teased back and got up.

Realization hit her that he was messing with her again and she fumed, tossing one of the forks on the table at his head with deadly accuracy, as it sailed right past his ear and embedded itself in the wall.

He smirked and picked it out of the wall and put it on a nearby table, "Hex will assign you tasks in four hours, and for the record?" he was almost out the door, looking over his shoulder at her.

She raised an eyebrow curiously, "What?"

"I've never once lied to you, about anything. Half-truths, rephrased sentences, but never have I ever lied to you," he walked out of the room not waiting for her reaction.

The words sank into Ruby like she was plunged headfirst into a pool, as she melted into the armchair, staring at the empty spot where he stood.

"WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!"

Team RWBY was stationed in the conference room with Hex at around ten in the morning, though it was hard to tell because they were in outer space.

Hex was reading from her tablet and looking them up and down, seeing them dressed in their new uniforms she smirked, "Looks good on you girls."

Weiss tugged at her skirt, "Black is not my colour…"

Yang turned around in her khaki overalls and black undershirt, "I don't know, it's not that bad."

Blake was in a full-body jumpsuit, "How did you know our sizes?"

Hex giggled and pulled up their profiles, "Your profiles are not kept under as much lock and key as other classified documents. You guys should get that looked at~"

Weiss gawked as she saw her profile staring back at her, "This is the picture they used?! It's so unflattering!"

"Anyway," Hex said pulling up her itineraries and sending it to the team, "Here are your individual schedules. Yang, you're working with me down in the engine room, Nitro should be trying to fix the overheating warp drive so you'll be helping him out too."

Yang read through her stuff, "Huh, yeah I can do that. Kinda interested to see how a bigger ship's warp drives handle."

"Blake, you're on surveillance on the bride, you'll be helping our scanner team, and you'll also be on reserve for future landing parties," Hex pointed out the shift rotations.

The cat girl's ears flickered, "Wait… really? You're giving me an important job like that?"

"Capitan's idea," Hex flickered through the screens, "Weiss you're… working with the cook."

Weiss paled and the others looked at her and snickered, "You're kidding me, there's no way! I've never cooked a day in my life!"

"Well time to start learning, also you'll be taking orders from the head chef, who is unfortunately still on medical leave."

"Who's the head chef?" Weiss asked curiously.

"The captain's sister."

Weiss made a small gasp as she noted the location of the chef's room.

Ruby looked at them, "Okay… what about me? Weapons duty? Engineering room too? The bridge?!"

Hex had an evil glint in her eye, "You Miss Rose are on desk duty."

"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad…"

"You'll be working with the captain in his office, providing him any assistance he would need…" Hex grinned broadly and Ruby felt a chill run down her spine.

"You might as well toss me out the airlock…"

Ruby entered Silver's office with a dreary look on her face as she saw him casually sitting at his desk, "Reporting for duty 'captain'," she said the word with dripping sarcasm.

He didn't look up from his notebook, only motioned for her to sit next to him, a smaller desk chair was placed alongside.

She rolled her eyes and plopped onto the leathery seat, "So what's first?"

He wordlessly slid a tablet over to her, "Help me organize these reports and requests into urgent and optional."

She could tell he was deep in concentration, scribbling something down onto a notebook, "Is that a book?" she noted in confusion, "I've never seen one before."

He looked at her incredulously, "What? You've never seen a book before?!"

She shook her head, "Uh… no? Remnant moved on from physical media more than three hundred years ago, I've only heard stories about books, and paper I've seen since we do still have some printed documents. Heard we have some kept in a museum, but I've never cared to visit."

He whistled, "Yikes, do you know how to write?"

She nodded, "Yeah using a stylus and tablet but I've never really… used paper before."

"Huh… well, are you interested in reading a book?" he asked casually.

She shrugged, "Not really? Doesn't seem all that cool, I mean what's the difference between that and what's on the tablet?"

He took a deep breath, "Well, books are safer for record-keeping sensitive information since they can't be hacked like a database. There are downsides like you can lose the physical copy but… doesn't matter, just sort out those files."

She resisted the urge to pinch him, "Fine whatever, can't be that many… oh…" she opened the folder on the desktop to find an almost never-ending list. "This is going to be a long day…"

He nodded, "Yup, no rest for the wicked. I need the urgent stuff in a compiled list before the end of the day, in the meantime, I'll be filing another set of business alongside you, and later I'm heading to the bridge to plot our course for the next planet."

"How do I know what's urgent?" she asked, looking at the daunting list.

He rolled his chair closer so they were practically touching, Ruby could feel the warmth of his body in proximity.

"Steady my beating heart…" she chanted in her head.

He didn't seem to notice as he was busy reaching across and tapping a few files, "Right so see here, this one is a request for more bagels in the kitchen, that's to be filed as optional and sent to Luna… and this one," he tapped another file, "Deep freeze storage is running low on coolant, that's urgent, also anything that involves the mortal life or requests for help is to be filed as urgent."

She had to wonder why a pirate ship was getting requests for help but decided not to ask.

"Right… gotcha…" she began to work away in silence.

-Eight hours later-

Ruby sighed in relief as she let out the tension in her body, slumping into her chair as she pushed away the material, "Fucking finally!" she threw her hands into the air in mock celebration.

Silver gave her a half smile, "You did good, really stuck with me. I'm impressed."

She threw a raised eyebrow at him, "What? I'm used to desk work, I hate it, but UFSH Captain's aren't always on their ship in space."

He shrugged, "Well that's one new thing I learned about today, aside from the fact that you've never read a book."

She turned red, "I've read books! Just… not physical ones."

He chuckled lightly and unlocked a drawer from his desk using his fingerprint. She watched over his arms curiously as he dug through them and pulled out a stack of what looked like books but were much more colourful and had images all over them.

"These, are comic books," he handed her the stack, "Interested?"

She eyed them, "I've read comics, I'm not some neanderthal."

"Not like these, you haven't. Here, go nuts." He took the first issue out of the packaging and handed it to her, "This is about a superhero team called the Justice League, got some here on Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman…" he rummaged through the stash again pulling out some more, "And these are spiderman comics, my personal favourite, got some moon knight and… Deadpool."

She looked at them with wonder, "Woah that's a lot, you collect?"

He shrugged, "Wasn't trying to, I just sorta stole them off some rich guy. Pretty good read, he at least kept them in good quality. They're yours now."

She took the pile hesitantly, "You're just… giving them to me? For free?"

"Well, yeah. Consider it my thanks for helping me out."

She tapped the front cover of the Justice League comic, "Uh… how does it work?"

He saw her trying to look for buttons and burst out laughing, "AHAHA! Oh, this is rich!"

She puffed out her cheeks in a pout, "Hey! I've never done this before!"

"Here," he reached over and grabbed her hand, guiding it to the first leaf, using her fingers to grab hold and lift it. Despite him wearing gloves she could feel the warmth of his skin against hers, the touch sending goosebumps across her forearm coupled with a rising blush.

"There, that's how it's done." He loaded the stack into a carriable pile, "Feel free to do with them as you please, they're yours now, I mean that. Just, be gentle with the pages they are delicate."

Ruby returned to her room carrying the stack of comics left in a state of fluster and she could not figure out why. She opened the room, it was about seven at night now, and the rest of her team was already washing up from the day's work.

Yang was sitting on her bunk covered in grease while Blake was comfortably nested in hers, curled up like a cat while reading from her tablet. The sound of the shower going on signalled that Weiss was probably still using the bathroom.

"Ruby!" Yang hopped off the bed, "How are you feeling? Did he hurt you or…?"

Ruby brushed her off with a smile, "Yang I'm fine, it was surprisingly pleasant."

She eyed her suspiciously, "What're those?"

Ruby placed the stack on the nearby dresser, "Comic books, Silver gave them to me as thank you for helping him out with work."

"What? He rewarded you for… doing your job?"

"I guess so?"

"And wait comic books?!" she ran over and flipped through the stack, "Real-life comic books?! Holy shit this must be worth a fortune! He just… gave these to you?!"

At the sound of physical books, Blake leapt off her bed and joined her girlfriend in inspecting the pile, "Oh wow, I saw a few of these back in the day but they were always in a museum… That's nice of him."

Yang folded her arms and huffed, "Sounds like he's trying to butter you up Ruby, don't let your guard down around him. He's a pirate, a criminal. You can't trust them, just remember what happened to mom."

"Yeah… I know you don't need to tell me twice," she grimaced. Deciding that memory soured her mood, she picked up a few of the comics in random order of the first issue and started reading, tucking into bed.