Chapter Text
Harlow squinted through the small pipes outlining a rusty window as the pirate ship drew closer to her crew’s C-47 grade aircraft. She had been on this ship as a minor mechanic for a little over two cycles and this was the first time anyone dared to attack the massive vessel. Most simply ignored the hunk of junk she was stationed on. It wasn’t worth the effort for anyone to bother with, it held soldiers in stasis and needed a large crew to manage it.
So, it was safe to say, this was a new problem.
She swung among the pipes in the ceiling, staying in their relative safety as the old alarm system blew its stack. Harlow knew that the escape pods would only jettison into space and probably blow up or fall apart soon. She was safer with her pipes and gears.
She had tried to repair the crumbling pods last month but the nasty captain that hated her guts stopped her from finishing the repairs. He was citing some rule about ‘needing permission first’.
The screams of her fellow crew members echoed through the ship, making her flinch in fear. The tell-tale clunk, clunk of boots of the space pirates were warnings enough to keep her away from the paths they took. They were everywhere, hopefully they wouldn’t find her.
Harlow didn’t particularly feel sorry for the crew, they were a motley, rough crowd anyway. The jaded behavior was likely due to the fact that this was a stasis ship for the federation and no one wanted to stick around for long. Those that did, had no other choice in the galaxy and ended up stuck here for years.
A few of the members didn’t like her because she was sold by a brothel and they thought that meant she had no talent other than what her original owners used her for. Others took the easy advantage of the fact she was human and her past. She couldn’t stop them, she couldn’t be sold just because she didn’t please an officer.
The clanker offered her this job because she managed to get some skills from the brothel she was in first and a garbage clanker mechanic position was not highly demanded by the workforce. But, fixing pipes was much better than servicing alien travelers and ever since she was a child, she knew she had to get a better life for herself. When the client had moaned about needing a mechanic as she was serving, Harlow knew she had a better chance.
She was nothing more than a collared slave here. More nights than not, unless she found a spot to sleep in the pipes, she was someone’s bed warmer. It didn’t bother her too much, she was still able to do things during the day with her hands.
Besides, even if she wanted to, there wasn’t anything she could do to stop the pirates anyway. They had already gotten to the command center and found the self-destruct buttons if the new sounds the speakers were making rang true.
“PLEASE PROCEED TO THE ESCAPE PODS IN AN ORDERLY FASHION. T-MINUS TEN MINUTES TILL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE.”
Yeah, yeah. She had other plans. Ones that involved the pirates’ ship.
Most wouldn’t even think of stowing away in your invaders’ ship and that’s exactly why that was her first thought. If they were willing for a mechanic, or heaven forbid, a pleasure slave, then she had a chance. There wouldn’t be space for her in the escape pods, only senior staff had a lick of a chance to fit in the confined quarters.
Luckily for her, she could fit in some small spaces.
Harlow grinned at the challenge and continued her climb through the ceiling. Her 4’7 height wasn’t particularly useful in a fight, but it sure did make her job easier most of the time. She could squeeze in the tightest spaces to fix almost anything. Most crew members, even the sparse humans, couldn't climb like her.
She paused and quieted as a hulking beast with a light blue coat of fur walked under her perch. It was one of the pirates and it was much too close for her liking. The beast was growling and it was easily twice her height, its long claws twitched as the blood of her crewmates dripped down its nails.
Harlow shuddered with a thrum of fear and accidentally hit one of the pipes with her elbow, causing a rusty creak to echo softly. She froze when the beast paused to sniff the air.
His brown eyes roamed the walls and she could only watch in terror as his gaze slowly gained towards her position.
“T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES TILL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE.”
The beast briefly paused his search at the foreboding announcement. Then, another pirate appeared behind it. The humanoid alien bravely rested his hand upon the beast and spoke.
“Come on, we don’t have all day.”
The beast snorted. “I thought I heard something.”
“Well, if there is something it’ll die in a few minutes anyway.”
The humanoid one was covered in old battle scars. He wasn’t quite as big as the beast, but he was close. Nearly at the monster’s shoulder.
The beast nodded and hurried its pace towards the pirate ship.
When the second pirate led the beast away, into their ship, Harlow knew she had not a second to spare. They were leaving at any second and she had to be on the ship, lest she perish with this old box of bolts.
Swiftly and quietly, she snuck into the airlock system that connected the ships and hid behind supply boxes. She became one with the walls when she found a small maintenance door. It took a matter of seconds to unscrew the bolts with the tools from her utility belt. The belt and the clothes on her back were the only things she was able to bring with her, but she couldn’t dwell on that now.
Harlow closed the hatch in just the knick of time. The rest of the mismatched crew was boarding and she watched them from the slits of the door. They were all celebrating the demise of her ship and even though she had hated the clanker, she’d miss it a little.
Okay. A lot. Who knows where in the galaxy the pirates were going. The C-47 was crummy, but it was home and there was a whole lotta space to be lost in with a gang of pirates.
How was she going to stay hidden in a ship full of pirates?!
Harlow took a few minutes to assess her new crewmates from behind the safety of the vent door.
The beast was shuffling about carefully to avoid bumping into its crewmates. It was larger than all of them and was purposely going slower than its normal pace. Harlow tried not to wince when it bared his teeth at a fellow pirate who accidentally elbowed into it. The teeth were jagged and had a bit of drool hanging off them.
An octopus-type creature was lolling off the shoulder of the offending elbow. She assumed he was the medic of the ship. His uniform was old, but clean and he had a sharp look about him. He was a Marstik, a bug type species with compound eyes. He grasped the octopus’s tentacles in thought as he buzzed about the cabin.
The bug was skittish around the beast and quickened his walk around and away from the creature. Harlow hardly blamed the Marstik, the beast was scary.
Both of them left the brig fairly quickly and Harlow breathed a sigh of relief from the biggest one leaving.
The humanoid from earlier had removed some of his tactical gear and was lounging in a large chair. His pale skin was marred from the array of scars painted across his skin, primarily across his chest. He had dark, thick hair that was cut jaggedy and his nose was crooked. He loudly laughed at something one of his crewmates said.
The crewmate was a wiry, female with a hardened structure. She was tall, thin, and had a coating of green scales over her skin, identifying her as an Ifran. Assassins, born and bred, the Ifrans were raised on their own planet and prided themselves on their kill counts. Harlow would rather take her chances with the beast after seeing her. Ifrans never missed their targets.
Harlow didn’t dare move. However long the Ifran was in the bay, she wouldn’t make a sound.
Luckily, the female stayed only long enough to wipe her arrows clean before she left.
Everyone but an old service bot eventually disappeared into the halls leaving the brig. The bot was an old model, pre-war and whistled softly as it steered the ship through the galaxy.
Harlow breathed a sigh of relief at the quiet. They were certainly a scary bunch and she wanted to stay as low profile as possible. There were more members, she was sure.
All she had to do was stay in the vents until the ship had to dock at a port. Easy-peasy.
Right?
Harlow had been in the pirates’ ship for days now and she was growing more and more confident in her skills to stay hidden. She had mapped out in her head all the bathrooms and the mess hall. She even wrote a schedule of the approximate times each member visited each place.
It was weird to have to keep up with, but the last thing Harlow wanted to do was grab a midnight snack with the beast or Ifran.
She was fine. Really.
It didn’t bother her too much that she slept in the supply closet with the space rats. Or even that the leftovers were often the slimiest types of food.
What bothered her the most was that these pirates never stopped for any necessities. Most ships this size docked at least once by now for supplies. Especially since she’d spotted at least seven members aboard.
Around three am in their daily cycle was a safe time to grab a snack by her calculations. The crew should all be asleep by now and the old bot wouldn’t go into the kitchen.
Harlow was starving. She wasn’t quite used to her new eating schedule, and her stomach often let her know.
She swiped an jibag, a fruit similar to an apple and took a bite from it as she opened the freezer door. There had to be something good for today….
A thud made her jump and she spotted a sharp claw curl its fingers around the door.
Harlow swirled around in a desperate hope to escape and was blocked by the beast’s huge body.
She was trapped. The beast had snuck up on her and she was going to die. Over a stupid jibag.
Harlow shook like a leaf as the beast snorted and blew a gust in her face.
“I knew I smelled a human.” The beast rumbled as he scratched his chin. He was absolutely massive and she had figured out he was a he by now. Harlow came up to his waist and knew she had no chance of escape.
For all she knew, he liked the taste of humans and was going to eat her. Or something even worse. He could bed her, and that would probably hurt worse than death.
“Com’ on.” He grabbed her arm and Harlow stumbled forwards at the tug. His nails scratched the skin on her bicep and nearly swallowed her arm with their sheer size. She shuddered at the thought of what he could, would do to her.
The jibag dropped to the floor, forgotten as he escorted her to the inner bowels of the ship.
The luminescent lighting hurt her eyes as they made their way to medical. She had spent so much time in the inner parts of ships that harsh lighting was headache inducing. Especially with how much stress and anxiety was strumming through her bones right now.
The Marstik was waiting for her with his octopus friend in the ward and she shivered in trepidation. She wanted to live till tomorrow if possible. She had heard horror stories about people trapped with mad doctors.
The last thing she wanted was to become another statistic.
“I told you I smelled a human.” The beast grumbled from behind her.
The Marstik tilted his head at her and she refused to shudder at the compound eyes that were watching. Analyzing.
“You did not inform me that the human was a child.”
What?! A child?
No one had accused her of being a child since she rammed her wrench at the last person’s fingers that called her little.
“I couldn’t tell from the scent alone, Alyx.” The beast pouted and led her to an examination table. He picked her up relatively gently and set her on the table. There was nothing she could do to stop him, so she didn’t put up a fuss about that.
“I’m not a kid!” She protested, glaring at the aliens. She was not going to stand for being humiliated before she was killed. She was twenty-two, hardly a child anymore.
The beast frowned slightly, but the Marstik, Alyx tilted his head in contemplation.
“You are small, not yet to the height of your species’ average. I will call the Captain to notify him of this change of plans.” Alyx stated as he walked to the computer station and hit the intercom button.
“Captain Braith. The human is captured, but we require further instruction.”
Harlow strained her ears but couldn’t discern what the Captain said in reply.
“Captain. This is a matter of morals. The human is a female and… a child.”
Alyx was turned away from her and the beast wasn’t paying attention. Perhaps this was her chance? Harlow eyed the grate in the wall.
The beast grumbled from his spot beside her.
“I wouldn’t if I was you.”
Busted! Harlow rolled her eyes but stayed in her designated spot, staying ready for her chance.
The door opened to reveal the humanoid. The burly man was in a pirate captain’s uniform and squinted at her as he peered down at her with deep green eyes.
Harlow had never felt so small in her life. That was saying something. She winced as the pirate captain came closer. His mere presence was strong.
“My apologies if my crew scared you. They are not used to handling children.”
Harlow paused before denying her assumed age again. It may be useful for the crew to think she was younger than she was. Alyx at the very least was morally cautious because of their assumption.
They might be less likely to bed a child, though she knew that wasn’t always the case.
She shifted nervously on her hands and lowered her gaze. She, for once, had no clue what to say.
The Captain bent over so he was closer to her level and waited to speak until she made eye contact again.
“We did not know there were children on the C-47 or we would not have blown it up. You were brave to sneak aboard my ship.”
Harlow accidentally let out a shocked, nervous laugh. Pirates with morales? Life was upside down right now and she had no clue how to fix that. Her expertise lies in mechanics.
At least she wasn’t going to die?
Captain Braith furrowed his brow before carefully smoothing it out.
“Do you have any family we could take you to?”
Harlow snorted. No. She didn’t have anyone. Didn’t need anybody after Ms. Hacken. The woman was more than happy to sell her to the clanker’s crew.
The Captain took that as an obvious no and looked sad for a brief moment.
“Well then, you can stay with us. We have a spare room. My name’s Captain Braith, what’s yours?”
Harlow might not be the best of a bunch, but even she knew better than to band with pirates. But… she didn’t have many options and she’d rather not be dumped at an outer rim orphanage.
“I’m Harlow.” She murmured, rubbing her arm where the beast had held her. Hopefully she wouldn't bruise, he had held her fairly gently for his size.
“Harlow,” The man rolled her name on his tongue, clearly making an effort to remember it.
“This is Alyx, our medic-” he pointed to the Marstik. “-and his pet, Marcie.”
The little octopus waved four of its tentacles and Alyx nodded his head in agreement as his wings fluttered in thought.
The beast snorted and spoke up as he crossed his arms.
“Don’t forget ‘bout me boss.”
Captain Braith smiled a bit and chuckled as he waved in the beast’s general direction.
“This is Grug. He’s our muscle of the group.”
Grug puffed up his chest and grinned a roguish smile down at Harlow. It was hard to decide if the expression was charming or scary, considering the large teeth he had. Harlow settled on scary, considering one bite looked like it could tear off her arm.
“Ya bet kid. Not much I can’t lift or punch.”
The Captain chuckled and beckoned her down as he rose up. Harlow gladly leaped off the examination table, the shiny room was making her very uncomfortable with all the company.
“C'mon. I bet you’re hungry and tired. Let’s get you to bed. Alyx, tell ole’ Burnstein to air out room 15.”
Alyx gave a nod and returned to his intercom system as Captain Braith led her out of the Medbay.
Captain Braith was well mannered for a pirate and Harlow followed him easily, he had slowed down his gait to match hers. The pirate gave her a snack of her liking and waited until the old mechanical bot intercommed them to inform them her room was ready.
The room was serviceable and much bigger than the supply closet. The room was a dull metal, old but not rusted. The lighting system ran along the trim of the walls and cast a glow around the room.
The Captain was awkward as he rubbed his neck in the doorway. His other hand hovered over the door-handle.
“Good night, Harlow.”
Harlow turned to fully face him, she returned the awkward smile with one of her own.
“Thanks. Good night, sir.”
With a curt nod, the door was closed and Harlow stared at the bed that was hinged to the wall, standard ship grade, but still significantly bigger than herself. It had dark navy blue sheets and a pillow. She walked over to it in awe.
She sat quietly on it, marveling at the clean sheets and blanket. They were coarse, but significantly better than the iron pipes and gears she often slept on, avoiding her bed on the old clanker whenever possible.
Harlow jerked her head to the door, listening for anyone who might think a bedwarmer would be a good idea. Although the medic had declared her a child, she had witnessed some of the scum that walked through the galaxy. There were some that would only see her size as an opportunity and the whole crew was significantly larger than her. Any one of them would hurt.
She listened, even as she shucked off her dirty boots and slid into the sheets, feeling small on the bed. It wasn’t big enough to hold the largest species, but it was still bigger than her by a longshot. It felt weird, occupying the space with just herself.
Braith sighed as he ran his fingers through his locks of hair. The mission had been a success, another C-47 down and out for the count. The federation themselves were nothing more than slavers, disguised as a government. They were systematically taking over the galaxy and his crew were one of the few fighters in line of resistance.
The clanker ship was supposed to be composed of federation soldiers, a housing unit for battle recruits in status. The unit was headed for Glaxuh, a city planet that aligned with resistance ideals. One of the members of their council had contacted Braith’s ship, knowing they were honorable mercenaries.
Braith’s team stealthily placed the bomb and moved out, watching the ship blast into smithereens after the team safely boarded the Draven. It was another mission under their belt and the best paying one for a long time. They had enough credits now to splurge on a new crew member, Braith had steered his ship towards Gevanik. There, he could find a mechanic for the ship.
The Draven had seen better days. The last mechanic had died in an unfortunate accident a few galactic years ago. Draith hadn’t the heart to replace Rox. He had been a steady presence on their team for the longest, one of his closest friends in the galaxy. The aching hole in his heart, missing his friend, had blinded him to the crumbling of the ship around him.
Cara had warned him more than a few times after they lost Rox that Draith had to find his replacement. He had ignored her cold words, even though she had a kinder tone than most Ifraun would bother giving him.
But, the ship itself, after so long without a faithful mechanic, was starting to protest. Braith’s basic knowledge only extended so far and the engine was starting to give them issues. He had no choice, he had to find a new crew member that was an experienced mechanic.
But, even more shocking than that realization, was the one that they had a stowaway.
Captain Braith was not expecting a slave to escape and hide in the crevices of the ship's pipes, hiding away in spaces smaller than any of them could imagine squeezing into. When Grug had informed Braith that he could smell a human, Braith didn’t believe him, humans were rare, often preferring their precious planet than the cold reaches of space. And the concept of a human being small enough to hide was even odder.
Braith had been surprised to be woken up in the middle of the night by an amused Cara, stating that the human had been found and that it was being examined by Alyx.
It was even more surprising that the human was a female child. Children were regarded as special in these parts, anyone that had one protected them at all cost. Braith had held back his smile when he saw the youngling with Grug, he completely dwarfed her.
What didn’t make Braith happy though, was the iron collar soldered around her neck. She was a slave of the federation and the bruises and scars marking her skin were solemn examples of the treatment she was given. Later, Braith would get a metalworker to remove the collar.
He was the Captain, and although he wasn’t thrilled about the new mouth to feed, she was a child and a slave child at that. He couldn’t throw her out the hatch door, he had more ethics than a Crexan. But the crew had little to no reference to dealing with humans. They were rare in these parts of the galaxy and children of any species were even harder to find. It was daunting to think that she depended on them now but Braith wouldn’t trust anyone to help her besides them.
Braith wouldn’t return her to her supposed owners, slavery was wrong towards any creature. That left one option. Him and the crew had to take care of her. It would be dangerous, their lives were anything but safe, but she would be taken care of within the best of Braith’s abilities.
He sighed and stared out the window as the stars winked back. They would do their best, even though she must be scared even more than him.