A few hours later Snoodgrass stopped by at Alienbutt's room. Piestoff was already half drunk and feeling melancholy. Snoodgrass sat down with a drink and looked at the unhappy Piestoff.
“What’s up, Piestoff? You did great today, yet look like a guy that lost everything,” he enquired.
“Why am I here, Snoodgrass? I don’t fit in around these people.” Piestoff took another long drink from his whiskey bottle.
“You showed that you do today; you fought like a veteran.”
“No, the others are naturals, confident and brave. Me, I’m an imposter, I’m scared to death. I was shaking so bad when I got back to my room, I dropped three glasses. I get drunk every night or I have bad dreams. I don’t know how to be around these people. I’m not like them.”
Snoodgrass leant forward in his chair and looked at Piestoff, seeing the fear in his eyes that he would fail. Looking down at his glass he began to speak. “Then pretend, Piestoff, because we need you. Those bounty hunters today saw a fellow hunter. They will accept you for what you let them see. In front of everyone show them who you want to be; I don’t know, become a flamboyant drunken loudmouth if you have to. You have a chance to become anyone you want. You’re no longer the taxi driver from Sloppystool. You’re a natural pilot, trained by the best. Look at Wickede, he's probably one of the smartest leaders the Ick have ever had, yet he lets the universe think he’s a fool and a playboy because it serves him to do that.”
He looked back at Piestoff again, and saw he had fallen asleep. “Start off pretending to be someone else, my friend. The bad dreams will pass pretty soon and then so will the pretending.” Snoodgrass stood and put a blanket over the sleeping Piestoff and then walked out. He hated himself for saying that to Piestoff, but they needed him to be a fighter if his people were going to survive. They needed to make this Alienbutt a weapon, to make him someone else, but as he got to know him, he was starting to have regrets over doing it.
The fleet sat in orbit around a giant gas planet, nursing its wounds. The Ick had lost five dreadnoughts and almost forty of their fighter ships. The bounty hunters had fared even worse. Most of their deep space ships had been destroyed or were too badly damaged to continue and now they only had their small short range fighter ships. Of the fifty bounty hunters hired, only twenty had survived the battle, and now those without their main ships had taken residence aboard Blackarachnia’s dreadnought. Bounty hunters didn’t have leaders. They worked alone on the whole, and the ones who had survived the battle were some of the best in the galaxy. They had a boss who gave out the contracts and kept order of sorts, but they didn’t follow any leaders. Now the leader that they didn’t have but all would take orders from and follow during the campaign was Blackarachnia.
Piestoff was becoming accepted as one of the hunters, which he found strange; but word of his flying skills and his ability to prevent the other hunters from coming to blows after drinks was respected. The fact that Poodles had taken to following him around and growling may have helped the drunken fighters consider their options. The bounty hunters quickly discovered a new game, once they realised that brawling wasn’t accepted on board. Alienbutt's kebabs became a new test of endurance to see who could eat the most pieces without needing a drink. So far the record was held by an old hunter called Donk who had managed three pieces of meat. Piestoff was disqualified from the contest as he could eat the kebabs all day long. Nifty spent hours in the evening sitting talking to Captain Noble as she kept a watchful eye on Piestoff in the bar, not fully trusting the new arrivals. Between her warning glares and Poodles snoozing and yawning lying by Piestoff’s feet, he was better protected than many world leaders.
Blackarachnia spent much of his time in his office or travelling to the Ick command ship as Wickede waited for reports to come in from spy probes and contacts as the Ick leader made plans for their next move. All knew they would be going into battle again, but this time they would be ready for anything and would not be caught out.
On the third day after the battle, Blackarachnia came to see Piestoff in his quarters. For once, the usually confident bounty hunter looked ill at ease as he accepted a drink from Piestoff.
“What’s up, Blackarachnia, you seem a little troubled?” inquired Piestoff as he sat on the edge of his bed while Blackarachnia had slumped into the room’s only chair.
Blackarachnia continued to stare at his glass, struggling to work out what he had to say. “I have a favour to ask, but have no right to ask it.” For the first time he looked at Piestoff. “We think we have found their base, but need someone they don’t know to spy it out and get a fix on their defences and ship numbers. Our spies and robot probes have all failed. Only you and Nifty are totally unknown to everyone outside this fleet. We can’t risk another ambush and heavy losses, but the dangers are very real. You’ll be out there on your own and we still know nothing about this enemy.” He trailed off and returned to inspecting the glass in his hands.
“What’s Nifty said about this?” asked Piestoff, getting up and walking over to refill his glass.
“I’ve not said anything to her. She’s a great pilot, but we need someone who can mix in any company, someone with great people skills.” He sighed and again looked up at Piestoff. “Like a certain ex taxi driver who can talk himself out of problems.”
Piestoff stopped filling his glass and ignoring it, he took a large drink from the bottle. Then he stood thinking before he finally grinned, shaking his head he wandered back over to the bed. “You have to be desperate and mad to rely on me and my people skills, you know. If you don't give her the chance to volunteer she will never speak to you again, so we need to be sneaky. Here's how I think we should play it.”
Thanks for reading, all images my own work.