This is part of Faranesque's World Building Challenge from r/WorldBuilding. Check out my hub post for details.
Preface: Most of my posts from this point on will likely focus on the crew of the Rōnni and the refugees with them, now I've done some of the cosmic establishment from Day 1.
In today's installment, the captain and refugee leader share a drink, while one of the other refugees joins a card game with some of the crew.
The refugees had mostly kept to themselves since the Rōnni had picked them up. Koroa couldn't blame them. Fresh from a Demathi warlord's steadhold, it would make them hesitant to trust any outsider. It wouldn't have helped either that among their liberators were a handful of Maldasi. Seeing them dispatching their captors wouldn't have made the refugees feel much better, given the way that the Maldasi had done it. But I don't keep them around because they're pacifists, he reflected.
Now, as one of the Rōnni's 'day' shifts moved into their downtime, some of the refugees were trying to mingle. Koroa was pleased to hear that none of the crew were being hostile to them, though it was a distant kind of friendliness. Both sides knew the refugees were going to be disembarking in Pacam's Reach at the first port they found, and so they were reluctant to get too attached.
Koroa poured a glass of redhue for the nearest thing the refugees had to a leader, a rangy bearded man who gave his name as Jalen. The man watched as the liquid swirled in the glass. "I don't want to take you away from your duties, Captain."
"Right now, my duty is just to get you and yours to the Reach." Koroa pushed the glass toward him. Jalen picked it up, sniffed at it warily, then took a sip. "Don't worry. I'm not the like to give you rotgut like the stuff the engineers brew up, or the battery acid the Maldasi guzzle down."
There was a silence for several moments. Koroa just watched the man, who avoided meeting his gaze several times, a learned behavior from his time under the Demathi warlord. Finally, Jalen cleared his throat and said, "Some of my people have been invited to ... join some of your crew for gravball."
Koroa nodded. "I expect they would do. It can be a bit tricky for dirt-pounders at first, but it's simple enough to pick up. And if they don't play, it's still fun to watch."
"I just worry," Jalen blurted briefly, then stopped himself. Koroa waited, and soon the man continued, "Some of my people are ... well, there's Sleita. She's... sheltered." His eyes hardened a moment as he looked away. "Lord Balvene sought to make her one of his brides."
Koroa nodded. "I'm familiar with that sort." He grasped the man's other hand tightly, then held his gaze. "Be assured: no one on the Rōnni will take advantage of her. This is one rule all on our Ship agree upon. Anyone on this Ship is under our protection, no matter what comes for them. Man or beast, warlord or Star-Born. We'll protect you."
~*~*~*~
Elsewhere on the Ship, one of Jalen's people had fallen in with some of the crew for cards. Izzur, a stretched-tall youth of raw-boned build, squinted behind tinted goggles at his cards. To his left was the crewman who had invited him to the game, one of the Ship's engineers, a Sawshin man by the name of Etane, face perpetually stained with the smuts of his job. To his right was a scarred and bearded older man who'd introduced himself as Hankar and spoke with a rough Whardoni accent. There was Letta, a keen-eyed woman with her hair woven into thin dreadlocks, which she'd tied back into a sort of knot held by a stylus. Another woman called Keldie, who wore a Yalleni wrap about herself, though she eschewed the traditional veil.
But it was the female who sat between Letta and Keldie that worried Izzur. First and foremost, she was unmistakably Maldasi. Her arms were decorated with markings, ink and scars, and her fingernails had been sharpened to points. The sides of her head were shaved bare, left for the tattoos swooping back from her temples. The hair on top of her head was plaited back into a long braid which hung down her spine. When she smiled-- which was disconcertingly too often in Izzur's opinion-- she revealed numerous dull metal false teeth, which had been fashioned out of flechette rounds, giving the impression of predatory fangs. Those teeth which hadn't been replaced had been filed to points too.
Etane had donated a credit chit for Izzur's ante into the game. He'd explained the crew of the Rōnni, as a rule, kept the stakes low in their wagers. "Our funds are limited to start with," he'd told him, "and by keepin' everytin' low stake, everyone gets along, no one get a debt to 'em." He'd shaken his head at that. "None of us wanna get inta debt ever again." Izzur had appreciated this, and told him similar rules had applied among Balvene's miners when they'd played at chance.
He considered the cards in his hand, but Keldie interrupted his thoughts as she placed her cards down. The six of chalices first, but then she placed down the other four: "Pair of fives," she declared, "plus the Crown and Scribe trumps." She smiled serenely as Etane cursed. "Round to me, I think."
Izzur glanced at the engineer, who tossed a trio of sevens on the table, but his other two cards were only a face card (wand-page) and a deuce of motes. If not for the Yalleni's trumps, Etane's triple fours might have beaten her hand. Izzur shrugged to Etane as he turned over his own hand-- a mishmash of suits and numbers, with only the Fool trump to break it up. "I didn't win either," he commiserated. He nodded to Keldie. "Round to you."
There came a cackle then from the Maldasi. "Neg-negs," she shook her head gleefully, showing off her fanged smile, as she turned over her own cards. "Triple threes, ruled by Queen and Tyrant." This received another curse from Etane, who thumped the table in his frustration. The Maldasi grinned. "Win goes to Sharpmaw, yes-yes."
Etane just glared at the cards on the table, then at the Maldasi. "Snuff the starlight. How in the black did you get the Tyrant?"
Letta sat back, turning over another losing hand. "Ferrin Sharpmaw, you complete throwback," her voice was tinged with amusement and something like admiration. "You've the Dark's own luck." This got a champing of teeth from the Maldasi and a wider smile.
But then Hankar gave a chuckle. "Sorry to disappoint, Maldasi. But I've got everyone beat." He turned his cards over to reveal, "Flooded house, sevens over trumps-- Star, Glory, and Valor." Shock rippled around the table, drawing another fulminating curse out of Etane, something which was echoed from Ferrin.
Izzur gaped at the elder's cards for a moment, before his eyes narrowed behind his goggles. "You dealt the cards, Whardoni. You sneak some trick in the deal?"
"I don't need to cheat at cards," was the reply. Hankar scooped the chits toward himself, while Letta gathered the cards and began to shuffle. "And if I did," he continued, "I wouldn't try to slip in a cheat while playing with Letta or Ferrin."
"We'd both spot him doing it if he tried," Letta confirmed.
"And Sharpmaw would have fingers off," the Maldasi added, champing her teeth again.
Chits were anted again, though half the pot came from Hankar, who said it would cover Izzur's ante, since the young refugee had almost nothing to his name. "Some might call us pirates," the Whardoni grunted, "but even we wouldn't steal from them as has nowt to their name."
The cards were dealt, exchanges of trash cards were made, as was small talk. Etane glanced to the young miner. "Balvene's patch ain't far from Sawshin. You heard what's been goin' on that way?" he inquired.
Izzur shook his head. "Not a lot. What did it matter to us what was going on worlds away? But Jalen said there were skirmishes between Sawshin and Serissia."
The engineer grunted. "There's a surprise. The 'Riss looking to bloody their knuckles against Sawshin jaws."
"Whardon's rule is gone," Hankar scratched at the scar under his eye. "Without the Grand Republic to keep 'em apart, all the old feuds are flarin' up again."
"Sawshin and Serissia," Keldie ticked them off on her fingers. "Yallen and Rappon. Maldas and everyone else." This last got another cackle from Ferrin.
Izzur thought about this. "You're Yalleni," he noted of the woman. "And I've seen Rapponi on the ship. One of the cooks is Rapponi, aren't they?"
"None of that matters on this Ship," Letta told him. "None of us hold any real allegiance to our Worlds or to any banner flying. We're not Yalleni, or Rapponi, or Whardoni, or Pacami, or anything else."
"Sharpmaw is Maldasi, never stop being Maldasi," Ferrin interjected. But then she smiled again at Izzur. "But will follow Captain. Yes-yes."
Hankar nodded slowly. "Godenboraa," he drawled. Seeing the incomprehension on the youth's face, he said, "That's Anteceptosi. 'Bannerless forever.' We all have our reasons for leaving our Worlds behind."
Letta nodded as well, turning back to Izzur. "That's why the Captain agreed to take you to the Reach. Kindred spirits."
Izzur digested this, while the round continued. In the end, he ended up winning the round with a four-flush of coins and a trump, the Wheel of Fate.
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