Ravens of Eternity

275 The Allure of Gold, Pt All of Eris’ words shook the Ravens to their core. Here was one of the most powerful women in the galaxy – her fleet was proof of that. Xylo estimated, just from what she had seen, that it could easily go toe-to-toe with any of the main Federation battle fleets. The firepower in the space around them was something she had only read about in fleet manuals.

And who knew what else she had out there. In no way did she believe this was the entirety of Eris’ fleet.

People that powerful never let the majority of their assets sit idle.

The words tumbled all around Eva’s head. She found much of it to be appealing, honestly. Having the backing of someone that ruthless and that influential and that powerful would definitely help keep her on her feet.

It would help keep them alive and well and fed. And maybe even happy.

But if she had learned anything these past few months, it was that nothing came for free. Being one of the Discordians meant they would lose a great deal. Each other, perhaps, over time.

Certainly, they’d lose themselves.

“What if we wanted our old lives back instead?” Eva asked.

“Your old lives are gone, gone, gone,” Eris replied. “No-one can get them back for you, not me, not you, not even the ones who took it in the first place.”

.....

“You’re saying like they did this to take it away from us,” interjected Amal. “But that sounds a bit... wrong.”

“Oh, they don’t care who you are, little thing. All they care about is the rising of the ledger. They didn’t do it to you, they simply did it. You just happened to be there.”

“Doesn’t that describe you, too?” Eva said. “Taking what you want from people who just happened to be there?”

Eris nodded, then beckoned them to follow her. Then she told their armed escort to get lost, which they did with little hesitation.

She walked around the bridge, close to the monitors, and between the rows of terminals. They revealed the galaxy all around them, but as points of data. All of it was a series of names and numbers, and most importantly, values.

There were also various charts and graphs, but otherwise everything was displayed as data.

“I can’t deny that,” Eris replied as she walked. “That’s the way of the galaxy. It’s how all life operates. You can’t deny that, either. The snake kills the mouse to feed. If it doesn’t, it dies. The same goes for wolf and sheep. Or sheep and grass, for that matter.”

“Sure,” said Kali. “But wolves don’t hoard sheep.”

Eris laughed loudly.

“You’ve definitely got me there,” she said. “I can’t help what I’m good at, like you all can’t help with what you do. Tell me I’m wrong. I was born to do this, and I’m not gonna shy away from it.”

“I know exactly what you mean about doing what needs to be done,” said Eva. “I’m calling a vote.”

She stopped in the middle of their walk, which caused the others to halt as well. The Ravens all turned towards each other as they discussed their predicament right then and there.

Eris turned around to watch the Ravens, curiosity etched on her face.

“My vote to join the Discordians is Nay,” she told the others. “I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about chains, how I couldn’t have them around me, not ever. If we’re ever going to find real freedom, it won’t be under someone else. It’ll be under our own flag, our own fleet.”

“My vote is also Nay,” Miko said next. “I do not wish to be a cog in someone else’s machine.”

“I vote Yea,” said Xylo. “I mean, I dig the security of it all. And the wealth? Yeah, hard to say no. Most of all, I know the Discordians scrap against the Feds, and I want in on that.”

“I also vote Yea,” said Claire. “It... it’s hard for me to say it, but I’m also wanting to attack the Federation. For putting us here, like this. But honestly, I just want us to be together, and I don’t care if that means yes or no.”

“I vote Nay,” Amal said after a moment. “I can’t, in good conscience, add to other people’s suffering. And I know that being a part of this group will cause that.”

“I vote Nay,” Kali said quickly, “because Amal did. If she says no, then that’s good enough for me.”

Eva then turned back towards Eris, and squared her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, but we have to tell you no,” she said. “Four of six majority.”

Eris grimaced, and tension immediately swept through the bridge. Every officer around them immediately jumped in alert, but kept their weapons holstered. She was very rarely told ‘no’, and they usually ended incredibly poorly for those involved.

Even Eris was stunned – that wasn’t at all what she expected. She knew that there would be resistance, and that she could talk the negotiation further.

With Lucifer there, they could have easily gotten them in.

But instead, they had a vote.

A bloody, fucking vote.

Eris erupted in raucous laughter out of the blue, which completely confused her officers. They were expecting something to explode, and people to bleed. But this was an outburst that certainly overshadowed all previous outbursts.

“The goddamned nerve!” she cried aloud. “Refused at the very heart of my queendom! Refused infinite power and wealth! Hahaha! How phenomenal!”

Eris laughed out the rest of her surprise over the next few seconds, then exhaled deeply before she turned and looked at the Ravens.

There was amusement on her face, where there was none before.

“Fine,” she said. “Keep your independence. But that’ll cost, too. I didn’t cart you all the way out here to walk away with nothing.”

“What could we possibly offer you anyway?” asked Eva.

She still couldn’t believe that they had value to the pirate. She had everything she needed to build her own empire. What could six small-timers like them do?

“You don’t even know what you’re all capable of,” said Eris. “Incredible. Just incredible.”

She laughed briefly again, to some joke that no-one else understood.

“And I get it,” she continued. “You’ve all got this hunger deep inside, to build something on your own. To have the same kind of thing I have. I can recognize it easily. So you ask what your value is? Your value is that you’re all capable of this, too! You’ve got the capacity to shape the galaxy with your actions! To mold it to your liking! Hah! Value!”

The tension eased out the Ravens as Eris’ words sunk in.

“What if you helped us rebuild our lives?” asked Eva. “And in exchange, we held a truce with you, at least for a while. You don’t shoot at us, we don’t shoot at you sort of thing. We can be friendly without selling ourselves to you.”

“That seems fair,” said Eris. “But not enough. I need a trade alliance to cement any agreement.”

“What could we possibly sell you?”

“Ultrafentanyl.”

“Oh, of course that’s what this is about,” said Amal. “Now we get to the actual truth. You want the drugs. How could you not?”

“I need them,” Eris said plainly. “For pleasure. For pain. For profit. It’s the perfect tradable good, pound for pound.”

“Well I hate to break it to you, but our production lines are small – tiny in fact. I can’t possibly create enough to keep your fleet supplied, much less the few colonies we already trade with. That’s impossible.”

Eris grimaced at Amal. She had a feeling that would be the case. After all, all their dealings were in ridiculously small quantities.

“Then sell me the formula,” said Eris.

“And flood the market with my drug?” countered Amal. “Create addicts up and down the galaxy? That’s not happening. You know, we injected ultrafentanyl into the colonies in order to create chaos among you pirates. To make you all fight each other.”

“And it worked delightfully well! I want to continue it. I want to sow a little chaos in the ranks.”

The Ravens were shocked at Eris’ admission. Amal herself was left with her mouth hanging.

“There’s profit in the chaos,” said Eris. “At least, for the one that cleans up after.”

The words sunk deep yet again. Eris wanted their drug to further destabilize the outer systems and the colonies, so she could take control of the market.

“We can perhaps license the formula to you,” Miko piped in after a while. “You can use it to cause the chaos you want. But you must also sell to the colonists who need the medicine, which is where we actually sold it. We will stay out of the production chain during so, but in exchange we will receive royalties from your sales. We can start with, say, a five year license?”

Eris was immediately impressed with Miko and her business acumen, and nodded in approval.

“This might be a good trade alliance after all,” she said. “Needs work, but I could agree to a similar deal.”

“In which case,” said Eva, “let’s pencil in some specific line items. We’ll need your help getting our things back from the Feds. I expect it won’t be cheap.”

“Everything costs something,” Eris replied. “But I’m willing to lower my costs to help cement this alliance.”

She turned towards one of her officers and beckoned him over.

“Show them to the VIP suites,” she told him, “make sure they’re comfortable. And make sure Luci gets her favorite suite for her stay.”

“Wait!” Lucifer suddenly interrupted. “No need. I’ll be joining the Ravens.”

Alarm bells immediately swept through Eva. Lucifer was going to do what?

“Excuse me?” she said loudly. “I don’t think so. You lied to us, stole from us, and now you wanna join up with us? Not happening.”

“I didn’t lie to you, nor did I steal from you,” ze defended hirself. “And I was simply being true to myself, which is a mercenary profiteer. I haven’t hidden that part from you in the slightest.”

“And somehow that means you’re eligible to join us?”

Eva was utterly frustrated by Lucifer. The two of them butted heads on too many things. Absolutely no way would she allow hir to be a part of the team. Ze was demanding, and required absolute precision in some things.

It was all a stark contrast to Eva’s freeform attitude.

More than that, ze was completely untrustworthy. She believed ze was more capable of stealing from them, rather than saving them.

“No, of course not,” Lucifer said. “What makes me eligible is the fact that you don’t have a real strategist on your team. What, you’re gonna charge into whatever Peacekeeper vault and somehow make it out with all your things and with zero casualties? Bit naive, don’t you think?”

Lucifer then pointed a finger straight at Amal. It barely wavered as ze spoke.

“And way more important than that – you’ve got a literal angel on your team. I just can’t have that. Can’t stand it, even. If the Ravens are gonna survive out there, you all need a lot less mercy, and a lot more animosity. Your angel needs a real counterbalance, and that means me. Who else but the devil to make things right?”

“You’re talking like your way’s the only way!” countered Eva. “But we’ve been doing fine so far, and we didn’t need your... calculations to get to where we were.”

“Oh? If you think blindly trusting your gut’s so damned great, why the hell are you running from the Federation?”

That statement bit right into Eva. She felt personally attacked, and foolishly let her anger overtake her.

.....

“You know what?” she growled. “I’ve just about had it with you. You want in the Ravens? Then you’re gonna have to physically go through me first.”

Lucifer grinned at Eva’s declaration.

“You think you’re so tough, don’tcha?” ze said. “What if I took you up on that, huh? You win, I walk away. I win, I become a Raven. Deal?”

A wave of alarm and awe and excitement swept through the bridge. A bunch of officers and techs immediately stood up from their terminals and looked in their direction with eyes wide open.

Some of Eris’ people had seen Lucifer fight before, and were overawed. Others had seen Freya fight, and were equally enamored. They all collectively realized that a melee of that magnitude was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of event.

Hushed betting immediately swept up and all around them.

“Stop stop stop!” Eris yelled out. “Let’s behave like civilized people, alright? Let’s not get all huffy and punchy straight away. Let’s all think this through like adults, and take it to the octagon where it belongs.”