The Allure of Gold, Pt 1

The Accursed Bootlegger flashed into unregulated space, just outside the edges of Federation territory. They appeared in the middle of a vast fleet, a few hundred meters above a gigantic flagship.

Alarm shot through Eva as she looked through the live feed, and saw golden apples emblazoned on each and every single ship out there.

“Your rich friend’s a goddamned Discordian?” she said with incredulity.

“Not just any Discordian,” Lucifer replied. “The Discordian.”

“You… you tricked us into coming out here! Fooled us into turning ourselves over to a bunch of pirates!”

“Calm down. I’ve done no such thing. You’re acting like parlaying with a pirate’s some kind of death sentence.”

“Maybe if they hadn’t shot at me so many times before, I wouldn’t see it that way.”

“It’s not like they were shooting at you, personally. They’re pirates. They shoot at everything.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”