Space Cherry Pt. 08

He proceeded to casually inform them of the existence of section 211, paragraph 7 of the Hyfax Code before transferring a legal document via Biohud confirming the transfer of assets - E16 herself included.

A short period of furious checking of accounts and documents had followed. Heb had made a number of panicked calls to local shipping agents and station officials he was on good terms with. All had confirmed their worst fears.

Almost all of their money, that part that was tied up in their business anyway, as well as E16 herself and everything aboard her were now the legal property of Mr Noparion.

When she'd finished listening to Fem's explanation, Cherry's mind was reeling. Although Fem seemed resigned to their fate, Heb and Tor weren't quite there yet.

The only solution they'd been able to find was a small provision at the end of paragraph 7 that gave the party that had lost all their assets the right to buy them back within 48 hours. However, as a penalty, they would be required to pay 1000% of the market value of the assets that had been seized. In the case of E16, which given its age was not exactly the most valuable of assets by itself, and including the cash in the various company accounts that Heb maintained, this would amount to well in excess of a million galactic credits.

Along with Fem, they'd pooled whatever money they had in their personal accounts - around ten thousand credits altogether - and took it to the craps tables. Cherry could see why Fem didn't exactly appear to have confidence in their plan.

"Hey, you never know," Fem said at last "they might do it, they got no max here."

"What does that mean - no max?" Cherry asked.

"They got no max bet, you can bet what you like. I guess you could get to a million. Could happen."

Cherry was about to ask more betting questions - it really wasn't her area - when she turned from the bar and saw Tor and Heb walking slowly towards them. Fem saw them too.

"I guess not," he said.

Tor's face was a mask of despair. Heb was harder to read. Cherry felt like, in his position, she would be a blubbering mess, but he still walked upright.

"You heard?" he said, as he approached the bar.

"Fem... filled me in... I'm so sorry Skip, I... I don't know what to say..." Cherry said but felt a flush of anger start to rise in her. "I don't understand Skip, why didn't you..."

"I don't think you should call me that anymore Cherry. You have to have a ship to be a Skipper," Heb said, cutting her off, and Cherry was aghast at the unmistakable dejection in his voice. Defeat and hopelessness seemed to be written all over his face and his body clearly now.

"Anyone have any money left? I could use a drink," Tor asked. Cherry knew it was meant to be a joke, but it flicked a switch in her head.

"I do," she said and stormed off in the direction of the casino floor.

She heard Fem, heard them all calling after her but she didn't turn back.

Everything was moving so fast. She felt the rational part of her mind politely raise its hand but she quickly ignored it.

She knew her crew mates knew the story of her quick departure from that prick Phil, of what she had done with the substantial balance in their shared bank account before she left. She didn't really keep any secrets from them. So she was pretty sure they knew that she had nearly a quarter of a million credits in her personal account.

She felt a strong hand on her shoulder as she crossed the lobby. It stopped her and turned her and she was brought face to face with the hard, sad face of her captain.

"No," was all he said.

"That's it? No? What the fuck are you talking about?" Cherry asked angrily. Heb took a deep breath as he tried to formulate an answer, but Cherry was too mad to let him.

"No, fuck you Skip, this is some cold shit. I can't believe you guys went and lost all your fucking money on this stupid plan when you knew I could have helped... you knew I had like... dozens of times more money than all the rest of you put together. I know this is a shitty situation - and I'm not trying to make it all about me here Skip - but I think I have made it pretty fucking clear how I feel about this crew, that E16 is my fucking home..." Her voice had been rising in pitch the longer she spoke and she had to stop for a minute as tears started to fill her eyes and a lump formed in her throat.

She felt Heb move to put his arms around her and she started to try and push him away, but his superior strength won out and he pulled her tightly against him. She gave in and grabbed him, held on to him for all she was worth, sobbing openly into his chest.

"It's OK Cherry, we'll be OK. I'm sorry..." he said. "But, you know... I mean..." he released her a little and held her away from himself so he could look her in the eye.

"We didn't have to discuss it Cherry. We all agreed immediately, this problem here, this was nothing to do with you. This all went down years before you became part of our crew, our family, and no matter what happens we're still gonna be a family. We'll find a new ship... something, but we'll do it together, all of us. But there is just no way any one of us would put your future at risk... That money - that you're about to do something really stupid with - that's yours Cherry, it's not ours." His hands moved to hold her face gently. "Nobody who loves you would let you risk your future like that."

Although her eyes were locked on Heb's, Cherry was aware that Tor and Fem were beside them now, felt the warmth coming from them.

"Cherry..." Fem said softly.

"He's right Cherry," Tor added.

Cherry took a deep breath and did her best to make sure her voice wouldn't break when she spoke.

"No," she said, reaching up and gently moving Heb's hands away from her face. "No. You said it yourself, you have to have a ship to be the Captain. I'm done taking orders. I quit."

She felt a pang of guilt as she saw terror flash into Heb's eyes and, glancing at Tor and Fem, saw a mixture of pain and anger there too.

"I love you guys," she said quickly, afraid she would cry again, before turning and walking quickly away, losing herself in the maze of the casino floor.

As she went, she called some basic instructions for craps up on her Biohud and read as she walked. It was, she felt, surely a sign of the tension of the situation that the game seemed at once incredibly simple and unbearably complicated.

She looked around for a table that wasn't too busy. She was vaguely aware that there was something else she was looking for too and only understood what it was when she saw it - a friendly looking dealer.

He was Azurian, tall and bright blue with four arms and four eyes.

"Care to give it a shot miss?" he called genially to her as she approached the table. His name-tag said Jarus.

"I guess... It's... ah... it's my first time." She knew she sounded nervous, and had to admit to herself that she was nervous. Nevertheless, she never considered changing her mind.

"Not to worry miss, I'll take care of you," Jarus said smiling. "Let's hope the craps gods do too!" he went on, pushing the dice towards her.

She smiled warmly at him and used her Biohud to send him fifty thousand credits.

"Whoah! High roller huh?" he said jovially and pushed a large stack of chips to her position.

"I don't know about that." Cherry replied sheepishly, placing her first bet - ten thousand on the pass line.

"New shooter, coming out," Jarus called. "Good luck miss," he said and his amiable smile gave her courage.

Cherry's luck was, at it turned out, quite good.

Actually, very good.

It seemed like it took only a few minutes for her initial stake of fifty-thousand to quadruple. After half an hour, a crowd had started to gather at the previously quiet table and her shipmates finally found her.

All of Cherry's nerves and anxiety had slipped away. When she'd first walked away from Heb in the lobby she only a vague notion of what she had intended. Now, a clear plan had formed in her mind and she was as sure of its success as she had ever been about anything in her life.

"Cherry," Heb said, a little breathlessly, "don't do this, please."

"All due respect Skip," she said, looking straight at him and throwing the dice down the table at the same time, "you're cramping my style."

Still looking at Heb, she clicked her fingers as the dice hit the far side of the table. She turned back to the table in time to see them fall. The hard eight was a big winner for lots of people and a huge cheer erupted, startling Heb a little.

"What the... fuck?" he said, his face a mask of confusion.

"Damn straight sir!" Jarus declared as he directed another huge pile of chips in Cherry's direction, "What the fuck indeed! This young lady can not stop rolling winners!"

"For you, good sir," Cherry said, smiling at Jarus as she flicked another tip his way.

"Cherry?" Tor was behind her now too.

"She's... she's doing it..." Heb said.

"That's right boys. And hey, I love you very much, but you're not exactly the luckiest couple of guys in town at the moment so..." she said and shooed them back with her hands before turning back to Jarus. "Let it ride my good man, let it ride."

She wasn't 100% sure she understood what this meant, but she was sure she'd heard it somewhere before and when she'd said it uncertainly the first time, Jarus had given her a friendly wink with two of his eyes so she'd carried on.

She rolled another winner and another cheer erupted. The crowd swelled.

"How much..." she heard from one of her shipmates behind her.

"Hey!" she called back, "It is definitely not good luck to count your money at the table!" And besides, she knew exactly how much. Her initial fifty thousand credit investment was now worth over three hundred thousand and with each roll - and letting it ride apparently - seemed to be growing at an exponential rate.

Another winner. And another. And another. On and on it went. Another cheer, more people of all shapes and sizes crowding for a look.

A million credits. The magic number. Three rolls later, her stack was well over two million.

"Cherry, come on," Heb said and turned her around. He had a broad smile on his face, warmth and love and, she noticed, tears in his eyes, "You did it already, you don't need to..."

She stopped him with a gentle hand on his face and guided him down so she could kiss him softly.

"It's okay Skip," she said, and looked to Fem and Tor as well, reaching out to touch them, "I've got this."

Between her second and third rolls - some time ago now - she had been engaging the affable Jarus in conversation as she learned the game and she'd casually asked him about the no max bet rule Fem had mentioned to her.

Through this, she'd discovered exactly how much it would take for her to win in order for the casino not to be able to pay her. She had been a little surprised at how forthcoming Jarus had been, and that he had some of the information she asked for at his fingertips, but she didn't think too much about it. Sometimes, the stars just align.

As we have seen already, Cherry didn't like bullies. And so on confirming this information with Jarus, her thoughts had immediately formed a strong desire to teach this Noparion a lesson he would not soon forget.

More minutes passed. More rolls. More wins. By now, she probably had enough money on the table so that, with some shrewd investment, she would never have to work a day in her life again.

But that wasn't the plan, or the point. So she kept rolling and kept winning.

By now she had taken around three million credits off the table, enough to comfortably buy back E16 and still have plenty for spreading around, but she'd left far, far more on it.

She knew how much she needed. In her mind, she was counting down. When her mental countdown got to one - one more roll - she had nearly a hundred million credits in bets on the table.

As Jarus pushed the dice back to her one more time, one last time, there was a knowing look in his all four of his eyes. His bright blue face still wore its affable smile.

"Good luck miss," he said again, his hand dwelling just an instant longer than usual. Cherry smiled at him and nodded, just about maintaining control.

The crowd was massive now and a hush descended. Lost in the magic of what was happening, Heb and Fem were now on either side of her, Tor behind her. There was great joy in their faces, the kind of unbridled happiness that only comes about when something happens that is both wonderful and unexpected at the same time and Cherry felt a deep joy and satisfaction of her own that she had been able to do something to make them feel this way.

"Last one guys," she said softly, looking around at her crew mates and smiling.

There were several numbers that would win her money, but what she really wanted was a six.

"Oh, last one?! You think you might have won enough do you?" Tor said laughing, and Cherry recalled that she hadn't told them about her earlier conversation with Jarus, about the lesson she intended to deliver to Noparion, about her plan, so she just looked back at him and grinned.

"Mama needs a new pair of shoes."

As the dice left her hand one last time, she experienced one of those rare moments when everything seemed to stop, or at least slow to a crawl. She had the incredible feeling that she could sense the world in slow motion, that she could look around and see the expectant looks on the faces of the crowd, take them in one by one. She could see the dice moving incrementally towards the far wall of the table, make out the dots on each side as they spun.

She clicked her fingers as the dice hit the far side of the table and the mad noise of the world seemed to rush back at her. But it was there, sitting on the table in front of her - two threes.

When the wild cheering died down, Kolpang - the manager who had informed Heb of the seizure of E16 earlier - had appeared next to Jarus, looking solemn. He cleared his throat, clearly not relishing what he had to say. A hush descended again as the rapt crowd anxiously awaited the next development in this extraordinary drama.

"I'm afraid miss... ahem... I'm afraid... Well, it ah... it seems you have... ahem... broken the bank."

Another wild cheer went up from the crowd, intoxicated now not only with alcohol but with the sheer drama of the situation.

"I see," Cherry began, and the din lowered again. In her head, in her moment of triumph, she prepared what she had to say. She'd been so sure that her plan would succeed that she'd looked it up as she played - just so she could be sure what she needed to actually do when the moment arrived. She'd even gone the extra step and used a local legal app to engage an online legal counsel to make everything ready.

She drew herself up and addressed the manager with her most serious voice, "In that case, sir, under section 211, paragraph 7 of the Hyfax Code, one of your personal favorites I understand Mr Kolpang, as you are unable to honor your debt to me, I hereby take possession of this enterprise and all of its assets..." Here she was cut off by more mad cheering. She had to speak up to regain control, "Including!... Including the cargo freighter Emperor 16."

Kolpang's face dropped and the wildest cheer yet broke out. Somehow, the story behind what she was doing had permeated the entire crowd so that they knew the significance of the name Emperor 16. Cherry was glad to be surrounded by her shipmates as the crowd threatened to get dangerously over excited.

Having followed developments via her Biohud, Cherry's online legal counsel had prepared the appropriate forms and sent them to her. These she now signed and used her Biohud to transfer them to Kolpang. If it was possible, his face dropped even further.

Her legal papers now registered, Cherry's Biohud lit up with notifications. Although Noparion had a total wealth that it would take a super computer to calculate and Cherry had only taken possession of a small part of it - his eponymous casino operation - Cherry now owned a wide range of assets, and the various banks and registries who managed them were getting in touch with her to confirm this fact.

"Son of a bitch," Heb finally managed to say.

"Told you I had it," Cherry said, smiling, and they embraced, all four of them, for what seemed a long time and Cherry had the feeling again of the world slowing down. Despite the mayhem and the noise and the jostling from the wild crowd, all she could feel, all she cared about, all that seemed to exist in that moment was the warm, safe embrace of her shipmates.

"Now," she said at last, turning around again to face Kolpang. "As my first act as the new proprietor of this casino, Mr Kolpang: you're fired. Jarus - how would you feel about a promotion?"

The big blue Azurian was chuckling, his tall, blue body rippling with satisfied laughter.

"I'd feel just fine Miss Cherry!" he said.

"Excellent. Congratulations, you are now the manager of this casino. Will you please arrange for Mr Kolpang to locate and use an exit?"

"My pleasure boss," Jarus replied and with a flick of his head, the two security heavies who had previously accompanied Kolpang when he informed Heb about the seizure of E16 now picked up their former manager like a piece of fruit and carried him off, ignoring his cries of protest.

"Jarus, kindly take this," Cherry said and pushed five million credits worth of chips in his direction, "and see that it is distributed equally among the staff."

Jarus looked at her for a moment, his previously unflappable affability breaking as his four eyes blinked hard for a moment before his wide smile returned.

"Yes ma'am," he said, solemnly but with great warmth.

The rest of the night was a whirlwind. As word spread around the station of the incredible events at the Noparion Casino, crowds started to gather quickly, eager to be able to say they'd been there to see it. Cherry and her crew mates took up station in the bar and - now that she was fabulously wealthy - she paid for everyone's drinks.

Jarus checked in a couple of times, quickly settling into his new role, to let them know he'd had to stop admitting patrons due to the size of the crowd and that a representative of the former owner had been in touch. Cherry had expected as much.

They met the next morning in the local magistrate's office. The magistrate, who coincidentally was also Azurian, like more or less everyone else on the station had heard about the events of the previous evening and seemed to find it funny. Or perhaps, Cherry thought, that was just the way all Azurians looked.

Noparion did not find it funny. Nor did his legal counsel, a drab looking human called Worsle.

He had spent some time laying out a range of objections to Cherry's seizure of his client's assets while Noparion did his best to avoid looking at Heb and the rest of them.

At length, the magistrate raised his top arms to cut the human lawyer off.

"Enough, Mr Worsle," he said with finality. "I have reviewed the relevant documentation and listened to you for some time now and I am satisfied that Ms Rosso's seizure of assets was perfectly proper and legal, just as your client's initial seizure of Mr Sundras' ship had been perfectly proper and legal earlier in the evening in question. While Ms Rosso's method of reclaiming her captain's ship was, shall we say, creative - and most entertaining if I may add - it certainly doesn't amount to anything illegal."

"But, Magistrate..." Worsle started to object.

"Mr Worsle," the Azurian said solemnly but authoritatively, leaning forward, "if you speak again, I will have you arrested and held for contempt of court. Do you understand?"

Worsle was about to speak again but the magistrate cocked his head and the lawyer simply looked meekly at his shoes.