Loire winced as Naomi dragged the blade across his cheek, the pain subtle enough to sting dreadfully, but not bad enough to make him yelp in pain. He sucked in a hissed breath. He immediately regretted ever considering Noah's suggestion of staying out here. Noah was bad news, it wasn't worth the risk, this woman would kill him and Noah wouldn't care. 

[b]"If we give you the Nth or the coordinates to find the Nth, you'll [i]possibly[/i] spare our lives but you'll leave us floating out in space with no fuel and nothing to maintain the ships life support systems. Now I can't speak for Vee and our little civvie friend, but if you were to slit our throats here and now it would be a kinder and quicker death than slowly rotting away adrift in space on a dead ship."[/b] not that Noah's observation made anyone feel any better. [b]"I also don't trust you to spare our lives if we did give you the cargo. How can I be certain you won't kill my crew?"[/b] Loire looked up at Noah with terrified eyes, was Noah actually considering ditching the cargo? 

[b]"Just give her what she wants, no amount of drug money is worth it if you're dead."[/b] Loire glared, he noticed one of the henchmen smirked, it would be clear to Naomi that Loire knew where the drugs were, but would he cave easily? [b]"I know that"[/b] Noah bristled, [b]"But its worth even less if she takes it and then kills us."[/b] he frowned but ... it was clear that he had nothing left to negotiate, she'd won either way. 
[b]"Let us finish our refuel, then I'll give you the Nth, just give us enough fuel to get off this rock and onto another job and don't harm my crew."[/b] he conceded. At the rate the ship was going, they didn't have enough parts and fuel to make it on another job, they'd have to sell the Lucidae for scrap and purchase a smaller ship, not that Noah was going to admit that, especially not to Naomi ... though he was more frightened of Viva than Naomi when it came to admitting they couldn't afford to run the ship anymore. 

[b]"Why can't we have a little fun with them first boss?"[/b] on of the thugs grunted, he made Loire feel queasy. [b]"That one has pretty hair like a girl, been a while since I've seen a long haired girl but he could do. Taggart can have the feisty little one too"[/b] 
[b]"I want my crew unharmed, that means you take your hands off Loire and Viva."[/b] Noah said stiffly, Loire couldn't bare to look him in the eye. 
[b]"So are we agreed? You'll let us refuel, my crew goes unharmed and I give you the nth."[/b] Noah knew he'd get a royal bollacking from Viva once Naomi was gone but he was powerless to avoid it and powerless to do anything right now.