“Ha ha ha, you know, why don’t we sort out the particulars later?” Vasilia twirled her pistol [i]away from her crewmate’s head[/i] and tucked it casually in her jacket, where it would no longer be pointed [i]directly at her crewmate’s head.[/i] Had she mentioned how strange it would be to [i]shoot her crewmate in the head?[/i] She’d thought she wouldn’t have had to bring up the topic, but neither had she thought she’d have to deal with an entire Grand Armada when she woke up this morning, so perhaps it was just a day for unpleasant surprises. The skittering in the vents sure supported that theory.

“Everyone!” She turned on a dime and addressed her rag-tag crew. “We have a Princess to catch, and the only advantage to our name is that no one expects us to move, much less succeed. I want all of you on engines and steering. Alexa, show them the way. Dolce ought to meet you there.” 

****************************************************

It was not the harmless creaking of an old ship. That was for certain. 

It was difficult to say, but if Dolce had to guess, the banging was metal on metal; many small limbs against something large, probably the vents or one of the piping systems. On average, interval of less than a half-second...no, a third of a second between them. The echoes were changing tone, but not swiftly, so probably something with a great many small limbs instead of a few small limbs moving fast. The rumblings and - oh! And screeching. Screeching too. The rumbling and screeching were independent of the other noises, independent of its movement. 

Like he said, it was difficult to say. Too many bad things it could be.

Do you know what he could say? They’d be moving soon. Vasilia would need him and the rest of the crew to man the ship’s systems. If they could man the ship’s systems, she could chase after the Princess. And if she could chase after the Princess, then they would get the Princess back. So...so no matter what sort of noises were coming from the ceiling, the floor, and several of the walls, the best thing to do was to stay right here, at his post, and listen very hard for the orders he knew were coming. 

Yes. Nothing he could do at all but wait.

Wait...and listen.