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Chapter 26 - The Golden Nori - Inspection

The ship was in a bad state. Being stranded on a dirty shore did that to ships. She knew she would eventually, maybe, get to lift off again but it dawned on her that what left haradhere wouldn't exactly be her as the captain and Jorge made their way through her decks.

'what do you think George'

'es una bonita'

'language George, I don't speak gibberish'

'Fine, just for you then Blomi'

'So what do you think, she is a beauty isn't she'

'Aye aye, she has it all, big booty, sleek belly and enough power to detonate a small moon'

'She is a mining ship mind you?'

Jorge threw him a puzzled look. To him, a goddess had landed on the steps of his infernal home and she deserved nothing but utter devotion.

'Blomar, you know I'm your friend but you are one stupid lad. What you have here is a template. This ship is big enough and in a good enough shape that she can be anything you want her to be. Her tech is old enough to be compatible with most of the stuff that is lying around in my backyard. We can turn her into a racing steed, a warship, a cargo hauler, a pleasure cruiser, whatever. As long as her frame holds and her reactor keeps burning she is gonna keep on going.

'Thats nice to hear'

The Nori listened in with horror. She had known that the pirates planned to modify her a bit but turning her into a frankenship that was going too far. But then again, she was now stranded and had very little means of coercion. Someone needed to guide the mechanics decisions in the right direction and it wasn't going to be a space monkey.

George rambled on about his most recent love interest, but the Nori didn't care much for it. And neither did Blomar. When they got to the bridge Blomar summoned up the ships schematics, he had studied them a bit in his spare time but wasn't very versed in mechanical intricacies. George on the other hand slobbered all over them.

'hmm, what do you actually want to use her for, blomi?'

'endurance racing and piracy, that sort of thing'

'Ok ... ok ... so we need to toughen her up, make her a bit more efficient, put some weapons on her and she should be good ?'

Blomar thought for a moment.

'yes that's the gist of it'

'it's gonna be a lot of work, expensive.'

'we don't have any money. I made a bet that I could circle the galaxy for free.'

'get outta here, are you stupid or something?' George remembered just too well that Blomar had always been impulsive and spiteful and could never turn down a bet. But it always worked out. He had never seen Blomar fail at anything. And they had gone to school together.

'Ye maybe, I read this story about this hitchhiking guy that stole The Heart of Gold. It was inspiring, the universe works in mysterious ways, who are we to say it can't be done.'

'Right, but you better find a way to pay me cuz unlike you I'm not a monk'

'I'm not monk? I'm a pirate captain!'

'Ye ye and my mother is Eccentrica Gallumbits. Space monk'

'Anyway, what do we need?'

'Well, for starters we should work on the hull and frame, prepare it for whatever add on's we can scrounge up, resize the cargo bay into something more reasonable and re-purpose and trade off the parts we don't have a use for.'

'That sounds like a year of work for our crew and only if they go at it in overdrive'

'Nah, I have some professionals, cutting her up and welding in a couple of structural supports will take about a week. She is a very forgiving ship, her size makes, what would be a delicate operation in a smaller ship, a quick and dirty hack and slay job.

A shiver went through the ship...