Beffund was surprisingly less crowded than Grendle Port 6, and there were no security checks, which originally relieved Sarah until she realized that meant none of the other people on the space station had been searched. They could be carrying anything. She no longer felt content with her tiny, blunt piece of metal.

Sarah tried to keep her distance from Grom. Ever since she had seen him in dragon form, she was feeling extra repulsed by him, and, she had to admit, far more intimidated. His horns, which never used to phase her, now reminded her of those on a bull, and she felt like she was always wearing red. He didn’t make her walk in front this time, and he kept his weapon holstered. Either he was beginning to trust her, or he was daring her to try and make a run for it on a terrifyingly hostile station such as Beffund. Regardless of his reasoning, the two walked side by side which allowed Sarah to sustain a safe foot or two between her and the big blue Kylen. She didn’t stray too far, however. Every alien that passed her and Grom eyed Sarah as if starved. Some made comments, others would whistle at her like a dog. Grom didn’t seem to notice, or if he noticed, he didn’t seem to care.

Sarah wondered if he would even save her if one of the street rats tried anything. He had helped her on Grendle, but it wasn’t like he put his life on the line. He was clearly stronger than that security guard and had him backing down without even making a threat. But some of the guys walking the streets of Beffund were huge, and the ones that weren’t big were decked out with crazy defensive features from everything like porcupine quills to skin that looked thicker than plate armour. Not to mention everyone was packing serious heat: gamma blasters, laser guns, electrified spears, you name it. She wasn’t sure any of these monstrous creatures could beat Grom the dragon, but they sure as hell could put up a fight, and it was highly possible the captain didn’t think Sarah was worth the trouble.

Sarah’s anxiety grew with every passing alien, and when she and Grom arrived at the building where he was supposed to meet his “associate,”as he called him, she had built up the courage to ask Grom for a favor.

The Para woman sitting behind the front desk had told them to take a seat, that Grom’s client would be right with him. As they sat, Sarah stated plainly, “I need a gun.”

Grom laughed. “Ha! That’s funny.”

“I’m serious.”

“Why would I give you a gun?”

“Because I need one. Did you see how I was treated on our walk over here? Every thing we passed looked at me like I was its next meal!”

“Oh none of them would have tried anything.” Grom folded his arms confidently. “Not with me next to you.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Plus, how am I supposed to know you’ll protect me?”

“Are you doubting my fighting skills?”

“No, I’m doubting your motives. You don’t have any reason to risk your life for me. If something big enough or strong enough grabs me, chances are you’d just let him.”

Grom had no response.

“I mean, can you give me a valid reason for why you’d fight for me?”

Grom’s silence confused Sarah. It was almost as if he was there was something he wasn’t saying. Just as she was beginning to suspect that maybe Grom did have a reason for wanting to protect her, he agreed with her.

“You’re right. You can’t trust that I’ll keep you safe. I’m strong but not stupid. I’m not going to get myself killed for an unseemly human girl.”

“So, I can have a gun?”

Grom thought it over. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s nothing stopping you from putting a bullet through my head the second I turn away!”

“There’s nothing keeping your crew from doing the same thing, and they all have weapons! I’m way more trustworthy than any of them! Your crew is made up of moronic, bloodthirsty brutes. No offense.”

Grom laughed. “No offense taken. That’s all a smuggling captain could want for his crew.”

“Fair enough, but you have to admit, they have way more motive for shooting you than I do. They could overtake your position as captain, rule the entire ship! If I shoot you, I kill the only thing that stands between me and certain death.”

“Huh.” Grom frowned. “I guess I hadn’t considered that.”

“If it makes you feel more comfortable, it can be a human gun. Those bullets won’t kill you unless I make a perfect shot, and trust me when I tell you, I won’t. I’ve never shot a gun in my life.”

“Never?” Grom was shocked. “Not even at an animal?”

“I’m a vegetarian.”

“A vege-what?”

“It means I don’t eat meat.”

Now that got Grom laughing harder than the comment about his crew. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Normally Sarah would have been upset by this comment and would even have launched into a long explanation about why she was vegetarian. She would explain that she did believe humans were supposed to be a part of the natural food chain, but that she took issue with the methods humans used to acquire meat. Animal extinction was running rampant on Earth, and her parents had always raised her with a deep love and appreciation for the natural world. Plus, her father had been a vegetarian his entire life, and she didn’t want to disappoint him. But she said none of this. Instead, she let Grom tease and crack jokes, seeing that he was starting to agree with her assertion that she wasn’t a threat.

“Yeah, yeah.” She finally interrupted Grom’s stretch of insults, many of which were grossly derogatory towards humans. “I’m sure you find it very shocking that some people don’t find joy in the senseless killing of a helpless being, but that’s exactly the point I’m trying to make. I’m not a threat. I’m just scared, and I want something to give me some piece of mind.”

Grom noticed something over Sarah’s shoulder and nodded quickly. “Yes, alright. That’s fine. If we see a cheap human gun for sale, we can pick it up. Now drop it. The client is coming down the hall.”

The client, Sarah discovered through his and Grom’s conversation, was a friend of a friend; specifically, a friend of the friend Grom had met with while Sarah rummaged through the junkyard on Grendle Port 6. Grom had gone to see the guy about setting up this very meeting. He introduced himself simply as Mr. R and had surprisingly addressed both Grom and Sarah while speaking. The alien was only a little bit taller than Sarah and was very slim. He wore a smart, human-made suit and a winning smile. Aside from his sharply pointed nose and oversized eyes, the man looked human. Sitting across from him in his incredibly well-decorated office, Sarah wracked her brain to figure out what species he was. She would have said halfsie, but she had never seen a halfsie that was so close to human. Maybe one of his parents was full human and the other was part human? she thought. She had stopped listening to the negotiations and was only brought back into the conversation when Grom snapped his fingers in front of her face.

“What?” she said, irritated that her train of thought had been interrupted.

“I asked what you thought about the cargo Mr. R here is asking us to deliver.”

Grom gave her an exasperated look, and Sarah feared having to ask the client to repeat himself. Thankfully, Mr. R had aptly read the situation and was able to both placate Grom and answer some of Sarah’s questions.

“I think your human friend here was a bit distracted by my appearance. It happens all the time with humans.” Mr. R smiled politely. “I’m hard to place, I know. But I’m not a halfsie, or a qaurterie or whatever you would call that. I’m actually a descendant of the Gearnans.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. She had learned about Gearnans in her elementary school history classes, but she was taught they had all gone extinct when the Gearns did. The Gearns, which were the some of the first aliens to visit Earth, had taken more than just the human’s ancient Latin language. Some Gearns took human lovers back with them to their home planet, and eventually a new species was born.

Sarah was speechless.

Grom wasn’t. “He’s obviously a Gearnan. Are you really that thick?” He gawked at Sarah who was too busy gawking at Mr. R to really notice.

“On Earth they teach that Gearnans went extinct. The ancient humans were ashamed of those who bred with aliens, and when the Gearnans returned to Earth, they were almost all exterminated. Some got away, like my ancestors. But Earthlings assumed they had eradicated us, and thus that is the knowledge they passed down.”

“Wow. Humans are the worst,” Grom added.

“Now, now, they’ve come a long way since then.” Mr. R clasped his hands together. “Well then, shall we get back to the matter at hand?”

Sarah finally found her words. “Yes. Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare. Can you repeat what you were saying about this cargo?”

“Absolutely.” Mr. R smiled at Sarah again, and this time it was less polite and more flirty. “I was saying I have some buyers on a planet not too far from here who are looking to get their hands on some human weapons.”

Sarah frowned. “Why human weapons? Aren’t they much less effective than most alien weapons?”

“I don’t ask questions, my dear, I simply find where there is a demand and do my best to supply.”

“I see, so what kind of weapons are you talking about?”

Grom answered this one. “Military grade weapons. High caliber stuff. Do you know anything about them?”

“Didn’t I just tell you I was a pacifist? What would I know about military grade weapons?”

Grom looked at Mr. R. “Sorry, I thought she’d be of more use.”

Sarah narrowed her eyes at Grom.

“That’s quite alright, Captain,” Mr. R said. “Shall we discuss payment?” The Gearnan reached to the small, black intercom system sitting on top of his desk. He pressed the green button. “Hey number two, please bring my suitcase in.”

The door to his office opened and a massive alien, also dressed in a suit, walked in. He was holding a large leather briefcase. Sarah noticed he was carrying an impressive looking gamma blaster and was likely hiding other weapons in his various pockets. He put the suitcase down in front of Mr. R and went to stand in the corner.

Mr. R open the briefcase and spun it around to face Grom and Sarah. Inside lay rolls of pinches, one hundred in each. Doing a bit of mental math, Sarah estimated there was near fifteen thousand pinches total.

As if able to hear her thoughts, Mr. R announced there were fifteen thousand pinches exactly in the suitcase. Grom reached out to touch one of the rolls, but Mr. R withdrew the case. “Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast.”

“What do you mean?” There was a soft growling underneath Grom’s words.

“I don’t do payments in advance.”

“Well that’s a problem because I don’t do deliveries without getting paid.”

“Hmmm. That is quite the predicament.” Mr. R made a show of rubbing his chin in contemplation. “I do have another idea.”

Grom raised his eyebrows.

“I’ll let you take the money if you leave something behind as collateral.”

“I don’t have anything valuable enough to leave behind.”

“Oh,” Mr. R’s gaze moved towards Sarah, “I think you do.”

“What?” Sarah’s stomach dropped. “Me?”

“Yes, dear, you.” The way the Gearnan smiled at her made Sarah want to puke.

“No,” Grom said. “No deal.”

Sarah’s heartbeat began to regulate.

“I don’t think you understand.” Mr. R flicked his hand towards the alien called number two, and the henchman drew his weapon. “The negotiating aspect of this meeting is over.”

“Actually, Mr. R, I think you’re the one who doesn’t understand.” Grom stood up and Sarah noticed his eyes flicker with anticipation. He let out a real growl from the depths of his belly and the transformation began. Before any of him really changed, however, Mr. R’s man dropped his weapon and threw his hands in the air.

“I surrender!”

“Number two what are you doing?” Mr. R reached for the gamma blaster but Sarah was quicker.

She aimed the thing right at the Gearnan’s head. “Back up!”

“Okay, okay.” Mr. R threw his hands up as well and stepped back. Sarah shot a worried look at Grom, but he had already halted his transformation and was beginning to calm down.

“Now, back to the discussion of payment.” Grom drew his gun as well and kept it trained on the alien. “I’m not leaving the girl behind.”

“Fine,” Mr. R said bitterly, “but I’m not letting you walk out of here with all that money. That’s not how I do business.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to make the demands,” Sarah argued.

“Just because you spooked this idiot,” Mr. R motioned with his head to the cowering alien in the corner, “doesn’t mean you’ll get out of here alive. I have more men outside. If you shoot, they’ll come in firing.”

Sarah looked at Grom for some direction, but he seemed just as unsure as she was.

“Alright then,” Sarah continued, swallowing her fear. “I guess we’re at a standstill.”

“Looks like it.”

“How about this. We won’t shoot, you call off your other dogs, and we do the job for ten thousand?”

“Ten thousand!” Grom looked at her with disbelief. “No way!”

“We don’t have a choice, Grom.” Sarah’s eyes pleaded with him. She may have been able to negotiate, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified.

Grom grumbled something under his breath then said, “Fine. Ten thousand it is.”

“Is that a deal?” Sarah looked to Mr. R.

The Gearnan thought this over for a few seconds then nodded. “Deal.” He pointed at the briefcase. “Number two, get out of the damn corner and make yourself useful. Take out the extra rolls and give them their money.”

Number two did as he was told, but kept looking up anxiously at Grom and losing count. Finally, he had the right amount of rolls removed. He closed the case and handed it to Sarah, too afraid to get near Grom.

“And one more thing,” said Sarah once the briefcase was in hand.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Mr. R rolled his eyes.

“I want that thing in your trash.” Mr. R looked at the trash bin at the side of his desk. There was an old communicator in there. Sarah had noticed it the second she walked into the office.

“Why do you want that?”

“Yeah,” Grom repeated, “why do you want that?”

“It’s for the ship,” Sarah reassured Grom then looked back at Mr. R. “I can use it on the ship.”

“It’s broken.”

“I can fix it.”

Mr. R smirked. ‘I doubt it. I threw it at the wall last week during a disagreement with another client. Believe it or not, my negotiations often go south.”

“Oh I believe it,” Sarah said, then added quickly before Mr. R could even register the insult, “Look, if it’s broken than you won’t mind if I have it.”

The Gearnan looked at the communicator and shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He went to the bin and grabbed the hunk of metal. He threw it to Grom, since Sarah’s hands were full. In order to catch it, Grom had to lower his blaster slightly, but he brought it back up almost immediately.

Keeping their weapons drawn, Grom and Sarah backed out of the office room slowly. Just as the door was closing behind them, they heard Mr. R yell, “nice doing business with you.” Only when they heard the door click, did they allow themselves to turn around and hurry out the front door.