[Flashback] The treasure of the cat kind

[Amir Delion]

"He isn't a vampire at least, or at least I hope he isn't", Amir hesitantly smiled, not being sure if the joke was funny.
One vampire, the self-proclaimed candidate to become fourth in their little cozy ménage à trois, was due for being saved from whatever deep shit he got himself into (the only problem with that being that he never informed pirates about what that shit was exactly), and another "vampire" (in heavy air quats) drunk significantly more blood out of pirates figuratively than he did literally. It was enough vampires for the current period, thank you very much.

...It's been three weeks since the negotiation went weird with the Catlord mafia boss.
It happend to be kinda quiet on the ship. Kamil returned to the uni. Mark - still an active mercenary - was somewhere on the periphery, resolving some rogue AI accident (it could be more to it and it could link to one of the two imperium dissolutions that were just finalised, but Mark insisted that everything was under control now, and if stuff were to go weird - he would contact either the team or the Orion themselves). Aik was on the same planet where Alice and Amir got their enhancements not so long ago; turned out, he couldn't reliably distinguish between hot and cold after fishing in red tide many years ago, and eventually decided to get it fixed.
It was almost suspiciously convenient time to go on an adventure, and of course it was the time when Max showed up.
Amir honestly wasn't sure what he expected to see, and probably would be surprised anyway, so two persons approaching the meeting point was not all that unexpected in comparison.
"Hi! I guess you know Rimmer already. An extra pair of hands won't hurt." Young werecat with green eyes flinched about the same way Alice did when Maxim participation in the mission was discussed. Amir and Maxim have never been prisoners in each other's bases. Alice and Rimmer have been.
"So, you have a map and I can use the key. Sounds about right. Let's go! I guess that's gonna be fun."