by Reiter
“And only four guards,” Jocasta thought. “On one hand, I’d say he’s not expecting an attack. On the other, I’d say if there was an attack, he’d beat the guards to the punch. My kind of Baron!
“CeCe, didn’t Shotgun say this was the richest barony in The Territories?” she whispered.
“He did at that, Captain,” Cilrus replied as he looked around.
“I think I know why they have the cred. They don’t spend it!”
Only Thandace, with Teo on her shoulder, and Quordion walked forward to receive their guest. The Baron’s sister made sure she was the first to say anything, as was her position. “Captain JoJo Starblazer of the Xara-Mansura, allow me to present Quordion Alexiar Orgen, First Baron of these lands and Steward to the realm beyond.”
“Captain,” Quordion said with a smile as he stepped forward, offering his hand. It was a standard handshake he was initiating, but Jocasta grabbed the inside of his forearm and twisted his arm so that his hand was on top of her forearm.
“May the light keep your house and warm your hearth,” Jocasta said, placing her left hand on top of his.
“And may the shadows tirelessly tend to the light,” Quordion replied, placing his left hand on the top of the pile. He was impressed that the woman had taken the time to learn their formal greeting. “Well met, Captain.”
“Likewise, First Baron,” Jocasta as the two released each other’s hands. “I have to tell you, that is a kick-ass greeting! My First Officer would rag my ass to no end if I had gone without saying it.”
“Then my compliments to you both,” Quordion said, looking at Cilrus. “Is this your First Officer?”
“No,” Thandace answered before Jocasta could speak. “It isn’t. The man is not with her at the moment.”
“And this trip just keeps getting better,” Jocasta commented, looking at Thandace with a smirk.
Quordion decided to take a controlling hand in the meeting. “Captain, allow me to present my sister, Thandace Havalla Orgen. She is the Mistress of the realm beyond this barony, and my heir apparent.”
“Second point,” Jocasta said with a smile. “… I like the silky ‘J’ sound in the name Orgen. Simple but sassy, I like that. And before we get down to business, allow me to introduce you to my personal enforcer, CeCe.” Cilrus gave the Baron a slight head nod.
“CeCe?”
“A little on the feminine side, I know,” Jocasta said as she looked at the small creature on Thandace’s shoulder. “… but we had to balance him out somehow.” Her brace-com vibrated, giving her warning that ThoughtWill was being applied directly upon her location. Her left hand lifted, still holding the cane, giving a stall order to Cilrus who had just put his hand on his blaster. “Easy, CeCe, our hosts don’t appear as if they entertain many guests.” Jocasta then put her eyes back on the monkey. “It might have something to do with uninvited mental scans!”
“Sister, please!” Quordion quickly spoke. “Captain, you must forgive my sister’s–”
“Guardian,” Jocasta said as she stepped toward Thandace and therefore the monkey. “And forgive me, First Baron. Last I checked I didn’t have to do a damn thing! I have no qualm with a thief trying a door to see if there’s proper security. But once you’re caught making the try, you have a choice: make things friendly or make things funky!”
“My apologies,” Teo said softly and Cilrus took a step back in shock. The voice was deep, rich and far too powerful to come out of such a small body. “My place is to protect my shadow-sister. I did not mean to offend you.”
Jocasta smiled and reached to her inside jacket pocket. She took out a cigaro and offered it to the monkey. “No harm, no foul,” she said calmly as the monkey took the cigaro. “If you want to know what I’m thinking, just ask. Got not trouble with telling you what’s on my mind.” Jocasta reached under her belt and produced her butterfly knife. She knew how to go directly to the lighter without showing the blade, but she felt a demonstration was necessary to drive home her point. To their collective credit, the three of them were very cool, though it was clear they were all prepared to react had she attacked the small creature.
Teo put the cigaro to his mouth and leaned forward, touching the end to the blue flame. He took a healthy drag off the cigaro and leaned back before blowing out the smoke.
“That… is a very smooth blend,” Teo remarked, taking another drag. Quordion chuckled as did Cilrus. Jocasta maintained her smile as she nodded.
“My First Officer grows it aboard ship,” she advised. “I’ll be sure to tell him he has another fan.”
“Excuse me, Captain,” Thandace said, holding up her hand. “Might I trouble you for one of those?”
“No trouble at all, your high- er, I mean Lady Orgen.” Jocasta took out her cigaro case and offered one to the young woman. “Lord Baron?”
“Thank you, no,” Quordion said, looking at his sister in confusion. “Normally my sister is usually more of an advocate for a healthy lifestyle!”
“No poisons here, Baron,” Jocasta returned. “In fact the stuff in these herbs tightens the skin, improves your eyesight, steadies your mind, and draws toxins out of your body.”
“Truly?!”
“Oh yes indee-dee!” Jocasta said as she offered to light Thandace’s.
The Baron’s sister already had taken a whiff of the herbs and found them pleasing. She put the cigaro in her mouth and took hold of Jocasta’s hand as she leaned forward to light the end. She looked up into Jocasta’s eyes as fire started to burn into the tip of the cigaro. Neither woman looked away from their stare until Thandace stood up straight to smoke her cigaro.
Quordion, a former avid smoker, missed the exchange as he quickly reached for the offered cigaro. Jocasta lit his as well as the case moved toward Cilrus. The enforcer looked at his captain with slight confusion, but she nodded her approval and he was quick to take her up on the offer. Jocasta took the partially smoked cigaro, the last one in the case, and lit it again. The five of them smoked a couple of long drags before another word was said.
“My most sincere apologies,” Teo said emphatically, and Jocasta coughed as she laughed.
“Captain–”
“Call me JoJo,” Jocasta offered.
“Very well, JoJo,” Thandace smiled. “… this is my shadow brother, Teo. He is the Minister of Diplomacy from the realm beyond the barony.”
“Hope you’re happy being a monkey, pal, cuz you suck as a diplomat!”
Quordion could not keep from laughing at that particular comment. It was a first time his thoughts had been voiced by someone else. He had great love for Teo, but he did not approve of the simiate’s methods. All five people took part in the mirth, and no great insult was taken, as evidenced when Teo jumped from Thandace’s shoulder to Jocasta’s.
“Whoa-kay,” she said in slight surprise. “Goodness, you are a warm body, aren’t you? I like you, pal, but if anything finds its way to my ear, the price of the ship is going to double!” Teo laughed louder than anyone as his high-pitched chirp became a cackle. “Believe me, I’m not trying to steal your guardian,” Jocasta assured Thandace.
“I appreciate you saying that, but my shadow-brother is free to go where he likes,” Thandace spoke with a clear confidence that she was not worried about losing Teo. “I’m just glad you’re not offended.”
“Hey, it’s not every day you get a telepathic monkey kicking a bass voice to jump on your shoulder to get a free ride. But can you tell me what this realm beyond is?” Both Thandace and Quordion looked at Teo who quickly nodded as he started to play with Jocasta’s hair.
“Gods, he’s going for second base,” Jocasta thought. “Either that, or he thinks that physical contact will improve his chances of getting inside my head.” When Teo jumped off her shoulder, she was convinced it was the latter of the two options.
Quordion ushered JoJo to walk with him as he returned to the estate. “JoJo, as you may well already know, the Prism Baronies are simply doorsteps to different
realms. For the longest time, it was thought that the Onyx Barony was an empty realm.”
“And therefore the butt of many jokes, right?”
“Yes, Captain, many jokes… and much, much more,” Quordion replied, easily recalling the time he was describing. “You could say we were the untouchables of The Territories, a haven for every cutthroat and blackguard imaginable. As you might presume, there is only one sort of hierarchy that thrives in that sort of environment.”
“So your family climbed to the top of the dung heap,” Jocasta said plainly.
“Yes, and that climb took several decades,” Quordion explained. “With each generation of the Orgen Family, the secrets gained from the former were passed on to their successors, always with the intent of seizing control over the more destructive elements and bringing order to the barony.
“My father was the first to discover the sceadu, but he knew nothing of its full potential. That he left to me and my siblings.”
“Oh, so there’s more to it than your little sister here?”
“A great deal more,” Quordion answered, ushering Jocasta into the mansion. “Perhaps after I have the Prism Passion, I would be more inclined to share those details with you.”
Jocasta chuckled as she came to the balcony-porch, stopping at the double doors. “Save your breath, Quordion. You name a neutral place where we can make the trade and we can proceed. No flying hunk of metal and pearl is worth family secrets.”
“I could not agree more,” Thandace said eagerly. There was a light in her eyes, and Jocasta wondered if it was the blend of the cigaro or if the woman was losing her sense of discretion.
“I’m sure you could if you tried hard enough,” Jocasta returned, baiting the woman.
“Then we shall meet aboard the metroplex-platform called the Haggenshire in two days,” Thandace announced. “Then and there we shall celebrate the festival while we conduct our business.”
“Come again?”
“The Haggenshire is something of a floating city and it is often where some… of the more affluent hold private affairs of the pageant nature,” Quordion explained. “In two days it will be in orbit around Hemitar. I have rented the entire platform in order to have an open party for all the citizens of the barony to enjoy. You’re welcome to join us. The size of the construct is immense, and I could have one of the hangars restricted to limited access.”
“Two days?” Jocasta asked and Quordion nodded. “Save room on your dance card, Baron.” Jocasta smiled and turned, tapping Cilrus on the arm. “C’mon, big ‘un. Let’s get back to the ship and let these good people scurry up an attempt to track us.”
“Safe travels, Captain,” Quordion said, holding up his cigaro. “… and thanks for the smoke!” Jocasta waved as she walked up the gangplank. She boarded her shuttle and was airborne not long after.
“How are we looking, CeCe?” Jocasta asked as she piloted the lander-shuttle toward outer space.
“As you instructed, I took a graph reading of everything about and on board,” Cilrus reported. “Just completed a second reading… and we’re heavy, but not by much… barely a third of a kilo. This is a perpetual engine system, so it’s not fuel.”
“Uh, CeCe, darlin’… even if we were on a burner, we’d be lighter, not heavier.”
“Right,” Cilrus said, grimacing. “Right, right!”
“Run a sweep for devices,” Jocasta ordered. She waited as Cilrus keyed in the command. She could hear the beep indicative of a negative reading.
“Nothing there.”
“Anything in the way of ThoughtWill?”
“Just our headgear, Captain.”
“Sweep for MannA,” she commanded and again there was a negative find. “Give me an anti-MannA pulse and read for reactions.”
“Pulse fired, nothing showing.”
“Nothing,” Jocasta thought. “Even if a device had been strong enough to resist the pulse, something would have registered. We picked up something though… I know that because I have that itch!
“A third of a kilo,” Jocasta whispered as the spacecraft pulled out of the atmosphere. “… a third of a kilogram… the Orgen Family is on top of a pile of cutthroats, eh? I don’t care how bad ass you get with a blade or a gun, there’s always someone who’s going to challenge you. No, for the kind of control Shotgun says he had, you need power. And we’ve seen our fair share of funky crapstacks on this trip!”
“Damn straight on that one, Captain!”
“Power… the sceadu… whatever the hell that is… shadow-brother… shadow-sister… Oh for the love of a nipple!” Jocasta cried. “Ready heat shields and set them to maximum!”
“Roger that,” Cilrus said as the shuttle went into a steep dive. Re-entering the atmosphere, the ship once again became a fireball, burning nearly white hot with friction. Not yet at its brightest, both Cilrus and Jocasta heard a wailing cry that quickly fell behind the shuttle. Jocasta leveled off and looked back at Cilrus. He took another full reading of the ship and smiled at Jocasta.
“Clean and green, Captain,” he said happily. “Seems we just took a diet pill.”
“Sure hope it wasn’t a sibling,” Jocasta said, pulling back on the controls. She called for escape speed and activated her stealth field the moment she was out of the atmosphere. With the travel time she had before rendezvousing with the Xara-Mansura, Jocasta decided to prepare a message she would have broadcasted to the First Baron.
** b *** t *** o *** r **
Quordion was still smoking his cigaro when he walked into the parlor. Thandace was seated on her high stool, working her tools against the stone. Her time in the sceadu had awakened many passions in the woman, art was merely one of them, and he was very anxious to see her latest sculpture.
“This JoJo Starblazer,” Quordion said, leaning against the archway of the double doors. “What do you think of her?”
“I am not sure the word ‘pirate’ suits her,” Thandace replied. “It is clear she is an opportunist, but I would hardly think of her as some sort of scourge.”
“Are you sure?” Quordion pressed.
“One can never be sure of these things, my brother,” Thandace said as she looked up from her work. “Not so soon in the forming of a relationship.”
“Hmmm, I would concur,” Quordion agreed as he looked at the rug Thandace had made two seasons ago. He was still taken by her concepts of light and dark, good and evil. It seemed that more than her body had transformed since her bonding with Teo. “Of course, it would be something to get the Prism Passion for a fraction of what she might be asking. Free, even better than that!”
“Well, of course it would,” she agreed. “Are we speaking of terms of folly now? I will never fully understand how your mind works, brother. You and your games!”
“Hmmm… games!” Quordion muttered. “Interesting that you mention that particular word. Regardless, I think JoJo Starblazer likes to play games… and when she plays, she likes to win!”
“It is clear she has a very competitive spirit,” Thandace added. “I just hope, for her sake, that she is a gracious loser when the need calls for such things.”
“For her sake, I hope you are right,” Quordion remarked. “I get the feeling, however, that when she loses, or starts to lose, she might just be the sort who doubles down and plays even harder… more determined to win, as it were.”
“A very reckless reaction,” Thandace measured. “A simple loss is better than weathering a catastrophe.”
“In most instances, I am sure you are right.” Quordion took another long drag off the cigaro and closed his eyes at the aroma of the smoke and the feel of the burn in his mouth, neck and chest. “I’ve taken the liberty of telling your attack group to stand down.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your shadow–enabled fleet of ships, sister,” Quordion explained. “I told them to stand down.” Quordion produced a data pad and handed it to his sister. “You might want to take a look at that. Seems that S
tarblazer’s ship left the atmosphere and then came right back in, only to leave again. Odd. What’s odder is that when she came back, it was with greater speed than when she landed here at the estate. It was as if she wanted to burn brighter!” Thandace stood up from her chair looking very much surprised. “Just how long does it take Teo to regenerate after he has taken shadow-form and has been repelled by a bright light?”
“Two to five hours,” Thandace answered, knowing that her brother was very much aware of what she and her shadow-brother had attempted.
“When he is able, I will need to see the both of you in my office. We shall have to discuss the limits of your ability to act on behalf of the barony without my knowledge, and certainly without my approval. Then we shall speak of how you and my… Minister of Diplomacy wish to work off the sudden increase in the Prism Passion’s price! Happy sculpting, sister.” With only his footfalls reaching her ears, Thandace slowly lowered herself down to her stool. There was a sudden breeze that blew through the corridor and the footfalls stopped. He was no longer in the corridor. He was no longer on this floor. He was gone… exercising one of his demons… the one called anger.
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(Rims Time: XII-4203.21)
The pod opened and Culshee sat up, looking around and smiling at the scent of fresh air. “That’s better already,” she said with an airy breath.
“There are many advantages to having an arboretum on board,” Tuitonn said as he descended from the ceiling. “Welcome aboard, Med-Tech Pulliam.”
“You must be Tuitonn,” Culshee said as she began to pull herself from what had been her home for far too long. “… and the entirety of the reception committee.”
