by Reiter
Shuronne took a step back and folded her arms. “Which means…”
“Someone with serious access, ability, and funds is coordinating their efforts against the Empire with the help of demons,” Kaila declared. “And even if they didn’t get the big prize, it’ll be a few moons before the Empire listens to anyone who’s a seer.”
“And what if that was their big prize?” Shanvah asked as she started pacing with her hands on her hips. “I get the feeling we’re about to try something silly, like covering too many fronts.”
“If you go straight at them, it would be silly,” Teyan said as he approached Shuronne. “… but if you’re methodical… surgical… I think there’s a lot we can accomplish with less effort and risk.” Shuronne looked over at Ethadior who was rubbing his chin and trying his best not to grin with pride. He nodded at Shuronne to suggest that his student should be heard.
“Okay, I think we’re all ears right now, Teyan,” the Chevalierra said, looking around the room for any look of disagreement. “What do you have in mind?”
Could we see when and where we are to meet again, we would be more tender when we bid our friends goodbye.
Ouida
(Rims Time: XII-4202.28)
Another canvas bag was stowed away aboard the all-but brand new Cobra-Nine. Nulaki blew out, slow and long, through his mouth as he closed the compartment door. There had been many forms of an inaugural flight his mind had entertained ever since Tehdi had given the ship to him. “This is not the send-off I envisioned,” he said softly.
“That makes two of us,” Annsura agreed. She stood with her arms folded, leaning against the wall of the hangar. “After what happened back at the estate, I have to say that I’m surprised you’re not on your back, in a more permanent way.”
“Don’t go getting too full of yourself, girl,” Nulaki warned. “You’re not immortal, you know.”
“Advice on how to live safely coming from the Black Scarab himself,” Annsura ribbed. “Now I know the Captain hates me to assign me this detail. For your information, I’m not looking for immortality; at least not the godhood version of it. I get the feeling that it’s just a lot of build up without too much delivery.”
“Really?” Nulaki asked, surprised at the response he had received. “And what makes you say that?”
“When you get out of secondary school, do you ever find yourself really wanting to ever go back?”
“Not unless I’m a desperate blood-feeder with no imagination,” Nulaki replied after a little contemplation. Annsura looked at him incredulously. “What? I’ve heard stories.”
“Obviously they were bad ones,” she remarked. “Anyway, that’s how I see it. If godhood was all it was choked up to be, why bother coming back to humanity?”
“I can see you’re not one I’m going to be able to goad into losing it,” Nulaki said as he checked his inventory.
“Making the rounds, are you?”
“Seemed like the thing to do,” he replied as the doors opened. Ephaliun walked in from the corridor, carrying yet another canvas bag.
“Is that mine?”
“It doesn’t belong to me,” Ephaliun replied, dropping the bag at Nulaki’s feet.
“Gods, how much shit did I bring on board this crate?!”
“Not as much as you’re leaving with, I guess.”
Nulaki looked at the younger man and winced. “Couldn’t leave it at a simple goodbye, could you?”
“Awww, c’mon, Nulaki, you don’t do simple! Everything about you is complex… and ultimately confused.”
“I smell a boy trying to be a man,” Nulaki said as he picked up the bag. “And we both know you don’t have the shoulders for it yet.”
Ephaliun nodded, licking his lips. “That’s exactly the sort of response I expected from you.”
“It is?!” Annsura thought. She was amazed that he did not fly at the Fazbred man, swinging his fists and screaming in rage. It would have been the third such fight in four days, though she still wanted to know what Nulaki and Dungias had discussed for so long just the afternoon before. In the end, of the witnessed conflicts, only the Captain had come away with anything resembling a victory. Annsura was still not talking to Olkin, and the Tandem ladies would be on cleaning duty for another eleven hours.
“No it isn’t,” Nulaki said dismissively. “It’s the sort of response someone told you to expect. If I had to lay odds, it was Princess giving you a heads-up. She probably thought you needed this little talk more than anyone, seeing as how your heart is the one most broken.”
“Just pack your things, Nulaki!” Annsura ordered, raising her voice as she put her arm across her crewmate’s chest. Looking into Ephaliun’s eyes, her tone softened. “And I need you to stand down.”
“Aye, Cutter,” he whispered as he took a step back.
“Thank you,” Annsura said as Nulaki laughed hard and loud. “Something funny, Conadier?”
“Too many to innumerate here and now, woman. You’ve really bought into this, haven’t you?”
“Does it surprise you? That I’m a joiner, Nulaki?” she questioned. “I tried that loner route in the pits. It didn’t work.”
“The hell it didn’t,” Nulaki argued. “Look at you! You obviously won!”
“No,” Annsura commented, sighing in reflection. “… I didn’t always win. I just managed to survive losing.”
“Only to become a zealot!”
“I can deal with that label,” she fenced.
“You’re willing to die for Starblazer?!”
Annsura shrugged her shoulders as she thought. “I’ve always found it more challenging to find things worth living for, Nulaki! That way my entire life would be meaningful, not just the warm and fuzzy parts. I believe I’ve found that right here. Who knows, I might even stumble my way into immortality!”
“You were right to say stumbling,” Nulaki concluded. “Damn! Thought you were smarter than this.”
“You’re the one who made the soup that day, Conadier,” Annsura remarked and Nulaki stopped moving. “Did anyone ask you to? Hell, it hadn’t even started to cool when you offered your ship as part of the Xara-Mansura package! Remember?” The Second Mate paused, steeling herself to ask her next question. “Is that why you did it?”
“Did what?” he asked, looking at the floor.
“Why you palmed and pocketed some of the stones,” Annsura stated. “Why you shorted the count of the credits you took them from the guildsman… why you skimmed the amounts of the final transactions! What was it, thief? You were so quick to offer up so much, and you just knew you were the shit when you did. But then a crazy woman and her blue-skinned friend matched you, stride-for-stride, and you didn’t know how to take it, did you? Maybe it scared you… showed you sides of the Scarab you’re not ready to see?
“Is that why you kept things from the Captain? Is that why you’ve spent the past four days trying to get under everyone’s skin? Because you knew you were headed for the door even before that fight with her… and you couldn’t stand being made to look like you’d made the wrong move.”
“Man are you smoking the party cigaro!”
“You bet I am,” Annsura said, taking a step closer to Nulaki. “And I’ll choke on it if I have to. And when you’re out there, all alone and missing us, wanting us… needing us… keep telling yourself that you made the smart move, and you just might convince yourself long enough to make it to the next score.”
“Annsura, there’s only one thing I could possibly need you for right now,” Nulaki returned. “But that would ruin things between you and Cupid.”
“Hey!” Ephaliun shouted as he moved to fight Nulaki. Annsura cut him off. “You want a fight that bad, I’ll give it to you.”
“No you will not!” Annsura hissed.
“Well, well… it looks as if the lady has two lovers!”
“Are you done?” Annsura asked.
“Baby, I’m just getting started!”
“Actually, Mister
Conadier will have no further words with anyone aboard this vessel,” Dungias said as he entered the hangar. “At least, none of the unanswered variety.” Annsura took a step back from Nulaki and the Fazbred man looked down before looking up into the eyes of the ship’s First Mate. They had been locked on Nulaki from the moment he appeared in the room, and they did not move as he spoke. “I give you my word on that, Cutter! Perhaps now, Nulaki, you have something of note to leave with me. I am most eager to receive your perspective and criticisms.”
“I have neither,” Nulaki said, looking down again.
“Good,” Dungias replied. “It is rude to keep the Stars waiting.” Dungias took one step back. “The two of you are dismissed.” Without a word Annsura and Ephaliun turned to leave. “Ephaliun T’Moojhun,” Dungias called. “If you have any parting words for Mr. Conadier, I am sure he will receive them… in the most noble manner imaginable!” Nulaki looked up at the Malgovi Traveler, wanting to argue, wanting to fight, but knowing he would be allowed neither.
“Gods, do I!” Ephaliun barked as he rushed over to Nulaki, drawing back his fist. Nulaki flinched and Ephaliun stopped, smiling at the man. “Sucks to be misled, doesn’t it? And keep an eye on your back, Scarab. I don’t have your skills, but you don’t have my crew. I’m going to make sure this ship has a thief it can trust.”
“That is enough, Dugger,” Dungias said. The young man turned and walked out of the hangar, joining Annsura in the corridor. Nulaki waited for the doors to close before saying anything.
“You were going to let him hit me!”
“It seemed less than likely that he would take such an action, Nulaki,” Dungias said, looking at the ship the Fazbred was about to use in his departure from the Xara-Mansura and the crew of JoJo Starblazer. “… even after your words. Consider it a test… and he passed.”
“Yeah, but it was my face being risked!”
“I was willing to make that sacrifice,” Dungias replied. Nulaki shook his head and chuckled.
“That must have been some time you had with an Upyri,” Nulaki guessed.
“You needn’t fish, Nulaki,” Dungias said softly. “It wasn’t my time. From what I have been able to gather, the creature posed as a med-tech on a long range transport where the Captain had found work. After it sampled the Captain’s blood… let us just say their relationship was something the med-tech did not want to end.”
“That certainly explains a few things,” Nulaki concluded.
“I am certain that it does not,” Dungias stated. It was one thing to speak of a trying moment in time, another thing altogether to live it. In many ways, the Upyri had been Jocasta’s Kiaplyx, and one of the many situations where he was glad to have been monitoring her, giving her aid she could not see and would never be aware he had given. Over the years, the need for him to act had become less and less necessary. Then Jocasta had chosen to embark upon piracy! “It need only explain one thing, but that was never a misunderstood point, merely one where you wanted clarification.” Nulaki decided not to respond and instead walked around to the side door of his ship. Getting to the steps, he stopped and looked down at his weapons belt. “Anything given to you was meant for you to have, Nulaki,” Dungias said as he turned to leave. “I would just as soon have you keep it.”
“This is some pretty serious equipment, Z!”
“And so much the better that you will not have to have those schematics you’ve already made produced into working prototypes,” Dungias said without looking back. The doors leading out to the corridor opened to allow his exit, closing soon after he walked out of the hangar. “Trek well, Black Scarab.”
“How the hell does he do that?!” Nulaki asked before boarding his ship. As the door closed, he could hear the engines of the craft powering up. He smiled, realizing that Dungias had arranged for more than one parting gift. The hangar doors opened and Nulaki wasted no time piloting his ship away from the Xara-Mansura. He did, after all, have the data-gem that Dungias had dropped in his seat to open and investigate.
Watching the tail end of the Cobra-Nine light up and jet away, Jocasta stood on the observation deck with her arms folded. The doors opened and Dungias entered the room.
“You rigged the engines to blow, right?”
“I did no such thing,” Dungias answered, taking his place at her side. “I improved their functionality with regards to thrust capacity and fuel consumption.” She sighed in disgust at hearing his response.
“Tell me again, Z!”
“Of the eleven accounts he holds, nine of them have been transferred to various children’s facilities, hospitals, and public schools throughout the Middle Rim.”
“Which two did you leave him?”
“The largest and the smallest accounts, Captain.”
“That along with the money he skimmed from me,” Jocasta added.
“As well as that amount,” Dungias agreed.
“Did you hear what Ephaliun said? About making sure we had a good thief aboard?”
“I did indeed. I plan to begin working with him on the studies of Pax’Dulah. A bodysuit built along the lines of your gloves and boots would enable him to adhere to surfaces where even Nulaki would slide.”
“No holding back, Z.”
“None whatsoever, Captain.”
“Argh!” Jocasta yelled. “I hate waiting! Why am I waiting, Z?”
“I can think of two significant reasons,” Dungias stated. “The news that Black Gate was mastered by a blood-feeding InvokeR was most disconcerting. The discovery of three Upyri nests has only added to that problem. Passage into The Territories has been disavowed for all non-Baronial entities.”
“And the second reason?” she asked.
“We are awaiting the arrival of a transport,” Dungias stated and Jocasta sighed in disgust.
“Good lord how slow is that thing moving?!” she barked.
“There have been no further delays, Captain. It will be arriving at Black Gate tomorrow,” Dungias advised. “I am sure Thom is just as anxious to get here as we are to receive her.” Dungias turned to leave, stopping to give his Captain a nudge that might pull her from the window. “In the meantime, you could address the three latest additions to your crew.”
“You mean the three I’ve all but enslaved?” she said, closing her eyes. “Yeah, I do need to talk to them. Why don’t you come with me? I’m feeling a little homicidal right about now. The last thing I need to hear is you bitching that I bloodied up your brig!” Dungias would not remind Jocasta that if anyone could lay ownership claim to the Brig, it would be her. He simply placed one hand inside the other and followed her into the corridor.
“Allow me to remind you that I have an appointment at the university,” Dungias stated. “It would seem that the three students I told you about have made some progress in identifying one of the artifacts we are currently holding.”
“Right,” Jocasta said as she stepped toward the drop shaft. “Who are you taking with you?”
“I had planned to go alone.”
“Oh, no you don’t!” she cried as they both descended through the decks. “You’re not leaving me with all of them! I can see it now; ‘Captain, can I see this… can I have that… can you show me how you did that thing with the sword’? You leave me alone with all of them and we’re only going to need more crew when you get back!” Jocasta jumped away from the pole and started toward the brig.
“Must you exaggerate everything?”
“Not around other people,” she snapped.
“Your demeanor does not make your thoughts any more accurate, or your standing any more justified, Captain,” Dungias stressed. “All you are doing is merely screaming, ‘I’m right, I’m right’ at the top of your lungs!”
“HAH!” Jocasta blurted, pointing at Dungias. “You can say contractions! I knew it!”
“Fine then,” Dungias said stepping forward. “You’re full of shit if you think this routine will help you achieve anything! Is that plain enough for you?! You�
�re covering up, Captain, thinking that enough jokes will handle the moment when it’s the moment that’s handling you!” Jocasta looked away from him, taking a tight hold of her cane. “I know what it is to be afraid for my life, and so do you! I don’t know what all that Upyri did to you, but you’re missing what you managed to do to it.”
“What?!” Jocasta shouted, thoroughly confused. “Look, I know you’re so tall that it snows up there,” she said, grabbing and tossing a portion of Dungias’ hair. “But what the hell are you talking about?! You don’t have the first clue of what I had to go through with that damn thing!”
“I do not have to,” he returned. “You know enough for us both.”
“Then what, Z?!” she yelled, beginning to pace. Jocasta did not notice the force fields Satithe erected to give the two of them more privacy. All she could feel was her own rage. “What the fuck am I missing that’s going to help me sleep again? What’s gonna make it okay that I ambushed a passenger on my ship?! What golden star-nugget of wisdom do you have cooking that will put all of this in a better light?! Tell me, my blue priest, what am I missing?!”
“The fact that you survived it!” he said softly, but his voice did not lack for conviction and Jocasta closed her eyes. “Perhaps you ducked when it would have been better to jump… or perhaps you attacked when it would have been better to evade. There is always something we know we could have done better looking back through our lives, but the fact that we are looking back all too often makes us forget that we are doing exactly that: looking back! You faced death, and you are obviously not overwhelmingly pleased with your performance. Did it ever occur to you that you have improved since then?”
“And how do I know that?” Jocasta asked as tears welled up in her eyes. The feeling of helplessness was by far the worst bane of her existence. She could be beaten, outclassed, overpowered… it did not matter to her. But to be bound and fed upon… having no choice in the matter… enslaved to doom – that was what she had seen in the DerFae woman’s eyes, and it had taken her back to a place Jocasta Endigun had thought she’d maneuvered her way into forgetting. “How do I know I’ve improved?”
