jeriendhal | Fic: I Fought the Claw (and the Claw Won)

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

"You're on a bit of a timetable," I said, following along with her as we headed spinward. "You're going to have to get rid of me soon, unless you fancy bringing me along as part of your wedding gifts." I didn't mention the other possibility, which was selling me to someone in the secondhand servitor market. No need to give the lovely lady alternate ideas.

She smiled at me with those pretty fangs of hers. "I wouldn't get your hopes up too high, Captain Greycoat. I'll be getting out of the business but my crew won't necessarily. It seems only fair that I leave you with them as a parting gift. I'm sure Lt. Zan wouldn't mind the seed money your hostage payment would bring him."

I stopped suddenly, only to get jerked forward as she refused to stop walking. "Now see here!" I protested. "You wouldn't leave a fellow foxen with a bunch of heathen wazzies, would you?"

"Wazagans are fine folk, who would be the first to tell you we're all worshipping the same Goddess in different ways," she said primly.

"They're heathens," I repeated. "And I'm not going to stand by and let you hand me over to them."

She just shook her head and rubbed her finger across her ring. The tractors in my wrist cuffs then snapped to life and pulled my wrists together crossways in front of me, and I stumbled again as the ones around my ankles hobbled me. "If you like, you can be kneeling when I do it, but I assume you want to retain a little dignity," she said.

"Is that even an option in an outfit like this?"

"Likely not," she admitted. "At any rate, you aren't much position argue the point."

"Truth." I waggled my paws at her. "Lead, oh underdressed one."

We wandered on to an open shopping arcade, where vendors of offered a variety of items of questionable legality and origin. My charming hostess took her sweet time leading me through, stopping to chat frequently with the sentients manning the booths, her ears pricking forward eagerly whenever someone mentioned ship movements, particularly of House Highglider. Myself, I spent the time being a good boy and following along quietly, especially after she paused at an elderly human female's cart, looking at the collection of handcrafted leather muzzles.

We'd just turned about and were heading back to the Scarlet Claw's docking area, when my hostess paused and pressed a fingerpad to the com inserted in her ear. "What was that, Ali? What, here? I'm still on the commerce deck, section thirty-three. Vector towards my signal, I'll be traveling anti-spinward."

"Trouble?" I asked, without much sympathy, I'll admit. The Red Vixen responding by breaking into a trot that had me shortly trying to hop after her, since I was still leashed to her and my ankles tractor hobbled.

"Move faster, damn it," she growled. "I do not want to be caught out in the open."

"You're the one… that's slowing me down!" I huffed, still hopping as she tugged on my leash and collar. "I’m still hobbled!"

"Oh, damn!" My charming hostess touched her ring again and I was able to move normally. She began to stride quickly in the direction of the Scarlet Claw, myself in tow at the end of the silver leash. Even with my ankles free I had to break into a jog. Shorter legs had their disadvantages.

I very nearly ran over her tail as she came to a sudden halt again, her paw dropping down to the butt of her stunner. In front of us there were three humans in mismatched gear from what looked like a half-dozen militaries, with the spiral pattern insignia on their shoulders that marked them as belonging to Bloody Margo's crew. Now the reason for the Red Vixen's haste was understandable. These three were the sort of folk one wouldn't want to meet in a well lit alley.

"Lady Red, good to see ya again," the lead human said with false joviality. He had the sort of face that looked like he enjoyed being punched, just so he could have an excuse to punch someone back. Not that he probably bothered with excuses. "I thought ya were dead."

"Mr. Compton," the Red Vixen said calmly. "Yes. Given the... exciting... circumstances of our last meeting, a little deception seemed in order."

"Got yerself a new boytoy too, I see. What, did I manage to burn off the face of the other one, so ya got a replacement?"

"Lord Darktail's ransom was paid, so I was obligated to return him to his family," she explained. "This fellow is a mercenary pilot I picked up after blasting his fighter."

Compton gave a nasty chuckle, speaking directly to me, alas. I was rather hoping to avoid his attention. "Careful, boyo. The Red Vixen here likes to have her men on a leash. Three guesses what she'll do when she gets ya in her cabin."

Actually, I think I'd need only one, and given her charms it would be a serious temptation. But I prefer my freedom, in the end. And while I didn't really care for the fellow, and the Red Vixen was a fellow foxen, this was likely to be my best chance to escape, and I would have been a fool not to take it.

"Speaking of caution," I said, "from my perspective I'd be just as happy not to get involved any dispute between you two. So if it's just the same to you, Lady Red, if you could hit the release button on my collar and cuffs, I'll just leave you and Mr. Compton here to finish your discussion."

The Red Vixen spared a withering glance in my direction. "Even for a mercenary, that's extraordinarily self-centered of you."

"Hello? Who's ready to hand me over to a wazzie as a retirement present?"

"Hey, enough with the gabbing!" Compton rested his palm on the butt of his pistol, a nasty looking plasma blaster, not a heavy stunner like the Red Vixen sported. "Yer coming with us, Red. Lady Margo wants to have a chat with ya."

The Red Vixen took a step back, eyes flicking about, looking for cover. The corridor had cleared with remarkable alacrity when she'd started chatting with Compton, likely an ingrained survival instinct for stationers that dealt with pirates on a commercial basis. Being a station, all the display windows for the shops were pressure armored glass, and the access doors now closed and locked. Aside from a couple of vendor carts inconveniently not within leaping distance, she was out in the open.

"Mr. Compton," she said, regaining her poise, "let's think this through. You didn't come in on the Relentless, I would have been warned. If you came in on a smaller ship or a commercial liner, that means my crew outnumber you. And believe me, if you harm a hair on my tail, you're going to have a crew of very upset wazagans swarming this station in short order, all looking to skin you."

"And if I've got ya alive and with a knife to yer throat, they'll stay right in that jumped up freighter ya call a pirate ship," Compton replied, giving her a toothy grin. "Right until Lady Margo comes a callin', which is when they'll cut and run before they get blasted. Don't matter how fond they are of ya."

"Hate to interrupt this meeting of the Mutual Antagonism Society," I said, waving my paw cheerfully. "But if you're going to grab my lovely underdressed hostess, you might want to get on with it. Her bodyguard warned her you were coming and is vectoring here right now, maybe with backup."

"He's lying," the Red Vixen snapped automatically.

"Why would I?" I interjected. "I'm her prisoner. All I want to do it get out of the way before a firefight starts, preferably with my freedom and a pair of pants.

"You short, self-serving bastard," the Red Vixen growled at me.

"Smart feller, though," Compton said, though I'll admit his praise didn't exactly make my heart swell. More like make me want to open up my chest a bit to wipe the slime off. At any rate, Compton's next move was pull out his pistol. The Red Vixen, expecting this, yanked hers out as well. Stunner vs. plasma blaster though, especially when the one with the stunner is outnumbered, is a foregone conclusion. She grimaced, ears turned back in anger. Her eyes flicked to Compton's bully boys, also with their weapons out, then opened her paw and let the stunner drop to the deck. "Good move, girlie."

"Now that we have that out of the way," I said, as the bully boys grabbed her. "Mind if I have the ring she's wearing? It controls the stunner built into my collar."

"What, this one?" Compton asked, making the Red Vixen yelp in pain as he pulled it off her finger.

"That's the one," I said, eying him warily. "Look, I don’t want any money, or big favors, or in fact, your attention past the next thirty seconds." Not the least because much more than that, and Ali the Short and Snarli would be along and none too happy to find me and not her mistress. "So if I could have that ring, I'll be out of your tail and on my merry way."

"Stuns ya if yet get too far?" he asked.

"Exactly, good sir," I replied.

His smile, if possible, got sharper and nastier. "Go fetch then."

I let out a curse and leaped after it, as he threw it high over my head and down the corridor. It was still bouncing when the collar's stunner went off and I dropped to the deck.