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

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six

I woke up to the rhythmic thump of someone kicking me in the back of the head with a powered armor boot. No, wait, that was just a post-stunner migraine, complete with the usual nausea. I rolled over without opening my eyes, covering my head with what felt like a silk pillow. Then I let out a yelp as someone pressed a hypo to my neck, and tossed the pillow in their direction.

"Get up," said the voice of my least favorite person in the world right now. I opened my eyes to see Alinadar sitting in an ornate wooden chair, an empty disposable anti-shock hypo in her paw. I was laying in a comfy and wide bed, covered in silk sheets, in what looked like a fancy hotel room.

"One moment, oh irritable one," I said, letting my head flop back onto the pillow as the drug eased my troubles. "First a navigational reorientation. Where am I? What time is it? When's lunch? No, skip lunch. I haven't the stomach for it right now."

"We're in Mistress Habebti's salon," she replied, flipping the hypo between her fingers in agitation. "It's been about a half hour since you were knocked out. I guess Compton dumped Miss… The Red Vixen's control ring when he took her?"

"Yes," I answered. "Chucked it away actually. It went off before I could grab it." Ah, so she hadn't gotten the story of my conversation with Compton. Good for me then. "What happened after that?"

"I found you lying on the deck, just as all the weasels were coming out of hiding from the shops," she said. "Compton and Milady were long gone. He'd already dumped her com earpiece, so I couldn't track her anymore."

"My condolences then. I wish you and your crew the best of luck finding her," I said, actually sincerely. Being in the hands of one Bloody Margo's crew wasn't a fate I'd wish on anyone, especially a vixen. But I wasn't about to get involved in a dispute between pirates.

Alas, Snarli Ali had other ideas. I could practically hear her fangs grinding together as she admitted, "I need your help with that."

"Sorry, my help? And who has a whole shipload of pirates to back her up?"

"Not me right now. The Scarlet Claw is holding itself in close orbit to the station in case Compton tries to take his ship out with Milady on board. They popped free of the dock as soon as her com went offline, standard orders. They're holding off launching a shuttle to send a rescue squad until we're sure where Milady is being held."

"So you've got a stalemate. Which is only going to last until the Relentless or one of Bloody Margo's other big ships show up and runs the Scarlet Claw off."

"That's about right, yah," she admitted. "I've got to find her before that happens."

"Again, I wish you the best of luck," I repeated, coming to my feet as my balance returned. "For part, I believe my business is done with you and your compatriots."

"What do you mean? You've got to help me!"

I picked up the end of my leash, still hanging from the front of my collar, and gave it a jaunty twirl. "I don't know where you missed the memo, miss, but I'm your prisoner remember? I'm a mercenary. I'm not obligated to help pirates. Cold and Dark, it's bad for my business to be caught helping pirates. So if it's all the same to you, I'm going to beg a pair of pants off of Mistress Habebti and try and con my insurance company into paying for a replacement for my dear Sweet Blade, which I might add your employer blew up."

"I'll tell her to buy you a new one," she growled. "For now I need your help."

"Get Mistress Habebti to give you a hand. That Savannah woman at the front door looked hardy enough for a rescue operation."

"Mistress Habebti doesn't want to piss off Lady Margo by directly interfering with her crew. It's stretching her friendship with Milady enough that she's sheltering us until you're ready to go out again."

"Sorry," I repeated. "There's nothing you can do to convince me to help you."

"Oh, I think there is." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Red Vixen's control ring, slipping it onto her finger and pressing the ruby. My leg cuffs suddenly snapped together and I went down onto my knees, as my paws were pulled and crossed tightly behind my back.

"I'm not going to be moving very fast like this," I noted, once I'd gained my breath.

"True, but if you don't help me I'll just go out on my own and leave you like this. With the tractors running, the power source in those cuffs is good for a week, so have fun with deep vein thrombosis among other things."

"You wouldn't actually do that," I countered.

"Wouldn’t I?" She stared down at me with those remarkable golden eyes of hers. They seemed to be blazing with an inner fire of determination that I'm ashamed to say I recognized from a certain young cub I once looked at in the mirror.

"Fine," I said with ill grace. "What do you want me to do?"

She touched the ring again to free me and I rose to my feet. "Come with me. I'm going to need backup while I scout."

"Do I get a pair of pants to go with this job?"

"No." She opened a dresser drawer and removed a shapeless black outfit somewhere between a dress and a cloak, which she slipped on over her normal outfit, adding a pair of long black gloves with little holes in the fingers to accommodate her claws. I recognized as an outfit some wazagan females wore out of some odd form of modesty, even if the last thing any wazagan, male or female, ever thinks about is sex.

"What's that getup for?" I asked.

"I can't afford to be seen by Compton," she answered, pulling the hood over her ears. The front of the hood darkened and her face disappeared into holographic shadows, though form what I knew of the design, the view from her perspective was unobstructed.

"Yes, with you looking like a woods haunt and me trailing along mostly naked, we'll blend in perfectly with the crowds."

She tossed another dress/cloak at me. "Don't be stupid. This one's yours."

"That was sarcasm, dear." I started pulling it on. "I'm still not getting pants through, am I?"

"You'll have to earn 'em."