Shadow of Her Sins, Chapter Two concluded
Aug. 30th, 2013 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalEnd of Chapter Two. For those of you who were inclined to dislike Lt. Commander Blacksailor before... Er, this next bit isn't going to help.
* * *
Ali walked across the arbor to the guest house, another pre-fab building. As she paused at the door, she glanced up at the sun in surprise. It wasn't even mid-morning yet, but the day seemed to have been going on forever.
Blacksailor answered the door immediately when she knocked. He looked at her cautiously, and said, “Hello.”
She took a deep breath. “Hi, my name is Ali,” she began. “You said something about us being related?”
Blacksailor's posture seemed to unclench in relief. “Hi, Ali, I'm Lu, and I think I'm your brother. Won't you come in?”
She entered the little pre-fab bungalow, letting him sit her on a couch. He took a chair across from her, laying his tail across his lap in a patently false attempt at being casual.
“Look, I'm sorry about going into a freak fit back there,” she said.
“No, no, it was my fault,” he insisted. “It was a pretty big surprise to drop on you suddenly. I'd been sitting in my ship for days, thinking about how our first meeting would play out. Making you run off crying wasn't one I'd figured on.”
“Well... tears, yes, but happy ones. And a lot of hugging and such.” He looked her over, eyes frowning at her holstered weapons. “I'll admit I hadn't expected my baby sister to be carting around an arsenal. Do you always walk about that heavily armed?”
“I'm Lady Salli's bodygaurd,” she replied. “Though I'll admit if we were somewhere more civilized I'd keep most of them concealed.”
He shrugged. “Grandmother figured you'd grow up to be our ship's engineer. You were always trying to play with her toolkit. You even dropped a spanner on my toes once.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his personal com. He clicked rapidly through its memory, and then handed it to her. “Here, that's you.”
Ali looked at the picture. A cub of maybe four years of age, dressed in a pink jumper, stared back at her, clutching a spanner almost as big as she was and grinning widely.
Blacksailor reached over and brought up another photo. It showed a short, plump vixen in her late thirties, balancing the child from the first picture on her shoulders. “That's our mother. Do you recognize her?”
She stared at it hard, trying to see a connection between the vixen in the photograph and herself. “No,” she finally said. “I'm sorry.”
“You said your family was killed by pirates. What do you remember of them?” he asked.
She closed her eyes briefly, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle. “I remember my father. I can't remember his face but I know it was my father, carrying me down a corridor and putting me into a lifepod. He said if anyone besides my family came back, I was to punch the launch button. Then the ship... shook... Then a human came to the lifepod's hatch. I could see him through the porthole. I knew I had to push the button, but I just froze up.”
“What happened then?”
“The pirate opened the pod and pulled me out, and took me back to his ship.”
Blacksailor swallowed. “Were you sold? Were you..?”
“I wasn't raped,” she said quickly. “They sort of made me their mascot. Bloody Margo's little Ali-Kat.”
He winced. “That's what we called you too.” Then he frowned in puzzlement. “But how did you get away from them? Where did you go?”
“I didn't get away from them, I was made a slave.” She shrugged. “When I was big enough, they put a rifle in my paws and had me go on raids. After a few years of that I got wounded in a raid against another pirate's base and was left behind. The other pirates took me and healed me.”
“Which pirate?” he asked. He'd taken hold of his tail and was twisting it again.
“Um, the Red Vixen.” Otherwise known as Lady Melanie Darktail nee Lovejoy, Lady Sallivera's sister-in-law, but that wasn't something Ali was about to mention right now.
“The one that uses stunners?” he asked. At her nod, he continued. “So how did you end up here?”
“That's... complicated. Um, Mis... the Red Vixen, arranged for me to hired as Lady Sallivera's bodyguard, to set her up to be kidnapped. But before she go through with it, Bloody Margo hit the liner we were on. I got captured by Margo, but Lady Salli hid until she could rescue me. When the Red Vixen came in response to our distress call, she caught Lady Margo in her ship when it was grounded ad destroyed it. Then she released me into Lady Salli's service.”
“That wasn't in the official report. It just said that you were her bodyguard.”
“Lady Salli didn't want to complicate things when we gave our depositions,” Ali said simply.
“I can see why.” He had his tail tip gripped tight in one paw now, twisting it into painful looking spirals. “So by your own admission, you served for almost twenty years as a pirate.”
Ali swallowed hard. She had known this conversation wasn't going to be easy. “Yes, but Lady Sallivera explained it to me. As I was a commoner coerced into service with Bloody Margo and the Red Vixen, I'm not considered responsible for my actions while I was held by them.”
“Under Foxen law, yes.” Blacksailor had shut his eyes tightly, and began mouthing silent curses. After a moment he opened them again and said, “I'm an officer of the Allied Worlds Patrol, and what I have to follow is Stellar law.”
“What?” Ali asked, gaping.
Blacksailor looked sick to his stomach. “Alinadar Blacksailor, as a sworn officer of the Allied Worlds Patrol, I hereby arrest you for interstellar piracy.”
* * *
Ali walked across the arbor to the guest house, another pre-fab building. As she paused at the door, she glanced up at the sun in surprise. It wasn't even mid-morning yet, but the day seemed to have been going on forever.
Blacksailor answered the door immediately when she knocked. He looked at her cautiously, and said, “Hello.”
She took a deep breath. “Hi, my name is Ali,” she began. “You said something about us being related?”
Blacksailor's posture seemed to unclench in relief. “Hi, Ali, I'm Lu, and I think I'm your brother. Won't you come in?”
She entered the little pre-fab bungalow, letting him sit her on a couch. He took a chair across from her, laying his tail across his lap in a patently false attempt at being casual.
“Look, I'm sorry about going into a freak fit back there,” she said.
“No, no, it was my fault,” he insisted. “It was a pretty big surprise to drop on you suddenly. I'd been sitting in my ship for days, thinking about how our first meeting would play out. Making you run off crying wasn't one I'd figured on.”
“Well... tears, yes, but happy ones. And a lot of hugging and such.” He looked her over, eyes frowning at her holstered weapons. “I'll admit I hadn't expected my baby sister to be carting around an arsenal. Do you always walk about that heavily armed?”
“I'm Lady Salli's bodygaurd,” she replied. “Though I'll admit if we were somewhere more civilized I'd keep most of them concealed.”
He shrugged. “Grandmother figured you'd grow up to be our ship's engineer. You were always trying to play with her toolkit. You even dropped a spanner on my toes once.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his personal com. He clicked rapidly through its memory, and then handed it to her. “Here, that's you.”
Ali looked at the picture. A cub of maybe four years of age, dressed in a pink jumper, stared back at her, clutching a spanner almost as big as she was and grinning widely.
Blacksailor reached over and brought up another photo. It showed a short, plump vixen in her late thirties, balancing the child from the first picture on her shoulders. “That's our mother. Do you recognize her?”
She stared at it hard, trying to see a connection between the vixen in the photograph and herself. “No,” she finally said. “I'm sorry.”
“You said your family was killed by pirates. What do you remember of them?” he asked.
She closed her eyes briefly, rubbing the bridge of her muzzle. “I remember my father. I can't remember his face but I know it was my father, carrying me down a corridor and putting me into a lifepod. He said if anyone besides my family came back, I was to punch the launch button. Then the ship... shook... Then a human came to the lifepod's hatch. I could see him through the porthole. I knew I had to push the button, but I just froze up.”
“What happened then?”
“The pirate opened the pod and pulled me out, and took me back to his ship.”
Blacksailor swallowed. “Were you sold? Were you..?”
“I wasn't raped,” she said quickly. “They sort of made me their mascot. Bloody Margo's little Ali-Kat.”
He winced. “That's what we called you too.” Then he frowned in puzzlement. “But how did you get away from them? Where did you go?”
“I didn't get away from them, I was made a slave.” She shrugged. “When I was big enough, they put a rifle in my paws and had me go on raids. After a few years of that I got wounded in a raid against another pirate's base and was left behind. The other pirates took me and healed me.”
“Which pirate?” he asked. He'd taken hold of his tail and was twisting it again.
“Um, the Red Vixen.” Otherwise known as Lady Melanie Darktail nee Lovejoy, Lady Sallivera's sister-in-law, but that wasn't something Ali was about to mention right now.
“The one that uses stunners?” he asked. At her nod, he continued. “So how did you end up here?”
“That's... complicated. Um, Mis... the Red Vixen, arranged for me to hired as Lady Sallivera's bodyguard, to set her up to be kidnapped. But before she go through with it, Bloody Margo hit the liner we were on. I got captured by Margo, but Lady Salli hid until she could rescue me. When the Red Vixen came in response to our distress call, she caught Lady Margo in her ship when it was grounded ad destroyed it. Then she released me into Lady Salli's service.”
“That wasn't in the official report. It just said that you were her bodyguard.”
“Lady Salli didn't want to complicate things when we gave our depositions,” Ali said simply.
“I can see why.” He had his tail tip gripped tight in one paw now, twisting it into painful looking spirals. “So by your own admission, you served for almost twenty years as a pirate.”
Ali swallowed hard. She had known this conversation wasn't going to be easy. “Yes, but Lady Sallivera explained it to me. As I was a commoner coerced into service with Bloody Margo and the Red Vixen, I'm not considered responsible for my actions while I was held by them.”
“Under Foxen law, yes.” Blacksailor had shut his eyes tightly, and began mouthing silent curses. After a moment he opened them again and said, “I'm an officer of the Allied Worlds Patrol, and what I have to follow is Stellar law.”
“What?” Ali asked, gaping.
Blacksailor looked sick to his stomach. “Alinadar Blacksailor, as a sworn officer of the Allied Worlds Patrol, I hereby arrest you for interstellar piracy.”
