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jeriendhal“Told me what?” Salli demanded.
“I did tell you, but you didn't think too hard about what it meant, milady,” Ali said. “You remember how I told you because I was small, I was sent through the ducts on ships we attacked ,to find all the secret, hidden spaces?”
“I remember.” Salli's voice was hoarse now from acid and dread.
“Clan ships, the freighters manned by families, have always had a very secure place in the center. It's where they kept their most valuable, most vulnerable things.”
“The kiddies,” Margo added, grinning repellently.
“It was my job to head through the ducts and find them, open the hatches to let them out.”
“Valuable things, kids. Pain in the ass to haul around, but there are always buyers, and they pay good money,” Margo said, still grinning. “Ali was the only one I ever kept for myself though.”
“Sometimes they resisted,” Ali continued, the defiant tone of her voice seeming to lose ground to painful memory. “Older ones usually, not quite big enough to help in the ship's defense, but big enough to hold a gun, to protect their sibs. It was my job to take them out.”
Salli stared at Ali, appalled. Foxen were not perfect beings, but the instinct to protect cubs, even ones that were not your own, ran deep. To subvert that was a sign of madness. To be force someone to subvert it was an indication of a soul so callous as to defy description. I once thought Kev was the worst evil I could ever conceive of. I stand corrected. ”How... how many...?” she choked out.
“I lost count,” Ali said softly. “A score, at least.”
“More than that, trust me,” Margo told her. Turning back to Salli, she went on, “Ali was a feral little thing by the time I lost her on that raid. She had that dead look in her eyes that fellas sometimes get, when they've been on the battle line too long. Didn't talk, except for 'yessir, nossir', and when she got into scraps God help the poor bastard on the receiving end of her teeth and claws. I was so proud of her.”
“Ali, did the Red Vixen know of this?” Salli asked.
“No, she never did,” Ali said. “Maybe she suspected, but she didn't press. I didn't dare tell her. How could I? But you, you deserve to know why, because you let yourself fall in love with me, and I had to tell you why it could never work, why I could never, ever be worthy of you.”
“Oh, Ali,” Salli breathed. “But it wasn't your...”
“Aaannnd I hate to interrupt,” Margo interjected, “but I've got a ship to fly. First things first though. You still want to go with me, Ali?”
“Yes, Lady Margo,” Ali said, her voice almost inaudible.
Margo stepped away from Salli, waving casually with her pistol. “Allrighty then. Do me a favor and prove your loyalty won't be so flexible this time, and make sure when Lady Sallivera here gets a replacement eye, she can take advantage of the two-for-one discount.”
Ali looked stricken. “But, I... I don't have a weapon.”
“No need. Looks like the job was done with just claws the first time. I'm sure you can manage it with yours.”
“I...”
Margo raised her pistol up to point at Ali again. “I'm waiting.”
“Yes, Milady. It's just there's one thing...”
The pirate rolled her eyes. “Oh, what now?”
For the first time since Ali had begun her confession, a ghost of a smile flitted across her face. “Nothing, I just needed to make sure my brother lined up his shot.”
Salli saw Bloody Margo's mouth open, her lips forming the word, “What?” when the blue stunner beam caught the pirate in the back of the head, dropping her to the floor, her gun clattering on the tiles.
Ali raised her head to the ceiling, shouting, “It took you bloody long enough!”
Salli almost disjointed her neck, trying to twist it around to see in the direction Ali was shouting. In the back of the room, she spotted Commander Blacksailor, or at least his upper torso, hanging upside down from a hole cut in the ceiling and hanging onto a a heavy stunner rifle. He waved them both, disappearing momentarily back up the hole, before dropping a rope and rappelling down it.
He landed lightly on his foot pads, looking aggrieved and saying, “Look, you try jumping out of a singleship while it's coming down on its thrusters, landing on the roof, chopping through the ceiling with cutting acid, and then taking the shot upside down all without breaking your neck!”
“Under the circumstances,” Salli began to say, her voice light with both relief and incipient hysteria, “I think we find the results perfectly acceptable.”
Ali ran over to the door, dogging it shut. “Right, right. Anyway, stow it! Just call in and tell them we have Lady Salli.”
“Right.” Blacksailor called into his comset. “Ground Team to High Guard, we've secured the hostage and taken down Bloody Margo. The rest are your meat.”
“What's going on?” Salli demanded, as Ali grabbed a knife from her pile of clothes and equipment by the door, and joined her brother in cutting her free of the chair.
“We've got the destroyer's second drop shuttle coming down right now,” Blacksailor told her. “It's got our full Marine contingent on board, with orders to kill any pirate that isn't out in the open and about to be blasted by the shuttle's guns.”
“All right.” Salli nearly fell out of the chair as she was freed, feeling returning to her aching arms and legs. She fell into Ali's arms, and was lowered carefully to the floor as Blacksailor covered the door with his rifle. There was a deep throated roar somewhere above the roof, followed by blasts of heavy weapons fire.
Ali, still naked, grabbed a med kit from her belt and opened it, popping out a disposable injector. “Here you go, milady. Anti-shock meds in this, and I've got your pills as well.”
“Bless you, Ali,” Salli said gratefully. She accepted the injection and the pills, swallowing them down with water from the canteen on Ali's extremely practical belt. As the younger vixen made to hand over her own pants for Salli to wear, the noblevixen waved her off. “Please no. They're just going to strap me to a stretcher and put a blanket over me anyway.”
“All right.” Ali began getting dressed, glancing at Blacksailor, who was out of earshot as he guarded the door. “Is there anything else you need, milady?”
“I need you to stop calling me 'Milady' and start calling me Salli again. I need to know... to know, how much of what you were saying was true.”
Ali's face grew guarded. “About the children? Yes, that's true. About wanting to join with Bloody Margo and be her new First Lieutenant? That was just to delay her while Blacksailor finished cutting through the ceiling.”
“And the rest?” Salli prompted.
“The rest? Mila-, Salli, I had to tell my brother about the children. Margo hinted at it when she let us know she'd captured you, and he wouldn't let it go. So he knows, and when I go to trial the court will know, and your family. Believe me, I would want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you, but not at the cost of destroying your honor by shacking up with a cub killer.”
“Given I previously 'shacked up' to borrow your phrase, with an insane wife-abuser, I don't think my honor has much to worry about.”
“But that wasn't your fault!”
Salli reached up and grabbed Ali's paw in her home, ignoring the shooting pain running up her arm. “Nor were your actions, I believe. I am staying with you, Ali, until the end, whatever that end is.”
Ali nodded, her fingers tightening in Salli's own. “Thank you.”
* * *
Note: Hopefully Ali's crimes don't push her over the edge to Irredeemable in my reader's minds. I wanted it to be a shock, but also something that was, while horrible and likely to haunt Ali, something the audience would be capable of forgiving her for.
“I did tell you, but you didn't think too hard about what it meant, milady,” Ali said. “You remember how I told you because I was small, I was sent through the ducts on ships we attacked ,to find all the secret, hidden spaces?”
“I remember.” Salli's voice was hoarse now from acid and dread.
“Clan ships, the freighters manned by families, have always had a very secure place in the center. It's where they kept their most valuable, most vulnerable things.”
“The kiddies,” Margo added, grinning repellently.
“It was my job to head through the ducts and find them, open the hatches to let them out.”
“Valuable things, kids. Pain in the ass to haul around, but there are always buyers, and they pay good money,” Margo said, still grinning. “Ali was the only one I ever kept for myself though.”
“Sometimes they resisted,” Ali continued, the defiant tone of her voice seeming to lose ground to painful memory. “Older ones usually, not quite big enough to help in the ship's defense, but big enough to hold a gun, to protect their sibs. It was my job to take them out.”
Salli stared at Ali, appalled. Foxen were not perfect beings, but the instinct to protect cubs, even ones that were not your own, ran deep. To subvert that was a sign of madness. To be force someone to subvert it was an indication of a soul so callous as to defy description. I once thought Kev was the worst evil I could ever conceive of. I stand corrected. ”How... how many...?” she choked out.
“I lost count,” Ali said softly. “A score, at least.”
“More than that, trust me,” Margo told her. Turning back to Salli, she went on, “Ali was a feral little thing by the time I lost her on that raid. She had that dead look in her eyes that fellas sometimes get, when they've been on the battle line too long. Didn't talk, except for 'yessir, nossir', and when she got into scraps God help the poor bastard on the receiving end of her teeth and claws. I was so proud of her.”
“Ali, did the Red Vixen know of this?” Salli asked.
“No, she never did,” Ali said. “Maybe she suspected, but she didn't press. I didn't dare tell her. How could I? But you, you deserve to know why, because you let yourself fall in love with me, and I had to tell you why it could never work, why I could never, ever be worthy of you.”
“Oh, Ali,” Salli breathed. “But it wasn't your...”
“Aaannnd I hate to interrupt,” Margo interjected, “but I've got a ship to fly. First things first though. You still want to go with me, Ali?”
“Yes, Lady Margo,” Ali said, her voice almost inaudible.
Margo stepped away from Salli, waving casually with her pistol. “Allrighty then. Do me a favor and prove your loyalty won't be so flexible this time, and make sure when Lady Sallivera here gets a replacement eye, she can take advantage of the two-for-one discount.”
Ali looked stricken. “But, I... I don't have a weapon.”
“No need. Looks like the job was done with just claws the first time. I'm sure you can manage it with yours.”
“I...”
Margo raised her pistol up to point at Ali again. “I'm waiting.”
“Yes, Milady. It's just there's one thing...”
The pirate rolled her eyes. “Oh, what now?”
For the first time since Ali had begun her confession, a ghost of a smile flitted across her face. “Nothing, I just needed to make sure my brother lined up his shot.”
Salli saw Bloody Margo's mouth open, her lips forming the word, “What?” when the blue stunner beam caught the pirate in the back of the head, dropping her to the floor, her gun clattering on the tiles.
Ali raised her head to the ceiling, shouting, “It took you bloody long enough!”
Salli almost disjointed her neck, trying to twist it around to see in the direction Ali was shouting. In the back of the room, she spotted Commander Blacksailor, or at least his upper torso, hanging upside down from a hole cut in the ceiling and hanging onto a a heavy stunner rifle. He waved them both, disappearing momentarily back up the hole, before dropping a rope and rappelling down it.
He landed lightly on his foot pads, looking aggrieved and saying, “Look, you try jumping out of a singleship while it's coming down on its thrusters, landing on the roof, chopping through the ceiling with cutting acid, and then taking the shot upside down all without breaking your neck!”
“Under the circumstances,” Salli began to say, her voice light with both relief and incipient hysteria, “I think we find the results perfectly acceptable.”
Ali ran over to the door, dogging it shut. “Right, right. Anyway, stow it! Just call in and tell them we have Lady Salli.”
“Right.” Blacksailor called into his comset. “Ground Team to High Guard, we've secured the hostage and taken down Bloody Margo. The rest are your meat.”
“What's going on?” Salli demanded, as Ali grabbed a knife from her pile of clothes and equipment by the door, and joined her brother in cutting her free of the chair.
“We've got the destroyer's second drop shuttle coming down right now,” Blacksailor told her. “It's got our full Marine contingent on board, with orders to kill any pirate that isn't out in the open and about to be blasted by the shuttle's guns.”
“All right.” Salli nearly fell out of the chair as she was freed, feeling returning to her aching arms and legs. She fell into Ali's arms, and was lowered carefully to the floor as Blacksailor covered the door with his rifle. There was a deep throated roar somewhere above the roof, followed by blasts of heavy weapons fire.
Ali, still naked, grabbed a med kit from her belt and opened it, popping out a disposable injector. “Here you go, milady. Anti-shock meds in this, and I've got your pills as well.”
“Bless you, Ali,” Salli said gratefully. She accepted the injection and the pills, swallowing them down with water from the canteen on Ali's extremely practical belt. As the younger vixen made to hand over her own pants for Salli to wear, the noblevixen waved her off. “Please no. They're just going to strap me to a stretcher and put a blanket over me anyway.”
“All right.” Ali began getting dressed, glancing at Blacksailor, who was out of earshot as he guarded the door. “Is there anything else you need, milady?”
“I need you to stop calling me 'Milady' and start calling me Salli again. I need to know... to know, how much of what you were saying was true.”
Ali's face grew guarded. “About the children? Yes, that's true. About wanting to join with Bloody Margo and be her new First Lieutenant? That was just to delay her while Blacksailor finished cutting through the ceiling.”
“And the rest?” Salli prompted.
“The rest? Mila-, Salli, I had to tell my brother about the children. Margo hinted at it when she let us know she'd captured you, and he wouldn't let it go. So he knows, and when I go to trial the court will know, and your family. Believe me, I would want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you, but not at the cost of destroying your honor by shacking up with a cub killer.”
“Given I previously 'shacked up' to borrow your phrase, with an insane wife-abuser, I don't think my honor has much to worry about.”
“But that wasn't your fault!”
Salli reached up and grabbed Ali's paw in her home, ignoring the shooting pain running up her arm. “Nor were your actions, I believe. I am staying with you, Ali, until the end, whatever that end is.”
Ali nodded, her fingers tightening in Salli's own. “Thank you.”
* * *
Note: Hopefully Ali's crimes don't push her over the edge to Irredeemable in my reader's minds. I wanted it to be a shock, but also something that was, while horrible and likely to haunt Ali, something the audience would be capable of forgiving her for.
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Date: 2014-01-17 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 10:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 10:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 07:56 pm (UTC)Ali seems to be coping better than I would have expected. To the point where it's kind of puzzling. Either it hasn't sunk in, or she genuinely has a Zen-like grasp of dealing with real life as a process rather than a condition.
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Date: 2014-01-17 09:02 pm (UTC)While she's waiting in her cell in between sessions of her trial, things slide to Very Bad.
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Date: 2014-01-17 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-17 11:54 pm (UTC)