jeriendhal | FIC: Captive of the Red Vixen, Part Two

“I am the Red Vixen,” she announced. “Which of you is the ship's captain?”

“I am,” he said, coming awkwardly to his feet. “I'm Lord Rolas Darktail, master of this vessel.”

“Oh, Lord Rolas,” she purred. “Am I to believe that a House sent their son to command a simple cargo vessel personally?”

“Believe what you wish, it is the truth,” he said. Deciding to take a chance, he plunged on. “I beg mercy for my crew, and offer myself as hostage to you so that they may be released.”

“Milord, no!” the first mate cried out, as the rest of his crew murmured in consternation. The Vixen's pirates frowned and began to raise their weapons, but were stayed with a curt gesture from her. She strode forward, to take hold of Rolas' chin.

"Accepted," she said, staring into his eyes, Just as abruptly she let go, turning towards her creo lietenant. "Mr. Zan, is this all of their crew?"

The leftenant looked uncomfortable for some reason. "Just about, Captain. We're moving the body of feller killed in the engineering section to the kitchen's freezer."

The Red Vixen's face froze. "Killed? What happened?"

"He was up on the catwalks. He took a stunner hit and fell headfirst onto the deck."

She nodded grimly. "Go through the camera recordings of all the boarding crew and this ship's security log, find out who took the shot and inform them they've lost their cut of the profits when we sell the cargo."

"Aw, Captain, it was an accident belike," Lt. Zan started to say.

"You know my regulations, Leftenant!" She turned back to Rolas. "My apologies, Lord Rolas. I have a strict policy on unnecessary casualties."

"Who was killed?" Rolas asked the leftenant.

"Don't know. Sandy furred fellow. Just a kid it looked like."

Rolas closed his eyes briefly. "That was Ensign Dewclaw. He was eighteen, this was his first voyage." And his last.

"Again, my apologies, Lord Rolas." She raised her voice. "As for the rest of you, you should all be happy to know that, thanks to your lord's generous offer, you're going to be going home. Once my crew has finished loading all of your cargo aboard the Scarlet Claw, we're going to remove certain vital bits from your superluminal drive and then dissasemble your subspace radio. By the time you get it reassembled and call for help, we'll be long gone."

This announcement was met by stony silence from Rolas' crew. She raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked him, "Are they always this demonstrative?"

"They have their reasons," he said.

"You'll have to explain them to me. We'll talk later. For now I have business to attend to. Lt. Zan, take Lord ROlas away to be processed." And with that he was dragged out of the mess and across the boarding tube onto the Scarlet Claw, to be made the Red Vixen's captive.

TBC