Bonus Post: On the Rankings of the Anubian Military

Some helpful information on the Anubian Military rankings, provided by Anne.

This is just reference point for those who want it/want clarification. Enjoy!

Since we've heard so much concerning the Anubian Military, here is a list of their rankings (from highest ranking to lowest ranking), and a breif description of them where applicable.

GENERAL-there are only 5 of these ever. They make up the Anubian High Council that governs the system. Two are responsible for Anubis itself, two for Isis and one governs Osiris (hence its apparent lawlessness). Two prominent ones in the story so far are Victoriana's Father (one of the two on Anubis) and Violet's father (one of the two on Isis. However, shortly after Violet is rescued, he is stripped of his rank and a new General is installed on Isis.)

LIEUTENANT GENERAL-There are two of these (on quite special and rare occasions three) for every general. Making only ten of them at a time. When Victoriana leaves the Anubian military, this is her rank.

BRIGADIER GENERAL

BRIGADIER

COMMANDER-This is the highest ranking an Anubian or an off-worlder of non-noble birth can attain. Only nobility can be promoted above this station.

FIRST LIEUTENANT

LIEUTENANT-The rank at which Victoriana entered the Anubian military.

SERGEANT MAJOR

SERGEANT-The minimum ranking at which the military will pull recruits for the KOTS program from.

CORPORAL

CAPTAIN-Victoriana calls herself Captain of the Feisty Dragon, even though she never had this rank while in the military. (Curious, eh?)

PRIVATE-The rank at which Arturius entered the Anubian military.

Endeavour: Episode Three

{{Written by Alina}}

“Turn her a few leagues Nor-easterly,” Cornelius said, adjusting the altitude of the ground-hopper. “The camp is here.”

Gaius skillfully landed the ship in a rock outcropping beyond the Anubian grounds.

“The trick with a craft like this is to briefly hyperextend the landing gear such that it faces slightly forward and repels you from the rocks in front. I learned that in the Anubian force.”

“You fought?”

“I did the minimum tour required for a man of high social standing. I never went off planet, hence my skill with ground-hoppers. Unfortunately, I’m rather hopeless at handling anything larger.”

“No matter. Are you ready for more snooping and prying about?”

“Hardly my preference, but I understand that we are, in this case, severely outmatched.”

“Look there,” said Alejandra. “They are cutting down the Chrees.”

“They called ‘trees’, woman.” said Sister Pastor.

“Chrees,” Alejandra echoed.

“Aw, say whatever fool thing you think it is, then.”

“What interest do they have in those trees?” said Gaius.

“Let’s get a bit closer, shall we?” said Cornelius.

They followed him to the grove of trees, and entered just as the Anubian workers left for a mid-day meal.

“Hmm. Nothing of note here, they’re shipping blocks of it straight to a furnace.”
Cornelius picked up a plank of firewood. He got an excited look on his face and ran to the roots of one of the still-standing trees, clawing at the ground beneath it.

“Perhaps it is of note now, yes?” said Alejandra.

“Not as far as the Anubians are concerned, but to us, this may well be unfathomably important. I have to experiment of course, to see if my theory holds.” He turned to Alejandra and Sister Pastor.

“I need you to gather this wood and store it in the hold before the Anubians return. I mean all of it, trees included. Alejandra, you can use the ship’s crane, correct?”

“What is this need for the destruction? I do not understand.”

“I know it seems disrespectful, but it’s not going to harm them so long as you preserve the taproot. Work quickly, I don’t know when they’ll be back.”

“You sayin’ you want us to steal ten big-#$$ trees with a crane befo’ the Anubians finish they little cucumber sandwiches? Ain’t gonna happen, boy.”

“I know. But they’ll have more pressing matters to attend to. Gaius, come with me.” Cornelius grabbed the plank, and crept into the Anubian complex with Gaius in tow.

Alejandra and Sister Pastor exchanged glances of confusion, but quickly flew the ground-hopper over to the grove. They carted the chopped wood into the ship’s hold, and Alejandra readied the crane to pick up the first tree. Sister Pastor fixed the clamp to the trunk, and they began to pull it from the ground.

“Excuse me!” said someone angrily.

“Oh, now the tree wants to weigh in, huh?” said Sister Pastor.

A woman carrying a stack of notebooks lowered herself from the treetop on some sort of home-made pulley system.

“Who are you?” said Alejandra.

“I, Madame, am Emmaline Hortense Sjorsdotter, and these Xylionis jazari tree’s you’re so thoughtlessly ripping from the ground are my research subjects. What-“
She was interrupted by a colossal explosion.

Meanwhile, Cornelius and Gaius maneuvered past many layers of unsuspecting Anubian guards and entered the furnace room.

“I’m not sure what this is,” said Cornelius, “but it’s not what I’m looking for so let’s blow it up as a distraction.”

“What a sound and calculated line of reasoning,” said Gaius. “Tell me, do you always make decisions on this basis?”

“No, but I’m in the mood for some chaos.”

“Very well. Let’s see what happens when you heat a closed system on a massive scale.”
They closed the upper chamber of the furnace, blocked its vent and output pipe with debris, and put all the available fuel into the fire.

“Let’s make haste,” said Gaius.

“Yes, let’s,” said Cornelius. They ran out of the room as fast as they could, disregarding the Anubians who seemed not at all happy to see them.

“Declare yourselves immediately!” snapped a guard, drawing his weapon.

“Sorry, haven’t the time,” said Cornelius as he ran by.

“I’m what you’d call a foe,” said Gaius, shooting him in the head as he passed.
There was an enormous explosion behind them as they dashed down the hallway and out the door.

“Did you have to shoot him two seconds before he was going to die?” said Cornelius as they ducked into hiding behind a waste receptacle.

“I like a personal touch,” said Gaius.

“Isn’t it unkind to kill someone who’s about to die anyway?”

“Isn’t it worse to kill someone who isn’t?”

Anubians ran towards or away from the explosion, depending on their character, and pandemonium ensued. Other buildings nearby began to catch fire, and smoke burst from the broken windows of the furnace room.

“Now there’s a work environment with which I can be satisfied,” said Cornelius. “Now if I remember correctly, the communications center is this way.”

He led Gaius to another building. They donned some Anubian overcoats from a storage unit and entered a room full of long-range detecting equipment. Cornelius broke the back panel off a machine, switched some circuit breakers, and stood up in front of the console.

“Watch the door, will you Gaius?”

“Yes, we’re in no position to offer hospitality to unwanted guests.”

Cornelius turned some dials and entered a number into the communicator, hoping to reach the Dragon. The screen flickered for a moment and then the face of a young woman about Cornelius’ age appeared.

“Um. Well hullo there,” Cornelius said to the stranger, cursing the complexity of interspace hacking.

“Hello. What’s your name?” she said.

“I’m Cornelius. I am talking to the Feisty Dragon, am I not?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said, looking around for some indication of a name for her surroundings. “It’s a class X-21 Battle Cruiser that’s been heavily refitted so the short range lasers hook up to the cockpit and the long range lasers fire ballista missiles?”

Cornelius smiled. He had a new friend.

“You didn’t happen to be raised on an asteroid, did you?”

“No, no, I’m from the Bacchian system originally. Sorry to disappoint. But I’ve recently been traveling a lot, so I guess home is the…Feisty Dragon now. Geneva H. Moore, at your service!”

“Nice to meet you Geneva H. Moore. I take it you’re part of our crew now?”

“No, no, it’s Geneva L. Moore.”

“Really, I could’ve sworn your middle initial was ‘h’ the first time you told me.”

“Nope, it’s definitely an A.”

Cornelius paused, wondering if she was being funny or if she was actually daft. “May I talk to one of the crew members please?”

Geneva looked behind her. Something red and gooey flew by in the background.

“Probably better not. They’re indisposed right now. What can I help you with?”

“Oh. Well, let them know that I’m finished with my mission on Osiris and I’m ready to be picked up. We can meet at the spaceport between the Anubian system and the Wagnerian System.”

“Will do! Alright, bye!”

With that, Geneva ended the call and the image collapsed into static. Cornelius turned off the machine, shot it to erase its memory, and returned to Gaius. He didn’t look amused.

“Next time, how about you risk your neck standing guard and I waste time flirting with pretty young space-piratesses.”

“Agreed,” said Cornelius, “but I wasn’t-“

“Where next, then?” said Gaius.

“Er, next door. The sonar and radar center.” He gestured with the plank he still had in his grasp.

They hurried through deserted, smokey corridors to the next room, a gargantuan signal reception base. Cornelius stunned the stationed operators, and Gaius shot the armed guards.

“Okay,” said Cornelius, fiddling with some wiring on a large machine, “hold the plank for me for a moment.”

“Why?”

Cornelius handed him the plank and picked up a hand-held sonar emitter. He aimed it at Gaius and pulled the trigger. Electricity flowed unpleasantly from the plank, to Gaius, to the floor.

“%^&*!” shouted Gaius, dropping the plank. “What in God’s name was that?”

“That, Gaius, is something nobody has ever done before.” Cornelius was grinning from ear to ear. “You might say it’s a rather ‘shocking’ discovery.”

“Now you’ve hurt me mentally as well as physically, Cornelius. I demand an explanation.”

“You won’t believe me, but alright. This wood comes from a very special and rare kind of tree,” said Cornelius, “Xylionis jazari. It’s unique in that it acts in many ways like a metal, being malleable and conductive.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Mostly, yes. Would you like more proof to the contrary?”

“No!” said Gaius. “What did it do with the sonar?”

“It absorbed it and converted the signal into a nasty shock for you. If we could use this in cloaking for a ship, it would be virtually undetectable by sonar. You’ll notice that my detector didn’t register a returning wave. This means that if a ship cloaked in xylionic wood were hit with a wave at this frequency, it would be converted and stored as power for the ship. I’ve theorized about this for quite some time, it’s rather a revolutionary idea, if I do say so myself.”

Gaius looked incredulous.

“How is it that nobody knows about this plant, if it’s so unique?”

“I’m not sure, but if I were to hazard a guess I’d say that it’s because physicists don’t talk to biologists, biologists don’t talk to physicists, and no scientists stay on Osiris for any extended period of time.”

“And if all the scholars in the system couldn’t figure this out, why could you?”
“Because I didn’t go to school, I suppose. I never had to choose a field.”

Cornelius clamped the plank into a circuit with a lightbulb, and handed the sonar emitter to Gaius.

Gaius sent waves of various frequencies into the plank, and found that the lightbulb lit up upon absorbing them.

“It’s a bit much to take, all at once,” said Cornelius. “Needless to say, it’s important that the Anubians don’t find out about this. Now, I need you to record the range of frequencies that can be absorbed by the xylionic wood. If the operators wake up, stun them again.” Cornelius handed Gaius his gun and made for the door.
“Where are you going unarmed?”

“I’m just checking up on something in the written records room we passed when we came in. I’ll be alright, I literally have tricks up my sleeve. Oh, did I mention? I’m not entirely human, that’s why I had you do the initial test. Back in a minute!”

Cornelius left a confused Gaius and entered the written records room. He pulled a recent volume off the shelf and flipped through it, looking for his name.

“Freeze!” said a voice behind him. Cornelius felt a gun on his neck. He slowly turned his head around and was surprised to find not an Anubian guard but a small, bookish librarian holding the pistol.

“I’m leaving this place,” said the woman, “and there’s just not a thing you can do about it. I’ll shoot if you try anything funny. Don’t even think about getting an officer.”

“What?” said Cornelius.

The woman looked slightly less determined for a moment.

“You don’t sound Anubian,” she said.

“I’m not,” said Cornelius, “and neither are you. What are you doing here?”

“I’m holding a gun to your head, is what I’m doing, so start behaving accordingly.”

“Right,” said Cornelius, slowly removing the Anubian jacket. “See, I’m not Anubian. Now let’s put the gun down, because I’ve got a ship and you need it to escape.”

“You’ve piqued my curiosity, sir,” she lowered the gun a few inches.

“My name is Cornelius Zydeco, and I work for a group of pirates against the Anubian domination.”

“Cornelius who?” she suddenly lost interest in the gun and picked up a volume marked ‘Legends, Disproven’. She flipped through the book to an entry and began to read it. “So what you’re saying is, you’re a man with supernatural powers that lives in the shadows of Osiris fighting for justice against gangs? The one that parents tell their children about for bedtime stories when King Arthur isn’t glorious enough? Sir, if you’re going to pick a fake identity, choose one a bit more ‘John Smith’, a bit less ‘Robin Hood’.”

“Is that the only place I’m mentioned in the Anubian records?”

“Yes, ‘Cornelius Zydeco’, it is. Now give me your real name, or I’ll pick up the gun again.”

“This gun?” said Cornelius, holding her pistol.

“%&#*& and #$^#-ridden ^&*@# in a hand basket!”

“That was…creative. Now if you would be so kind as to accompany me to the sonar and radar center.”

Cornelius drove her across the building at gunpoint.

“Since you’re so inclined that we should become acquainted, why don’t you tell me your name?”

“I’m Cornelius Zydeco,” she said sarcastically.

Cornelius sighed and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a green-glowing forearm. With a flick of his wrist, one of his fingers became a drill.

“If you’re still convinced I’m not Cornelius Zydeco, ask me something that only he would know.”

“It said in the entry that Cornelius Zydeco once blew up an airship while on board. How exactly did you go about that?”

“I jumped to the hull of a passing ground-hopper, then commandeered it.”

“Well then. Just one more question.”

“Yes?”

“How is it that you’re so skinny if your best friends are Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?”

“I see you’re going to be difficult about this,” said Cornelius. They spent the rest of the walk in silence.

“Who’s this, Cornelius?” said Gaius.

“It’s Cornelius Zydeco, apparently,” he said. “See, I believe you, why won’t you believe me?”

“I’ve missed something,” said Gaius.

The woman kicked Cornelius in the shins.

“What was that for?” he said, cringing.

“You there,” she said to Gaius, “how long have you known this man?”

“Just under one day,” said Gaius, “why?”

“I believe you now. My name is Anita O’Connor, I’m a historian from the third moon of Thoth, and I’ve been a consultant to the Anubians for their current mission on Osiris. They’re a nasty, brutal sort and I sincerely hope you all succeed in defeating them.”

“What caused the sudden yet refreshing openness?” said Cornelius.

“Well, you didn’t shoot me when I kicked you, for one. For two, that man has known you less than a day and he trusts you enough to follow you into the middle of an Anubian settlement, blow up their furnace, and hack into their communications. There’s no better way to guarantee one’s own mortality than that, so you must be someone worth following.” She paused, “and for three, the bit with the glowing arm and the drill finger.”

“Yes, I thought that bit was good too,” said Cornelius. “It’s also literally a bit, because it’s the spinning part of a drill.”

Anita kicked him in the shins again.

Meanwhile, Alejandra and Sister Pastor were engaged in a similar conversation with Emmaline Hortense Sjorsdotter.

“…and that’s how phosphorilation works at the atomic level. Now put down my tree or I’ll explain the Krebs cycle.”

“Sweet Jesus, woman! I can’t take no more of this. Let her go, Alejandra, it just ain’t worth it.”

“And these ‘carbon atoms’, they come together in all these ways, truly?”

“Yes. In fact, there are lots of ways in which carbon atoms can come together. I think I’ll list them all, unless you want to put the tree down. There’s alkanes, and triglycerides, and complex sugars, and graphite, and coal, and diamonds, and benzene rings, and phenyl groups, and…“

“Quiet, girl! You gonna bust my nerves right out my head. Why don’t you just come down the tree, and talk sensible.”

“…and carbohydrates, and fatty acids, and nucleic acids like guanine, thyamine, uracil, cytosine, and adenine, and there’s carboxylic acid, and…”

“It is fascinating that they can do all these things. And all of them happen up in that tree you sit in?”

“The tree in which I sit. Actually, English grammar is another good topic of conversation. Let’s talk about the proper use of the semicolon. Did you know that it requires the same phrase structure on either side to be used correctly?”

“Where’s my gun? I ain’t listenin’ to this no more.”

“No, do not shoot her! She will teach me the semicolon!”

“$%^& the semicolon.” Sister Pastor drew her pistol and aimed it into the tree. “I apologize, Lord, for what I now must do. I know it is a sin to take an innocent life, but Lord, she gone too far.”

“The semicolon should never be used unless each phrase can stand on its own as a complete sentence. Here’s an example. Put down the tree; I’ll stop talking. You couldn’t say ‘put down the tree; and I’ll stop talking’, because ‘and I’ll stop talking’ is a dependent clause.”

“Dependent on my gun!”

“What’s going on here?” said Cornelius, arriving on the scene with Gaius and Anita behind him. He noticed the stranger dangling from the tree, which was in turn dangling from the ship’s crane. He shot the rope holding her up, and she fell several feet to the ground.

“Emmaline Hortense Sjorsdotter is a naturalist studying the chrees here,” said Alejandra, finally lifting the first tree into the hold.

“Really?” said Cornelius. “Would you be interested in a position on the crew?”

“Aw no she ain’t,” said Sister Pastor. “I’m not going on no ship with her. None of this here ‘pyruvate’ and all.”

“Sister, she could be extremely valuable to us as a resource for studying Xylionis jazari.”

“You know about Xylionis jazari?” said Emmaline Hortense Sjorsdotter. “If so, I respect you; If not, I don’t (that was an excellent place for a semicolon, by the way).”

“Indeed I do. Now let’s get them on this ship before the Anubians get here to chop all of us down.”

“Very well. But I’m coming with them, since, as previously stated, they are the subject of my present research.”

She boarded the ship.

“Boy, you got some kind of talent, getting her to do what you say. Lord have mercy.”
Gaius shot down an Anubian who came out of nowhere.

“Ah, we’ve been found out,” said Cornelius, “everyone who’s coming should probably board at this time.”

The unlikely assemblage ascended into the ground-hopper, and Gaius took control of the ships guns to mow down a line of guards.

“Come now, Alejandra, let’s not be unnecessarily graceful,” he said.

“Do not worry, I have only a few more chrees.”

Anubian lasers glanced off the ground-hopper with a distasteful buzz. The soldiers began to set up a larger anti-craft gun.

“You do realize we aren’t shielded, right?” said Gaius.

“One more only!”

The Anubians readied to fire.

“Alejandra!”

“Finished!”

Gaius launched the ground-hopper into the air with great force. The Anubians continued to shoot at them until they were out of range, Gaius narrowly dodging the larger projectiles.

“And now, the lovely prospect of returning to the mess we created this morning,” said Gaius.

“Right, that. I had almost forgotten,” said Cornelius, “the patrols will be out of their minds.”

“Good thing the ship has nothing distinctive about it except a vast quantity of whole trees sticking out of the hold.”

“This is becoming far more complicated than I had previously imagined,” said Anita.

“You don’t know the half of it,” said Cornelius.

Bonus Episode: How Stella Procured the Singing Nun

{{Written by Caitlin}}

The crew of the Feisty Dragon all sat around their makeshift common room. Some lay on couches, others had strewn themselves across the pillows and blankets that lay in piles on the floor. Victoria had her black leather boots propped up on the table, and her head reclining back onto the cushions of the faded tapestry couch. After a long day of trying to maneuver both her ship and the Singing Nun through heavily police patrolled space, she was exhausted.

As a communal sigh seemed to pass through the company, Stella padded in barefoot from the kitchen with an apple clasped between her teeth. As she reached the pillows and people, she took a stage fall into an open space, landing on Marie’s feet in the process.

Marie yelped and shouted, “Stella, what the hell? You landed on my feet!”

“Oh” Stella responded, sitting up and taking a bite of her apple, “Sorry honey. Didn’t see them.” Marie, placated, rolled over and lay back down. This small commotion had drawn the attention of the scant crew and most heads had lifted to see what was happening. The last to look, Victoria raised her head off the cushion slowly. With great purpose she slid her eyes over the Stella.

“Stella…” Victoria began.

“Yes Vicki?” Stella responded through her mouthful of apple.

“Stella, what are you wearing?” Victoria took in the sight of Stella in oversized pants and a shirt that looked like a tent.

“Comfy clothes, I mean the combat boots and knives are great for when battle could be imminent, but right now, I just want something I can swing free in.” Stella squirmed and shook her feminine parts about to provide a visual to her statement.

“Okay, and one more question...”

“Shoot, Skillet.” Victoria smiled at the nickname Stella insisted on calling her by.
“Why are you on my ship?”

“Cause the day of running from baddies is over, and the Nun is still docked with the Dragon, so I jogged on over for some R and R.”

“Yes, but you have your own ship, with your own common room, and your own ship’s stores of food”

“And? Food is so much better when it catches sight of Marie, and resting is so much more...restful… when I know that if I’m feeling feisty I need only throw a pillow at Kots to get something started.” Stella was grinning impishly at this point in time. At the mention of his name Kots sat up and looked either frightened of Stella, or hopeful that a play fight would ensue, it was difficult to tell what he was thinking sometimes. Victoria sat, slightly perturbed looking, as she gazed upon the closest friend she had. Arturius, next to her, stifled a small laugh with his hand as he saw the look of frustration on Victoria’s face that only Stella could put there. In an attempt to avoid what would become a playful, but sometimes intimidating insult contest between the captains of the two ships, Geneva asked a question.

“Hey Stella, how did you get the Nun anyways? I don’t think I’ve heard the story.”

“Really!” was Stella’s response, “well I’ll tell you. Vicki don’t try to help me, you just end up making tangents and taking an hour to tell a story. Okay so it was almost a year ago…

The Feisty Dragon was just coasting through space while the Captain and her Prima sat in the cockpit. The two of them were joking and smiling in a way they only did when alone. As Stella sat with her feet up on the console, and Victoria with her legs tucked beneath her, a small light began to blink on the display panel. Stella saw it first and sat up.

“Something coming up on radar” she muttered.

“Oh great” Victoria complained, “I’ll rally the troops” Victoria then pressed a button and shouted into the microphone nearby, “Everybody to stations, we have something on radar and its big.”

Members of the crew like Violet and Marie just strapped themselves in while Cornelius rushed to the engine room and Arturius rushed to the bridge. Once the main crew was assembled, Victoria moved the Dragon closer to the radar blip. As they neared it, they began picking up the white flag signal. Whatever this ship was, it was giving up before they even got close enough for visual. Working without orders, for they all knew their jobs so well, Stella, Arturius, and Victoria readied the Dragon for combat as they came into visual range. Suddenly a massive ship appeared on the view screen. A massive, rusting, unarmed, medical ship. Victoria laughed out loud.

“A medical ship? God, I’ll head over and clear it out myself.” Stella stood up, her jovial nature gone and replaced with the fierce protectiveness of a first in command.

“No Captain.” She said plainly leaving no room for question. “I’ll go prepare an away team.” Turning to Arturius she said, “Arty I know you are always vying for my position, but if anything happens to me you better goddamn protect her.” Arturius, who normally was made to smirk at Stella’s jovial nature could only nod gravely and stare at the shift in Stella’s demeanor when danger was presented. This was the most dangerous thing they had faced together other than the incident when they first met and procured the Dragon.

Stella strode off the bridge and stopped in the armory. Once there she called down Rosalie (Hannah that’s you!!!), her close friend and trusted fighter that they had picked up off a small asteroid colony, as well as two other random crew members that had been procured on other planets and supported their ideals. Armed to the teeth (literally, Stella had slipped a small sheathed blade into a special mouth holster she had made herself), Stella, Rosalie, and the others walked to the docking bay where the Dragon would soon be attaching itself to the large medical ship.

With a hiss the airlock opened and they strode forward into the other ship. Stella opened communications channels and began to report in to the bridge. On the bridge Victoria sat anxiously in her seat leaned over the speaker as she listened to Stella’s words. Just as the away team made it into the other ship Victoria heard something that worried her. A shriek came over the intercom and then she heard Stella yell,

“Oh hell….” Suddenly the communications broke off and only static was heard. Victoria stood up suddenly, but before she could announce orders the medical ship detached from hers. In a panic Victoria thought through her military training, trying to decide what to do. The stakes were different here than in the military. Here it was underhanded and secret instead of open, and here she had people she truly cared for in serious danger.

After an agonizing minute or two of silence the medical ship moved. It turned to face the Dragon. Startling both Victoria and Arturius, the view screen clicked off and showed the static that happens before a ship to ship video is initiated.

Meanwhile back on the away team, Stella had been giving a running dialogue of what was happening when they entered the medical ship. As the door opened she saw a handful of doctors with their hands above their heads. Before she could report this, Rosalie fell over one of them, shrieking with surprise. Stella was too excited to care. She had been pestering Victoria like a child for weeks about getting a ship of her own and the answer had always been “when we run across one that you can commandeer, its yours.” Stella took a step forward into the ship while uttering her standby phrase of excitement, “Oh hell yeah!”

As soon as she entered the other ship her communications cut off. One of the doctors spoke up:

“It’s the medical equipment in this part of the ship, it fries short range comm. devices.”

“Oh,” Stella said still looking about the ship excitedly. “So listen, I’m taking your ship. We can work out the details later, but for now these two are gonna stay here and keep and eye on you while Rosie and I head up to the bridge m’kay?” Not waiting for an answer Stella drug Rosalie off, following the signs that led to the bridge.

Once there she sat down, accidentally hitting the airlock release button. Her new ship was now free of the Dragon, so Stella took the controls and began to try to manuver it. After a few minutes of trial and error, Stella was able to turn her ship to face the Dragon, and, punching in the access code, hacked into the video feed of the Dragon so she could tell Victoria herself about the new ship.

Back on the Dragon, Victoria yelled for Arturius to prep the weapons as the video feed began to clear. She shouted the order to fire just as Stella’s face appeared on the screen. Realizing her friend was on the bridge of the medical ship, Victoria reached out with inhuman reflexes and caught Arturius’s hand as he was just about to depress the button to fire the main guns. Looking up they both saw Stella smiling hugely on the screen.

“Hey Vicki!” She shouted, “ I found a ship! Can I keep it?” Victoria sank into the chair, feeling weak from the stress of the last few minutes. She smiled slightly at the childlike behavior of her friend.

“Yes Stella, you can keep it.” She responded. Looking to Arturius she said, “Looks like you are Primus now.”

….And that’s how I got the Nun.” Stella finished. Geneva just looked at her.

“You scared the Captain like that!?” Geneva yelled at Stella throwing a pillow towards her head. “That’s just not nice…apologize, right now!” The company laughed and relaxed as they Stella took another bite of apple and began to jokingly apologize to Victoria.

Endeavour: Episode Two

{{Written by Alina}}

Alejandra put a dash of salt on the eggs she was cooking and scooped them onto three plates. She carried them over to a small table where Gaius and Cornelius were pouring over a map of Osiris.

“And you’re certain the camp is in Shabaka?” said Gaius, doubt dripping from every syllable.

“Very,” said Cornelius. “I saw the place with my own eyes.”

“But it’s on the other side of the planet, how could you have come here so quickly without a ship?”

“Thank you Alejandra.”

“This Shabaka, it is the city of the Shabaka stone, yes? A legend of great importance to this planet?” said Alejandra.

“I’m afraid the legends are true,” said Cornelius. “I’ve held the stone in my own hands.”

“This legend, I have heard, it will kill the man who holds it, yet I am seeing you in front of me!”

Cornelius chuckled.

“It’s not for want of trying. But the stone has been destroyed and the dead have returned to their rest. It’s rather a long story how I became involved, so I’ll leave it for another day. What I’m interested in now, is why the Anubians are still here even without their Instigation and the stone on which they used it. They patrol the streets as though they own the place, and therefore still have some interest in being here.”

“I certainly hope that that reason isn’t you, sir,” said Gaius, “if I found that to be the case I’d just as soon slit your throat as be caught harboring an enemy of the Anubians.”

“Thank you, that’s good to know,” said Cornelius, “but I don’t think I merit that kind of attention. No, I think what we’re looking for can only be found by doing a bit of investigating at the source. Alejandra, could you get us a ship? A small ground-hopper should suffice.”

“Yes, I think I am doing this with great ease.”

“Excellent. Can I count on your presence, Gaius?”

“It’s against my better judgment, but you’ll need someone who can use a gun. Or several.”

“Good man. Now finish your breakfast and let’s be off.”

Cornelius took them to an industrial shipyard on the edge of town. Patrols, both Anubian and gang-based, surrounded and dissected the grounds like veins in marble, impurities among the fearful multitudes.

“That is the one we want,” said Alejandra, pointing to a small ground-hopper resting several hundred yards away.

“And why, pray tell, would you choose that one when there’s an identical ship not half the distance away, and guarded by not half the patrolmen?” Gaius muttered.

“Because all the guards for the far ship, they are not thinking about us, but about that woman near to them. When we are going by, it is like they cannot see us.”

“If memory serves, isn’t this the very situation in which your entire crew was killed?” said Gaius.

Cornelius shot him a look, to which he did not respond.

“I am going now to get the ship,” said Alejandra. She darted off into the yard when the patrol nearest them passed by. Crouching inside the landing gear of ships, she cut a zig-zag path through the chaos towards her target. Cornelius followed the path and reluctantly Gaius went behind.

“It must be very pressing, this business at the Anubian camp,” said Gaius, “I have no other explanation for this creeping and sneaking. I favor a more direct approach, and you should know that if my patience wears thin with this method, I’ll resort to my own.”

“Very well, Gaius, that is your prerogative. But it is very important that you come with me today.”
“And why is that?”

“Because before you can leave a planet, you have to see the other side of it. You have to know that it’s round, and self-contained. See that point A and point B are really the same place, then leave the place for another.”

“I do hope you’re being philosophical and not serious, sir. This is hardly a matter to be made light of.”

“Isn’t it? You might die, you know.”

“You’re doing very little for my confidence, Mr. Zydeco.”

They reconnected with Alejandra at the hull of the ground-hopper. Directly in front of them, the guards were indeed distracted by an irritated woman.

“It’s Sunday mornin’, brotha’s. Ain’t you got a church to go to or nothin’?”

“There’s no church for an Anubian,” said the guard, “we have only our duty. Kindly be on your way or we’ll ask you to report your religious image to the Bureau.”

“Oh, now you got a problem with me. You saying that just because I’m a woman of the Lord, I got some kind of problem, and it’s your job to put me down. Well, but nothin’, gentlemen. I got better places to be and better things to do. I’ll let you think about that fo’ awhile, cause they’s somebody watchin’ what you do right now, and He don’t need no kind of bureau to report to. Y’all step aside now, brotha’s.”

“I want her on my crew,” Cornelius whispered. Gaius looked disgusted at the idea.

The Anubian patrol blocked the woman’s way, and one of them reached for the cross around her neck. He snapped the gold chain that held it in place.

“Aw, no! See now it ain’t just about me, right, it’s about the Lord above. Ain’t nobody does that to my man and gets away with it. Sorry, brotha’s, but Lord knows I gave you a choice.”

In the blink of an eye, the woman shot three of the patrolmen in the chest with a laser pistol that came out of nowhere. She pointed it at the remaining two.

“Y’all keep ya hands where I can see ‘em. I’ll take them guns of yours, not doin’ you any good no mo’.”
The Anubians held their hands in the air while the woman removed their rifles from their holsters.

“I hope you boys learned yo’ selves a lesson today. They’s nowhere you got any business bein’ on this holy day except on your knees in the Lord’s house.”

From up in a building behind the shipyard, another patrolman took aim at the woman’s unprotected back. Instantly, he fell over backwards as a laser hit him squarely through the forehead. Cornelius turned around in surprise to see Gaius holding the smoking gun.

“I despise that kind of behavior,” he said by way of explanation.

The shots attracted the attention of more Anubian patrols, and they began to make their way towards them.

“Gaius, Alejandra, get the ship started.” They took the keys to the ship from the disarmed Anubians and went inside. Cornelius ran to the woman, grabbed her by the arm, and began to pull her towards the door.
“Get yo’ hands off me, boy; they’s plenty of lasers in this gun for you too.”

“I’m very sorry, ma’am, there’s no time to explain. You’ve got to get into this ship now or the Anubians will kill us both.”

“I’m a trust you, son, but they’s one thing I gotta do first.”

She opened the hand of one of the dead Anubians, retrieved her cross, and said the Lord’s prayer.
“Alright, now let’s go. I ain’t gonna meet the Man today.”

They boarded the ship and shut the door behind them just as a volley of laser blasts began. Gaius sat at the controls, where he had the engine running and the jets primed.

“There you are,” he said, and rocketed them into the sky. It didn’t take long for them to leave their attachments behind. Cornelius exhaled loudly and sat down by the console. Alejandra and the woman followed suit.

“Mercy me, wasn’t that a scuffle. You folks got some reason for takin’ a lady on this here stolen ship?”

“You were in danger, now you’re not,” said Cornelius. “We’ll be glad to let you off in another city.”

“Strangest pirates I ever saw, you folks. The Lord’s gonna thank you fo’ what you done. You just gotta give up your hateful ways and learn to love.”

“In case you weren’t keeping an account,” said Gaius, “you’re the one who just dispatched no less than three of your fellow men. I’ve had rather enough preaching for one Sunday, and more than enough from you.”

“Let’s hear her out, Gaius,” said Cornelius, “who are you, to begin with?”

“My name is Sister Aretha Pastor, but you folks can call me Sista’ Pastor.”

“You are, then, how you say, living in a convent?” said Alejandra.

“Well uh, no not at the moment. I was in a convent back on Isis, but I’m here for uh, a mission.”
“What the devil could you achieve from a mission to Osiris?” said Gaius.

“Alright, boy. I was thrown out of the convent. I hope you happy now.”

“I’m intrigued, if nothing else. And as my captive audience, I mandate an explanation.”

“If you folks really need to know, it’s because I was speaking out in His name. I spoke for all those slaves that was too quiet for folks to listen to them. I said that they had needs that were not being met, and I said that they had souls that needed savin’ and bellies that needed fillin’ and hearts that needed a little something warm. And when I said this, people heard, but they didn’t want to listen no mo’ when they heard me say that they world would have to change. But I kept on talkin’, and now I guess I ain’t very welcome there no more. I left Isis behind, came here. It’s a place where the devil runs around in the daylight, but there’s a few souls here that the Lord can smile on, and that’s how I make my way.”

“I see,” said Gaius. “However, I entirely fail to relate to your religious zeal.”

“Osiris and Anubis aren’t the only planets in this system where justice is out of balance,” said Cornelius.
“Justice?” said Gaius as through Cornelius had just said ‘unicorns’. “That is a construct I’m not willing to accept any more than I do religion. It’s nothing more than a euphemism for vengeance on a societal scale. Now with all due respect let’s have done with Sister Pastor so we can get on with the mission.”
“You folks ain’t no regular pirates, are you?” said Sister Pastor.

“No, no we’re not,” said Cornelius. He explained the situation.

“So you and yo’ captain, you fight the Anubians and the Osiran gangs, and you just turn a blind eye on all them Isisian slaves?”

“It’s complicated,” said Cornelius. “We needed to ally our forces with one of the major powers in the system or else we couldn’t have survived. The Captain and Stella were hesitant, but unlike Mr. Winthrop here, one man on the Dragon truly believes in justice. Now one of their royalty is among our numbers. She’s fought alongside us in every battle, and never given us reason for us to doubt her. She would never support the slave trade, I’m sure she understands its brutality.”

“Uh huh. Well look you here, boy. If you want me on your crew, you gotta give me your word that you gonna do somethin’ for them slaves. They hurtin’ just as bad as anyone else.”

Cornelius stuck out his hand, and Sister Pastor shook it.

“It’s a deal.”

Endeavour: Episode One

{{Written by Alina}}

Cornelius Zydeco swept his eyes across a familiar street, glancing at a series of public houses, pool halls, pawn shops, and the odd scarlet-lighted burlesque establishment. The smoldering remains of his shirt still clung to his back, the charred blaster, now useless, was still clenched in his hand. Sweat dripped into his eyes and blurred his vision. Painfully, he lifted a foot off the ground and placed it in front of him, his limbs trembling. Passers-by lifted their eyes toward him for a moment but quickly looked away. All save one, a man dressed slightly more sharply than the average Osiran.

“Pardon, sir,” he said, “I’m not in the habit of accosting strangers, nor am I in spirit a kind person, but out of sheer curiosity I must ask you where the devil you’ve just come from.”

Cornelius looked at him without saying anything. Then he fell over.

“So be it,” said the man, walking away. A few steps later he returned to Cornelius and bent down to his face. “You will, of course, remember that I never claimed to be a kind person. When our paths cross again I hope you’ll inform me about the oven you seem to have crawled out of. Good day.”

Cornelius lay with his face in the gutter and didn’t acknowledge the man in any way. Then he heard another voice.

“Excuse me, please?” said a woman with a foreign accent. “Why you are not helping your friend?”

“That man is no acquaintance of mine and therefore none of my concern. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be on my way.”

“Oh, no no no! We must to take him to a warm bed for the healing. Now, you are carrying his arms and I am carrying his legs, yes? You are living nearby? You have a shirt for him?”

“I fear you must have misunderstood me, Madame. I’m perfectly content leaving him to sleep in the gutter tonight. I’ve few enough shirts as it is. Good day to you both.”

“You nasty Anubians are all the same. Never are you-“

“How did you know I was Anubian?” said the man, taking a new tone.

“Take this man home and help me to get him cleaned up. You will do this?”

“Blast my curiosity. Alright, I’ll take the poor sap home, but for God’s sake let’s avoid the patrols. I’ve no need to encounter them again tonight.”

Cornelius felt himself being lifted up by two people, then slung over the man’s shoulder.

“He’s got a very good grip on that gun, hasn’t he?” said the man. “I’m Gaius, by the way. Gaius Winthrop.”

“I am Alejandra.”

“I’d say it’s a pleasure but it wouldn’t be true. Come on, then, it’s this way.”

They took Cornelius down a series of streets, narrowly avoiding patrols by Anubians or gangs. They entered a small shop and brought him upstairs to an apartment, where they hosed him off with Gaius’ meager cleaning supplies. After putting the stranger to bed, Gaius lit a fire in his fireplace and began making tea.

“Well then? Would you care to tell me who you are and how you survive on Osiris without any apparent knowledge of the way things work here?”

“I am no more Osiran than you,” said Alejandra. “And my past, it is troubled like yours.”

“And what do you know of my past?” Gaius snapped.

“Only what I can see of your qi. You are far from home, yes? Anubis holds some powerful secrets for you.”

Gaius poured himself a cup of tea. He glared angrily at Alejandra and poured one for her as well. He sat down.

“I was important there, you know. My family held quite a lot of sway.”

“Tell me about them.”

“No, thank you. It’s none of your business. As soon as this man is walking again he can walk right out the door and you with him.”

“What did you do with his gun?”

“It’s in the shop. That is what I do for a living.”

“You steal things?”

“Obviously not! I sell and fix weaponry for a moderate price. I thought perhaps our guest would pay for the service."

“I see.”

“Now where is it you’re from?”

“Far. Even farther than you.”

“Isis?”

“No. Much farther. I am coming from another system.”

“And how did you come to be here?”

“A jet pack. That is what you call them here, yes?”

“Evidently not. A jet pack couldn’t get you to Anubis, much less another system. You must have been on some kind of craft, surely.”

“Not on, but around. I was starting the boarding of a ship to commandeer it for my crew and got trapped in between the shield and the siding. I used my jet pack and survived on the food I carried. It is all gone now.”

“I beg your pardon, did you say you were commandeering a ship?”

“Yes! I am back home, how you say, a pirate of space?”

“A pirate? And you survived for weeks on the peripheral oxygen trapped on the hull of a ship? Do you expect me to believe this rubbish?”

“Yes. Is true. There was a great war on my planet and I was a refugee. To survive, this was my only profession. Here is my sword.”

To Gaius’ surprise, Alejandra drew out a lengthy foreign blade and handed it to him.
“I’m unfamiliar with this metal, which does suggest it’s from another system. It’s seen a lot of use, that’s certain. Yes, I’m afraid I’m going to have to start to believe you, which doesn’t say much for my current mental state.”

“You see, what you can do for a sword, I can do for a person. That is how I am knowing things about you.”

“It’s well overdue for a cleaning. Your sword, that is.”

“You can do this for me, yes?”

“If you pay.”

Alejandra threw up her hands in exasperation.

“Always, you are the Anubian. No care for others.”

Gaius stood up and turned an unpleasant shade of red.

“Let me make something very clear,” he said loudly, pronouncing each word slowly and deliberately. “I hate that place.”

Alejandra sat back in her chair. Gaius began to pace.
“My father was not a good man. He was corrupt even for the impossibly low Anubian standard of morality. My mother couldn’t stand him, so she shot herself with a rotating six millimeter hand laser. My brother couldn’t stand him, so he took up habits of the most devious kind to escape him. My father didn’t like that very much at all, in regards to the preservation of his own reputation, so he had him killed by thugs. And you know something? I couldn’t stand him either. And that’s why I killed him.”

He paused.

“We dueled with pistols. He cheated but I still won. And then the board of directors took nearly everything I had, and I was forced to flee. And so you see, I am not a kind person, but that is not because I am Anubian, so kindly refrain from implying that my heritage commands my character.”

Alejandra nodded.

“I’m going to check on the man now,” she said, taking her bag into his room. Gaius followed.

Cornelius looked at them but didn’t say anything.

Alejandra took some herbs from her bag and raised them to his nose with no effect.

“And what is that?” said Gaius.

Alejandra put some in front of his face and he immediately began to cough and sputter.

“My God, that man must have nerves of steel,” he said.

“Or none at all,” said Alejandra, “his qi is frozen in place, he cannot move or speak.”

“Ah, naturally, his qi,” Gaius rolled his eyes.

Alejandra took out another herb and rubbed some on his hand. One of Cornelius’ fingers moved up and down.

“Yes, this is what he needs. You will add some of this to his tea and give it to him.”

“I will? How curious. I had no intention of doing so.”

Alejandra sighed and made the preparation herself. She tilted Cornelius’ head back and poured some tea down his throat.

Cornelius blinked.

“I know some people that could help you,” he said.

“What did he just say?” said Gaius.

“I heard what you said. Did you hear about the Battle of the West Horizon?”

“I heard that some dissenting military officials were killed there, yes.”

“And do you think that’s what really happened?”

“I think, sir, that what the Anubians report is generally the farthest thing from reality.”

“There were more than just a few of them, Gaius. There were thousands, tens of thousands. And all of them reporting to one purpose, a single name.”

“And what is that name?”

“Victoriana Regency, my captain and commander. She’s alive. And so are her brave companions, my friends Stella and Arturius. I can take you to them.”

“What makes you think I would want that?” said Gaius.

“I know you want to help us, Gaius. We’ve seen what the Anubians do, just as you have.”

“Well, to be honest, I am in the market for an adventure. I’ll meet this captain of yours and if she is what you say she is, I’ll consider joining your cause.”

“That would help us greatly. I have need of a weapons expert. One that’s not insane, anyway, unlike Kots.”

“You have a Kots?” said Gaius. His eyes opened wide.

“Yes. The last of the Kots. He looks just like you, come to think of it.”

“I was supposed to be Kots, you know. I would have given anything to become one when I was a boy. But never mind that now, where are your crew?”

“Isis. We’d need a ship to get there. All I have is the skeleton of one.”

“We’ll have to remedy that. Alejandra, when will he be able to walk again?”

“Soon. What is your name, my friend?”

“I’m called Cornelius Zydeco.”

“You are Cornelius Zydeco?” said Alejandra, “you are the very reason I am coming to this city, how fortunate that we should meet. It is all thanks to kind Gaius.”

“Refrain from describing me inaccurately please.”

“I am searching for you these many months because the people tell me you are a great hero.”

“Am I?”

“I have learned that only you are decent on this planet. You have saved the lives of so many from the gangs. I must tell you that your cause, it is my cause also, for if I am going to live in this system, it must be among good people.”

“You’re in the wrong system, then,” said Gaius.

“I would be glad of your help,” said Cornelius, “but wouldn’t you like to return to your crew in your own system?”

“I am wishing this, yes, but I cannot return to my crew for they were killed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Well, if it’s adventure you two want, it’s adventure you’ll get.”

He stood up, to the surprise of the others.

“Where’s my shirt?”

Episode Seven

{{Written by Emily}}

Part 1: Phinnyus Smyth

It was getting on to evening on the between-systems spaceport where the Feisty Dragon and the Singing Nun had stopped to re-supply and walk around a bit. Violet had barely finished browsing the sixth stall on the marketplace level when she was seized from behind, a hand clapped over her mouth, and before she even considered screaming she was being hauled down a corridor between ship ports. She sighed into the hand covering her mouth. Why does this always happen to me? She wondered. Her arms were pinned, so there was no reaching the lady's pistol stowed in her boot. Her eyes frantically scanned for her shopping companion, Geneva – the other girl was in a similar hold by another man – a big man, wearing trousers and a dirty shirt that displayed prominently his steroid-pumped arms. As she watched, Geneva twisted beneath his grasp – and her leg came free with just enough room to swing it around and nail her captor right where the steroids do more harm than good. The man howled and dropped her, and she ran for it, disappearing almost instantly back into the crowded market. Violet yelled a muffled cheer. She knew Geneva would bring back Arturius, and he would never let these men get away with this!

Two of the men made to run after her, but the one holding Violet called them back. “She's not th' one the ransom listed, screw balls, now git back here and lets get back teh the ship, quickly like. The Anubians don't like teh wait” Alright, so they were out for her ransom – bounty hunters, then, serving her family's enemies. How did they find them on this middle-of-nowhere spaceport? It was practically a truck-stop for space-goers! She tried to get her bearings, learn more about the people who had her. There were four – no five of them, one was behind her own captor. They all looked ogre-shaped and (she wrinkled her delicate nose in disgust), had a distinct unwashed smell. She hoped Arturius – oh, and of course, Victoriana and Stella and the rest – got here soon.

She was surprised and upset when they started walking up the gangplank of the nearest ship – what, weren't they farther away? They had to leave enough time for Arturius to rescue her! - and even more surprised to hear a voice she didn't recognize at all call out, “Excuse me, gentlemen! A moment of your time, if you please!”

A man was striding toward the gangplank across the open port space. He stood just over six foot, but looked taller in a top hat and tailcoat the color of ink. A monocle over one of his hazel eyes gave further class to a neatly trimmed, slightly silvering black goatee. A slim black cane grasped in his gloved fist looked more dangerous than it should have. The handful of men and women flanking him stood just as straight and proud as their captain (and, Violet was pleased to note, just as well-dressed in vests and corseted day wear, with well-matched weapons in tasteful holsters), but they exchanged glances of apparent confusion as their captain stepped toward the bounty hunters and their captive. Then they visibly changed stances, readying for a fight, as the bounty hunters turned and glared at the intruders.

“I am Phinnyus Smyth, captain of the Serendipity.” He stopped in front of the man holding Violet, the one who had given the orders before. “You will, of course, unhand the lady. Without further ado.” Phinnyus stated coolly. His eyes locked on the scarred face of the lead bounty hunter, ignoring the others.

Violet was passed unceremoniously into the grip of steroid man. The lead bounty hunter sized up the newcomer, and laughed. “Eh? An' 'oo d'ya think you are, pretty boy, givin' out orders. This gel ain't belongin' teh the likes of you.” The bounty hunter grinned, glancing back appreciatively at Violet and running a tongue over his lips. His men all cackled. Violet turned a tinge green under her usual ivory. “Tho she could be, for the right price, if ya know whot I mean. She is a looker, tha' one.”

“I'm not here to haggle over price. I'm here to return the lady to her ship.” Phinnyus replied, his disgust apparent in his harsh tone. “Do not, please, keep me waiting. You will release her, one way or another. I suggest you do so of your own volition, now.”

The bounty hunter spat on the ground between them. He knew a challenge when he heard one, and he didn't like it. Flexing his muscles – it had been weeks since he'd had a good brawl! - he stepped up and swung a fist at the pretty bastard's head. To his confusion, his blow was caught, not by the captain, but by one of his crew members, a woman full in corset and hiked-up skirts, who had appeared silently beside him. His other arm was quickly pinned by one of Phinnyus's men in vest and bowler hat on the other side. The bounty hunter's men stepped forward, prepared to fight with their leader, but two of Phinnyus's crew pulled laser pistols on them, and they stopped, watching what would happen next.

Instead of the blows the bounty hunter expected, the two crew simply held him, as Phinnyus carefully handed his cane and monocle to another man by his side. Then he removed his tailcoat, revealing that all he wore underneath was a sleeveless white muscle shirt, and stepped forward. Violet giggled at the sight – a gentleman in a muscle shirt and top hat, readying himself to fight hand-to-hand with a bounty hunter! - then stopped as Mr. Steroids shook her in warning. The bounty hunter found he was suddenly released, the two crew spreading out to warn off his gang from interfering.

The bounty hunter threw the first punch, and Phinnyus dodged before countering with a sweeping kick, tripping up his opponent but not felling him. Phinnyus went straight in for a jab to the jaw, and the bounty hunter fall backward, out of the way. Regaining his footing, the bounty hunter ran at Phinnyus with a growl, and when Phinnyus threw a punch the bounty hunter ducked and barreled into the captain, and they both fell into the dirt road, scuffling and wrestling. The onlookers couldn't quite tell what had happened when the bounty hunter suddenly let our a yell of pain and rolled away. Phinnyus was on top of him again in an instant, throwing punches over and over again until his opponent was unconscious. His top hat, somehow, was still in place.

Standing up straight, he beckoned to Violet with one finger. The men holding her reluctantly let her go, seeing that they had lost according to the rules of their back-alley kind, and also noting with full comprehension the laser pistols and other armed crew members on Phinnyus's side. Violet ran over to join the well-dressed crew.

“You let her go, now, or you'll answer to me!” came a yell from the entry to the port as – a little late – Arturius came bounding into sight, followed closely by the rest of the crew of the Feisty Dragon and Stella.

"Arturius!" Violet cried anyway, and threw herself into his embrace.

Victoriana stepped forward, surveying the scene - the beaten and unconscious would-be kidnapper being dragged onto his ship by his cronies, the foreign crew now putting their weapons away (though still within easy reach), and the gentleman captain who was replacing his tailcoat and monocle as he surreptitiously slipped a pair of brass knuckles into a hidden pocket. Her eyes narrowed. Perhaps he wasn't as gentlemanly as he dressed.

"Violet, what happened?" she asked curtly, her eyes not leaving the man in the tailcoat.

"Oh, Captain! They grabbed me out of nowhere, they said they would ransom me, I think they were working for the Anubians who attacked my family on Isis, and Geneva got away, but we were about to get on the ship, and then - " she paused breathlessly and glanced at Phinnyus, "- this captain and his crew stopped them and rescued me. And then you got here," she added, as an afterthought, and hugged Arturius tighter.

"Well then. To whom do we owe our thanks?" Victoriana asked cautiously.

"Phinnyus Smyth, captain of he Serendipity." Phinnyus answered with a bow, "at your service. And, if I am correct in thinking that you are Victoriana Regency, then I do mean that quite literally."

Stella, as always at Victoriana's side, was looking him up and down. "I like the sounds of that. What kind of an offer do you mean, laddy-buck?" She asked with a wink.

Victoriana shot her a look that told her, in their non-verbal language, Hey, cut it out, we don't know he's on our side, or if we want him to be.

Her answering look said, What, he's hot?!

Phinnyus answered the spoken question. "I have been looking for you, Captain. I want to join your fleet. My crew, sadly, cannot join me in this, but I have a ship, and I can offer my service in the pursuit of your cause."

Arturius spoke up. "How did you find us, and what do you know of our cause?"

Phinnyus lifted one eyebrow, making his eye boggle under the monocle, and answered, "Word of the Feisty Dragon and the Singing Nun has traveled since the rebellion failed. The Anubians are all on the
lookout for you. And I have been on the lookout for someone to join against the Anubians since . . ." He glanced back at his crew. "Well, I have no kind feelings for them, let's put it that way. I would be
happy to tell you all about it back on your ship. But! Enough of this for now. I believe these despicable men want to leave, and they can't while we are still on the landing pad. Shall we?" He bowed again, indicating the exit with his outstretched arm.

The bounty hunter's ship was indeed powering up, and the group quickly vacated back to the Feisty Dragon. Just outside, Phinnyus bid farewell to his crew with hugs and handshakes, each of them seeming to truly regret that they were separating from their captain. Victoriana paid close attention - a man's crew gives the best indication of his (or her) character. When the last woman came forward to exchange a hug and a kiss, Victoriana noticed for the first time that she had a little girl, no more than 6 years old, by the hand. The girl was as well-dressed as the rest of them in little pink skirts and crisp blouse with a waist cincher, and had curly brown hair cut shoulder-length. To Victoriana's surprise, when the woman crew member left, she put the little girl's hand into Phinnyus's, and with a kiss on the cheek for her she left with tears glimmering in her eyes. Phinnyus lead the child back towards the Feisty Dragon.

Victoriana was not amused. "What is this, exactly? Your daughter is also joining our very-dangerous-and-no-place-for-children mission?" she asked dryly.

"Certainly not. She's not my daughter, she's my fiance . . . and please let me explain before you do anything rash." The last comment was directed at Victoriana, Stella, Cornelius, and Arturius, who were pulling guns from their holsters, but most especially at Kots, who already had a gun - a big one - pressed against Phinnyus's temple. Phinnyus raised his hands slowly in the air, and Stella whisked the little girl away from him with a dirty glare that quite clearly said, "I don't think you're hot anymore, you #$%&@ perve."

"That," Arturius said between clenched teeth, his blast pistol not wavering, "is illegal on all human worlds. You'd better explain quickly."

"Alright, calm down! She may look little, but she's actually older than me. Tell them, dear."

The child looked up at Stella, who was now holding her hand, and nodded. "My name is Abigail Grace Vanderbilt, and I'm 48 years old," she stated in her tiny voice. Then she put her arms around Stella's legs and said, "Pet me?" Stella absently patted her head, utterly bewildered.

Kots looked at the little girl like she was crazy. And you know that's not good. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" he said to the narrator, before returning his mind to the problem at hand.

"Let's all just put the guns away and go inside, and I'll tell you everything. Agreed?" Phinnyus pleaded. When no one seemed to want to move from pointing their guns at his head he said, rather crossly, "This is not setting a good example for her of how adults settle disputes."

And everyone went inside.


Part 2: Abigail Grace Vanderbilt

"Abigail and I were engaged two years ago. She was a geneticist in a scientific complex on Anubus. As I'm sure you know," Phinnyus, still in his black tailcoat and top hat, cast a meaningful glance at the
crew of the Feisty Dragon crammed around the small dining table in the main cabin, "everything and everyone who is exceptional on Anubis is somehow pulled into the military. Abigail was no exception. She could never disclose the projects she and her team were working on then, but after the . . . incident occurred," heads turned to stare at the six-year-old girl Abigail, who was playing with her hair and humming to herself in her seat next to Stella, "she told me all sorts of things they did at the facility, experimental procedures, mental enhancement, induced mutations to make fighters stronger, faster.” He glanced at Cornelius, who's arm was glowing, and flinched in apology before going on. “Her own team was working on Project Fountain, the purpose of which was to find a way to stop the human body from aging."

Phinnyus looked around the table at each person in turn. The atmosphere around the usually-friendly table was electric. Stella and Victoriana kept up a nearly constant stream of non-verbal communication, debating who this man was, whether they thought he was telling the truth, and what they were going to do with him, with Stella still stroking the little girl's hair now and then. Abigail herself was dozing, her head resting on Stella's (very comfortable) bosom. Cornelius sat perfectly still, arms folded, deep in contemplation of Phinnyus's story. Arturius still looked livid, his hand unconsciously returning to his gun now and then, so Violet would pull it back and hold it tightly, despite her tight-lipped worry. Geneva looked rather uncomfortable, not having been privy to such information before this, and Kots was smiling at the space above and to the left of Phinnyus's head, his version of paying rapt attention. Maria was, as usual, in the kitchen, but she was listening so intently that she had nearly over-mixed the quiche.

Phinnyus continued. "They were very good at what they did, and they managed not only to create a technology that would halt aging, but also one that would reverse it. Their superiors were thrilled. All
their animal testing was successful. The next step was to test it on prisoners, as the Anubians do with new medical technology." Phinnyus looked down at his hands, which were shaking. “But Abigail . . . she told me she never liked that. And besides, she said, she had other reasons . . . she volunteered. For the procedure.”

He took a deep breath, composed himself, and went on. “At first her superiors wouldn't allow it. Her mind, her skills, were too valuable to risk. But she convinced them.” He paused. “She thought she was too old for me, just because I'm only twenty-nine. And she wanted to be able to have children. She did it for me, but I never wanted her to change at all.”

Stella put her hand on Phinnyus's arm in sympathy. “What went wrong, then? How did she end up, well, six?”

“Oh, nothing went wrong. At least not for the Anubians.” Phinnyus's hands clenched into fists on the table. “They didn't tell her, but they never intended to make her child-bearing age again, as she thought. Like they said, she was too valuable. If she started a family, she would have to leave the Project, at least for a little while, and she might just quit. No, they couldn't have that. And besides, it would be nearly useless to their aims to turn an adult into a younger adult.”

“Their plan was to de-age her into a child all along. Then they could raise her, mold her all over again, into the perfect Anubian loyalist. A rather extreme form of brain-washing, if you will, but one that, if successful, could apply very well to particular enemies once caught.” He looked directly at Victoriana, his gaze intense. “Anyway, when she didn't come home, I went looking for her. I knew enough of what was going on that I eventually found her, she convinced me that she really is Abigail, and I took her out of that medical prison with fists swinging and guns blazing. They didn't know if she would maintain all her adult knowledge, her memories, her skills. It turns out she does, but her way of communicating, of retrieving all the information in her brain . . . well, it's like talking to a six-year-old. I rescued her, and I love her, but to be honest, I don't know what to do with her. I know next to nothing about children.” He sat back in his chair. “And I've been looking for you ever since. I want to join the rebellion. And I want to put Abigail back to normal.”

Stella and Victoriana exchanged one final glance. Victoriana: Absolutely not. We have no room for children in a rebellion. Stella: I don't care, I've made up my mind. And anyways, he's hot.

Stella then said, out loud, “Well, I believe you and I would say welcome to the fleet, Mr. Smyth, if you can handle it. And don't worry about little Abigail; I'll keep an eye on her.”

“What!?” Victoriana stood up, her chair banging into the close wall behind her. “Stella, you've never had kids! You don't know the first thing about children! What do you mean you'll keep an eye on her?”

“Well, I had a cat once. How different can it be?” Stella replied, sticking her chin out stubbornly. “Besides, I don't know what you're so upset about, she'll be on the Nun, not the Dragon. You won't even notice her!”

“With as often as you are here and not on your own ship, I'm not so sure about that!” the captain shot back. “And she's a girl, not a pet!”

“Why not? She'll be my pet.” Stella scooped the little girl – who was sleeping now, oblivious to the adult racket around her – and held her protectively. "Violet gets a pet Geneva, why can't I have a pet Abigail?"

"Hey, I'm a Shopping Companion, not a pet!" Geneva jumped up from the table indignantly.

"Same thing! I need a pet on that big ship, anyways, and no one will be allergic to this one. So there.” And she stamped off towards the airlock, yelling into her communicator as she went, “Hey you @#$%* drool-minded excuse for ship fodder, everyone had better be back on board with the Nun powered up in ten minutes, or by $#@%* you will all be #%$@* flayed alive! And no dessert, either”

From her arms, Abigail murmured in her sleep, “$@#%*ing right.”

“Awww! She's adorable!” Stella cooed, and left, headed back to the Singing Nun.

As the rest of the crew dispersed to get ready for takeoff, Victoriana eyed Phinnyus cautiously. “Well,” he began, “What's the order, prithee? May your humble servant, Phinnyus Smyth, join the illustrious fleet, and offer my Serendipity to be companion to the infamous Feisty Dragon and the Singing Nun?”

Victoriana smiled despite herself – she was a sucker for complements to her ship. When she spoke, though, she was deadly serious. “I saw the brass knuckles you used to ream that bounty hunter back there. I know everyone has their secrets,” she grinned, “but you are most certainly not an aristocrat, like you try to dress, like I assume Abigail is . . . was.”

He gave her a knowing smile and offered his hand. She spat in her own and shook, sealing a new alliance between friends. This would be the start of a beautiful rebellion.

Episode Six

{{Written by Anne}}

“I bought a pet!” replied Violet.

Everyone who was in the hold, which meant the entire crew, reacted at once.

“There will be no pets on my ship!”

“A PET!”

“Our oven won’t get hot enough to cook cat meat-if that’s what you’re after.”

“Oh my goodness! When can we pick it up?”

“You made sure you got papers, didn’t you?”

Violet chose to react to Arturius’s question. “Of course I got papers with it! Here they are,” she produced a long scroll from her beaded purse, “and she’ll stay in my room with me.”

Marie licked a beater dripping with what looked like blood. “You haven’t got a room-you’ve got a bunk walled off by silks.”

“Cherry tarts?” asked Kots, ignoring the insanity around him.

Marie nodded and went back to cleaning the beater.

“Alright, let’s see them and see if we can’t return her,” Victoria held out her hand for the papers.

“No! She’s my shopping companion! I bought her with my own Dad’s money and since you won’t go shopping or help me with my hair or interior decorating, I bought someone who would!”

Geneva was able to quietly slip away, despite the fact that the conflict in the loading bay of the Dragon concerned her. She liked to know what her surroundings were, and being raised in the Bacchian system allowed her the skills of appraising that most others didn’t have. It wasn’t that she was particularly interested in selling the ship, she just liked to know what she was riding in.

This only being the second starship she had ever been on, and the first that she ever actually got the chance to look at, she was intrigued. Coming from a successful merchant family meant that she got the chance to look at what these ships looked like on paper, but not what actually made 20,000 kilos of steel and iron so impressive.

It was a small ship, an old battle cruiser that was heavily refitted. The main hanger was the first room she entered off of what she was going to call the “foyer” to the ship. Where sharpshooters would have normally fired short range lasers from, the alcoves of which were now boarded over and wires from them connected up towards the front of the ship. Geneva imagined they eventually ran into controls in the cockpit, where the controls of the ship were all located. She decided that perhaps scampering around something as heavily refitted as this was perhaps not as smart as she had hoped, (indeed, getting electrocuted was not in the agenda for the day), and she decided to meander back into the fray.

To her dismay, no one had noticed she was gone, and everyone was now involved in the argument about her. Over the din of raised voices, she noticed a flashing blue panel on the wall. Her natural curiosity getting the best of her, she put her hand on the panel, mostly just to see what happened. A pop-up menu appeared, and asked her, in Anubian, if she would like to receive the incoming message. Geneva looked back at the mess of self-important adults, and hit the “receive” button.

An unfamiliar young male face popped up on the menu.

“Um. Well, hullo there,” he said.

Geneva smiled back. She was glad that this person was young too. The older people on the ship seemed to be quite immature. “Hello. What’s your name?”

“I’m Cornelius. I am talking to the Feisty Dragon, am I not?”

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s a class X-21 Battle Cruiser that’s been heavily refitted so the short range lasers hook up to the cockpit and the long range lasers fire ballista missiles?”

The youth on the other side of the screen grinned at her knowledge. “You didn’t happen to be raised on an asteroid, did you?”

“No, no, I’m from the Bacchian system originally. Sorry to disappoint. But I’ve recently been traveling a lot, so I guess home is the,” she paused, recalling the name Cornelius had used, “Feisty Dragon now. Geneva H. Moore, at your service!”

“Nice to meet you Geneva H. Moore. I take it you’re part of our crew now?”

“No, no, it’s Geneva L. Moore.”

“Really, I could’ve sworn your middle initial was ‘h’ the first time you told me.”
“Nope, it’s definitely an A.”

Cornelius paused, wondering if she was being funny or if she was actually daft. “May I talk to one of the crew members please?”

Geneva glanced over at the chaos. “Probably better not. They’re indisposed right now. What can I help you with?”

“Oh. Well, let them know that I’m finished with my mission on Osiris and I’m ready to be picked up. We can meet at the spaceport between the Anubian system and the Wagnerian System.”

“Will do! Alright, bye!” She pressed the end transmission button and happily skipped over towards the Captain, delighted to be flying somewhere else exciting.
Suddenly the alarm for the ship went off. Lights flashed and the familiar “woop” played on the starship. As they were still docked, Victoria hesitated to send everyone to battlestations.

After a brief moment of awkwardness, a light bulb appeared over Marie’s head. “Oh! The tarts!” She scurried off the kitchen to keep them from burning.

“Since when were the battlestation controls linked to the oven timer?” asked Geneva. Being on a space ship was new to her, but she expected a lot of features on this ship, the crew included, were not standard issue.

“They never were,” the Captain growled, her eyes sliding to Arturius, who made no move to confirm or deny this accusation.

“Right, this is what we’ll do. Ms. Moore, you will come with me to my quarters where we’ll have a private chat. Arturius, chart us a course to the starport linking the Wagnerian and Anubian systems. The rest of you, get this ship ready to leave. I want us off Isis and in the air as soon as physically possible.”

Violet looked up in surprise, “The Wagnerian System? But we’re not friendly with them! They’re hostile and-“

“And my word is law. I Captain this ship.”

As Victoriana marched off, Geneva in tow, Arturius steered a very perturbed and now nervous Violet towards her room. “You’re probably safer with the two of us as your guardians than anywhere else in the galaxy.”

Violet didn’t respond for a minute. “I just can’t DO anything on this ship. And she’s not any fun. And you haven’t even talked to her about the two of us yet, have you?”

Arturius sighed. “There’s more to it than just that. Victoriana and I have a relationship that’s different than for the rest of the crew. She and I-“

“Are siblings, I know. I figured that one out myself,” she flashed a dazzling smile at him. His heart melted a little and her hugged her. “What I can’t figure out is why she’s so mean all the time.

“She’s just trying to keep everything on the ship in order. There really is quite a nice side to her, she’s just been under quite a lot of pressure lately.” Violet hugged him and the two chatted on about happier, but no less meaningful things.

Meanwhile, Geneva, still blissfully unaware of the Captain’s raging temper, followed the Captain to her quarters. Opening the steel door to the hold, Geneva was greeted with an odd combination of luxury and near Spartan living conditions. The Captain’s bed was nothing but a bare metal frame and a thin mattress, the foot of which held an exquisiatly embroidered quilt. Save for what looked like an arms locker, the bed was the only other piece of furniture evident in the stainless steel room. Hidden in various crevaces around the room though, The Captain’s quarters had obviously been rewalled in sheets of steel, probably to contain both the wiring of the ship and to crate something more than a box for the Captain to live in. The unique structure of the room meant that the otherwise Spartan room could be filled with small luxury treasures about the room. Everything from military medals and commendations to a tiny glass fluted candelabra.

Geneva took it all in, pondering how best to win over the Captain so she could remain on the ship with Violet.

“What’s your name, dear?”

“Geneva Moore.”

“That’s it? No titles or anything?”

“Well, it’s really Geneva H. Moore.”

The Captain suppressed a chuckle. “And what do you know of starships and the Bacchian slave trade, Geneva H. Moore?”

“Not a whole lot. But I’d certainly like to learn! About starships, that is, Captain.”

“You knew enough to answer the call from Cornelius and identify this ship.”

“Yep! I’m a fast learner and I haven’t really got anything at home and it’s just so exciting to be on a sharship cruiser like this. They’re so different on paper!”

“Calm down! And I’d hardly call the Dragon a cruiser. Mostly we clunk around the galaxy.”

As if to accentuate her point the ship lurched forward and began to take off from the planet.

Geneva grabbed hold of the wall to steady herself. “If I can ask, what do you do? For money and food and keeping the ship fueled and running?”

“It’s a good question. Mostly raiding missions. If we’re offered, we’ll smuggle things or hire ourselves for mercenary work. But with a court marshal out for my arrest and a death sentence for Kots in all the known and unknown systems, we generally find that scavenging is easier and keeps us out of trouble.”

“Wow. That’s terrific. So you’re like real pirates then?”

“We’re ex-military. But if you’d like to think of us that, way, then by all means do. There’s certainly enough that goes on without my permission.” She looked pointedly at Geneva. “You’re Bacchian?”

“Yes, my parents are merchants there. We live on Bacchus, not Diana. I was due to be married off for trade alliances, but that just seemed too awful. So I ran away and here I am.”

“You should probably tell your family where you are?”

“Do your parents know where you are?”

A long pause ensued. “No,” replied Victoriana.

“Well, until you tell your parents, I won’t tell mine.”

“Surely they’re worried about you?” she raised one eyebrow questioningly.

Geneva shrugged. “If they were they wouldn’t have tried to marry me off. Anyways, I’m here now and I’m quite good with a lot of things and I can help out and I won’t be a trouble so can I please stay on the ship please, please?”

“Violet did purchase you, so technically it’s her call. So long as you obey her and keep some of that estrogen in check, I see no problem with it. Make sure you stay out of the way of the other crew members and respect them and their space.”

Geneva practically yelped in happiness and hugged Victoriana tightly around the waist, pinning her arms to her sides. Surprised by the act, Victoriana had no choice but to wait until the gleeful youth released her. “I’ll be good, I promise!” She skipped out of the room, not waiting for the Captain’s usual formal dismissal of her crew.

Exiting her quarters, Victoria found most of the crew standing too near the door to be just passing in the hallway, watching Geneva skip towards Violet’s quarters.
“We have a new crew member, madam?” asked Arturius.

“It seems we do. Stella, hail the Nun, we’ll be dropping you off there and continuing together to rendezvous with Cornelius. Arturius, I’d like a word.”
The crew dissipated, munching cherry tarts less covertly as the Captain’s mood seemed to have improved.

“Yes Captain?”

She lowered her voice. “Two things. The first is that if you don’t mind, I’d like to give the quarters that previously belonged to the first mate to Violet and Geneva. I need to remember that she isn’t used to living in circumstances like this, and I apologize for that.”

“Of course not. I shall help the ladies move in this afternoon.”

“The second is about Geneva. She ran away from her home on Bacchus. I’d like to get back there. Her parents don’t know where she is and they’re probably worried sick. I would just like to let them know she’s safe with us.”

“We could hail them.”

“Only if they are equipped to receive ship’s signals. I also haven’t been in some time, and since we seem to be doing a tour of our old battlegrounds, it would be interesting to actually see the planet, rather than the Anubian barracks in the wastes.”

“I will see what is available at the spaceport. Anything else you require?”

“Actually. Yes. Geneva told me she wouldn’t reconcile with her parents until I had reconciled with mine.”

“And?”

“It occurs to me I don’t actually know where they are or how they’re doing.”

“Would you like me to find out?”

“We could perhaps plan a detour towards Anubis. Not anytime soon, mind you. I’d be curious to see how it’s getting on without us.”

“You realize how dangerous that is?”

“Again, not anytime soon. The distant future. And we’ll need to be much better equpiied for it.”

“Surely you don’t mean to attack the planet itself?”

“No, but the Dragon is a high profile ship, and we’ll need to get past the main defenses.”

“So an assault?”

“Maybe. It’s just an idea I’m playing with.”

“Victoriana. You’re ‘playing’ with the idea of assaulting the most powerful military force in the known regions of space? Would you like to lie down?”

“It’s just an idea.”