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.”