Lysander the Poet
Hilarious Inquisitor
Alister was tired. To use more appropriate verbiage, he was exhausted. All the events of the last couple days having finally caught up, his body was sore, his head was pounding, and his various injuries exacerbated his overall pain level. There was a part of his mind that both cursed himself, and cursed Daniella, for bringing this all down upon him. All of this truly stemmed from her, after all. He had risked lives that weren’t even his to risk to rescue a girl that was nothing more than a paycheck to him. He had found himself trusting people that he would never have considered even letting cross his path. A pirate with a conscience, whom could have her own ulterior motives related to her lover. An Olympian with considerable combat skills and some sort of reputation among her peers, who worked for a bunch of smugglers and drug dealers that Alister already had bad history with. A rich brat that was heir to one of the most powerful facets of Dominion power in the system. A doctor whose loyalties and sanity were both questionable, even if his medical skill was not. And Daniella herself...a naive little girl, untested by the hardships of life, pampered and raised by some of the Dominion’s foulest. A woman who was capable of unearthly things, things on par with rumors and speculation surrounding the Gods of Olympus. Reading minds, gleaning thoughts, telepathic communication. Then something clicked in his head.
The stories said that Dionysus could fell an army with his honeyed words and honeyed wine. Zeus could call a down a vicious storm to devastate his enemies. Ares would lay waste to his opponents by the hundreds, effortlessly, practically bathing in their blood. Apollo could fire an arrow into a orbit, and strike a ship out of the blackness of space. All these remarkable things, and most doubted the truth of the stories and rumors. Alister was barely prepared to accept that Daniella could actually possess these kinds of abilities, but he had to find himself believing Christian’s words. It would explain her value to Ben and whomever he could be working for. It would explain why Halloran wanted to capture her so badly. And finally, Alister thought he finally understood the new development between Alexei and Daniella, and why they had helped each other. Alexei was religious, and absurdly so. She had endured the ‘radiance’ of one God, and perhaps had hands on experience with Daniella’s abilities. Perhaps Alexei had glimpsed a facet of divinity in the young blonde. Knowing the strong ties of allegiance the Olympians held to their patron Gods, it would make sense. Seems like he had more and more questions for Alexei after all.
Nova’s words glided through his mind, weaving in and out through his various thought processes. His ideas seemed to line up well with her questions and musings, but he did not wish to play his hand quite yet. That, and he just realized how much trust he was putting in her, and had decided it was dangerous. A good lay here and there was mostly harmless. But trust was a dangerous thing, and just as Alexei had done, could lead to betrayal. They both even had the same opening move perhaps; a little bit of sex to get his guard down, before driving a knife into his back. He would be more wary with Commander Vegas. He would still uphold his promise to her, as she did to him….even as Alexei had done in her delivery of Romano back on Calypso. Another thought clicked in his head. Both women had followed a sort of formula. Did that mean it was only a matter of time before Nova almost killed someone else he may have cared about, and ran off? Fat chance of that, as he was out of people to care about, with Rhia already on death’s door. ”I agree. There has to be a reason that Alexei sent us that message, beyond trying to get us killed. If it were a trap, we probably wouldn’t have made it out alive. Hopefully she’ll be cooperative. I don’t know if her little boyfriend would react too kindly to me attempting to extract the information forcefully.”
Another problem rearing its ugly head; Leon. The list of things he had to worry about was just constantly getting longer, wasn’t it? It would have been so much easier to supply a bullet in the head, or shoot them out the airlock, or evacuate all the oxygen from their cells. Was whatever information they had really worth the trouble? The doubts were also piling up, and Alister was getting nervous. His life as a pirate had been pretty simple for so long; it was all about doing the job, probably break a few laws, kill a few people, and get paid. He wasn’t prepared for war, intrigue, and the servants of a God to come along for a ride. ”The best opportunities usually come with a lot of risk.” His paranoia was mounting as he closed the comm channel. He sat still for a few moments, until he heard Persephone announce that food was being served in the mess hall. But food could wait. He couldn’t let the crew, or the passengers, see him like this; distraught, paranoid, confused. Those were weaknesses he’d rather not show others. It was after several moments of sitting on his bed that he felt a presence and voice flood his mind. He identified it after a few seconds as Daniella. It was a weird sensation, but for the most part, the feeling was soothing. And what she said….well, it hit him at home. Another moment in the past few days where one could believe that Alister Blood had somewhat of a heart buried deep down under the ice. He smiled, it not really clicking that she couldn’t see his expression. He was unsure of how the whole process worked, but attempted to think so that Daniella could hear him. ”Don’t thank me yet, Kitten. We’ve still got a road ahead of us. You still aren’t safe, and I promised to get you to safety. At first I promised it on Christian’s money, but now I’m promising it to you, on my honor, whatever of it is left as a pirate and a criminal. On the honor among thieves, I guess, if you can trust it. I guess you and I are in this for the long haul, kid. It’s not just a paycheck to me anymore, and you’re not just some passenger.”
His mood had slightly improved, until she told him about the AI, and the ‘company’ they were getting. The softness in his thoughts that he was projecting were lit on fire. ”Are you kidding me? You need to find that AI and get rid of it. For all you know, it’s tracking us. If Halloran comes down on our a**...we won’t even know until after we’re ******** dead. Seems like you’re intent on taking advantage of my generosity, eh? Too bad for me, I already made you a promise. But if we get blown up because of this...I’m going to torment you in whatever afterlife there is too.” He waited for the presence of the girl to leave his mind, before letting his own thoughts out again...not that he would know if she were aware. His next step was to climb into the shower, and let the boiling water scorch his skin, and he washed away another layer of grime that had accumulated. His relaxation, however, would be cut short, as he heard Persephone’s voice again, this time merely addressing him. ”Captain…I’ve alerted the Doctor, but I felt you should know; something is happening in Alexei’s cell. She seems to be, for lack of a better term, breaking down. There is a moderate level of violence and a small amount of self-harm. She’s screaming up a storm. I think you may want to be present for it.”
---
Six months. They’d been at it for six months, and god damned, some days he wondered if it would have just been easier for those ******** bastards to hang him, or throw him in a cell, or whatever the hell they did to people accused of treason these days. He was still in shock over the whole thing; years of faithful service, losing his brothers and sisters in arms, risking his own life for his people, and this is how they repaid him. Now he was barely surviving, living in slums and sewers, ghettos and such. Picking up whatever jobs he could, taking opportunities to run with crews that needed an extra hired gun or two. Rhia had adjusted to the lifestyle better than he had. Probably because of her father, who had embraced piracy a long time ago. Then he decided to bed a woman he met in a tavern back on Earth, and eventually found out she had a child. Mr. Dravyn had always looked out for his daughter. Probably one of the only positive things about the shitbag. He didn’t even decide to disown her when she joined the Marines, since he was a pirate, and an organized group of warfighters was sort of a threat to his operations. It was a good thing too, since Rhia’s father had at least given them some contacts, and promised them more once he had the chance to come and see them. He was laying low right now, which was understandable. Until then, the pair had gotten passage on a ship to Kessel Station, a haven for pirates and the like. They had to do some menial work around the ship to pay for passage, but it was better than nothing. Well, at least, it was, until one night, Rhia came in to their small guest cabin, black eye, broken nose, and someone else’s blood staining her knuckles, her clothes ripped apart, and a rare sight on her face...tears. Almost nothing could make Rhia cry, and he rushed to her side, and she fell into his arms.
”Rhia...what happened to you?” Alister asked, though it was futile. Rhia just buried her face in his chest, and refused to reply. It wasn’t until the door slid open again, and a pair of the Captain’s goons crossed over the threshold, one of them brandishing a violent looking knife. ”There she is. Oi, girl, the Cap’n wasn’t done wit’ you yet. Get yer arse back in his cabin...now!” Rhia pulled herself closer to Alister, who glared up at the man. ”Listen, we don’t want any trouble. Just leave her alone, please.” He sounded so weak and foolish, though he didn’t realize it at the time. The goons just laughed, and one of them reached out and grabbed Rhia by the back of her tattered shirt. She cried out, and began to flail, trying to hit her assailant. He slid the knife under her chin, and growled, ”Quit yer strugglin’, girl. Wouldn’t want to mess up that pretty face or this soft skin anymore. The Cap’n likes his whores pretty.” Rhia, however, seemed that she would rather die than go back to the captain, and she bit the man’s hand. He howled in agony, and dropped her, and Alister charged the man with the knife, throwing his entire body weight at him, knocking him to the ground. His fists were soon stained with the blood of the goon, and the bone was crunching ever so violently. Rhia scanned the room, looking for some sort of weapon, until Alister suddenly took a boot to the ribs, and moments later found himself in a similar position to Rhia. ”Back in the Cap’n’s cabin...or your friend will get it.” The knife-wielding moron was ready for another bite, and Rhia cowered, ”No…” She said, quietly. Alister tried to break free, and just as sudden as the man had grabbed him, the knife had slid across his throat, and he was on the ground, blood flowing violently. Rhia screamed, and jumped to Alister, tearing away what was left of her shirt, and wrapping it tightly around the wound to try and stop the bleeding. The cut luckily hadn’t been deep enough to kill him, but it would take a short while to stop the blood. The man grabbed Rhia again, and began dragging her away. ”Take him to the infirmary. If you cooperate, girl, we’ll let ‘im live.”
Time flashed forward to about a month later in a few moments. They had been on Kessel Station, waiting for Rhia’s father. She still refused to speak about what had happened, and Alister still had a set of bandages covering his throat, to protect the sutures. The scum had kept their word; Rhia had cooperated with the Captain’s desires, and they had taken care of his injury. The Captain even had the gall to give them a lecture on always keeping their word. He would remember that until the day he died. It seemed that it was more than just sexual activities that Rhia had been forced to involve herself in. Over the course of the month, she would disappear for awhile, and return with an odd presence of mind. She seemed distracted, happy, non-focused...and she was always missing credits. She had been feeding a feeling that she was having, since they had gotten on that damned ship; a drug addiction. However, her credits had run dry, and now she as laying next to him, shaking violently, sobbing grossly, trying to repress her screams of rage and desire. She had gone two days without, and it was ripping her apart. She threatened to murder Alister and take the credits from his corpse. At some times, he believed her, and the look in her eyes. It was horrifying.
---
When Alister laid his eyes on Alexei, his hand nervously reached to the scar across his throat. Rhia had been clean for years, but it had been a hard road for them both. And now, here he was, in the small crowd that had assembled, made up of security personnel, Nova, Dani, and himself. He looked on at Gunnar would attempt to treat his patient, and tried to hide his horrified look as he watched her, listened to her words, and remembered all too well the last time he had seen this. Even though she was a prisoner, a liar, and a traitor to him, Alister couldn’t help but pity her at this moment. This was a fate that he did not wish on anyone, even his worst enemies. Nobody said it, but he knew what she was going through. He turned to one of the guards, and shook his head, ”Search this entire ship, top to bottom. You know my policy, and I want to be very clear that she hasn’t hid a stash anywhere on this ship. Any drugs not specifically for medical use that you find should be blown out the airlock. Anything in the infirmary needs to be locked up. Give the Doctor the code later on, but I want access monitored...and I want daily inventories. The only way this will get better is if we purge her system...and make sure she doesn’t claw out her own heart.”
