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Taken aback by this abrupt highhandedness from someone who could only be an employee, Arianeira followed her, but several paces behind and moving slowly, as if interested in the decor. In reality she was doing it to prove a point. The woman could not go up to her boss's room without his guest, so had to wait (fuming) until Arianeira deigned to climb another few stairs. Arianeira was greatly enjoying the woman's open display of temper and addressed several remarks to the woman about her fictional 'long-standing' friendship with Stratford and implied several things that were not true, but designed to infuriate the poor woman further.

Arianeira, arms folded, watched the woman's back until she was out of sight. "Grumpyguts." She muttered, shutting the door. "Rather possessive of you, isn't she?" She remarked as she helped herself to a chair. "I'm afraid, Stratford, that she thinks I am a rival and doesn't like me much." She adopted an innocent expression, but doubted he was fooled. She eyed his alcohol, but thought it prudent to refrain from helping herself to his alcohol as she had already taken a chair uninvited. She reminded herself that she needed her help but couldn't quite adopt the attitude and gravity she thought the event required. She sighed. It was a good thing she had never wanted to be an actress.

"Yes, actually." Arianeira said, helping herself to a drink and siezing the opening as he offered it. She took a sip and eyed him over the rim of her glass before she added: "I want to break into the Navy Facility on Harin, find the records on a Guild mole,get out again without being recognised, then track him down and kill him." She spoke matter-of-factly, but inside she was nervous. After all she was asking him to help her break into the most heavily guarded facility in known space - which had never been successfully infiltrated by the Guild - with a good chance of one or both of them being recognised, not to mention avoiding the numerous patrols going in and out who would be on the watch for them and be all over the base as soon as the facility's alarms went off.

Arianeira was pale too. She had put the glass down and watched him as he walked about the room but turned away when he returned, though she could feel the warmth of his hand through her trousers. She tried to keep her voice expressionless but the hands now clenched in her lap were trembling slightly. "I -" She began but stopped. She took a breath and turned to face him again. Her voice was steady as she began to speak. "Talon, Drake, Corrie and I were friends." Her hands clenched in her lap again.

"In the Guild we are easily divided into groups. Most of the other pirates would have killed us for coppers but the four of us stuck together from the start. We were on the same ship, the bottom of the chain, bullied by most of the crew. Few survive that but we watched each other's backs and we made it." Her face twisted with pain as the memories resurfaced, but she pressed on. "By the time we made Captain and had ships of our own we were all close. We all had other friends, but us four were inseparable. The first years we sailed together as a fleet but as we rose through the heirarchy, things changed. Talon got his own fleet and I went solo. When Drake got his own fleet Corrie joined it." She broke off and now her voice shook with anger. "I believe she loved him."

She lifted her eyes from her lap to look at him. "We were still close and were always in port together. We protected each other from the politics and the navy." She smiled slightly as she remarked, "Talon and Drake even busted me out of a prisonship once. There was an entire fleet, with the prisonship in the centre. They still got me out."

She sighed and returned to the point. "I hadn't seen either of them for over a year. Corrie finally had her own fleet..." She closed her eys briefly, but it was easier to carry on once she had started. "I saw Talon after I got you off-planet. A couple of months ago Corrie's fleet spotted Drake's flagship flying out of Harin followed by the pride of the navy. Corrie rushed to defend him, followed by her fleet. He blew her ship up himself. Her fleet was a shambles, mostly wiped out. Only a couple of them made it back at all. Which is how we found out. Before that they had no idea he was a traitor. None." Her voice hardened.

"I claimed the right to kill him, and I intend to see it through."

Her eyes moved to his. "You were there?" She said, and her brows wrinkled slightly as she frowned. "I don't remember." She said at last. "How did you know it was me?"

She forgot about that when he said he'd help. She smiled and the colour started to return to her cheeks. "Thank you." She said softly, and the sense of relief was overwhelming.

Arianeira said nothing. She was beginning to wish she hadn't asked Stratford for help. It was an impossible undertaking and she was asking him to risk everything to help her. She hadn't thought this whole thing through properly from Stratford's point of view and she cursed herself for her thoughtlessness. Unable to sit still any longer, she stood up, her usual composure returned. "I'm sorry." She said suddenly, "I shouldn't have asked you. I hadn't realised... I didn't think." She collapsed back into the chair again. "I never do." She said through gritted teeth.

((Sorry, comes of trying to write two posts at once.))

She sighed. "That doesn't make it right for me to have asked you." She said honestly, though admitted, "Although it makes me feel better." She gave a sad smile and asked, "What of you? You have agreed to this without first naming your side of the bargain. What do you want in return?"

"Unspecified then." Arianeira said and her lips twitched despite herself. Seriously again, she added. "Whatever you decide, I agree already."

Arianeira shifted her position slightly and allowed him to pull her in closer. She wasn't sure why, but she felt reassured by his warmth. She glanced at the hologram with curiosity; she hadn't noticed it when she first came in. She guessed that it was connected to the ship in some way but hoped that it was connected rather than part of the ship's computer. If the Hyperon saw Stratford with his arm around her it was likely to annihilate her on sight.

"Is that on Harin?" Arianeira asked, visibly tensing as Drake's face appeared. She didn't recognise the area though. She hadn't been to the planet for years; she had no legitimate business there and security had been beefed up sinced the Guild got more active. Not to mention that pirate ships tended to avoid Navy ports on principle, mainly due to the fact that they'd had skirmishes with most of them and might be recognised.