Ardon was awoken by an injection of an antidote that cancelled the sleep medicine in his veins. The drugs were still heavy on his mind, his thoughts feeling like thick mud pressing through a gravel filled barrel. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting to see Surbius or NP above him. Ah, he was still asleep, and having a nightmare too it seemed. The little green man with the terrible sneer was surely not for real, especially not with the larger than life redheaded woman behind him. And besides, what was the famous pirate Queen doing behind such a horrible creature. He chuckled and closed his eyes again. Suddenly he realised who the green man was. It could only be yoda, meaning this was not a dream at all, and that he was now officially up Shit Creek, without a boat even. He opened his eyes wildly and screamed.
"I guess he is awake now Red," yoda said cheerfully, staring into the panicked face of Ardon. The screams were contained inside the suit, but there was no mistaking it. Ardons face was twisted into a mask of horror. And probably rightly so.
"How is this going to be profitable?" Mystic asked.
"Red, meet the person responsible for the current Remley Orbital crisis. And, dare I say, the person that is going to ensure that I make a wallop of money."
The sympathy that Mystic could have felt for the prisoner evaporated like fog beneath a tactical nuclear weapon's detonation. She had seen the pictures from the station, it was horrible. She pushed the audio button on Ardon's suit and leant towards his faceplate, so she was absolutely sure that he could hear and see her. The ice that was in Mystic's voice was almost enough to make the dockhands, that were working on Hortan's ship, freeze.
"Whatever you feel like yoda, I am behind you all the way. This particular piece of scum has deserved the right to whatever fun you can poke him with. Really, whatever you can dream of yoda." She stared at the panicked face of Ardon, turned and walked away. She was not going to loose sleep over these particular horrors yoda was going to perform.
Yoda looked down at the panicked man, and bent low over the mike. He whispered exactly what he was going to do to Ardon, and how much it would hurt. He then set out to do exactly what he had told Ardon, starting with pumping him full of truth serum. He was going to milk him dry for information. And then he would play with him afterwards before selling him to The Seven.
Azumi took Hortan down to the vending machine, let him buy them a bottle of Nyrius Mists each, and then, for lack of anything better to do, took him to her small apartment. She opened the door and went inside, and Hortan motioned to sit against the wall in the corridor.
"Are you going to sit there for an hour? I don't bite you know."
Hortan had to think for a few seconds before entering. This was the first time ever he was in a girls room, and he was determined not to make a fool out of himself. He failed miserably, the first thing he did was to fall over a pair of utility boots, stagger across the floor and land on his back in Azumi's bed. As if the bed had been made of molten lava, he bolted from it, got up and stood unsure in the middle of the room. Azumi had walked into the small bathroom to get some glasses, and had missed his show completely. Her room was very much like his own, the bed and the small synthwood desk were the dominant features in the room. A frame with a picture of a family of five, mum and dad, two sisters and one brother was hanging next to a picture of a young girl in a light blue uniform. Her braces were marring the smile that would have been pretty otherwise. A poster of Eo was hanging on the wall with a throwing knife marking one of the larger cities.
Azumi came out from the bathroom, the dress switched for a flightsuit, the pigtails into a bun in the neck, and the coy smile now reduced to a smile. To Hortan, she was still beautiful, and he realised that he was seeing the real Azumi, not the dressed to kill Azumi. She walked to the chair at the desk and crashed into it. She turned and looked at Hortan, who had resumed looking at the poster, for some time.
"Aren't you going to sit? Or is it so uncomfortable to be in my presence?" Azumi asked.
"Sorry, I truly am. I just, I mean, I have never, well. This is awkward." Azumi smiled inside. It seemed Hortan's middle name was Awkward. "I have not been invited inside before, to a girls room that is, and I am a bit unsure of where to sit." Hortan eyed the bed nervously, and to his horror she pointed at that exact piece of furniture.
"Just sit on the bed, I only have this one chair," Azumi replied.
They sat in silence for some minutes, none of them having anything to say. Hortan would have been quite happy just sitting there for the remainder of the hour, now and again stealing a glimpse of Azumi, but she was continuously staring at him it seemed. To break the feeling of being a mouse in front of a pit viper, he decided to do what he believed Waldoze would have done, and make a bold move.He pointed at the pictures.
"Is that your family?" Azumi looked at the wall.
"Yeah, my younger sister Myfwani and my brother Jebu."
"And the picture of the girl, is that your sister too?"
She grinned at Hortan, "No, that is me at 15. Just entered flight school in the Itani Defense Force, proud as can be."
He grinned back, he remembered when he had flown the first time. He had been a pimpled young boy, but he had felt like he was on top of the world.
"What was your first ship?" he asked
"A centurion, standard issue. And yours?"
They chatted away about ships and flying, none of them noticing the time flying by. It wasn't until Hortan's PDA chimed that they realised that they had been chatting for quite a while. Hortan looked at the screen. John E. was calling. Accepting, he activated the screen for voice only, but hit the wrong button and got full immersion. The holo of John in his flightgear popped up.
"Hort, are you ok? Where are you, how long time do you have stay? Are you in trouble?"
Hortan reached for the visual cancel button, but it was too late. The small 3d camera in the front of the PDA panned and stopped at Azumi.
"What in the name of all the bloody hive queens bastard offspring are you doi...Oh. OH." John cut himself off mid-sentence. "Tell me later you bad boy. How much time do you need matey?" He grinned firecely and winked at Hortan.
"It is nothing like you think, we are just waiting for The Certain Death to be finished with the repairs, and it should be good anytime soon," Hortan protested a little too loudly. Azumi laughed out loud and looked directly at the camera.
"I think the Atlas-" when she said Atlas she raised her hands and made quotation marks with her fingers in the air "-is ready now." She smiled the innocent smile at the camera. Hortan saw how she had reverted to the Azumi he was used to. The moment had passed.
John laughed out loud. "Yeah, not for nothing do the call it the little death miss. You get him safely to his ship now, you hear? John out." The holo collapsed, and Hortan was sitting with the PDA in hand, wondering what he had done in a previous life to deserve all this.
"Lets go Hort, they are waiting for you." He looked up at Azumi surprised. She was not demanding as he was used to, she was gentle with him, and almost nice. He stood too quickly, felt how the blood drained away, got nauseous and dropped to the floor, utilising his cheekbone as a brake by hitting the edge of the bed. He rolled over and grasped his face with his hands and started rubbing his cheek. It hurt like hell.
"Are you ok?" And now he could hear that she was concerned as well. He was not sure he could handle that. He got up and started for the door, went back and got his PDA, and walked over to the door again. Azumi was blocking him.
"Here, let me see," she insisted.
He let his hand down, and she whistled softly. A large bruise on the side of his face was slowly emerging. It looked like someone had ripped a claw from his forehead and down his cheek to his chin without scratching the skin.
"Better get you into your ship before you do more damage on yourself," Azumi decided, and Hortan nodded, following her as she exited and walked to the docking bay.
The head of the Council of Seven received the message from yoda.
"I have the man you want. I know what he knows. I want the money you stole from me. and then I want the same amount for shutting up. You know my account, when the money is there, you get Ardon."
He frowned. 270 million was a lot for one man, but they would probably be worth paying. He put it on the agenda for tomorrows meeting.
