Hortan was confused. Why was Nic dragging him to Ecka, and how did she know him? And how come she knew her way better than him, wasn't she in PA? That made him stop and smile, Nic from PA, heh heh, PA-Nic. The IQ-switch clicked to On inside his head. He stopped dead. She turned and looked impatiently at him.
"Your name is not Nic from PA is it?" he asked her.
She looked at him. "No, no it is not. It is Chi. But that is not important. Shall we continue?"
She turned and started to walk on, looked over her shoulder and tossed her head forward when she saw Hortan staying. He moved after her. After all, she knew where they were going and what they were doing. He was still lost. They came to a derelict looking side corridor with a door in the end. She went over to the side of the door and punched in a code. The door opened and showed yet another corridor with a door at the end. That door was flanked by some pretty nasty looking autoguns and a biometrics ID station. Without hesitation, she walked up to the station and put her palm on the scanner.
"DNA sample and hand print clear. Please provide a voice test," the machine pipped.
"If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody sees it, does it make a sound?"
"No stress detected. Door is opening."
With that, the door clicked and opened slightly. She opened the door fully and walked inside with Hortan in tow. The room on the other side was rather noisy, which was as it should be. It was after all the command nexus of TGFT. Hortan stopped dead in his tracks. How come this Chi knew of a secret entrance that could bypass the guards?
"Who are you?" he whispered to her. She stopped and turned, looked at him and sighed.
"You'll find out soon enough, lets get going before it is too late"
She moved up to the backside of the large comfy chair that was the commanders, bringing Hortan up with her so he could see the room. They were all present. Surbius, John Eldritch, Waldoze, Vardonx, Mor Isil, Pasqual, m.2, Lambin, even Moda. They seemed agitated and mad, and he could see Waldoze's hands clech and unclench continuously. Lambin was unnaturally still and alert, one of his hands in the pocket where something bulky was concealed. They were all looking at a person to the other side of the comfy chair. Hortan put his head forward to see. It was His Queen. HIS QUEEN! He practically jumped into the room.
"My Queen!"
"And so he arrives," as deep as the sound of tectonic plates colliding, Eckas voice. "We were talking about you son."
Hortan looked at Ecka, who smiled at him. Reassured that the man with the permanent grey of ore in his skin wasn't mad at him, he looked at his Queen again. She looked very different from the first time he met her. He remembered the day vividly, she had been wearing a white flowing summer dress and a beaming smile. Not that she was less beautiful now, but there was something almost feral, dangerous over her. And her smile was, well not beaming. More predatory, and by the looks on the faces of the miners and traders present, they were prey.
"The Huntress has told me a couple of things Hortan. If you would please explain two things to me son. First, why do you call her The Queen, and why do you insist on that you have to see her? It seems to me that the answer here is the solution to this nasty pirate situation." Ecka shifted in his seat and looked to The Huntress. "And you are certain that you do not know?"
The Huntress looked at Hortan as the snake before a tasty defenceless mouse. She was just about to answer no, when a sense of deja vu crept up on her. The predatory look softened, the hard lines around her eyes disappeared and the mouth started to turn from a frown to a smile. She killed the sentiment with no small effort, and the frown reappeared. "Aye, Ah do not."
Hortan looked at his Queen, then to Ecka, then to the guildies who were looking as confused as he felt, and then back to his Queen.
"But, she is My Queen. She has always been, ever since she taught me to mine Heliocene." He looked back to Ecka. "I asked you, Sir, to be allowed to date your daughter. And as I recall, you said yes."
"If you could handle her son, if you could handle her. And if she is willing which it does not seem to be the case right now." Ecka looked at Hortan with the stern fixing glare you learn at top level TPG commander school. "And now, if you could please answer my question in such a way that I understand it."
Hortan looked back at The Huntress, the to Ecka, then to The Huntress again. His mouth opened and closed, but no words were coming out. The stares of too many people was getting to him, and eventually he croaked "She is my Queen, my Queen" and sat on the floor.
The brown eyed girl stepped out from the cover she had been standing behind. John and Vardonx immediately went for their personal hand weapon while Waldoze ran towards Ecka to cover him.
"Intruder" he shouted.
Ecka looked to the side, saw Chi and smiled.
"Stand to, stand to. Easy all, I know this person."
John and Vardonx kept their weapons out, but trained them on the floor instead. Wardonx was looking slightly foolish halfway on top of Ecka, and he quickly disentangled his large bulk from the commander and stood protectively to his left side.
"You better introduce yourself. I have been expecting you for some time, but the rest of the crew I believe, have never seen you before." Even if it came out as a suggestion, there was no mistaking the order from Ecka. It was going to happen, and that was final.
"Members of TGFT, The Huntress" Chi nodded in her direction "I am councillor Tohasandra Chi of the Phoenix Alliance currently working undercover to assist in resolving the situation with this young man, the pirate guilds and yourselves."
"Toha?" She turned and saw Mor Isil looking at her with complete surprise painted in 40 feet neon letters across his face.
"Hi hun, I'll explain later, ok?" she said and faced Ecka again.
"So, you must have found something to make you break cover. Lets have a wee dram to calm the nerves all around, have a seat Ms Chi, and let us hear it."
Ecka found a bottle of 18 year old Nyrius cask strength Pylatis Delicht and pored a considerable dram for himself before letting the bottle pass around. The ancient ritual of sharing drinks, had the necessary calming effect on everybody except Hortan. He was still slumped on the floor where he looked up at The Huntress as a loyal pet would. For the first time in his life, he even let the bottle pass him by without noticing.
"Ms Chi, please, the floor is yours."
