Despite the fact that her misfit band of Rogues had played their part in the fall of Rendain and the salvation of Solus, Reyna couldn't say that she had expected to keep in close contact with anyone from the other factions once the job was done, outside of being called upon to help push back the occasional Varelsi invasion. So she was surprised when she received a message from the LLC, and hoped that whatever tenuous peace and alliances had been formed weren't about to go out the window. Why else would they be contacting her unless they were trying to recruit more bodies for proverbial crap that was about to hit the proverbial fan? She opened the message, looked at it, and groaned inwardly. It consisted of a single photo: a short, four armed young woman wearing orange and black clothing, a large hat, and a mask over her mouth. It looked like she was being held in some sort of prison cell. Beneath the photo was a single sentence caption: "Is this yours?"
How Orendi had found her way back onto an LLC ship was anyone's guess. The Chaos Witch's motive was, presumably, to cause whatever damage she could while on board. Orendi had cost the LLC quite a lot of money in the past, and Reyna knew that they wouldn't put up with much more. She messaged back a simple: "Yes."
A diamond blinked up on her map.
"Please rendezvous with the Hemsworth Arcship at this location in twenty minutes."
Reyna was greeted at the bay of the Arcship by a familiar metal face. She would have said he didn't look pleased to see her, but then he never looked pleased to see anyone.
"Hello Marquis," she said, "how much damage has she done?"
The well-dressed robot was silent for a moment, then turned around and began marching up the gangway. "Follow me, please."
Reyna entered the ship and took a look around.
"Oh...s**t."
There were scorch marks everywhere, and expensive looking parts of expensive looking instruments were strewn across the floor. Messages like "Orendi ftw!" and "Fiery pain 4 evry1" were scrawled every few feet along the walls.
"That witch was loose on this ship for over half an hour before we managed to corral her. Look at this place! It's disgusting! It looks like the underside of a bridge after a hobo rampage!"
Reyna let Marquis continue on his tirade. Maybe allowing him to let off some steam would be a good thing in the long run, though she couldn't say she'd ever seen him get anywhere close to showing a pleasant emotion.
"You realize that this ship has been in Miss Phoebe's family for generations now, don't you? You'd better hope that she's feeling much more forgiving than I am!"
Marquis led her down several long corridors and onto an elevator, where they traveled downwards toward the ship's brig. Orendi was being held in a cell at the back of the room, and Reyna heard her voice before she saw her.
"...naw naw, man. See, ya got a great look going on here, but you're just so cheerful, ya know? Ya gotta get a bit growly."
As they got closer, they saw that Orendi was talking to the guard outside of her cell, who just so happened to be ISIC.
"I appreciate the advice, but I think my passive aggressive programming will be very useful in establishing a false sense of security before I kill Kleese-"
"What did you just say?" Marquis interrupted.
ISIC's blue skull spun around to face them.
"Oh, I just said, uh, 'chill Kleese.' Yeah I was talking about how I'm going to chill with him later. Because we're such good friends now. Since he reprogrammed me and all that. A ha. Ha."
"Reyna!" Orendi shouted. "I'm glad you're here! I spent all my money on food before trying to hijack Phoebe's favourite spaceship, so I don't really have the cash to pay bail!"
"Hmph," Marquis huffed. "Well, I'll leave you here to discuss your defense strategy. Or whatever. I will inform Miss Phoebe of your arrival."
With Marquis gone, Reyna was left alone with two of the most disturbing persons she had ever met. ISIC cleared his throat, or made a sound that was meant to simulate that action since he didn't actually have a throat, and tried to act casual. Reyna sighed and focused on Orendi.
"Having fun?"
"Well, I was," Orendi said, "but it's kind of hard to burn stuff when you're locked in a cage. You're going to get me out of here, right Captain?"
"Oh, I doubt it!" ISIC chimed in, his voice as inappropriately cheerful as ever. "Word is that Phoebe is really pissed off! I'm surprised she let you live this long. I feel bad for Marquis having to deal with her, honestly. Makes me happy to be down here with you meatbags."
As if on cue, Marquis' voice came over the ship's intercom.
"Captain Reyna, Miss Phoebe is ready to see you. Her quarters are marked on your map."
"Oooooooohh" said Orendi and ISIC in unison.
"Hey shut up!" Reyna called back to them as she started to leave. "It's not like it's my head that's on the chopping block here."
The walk up to meet Phoebe was uneventful. Some of the crew recognized her and stared, but most just turned their noses up and looked away in typical LLC fashion. Admittedly the thought of all of these stuck-up people freaking out as Orendi wrecked their stuff suddenly didn't seem to bother Reyna quite as much, and it hadn't really bothered her in the first place. But even the Rogues (minus Orendi, apparently) knew that keeping interfactional incidents to a minimum was the best policy with the Varelsi still creeping around Solus on a consistent basis, so Reyna contented herself with merely flipping off some of the more annoying crew members.
Eventually Reyna found herself in a quieter part of the ship, approaching a door framed in gold trimmings. She pushed the small button beside the door, and it opened with the sound of a chime.
"I assume that's you, Reyna?" a posh voice said. "Please come in."
Reyna entered the room to find Phoebe behind a workbench, bent over one of her telekinetically controlled rapiers. The other four were hung up on the wall, Reyna noticed, alongside some elaborate portraits of Phoebe's ancestors.
"Upgrades?" Reyna asked.
"Repairs," Phoebe replied. "Courtesy of the friend of yours currently residing in the brig."
Oh. Great.
Phoebe turned her attention away from the sword for a moment and reached into a drawer beside her, producing a tablet-like device.
"I'd like you to have a look at this Reyna. It's a comprehensive calculation of the amount of damage inflicted on the LLC by Orendi since we and the Eldrid discovered and rescued her race."
Reyna took the tablet, scrolling through the long list on the screen until she reached the final total.
"Wow. That's, um, a lot of digits."
"Indeed it is," Phoebe continued. "Normally an incident like today would have justified the use of lethal force according to LLC regulations. However the execution of one of the 'heroes' who helped to save Solus would be a rather terrible PR move. Even if it was that menacing little witch."
"So you've called me up here to warn me to keep a tighter leash on Orendi? She's not exactly the easiest person to keep track of, let alone control."
"I'm afraid we've gone beyond the point of warnings. Even if we won't kill her, some sort of action needs to be taken to ensure that she will no longer pose a threat to LLC assets. I called you here for, well let's call it a brainstorming session. If anyone can get into Orendi's head, it's you. You're the one person she's ever shown anything resembling respect."
For some reason this last thought greatly disturbed Reyna, so she decided not to think about it. Still, Orendi was a friend, and Reyna wasn't about to start abandoning her companions now. Phoebe was looking at her expectantly, as if she were supposed to have an immediate answer. Now all Reyna could think about was punching Phoebe in her smug face.
And then suddenly, all of Reyna's thoughts coalesced into one incredible idea. Her uncovered eye widened, but she was quick to tamp down her sudden excitement. If this idea were to go through, she would need to propose it in a certain, very careful manner.
"All right Phoebe, I've got an idea," Reyna began. "You think that Orendi needs a little bit of discipline and self-control. What if I were to get her to agree to sign up for some etiquette lessons?"
"Hmmm. It might be a good first step. That is, if you can find a teacher in their right mind willing to try it."
"How about yourself?"
"What? No! Me? What? No! Never! What?" Phoebe stammered.
"Of course you! Think about it! Who else is more refined than you? Who could possibly do a better job of bringing polite society to the unwashed masses? You're practically the queen of the Last Light Consortium!"
"Well, I mean obviously. But, uh..."
Reyna was playing to Phoebe's ego, softening her up for the killing blow. The carrot on a stick that no self respecting member of the LLC could ever resist.
"And we'd pay you for it too, of course. Say, three hundred credits per session?" It was a steep price, but honestly it would be worth it just for the entertainment value. "And then at the end, we can host a joint dinner party. You and anyone you'd like to bring, me and the rest of the Rogues. And hell, if Orendi gets through the entire meal without casting a shadowfire pillar on someone, I'll personally throw in a thousand credit bonus."
"It's a deal!" Phoebe shouted, losing her composure for a moment. She settled down and straightened her dress. "See if you can get the witch to agree to it and I'll have Marquis draw up the paperwork."
Reyna gave a mocking curtsy and left the room. Phoebe pressed a small button on her desk. "Marquis, I need to see you. I just made the biggest mistake of my life."