Chapter the Last (though 'tis not the tale's end)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're cleared to land, Captain Harper," a bored voice informed him. He couldn't help but grin. "Hear that, Trance?"
Trance giggled. "Good thing he didn't actually have to meet you. He never would've believed you."
"Ha ha. Come on, we both know I /exude/ a commanding presence which none can resist. You're just jealous cos no one's ever called you Captain Gemini."
Trance's eyes twinkled. "How do you know?" With that, she left the cockpit and began unloading the supplies.
Harper sighed. "Well, I got my fifteen minutes. Now time to enjoy being captain for the next…two and a half hours."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Trance briefly checked on Beka before she began unloading crates, and as expected, she was fine, if a little disoriented. So far, nothing untoward had happened, but there was a lot of time left where something /could/ go wrong. Her senses were sharper than usual as she constantly searched for strange and dangerous currents in the energies swirling around people. Some of the others in the open-air hangar hummed with dull anger, others with impatience, but no one seemed outright violent.
As she struggled with a particularly heavy crate, a couple of dock workers noticed and approached her, asking if she required any assistance. With a relieved smile, she admitted that she did and introduced herself. At first, the two humans, who called themselves Lysira and Kleois, helped her without speaking further.
Now it was time for Trance to execute her part in the plan. Beka had told her how important her role was; she was to gauge the attitudes of the common people, to see how much support the rebels had in them and how they would react to Aricia's sudden flight. If she saw that they sympathized with the rebels, she would have to warn Beka. And if anyone suspected Trance herself of siding with the wrong people, events could quickl.y turn ugly for her and her friends.
"So, who is all this stuff for? I guess he must be pretty special to have so many ships that work just for him." She donned the mask she used most often: the cute, ditzy alien girl who loved to chatter. People warmed up to that girl even if they found her a little annoying at first—and most of all, they let things slip that they would prefer to keep private around a stranger.
The two humans glanced at each other. Trance looked innocently at them as she filed that away; it seemed that they feared speaking their minds in a place so near Aricia's home. The woman answered her. "It's for our leader, the Duchess Aricia."
"Oh, okay. Wow, Aricia. You know, you all have very pretty names here."
Kleois grunted as he set a crate of gauss pistols down hard. "Uh, thanks. I've never heard your name before."
That, of course, was the problem with being purple and sporting a tail. "Really? I hear it all the time. Of course, they're usually dancers, and not the ballet kind." She affected a confused expression and smiled inwardly to see that the other two were biting back amused grins.
"Yeah, I guess I can see that," Kleois responded. "If you don't mind me asking, where're you all from? Most of Aricia's suppliers are regulars."
Trance was ready for this one. "Oh, we just wander around a lot, getting jobs whenever people need us. I think one of your regulars bought a farm or something, cos we got and unexpected call just a couple of days ago to deliver some stuff. You know, we're not very rich, but people usually trust us. I guess that's because the captain is a really trustworthy guy." She almost giggled aloud at her description of Harper. Well, in his own way, he was very trustworthy, but most people didn't see him that way.
Lysira nodded. "Hey, that's what's important, Trance. I mean, if you're someone with a lot of power… well, all that power isn't going to help you if you don't keep your promises." Kleois shot her a warning glance, and she subsided.
Trance pretended not to notice her sudden silence. "Yeah. Cos then people might get mad at you and fire you. I know sometimes we've been hired because someone else didn't keep a promise, even if our employer knew that person for a long time." She tried to lift a weighty parcel and made a visible show of her effort.
Kleois deftly took the crate and set it lightly on the ground. "Too bad that's not how it works everywhere."
Trance cocked her head to one side. "What do you mean? Why would a bad worker get to keep his job if he didn't do it right?" She was careful not to look too closely at either human or keep eye contact for too long. This was just casual conversation with the talkative purple girl.
Lyrira shrugged. "I don't know. It's doesn't seem fair, does it? That person might have friends who didn't care how well she did her job as long as she kept helping them." Trance noted the use of 'she'. They were definitely talking about Aricia. She decided to ease up on the questions for awhile until one of the others brought up the subject again. The three were quiet for just a moment before the human woman spoke up again. "But if she's only helping a few people and hurting a lot, the people she's hurting might want to… to fire her. I'm not saying it's a good idea for them to fire her, but I can believe that they would want to, and I would understand why."
Trance made a noise of agreement, and Lysira continued. "But maybe it would be a good idea. Like you said, Trance, the best worker should get the job, not the most powerful." Trance ignored the fact that she had said no such thing. "I mean, what's so wrong with that? If only the bad worker would realize that she was hurting people and that those people are important too, she might… resign. But what if she doesn't? And what if she keeps hurting people because she can't do her job? Can those people… make her resign and then… show her what she's done wrong? Maybe… maybe they should, if she's hurting so many. I think a lot of people would think so, don't you?" She shook her head. "But I don't agree with the people who want to hurt her for hurting them. That's too much. She should know what she's done wrong… but she's hurt so many. I don't know if she should be…" her voice trailed off.
This saddened Trance. She didn't like to think that she was helping someone like that, a dictator with no concern for her people… but then, she would always look at both sides of a story before passing judgment. "I don't know," she said softly.
Kleois dusted his hands off. "Well, that's everything. You can get an anti-grav cart over there. After someone comes to inspect it, you can bring it to the quartermaster's desk at the far side of the bay." He coughed. "Come on, Lysira."
Trance waved. "Bye, guys! Thanks for your help!" She hastily found a cart and shoved everything in it, then returned to the Maru.. She entered the now-empty cargo pod and knocked on the wall that hid Beka. "Beka?"
A moan answered her. "Ugh… do I get to leave yet?"
Trance opened the cleverly-made lock and stepped in. She wrinkled her nose at the condition of the tiny room. It was ventilated, of course, but dust and a musty odor pervaded the air. "Sorry, Tyr's not here yet. But I did talk to a couple of the people." She looked earnestly at her captain. "Be careful, Beka. I don't think they'll actually hurt you, but I don't think the people here like Aricia very much. She hasn't been doing her job very well, and a lot of people think she should give up her post."
Beka raised an eyebrow. "Well, isn't that what she plans on doing?"
Trance shook her head. "I… I don't know. The people I talked to, they seemed mad at her. Lysira said that she should learn what she's done wrong. I'm not sure if they mean punish her, but I don't think they'd be happy to learn that she's just going to run away. I heard her talking about 'people who want to hurt her for hurting them', too. She probably meant the rebels. They definitely have the sympathy of a lot of people, even if they completely agree with them."
Beka frowned. "Huh." She was quiet for a minute as she digested this information. "Okay. Thanks, Trance." She muttered to herself that Tyr had better be a damn good bodyguard.
Trance opened her mouth to say that she bet he was when they both heard pounding footsteps entering the pod. Beka laughed quietly. "Speak of the devil."
Tyr nodded at Trance, then shifted his glance to Beka. He took her hand and kissed it. "Precisely on time," he said in low voice. "I'll be back soon."
Trance studied him surreptitiously as he riffled through the full cart. She couldn't make out his mood at all; he was focused solely on the task at hand and allowing nothing to distract him. When he had seen Beka, though, she did sense a slight vibration around him, something outside that laser-like focus. Futures were converging, and the perfect outcome was still possible, but so much could happen that she didn't dare relax her guard just yet. He directed her to the quartermaster's desk and disappeared back into the cargo pod.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Beka didn't realize she had been holding breath after seeing Tyr again until she felt her chest constricting. She exhaled and laughed nervously to herself. /See, Beka, he did come back./
He returned shortly, and this time it wasn't her hand that he kissed. He pulled back and held her by her shoulders for a little while, as if memorizing her features. That, she knew, was never a good sign, but the moment was over so quickly that she thought she must have imagined it. He smiled down her and bowed. "Ready, your Highness?"
She lifted her head proudly. "Don't rush me, Anasazi. I'll be ready when I'm ready and no sooner." She paused. "I'm ready." She swept grandly out of the pod and into the Maru's main section. Just before she entered her quarters to change, she turned and imperiously addressed Tyr. "And do not even /consider/ asking me when I'm ready. Rudeness makes me very angry." When her door slid shut behind her, Beka grinned. This /was/ kind of fun.
She changed into a much more regal outfit of bronze satin, applied the eye make-up Aricia seemed so fond of and put in brown contact lenses, and donned more ostentatious jewelry than she usually chose to wear. Then she chose one of her own outfits and folded it into a small bundle, which she handed to Tyr, along with her identification, when she stepped out of her quarters. As the final touch, she willed her hair black, and scrutinized her appearance in one of the Maru's few clean, shiny surfaces. "It wouldn't fool the woman's mother, but the lowly commoners won't know the difference."
Tyr led her to the palace, looking appropriately intimidating. A few rotten vegetables flew near her, but none hit, and after drew his gun, only whispers marked their procession through the crowds.
They entered the palace. "Your Majesty," Tyr said deferentially, "a merchant desire to speak with you. I believe she calls herself Rebecca Valentine."
Beka sighed dramatically. "And tell me, Anasazi, why I should wish to converse with some money-grubbing trader? You know how they annoy me." Men and women uniformed like Tyr straightened sharply when they saw Beka but carefully kept their eyes from meeting hers. She smiled. They probably hadn't needed those contacts after all.
Tyr nodded. "Indeed, your Majesty. May I say, however, that Miss Valentine is one of your strongest… and wealthiest supporters. It would behoove you not to dismiss her like a common supplicant."
Beka's lip curled in disdain. "I don't recognize the name, but who does have time for these businesspeople, anyway? Very well, show me to her." A pair of guards began to follow her, and she whipped back around. "Alone! I will see Miss Valentine alone! After my most recent /troubles/ with my bodyguards, I would feel much safer with a /stranger/ than my formerly trusted associates. Only Tyr will accompany me." Acquiescent murmurs answered her demand.
She sighed when they were out of the guards' hearing range. "So far, so good. Now to meet the Demoness herself."
Tyr's lips twitched in a near-grin. "It won't reassure you to know that your impression of her was perhaps a bit subdued."
The Nietzschean opened a pair of tall, wooden doors into a beautifully decorated chamber where a single figure sat, tapping her foot impatiently. Beka's instincts told her she had to get the upper hand right away, or this woman would walk all over her. "Get up. Tyr, wait outside." He slid from the room without a word. "Now, get dressed."
Aricia's eyes flew open, and she opened her mouth to protest. "Uh-uh. Nothing. Keep it shut, and we'll get along fine. Remember, you're the /mere/ Beka Valentine, and I'm the Duchess Aricia, famed and feared throughout the system." Aricia's lips compressed into a tight line, but she kept quiet. Beka shoved the bundle into her hands and turned her hand to allow the duchess some privacy. After a few minutes, she turned back around and looked Aricia up and down. "Good. It's too bad we can't change your hair completely, but I bought some hair mascara and scissors, so at least we can give you that rebellious, reckless pilot look."
At this, Aricia could not keep silent. "You wish to cut my hair!? I will not-"
"Live to see your next birthday? Gee, I was just thinking that. Now sit down and shut up before I do something regrettable." Rolling her eyes, Beka set to the task of cutting and coloring the other woman's hair. She wasn't much of a hairstylist, so the cut came out a little uneven, and the color was erratic. Just the look she was going for. She pursued her lips. "Perfect. Do you remember what comes next?"
Aricia pouted. "Yes. I get to yell at you."
"Right. Now when we leave, try not to slip into bitch mode. /I'm/ the maniacal, powermad ruler outside these doors, not you. Oh, and I'd better tell you where you're going. After you flash Tyr's security badge, the quartermaster will direct you to the Maru, which is parked in the corner of the bay farthest from the entrance. She's… an older ship and kinda beat up. There should be a purple girl with a tail standing outside, waiting for you. Got it?"
Aricia made a face that looked like she smelled something unpleasant. "A tail? What is she, a monkey?"
Beka glared. "You're closer to the monkey than she is… but that would be an insult to the species as a whole. You call her /anything/ other than Trance again, and you'll suffer a mildly debilitating accident aboard the Maru which will leave you confined to the Med Bay for the entirety of the trip back, and we have a very small Med Bay."
Aricia's eyes glittered. "How /dare/ you address me as such, you /miserable/ trader?! I will have your respect or I will have your life!"
Beka smirked back at her. "Uh-huh. Too bad there are a lot of people outside these walls who value that life of mine, and a lot less who could give a damn about yours. It's kinda sad, really, that you've only been in power for a few years, and already the people hate you. You must be incredibly incompetent or… just a flaming psychopath."
"I will /not/ permit you to take such a tone with me and leave here unscathed! You think your common little friends will help you? Ha! /I/ have friends whose sole purpose in life will be to punish you, everyday, for the disrespect you have shown me!"
Beka's nonchalant response further infuriated the duchess, and they continued for a good ten minutes in this fashion. Finally, Beka tapped her wrist, signifying that it was time to go. Aricia's jaw clenched, but she nodded curtly. She stomped to the door, then stormed out. Tyr rushed in, handed her his security badge on the sly, and was followed by three more guards. He barred their entrances, purportedly not to upset Aricia—but in fact so they wouldn't realize that she wasn't actually Aricia.
"Your Majesty, what has happened?"
She screamed for the others to leave her alone, that she didn't want to talk about it. When she and Tyr were alone again, made a face. "That woman is pure, unadulterated evil."
He smiled. "That, your Highness, is what your people would call the understatement of the century."
"Yeah. So now we get to wander around this place aimlessly for two hours, avoiding any close encounters. Got any suggestions?" This would be the riskiest part of the plan—Aricia was well-known to be paranoid about her security, so her bodyguards would soon become suspicious if they knew she was only guarded by a single person. And if they were suspicious, they might come to question her, and if they saw her too closely before Tyr revealed her as a fraud, the entire scheme would be derailed.
He did, and they stealthily avoided most of Aricia's security team. They had a little scare when the captain of her guard ran across them and demanded to know why she was protected by one guard—and a new one, at that. Beka exclaimed that she wanted to be /alone/ right now, that a certain merchant had greatly upset her, and that she was /trying/ to get this Anasazi brute off her back, but that he refused to let her out of his sight. The captain nodded approvingly at Tyr and left without a word to contradict his duchess.
Beka glanced down at her wrist unit. The digital time display turned from black to red, and she knew it was time to finish the mission. "All right, Tyr, time to make me look a little less Aricia-like and to denounce me as a conspirator in a treasonous plot, blah blah blah." She removed her contacts and jewelry, then turned her hair a dark brown. With a wink, she took off running down the hall.
"Stop her! Stop that imposter!" Tyr shouted from behind her. He caught up with her after an embarrassingly short period and wrenched her arms behind her back. Half a dozen security officers came skittering around the corners, all talking at once and insisting on knowing the situation. "She's impersonating the Duchess, though why I have not yet discovered. I last saw Aricia after she left her meeting with the trader Rebecca Valentine, and I noticed that the Duchess was furious, but Miss Valentine was oddly calm and cool, quite unusual after an encounter with her Majesty. I believe this-" he jerked one of her arms for emphasis, "-is Rebecca, disguised as Aricia. If you permit me, I will take her for interrogation."
The others muttered about lax security but assented. After all, they didn't want to be held responsible for any security breaches, and if Tyr was the one who confronted her with the imposter, she'd likely blame him—and leave them out of it.
Tyr half-marched, half-dragged her to a small, windowless interrogation room with a single table in the middle and two chairs. He shoved her into one, then shut the door behind them and asked her in a low voice if he had hurt her.
She shook her head. "I'm fine. So let me guess, they'll be expecting another shouting match from us?"
"That's how these interrogations usually go. You should feel fortunate that no one felt you should be tortured, and if you start sobbing loudly and proclaim your guilt and remorse, they won't."
Beka checked her computer's clock. "All right, we got… forty-five minutes left, so that gives you half an hour to convince me to admit my wrongdoing and beg forgiveness."
Anyone listening outside would've thought their performance authentic. Tyr pounded the table and yelled at her, and for a while, her responses were the smug barbs she'd used on Aricia, then she started shouting back, and then she dissolved into tears. The actual words were inaudible through thick concrete walls, but the general gist of the proceedings was easy enough to catch.
Thirty minutes later, Tyr led a seemingly repentant Beka Valentine out of the cell. Her eyes remained fixed on the floor, and her face was tear-stained. She slouched in Tyr's grip and refused to answer any of the questions directed at her. Tyr explained that she had been plotting to abduct the Duchess, who was currently about her cargo ship, the Eureka Maru. He casually asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to accompany him, but the other guards avoided his eyes and said they were busy. Beka struggled to keep a grin off her face.
He hauled her out of the palace and through the landing bay. Beka almost broke into a run at the sight of her ship but managed to maintain her listless appearance until the inner doors open. Then, she did run.
"Trance, Harper, is Aricia here?"
A wide-eyed Harper was the first to greet her. "Hi, Beka. Uh, yeah, she's here. I mean, unless there are two of 'em running around."
Beka grimaced. "Divine save us from such a fate."
The three of them entered the cockpit, where Aricia was languishing in the pilot's chair, and Trance was doing her best to studiously ignore her. Beka's eyes tightened. "Out of my seat. Now. And I hope you remember what I told you about that accident."
The young woman rose and, though her posture was regal enough, her eyes seemed to somehow avoid meeting Beka's. "I've been perfectly respectful towards your crew."
Harper choked. "Respectful? I'd like to throw you in the human ghetto, and see what the Dragans think of your respect!" Out of the corner of her eye, Beka could see Tyr suppressing an amused grin.
Beka laid a hand on his shoulder. "Harper." He subsided. "Listen, I'm in charge here. My turn to play dictator. So you're going to be Little Miss Sunshine until we drop you off if it kills you. Capice?"
Aricia nodded sullenly. "I understand."
"Good." Beka climbed into her pilot's chair. "Time to get the hell outta Dodge. Harper, are we cleared to depart?"
The young man took his place at a console. "All signs point to yes."
Beka strapped herself in. "Hang on, guys." She tapped one of the panels in front of her, and the dock unclamped its hold on her ship. She lifted it smoothly up and away from the landing bay until they were out of orbit. They would've arrive at the slip point for several minutes yet, and there didn't seem to be any immediate danger from angry rebels or security, so Beka set the ship on auto-pilot and rose from her chair.
Trance was staring off into space with a curiously intent expression, as if working out a complex mathematical formula in her head. Aricia stood awkwardly in a corner, trying to look imperious and respectful at the same time and failing at both. Tyr lounged near his console, and Harper was studying his attentively.
Something beeped. "Aw, crap!" Harper cried. "Boss, you'll never guess."
Beka groaned. "Give me three."
"It's the—hey, wait! They left, just like that. Hey, that's not fair!"
Beka joined him at the sensor display. "The T'dalimar?" She carefully looked over the data at the brief blip of activity. "It must have been… but they just disappeared." She glanced up. "I… guess that's a good thing. I mean, that they left?"
Trance's head whipped to face the pair, and Aricia was attempting to listen in on their conversation without appearing to do so. Beka and the others were too busy trying to decipher the meaning of the strange and disconcerting occurrence to notice Tyr pulling something from the vest of his uniform.
Aricia was the first to see him. "Captain Valentine," she screeched, "what's going on here?! I swear, I never called your crewmate /anything/?"
Beka looked up impatiently. "What, do you think we-" Her voice died as she took in the scene in front of her. Aricia's face was bloodless, and her knuckles were white where she grasped a bar. Her eyes were trained on Tyr, who had drawn a menacing gauss pistol and now aimed it at her.
No one said a word until Tyr broke the silence. "It was the T'dalimar. They were to serve as a… reminder of my purpose aboard this vessel and a warning."
Trance moaned softly, and Harper lunged forward. Beka grabbed his wrist, and he jerked backward. "Harper! Stay with Trance—I think she's going to faint." His normally roguish expression twisted with hatred, he finally stepped back and turned to check on the elfin girl. "Aricia, don't… say… a thing." The ruler nodded wordlessly and tried to make herself as small as possible.
Beka held still. "Your purpose?" She swallowed. "Care to share with the class, Mr. Anasazi?"
When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. "I was hired by the Chichin to prevent the escape of the Duchess. Instead, I was to ransom her… and he didn't want to share the money. I was supposed to execute you after Aricia was on board; no one was to know of his role in the kidnapping."
Beka felt her head spinning. "Then… it sounds like such a bad cliché," she laughed raggedly. "… then it was a lie. You were a lie. Everything I fell…" her voice cracked, and she stopped.
Tyr nodded slowly. "It was a lie." He smiled softly, and as if from a great distance, Beka heard the sound of his weapon firing up. "And then it was a dream."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"You're cleared to land, Captain Harper," a bored voice informed him. He couldn't help but grin. "Hear that, Trance?"
Trance giggled. "Good thing he didn't actually have to meet you. He never would've believed you."
"Ha ha. Come on, we both know I /exude/ a commanding presence which none can resist. You're just jealous cos no one's ever called you Captain Gemini."
Trance's eyes twinkled. "How do you know?" With that, she left the cockpit and began unloading the supplies.
Harper sighed. "Well, I got my fifteen minutes. Now time to enjoy being captain for the next…two and a half hours."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Trance briefly checked on Beka before she began unloading crates, and as expected, she was fine, if a little disoriented. So far, nothing untoward had happened, but there was a lot of time left where something /could/ go wrong. Her senses were sharper than usual as she constantly searched for strange and dangerous currents in the energies swirling around people. Some of the others in the open-air hangar hummed with dull anger, others with impatience, but no one seemed outright violent.
As she struggled with a particularly heavy crate, a couple of dock workers noticed and approached her, asking if she required any assistance. With a relieved smile, she admitted that she did and introduced herself. At first, the two humans, who called themselves Lysira and Kleois, helped her without speaking further.
Now it was time for Trance to execute her part in the plan. Beka had told her how important her role was; she was to gauge the attitudes of the common people, to see how much support the rebels had in them and how they would react to Aricia's sudden flight. If she saw that they sympathized with the rebels, she would have to warn Beka. And if anyone suspected Trance herself of siding with the wrong people, events could quickl.y turn ugly for her and her friends.
"So, who is all this stuff for? I guess he must be pretty special to have so many ships that work just for him." She donned the mask she used most often: the cute, ditzy alien girl who loved to chatter. People warmed up to that girl even if they found her a little annoying at first—and most of all, they let things slip that they would prefer to keep private around a stranger.
The two humans glanced at each other. Trance looked innocently at them as she filed that away; it seemed that they feared speaking their minds in a place so near Aricia's home. The woman answered her. "It's for our leader, the Duchess Aricia."
"Oh, okay. Wow, Aricia. You know, you all have very pretty names here."
Kleois grunted as he set a crate of gauss pistols down hard. "Uh, thanks. I've never heard your name before."
That, of course, was the problem with being purple and sporting a tail. "Really? I hear it all the time. Of course, they're usually dancers, and not the ballet kind." She affected a confused expression and smiled inwardly to see that the other two were biting back amused grins.
"Yeah, I guess I can see that," Kleois responded. "If you don't mind me asking, where're you all from? Most of Aricia's suppliers are regulars."
Trance was ready for this one. "Oh, we just wander around a lot, getting jobs whenever people need us. I think one of your regulars bought a farm or something, cos we got and unexpected call just a couple of days ago to deliver some stuff. You know, we're not very rich, but people usually trust us. I guess that's because the captain is a really trustworthy guy." She almost giggled aloud at her description of Harper. Well, in his own way, he was very trustworthy, but most people didn't see him that way.
Lysira nodded. "Hey, that's what's important, Trance. I mean, if you're someone with a lot of power… well, all that power isn't going to help you if you don't keep your promises." Kleois shot her a warning glance, and she subsided.
Trance pretended not to notice her sudden silence. "Yeah. Cos then people might get mad at you and fire you. I know sometimes we've been hired because someone else didn't keep a promise, even if our employer knew that person for a long time." She tried to lift a weighty parcel and made a visible show of her effort.
Kleois deftly took the crate and set it lightly on the ground. "Too bad that's not how it works everywhere."
Trance cocked her head to one side. "What do you mean? Why would a bad worker get to keep his job if he didn't do it right?" She was careful not to look too closely at either human or keep eye contact for too long. This was just casual conversation with the talkative purple girl.
Lyrira shrugged. "I don't know. It's doesn't seem fair, does it? That person might have friends who didn't care how well she did her job as long as she kept helping them." Trance noted the use of 'she'. They were definitely talking about Aricia. She decided to ease up on the questions for awhile until one of the others brought up the subject again. The three were quiet for just a moment before the human woman spoke up again. "But if she's only helping a few people and hurting a lot, the people she's hurting might want to… to fire her. I'm not saying it's a good idea for them to fire her, but I can believe that they would want to, and I would understand why."
Trance made a noise of agreement, and Lysira continued. "But maybe it would be a good idea. Like you said, Trance, the best worker should get the job, not the most powerful." Trance ignored the fact that she had said no such thing. "I mean, what's so wrong with that? If only the bad worker would realize that she was hurting people and that those people are important too, she might… resign. But what if she doesn't? And what if she keeps hurting people because she can't do her job? Can those people… make her resign and then… show her what she's done wrong? Maybe… maybe they should, if she's hurting so many. I think a lot of people would think so, don't you?" She shook her head. "But I don't agree with the people who want to hurt her for hurting them. That's too much. She should know what she's done wrong… but she's hurt so many. I don't know if she should be…" her voice trailed off.
This saddened Trance. She didn't like to think that she was helping someone like that, a dictator with no concern for her people… but then, she would always look at both sides of a story before passing judgment. "I don't know," she said softly.
Kleois dusted his hands off. "Well, that's everything. You can get an anti-grav cart over there. After someone comes to inspect it, you can bring it to the quartermaster's desk at the far side of the bay." He coughed. "Come on, Lysira."
Trance waved. "Bye, guys! Thanks for your help!" She hastily found a cart and shoved everything in it, then returned to the Maru.. She entered the now-empty cargo pod and knocked on the wall that hid Beka. "Beka?"
A moan answered her. "Ugh… do I get to leave yet?"
Trance opened the cleverly-made lock and stepped in. She wrinkled her nose at the condition of the tiny room. It was ventilated, of course, but dust and a musty odor pervaded the air. "Sorry, Tyr's not here yet. But I did talk to a couple of the people." She looked earnestly at her captain. "Be careful, Beka. I don't think they'll actually hurt you, but I don't think the people here like Aricia very much. She hasn't been doing her job very well, and a lot of people think she should give up her post."
Beka raised an eyebrow. "Well, isn't that what she plans on doing?"
Trance shook her head. "I… I don't know. The people I talked to, they seemed mad at her. Lysira said that she should learn what she's done wrong. I'm not sure if they mean punish her, but I don't think they'd be happy to learn that she's just going to run away. I heard her talking about 'people who want to hurt her for hurting them', too. She probably meant the rebels. They definitely have the sympathy of a lot of people, even if they completely agree with them."
Beka frowned. "Huh." She was quiet for a minute as she digested this information. "Okay. Thanks, Trance." She muttered to herself that Tyr had better be a damn good bodyguard.
Trance opened her mouth to say that she bet he was when they both heard pounding footsteps entering the pod. Beka laughed quietly. "Speak of the devil."
Tyr nodded at Trance, then shifted his glance to Beka. He took her hand and kissed it. "Precisely on time," he said in low voice. "I'll be back soon."
Trance studied him surreptitiously as he riffled through the full cart. She couldn't make out his mood at all; he was focused solely on the task at hand and allowing nothing to distract him. When he had seen Beka, though, she did sense a slight vibration around him, something outside that laser-like focus. Futures were converging, and the perfect outcome was still possible, but so much could happen that she didn't dare relax her guard just yet. He directed her to the quartermaster's desk and disappeared back into the cargo pod.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Beka didn't realize she had been holding breath after seeing Tyr again until she felt her chest constricting. She exhaled and laughed nervously to herself. /See, Beka, he did come back./
He returned shortly, and this time it wasn't her hand that he kissed. He pulled back and held her by her shoulders for a little while, as if memorizing her features. That, she knew, was never a good sign, but the moment was over so quickly that she thought she must have imagined it. He smiled down her and bowed. "Ready, your Highness?"
She lifted her head proudly. "Don't rush me, Anasazi. I'll be ready when I'm ready and no sooner." She paused. "I'm ready." She swept grandly out of the pod and into the Maru's main section. Just before she entered her quarters to change, she turned and imperiously addressed Tyr. "And do not even /consider/ asking me when I'm ready. Rudeness makes me very angry." When her door slid shut behind her, Beka grinned. This /was/ kind of fun.
She changed into a much more regal outfit of bronze satin, applied the eye make-up Aricia seemed so fond of and put in brown contact lenses, and donned more ostentatious jewelry than she usually chose to wear. Then she chose one of her own outfits and folded it into a small bundle, which she handed to Tyr, along with her identification, when she stepped out of her quarters. As the final touch, she willed her hair black, and scrutinized her appearance in one of the Maru's few clean, shiny surfaces. "It wouldn't fool the woman's mother, but the lowly commoners won't know the difference."
Tyr led her to the palace, looking appropriately intimidating. A few rotten vegetables flew near her, but none hit, and after drew his gun, only whispers marked their procession through the crowds.
They entered the palace. "Your Majesty," Tyr said deferentially, "a merchant desire to speak with you. I believe she calls herself Rebecca Valentine."
Beka sighed dramatically. "And tell me, Anasazi, why I should wish to converse with some money-grubbing trader? You know how they annoy me." Men and women uniformed like Tyr straightened sharply when they saw Beka but carefully kept their eyes from meeting hers. She smiled. They probably hadn't needed those contacts after all.
Tyr nodded. "Indeed, your Majesty. May I say, however, that Miss Valentine is one of your strongest… and wealthiest supporters. It would behoove you not to dismiss her like a common supplicant."
Beka's lip curled in disdain. "I don't recognize the name, but who does have time for these businesspeople, anyway? Very well, show me to her." A pair of guards began to follow her, and she whipped back around. "Alone! I will see Miss Valentine alone! After my most recent /troubles/ with my bodyguards, I would feel much safer with a /stranger/ than my formerly trusted associates. Only Tyr will accompany me." Acquiescent murmurs answered her demand.
She sighed when they were out of the guards' hearing range. "So far, so good. Now to meet the Demoness herself."
Tyr's lips twitched in a near-grin. "It won't reassure you to know that your impression of her was perhaps a bit subdued."
The Nietzschean opened a pair of tall, wooden doors into a beautifully decorated chamber where a single figure sat, tapping her foot impatiently. Beka's instincts told her she had to get the upper hand right away, or this woman would walk all over her. "Get up. Tyr, wait outside." He slid from the room without a word. "Now, get dressed."
Aricia's eyes flew open, and she opened her mouth to protest. "Uh-uh. Nothing. Keep it shut, and we'll get along fine. Remember, you're the /mere/ Beka Valentine, and I'm the Duchess Aricia, famed and feared throughout the system." Aricia's lips compressed into a tight line, but she kept quiet. Beka shoved the bundle into her hands and turned her hand to allow the duchess some privacy. After a few minutes, she turned back around and looked Aricia up and down. "Good. It's too bad we can't change your hair completely, but I bought some hair mascara and scissors, so at least we can give you that rebellious, reckless pilot look."
At this, Aricia could not keep silent. "You wish to cut my hair!? I will not-"
"Live to see your next birthday? Gee, I was just thinking that. Now sit down and shut up before I do something regrettable." Rolling her eyes, Beka set to the task of cutting and coloring the other woman's hair. She wasn't much of a hairstylist, so the cut came out a little uneven, and the color was erratic. Just the look she was going for. She pursued her lips. "Perfect. Do you remember what comes next?"
Aricia pouted. "Yes. I get to yell at you."
"Right. Now when we leave, try not to slip into bitch mode. /I'm/ the maniacal, powermad ruler outside these doors, not you. Oh, and I'd better tell you where you're going. After you flash Tyr's security badge, the quartermaster will direct you to the Maru, which is parked in the corner of the bay farthest from the entrance. She's… an older ship and kinda beat up. There should be a purple girl with a tail standing outside, waiting for you. Got it?"
Aricia made a face that looked like she smelled something unpleasant. "A tail? What is she, a monkey?"
Beka glared. "You're closer to the monkey than she is… but that would be an insult to the species as a whole. You call her /anything/ other than Trance again, and you'll suffer a mildly debilitating accident aboard the Maru which will leave you confined to the Med Bay for the entirety of the trip back, and we have a very small Med Bay."
Aricia's eyes glittered. "How /dare/ you address me as such, you /miserable/ trader?! I will have your respect or I will have your life!"
Beka smirked back at her. "Uh-huh. Too bad there are a lot of people outside these walls who value that life of mine, and a lot less who could give a damn about yours. It's kinda sad, really, that you've only been in power for a few years, and already the people hate you. You must be incredibly incompetent or… just a flaming psychopath."
"I will /not/ permit you to take such a tone with me and leave here unscathed! You think your common little friends will help you? Ha! /I/ have friends whose sole purpose in life will be to punish you, everyday, for the disrespect you have shown me!"
Beka's nonchalant response further infuriated the duchess, and they continued for a good ten minutes in this fashion. Finally, Beka tapped her wrist, signifying that it was time to go. Aricia's jaw clenched, but she nodded curtly. She stomped to the door, then stormed out. Tyr rushed in, handed her his security badge on the sly, and was followed by three more guards. He barred their entrances, purportedly not to upset Aricia—but in fact so they wouldn't realize that she wasn't actually Aricia.
"Your Majesty, what has happened?"
She screamed for the others to leave her alone, that she didn't want to talk about it. When she and Tyr were alone again, made a face. "That woman is pure, unadulterated evil."
He smiled. "That, your Highness, is what your people would call the understatement of the century."
"Yeah. So now we get to wander around this place aimlessly for two hours, avoiding any close encounters. Got any suggestions?" This would be the riskiest part of the plan—Aricia was well-known to be paranoid about her security, so her bodyguards would soon become suspicious if they knew she was only guarded by a single person. And if they were suspicious, they might come to question her, and if they saw her too closely before Tyr revealed her as a fraud, the entire scheme would be derailed.
He did, and they stealthily avoided most of Aricia's security team. They had a little scare when the captain of her guard ran across them and demanded to know why she was protected by one guard—and a new one, at that. Beka exclaimed that she wanted to be /alone/ right now, that a certain merchant had greatly upset her, and that she was /trying/ to get this Anasazi brute off her back, but that he refused to let her out of his sight. The captain nodded approvingly at Tyr and left without a word to contradict his duchess.
Beka glanced down at her wrist unit. The digital time display turned from black to red, and she knew it was time to finish the mission. "All right, Tyr, time to make me look a little less Aricia-like and to denounce me as a conspirator in a treasonous plot, blah blah blah." She removed her contacts and jewelry, then turned her hair a dark brown. With a wink, she took off running down the hall.
"Stop her! Stop that imposter!" Tyr shouted from behind her. He caught up with her after an embarrassingly short period and wrenched her arms behind her back. Half a dozen security officers came skittering around the corners, all talking at once and insisting on knowing the situation. "She's impersonating the Duchess, though why I have not yet discovered. I last saw Aricia after she left her meeting with the trader Rebecca Valentine, and I noticed that the Duchess was furious, but Miss Valentine was oddly calm and cool, quite unusual after an encounter with her Majesty. I believe this-" he jerked one of her arms for emphasis, "-is Rebecca, disguised as Aricia. If you permit me, I will take her for interrogation."
The others muttered about lax security but assented. After all, they didn't want to be held responsible for any security breaches, and if Tyr was the one who confronted her with the imposter, she'd likely blame him—and leave them out of it.
Tyr half-marched, half-dragged her to a small, windowless interrogation room with a single table in the middle and two chairs. He shoved her into one, then shut the door behind them and asked her in a low voice if he had hurt her.
She shook her head. "I'm fine. So let me guess, they'll be expecting another shouting match from us?"
"That's how these interrogations usually go. You should feel fortunate that no one felt you should be tortured, and if you start sobbing loudly and proclaim your guilt and remorse, they won't."
Beka checked her computer's clock. "All right, we got… forty-five minutes left, so that gives you half an hour to convince me to admit my wrongdoing and beg forgiveness."
Anyone listening outside would've thought their performance authentic. Tyr pounded the table and yelled at her, and for a while, her responses were the smug barbs she'd used on Aricia, then she started shouting back, and then she dissolved into tears. The actual words were inaudible through thick concrete walls, but the general gist of the proceedings was easy enough to catch.
Thirty minutes later, Tyr led a seemingly repentant Beka Valentine out of the cell. Her eyes remained fixed on the floor, and her face was tear-stained. She slouched in Tyr's grip and refused to answer any of the questions directed at her. Tyr explained that she had been plotting to abduct the Duchess, who was currently about her cargo ship, the Eureka Maru. He casually asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to accompany him, but the other guards avoided his eyes and said they were busy. Beka struggled to keep a grin off her face.
He hauled her out of the palace and through the landing bay. Beka almost broke into a run at the sight of her ship but managed to maintain her listless appearance until the inner doors open. Then, she did run.
"Trance, Harper, is Aricia here?"
A wide-eyed Harper was the first to greet her. "Hi, Beka. Uh, yeah, she's here. I mean, unless there are two of 'em running around."
Beka grimaced. "Divine save us from such a fate."
The three of them entered the cockpit, where Aricia was languishing in the pilot's chair, and Trance was doing her best to studiously ignore her. Beka's eyes tightened. "Out of my seat. Now. And I hope you remember what I told you about that accident."
The young woman rose and, though her posture was regal enough, her eyes seemed to somehow avoid meeting Beka's. "I've been perfectly respectful towards your crew."
Harper choked. "Respectful? I'd like to throw you in the human ghetto, and see what the Dragans think of your respect!" Out of the corner of her eye, Beka could see Tyr suppressing an amused grin.
Beka laid a hand on his shoulder. "Harper." He subsided. "Listen, I'm in charge here. My turn to play dictator. So you're going to be Little Miss Sunshine until we drop you off if it kills you. Capice?"
Aricia nodded sullenly. "I understand."
"Good." Beka climbed into her pilot's chair. "Time to get the hell outta Dodge. Harper, are we cleared to depart?"
The young man took his place at a console. "All signs point to yes."
Beka strapped herself in. "Hang on, guys." She tapped one of the panels in front of her, and the dock unclamped its hold on her ship. She lifted it smoothly up and away from the landing bay until they were out of orbit. They would've arrive at the slip point for several minutes yet, and there didn't seem to be any immediate danger from angry rebels or security, so Beka set the ship on auto-pilot and rose from her chair.
Trance was staring off into space with a curiously intent expression, as if working out a complex mathematical formula in her head. Aricia stood awkwardly in a corner, trying to look imperious and respectful at the same time and failing at both. Tyr lounged near his console, and Harper was studying his attentively.
Something beeped. "Aw, crap!" Harper cried. "Boss, you'll never guess."
Beka groaned. "Give me three."
"It's the—hey, wait! They left, just like that. Hey, that's not fair!"
Beka joined him at the sensor display. "The T'dalimar?" She carefully looked over the data at the brief blip of activity. "It must have been… but they just disappeared." She glanced up. "I… guess that's a good thing. I mean, that they left?"
Trance's head whipped to face the pair, and Aricia was attempting to listen in on their conversation without appearing to do so. Beka and the others were too busy trying to decipher the meaning of the strange and disconcerting occurrence to notice Tyr pulling something from the vest of his uniform.
Aricia was the first to see him. "Captain Valentine," she screeched, "what's going on here?! I swear, I never called your crewmate /anything/?"
Beka looked up impatiently. "What, do you think we-" Her voice died as she took in the scene in front of her. Aricia's face was bloodless, and her knuckles were white where she grasped a bar. Her eyes were trained on Tyr, who had drawn a menacing gauss pistol and now aimed it at her.
No one said a word until Tyr broke the silence. "It was the T'dalimar. They were to serve as a… reminder of my purpose aboard this vessel and a warning."
Trance moaned softly, and Harper lunged forward. Beka grabbed his wrist, and he jerked backward. "Harper! Stay with Trance—I think she's going to faint." His normally roguish expression twisted with hatred, he finally stepped back and turned to check on the elfin girl. "Aricia, don't… say… a thing." The ruler nodded wordlessly and tried to make herself as small as possible.
Beka held still. "Your purpose?" She swallowed. "Care to share with the class, Mr. Anasazi?"
When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse. "I was hired by the Chichin to prevent the escape of the Duchess. Instead, I was to ransom her… and he didn't want to share the money. I was supposed to execute you after Aricia was on board; no one was to know of his role in the kidnapping."
Beka felt her head spinning. "Then… it sounds like such a bad cliché," she laughed raggedly. "… then it was a lie. You were a lie. Everything I fell…" her voice cracked, and she stopped.
Tyr nodded slowly. "It was a lie." He smiled softly, and as if from a great distance, Beka heard the sound of his weapon firing up. "And then it was a dream."