Drevek was exhausted and aching like hell but nonetheless flushed and elated. He gazed at the only ever love in his life lying beside him, once lost but now refound. He took in her perfect skin, her perfect curves, her perfect eyes – simply perfect.
Kira broke the silence. "You know that dream you told me about?" she said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
"Erm…the one where you tied me to the bed and slapped me?"
"Yeah. Do you wanna give it a go?"
"Erm….hell yeah!"
Kira jumped up with excitement and looked around the small cabin finally settling her eyes on the overalls Drevek had been wearing. She swept them up and began tearing off strips of cloth. Drevek couldn't believe things could keep on getting better and was aroused again already. He positioned himself on the bed as she straddled him and tied his hands to the metal posts of the bunk. Turning around to tie his feet she wiggled her backside in his face and giggled as she looked between her legs at the inane grin on his face.
Satisfied the bonds were tight enough she got off the bed and picking up her clothes began to dress, the naughty smile having disappeared.
"Thank fuck I haven't got to go through that again." she said in a cold tone.
Drevek's excitement dropped in stages as it slowly dawned on him that she wasn't joking. Once again words failed him and he just stared at her, disappointment and confusion stamped across his face in huge capital letters. Memories of being strapped to that cold metal table flickered through his mind.
"Oh come on Drevek." she said, "Don't be so damn thick!"
"Wha…" was all Drevek could manage.
A look of triumph crept onto her face as she leant over him, "Who do you think hired you to kill Hodron? Who do you think tipped off Baston knowing he'd tip her off? You think you found me all by accident that day? Your maps were wrong – I arranged for them to be wrong!"
Clearly in her element and enjoying his discomfort she continued, "You men are all the same, so easy to control. You'll do anything when a bit of pussy is waved in your face."
"Kira….I….I….love you!" It was the first time he had actually said it and now it sounded desperate and hollow.
She laughed long and loud. "Funny that! That's exactly how Sella said it. Just before I planted the seed of my master plan in her mind."
She couldn't help herself now. Having held it all to herself for so long she finally burst and revealed the whole story to him. She told him how she had discovered Hodron's secret account chock full with all the embezzled funds and blackmail payments, the sweetness of finding out Hodron didn't like the touch of men either and how she had manipulated them all into this merry dance.
She used one more strip of cloth to gag him but was surprised that he didn't resist. Maybe it hadn't just been lust with him, did he really love her? But she couldn't contemplate that, it was going to take too many showers to wash the grubby man-hands off her as it was.
She paused in the open doorway and turned to Drevek, "So darling…if you'll excuse me I have one more thing to take care of then I can finally be back in the arms of my love…." and grinned as she added, "….and stacks of money of course."
Anger finally came over Drevek but it took a minute or two to wrestle and tear his way out of the bonds. He raced to the flight deck and slid open the door to see Baston slumped in the pilot's seat, out cold with blood trickling from his temple.
The viewscreen showed a station, though Drevek had no idea which one or even which system he was in, and a shuttle only a few meters away turning then disappearing into warp.
A quick scan of the instruments showed that he was back home, back in Oursulaert where he had not been since the morning after his trial seven and a half years ago.
He was wondering if Kira had just let them go when a large ship creeping into view on the screen caught his attention - A Gallente Navy Customs battleship. The intercom crackled into life, "Caldari vessel 'Salvation', this is Colonel Torvan of the Gallente Navy Customs vessel 'Intrepid'. We have reason to believe a fugitive wanted for crimes against the Minmatar Republic is on board your ship. Approach the station and prepare for docking."
Drevek saw the obligatory supporting frigates closing in on the scanner and thought quickly. He pressed the button to respond and started to speak but quickly realised the channel was not open. Shock rose in his mind as he noticed the warning light flashing to show the ship was targeting another vessel. His worst fear was confirmed when he looked at the screen to see the yellow box zooming in around the Customs battleship.
The intercom crackled again, "Caldari vessel 'Salvation', drop your lock or you will be fired upon. I repeat, drop lock and approach the station for docking."
"Kira! What have you done?" Drevek shouted, as panic rose in him. The split second he put his finger to the touchpanel to unlock the target he realised that was not the right move. He heard the railguns fire and watched as the charges burst uselessly against the battleship's shield sending electromagnetic ripples down the length of the ship. Warning lights flashed and an insistent beeping started. Drevek stood frozen and could do nothing but look on in horror as the huge railguns slowly turned to point seemingly straight at him.
In the briefest of moments a thousand images from his past flashed through his mind and he realised with sadness there was not a single good deed among them. The penultimate thought that his mind conceived was that if the Amarr were right after all then he would be going straight to hell. The last was of Kira, of that smile she had given him in the first instant they had met. The antimatter charges spared him from the anguish of the only thought that could possibly have followed.
****************
"Yes Colonel, one of the bodies we recovered was Baston's. The other one was Drevek Tesnar. We analysed the salvage and, as you suspected, the controls had definitely been tampered with. I don't believe they had intended to fire on us. The oddest thing though…", the man didn't finish the sentence.
"What Midshipman? What was odd?" enquired Colonel Torvan.
"Well Sir, if they hadn't meant to fire on us I'm confused by the calm smile on Tesnar's face. You can still clearly see it."
"Hmmph", was the sound from Torvan accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders, "Well, it's all over now Midshipman. Your report on my screen in two hours please. Dismissed."
As the door closed, Torvan looked away from the paperwork on his computer screen, stared at nothing in particular and said to nobody in particular, "I wonder if that reward is still valid?"