Pt. 18

Gideon stared in surprise at the woman in front of him. She appeared no different, standing on the deck of his ship, than she did in the many photos they had reviewed. He could almost swear she hadn't aged a day since her portrait had been painted. She was even dressed as she had been in the painting – a long dark gown with an ebony cloak shrouding her tall form. A simple golden band around her forehead held her waist-length hair back and she held a sheathed sword by its belt in her left hand. Even the thin scar that ran from her cheek to her jaw, an imperfection so slight it might have been mistaken for a stray hair if he hadn't been so sure no lock of her hair would dare be out of place, was still there. Her two companions moved silently in her wake, shadows of her vibrant image. They did not push back their hoods, making it impossible to tell if they were male or female or even human.

"See anything you like?" Marianne asked, mischievously.

Gideon blinked, startled, then smiled in spite of himself. "Sorry. It's not everyday I see a painting come to life."

"It's not every day I talk to an Earth Force Captain aboard a hybrid ship," she agreed with a laugh. "So I'd say that makes us even." She glanced around at the people on the bridge with interest. "What, no armed security?"

"Do I need security?" Gideon asked, quickly.

"Not really." She shrugged again and smiled. "If I wanted you dead you would never have made it here from Maxius IV." Marianne glanced back as Dureena and Max hurried from the lift to join Sarah on the bridge. "Ah, Mr. Eilerson, how nice to see a representative of Interplanetary Expeditions! I've been meaning to ask someone there what they thought they were doing with the nice company we left them. But I suppose it's much too late to expect a full accounting for what we left behind. Especially after the Shadows and the Vorlons made such a mess of things."

"You appear to know a great deal about us" Alwyn remarked quietly, moving to stand beside the Captain. "Especially since you've not been seen on Earth since long before man began a serious exploration of the stars. Yet you know of Vorlons and Shadows and even of Earth Force. How, pray tell, do you manage to be so knowledgeable?"

"There is little that goes on in the Universe that I don't know about" Marianne replied, turning away to watch the image of the Phoenix glowing on the screen. "You'd be surprised the depth of my knowledge of current affairs, Alwyn. Then again, perhaps you wouldn't be. After all, Technomages are supposed to know all that there is to know, aren't they?"

"There are things about you we don't know" Alwyn admitted grimly. "Such as how you know my name or how you've managed to trap my young friend in his ship."

"I keep track of things and people that interest me. Technomages interested me once, you especially. The others were so deadly serious about their craft. As for your friend, that's not my doing. I don't do Magic anymore, at least not that kind of Magic. That's why I travel with these two." She waved her free hand behind her at the two still hooded figures that had followed her onto the bridge. "They are here to make sure I get back to where I belong in a timely fashion. Or perhaps they are here to make sure I don't run away from home." She shrugged her cloak off her shoulders, leaving it in a heap at her feet. "I've never been quite sure which one it was. At any rate, Captain Gideon, I've seen White Stars before but this ship is quite different, isn't it? May I?" She moved gracefully towards the controls, slinging her sword sheath over her shoulder by its belt.

Gideon eyed her with some skepticism. "You've seen a White Star? When was that?"

"During your most recent conflicts," Marianne replied, moving gracefully from station to station. "It's something of a long story. Remind me to tell you about it one day if we have the time." She stopped and frowned, looking down at the panel in front of her. "Are your main guns controlled from here?"

"I'd be glad to give you a tour," Gideon began, reaching out to stop her.

Alwyn reacted swiftly, catching the younger man's hand before he touched the woman. "That might not be a wise move, Captain Gideon. Remember the photos? Some in her family might not take it well."

Marianne raised one finely arched eyebrow at the two men, holding out her hand to stop her cloaked companions before they could move forward. "He's right, you know. It's not polite to touch without being asked."

"I take it your brothers might object? Or is it your Swordsman I should be concerned with?" Gideon asked, impatiently pulling loose from the older Technomage.

"My brother Andre would probably find it all in good fun. Damien would smile that cat's smile of his then burn you to cinders where you stand and make some feeble excuse why it was necessary. As for the Swordsman, you'll get a chance to ask him yourself before this adventure is done."

"Because he's never far from your side is he?" Sarah asked, finally finding her voice.

"So they say," Marianne agreed absently. "The truth is a little more complicated than the fairy tale we told that young artist." She frowned at her traveling companions. "Be off harpies! If I have need of thee I will summon thee."

"Mistress, the King has said…" one figure whispered, aghast.

"I'll deal with the King," she replied. "Now be gone!" The two figures bowed and backed away, disappearing suddenly from the bridge as though they had never existed. "There!" Marianne sighed. "That's so much better. Now we can talk."

"Dare I ask what we're going to talk about?" Gideon asked, suspiciously.

"How about we discuss how we're going to get your friend out of his ship without depriving him of his sanity?" she replied sweetly, moving towards the elevators. "Coming?"