Fury

A galaxy away, Tyr Anasazi was dealing with a betrayal of his own. His wife had disappeared off the face of the universe. He'd given her the best of him, spent the night pleasing her and she'd taken her love to town behind his back. Damn Zarkonens! He should have known that her nature would out eventually. Well, he was going to find her and let her know just who she belonged to. He just… had to figure out where she'd disappeared to.

Since she'd been gone he'd torn the universe apart looking for her. By now everyone knew that he was a Berserker. His temper had been foul since he learned that the girl hadn't gone back to her family on Fralern Signa. He'd damn near ripped the queen's head off when she'd offered herself in exchange for her people's lives.

Everyone was looking for the girl, not just the Bamboozalin, But even with all the scrambling, the woman hadn't been found. He'd been betrayed, but unlike Isabelle, who'd slipped into an unbreachable depression, he'd settled into his own default: unbreachable rage.

"I want her found," he yelled into the view screen. "My woman is to be returned to me unharmed and whole. Anyone that lays hands on my woman will die regretting it." He shut off the screen before the quaking man he was addressing could respond. He punched the console, recalling another console just a month ago. A month ago she'd been here, open and vulnerable to him. "There has to be a way to find her."

"This isn't the way to get her back, Captain," Misao - still unafraid of him even in this state - told him firmly.

"I've been searching everywhere for her. I've got the whole universe looking for her. She won't be able to-"

"And what makes you think she's even in this universe? Captain. You have to stop thinking like a Nietzschean and start thinking like a human. That's what she is, after all."

"She's-"

"She was raised as a human, she is human. And she-" The spunky young woman cut herself off and went to walk away. "Nothing. Forget I said anything. Continue your search, sir."

"Wait a minute," he said, running up in front of her. "I've been searching for her for a month now! You mean to tell me that you've had the answers and you haven't said anything?" By now he was shouting.

"I was waiting for you to figure it out," She shouted back angrily. "Isabelle would have wanted you to think for a change instead of just charging into the situation blindly like a fool." She stared at him, furious beyond words for a minute. Once she reigned in her temper, she tried again. "Think, Captain. Think! Where would a human girl-"

"She's a Zarkonen!"

"She was raised as a human. She's never even heard of Zarkonens until she met you; she's never even seen a Zarkonen. She acts like a human; thinks like a human." He nodded reluctantly. "Then for the last time, she is a human. Now, where would a human who's just been betrayed by her lover go?"

"Betrayed? She betrayed me!"

"See it from her perspective, Captain. This human girl woke up alone after giving her innocence to you. She woke up alone in a strange bed-"

"Zarkonens-"

"Do you want to hear my theory or do you want to continue to stumble around blindly like a fool? I don't have to tell you where she went, you know."

"No, please," he said quickly. "I just want to know where my wife is."

"You know magic words, then?" Misao asked with a small smile.

"Magic words?" he blinked in confusion.

"Isabelle calls 'please' and 'thank you' magic words. She says that they get things done. Anyway," the tiny woman continued at his blank stare. "She woke up, all alone. The first thing she would have done is try to find you. And find you she does. Standing on the bridge of your ship, her virgin's blood splattered all over a console for all to see, the ship's speed increased, and still headed in the same direction as before. Where would she go?"

"I already told you why-"

"Did you tell her? Did you explain anything to anybody? No, you sped up and kept the ship on course, the ultimate betrayal. You fucked her and were going to sell her anyway. That's all she knew. Where would she go?"

"Home," he said after a moment's thought. "She would go home."

"You already went to Fralern Signa," she prodded knowingly.

"No. She'd go back to the Enterprise," he made to head for the bridge, but she stepped in front of him.

"But first, how to make sure that the tragedy wouldn't repeat? How to take revenge. My guess is her first thought was to open a vein. Killing herself would make sure you wouldn't get the bounty." He looked horrified, but she shook her head. "But that would be too easy. No, I think little Isabelle devised the perfect revenge, and in her mind, the only way to be free of you."

"Explain," he pleaded. Listening to things from this woman's perspective, it did sound like he betrayed her and not the other way around. He was very interested in knowing where this was going. "Please." Misao smiled at this and continued her story.

"Little Isabelle is in a lifepod. She's been betrayed by her first love; there's no point in arguing with him about things. He's always made it perfectly clear that she was bound for Bowser come Hell or high water. There's only one way to preserve her dignity and avoid humiliation; she has to get there first. During the time that you doubled back, thinking that she ran back to the Enterprise, she likely traveled on ahead to Bowser himself and presented herself on your behalf. She would have fulfilled the contract so that you would have no further need to pursue her, and that's why he gave you four times what that contract was worth on arrival. She likely asked him to double your earnings so that you would never bother her again. Then he, in gratitude, doubled the reward again. You're a filthy rich man, Tyr Anasazi. We all are, even splitting the money five ways. She likely decided that once you had the money you had been crowing about, you would leave her to her misery. No need to rape her again."

"Rape? Nietzscheans are incapable of-"

"-Of leading women on, giving them pleasure, and then coldly pursuing their own goals? It's a form of rape, Captain. As far as that girl is concerned you violated her heart and her trust. You treated the precious gift she gave you like dirt, and you humiliated her by displaying her virgin blood for anyone to see. She'll want nothing to do with you and yes, I'll bet every credit of our reward money that she's back in the other universe, suicidally depressed and dying by inches, calling herself every kind of fool for trusting you like she did."

"I don't believe it'll be that bad. But you're right," he said as he headed for the bridge. "I've been a fool. Of course, she went home. Where else would she go?"

… …

"What else?" Aoshi came up behind his wife after the Captain was gone. She jumped and spun guiltily.

"'What else' what?" she asked, still radiating guilt.

"There's something else, something you haven't told him," the stoic man said simply "Tell me what it is."

"If Isabelle doesn't know anything about Zarkonens, then she certainly wouldn't know that Zarkonen women can control their pregnancies. That it's the reason why Zarkonens like to wake alone. It was her first time and from all evidence provided, she was completely open to him. My guess is, she's carrying his child right now and completely oblivious as to why it hasn't moved inside of her yet." She cuddled close to her husband, feeling horrible for the girl in the picture she'd just painted. Lost, betrayed, alone, and pregnant.

"You were right not to tell him, Misao-mine." She looked up in shock at that admission from her mate.

"I thought you would-"

"We want him angry, not suicidally so." The ship turned around from where the Captain had been about to interrogate Bowser again. It shot like an arrow from a bowstring in the direction of the other galaxy. "Let him be for now."

"But Aoshi-"

"We don't know for sure that she is pregnant. Let's just get there alive, then we'll sort everything else out as it comes." The ship lurched uncomfortably as it sped up.

"You're right. She might not be pregnant." The ship lurched again and Misao suddenly felt nauseous. It was going to be a long trip.