Wings of Retribution (27 page)

“Well,” she said, once they were alone.  “Tell me what you’ve got on me, Colonel.”  She eyed him over her shoulder.  “You must have something, otherwise you’d not be wasting your time.”

“I’ve got everything,” Howlen said.  “I’ve thoroughly researched your record and have over eighteen thousand charges I can bring to bear against you.  If you don’t cancel your deal with Governor Black, I will turn you over for judicial processing.”

Athenais yawned.  “That fountain is making me sleepy.”

Howlen’s face went blank.  It took him a moment to realize she was looking at his miniature waterfall.  After a moment of looking at it, he went on, “Serious charges.  Murder, sedition, kidnapping, racketeering—”

“Why don’t you have fish in your aquarium?”

Colonel Howlen’s face twitched.  “The last one died a month ago.  I haven’t had a chance to replace them.”

“PH imbalance?”

“Old age.”

“Hmm.”  Athenais walked over to the aquarium and tapped on the glass.  “Freshwater?”

The colonel stared at her. 

Athenais dipped a pinkie and tasted it.  “What kind of fish?”

“I don’t know.”

She laughed.  “You don’t know?”

“They were black, orange, and white and got quite big.  Can we get back to the matter at hand?”

“Koi, most like.”

“What?”

“Koi.  I kept a few of ‘em once.  They’re good eatin’ if you run outta rations on a long trip.”  She picked a few more pieces of dislodged hair from around the wound Howlen had made, wincing at the baby-smooth skin of her scalp.  She hadn’t actually thought the prick would do it.  Now she’d have to wear a hat for awhile. 

Flicking the hair into his trash receptacle, she said, “Besides, I didn’t kidnap Goat.  I hired him.  Eventually.  And I only murder people if they deserve it.  Usually I just drop ‘em off somewhere unpleasant and make off with all their worldly belongings.”

Colonel Howlen straightened.  “I have the clearance required to send your picture to every spaceport in all four quadrants.  You’ll never be able to run your ship through Utopian space ever again.”

“My dear, I don’t give a damn.”

“What?” he sputtered.

Athenais grinned.  “You’ve never read
Gone with the Wind
?”  She pulled an old, plastic-wrapped tome off of his bookcase.  “You’ve got it here on your shelf.”

Howlen gave her a stunned look.  For a long moment, he stared at the book in her hand.  Then, almost tentatively, “You read old literature?”

“Of course.  There’s nothin’ like a good Old Earth novel to pass the time.”  She put the book back and grinned at him.  “I always imagine I was a pirate captain, in another life.”

For the first time, she saw a flash of amusement on the colonel’s face before he wiped it away.  “I can have your face on every Wanted board in all—”

“Oh, leave it alone, will you?” Athenais snapped.  “You don’t think people like you have tried that before?  Yes, I’ve been caught.  Yes, they gave me all sorts of horrible sentences.  And yes, my father wipes my slate clean and sets me loose on the Utopia again.  So really, your threats are meaningless.  By all means, you can try, but as much as you’d like to, there’s not a damn thing you people can do to me.”

“So you’re hiding under your father’s protection.”

Athenais snorted.  “I’m shackled by his protection, more like.  Why do you think I joined the rebellions?  I’ve been waiting for someone to find a way to kill me.”

Something flashed across the Colonel’s face that Athenais couldn’t read.  Disbelief?  Pity?

“So here’s my proposal,” Athenais continued, ignoring him.  “Let me take a look at your cargo, make sure they’re still breathing, and I’ll put in a good word for you with the Governor.  As it is, he’s liable to kill you for being such a pain in the ass.”

“Why don’t you throw yourself into a sun or something?”

Athenais paused and gave the Colonel a raised eyebrow.  “Because everything else I’ve tried hasn’t worked, and who wants to be rooted in the center of a sun until it burns itself out?  I don’t really feel like taking that chance.”

“Surely you don’t believe that the Potion could last—”

“Surely I’m not about to find out.”

Howlen was silent for long moments as he considered that.  Then, for the first time, Athenais saw the mask of captain come off.  Almost softly, he said, “What do you want with these shifters?  Why are you paying the governor more than they’re worth?”

Athenais scoffed.  “They’re worth whatever I feel like paying.  One of them’s my friend.  And, since I’ve got loads of credits and only a few friends, I don’t mind shelling out a few bucks to save them now and then.”

“Your friend…” Howlen mused.  “The one who worked on your ship?” 

Athenais nodded.  “I’d like to get him back.”

Howlen looked flabbergasted.  “You really did fall in love with him, then?  And you’re still willing to help him, even after you found out he was an alien?”

Athenais frowned.  “Who told you that?”  Had he started interrogations already?  The uptight, ruthless
bastard
.

The colonel shook himself, the hardass suddenly back in place.  “I’ll be releasing your information over the network unless you can convince Governor Black to withdraw.”

“Go ahead,” Athenais said.  “They’ll probably just think it’s a prank.”

His brown eyes hardened to polished jasper.  “Don’t make me use the shifters as hostages.”

Athenais smiled at him.  “You harm them and I will kill you and everyone on board this ship.”

“With that little yacht of yours?”  Howlen snorted.  “I don’t think so.”

“How about right now?” Athenais said, lifting her gun.

“There are twenty-nine people aboard this ship, woman.”

Athenais raised a brow.  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.  I was thinking more like sixty.  Jeez, this is gonna be a cakewalk.”

“There is only one of you,” Howlen growled. 

“And only one captain,” Athenais reminded him.  “Like they say, cut off the head and the body just flops around.”

“I expected as much, dealing with a pirate,” he said, his face filled with disdain.  “That’s why I locked my copilot in the command room and gave her orders to vent the cargo bay into space if you fire your weapon.”

Athenais held her gun in place.  “I don’t need to fire it to kill you.”

“I specified you firing your weapon, but my copilot does think for herself and I doubt she’d be confused as to what to do if you, say, break my neck, instead.”

Athenais heaved an enormous sigh and holstered her Phoenix.  She glanced up at the ceiling.  “How much money do you want?”

“Excuse me?”

“For the shifters.  I’ll pay.”

“They’re not for sale.”

“I’m giving Governor Black twelve mil,” Athenais said.  “I’ll give you fifteen.”

“Get off my ship.”

“Oh come on,” Athenais said.  “Twenty.”

“
Now
.”  Fury lighted his eyes.  He went to the door and opened it with a violent slap, gesturing through the portal in apparent disdain.

The bastard can’t be bought
, Athenais realized, startled.  Very rarely had she ever met a creature that could not be bought.  Of those she had, most of them were alien.

Realizing she wasn’t going to get anything else out of him, Athenais shrugged and walked through the door, startling the two guards Howlen had placed there.  She brushed past them and made her way unassisted back through the maze of corridors to the airlock.  She opened it and stepped outside, right into the waiting arms of the Planetary Guard.

Colonel Tommy Howlen endured the search of his ship and the seizure of his cargo, but when they arrested him several days later and threw him in the same cell as Captain Owlborne, he had to laugh.

“The Governor realized you were trying to go behind his back, did he?”

Athenais ignored him.  Her head hung between her knees and she looked pale.

“You know, he’s sold those shifters by now.  There’s more people out there than the Utopia looking to get their hands on shifters.”

Still, Captain Owlborne said nothing.  She was staring at a crack in the floor a few inches away from the bolt securing her ankle chains.

“What’s the matter?  All those millions you keep throwing around can’t buy you a ticket outta here?”

“They blew up
Beetle
,” Athenais said.

“Good for them.  One less pirate ship to worry about.”

Athenais looked up.  Her eyes were red.  “My crew was still on board.”

Tommy was a bit surprised at that.  Normally that was bad PR.  “You sure?”

“I didn’t have time to warn them,” the pirate whispered.  “Black had planned on blowing me up with them, but I was out talking to you.”

“Maybe he arrested them before he scuttled her,” Tommy said.  “They could be in the next cell down and you’d never—”

“No.  He killed them.  They found bodies.  Showed them to me.”  Her voice broke and she went silent.

“It’s what you get for being a pirate, I guess.”

Immediately, Howlen wished he hadn’t said it.  Athenais’s face contorted and she sank further in on herself, looking more miserable than any living creature Howlen had ever known.

“Where they sending you?” Tommy said.  “I’m sure you can buy your way off any planet with all the—”

“Erriat.”                                 

Howlen looked away, disgusted with Governor Black.  “Erriat’s no place for a woman.”

“Exactly.  It’ll be a planet-to-planet exchange, so Black can leave me there as long as he wants without the Utopia or my father ever finding out about it.”

“I’ll make sure they know.”

“Don’t bother,” the pirate said softly.

Tommy thought about saying something, consoling her, but in the end, he held his tongue.  She’d spent her every breath since the inception of the Utopia generally wreaking havoc wherever she could, acting like a spoiled two-year-old.  That she was actually being made to sit and think about her wrongdoings was a little refreshing.