Aresia

So instead of doing the smart thing and saving myself a lot of trouble, I responded to this girl's hail. She was quite a girl, let me tell you. If I were some kind of hopeless romantic idiot, I could go on for hours describing her beauty. But I'm not, thank God, so I won't. Suffice to say that she was a redhead, and redheads were always the most trouble.

"This is Captain Fred Donair of the starship Vellus. Identify yourself."

The woman looked at me in the viewscreen with those piercing blue eyes. She was obviously not impressed, and I can't say I'd blame her. At the time, I'd gone broke (yes, again) after making a bet with my "friend" Terk about which of us could make the Lobo run faster. My ship really needed to be fixed and I'd been wearing the same clothes for weeks. "I am Lady Aresia of Dolmen in the Calana Hegenomy," she snooted. "I was on my way to Weston II for an important diplomatic meeting when my ship was attacked by pirates. I alone survived. You will... please bring me there. I will compensate you, should you so desire." You could tell this girl was none to pleased about having her fate in the hands of a mere smuggler like myself.

I have to say, though, the fact that she was so high-and-mighty seemed like a good sign. She seemed like someone who was used to being obeyed and obeyed quick. Someone like that would probably have a lot of power and money at her disposal, and could give me the kind of reward I desparately needed. It seemed like things were looking up for once.

"Are you sure you want to go to Weston II, lady? There are beings there who eat pretty young things like you for breakfast." I grinned toothily. "Sometimes literally."

"I am quite capable of handling myself," she fumed. And it sure looked like she was. Her body was very muscular although, I had to admit, very curvaceous too. She looked like if she had time to recover she could take on a whole Lizard Unity. I decided I'd better be careful once I get her on the ship.

Eventually, we docked. Making sure she didn't notice, I set my perscan on her to see what she was packing. I love using my perscan, because it's about the only piece of advanced equipment on this entire damn ship. Well, what I saw blew me away. This lady's jumpsuit was really micromesh armor, with shieldtech embedded in it so subtly that no perscan that hadn't been as hot-rodded as mine was could see it. She was even richer than I'd thought. And that sword...

Holy shit. What had I gotten myself into? It was a Keeper Soulsword. Everyone knows you can't steal a Keeper Soulsword. And yet... How the hell would a woman get into the Keepers? And you could tell that she wasn't here by proxy, she didn't have that vaguely not-there quality of a proxy. What the hell was going on?

The woman glared at me. You could tell she'd found me out. She didn't look so haughty anymore, she looked... I don't know... brooding. Like she was trying to carry an entire planet on her shoulders. She drew her Soulsword. You know how all the old legends say that a Soulsword adds a tally mark to its side for every person it kills? Well this had several tally marks. Not many, but the fact that it had them at all was scary. I knew now why she wasn't here by proxy: she actually intended to fight. When you're somewhere by proxy, although you're life isn't at risk, there's also no chance that you'll win a battle because you aren't completely aware of your surroundings.

"Not all of us have degenerated into fat idiots who scheme for power while forgetting our duties," she said. "Not all of us have forgotten honor." She turned away from me and stormed out of the room.

1. I set course for Weston II, hoping I hadn't bitten off more than I can chew.

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