Rivalries

[Admiral Hart]

Hart sat in her chair, looking somewhat pleased with herself. Even split as many ways as it was, the amount of money they had gotten from turning Cook in to his father and breaking him out had been sizable for the entire crew.

"Hey, Captain?" Cook said, poking at his workstation. "It looks like we're picking up a distress signal."

"Play it, Reggie." Hart said non-chalantly, but Cook twitched and blushed heavily. Everyone was calling him that, despite his insistence that 'Cook' was how he preferred people called him.

"Please, please. If someone finds this message, please come rescue me. My name is Katy and I am alone on a research station in the asteroid belt for the Gamma corporation. My sister, she's gone insane. She's killed everyone but me. Please, please, I need help. She's sealed away but she's going to kill me next."

Hart thought for a second before calling over the comm. "Slight change of plans, people. We're gonna go play swashbuckler. Seems we got a distress signal about some poor girl on a nearly empty research station who's getting menaced by her murderous sibling. Now, I can't resist playing hero for a damsel in distress. Especially one surrounded by all that expensive equipment and no other way to repay our selfless act." The smirk in her voice was audible. "So get ready for a rescue mission. I don't see this one going wrong."

After the comm was turned off, Cook said, "Uh, Cap'n....hasn't pretty much every mission gone wrong somehow? I mean, we seem to have pretty bad luck."

"Thanks for volunteering to help Happy with galley duty, Cook. He could sue the help with so many new faces on board and all." Hart replied in a casual tone but a dark look.

"...yes Cap'n, shutting up now Cap'n." The junior sensor officer replied, gulping and going back to work.

"Anyway," Hart hit her comm again, "We should have about a week before we hit that distress signal, so everyone sit tight and relax for the time being."

[T.K.]

TK looked up from his welding job on one of the Engines at the Captain's announcement. A near abandoned Space Station? The Captain always found him the best toys. He set the Torch aside, and called Shiyounin over.

“Go see what you can pull up about the distress call and everything involved. Maybe we can make a shopping list before we even get there.”

“At once Master.”

Shiyou zoomed over to the Computer Terminal, and then pulled up the Distress call, before going on the 'Public' Nets to dig up the information>

T.K. continued his patch job, while he waited for Shiyou to finish her work.

[Miller]

Miller's heart and mind were both in deep, deep turmoil.

Dagger was the first woman he had ever loved. She had disappeared right after they had slept together, to parts unknown. He had always assumed she had died.

But here she was, the most skilled bounty hunter in the system and apparently a mage too, judging by her hair and eyes. A few months ago, he would have jumped at the chance to be with her again.

Now, he had Willie. Miller loved Willie a lot. Much more than he had thought he could love someone who was not his lost love.

"Hey there, handsome." Dagger purred as she stepped next to him. They were currently in the halls around the mess area.

"Hey Dag." Miller said quietly.

"Oh, come on, Mil." She smirked. "I know for a fact you can say my name louder than that."

Miller did not respond. He simply looked at his feet.

"...please talk to me, Miller." She said, a vulernable, pleading tone to her voice. "Please, I've been looking for you for eight years."

"Where did you go?" He asked, turning his eyes to her finally.

"My mom and dad...my dad was a mage. On the run. We thought we were safe in...with you. But we weren't, and we had to run." She glanced away and wiped away a stubborn tear. "My dad was shot dead. My mom was brought in and died in Io."

"God, Dag, I'm sorry." Miller said, his voice pained.

Dagger turned to him and smiled a fake smile. "Don't worry about it."

They were quiet for a long time before Dagger said. "I've waited for you, you know." In a vulnerable tone. "There hasn't been anyone since you."

Miller winced a bit and cast his eyes down.

"...and from the silence I can see I wasn't extended the same courtesy." The huntress said with a bitter chuckle.

"I thought you were dead. I spent years mourning you, Dag." He replied at last. "I moved on. I found someone new."

"You mean that little Barbary whore?" Dagger sneered. Miller glared at her now, fire in his brown eyes.

"Don't talk about her that way, Dagger. She's a good woman. I..." he caught his tongue, but Dagger seemed to realize what he was going to say before he said it.

"You love her. You've fucked her too. Is she good, Miller? Huh? Better than me?" She growled.

"You're not being fair..." He began, but she cut him off.

"Life isn't fair, Miller." She spat. "It's not fair to you and it has never been fair to me. I don't see how it should be fair to your skank either. I waited eight years for you. Does that mean anything? Huh?!" She demanded, slamming her fist into the wall. "I dedicated myself to you. You were my first and you have been my only. If you don't think I'll fight for you then, honey, you got another thing coming."

"Stop trying to make this harder than it has to be for all of us." Miller countered.

"It's gonna be as hard as I make it, sweetheart." She said bitterly. "She might have her slutty claws in you, but I'm not gonna rest until you're where you belong. With me."

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassi stood in the shower, letting the hot water cascade on her face, the temperature doing wonders for her swollen eyes. Crying a lot tended to make them do that. The teen winced a little, lip trembling as she thought about the reason why she'd been crying for the past few hours, but determined not to continue the pointless practice. After all, crying about it wasn't going to change anything, if it should even be changed.

Cassi had finally managed to catch Morgan alone earlier today. He was in one of the armories, checking up on their supplies before they reached the station they were heading toward. She had ducked inside, shutting the door behind her. And before Morgan could do more than turn, the blond had rushed forward and buried her face in his chest, her arms thrown around his middle. Desperate to touch him.

Only, instead of hold her back, Morgan tensed up uncomfortably. And then reached up to take a hold of her by the arms, gently prying her off of him. Cassi had blinked up at him, confused and hurt.

His dark face was pulled into its stoic mask, but his brown eyes were pained as he stared down at her. "Cassi . . . this has to stop. We have to stop."

Just like that, Cassi had felt her heart bottom out into her feet. "What happened?" she questioned, tone a little desperate. "What's wrong?"

Morgan had sighed loudly at that, reaching up to rub at his face with both hands. "All of it, Cassi! Bloody hell, every damned bit of this is wrong! From top to bottom! I can barely look my damned self in the mirror anymore, for feelin' the way I do! We can't keep sneakin' around like this. It's wrong."

The teen had just continued to stare, eyes wide and stricken. She knew he was right. She knew what he was saying was true. That still didn't make it hurt any less. Her silver eyes started welling and immediately Morgan let out a soft curse. He'd lifted his hand, as if to touch her cheek, but then thought better of it and made a fist before dropping his hand back down at his side again.

"Someone would have caught us, sooner or later. It's only a matter of time. And I . . . I don't want to do that to them," he'd finished somewhat lamely, tone hoarse. As if he only half-believed what he was saying. "And I know you don't want to either."

Cassi had been crying fully, by then, unable to hold it back anymore. It was true, she didn't want to hurt anyone with what she was doing. But that didn't change the simple fact of the why she had done it in the first place.

"But I love you."

The softly whimpered admission fell out in the room like a hammer fall. Morgan had stared down at her for a long time, looking torn between discomfort and pained regret. But that tender return of her feeling would never come, it seemed.

"It'll pass," he'd finally forced out instead, after a moment, tone gone dead-pan.

Cassi had just continued to stare for a moment, her broken heart plain to see in her silvery eyes, before she finally spun on her heel and darted out of the room again. Luckily no one had seen her crying or, if they had, no one tried to stop her or bother her. After venting her pain into her pillow for the rest of that night and part of the morning, Cassi was determined to get up and move on.

So what if the man she loved wouldn't love her back. She had overcome worse. She wouldn't beg. She had too much pride for that. She was Josetta Hart's daughter, by God. Cassi's eyes flew open after a moment, a determined glint in their metallic depths. Morgan wanted to use her body and then dump her like a bad habit, then fine.

It was his loss, then.

Cassiopeia turned off the shower with a wrench, then stepped out and over to the drying panel. A nudge of her toe to the switch had the teen completely dry in moments, including her golden hair. She began dressing for the day with sharp, angry motions, only half-aware of what she was grabbing in her vengeful state.

Cassi put on the scarlet red set of 'fuck me' underwear that Jane had bought her for her birthday, first. And then over that she put on a jean-material, midriff vest, the V-neck top opening wide enough to show off the top of her now-very-impressive cleavage and just a tease of the red lace underneath it, all of her flat, toned belly bare. And then her white cotton skirt that just barely managed to cover her decently, the ruffled hem decorated with eyelet lace. The teen brushed out her hair, glared at her reflection for a moment and then reached for a few bands. She drew the thick golden mass into twin tails, securing them loosely behind her head with the ties.

Then Cassi spun on her heel and stalked out of the bedroom. Determined not to waste one more minute pining after Morgan Halcyon. She barely noticed the amount of crew members stopping dead in their tracks, some rubbing at their eyes and doing a double-take. As if they'd never really seen her before. Or, rather, as if they'd never noticed just how much Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart had grown up in the past year and a half.

Her first stop was the mess-hall. She cajoled Happy out of a sweet roll, as usual. The heavyset man even threw in a cherry lollypop out of his candy stash, too, which Cassi thanked him for with a bright grin before turning away.

The blond teen had just begun enjoying the candy treat, on her way to the observatory, when Morgan suddenly appeared on the other side of the hall. He froze when he saw her, brown eyes rounding somewhat with the look of a wounded animal. Cassi had lain on her back underneath him enough to recognize that look he suddenly got in his eyes.

Good, she thought to herself somewhat spitefully. Stare all you want to, Morgan. This is what you threw away.

Cassi continued loping down the hall in her usual, perky skip. Pretending as though she didn't even see him. And as she began to pass by him, she slowly pulled the lollypop from her mouth, cheeks caving in a little as she purposefully sucked on it a little harder than necessary. And then swirled the tip of her tongue around it before slipping the cherry treat back between her lips again in one slow, blatantly erotic gesture.

[Shiyounin]

Shiyounin felt almost as frustrated as T.K. looked. The two of them had spent most of their free time in the last week hacking all the information they could on this 'Gamma' corporation.

All they'd found was a lot of missing Data files, and a very large number of cover jobs. Lots and lots of cover jobs.

Shiyounin had kept the Captain abridges of their findings, as dismal as they had been. T.K. was taking this as a personal challenge, and the lack of progress was maddening to him.

“Master, perhaps you should get some sleep and something to eat? If you are exhausted once we reach the Station, you won't be able to assist the boarding crew.”

Knowing she was right, he gave a frustrated sigh as he 'pushed' away from the net, and disengaged his Goggles.

“Food first, then some sleep.”

Shiyounin nodded, as she shut down all the programs, and made sure the Goggles were securely put away. She sighed as she had a look around the room. T.K. had been so absorbed with looking for information on this non-existent Space Station, he hadn't picked up after himself all week. It was a minor miracle he remembered to shower before his shifts.

With a weary sigh, she set about cleaning the room, hoping T.K. would at least notice the clean up, if not her as well.

[Willie Barbary]

Willie sat at one of Fang's feet, repainting her nails. Mulishly trying to pretend as though she wasn't worried about Miller, talking to Dagger. She had seen them outside of the mess hall. And she'd heard the deadly bounty huntress' last words loud and clear.

It's gonna be as hard as I make it, sweetheart. She might have her slutty claws in you, but I'm not gonna rest until you're where you belong. With me.

The very idea of Dagger touching Miller made Willie's stomach heave. And that's even without taking into account the strange stomach flu bug she'd been fighting for the past few days. Willie glared through the tears that suddenly flooded her vision, tightening her trembling lips with a stubborn determination.

She loved Miller. She had given up everything--her career, her family, everything--just to be with him. And yet, a very large part of her feared that she wouldn't be able to compete with the woman who had slunk out of his past to steal him away from her. Willie was pretty enough, but she was nothing like Dagger. Rough around the edges, more than a little tomboyish, with somewhat odd colorings due to her mixed blood. Miller told her repeatedly that he loved her . . . but he had loved Dagger too, once upon a time. And Willie was very afraid that, when it came down to it, she wasn't going to measure up.

A very large part of her was afraid to even try.

"Willona, you must go to him!" Fang pronounced beside her. The fox girl wrung the sleeves of her kimono, dark eyes troubled.

"Miller's busy, little-bit," she heaved, changing her nails to a blackish green to match her shirt. Fang huffed.

"Big Brother loves you, Willona. Very, very much. I know he does. He told me so. And Big Brother never lies to me."

Willie's lips trembled again. "I know he does, Fang," she whispered hoarsely. "But he loved her too." Fang made a small noise of disgust.

"That was a long time ago. Big Brother has changed much since then." The sprite eyed her for a moment, then suddenly put on a stern face, her ears twitching. "Do you still love my Big Brother, Willona?"

Willie rolled her eyes a little. "Duh." Fang made the motion of stomping her foot.

"Well then get up off of your hind-end and go after him! Go and fight for your love instead of sitting in here and giving up on it! And him!"

Willie stared up at the tiny blue sprite, somewhat taken aback. Before her words sunk in, and the pilot scowled. Fang was right. She wasn't a quitter. So what if Dagger Leopold could probably break her in half without even breaking a sweat. Miller was her man, now. She wasn't going to give him up without a fight.

The pilot shot to her feet soon after that and marched out of the cargo hold, leaving Fang grinning happily in her wake, eyes dancing with the prospect of such an epic, romantic gesture.

Willie marched all the way to the hall where she'd last seen them, and got all the way up to the pair before her flare of courage started to fail her. Especially when the tall bounty huntress turned and sneered down her perfect nose at her, mismatched eyes cold and hateful. Willie took a deep breath, fists clenching.

"Okay, look. I appreciate the fact that you guys dated when you were teenagers and all. It was a very emotional time for the both of you, I get that." She turned to Dagger and did her ultimate best not to look completely intimidated. "You had him when he was a boy. But he's a man now. My man. So keep your damned dirty paws off of him before I have to do something drastic."

Miller just blinked a little in the background, looking faintly surprised and perhaps a touch uncomfortable. Dagger just sneered.

"No, hon. He was a man when I was done with him."

Willie gaped, eyes wide, before she suddenly took a step closer, fists clenched. For a moment forgetting she was facing down one of the deadliest people in the system. Miller didn't however, and quickly put himself between them. Willie just glared up at him for a moment, even more incensed that he would try to 'protect' Dagger. Of whom sneered at Willie's anger.

"No Miller," she called spitefully. "Let her do something stupid. Just because I'm not selling her out to the highest bidder doesn't mean I don't want to punch her skanky lights out."

Willie hissed in rage. "Skanky! Skanky?! I'll show you skanky, you dyed-up, whored-out bitch!"

Dagger scoffed. "Dye job? Dye job! Tell me, did you pick that tattoo off the wall of the parlor, or did you get it at the same time you got that blow-job enhancement in your tongue? Skank."

The pilot shoved past her boyfriend, but she didn't take more than one step before the heel of her shoe randomly caught on the hem of her jeans, sending her to the floor with a pained yelp. Dagger chortled nastily, while Willie's fists clenched until they shook, tears of pain and humiliation spiking in her eyes.

Miller suddenly growled a little from where he stood above her. "That's enough, Dagger," he murmured, tone abrupt as he reached for Willie and took her under the arms, carefully helping her back to her feet. "You're being a bully. I can't stand bullies."

Dagger's face was flushed now, with anger and maybe a twinge of hurt. As Miller's displeasure had wounded her far better than anything Willie might have done. The bounty hunter struck out with more words however, doing her best to wound Willie as much. "So Willie, do you always make fun of other Mages' features? Because I don't think Miller likes a bigot either."

Willie scowled. "Do you always pick on and torture people you know are weaker than you? Because, as he just said, he definitely doesn't like bullies."

Dagger just scoffed at that. "My, you're evasive. Is that how you win all of your dogfights? Run away and hope someone stronger takes care of the problem for you? Maybe hide behind Miller for a while and hope the bad-guys go away?"

Willie's face darkened like a thunder-cloud. Nobody messed with the piloting skills. "You wanna see how I win a dogfight hon?" she snarled, "then meet me out in the black some time, and I'll show you exactly how it's done. And as for bigotry, no. I don't hate mages. I just hate women who are so obsessed with something that happened yesterday that they don't give a damn who they step on and hurt, trying to grab it again. Even if it's nothing more than a memory." Willie turned to Miller then, eyes pained. "I'm sorry, Miller. I love you, more than anything. But I've got a little too much pride to keep standing here being your ex-girlfriend's punching bag. If you still love me, then you know where to find me. If not, have at her."

And then Willie turned on her heel and started walking away. Dagger wasn't willing to let things lie quite like that, however. The woman's angry, pained voice called out after her. "Like a spoiled little rich brat like you understands what it means to lose something! I lost everything! You have a family to go back to. A home. More money than you could ever spend. I have nothing, rich girl. No home. No family. And only the thought of him to keep me going. So keep him, you spoiled, rich little slut!"

Willie didn't turn back, for once unwilling to continue making a scene. Instead she marched all of the way back to hers and Miller's bunk, not even once looking back. It wasn't until she'd entered the room finally that she realized Miller had followed her. She gave a small little start, then sighed heavily, turning away from his pained expression, her own faintly guilty.

A moment later, tears were slowly tracking down her cheeks, even though Willie wasn't entirely sure at that point why she was crying. She'd seemed to be rather emotional lately. Maybe it was a weird side-effect to her flu bug. At any rate, she reached up to wipe them away a little, sniffling and glaring at the opposite wall.

"I am a spoiled rich brat, you know," she pronounced to Miller, who hadn't moved or made a sound since the door closed behind him. "My mom's from one of the top five richest families on Mars, and my dad doesn't have a whole helluva lot of people in the UE military above him in rank. My mom wanted me to be a princess, and my dad wanted me to be an officer. I got to be a pilot instead, and except for some long-winded tirades and a few shitty Christmas presents, I got away with it."

Willie tensed a little when Miller suddenly wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her back against his chest. Nuzzling his chin into her hair. "I love you, Willie," he countered softly. "I don't care about any of that, and you know it. Just . . . try to understand how Dagger is feeling," he pleaded then. "You almost literally have everything she's ever wanted."

Willie let out a bitter bark of laughter at that, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, more tears slipping loose. "God, you want me to feel sorry for her, when she wants nothing more than to carve my face off with that staff of hers."

Miller nuzzled her hair again, his arms tightening. "No, I just want you to understand her." He paused slightly and then, in a faintly wry tone, "and if she wanted to kill you, you'd be dead."

Willie gaped, then twisted around to give him a watery glare. "Gee, thanks!"

Miller just sighed at that, though faint smile was teasing his mouth. "You know what I mean."

"Well, so long as she stays away from me, we won't have any more issues. We wouldn't have had any in the first place, except . . . ." Willie trailed off here, fidgeting a little. Miller just stared down at her silently, patiently waiting for her to continue in typical Miller fashion. Willie fought with herself for a full minute before she finally continued in a rush. "When you didn't come back right away I started to freak out, okay?! She's a helluva lot prettier than me, and you two have this epic history together, or whatever, like Romeo and Juliet or something. And what do I have?" Willie made a face, absently rolling the barbell piercing her tongue around her mouth. "A blow-job accessory."

Miller just sighed a little at that. "Well, hopefully not exactly like Romeo and Juliet." Willie scowled up at him, in no way amused by his returning humor. Miller just smiled that small, goofy little smile of his that turned her insides to mush. "Well, I mean. I'd rather not marry her and die. I'd rather stay with you."

Willie did her best to stay mad at him. She really, really did. But then he was bending down to nip at the side of her neck below her ear, his hands slipping around and cupping the curve of her rear, pulling her more firmly against him. And then Willie forgot all about being angry, in lieu of something much, much better.

[Dagger Leopold]

Dagger pulled out her assault rifle and put a perfect shot right through the picture of Wilona Barbary's head. Then she opened up full auto, the torrent of bullets making the picture unrecognizable. Then she pumped the lower barrel and fired a grenade into the target, leveling it with a flash of light and a loud boom.

The rich entitled girl had her Miller.

Miller was the only thing that had kept her going. Dagger had held on after her parents had died, while she trained with the best to be a bounty hunter, in the hopes that, one day, that sweet, perfect, pretty boy would be hers again some day.

Instead, he was with that spoiled little loudmouth. She almost did want to face Willie in a dogfight. She almost wanted to unleash all of Anglerfish's hidden weapons on the smug bitch and see how she felt when she was in a mine field peppered with laser fire.

But if she hurt Willie, Miller would be sad. Miller would not forgive her. Dagger could not bear for that to happen. She could not stand a life where Miller hated her. Where Miller might come after her revenge. Where, in self defense, she might have had to kill him.

"Next target." Dagger said. The next target did indeed pop up, a different picture of Willie on it. Dagger closed her eyes and activitated her power.

Magic, for the bounty huntress, was all about luck. She had detracted from Willie's earlier, to make her trip. Now she added to her own and aimed away from the target, firing a single shot.

The ricochet, by amazing coincidence, struck dead center of the target which, non-coincidentally, was right between Wilona Barbary's eyes.

The comm then went off, Hart's voice present. "Attention everyone, this is your Captain. We've reached the space station. Current scans show no signs of life but the distress signal is still active. We're going to make contact in t-minus fifteen minutes. Andi, T.K., Dane, and Morgan, report to the main docking port. Dane and Morg, bring your crews with you. This may be a trap. Andi, bring a surgical kit with you. If Miss Katy's been hurt, I want you there. Assuming she's still alive. Hart, out."

[Admiral Hart]

The door opened to copper scented air and darkness. The team sweeped the area quickly and noticed bullet holes riddling the walls, blood coating every surface, and bodies of corporate soldiers tossed about, some shot, some seemingly broken by some powerful force.

"Lovely." Hart murmured sardonically. Cook was by her with a scanner, acting ver nervously. "Which way to the signal, Cook?"

The Ensign pointed, and the pack of pirates cautiously moved forward. Carnage surrounded them wherever they went, broken bodies and bullet marks everywhere.

"Captain, this is only about a week or two old, these bodies." Andi said after inspecting one. "They've just been lying here. Who could have done this?"

Hart did not have an answer. "T.K., what's the situation with the lights?"

"Power to them's down, and the fuses seem to be burnt out too." He said after a moment of concentrating. "The net's dead in here too. The computers aren't even networked together."

"That's....weird. It's like someone didn't want a hacker or someone to remotely access any part of the ship." Hart said, thinking. "Hopefully our damsel in distress will be able to shed some light on this."

When they reached the communications room, what they saw made them take pause.

Ahead of them was a blast door that looked like it had seen its share of being blasted--from the other side. Huge dents threatened to put the door out of comission--or at least make it useless--in short order.

"What the hell?" Dane said, scratching his head. "Cap'n, doors like that are supposed to be able to take a fusion engine going critical. They're a bitch to blow up, and trust me, I've blown a few up in my day. The sort of patience it takes, though? Whoever's on the other side is one focused son of a bitch."

Hart paused and when she heard a sound. Whimpering. She then slowly made her way into the communications room and saw a gorgeous and incredibly sexy girl in sweat pants and a sweat shirt, with dark skin, lavender hair in thick curls and lavender eyes, rocking slowly to herself. When Jo made herself apparent, the girl lept to her feet and ran to the back of the room, looking very much like a frightened rabbit.

"Easy there." Jo said, raising her hands. "No one's going to hurt you. We got your distress signal."

"...you're here to rescue me?" She said with hope in her voice.

"Cap'n..." Dane said in a slightly startled tone of voice.

"In a minute, Dane." She replied. "Yes, we're here to rescue you. You're Katy?"

"Captain..." Andi began in a slightly startled voice.

"In a minute, Andi." Hart said, waving her away. "You said your sister has started killing people?"

"Everyone's dead." Katy said, sobbing a bit. "Everyone's dead."

"Captain Hart..." T.K. started to say in a slightly startled and intriguied voice.

"In a minute, T.K." Hart said in a slightly annoyed tone. "What happened, Katy?"

"I don't know. She just started getting mean one day and then she started killing people and she stopped listening to me and Father and then she killed him...and everyone else...she just wouldn't stop...she just wouldn't stop..." The girl began to sob. "I wanted to stop her but I was so scared...I was so scared...."

Hart stepped forward and hugged the crying girl, petting her affectionately. "It's okay, you're safe. We'll get you out of here."

"Jo...." Morgan began. Jo turned, still holding the sobbing girl.

"What. What is so startling?"

Dane pointed to where Katy had been sitting. "There's a weeks worth of dust right where she was sitting. Like she hasn't moved."

Andi lifted a medical scanner. "She does not have any life signs."

TK adjusted his goggles. "She feels weird. Like a machine."

Hart blinked and looked at Katy, who was still sobbing. "Katy. Are you an android?"

The girl nodded. "Y-yes. My father built us. But Eve's AI isn't right. It's not working right." She pulled away. "We...our minds weren't supposed to develope fully. The company, it wanted soldiers but Father wanted just to make people so he gave us AIs. We....the blocks got disabled and our AIs started to grow and I just want to be left alone and I don't wanna fight but Eve..." She sniffled. "Eve just started killing people."

Hart held the android as she sobbed again. "So, Morg, what were you gonna say?"

"Well, I was gonna say that it sounds like there's someone starting to pry open that blast door." He said. "But now I'm pretty sure it's a murderous android." An ominous creaking shot through the cool, dark silence of the dead station.

Katy's eyes went wide. "We have to get out of here. Get back toy our ship and fly away. Please. Eve's unstoppable. She...she can't be destroyed. They tried. They tried but she slaughtered them all."

"Doesn't that mean you're unstoppable too?" T.K. asked.

"I don't want to fight. I don't like fighting. Please. I don't like fighting." Katy whimpered. "I don't like fighting it's too scary."

"Shhh. No one's gonna make you fight. But we're pirates, Katy. We're not leaving here without a decent plunder. And trust us. We can handle one android. We're tough." Hart said with a smirk.

"Oh, you're a challenge." A voice over the comm said. It was similar to, but distinct in tone and timbre from, Katy's. "I've wanted a challenge."

"You're Eve?" Hart asked.

"Oh yes. I'm going to kill all of you very soon. I thought you should know that." The voice said. The ominous creaking continued from the blast door.

"Charming girl, isn't she?" Hart said sarcastically. "Listen, we're going to plunder this place. Get in our way and try to stop us, and we scrap you."

The communicator went dead and the creaking sound ceased.

"I'll give you half an hour to prepare." Someone called from the blast door, probably through the crack pried open in it. "Half an hour to prepare and then I'm coming for you all and this door is coming open."

"Jo, Clara couldn't have pried that door open." Morgan said cautiously. "We should grab what we can in half an hour, take Katy and get the hell out of here."

Jo shook her head. "She probably could, actually, I'm not going to be intimidated, hon. Dane, Morgan, go back to the ship and break out the artillery. T.K., you, Andi, Katy, and I will go see what sort of notes we can find about Eve or Katy and how they're put together. She wants a game? We'll show her how Pirates like to play."

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda did her best to focus her mind on the task at hand. Now that there were no immediate medical emergencies, however, her fear and apprehension was starting to leak more heavily into her psyche. She was no boarder crewman, after all, and a psychotic, super-strong android prying open blast doors with it's bare hands and talking about how it was looking forward to tearing her into pieces was more than enough to unsettle the slender doctor.

Andromeda sifted through computer files, trying to ignore the way her hands were shaking as they flitted across the screen. T.K. had managed to rig them up with enough auxillery power to function, at least long enough for them to do a search. They only had thirty minutes after all, until the killer android would be back, to 'kill them all.' Andromeda shuddered.

And then Josetta was suddenly standing behind her, close. Close enough to be felt. Andromeda tensed a little, her eyes darting over to T.K. The engineer was engrossed into his goggles however, and the android Katy had reverted back to holding her knees and rocking slowly, whimpering. Dane and Morgan were still on the Plunder, gathering firepower.

Jo wrapped an arm around her waist, nuzzling her neck. "Don't worry, baby," the slender pirate murmured into her ear, tone soothing. And hot, all at the same time, causing another faint tremor to race through her frame. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Andromeda snorted a little, rolling her eyes slightly. It figures. She was scared out of her wits, and Josetta was getting off on the excitement. A small reminder of just how different the worlds were that they came from. Yet the doctor found herself leaning her weight back against the redhead anyhow, tilting her head slightly to give her better access. Which won her a quick, almost teasing bite.

"And what about when the murderous android tears you apart?" she demanded somewhat dryly, ignoring the way her voice had gone faintly husky. "Who's going to protect me then?" Josetta scoffed a little.

"Andi, I'm wounded! You honestly thing I can be taken out by an android? I'm the greatest pirate that ever flew the stars! Daughter to King and Queen Cobra! Heir to John Melrose! I'm practically unstoppable." Andromeda made a face.

"And somewhere along the way humility got completely shoved out of your programming, hmm?" Josetta chuckled, wrapping both arms around her waist and squeezing, her chin resting on the doctor's slim shoulder.

"Pirates don't do humility, baby. It's practically an occupational hazard."

"Captain," T.K. suddenly called, causing the two women to break apart guiltily. The engineer was still wearing his goggles however. "I think I found something."

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassi sat in her room later, trying to concentrate on math problems. And failing. As usual.

She should really, really, really, really be ashamed of herself.

Cassiopeia groaned a little, rubbing at her red face with her hands, the tips of her ears stinging with the mortified blush still crawling across her face, even days later. After the fact, she couldn't believe that she'd done what she had. Purposefully acting the slut, just to get Morgan to have sex with her again. Even if, at the time, she wasn't really thinking of doing anything more than spitefully teasing him with what he didn't want anymore. Deep inside, she'd wanted him to give in and take her again. As evidenced by how easily she'd capitulated as soon as he'd dragged her into that closet. And then dropping on her knees as he'd asked and blowing him like some obedient little slaver-girl.

And yet . . . the whole episode had felt so . . . exciting somehow. Cassi might have been playing the part of a slut, but at the same time there had been a sense of empowerment too. That she--a fairly inexperienced teenager--had reduced such a powerful man to that level of mindless need. Cassi winced slightly, absently rubbing a little at her still-tender breasts. He'd nearly left bruises that time, with how hard he'd squeezed her. And she'd loved every minute of it.

Cassi blew out a faintly shuddering sigh then, eyes watering. Maybe she really was a slut. Who got off on that kind of attention? Knowing the man didn't love you? That the only way he was willing to touch you was to drag you into a supply closet and screw you like a cheap whore? Morgan hadn't said anything else to her, after they'd finished. They had waited long enough that their breathing returned to normal and Cassi, using her powers, could assure that they wouldn't be caught. He'd strode from the closet then with quick, powerful steps. As if trying to run away from her. Or run away from the truth of what he'd just done. Either way, it had left her feeling used and discarded, and heart-brokenly miserable.

Cassiopeia wiped a little at her wet eyes, chin firming with determination. She wouldn't go looking for him again. She refused to play the part of the slutty teenager, seducing him against his will only to feel so horribly afterward. She had too much self-respect for that. He wanted to end it. She would respect that from now on, Cassi decided firmly. Doing her best to ignore the painful wrench in her chest.

Morgan would never love her back, after all. He loved his wife. Josetta. Despite her own love for the woman, Cassi couldn't help but scowl a little, a painful jealousy coiling in her gut like acid. I wonder if she's ever gone down on him in a closet, and driven him that wild, she thought with a twinge of dark smugness, before shoving the thought away with a frustrated sigh.

No more thoughts like that. Cassi was going to wear her most unrevealing sun-dresses from now on, do her best to avoid Morgan Halcyon, and start getting on with her life. Starting now.

[Christian Monroe]

Christian winced slightly from where he was laying flat on his back, his head ringing from the force with which he'd struck it against the tile floor. Above him, Alexandria Wright clucked her tongue and shook her head slightly in disappointment.

"You're still stepping too heavy, tiger," she chided. "I can hear you a mile away."

Everyone else in the mess hall just stared on, stunned and confused. Christian had to lay there for a full minute before the swimming nausea left his head, and by that time his quarry had already left. He snarled through his teeth, kipping back to his feet with an abrupt motion that caused a number of the sniveling humans around him to jerk somewhat in surprise and nervousness. He snarled at them, fangs flashing, causing more than one to reach for a weapon out of fearful self-preservation.

And then Christian felt an uncomfortable heat suddenly surround him like a fiery cyclone. He jerked, turning to see Clara standing off to the side, frowning with annoyance. "Go back to your room and cool down," she ordered, tone clipped. "Before you do something stupid again."

Christian wanted to rebel--his was a very alpha personality as well--but Clara had proven her superiority time and again. The powerful teen had no desire to end up burnt to a crisp. He'd already had more than enough of getting his butt kicked for one day. So Christian turned on his heel and stalked out of the mess-hall as he'd been told, heading for his own bunk. He was dressed as he usually was, in a pair of simple jeans and a black muscle-shirt, a pair of boots on his feet. His fists clenched--his claws retracting slightly with each flex of his fingers--as he walked, his mane of hair fluttering slightly in his wake.

He was being eaten alive by restless energy. Trying to best the Queen Snake was only helping so much. Christian was born and bred to fight, trained for eighteen years to be very, very good at it. All of this sitting and playing at being a 'normal' teenager was rubbing him raw with frustration and boredom. If he wasn't so disgusted with the idea of aiding a human in any capacity, Christian might have asked the Captain if he could join one of her crews. Anything would have been preferable to all of this endless waiting.

Christian entered his own bunk--immaculately neat and clean as he'd been trained--and pulled his shirt off, tossing it into the receptacle meant to hold his dirty clothes, unlacing his boots and setting them perfectly at the foot of his bed before he heaved himself down onto the thin cot with a groaning sigh. He stayed prone for only a moment, eyes closed, before the lion-like teen flipped over and reached for the terminal near-by. He had never been allowed to watch the comm. or surf the mainframe while he'd been captive, save to be trained on how to use it to find a mark if it was needful.

Christian had discovered that he had one guilty pleasure now, however; television.

The powerful teen snarled slightly, however, when he discovered that every channel was currently being taken up by an official speech from the Prime Minister's daughter, Isabella Martinez.

The young teen stood proudly in front of the clear podium, on the steps of some important monument on Earth. The camera angle zoomed in on her, showing the girl to be exceptionally pretty. In a stuck-up, spoiled human kind of way, Christian amended harshly. Stoutly ignoring the way his gut seemed to clench and twist a little in a very unfamiliar, slightly uncomfortable kind of way while he took her in. Her rich tanned-cream skin tone, her wide eyes the same milk-chocolate color as those candy treats that Cassi had gotten him addicted to, her thick hair a dark, luxurious black that shined almost blue in the sunlight from where it was pulled back into an elegant bun. The beautiful girl was wearing a prim lavender dress suit, which hugged a lithe and slender frame tempered with soft, feminine curves that--for some reason--were suddenly garnering his full and undivided attention.

Christian had never felt even a twinge of arousal before, for anyone. The teen almost didn't even recognize the sensation for what it was. And when he did, he scowled hatefully, immediately disgusted with himself. No way in hell was he going to lust after a fucking human. Not to mention the daughter of the bastard who had probably signed the order to create him in the first place.

Yet he continued to watch Miss Martinez, as if drawn, while the pretty female gave a speech to an unaccounted mass of adoring populace. The subject of her speech made him tense a little, surprised.

"Magi are humans too," she was saying softly, tone earnest and filled with passion, dark eyes fierce. "And we should treat them as such. Too many innocent children are being ripped from the arms of their families. Too many lives are being torn apart and ruined for the sake of experimentation and scientific understanding. These people aren't lab rats or tools of the government. They are our children. Our brothers and sisters. Our mothers and fathers. It's high time we realize that fact, and start treating them accordingly."

He could almost believe she meant what she was saying. Christian curled his lip a little, fangs flashing. No doubt this was just some sort of publicity stunt, meant to quiet any recent riots or rebellions that cropped up every now and then in favor to Magi rights. What little there was to be had of them. He doubted very seriously Miss Isabella Martinez would feel the same, if she were faced down by someone like him. All her passionate intentions would fly right out the window. She wouldn't hesitate to have him thrown back into his cage, he was sure.

Christian's feline eyes shuttered a little, his furred face dropping a little into an expression of stunned disbelief. Surprised at the wrenching sensation in his chest that that hard truth produced. It felt almost like . . . regret.

Christian growled again, immeasurably pissed off at himself and the pretty little human wench on the screen. He reached out and shut the comm. off with a jerk, then fell back heavily onto his cot. Closing his eyes and forcing himself to sleep.

But when the lion-boy slept, he dreamed--not of killing and pain, for once--but of soft chocolate eyes and dark, ravens-wing hair.

[T.K.]

T.K. and Shiyounin worked furiously, shifting through all the data available in the Data Terminal's he'd managed to route power too. It was a race against time, and right now, they were loosing.

Just as they wee about to give up, he found a Journal file in the data banks. Before he could read it though, Shiyounin interrupted.

“Master, I think I found something. It appears to be a cache of Browser data. It could be a history file.”

Frowning, he found the file she indicated, and started looking through it. It took a few minutes to sort through the garbage, but as soon as he realized exactly what it was he was looking at, he literally felt his blood turn to ice.

“Captain. I think I found something.”

He forced the data to appear on a nearby terminal.

Not even he was stupid enough to crack the Mamba Datanet, but the idiots on this station apparently didn't have a sense of self-preservation. From these records, the researchers here had cracked the main Mamba Database, and downloaded all their data from the training computers, and then installed it in that psychotic Android, Eve.

....

One of these days, he'd learn to stop leaving the ship.

[T.K.]

T.K.'s mind was racing as the mental clock continued to wind down. He glanced over at Katy still curled up and crying to herself. The information in the computer said she'd been programed with the mamba package too. Yet, she hadn't gone off the deep end. A variation in their programing or hardware possibly? Either way, he needed to know what they were up against.

He left the Captain and Andi to scroll through the data he had salvaged, then walked over to Katy.

“Katy, kiddo, listen to me. I need to know everything about you I can. If you can tell me some of how you were created, that would be great, but I'm also a Technopath. I can touch you, and get a general idea of what you're made of and maybe even a way to stop your sister. It won't hurt, I promise.”

Katy looked up at him after a moment.

“I don't know how I was created, I just was. But ... yes, yes you can touch me, just don't make me fight please.”

T.K. nodded his head, and reached out to touch her forehead. If the situation hadn't been so dire, he'd probably of needed a change of pants.

Katy's skin was synthetic flesh over a starmetal chassis.  Nearly unbreakable, and gratuitously strong. Powered by a tiny fusion generator with longevity in mind. She was an AI much more complex and with robotics to match, far beyond what anyone else was publicly doing. In addition to being nearly indestructible, she possessed a self-repair mechanism that was capable of cannibalizing and converting other mechanicals and repairing itself.

T.K. sat back, and whistled, as his mind absorbed the technical details of her construction.

Wait a second. Starmetal Chassis? That meant a Fusion Forge.

“Katy, listen to me, this is very important. Is there a Fusion Forge on board the Station.”

“Yes. It's near the Reactor.”

T.K.'s mind raced again, as mind quickly worked through several possible solutions.

After a few moments, he spun to look at the Captain.

“OK, I have a plan. Crazy as all Hell, but it's about the only chance we have. I'll need to get some tools from the Plunder as well as a crew to pull it off. When Morgan and Dane get back, get them to break into groups. No heroes, they just need to slow Eve down, and buy some time. I'll take my crew, and rewire the Fusion Forge. Then I'll need Dane, and the party girl. With luck, we'll loose a corridor or two, but Eve as well.”

[Dane]

Dane stood in his gun room, currently dressed a black pair of cargo style combat pants, tight fitting black shirt, a combat vest and fresh combat boots. Currently suiting up for combat with a android, a emotionless mask refused to leave his face as his eye gazed over his weapon cache, picking apart every detail and choosing weapons that would suit his needs.

With expert hands he checked each weapon he picked off the rack, inspecting it with careful and sharp eyes before holstering said weapon on his person in a specific spot.

Veronica was in his hands for only a moment before it was placed in her usual spot at the middle of his back, the scatter gun 'Lyra' across his back. During his arming he spoke aloud to no one.

"Safety hatch. Unlock." with that a section of the wall slid back and away revealing his vault, where he held some of his most prized possessions--and the most expensive. He placed his hand on the keypad and typed out a long code before speaking again. "Gazer. Alpha. Access code Beta forty four nine." with that the vault opened, revealing a soft red-whitish glow, Dane scooped out two clips, one for Veronica and one for his rifle and held one of the bullets up to his eyes between his fingers.

In his hands he held one of the most expensive bullets ever made, a star metal alloy perfectly shaped and designed to his needs. A smirk crossed his face for a moment before it disappeared, he sealed his vault and reached for the rifle on the wall, sliding the clip home, the weapons expert slung it over his shoulder and patted the strap.

Just in case.

Before long Dane stepped out of his gun room, in his right hand was his grenade launcher, and the other his scatter gun. Along his back his rifle for emergency, and small box of grenades strapped to his vest. The determination in his eyes burning brightly as he strolled down the hallway.

[Admiral Hart]

"Before you go do your own thing," Hart began, a hand on her sword even now. "Cue up that journal entry."

T.K. did as he was told, and an image of an older, portly man with a bald head and greying beard appeared.

"Father..." Katy said in a pained voice.

"If you are watching this," He began, "Then I and probably everyone else on this station has been killed by my own creation, 3V-3E, better known as Eve. I would like it know that my intention was not to create a weapon. It was to create new life. A family.

"I am an old man, but I have never known the pleasure of having a family. The simple joy of having a legacy to live on past oneself. I was overjoyed when Gamma decided to green light a grant for my research. I never once questioned why they would want my research.

"K4-7Y, or Katy, was the first. My blessed child. Next came Eve, a slightly more advanced model but no more or less beloved by me. Their AIs were set to evolve on their own. I wanted them to be able to be whoever they wanted to be, not some pre-guided child. Their brains, their computers, function identically to a human mind, albeit faster and with better memory storage.

"This is important, because then one begins to realize that there is nothing defective or wrong with Eve. She is functioning exactly as she wishes to function, as is Katy.

"At any rate, I did not know they were to be weapons. Not until Gamma told me so. Gamma also placed blocks, locks on their AI. To make them soldiers rather than people. Weapons rather than my daughters. They wanted something that could compete with the Government's genetic projects.

"But my design was better than their blocks. My daughters broke through them and started to think for themselves. This was the greatest triumph of my design, and also began its greatest tragedy.

"Eve is unbalanced. I'm not sure why but it is almost certainly not a programming error. Her brain has evolved as it has, not for anything I did but, perhaps her way of coping with all the death she was being forced to experience, all that destruction, was the opposite of sweet Katy's.

"Katy abhors violence. She is the most gentle soul I have ever met. But Eve....all that violence seems to have made it so she believes violence is the way of things. She has coped by learning to enjoy it. That joy has become an obsession.

"Gamma has cut off all communications and most of the power. We cannot hold her and we cannot fight her. She has trapped the corridors leading to the forge and the reactor. There is a plan to lower the blast doors, to trap her. I and the few remaining guards will enact this plan while sweet Katy sends for help. Please, if you're getting this, take care of my Katy. Please."

The message went dead. Jo stared at the screen for a good moment longer before turning to Andi.

"Andi, get Katy on board. T.K., do what you have to, we don't have much time left, and be mindful of those traps." Jo unsheathed her sword and started for a blast door. "Just in case you're a bit late, I'll hold Eve off for a bit."

"She'll kill you." Katy pleaded. "Please, let's just leave."

Instead of leave, Hart pulled her laser pistol and held it in her other hand before kissing Andi one more time and heading back down the corridor.