Page 29 of Relyn
After hunting around a bit more, she breathed a sigh of relief when she found a cat carrier on the top shelf of a closet. Unfortunately, the minute he saw it, Data made a run for it. She caught him though, and spent a good ten minutes trying to shove a twelve pound cat into a six pound hole. Once she’d successfully completed the task, she tucked one laser pistol into her waistband, and slipped the other in with the cat.
She located her shoes and pulled them on, and then her coat. Someone had sewn up the bullet hole and given it a thorough cleaning, which had surprised Nora, considering no one seemed to even own a coat on Etlon Two and Meadow had beencampaigning pretty hard for her to stay. Her lock picks were back in her pocket. She was beginning to feel properly equipped for this adventure.
Nora checked the settings on the pistol. She wanted it powerful enough to stop a gorilla, but not enough to kill him. She cranked it up one spot. He was a very big gorilla. She picked up the cat carrier and Data let her know how displeased he was with the situation.
“Don’t worry. It’s only temporary. I promise.”
Nora opened the hatch and was not too surprised the tunnel was clear. It was slightly too short for him to stand comfortably upright, and he was probably waiting at the other end. She shut the hatch behind her, giving it a new code. Bright would just have to live with it, but she didn’t feel like giving the pirates free reign of Clover’s ship. It didn’t look like they’d actually removed any of the cargo, which seemed odd to Nora. The cargo manifest that she’d seen had a pretty pricey total on it, including some delicacies that were only available on Etlon Two, which meant Earth one percenters would go crazy for them.
Sure enough, at the end of the tunnel, Warthog Gorilla was waiting. He had been pacing, by the look of it, and getting frothier by the moment.
He saw her and stormed toward her. She raised her pistol.
“Hold it right there, Buster!”
“I am Ketle!”
She wasn’t sure if that was his name or species or some sort of emotion that the translator had bungled. She decided to go with name.
“Hello, Ketle, nice to meet you. I’m Nora, and this is my laser pistol and my secret weapon,” she said, motioning to the cat carrier, “and if you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to sic him on you.” Data chose the perfect moment to let out a loud yowl of discontent.
“I will rip its head off! I will rip your head off!”
“Do you really think so?” Nora said, cribbing one of Atticus Finch’s most famous lines. She jiggled the cat cage one more time in warning, and Data did not disappoint. His yowl echoed the hangar in the most ominous manner.
Ketle actually had to stop and think about that one. The monster that you couldn’t see was always scarier than the one that you could, and he stared at the carrier without knowing what beast lay within. Without waiting for him to decide, Nora raised her pistol and shot him in the chest. He crumbled to the floor in a heap, but he was still breathing. Good.
Nora calmly walked back toward Relyn’s quarters, the other pirates giving her and her mysterious pet a wide berth. Taking down the bully had raised her street cred. She might make a pirate after all.
Chapter 14
Relyn
Relyn headed to the one place he thought Nora might go, and that was back to her ship. He got to the hangar just in time to see her shoot Ketle and then calmly walk away as if she hadn’t a care in the universe.
He froze, torn between finishing off Ketle, who was struggling to get up, and scooping up his mate and hiding her away from any source of danger. Nora spotted him and changed direction toward him.
“I got some proper clothes,” she said.
Relyn picked her up and strode quickly back to his quarters.
“Hey, I can walk, you know.”
And had she not had a laser pistol, Ketle would have killed her. Relyn wasn’t sure where she’d found one, but that was beside the matter. Nora had not stayed safe in his quarters and that was unacceptable.
Once locked away, he put her down and tried to stay calm.
“I told you to stay here,” he said.
“And I decided to go find some stuff.”
“Ketle is trying to kill you.”
“I dealt with that. He’s a bully. I can deal with bullies.” Nora put down the case she was carrying. There was some sort of animal in it.
“You will not! You will stay safe. Here. Until we depart,” Relyn demanded.
“I’m a grown ass woman of independent means and I will not be ordered around!” Nora poked her finger into his chest as she shouted.
