“YARR! SURRENDER YE BOOTY OR I WILL SLAY THEE!”
“How was that Aunt Leainati?” Breanne asked.
Leainati laughed out loud, “That was very good. We will make a pirate out of you yet, but you need to sit down and finish your lessons first.”
Frowning, Breanne too off her pirate hat and eye patch. Slowly, dragging her feet, she walked back to her chair, sat down and took up her data pad. Witihin minutes, she was hard at work on her lessons again. Life had settled down for her. She had a caring aunt, her mother Neresa was close by and “Uncle Twig” as he had become known, was ever true to his promise.
“I will come back my little acorn.”
***
On the other side of the Essence region, Ga’len was sitting quiet in space. Well, sitting was not really accurate. He was of course suspended in his pod and his pod was in his ship. So, Ga’len was willing his ship to hold position while cloaked. He had been waiting many hours for something to happen. Finally, his comms system sprang to life. In his mind, he could hear Neresa’s message.
“Hound 12, Cat 14, package alone, three-seven wrapped and departing.”
It happened. The message Ga’len had been waiting for had arrived. Transport three-seven would undock any moment now and would begin it’s journey towards the outgoing stargate on autopilot, just as Neresa had programmed. The package would never make it to the stargate. The package was unaware of it’s fate. The package, Taren, would receive her justice for what she had done.
Just as Ga’len had finished his thought, transport three-seven undocked. He willed his Vagabond to move towards the ship and uncloak. A few seconds later, his targeting systems did their job, locked the target and the warp scrambling module was willed to life. It would only be a few moments before the sentry guns from the station would identify his threatening actions and fire upon his ship, but a few moments was all he would need.
Again, Ga’len’s comms sprang to life, “ATTENTION HOSTILE VESSEL, CEASE FIRE OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED!”
Hid mind commanded his guns to open fire on the transport, “Not before Taren dies“, he thought.
As Ga’len’s Vagabond received blow after blow from the sentry guns, he continued to fire on the transport. He willed his comms to listen in on the local transport vessels signal. He could hear his heart sing as he listened to the sole person about the ship, Taren was terrified.
“HELP! SOMEONE! THERE IS NO ONE HERE! STOP THAT PIRATE!” she screamed into the comms systems. A moment later, there was some static and then silence as the hull of the transport ship simply evaporated away.
Ga’len began his evasive maneuvers, willed his ship into warp towards a planet. He would then warp to a point in space and cloak up for a few more hours. He turned his mind to his scanner and examined the debris behind him as he warped away, a single corpse was floating in the cold of space. So cold and alone in the void. Such is the way of revenge.
His comms obeyed his mind and opened a secure channel.
“Cat 14, Hound 12. Package confirmed eliminated, quietly exiting when able, out.”
***
Karled was struggling to get free. Neresa had done a good job of securing him in the chair with the sheets from his bed. There would no escape for him this time. He strained and strained and then he stopped. He saw the security officers come in through the open door.
“So, you are Karled,” one of the officers spoke. She seemed to be in a very bad mood, “I hear that you tried to kill your wife and you ran away with the child.”
“I WAS FRAMED!” Karled yelled and be began to struggle again.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before, take him, he will be dealt with.”
Neresa remained hidden in the hallway, all she could hear was his screams. Her delight was interrupted when her data pad signaled in incoming message. She read the words from Ga’len and again, she was filled with delight.
***
She was curled up in her bed, fast asleep. From her breathing, Ga’len could tell that she was in that cuddly warm kind of sleep that only a child knows. On the floor beside her bed he could see the pirate hat and eye patch he had given her. He smiled. Neresa came up behind him silently and joined him looking through the door.
“She’s a wonderful girl Neresa, you should be very proud” Ga’len whispered softly.
Neresa smiled as she continued to watch Breanne sleep, “Yes, she is.”
From behind them a quite “Aww!” reaches their ears. Leaniati quietly walks up, “This is such a site. The three of us watching our little piraty acorn sleeping.”
Breanne slowly opens her eyes. She looks up at the three people standing in the doorway and with a voice heavy with sleep says, “Heeelllloooo.” Sleeps takes her back into a warm slumber.
Leaniti askes, “So, now that Karled and Taren are ‘settled’, where do we go from here?”
“Well”, Ga’len continues, “to the lounge for a drink.”
“No, I mean after that. What do we do with out lives?”
Neresa looks at them and simply says, “Live our lives, one day at a time. We do what brings us happiness and we have fun doing it.”
The three of them nodded to each other, turn and walk towards the lounge.
