Chapter XIX: Strange Company

Rick didn't move, frozen in momentary panic at the suddenness of her actions, as her finger tightened on the firing stud, waiting to feel hot breath of oblivion.

A moment passed. Then another. And a third. Rick managed to move his eyes from the deep dark pit of the barrel of the weapon to look at Red's face. Her eyes were narrow, but were not focused on him. Instead, she appeared to be lost in thought.

Finally she spoke. "However, there is a slim chance you might be telling the truth." Slowly, her trigger finger relaxed, and with a smooth motion, she holstered her blaster. Rick took a long, slow inhale of air, relief filling him. He might be dead before this mission was over, but he wasn't going to die at this moment. A thin smile curled one side of her lips. "Besides, you can be of use to me in other ways, and I have ways of ensuring your loyalty."

She stood up and walked around the small table until she was in front of him. She ran a finger gently across his face, her expression one of bemusement, but Rick sensed no humor in her. She placed a hand under his chin, the sharp tips of her nails digging into his neck as she lifted him up.

As his face came even with hers, she drew him to her for a kiss. It was different than when she kissed him as Jamie. Now, she was firm and demanding, forcing him to submit. Not that he was interested in showing any sign of resisting. He felt her arms slide under his, and hold him close.

He gently wrapped his arms around her to return her embrace. One of her small delicate hands slid to the front of his suit, and released the fastener. Grabbing the open front of his jumper, she led him into the bedroom.

Later, Red rested next to Rick, cuddled up to him, one of her golden hands gently stroking his chest. Her bronze eyes looked into his, missing the hard edge that he had seen before the furious bout of sex they had. "I'm glad your back, Rick. You're a lot more fun in bed than Blackcoat. Erscans are rather... unimaginative. Though I must wonder, you do seem rather young for such a formidable reputation."

Rick shrugged, one arm draped comfortably around Red's shoulders. "I had a gene job done. A bit younger than I wanted, but it sufficed to change my appearance." He nuzzled her ear. In the back of his mind, he realized that even though she was a known cold-blooded pirate, her Calasian heritage made her irresistible close up. He inhaled deeply, but instead of feeling like he was cuddled up to an evil murderess, all he could see was the lovely innocent Jamie that he first knew her as.

"That's not quite what I mean, Rick. You have a certain… naivety about you. You haven't been with women much, have you?" Rick's eyes widened a bit, then he smiled at her, one of his hands pushing a lock of her red hair out of her face. "I suppose not. I guess I am usually too busy to think about it much. Relationships and my kind of work don't mix, and I never found the appeal of one-night stands."

Red returned his smile. "You didn't seem to mind of taking advantage of poor little helpless me, now did you?"

One of his eyebrows raised up. "As I recall, you were very insistent that I take advantage of you. I never thought of you as a one night stand, though. I was most interested in continuing our relationship, but thought it would have to wait until I was done." He gazed softly into her eyes. "I don't think I can properly express how I feel about discovering who you really are and finding you here."

One of her hands slid down his body to his crotch. "I think you are expressing yourself just fine, Rick," she replied softly, fire kindling in her eyes.

Later still, Rick woke up, alone this time. He recalled waking briefly when she gave him a kiss and muttering something about going to the bridge. He slid his legs to the side of the bed and stretched. He looked around for his jumper, but no clothes were in sight. Before he could do a more through search, the door opened, and Rick heard the familiar click-click of Visky's gait behind him.

Rick turned see Visky enter the bedroom, a parcel clutched in one pincer. He threw the parcel onto the bed, and his eyes stared down at Rick. "Clothes for you. Red said you crew now." Visky glared at him. "I watch you close."

"Right. Okay." He winked at Visky. "Just not too close. I like privacy sometimes." He winked at Visky again. Visky ignored the attempt at verbal byplay and left the room. Rick heard him exit the cabin a moment later.

He stood up and opened the parcel, noticing that it appeared to be a uniform jumpsuit similar to the one Red and the other humanoids wore on board. He smiled to him self as he dressed, then frowned as he noticed that the uniform was missing what the others had. There was no holster or weapon. A clear indication that he was still on probation.

He finished dressing, and opened the cabin door, expecting to see Visky waiting for him, but there was no one. Red must trust him enough to give him run of the ship then. He headed up to the bridge. No one paid attention to him as he entered the ship's control center. He saw that Blackcoat standing next to the captain's seat, bending down over a display.

Rick walked over, and stood on the other side of the captain's chair, where Red was sitting. Red smiled up at him briefly before turning her attention back to the starmap that was being displayed, but Rick could almost feel the heat of the glare that Blackcoat gave him. Rick was sure that Blackcoat knew where Rick had spent the last few hours, and he wasn't pleased about it.

Rick looked down at the starmap. Solasia Two was displayed on it, but their course, as projected, did not come close to it. Instead, it seemed to intersect another course being displayed. Rick glanced over at Red. "What's the plan, Captain?"

Red sat back in the captain's seat and looked up at Rick. "We're going to follow your lead, Rick, and check out the Ferlon shipping company office on Solasia Two. First, however, We're going to meet up with my ship. This ship is a bit too obvious this deep in the Terran sphere. Blackcoat will resume command of this ship, and take it back out to the border until I need him."

Rick glanced up at Blackcoat. While Blackcoat was silent, it was clear that he was not pleased about the idea, but wasn't going to challenge Red. Red didn't notice the glares that Rick and Blackcoat exchanged, and continued. "Also, we need to make contact with the dark worlds and see if they have any leads." She looked up at Rick. "I'm sure I can count on you to check with your, uhm, clients?"

Rick nodded out of reflex. Damn. She's going to call my bluff, he thought. He felt fear and panic starting to set in, and forced them down. Well, maybe there will be a way for him to weasel out of it. He would have to listen carefully and watch for an opportunity.

The Dark Worlds were planets that were colonized by ships that had lost contact with Earth, but retained their technology. They also had an ability to build starships, and the Stellar patrol's main objectives are to locate and pacify these worlds. They were instigators of rebellion and outlawed tech. They outfitted pirates, provided markets for the pirate's booty, and were responsible for the last round of colonial wars that Rick's mother, Andrea Gunn, had fought in. However, the Dark Worlds hid themselves well, and remained undiscovered by the Stellar Patrol to this day.

They hid themselves so well, that several lawmakers have accused the Stellar Patrol of "inventing" the stories about the Dark Worlds to excuse the SP's inability to stem the wave of piracy that terrorized the outer edges of the Terran sphere, preferring to believe that the pirates were being financed by alien spheres to weaken the Terran Sphere.

Rick, like the rest of the SP force, knew that the Dark Worlds were out there. Enough dark technology had been recovered to conclude that it was definitely of Terran construction, but not made on any known worlds, either in the Terran Sphere or the neighboring alien spheres. Moreover, the Psis knew they were out there as well, and had their own psionic skilled force. The SP Psi-Corps was engaged in a secret psionic war with the Dark World Psis. Rick himself didn't know much of the details, but his mother had made enough casual comments from time to time to learn a few details.

"We should meet the Blood Fever at these co-ordinates," continued Red. "Rick and I will transfer to it, and continue to Solasia Two. Blackcoat, you know what I require of you, correct?" Blackcoat growled in affirmation. "Excellent. We should meet up with my ship in three days."

The soft, female voice of the Feist's computer system spoke up. "Attention. Ship on interception course, requesting permission to dock."

Captain Hemdael gave the ceiling where the voice seemed to emanate from an odd look. "What ship?"

The computer remained silent for a moment. "It is identified as the SP Interceptor Star Ghost, Stingray class, reported stolen from the Lunar Research and Development shipyards." Wilma let out a slight gasp, just audible enough for the Captain to hear. "It reports that it is under automatic control, and that there are no living occupants onboard," continued the computer.

"Interesting," grunted Hemdael. "Perhaps we can learn something about where that traitor is." He nodded to the navigator. "Make course to intercept and bring The Star Ghost aboard. Commander Gernas, please take charge of that investigation."

Gernas nodded. 'Aye, Captain. I would be happy too. May Lieutenant Denton be assigned to assist?" The captain, not even looking over at Wilma, nodded his assent. Wilma glanced over at Gernas, and he gave her a thumbs up. She was one of the few, if not the only one, other than the Captain, that knew that Gernas was the ship's assigned Psi-Corps officer. She was sure that Gernas asking for her was no coincidence. Gernas was giving her the task to hunt down Rick, as she was the most familiar with him and his habits, having been his roommate at the academy for four years. At least familiar with the shape shifter that had been pretending to be Rick for the last few years.

Wilma shivered as she thought about the proximity that she had been with that monster without knowing about it. She felt as if she would throw up, so revolted by the thought of what that monster was. A Ferlon, according to Gernas. Bizarre tentacled monstrosities with fantastic mind-control abilities and the talent to change into anyone of any race they wanted.

She acknowledged Gernas's signal with a grim nod. Those things killed Rick, and one of them took his place. She was determined to avenge his death.

Blackcoat was waiting for Rick as he left the bridge. He motioned for Rick to follow him, his face expressionless. Rick nodded, and followed him to the airlock that led to the garasian main corridor. As the door sealed behind them, Rick gave Blackcoat a puzzled look. "Won't we need masks?"

"No," said Blackcoat shortly. "I had the air in there temporarily changed to something we can breathe. You and I need to have a discussion."

"Ah." Rick had no doubt about the type of discussion Blackcoat wanted to have. He and Red have been sleeping together for the past couple of days. Blackcoat had been working an alternate shift, at Red's command. Mostly to keep them apart, thought Rick.

The other door slid open, flooding the chamber with an odd creamy orange glow. The gravity field shut off and Blackcoat floated out into the corridor with Rick right behind him. They emerged into the central corridor of the garasian ship. It was seven meters in diameter, and appeared to run the length of the ship. Beams and crossbeams formed a metal web that acted as supports for the ship's hull. There was a large hatch ten meters in one direction, and extended at least one hundred meters in the opposite direction.

Rick kept his eyes on Blackcoat after a quick glance to see that they were alone in the long corridor. The hatch slid shut behind them with a soft click. Blackcoat suddenly charged Rick, his claws extended, eyes blood red in his fury. "I warned you, Raygunn. I warned you to stay away from my female. Now you die!"

To Be Continued...