Personal Log 139: 24 November, 3302
23 Jan 2017Jemine Caesar
Elian Theissen was sitting at his desk, studiously poring over a flow of information on his dataslate. He didn't bother to look up as I entered his office, but instead gestured me to take a seat with a perfunctory wave of his hand. I smiled and sat down without speaking, determined not to be intimidated by this man.A little over two weeks had passed since I'd left Pegasi and returned to Bactrimpox. Although I ached to be reunited with Sam, I had chosen not to let him know that I was no longer at the mercy of Marty Aston. I still had some unfinished business to attend to with Elian Thiessen.
It had taken me the best part of two weeks just to book an appointment with him. "Mr Thiessen," his secretary had dutifully informed me several times, "is a very busy man."
Now, sitting in Thiessen's office on Coney Enterprise, I was finally once more face to face with the man who had so embarrassingly blackmailed me into working for Black Omega.
I crossed my legs. The movement was sufficient to catch Elian's attention. I saw his eyes flicker towards me for the briefest instant, before returning to the screen of his dataslate. More minutes passed as I waited, all the while being studiously ignored by the man behind the desk.
"Jem Jem!" he said suddenly, as if trying to catch me off-guard. It didn't, because I'd fully expected him to do something of the sort.
"Mr Thiessen," I replied, smiling. "So good of you to see me."
"Pleasure's all mine. You're looking lovely, if I may say so. Nice dress." He put the dataslate to one side, and stood up. "So, what can I do for ya?"
"You know perfectly well," I replied, in an even tone. "We made an agreement, remember? I've fulfilled my part of the bargain, and now I'd like you to fulfil yours."
"Ah, yeah, the Gettysburg recording. The proof that it was you murdered John Graham junior." Elian raised his eyebrows, giving his stern-looking face an almost comical appearance. "S'pose I don't give it to you? S'pose I tell ya I've changed my mind about our little agreement?"
I shrugged. "Then I would be very disappointed," I answered. "But not entirely surprised."
Elian grinned. "Heh, you don't like me much, do ya?"
"Do I really have to answer that?"
"No. I guess not." Reaching into a pocket, Elian produced a datachip capsule and casually held it out towards me. "Here it is," he said. "Come get it."
I glared at him for a second or two, then stood and walked slowly across the room to where he stood. He smiled broadly as I took the datachip from him and put it into my handbag. "How do I know," I asked, " that you haven't made a copy?"
It was Elian's turn to shrug. "You don't," he replied simply, staring down at me. "But I can assure you that I haven't, and I am a man of my word, Miss Caesar."
"I'll take that under advisement, Mr Thiessen," I replied, holding his gaze. "All the same, thank you."
Elian gave a little chuckle. "Pegasi taught you a thing or two, didn't it?" he said.
I nodded. "It was certainly an enlightening experience."
"I'll bet." Elian walked around to stand directly behind me, a move that I knew was calculated to be intimidating. I resisted the urge to turn around as he brushed one finger across the nape of my neck. "I'll also betcha were glad to get rid of that choker, too."
"It wasn't the nicest piece of jewellery I've ever owned," I agreed. "Marty Aston told me that it was a little something you and he had dreamed up as a joke."
"Yeah. And you gotta admit, Jem Jem, it did have the desired effect." Elian stepped back around to face me again. "Aston's dead, by the way."
That did surprise me. "Oh?" I said, trying to remain nonchalant. "Well, I can't say that I'm sorry. When did it happen?"
Elian picked up his dataslate and tapped the screen a couple of times. "According to Galnet it was one day last week. Shortly after you arrived on Coney, in fact. So I guess that puts you in the clear this time."
"Very funny. Tell me, how did he die?"
"He was riding a taxi hauler from Tjakiri to Supera, until some pirate popped up and blasted it to pieces. There were no survivors, and no witnesses." Elian regarded me closely. "You don't seem too shocked, Jem Jem."
I shook my head and shrugged. "I'm not shocked in the slightest," I replied. "As I said before, I'm glad Marty Aston's dead."
"Uh-huh, as you said..." He perched on the edge of his desk, still looking straight at me, an appraising look on his face. "You sure ain't the same mousey girl who left here nearly two months ago."
"No, I'm not," I concurred. "As you yourself pointed out earlier, Pegasi taught me a couple of things. And, though it may seem strange to say it, I have you to thank for that."
Elian blinked in surprise. "Me? How the hell d'you make that?"
"Well," I replied, moving towards him, "if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have gone to Pegasi. And if I hadn't gone to Pegasi, then I wouldn't have learned some valuable lessons."
"I see," Elian said, nodding slowly. "So, I guess you owe me, then."
"Don't be quite so eager to flatter yourself, Thiessen," I said, coldly. "And please don't misunderstand me, either. One of the lessons I learned was how to be more prepared for dealing with self-serving, manipulative bastards like you."
Elian's face took on an expression of mock-pain. "Ouch!" he cried out, theatrically. "You just cut me to the heart, Jem Jem!"
"Now that," I replied, "is an extremely tempting notion."
"I'll bet. Just don't go getting any ideas of turning it into a reality. I've seen how handy you are with a knife, after all."
I looked at him with contempt, and made my way towards the door. "I'll admit," I said, "that it had crossed my mind to kill you for that little stunt you played on me with the choker. You took me for a complete fool, and like a fool I fell for it completely."
Elian chuckled. "Oh, come on! It was just a joke!"
"I'm afraid I didn't see the funny side."
"Maybe not, but that's no reason to kill someone! Look, it's nobody's fault but yours that you're so gullible."
"Correction, I was gullible," I said. "But not any more. That's another lesson I learned in Pegasi; trust no one."
"OK," said Elian, spreading his hands. "So what's stopping you? Huh? I mean, if you want to kill me, go ahead and try it. I bet you've even got the shark knife right there in your purse, haven't you?"
"Of course I haven't," I snapped. "Do you seriously think I'm so stupid as to try to kill you here and now? I came here by appointment, and my image will have been caught on every closed-circuit holo-cam between here and my apartment. No doubt you have security cameras in here, too."
Elian made a big show of looking relieved. "Omigosh!" he said. "Thank you so much for sparing my life! I don't know what to say! I'm forever in your debt!"
"I have no intention of killing you, Thiessen. As I told you, the thought had simply crossed my mind, that's all. And tempting though it may be, you're just not worth the bother. I'm leaving Bactrimpox," I said, opening the door. "If I never see you again, it'll be too soon."
Seething with rage, I left the office and made my way back to my apartment. I had indeed considered killing Thiessen, and had lied when I'd told him the shark knife was not in my handbag. But, when push came to shove, I had realised I couldn't possibly get away with it.
I sat down on the edge of my bed, and stared at my reflection in the mirror. The grinning face of Elian Thiessen whirled round and round in my head, taunting me for my erstwhile naivety.
"Forget him, Jem," I told myself. "He's just one bastard in a galaxy full of bastards. Killing one won't make the rest of them go away."
In need of a pleasant distraction to occupy my mind, I picked up my dataslate and accessed the Pilot's Federation social media site. It had been a while since I'd welcomed any pilots on the site's Intro page, so I scanned the new entries, picked out one at random, and tapped in a short message of greeting:
"Hello, commander Kyla Emmerich, and welcome. Take care out there."