Hard Lessons
17 Jun 2024Xochitl Khae
Hard Lessons
_____________________________
Jabir stood near the concierge, looking on as one of the escorts spoke with Svetlana. The past couple of days had been hard on him, straining and testing the beliefs he had known all his life versus everything he was seeing and learning. While parts of what he thought he knew seemed to be vindicated, within moments, those same truisms were turned on their head, spinning him back to where he was before.
Svetlana nodded her head in understanding, her face and eyes masks, not betraying any emotion she may have felt. As the escort walked away, she motioned for the concierge, who excused himself from the others and walked over to her. She whispered in his ear, his head nodding in understanding as he took a position where she had been standing. She moved with graceful steps past Jabir, tapping on his arm, indicating he should follow her.
“Come, Mr. Jabir,” Svetlana said softly, leading him through the opulently decorated and luxurious corridors of the brothel, out through its entrance, and into the spartan militaristic corridors of the carrier itself. One of the guards standing outside fell into step behind her as the trio walked its length toward the guarded elevators at the end.
Jabir stood confused as the elevator doors closed, the imposing guard standing between them and the door.
“Where are we going?”
Svetlana smiled gently, taking Jabir’s hand. “Your mentor has been released from the infirmary and is now back in his quarters. It is a courtesy for us to pay him a visit and wish him a speedy recovery.”
Jabir removed his hand from hers, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “If there is anything I have learned with my time with you, it is that nothing is as it seems.”
Svetlana’s eyebrow raised as she returned Jabir’s side-eye look, the smile remaining on her face.
As the doors opened, the guard walked outside, standing next to them, near the guard that was posted, as Svetlana and Jabir walked a short distance to another door with a guard posted next to it.
The guard looked them both over with curious eyes before touching a panel next to the door. “He is expecting you.”
Jabir’s face turned to one of curiosity as he turned his head to look at Svetlana as the door opened.
Tara stood in the front room, leaning against the wall, as was her custom. Ryuko sat in a recliner, wearing a loose-fitted medical healing suit and sipping on a drink that smelled foul to Jabir.
Ryuko sipped on the noxious potion while looking up at Svetlana. “What news do you have, Contessa?”
“The people responsible for the settlement have been seen recently, doing business, in the next system over, with an acquaintance of yours. It would seem Beau is profiting from both ends of this unfortunate event.”
Ryuko looked over at Tara, who nodded in understanding. “If they are selling regionally, perhaps we should sweeten a few deals and see if we can attract them to our landing pads?”
Jabir looked at Tara and then Ryuko. “Are you thinking of ambushing them?”
A smile appeared on Ryuko’s face as he took another sip of his noxious concoction. “Heck no. What they did wasn’t personal, and I don’t take it personally. I am curious if they might be in the market for anything we are selling.”
Tara cast her gaze at one of the monitors affixed to the wall. “Do you want me to contact Beau, or would you prefer something more discreet?”
Ryuko’s eyes shifted to Svetlana and Jabir as he set his drink down, his face wrinkling. “I apologize for this, but the medical droid said it would help me heal faster. Trust me, it tastes worse than it smells.”
Leaning to one side of the recliner, his eyes shifted to Tara. “No, I will contact him. Wouldn’t hurt to catch up and maybe get a little information on what they might be in the market for. If they need any engineering materials, I imagine my prices could fluctuate temporarily to make them more attractive.”
Jabir looked around in confusion. “You want to entertain business with them?”
Ryuko shifted his eyes to Svetlana as Tara chuckled, looking out of the top of her eyes at Jabir. “Not him… you.”
Jabir looked at Tara and then Ryuko. “You have the wrong person. I volunteered to learn piracy from you and how to defeat them, not be your negotiator…” Jabir turned his head to look over at Svetlana, “and not your whorehouse manager.”
Ryuko chuckled, holding his side as he did. “By now I think you would have figured it out, but if all you want to do is learn how to kill, then you are on a path that leads you straight to Scyles.”
Jabir’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Ryuko. “And, I think you would have learned by now that I’m not a psychopath.”
Svetlana turned in a graceful fashion, looking at Jabir. “No, but you are setting yourself up to be one, or dead if you think killing is all you need to deal with pirates.”
Jabir tensed as he turned to look at Svetlana. “And what does learning to run a brothel, work on a bridge, or in engineering, like you have Lianna, have to do with protecting shipping or defeating pirates?”
Ryuko raised an eyebrow, looking over at Tara, who shook her head. Jabir looked around at each of them as Svetlana bowed her head for a moment with a look of seriousness spreading over her features.
“You think you have not learned anything, but you have,” she said in a soft sweet accented tone.
“Have you needed or wanted anything since starting this journey… is that your complaint, that you have not? What does the traffic in this isolated system look like since he has established himself here? Do you see many pirates harassing the businessmen coming here? Where are the interdictions? You can’t answer this because you are choosing not to. Regional pirates as well as honest commanders have been visiting here, and you have seen them with your own eyes.”
Svetlana walked with the small graceful steps of a cat, slowly circling Jabir, who stood as a statue listening to her words. “What do the markets look like now, and what do the pirates take, buy, sell, or launder through here?” She stopped her pace, turning to look back at Ryuko, then to stare at Jabir. “If he were to change his markets to not accept and turn that which you wish to protect, do you think they cease to steal it because it is not profitable?”
Svetlana walked over to the nearby couch, sitting upon its cushions and crossing her legs gracefully, folding her hands in her lap. “We set the pulse of the markets now, and all benefit from it. The honest commander, the businesses… the pirates. We balance the scales, and if we decide a commodity is unprofitable, so will they. This is how you defeat the pirates you so desperately want to protect your master’s cargo against.”
Jabir turned away, looking at no one in particular as Svetlana leaned forward.
“Do you think those in my establishment are incapable of whispering words in the ears of those who set policies? Do they not also whisper back in ours? I see no pirates doing the same, and they do not have access to what my establishment offers, but they do at the station in the next system. The same one that we have a lucrative business arrangement with, which profits us both immensely.”
Ryuko maintained a neutral expression, studying Jabir as Tara took a step forward. “If you have a complaint about not learning, then you have no further to look than at your own reflection.”
Jabir turned quickly towards Tara, his muscles tensed in rage, as he shook his head, turning his eyes down to the floor.
Ryuko shifted in his seat, one of his hands holding his side. “The question now is, do you want to learn more, or is this all too much for you?”
Svetlana remained seated, softness in her eyes and voice. “Throw away your biases, Jabir, and learn to do the same in Colonia, where you are to be posted. In doing so, you can achieve the goal of protecting your master's cargo while limiting and focusing on what is important enough for direct violence or confrontation.”
Jabir raised his eyes, turning his head to look at Ryuko. “And, once I become your mirror image, then what of me with my master? Will I become like you, running my own capital ship, or sitting on a throne that I have never sought? What becomes of me?”
Ryuko’s temper flared at the innuendo as he glared at Jabir. “Does this chair look like a throne, or does this medical gown look regal? No? I didn’t think so. What about these micro-fractures? Do they seem like royalty to you? Well… no? The last time I looked, the only one complaining about anything was you. If you don’t have what it takes, then see your ass off my ship. Otherwise, quit your crying before I decide to induce a few more by kicking your mewing ass off my ship.”
Everyone was startled at that outburst, not used to seeing this side of Ryuko as he stood up, fronting Jabir.
“Well, pup, if you’ve got teeth, now is the time to show them. Otherwise, pick your fate. Either step up or step out.”
Jabir’s eyes hardened at being talked to in such a manner, especially in front of women, as he took a step forward, his mouth opening to say something. Ryuko threw a hard right that caught him on the jaw, followed by a solid front kick to the chest, which sent him back hard into the couch, as Svetlana dove out of the way.
Tara was already in motion, stepping between the two as Jabir tried to get off the couch, falling to the floor and struggling to get up. Ryuko put a hand on Tara’s shoulder as he stepped around her, shaking his head. “Get up, whelp. You can’t shake the lies of what a pirate is supposed to be? Well, allow me to make all your wishes come true.”
Ryuko kicked Jabir solidly in the face as he bounced again off the couch, falling onto the flooring as the door to the quarters opened, with the guard outside entering, having heard the commotion.
“Take this mewing whelp to the infirmary and then to the brig until he makes his decision,” Ryuko growled as he lowered himself to look at Jabir, as the guard grabbed him. “You will either honor your agreement to become one, or you will find yourself headed back to that Imperial whore as a failure.”
Tara could not feel the emotional shock of what she had just witnessed, never before having seen this side of her companion, but knew there was something in what Jabir had said that struck a raw nerve within him to make him turn so suddenly. Svetlana did not flinch or tremble as the guard dragged Jabir out of the quarters. Instead, she positioned herself in a stature of poise, looking at both Ryuko and Tara.
“I think now he understands the difference between what he thought and what is reality,” Svetlana said, looking at the blood stains in front of the couch. “Aside from whatever decision he makes, please keep me informed as to what Beau says, and if any arrangements can be made.”
Ryuko, still seething, took a deep breath as he stepped back, dropping into the recliner. “I will, Contessa.”
Svetlana nodded, casting a last glance at the doorway where Jabir had been taken. “We all have our breaking points, Commander. It is how we rebuild from those moments that define us.”
Ryuko sighed, letting the tension drain from his shoulders. “I will. Thank you for reminding me.”
With that, Svetlana gave a small, respectful bow before leaving the quarters, her graceful steps echoing softly down the corridor. Tara moved closer to Ryuko, her face a mask of concern.
“Are you alright?” she asked softly.
Ryuko nodded, rubbing his ribs. “I will be. This is not how I wanted things to go, but sometimes a hard lesson is the only way to get through to someone. Let's hope Jabir learns from it.”