Episode 96, The eye of the Beholder
03 Sep 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
Episode 96, The eye of the Beholder
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The office was plush, its walls polished metal adorned with artwork in gilded frames. Soft lighting from the distant K-class star barely registered, washed out by the glow emanating from each picture frame. Ryuko sat in a high-back leather chair, real leather, his boots resting on a wooden desk worth more credits than it was worth in most systems. The settlement’s administrator was bound and kneeling in front of the desk, glaring at the pirate occupying his chair.
“There’s a military facility not far from this base. Once they know pirates are here, they’ll come in force and wipe you out!”
Ryuko leaned back, shifting his boots on the desk, scratching the polished surface. “I doubt they’ll be rushing to save an anarchy-run facility, even one listed as benign. Agricultural station, is it? Funny how there's a chronic shortage of actual agricultural products.”
The administrator spat at Ryuko, who calmly held up a hand, stopping Nyx from striking the man with his carbine.
Ryuko removed his feet from the desk and pulled a data tablet from his suit. He slid it across the desk, its green glow casting eerie shadows.
“How generous would it be to transfer ownership of this facility to them? I imagine they’d be interested in all the narcotics you produce here, not to mention the slaves you have processing it.”
The administrator’s face turned red with rage. “I’ll do no such thing! You know who owns this facility and what they’ll do to you!”
Nyx, normally silent, chuckled at the threat.
Ryuko ignored him, focusing on the administrator. “All it takes is your thumbprint. Whether it stays attached to you is your choice. If I were you, I’d worry about more than just losing a thumb.”
Nyx’s communicator chirped, cutting through the tension. Ryuko glanced at Nyx, a smirk forming as Nyx read the message and nodded.
Ryuko stood, pushing the chair back as he walked over to a painting on the wall. “This is a nice piece. I think you should keep your facility, just the way it is. Oh, and your thumb.”
The administrator’s glare remained, but confusion started to creep into his eyes.
Ryuko motioned as one of the settlement’s slaves entered the office, stopping behind the administrator.
“The cargo ship’s disabled,” the slave reported, keeping his gaze low. “It’s within a few hundred meters of this facility.”
Nyx tilted his head toward the slave. “Did you bring the item?”
“Yes, sir, I have it.”
Ryuko lifted his communicator. “How long until the ship’s thrusters are repaired?”
A tense silence filled the room.
Raven’s voice broke it. “We can have it operational in thirty minutes, but it’ll need proper facilities if it’s to go far.”
Ryuko looked at the administrator, whose eyes still held their fire, though confusion was winning. Then he turned to the slave. “Go ahead and do your job, then get your people ready to move.”
The slave’s hand curled around a medical auto-injector given to him by the Coterie. Nyx grabbed a fistful of the administrator’s hair, yanking his head back as the slave pressed the injector to his neck.
The narcotic acted fast. The administrator’s anger drained from his eyes, replaced by a dull emptiness.
Ryuko nodded. “Once your people are safe, rendezvous with my carrier in the neighboring system. We’ll finish your repairs, and you’re free to go.”
The slave dropped the injector, trembling as he bowed and hurried out.
Nyx nudged the limp administrator with his boot. “What about him?”
Ryuko turned, pulling the painting off the wall and tucking it under his arm. “I’ll notify that military facility once we’re gone. To sweeten the deal, I’ll dump a hundred tons of narcotics on them before I leave orbit.”
Nyx burst out laughing. “I don’t know who’s going to hate you more, this poor bastard or their rivals.”
Ryuko shrugged, a smile playing on his lips. “Doesn’t matter. We’ve got their data, and I get a free work of art out of the deal.”
***
Meredith was surprised when the order came through for him and Ashlyn to move off their ship and into a new suite aboard the carrier. Pressing the android for details would have been futile; it only carried out assignments, oblivious to the reasoning behind them.
The suite was more than Meredith had ever imagined, a sanctuary of comfort and quiet elegance. Soft, ambient lighting bathed the room in a warm glow, leaving few shadows to hide in. Real plants adorned one wall, a living tapestry of air plants, their delicate forms thriving in the controlled environment of the carrier—a home he and his daughter had been told they could now consider their own.
He had seen his share of pirate factions, each with their own brand of chaos and camaraderie. But this—this was different. This was something entirely new. There was no factional banner, no allegiance claimed. Instead, there was a man who commanded his own capital ship, a man who had the power to shape his own destiny and, by extension, theirs.
Meredith had been used to life on the fringes, where every docked ship was a potential target, where a misplaced trust could cost you more than just a few credits. But here, aboard this carrier, those fears seemed almost laughable. No one was sneaking aboard a vessel of this size to pilfer parts. His old ship, now a relic of a past life, had been taken out of the equation by the same pirate who had given them this suite, this new standard of living that felt almost unreal.
Everyone aboard had taken an interest in him and his daughter, from the human crew to the androids that moved with quiet efficiency through the ship's corridors. The ship’s AI had even devised a personalized curriculum for Ashlyn, testing her knowledge and tailoring courses to help her grow. It was the kind of attention Meredith had never expected, let alone received.
It all seemed too good to be true, and in the quiet moments, he found himself waiting for the other shoe to drop. How long before this dream turned into something darker? But as the days passed, that question, too, began to feel less urgent, the unease gradually giving way to something he hadn’t felt in a long time—hope.
His tipping point from anticipated darkness to a glimmer of light—a distant, warm star waiting to guide him—came during a visit to Ceri in the carrier’s medbay. She was still unconscious, untouched by the world around her, yet strangers she had never met had gone to the vessel’s botanical garden, picking fresh flowers to leave by her bedside. The sight of those small, tender offerings stirred something in Meredith, a quiet realization that perhaps, even here, there was room for him and his daughter.
Captain Akio jumped the carrier a short distance, away from the system under Beau’s watchful eyes. Though all of the surrounding 19 systems belonged to the same faction, all would be offended at Beau poking around in their affairs. His dominion ended in the one system, as did theirs. Did Ryuko order this to protect her, or was there something more under the surface that he did not see?