Pekmae and the Pirate 4

Pekmae and the Pirate 4

They were traveling to Dorin 3. It was where he'd found her, ten years ago. He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. Ten years. It was a long time. It was two-thirds of her life. He felt guilty, selfish as he watched the starlines. She was comatose in the co-pilot's seat and he watched her. He didn't know why she did it, and she didn't either. It was the only thing that kept her from being a fantastic pilot, really. If she could control it, or learn a way around it, then she would be the best. The pirate shook his head and went back to fiddling with the droid. He'd done his best, and he would have no regrets. By the time the alarms sounded for their re-entry into real space he was done fiddling with the droid and was flipping a datacard between his fingers. Pekmae blinked and he watched her struggle out of the trance. “Bring us in, kid,” he said, still watching her. She nodded coolly after they fell out and she went through their landing sequence, getting the proper clearances from the port authority and settling into their vector. She was nervous, he knew; landings were not her strong suit. She didn't have gentle hands. She had quick hands, get-away hands, but they were not soft for landing. It went as well as expected and the pirate imagined he heard the crew grumbling but didn't mention it. He wanted her in good spirits. “Grab your stuff. I'll meet you down.”

He'd already told the crew to stay put. He wouldn't be more than an hour. They would have a few days off, at their next stop. They knew he was up to something, but let it alone. A few days off were worth the wait. Pekmae was wearing one of the pirate's old jackets when she came down the ramp. He looked at her appraisingly and smirked; nearly everything she was wearing had belonged to him. She had his jacket and his battered old holsters. She was even wearing his scuffed old boots, a size too big for her. He was wondering if she'd ever grow into them when she caught him staring and he cleared his throat. “C'mon, we've got business to tend after.” She didn't question him. She never questioned him. He was acting like everything was all business and she followed his lead. They were through the port and Pekmae had a shiver of the familiar, but didn't mention it. She knew she'd been here before, though she couldn't remember when. She looked around at the shops and vendors as they passed through the city and imagined what it would be like to live on a planet, not in a ship. She decided if she did ever settle down, it would be in a place like this. “Take this,” the pirate said and she snapped out of her little day dream. It was a datacard, the one he'd been playing with during her landing.

“What is it?” The pirate scowled and looked busy peering into the shop windows.

“Nothing. Just tuck it in your front jacket pocket. Hold it, for me.” He added the magic words to the end of the sentence, so she did. She adored him and would do anything for him. She'd never said iti, but he knew. They were crossing in front of the port authority headquarters and she smirked. They always made her smirk. They kept going and stopped just on the other side. The pirate was muttering about being turned around and going back when he eyed her blasters. “This is a quiet  place, kid. You shouldn't need those.” She scowled and dropped her gaze and toed at the dust. “Alright, fine. Keep them. But set them to stun, on the lowest setting. We don't need any casualties, today.” Her scowl shifted into a smirk as she adjusted both blasters and the pirate led her the way they'd just come. “About that card,” he muttered, starting to look a little shifty. Pekmae felt a cold nervousness creeping into her gut and she edged away from him, the way he knew she would. “It's not really nothing. It's a record I've kept, of all the jobs we've ever pulled, since you've been with me. Except I took out the parts about me and the crew, and left the stuff you've pulled.” Her jaw dropped and she took another step back. She realized he had a blaster and reached for hers, but it was gone. She wondered when he'd grabbed it.

“You deserve a good life, kid. You deserve better than a jaded old pirate and a cramped freighter. You need a family, and this is the best way I could think to find you one.” He was checking the settings and she was steadily backing away, unmindful of the steps. She was halfway up when he took his aim and fired, the blue-green bolt hitting square in her chest. She whimpered and sank on the steps, still conscious but unable to move. “I'll be leaving you here. You can turn me in, if you think you need to.” A woman passing by saw the shot and saw Pekmae fall and was screaming for help. Pekmae couldn't tell the woman she was fine. She couldn't say she was only stunned. Her eyes tightened and a tear slid from the corner of her eye and she watched the pirate toss the blaster to her feet. It was hers, everything about it was hers. It couldn't be traced to him in any way. “I'm sorry, kid. I'm sorry for keeping you so long and I'm sorry I couldn't find a better way to get rid of you.” He looked at her and saw the tear and felt his resolve melting. “I hope you can settle down and have a nice family. I hope you can outgrow me,” he said as the security officers poured through the entrance to the building and rushed down the steps. They tried to find him but he was melting in with the crowd. She could still see him, worming through the throngs, but he was lost to the officers. When she couldn't see him anymore she felt her fingers tingle. She was regaining her senses. Maybe she could still escape. She was breathing noisily and the screaming woman was coming up the steps.

“Hold on, honey,” she said and Pekmae tried to push her away. She tried to stand up. She tried to tell the woman she was fine, to get out of her way. But she just wiggled her fingers and groaned, and the woman was frenzied. She squinted her eyes and wheezed. Her chest burned. She'd never been shot before. She didn't know that stun bolts burned. She was glad she'd actually never shot anyone. She opened her eyes and saw the woman's face next to hers and then she saw the officers. Her eyes were panicked; port authority officers were the bad guys. Officers didn't help people like her, but arrested them.

“Grab her arms, pick her up,” they were saying, passing the orders around. She wanted to fight, to struggle against them but her limbs would not even hold weight. “Easy, now,” the one on her left said and his tone reminded her of the pirate. Pirate. She closed her eyes and wheezed and let them carry her into the headquarters. The pirate had betrayed her. He had turned her in and left her for dead. She snorted, but it sounded choked. He hadn't left her for dead. He said she deserved better. Tears flowed down from the corners of her eyes and she felt they were inside, but she didn't open her eyes.

“Will she be okay?” she heard the woman asked.

“She's stunned,” an officer answered, from farther back. “Are you family?”

Family. The pirate said he wanted her to find a family. He wanted her to settle down. But he hadn't asked what she wanted. He hadn't asked if she'd rather live in ships and travel space or be confined to a house on a planet. He had betrayed her, dumped her on a backwater world and left her to die. No, not to die. But he had left her. She opened her eyes and found she was sitting in a chair, at a table. She could turn her head, a little. She could see the woman down a hallway, on the other side of a glass. The woman was speaking to an officer and was soon joined by a man. Pekmae felt like she was suffocating and she wiggled her fingers.

“She's waking up,” one of them said.

“She was never out,” the other said and Pekmae rolled her eyes. She stared at her hands and opened and closed her fists then looked up at the officers.

“Thirsty,” she said in a low, raspy voice. The second nodded to the first, who walked out to find some water. The first returned with the water and she grasped the cup with both hands and took a slow sip. Her hands were shaking and she put the glass on the table and folded her hands in her lap. She was frightened and wanted to cry. They began to ask her questions but she wouldn't answer them. They tried to bully her into answering, but she scowled at the table and didn't give in. They had connected the blaster to her and began to change direction, asking what her business was on Dorin 3. She scowled at the table for half an hour, until her fingers stopped shaking. Then she reached into her jacket pocket and grabbed the datacard and threw it onto the table. The second officer took it and disappeared, then returned within minutes and arrested her. Her legs wobbled when they made her stand and put binders around her wrists. She remembered the last time she'd been inside a port authority. Pirate had been with her, and she'd liked feeling dangerous. She decided now, as she struggled to walk and the officers did not offer her much help, that she only liked feeling dangerous when Pirate was with her. She heard a wail, or maybe a question, from the woman who had screamed in the streets. Pekmae wondered why the woman was still there, but she was in a different room down a windowless corridor. They processed her and took her jacket, holsters and boots. She was trying to look fierce but couldn't stop crying. She was undeniably worried. They placed her in a cell; not one of the single-person force fields like she'd rescued the pirate from, but a real cell with a bunk and bars. The officers said words to her, but she'd curled into the bunk with her back to them and wasn't listening. They left her alone.