Privateer's Commission -ch 9- (Patreon)

Marionette was gleefully putting away all the new clothes that’d been bought for her. Hanging them up in the remodeled bedroom’s closet made specifically for her.

There’d been a lot of room gained through the work he wanted done and it’d all been given to Marionette and her personal needs. A much larger walk-in closet, an actual armoire, and another wardrobe.

Setting a dress that barely made it to her thighs on the bed Marionette smiled at the cloth in her hands.

“That dress was so cute. And this one… this one is perfect when I want you to stare at me,” Marionette cooed. She unfolded the tank-top and pressed it down against herself.

When folded the very small garment  had looked to be the size of a hand towel and nearly resembled one when folded up.

She turned one way, then the other, in the mirror.

It fit her about as well as Delilah’s had, if not worse, when she’d tried it on. Ralph couldn’t deny she’d looked great in it, but he felt like it was too small.

Or maybe that’s just how they wear tank-tops?

Hell if I know.

“This’ll be great when we hang out on the sofa, actually. You get a bit more touchy when I show more skin on the sofa,” remarked Marionette as she then put it away. She then bent over and started rummaging around in one of the many bags of clothes that’d been sent to the ship.

In the end, her disguise had worked perfectly everywhere.

Except for the clothing shop.

To get the right fit and look, she’d had to drop the disguise.

After that they’d finish up the rest of their shopping needs quickly and left.

They were currently on the way to the Blood of Calesat again.

Marionette sighed, pouted at herself in the mirror, then turned and looked at Ralph directly. She held his gaze for several seconds.

“I’m annoyed,” she got out finally.

“Okay?” Ralph asked from where he was sat on the bed. He was going through the news on his phone that the AI had put aside for him.

Putting the phone down, he gave Marionette his full attention.

“About what?” he prompted after she didn’t respond.

“I’m your Lady,” she began.

“Yes.”

“You’re my Captain.”

“Yeah.”

“Delilah isn’t your lady, and you’re not her captain.”

Ahhh.

Yes.

I fucked up.

“You’re right. You know very well I never left your side, I spent no private time with her, and I’m happy to share my entire conversation that I had with her, with you,” Ralph offered. Then he forced the matter and just flicked his phone across to land atop the dress she’d laid out. “Read it over, my dearest Lady. I won’t be offended. I won’t even be mad.

“While I flirted with her endlessly in person, our conversation by text was fairly mundane. I admit I did flirt once or twice when she did, but it wasn’t as over the top as it was at the start.

“I needed information, she knew I needed it, and so it was a bit of a game. I’m sorry if that harmed you in any way.”

Marionette’s brow creased, her lips pulled inward as if she were sucking on a lemon. Then she picked up his phone and looked at him over the top.

“You don’t care if I read it?” she asked. “Isn’t that… kinda… not good for things? At a trust level?”

“Dunno. Don’t care. If it gives you peace of mind to see what I’m saying is exactly true, I’m more than willing to let you read through it.

“You’re welcome to go through the entire contents of my phone in fact, my darling Lady,” Ralph assured her with a grin. “You’re my Lady. Besides… you are so much hotter than she is.

“I mean, come on, you two don’t even compare. It’s like putting a moon up against a sun.”

A bashful grin crept over Marionette’s face, his phone slowly being lowered.

“Yeah?” she asked.

“Look at the conversation,” he stated. “Just keep in mind it’s a bit of a game, acting, really, and it’ll make sense. Delilah and I both were just going through the motions.

“And yeah, Marionette. You’re as beautiful a woman as I’ve ever met. None more so. I really did have problems saying no to you.

“Now… you read over my phone. Poke at it. Go through all my emails and the conversations. My last girlfriend was name Trudy, I think I have her listed as ‘don’t answer’ now.”

Ralph sat up and got off the bed, leaving the bedroom. He needed to go check things. Make sure no one was following.

As he left, he saw Marionette glance at his phone, then flick it back toward the end of the bed where he’d been sitting. Then turn around and go back to her bags of clothes.

He paused there in the door, then turned around and looked back into the bedroom.

“Marionette,” he started.

“Mm?” she asked, holding up a blouse against herself.

“Do you need anything? New phone? Contact anyone? Anything I can do or get for you?” he asked, genuinely wanting to make sure she was satisfied.

Marionette paused, looked to him, then smiled with one side of her mouth.

“I’m good. Thank you, Ralph. Thank you for asking about Ginil by the way. It’s a bit nerve-wracking that nothing has been said at all. Even my parents haven’t responded to me.”

As she said it, Marionette’s mouth turned into a pout.

Only to shake her head, sigh, and give him a smile again.

“Thank you, my dear Captain.”

“Of course. Gotta keep my beautiful Lady happy.”

Marionette’s nose wrinkled at that, her smile becoming a grin. She turned partly sideways and then waved a hand at him.

“Shoo, you. I’m going to go through my special stuff now. You only get to see that when the time comes to board me and sword me,” she murmured. Then she lifted the hand she’d used to shoo him and put it in front of her mouth.

He noted her nails were once again perfectly painted.

Nodding his head once, Ralph turned and left. Sitting at the cockpit station he pulled up the AI. A quick glance through it’s data and he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Looking through their route he saw nothing wrong and everything in line as well. So long as he kept on track they’d be at the Blood of Calesat in no time at all.

There he could finish his claim on Marionette and end her bounty.

While the relations between Bloods and the Confed were almost at an all time low, they still had embassies open on both sides. There was always a need to communicate, after all.

Finding nothing of concern, Ralph went to the computer in the living room. Thankfully they’d put everything in the cargo hold so the “house” portion of the ship was clean and clear now without clutter.

Sitting down at it he turned it on.

It was once again logged into Marionette’s account and the forum she often frequented.

“Oh, Ralph, meant to—oh! Oops. I’m… sorry,” Marionette murmured, walking up to his side. She looked suddenly very nervous. “Errr… did you read it?”

Ralph looked away from the screen and to her and shook it.

“No. I just leave the tab up whenever it’s on your stuff, and open a new one,” he said, which was the truth. He hadn’t snooped on her since that first time.

“It’s… ah… it’s just a forum. It’s people who are all interested in ship-life. I post fan-fiction there,” Marionette explained, standing next to him and gesturing at the monitor. “Well, not so much fiction now. I’ve shared a little of my life as a ships-mistress with them. A little. There isn’t many Privateer ship-mistresses on the board.”

“Neat,” Ralph said and then wrapped an arm around Marionette’s hips. “You said you meant to… something. Was it to ask me something?”

“Oh! Uhm… I forgot. Whatever it was just completely escaped me,” Marionette admitted with a laugh, wincing and lifting her shoulders up defensively. “I got flustered when I saw you on the computer on my forum.

“You don’t care that I shared with them some of what’s happened? Only about you and me, really. I didn’t talk about the Corvette or my bounty or anything.”

“That’s fine. Just be very careful,” Ralph warned her, leaving his arm around her. He grabbed the mouse with the other and then opened a new tab.

Alternating between using his hand on the keyboard and mouse he opened his email and started moving through it.

His arm felt great around Marionette and unless she said she had to go, or pulled away, he wasn’t going to release her.

At the top of his inbox was an email marked as urgent.

It was from, unbelievably, Xas.

“That’s the guy who did your weapons, right?” Marionette asked, her right hand resting comfortably on his shoulder. She casually moved in closer and pressed her breast against his brow.

“Mmhmm,” Ralph replied, his hand pressed to Marionette’s stomach. “Let’s see what he wants.”

Opening the email, he found it was a single sentence and offered him no real insight at all.

“Please come help me as soon as you can,” Marionette read aloud. “Thats somewhat ominous.”

“Isn’t it though,” grumbled Ralph. He leaned into Marionette and contemplated the words.

“I know we’re in a bit of a rush, but where Xas is, could we do the same thing that we wanted elsewhere?” Marionette asked. “Are the Blood of Calesat expecting you on a certain date or time?”

“Yes to the first, no to the second,” admitted Ralph and looked up to her face. “Why?”

“Wouldn’t it be good to have them owe you a favor?” Marionette asked, looking down into his upturned face with a grin. “Just a thought. Okay. I’m going to go back and sort through the rest of the gifts you gave me.

“Clearly you said yes at the port to me. I must’ve seduced you in that very moment. There could never be an alternate possibility. I’ve been with you since that very second. Most certainly wasn’t any other way it happened.”

Marionette leaned down and kissed him, lightly stroked his hair several times, then moved back to the bedroom.

Ralph nodded his head minutely.

She wasn’t wrong.

It’d be good to have Xas owe him a favor and there was a Confed embassy on the Confed station Xas worked in.

***

“I don’t have to disguise myself here?” Marionette asked curiously as they went down the ramp. She was dressed in a light jacket, jeans, and a blouse.

Right now she looked fairly normal.

Though just as incredibly pretty as ever with her full figure only being a smidge de-emphasized by her clothes.

Once again she looks great in everything.

“They would have scanned the ship and known someone else was on board when we docked,” Ralph answered and hit the ramp closure button. “Not to mention your name is listed on my crew-roster which was transmitted over to even be allowed access.

“It’s fine though. We’ll head over to the embassy first, get that handled, then go see Xas.”

“Ahh, yes, that does make sense,” Marionette murmured with a laugh. Then she took up Ralph’s left arm, looped hers through his, and held onto it. “That means I get to act like Lady Siren then! So long as your right arm is free to do things like fight, right?”

“I… uh… yeah, sure,” Ralph answered and led her to the port-authority office.

His credentials got them in quickly and without even a fee. He paid for a refueling as well as a basic exterior maintenance, but warned them his defenses were on.

From there they went into the halls and began moving through them.

A never ending rat-warren of them that always felt confusing to Ralph in a way.

“This way,” Marionette murmured and gestured to a hall he was about to move past. Ralph responded by merely turning and doing as she instructed. “And… here. It’s down there I think.”

“Alright, Lady Siren. Now you’re just showing off,” he teased.

“I may have asked the AI to give me a layout of the station. I want to show off for my Captain, you know,” Marionette admitted. “He compliments me a lot and I think I’m getting addicted to it. I keep thinking of ways to get his attention and affirmation.”

Snorting at that, Ralph let her lead the way.

Even though he’d been at the station more than a few times, he’d never actually been to the embassy.

Except, no sooner than they arrived, than Ralph realized they’d misjudged the time.

“Oh… oh… drat,” whined Marionette. “I didn’t think it would be too late. Uhm… do we just go to see Xas then?”

“Yeah, let’s go see him then come back,” Ralph agreed.

He led the way back through the corridors to the entry. From there he guided Marionette into a different corridor he actually knew.

The way to Xas’ was pretty straightforward. They had a very obvious and easy to find door for their business.

Which on the outside was a weapon-store.

If you were a special client, Xas was an artisan who could make specialty weapons or armor.

Walking right up to the door Ralph pulled it open and went in.

The storefront was open to the public at any hour and there were no closed times. All the weapons were behind glass-steel and set in the walls.

One could see just about anything in Xas’ display, but trying to get anything without paying for it was impossible.

At least, ordinarily that’s how it would be.

All the weapons were gone.

All the steel-glass was gone.

Even the paintings, displays, and decorative furniture was gone.

Everything was gone.

Even the door that led to the backrooms was gone.

Peeking through it, Ralph saw it was much the same all the way through. Everything was absolutely gone.

The only thing that remained was the front door.

“Well,” Ralph muttered and looked to Marionette. “Apparently as soon as possible was still too late.”

“Yes, so it would seem. Was there any other way to contact them?” Marionette asked, looking nervous as she gazed around the very empty room.

It wasn’t ruined.

Or dirty.

There wasn’t any signs of distress.

Everything had simply been removed.

“No. Emails were hit or miss at best. I replied to their email but nothing ever came back,” answered Ralph.

“Then… now what?”

Ralph didn’t have an answer for that.

There was a distant clack from the far back of the shop, causing Ralph to turn, reach into his coat, and pull out his laser pistol.

Sighting it on the doorway in front of him he thumbed the safety off, settled his finger on the trigger guard, and listened.

Marionette had released him by this point and moved behind him. Her hands quickly reached up, grabbed his jacket, and she hid behind him.

“Hey! Xas, you back there? You creepy fuck! What the fuck is going on, ah? Wanna give me a clue?” Ralph shouted at the back, his pistol floating up in front of him till it was in a high-ready. “Xas?”

“Do we look or run?” Marionette whispered.

“I look, you stay here,” he growled.

Thinking about it, he hesitated only a moment before pulling out his concealed carry weapon and handed it over to Marionette. She looked shocked at being handed a weapon but took it from him.

Exiting the main entry room Ralph crept into the next, then into the one beyond that. Everything was as the entry was.

Empty.

Reaching the extreme back room, a place Ralph had never been, he found it to be empty on a casual inspection.

Looking around, he inspected it more closely but didn’t find anything out of place.

The same clack he’d heard earlier sounded again

Ralph looked to where it’d come from and he found there was a line in the wall and part of it was hanging free.

It reminded him oddly enough of a refueling port door.

Walking up to it he gently pressed on it with his left hand.

The door swung open further.

Inside was a small computer screen. No bigger than his forearm. It was darkened and there was a cursor blinking in one corner.

Along one side of it were a series of buttons from top to bottom.

Tapping at the screen, Ralph found it was unresponsive.

He tried pushing all the buttons along the side, yet nothing happened there either.

For all intents and purposes, it seemed as if it were a dead terminal.

Sniffing once, Ralph pried at the edges of it to see if it’d come clear.

It came out with an ease that spoke volumes to him. This was meant to be removed and carried off.

The question now was, why did it open for him, and where was Xas.

Assuming the man wanted Ralph to have it, he put it in an inner-coat pocket.

Reaching out, he pushed the door closed.

Surprisingly, when it was shut, you couldn't even see that there was a seam. It blended in so perfectly, that it looked similar to a perfectly smooth wall.

Turning, Ralph left the back room and returned to Marionette.

Who had the small laser held out in front of her and facing the door. She was apparently taking no chances.

“Hey, we’re all done here I guess,” said Ralph in a smooth and soft voice. Marionette looked at him over her shoulder as he walked up to her. “Found something. Show you later. Didn’t really answer anything either.

“Let’s go get something to eat, do some shopping for supplies, and try the embassy again.”

Marionette smiled at him, then sheepishly held the weapon back out to him.

“When we find Xas, let’s get you armed with something. You could fit a carbine on yourself, couldn’t you?” he asked in a teasing voice.

“You’d know. You’ve been awfully handsy lately. Think I could fit one away?” she replied in an equally teasing voice.

He was most certainly enjoying flirty banter with Marionette.

“Couldn’t tell you. I lose my mind as soon as I get my hands on your beautiful self. Can barely remember anything other than you’re a gorgeous woman and sometimes my name. Sometimes.”

Marionette’s smile grew wider and she quirked a brow at him, her head tilting fractionally at an angle.

“Food, first. Then shopping,” she answered in a purr. “But not too long. I have other plans for my dear Captain. He’s been quite complimentary again and I want to reward him. It’s what a good Lady would do, or so I believe.”