Chapter 98: Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones
"Are you ready?" asked Jun Li as soon as I left my room. My black strappy sandals clicked down the halls as I made my way to the bridge.
"Ready? For what?" I replied, not caring what his answer was. Ready or not, here I come. "And if they are giving you that much of a headache, just blast them out of the sky," I added. If they were going to be that big of a pain in my ass, then they didn’t need to be around any longer than it took to press a button.
"If we do that, then the Saalistaja will know that we have their technology," said Jun Li, reminding me why we were keeping a low profile. However, the problem rested on the fact that, at this moment, I really didn’t care.
"I will admit that being a human puts me behind the eight ball on a lot of things, but I am sure that the universe is a really, really big place," I answered with a bright smile on my face. "Hell, it might even be big enough to hide for a few decades."
"Decades?" asked Jun Li. "Just how short of a memory do you think the Saalistaja have?"
"Oh, I am sure that they have a very long memory. But then again, if the Sisalik stole from them numerous times and never been caught, then there is nothing stopping them from continuing."
"Your point?" asked Jun Li, intrigued.
"My point is that if you have to blow Stargazer out of the air, do it," I answered, sitting down in the captain’s chair and crossing my legs. The skirt hung down on both sides, revealing the entire length of my legs but hiding the fact that my feet didn’t touch the ground.
"But that will set the Saalistaja on us!" yelled Jun Li, clearly thinking that I was stupid.
"Or, it alerts them to the fact that someone is stealing from them, and you lay a trail to the Sisalik. After all, aren’t they the ones actually doing the stealing?" I leaned back in the chair and placed my arms on the armrests. It might not be a throne, but I could pretend that it was. "Feel free to answer Pippa any time now."
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"You bitch," growled the brunette on the screen in front of me. I watched her pace back and forth on the command deck of Stargazer. "Can’t you just do what you are supposed to do for once?"
"Hello, Pippa," I said with a smile, completely ignoring her words. "I would ask if it was a nice day where you are, but I assume that every day is a nice day on L19820... oh, I mean Stargazer."
"I know what you are trying to do," she sneered. Clearly, whatever was going on in her life was stressing her out a bit. Maybe she should do some meditation or even Yoga. That kind of stress was not healthy.
"And just what am I trying to do?" I asked. She had yet to understand that I really didn’t care about her opinion or how important she thought she was. I was not going to dance to her tune. She needed to move on and find someone else to annoy.
Instead of thinking about her, I thought about my outfit. Maybe I should get a tiara for these dresses. Or was that going overboard? In my defense, I already had a crown for my arms dealer uniform. A tiara wasn’t much different.
"You are trying to ruin everything for the rest of us! That is what you are doing." The high-pitched voice made me turn to the camera in the corner. "If she can’t keep the decibels down to an acceptable level, feel free to hang up on her. I’ll be more than happy to talk to her later once she has had time to calm down." I had enough on my plate that I wasn’t going to entertain a hysterical human that wasn’t making any sense.
"You are a bitch," said Pippa, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to calm down.
"I am aware," I said with a nod and a smile. "Sticks and stone may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me." I knew that that was not how the saying actually went, but it was still funny to see the expression on her face.
"I need you to bring L11042 back to the Alliance, swear allegiance, and fall in line. And I needed you to do that yesterday," she said as she walked over to the captain’s chair and sat down on it, trying to copy my posture. Unfortunately for her, she was failing miserably.
I chuckled low and looked at the woman sitting across from me. Time and space probably separated us, and yet, it felt like we were in the same room. "One thing you are going to have to learn very fast about me is that I never come to heel. Especially not for some child that thinks she is king shit. You are nothing. You stay in your little galaxy, and we will get along just fine. But don’t come here and start making demands. You will not like the consequences."
"Consequences? You act like we are not on the same ship. What L11042 has, Stargazer has, you have nothing to threaten me with."
I nodded my head, understanding the relationship between her and Stargazer a bit better. "Is that what you really think? It seems like your ship is keeping secrets from you," I said with a bright smile. "Tsk, tsk."
"Stargazer tells me everything that I need to know," shot back Pippa as she flipped her hair over her shoulders. "And if he is keeping something from me, it is for my own good."
I couldn’t help myself. I tossed my head back and burst out laughing. "Oh, that is a good one," I said once I could finally catch my breath again. "I needed that laugh. I really did."
I smoothed down my waist and skirts, putting myself back in order before turning my attention back to the other human. "You are really giving us a bad name. You know that, right?"
