Sasha

Brenan was surprised by the quiet knocking, after many years in the Veertor army, and especially since he settled into to shiplife, Brenan had a pretty good sense of what time it was. Who would be knocking quietly in the darkest hours of the night?

"Uuagh, who is it?" Brenan said slurring his words slightly to mimic sleepiness although by now he was wide awake. As he spoke he picked up the heavy dagger he preferred for fighting in tight spaces and moved silently to the door.

"It's Sasha. I need to talk to you. It's important." Sasha's voice sounded strained with emotion. It was only fair - he had woken her up from a deep sleep just this morning, at least Sasha hadn't dumped a pot of water over his head. He wondered what could be so important that his new cook would be waking him at this time of night, was she here to seduce him? The memory of her sitting in the bed, her naked body as perfect as any woman's he had ever seen was impossible to shake as he moved to the door.

Brenan half expected to see Sasha dressed in only a shimmering gown whose sheer fabric hung low from her full breasts and ended high on her thighs. He found himself oddly relieved to see she still wore her jeans and black top pulled up to cover her breasts as much as possible; seduction was probably not what she had in mind.

"Come in, sit down." Brenan told her as he glanced out the door making sure that there were no other visitors waiting to jump him as soon as his back was turned. the hallway past the galley was empty but Brenan closed the door firmly behind them and dropped the bar that held the door into its slot. Sasha sat in the chair by his desk and waited for him to close the door.

"I'm sorry I woke you Captain." She began nervously, wringing her long fingered hands in her lap. "I'm leaving the ship while it's still dark, but I wanted to thank you for what you did earlier."

"Why are you leaving?" Immediately Brenan wondered if one of his crew (it must have been Castillo) had somehow made her uneasy or even attacked her while he was sleeping. "If one of my crew was too bold, I promise -" Sasha interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

"NO! No, it was nothing like that, all of them were perfect gentlemen. In fact, Mr. Michaels insisted I sleep in his cabin." She smiled for the first time since she woke him but it was a sad fleeting smile, not like the relaxed laughter he remembered when he came aboard this evening. "You have all been very gracious, that's why I think it's best that I leave tonight before anyone realizes I was ever on your ship."

"What is it that you are running from?" Asked Brenan abruptly. Sasha had been in full panic when he first woke her upstairs in the Drunken Sailor. He understood that she was being hunted by the Veertor agents in Freeport, but he still had no idea why. He sat down on the bed across from where Sasha sat and projected as much confidence as possible as he continued. "I can handle the Veer agents. I have been for the past five years, and I don't plan to change that now."

"Captain, I don't think you can handle this." Sasha's words were sad, and fearful and even a little condescending, and Brenan felt his hatred for the Empire rising.

"What have you done to make them so interested in you?" A random horrible thought flashed through his mind "You're not the emperor's daughter?!" Sasha's eyes narrowed in concentration before she shook her head slowly.

"I don't know. I don't think so, but I just can't remember anything about my life up to a few years ago." Brenan relaxed a little,

"Well then maybe Veertor doesn't care all that much about you after all."

"They care more than you can imagine. I know that for sure." Sasha may have seen some of the doubt in Brenan's face because she continued. "I know it just as surely as I know that hand-cannon you carry is a Werner-Colt Defender. It's a 12mm, five-shot revolver with a 15 cm barrel and gyroscopic stabilization built into the grip." Brenan's mouth opened and closed two or three times, but he couldn't find any words to say. Sasha smiled at him with her same sad smile.

"Some things I know about; others, like my name or who I am, I can't even start to guess." Her eyes found Brennan's and held them in her gaze. "You will be chased by the best ships in the Veer Navy if they trace me to your ship." She paused to let that reality sink in. "Now do you see why I have to leave your ship before the Veer connect us?"