“I still find this tale of rebel serfs hard to believe,” Minami grumbled. “In any event, torturing a helpless elf is-”
Captain Sokol slammed his fist down. “Enough about the damned elf. Your Honor, Alice Long is a fourteen year old girl who was officially emancipated just this morning. I allowed her to run some errands on the station because Hoshida is supposed to be a civilized system, where a young lady can go about her business without fear of criminals. Instead I find that she’s been assaulted, held against her will, brainjacked and targeted for murder by Hoshidan residents. And where was station security in all this? Instead of coming to her aid, you arrest her and lock her in an isolation cell before dragging her into court on trumped-up charges.”
He glared at Captain Minami, who at least had the grace to look embarrassed.
“Your Honor, Square Deal moves to dismiss all charges with prejudice, and censure Takeo Station for bringing frivolous complaints before the court. You can be sure we’ll be filing an official incident report and list of complaints with the Merchant’s Association as well, along with an advisory about this potential serf revolt.”
Finwell turned to Minami. “Does Takeo Station have any further evidence to present?”
The security captain clenched his fists. “No, Your Honor.”
“Then I’m forced to grant Square Deal’s motion, Captain. Your investigative work was badly bungled, and your case is an ill-conceived hatchet job. This court finds that Alice Long acted with admirable restraint in defense of her own life, and suffers no liability for today’s events. She will be released to her ship immediately.”
I sighed in relief.
“Sadly, Hoshida’s treaty with the Merchant’s Association does not support censuring station security for bungled investigative work. But you can rest assured, Captain Minami, that the Association will be taking a very close look at your directorate’s work until we are assured that this was an isolated incident. This court does not condone persecuting spacers based on obviously falsified evidence.”
“Fine,” Captain Minami spat. “But there’s still one thing I can do to keep this menace from hurting any more elves. Alice Long, consider yourself banned from Takeo Station until further notice. I’m sure my commander will make it official by the time you get back to your ship.”
I found myself staring at him stupidly while the court adjourned. Really? That’s all he cared about? I mean, sure, I felt kind of bad about having to hurt Lilia like that. But ten minutes with an autodoc and she’d be good as new. Her buddies had tried to blow me up with a rocket launcher!
Captain Sokol came down from his seat, and put his hand on my shoulder. “Come along, Alice. Let’s get back to the ship.”
“Yes, sir.”
I got up, and followed him out of the courtroom. This wasn’t the place to talk. I stayed quiet until we reached the car he’d taken from the ship, and climbed in.
It was a really fancy car. Seating for six, an armored hull, an oversized lift system, even a deflector shield and what were probably hidden weapons. But I was too upset to admire the hardware.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said miserably. “I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.”
The car started itself, and pulled out of the parking lot. The captain turned a concerned look my way.
“It’s not your fault, Alice. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. But you handled yourself quite well.”
“I keep feeling like I should have done better,” I told him. “I didn’t mean for anyone to die!”
“Sometimes there’s no other choice,” he said gravely. “Especially when people are trying to kill you. Do you think things would be better if they’d succeeded?”
“Of course not! I just feel really stupid, and frustrated. I was trying so hard to be useful, so you wouldn’t regret taking me on. But instead I’ve wasted a bunch of your time and left Naoko in the lurch.”
“Naoko should not have sent you off to wander around a strange station by yourself. No matter how talented you are you’re still inexperienced. Someone needs to teach you how to avoid trouble, and spot con artists.”
“Yes, sir. I feel pretty dumb about falling for Lilia’s story.”
“Noted. If she’d been telling the truth, were you really going to pass up the chance to empty some dead slaver’s bank account?”
“Of course not, sir. I was going to call Naoko, and ask her if we could get away with it.”
“Thought so.” He smiled, and mussed my hair. “You did fine, little imp. Are you alright? Those idiots in station security didn’t try to interrogate you, did they?”
“No, I’m fine, sir. My immune system ate the brainjack, and I’ve already healed the bruises I got from falling down when I was stunned. I’m just starving. I’m supposed to be putting away at least eight or nine thousand calories a day until my malnutrition warnings clear up, and I haven’t eaten since this morning.”
“I think we can take care of that.”
When we arrived at the ship he led me up to the mess hall himself. I was a little flattered that he was so worried about me. Although I was also wondering where Naoko was. I’d expected to see her in the cargo bay, but it was deserted except for the bots. Was she mad at me, for not being around to help her all day?
That mystery was resolved when we got to the mess hall. There were streamers hung from the ceiling, and a big sign that read ‘Banned from Takeo Station!’ Half the crew was standing around with little party hats on their heads, waiting for me.
“Surprise!” Lina called, popping out of the galley with a huge cake in her hands.
Mina darted out of the crowd to hug me. “Congratulations, Alice! I think this is some kind of record. You got recorded as a crewmember, got into your first shootout and got banned from a station all in one day!”
“Um, is that a good thing?” I asked tentatively.
“You’re not a real spacer until you’ve been banned from a station,” Lina assured me.
“Yeah, you’re officially cooler than Naoko now,” Jenna agreed. “But we’re going to have to do something about that na?veté. Really, falling for a modified Nigerian email scam? That’s such a classic I thought everyone knew it.”
“Apparently they don’t teach the art of the con in orphanages on Felicity,” the captain said. “Can I trust you girls to take care of this gap in our cabin girl’s education?”
All four foxgirls goggled at him for a moment, before sprouting huge grins.
“You bet, Captain!” Jenna assured him.
“Without getting a bounty on her head,” he added.
They just grinned wider. “Aw, we’re a lot better than we were back then Captain. Don’t worry, we won’t get caught. Alice can’t just switch bodies like we do, so we can’t take any chances.”
Naoko managed to push through the crowd of foxgirls to hug me. “Welcome home, Alice. Are you alright? Were you injured? We’ve been forced to make do with second-hand information from the bots, and it appears that they missed part of the action.”
“I’m fine, Naoko. Really. The brainjack didn’t work-”