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“Her. My price is her.”
He could feel Jefferson’s eyes rolling. The marksman was behind him and to the left, no more than fifteen feet away. The Hatter’s gun would be hanging by his side, finger still on the trigger, and the smaller blaster would be nestled in an inner pocket that was easily reached in a shoot-out.
Behind him to the right was Whale. Not as good as Jefferson, but fast. Mulan would be hanging just behind him; she was a ground fighter, and her best way into the fray was to use the gunmen like shields. Emma would be up in the rafters somewhere with her precision targeter. Of his whole team, she was the only one who scared him. The woman was more flexible than a Dornian acrobat, and she had picked more locks than anyone else in the entire Galaxy. She could get in anywhere and seemed comfortable everywhere. He’d once seen her hanging upside down from the rafters of her room, asleep.
Terrifying.
And by his side, (his equal in height, stature, and ferocity), his lieutenant, Ruby. Not as frightening as Emma, but definitely not someone he’d want to meet in a dark alley. He could feel her anger growing as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.
The man leading the other party, a pale, doughy creature with watery eyes and a bit of spittle in the corner of his mouth, gaped and cried out dramatically.
“You can’t be serious!”
“I’m quite serious,” Gold drawled, a smirk spreading across his face. To the man, it would appear as if he were getting great joy from this. “You asked for our protection. You begged like the miserable little worm that you are. And you have nothing to offer us – you will part with no money, no equipment, no land, you won’t work off our services in indentured servitude… Did you expect us to protect you out of the goodness in our hearts?” He folded his hands over his chest mockingly.
“You rat bastard!” The man proclaimed, his face reddening. “You’ll never get away with this!” His men made an aggressive posture, stopping short as Jefferson and Whale snapped up their guns. Mulan had produced daggers seemingly from thin air, and Emma… Well, they probably didn’t know about Emma. That wouldn’t stop her from blowing the fools’ heads off.
“That’s enough, Papa!”
Gold’s attention was drawn back to the man’s daughter. He’d noticed her the moment they stepped off the ship. She was too pretty, too clean to be one of the miners. Her clothes were not fancy but they were well cared for, and her hair had clearly been brushed and neatly plaited. There was a blue ribbon tying off the braid.
Now she stepped forward, wrenching her arm out of her father’s grasp. She kept walking until she was close enough for Gold to touch.
“I will go with you.”
Gold masked his surprise. He raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “Oh really? Long enough for your precious papa to come rescue you, I suppose?”
Her upper lip curled in disgust. “When I make a promise, I don’t break it.”
Gold leaned forward into her personal space, his eyes shooting over her shoulder at her father. “That’s something we have in common.”
He moved back, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He spent a long moment watching the man whose face was now a lovely shade of crimson, mentally calculating the risks and rewards, costs and consequences.
And then the unexpected happened. He was broken from his reverie by her fingers in his face, snapping. He looked at her.
“Today would be preferable.”
Cheeky.
“If you come with me, it’s forever. You will live on my ship, eat my food, and work for my crew. You will do anything they ask, within reason. You will do anything I ask,” he lowered his eyes slowly, deliberately, raking his gaze from her neck to her feet and back again. “….Full stop.”
She didn’t even flinch.
“And in return, you arrange defenses for the asteroid. The whole colony, not just our faction. Full-time protection. If you half-ass it-”
“I don’t half-ass anything.”
“If you half-ass it,” she continued, voice raised, “and so much as one hair on my people’s heads is damaged, then you bring me back and protect us yourselves.”
Gold laughed. “You have so little faith in my hiring practices?”
“I have no faith in you at all.”
Gold smiled. He heard Whale muffle a snort.
Ruby stepped forward. The girl’s eyes moved to her. “We’ll protect your asteroid. You have my word.”
Ruby was a full head taller than the girl, yet they could have been equals; two queens from a long-gone era striking a deal for the fate of the commoners.
Ruby and the girl shook on it, then the girl’s pale hand was extended to him. He shook it too.
“I have some things I’d like to collect, and some goodbyes I’d like to make.”
“You have two hours,” Ruby replied.
“Make that one.” Gold didn’t look at her again. With a flamboyant gesture he signaled his crew to head back to the ship. Their boots rattled the ramp. Gold stood at the panel, waiting to raise the ramp and seal the hatch. He watched as the girl returned to her people.
Her father was furious, shaking, whispering things Gold couldn’t hear. She only looked at him once, muttered something, and then kept going.
Gold closed the door.
“What the fuck were you thinking?!”
Ruby did not wait for the rest of the crew to clear before she began her inevitable outburst. Whale and Jefferson pretended they weren’t watching as they stowed their larger weapons back in the arms cabinet. Mulan feigned similar disinterest, curling up on a bench to sharpen her knives. Only Emma was brave enough to watch. She came flouncing down the stairs from hell-knows-where, dropping to the bench beside Mulan, eyes fixed on Gold and Ruby.
“I didn’t know-”
“Of course you don’t, because that’s what happens when you go off script, Gold! Shit! Shit happens!”
“What’s your problem here, Lucas? We made a deal, and it’s not like we’re walking away empty-handed.”
Her eyes opened even wider, her fangs practically dripping. “Emp… Empty handed? That’s literally what we’re doing, Gold! We agreed not to walk away with less than a hundred ducats, or a thousand shares. We DID NOT agree to take on ANOTHER MOUTH.”
“A handful, a mouth,” Whale muttered from the corner of the room. “Didn’t Gold say she had to do what we say? I can think of a few-”
He did not finish that sentence.
People usually assumed that Gold’s cane meant he was slow and weak. He took great pleasure in proving them wrong.
He took the ten strides to the armory cabinet in a matter of moments, threw the cane up to catch it around the middle, and brought it down on Victor’s shoulders. The blonde was thrown forward, sprawling across the floor. Gold pressed his boot into the small of the man’s back and the tip of the cane into his neck.
Victor yelped in pain.
“You will not touch her. Do you understand? None of you,” he said, looking around. “You will not ogle her, you will not make comments or innuendos, you will not sneak about her quarters, you will not objectify her in any way. If she comes on to you, you reject her. If she seduces you, you beg for mercy. Because if I find out,” he dug the cane deeper into Victor’s neck, the boot deeper into his back. “I will kill you and eject you into space.”
He stepped back, Victor’s hand flying to his neck. Gold took a deep breath. “Am I clear?”
They were a chorus. “Yes, boss.”
“Get out. Lieutenant Lucas and I will be finishing this conversation alone.”
Jefferson grabbed the back of Whale’s shirt and hauled him up. Mulan was right behind them as they went up the stairs, a smirk on her lips. Emma slipped beneath the stairs, using the open spaces between steps to pull herself up as quickly as the rest of the team walked. They didn’t look down, but no boot ever caught her fingers. When she reached the top, she swung herself over the side and slid onto the platform between the metal rails. She trotted through the door immediately behind her compatriots.
What a frightening woman.
Ruby sat on the recently cleared bench in the middle of the small hangar. “We won’t survive another three month like this, Gold. We’re running low as it is. And another crewmember…”
“You saw the girl, Red. She’s tiny. I doubt she eats much.”
Ruby just sighed, dropping her face into her hands.
Gold stepped closer. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ruby. I didn’t intend… I didn’t think she would ever say yes. I wanted to threaten the man, get him to up the price.”
“They were never going to pay us, Gold. This was a bad deal from the start.”
“Look, Robin’s boys have been champing at the bit for months now. We set ‘em up here and Locksley’ll thank us.”
“The Fae aren’t going to stop attacking the asteroid. They want that mine. They’ll keep attacking…”
“And we’ll cut off the head off the damn snake! Remember who we are, Ruby. We do the job, and we get paid. We tried to play both sides and we got bitten in the ass, but that doesn’t mean we give up. Unless you’ve become a coward now?” Gold hissed the last sentence, willing his blood to chill in his veins and turn his heart to ice.
“Of course not.” The woman stood abruptly. She didn’t look at Gold as she headed for the stairs. “But the girl is your fucking problem. Her food isn’t coming out of my rations.”
Gold couldn’t help but smirk.
“This is your room,” Gold said. He spoke with authority, careful to hide any shred of humanity.
The girl stumbled, swaying on her feet. “How long until I get used to it?”
“To what?” he asked, his fingers twitching in the air.
“The motion.” She looked at him, hands clutched around the cross-shoulder strap of her bag. “Don’t tell me you don’t feel it?”
He shrugged. “If you get space sick, you’re cleaning up your own mess. Like I was saying, this is your new home.”
He jiggled the handle, forcing open the door that didn’t want to budge. It squealed, opening to reveal a broom cupboard. There was a literal broom as well as a mop bucket, some liquid cleaners, and a couple of half-broken antibacterial lasers. And a hammock hung haphazardly from the ceiling.
Belle took in a deep breath, then let it out. “Okay.”
Gold watched her, waiting. “Do you want to…” he gestured toward the closet. “Your bag?”
“Oh! No. It stays with me.” She saw his eyebrow raise again. “For now, at least.”
“Alright. But if you’re competing with Emma for weirdest woman on the ship, you’ll lose. Come on.”
He strode down the corridors, boots echoing through the metal chambers. The girl struggled to keep up. “That’s the stairway that leads to the cargo bay, where you came onboard. Through there is the supply room. Down here the hallway leads to the medical bay just past Whale’s quarters. He’s not half a doc, but he’s what we’ve got. And in the opposite direction there’s a bit of a dingy washroom. I suppose you’ll spend a fair bit of time there, doing everyone’s laundry. And the mess – you can cook can’t you?”
“Uh, yes,” she said, struggling to keep up both physically and with his questions. “I’m sorry, where are we now in relation to my quarters?”
“What, you’re lost already? Oh, wee lamb, do you want to go back home?” He was mocking and harsh.
The girl clenched her jaw. “No. I’ll manage. Anything else?”
“This way,” he said. “Down here are the women’s bunks. Mulan, Emma, and Ruby. I expect each one of our crew will have different requests of you; you’ll have to hammer out the details one by one. But don’t expect to make any new friends. You know who we are and what we do. Jefferson’s bunk is down by the hanger, where you came in. He likes to be by the engine. Says the smoke does wonders for his mood.”
He’d led her through the twisting hallways of The Golden Thread in an intentionally misleading pattern, and delivered her back to her ‘room’ with little knowledge gained about the layout of the ship.
She looked around and took another deep breath. “Is that it? Are we done?”
“Yes. You have about an hour ‘til dinner. Since it’s your first night and we’re such kindly people, we won’t expect you to cook. I might even send someone to find you. Oh, and if you must cry, keep it down. I don’t take kindly to self-important sentiment.”
Gold turned to leave, but her voice stopped him. “But where’s your cabin, sir?”
He looked at her, brows pulled together. “Why do you want to know?”
“Well, because….”
“What? You want to slash my throat in my sleep? Got a little knife in that bag, have you?”
“No! But you…”
“What, girl? Spit it out! You weren’t stuttering back there on the asteroid, or I wouldn’t have dealt for you.”
“You said ‘Full Stop’. I’m not some blushing innocent, Captain. I understood what you meant.” She was looking him in the eye.
What courage.
Gold wasn’t quite able to get his mask together before he spoke. “Oh Christ, no! No, I didn’t…” Gold sighed. “Your body is yours. No one on this ship will touch you or harm you, myself included. Do you understand me? You are not a slave. You have rights.”
He turned once more to go but this time stopped himself.
“If anyone… If any of them do try anything, my room is thirty feet down this way, to the left. That’s a right from your doorway, then a left. What you did…. What you did for your people was brave. Stupid, but brave.”
He turned away for the third (and hopefully final) time.
“My name is Belle.”
He paused. Didn’t turn. Didn’t respond. Kept going.
“Just thought you should know.”
He heard her tap the light switch in the pathetic little closet and shut the door.
Dinner was…. rowdier, than she had expected. Jefferson had been sent to get her, but he abandoned her as soon as they entered the cramped mess.
“Don’t you touch that roll, Swan! That is mine!”
Emma retaliated by licking it and chucking it into his face. A part of Belle too long smothered screamed out in joy at such incredible playfulness, such total disregard for traditional femininity. She would have been penalized harshly for that type of behavior back home. Another part of her winced as the licked roll got chucked back into the pile.
Ew.
It wasn’t until things had settled that Belle grabbed a plate for herself. There were still a couple servings left of each dish – standard Earth fare: roasted potato wedges, green beans, rolls, something that would have resembled chicken if it hadn’t reeked of EazyMeat. It was so hard to find real meat anymore.
There was only one empty seat, and Gold wasn’t with his crew. Belle leaned against the counter as she picked at her meal. Utensils were apparently in short supply.
“What are you standing around for?” Mulan asked, more curious than confrontational.
“Yeah. Come grab a seat, greenie!” Whale kicked out the empty chair, which was directly to his right.
“What about….?”
“Oh, he never eats with us.”
“Almost never,” Ruby corrected. She looked at Belle. “You can have his seat tonight.”
“So, greenie, got a name?”
“Belle.”
Jefferson whistled. “That’s what I call situationally appropriate dramatic irony.”
Belle glanced around. “Um… Sorry, what?”
“Don’t mind him,” Mulan said, poking at her potatoes. “He doesn’t make much sense to any of us.”
“I’m heartily offended by that repudiation, my dear!” he cried, hand mockingly over his heart.
Belle wrinkled her nose, and Ruby did the same. The latter spoke.
“Stop copying the Captain, Hatter. You can’t pull off the gestures half as well as he can.”
“Ooooh,” Whale grinned. “Somebody’s got a little crush!”
Belle didn’t even see her get out of the chair. Within seconds, Whale was on the ground with Ruby’s hand wrapped around his throat.
“He should be so lucky. Don’t you ever, ever talk about me like that again.”
Whale nodded. Ruby was up in a flash. She grabbed her plate and left the room, kicking her chair back into place behind her.
Whale climbed to his feet and got back into his chair. “Goddamn, why is everybody so testy today? First Gold and now her…”
Belle looked up. No one seemed surprised that Whale had taken two beatings in a single day; they kept eating. “Is Gold really as violent as he seems? I…. I had assumed it was for show.”
Emma snorted. “He’s not soft. And he’s faster than he looks. Isn’t he, Vicky?”
Whale glared.
“He won’t hurt you, if that’s what you’re worried about. You’re one of us now, like it or not. But Emma’s right, he can be vicious if you cross him. Or even if you don’t,” Mulan said as she stood, carrying her empty plate to the sink. “There’s a reason your people called us when you were in trouble.”
Emma followed, shoveling an extra forkful of potatoes into her mouth as she cleared her place. She grabbed an extra roll on her way out as well, winking at Belle before leaving.
“Just us chickens now, little noise-maker,” Jefferson said, leaning over conspiratorially.
“Who are you calling a chicken?” Whale asked.
“Well, not this stuff,” said Belle pushing her meat with a fork. “I’ve seen better come out the back end of a Mulgarian.”
Jefferson hooted and Whale cracked a smile. Belle didn’t think it was that funny, but she was grateful for any positive response.
Perhaps, if she could make a friend or two, this ‘forever’ might not be so bad after all.
He made it all the way to the cockpit before he noticed the ribbons.
The ship flew itself most of the time, but he and Ruby were both skilled pilots for those occasions when the maneuvers were too complex for an automatic processor. He was on his way in to check the status of the trip when he saw the little strip of green fabric tied around a plasma conduit.
He’d pinched one of the loose ends between his fingers. “What the devil?” It was a perfect goddamn bow.
“Lovely bits of shiny, eh Cap’n? Sweet little scullery maid, lost little mouse.”
“Jefferson, do me a favor. Shut the hell up.”
“Right-O.”
Gold hadn’t felt this much anger coursing through his veins since Whale clogged all the ship’s toilets trying to find out if EazyMeat could be flushed. He stormed towards the source of his frustration. The door shook violently in the frame as he pounded on it.
“GIRL! Get out here!”
She opened the door with an astounding amount of grace. “Yes?”
“Why have you bedecked my halls?”
“Your halls?”
“Yes.”
“This is your ship?”
Gold started to snap in anger but stopped himself, drawing in a quick breath. “Why are you putting up ribbons?”
“I got lost.”
“Yes, I know.”
“How?”
“What?”
“How do you know?”
“Bec… Because… What?”
“Because you didn’t ask me. You haven’t spoken to me since I came on board. You don’t come to dinner, you don’t answer my knocks, and you don’t even acknowledge me when I chase you down the hall hollering your name. So again I repeat, how do you know that I got lost?”
Gold just stood, gaping.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter how you know. I’ve resolved the issue. Oh, and if you should find yourself lost on your precious ship, yellow leads to the mess, red to the med bay, blue to the wash room, and green to the crew quarters. And I recommend you stop by for dinner tonight. Your rations can be stretched much farther with a bit of water and seasoning. Besides, I’m a phenomenal cook.”
With that, she shut the door in his face.
Many had tried to surprise him, in the past. None had succeeded.
And this… this slip of a thing, this girl from some ass-backwards asteroid in the middle of corporation territory, this mouthy little mouse, had been bound into servitude and, instead of lamenting her fate, she’d turned rope into ribbons. She’d turned the chore of feeding a rabble into a practice of economics and art. She was… She was…
Trouble.
Capital T.
Best to avoid her. Best to stay far away. He turned on his heel and headed back to his cabin, leaning a little more heavily on his cane than usual. It wasn’t til an hour hence he remembered that he’d been on his way to the cockpit.
It only took her five days to hurt herself, the stupid girl.
He could hear the swearing from a deck and a half away. Of course he ran, always the fool, and found her being held aloft by a rather startled Jefferson. Her fists and feet were flying and she was screaming at the top of her lungs, Emma and Mulan trying to grab hold of her wrists.
“LET ME GO! I’m going to break that hunk of shit into a million tiny pieces! I’m going to smash it against the bulkhead! I’M GOING TO RIP IT INTO SPLINTERS AND SHOVE THE PIECES-”
Gold didn’t believe in raising his voice; instead, his steel tone could cut through any chaos. “Would anyone care to explain?”
The others all stilled immediately; Belle was the last to stop struggling. As he drew close, he could see that the tips of the fingers on her right hand had been very badly burned. He started for the med bay, tipping his head for Jefferson to follow.
“Hey! Let me go! I have feet! GOLD!”
He did not respond.
Jefferson carried her into the sick bay and waited for Gold’s signal to drop her onto her feet. Belle spun around like she was looking for a fight, and Jefferson backed away.
“Scared of a child, Hatter?” Gold poked the girl with the end of his cane, prompting her to sit on the bed. She just glared.
“The bird makes the nest and brings the food. And sometimes a hawk looks like a meadowlark.”
“Oh go on, you big baby.”
Gold and Belle were left alone in the infirmary. Gold tapped the intercom. “Whale, get down here. Now.”
“I’m not a child, you know. I would have brought myself here eventually.”
“Would that be before or after destroying my ship?”
Belle scoffed.
They sat in silence until Whale came in, looking flushed and anxious. “Sorry. What do we have here?”
“Tend to her hand.”
“Please.” Belle added, more in reprimand of Gold than in supplication.
Whale smirked until Gold shifted his glare to the unfortunate medic. Victor had the good sense to cower, leaning over the girl.
“Woah! Ouch. What did you do, piss off an Ignassian?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Belle, these burns are bad,” Whale said, rifling through a few of the clear plastic drawers against the wall. “I’m going to put some cream on for the pain, but you also need to sit here and hold a microdermal regenerator for at least ten minutes. Can you handle being idle that long?”
Gold snorted. “With the state of things around here, that should not be a deviation from the norm.”
Whale and Belle both looked over, Belle with eyes narrowed and Whale with brows up, then furrowed. He seemed confused. And eager to leave.
“Um… right. I’m going back to the other room… Hold this in your uninjured palm, pressed against the back of your injured hand, for no less than ten minutes. I’ll be back.”
Gold waited until Whale had left the room.
“So, what did you do to my ship?”
“Your ship!? Your –” Belle stopped, breathed, and smiled. “I was trying to fix one of those damn antibacterial lasers. As enchanting as I find cleaning your ship, there are some things I would rather not touch with just a wet rag. Emma’s bathroom, namely. So I picked the least-broken one and tried to make it not-broken.”
“That’s it? You tried to get out of having to do hard work and-”
“I have no problem with hard work!” Belle shouted. “I’ve worked hard all my life! But there’s no sense in working myself raw and spending an hour on a single job, when I could get it done three times as fast and devote my efforts to more important projects.”
“More important?” Gold scoffed, part of the show. “What could be more important than doing the tasks your Captain has assigned you?”
“Would you like a list?”
“Yes.”
“The kitchen pantry needs reorganizing, or a year old tub of tomatoes is going to poison your crew. Your coolant system is on the verge of breakdown, but I know how to rewire it to run more effectively. I can do the same with the pipes in the laundry so that your ship uses less water and the recycling system won’t have to work so hard. And if you’ll look to your right, you’ll see a med bay that is so cluttered, I’m literally praying this is burn cream on my hand and not something worse.”
“That’s enough!” Gold hated to admit that he was wrong. He chose to hide behind one of his old, well-worn masks instead. “Well, if you’re going to be careless, at least wear gloves. You’ll find some in the maintenance cubby on deck two. That’s, uh, two ribbons down from Mulan’s room. Try not to get lost.” He turned on a heel and sauntered from the room. He heard her curse as the door shut behind him. He willed his heart into stone.
It only took her seven days to tame the crew.
He’d picked up an apple for dinner but suddenly found it wasn’t to his taste, choosing instead to wander down to the kitchen and partake in his crew’s delightfully crude revelry.
She had quashed the revelry.
“OW!” Jefferson’s yelp carried down the hallway. “Belle! That hurt!”
“Then keep your hands out of the rolls! Use the tongs to grab the one you want. Yes, I mean one! You can go back for seconds after everyone’s had a chance to eat.”
Gold tucked himself beside the doorway. He could just see the forms of his crew sitting around the table. Their backs were unusually straight.
“Mulan, would you please pass the beans to Ruby? Ruby, no grabbing! Practice patience, please.”
“Belle, we’re grown women. We’re hungry.”
“Yes, and the “take and pass” system will ensure you get a portion of everything you want. Remember last week when Whale hogged the corn and nobody else got any? And we all wanted to smack him upside the head? Well, that’s not going to happen anymore.”
There was a resounding whack, and another cry of “OW!”
“I told you once, Jefferson. Don’t cross me.”
Things seemed to settle down as the crew began to eat. He decided to make his appearance.
“Well well well…. Look at this. What a perfect picture of family simplicity.”
“Ahoy, Cap’n,” saluted Jefferson, one hand still pink from where she had slapped it. Judging by the wooden spoon tucked in her lap, she’d begun brandishing weapons.
Ruby passed him a plate. He leaned over her, scooping a bit of everything onto the plate.
“No chair for the ranking officer, hmm?”
“Stool in the corner,” Emma said around a mouthful of bread.
Gold drew it over with the handle of his cane. He perched behind Belle and saw her shift, slightly. Good. She should be a little uncomfortable.
She continued to ignore him, however, licking a bit of tomato sauce from her thumb in a gesture that made his throat tight.
They made it through five, six minutes of pleasant conversation before it took a turn for the worse; Mulan spoke.
“Belle, I don’t think you’ve told us anything about yourself since coming on board.”
“Yeah,” Victor added, picking the faux meat from his lasagna. “Share something with the class, why don’t cha!”
“What do you want to know?”
“Ever live anywhere besides that backwards-ass rock?”
Belle chuckled. “Not that I remember. Been working and raising on that mine since I was a mite.”
“What, like, they sent kids into the shafts?”
“No!” Belle laughed again. “Of course not. Kids help with things like gardening, clean up. Girls, when they reach a certain age, take care of the younger ones. Boys work on the equipment as a sort of prerequisite to the mine.”
“How many birdlets leave nesting?” Jefferson asked.
Belle, eyes focused primly on her food, couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Me.”
“What, just you?” Emma asked, her nose wrinkled. Ruby’s face looked the same.
“Yup. In the twenty years my family’s been there, no one ever left. Nobody til me.”
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Jefferson was silenced from his idiomatic rambling by a string bean hitting his cheek. Belle scowled at Emma, raising a brow.
Then she turned back to the strange gunman. “Don’t worry, Jeff. I have hobbies. I read.”
Ruby whistled. “Reading… I haven’t seen a book in ages.”
“They’re hard to come by… but worth it.”
There was a thunk and suddenly Whale screeched. Gold’s eyes shot toward the sound. Victor was pulling his legs up and to the side, away from Belle.
“I saw that hand. If you don’t start using utensils instead of your grubby hands, I will stick those tongs somewhere far less pleasant. Copy?”
Whale’s stunned face prompted the table to laughter. Even Gold felt a smile trying to creep over his face.
Things continued to spiral from there. The journey from the mining colony to their target was set to take 12 days – and Belle didn’t waste one of them. It seemed like every time Gold left his quarters, he found something more ridiculous than before.
The injury was day five, the dinner on day seven. On day eight, he found Whale in the kitchen peeling potatoes. Belle was teaching him how to cook.
On day nine, a ruckus drew him to the cargo bay. Ruby and Emma had set up dummies and were teaching Belle how to shoot. Each time she hit a target, the whole group sent up a cheer. Gold saw the way her teeth snagged her lower lip as she lined up each shot. Her posture needed improvement, but he didn’t intend to involve himself in this… comradery.
On day ten he heard a fresh ruckus. Someone was screaming. He assumed that Belle had shot someone, or herself, and tried not to sprint through the ship. He found Belle perched on Whale’s back, Mulan pointing out all the pressure points and sensitive areas. She had Jefferson in a similar hold, but the second man’s face was almost gleeful.
And finally, when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, day eleven brought him to a boiling point. There, in the middle of the kitchen, Belle and Jefferson… they were dancing. She was critiquing his posture as he swept her about the room like an eager schoolboy.
Something snapped. He lifted his cane and used the end to take the needle off the record spinning in the corner. “THAT IS ENOUGH,” he cried, voice cold as a December day.
His crew, gathered in festivity, jumped to attention. They had the decency to look ashamed. Belle did not.
“We arrive at Fae Headquarters in less than 18 hours, and you’re all acting like it’s Midsummer on Tartus 9.” When no one made any immediate moves, he continued. “GET TO WORK.”
They split, each heading to their respective places of duty. Only Belle stayed still in the middle of the room, her chin raised in defiance.
He strode to her, closer than was comfortable, so that she would have to look up into his face.
“They may be scared of you,” she said, “but I’m not.”
“They don’t fear me, girl. They know what I can do. And in 18 hours, you’ll see for yourself.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Putting a stop to the Fae Corporation, once and for all. Your asteroid will be safe soon enough.”
He watched the dawning spread across her face. “You can’t mean that. That’s murder!”
“No, dearie, it’s WAR.” Gold sneered, teeth bared. “Your pathetic rock of dirt isn’t the only place they’ve terrorized, brutalized, colonized in the name of corporate shareholders!”
“You’ll kill thousands of people.”
“And save millions more.”
He could see the cogs working in her mind, her consciousness fighting with itself. Finally she stepped back. She asked him only one question.
“You’re sure it will work?”
He nodded.
“Then I’ll do my part. Prepare a sturdy meal. You and your crew will be ready by the time we arrive.”
The sound of boots thundered heavy down the corridor.
“Fuck shit fuck fuck fuck!”
“Get us the fuck out of here, Ruby!”
“I’M ON MY WAY!”
Belle had been monitoring things from the cockpit. It had not gone to plan.
Planting the device had triggered some kind of alarm and the crew had been trapped in shootout. Someone had been hurt – she’d heard the screaming – and they were in the process of running for their lives.
All of a sudden Ruby was shoving her out of the way. The ship accelerated hard and banked; Belle was tossed from one wall to the other. She could hear more screaming, things pouring out of cupboards decks away.
The force of the explosion pushed them forward and away, probably singeing the rear plates even as it gave them a boost.
Ruby hauled Belle off the floor. “Victor will need you in the Med Bay. GO!”
She complied. The tossing of the ship made it hard to keep her balance, but eventually she made it.
Oh Gods.
Jefferson and Mulan had him barely restrained. Victor was grabbing things, tossing them into a tray. She didn’t wait to be told what to do. Belle grabbed the sheers and climbed onto the table, straddling the struggling Gold. His eyes went wide as he saw her, scissors in hand.
“Hold his arms,” she said, grabbing the bottom of his shirt. The jacket could be forced over his shoulder, but the shirt and vest needed to be cut away.
Victor sterilized the equipment quickly. “This is gonna hurt, boss. We have to get that bullet out.”
“Should have known… those Fae bastards. Tritanium bullets.”
“Right. It’s gotta come out, now.”
He grabbed the forceps and wasted no time reaching for the projectile. Gold cried out in pain, hands pinned by Jefferson and Mulan. He was struggling, writhing in pain.
“Hey now, you stop that!” Belle said, gripping Gold’s face in her hands. He looked at her, eyes widening again. “Calm down, Gold. Calm-”
She didn’t need to finish the sentence. Gold passed out.
When he woke, she was the first thing he saw. Curled up like something frail, she had sequestered one of his fine blankets and was sitting in his favorite armchair. Sleeping, actually; knees pulled to her chest.
He tried to move and pain shot through his body. His grunt woke her.
“Stay still, Gold. I’ll get you some water.”
He tried to sit up, his left arm in a sling forcing him to rely solely on the right. He pushed his back against the wall until he was sitting up.
“Fuck, this hurts.”
“Of course it does. That’s why I told you not to move.” She sat on the bed beside him and held a cup of water to his lips. He didn’t realize how thirsty he’d been – too thirsty even to complain about being coddled.
“Thanks,” he said, when his lips were free. “Is everyone alright? Did we make it?”
“We’re orbiting some ice planet. Ruby and Jefferson think its magnetic poles will keep us hidden, should anyone follow. So far no one has. No real authority in this region besides the Fae, and, well….”
“We were successful.”
Belle looked at the floor. “The bomb detonated. I don’t know that I’d call that a success.” She stood, set the cup on the table beside his bed. “Can I get you something to eat?”
“I can get it myself.” He leaned forward, but before his feet could reach the floor, the room started spinning.
“How many times do I have to tell you, you ridiculous man!” Belle pushed him back onto the bed, lifted his feet and pulled a blanket around him.
“Why are you mothering me? I’m a grown man!”
“You get what you paid for. Now, food?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Alright then.” Belle settled back into the chair.
“…Are you just going to sit there?”
“Mhmm. Not like I have anywhere better to be.”
“What about… those things you wanted to do? When you were screaming at me in the med bay.”
“All done, days ago.”
Gold scoffed.
“Look Captain, you got a bargain. I’m worth ten men. And I’m pretty.” She grinned, and he couldn’t keep from laughing. A fresh wave of pain rolled through his chest as it shook.
“Ow! Oh, don’t make me laugh.”
“Sorry. I didn’t even know it was possible.”
“That didn’t stop you from trying.”
“Never has before.”
Gold closed his eyes, burrowing deeper into his bed. “Aren’t there any pain meds on this God forsaken ship? I think I’d quite like to be asleep.”
“Doc will be by in a while.”
Gold cracked one eye, trying to be surreptitious. He could see something clutched in her hand.
“Is that… a paperback?”
Belle nodded. He could see how worn it was, how tattered.
“Told you. I like books.”
“How many do you have?”
“A few.”
“So many secrets, for such a small woman.”
Belle rolled her eyes so hard he could almost hear it. She didn’t respond.
“Alright. If you’re going to sit here and watch me, I might as well take pity on you. There’s a crate under the bed.”
“I’m not interested in your porn collection-”
“Oy! I’m still ranking officer, last time I checked! Just get it.”
Belle heaved a dramatic sigh. She put her own book down and got to her knees on the floor. She reached under the bed until her fingers found the hard plastic edge of the crate. She pulled it from its place and gasped.
“Books! It’s full of… I’ve never seen this many books in my life! Where did you get them?”
“I’ve been collecting them for years. You’re not the only reader on board. As long as you’re here, you may as well help yourself.”
“I can… I can read them?”
“Sure. Borrow them, if you like. Just don’t let the crew see them. I swear Jefferson’s hands are always sticky… And Emma, oy vey. What a slob! I mean she’s a terrific fighter, truly horrifying, but still…”
Before he could protest, Belle had flung herself on top of him, her arms about his neck.
“Thank you!”
“D-don’t… It’s nothing.”
The next moment she was gone, her hands a blur as she sorted through his little library. Heart pounding, he felt shaken. He wished he could roll over to hide his face, but with the injured shoulder it was impossible. He just lay there, watching her, pretending not to watch her. And the feeling in his chest… It was almost like happiness.
They passed several days in the Captain’s quarters. Belle brought him food, helped Whale tend his wound, and read in an astounding frenzy. She was halfway through his library by the time he was back on his feet.
Eventually he’d had enough of bedrest, and with his cane under one arm and Belle on the other, he finally got out of his room.
She led him to the mess. A cheer went up as he entered the room. There was a cake on the table, frosting everywhere, and a bottle of what looked like old Earth champagne. Jefferson pulled out a chair while doing an elaborate bow. Gold sank into it readily. Mulan handed him a glass.
“What is all this?”
“Celebration,” Red said, putting her feet on the table. “We did something only fools have ever attempted, and we LIVED! That’s reason enough to get drunk.”
Gold paused, smiled. “Alright. Can’t argue with that logic. Someone cut me a piece of that Godawful mess.”
“Hey!” Whale pouted. “I made that myself.”
“With practice,” Belle said.
“And supervision,” added Ruby.
The cake was served, a toast made, and Belle pulled the stool to a position beside his chair. The afternoon was soon lost in a haze of sticky pink fingers and amber-tinted bubbles. Gold imbibed more than was his custom, and he found an easy smile sliding onto his face. Belle was laughing along to some fish tale, told by the outrageous Jefferson, and he noticed that she’d gathered the loose fabric of her skirt into her lap. The heels of her shoes were hooked on the topmost rung of the stool, placing her bare legs right beside the arm of his chair.
Slowly, deliberately, he touched the back of her calf with the pads of his fingers. He kept his eyes on Jefferson. She looked at him, and looked away. No movement, no outcry, not even the slightest twitch… He dared to move his fingers up and down, tracing an invisible line.
He pulled his hands back after a few moments, afraid of drawing suspicion. If Belle unleashed a private fury on him, he could always blame the alcohol, but if his crew noticed… Well, that would be truly embarrassing.
Belle stood, gently clearing her throat. “Come on, Captain. We’ve got to get you back to bed. You’ve got such a delicate constitution, you know.”
He scoffed, but allowed himself to be dragged off nonetheless.
“Feel free to clean up after yourselves!” Belle called back over her shoulder.
They didn’t speak on the way back to his room. He settled himself in bed as per orders, and Belle sat beside him. She leaned over to check his dressing.
“What was that in there, hmm?”
“Nothing. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Right,” she said. There was a thoughtful pause. “You know, you don’t talk about yourself much.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well, perhaps you’ll make an exception for me.”
“Hmm… Perhaps.”
Belle finished checking his wound and stood. She grabbed the chair and pushed it to his bedside, wrapping herself in the finely woven green blanket she’d taken such a liking to. And then she just waited.
“I grew up on a farm planet. The sheep liked me, but chickens are real assholes.”
Belle chuckled.
“I grew up with my aunts. They taught me how to spin and weave, and I used that skill to make enough money to get this old girl. She’s holding herself together, barely. I suppose you know the rest.”
“Wait, weaving as in cloth?”
“Yeah. That’s one of mine.”
“What is?”
“That,” he said, pointing at her with his good arm.
“Wait, this?” she said, drawing the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
“Mhmm. I keep the equipment down in storage. I still work from time to time.”
“That’s amazing. I suppose I should have known… You’re one of the most fearless mercenaries in the galaxy and your ship is called ‘The Golden Thread’.” She smiled, biting her lower lip. “Did you ever marry?”
He scoffed. “Not holding back now, are ye?”
Belle’s lips twitched, but she didn’t speak.
“Yes, I was married. I had a son. Her, she left, but him… I lost.”
“I’m so sorry.” She took his hand. He ran his thumb over her knuckles. He could almost feel her pulse; or maybe it was just his imagination.
“It’s okay. I’m a difficult man to love.”
Belle laughed at that, uncurled herself, and stood. “I better be getting to bed.”
“We’ll be back in your neighborhood in a few days, on our way to the outer ring.”
Belle paused by the door. “So?”
“So, would you like to go home?”
“What, for a visit?”
“No. No,” he said, sitting up with some effort and turning to face her. “You never signed up for this. For murder. Consider your contract nullified.”
He could see her mind working. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You’ve had a lot to drink, and you’re still on pain meds. Best we keep going for the outer ring. Goodnight, Captain.”
“Goodnight Belle.”
Again she stopped, as if struck. Then the door was shutting behind her.
It was the first time he’d ever said her name.
He’d called her many things – girl, dearie, nuisance – but never by her own name.
She hadn’t signed up for a war, that was true. She’d sacrificed herself for the sake of her people. She’d been willing to endure a thousand torments to keep them safe, and instead…
She’d found a home. This crew had welcomed her into the fold like a missing puzzle piece, and by God, did she fit!
As she swung in her hammock, looking at the corroded metal above her head, she couldn’t get his face out of her mind, or the feeling of his fingers on her calf. He was half the reason she’d agreed to come onboard in the first place – handsome and a little dangerous, like the antiheros of her favorite stories. And like those heroes, he’d proven himself in her eyes. He’d protected her, and given her a home, and let her prove herself through hard work and cleverness. And though he’d been a smug bastard, terrorizing her at every turn, she hadn’t been able to shake the image of him as her rescuer.
And now he offered her the most precious gift he could give. Her freedom.
But the truth that kept flickering through her mind was now keeping her awake. The colony wouldn’t feel like home anymore. She was too big, too new to go back. Her father would miss her, but he would get used to it.
The truth was that Belle French didn’t go back on deals. Not now, not ever.
The alarm went off at 1:37 am.
Belle woke to red lights flashing all through the dark corridors, buzzers going at a deafening volume. She dropped out of her hammock and pulled her dress on. She took a moment to clear her head before slipping out into the corridor, ears perked up.
A hand on her elbow startled her.
Gold pressed her close to the wall. “We’re being boarded. Stay here. Stay hidden.”
“No. I can help. I can fight-”
“Belle! Please,” he said, and something in his voice was different.
She nodded.
Gold continued down the corridor, disappearing between bursts of light.
Belle waited in her room for what felt like an eternity. Then, with measured steps, she made her way towards the mess. There were random crashes, thuds, sounds of fighting, but there was no way for her to know who – or what – was winning.
She slipped into her favorite room, sliding into a nook beside the door. One deep breath. Twelve. Twenty-five. A hundred.
Something clattered as it came through the door.
It looked like a man. He didn’t stumble. He could see well enough in the dark. But he was facing the other end of the room, looking for someone, and she would be able to slip back through the door if she left now.
She was standing in front of the drawer which held the knives.
Carefully, so so carefully, she slid the drawer open. Her hand closed around the largest handle she could find and she drew it out soundlessly, backing through the open doorway.
Once she was a safe distance away, she ran. As quietly as she could, of course, but even her faltering pace made her breathe more heavily, and her breath, combined with her rushing blood, made her deaf to the sounds coming towards her down the hall. Suddenly she turned a corner and smacked into a large, towering body.
She was sent tumbling backwards to the floor, the knife clattering to her side.
“Belle?”
The voice was familiar, but it did not belong here. “Gaston?”
He grabbed her arm and hoisted her off the floor. He kept hold of her, too tightly, and lifted his wrist to his mouth.
“Target acquired. Retreat to ship. Repeat – target acquired.”
“Target? Gaston, what-”
“Come on. You’re going home.”
“What? No. Let me go!”
“Don’t be stupid Belle. Come on.” Her ex-fiancé began down the hall at a steady clip, dragging Belle painfully in tow.
He didn’t seem to be aware of the knife she had picked up from her fall.
“Gaston, let me go! I said let me go! Don’t make me hurt you!”
He didn’t say anything. He just laughed.
She cut his arm, a shallow wound. He hissed and released her all the same. “What are you doing, you crazy bitch?”
“Get off this ship, Gaston. Go home, and don’t ever let me see you again.”
“You’d threaten me? After all the colony has done for you?”
“What have you ever done for me?”
“You ungrateful, spiteful little girl!” He took a step towards her and she brandished the knife. “You’re sick, Belle. These people kidnapped you. I’m taking you home. Now drop the knife, or I will make you regret it.”
Belle took a deep breath. “Alright then. Try me.”
He smirked. Then he lunged.
Belle barely felt the blade sliding into his chest. It was… not what she expected. His blood was hot as it ran thick over her fingers. His face contorted into a mask of pain, and then shock, and then his eyes rolled up as his body became heavy. He shook the whole corridor when he fell.
Belle wasn’t able to let go of the knife. She was still holding it. She was kneeling over him. His blood was coating her fingertips.
Someone put their hand on her shoulder.
Belle flinched, and the hand disappeared.
“It’s okay, Belle. You can let go.”
She followed her Captain’s command, let him lift her gently to her feet. The lights flickered back on. Soon the whole crew had gathered in the corridor. She half-listened to the conversation occurring around her.
“They must have backtraced our comm to Locksley’s crew.”
“What did they want?”
“Innit obvious?”
“Shut it, Victor.”
“What?! I’m just stating facts!”
“What do we do now, Captain?”
“We keep heading for the outer ring. We let them run home and lick their wounds. We’ll make a battle plan from there.”
“Understood. Mulan and Jefferson, do a sweep to make sure there are no remainders. Take non-lethal weapons with you. Emma and Whale, do an inventory. See if anything is missing. Go.” Ruby would really make an excellent commander, the way she organized her troops with brutal efficiency.
“Come on,” Gold whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Belle shrugged out of his grasp. She started down the hall. He followed.
“Where are you going?”
“The showers by the cargo bay. I need to clean up.”
“Use my shower, Belle.”
“I don’t need your pity-”
“BELLE.”
She stopped in her tracks.
“I know what you’re feeling. I know how big and horrible and dark it is. I’m not giving you pity and I’m not going to mother you, but the shower in my room is private, and the water is hot, and when you’re done, I will escort you back to your quarters. Or you can take my bed and I’ll, I’ll go somewhere else. My cabin door locks better than yours.”
She wanted to go, and she didn’t. Pandora ’s Box wasn’t opened all at once, either.
She turned and followed him.
Having declined to stop by her quarters for a fresh change of clothes, Gold had laid out some pajamas for her. The shower was hot, hotter than she’d had in ages. She scrubbed her skin until it was raw but doubted if she’d ever feel clean. Stepping out of the tile chamber and into the bathroom general, she wiped the fog from the cracked and dirty mirror.
A very different girl stood before her than the one she’d known just a few weeks ago.
Best not to focus on that now; best not to dwell. She needed to clear her mind, to grieve, and to sort things out in time.
She pulled on the simple, long-sleeved white shirt he’d left her, and pulled her underwear back on. She left the pants.
He was waiting, perched on the edge of his bed.
“We can take you back. They’ll forgive you, of course they will. Or we can drop you at a port, a city, a planet of your choosing. You don’t have to stay here.”
“Scooch over.”
He stammered. “I… I beg your pardon?”
“Scooch. I’m staying here.”
“Oh,” he said, jumping to his feet. “Of course.”
“No, stupid. Lie back. We’re both small, we’ll fit.”
“….Oh,” he said. He still didn’t move. Belle put her hand on his chest and gave him a nudge. He lay back, as close to the wall as he could without hurting his shoulder. It wasn’t until she moved to lie beside him that his eyes found her legs. “Oh, Belle, I left you pajama pants as well.”
“I know,” she said. She slipped in beside him. She fit perfectly at his side, her head pillowed on his arm.
There was a long pause. He wanted to hold her, but didn’t want to overstep his bounds. And Belle was beginning to feel the pull of a well-deserved rest.
“I’m staying, you know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I promised you forever, Gold. I keep my promises.” She snuggled closer to his side, wiggling into the perfect position that would carry her off to sleep. She almost missed his lips at her ear.
“It’s Arden. My name is Arden.”
“Arden,” she whispered. “That’s nice. Goodnight, Arden.”
“Goodnight, Belle.”