"Holloran came to have a few choice words with me, as is his custom. You just happened to be here. He goaded you into a fight and then stalled, waiting for me. It was just for show, for the hope of provoking me. He thought I would be furious, an easy mark, that the good Heavens would let him fry my arse and claim self-defense. But if he had hurt you in any way beside words and touches, I wouldn't have engaged in a shooting match with him. I would have turned the Brotherhood of the Wing upon him. He knew it. We don't like the Mercenary Union much, and Holloran already has two or three warnings from the Brotherhood. He rapes you, we exterminate him and his buddies. It's as simple as that. He doesn't like these odds. The likes of him prefer to play holding all the aces and a trump card up their sleeve."
"Do you have some history with him, Mistress Nelsa?"
"I crossed him a few times in the past. But it's really the Quigg Contract he resents me the most."
"You have worked for the Quiggs? You've seen them?" the boy's gaze lit up with excitement.
"As clear as I see you," Nelsa said offhandedly. "Funny folk. And madly generous. It seems they don't know the value of money. It was a fabulous contract, a fortune to earn for delivering the freshly laid egg of their Queen to a new planet. Once in a lifetime, they said, but to this day no one knows their exact lifetime. And their custom was to find a champion from another race, this time a human. The contestants were required to fight each other in arena, barehanded. No finals and semifinals, it's for the weak, heh. You defeat this guy, welcome to fight the next one, and so on. Damn, I still can't believe I kicked all their arses — seventeen of them!"
Nelsa smiled and shook her head.
"Beyond stupid, if you ask me. Now I won't even consider such stupidity. Holloran was the last. He was already rubbing his hands thinking the contract was in his pocket. Let me recall... I gave him both black eyes, knocked two of his teeth out, broke two of his ribs, two fingers, possibly three, also one arm and one leg. Neat symmetry. You should have seen him!" she laughed. "They carried him out, and I left on my own two feet. Not an easy feat at the time, to tell the truth. Thus the Quigg Contract was mine, I had carried it out and subsequently spent a full year on Eldorado, living in the most expensive luxury villa of the CrystalCoast. I wore Tryadian silk, ate of moon-porcelain of Quetzal, kept a fleet of two space yachts and ten flyers of the priciest make and model. I was throwing my money around in such piles that I was a goddess for every playboy and playgirl of Eldopolis."
Ariel nearly smiled.
"And why exactly ten flyers, Mistress Nelsa?"
"Why, seven for each day of the week, one for every planetary holiday, one for every religious holiday and the last one for special occasions."
"I would love to see you in a luxury villa, Mistress Nelsa. My imagination just fails me!" the boy shook his head, looking at her.
The smuggler actually snickered. "Careful, Master Dominique. Do you think I was born in a pilot uniform, holding a rudder? By the way, not a very long time ago I was considered the most chic woman on..."
Nelsa cut herself mid-word, her smile vanished in a flash.
My, doesn't his attention make you relax! Why so chatty all of a sudden? Do you also want to tell him the story of your miserable life, beautiful Nelsa of Bizarre?
YOU ARE READING
My Angel of the Dawn (WomanxBoy, ManxBoy, Sci-Fi + Romance)
Science Fiction[FINISHED]The space pilot and smuggler Nelsa Thorn suddenly comes into possession of a young slave. It seems there is no possibility of true love and happy ending. But everything is possible if you have the courage to embrace whatever fate has in st...
