"Bring her to the bridge," Bara ordered after the Trebuchet's tractor beam brought the Friss into the shuttle bay. Maiga had made no attempt to resist and Bara was glad of that. She didn't want to kill the woman. What good is that? A dead opponent doesn't know they are beaten.

She stood up from her chair, and paced behind the pilot's station. Part of her had started to feel bad about what she'd done to Maiga, revealing her identity. She must have had her own reasons for keeping it secret. It didn't mean she didn't respect the Prophet. And thinking of him made her regret it even more. He'd trusted her. Could he have been wrong about her? Not him! The Prophet, wrong? Hardly!

Putting a hand on the back of the pilot's chair, she watched the stars ahead for a while. They soothed her, smoothed away the agitation. How could a victory feel so hollow? How could it taste so sour? And who is making that sound?

"Whoever the hell is tapping like that, stop it right the hell now!"

The soft voices of the bridge crew stilled as she shouted. They stiffened in their chairs and some turned to look at her. The tapping stopped. For now. But it kept coming back. Somebody was playing games, trying to make her crazy.

Ah, here we are. She turned as the doors hissed open and couple of Marines walked in, Maiga between them. Oh for... They had her cuffed! The idiots. Did she order that? Did anyone hear her order that?

"Release her!" Bara snapped at once gesturing at the cuffs and scowling at the Marines. One of them unlocked the cuffs while both of them blushed and averted their eyes under her glare of displeasure.

Rubbing her freed wrists, Maiga looked around. Only briefly. Of course she'd seen the bridge before.

"Welcome aboard, Maiga." Bara said, bowing her head. She felt an absurd urge to salute. Absurd. She was in command here. But Maiga had an air of confidence and authority about her that disconcerted Bara. She'd expected defeat, or anger, or despair. Not this cool and quiet demeanour, more suited to someone who'd just come home.

"You don't mind if I call you, Maiga, do you?" Her smile felt unworthy, more smug than she believed herself to be. Gloating is not attractive. "As you know, only one person on board a ship is called Captain."

"Of course," Maiga said. "I'd hate for there to be any confusion over who is in control here."

Bara narrowed her eyes. What the hell did that mean? And someone was tapping again and she would have to kick some ass very soon. Sev wasn't on the bridge, or she'd know for sure it was him. Unless he was somehow piping in the sound from engineering. The others could hear it, they just pretended not to. She broke herself out of the spiral of her thoughts, stopped them pulling her down like a whirlpool.

"Maiga, I think this has gone far enough now, don't you? I never intended for us to be enemies."

Maiga nodded, and then started to stroll around the bridge glancing at readouts and displays.

"I never asked to be your enemy, Captain. But if you will beat friends of mine nearly to death, well you know, I find that a little provocative."

"I am sorry about what my men did, but they are paying for their crime."

"Don't treat me like fool." Maiga stopped, quite close to Bara, the Marines standing close behind her.

She judged the distance perfectly, Bara thought. A step closer and they'd have dropped her. A step further back and she appears afraid of me. And she doesn't fall for my spiel. Even the newspaper man seemed to be a little taken in by it. But she doesn't buy it for a moment.

For a second, just a second, a tiny scrap of fear tapped at her mind, in rhythm to that damn tapping. For a second, just a second, a voice spoke inside her. Her real voice. Not the Captain's. Not the seductress's. Just Bara's.

Tap. Tap. Tap. She would not yell in front of Maiga. Would not appear out of control. But someone was going to get some very nasty punishment duty as soon as the prisoner left the bridge.

Prisoner. Oh she hated to think of Maiga that way. This one should not be an enemy. What an ally she would make. And I am not afraid of her. I am not afraid of that tiny smile she's wearing. The one that suggests she's watching a small child strutting around in its mother's uniform, playing at soldiers.

"Maiga, I would like you to stay here on the Trebuchet."

"I told you before that I'm no pirate. And if you think I can join you now, after what you've done to me."

Ah a chink in the armour there, a tiny angry tremor in the voice.

"But that's exactly the point, isn't it? You can't go back to Hollow Jimmy now. Where else can you go?"

"Anywhere I want."

"Such as? Oh, of course, the legendary High Committee." The sniggers of contempt at the words 'High Committee' amused her and made her think more kindly of her bridge crew. "You think you will find them? And what happens when you run across some alien ship that decides to use you for target practice? A human, helpless and alone, is their favourite sport."

Maiga didn't answer, she just waited. Yes, that's it. She had an air of waiting about her. What could she be waiting for? Perhaps what Bara said next?

"Stay here and I will make you my first officer."

Gasps sounded around the bridge and Maiga herself turned and looked at Alex who stood at the engineering station. Following her gaze Bara tried to gauge his reaction. Hard to say with his dark skin, but there might be a flush there. Anger? Humiliation?

"You have a first officer," Maiga said.

"Alex prefers his Chief Engineer duties. Isn't that right, Chief?"

"Yes, ma'am." A catch in his voice, told her he was working hard to keep it under control. As if he wouldn't be happy to get off the bridge and go snuggle up with the freak beside the nice warm engines.

Maiga turned back and smiled at Bara.

"Go to hell."

It took a moment for Bara to realise she herself had moved and not Maiga. That she'd taken quick steps forward and was up in Maiga's face. The Marines grabbed Maiga's arms, but didn't pull her away.

"You talk of hell? I have seen it, deserter!"

Control. Control. She stepped back, smoothing her clothes down, her hair too, soothing herself with the touch. For a moment she thought of Max, how his touch had soothed her and thrilled her at once. Ah, Max. So... No, he was a memory to warm herself with later. Now she had to be a commander. And she had to get this insolent prisoner off her bridge, before that sneer made her do something... excessive.

"Take her to the brig."

~o~

The Trebuchet might be a pirate ship, but Maiga didn't find herself down in the bilges. The brig was as clean as it would have been in the old days. The bunk had a decent mattress on it and she lay down with a sigh. They even let her have her bag, after removing anything they didn't like the look of. Sadly that included her Snapper, leaving her nothing to read.

Never mind, she'd catch up on some sleep instead. She could be here for a while. Or perhaps not too long. Bara's behaviour on their little encounter on the bridge might see to that. Either way, catching some sleep while she could would be a good idea.

A man stood guard in the area outside the cell, the front of which, like Neex's holding cells on Hollow Jimmy, was a wall of bars. Maiga made no attempt at conversation, just lay down on the mattress and closed her eyes. A woman in a cell might be expected to be too worried to sleep, but Maiga had known she'd be in this cell. She was right where she expected to be. Her plan was on track, and now all she had to do was wait.

Wait.

He will come.

~o~

She didn't sleep for too long. Her watch told her only five hours had passed when the guard called through the bars to her to wake up.

"You'd better have brought me some coffee," she said, grumpy voiced, but smirking at his frown.

"Captain wants you on the bridge."

"Okay. Tell her I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Now," he said, not biting.

They reached the bridge to find it buzzing with activity. Bara stood as Maiga walked in.

"Ah, Maiga, I thought you might find it interesting to watch this. We're about to collect some salvage."

She gestured to the guard who steered Maiga to sit at the unmanned communications station on the bridge. The panels were locked out. Clearly whoever the Trebuchet was about to meet, they weren't going to be talking to them.

She found out a moment later who that was. A Kitsnujitar freighter, just a control section and an engine, separated by a long frame with cargo modules secured to it. Probably nearly all automated, though in a moment the crew member at the scanner station spoke up.

"Reading five Kits on board."

Maiga saw Bara grin. Easy pickings. Big, fat, slow easy pickings. No weapons to speak of. Decent shields though, which the Kitsnujitar ship raised as the Trebuchet approached. It slowed down almost to a stop, diverting all its engine power into the shields, as the Trebuchet opened fire

Maiga looked up startled at the alarm that sounded from external sensors. A radiation warning. She recalled, oh how long ago it seemed now, the first time she saw the Trebuchet in action. Wixa had mentioned the radiation that the stolen guns gave off. The internal sensors didn't squeak though. The engineers must have added extra shielding to protect the interior.

Nobody else on the bridge paid any attention to the alarm, clearly used to hearing it during battle. If you could call this a battle.

"We'll concentrate there on the aft shield," Bara said. "There's a small weakness, where the field generators don't give enough overlap at the edges. We break through there and we can cripple their engine and power generator."

She's talking to me, Maiga thought. Giving me a guided tour of her little escapade. Wants me to watch her attack a helpless ship, slaughter the crew and steal what she wants from the cargo. She's showing off. She thinks I'll be impressed by this act of piracy.

More than piracy though, isn't it? An act of vengeance too. Taking out her rage on those innocent traders. Maiga had killed plenty of Kitsnujitar soldiers in her time. But that was the point wasn't it? They'd been soldiers, trying to kill her in return. Not just freighter crew trying to get through a long dull voyage without going crazy. Please, don't have her take me on board to watch her Marines murder the crew.

Maiga glanced over at Alex, fielding reports from Engineering and orders from Bara. Again torn between his duties as first officer and his duties as chief engineer and right now, looking as if he enjoyed neither.

Bara looked rather glum too, Maiga thought. Perhaps she wanted a more interesting fight to show off with, not just sitting here trying to wrinkle open a freighter like a stubborn oyster.

She got her wish.

"Captain!" The scanner station crewmember called. "I've got two contacts, approaching rapidly, I think they're --"

"What?" Bara ran to the scanning station.

"Kitsnujitar warships ma'am. Escort class."

"Damn!"

"It's a trap," Maiga said. Of course. The freighter was too good to be true. Too easy and tempting. The attack vessels had waited out of range and now they were shrieking in to finish the Trebuchet off. "Get us out of here. You can't fight two of them."

Bara glared at her. "You underestimate me."

"Battle stations," Bara ordered. "Use the freighter as cover and wait for them to come to us. Prepare to fire on my command."

The battle stations alarm sounded. Maiga glanced at the comms station she sat at and frowned at another alarm she saw on a panel.

"They're monitoring your communications, internal and external." It came naturally to her to report it. She might not want to help the pirates, but she'd die here too if the Trebuchet lost this fight.

Bara turned to stare at her. "What? How?"

"They're good with comms," Maiga said.

"So are you."

That wasn't a question. Maiga shrugged, which was a question. I am. So what?

"Get us a secure channel to engineering at least," Bara ordered her.

Maiga frowned. Would she follow an order from Bara? It was her own ass on the line too. Perhaps if she heard the magic word.

"Please." Bara said, in a polite, one officer to another, tone. Certainly no pleading in it.

"Give me five minutes. And you should still get the hell out of here." Maiga turned to the comms board, the panels illuminating under her hands as the lockout released.

"You should have access now," Alex called to her.

"Got it." She started working, but like everyone else on the bridge she turned to look at the forward viewer when the scanning operator called out.

"Visual contact."

The two Kitsnujitar warships appeared on screen. Fast, light and manoeuvrable, the same class of ship as the Trebuchet. They wasted no time.

"In weapons range. Opening fire."

Maiga tried to ignore the shaking as the Kitsnujitar guns rattled the Trebuchet's shields. Rarely more than glancing blows, Bara had a good helmsman. The ships dodged and swooped around the freighter using it as cover, and many of both side's shots grazed the freighter. Maiga quickly managed to tap into the ship to ship communications between the freighter and the warships. And just as quickly discovered how unhappy these manoeuvres made the freighter's captain.

"The freighter is about to move off," Maiga reported. "We should do the same."

"If I want your advice --" Bara began.

"She's right, ma'am," Alex called from his engineering station. "We're using too much power with manoeuvring and the shields and the guns. We can't sustain it much longer."

The Trebuchet's guns fired, destroying a cargo module on the freighter, scattering debris, and fouling the field of battle briefly. Maiga heard that radiation alarm again.

Ah. Idea.

"Captain, you've got a secure channel to engineering, opening it for you now. I've got a plan to give us a window to get out of here. You want me to effect it?"

"Explain," Bara snapped.

"No time. Chief, tell Engineering to disregard anything they hear me ordering them to do."

"Er, they would anyway," Alex said.

"Yeah." Maiga grinned. "But first, on the secure channel tell them to report a critical reactor overload. Tell them to report that to the bridge on an unsecured channel"

"What?" Alex cried. Bara looked at her for a moment, their eyes locked. Then she turned and nodded at Alex.

"Do it."

Maiga turned back to her board, expecting them to do their jobs. A moment later she heard Sev's voice, a note of panic in it, reporting that the reactor had gone critical and there was nothing he could do to stop it, the ship was doomed to explode.

"Engineering," Maiga responded, imitating Bara's voice and hoping she did it well enough to fool the aliens listening on a tapped channel. She added a little interference to help, some static hiss. "Keep the shields up as long as you can. If they scan the radiation build up, they'll have time to get away. We might as well take as many of the bastards with us as we can."

"Aye, Captain, but the shields are weakening. We could lose them any moment."

Bright boy, Mr Sev, you get it.

"Shields losing power," Alex reported.

"They're scanning us," another bridge station reported.

Maiga smiled as she heard the report. Of course they were, for radiation. They'd be showing plenty of high readings.

"The warships are moving off!" The scanning operator called. "The freighter is picking up speed."

"Prepare for star drive," Bara ordered, "On my command."

Maiga watched the Kitsnujitar ships retreating, their eavesdropping commanders afraid they were about to be engulfed by the inferno of a gone-critical reactor. Any moment now, they'd analyse their readings more thoroughly and realise they'd been fooled, realise that they were only reading the leaking radiation from the salvaged Chia guns.

Any moment.

"We should go now." Maiga's foot started to tap. She moved to stand up, but the Marine she'd forgotten about, put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down into her seat.

"Wait for it," Bara said. "Wait."

"They're slowing," the scanning station reported. "Turning."

"Now!" Bara ordered. "Engage star drive!"

The freighter and the warships vanished as the distorted hyperspace view filled the screen, stars smearing across it.

Maiga sighed and relaxed in her seat, at the exact second Bara did the same thing in the command chair. The Kitsnujitar could try to follow them into hyperspace of course. But they wouldn't have had time to track their course, and the Trebuchet had an unassailable head start. And we didn't have to kill them to do it, Maiga thought, and liked that part best. Bara didn't though.

"We shouldn't have left them alive," she said, scowling.

"We didn't have much choice," Alex said.

"They will report us."

Why did she care about that? Maiga wondered. She was a pirate, everyone knew it. Or perhaps they did, but only unofficially. Once someone had her red-handed, that could change things. Not just out here, but back there, back on Hollow Jimmy, where officially she was a perfectly respectable salvage trader.

"Had to happen one day," Alex said, "You've said that yourself, Captain."

She glared at him and he took a step back towards the engineering station. But Bara turned from him to Maiga and her scowl cleared. She smiled.

"Thank you for your help."

"I don't want to die either."

"Of course not." She grinned and for a moment Maiga, still feeling the effects of the adrenaline rush of combat, wanted to grin back. "We made quite a team, Maiga. I knew we would."

Maiga's smile vanished. What next? Should they high-five each other and go for a drink together? No. That was just necessity. Maiga did not want to work with this woman. She came here for a different purpose.

"Can I go back to the brig now? I was trying to get some sleep."

The calm question made Bara come to her feet as if Maiga had hurled an insult at her.

"Your stay can become much less pleasant if you continue to provoke me, deserter!"

The sudden outburst of temper startled Maiga and made the rest of the bridge crew go quiet, nervous, waiting for the next word from either woman. After a moment the colour drained from Bara's cheeks. She pulled her hair out of the band holding it back and re-tied it.

"My apologies. I'm quite tired myself after that. I think I'll retire. Take her back to the brig." She didn't wait, turned away and spoke to Alex. "You have the bridge. I'll be in my quarters."

"Yes, ma'am. Teams are initiating repairs of battle damage."

"Very good. Carry on." She walked off the bridge, a dazed look on her face. Alex watched her go and turned back to meet Maiga's eyes.

He spoke. To the Marine guarding Maiga.

"You heard the Captain. Return the prisoner to the brig."