“Mr Valdon please calm yourself,” the Vice Magistrate had risen to his feet in alarm.

            Leeza and Rufus had also vacated their chairs and instinctively taken a few steps back towards the door just in case things got ugly.  Rufus unobtrusively placed himself between Leeza and the angry man.

            “You ask me to be calm.  After all I've been through.  How can you ask that of me?” shouted Valdon.  He turned and stabbed a finger in Leeza's direction.  “I was mortified, insulted, when I heard that the expert engineering master we had been sent turned out to be a female.  But now I am ecstatic with joy because she has brought to me the very creature that caused my family so much anguish.”

            “Doesn't sound like anything he did while with us,” whispered Rufus.

            That could only mean one thing.  “Shit,” swore Leeza.

            “Mister Valdon, I must warn you to refrain from offending our honoured guests,” said the Vice Magistrate.  He obviously felt on more stable ground when dealing with his own countrymen.  “I will hear your grievance now seeing as you insist on shouting it out for the whole court house to hear.”

            Valdon drew himself up to full height and exhaled deeply.  “My humble apologies, Vice Magistrate, but as you can see the pain I have carried in my heart is almost too much for a man to bear.”  He clasped his hands behind his back.  “As you know my family has run a successful business manufacturing engine parts for as many generations as our people have called this planet our home.  So exceptional is the quality of the workmanship of our products that our name is well known over much of this section of the galaxy.  We ship millions of credits worth of stock spaceward every year.  A mere seven solar months ago I chose to oversee the delivery of a very special shipment personally.  I did this for reasons I will explain later.  With me I took my beautiful young daughter Fedora who you see before you.”

            The dark haired girl seemed to shrink within herself at the mention of her name.

            Valdon continued. “We were less than six days away from our destination at Regulas Minor when we were set upon by a pirate galleon.  We were unarmed save for a few low yield torpedoes which proved useless against the brigands.  My crew tried valiantly to outrun her but to no avail.  She slammed into the side of my ship taking the lives of two good men in the process.  The pirates swarmed my ship and took us all prisoner.  I begged them... I told them they could take all of our cargo.  We would not give them any trouble if only they would let us go free.”

            Valdon's hands started to shake as he mentally relived the horror of his story.  Leeza licked her lips nervously.  She had no doubt in her mind which pirate galleon had assaulted Valdon's cargo ship.

            “Then I saw her, the leader of this evil tribe.  A black hearted bitch by the name of Mavra Chan.  She laughed.  I begged for mercy and she laughed!  She had us all locked away in her filthy brig and left us to the mercy of her brutal cohorts.”

            Valdon's voice dropped to a quavering whisper.  “And then HE came.  That little bastard strutted into our cage in the company of a vile man.  They opened the door to the cell that held Fedora.  I tried to stop them but all I could do was yell.  They entered the cell and they... they...” Valdon's voice broke into a sob.  “That little freak... he... seized my daughter.  And he... he...” his voice dropped to a strangled whisper. “He ruined her.”

            “I don't think they put up much of a fight,” said Matt softly as the boys approached the forward entrance bay leading to the assault airlock.

            Terinu shrugged.  “Merchants.”

            Sometimes they surrendered immediately.  Sometimes they had to have their bow blown open before they'd admit defeat.  It always ended the same way though.

            The boys stopped just inside the side door to watch the gruesome act that was to follow.  They didn't have to wait long.

            The airlock door slid open and a sad party of five were pushed into the circle of raised muzzles held by the grinning pirate crew.  First came a tall, broad man, his face livid with rage.  Beside him a pale young girl with long dark hair in long sleeved shirt and billowing trousers festooned with a carnival of precious gems and gold chains.  Behind them were three terrified vulpine, one of whom was clutching a handful of bloodstained rags to his shoulder.

            “Ma'am,” Brooks, who had been behind them, pushed past and walked up to a wiry, severe looking woman who stood casually amongst the raised weapons.  “Here is the ship manifest,” he said presenting her with a data tablet.

            The woman, Mavra Chan, took the tablet from him and glanced down the list displayed on its lighted screen.  “Hmmm,” she looked up at the prisoners before her.

            The big man struggled to keep his temper under control.  “Madam,” he began nervously.  “I take it you command this... ship.  Please, I am just a business man going about his work.  Just take what you want, all of it if it pleases you.  But I beg you spare us.”

            “Yaddah, yaddah, yaddah,” Mavra murmured turning her attention back to the manifest.  “Let me know when you have something interesting to say.”  She tapped the screen.  “This looks useful.”  She showed the screen to Brooks.  “Five new coalaroid rods.  Isn't the 'Black Gull' in need of a replacement coalaroid rod.”

            “I believe so, ma'am,” nodded Brooks.

            “Sterling, have the Gull rendezvous with us and we'll transfer them across.  As for the rest of this cargo, start loading it into our bays.  Strip down the ship ready for delivery to the yard.”

            The big man looked up in horror.  “But madam, I need my ship to get back home!”

            Chan raised an amused eyebrow.  “Oh,” she said. Around her the pirates chortled.

            She tapped the screen of the tablet and continued to read as she stepped down to stand in front of the man.  The corner of her lip twitched up with interest.  “Ah, Rashid Valdon of Valdon Industries,” she smiled up at him.  “I take it your cargo consists of genuine Valdon engine parts.  How lovely to know we'll be servicing our ships using the very best.”

            The men around them snickered.

            “Well, Mr Valdon, you certainly are a long way from home.” Mavra continued.  “I dare say a man of your importance would be considered to be worth a good deal of credit.  Don't you think?  How much do you calculate your people would be willing to pay to see you returned to them?  Oh, and who's this?”  Mavra  turned and smiled at Fedora who was cringing into her father's robe.

            “This must be your lovely daughter.”  Mavra grasped the girls chin and turned her head from one side to the other.  “Unmarked, very pretty.  She's bound to bring me a tidy profit at the whore market.  That is unless you can give me a better price.”

            Mavra was ready him.  As he stepped forward to swing at her face she ducked, blocked and landed a solid fist into his groin.  The big man doubled over with a groan and collapsed to his knees.  A blow to the back of the head via a nearby rifle butt completed the task.

            “Tut, tut, Mr. Valdon, is that anyway for a business man to act?”  Mavra addressed the gasping man.  She turned her attention to the three vulpine shuffling nervously behind him and cocked her head considering them for a few moments.

            “Worthless,” she said and the vulpine with the bleeding shoulder was immediately dispatched with a shot to the back of his head.  Lifelessly the fox like humanoid dropped to the floor next to Valdon.

            “No!”  Fedora came to life.  She stumbled over the body of the dead crewman and wrapped her arms around the younger, mocca coloured remaining vulpine.  The young male gaped in disbelief at the crumpled body of his fallen crewmate.

            “Wait... wait...” gasped Valdon. “I will pay for them, I will pay for them!”

            Mavra shrugged and waved her executioner back.  “It's your money,” she smiled.  “As long as they don't become more trouble then they're worth, or yourself for that matter.”

            She knelt down beside Valdon who had managed to sit up.  “I believe we have an agreement pending finalising the fees involved.  I'm sorry I can't give you an exact price right now.  I need to speak to my accounting manager first.  You understand.”

            Valdon glared blackly back at her.  “One day, witch, you will be the one who will pay!”

            Mavra smiled sweetly back at him.  She gestured to her men.  “Escort Mr Valdon and company down to the guest quarters and,” she flicked a hand towards the dead vulpine.  “Clean up the mess.”