Standing on the bridge, Nora watched as the massive Marmuro’k warship slowly began to turn away, all the while spying a tiny speck of a dropship heading in the direction of the Archangel, now all she had to do was bide her time until her girlfriend was back aboard the ship.
“Well shit, there goes my bounty but I''ll be damned, how the hell did she manage that?” Harlock asked as he spun in his oversized captain’s chair, his bulbous physique consuming most of the space.
“My girl is as bad ass as they come and twice as sexy,” Nora snickered in amusement before an awkward glint shined in his eyes.
“I don''t care how bad ass someone thinks they are, no one has ever gotten onto one of those ships and lived to tell the tale…” Harlock commented offhandedly with a chuckle as he rubbed one hand over his gut.
Nora cracked an amused smile as she pointed at the scene in front of them before taking a sip from the mug of ale she had been given, letting a wave of nostalgia envelope her as the spicy bitter liquid warmed her body.
“So, what in the hell made you think taking on a MarMar warship was a good idea? That’s gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in my life,” Nora asked.
Harlock scoffed at the question as if it were obvious, “Could you imagine taking down one of those things or even managed to capture one? The fame, the glory and the power one would get by claiming one of their ships? Could you really blame me for trying?”
He sighed as he relented, the deafening silence throughout the bridge confirming Nora’s comment, “Yeah, that may have been stupid… but just as luck would have it, we apparently came across the only person who can go toe to toe with one of those big bastards, and got to see Little Nora all grown up. Bad judgement aside, not a bad day,” he stated raising his mug in her direction. “Though it would’ve been nice if you treated my guards with a bit more respect,” he added glancing at the doorway to the bridge to see both men that had stood sentry at the door encased in ice, one shivering audibly as he was bound to the wall while the other blocked the door from closing along the floor.
Stephanie clicked her tongue as if mildly insulted before signing, “If they treated a woman with more respect, they’d both be fine.”
“What she said,” Nora commented as she thumbed to the body blocking the door, fully entombed in crystalline ice. The man’s broken nose and split forehead on display as an enthusiastic reminder courteous of Nora that if one puts their hands on a lady, their face may be used as a door handle.
Harlock shrugged, his greasy, thinning hair swaying with the motion as he said, “Yeah, you were always a bit of a spitfire... next time just send them to me, boys are boys after all,” he commented aloofly as if his subordinates’ behavior was acceptable.
Nora ground her teeth as she recalled distant memories pertaining to stories of Harlock, taking a sip of ale as she followed the tiny dropship cruising closer to the Archangel before it disappeared from view. Thinking, she knew that pirates took freedom to heart, which often meant the freedom of crossing lines that were not meant to be crossed which was something their father had once put an end to long ago. Irritated by the response, Nora finally pulled her attention to the bridge crew to notice that every single person aside from Harlock was female.
To be fair, she couldn''t be surprised by that. If she had the opportunity she too would surround herself with beautiful women however, what struck her as odd was that they were all doing something.
After her quick observation, there was an uneasiness in the air as every single woman kept their heads down and pretended to be working despite the fact that the ship was not moving nor doing anything of note as it sat anchored in space.
Stephanie picked up on Nora’s prying gaze around the room. Using her own vantage point as she leaned against the starboard wall of the bridge in front of the entrance way, she homed in on her sister’s targets, seeing bruises hidden beneath hair on the closest woman''s neck. Now focused on the revelation, one woman turned her head just enough to survey the now silent room only to find Stephanie''s icy stare. What she could glean was the yellowing skin of a healing bruise underneath one of the woman’s eyes before the woman panicked and went back to staring at the monitor in front of her and typing nonsense on the keyboard.
Stephanie audibly spit angrily on the floor before turning to both Ebony and Nora, “We need to kill this fuck,” Stephanie signed quickly, making sure Harlock couldn''t follow even though she wouldn''t suspect that he could since her sign language was bastardized into a form only Havoc squad truly understood.
Nora glanced at Ebony thoughtfully seeing that the woman had no input on the situation, more inclined to do as she was told rather than being the squad leader she normally was before letting out a weary sigh.
“Yeah, I guess we should,” she commented, purposefully keeping her words vague as she turned to Harlock.
Nora stepped around his large chair and stepped down onto the lower floor that sank two feet into the bridge to get closer to the viewing window, not missing the fact that three women froze as they heard footsteps approach them from behind. Nora looked through the window to see just how far the other pirate ship sat away from the Archangel before looking to see just how far the slow-moving Marmuro’k warship had traveled. She knew it was only a matter of time until the Marmuro’k ship used a faster method of travel, though she couldn’t be sure what kind of engines or drives it used however, every part of her plan was lining up perfectly.
“You know, I guess we owe you for costing you your bounty…” she commented as she took another drink.
Harlock’s chair spun towards her as the pique of interest could be heard, “Oh? What do you have in mind?”
Nora smirked knowingly, her amusement hidden as she glanced down to a young brunette that cautiously looked up at her in dreadful curiosity before Nora stole attention by pointing at the Marmuro’k ship. “We’ll help you take that ship,” she commented as her smile widened slightly, trying to show the woman next to her that things would be different, that she was safe as long as Nora was there.
Harlock scoffed, “Didn’t you just say it was stupid to go after it? Why?”
Nora spun on her heels merrily, letting her chaotically joyous nature overtake her demeanor as her plan began to unfold to fruition. “Cuz I have a cooler ship, duh!” she grinned eat to ear before looking at the Archangel.
Touching her comm bead she asked Shepard, “Is Mori back?”
Before Shepard could respond, Morrigan chimed in, “Yeah, I''m here, but where in the hell are you?”
“Just doing what you asked, love. Shep? Be awesome and fire the Javelin, please?” Nora asked grinning in amusement before looking back at her sister, who also grinned savagely and even Ebony, who wore a sly smirk on her face realizing what it was that Nora had been planning all along.
“I’m sorry, what?” Morrigan chimed in just before Shepard responded.
“Understood, preparing to skip and fire.”
Looking back at Harlock, Nora’s grin turned into a cocky smirk as she listened to Morrigan question in confusion as to why she had order the Javelin to be fired, questioning Shepard as to why she would listen to Nora and demand answers as to her whereabouts. “Wanna see something cool? Watch that ship,” she said thumbing in the direction of the Marmuro’k warship and watched Harlock’s curious and rapt interest focus on the target.
Out of the corner of his eye Harlock could see energy wrap around the significantly larger starship beside his before it blinked out of existence with a bizarre bending of light. “What the hell?!” he exclaimed before a bright white streak of electricity passed across his field of view.
The man tried to follow the tracer line the Javelin left, missing entirely the “where” it carved a path through, expecting something to happen to the Marmuro’k ship.
“Wow, that''s actually really pretty,” Nora commented absentmindedly a moment before the second pirate ship exploded, the massive solid slug from the Javelin having torn through the entirety of the small Destroyer class ship. Nora laughed manically, losing herself in the instantaneous glee of her plan coming full circle.
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“Wha… that was my ship! You stupid fucking…” Harlock was stunned briefly before pure anger over took him, roaring his displeasure as he reached for a weapon along the right side of his chair. “Woah, hey now…” he commented as he was interrupted by a viscous weapon pressed deeply against his fat-filled neck from behind.
Nora composed herself just enough to turn around and break into squealing joy, clapping spastically as she witnessed the last of her plan already underway. Stephanie held Harlock at blades edge with a savage grin as she looked up at her sister, and doubled over laughing.
“Oh my god, your face! This couldn’t have gone better!” Nora forced out before taking a deep breath to try and settle herself, needlessly brushing herself off as she stifled her chuckling. Everyone within the bridge watched the situation unfold, the women filling the room observing with hopeful, pleading eyes as Nora sauntered up the Harlock and grabbed the weapon he had been reaching for.
“Nora… let’s not do anything rash, I was just…” Harlock stated before being cut off by the digging teeth of the chainblade, each tooth touching his flesh threatening to pierce skin.
“You know, it took a moment, but I remembered something about you, Harlock,” Nora said as she inspected an ancient weapon stowed within the seat. It was a shotgun of massive diameter, a pair of roughly ten gauge barrels that measured 23 inches with a short curved handle, and she stuck the barrels in between his thick legs, smiling.
Harlock squirmed nervously as the weapon rested against his groin. “I remember stories of how you abuse women, using your rank as captain to force them to sleep with your bloated, disgusting ass,” she stated, punctuating what she said by pressing the clunky weapon into his balls and watched him nearly shriek in fear.
“Th-that’s not true! N-not, entirely…” he replied eyeing the women around the room and seeing the tangible evidence countering his blatant lie, all of the women glaring at him with a newfound hope and desire to see him disfigured.
Nora motioned with her head and Stephanie moved away, giving Nora full control of the situation while Stephanie picked a good spot to watch.
“So, any chance you know where the Eden is? Hm?” Nora inquired aloofly, knowing full well she didn''t need the information.
Harlock refused to answer at first, glaring at her with disdain until Nora pushed the weapon against him. “Alright, alright!” he nearly screamed holding his hands up nervously before sighing indignantly. “The last I heard it was in the asteroid belt of CB-483 in the Eldora system…”
Everyone watched as Nora smirked mirthfully, withdrawing the shotgun and resting the barrels on her shoulder that had recently recovered. “See, that wasn''t so hard. I guess we can forgive you for being such a shit.”
Harlock breathed a massive sigh of relief as everyone looked curiously at one another, the women casting worrying looks at the three women that had just held their captain hostage. A deafening boom resonated around the room as the shotgun flew across the bridge, clattering to the ground next to one of the female operators.
Everyone covered their ears as the high pitched whine slowly faded only to look up to see a massive gaping hole in Harlock’s chest and Nora shaking her wrist spastically.
“Holy fuck! So happy I wasn’t holding that tighter…” Nora complained as she massaged her wrist and fingers to ensure that nothing had broken. She looked up to see a sly, impressed smirk on Ebony’s face while Stephanie wore an annoyed scowl directed at her.
“A little warning next time,” Stephanie signed only for Nora to playfully stick her tongue out and giggle.
“Its hard to believe you had that planned the entire time, I''m actually impressed,” Ebony commented as she stepped closer to inspect the wound open in Harlock’s chest.
“Awe!” Nora mused before shaping her fingers together into a heart, “That''s so sweet, does this mean you''re coming out?” she asked mischievously as moved to inspect the controls on the chair.
Ebony scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Don''t push your luck, what are you looking for?” Nora only snickered at that as she began tapping on the tiny screen built into the arm of the chair, though was surprised that there was no usual malice or vehemence to Ebony’s words.
Before Nora could respond they began to hear muffled sobbing from behind them. “Thank you…” came a soft feminine voice. The three turned to see a young woman standing closer to them while the rest of the female bridge crew huddled together in collective relief. The woman''s eyes were filled with tears as she held her hands close to her chest.
Giving her a closer look, Nora realized that she couldn''t have been more than 18 years old, scars freshly healed around her wrists and neck while faint bruises riddled her skin exposed by the revealing shorts and tank top she wore.
Nora’s heart went out to the girl as she gave her a soft, kind smile. She, along with her sister, had been in the same world of torment the young woman had lived, the type of torture that couldn''t be erased by anything other than time and understanding, if at all.
Abandoning her mission for the moment, Nora slowly stepped towards the woman and gently pulled her into an embrace letting her know she was safe. As much as she loved her life as a pirate, there were things long since absent that she never wished to remember and yet, people like Harlock always seemed to exist. “Don’t thank us yet,” she said softly, “We’re about to cause all sorts of problems but don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Nora pulled back as she felt the girl shiver, seeing that fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as she nodded in understanding.
“Stephy, can you take care of them?” Nora asked, turning to see her sister nod before holstering her chainblade and silently usher the collective of women towards the back corner of the bridge away from the entry door.
Watching the group of terrified women broke Nora’s heart, despite murdering the scumbag that caused their pain. She knew they would be taken care of. Between Morrigan and herself, they would make sure one way or another that the abused women would never have to face such torment again.
Ebony took notice of Nora’s mellow, sullen mood. “You good?” she asked curiously, eyeing Nora before glancing at the group of women.
Nora sighed heavily, shaking her head out of the space her mind was in, “Yeah. As much as I hate to say it, remind me to call Dr. Tamina when we’re done… Can you hack into the ship wide comm there?”
“Yeah, give me a minute,” she said with a nod before prying a panel off the side of the chair. Just as she said, within a long, silent minute Ebony hacked into to control console of the captain’s chair and gave Nora a meaningful nod.
Nora slapped herself and shook what remaining dower mood from her mind. “Attention fellow pirates, this is your long lost sister Nora Flannigan speaking. I''ve killed Harlock, and by killed, I mean really, really dead kinda killed him and by pirate law, I am the captain now. Feel free to kill any dissenters, I don''t care. Oh, and have a good day,” Nora announced with faint levity before releasing the broadcast button on the chair, feeling content by the success of her mission but not overjoyed like she expected.
A shadow cast over the bridge causing her to look out the window at the silhouette of the Archangel which blocked out the one of many suns and hoped that her love would be proud enough to make up for her mood.
Turning to her sister who drew her chainblade and auto pistol in preparation to defend the room, hearing faint echoes of shouting and gunfire begin to resonate throughout the ship, she frowned slightly as the women behind her sister flinched at each pop of gunfire that reached the bridge, only reminding her what kind of hell her nostalgic life could be and the start of various plans to form in her head as to ensure that those such as Harlock never existed with the pirate clans again, just like her father once had.
◇◇◇
The Federation shipyards were always an impressive sight. Dozens of cargo ships weaving in between ribs of the colossal cylindrical frame of the manufacturing site to the shower of superheated slag that sprayed in every direction as sections of completed hull were inserted and welded to the frame of starships by massive robotic arms.
Amaranthe however, basked in the glory of his masterpiece’s creation. Amongst the handful of manufacturing sites, each able to piece together two to four starships at a time, one contained only his ship. It was a beauty like none other, it''s hulking size filling the entirety of the site as the 48 robotic arms worked tirelessly to complete the special request.
“Where is our progress?” he asked as he watched with delight.
The woman next to him, a long haired brunette who adjusted the thin frames glasses on her face , swiped through several reports on her data-slate in search for results that would satisfy him.
“Since yesterday, we have recovered three more of our own all of which had the same clawed hand symbol of the girl spread throughout them. This makes a total of 33 ships she has left either destroyed or derelicts,” she said confidently.
Hands held behind his back, he cast a mildly annoyed glance at her to see an eccentrically beautiful woman calmly watching his ship be built. He couldn''t help but smirk. Sure she was beautiful, but he could care less how she looked. The part he enjoyed about his newest assistant was that she had a spine. For him it was a nice change of pace from being surrounded by meek men and women too afraid to give him a straight answer.
It was enough to alleviate the frustration of having once again been given a report that didn''t announce the capture of the young Miss Clarke.
“That’s fine,” he said, “Has a pattern been discovered yet?” He asked hopefully. He knew humans were creatures of pattern. The fact that his little rose had managed to escape the trap laid for her was reason enough to believe there would be a readable pattern for him to follow right towards her.
“Between our Intel and Medical groups, they have yet to discover any pattern. The attacks seem to be more opportune than strategic. The only discernable pattern we found was her arrival at the Eskarii homeworld and even then, that pattern died the moment she took out the last ship that gave chase. Since then, all of her movements seem to be random and aimless,” his assistant stated.
Amaranthe grunted at that. To believe that there was no pattern was foolish however, he considered that there just wasn''t enough evidence yet. “No matter, within the next three months it won’t even matter. Soon this ship will conquer the entire solar system, and will leave no where for her to hide,” he says motioning towards the gargantuan warship. “A ship that can level entire worlds, there is nowhere she could go that would be safe from my wrath.”
His young assistant smiled, shifting on her heels with an audible click as she pulled up the schematics for the newest ship of the Federation, “Very good, sir. One way or another, your prize shall be yours.”