Fix My Hand, Fix My Life[Brian, maybe Faye & Rade]

[arabella]

[[OOC: This is set the day after Whitefall and you can reply when you have time ]]

Arabella yelped as she withdrew her hand from the kitchen sink. She had reached in the sudsy water, not realizing there was a rather large knife discarded at the bottom. In an attempt to look for something, she had sliced her had along it. As she withdrew her hand, she immediately wrapped a dishtowel around it. “Gwai-gwai long duh dong!” She clenched her fist around the towel to try and slow the blood flow. With her free hand she carefully reached into the sink and undid the plug to drain the water. Why have dishes sit in bloody water?

She waited until the water drained. When she could see things she grabbed all the knives and tossed them into one of the dirty bowls and put it on the counter. She proceeded to mutter, “Tah mah duh hwoon dahn,” as she found the culprit. Arabella rinsed what blood she could see before she checked her hand. It was still bleeding. Probably time to go see Brian. Arabella rewrapped her hand as she held it up and above her heart-something she remembered from her grandmother’s family doctor. Her fist clenched back as her face contorted in pain.

Arabella walked into the infirmary where Brian most always was. She tried to avoid the area the last couple days so not to have any form of an altercation. Now it was unavoidable. They had left Whitefall the day before so when it came to avoiding Brian she mainly stayed in her bunk of in the kitchen cooking. But she made sure never to be alone with him. “Brian, I cut myself on a aiya knife and it won’t stop bleeding.” Normally she didn’t swear so much, but this moment called for plenty of swearing. Arabella stood there in her long prairie style skirt and a wrap top which was splattered with wet spots from the quick withdrawal of her hand from the sink. She didn’t have time to change before coming to see him. A hand that wouldn’t stop bleeding was more important then if he saw her in her wet top.

[darkreaction2]

ooc: I suppose this is where we blow her cover? And I hope it's okay what he does in this post; let me know if you want me to change anything, like with how serious the wound is or something.

It was indeed a fair guess that Patterson would be in the infirmary. He spent most of his free time in there, keeping it clean and making it more comfortable. There wasn't much to work with, but he'd been doing his best to stock up on necessities and such anytime they stopped. And although he wasn't the best at that sort of thing, he was working on setting up more comfortable beds and on making it possible to tilt the examination table. the two recovery beds were easy enough; he had switched out the mattresses and fashioned IV stands for them. The table, though, was harder. He was no mechanic, and the part that had allowed it to tilt in the past had somehow jammed up.

When Bella came in, he was on his back below the table with a couple of tools and spare parts, really just trying his luck with various methods. So far, nothing was working. He hated to admit to Rade that he would need his help, though, so he was stalling a bit. At the commotion, Brian slid from under the table and went immediately to the sink to wash his hands. "Hold it tight, and sit down on one of the beds." His voice was brisk; he was in business mode, now. He picked up a small kit from one of the counters and came to sit beside her, pulling on a pair of surgical gloves. "Let me see it." He said, gently taking the hand in his own and unwrapping the towel. He inspected the wound, then took a package from his kit. "This is going to sting a little." Tearing open the paper package with his teeth, he pulled out an antibiotic swab and set to work cleaning the cut.

Next, he swabbed the wound with something cooling and numbing. "It's not too bad. I'm going to have to give you a shot, though." He placed a piece of gauze on the cut, instructed her to hold it tight, then crossed the room to find a syringe. Another few steps brought him to a collection of vials, and he got what he needed. "This is to prevent any infections, okay?" He sat beside her, took the cap off the needle, and tapped the syringe to rid it of any air bubbles. Sliding up her sleeve, he prepped her upper arm with another swab, this one of alcohol. "It may hurt a little. I'm sorry. Are you ready?"

[arabella]

Arabella was still muttering swears under her breath. She may have been raised a lady once but traveling had changed some things in her. Cuts on the hand like this were the worst for her because of her cooking. Most ships don’t have gloves to wear to protect not only herself from germs but everyone else. Hopefully she had some gauze wrap in her personal first aid kit for when she was cooking. Otherwise it could put her out of money when she found herself someplace.

She watched as Brian came out from under the table and did as he asked. Her heart raced with nerves a little. They hadn’t talked much since she was picked up on Persephone. It Was rather a blessing for her. She angled herself towards Brian as he sat next to her, unwrapping the towel from around it. She’d have to make sure to give Faye a little extra money to pay for it. Arabella flinched when the swab first touched her skin but flattened her hand to let him clean. At least he had things to help clean it out. She just drew in a couple deep breaths as the swab passed over the cut-something her grandmother’s doctor taught her back at Londinium.

Arabella shrugged her shoulder with the arm that wasn’t cut. “Shots don’t scare me.” She had plenty when she was a little girl as soon as she got to Londinium. Her grandmother didn’t want to risk anything. After he pushed up her sleeve he grabbed it and held it up like she always did when she was little. “Don’t apologize. Couldn’t be worse then getting two shots at once-one in each arm.” She nodded to show she was ready at any point.

[[OOC: Of course it is! ^.^]]

[radegrasan]

Rade ran down the corridor of the ship where the medbay was located. He was chasing the sound of tiny paws on the pipe that hung above the corridor.

"Get back here you furry cable-munchin', no good excuse for a rodent, ball of fleas!" Rade yelled, determined to catch Delilah's little pet before it could chew through every cable in the ship.

Normally he would just shoot the little critter, but that would leave Delilah with a broken heart, and he couldn't bear to see the poor girl sad. Therefor he decided to catch it instead. And he figured that it was important to get along with at least one of the Murphy sisters.

"Argh, I wish Dunstan would have gotten her a freakin' cat!" Rade said while still chasing the little critter.

The little ball of fur on paws then vanished into one of the vents, and Rade had to give up the chase. He leaned with his back up against the wall and tried catching his breath again.

"From pilot to rat catcher. You're really moving up in the 'Verse Grasan!" Rade thought sarcastically.

He then got up, but just as he was about to return to the cockpit to be bored again, he noticed Arabella sitting in the medbay, and it looked like she was injured. Since there was nothing better to do except chasing Delilah's little ball of fur, Rade decided to see what was going on. He walked up to the door of the medbay and leaned against the doorpost. He saw that Brian was patching up Arabella and couldn't help but wonder what happened.

"Had a little accident there, miss Hart?" Rade asked.

[darkreaction2]

Brian was pleased that Bella was taking all his administrations so well. Some people hated doctors, and some people had low pain tolerance, and some people just plain liked to cause problems. She, however, sat rather quietly and took deep breaths at the stinging pain. He smiled encouragingly at her as she gave him the go ahead. The shot he was about to give her had to go into the muscle of her arm, and could hurt a bit and cause some stiffness. However, they couldn't take chances at an infection out here in the black. "Alright, here goes." He turned her arm slightly and injected the shot, quickly withdrawing the needle and replacing it with a sterile pad.

A voice interrupted him and he looked up to see Rade leaning against the doorway. However, Rade had adressed his patient, not him, so he simply offered him a nod and returned his attention to Bella, allowing them to talk. He taped the pad over the area where he had given her the shot, then reached for her hand again. Carefully, he placed a fresh gauze pad on her palm and then began wrapping the hand. The cut was not as bad as it could have been; it would stop bleeding with the pressure from the wrap and she would only have to clean the wound regularly. It would heal up in no time.

It didn't bother him that Rade was here, although they'd had
their differences in the past. His thoughts were more focused on Bella's strange behavior. He had rarely seen her since she'd come on the ship. Although it seemed paranoid to think a woman he didn't even know was avoiding him, that was the way it seemed. Even now, she was tensing as if she didn't want to be here. He studied her face for just a moment, trying to place why she seemed so familiar to him. His eyes went back to his handiwork, and he smiled. "All done. Just clean it a couple times a day, and come to me if you have any more troubles. I'll give you some gauze." He stood up and crossed the room to place some gauze pads and a roll of gauze wrap into a paper bag for her. Tossing in some of the paper-wrapped swabs to clean her wound with, he rolled the top of the bag down and handed it to her. His eyes went to Rade and he smiled, peeling off his sterile gloves and tossing them into a trash can under the counter. "How are you?"

[arabella]

Arabella tensed up a bit when the needle went in. She drew in a deep breath and released it as he pulled out the needle. Ok it was about equal to getting two shots at once. She flexed her arm slightly in response to the slight pain she felt after the needle was pulled out. A commotion outside the infirmary caused her to turn her head, her curls moved across her shoulders.

She smiled softly and nodded as Brian began to wrap her hand. “Little is an understatement.” She laughed softly as she looked at Brian working on her hand. “Someone dropped the kitchen knife into the things soaking and when I reached in I cut my hand on it. Probably an accident.” Or at least she hoped someone accidentally knocked it in instead of dropping it into the sudsy water. After she was done here she would go clean up the rest of the dishes. Maybe they had some rubber gloves she could wear to wash things so not to get the gauze wet and run a higher risk infection.

Brian didn’t seem to be mentioning anything about meeting her at Shinon. She nodded to Rade as her hands clenched around the freshly wrapped gauze. “Is Delilah’s pet causing your trouble or are you chasing really big rats now?” She hopped off the bed as she grabbed the bag from Brian. Arabella reached into the bag and grabbed the gauze before she handed it to him. “I have gauze in my first aid kit. I know how scarce medical supplies are out here, but if I need more I‘ll come see you.” She leaned back against the bed as she rubbed her arm around the gauze. It was starting to hurt a bit more, but she didn’t let it show in her face. Besides-she had already shown enough emotions to Rade since being on this ship.

Her fingers of her non-inflicted hand tapped along her thigh as if she was playing a piano. "I've got some more cleaning to do so I'll talk to you both later." She moved past Rade out the door as she hummed a little tune she remembered Bettie singing to her as a little girl.

[radegrasan]

Arabella was definately tougher than she looked. Seemed like if she cut herself she really went all the way.

"Yeah." Rade replied. "Now don't get me wrong, I like Delilah, very much. But someone needs to tell that girl not to have that rat roam freely along the boat. Rats breed, and they chew at cables. And when they chew through cables, we're gonna have system failures. And when we have system failures, the boat crashes. And when the boat crashes, Faye's gonna have the ass of whoever's flying the boat. And, oh yeah, that would be me."

As she walked past Rade, she started humming again. A different tune this time but it reminded him of the one time back on Whitefall where she was humming the tune from Swan Lake. He never did ask her why she knew it, whether or not it was a coincidence, or if she did ever visited one of the operahouses on Osiris or Londinium.
Rade couldn't help but stick his head out the medbay door and look at Arabella as she walked down the corridor. She was a fine looking lady after all.

He then turned to Brian. Sure, Brian had been a nuisance in the beginning but it was never Rade's intention to get hostile with everyone. Especially not with the ship's medic.

"Funny, that one." Rade said. "She's even more of a mystery than Delilah."

[darkreaction2]

As a patient, Arabella had been ideal. She didn't complain, and sat still even when in obvious pain and discomfort. She seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. If he had known that she was planning to go right back to washing dishes, he might not have thought the same thing. He half-listened to Rade and Bella make small talk, allowing his mind to wander to why her name and face seemed so familiar to him. Although he had met her on Sihnon, and she had made an impression on him at first because she had seemed in trouble, she had slipped his mind once they were back in the air. Also, she had worn a wig, a drastic change from her current appearance.

His thoughts were broken when she handed him back the gauze. He met her eyes, puzzled. When she explained, he nodded. "You be sure to come to me if it runs out." He turned to put the gauze away, then motioned her to him. "Let me take this one off you..." he said, taking hold of her arm and gently peeling away the little bandage he'd made for where he'd given her the shot. "It may be stiff for a couple days, but it'll fade. Come back to me if there's any swelling or discoloration." He tossed the bandage into the trash, then turned back to her when she mentioned the cleaning. His intention was to tell her that no, she shouldn't do any more cleaning right now, but she was walking through the door and something about her profile, the shape of her jawline called back a memory.

The girl on Sihnon. Arabella Hart, running from someone. His own jaw clenched in recognition and he glanced at Rade, acknowledging his words. "Hmm. Mystery is right..." Sliding past Rade, out the door, he crossed his arms. "Bella," he called after her retreating figure. His voice was calm, for he was very sure of himself. He knew now where he'd heard her name, seen her face. "Are you in some kind of trouble, miss?" The same words, the same tone he'd used to ask the girl on the bench at Sihnon. It was up to her now whether or not to acknowledge the issue.

[radegrasan]

Rade followed Brian out the door and stood behind him. Apparently Brian shared his suspicions toward Arabella, but Brian didn't know what Rade knew about her.

"Brian, just let it go man." Rade said while he placed his right hand on Brian's left shoulder.

Rade may have had some suspicions about Arabella's past, but he didn't want her to feel all miserable again, especially not now since she seemed in such a good mood, even after she cut herself. He figured he'd find out what her real deal was in time. There was no need to subdue her to an interrogation.

Although it did seem like Brian also knew something about Arabella that Rade didn't yet, and he couldn't help but feel curious.

Rade wondered what Arabella had to tell, and knew that he'd stop the conversation if she was going to tell the same thing to Brian as she did to him.

[arabella]

Arabella chuckled as she shook her head at Rade. “Better your wires then the food I just bought for everyone.” As she turned away to talk to Brian again about the gauze. She paused when he looked into her eyes. Did he recognize her? She knew that was a risk she had to take in coming on this ship. But she couldn’t wear her wig all day, every day. It got to be a bother and she hated the times she did. Regardless each day she was here she had troubles with whether to come around the infirmary or not. The good part about having her own first aid kit.

As soon as the makeshift bandage she nodded as she flexed her arm. “As long as I can cook then all is good.” Now all she wanted to do was get out of there and go back to the safety of the kitchen and then her bunk. There she’d submerge herself into the wonders of fiction. “Ok will do.” She pushed back her hair behind her ear before making her way out. The only reason she hadn’t completely changed her looks and dyed her hair was the fact that it was the same as her mothers. Light gold locks that fell across her shoulders.

Fur Elise. That was what she tapped against her leg as she hummed it. It was one of the first real pieces she had learned. The tune was like a safe place for her. It was the reason she almost didn’t hear Brian. She turned at the sound of her name as her uninjured hand held onto the opposite forearm.

Her face went pale white.

Arabella went into a defense mechanism mode. She had let her guard down on Shinon and now it was coming back to her. Her free hand began to rub her forearm in thought as suddenly a rush of color came to her fact. “No not really. My hand is fixed so I’m in the clear.” Her words were tense and guarded. She continued to walk backwards until she hit a wall and hit her head against it. Arabella’s face scrunched up in slight pain as her hand went to rub her head. She found her way to a nearby chair and slouched down. Her hands fell into her lap as she sighed.

She was caught. Her head leaned back as she grunted in frustration. “Just tell the captain to drop me off at the next stop that’s made. I can pack my things and be gone.” As she pulled her head upright she stared at the blank space in front of her before she turned her Brian and Rade. "I'll be out of your way soon enough." She pushed herself form the chair and headed back into the kitchen. Might as well finish the dishes before she started to organize her things.

[radegrasan]

Rade couldn't believe it. His hunches about Arabella were correct. She was hiding something from anyone. And she wasn't even going to have the decency to tell Brian and him what it was. It was then also that he recognized the song she was humming. Fur Elise by Bach, yet another one of the old masters from Earth-that-was.

Arabella was heading back in the kitchen but Rade wasn't going to let her go anywhere. For all they knew now she could've been an Alliance undercover Fed, about to call in reinforcements, or more Feds to come and extract her.

Rade didn't know what to make of it. He also felt angry for trusting Arabella and telling him about Pete, and openly admitting a browncoat taught him how to fly. He wondered whether or not the whole 'scared of revolvers' thing was just an act. And that thing that happened to her on the other ship, was that just a lie too? If it was, he had just told Brian to let it go for nothing.

Rade let go of Brian's shoulder, pushed him a bit to the side and drew his revolver. In a wave of anger and disappointment he pointed it at Arabella and pulled the hammer backward.

"Hold it!" Rade yelled. "Now I'm sorry, miss Hart, assuming that's your real name. But if you think I'm gonna let you roam freely on the boat without knowing what your real deal is, you're sadly mistaken!"

The thought of flying into a trap angered Rade even more. Just the thought that this new life he had come to love so much could be taken away by some Alliance bimbo babbling... it was too much to bear.

Perhaps he was poisoning his mind with his own paranoia, but Rade started to feel an anger he hadn't felt in a long time. And that time, everything went terribly wrong.

"Oh I'll bet you'd love it we would drop you off at our next stop don't ya?" Rade asked. "For what, huh? So that your Alliance friends can intercept us on the way? Or wait for us at whatever the next stop is?"

Rade knew he could be overreacting, but at the moment he didn't care. This happened everytime he started to trust someone, or told someone something personal. And he had told Arabella a lot of things, and even offered her one of his guns so she could protect herself at one point.

"So start talking already!" Rade said with anger. "Beginning with why it is a simple farmgirl from Ezra knows songs that were written almost a thousand years ago, and can only be heard in Alliance operahouses!"

Rade was so angry and so focused on Arabella, that he didn't realize he had just given himself away as well...

[darkreaction2]

Patterson did not move when Rade held his shoulder, he just shook his head slightly. "It's up to her, now." He whispered. If she didn't want to acknowledge that she was the same girl he'd met on Sihnon that day, he would let it go. However, he would have to tell Faye about it and he wasn't sure the Captain would let it go so easily. Bella turned, then, and he watched her face go white. The doctor in him wanted to tell her to sit down, but she was blushing now and manufacturing a response as she backed away.

She hit the wall and knocked her head, then settled into a seat. Brian went quickly to her side, his gentle hands feeling for the place where she'd bumped her head. Nothing serious. He backed away slightly as she gave him orders to drop her off rather than give an explanation as to what was going on with her. "Look," he said, crossing his arms as he watched her try to walk away again. "I've no intention of doing that, I just want you to be honest now. The Captain's got a right to know who's crewing her ship, and you've been lying about something."

Rade's voice broke through then, and the anger in it surprised him. He heard a familiar click and turned, horrified to see the pilot pointing a gun at Bella. Sidestepping a couple times, he quickly placed himself between the gun and the girl. "Whoa, now. Calm yourself, Rade." The pilot was raging, now, and seemed convinced that Bella was an Alliance spy from the sound of it. Patterson didn't try to make sense of it, he just tried to stay between the gun and Arabella. "Put the gun down so we can all talk about this." He said quietly.

[radegrasan]

Rade put his finger off the trigger and pushed the hammer of the revolver back from the moment Brian stepped in front of it.

"Dammit Brian!" Rade said while holstering the gun again.

Rade wasn't a diplomat like his sister. He'd shoot first and ask questions second, assuming there was anybody left alive.

But it was time to get answers now. What if he was right, and a batallion of Alliance troops were waiting outside? Arabella being an Alliance spy could account for the fact the Esteem found them so quickly on Whitefall. But then again, what in the 'Verse would they want with the Riley? Besides catching them for the obvious of course: dealing in illegal goods.

Rade put his hands on his sides, and sighed. He then nodded at Brian to indicate to go ahead and question Arabella some more.

She was going to talk. One way or another.

[arabella]

Arabella was on the verge of losing her mind-she hardly noticed when Brian touched her head. She knew this was the risk on asking for passage on the Riley. She felt her chest grow tight. She had hoped to have Fay point her in the right direction-she trusted her because she was a female working in a mans world. Her hand automatically reached for her charm bracelet. Bettie. Arabella needed Bettie. But she couldn’t go back to Londinium...

She turned at the footsteps and froze when Rade pointed his gun at her. Her whole body began to shake as the memories flooded her again. “Rade please don’t!” Tears actually escaped form her eyes this time. There was only that one other time she had the revolver pointed at her. They could ccuse her of being Alliance all they wanted but the fact is someone in the Alliance would not break down so easily at a gun. They knew how to withstand threats and interrogation. Here, in this moment, Arabella was a mess. All she wanted was to get away from her grandmother...

Arabella turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Her voice rose as she tried to think of a way away from the gun. “If I alerted the Alliance I would be sent back to my grandmother!” Her voice was loud, sharp and tense. Never had she out rightly told someone about her grandmother. She tried to slow her breathing as she opened her eyes and gazed at Rade. “I haven’t lived on Ezra since I was nearly five years old.” The tears were boiling over despite her attempts to hold them back. She might as well tell them before being dropped off to her own means. First she had to calm down.

The first effects of her calming down was when Brian had Rade remove the gun from being pointed at her. A few more deep breaths and she felt fine enough to tell her story. They weren’t Alliance so it wasn’t like they were going to tip them off-unless the reward was still out there. God she hoped it wasn’t.

She stared mostly at Brian. She hated Rade right now-he had promised her he would never point his gun at her. Plus, Brian was the one who already knew part of her story. She practically rushed as she tried to get it all out at once. “On Sihnon I told you I was running from home and my family was eager to get me back. That’s partially true-my grandmother is eager to get me back. Both my parents and my little brother are dead. When my brother died I was sent to live with my grandmother-in Londinium. My grandmother is pro-Alliance and mother was a debutante. My mother met my father when he went there for business and ran off to marry him and have me. Once my brother died she hardly left bed and my father couldn’t watch us both so my grandmother took me under the strict rules that my parents were not to contact me and I was to be raised as she wished. The agreement was set and I was sent to be the debutante my mother never was. But my grandmother failed in a sense. I hated it there-I was rebellious by sneaking out and even started an affair with one of her stable-hands. I was seventeen when I finally left there-I took what little possession I wished to keep and a few things to sell when I ran out of money. One of my few friends, Bettie, helped me escape. She taught me everything I know about cooking which is how I’ve survived in the Verse this long.”

She took in a few breaths as she looked between the two men. “If I were to go back I’d have to marry someone I do not wish to marry-I have been betrothed since I was fifteen and only met the man twice. From what I understand from Bettie he shall wait another year for me to be found before he moves on to another young lady. It‘s been four years after all.” Arabella wiped at the tears that streaked her face. Not one person in her travels had been told that story. “That’s why I had a wig when we first met. Being on the Core is dangerous for me because so many people know me there. My blonde hair is the biggest give away.”

“It’s not something I go flaunting around. There was a ransom for me-once but I’m nto sure if there still is-and I don’t want to go back. Hence why I never told either of you or the Captain. She gave Rade a dirty look. He knew about her being raped and still pulled his gun on her. Her arms wrapped around her chest protectively. “That’s why I know those tunes. I may have been miserable but there are still things I remember-music, plays, mannerisms-those things don’t just leave you.” Then she realized something he had said. How did he know about Alliance opera houses? “Besides, how would you know those songs are form Alliance opera houses? Maybe you’re the Alliance spy.”

[radegrasan]

In his anger, Rade had forgotten he told them he knew about operahouses. Sure, music history may have been taught throughout the 'Verse, but songs by the old masters were a rarity, and reserved only for those in high places in the Alliance. Or students from a presitigious boarding school like the one he was in.

It's not that Rade minded telling about his years in the Alliance boarding school, but it was just something he wanted to postpone, and wouldn't tell about if not necessary.

But right now he was busted as well. Normally he would've just told everyone the superficial story, but being called an Alliance spy changed that. He was going to tell Arabella and Brian his story, but he wasn't going to like it one bit, and that he was going to show.
No one called Rade Grasan an Alliance spy. No one.

Rade walked up to Arabella as if he was going to hurt her, but then stopped at the last second. With a frozen look that had hatred written all over it he started rolling up his left sleeve, and then unwrapped the bandana from his left wrist.

A four inch scar that went parallel with his wrist was now visible. Rade showed it to both Arabella and Brian.

"See this?" Rade asked. "Normally a wound like this is self inflicted, and people usually do it in an attempt to take their own life. But in my case, it wasn't."

Rade tried to put the bandana in his right pocket while he was telling his story, but missed his pockets a few times due to the amount of frustration and hate he felt.

"See, it's because of debutantes like you that I owe this thing to." Rade continued. "See, your type isn't exactly fond when a humble mechanic's son like me fullfills their ranks in their precious boarding schools."

Rade spoke in an accusing tone towards Arabella. She had nothing to with what happened to him, but her gold locks reminded him so much of Imalia Daikin, the ring leader of the Alliance brats.

"So when I was thirteen, those upperclass spoiled brats had me beaten up by a guy who was six years older than me. I had more broken bones than I had birthdays at that time. But they weren't done with me yet." Rade said. "All of a sudden one of them got it in his head that if the school board found out what happened to me, they'd have a slight chance of getting expelled. So they dragged me into a bush, cut my wrist open, and left me there to die."

Rade was actually surprised he could tell about it that well. He had never told anyone else but Pete before, but that time it seemed much more difficult.

"But as you obviously can see, I survived." Rade continued. "Somehow I managed to crawl out of the bush, and onto the front steps of the school, where a janitor who was luckily still working late found me more dead than alive."

Somehow Rade felt relieved telling it, but he couldn't feel good about it, not now. His mind was still riddled with feelings of anger and frustration. His story may have been told now, but he wasn't done with Arabella. Not in a long shot.

"So yeah, I think we can safely say I'm not an Alliance spy, or that I've got any love left for the Alliance." Rade said in a smirk way. "And if you don't believe me, my dad's got a repairshop here on Persephone. Go ask him."

Rade knew his father could back-up his story if they'd feel the need to check his story. His slate was now clean, sorta. He had nothing to hide anymore.

"But the real question remains, what are we gonna do with you Bella?" Rade asked. He then looked at Brian.

"I say we ransom her ass back to her grandmother. Girl like that could bring up a lot of dough." Rade said.

He didn't mean it of course. It wasn't his call to begin with. Rade just wanted to scare her a little for calling him an Alliance spy too.