Rei continued to wait flinched for the punch that never came. As the young pirate eventually looked back at the officer, she noticed that while he seemed to be thinking about hit her though he but his arms slowly across his chest.

The officer did not say anything that would get him more clues, even though he would slip that she would be seeing Eduardo soon. Whatever that means, other than that he clammed up about the pyramid that was found on one of the ships.

There the platinum blonde was left to rot, not being bothered by the guards until the ship had made it to its final destination. Guards came into the cell and pulled the tan skinned woman out of her cell and dragged through the ship and into airlock. It was only then that Rei realized that she was being taken to a base of some sort.

The young woman soon found herself in a new cell, that at least had a little grate where visitors could see her before they came into the room. The pirate was not left in her room for long before a tall blonde man in a suit arrived. He was pretty young but had a sense of professionalism in him. It was then that he mentioned that he was Rei's defense lawyer. Defense lawyer, why would I need a defense lawyer? Aren't they simply going to turn be in for some reward money. That would seem to make more sense.

"Rei? Hi, I'm Sullivan your defense lawyer."

"It's not so simple as that. You will be turned over for the bounty but there's still due process against the charges leveled against you which may or may not be proven though of course things look rather bleak in that department. Witnesses though span several sectors of the galaxy after all.

"But as I said things still look rather bleak there once your trial gets underway. Though anything that can help, names of other pirates, pirate dens and so forth might go a long way in lessening some of the charges leveled against you."

I see. Rei realize that if they charge her for everything she had done as a pirate then they would this going to take along time and that was not going to go well for her at all. The young woman had left plenty of witnesses as she didn't kill anyone she didn't have to.

It was then when the blonde defense attorney, Sullivan, told her that any other information she could give up would help the charges against her. What do you mean, how would that lessen my charges.

"It would serve as a sign of good faith and mitigate some of the charges or rather a sentencing judge might take that into consideration. For instance, let's say that you have the death warrant in a system. A judge might decide to give you life instead for example or a few years less or what not for example.

"Now the system you were picked up in doesn't carry out death sentences but another system may want to extradite you if they find out about your capture in which case information you provide can be used in a deal with the prosecutor to put a stop to extradition for example. All in all we both know that you're in a ton of trouble here so the best we can hope for is some form of damage control."

Okay, that seems to make sense. Although I am still not sure that life in prison be any better than death. Still if it means that would not be extradited to a worse place than the system I being scheduled to serve my term.

Rei took a moment to think about the think about the chance to give up some of the pirates in exchange for a lighter sentence. So I have two questions, what can you to prove to me that this is some trick by the company to give up some secrets for free. And if it is legit, what can be done to protect from being shived by some pirate looking to shut a snitch.

"It would serve as a sign of good faith and mitigate some of the charges or rather a sentencing judge might take that into consideration. For instance, let's say that you have the death warrant in a system. A judge might decide to give you life instead for example or a few years less or what not for example.

"Now the system you were picked up in doesn't carry out death sentences but another system may want to extradite you if they find out about your capture in which case information you provide can be used in a deal with the prosecutor to put a stop to extradition for example. All in all we both know that you're in a ton of trouble here so the best we can hope for is some form of damage control."

"Oh certainly we'd have to get the prosecutor to put things into writing before we divulge anything. The company in question doesn't hunt pirates per sae so we wouldn't have to worry about their motives being orientated through such ambitions.

"With that said it would be more benefical to organizations like the ADD that does hunt them. There are some extenuating circumstances this time, however, such as the company learning of the pirates plan ahead of time and having a good number of mercenaries on hand to deal with the situation but you'll have some time to think things over it will be a few days before the DA files the complete list of charges against you then we'll all site down and discuss whatever deals are placed on the table but our strength there will be determined by what is offered in return."

Hmmm, I see the officer seemed to be asked alot about me. So I guess he was after a promotion through the company, I am sure if he planned this op then he probably already has it.

The mere thought of the ADD sent shivers down the platnium blonde's spine, Minerva Rocha was sure to come to personally drag her back to the Antares Base. Being a former ADD agent who betrayed the redhead's trust it, she was sure that would not going to be a very fun ride back to the Antares. Besides, Rei wasn't sure what the ADD would do with traitors. Sullivan stated that the DA might be willing to cut some deals but it would be determined by what she had to offer. Let me think it over and I will get back to you.

"Certainly," Sullivan gathered himself, bid her farewell and knocked on the inside of the door for the guard to let him out of the cell. The next hour or so was quiet. After that she could hear some voices floating to her ears telling her that her cell was probably near the research and development offices or Mathers office as she heard the name repeated more than once.

"... I haven't quite figured it out. It radiates slight levels of harmless radiation but these runes on it, I've never seen and checking through the data base now. I think their Norse for a planet called Earth that I once studied years back, a back water burg if there ever was one. Primitive with little there. People being it's major commonity."

She heard at one stage. Then she heard a crackle of energy followed by the same individual recounting that this was brillant followed by a blood curdling scream that drew away any guards in the hall for she heard individuals rush down the hall. A moment later there were snapping sounds, more screams and discharging of energy weapons, then silence followed after a moment.

Rei watched as her defense attorney as bid her farewell and left the cell. Rei made a note of how the guard let Sullivan out and what precautions the guard took against her as he was let out. Such notes might come in handy later if the platinum blonde was going to make good her escape.

There she was left to think about her situation for about an hour or so. Over the course of the hour she heard that there was some sort of talk, that sound more in line with some sort of R&D lab. Why would they have an R&D lab so close to brig anyways? Did they not take enough prisoners that it didn't matter where they put them. The pirate tried to listen in on the conversation, but it seemed like that they were talking about the Earth. Whoever was talking about it didn't hold Earth in too high esteem, which meant he would probably look down on the tan-skinned human.

However before she could formulate a plan she heard a crackle of energy followed by a blood curdling scream. Guards seemed to come from everywhere heading in direction of the R&D lab, soon there was snapping sounds, screams and discharging of weapons. But slowly and surely the screams and shouts die away along with the shots fade away into pure silence. The young woman quietly moved over to cell door and began to pick the lock. She wasn't sure what just happened, but she didn't want to be here long enough to find out.

Using a fork from a meal that had been brought to her earlier she moved over to the door realizing that this was not a true cell as she looked at the locking mechanism. If it were it was rather primitive since there were other cells that sealed magnetically or opened and locked electronically.

Fortunately this was not one of them and must have been a storage closet at one stage that had been converted over to a cell.

The lock clicked but as she tried it she found that the door refused to open being barred from the outside. Of course shortly after she had realized that she was trapped here she could hear something moving outside, slithering down the hall as it neared the makeshift cell.

Rei pulled out the fork that she had left over from a dinner that been mostly soup. By placing the spoon in an obvious place, she made sure that the guards would overlook the missing fork. Now she had the perfect tool to disarm the lock.

The young woman began to pick the lock, surprised that she was the lock was mechanical instead of electronic or something else. It was becoming clear that the cell had been converted from something else in a former life. *click* The lock had been disarmed and she was free to go, or so she thought. As the platinum blonde attempted to open the door, she found she couldn't it seemed to be barred somehow.

Before the pirate could put more effort into moving her the door, she heard something moving down the hallway. It sound like it was slithering her way, the tan-skinned woman tried to remain as quietly as possible as she hoped whatever it was simply passed by.

As she stilled herself she heard the thing, whatever it was, continue to slither down the hall the sound getting louder and louder as it drew near. She witnessed a shadow stretching beneath the frame of the door as something paused there. Waiting, listening.

Time seemed to still and it remained motionless out there. Perhaps there was some tell tale sign out there that indicated she was in her, perhaps it even heard her. The sound of a metal bar being lifted from the door grated in her ears.

Another pause and she could see the slow twisting of the door knob until there was a click and the door cracked opened. Slowly the door was pushed opened though there was no appendage attached to it as it swung opened.

In the hall she saw the towering humanoid creature, a cross between a man and an octopi. Solid white eyes peered into the cell as a series of mouth tendrils twitched and swayed.

It had no legs either, rather a sea of tentacles one of which had grasped a pyramid-like stone clad with various Norse runes.

Rei cursed herself as she heard the creature coming closer and closer to her. She had not been quiet enough and now she had got its attention. Already there was a shadow that appeared underneath the frame of her door a clear indication that whatever it was was outside her door.

Soon as she heard the sound of the metal bar being lifted from the door. There was a pause and there there was a door knob being turned slowly until the door finally made a clicking noise. The door slowly opened although there was no one pushing it open.

As the door opened it revealed what had been in moving down the hallway. It was the weirdest creature Rei had seen to date. It looked like a man and octopus all in one. The creature easily stood a foot and half taller than her. Its white pupilless stared at her as its tentacles around its mouth moved as if they were on there own. Each arm looked meancing though they only had three digits. Finally there eight tentacles that seem to be the creatures method of movement.

It had the pyramid-like stone that the companymen had been talking about in its arms. W-what do you want?

Actually she had been quiet enough at least physically for he could sense thoughts as he drew near, that and the bared door were clear indications that something was amiss and locked behind the door. It gazed at her syphoning through portions of her mind and memories. Of course retrieving all the relevant information would take time ...

Thus he had to deal with the most relevant things and spoke into her mind.

You. I have a deal, you can stay in this cell if you want or press on and try to escape but it will cost you ... oh, I know Minera too, interesting .... let me take you, or you can sit in this barred cell and hope to escape some how with that fork you've stolen though I can guarentee that the guards will be on edge now.

Little did the platinum blonde realize that there was nothing she could have been able to do hide herself from this creature. It was clear that it was psionic in some way in the way it communicated and how easily the door opened itself, but the pirate had not quite pieced together that his psionic talents allowed him to do much much more.

Rei was more than a little disturbed by his thoughts being projected in her head. H-how are you doing that too. It was then that she realized that he offered her freedom for one thing...raw sex. The tan-skinned pirate was initially taken aback and physically backed up a little. But she knew he was right, this was her best chance to escape. The guards would most definitely increase the security after this and she would never see light outside a jail cell. Fine, let's get out of here before they come back and you can take me once were away from them.