Aneka Jansen 7: Hope by Niall Teasdale Page A

just wrong, but strangely stereotypical.
    ‘Welcome to the Hope of Sanctuary, Miss Narrows,’ Kade said as she escorted Ella in through the airlock. ‘She’s an ex-Pinnacle vessel, but we’ve made a few modifications and now she’s used to fight them.’
    The structure was definitely Pinnacle in design, but someone had painted elaborate murals along the corridor walls. Ella was not an art expert either, but it looked to her as though whoever was responsible had talent, and the style was the same throughout so it was probably one person.
    As they rounded a corner, a woman appeared through a door and fell into step with them. She was not especially tall, and she was blue. Her skin was blue, her tail was blue, and her hair was a slightly darker blue. And she was naked aside from an array of belts which held knives and cartridges for the shotgun she had strapped across her back. Her nose was flattened but Human in shape, and she had yellow, almost golden, irises. Ella guessed that she was a Felix: a transgenic subspecies of Human with cat DNA mixed in.
    ‘Groff’s not going to make it,’ the cat-girl stated.
    ‘Shit,’ Kade growled. ‘See to it his wife gets his share from this trip.’
    ‘Of course. Who’s the redhead?’
    ‘Trin, this is Ella Narrows. Ella, this is my first mate, Trin. Ask Cubby if he’d join us in my cabin, Trin. Ella has a story she’s going to tell me and then we’ll see what we’re going to do with her.’
    ‘Sure. Lanyon says the ship’s a bust. Nothing useful.’
    ‘Except, possibly, for Miss Narrows here. Get us moving. I want us out of the system before they notice their dead transport.’
    ‘I’m on it.’ Trin turned right down a corridor and Ella was left following Kade forward, presumably to the captain’s cabin.
    The captain’s cabin was not really what Ella was expecting, but she decided that she should have expected it, given the captain. There were at least two rooms since there was an inner door, and the one they entered seemed to be a lounge, but there were no chairs, just cushions laid down in piles, all of them covered in brocade, or embroidered, or just in bright shades of purple and red.
    Kade placed her sword on a rack which seemed designed for it and then went to what looked like a real wood cabinet which had been fixed to one of the walls.
    ‘Drink?’ the pirate asked brightly, taking a bottle and two glasses out. The bottle was about half full of a dark liquid.
    ‘Uh… Actually, that would be great. I’ve had an eventful few weeks.’
    Kade handed her a glass and poured a healthy measure of the fluid into it. Her own glass got a little more. ‘Captured by the Pinnacle and a long way from home, I have no doubt. It sounds eventful.’
    ‘Yeah…’ Ella took a drink. Her eyes widened and the only thing stopping her from choking was that she had got used to the malt whiskey from Old Earth which Aneka liked. ‘What the Hell is this?!’
    Kade laughed again and gave her a slap on the shoulder. ‘Rum. We make it ourselves, but it’s an old recipe. You took it better than most do when they’ve never had it before. It’s kind of a tradition on pirate ships.’
    ‘It’s not bad. So… You’re really a pirate?’
    Shrugging, the tall blonde walked across to a pile of cushions and sprawled into it with lazy ease, and without spilling a drop of rum. She stretched out, crossing her ankles and resting her head on one arm. ‘Pirate, freedom fighter, thorn in the Pinnacle’s side… Take your pick.’
    ‘You don’t like them much I take it?’ Ella sat down on her own pile, more upright than the captain.
    ‘You really aren’t from around here. I’m an Amazon. We’re a parthenogenic, all-female subspecies created by… Well, never mind, she was a bit of a loon, but she made us to be strong, independent, and basically pacifist. Attack us and we’d fight back, but she wanted a community of women who lived in harmony and didn’t need men.’
    ‘But…