Bitchin' Betty Ch. 02

Darbe's booted heels clicked down the corridor with the shuffling echo of the young man behind him. Still struggling to put on his boots and eat his frozen waffle at the same time, he hopped on his left foot for a couple of steps, grabbed his helmet before it could fall out from under his arm, then stamped down on his right foot forcing it into the boot. Finally comfortable with his helmet under his arm and the rest of his suit put on in the right places and the right order (after many unsuccessful tries of course), he started to examine his surroundings.

Pale, electro-luminescent overhead fixtures were placed every ten meters or so, providing the sparse lighting for the hallway. The walls and floor were devoid of any decoration with only the occasional faint outline in the wall that gave away the presence of a door. Convinced that his immediate surroundings weren't due to change any time soon Diego began to shift towards one side of the hallway, the long patches of darkness made by the overhead lighting seemed to be a natural place for him to--

"Diego? What the hell are you doing?"

--not slink from shadow to shadow. He straightened and fell in step behind and to the right of the sergeant once again, resisting the urge to slide back into the shadows and sneak around like the stealthy assassin that he was supposed to be.

A few minutes later the hallway came to an abrupt stop punctuated by the presence of a large door. Darbe stopped a few meters short of the door and looked up at it warily then sighed and walked forward.

"Welcome to the bridge Sergeant Darbe," the door chimed before opening in an array of lights not entirely unlike the casinos of Vegas back on Earth. Darbe stepped through the door and walked a few steps before realizing Diego hadn't followed him. He turned slowly and looked at the small screen next to the doorway that displayed the hall just outside. Diego was standing still as a statue and studying the door carefully. Suddenly he leaped to the side of the hall and plastered himself to the wall, inching slowly forward. The door hummed, ready to open and announce someone… but there was no one there. The door frowned--as much as a door can frown--in consternation. It swept its scanners over the hallway again: nothing. Puzzled, Darbe watched the screen closely, waiting for the door to sense Diego and open with it's usual chime. A minute passed, then another and still nothing happened. Just as the door seemed about ready to acknowledge the lack of presence outside, Diego jumped out from the shadows waving his arms around wildly, "Boo!"

The door opened with a slam and a shocked gasp. Embarrassed, it muttered sullenly "Hi Diego," then promptly turned itself off. Quite pleased with himself, Diego waltzed through the doorway with a smug look on his face and turned to Darbe, "Where to now?" Darbe shook his head and chuckled; Diego had certainly lost none of his boyish qualities in cryo. The sergeant turned and began to walk down the bridge, talking over his shoulder as he went.

"The captain wants to see you before we send you off."

"Mm-k."

"A few items about your mission, the cryo chamber and your memory." Darbe looked over his shoulder and threw a lopsided grin back at Diego, "Nothing too painful." Abashed, Diego rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down at his helmet, remembering the strange woman in his head.

"Oh, and of course she's eager to meet the infamous Diego." Darbe added with a wink. Diego, of course, missed the hint and continued to walk on down the bridge in ignorance. Darbe stopped at his station and watched the broad back of Diego approach the captain's chair and utterly failed to smother an ear-splitting smile.

Diego snapped to attention at the back of the captain's chair, staring straight ahead as was customary. A few moments passed with no apparent recognition of his presence, then a soft, melodious and very female voice wafted up over the chair to his ears, "At ease Diego."

In the time it took for the chair to turn around to face him, Diego managed to drop his jaw in shock, pick it back up again with great effort, blink several times and mentally slap his forehead as the sergeant's words come back to him: Oh, and of course she's eager to meet the infamous Diego. He had said 'she' after all, hadn't he. Diego regained his composure just in time to lose it again as the captain came into view. His hastily clamped jaw unraveled again and his tongue very nearly made it to the deck.

She was gorgeous, light brown hair cut to her shoulder was held up in a tight bun giving her a very business-like appearance. A smattering of freckles across her soft and round cheeks maintained a bit of girlish quality and the thin glasses perched on the edge of her nose tied her back down to business. Given the sharpness with which her eyes studied him, Diego suspected that the glasses were more for show than anything else.

With a well-practiced motion she removed her glasses, gestured to the chair beside her and returned the temples of her glasses to her mouth to chew on pensively. She couldn't help the slight upturn at the corner of her mouth at his reaction, and was desperately trying to hide it with her hand. Diego managed to scrape together some shreds of his dignity and quietly declined the seat.

"Erm, no thanks Captain, I'll just stand if it's all the same to you."

"Fair enough," she said, trying and failing to hide the smirk now. "Well I expect Sergeant Darbe has briefed you somewhat on the current situation?"

"Something about an Emperor and a corrupt nephew." Diego's memory recalled the enjoyable waffle much more readily than his brief conversation with Darbe. His stomach also took that moment to reminisce on the waffle and grumbled audibly. Captain Embers heard it and promptly buzzed someone in the galley to bring up some food for the starving assassin. As they waited for the food, she studied Diego carefully, her elbow on the arm of her chair and her cheek resting against her hand. Six feet tall, ear length and unruly brown hair, browned but not dark complexion. He was, in truth, quite handsome in his own way. The thing that most caught her eye, though, were his piercing golden-amber eyes. They shone with remarkable intelligence, completely unexpected given the rest of his character. So this is the infamous Diego, she chuckled to herself. Well he certainly is an eyeful. Diego blushed a deep red at that moment, almost as if he could read her mind. Her smirk returned.

The food arrived shortly and Embers stood up and turned to face the unchanging view of the stars ahead. Diego took this chance to make truce with his angry and rebellious stomach as well as get a good view of the Captain. She can't be more than five six, he thought. Slim waist, nice curves. Chew. He was down to her knees before he realized she had turned around and was talking to him. A hand came into his field of view and directed his gaze back to her face. Diego looked back up and grinned sheepishly.

"As I was saying, the Emperor's nephew is on the forest planet Arden just now, and is not planning to leave for another month. That should be plenty of time to do your work, no?"

"I suppose so…" he trailed off, not knowing how he would get to Arden, or where Arden was for that matter.

"There's a pod--" Diego groaned, "--waiting to take you there as soon as you're ready. How's the memory coming?" she asked. Diego shrugged non-commitally.

"I guess the most accurate answer would be: 'What memory?'" he replied. She chuckled and nodded.

"I suspected as much, well my name is Embers, Captain Emerald Embers. You may call me Embers or Captain," then as an afterthought, "or Captain Embers I suppose."

"And I'm Diego, although it appears you already knew that," Diego said, swallowing his current mouthful of linguine. She smiled a sweet smile and continued.

"You worked for my father 30 years ago, and I heard nothing but praise for your work. Now I am asking for your help again."

Diego paused and looked up at her again, "Asking for my help? That wasn't the impression I got." He looked back toward Darbe's station and caught a glimpse of the sergeant working away. Embers raised an eyebrow at that and wondered what exactly Diego had been told.

"I see." There was a short pause as Diego finished his plate and sat back. "Well will you do it?"

"Let's see, I'm pulled out of a cryo-chamber with no memory of my previous life, no idea where I am and hardly an idea of who I am. Now I'm being asked by someone that I've never seen before if I'll help her kill the corrupt nephew of a dying Emperor on the grounds that I worked with her father 30 years ago." He paused for a moment and thought, he was missing something. "Oh yes, and there's some funny lady in my helmet that talks to me when I put it on." Embers winced at the accurate, yet grim description.

"Yes I suppose it doesn't sound all that great when you put it like that."

"Mmm," and Diego thought some more. "Yeah I guess I will, it's not like I have anything better to do right?" Relief flashed across the captain's face and the tension eased from her shoulders.

"You don't know how glad I am to hear that." Diego smiled easily back at her.

"How about the rest of my stuff? I assume there is more than just the clothes on my back right? Do I have any money?"

"Yes and yes, Darbe will show you to your quarters and give you a data card with your account information on it."

"In that case, Captain, I'll be taking my leave of you and I'll let you know when I'm on my way." Diego stood and walked back down the bridge towards Darbe's station. Embers eyes followed his broad shoulders down the bridge, her gaze slowly drifting down his back towards his--hand that was directing her in the general direction of his face. A hot flush raced across her cheeks and down her neck as she caught sight of the grin slapped across his face. He winked, turned and walked through the bridge doors after Darbe.