Page 74 of Veiled Vixen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - BOOTY

Booty Hunter wasn’t an impulsive ship. She considered herself to be quite practical most of the time. In fact, her most impulsive decision had been that very first trip to the brand-new Harem Station many years ago now.

She was looking for the man called Serpint.

The news of Serpint the Princess Hunter of Harem Station had reached her when she was docked at a prison moon called Castor Theta. She had been… disoriented. Unsure how she got there. Unsure who she was, in fact.

But these are common side effects of a mind wipe. One quick search for her symptoms on the galactic web told her this.

So she’d known that much about herself. She had been wiped.

But she’d also known that she was in control of facilities, there was no one on board, and she was not in jail.

All good things when one comes to after being wiped.

But there were people outside her hull. Pounding on it and demanding to be let in.

Apparently the old her had made a deal with these people to go to the new Harem Station, which was offering citizen status to all immigrants who agreed to serve one point two five years of servitude in exchange.

There was no background check, no skill requirements, and no charge. Free immigration. It was unheard of. And Booty—who had not been called Booty back then. She actually didn’t remember her name—felt this might be a good move considering her present situation.

She could be on the run. In fact, it was highly probable that she was on the run.

She didn’t feel like a newborn. A newborn mind would be confused and very emotional and Booty remembered being calm at the time.

There was no panic or fear inside her. Just long seconds of slow, rational thought. The ability to take one’s time was a feeling Minds coveted. Because everything they did was fast. Everyone wanted it now. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Quick. Quick. Quick. Give me those answers. Plot that course. Predict that future.

And Booty hadn’t felt the need to do that when she woke up that day. And she did have lots of knowledge inside her. She knew where she was, for instance, because she had a state-of-the-art navigation system inside her and she knew how to work that. She knew how to use all her systems and she knew about station docking and undocking procedures. She knew she was a Mind.

And she knew that none of the people outside her airlock were in charge of her because they could not get in.

But in the end she agreed to the job, everyone boarded, she took off without incident, and together they made the journey to the far side of the main ALCOR gate and waited for permission to enter the system.

This was when she’d come up with her name. Because these people onboard had been talking about the man called Serpint. The Princess Hunter of Harem Station. And then someone called him the Booty Hunter.

And it was like a gift. Booty knew—just knew—that was her name. And from that moment on, it was.

Because she had no transponder to say otherwise. One of her guests on board provided the transponder needed to get through the gates to reach the ALCOR entrance. So technically, for those gate jumps, she was a ship called Anywho. Which was the anonymous name used for derelict ships found floating lifeless in space with no transponder.

But the AI ALCOR, once she docked, had no concerns whatsoever about her true identity. He’d been more than accommodating.

But had she known that those now-infamous words—“I’m looking for the man called Serpint”—would come out of her mind once she was safe and secure inside the docking level of Harem Station?

No.

She hadn’t even realized she had said those words until they were out. And she was just about to apologize for her burbling nonsense when ALCOR said, “He’s not here at the moment. But if you stay, I will make introductions when he comes home.”

And that was that.

She stayed. ALCOR made the introductions. And from the moment she saw Serpint she knew—he would be her partner forever.

Draden was there too. And she loved Draden. Very much. But it was a different kind of love from Serpint.

And then another kind of love when she thought about ALCOR.

She hadn’t realized there were so many different kinds of love until she docked at Harem. And then suddenly the universe was full of love in every shape and form.

Draden’s death had hit her hard. And now that she understood that he’d been hiding inside her mind after he died, it made sense. She was glad he was out. They had taken him out back on Harem when she was in the medical bay. What he’d done after that—how he’d slithered his way into the Pleasure Prison and then ultimately into Tray’s copy of the Pleasure Prison and left with him through the spin node with Valor—well. She had no idea.