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Chapter 1 Chapter 3

Belle of the Ball - Chapter 2

"I thought you told me your species' name translated as Exalted Sex Gods," said Harper to Trance as they walked through one of the unguarded doors towards the inter-deck elevator.

Trance brought her hip into contact with Harper's, then ran her finger suggestively down the side of his neck. She put her mouth up close to his ear and whispered, "For you that's exactly what my species' name means." Then she nipped him on the ear. "Now who's Hortense?"she asked.

"Hortense Winningtun, of the Gilded Lilly," explained Harper rubbing his ear. "She's Captain Winningtun's third daughter. The Winningtuns decided that she and I would be a good match." Seeing his wife's features start to cloud up Harper hurried on. "Babe, she's three inches shorter than you and four times heavier, with a face that would scare Rev. It was her family's idea not mine."

"I see," said Trance, mollified by Harper's description.

The elevator stopped at their destination, and the doors opened to an entirely different world than that of the upper decks. The majority of warehouse section five's internal partitions and bulkheads had been removed leaving the area mostly open space. The area was a riot of noise, with conversation, loud music, laughter, and shouting all blending into a continuous cacophony. There were crew members from virtually every family and ship in the guild engaged in talking, drinking, dancing, romancing, and in a few cases arguing. Trance resisted the urge to place her hands over her ears, even Harper seemed overwhelmed by the din.

Her ears weren't the only sense that was in danger of being overloaded. The bay was a riot of colors as well as sounds. The crew members of the ships were wearing their finest, and often gaudiest, clothing. Trance noticed that many of the younger more attractive women were wearing outfits that did little to conceal their asset. Some of the outfits being to her unappreciative eyes little more than their family sashes. Noticing where Harper's eyes were focused she poked him in the side with her elbow.

"Hey, babe," complained Harper, "I was just looking."

"Look somewhere else then. If someone from another ship decides he doesn't like you staring at his girlfriend and rips your lungs out, I'm not going to put them back in."

As she continued to survey the scene Trance was able to spot a number of impromptu bars set up about the deck. On closer look she noticed that several of them seemed to be occupied solely by crew members from the same family. She pointed this out to Harper.

Harper took a second to study the sashes the groups were wearing. "Green and gold, those are Bellamys." He indicated one knot of Bellamy spacers. "Over there, the big guy holding court is Michael Bellamy. He's one of Captain Bellamy's nephews. He killed a crewman from the Audacious in a fight over a girl from the Felicity at the last ball."

"Oh," said Trance. "Do you think there'll be any trouble this year?"

Harper took a moment to scan the area. "The Audacious belongs to the Wen family," he said. "I don't see anyone wearing Wen colors, and the Bellamys paid weregild, so we shouldn't have any trouble from that quarter."

By this time several young men and a few young women had come by to look the newcomers over. The men's eyes would linger over Trance for an instant, then settle on the sash showing Valentine colors and her obvious pregnancy, and turn away without speaking. The women treated Harper in similar fashion. Apparently the Maru was too insignificant to be worth their interest.

"Is Hortense here?" asked Trance. She nearly had to shout to make herself heard over the din of the music. She was curious to see if the picture Harper's words had created in her mind matched the reality.

"Oh oh," said Harper. "That's her now, and she's coming our way."

Trance examined the young woman approaching them. As she had expected Harper had exaggerated by quite a bit. The woman was overweight, unhealthily so, but not as bad as Harper had suggested. Her face wasn't ugly, simply plain, the plainness not helped by the poorly applied makeup. Her hair was a dull brown without any sheen, and styled in a fashion that did nothing to enhance her looks, while the dress she was wearing was old and ill fitting, quite possibly a hand me down. Her sash was as plain as she was, being a grey green in color with two white stripes.

"Harper!" she exclaimed a smile brightening her face. "I'm so glad you could...." Her voice stopped in mid sentence as she took in Trance standing beside her husband, her tail wrapped possessively around his waist. "Who's this?" she asked, her eyes fixed on Trance.

"Trance," said Harper, "I would like to present to you, Hortense Winningtun of the Gilded Lily. Hortense, this is Trance Gemini, the Maru's environmental systems technician, and my wife."

Hortense's smile completely disappeared, replaced by an expression of shock and dismay. She dropped into a brief curtsy then straightened up and fled back into the crowd.

"She's not nearly as unattractive as you said, Harper," said Trance. "She no beauty, but if she lost some weight, and learned about grooming, she wouldn't be bad looking. You implied her family was trying to marry her off. Just what are her prospects of finding a husband?"

"Slim, babe, real slim," responded Harper. "The Lily is deeper in debt than the Maru. Hortense has no dowry, certainly can't attract a man with her looks, and is too old to apprentice out to any other ship. Everyone is waiting for the FTA to confiscate the Lily. The betting is that within two years the Winningtuns will either be mudfeet or absorbed by another family. Even if I had been willing to make the match, Beka would have refused. Allying ourselves to the Lily would have only hurt us. So I guess her chances are about zero."



On the reception deck, Beka was following the Bellamys to one of the deck's lounges. She wasn't looking forward to the upcoming meeting with Patrick, but she needed to talk to him. There was unfinished business between them that needed to be settled.

As Bellamy ushered Beka into the lounge, he called out, "Patrick, I have someone with me I think you will be happy to see."

Patrick Bellamy, like his father, was remarkable neither in face nor physique. Perhaps a year or two younger than Beka, he was half a head taller, with the build of a man who knew the importance of fitness but didn't make a fetish of it. His face would never be called handsome, but was still easy on Beka's eyes. She held out her hand for him to shake.

"Beka," exclaimed Patrick, the smile in his eyes and the warmth in his voice both genuine. "I was hoping you and the Maru would be here this year. I missed you the last Ball. It's wonderful to see you again." He took her proffered hand, but instead of shaking it bent low to kiss it.

"Patrick," said Beka, "it's nice to see you again too." There was a coolness in her voice that wiped the smile off the younger man's face.

"Is there something wrong, Beka?" asked Patrick, confusion evident in his voice.

Beka took Patrick's hand and led him away from his parents and over to one of the booth in a corner of the lounge. The acoustics of the room were designed so that any conversations that took place in the booths didn't carry into the main part of the room.

"I heard about the raid on Herrick's World," she told him

"Then you know the Belle wasn't insystem when it happened."

"Patrick, do you remember when you took me on a tour of the Belle? You showed me the Bell's landers. You were quite proud of them. The landers that carried the raiders to Herrick's World were identical. Not just the same model, they even had the same markings."

"It was obviously a set up, Beka. An attempt to discredit the Belle."

"And later the Belle arrives at Winnipeg Drift with a cargo hold full of marin furs and cat's eye gems."

"Which my father bought from a free trader on Wiffledorf."

"I know you believe that, Patrick. I also know that at the time of the raid you and the Enchantress were on Holeoke. Which is the only reason I'm even talking to you at the moment."

"Then did you think about my offer?" asked Patrick, in an obvious attempt to change the subject. "You said you would give me your answer at the next Ball. You missed the last one, so this is the next one."

"I did, Patrick," replied Beka, "and since you asked, I'll tell you now rather than wait for the Ball itself. The answer is no."

There was hurt and puzzlement in Patrick's eyes. "But why?" he asked. "It would be a good match. You and the Maru would receive protection by being Bellamys. We could undoubtedly find a suitable wife for your engineer, and with his talents he wold soon be assigned to one of the family's larger ships. And father has contacts on Lykos, they could regenerate your uterus." He paused for a minute. "Is it because of my father?"

Beka took a moment to think over what she was going to say. She actually liked Patrick, and the Enchantress had the reputation of an honest trader, one that bargained hard but fairly and had a well disciplined crew.

"You're right, Patrick," she finally said. "It would be a good match. Security for me and mine, and your family would be getting a solid ship, a master engineer, and me. But it's the wrong match for me. I know what would happen if your father arranged for the regeneration. You would expect me to have your children, lots of children. The guild has an expression about you Bellamys, that you can set your calendar by when their women have children. And it's not just children. Once I had some you would expect me to stay with them, rather than pilot the Maru. Pretty soon I'd be nothing but a bird in a gilded cage. That's not the type of life I was meant for. The security you offer has too high a price."

"Sooner or later you're going to be expected to produce an heir, Beka," countered Patrick. "The Guild's going to insist on it, and they'll start making things uncomfortable for you. If they really want to they can blacklist you, and report the listing to the FTA. You wouldn't be able to work anywhere. It doesn't have to be that way. Marry me. I won't insist that you give up the Maru. You can still be owner and master of her."

"And if I did we would both be going our separate ways most of the time. After a while you would get lonely and take a mistress, and knowing myself I'd take a lover of my own. We would be married in name only, and I don't want that."

She reached up to touch his cheek. "Get away from your father while you still can, Patrick. He won't stop at one raid, and he'll force the Guild to take action against him. If for no other reason than to prevent the FTA from taking action against the entire Guild. The Maru and the Sassy Sue crossed paths on Fenree a couple of months back, and I got a chance to talk to Carla Abernathy. She's interested in you. She's attractive, intelligent, and the Abernathys are a good family. They sponsored my father when he applied for membership, and stood by me after he died. The Sassy Sue is as fine a Four Freedom's class as you can find, and the Willow and the Puffer are solid ships as well. You could marry into their family. It's unusual but it's been done. Bring the Enchantress with you; you're licensed as owner as well as master so technically it would be legal. Your father would be furious but the Guild will back you. Your father's beginning to make some of the members nervous, and they've been wanting to take your family down a notch for some time now. I'll even act as broker for you."

Patrick removed her hand from his cheek. "I'm a Bellamy, Beka, and I'll stay a Bellamy. My grandfather and father worked hard to make the family what it is now, and I'll not betray them."

Beka got up from the booth. "I guess we have nothing else to talk about then. If you change your mind contact me, and I'll contact the Abernathys. If not, I suppose I'll see you at the Ball."

After her conversation with Patrick, Beka didn't feel much like indulging in the meet and greet that would be going on on the upper decks. She would be doing enough of that between tonight's dinner and the Ball. The politicking and deal making would begin in earnest after the dinner. Not for the first time she envied Trance and Harper their comparative lack of responsibilities. While the heads of the families and their ships' masters and officers were wheeling, dealing, and stabbing each other in the back, the junior crew members would be partying. Though, to be fair, what was going on below decks was more than just simple partying. In it's own way it was as important to the Guild as the decisions of the Bellamys, the Ephinghams and their ilk. For many of the crew members it would be the first time in eighteen months that they had seen old friends or lovers. Mates were being selected, decisions were being made as to stay with a ship or request transfer to another, possible apprentices were being examined and examining in turn, friendships were being made, renewed or sometimes broken, and of course useful information was being collected and disinformation being disseminated. If this Ball was like it's predecessors, by the time it was over there would be betrothals to announce, a few unplanned pregnancies and possibly a couple of funerals.

Giving herself a mental shake, Beka decided to head over to the drift's commercial area. The majority of the Guild members would either be in the warehouse area, glad handing in the owner's area, or aboard their ships, so it was unlikely that she would meet anyone who would want to be sociable. She would find a quiet bar, and have a drink or two in peace until it was time to collect Harper and Trance.

Four and a half hours later she was back in the reception area. The guards had been replaced by a pair even bigger than the first two. The Owners Dinner was being held in the exclusive residential area and the guards were scrutinizing everyone who entered the privileged domain, checking names and faces against a list, and using a security scanner to check for weapons, poisons, and for all Beka knew bad breath. Somewhat to her surprise Harper and Trance were already in the reception area. Harper was sporting a black eye, and his shirt was ripped while Trance's face was flushed, and her tail was twitching with excitement.

"Harper, please tell me you didn't kill anyone, or at least no one of importance," begged Beka, visions of a crushing weregild or a formal feud being declared flashing through her mind.

"Nothing that serious, Boss," reassured Harper. "One of the Hightower girls from the Jowanet thought it would be fun to split her attentions between the Ephingham and Bellamy boys. Not to surprisingly fists started to fly. Then the other ships joined in backing one side or the other. That's when Trance and I headed for the door." He pointed to his eye. "We almost made it too."

"Who was it?" asked Beka still concerned about possible repercussions.

"Haven't a clue," replied Harper. "But don't worry, I didn't hurt him. He'll be singing alto in the choir for a few days, but other than that he'll be fine."

"Thank the Divine for small favors," said Beka almost prayerfully. "Now I want the two of you to head on back to the Maru. The Owners Dinner will run till about 0000 so I'll be back late, but I will be back, and I had better find the two of you aboard when I do."

"But, Beka," Trance started to argue. "It wasn't our fault. We were just..."

"I don't want to hear it, Trance," Beka cut her off. "The two of you are going back to the Maru. You shouldn't be partying all night anyway, and I'm not going to let Harper run around unchaperoned while you stay aboard the Maru. I'll be back after the dinner. Now go. Now."

Unhappy but compliant, her two crew members headed back towards the Maru while Beka strode off in the direction of the dining facility that had been commandeered for the dinner. "Lucky kids," she thought to herself.

The dinner was being held in a large reception area. Seating was assigned according to the number of votes a head of family had. The voting arrangement was a complicated system which incorporated not only the number of ships a family owned, but the capabilities of each ship as well. The greater the number of votes the head of a family had the closer to the front of the room they sat, and the more room they were allocated. Richard and Sasha Bellamy and the Ephinghams sat at the front of the room at a table that could have seated a group of eight spaciously. Beka, with her single vote, sat at the very back of the room, as far from the Guild's de facto rulers as possible while still being in the same room, where she shared a table smaller than the table in the Maru's common room with Harold Winningtun, his wife Francine, and another couple. It took a moment for Beka to connect the name with the weaselly looking individual sharing her table, Ben Jagmohan of the Bon An, along with his spouse. She nodded, but he didn't return the nod. To her pleasure the Abernathy family seemed farther up the line than what she last remembered.

The meal was excellent, but it wouldn't have mattered if the food was flavored sawdust. No one was there for the food. They were there for the after dinner presentation, when the outgoing president of the guild would announce who had been nominated for guild offices for the next 18 month term, which inter- family disputes would be arbitrated by guild officers, which members were sponsoring prospective members for acceptance into the guild, which if any planets or drifts had been blacklisted for one reason or another, and any new bylaws proposed for adoption. Beka let the president drone on while trying to stay awake. The entire set of announcements had already been downloaded to the Maru's computer, she could look at them tomorrow, and decide who and what to vote against. Her semi doze was shattered when the president announced the last proposed law that would be voted upon two days hence.

"In the interest of a clear line of continuity of ownership and to ensure the continued growth of the Guild, Richard Bellamy has proposed that all heads of families must show that they have an heir designated to assume ownership of family assets upon the death of said head of family. It is proposed that current heads of families not having heirs be allowed one year to produce an heir. At the end of said year each family head must either have said heir or face expulsion from the guild."

"That son of a bitch," muttered Beka. "He's trying to force me to marry his son."


Chapter 1 Chapter 3