 CB Droege is a fantasy author and poet living in Munich. Recently his fiction was collected in RapUnsEl and Other Stories, and a selection of his poetry appeared in the Drawn to Marvel anthology. His first novel, Zeta Disconnect was released in 2013. He recently edited Dangerous to Go Alone! An Anthology of Gamer Poetry. Learn more at manawaker.com The Truth Is I can’t believe you’re willing to listen to that complete bullshit. You’re a damn straight-line fool if you believe this wholop. I think your friend here’s got a bit of a thing for Cap’n Elly, he does. The Truth is that Miss Ellynore, as the news keeps calling her, knew exactly what she was doing when she took out Clyde. Now, I’m not gonna defend Clyde Harbone. He was a right turd, if you ask me, and I was his best mate, but Elly did her share, and her actions are a dishonor to her former station. We’re lucky any of us survived her wrath. Elly and Philly were both just as stuck up as any other spoiled rich brats, and they was close as any two sisters anywhere. Dagger Jones says she didn’t flinch when she saw that video of her sister’s trial; I believe it, she could put on quite the show when she needed to, but I think there was more. I think she done already seen that video, long before her men found it on our ship. First off, there ain’t no way she tagged us outa’ quantum space by accident, like she says. We was in a dark tunnel, believe it or not. I was at the damn controls, so I don’t care much what you believe. When a ship is in a dark quantum tunnel, even along a popular trade route, the chance of accidentally interfering with the field and bringing it out is so close to zero, it might as well be zero. You can look it up in one of your fancy physics books, if you want, but I know it’s true from running the damn things. Elly was either tracking our engine sigs, or she had someone on our ship who was reporting to her, neither of which is honorable, and neither of which is worthwhile if all you’re looking for is some incidental booty, like she claims. Then, she came bursting through that drill-lock, like a woman on fire, and she tore through everyone she found with a fury like she was on a holy mission until she found Clyde, then when she tore him apart, she stopped murdering and started taking prisoners, which I was grateful for because I was right there with Clyde when it happened, and I thought I was next. Elly fought like a tigress. She was a whirlwind of blades and fury. If you had seen her eyes the moment when she killed Clyde: The anger, the rapture of that moment, you would never believe she was just “clearing the deck of threats”. She was hunting that man. Then all the air went out of her, and she calmly started picking up the pieces of her cruel assault. Half of our crew was dead, mostly at the end of her swords. I’ve been on one side or the other of at least two dozen ship-to-ship attacks, and I ain’t never seen so much blood on the deck before that day. Now, I ain’t saying that what Clyde did to Elly’s sister was right, or even defensible, and I ain’t saying that Elly’s anger was not righteous nor undeserved, but she took her vengeance too far, and she was in the wrong when she killed all my mates for what their captain did. You’ll all see through. Tomorrow, when Mayor Binner holds his trial, we’ll get the truth of it out in the open, and everyone will see the wrongs she done. Binner has always been a fair and just man, even with us privateers, and he’ll get at the truth, I know it.
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