"The Price of a Slice of Bread." By M.E. Nicks and Anita Tessasohn The corridors were certainly bright. Anita wasn't use to that, and it looked new, or well- almost new. It made her not trust whoever was piloting this ship. Or the rest of the people. Not that she'd care about trust. She accessed a terminal, and found that she was close to the bridge. Heading for the turbolift, she turned the corner and found the galley. Perking an eyebrow she entered it- killing someone had sparked an unexpected appetite. Cervin had done a damn good job restocking the galley and it made M.E. smile to see that he’d even picked up some chocolate. She was just about to help herself when she heard the doors open and the sounds of footfalls on the deck. She wouldn’t have given it a second thought, figuring it to be one of her crewmen, but Goo didn’t hiss and spit at her crewmen, not even Wagner. M.E. pressed herself against the wall and pulled her pistol from it’s holster on her hip. Anita looked around, the cabinets were certainly was full of food, it nearly sickened her if she wasn't hungry. What was this ship? She shook her head and took the bread, like she was taking someone's severed arm and examining it. "Hmm," Anita said nonchalantly as she took the bread out. M.E. came out of her corner slowly, watching as the young woman took the bread out of the cabinet, she knew better then to get with any attacking distance so she stayed just where she was out of reach; but she had a clean shot. "You have five seconds to get your hands were I can see them, tell me who the hell you are and what the hell your doing on my ship before your brains are added to the decor." "Colorful, and here I thought I was the only one that appreciated a nice kill," Anita gave a crooked smiled as she stared down at the bread. She turned her head, her eyebrows went down and her eyes desolved into... something. She raised her hands up, not putting much effort in the woman’s threat. "The name's Anita as far as you're concerned. You really going to shoot me for a slice of bread?" Anita noticed the... thing hanging around the woman. She wanted to laugh at the pathetic creature that hissed repeatedly. "As for my being on your ship, I just need passage. I don't see any harm.. lest of course you want harm." "Of course I wouldn’t shoot you over a slice of bread." M.E. said coolly, her aim on the woman never faltering. "I’d drop you where you stood for stealing away on my ship. There are better ways of gaining passage ya know." M.E. looked the woman up and down, head to toe, her steely gaze finally remaining on the woman’s face. Something in the back of M.E.’s brain prickled. Something about this woman was setting of an alarm. "Of course," Anita gave a bored smile as she lowered her hands slowly. "I was in a rush, there was no time for.. formalities. So, can I take this slice? Or will I end up sizzling before I can get that far?" M.E. was really going to have to have a ‘talk’ with Harrison about his ‘ security’ of the ship. How the fuck did people keep getting on without setting off alarms? "How’d you get on my ship?" She asked ignoring the woman’s smart ass remarks. Anita gave a bubbly chuckle, "you dont really expect me to tell you all my secrets just because you have a weapon pointed at me do you?" Anita shook her head and took the slice. The texture felt too hard, too rough, but so delicate. Like a guy in her control. That brought out a sudden laugh but she just turned her head back to the woman, attention coming back. Reaching for her comm with her free hand M.E. sent a message to Cervin to report to the mess hall armed, while sending a telepathic message to Alex for her and Harrison to secure the ship and look for others. All the while her weapon aimed at the woman and her mind scanning her surface thoughts and daring to delve deeper. "How were you able to beam on to my ship with out rising alarms?" The surface thoughts were easy but this woman wasn’t a novice around telepaths. She gave a frustrated sigh, "your shields were down, everything else is elementary especially if you were trained for it." M.E. was giving herself a headache trying to access the woman’s mind. The more she weeded thought the nonsense any low lever pee-on was trained to use to block telepathy the more she had a feeling this one was trouble, trouble that felt familiar to her. "You’d better enjoy your snack cause your ass is about to get the fuck off my ship." "Ah, yes, space is always fun for the meek.. outside the airlock. I don't suppose you heard of Thirty One?" She rolled her eyes and shrugged, "not that in matters." The laugh that slipped past M.E.’s lips was sudden and so was the sudden blaze in her eyes. If this woman was thirty one she wouldn’t make it past the doors. The last thing she needed was to have people know where Alex and Harrison were. "Who hasn’t heard of it. Doesn’t exist, thirty one is just one of those stories that mommies tell their naughty kids about to scare the shit out of them." "Of course, and the Tal Shiar bears gifts for it's children. I'm not thirty-one. Or did you not listen to what I had to say? I need passage, and Im willing to pay for it, if it's money you want." M.E. eyed her as she wondered where the hell Cervin was. She was pretty sure John wasn’t up to be screwin’ around yet so he should have been here by now. "Your running from thirty one?" John entered the galley, Cervin's pistol in hand. He looked up to see M.E. and another. M.E. didn’t know he was awake, but didn’t distract herself for the small lost in details. Her attention was fixed on the blonde haired woman, and John caught the woman staring at him just for a moment. She reeked with darkness and when Anita glanced his way, she laughed, "aww, two people to take care of me, Im all misty-eyed," she glared at M.E., "I'm not running from- or with- thirty one. Never was, they found me.. shall we say... different." An instant frown formed and disappeared into that smile she was fond of giving. It was just the smallest of moments but M.E. was about to something. "They wanted you but then changed their minds. You must be really fucked up if they discarded you." "You say tomatoe, I say tamatoe. Whatever. Now," Anita felt her patience thinning out, "either you shoot me. Or I eat, decide. One way or the other, I still rather not be held at gun point." She frizzled her hair with her free hand before shaking off the anger. It wasn't working. M.E. laughed again. "Your trespassing on my ship and your pissed off? You got some goddamn nerve." "Gotta have some fun," she gave a cynical smile, and took a step forward, "so either shoot me, or you let me eat. Oh, and I hear- or rather- I found out through some discreet searching that you're hiring." For the smallest, briefest, of moments M.E. thought about what kinda fun she could have with this woman, but it passed quickly. Clearly the woman had skills, but it was also just as clear that she couldn’t be trusted. "And what if I am?" "Well, I'm always in need of cash. Just thought maybe one more person might be handy to you. Or don't you trust me?" Anita looked over to the man, "you're one for sore eyes, dont you have something better to do than stand there?" John looked at M.E., who shook her head telling him he needed to stay until she thought it was safe. He stared back and shrugged, "don't need you attempting anything." "Yeah, right. And I'm dangerous right now," she looked at M.E. and took one more step forward, "so how about it, Dear? You scratch my back, I'll try not to stab yours." M.E. tossed about a couple of ideas in her head. Then she smiled sickly. "You want passage? I can do that." She then looked at John. "Throw her in the brig." Then she looked at the woman. "As for the job. I’ll think about it. Oh and enjoy the snack.. Dear..?" Anita laughed dropped the slice of bread. Appetite gone, "you're intriguing... Captain. Wished the circumstances were different when we met. Here, if this will help convince you I won’t try anything," Anita took her wrist knives, the knives at her boots, and the small palm phaser she carried at the small of her back; and settled all of it on the table, "I'll want those back. Oh, and maybe you'll want to walk too.. men don't last long with me." John perked an eyebrow as M.E. gestured for them to go. Anita smiled, flashing teeth in a near psychotic grimace and brushed past M.E.