Nolan Faux was beside himself as he tore out the fuses which powered his transponder and communication suite. She'd had every reason to live. Her daughter was safe. Joyce and Erik in chorus called to him over the guild's frequency and were silenced as he pulled the plug.

Nolan had personally flown Vionka Velaio to a new, supposedly safer location where she could recover. He'd become smitten by her sad, listless gaze, which regularly tore at him demanding relief. It was only days after that when Camilla was rescued. It should have been a happy time. But no. Even before the daughter was safe, Nolan had learned, Vionka was killed in her hospital bed. But no one had known where she was taken except Nolan. He was her pilot for the trip.

Someone had found out, somehow, some way. So naturally, Nolan knew, he'd done something poorly. The someone was Dr. Lecter, said those who figured out such things. Lecter was a damned monster as far as Nolan could tell. Yet he'd gained favor with the Itani and was free to travel their space. The Itani authorities would do nothing. This was unacceptable to Nolan on every level. Many of his friends, including a girl he loved, called Itani space home. There was nothing to prevent them from being next, not one thing. For a second time, Nolan ruled the state of affairs unacceptable. So he'd resolved to do something, and the first step was the fuse box in front of him.

To confront Lecter, he'd have to basically confront the Itani authorities. The authorities would then immediately learn that Nolan was a member of the Christianson Distribution Company, and they'd call Nolan's superiors asking his whereabouts. Even if he dropped off the radar within his guild, Nolan knew that his guild had other ways of finding him. Within a minute of learning Vionka's fate, Nolan had realized all these things and took steps to eliminate every obstacle he would face.

Transponders, locators, communicators, ships, PDAs, and everything else that identified Nolan had to vanish, or at least be stored away from his person. In under ten minutes Nolan was in a new ship, which he only launched after stripping it of all the usual identifying widgets. The radio gear would only make contact within sector this way, but that wasn't a problem.

Over the next several days Nolan busied himself with letters to his friends, always ending in upbeat fashion that he would be back. He didn't believe that for a second. Next was the problem of finding the doctor. Nolan had a number of friends among the Serco- one of his more closely guarded secrets- and to them he appealed for docking records of Lecter's travels. He even compensated them for their time, through proxy. Nolan Faux wouldn't need his funds after this anyway, he figured.

When everything that he could think to prepare was done, all that was left was the silence of space in an empty sector he now called home. The loneliness hit the man like a moth full of premium ore. He'd never see his loved ones again, and he'd made that very decision in the name of protecting them. Nolan Faux had become unaccustomed to fear. For reasons only he knew, he'd just outgrown it. Fear was reintroduced only when he let himself fall in love. Not for himself, but for her. So Nolan bit his lip and dismissed all thought of how alone he had become, as a response to fighting the only fear he had left. He congratulated himself on breaking contact completely, admitting that a look or word from his lady would simply defeat his will at this point.

Soon he would engage Dr. Lecter, and if he was unable to kill the monster, Nolan planned to at least bar the man from Itani space by dying at his hands. Either way, Nolan could never fly in Itani space again. An insignificant pilot dies, a perfect woman lives. Darn good deal.

Nolan Faux knew seething anger on a scale he could not remember ever before this point in his life. It was multiplied at this precise moment in time by the fact that he didn't remember why. Yet.

Nolan's eyes flew open. He had a head wound. Two people stood over him, one holding a pillow far too close to his face for comfort. He felt like he had a hangover. He was being restrained against his will by people he had long called his closest friends. But for a moment after regaining consciousness (having lost it to an unwelcome injection only to regain it when nanites he kept, normally to combat alcohol in his system, cleared out the sedative) he knew absolutely none of this. All Nolan knew was seething anger for no apparent reason, and not even a quarter second later, a fist struck him in the face.

Human survival mode kicked in. Nolan rolled, subconsciously knowing he was horizontal before his brain caught up, and came to his feet while he drew his knife. Before him stood, in order of his recognition, his Itani lover holding a pillow, and her younger sister 'Pouty' with a sheet in one hand and the other balled into a fist.

Memories flooded back in short order. Pouty located him somehow. She'd tried to disable his ship. He visited to talk it out face to face. Her robot jabbed him with a needle. He must have blacked out and cracked his head on the way down, he decided. Nolan's eyes had a hard time leaving his redhead's face. Is she in on it? Would she turn on me like this? Finally, recognition. Anger at confusion was replaced by anger at people. He addressed his attacker. "Bitch you are fucking nuts."

Her reply added to his anger. "I'm nuts? What the hell are you talking about?"

Nolan listed offenses to jog her memory as he backed out of the room, daring them to come closer by holding his knife in just the right way. "You shoot my ship, you fucking stab me, you fucking hit me.."

The elder girl seemed to be at a loss for words. Then she found some, in a matter of speaking. Striking her younger sister in the face, she followed after Nolan's retreat.

"Ow!" After a moment to recover her bearings, Pouty called after them, "The doors are locked, Nolan."

Nolan's head was clear, and he promised himself to get an implant with those drug-eater nanites, instead of the external system, at his earliest opportunity. "Oh, so what do you do in a fire, then? Burn alive? You can open the fucking door or I can make them open. Your choice." He made his point by altering his path toward the kitchen.

The exercise was mute, however. 'Red' turned around to strike her sister again, bloodying her nose, before authorizing the doors to open for her boyfriend. Nolan left without looking back. The elder ran after him into the night, praying she could catch him.

The lady's run was just starting to get tiring when she was seized from behind. Her panic was short-lived when she recognized Nolan's scent, even if he was virtually strangling her. He had stopped to check his tail and she'd run right past. Into her ear Nolan hissed, "Why are you following me?"

"Because I'm worried about you, and because I love you." Her words were labored as she struggled for air. The response seemed so straightforward that Nolan feared a ploy, so he chose against easing up for the present.

"What the heck just happened back there?"

"She said something about your boss, Nolan. Your boss wanted her to do it; you know my sister always listens to her! She does the weirdest things for her, Nolan, you know that!" Her tone was pleading, even a little panicked. He was never rough with her before.

Much to the lady's relief, the pilot released her, and his visible hostility evaporated. "So you're saying my boss wants me restrained? I suppose you know nothing about this."

"I don't know what your boss wants, no."

"Well I'll be damned if they didn't get what they wanted. You can go back and tell them that my plans are off, if only because I'm not self-defeating enough to try and sacrifice for people who will attack me when I'm not looking. They'll also be lucky if I speak to either of them any time soon."

Red knew her sister had one hell of a bloody nose. Going back didn't seem appealing, even if she did want to let Nolan out of her sight again. "I'm not leaving you-"

"Pouty still needs your help, and if I guess right she'll need you more than ever. LT is probably going to blame her for what comes next. I'll call you soon with a new com number, you may not share it. Now get going, unless you're prepared for me to disappear you forever, you gorgeous thing."

Red gave him a look of warning, but crumbled. He was still smitten with her, and that made all the difference. "Okay. Don't keep me waiting too long."

"I won't." Nolan kissed her in such a way to make up for a multitude of ills.

Within the hour Nolan was in space, headed back to the little corner he called home. It would be a long time before he trusted anyone again. Everyone was suspect in ways he'd never thought of before. Life for Nolan now had only two possibilities, he decided. He could stop flying for good and propose to that irresistible redhead, or find a cause that seemed worth a damn. The life of a trader was officially out.

"What the heck just happened back there?"

... My thoughts exactly. Here's a tip: next time, don't take FB's style as your foundation.

This one isn't up to par with my others. Eh, can't win em all.

Old Ecka sits with his feet on the desk of the dusty moth and absorbs the tales of space....

Fine, I'll delete my post and go away

[rudeness deleted - be nice, please. - RR]

Let's try this again: get the **** out already.