Mother-Daughter Reunion

Rachel knew that something was wrong the moment she unlocked the door to her apartment. The sock she had dropped behind her front door had been moved, and a light in her sitting room was on. Rachel had spent the later half of the day discussing her new case with Judge and had used a secret hallway to change into her civilian clothes before slipping out of the CSP. It wouldn’t do for someone to see her enter her Silver tower city apartment as the Arbiter, someone could link it to her civilian persona and then she would be compromised. That didn’t mean someone couldn’t link the Arbiter to Rachel some other way though.

She thought about massacres left by her assassin, and knew that with Councilman Kenzo’s connections he could have easily pried into her files and given the assassin her address. She reached down to her hip and slid her pulse pistol free of its holster, just because she walked out of the CSP as herself didn’t mean she wasn’t still an officer of Station Security. Her neighbors thought her to be just another administrator and didn’t question the weapon at her side.

Part of Rachel wanted to go in guns blazing, giving the assassin no chance to defend themselves. But Rachel knew that without descant probable clause that her intruder was the assassin then she would just be an officer murdering a suspect. Which meant that Rachel would have to wait until the assassin fought back.

She leaned back on her right leg to give her left leg the room and power to break the door off its hinges before she stormed through gun first. “Hands up or I’ll shoot” Rachel growled, feeling the rage of the Arbiter flow through her.

She had burst through without taking a proper look at her intruder, but now that she had them in her sights she focused in on their facial features. The first thing to register in her head was that the person sitting in her old sagging armchair was human, this only put Rachels nerves further on edge. The second thing to register was that the intruder wasn’t alone, at their side was a big Grizzly in a comically tight fitting suit. The look of the Grizzly man gave her the impression that he was experienced with violence, the way he held himself showed her that he wasn’t concerned about the weapon pointing right at what must have been his boss.

The person in the chair didn’t raise their hands, but instead let out a dainty laugh, one that Rachel recognized all too well. The derision and superiority in such a obsequious laugh was something she had heard on a daily basis since she was a girl. “Come now dear, must you be so vulgarly violent. Acting like this is why the other civilized species call us Hellworlders, not everything is a threat.” Her mother, Alexandra Heart, said derisively.

With just those words Rachel felt the rage and power of the Arbiter shrink back, like a great monster being cowed by this short elegantly dressed woman. She kept her pulse pistol trained on her mother, but something about her posture had changed. She felt like a child holding a toy gun. The personal guard at her mothers side relaxed slightly as his estimation of Rachel changed, he recognized that she wasn’t a threat to his employer anymore.

Nothing about her mother had changed in the years since Rachel was thrown out of her home. Her face was still as rigid and refined as granite, and the unchanging mild amusement she always wore was the same as ever. As if everything in the galaxy was a silly little game that she was fond of watching. Hopes, dreams, and desires were all things she could twist as she saw fit.

“Why are you here?” Rachel asked. Trying to force some bite into her words, but failing.

The placid smile on her mother beautiful ebony face shifted into something derisive and bored “Because its time for you to stop playing games and come home.”

“Games?”

“Yes, your father and I let you play cop for long enough, and now its time to come home. It wasn’t too hard for me to figure out who the Arbiter was, and it wont be too hard for anyone else either. End this now before you embarrass the family.”

Rachel felt as if a dart had pierced her chest. Not only had her mother found her apartment, but she had also once again dug up Rachels greatest secret and used it to shame her daughter.

Rachel didn’t get the chance to say anything as her move rose from the armchair and spoke “And really, of all the code names you could have picked, and you went with something as needlessly edgy as Arbiter” she slowly stepped forward, completely disregarding the gun still aimed at her chest. “I take that was Hanzo’s idea.”

Hearing her mother speak of Judge so derisively Rachel felt a bit of her earlier bite come back “In case you don’t remember, you, kicked, me, out.” She said through gritted teeth, stopping at each word for emphasis. “This hasn’t been me playing some game, I am a member of the ADCU and I wont hesitate to put you down for breaking into my apartment.”

She smiled, as if Rachel was a child who had just said something cute. “And if you do then everyone will know your little secret, and I don’t just mean your professional one.”

Rachel’s blood went cold. Her first instinct was to try and call her bluff, but Alexandra didn’t bluff. She only blackmailed someone if she was absolutely willing to destroy them. Rachel went through every scenario she could think of if her mother let her secrets out, if the wrong people learned who the Arbiter was under the hood then her life would be in constant danger. The average deathworlder would see her as a threat, and the Terrans would call her a race traitor. Not only that, but she had put a lot of really bad people away in her time, people who would want revenge.

Stolen story; please report.

Then there was the matter of her other secret, the non-professional one her mother had been implying. To this date Judge and her parents were the only people who knew, it would jeopardize the handful of friendships she had made, and would make her into a very public pariah. And if Alexandra was the person to unveil it then she would make sure that everyone knew, that was a blow she would never recover from.

Alexandra had her, check and mate. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have some wiggle room. she forced a sneer onto her lips “Sorry mom, but I’m not done playing cop. And if you actually try to pull me from the force then you’ll lose half you leverage.”

“I think the other secret is worth a little more than tha-“

“Its not” Rachel snapped, cutting her mother off half way through. Rachel knew that Alexandra got off on running verbal circles around people, it was part of the reason she got along with Councilman Ozzath so well.

Speaking of the councilman, her mothers timing was just a little too coincidental for her liking. Alexandra wasn’t here to actually reign in her wayward daughter, she was doing a favor for Ozzath. She could reveal that knowledge here and now to try and throw her mother off kilter, but Alexandra was an experienced manipulator. She would recover in seconds and Rachel would lose her advantage. Best to keep that to her self.

Her mother hadn’t realized the revelation Rachel just came to, instead she raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

Rachel swallowed hard as she got her mind back on the here and now. “If I’m no longer the Arbiter, then revealing my other secret wont mean a danm thing.”

Her mother smirked triumphantly, as if she had been waiting for Rachel to realize this for herself. “You’re an adult dear, I don’t need to bring you back home, I just need to show you off at a party or two. Put all that etiquette and beauty to use.”

If Rachel hadn’t been confident that this was a favor for Ozzath then she would have been fooled by the change of pace. That was Alexandra for you, setbacks were just new opportunities. It was a distinctly human ability, to face set back after set back and still find a way to push forward, it made them hell for any seasoned detective to lockdown, and likely had its purpose during their days on the savannahs of Africa.

“Wont people be suspicious? I’ve been gone for years, wont they ask where I’ve been?” she knew that by asking this question she had already mentally acquiesced to her demands, but that was Rachels goal. She had already talked her mom down to this point, any further and she would retaliate.

“Why would they, you’ve been managing our businesses in Femeri. And now your back on Unity.”

Rachel scowled “so that’s what you told them, you didn’t throw me out, I’ve just been working halfway across the galaxy. And if something actually happened to me you would have spun some tragic yarn about pirates.”

Her mother’s eyes twinkled “it would have been terrestrial ruffians actually, on Earth. Your father has been pushing the council for an organized crack down on Earth for years, and your death might have been exactly what we needed. But you guessed well with the information you had, you would have made such a good pawn if you hadn’t gone and-“

“Enough!” Rachel snapped, she didn’t need to hear her failings thrown back at her. Not again. She took in a shallow breath and brought her pulse under control, “I can handle a few parties. But you’ll need to front the money for clothes, unless you want me to come dressed like this.”

Her mothers smile became a little more force as she took in Rachel’s apparel. Humans were expected to dress in the same style of robes as every other human dressed in, dressing otherwise would just be suspicious. But there was a wide gap between the elegant looking kimono her mother wore and the simple one Rachel wore, especially given that hers was a cheap off the shelf brand and not something designer. “It would b my pleasure, you’ll need to stop by for Hyori-chan to get your measurements.”

Hyori was the name of a well known tailor on Unity that her family used. It was gauche to use honorifics with someone of non-Japanese ancestry while also being a huge insult to ignore them for an actual Japanese person. “Absolutely not, you’ll have to make do with the ones she already has.”

“You know that’s not how she operates.”

“I don’t care, I’m not taking one step into the monstrosity you call a home.” She put extra emphasis on the word home. That place was more like an over sized art exhibit than an actual place to live, all ornamentation and no amenities for living.

Her mothers charming smile dropped form the first time since this conversation began, morphing into a scowl Rachel knew very well. They locked eyes and held each others glare for only three seconds before Alexandra relented and smiled. “Fine, but I’ll expect you to wear whatever your given without complaint.” That was a given, she was already at Alexandra’s whim. “And I’ll also expect you to behave in a way befitting the Heart name, understood.”

Rachel nodded.

“Good, then I’ll be off.” Her mother said before striding out, her Grizzly guard only a few steps behind her. Alexandra passed without even glancing Rachel’s way, and her massive guard went out of his way to knock her shoulder as she passed.

Only when they were both out of her apartment did Rachel let a single controlled breath; which quickly transformed into a shriek of rage as she pounded her fist through her hall.?hall?

~~~*~~~

Alexandra only barely heard her daughters scream. It was short and she could barely make it out, it was the twitch in her guards ears that confirmed that it was actually there. Alexandra let a pleased smile grace her face before schooling back into its normal poise. She had been worried that her daughter had changed to much for her to control, the hate and defiance in her tone had made Alexandra question if the woman before her was the same girl she had raised.

Really it was impressive, Rachel never used to have the will to openly defy her, let alone train a gun on her mother. Maybe this little favor for Ozzath could prove to be more advantageous than she first believed.

As she mulled over than conversation it became apparent that Rachel had grown in more ways than one. She had always been a sharp girl, but her time in the ADCU had honed that intelligence into something impressive. It wasn’t often if that someone played her. Alexandra could think of plenty of ways to use her daughter’s new talents, and so long as she could bring Rachel back into her control then she might actually salvage her discarded pawn.

In hindsight they might have been too hasty about getting rid of such a seemingly failed daughter, she should have calmed her husband down and found a way to ensure that she would never defy them like she had. And if worst came to worst they could have married her off to some powerful suiter and made her his problem to deal with. Oh well.

She boarded the elevator and ascended to the building roof where they had parked the silver shuttle craft. Once she was in the private confines of her personal shuttle she wasted no time in contacting Ozzath, for such an ancient person he really was too impatient. Then again, dealing with unpleasant business in a timely matter was how he had risen through the ranks of the Union so quickly. Ozzath had already been a councilman by the time Alexandra was born, but she knew that he hadn’t been born into his position like so many other. He had once been an obscure officer in the Union’s outer patrol fleet before discovering the Sol and engineering his rise to power.

“Were you successful?” Ozzath asked without preamble as soon as the call went through.

Alexandra let his brisk question slide, Ozzath was far more than a councilor, and he had far more sway than she did. “Not entirely” she answered promptly, “I have made a step in pulling her back into the fold, but she’s determined to remain with the CSP. It will take time.”

“As all good things do,” the councilman murmured, “Good work, I’ll be happy to lend your husband my support for those military contracts he wanted.” The screen cut out the moment he finished speaking, the connection severed from his end.

Alexandra felt her eye try to twitch in irritation, but her impeccable control kept it in place. She knew better than anyone that Ozzath hated Terrans, hated looking at them, hated speaking to them, hated working with them. Its what made their alliance all the more impressive. Ozzath had a great many powerful Terran allies, but only a few of those allies knew how much he hated working with them, and Alexandra was one of them. Her husband on the other hand wasn’t, he truly thought of Ozzath as a friend, which made it difficult to sometimes steer him away from the Councilmen’s schemes. If they didn’t need to rely on him so often Alexandra would have cut all ties long time ago.