573 I’ll Send Her Home

Tears trickled down A-Mei’s face. Everything she’d lost flashed before her eyes. She had had parents she loved, a prosperous family, a childhood sweetheart… All of it was lost the day the pirates took her. It was like she’d fallen into the depths of hell. Worse, a world of pirates.

In three painful years she was transformed from a sweet girl to a deadly spider, willing to do whatever it took to get vengeance. By the end no man dared come near her.

Today had been dry until at least a new mark from off-world came wandering into her clutches. Good, she’d thought, another victim. It was the only thing that got her poison heart racing anymore.

The other soldiers looked on, silent as A-Mei wavered between sobbing cries and mad laughter. Their missions through the Starfields had filled some of them with hesitation. This had been a one-sided slaughter, and they hadn’t seen much evidence of how terrible the pirates really were. This woman’s story was a reminder of why they were here.