Closure, Snowaters

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

All characters, creations, realities & ideas remain copyright their creators.

Snowaters was still laughing to herself as she headed for the elevators. Poor Rachelle, when she'd read the final bill Snowy thought the poor woman was going to have a heart attack. "Sa... Sa... Sahveen trillion dollars?" she had gasped. "I can't pay this." Jack and she had strung the poor woman along for a good half hour before cracking up. Jack simply taking the massive, book sized bill from her weak hands and tossed it into a nearby trashcan.

"Already taken care of darlin" he told her. Snowy had fallen to the floor laughing, finally managing to control herself just when Kalith had called telling her the children would be awake in a half hour. "I better go spell Ygor, I'll be back in a couple of hours." she'd promised. Turning the corner to the elevators she spotted two vaguely familiar figures exiting one. 'Must be more members of the family' she decided. One looked a lot like Jack, the other, despite her wild getup could have been Rachelle's sister. "Hello" she called, extending a hand in greeting. "I'm Snowaters, if your looking for the party its..." She never finished the sentence as Rikki's stun gun caught her totally by surprise.

"Ah think you tied her too tight" Mack commented as Rikki kicked the unconscious woman into a storage room. Slamming the door, Rikki pulled out a map. "Who cares, she's out of the way. Here's the clone room" she said, pointing to a mark on the map. "Parties three rooms down. I'll wait in the 'ladies' room for Rachelle. When I'm done I'll t-port home." She headed off at a fast clip. Mack sighed, watching the tightly clad female hurry away. Glancing at the door hiding Snowaters he shrugged his shoulders and headed for the clone room.

Hours later Snowaters woke lying on a cot, Rachelle & Jacqueline were sitting beside her. In the background she could hear Jack yelling at someone over a com-link. "What happened" she asked. "Did I pass out?"

"No" growled Rachelle. For the first time Snowy noticed a bright red mark on her face. "A couple of 'old friends' showed up to crash the party."

"I... I see" Snowy whispered. Sitting up with the help of Jacqueline she looked around, they were in the clone room. From the smell one of the tanks had been opened. "Was anyone hurt? Are your systems okay?"

"Kalith ran a systems check from the orbital link dear" Jacqueline answered. "Other than the loss of one of Rachelle's clones everything is fine. Jake found the security breach. Jack's calling on some friends to help track down the attackers, and Ygor says your children are doing fine. He just warmed up some of the milk you left and their back asleep."

"Then I better get back to the ship. Ygor can handle replacement of the clone and I've other places to go." She looked over to Rachelle. "It was fun, and I did learn a lot from this job. More than average." She turned suddenly, giving Jacqueline a kiss on the cheek. "And I found a sister I never had" she giggled. Standing, she touched hands with the two women. "I'll leave this to you then, and if you ever need me again..." A quick smile flickered across her face. "With Jacks gift they'll never be a charge to your family for any of my services."

Forty minutes later Snowaters watched Ygor's strange craft leave the Diamonds hanger deck. "That's it then 'lith, lets head out of here."

<There is. One Problem.> Kalith stated.

"Problem? Something wrong with the ship?"

<No. Look in. The SRVR chamber.>

Entering the chamber minutes later she stopped with a shock. Held captive in a force bubble sat the woman she'd seen at the elevators. "Who.. How?" she asked.

<Who. Meet. Rikki. It seems. That. Rachelle has. Learned to fight. Since their last. Encounter. How. Miss-adjustment. Of Teleport Bracelet.>

Rikki hate filled eyes watched the small human woman as she walked around the bubble, examining her captive like a cat with a canary. "You know 'lith, I'm very much against slavery" Snowaters commented. "Still, considering what Rachelle told me while she walked me to the shuttle.... Set course for Narglug Station. It's about time this woman learned what true power is."

<You. Are certain.>

"Set course Kalith. Whatever we get for her, transfer to Rachelle's accounts Earthside."

Star Diamond broke orbit, turning towards the Solar South it began accelerating. Further out, in a well hidden asteroid base Mack sat looking out a viewport at the stars. Behind him, through the open door to his chambers he could hear a rustling as his 'captive' woke up. 'Well' he thought. 'It could have been worse, and I have gotten rid of Rikki for a while.'