Thread: Not a power in the 'verse (Morell & KC)

She rounded a corner and nearly tripped headlong over one of Lian's guards. Inara stepped carefully around him and reached the stand-off just in time to hear Mal announce that her new employer was a shady crook who stole med supplies. Credits were one thing, vital drugs quite another and although the border planets sorely needed med supplies, they certainly did not need to pay the kind of price that a crook like Lian would wring from them. Mal looked up as Inara gasped but did an admirable job of pretending he'd never laid eyes on her before. Inara!? Mal shot Jayne a look that should have killed him. Jayne simply shrugged apologetically. Lian's shrewd almond eyes slid possessively over Inara's stunning form, his lip curling. You filthy little cunt. He hissed. Inara watched as Mal's trigger finger immediately depressed perceptibly, shaking her head at him. I set you up in your own property, dress you like a queen and you repay me by conspiring to rob me? You'll never work again, whore. The guild would tell me I was within my rights to wring your neck with the emeralds I placed there! Inara ripped the jewellery from her throat and flung it at him. Jayne reached for the choker. No! If I do steal from this man the guild will strike me. let him have the trinkets he bought with his blood money. Begging your pardon Inara but we ain't all registered companions here and if it's all the same to you, I'll steal from who I ruttin please. He snatched up the costly bauble and added it to their stash. Inara glared at Mal to intervene but the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards in a manner that told her he was with Jayne on this one. Inara sighed and regarded Lian once more. I did not conspire to steal from you but this unhappy coincidence may have some advantages. You will release me from my contract with you immediately, without prejudice. You will not contact the guild or make any kind of complaint. A complaint to the Alliance law enforcement here on Persephone from a registered companion such as myself would bring down all manner trouble on your head. I could tell them about the shady deals this place is a front for and be believed. I could even accuse you of sexual assault, false imprisonment, mental cruelty and... well, anything else I dream up in the meantime. I have been a registered companion for seven years and there has never been a single complaint made about me, nor have I ever made a complaint to law enforcement about a client. That wasn't strictly true but Lian could not know that... steps had been taken some years ago to doctor Inara's file. Lian regarded her coldly. So... it would be in all our interests for my friends and I to go our way without fear of reprisal. She surmised. Inara gasped again but this time because a hand snaked around her throat and yanked her back against the chest of Lian's other guard, the one she had stepped over. Lian eyed the guard over Inara's shoulder. Take the disc and the credits, have the gorram necklace but I will not be so disgraced as to have a filthy whore steal from me without... reprisal . Inara fell incredibly still as cold steel compelled her to lift her chin. Slice the bitch's face off. She's never working again. The guard hesitated, eyeballing Mal. Now it really was a stand-off. He yanked Inara's head back and pressed his knifepoint until a thin trickle of blood snaked down her cheek.