My Dragons
Change of Heart
Cordelia had the message all ready to send.
She looked at it, burning bright on her datapad's screen. This message, no matter when it reached the Grand Duchess, was going to condemn Kincaid...to something. She wasn't honestly sure how upset the Duchess was going to be, nor what kind of punishment was considered appropriate for the level of (to be blunt about it) treason Kincaid was committing.
The thing she was sure about was that he didn't deserve it. What had happened in that system was monstrous--the deliberate destruction of an entire planet by Imperial order, and the Grand Duchess was letting it be covered up.
Cordelia put her pad down and got out of her chair to pace. She wasn't usually the type to express her emotions physically; the shadow-life she led precluded it. But this was a special case. Kincaid was the kind of person who went through life with certainties. He knew what was right and what was wrong and he did what was right. And if he wasn't always as subtle about it as some people might have liked, at least he did more good than harm. And if she sent that message, she'd be betraying him. Never mind that she'd told him, never mind that he'd all but given her permission; it was a betrayal. She was on the verge of betraying someone who wanted to punish a vast evil to someone who'd decided to cover it up.
Even if she managed to carry out Kincaid's mission before the Duchess found out about it, still he'd be punished for not abiding by his liege's word.
"The Grand Duchess," Cordelia said aloud to her empty stateroom, "can go pound sand."
She picked up her datapad again, and deleted the message.
*
If that didn't make any sense to you, don't worry; it would require a whole lot of backstory from the Sunday night gaming campaign. If it did make sense to you...remember how I said she didn't want to be Good? I think it's too late.
I kind of thought things over on the way home, I guess. And the thing is, Kincaid's "one of mine" now.
If I didn't know any better, I would say A'rance was rubbing off on Ekat.
Since A'rance definately *doesn't* know any better, he would say Zora'ath
was rubbing off on her.