Operation: Mutant of the Seas - Log 15

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Emma and Wanda make a similar discovery with their meeting with the Captain



The Captain’s special greeting party for the wealthiest passengers was in full swing. For someone familiar with the escapades of the Hellfire Club, it wasn’t exactly shocking. In fact, it was almost sad the obvious exploitation and abuses that the passengers were primed to enjoy secure in the privacy of the cruise ship. They’d passed obviously underaged ‘talent’, a selection of specialty adult performers, and crew members were where chosen for physical abilities as opposed to seagoing skills. As she reached the party, Emma snapped her fingers and Wanda appeared at her elbow with a tray of drink. With an imperious gesture, it was implied that Wanda was Emma’s until the woman chose to dismiss her.

"A barely adequate selection," Emma sneered, finally deigning to choose a glass of wine whose cost was probably greater than a small car. Or at least a moped. A good moped. ~Have any familiar faces appeared yet?~ she asked Wanda.

~No one useful, not yet~ Wanda replied, keeping her eyes partially cast down while still being able to watch the crowd. No one paid attention to the staff, that was part of the point of her cover. ~I am pretty sure there are a few politicians mingling about with some C list actors. I have been trying to get close to the officers but they have been frustratingly hard to pin down.~

~Well, let's see if we can change that,~ replied Emma, taking a deep gulp of the wine from her glass. "Fortunately, the vintage matches its reputation," she said out loud. "Lucky or I would have started to have views about the advertising material for this cruise. Papa wouldn't have liked it if I'd had to ask him to start an investigation into the financing of this silly boat."

This particular pronouncement of Emma's, cut-crystal French delivered with perfect clarity and just a touch of mental reinforcement reached a number of nearby staff, none of whom were currently looking in Emma's direction. There was a subtle turning, a review of who had mentioned it and then a sudden nod and one officer not quite scurrying in the direction of a knot of passengers and officers.

~You do know how to get results,~ Wanda mused, watching with her head still tilted down in a submissive gesture as the man reached the group. It wasn't outwardly obvious if you weren't looking for it but since they both were, it was easy to see the almost too casual way that several of them detached themselves from the others after a few words. With smiles of apology, they slipped away and headed for Emma and Wanda.

~It's a gift,~ responded Emma wryly. ~A gift bestowed on those of us who inherit truly stupid amounts of wealth and privilege. It will be interesting to see what they intend to offer me to make up for my "disappointment".~

Both men wore modified navel uniforms although the older man's had a lavish amount of gold braid worked into the epaulets and sleeves.

"Miss Bauer, please accept my apologies for not greeting you as you came about. I'm Commander Brian Razanmany and this is Captain Herbert Mudd. We want to be sure you know, anything you desire is our utmost priority."

"Faugh, Brian, Brian. This is a lady of class and refinement. She already knows her wishes must be our priority." Mudd said, unctuously maneuvering himself in front of her.

Wanda had no idea up until the very moment she did it that one could telepathically transmit a gagging noise. ~I am going to need a shower,~ she said morosely after a moment, having shifted slightly. She was now slightly further away from Emma though not far enough to cause offense, head tilted down in a subservient manner. It looked to those watching like she'd moved to show deference but, in reality, she'd done so to get a better view of the two men.

~Welcome to my life,~ Emma's ironic tones rang through Wanda's head. "Captain Mudd," replied Emma, in a tone exquisitely judged to be polite on the surface, while making it perfectly clear that she considered the Captain as being worth little more than his namesake on the bottom of her shoes. "Commander Ramsany." It was obvious that the mispronunciation was deliberately uncaring. "I am finding your boat acceptable. I presume," Emma raised her chin at a small scene happening on the other side of the party, where a dishevelled waitress was being held tightly by a man with his hand up her skirt, a resigned smile painted on her face, "that if I don't find her," she waved a flippant hand back at Wanda, "sufficiently pleasing later this evening, there will be no concerns if I need to discipline her." While phrased as a question, it was clear that Emma knew what the answer would be.

"My dear, I have no doubt that you'll find her sufficiently pleasing. Frankly, I would be astonished if you don't find her so pleasing as to want to discipline her regardless." His eyes flicked to Wanda's briefly, a hard look appearing momentarily and then disappearing, like a fin into dark water. "We are here to cater to your whim."

The only outward sign that Wanda had seen the look was the slight tightening of her hold on the serving tray she still carried. Let him think it was fear that colored her knuckles white and not a sudden desire to introduce him to bodily harm. ~New Christmas wish: his head on this platter.~

~I'll see what I can arrange,~ responded Emma. "Of course you are," replied Emma. "Of course, she may prove breakable. I've found so many people are so easily broken." Emma made a small moue of displeasure. "It's so tedious when they cry. Or bleed. If I should need to replace her, how would you arrange that for me?"

"Our services are quite discrete, Miss Bauer. I won't inconvenience you with too much detail. Suffice to say, a ready and willing replacement of whatever particular age or... ahem, flavour you desire will be procured, if not already on board."

While the men had been talking, something had caught Wanda's eye and she carefully focused her attention past Mudd and Razanmany. Two people she hadn't noticed before shifted slightly in the crowd and, from their posture, she realized that they had probably followed at a 'tasteful' distance. ~Emma, right behind the couple trying to get the Captain's attention.~ she sent, her thoughts suddenly heavy.

Wanda was no longer paying attention as Emma swiftly ended the conversation with the Captain. She was tracking the two that shadowed the men as they drifted away through the crowd.

Mutates.