<div align="center"><strong>-= Ferret – Back room of her floral shop – talking business with Sasha =-</strong></div><br/>A smug grin was afforded to Si at his reply to her greeting. She liked the way the retired Rear Admiral handled himself, the way he dressed, and the way he quickly returned her fire. Letting her gaze linger on him a little longer than was needed, Ferret pulled her focus back to Sasha.<br/><br/>The confident, young woman was not only very easy on the eyes, but she possessed a certain aura to her that commanded respect. In fact, Sasha very much reminded Ferret of herself when she was a younger woman and still working as a Companion. She had taken a liking to the stunning brunette from the day that Griff had introduced them.<br/><br/>Listening intently as Sasha began, Ferret reclined in her comfortably worn old office chair, resting her elbows on the faded, brown leather arm rests. As her steely blue eyes bore into the young woman before her, she steepled her fingers, bringing her index fingers to rest gently against her soft, lush lips painted a vibrant shade of crimson.<br/><br/><strong>“Well fuck me silly, Ferret. I thought for sure you must be more’n bored with the same-ole same-ole, so I brought you some fresh meat to tantalize those beautiful eyes of yours.” </strong><br/><br/>Her words held as much attitude as the young woman communicated with her body language, a quality that Ferret admired in a person, unless the deliver was off and she found it more offensive than amusing. It was a dangerous game of cat and mouse that Sasha played with the older woman. She was all too aware that those who landed on Ferret’s bad side would, at the very least, be blacklisted, making it damn near impossible to find any work on Persephone. Those who found themselves at the top of Ferret’s shit list eventually found themselves without their head, or adrift in the black minus a ship to drift in. Ferret’s reputation preceded her; she was not a woman to be trifled with. So as Sasha retorted in her typical manner, treating the woman who was at least twenty years her senior as though she were one of her own subordinates, a dangerous smirk flitted across her elegant features.<br/><br/>At Sasha’s prompting, Ferret shifted her eyes back to Steve again, considering the younger woman’s words only briefly. She held her gaze fixed on Steve, giving the illusion of genuine interest in the big man as Sasha continued.<br/><br/><strong>“Ain’t he somethin?  Oh, and thank you for letting me know where the Cap’n got off to, I was wondering what peck o’ trouble he might be fixin’ to get mixed up in since I last saw him.”</strong><br/><br/>A subtle nod of her head accompanied a quiet confirmation of Sasha’s words, “Mmm.” Making a move towards Ferret, Sasha leaned her lithe frame over the workbench where Ferret’s current project sat. Finding the younger woman’s new posturing both appealing yet unfavorable, Ferret looked up into Sasha’s pretty blue eyes with an inexplicably displeased expression. She let her own blue eyes follow the fall of her silky dark hair over the gentle swell of a soft, full breast. Tilting her head slightly to one side, she patiently waited for Sasha to conclude her carefully orchestrated verbal affront.<br/><br/><strong>“However, my beautiful peng you, if this is truly an unexpected visit then I’ve got no time for fang zong feng kuang de jie, and the Cap’n’s gonna be mighty unhappy to learn he’s been misinformed about a certain opportunity.”</strong><br/><br/>Just to be certain the younger woman was indeed finished, Ferret waited a few measures after Sasha finished her dialogue little speech. Satisfied that the other woman was done, Ferret plastered on her most convincing, graceful smile and let her steepled fingers fall away from her mouth. She slowly pushed herself from her chair and leaned over the workbench, mirroring Sasha's pose. Her dark snakeskin jacket parted at her bust as she leaned over, revealing her own soft, full breasts partially encased in a sexy, lacy demi bra.<br/><br/>“Fang zong feng kuang de jie?” She feigned a hurtful pout, shaking her head in a disapproving manner. “Tsk tsk tsk tsk. My dear Sasha,” she said, her voice dangerously smooth and calm, like silk sheets sliding sensually against a woman’s delicate curves. “I think you are forgetting who you’re dealing with, Bao bei.” Reaching out with one slender hand, Ferret gently brushed back the offending pony tail from Sasha’s breast. Letting her fingers lightly graze the soft swell of flesh there, Ferret’s eyes once again fell to the deliciously sloping curves of Sasha’s bosom. “You’re going about this all wrong," she said as she smiled sweetly, looking into her eyes once more. "A beautiful woman such as you would do much better for herself, and her compatriots, to play nice with me. I assure you it would be in your best interest.”<br/><br/>Carefully tossing the younger woman’s pony tail back over her shoulder, Ferret reached out and gently palmed Sasha’s cheek, gently caressing her pretty face. “Otherwise, the Cap’n’s gonna be mighty unhappy to learn his overzealous first officer got him blacklisted from ever finding work on Persephone again. So, whatta’ya say, Bao bei hu li jing? Can we play nice, or do I have to make things ugly for you and yours?”<br/><br/><hr/><br/>bao bei = darling<br/>bao bei hu li jing = darling vixen<br/>Fang zong feng kuang de jie = A knot of self-indulgent lunacy