<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/2/2f/Captain_Braxton_T._Early.jpg)<br/>    <strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: comic sans ms;">Braxton T. Early</span></strong></div><strong>Name</strong>: Braxton Early<br/><strong>Occupation:</strong>Captain<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Bridge , The Line , Deep Space (on route to Shadow)<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Two days out from Shadow<br/><strong>With:</strong>Mya, Open<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><strong>"To the Line, may she, and her captain, and his first mate, and her pilot, and her engineer, and her doctor, and her domestic help, and the rest of her crew, and her passengers, have a fast, safe, enjoyable, peaceful journey.  <em>Gan beyh</em>*."</strong></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><strong><em>„Gan beyh“</em></strong>Braxton replied and took a sip. No one except for him, Serenity and Mya seemed to really honor the sparkly. The rest just did like Phil and chucked it down like it was rutting mudder’s milk.<strong>“And let me be the first to say that you are much more to us than just domestic help, Sue! To Sue, for whom being a fantastic cook is just one of his many talents!”</strong><br/><br/>Braxton couldn’t really take Elfi’s glass in front of everyone, but neither could he let the toast stand as the man had probably<em>meant</em>it. So he gave his slave permission to drink with a nod and tried to ignore the situation as much as possible. With any luck, Sue would quietly accept the compliment and not rectify the ‘misunderstanding’.<br/><br/>The captain shook his head as Elfi hurried to to top off his glass. These people! Didn’t they have<em>any</em>propriety? Letting the girl drink the good stuff – and at the table, no less – was bad enough. But mentioning her with praise in the same sentence as proper gentlemen and ladies? That was…unthinkable. The serpent across the table was smiling of course, probably silently congratulating herself for another poisonous pinprick well delivered.<br/><br/>As if putting big ideas into the slave girl’s head would help her any! The foolish bleeding hearts from the Core all acted as if Elfie could somehow lift herself up from the mud like proper folk if she only got enough encouragement. But Braxton knew slaves long enough to know that this was never the case. All teaching or freeing a slave had ever gotten anyone was a walking, talking drinking problem on welfare…or a bullet in the back.<br/><br/>Did he really have to point out who picked the bountiful crops they were eating? Who cut the wood and made the chairs they were sitting on? Who mined the He<sub>3</sub>that propelled them through the void? And not a single one of them gave a gorram thought about it, although it must have been on the backs of their minds on occasion. No, these people were not helping Elfi, they probably didn't even<em>meant</em>to help her. All they did was help themselves not feel guilty for the comforts they enjoyed and she did not. And there was no changing it, because that was the way the Verse turned, no matter how much you hollered at it to stop.<br/><br/>In their selfishness, all they did was make sure that Elfi needed more straightening out later, never thinking about how unpleasant that might be for all involved. But considering the alternatives, it was a kindness, really.<br/>