“Maybe no stick, just hands. My concern is that I saw the man, even if I cannot recall details.”Stavro hesitated. While he did so, his youngest br...ther ran over with a cup of cocoa for Helena. She thanked him and took it, then waited for him to leave and turned back to Stavro.“And there’s something else that you didn’t want to discuss in front of your mother or the rest of the family.” Helen said.Stavro nodded and resumed.“I was a teenager when you were crowned, Contessa. I recall the things. To his surprise, she responded to it. He explained he had been a firefighter for a while, was divorced, and had two children. He also gave a physical description of himself. He had salt and pepper hair and was balding. Jeanne did not know what she thought of the baldhead since she always had liked men with lots of hair and preferably curls. One day he asked her to call him at the station. Oh, what a wonderful voice this man had along with a great laugh. I guess being the shy man he is he did. And there was my first command decision.“NAV, how long until the Vertus passes behind Thesius?”“15 minutes, sir.”“Guns, how long until the Venti passes out of missile range?”“35 minutes, Sir.”“Guns, ready a shipkiller. Your target is the Venti. We shoot in 17 minutes, when the Vertus passes below the Thessian horizon.”Guns looked at me like I was nuts. I didn’t blame her. We hadn’t been identified by the Sa’arm. We had almost eight days before our situation would be critical. But things weren’t. The girl would mount the machine like you would a horse placing one foot in the foot rest and swinging her leg over the side placing her other foot in the second foot rest both feet restrained with leather straps. Sitting in a kneeling position with the girls chin in a padded chin rest her head would be bound with similar leather restraints. Once this was done the girls hands would be bound behind her back if that hadn’t already been done by force before mounting "The Jessica".The machine binds.