by Mel Todd
The male jerked his head towards another room on the ship. "Head to the training room. Prove you are the best."
Perc found himself heading in the direction indicated and the body he rode, maybe it was his body, without a mirror he couldn't be sure, fell into exercises that he knew were meant to teach him to kill. They moved with this shape, this hybrid body, and he smoothly moved through the patterns as if he'd done them a thousand times before.
"All Kaylid report to the hanger. The Commander is arriving."
No chaos, just ordered filing out. He found himself moving down a long mustard brown hall. He filed in with the rest, males, females, and a few he wanted to look at because the clues his eyes received made no sense. None of them looked human, but then neither did he, but not all were bipedal. Some had four arms, some only a thumb and two long fingers, at least one had three legs and three arms. As much as he wanted to look, his head fixed straight ahead on the vehicle sitting in the middle of the large area.
It's a space shuttle. Holy shit, it's a space shuttle.
He wanted to take a look and figure out how it flew. Did this mean they could travel between planets? But he couldn't even twitch a finger.
"Attention," the voice boomed in and outside his head.
A sound blared over and over and he waited for the Commander but the sound just kept blaring. Perc opened his eyes to realize his alarm made the awful noise.
He shut it off, lying there, thinking. Yes, a day with JD sounded really good. Maybe he'd experienced something similar. That or bad guys were coming for him from outer space.
Perc snorted and rolled out of bed. He had too much stuff to do than allow his subconscious to play back all the sci-fi movies he'd watched as a kid. With that thought he headed through his day, looking forward to drinks with JD and getting to meet McKenna. A nice normal day where nothing more exciting than a burning a piece of meat would occur.
14
Epilogue
Promotions are on tap for our local heroine, Officer McKenna Largo, or to be more accurate Detective Largo. After rescuing herself from the hands of kidnappers, getting all the kids back safe, the department has confirmed her promotion to Detective. We here at KWAK news couldn't be prouder of our heroine. We wish her the best of luck in her new role, and we are sure she'll make us all proud. ~KWAK News
The disconnect of the line had a level of finality in it that set his teeth on edge, even as he fought back a smile. One man with too many brain cells had derailed plans that had cost him every favor and a bit of leverage he had much, much earlier than he had originally planned. But either way the capital he had spent seeded the thoughts and ideas he wanted to start filtering through the public perception.
Leaning back, a slow smile stretched his face. Now if any medical issues come up, the idea had already filtered through the collective consciousness of fans, and people would wonder if something was there to explain it. A bit of long-term planning but he expected it to be very beneficial when he needed to make his move.
But, he still experienced the desire to throw the phone across the room; instead he set it down and pulled out a spiral journal out of the inner pocket of his suit coat. He had wanted more time to allow the idea of shifters having risky medical issues awaiting them filter into the public space; his ultimate plan did not change.
Though his effort to get the shifters to feel disenfranchised, off balance, and persecuted didn't work as well. Just because you were equal under the law didn't mean people would hire you, work with you, or date you. Percival Alexander had derailed a lot of that by standing up too fast. He had assumed he'd have been able to get them all to bend much more before any of them pushed back.
His ultimate goal hadn't changed and even this worked towards it. A smile creased his face as he made a note to send social messages to imply the shifters had threatened people to get the suspension lifted. Another bit of misdirection that would pay off down the road. Eventually, he'd have an army of grateful beings that were his to control. But he had time, he didn't need to make his move for another decade or so.
Looking at his notes he tried to analyze exactly where the error in his plans crept in, he should have had at least a month or more before the pressure reached a breaking point. Visibility and scope. The cop would have been easier, as she didn't have an active social presence to speak of but she had enough fans that it could have gotten ugly. In the long term the athletes were a better bet. Hard to have as much sympathy for people who make millions of dollars and then waste it publicly. People paid attention and are always willing to believe the worst, especially if public features are involved in some sort of scandal. If his people had done their jobs correctly, people would have wondered why they were suspended in the first place and that would have made them wonder if something was being hidden.
Flipping to his project chart in the back of the notebook, he adjusted it a bit, but the ultimate goal didn't change at all. He just might have to work a bit harder to make some of the pieces move the way he needed them to. A flash of light pulled his attention to the silent TV and the news scroll playing on it. The triumphant escape by Officer Largo.
He snorted in disgust. A smart man would have shot her and kept the younger cop. Even from the brief photos they had shared after the shooting he could see she would have been easy to control. Largo seemed smart, competent. And that meant she would cause problems.
He pushed it away, for now she wasn't his problem. Percival Alexander on the other hand, needed to be removed. He had single handedly destroyed a plan he'd spent way too much political capital on. That would not be tolerated. But for now it was a problem for another day.
He rose and cleared off his desk blotter, making sure the three letters on the crest had nothing obscuring them. Reminding him exactly what his job was, to protect this country. He straightened and walked out of the office, shutting the door and locking it behind him. Tomorrow he would start on taking care of business and maybe calling in a few of his less elite favors.
"Goodnight, sir," the security guard called as he walked out. The wage slave was favored with a smile and a nod and he walked out of the government building, already planning tomorrow's activities. The ringing of his cell phone caught his attention as he slipped into his car. The number didn't ring a bell though but he could tell it originated in Northern California. He let it go to voice mail; you never answered a call, it let people think they mattered.
He let his car warm up, and a beep interrupted his thoughts. Not spam. He glanced at the transcript and froze. The car rumbled around him while he stared at the transcript. With narrowed eyes he hit call back.
"Yes?"
"After all these years, you're calling in that favor. Why do I feel it has something to do with a certain shifter cop?"
He leaned back and listened, wondering how he could use this to his benefit.
Authors Note:
I hope you enjoyed the first novella in the Kaylid Chronicles. This novella will fill in stories about the characters, things going on alongside the main stories and other places that might be of interest. Visit my website at www.badashpublishing.com to sign up for my newsletter and find out about the next books coming out in this series.
If you haven't already read my other books you can get them at these links.
Kaylid Chronicles Book 1: No Choice
Kaylid Chronicles Book 2: Commander
Novella 2 & 3 will be out soon.
Happy reading!
Mel Todd
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mel Todd has three cats, none of which can turn into a form with opposable thumbs, which is good. If they could do that they wouldn't need her anymore. Writing and trying to start her empire, she decided creating her own worlds was less work than ruling this one.
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