Longshot Hypothesis

by Blaze Ward

  Lianearia really had no idea what sort of power and possibility she was sitting on here. Again, he was just the man to educate her.

  A woman approached Lianearia, as he watched. Spoke with her briefly.

  Nash watched the nods and body language. This seemed important.

  Lianearia turned and walked into the back. The stranger followed, glancing once around the room to make sure she wasn’t followed.

  Interesting.

  Has dear Lianearia tired of her pretty boy already? Was he inadequate to her needs, that she was already shopping around for her next victim?

  The stranger was a woman, but far too old to be a potential dancer joining the group. No, she had a more official look, as if she represented some greater organization.

  Was Lianearia about to take the step into the big time without him? That would never do.

  Not the upgrade. That was already in the cards. But he would need to be cut in on that deal ahead of time, whatever it was. Especially if it meant slicing off the new captain who had caused such troubles at Dominion Prime and catching all the contracts at a moment when they were closed off.

  How better to insert himself, than at that very instant when Lianearia was already about to open a new chapter?

  Nash controlled himself before he preened. It took everything he had not to dance a little jig as he considered the future rolling out in front of him.

  Let Lianearia get rid of her little transport captain boy, and be all set to hire a new one, and he could just swoop in and take charge of everything, like he was meant to.

  It would be so lovely, finally getting that woman to understand the nature way of things.

  He watched the two women disappear into the back and thought happy thoughts as the crowd slowly built around him, jostling him occasionally but still not harming the happiness that seemed to flow off his being. A few females passing close even smiled at him, sensing the joy he exuded, even if they were completely clueless as to the origin.

  In other circumstances, he might even chat a few of them up, but he had too many other things to accomplish tonight. Perhaps tomorrow he would be in a position to seduce one of these lovely, foolish young ladies into doing things she would embarrassed to admit later to her rabbi.

  For now, he settled in to watch.

  22

  Valentinian

  As dives and dancehalls went, Valentinian did think the joint wasn’t all that impressive. Three dumb bouncers at the front. Two of the men looked like what everyone expected bouncers to be like. Nearly as tall as Dave, but much heavier, with bulk making up for the lethality his first mate brought to the table.

  The third one was the dangerous-looking one, at least to Valentinian. Shorter than Valentinian and skinny. Wiry in ways that suggested he would be a mongoose to the other two men’s sluggish bears.

  Not that Valentinian was planning to start trouble here tonight, but you never knew on a strange planet.

  He had moved his shock pistol to a shoulder holster under his jacket back on the ship. Here, it just got an eyebrow raised, but nothing more. Which told Valentinian what kind of joint this was.

  Not that he had any doubts. Tartarus City had a reputation as a hard place. Carrying a shock pistol wasn’t illegal, nor would a stunner be. Only something heavier would cause the bouncers to refuse entry.

  Which just meant that they had superior firepower on call, if they thought they needed it. That thought actually brought greater peace to Valentinian, although Dave remained twitchy. Not enough bar fights in his time, obviously.

  They ended up at the bar first, where they got translucent plastic cups of thin, watery beer that still cost too many Solars. Again, Valentinian wasn’t really surprised. Places like this made their money at the bar, not the front door.

  Water down the drinks and add some salt whenever possible to make you thirsty. Free salty snacks. Play the music loud and energetic, to get you dancing and sweaty, so you needed to buy more. It was a scam, but a legitimate-enough one.

  Valentinian just knew he was just too cheap to hang out at places like this for fun. He preferred the quiet dives where the drinks were honest and the pretty people elsewhere.

  He led Dave to a side wall and found a booth up on an head-high, elevated walkway over the room, with a good view of the dance floor and the stage. He had seen Solaria Femina practicing their routines in the cargo bay, but never with all the right lighting and sound gear. To say nothing of the costumes he expected.

  It would be a fun night, assuming no trouble. And even Nash wouldn’t be stupid enough to show up the first night and start trouble. He’d need time to scout the ground. Heading home later, maybe. More likely tomorrow.

  “So we just sit here?” Dave ask/yelled over the thumping earthquake of the song playing.

  “I am,” Valentinian called back. “Feel free to go down and dance, or drink some more. I’m only buying the first round.”

  Dave grinned at him and sat back, looking like a just-fed lion surrounded by hyenas and rabbits. Valentinian wondered where that put him, but not too much. If Dave wanted to get laid, he knew the way back to the ship, and the codes to open the airlock.

  Hopefully, the man would have the sense to get a room in town, rather than bring a date back to the ship, but they’d burn that bridge if it became necessary. Dave had been good crew, so far, so Valentinian wouldn’t begrudge the man blowing off some steam.

  He just didn’t want to deal with the bimbos on the dance floor. And he was too cheap to find a professional. At least tonight. Give him another month or three surrounded by all those gorgeous teenagers and he might be chasing after the cook, Hiranur. She was the nicest to be around of all of them anyway.

  Valentinian felt old. And Dave struck him as a rookie. It was a weird reversal of the normal flow of things. Especially since Dave had kids his age.

  But he supposed it was the light-years, and not the seasons that counted. Dave had apparently been pretty sheltered for a long time, which didn’t surprise Valentinian. The Caelons were an insular group, and Valentinian had no doubt the man had been one of the Dominator’s Assault Cavalry troopers. No other branch had that way of walking, proud and arrogant in their utter disdain for little people.

  Not that Dave had ever pulled that shit, but it was in the eyes. The set of the shoulders. Even the way the man walked.

  Killer.

  Even the girls around here picked up on it, going out of their way to walk by and smile at the big man. Valentinian was used to being the center of attention with lots of pretty girls, and he got his share of looks, but they had a hunger in their eyes when they looked at Dave.

  Valentinian shrugged and decided that he might be getting in Dave’s way. Chasing off the girls who might be of a mind to just walk up and slide into the booth to breathlessly introduce themselves. It had happened to Valentinian more than once.

  Dave would probably be shocked out of his mind the first time some girl did it to him. Valentinian slid to the edge of the booth with a grin.

  The big guy needed a little R&R.

  “What’s up?” Dave called.

  “Nothing,” Valentinian replied. “Just going to scout the joint and hit the head before there’s a line. Maybe find Madame Cleray and say hello.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Dave suddenly looked uncomfortable and started to join him.

  “You stay here,” Valentinian waved him back. “Save the table and keep an eye on the crowd. And don’t let too many pretty girls seduce you.”

  He liked the way Dave’s face blushed. The man probably had no clue how badly he might carbonate the hormones of some of these women. Impregnate them just by smiling their way with that lion face of his.

  Valentinian laughed to himself and aimed for the front of the building, next to the main bar off to the side of the stage. Take a leak first and then go find their employer.

  At least tonight would give him some time to relax.

  23

  Nash
/>   Oh, my, what have we hear?

  Nash hadn’t seen Captain Tarasicodissa enter the club, but there he was. Walking along towards the bar with apparently no care in the world. And he had missed Nash in the crowd, but that was as much by luck as by design.

  Tonight, Nash had gone in for black and gray. It would stand out only if he decided he wanted to get out on the dancefloor with some pretty filly, since they were all in the brightest outfits imaginable. Colors across the entire spectrum, bound together only by being tight and metallic and occasionally sheer, if you saw them turn the right way.

  Advertising sexual promiscuity in the loudest, and yet most subtle way possible.

  Perhaps another time. Not only was Lianearia Cleray here, but so was her doxie, Tarasicodissa.

  My, my, my. What fun can we have with this?

  Nash moved in along a parallel course to the man. The club was enormous, but there were only so many places you could go inside. He followed the young captain down past the bar and watched him enter the restroom.

  That was too compact a space. Nash would probably be noticed. Might even just run into the man coming as the youngster was going, and possibly be recognized.

  No, that would just never do.

  Surely Lianearia had warned the boy that things weren’t over between them, hadn’t she?

  Instead of following, Nash pulled out his card-reader and sent a quick message off to Arturious, patiently waiting with a few friends in a large land truck a few blocks away. Letting him know there would be two guests for dinner, rather than one. Nothing incriminating enough to be used against them later, as it were.

  He found a spot and waited. If the youngster was here, it was possible his overly-dangerous crewman was as well.

  There. Seated on the sidewall, surrounded at a discrete distance by young women like a pack of wolves seeking to bring down an ox. Just so, they would distract the big man at the opportune moment, none the wiser.

  Nash couldn’t resist. He licked his lips with anticipation of his revenge, chuckling inside that he could magically bring it all off tonight, and relaunch his career into the absolute stratosphere of elite society so much earlier than he had anticipated.

  Cleray just had no idea how to bring in the big players to market something like Solaria Femina. And that insistence on maintaining an image of virginal purity for the girls.

  Seriously?

  Although, perhaps there was something powerful in that thing you could not have.

  Perhaps what was needed was to add an older group of such women. Just graduated from the junior varsity, which was only focused on pretty and talented.

  Yes, take that and play up the dangerous elements. Bad girls. Femme fatales. Women stepping out and flaunting their raw sexuality with power and hunger.

  There might be no limits whatsoever to what Nash could accomplish, once he convinced Lianearia to put him in charge and let him run things. She was talented as a songwriter and exceptional at recruiting. Let him work on expanding the franchise across a wider audience.

  Whoops. There’s our captain. Can’t get so wrapped up in ourselves that we lose the boy, or let him see us.

  Nash watched the lad walk purposefully across that tiny space at the front of the stage that wasn’t overly crowded with dancing girls.

  Where is he going? Oh, of course. To see his employer.

  How delightfully perfect!

  Nash moved after the man like a predator sliding through high grass.

  Watched Tarasicodissa approach the man guarding the rear of the facility and exchange pleasantries. Obviously, Lianearia had left him on the guest list, because Tarasicodissa was quickly ushered through the door and into the back of the club.

  Nash paused just long enough to reach back and touch the stun pistol tucked into the back of his belt, confirming that he could get at it quickly enough.

  And now, my dears, let us have a private conversation. Of course, off-site, but don’t worry, I brought transport. And if you don’t want to go, I’ll just have to shoot you and have one of Arturious’s men pick you up and bring you along.

  At last.

  24

  Kyriaki

  She had learned the art of being unseen in a crowd when she was younger. Kyriaki had never been the most beautiful girl in her class. Or the smartest. Or the most athletic. Tallest. Shortest.

  Perhaps none of the –est options.

  Unless you counted ambition. Then she probably was the hungriest. The one driven the hardest. It got her into the burgundy and white.

  It got her here.

  But she was functionally invisible now, watching people come and go. She knew Cleray was here. And she had spotted Tarasicodissa and Hall, reclining in a booth to one side. They had a good view of the dance floor and the stage, but the lights on the rest of the club would obscure her, although she doubted either man would remember what she looked like after their one, brief encounter.

  Still, best not to take any chances. She could observe the man in his natural condition. See who he met with. What choices he made.

  What made Valentinian Tarasicodissa tick.

  She watched him banter with Hall for a few minutes, sipping beer like neither of them had a care in the world.

  Like the White Hats weren’t always watching you…

  Her target rose and made his way down front. Presumably visiting the head.

  Kyriaki moved to keep both men in view, just another girl in this club checking out the fresh meat.

  As if.

  Her new spot was closer to the door to the rear of the club, across the dance floor from the main bar. It kept her distant and ill-defined, while letting her watch.

  Someone else moved in such a way that he seemed to be shadowing Tarasicodissa. The flickering lights were enough to obscure the stranger’s face, but his movement was out of synch with the rest of the bar, so he stood out to her like a dandelion in a rose bush.

  Strobes lit the dance floor as a new song started.

  Past the spike of blindness, Kyriaki recognized the man stalking Valentinian.

  Nash Bogomelous.

  How utterly perfect.

  She smiled. Checked around the man for the bodyguards she would have expected. Saw none.

  Kyriaki couldn’t decide if that made things better or worse.

  Was a man like Nash more dangerous without backup, when he might be desperate, or with help, when he could play the bully?

  Still, it let her get closer to the man that she might have, otherwise. He was too focused on Valentinian to pay much attention to her.

  Kyriaki found a good spot and watched.

  Valentinian emerged from the restrooms and began to head across the base of the stage towards her. But more importantly, towards the door to the rear where Cleray waited with her girls.

  Probably checking in with the woman. Possibly sneaking a chance to see the girls in some state of indecent nudity as they got into their costumes. Kyriaki growled under her breath.

  The bouncer by the door let the man through grumpily, after making a performance out of checking the list of acceptable names. Kyriaki was nearly annoyed on behalf of Valentinian, but the man seemed rather mellow, considering what she had read in his file.

  She turned her attention back to Nash, just in time to see the man lift his jacket and uncover a stun pistol in a rear holster.

  Kyriaki really didn’t like the look in the man’s eyes as he started after Valentinian. That was the sort of face a man made when he was about to cause a ruckus. Considering the interpersonal dynamics at play, Kyriaki was away from the column that had been mock-supporting her weight and moving after Nash as quickly as she could thread through the crowd.

  Her small stature worked against her here. The mob was heavier, the closer she got to the dance floor.

  She watched Nash approach the bouncer and draw his stun pistol from under his coat. The man’s expression was turned away from her, but the smile on the bouncer’s face spoke volumes about t
he ambush that was about to happen.

  Briefly, she considered drawing her own stun pistol, but the range was too great, and the crowd too heavy to get a sure shot off.

  And from here, she would just cause the rabbits to scatter. Right at the moment she had them all in one trap.

  Kyriaki pushed, knowing she would be too late to get there before whatever confrontation happened.

  Nash lacking bodyguards left her cold. The back of her mind added the pieces together and decided that he had left them nearby, and was just waiting his chance to pull his own ambush on Cleray and her captain.

  She muttered one of the foulest obscenities she knew and elbowed a tall blond out of the way hard enough that the woman might be peeing blood tomorrow.

  Kyriaki didn’t wait around long enough to ask.

  25

  Valentinian

  Through the door, Valentinian felt his humor improving already, but that was just the volume of the music coming down to merely painful thresholds from what it had been outside.

  There was a reason he liked quiet dives. Or the ones with occasional jazz bands. Less of an audible assaults.

  The back of the house almost felt like a movie set, with half the walls just raw metal beams that had been painted, rather than wood and finish like the front. Down the hallway, as he had been directed, Valentinian turned left at the first juncture and went through a doorway into a larger space.

  If it had been smaller, he would have called it a Green Room, but it was big enough to hold all of Solaria Femina right now. Not just the nine girls, but the rest of the support staff that was on site, so about fifteen people.

  And it wasn’t even that crowded in here.