Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens

by Robert E Colfax

  “Urania?” Ron said.

  Chapter 5

  Goram Interstellar

  Two months earlier, they all experienced feelings of déjà vu on receipt of a request to meet with Habu Aktan, the president and chief executive officer of Goram Interstellar. Not so long ago, a similar invitation from Jackson Meeham, president of Universal Underwriters, the largest insurance concern on the planet, had been received by them. As freelance insurance investigators, Aeolus dealt regularly with the insurance giants on Cardin’s Paradise, although usually with echelons far below that of the president.

  Their last three jobs, finding and rescuing some of the royal family of Borgol, freeing Lexi after she was kidnapped by bounty hunters, and most recently saving the world of Ostrieachia from being taken over by a pirate civilization, were moving them farther and farther in the direction of being secret agents, as Geena named them. None of the team could dispute her call. Returning to Cardin’s Paradise after dealing with the Ostrieachia problem, with a desire to get back to what they considered their vocation, insurance investigators, they were pleased to get the call from Goram.

  Those prior jobs had little to do with the insurance investigation business. As Geena pointed out more than once they were morphing into secret agents with Ron even asking for a decoder ring. His experimental vodka martinis proved undrinkable. Their most recent job, investigating issues in the Ostrieachian system was successfully wrapped up to just about everyone’s satisfaction. Now back on Cardin’s Paradise, they had feelers out for a new job. They were vacationing at their favorite resort when the Goram message reached them.

  At the meeting held two years ago at Universal, they were introduced to Jadkim E’Kret, a prince of the royal family of Borgol. Their subsequent quest to rescue his kidnapped family members solidified Lexi’s position as the leader of the Aeolus team and indirectly opened the door for them to finally and legally arm Urania. Today’s invitation was slightly more unusual in that they had no prior dealings with Goram.

  They arrived just prior to the requested time and were whisked with the utmost courtesy to a small conference room on the top floor of the building. After a wait of no more than a few minutes, the doors opened and nine others entered the room. All three of the partners politely stood. Lexi’s eyebrows shot up seeing two Vankovians in the midst of the group.

  Vankovians were an interesting race, biologically and culturally. With minor differences, they were mammalian, although the Earth definition she had grown up with had to be bent a little bit to cover them. Both were relatively short by human standards, coming to just below her shoulders, which would make them just over five feet tall. Vankovians had six limbs; two sturdy looking legs and four spindly fur-covered arms. That, along with Vankovian facial features made her think of spiders despite the fact that she was well aware that spiders had eight legs. The barrel chest somehow accentuated the look.

  One wore the uniform of High Admiral, indicating he ranked just below the Imperials. Since there could only be one High Admiral, this would be Seekateeki. He hadn’t been a member of the Vankovian delegation she met fifteen months ago at their friend Jis’s coronation on Ackalon. She wondered idly if Urania, watching all of this via the teams’ comm-gear, would like to meet him. Urania had been built by the Vankovians over a century ago.

  Seekateeki was accompanied by one other Vankovian, wearing the uniform of a Senior Captain. The other seven were human or at least humanoid. The older woman who led the group into the conference room took charge of the meeting. “Let’s all take our seats and then we will proceed to introductions.” Once seated at the head of the conference table, she waited impatiently for everyone else to sit, before she said, “I am Habu Aktan, president of Goram Interstellar. Seated with us at the table, other than my staff, are High Admiral Seekateeki of the Vankovian Empire and his aide. In addition, we have our client’s representative, Doctor Fajesh Iki.” Focusing on the Aeolus team, she continued, “We all know who you are so we can skip to a discussion of the situation which prompted your invitation here.”

  Geena covered her frown with her hand at Habu’s abruptness. She had run into people like Habu before and they always rubbed her the wrong way. Habu continued, “Over the last two years, your Aeolus Investigations partnership has built an enviable reputation for being tough, resourceful and for getting the job done. That is why you were invited here today. Our clients have misplaced something quite valuable belonging to Vankovia. Simply put, we want you to find it.” She stopped and in the silence that followed, glanced at Seekateeki and prompted, “High Admiral?”

  In a raspy, low-pitched voice, his command of Ritue slightly flawed, he said, “The Empire contracted with Grebal Laboratories on Sandlin for certain research, the nature of which must remain confidential. Doctor Iki and his team spent several years on the project. The biological specimens they produced were loaded into a stasis chamber. This was placed on an armed Vankovian scout. One of the Grebal medical technicians accompanied the chamber. The scout left Sandlin on a direct flight to Vankovia thirty-two weeks ago. The scout never arrived. Sandlin is quite distant from Vankovia. Still, under the most turbulent hyperspace conditions, the transit time should not exceed nineteen weeks.”

  “Surely your fleet is scouring space for your missing ship?” Geena asked in flawless Vankovian.

  “Of course,” he said, pleasantly surprised at this human’s command of his language. “However, Grebal took out an insurance policy on the delivery. There is no reason for us not to take advantage of that. Word does get around. Aeolus Investigations has been highly praised by both Ackalon and Borgol. In both those cases, you succeeded long after the trail had gone cold. Additionally, intriguing rumors have recently started circulating relating to your involvement in certain peculiar activities in the Ostrieachian system.”

  Doctor Iki spoke up. “Please? I don’t speak your language. What are you saying?” It was clear from their expressions that at least half of Aktan’s staff wasn’t following the conversation either.

  Habu Aktan, who clearly did understand what was being said, switched the discussion back to Ritue by stating, “You missed nothing worthwhile.” Turning to Geena, she said, “Admiral Seekateeki informs us that his scout was both inspected and groomed for its mission to Sandlin. System failure is unlikely. We suspect pirate activity, of course. Pirates are becoming far more aggressive, more and more of an irritation. Your team cleverly managed to create a loophole allowing your ship to be armed, giving you a better chance than most investigators in a confrontation. That is actually what impresses me the most about your team. And of course, as Seekateeki mentioned, you seem unusually talented at picking up trails that have gone cold.”

  She paused and looked directly at Lexi. “Furthermore, while Vankovia may still consider them to be rumors, I possess nearly full intelligence on the Ostrieachian situation, Chief Minister Stevens.” Habu smiled. “I rarely dispense praise. That was a job well done.”

  Well, we knew Ostrieachia was practically spy central. Lexi thought. To call me that, she knows I’m basically the ruler of Ostrieachia. Yet, she was more impressed that we got Urania armed. I wonder if she knows I also have a fleet reporting to me?

  Habu shrugged and turned her attention back to Geena, while the two Vankovians and her staff looked toward Lexi. “We are offering the standard ten percent of policy value for a successful recovery, an amount that in this case is relatively substantial. The details are on the pads in front of you. Do you need to discuss this between yourselves?”

  Over the comm-gear, Urania said, “I’m in.”

  Geena glanced from Ron to Lexi, getting a small nod from each of them. This was what they wanted to get back to doing. Tracking down lost and stolen objects. To Habu, she said, “No, that won’t be necessary. We’ll take the job. We can be ready to leave for Sandlin in three hours. Doctor Iki, we would appreciate it if you would accompany us on our ship. You can fill us in on much of the background information while we’re in hyp
er.”

  Somewhat taken off guard by the request, Iki said, “Yes, yes, of course. I need to get home somehow.”

  Seekateeki spoke up. “If you have room, my aide and I would like to travel back with you also. All three of us came out on a cramped fast-courier. I would rather not repeat the experience if other transport is available. We have to return to Sandlin regardless.”

  Chapter 6

  Seekateeki

  Until her recent remodel, Urania’s interior remained relatively unchanged from her origins as a Vankovian scout, built a century and a half ago. The plans to gut her and rebuild completely were put on hold when the Borgol mission came up. As a result of that mission, with Jis Boc Seckan joining the team, they realized they needed guest cabins -- a point they had all overlooked.

  Urania now boasted three permanent cabins, one technically a guest room although they frequently used it as an office. By sacrificing a negligible amount of interior space when closed, three other cabins were designed so they could be folded out from the walls as needed, permitting them to house the two Vankovians as well as Doctor Iki easily.

  On the twenty day flight from Cardin’s Paradise to Sandlin, Lexi attempted to discuss Doctor Iki’s work with him. At the start of the trip, he was more than happy to discuss his research, although he gave no specifics about the Vankovian project. Once he realized she was following even the very technical details of what he was talking about, he became extremely reclusive and retreated to his room. Seekateeki, after noticing that interaction, wore a strange smile on his face and started looking at the ship and its crew from a slightly more analytical perspective.

  He already noted that this ship was traveling faster, much faster, than a fast courier, as unlikely as that seemed. The turbulence normally experienced during a hyperspace transit was entirely absent. It was also impossible to miss the fact that parts of the ship had gravity, even with the hyperdrive active, a feat not only beyond the capabilities of Vankovian science, one he had been led to believe was an impossibility.

  In contrast to Doctor Iki, Seekateeki was quite gregarious. At his request, they held their conversations in Ritue. He was extremely interested in the ship and what had been done to her. He marveled equally at the weapons and the fact that some areas of the ship boasted gravity while in hyper, a condition universally believed to be impossible. He thoughtfully informed them that the technology they developed could make them all wealthy beyond imagining, a fact the team had already considered. None of them were ready to retire, even though at this point they could afford it.

  Space travelers tended to be storytellers if only to fend off the boredom of the weeks, and sometimes months, required to get from one planet to another. He filled them in on much of the history of the Vankovian Empire up to the present day. He also related some of the odder stories brought back by his fleet of scout vessels. Through all of this, Urania was forced to remain silent, speaking only to her team via the comm-gear. They all judged that, for the time being at least and despite recently revealing it to a few Ostrieachians, they should keep her sentience secret.

  Lexi related the story of how she joined Ron and Geena after stowing away on their ship. The Samues were on Earth searching for the Ackalonian artifact known as the Rose of Light. She left out the part of her amazing affinity with the educator, which was not mentioned at all. He was overly impressed that she had bested two Helgan soldiers with a sword.

  Like most of the citizens of the Accord, he held the mistaken belief that Helgans were all unbeatable, master swordsmen. Lexi, when forced into an Honor Duel with two of them, found them to be relatively inept. The fact was, no one else on the Accord worlds trained to use swords so the Helgans didn’t need to be all that good to be considered the best. Once she got past their unexpected speed and agility, it hadn’t been much of a contest.

  He was also interested in details about their rescue of a group of prominent persons being held by pirates during their work for the Borgolian royal family. As part of that discussion, he related what he knew about pirate activity within Accord space. Like much of the Accord leadership, he was concerned that pirates were growing bolder and now attacking armed ships. Ron told him about their own recent encounter with a small pirate fleet and the fact that the pirates possessed amazingly sophisticated cloaking technology.

  “Yet, you survived,” Seekateeki observed. “Did they?”

  “No,” Ron responded, his voice flat. He didn’t elaborate.

  “I will tell you frankly that as a military man, I lust after the technology I have observed on this ship,” Seekateeki stated. “I assume you are not sharing?”

  “Not yet, although we would appreciate any insights about our decision you may care to share.” Lexi shook her head. “We have discussed it, of course. As a consequence of our Ostrieachian adventure, we provided some upgrades to Ackalon and Borgol. We’ll see how that goes. Our belief remains that our technology is too dangerous. The Accord is no more than a coalition of factions. It survives partially because no one faction has an overwhelming technological superiority to the rest. That being said, the leaders of most of the Accord worlds would not change the status quo even if they had the technology to do so. Your own empire is the most expansionist of the group, but you’re expanding away from the Accord worlds in a fashion that no one objects to.”

  The team also related most of the details of their recent involvement with Ostrieachia. Saving Ostrieachia from total domination by the pirate organization called Unity resulted in Lexi being elected as head of the world government there. Due to decisions made by Jis Boc Seckan, Lexi was left with a mixed Ackalonian/Borgolian fleet consisting of nine battleships under her personal command. None of them really wanted to talk about it, but as Seekateeki had already said, rumors were circulating. Habu’s use of Lexi’s title made it unavoidable. Geena finished by saying, “I assume you have the report from Ackalon that the so-called pirates are actually an inimical empire nearly as large as the Accord?”

  Seekateeki listened to that story raptly, his attention directed inward for a moment at its conclusion. “Yes, we have the report. We also have the largest fleet in the Accord already. We believe we are ready for them.”

  Lexi shook her head. “No, High Admiral, you’re not. We followed one of their fast couriers to its home system. In that one system, there were hundreds of warships. They control seven star systems that we know of. There could be others. We just don’t know. This was all in the report we supplied. The number of ships they have available could easily overwhelm the Vankovian fleet.”

  He nodded slowly, his gaze traveling across the grim expressions on the faces of the three humans. “I would trust the Empire with this upgraded technology. Have you worked out a way to pierce the pirate’s cloaking technology?” he asked, looking directly at Lexi.

  “Not entirely. I can now cloak this ship more efficiently than they can cloak theirs, but I have yet to develop a way to detect a cloaked ship without giving ourselves away. It should be possible. I can’t just have coffee in the morning and decide ‘today I’ll invent a technology to penetrate cloaking shields.’ My mind just doesn’t work that way most of the time.”

  Ron laughed. “On the other hand, that is exactly how she works some of the time. All of the upgraded technology you want for your empire came out of her head. Not necessarily easily. Most of this stuff takes her a few weeks to a few months. But Seekateeki, Lexi believes it should be possible to penetrate those shields. She’ll figure it out one day.”

  “When you resolve that, I believe that is technology you should share.” He paused, adding thoughtfully, “Unless, of course, you intend to deal with the pirate issue yourselves.”

  He really wasn’t prepared for her answer. “Yes, I intend to kill them all. I’ll probably need a bigger ship.” She paused, watching his expression change. I need to get better at reading Vankovian facial expressions.

  When he didn’t say anything, she added, “Based on historical analysis, it will be
another twenty to thirty years before the Accord gets its act together and beats them down for a while. This cycle, that may not be enough. Unity was ready to move on Ostrieachia. Both Sandlin and Xeas are fairly isolated Level-Three civilizations. They’re vulnerable. My homeworld, Earth, is Level-Two with no defenses. Earth doesn’t even know about the Accord.”

  She smiled at him. It was a smile he recognized and would not have expected on the face of a human. He saw the smile of a predator eyeing her prey. “At any rate, I’m not going to let Unity have that long. One of our reasons for taking this job is that we’re hoping to pick up further intelligence on the size and whereabouts of the outfit that killed the seven hundred and thirty-two people we were forced to leave behind on the pirate controlled mining world Hepca, the same outfit that subsequently put a bounty on me.”

  Seekateeki smiled back. It was amazing how closely his smile matched Lexi’s, especially coming from someone who still made her think of spiders. “Are all Earth humans as…,” he paused, then added, “as formidable as you?”