by S. E. Weir
Diplomatic Resurgence
The Empress’ Spy™ Book Three
S.E. Weir
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
This book is a Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Version 1.00, July, 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-916-4
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-917-1
The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2021 by Michael T. Anderle and LMBPN Publishing.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Author Notes - S.E. Weir
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
Books by S.E. Weir
Books By Michael Anderle
The Diplomatic Resurgence Team
Thanks to our Beta Readers:
Larry Omans, Jim Caplan, John Ashmore, Kelly O’Donnell, Mary Heise, Rachel Heise
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Diane L. Smith
Jackey Hankard-Brodie
Dorothy Lloyd
Deb Mader
Zacc Pelter
Wendy L Bonell
Daryl McDaniel
Peter Manis
Dave Hicks
Misty Roa
Larry Omans
Jim Caplan
If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!
Editor
Lynne Stiegler
Dedication
To all those who have supported and encouraged me every step of the way. This is as much your book as mine.
- S.E. Weir
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
To Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
To Live The Life We Are
Called.
—Michael
Chapter One
QBBS Meredith Reynolds
(After the establishment of the Etheric Empire and twelve years before the battle of Karillia.)
The couple waiting within the room looked up when Link walked through the door. “Ah. Chris and Zoe. Thank you for being prompt.”
Chris nodded, his thick, dark hair hardly moving. Zoe shifted, her gaze intent on Link. “Your summons proved mysterious enough.”
The man grinned as he turned toward his wife, his eyes warm. “That’s all you need to do to get Zoe’s attention. Be mysterious enough.”
Zoe rolled her eyes and gave him a brief look of skepticism before smiling in amusement. “It worked for you, anyway.”
“Yes, yes…” Link waved away the lovey-dovey stuff. He’d heard it from them before. Not to mention that it made him wistfully jealous. “You can do that on your own time. Let’s get to why you’re here, shall we?”
Zoe nodded solemnly. “Yes, please tell us.”
Chris turned his focus to Link. Excellent. Their ability to relax around others as well as come to rapt attention when needed were a couple of the many reasons why they were two of his top people.
“You have both been instrumental in gathering information and giving us a leg up in negotiations as we establish the Empire in these systems over the last five years.” He looked at the woman in front of him. She was a skilled negotiator who used those skills to establish connections and gain information. “You have proven that you are committed to the Empire and are with us to the end. The Empress has authorized me to offer you both a procedure to increase your longevity, so you are with us no matter how long this war with the Kurtherians takes.”
The two gave him identical stares, then looked at each other as if they could speak mentally; the idea was crazy, of course. No one could do that except for Bethany Anne and Barnabas, although that ability was under tight wraps.
The two spies turned to Link, their faces hopeful but wary of being disappointed. They both nodded at the same time, and Chris spoke. “We appreciate the offer and the Empress’ trust in us. We want the Empress to win, and we will do everything we can to help her. But what we want more than anything is a baby.”
Zoe added hopefully. “Could you give that longevity to our baby?”
Link stared thoughtfully at them for a moment. “Let me get this straight. You two provide services to the Empire and could have your lives extended for a long time, but instead, you want to have a baby?”
The two nodded again. Zoe threaded her fingers together, her expression closed. “You know I can’t carry a baby on my own without help. All the doctors I went to on Earth agreed that my body could not carry one to full term. We are hoping the Pod-doc or the doctors here could help?”
Link examined the people in front of him, not certain what he was looking for. Chris’ usual charismatic face had almost shut down. He reached over and captured his wife’s hand, betraying his concern. Zoe’s face appeared impassive, but her eyes pleaded. It proved too much for Link to resist.
“ADAM? You following?”
The spies didn’t react, given their training, although they looked hopeful.
ADAM’s voice came over the speaker. “Yes, DS.”
“What do you think?”
“I have reviewed the health records of Zoe Waters and conferred with TOM and Bethany Anne. We can do it.”
The two spies’ eyes grew wide at the mention of the Empress. Zoe straightened, her free hand coming up to her heart. “Bethany Anne agreed?”
Chris gripped his wife’s hand tightly and swallowed. His eyes developed a slight sheen. “We can have a baby?”
Link nodded with his best Greyson Wells smirk. “Yes. Congratulations! You’re going to have a baby. I imagine you will need to get into the Pod-doc for a physical to see what needs to happen.”
Chris and Zoe Waters sat in the hard plastic chairs of the med unit, holding hands. Their expressions held shock, which warred with joy.
“I am already pregnant?” Zoe gasped in disbelief.
ADAM and TOM had asked the technician to leave before speaking to the couple.
TOM spoke earnestly and tried to reassure them. “Yes. That is the good news. There is, how
ever, bad news.”
“I’m losing her, aren’t I?” Zoe couldn’t hold back her tears and Chris tightened his grip on her hand, his eyes filled with pain. This was Zoe’s fifth pregnancy, and the grief had taken a toll on them both.
“Yes,” TOM responded uncomfortably.
“But there is good news,” ADAM broke in.
“Yes,” TOM agreed cautiously.
“There is?” Chris asked in relief as Zoe urgently pleaded, “You can save her?”
“Yes,” TOM repeated. “However, to do so, we will need to adjust her DNA to account for the chromosome issues we found. She will appear normal and develop on schedule physically, but aside from that, I can’t state for sure what might be altered. There could be side effects that some consider are for the better, and others might call them a burden. She will be different from other children, which might become more obvious as time goes on and will need to be monitored by us. Some possibilities are that she will have an increased IQ, super sensory perception, maximized memory recall, enhanced pattern recognition—”
“I don’t care about any of that.” Zoe broke in fiercely. “She’s our daughter, and all that matters is if she will be healthy.”
“Oh, yes,” TOM assured her. “Optimized health and growth. I doubt she will even get normal colds and illnesses that others on the station catch before getting the treatment.”
Chris sagged in relief and embraced his wife as tears of happiness fell down Zoe’s face. “Will I be able to carry her to full term myself?”
“We will do what we can to keep her in the womb as long as possible, and I don’t think it will be a problem,” TOM assured her. “Even if she needs to be born within two months of your due date, she will be fine.”
The couple held each other and sighed in relief. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
“You are very welcome,” TOM answered. He paused before continuing anxiously, “You must realize we can’t do this procedure for everyone. You need to keep this information to yourself. If you tell anyone about being able to carry your baby where you previously could not, please only mention that the Pod-doc was able to fix the problem. You are welcome to tell her when she is old enough to make decisions on her own, perhaps at fifteen, or better, twenty-one?”
Chris and Zoe solemnly agreed, and Chris added, “Of course. We understand and very much appreciate your willingness to help us.”
“Zoe, I am curious about something. You are certain your baby is a girl, and while you are correct, we hadn’t yet told you that. May I ask why you are so certain?” ADAM asked matter-of-factly.
“Because...” Zoe straightened and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Determined women who fight through adversity to become stronger run in my family. I have no doubt our baby will be the same.” She reached down to gently touch her belly with a smile. Her baby would be gifted in more ways than one.
Chris smiled at his wife with love in his eyes as he squeezed her other hand. “We will name her Seraphina, our fiery angel.”
Zoe’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Chris, that’s perfect. Seraphina Grace. The Empire will have a guardian angel watching out for her even after we are gone.”
Chris nodded slowly as he touched his wife’s hand where she held it over her belly. “Agreed. Perfect.”
Unknown Location (current time)
Phina floated. In the air? In water? She didn’t care. She felt at peace, young and happy, sensations that felt oddly incongruent with her normal state. She blinked in confusion and looked around, but every view was a grayish-white landscape. Lightning briefly brightened everything.
The plane in front of her stretched endlessly, empty of everything except a slight buzz in the air.
The buzz wasn’t noticeable to her ears, but she felt it in her brain. It was distinctly odd. A stray memory came to her of her mother telling Phina about dancing in the rain as a little girl back on Earth and how excited her mother had been when she felt electricity in the air, as if it were charging or priming itself for the storm. This buzzing sensation felt exactly like that but bumped up several notches.
Where was she, and how had she gotten here? And now that she was here, how could she leave? While this floaty, happy feeling felt good, it wasn’t normal. Right now, Phina wanted to feel normal more than anything in the universe…until that desire slowly drifted away from her, leaving her at peace again.
Sometimes she heard conversations between two or three people that intruded her into awareness, but they didn’t last.
For hours, perhaps days, she existed in that gray plane. She felt like she might have moved as she focused on certain spots in the distance, but she couldn’t be sure. Though she felt at peace, Phina couldn’t help certain thoughts surfacing, such as wondering about her friends and the people she cared about. Was she cut off from them entirely? What was the state of the Aurian planet?
As quickly as the thoughts and questions surfaced, they drifted away until all that existed was the gray-white plane, the charging energy, and her sense of peace. It could have been days or weeks, or years; to Phina, it felt like both an eternity and the blink of an eye. For a while, she was content to stay in this state and place, with this sense of peace.
After some time, she heard beautiful, harmonic music. It made her feel better than she had felt for some time. She became more aware and less hazy. Her mind reached for the music. She could almost understand it, but the meaning slipped away from her, leaving only hope. As she listened to the music, she longed for her friends. Before coming to this gray-white place, Phina had felt like she belonged somewhere, which was a rare sensation.
At the moment, she wanted to know what had caused the changes. ADAM hadn’t told her who or what he thought had done it before she had collapsed. Phina had her suspicions, and time would tell if they were correct. Right now, she had to find her way back to normal in a place that felt anything but.
As she struggled to look for a way out, Phina finally felt a tug on one side and turned her body to face that direction. Her feet wouldn’t move, though. She frowned and tried again, but her body wouldn’t turn any more. The landscape around her was still gray-white. Finally, she closed her eyes and focused on moving toward the tug she felt. She almost cried out in relief when she felt a sense of movement, although she couldn’t open her eyes.
When Phina focused on her body, she felt an increasing sense of weight and physical presence. The more she thought about her body, the more real it became. The sensations were overwhelming after the empty nothingness of the gray world…dream… Whatever it had been.
Her muscles felt like they were healthy but recovering. Her strength returned with every moment that passed. Gradually, she began to surface and was able to utilize her senses. Her hearing was muffled until her ears popped with a painful crack. Her body felt like one big bruise that had been left alone for far too long, although that sensation was fading as well. Her mental faculties seemed to be fine, though unless she suddenly couldn’t remember or do something like normal, how would she know the difference? Emotionally, she felt…calm and better than she remembered, since the last thing she’d known before the gray world was agony and pain.
Familiar voices spoke in her hearing. Though muffled, she could hear the words without issue.
“…vitals are stronger. It appears she’s bringing herself out and should be waking up any time now.” Doctor April Keelson, her brain supplied. The doctor sounded as if she were moving away from Phina. “I’ll let you see her, but I’ll be in to look her over before too long.”
“Yes, I see. Thank you.” Phina heard the faint sound of a door opening and closing. “ADAM, you ready to share your findings now?” Link’s voice sounded weary.
“When Phina is awake. I told you before that TOM and Bethany Anne knew and had taken action.”
“Don’t you think Phina should have had some say in that decision?” Link sounded annoyed. Why did that make her want to smile?
“DS, you know the Empress co
uldn’t and wouldn’t wait to act. It might be Phina’s life, but it’s the Empress’ Empire, and she takes her responsibility to her people very seriously.”
“I know that, but...” Link sighed from nearby, then grumbled, “That damned woman needs to look at the person whose life she almost snuffed out due to her misguided notion.”
“Agreed. She almost lost Phina due to her blindness, regardless of her intentions. She was so focused on her own agenda that she missed being thorough in her research.”
“Oh?” She heard Link’s voice move as if he were facing away from her. “What do you know, ADAM?”
After a brief pause during which Phina stirred, trying to hear better, ADAM’s replied, “That is information Phina should hear firsthand and when she isn’t waking from her self-induced coma.”
Self-what? Before she could process ADAM’s comment, she heard a flurry of movement by her side, then a whoosh of air as the Pod-doc opened. Of course, she was in the Pod-doc. Where else would she be to heal from this crazy reaction to an unknown source?
Phina’s eyes fluttered open. She winced at the bright light overhead, then blinked and squinted to adjust to the light. After the soothing gray nothing plane, the light seemed harsh, let alone everything else in the room that assaulted her senses. Part of her wanted to go back to the calm numbness, but she shook it off.
