Bethany Anne got to her feet, reluctant to leave. “I won’t be long.”
She headed into the ready room just as Izanami asked if she would be permitted to join the family on the resort world. “You’re part of the family, aren’t you?” she called before closing the door.
Colonel Terry Henry Walton’s disgruntled face stared at Bethany from the holoscreen.
“Why can’t you ever be progruntled when I see you?” Bethany Anne asked in greeting.
Terry frowned, thrown by the remark. “’Progruntled?’” he repeated.
Bethany Anne waved a finger to encompass the Marine’s face. “The opposite of disgruntled. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you smile.”
“Just nod and agree,” Charumati’s voice came from somewhere to Terry’s left.
“I’d listen to your wife,” Bethany Anne advised with a warm smile. “What can I do for you, TH? You’re not the social-call type.”
“I wanted to get your take on the disturbed individual who blew himself up on Onyx Station,” Terry told her. “I’d hate to miss an angle now and have it come back to bite me in the ass down the line.”
“I appreciate your diligence,” Bethany Anne told him. “I have Akio on his way to Red Rock to dig up whoever gave Jacobsen that photo. It could just be someone who lost out when the mining operation was scrapped, but if there’s a larger group working against us, I want to know about it before you take them out.”
Terry nodded. “Got you. Char thinks it’s a good idea to have someone on the lookout for shady individuals hovering around your location, and I agree. I’m sending Christina to you, which means my grandson will be accompanying her. Take care of him for me.”
“You know I’ll treat him like one of my own children.” Bethany Anne smiled. “It will be great to see Christina. Have them meet us at Onyx Station. We’ll be there in two days.”
Izanami manifested in her usual red-gold shower as Bethany Anne ended the call. “The fleet is ready for departure, my Queen.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Good. Get the Gates up on the main viewscreen and the bridge of the Reynolds on the secondary.” She swept onto the bridge as Izanami followed her instructions.
Alexis took her cue and prepared to send a video of Bethany Anne’s departure speech to every registered news outlet in the Federation. “ADAM, is the link ready?”
>>Almost,<< ADAM told her. >>Okay. We’ll be live in two minutes.<<
John burst onto the bridge. “Wait up. I have something for you.” He thrust the wrapped package Jean had given him for Bethany Anne toward her.
“Not the best timing,” Bethany Anne told him. She took the package from him and tore open the wrapping.
>>You could just go into high-speed if you are worried.<<
Not if I don’t want to seem jumpy.
John lifted his hands. “Jean told me you had to have it before we left.”
Bethany Anne took out the neatly folded bundle of fabric and shook it out. “A coat?” She spotted a scrap of paper taped to the lapel. “And a note from Jean.”
“What’s it say?” Alexis asked.
Bethany Anne read the note before dropping it and slipping her arms into the sleeves. It fit her perfectly. “This is my heavy armor, courtesy of her work with the Bl’kheth genetic material.”
John nodded. “She sent a bunch of stuff over, along with the new armor.” He pointed at Alexis and Gabriel. “I’ll see you two for training first thing tomorrow.”
“Ten seconds, Mom,” Alexis called, nodding to acknowledge John’s instruction.
Bethany Anne returned to her place in front of the viewscreen and smiled when Alexis signaled she was live.
Why did she feel like this was like any other massive speech, and yet like just another day?
“Devon Fleet, we are about to embark upon an undertaking many thought impossible to make a reality.
“It sucks for them to be proved wrong.
“I had no doubts when I asked for a way to provide an Interdiction to cover the whole Federation that our brightest minds could and would make it happen.
“Above all things, we protect our own, and you are the ones who will implement that protection. Celebrate your part in getting this operation off the ground, then strap in and buckle the fuck up because the impossible became real. Now the hard but not impossible work is about to start.”
She paused before widening the focus of her words to include the people watching across the Federation. “When I stepped down as Empress, I made a promise. I swore to defend everything the Federation stands for if the time ever came that it was threatened. It hurts me to tell you that time has come. The Kurtherians are determined that every sentient being in this universe will bow at their feet. They consider us inferior to them because we care about others. Because we will act selflessly to protect each other, regardless of species. Having the biggest guns doesn’t automatically make you the victor in a war of attrition, but we have something the Kurtherians and their allies don’t.
“We have unity.”
She scanned the ships on the screen, picking out the ancillary ships dotted around the SD Reynolds looming large in the near-distance.
Her people.
Bethany Anne graced them all with a smile. “Let’s roll.”
Chapter Eight
Onyx Station, Lowell Residence
Nathan woke up. He rubbed his eyes, wondering what had caused him to snap awake when he heard a noise downstairs. He shook Ecaterina gently. “Did you hear that?” he asked her in a whisper.
Ecaterina stirred when he shook her again. “Mfff,” she mumbled. “Hear what?”
Nathan heard another scuffle downstairs. “There’s someone in the kitchen.”
Ecaterina rolled over. “You’re imagining things. No intruder is getting past my booby traps.”
Nathan frowned. “There are booby traps in the house? How come I didn’t know about them?”
“Because they’re not programmed to kill you,” Ecaterina mumbled sleepily.
A drawer banged shut downstairs, and Ecaterina sat bolt upright with a gun in her hand. “There is someone down there.” She grabbed her wrist-holo from the bedside table and checked. “Huh?”
“Believe me now?” Nathan asked, eyeing the weapon she held with amusement. “You’re just full of surprises tonight.”
Ecaterina flashed him a bright grin as she got out of bed. “It’s nice to know I can still surprise you after so long.” She grabbed her robe and headed for the door. “Come on, we have a burglar to make target practice of.”
“You know this is exactly why I married you,” Nathan whispered as they took the stairs.
Ecaterina waved his teasing off as her wrist-holo gave her unexpected news. “The security measures have been deactivated.”
Nathan’s humor faded instantly as his mind fed him an image of another random anti-BA fanatic in his kitchen. “That’s not good. Come on, we’d better find out who’s down there.”
They padded down the stairs silently. Ecaterina frowned at the sliver of light coming from the kitchen.
Nathan decided the only weapon good enough for the asshole who had dared break into his house only a week after the Jacobsen situation was his bare claws. He flexed his hands as he made them shift, one of the benefits of being a Pricolici.
There was a muffled clatter in the kitchen, then a sharp whisper.
“Shh!”
Nathan glanced at Ecaterina and nodded toward the door. Ecaterina raised her weapon, and they tiptoed into the kitchen together.
The only light came from the fridge, and even that was dim since the intruder was helping themselves to the contents.
Nathan growled, spotting a second intruder hovering nervously by the door they’d come in by.
“Hands up!” Ecaterina cried, slapping the light switch. She dropped her weapon. “Oh.”
Christina turned from the fridge with her arms full of sandwich fixings and grinned at them. “What kind of welcome is t
hat for your only child?”
Nathan eyed the man by the door. He had the look of a Walton without any of the hard edges Terry had. “Who are you?”
Kai crossed the kitchen and offered his hand with an appropriately nervous smile. “Kailin Walton, Mr. Lowell. Good to meet you, sir.”
Ecaterina caught Christina’s amusement, put it together with Kai's earnest attempt to make a good impression on Nathan, and felt joy for her daughter.
She slipped around Nathan, who was ignoring Kai's hand in favor of giving him the hairy eyeball, and took his hand in both of hers, smiling warmly. “Welcome, Kailin. You’re Marcie’s and Kaeden’s son, right?”
“You got me,” he replied, returning her smile. “Call me ‘Kai.’ Christina has told me a lot about you two. I have to say, it’s a bit nerve-wracking meeting you in person.” He glanced at Nathan, who was still glaring. “I’m sorry we didn’t meet under better circumstances.”
“You’re lucky my wife didn’t shoot your fool heads off,” Nathan growled.
“Play nice, Dad,” Christina interjected. “Kai's good people.” She walked over and took Kai’s hand. “TH sent us to give you a hand with the investigation. You are shorthanded, right?”
Nathan's heart broke a little at the realization that his little girl had finally brought a boy home to meet them.
Dammit! He winced when Ecaterina checked him in the ribs, but it was enough to snap him back to reality.
He forced himself to smile and shook Kai’s hand. “Yeah. Yeah, we are. It’s good to have you here.”
Ecaterina intervened, seeing that Nathan was thrown by the whole situation. “Let me get you two settled. We can talk about the investigation after everyone has slept.”
“My room is still there, right?” Christina asked with a yawn. “We made it through the Gate system without any waiting time at the connections, so we’re pretty tired.”
Ecaterina nodded. “It’s exactly as you left it. Are you two staying long?”
Christina hugged her mother. “Only until Bethany Anne gets here. You and Dad go back to bed. I have to eat before I can sleep.”
Ecaterina returned the hug with feeling. “It’s good to have you home.” With that, she shooed Nathan out of the kitchen while Christina got to work making a snack.
Nathan looked over his shoulder at the kitchen door as Ecaterina shepherded him toward the stairs. “But...” he whispered. “But!”
“No buts,” she told him firmly. “Can’t you see she’s in love?”
Nathan hung his head as he ascended. “Yes. Why do you think I’m so bothered? They’re not going to share a room. He’s not putting his hands on my daughter.”
Ecaterina chuckled. “I’d say you’re far too late to stop that ship from sailing.”
“Dammit!” Nathan clamped his hands over his ears. “I didn’t hear that.”
* * *
The next morning, Nathan woke up to the smell of bacon permeating the house. He rolled out of bed and got dressed, his mind seesawing between the report he'd received yesterday and the middle-of-the-night disturbance.
Christina and Kai were nowhere to be seen when he got to the kitchen. Ecaterina had two places set at the breakfast bar. Nathan had a moment of wondering if he’d dreamed Christina’s return.
He took a seat and leaned in to snag a sausage from the platter. “I know it’s not my birthday.”
Ecaterina slapped his hand away. “Wait until the rest is ready. I felt like celebrating. Our daughter is home, and I am pleased she has found a partner at last.”
Nathan dropped his head onto his folded arms and groaned. “I was hoping I’d dreamed that. Not the part where she was home, the ‘she brought home a guy’ part.”
Ecaterina snickered, putting his plate in front of him. “You are a silly man. Of course, you didn’t dream it. Christina and Kai are meeting the Magistrate you requested for breakfast. They’ll be home soon.”
Nathan sighed and dug into his breakfast, resigning himself to the fact that his little girl wasn’t so little anymore. He supposed he was grateful they’d gone to the meeting. It was definitely too early to deal with Rivka and her endless paperwork. “What do you know about this Kai character? How do we know he’s not going to break our daughter’s heart?”
Ecaterina gave him a hard look. “You should know that they’ve been together for a while. Have you ever known any Walton to be anything less than loyal, trustworthy, and honorable?”
Nathan slumped on the stool. “I suppose not. But it still doesn’t make him good enough for my princess.”
“Your princess is a century old,” Ecaterina scolded. “Would you rather she was alone for her entire life? Perpetually single like the Grimes girl?”
It was Nathan’s turn to deliver the Look. “That’s not very enlightened of you,” he chided, diverting the attention from his own stubborn judgment. “Some people are happier to be single. Anyway, didn’t Lilian’s daughter get together with that assmouth Ricky Escobar?”
She popped him on the head as she shrugged. “Whatever. I’m just saying, we couldn’t have asked for Christina to have made a better choice of partner.”
Nathan scowled. “I don’t have to admit it.”
Ecaterina rolled her eyes in exasperation. “You’ll regret it if you don’t make him feel welcome. What’s it going to be like if they have babies?”
Nathan jammed his hands over his ears again. “Not listening, and you can’t make me. Just let me do what I have to do to get through this.”
Christina and Kai arrived back at the house while Nathan was clearing the table. He broke into a smile at the sight of her. “Here she is. You missed breakfast.”
Christina ignored her father ignoring Kai. “We ate with Rivka. It was good to see her again.”
“We got more than breakfast,” Kai told Nathan and Ecaterina with a serious expression. “Did you know there’s a whole criminal subculture on the bottom levels of this station?”
Nathan held up a hand, acknowledging Kai for the first time. “Hold your horses. There won’t be any posse riding at dawn. I know all about the criminal underbelly of the station, and I’d rather have them where I can keep my eye on what they’re doing.”
Kai frowned. “But…”
“Keeg hasn’t been an open station all that long, so there’s been no opportunity for it to develop the layers of society that a station that has been around for a century or more has,” Nathan explained, realizing the youth of TH’s grandson had a lot to do with his overexuberance.
Kai’s frown deepened. “What are you saying? That they’re allowed to get away with it?”
“No,” Nathan replied. “But they’re allowed to exist. It’s like this; people are going to do what they’re going to do. Yeah, we’ll take care of those whose proclivities are harmful to honest citizens, but otherwise, it’s the Magistrates’ job to take care of the rest. Everyone’s got to live.”
“Dad’s right,” Christina told Kai. She grinned at Nathan. “There’s less crime than you think, with the Magistrates taking care of business.”
Kai considered that the balance had to be kept somehow. “I know I’d hate to be on Rivka's bad side,” he conceded. “I guess I can see that working.”
Ecaterina chuckled. “Did she have any useful information?”
Christina nodded, sharing the file the no-nonsense Magistrate had put together for them to Nathan and Ecaterina’s internal HUDs. “Yeah. She told us she’d heard rumors about a group who believe Bethany Anne is lying about the Kurtherian threat on her last assignment, but she dismissed them as ridiculous.”
“Well, yeah.” Nathan ran a hand through his hair as he took in the information. “This could be dangerous to everyone if it spreads. What’s your next move?”
Christina shrugged. “As you can see, she gave us a couple of leads to follow. We’re going to talk to Bethany Anne when she gets here and see what she wants us to do.”
Approaching Pickup Point Two, QSD Baba Yaga
>
“I’m bored.” Gabriel pushed his sketchpad away and got up from his bunk.
Alexis looked up from her book. “Well, find something to do.”
Gabriel started throwing items into a bag. “That’s what I’m doing. I’m going to the APA.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” Alexis closed her book and checked the availability of the ship’s training facilities in her HUD. “Deck six is open.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Armor training. Trey and K’aia are with John and Gabrielle in the APA on this deck.”
Alexis got off her bunk and grabbed her boots. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place? We haven’t seen him or K’aia for days.”
They collected their armor from the armory and made their way to the APA, where they found their closest friends working out in the gym area.
Trey racked his weights and got up from the bench. “Hey, you look kinda like my buddy Gabriel. It’s hard to tell. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him, I’ve forgotten his face.”
“Very funny,” Gabriel grumbled. “How are you guys finding it with John?”
“Oh, you know,” K’aia replied. “We get up, eat, train, eat, train some more, and if we’re not exhausted at the end of the day, we hang out in the theater and watch movies with everyone.”
“What about you guys?” Trey inquired.
Gabriel sighed. “Hurry up and wait is about it. We’ve been filling the time getting our armor calibrated.”
K’aia glanced at the shielded area where John and Gabrielle were sparring on the mats. “Yeah? I’ve got to say, it doesn’t look easy.”
Alexis giggled. “It’s not, but it’s like any other training. You repeat it until you defeat it.” She indicated the benches outside the translucent shielding. “I want to watch and see what they’re getting out of it.”
Gabriel watched John and Gabrielle, noting that they were both giving a subpar performance.
Alexis dropped onto the bench beside him. “What’s going on with you two?” she called loud enough to be heard by John and Gabrielle.
Gabrielle called a halt, and John broke off the attack he was setting up for.
Return Of The Queen: The Kurtherian Endgame™ Book Eight Page 8
