He spends his last few minutes before Duke returns thinking back to the training he was going through with Tyler and Rajini, and the last thing he saw during his final trial, the large metallic scaled dragon with mahogany eyes. It was a huge beast with quick reflexes that he couldn't even keep track of for the few moments he was able to watch, before being pulled away. The reason he became a Paladin was to be strong enough to face creatures like that and then some. There was a faint memory of someone talking about dragons in school and how they were created by humans messing with the genetics of Earth creatures and some native creatures of Eden. It was all for the betterment of mankind or some nonsense. Although it was that kind of nonsense that he was going to have to start dealing with soon, now being a Paladin himself.
4
With the meeting still a few hours away, Vargas wonders how Vernon’s wedding is going. He was invited of course, but chose not to go. The mission was more important than going to a ceremony, even if he wanted to congratulate his friend. He and Amber go down to the middle of the ship, where the promenade is. They find a seat that has a view of the room Yeti was supposed to be in, and Vargas tells Amber to get them something to drink.
Looking around the area he can see the shops lined up within the middle of the ship. A bar is across the way from him, as well as stairs that lead down into a casino. A few people are walking back and forth across the ship, but there isn’t anyone of note to him just yet. Amber returns with the drinks, and sits down.
“Brother, the meeting isn’t close. Why here?”
“To see if there is anyone watching the room like we are. This guy is an informant, and he might be watched or followed. This ship is supposed to be filled with some of the richest people in Astrum, because it’s the first of its kind in over a millennia.”
“This ship is important?”
“Not the ship, the fact that we built it and are about to leisurely sail toward the other side of the planet. Eden wasn’t always the friendliest place to humanity. For us to have settled here, and be safe enough to just sail around. That’s saying something, and there are some who want to say they were a part of this maiden voyage, for image.”
He glances up toward the door again, and sees a maid cart with an open door.
Amber points toward Vargas, “Big man.”
Vargas turns his head toward seven feet of muscle standing a few feet away from him, smiling. Brown wavy hair pulled into a pony tail, with soft blue eyes stare back at him. He wore a black tank-top, and shorts, without a bit of hair showing anywhere but his head. The big man takes a few more steps toward the two, sitting down at their table.
“Captain Vargas I presume.”
Vargas’ palm rubs his face, “Does everyone know about that?”
The big man tilts his head to the side, “Not sure what you mean by that, but the name’s Yeti.”
“Well that's going to save time.”
“Hopefully, Tyler sent me your details earlier before I got here. He’s assigning me to your new unit. I’m an information broker, by trade anyways.”
“You look like a mountain.”
“That, yes, it helps. Intimidation makes people look away, and also think I’m a meat head. I play it up sometimes.”
“That is why you’re dressed that way then.”
“That it is. And who might this lovely vision of beauty be?”
“Amber Leneth, she’s the other member of the new unit.”
Amber bows her head.
“Amber huh, nice to meet you.”
Vargas says, “She has a speech impediment, but don’t let that fool you. Her intelligence is through the roof.”
“Yes,” Amber says, “I’m not good at talk. Good at all else.”
Yeti nods.
“So can you talk to us at all right now, or do you want to wait till your rooms finished?”
“We’ll have to wait. The rooms on this boat are sound proof, and a better place to conduct our talk. Plus I have some information you’re going to want to see, but it’s in my luggage.”
“In your luggage? Why not on your HaLO?”
“Can’t be to safe. Davon Maldone is a crazy prepared man, and paranoid. If it’s on my HaLO then he could have a copy of it already.”
“Who?”
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“He’s the owner of the cruise ship, and a general-all-around shady character. Tyler has put me on him a few times, and I almost always turn up nothing when I follow Maldone.”
“Medium build, brown hair and steeled brown eyes?”
“Yea, I thought you didn’t know who he was?”
“He introduced himself to me earlier, but never by name. He just asked me to be discreet with my equipment I have with me.”
“I’m guessing it’s lethal?”
“Yea, it is.”
“He’s like that, just stay out of his way and he won’t cause us any trouble.”
“I think I can do that, I’m just here to talk to you and the informants out at the two landfall stops.”
“About that, I heard that you have a friend getting married onboard?”
“I do, but I already knew that I wasn’t going to go.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t want him to know that I’m on the boat, as much as possible. This is going to be his honeymoon after all, and I don’t want it to turn into a shadow of what it should be, like some kind of shadow moon. Not gonna happen.”
5
Vernon nervously paces around the room, when a knock comes to the door, Duke stands there with a smile on his face. He says it’s time. A chill shoots though Vernon's body as he reflects on what is about to happen. He is about to commit himself in whole to the woman he loves in front of family and friends, for the rest of his life. Which he is sure he isn't even fully aware what that truly means, but he does know his feelings, and they are telling him everything is as it should be. They both make their way to the aft of the ship moving though the sea of passengers that are now starting to board. Their wedding, at least, is a private ceremony.
Upon reaching the ballroom there is a white arbor in front of the large wooden double doors covered in lush green vines. They weave and intertwine through the lattice, mixed within are bright red roses and pure white lilies. Peeking through the doors, past the arbor, Vernon can see the path is sprinkled with rose petals and lace. Bouquets of roses in tight globes line each row of chairs, and at the back of the room stands a human sized ice sculpture of two hearts over lapping one another with a cross in between. There is a large array of lights surrounding it to making it glow.
Around the entrance of room there are three reception pillars filled with virtual wedding programs the guests can download, detailing out the ceremony, activities after, and food menu for the evening. In front of the sculpture there sits a podium that holds an old worn bible. He had provided it, and remembered being told it was his grandfather’s treasured possession.
Vernon is awe struck by all of the decorations and the overall layout. It was nothing like what they had seen originally on the virtual layout they provided of the room. It was just another plain Romanesque ballroom, but now it was somewhere he wanted to remember being, and tries to burn the images of everything there into his brain. He also takes a few pictures with a patterned blink his HaLO recognizes. Storing the pictures on within his personal hard drive.
Family and friends start to show up from behind Vernon, greeting and congratulation him as they pass. He takes his place at the podium, next to the pastor, who has a wide grin. His heart begins to race as the preacher turns to him, asking, “How are you doing my boy?”
“Nervous but confident, and excited.”
The preacher widens his grin to a smile and slapping Vernon on the shoulder. They continue with some small talk but Vernon's mind is elsewhere. He watches as the room fills, and listens to the music that Marie had spent the last few days fine tuning. The sound track getting closer
and closer to her entrance song.
The song before her entrance starts, the chatter across the room silences with the large wooden double doors opening to reveal the wedding party. Vernon moves to stand in his assigned place, and the preacher moves to his. He stares down the aisle to see the bridesmaids and groomsmen flow in gracefully two by two.
The groomsmen are all wearing a similar color scheme to his with silver switched out for the black in the tie, and vest, and a white rose for Vernon's red. Each bridesmaids dress has a different cut to accentuate their individual bodies best, but the same brilliant shade of red for fabric of their dress remains a constant. Silence fills the room for a moment, and again the room goes still as the doors close in anticipation for the bride. All at once the noise of everyone shifting their gaze to the back of the room fills the air as Marie is about to enter.
The doors slowly come open as a classic orchestral version of the wedding march begins to play. Marie had spent two full weeks listening to every different version she could get her hands on, and every time she listened to this one it made her cry. Which made it easy for her to choose. Vernon's heart skips a beat as Marie walks through the double doors. The flowing white gown has a mermaid top hugging the curves of her body as if she was sewn into it, and below the curves of her hips the dress bellows out with a princess style train of lace following behind her. Her face is lit up like the night sky filled with fireworks, beaming ear to ear. Revealing as the dress might be, it shows no cleavage, while accentuating everything. Some of her brilliant auburn hair is pulled over her shoulders in loose curls, with the rest tightly coiled behind her head.
Vernon loses sight of everything else as she walks down the aisle. It all just melts away and fades to the background like too much paint on a canvas. Murmurs and nonsensical tones are all he hears besides her presence in front of him. She only takes a minute to reach him, but time slows to a crawl as she approaches. Their eyes meet, and Vernon's heart jumps as he gazes into her vibrantly green eyes which are slowly filling with tears. Her face has a radiant glow, and a genuine joy of the event he can feel emanating from her.
The pastor starts the ceremony, welcoming everyone to the event and thanking everyone for coming to witness this wonderful union between Vernon and Marie. Vernon hears the words as he is speaking, but isn't paying attention to them. His focus is firmly planted on his vision of beauty that is standing there in front of him, and he tries to savor every last second of this moment he can.
The exchanging of the vows was a surreal experience for him. With Marie in front of him, pledging her life to him, in this life and the next, through richer or poorer, sickness and in health. Tears begin to well up behind his eyes, as he repeated those words, pledging himself to her. With the exchanging of rings, and a kiss to seal the vows, the ceremony was over, but the wedding had just begun.
There was dancing, mingling, and a cake, with three hand-sculpted tiers topped with icing roses of red and white. Then to top it off there was a meal they wanted to eat, but was only able to briefly grab a bite, before being pulled back to the reception. Neither Vernon or Marie were able to sit much, meeting and thanking people for coming, together and separate, but still weren't able to talk to everyone who had showed. He was surprised by how many of his friends and her family were able to show with only two weeks’ notice.
The night was over in the blink of an eye, and the last call for the any guests who weren’t sailing on the cruise were asked to leave the ship as they are about to disembark for the journey ahead. With that everyone still there lined up outside of the double doors, readying themselves to throw rice at the new bride and groom as they head off to their room to start their honeymoon.
Vernon picks Marie up in front of their honeymoon suite, as more rice falls to the floor from her hair. She swipes her HaLO at the door, and it unlocks allowing him to carry her over the threshold, and places her gently on the bed. Giving her a long hard kiss, as her arms wrap around his head.
She pushes him forward and springs up demanding, “Get me the hell out of this dress!”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
The corset strings on the back are woven and intertwined tightly. He unties the knot and begins to loosen the strings that are holding her in.
Marie turns to face Vernon, still holding up her dress not yet ready to let it fall, and her face becomes flush as she averts her vibrant green eyes from his.
Vernon takes a step into her, holding her tight. He softly whispers into her ear, “There isn't anyone else on this or any other planet that I would rather be here with than you. You are my life, and even with everything that has happened with Adonis, Tyler, my parents, it would be meaningless without you right here, right now by my side.”
She loosens her grip on the dress, letting it fall to the ground as she embraces him, holding him tightly. The warmth of her body flows over Vernon, exciting him more, as blood begins to rush throughout his.
She leans in, and softly kisses his neck on the way to his ear, whispering back, “I love you more than anything else in this life, and I want to spend the rest of mine, together with you.” Pulling back slightly from his body, still held within his arms, she kisses his lips. They feel like warm silk, and with a soft yet firm push she backs him onto the bed.
He falls back pulling her on top of him. Arcing her back she reveals a shear lace bra, not leaving anything to the imagination. Vernon can feel the blood pulsate and surge through him, as his eyes waiver from her face to her voluptuous bosom, with this his first experience about to take place.
In a timid tone she asks, “Since I have never done this before, how do I look?”
Her green eyes have a radiant glow with the ambient light of the moon creeping in through the corners of the curtains. A smile grows across his face, and he scoops her up into his arms and repositions himself on top of her, and kisses her deeply.
"Marie you are the very vision of my angel."
6
Vargas is waiting outside of the executive suit with two large, and unpleasant, men who have escorted him there. They are both dressed in expensive suits, tailored to them perfectly. He was wearing pajamas, after being dragged out of bed by a knock at his door at four in the morning. It had been nearly an hour waiting with the two meat mounds before the doors opened, and they walked him in.
There was a large window overlooking the deck of the ship, with an impressive looking wooden desk in front of them. To the right side of the room was a pair of double doors, leading to a bedroom. Davon Maldone walked out of the bedroom in a tight shirt, suit pants, and a towel over his head drying his hair.
“Mr. Mitchel, I take it you do not know what you were brought here for this morning?”
Vargas fights back a yawn without luck, and says, “You enjoyed our conversation so much yesterday, and remembered you forgot to introduce yourself, and wanted to make it up to me by buying breakfast.”
“There is a twenty-four hour buffet for that, and no, that is not why I asked you here.”
“Well then Mr. Maldone, why is it that you have me here?”
“There has been a theft and a murder, on my boat no less, and I demand answers.”
“I take it that you have nothing on who it was then?”
“You are correct. Since you are the only active Paladin onboard, and would like to keep that fact a secret, I’m requesting your assistance in this matter.”
“Alright, I guess, I have some time in between what I came here for anyway.” Vargas also didn't want Maldone to try to get Vernon involved, since he said active Paladin. “What was stolen?”
“I can’t give you specifics, but it was the schematics to something I was planning on building on Aspiration.”
“That’s as much as you can give me?”
“Yes.”
Vargas sighs, “Who was the person killed?”
“She was the three time winner of the Mixed Magical Arts Federation, Miku Fidona.”
“Wow, how
’d she die?”
“You’ll have to see for yourself, but first, I take it you’ll be working this case.”
“Yea, I will, as long as I don’t get any spotlight time.”
“That is the idea here Mr. Mitchel.”
Vargas wasn’t quite sure if he should get mixed in with everything because of his own mission. The fact that someone got murdered on this vessel though was troubling, to his mission, and the other passengers. It was part of the reason he joined the Paladins to begin with, to help people. That, the steady paycheck, and the possibility for name recognition.
He had studied Miku Fidona’s fighting style for a few years now. He and Vernon had debated many times if she was really the power behind her team, or if her skills in combat were the distraction.
Vargas asks, “Any clue to why was she killed?”
“I surmise, it was to disrupt my tournament I’m holding in a few days.”
“You’re putting on a tournament, for the rich and untrained people here?”
“There are a few that are more than capable of putting up a fight with you, but that’s not the point. Yes I was going to hold a tournament for the passengers of my ship, with the prize being a million credits.”
Vargas whistles.
“Yes, Mrs. Fidona was my champion for it. She was my ace, and now I’m left scrambling to find a replacement. Since we are already out to sea, I will have to look from within.”
This arched Vargas’ eyebrow. “You got any idea of who might want to put you in this position?”
Cypher Theorem Series Box Set: Books 1-3, The Zero Class, Shadow Moon, Dragon Fire: A Science Fiction Fantasy Page 21
