Vel wouldn't understand any of that; Lyssa didn't understand half of it herself. But saying it out loud? The thought of it made her skin crawl.
"Well?" Vel pressed.
"Well, it's none of your business!"
"Fine," Vel said, turning back to his homework.
"I shouldn't have to tell you in order for you to pay attention to me," Lyssa snapped angrily, her chest aflutter. "That's not fair!"
"No, but you should want to tell me, because I'm your brother and your friend. That's what friends do, you know. And siblings. They're honest with each other about things that are bothering them. I mean, you won't even admit to me that you're still excavating planets as an excuse to spend time with me."
"I'm not excavating planets to spend time with you," she sputtered.
"Oh yeah?" Vel smiled. "So then, Razia, if you're one of the most wanted pirates now, and you are definitely not wanting for money, why are you still parading around as Lyssa Peate every few weeks?"
"I'm …this…" she stammered, struggling to find a reason that wasn't the truth. "I'm still a…I'm still doing this DSE stuff….because it's not…bounty hunting isn't enough money yet!"
"Oh?" Vel said, looking very much like he didn't believe her.
"Yes, in fact, and selling planets is good, untraceable money," Lyssa replied, glad that she had come up with a better reason than the real one. "I'd prefer to have a lot of money saved before I give it up completely."
"Shame you wasted your inheritance then."
"What?" Lyssa blinked.
"Your inheritance," Vel replied, as if it was old news. "You know, the one we all get when we…" He trailed off when he caught sight of her face.
"And how much, little brother, is this inheritance?" she whispered dangerously.
"Five?" Vel squeaked.
She relaxed a little."Five million? I mean, that's a lot, but that's not—"
"No." Vel winced. "Billion."
Her face dropped as she thought about how many years she could bounty hunt on that kind of money. Five billion credits was a lot of money, even in pirate terms. That would be enough money to cover gas for…and parking for…and she could buy a bigger ship—one with a jail and…
"Oh that stupid bitch!" Lyssa screamed, all of her anger directed towards the woman who gave birth to her. "How dare she keep my money from me!"
"Calm down, Lyss," Vel said, doing damage control. "I'm sure your money is still there.
Lyssa gave him a knowing look.
"Seriously," Vel said. "Mother doesn't control that account. It's handled by a trust at the Universal Bank."
"So why don't I have mine?"
"Well," Vel trailed off, looking a bit nervous.
"Well what?"
"Well, normally the boys get theirs when they graduate the Academy, but the girls…the girls get theirs when they get married." Vel winced at the impending explosion.
"I swear to God in Leveman's Vortex," Lyssa grumbled through clenched teeth. "This stupid family and their stupid patriarchy! I get enough of this bullshit from the pirates. I don't want to—"
"Why don't you go to the bank and see where your money is," Vel offered, cutting her off before she really got going on a rant, "before you go kill my mother."
Lyssa gave him a dangerous look. "If I have to get married to get that money…"
"You could ask Sage." Vel grinned devilishly.
"Get sucked," she hissed at him before abruptly ending the call.
***
The headquarters for the Universal Bank was located on the third planet in the capital system, named S-864. It had taken Lyssa nearly six hours of sitting in dead standstill traffic to even get onto the planet, then another two or three hours of scouring for a parking spot. As usual, the only thing she could find was a shuttle's ride away, although this planet had a slightly more reliable transit system than D-882.
From the moment she stepped off of her ship, she was surrounded by people. Every single size, shape, color, smell—all mixed together in some weird soup of different species. Even on the train, she weaved this way and that way through the throngs of people trying to find a seat for the hour-long ride into the government district.
The city was grungy from too many people, and the white tiled wall was covered in posters for the upcoming election. Pictures of good-natured-yet-stupid Llendo and the stern General State stared down at Lyssa from almost every angle. She stuck her hands in her jacket, one hand firmly on her mini-computer, and carefully walked up the gum-covered steps, trying to avoid the trash, discarded food, and other garbage.
Once out of the transport system tunnels, she was greeted by a blue sky with puffy clouds visible between the tops of the giant metal skyscrapers that filled this city. Her stop was the Presidential Square, the last remaining vestige of the planet's original civilization. The old stone was out of place surrounded by the towering skyscrapers, but then again, the presidency almost seemed like an afterthought in the Universal Beings Union. Thick stone walls surrounded the square between the Presidential Palace and the Universal Bank, on the other side. Next to the palace was a stone clock tower, still working after all these thousands of years but displaying a twelve-hour time span. The clock was only right once every few years per Universal time and there was often a big celebration commemorating when the two times did line up.
The image of the clock tower and the palace was the official seal of the presidency, the proud statement of the history of S-864. Lyssa spotted movement on the wall and saw two gray-uniformed soldiers walking the length. She wondered who in Leveman's would ever try to hurt the president? People only remembered the office existed during elections anyway.
She dragged her eyes away from the two guards and settled on the beautiful stone and glass building across from the presidential palace. The Universal Bank—central to the security and the stability of the Universal Beings Union—was constructed next to the palace probably in the same century, though it had seen significant upgrades in the years since first constructed, most likely paid for with a fraction of the centillion credits that passed through the bank every second. The columns—beautiful ivory pillars that supported a carved overhang—were either more recent than the original structure or they were meticulously preserved. From all the way down here, Lyssa couldn't make out what the overhang inscription said, but it was probably something about money.
She began climbing the twenty or so steps to reach the top level and couldn't help but notice there were two or three doors at ground level, each guarded by a man with much bigger guns than the military's. Lyssa mused that at one point the basement of the Universal Bank may have held a veritable mountain of gold and silver, which used to be the guiding currency before everything became electronic. Now, she supposed those rooms were filled with computer servers and databases, although probably just as heavily fortified. Every transaction that occurred in the entire Universal Beings Union was routed through this building. If there were even the slightest doubt about the Universal Bank's integrity, it could upend the entire system of government.
She pushed open the impeccable glass doors and entered a room that was highly air conditioned and almost deathly quiet. Her shoes tapped against the beautiful tile mosaic floor as her eyes swept the room nervously. She looked up to see a giant chandelier covered in gold and shimmering like diamonds.
Well, they had to have a place to put all of that unused gold and jewels.
Tellers lined the wall, but there didn't seem to be any customers to serve. Lyssa noted most of them seemed to be lazily watching their monitors or even their tablets, sliding a finger over the screen as if reading a book.
Lyssa chuckled, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Her taxes at work. She strolled up to the first window along the wall, and reminded herself to be pleasant.
"Yes, can I help you?" the teller drawled, her green hair curled in a frizzy ball around her head. She lazily placed her tablet down, and Lyssa could see it was showing a television serie
s. And from the looks of it, a scandalous one about a woman and a horse farm.
"My name is Lyssandra Peate," she said, as the teller quickly switched off the passionate love scene on the tablet. "Apparently, my family has an account with a couple trillion credits in it, and some of that is mine."
The woman was unimpressed.
"Anyway," Lyssa cleared her throat. "I think there was some mix up about my inheritance, and I'd like to clear it up."
"ID, please."
Lyssa pulled out her Lyssa Peate C-card and slid it over. She took an extra few seconds to make sure it was the right one this time. She didn't want to have another "incident."
"Your account balance is—"
"I know what's in my account," Lyssa said, getting annoyed. "But there's some other account that my family has, some inheritance. Peate is the last name. Or even Serann."
The woman began typing furiously in her computer. She glanced at Lyssa again before turning back to her computer. Then she furrowed her brow and typed some more.
When the teller went to pick up her phone, Lyssa's blood ran cold. She again checked at her Razia C-card, just to make sure that she didn't accidentally give the woman the wrong one. No, her Razia card was safe in her pocket.
"Miss Peate," said a male voice behind her.
"Doctor, actually," Lyssa said, hiding her C-card back in her pocket. He must have been a manager, as he was wearing a tie and a forced smile. Even though he had addressed her correctly, she still couldn't shake the paranoia that something bad was about to happen.
"Doctor, excuse me," he nodded. "Step into my office?"
"Is there a problem?" Lyssa asked, her eyes subconsciously panning the room for U-POL officers.
"Ah, well," he hedged. "Can you step into my office?"
Her guard up, she followed him to the end of the cavernous room, down a series of halls and offices that reminded her of the Academy. The familiarity of the hallways put her even more on alert, and she half expected Jukin and his lieutenant to jump out of a room any second. The manager stopped in front of a door and held it open for her.
"Please, Dr. Peate," he offered. As she passed, she could see a light sheen of sweat on his head. She kept an eye on the door as she sat down, trying to look at ease, but staying ready for a fight.
"Dr. Peate, first of all, let me thank you for taking the time to—"
"Save it," she snapped, on edge from his odd behavior and being trapped in this office. "Where's my money?"
"U-unfortunately," he swallowed. "I can't tell you where your money is."
She stared at him, her eyes wide. "Why?"
"The funds in question were seized as part of a U-POL investigation a few years ago." He nervously clasped his hands in front of him.
Her heartbeat quickened. Why was the U-POL digging in Lyssa Peate's inheritance?
"Is there something I did wrong?" she said, forcing her voice to sound normal.
"Oh Great Creator, no, no," the manager stammered. "I believe that there was some kind of…issue with the fidelity of the account, and the entire account was seized for investigation."
"Were they looking at any of my other transactions?" she asked, still not convinced that he was telling her the truth. If the U-POL checked even a week's worth of transactions from Lyssa Peate, they would see a bunch of transactions that placed her in pirate bars and parking garages on D-882.
If that were the case, then someone out there, someone in the Universal Police, knew that Lyssa Peate was really Razia.
She wasn't ready to give up being Lyssa Peate yet. She'd just now come to terms with being both people. She couldn't go back and give up—
"Of course not, ma'am," the manager said, mistaking her nerves for annoyance at the invasion of her privacy. "We received an official request, and we complied with providing only the time period in question—right around three years ago. We in the Universal Bank pride ourselves on protecting the privacy of our customers, even in the face of Universal Police requests."
She let out the breath she was holding, letting him ramble on about their privacy laws and policies. Her secret was still safe.
"So where did the money go?" Lyssa asked, her heart calming down long enough for her to take a breath.
"Unfortunately…I can't tell you."
"Yes, you can." Lyssa laughed. "This bank keeps sterling records of all transactions in the universe. U-POL or not, you can tell me where that money is right now."
"…I'm afraid the record and transaction histories were…expunged from our data servers."
"Ex...expunged?" Lyssa gaped at him. "How? You're not allowed to delete data! You're the Universal Bank!"
He withered under her stare. "Under extremely special circumstances, we may remove files from our electronic databases. Unfortunately, when the U-POL tell us to do something, we can't argue with them." He laughed nervously. "But…there is a paper copy of the records, or should be." He paused to look at something on his computer. "On B-583. I believe your family's entire archive is there, what with all of your cousins and second cousins!" He laughed nervously.
"Good. So go get it," Lyssa snapped.
"I'm afraid it will take ten to twelve weeks to retrieve the information," he stammered, nervously. "That is, after we receive approval. I'm afraid the case was never closed, and in order to release the files, we'll have to check with the U-POL officer who was leading the investigation"
"And who is that?"
"The captain of the U-POL Special Forces."
***
Razia normally gave the ivory tower of the U-POL office on D-882 very little notice, maybe a glare from time to time when she was angry about something. She remembered when they were constructing it. Tauron had said that the U-POL were compensating for many different things by building a white ivory tower in the middle of a pirate-infested city. General State had called it "a beacon of hope in a dark city." Then he stuck his precious Special Forces captain on the top floor and never returned again. There were at least a hundred floors, but rarely anybody came or left except for the Special Forces who performed their rounds on D-882, in their valiantly futile effort to find a pirate not affiliated with a web.
Today, however, one very irate Deep Space Exploration scientist stormed up those ivory stairs and marched her way right into the front lobby.
Even though Razia could waltz right up to Jukin and slap him in the face without consequence, this was no time to hide behind her pirate self. No, this fight was Lyssa's, and it had been a long time coming.
Of course, of course Jukin had stolen her money for some U-POL garbage operation. He couldn't even stand the sight of her once Sostas had chosen her to be his assistant. Jukin had already spent a couple of years at the Planetary and System Science Academy, but dropped out completely after Sostas decided to skip over him and eleven of their siblings to settle on Lyssa. Lyssa was young, but she remembered the fuss and the fights between her parents—her mother begging Sostas to change his mind or else her "baby" was going to get hurt.
In the police academy, of course.
"You were born."
The memory of last year's dinner was fresh in her mind, the way her mother had announced to everyone in the room that she didn't care if her daughter lived or died. That stupid bitch probably signed off on Jukin taking her money. She figured Lyssa would never notice, or maybe she'd just roll over and accept the fact that her money was gone.
Maybe Lyssa would have rolled over before, maybe when she thought Lyssa Peate deserved to be treated like everyone's whipping dog.
But not now, she thought as the lift continued dinging as it drew higher in the sky, Now she was ready to fight for what she deserved. Now she knew that she was worthy of respect.
The lift dinged on the highest level in the building, and she found herself in an ornate room with stylings similar to the Manor. There was a pair of double doors on the end of the room carved from the finest, dark wood. A middle-aged woman sat at a desk, typing musically at a key
board. Her eyes swept to the unexpected visitor and she plastered on the nicest, most pleasant face she could.
"Can I help you?" she asked, giving Lyssa the once over.
Lyssa ignored her completely as she barreled past, willing to knock out Jukin's secretary if needed.
"Excuse me, you can't just—"
Lyssa flung open the mahogany doors, anger pulsing in her ears.
"Where in Leveman's Vortex is my inheritance?" she bellowed, her voice echoing off the marble walls.
A man wearing the U-POL uniform stood up from the beautiful conference table, and Lyssa realized she hadn't actually been in the same room with Jukin Peate since she was a little girl.
The image of him was unsettling; he was definitely of the Serann lineage, with short, combed blonde hair, much like Vel when she first met him.
But his face reminded her of a young Sostas Peate.
"What is the meaning of this?" Jukin's voice brought her back into the room, and to the reason for this unwelcome family reunion.
"You took my inheritance," Lyssa snapped. "Give it back."
"It's not your inheritance if you've been disowned," Jukin replied icily.
"I'm sorry, but it doesn't work like that," she snarled. "You stole from me."
"Well, why don't you go crying to Father? I'm sure he'll happily baby you."
"Baby me?" She laughed. "Baby me? Leaving me on planets for days at a time was babying me?"
He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "God in Leveman's Vortex, you are so melodramatic."
"I'm melodramatic?" she sneered. "Thirty-five years old and you're still pissed off that Sostas spared you from his unique brand of parenting? So pissed off that you stole five billion credits from me? You win the prize for melodrama, Jukin."
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