Akio turned to Dai, “Send her response, of course. And make sure that it is understood and agreed something like last week will not be tried again.”
“How are you going to do that? I can’t do anything without special permission, and the NPA isn’t going to give me that.”
“No, all the NPA has done has allowed you and me to speak for a few minutes, making sure we understood that you were doing your best to handle the case, then you drove home. The information in your car’s GPS will corroborate your story as the data is sent real time back to your headquarters.”
Dai slowed and pulled into a small, narrow two-story and pushed the button for the garage to open. Pulling into the garage, he hit the button to close the garage.
Akio got out and grabbed his bag, “Now, as they say in America, is where you decide if you want to take the red pill or the blue pill.”
“What?” Dai asked, “You mean the Matrix?”
“Yes, Inspector. Do you want to go to sleep, and learn about this in the morning like everyone else, or do you want to participate?”
Dai looked at the man's two bags, “What is in those?”
Akio lifted the sports bag, “This one is my uniform,” he lifted the other, “These are my weapons.”
“Just you?”
“Inspector, you are ignorant of just what I am, or you would not be so questioning.”
“Ok,” Dai agreed, agitated, “Tell me who I just let into my own house for reasons I’ve yet to truly understand to do what to people I probably would agree need stuff done to them.”
“Inspector, I’m Retribution for my Queen. She has a message, and when she wants one of these messages sent, she sends the very best.”
“And you are?”
“I am,” Akio told him, “a Queen’s Bitch.”
—-
Dai couldn’t believe what he was doing. He watched as Akio switched into his uniform with a fanged skull emblem on the shoulder. He unrolled his pouch, with two swords inside. One was very, very old but obviously well kept.
Akio had asked him one more time, ‘red pill or blue?’
“I’ll stick with red and see how far down the rabbit hole we go,” Dai said.
“Then you need to get on your protective gear. I don’t expect you to fight, but if someone shoots at you, you need to make sure you are as protected as best you can be.”
Now, he was putting on his bullet-proof vest for maybe the second time in his career and his blood was starting to pump. This was happening, it was really happening.
He was going underground and helping someone who was going to take the fight back to those who flouted the law.
He was going all Dirty Harry on the criminals. The American police movies were some of his favorites.
He pulled his SIG P230 and strapped it on. His group, those fighting the Yakuza were the few that carried the automatics.
“If we do this right,” Akio told him, “you will not use that tonight. We want to limit any proof you are anywhere but here. Keep your holster, but leave the SIG here, I’ll have something inside the Pod for you.”
Dai pressed his lips together, but Akio made sense. He put the gun down.
“How do we get to the roof?”
Dai stopped trying to ask why all of the time. He sounded clueless, which he was, and he would find out soon enough.
The two men stepped outside and then made their way up the back steps that took them to his roof. Dai’s eyes opened as he realized there was a large black object hovering.
“Let’s go Dai, we have messages to deliver tonight,” Akio told him. Dai walked around to see Akio open the doors on the Pod and then reach behind the two seats and pull out a metal box. He pressed his thumb on the lock, and it popped open. He pulled out a pistol and handed it to Dai who took it and tried to see what it looked like in the dark.
“Look at it in the Pod, but that is a Dukes’ Special. It fires metal slivers using rail-gun technology. I’m going to lock it to a maximum of power level four.”
“What does it go to?” Dai asked as Akio put the box back and pointed him to sit in the left chair. He sat down after holstering the pistol and started locking himself in as Akio sat, strapped himself and the doors shut, the screen lighting up with holographic controls.
“The pistols,” Akio said as the view out the window showed the neighborhood disappear beneath them, “go to ten, but your wrists would most likely shatter at six.”
“Why do they go to ten if they will break anyone’s wrist at six?” Dai asked.
“They will not break everyone’s wrist, although I will admit they do cause pain at ten.”
“You’ve shot them at ten?” Dai asked.
“Of course. Jean won’t allow you to have the pistols until she checks you out on a pair and confirms you know the dangers of using them. I’ve modified mine to allow you shooting access for the next eight hours.”
“What happens after eight hours?” Dai asked.
“It won’t fire and will go terminal if someone tries to take it apart, so I wouldn’t suggest that at all. If you do, make sure you let me know so I can be somewhere else.”
“Where would you go?”
“Preferably the moon,” Akio told him, no humor showing on his face.
QBS ArchAngel
“Kiel,” Eric nodded to the Yollin who was resting on a Yollin couch to the side of the large fighting room.
“Bitch Eric,” Kiel replied, “Please tell me it is not your turn to fight me?”
Eric smiled, “No, it isn’t. But, I am curious why you ask?”
“Because I have had my Yollin excrement location beaten and I will admit, I am tired.”
“One second, Kiel. Computer, note the verbiage translated excrement location and now use ass, please.”
“UNDERSTOOD.”
“Well, you did kill someone that a few people here knew, so they all wanted a piece of your hide.”
“Yes, I understand that, and I understand that you humans care for your friends at a level we Yollins would not know outside of family, most likely.”
“Well, to be truthful, I sure some of the Wechselbalg just wanted to try you out for size, since you are a little taller and bigger and frankly carry your own damned armor.”
“Yes, I’ve had to shed a layer to get rid of the cracks. I couldn’t fight for one solar day while it hardened again. My exoskeleton was very bad off.”
“Who was the worst?” Eric asked.
Kiel chittered in laughter, “Are you asking, who was even close to the Queen’s beating? No one. She kept her promise, and I survived, but she made me wish to be dead. I will not harm one of hers without thinking again.”
“She does have a way of making sure we learn her lessons,” Eric agreed.
“She is not afraid to get into the warrior’s area and fight, how is that?” Kiel asked.
“What, I thought your King fought?” Eric asked, surprised.
“Yes, when he has an Armada at his back or a thousand soldiers in front of him. Plus, he only considers a proper fight with someone in his own tier,” Kiel answered.
“Wonder what level he would find Bethany Anne?” Eric asked, not expecting an answer.
Kiel chittered again, “He would not ascribe a level to her, and that is a good thing. I am pretty sure he would get his Yollin ass kicked, and he would have to give up the throne. That is why he has so many fighters in front of him.”
“Why doesn’t someone just bomb him, then?” Eric asked.
“That is not the Yollin way, it has to be trial by combat. You are only allowed the weapons and armor that you sleep with.”
“Wait, you guys sleep with weapons?”
“No, the translation software must have messed up. I meant you are only allowed to go into the fight naked. You can have nothing else with you.”
“Oh, Bethany Anne would just love that pre-condition.”
“She would want to fight without a cover?” Kiel asked.
“N
o, sorry, I’m making a joke. I doubt she would like the condition at all. She can be a little prudish sometimes and prefers black over au natural.”
“It would not bother her to fight without weapons?” Kiel asked.
“Kiel, Bethany Anne is never without weapons, trust me.”
—
“I’m trying to understand this, so bear with me a moment,” Bethany Anne told Marcus. “I heard Scientist Royleen just fine.
Captain Kael-ven T’chmon chittered, “It is not always easy to accept what our learned say. From what I understand, you humans already have this knowledge, but perhaps not the tools to manipulate it well.”
“Yes,” Marcus agreed, “Think of it this way, Bethany Anne. There are two types of components, one we understand, which is energy, and one we don’t, which is gravity. You, me, the Yollins, your food, electricity, water, everything is energy at some level. There is much related to Mass vs. Matter and Einstein’s equation. So, the rock we need to tunnel into is energy. The process we are going to build is going to seek to pull the different energies together into a machine. This machine is going to get most of it right, and some of it wrong. It just means that we won’t have perfect blocks of whatever is in the machine, but it will be really, really close.”
“Usually,” Royleen spoke up, “It takes a massive amount of energy to power these machines, but I understand with your Etheric connections, the power is most likely not the problem at this point. So, we can dig into the asteroid and have the materials pulled apart and set up for us. We will be able to sell this back on Earth as the raw materials will be untraceable once they smelt the product down.”
Bethany Anne tapped her finger to her lips, “We are wrapping up most of our mass purchases as we are getting pushback from our existing partners anytime the government finds out about our involvement.”
“Kael-ven,” she turned to the former Captain, “I have a question.”
He chittered, “Only one?”
“What, you too?” she asked, “Et tu, Kael-ven, et tu.” She looked up at the ceiling, “I’ve told you I will express to the Yollins that I’m seeking to pass through without a fight. You know I won’t back down from a fight, and so both of us expect I’m going to get one.”
He chittered his agreement.
“Fine. I expect to kick their asses, by the way. I know you didn’t expect that in the beginning and I’ve been polite by not asking questions I felt would cause you to give up any Yollin secrets. However, due to work by Royleen here...”
“What work did I do for you?” Royleen called out, shocked.
“Your effort to translate human and Yollin communications were found by my team,” she supplied.
“But that was secured!” he answered, then looked to his previous Captain alarm in his eyes, “I did not provide support to the humans to get into our computers.”
Kael-ven waved a hand to the scientist, “It does not matter, humans are devious and smart. Plus, there is a Kurtherian involved so what is our security up against one of them?”
See, I told you so, TOM said.
It’s like a get out of jail free card for these guys. Bethany Anne griped. Every time something happens that they could possibly be blamed for, they whip out the Kurtherian card, and everyone's like ‘oh? A Kurtherian was involved? Well, bad luck and all, you couldn’t possibly win against them.’
We do have a reputation, I’ve tried to get you to believe that.
Yeah, well having had to live with you for so long, I forget that not everyone is as docile as you.
Thank you, I think.
“As I was saying, due to the work that was done, we have our personal Rosetta Stone and are quickly amassing a store of your latest knowledge. What I want to know, is what will it take to create a binding and non-breakable treaty with the Yollin King?”
This time, both of her Yollin vassals started chittering. Bethany Anne looked over to Marcus who shrugged, “Ok, out with it,” she finally told them, impatience winning when they didn’t stop for over a minute.
“The only non-breakable treaty with our King is to become a slave system to Yollin, Queen Bethany Anne. Without besting the King in personal combat, there is no other way, or you will be at War with Yollin for a very long time.”
“Well, that settles it,” Bethany Anne said, “I don’t have the time, so kicking his ass will have to be the plan.”
Kael-ven’s chittering stopped, “What? You would assume the reigns of the Yollin government as well as your own?”
“Well, the ultimate authority, sure. But, I’m far too busy to be the Governor of the Yollin people.”
“Well, then who are you going to put in that position?” Kael-ven asked, “I can guarantee that all of those connected with the throne are going to figure out a way to try and be a pain for you, it is all on the honor system.”
“I know, so isn’t it a good thing I have a vassal that is already bound to me by honor and will want what is best for his race, Governor Kael-ven T’chmon?” she told him sweetly, smiling at him.
This time, the only Yollin chittering was Royleen. Marcus found it humorous that a poleaxed expression on a Yollin, in the right light, looked like a poleaxed expression on a human, too.
Tokyo, Japan
Dai woke up with the phone ringing. He had a splitting headache. He looked over and grabbed his cell phone and looked at the number.
It was his boss and the time was almost noon.
He punched the button, “Yes sir! I’m sorry, sir I will be in shortly,” he struggled to get up, his brain pounding in pain.
His bosses voice came through the phone, “Never mind that, Special Inspector, consider yourself on rest for forty-eight hours. I don’t want you showing up right now, it is a madhouse with the press around here. All I wanted to say, was good work. Good-bye.”
“Good-bye, sir,” Dai barely got that out before the line went dead. He leaned back in bed and dropped the phone back on the nightstand.
Oh God! He had a splitting headache. He turned the other way and found himself staring at a glass of water and two pills, plus a note. He noticed through bleary eyes that there were a porcelain tokkuri and two small sakazuki cups on his little eating table.
Oh, it was coming back to him now. He grabbed the analgesics and drank the water. All of it. He was suffering from, he eyed the tokkuri again, way too much Sake sometime this morning.
Akio was correct, it had been a blue or a red pill decision. He might not ever be able to speak about the evening, but he will forever remember that for one night, the fear that came to those in the night from those delivering righteousness was from a partnership.
And he had been the one who had pointed out those who needed the lessons from a Queen’s Bitch.
He remembered the red eyes, the fanged teeth and got out of bed, walking over to see if any Sake was left in the tokkuri.
There was none.
He had really needed the alcohol after the night they had. He turned and opened the note and smiled. It was Dai’s own personal call me if you need help card, complete with Akio’s signature.
This was now his most prized possession. He padded over to his bathroom to see if he had even tried to get all of the blood off of himself before crashing last night.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Chapter 13
Adjacent, Kiel German Naval Base, Germany
“We have contact,” Terry heard on the team’s channel.
“Seriously?” Terry bitched aloud to himself then hit the talk button, “What area?”
“Twelve,” was the reply.
Terry looked down on the map. They were coming from the south, heading towards the stern of the ship where they were loading. “How many?”
“Looks like six at this time,” their lookout replied.
Terry grimaced. Unless the other attackers pulled out guns, which was verboten here in the port, this was going to be a physical confrontation. Even so, he had hoped that being adjacent to the military a
rea would stop any idiotic attacks and allow them to get out of the port without incident.
It was past nine in the evening, and the people were working under the sodium lamps, trying to get the ship loaded and underway.
Robert called in, “Me and the boys are moving to intercept, got anything in backup for this?”
Terry replied, “I wasn’t expecting to have anyone try to engage us here in Germany. Seems like a stupid place. We don’t even have anything, yet.”
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