by Frank Carey
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-SIx
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
About the Author
SHENDA
Heroes of the League Book #10
By Frank Carey
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by Frank Carey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This story appeared previously as the Smuggler’s Daughter.
League Tale #12
Chapter One
Three figures crouched in the darkness. One jimmied a door while the other two kept watch, as the twin moons of Ventos Prime rose over the nearby tree line.
"Hurry it up, Christa. Someone is going to see us," Torren said as he kept close watch of the perimeter."
"Torren, stop worrying. Everybody is off on holiday and the neighborhood patrol isn't due by for another twenty minutes," Shenda said over the commlink as she kept careful watch from the escape vehicle parked around the corner.
"Torren's right," Bobby said as he too looked around. "We should have waited for new moons to pull this caper."
"You two morons are always worried about something," Christa said as she tapped the lock pad with her index finger. The door silently swung open. "See? Easy-peasy."
Once inside, the boys headed upstairs to empty the bedroom safe while Christa headed to the computer in the downstairs den. When she arrived, she found the door open and the terminal on. "Shenda, I thought the family was going to be gone for a while?"
"Yeah, at least a week. Why?"
"The terminal is on."
"They probably forgot to turn it off. Continue with the caper. The boys are almost into the safe."
Christa sat down at the screen, flipped on a desk lamp, and plugged a flash drive into a port in the side of the screen.
Nothing happened.
"What the plark?" she said to herself as she typed several keystrokes into the keyboard. The screen lit up with a message, "Try saying please."
She stared at the screen, wondering what to do next.
The screen blinked and displayed the same message. Shrugging, she typed, "Please."
The screen blinked again, but this time the message was, "Try SAYING please."
"Please?" she said aloud.
A hand appeared from her left and tapped the "H" key. The room lights came on as the terminal went dead. Christa looked left and saw a tall male elf sitting in the chair next to the desk. He was wearing all black. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his eyes were bright yellow. He smiled. "Hello Christa, My name is Harmon Aymar," he said as he extended his hand. Shocked, she took it and shook it. "On your right is my daughter, Aerith. Aerith, show Christa your beautiful eyes.
Shenda looked and saw a young woman, her long red hair also pulled back in a ponytail. Unlike Harmon, she was wearing a white blouse over a floral print skirt and knee-high leather boots. She was wearing sunglasses that she removed to reveal human eyes framed by elf ears. "I'm told I have my mother's eyes."
There were three collective gasps behind Christa. She turned and saw her sibs sitting on a couch surrounded by several people wearing Office of Security jackets...
And eating scones.
"People, we've got this," Aerith said to the agents.
"And more scones are ready when the timer beeps," Harm said. The agents ran out of the room.
"Hi," Harm said to the four elflings as Christa joined them.
"Are we in trouble?" Torren asked in his most innocent voice.
"Nope," Harm replied.
"Right. We broke into your house and tried to steal your stuff," Shenda reminded him.
"Ummm, not quite. Roscoe, analysis of Christa's hacking skills?"
"Sir, she is at least at your level, if not higher."
"Who the hell are you?" Shenda asked.
"Harmon Aymar, though you may know me by two other names: the Smuggler Elf and Atmar."
"Shit!" Torren and Christa said as they recognized the names.
"You're really him, the Smuggler Elf? You're famous! I read all those books about your capers."
"Ah, my cousin's books. Looking at Royce, one would never know a novelist lived inside that Marine uniform."
"Atmar's dead," Christa said. "He died over a decade ago when he tried to take over the Cube."
"Atmar is a long story. He isn't dead, but I'm no longer him. He's...complicated."
"I don't understand?"
"Unfortunately, neither do I. Let's just say Atmar was from a time in my life when I had lost hope. Now, I bet you're all wondering what the hell is going on."
The four nodded.
"I've been watching you four for the last two months..."
"Ewwww!" Shenda noted.
"Not that way! I've been working as a member of your orphanage's staff. I was a janitor."
"Why?"
"Something about you four fascinates me. You're intelligent—your IQs are off the scale—resourceful, and watch each other's sixes like hawks."
"But? There's always a ‘but’," Shenda noted.
"But I got tired of watching, so I adopted you."
"You're our meet and greet?" Bobby asked in shock.
"Yep. Your client is a fence I used to use back in my Smuggler Elf days. He owed me some favors, so I wiped his slate clean in return for him setting up this caper."
"So, are you going to adopt us?" Shenda asked.
"We already have," Aerith informed them.
"What if it doesn't work?" Christa asked.
"Oh, you mean like the last half-dozen other families you were placed with?" Harm asked as he reached into the desk and removed a large envelope.
"Yeah. Are you going to break us up?" Shenda asked, her body language screaming flight or fight.
Harm threw her the envelope.
"What's this?" Shenda asked as she opened it and extracted its contents.
"A royal decree of emancipation. It designates you as your sibs’ guardian. It also sets up a trust fund that pays you a stipend until you
reach twenty-one when you gain full access to the funds. Basically, no one can ever split you four up."
Shenda started to shake, but stopped when Christa took her hand. She took the papers from her sister and read them. "How do you know Prince Lucien?" she asked.
"I know him because I am him. Queen Losira is my identical twin. That's why I did all this. She and I were separated for many years, and I ended up getting hurt." Aerith took his hand and squeezed it, "which led to many others getting hurt. I would never allow that to happen to anyone."
"This is real, isn't it?" Shenda asked as she dried her eyes.
"Yep, as real as it gets. You four never have to run again. This is your home if you want it."
The four took each other’s hand and linked. When they finished, Shenda looked at Harm and said, "We'll stay."
"Sir," Mabel announced, "Your wife is on the comm."
"Great! Put her through."
The room's main viewer lit up with an image of someone in battle armor ripping the head off a robot. The kids jumped out of their seats and huddled behind the couch as they watched the scene unfold. The person in battle armor threw the pieces of bot to the side as they turned toward the camera, their helmet retracting into their armor.
A woman's head was revealed, a human woman. She had red hair tied in a bun and green eyes that crinkled when she smiled. "Sorry about that. The damn things are starting to hop the barricades. Hello! I'm Marta."
The kids looked at each other. Finally, Shenda said, "Hi. I'm Shenda and this is Bobby, Torren, and Christa." The other three waved in turn.
"Hi, Mom," Aerith said as she sat on the arm of the couch previously occupied by the four siblings.
"Hi, Honey. Harm, did they accept?"
"Shenda?"
"Yes, ma’am, we've accepted. Do you do this a lot?"
A serpent bot tried crawling up Marta's torso, but Marta grabbed it and crushed it. "What, this? Naw, this is a simple cleanup. Somebody didn't update their bot software and a virus got in. Think of us as the cure."
"This is sooooo cool!" Bobby said.
A much larger suit of battle armor appeared on camera, its helmet retracting to reveal a large, bearded, elf head. "Maj. Royce Aymar at your service," he said with a small bow. "I hate to break this up, but Sgt. Eloen has found the nest server and was wondering if the Captain would like a crack at it."
"Got to go," Marta said as she and Royce helmeted up and headed off-screen.
"I build them, and she destroys them," Harm noted.
"The makings of true romance," Aerith added.
Harm watched the four resume their seats on the couch. "So, what do you think? Still in?" he asked.
"That was real?" Shenda asked.
"Yep. I can't give you details, but it's real. My wife is a captain in the Elf Marine Expeditionary Force and my adopted cousin Royce is a major and her commanding officer. My sister, Royce’s wife, formed the EMEF after Royce was retired out of the Space Marines."
Torren just stared. "You're really him, the Smuggler Elf."
Harm nodded. "And Aerith is Rachel from the first three books. I think Royce really captured the swashbuckling side of me."
Aerith snorted.
"Ah the respect I get from my offspring." He looked at the chrono on the wall. "It's getting late, and I have some to work to do in the shop. Aerith, could you show Shenda, Christa, Bobby, and Torren the rest of the house while I see our other guests out?"
"Sure, Dad. Everyone, follow me."
Aerith gave them the grand tour starting in the kitchen and working their way back to the sleeping area. Part way through the tour, Torren stopped in front of a bookcase. Sitting on the shelf at eye level was a rather beat up dashboard hula doll. "Hey, this was on the cover of "Space Vixen!"
"You really have read all of Royce's books, haven't you?" Aerith asked.
"Oh, yeah. The Space Vixen maneuver is actually used by Space Command," Torren replied as he tapped the doll, causing it to shake.
"I have something to show you," she said as she changed direction. She took them outside to a path leading off into the darkness. "Mabel, lights please."
Floodlights hidden in the trees came on, revealing a wrecked spaceship, its nose buried in the dirt. It looked like it had been through a grinder.
"Nooooo!" Torren said as he ran up to the wreck, touching it reverently.
"Torren, what is it?" Bobby asked.
"It's the real Space Vixen," he said, while running his hand over its rough and dented surface.
"What happened to it?" Shenda asked.
"This is the condition it was in when Dad brought it here from storage. It is in the exact condition it was in when it finished its last mission. He set the display up to symbolize the moment when his life made its final change. Before the Space Vixen incident, he was still shaking off Atmar. After, he was only Harmon Aymar."
"People can change that drastically?" Christa asked.
"Yes, but it is never easy. The bullet holes and scorch marks are real, and he still has a price on his head put there by the surviving Segue Six insurrectionists."
"All this for a woman who wanted nothing to do with him," Torren said. "A love story for the ages. In the story, she never knew it was him at the controls."
"Wow," Aerith said, shocked. "That's deep. You're right; no one on Team One knew who was flying her. Mom only found out years later."
"Torren has his moments," Christa said as she grabbed him in a headlock.
Shenda just stared at the wreck, wondering what was driving the Smuggler Elf.
"Let's head back. I'll show you to your rooms," Aerith said, while the lights slowly dimmed.
Chapter Two
Aerith led the four new members of the Aymar family into a circular anteroom. Around them were chairs, tables, a couch, and a large viewer on one wall. Around the wall were doors, five in all—four wood and one, black.
"The first two rooms—the ones with wood doors on the left—share a bathroom as do the two on the right. The black one between the two pair leads to a communal bathroom. The four rooms are all the same with Interweb access, a bed, closet, desk, and chair. We can go shopping for accessories later. Your stuff is in the rooms we assigned you, but feel free to change things up. Mabel will let you know when Dad's fixing breakfast. It's been a long day, so try to get some rest. Good night."
Aerith walked out, leaving the kids to their own devices. Shenda sat down on the couch with Christa while the boys dragged over chairs. When everyone was settled, Shenda pulled out the envelope containing the emancipation proclamation and handed out sections to her sibs.
"I must be dreaming," Bobby said as he thumbed through his part. This says we're princes and princesses."
"Let me see that," Christa said as she took it from her brother and read it for herself. "Damn, he's right!" She handed it back to him.
Shenda's frown deepened as she read the paperwork. "Why do all this for a bunch of strangers?"
"Shenda, do you need to question everything?" Christa scolded her sister.
"Yes, I do. Can you hack into OffSec and download Harmon's dossier? You know the real one?"
"You're kidding, right? You want me to hack into the Office of Security's most secure database so you can assure yourself that this isn't a scam?"
"Yes, exactly."
"I knew it," Torren said. "We're going to jail. Dammit, I'm too pretty to go to jail!"
The other three just looked at him. "You through?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah, I guess so."
Christa sighed. "Fine. Mabel, where can I find a terminal?"
In front of them, the coffee table rose to desk height as its surface lit up with a virtual keyboard.
"OK, that's different," Bobby said as his sister started typing.
“I'm in," Christa announced.
"Isn't that a little quick?" Torren asked.
She pointed to a folder on the virtual desktop marked tools. "Not with those."
"Can you f
ind his dossier?"
"There are seven, six of which are bogus. This one isn't," Christa said as she brought up the data.
"How do you know?" Bobby asked.
"I read the same books as Torren. This dossier matches those stories."
The four of them read through the data. Every now and then, one or more of them would gasp, other times they would cringe. Finally, Shenda had had enough. "Shut it down."
"He knows," Bobby said.
"He knows what we fear," Christa added.
Torren just nodded. "He's been there."
"I need to talk to him," Shenda said as she got up and headed to the door. "Mabel, where's Harmon?"
"Harmon is in his workshop. Out the back door, second building on the right."
Shenda stopped and looked at her sibs. "Coming?"
"Nope, you're on your own with this one," Christa said as she went to work typing commands on the coffee table terminal. "Get it out of your system. We'll be here when you get back."
Shenda nodded then headed out the door.
###
Harmon sat over the body of a robotic tree rat. He was wearing magnifier glasses while teasing tiny parts into place inside the bot's body.
"Mabel, have the kids hacked my dossier yet?"
"Yes, sir, just as you predicted. Ms. Christa is truly talented."
"And their reaction?"
"Shock, followed by acceptance. How do the young put it? They now know you have a clue."
Harm chuckled to himself.
"Ms. Shenda is on her way to this location."
"Alone?"
"Yes, her sibs are taking this time to settle in."
"Mabel, start another pot of tea, please."
"Yes, sir."
Harm went back to work on the rat.
A few minutes later, a knock at the workshop door signaled Shenda’s arrival. Harm put down his tools and pulled back his glasses before seeing to his visitor.
He went to the door and found Shenda standing there. "Come on in," he said, while standing aside for her to pass.
She stepped inside and looked around. "Wow, you've got a lot of stuff."
"I take it you mean the place is cluttered. I agree. It's just so hard to get a cleaning crew in here. Let me show you the way through this mess."
Harm led Shenda to the workbench with the creature splayed out on top. "A rat?"
