by Frank Carey
"Got it," she said as an orchestral piece filled the space around me. I changed from workout to dance.
I closed my eyes and brought up the proximity sensors as I turned and moved in smooth flowing motions, allowing the music to carry me.
My eyes snapped open when a proximity sensor lit off. I opened my eyes and saw brawler standing in front of me. More than slightly confused, I looked over and saw Harm standing there, wearing a control headband. "My I have the honor of this dance, Milady," he asked.
I bowed in acquiescence. Who am I to deny a dashing gentleman a dance? Brawler took Brenda in its arms and we danced to the music. After twenty minutes of spins, lifts and movements that would give a pro dancer pause. The music stopped, leaving Brenda and Brawler staring into each other's optical sensors.
"The hell with this." I growled as I collapsed the repulsor field. In moments, I was in Harm's arms kissing him like the first time we ever kissed. "Kids, I'll be back in an hour," I said while dragging the elf out the door. Behind us, the crowd of techs burst into applause.
###
I returned to the stall and Brenda's checkout. In my absence, my team had finished tuning and calibrating the system. We were back in business. I sat down and grabbed one of the reports Bobby had generated when I heard a cough. It was Frasier. "Your friends busy?" I asked, referring to the other night. "What's up, Frasier?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. I get stupid when I'm drunk. I... The team wanted to thank your husband for the mega-router, especially with what happened in the past..."
"Frasier, I've been told that you used the Segue Six money to save your family."
"Yeah, things got ugly, and I panicked. Look, the General assured me that the team would only be captured, not killed. I was surprised as much as the rest of you when he showed up with all the firepower. Ah, hell, how could you understand being a princess and all..."
"Frasier, I wasn't a princess when Segue Six went down. I was just a grunt like you. My marriage had gone south and my daughter blamed me for it. Look, I didn't find out who the pilot was until years later. Hell, it took him over three decades to find out Losira was his sister, and then only by pure chance."
Frasier smiled. "That must have been a kick in the head. So, he's Harmon Aymar, Hero of Maranta Five. Um, Lady Sienna has a worry you might want to clear up."
About what?"
"The Malf's are part of House Cadiz. The family has always worried that the Aymar family would issue a vengeance against Cadiz for Jurzik's attempt on Harmon's life. Now that Harmon is really Prince Lucien..."
Yeah. Forgot about Jurzik shooting Harm with a blaster and leaving him for dead on the tarmac of some Podunk Tralaskan airfield. This was about a year before Maranta Five. It was when Harm had his death vision.
"She has nothing to worry about. Harm doesn't work that way. I don't think he even remembers. Anyway, I don't think the elf would have tried to save Jurzik on Maranta Five if he had held a grudge against him."
"Can you tell me what happened on Maranta Five?"
"It was a rescue mission. Harm's sister, my daughter, and my daughter's university class were trapped on Maranta Five after a horde of malfunctioning robots destroyed their ship and their shuttle. Jurzik was already there having been trapped in a consciousness storage device when his body was killed during an illegal salvage operation. Harm and Team One went in to rescue the kids. Things went sideways and Jurzik was lost."
"How was he lost?"
"His consciousness was destroyed by what we later determined to be an agent of a race from another universe. These creatures called themselves the Grange."
"The Grange? Odd, but I heard that name just the other day?"
"Where?"
"It was right before the mega-routers went missing. A couple of spook types were having one too many at the Laughing Wombat when the team and I walked in for a few pre-show drinks."
Laughing Wombat? Yeah, not on my list of places to visit. Spooks, though, were interesting. In the military, Spooks meant intelligence service agents who were trying to come off as being anything except agents. "Locals?"
"OffSec, definitely OffSec," he said. Having spent some time as a guest of OffSec after Segue Six, I was pretty sure he knew an OffSec agent when he saw one.
"What did they say?"
"One said 'Did you get a look at the boss's visitor?' The other replied, 'Yeah, them Grange sure are ugly.' Does this mean something to you?"
"Maybe. Listen, let me know if you hear anything else about the Grange," I saw the look on his face; it was a look of relief. "Frasier you did good, but I'm still going to kick your ass tonight."
He grinned. "Bring it, sister. Bring it," he said as he got up and headed back to his stall.
Christa walked up after he was gone. "What did he want?" she asked.
"He was apologizing. It seems that Jurzik Malf is a cousin and the whole family got worried when your dad let his secret identity slip. Something about a vengeance."
Trent took that moment to join us. "I had forgotten about that," he said while grabbing drinks from the fridge. He handed one to me Christa and me while throwing one to Bobby. "It's hard to keep track when your family is involved in several hundred of the damn things."
Whoa, Tralaskans, at least this family, need serious help. "Well, I straightened things out. I explained to him that House Aymar, nor House Irithyl, have any beef with your family. He seemed relieved."
Mother and he have grown...close since his family joined mine. He cares deeply for her, sometimes too much. He's like that, caring that is."
Now I felt bad. Perhaps we could have handled things a little differently after Segue Six. I shook my head. All that had to wait; we had bigger problems to deal with. "Christa, be a sweety and throw me that commlink, please."
"Sure," she said as she lofted the device in my general direction. Grabbing it in mid-air, I activated it. "Harmon, its Marta. You got a minute?"
"Yeah. I was just bringing Linka, Mother, and Sana up to speed. What's up?"
"Get your ass back here and bring those three with you. We've got big problems."
"On our way," he replied before shutting down the link,
I dialed another number. "Go for Devlin."
"Ciara, Marta. The Grange may be back in town."
"Shit. I knew it. I knew it. Look, we compared scan data from the space around Maranta Five, Venecia, and Mimbres, and guess what? They match. The boffins tell me space is 'weak' in these areas, which makes it easier to form inter-universe bridges. Dammit to the seven hells."
"Have you issued an evacuation order?"
"I tried, but the order was countermanded by the Council. It seems they don't want to disrupt the biggest sporting event in League history for a rumor of invasion," Ciara said as she embedded a stylus in the wall. "I'm sending every spare ship assigned to the Cube to patrol the area. We're hoping the readings we got from Venecia will hold if a gate opens in your area of space, so we'll be running scans 24x7. Marta, half the League leadership is orbiting that station and if an invasion force appears..."
"Copy that. Please tell me Losira and Royce didn't sneak out to come here incognito in a scow."
"No, they're safely in the castle. Team Four was able to intercept them before takeoff."
Wonderful. Royce knows better. This shit is getting too real. "Ciara, we need to nip this in the bud, now. We can't spook SpecPro. If they go to ground, we'll never find them until it's too late."
"You're right. I'm putting as much firepower as I can around the station. It these things do make it through I will order a blanket bombardment of the station and every ship. General, I've reactivated your commission..."
"You can do that?" I asked. "I thought only Losira could do that,"
Losi and several other leaders have given me oversight on this operation. She's reactivated Royce and the two of them are preparing the Elf Fleet for battle. Ith and Earth are doing the same. Marta, you are at ground zero and I will back you 110%. Do you
have a plan?"
"Nope, but I'm working on it," I said as Harm and his group walked in, followed by Shenda and her crew and kids. Shit. "I'll get back with you. McMurphy out." I stood up and looked at my family, my army. "Guess what? We get to save the League again."
I think they could hear the groans out in the corridor.
Chapter 28 - Pre-match Jitters
I frowned as the data came up on the holoprojector. "Three galactic liners and four hundred yachts orbited the station for a total of over thirty thousand souls. On the station, another ten thousand visited and worked, all oblivious to the possible danger they were facing. A planet died the first time the Grange tried to visit. Unknown thousands of souls died the second time, their souls sucked through a gateway into another universe where they were enslaved. And these were the two incidents we knew about. I looked at the projection and saw a lot of collateral damage. If we only knew where and when they were going to open the gate. Knowing those two things would allow us to bottle them up before they could get out to wreak havoc. "Harm, any way we can adapt our scanners to find the gate?"
"The energy signatures Ciara sent us are outside our scanpads' range. We'll need to..." he stopped when Ashely handed him her scanpad. It was covered in stickers as was proper for any girl her age.
"This should get you within a hundred meters of your target," she said. "Press that icon and the screen will go red when you're within range."
"We could get closer," Grayson said, "but we're technology limited. Give us a few minutes to modify the rest of the units."
Shenda glanced over Harm's shoulder, staring slack jawed at the device. "Sweety, how did you figure out how to do this?"
"Dunno," Ashley replied. "It just came to us."
Shenda glanced at Torren and Bobby, both of whom frowned. The four quadruplets used to have things 'come to them' before the demon Cleth was exorcised.
"Mom! We're not possessed!" Grayson said, shaking his head while he modified another pad.
"Of course not," Chasm replied as he eyes flared green.
What can I say? My family is unique. "Are we sure this gate is aboard the station?"
"Yes," Sana said as she took the modified scanner from Harm. "The boffins at the Cube are convinced the gates need a stable platform, one much more stable than even a liner, so the damned thing has to be on-station."
Dammit, I was sending my family into danger while I kicked electronic ass. But, it had to be this way else we risk tipping off the SpecPro types. Not only did we need to stop this shit, we needed to bomb it into the Stone Age. Especially now that Muntz is involved. Lenora had briefed Harm and me on Ciara's findings concerning the now-living, ex-director Muntz, but I hadn't told the others. I guess it's time. "Listen up, there is something else you should all know," I said before launching into the news. When I finished, I waited for a reaction, especially from Shenda, Bobby, Christa, and Torren.
The silence was telling.
Finally, Torren asked, "That son of a bitch is alive? Grandma, I was told you never miss."
"I didn't, I just severed the wrong head."
"She's kidding, right?" Trent asked.
"No, she's not," I said. "She is the top-ranked swordswoman on Ventos Prime. It seems she unwittingly decapitated a clone."
"Much to my great embarrassment," Lenora added.
Trent blanched. He looked at Christa for guidance. "Just don't piss her off and you'll be fine," she advised. Trent got whiter.
"Trent, this Muntz has done terrible things against the quads and Harm. He was executed for crimes against the state and the Ventosian royal family. Personally, I would have used a blaster set on rotisserie to end his reign of terror. Lenora got to him first and used more humane means."
"He hurt you and Bobby?" Trent asked, going from fear to anger in a heartbeat.
"No, he created us. He needed a place to store a demon."
I stopped breathing while waiting for his reaction. Being part of the Aymar/Irithyl family wasn't for the faint of heart.
"The he will experience death a second time," Trent said as he took Christa's hand.
Yep, I'm thinking a spring wedding.
"We need to find where this gateway is and fast. The match is on in five hours, and I would like to nip this in the bud before then," I said.
"Does the League think this is just a series of unfortunate coincidences?" Bobby asked.
I looked at my son and nodded. "We've got pieces of the picture, but nothing complete. The League wants the whole thing handled before causing a panic."
"Well, General, what are your orders?" Harm asked while walking around to give me a neck rub. Damn, that elf has the hands of an expert masseuse.
Breaking free of his grip--but only for a moment--I set down assignments. "When the kids are finished modifying datapads..."
Ashley and Grayson handed-out modified units.
"OK, while Trent, Christa, Bobby, and I prepare for the match, the rest of you spread out and run scans of the station." I brought up a holoprojection of the station. "Linka, your thoughts?"
Linka walked up to the table and pointed. "We can ignore the stadium and living areas." Sections of the projection blanked out. "This leaves retail, storehouse, maintenance, and docks."
Harm pointed to a disk-shaped structure at the far end of the station. "What's that?" he asked.
"The old fusion reactor containment pod. It's been sealed for years."
"Shenda, I want you and Sana to divvy-up assignments. Sana, what is the status of the jewels?"
"Arriving at any moment. We plan to take them directly to the station vault for storage until the Cube transport gets here."
"Good. Assign your people as you see fit. Lenora..."
"I'm sticking with Harm," she said. Yeah, I figured she would keep close to him if Muntz was around. Harm nodded. He could tell she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"That works. Get rolling and keep safe. Call Harm, Shenda, or Sana if you find anything. Remember, if Muntz is alive and aboard this station, we are all in danger. Ashley and Grayson, a word. The rest of you, get going."
Once the room emptied, I turned to the grandkids and asked, "Who the hell are you?"
"Your grandkids, Ashley and Grayson," Ashley said as she led me to a chair. "Who do you think we are?"
"I don't know, but I saw the look on your grandfather's face when you modified the scanpads. There are few times when he is impressed and that was one of them. Is there something you would like to tell me?"
Grayson looked at his sister. She nodded. "Grandmother, we don't know what's going on, not yet at least. We get hunches."
"There is a word, though, that keeps popping up when we're figuring stuff out," Ashley added.
"What word?" I asked.
"Logash," they said in unison. "Do you know what it means?"
"It is an ancient race from long ago. They were the first people from this universe to create an inter-universe gateway. The people we call the AIs came here over that bridge and some of them declared war against the Logash."
"Did the Logash survive?"
"Only long enough to seed this part of the universe with their genetics."
"What about the AIs?"
"The insurgents--the ones who declared war--were stopped. Two survived..."
"Chrome and Opal!" the twins said in whispers. "Father told us about them."
"Your father and mother saved the League from those two."
"Who are Agendor and Rutile?"
"I don't know. Are those names also running around your heads?"
They nodded.
"I know some people who may be able to help us, but we need to take care of this little problem first. By the way, you did good with the scanpads. Let us know if you have any more ideas. Now, get going before you parents get worried."
I got up and they both hugged me before running off to rejoin their family while I headed off to find my team.
Chapter 29 - The Match
The crowd
roared as I walked out from the Team Luciana pit and gave a two-handed wave. Damn, this place was absolutely filled. VidCams ringed both the periphery outside the safety force field and above the upper row of seats while a skycam hovered above the ring. I looked around and saw members of Linka's security force standing behind the cams, watching for any danger while freeing up Teams One and Two for other tasks. Behind and above the pit was the skybox where my whole damn family waited and watched. I have never been more afraid. I looked up and waved. They waved back. I'm not much for prayer, but right now, I was begging God to keep everyone, especially them, safe from what was coming. With a final wave, I returned to the pit to gear up.
"Harm, Sana, Lenora, do you copy?" I asked into the earbug hidden in my left earring.
"Copy that," they replied one after another.
"Hang in there, my love," Harm said. "Soon, you'll have the trophy and all will be well.”
"You are just so sweet," I said as Trent and Bobby made final adjustments to the harness and headset.
"Mom, you are go," Bobby said with a hug.
"Give him hell, General," Trent said. He, too, gave me a hug, surprising the shit out of me. I can't wait to meet elf-Tralaskan-human elfling babies."
"Mom, all systems are optimal," Christa said as she ran over and gave me a hug. Yep, I expect many children. "Rip him a new one," she said while running back to her console.
I thought calming thoughts as I stepped up on the platform. I waited as the repulsor fields lifted me off the surface.
The announcer walked out and introduced us, first Team Kimbra, then Team Luciana. When it was my turn, I walked out and stood while looking at every person in the crowd. The roar was deafening. Soon, the two suits stood opposite one another, waiting for the opening bell.
It rang. We fought.
Like the match I fought against Gretchen, we started out slow, but things quickly escalated. Soon we were pommeling each other, looking for weaknesses. But, there were none. Each of us had done our homework and neither let the other get the advantage. We slugged, kicked, spun, dodged, and danced. This went on for nine rounds.
