by Jucha, S. H.
“Well, I think we’re about to discover just that,” Jaya replied. “Alex isn’t going to wait on procuring incontrovertible proof, legally obtained or not, and then wait while the Assembly considers that evidence. You heard Alex. He said he’s going to do whatever he has to do to get his sister back, and the Harakens are all behind him. They don’t take kindly to trespasses against their people.”
“It’s a thorny problem,” agreed Will. “On the one hand, I don’t want to see Harakens interfering in New Terran issues. On the other hand, what’s going to happen if Alex doesn’t get his sister back? Like if these idiots, who kidnapped the girls, do something even more stupid, like make them permanently disappear.”
“And the Harakens with a powerful new warship right here,” Jaya reminded Drake.
* * *
Tatia commed Ellie, requesting she collect Captain Timmion and her crew and escort them to afternoon meal. She was pleased to discover Ellie was already en route.
As Ellie and Timmion walked to the meal room, Ellie said, “The reports indicate you did an excellent job against the Hand of Justice and later in your training as a fighter pilot. And I extend my congratulations on your appointment as President Drake’s pilot. The reports appear not to have done you justice.”
“How can anyone not excel when they have Commander Svetlana Valenko as a trainer?” Timmion replied. “I think she’s the scariest women I’ve ever met.”
“She is unorthodox,” Ellie agreed.
“What I don’t understand is that she’s Méridien, but she doesn’t act calm and controlled like I understand Méridiens behave.”
“There are Méridiens and then there are Independents, Captain. The latter people are Méridiens who were ostracized by their society for being …”
“Independent?”
“Yes, independent.”
“So what did Commander Valenko do that got her thrown out of her society?
“That’s an excellent question.”
“I apologize, if I’m asking improper questions, Commander.”
“No, not at all, Captain. It’s just that I don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows. She’s a mystery, but she’s our mystery and a truly fierce Haraken.”
-17-
“Dolan, this is not a negotiation,” Maria said hotly over the comm. “You can have the credit for every arrest, every criminal charged. That’s not the issue. I’m calling in a favor, and it’s not like you don’t owe me more of those than you or I could count.”
Maria waited while Dolan Oppert, the TSF general, weighed the pros and cons of a decision. If someone had offered her the opportunity when she was the general of the system’s police force to bust fourteen illegal drug operations on New Terra, she wouldn’t have cared about a minor request. It would have been a done deal so fast you couldn’t have drawn breath before she would have agreed. Unfortunately, that wasn’t Dolan’s way.
“So we manage the operations, the arrests, and the charges, but on one of the sites Steve Ross has tactical command and gets to talk to the suspects once they’re in custody.”
“Yes, Dolan,” Maria said, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. “Steve played a major role in identifying these people, and he’s asked for this favor.”
“He’s not going to do anything stupid like shoot someone once they’re restrained?”
“Do you remember Steve ever doing anything like that when he was in the service?” Maria challenged.
“No, but there’s always a first time,” Oppert retorted.
“Do you want the information on these drug sites or not?” Maria asked. “Or maybe I should just ask the Harakens for some help. Conveniently, they’re in system … I mean since our TSF seems unwilling to take on illegal drug manufacturers?”
“No need to get nasty, Maria. We’ll get it done. Of course, we will. It’s just that I’m not in the habit of granting favors to civilians that gives them control of TSF operations.”
“I’m sending you information on thirteen of the sites. Steve will sit on the fourteenth site. Let him know who to coordinate with in your ranks for that bust. I advise you to synchronize your troopers to hit all the sites at once. If you don’t mind a suggestion, I would use Colonel Portis.”
* * *
Steve Ross sat atop his new flit with Colonel Portis standing in front of him, hands on hips, glaring at him.
“All operations were supposed to commence at 6 hours this morning, Ross. I’ve a mind to arrest you for obstruction,” Portis declared hotly.
“Check your orders, Colonel. The deal is that you run thirteen of the ops, and I coordinate the fourteenth.
“Well, your coordination is going to ball this one up, Ross. It’s been hours since we cleaned up the other sites. The people are in custody and already in holding cells.”
“They’re in TSF hands, not civilian, right?” Steve asked.
“Those were my orders,” Portis said.
“By the way, how many did you get … total, I mean?”
“Final tally was sixty-three arrests.”
“Hmm … between the other investigators and me, we counted closer to 120 bodies. Whose idea, anyway, was it to plan this as a dawn raid? I mean these are criminals. They’re not going to be sleeping on premises at 6 hours or sweating hard to get their product out. At 6 hours, they’re tucked up nice and cozy in their beds, probably sleeping off some drink or lying next to a rented body.”
Colonel Portis glanced to the nearby trees where her troopers sat in the shade next to their transports. She had argued vociferously with General Oppert on his choice of a time for the raid, having made the same arguments Steve just enumerated.
“Don’t tell me … Pert?” Steve asked, using the general’s nickname by which officers referred to him in private company. Oppert earned his nickname when he was still a captain. During training maneuvers, he took so long making decisions that invariably his company was annihilated. The joke was he was busy fussing in the mirror with his appearance, looking pert, when he should have been making battlefield decisions.
Oppert’s career path was shunted up through administration rather than field command, and, through sheer perseverance, he ended up on the short list for general after two decades of service. Those in politics admired his cooler temperament and thought him the right officer for the position. It had caused furor within the ranks, and a great many qualified and experienced senior officers hadn’t renewed their contracts.
“You don’t have to say it, Colonel. It’s rather obvious,” Ross said, letting Portis off the hook.
“Could you tell me when you intend to move on this site, Ross? It’s supposed to be the largest one, and I’d hate to have them get wind of our operations.”
“We’re waiting.”
“We’re waiting for what?”
“For a signal. I have a friend watching the site, and I don’t intend to commence operations until I have the majority of these people inside the warehouse.”
After that exchange, Portis and Ross stoically passed the time in silence, and the hours dragged on into midafternoon, when Steve’s reader finally hummed.
Colonel Portis jumped off her transport and came quickly to his side. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the swirling image. “I’ve never seen a screen vid that complex before.”
“That’s my friend’s calling card,” Steve replied.
“Greetings, Ser Ross,” Cordelia’s voice came over the reader. “Four transports have arrived at the warehouse. Three are personnel carriers, and fifteen bodies have exited them. The fourth vehicle is a cargo carrier, which has three bodies in its cab. I would surmise they are intending to move their product out of the warehouse. Good fortune, Ser.” Immediately after Cordelia’s message, the colorful vid disappeared.
Portis closed her gaping mouth. She was grinning as she punched Steve in the shoulder. “Greetings, Ser Ross? You sneaky reject of an officer … your friend is a Haraken. Does Pert know?”
“Absolutely not, and he shouldn’t know. And I don’t think that was just any Haraken. The first voice I heard saved me from an explosive device strapped to the underside of my flit, but this voice was different … female not male.”
“You’re talking about SADEs, right?”
“Think so.”
“Eighteen bodies and a warehouse full of product. Let’s go make some arrests!” Portis said, slapping Ross on the shoulder with a resounding thwack.
Going to have to start offering Portis the other shoulder if she gets any more enthusiastic, Steve thought, rubbing his muscles as he climbed on his flit.
Two platoons of TSF troopers surrounded the warehouse. On the colonel’s orders, electro-charges were fired at the four transports, disabling their drive systems. Next, quick-acting gas was pumped through every visible window. Instantly, several men inside the warehouse shot out windows, jumped through them, and made a run for it. Stun guns accounted for every one of them.
Once the gas cleared, the comatose individuals were restrained, given a quick med-injection to revive them, and hauled to their feet. Twenty-three people, the eighteen who had just arrived and the five who were already onsite, stood in a row on the warehouse’s front parking lot.
“Okay,” Steve announced firmly, “I want to know who planted the device on my flit.”
The felons remained quiet, staring straight ahead or at the ground. When Steve’s reader chimed, heads turned his way, and Portis peeked over his shoulder. Text rolled up on the reader’s screen. It read: Have them look up. Steve and Portis shared grins, and Steve ordered, “All of you look up.”
Most of the men and women glanced skyward with their eyes, and a couple tilted their heads back a few degrees.
“Faces to the sky, now!” Steve thundered and the troopers assisted any recalcitrant individuals.
Portis wasn’t watching the criminals. She was focused on Steve’s reader, anxious to see the next message.
The words third from the left scrolled up on the screen.
Steve walked over to the man, identified in the text, who dropped his head to return Steve’s stare. “Like to play with explosives, do you?” Steve asked.
“Don’t know what you mean,” the man said.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Steve could see the two individuals on either side of his target glance at their comrade. Their faces told Steve the SADE had the right man.
“I have a witness, who saw you plant the device.”
“No one saw me,” the man declared, jutting his jaw out defiantly.
They get stupider every day, Steve thought. “Our visitors saw you,” he said, grinning and pointing a finger at the sky.
When it dawned on the guilty party who Steve was talking about, he spat the word, “Haraken.”
“Make sure you charge this one with attempted murder, Colonel,” Steve said, hauling the man out of line and pushing him toward Portis.
As Steve walked back to his flit, he heard Portis yell, “Nice working with you, Ross.”
* * *
“Renée!” Maria exclaimed, the lift in her voice evident. “Visit soon, you two, if you can.”
After a quick exchange with Renée, Maria got right to business. “I have good news, Alex. We came up empty on locating your biochemist.”
Renée’s confusion was obvious, but Alex was nodding.
“We’re pretty sure of that … as sure as we can be,” Maria replied. “Once we came to that conclusion, we worked with TSF to shut down fourteen illegal drug operations and arrested eighty-six felons. It was a bit of an eye opener for our TSF general, who has been saying for years that he has everything under control concerning illegal drug operations. Right now, I don’t think he likes me very much, but then he’s about to be replaced, if rumors in the Assembly are true.”
“Actually, yes. In tracing the chemical deliveries, we discovered several suppliers were sending their shipments to a small warehouse near Prima’s main shuttle transport. When one of my investigators checked out the warehouse, he found it empty.”
“Exactly. My investigator sat on the location and watched three more deliveries made. Then, within moments after the last delivery, a hover truck pulls up, supplies are loaded, and off the truck goes to load its cargo onto a New Terran shuttle.”
“Jolares, a moon orbiting Ganymede,” Maria replied.
“Peto Toyo, one of the owner-operators of pleasure domes out there,” Maria said. “Now that we’re done playing this game of questions and answers, of which you already know the answers, do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Maria asked.
Renée giggled, and Maria knew her suppositions were correct. “Alex, your SADEs have been following my investigation since the start, and, by the way, thank them for keeping my field agents alive. They’re good people. Julien, you handling the comm?”
“You have a big kiss waiting for you when we meet.”
Julien replied. Cordelia observed a jaunty cap appeared on Julien’s head, and she smiled, pleased to see her partner happy.
“So, Alex, what’s up?” Maria repeated.
“Well, at least, there’s that,” Maria said, relenting. “It’s good that you’re including Drake in the loop. I don’t think he’s really cut out for the job.”
“I agree, Alex. Some just handle the responsibility better than others. Anyway, keep Will in the loop and be gentle with him,” Maria cautioned and signed off.
-18-
Toyo’s first thought when he was informed of three visiting Méridiens was that it must have something to do with the Rêveur and the Harakens. But, Toyo’s administrator informed him that the reservations were made from Kephron, which matched the stories told by the exotic visitors and the miners who accompanied them.
The more Toyo observed the women through the domes’ security cams, the more he thought this was the opportunity he was searching for — an opportunity to expand his business beyond what Kadmir and O’Brien had achieved. On his monitor, Miranda chatted charmingly with a patron, and Toyo’s paranoia sought to couple the Méridien’s presence with the Harakens, but he quickly squashed that line of reasoning. No one’s that good an actress, he thought. Accessing another cam, Toyo watched the two Méridiens, the dark-light twins as his people called them, entertaining a group of businessmen, who were spending a fortune in creds at the bar on drinks and stims.
Toyo’s brain whirled with thoughts of grandeur and greed, and he sent his head of security, Dillon Jameson, to invite the wealthy Méridien to his office. A quarter-hour later, Toyo was posed, leaning against the front of his desk in anticipation.
“Greetings, Ser,” Miranda said, sweeping into the room.
Unlike so many people who waited for instructions whether to approach or sit, Toyo was surprised
that the woman came close and extended her hand, displaying a gentle strength in her handshake. Breaking his own security protocols, Toyo invited Miranda to sit with him in two comfortable chairs at the side of the room.
“Miranda … beautiful name to suit a beautiful woman,” Toyo said, which was the full extent of his charm.
“How kind of you to say so, Ser, but I imagine you didn’t invite me to your office to flatter me.”
“We’ve seen quite a few Méridiens in Oistos over time, but you don’t look like any of them.”
“Now, that’s what I expect from New Terrans … bluntness. Have you toured the Confederation, Ser?”
“No, I’ve never left this system.”
“I do love the manner in which you people blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind without giving it any due consideration. It’s so … rudimentary.”
Toyo knew he was being insulted, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the woman, and she seemed to know it. Every glance of his seemed to cause that part of her to move in some subtle way, and the effect was mesmerizing. Toyo felt as if he was directing his own erotic vid.
“You do understand, Ser, that Méridiens practice gene-sculpting. On our colony, this is a preferred body style. It’s a little more inviting, don’t you think?” Miranda said, crossing her legs languidly and arching her back slightly to accentuate her breast line, a knowing smile on her face.
“We both know I do,” Toyo said. “Miranda, I wonder if you would be interested in a business deal.”
Miranda gave Toyo a brilliant and charming laugh. “Oh, my dear, I have access to more credits than you can imagine. I have no need to go into business with anyone. However, if my stay here is enjoyable … titillating, shall we say, then I might be persuaded to bring a few of my friends here. Many on my colony are always seeking new and exhilarating experiences.”
Toyo’s face split into a wide smile. “You just let me know what sort of experiences you’re looking for, Miranda, and I’ll make sure you get just what you desire.” The criminal leader saw his business expanding. He envisioned owning a passenger starship and setting up domes in the Confederation, starting with Miranda’s colony.
