by TR Cameron
Finally, next to Maria Verrand, sat the last Rearden child that Cia had mentioned. Valenie was her older sister, and her mannerisms were much like her mother’s, small and relentlessly proper. She had long dark hair that shone in the lights and fell in waves past her shoulders. Her features were perfectly proportioned; she could easily have been a model had that been her choice.
The meal was sumptuous, among the best he’d ever eaten. They’d enjoyed seven courses, with small bites in between as palate cleansers that would have been amazing on their own, and each better than the last. Exotic fruits from multiple planets contributed to their meal, and the main course was steak and fish from an alien world deep in Coalition territory. The meal held a message of power for those who were not part of the Rearden clan.
Those who were there spent the meal in barbed conversation, much of it directed at Cia. Her ability to hold her own in the face of it impressed him, and several of her comments cut deeply enough to draw visible reactions from her brothers and sister. Jax kept his eyes on the man at the head of the table and noticed that he seemed to enjoy watching his youngest daughter win rounds against her siblings. Interesting, that. At the end of the meal, Anders invited Cia into the den for discussion, and she in turn asked Jax to accompany them. For a moment he thought the elder Rearden would object, but he nodded neutrally instead and gestured toward one of the doors leading from the room.
The den was smaller than the dining room, but that was like saying that Mothra was smaller than Godzilla. Both were still pretty darn big. Dark wood with lighter wood as accents made up the main elements, and with the addition of thick fabrics in greens and browns, the space reminded him strongly of a forest. A uniformed servant awaited within, and as Anders took the leftmost chair near the fireplace, approached with a tray holding three tumblers of whiskey. Cia chose the middle seat, and Jax the one remaining, and when he accepted his glass and gave it a gentle sniff, he almost swooned from the delicious notes that hit his nostrils. He considered it an amazing feat of restraint that he managed to wait to sample it until his host had broken that seal.
It tasted as good as it smelled. A moan may have escaped him, but fortunately, Anders began speaking at that moment. “So, daughter, since you come in the company of a Special Forces captain and a number of other accomplished people, I presume you are on an assignment for your school.”
Cia lifted the eyebrow that faced Jax before turning to face her father. “You know it’s called the Academy. Why do you insist on the games? Especially since you know you’ll never beat me?”
He laughed, sounding surprisingly genuine. “I’ve missed you, Cia. I wish you’d come back to the business. If not now, then soon.”
She shook her head. “Perhaps, but it’s not time yet. I’m afraid you’ll keep having to deny me for a while.” The affection in her voice was unmistakable. He’d thought she disliked her family on a personal level, but this encounter suggested something else, at least where her father was concerned. Expectations, maybe, and a desire to be free of them.
He nodded. “Very well. So, tell me what I can do for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cia said, “We think there’s a company in the Confederacy working with the government on an AI project. Do you have a guess as to which one would be most likely?”
Anders Rearden’s family resemblance to his daughter shone forth as he lifted his eyebrow. She had more of her mother’s looks, but Jax was starting to think her personality and mannerisms had come from the other side of her parentage. “There are several. Do you have any more information to offer to narrow it down?”
She sighed and turned to face Jax. “He’s impossible. You never get anything for free with this guy.” She twisted back. “Okay, we think there’s a third player. An alien species, either on behalf of the Coalition or working independently.”
He nodded with a small frown. “That does make for a unique situation. How sure are you of this?”
Jax replied, “One hundred percent on the Confederacy and alien collaboration. Less so on the corporate connection, but several people we trust have made very compelling arguments as to why that’s highly probable.”
Rearden nodded. “Certainly. In fact, I doubt they could do it without private industry. Their government is even less adept than ours in most cutting-edge fields, which I don’t have to tell you, is saying something significant.” In the same tone, he said, “Tablet,” and ten seconds later the servant handed him one. Their host tapped on it in silence, and Jax and Cia both used the time to sip their drinks. Jax stared around the room, adding to his earlier big picture several smaller notes: a framed certificate here, a family portrait there, and a cabinet filled with trophies gleaming in silver and gold.
Finally, Cia’s father extended the tablet to his left, and the servant bustled forward to take it from him. Jax had the sense that if the other man hadn’t been fast enough, Rearden would have dropped it to prove a point. Thing probably costs more than I make in a month. “There are two players who might have the brainpower and infrastructure to pull off what you’ve described. May I ask what you’re planning?
Cia replied, “We’re going to figure out a way to break through their security and steal their secrets.” Jax groaned inwardly at the revelation, which he probably would have chosen to keep secret.
Rearden nodded. “Neither will be an easy task, but if your position is that it’s likely to be easier than compromising a government building, and certainly far more deniable, that makes sense. After all, you can always claim it is corporate espionage at need, right Cia?”
She laughed. “You know me well, father.”
“I’d like to think the reverse is true, so this question doubtless won’t be a surprise. What’s in it for the family?”
The back-and-forth conversation had left Jax’s brain behind a while before, but Cia sounded as if she’d anticipated the question. “Use of whatever we find, but only internal. Not as a product to be sold or shared. The Professor would never agree to that.” Unspoken but easily understood was that Maarsen had agreed to what she’d offered, which meant she’d thought about it enough in advance to discuss it with him, even through the anger of being sent back to deal with her family. Again, Jax was impressed by his partner’s ability and depth.
“Done. What do you need?”
She answered, “Credentials. Supplies as necessary. A couple of small upgrades to the Grace. Travers to be sent off to some backwater planet for survival training so I don’t have to see him around.”
Rearden laughed. “Yes on the first and second, within reason on the third, and a hard no on the fourth. Your mother would kill me.”
“Coward.”
“Admittedly. That woman hits hard.” The conversation shifted to relaxed catching up on what had happened since her last visit, and Jax shook his head in bewilderment. This is nothing like I expected. But, hey, the whiskey is amazing, and I’m safe and comfortable. Could be a lot worse.
“I don’t see how this could be any worse,” Ethan Kimmel growled the next morning as he examined the credentials he’d been given. “Seriously, I’m an intern? I’m entirely too old to be an intern.” They were gathered in one of the living rooms—the house had four of them, according to Cia—planning for their operation against the companies her father had identified. Once again, they’d find out en route which was their target. Fortunately, both had a presence on the Confederacy homeworld.
That had been a dismal revelation, definitely in the “couldn’t be worse” category. Jax had held out hope that their targets wouldn’t be on their opponent’s most daunting home turf, but it was quickly dashed. While the companies had operations on many other planets, Anders Rearden had been certain that only the one right in the heart of the Confederacy would have access to the materials, since that’s how he’d do it. If, of course, he didn’t have his own locked-down estate on Mars, that is. I guess we’re lucky that the companies don’t have their own planets or stations or so
mething.
Verrand and Sirenno chuckled at the younger man. “We’re fancy scientists. Age has its benefits, youngster.” Kimmel replied with some choice curses that set the duo to laughing again.
Cia growled, “You’ve all got the cool stuff. I’m a bloody executive assistant. They did this on purpose.” When Jax had seen the role she’d drawn, he’d managed not to laugh, but barely. Mainly because she would be assisting him as the boss of the rest, and ticking her off further was definitely not in his best interest. “Hopefully, they’ll be done with my girl soon, and we can get the hell off this rock.”
He stretched. “I’m not in any hurry. I mean, the meals are great, the booze is phenomenal, and watching you quarrel with your family is some of the best entertainment I’ve had in years.” He ducked to avoid the decorative pillow she hurled at him but took the one that Kimmel threw right in the face. He pointed at the computer expert. “Hey, you stay out of this. You’re not old enough to fight.” That summoned another round of pillows, and laughter following.
A discreet cough drew their attention to the doorway where Standring stood. He intoned, “Your ship will be ready in an hour, Miss Cia. Once you are packed, I will escort you back to her.” Her grin, present from the first words, ticked up as the man used “her” instead of “it.” Clearly, he knew his charges well.
Jax said, “All right people. Let’s get to our rooms and pack our stuff. We’re headed out.”
Their trip back to the Grace was pretty much their approach in reverse. None of the family came out to bid them farewell, which Cia said was more or less how things worked. She’d spent some time with the family at a breakfast the rest of them hadn’t attended and was unwilling to say anything about it other than it had happened and it was fine. With Cia, “fine” rarely meant the same thing it did when he used it, but she seemed relaxed and ready, so he wasn’t concerned. Her conversation with Standring was animated and filled with laughter. The staid man even joined her in the mirth on a couple of occasions, improving Jax’s opinion of him.
She bolted up the ramp to her ship, and his team said their farewells to Standring, Jax waiting until the others had gone to shake the man’s hand. He tilted his head toward the ship. “She’s special to you, that much is obvious. I know there’s a lot going on between her and her family, and I don’t need the details. But she’s my partner on this mission, and more than that, I’d like to think she’s my friend. Is there any threat to her safety from these people?”
The other man pursed his lips and didn’t reply for a moment. He released Jax’s hand and said, “There are threats, and there are threats, Mr. Reese. They would not act to harm her physically under any circumstance. However, financially is another matter, and perhaps emotionally yet another. In some ways, they are just siblings; in others, they are business rivals. It’s a confusing situation on the best days.”
Jax nodded. “And the parents?”
The man smiled. “Her father adores her and would probably hand her the reins of the entire company if she asked for it. It might be that the others know that, and it causes their occasional animosity.” Jax raised his eyebrows, and the other man chuckled. “Perhaps more than occasional. Her mother is a little distant and always has been. But Mistress Rearden has only the best intentions toward her daughter.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your candor. You can put me on the list of those with best intentions toward Cia.”
The butler lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Are you thinking of joining the family, Captain?”
A laugh burst from him before he had any chance of stopping it. “Oh, hell no. She’d be a nightmare to live with. We’ll stick with friends, thanks.” The grin on the other man’s face revealed that he was joking, and Jax shook his head. “Like Cia, there’s more to you than you show, Standring. I hope we get to talk again one day.”
The butler gave a single nod. “I’d enjoy that very much. Safe travels, Captain Reese.”
Jax turned and jogged to the ship, still laughing. He smacked the button to close the cargo bay and headed for the pilot compartment, where Cia was already talking to the AI that oversaw the landing pad. He strapped into the right-hand seat and asked, “We good?”
She nodded. “Never better. Aside from possibly getting arrested for corporate espionage. But you know, at least we won’t be shot on sight for actual espionage like we might be in a government building. Well, one hopes so anyway. Never quite sure with you. It’s like bad luck follows you around or something.” She switched channels and announced, “Thirty seconds to get yourselves strapped in before it’s go time.”
Jax studied the navigation panel in front of him. “We’re not headed straight for the jump point?”
She shook her head. “Nope. My father gave me a heads-up on our false identities last night, and I passed them on to the quartermaster at the Academy. She’s whipped up some gear for us, probably in consultation with Maarsen, and we’ll meet another ship to transfer it over.”
He gripped the arms of his chair as the ship abruptly rose several feet, then turned on its tail. Even with artificial gravity, the feeling of being suddenly vertical wasn’t something that the mind and body really handled in stride. It got worse when she pushed the thrusters to maximum, literally rocketing away from her family’s estate as fast as she could. Jax forced words out through his clenched teeth. “Sending a message, huh? You’re so subtle. They might miss it.”
She laughed. “You met my brothers and sister. They’re not the brightest suns in the galaxy. Sometimes you have to make it really obvious for them.” She looked over at him with a pointed stare. “Sound familiar?”
“Har har. Just pilot the damn ship, flygirl.”
“Whatever you say, jerkwad.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The handoff from the supply ship involved backing the two cargo sections up near one another, throwing a line over, then slowly towing the boxes onto their deck. Jax and Kenton Marshall handled their end of it, and someone he hadn’t met was on the opposite side. Cia had informed him that Trianna was at the helm of the second vessel, and it wasn’t a shock when her voice failed to come across his comm. He asked the man on the other ship, “Does your pilot talk to you?”
He laughed, and in a gruff rasp replied, “Never more than a few words here and there. But I sense that I’m growing on her. Another year or two of working together and we might be up to full sentences.”
Jax wondered why the universe was filled with such weird people as he and Marshall strapped the large crates into place beside the ones that the Grace already carried. When they were done, they buttoned up the ship, stripped out of their vacuum suits, and headed for their quarters to sleep off the next part of the trip.
The transit to the Confederacy homeworld would take three jumps. Technically, they could have made the distance in two, but that would have involved evading the outer checkpoint at the boundary between their space and that belonging to the UCCA, which would result in all sorts of trouble on the far end. So, they planned to make the first jump roughly halfway to the border, stop to get themselves ready, then perform the next pair of jumps one after the other. They’d arrive on the planet in the evening, giving them another night’s rest before they tried to steal the AI. They expected to hear which company they were after during that middle portion, if all went to plan.
Unexpectedly, it did. When they gathered in the early morning hours of the next day, the data was waiting for them. Cia announced, “It’s Nenroth Cybernetics, which if I had to pick is the one I’d rather be going after. Their chairman is an absolute jerk. Even more than Jax. He’s like the ultra-jerk. Nasty to other businesses, nasty to his employees, and particularly nasty to the women in his life. This will be much more satisfying than I expected, especially if it somehow takes him down, too.”
The others nodded agreement, and Jax grinned. “Well, all right then. We have purity of purpose. There’s nothing better than helping the universe lay the smackdown on someone
who truly deserves it.” As long as that person isn’t me, for a change. “Let’s break open the crates and see what we’ve got.”
The first container yielded business suits for all of them. He recognized them at a touch, as he’d worn something similar before. “It’s a special fabric. They make part of our drop suits from it. Really expensive, but it handles extreme temperatures, impact, and cutting well. There’s probably a connection on them somewhere to attach a power cell, but we won’t want to do that until after inspection, obviously. For now, we can pack the outfits in our suitcases.”
Shoes were next, and Cia nodded as soon as she saw hers. “Same style for men and women, only ours are higher and more fashionable. Which means they have gifts inside.”
Ethan Kimmel lifted a pair and looked at the heels. “I don’t see an opening.”
She replied, “You won’t until you break the seal. After we get through inspection, I’ll show you how to do it.”
Anton Sirenno’s head snapped up from where he was digging in the box. “Inspection?”
Jax nodded. “Yep. We’re going to have to let the Confederacy’s finest poke through our stuff. Hopefully, it’ll just be bored bureaucrats, but it’s always possible there will be a military presence.”
Kenton Marshall frowned. “Won’t they take offense to the equipment in the armory?”
Cia grinned. “They would if they were able to detect it. However, we’re going to stash that gear in the scan-shielded cache in the floor. It’ll be just big enough to fit it all.”
Their newest member shook his head. “Wait a second. I thought you were totally against breaking the rules. Why do you have a secret cargo hold?”
She shrugged. “I’m against breaking rules that make sense. But sometimes they don’t. I’ve never used it for anything other than noble purposes, and never will.”
