by S. E. Smith
Both men turned at the same time with a huge grin on their faces. They both bowed with a flourish before walking over and kissing Jo on each cheek. Manota had reached them by the time the second man was bending to kiss Jo. He lifted the man up by the collar of his shirt and growled in a low, menacing tone at him.
“Ah, Luc,” Jon Paul chuckled. “You have met another one who wishes to cause you harm.”
Luc squeaked and looked with wide eyes at the burning silver flames staring back at him. “Please, monsieur! I mean no disrespect,” he said hurriedly.
“Manota, put him down,” Jo giggled. “You two must be Jon Paul and Luc.”
“Oui, Madame,” Luc started to say before he let out another squeak and tried to shrink into his shirt when Manota shook him.
“You will speak English so I understand you,” he ordered before he dropped the man.
“Yes, sir,” Luc muttered and curled into Jon Paul as he put his arm around him.
“Forgive us, monsieur. We are new to your world. I am Jon Paul and this is my partner, Luc. We are but two lost Frenchmen looking for a place to start a restaurant. We mean no harm to you or your lovely mate,” Jon Paul with another bow to Jo.
Jo giggled as she bit her lip and looked in amusement as understanding dawned on Manota’s face. He remembered Jazin telling him about these two human males. They had taken Star aboard their freighter before it was attacked by Tai Tek. They had barely made it off the dilapidated ship before it imploded. Jazin had warned him the two were very strange and was amazed they had survived in space as long as they had because neither one had an ounce of common sense between them.
“Have you talked to Walter yet?” Jo asked coming to the two men’s rescue when they looked hopefully at Manota who just glared at them. “I think opening a restaurant is a wonderful idea. Walter can help you get things organized and introduce you to the others,” she added shooting a warning glare at Manota as she turned to head back inside the huge Big Top. “How on Earth did you two end up in outer space?” Jo was asking the men as she walked away.
Manota looked down when he felt a tug on his pant leg. He frowned when he saw the small service bot looking up at him with huge, glowing eyes. The damn thing was running its three digit hand over his calf, squeezing his muscles.
“Hey good looking, my name is IQ. But you can call me ‘votre bot d’amour’. Your love bot,” the small bot said in a deep voice. “You can be my Man-o-lala.”
Manota scowled down at the small bot before growling at it as he shook it off his leg. “I don’t think so,” he snapped. “Touch me again and I’ll dismantle your metal casings,” he added before he strode off after Jo and the other two humans.
“Damn, another one slips through my grasp,” IQ muttered as he turned on his wheels.
A small giggle caused both service bots to turn. Jane stood over to the side, peeking out from behind a small trailer. IQ’s eyes flickered as he processed the small human female staring at him and Numbnuts with wide dark brown eyes.
“How do I look, Numbnuts?” IQ asked as he scanned Jane again as she stood staring at both of them in bemusement.
Numbnuts looked down and ran a scan over IQ’s small metal body. “Silver and black,” the larger service bot replied.
“Good enough for me,” IQ said with a low growl and started toward Jane. “Ma belle fleur d’étoile, où avez-vous été toute ma vie? My beautiful star flower, where have you been all my life? IQ said in his best Pepe Le Pew voice.
“I don’t speak French,” Jane softly replied as she bent down and reached out to touch the small bot. “You are so cute.”
IQ’s eyes flashed for a moment as a surge of new programming flashed through his processor. Jane never noticed as the information flashed through the smaller bot’s memory. No one but those who knew either of the service bots would recognize their programming had been changed within seconds.
“My name is IQ,” IQ said in a soft voice “I am now your protector.”
Jane looked up as the larger bot stepped closer to her. “I am Numbnuts. I will protect you as well, my lady.”
Jane’s eyes flashed with confusion as she looked around. She didn’t understand what just happened. She had been watching the two metal creatures all morning as the two Frenchmen had walked around the circus compound arguing, introducing themselves to everyone, and arguing some more in French. She had been fascinated by the two robots that had acted so funny. The little one kept making outrageous comments to everyone while the larger one tried to keep the two men from running into things or stepping in front of some of the workers.
Now, it was as if they were focused only on her. They ignored the others who walked by, moving closer to her instead. She looked down as the little robot gently picked up her right hand, holding it tenderly in-between his three digit hand.
“You are safe,” IQ said quietly.
Jane’s shaky smile grew as she wrapped her fingers around the tiny hand. “Thank you. For the first time, I feel like I really am. Would you like to see where I live?” She asked hesitantly, biting her lower lip in uncertainty.
“Take us home,” Numbnuts said reaching down and helping Jane up. “We will stay with you from now on.”
“But… what about the other two men?” Jane asked looking toward the huge tent. “Won’t they miss you?”
“Naw!” IQ said with a shrug. “They are Frenchmen! They are in love – with food, wine, and each other.”
Jane couldn’t stop the lilting laughter that escaped as IQ spoke in a voice that was the perfect imitation of Luc’s voice. Neither Jane nor the two service bots saw the glowing red eyes following their movement through the maze of campers and trailers. The hooded figure moved silently among the shadows. A silent protector to the small human female who shied away from the dark areas as if she feared there was something lurking in them – waiting for the moment when she would stumble into it.
*.*.*
Manota sighed when he saw Jo talking with her younger sister across the center ring. A moment later she had disappeared with her. His gaze jerked around when Marvin and Martin stepped in front of him and pointed up into the stands that had been erected. He saw his younger brother sitting about halfway up the stands. He nodded to the two men and began climbing. He walked along the long wooden plank until he was almost to the center.
“I didn’t expect to see you here this early,” Manota commented as he sat down.
“Star was up with the sun. She couldn’t wait to see her parents,” Jazin said with a small smile.
Manota studied Jazin with a critical eye for a moment before he asked the question that had been bothering him. “Are you well, brother?”
Jazin glanced at Manota and nodded grimly. “No thanks to Tai Tek. I owe that bastard big time,” he replied in a low tone.
Manota’s eyes moved back to the ring where a woman was walking in a big circle as two small striped beasts called zebras trotted around the center ring. The female had a small hairy creature wrapped around her neck and back. Jo had said the thing was called a Spider monkey.
“We will get him this time,” Manota said in a quiet voice. “I will not give him another chance to harm my family. I should have been there with you.”
Jazin glanced at his middle brother and released a sigh. He knew Manota felt guilty as hell for having left for Earth instead of being there with him. It was the same way he had felt when Manota had been injured in the war and Jazin had almost not reached him in time.
“I am glad you went for our mates’ parents. I have never seen my Star so happy as when she found out you were returning with them. I survived thanks to her, Madas, Jarmen, Armet, and Dakar. Jarmen was able to download a good portion of Tai Tek’s files while we were at the prison fortress. He said he found several hidden files that were encrypted. He notified me this morning that he was able to decipher them. He discovered that this is about more than just Tai Tek,” Jazin said with a grim look on his face. “He will meet with us in an h
our to debrief us.”
Manota nodded solemnly. “I was afraid of that considering the amount of resources that Tai Tek has had at his disposal. He has been able to fund far too much considering his family holdings. We had a traitor aboard the Seeker. If the rest of the crew had not been so good, things could have turned out much different. Well, the crew and the humans,” he added with a grim smile.
“I heard,” Jazin said tightly. “Jarmen, Dakar and Armet are re-running thorough screens on all personnel in the Houses, in addition to another one on Tai Tek’s former House to see if any more altered or hidden records can be found. Now that Jarmen knows what files to look for, he hopes to uncover any we may have missed before.”
Manota nodded before looking up as a movement near the top of the tent caught his attention. “Gods, she is so beautiful when she flies through the air but I swear it gives me heart failure every time,” Manota said as he stared at his mate who was standing on a narrow platform high above the ground.
Jazin let out a low curse as well when he saw Star on the platform next to Jo. Both of them swung off together on the same bar. A moment later, a male caught Star as she flew through the air. Jo bent at the waist as she swung back and forth. She wrapped her ankles around the bar so she was now upside down.
“They are beautiful,” Jazin breathed out, before he groaned as Star twisted in a graceful arc and Jo caught her hands. “I need to have a talk with my mate though. She is expecting our first child and I am not sure she should be doing this,” he added with a sigh of relief as she landed on the platform again.
Manota bit back the groan of dismay. The plan he had finally accepted was going to happen whether he liked it or not had just taken another twist. How could he endanger both of his brothers’ pregnant mates? If anything happened to them, if something should cause them to lose their child or worse their life, he would never forgive himself.
“We have to come up with a different plan,” he growled out in frustration. “There is no way I will accept the responsibility for both Star and River, especially now. It is too much!”
Jazin shook his head. “I would agree but Star has already agreed to the plan and so has River. There is no changing their minds. I feel confident this will work, Manota. I have a feeling once Jarmen shares what was in Tai Tek’s files you will agree and understand why this is so important. We have no choice but to bring him down. There are others working with him that have to be dealt with. We cannot do that until he has been captured or killed. We have believed all along that it was just him wanting to bring down the House of Kassis. It is more than that. It is a systematic attack on the Alliance,” Jazin said.
Manota drew in a sharp breath. This was far more serious then he had thought. “Have you told father? He should know what is going on. He is part of the council,” he asked sharply.
Jazin shook his head. “Not yet. I didn’t want to take a chance until we were back here. You know we had issues with traitors as well. The last thing I wanted was to give them any indication that we were aware of their plans. It is bad enough Tai Tek may realize his mistake in having the files saved though Jarmen assures me there is no way for him to know it has been hacked into. It is time to end this before it explodes,” Jazin reiterated.
Chapter 23
Manota stood at the windows overlooking the gardens far below. He listened as his father and brothers talked quietly with Kev and Walter. He had invited the ringmaster because he realized that Jo was right, if they wanted to minimize the number of innocent bystanders at the ceremony getting hurt they needed to do something totally unexpected, totally alien to anything they had ever done before. Jo, Star, River and Ricki were seated on the long chairs near the fireplace. His lips curved as he listened to Jo telling her sister and River about his throwing Tony outside the condo after the elephant trainer kissed her.
At the moment, they were waiting for Jarmen to join them. Armet and Dakar had joined them a few minutes earlier. Both of them were talking quietly about something. Manota heard Armet mutter something about stubborn, hard-headed females who needed to learn their place. Dakar chuckled as he responded to Armet’s comment.
They all looked up when the door opened. “I apologize for being detained,” Jarmen said quietly as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
Manota turned from where he was standing and looked into the soft, glowing eyes. “Is there a problem?” he asked.
Jarmen flushed as he turned his eyes away from Manota’s intense stare. “No, I… was merely making sure the two service bots the Frenchmen had were working… properly,” he said hesitantly. His eyes moved over the small group of men and women. His gaze rested on Jazin for a brief moment before he shook his head at Jazin’s silent questioning look. “If you give me a moment, I will make sure the system is secure before I upload the information I was able to decipher earlier.”
Everyone became silent as Jarmen’s eyes began to glow brightly as he checked the computer system and uploaded the information he had retrieved from Tai Tek’s system at the prison fortress where Jazin had been taken and tortured.
Several long minutes later, Jarmen’s eyes returned to their normal soft red glow. “While I was waiting for Jazin’s mate and the others to rescue him, I hacked into the computer system at Tai Tek’s prison fortress. I have been reviewing the information I was able to download. Over the past several days, I began noticing a discrepancy in some of the files. Upon closer review, I found hidden files encrypted in them. It took longer than expected to find and decipher them due to the amount of information I had downloaded,” he said in the way of an apology before turning to look at the centralized vidcom set against the far wall.
“The information indicates Tai Tek is merely one member among an elite group of members who have set into place a plan to overthrow the current council members of the Alliance and gain control. The death of Krail Taurus was planned due to the Dramentic star system’s determination to ask for support to oust several key members who were backing the overthrow of their ruling governments. Tai Tek was instructed to murder the royal family of Kassis and gain control. He had set up guards in each House to execute his plan. You can see the list of guards who were reporting to him. Kev Mul Kar and Armet De’hart had replaced the males in the North and West in recent months. I have found only one name from your House, Lord Manota. The guard was recently transferred and is currently assigned to check visitors to your House. Tai Tek mentions in his personal journals his frustration at the transfer of the guards. That is when he contacted the Tearnat, Trolis, to attack the shuttle holding Lord Torak and Lord Jazin. He believed he would be able to eliminate both of you, thus weakening the Royal Houses of Kassis. He did not plan for your escape. He was very upset when the attempt to kill you both failed and planned to enlist at least one or more females from each of your Houses to kill you.”
“As far as I can tell, Javonna and the following women were approached,” Jarmen said referring to the list that appeared on the vidcom. “Credits were deposited into five of the six women’s accounts. Two from Lord Jazin’s house, one from Lord Torak’s, not including Javonna, one from Lord Manota’s and one from Lord Ajaska’s House. The other female who declined was killed in an ‘accident’ the same day she declined. Unfortunately for Tai Tek, he did not plan for the human females’ insistence that all females who were not mated be removed from your Houses. Their insistence more than likely saved your lives,” he said briefly looking at the women before turning to look at Ajaska. “I would not return to the female you currently have housed in your home on Dramentic,” he added with an apologetic smile. “It will not be conducive to your continued health at this time.”
“I can see that,” Ajaska bit out with a fierce frown. “I’ll make sure she is taken care of immediately.”
Jarmen turned and continued his summary of the information. Names, dates of impending attacks, and positions of hidden bases and warships were listed for several different star systems. He finally paused
at the one coming up in less than two weeks.
“You can see he plans to attack the upcoming ceremony,” Jarmen said. “He has over three hundred men from the numbers I have been able to estimate based on the information from Lord Tal Mod and those that remained after the recent attacks. The insurgents left are mercenaries and rebels determined to overthrow the current government. I am concerned with his recruitment of warriors from Elpidios. Tai Tek only wrote two lines but they indicate he has hired assassins to kill the Grand Ruler during his visit to Kassis. Based on the information and the statistics, I would encourage you to inform Ristéard Roald that his life is possibly in danger from members of his own council. In addition, I believe it would be beneficial to those in the Alliance council not listed as working with Tai Tek to be informed as soon as possible.”
“I will take care of that as well as informing Roald. Do you have the names of the assassins?” Ajaska asked leaning forward and resting his elbows on the dark redwood table.
“No,” Jarmen replied. “I have reviewed the information extensively. Unfortunately, there is little information regarding the Elpidios except to say several assassins have been enlisted. It would help if we could pinpoint who was involved.”
“Why wait until the ceremony when there are too many innocent people around to give this guy Tai Tek a chance to attack? Why not give him an even better chance to kill all of you, including this Grand Ruler? We can set up the perfect opportunity for him to attack, only we control it from start to finish?” Walter asked. “Why wait?”
Jarmen looked at the smaller human. His mind processing what the man was saying and finding a logic to his reasoning but he could not determine how such a feat could be safely accomplished. He tilted his head as he looked at the man who was sitting back in the huge chair that practically swallowed him.
“What do you have in mind, Walter?” Manota asked.
