Everyone in the room turned to Jean, who was not fooled for a second by Bethany Anne’s apparently calm exterior.
Jean nodded. “Working on it. It’s going to take time.”
Bethany Anne shook her head. “No, it isn’t. Where is William at the moment?” She looked around, getting no answer. “Never mind. I’ll have him come over to the Helena to give you a hand as soon as he’s done with whatever has dragged him in. Marcus and Bobcat, too, if they’re amenable.”
Jean nodded. “That would be good. I’ve missed having those three knuckleheads around to interrupt my day. Tina would be more than useful too if you can persuade her to come all the way out there since she’s got a knack for thinking around those tricky problems.”
She sat up straight, recalling something else. “That reminds me. Armor is coming along faster since I found a file of old designs one of the kids in Tina’s Academy class did a lifetime ago. They were way beyond our capability to produce back then without mortgaging every asset you had, but I saw something in them, so I had them archived.”
“But it’s not too expensive anymore?” Bethany Anne inquired, her interest piqued.
Jean grinned. “Not anymore, and that’s not all. The designs inspired a way for me to grant your most impractical wish.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow, leaning a scant inch closer to the table. “You’re shitting me. For real?”
Jean winked. “All I need is an idea of what style you want. The fashion world is your oyster, not that you deserve it after inflicting that ass Rickie on me.”
Bethany Anne fixed Gabrielle with a hard look.
Gabrielle lifted her hands. “You think I’m stupid enough to annoy Jean? Not likely. I owed Sabine a favor, and it all worked out in the end.”
Bethany Anne tilted her head. “Hmm. Maybe you don’t want to come with me after the briefing to research designs for Jean. It’s fine if you want to stay behind.”
Gabrielle perked up at that. “I heard shopping. Did I hear shopping?”
“I think you did,” Jean agreed. “I’ll sit this trip out since I have too much to do at the shipyard.”
“Nice try, Jean.” Bethany Anne grinned. “I need you there to take notes. And this time, we choose our disguises before we leave for the Federation. Nobody gets body paint on my upholstery afterward.”
Gabrielle blushed, her mouth opening and closing like a fish’s a couple of times. “That was an accident.”
The Queen shrugged. “I don’t care, I still had to get it cleaned. Okay, who’s next?”
Barnabas cleared his throat, straightening in his seat to stick his hands into the sleeves of his robe. “I have a matter that needs your attention. The owner of one of the prospective companies for the logistics network is behaving like a man with something to hide. I had one of my assets—”
Bethany Anne cut in, narrowing her eyes at Barnabas. “That wouldn’t by any chance be Nickie, would it?”
Jean jumped up when Barnabas nodded. “What?” she blurted, leaning over the table to yell directly into Barnabas’ face. “You didn’t think to tell us she was back?”
Barnabas took her tirade calmly, looking her right in the eyes. “Jean, if you had spoken to Lillian, you would have known weeks ago.”
Jean clenched her teeth and sat down again in a huff. “Butt out of my relationship with my daughter,” she growled.
Barnabas held up his hands. “By all means. Your granddaughter is more than enough of a handful.”
John caught Jean as she lunged across the table. “Babe, leave it. Barnabas knows what he’s doing.” He fixed Barnabas with the patented Grimes stare, no happier with the revelation than Jean. “You’d better know what you’re doing.”
“Enough.” Bethany Anne clapped to bring them to order. “Don’t make me kick your asses out of here. Next item, enhancements.”
“Is that why Mahi’Takar is here?” Addix asked, looking at the Baka. “To discuss her son’s enhancement?”
Bethany Anne made a see-saw motion with her hand. “Partly. For those who haven’t already heard, Addix has managed to unlock basic Etheric ability with training in the Vid-docs.”
Congratulations went around the table, making Addix’s mandibles chitter as she waved it off.
Bethany Anne waited for everyone to settle before continuing. “Addix isn’t the only one reaching the next level. Michael, Tabitha, Gabrielle, Gabriel, and Alexis, in particular, have all been working to discover the extent of their nanocytes’ capability. We know now that we’ve barely scratched the surface, and what I learned about the Etheric on Moen changes everything for us. Forget what you think you believe, because I sure as shit got an education recently.”
“What does that mean for us, though?” Gabrielle asked, frowning slightly.
“It means…” Bethany Anne waited for a beat to make sure everyone was paying attention. “That the minute Eve has the upgrades on the Pod-docs completed and tested, you and the others are getting upgrades of your own.”
The news went down exactly as she expected, meaning everyone started talking over each other to get their opinions in, while John sat back in stoic acceptance with his arms folded across his chest and kept his thoughts to himself.
Bethany Anne turned her head to raise an eyebrow at Michael. I told you.
Michael shook his head. “I’ll go first.”
Gabrielle cut out halfway through her rant about the last time she’d gotten into a Pod-doc and lost years of her life. She waved a finger at Michael. “You can go in if you like. I will continue the natural way.”
Bethany Anne frowned. “This isn’t an option, and I don’t have time to argue. You get the upgrades, or I send your asses back to High Tortuga and you can wait the war out in the base where I don’t have to worry about anyone dying.”
She heard herself getting louder, but she didn’t give a damn. “The Ooken aren’t just some random species one of the clans picked up. The Kurtherians are growing them from genetic material obtained from the murder of any species with an ability they like the look of, like the fucking cowards they are.”
She glanced around the table. “You can all be hurt by the Ooken, and I won’t abide it for one minute longer than necessary.” She stabbed a finger on the table. “We have them on the run, and I refuse to sit by and let you go out there without doing everything I can to keep you alive.” She eyed each of them in turn. “Besides, we’re going after them soon, and dragging your asses through the Etheric is not on the list of things I want to do before I get there. I need my strength to take down as many Ooken as the Seven can throw at us.”
John snorted. “Well, yeah.” He scratched under his chin. “That was some crazy shit you pulled on Moen. I would appreciate having that ability.”
Gabrielle tapped a finger on her lips in thought. “I can’t argue that. Are you saying you can teach us to do…whatever it was you did to wipe out all those Ooken if we go into the Pod-doc?”
Bethany Anne shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Michael understood handling the storms fast enough.”
Michael raised an eyebrow, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “Sure. If the old man can learn a new trick, why not everyone else?”
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes at his dramatics. “Moving on. Same item, different track.”
Tabitha, bring Mahi’Takar in, please.
Tabitha came in ahead of Mahi’Takar, her chin set at an angle that meant business. “I want in the Pod-doc first,” she told Michael. “Beauty before age is long overdue as a concept, and I’m not waiting.” She flounced over to Addix and Eve and dropped into the free chair. “Well?”
Bethany Anne waved a hand and turned to Mahi’Takar. “Take a seat. I want to hear more about how the royal family of a planet so far away we never heard of it ended up hiding among criminals and murderers on the edge of the Federation.”
Mahi’Takar smiled. “There are not as many criminals on Devon these days.”
“There are still plenty of murderous fucksacks, th
ough,” Bethany Anne returned. “Most of them in this city are related to you. Why are you so reasonable?”
Mahi’Takar sighed. “Unfortunately, that is our way, and has been since the dawn of our civilization. I was lucky to travel to the Empire with my father when I was around my son’s age, and I spent some time at the Etheric Academy while he was in diplomatic meetings.”
Bethany Anne frowned. “He did? Who was your father? I don’t remember him.”
John winced. “You were, um, away at the time,” he told her. “Lance took care of it.”
Bethany Anne shrugged it off. “So you got a look at the wider world and liked what you saw?”
“I did,” Mahi’Takar replied. “As did Fi’Eireie, my betrothed. We decided we would build a republic when our time to rule came, but my brother Lu’Trein was jealous and set out to destroy our dreams. We were a small family, just us two. I was born first, and he never forgave me for it. From my coronation, he plotted to have me killed so he could claim the throne for himself.”
Tabitha made a gagging noise. “I’m guessing Trey’s arrival put a stop to that.”
Michael snorted. “Unlikely. I’m guessing that was when your brother’s focus switched to taking him out of the line of succession.”
Mahi’Takar nodded. “Worse, he brought the Ascension cult to our homeworld and destroyed our honor, twisting it into something ugly in order to earn his new friends’ favor. He had my Fi’ killed, then he came after Tu’Reigd and me. I had no choice but to flee. Lu’Trein cut ties with the Federation as soon as he took control, so this seemed the safest place to go.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “That’s how the Seven work, but they don’t usually give people a choice.”
Mahi’Takar sighed and put her head in her hands. “It is so good to finally speak.”
Bethany Anne’s heart broke for her since she of all people understood the twin burden of womanhood and leadership. She placed a hand on the regent’s forearm. “Let it out, Mahi’Takar. We’re all friends here.”
Mahi’Takar got hold of her emotions. “Mahi’ will suffice. We are more than friends, regardless of the outcome between our two peoples. You have taken my son into your home and treat him as one of your own.”
Bethany Anne shrugged. “It’s the right thing to do. Decency costs nothing.”
Mahi’Takar held up a hand. “I will not hear otherwise. Tu’Reigd is flourishing out of the shadow of my brothers, and I am forever in your debt.” She paused. “And yet, I am about to ask more of you, my Empress.”
The corner of Bethany Anne’s mouth rose. “Let me ask something of you first. How widespread was this cult when you left?”
Mahi’Takar frowned. “It has been over a decade. Lu’Trein’s rhetoric is powerful, and he was completely indoctrinated by the cult long before we fled. Nevertheless, many do not truly believe, and wait for Tu’Reigd to return once he is grown.” She studied Bethany Anne with curiosity. “Are you asking because you have a mind to help my people?”
Bethany Anne tapped her nails on the table as she considered how in the hell she could defend her territory and take back Mahi’Takar’s for her. “I can’t be everywhere, and my resources here are not infinite. The question is, how do we get your family on our side?”
Mahi’Takar smiled. “If you are agreeing to fight for our home, you just did.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Then we have reached an agreement we are both satisfied with. Take it to your family, and we will meet again when I return.”
Federation Outskirts, Plunging Fallow Station
Jean glanced at the racks with barely concealed disinterest while they waited for Gabrielle to emerge from the changing room. “I hate high-end retail places like this. Damn overpriced flimsy crap is gonna tear the first fight you get into, and the sales assistants think they don’t breathe the same air as the rest of us.”
“If they knew who we were, they’d be all over us,” Tabitha agreed.
“They are all over us,” Bethany Anne told them, meeting the broody stare of the store guard with a bright smile. “Just not in the way you’re used to.”
Jean flipped the guard the finger. “This place sucks. Gabrielle. Hurry up so we can get out of here.”
Bethany Anne didn’t like a thing in the store anyway. “I saw a shoe boutique not far from here I want to check out.”
“Curse your eagle eyes,” Jean grumbled. “I want to shop where they don’t look at you like you’re about to trash the place because you have a spot of grease on your clothing,
Gabrielle snorted as she came out of the changing room with her items. “You’re just mad there’s not a single gun shop on this level.”
“Damn straight,” Jean agreed. “Pay for your things and let’s get out of here.” She walked out of the store ahead of the other three, spotting someplace much more her style on the information broadcast screens directly across from the doors.
Bethany Anne, Tabitha, and Gabrielle joined her a few minutes later.
“I’m going to peel off for a while,” Jean told them.
Bethany Anne checked the time. “I have to take care of Barnabas’ thing after I’m done shopping. I’ll meet you back at the ship in a few hours.”
Tabitha wrinkled her nose at the window displays around them. “Yeah, I’m gonna go with Jean. I can’t be seen in this kind of thing. I’ve got a reputation as a badass I’d like to keep.” She sauntered after Jean, leaving Bethany Anne and Gabrielle alone with all the shoes.
“Boutique?” Gabrielle asked, mouth pursed.
“This way,” Bethany Anne replied with a grin.
25
Outskirts of Yollin Space, Voidrux Residence, Bedroom
Luther had ended the day on a sour note.
For some unknown reason, every legitimate bank account he had was now frozen. He didn’t dare check the ones nobody knew about in case he inadvertently led the responsible party right to his rainy day pots.
He was certain the culprit was not the Federation. Otherwise, his arrival at his twenty-six-room family home would have been more of a handcuffs and nightsticks affair than a sullen lope into the drawing room to drown his sorrows in his great-grandfather’s priceless scotch.
Consequently, he was heading to bed three sheets to the wind, and although he knew he had legs, he wondered if perhaps he had left them by the fireplace in the drawing room with his slippers.
Do I care?
He stumbled into his bedroom, shedding his clothing as he crossed the twelve steps to the four-poster bed his great-great-great-whoever had smuggled from who knew where and fell face down onto the mattress.
“Well, aren’t we just Sorry Central?” a voice that spoke of the possibility of endless pain asked.
Luther scrambled to a sitting position, dead sober. “Wha… Who’s there?” He looked around frantically, hoping he’d hallucinated the voice.
“I’m afraid,” the voice purred dangerously, “that you’ve been a very bad man, Luther Voidrux. It’s time you saw the light.”
Luther shuffled back on the bed, feeling for the blaster he kept under his pillow for occasions such as this. “Who are you? Show yourself!” he demanded, regaining some of his confidence when no one appeared to go with the voice.
“You really are a dumbass, aren’t you?” Baba Yaga grated in his ear from beside him on the bed.
Luther screamed at the sight of her. He threw himself sideways off the bed, firing his blaster indiscriminately.
Baba Yaga was not there.
He sat up, looking at the smoking ruins of his family heirlooms. “You’re not the Witch,” he whispered to himself, failing to buy his own lie. “You can’t be her.”
The temperature dropped, chilling Luther to the bone. He backed out of his bedroom slowly, his head swiveling in every direction as his panicked brain told him that the Witch was hiding in every corner and shadow.
The mansion was dark since Luther hadn’t bothered to turn on the lights for his journey to bed. He crept
along the passage, blaster at the ready in his shaking hands should any more figments of his disordered imagination come to life.
Luther had calmed slightly by the time he reached the double staircase leading down to the foyer. He told himself he must have been hallucinating from drinking bad scotch. “You ass, you almost frightened yourself to death.”
He wasn’t too happy about the damage to his bedroom, either.
Deciding to sleep on the couch in the drawing room like he should have done in the first place, Luther headed downstairs to fix some warm milk and a sandwich before he sacked out.
Luther switched on the kitchen light and made his way to the cooling unit to get the fixings out.
Sharp pain in the back of his head made Luther’s arms drop to his sides. Panic gripped him when the milk splashed his bare feet. He couldn’t feel a thing.
Nor could he move from the spot.
“Don’t worry,” Baba Yaga’s raspy voice ground out behind him. “You’ll feel everything in a minute…”
The Witch waved a hand, and control returned to Luther’s body. He looked down at the milk turning yellow on the floor, and his mind checked out as he realized that his bladder had given up.
Baba Yaga flashed a cold, sharp smile. “All this drama,” she told Luther as she took a step toward him. “All I wanted was to have a conversation.”
Luther pitched forward, Baba Yaga’s soul-destroying laugh the last thing he heard before splashing in the puddle on the floor.
High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base
Barnabas received a message from Bethany Anne as he was walking to the hangar. Puzzled, he opened it, wondering why she had sent a text instead of calling him directly.
It all became clear once he skimmed over the documentation signing over Voidrux Industries to the CEO of Silver Line Company, who just happened to be Nickie.
There was a note attached.
Your man was nothing more than a greedy-ass individual with delusions of retiring on what he got out of us.
Strangely, he found religion last night.
The business includes over two hundred thousand workers of every description, and its headquarters is on an asteroid close to the border with Yoll.
Finish What You Started Page 26
