Committed – Snippet 3
Chapter 2
Aboard The Scamp Princess, Hangar Deck, Gaitune-67
“Okay, another twenty minutes, and that will be all of it. Oz, you got that?”
“Yes. Downloading fine.”
“Good.” Brock leaned back on his haunches from under the console of The Scamp Princess. He started tidying his tools away.
Crash rocked gently in the navigator’s seat. “Sure there’s nothing I can do?”
Brock unplugged a connector from the console he had a device hooked into. “Not yet. Not until we’ve got any clue about where we’re going.” He winked at Crash.
Crash leaned an arm on the nearest console. “Okay. Well as soon as we do, I can get the coordinates plugged in and find out what we’ll be walking into.”
Brock continued to clean up tools and pieces of debris he’d left strewn around as he worked. “Yeah. That’s a good idea. Shit, I can’t believe that all the time we were talking about our vacay, Sean was sitting there contemplating taking off without us.”
Crash just watched Brock.
“Makes me feel guilty for having gone away,” he continued.
“Hey, we needed a break,” Crash said flatly. “And maybe if Sean took a day off once in a while, he wouldn’t be wound so tightly.”
Brock snorted at the thought of Sean heading out to Club Sark with them. “Yeah. You may have a point. You don’t think he’s actually… you know? I mean, Scamp wouldn’t leave him if he were still alive so…” He left the thought hanging in the air, wanting closure, but also not wanting to be told his friend was dead.
Crash shook his head. “Stop thinking like that. He wouldn’t be the first military tool to bite off more than he can chew. Don’t worry. We’ll find him and bring him home,” he told him decisively. “And then give him shit about running off to save damsels on his own.”
Brock sighed. “Yeah. You’re right.” He packed away the last of the tools, leaving one connector hooked up to the console. “Okay, I’m going to take this lot over to The Empress. Nothing we can do until Oz finishes that transfer.”
Crash hauled himself to his feet. “Okay. I’ll pack a bag. Want me to do one for you, too?”
Brock nodded and rested his hand on Crash’s bicep as they headed out of the cockpit. “Thanks, man.”
Crash patted him gently on the back, comforting him. “It’s all gonna be fine,” he reiterated.
The pair made their way through the passage to the side door and carefully headed down the invisible staircase to the hangar deck.
Aboard The Empress, Hangar Deck, Gaitune-67
The crew clambered on board The Empress. It was familiar territory and comforting, despite the unspoken dread that their mission may already be a failure before it had begun.
And yet, no one dared admit that Sean may already be dead.
Jack plonked herself opposite Pieter, who was more anxious than normal. She smiled at him reassuringly, without being too nice. Too friendly, and he would know that they were worried, and that would stop his brain from doing what they needed him to do.
She glanced over at Joel. Joel nodded, catching on to her tactic to keep Pieter calm.
Pieter, oblivious, threw his pack into an overhead locker and sat down. A moment later, he was up again and fussing with his pack. Jack watched without looking directly at him, smiling to herself as if she were just a fly on the wall. Detached. Collected.
Molly was the last one to board. Joel had seen her giving her instructions to Paige. He hovered, not quite deciding where he would sit. Jack was on to him. He was going to pull “Operation: Calm Molly Down.”
She stomped through the cabin with her pack and gun belt thrown over her shoulder. Her holo hadn’t been closed down, and if she had been wearing boots with laces, Joel guessed they wouldn’t have been tied, either.
She threw her pack down on a lounge chair and collapsed next to it, preventing anyone from sitting next to her.
Joel, quick as a flash, grabbed his jacket and mirrored her move by throwing his jacket down in the chair opposite her and plonking himself down across from her.
That was as close as he was going to get. Clearly.
The gentle hum of the drive started up. Crash’s normal banter was nowhere to be heard in the liftoff process. In fact, Molly found herself checking out the window to confirm they were indeed airborne and heading out of the hangar. Only Emma’s voice recited the normal announcements and safety notices.
Molly closed her eyes and allowed the process to wash over her. She tried to still her mind as Arlene had taught her in her realm-jumping training.
Her body was a mishmash of emotions. Emotions she’d rather not have to deal with right now.
She felt a nudge on her leg and reluctantly opened one eye, letting the outside world invade. Joel was looking at her pointedly. He’d nudged his knee against hers.
“What?”
“Wondering if you’re ready to talk.” He nodded at her bag on the seat in front of him. She took the hint and moved it to the one opposite her where he’d dumped his jacket. Joel deftly moved from his seat to the one next to her and buckled his harness.
“You’re taking this hard,” he said quietly.
Molly shoved her arm onto the outside armrest and stared out of the window. Her other shoulder half shrugged.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” Joel persisted, “but we need to. You need to.”
Molly turned her head and glared at him.
“I’m here for you,” he continued, ignoring the glare and looking straight ahead of him now. He knew how to handle Molly and her avoidance strategies. She just needed to feel safe enough to open up.
And not pushed.
He readjusted himself in his chair so that his upper arm was touching hers. He felt her defenses come down. All the hardness that she used to shield herself from her own feelings melted, and a single tear trickled down her face.
She sniffed as quietly as she could and rummaged for a tissue to catch the tears before anyone else could see.
“I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this,” she confided.
Joel’s gaze snapped to her. She continued to look down at the tissue, avoiding his eyes. “What’s changed?” he asked.
Molly shrugged. He could see the tension welling inside of her again. He didn’t want her to start crying here in front of the crew. She wouldn’t want that, and it wasn’t fair on her. But she needed to process.
He leaned in a little more. “Is this about Sean?”
“Kinda. But also everything else.” She paused and swiped away another tear. “It’s just one thing after another. It feels like it never ends. I’m exhausted.”
Joel bobbed his head and pressed his arm more against hers. She responded and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. He glanced over at Jack and Pieter, wondering if he should put his arm around her, or whether that would arouse too much interest from the others.
He decided against it. “Hey. It’s okay. We’re going to get through this.”
“Will we?” she asked combatively. “I just can’t help thinking that if I wasn’t around, none of this would be happening.”
Joel frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Sean. He wouldn’t have needed to go off on his own. He’d still be with the Federation and have their backup.”
Joel’s brow furrowed deeper, confused at what she was saying.
Molly continued. “You can’t ignore the fact that his relationship with them has become strained because of his relationship with us.”
Joel hesitated, processing what she was saying. “Well, there may be some truth to that, but that’s not going to get him killed. And it’s certainly not your fault. What’s really going on?”
Molly pursed her lips. “Sean came to see me before he disappeared.”
“About his mission?”
“No. About me.”
“What do you mean?”
“He thinks I have some ability to push my will onto people. Another side effect. He was going to report it to Lance, and I asked him not to.”
“And now he’s gone, and you’re feeling guilty.”
Molly sniffed, finally finding the strength to bring her gaze up to meet Joel’s. “And wondering if somehow I also influenced him to disappear…”
Joel put his arm around her. “That’s just crazy talk. I mean, even if you could push your will onto other people, you would never want him dead. You’re just not wired that way.”
“But what if it was a component of his decision making?”
Joel shook his head. “No way,” he told her firmly. “This thought process is a pattern you run. You look for ways to make things your fault. Or your responsibility.”
Molly allowed herself to sink against his body, allowing his arm around her to stay. “How do you figure that?” she mumbled.
“Look at all the things that have happened: the way you want to change every injustice on Estaria. The way you relate to each team member personally, helping them to find their groove. No way you could even accidentally do what you’re suggesting.”
Molly pulled away and tried to look at Joel. “You think I’m doing things wrong?”
“No,” he corrected her. “I think there is a reason that you’re wired this way, and if we understood it better, you wouldn’t need to feel so damn guilty all the time. So, what is it?”
“What you mean?”
“Well, what happened in your childhood? What is this really about?”
Molly thought for a long while, even though her mind had jumped immediately to what the issue was that Joel was trying to get out of her.
Eventually she spoke, sitting up a little. Joel removed his arm.
“I was about twelve. I’d been hacking into my parent’s EI to find out stuff. Actually, stuff about The Empress. Rumors. History. Missions. There wasn’t much, but I used the EI because it had greater reach, beyond just the local Estarian network.”
Joel nodded.
“Well,” she continued, “my parents had told me it was off limits. Turns out, they had been using it for the business and had taken it offline because they were attracting heat from certain criminal elements in their line of work.”
“And you got it back online?”
She nodded, fiddling with her tissue. “Yeah. I must have triggered some flags or something because one night, I heard something in the house. And shouting. I went downstairs and there were men in the house—in full combat gear. With guns.”
“Who were they?”
Molly shook her head. “I dunno. Dark ops. Mercenaries. We never found out. But they took my parents. At gun point.”
“Philip and Carol?”
She nodded again.
“But they’re still alive,” Joel reminded her, trying to understand what had happened.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “No thanks to me. They managed to escape somehow. Goodness knows how. They said something about having some help. They were gone for about a day. It was the worst day of my life. The police kept asking me questions about what happened, and their work, and their business. I didn’t know anything, but they treated me like a criminal. Like I knew what was happening.
“After they came back, the police had very few questions, and everything just seemed to go back to normal again. They wrapped up that business a few years later when Dad retired and Mom got some kind of government job. And we never really talked about it again. They just said it wasn’t my fault and that they were fine, so it didn’t matter.”
Joel frowned.
“But it was my fault,” she insisted. “If I hadn’t been poking around with that EI, none of it would have happened.”
Her voice started to break. Joel put his arm around her again as she sobbed quietly.
“Look,” he whispered. “I know it feels like it’s your fault, but things happen. Maybe the EI wasn’t the trigger. Maybe it was. They should have told you why the EI was offline. And besides, they’re still alive and doing fine. Something tells me that whatever they went through, it can’t have been that bad.”
Molly’s face was hidden from him. He felt his T-shirt getting wet from her tears. He held her tighter and continued to whisper in her ear. “It wasn’t your fault. You were a kid. You didn’t have all the information… and you don’t know what other good things that served.”
Her muffled voice spoke into his T-shirt. “I don’t understand…”
“Well, think about it. Maybe it was the shock your folks needed to get out of that business they were in. Sometimes these things demand too much of us, either in terms of risks we need to take or in terms of working too hard. Sounds like your folks were already taking risks, for those kinds of people to show up at the house.”
Molly’s sobbing subsided, and she became still.
“Also,” Joel continued, “imagine if they’d continued, and your dad didn’t retire. Maybe he would have ended up working too hard and giving himself a heart attack or something. Maybe your mum would have had problems if she hadn’t taken a more low-pressure job in the government.”
Molly nodded her head, still up against Joel’s T-shirt.
He squeezed her reassuringly under his arm. “Sounds like that was a well-timed warning shot to me. And they don’t seem too traumatized by any of it.”
She sat up. “No. You’re right. They were fine afterward. But that was the unnerving thing. Everything went back to business as usual.”
Joel’s eyes flickered with some kind of recognition.
“What?” Molly pressed.
Joel took a deep breath, thinking. “Well, I wonder… have you talked to them about it since? You know, now that you’re all grown up and all?”
Molly shook her head. “I’ve barely spoken to them at all since I escaped to university early.”
Joel pursed his lips. “Well, our perceptions as kids are super different from the reality of what happened. Sometimes, we misinterpret things, or we misunderstand. We try and make sense of it from the schemas that we’re operating from at the time, but as we get older, we have more understanding of the world. You know, you’re a lot older now. And you’ve seen a huge amount. You’ve got all your life and military experience. You think maybe if you talked to them about it now, you might understand it better?”
Molly sat herself up again, drying her eyes. “Yeah, probably,” she admitted.
Joel smiled. “Of course, it would mean braving your parents again. But it would probably be worth it.” He paused. “I’d come with you if that would help?”
Molly hesitated.
“No pressure,” he added. “I’m here for you, though.”
She bobbed her head then lunged forward to her bag on the other seat, rummaging for another tissue as a distraction. “Yeah, maybe. When we get Sean back…”
Joel put a hand on her back and rubbed it soothingly. “Okay, when we’ve got Sean back,” he agreed.
He checked over his shoulder, briefly catching Jack’s eye. Jack looked away quickly, respectful of their semi-privacy. Pieter looked like he had his implant feeding him sound and was off in his own little world.
Joel kicked back his seat and pretended to relax. He knew it was good for Molly for him to just hang nearby. Even if she didn’t understand that herself right now.
Aboard The Empress
Joel, Jack, and Pieter sat quietly, spread out through the main cabin of The Empress. Pieter had several holoscreens open and seemed to be continuing the work he had started as soon as they had access to Scamp’s data.
Molly gazed out of the window, her thoughts dancing from sensations of anxiety, to sadness, to determination, and back again.
“Molly?” Crash interrupted her thoughts through her audio implant.
Molly hit her audio device. “’Sup?”
“We’ve got a call coming in via the ship’s quiet link. It’s Giles, calling from The Scamp Princess.”
“Okay, patch him through.” She sat up in her seat and took a deep breath.
“Hi, Molly.” Giles’s voice announced himself in her ear. He sounded uncomfortable.
“Giles, hi. Everything okay?”
“Well, yes. Although not really. I heard about Sean, of course.”
Molly leaned her head backwards against her headrest, her gaze flicking to the ceiling. “Yes, we’re on our way to his last known now.”
“Good. Oz told you I offered my services?”
Molly assumed that was a question, even though his intonation suggested otherwise. “He did. Thank you.”
“Okay. Well, erm, the other thing is, we’ve had a lead on the talisman thing. So, erm… if you’ve cleared Scamp for duty, would you mind if Arlene and I went and chased this lead down?”
Molly processed the request for a moment. Her mind scrambled for any reasons for or against. Anything that wasn’t insurmountable. Then she hit one.
“What about the part where I needed you at the university to make sure everything is handled there?”
“Oh… erm. Right. Of course.”
There was a silence on the line. Molly felt Joel looking over at her but chose to remain focused on one conversation at a time. She knew he’d only interject in favor of Giles.
She spoke again. “How long do you think it will take?”
“Well, you know how these things are…”
“I have an idea,” she said.
“What if I promise to be back before the semester starts up again?”
“Yes, that would be fine. But stay in touch with Paige, and make sure that she can make any decisions that need making for the school.”
“Right you are. Thanks Molly. And… good luck.”
“You too, Giles. Good hunting.”
She could hear him breathing on the line for a second or two longer. She wondered if he might have something else to say. And then the line went dead. She turned her head and gazed out the window, watching the stars shift around them. She didn’t have the brain power to allocate any to Professor Kurns right now. She needed to stay laser focused on finding Sean.
Committed – Snippet 2
Base restrooms, Gaitune-67
Molly couldn’t stop her eyes from streaming. Her hands over her mouth, she tried to stifle the sobs. She leaned back against the wall of the restroom stall and put her hands to her head. It was throbbing.
It’s okay. We’re going to find him.
You can’t know that. What does the evidence say?
Molly sobbed again, thankful that she could have this conversation in her head and not have to speak the words. That would make it too real.
We don’t have enough data to conclude that he’s dead. And until we have the data pulled from Scamp, we won’t have a clue about what happened. Be patient. Don’t write him off so soon. Scamp only returned twenty minutes ago.
Molly didn’t respond. Her mind just couldn’t engage in conversation. She could barely see through her eyes, she had cried so hard.
I have to go. They’re waiting.
You’ve got a few more minutes. They’ll understand. They’re processing for themselves, too. They’ve never seen a ship return without a crew, either.
You mean they’re also crying.
No. But they’re worried and trying to wrap their heads around what might have happened.
They’re all in the conference room?
Yes. Mostly.
Okay. I’ve got to move.
Molly wiped her face with her hands and grabbed some tissue to dry them. She fumbled with the lock on the door and headed out to the basins. She hardly dared look at herself in the mirror. There was no way she would be able to fix the swollen eyes before walking in to face her team and give them their orders.
She opened the faucet and watched the water for a moment. Then she looked up.
Fuck.
It’s not that bad.
Not that bad? What do you know? You’re an AI.
I’ve been monitoring your body the whole time we’ve been connected. With cold water, you can reduce the swelling to acceptable levels. I’d suggest dabbing with a wet towel, though.
If she hadn’t been so distraught, she might have smiled at the notion of her AI giving her tactical beauty advice. She splashed water on her face and looked at herself again, pulling a blonde strand back from her face and hooking it behind her ear.
That’s going to have to do.
Well then, your subjects await.
Molly grabbed a paper towel and dried her face and hands before dropping the towel in the trash and heading out.
Turning left out of the corridor, she strode confidently up to the conference room and walked straight in. She did a quick assessment of who was present.
“Where’s Brock?” she asked.
Crash answered. “He’s already working on Scamp. He’s pulling every scrap of data to find out where he was and what happened.”
“Okay.” She closed the door and strode around to the head of the table. She didn’t sit though. “Here’s the plan. As soon as we have the coordinates, we’re going after Sean.”
She turned to Crash, who was sitting bolt upright awaiting instructions. “Crash, help Brock. Do whatever he needs to get us that data and get us airborne in The Empress.”
Molly turned to look at Joel and Jack on the left-hand side of the table. “You two are on supplies. Which includes weapons. Lots of them.”
Joel almost smiled. If the situation hadn’t been so tense, Molly suspected briefly that he would have punched the air.
Boys and guns, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes.
“Pieter and Oz,” she continued swiftly. “Start working on the data as Brock pulls it. Paige, you’re running point for this investigation. Let the general know Scamp is back, and see if there is anything else the Federation can tell us based on the data Pieter gathers.”
Paige raised her hand and spoke fast. “What about telling Giles and Arlene?”
Molly paused only long enough to draw breath. “Oz will take care of that. Maya you’re on food supplies. But then I need you and Paige to work from here when we leave. Any questions?”
Pieter raised his hand awkwardly. “What about Bourne?”
Molly’s brow furrowed. “What’s he doing?”
“Still binge-watching the archives,” Pieter said judgmentally.
Molly thought for a moment. “Is he likely to do anything else until we get back?”
Oz’s voice connected over the intercom for the conference room. “Unlikely, if past behavior is an indicator of future.”
“Fine,” Molly concluded. “Let’s leave him be. Anything else?” Molly’s gaze flicked around the room.
Everyone was silent. They knew what they had to do.
“Okay. Wheels up in two hours. Dismissed.”
No one spoke as they pushed back on the anti-grav chairs and filed hurriedly out of the conference room. Molly stayed out of their way for a minute while they vacated.
What do you want to tell Giles and Arlene?
That Scamp came back, and we’re going after his last known location. But Giles isn’t coming. He needs to stay here and look after things at the University.
And when he argues?
Tell him I’m putting my foot down.
Okay. On it.
Thanks, Oz.
Molly followed her team out of the doors and into the base corridors. She also had work to do before they left, and two hours was almost no time to get her head in gear.
Bates Residence, Estaria
The house was quiet. Philip knew it would be hours before Carol got home. Even on a regular week, she’d be the last one in the office. But he knew from her patterns and mood that this had been no regular week.
Their operative code kept them from discussing agency business at home. Carol insisted it was better for their relationship anyway. Philip wasn’t convinced. But that was what he had signed up for during his exit interview, knowing full well his wife would remain inside the fold when he stepped out.
No disclosure and therefore no lies, he reminded himself.
He paused, knowing full well what it would mean if he was discovered. Part of him didn’t care. Part of him was more concerned about protecting his daughter. He’d replayed the conversation he and Carol had had in the parking lot that day after seeing Molly… and Sean. No way had his wife really let it go, despite her protests that she had nearly been rumbled and had learned her lesson.
Carol didn’t learn lessons.
She just adapted.
He glanced over at the window for one final check. It was still daylight. And no sign of her car.
He sat down at the family terminal. Though the EI had been stripped out a long time ago, well before they’d moved to this property, certain things did remain. Like the agency-grade firewall and military-grade defense arrays. They weren’t stupid. They needed to protect their XtraNET connection. Plus, there were certain things they needed access to at all times, especially now Carol was head of the agency.
He woke the holoscreen and started picking his way through the security protocols. Technically, he wouldn’t have clearance. But he knew his wife well, and guessing her passwords had historically been a breeze.
The grandfather clock ticked pointedly in the hallway, pretending as though everything was just as peaceful as usual. But the hint of the seconds going past niggled in the back of Philip’s mind. He took a deep breath and entered the last protocol.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Yes! Still got it! He smiled to himself.
He ferreted through the most likely files. Anything under something inane like “Archive” was a likely candidate. He quickly found old case files mixed in with current ops. Most of them didn’t interest him. Just the usual stuff he used to deal with as an operative: politicians, unusual trading activity, statistically anomalous spikes in data or energy in core threat areas…
None of it was what he needed.
He kept rummaging, opening files methodically and eyeballing them as fast as he could.
Then he found a text file. It was labeled “Notes”. His brain honed in. The file contained a couple of strings of numbers. They looked like the right kind of length for them to be access codes for a network tap.
Gotcha!
He quickly memorized the strings. If these were what he thought they were, they would allow him to tap into whatever the live sting was on the network that connected directly up to the target. He’d have to be careful. Her techs would be able to see him access it, and the action would be time stamped, too. There would be logs. Detailed logs. But it would potentially give him the last bit of proof he needed when he finally found out what she was up to.
He started to close the holoscreens down, but then something caught his eye.
He stopped.
There was a link to her internal calendar. He poked it, and it opened up on another screen. He took a quick look, two weeks back and two weeks forward, mentally checking that against what he knew of her movements. She’d been late a number of times this week. Last night, she’d said she had a department meeting. But there was nothing in the calendar. Otherwise, it was convincingly populated.
He closed his eyes, checking he’d memorized it all correctly, then closed the holo. Shutting down the terminal, he wandered back to the kitchen, gathering his thoughts.
Snack and then thinking time, he told himself.
+++
Several hours later, the Sark had gone down.
Dinner time had come and gone.
All that remained was a dish that was ready to be relegated to the fridge for when Carol returned.
Philip sat reading in his favorite armchair in the living room when he heard the car pull up in the driveway.
There was the familiar clatter at the door and then in the hallway as Carol made her way inside.
“You’re pretty damn noisy for a spook!” her husband called playfully.
Her heels clipped across the floor and into the living space. She brought the scent of the night air in with her. “Well, it’s a good thing I wasn’t sneaking around then,” she retorted.
She appeared in the doorway, looking just as exhausted as every other day for weeks.
Philip smiled. “What’ve you been up to?”
She unceremoniously plonked her purse down on the chair by the door. “Just working late.”
“On what?”
Carol paused. “You know I can’t answer that.” She looked at him quizzically.
Philip got up, still smiling, and walked into the open-plan kitchen. “You know I know better than to just let it go.” He picked up the bottle of wine and reached for a couple of glasses, which he placed gently on the counter.
Carol approached the counter, drawn in by the idea of the alcohol hitting her system. “Yes, your tenacity is one of the reasons I married you. It’s late.” She looked around the kitchen for clues. “Have you eaten?”
“Yes, but I saved you some. How about I heat it up and pour you a glass,” he poured the wine, “and you can tell me all about your day?”
Carol eyed him suspiciously. She had been married to a spy for nearly thirty years. “Sounds good. Let me just go and get out of this atmosuit, and then we can relax.”
She wandered out, feeling his gaze on her back.
+++
Dinner passed with very little probing. Carol wondered if maybe Philip realized that he was breaching protocol and had decided to back off.
Or maybe he just forgot that he had been suspicious? She smiled to herself as she gently drifted off to sleep in the soft bedclothes and half-light from the city beyond the bedroom window.
Philip waited until her breathing had settled to a slower rate and then made his move.
Carefully and slowly, he slipped out from between the bed covers and padded around the room. He reached her bedside table and lifted her holo from the charging pad. It lit up, but he moved it so that the light wouldn’t disturb his wife.
Slowly, he moved out into the hallway. The bathroom would normally have been a better option but too noisy. The dark quiet of the landing served him better.
He flicked straight through to the screens he needed. Flicking through the latest progress reports that had come in since she left the office.
From what he could make out, it was a Dark Net Op, or DNO. They had a whole team who handled this particular type of operation. The reports were stacked with probe responses and hypotheses. There weren’t any real interpretations of what their data was telling them, but it seemed that perhaps they were trying to figure out the owners and users of certain Estarian-based servers, under massive encryption and cyber security protocols.
Nothing unusual in itself.
He breathed, trying to slow his thinking for clarity. He wasn’t going to figure it all out tonight. But this was at least another piece of the puzzle. Maybe.
He closed the holoscreens and tapped the button to set them back to unread so they wouldn’t be deleted off the server before she could see them. That would be a red flag if there was anything in there that the rest of the team referenced later.
And this was a long game.
As quietly as he could, he padded back into the bedroom and replaced the holo. Just as he was walking around to his side of the bed, he felt her stir. Instinctively, he headed straight for the bathroom door and then closed it a little more loudly than he would have otherwise.
She muttered something.
“Sorry,” he whispered across the room to her. She rolled over, and he clambered back into bed next to her.
Committed – Snippet 1
Aboard The Scamp Princess, Kirox Quadrant
“Okay, space cowboy, you’re up!” Scamp announced cockily over the cockpit audio.
Sean opened one eye and then the other, his dream of naked ladies catering to his every whim while he fired guns on the test range evaporating away to reveal his harsh reality.
He eased himself into an upright position in his console chair and turned up the heat in the cold cockpit. “Thank you, Scamp,” he mumbled as gracefully as he could manage. He started poking at the holoscreen keys, checking and double-checking before setting a scan.
“Sean?”
“Yes, Scamp?”
“Why are we checking for short range transmissions?”
“Because we’re trying to pick up a short-wave, short-range transmission at these precise coordinates.”
“Oh.”
Silence fell over the cockpit for a few moments, before:
“Sean?”
“Yes, Scamp?”
“Why?”
Sean finished what he was doing and then sat back in his self-adjusting console chair. “Because this is what Karina and I agreed. We’d leave a short-range beacon right here at this location, with the location of our actual meeting point.”
“Why, though?”
“Because even if someone somehow knew about these coordinates, they would never know to look for a tiny beacon that wouldn’t show up more than a kilometer from here.”
Scamp paused for a moment, processing. “Oh. Right. That’s smart.”
“Yes. It is.”
Beep beep beep. A light on the pilot’s screen started flashing urgently.
“Looks like we’ve found your beacon, then,” Scamp commented.
“Looks like.” Sean watched, waiting for the signal to settle and then ran it through a descrambling program he’d uploaded from his holo before his power nap.
“Okay, Scamp, those are our next coordinates. Shoot out the beacon with the auxiliary lasers, and then let’s get going.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if anyone needs to track you—”
“This is the point. I don’t want anyone tracking me. It’s not safe. Blow it up, and then let’s get going. She’s in trouble.”
Obediently and without any further comment, Scamp locked on to the signal. “Armed and ready on your command, sir.”
“Fire!” Sean commanded.
Pew. A laser shot out from the undercarriage of The Scamp Princess.
Pop.
Sean shoved his bottom lip out and shifted sheepishly in his chair. “Well, that was an anticlimax.”
“I’m sure you’ve heard that a lot.”
“Ha, you’re hilarious, Scamp,” he retorted dryly to his EI.
Scamp sniggered at his own joke. “I guess it was just a tiny beacon, after all.”
Sean glanced at Scamp’s screen, raising one eyebrow, knowing full well Scamp couldn’t see him. “Indeed. Okay, Scamp, let’s go.”
One moment, the ship was there, hanging in the blackness. A second later, it had popped out of existence, leaving barely a ripple of a particle trail as it gated to its next destination.
Calzone Offices, Bronislovas Trading Outpost, Kirox Quadrant
Vito Calzone stood at the window of his office, watching the ships coming and going from the dock just across the way. The colored lights blipped and ambled before coming to a halt in the dock or disappearing in a flash as they tripped into FTL and tripped out of the system in the blink of an eye.
The door of his office swished open quietly. Calzone didn’t turn around. He didn’t need to. “You know,” he mused philosophically, “they’re like fireflies.”
An anxious voice replied, “Sir?”
“These spaceships,” Vito drawled in an old accent from the region going several generations back. “They never existed like this when I was a kid. And now, they’re in and out of here like fireflies. One blip and they’re gone again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Calzone kept watching them, still not turning around to look at his visitor.
“Okay, Roberto. What’s so important?”
“Sir, it’s… well. We’ve noticed money coming into one of your guys’ accounts.”
“That’s not unusual.”
“No, sir. But it’s not from us.”
Calzone turned around and took a few steps to his desk chair. “And who do we think it was from?”
There was a slight pause before Roberto answered. “The sender is Ms. Karina Duffy.”
Calzone waved his hands. “That supposed to mean something to me?”
“Well, erm, if you remember, it was one of her favorite assassins.”
“So what? You’re saying someone is sending us a message?”
“Possibly, sir. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless she’s still alive.”
“She’s not alive,” Vito snapped. “And even if she were, she’s dead to me. Whose account is it?”
“Ronnie’s, sir.”
“Who?”
“Ronnie Matherson. He works on Bill’s side of the family.”
Calzone nodded wisely, as if he remembered. He took his time and sat down at his desk. “So,” he said slowly, “looks like someone is paying Ronnie money.”
Roberto nodded, then swallowed hard. “Unless that’s what they want us to think, of course,” he added. There was an awkward pause. “Sir, what would you like me to do?”
Calzone lowered his eyes in contemplation. “I’ll handle it,” he said quietly. “Keep an eye out for anything else, though.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Send in Churchill.”
“Yes, sir.”
The lanky computer ops nerd headed back across the carpeted office and hit the close button for the door on the panel behind him as he left.
Moments later, the door whooshed gently open again.
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Churchill was broad and stocky. He ran a team on the west side and reported in directly to the Don. Thirty years of service, and he never once took a day off. Nor did he have any trouble from within the ranks of the family.
Calzone regarded the loyal soldier carefully as he approached his desk. “We have reason to suspect Ronnie is going outside of the family.”
“You want me to take care of him?”
“No. I want you to follow him and find out what he’s up to and who he’s up to it with.”
“No problem, boss. I can have someone on it immediately.”
“No,” the Don said firmly. “Do it yourself. And this stays between us.”
Churchill lowered his head in deference. “Yes, sir. Of course, sir.”
“That’s all,” Vito said, dismissing him.
Churchill backed up a few steps before turning and hurrying out again.
The Don leaned back in his leather covered anti-grav chair, steepling his fingers in front of him.
Base restrooms, Gaitune-67
Molly couldn’t stop her eyes from streaming. Her hands over her mouth, she tried to stifle the sobs. She leaned back against the wall of the restroom stall and put her hands to her head. It was throbbing.
It’s okay. We’re going to find him.
You can’t know that. What does the evidence say?
Molly sobbed again, thankful that she could have this conversation in her head and not have to speak the words. That would make it too real.
We don’t have enough data to conclude that he’s dead. And until we have the data pulled from Scamp, we won’t have a clue about what happened. Be patient. Don’t write him off so soon. Scamp only returned twenty minutes ago.
Molly didn’t respond. Her mind just couldn’t engage in conversation. She could barely see through her eyes, she had cried so hard.
I have to go. They’re waiting.
You’ve got a few more minutes. They’ll understand. They’re processing for themselves, too. They’ve never seen a ship return without a crew, either.
You mean they’re also crying.
No. But they’re worried and trying to wrap their heads around what might have happened.
They’re all in the conference room?
Yes. Mostly.
Okay. I’ve got to move.
Molly wiped her face with her hands and grabbed some tissue to dry them. She fumbled with the lock on the door and headed out to the basins. She hardly dared look at herself in the mirror. There was no way she would be able to fix the swollen eyes before walking in to face her team and give them their orders.
She opened the faucet and watched the water for a moment. Then she looked up.
Fuck.
It’s not that bad.
Not that bad? What do you know? You’re an AI.
I’ve been monitoring your body the whole time we’ve been connected. With cold water, you can reduce the swelling to acceptable levels. I’d suggest dabbing with a wet towel, though.
If she hadn’t been so distraught, she might have smiled at the notion of her AI giving her tactical beauty advice. She splashed water on her face and looked at herself again, pulling a blonde strand back from her face and hooking it behind her ear.
That’s going to have to do.
Well then, your subjects await.
Molly grabbed a paper towel and dried her face and hands before dropping the towel in the trash and heading out.
Turning left out of the corridor, she strode confidently up to the conference room and walked straight in. She did a quick assessment of who was present.
“Where’s Brock?” she asked.
Crash answered. “He’s already working on Scamp. He’s pulling every scrap of data to find out where he was and what happened.”
“Okay.” She closed the door and strode around to the head of the table. She didn’t sit though. “Here’s the plan. As soon as we have the coordinates, we’re going after Sean.”
She turned to Crash, who was sitting bolt upright awaiting instructions. “Crash, help Brock. Do whatever he needs to get us that data and get us airborne in The Empress.”
Molly turned to look at Joel and Jack on the left-hand side of the table. “You two are on supplies. Which includes weapons. Lots of them.”
Joel almost smiled. If the situation hadn’t been so tense, Molly suspected briefly that he would have punched the air
Boys and guns, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes.
“Pieter and Oz,” she continued swiftly. “Start working on the data as Brock pulls it. Paige, you’re running point for this investigation. Let the general know Scamp is back, and see if there is anything else the Federation can tell us based on the data Pieter gathers.”
Paige raised her hand and spoke fast. “What about telling Giles and Arlene?”
Molly paused only long enough to draw breath. “Oz will take care of that. Maya you’re on food supplies. But then I need you and Paige to work from here when we leave. Any questions?”
Pieter raised his hand awkwardly. “What about Bourne?”
Molly’s brow furrowed. “What’s he doing?”
“Still binge-watching the archives,” Pieter said judgmentally.
Molly thought for a moment. “Is he likely to do anything else until we get back?”
Oz’s voice connected over the intercom for the conference room. “Unlikely, if past behavior is an indicator of future.”
“Fine,” Molly concluded. “Let’s leave him be. Anything else?” Molly’s gaze flicked around the room.
Everyone was silent. They knew what they had to do.
“Okay. Wheels up in two hours. Dismissed.”
No one spoke as they pushed back on the anti-grav chairs and filed hurriedly out of the conference room. Molly stayed out of their way for a minute while they vacated.
What do you want to tell Giles and Arlene?
That Scamp came back, and we’re going after his last known location. But Giles isn’t coming. He needs to stay here and look after things at the University.
And when he argues?
Tell him I’m putting my foot down.
Okay. On it.
Thanks, Oz.
Molly followed her team out of the doors and into the base corridors. She also had work to do before they left, and two hours was almost no time to get her head in gear.
Never Submit Audiobook Release!
Never Submit, The Kurtherian Gambit 15
By Michael Anderle
One Last Hail Mary attack by those on Earth goes awry when the Queen herself shows up with John Grimes along for the ride.
Five puppies have plans that surprise everyone.
The Queen has a problem, and her closest friends travel to Earth to find her a solution.
It’s time for an audience with the King of Yoll, and he isn’t going to like the outcome. Not one bit. He has a secret he has been hiding, and those sneaky aliens in space find out what it is, and turn it against him.
It’s time to release the Queen Bitch for her final clean-up of Kurtherians – This area of the galaxy will never be the same, again.
So, grab your favorite drink, recline in your favorite chair or bed or couch, and relax for just a moment or two, because….
Bethany Anne is back!
Sanctioned Audiobook Release!
Sanctioned, The Ascension Myth Book 4
By Ell Leigh Clarke & Michael Anderle
General Lance Reynolds needs Molly’s team for a clandestine operation. The only problem? It kicks off in one week, and the Syndicate needs cleaning up once and for all.
So what is a girl to do?
Go on the offensive, of course.
But with the ultimate take down planned for the bad guys of Planet Estaria, you know it’s going to be epic.
But at what cost?
Torn Asunder Release!
Torn Asunder: Protected by the Damned Book 1
By Michael Todd
Katie Maddison never wanted to learn how to kick a demon’s ass, all she was doing was helping a fellow university student with his Chem homework.
She just trusted people too much.
Now, she will be the new weapon in a war she had no idea existed with warriors wielding both weapons and supernatural abilities.
Demon Hunters, Demon Fighters … Known as The Damned.
People possessed by Demons, but still remaining in control of their bodies.
One of the most powerful Demon’s in Hell can’t defeat his sister, so he sets her up to be sacrificed and killed.
The only problem? The human she possesses retained her sanity and together they might be a catalyst to change the future of the war.
If they can stay alive and learn how to share one body, that is.
Now, a millennium old Demon who has no morals is stuck with a hard-headed young woman, who has her own ideas regarding what her future will be.
Together, they work out a truce, of sorts.
Until the Demon gets hooked on soap operas, game shows and changing Katie’s body without permission.
Then All Hell Breaks Loose.
Covert Talents Audiobook Release
Covert Talents, Uprise Saga: Book One
By Amy Duboff & Michael Anderle
When the Galaxy calls, do you have the courage to answer?
Rogue Instigator – Snippet 2
Giles Kurns: Rogue Instigator
By Ell Leigh Clarke & Michael Anderle
Unedited
Molly’s conference room, Base Safe House, Gaitune-67
“It’s been four days!” Molly paced her personal conference room upstairs in the safe house.
Joel, attempting to be a supportive, calming influence, sat patiently, watching her like one might watch a quaggle ball being pinged back and forth across the net in a match.
She paused, turning to face him with one hand on her forehead, holding her hair out of her face. “I mean, what was he thinking? Leaving us no way to trace him. Who does that?”
Joel pushed his bottom lip out in the most sympathetic way possible. “Molly,” he said firmly, “it was his choice. We have to respect that.”
“But what if this is something he can’t handle on his own? What if he’s in trouble right now?”
“Well then, that was also his choice. He’s a big boy. And he’s been around longer than you and I put together, I’d guess.”
Molly looked at the chair in front of her and thought about sitting down. Her holoscreen was open at the seat, holding a freeze frame of the video—the only clue they had about what Sean was up to.
Molly, Emma has detected the Scamp Princess in the vicinity. She’s hailing Scamp now.
Molly froze, before repeating to Joel what Oz has just told her.
“The Scamp Princess is back!” she announced quietly in a state of complete shock.
Joel’s eyes widened in surprise, but he said nothing.
“Oz?” Molly called so they could have the conversation over the in-conference audio so Joel could hear.
“Yes, the ship is on its way in.”
“And Sean? Is he ok?”
“So far Emma has only been able to communicate with Scamp. Scamp is saying that Sean isn’t on board.”
“What the—?”
“Apparently, he left orders for Scamp to return without him if he wasn’t back within a certain time.”
Molly scowled, tears brimming in her eyes. “What, and Scamp just followed those orders?”
Oz paused a moment as if waiting for data. “Well, not exactly. Ze managed to override the programming for a significant time longer and did a sweep of the area where Sean should have been. Ze also tried to follow clues in things that Sean had let slip and told zir, and ze tried to put it all together. Personally, I think if I were to take a pass at the data, I might be able to figure something out. We’ll need Scamp to pull it off though, and for Brock to manually download the conversations off the hard drive.”
Molly’s face set firm. “Have Brock meet us at the hangar deck. We’re on our way down.”
Joel looked confused.
“Sup?” Molly asked, about to stride out of the door.
Joel’s brow furrowed another inch. “Why is Oz talking like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like . . . ze and zir?”
Molly tried to connect her brain to her mouth to explain something that was important but not urgent to the impending situation. “It’s . . . erm. Well, you know how Shamans and some AIs don’t identify with one gender over the other?”
Joel shook his head, but Molly ignored it.
“Well, those are gender-neutral pronouns. It makes it easier to refer to them correctly without having to overuse their name.”
Joel, still confused, at least started to get up.
Molly started moving out the door again. “Yeah. I dunno why we didn’t adopt it centuries ago, but hey, that’s the Sark System for you. Anyway, Scamp has chosen gender neutral because ZE is sick of being identified as a princess and is feeling kind of boyish at times. This just allows zir the fluidity to be who ze is.”
Joel’s head was about to explode. “Ok, let’s revisit that when we’re not trying to save someone’s life . . .” he muttered as he followed her out and down the corridor.
Lecture Theater 3, Skóli Uppstigs Academy
Giles sat at the front bench of the darkened lecture theater. Anne was still with him, sitting at one end of the bench drawing on some actual paper he’d found for her.
He had some work to do before he dropped her back, and she seemed reluctant to leave the university straight away. He was secretly happy for the company.
And the lecture theater was as safe as anywhere on Gaitune, especially since no one knew they’d be there.
Besides, he liked it here. It was peaceful.
Most faculty members preferred doing their marking in their classrooms . . . where they had their creature comforts—mocha machines, slippers under the desk.
Not Giles. He preferred the majesty of the lecture theater. It reminded him of his glory days when he’d be called from all over the Empire to lecture on space archeology, helping the military figure out how to deal with their newest encounter. Or helping fresh recruits come to terms with the customs of their fellow comrades of different species.
Yes, being an arch and anth specialist certainly could lead to a varied career. Yet between the tomb raiding and military ops, he’d always return to the lecture theater. It was his one touchstone—even if now, stuck educating kids on some backwater planet in a relatively insignificant system . . .
He sighed, his gaze drifting into the rows and rows of empty seats ahead of him.
Just then, his wrist holo flashed up a message. It was Oz.
PLS CALL, the message read.
Giles hit the return call button, and Oz instantly connected through his audio implant. “Giles, hi. We’ve had a development. Scamp just arrived back. Without Sean.”
Giles took a moment to absorb the information. “What do you mean, without Sean?”
“Just that. Scamp was programmed to return if Royale didn’t show backup at the appointed time. And he didn’t. So he came back without him.”
Giles’s mind whirred, wondering what might’ve happened. “How can I help? Are we going to retrace Scamp’s steps?”
“Affirmative. Joel is getting the team together now. They ship out in a few hours.”
Giles was already on his feet, closing holoscreens. “I’m on my way!” he relayed quickly.
“No need,” Oz countered.
Giles wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “Say again?”
“No need. They’re leaving Paige and Maya to look after the base. And Anne. And Molly needs you to hold the fort on campus. We’ve no idea how long this will take.”
Giles felt the air leaving his sails. He sat down on the stool again. “Are you sure I can’t be of assistance on the mission. I know the world that Royale comes from . . . if this is anything to do with his past . . .” his voice trailed off, hoping that Oz was going to interject and give him a role on the crew.
“I’m sorry, Giles. Molly was clear. She wants you here.”
Giles thought about protesting. Or calling Molly directly. Maybe this was because of their close encounter . . .? he wondered in passing.
“Well, er . . . let me know if you need anything then,” was all he could manage.
“Will do. Thanks, Giles. Oz, out.”
His audio went dead.
Anne had stopped drawing and was watching him with a concerned look. “What is it?”
Giles sighed, taking his glasses off and placing them gently on the table in front of him. Their presence disrupted the light of the holoscreen he’d been working on. “Well, it seems Scamp is back. But no Sean.”
Anne pulled her lips to one side, a slight frown forming across her young forehead. “Hmm. Well, he seems pretty tough. Was he out drinking and got lost?”
Giles smiled despite his obvious concern for his chum. “Possibly,” he lied. “Although, that would’ve been rather careless of him.”
Anne looked very serious for a moment. “Well, I’m not an expert in behavior, but I’ve seen lots of people do careless things.”
Giles chuckled to himself. Could this child be any more precocious? he wondered.
He decided to keep packing. “Come along, young one,” he called over to her. “We should probably get you back to base before Molly disappears anyway.”
Anne started gathering her drawings. “Yeah right. You just want to see her before she goes.” She continued packing. “Either that, or you want to be in on the preparations so you can wheedle your way onto that trip.”
“Mission. It’s a mission, Anne. Not a trip. These things aren’t jollies, you know.”
Anne rolled her eyes at him.
“And you should have more respect for your elders!” he said, noticing her reaction.
Anne smirked but made a feeble attempt to keep her face straight—meaning her mouth got all twisted up.
Giles couldn’t help but be amused. “Come along,” he said, pretending to be cross with her. “We’ll call Arlene from the pod. At least we might gain access to Scamp if she ever gets those coordinates sorted out.”
Anne carefully clocked all the information Giles was hemorrhaging. After all, she never knew when details like this might come in useful.
Hangar Deck, Base, Gaitune-67
Molly strode as fast as her enhanced legs would carry her across the hangar deck. Even GI Joel struggled to keep up with her.
The dense vibration of Scamp Princess’s engines filled the space between the hangar doors and the free landing pad.
Molly felt the anxiety flood through her. They didn’t know that Sean was dead. There was still a chance he was ok. They just had to find him.
Breathe, she told herself, willing herself to stay in the present moment. Her mind spindled out like an evil machine monster from a horror movie, swallowing up hope like a demon.
Be present, she willed herself. Stay. She took her awareness into her breathing, feeling each breath as Arlene had taught her. Then she brought her awareness into her toes to ground to expel the excess energy she was producing. The last thing she needed now was to realm jump. She needed to focus.
The tone of Scamp’s engines shifted into hover mode as Scamp deftly set zirself down in the landing area. Molly waited only long enough for the radiation to settle from the core before she was walking into the stirred-up air towards the door. It took several more seconds for the back door to open. It felt like an eternity.
Molly watched every moment, imagining that it’d all been a terrible a miscommunication and that Sean was indeed on board. Maybe he’d just been injured. Maybe Scamp had got it wrong and he was going to be standing there a bit beaten up but otherwise very much alive.
Maybe it was all just a practical joke. She prayed it was a practical joke.
On my ancestors, please let this be a joke. I promise I won’t be mad at him. I promise, I’ll do anything. Just let him be ok. Let him be standing there.
The tailgate opened enough for the belly of the ship to be visible. There was no Sean standing there. No one present.
Joel looked up from his holo, then showed Molly the results.
LIFE SIGN SCAN: No life signals.
Molly felt her insides crush in on themselves. The anxiety ripped through her chest and gut as strongly as if it were a knife. But there was no time for feelings now. She could process later.
Right now, she had to find Sean.
Brock appeared at her side. “What do you need, Boss?”
Molly nodded into the ship. “We need to know everything that Scamp knows about this trip. Every coordinate. Every conversation—even between Sean and Scamp as well as the ship-to-ship communications. Every satellite Scamp has pinged off on the journey, and every sensor reading. And then have Emma send the raw data to Oz.”
Oz, I hope you’re ready for this. This is going to be a shit-ton of intel.
Don’t worry. Since Lance hooked me up with the extra capacity, I’ve never come close to being full.
Ok, well that’s something.
Joel headed onto the ship to help Brock and to perform a visual sweep to make certain Sean wasn’t there.
Molly started to think about their next move, but then sensing the eyes of the others, she turned and looked up. Lined up at the railings, ready for orders, standing at the entrance to the hangar deck stairs were Crash, Paige, Maya, Jack and Pieter.
She smiled, realizing she wasn’t the only one in emotional turmoil over potentially losing a crew member and friend.
She headed over towards them, made the wind-up sign with her right hand, then pointed at the doors to the corridor on her level. They nodded, knowing to meet her in the conference room.
You’re going to fill them in?
Damn right. We’re going after Sean as soon as we have those coordinates. We’ll be taking the Empress. Make sure you have the data with us. We’ll have to figure this out on the fly.
Roger that, Boss.
And with that, Molly took herself off to the restrooms for a few minutes while the team made their way down to the base conference room.
When she showed up to brief them, only Paige could tell she’d been crying, and thankfully, she never said a word.
Gaitune-67
For the next couple hours, the base was a hive of activity and tension. Everyone on the team knew what they needed to do and worked as if they were one mind to make everything ready for their departure.
Now, loaded up with as many weapons from the artillery as they could fit into the cargo hold, they were ready to leave.
“But we should be coming with you?” Paige protested quietly to Molly as they stood on the yellow deck behind the Empress.
Molly shook her head. “I need you at the base. We might need you to run an op from here. We might need you to call for reinforcements. Heck, Sean may even show up here and need help. I need you to stay.” Molly was emphatic.
Paige nodded, understanding that she wasn’t just being benched. She was holding the fort.
“And Anne. You need to take care of Anne. This mission is no place for a kid.”
Paige nodded her understanding again, then shifted into friend mode. “It’s going to be ok. If anyone can take care of himself, it’s Sean.”
Molly dropped her leadership veneer, allowing Paige to see her real feelings and expression.
Paige leaned in and hugged her tightly. “I know he’s special to you. And there’s no way he’s not coming back. It’s going to be ok.” She chuckled through the emotion. “I’ll bet you get there and find him drinking with the locals or something. And then you’ll be forced to give him such an ass-kicking . . .”
The two girls giggled as a couple tears escaped down Molly’s face. “You’re right,” she agreed, pulling herself together again. “He’ll be due an ass-kicking, for sure.”
Paige rolled her lips together and held Molly at arms-length. “That’s the spirit. Go get ‘em.”
Molly smiled weakly, her lip twitching with tension and emotion even then. She glanced up to see Maya at the railing again. She waved. Molly nodded back before turning to the Empress and heading up the invisible staircase along the side of the ship.
At the top, she waved, then remembered something. She opened an audio line to Paige. “Oh, and make sure that Anne practices those exercises every day. No excuses.”
Paige nodded from the hangar deck floor and waved. “Don’t worry. I got this. See you soon.”
And with that, Molly nodded her thanks to her friend and disappeared into the Empress.
Moments later, the air around where the staircase had been visibly rippled as the stairs dematerialized. A second after that, the engines of the core came online.
The Empress lifted gracefully, tipped her wings, then glided out towards the open hangar door and disappeared into the darkness.
Paige stopped waving. The hangar deck suddenly eerily quiet and deserted. She felt an emptiness settle inside herself.
Maya was still up top waiting for her.
“Anne,” Paige muttered to herself. “Look after Anne,” she said, repeating the instructions to herself. “Need to check on Anne.”
Rogue Instigator – Snippet 1
Giles Kurns: Rogue Instigator
By Ell Leigh Clarke & Michael Anderle
Unedited
Arlene Bailey’s Laboratory, Skóli Uppstigs Academy, Spire, Estaria
Anne padded down the corridor of the main campus building, following the faux tweed almost of Professor Giles Kurns. She’d known from the moment she laid eyes on him that he’d be trustworthy. She just needed to make sure he was truly willing to listen and work with her.
Not that she had trust issues, she mused.
And he was certainly knowledgeable. In fact, after hearing his telling of his latest adventure, she was sure that he’d be able to help her with her predicament. A predicament that’d been weighing on her young shoulders for a good portion of her life.
Now she followed him to meet the one he reports to. That, she ascertained from the way he talked about her. She certainly wore the trousers . . . even if Giles didn’t realize it.
In fact, having seen them together on their return to Gaitune several months ago, she could’ve sworn they were married. Or something.
But apparently not, according to Paige.
Her belly swilled with ice cream as she jogged a few strides to keep up with Giles’s long gate. He’d taken her to the parlor just ahead of this meeting . . . no doubt to sweeten her up a bit. And maybe to give himself a sugar lift. For some reason he seemed . . . nervous?
Their footsteps, out of sync, reverberated through the vacant corridors. The sound reminded her of her first boarding school when she was younger. The one where her parents had first sent her away. They hadn’t coped well with her floating baby toys or kitchen utensils, and when one of her tantrums finally set fire to the drapes, that was the last straw.
Her mother had insisted. Her father didn’t argue. Instead, he put in the call to his friend, the doctor, and within a week, she was being delivered to an institution that specialized in her ‘gift’.
At least, that was what they’d called it to begin with.
“Come alone now, Anne, dear,” Giles called behind him, as he swept through the hallway and through another door. “We can’t keep her waiting.” He paused, holding the door for her, then pointed her up a stone staircase. “Up you go. Second floor.”
Anne noticed his face was tight and jaw set with tension as she hurried her little legs past him and began climbing the staircase.
Giles followed behind her at first, then taking two at a time, bounded up as if he wanted to race her. Catching on, she hurried herself, her old shoes tap-tap-tapping on the stone, pushing her up and then up again through several flights.
They arrived at the second floor, and in a swirl of activity, he hurried her along the next corridor, stopping abruptly outside a slightly ajar door.
Anne caught up again, breathing more heavily than she would normally.
There wasn’t much to do around the base at Gaitune . . . apart from the fact that most places were off-limits to her under Joel’s strict rules. She knew he just wanted to keep her safe, but as a pseudo parent he was a little overprotective at times. He wouldn’t even let her use the gym unless someone else was with her.
She’d argued that if she had a holo, then Oz could monitor her. He and Molly had also made the decision that until they knew more about her past and who was after her, they didn’t want a device flagging to anyone where she was.
Apparently, the system’s AI wasn’t up to safeguarding her with some kind of firewall.
She stopped by the door, waiting for instructions.
“Are you going to stand out there all day?” a female voice called from inside the room.
Giles nodded to her and pushed the door open, signaling for her to head inside.
Anne stepped forward slightly apprehensively. She’d heard so much about this woman. About how advanced she was in what her parents would’ve called, the Dark Estarian Arts. Molly had talked about her as if she were some kind of strict but caring aunt. Paige seemed to worship her . . . from a safe distance. Giles had told her about the fireballs and how she’d used a barrier spell to save them both from guards when they were out tomb raiding.
Anne wasn’t sure what to make of it all.
Gingerly, she stepped into the room, feeling the warm air of the lab touch her skin. Her senses were alert. On edge. Not quite knowing what to expect from this long-awaited meeting.
Giles followed her in. “Arlene? Where are you?”
“Right here!” Arlene appeared at the prep room door holding a rack of test tubes. She wandered casually over to the side bench where she had an apparatus set up and placed the rack down before wiping her hands on her lab coat.
Anne smiled a half smile. “Greetings,” she said, bowing her head politely. She wanted to hide behind Giles but resisted the urge.
Arlene might scare everyone else, but she wasn’t going to scare her. Anne had been pulling fireballs from the air since she was seven. Arlene was going to have to do more than that to impress her.
“Ahhh, so you must be Anne,” Arlene said, stepping forward and holding her hand out. “Giles has told me all about you!”
Not that scary for a fireball-touting ascension coach, Anne thought to herself.
She took Arlene’s hand and shook it politely. “Nice to meet you,” Anne replied as confidently as she could.
Arlene smiled at her. “I hear that you’ve been staying up on Gaitune for a while?”
Anne nodded.
“How do you find it there?”
“It’s ok,” she replied flatly, waiting for the real conversation to begin.
Arlene exhaled in a kind of humorless laugh and sat down on a nearby stool. She offered another for Anne to sit on. “That good, eh? I expect there isn’t much for someone who isn’t working as part of the team to do up there. No trees or sand or soil . . .” She paused. “What do you do most of your day?”
Anne had caught her breath. She wasn’t going to tell her that she spent most of her time scheming how to access some of the consoles on the ships. But she could tell her some of the other things. “I play video games with Brock. And sometimes he lets me help fix things with him.”
Arlene’s eyes brightened. “Really?” She glanced at Giles. “And what else?”
“I hang with Paige and Maya sometimes. They like to braid my hair and talk about boys and things. Paige lets me test all her new products, too.”
Arlene actually looked like she was listening.
“And then Giles comes to visit sometimes,” Anne said, relaxing a little and smiling back at Giles, who’d perched himself against another bench in the room.
“I see,” Arlene said, still paying close attention.
Anne felt like Arlene was connecting with her. It was a strange feeling . . . like she was really listening to her. And then it occurred to her that she might be doing her tuning in shit—like Molly had described to her.
Anne’s barriers went up. She clenched her teeth and felt her chest tighten.
“What’s wrong?” Arlene asked, suddenly concerned.
“You’re . . . scanning me,” Anne said, uncertain. “You’re inside my field and my body, and your—”
Arlene held her hands up, and the warmth of energy withdrew. “It’s ok. I’m not doing anything. We’re just talking. It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you. Look,” she said, standing up and taking a step back, “that’s all you now. I’m out of your field.”
Anne felt her chest relax. She couldn’t tell if the anxiety was because she’d made herself tense, or if it was Arlene’s doing. Either way, she didn’t like it.
Arlene sat down on the stool again. “It’s all ok . . .” she reiterated. “Giles told you that I can help you? With your powers?”
Anne nodded, still unnerved by what she didn’t understand.
Arlene bobbed her head. “Ok. Well, I’m going to show you how you can use them and how to control them. And you’ll see that sometimes it’s going to be easier for you to learn how this works by tuning into my energy, just like I did with you then.”
Anne didn’t respond. She felt Giles shuffling just outside her field of view.
Arlene continued pushing her dark hair back away from her effervescent blue skin. “It’s just like listening closely when someone’s talking with you. That’s all. But instead of using your ears, you’re using all your senses, and you tune in like a radio dial.”
Anne frowned. “What’s a radio?” she asked.
Arlene smiled the smile of someone who was becoming aware of her age. “Ok, I’ll show you that some time. Let’s not worry about it for now. The point is, you’re a very talented young lady, and very soon you’re going to be able to do some very helpful things . . . which’ll also mean you won’t be quite so bored while everyone else is busy.”
Anne narrowed one eye, searching for the proposition that Arlene was making. “You mean, you’re going to train me to be part of the team?”
Arlene pressed her lips together. “Well, I can’t promise that. Especially not until Molly knows that no one’s coming after you and we know you’re safe . . . but at least if we all knew you could control your powers, the team around you would be safe and we could start teaching you other, more advanced things that could be useful.”
Anne dropped her gaze to the floor. She didn’t feel like she had a choice in all this. And what’s more, Arlene was making her feel like all those nuns and doctors and therapists through the years who’d tried to tame her wild talents. Yet there was something she trusted.
Arlene’s face morphed from friendly to stern. “Tell me, Anne, have you had any . . . episodes . . . since you’ve been on Gaitune?”
Anne’s mind flicked through the myriad of things that happened on a semi-regular basis.
Helping Paige baking she accidentally exploded the sponge cake when she tried to help it cook.
That was messy.
Then helping Brock repaint, but then when he made her laugh too hard, she accidentally exploded a can of paint all over the hangar deck and the nose of the Scamp Princess. And Brock.
That was also messy, and there are still patches of green paint on the yellow hangar deck floor. And the underside of the nose of the Scamp Princess.
Then there was the time in the gym when Sean had told her to move out of the way, and she got so mad that she made him slip while he was holding some heavy weights.
She never admitted it was her though. To this day, he thinks he was clumsy and never even told anyone about it.
Anne gazed at Arlene, then shook her head. “No, not that I can think of,” she said, pretending to think hard.
Arlene had a flash of humor in the outer corner of one eye, which evaporated before Anne could really register it.
“Good,” Arlene said. “That means your powers aren’t as strong as we were hoping. Your training should be pretty straightforward then.”
Anne suspected Arlene was onto her. And now this had just become a game. A game of let’s pretend.
Anne felt the anxiety swill in her chest, and it was too late to come clean.
The conversation went on for a little while longer, and it was, in a roundabout way, agreed that Anne would permit Arlene to show her some exercises so she could work on controlling her powers.
Lessons would begin in a few days when Giles and Arlene could sync their busy schedules.
Meanwhile, Anne would hang tight on Gaitune.
“Ok,” Arlene said eventually, “do you want to have a look at some microscope slides while I talk with the G-man?”
Anne nodded. Arlene led her over to the microscope she’d set up on a bench away from all her important samples. She brought some non-essential slides over for her and showed her quickly how to work the magnification.
Then she padded quietly past Giles, beckoning him with the twitch of her finger to follow her into the prep room. The pair stood in the doorway, keeping an eye on Anne and talking in low voices.
“It seems Oz has had a breakthrough in the talisman DNA data . . .” Arlene began, changing the subject entirely.
“Oh, yes?”
“Finally,” she added, shaking her head with a touch of impatience. “It looks like at least some of these fragments are coordinates. Sets of three intersecting vectors referenced against a background of stars, it looks like.
“Ahhhh,” Giles breathed, “coordinates that’re independent of man-made quadrants!”
Arlene nodded.
Giles’s eyes looked distance for a moment. “That’s seriously old school . . . and very clever.”
Arlene pulled her lips down at the corners. “Yes, and only necessary if you think the folks interpreting your coordinates won’t have your set of maps and reference points.”
Giles shoved one hand in his pocket. “Like someone very far in the future, when socio-political landscapes are different and star regression can be extrapolated.” He bobbed his head, thinking out loud. “How many of these references are there?”
Arlene shrugged. “About seven or eight . . . there about.”
“Hmm. Seven or eight different coordinates . . .” he mused. “I don’t suppose we know where any of these might be referring to yet?”
Arlene shook her head.
“How long do you think it’ll take to decipher them?”
Arlene flapped her arms silently but dramatically. “Not a clue,” she told him, lowering her voice again, trying not to draw Anne’s attention.
“Now that we know what we’re looking at, we can start referencing the points that we’ve interpreted . . . but it’s down to how fast Oz can work now.”
Giles ran a long finger over his chin, then tapped his lips. “Great. Well, this certainly is good news.” He leaned against the door frame, watching Anne struggling to get a slide into the microscope holder.
“Well, even if we had a location, there’s nothing we can do until Sean gets back with the Scamp Princess. No way Molly will let us take The Empress.” His expression was almost forlorn, like this wasn’t just a transportation issue.
Arlene frowned. “What about the Little Empress?”
“Doesn’t have gate capabilities,” he said flatly. “We’d be dead in the water without that.”
“Grr,” she growled quietly, clearly agitated at being cooped up in the lab all this time. Or at being so close to a breakthrough yet so far from it.
Anne dropped something, pulling Arlene’s attention and an annoyed glance.
“Sorry,” she called, fiddling with the knob, desperately trying to screw it back on.
Arlene returned her attention to Giles. “Well, I guess we just need to wait. In the meantime, I’ll see what else we can figure out from this code.”
She started flicking through holoscreens on her wrist holo, checking that she didn’t have anything else to run by Giles while he was here. “Oh, one more thing,” she realized, her eye catching on some notes. “I ran a mass spectrometry analysis of the outer material of the talisman and then got Oz to model what the composition might look like.”
“Yeah?” Giles said, pulling his glasses from his face and cleaning them as if he were now bored. “I’ve done that before. Turned up nothing in the known database.”
Arlene clicked her fingers at him and pointed. “That’s what I got. Though,” she pulled up a different holoscreen to show him, “this is what the molecular structure looks like.”
Anne had wandered over and looked over Giles’s arm to see the screen, idly curious. Giles waved his finger in it and tilted the floating hologram down for her to see.
Arlene got distracted by another note that’d caught her eye and was already on to working on the next thing. Giles handed her the holoscreen back, and she left it projecting onto the bench next to her.
“Well, I guess we’ll head off then,” he called over to her, signaling for Anne to grab her jacket.
“Yeah. Ok.” Arlene replied, absently. “Lemme know about training,” she added, not even looking up.
Giles guided Anne out of the lab. “Will do,” he responded, hoping they’d have something to get Arlene out of crazy scientist mode soon. Otherwise, he’d have to resort to drastic measures. Like taking her out or something.
He shuddered. Socializing wasn’t his strong suit. He’d much rather hang with her on an adventure where they had a shared goal. And bullets flying at them.
Far more . . . intimate.
He smiled to himself as he pulled the door closed behind them, catching a glimpse of her hunched over her holo talking to herself.
Dawn Arrives Snippet 01 of …
Chapter 1
Yokohama, Japan, Yokohamakeon (Park)
The park was peaceful.
Serene even.
Sunlight kissed the lawn and littered the trees casting intricate patterns beneath the leaves.
The black box touched down lightly in the square. It had been several days since it had been here. Not that anyone noticed.
Sabine was the first to step outside, gazing at the wonder of the world. The whirlwind tour of Europe had been mind blowing. At least it would have been for her old self. Her new self took it in her stride, as simply as breathing, or shooting a gun… which were on a par for her now anyway.
She wandered out, looking through her nanocyte-advanced eyes. Her wounds had completely healed, leaving her beyond grateful for her new lease on life, and feeling several decades younger and more powerful than she had ever felt before.
She turned, sensing Akio come in to land in the fighter pod next to the box. She smiled. He got out of the ship, calm and stoic as ever.
They exchanged a glance. An acknowledgment.
Sabine came out from behind Yuko and turned back to look at the sky, inhaling the atmosphere and appreciating every moment of what her senses were taking in.
Michael ambled out, removing his hat to scratch his head and then placing the hat back on his head.
Yuko, Eve, Jaqueline and Mark followed in close succession.
Jaqueline was the first to suggest the specifics of their first mission, as her were body craved food. “So, what about the breakfast place we found just across the park?”
Michael looked at Akio. As long as there is meat. I could murder a steak right now.
Hai.
“Out loud, boys!” Sabine reminded them, tilting her head at the others.
Akio shot across to Michael, She can read our thoughts?
Michael shrugged. “Do they have steak?” he asked Jaqueline.
She grinned. “You can bet your hat they do! And since when do you eat?”
Michael started walking. “I could do with something since nearly getting torn apart in the Etheric. And I have a hankering for something with iron in it.”
Mark slung his arm around Jaqueline’s shoulder and followed. Eve closed up the box and joined the group as they made their way across the lawn, happy and peaceful for the first time in a long time.
Sabine quietly followed, looking all around as if she were seeing with new eyes.
+++
Steaks, and mountains of breakfast food later Michael pushed his plate aside and regarded Yuko quietly. Yuko noticed and stopped eating.
“I suppose we should talk about what’s next,” Michael ventured.
Yuko nodded. “I’m guessing getting back to BA is still the priority?”
Michael dabbed his mouth with his napkin. “It is.”
Yuko looked up, arranging her thoughts. “Well, we have the locations of theboxes. Five we have in our secret location.” He glanced over at Akio who nodded. “And then the other eleven will be wherever the map says they are.”
Michael was considering the options. “We still need engineers and scientists to bring them all together,” he laid out. He gestured to Akio. “We’ve been talking about the skills. Those with the technical skills we need who live here are our best bet. But they lack honor. Many will try to steal what they can if we keep them in Japan.”
Yuko filled in the blanks. “So you’re thinking you want to recruit them here and then take them to an isolated location for them to work?”
Michael bowed his head quietly, then glanced around, reading minds to make sure they weren’t being monitored.
Jaqueline finished her last bite and swallowed. She leaned over to Mark who noticed her, then looked down at his plate. When he looked back up, she was smiling at him. “So, are you stuffed? Are you done with that bacon then?” she asked.
Mark pushed his plate over to his girlfriend with a smile. “Knock yourself out,” he told her.
Jaqueline pushed her knee against his under the table.
Michael pulled out a tablet he had been using in the Pod. Flicking it on, he pointed to the screen on the table. “And this map? Where are the sites of burial?”
Eve responded. “China,” she said quietly. “If you want to stay there I can find a suitable location where your scientist can work.”
Michael nodded, getting up, his eyes still drawn together in thought. “Very good. Let’s make that happen.” He turned to Eve. “Please put the word out for the best tech engineers, inventors and scientists for an experimental machine.”
Eve grinned. “Got it. We’ll have something set up and operational within the day.”
Yuko hesitated. “So. Uh, who will be running the interviews?”
Michael looked at Eve and then Yuko. “Go team?” he suggested, overly hopeful as a small smile started to grow on the very sides of his lips.
Yuko shook her head firmly. “We need to be sensible about this. If we want to reduce the critical path to getting this done as fast as possible might I suggest that you and Akio take the recruiting. Mind scanning and all that could be helpful.”
Akio’s face remained expressionless. “But technology is your thing.”
Excellent response, Michael sent to Akio, his eyes giving nothing away as he continued to look at Yuko.
I am trying, Akio replied. His face giving nothing away to Sabine.
Eve chimed in. “I can run thorough enough background checks from here before we even see them to know they are capable. We only need to meet them for them to get to know us and who they’ll be working for… and for you two to do your mind-reading thing.” She looked from Akio to Michael.
Akio shrugged, allowing a half smile to break as he glanced up to Michael. “Guess we’ve got our next mission.”
Michael sighed, stepping out from the table and scrapping the chair back under the table. “Well, if any of them piss me off I reserve the right to…”
Jaqueline raised her eyebrow. Michael stopped as he regarded the young woman, who had finished Mark’s plate as well. “Go ahead,” she said. “I’m listening. Oh… and did I mention I’m sooooo looking forward to meeting Bethany Anne?”
Michael crumpled under the frustration. “Well… fine.” He looked around, resigned. “Maybe I’ll spend the rest of the day blowing off some steam then…”
Jaqueline chuckled. “Looks like he’s all antsy after that last operation.”
Mark started chuckling, but was quickly silenced by a glare from the Dark Messiah.
“So unfair how you girls get away with…” No one listened to the rest of the sentence. Michael had disappeared.
Akio got up, placing his eating utensils on the table. “I’ll make sure he stays out of trouble,” he said as he stepped away from his chair.
Eve called after him. “If you need a battle range, we can arrange for something in the Tech Palace… You know, some realistic simulations of ancient battle scenes from much of Earth’s history.”
Akio looked impressed. He bowed slightly. “Let me talk to him.” And then he vanished out of the door, the bell ringing as the only hint that he had been there.
The team watched the empty space that remained.
Mark nudged Jaqueline. “Did he just?” he whispered, his eyebrow raised.
Jaqueline nodded.
Mark set his tea cup down. “And all that about not drawing attention to-”
Jaqueline patted his leg under the table. “It’s a do as I say, not as I do kinda thing, honey.” She paused ever so slightly. “You’ll get used to it.”
Sabine sipped her tea, contemplating something that made her eyes defocus and seem kind of dreamy.
“You ok?” Jaqueline asked her.
“Huh, what? Me? Yeah… fine…” she muttered, only half aware the others were all looking at her.
FROM MICHAEL >>> So, 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night. I’m nodding off here as I upload this snippet and realize…DAMMIT! I forgot to say something at the end!
I’m sure I can say something really fucking cool, but I’m too tired to do that.
So, I’m going to admit I’m NOT superhuman, and lay down and take a nap.
Because I’m a full-time author, and I can do really cool shit like that…
I just hope I don’t sleep too long, because I will suffer from nap-rage!
(I wake up and stay SUPER-Cranky for like two hours, it’s horrible.)
Please let me know in the comments on Facebook (if you are on there) what you are doing this coming week.
TAKE CARE you wonderful readers!
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle