u/Engletroll

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

The moment the transport landed on Gungnir, the ship took off and jumped into dead space. The royal family was immediately escorted to a medical bay for examination. All the children and the queen were infected with bug eggs with attached nano devices. Once the eggs were removed, the children and the queen were placed in a leisure room under guard.

The operation had so far been successful, and the nearby human and Federation fleets had been informed about the attack. Two fleets had immediately been redirected to aid the invasion. Grahads had also requested his old fleet to join them, as he could need the firepower they packed.

Garhad, Merchy, and Jack sat in the meeting room opposite the king and his oldest son.  The room was dimmed slightly to be more comfortable for the Gyrrans. The King watched them as the introductions were done and then introduced himself as King Sorgan the Second and Prince Nerem.

“I think you understand the seriousness of the situation and the consequences of what has transpired today.” Grahad started.

“I know that my kingdom is going to be destroyed, either by your forces or the Caren Domain. They said any treachery would be the result of worlds being destroyed.” The king replied. “So I sit here, knowing this is the last days of the Gyrran kingdom. As you say, it is the consequences for siding with them that we will fall.”

“No, if you distance yourself from them and us. Then we will tell you how to deal with the bugs. It will give you a fighting chance. And we will deal with the Caren’s battleships.” Grahad replied.

“Are you serious?” The prince said, and the king put his hand on his son to calm and quiet him.

“Father? They think that will be enough? They have infiltrated the whole court and nobility. It’s not just the bugs we have to deal with. It’s the traitorous fanatics who joined forces with the snakes.”

The king tapped his son's hand, and the prince reacted as if he had been slapped over the face and bowed his head.

“My apologies for my outburst. It was beneath my status." He said with a bowed head.

Grahad just smiled, then looked at Jack. “He is better trained than you.”

“Well, I’m a mere soldier, not a noble,” he said, then turned to the king. “Look, let's drop all the etiquette and speak freely. This here.” Jack said, gesturing at the room and them. “This is just us giving you an offer. And if you accept, the diplomats will come, while my men and I will go after the Caren and make so much trouble they will forget about you.”

“And you can guarantee that?” The king said, looking directly at Jack; it felt like he saw Jack as the man holding the power in the room.

“If you give us all the intel you have on the Domain and its location, then yes. We can harass their station, attack all the Caren stations in your colonies, and cryobomb their hives. We can give you medicine tailored for Gyrron physiology that will kill an infection of bug eggs. The only problem now is time. The longer you hesitate, the more time the Domain has to find out what actually happened here and react.”

“How do you know they don’t know already?” the king replied.

“The first thing we did was to knock out the dreadnoughts and attack fleeing ships. One of our team took down the FTL com system as well. No signals have left the planet on an FTL system. You have at most a few more hours before they are aware of the situation here.” Merchy replied. The king looked at the three, then his son and back at them. Grahad put a small glass canister on the table at that moment.

“This dead egg was in your youngest child. We have removed all of the eggs. That’s what we are offering. A way out. It will be costly, but I will be honest with you. My high command’s first solution for your attack on Orne was to send a black hole bomb, the humans wanted to try this.” He said.

The king looked at the canister, leaned over, and picked it up. He sighed and let go of his son's hand.

“So my choice is between death by federation, death by the Dominion, or follow the human who just invaded my home and kidnapped me?”

“Yes,” Merchy said. Jack wanted to speak but felt it was better to shut up.

“I say we give the human a chance, Father.  Yes! he did invade our home, but he killed the snake in our house and saved us from the warbugs. And he guaranteed our safety.” The Prince said. Jack realized the prince probably hated the Caren just as much as he did.

“I don’t think he has the authority to make such guarantees.” The king replied, and Grahad smiled.

“Oh, I respect his wishes in this matter. If you want to be returned to the planet, we will do so. Although we cannot guarantee your safety on the planet side or if the Caren finds you.”

The king looked at him and chuckled. “I can see you’re well-versed in Nalos royal military diplomacy.”

“Yes, I am, so again, Human, Nalos, or gods help you, the federation diplomacy on our side, and if you feel you do not want to negotiate, then you have to take your chances with the Caren.” Grahad replied, then added, “Alone.”

“I have a feeling they will not believe that you just talked to us and didn’t sell them out,” Merchy added. “Just a friendly warning.”

The king looked at the small glass canister. “You said this was in my youngest.”

“Yes. But he is safe now. The removal was painless and simple.” Grahad said. Then the king looked at Jack.

“I have one demand if I’m going to agree to this.”

“A demand? Let me hear, and we will tell you if we can fulfill it.” Grahad replied.

“No, not from you. From him.” The King said, as he pointed at Jack. Grahad looked at Jack and back at the king.

“And what is that request?” Jack replied, a little confused; he knew he was here as a favor.

“There is a Caren officer I want dead and a station destroyed. His name is Sharu Husha. The leader of the Caren domains control committee of the Gyrran kingdom.”

“Was that the Intelligence officer who was by your side most of the days?” Jack asked.

“No, that was his second in command. Sharu is on Pladused; they have a military installation there. That’s the station I want destroyed. It’s a scar to the kingdom. Kill him, destroy that base, and we will join. You may even use a blackhole bomb to remove the planet.”

“Pladused has a civilian population,” Jack said as he realized the others seemed to have no problem with the destruction of the planet.

“Yes, a sacrifice we are willing to make. But if you think you can save the planet, then do so.” The king replied.

Jack sighed and thought for a second. “Okay, Pladused is one day away. If you give me all intel, I might be able to do something. Though would it not be better to capture him and then blow up the base?”

“I want him dead!” the king said, his voice slightly raised. “It was him who decided to implant these eggs in my family for control.”

“Then let us capture him, and when we are done, give him to you to do as you please,” Grahad suggested.

“I can live with that.” The king said.

“This is breaking so many rules,” Jack muttered to himself, and Merchy grinned at him.

“We are not in Geneva now, my friend. We are at war.” She said as she nudged him.

Jack just looked at her, then back at the king. “Well, such a base would be a high-priority target, as would this man.” Ignoring Merchy for a moment.

“Will you give me your word you will hunt him down?” The King asked him directly.

“Yes, I give you my word I will hunt him down until I capture, kill, or have confirmation he is dead,” Jack replied.

“Good, then it's decided. Send in your diplomats, and we can get this finalized.”  The king replied.

Three hours later, Jack and his crew sat in his office going over all the intel they had received.

“It could be a trap,” Michael said.

“Yeah, but if it's true, then it's going to be a gold mine,” Jack said as he nursed his cup of coffee. “Besides, they were willing to let us blow up the whole planet just to get that man.”

“The whole planet? I thought the Federation was less bloodthirsty than us.” Michael said.

“Not during war; they have a saying. ‘In war, the winner dictates the rules.’” Jack answered absentmindedly as he sipped his cup again as he looked over the reports.

Yun was looking over new schematics of the Caren ships they had managed to get, as well as reports from the different battle fronts from both sides, courtesy of the Gyrran. Using the ship's AI to check for several different theories she had and comparing the reports, checking for inconsistencies. Finding nothing. For now, the intel from the Gyrran seemed to be true.  

“I’m so sure we are missing something,”  Yun said as she sipped her coffee. Michael looked over at her search and tilted his head.

“They don’t have a self-destruct?” He said and the room went quiet, and they looked at him.

“What?” Yun said, then she checked it and cursed loudly.

“You're right. The Caren don’t have a self-destruct function on their ships. Their last defense is to release the bugs.”

“We can gas the bugs; hell, airlock them too,” Paulo added.

“That is good news. It means capturing Caren ship became less dangerous.” Jack said as he sipped his coffee.

“Not so fast. I’m looking at a protocol here.” Yun said as she read. “In case of loss of ship control due to pirates, loose bugs, and/or treason the ship should be aimed at the nearest star and light speed activated.”

“No self-destruct function needed when you have stars,” Aziz replied.

“It's easier to disrupt a lightspeed engine than find and disable a few well-placed nukes,”  Jack replied.

“It’s something we can work with,” Yun said. "Okay, that means we need a team for the engine room. One for bugs and one for the officers. How big is this thing?”

“The planet is standard size, tropical poles and desert equators. The installation is a city. About 480 km2, built in five levels from ground down.”  A hologram appeared, and they looked at it.

“How many hives and the bastard?” Michael asked.

“The intel suggests five different types of Hives and a large cloning factory.  The bastard location is unknown, but he is the head of the facility.”

“So we confirm his presence and drop a tungsten missile from orbit?”  Aziz suggested.

“I wish, too much intel there to let it all blow up.” Jack said as he scratched his head, trying to think of a solution to crack this nut, then finished his cup.

“It's got to be a trap,” Michael repeated, and Jack sighed.

“Yeah, my thought too. So we spring it.” Jack said as he stood up, then walked over and got himself a refill.

“Oh. You want to do a Trojan?” Michael asked.

“No, A Fushan trick. They won’t expect it.”

“The Galadesin? Will that work?” Michael said, and Jack nodded

“Yes. After all, if the new intel is correct, then they won't be able to resist.”

“You won't get the Admiral to accept,” Michael said.

“Leave that to me, you guys prep for impregnating that one.” He pointed at the hologram. “And be ready for it being a trap.” Then he walked towards the door.

“And where are you going?”  Aziz asked.

“I’m going to the Admiral to ask him to risk his ship and the rest of his fleet.”

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

“There’s the traitor! You left a perfectly good team to go bug hunting, then hooked up with some alien princess, and stole half of our men to join some Nalos war campaign!” Jack turned toward the voice and grinned.

“And now I'm stealing the rest of them. You son of a bicth!”  

The two men embraced. “Fuck! I don’t believe I would ever see your sorry ass again.” Then First Lieutenant Michael Hudson turned to the men and woman behind him.

“This guy left the corp and found the only job more fucked up than ours. Even the mercs stay away from bug hunting.”

“Hey, it’s a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Enough of the chit-chat. Do you have it?”

“Do I have it he says. Am I not a man of his word?” He said while snapping his fingers as one of his men came in with a small container on a hover glider.

“Fuck, I asked for a few. How much of it is it?” Jack asked as he looked at the crate. The men around looked at the two, slightly confused but also amused.

“Open it up and see for yourself,” Michael said, and Jack opened it and found crayons. He stared at it, grabbed a few, and tossed them at Michael.

“I’m not a marine!” As he said that, Jack saw the bottle beneath it, grabbed a bottle of the dark liquid, twisted it open, and swallowed the contents in one go, then let out an impressively long burp.

“Oh, thank the lord. That was all I needed. How much?”

“In that box, five hundred.  I got a hundred more if you can store them ‘em.”

“And it's real sugar? Not that crap... oh my good. You're hereby invited to the wedding.”

“Will they let me in?”

“I’m sure they will make an exception for you.”

They laughed, then Jack tossed him a bottle. “Grab ‘em while they are cold.” As he pulled Michael aside.

“And what about the other thing?”

“A bit harder, but yes. How’s your team?”

“Blooded and ready. Yours?” he replied.

“Same; we got stuck in the Wolf system. I heard you got stuck in Orne. That place was a meatgrinder. They should have just nuked it.” 

“Yeah, it was a shit-show, but when is it not? The brass wanted it retaken and functional.   Anyway, what did they tell you?” He asked, and Michael shrugged. 

“That you would give me the mission.  Your rep has been growing; they all think they will get some Nalos tail. They were so disappointed when we docked here and not one Nalos in sight.”

Jack laughed. “If we survive this, then they will get enough tail. What about you? Still got that Fushan side chick?”

“Sarah? She got transferred, so I haven’t seen her in a while. I went back to Earth and found myself a nice girl from Accra. We got married and divorced within two years, and now I got a baby boy. And you?  Are the rumors true?” he said as he showed him a hologram of a beautiful lady with a baby boy in her arms.

Jack looked at the image and then took out his own. “Yeah, I'm secretly engaged to Zula Gi Pentdragon, niece of the Nalos king. It’s the worst kept secret in the Nalos kingdom, and she is pregnant with our first child.” 

“Ohh, shotgun wedding. “ Michael said as they walked towards Jack's office on the Gungnir. Michael looked at the Nalos officers walking around, and Jack shook his head.

“Eyes to the front, soldier”

“You know the holograms don’t give them credit. Damn, how is a man to concentrate? The sexy part is well deserved; hell, I don’t swing that way, but I might even try one of the men.”

 “Shut up, you pervert,” Jack said with a smile as they entered the office and sat down.

After an hour, Michael looked at him. “I know you are crazy, but this?” Michael said as he gestured at the plans.

“Forget about how crazy; can your men do that? Mine can.”

“Yeah, we can do it. And I get why you wanted those things now. It makes sense. The problem is not the mission; it's the timing.”

“I’m aware of it.  I don’t like it either, but the end result is the main goal.”

“Well, it's one hell of an accomplishment to have on the record. You could probably handpick your next assignment.”

“Then you're onboard?” Jack asked, and Michael nodded.

“Yeah, I guess some cushy job after the war will be nice.”

“Good, then let's talk to the admiral and prep the guys. I want to launch within the week.”

One week later, Jack and Michael watched as Gungnir left.

“Ready?”

“Yeah, as ready as we can get.” Then they walked to the training hall and the men. They were divided into teams, and all had their special tasks. Jack stood in front of them.

 “Listen up, I’m not a speech guy, as you all know. And the admiral just left, so I’ll keep it short. You know your mission! Stay safe, don’t take unnecessary risks, and come back safe. Anything else?” he turned to Michael.

Michael grinned and took a step forward. “There is a tradition after a war that your commanding officer will hold a party. Now I know a little secret. Our commanding officer’s mother-in-law has a beach pub on Nalos Prime. So, you know where we will celebrate the victory of this world!”

“You horny bastard,” Jack whispered as the men, mostly humans, looked at each other with grins.

One week later, the first five teams moved in undercover as human smugglers, courtesy of Hando Lee, who dropped them off during low-orbit entry, spreading them around the planet. All drops occurred during daylight, which made the men nervous but ultimately proved beneficial. 

Jack waited in deadspace with the remaining teams aboard a Hauler. A few days later, the confirmations came in. The Gyrran was too arrogant to expect an assault on the planet, and the Caren was too focused to keep the Gyrran in check. The irony was that they arranged tours of the bug hives for the Gyrran to view them, and they left criminal Gyrrans alone among the bugs as food. They easily located the five biggest hives. They found several hidden hives near all the big cities. 

The next week, the next team was sent; Jack joined them as they infiltrated, and after two weeks, they finally were in position. Jack cursed his luck as he lay in the vent going into the throne room.  Yun Lee had done a marvelous job by hacking the comms, allowing them a secure line.

“Check in!” Jack whispered, and the check popped up on his HUD.  He was about to get some rest when another message popped up. He smirked and whispered into the line, “ETA 2 hours.”

Jack looked down at the throne room. The king held his regular audience, with two Caren bodyguards at his side, but his target, the Caren intelligence officer, was nowhere to be seen. He would have to hunt him down once the mission was a go. He checked the palace blueprint Yun had uploaded to his HUD as he got ready. Yun and Banner were in position in the palace as well. It was an insane plan, but it might work. Yun and Banner would take over the palace coms, fake incoming warships, and stage a full-scale invasion. They would also reprogram the dreadnought's signals to show the incoming ships as enemy craft, making them appear to be defending ships. If the switch-a-roo was successful, the Gyrran would be hunting ghost ships and targeting Caren ships.  She had spent the time hacking and following the cargo of all ships going to and from the dreadnoughts.   The HUD lit up with ETA 20 min., and a countdown started.

At the ETA of ten minutes, two Gyrran transport ships rose from their hidden position and slowly made their way toward the atmosphere, following a preplanned route near the Caren dreadnoughts.  Yun was remotely flying them, sending the correct clearance for the flight route and trying to fly casually while approaching the three dreadnoughts. One of the transports changed course to a hangar bay of the dreadnought that they had targeted as the capital ship.  The ship entered the hangar as five seconds were left of the countdown.  The explosion rocked the ship, as the effect of the EMP bomb going off knocked out the ship and blew it apart. At the same time, the second EMP bomb exploded between the two other dreadnaughts.

Yun and Banner burst out from the vents and dropped the Gyrran gas grenades as they blasted the guards. Jack blew the vent lid, then he accessed the wrist pad for quick rappelling and dropped down into the throne room. The antigrav quickly activated, and he fell slowly as he fired at the Careen bodyguards and as his suit shot out flash-flares, blinding the Gyrran nobles and guards in the room. The room burst into panic as Jack called the HUD for a location of his target.  As he spoke, three Nalos flight flew over the palace and dropped cryo bombs at the capital Hive. Jack looked at the king.

“Stay!”  Then he shot him with a stun round with a nano tag as he jumped towards the exit, hunting down his target. Five guards ran after him, and he dropped a gas canister in the hallway as he made his way down towards the cellar.

 The bastard kept running, and it was clear he had a destination in mind.  On the HUD, the mission objective was checked out; the dreadnought had been knocked out not only by the bombs but also by the immense bombardment from the Gyrran defense system, which now saw them as enemy targets.

His target suddenly descended several hundred meters, and when he reached the destination, he found a large door. He checked it for explosives, and when he found nothing, he opened it. It was a seventy-meter-long drop six meters across, with spiral stairs along the wall and an elevator near the door. He accessed the wrist pad again and jumped down. The antigrav slowed his descent as he scanned for the target. When he landed, he found the lift controls had been destroyed.  And there was only one large, almost cave-like entrance. He moved after him as he saw Banner had moved in and secured the king; now the only remaining objective was the Caren intelligence officer. The cave moved in an S-shape, and when he came to the end, a mere hundred meters in, he found the bastard in front of a big door in the basement, and he cursed.

The Caren officer looked at him and pressed a button. The door exploded and collapsed, revealing a tunnel filled with claws, maws, and legs.

The Caren grinned at Jack. “You lo..” Jack didn’t let him finish the sentence as he dropped a cryo grenade and turned to run.

“BUGS!  We missed a hive under the palace!”  Hye made it to the stairs, and he accessed the wrist pad for quick ascent, then jumped as the bugs had overcome the cryo grenade. Most of the bugs were Zenograf, those black giant grasshopper-like bugs, which swarmed after him while he jumped twenty meters per jump, trying to reach the top and close the door before those monsters could spread too much.

“What did you say?” Yun replied as Jack reached the door and closed it behind him.  As he did, seven Gyrran guards spotted him and opened fire.

 Jack jumped away towards a window and burst through it as the guards ran over to fire at him.  He landed on a roof and turned just to see the Gyrran guards being mauled by the swarm of bugs.

“I said they had a spare fucking swarm in the basement, and he managed to release it.”

“Fuck!” Yun replied.

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends, through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

Zula just stared at the ship as the crew panicked. How had the ship snuck up on them while they were all alert and watching for any approaching ships? Not only that, the ship and its crew had a reputation for being the toughest in the whole fleet. The meanest and most dangerous the Federation could offer. If they had been sent to punish Zula, what did that mean for the rest of them? And what did they mean for the rest of them? She got a few looks, some of piety, others of worry. ow

“Shit, they are going to kill us. “One of the crew members said. She turned and noticed it was Kalas, one of the weapons operators.

“No, they are not. They are here to upgrade the ship’s security. Relax.” The captain said as she looked at Zula, who just smiled, biting her tongue. She used all her willpower not to run for the hangar bay. She knew who was on that ship. Toberus and Magup quickly followed her.

“Perhaps we should meet them in the hangar.” She said, and then she turned for the lift. Junas sent a reply back, welcoming them to come on board, then followed Zula, who was already on the lift. 

Zula checked herself in the reflection of the wall panel. “How do I look?” she asked, and Junas looked at her, shocked.

“Eh, good?  Do you know who is coming? The whole crew is top secret. I don’t even know who the captain is. There are rumors.”

“It's a mixed crew. You will get to meet humans. I hope you're prepared.” She replied with a smile. She didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

“Humans? Oh shit, is that why you ... “Junas could not help but look into the reflection, and Zula laughed as the door opened and she walked quickly towards the hangar.

“Easy now, they haven’t landed yet,” Toberus said, and Magup laughed.

“How do you know he is among them?”

The captain looked between them as Zula grinned.

“He better be, or I will kill him.”

“Who?” The captain asked, but she got no reply as they hurried to the hangar.

Two shuttles glided silently into the hangar and landed effortlessly. They were not Nalos-designed but human-made, built to punch through blockades. Ugly to look at but practical. The hatch opened, and two guards in full special forces suits stepped out, with Admiral Grahad between them.

Captain Junas immediately saluted. “Admiral Grahad, what an honor. I was not expecting such distinguished guests.”

“Thank you. We were called specially for this mission by the king. We are lucky to be between missions right now. But... “ he stopped and looked at Zula, who was barely containing herself. “Hello, niece. Blood of mine. Are you looking for somebody?”

 Behind them, several others emerged, most in the same suits as the guards, along with Nalos and others carrying equipment. She would guess around thirty, but she could not see him. In fact, there were no humans among the crew Grahad was bringing with him.

“Yes, where are you hiding him? Are you going to punish me like that? Keep him that close and away from me?”

Grahad laughed. “No, I don’t have a death wish, but bringing humans onto a Nalos ship that hasn’t been inoculated is a catastrophe. We have a job to do.”

“So I will go to him?” She took a step forward, and one of the guards stepped in front of her.

“your not authorized.” The metallic voice said, and she stared up at the metallic visor.

“You better move, or I will personally toss you out the airlock!”  she hissed back, and the man in front of her chuckled.

“I would like to see you try.”

Grahad looked at them, then to Zula. “He will escort you to your quarters and keep you there until we have finished prepping the ship for human contact. It’s military protocol.

“Are you serious? How long will that take?”

“A few hours. I will allow you to call him directly from your room. Now off you go.” Then he turned his attention back to the captain.

“I’m sorry about this; my niece can be a little demanding, as you probably noticed. Her fiancé is just as bad. Gods help us all when the child is born.”

The Metallic guard looked at her. “You heard the man. Off you go.”

Zula stared at the group, then cursed as she turned and walked off. The metallic man and her two friends were about to join when Grahad ordered them to stay and help with the process. Zula looked at Grahad. She was getting a little worried now. She looked at the metallic guard she was assigned to. He had stopped too.

“Don’t worry, you will be safe,” the voice said. She was already starting to hate the guard, then walked off. Her uncle outranked her in both military and noble ranks. The guard said nothing as she led them to her private quarters. When they arrived, he insisted on checking the quarters for bugs and other harmful devices. She stood in the doorway as he entered and scanned the room, then he turned and stepped out of the suite.

“YOU! You bastard!” she yelled as she lunged into Jack's arms and kissed him deeply as the door closed behind them.

They had gotten the all-clear signal for human contact a few hours later, not that they cared. Just having the other nearby was enough for them. It was near dinner time when they received a request to join the officers for dinner. It took them a while to clean up and get dressed before they walked out. Jack left the suite in his cabin and walked in his officer's uniform. The staff's shock when they saw who emerged from her cabin was amusing for both of them.

When they entered the officers' lounge, they were met with laughter and a good mood. The officers of the Almad seemed more relaxed now that the visit seemed more like a reward to Zula for the immense increase in recruits than a punishment. The few officers from Gungnir were there as well, two humans and two Shodalon, as well as three Nalos officers.

“Ahh, the lovely couple. How was the reunion?” Grahad said, and before they could reply, one of the humans, a female, replied for them

“Steamy is my guess.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter. Lee.” Jack said as he helped Zula to sit, and Zula just smiled mischievously.

“it was steamy.” She replied and looked at the table, then grabbed her glass of Huju juice and finished it in one go.

“I needed that.”

“I can guess,” Grahad said and then looked back at the Captain.

“So now that we are all here, I can reveal a little more. As you noticed. Your second com officers are no longer present. It’s because Lanis Gi Radmus was a clone, and a sleeping agent.”

“A what?” The officers of Almad looked at him, surprised.

“How do you know this?”  She asked, shifting in her seat. “And how many more have you discovered?”

 “We have discovered five more. As to how, I’m sorry but I cannot reveal the method.  I can say it’s a foolproof method of revealing clones.” He replied, and one of the officers looked suddenly pale.

“But.. My humble apologies, your grace. I have a nephew in the Navy who had a body transplant due to injuries. They used a clone body to replace his broken one.”

The admiral looked at him. “Yes, we are aware of these incidents, and they are taken into account. As I said, it’s a foolproof method, as well as simplistic in its way. Anyway, they are not aware that they are spies until they receive a signal. At that point, they would sabotage the ship to leave you stranded and allow Lady Zula to be kidnapped. This whole propaganda trip was just a ruse to get her away from safe protection and put her in a position to be taken.”

The table went quiet as they listened, and when he finished, Zula looked at her uncle.

“So what now? We return to Prime?”

“No, the idea is actually great. As you've proven at Imuzon, the right words do inspire and enhance recruitment, but you will no longer be under the propaganda department but the direct control of Lord Kirian. You will later be returned to the Propaganda department when we have cleaned it.”

Then he turned to the captain. “You will get your new commands soon, and we are to stay here until you receive them.”

“So hanging around dead space and hope nobody spots us?”

“The chances of us being spotted are less than a million to one.” Commander Merchy replied. “Dead space is an excellent place to hide. You need to get over that fear of dead space, there are no demons roaming there.”

“But we have nothing to hide behind if we are spotted.” The captain replied, and the Admiral chuckled. It was old Nalos military indoctrination against new modern warfare knowledge.

“Yes, but neither does whoever sneaks up on you,”  Jack commented.

“I would disagree. Your ship snuck up on us undetected.” Rain, Alamd’s first officer, replied.

“Yes, but with our stealth capability, it does not matter if you’re in dead space or hiding in a system,”  Grahad replied. “Look, it's preference, and there are benefits and disadvantages for both.  Your system is being upgraded to the highest level we can offer. Besides that. Let's just enjoy our company, and we can run a few simulations to prep your crew better.”

The rest of the dinner they spent with casual talk, as they tried to get over the shock of having spies onboard. The captain ordered the whole ship checked for potential sabotage with the aid of engineers from Gungnir.

Zula spent the next few days next to Jack, not leaving him out of sight. She knew he would have to leave after and could not tell her where he was going.  She also introduced him to her staff and the ship's crew. When they entered the mess hall together, the crew first went dead silent, then cheers erupted at the sight of the couple.  Then they bombarded him with the same crude and inappropriate question she had been asked. Jack took it better than she expected.

Later they went to Doctor Hynas for her checkup.

“So now that you're both here, I can ask.” Hynas suddenly asked after Zula had lain down on the table and was being scanned.

“Ask what?” Jack said, and Zula smiled.

“The father has to be present for her to reveal the sex.” She said as she held his hand. “If you want to know, then I’m okay with it,” she said, and he looked up at the scan and smiled.

“You don’t know?” He said as he looked back at her.

“No, I was hoping you would be able to be here for the reveal.” She replied. Hynas looked between them and smiled.

“its all up to you two.”

“Do you want to know?” Jack asked, “because I already know.”

“Yes, but how?” Zula said, surprised. “Is this some human ability?”

“No. I just looked at the scan. “It’s a girl, right?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Hynas asked, and Zula looked surprised at Jack.

“ehh… no penis.”  He replied a little embarrassed, and Doctor Hynas looked at the screen and chuckled.

“Oh, Nalos males don’t have that grown out this early. But apparently you, humans, do.” She explained, and Jack nodded.

“Yes. I did not know about that Nalos baby part.” He said and looked at Zula.

“We are going to have a daughter!” She said and touched her tummy; the baby kicked, and she giggled.

“Yes, Daddy is here, little girl.” Then she took Jack's hand and placed it on her tummy. She saw his eyes soften, and he smiled as he felt the baby kick.

“Hey, baby girl. Daddy is here. You got a strong kick. You're going to be a strong girl.”

“And we will give you many brothers and sisters,” Zula added.

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends, through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

They have been told to stay at Imuzon for a few more days, and they have spent those days visiting the various recruitment centers across the systems. The boost in recruitment has not stopped, and her interviews and speeches have now been leaked to the nearby systems, which have also seen a boost in recruitment.

She knew someone would feel their feet had been stepped on and that there would be backlash; she expected the tongue-lashing to come from Lord Kirian or Lord Saran, but nothing happened. She did, however, get her package, and finally she could see Jack again. He spoke about how much he missed her, about casual crew matters such as poker, and about a Nalos crewmember who missed the inoculation against human pheromones and acted like a horny teenager before they found out. There were almost daily small messages to her and the baby, and she sat in her office, crying her heart out, listening to his voice. She missed him more than she could imagine. His voice was imprinted in her as something safe and calming. When she went to bed, she could not help but cry, hugging her pillow. Jack was not there, and hearing his voice was bittersweet. The baby kicked when she was at her worst, and she touched her tummy, smiling.

“Don’t worry, baby; Mommy is just missing Daddy.”

The next day, she expected them to move on, and after the morning routines, when everybody could sense her sorrow and longing for Jack, she was called to the captain's office.

“Come in and take a seat. You look like shit. Everybody is worried about you. Is he?”

Zula sat down and shook her head. “No, I just miss the fool. It hit me harder than I thought to hear his voice again. I mean, new messages and seeing his face. He tried to grow a beard. It looked horrible. I got to see my uncle as well,” she said, her eyes a little distant.

“Which one?”

“Oh, the admiral. Anyway, how long are we going to stay here?”

“That’s the good news; we are ordered to head to Husda.”

“Husda? I thought that was further down the line,” Zula replied. Husda was the fourth oldest colony, and the system had twenty billion inhabitants, the second most important colony of the kingdom.

“Yes, apparently, they think your practice run is already over, and we are to stay there for a month. We are going to visit some of the training facilities and officer academies. It will be boring but necessary.” The captain sipped her cup of sorna before continuing. “Then there is the bad news. We have been told to make a two-day stop in dead space, and it's close to the Tholu route. But it comes from high command. I was told it’s an officer who will reprimand you in person. My guess is Lord Ulius Gi Radmus. He is in charge of the Tholu blockade. So, you have that to look forward to.”

“How bad can it be?” Zula asked, getting nervous, high nobility rarely got commanded around like this.

“Bad. Having us stop in dead space means they don’t want others to know about the punishment, so whoever it is will have almost free rein to punish you as they see fit. Your dad had one, and it was Koran Gi Vidania, the grand marshal, who yelled at him for four hours over the loss of the Velda system. Yeah, your father was involved in that battle, too. He got the civilians out, then retreated. The navy wanted the planet held. It was a pointless campaign, and he almost lost his rank. The worst was that everybody knew it, yet somebody had to be blamed.”

“But nobody knows about it,” Zula said, and the captain shook her head,

“Everybody on the ship knows about it; it spreads as a whisper about an incompetent officer who is too noble to be punished in public, but every soldier has heard about it. The problem was that we all agreed with your dad. It was a lost cause, and he was yelled at for not sacrificing us all to hold an already overrun planet. We all knew, and we all stayed silent about it. As you know, there is no love for Koran among the crew, and he has no love for them.”

“Yes, I remember he was often the butt end of a joke in the messhall when I served.”

“Well, he is a strategic genius, but he would sacrifice an entire fleet to retake the Velda system, as he had been ordered to do, the losses being damned. Your dad knew when it was a lost cause, and he proved himself right when the Velda system was retaken later in the mop. After all, he had ensured the Caren had no ship to leave the planet, so they were stuck there.”

“I remember the Grand Marshal to credit for that plan. Ooh, I get it. Yeah, I expected this would happen. Who will get the glory for the boost in numbers, do you think?” she asked.

“Lord Saran, most likely, after all, he is your commander and leader of the propaganda department.”

“Yeah, I’m surprised I haven’t heard from him.”

“He is probably waiting for after your punishment. Well, now you know. I wish you good luck and a loyal crew.” She said and then finished her cup. “I will order the departure now; you should spend the days getting ready and relaxing.”

She took a deep breath and stood up. “As you suggest, Captain. I will retire and think about how to prepare for the coming days.”

The next two weeks were worse than she could imagine. She read up on noble punishments in the ship's library. Some of the punishments were inventive and cruel in ways she could not imagine. The idea that nobility had more rights also meant they received much harsher punishments, all hidden from the public, but always carried out in ways the lowest of society could watch and whisper about. But for bastards who had been acknowledged, it was worse. They suffered fates she would not dream of inflicting on her worst enemies. She wanted to reach out and find out just how badly she had messed up.

But the ship was on lockdown. They had no information about what was happening across the galaxy, and she couldn't call anyone, which made the waiting so much worse. Her mind became her own worst enemy. She worried they might have seen her call to the king, deemed her unworthy of a Pentdragon, and that they would strip her of her noble title, send her home in disgrace, and take her baby from her due to the blood right. She knew it was her mind driving her mad, and she tried to calm down. She ended up spending more and more time with the Doctor. For the last three days, she was so nervous that the Doctor gave her something to sleep.  

When they arrived in Dead Space, she stood on the bridge, ready and strangely calm. It would soon be over. The captain gave orders to scan the system and have a route out at any sign of trouble. She was not happy about being out in Dead Space all by herself, and the ship was in full alert.

Zula just waited, her hand protecting her tummy. There was still radio silence as they didn’t want to attract the wrong crowd.

“We wait for one hour, then we leave. I'm not staying out here alone.” Captain Junos said, and  Zula nodded, then took a deep breath.

“One hour, I can do this.” She told herself, then a signal was sent to the captain's private comms. She looked at it and then at Zula.

“You are to go to your office and await a secure incoming com. We are to hold the position until you return to the bridge.”  She looked at the message and back at Zula. “By order of the Grand Marshal.”

“shit... fuck... okay...” Zula said, then left the bridge as they all looked at her in silence. It would be her own staff who would be the witnesses. Not the officers or crew. She made her way down to her staff's office, went into her office, and sat down. A com link was blinking on her screen, and she steeled herself before pressing the link; the room automatically locked, the glasses darkened, and privacy mode was activated. Nobody would hear this conversation.

The Marshal and Lord Kirian appeared as holograms sitting on the opposite side of her desk.

“There you are. Spy finder. The gods must have blessed you as a child,” the Marshal said, and Zula didn’t know what or how to respond.

“Excuse me, Lord Grand Marshal. I was under the impression I was to be punished.” She finally said, and the two looked at each other, then at her as they started to laugh.

“Punished? Oh, for the king's call. No... well, consider this your punishment then. The waiting must have been horrible,” Lord Kiran said, and she just stared at him.

“What are you saying?” She felt rage building in her now; how dare they mentally torture her like this?

“You see, we had to remove you from your route; there was an assassination plot discovered as well as a spy within our higher ranks due to your breach of protocol.” The grand marshal said, and Zula was getting confused now.

“How? Who?” Were the only words she managed to get out.

“How. Well, you calling out the lack of proper recruitment ads and the clear effectiveness of your simple speech made us take a closer look at the propaganda agency, fearing Lord Saran was just incompetent. It turned out you were not the only person who had called this out within the department; several psychologists and a media expert had been asking the same question. Those who got too loud died, and the others were given jobs far from the public.”

“Lord Saran? He was a spy?”

“He was a clone, the original Lord has been dead for three years. He had an accident back then and was hospitalized. We think he was replaced then. Which is why we are sending a team to verify your crew. You will go up to the captain and tell her to await reinforcement.”

“How do I know this is not a trick?” She replied, and the Grand Marshal smiled.

“If this is a trick, if the Caren Domain can send on the royal secure line, then the war is already lost.” He said, and she nodded.

“Who are you sending?”

“Somebody we trust. Have your bodyguard and Magup with you at all times. We can rule them out, as they have been checked. We are fairly safe on the captain and the doctor; everybody else can be a risk. Hopefully this will just be an annoying inspection.” The Grand Marshal said, and she nodded.

“Well, how long until this reinforcement arrives?” She asked, and the Grand Marshal smiled.

“Very soon.”

“I better go up and inform the captain then.”

“Good luck and stay safe.”

When she left the room, she felt an unsettling dread. Were there spies and assassins on the ship? Could she trust anybody?  She saw Toberus, and with a nod he joined her up to the bridge.

“Are we leaving?” The captain immediately asked, and she shook her head,

“No, we are getting an escort and reinforcement apparently.  If we leave, I will be in worse trouble.” She replied, and Captain Junas sighed.

“Scan for incoming ship. Is there anything out there?”

“Nothing. Nothing but dead space.” The scanner reported as they looked out the bridge into the vast emptiness. Then something caught the corner of their eye. It looked like a small dreadnought with black and silver plating, like one of the ancient humans' stealth ships, except for the heavy cannons mounted along the front and sides of the ship. Captain Junas was quite nervous as the ship seemed locked into a synchronized pattern with her own ship. Over the coms, a voice spoke out.

“This is SS Gungnir, sending you authorization code now. We have come to enchant your security. We are sending over a shuttle.”

Juan looked at the screen and back at the ship, then to Zula and back to her screen. “Gods help us all. They send the Wraiths.”

- Cast –

Zula Gi Pentdagon -  Nalos nobility, and while you got lucky last time, it also started an

Toberus Gi Iven – Zula’s bodyguard, knight and pilot

Lord Kirian Gi Radmus – old Male Nalos, sly and experienced. Diplomate

Lord Saran, the head of the propaganda department

Magup Gi Wilf – Zukal’s aide, female Nalos

Captain  Junos Gi Hardon, middle-aged female captain of Almad, Nalos frigate

Doctor Hynas Gi Salid – the Nalos doctor in charge of Zula

Ship

Gungnir -

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends, through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

Zula woke up and stretched as she got out of bed. She could feel the little one moving and waking up as well. She smiled as she put her hand on her belly. The little one was always active in the morning. She got up and walked to the fridge, one of the perks of her cabin, pulled out the Huju juice, and took a big sip.

“See, Mommy is feeding you.” Then she walked over to the office desk and turned on the monitor. “Let's see if Daddy has sent us any messages.”

It had been two months since the last one, but she knew he was alive. She looked at the screen and felt disappointment hit her. No messages from Jack.

“Daddy is still busy, it seems,” the baby kicked in disappointment; she was sure of it. The news reels showed the war continuing; the humans had invaded the wolf system to retake it from the Caren. There were reports of POW camps that were little more than slaughterhouses. Apparently, the Caren were cannibalistic.

The shock and aftermath of that news had changed the humans, their recruitment had skyrocketed, and their factories struggled to keep up with demand. It had also brought several of the humans' old allies from the Butcherwar to join forces. The war was no longer confined to the Federation and human space but now spanned the whole southwestern part of the galaxy. In this full-out war, Jack was somewhere doing covert missions while she was traveling through the Nalos kingdom, trying to raise morale and recruitment for the navy. She leaned back and sighed.

“Don’t worry, baby. Mommy is just a little frustrated.” She looked at her schedule; of the 168 systems in the kingdom, they had visited seventeen. The tour was meant to cover them all. She was visible but out of the way. There was little she could do, and it annoyed her more than she wanted to admit. She got up from her desk, got ready, and went down to the crew's mess hall for breakfast with them. She was a common sight down there now and knew most of them by name. She had heard and seen things that should have gotten men tossed in the brig, but she ignored them. Her being here was not to spy on them, and they knew it. Some guy gambling or crewmembers hooking up was none of her business as long as the job got done. 

“Hey, princess, you look tired today,” Karson said as she sat down. And she just smiled.

“She didn’t let me sleep, and the news is just as bad as yesterday.” She replied, and Jurnia drank her Sorna.

“She wants to come out and play. She is so active.”  She said, and Zula smiled as she started to eat.

“Yeah, human kids are very active; it’s a surprise half of them don’t die as toddlers,” Zula replied as the pad blinked, and she looked at it. “Damn.”

“What? Did they add more to your schedule?” Karson asked, and she nodded.

“Yeah, some morning show. They want me to promote the movie again. God damnit, that movie is a curse.” She said, and the two just chuckled as Hurrison joined them.

“What's the topic?” he said as he put down his tray.

“The cursed movie. She has to promote it.” Jurnia said, and Hurrison looked at her.

“That’s a bestseller, not a curse. I loved it, but the sex scene was unrealistic. They make it so you stayed in that room for two days. Nobody can last that long. I mean two days in a row.”

“It was three, and we only stopped because of the rule of four.” Zula replied as she ate, Hurrison looked at her, and the two others laughed.

“Three? No rest days?”

Zula looked at her and just smiled. “Three and just some naps and snacks. And everybody talks about that scene but not about what we actually did.  The movie is cursed. People don’t go to watch it for the story, just for the action. It doesn’t get wide release in human space as they don’t generally focus on that part and find it too much.”

“Come on, it's only about thirty minutes,” Hurrison said, and Zula chuckled.

“Of a three-hour movie. Humans lose interest around two if the movie isn’t exceptional. It's our difference. For us, three hours is a short movie. For them its long.” She said.

“I didn’t know that. But three hours is barely enough to learn about the people, they say there is a longer version out. Five hours. I guess humans won't watch that one either.”

She laughed, and the conversation steered into movies, lengths, and favorite ones, including human movies she had seen. They were surprised when she explained that movie series, such as sequels and trilogies, were unheard of for them, but they understood it as a proper movie being cut up into pieces instead of being watched in one go.

After breakfast, she went to her office, met with her staff, and reviewed the next stop. They would arrive in eight hours and would need to get some rest before they reached the planet's capital in the morning. She had Tymi introduce the planet's history and culture, then Goran went over the VIPs in politics and media, and ended with Magup reviewing the schedule and changes that had been made, as well as the new talking points she had been given.

“Again with this? Why aren't we showing them more of humans' recruitment ads? They are damn effective. We are talking about honor and duty; they are making the whole war into a war of survival.”

“You know that if we do that, most would just give up; they will think the Caren are stronger than what we tell them. That they might actually win the war,”

“And? If we don’t get our numbers up, then they might. They are not alone this time. Last time it was just them, and their clones; now they have several allies. Hells! We lost Tholu to the Afuguan. It's been two months, and we haven’t even invaded to retake it.” She said.

“We have our orders. I know you want to act rashly, but there is a plan, and our numbers are increasing.” Magup said, and Zula sighed.

“But not fast enough. Okay. Leave, I need to make a call.” They all looked at her, and then the staff left, but Magup stayed.

“I know you hate this, but we all have to follow orders. We are not high nobility, and we can't change the orders from the war council.” She said, and Zula looked at her and smiled slightly.

“I know you're doing your job. Now let me do mine. Sit and be quiet.” Then she accessed the coms and entered a code. The doors locked, and the glass wall that allowed them to see the office went dark.  Their booth got scanned.

“Zula Gi Pentdagon approved. Magup Gi Wilf denied.” The ship's AI said.

“Override; she is here to observe. Call Uncle Urek. Tell him his niece is going to break protocol as she doesn’t understand how royal ranks work. Send it over FTL coms.”

“Message sent.” The AI replied and then added, “The captain is aware of you pulling rank and is requesting to know why.”

“Tell her it is urgent royal matters,” Zula replied, and Magup just stared at her. It was not a side of Zula many had seen. The noble side. In fact, Zula was nervous; she had been told about this by the king herself before they had left, but she never thought she would use it, or that what she was planning to do was worth contacting him.

Suddenly, a hologram of the King appeared; he seemed amused as he looked at her. “When I told you to take after Jack, I didn’t mean that you should tear down the royal system. What are you planning to do?”

“Your... sorry, Uncle... You probably know what they have me doing, and it's fine and everything. But I have been watching the humans and how they are doing the same thing, and their recruitment numbers are ten times ours. And it's because they don’t hide that we are in a bloody war and the enemy is not as easy as last time around. There is no home world to bomb, and they have more allies. Nobody is talking about Tholu being occupied.”

“I know, but my advisors say that would cause panic. It's not like the other planets, where we have campaigns. We simply don’t have enough soldiers.”

“So why not use that? I will be the fool for the nobles; it can be my blunder. But let me try and use it to raise more recruits. I’m tired of talking about the movie and how long Jack lasts.”

Urek looked at her, thinking for a moment. “Okay, I guess we can try that. I will tell my advisor to go easy on you but be prepared for backlash if it goes wrong… and for the glory to be taken if it succeeds.”

“If it raises the recruitment and saves Tholu, then that’s reward enough.”

“Jack? Am I talking to Jack?” the king laughed. “You two are just perfect for each other.” Then the king looked around and back at her. “He is alive, and you will receive a care package soon. It has to go the long route. And I’m quite happy with him. Take care now and keep up the good work.” And with that, he was gone.  Zula smiled to herself. She would get the package from Jack.

“That was the king,” Magup whispered.

“Yes. It was, and you heard him.  So get me the latest numbers and intel on Tholu.”

“You can just call up the king?”

“Yes. I can just call up Urek, not all the time but with matters like this.”

“Holy gods!” Magup said, and Zula just smiled.

“Now, can you get that information for me before we reach Surgani?”

“Yes, your highness.” She said as she stood up and saluted, and Zula sighed.

“Stop it, I’m still just Zula.”

“Yes, Zula, I will get right to it.”

“Open the door, please.” Zula said, and the room went back to normal, allowing Magup to leave. Then she got up, walked to the bridge, and found the captain.

“Sorry about that, I needed to contact somebody about some sensitive family matters.” She said when they were in the captain's office. And the captain looked at her, clearly pondering her next words carefully.

“We are talking about your father's drinking buddy?”

“Yes, and just to warn you, I’m going to do something that might cause a scandal. So be prepared.”

“Who will get upset? Or do I have to wait?”

“Unfortunately, you have to wait. If the wrong people find out, they will prep for it, and  I can’t have that.” Zula said as she sipped her huju juice.

“You're just like your dad. I will prepare for the worst.” She said, then she checked the arrival time. “We are arriving in one hour. Go get some rest.”

Zula nodded and got up. “Yeah, might be smart. It's going to be a long day.”

The next day, she woke up tired and made her way to the fridge for juice. The interview had gone better than expected. She had shown them images of Tholu and the Afuguan invaders, then dropped the bombshell that this was one of the five known allies of the Caren Domian. The information had left the set quiet. She then reminded them that they were not fighting alone. While human recruitment was high and steady, the young Nalos were more busy playing in bars and enjoying life, while humans fought and died for them. She told the young to do their part, just as humans and the rest of the Federation were doing, adding that the navy goes on R&R together and that several of the Federation capital ships had mixed crews from all the Federation nations, including humans.

She knew it was a cheap shot, but if they would not enlist for duty, perhaps horniness would work. It was one of the questions asked during their interview, when they regained their composure and tried to lighten the mood. If Humans and Nalos mixed during their leave, she replied that she knew of Nalos and Humans serving on the same ship and in the same units. She added, with a sly smile, that she did not want to comment on what happened on those ships between missions.

She had not heard anything after the interview. Well, the interview blew up, and it was widely discussed on the net. The captain insisted she sleep on the ship after the interview and gave her a wry smile as Toberus dropped her off in the evening.

She drank the juice, and the baby woke up and kicked her. She opened the screen, hoping for any messages; there was one that said ETA two days. It was a large file, and she knew what it was. Then she realized that her gamble had a cost. She had two days to work her angle and increase the numbers.

 She went for breakfast, and the crew discussed the interview. Some agreed, and a few asked when they would have shore leave with humans. She said she was working on it. The mood was slightly nervous, but morale was high. Then she held a staff meeting and invited the officers to join. She wanted to visit some recruitment centers, and they said they could arrange it. Then she was ordered to see Doctor Hynas for a checkup. After that, it was down to the planet for more interviews and to visit their cultural sites. The question hovered around last night's shock, and she tried to be as diplomatic as possible while making her point. They needed more recruits for the war. She also said she would visit the recruitment offices around the system for the last day, personally meeting some brave recruits.

Later that night, Magup was going over the numbers with her; they had already risen, and the young adults were clearly being flooded with propaganda and men and women swearing to enlist. There were also some recruitment videos from different species being shown, and the young asking why there were none for the Nalos.

“The propaganda department is working overtime, I see,” Zula said, and Magup shook her head.

“No. This is organic. Apparently, the young men don’t like to be told that others are braver than they are. Add the chance of sex with a human, and you apparently have a much bigger recruitment drive than we could conceive.”

“Are you telling me those old farts didn’t consider pride and sex when trying to figure out how to boost recruitment? Shit, okay, send Lord Saren these chat logs and have his men go over them. And make some recruitment videos. Try to get some files and video them tomorrow at the recruitment office.”

- Cast –

Zula Gi Pentdagon -  Nalos nobility, and while you got lucky last time, it also started an

Toberus Gi Iven – Zula’s bodyguard, knight and pilot

Lord Kirian Gi Radmus – old Male Nalos, sly and experienced. Diplomate

Lord Saran, the head of the propaganda department

Staff

Magup Gi Wilf – Zukal’s aide, female Nalos

Tymi  -  Female Nalos, historian and cultural researcher

Goran - male Nalos,  Political and media  researcher

Crew officers

Captain  Junos Gi Hardon, middle-aged female captain of Almad, Nalos frigate

Doctor Hynas Gi Salid – the Nalos doctor in charge of Zula

Crew

Jurnia

Hurrison

Karson

Species 

 Afuguan –   A pale humanoid. Their skin is snow white, and their hair is white, resembling fur. They have bright blue or green eyes. They are built like a rock.

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends, through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

Toberuse docked on the Almad, it was the new design of the frigate.  Clearly used as yet another propaganda tool.  It looked like a saucer with a dagger-like front. The sides had hangars that could carry 10 troop shuttles on each side. The ship was 150 meters long; the dagger-like section was 40 meters long and 20 meters wide. It was armed to the teeth with two heavy cannon towers, on the top and bottom of the saucer. She knew this version was the new design. There were thousands of them being built all over the empire, and her job was to get recruits to man the ship. 

“Yet another flawless docking,”  Toberuse said as he got up from his seat.

“I didn’t even feel that one,” Magup said with a smile. Zula just smiled as she got up from her seat. Magup was not hiding her flirting, and the young man was not prepared for it. She went to the hatch, and Toberuse pressed the open button for her. It opened with a hiss.

Outside stood an honor guard and the captain, with two officers beside her. The captain was not your average captain; her uniform was impeccably pressed, but her red hair had blue streaks in it, and it was short.  Her eyes were green, something very uncommon among her kin. And then it snapped.

“Aunt Green?”

The captain smiled and nodded. Zula forgot all about protocol and almost ran over to hug her. “I can’t believe it? Your Captain Junos? Oh my gods, how long has it been?”

The honor guard tried hard not to react to the complete breach of protocol, and Magup approached slowly while politely coughing to get Zula’s attention.

“Too long, princess. Too long, but ehh.. I have to follow the protocol.” She said with a winning smile, and Zula looked around the Hangar and blushed as she took a step back.

“Yes, let's start. Green eyes.” She said with a wink, and the captain began with her official invitation to board the ship as her personal honored guest and representative of the throne.

Zula replied with the official reply, thanking her on behalf of the king, her house, and the Nalos kingdom. Then

 Captain Junas introduced the two officers she had brought with her: her first officer, Rain Gi Wilf, and the ships' doctor, Hynas Gi Salid, who had recently been assigned due to her pregnancy and had been a nurse on her father's ship, but was now close to becoming a professor of medicine. He was studying human and Nalos physiology, as many Nalos were now due to the war.

Zula greeted them according to their rank and then let Captain Junas lead her to her cabin. It was larger than she had expected and had an office across the hall, with a few staff members who had arrived earlier. They would all work under Magup, as her job now was to be in the spotlight. She then asked for a tour, and Junas said they had to wait until after they departed.

Then she was left alone to settle while Junas went to the bridge, and it didn’t take long for the ship to jump into lightspeed. It didn’t take long after the ship had departed before the captain returned and began to show her around the ship. The conversation quickly shifted to her father, what the captain had been up to, and then to her pregnancy and the father of her child. The conversation continued long into the evening, followed by dinner with the officers to get to know them better. After all, she was going to spend a lot of time with them. She invited them to get all their questions out of the way, and it was late when she finally got to bed. Their questions were very polite and respectful, which she found slightly amusing; the captain had not been so politically correct when they had wandered the ship together.

The next day, she spent time getting to know her own staff, having lunch with them and letting them ask all their questions as well. She found they already knew most of her story and were mostly confirming rumors, though they stayed polite. The dinner was, yet again, spent with the officers, and now the questions were more directed toward polite conversation about the state of the kingdom. Yet she was sure they had more questions.

The third day she walked into the crew's mess hall, and the joyful banter stopped dead as they noticed her. She got herself a plate, looked for the rowdies' table, and walked over and sat down. They stared at her as if she were a human for all she knew.

She looked at the food and took a bite. “They have improved the menu since I was a squire.”

The soldier across from her looked around, then at her. “Your highness, I do not mean to be rude, but I think you are in the wrong mess hall. This is for the enlisted.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “I know exactly where I am. Look, I’m not used to being up there. I was a squire with no Gi to my name less than a year ago. I served as a com officer on the Destiny under Admiral Grahad before all of this princess stuff.”

“But? You’re the daughter of Ythur Gi Pentdragon?” He said, utterly confused.

“Yeah, but nobody told me that before the King told the kingdom. I was just Zula back then. Eating in the messhall, talking shit with my mate Clira, watching her trying to get into the gunners' pants.” She said as she took another bite and looked at him, then at the others.

“Look. My boyfriend told me to always be nicer to the crew than the officers when you’re a guest on a ship. It’s the crew that keeps you safe, the officers just yell out orders.” She said, smiling as she took another bite. The man just stared at her, but somebody at the table started to chuckle, and then what she had said was spread by the crew in whispers. Then the laughter spread.

After the laughter died down, one of the other men asked her in a more serious tone. “Seriously, my lady, what are you doing down here with us grunts?”

|She put down her fork and looked at him. “I need to know you. If everything goes to shit, then I want to know that I got the best, meanest, and toughest fuckers  the kingdom can produce around to protect me. And for that, you deserve to see who the hell you might have to jump into the gates of hell for. Hell, today, if you have any questions, then I’m here. I will drop by a couple of times, and don’t worry, I won’t tell the high nose upstairs what we talk about. I know the crew's honor, and I respect it.” She said, and the people at the table jaw dropped slightly at her cursing.

“Fuck, you were actually a crewmember!” somebody said, and she smiled.

“Even spent some time on a human ship. So yeah, let's get this over with. And yeah, I'm pregnant with a human. So, no hazing please.”

There was a short, confused pause, then a polite question about her dad, then more and more came bubbling out. When they had warmed up to her, the question became more what she had expected, rough and naughty. She answered some, hinted to others, and refused the worst. When the lunch was over, and the crew had left, she sat alone in the messhall finishing her meal.

“That was smart.”  Captain Junos said as she sat down in front of her, holding a cup of  Sorna, it was the Nalos version of coffee. The green liquid was often called the soldiers' gasoline.

“Smart? It's common sense. These are the men and women who are asked to die for me. The least I can do is to give them some respect.”

“Just like your dad. Most officers don’t get that; hell, most soldiers don’t either. They think it's enough to have the rank and have the oath to the king and the kingdom,” She replied.

“And what do you believe?”

“I saw their looks as they left. They feel you're one of them now. They will fight extra just to keep you safe. So continue and don’t betray them, because if you do, they will turn their backs on you at the point you need them most. But you know the crew's honor.”

“Know it, lived by it,” Zula replied as she finished. “So how long until we arrive?”

“Ten hours; you better get some rest and go over the program. I’m guessing you won't have much peace down there. Oh, and Dr. Hynas wants you to drop by for a checkup again.”

“More tests for my little baby girl.” She replied with a sigh.

“Well, we all want her to be born as healthy and safe.”

“Yeah, I’m just tired of being scanned and prodded so much. Anyway, I’ll head there now and get it over with.” She replied, then got up and put the plate away. They both walked to the doctor to get her checked. The baby was safe, and she got some human vitamin pills to take, along with more huju juice.

She spent two hours sleeping and the remaining eight hours reviewing the program for Imuzon. When they arrived, she was called up to the bridge. When she entered, she had to smile, and her eyes automatically went to the coms controller, her post on Destiney. The controller, a young man, looked confused and a little uncomfortable at her look; she smiled back at him, then walked over to the Captain.

She looked at Imuzon as they approached. It was so very different from her home world. The planet was highly developed, filled with megacities and a population of 12 billion. The planet itself has no atmosphere, and all the cities are gigantic domes. Some of those domes were just giant factories. The colony was famous as the workers' capital.  The only green was under the domes.

“Welcome to Imuzon,” Captain Junas said, and Zula smiled weakly.

“Let the show start. Please contact the administration and let them know the clown has arrived.” Zula said.

“You mean Princess Your Highness,” Magup said, and she nodded.

“Yeah, the princess.”

After the formal greetings, they went to the hangar, and Toberus flew them down to the planet side so the circus could start. The rest of her staff took another shuttle down and kept out of sight. She noticed Toberus quietly giving commands about potential dangers throughout the stay. Magup was her constant shadow, ready to feed her facts and serve as her shield when questions became too personal or focused on the Navy’s undisclosed war effort. It gave her the opportunity to appear natural and charming.

She spent three days on the planet, feeling as if she were in a military integration with occasional breaks for luxury meals. She gave a speech in the colony's parliament, met with their media stars, and did a few interviews. Her staff kept her updated on the local media coverage; it was as expected. Most were positive, though a few were upset that she had a human lover and suggested it was the human pheromones' fault she had fallen for her. She knew this would happen and ignored it.

Then someone leaked an image of Jack, wearing combat pants and a mesh wife-beater shirt after a workout. She didn’t know who leaked it, but she saved it immediately. The females and some of the males became more defensive about their relationship. She had to smile; he was doing the king’s work even if he wasn’t here. She spent the last few interviews using the leaked image to talk about the humans they were working with and addressed the pheromones, as well as the steps taken to prevent them from affecting the work. She presented the humans as professional at work and fun afterward, with a sly smile.

When they left Imuzon, she felt exhausted and was ordered to take it slow for a few days by the doctor. She spent a few days relaxing and going over the event with her staff; they had all had a day off during the stay. Magup had visited her family and was glad for the opportunity, dragging Toberus and half the staff with her. She wished she could have joined, but if she had, they would not have been able to relax.

It took her two more stops before she got some intel about the war that she was interested in. The humans had successfully won the Battle of Orne and were now building up a much stronger defensive system there. The gyrran had retreated to lick their wounds, but before the humans could pursue, the Caren decided to finally show their face as they attacked the colonies in the human Wolf system.

- Cast –

Zula Gi Pentdagon -  Nalos nobility, and while you got lu, today, if you have any questions,n

Toberus Gi Iven – Zula’s bodyguard, knight, and pilot

Magup Gi Wilf – Zula’s aide, female Nalos

Captain  Junos Gi Hardon, middle-aged female captain of Almad, Nalos frigate

Doctor Hynas Gi Salid – the nalos Doctor in charge of Zula

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends, through the war

Book 1 / Amazon version / Patreon

First / Previous

Zula walked into her office, drinking Huju juice while reading the reports of the war. She didn’t like what she saw. The Caren used their allies to attack them from any point. At the moment, the ground wars spanned 26 planets throughout the empire; three of them were just an invasion of bugs, and the death toll was rising quickly.  On top of that, several colonies had bug attacks, the Caren had found a way to adjust the period from infection to bug growth, and they had one of the most advanced cloning programs she had seen; she was getting worried the Caren would win by sheer numbers. But there was some good news: it looked like the battle of Orne was getting to a close; Grahad had captured the Gyrran mother ship. She smiled, knowing who was with him. But the other fights were still worrisome.  It was not an attack from a desperate, barely rebuilt military force but a planned and highly planned war.  And this was from a species that had almost been made extinct a few decades earlier.  Getting hold of the Caren warplans would be essential for winning this war. They needed to learn more about those, what was the word Jack used?  Snakes.

She sat down and was deep in thought when she got a call to come to yet another meeting with Lord Kirian.

When she entered the meeting room, she found Lord Kirian, her boss, and Lord Saran, the head of the propaganda department, going over reports. There was nobody else in the room, so she stopped and waited for them to acknowledge her.

 After a few minutes, Lord Kirian looked up and smiled at her.  “Sorry about that. Now please sit down. I have an assignment for you that you will hate but is of the utmost importance.”

She sat down and looked at him, slightly confused. “That does not sound very promising.”

“Do you remember what the Royal court had you do when you were acknowledged?” Lord Saran said, and she groaned at the memory.  

“Don’t tell me you're going to send me on some publicity round.”

“That is exactly what we are going to do. The kingdom's morale is just as important as its military force. And you are now exactly what we need. That you're pregnant and still in uniform, ready to fight, is just a boon.” He said as she sipped her Huju juice, she stopped and put the bottle on the table.

“Seriously? I have seen the gossip on the net. They know who the father is, and not everybody is happy about it. Besides, I would be put to better use here in the diplomatic corps than be pranced around as some movie star or artist for the population to gawk at.”

“You're wrong. We need you to become famous so we can use you properly later on. Right now, you're famous, but that’s about it.  You have no experience with proper diplomacy, and while you got lucky last time, it also started an invasion. Your go as an agent and sniffing out problems but we need you to be the face of the war.” Lord Kirian explained.

“The face of the war?” She said, confused, and Lord Saran put the image they have been looking at up on the wall screen. It showed the Nalos Empire and the rest of the south-western part of the Galaxy. It was filled with different colors showing the different threat levels.

“As you can see, the kingdom is now in a state of, well, panic. The bug infestation is spreading, and the news of the war is not going well. As the humans fight on Orne, we have three colonies under invasion ourselves, as well as Tholu being conquered by the  Afuguan, and they are just holding it.  On top of that, we haven’t seen much of the Caren. It's like we are being attacked by a different force. The people are asking them why we are planning the Caren for this. The distrust of the royal house is sinking toward the Navy.  You have probably also seen the lunatic conspiracy theories out on the net.”  Lord Saran continued, and she nodded.

“Yes, some of them are quite wild.” She replied as she looked at the map. She had read the reports, but it looked worse when presented on the map.

“Some of them involve you, may I add.” He added, “The thing is that having you out there is going to calm down people. You will, of course, be protected, but officially, it will just be you, Toberus Gi Iven and Magup Gi Wilf.”

“Just us three?”

“There will be a frigate escorting you with 200 men. Led by Junos Gi Hardon. They are a banner house of Pentdragon, and she served under your father.  She will be in every system you visit, ready to evacuate you if there is any risk to you. I have a list of colonies you will visit, and the speeches are already written. If the war drags on for more than a year, then you will have the experience we need to use you for other missions, but officially this will be your job during this war. To keep morale and be the face of it.”

“Why me? Does the king know about this?” She asked, confused.

“Yes, he knows. You are the daughter of Ythur, and as you said, everybody knows you're dating a human marine, a regular though guy. They are remaking the movie now with a human actor as Jack.  You represent the alliances between Nalos and humanity against the  Caren Domain. And we need to show the enemy that you, of all people, can move around freely. You being on a stage, smiling and joking with the crowd, is an insult to them.”  Lord Saran added.

“So I'm a glorified propaganda tour?”

“Yes, and war isn’t just won by soldiers, you know. My job is just as important. Hell, I will have Jack dragged from the battlefield just to show you two having a secret date if it helps.  And from what I have heard, he has done a great job in the war.  He continues to grow his status. And I’m going to make him a god damn war god before I’m done with him. The shadow warrior who will strike and destroy any Caren plan if I have to. And right next to him I will have you, smiling and waving like a proper princess in all but royal regalia.  My job is to get the people to want to fight, to believe we will win, and to believe that our alliance and we are the best in the galaxy.”  Saran explained.

“You think people want to see us on a date?” She asked, surprised.

“Yes, they want your sex tape. Hell, they said you two lasted days. That vitality is what we need people to believe our alliance has. That we can keep up with them too.”

“WAIT! You spread that rumor!” She stood up and stared at Saren, who just smiled back.

“Rumor? I had it checked by several sources. I must say I’m impressed.”  He said, and she tried to speak up, but nothing came out. Both men looked at her in what she could only see as admiration. Then she sat down and started to laugh.

“By the gods... yes, it was great, but humans are not like us. There are no tapes, and I will not destroy his reputation among humanity by forcing him to make such a video. So forget that. Wait, is that why there are so many trying to have human soldiers have their R&R on Nalos worlds?”

“Yes, It’s a joint program between Earth and Nalos Navies. Good moral boost for the soldiers, and the risk of pregnancy is very low.” Saran said.

“Anyway, you have your next assignment; you will return here now and then, and then you will be shadowing me at negotiations and the more diplomatic version. Right now you get to travel the galaxy and see strange new worlds.”  Lord Kirian commented.

“Within the kingdom.” She added, and Saran shrugged. There are stops within the Federation as well as one on Earth planned if everything goes well. We are still in the planning phase there.” He said, and she looked at him.

“Earth? Human Earth?”

“Yes, just to hold a speech. You will represent the royal house at that one, but again you need practice. Hence the tour.” Saran said, looking at the old man.

“Keeping the best for the last?”  she said, and he just smiled.

“Yes, well now you know the plan, and we expect you to do your best.” He replied, and Lord Kiran dismissed her. She grabbed her bottle, stood up, gave them a salute, and left.

She found Magup outside her office; she smiled at her.  “Come in; we apparently have a lot of work to do.”

“Yeah, it's not ideal, but the propaganda department often borrows us. I was kinda surprised they didn’t get hold of you first.” She said, and Zula chuckled.

“I asked for this job; I think I also pulled rank,” She said, and Magup looked at her for a second, then got it.

“Oh... yeah, the princess title. I guess they went behind your back then.” She replied.

“Yeah, they wanted sextapes of Jack and me.” She said as she sat down and turned on the screen.

“Oh, I bet those are good,” Magup replied, and Zula smiled.

“There are none, humans are not all into that kind. Strange considering how many professional videos they have about it.”

“Wait, they have actors recreate it? Are they shy or something?” She said as she sat down, and Zula looked up from the screen.

“Humans are weird in many different ways.  So many different cultures, they actually accept that mixture of them. Like they have hundreds of thousands of different cultures and you don’t have to hide it. It's not a private matter but something to be proud of. They follow the Earth calendars at all colonies, even if the planets have more or fewer days in a year. And don’t get me started on their religions and celebrations.”

“Humans are weird. But sexy too.”

“Yeah, so damn sexy. One in particular.” Zula said as her hand glided down to her tummy and rested there. “Gods, I miss that man.”

Magup waited silently for a while as Zula lingered in the memory.

“Should we start?” she finally said, and Zula shook herself out of the memories, grabbed her Huju juice, sipped it, and put the plan for the next month up on the screen.

“Yes, Captain Junos Gi Hardon will pick us up in four days, and then our first stop is Imuzon, that’s your homeworld, if I’m not mistaken?” She said, and Magup smiled.

“Yes, my parents will be happy to see me.” She replied.

They started to go over the speeches and program; it was not as packed as she had believed. Each world had some time set aside for personal time.  They had been given recommendations, mostly to make each visit unique and appear organic.  She noticed she would have to watch the new movie they were making about her and Jack, as well as promote it.  They were really milking it. After a few hours, she sent Magup out and leaned back in her chair looking at the screen. Then a sly smile came across her lips as she asked the computer about what the net said about Jack, and it did not disappoint.

- Cast –

Zula Gi Pentdagon -  Nalos nobility, and while you got lucky last time, it also started an

Toberus Gi Iven – Zula’s bodyguard, knight and pilot

Lord Kirian Gi Radmus – old Male Nalos, sly and experienced. Diplomate

Lord Saran, the head of the propaganda department

Magup Gi Wilf – Kirian’s aide, female Nalos

Species 

 Afuguan –   A pale humanoid. Their skin is snow white, and their hair is white, resembling fur. They have bright blue or green eyes. They are built like a rock.

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(Crashlanding is out on Amazon for those who are interested. Please leave a review.)

This is the last chapter of Vengeance; the story will continue in Honeymoon, which will start after the summer vacation, while I work on editing and launching it on Amazon!

First / Previous 

The next day, Kiko walked to the office after breakfast. Peter was contacting Innana to ask them to come and pick them up; then he was at the Nalos embassy to deal with the paperwork, all of which was just formalities, as he had already got the approvals months earlier.

She stepped out of the elevator and was met by an aide who led her to the commander's office and told her to wait outside. She hoped he would not let her wait too long; the five days he had made them wait earlier was too much, and she was relieved when he called her in after five minutes.

“Please sit.”  He said, and she promptly did.

“That was one hell of a hearing. Well, she won't be a problem anymore.  Claus Kowalski might be, as we can’t find him and we have no idea if he is alive or not.” He said, looking at a screen, then up at her.

“Claus Kowalski, Sir?” she asked, slightly confused. The name rang a bell, but she didn’t know why.

“You know him as Friedrich Smith, he is missing, and she refuses to say if he is alive or not. But considering he is a trained ghost, I fear he just went dark.”  He replied, and a shiver went down her spine.

“Oh, I will keep an eye out for him then. Though the name Kowalski does ring a bell. I just don’t know where to place it.”

“Karolina Kowalski, perhaps. She was a friend of your mother who escaped Sanctuary after your mother’s death. She had ties to the cartels as their lawyer. Officially, no criminal connection; her son, Clause, joined the Navy as a sniper and was recruited by... you probably guessed it.”

“Maria.”

“Yes, it looks like she used her rank to recruit several people for her quest for vengeance against your father. To be honest, she should have been flagged by my predecessor for this. But then again, she produced results. Results that I know have to be double-checked. Her whole work is in question.” He sighted and closed the file and looked at her.

“Which brings me to you. What am I going to do with you? Your work is excellent, but you tend not to follow the book and your partner. I have colleagues salivating over him. You two are a perfect duo. You've got the brains to make a proper plan, and he's got the know-how to handle the practical part. It's rare to have a duo where theory and practicality actually function. And he is quick-witted, he had us searching in panic for Juan and Margrette. I got to know. Are they fake?”

She just smiled as she replied while ignoring the question, “Well, there is a reason I like him. He is rugged and still civilized enough to survive a high-society dinner. And he got the grit I haven’t met among us city dwellers. But I don’t think he would sign up without a good reason.”

The commander chuckled. “The reason is you, I am going to try to persuade you both. Make you a tempting offer you can’t refuse.” He said, and she smiled at his comment.

“Me? Why do you think that would work? Or that I came back to work and not resign?”

“I do know you wrote a resignation letter last night.  But I think I have a better offer. You recruit him, you use the ship as a base of operation for a few years, and we will allow you both to retire at any world within the Earth domain with a military pension and a VIP status.”

“How is that a good deal? We already have money.” She replied; this felt more like negotiation than just a debriefing.

“Yes, but I can refuse your resignation and send you to the North. There is something happening up there that interests us, and that’s a year's travel on a Navy ship. Look, I don’t want to do this. I’m not a bad guy; I just see potential, and I would be a fool if I did not try to take advantage of it.   Your mission will mostly be search and rescue and retrieval of sensitive intel that has been dumped for pickups.”

“Well, we had other plans. At least for a few months.” She countered.

“The trip to Inanna? I can write that up as a training exercise in Search and Rescue as well as Observing and infiltrating pre-technological worlds.  I will give you a year, but I expect something in return I can show my superiors to justify this, like a training program. Work with Argor and The Nalos observes there. That way you will be paid, and we will overlook your status as married couple.  I can write that in as a cover.”

She looked at him and chuckled. “Our marriage as a cover? And all of this is dependent on me recruiting Peter. How do I know you won't change your tone right afterward?”

“Well, you don’t expect my word. You know I could easily have played it safe and let Maria have her victory. But I don’t really care so much about status, I care about doing the right thing. I don’t have any family to avenge or have any illusion that I will reach the rank of admiral. I just want to make sure people are safe. I know it sounds silly, but I guess it’s a trait we Orphans have. So if you work with me, I will have your back. If not, then you can risk it all on your own.”

“So, you won't send me North?” She said. There was something strange about the way he had spoken, the way he had said orphans. Like it meant more than just the normal meaning.

“Naw, I would regret it later and feel bad about it. So if you don’t want to do this, then give me the file, and I will give you a discharge.”

“Can I discuss this with Peter?” she asked. It was very tempting but pointless without Peter

“Of course, but I need an answer soon.” He replied.

“I will speak to him tonight.” She said

“Good luck, and I hope to hear back from you soon,” he replied.

After she left his office, she called him up and suggested they go for dinner at one of the better restaurants. Peter didn’t mind, and she made a reservation in a private room.

When they met later that afternoon, she was a little nervous. He had asked about meeting, but she had told him they would talk about it later and that they needed to change for dinner. She saw that he knew something was up, but he didn’t question it. She had stopped and bought herself a new dress just for him, and when he saw it, he had to take a second to collect himself. She had just smiled as he put on his finest suit, and they had left for the restaurant.

When they arrived and were led into the private room, she noticed he got a little nervous.

“Are you okey?” She asked, and he smiled as he helped her to sit.

“Yeah, I’m just a little surprised. This feels a little awkward. Are you going to tell me now that you have been married the whole time and you have to leave?” He said as he sat down, and she just stared at him.

“What?”

“Look, I get it; you had a mission, and now the mission is over so… let's just get it over with.  I knew it was too good to be true. You're just too perfect for me.”

She stared at him and laughed, not a polite giggle but one that made her whole body shake. “You fucking idiot! You still hung up on that? Oh my god. No, you idiot. I got a new mission.”

“New mission? So you're leaving?” Peter looked confused at her, and she found it hard to calm down; when she managed, she leaned on the table and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. He had made her laugh too hard. She put the napkin down, put both hands on the table, and leaned slightly forward, resting her head on the top of her hands. She looked at her with the most seductive look she could and said with the most sexy voice she could.

”I was ordered to seduce and recruit you.”

He stared at her. “What?”

“To seduce and recruit you. Even go undercover as your wife if I have to.” She said as she tried to act as seductive as possible, knowing damn well she was overdoing it.

“Seduce and even go undercover as my wife? What?” Peter was getting more and more confused.

“Oh, if that’s not enough, then I might have to have children with you and use them as leverage.”

“Okey now I know you're kidding. What happened?”  He said, looking at her, and she pointed, dropping the act.

“I was given a very good offer, but it included me recruiting you. I’m free to do what is needed to recruit you.” She said, a little more seriously, then went back to her seductive tone.

“So, do you accept?”

He looked at her and started to smile slyly. “I don’t know. I mean… what I hear now is just talk. You haven’t even fed me.”

“Then let the negotiations start she said as they both reached out for each other.

They ordered the food, and she got a little more serious and, during the meal, told him what the commander had suggested.

“Undercover as my wife? What if we accidentally marry for real? Would that be a problem?” he asked, and she smiled.

“Accidents happen; I don’t think he would react at all. Hell, it will make our cover more foolproof. A few kids by ‘accident’ will sell the cover even better.” She said with a wink.

“Oh, I like those kinds of accidents.” He replied.

“Yeah, and we get to go to Inanne too. They want us to create a Search and Rescue program, as well as an observing and infiltrating program for pre-technological worlds. We have got a year to do that. It’s the signing bonus. And there is a good retirement plan as well. VIP military status.” She added, and Peter seemed impressed.

“That is hard to get. Well, I’m almost convinced, but I think you have to really sell it to convince me. I mean, can you really convince people that you're my wife?”

“Oh, give me a night to convince you.” She said as she bit into a strawberry.

“Oh boy, I won't survive this night, will I?”

“You will survive... barely...” she said seductively.

.

.

.

To be continued.....

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First / Previous / Next

The next day, they emerged from the hotel room tired but alert.  Accepting their fate did not mean they would go down without a fight. Yet nothing happened. The morning became afternoon, became evening, which became evening.

Peter held her hand as they watched the stars and a nebula fade into the distance. They had found a view plaza on the top level. The plaza had a park with a few trees and grass. She was deep in thought, as Peter always noticed.

 “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

“How do you know that? If we get a trial, then I’m going to be face to face with Maria; she killed my father. I don’t think I will be okay, if I get to see her again.”

“You have to. If you attack her, she can use that against you and get away with it. What's the saying? Vengeance is a cold dish.”

“You just made that up.” She said, looking at him, and he smiled.

“But it's true. The best vengeance is to use the law against her, show her you're not what she is probably going to accuse you of.” He replied.

“A daughter of a crime lord.” She said.

“A mafia princess, who spies on the Navy intelligence for her family.” He corrected, and she looked at him, and it hit her hard. The bitch would most definitely use that against her; it made sense now. She had recruited her for just this reason, a perfect alibi if things went wrong. If she was not following her plan, and she took a deep breath.

“That was not the cold shower I thought I was going to get, but definitely the one I needed.” She said.

“The best way to face any situation is to be completely honest about how fucked you are. We planned for this, all the things we discussed, all the backups.” He said.

“All moot because of Argor.” She replied.

“Not all, remember Juan and Margrette.”  He said, and she got confused for a second. What was he doing? She knew they were definitely surveilled, then she got it and she played her part.

“Don’t speak about them. We might be surveilled.” She hissed back.

“Oh shit, never mind... yeah.” He said, and she looked at him, faking her anger,

“Sometimes your really stupid.”

He spent the next hour trying to make up for it, and she finally gave in, and they returned to their hotel.

The next few days were the same.  Every time she looked at Peter with a worried look, he gave her encouraging words, but she could see it was worse for him than for her, and it was on the fourth morning that it became too much.

She woke as he had kicked her in his sleep. She was about to kick him out of the bed when she realized he was having a nightmare.  She woke him gently; he didn’t say anything, just held her. His eyes were thousands of light-years away, and his body was shaking uncontrollably. This was forcing him to have flashbacks to the POW camps, the constant waiting for when they would be killed.

When he managed to wrestle himself out of the memories, he pretended everything was okay.

“Bullshit! You’re a wreck.” She said, and he looked away.

“I got it under control, it was just a nightmare.”

“You kicked me.” At her words, he turned and looked guilty at her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He said, and she smiled at him.

“Just promise me that you won't pretend everything is fine when it's not anymore.” She said, and he nodded slowly as he replied.

“I promise, and again you know I never want to hurt you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, you have done worse to me.” It took him a few seconds to get her joke, and he sat down, relieved, shook his head, then chuckled.

“you …”

“What? Did I say anything wrong?” she said with her most innocent voice. Then she bit her lips lightly, and he smiled and reached out to her.

“This better not be a dream.”

“It’s the best kind!” she replied as she let him pull her close, and then she kissed him.

 The fifth day, they received a message to report to the office at 1400, with advice to have lunch first, as it would be a long day. The message was from the commander.  Kiko smiled nervously at Peter as she read the message.

“Let's have a nice lunch today. On the promenade. It might be our real last meal.”

“I don’t think so, but I like the idea.” He replied, and she looked at him.

“Now, you're positive? Didn’t we agree to not pretend anymore?” she said, and he shrugged.

“I’m not pretending. Think about it: why wait all this time? We have not been hiding; they could easily gas the room while we slept or poison us when we ordered delivery. No. They want this debriefing. Making us wait was meant to soften us up for a very uncomfortable interview.” He said, and she smiled.

“You are not supposed to know that part, and you don’t want to know the second part if things go wrong.” She said, and then he realized what she said. He only replied with an “Oh.”

They spent lunch watching people walk by without a care in the world, then went back to the hotel, where she changed into her uniform and retrieved the evidence she had hidden there. She quickly checked that it was all there. She always carried a copy on her, but checking it would tell her if anyone had been in the room and tampered with what they thought was her evidence. Nothing had been changed. Then she changed into her uniform as Peter watched.

“Have I told you that you look sexy in that?” he said, and she looked at him.

“We don’t have time.” She replied, and he faked a pout as he got into something suitable.

“It looks like we are going to a ball.” He said, and she chuckled.

“Let's go, we can’t be late.” She replied.

Nobody looked at them as they walked toward the administration area and the elevator that would take them to the agency. The door opened as they approached, and as they went inside, a voice told them which room to go to.

When the elevator stopped, they stepped into the hallway. With one last glance at each other, they walked down the hallway to the conference room. The door opened as they approached, and as they stepped inside, they saw a relatively large room with a small table for two in the middle. A slightly raised dais held a larger table, with four officers seated at it; they recognized Lieutenant Commander Maria Gypta and Commander Sondre Skjerve but not the two others. Their ranks were Captain and Rear Admiral. Seven droid guards lined the walls of the room. On one side of the room was an empty dais with a single empty chair. Behind it was a screen that was currently showing their files.

“Please come in and have a seat.” Commander Skjerve said.

They walked in and sat down, and the commander introduced the panel. Besides Maria, the other two were Captain Igor Petrov and Rear Admiral Michael Verma. Igor was a bald man in his early forties with a silver goatee, of African descent. He looked like a man who had fought battles from behind a desk his whole life. Michael was a clean-shaven man also in his early forties, with a mustache and a turban. She had met them before; Verna was the sector leader, and Petrov was his second-in-command. Their meetings had always included Maria as they reviewed the mission.

“Lieutenant Kiko Lee, please stand.” Commander Skjerve said.

She stood up, and he continued.

“Your immediate officer has accused you of abandoning your mission and of giving sensitive information to civilians, which led to the deaths of two operatives and your own father, without authorization from her,” he said. Her mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out, and she just looked at Maria. Peter reached up, against protocol, and held her hand.

“You're also accused of starting a gang war to cover your tracks and to start your own criminal organization under the name the ‘Princess’. “ he continued, and Peter chuckled and stopped himself as everybody looked at him.

The commander waited for him to calm down, then continued, “And to assassinate the Gyrran Count Kango Jangion of Kaduna Prime. And conspiring to replace him with his son, the current Count of Kaduna Prime, Mungo Jangion, again without authorization. In fact, she claims you abandoned your post at Sanctuary to do so." He continued. She took a deep breath, her eyes locked on Maria.

“How do you plead?”  He finally asked, and she turned to him.

“Not guilty, and I have evidence to prove my innocence.” She replied, and he nodded. Then he turned to Peter.

“Peter Fordhall, you’re here as a courtesy and as a witness; please restrain your outburst during this court-martial.”

Peter stood up and nodded. “My apologies to the court, I will do my best to avoid any outburst.”

“Thank you. You may both sit, and Maria will now present her evidence.” He said, and they sat down. Peter leaned over to Kiko and whispered.

“Court-martial? I have never been in one like this before.”  

“Me too, but I don’t think we are in a position to argue that now.” She replied.

Maria coughed to get their attention, and then started.  She started with how she had her own doubts about recruiting the daughter of Hando Lee to spy on her father, and she admitted that she was convinced by a younger agent, the one who died, Jason Blake, about the benefits of recruiting her due to how close she could get to the target. Kiko wanted to protest but instead squeezed Peter's hand under the table; she had a feeling he would need medical help before the court was over.  He didn’t make a sound as they listened to her version of events.

Then she continued by explaining that, in the beginning, Kiko was capable and delivered the intel they sought on criminal activities in the Sanctuary system that could affect Earth governments' politics and rule. As well as revealing several smuggling routes that the navy had benefited from when sending personnel or equipment through criminal channels. Now she is worried that it has just compromised the navy, and she takes full responsibility for this. The two other officers nodded in agreement; only the commander seemed stoic and did not react to her words.

She then began producing the first evidence: the wedding certificate between her and Mungo Jangion, along with a few very unflattering pictures of the newlywed. There were a few raised eyebrows at the images.

“But he is a Gyrran; humans aren’t compatible,” Captain Petrov said. Maria replied, “Yes, as I said. That should have been the red flag, not to mention that she broke up with Jason Blake, who had been her contact person and whose cover was that he was her boyfriend. We had to get her a new one. It was during this period that she ran away and got married.” The two officers looked at her, disappointed.

“This whole fiasco led to her being targeted by the late Count. A war started between the Count and her father, yet another hint that she was more than just observing him. The amount of resources he used was frankly impressive and has affected the Gyrran’s reach into this sector. Small miracles, I guess.” She continued her description, saying she claimed to have been kidnapped and crash-landed on a zoo world. The ship she was on had only one survivor, and eight months later they returned, showing clear signs of Stockholm syndrome. They had to threaten to institutionalize Peter Fordhall to get her to return to her duty. Again, she claimed that she should have just sent them both for a mental evaluation and saved them all the headache this has cost them.

Kiko was mentally thinking about all the different ways she could and should kill Maria, but then she remembered Peter’s words and took a deep breath. She had to put all her emotions aside, be the cold-hearted bitch they all believed her to be. If this was Maria's play, then she would destroy her. She smiled at Peter and then looked back at Maria as she continued her long speech.

She was deep into explaining how she had ordered her back to the mission and showed a few messages she had sent to remind her of the mission she had been sent on. After going over in detail about the straight-up murder of the Count and several important people of his court with the aid of her mercenary crew, who addressed her as the princess.

After this, she returned to Sanctuary and, after a meeting with her father, suddenly changed her tone completely and sent a report that made it look like she had found her father was not a threat to the mission, and made up a story to justify Hando Lee’s murder of his wife and youngest child. This, according to her, had confused the agency long enough for her to put her true plan into motion to kill her father and set up a patsy, Friedrich Smith, not knowing he too was an agent. She then claimed Friedrich Smith used a clone as a decoy to trick everybody into believing he had killed the father and made the law enforcement chase a ghost.

She produced coroner's files showing that Friedrich Smith was not a clone and that they both had been killed by a shot to the neck. The weapon was never recovered.  Maria then claimed that she had conspired with her brother, making him the head of the family while she was the woman behind the throne, and that she had informed him of her position in the agency.  

She looked at the rear admiral, “And now we had to use trickery to get her to report back for a debriefing. We are lucky that you were available on such short notice because if she had realized what was happening here, she would have escaped. And with that I rest my case.”

Maria sat down, and the captain and rear admiral leaned towards each other and spoke in a hushed voice. Then the captain turned to Kiko.

“And what do you have to say about this report of the case?”

Kiko smiled. “I’m surprised she could lie so much with a straight face. Firstly, she personally recruited me, and if you recall. Introduced me to both of you as her most promising asset. But maybe she misremembered. As for Jason Blake, my former partner, and yes, lover and fiancé for a short time.  The public breakup was due to him messing up and sleeping with two of my friends at a party. Something my father would not forgive, and it was necessary to send him away for his own safety. And there is the little fact that he cheated on me.”

The admiral chuckled at that. “Yeah, I would never forgive anybody cheating on my daughter as well.”

“So you see my point, my father had his flaws, and he was a criminal, at times a pretty brutal one.  But as seen in Sanctuary at the moment. When he died, there were immediately several gang wars, fighting over turf and influence.  Some who were directly influencing Earth's interest. Among them, the Ares factories.  And if I recall correctly, the mission objective was to determine if he was better for Earth than the other alternatives. Or am I wrong in this?” She looked at the Admiral and then the captain.

“No, you are correct, you were there to establish if his status quo was to our benefit or disadvantage.” The captain said, and she nodded, then took out the memory crystal and inserted it into the table, and the files and reports flew up on the screen.

“To that, once I got out of the haze of bloodlust I shared with Lieutenant Commander Gypta, and analyzed the situation, I can say without doubt he was the better choice. The politicians of Sanctuary are very corrupt, almost by default. And due to the distance from Earth, many of them feel little to no loyalty to Earth, some being seven- to eight-generation Sancturians.  We found evidence that several of them were also in the Count's pocket that was removed. A count who was running a sex cult, a part of the Syg-Ug-Hitol Cult. A known Caren cult. We informed the navy about this immediately upon our return from the planet Inanna.”

“Oh, so the count was a Caren sympathizer?” The captain asked.

“Yes, and he also was in possession of eggs. We also discovered the location of his secret vault in dead space and provided the Navy with the information. I heard nothing about it after.” She said, shot Maria a look, then looked back at the Captain.

“So you're responsible for that finding? The name attached was only Agent Lee.  Hmm. Continue.” The rear Admiral said.

 “Of course, Sir, the attack on the count was, well, a countermeasure to ensure my and my partner Peter Fordhall's safety.  If we had not done it, I would have to be confined to a safe house until the matter was dealt with, and Peter here would have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life.  In other words, it would seriously hamper my ability to perform my mission.” She said, then looking at Maria and back at the admiral.  “As for my claim to be a mafia princess, it’s an internal joke between Peter and me, and others overheard it and made it more than it was.  And I suspect Peter also stoked that flame to get things done.”

Peter just smiled sheepishly before adding. “That is correct, Sirs. I just unionized a few mercenary groups and made Kiko here the union boss... without her approval or knowledge.”

“You did what? Is that why they got more expensive and asked for more support?” The Rear Admiral said.

“Probably, but also more effective if the rumors are correct.” Commander Skjerve added.

The captain just chuckled a little. “Continue.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Kiko replied before continuing, “When I returned from the removal of the count and addressing the royal house about the situation, reminding them of the counts dealing with the Caren and the treaty of Orne, I returned home to continue my mission, and at that point I was planning to kill him. It was when my father found Peter, and I was forced for once to actually talk to my father as a sane person, that my brother, not father, managed to get me to see what a teenage girl could not. After checking the evidence, I discovered that my mother was a member of the Celaya Cartel and that what I had witnessed was an attempt to take over the power and kill both my brother and me. I double-checked the files and sent that report. Later, I sent it to Commander Skjerve. After this, I went over my report with fresh eyes. Not blinded by vengeance, I analyzed my father's criminal organization honestly. I sent that report to Lieutenant Commander Gypta as well. You should have a copy of it. It's pretty damning about my father but also argues for him being the lesser evil; that is easier to control and understands his position in the grand scheme. You did receive that report, right?” She asked.

“I did receive a report from Commander Skjerve about this.” The captain said.

“Well, as you see, I did send the report. And I had to reveal my identity to prevent my brother from not following in my father's footsteps. He is again the best candidate to continue the status quo. This also makes it impossible for me to continue as Sanctuary’s observer. But his knowing there is one will keep him in reins that are easier to control. He has already made sacrifices to keep Ares company content.”

She took a break and looked around. “May I have a glass of water, please”

The captain nodded and turned to the admiral to talk, Maria glared at her. It was clearly not going her way. A droid came over with two glasses of water, served them, and then walked away. She took a sip and waited for the captain and rear admiral to look in her direction again.

“Thank you. The next subject is the death of my father and the killing of Jason Blake. I guess Maria... my apology, the Lieutenant Commander forgot that I was standing in front of my father when he was shot, and the following shots were aimed at me but hit my fiancé. Why would I risk his life just to make it believable? Not to mention the coroner's report is false. Again, I have the actual report and a scan from a police bomb disposal drone, and I know Jason Blake intercepted a message to another agent about being activated. I believe that message was to Friedrich Smith. I have also put this in my report. And I would also like to add that my fiancé and his ship were attacked by Captain Trifel of SS Dormund. I have provided the black box metadata to the commander. The ship attacked the moment it believed I was onboard and was claiming it was looking for Friedrich Smith as an excuse to get within boarding range.” She said she glanced at Maria, who was getting very pale.

She looked back to the officers. “Of course, this should be easy to confirm by contacting the SS Dormund to have their blackbox metadata compared to what I have provided. It should easily prove or disprove my report and my honesty.”

“Oh, we can do better than that. The reason I had you wait for five days was to track down the SS Dormund and order it to return so we could investigate it thoroughly."   Commander Skjerve said calmly.

“WHAT?” Maria shouted as she stood up. “Who is this hearing about? Her or me?”

“Both.” The commander replied as a young man in a navy uniform entered and sat down on the empty chair.

“Ah, welcome, Captain Trifel.  Do you know why you have been summoned?” he asked, and the captain nodded.

“Yes, Sir.” he looked at the captain and Rear Admiral, then to Kiko and Peter. He bowed his head slightly to them, then looked at Maria and back to Commander Skjerve. “I was given orders to await and blow up the ship Inanna after confirming that Peter Fordhall and Kiko Lee were onboard. I was to use the search for Friedrich Smith as an excuse to make them stop. I was informed they were rogue agents that had killed agents and endangered the operation.”

“Why not just arrest them?” the captain asked.

“I was told they were on a kill list and given an official order signed by Admiral Fallon. I have provided all the intel I have been given, along with the black box metadata. I was acting on what I believed to be legal orders.”

“Admiral Fallon? I have heard that name before.” Peter whispered to Kiko, grabbed her pad, and started searching. He found it and showed her. She looked at ot and then up at the panel. The captain continued.

“And this order came directly from him?”

“No, these were sent through Lieutenant Commander Gypta. She was the lead officer on the operation, according to her,” he said.

“Thank you, Sir. You may leave,” the captain said, Captain Trifel stood up and saluted them quickly before leaving.

Maria stood up. “I’m not allowed to cross-examine him?”

“We have already confirmed everything before he entered. He followed orders; of course, we do wonder how you got the Admiral to sign off on that.”

“Sir, if I may,” Kiko said, and the captain nodded.

“Admiral Fallon is the father of Senator Gustave Fallon of Habla Sector, and he is on the list of compromised politicians from the Count’s cult.”

“Hmm, and you had access to this list. Lieutenant Commander. I guess it's becoming very clear what's going on here. Take her away.” The Rear Admiral said, and two droids immediately walked up, grabbed hold of her, and escorted her out. Right before she left, she turned and hissed at Kiko.

“He killed my father, you were supposed to kill him.  This is all your fault, Jason’s death is on your shoulders! You're the traitor here!”

Kiko stared at her. “You admit it!”

“I did what you could not! He was a monster.” She said, “Jason was just a casualty of war.”

The others watched silently as she spoke, and Kiko looked at the rear admiral, who seemed very upset at the moment.  Then the Rear Admiral spoke

“He was my nephew.”

Maria looked at him, confused, because it did not connect.  But for Kiko it did; Jason had mentioned his uncle, who had caused an argument in the highly religious family because of his non-Christian faith.  But he had never told him about his work, and now it was clear.  Maria had just admitted that she had killed Jason in front of him. The androids then led her out, and the officers looked at them.

“It's clear that your report is more truthful than what we got from her, enough that we will drop any charges against you.  You are to report to the office tomorrow for your next mission. Take care now.” The Rear Admiral said, and she gave them a salute, which they returned, and then they left.

Peter looked after them and then to her. “We can leave now?”

“I have to report for duty tomorrow, but yes, we are free and can leave now.”

“We got to celebrate, and you still look sexy in that uniform.”

“I have a few plans for how we can celebrate,” she replied as she walked towards the door. Peter followed her.

“Do tell.” He said.

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Inanna dropped out of light-speed and emerged from the hyperlane as it approached the merc ship Thunder in dead space. Peter and Kiko took a shuttle over with Carmen, who then returned to Inanna. They would be heading back to Runior and await new orders.

The captain of Thunder was a veteran who was more than happy to earn a few credits to play taxi for them. His ship was already known for these kinds of jobs. The crew was mostly vets, and they spent three days with them, prepping for what was to come and hearing quite wild war stories.

Three days later, the ship emerged from the hyperlane near the domed Nalos city of Karkar. Peter and Kiko were flown down by one of the crew before, and the ship flew back into the hyperlane, vanishing, leaving them alone at the hangar of the city

The Nalos customer service staff checked their ID and let them into the city. They walked through the hallways; the walls had strange, flowery patterns, and the Nalos all looked at them as they passed. It was clear they were among the few humans here. They both had backpacks and tried as hard as possible to appear like tourists, which was not hard with the art and displays lining the hallway.

 A Nalos guide came up and smiled at them. " Welcome to Karkar. My name is Mishu Ditgak. Are you staying long? Do you need a guide to this beautiful city?”

She was a beautiful woman with a red-and-blue eye pattern that reminded them of pandas, elfin-like ears, and long, dark blue, almost black, hair with several thin braids. She had bright blue eyes and moved with a catlike grace. She wore a dark grey tuxedo-like suit with golden trim and a champagne collarless shirt. They both had to take an extra look, Peter was the first to snap back to reality.

“No, unfortunately, we are just passing through. We were lucky to be dropped off here by a passing ship.  We are joining the cruise to human space. My wife Sisu was told the cruise was better than the human ones.”

The guide smiled, took a deep breath, closed her eyes as she exhaled, enjoying it before returning to a professional demeanor.

“Ah, you want the tourist counter on the first level. Let me guide you. And don’t worry. It will be my absolute pleasure.” She said, and they looked at each other, then Kiko shook her head.

“We are happily married, so don’t get any ideas.”

“Don’t worry, I will not intrude on your marriage... unless you both want to. You humans are so unpredictable at times. It is my job to guide tourists.” Then, with a wink at Kiko, “And sometimes the job is just wonderful.”

“Then lead the way,” Peter said, and Mishu began to guide them, partly professional, sometimes with a few flirtatious hints aimed at both of them. She spoke about how Karkar was originally a mining colony that became a trade hub, and then played a crucial role in the Bug War as the spark that ignited it. This was where humans and Nalos joined forces to uncover Caren's plot to destroy the federation through religious fanatics. This led to the full-on war known as the Bug War.

It became clear that Mishu was drawing out the history just to stay longer in their presence, and she was quite disappointed when they arrived, giving them her number in case they changed their mind. They watched her leave, and Kiko chuckled.

“That was one horny woman.”

“You do remember that human pheromones are very arousing to the Nalos, right?” Peter reminded her, and she looked at him and back at her.

“Shit, she stayed so long with us just to…oh my…  but how did you guys deal with that during the war?”

“They have nose filters and a medicine that reduces the effect. Still, let's just say a lot of humans got really worn out when having R&R on Nalos worlds. But on the ship, they all got inoculated, so there were just the usual problems.” He replied, then smiled. “Poor girl, she was not prepared.”

Kiko chuckled, and they walked over to the tourist counter. The Male Nalos man just stared at them and took a deep breath, then looked around desperately before focusing on the job.

“How may I be of service? I mean, help you...”

Peter took control and bought the tickets, it was two days away, and they were registered as Sisu Lam and Mostafa Kwon from Samigang. They got a hotel suite for the next two days and spent them playing tourist and planning as much as possible.

On the second day, a message appeared on the screen, and a Nalos officer in a green-and-navy uniform looked at them. He looked like a more masculine version of the Nalos they had seen so far, but still more slender than most humans.

“Good Evening, my name is Kaj Fustar, I would like to have a clarification. I have gone over your document. You're from Samigang, yes?” The man looked like

“Yes. Is there a problem?” Peter replied, and the man looked at them.

“No. Just a slight hiccup in the system. It lists you as not married.” He replied, and Kiko smiled shyly.

“This is our honeymoon. I wanted to see some actual nalos, and my friend recommended this trip.  We just wanted to get one stop before the rest of the humans join on Maginor.”

“Well, that clears that up. You're not the first to do so. Enjoy your stay.” The man said and then logged off. They looked at each other.

“We have to be more careful. If the wrong people find out, then they will send assassins or worse.”  Kiko said, looking at her.

“Hey, it's almost over. And as you said, if we don’t do this, we have to look over our shoulder for the rest of our lives.” He embraced her, and she leaned into him.

“You're too damn relaxed for this. Stop being calm.” She said, then sighed. “No, don't stop. I need this.”

“As you wish, princess. Let's just get through this, then get the ship and get you that ring.”

“Yes, get the ring and get married,” she said, growing more nervous. What if she had made a mistake? What if her gamble was wrong? Was she leading Peter and herself to a certain death? She had enough evidence to bury Maria, but what about the commander? She knew the type. Young and ambitious, he might just want it all cleaned up with no loose ends. She shivered at the thought. Peter had left a copy of all the evidence with his crew, but she didn’t know how it would turn out.

She had considered giving a copy to her brother, but any evidence from him would be easily dismissed outside Sanctuary as the words of a crime lord.

Peter must have read her mind as he answered. “Hey, if everything goes to hell, then every veteran we've known I helped will start spreading the evidence, remember. That’s Argor's order, and he hasn’t let me down yet.

She looked up at him. “I hope it's enough.”

“It has to be.”

“It will be.” He replied.

The trip back to Maginor went faster than they had expected. They made a few friends but kept mostly to themselves as they quickly realized what kind of cruise they had joined. When the cruise arrived at Maginor, they followed the passengers as they disembarked. Officially, they had their cabin for the whole trip back to Samigang.

When they stepped into the hall, they smiled, remembering how it had been when they first arrived here together. They got through the control with ease and moved inside the station.  When they found a place to stay, they sat down to prepare for the next step. They had avoided the cheap hotels, as they were always watched, as were the exclusive ones.  They did what regular tourists would do and got a room, then went to get some food.  Continue the charade of tourism. In a galaxy with trillions of humans, it was pointless for the AI to use facial recognition to look for somebody unless you knew they were there. They knew that they were expected, so on Maginor the AI would be looking for them, and they wanted to be found.

So they went to eat at a restaurant knowing they would be spotted. The question now was by whom. They were halfway finished with the four-course meal when a tall blond man came over to them.

“You made it. Good, Can Join?” Commander Sondre Skjerve asked, and Kiko nodded, and he called up a chair and joined them.

“Well, we were not sure who would come.” She replied, and he nodded.

“Yes, I can understand that. Unfortunately for her, I outrank her,” he said as a matter of fact, then he looked at Peter.

“Danm, you're one impressive man, Peter. I have had three operatives asking if they could recruit you.” He added.

“Ehh, thanks, I guess? I don’t recall meeting any agents who told me that.”  Peter replied, and Kiko smiled.

“Well, the first was her, of course. Anyway, I need the evidence, and then I need you guys to stay low for a few days. Don’t worry about the system, I have changed your status.”  He said, looking at Kiko, as she studied the man. He seemed to be confident and honest; in fact, she reflected on him. He never appeared as your regular officer.

“I have a copy here,” she said, handing him a memory crystal. He took it and chuckled.

“Let me guess, others have copies as well. Like Argor? Don’t worry. I’m not the enemy here. I’m more like your big brother trying to fix this mess. Anyway, enjoy the meal, and I will contact you in a few days,” He said and then stood up and left them.

“Shit… Argor is an agent? Fuck. I'm going to kill him,” Peter said, and Kiko cursed as she looked at the plate, holding her head in her hands.

“What the hell do we do now?” she asked, and Peter looked defeated.

“I don’t know. I guess we just have to hope he is honest and didn’t lie to us.” He said.

“Of course he lied to us.” She almost hissed.

“Do we leave?”  He asked.

“Where? They got Inanna and have us on high alert, probably. This was a fucking stupid idea. What the hell was I thinking?” She said in a low, almost panicked voice.

“That we did the right thing. Look, we are not dead yet. If he wanted to kill us, then it would be so easy here.”  Peter said, and she looked at the plate and at him.

“Maybe this is our last meal, a last courtesy before making us vanish.” She said, and Peter looked at her, then smiled slightly.

“Then let's make the most out of it. I mean. I mean, if we are going to die, then why worry about it? If he gave us this last meal, then he will probably give us a quick, painless one as well.” He said, and she just looked at him.

“Unbelievable. You're trying to find a silver lining at our potential last meal?” She said, leaning back. Part of her wanted to yell at him, but another part agreed with him. There was nothing she could do about it now, so why worry? They didn’t bring any weapons to avoid being seen as hostile, that decision was biting her in the ass now.

“Well, it's better than sitting here worrying about what might happen. So if you only had a few more days left. What would you do?”

She grinned. “You know damn well what I would do to you.”

“Well, I guess we have our plans for the next few days,” he said, and she smiled.  “Let's finish the meal first. I'm going to need the energy.”

“Good idea.”

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“Mission fulfilled; report back for debriefing. Await pickup.” - Lieutenant Commander Maria Gypta

“Lieutenant Lee, I would like to convey our Condolences for the loss of your father. It is of utmost importance that you report back for debriefing as soon as possible.  Be careful, and do not travel by public transport or inform anybody about your route. Bring all evidence.” – Commander Sondre Skjerve

 Kiko looked at the two incoming messages. And a second later, an alarm popped up. Embedded in Maria’s message was a tracker virus. The virus was immediately deleted. She smirked slightly; Peter had installed military-grade firewalls. The guy had inherited his old captain's paranoia in protecting the ship from any potential harm.  She looked back at both of the messages.

Maria’s message was just a huge red flag, but Commander Skjerve was a little too good. It sounded like he was completely on her side. Which made no sense; why would he switch sides so completely? Navy Intelligence loved rank, she had gone above her commanding officer's head and almost accused her of sacrificing agents for her own benefit and questioned her orders and judgment. She turned off the screen, grabbed her cup, and walked out of the cabin to find Peter.

She found him going over the preflight system with the crew, he looked up as she entered.

“Everything okay?”

“No, we have to stop at Maginor to finish something.”

They all looked at her now, then Carmen spoke. “I’m guessing the person who killed your father is there.”

“Something like that, yeah.” She replied. “We leave tomorrow, right? I have to say goodbye to my family. And… and prep for a stormy trip. 

They slowly smiled and then started to laugh. Peter walked over and put his arm around her waist.

“Oh, we know; this ship is made for storms. I hired them for storms, remember.”

She looked at them and remembered all the time they had spent together, all the stories, their wants and broken past.  Inanna was a ship that was filled with broken people who had a second chance and a second family.

“The ship will be ready, princess,” Argor said, and the other gave their cultural thumbs-up.

“Don’t worry, but we will load a little more and make a few extra preps, just in case,” he said before asking. “Do you want me to join you?”

“No, it will be fine, a few hours at most. It's just a goodbye.”  She replied, hoping she was right. “I’ll call you if I need anything.”

He kissed her. “I will be waiting, and let's just leave when you get back. No point in delaying it.”

 She agreed and then headed to the shuttle bay and flew down towards the planet and city.  She had never thought about it, but the city covered one-tenth of the planet; the rest was plains and rivers. Sanctuary used to be famous for its lack of large oceans and instead having millions of large rivers. It was also smaller than Earth, with artificial gravity placed under the city that had given the huge city the only ocean, a small one that surrounded almost the whole city. She didn’t know why she was getting nostalgic now of all times. Now she wanted to travel and join a river cruise. She diverted off course and flew towards one of them. She spent about an hour flying there, wishing Peter had joined. Then she turned back to the city, landed on the roof pad, and was greeted by the guards, who escorted her inside. She found her brother in Father's office. Nothing had changed. Except for a small hologram of Amalia at the desk.

“Come to say goodbye?” He asked, and she sat down in front of him.

“Yes, I don’t know when I will return. Might be years from now. What about your honeymoon?”

“Won't happen. This job doesn’t take vacation, and Amalia doesn’t want to go alone.”

“No surprise there. What about Scarlett Kwan and her son?” She asked.

He chuckled. “You mean our half-brother? I’m sending them away with protection.”

“Don’t kill them.”

“I’m not Mom, I'm more like Dad. If he is away, then he has no claim, and he will grow up rich on one of the Prime worlds. I have transferred some funds to her and arranged for everything. Per father’s wishes. His will was quite clear.  I’m guessing that’s why you’re here.” He said, got up, walked over to the corner bar, and poured them a glass each.

“No, I came to say goodbye. I can’t stay, it was never the plan. You know that.”

“I know, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you leave. You're my strongest contender.” He said as he handed her a glass. She took it and looked at it.

“Poison?”

“Yeah, your favorite. Fritz Belgium. “ he said as he sipped his own beer. She smiled, and drank.

“The best kind.”

Her brother walked over to the small sitting area in the middle of the room and sat down. She joined him.

“So let's get this over with. Dad left you two million shares in Ares and a few thousand in other robotics and ship-engineering firms. You are well off. You also bought stock in a few companies in Samigang and Runior. They all come with IDs as residents of those worlds. And lastly, 500 million. However, there is a condition to all of this. You give up any claim to the family business.” 

She looked at him, shocked. “That’s too much.” Then she put her drink down. “Do I become the next Uncle Gino?”

“Heavens no, Uncle Gino left with no protection; you will be Aunt Kiko, who did it correctly. How to do it if you want to leave. Or you can stay, work under me.  I could use you as well.”

She laughed, grabbed her beer, and drank half of it in one swallow. “ Hell no! I will come to visit, though, and expect nephews and nieces running around. My kids need crazy cousins to play with when we visit.”

He looked at her and nodded. “Deal, let's get the lawyers to finalize it and have lunch. Is Peter joining us?”

“No, he is prepping the ship. Okay, let's finish this.” She said, and Kastu called in the family lawyers.

After the signing, she met with Amalia, and the three of them walked up to the shuttle where some of the servants were carrying a few boxes inside.

“Explosives?” She asked, and her brother laughed.

“No, a farewell gift.” He said, and Amalia chuckled.

“I picked them out for you. Enough to be properly dressed for any situation.” She hugged her one last time, then bowed to her brother. He nodded back, chuckled, and lightly hit her shoulder. “Don’t be a stranger. But give it a few years, so I get this whole place under control. And next time bring”

“I promise.” She hit him back slightly harder and then walked inside and flew back to Inanna.

As she docked, she was met by Peter. He greeted her and called Argor.

“She has arrived. Let's go!”

She walked over to him, smiled, and kissed him. “Yes, let's go.”

He nodded and swept her up in his arms just to be reminded of his wounds and slowly collapsed onto the floor.

“Take it easy, my knight. Let's get you healed up completely first.” She said and helped him up, and they walked up to the crew quarters. She greeted the crew, and then she dragged Peter to the VR beds for some alone time. After all, it was a few weeks to the first stop and over a month to get to Maginor. Peter would be fully healed by then, and they would have time for both.

When they dropped out of hyperspace near the Pahar, a system with four rock moons and two asteroid fields, it would be a short stop to connect to the hyperlane leading to Maginor.  There was a starbase and a few mining operations in the system but nothing worth stopping for unless you were picking up cargo.  Peter was at the cockpit as they dropped out, and Kiko was sitting behind, going over documents on the pad. Argor and Maler were at their stations when a call came through.

“Inanna? This is Captain Trifel of SS Dormund. You might have a passenger on board we have to take into custody. We will have to board your ship to check. So turn down the engine and prepare to be boarded. If you fail to comply, we will use force.”

Peter looked at Kiko, then the other.

“Force means they will fire at us. Just if you are confused.” Argor said with a serious look on his face, and Maler looked at him.

“You don’t say? So what now, Cap? Escape? shoot back or let them board?” he asked.

“I can plot an escape with three short jumps into dead space to get them off track, and we use route two, as you suggested,” Argor said. Peter nodded and looked at Maler.

“Stealth engine, I’ll get Jurak on it,” Maler said as Peter smiled and turned back to the coms.

“This is Captain Peter Fordhall of Inanna. I only got my crew on board. Who are you looking for?”

“We are looking for Friedrich Smith. It's just a routine checkup.” He replied, and Peter looked at Kiko.

“Friedrich Smith? There is no Friedrich Smith on this ship. I’m sure your scans have already realized there are only two humans on this ship. Neither of us goes by that name.”

“They are charging up their Ion cannons, sir,” Maler said, and Peter chuckled.

“Sir, there is no need to charge your weapons.” He looked at Maler, who nodded, and then the soft hum of the engine faded.

“Good, your name is Peter Fordhall, right? Is Kiko Lee the female in the cockpit with you?”

Kiko looked at him, and then at the frigate that was getting dangerously close, no shuttle had been launched for boarding.  Peter looked at her, then at Argor, who gave a thumbs up. Then he looked to Maler, who also nodded.

Peter pressed a button, and a silent alarm to strap in ran through the ship.

“Who?” He asked. “Siko lu? No, there is no Siku Lu on the ship.”

A slightly annoyed captain replied. “I said Kiko Lee not Siku Lu. I know you're engaged to her.”

“Oh, her? No, we had a fight. She decided to stay behind on Sanctuary. You know how women can be. Why?” He replied, and Kiko stared at him; she didn’t know whether to laugh or hit him.

“Don’t play a fool. I just got confirmation from our visual scans.”

“It was worth a shot; what do you want with her?” Peter replied, and the reply was four shots by ion cannons followed by one plasma shot. Aimed directly at the cockpit. The ship shook as the outer Nano protection layer was blasted off around the cockpit and the stealth engine dropped.

“Hit it!” Peter said, and Argor reacted; the ship jumped violently into deadspace half a light-year away, then, in another violent jerk, jumped in another direction for a few minutes.

“Shit! I've never been more glad for your ship paranoia.” Maler said as Per unbuckled and moved over to her. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him, confused, then it dawned on her. The captain was trying to kill her, and she had no idea who had sent him.

“Yeah, but this changes everything. We can’t arrive with Inanna. They know the ship.”

“Are you still going there? They will kill you.” He said, and she looked at him.

“If I don’t go, they most definitely will, our only hope now is that she is acting rogue."

“How will that help? That was a frigging frigate. Who knows what else she has access to.”

“Look, we cross the border to Nalos and piggyback on a cruise ship. We got new ID’s and I have a contact that might clear this up.”

“You mean the guy you talked about earlier?” Peter said a little calmer now.

“Yeah, if she is rogue, then this is borderline treason, and they will make the matter go away permanently. No paperwork.” She replied.

“That’s a pretty big if.  Are you willing to risk it?”

“Yeah. Besides, we don’t have any choice.  You remember what Mungo said, I rather have the navy to fall back to if its correct. We don’t need more enemies.” She replied, and Peter sighed.

“Guess we are going to the Nalos kingdom then, find us a place near the border.” He said, and Maler replied with a

“Aye, aye Captain.”

 Crew

Fu-Fy – Alver,  a pretty good scanner and drone operator

Mug-Fy – Alver -engineer, medic

Jurak –Duskin Engineer

Argor – Jobar; I'd rather have the navy to fall back to if it's /co-pilot drone,

Maler – Fushan, Fushan, Navigator, and deep space scanner

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“Good evening Sir! I’m sorry to disturb you and for the breach of the line of command.” It had taken her a lot of favors to get through, but if her hunch was correct, then it would all be worth it.

Commander Skjerve nodded slowly. “I acknowledge that you are aware of the breach of conduct. I will grant you five minutes.”

“Thank you, sir. I don’t know if you're aware that my father, Hando Lee, was assassinated last night and that there was an attempt on my life as well. The assassin used a Glista S34 with a remote trigger. The signal was traced to the apartment of Fredrich Smith, the boyfriend of Jason Blake, who was my backup. Jason Blake was found dead in the bedroom, along with a fresh clone of Fredrich Smith. The apartment had three IEDs connected to sensors. I’m now going over Lieutenant Commander Gypta because I sent a report about my father's situation, information that changed it drastically. She had earlier recruited me to help her take him out; she has a personal vendetta against him based on faulty intel. I fear she didn’t like being informed about that.” She sent all her files directly to him. “It will also be noted that there is now a high risk of a gang war, as several families will see this as a chance to rise in the hierarchy. The new leader, my brother Kastu Lee, has taken over and is now dealing with assassination attempts.”   She spoke with as much calm as she could muster, yet with urgency.  Commander Skjerve looked at her with an unreadable expression, she reminded herself never to play poker against him, but at the mention of Jason’s death there was a crack in the façade, quickly regained.

“I will look over these documents and send a third party to go observe the situation.” Then he stroked his chin slightly as he thought. “Send Gypta a report as neutral as you can make it, then forward her reply to me. Do not tell her where you are in hiding.”

She nodded. And he gave her a quick salute and cut the feed. She sat down and wrote a standard report to Gypta, giving the impression she had moved to her old apartment to observe the new situation without getting involved. Then she went to Peter and ate dinner with him.

A few hours later, she and Carmen flew down to her old apartment, set up a surveillance system, sent the report from the terminal there, and then returned to the ship.  The next few days were spent waiting and observing the situation on Sanctuary. Katsu had one more attempt on his life, and there were three outbursts of contention that tried to rise up. Her brother captured them, cryo-frozen them, and used them to practice his golf swing in front of their crew. It was brutally effective, and he quickly got the megacities under control. A few new crime lords rose up to replace the failed contender. By a week, it was clear the assassin had left the city.  Gypta had replied with a simple, ‘sorry for your loss, carry on your observation.’  She had sent the report to the commander.

Peter was now well enough that he could walk, and they attended the funeral of her dad. Before it started, she had time to speak with Amalia there. She found out she had made an agreement with Old Clara to keep the family in Ares' good graces. When the funeral started early in the morning, as the sun rose, she and her brother sat alone on the right side of the image of her father.

The funeral was divided into three rooms. The main room featured a display of her father's image and his urn. In this room, only the closest family sat on the right side, with the rest in two rows at the back of the room. In the rooms to the right and left, the guests were enjoying a last meal on her father's bill, sharing stories about the man. The difference was who was allowed to join the different rooms, the left was for his criminal acquaintances, while the right was for dignitaries and friends outside the family business.

The funeral was a display of who was the most powerful in Sanctuary, and it was clear that failing to show respect here would cost your life. The security was insane, yet the diverse crowd from all walks of life was the only constant, and they were somehow powerful in their own right, from gang leaders to tycoons.

Kastu sat silently through the entire funeral, just observing the guests. He noticed who came and who did not. A little past noon, Kwan arrived with a four-year-old boy in tow; Kiko looked at her, confused, and Amalia gasped. Kwan sent the boy alone to pay respects to her father's picture. He took it very seriously, as only a three-year-old could. Walking up, probably counting the steps, he bowed deeply to the picture, then turned to Kastu and bowed to him. He looked at the boy, then at Kwan, then back at the boy, and tapped the spot next to him. The boy looked at his mum, who nodded, then walked over and sat down next to his brother.  Kwon then walked up and bowed to her father's picture, then to them, and walked back. She slowed down, as if unsure what to do, then Grandma silently gestured for Kwan to sit next to her.  Kiko was confused; the boy looked familiar, yet she had never seen him before. She wanted to turn and look at him, but she had to wait; she wondered how the boy would manage to stay there and show respect for so long. It slowly dawned on her who the boy was.

 Kastu stayed stoic, and the young boy looked at him and imitated his gesture. It was rather cute to see how the boy did his best to show he was just as stoic as Kastu.  The biggest shock was the arrival of her ex-husband, Mungo Jangion; he came alone, bowed to her father's image, then to Kastu, before joining the others in the next room. Kiko wanted to go after him but knew she could not, Peter saw it and looked at an Alver servant who nodded and followed Mungo.

After a few hours, the boy slowly started to sway; it was clear he was getting tired, and, to her surprise, Kastu simply pulled him gently closer, letting him lean on him as he fell asleep.

When the sun set, Kastu stood up and gently woke the boy. The boy yawned as he stood up. Kiko joined them, and they all bowed to their father one last time.   Then her brother turned to her and introduced the sleeping boy,

“Kiko, meet Ji-su Lee, your half-brother.”

 The boy looked up at her with sleeping eyes. Then yawned and bowed to her, but she stopped him.

“No, you don’t need to bow to me.”

“Okey, can I go to mum now?”

“Yes, you can, and tell her you're safe. No harm will come to you; your big brother will protect you. Can you tell her that?”

He nodded and let the boy go. The boy ran to his mom, and she hugged her, then sleepily told her what he had been told. She could see Kwan breathe relieved. Katsu nodded to her and turned to Kiko.  

“She was afraid of what you would do to him, yet she still came.” She said, and he nodded.

“And that saved her; if not, I would have had her banished. Now he is family.” Then he looked towards the door to the dignitaries' room. “Go, find out why he came. That was more than just a peace offering. I will speak with him later so tell him to come to the office tomorrow.” He replied, and she looked at him, then gave him a quick nod.

“You will do good. Just don’t go overboard.”

“I won’t, I don’t want the war, I want the peace father brought and kept. I just hope I can keep the face of the biggest, meanest guy in the room.” He replied quietly. She smirked slightly.

“Just like Dad. “ Then she bowed to him and walked over to Peter, who embraced her gently.

“I didn’t know you had a half-brother.”

“Neither did I. I guess Dad kept some secrets from me.” She said she remembered a time when he had sent Kwan away, claiming she had fallen out of favor. He had stayed away from her for two years; then he had rekindled their on-and-off relationship. She smiled, that sneaky bastard had hidden his son from the others and her.

She glanced at Kwan and at the sleepy boy in her arms. Grandma was stroking the boy's short hair. Then she got back to business.

“Where is he?”

“Still here, waiting for you. Shall we? I’m interested to see what he has to say.” Peter said and then led her into the room. Nobody wanted to show disrespect by not showing up. It was the reason they had been seated all day.

Mungo was easy to spot in the huge room with hundreds of guests. He sat in the alien section, but a few humans were at his table as well. He spotted her as they made their way over and said something to the other at the table, and they all got up and left.  They waited for them to leave, then made their way over.

“Count Jangion, I’m surprised to see you here.  May we join you?”

“Yes, of course, my first wife and killer of my father.” He said, then smiled.  “Sit down, you old fool. And you must be Peter. I have heard so much about you, mostly between swear words.”

They joined him, and he raised a glass of plum juice. “To your father. I understand you two came to an agreement at the end?”

An Alver servant brought two glasses to them as he spoke, and they took them and drank with him.

“Yes, turned out it was my mother who was the snake. Still I’m leaving the family business.” She replied, and Mungo looked at Peter.

“That, I guess, is your fault? You have really brought her back from the cave of the abyss.”

Peter simply smiled, looked at Kiko, then back at him.

“Oh, the silent type?”  Mungo added.

“No, just don’t know what to say to that. Just curious. Among most Gyrran cultures, it’s a show of respect and end of hostilities, but in other Gyrran cultures your presence here would be considered a threat. So, which one is it?” Peter said, and Kiko smiled.

“He is a book nerd.”  She said, and Mungo laughed.

“You finally realized it's better to get a smart guy than a handsome guy,” Mungo replied.

“Look who's talking!” she replied, and Mungo grinned.

“I’m considered very handsome among my kind,” he said as he made a gesture with his clawed hands while striking a pose, which just made him look silly, then he got serious.

“I’m here as a peace offering and to warn you, I have no ill intent. My father was planning to have me killed. He was very direct about that. He was going to kill you and then kill me. He had already killed my wife and child. So no, you did me a favor.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. It was not my intent to bring you into this, nor to spy on your father. I was drunk that week.”

“As was I, and you a week-long marriage is not how you spy on us.  I know you are far smarter than thinking that that was the way to do it. Demons… The way you had him killed proved that. I consider our marriage the same as… what do your humans say?” He stopped for a dramatic pause. “Getting a tattoo while being drunk.  No. I’m here as a curtsy to your father from my house and because others in my father's cult have tried to recruit me for vengeance.  They wanted me to sacrifice myself and pump my full of nano explosives. Don’t worry, I declined and reported them. Unfortunately, people in the court helped them escape justice.”

“Shit.”  She replied, and Peter looked at him.

“That does sound like a threat.”

“If you see it that way, I see it as a warning. I can give you the names of the people who approached me. There were two, a human named Galius Remus Octavia, you know, from the Kingdom of Rome, and a Gyrran lower lord named Husta Rodnan. I suspect there were more, and they were just messengers. So be careful. I hate that I have to celebrate your wedding with a feast to rub it into my father’s surviving friends. I’m a little pissed at that. You left too many alive.”

“So the rumors of the Prince are correct? He actually wants to bring back the old ways. Pre-Caren?” Peter asked, and Mungo nodded.

“Yes, there will be a civil war soon, and I'm here to, well, do business. To ensure my side wins.” He said.

“Then visit my brother tomorrow at his office. We do not discuss business today; actually, he told me to tell you not to leave before you have a word with him,”  She replied.

“Thank you. I will do so. Now you have to let me know when you're married, so I can send you a wedding gift.”  He said.

“Of course I will.  If you will excuse us, we have to make the round. And again, I’m sorry about your family.”

Mungo bowed his head slightly as they left, she didn’t really know how to feel about it.

“What do you think?” She asked when they had some distance between them.

“That we talk about it later, they have big ears for a reason,” Peter replied. She glanced back at Mungo, who just smiled slightly, nodded, and tapped his ear. She smiled politely, then looked at Peter, slightly annoyed. She continued mingling. They stayed deliberately away from the other room. She did not want to be involved in that part of the family.  And when it was finally time, they were picked up by Argor and flew up to Inanna.

As they were settling for the night, she checked the long-distance messages. Two messages had arrived. One from Maria Gypta and one from Commander Skjerve.

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She reconnected to Carmen. “Sorry about that. Is the room clear?”

“Clear, and I hacked the computer and scanned the bodies; one of them is a clone.” She said, and Kiko had to stop for a second to think.

“A clone? How old?”

“Fresh out of the printer, probably never awakened. It’s a clone of Friedrich Smith. The other is clearly older, with all the signs of a naturally aged body,” she said as the images and scans came up. She knew it was smart to use a bomb-scanning drone, since they were also used to search for victims after the bombings and had medical scanners in addition to the others.

“By the way, can we keep the drone? It would be great for search and rescue.”

“Sure, I will say we lost it,” she said as she went through the files.  She was tempted to go down and check out the place herself, but she got what she wanted, she thanked Carmen and told her to pick up the drone at her leisure. Then she called up Chief Rosso.

“Hi, it's me again. I need to find a Friedrich Smith, most likely a fake ID, he also had a clone printed within the last few days that he shot and left in his apartment with his official lover Jason Blake. I’m sending you his ID and the address to his apartment. There are three defused bombs there, so be careful.”

“I will get right to it. We will close the spaceports.” He replied.

“Good, I will be in touch.” She said, and after a second's break added. “And be safe.”

“You too. You too.” He replied, and they hung up. Part of her wanted to head to Peter, but she also knew she was wasting precious time, so she started flying back to the penthouse while calling Drufus.

“Yes? how can I help?”

“Close all smugglers' ports; the suspected shooter is Friedrich Smith. Jason Blake's boyfriend. I think he is trying to escape,” she said as she sped through the city as the sun was setting. “And I'm coming in.”

“Affirmative, I will inform your brother.”

When she arrived, the reception was slightly more friendly. They didn’t lower their guard before they had scanned her; then she was escorted to her brother.

 He looked pissed. He was pacing around the large boardroom table, his hand on his back. The whole board was seated, and they seemed worried. In the middle of the table lay the corpse of Sammy Lee, one of her nephews. It looked like he had been stabbed to death with a heated blade. She looked around for the weapon and then saw it. Kastu held a plasma dagger behind his back. He noticed her and pointed the dagger at Sammy.

“That asshole tried to sabotage the elevator. He thought that if he got me, he could be next in line.” Then he turned to the board. “And somebody here thought he aided him. Somebody else is trying to use the chaos to grab more domain. I will not tolerate this! They will die today.”

She looked at the board and the guards and droids planted around the room.  She walked over to the bar at the corner and made herself a drink.

Kastu looked at them, then at her, then back at the board members. “You think she will step in? She would not care if everybody in this room died. What's the saying, sis? Better the devil you know than the unknown monster.”

Kiko nodded and lifted her drink. “Oh, I'm only here to watch. This is family business and I’m not part of this anymore.”

 “See, I want this city locked down. If anybody as much as breathes wrong, you will knock them down a peg. If anybody starts a gang war, you will annihilate the gang that started it,” he said as he sheathed the dagger and walked over to Kiko, making himself a drink as well. He noticed her weapons and pointed at the grenade. She handed it to him. The board members knew better than to speak up now. They all knew somebody was about to die, and nobody wanted to be the one.  

Kastu walked back to the board table, with a drink in one hand and the grenade in the other.

“Leo and Kelly! Stand up.”  He said casually. The two stood up nervously.  Both in charge of ganglands and smuggler ports.

“It's your domain they are after! You two are free to go. You need to get the area under control quickly, and keeping you here to watch me torture somebody to death is a waste of precious time.”  He walked over to Drufus and patted him on the shoulder.   “Drufus here will escort you out.”

Kiko noticed what else he was doing but said nothing. The two looked at each other, then at Drufus, who politely began leading them out of the room.

Kastu watched them leave with a smile, then turned to the rest of the board.  “Now I know you all think I’m the weak link. That my sister is the dangerous one. Yes, she is a beast. A killer. But she doesn’t know the business. I do. I know how to keep you all happy and… ahh, one moment.” He pressed a button, and a screen came to life, showing the two getting escorted to the elevator. Kastu chuckled.

“Yeah, I know it’s a cliché.”  

As he spoke, the two entered the elevator, and Drufus tossed the cryo grenade inside just as the door closed.

"But it's so effective. You betray the organization, and I will freeze you and take a baseball bat to your frozen body.” He shrugged slightly, then looked at Kiko. “Where was I?”

“You know how to keep them happy.” She said as she sipped her drink.

“Ah yes, happy. But as you see.. well, you get the point.”  As he spoke they elevator stopped on the screen, and two guards walked in with baseball bats and crushed the frozen victims into pieces.

“You may leave now,” Kastu said, and the board members looked at each other, then at him and stood up, making their way to the door. When the room was empty, he walked back to the bar as a droid removed the dead body on the table.

“Uncle is going to be pissed.” She said as he made himself a drink.

“Uncle has three daughters, and he knows the law,” Kastu replied. “What did you find out?”

“The killer is most likely Friedrich Smith, undercover Navy intelligence. Dad pissed off somebody there. All I need to know is if he has left the system.”

“Navy intelligence? Shit. I thought he was under their protection.”

“He was under investigation for his allegiance, all criminals involved in smuggling with aliens are. It's never a blanket protection.” She said as she emptied her drink. “You better remember it.”

“Got it, so how do I navigate that minefield?” he asked, and she looked at him.

She cursed herself, “Fuck! Okay, I don’t want to lose you too. I will set you up with a handler. Don’t piss the person off. They love it if you spy for them. They might repay good intel with goodies, but the same goes for bad intel.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. What are you going to do now?”  he asked.

“I’m staying for the funeral but not here. I’ll be on the ship. Peter needs me. Friedrich Smith is either gone or dead, most likely replaced by a new assassin targeting me. That is, if this operation has been authorized. That’s all I actually need to find out.”

“And if it's not?” he asked. Pouring her a new drink.

“Well, then whoever gave the go-ahead is in trouble. Considering that it almost sparked a gang war and it has now affected the port, which affects the trade, it will be bad. Ares has a few factories on our moon, and they need stability and protection. “

“I know, Dad was very firm on keeping those factories out of trouble.”

“Yes, that’s your lifeline, you can’t threaten it, but you can show that you’re a better protector of the factories than anybody else. So, contact their liaison and make her fall in love with you.” She said, and he chuckled.

“Old Clara? Damn, Amalia won't like it.”

“Why?”

“She fancies Amalia.” he said, and then he sighed. “What do we have to do for family?”

“shit… yeah… We have a fucked up one.” She raised her glass, and he raised his.

“For the family.”

“I better go speak with her,” Kastu said, and Kiko finished her drink.

“Me too. I’ll contact you tomorrow.” Then they both left.

She docked on Inanna an hour later and went straight to the medicbay, where Peter was sleeping. The crew gave her space, and the doctor smiled as she entered. “ he is going to be safe. He is a strong man.” She looked at him, and he got the hint and left.

“He needs his rest,” was all he said as he left. Peter was sleeping and only in his boxers. She could see the wounds. The bullets had not hit any bones and passed through before they exploded.  She felt dizzy and almost collapsed at the thought of it.  She sank down next to him and could not stop crying. Her father was dead, Peter was almost dead. Again, the fool kept putting his life in danger to save hers.  The tears ran freely as she sobbed, trying hard not to wake Peter.

She felt his hand suddenly on her head, gently as always.

“Hey,” was all he said, and she looked up, her vision slightly blurred by tears. She tried to speak, but he beat her to it.

“I’m sorry about your dad.” She reached out and cupped his cheek as she tried to get control over herself. It was so hard.

“It's okay. Come. I’ll make space.” He inched to the side, and she crawled into the sickbay bed. He held her as she let it all flow out. She felt like a tiny girl. The world was just too big and dangerous now, and the walls had just crumbled. The waves of emotion rushing over her were too much, and she felt like she was going to drown if not for the rock she was clinging to. Peter was just there, stable and strong for her. She wanted to stay there forever. Slowly, the waves calmed, and darkness took over.

She woke the next morning, still in his arms, but the doctor was there too, checking the screens, talking to Peter, and him whispering back.

“Yes, doctor, I know, nothing excessive.  I will tell her,” he said with a calm voice. “By the way, can you ask the kitchen droid to make us breakfast? It's in the program.”

“You cant leave the bed for a day at least.” The doctor replied.

“Breakfast in bed then,” Peter replied. Then he noticed her stirring and stretching.

“Morning, love.  How do you feel?” He asked, and the doctor just left the room.

“Bad. Why did you get yourself shot?”

He chuckled. “Next time I will move faster.”  

She stared at him, and then she let her finger trace his wound.

“I got lucky.” He said.

“Lucky?” she said.

“Yeah, if not for Mug-fu I would be dead. Stopped the bleeding and got me stable.  I’m glad I didn’t wear any protection, or those bullets would have exploded inside.”  He replied with a smile. His voice was soft and just damn irresistible. She looked up at her, and he shook his head.

“Nope, doctor's orders, no funtime before I’m healed.”

“And how long is that going to take?” she said.

“A few weeks at most.”

“A few weeks? I’m going to kill  that bastard slowly, he is going to wish he was never born.”

“Okay? I’m guessing you know who the shooter is?”

“Yes, and I have a very good idea who sent the guy.” She replied.

“Was it the Gyrrans? We did piss them off.”

“No, not the Gyrrans; the target was Dad and then me. It was personal.” She sighted and lay down. “Damn it, okay... yes, you're right. I’m Navy intelligence.  The killer was sent by my boss, and I don’t know if it was sanctioned or not.”

“Why would it be sanctioned?”

“Why? He was the crime lord of Sanctuary, they might want him gone for a number of reasons.”

“Did you check how they react to it?”

“Maria will be happy no matter what; I won't get anything out of her.” She said then sat up. “But… Damn it. You’re a genius.” She kissed him and got out of bed. “I need to use the FTL coms!”

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Kiko hung up and looked back at Peter as they lifted him up. She followed them as they carried Peter on a hover stretcher to the medbay.   Mug-Fu looked at her and then checked the med scanners.

“The wounds are clean. But he lost a lot of blood.  Starting blood production now, but we need a medic. I can only keep him stable for now.”

She looked at Mug-Fu, then to one of her dad's bodyguards. “You! Get us a good doctor. Use the transport and bring the doctor here.” Then she turned to Argor. “You're in command. Once you get a doctor, you go into orbit and stay there until I call back. She grabbed a life-sign monitor, attached it to Peter, and connected it to her bag. Leave that on.”

“Where are you going?” Maler asked.

“I’m going to find the dead guy who killed my dad and shot Peter!” Then she went to the armory, got pistols, noticed a box of cryo grenades, and took one.  One minute after, she was on her bike and shot out of the hangar towards the penthouse.   She landed on the terrace and was greeted by Carius and a team of security guards all aiming at her. She removed her helmet and allowed one of them to scan her before they moved her safely inside.  Carius took her to the office, where Kastu was reviewing the various news reports. He turned to her and was about to say something, but stopped for a second as he saw the blood.

“shit, is that Dad's?”

“Dad’s and Peter. Where is Dad? I just saw them loading him into the car. Peter said it was quick.”

“Two bullets to the head and one to the chest.  He is in the morgue already. Fuck! They are going to think I did it!”

“Did you?” she asked, and he stared at her, shocked.

“Me? I’m not the one who has spent half my life planning to kill him. Why did you do it?” he replied, looking at her coldly, and she realized there were three droids in the room.

“You think I was going to kill him now? When I finally got the truth? I was going to leave, I got out. Got my family back. I got my dad back, and you think I would kill him and then have  Peter shot?” She was getting angry, and he just looked at her for a while, not saying anything.

Then he sighed and looked back at the boardroom table screen as a holographic image appeared. “No, but I had to ask. And no, I didn’t kill him; why would I? I’m the heir, he was planning to step down after a year, give me time to ease in. Shit, now I got to fight to keep the empire under control. He pressed play, and a 3d image of the attack appeared.

 They watched as they saw how the attacker waited to shoot until she was bowing, three rapid shots, then right after several shots as Peter grabbed her and carried her to safety.

“You were a target too,” Katsu said calmly. “This was personal. Not from another gang. Maybe the Gyrran?”

She stared at the hologram and saw Carmen getting out, quickly finding the shooter nest and returning fire. As did many of the guards.

“No. I don’t think so. They would have focused on me, not Dad, me and Peter actually. God damnit.  I need to clean up and think.” She said, and her brother simply nodded as she left.  She played the attack again and again in her mind. There was something she was missing.   She checked Peter's Bio scan; it was still stable but weak.   When she got out, she got dressed, grabbed her weapons, and went back to her brother. He was looking over the city map now.

She looked at him, and he noticed her a few seconds later. “The city is in shock; the news got out while you were in the shover. And I had the doctor Ghilzai and his team sent to Peter.

“What about the snipers nest?” She asked.

“Empty! And I've never seen that type of rifle before; the system said it was a Glista S34 with a remote trigger.  We are tracking the signal.”

“Shit..  That’s a Navy-issue sniper rifle for remote ambushes.  You can set it up, sit up to 10 clicks away, and remotely fire the rifle. Can be preprogrammed too.  Are you sure this one is used for remote control?”

“Yes, it looks like they want us to find it. That’s strange. That’s your friend's lover's apartment. Fredrich Smith, that's that Jason guy's boyfriend, right?”

“Fuck, yes,” she said as the image of the apartment's owner appeared.  She started working on the console and hacked the apartment's security system. Soon, the inside of the apartment came into view. There was a setup on a table that she recognized. She scanned the room for its inhabitants and found both of them in bed.  Dead probably for a few days.”

She cursed and then went through the security record, thinking the person entering had used a scrambler, and when it came back, the deed was done. The person had entered five days ago, been out three times, the scrambler had followed the person out into the street. This was a ghost. She needed to get into the apartment to look for clues.

“I need to get in there and check it out. I need to get something at the station first.”

Katsu looked at her strangely. “That is not cop shit.  How do you know all these things?”

“I was recruited by somebody who wanted a close eye on dad; let's just say there is always a bigger fish. The motherfucking Shark recruited and trained me. You don’t need to know more.  And thank you.”

“Thank me for what?”

“Dr Ghilzai.  You keep the empire in control and arrange the funeral, we will stay for that.  We both know some stupid idiot is going to use this opportunity to try to take control.”

“Right of vengeance. Yeah, I gave you that. I won't stop you, but if I get them first, then I won't wait for you.”

“I won't expect you to.” She said, then walked out to the parked bike. Putting her helmet on, she flew straight to the police headquarters and walked in the door.  When she entered, the guard looked confused and worried.  Commander Kwan came rushing out of the nearest elevator and made her way over to Kiko.

“Detective Lee. Or is it just Kiko now? I will take you to the chief. We are so sorry for your loss, and all our resources are available for your family.” She said with a panicked smile on her lips.

“Thank you. Lead the way, and it's just Kiko.” She said as she made her way towards the elevator. She remembered Kwan being one of dads spy and sometimes a lover. She had good reason to be scared.  When they were alone in the elevator, she looked at the woman, only a few years older than herself.

“I’m sorry for your loss as well; he didn’t suffer, and you need not worry. You will be protected. My brother might still have use for you.” She said, her voice flat and cold. She might have forgiven her father, but Kwan had been the one keeping a tab on her for her father. And she still thought she was too young for him, but looking at her standing there, worried and scared, she mellowed a little, so she added softer. “And thank you for giving him some pleasure in his old life.”

She looked up, relaxed a little, and smiled. “Thank you. It means a lot.” Then the elevator reached the floor, and she led her to the police chief's room. Chief Rosso stood up as she entered.

“Kiko? I’m so sorry for your loss, we will do everything we can to aid you in tracking down the killer.”

“Thank you. I need a bomb-scanning  drone.”

“I know that look. Are you going to do something I should not know about?”

“Let's just say it's family business, and you should stay out of it as much as possible. You might want to put extra protection on Kwan, she might become a target now.” She said as  Rosso was getting up his pad to arrange for the bomb squad to bring her the drone.

“Sure, will do. Do you need an operator?”

“No, I got one.” She replied, and he simply nodded. Suddenly, an alarm went off, and Rosso cursed as he brought up the city map.

“That didn’t take long.” He said as she looked at the map; a gang fight had broken out in the delta sector, and her father's presence had kept that keg of dynamite under control. She had expected they would wait at least a day to plan before gang wars started.

“You need to get that under control fast. If you hesitate, then the other will follow up. And don’t get in Kastu’s way. The last thing we need now is the whole city erupt into chaos.” She said, and he nodded.

The damn lid has blown off; your brother better put it down hard and assert his power. Harder than your dad for the next week. I hate to see us go back to how it was before your dad got it under control.” He replied, and as they spoke, several other reports started to come in. This was more than just her father's death, somebody was stocking the flames.

“I got to go. I will tell my brother what you said.” Then she walked to the elevator and went to the bomb squad. She didn’t see Kwan as she left and was glad for it. She received the drone and called up Innana as she left the station.

“Hi, how is Peter?” She asked as Argor replied.

“He is stable, the doctor is working on him. He will be awake in a few hours and up in a week or two.”

“Thank god, okay, I need Fu-Fy to remotely control a drone, I need somebody we can trust.”

“I will get Fu-Fy for you. Do you need more help?”

“I will come up later, so have a shuttle ready to pick me up.” She replied,

“I will arrange for that. I’m putting you over to Fu-Fy.” He replied, and Fy-Fy's voice came on.

“Don’t worry about Peter, he is strong,” Fy-Fy said,

“I know, doesn’t mean I’m not worrying. Look, I got a bomb detection drone, I need you to sweep an apartment and upload everything you scan directly to the ship.  Keep it all with us, nothing to anybody else. Sending you the link now.” She sent Fy-Fy the connection link, and she could hear Fy-Fy working.

“Okay, I have full control now. Let me know when to start.”

She landed the bike on the roof of the apartment building and let the drone loose. “Tower 2 apartment 67 G, owner is Fredrich Smith. Share visual with me, please.”  She said, and Fy-Fy made the connection. On her visor, she got up the camera feed as the drone made its way outside the apartment and then scanned the window for explosives and bobby traps. After scanning the window, it detected three explosives.

“I need Carmen for this,” Fy-Fy said, and  a few moments later her voice came on the line.

“Hi, let's see here... Interesting setup. Definitely human. Military-trained but not special forces. Give me a few minutes. Oh, Peter is doing fine by the way. “ She said, and Kiko breathed out more relaxed.

“I’m going to kill them for shooting him.”

“Normally I would say get in line, but I fear for my life if I do,” Carmen replied, and Kiko smiled under the helmet. Then a message popped up from her brother.

“I got to take this message, I’ll be right back.” Then she cut the line and called her brother back.

“Anything new?”

“Are you safe? I just had an attempt on my life.”

“What? Yeah, I’m safe.  How serious?”

“Elevator blew up, Jasque and Mo died. I think they thought it was me. I’m having the whole building checked.”

“Mo? Your lookalike?” she said, and her brother replied with a tired “yeah” and a sigh.

“Let me know what the CCTV said and keep Amalia safe. They will go after her too.”

 “I will do. The streets are erupting, mostly low-level, but my resources are spread thin.”

“Why aren’t the board doing anything?”

“They are testing me, I have to do something.” He said, his voice distant as he thought about something. “Well, if it’s a test they want, then a test of resolve they will get.” His voice turned hard, and she knew the war for the throne had started again.

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Kiko walked back into the bedroom with the cart following her. She ordered it to stop as she sat down in the bed and kissed Peter good morning. He smiled at her and gently caressed her face.

“Morning, beautiful. Did I oversleep?” He said, and she nodded.

“Yes, but don’t worry; today I bring you breakfast in bed.”  She said as she waved the cart over, took out the tray, and put it in front of him. Peter chuckled and smiled at the gesture.

“I thought this was my job.”  He said, and she smiled as she poured him coffee, then got her tray and moved into bed next to him.

“It is; this is a once-in-a-million occasion. Don’t think I will steal your job.” She said as she settled into her seat next to him.  

“Don’t worry, I won't oversleep unless somebody wears me completely out again."

“Damn, I better practice serving you breakfast now, because that part is not stopping.” She replied.

“I don’t mind.” he winked, and she bit her lip. Her mind went completely in the gutter just looking at him.  Suddenly, Michu landed on the bed, meowed, tilted her head, and decided it was time to be snuggled as she crept up the bed.  Peter looked at Michu and back at her.

“We could take a shower after breakfast.”

“We definitely are. Eat up; you're going to need your strength.” She said, scooping up Michu and snuggling with her, feeling the small catbird purr against her chest.

When they finally emerged from the room, they noticed the penthouse was active with the moving. Now that her brother had married, his floor was being emptied, and he was moving out.  Her father was having a meeting with his board. They found Amalia relaxing on the terrace.

“Hi darling, I thought you would be upstairs yelling at the moving company!” Kiko said as they joined her.

“I got some grunts doing that. I will be yelling at them in the mansion. I’m just waiting for the meeting to finish. He is leading the meeting today.”

“What? But? Is Dad stepping down?” Kiko said, she had not expected this.

“No, just making it official that he is the heir; a lot of people thought it would be you. You know, because of the whole thing with the count.” She replied, and it made sense. Kiko had proven that she could deal with threats.  She had no idea what threats Kastu had faced or if they viewed him as untested.

“Damn, I didn’t mean to make trouble for him. I’m leaving as soon as we have finished our preparations. What about you guys, and where are you guys going?” she asked.

“Next month, He has a few things to fix first, but then we are going to Earth. The plan is to start in Tokyo, the real one, and Rome. Maybe even see the Vatican.” She replied.

“You're going to Earth? Damn, you're going to have so much fun.” She replied, and Amalia grinned.

“Yeah, shopping and seeing Earth, we have fourteen days of just the two of us. How long are you guys going on the ring quest of yours?”

She looked at Peter and then smiled. “Last time we agreed for six months.”

“Six months?” She said, and Peter just chuckled.

“I got to find the ring, buy it, and find some sort of priest to marry us, then we have our honeymoon there as well. It’s a whole planet to explore.”

“Just out of curiosity? Won't the government stop you?” Amalia asked, and Kiko looked at Peter. She had the impression they would sneak past, but with the Alver colonists they are bringing there was no chance that would happen.

“Well, we discovered and rescued people from the planet, then reported it to the correct authority. It's in Nalos's space, and they don’t consider a Zoo world to require extra protection. It's an artificial world, and as the discoverers, we- well, mostly me- have been given input on what to do with the world. After we leave, they are considering turning it into a tourist world. The royal house has already claimed it.” He explained. Kiko smiled, she knew part of it, as she had seen him being in contact with some Nalos.

“So you're not moving to that world?” She asked, and Kiko shook her head.

“Naw, might want a vacation home, but we were thinking of a farm on a planet near his parents. That way, we don’t have to spend a few months traveling just to reach a hyperlane. I don’t want to spend half a year in flight to visit you guys. A month is enough.”

“Yeah, a month's enough, just promise me you won't just disappear and bring me something from that planet of yours,” Amalia replied.

“Will do, and you have to bring me something from Earth.” A servant approached them as they sat, bowed, and then gently spoke to Kiko.

“Your presence is required in the meeting room.”

“She looked at him, then at Peter, and back at the man. “Family business?”

“Yes, only you are requested.” The man replied, and she stood up and gave Peter a quick kiss.

“I will be right back.” She whispered and then followed the servant. He took her to her father's office and stepped inside, where Drufus awaited her and guided her into the meeting room where the leaders of all the biggest crime families of Sanctury sat, debating criminal and legal matters with the casualness of a legal board meeting.

At the head of the table sat her brother; her father sat by the window, watching with a glass of whiskey. She walked over to him and bowed. “Oyabun!” Then, without addressing him any further, she turned to her brother and bowed just as deeply. “Oyabun!” Holding the bow until her brother got embarrassed.

“Thank you, I ask only one thing from you.” He said.

She stood up and ignored the table. “Ask.”

“Stay out of the family business.”  He said, almost casually, not looking at her. His gaze was at the board member. She had understood the power play underway, and she was all but happy to oblige.

“I promise, with one exception.” She said, and he turned to her.

“Exception? Tell me, and I might grant that boon.”

“I still claim the right of vengeance.”

There was a murmur among the board members, and their father barely managed to stifle a laugh; her brother shot her father a glance, then back to her and laughed.

“As if I could withhold that boon. I grant you the right of vengeance.”

At her brother's laugh, the room burst into hearty laughter. 

“You may leave, with your boon.”  He said, and she bowed quickly, turned to her father, walked over, and bowed again.

“Otōchan!” Then she turned to leave.

The room watched her leave with a relaxed chuckle. Some comments were made about ‘who would be stupid enough to challenge you now Oyabun.’ He left the room and made her way to Peter, who was casually speaking with Amalia, sitting on a high chair with a respectable distance between them. They both looked at her as she came, and she leaned into Peter's embrace. He kissed her neck.

“What happened?”

“Oh, just some silly family business; kinda signed my resignation paper from the business. What did you guys talk about?” She replied, putting his arms around her waist. Claiming the fool for herself.

“Oh, I was telling her about the VR world you made.”

She tilted her head to look at him. “All of them?”

Amilia immediately got curious.

“Of course not.”

“Now I'm curious. What did you make?” Amalia asked, and Kiko grinned.

“I don’t think Kastu would survive them.”

“Them? How many did you make? Can I have a few?  And he can handle anything you have made.” She asked, and Kiko grinned, and it grew wider.

“Sure, just don’t tell him it's from me; he will never be able to look at me again.”  She replied, and Amilia looked at Peter and back to her.

“Damn, I’m getting a little jealous now.”

They spent the next hour talking and teasing each other before the meeting finished and then went for a family lunch.  After lunch, they headed to the ship and hung around the crew as they prepared for the long trip. Adding extra droids, drones, and every spare part and survival gear they could think of. Peter insisted that they should also stock up on cryo weapons to deal with potential bugs.

The ship's preparation lasted a few days, mostly spent on board. Every problem they encountered, whether with permission or a checkup, was fixed with a call. They had a few dinners with the close family, and she went out with her girls last night. Jason had apparently been recalled home, though nobody had seen them since the wedding. When she mentioned it to her father, he told her he would look into it.

She also sent Maria a report on the current situation and reminded her about her upcoming leave. She didn’t expect a reply, but the next day Maria asked which day she was leaving so she could arrange a replacement. It was a little strange, but she sent the information. It was rare for Navy intelligence to use FTL communication for something like this.

It was only two days before they were leaving, and she doubted they would send someone new. Jason had told her they already had one extra here.

Peter was busy getting the Alver colony ship ready, and once it was filled, they took off. They would arrive a few days after them, as Inanna was slightly faster.

The last night, they had dinner with her father. It was a bittersweet farewell dinner. She had finally been able to put her vengeance behind her; she was free, and now she would leave with the man who had rescued her and been her rock to lean on through all of these changes. Her brother was married to her best friend, and she was out of the family business. She had won, got everything she wanted, and now she was leaving it all behind just because of Peter. She looked at him as he joked with her brother and her father. They looked like a normal family. Amalia was leaning on Kastu’s arm, she was happy and content.  This was what she wanted; in a few years, the table would have to be bigger with children causing havoc around them, being spoiled by the most dangerous crime boss in the sector.

The next day, her father insisted on driving them to the ship.  As they arrived, he got out and looked at the ship. It had been polished and given a white paint job, making it look brand new.  He insisted on looking around inside, and Carius and his men took positions around the ship, making sure everything was safe while her father inspected it. 

He spoke with every crew member and appeared as a kind old man, though she knew what he was doing. He wanted to see who she was traveling with and let them all know who he was. It was a subtle warning.  When he was content, they walked outside to his car. 

“I’m so proud of you, promise me that you don’t follow my footsteps.”  He said.

“I promise Otōchan! I will not become a crimelord.”

“And you! Treat her well and don’t let her push you around too much, just enough!”

Peter laughed. “I will try my best, Sir, but she is impossible to control.”

“That’s why you love her, right?”

“Yes, isn't that obvious?” he said, and then he remembered something. “Oh, I have sent your order to my grandpa. The shipment will arrive next month.”

“Great. It's very good, might be my new favorite.” Then he turned back to Kiko.

“Farewell, my beloved daughter. May the gods keep you safe. “ Then he bowed. “Until we meet again.”

When he straightened up, she wiped away a tear and replied, “Until we meet again.” Then she bowed, and it started to rain. No, it was just a splash. Then she noticed her father’s legs were not in front of her. As Peter grabbed her and carried her like a child, halfway up the ramp to the ship, he cried out in pain and tossed her inside. Carmen and Maler rushed out past her. Maler grabbed Peter and dragged him inside while Carmen fired towards a building several hundred meters away; she barely registered that her father was still on the ground as Peter yelled out some commands. Two of Dariuse's crew managed to get inside as the rap closed, and Mug-Fu rushed in with a medical kit to treat what she realized were Peter's wounds. She realized she too was covered in blood, and Carmen came over and quickly and roughly checked her for wounds but found nothing. The two Shodalon guards were almost on her, but Maler stepped between, and Peter told them to stand down. She pushed herself over to him and tried to check the wound as Mug-Fu worked,

“I got this, three shots, leg, arm, and lower abdomen. Let me work so he won't bleed to death.” Mug-fu said, before addressing Peter. “I’m going to put you under now, boss. Don’t worry.”

“Kiko? Are you hurt? Did they get you?” Peter said, looking at her, and she suddenly realized he had yet again saved her; then she remembered her father.

“yes, but dad.”

“It was quick. He didn’t have time to feel anything.” Peter said. “I’ m sorr…” The drug put him under, and she looked at him and then at the people around her and stood up and walked to the hatch and checked the camera feed.  It looked safe, her father was already removed and put into the car.  She took up her pad and called Katsu.

He replied quickly. “What's up, sis?”

“There has been an attack, Dad is dead, and Peter is seriously wounded.”

There was a silence at the other end before her brother replied. “How?”

“Sniper, waited until we said our goodbyes. They tried to take me out too. It was personal.”

“Come home!” he said.

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Inanna neared the station at Fona 12 as the message came in. “Approaching ship. State your business. We are not expecting anybody at this time.”

“This is Inanna. Please inform the administrator that we have urgent business with her.”

“This better not be a joke.” The voice replied, and Peter chuckled.

“No, it's not a joke. We are trying to sell a  Sagra-Gavitron 5400. We heard you needed one. We have some engineers who can help install it. Is that a good enough reason?”

“yeah. Give me a moment.” The voice said, and he turned to Kiko.

“Think she will bite?” he asked, and she chuckled.

“Yeah. Unless they have fixed it already. So how do we do this?”

“Inanna? This is Administrator Fordhall, I heard you wanted to speak with me?”

“Yeah, I have a new Sagra-Gavatron 5400 for sale. My engineer made a mistake and bought the station variant instead of the ship variant, and a guy trucker told me you had problems with your old one. I’m hoping to trade it for some cargo. Are you interested?” Peter replied, as he changed his dialect to a more earth-standard one. Kiko grinned as they waited. Argor rested his head on a hand and just looked at them.

“Nice try, Peter. What the hell have you been up to? Have you turned pirate? Do I have to call Kiko and tell her? Oh, you're in so much trouble. Hanger seventeen!”  She replied, and Peter laughed.

“The only thing he stole was my heart!” Kiko said, and Mina laughed.

“That’s only the last thing that thief stole.”

 Peter started to move the ship closer, and when they got closer, locked into the docking system and requested hangar seventeen. The automatic system took over.

“Well, I turned over a new leaf. See you when we land.”

 Ten minutes later, she hugged her sister-in-law to be as her engineer, and Peter's crews went over the materials.

I didn’t expect you two back so soon. What brings you here? And don’t say it’s the engine or the ore.”

“Peter is taking me to Runior to meet the rest of the family.”

Mina looked at Peter. “You're taking her home?  Do Ma and Pa know?”

“It will be a surprise. Want to join?” Peter said, and she chuckled.

“I can’t, but I know two who would love a vacation if you don’t mind babysitting?” She replied, and Peter looked at Kiko.

She looked back, confused, then realized it. “Oh.. Oh sure.. we got space. But we have to come back this way then.”

“Well, that settles that. When did they last see them?”

“Live? Oh, when June was one. I send them pictures, and they have spoken over the vids. But you know how it is. I have a long vacation coming up next year. Hell, if they want, they can stay with Ma and Pa until then, and I pick them up.”

“You're going to leave them on Runior for a year? You're evil.”  Peter said, and she laughed.

“Time for them to toughen up. They have learned to hunt already.” She replied, and Peter laughed.

“Yeah, animals that don’t see them as dinner.”

Mina laughed. “I survived, and they got new security systems. They will be safe. It's you who hasn’t been home in a while. But if you don’t mind, then bring them back when you leave.”

“I don’t mind, but I let them decide. Hell, they might want to escape that place the moment they actually see it.”

“You seem to have liked it,” Kiko said, and they both laughed as they looked at her.

“We didn’t know any better,” Mina said.

“Okay, let's go for dinner and make a deal with the equipment and check if the kids want to go with us.”

Two days later, they had a full cargo hold and two teenagers as they set course for Elysian Prime. The teenagers acted like teenagers, and when they learned Carmen was a sniper, they tried to get shooting lessons from her. The daughter spent most of her time interrogating Kiko about Sanctuary and its famous people. The ship slowly settled into a rhythm with young people on board. When they finally arrived at the Elysian system, they received a message from Mina. She had checked with their brother about what they needed and attached the list. It was mostly farm equipment and some weapons to deal with the critter problem. Grandma was looking for some engine parts. Peter shrugged, as it was what he had expected.   They requested to land on Elysian Prime, and Kiko took the role of seller and got them a decent deal. The kids wanted to look around, so they spent a day relaxing there.  It was peaceful, yet wild. The place used to have a huge city, but the Caren had dropped a meteor on the city, and that continent had sunk. The planet had gone from 500 million to less than five in one day, and now the planet was mostly empty. 

Despite the disaster, the place looked great and had a strong veteran presence. Peter met a few old friends, and one day, it ended up being a week. She liked what she saw, Peter was relaxed here. The people he spoke with all had scars from the war, and none of them spoke about it.  When they left Inannan she saw Peter looking a little longer at the planet.

“You like it?”

“Oh yeah. It's reminded me of Runior without the dangerous animals.  A lot of potential there too. Anyway, we are going home now. It's just eight days away.” He said, and she kissed him.

“Well, the kids are busy with their new vids you bought them, and I was thinking we could relax in the Jacuzzi.” She said, and he grinned as he got up from the seat.

“She is all yours, Argor.”  He said, and Argor chuckled as he checked the display while muttering, “That you guys don’t have ten kids already is a mystery.”

Eight days later, they entered the system and were hailed by the Starbase control. The small space station was new, and Peter looked surprised.

“This is Runior Prime, please send your ID and report for control.” A voice spoke, and Peter flipped the switch. This is Captain Peter Fordhall of the cargo ship Inanna. We are here to visit family and sell some of our goods. Sending ship's ID now.  When did we get a space station?”

“Two years ago, it's been a while since you've been home then. Wait Peter?  Damn, never expected to see you here again. Is Jarald. Jarald Matthill.” The voice said, and Peter tensed for a second, then relaxed.

“Jarald? Damn, that’s a long time- it's been a long time. How are things?”

“It's been good. I heard rumors you got engaged again.” 

“Yeah, but who told you that? And I hope you don’t mind.”

“Mind? Naw. She would be glad you moved one. Heard it from Luke. Well, his wife was gossiping to my wife.  You should dock at the station and take a shuttle down. I don’t think your ship will fit inside the shield.”

“Yeah, might be an idea. Was planning to put it in orbit anyway.” He replied. Kiko watched Peter as he spoke casually with his dead wife's brother, but she saw the subtle signs. He was barely holding it together.

“Well, park at hatch six and you will have the station security watching over it. for a small fee, of course.”

“Of course. I’m parking it now. See you soon.”  The moment Jarad cut the transmission, Peter got up and walked out of the cockpit towards the cabin. Argor looked at Kiko, who, with a look, told him, " Don’t ask, " and followed him.

She found him in the bathroom holding the pillbox.

“You okey?” she asked as she stroked his back slightly,

“Yeah, it just triggered some flashbacks. I’m okay now. I wasn’t prepared for it.” He looked at the box and put it in his pocket. “I might need this.”

 She smiled and nodded, and then they went back outside and found the teenagers. Then they made their way to the hatch and waited for the clear signal.

When the door opened, they saw a big. Slightly overweight man with blond curly hair and a well-worn costume uniform. He smiled brightly as he saw them.

“Peter, damn, you look good.” He immediately gave him a Bear hug, then let go.

“And you must be his fiancée. Don’t worry.   I’m glad he is moving on, so would my sister.” Then, before she could reply, he turned to Peter. “You still got good taste.  Thought going for something darker now. “

“Ehh, thank you, Jarold, You want to check the cargo?”

“Naw, just give me the manifest. I trust you. “Then he spotted Michu on Kiko’s shoulder. “Oh, what a cute one, you got the tiny version.  Has he told you that we got a bigger down on the ground? Not that I go down there unless I have to.”

Peter handed him the manifest, and he looked it over. “Seems okay. Well, I won't keep you. I’m sure your parents are waiting. But please don’t be a stranger. I’m sure Ma wants to see you as well.”  Jarold said.

Peter smiled and agreed, then said their goodbyes, and they walked back inside to the shuttle bay.

“So, boss, any jobs for us?” Carmen said as they were getting inside.  She was finished loading the shuttle with the first batch of gifts for the ranch.

“Naw, look for some legal jobs for the trip back. We are staying here for three weeks, and don’t get killed if you decide to go hunting. Everything wants to kill you down there. God knows why they decided to settle there,” he replied. The teenagers looked at each other, worried.

Peter chuckled as they took off.   The planet is earth-colored, with only a few green areas around the poles, as the Arctic was the only place cold enough to support temperate zones.  The large ocean, which covered three-quarters of the planet, was mostly green with algae. Only one large sea was blue.  The planet had three moons, the largest moon was close enough to create havoc at the coastline, making it almost impossible to live with the daily tsunami-like tides. The teenagers looked in horror as Peter casually explained it to them.

“Oh, and everything here wants to kill you, just because it's small and cant doesn’t mean it won't try.”

“Why the hell would anybody want to live here?” Mark asked.

“The first colonist didn’t have a choice. It was here or prison. In the old days, they gave many of the most criminal gangs a choice. A planet to colonize or a prison. It was right after the Butcher war, so Earth had a desperate need for colonization to spread around the galaxy. Didn’t they teach you this at school?”

“Naw, but Mom said we are related to the Russian mafia and the Canadian mafia and some Catholic terrorists.” June said, “She is quite proud of it.”

“Wait, you're related to those criminal gangs?” Kiko said, and Peter chuckled.

“Aye, I got a little Irish, Russian, and French-Canadian in me.  But yeah, the whole being a criminal and fighting the other gangs went out the window when the wildlife tried to kill everybody off.  hell, they say about eighty percent died in the first few years due to the wildlife.”

“What about you? Do you know your heritage from Earth? It's Japanese, right?”  June asked.

“Well, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. But mostly Japanese, though the family name is Korean or Chinese. From what my grandfather told me, we are related to a Yakuza who joined forces with a Tirade clan from the Jiandao area, or as he said, the meanest criminals in the whole of Asia joined forces to create my Dad.  Which would be funny as he stared as a street gang leader.”

“He is not one now,” Peter commented as they dived through the atmosphere.

The teenagers looked at her, and June looked amazed. “Damn, I get why they call you princess.”

“You two are going to build a galactic-spanning criminal empire, aren't you?”  Mark replied, and both Peter and Kiko laughed.

“Hell no. We are not the bad guys, Mark.” Peter said as the shuttles adjusted and flew along the ground. Kiko looked around at the arid desert. Now and then, she saw large groups of animals.  The land looked more like a savannah, with large areas of grassland and small, dense forests. Yet not enough to turn the land permanently green.  The animals were larger than she had expected, and most looked like reptilian monsters that fit in a horror movie.  Peter looked down at the radar and smiled, then immediately took a detour towards a mountainous area.

“There are some old friends ahead.”

“Old friends?” She asked, and then she saw a flock of Gyma who got scared off and took off.  June screamed in panic.

“Dragons!”

“They are more skittish than the one we saw.”

“These guys know a flying shuttle means that they will be shot at. The one we met had no natural predators.” He turned the shuttle back to route, and they entered a wide valley, they saw several large glowing forcefield domes.  Peter slowed down as he got on the coms.

“Hi there, can you tell me where I can land? I have a delivery for Clause Fordhall.”

“This is Claus Fordhall,” a gruff voice replied. “What are you talking about? I didn’t order anything.”

“Well, I don’t know what to say. The sender is Mina Fordhall. I can send it back if you don’t want it.” Peter replied, and the kids grinned and tried hard not to laugh.

“Jessica? Did Mina tell you she was sending us something?” The man called out, a female voice replied, and he sighed. “Okay. You can land. Probably some fancy stuff she thinks we need.”  Then he cut the line, and Peter looked at Kiko, who shook her head.

“Are you always going to do this?” She said, and Peter nodded.

“Of course. It's fun.” He replied as they flew through the forcefield and landed near the entrance of the main farmhouse.  An elderly-looking man who looked like Peter came out. He held a rifle and seemed slightly annoyed.  Behind him, an elderly woman who looked graceful yet clearly weathered by the rough life watched. Some farm hands were also making their way towards the shuttle. The man was shouting something as Peter calmly turned off the engine and got out.

“He looks angry,” Mark said, and Peter just nodded.

“I didn’t park on the landpad.”

“You're pissing him off on purpose,” Kiko said, and Peter grinned and opened the hatch and walked out. The man who was cursing them just stopped and stopped.  Kiko looked out the door and saw the two standing face to face.

“You?”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Of course it's you. Welcome back. Your room is as you left it.”

“Thanks, I want to introduce you to somebody,” Peter said, and looked at the hatch. Kiko and the kids came out. His mother watched them from the entrance, slowly walked over, and gave her husband a glare before hugging Peter warmly.

When she noticed Kiko and the kids, she stood up, and her jaw slowly dropped. Then she looked at Peter, who just smiled and nodded.  She stepped away from Peter and held out her arms for her grandchildren. Peter turned and stood next to his father. Kiko could see they had a brief exchange as Peter tried to wave her over.

When his mother understood who she was, she let go of her grandchildren, looked at her, then at Peter, covered her mouth in shock, and smiled brightly.

“You're gorgeous. How did that rascal manage to trap you? Blink twice if you need help escaping!” She said, and Kiko looked at the mother, utterly confused.

“Mom!” Peter said, and his father started laughing as he took two steps over to her.

“Welcome to the family. My name is Claus Fordhall, and this beauty is my wife, Jessica. And those two… “he looked at them and grinned. “You're Mina’s kids.  Let's get you all inside while my son parks the shuttle in the correct place.”

Peter chuckled, kissed Kiko lightly, and winked. “You're safe with them. I’ll be right there.”

The next few hours were filled with pure chaos as Jessica invited the whole family for a barbecue. And Kiko was introduced to everybody in the family. She was told all kinds of stories about Peter as a kid, though they avoided speaking about Tina until he told them it was okay. Then she started hearing about the boy who had become the man she loved so well.  All the crazy things he and his brothers did, all the times he snuck away to meet Tina and fight her brothers.

In the evening, his two brothers arrived with their families, and the chaos was complete. Peter had invited the crew to join them, and when they finally retired for the night, she was worn out but felt blessed and content. It quickly became clear where Peter had got his weird sense of humor from.

The days were spent exploring the land, seeing the crazy wildlife, visiting small towns, and visiting Peter's old childhood friends.  The teens quickly got over the shock, and by the end of the week, there were rumors that they were both seeing someone.

 The highlight was meeting the grandma who took her racing through the canyons and Peter's Grandpa, the preacher and whiskey brewer. He insisted on gifting them several bottles of his best brand.   

The next visit was to Tina’s family, it was a strange and short meeting. Tina’s mum approached her and was friendly, telling her to relax.  It felt like Peter was there more to say his goodbyes and ask for permission, which she got the impression that he got.

One thing became clearer and clearer the longer they stayed, the more she felt jealous of Peter and his family. They had what she had wanted her whole life. A loving family, parents who truly loved each other and their children.

When the time came to leave, she felt sad. Part of her wanted to stay, and when they took off, she looked at his parents and the teens as they waved their goodbyes, and she knew this was what she wanted. She looked at Peter, and he smiled.

“I know, but not on Ruinor, I want our kids to be slightly safer.” He said as the shuttle left the atmosphere.

 The only thing she got was the two words “our kids,” and her heart raced.

Peter’s family

Claus Fordhall – father, farmer, pilot

Jessica Fordhall - Mother, farmer, mechanic

Mina Fordhall – Peter's older sister 

Thomas Blacktree    - Mina's husband, farmer

Mark (17) and June (15) Blacktree -Fordhall – teenage children of Mina and Thomas

Luke Fordhall – (32) Peter's older brother – game hunter and sheriff

Matthew Fordhall – (20) Peter’s youngest brother, Mechanic and farmer

Sagra Fordhall – Matthews' pregnant wife

Paul Fordhall – deceased brother, killed by a Gyma

Miriam Fordhall – Peters ' grandma – father's side. Racer

Timothy Fordhall – Peter's grandfather – priest (and whiskey brewer)

Michu – kiko’s  winged kitten named Hoshi

Planet Runior – Peter's home world

Fona 12  - a small mining colony with a small and underdeveloped colony, Tina Fordhall is the administrator of the mining colony

Elysian Prime – a human colony near Nalos Space, considered to be a wild frontier. Rebuilding after the war,

Crew

Fu-Fy – Alver,  a pretty good scanner and drone operator

Mug-Fy – Alver – ships engineer

Jurak – Duskin  engine- Engineer

Argor – Jobar co-pilot/navigator

Carmen -  Fushan, Engineer /co-pilot drone,

Maler – Fushan, Fushan, Navigator, and deep space scanner

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Yet again, she awoke to a tray of coffee and breakfast the next day.  She could see Peter was still tired, and she smirked slightly. It was her fault he was so tired, but she didn’t regret it at all, nor did he; she knew.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked as she stretched, happy and content. He just looked at her.

“Naw, somebody keep me awake the whole night.” He replied as she sat the tray down and she looked over the food, then grabbed the coffee and sipped it.

“Oh?” She tried to smile innocently. “I wasn’t that bad, I recall you enjoyed it.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, and I will recover if you allow me to rest a bit this time.” He said as Michu flew down from a plant and landed on his head. He flapped his little black wings and meowed.

Peter sighed and gently took him off his head and put her in the bed, where he immediately ran over to her for some snuggling time. Kiko smiled and snuggled with her flying kitten,

“I will grant you your wish.” Then, putting down her cup, she started to eat while giving her kitten attention.  Peter stretched slightly and yawned, then lay down in the bed.

“Thank you, your highness.”  He looked up at the ceiling, and she could see he was thinking.

“What are you thinking about, and don’t say anything.”

Peter chuckled and rolled over to his side, looking at her and stealing some fruit from her tray.

“I was wondering when we would be leaving and what to tell the crew. I have to do some jobs soon. I’m running out of money to pay them.” He sighed and rolled onto his back. “It was so tempting at times yesterday. So much money they were going to toss at me. Dirty money but so much.”

“Yeah, what did they offer you by the way?” She said, grabbing some food.  Michu was purring on her lap at the belly rubs.

“Mostly smuggling, drugs and tech. But one guy was wondering if I could fix a few problems. I’m pretty sure it was assassinations.” He replied, and she tilted her head. The smuggling was obvious, but why would you ask him to be a problem fixer?

“Who was that?”

“A guy named Furigo Nat-Ash. Never seen that type of alien before. Bald with bright orange skin and bright yellow eyes. He joked that his species didn’t get drunk on alcohol, so he drank something sour called mutser instead. Why?”

“ohh yeah, that guy. His species is from the north, a religious guy. Not that you would notice.  He and his crew came thirty years ago and are working as fixers while searching for a prophet who is supposed to be born far away from their home. Did he get into his religious rant?”

Peter turned back to her. “Naw, he was very polite.  Anyway, he asked me if I wanted to be a fixer.  And he promised me the problem deserved it.”

“They always say that one of Dad's rules is that they are not allowed to touch civilians. It never made sense to me. I have seen him toss criminals off buildings for slight disrespect, but some media head can curse him out for being the crime king without him batting an eye.”

“If I were to guess, then your dad doesn’t care what a civilian calls him. What's the expression? The lion doesn’t care what the lamb thinks.” He replied, and she thought about it. It actually made sense that he was more worried about what the criminals did than what some random with a vid-cam would rant on the net.

“Well, I am proud of you for turning down those offers, and don’t worry about the money. I will become your silent partner. Of course, it does come with some demands.” She said with a grin.

“ohh, what's the demand? I have become very good at turning those down,” he said.

“Well, let's just say you performed your obligation for our partnership last night.”
She could see his confused look turning into a smile as he got it.

“Now that’s an offer I can’t refuse.” He said as he got up from bed and leaned over to kiss her.

“Rested already?” she replied.

“Going out?’ Rufus said as they walked to the elevator for lunch.

“Yeah, and we need to prep for the trip,” Kiko replied.

“Your dad told me that he has transferred some spending money for your vacation. It should cover the ship's expenses and some extra for fun.” He replied, and they both looked at him.

“I cannot accept that. I do respect it, but I thought the whole thing about yesterday was to keep me out of the family business.” Peter replied, and Rufus looked at him and then laughed.

“It's not dirty money. It's from his legal business, and he insists. Look at it as a reward for not falling for the temptation.” Rufus said he seemed to find it humorous.

“Tell Dad there is no need; I’m going to invest in the ship,”  Kiko said, and Rufus tilted his head slightly.

“You were? Yeah, Nope. The gift is already given.  Now go and have fun.” Then he closed the elevator door for them, and they looked at eachother as it made its way down to the ground floor.

“God damnit. He had to do this. How much did he give you?” Kiko said, and Peter took out his pad and checked.

“God all-mighty? Is he crazy?”  Peter said, looking at the sum.

“Five million? He must really like you.” Kiko said, and Peter shook his head,

“Spending money? This is nuts, we cant take that.”

“Yeah, looks more like he is bribing you to take me away.” She said, and Peter looked at her, then started to laugh.

“Dowery? What does he think this is? It's 2468 for crying out loud, not 1468.”

“Well, if you accept, then you have to marry me, right? I mean, wasn’t the dowry like a binding contract? He pays you to marry me?” she replied, and he kissed her,

“I will marry you even if you don’t have a cent to your name.”

“Well, let's use it for our honeymoon then.”

“I refuse all the jobs, and now he tosses money at me, I don’t get him.” He said, and she smiled up at his beautiful eyes. Her father was right, he was her way out.

.
.

They spend the day having lunch with her friends, more as a goodbye lunch.  Peter and Jason almost got into a religious debate when Jason found out Peter's grandfather was a preacher and that Peter himself was a Christian. Thought it was diffused when he found out his uncle was happily married to a man and accepted by the whole family.  Kiko found it interesting as she knew Peter's religion, but only because she had found the bible in his cabin. It was just one more of the things she loved about him. He didn’t preach. He was just himself, but she had not invited the girls and Jason only to say goodbye, but also to sneak her report to Jason.

She knew Maria would not like it, but the original mission was to treat and assess her father, it was Maria and she who had already decided a long time ago that her father was a threat to galactic peace.

Now the veil had been lifted, and she saw what her father was actually doing. He was a criminal but not a threat. He smuggled drugs and tech. Ran the criminal underworld of Sanctuary. But for civilians, Sanctuary was quite safe, and he was not interested in making the system leave the EUC. She could only hope Maria would understand. She had also done some digging and discovered that the firebomb that had killed Maria’s parents was her mother's fault and not approved by him. Hopefully, it would calm her down to know the murders had already been avenged. She felt relieved as they left the lunch and made their way to the private hangar where Inana.

.

.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Peter said as he approached the ship and saw some Alver spraying it with a metallic substance.

“Look who has arrived.” A female voice called from behind. They turned and saw Carmen and her husband, Maler, sitting under a giant parasol, enjoying some drinks.

“Yeah, and it seems like you have enjoyed my absences.” He said as they walked over to them. The two Fushan just smiled, and Mater offered them two bottles of beer. Peter grabbed them, opened one, and gave it to Kiko. She watched in amusement as Peter was dealing with his crew. He opened the second and took a swig.

“So what are they applying?”

“A fourth layer of Nano repair shield as per your request,” Carmen replied

“I told you to do that a week ago,” Peter said, and she shrugged.

“We had other things to adjust. You gave us a long list of secondary and tertiary backup systems.  I know you said we might have to go through some ionstorms, but with your backup, we can live in one now.” She replied as  Mug-Fu came over. The Alver opened a casket, took out a bottle, and opened it.

“You know. If you are going to have so many backups, why doesn’t the transport we are traveling on need more than two?”  it said, and Peter looked at him. Because we are the repair ship. And we might not even need any on the route we are taking. So, Inanna is your backup as well. If everything goes to hell, we will latch one, get you in orbit, and do the repair as we start ferrying the colony down. How many have signed up?”

“We got 3872 now, but we are competing with another place too.”

“Competing? I didn’t know it was a competition.”

“It's not that. I just think it’s a little sus. And we are often suspicious of these new colonies. Often, it's pirates trying to get free slaves to sell to the Western sector.  We hoped for five thousand, but I guess we will not be able to get that number.”

“Well, you still have some time.  I have a few jobs for you guys as well and ..” he took out his pad and a few seconds later their pads beeped.

“Krash nagut!” Carmes said and fist-bumped Maler. “We are getting wasted tonight!”

“Nope. You're going to do some taxi duty for Kiko and me. I have to go home. You can get drunk on Runior.”

“You're going home?” Jurak said as he appeared near them. Kiko chuckled. They seemed to see in him what she saw. A good man worth listening to.

Jurak nodded to her. “Princess.”

“She nodded back. “Jurak.”

Carmen looked at her and tilted her head as she studied her. “Hey, are you sure you want to go to Ruinor? Only the insane want to live there.”

“I know,” she replied and nudged Peter.  “Why do you think I like him?”

The group laughed as Peter winked at her. “You think I’m the only insane person in this crew?”

“Guilty!” The crew replied.

“In this crew it’s a requirement,”  Fu-Fy said. Argor had arrived as well and was grabbing a beer for himself and Fy-Fy.

“So, where are we going?” Argor said.

“Runior and as soon as the ship is ready,” Peter replied.

“That will be in about...”  He checked the time, “Four hours and…” looking at Peter and Kio with an alien grin. “We had the captain's cabin sound isolated.”

“And installed a Jacuzzi. You need some luxury.”  Mug-fy added. Kiko looked at Mug-fy

“A Jacuzzi? Why?”

“Don’t you human like that? I can remove it later.”

“No.. I mean, thank you very much; I’m looking forward to trying it,” she said, and Peter looked at Mug-fu.

“How did you fit it?”

“Oh, I took down the wall of the first officer; actually, I did that for all the rooms. You had like sixteen crew quarters. So now you and Princess have a double room as do I and Fu-fu, and Carmen, and Maler.  There is also a bunk room in the old cargo room that can hold forty beds. I mean, look at the ship. It’s a deep-space transport. I mean, how many tons is it supposed to carry?” He turned and looked at the five-hundred-meter-long ship.

“65,000 cubic meters of ores and mining equipment,” Peter replied as Kiko finished her drink and put down the bottle. Carmen handed her a new one.

“Yeah, and you want to turn this monster into a small cargo hold and private apartment for you. I am wrecking my brain trying to figure out how to just turn half the hold into something useful. I already have a docking hanger for three shuttles and tripled the drone hold. And we don’t have enough drones to fill it up. And we still have 42, 000 cubic meters left.” Mug Fu said, and Peter looked at him.

“Well, let's do a simple job first, then. We drop by my sister's, fill up the cargo hold, and sell it at Elysian Prime.  It's near Ruinor.”

“That colony they are rebuilding?”  Argor said, and Peter nodded. They need materials, and we fill the ship up with luxury and mining goods for the Fygian system and sell them to my sister.  They need new gravity systems and to check the market net for delivery near the route we are taking. “

“I guess that is my job?” Kiko replied, and they looked at her, then nodded.

“Might be a good idea. Im sure you will get some good deals here.” Peter said, and she grinned.

“Well, I got the connection.” she replied.

“Well, Let's get ready. I want to leave tonight.”

-            Cast

Peter Fordhall –

Kiko Lee –

Crew

Fu-Fy – Alver,  a pretty good scanner and drone operator

Mug-Fy – Alver – ships engineer

Jurak – Duskin  engine- Engineer

Argor – Jobar co-pilot/navigator

Carmen -  Fushan, Engineer /co-pilot drone,

Maler – Fushan, Fushan, Navigator, and deep space scanner

Michu - kitten named Hoshi

Jason Blake - one of Kiko’s exes, Navy intelligence and gay, raised highly religious, an atheist.

Planet Runior.  

This is the continuation of the Bug Hunt and will address the Bug War mentioned in the Planet Dirt series. It follows Jack Thompson and Lady Zula Gi Pendragon, and their friends, through the war

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“Approaching the hangar. Looks like we got a welcome party waiting for us.” Aziz called back.

“Call in a last attack run from our escort. We don’t want their mind focused on us.” Jack called back, then signaled the others to get ready.

“Are we pirates now, boss?” Paulo asked as he got into position.

Jack checked. “Aye!” turned around and gave the signal, “Prepare to seize the treasure.”

“Aye! Captain!” The others replied as Azis called out:

“Entering hangar, spotting internal security measure, mapping hangar. Setting points. Landing in 10.”

The ship suddenly rocked as it was hit by several shots from the fighters, and then the hatches opened, and the two officers standing ready to escort the noble away had a second to get shocked before they both got shot, and then six men quickly emerged and systematically took out the hangar personnel and the security systems with cold precision. The whole hangar was under their control within ten seconds.  Aziz joined them as he came out of the shuttle.

“Move out, 18, engine room. The Rest bridge! Move out!” Jack called out.

The men quickly split into two groups and moved towards their mission. Jack moved down the hall quickly and carefully, and each door was secured with magnetic locks as they passed them. The few men they met were shot before they could raise the alarm.  You were listening to the ship's coms, and there were no alarms yet, except for a slight panic among the bridge crew, who were asking for support to deal with the two fighters and the drone swarm attacking them.   They were worried the ships would breach the shield.

They reached the last hallway when Steven called in that the engineering room was secured. They moved quietly down the hallway and peeked into the bridge. The ship's bridge was spacious for such a medium-sized ship. But only had seven officers. Jack gave the countdown with his fingers, and then they burst in.  The captain turned, surprised, as a stunned blast hit him in the face, making him collapse. The rest fell quickly.

“Bridge secured.  Aziz, do you think you can jump to Dead Space?” Jack called out as he helped secure the stunned officers. The personnel had not been given such a benefit. Aziz went over the panels and looked back at Jack.

“Give me a few minutes; I can probably do a blind jump. It should be safe if we don’t go too far away. 2 light-years should be safe.  There is nothing out there.”

 He replied, and Jack simply nodded.

“Join the army and get lost in space,” Paulo replied.

“Yun, check security! I want crew status and location.” Jack said, and she found the console and started to go over it. Paulo stood guard at the entrance to the bridge. Jack checked the captain's panel.

“18 did great; they have fifteen bats down, seven prisoners. 51 men around the ship.”

She pressed a few buttons. “10 locked-in messhall, pinging the reminder now.”  Then she smirks. “Five more captured in the lifts.”

“Who goes hunting?” Paulo asked.

“Me, you guys have jobs.”

“Stop playing hero,” Paulo said as he spotted two crew members approaching the bridge hallway. He dropped them both quickly, and Jack just looked at him.

“You want to go play hide and seek?”

“Hell no. I’m good here.”

Jack grinned. “Make the jump and signal Grahad.”

Then he moved out, the ship's computer was already under Yun’s control, so he could move freely.

 On the visor of the ship's blueprints, as well as a ping for every Gyrran marine. It felt like cheating, but at least there won't be any bugs.  He moved and checked where the crew was working. Not realizing the ship had been taken over. He moved towards the armor first, finding two guards sitting inside watching videos and drinking something. He fired twice and moved in, ensuring that the targets were down.  Moving the bodies to the wall and checking the room. Most of the rifles and heavy weapons were in the room. He locked the door and signaled Yun, who changed the door code and disabled the officer override.

The ship's AI began logging several error reports and complaints as the crew found themselves locked in various rooms. According to the ship's computer, there was only one officer walking around the ship unhindered. Jack started to move towards the man.  He found the man's dog tags hanging at the end of the hallway. It smelled like a trap, so he didn’t advance; instead, he walked back and looked down the next hallway. He noticed something he didn’t like. God damn air vents, and one of the covers was not properly put back

He moved farther back, found a place with an overview, and waited as he went over the schematics. He told Yun there was somebody in the vents, and she immediately looked them down.

“They have a tracking system inside. Probably for bugs. Activating it now.”

Jack waited, and soon the reply came. “He has left the vents, level 4, Hallway Urga. Got him on camera.” As he reached the stairs going down, he spotted a makeshift bobby trap. He tagged it and searched around before moving around it.  The man was crafty, and he was not going to underestimate him.  

Moving carefully, he found the hallway, then moved back, found a vent, and opened it quietly. Yun kept him updated on the man as he crawled silently down the vent until he was far behind him. Opening the vent would alert the man.

“I got it,” Aziz said. “I’m sending us 2 light-years out, sending the location to the admiral.  Get ready for a jumpy ride. In three- two -one!”

The ship jumped into lightspeed, and the hull creaked and groaned as the ship went from stationary to lightspeed in a second. Jack pushed the vent out and peeked out. The man looked around, but not behind him, so he crawled out

The man had set up several traps both in front of and behind him and was using himself as bait. Jack realized the Gyrran was aware he was there and was hoping he would move closer. He took a second to look at the man, he looked like a man who could handle himself.  Jack didn’t want to take any chances and shoot him three times from the end of the hallway. The man collapsed over the trap and got blasted with an electrical shock. Jack walked slowly over, avoiding the other traps, and shot him one more time for good measure.

“The rest of the crew is secure,” Yun reported, and Jack started to move around the ship, disarming the traps this man had set.

“Damn, he must have been special forces. When is the engineer incoming?” He asked as he made his way to the engine room and checked on the guys. They had the room locked down tightly and gave him a nod as Aziz reported several Nalos ship inbound. Jack headed to the shuttle bay and opened it as a Nalos shuttle approached and landed. He watched from out of sight as the hatch opened and several aliens emerged. When he recognized one of them, he stepped out.

The shuttle left, and another shuttle came in with more men.

“The crew is either captured or taken prisoner.”

“The captain?”

“He is having a nap.” Then he called up the team. “We are moving out.  Hangar in ten.”

Ten minutes later, they got into a shuttle and flew back to the SS Gungnir. He immediately went to report to Admiral Grahad and Admiral Hicks. 

Five hours later, the first reports started to come in. The Admiralty of the Gyrran was only a lightyear away from them in deadspace. They observed the signals and the ships coming in and out of the area for a few hours, then sent a drone to the area. The moment it got within 100 km, the fleet jumped away.

“They are skittish, “Admiral Hicks commented as they looked at the few images they had managed to record. Three dreadnoughts were guarding a hangar ship and a capital ship.

“They must have the hyperdrives on constantly.  With a heavy shield.” Grahad said as he studied the drone's reports. A few moments later, the ship appeared 0.9 light-years away, then jumped again. It continued with three more jumps, each 0.9 light-years. In the end, they are 0.7 light-years away from their current position.

“Well, they don’t know we got them tagged. So that’s good. But that ship is too big to board with what we've got available here. We need it stranded and its arrays destroyed.” Jack suggested.

“No, we need their admiralty to think it's destroyed. We need them jammed and given false intelligence to lure them in.” Grahad replied.

“We can use the captured ship to get closer.” Hicks thought out loud.

“They will probably shoot it down unless they expect it,”  Jack replied.

Grahad said, “For now, we can listen in and relay all ground orders given. Should make it easier on Orne.”

“Do that, and I will toss them off Orne for now,” Hicks said, and then he gave them a nod and signed off. His hologram vanished, and Grahad looked at Jack.

“Nusha?”

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” He replied, and after Grahad gave the order to share the intel, they retired to the officer lounge and sat down. The window showed them the galaxy outside, and for a moment, the war seemed distant.

“What do we do next?” Grahad said as he sipped his drink.

“Use the ship to gather as much intel as possible. Confirm what we know before we let them know we have it, then remove most of the Gyrran leadership while keeping enough to make them surrender. “

“We don’t know much about their society's thoughts. We might take out the wrong ones.” Grahad replied.

“Yeah, you guys tend to just bomb their homeworld until they surrender.”

“It works,” Grahad said, and they both smiled.

“Yeah, it does. But we learned that sometimes siege tactics work just as well. Take out their military and their most aggressive leadership, put up a blockade, and finally talk to the calm ones.  If they know surrender is the only thing that stops us from bombing their planet back to the stone age, then they might surrender.”

“Yeah, but something is nagging me,” Grahad said as he put the glass down. “Where is Caren? We know they have an army of clones and billions of bugs.”

“Observing, I would guess. This is a test. They are trying to wear us out on Orne. Probably why they haven’t blown it up as well.” Jack suggested.

“Makes sense. They only sent their allies and gave them bugs.  I’m sure they will make an appearance soon.” Grahad replied as reports started coming in.  Grahad put them up on a screen as they watched.  Mostly, it was troop movement, but also something that appeared as war bounty claims.

“Greedy little buggers,” Jack said, however, Grahad shook his head.  

“No, looks like it’s tied to titles and earnings. I suspect their military is not well paid, but they are allowed bounty claims. It can be a great motivator.”

“And something we can exploit. That’s why they don’t want to blow things up. Scrap metal isn’t worth much.” Jack said, finishing the drink and sitting up a little to study the reports.

“Yeah, they even claim land. They think they are going to keep the place.”

“So what would happen if one of them captured a human ship? Or a high-ranking officer? It has military value.”

“I don’t know, why?”

“We have a few officers' credentials we can send in a report of a captured human officer and see if they demand it delivered to the admiralty.  Or at least tell us where they take their prisoners.”

“I like that. Make it so. Have Hicks set up an officer for glory, something that would piss them off. Then have we have him be ‘captured’ by one of your officers.”

“That setup will take a few days,” Jack replied.

“Yeah, but as long as they can send in more troops from that fleet, we are stuck here. At least now we have a means to tip the scales in our favor.”

Jack got up and gave him a weak salute. “I’ll get right to it. Thanks for the drink.”

.

.
.

- Cast -

Jack Thompson

Admiral Hicks – human admiral

Admiral Grahad – Nalos admiral

Aziz Khan

Paulo Silva - heavy

Yun Lee- hacker, female, genetically enhanced

Steven Wayne– Human Delta Force team, Tiny (2 m. blond blue-eyed) breacher

Bruce Parker- Human Delta Force team, richboy

Tony Kent- Human Delta Force team, joker, coms

SS Gungnir – Admiral Grahad’s new ship, used during the xeno bug war.

Federation frigate with five fighters and two shuttles. Crew of 75, besides the three assault teams. crew: 150 all in all.

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As they entered, they were quickly noticed, and she could feel their eyes on them, for her, it was something she had gotten used to a long time ago. She had entered this room as if she owned it, trying to embarrass her father. She had always tried to show her power, be the toughest in the room, ironically ensuring that she was viewed as a true daughter of Hando Lee.

But now, now she was nervous, not for herself, these were her family, and friends of the family. Now she was afraid for Peter. He let her take the lead, which some would see as weakness to exploit.

“They are going to eat you alive if you don’t man up a little.” She whispered as he helped her to sit down.

“Why? I didn’t know your family was cannibals?”  he whispered back as he bowed his head to Grandma and her friends, who were also sitting at the table.  They returned a polite nod to him, and she could hear how they were already making comments about how he was such a gentleman. He sat down and gave her father and brother a polite nod and smiled at Amalia.

“You look beautiful, Kastu is a lucky man.”

“Are you flirting?” She replied, a little surprised, and he shook his head.

“No, I have my beauty by my side, and I would not change her for anything in the universe. A feeling I think your fiancé understands.” He replied and smiled at Kiko.

“Great save there, mister.“ Kiko replied, looking at her friend.

“They always say the boys are lucky, but they don’t understand how lucky we girls feel. Right?” as she let her hand glide over Peter, who immediately intertwined his fingers with hers.

Amalia nodded, looked at Kastu, and leaned into him. “Yes, they don’t.”

Kastu just chuckled. “He is right, though. I don’t want to change you for anything in the world.”

 Kiko smiled and glanced at their father, who smiled slightly, picked up a glass, and stood up. As he did, the whole room fell silent.

“My friends, my family, and my dear mother.  Welcome to this joyous family gathering. It is not every day I can announce that my child has decided to marry my oldest Son. Kastu Lee has asked permission to marry Amalia Diaz and received it from both families.” He stopped to allow the people to celebrate. Amelia looked both proud and happy at the announcement. And then Hando coughed slightly, and the room fell silent again.

“Thank you. I am not finished, as you know; I also have a daughter. The cop. No ex-cop now. She never listens to any of us and does as she pleases. And she never asked for permission, but has decided to marry as well. Her fiancé, Peter Fordhall, was more old-fashioned and asked, and I have approved that marriage as well. She will be your problem now, Peter.” He looked at them, then lifted his glass. “Let's drink for the happy couples. May they have long, happy lives with many children.”

The crowd cheered and drank. Kiko looked at Peter. “Be careful now; they will try to convert you.” Then she drank as he did.

“I know, but they can’t offer me anything I want. Only you can, and I’m happy with that.”

She looked at him and smiled, yet she could not help feeling worried. The first part of dinner would be easy; it would just be the family. Her two uncles and their wives were also at the large round table, as were Amila's grandparents, since her parents had died several years ago.

 It was the second part she was worried about, the mingling and business part of the party, he would be taken around by her father to be introduced, and at times be left alone among the sharks. This would be his test. She cursed silently, then she noticed  Peter looking around and chuckled as he shook his head at some internal joke.

“What?” Shed leaned closer, and he could not help smiling.

“Oh, I just realized that if this were a movie, then this is the point where the ambush would happen.”

She looked at him, then around the room at all the members of her father's organization and other VIP guests, corrupt politicians, and many of the leaders in the government of Sanctury. Then she could not help but look at the door. Waiting, tensing up as she waits, and then the bastard leaning closer and whispered.  “bo!”

“You bastard, she said as she had to smile. You watch too many crime movies.”

“Excuse me? You picked those.”

“And you didn’t seem to mind.”  She grinned

“Well, I was watching them and you to prepare myself for these kinds of dinners.” He replied with a teasing smile.

“Bullshit. Just admit it.” She replied.

“I give in. Yes, I like them too.” He said, and across the table they heard Mashiro chuckling.

“They are too cute; he definitely doesn’t belong here. He is innocent and harmless.” Larissa said.

“Naw, that’s just a facade; I heard he is a veteran and quite adept at defending himself. You know how those farmboys are.  Loves hunting and is full of muscles.” Mashiro replied.

Larissa looked at them and to Kiko, “Is that true? Is he tougher than he seems?”

“You think I would allow them to marry if he could not defend her?” Hando said, interrupting the conversation.

“Like she needs somebody to defend her,” Amilia commented, and a few around the table chuckled at that.

“So is he a special forces guy or something?”  Larissa asked, then realized Peter was there and smiled a little awkwardly. “Where were you?”

“Naw. I was just a pilot. Did mostly evac of civilians from the battlefront.” He replied.

“Oh? So you saw combat? I heard it was horrible to be caught in the middle of the fights. I still don’t understand why they just didn’t nuke all the places they invaded.”  Kuro Lee, her uncle said as he finished his drink, his glass was immediately refilled.

“I saw the after-match and at times the firefights.  From my understanding, they didn’t nuke the planets because they didn’t want to encourage them to use their bugs to have us nuke our own people. It's very bad for morale to nuke your own people, you know. The Nalos were a little more bloodthirsty from what I heard.” Peter replied, and Kiko started to get nervous. She wanted to change the subject. Anything to get away from the war, she didn’t need Peter to get one of his flashbacks. And she knew him well enough that he was already getting uncomfortable with the questions.

“By the way, we didn’t see any Nalos on that planet, did we?” she asked, hoping to sway the conversation away from the current topic.

“No, but they are going to set up an observation and research station there.  They have officially claimed it. Given it a new name to.”

“Oh? Why?”  She asked.

“Apparently, it already had a Nalos name. They just made it official. Evalon, it's from their mythology, it's the name of a home of a spirit king. It was just part of a constellation.”

“Evalon? I prefer Inana.” Kiko replied.

“Inanna was the planet you guys crash-landed on, right?”  Amilia said.

“Yes, and there he fights dragons and giant snakes for me,” Kiko said as she took a bite of the food and looked at Peter, who just chuckled.

“I remember that the snake ate me.” He said, and as he did, the old lady's jaw dropped.

“What? Do tell. He got eaten by a giant snake?” Her grandmother asked, and Kiko smiled. The subject was changed, and she started to tell them the tale. Peter tried to downplay everything he had done; however, the grandmas were listening intently, studying Peter, and when she finally finished, Peter laughed it all away.

“She does love to exaggerate a bit. I’m not that good of a shoot.”

“says the man who shot Count Kango, from five kilometers through an open window.” Her father commented, and all the eyes darted to Peter, even the next table caught that.

“I had help and a very good gun. It did most of the work.” Peter tried, and Kiko saw Peter getting a little uncomfortable.

“You did it twice, if I recall,” Hando continued while he held a whiskey glass in his hand and studied Peter's reaction to the praise and attention. "Second time after he had his security raised."

“But I didn’t kill him, sir; your daughter ended the war,” Peter replied, being genuinely humble, and her father just smiled.

“Well, I guess everybody will know what will happen if they lay a hand on my daughter now. They will never be safe from you. They would have to look over their shoulder for the rest of their life.” His eyes locked with Peter's, who, for a second, was not humble but showed the determined side of him, the guardian who made her feel so safe in his presence.

“It will be a short life, and they won't see it coming, sir.” Then he tried to joke it away. “But nobody would be that foolish. Besides, she would probably kill them before I found out.”  Peter looked at her with a desperate look. He wanted to leave, and she smiled.

“Yes, nobody would be that foolish. But let's not speak of us anymore. There are bound to be other things to speak about than us. Right, Dad?” She shot him a glance, and he nodded.

“Ah, yes,” he turned his attention to his mother. “ Mother dearest. I heard you've been having a little bad luck lately.  You lost how much?”

“Why do I care? It’s your money I’m losing.” Grandma Mashiro replied to her old friends' smiles and giggling.

“Strange how it's only my money when you lose and your money when you win.” He replied, and they started a playful argument about Grandma Mashiro gambling. Peter seemed to relax a bit and leaned closer to her.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” He whispered, and she kissed him lightly before replying.

“This was just the beginning. But you will do well; they respect you now.”

“But? God damnit. I didn't try to impress them,” he whispered back.

“Just relax and be yourself. You're doing well. Just think of them as over-protecting brothers and scammers with guns.”

He looked at her and chuckled. “And that’s supposed to calm me down?”

“They are not worse than the Boa.” She replied with a grin.

“That snake ate me.”

“But you survived. I will make it up to you.” She said as her hand glided down his thigh, his eyes widening. She loved the effect she had on him and leaned over to kiss him when she felt his presence.

“I’m going to steal Peter for a while. So many of my friends would like to meet him.”

She sighted and looked up at her father, who smiled at her. Then put his hand on Peter's shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I think he can handle a few middle-aged gangsters.”

Peter smiled politely as she nodded.  “You will be fine, remember what I said.”

“Overprotecting brothers and scammers with guns. I got it.” Peter replied, and Hando looked at him, then laughed loudly as he took him over to a table where the survivors of his old gang sat. It was the most dangerous table of the whole party.

She saw Hando introduce him and made a comment that made the whole table roar in laughter, and several weapons were openly displayed as Peter was politely forced to join the table. She stared at the table, feeling nervous.

“Don’t worry about him; if he can deal with a giant snake, fight Gyrran nobility and charm Hando, then he is safe. He will, however, be very drunk when you get him back.”

 Her uncle said, and she looked at him. “I still worry. They will be drunk, and they will push him to join the family business.”

“Dad won't allow it,” Kastu said as he glanced over at the table, drank a glass, and looked at Amilia, smiling at her. Then, turning his attention back to Kiko, “He wants you and him to leave, remember.  He wants him to take you out of the family business. Why do you think he told them about what he did to the count? That was to warn everybody here just how dangerous he is. That guy is not one of us; he can walk among mercenaries, and they respect him.”

“They respect the one who pays.” She replied, and her uncle Kuro laughed.

“Nope, not like that. Money only gets you so much respect. He is a veteran, and he must have done something they respect. Probably flown through hell to save men captured on the battlefield. Does he have any medals?”

“None that he has shown me.” She replied, and one of the aunties smiled. “That means he got one, one that he does not want to brag about. Something the veterans respect. You got a good one.”

She smiled as she looked at the table, watching one of her father's men bang his chest and tell a wild tale. Peter chuckled and drank with them. She could see he would rather be with her, but he knew the part he had to play. She wondered if she would have to go through something similar when she met his family, naw. His sister had embraced her and accepted her immediately. She smiled, thinking about it. She was going to meet his family, but then she froze, realizing what she was about to face. Would they accept a city girl like her?

She finished her drink and smiled, then looked at Amalia.

“I need to go to the restroom,” She said as she stood up, and Amilia followed her. She needed a short break, and on the way back, she could drop by the table and check on Peter.

When they emerged from the restroom, she saw that Peter had moved into the middle of the couch, and more men were at the table. Her father had moved over to a calmer table but was observing him while discussing matters with the police chief, Mayor, and other VIP’s.

She casually walked over, and Peter looked up at her, stopping the tale he was spinning.  There was a data pad on the table showing a holographic image of a Gyma. The other men looked at him, then at her, and smiled.

“Kiko, don’t take him yet. We will keep him safe.”

Peter gave her a weak smile, and she leaned over the table, took his glass and emptied it, then kissed her.  

“Now behave, guys. If he is too drunk tonight, then I will be very disappointed.”

The people chuckled, and one of them called out, “No more alcohol for him!”

She smiled, and he winked at her as the men wanted him to continue the story. As she left, she heard him continue. She knew the story, but he had adjusted it slightly. It was about hunting Gyma and being used as live bait by his crazy brother. She shook her head and gave her father a polite nod before going to the table with her old friends and listening to the current gossip, most of which was about her.  

When she looked back at the table to check on Peter, she saw he was missing. She sat up straighter and looked around.

“Over there,” Janis whispered, and she turned to see Peter sitting at a table with Kastu and some of his colleagues. He had a quiet conversation, but Peter seemed to be politely refusing the men.  Drufus was nearby, observing quietly. She cursed. Yet another test, and Peter finally seemed to have had enough, stood up, offered an apology, looked around, then walked towards her. She smiled as she looked at him, then she saw what was about to happen. One of the lower gang leaders, those trying to impress Hando, walked towards Peter. He would try to cause trouble to see how Peter would react. Peter noticed, and just before they crashed into each other, he twirled around him like a dancer, and the goon completely missed his ‘drunken tackle’ he had planned.   Peter gave him a friendly nod and a polite comment, then continued to walk towards her. The goon looked after Peter, then to Drufus, who shook his head, and the man nodded and continued to the bar.  

Peter had no idea as he came over and sat down next to her as her friends made room for them.

“Now, why do they keep asking me if I want to invest in all those things. It’s too good to be true. You're absolutely correct, they are scam artist with guns.”

“None of what they offered you was tempting?”  Cindy Kwon said, and Peter laughed.

“Nothing I wanted.” 

She leaned into him, wanting to leave. She looked over at the table and saw Grandma standing up and being escorted out.

“Now we can leave.” Cindy Kwon said, noticing as well.

“Finally, want to join us for the nightclubs?” Mia Madison asked.

“You think she wants to go out now? Look at her, she has been wanting to ride that horse the whole night. Let's ask Amalia, she and Katsu are more fun.” Cindy replied, and Kiko just smiled as she looked up at Peter.

“That sounds like a plan. Want to go home?”

 Peter kissed her and said yes softly.

-cast-

Hando Lee: Kiko, Lee’s father, the top mafia boss of Sanctuary

Kastu Lee: Kiko’s older brother runs the family's prostitution ring.

Mashiro Lee – Hando Lee’s mother and a gambler. Kiko’s grandmother, widow

Kuro Lee-  younger brother to Hando, uncle to Kiko. Runs protection and Casinos

Drufus- Hando Lees' right-hand man.

Amalia Diaz – her best friend and secret girlfriend to her brother

Larissa Diaz – Amaila’s grandmother, friend of Mashiro, and fellow gambler

Cindy Kwon – Party girl who is known for testing the loyalties of her boyfriends

Mia Madison - Party girl who is known for testing the loyalties of her boyfriends

Janis Tong – Friend of Kiko, the quiet girl, and a follower.

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Kiko stood by the window, looking down at the city landscape below as the sun rose. Peter was still recovering in bed.  It made her smile a little as she thought about it, and she wanted to linger in that memory.  But she could not, now that she was awake, now that she was awakened, she could not stop thinking about yesterday's revelation.

She felt confused and afraid. What if Mom had won? She would have died, and this city would be under cartel rule. She took a deep breath and tried to push those thoughts out of her mind. Mom was complicated, but she had loved her. She had bought her first pistol for protection. Dad had been so angry about it, thinking that a seven-year-old should not be playing around with a pistol. No, okay, that was perhaps not the best choice, and she was strict. Though she called it love. She had made Kastu and her start training to take over the family business at a young age. She kept telling them it was Dad who demanded it.

Yeah, Mom had been the strict one, so Dad could play the role of the nice one. Mom never hid the family business from them as Dad did. It was only when she was older that he slowly revealed more and more about it. And only after Mom was killed. Her first experience with death.

After that, it seemed like Dad didn’t care anymore. He tried a little, then just became cold and distant. Her head was leaning against the window as she realized something. Dad had become like Mom in the year after.

“Are you okey?” Peter spoke softly as he gently embraced her. His arms rested softly around her waist. She leaned back and closed her eyes as she took in his scent.

“Now I am.” She replied as she lingered in his arms. “Just hold me.”

He kissed her neck softly and held her in his arms as the sun finished rising over the city.

“I guess we are not doing breakfast in bed.” He finally said, and she chuckled, turning to him.

“Let's have a shower and go out for breakfast. There is a nice restaurant on the 30th floor with an outdoor terrace. I used to eat there before school.”

“Sure, but I thought you had Louis make your breakfast.: he said as she led him to the bath.

“I was a rebellious girl back then, I hated to stay at home.” She replied and, with a mischievous grin, added. “I still am.”

.

The breakfast turned into a long, silent walk around the lake. Her mind was starting to ache as she kept returning to her childhood memories, leaving her confused and annoyed. She wanted to scream, yet having Peter next to her kept her grounded. He was not involved no, he was the reason. She stopped in the middle of the gangway, turned, and looked at him.

“It’s your fault!” she said, and he looked confused at her.

“My fault?”

“Yes! If you had not kidnapped me, then I would not have found out about Mom, and I could have avenged her. Now my dad's the hero and Mom's the villain. I…. you . AAAAAARGHHHH … FUCK!” She felt the surge of rage, and she pushed Peter hard, and he didn’t budge.

“Get it out. Just get it out.” He said in a calm, strangely soft voice. How dared he be supportive now! She pushed him again, harder, and he took it without budging.  The few people around looked at them, confused, and hurried away. She ignored them, she was going to show Peter she could move him. She gave it all and tackled him as hard as she could, forgetting where they stood. 

The cold water hit her like a shock and washed away her anger as she desperately looked around for Peter. He was just standing there with water up to his chest, looking at her.

“Feel better now?” He asked.

“Yeah. I.. sorry ..I just don’t know what to do.  Everything I thought was wrong.”

“Everything?” He replied as he pulled her closer, and she smiled at him. Ignoring the cold water.

“Well, not you ofc course, I mean about mom and dad. I believed I was raised by a monster and that he killed my mother. I made myself see everything he did as bad, as signs that he didn’t love me.”

“It's clear he loved you. You would be dead if he really was the monster you made him into.” He replied, and she looked at him.

“You're on his side?”

“No, I’m on your side, but you have to be blind not to see how much he loves you. He started a bloody war over you.”

She splashed him with water, and she smiled. “So I'm blind now?”

“You fell for me, so yeah. Blind, deaf, and might have hit your head a little too hard as well as a kid.” He replied, and she looked at him, then laughed.

“Hey! No swimming in the lake!” a metallic voice shouted, and they turned and saw a droid standing by the gateway.  Peter started to walk back to the edge as Kiko clung to him. Yet again, she was reminded that he was raised on a farm and was probably among the strongest men she had ever dated.

Once they got out of the water, the droid promptly fined them and told them to change or dry off.   She called for a car, and soon they were back in the Penthouse, dry and changed.

“What now?” Kiko said, looking at Peter as she sat at the kitchen island. She held a cup of coffee as she didn’t want to start drinking this early; it was almost lunch.

“Well, that's up to you. But I guess you want my suggestion?” He replied, grabbing a cup for himself and joining her.

“Yes, so don’t give me that. It's your choice, crap. What do you think I should do?” She said, putting down the cup and looking at him; he didn’t look away but thought for a second before replying.

“He isn’t going anywhere; your brother has a wedding coming up, so put it on the back burner and give yourself time to think about it. Right now you're still reeling from the shock.  We can even take a trip away so you can think it over with a clear mind.  Your dad is still the crime lord, and you are a mafia princess.”

She looked at him, she didn’t like the answer. Mostly because it made too much sense. 

“Okay, so what do you suggest we do then?”

“We have other things to prepare for, and if we got three months, then we can visit my parents.”

She stared at him. “Oh, we will have three months. I will make sure of that!”

He just smiled that goofy smile of his as he drank his coffee.

“Are you not going to give them an offer they can’t refuse?”

Kiko just grinned, nodded, then called up Amalia, putting her on speaker. She replied after the fifth ring, still in bed.

“What time is it?”

“Hi darling, it's noon. I need to run something by you. Have you guys set a date yet?”

“Kiko! Go back to sleep.”  Kastu mumbled in the background, and Amilia blushed a little as she got out of bed, using the covers to hide herself.

“hey! Arh…“ Kastu said in the back as Amalia stole the covers, leaving him exposed.

“No date yet, but it will be soon.”

“Soon, as within two weeks, or soon, like within the year?” Kiko asked.

“Within the year. Why?”

“I need three months. Peter is going to introduce me to his parents. Can you wait that long? Please?”

“Sure,” Amelia replied, then turned to Kastu. “You're okay with that? Can we wait, let's say, six months? Gives us time to plan the wedding properly?”

“I’m okay with that. Remember, we have lunch with the whole family tonight.” He replied, and Kiko cursed lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, we will be there. I’m taking Peter shopping then. He needs something better.”

“He needs body armor!”  Amalia replied.

Kiko said her goodbyes, which took thirty minutes, and then she dragged Peter out the door, her worries earlier gone. She could deal with the mess with her Dad later. She called up her friends, and they met them at St.Piers for a light lunch.  Jason Blake and his boyfriend had joined the group as well, and when Amalia joined them a little later, the gang was complete. Kastu had made the wise choice of giving her his credit card and left for work. 

Kiko could see that Peter felt like a fish out of water, especially when they all tried to dress him up. In the end, they found something he felt comfortable in, and that made him look the part.   The girls picked out several dresses, and Kiko found something that fitted Peter's look perfectly. She was actually looking forward to showing him off to her family.  After all, he had no problem dealing with dragons, giant snakes, and alien monsters, her family of hardened criminals should be a cakewalk.

A few hours later, they walked back home, and while they stood in the elevator, the wall screen suddenly changed to the current gossip. It was several images of them clearly showing affection for each other. Kiko shook her head.

“Very funny, Drufus. Very funny.”

The screen shifted to the betting site, and she looked at the odds.

“You will win a lot to bet against those odds.” She said.

“Noted. I’m putting down 10 grand.” Drufus finally said over the speakers; then it switched to music, and the screen went back to its normal videos of what the casino could offer.

“Those were some pretty bad odds,” Peter said, and she just leaned into him.

“Yeah, but they don’t know you, and they think you're just somebody I use to piss off Dad.”

“He doesn’t seem that pissed off.”

“Yeah, he likes you. And back in the day, that was a guaranteed breakup for me.”

“Ohh, I didn’t try to make him like me. It kinda just happened. Hell, I have to admit he still scares me.” He replied, and she smiled.

“Yeah, I can understand that. He scares me too.  You will see a lot of people today, and you should be careful about them.   I just hope he tells them no business talk. If he does, then you should be safe. If not, they will try to recruit you.”

“Can’t you ask him?” He asked, and she could see it made him slightly worried.

“I can ask, but he might want to see how you deal with it. He is a scheming bastard at times.”

“I won't join anything. I want to take you out of this world, not become part of it,” he said, and she looked up into his eyes. That marvelous fool, he said it as he meant it. It was not a command, but a genuine wish and promise, she only had to accept. And she had accepted this so many times, every time she woke up next to him, she hoped he would do just that.

“That’s why I love you.” She said, softly kissing him, as the lift door opened and they made their way to the restaurant.

Drufus met them at the door with a polite smile and then shook his head slightly at Kiko. Her dad had already decided to test him, and she could not stop it. Drufus smiled at Peter.

“Good luck in there among the wolves. But from what I have heard, you’re a dragon killer, so a pack of wolves should be easy.”

Peter looked at him for a second before nodding, then he took a deep breath before replying. “Thank you.”

“Well, this is going to be fun,” Kiko said between her teeth, and Peter looked at the huge room, filled with mostly humans, all of them criminals, and simply said. “Yeah”

-cast-

Peter Fordhall –

Kiko Lee –

Hando Lee: Kiko, Lee’s father, the top mafia boss of Sanctuary

Kastu Lee: Kiko’s older brother runs the family's prostitution ring.

Drufus-  Hando Lees right hand man.

Louis: - personal chef

Amalia Diaz – her best friend and secret girlfriend to her brother

Jason Blake – one of Kiko’s exes, Navy intelligence and gay, raised highly religious, an atheist.

Cindy Kwon – Party girl who is known for testing the loyalties of her boyfriends

Mia Madison - Party girl who is known for testing the loyalties of her boyfriends

Janis Tong – Friend of Kiko, the quiet girl, and a follower.