“That’s going to be a tough sell.” Barb allowed.
“Not necessarily,” Jean added, “If the date is with someone committed, then they both are committed to the cause, and Bethany Anne is the figurehead for the cause.” She thought a moment before blushing, “Sorry, didn’t mean to call you a figurehead, boss.”
Bethany Anne said, “No, I believe you are onto something there.” She tapped her fingers on the table, “If a couple is committed to a cause above themselves, then they are joined in their efforts and both sides would be stronger in their commitment and understand what it takes. Or, at least mostly will.”
“What about kids?” Ecaterina asked.
“What about them?” Bethany Anne asked, “Oh, you are asking what happens with kids?” Ecaterina nodded, “Well, it won’t be an accident. The guys are all shooting blanks right now due to the enhancements.”
“But, they are shooting?” Jean asked grinning.
“As far as I know, Ms. Dukes.” Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow to the woman, “Unless you need further research done?”
“Well,” Jean allowed, “If I have to sacrifice my body on the altar of John Grimes, I’m just saying that …” Jean noticed the ladies all staring at her. Everyone had a smile on their face except Barb, whose mouth was open in surprise. Jean blushed, “Can I just say that I’m used to working with men, and they tend to be a little more blunt?”
“You can,” Gabrielle admitted, “but it won’t erase what we heard.”
“On the altar of John Grimes?” Cheryl Lynn asked. “That is erotically poetic I think.”
“You should have seen him snap that lock in his fingers,” Jean said, twisting her right hand in the air, “God, what a turn on.”
“I’d say you are still pretty turned on,” Patricia allowed, smirking.
“What happened to the Chief Engineer?” Gabrielle said.
Jean made a face, “Well, I could say it was fun while it lasted, but it didn’t last long enough to be too much fun. I learned that he admired me for a few years, but he has been in love with space for decades. Space is such a slut.”
“Chose to go out to the asteroid belt?” Cheryl Lynn guessed.
Jean nodded, “Yeah, the new ship they are working on caught his imagination. Apparently, nothing we have down here is nearly as sexy as the first spaceship in existence. Thank God we never went to bed, I don’t know if my ego could handle being second fiddle to a space ship.”
“Well, isn’t that what we are asking anyone who is with the guys?” Bethany Anne brought the question back around, “to be second fiddle to me?”
Jean shook her head, “No, because you embody the future. That’s what I meant by a figurehead. You are ‘you’, but you are also what we are striving to do all of this for, to save the planet. I’m ok being second fiddle to something that important, but a spaceship is just a huge vibrator. A technological plaything that has his imagination and I can see that he is going to be infatuated with that bitch for a few years.”
“Angry much?” Gabrielle asked.
“No, well yes in a way.” Jean said, “Not so much about Chief Rodriquez following his dream, I think that is great. It’s more that I knew that he admired me for a few years, and it felt really good with all of the other shit that has happened to me. Now, I’m playing second fiddle to his space dream and my ego took a hit.”
“Oh.” Gabrielle replied, “Just making sure you are not rebounding on to John, I wouldn’t agree to that.” She kept her face pointed at Jean until the woman noticed the action and nodded her understanding.
“No, at the moment I’ll admit I don’t want John Grimes for his intellect, which he seems to have plenty of if you ask me. I just want him for his body.” She shrugged, “I just want to spend all night trying to get my brains fucked out. I admire and respect him for what he does, but it is the man inside that has me ready to load my weapons!”
Patricia put a hand over her mouth as she snickered at the blunt answer from Jean.
“So, how exactly did this conversation go into the gutter so fast?” Ecaterina asked.
“Sweetie, you must have had a very sheltered childhood,” Patricia told her.
“My childhood was on a mountain,” Ecaterina answered, “or with my brother.” She allowed.
“Well, that answers that question,” Cheryl Lynn said. “You need more girl time before it’s all babies and diapers.”
“Ladies,” Bethany Anne interrupted, “And I’m starting to wonder about using that word now - I need you to focus!”
“Hey, did we ever get the baby name?” Gabrielle asked before looking back to Bethany Anne, “Oh, sorry!”
“She can tell you the baby’s name,” Bethany Anne spoke in a clipped fashion, “At the end of my damned meeting!”
Twenty minutes later after finally getting the women to focus, there was a knock on the door and Tabitha stepped in. She was wearing a pair of leather pants and an Under Armor shirt. This caused Bethany Anne to raise her eyebrows.
Gabrielle stood up and stepped over to greet her with a hug, “Hey shrimp! Those don’t look too bad on you.”
Tabitha looked down at the leather pants, “You mean you're jealous that my ass makes them look good, right?” She looked back up grinning at the vampire. “Because, let’s face it, European asses just don’t got that slap!” She smiled as she popped herself on her butt.
“Whatever,” Gabrielle allowed, “C'mon and sit down before I slap you, you disrespectful cur.”
Bethany Anne nodded to Tabitha, “One second, Tabitha. Ok, Patricia, Barb, and Gabrielle are going to take the next steps, and we will talk again. Get with ADAM if you need to speak to me on this.” The others stood up from the table and started making their way to leave.
Barb came around and gave Bethany Anne a hug and whispered in her ear, “What about Frank?”
Bethany Anne looked at Barb, “I thought you were going to deal with that? You aren’t?”
Barb blushed, “Well, I’d like to. Perhaps not quite as emphatically as Jean.”
Bethany Anne thought a moment, “You need to remember that while Frank looks in his late twenties or early thirties, he is a product of a century ago. You might need to take him in hand to get him moving.”
Barb smiled, “Well, I think I can take something in hand and then I’ll have his attention.”
Barb turned to walk out with a smile on her face, completely missing Bethany Anne’s look of total shock as her eyes followed the woman out of the room.
“What?” Patricia asked getting Bethany Anne’s head to turn back to her, “you didn’t think she had that in her?”
“I’m not sure what I thought, but I’m wondering if Dukes is creating monsters here.” Bethany Anne answered the older woman.
“Well kid, I’ve got to go jump your Dad.” Patricia told Bethany Anne, “All this talk of manly men has my heart pumping and it’s time he takes care of the home front,” she said and started chuckling as she walked towards the door.
“That’s…” Bethany Anne started, but Patricia was already at the door laughing at the expression she suspected was on Bethany Anne’s face, “just not right…” Bethany Anne finally overcame a strong desire to stick her tongue out at Patricia’s back.
Bethany Anne turned to regard Tabitha, who looked up at her. “And now, that leaves you,” she told her.
CHAPTER FIVE
QBS Polarus - Mid-Atlantic Ocean
Bethany Anne turned toward her suite, “Come on, let’s go to my room.” She grabbed her Coke off of the table as Ashur stood up and followed the two woman into the next suite. Bethany Anne grabbed a coaster from the writing desk to the left of the main door and walked over to her nightstand, dropped the coaster on it, and set her Coke down before getting on her bed.
She looked down at Ashur, who was looking up at her, “Yes, come on up. You better keep your shedding down you four-footed white rug.” Ashur chuffed as he jumped up on her bed and laid down with his head next to
her hand and looked up at Bethany Anne, “Yeah.” She lifted her hand so Ashur could move his head underneath it and she dropped it back down to started rubbing Ashur’s ears.
Bethany Anne turned to Tabitha who was staring at the two of them, surprise showing on her face, “What?”
“Do you and Ashur communicate?” Tabitha asked, “I mean. I know he is intelligent, so maybe he just knows a little more than most dogs, but it seems like you two really communicate.”
“What?” Bethany Anne looked down at Ashur, “What kind of female bitches do you like?” Ashur chuffed again, “Seriously?”
“What did he say?” Tabitha asked.
“Well, if I believe this, he said promiscuous ones.” Bethany Anne regarded Ashur further, “You know four-foot, we are going to have to do more testing to see if this is real, or if my mind is playing jokes.” Ashur made a whining sound, “You and me both, needles scare the shit out of me, well they did anyway.” She amended, “I imagine it’s going to be the Pod for you soon.” She rubbed his head hard then reached over and patted him on his side. “Damn, have we been communicating?” She wondered aloud.
Bethany Anne turned to face Tabitha, “Ok, sage of the databases, spill it.”
“Well, you know about the first two attacks on Michael’s house,” she began before Bethany Anne put up a hand.
“Your house now. I get that you don’t want to believe he is gone, but for now, let’s call it your home. I went through this same thing already when he disappeared before. If he should ever make it back, you can give it back to him, ok?” Tabitha nodded her understanding.
“Ok, I told you about the first two attacks. Hirotoshi and Ryu took care of them, and it wasn’t a big deal since they were in charge. This time, I answered the front door, and three guys I encountered were pushy. Something snapped in me, and I left the front door open and told them I didn’t want company, but if they wanted to push it and come in, it would go bad.”
“So, they took you up on your offer. Did they say who they worked for?” Bethany Anne asked.
“No, just that their masters would be there tonight.” Tabitha shrugged, “That was enough to say ‘vampire’ to me. Hirotoshi and Ryu have been kind and only drank from mugs for me. This time, I offered the three men's necks to the two of them.”
“Did you watch?” Bethany Anne asked.
She made a face, “Yes, I did. I figured if I was in charge of the execution, then I should be willing to witness the deaths.” Tabitha said, “I can’t say I didn’t have a moment in the bathroom re-acquainting myself with lunch, but I felt it needed to be done.” She looked a little green remembering the episode.
“Good, that gives me hope that you have the stomach to do what your anger is driving, Tabitha.” Bethany Anne responded, “As a leader, especially a leader of mine, I expect your best and then I expect you to figure out how to surpass your best. You can’t expect others to do what you can’t do. That means if you decide people need to be killed, you need to be able to kill.”
Tabitha sat quietly, thinking about Bethany Anne’s comments as the woman went on.
“Further, you know all about the intelligence and computers and hacking, and your body is in decent shape, but you are going to have to get into superb condition.”
This time, Tabitha made a small face of disgust. Bethany Anne concealed her humor and continued, “Finally, you will need to learn how to fight and protect yourself. If you don’t, there could be a time when one of those underneath you could use just a little more help. If you can’t do it, they could die, and that is not the kind of leader I allow.”
Bethany Anne watched as the realization of her not wanting to put in the physical effort, and the possible death of one of her guards switched something in her brain, and her lips compressed in determination.
Good girl, you might just make a good leader, she thought.
“Finally, Hirotoshi and Ryu are protecting you under my orders. For you to start taking the fight to others, you will need at least six, perhaps seven. The answer to that I will leave with Akio, and I’ll ask Gabrielle as well.”
“Gabrielle joining me?” Tabitha asked.
“Do you want her to?” Bethany Anne responded.
Tabitha was quiet a moment, “No. I mean, yes I do because it would make me feel more secure. But I would just start relying on her to make everything happen, and I would become the Tabitha I don’t want to be anymore.”
“Which Tabitha is that?” Bethany Anne pushed.
“The weak one.” She replied in a small voice, “The one that wasn’t there to help Michael when he needed it.”
Manufacturing Facility 01 - Asteroid Fields
Jeo came walking towards Bobcat and William, who were both looking at the high ceiling above them, “Pretty impressive, isn’t it!” The two men dropped their gazes and reached out to shake Jeo’s hand, “We used the ideas from the BEAM module for ISS.” He said as he shook both of their hands. “For the Inflatable habitat, the transported compressed air allowed us to fill it up, and the new interlocking modules allow us to lose very little air as people come in and out.”
“I noticed,” Bobcat agreed, “Flying a pod into a double-wide and then spacewalking into the little booth was disconcerting. Hearing the air injected into the tight airlock was a great feeling, let me tell you.”
“Speak for yourself,” William grumped, “You guys need to build a ‘big and tall’ booth,” he growled.
“Shit, lose a few pounds,” Bobcat snickered and popped William in the stomach.
“You think that shit’s funny, just wait until John Grimes has to use it.” William retorted and laughed as he saw Bobcat’s realization, “See! That shit’s not so funny when you wonder what would happen if John got stuck.”
Bobcat looked over to Jeo, “My rotund friend here is right.” Bobcat dodged a playful punch from William, “You are going to have to worry about bigger people. Shit, Scott alone would get stuck because of his shoulders.”
“How many bigger people are there?” Jeo asked. “I mean, I guess I’ve seen the Guards, but …”
“Well, there’s a few of the Guardians that eat a cow for lunch.” William started then shrugged, “A bunch.”
Jeo made a face, “I didn’t want bigger because of the air loss, and another entrance is another potential leak area.”
“I’m sure you will come up with a good solution, I’d recommend roping Adarsh into the mix,” Bobcat allowed. “There is more to him than meets the eye,” He turned towards the main office area and started walking. “I see the gravity measures keep us feeling like we are on earth right now, that’s convenient.” William began to follow.
“And healthy, and a whole lot of other things,” Jeo agreed as he turned to walk with the two men, “We modify the gravity depending on what we want to do, as you would suspect.”
“How is it going on the Angel project?” Bobcat commented, “I’m getting reports via ADAM, but that is a shitload of manufactured parts we are lifting out here for that baby.”
“Hey, we are net positive cash flow.” Jeo responded, “I’ve talked with ADAM as well. The mining processes are netting us a ton of potential income, but getting it into the Earth’s markets without killing the profit options is a little challenging.”
“For whom?” William asked as the men stepped into Jeo’s office and they sat down while Jeo went behind his desk, “ADAM is dealing with that, isn’t he?”
“No,” came a female’s voice from Jeo’s wall. A visual came up of an attractive blond from the waist up, “I am helping Jeo deal with the financial markets.”
“Hello Samantha,” Bobcat answered, “I see you have changed your outfit?”
“I was told to turn into this business avatar for your meeting, yes,” Samantha answered.
Bobcat heard Jeo mutter, “Oh God, no!”
“Well, it’s just the four of us,” Bobcat started before Jeo interrupted him.
“Samantha, please lock all avatar reque
sts down for twelve hours,” Jeo hurriedly instructed.
Samantha turned to Jeo’s location, “I understand the avatar request change, Jeo.”
Bobcat turned towards Jeo, “Why are you so red?” he asked. “You know this isn’t going to work, right?”
Jeo looked back at Bobcat, shocked, “What do you mean this isn’t going to work?” He replied, suddenly more nervous.
William chuckled, “Jeo, Bethany Anne has a handful of people in the group she trusts with her life. There are also people in her group who she trusts to make sure other lives are protected, and Bobcat is at the top. Do you think she would let anyone block Bobcat out of a system?”
Release the Dogs of War Page 5