by Saxon Andrew
Gem looked at Desiree, “I did. I really didn’t think they’d even install the old model on another species ship but it appears Mother takes keeping me safe a lot more serious than I thought.”
Victoria stared at Gem before saying, “Why is keeping you safe so important?” Gem looked at her and remained silent. “Tell me, Gem!”
Gem’s thorax swelled as he inhaled. “I’m slated to follow my mother and be the next ruler of my planet.”
Billy smiled, “Hey, we have a rock star on board.”
Jack said, “Holy crap!! You’re not just in the Royal Family; you’re the head of it!”
Gem looked at him, “Not yet. Mother holds that position at the moment.”
Desiree looked up and rolled her eyes. Victoria saw her, “What are you thinking?”
Desiree blew out a quick breath, “I not only have to make sure you’re not harmed but I also have to make sure Gem stays safe.”
“Do not concern yourself with me,” Gem replied.
Desiree looked at him, “What do you think your species will think about humans if you’re killed while you’re with us?”
“They’ll think I made a foolish decision but I don’t think they will blame your species.”
“Are you sure about that?!”
“Well, not really. But let’s not worry about it until it becomes an issue, shall we?”
“Easy for you to say,” Desiree answered as she slumped back in her chair.
“Lighten up, Desiree.” Desiree turned to Victoria, “It is not our intention to get involved in situations that might put us in danger. We’re simply going to maintain our cover of being a party ship.”
“And what happens if Leonidas calls us in to help him out of a tight spot?”
Victoria stared at her and sighed, “You’re right. We’ll put Gem in a shuttle and send him home if that happens.”
They turned and looked at Gem who was quietly clacking. What’s so funny?” Victoria asked.
“Just who is going to make me do that?”
The two women looked at each other and Desiree rolled her eyes again.
• • •
Serge looked up from his desk as the Security Chief entered his office, “Yes?”
“Sir, we’ve received a message from the Unity inquiring as too why we are stopping other Commercial Trader’s ships. The official in charge of Unity Naval Forces says that sort of aggressive behavior violates Unity bylaws governing competition and he would not like to open an investigation into our behavior.” Serge stared at the Chief as he continued, “We’ve been stopping ships to check for your daughter’s presence. We’ve focused on those that are going to planets she’s familiar with.”
Serge closed his eyes and lowered his head. He took breath and looked up, “Tell me what this memo is really saying.”
“They’re saying that if we want to keep doing this, a substantial bribe is going to have to be paid to the official that sent the message.”
“Do you not think one of the companies we’ve been stopping hasn’t already done that?”
“Probably, but this is how the game is played.”
“Have you had any success in stopping those ships?” Serge asked.
“No, we have not. The DNA scanners have shown that Ana has not been present on any of them.”
“How much would I have to pay to continue stopping other commercial ships?”
“At least fifty million credits.”
“Let me tell you how I’d rather see you spend that money.” The Security Chief nodded. “We know when she was last seen on Kellinger, right?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And now you’re quite certain she is no longer on the planet, right?”
“Yes, Sir. We’ve pretty much left no stone unturned.”
“Then how did she leave?”
“I’m sorry, Sir. I don’t know what you’re asking. She must have left on a Starliner. Getting on a commercial trading ship wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Because we have sensors all over the commercial space port. Her DNA would have been detected the moment she stepped through one of the gates.”
“So, if she left, it had to be on a Starliner or a private ship,” Serge repeated.
“Yes, Sir.”
Have you checked out the private ships that were on Kellinger when she was present?”
“We have and nothing indicated they were involved in her disappearance.”
“So, she had to leave on a Starliner, correct?”
“That’s what we’ve assumed, Sir.”
“Use that money to find a female passenger that left Kellinger but has no records of ever arriving on the planet.”
“Females that live on the planet leave it all the time.”
“I know that!! But they have local addresses. Find a woman that left Kellinger who does not have a local address. It will have to be someone that booked passage off the planet but has no record of ever arriving.” The Security Chief stared at Serge, who said after a few moments, “I trust you have someone inside the Starliner’s booking agencies that can search their databases for that information, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir. What about stopping other company’s vessels?”
“Stop doing it. If that were going to work, it would have by now. Get back to me if anything turns up. Also notify that Unity Official that we will cease stopping ships immediately.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Three weeks later, the Security Chief contacted Serge Romanov on his personal frequency. Serge took the call and said, “Well, did anything turn up?”
“Yes, Sir. We found three women that were visitors to Kellinger who booked passage off the planet during the time frame we think Ana left.”
“And?”
“We aren’t able to confirm any arrival that happened more than three months earlier; the Starliner’s purge the databases older than three months. However, one of the women booked a flight to Luminus.”
“Isn’t that planet famous for building personal starships?”
“It is, Sir.”
“What was the woman’s name?”
“Victoria Lenora De La Pascal. She is a wealthy widow who inherited a huge fortune from her husband.”
“How huge?”
“More than half a trillion credits.”
Serge’s head tilted to one side as he asked, “Do you have a description?”
“Better than that, Sir. I have a photo.”
An image appeared on Serge’s console and he stared at it. “She looks nothing like Ana.”
“That’s true, Sir.”
“What about the other two?”
“We’ve already found them and scanned them. They are not Ana.”
“What about this Victoria something or other.”
“We’ve not been able to find her. The ship builder on Luminus says that he built her an expensive luxury yacht and sent her on her way.”
“When did that happen?”
“Two weeks after your funds disappeared.”
“What do you think about this?”
“There’s more, Sir. According to the shipbuilder, a man also purchased an old commercial ship that she paid for.”
“That’s got to be her doing. What sort of ship did the man purchase?”
“Sir, it was an old commercial trader and finding it is going to be next to impossible. There are more than a million of those old ships still in use around the galaxy and there was nothing about the ship that made it unique. Finding it will be like looking for a single grain of sand on the beach. But finding that yacht should be easy.”
“Why haven’t you found it?” Serge pressed.
“It’s probably not in our galaxy.” Serge’s expression tightened and the Security Chief held up his hand, “She will have to come back to access her accounts. Now that we know what we’re looking for, we won’t miss her when she reappears.”
“Are you certain it’s
her? This Victoria looks nothing like Ana. Ana is almost…homely compared to this woman.”
“Sir, she was far from homely and I know that one’s appearance can be radically changed by those that do it for a living. We’re checking all the places on Kellinger to find who changed Ana’s appearance.”
“You believe this Victoria is Ana?”
“Sir, all the evidence points to it. One DNA scan will confirm it.”
“Were either of those ship’s armed?”
“Not on Luminus, Sir. I’m having all the planets that could install weapons on them in this galaxy contacted and so far, none of them have recorded a Yacht or a commercial trader arriving to be armed.”
“Keep me informed.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The Chief ended the contact and leaned back in his chair. He hadn’t told Serge that Victoria was at least two inches shorter than Ana. Making someone taller was simple; wear taller heels or shoe inserts. Making someone shorter was…well…not impossible but he’d never heard of a way to successfully pull it off. But this fit all the pieces so perfectly! He sighed and knew that if he didn’t come up with something soon, Serge was going to lose it. This was the best bet but he’d continue to search for Ana until this yacht made an appearance. He shook his head, this had to be her!!
• • •
Carl stared at his monitor and after a few minutes he turned to Leonidas, “Sir.”
Leonidas looked at him, “What is it, Carl.”
“I’ve just received a message from a technician named Doby on Luminus.” Leonidas sat up straight and his eyes narrowed. “He says to thank you for helping him pay off his fine and that he hopes you and the Lady are doing well. He also said that he didn’t know if it was important or not but that a Romanov Vessel arrived a few days ago and asked a lot of questions about ships that may have been purchased by the Lady Victoria. The Port Manager told them about her yacht and your trader being purchased by her.”
Barney looked at Leonidas, “How do you think they were able to connect her to Luminus, Captain?”
Leonidas slowly shook his head, “I really don’t have any idea how they managed to do that. But this proves that Romanov has incredible resources being used to find her.” Leo thought for a moment and said, “They had to go through the Starliner’s database and look at everyone that left Kellinger around the time we were there. I’m not sure how they did it but it’s a certainty that they’re suspicious of her being the one they’re looking for.”
“What about us, Sir?”
Leonidas absently shook his head, “I chose this ship because finding it would be next to impossible, Embree. That’s especially true after I changed the transponder and changed the ship’s name on the Cartian database. It also doesn’t have the same profile it had when I bought it after it was modified by the Insectoids. Victoria’s ship is another story, there’s no other ship like it. It was a custom built job.”
“Should she change her transponder?”
“No, Barney. What good would that do? It’s the only starship of its kind and changing the transporter would only cause more suspicion.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Tell Gem what’s going on and let him and Desiree work out what strategy they should use. I think between them, they can come up with something.”
“I hope so, Captain.”
Leonidas sighed, “I do, too, Carl.”
Chapter Eleven
The Spider looked at the image of Victoria on the console and huffed. This woman was two and a half inches shorter than Ana and her chest was more than five inches larger. There were somethings that couldn’t be faked. Well, surgery could change bust size but it was clear that this woman had not had surgery and was more endowed than Ana’s flat chest. Plus, her eyes were blue; the identification systems clearly showed she was not wearing colored contacts. The Security Chief was grasping at straws on this.
The Spider sat back and thought about it. The Security Chief had a top of the line Identification System as well and he had to see the same things. Why was he feeding this crap to Serge? Ummm…must be job security. But…it did fit all the pieces other than this woman not possibly being Ana. Could Ana have financed her purchase of the yacht and joined this woman after she launched? She certainly had the funds to do it. The Spider pressed a button and a man appeared on the panel’s monitor. “I need you to be prepared to make an interception at a moment’s notice starting now.”
“It’s going to cost you.”
“I realize that. Just be ready to make it happen or I’ll collect what I pay you out of your lifeless body!” The man nodded and the display went dark. The Spider went back to the console and read other private messages being sent by the Romanovs.
• • •
Victoria sat in her command chair and stared at the filament they were traveling. It was eerily beautiful. Jack looked up from his scanners and said, “My Lady, how did your family grow to be so powerful. In the three galaxies we’ve visited, most humans we’ve encountered are not rich and powerful. Most of them are struggling to get by.”
Victoria smiled, “The story is one my family is very proud of, Jack. Do you know much about the history of Earth?”
“I know some of it.”
“Do you know about the time about a thousand years after Earth was bombarded back into the Stone Age when traders would come to Earth and bid on young humans to work on their vessels?”
Jack nodded, “That was at the start of the Commercial Age.”
“Yes, it was. The original Serge had fifteen children with two different wives. The effort of having eight children eventually killed his first wife. Anyway, he sold all fifteen children to the traders and saved the money they paid him. His second wife rebelled against him selling their youngest child and he killed her just before he booked passage off Earth. He took the funds he collected and bought a small commercial trader, which he had armed. He took that ship and within a few years made enough to buy another ship. He also found another wife during that period and had two more sons. One of them commanded the second ship and later the second son commanded a third.”
“It sounds like he used his family as a means of gathering wealth.”
“He absolutely did. His older son took command of the small growing fleet after Serge’s death and started pirating other commercial ships. However, unlike other pirates, he would take the contents of the pirated trading ship along with the shipping manifest and take them to the planet they were consigned to be delivered. He would give them to the company that ordered the goods and collect the full payment.”
“That’s incredibly smart!” Billy said from his console. “Most pirates only make about a tenth of the value of what they take from ships they plunder.”
Victoria nodded, “They paid nothing for the shipment they pirated and received full value from the planet that ordered it. Within twenty years, the Romanovs no longer had to resort to piracy. They owned enough trading vessels to make incredible wealth as the universe began changing to a commercial economy. They were in the right place at the perfect time.”
Jack sighed, “I guess they still don’t place much value on their families. He sent you out into a dangerous situation.”
Victoria stared at Jack and said, “Yes…he did.”
Jack stared at her and said, “What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering about whether or not Serge does hold anyone in his family in high esteem.” Victoria thought for a minute and said to Jack, “You know that I’m not really his daughter. He purchased me and my sister when were babies.” Jack nodded. “That makes me wonder if he actually has a real daughter or son somewhere.”
“Who is going to inherit the company after him? The original Serge thought that was important. I would think this one would be same as his ancestors.”
Victoria shook her head, “I don’t know, Billy. But it would be nice to find out.”
The speaker announced, “Victoria, report to the traini
ng room, please.”
Victoria inhaled and blew out a hard breath, “See you later. Jack, you have the ship.” Victoria arrived in the training room and found Desiree stretching. She looked at Gem, “What is it today? Death by small cuts or blaster burns?”
Desiree chuckled as Gem clacked, “Funny! Today, you are going to avoid being hit by blasters beams or projectiles and if you’ve not been hit quickly, you will move around the room taking out the targets one by one. Eliminate the first one you attack by delivering a One disabling blow to it; the second with a Two blow to it, and the third with a Three blow to it. You will then start back at delivering one, twos and threes in that order to the remaining targets.”
Victoria joined Desiree stretching when she entered the room and asked as she touched her toes and reached for the ceiling, “And if we get hit?”
“Then you’ll start over at the beginning.”
Victoria looked at the fifty man-sized figures in the room holding hand weapons and then looked at Desiree, “Seems easy enough.” Desiree burst out laughing and had to bend over to catch her breath. “Hey, I was being sarcastic.”
Gem clacked, “I want the two of you to try something.” Both women looked at him as Desiree stopped laughing. “You’ve been focusing on the targets up to now. I want you to forget the targets and focus on seeing the pattern instead.”
Desiree eye’s widened, “Pattern?”
“There is always a pattern taking place around you. Focus on seeing it and not the targets. Try it.”
Victoria and Desiree looked at each other and they turned and looked at the room full of possible enemies. After a moment, Gem said, “BEGIN!”
Victoria leaned back as a bright light beam flashed past her head and spun around hitting the target behind her in the head with her elbow. The loud speaker designated to Victoria announced loudly, “ONE!” She went into a crouch and hit the next closest target in the arm with her fist and it twisted into an impossible angle. “Two!”
She was turning her head constantly as she leapt five feet off the floor and kicked a target in the head. “Three!” She moved toward the floor and twisted her torso as a bright beam flashed pass her. She landed between two targets and jabbed both arms out hitting both of them in their chests. Two Ones!”