by Mike Smith
“But didn’t you think to let them know in advance, of your arrival?” she asked, horrified.
“Oh, you know me,” Alex said. “I hate these big welcoming committees. I much prefer something smaller, more personal, anyway I’m sure that word will get around quick enough that I’m back home.”
“Home?” Jessica picked up.
“Yes, home,” Alex said, cursing softly. He obviously hadn’t meant to let slip that little morsel of information, but was saved from further comment by a jolt as the ship made contact with the flight deck. Within the space of a few heartbeats the ship started to vibrate, as the flight deck slowly vanished from sight, to be replaced by the endless grey expanse of what was obviously the walls of an elevator. The ship continued to shake and rattle for several more minutes, as the elevator continued on, carrying their ship further into the belly of the station until, with a final violent clang, they came to a halt.
“Let’s go and meet the welcoming committee, shall we?” Alex said with a tight smile. “I’m sure that we’ll be welcomed with opened arms, as the prodigal son has finally returned.”
*****
The welcoming committee consisted of a grand total of two.
Both men were disreputable looking, with unshaven faces and even darker looks. Neither of them greeted Alex or Jessica with opened arms, as their hands were very much full. Gripping a pair of wicked looking compact, sub-nosed, machine guns that were pointed in their direction.
“What is it with you?” Jessica exclaimed in disbelief, glancing at the pair dismissively, before turning to face Alex. “Can’t we go anywhere without somebody wanting you dead?”
“I’m sure that it’s just a misunderstanding,” Alex said soothingly, turning to the pair. “Isn’t that right guys?”
“Lord Granville sends his regards—”
“See, told you so,” Alex said smugly.
“—and reminds you that you were banished from here, on pain of death.”
“Oh. I had hoped he’d forgotten about that last bit,” Alex said scratching his jaw. “Hey!” he exclaimed as the nearest guard caught him roughly by the arm, yanking it behind Alex’s back while pushing him up against the wall. The remaining guard expertly frisked him for any weapons and, only when he was completely satisfied that Alex possessed none, did they take a step back.
“Where is it?” the first demanded.
“Where’s what?”
“The weapon.”
“You’re going to have to be a bit more specific guys, as I’m told I pack a considerable weapon, but I’m guessing it’s not the one you’re referring too,” Alex smirked, while Jessica could only roll her eyes.
“The fusion pistol. Granville wants it.”
“Then he can go and find his own, I no longer have it. I gave it away.”
The two looked unconvinced, but having already searched him thoroughly, had no reason to doubt his word. “We’re instructed to escort you directly to Lord Granville,” the first snapped. “If you resist, or cause any trouble, we’re ordered to skip straight to sentencing.” He raised the machine pistol, clearly indicating the sort of ‘sentencing’ he was referring to.
“Then by all means, lead the way. Take me to your leader.”
“You know I’m starting to realise why you’re the most hated man in the galaxy,” Jessica muttered, falling into step by his side. “You’re the most aggravating person alive. Even I want to shoot you, just to shut you up.”
“Perhaps,” Alex smirked. “But they never thought to search you now, did they?”
Jessica blinked, as indeed the two men, who had fallen into escort around them, hadn’t given her a second glance.
“You did bring it, didn’t you?”
“Bring what?” Jessica replied, straight faced.
Alex’s laughter echoed along the dark, dilapidated corridor that they were being led down.
“You know this Lord Granville I take it?”
“Oh yes,” Alex replied. “Since I was practically a boy.”
“In which case how come I’ve never heard of him? I thought I knew all the names of the Lords and Ladies of the great families.”
“I don’t think Lord Granville moves in those social circles,” Alex said dryly.
“Then any idea why he wants you dead? He mentioned something about being banished on pain of death?”
“Well you see, Lord Granville, he has a daughter—”
“Say no more,” Jessica replied, rolling her eyes.
“You know, you’re intent on thinking the worst about me.”
“That’s because it’s usually true.”
“My, you’re very perky today.”
“What can I say, as things seem to be looking up. Upon meeting Lord Granville you’re likely to be kicked out of the nearest airlock, meanwhile my father will be here in three days to collect me. Either way you’ll be gone for good from my life.”
“Oh,” Alex said in a dejected tone, “and here I was thinking that it was because you had the good fortune to awaken in my arms, this morning.”
“It was presumptions like that which probably got you in trouble with Lord Granville’s daughter in the first place.”
*****
It wasn’t long before the two of them were shown into a large office, the two guards stepping inside close behind them, taking positions on either side of the door. Their machine pistols were now pointed towards the floor, likely in deference to Lord Granville’s presence. Based on the tension still in their hands, it wasn’t likely to take much effort to raise the weapons and let fly with the bullets. Jessica noticed with some foreboding, a further two guards stationed behind an old man seated behind a desk. Either he was seriously paranoid about his security, or he was expecting trouble.
Turning her attention back to the man seated behind the imposing wooden desk, she was taken aback by his age. His hair was a platinum-silver, reaching over his collar almost shoulder length and face showed every one of his years, weathered and craggy. However, unlike some of his peers, he showed not an ounce of fat on his body, instead appearing almost sunken and skeletal. Jessica had seen more animated corpses over the years. Still his eyes, which were fixated on them, glowed with a frightening intensity, indicating that he was far from his dotage.
“My Lord Granville,” Alex took a step forward, executing a flawless bow, which seemed to Jessica a bit overdone, almost flamboyant. She wondered if Alex was quietly mocking him. This was immediately reinforced by his next words. “I see that you’re still alive, just, which is fortunate as it means we can forgo all the usual tiresome introductions.”
“Alex, I’m surprised to see you again. I thought I made it quite clear the last time that we spoke that you’re no longer welcome here.”
“And I quite clearly remember you saying that you owed me. Still the pirate, eh? Always quick to renege on your debts.”
“Did he have it on him?” Granville asked, ignoring the taunt and instead directing the question at the two guards, who had escorted them into the room, who up until now had been as silent as statues.
Both of them shook their heads.
“Shame,” Granville muttered. “I could have found a collector willing to pay a substantial sum for such an item. Toss him out of the nearest airlock.”
“You’ll not be rid of me that easily,” Alex sneered, taking another step forward, until it was only the massive desk that separated the two of them.
“Oh, I think I will,” Granville replied, motioning forward the two guards stationed behind him. The two, who had followed them into the room, took a step forward and raised their weapons until the muzzles rested against the back of Alex’s head.
“Call off your lap dogs,” Alex snapped, “Or I’ll leash them for you.”
Unfortunately, before Granville could respond, one of the guards pre-empted his answer, by lifting his weapon from Alex, raising it high into the air, preparing to bring the butt of it down against Alex’s head. Taking advantage of the opp
ortunity, Alex reached out with a free hand, grasping the other weapon still pointed firmly at the back of his head, snapping the weapon down with ferocious force against the side of the desk. The guard’s fingers, still trapped in the trigger guard of the weapon, cracked with the impact. He let out a ferocious howl of pain, which was abruptly cut off, when Alex followed this by slamming the man’s head onto the surface of the desk. The crunch as the man’s nose broke was easily audible to all.
The second guard, in the unenviable position of having his weapon aimed at the ceiling, did the only thing he could by following up his initial plan of slamming the butt of the weapon into the back of Alex’s head. But the weapon wouldn’t budge, instead it was frozen in mid-air, with Alex’s free hand unceremoniously wrapped around it. The muscles in the guard’s forehead bulged, and his face went a bright scarlet, as with the combined force of two hands he desperately tried to dislodge it.
“Don’t provoke me,” Alex growled menacingly at the man, as the guard balanced on his tiptoes, hanging on with all his might to the weapon still hovering in the air. “I’ve already been hounded by my housekeeper, pestered by my friends and frankly pushed beyond the edge of sanity by a blue-eyed vixen. A man can only take so much before he snaps,” he roared.
Which was when the remaining two guards, who had been edging their way around the desk, lunged at him and the four of them went down in a pile of tangled limbs.
*****
Jessica could only stare at the scene unfolding before her, tapping Alex’s fusion pistol against her thigh irritably.
Men.
She tried clearing her throat, but this had no effect, drowned out by the sound of fists impacting on skin and the repeated cries and grunts of pain coming from the pile of human flesh squirming around on the ground.
“Excuse me,” she called out abruptly, but was pointedly ignored by all. Even Lord Granville seemed to have forgotten about her, instead leaning forward across his desk to peer at the brawl taking place on the floor. He looked decidedly curious about who was going to come out on top, or bottom, as the case might be.
Jessica’s fusion pistol stilled in her grasp, before she held out her arm, the weapon igniting like a small supernova. The intense, focused beam, leapt across the length of the room, coming to rest on a small pile of wooden logs, that had been stacked in an open fireplace, ready and waiting to be lit. With a massive crack, sheets of lightning spread out from the fireplace, with bolts racing along the walls and ceiling. Then, with a blinding burst of light, the entire fireplace exploded, with a ball of flame reaching up to the ceiling, racing off in all directions.
Jessica blinked.
“Whoops, my bad,” she said. “I just thought I’d start a fire, settle down and get comfortable while you boys sorted things out.”
“My dear, we’re in the middle of a Nova-Class Dreadnaught, in deep space, just where did you think the smoke was going to go exactly?” Granville drawled out, amused.
“A good point, but my most recent accommodations have been very drafty, the only illumination from candlelight and fireplaces, I’m afraid.”
“How dreadful,” Granville responded, resting his elbows on the desk, propping up his chin. “I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced, I am Lord Neville Granville, businessman, entrepreneur and present owner of Elysium Fields, and who might you be?”
“Lady Jessica Hadley, eldest daughter of High-Lord Hadley.”
The silence in the room was deafening, as all eyeballs in the room turned to face her, judging her, quickly followed by shaking heads of disbelief and astonishment.
“Alex?” Granville called out enquiringly.
“Difficult to believe, but yes, it’s true,” came the muffled reply from the floor.
“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier, Alex,” Granville replied shaking his head. “I thought you had better manners than that, and us, talking shop in front of her like that. Please take a seat, my Lady,” he said, pulling out a plush, leather bound chair and offering it to her. “Refreshments! Tea, cakes, biscuits.”
“Do you have something a little stronger? Scotch, whiskey or an analgesic perhaps,” Alex groaned from below.
“Do get up Alex,” Granville sighed. “You’re embarrassing me in front of Lady Jessica.”
*****
“Guests?” Granville said, sounding confused. “How many?”
“Not that many,” Alex reassured him, peering suspiciously at a daintily cut cucumber sandwich, small enough to hold between his thumb and forefinger, very much doubting that it would do much to appease his empty stomach. Instead he slid it back onto the plate from whence it had come.
“But why don’t you hold this party at your own home. Last I heard you had quite the bachelor pad, what was it, twenty-nine rooms?”
“Thirty,” Jessica and Alex replied in unison.
“Right,” he drawled, looking at the pair bemusedly. “So you want to hold it here instead, why?”
“Just in case the party gets out of hand,” Alex replied unconcernedly. “It’s far easier for you to turn away guests, than me.”
“So who will be attending?”
“High-Lord Hadley for one,” Alex responded.
“Really?” Granville’s expression brightened. “I’ve done a lot of business with him in the past, it will be a pleasure to finally make his acquaintance.”
“I bet you have,” Alex muttered. “I just wonder if High-Lord Hadley is aware of this commerce.”
“What sort of business are you involved in, my Lord?” Jessica asked, looking between the pair, bewildered.
“Oh, I have various, on-going, concerns,” Granville replied waving his hand loftily. “I have a fairly sizable fleet my dear, they obtain goods from various sources and ship them to major trading hubs in the surrounding systems. It is a form of commerce I suppose.”
“And like Sanderson, I assume you’re fully up-to-date on all your customs and exercise duty?” Alex asked sarcastically.
“Well,” Granville hedged. “Import duty is so high these days, especially to discourage trade between the different Mega-Corporations, so if a few, small, items of negligible value were to slip through unnoticed…”
“You’re a smuggler then?” Jessica enquired, intrigued.
“A smuggler?” Granville actually looked offended, while Alex could only laugh.
“Well, I’m sure that my father will be looking forward to making your acquaintance,” Jessica said, diplomatically.
“Only if he remembers to bring several feet of rope,” Alex muttered. “So, how’s your family?” he asked in a louder voice.
Jessica tensed, expecting the worst, but Granville simply smiled broadly.
“Good thanks and I now have a grandson, Lord James. Who would ever imagine, my offspring, one day could become High-Lord…”
“There is no justice in the world,” Alex commiserated. “And your son-in-law, he is well? Keeping out of trouble?”
“Yes, they’re all fine.”
“I’m relieved,” Alex confessed. “As a more terrible soldier, there never existed. He was very popular with the enlisted men, however, mostly because he was a terrible gambler and lost profusely.”
“I wasn’t aware that gambling was permitted amongst the troops?” Jessica commented.
“It isn’t,” Alex admitted. “He was also a terrible officer. Frankly, I was relieved that he had decided to take a different career path upon getting married. Last I had heard he had returned to the family business, and likely lost a fortune there too.”
“So you were there, when they met?”
“There?” Alex scoffed, “I introduced them to each other, and never was there a more perfect match. She wanted a rich, titled, husband. He wanted an insipid, but beautiful, wife. I wanted to be rid of both of them, preferably without having to resort to murder, and why Granville here is indebted to me. Ring any bells, my Lord?”
“I think it’s slowly coming back to me now,” Lord Granville repli
ed sullenly.
*****
“I don’t understand why you were so rude to Lord Granville,” Jessica scolded Alex, sometime later after they’d retired for the evening. “He seemed like the perfect gentleman the entire time. He even insisted that we stay here, with him, as his personal guests.” The guest quarters made available to them, while not as luxurious as those offered by her father, were still a dramatic improvement over Alex’s rustic country mansion—having lights for one.
“I fear that the irony in that statement, has completely passed you by,” Alex yawned, scratching his stomach. “Well, I for one am ready for bed, I didn’t get much sleep last night. You kept pushing me off the side. When you weren’t monopolising the bed, it was the blankets, you were rolled up like a cocoon. I spent the entire night shivering and constantly retrieving the bed covers. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a terrible bed hog?”
“No,” Jessica replied flatly.
“And a good thing too,” Alex responded plumping up one of the pillows and testing its softness. “Your father would have had their head.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“What does it look like? Getting ready for bed.”
“Not sleeping here, you’re not.”
“Oh, well, about that,” Alex looked faintly embarrassed. “You see, Granville only assigned us one guest room.”
“Why would he have done that?” she demanded, suspiciously.
“Probably because I informed him that we’re sleeping together.”
“No,” Jessica said. “We’re not.”
“I’m fairly sure we are,” Alex smirked. “Especially considering my intimate knowledge of your atrocious sleeping habits.”
“Are not.”
“Are too.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m glad that we’ve agreed on that,” Alex said. “Honestly I thought you would be more difficult about it.”
Jessica could only stare, mentally replaying the entire conversation in her head. She blinked. “You cheated,” she accused.