by M. D. Cooper
Antaris wasn’t looking at Jessica, his eyes were fixed on Anastasia. “Mother, seriously. I cannot fight a woman, especially not a guest. It would be the pinnacle of unseemly behavior.”
“Are you afraid, Brother?” Kristina asked.
Antaris’s eyes darted to his sister. “I am not afraid of Jessica, other than of hurting her. But that is not the issue. Men and women do not fight.”
Anastasia waved her hand. “There is no one else here. No one will know of this.”
Jessica walked to the clear space near the windows. “Come Antaris, it is just a sparring match. We are not fighting. I am curious to know how well a man who has never fought a woman will stand up to me.”
Anastasia nodded and waved her hand at Antaris. He sighed and rose from his seat. “Very well, Mother.”
Jessica settled into a low stance and pulled her dress up to the tops of her thighs, grateful the local custom allowed underwear.
“I’ll do my best not to hurt you,” Antaris said as he brought up his fists in a classic boxer’s pose.
“And I you,” Jessica replied, keeping her hands closer to her waist, fists loose, ready to block the first strike as the pair began to circle one another.
They made two full rotations before Jessica realized Antaris wasn’t going to initiate the attack. As he took his next step in their slow circling, she took two, darted in low and delivered a solid kidney shot under his guard.
“I’m only a few centimeters shorter than you,” Jessica said as Antaris stepped back, a look of surprise on his face. “But I’m certainly more limber. You’d best alter your guard. I have no intention of punching your arms.”
To his credit, Antaris did alter his guard and blocked the next three punches Jessica delivered to his abdomen.
“You’re quite strong for a woman,” Antaris said after he caught his breath.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Jessica replied, then threw another punch at Antaris’s abdomen—which he blocked— Jessica followed the attack with a blow to his face. His reaction was too slow and her fist hit his jaw. Antaris’s teeth snapped together loudly and he staggered backward.
“That was…unexpected…” he said as he rubbed his chin.
“That’s because you’re not trying,” Jessica replied, unable to keep a small sneer from her lips. “Show me your true mettle, or don’t. Either way I’ll win this contest.”
Her attempt at riling Antaris up worked and he delivered a series of tight, controlled jabs, all of which Jessica avoided before pivoting and catching Antaris’s left arm on his final punch.
She spun so they were hip to hip, her right arm wrapped around his, while her left held his wrist.
“Fight me for real, Antaris,” she said.
“I am,” he grunted and swung his right fist beneath their outstretched arms, into her side.
Jessica felt the breath leave her and she spun away, but not before delivering a kick to the back of Antaris’s right leg, causing him to fall to one knee.
She took a deep breath and came back at him, ready to plant a foot in his back and send him sprawling, but he was faster than she expected—finally. His two hands clamped around her ankle and he swung his arms around attempting to fling her across the open space.
Jessica twisted in mid-air, her foot slipping free from his grasp. Antaris’s arms continued their swing while Jessica’s right foot met the ground. Her left foot flashed out, toes bent back, and the ball of her foot struck his side directly under his right shoulder.
Her ears caught a soft snap, and she stepped back as he grunted in pain and grabbed his side.
“Shit, Antaris,” Jessica said, truly apologetic. “I think I just cracked one of your ribs.”
Antaris’s eyes met hers and he gave a soft smile. “I think it’s two ribs. This will impede my dancing, methinks.”
Jessica was surprised at his reaction. He didn’t seem angry at all, more pleased than anything—even though she had clearly beaten him before his mother and sister.
Antaris looked over at the other three women who had watched the contest from the sofas. “Are you satisfied, Mother? It would seem that Jessica can hold her own. I imagine the lady Cherrie can as well.”
Cheeky laughed. “Not so well as Jessica when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, but I’m not above shooting someone if I have to.”
“You’re obviously modified, Jessica,” Anastasia said as Jessica returned to her seat. “And not even sweating—though I suspect your skin does not do such a thing as perspire.”
Jessica nodded. “I have a few upgrades, and my skin cools me without moisture being involved, yes. Whether or not those upgrades make for a fair contest between myself and your son is immaterial. Your question was about the likelihood that Cherrie and I are capable of travelling alone. I believe that has been sufficiently answered.”
Anastasia nodded. “Indeed, it has. Though, as I’m certain a discerning woman such as yourself would suspect, it is now more believable to my mind that it was your own design—not that of some other nefarious scoundrels—to secret the weapons into House Charlemis.”
Jessica nodded. “I knew that possibility would be present in your thinking. In your position, suspicion is second nature. Everyone wants to take from you what you have worked so hard to achieve. Every compliment has a double meaning.” She paused and slid forward on the sofa, her eyes locked with Anastasia. “You have no reason to take Cherrie or me at our word, and yet, our word is all that we have to offer.”
“Indeed. What then?” Anastasia asked. “Do I simply repair your ship at my own expense and let you go?”
“Before we jumped to Serenity, we sent a message to a friend to meet. We had planned to travel with him for a while, and he will be coming here—likely expecting us to be in some measure of trouble,” Jessica laughed as she spoke, giving her head a rueful shake. “However, in the meantime, we could help you with your little problem.”
“Which little problem?” Kristina asked.
“The problem where someone is going to shoot up one of your dances.” Kristina’s eyes narrowed and Jessica realized that she had spoken too plainly and resolved to be more measured.
“That is an unlikely event,” Kristina replied. “We have very high levels of security.”
“All security has holes…typically in the form of the guests you invite,” Jessica replied. “But there is no sound argument against precaution. Illegal weapons were being shipped into Serenity on the eve of your dance, and our ship did not have any ammunition for any of the weapons it carried. There are other ships.”
“Ships with ammunition and no weapons?” Anastasia asked. “What threat are they?”
“Would you place all your bets on one hijacked ship to transport your illegal arms?” Cheeky asked. “I know I wouldn’t.”
“Let me cut to the chase. Whether or not you believe there is a risk, someone thinks they’ve found a way to successfully pull off an attack. It could be at a dance, it could be on a landing pad. If one of the houses is complicit—which I suspect they are—then it is even less sound to deny the possibility of an attack.”
“Let them tr—” Kristina said, but was cut off by her mother’s raised hand.
“Jessica is correct in her assessment. I too have suspected an attack for some time. House Charlemis and Nebacken have been too cozy of late. Maneuvering too many of their interests into alignment.”
“Do you truly believe that they are behind this?�
� Jessica asked. “The very fact that they are such obvious candidates makes me want to look elsewhere.”
“Sometimes a broom is just a broom,” Anastasia said.
“I will take your offer of help. And if there is an attack—which will be dealt with—I will prevail on Orion’s regional overseers to increase their patrols and put a stop to this Derrick person’s activities. At the very least they can clean up the Kidron system. That place has been spewing trash into this region ever since it was colonized.”
Jessica nodded in agreement. Derrick had operated with impunity on Olvives. Whether or not that was indicative of the entire system was another question, but it didn’t bode well.
“Oh, and there’s just one more thing…” Anastasia said, her eyes locked on Jessica’s.
“I’m happy to help,” Jessica replied with an honest smile. The truth was she was enjoying the intrigue. It made for an interesting change in the standard routine of faking idents and fooling dockmasters.
“You and Cherrie will come to the dances. You claim to have worked in a government’s intelligence agency. Prove it. Infiltrate Houses Nebacken and Charlemis, and end their alliance. Whether there is an attack or not, I will consider your success to be payment for your rescue and repairs.”
LEARNING THE MOVES
STELLAR DATE: 10.22.8938 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Laurentia Estate, Acadia, Serenity Primus
REGION: Serenity Ordus, Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
“I’m glad you were gentle with Antaris,” Cheeky said with no small amount of sarcasm in her voice as she lay back on one of the nine sofas in their assigned suite’s central room. Similar to the chamber in which they’d just met Anastasia and Kristina, this area had the sofas arranged around a low pit in the middle of the room where another heatless fire burned.
In contrast to the white and black of the meeting room, here the floors were a muted pink stone while the walls were a vibrant blue. The dancing light of the fire picked up reflective flecks in the walls and made them appear to shimmer and move.
Jessica sat next to Cheeky and kicked her heels off as she leaned back. “I didn’t mean to, he was just sitting there taking it.”
“I don’t know,” Cheeky said. “From where I sat, he was trying pretty hard—not hard enough to hurt you, but he did want to win.”
“Hmmmm…” Jessica replied, then started as something landed on her lap.
“Since you’re there, I need a foot rub,” Cheeky said, grinning like a cheshire cat.
“You’re incorrigible,” Jessica said as she pulled her friend’s sandals off and massaged her heels.
“Oh, that’s the stuff…. And I’m not incorrigible. I’m Cheeky. There’s more than one reason I picked this name.”
“Well, yeah,” Jessica replied. “Four.”
“Huh…I’ve never heard that one before,” Cheeky replied.
“Do you want the foot rub or not?”
“Shutting up now.”
“I’m going to need your help to pull this off, Cheeks,” Jessica said. “We need to play these two houses off one another in a way that points at House Laurentia as little as possible.”
“Why not just use jealousy?” Cheeky asked. “Just bonk both their house leaders and then leave them for the other side.”
“I would,” Jessica said thoughtfully. “But most women on Serenity aren’t into women. They have a really close male to female ratio.”
Cheeky cracked an eye. “I’d noticed a lot of menfolk around here. Is that the norm, then? All hetero all the time?”
Jessica shrugged. “Seems like it. From what I can see there are no laws against women having sex with women, or men with men for that matter. It just seems like all of the house leaders at the High Table are into men, and just like fashion in this place, everything else follows.”
“Sounds boring,” Cheeky replied. “Having to do whatever some fuddy-duddy does. I bet I could get Anastasia to change teams.”
Jessica slapped Cheeky’s foot, eliciting a cry from her friend. “Don’t even think about it. It’s going to be hard enough without you angling your way between Anastasia’s legs.”
“Yeah, I doubt I’d need to do much convincing anyway,” Cheeky said. “Pretty sure Kristina is a clone of Anastasia. Though I think Antaris is not. He has very similar features to the pictures of his father that I saw in the database.”
“Just because her daughter is a clone, doesn’t mean Anastasia only seeks female affection—in fact it’s a pretty weak correlation if you ask me,” Jessica said as she switched feet, eliciting a fresh round of happy sounds from Cheeky.
“Fair enough,” Cheeky finally said. “Then what’s your idea? If we’re not bonking the Charlemis and Nebacken house leaders we’re going to need…you know…a real plan.”
Jessica glanced back at Addie who stood silently near one of the pillars. “We shall indeed.”
Cheeky pulled herself upright and leaned back on her elbows. “Well, don’t leave me hanging, Jess, what’s your big scheme?”
“We have two missions here, Cheeky. The first is to placate Anastasia by breaking up Nebacken and Charlemis. The second mission is to figure out who is really behind what’s going on at Serenity.”
“Well, I’m on the breakup,” Cheeky said. “You can be all investigatory. Even if I can’t use sex, I’m sure I can get two women to hate each other. I’ll just need to determine what it is they like about one another, and what drives them nuts.”
“Not that simple, Cheeks,” Jessica replied as she slid Cheeky’s feet off her lap. “Anastasia will be upset if only one of us is doing the thing she thinks is most important.”
Cheeky looked to Addie. “I think I see where you’re going with this.”
Jessica nodded. “So, the question you have to answer, Cheeky, is corset and crinoline or full-body skinsuit?”
* * * * *
When Jessica woke in the morning she stumbled out into the central room to find it filled with all manner of clothing.
“You’ve been busy,” Jessica said as she watched Addie hang another outfit on a rack. “Do you really think we need… wow…I can’t even count this many outfits before coffee.”
“I do believe so, Jessica,” Addie replied. “There are five houses and five nights of dances. However, you cannot wear the same outfit during the day as you do at night, so you need two outfits per house per night for each of you. Two times five times five times two is one hundred outfits between yourself and Cheeky.”
“Yeah, Addie,” Jessica said as she rubbed her eyes, “but we don’t need outfits for every day for every house.”
“You told me to prepare enough outfits,” Addie replied solemnly. “I have prepared enough outfits. There is also a spare day and evening set for each house for each of you—just in case anything happens to ruin one.”
“Are you sure you weren’t a fashion designer before they made you an AHAP?” Jessica asked as she poured a cup of coffee.
“No, but a part of blending in as someone is understanding their sense of style. How they dress, what they wear, what they choose in different situations. Most people in power are particular about these things, and those surrounding them would pick up on inconsistencies.”
“Valid point,” Jessica admitted. “I hope you can pick up on everything else just as well. You’re a critical part of this plan.”
As Jessica watched, Addie grew taller, her waist drew in to match Jessica’s while her breasts grew. Her skin turned purple, as did her eyes and hair. She even began to glow ever so slightly.
“How’s about you see what I can do before you doubt me,” Addie asked with an arched eyebrow.
>
“Gah! How do you wear stuff like this all the time?” Cheeky asked, emerging from her room, wearing a skintight light blue outfit covering her from her neck to her toes. “I feel like I’m going to suffocate and die in this thing.”
Jessica shrugged. “I rather like wearing tight clothes. My therapist back in the TBI told me it was because I wasn’t held enough as a child—or some such nonsense. She offered a mental treatment to cure me of it.”
“Oh yeah? I guess it didn’t work, did it?” Cheeky said sarcastically as she ran her hands along her arms and frowned.
“Beats me,” Jessica shrugged as she pulled a standard House Acadia-style dress from a rack. Where had Addie gotten the racks? “I never took her up on it. Why I would stop wearing clothes that make me happy is beyond me. We all need more happy in our lives. My therapist wanted me to decrease happy. So, I fired her.”
“So, Addie, what else goes with this ridiculous getup that Jessica likes so much?” Cheeky asked.
Jessica affected a wounded expression. “Hey, Cheeks, I’m right here.”
Cheeky laughed. “Oh, so you are.”
“I don’t know why you’re so upset with me,” Jessica said as she pulled on a light pink, silky dress. “You were the one who wanted to go on the breakup mission.”
“Here you go,” Addie said she approached Cheeky with a pair of low ankle boots.
Cheeky’s eyes widened at the sight of two Jessicas and she jumped back in surprise. “What? Holy shit, Addie. You scared the crap out of me! I guess you’re spending the day as Jessica, then.”
“I am Jessica, that’s Addie.”
Cheeky looked between the two Jessica’s. “Uhhh…”
Jessica looked at Addie; they both grinned at one another and spoke in unison, “Kill us both, Spock!”
* * * * *
Cheeky settled into the shuttle with Jessica, who she was ninety-percent certain was actually Addie. She was surprised at how hard it was to tell. The only thing that really gave it away was Addie’s glow was too muted in the sunlight as they walked across the landing pad.