by M. D. Cooper
“Except what?” Anastasia asked, her brow raised quizzically.
“Except neither house Charlemis, nor house Nebacken was behind the smuggling of the weapons,” Jessica replied.
“Pray tell then, which of the houses is responsible?” Anastasia asked.
Jessica drew herself up, her eyes on Kristina. “House Laurentia of Acadia.”
“What?” Anastasia exclaimed, her eyes following Jessica’s gaze and settling on her daughter. “Kristina. What is she talking about? Did you have something to do with this?”
A smile played at the edges of Kristina’s mouth. “Yes, mother, it was I who sought out weapons from the Kidron system. Not that it matters, right, Mother?”
Jessica sent an affirmation across the link to Addie, and Anastasia nodded before speaking. “You’re right, it doesn’t matter.”
What Jessica wanted to see in this exchange was the look in Antaris’s eyes. She wanted to see if it was surprise, or if he was expecting his mother to give that answer. When he gave a short nod, it was all Jessica needed.
Antaris was in on it.
“Now, then,” Kristina said as she turned back to Jessica. “Be on your way. Tonight, you will resume your subterfuge with the Nebacken and Charlemis scions, and tomorrow night, when the Dance is at House Acadia, we shall reveal all these truths to our own glorification.”
Jessica shook her head. “No. I don’t think that is how this will play out.”
Behind Jessica, the door opened and Anastasia entered the room, four guards at her back.
“Kristina, daughter mine, you wound me deeply,” she said.
“What is this?” the Anastasia standing by the window cried out. “Imposter! Guards, seize her!”
The guards didn’t move, they stood flanking the new Anastasia, rifles held ready, though not aiming at anyone yet.
“You heard her!” Antaris bellowed. “The woman you’re with is an imposter. Arrest her.”
Jessica sent Addie another signal, and the Anastasia by the window turned to Kristina and Antaris, a smile on her lips. “No, she is the real Lady Anastasia of House Laurentia. I am the imposter.” As she spoke, her features shifted, until, at last she was once again Addie, complete with red hair, standing by the window in one of Anastasia’s dresses.
“What?! No…” Kristina’s voice fell into a whisper as she turned to Jessica. “How did you do that? This AHAP is imprinted on me.”
“That’s not your AHAP,” Jessica replied. “That is ours. The one we had brought onto our ship before we left Olvives station at Kidron. Impressive how well they can fool a person, isn’t it? I have to admit, I was surprised any had survived our departure from the station, but that is why you had your ‘mother’ wearing long sleeves. Part of your AHAP’s arm was burned and couldn’t shift properly to mimic skin.”
“To think you were going to have me killed and then use a machine like that to replace me,” the real Anastasia said as she walked around Jessica. “And you, Antaris…you would betray me too? For this ungrateful wretch?”
“Only because you betrayed us first,” Antaris replied.
Jessica sent the equivalent of a mental shrug.
“Guards. Arrest my son and daughter for treason against their Head of House,” Anastasia said with a sorrowful voice. Jessica wondered how much anguish the woman really felt. Little of what Anastasia said seemed to come from the heart.
“No,” Kristina replied. “It does not end like this.”
As she spoke, a dozen men and women rushed into the room from two other entrances, and through the open windows—the assassins who had come on the second shuttle.
“I prepared well, Mother,” Kristina said. “I knew I had just one chance, and I was not going to squander it.”
Antaris approached the four guards standing with his mother. “Good men, lower your arms and your actions here will not be held against you when my sister comes into her power.”
“I’d prefer you four not to,” Jessica said, glancing back at the four men standing behind her. “It’s not like the assassin’s weapons work anyway.”
“Take them out,” Kristina ordered, and the twelve men and women raised their rifles, pulled the triggers…and nothing happened.
An instant later, Antaris rushed toward Jessica, and the twelve men and women joined in the attack. Three of the loyal guards fired their ballistic rifles at the onrushing foes, and then they were swarmed, and the battle devolved into hand-to-hand combat.
Antaris slammed into Jessica like a freight train, knocking her to the ground before he took a swing at Cheeky and missed as she dodged out of the way.
“Going to hold back this time?” Jessica asked as she leapt to her feet.
“It pains me, but no,” Antaris replied as he swung at Jessica, far faster and harder than he had the previous night. She blocked the strike and countered with a jab at Antaris’s neck, which missed as he ducked aside.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kristina take a swing at Cheeky from behind, which would have laid her out, but a silvery hand caught Kristina’s wrist as Addie waded into the fight.
Then, Jessica brought her attention back to Antaris as he lunged for her, attempting to knock her down once more, intent on bringing his larger mass to bear.
Jessica dove to the side at the last moment, and found herself lying on top of one of the rifles Kristina’s assassins had brought into the room. She picked it up and danced back as someone took a swing at her, then pulled the rifle to her shoulder, toggling it to fire a pulse blast at Antaris.
He grunted and fell back, still a threat, and Jessica watched, unable to do anything as four of Kristina’s assassins take Addie down.
Shit! Gotta take this lout out!
She didn’t want to kill Antaris, but subduing a man his size without grievous injury was no small task.
As he closed in on her, ready to strike, Jessica leapt forward and jumped onto him, wrapping her long legs around his torso. With all her might, she brought both arms in and slammed her palms on either side of his head, delivering a quarter charge from her Retyna microbes.
Antaris dropped like a rock.
As he fell and Jessica leapt free, she saw the last of Anastasia’s guards go down, while Kristina approached her mother. Two of the assassins held Cheeky, and four were pinning Addie down.
“Stop this, Kristina!” Anastasia cried out as Kristina picked up one of the guards’ projectile weapons. “Are you mad? Why are you trying to kill me?”
Jessica didn’t wait to hear Kristina’s response. The scion of House Laurentia was only four meters away from her mother. Jessica crouched and leapt across the space, succeeding in grabbing the barrel of the weapon.
She pushed it down and delivered the remainder of her microbe’s charge, hopefully fusing the weapon’s firing components as she did.
Kristina spasmed and her finger pulled the trigger. And nothing happened.
“You’ll pay for this,” Kristina swore as she staggered backward and then swung the rifle at Jessica.
The
barrel of the weapon grazed Jessica’s cheek as she dodged to the side. Then she crouched low and kicked Kristina in the stomach.
Kristina fell to the ground in a heap, and Jessica grabbed one of the other ballistic rifles and pointed it at her.
“Surrender! Tell your people to let Cherrie go and surrender,” Jessica ordered.
Kristina looked up, her eyes full of pain, and shook her head. “Why did you have to do all this? Why did you have to come here? You’ve ruined everything.”
“You ruined everything yourself,” Anastasia said as she approached. “You selfish little girl. Acadia would have passed to you in time, but now…now one of your sisters will take my place when I go into the afterlife.”
“That’s the rub, isn’t it?” Kristin asked. “You’ll never go!”
“Enough,” Jessica said. “Tell them to let my friend go, or you die.”
“Why?” Kristina laughed. “She’s going to kill them anyway. Me, you, she’ll kill us all.”
“Death is the punishment for treason,” Anastasia said. “But as your mother, I may grant you clemency.”
“You’re not my mother!” Kristina spat vehemently. “You killed my mother. You’re a thing, a wraith, inhabiting her body! You took my mother from me and I want to kill you for it!”
Kristina was screaming, tears pouring down her face, and Jessica took a step back, considering what she could mean, especially in light of the fact that Kristina was a clone of Anastasia.
“She’s your…what…grandmother?” Jessica asked Kristina.
Kristina snorted. “Try great, great, great, great, great, oh fuck it, she’s the original captain of the Perseus. Captain Samantha Annias.”
A smile grew across Anastasia’s face. “Well…one of you finally figured it out. Took long enough. Was it you, or your half-witted brother?”
“It was the half-wit,” Antaris said from the floor where he had pulled himself up on to one elbow. “Took some time to convince Kristina of what you were up to. We were going to take you out, and replace you with an AHAP until we could gracefully age you and kill you off…but Jessica and Cherrie just had to arrive and ruin all of that.”
“Maybe not. If you had been honest with me at the outset…” Jessica said.
Cheeky looked between Anastasia and Kristina and shook her head in disgust. “This place is not serene.”
“Lower your weapons! Everyone!” a new voice called out, and Jessica tossed her rifle to the ground as House Charlemis guards stormed through the windows.
The assassins holding Cheeky and Addie glanced at one another and stepped back, raising their hands in surrender.
“I must say,” a woman who Jessica recognized as Justina, head of House Charlemis, said as she entered the room. “This is going to be a Dance long remembered.”
PICKUP
STELLAR DATE: 10.27.8938 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: House Charlemis Estate, Gallas, Serenity Primus
REGION: Serenity Ordus, Orion Freedom Alliance, Perseus Arm
“You two have no idea how to stay out of trouble, do you?” Cargo asked as he sat at the table in one of House Charlemis’s many salons.
Cheeky glanced at Jessica and shrugged. “I don’t see what happened as trouble, so much as a rousing adventure during which Jessica and I danced for days and got to sample the fashions and cultures of five different worlds.”
“Plus, the mineral waters on Olvives—even if that was cut short,” Jessica added.
“I’ll treasure the memory of those few days forever,” Cheeky said with a nod.
“So—from what we picked up on the way in—you guys were involved in, and somewhat foiled, then double foiled a plot to upset the ruling houses of this place?” Cargo asked.
“Uhh…yeah, something like that,” Jessica said. “We uncovered a plot within a plot—sort of—and then double crossed the plotters only to find that we had been fooled, and then the cops showed up—”
“Well, not really the cops,” Cheeky said. “The house guards.”
“Yeah, but it’s always fun to insert ‘and then the cops showed up’ into your story.”
“Wait! How is that you two aren’t under arrest, and they let us dock here?” Cargo interrupted.
“Oh! That part’s easy,” Cheeky said. “See, we had a side quest, given to us by the first double-crosser and in doing so we unearthed evidence that House Charlemis—”
“Also known as ‘the cops’ for the purposes of this story,” Jessica added.
“Yeah, evidence that Charlemis, aka ‘the cops’ really appreciated, and so they gave us a pass on everything we’d done,” Cheeky finished.
“Wait,” Jessica grinned. “You’re missing the part where you had sex for three days straight with Pharis, the scion of House Charlemis. I bet that had something to do with it.”
“Actually,” Cheeky said while holding up for fingers. “It was four days, and we had sex, exactly,” she touched her index finger to her thumb, “zero times.”
Cargo shook his head. “I think I’m going to need some hallucinogens and a flow chart to figure out what the hell you two are even talking about.”
“Oh,” Jessica said with a sly smile. “I maaaaay have picked up a new stray.”
THE END
* * * * *
While events on the Moons of Serenity turned out in Cheeky and Jessica’s favor, Derrick did not enter the system, and still knows their secret.
Moreover, they have now picked up another crew member, Terry, who does not know the true origins of the group with which she has fallen in.
Next stop? Star City, a place protected by a Bastion against any and all aggressors.
Pick up The Last Bastion of Star City for just $2.99 on Amazon.
THANK YOU
If you’ve enjoyed reading The Trail Through the Stars, a review on Amazon.com and/or goodreads.com would be greatly appreciated.
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M. D. Cooper
BOOKS BY M. D. COOPER
Keep up to date with what is releasing in Aeon 14 with the free Aeon 14 Reading Guide.
The Intrepid Saga
- Book 1: Outsystem
- Book 2: A Path in the Darkness
- Book 3: Building Victoria
- The Intrepid Saga Omnibus – Also contains Destiny Lost, book 1 of the Orion War series
- Destiny Rising – Special Author’s Extended Edition comprised of both Outsystem and A Path in the Darkness with over 100 pages of new content.
The Orion War
- Book 1: Destiny Lost
- Tales of the Orion War: Set the Galaxy on Fire
- Book 2: New Canaan
- Book 3: Orion Rising
- Tales of the Orion War: Ignite the Stars Within (Fall 2017)
- Tales of the Orion War: Burn the Galaxy to Ash (Winter 2018)
- Book 4: The Scipio Alliance (Nov 2017)
- Many more following
Perilous Alliance (Expanded Orion War - with Chris J. Pike)
- Book 1: Close Proximity
- Book 2: Strike Vector
- Book 3: Collision Course (October 2017)
Rika’s Marauders (Age of the Orion War)
- Prequel: Rika Mechanized
- Book 1: Rika Outcast
- Book 2: Rika Redeemed (Nov 2017)
- Book 3: Rika Triumphant (2018)
Perseus Gate (Age of the Orion War)
- Episode 1: The Gate at the Grey Wolf Star
- Episode 2: The World at the Edge of Space
- Episode 3: The Dance on the Moons of Serenity
- Episode 4: The Last Bastion of Star City
- Episode 5: The Toll Road Between the Stars (Nov 2017)
- Episode 6: The Final Stroll
on Perseus’s Arm (Dec 2017)
The Warlord (Before the Age of the Orion War)
- Book 1: The Woman Without a Country
- Book 2: The Woman Who Seized an Empire (Dec 2017)
- Book 3: The Woman Who Lost Everything (2018)
The Sentience Wars: Origins (With James S. Aaron)
- Book 1: Lyssa’s Dream
- Book 2: Lyssa’s Run (Oct 2017)
- Book 3: Lyssa’s Flame (Jan 2018)
Tanis Richards: Origins
- Prequel: Storming the Norse Wind (In At the Helm Volume 3)
- Book 1: Shore Leave (June 2018)
The Sol Dissolution
- The 242 - Venusian Uprising (In The Expanding Universe 2 anthology)
- The 242 - Assault on Tarja (In The Expanding Universe 3 anthology – coming Dec 2017)
The Delta Team Chronicles (Expanded Orion War)
- A "Simple" Kidnapping (Pew! Pew! Volume 1)
- The Disknee World (Pew! Pew! Volume 2)
- A Fool’s Guide to Fangs and Food (Pew! Pew! Volume 3)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Cooper likes to think of himself as a jack-of-all-trades (and hopes to become master of a few). When not writing, he can be found writing software, working in his shop at his latest carpentry project, or likely reading a book.
He shares his home with a precocious young girl, his wonderful wife (who also writes), two cats, a never-ending list of things he would like to build, and ideas…
Find out what’s coming next at http://www.aeon14.com
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD