Deja Vu

by Guerin Zand

  “We’ll keep in touch. If Diane comes up with any other ideas to help you out, we’ll let you know. I know she’s already talked to you about masking your portal signatures, and, as you said, you’re getting the control links updated. Hopefully, that will keep the Cousins from taking control of the Ryvius if you do find them”

  “Don’t worry, Roger. I’ve totally got this under control.”

  “Maria, I don’t think you’re taking your father’s rescue all that seriously. We need to get your father back, and soon.”

  “What’s the big rush, Roger? If Julie is right, he and the Sultan of Swag are probably having a good time boozing it up and whoring around. According to her, Roland is even more of a space dog than my father, if that’s even possible.”

  “It’s not your father’s safety I’m so concerned about. If they were going to kill him, he’d most probably be already dead. But like you said, according to Julie, that is probably not the case.”

  “Then what’s bugging you, Roger?”

  “I have no idea what the actual relationship is between your father and Julie, but he’s the only one that seems to have the Collective’s ear. Everything we’ve gained over these many years is due to your father. Do you think the Collective would give me or you a planet? Would they build us starships if we asked? The answer is no. However your father does it, he gets them to do things that none of us could. I’ve never even talked to Julie one on one in all the time we’ve known each other. I suspect that won’t change anytime soon. She’ll probably communicate with the rest of us through you, until your father returns.”

  “I don’t see that as a problem.”

  “Maria, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not your father. Julie may talk to you, but I don’t think you’d have any more luck than the rest of us getting her to do what you want.”

  “I still don’t see why it’s so urgent to get my father back. Why not let him take a break from all of this? You know how he hates being responsible for anything.”

  “You’re missing the big picture here, Maria. I hate to say this, but your father may not be so paranoid after all. Why did Julie set us up with this planet? Why is she supplying us with all the ships and help we need to build up this space force all of a sudden? Doesn’t this all seem a little too coincidental with your father being kidnapped?”

  “You think Julie planned all of this?”

  “Yes. All we know about these Cousins is that they seem to have some fundamental disagreement with the Bree over how things should work in the universe. Remember how he thought, way back when, that there was some sort of cold war going on?”

  “Yea, but he thought that had to do with the Bree and the Trogans.”

  “Well, what if he was right, but the cold war is between the Bree and the Cousins?”

  “I’m not following you, Roger.”

  “The fact that the Collective is building a human space force on a hidden planet sounds a lot like what the Trogans had done on Desterio to me. The Cousin’s are showing an interest in Earth according to what we’ve learned. The Bree maybe using us to counter this incursion into their territory by the Cousins. It may very well be that the Cousins are backing the Trogans, at least in some small ways. That would explain how they continually seem to get past the Collective’s watching eyes. If we were playing chess, I’d say Julie just put her knight, your father, into play. He may cause the Cousins some problems, and perhaps that is what Julie wants, but he is also in jeopardy.”

  “You know I don’t play chess, Roger. I prefer Go.”

  “You're missing the point, Maria. I swear, sometimes when I talk with you, it’s as if I’m talking to your father.”

  “There’s no reason to be insulting, Roger.”

  Roger chuckled and then continued on. “If your father is with the Cousin’s long enough, there’s a good possibility that he may start to see things from their point of view.”

  “Like Stockholm Syndrome or something?”

  “Exactly. We can argue all day long about which side is right, and which is wrong, but that’s not really the issue. If your father gets it in his head to oppose us, well, he knows everything we know, plus some.”

  “My father would never turn on us.”

  “I’m not saying he will, Maria. I’m just saying we can’t risk that. We have to get him back, sooner rather than later. You said it yourself, what if he is there long enough to start another family? Don’t you think that would cause your father to become even more attached to the Cousins’ society? Imagine if he were to have a few more children, perhaps even a son.”

  “Oh, dear God! A Guerin junior? I see why you’re so worried now, Roger. That really would put the rest of the universe in jeopardy.” Maria laughed. Katie and Roger couldn’t help themselves and joined in.

  “Ok, that is a bit funny when you stop to think about it, Maria, but I’m serious. Remember, it was King Arthur’s son who did him in. So, if you care about your father, as well as the rest of the universe, you’ll take this mission a little more seriously. It’s urgent we get your father back as soon as possible.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Roger. The Ladies of Space Force will find our man. That’s what we do.”

  Roger and Katie just laughed. They each gave Maria a hug as they said their goodbyes. I’m sure the two of them couldn’t help remembering that little girl who used to run around our offices on Earth causing all sorts of mayhem. Now she was about to run loose on the universe with her own starship and crew. They had to know the universe would soon be in more trouble than any of us could have possibly imagined. Some things never change.

  When I watched the replay of the departure scene from one of the Athenian’s memories, I just couldn’t get over the sight of Maria that day. She was all dressed up in her skin-tight modified onesie uniform. That expression of accomplishment on her face as she walked up the loading ramp as the new captain of the Ryvius. I couldn’t help thinking I had created a monster, and that monster was my daughter. I blame Julie for most of it. From the look on her face, it didn’t really appear as if she was in any hurry to rescue her father. It was all just an excuse for her to run off and do whatever she pleased.

  At first, I didn’t think too much about her calling themselves “The Ladies of Space Force”. It really didn’t make a very good acronym, TLOSF, but then it dawned on me. I had seen a lot of stupid abbreviations like that in the past, ones that didn’t form an acronym you could actually pronounce. In most cases, they referred to a series of stories like BTVS, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m not really sure why that was the first example that popped into my mind, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with Maria. My daughter was looking to take my place in the book market, not just as the captain of the Ryvius.

  As I watched the recording, the reason why my rescue took so long was finally making sense to me. If you remember, earlier in the book I discussed why being an emperor did not appeal to me. The incidents of past emperors being done in by a family member was rampant in Earth history. My sweet daughter wasn’t quite that evil, but her father being out of the picture did have its benefits from her perspective. Exile was often the second-best thing to killing a family member that stood in your way in the old Roman empire. If you put yourself in her shoes, she thought I had abandoned her in the past, so what was so wrong with taking her sweet time when it came to my rescue? After all, I had it coming.

  Acknowledgments

  I have to thank Keith at Keith Draws for all of his excellent work on the covers for this series of eBooks.

  Thanks, Keith!

  I also have to thank my friends and readers who have encouraged me to continue writing. I know there are some rough spots in these books and I am continuously trying to improve the quality of the final product. I hope with each book it’s getting a little better.

  I’ve even started to reference the Chicago Manual of Style from time to time, but then I usually ignore it anyway. In most cases, I’ve found the rules in
the CMoS to be as definitive as the rules for the English language itself. In other words, every rule has a list of exceptions. Gee, thanks for the help!

  Author Notes

  If you enjoy my stories, please help me out and take the time to post a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Not only will it help to get the word out, but it will also help me to write better stories.

  If you want to keep up with what’s coming next, you can check out my author page on Goodreads, my blog on WordPress, or follow me on Facebook.

  Guerin will be on hiatus for a while to come. How long, I can’t really say. It all depends on Maria and the Ladies of Space Force.