by Roma, Laurie
Their quarters had become a base of operations, which irritated him even though he knew it was necessary. People seemed to constantly come and go, filling the normally quiet space with noise and voices as they held strategy meetings and talked over the details. Jax, Jack Rollins, Cade Lysander and Dominic Stryker were working together in Jax’s office, while Archer ran his own data in his office next door with High Commander Roman Newgate and Andrew Dobbs.
They left the connecting door between the rooms open, and he could hear Regent Spartan and Arik V’Dir talking in the central living room where they had created a makeshift workspace. Officer Ryans played runner between the three areas, making sure everyone had what they needed. It wasn’t exactly the way Archer had planned spending the first week as a bonded unit with Serra, and that added to his irritation. He’d had very little time alone with her since they’d been back, but he seemed to be handling it a little better than Jax.
Thinking about his friend, Archer absently wondered how long it would take his partner to snap. Who could really blame either of them for being annoyed when both of Jax’s fathers, as well as Serra’s, had all but moved into their damn residence? Arik and Dom were there just as often, and even High Commander Newgate seemed to show up for hours at a time. They couldn’t exactly boot any of the men out, but he wished like hell that they could.
They’d all missed the activities that had been held throughout the Capital for the week long Freedom Day’s celebration. Each year, the entire world honored the day that Earth defeated the Zyphir and ended the Alien Wars, with the help of their allies, of course. Archer and Jax usually skipped most of it anyways, and Serra hated the crowds, but it would have been nice to enjoy some of those events together and just…be. There would always be next year, he reminded himself, and all the years that followed since they now had a lifetime together.
Looking out of the main door of his office, he glanced into the room across the hall where they had created an office/lab for Serra. From his chair he studied her as she focused on her data unit next to Troy Takeshi. Archer had given up trying to understand what she was doing within a few hours after they had been working on their first day back. She had been right about the code she used. It was like trying to read some archaic cipher. He had to give credit to Takeshi for learning how to understand what looked to him to be a garble of numbers and letter that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Serra had put her hair up in one of those intricate winding deals, held together with some sort of clip so it wouldn’t get in her way. Her light-green eyes burned with some inner fire, obviously energized by whatever she was working on. She didn’t seem to mind the chaos or the noise. It fascinated Archer by the way she was able to block out everything but the project she was working on. She’d been the same way when they were growing up, but now that focus had intensified, making everything else around her obsolete.
But where Archer understood, and was even amused by her focus, Jax wasn’t taking her dismissal well at all.
Noticing the time, Archer pushed up from his desk, and headed out to the dining room. He saw Regent Spartan and Arik both on their wrist units, talking to their contacts in clipped tones. Ignoring them, he moved over to the food console to program some provisions for the troops. Taking a moment to be eternally grateful to Officer Ryans, who coordinated all of the other assistants both Archer and Jax had working for them, he noticed that the food console was stocked full with a variety of food and drinks, in amounts that were enough to feed an army…which they basically were at this point.
Archer pulled out large plates filled with food and began setting them onto the buffet table located against the wall. At the scent of food the men drifted out of the offices, sniffing at the air. “Ah, damn good idea,” Andrew Dobbs said as he walked up.
“You know, you all have your own food back at your own homes,” Jax growled as he frowned at them.
“We do, but it’s so much more satisfying eating yours,” Dom said with a smile as he bit down into a sandwich. “Damn, this is real roast beef.”
“You’re a freaking director. You have enough credits to buy your own roast beef.”
“I do, but why should I when I can just eat yours?”
“Bastard.”
Archer chuckled as they continued their banter, turning to Officer Cal Ryans as the other man started helping transferring the food to the buffet table. “Officer Ryans?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Thank you.”
The young man’s eyebrows winged up. “Sir?”
Stars, were they really such assholes that the damn kid was shocked speechless that Archer thanked him? Holding back a grimace, he realized they were. It was Serra’s fault, always thanking everyone for every damn thing. She was a bad influence…or good. He sighed. “You always take care of things before we even need them. So, thanks, Cal.”
The younger man looked like he’d just gotten promoted. “It’s my pleasure, sir.”
“Christ, Cal. Stop sir-ing me to death. When we’re around this bunch of misfits, just call me Archer.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Archer just rolled his eyes as he pulled out the last item from the FC unit. When Regent Spartan reached out to grab one of the brownies on the plate, Archer slapped his hand away.
“Hey! Boy, don’t make me hit you back. You better be sharing those.”
“These are for Serra.”
Regent Spartan eyed the small plate of brownies with a frown as Archer walked over to the buffet. He filled Serra’s special plate with food, then carried everything back over to the dining room table and set them down while sending a fierce look at Jack Rollins when he caught him eying the brownies, too. “For fuck’s sake, there’s more brownies the FC. Get some yourself if you want them. Anyone touches these, and someone will die.”
Shaking his head at them, Jax watched as both of his fathers all but lunged towards the FC unit, and shared a smirk with his partner before Archer went back to the buffet to get his own plate of food. Deciding to wait until the others finished foraging through the offerings, Jax headed down the hallway to Serra’s office, and held back a sigh as she didn’t even look up when he was standing next to her. Takeshi sent him a small smile as he looked up from his own work where he’d been diligently tapping away on the auxiliary unit.
“Go get food.”
“I eat when the boss eats.”
“It’s a wonder you haven’t starved to death,” Jax muttered, then jerked his head toward the door. “Go grab something. She’s eating now.”
Takeshi hurried off to try and claim some of the food before everything was consumed. Jax did sigh as Serra ignored their exchange and kept working. He finally gave up and reached out, tilting her head towards him. Amusement flickered as he watched her eyes try to stay focused on the data scrolling on her screen even as he turned her head away from it. She finally gave up, turning those pretty eyes on him.
“Hi.”
“Hi. Time to eat.”
“Didn’t we just do that?”
“About six hours ago.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.” Her shoulders hunched. “I lost track.”
He leaned down, pressing his lips firmly against her. He didn’t like her looking like she’d done something wrong just by being who she was. “Stop that now. I’m not going to scold you for losing yourself in your work. Listen to me,” Jax said in a hard voice, cutting her off. “I might get annoyed if you aren’t taking care of yourself, but that doesn’t make you selfish. Between Archer and I, we should be able to remind you. Don’t ever compare us to your bitch of a mother.”
She sighed, then her mouth firmed as she thought it over. “You’re right, she is a bitch.”
That made him chuckle. “Sorry, I know I probably shouldn’t call her that, but that’s how I think of her. This track and trace program is important to all of us, and to be honest, the faster you get this done, the happier I’ll be. Let’s get these people the hell out of our home,”
he said, raising his voice.
“We heard that,” Cade called out.
Jax winked at Serra, making her laugh.“Come on, let’s eat.”
Holding onto her hands, he helped her up from her chair and they walked back into the dining room together. Jax pressed a kiss to the top of her head after she sat down next to Archer, then Jax went to get his own food. “Okay, why don’t we update each other while we eat,” Jax said as he picked up a plate. “No use wasting time, and you can consider your report as payment for eating our food.”
Dom snorted in derision, then led off the briefing. “We know that whoever is behind this has to be someone with a connection to Serra, with access to her data unit or travel schedule.”
“We took a look through Tania’s information. Although everything in me says she could have been behind this, all the information we have gathered points in the negative on that,” Cade said. Turning to his daughter he gave her a little sympathetic smile. “Sorry, baby, but after what she did to you, we had to believe she’d be capable of this.”
Serra waved off his concern. “It wouldn’t surprise me, but I still state she isn’t capable of putting this together.”
“I agree, but she could be working with someone. She has plenty of credits in her account, but she has basically siphoned all of it straight from you over the years,” Jax said, sitting down at the table next to her. His gray eyes frosted over with rage. “That has ended. She’ll no longer have access to your accounts, or anything else of yours for that matter.”
She nodded as he’d continued to stare at her as if waiting for her to argue. Her mother wouldn’t get anything else from her. She had already taken too much. “That is acceptable to me. Thank you for taking care of that.”
Jax opened his mouth to scold her for thanking him again, then just sighed, moving on. He barked out a few commands and a transparent screen shimmered into view in mid-air near the table showing several photo IDs and other documents on screen.
Serra felt her heart wrench as she looked at the pictures of all the people closest to her, people she thought of as friends. How many betrayals could she possibly take? There on the screen was a photo of her mother, all six of her guards, her mother’s assistant, Eloise, and a secondary assistant Serra used when she was working on a major project, Gavin.
There were also pictures of the Commander that usually flew Serra on his space shuttle when she traveled. He was an older man with a quiet smile who had spent countless nights playing chess with Serra when she couldn’t sleep. Then there was his chosen and Second-in-command, a woman who loved showing Serra sneaky moves that could debilitate a man if she needed. There was a shot of her other bonded, the onboard chef who made Serra cookies if she was having a bad day, and the four other crew members that had shared laughs and good times with her over the years. It was likely that one or more of those smiling faces staring out of the screen at her had conspired to steal from her, from the Alliance, and had tried to set her up to take the fall.
Suck it up, Serra told herself. It did no good getting emotional over what was going on. Still, her hand reached over to Sully underneath the table, seeking comfort. When he caught it in his and held it firmly, the connection immediately soothed that ragged part of her that had begun to ache. She needed to be logical, not emotional, she told herself again. More steady now, she forced herself to study the images on the screen with impassive interest.
“I’m surprised you aren’t up on the board, too.” she said, proud that her voice was steady when she addressed Troy.
A small smile lifted his lips. “I feel sort of left out.”
“Takeshi consented to a mind scan and has been cleared completely,” Arik said.
“Then why are Officers Meyers and Rhine up there? I thought they’d also been cleared.”
“They are, and have agreed to stay under wraps until we need them for the takedown,” High Commander Newgate informed her. “They still have a part to play in this, so we’re leaving them up on the board. Same goes with your flight crew. Since you aren’t scheduled to meet up with them until after the sale in New Vega, it lowers them down the list.”
Takeshi studied the board. “Gavin worked with us on the stealth project.”
Serra shook her head. “He did, but only on small parts of it, and he hasn’t been around for months now. One of his fathers is sick and he’s been on leave.”
“But he worked on the project and had knowledge and access, which means he stays a person of interested until we have proof he’s not a part of this,” Dom added.
“My gut says it’s one or more of the guards, so we’ve been taking a hard look at the four that aren’t in custody,” Jax said.
“I’ve been looking at Officer Rick Harding,” Andrew informed them. “Digging into his data confirms he is what he seems on the surface. A solid officer, who likes to travel when he’s on duty, and spends time with his family on X4 whenever he isn’t on the roll.”
“Same goes for his partner, Officer Diego Ramirez, except for the family ties,” Jack said.
“He was a lone wolf until he paired up with Harding. My sources say they are courting a woman on X4,” Archer added after he finished chewing a bite of his sandwich. “I think they will be putting in for a transfer as soon as they work up the courage to ask her to be their chosen.”
“You mean some men ask?” Amusement sparkled in Serra’s eyes as she smiled at him.
“If we had asked, you might have said no,” Archer said before leaning in to kiss her.
“There is no kissing during a briefing!” Dom snapped. Archer sent him a pitying glance before Dom switched the topic back to intergalactic conspiracies and treason. “What we’ve found on Officers Nolan and Prentice has my bell ringing. They’re fucking dirty.”
“Charles Nolan has a gambling problem, and was under for almost sixty thousand two years ago on New Vega,” Jax said, speaking of the large, impressive vessel that traveled around space. New Vega catered to all types of clientele, all looking for the same thing…pleasure. Whether it be gambling, sex, or other entertainment, New Vega offered it, for a price. “One week later, the marker was paid off in full. Timing coincides with a sale of the shield tech we discovered later when a Sentinel seized a marauding vessel in Alliance territory.”
“They put up resistance, but the shielding didn’t hold against the Alliance Sentinel’s firepower,” Cade added. “When they were boarded, they had the stolen tech uploaded and installed onboard. That incident was six months after the sale.”
“I remember that,” Serra said. “Whoever is buying the shield tech on the black market doesn’t understand that if it isn’t installed properly, it begins to break down….becomes ineffective over time. We built in that failsafe in case something like this happened.”
Takeshi grinned at her. “Your idea. And it was a brilliant one at that.”
“I only thought of it because you suggested it,” Serra argued.
A dark frown settled over Regent Spartan’s face. “Why wasn’t I told about this failsafe?”
“Regent Kobe knows, as he is my liaison with the council. Only the people on the install team knew about the failsafe. I believe Regent Kobe thought it was safer that way.”
“Damn bastard. He’s been quiet about it, and convinced the council to downgrade the threat level since we’ve discovered the shield tech on unauthorized vessels. We thought someone was cloning the tech, but this makes more sense now. He and I are going to be having words soon. Very soon,” Regent Spartan repeated ominously.
“We became aware of this problem when we discovered that a D’Aire traitor had purchased the shielding through improper means. He was questioned after he and his men attacked another ship, but he refused to give us the name of his contact,” Arik said, almost pleasantly.
“Can we question him?” Roman Newgate demanded.
“He is no longer living. D’Aire justice is swift and exacting.”
“I’ll say,” Cade muttered, then r
aised his voice to address everyone. “Nolan still spends most of his time off duty on New Vega.”
“Not just Nolan. Jacob Prentice is into this up to his neck, too,” Dom remarked. “Whenever Nolan is gambling, Prentice goes with him, but he tends to spend most of his time at the sex clubs. He prefers real to sex droids.”
“That would take a lot of money. The places on New Vega aren’t cheap. Or so I’ve heard,” Jack added quickly.
“More money than he has. His accounts don’t have enough to cover his spending habits, so he has to have one hidden somewhere.”
“They both have lines of credit on New Vega, with more than they make from their positions, but not enough to cover what they’d be making from the sales. Could they have someone working with them on New Vega?”
Dom shook his head. “I know the Krytos who own New Vega. They may make their money dealing with vices of all kinds, but they wouldn’t allow something like this. They may skirt the lines of regulations, but they’d never cross it. Not this far. When the Krytos made the pact with the Alliance, they took it very seriously. Anyone found going against our laws would be considered the worse sort of betrayer.”
“They would personally rip anyone into pieces if they discovered someone dealing black market goods aboard their vessel,” Arik added. “We’ve seen them in action. If you think D’Aire justice is harsh, Krytos justice is even more brutal.”
Archer frowned. “Something isn’t playing right for me. These two assholes were too easy to find. If they are in charge of this, don’t you think they would have done a better job hiding it?”
“It hasn’t exactly been easy,” Regent Spartan pointed out. “It’s taken all of us, and we still haven’t found their hidden accounts. We have no actual proof.”
“We will. I’m sure of that. But I get what you mean,” Dom agreed grudgingly. “These two are too fucking stupid to run a scheme like this. I see them as a blind. Someone to take the fall for the real person in charge.”
“But who then?” Serra asked. “There isn’t anyone else who has access and the knowhow to pull this off.”