She took his hand and pulled him to her. "I will give you time, but you can't stay away too long. You have plans to go to your core worlds and investigate the deaths of your family. Our people will have a peace agreement soon, so I may visit these core worlds. Is this acceptable to you?
"Let's walk to the Claymore and talk about it. Those worlds are nothing like Anubis where I was living, or your empires. They are covered in metal and plastic and thrive on automation; machines, androids, robots all scurrying around to tending the whims of the people. You will have to leave your warriors behind. There is not much of anything they will be able to eat and what there is will be off limits."
Tazleaha asked, "Will there be coffee?"
"Yes, there will be plenty of coffee and something we call chocolate. Many women love it, possibly more than coffee."
"It should be an adventure. I will see you on Allond, we have things to discuss with Xamand, Alona and Emily concerning your Senator Sims. The information needs to go to your president along with the information about the clone you terminated."
"That I am paying for out of my own pocket."
"That is between us and should stay that way for your own good. You do not want them to know what you did. They may think you had something to do with the disappearance of the senator. This is why I want the others present. You do not trust me even though what I tell you is perfectly logical."
Ben walked her to her ship turned and walked away. She stood watching him leave, the flames still flickering in her eyes.
The End
Epilogue
"How long has it been since we returned from Harry's planet?" Ben said, eyes closed leaning back in his chair.
Lorelei answered. "One day longer since yesterday when you asked the same damn question."
Binda said, "Ben, you are doing that on purpose because you are bored and want to drive someone as crazy as you."
Lorelei said, "You have been told over and over we have to wait. It takes a long time for the messages to reach Ares and Athena and we have been ordered to stay until the responses from the president arrive and there is nothing required of us."
Grubb said, "Kasmier overheard Emperor Xamand saying in the previous messages from the president there was word of a shake down and some military brass have gone into hiding while others have been arrested. They haven’t put the whole picture together yet but it looks like they wanted to make the president look so bad he would step down or there would be a vote to remove him from office."
Ben looked at them all. "Anyone hear anything about the Warhammer? Are they still in Trillond space under protection?" Everyone shook their head and gave a negative to having heard anything. "Where is Harry? I haven’t seen him for two days."
"He is with Nedra, they have been spending time together on and off since we returned and you should see him. He got all his hair cut and some new clothes." Lorelei filled everyone in who wasn’t in the know. "He still has a full body of hair but it is shorter and groomed. He has leather shorts that come to his knees and a leather vest with no sleeves. All were custom made at your favorite clothing store, Benjamin."
"Who paid for that? It sure as hell wasn’t me!"
"It was a gift from Queen Tazleaha is all I know."
****
They received word a day later that the president agreed to the treaty in its present form. Ben was to carry a copy for the Alliance to Athena. It had been signed digitally already. Everyone loaded, including Imelda, they waited for clearance from the palace. It seemed Emperor Xamand had ordered them to wait on a passenger. Harry was emotionally down having become attached to Nedra and she him, over the last few weeks. Lorelei thought it was her.
Buddy reported the passenger was aboard and the ship was sealed. Ben sat in the captain's seat waiting for Lorelei to kick him out.
Imelda touched Ben's mind about the same time Buddy walked on the bridge with the passenger in tow.
"Ben, she is here."
Reaper Inc. Page 32