by Frank Carey
"I'm here, Lucien."
"Losi, is there anything in the illicit drug database that could... Wait a minute." He turned to Torren and Aerith. "I know this is hard, but when she talked about Meena, did your mother seem like she was in love? Something about the way the note was written..."
"Hell, yes," Torren said. "It was embarrassing to see a women that age..."
Aerith cuffed him.
"Losi, anything in the illicit drug database with the characteristics of a love potion?"
"What? Have we gone back to ancient Greece?"
"Perhaps. Dig around. Dig deep. Call Ciara and use her contacts if you have to. Damn, I picked a fine time to reintegrate my other two selves."
"Funny. We're on it. Shenda wants to say something.
"Put her on."
"Shenda returned. "Dad, I'm so sorry for doubting you..."
"I love you all unconditionally. We've all been led down the garden path, and I plan to rain fire down on those who did it."
Aerith and Torren ran over and hugged their father. Lucien smiled. Now, he just had to save his wife.
Chapter 5 - Back at the Castle
Losira walked down the corridor, nodding back to her subjects having outlawed the scraping, bowing, and kneeling required by her predecessor--her mother, Lenora. In Losira's mind, all that crap just slowed things down and Losira was a firm believer in not slowing things down.
"My Queen!" the secretary said as he jumped up from his seat behind his desk.
"At ease. Is Netalla in?"
"Yes, ma'am. Let me check..."
Losira walked past the discombobulated secretary and into the office beyond. "I've got this."
"My Queen," the security chief said as she got up out of her seat. "What brings you to my humble abode?"
"Where are we with the Can Crusher investigation?" Losira asked as Neta handed her a drink.
"We examined the information your brother sent us and can confirm Marta was taken aboard the ETV Southern Cross. There is a high probability the Can Crusher is with her based upon the shipping manifests Lucien sent us. We are leaning toward the possibility that Marta is involved since General McMurphy has been conditioned against physical or chemical coercion."
Losira handed her a folder. "What about something new, something that acts like a love potion?"
"Huh?"
"According to Shenda and the other kids, Marta was acting like an infatuated schoolgirl, which doesn't jive with Marta's psych profile. I'm thinking they used something new on her, something not covered in her conditioning."
"Could she have been drunk?"
"I once saw her drink Royce under the table. She's one of the few non-elves I've met who likes Unicorn Farts."
"OK, that rules out intoxication."
"Lucien wondered if anyone has come up with a passable love potion."
"He really does love her, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, he does. How else can you explain something as far out as thinking up a love potion?"
"She drank Royce under the table on several occasions, and she's been inoculated with every anti-interrogation drug we have in the pharmacy. No, this has to be something new, something that acts like a love potion. When she dropped the vid off with the kids, she seemed a little too happy. Of course, we're just guessing."
"Actually, the Prince might not be too far off." The security director took a sip of whiskey while she rummaged around her desk. "Here it is. 'Aphrodite's Kiss." She picked up a folder and handed it to Losira. "It's a narcotic which originated on Olympia. It seems the Olympians found some old texts from the time they were on Earth. Back in the day, the Olympians were more into chemical enhancement than they are today."
"Thus the legends of love potions?"
"And male enhancement, hair restoration, and strength augmentation to name a few others. Aphrodite's Kiss seems to be the real thing. Give it to an unsuspecting human or Olympian mark and they'll fall madly in love with the first person they look at regardless of gender or species. They will be totally open to suggestion."
"Shit. Is there an antidote?"
"Not that we know of."
"Do we have a chemical breakdown of the substance?"
"See Appendix C."
Losira grimaced. "Starting cold, it could take years to make sense of this. We still have no idea who stole the Can Crusher, do we?"
"No, nor are we sure that Marta was dosed with the kiss. All we know is your family has been given a vid showing someone who looks like your brother having sex with someone not his wife. We have a missing Can Crusher weapons system, and your sister-in-law, one of the few people in the League with the system's access codes, seems to be involved with the theft, My Queen."
"I know, this doesn't look good for Marta." She looked at the chemist’s report in the folder. "Mind if I borrow this?"
"Keep it. Mind if I keep this?"
"Go right ahead.
"Harmon... Lucien, is on his way to Earth, right?"
"Yes. He's trying to track down where the Can Crusher was taken. He hopes Marta is still with it."
"What will he do if he finds her?"
"I honestly don't know. I don't think he even knows."
"Doesn't it worry you that his other personality, Atmar, is part of this mix?"
"We've had the finest Venlanten and elf doctors examine Lucien, and they all say the same thing: Lucien's two personalities have completely merged back into Lucien's primary personality, so am I worried the homicidal one will rear his head and start taking out people? Yeah, I'm scared spitless."
"How are the kids taking all this?"
"Badly, especially Shenda."
"The ringleader? Hasn't she mellowed-out by now?"
Losira shook her head. "Still as stubborn as the first day she and Lucien met over a decade and a half ago. I swear, every one of them, including my neo brothers and sisters, take ornery to a whole new level. Neos on one side and elflings on the other, with the elves and humans caught in the middle. It's like living in a hurricane."
"What does Chasm say?"
"He doesn't know. He's on an archaeology mission exploring another Alue outpost, a planet called Mordecai out on the edge of League space. Ruby's with him as are his children, you know, to keep him safe. Unfortunately, they're out of touch until they can get a long-range transmitter in place."
"Ah. No wonder Shenda is ornery."
"Tell me about it. Well, thanks for the drink. Keep me posted."
"Yes, My Queen," she said to a retreating back."
###
Losira looked out her office window and spied a tree rat with a piece of fruit in its mouth. "Where did you get that treasure, little thief? Has Chef been leaving out scraps again?" The creature turned and looked at her, its robotic eyes scanning her and her office before moving on. Designed by her brother before his reintegration, she knew it would use its blaster on anyone in the room if she gave it the alarm signal. She suddenly missed her brother. Her musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come!"
The door opened and Neta walked in carrying an evidence bag.
"What's up?"
Neta walked over and handed the bag to Losira. She examined the contents through the transparent plastic material. "Is that Greek? This is Aphrodite's kiss?"
"Yep. Straight from the cooker himself. He's downstairs being interrogated by some of our Venlanten friends. So far, he's given up a buyer by the name of Jericho, the barkeep at an establishment near the facility where Marta and her missing companions worked. It seems Mr. Jericho buys this stuff on a regular basis."
"Do we know if this Jericho has anything to do with Marta's abduction?"
"Nope. The ladies failed to log their destination when they left the facility. All the guard remembers is the four of them left dressed to the nines, jumped in a conveyance, and took off into the night. There are hundreds of places they could have gone and we don't even know if she was dosed with Aphrodite's Kiss. We certainly don't have e
nough probable cause to visit Mr. Jericho’s establishment."
"Then what do we do?"
"We give the problem to someone who can wrest order from chaos."
"Grendel?"
Neta nodded. "Grendel."
Chapter 6 - Adrestia
R-Sec Agent Grendel Tavish plopped down in her office chair and threw her hands up into the air. "Where the hell is it?" she asked whatever god happened to be listening.
"Looking for this?" Neta asked from the office doorway, in her hand a rather ugly ornate coffee cup.
"Auntie Neta, I mean Chief Netalla! Where did you find it?"
"You mean this hideous thing? In my office where you left it, again. Gren, you seem to leave your favorite coffee cup everywhere except on your desk."
Grendel's tail flicked around as she retrieved the prized possession from her aunt. "Thank you, Auntie."
"Gren, I didn't just come down here to give you back your pet horror. I have a very important job for you, one that is right up your alley."
"Thank you, Auntie. I won't let you down."
"You don't know what the job is yet. How can you... Never mind. Have a seat."
Grendel sat. Neta handed the young elf a folder containing a single screenshot showing a number of people entering what looked like a ship. Gren picked it up and took a closer look. "Love the dress. Hmmm, all persons but one are elves. I can run some of them through facial recognition. The dressed up woman on the right--she looks like she is partially incapacitated--is human. Heavens, that's General McMurphy. The dressed up woman on the left is elf, late thirties, her build suggests military training. Body language suggests she is with the five elf males."
Neta just stared, speechless.
"Ramp is from a late-model Maltor 628 or 629 freighter. Not many of those around anymore. Yeah, I can get some information from this. Do you have a soft copy?"
Neta handed her a flash drive. "Gren, I need to know who those people are and whom they are working for. I have given you unlimited resource access for this project."
"Wow. Auntie, is there anything else you can tell me?"
"We think General McMurphy has been kidnapped, and her family is very worried about her. The kidnapping may have something to do with the Can Crusher theft."
"Auntie, why are you giving me this project? There are more seasoned..."
"Niece, you pulled more information from a glance at that picture than a team of eight 'seasoned' agents could after an hour working on it. You're perfect. The Queen may be stopping by to talk with you... What's wrong?"
"Queen Losira?"
"Yes. I'm pretty sure we haven't gotten a new one lately."
"Should I change..."
Neta gently placed her hands on the agitated elf's shoulders. "You look fine. Losira is results driven. Just answer any question she asks. Don't embellish. If you don't know an answer, just tell her that. She respects honesty."
"You've met her?"
"Met her? Hell, I've known Losi Irithyl since college. We're BFFs!"
The room light level went up two notches from Grendel's smile.
"Now, get to work. Be thorough. Make me proud."
"Copy that, Auntie, I mean Chief Netalla!"
###
Two hours and five cups of coffee later, Grendel's folder had grown from one picture to several hundred pages as she collated data from dozens of searches across three databases and five InterWebs. Users from one end of the castle to the other saw computer performance degrade as Grendel's routines sucked away CPU cycles. Down in the computer center, techs marveled at the amount of data traffic coming into and leaving the castle.
Finally, exhausted, Grendel sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. Her mininap was interrupted by a knock at her door. "Agent Grendel Tavish?"
"That's me," Gren said. She opened her eyes and stopped breathing.
Queen Losira was standing in her door carrying two cups of coffee.
Gren jumped out of her seat and landed in front of the Queen. "Your Majesty. Let me take those," she said, giving a quick knee and bow before taking the coffee from Losi and setting it down on her desk. She was back in an instant, not knowing what to do next.
Losira took the agitated young woman by the hand and sat her down on a seat. "Agent Tavish, how much coffee have you had?" she asked while taking the girl's pulse.
"Five or six cups, I think."
Losira saw a stack of water bottles on a nearby table. "I suggest you hydrate," she said as she retrieved one and handed it to Gren.
"Yes, ma'am."
"So, tell me what you found."
Gren took the folder from her desk and handed it to Losira while activating a wall screen. She proceeded to flood the Queen with a massive amount of information.
"How old are you?" Losira asked.
"Twenty standard years, ma'am."
"Your aunt speaks highly of you."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"How long did it take you to compile all of this?"
"Two hours. The coffee helps."
"It took you two hours to compile an almost thousand page report from over a terabyte of data?"
Gren smiled and nodded vigorously.
"OK. Let me see if I got this right. There is an organization called Adrestia operating from Ventos Prime?"
Nod.
"They are a highly secretive group of assassins for hire?"
Nod.
"They own the ship that my brother found was carrying the weapons system."
Emphatic nod.
"The same ship that General McMurphy was taken aboard and carried off in?"
More nodding. "The ship, and several others, are all owned by front companies--Nemesis Corp., Rhamnusia Holdings, LTD., Reprisal, Inc., and several others. All the names are related to Adrestia, the Greek goddess of just retribution. Several members of the council are on the board of directors of these companies. Oddly, I cannot find any connection between your brother and this Adrestia."
"You checked on Lucien?"
"Yes, ma'am. Auntie told me to be thorough. Your brother was known as the go to person for anyone needing merch outside the normal channels, someone an organization such as Adrestia would need. They, and all of their companies, have gone out of their way to avoid contact with the Prince."
"Why would they do that?"
"Probably because of his reputation for being an honorable smuggler, thief, and hacker. This organization thrives only through the efforts of the corrupt. An honest person would be an anathema to them."
"We're talking about elves, not another species using elves as a cover?"
"Yes, ma'am. This is homegrown. The companies are run by elves, with other species filling lower-level positions. For example, the cooker you captured today is elf. He was carrying a token which originated from one of these front companies. All these companies are legitimate businesses contributing greatly to both the Ventosian and League economies."
Losira chewed her lip. "Revenge, assassins, and a weapons system that's designed to destroy a planet. Gren, Adrestia is in the assassination business, correct?"
"Yes, mistress. Unfortunately, I have been unable to confirm any kills."
"How many probables and suspects?"
Grendel brought up a chart. "Based on hearsay and anecdote, four hundred and eleven. Assuming standard rates based on target profile, I estimate a total price of over one billion standard credits."
"Time frame?"
"I estimate two years, though many of the assassins were more than likely active for decades prior."
"Elves! I can't believe it. I thought we were better than this."
"My Queen, we are. As my auntie says, every barrel has one or two bad apples."
Losira looked at the girl and smiled. "You are right. We start now. Tell me, does Adrestia deal in munitions, illegal weapons, hardware?"
"You mean as an arms merchant?"
"Yes."
"No. They only use them for jobs."
"Then they
're going to use the Can Crusher to destroy a planet, but which one? OK, this shit just got real. Computer, contact Security Chief Neta and General Aymar. I want them here, now! And contact my brother, Nels. I want him here as well."
"Yes, mistress."
"What are you going to do, Your Highness."
"Ever lead a task force?"
"No, mistress."
"Well, you are now."
Royce and Neta walked in. Before they could sit, Losira briefed them while handing the folder over to Neta.
"Niece, you did all this?" Neta asked, stunned.
"Yes, Auntie. The coffee helps."
"Neta, we need to find the target, and we can't do it alone. We're bringing everybody in the plarking League in on this one, and Gren is going to be our lead agent. Start making calls.”
"Royce, mobilize all EMEF teams. Get on the horn with Space Command and Space Marine Command and get them up to speed. I recommend every plarking planet in the League go to full alert. Based on Grendel's revelation, I'm convinced Adrestia will attempt to destroy a League world in the next twelve hours. Get Earth Command on the line. I want to talk to them ASAP."
"Yes, My Queen," they replied before leaving. On the way out, they passed Nels who walked in and embraced his sister. "My Queen. I'm sorry for my tardiness, but I was detained by members of the Logash delegation."
"Not a problem. Nels, this is Agent Grendel Tavish. Grendel, this is my brother, Nels."
The two shook hands.
"Nels, I want you to assist Grendel with a project," Losira said while handing him the briefing folder. Nels flicked through the folder at an impossible speed before handing it back to Losira. "Wow. Grendel, you did this, today?" he asked.
She nodded. "Your eyes glow," she said, enchanted by the blue light.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," he said with a charming smile.
Gren blushed as her tail sneaked a peek over her shoulder.
"Gren, you've been at it for several hours. I think you need a break," Losira said. "Nels, why don't you and Gren have a meal and discuss a strategy for finding where Marta and her crew went before she was kidnapped?"
"Great idea," Nels said as he took Gren by the hand, then the two disappeared in a flash of blue light."