This Work Is Part Of A Series (The Messenger Archive Book 2)

by DC Bastien

  [Ashroe: Foam blades. Okay, it looks like I thought about this too much, doesn't it?]

  [Sianor: Just a bit.]

  [Ashroe: I think about things other than sex. Like... I think about rollercoasters. And guns. And cute animals falling asleep in bowls of milk.]

  [Sianor: I bet you mock them mercilessly.]

  [Ashroe: I do. I laugh, as a villain does. Mwahahaha.]

  [Sianor: OK, I'll work on your present. It may or may not be a sex toy.]

  [Ashroe: Anything is a sex toy if you try hard enough.]

  [Sianor: And my mind is in the gutter imagining things I really wish I hadn't.]

  [Ashroe: One of many great services I provide for my beloved.]

  [Sianor: ...did you order me a sex toy?]

  [Ashroe: No!]

  [Ashroe: But I might now.]

  [Ashroe: I wonder how long it would take to deliver if I...]

  [Sianor: Just for god's sake make sure it is in a plain box. If one of my neighbours sees me taking in something lurid and pink then I would die a million deaths of shame.]

  [Ashroe: Spoilsport. Right... now we're both uncomfortably turned on, shall we continue?]

  [Sianor: I love how you assume I'm horny.]

  [Ashroe: You don't understand my secret... I'm always horny.]

  [Sianor: I think I do. I really, really do.]

  ***

  "You going to tell me what's--?" Biann stopped at the flicker in Kre's eyes, a warning.

  "It is simply a long time since I saw her," she replied, but her tail flickered once, and Biann's eyes followed the gesture without thinking.

  Ah, right. Camera. Of course someone like the Tuadan Corp would put surveillance everywhere.

  "I did not expect her to remember me," Kre said, and finished combing water and a little scented oil through the fur behind her ears. "I have been - as you know - 'absent' from high society for a while."

  "Yeah, slumming it with us," Biann joked, and picked her headdress back up. She was feeling a little more naked, now, without it. In front of Kre it was fine to remove it, but the thought of eyes on her uncovered head through a camera lens made her distinctly uncomfortable.

  "My quarters on the ship could be a little bigger..."

  "Hey! You got the same as us all, even the Cap'n." Biann put her hands on her hip. "No ogling the real estate, princess."

  "You have been around him too long."

  "Have not."

  "It is really rather endearing, Biann. You veer between the sweetest thing to ever live, and the reincarnation of the Old Enemy." She leaned in, and licked quickly at the tip of her ear in apology. "Do not change."

  The Hleen shook her head. "Okay, fine. So... you got any idea why we're here? You think maybe as the Captain's got a foot in the door, and he's whisked us up to safety? Or... your father?"

  "I honestly know as much as you do."

  "Better go see what's what, then."

  ***

  [Sianor: You need to go to bed.]

  [Ashroe: I'm not into mummy role-play.]

  [Sianor: Me either, but you need to go to bed. You know you do.]

  [Ashroe: I know I do. But I don't want to.]

  [Sianor: That's what being an adult is, I guess. Doing things you have to, but don't want.]

  [Ashroe: I thought it was eating bacon at 2AM if I felt like it?]

  [Sianor: And then regretting it the next day, yes.]

  [Ashroe: Okay, I get the picture. I... you alright?]

  [Sianor: Perfectly fine, why?]

  [Ashroe: I... no reason. I'll get going then. I had a dispatch email, BTW. You should get a present any day now.]

  [Sianor: I can't wait :) :) :) I wish I'd found you something better.]

  [Ashroe: You're a poor student, I'm a pink-pound bread-winner. I don't need anything, I told you.]

  [Sianor: Sleep well, then.]

  [Ashroe: My phone is low on battery and I broke the long cable. I'll have to put it on charge where I can't get to it tonight. Sorry.]

  [Sianor: No worries. I'll be here when you get home tomorrow.]

  [Ashroe: Alright. And... the boys?]

  [Sianor: I think so too.]

  ***

  "So you're just going to waltz me out of here, in broad daylight?" Vadim asked.

  "Yes. Unless you have any strenuous objections to it, and I'll happily hear them out. But why you'd prefer to be restrained and abused, when I could just as easily--"

  "Can it, fast-tongue. I'm asking isn't it... dangerous?"

  "For who? Me, or you?"

  Vadim did not reply verbally. He did not need to.

  "Fine," Avery said, shaking his head. "The cameras all got killed. They didn't want a record of what was happening, you know. And everyone involved was working under my direction. I managed to put enough alerts into the system - with help - so I could sneak in just in time. Thankfully you didn't actually kill any of my men."

  "So there won't be a trail to follow us by?"

  "Right. We have a narrow window of opportunity to work following their black ops route, and then divert before they know it's gone wrong. Greg will call it in that it's going fine."

  "And you convinced Greg...?"

  "Let's just say there's a few interested parties on our side, now. Come on, we don't have all day."

  Vadim didn't like being less informed. The only reason he was going along with this was that it was Avery, and he trusted Avery. Disliked him at times, but trusted him implicitly. They went to the far side of the hangar, where a small multi-purpose vehicle was sitting. Avery went to the front, and jumped in.

  "Go in the back. I'm not on surveillance coming here, so if you keep your head down, we'll be fine," he called out.

  Kip did as he was told, jumping into the back of the all-terrain vehicle. Which was when he saw him.

  "Whoa--"

  Xaix leapt from his shoulder, claws fighting for purchase in the loose, white shirt. The Ru rubbed his face against the other man's cheek.

  "When did he find you?"

  "He didn't," the Judge replied. "I found him."

  ***

  Chapter Ten - Mission: Peversion

  Captain Vadim nearly fell over when Avery started the vehicle up, and he grabbed at the straps overhead to keep his balance. He'd been so shocked to see the Judge again that everything else had faded away. The jolt was enough to bring him vaguely back to the planet's surface.

  There was Simeon Peters sitting in casual, civilian clothing. Sitting in the back of a truck, with Mr. Bitey on his knee, stroking down the little monster's spine. Like nothing had ever happened. Like he hadn't been kidnapped by evil conspiracy people, or impersonated, or run off, or been MIA for months, or...

  "Please, Captain, would you sit down? I know that the Enforcer's driving often veers to the functional rather than the comfortable."

  "Would you rather die in comfort, or live with bruised knees?" Ithon yelled from the driver's seat.

  "I'd rather live in comfort, when all's said and done, you asshole," Vadim answered. "You look for ways to jolt things."

  "Prove it."

  Vadim made a low, pissed-off noise deep in his throat, but he took the seat opposite the Judge anyway. "Wait," he said, now staring at him full on. "How do we know it's him?"

  "Why do you think you brought your little rat?" Avery yelled back. "He's him. I made sure of it. Extensively."

  "He did," the Judge reassured him. "Very thorough."

  "Sorry," Avery said.

  "You aren't, but I understand."

  Xaix rolled onto his back, presenting his soft underbelly for pettings. He didn't do that unless he liked someone, so unless the Bankers were now also winning over Rus, this seemed pretty much a done deal.

  "Where the hell have you been?" the Captain said, going straight back into important questions.

  "Son, I'm sorry I've not been in touch--"

  "Not been in... Si; we thought you might be dead! Or... worse!"

  "Well, I am not. I used my
access in the Courthouse to reach restricted information, and then I escaped before they could detain me. I think I had broken out before you even realised I was in danger, if I've pieced everything together correctly."

  "You... you bust out? And you... what?"

  "I didn't manage to get back to the ship in time. I knew that the moment they discovered I was missing that I would put you all in incredible danger. If I wasn't there, then you had--"

  "...plausible deniability." Vadim winced. It was what he'd said to the fake Judge. Seemed he'd listened well to the old man's teaching after all.

  "Yes. And then you had gone, and I also did not know how to tell who to trust. I bumped into a colleague in the Courthouse who did not recall our last conversation, so I knew that at the very least memory was being altered. I had to work independently."

  "So what changed?"

  "I have been gathering information on you. On all of you. Your deadlocked drops that you used to blackmail the Bankers were easy enough to access."

  Vadim almost jumped out of his seat. "What?"

  "Your security systems would hold out to most, but not to me. Remember: I know you too well."

  "Well, son of a... fine." It had worked out in their favour, and there was no one he'd rather have picking the electronic locks than the Judge, anyway. "So you got inside, and you worked out what we knew?"

  "Yes. You had found out the key information about how to prove if someone had been replaced, which was what I was lacking. I had the funds, and the understanding, just not... that final piece of the puzzle."

  "And you found this out... When?"

  "A month ago. I reached out to Avery."

  That hurt. That hurt like a kick to the chest. Vadim's eyes narrowed, and he tried to keep the anger from his face and voice, but... it was hard to do. "I see."

  "Avery has connections."

  "Yep."

  "Son, we were working on a plan to--"

  "To what? Tell me eventually? Geez, Si, haven't we seen enough together? You know we're reliable. All of us. You sailed with us for years. Why didn't you tell us you were okay?"

  Xaix chirruped, perking up at the sudden tension in the air. His little claws clutched at the Judge's fingers, and he wriggled to get attention. Peters shushed him softly, stroking him until he begrudgingly settled down.

  "Kip, don't give him a hard time. He was thinking of you," Avery called out, from up front.

  "Yeah?"

  "He's right." Quiet, almost not-there. "You were travelling through areas that were... fraught. There is a lot of communications interception in key areas, a lot of unreliable networks and spies. I couldn't reach out to you until you went somewhere more... reliable."

  "The hell? Isn't all this crap over?"

  "You were just pulled over for – nominally - shipping boxes of official Sianar mantle-buckles for use by the Za's employed agents, Kip. You really think it's all over?"

  "So... you're saying Kre's father is in on this?"

  "No, I'm not saying that," Peters answered. "But I'm also not saying I trust him completely. Things are... complicated at a very high level. The Sianar network is one of the least secure, and as there had already been attempts on Kre's life, I was trying to ensure that any future ones would fail, too."

  "Where are my crew now?"

  "Well, I had reports that Saidhe and Loap fled the scene in half of my house," Avery said, sounding still a little sore. "And as the ship was non-responsive, I'm guessing they downloaded the AI into it again."

  "And have you tried to hail them?" he asked Peters. "I know Avery hasn't."

  "No. Anything we transmit could be compromised. If you had any secure channels, now would be the time to disclose them."

  "Secure... you do realise we're just a small freight company? Not an elite black-ops team?"

  Peters snorted. "Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish."

  Well, Vadim thought, if we were, we'd be better funded and fuck up less. "We don't. I called out to B and Kre, and I haven't heard anything back."

  The Judge contemplated that for a moment. "Where were they before this happened?"

  "Shopping. Sight-seeing. Preaching the laws of gravity. Girl stuff. I don't know, I just left them to it. My crew are out there, right now, and they could be in all kinds of danger. Tell me you've got the manpower and the wherewithal to find and rescue them?"

  "Wherewithal... possibly. Manpower? That's the trickiest thing."

  "Great. Just swell."

  "I'm glad to see you again, too." His voice didn't carry any open rebuke.

  "Why can't my life be normal? Just once. Just... once?"

  ***

  [Ashroe: And he's back!]

  [Sianor: I've missed him. He's been gone way too long.]

  [Ashroe: Yeah. I do like him. It was just... it needed doing for the plot.]

  [Sianor: We'll probably still get accused of hating on him, even though - well. I don't hate him.]

  [Ashroe: Me either! But we need a wise old wizard type, someone with more of an overview. The big picture. Without him being game-breaking.]

  [Sianor: That's what used to get me about some really badly written stories. You know the ones, where The Golden Boy (or Girl) has so many wonderful powers and can fix everything. Uhm. Boring.]

  [Ashroe: A really good villain? You don't even notice. They've taken over, got control, got your loyalty... you love them. You don't see them as the villain.]

  [Sianor: Oh god yes. Or you do hate them, but they've got such complete control that there's no way out of it.]

  [Ashroe: Those are the truly terrifying stories, but they're really nihilistic. I have such a weakness for them.]

  [Sianor: When there's no 'happily ever after'?]

  [Ashroe: Yes. It's my kind of horror. Not the 'monster under the bed' thing. I like the ones where you're normal one day, and then the next... bam.]

  [Sianor: I'm getting shivers.]

  [Ashroe: How... dark do we want to go?]

  [Sianor: As dark as the story needs.]

  [Ashroe: Hmm.]

  [Sianor: I know that 'hmm'. It's the 'I'm about to have an inspired idea' one.]

  [Ashroe: Maybe. I was re-watching something last night, and... it sort of got something ticking away.]

  [Sianor: Well, look at it this way: We can do what the show won't. We can kill people. We can do dark humour. We can have wild, rabid man-love. If it's a good story... I'm game. No holds barred.]

  [Ashroe: God, I hope you mean that.]

  [Sianor: I do. This... this is right.]

  [Ashroe: You know how they say there's a novel inside us all? Well. I think - maybe for the first time - that I've found it.]

  [Sianor: SHIVERS.]

  [Sianor: Also, did you answer the box question?]

  [Ashroe: I said what's supposed to be in the boxes. On the officially lodged manifest.]

  [Sianor: But...]

  [Ashroe: But?]

  [Sianor: Is it... real?]

  [Ashroe: Open one and see.]

  [Sianor: I hate you.]

  [Ashroe: <3]

  ***

  The trip was fast. Avery was a reasonably capable driver, but coming from Saidhe's tight, neat curves to the sharper, more urgent movements - with even less internal dampening and shock-absorption - was a bit of an awakening. It was compounded by not being able to see either the road or the displays, and not being able to anticipate what was coming next.

  That and the worry. The worry was a big thing. Although all of his crew were with someone else (or had been, when they'd split up), he didn't have quite the same level of fear for them, but... damnit. They were his crew. He was supposed to take care of them!

  After what felt like an hour, but was likely closer to ten minutes, the constant bumping stopped. There was a moment when everything felt weightless - like when you pushed out from the side of a ship in a thin suit designed to simulate a whole world - and then a strange, creaking noise.

  "Where are you taking me, exactly?" Vadi
m asked.

  "We're going somewhere there's less likely to be surveillance. On a planet as advanced as Jazibe, with a good local legal presence, that's... tricky," the Judge said, sounding apologetic. "But you can go into the front compartment now. It should be safe to."

  Vadim's brow creased in confusion, but his curiosity got the better of him. He palmed the closed door and walked into the narrow section at the front. There were two seats and an array of controls, and Avery's hands were flying over them faster than he could track. Vadim could do the basics, of course, but he didn't recognise all the dials and displays he saw.

  What was more interesting, though, was the view out the broad screen. Instead of buildings and people, it was... well. A vaguely aquamarine block, laced with trailing, sparkling strands.

  "They're like jellyfish," Avery explained, as he turned on some wipers. The blades went back and forth, cutting through the strands. They kept clumping together into brighter ribbons, like seeing a busy intersection at night. "Attracted to heat and movement. We're lit up like lunch for them."