Majesty's Offspring (Books 1 & 2)

by AJ Vega

  ******

  Julius stripped out of his flight suit before heading to Laina’s quarters. They were going to go over the final preparations for their next raid, and later he would meet with Reece to go over his new role. The meeting also had another importance: it might be the last of such types of meetings between him and Laina.

  He had first thought Laina’s “retirement” announcement to be folly, but he witnessed a great deal of activity from Laina as she moved her assets out of her quarters, presumably to a holding area prior to her disembarking for good. It began to dawn on Julius that his longtime business partner may really be leaving—and it really annoyed him. How he was going to find a replacement?

  Laina had always been the one who looked at the big picture of their operation, always seeing beyond today and planning ahead, making critical contacts with others “in the business,” and even those in government and the corporations.

  The latter Julius did not have the stomach for; he always felt destructive when dealing with corporate types. Their holier-than-thou pomp made him sick enough to want to reach for his pistol and shoot rather than talk. These scum had their own lingo, their own inside jokes. Laina was always able to fool them into thinking she was one of their own, that pretty smile of hers keeping their wits at bay. Julius could never do that, and now he had to find a way to do it alone—without Laina.

  He walked into Laina’s quarters, noting immediately the absence of most of the artwork and other exotic curiosities. Boxes were stacked along the walls, some filled, and some still open to accept more junk. The room was as bare as he had ever seen it.

  Laina sat waiting for him at a corner table with a drink in her hand. She pulled out another glass and offered it to Julius. He stopped wondering if she had a drinking problem long ago: it was obvious she was a lush. How she was able to keep her figure with all that drinking was beyond him.

  “No, thanks,” he said. “I want to have my wits in the morning.”

  “Suit yourself,” Laina said.

  She stared intently at a holographic terminal that sat in front of her. The hologram floating over it displayed some information on it that she rotated for Julius to see.

  “The pickings are rather slim,” Laina said. “Jared was unable to get anything useful from his usual source. I had to get this from my contact instead.”

  Julius sat at the table, looking over the data. The list contained cargo flight information for ships leaving or entering Mars orbit in two days. The actual list of flight schedules was rather long, but Laina had narrowed it down to merchandise that was sellable, also filtering out anything that would be flying during peak traffic times. In the end, they only had three candidates.

  “Do you think we should reschedule for a better opportunity?” Julius asked.

  “No,” Laina said. “I’ve already made a lot of arrangements for myself; I don’t want to have to make changes to them—I can’t.”

  “All right,” Julius said, “then it’s between unrefined silver, pleasure discs, or Vigila Weed. It’s a business decision, so you decide.”

  Laina took a sip of her drink before speaking:

  “Vigila Weed means I have to deal with the pharmaceutical companies, and it takes forever to get them to agree on price; and I don’t have time for that right now.

  “Von Haufsberg would buy the pleasure discs, but the brand is what sells, and we don’t know what brand is actually going to be on that cargo. Besides, I don’t want to lose two days of sleep trying to figure out how much to price an off-brand pleasure disc.”

  Laina sighed, and then took another drink before continuing: “Unrefined silver is a safe bet. We’ve sold silver to Haufsberg before and we don’t have any other silver in the cargo hold, so we won’t get squeezed for a volume discount.”

  “So it’s settled then,” Julius said. “Silver it is.” He slapped his hands on his thighs. “I guess I better go inform our lead pilot that he’s been promoted.”

  “Already?” Laina asked, giving him a sour look.

  “Yes. They did well, better than I expected. Reece showed good command potential. Even though we bested them, it was a close fight—it came down to just me and Reece in the end.”

  “Are you sure it’s wise to put one of Stromond’s rejects in charge of Wolf Squadron so quickly?”

  “He’s ready—and we need to put our existing pilots where they belong. This ship is a skeleton and the crew will give it some needed flesh.”

  “You’re so quick to entrust such a heavy responsibility to him. You know, all it takes is one screw-up out there and we’re all done in.” She slammed her drink on the table. “Not just these unproven rejects we inherited—all of us.”

  “Sometimes people just need an opportunity to prove themselves. Reece deserves that opportunity.”

  “It doesn’t sit well with me—”

  “I don’t care that it doesn’t—it’s my decision.”

  She gave him a cold stare as she spun the ice in her drink.

  “Fine,” she said. “Don’t listen to me, as usual… not my problem anymore. Perhaps you’ll give your new partner’s opinions more credence.”

  “New partner?” Julius asked.

  “Von Haufsberg of course,” she said before taking a sip. “He would love to fill my shoes—even if they aren’t as pretty. He will make the business side of this much easier for you.”

  “Yes, by stealing me blind.”

  “Oh, you can count on that,” Laina said. “But at least you know what to expect from him. He has no other ambitions and won’t meddle. You should give him the opportunity… unless… maybe, you’d like to retire as well?”

  Julius briefly imagined himself on a secluded offworld resort, with a golf course, horseback riding, skiing, booze, and no schedule. Servants would bring him food and drink, and pretty women would sit and wait at his disposal. Other rich assholes would attempt to exchange casual conversation with him and share in their own personal achievements, trying to drag out of him how he obtained his own wealth. Was it even possible for him to mingle with those people?

  “Impossible,” Julius said. “That’s not in my future. You know, you should really consider whether you could keep up that facade of belonging among those pompous asses.”

  Laina gave him a surprised look. “Who said I was going to mingle with anybody? I’m buying some secluded land on Earth. I’ll have thousands of acres of beachfront solitude. No more of this bullshit for me. I want some peace, quiet… and a place for my artwork.”

  “How long would that last? You’ll be bored stiff in a matter of weeks. You enjoy the excitement of this venture of ours—you know it. You’ll be back.”

  “Julius. You really need to accept that I’m leaving. I can find my own personal peace outside of this game of ours. It’s what I really want. It’s too bad you won’t give it a try. I think one day you will wise up, though.”

  “Peace? Where is there peace? I’m not going to hide on some far-off island somewhere, trying to escape from the reality of what really exists in the universe. Peace is an illusion. Just like those offworld resorts, just like that beachfront property you’ll be living at. You can only shield yourself from the universe for so long, Laina.”

  “Always the realist,” Laina said, shaking her head. “You’d spoil even the most romantic of vacations. I mean, don’t you ever dream? Or do these small pickings really excite you that much? Pleasure discs, silver ore, Vigila Weed… boy, we’ve really made our mark on the universe, haven’t we?”

  “My feet are planted on the deck, Laina. Reality is where we live,” he said, motioning around them. “And reality is not a beautiful, orderly painting—it’s chaos. There is no grand plan for you, me, or anyone else. You have to make your own future in the real universe.”

  Laina shrugged. “Maybe one day you’ll think differently. Just try not to get yourself killed before then.”

  “I’ve managed for over a century. I
wouldn’t worry.”

  She stood up and grabbed an empty box, looking around apparently searching for something to put inside it.

  “Tomorrow we’ll be meeting,” Julius said, “to formulate an attack plan for the convoy—you’re invited of course.”

  “No, thanks,” she said, “I still have some other details I need to attend to. Perhaps you can have your new lead reject pilot help with that. I copied the convoy flight data to your quarters, so you have all you need from me.”

  “I suppose after this is over I’ll have to drop you off on Earth?”

  “Not all the way,” Laina said. “I’ve made arrangements for safe passage from Deimos-1 to Earth. You just need to get me that far and I’ll be off this flying hubcap for good.”

  Julius sat for a moment, watching her inspect items as she placed them in the box. One corner of the room already had a stack of sealed boxes. He hadn’t been sure how serious she was before, but now she seemed intent on getting her things packed—perhaps she was really leaving this time.

  “Well, see you later then,” Julius said.

  “Of course,” Laina said somewhat absently, as she continued to pack.