Union in CrisisChapter 7
- 4 years ago
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Kat slipped back out through the kitchen and made her way, carefully, to the sidewalk outside the diner, far enough away that she could not be seen by those inside. She took a couple of minutes to scan the street and the people passing by, wondering if Paron or the InterSys agent inside had a partner or confederate. Nothing looked out of place, but after years of doing her own kind of sneaking around and tailing assassination targets, she knew how silly it would be to make assumptions. There...
Of course, I can't see them, but I am picturing how my bright-red shiny toenails would look as I wiggle them. Encased in shimmering white thigh- high stockings attached to my white-lace garter belt, the sensation I feel as they occasionally rub together is one of the many thrills accosting my body. The pink 6" patent-leather heels, just a shade too tight on my feet, only serve to reinforce my predicament. Over the garter belt I'm wearing what Mistress calls my "spank-me" panties....
CHAPTER 9: THE NEGOTIATION First Class! I never … ever … expected to ever fly First Class. But, here I am, sitting next to the very smartly dressed Allaince Corporation CEO. Of course, I think I am pretty smartly dressed, too. Of course, Mrs. C assisted with that by taking me shopping. Let’s face it, I normal office attire would have gotten arrested well before getting on the plane. “Okay, sir … I think this works best if you introduce me at the beginning of the meeting as who I am,...
Kat's reception on her arrival at the Callabrian spaceport was a sight warmer than her arrival on Calysto had been. Helios was waiting at the gate with a big, hand-lettered sign reading "Themis Agnoset" on top, and "Ready to party?" below. The wording was surrounded by what were obviously supposed to be balloons and party favors, perhaps fireworks, and the whole thing looked like it was a grade school child's art project. Kat had to laugh at the big grin on his face and Helios stood...
Pan spent his first two months on Chonwei feeling like he was back in college, taking accounting courses with a plan to work in the family business. His brother John had encouraged him to take Corporate Finance, no matter what else he studied, so that when he took his place in the company, he could make informed decisions. He spent ten to twelve hours a day tracking the money movements between corporations, megacorps, holding companies and shell companies. It was an epic task, though it was...
Kat had thrown caution to the wind and had opened the throttles on the little sled, building up speed as quickly as possible. Since there was no atmosphere to slow her down, she figured that if she could get going fast, she could ride that speed for a long time, even after the fuel supply was exhausted. She would rather die in space than be recaptured by the ExTrans. It hadn't taken long, with the throttle wide open, to burn through the available fuel. Kat waited until the ship she had...
Kat's training at the Citadel was part of her employment contract with the Agency, an extra-governmental watch dog group that worked outside the law to police the law enforcement establishment and the politicians. She had been making a pretty lucrative living as a free-lance assassin when she had been captured by Minerva, the Sector Commanding Officer and head of the Agency's training academy, the Citadel. Minerva had made a convincing argument for Kat switching sides and coming to work...
Kat jumped ship at the first port and, despite her nervousness, it was really a non-event. She just simply went ashore during her first off-shift and never came back. She didn't have to worry about raising suspicions by hauling a lot of gear, since she owned very little to begin with. Like many of the crew who planned on spending some time on-planet, she carried a small satchel with her meager belongings inside and simply walked away. She had a few credits to her name, there hadn't been...
A team breakfast the next morning was an odd experience. They seemed like normal, everyday people and not like the kind of people Kat remembered from her past. The smugglers she knew were shifty, nervous people who skulked and lurked. These people chatted and ate breakfast, talking about the day's plans, the next step in reviewing operations for several local plants and were, generally, nice folks. Kat had to wonder if the game had changed of if her perceptions had altered over time. If...
Helios had agreed to deliver the parts in six weeks, through an intermediary whose contact information Mbosa supplied. There was to be no further contact with Mbosa again, under any circumstances. Mbosa had also supplied Helios with a copy of the information his sources had dug up, and with which he was threatening him. If Helios failed to deliver, or if even a whisper of Mbosa's involvement in the deal came to light, the information would be sent to both the local Peace Keepers and to...
Kat and Vlad spent a lot of time together, since he was the head of her 'security team'. She was amused by the euphemism, knowing that they were her jailers and sure that most of them would much rather just shove her out an airlock and be done with it. She was not confined to her cell, exactly, but she was not free to roam either. She could take meals in the common mess if she wanted, but doing to was a hassle to everyone involved. Her guards would clear an area of the mess, ejecting...
Consciousness came back slowly. At first, she wasn't even sure she was awake. The few sounds she could hear were muted and her eyelids refused to obey. She couldn't find her body, though she knew that was silly, and she was relieved when that lack of sensation was replaced by the pins and needles sensation of her returning circulation. Even though she was newly awake, all she really desired was to sleep for a couple of days. That not being conducive to survival when one has been kidnapped,...
She was finally ready to take that first step. She had the weapon, a plan, an escape route and a target. It starts tonight. The intervening years had not been kind to little Kathleen Andrea Mackey. The Peace Keepers had placed her in a group crèche with a hundred or so other orphans and unwanted children. Run by the state, the children continued to receive a basic education, enough to make them useful members of the prole class, but not enough to inspire them to excel. They were to be taught...
Kat slept until hunger woke her. According to her fingernail chrono, it was 2100 hours local. The time didn't mean much to her since she had no idea how much time had passed since she was abducted, nor how long she had slept. Her stomach was telling her she hadn't had anything to eat in quite a while. "Computer, increase lights 15%." Kat sat up and was unsurprised, but still annoyed, to find that she was naked under the covers. Of course a person had to go into Cryo sleep naked, and she...
The elevator took a surprisingly long time to reach their destination and, though there was no way of knowing what level they started on, Kat was sure that they were now many levels underground. The doors opened onto a pleasant but generic looking lobby, akin to what you would expect from a solicitor's office. The desk marked reception was unmanned and the room, empty. Three doors led from the room, all of them unmarked. The garishly dressed young man preceded her out of the elevator and...
"Themis, report to Minerva." That terse command cut through her concentration. She was working a devilishly difficult FTL course calculation and math was not a favorite subject. She had studied long and hard for this exam, and any interruption was unwelcome. That this particular interruption meant she would have to leave the test half-finished caused her to let out a small groan. "Can I finish the exam later" she asked, as she rose from the table and gathered her gear. "I am only half...
At zero-dark-thirty, they arrived at the spaceport and made their way to the private hangers at the far end. The walk wasn't a long one, but it gave Kat ample time to notice that Bob's limp was gone and that he was moving around easily, smoothly. She cocked an eyebrow at Bob, and then nodded to his leg. "Feeling better?" Bob, looking a little sheepish, lifted his pants leg and showed her a very slick, expensive looking prosthesis. "Thing cost a fortune and upkeep is enough to make your...
Ducking behind the door so that when it opened, it would shield her from view, she held her breath. The door opened and Kat could hear someone pause in the doorway, speaking to another person outside the room. "I don't care if he is the Secretary General of the damn Union. The patient is not to have alcohol while taking the medication I prescribed. If Dr. Graham has a problem with my instructions, he can complain to the Administrator." He said, stepping past the door and into Kat's view....
It was several long, tense minutes before status reports started coming back over the common frequency assigned to the assault team. They had, apparently, caught the civilians with their pants down, figuratively speaking. There had been no real resistance, but a collision alarm had sounded once the civilian ship sensed the shuttles in near proximity when the stealth fields had dropped for the final maneuvers. The crewmen were sprinting to damage control stations and struggling into vacuum...
Kat was early for her 0800 6th Day meeting with Minerva. When she had returned to her apartment the previous afternoon, she had a message telling her to report to the Sector Commanding Officer at 0800 the next morning. The tone of the report was very official in a way that was hard to pin down. Her previous communications from Minerva had always had a more casual tone, like that of an advisor. This was definitely an official Sector CO to junior Agent message. Kat couldn't help but grin....
One of the three ships had moved to block their travel lane while the other two had taken up station to either side. The lead ship had launched a pair of shuttles that were rapidly closing the gap between the blocking ship and the passenger liner. The crew reported the closing distance in a calm, business-like manner, estimating time of arrival and, based on trajectory, the possible destination. There were three hatches on the forward part of the ship that could, through the use of a mating...
Pan stared after her, daring to hope but realistic enough to realize that she had avoided the issue. If Helios had just now been heard from, that means that there was some trouble with that meeting they had planned. Pan dressed as quickly as he could, tossing his sweaty garments, and the wet towel, into his locker to deal with later. He sprinted the distance from the medical wing to Minerva's office, arriving right on her tail and out of breath. Minerva glanced at him, rolled her eyes, and...
The bridge of the UNS Spirit was humming with activity. The light cruiser, part of a two ship scouting element for the UNS Invincible's battlegroup, was involved in Operation White Flag and had observed a blacked out ship of unknown origin pass through their sensor net almost twelve hours ago. Operation White Flag was a training mission and they were supposed to be looking for the members of the UNS Vigour's battlegroup as they moved into the sector designated for the simulated battle....
Aborted negotiations By Lyrissa "This is an outrage, and no manner of diplomatic overtures is going to change the situation, lady Proudmoore," said Lady Liadrin, leaning back in her chair. The blood elf death knight had a dark expression on her fine features and crossed her arms across her armored breastplate. Jaina Proudmoore, archmage of the Kirin Tor, desperately looked around at the other women attending the conference, but found little to reassure her. "Lady Liadrin, I...
Waiting out front of the airport for an available limousine, I looked across at the beautiful Caribbean landscape off in the distance. The balmy temperature and tropical scenery were a stark contrast to the overcast skies and cold temperatures I had left behind at home that morning.I was in the French West Indies, for a week-long session of meetings of legal counsel in advance of the ratification of a pending international treaty. To be sure, there had been no complaints about the location for...
Interracial“Hey, Sal,” Lenny said as soon as the door was opened. “You look nice.”“Hi, Lenny,” Sally said, smiling broadly, then instantly looking away, feeling herself blush. “He ready?” Lenny and her brother, Rob, had planned on going to the local drive-in movie, to hang out with everyone else who would be there on this hot Saturday in July. Sally stepped aside to let Lenny in. “Not quite.”Rob and his mother were yelling over each other so loudly that no one could understand a word either was saying....
First TimeAyanna laughed for an entire minute. It started out with the same full laugh as before, then changed to a sort of hysterical, high pitched laugh which turned heads, and finally tapered off with a wheezing, weak laugh as she caught her breath. Alaina sat in her chair, stone-faced, and finished her sandwich. Once she was done, she sulked, unable to get mad because of who was laughing. It’s not funny. It’s definitely not funny. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Ayanna barked a cough. “But c’mon, A. It’s...
Arwen’s eyes sagged as she listened dully to the ranting between her husband, King Aragorn and his ‘guest’, GrimLord Torl Bain. For once the bellowing between her Lord Aragorn and the visiting barbarian king took the eyes of Bain’s troop off her. With a dismissive shake of her head she listened as they howled back and forth over disputed lands or some such. Turning her eyes to the side, she noticed the one that had not diverted his attention from her. Tobias stood guard...
I needed to confront Lexi. I’d thought that blackmailing her would be easier. It always seemed so straightforward on TV. You made demands, and then the guilty parties did those things. It was simple. So how on Earth was it that I made very simple demands, and ended up getting my head split open? I’d only asked her to clean the pool and hit on some kid. Was that really too much for her to handle? I climbed the stairs, my anger returning with each step, but the rage I’d felt hours ago had now...
“Well, the good news is that the virus is not going to harm us,” Aline said as she stood before her computer screen. Her left hand was at her right hand. She was busy pressing a couple of keys on her projection screen. It was now morning as Kane stood in the medical lab. He could feel the weightless environment as before. The night had passed as he remembered what he saw in the email sent to him. It weighed heavily on his mind. Instead, he had his hand to his chin as he contemplated things...
"No," I say and Saul looks crestfallen. Letting the two of them know my decision. "If it is to be, it will be the three of us." "Saul loves," I smile sweetly at his sad expression. "I can not take his time with you away from you," I turn to Saul, who is now looking shocked. He may be bisexual, but I can see no one had thought to share him with Nimrod. Nimrod seems to think this is funny as he laughs some more. "I don't do girls." He raises an eye brow at me in challenge. "But...
Her thigh was rubbing my pussy as she was pressing her pussy hard on my thigh. I obediently co-operated and reciprocated each of rub by rubbing her pussy with my thigh. Her arms cuddled me and she kissed me all over my face and licked wherever possible. I could sense her breath was hot and steamy.Our breasts were pressed hard against each other and I could feel our nipples were already hardened. In a moment she lowered her head and started sucking one of my nipples. It was too sensual that...
I was so excited when she buried her face on my chest and I could sense she was inhaling deeper. My hand moved slowly away from thighs and upwards and smoothly caressing her belly. I pulled her more closer and tightly held her and kissed her cheek and took a deep breath. The natural aroma of her skin mixed up with the perfume that she wore was so exciting and intoxicating. She changed her posture by sitting on my lap facing me directly. Now, it was easy for both of us hug each other and...
When the door bell rang, I knew it is Jessica whom I have called an hour ago to come by. Since it was Friday evening, I told her already to spend the weekend with me at my apartment. She very reluctantly agreed. Since we are c***dhood friends, I knew she won't refuse. I hurriedly wrapped around the housecoat rushed towards the door. As I expected, it was Jessica, coming straight from her office. I returned from my work much earlier today.The moment I opened the door, I was surprised to...
I remember the sound of luggage rolling across concrete as he turned. The ripple he made in time frozen on my brain, the image of his sway. I stole that parting glance and tasted the air through which he had passed, brushing against me a sweet memory. He said something, or hinted at something perhaps but only to my eyes. It was understood, the secret that can be bought between men. In the past it went unnoticed by most, but things are a bit different now. A moment cannot be held at leisure. It...
She was not allowed out after dark, not today and not ever. Once the sun went down, her father would lock the door, throw the three large bolts and drop a wooden beam across the door frame. The windows all had bars that didn't open, but when darkness came the metal shutters would be closed, blocking out the sights and muffling the sounds of the street outside. The halls outside the door were patrolled during the day, but at night they were mostly deserted. Even through the metal sheets and...
The executioner turned out to be almost too easy. A retired Peace Keeper, he was almost a legend among those still on the job and he had a soft spot for prole hookers. Flash a little leg, slip him a mickey and take out his tongue. All Katy had to do then was leave him chained in a half-filled tub with his own whip activated. She later heard that it was 3 days before the smell alerted the neighbors. The real problem was the Governor. She had been watching, waiting and learning everything she...
Kat spent the time until planet fall in her cabin, except for meals and a trip to the gym. Minerva had given her some case files to read and, despite Minerva's assurance that her gear was unmolested, she examined each piece in detail. Since she had designed her own gear, she was confident that she could spot any major changes or additions. She even downloaded the code for the multi-purpose communicator to see if they had slipped in a worm. She didn't know whether to be relieved that she...
Her first week was a blur of medical scans, academic testing and evaluations by instructors in a hundred different areas of expertise. The medicos pronounced her fit, with no hidden defects or diseases in her genome but the academic testing left her feeling wrung out, and not a little embarrassed. She had assumed she was as educated and worldly as the next assassin, but found that her early education was woefully inadequate. Since leaving the crèche, Kat had indulged her inquisitive nature...
"Next!" The 'Path' instructor, the man who Kat still thought of as the Chief, was Minerva's husband and the hand-to-hand combat instructor for the Citadel. 'Path' was fighting technique that traced its origins to several ancient disciplines on Old Earth. Part Savate, part Krav Maga with some Judo-style grappling included, it was a fast, brutal art that did not lend itself well to tournaments. It taught its practitioners to injure, disable and kill opponents as rapidly as possible. Kat...
Pan would have been almost unrecognizable to those he had left behind at the Citadel only a couple of weeks before. Never a muscular man, he had always had the wiry, whipcord strength of an athlete, a runner. The past weeks had pared that down to the most basic essence, stripped every ounce of fat from his frame and re-sculpted him. His cheek bones stood out like knife blades from his sunken cheeks and his jaw, always strong, had a chiseled look of weathered stone. His eyes, normally a...
Kat stepped out of the boarding tube into the Bougainville space port on Clerc, and scanned the crowd. She was adept at spotting security types, her livelihood had depended on staying under the radar, after all. She cataloged three overt and two covert watchers as she strolled through the concourse. The three, dressed in identical blue blazers and gray slacks, had the appearance of spaceport security. For all their studied casualness, they stood out from the crowd specifically because they...
"Chief, it's Themis." Kat wasn't sure she was doing the right thing, but time was speeding by and she had to get to Aste. The Chief sounded wary, as he responded to Kat. "Is there something you need, Themis? I am told that you asked specifically for me. I have to tell you, I would have cleared this through Minerva before talking to you, but she was unavailable. It is not normal practice to be calling Instructors when you are," he paused, searching for a harmless euphemism, "on...
Kat slid the door open as quietly as she could, the movement catching Bob's eye. He lifted an eyebrow and she gestured towards the door, holding up a hand with 4 fingers extended, and then made her hand into a gun shape. Bob, his brow tightening, extracted his arm from around the blonde, set his drink calmly on the bar and then, in a movement that was faster than Kat believed him capable, he clipped the blond behind the ear and lowered her to the floor. Sliding over the top of the bar, a...
Pan woke slowly, his consciousness rising from sleep in stages. Pain came first, but distant, hovering at the edge of his awareness. It was like the pain you feel in the memory of a recent injury. Then came the voices, but they were indistinct, as if they were in another room. There was movement around him and he felt a soft breeze flow past his face. His eyelids were strangely heavy, but when he finally forced them open, all he could see above him was a bright bar of light that hurt his...
The return trip to the camp was only a ten minute drive, had they driven directly there. Instead, they circled North and came towards the camp from the opposite side. As they neared the top of the ridge, keeping the hilltop between them and the camp on the other side, Bob pulled to a stop. They climbed out, and with a look, split up. Kat headed along the ridge line north for a hundred meters, then lowering herself to the ground, she edged forward under the low brush and grasses. Easing...
"We need to move. We'll load the mule with whatever we can lay our hands on and get the hell away from here." Bob handed the silenced pistol, and four spare magazines, to Kat and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He pocketed the rest of Vega's gear and led the way to the mule. It only took a few minutes to drive the mule directly over the ridge to the camp, Kat at the wheel and Bob riding passenger with the rifle across his lap. A couple minutes more and they had everything they could...
Pan chafed at confinement to his room. He had been poked and prodded, measured, weighed and bled; again and again for three weeks. Every day, after lunch, the nurse and a physical therapist would bring him crutches and encourage him to move around. He couldn't leave the medical bay, but they had him stumping up and down the passageway. During the rest of the day, he sat, and waited. The staff provided him with a book reader and access to the ship's library, but only the entertainment...
They finally found a narrow land bridge that spanned the chasm, six days south of their original route. With Kat driving, and Bob walking ahead, scouting and guiding her, they were able to get the mule across to the other side though not without a puckered sphincter or two. Twelve days wasted. The rest of the trip was anti-climactic and they were able to find the mining town of Champlace only two days later. The town was much smaller than the Port. It had two primary streets that met in a...
The crash site was easy to find. They had located a dirt track, hardly a road at all as much as a path through the forest that previous vehicles had torn, and they followed it until they spotted the first shattered tree tops. The forest was thick and heavy, the canopy almost completely blocked out the sunlight, but where the flier had torn through the tree tops, the sunlight flooded in, bleaching the color out of the forest floor. A blind man could have followed the trail from there and the...
Pan quickly settled into a routine. He would stump around the ship after breakfast, trailed by his keeper. He was exploring the limits of his allowed territory. Then back to his room where he would play some mindless bit of holo drama fluff that he could completely ignore while reviewing each step in his mind. He was firmly fixing a map of this part of the ship in his mind. After lunch, he would take a similar walk-about, but vary his route, memorizing the placement of various restricted...
It was a long day of forced inactivity. They traded off every two hours and Kat, exhausted, slept when she could. The temporary lumberjacks came back to the camp in the early afternoon, and put in a couple of hours trimming and shaping the logs they had cut. They added them to the already stacked wood under the tarp on the partially built structure, and then retired to their cabin. The officers only came out of the ship once all day, and were seen lugging a single small pack each, back to...
Jonesy, an embarrassed grin on his weathered face, noticed Bob smiling and scowled. "What the hell are you smiling about?" Bob held both hand up in a gesture of surrender and shook his head, trying to wipe the smile off but failing. "Oh!" Jonesy turned back to Kat again. "I almost forgot the other interesting thing. When the reports started flying back and forth about you guys, a ship appeared on my sensors. It had been lying doggo in orbit, probably pulling the same stunt I was and...
At midnight local time, the task group had moved in and taken up a stationary orbit on the far side of the planet, mirroring that of the LMP ship. All elements of the assault team had gathered in the hangar bay as instructed and were awaiting instructions. The Heavy Armor troops were rechecking their powered suits while the men in the lighter raider armor lounged on the deck nearby, calling out good-natured, and often obscene, tips. The heavy assault armor was a massive exoskeleton that...
Katy sat in her little hideout, staring at the crumbling walls and was at a loss. Since that day she made her vow to get revenge on the people that had killed her parents, she had been working towards this day. Today. It had only been what, four or five hours? Since the governor was splattered all over the plaza. The city was crawling with Peace Keepers, the streets packed with people who would turn her in for the price of a good meal or to gain favor with the planetary government. She had...
"Um, unless you have an accountant in your pocket, I don't know that I have a lot of choice. From what Minerva said when I asked her, there is a list of approved people that Agents can contact. People that the Agency trusts not to divulge information and so on." "Kat, I don't have one in my pocket, but I have the number of one programmed into my Comm." Pan's expression turned pensive, for a moment, as if trying to make a decision. He pulled Kat back down into his lap before...
The fifty creds Kat got for her first strong-arm job was enough to keep her fed for a month, but it didn't take long before word-of-mouth had netted her more work. Within two weeks, she had accepted two more, similar, jobs. It seemed that there were a lot of scumbags who needed to be taught a lesson. Kat, when she was being honest with herself, didn't really like the work, but she consoled herself by only taking jobs that she agreed with, whose targets were, for one reason or another,...
They never did make it to a table set for two. The conversation was brisk and entertaining and Kat got to hear about David as a boy as the two brothers traded good-natured barbs. Anna filled her in a bit about Pan's extended family and about her and Pan's brother. John was the older brother by ten years. Unlike their father, John did not have the passion for engineering and found, instead, that he had a gift for numbers. After graduating, he took over the financial side of the business...