Creation's Guardian Ch. 15A

The teams are as follows: team one...Dawn, Emma, Kaitlin, Amber, Mia, and Abby. The team leader is Dawn... Team two... Carolyn, Jasmine, Brianna, Erin, Daisy, and Dana led by Carolyn... Team three consists of Rachel, Mckyla, Ilese, Ashley, Jade, and Candice. With Rachel as the team leader. Team four is made up of Alora, Christi, Brooke, Olivia, Elizabeth, and Gail. Brooke is their leader. Team five's members are Brigit, Heather, Shannon, Alexis, Clara, and Lana. Alexis heads up that team. The last team is Jaylne, Deirdre, Miranda, Jodi, Mariah, and Marilyn with Deirdre heading the final team.

The two additional recruits have already been chosen and agreed to join us. To simplify things, we've planned for them to arrive the same day that Lyssa becomes part of our family. Unless of course you decide otherwise. We also suspect that you'll want Carolyn and Dawn to join the Neuveia team once the two new recruits are in place. We've taken that into account with our planning. All seven teams will be fully balanced. Including skill sets as well as race. These tentative plans are based on your previous government and are subject to your approval. We're only trying to help and save you some time, so we hope you don't think we've over stepped our bounds."

Bob looked around the table with a smile. He chuckled softly and said, "nah, you're not out of line at all. I really appreciate all the hard work that you girls have put into planning this for me. You've all taken the initiative and put together a really great plan. I'm very proud of you girls! I'm not sure how you knew that I'd want Carolyn and Dawn on the Neuveian team. I don't know if it was just a good guess, incredible foresight, or fantastic instincts. I guess it really doesn't matter which one it was because you're right; that's exactly where I want them to end up." He turned to Lyssa. "You seem to be moving a little faster on giving up your throne to Jacobia. What's up with that? Is there something I should know?"

Lyssa giggled. "You mean besides the fact that I can hardly wait to test drive that monster you call a cock? The truth is that I had a good long talk with Jacobia and Jenni while you were busy upstairs." Lyssa went on to explain everything that she, Jacobia, and Jenni had talked about. She continued with, "I'm not sure exactly what's going on, Bob. But I have a feeling that Jacobia may be right; there's a whole lot more happening than we previously thought. Our consensus is that maybe a change of leadership coupled with a fresh perspective could cause whoever is pulling strings to tip their hand. We're thinking that they may try to act before Jacobia has a chance to really get her feet wet. At least that's what we're hoping for anyway. We have an idea that just may catch the rats behind all this if you're willing to help us set a trap for them. Our plan works as long as they don't have someone on the palace staff, which I tend to doubt. I think that if they had someone that high up on the food chain, we'd know it by now because they would've made a move on Jenni's parents already.

Don't get me wrong; I am not ruling out the possibility of a traitor behind palace walls. But I've already taken steps there to ensure that any would be assassin is caught long before they can do any damage. Only Jacobia or I can make any changes to those defensive measures. I've kinda let the word slip out that palace security has been seriously enhanced. That should discourage anything from happening there. Jacobia's crowing will be broadcast live from Admiral Joshua Cummings Memorial Sports Stadium on New Atlantia two weeks from tonight. The stadium holds about one hundred fifty thousand people and we plan on splitting the seats evenly between New Atlantia and New Cronus. Tickets will be awarded by an open lottery system; and after that; Jacobia will spend a week making public appearances on both planets. If all that doesn't draw the dickheads out into the open; I don't know what will. It would really help us a lot if you and some of your girls could provide undercover security at all the public events."

"I don't see why not. We could all use a bit of a vacation. I'm gonna need all the information you can give me about each site as well as all planned and alternate travel routes to each event. Try to make your travel routes as long as you possibly can. That will give you the best chance of smoking these dirtbags out. I'll post my girls in the crowd at different spots along each road and have them leapfrog over each other to keep an eye on the royal party. In the meantime, I will stick close to you and Jacobia just to make sure nothing gets missed. Don't worry, I'll make damn sure that nobody but you two can see me. Does that work for you, Lyssa?" Bob replied.

****

Meanwhile:

A lone freighter slipped silently along through a volatile section of the quadrant that other spaceships avoided like the plague. The sector was dotted with active pulsars, nebulae, asteroids, and other navigational hazards. A young woman piloted the small heavily shielded ship past the many obstacles with well-practiced ease. She had made the journey between New Atlantia and a hidden habitable planet deep within the Satatraka Nebula many times. For two and a half days she had traveled stealthily under a complete communications black-out and her transponder had been deactivated as she departed Atlantian space. She wasn't worried about anyone in starship control noticing her disappearance. They rarely paid any attention to the comings and goings of small one person freighters. It wasn't all that unusual for such ships to wander off into different parts of the quadrant seeking rare minerals and other valuable resources. Nor was it unusual for commanders of these small freighters to keep their chosen courses secret from anyone who could hijack their sources.

Usually the trip was a time for quiet contemplation and peaceful relaxation with her arrival on Deltar being a very joyous occasion. This time was different though, and as she expertly maneuvered her small ship into a docking bay; she wondered how her mother would take the bad news. More than two decades of careful planning had gone completely awry and while none of it was Deana's fault; she would be the one held accountable. There just wasn't anyone else left for her mother to take her wrath out on.

It had all started when that idiot Ron Sullivan had jumped the gun with his unplanned, foolish attempt to assassinate Lyssa. His quick arrest and subsequent humiliating public execution had been a well-deserved punishment. If it had stopped there; everything would've been fine. But no, that bitch Sue Sullivan had somehow found out about Dunn's plan to seize control while Lyssa and Jacobia were away somewhere, doing heaven only knows what. Reports had it that Dunn and his group had learned that they were about to be arrested and had slipped through Sue Sullivan's grasp by stealing the decommissioned battlecruiser H.M.S. Harvey. There was no way to confirm any of that though as there had been no word of Dunn and his people since the day, they all disappeared. This wasn't Deana's first failed assignment and that bothered her to no end. It had been more than four years since her mother had ordered her to trap and capture Jenni McIntyre. Deana's mother had been seriously pissed when the little bitch had simply winked out of existence.

To this day Deana's contacts hadn't been able to locate Jenni though they did say that they though that Lyssa was behind the girl going off the grid the way she did. But at that time there had been others that Deana's mother could punish for the miss-steps. It had cost Deana several well-placed contacts before her mother's wrath was finally sated. She had no clue what her mother would say or do this time; so, it was with some trepidation that Deana entered the home that she had grown up in.

TO BE CONTINUED...