Melinoe Ch. 21-25

Mel was now somber, but completely understood, and was willing to help anyway he could. The Ornalith historian explained that Rek Peu was Rum's middle offspring. Starved for affection from his sire, Rek would do anything Rum directed him to do. It was more than likely that he was running Rum's errands. Travel to Freeport was beyond Mel's knowledge, however. Mel did mention that Fud Peu's estate was now deeply in debt, and Rum was probably becoming even more desperate.

Joon smiled, "I do have one sliver of good news."

"Golamar is no longer listed under Fud Peu's assets."

Mel gasped, "That's wonderful! Though I don't know why anyone would want it."

Max responded, "Designating legitimate targets."

Dr. Peu blinked, "Oh... Oh my... You?"

Max nodded, "No ambiguity, no debate and no quarter."

Mel nodded in understanding, "You're going to wipe them all out."

Joon commented, "She really doesn't like pirates."

Dr. Mel Peu softly proclaimed, "If you sought my endorsement, you certainly have it."

"Please, remove this festering blight from the Minor Empires, its end is long overdue."

0o0

Paula watched the cityscape slide past on the magnetic transit train. It was becoming a long ride, with many stops. Eventually, the frequency of tastefully artistic buildings diminished while plain, unremarkable ones increased. It started gradually, then suddenly every structure seemed neglected, like the train carried them into a different, darker world.

There were few passengers, as it was the middle of the current work shift so it was easy for Agatha's hand to provide cover and lead them off the train at their stop. The neighborhood was dirty with bits of rubbish gathered in corners. It was almost exclusively Ornalith, with only a few Nethrilla.

The Terran trio walked down a thoroughfare and they felt the eyes of everyone they passed. Agatha led them down a narrow alley, leading them into an even less prosperous section. Vika and Paula shared a look.

Agatha stopped, "We are about to have a confrontational encounter."

Vika smirked.

Paula sighed, "We don't have time for this."

Agatha nodded as three barrel-like Ornalith stepped out of a doorway ahead of them in the narrow alley.

Vika glanced rearward and saw four more Ornalith had entered the alley behind them.

"You lost, hoomy?" The largest one yelled.

Vika growled, "No killing, but can I hurt them a little?"

The Ornalith formed up in front and behind the Terrans.

Paula glanced at Agatha, then looked at Vika, "We really don't have time for this." Paula began moving her arms, waving her hands around her, pulling Fortune from all seven Ornalith ruffians.

One of them laughed, "Yoo a wizard, hoomy?"

Paula stopped, raised her hands and gestured at the two seperate Ornalith fronts. The seven bulky Ornaliths fell to the ground simultaneously. Vika and Agatha nodded.

"Smartly done, Paula." Agatha smiled.

The Terrans stepped over the three unconscious Ornaliths who had barred their progress.

Vika beamed a smile at Paula, "Moya Zayka."

Paula leaned down for a smooch.

"Are you going to leave them that way?" Vika asked as a smile played across her lips.

Paula nodded, "For a little while, lessons taught, lessons learned."

They walked down another thoroughfare, they still felt eyes watching them. The trio traveled several more blocks without incident. Agatha led Paula and Vika to a five story building, it had a small storefront and a stairway entrance adjacent. A small sign in tradespeak was next to the entrance.

Vika read it out loud, "Lawyer upstairs."

Paula smirked, "Simple enough, but how far upstairs?"

Agatha looked up the stairs, "I can't tell, there's twenty-three people in this building.

Paula looked up and down the thoroughfare, she saw no one. She tilted her head: she could feel those Hexes still on the Ornalith ruffians. Paula waved her hand, removing the Ability from her targets.

Vika and Agatha had been watching.

"I could feel them, another interesting application." Paula smiled.

Vika smiled, "Nice."

They entered the stairway entrance, up to the second floor. The doors there had no signs or indication of commercial use, so they continued up to the third floor where a small shingle was hung above the last door.

Agatha whispered, "There are two individuals in that office, neither are very happy.

Vika shared a look with her wives, "Give me a few minutes."

Paula and Agatha nodded. Vika knelt down and closed her eyes, ten seconds later. Wuff... Vika disappeared. Agatha reported that Vika was in the office so they waited in the stairwell for almost ten minutes.

Wuff... Vika reappeared, she smiled, "I seem to always find the storage closets."

Paula smirked, "Is it them?"

Vika nodded, "I recognized them from the security holo."

The diminutive redhead looked up at Paula, "Can you tag Rek with Hex through the walls?"

Paula blinked, "I have no idea, why?"

"Because he is leaving for Freeport in about two hours." Vika reported.

"And if we can find the ship he's using, I bet Deirdre can follow, or hitch a ride."

Agatha smiled softly.

"I will certainly try my hardest." The brunette Terran Witch promised. Paula closed her eyes and she examined the flow of Fortune in the building. She concentrated on the two figures in the law office. "Which one is Peu?" Paula asked quietly, her eyes still closed.

"The one standing in front of the desk." Vika answered.

Paula couldn't detect any desk, but she could sense one of them was standing. That one didn't have a lot of Fortune, and she didn't want to make him ill or worse so Paula gently filled his Fortune so she could just land the Hex on him with little effect. With her eyes still closed, she raised her hand and gestured.

She opened her eyes, "Got him."

The three Terrans descended the stairs. When they got to the street Vika and Agatha both looked at Paula.

She nodded, "Yea...I feel him."

0o0

Buznermic sat at his huge desk again; but he was no longer in charge of his family's company. He was not, however, unemployed. The frightfully well informed Terran who rudely purchased his precious legacy, Kylex Group, said she had no intention of ousting him. But she and her cyborg wife were going to make a few small changes.

Buz had never had a lot of dealings with Terrans because they had a bad reputation in the M.E.. Ruthless, uncompromising, deadly serious, and they just looked weird. Now, however, after a long discussion about 'Astrid's intentions', Buz felt quite a bit better.

Ms. Komatzu didn't seem quite that scary now, but Buz had no intention of upsetting the Terran either. When the two Terrans left, Buznermic Ky called in his Nethrilla secretary, Julisi, to help him get started on making those changes.

Astrid and Samira walked hand in hand down the corridor. While Astrid had been sitting on Mr. Ky's desk, her cybernetic interface above her butt, had snaked out and established a direct connection. With her telepathic connection to Agatha, her most exotic wife could access it directly, at cybernetic speed and power.

Without the bottleneck of holonet wireless slowing the connection to a crawl, Agatha was able to essentially copy every byte of data in the Kylex Group servers. Now Agatha had all the data and Astrid's wetware could examine and correlate it at leisure.

Astrid and Samira quietly chatted through the wetware connection again. They walked out of Mr. Ky's office, through the Kylex Group cubicles, and to the elevator down to the ground floor where Samira wiggled her fingers goodbye to the receptionist.

They got plenty of stares from all the people they passed but soon they were going out the front lobby of the building. When they turned on to the thoroughfare heading back to The Deirdre, Astrid stopped. She looked up at the building they had just left, it seemed taller now.

Samira put her arm around her wife, standing beside her also looking up. "I was pretending to be Ingrid back there." Astrid said out loud.

Samira pursed her lips, "So confident, domineering and egotistical?"

Astrid nodded, "I didn't like it very much."

Samira hugged Astrid, "You were just pretending, and you accomplished what you needed."

"But, that isn't really who I am." Astrid said softly.

"I know, but sometimes playing a part is necessary, just don't get stuck in it."

Samira turned and looked up into Astrid's eyes, they looked amazing under the orange and pink clouds of Nethril.

Astrid looked down into Samira's eyes.

"I love you." They both said at the same time.

"Jinx!" they both said.

"Double jinx!" they both said.

Then they kissed deeply for a long time outside the Araku Building, Kiz Enclave, Nethril.

0o0

Dr. Mel Peu stood at the open door of the residence with Professor Voshi's tendrils lovingly wrapped around an arm. They both bid farewell to Joon, Max, and Agatha; wishing them good luck and good hunting. The door spiraled closed and the Terrans walked back to the delicate looking elevator.

*Oh Max, they are so adorable together.* Joon thought.

Max and Joon shared a look. *I really like seeing two people so obviously in love.* Max responded.

*Do you think of our own family in that way?* Agatha asked both of her senior wives.

Joon linked arms with 'Una'. *I certainly do, my Magical Cat-girl.*

Max added, *Our family gives me the best feelings, but it is still wonderful to witness it elsewhere.*

They rode the glass lift down.

As they walked out of the lobby of the residential section, Joon started veering towards the storefronts. *How are we doing elsewhere?*

 Max inquired to get a gauge how much time they had.

*Astrid and Samira are 'slowly' making their way to The Deirdre.*

*Paula, Vika and I are taking an alternate route to the train station to avoid any future entanglements with previous encounters.* Agatha faithfully reported.

*Was there trouble?* Max glanced at Agatha.

Agatha smiled, *Nothing Paula couldn't handle, and it led to the discovery of her tracking ability.*

Max shared a smile with Joon and let herself be led to a brightly colored shop. *Is Paula still tracking Rek?* Max queried.

*Indeed, she is, this unexpected application of Hex appears to be very timely.*

Joon showed Max a well-made satchel like handbag with lots of straps and buckles. Max nodded her approval; a pretty green color was a sure way to get Joon's attention. *How much time do we need to set up Vika's plan?* Max asked.

Joon now carried her newly purchased satchel whose straps allowed it to be carried like an oversized purse or a small backpack.

*If we can lift off in about an hour, we should be able to follow Rek without too much difficulty, the real trick will be to vanish without anyone noticing.* Agatha explained.

Joon was now looking at some Ornalith footwear. Max didn't think she would buy them, but Joon intently studied their design and construction. One of the many things she loved about Joon, the woman saw beauty in everything. *If you'd give me an estimate on your ETA from 'little dick' we can keep Joon entertained until then.*

Agatha nodded to Max with a smile, *Yes, Captain.*

0o0

They had to take a longer, more circumspect route to the transit station, but they made it easily enough. Agatha was able to keep her wives from any unnecessary delays, unfortunately there were a couple of necessary ones.

Paula pouted, "I'm sorry, I didn't think we would be so far away from a lavatory."

Vika blinked, "Do you want me to find you a quiet corner?"

Agatha was unsure what to say. Vika asked a passing Ornalith about public facilities, they said the nearest was the transit station, so Paula had to make the last part of her journey in extreme discomfort.

She also really didn't want to piss herself.

After a harrowing five-minute speed walk, Paula found herself in a round stall, holding onto two of three grab bars hovering over a grated sluice. Vika waited just outside the stall, and Paula moaned in relief.

Agatha shared a smile with Vika.

When Paula was done emptying her bladder, she looked a thousand times happier. The trio went up to the platform and waited for the next transit.

Vika noticed a Nethrilla observing them.

That in of itself was not unusual, everyone stared or did a double take when they walked by. This area was, after all, very far from the 'tourist' areas. What made this different was the Nethrilla wasn't staring, they were observing.

Apparently, they had acquired a tail.

"Did you notice we are being followed?" Vika asked in Largatta.

Paula raised an eyebrow at the language switch.

Agatha peered at Vika, then replied in the same guttural language. "Ah... No I hadn't, but now that you mention it, they do taste very curious about us."

"Sinister intentions?" Vika inquired in the same tongue.

Agatha shook her head, "No, not at all... though the curiosity seems oddly clinical."

Vika peered curiously at Agatha, "Clinical?"

"Maybe, professional." Agatha clarified in Largatta.

Paula stared off at nothing, waiting for them to let her in on whatever they were discussing.

"Journalist?" Vika asked.

Agatha nodded, "Possibly."

The transit train came sliding in, being gravtech, it was fairly quiet. Agatha, Paula and Vika climbed aboard, and found a nice little corner to gather in where Vika quickly whispered to Paula what she and Agatha had been conversing about.

The tail had also boarded the train.

Paula blinked. "Huh... That's interesting. I take it, you are monitoring them?" Paula raised an eyebrow at Agatha.

Agatha nodded, then tapped her visor, "I even have holo of them."

Paula pursed her lips, "I don't think being nosey is illegal, not here at least."

Vika giggled, "Just knowing will help us if something should occur."

The ride was just as long getting back to the Financial District as it was traveling to 'Little Dick.' Agatha was coordinating the rendezvous between all away teams providing Joon time to scratch her shopping itch, and she indulged happily.

0o0

Astrid and Samira were enjoying each other's company at the small park adjacent to the Transit Station. They found a Terran usable bench and sat together holding hands. Astrid and Samira had a full view of both the Station and the Executive Pad entrance.

At approximately the time she calculated it would take to travel back to The Deirdre, Agatha gently encouraged her Mistress to conclude her glorious commercial consumption. If everything went according to plan they would be 'wheels up' in thirty minutes.

Joon was a little reluctant to depart but Max was now carrying two shopping bags filled with purchases. Vika and Paula would arrive at the Financial Station a little sooner than Max and Joon while Astrid and Samira were blissfully occupied and really didn't care.

0o0

Paula shared a smile with Vika as the train was finally arriving at their stop. Agatha led them off the platform and the trio started walking towards the Executive Pad. Ten meters in front of the Pad entrance, Paula, Vika and Agatha were suddenly besieged by a plethora of flashing multi-colored strobe lights and extremely loud jarring electronic noises.

Seven Kiz Enclave type-3 Grav-Unit Police vehicles swooped in all around them. Paula, Vika and Agatha froze in place, not wanting to escalate the situation further when fourteen Ornalith Police Officers in full tactical gear scrambled from the Grav-Units, weapons drawn.

Three phrases were yelled over and over by the armored officers brandishing deadly weapons.

"Get on the ground!"

"Right fucking now!"

"Down on the ground!"

Forty meters away, Astrid shrieked, her hands covering her mouth. Samira's gold eyes were wide in shock... She had seen this exact scenario many times before. It never ended well for the suspects.