Starlight Gleaming Ch. 21 Pt. 05

On the kitchen counter were two one-thousand credit gift cards redeemable at the Commissary with a note saying, "For incidentals overlooked." I recognized Calia's handwriting.

I had been aware of the rebuilding project, including all the furniture, appliances, beds and bedding, and other sundries ran me close to twenty-five thousand credits. The amazed and excited faces on the troopers with me said everything that needed to be said.

Sergeant Kitam, of course, and his hardworking crew, had done most of the work and earned a huge bonus from me; besides the three cases of millet beer that I had the Commissary deliver to their barracks, they were on hand to show off their handiwork.

What really sold the women troopers was the front room display. It boasted a huge screen as large as the one in my own front room. While we stood there, Kitam pressed a control box and Sowitwee suddenly appeared on the screen, and he was clearly standing in my living room.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

I laughed and asked, "What are you doing, Sergeant?"

"The troopers talked with Calia, Commander. They told her how much they and their children loved hearing the stories, so with your permission, when you read to us, they can watch and listen to you. Sometimes they re-read the stories so the children can sit up closer and get a better look at the pictures. While you're reading the stories, their side will be muted. Next week, we'll hook up Second Home, too. I've set up the machine there to record the session, so that it can be replayed later for those on duty during swing shift. This will enable them to watch what they missed."

I nodded. "Amazing job, Sergeant. I commend you."

Sowitwee saluted, then grinned as he said, "Llam nuqan, Commander."

There were echoes behind me as the troopers repeated, " Llam nuqan."

As Kitam and his crew prepared to depart, I handed him an envelope containing thirty one-hundred crisp new Imperial credit notes inside, along with a note from me thanking him and his crew for their peerless hard work.

The next day, several troopers moved out of my gym and into their rebuilt home, with those still without a place yet generously helping out with loading, driving, and unloading. There were a lot of tearful goodbyes both among their fellow troopers and to me and my family.

Later, during story time, Sisi acted out once the camera tripod setup was explained, but when I told her to settle down, she did, later apologizing.

During the story time, Sowitwee got up a couple of times to make minor adjustments to the camera setup, but I ignored it. After the reading was done for the night, one of the women called him and told him it had worked perfectly, and the reading had been saved for viewing later.

A few days later, Sowitwee arrived at my office at the 602 and announced that he was done with the photographs of the veterans and their children, as well as those of the caregivers at Second Home - it seemed wrong to keep calling them Abandoned Wives. My aide had also completed shots of my family at High Guard, handing over the data stick with all the photos.

"The women, sir, they wanted to know how many of the pictures they get for themselves."

I connected the data stick to my laptop and scanned through a few photos, then set the laptop to making a copy of all the files. "Each of them gets a data stick with their photos. They can have one photo eight by eleven in full color with a frame, and up to three in three by five format also in color and framed. Think we could get by with a max of one-hundred and fifty credits each?"

"Yes, sir!"

I got to the family photos, and he watched my reaction as I took more time looking over the photos of him with Nariya and their son, him with his wife, her cradling their son, and a few shots of the baby alone. "Nicely done, Wit. I'll cover your photos up to one-hundred and fifty credits, but since I know that you can afford it, I think you should print all of these up for you and your wife to put up on your walls. In a year or two, when your son is walking, you will look at his baby pictures and be amazed."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

Then I came across a shot of Cholan in her class B uniform, ear phones on, dozing on the couch.

"I'm sorry, sir, I forgot about that one," he said, looking abashed.

I turned and looked at him. "After our trip to Copán, would you have thought she'd do what she did? Pack and leave without a word to anyone?"

Shaking his head, he said, "No, sir, never in a million years. But she did and it was wrong of her to act so. I apologize for reminding you of her, Commander."

"The only one who needs to beg forgiveness is Roshan," I growled out. "He used restricted drugs to turn her to his will. He married her so he could fuck her and gain control of her immense fortune. I sincerely doubt the man knows what love is. He obviously lacks honor and integrity." Then I explained that by using the recovered parts from the downed Atlantean aircraft, Cholan's share from the Empire was a quarter of a million credits. Sowitwee was astonished by the news.

"No, I'm glad you took this picture of her, Wit. It hurts to think of her gone without a word face-to-face. Janetta misses her, too. Roshan stole her mind and her free will because he's a greedy son of a bitch."

"Then I hope that one day she escapes and returns to you."

"So do I, Wit."

Turning my attention back to the pictures, I was delighted with the pictures of my girls. I selected one with Zinja and Ixma standing with Sisi and Mina, both of the older women in their Class A uniforms and my older girl in her junior Air Service cadet uniform standing at attention. I also chose other shots. One with Janetta in her flight suit and aviator sunglasses; one with Calia talking to Terra, Salvia, and the cooks; Izel curled up on the couch, reading a book.

I took out my charge card and told him to have the five pictures printed up for me with hanging frames at the Commissary and to buy sufficient data disks to give to the veterans. He wrote down the file names I had indicated. I added that if the Commissary ran out of data disks, to have them order more.

"Once you are done with that project, do a single picture of everyone in the office here, then start photos of the remaining security troopers. You can talk to Sergeant Chita about getting a helper from the office pool. After the troopers are done, I want you to go through each of the support companies as well."

"Will they get a copy of the photograph?"

"Yes, but picture only, up to eight by eleven, with a basic frame. I think eighty credits max per person should be enough. Suggest that they make a great present for their family back home."

"What about you, Commander?" Sowitwee asked. "When she was standing for her pictures, Captain Tlacotli said she wanted a recent picture."

"All right. We can do it on the weekend. I'll do one in my Class A and one in civvies, and a few family shots as well."

He grinned at me. "I'm sure they will be very popular, sir."

* * * * *

Another week went by and near the end my day, Doyya knocked on the frame of my open door, carrying her open laptop. "Got a minute?"

"Sure," I told her. "Come on in."

She set her laptop onto my desktop; on the monitor was an internet browser tab open to a newspaper article. I noticed that while the article was in Queschuan, the newspaper itself was "The Copán Times." Centerpiece on the screen was a story caption that read, "Eight Priests Massacred Inside Temple," and in smaller font, "Crime Scene Full of Shocking Details." It provided details about eight senior priests of the temple of Mictlantecuhtli being murdered in various locations within the huge, tiered stone edifice, their hands bound behind them, their throats cut. The writer used language that emphasized the lurid and grisly nature of their deaths.

I was startled to read that their foreheads were ink-stamped with the image of a black orchid, an implied reference that the paper had to have known about but omitted from actually saying so. I personally would have kept that particular detail from the public while searching for the killer or killers. This told me that in all likelihood, the reporter had been allowed free access to witnesses.

While I at first thought it might be Melannee, I immediately dismissed the idea. The woman had pointedly told me she expected to be undercover in Atlantis for the next several years; Melannee had shot and killed Supay's mistress, Maretta Danchotl, and Supay had murdered the other four women who had once donned the role of Commander Orchid.

The article further recounted that in their living quarters near the base of the temple, three of the priests were found lying together with a sentence on the wall above their bodies, the words written using their blood. The message read, "No one escapes the Emperor's justice!"

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, sitting back to digest what I'd just read.

"Yeah, that was my thought," Doyya said grimly. "There's two more things to this you need to know. First, I didn't find this story by accident. Someone sent it to me. Tab over to my email program, Commander. The email is still open, and take a look at both the sender and the subject line."

The sender was listed as Capisco Travel Guides.

The subject line read, 'Long live House Tchanoonka'.

My eyes widened. Seven hells, all three hot, all three cold, and the one in between!

"Now for the second part," she continued, "I typed in the link manually on my desktop, to see if I could reproduce the results. I couldn't. The story is gone and a whole new front page comes up. This story now exists only in my computer's cache, and I believe if I refresh the page, it will disappear. I thought I should share this with you." My Second looked at me. "We talked about putting together a team to get back at them for their part in murdering Stimmi and Yalcamara. Anything I should know, Commander?"

Just a few days earlier, our CID team had positively verified the identities of three of the priests from the film sent by Supay as being from the same temple in Copán. The other five priests had yet to be named, much less verified, and we certainly had not yet had time to formulate any plan for vengeance.

Clearly, someone was privy to the situation and had acted.

"No, Doyya. Sad to say, I had nothing to do with this. Have you saved this article?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Good. You need to know that email address was created for and assigned specifically to the woman we know as Commander Orchid. I've heard nothing about her or from her since you last saw her, but I believe she is alive. During his visit to High Guard, Itznacoco told me that that particular address was retired. I don't know who resurrected it, but they know a lot of things they shouldn't. We know that three of the victims were among Yalcamara's kidnappers. Tell the team doing the research to keep digging and verifying names and to match as best they can with the film images we have. Don't show them the article, but give the team the names listed by the reporter. With their names, it should be easier to both obtain separate photos and verify if they disappeared around the same time the other three who visited Capisco. Print the article, but only share it with senior staff who personally knew Yalcamara and Stimmi, using the same security precautions. Send me a copy of the file, and I want a hard copy, too. I will notify Tikún about this development."

"Commander, between you and me, if whoever did this got all those priests who helped murder 'Mara and Stimmi, they did us a solid. I'd pay a lot to see the Minister's reaction when he gets the news."

"Be careful what you wish for, Doyya. I do not want you to learn his reaction the same way Yalcamara did. When leaving High Guard, make sure you take your security detail, preferably travel in a large group, and stay together even when going to the latrine. That goes for Chita as well."

She digested that before nodding. "Yes, sir."

"Your kid sister still stuck at High Guard?"

"No, thank the gods. I put her on an outgoing Condor a couple of days ago."

"Got on your nerves, did she?" I teased.

"And how. Chita and I both were ready to tie her up and throw her off the pier and see how long it took her to sink below the waves."

"Wow. That bad?"

"Well, I wouldn't really have hurt her, but she really pushed the limits. A couple of times, Chita cuffed and gagged her, then tied her to the bed until I got home."

"That doesn't sound like Chita," I commented.

Doyya flushed as she grated out, "I saw everything. She had your face pasted onto a picture of a naked, erect man. She was saying lewd things and Chita told me a few of them, and no, I won't repeat them." She refused to look at me. "She was also using one of my personal items to pleasure herself with."

I blinked. "Naked and erect?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I've seen you change in the locker room at the gym. The picture wasn't even close. Your wife confirmed that for me."

I raised my eyebrows but said nothing.

"She's your wife! She needed to know in case my sister tried to show up at your place. Not sure if my mother will hear about it or not," she added, keeping her eyes averted as she collected her laptop.

"Here's to hoping not."

That same night I received a physical letter from Pelita Kakoon'atcha, the house manager I employed to run the household for Janetta's mother, Zaniyah. It was a short note that said Zaniyah insisted I be sent the accompanying photograph.

If photograph left me stunned and Zinja taken aback, Calia, Ixma, and Izel were quite impressed. When asked who the woman was, I told them that was Teela, a good friend to Janetta's mother. This raised more eyebrows as Janetta had regaled them, more than once, with what had happened, finding her mother's intervention and Teela's squirting to be hilarious.

Janetta herself, however, was absolutely gobsmacked. She was unable to look at me and muster coherent speech for some hours afterward.

It was a picture of grey-haired Teela Deba'xlanti, Zaniyah's next-door neighbor, wearing a colorful, form-fitting shift, flanked by her two huge grandsons looking stoic for the camera.

I was certain Teela was at least sixty years old, so I was stymied. How was her being pregnant possible? I mean, I know how a woman gets pregnant, but I had thought Teela's childbearing days were over.

Grinning proudly for the photo, Teela showed her profile, cradling what appeared to be her baby bump of what I guessed to be five months. Below the picture was inscribed the words, "Congratulations, Lord Kandikan!"

I found myself hoping it was an elaborate prank because I remembered that Teela, like Janetta and Izel, was Nahua.

Once she was capable of speech, Janetta demanded, "Show it to me again." When I did, she muttered about me being a "shitload of complications," and stomped off.

Izel found me on the deck, sitting on one of the deck chairs alone, looking up at all the starlight gleaming in the clear night sky. When she asked what I was doing, I stood and drew her close, explaining about the starlight and it's gleaming lights, and that it was something my father taught me to reflect on.

"You really believe we'll reach the stars some day?"

"I hope so."

"That was some picture you received in the mail today."

I snorted.

Then she said, "I have news of my own, Lord Kandikan. Earlier today I learned that I'm going to have your baby." Izel paused about two seconds, letting her words properly detonate in my mind, then added, "We must begin feeding your child more of your seed right away, Husband. Thankfully, this morning was already taken care of, but there's tomorrow and every day after that for the next seven months. Do you prefer in the morning before you leave for work?" She nibbled on my chin. "Or shall I come by your office at lunch time?"

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