Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, book two of the Sentient Ship Series and the continuation of Fury’s journey to find his family. In the meantime, if you have just arrived and would like to start at the beginning of Piloting Fury, follow the link, and enjoy! If you like what you’re reading, make sure to catch all of Dragon Ascending from the beginning.

Dragon Ascending :Book 2 of the Sentient Ship Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 42: I am at Home in You

In her ridiculous ruminations, she had managed to find and focus the view screen on the three Jaegers and the Dreadnaught along with the little Kestrel, which kept its distance from the others. She couldn’t properly scan them, not without giving away their location, but she could tell enough about them to know that these weren’t just standard military, but then if Tenad and Jessup Fallon owned them, they would be upgraded and state of the art with weapons to the teeth. She shivered at the thought. She was sipping water from one of the flasks, leaning back in the chair watching the ships on the screen, when she realised she was no longer alone. Her shoulders tensed, half expecting him to tell her to get out of the chair that belonged to his compliment. When Ascent did not speak, she kept the silence watching the ships hanging peacefully above the planet and yet they were there for only destruction and pain. That was all Fallons ever left in their wake. At last she spoke, as much to herself as to him. “We were hounded by Jaegers for days when my mother and I and Van escaped Authority space. Van was my mother’s lover. Every night I went to bed wondering if we’d all be shackled by morning, and every morning when I woke safe aboard the Valentine and free to find we’d outrun them a little while longer, I cried.” She huffed out a harsh breath. I was just a little girl. I didn’t understand why I cried when we woke up free rather than crying because the Jaegers had caught us. Jaegers still fly in my nightmares.”

“I am sorry,” he said softly, and she felt as though he had moved to stand close behind her.

She only shrugged. “It’s over. I survived.” She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered anyway. Then she added quickly, not wanting him to see how vulnerable she felt. “I got bored. I came here and, well the control panel is very user friendly.”

“I am sorry,” he said again, and she stilled as he lay hands on her shoulders. “For what I said, for the way I treated you. I am sorry. It is only that I am afraid Lenore. I am afraid for you, what might happen if you go back there, that you will decide not to come back. Certainly now, with all that has happened, you would be safer there in Sandstorm.”

“I would be in the viper’s den, Ascent. Last I checked there’s still a bounty on the head of anyone ever associated with the SNT program. My uncle’s debt at the loss of an SNT settles on me now, with my mother dead. But even if it wasn’t, my mother was one of the chief scientists, and I’m guilty by birth, even if I knew nothing at all.”

“But you know a lot, don’t you, Lenore.” She felt him nod to the panel. “And you have perhaps as many secrets as I do.”

“I don’t know much, Ascent, or I could help you. This, going back to Sandstorm, finding out what the Fallons are planning, this I can do. I was seven when we fled. I hardly look like that plump little girl who wanted to join with an SNT and see the stars.”

He came to her side and pulled her to her feet. “Lenore, you have helped me more than Fury and his compliment and all the scientists on the Dubrovnik ever could, and I do not like it when I hurt you.” He settled into the chair and pulled her onto his lap. She had made no effort to turn on the bridge lighting. She hadn’t needed it in the glow of the control panel, and she had not wanted her shame exposed to the light.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you too, Ascent. I say things when I’m angry, things I don’t really mean, things that hurt.”

He pulled her closer and she laid her cheek against his shoulder, felt him kiss the top of her head, felt a hand move over her belly. Instinctively she sought his mouth in the darkness, and found him willing, ready, opening to her. “Lenore,” he whispered brushing her tongue with his. “I want to make love to you now.”

She pulled his hand from her belly and slid it up onto her breast. The little sound coming from her mouth into his as the rake of his thumb stiffened her nipple was almost the mew of a small animal.

While he might have been clothed when he came to her, he certainly was not now. Come to think of it, she could not remember him ever being clothed, nor was there any reason, since he took what human form was necessary, tactile, not visible, and had probably never needed clothes with his compliment. She lifted her arms so that he could slide her shirt off over her head, palms pausing long enough to skim over her breast in his efforts. Then he went immediately to work on her trousers, sliding them down just far enough that her bottom was bare, flesh raking flesh, the shifting of his hips maneuvering until his erect penis splayed her open. And for him, muscle memory made accommodation, swollen, trembling and slick.

Another shift and glide, large hands supporting her buttocks and he entered her, her legs bound together by the trouser so that she could not take control and turn to straddle him. Instead he entered her from behind, pulling her down tightly onto his laps holding her hips as the first tight-fitting shock of his fullness passed over her and morphed to quivering anticipating of one thrust and another, of each glide and rake, of the feel of her breasts swollen and heavy from his fondling, at the tightness of his own nipples against her back. She gripped him tight, down there deep, her head falling back on his shoulder as though her neck suddenly had no bones, his mouth, his teeth even, finding the soft spot just below her ear making her squirm even more. The shift and glide tensed to a manic hammer and clench until she had forgotten how to breathe, until she knew she would never breathe again until he gave her what she wanted. A stroke of a finger against her own pebble of an erection, and her whole body convulsed, tensed and clamped down as he came inside her, squeezing her tightly against his body. Then she collapsed back against him, able to do nothing but gasp for oxygen, a thing he mirrored beneath her.

“I am at home in you, my Lenore. Inside you, I know myself.”

She snuggled him closer, wishing with all her heart that it were true, but it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. He didn’t know himself, did he? And he loved someone else. That shouldn’t matter. It had never been her intention to feel anything, nor to illicit any feelings in him, but it was far too late for that now, wasn’t it?

Carefully and lovingly he guided her down to her bed. With him surrounding her there was no need for the headlamp. And when he had helped settle her beneath the coverlet, he slid down next to her and pulled her close against his chest. There, so close to him, deep in his embrace, she did the thing she knew better than to ever do, she pretended that all he had said was true. She pretended that it was her he loved.

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, book two of the Sentient Ship Series and the continuation of Fury’s journey to find his family. In the meantime, if you have just arrived and would like to start at the beginning of Piloting Fury, follow the link, and enjoy! If you like what you’re reading, make sure to catch all of Dragon Ascending from the beginning.

Dragon Ascending :Book 2 of the Sentient Ship Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 41: They Want their Inheritance Back

“The Fallons? What the hell are they doing here?” Len asked, her heart going into overdrive.

“They want their inheritance back,” Manning said.

Before Len could question further, Fury said, “They will be able to pick up our transmissions in one minute. “We will cloak and speak only on our sub-processers, Ascent. The Authority cannot tap in.” Instantly his words became almost subliminal.

“We have to find out what exactly they’re planning,” Mac said.

“There’s a pub in Sandstorm,” Manning said.

“The Dust Bowl, yes.” Len replied. “That’s Arji’s bar. It’s the only place in Sandstorm to drink and blow off a little steam. Some of the locals are happy to whore a little if they can wring a few extra water credits out of off-worlders.”

“Fury could easily ‘tran us in, but the problem is,” Mac said, “half of Sandstorm, both the Fallon brats and probably all of their crew know what Manning and I look like. We were there already when we were trying to find you, Lenore.”

“If you could get me ‘tranned straight into the bar,” Manning said, “I might be able to pull off my famous New Vaticana monk disguise.”

“That would definitely draw the attention to you,” Len said. “No way in hell a monk would visit here. There are not nearly enough souls for them to give a shit about and worse yet, none of them have any real credits to aid the church. That would be suspicious to the locals and the Fallons. Let me go.”

“No!” Everyone said at the same time.

“Look,” she said, jumping to her feet. “I’m the only one who is a local. Arji is my friend.”

“Who wants to be a lot more than your friend,” Manning said. To which Ascent tensed, and she could feel his scrutiny.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re friends, just friends, and anyway that’s not the point. The point is, I can waltz right in there. Besides you can bet everyone in Sandstorm will be doing their best to find out just what the fuck two bloody damned Fallons are doing here with half an army.”

“They’re fucking Fallons,” Manning said. “Don’t you think they’ll happily pay to get someone to betray you, to betray us, someone who would do anything to get off world? It’s nothing to them, and if they’re not feeling generous, they’ll just kill the snitch when they’re done with him.”

“Of course there are people who would do anything to get out of Sandstorm, including being stupid enough to trust a Fallon. But I know who I can trust, and if there’s anyone on this sand heap that knows how to stay hidden it’s me. I know who I can trust, and Arji is one of them, plus he runs the damn pub, he hears everything, sees everything. If there’s information to be had, he’ll have it.”

“I do not want you to go, especially if this man, Arji wishes to copulate with you,” Ascent said.

“Fuck, Ascent! Whatever the hell Arji might wish, he’s a good man and a gentleman. He would never hurt me, and besides, it’s none of your damn business.”

“Your safety and well-being is my business, Lenore. I will not let someone unworthy paw over you.”

“I do not like the idea either, Ascent,” Fury broke in before the argument could heat up. “Lenore Falish is far more vulnerable that my compliments would be, and certainly I do not want to put them at risk.”

“Well Ascent is indisposed at the moment, and no matter how good you are at disguising yourself, Fury,” Mac said, “I’m pretty damn sure you can’t disguise yourself as a local and saunter right on in to Arji’s pub.”

“Couple of goddamn mother hens,” Manning muttered. “Look, we have to do something.”

“For the moment there is nothing we can do,” Fury said. “It will be several hours at least before shuttles will be allowed to disembark, and then a little longer before the locals can glean any information. Perhaps in that time we may think of another plan.”

But Len knew there wasn’t one. She was their only hope of getting in unnoticed. “They know that you’re here, don’t they Fury?”

“I suspect that is the only reason they would come to this place in force. But they will not easily be able to find me”

“Perhaps it is better that you leave then,” Ascent said. “To protect your compliment and my Lenore.”

“And if they find you?” Lenore said. “Ascent, you can’t move. You don’t even know who you are. But they are Fallons. They could hurt you, they could do horrible things. They could force you to do horrible things. I can’t even think about that.”

“Lenore Falish is right,” Fury said. “We must stick together. There is far more at stake than just the two of us. In the meantime let us hope that Dubrovnik swiftly receives our message and Professor Keen contacts us. If anyone will know what to do, it is he and the science team at his disposal. Even so, my family has been destroyed by the Fallons and the conglomerates once, we will not let that happen again now that we are only beginning to reunite. We must stick together.”

Fury had barely ‘tranned Manning back to the ship when Ascent said. “I will not allow you to go back to Sandstorm, to go back to this Arji, who wants you.”

“First of all, Manning is full of shit,” she said. “And second of all I’m not yours to boss around like some fucking kid.”

“Then perhaps you should stop behaving like one.”

“Ascent, don’t be ridiculous. I’m the only one who can safely do this task and not get caught, and we need the information. We need it badly.”

“Perhaps that is true, but perhaps you are just anxious to get back to this Arji of yours.”

“Seriously? You can’t seriously believe that? Arji is my friend, nothing more. He’s never touched me except to revive me when the drone landed on Tak Major. Then he turned me over to Tula and Vaness to nurse back to health.” She shivered, “I’m not anxious to go back there at all. I don’t ever want to go back there, but I’m happy to do my part to rid the world of a couple of Fallons and bloody the Authority’s nose one more time. I can’t think of a better place for Abriad Fallon’s obscene fortune than put to use to find your brothers and sisters and make an end to indentured servitude.”

For a moment, Ascent made no response, and then he simply said. “No. I will not let you go. Now if you will please return to your room, it is time for your noon meal.”

“Last time I checked, Ascent, I was a full partner in this situation with a vote and a choice, and you can’t keep me from going. I don’t belong to you. What the hell, do compliments on SNTs get ordered around like this? I bet -”

“You are not my compliment,” he cut her off, “you could never be.”

The feel of cold static crawled over her skin from his anger. That she barely felt, but his words, his words gutted her on the spot.

“And you never miss a goddamned chance to remind me of it, do you? You even house me in the cargo bay. I get it all ready.” She turned and fled his heart chamber, taking the ladder down to her suite. There she found lunch set out before her, another exotic, and no doubt pleasing, meal. She ignored it, grabbed up her bag and went to explore the only space open to her, Ascent’s fucking corridors. He did not come after her, nor had she expected him to. He might just tell Fury to ‘tran her to Sandstorm base and be done with her. But she had options now, didn’t she? She paced the hallway. Surely Fury would be kind enough to help her get to the Rim. She would be happy to work for her keep. Well, she would allow Fury to ‘tran her to Sandstorm with or without Ascent’s permission, and then when she had gathered what information she could, she’d simply not come back to Ascent. Clearly he didn’t want her here. She was so far inferior to his dead compliment that he could only see her as an ignorant child in need of his care and protection. Hell, he had no idea, no idea. She stopped being a child when she and her mother fled the SNT docks with the Authority in hot pursuit. She paced the halls setting a plan in motion that would give her options when Ascent refused to take her back. Her enthusiasm for it waned as her anger cooled and as Ascent’s silence stretched on.

In the evening, she returned to her suite to find the lunch meal cleared away and dinner set before her, one she was sure was designed to tempt her, like one would tempt a child with candy. Her stomach clenched in anger at the thought, a thought that was followed too closely by the painful memory of his words. No, she was not his compliment, and she could never be. She didn’t look the meal. For the first time since Ascent brought her here, she wasn’t hungry, but she figured that had little to do with appetite. She had wandered the space he lit for her over and over until she felt like she could scream. She had only returned to her suite for her pack. She put on her headlamp and shouldered the rucksack.

Her memory had allowed her to memorize the schematics she had seen Richard Manning studying while he was onboard. They were now laid out in her head as clearly as they had been on the charts he had pulled up on his computer pad. With that information, she made her way up the maintenance shaft on hands and knees until she found Ascent’s bridge. It was very different from Fury’s, smaller though not by much, a little more stylized, more ornate. A woman’s touch, she thought settling into the captain’s chair, the only chair on deck. Ascent’s woman, his bonded compliment, his love. The feel of the chair that did not quite fit her body, the chair Ascent had shaped lovingly for someone with more curves, for someone less starved, more of a woman, more of a pilot, trained to be his true companion. She, on the other hand, was little more than a temporary fix, whose only value was to keep the pain at bay for a little while. For a moment jealousy burned through her chest so bad it hurt. For a moment she hated the woman for giving to Ascent what she could never give him, what he would never allow her to even if she could. But that was the way it was supposed to be with SNTs and their companions. It took years for them to train, to prepare, to take the immune suppressants so that they could be fully integrated. She rested her hand against the control panel. With a soft glow, the view screen came to life. She gave a little yelp of surprise, pulling her fingers back and glancing around, half expecting him to come raging, telling her to get out.

When that didn’t happen, she wiped sweating fingers on her trousers and, remembering the layout of Fury’s control panel, tried to piece together the function. The pilot’s controls were worthless right now, since Ascent couldn’t remember how to fly, and she was not actually a trained pilot. Apparently Diana Mac was. Apparently she was the best in the galaxy. Worthy compliments, she was bloody surrounded by them, while her proper education had come to an end at Tak Minor when her mother died. After her escape to Tak Major, it was never more than just survival. How could Ascent possibly look at her as anything more than just the filthy little urchin girl grown up in the dust and sand?

She had dreamed of one day training to become a compliment to an SNT. Hadn’t even Quetzalcoatl said she was a natural? Born to it, he had said, but not now, not with no training, with no preparation, and not with a grieving, uncooperative ship, who could not even remember his own name.

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, book two of the Sentient Ship Series and the continuation of Fury’s journey to find his family. In the meantime, if you have just arrived and would like to start at the beginning of Piloting Fury, follow the link, and enjoy! If you like what you’re reading, make sure to catch all of Dragon Ascending from the beginning.

Dragon Ascending :Book 2 of the Sentient Ship Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 39:  The Fallon Legacy

Jessup didn’t argue with anything after the mention of Mist. He only gave a surly growl before he turned and followed Gerd out the door with Dyrg right on his heels. Once he was gone, Kresho turned to Tenad, who had settled into the chair in front of his desk, legs crossed, hands resting on the arms like it was her throne. He said nothing, only moved to his desk and settled behind it pulling out a bottle of good New Caledonian whisky. Fuck if he didn’t need it, badly. He hadn’t bluffed that hard in years. At least for the moment they were buying it. Silently he cursed Ori once again. He offered Tenad some, but she shook her head.

“I don’t drink, which I reckon you probably already know, a man with your superior intel.”

He shrugged and pulled out a single glass. “Just thought after the joyful family reunion and then having to kiss all those credits good-bye, you might need one.” He filled it to the rim and drank half of it before the burn had calmed him enough to speak again. So far so good with the plan, but it was very early days. “You’re brother’s a little shit.”

“He is, yes. I hated Gerando, but even he had his moments, she offered half a grimace, “as much as any Fallon ever did I suppose. Now,” she leaned forward in her chair, that bronze ponytail cascading over her shoulder and down onto her breast.  He had an overwhelming urge to grab it and reel her in right onto the top of his desk. She carelessly shoved it back over her shoulder and offered him a mischievous smile. “Are you going to tell me how you suddenly came up with all this juicy information that just cost me a small mint’s worth of credits, and I didn’t even argue?”

“Of course I’m not going to tell you,” he said. “Did you really think I could run a space station out in the middle of nowhere if I didn’t have some damn good connections.”

She sat back and relaxed. “No. I guess not. But seriously, another SNT?”

“That’s right, enough to begin a small fleet all for the Andromeda Conglomerate, right? By no means the biggest, but a serious contender? You see, I always do my research. You’re the one with the low profile and the fat bank account.”

Her smile was genuine this time. “And once I have the Bright Star resources, I’ll finish the job SNT1 started, gut my father’s conglomerate and use the resources to build up my own. It’s only the liquid assets I lack to carry out plans my father was too conservative to make.”

“And tell me, did you dance in the streets when the old man got blown out an airlock with the SNT virus?” He asked, suddenly feeling all the resentment that all of these years of hiding and running had given him time to build up.

“I’m afraid I don’t dance, Ivanovic. But I did celebrate in my own way.” The crooked smile she offered, the way she looked at him like the prey and she was about to pounce on gave him shivers, shivers that weren’t entirely because he feared her ways of celebration could end up extremely painful, or worse. Ori knew enough details to make him both hard and chilled, and to wonder how the hell she’d gotten them.

He shoved back in his chair, hands behind his head and breathed out a deep sigh. “Well we certainly celebrated here. Then laughed our asses off when we heard what Gerando had pulled off on the rest of the family. I don’t think anyone thought he had that much of a brain.”

She stood to pace. “There was nothing wrong with his brain,” he could almost taste the bitterness in her words. “What was wrong with him was that he expected he could actually earn the old man’s respect, and even believed it was worth having. Most of us knew better, or we learned pretty early on anyway. No one mourned the daddy dearest. None of us celebrated any less than I’m sure the people on Vodni Station did.”

He was about to say he seriously doubted that when she turned and leaned over his desk so quickly that she was practically in his face before he knew it, her words a poisonous hiss. “Don’t ever think I want to carry on the Fallon legacy, Ivanovic. I hated the man. I hated everything he stood for. I used to pretend my last name wasn’t Fallon. I always swore I’d change it one of these days. There just hasn’t been time.”

“Then you’re the nice Fallon?”

She huffed out a breath and the smile returned to her face, this one made his skin crawl. “It would be a mistake to think I’m nice, Kresho, and you don’t look to me like the kind of man who would make a catastrophic mistake like that.” She stood and straightened the black blazer she wore over a crisp white shirt. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get about the business of expediting our contract if we’re going to get away on time tomorrow.”

She left him sitting in his chair cradling the glass in his hands. For a long time he sat there in silence wondering what the fuck Ori had gotten him in to. Then he downed the rest of the whisky, shoved the glass and the bottle into the drawer and slipped into his coat. Once in the lift, he said, “Flood it,” and headed for the Inner Dock.

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, book two of the Sentient Ship Series and the continuation of Fury’s journey to find his family. In the meantime, if you have just arrived and would like to start at the beginning of Piloting Fury, follow the link, and enjoy! If you like what you’re reading, make sure to catch all of Dragon Ascending from the beginning.

Dragon Ascending :Book 2 of the Sentient Ship Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

Dragon Ascending Part 38: Two SNTS, But it’ll Cost You

Tenad’s mouth fell open, and for a long moment she was speechless. Jessup who was not, reverted to a primitive, half-whispered string of curses. “You’re sure of this?” He finally managed.

“My intel’s good,” Kresho said.

“How do I know we can trust you?” Tenad said.

“Well, lady, as you so kindly reminded me yesterday, you have me by the short hairs, and if I have to go down this route, I have every intention of squeezing every credit out of you fucking Fallons I can get, extra even for undue stress on me and my people.” Did Gerd actually try to look distressed?

“What about we just apply a little truth serum, get the information we need and leave you drooling and shitting yourself before we blow this chicken shit station into dust?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Dyrg growled and moved in on the man again, which shut him right up.

“You can do that if you want, but my information, my knowledge is all behavioral, all classic SNT science, and there’s no way you can extract the experience I have to deal with a situation that I promise will be so out of your depth you’ll regret the day you were born, I guarantee that will be the case when SNT1 gets through with you. He waved a hand at the view port to the void beyond. “Hell there are at least five, maybe six SNTs in hiding right now. My guess a good half of those, maybe all, have been bereft of their compliments, thanks to your fucking father and the Authority. If you think SNTs are just high tech computers waiting to be controlled and commanded, then you’re more naïve than even I give you credit for being, and believe me, I give you a lot.

“You see, people, normal people, suffer pain when someone they love dies, and if that someone has been sabotaged and brutally murdered, they want to avenge those they lost. Now then,” he said pacing in front of them, “imagine what it’s like for a person with a mind so far superior to yours that I don’t even have a proper comparison for you, and imagine the emotions, the humanity, the feelings and neuroses that we humanoids live with on a daily basis match that intellect. You think they don’t hate you? You think they don’t want revenge on Fallons and on the conglomerates? And if you are an SNT, for all practical purposes immortal, it’s the easiest thing in the world to bide your time and take your revenge properly.

“And you know what,” he said stopping to look Jessup right in the dry red eyes, “SNT1 has the lion share of Bright Star Conglomerate and Fallon resources safely tucked away in Atlas accounts somewhere beyond the Rim to finance that revenge once he unites his family. Hell he’s not even waiting to unite that family, the Armageddon, your father’s piss poor attempt at a Frankenstein’s monster version of an SNT has already been rescued and upgraded with SNT1’s DNA to a proper SNT, and while Fury and his compliments were at it, they just decided to go one better and create a brand new SNT out of the Dubrovnik. That’s what you two bozos are dealing with, what you’re stupidly dragging me into.

“So, we pool resources, we do it my way, and we might actually get lucky and get SNT1 for you. And if we’re extremely lucky, we might get that bonus mystery SNT.” He shrugged. “Otherwise you two will be the ones out there shitting yourself and drooling when Fury gets through with you, and that’s only if he’s feeling benevolent.” How many millions died before the SNT’s were under control? I forget, refresh my memory.”

That had both Fallon brats looking a little green around the gills, neither willing to supply the hideous numbers. They looked at each other, hate only barely disguised, and Tenad said. “All right. We leave first thing in the morning. I’ll expect you and your people aboard the Virago at 07:00.”

“Oh, isn’t that choice?” Little brother cut in. “You have them all onboard with you, you have all the information you need, and I’m left high and dry. Ain’t happening sister.”

“I’m taking the Compass,” Kresho cut in.

“What?” They both said at once.

“Sorry, children, but I don’t trust either of you any farther than I can drop kick you out the nearest airlock, so I’m taking my own ship and my crew. You’ve got enough hanging over my head that I won’t go AWOL, plus, we get out of this alive, you’ll be paying me a bloody fortune. Oh, and that reminds me,” he said as the Notary for the station pinged at the door and it slid open. “You both can sign over half of what you owe me to my notary right now, not including any bonuses or extras that I accrue along the way of course.”

“What the fuck?” Jessup growled.

“Oh, I’m not picky how you split it between the two of you. I’m feeling generous, so I’ll give you a good two for one deal, but piss me off and I’ll ask for stress pay.”

Jessup took one look at the notary’s offered infopad and let out a string of spittle-laced curses that would curl the hair of New Caledonian factory worker. “That’s fucking robbery! Nobody’s worth that goddamn much. I’m not giving my scan.” He shoved the pad back at the notary unscanned. The man took it distastefully between two fingers then pulled a sani-scanner from the pocket of his robe and gave it a quick going over.

Tenad took the pad from the notary, who wasn’t even trying to pretend he didn’t enjoy seeing a couple of Fallons get skinned. She shoved it back at her brother. “Scan the document, Jessup. It’s not like any of it’ll come out of your bloody pocket anyway.”

Jessup Fallon blushed furiously, but shoved his thumb against the notary pad for the DNA scan. Once he was done he practically threw it at his sister, who caught it deftly and placed her thumb on the pad. The pad pinged its acceptance of the scans, and she handed it back for the notary to check. Once the man was satisfied, he nodded and Kresho put his thumb to the scanner. The notary gave a brief click of his heals and left with the three of them watching.

“It’ll take the better part of the night to arrange a transfer of that size and set up the conditions you’ve requested, but I promise the credits,” Tenad shot her brother a glare, “all of the credits, will be in your Atlas by the time we leave tomorrow.”

“Good. We don’t leave until they are.” Kresho said, then he smiled magnanimously. “Until the terms are all sorted, and I see those fat little numbers in my Atlas account, please feel free to enjoy the hospitality of the station. And Jessup, if you hurt any of my hospitality workers, I’ll personally cut your cock off and shove it down your throat.”

The man’s face reddned. “My fucking brother does that shit, not me.”

“Just saying,” Kresho said. “With Fallons in the place, you can’t be too careful.” Though he planned to make sure the man was far too high to get his cock up or his fists. He added, “Also, no indentureds onboard the station or I can’t guarantee your safety. My people don’t take kindly to such things.” He shrugged. “Otherwise, knock yourselves out.” He nodded to Jesup. “Gerd will show you to the best Mist den on the station.” There really wasn’t one, but he and Ori had sorted that little detail in the wee hours. The Fallon sprog would be able to float to his ship by the time of their departure, though he might need a little help. Kresho would just as soon keep the turd high and pliable. His sister, Kresho knew only too well, would not be so easy. But there was a plan for that too. One he didn’t even want to think about right now.