A Pirate's Tale: The Only Solution Is Retribution (24 page)

Leo looked at him and then shrugged, “Probably.”

Billy said quietly, “They will also take an image of Leonidas to the Treasury and ask if it was the man that came with the Daughter originally.”

Everyone looked at Billy, who usually had nothing to say.  Leo chuckled and shook his head, “That is the only hole in the story.  However, I don’t think he’ll tell them it was me.”

“Why not?” Victoria asked.”

“I just don’t think he’ll cooperate with them.  Let’s leave it at that.”

Victoria stared at him and Desiree said, “This story would at least explain our being on this ship.”

“Yes, it would.  But that takes us back to the original question.”  Leo looked at Gem, “Just how rich was Victoria?”  Gem was silent and Leo smiled, “Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

Gem’s thorax swelled and he said, “She originally had about fifty billion credits in her accounts but I convinced her to move them into some stock accounts.  Her current worth is about six hundred billion credits.”  Even Victoria’s eyes went wide with that announcement.

“Do we have access to those accounts?”

Gem shrugged, “Yes.”

“Will you give us the account numbers?” Leo asked.

“Why do you need them?”

Leo tilted his head as he said, “Gem, the original Victoria will never need them.  Why are you so reluctant to allow us to use them?”

Gem blew out a breath, “I don’t know.  It’s something that was a part of her and I’m reluctant to touch anything that was hers.”

Victoria looked at him, “You must have loved her very much.”

Gem looked at her and twisted his head to the left, “I’ll give you the numbers.  Since this Victoria has her DNA, the cards will operate normally.”

“I’m sorry, Gem.  I’ll try not to use any of those funds.”

“Go ahead if you need to, Victoria.  I’m being silly about this.” 

Gold stared at Gem and wondered what was going on.  Gem looked at him and said, “Keep this information between us and no one else.”

“Yes, Majesty.”

“That includes my mother!”

Gold hesitated and said, “If she asks me a direct question about them, I cannot be untruthful with her, Majesty.”

“I realize that but don’t tell her anything that would prompt a question about it.  Am I clear?”

“Yes, Majesty.”

Victoria listened to the exchange and realized that Gem loved Victoria very much.  It was his love for her that caused him to work with them and she wondered how seeing her everyday affected him.  It had to be painful.

Leonidas smiled, “Well, then the only way to put this plan into motion is to be outrageously audacious.”

Everyone looked at him.  Gem smiled, “This is where my ideas agree with you.”

Desiree said, “Audacious?”

Leo nodded, “Yes, you’re going to take the ship to Romania and ask to speak to Serge Romanov about wanting to find your ship.  You’re going to demand why he has sent out orders for your ship to be stopped and searched.  You will act righteously indignant at his attempting to violate your privacy.  You’ll act like the spoiled rich girl you are.”

Everyone stared at Leo and Billy said quietly from the corner of the table, “Just tell them you’ve been visiting other galaxies and one of your lovers informed you when you returned of what was happening.  Tell them you’re outraged at your privacy being violated and just who does he think he is?”

The table was silent and then everyone burst into laughter.  Desiree managed to say, “I think that will be outrageously audacious.”

“What if he wants to see you, Leo?” Victoria asked.

“Give him my contact frequency.”

“When are we going to do this?” Desiree asked.

“In three days.  Both of our crews can use some shore time on Jester.  I’m going to keep the Thermopylae close by Romania in the event something goes wrong.  We should be able to fight our way out if things go bad, Victoria.”

Desiree looked at Victoria and she nodded, “Three days it is.  Let’s go have a party.”

Leonidas nodded and looked at Billy, “Once again you’ve amazed me with your insights.”

Billy smiled, “It comes from being around Carl.”

Carl looked at him and scowled, “Don’t blame me.  You still can’t hold your booze.”

Billy reached in his pouch and pulled out a bottle of water, “I learn quickly.”  Carl tried to maintain his gruff expression but finally gave up and laughed, “I imagine you do.”

• • •

The meeting ended and Victoria went to Gem, “When we go to Romania, I want you to move to Leonidas’ ship.”

Gem looked at her with his head twisted right, “Why?”

“I don’t want you to come to any harm if things go bad.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“For the same reason.  I’m not going anywhere!”

Victoria stared at him and put her hand on his arm, “Thank you.”  She went to her toes and kissed Gem on the side of his head.  She then turned and went to her quarters.  Gold watched them and wondered what was going on.  This was highly irregular.

• • •

The Chief of Security appeared on Serge’s wall monitor, “Sir, we have an issue!”

“What is that?”

“The ship we’ve been searching for has just come off the filament and will arrive here in four hours.”

“WHAT?!”

“Yes, Sir.  The owner of the ship has informed Traffic Control that she has a problem with Romanov Industries and is coming to resolve why her privacy is being violated.  It appears she has been informed by someone that we’ve been trying to find her.  I saw the recording of the conversation with Traffic Control and she appears to be quite upset.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“No, Sir.  What do you want me to do?”

Serge sat back in his chair and was stumped at what was happening.  Finally he said, “Well, welcome her to Romania and see if you can figure out what’s going on.”

“Yes, Sir.”  The monitor went dark and Serge thought about the situation.  He finally decided that something weird was happening and pressed a button on his panel.  The Security Chief appeared again and Serge said, “Set up a meeting with this woman and myself.”

“Is that wise, Sir?”

“You will insure that I’m in no danger, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Then set up the meeting.  This woman has me curious about her motives.  She has to have some sort of connection with Ana and I intend to find out what it is.”

“Yes, Sir.”

• • •

Desiree looked at her console and read the message that arrived from Traffic Control, “Victoria, your father wants to meet with you personally.”

“What?!”

“He just sent a message along with the location of the restaurant where he’ll meet you.”  Desiree looked at her, “Are you up to this?”

Victoria started shaking her head slightly, “I don’t have a choice.  I’m going to play the role of Victoria and thank goodness I’ve been practicing over the last six months.”

“I’m going with you.”

“I don’t know if that’s wise, Desiree.”

“If I don’t go, then you’ll be breaking form.  I can also help bail you out if things turn dicey.”

“I guess you’re right.  It would also support members of Leonidas’ Unit being present.”

“Hold it together, Girl.”

“I’ll do the best I can.” Victoria answered.

• • •

The Spider looked at the monitor on the console and fell back in the chair.  Now this was not something that was expected.  It did sort of confirm that this woman was not Ana but coming here was crazy…or was it.  If this woman really wasn’t Ana and was as rich as the rumors suggested, then she probably was furious about Serge issuing orders to stop her ship.  But…there had to be some sort of connection to Ana.  Ummm…this was going to be interesting.  The Spider sat back and waited to see what would happen.

• • •

Barney looked up from his console, “Leonidas, Victoria has been summoned to a face-to-face meeting with Serge Romanov.”

“Where?”

“At a restaurant called the Black Flower.”

“Can we get any of our crew there?”

“No, Captain,” Barney answered.  “The restaurant is sold out and no seats are available.”

Leonidas pursed his lips and said, “Have a shuttle from their ship ready to go down if necessary to get them out.”

“They went in with their swords, Sir.”

Leonidas nodded and wondered if they would be allowed to keep them.  He had spent the last three days working with Gold at learning how to use the one Gem purchased for him.  The sword was incredibly dangerous in the hands of an enhanced human.  He still had a lot of work to do learning how to draw it and put it back in the scabbard but he knew they were more dangerous than a blaster in close combat. 

Still, he saw ten Romanov Warships surrounding Victoria’ ship and knew there were fifty more close by.  This was going to be up to Victoria to pull this off.  He should have anticipated Romanov personally meeting with them.  It was too late to back out now.  His ship was not going to make a difference in what was coming.  He looked at Barney and said, “Take us out to the intersection.”

• • •

The Chief of Security watched the two women enter the Black Flower restaurant and saw that one of them was the blonde he had been trying to find for months.  The other woman was dressed in a full dress with puffy sleeves.  His scanners revealed that both of them were carrying something made of metal on their backs inside their clothing.  He looked closer and saw that they had the shape of swords.  This just wouldn’t do.  He waited for them to be escorted to their table and then walked over to them, “Excuse me ladies, but I notice that both of you are carrying weapons.  I cannot allow you to be armed in Mr. Romanov’s presence.”

Desiree stood up, “Then this meeting is over.  Let’s go, my Lady.”

The Chief held up his hands, “Wait a moment, you must understand that Mr. Romanov’s safety must be assured.”

Victoria looked at the Security Chief, “You are carrying a blaster, Sir.  What chance would little ole us have against that?”

Desiree looked around the room and said, “You also have four others in the upper floor with blasters trained on us as we speak.  So it’s fine for you to be armed to the teeth while we aren’t allowed to carry swords that were a gift to My Lady from her former husband?  Remove all of your weapons and we’ll still leave.  My Lady goes nowhere without her sword and she has ordered me to always carry mine when I’m with her.”

“Ladies, I’m sure that…”

Desiree sneered, “You deliberately violate My Lady’s privacy and come armed with blasters.  Have your master sit across the table from us out of harm’s way.  We couldn’t do anything before you shot us.  You can sit with us and keep your blaster pointed at us if you’re that afraid of two simple women.”

The Security Chief stared at them as information came in over his ear-piece.  “You are far from simple ladies.  You are Desiree Daniels and served with the Tenth Human Legion on Regulus.  You are not as defenseless as you insist.”

Desiree smiled, “I’m flattered that you know me.  However, it is my job to defend Victoria Lenora De La Pascal.  Both of us have a job to do and I didn’t bring a blaster because I do respect the importance of Mr. Romanov.  However, the two swords are something My Lady insists on being carried for good luck.  She feels the presence of her former husband through this gift he gave her.  If you rather, we can conduct this meeting over communicators.”

Victoria looked at the Chief and said in a slow drawl, “When I wear my sword, I can feel his presence taking care of me, honey.”

“Excuse me.”  The chief stepped away and contacted Serge.  “Sir, they refuse to take off the swords they have with them.”

“They what?”

“They are both carrying swords under their garments.  The ditzy blonde insists that they represent good luck pieces from her former husband.”

Serge was baffled by the situation and asked, “Could they do anything to harm me with those swords?”

“I don’t think so.  I’m going to sit with you across the large table from them with a blaster in hand and I have eight blasters trained on them if they make any sudden moves toward you.”

“And they refuse to remove them?”

“They do, Sir.  They said to just call off the meeting if they’re forced to give them up.”  Serge hesitated and the Chief said, “They told me to sit beside them with my blaster drawn if I was so frightened by them.”

“Sitting on my side of the table is a good idea.  They are rather bossy, aren’t they?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Have them order their meal and order me my usual.  I want to take a look at them before I come in.”

“Yes, Sir.”  The Chief went back to the table and smiled, “Mr. Romanov says that you may keep your swords.”

“Why thank you, Sir,” the blonde said.

“He requests that you go ahead and order your dinner and he will be here momentarily.”

Victoria smiled at the Chief and batted her eyes, “What would you recommend?”

“Mr. Romanov likes the meat and seafood combination.”

“Then that is what we’ll have as well, right Desiree?”

“Yes, My Lady.”

The Security Chief sat across the table from them and placed his blaster on the table in front of him.  Victoria began asking questions about the restaurant and the planet and the Security Chief had to admit that she was very pleasant company.  He also realized from the DNA scan that was made when they entered that she was definitely not Ana.  He knew that Serge had also received that information by now.  The restaurant was crowed and what the two women didn’t realize was that everyone in the room was a Romanov Security Agent and all of them were armed.  He wondered how the two women would react if they knew it.

S
erge watched the two women talking with his Security Chief on his monitor and saw that the blonde was perfectly at ease while the pretty woman with her kept looking around the restaurant.  Ummm…Desiree Daniels.  She was an officer in the Tenth Legion and was highly respected as a great tactician.  How did she wind up with this bimbo?  Well, it had to do with the man that went to the treasury to set up some accounts a few months back.  Was it the same man that was with Ana when she disappeared?  He wasn’t going to find out staring at this monitor.  He stood up and left the vehicle parked outside the restaurant; his personal body guards followed him inside.