Ravyn leaned back in her chain, stuffed. Nightshade was an incredible chef. The main course, an assortment of seafood dishes, had been followed by a variety of chocolate deserts, each chocolatier then the last. Ravyn seriously doubted she could move and most of her fellow dinners appeared to be in the same condition.
“My most sincere compliments to the chef, she is a genius. That was the finest grilled mardosky I have ever eaten. How did she get so tender?” The Director had sobered up considerably during the meal and was turning out to be a pleasant dinner companion.
“I'm not sure,” Foxy replied. “She has a way with such things,” she added as she made a vague gesture with her hand. She was not about to ask Nightshade either. The battle that had ensued when she had given her the tonight's menu had been fierce. Lapis, by nature, refused to eat anything but plants. While Nightshade had been more then willing to prepare seafood dishes, the idea of cooking something that carnivores like the Vynerian considered meat had made her physically ill. It had taken hours of arguing to convince her that this was the only way and even then she had refused to touch, having her assistants do the actual cooking while she handled the presentation. Foxy was fairly certain she was still complaining about it.
“Please, tell me more about your caste system. Vynerians do not have such things as all are equal beneath our queen.”
“Actually it's a very old system that most do not put much precedence in now,” Ravyn began as she scooped up a last chocolate tart and popped it in her mouth. “Originally it was used to help our people find their calling. There are four castes and every Lorian is a member of one of them. Although, now it is considered impolite to enquire about a persons caste standing, many cycles ago, a persons caste defined who they were.”
“In what way?”
“Well, the first caste is the religious caste. Lorians treat religion differently then most races. Our religion is very sacred to us as it deals with our history as a people. For a long time, the religious caste was the ruling party for our people. That only changed recently. If you were born into the religious caste you would most likely become a sect leader and join the government. Of course, now most sect leaders have little to do with the ruling party.”
“The warrior caste is now the ruling party,” Foxy added.
“The two castes are the largest among our people." Ravyn continued. "The warrior caste normally served only in the militia but now that they have power, the also serve in the highest levels of the government. Oddly enough, there is a sect of the religious caste devoted to the warrior arts. The two never interact, though.”
“The other two castes are smaller. The most respected is the Beculin caste. They are artists and craftsmen. They bring beauty to our world and are deeply honored for their contributions. The Verdoux are the smallest. Its more of a type of career then an actually caste. The Verdoux are public servants. They serve society in various functions. The Mayor and his brother are members of the Verdoux caste. It's a family tradition.”
“I find this all so very fascinating. I must study more about the Lorian culture,” the Director added as he sipped his spiced nectar.
“Foxy, we have a problem down here,” came through her portable link in her ear. It was Mayhem, Ravyn's assistant down at the entrance to the Club. Excusing herself from the table, she headed downstairs to see what the problem was.
Mayhem, the bäer, was standing in the alcove to the Club, several marcinnes flanking him. Marcinnes were cousins to bäers, not nearly as big or strong but far more vicious as they possessed huge claws that helped them climb or rip trees apart easily. They formed a wall, preventing someone from entering the Club. Curious to see who had upset Mayhem so much he had called the marcinnes, she pushed her way through the wall of fur and stopped short, fangs bared.
“You. You're not permitted in the Club, now leave before I have you thrown out,” Foxy practically hissed.
“Oh come now dearest Foxy, surely you can let an old friend dine in your fabulous establishment. We won't be too much trouble,” Sly Darktide promised as he drew a scantily clad lapus closer to his side. “Mayhem, have them escorted outside immediately.”
“Are you certain you want to do that Foxy. I doubt you want any trouble tonight, especially with your special guests here.” Sly sent Foxy a devious smile as he nodded his head in the direction of the dinner party.
“Very well,” Foxy said through clenched teeth. “Have them escorted to a table and served right away. We wouldn't want to give Sly and his party a reason to prolong their evening.”
Foxy swore silently to herself as she spun around and stalked off. She did not need this right now. Her guests needed her attention right now, plus Silver would be back soon with their latest 'shipment' and she had wanted to be there when they arrived. Perhaps she could convince Nightshade to add a little something extra to her food. Smiling evilly at that thought she headed towards the kitchen.
“Welcome back,” Angel said as she leaned on a stack off crates. “How was the flight, encounter any turbulence?”
“Ha, ha, very funny,” Silver replied as she walked out of the main hold of the Lady Hawke. “The 'flight' went just fine. We picked up a few extra goodies, too.”
“Foxy will be pleased. Have the legal goods stacked over there. We'll sort them for shipping later. Take the extra stuff to my office, I want to inspect it.”
“No problem. Tech, get those draperies out of the secondary hold first, I don't want them to get damaged.”
“Okay,” Tech shouted back as he swung out of the hold and leaped down the walkway. “Lets see, here they are. You two take these to Commander Silver right away and be careful.”
Two hulking marcinnes carried off the hand-woven silke draperies while Tech continued to paw his way through the smuggled goods.
“I know I had it put in here some where, now where did it go? A-ha! Found you, thought you could hide from me did you? Well you were wrong my…”
“Fraggit Ears, where are you,” Silver shouted, startling the poor canis into whacking his head as he bolted upright.
“Ow! What!” He shouted back as he rubbed his head.
“Where's the second manifest, I can't find it anywhere and Angel wants to do inventory. What'd you do with it?”
“Hold on a sec, I have it stored on my pad. I was looking for something.” Tech ducked under the ledge and headed down the walkway out of the Lady Hawke, unfortunately he was in a hurry and tripped over his feet (which were as big as his ears) tumbling down the rest of the way to land in front of Silver.
“I know you adore me Tech, but you don't have to prostrate yourself in worship. A simple offering of your soul would suffice.”
Groaning, Tech got to his feet and shook himself. “Thanks for the help.”
Laughing, Silver threw her arm around him, nearly knocking him down again. “Relax, Ears, you know you're my favorite.”
“Yeah sure. Anyway, here's the manifest. I was going through and I found an oddity. There's a sealed container not on either list. It was found in one of the hidden holds so it must be worth something.”
“Maybe, let's get the rest of this stuff unloaded then we'll deal with it.”
“Of course,” she continued, “there's always the possibility of poison. You could slip a little something in their food, something deadly but invisible so it would look like some sort of heart failure. It couldn't be linked to us then.”
“Relax,” Nightshade said in response. “We cannot have any dead bodies at the moment, including ones that died of natural causes. Just keep focused on the plan and you'll get through this. Now, get back out there and entertain our guests, I'll have Solaria handle everything else. ”
“Bah.”
“Foxy. Oh, by the way, Silver's back, so you have one less thing to worry about. Now get going.”
Nightshade waited until Foxy had disappeared back into the Club, then set her few remaining assistants to preparing the orders. Making her way up to her own office, she called for her assistant.
“Hey boss, you called.”
Nightshade just shook her head as the overly energetic roden dashed into her office and flopped into one of the overstuffed chairs. She was very fond of Solaria but sometimes she wondered how she ended up with someone like her. Tonight, Solaria's multicolored tail was decorated with ribbon and wrapped around her waist to form a strange type of belt. Plus most of her short curls were standing straight up and tangled with the dozen or so hoops in her ears.
“Need you to do a few things for me.”
“Absolutely, how can I be of service?”
“Privacy Booth 3D has a group in it I want you to handle personally. You'll understand when you get there.”
“Um… okay, any special orders.”
“Nope, just get them out of here quickly. Also I need you to procure a special item for me. You'll find out in a small shop downtown in the mainland. I'll give you the address. The owner will be waiting for you and he will have the item already wrapped. Bring it back here to me directly. Don't stop anywhere and do not speak to anyone or let anyone know where you are going.”
Solaria just nodded. She was used to instructions like these. “When do you want me to go?”
“Tomorrow night. Here,” Nightshade tossed her a data crystal. “Everything you need is on that.”
“No problem boss, I'll make sure it arrives safe and sound. Now, I'm off to deal with more irate customers. Laters.”
Shaking her head, Nightshade leaned back in her chair and contemplated the view from her window. The glass was treated so no one could see in but you could see out. Once she had the item in her hands she could trade it for the data crystals and she would finally know the truth. After all this time it seemed like a strange idea, but she was tired of wondering and questioning and the uncertainty of what happened. She needed to know the truth. However, truth can be a lot stranger then fiction.
Foxy continued to scan the cargo manifests. “This is excellent, better then I had planned for. Well done Silver, Tech, we've got quite a haul here. I think I already have buyers for a couple of these items.”
Foxy and Angel were seated in Angel's office in the underground lair of the Pax. Angel's office was one level above the huge hanger that housed the majority of the Pax fleet. The crew's quarters were below the hanger and to the left while Cyber's office and Tech's workroom were half a level above the hanger. The entire underwater complex was one of a set of three that had taken almost four cycles to complete. Each was Five miles high and shaped like a weird triangle with legs.
All three complexes were equipped to launch ships from under water and were completely undetected from land, air, or sea. The one beneath the Club was built into the bottom of the island to disguise it better. There were several entrances by sea or through the island itself but they were incredibly difficult to find if you did not know what to look for. The complex would appear as a giant steel grey shadow in the water, virtually the same color as the ocean itself.
The inside of the complex was a lot more colorful then the outside, at least in the living quarters. Angel's office was decorated in shades of black, red, and purple with trimmings of silver here and there. Everything was very neat and organized. A few precious antiques were tastefully scattered around the room, as well as old fashioned story discs, placed conveniently by overstuffed easy chairs for lounging. The centerpiece of the room was a huge wooden hand carved shinsi desk. A set of huge double doors in the far corner led to the rest of Angel's home.
“I'm certain we can move all of this stuff, but we might have to sit n a few things for awhile.” Foxy put down the manifest and turned to the others. “Rare items tend to attract more attention.”
“Actually,” Ravyn spoke up, “I might have a buyer for the jadeite. A connection of mine has a client who adores the stuff and always pays top credit, no questions asked. He's reliable too.”
“Excellent,” Foxy replied.
Solaria entered just then and took a seat near Nightshade.
“There you are, you finished everything, right,” Nightshade asked.
“Yep,” she replied. “Took care of it. Oh, and I got the one table out in under an hour.”
“Not bad. Thanks for handling that.”
“Yes, thank you,” Foxy echoed through clenched teeth.
“What's this,” Angel asked.
“We had unexpected visitors tonight,” Mayhem almost growled as he said it. “Darktide and his group showed up tonight.”
“Ah,” Angel said in understanding.
“One day you guys have to tell us what you've got against him,” Silver added as she curled her tail around a growling Ravyn. Nightshade Ravyn, Foxy, and Mayhem were the only ones who knew the story of how Sly Darktide had betrayed Foxy and gotten all four of them almost killed. Foxy had never forgiven him for that betrayal.
“One day,” Foxy muttered darkly, “it will no longer be inconvenient to kill him and then I'll have him carved up into tiny little pieces.”
“Pity,” Solaria said mildly, “he's really handsome and charming when he chooses to be. Too bad he has such awful taste in females. Did you see what she was wearing? UGH. Good thing you weren't out there Nightshade, you would have been disgusted.”
“Probably.” Nightshade shrugged then paused. “Wait…she wasn't a lapus was she?”
“Well, yeah, but don't worry, we won't hold it against you.”
Swearing, Nightshade began to pace Angel's office. “Why didn't you tell me he had a lapus with him.”
“Relax will ya, its nothing,” Silver said, twitching her tail impatiently.
“No it's not,” Ravyn replied. “It could be a lot worse then you think. You see lapus are telepaths. They can pick up the thoughts of others.”
“Whoa you're like psychic. How come you never told me,” Solaria demanded of Nightshade.
The others started to shift away from her.
“No, I'm not,” Nightshade replied, mad because most of them had backed away from her. “Its not a common trait among lapus. We keep it to ourselves since it rarely occurs in our kind. The only reason Ravyn knows is my sister was one, a very strong one. But the most she could ever do was pick up strong stray thoughts from others. I could never do it.”
“Well okay, let's not panic,” Angel finally said. “You said it's really uncommon, so we may have nothing to worry about and even if this female was a telepath all she might have gotten was a few useless thoughts from our customers, nothing more.”
“True,” Nightshade replied. “Her range wouldn't have been very far so as long as she stayed away from our guests, we're probably safe.”
“Uh guys, what about our latest run,” Tech spoke up, pointing at Silver and himself. “She might have picked up on that from Solaria.”
“Doubt it,” she replied cheerfully. “I was trying one of those subliminal thought type things. I spent the night sending them go away vibes. She couldn't have picked anything up from me.”
“Well there, nothing to worry about.” Cyber patted Solaria on the head then took her seat.
“Ah, actually, she might have read my thoughts,” Foxy said as she got up to pace as well.
“What do you mean,” Nightshade questioned.
“I was pissed when they showed up and all I could think was I had to get him out of here because Silver would be back with our latest shipment and I wanted to be there.”
“Well, that's not exactly the end of the world. It couldn't have meant that much to her, so lets not get to worked up,” Angel said.
“Angel's right, besides we have more important things to deal with right now. We have merchandise we need to find buyers for,” Cyber replied, inkling her had towards the manifests Foxy had dropped on the floor.
“Oh that reminds me,” Tech said. “Foxy, would it be okay if I kept that crate listed on the last page, the one that says Croinberries?”
“Why would you want croinberries,” Foxy asked.
“I don't think its croinberries. They need to be cold stored to survive transport and, as far as I can tell, that thing has not cooling unit attached to it. Plus my instruments picked up metal inside and I would like to keep it to take a look at it.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Thanks. Okay then, I'm going to go play.”
Angel watched him run out of the run and shook her head. “He takes such joy in his work. It's good to see him happy.”
Foxy nodded in agreement. Tech had definitely improved since joining the Pax. The depressed, scrawny little canis that had barged his way into to see her one-day had grown up. He had designed most of their personal ships not to mention a dozens of inventions that had given their guild an edge over all the others.
They had yet to find his real family, not that Tech seemed to mind. Still, Foxy knew better then most what it had been like to be alone in the world, no one to call your mother or brother. She had grown up in and orphanage, a rarity on Loria but they had become necessary after the Great Unrest had ended. She still did not know where she came from or whom she once belonged to, but she had learned to make those things meaningless in her life. She knew who she was now, that was all that matter.
Foxy had taught that same lesson to Tech. She had shown him how to make his own identity, both physically and mentally. That your past could be forgotten in the light of the present. They had all done their best to make him a part of their new family; a family that didn't need blood ties to feel united. Each of them had tried to teach him a skill to survive. Foxy had actually taught him to fly; he had been her only student. Foxy took pride in his skill as a pilot.
“Well,” Angel said, breaking into Foxy's thoughts, “not that this hasn't been fun children, but I need my beauty rest.”
“No problem,” Foxy replied. “We can finish the rest of this later.”
They dispersed in groups, heading off in various directions. Nightshade walked with Foxy to the lift back to the surface.
“Planning on working late again,” she asked as they boarded.
“Of course,” Foxy replied.
“Well, have fun then, let me know how the sunrise is.”
When the lift reached the Club, Nightshade headed towards the kitchen while Foxy moved off in the direction of her office. She had a lot of work she wanted to get done before she even thought about sleep. It looked like she would be working until the sun began to rise again, not that she minded. There was something strangely comforting about the sight of their sun. A glowing ball of fire frozen in the moments before destruction, it was beautiful in death.
“What did you manage to pick up?” Sly Darktide paced back and forth in front of his newest agent, a lapus with the most unusual abilities. Tonight had been the test run, a small outing to see what she could gather.
The lapus herself, one Malika, was not very intelligent. Her only real usefulness lay in her talents, one of which was the ability to read the stray thoughts of another Lorian. Sly had a theory that reason her own head was so empty was so she could fill it with the thoughts of others.
Malika studied her next conquest. It had been easy to get close to Sly once she'd let slip about her special skill, but he'd proved frustratingly allusive when she tried to get closer. Except for the playacting in front of the prissy Foxe at the Club, he'd barely touched her. Still, a lapus with her attributes would not be ignored for very long. She'd snag him eventually; in the meantime she needed to prove her worth on other fronts.
“There isn't much,” she began using her best feminine helpless voice. “I couldn't get very close to the ones you pointed out and that freaky roden was really rude.” Pouting, she looked at him with big eyes, trying for sympathy. It didn't work. Frustrated, she debated trying a different tactic.
“What about the foxe,” Sly demanded?
“She was rude too. She wanted us gone but...,” here she paused. Oh yeah, she definitely had his attention now. She carefully pushed out her chest. “I'm pretty sure it was for a different reason.”
Sly leaned closer, “what reason?”
Fighting a smile, she tried here best come hither look and replied, “something about a shipment coming in soon and her wanting to be down there when it arrived.”
“Excellent, absolutely perfect. Thank you my dear, you've done quite well. You shall be rewarded for this Malika.”
“I know just the reward too. Oh, and you can call me Mally. All my closest friends do.”
“Bruto, have Malika escorted out, I'll call you when I need you again. I'll have your payment sent to you.”
Sputtering, Malika was practically dragged from Darktide's office. This isn't over she vowed as she left. She'd seen just how much her prey was worth. His office done in rich linens and sumptuous furniture. Antiques casually scattered throughout the rooms. Rare paintings graced the walls. She was not going to let this one go, no matter what.
“She's gone boss,” Bruto reported when he returned. I made sure she left myself.
“Good, make sure she's paid right away, but keep her out of my way until I need her again. Her talents might come in handy but I can't stand the fem.”
“She's not bad to look at.”
“If you want her Bruto, you can have her, just watch your jewels around her and I don't mean the sparkly ones'.”
Bruto just shook his head. “Not even going to try. A fem like that will take you for all you got and I don't have enough for her to try. You on the other hand, she has it in for. You might want to watch your own jewels.”
“I intend to. Anyway, she confirmed what I already suspected.”
“What's that boss?”
“That shipment she mentioned. The Pax guild had a cargo ship making the rounds among the satellites. However, I couldn't find anyone who could confirm that they arrived. It's in all the computers, but no one saw them physically.”
“Meaning?”
“The ship left and entered space but I think it had a different destination in mind. Have Demis monitor the shipping lanes the next few days for any news of piracy. Tell him to check everywhere and bring me everything, including the rumors. I want to know what Foxy was up to tonight. She has something big planned, I know it.”
“Like what?”
“With Foxy you can never say for sure. She's very cunning. I need to find out more information, put out a few more feelers, but she is definitely up to something.”
“If you say so. Say boss, why do you care?”
“What do you mean 'why do you care'?”
“I know they are like our competitors but you don't keep an eye on our other rivals the way you do Foxy's group. How come that is? Plus, she seems to hate your guts big time. Was there something going on between the two of you?”
“Foxy and I are old friends and we have a very old score to settle between us. It should be interesting to see the outcome of this round.”
“Yeah, if you say so, boss. I'm gonna go lean on a few people, see if I can get you anymore info.”
“Yes, very good, go ahead,” Sly replied distractedly. His mind was already focused back in the past. He could still remember the day Foxy had come to the orphanage, she'd been small, smaller then most, but she had had a big attitude and she had known how to take care of herself. He'd been impressed, a young Foxe already puffed up with his own self-importance as all young males his age were, but something about her spirit had garnered his respect.
When he'd had a chance to get out of that place and make something of himself he promised, himself anyway, that he'd come back and look for her. He had not been able to go himself but he'd sent the same roden who'd tag him for the Solano guild. They'd needed fresh blood and he'd had a feeling Foxy would fit in perfectly.
Later he had enjoyed working with her. They had trained her to be a natural enforcer, then a district boss. She took to the business easily and even seemed to have a natural aptitude for most of the work. He was there the first time she had killed and had even held her hand when she'd thrown up afterwards (she'd been very young still, so he hadn't held it against her).
Foxy had also been one of his favorites to work with. He had looked forward to every time they had been pulled for assignment together. Foxy had had one of the brightest futures in the guild, brighter then even his. She'd had respect, well mostly fear mixed with a bit of respect, and a sizable force working under that were completely loyal to her. Then, one day she'd come to him, wanting to change everything and everything had changed but not all for the better. One of the few real friendships he'd had had been destroyed and a once trusted comrade-in-arms was out for his blood. Life was definitely interesting and about to get even more so.