“Honestly, Jack? The way that I see it, he’s made it pretty clear that it’s kill or be killed. You know what he’s like. He’s not going to stop until he gets what he wants or until he’s put down. I’m just another obstacle between him and his goal, to be cleared out any way he can.”
Jack was nodding in agreement with his sister’s words. “Look,” he asked, “have you talked to Enoch about this?”
Enoch Immanuel moved from where he had been standing off-screen into the camera’s view and leaned forward.
“He endangered the life of the woman I love,” said Enoch. “His days are numbered, and the number is low.”
“Hard to argue with that,” replied Jack. “Look, we should talk further. Can you guys come up here to theMaracaibo?”
“I’ll check with the others, just to make sure we’re through the crisis, but I don’t think it should be a problem,” offered Madeline.
“Please inform my daughter that I will be seeing…” Enoch cleared his throat and tried again. “Pleaseaskmy daughter if she would like to see me while we are there.”
Jack tried to hide his grin. “I’ll pass that along.”
Madeline ended the call and went looking for Marc, finding him in her main office, talking to Cornelius.
“Marc, I know you mentioned we were on a timeline to resolve the situation. Are we out of the woods?” she asked.
Marc nodded. “As long as they could do so undercover of supporting Gentry and Branko, reinforcements from your father were on their way,” he said. “But now that we have emerged victorious, it would just be seen for the naked aggression that it is. We have reports that the dropships and troopers have turned around and will not appear in-system.”
“Good,” replied Madeline. She turned to Cornelius. “How long can you, Aurelian, and Marwan keep in charge of things until you absolutely need me here?”
The gray-suited man blinked behind his glasses. He thought for a moment, and responded, “By this time next week, you will absolutely need to appear before the cameras. Live, and not through video feed.”
“All right, that gives us a week,” replied Madeline. “Can we do it?” she asked Enoch.
“That’s cutting it very close, but I would say yes,” answered the steel-haired rebel.
Marc raised an eyebrow. “Mon Dieu,” he stated. “You were serious. You’re going after your father.”
“I’m going to bring the whole thing down around his ears,” said Madeline flatly. “And then I’m going to let him know it was me, right before I ruin him.”
“Miss Marx, I would be better able to advise you if I had more data,” observed Cornelius.
“You wouldn’t be the genius I know you are if you couldn’t put it together from what you already know,” replied Madeline.
Cornelius blinked again, and Madeline watched as realization dawned in his eyes. “Ah,” he observed, nodding, “you and the Lord Peregrinus are going to join your brother as pirates.”
Madeline smiled wolfishly. “Everyone should try being a pirate at least once, right?”
***
“All right,” announced Jack to the group of people in the quarters he shared with Aria, “make yourself comfortable, get yourself something to drink, then take a seat at the table.”
“There’s no booze,” complained Giles.
“That’s because we just finished breakfast,” said Jack patiently. “Besides, you know this ship runs on coffee more than anything else.”
“Try living in a space the size of a walk-in closet for a week, and then tell me about proper customs,” shot back Giles, who nevertheless poured himself a cup of coffee.
Jack paused, wrinkling his eyebrows. “When you were spying in there…did you leave to, uh, go to the bathroom?” he asked.
“You really want to know?”
“Belay that question,” said Jack hurriedly. “For the love of the stars, someone talk about our plan.”
“And how we’re going to avoid getting instantly vaporized by the security forces of MAC,” observed Quinn sourly.
