Chapter 99—Nera

Darc came back shortly with two thumbs-up about Major’s safety and then an epic bombshell.

“Someone at Earth Space Fleet put it out there about the Xenoxx scale they found,” she said excitedly. “Rain said all we need is a time and a place to meet them.”

I looked to Maxx, too stunned to speak for a second. Our shoddy plan had actually worked? Could this really be happening?

“Any idea who reached out to sell it?” Maxx demanded, his no-nonsense growl edging his words with sharp points.

“Rain and Mosely couldn’t tell,” Darc said. “They were speaking tech, so I’m afraid I can’t give you the reasons why they couldn’t.”

“If we knew who it was,” I began, nodding slowly, “we would better know how to proceed, who to send to make the deal, and where.”

“It’s not like we can really go anywhere though, right?” Darc asked. “We’re kind of stuck here.”

An idea struck with the force of a hammer. “We make the trade here on Klio-3.”

Darc scrunched her cute little button nose. “Isn’t that a little too obvious? A little too overeager? What if they catch on that it’s all a big hoax?”

“The worst that could happen is they don’t show up to make the deal, right?” Darc asked.

“Yeah. We can just say that one of our ‘associates’ happens to be in the neighborhood. It could happen.” Shrugging, I looked to Maxx to see what he thought about it, but he was too busy gouging out the planet with the force of his glare. “We’ll get the scale back, Maxx. I promise.”

“It’s not even the scale; it’s the meaning of what they’re doing. There is no bottom with them. With any of them,“ he ground out. “I knew this of course, after everything they’ve done.” He flicked his gaze up to me, tortured and haunted and angry, a replica of everything I felt too. “Everything they’ve taken and have almost taken.”

I nodded, right there with him, and took his hand in mine. “Who do we send to meet them?”

“Not Pete,” Maxx and Darc said in unison, and it was the perfect moment to lighten the mood some.

We each exhaled relieved chuckles.

“No, Pete has done more than enough.” I turned to check to see if our host was still lying in Miekil’s arms after fainting, but no, he was upright and talking again. Miekil was rolling his eyes at whatever he was saying, so everything looked normal once again. “Someone else they don’t know… Someone we can trust…” I searched the stage, and my gaze kept circling back to one individual. “Someone…like June.”

“June.” It was a hiss from Maxx more than a question.

I listed all of her assets on my fingers. “She’s smart. She’s flirtatious. She’s cool under pressure. She’s a good actress. And she hasn’t tried to kill us. Yet.”

Maxx gestured to the stage. “She’s also currently in first place on this show. You don’t think they’ll recognize her?”

“We’ll give her a light makeover just in case.” After all, lots of aliens had one eye like June.

“You think she’ll go for it?” Darc asked skeptically.

“If we ensure her first place, I bet she will.” At Darc’s gasp, I added, “Look, this show’s been nice and all, but I want to go on a honeymoon with my husband and let him impregnate me again. Pronto.”

Maxx hauled me into his side and growled, so deeply and possessively that it rumbled into me and licked flames across my skin.

Darc’s eyes widened at Maxx, then she pursed her lips on a smile at me. “And how are you going to promise her first place? It’s not up to you, and everyone loves you.”

I snorted. “No. They really don’t. But I’ll think of something. I’ll be boring. I’ll keep my mouth shut, or I’ll go full Karen. Something.”

Maxx and Darc shook their heads like they didn’t believe I could do such a thing, but I’d prove them wrong.

I just didn’t know how yet.

***

Ten minutes later, we had yet another shoddy plan, but it was a plan all the same. We were getting really good at those.

June had agreed to be our liaison at the crew’s beach house, so long as I hand-delivered her the first-place prize and the million credits that came with it.

I didn’t care about that part. All I cared about was finding some kind of justice, and so far, I had nothing.

Darc relayed all the info to Rain on my ship, and the official trade of the Xenoxx scale for black-market money would happen in exactly two and a half hours.

We had time. The live airing of the last episode had been delayed to tomorrow for “safety precautions.” Umo’s words. Which meant he puffed on his cigar while he had the crew patrol for the panther with camera drones. “In case a mauling happens, it better be on film, damn it!” His words yet again.

I wanted as few people to know about this crazy idea as possible, so I did June’s makeup myself…and purposefully didn’t let her look in a mirror afterward.

Look, we couldn’t all be as talented as Oreo and Smitha. And yes, I apologized, inside my head, to June for making her look like an angry hooker on a cherry snow cone bender.

I also did some light theft of a camera drone so we could watch June’s progress toward the crew beach house while Maxx, Mosely, Darc, and I huddled in the backyard behind a cluster of potted tropical plants in case things went south and for the obligatory “ha-ha, caught you” video.

The crew beach house had a hot tub on the front porch, and that was where the meeting would take place. The porch, not the tub. Everyone else was out searching for the black panther.

June sashayed her way toward the house. The camera drone hovered far above, but we could kind of make out someone waiting for her though. I couldn’t tell who yet.

June was wired up with mics so we’d find out soon enough.

My heart shuddered with her every step. I hated sending others in to do my dirty work since it had gone so poorly last time, but here I was, doing it yet again.

Sensing my unease, Maxx rubbed my lower back, evaporating some of my tension.

As June reached the porch, I took a deep breath and steeled myself for what came next.

“Palagway?” a male voice said.

Deep. Familiar. One that chased a shiver up my shoulders.

That was none other than Mike. The man who once shared a life with me, whose heart held so many secrets. My ex-husband, now my enemy, now a symbol of the corruption we were fighting against.

Wow, he was stupid. Never mind what that said about me for marrying him, but wow. How the fuck did we get so lucky?

Unless this was a trap. This was probably a trap.

Cold sweat trickled down my spine.

Mosely looked at me with wide eyes.

Darc mouthed, “Fuck. Me.”

Maxx rubbed my back harder, pretty much keeping me upright at this point.

“Palagway, yes. That’s me. And you are?” June’s voice sounded cool and detached as she climbed up the porch steps.

“Not important,” Mike said smoothly, his voice dripping with insincere charm. “What a pleasure it is to meet you.”

I just about gagged, but I was too busy studying every twitch of Mike’s face, every glint of suspicion in his hazel eyes. Was he onto us? Or was that just his face now?

He was minus his uniform today, likely meant to put distance between him and Space Fleet given the illegality of his current situation, and was dressed in plain, boring shorts and a V-neck.

“Likewise,” June agreed, her one eye narrowing slightly. “Well, Not Important, can I see it?”

He feigned surprise, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers clenched ever so slightly. “So eager.”

“We both have places to be, I’m sure, especially since this meeting was not originally on my agenda. So let’s cut through the bullshit and get to it, shall we?” Her cherry snow cone mouth drew up into a macabre smile.

And damn did I want to give her a standing ovation right now.

“If you insist.” Mike brought something from his pocket.

I tensed. So did everyone else with me, but all he handed her was something tiny. Mosely did his best to zoom in on it with the drone controls on his computer.

“It’s real?” she asked, inspecting it closely.

“As real as it can get,” he affirmed. “How much are those going for nowadays?”

“Two million credits minimum,” June said without any hesitation.

Something dark gleamed within Mike’s eyes. “Is that all?”

I called bullshit right then and there. He hadn’t been expecting that high of a number. I knew him too damn well.

June looked up from the scale in her palm shrewdly. And as I watched her unflinching gaze meet his, I knew this was the beginning of the end—not just for Mike and his twisted agenda, but for the entire corrupt organization known as Earth Space Fleet that had caused us so much pain and suffering.

“I’ll give you five million credits,” June said with all the confidence in the galaxy.

Mike nodded slowly. “No strings? No digital trail?”

June’s voice dropped to a low, dangerous whisper. “Does this look like amateur hour to you?”

Mike grinned. “No, it does not.”

June turned away from him and gave him a dismissive wave as she started down the porch steps. “You have my email. Send me your bank info, and you’ll have your credits within two hours.”

“I have your word?” he called after her.

“You have my email. In my world, that’s better than my word,” she said without looking back.

That was probably one of the most badass encounters I’d ever witnessed.

“I want to be June when I grow up,” I whispered.

“That’s what I was going to say,” Darc agreed.

“And we got it all on film,” Mosely said with a broad grin, folding his holographic computer into his pocket.

Maxx pressed a kiss to my temple and sighed his relief.

“We’ll wait for him to send that email,” I said.

“And I’ll forward everything once again to the news stations and the universal police,” Mosely added. “And yes, Maxx, in Comic Sans. It’ll work. Trust me.”

I wound myself into Maxx’s arms. While we waited for justice, we had a reality show to lose and then an entire future to look forward to.

I could hardly wait.