The Saturn Mistress
Tara Loughead
Copyright 2010 Tara Loughead
A Bulays and Ghaavn Adventure
The Karshi Imperative Part 6
For Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney and Curt Swan
"Lady G, any chance you can get those forcefield bubbles to work properly?"
"The science girls have been hard at work on it, Bulays, but it is basically an impossible technology. We don't have anyone that is enough of a brainiac to pull it off. It is quite amazing we have what we do now." She paused for a second. "Anyway, the problems of inventing ludicrously advanced technology is not what I asked you here for."
"I hope not, because we'd just started on a very nice bottle of Mercurian whisky."
Bulays, incongruously enough, was holding hands with Emar, the Death Queen of Neptune, while she talked to Lady Gerald.
Ghaavn thought this was kind of cute, but wisely kept that to himself for now.
"I thought you might like to see this." Gerald pointed to her wallscreen. Some not very easy to make out video of a woman in a room, dark glasses, long pink-purple-gray curly hair, or so it seemed, was in view. Long, black leather boots, and generous curves on display in fine black underwear. It was only a few seconds worth. The audio seemed to say something like ...aturn...istres...
"Footage we have picked up. We were talking about the fact previously that the abduction on the Slave Ship of Space didn't add up. It is nothing something that would usually happen with an organisation such as that run by Mistress Safire."
"That certainly is not her," said Bulays.
"No, but this is who we think set the whole thing up."
"But we still don't know why?" Bulays asked.
"No..."
"I do," Emar interrupted angrily.
"You do?" Bulays looked her directly into those beautiful eyes, now displaying a bright green rage. Emar broke the handhold with Bulays, looking like she wanted to break something. Given how strong she was, this was definitely disturbing.
"I know who that woman is. I thought she was dead."
"So who is it?" Ghaavn asked, worried at what might have made the powerful Htapele woman so steamed.
"Ytar. My cousin. Older cousin."
Bulays moved to reconnect with Emar, but was brushed her aside forcefully. "I was sure we had killed the bitch." Emar pounded a fist on the corner of Gerald's desk, and it crumbled under the impact.
"Whoa! calm down, lover," Bulays called.
"Emar, tell us what is going on. Then if you want to break something, we can happily accommodate you in the training facility."
"I don't know exactly...but if she is involved in that set-up, then there must have been something that girl knew that was easier to get. The black sheep of the family was always into mind twisting."
"Looks more like a purple sheep," Bulays commented. At that, Emar's lip curled up slightly, and she appeared to begin to calm.
"I don't think there are any purple sheep, darling," Emar said more softly. "I apologise about the desk, Gerald. Whatever you might think of us, how ruthless, or evil we can be. She is far, far worse."
Gerald nodded, waving that it was ok as she began a communication. "Get me Senator Vida. Immediately."
Gerald turned her attention back to the others as she cut the communication. "I am going to have the Senator brought in. Why don't you three go and work off Emar's energy at the training facility, and I'll call you when the Senator is almost here."
*****
"You are supposed to lift the weights, not bend 'em," Bulays observed, pointing at the free weights bar with a knot in it that Emar held in one hand. Her well-proportioned chest heaved in the black spare leotard she hard borrowed from Bulays.
"Hmmm..." She placed her hands at either end of the bar, and twisted with an effort. The bar was now straightish again, but at least usable.
"I think I'll leave you to spot for her, Bulays. Out of my class," Ghaavn called, finishing a routine on the uneven parallel bars.
"Yes, the weaker sex should stay doing the decorative things," Emar shot back. "Unless you'd like me to toss you a bar?" Emar waved the steel loaded down with weights she had finished straightening.
Ghaavn laughed. "No thanks. I'll stay with being pretty." He flipped into a dismount and grabbed a towel from a rack by the wall.
Over the intercom: "Ghaavn, the Senator will be here soon. Report back."
"Even the weaker sex has to remove the sweat, Your Majesty. So if you promise not to break anything, I'll help Bulays scrub your back?"
Emar’s smile showed she definitely liked that idea, and crooked a finger at him as she shucked her leotard.
*****
"Ooooh, that's better," the Death Queen of Neptune moaned. The three stood in a large, steamy shower stall under the water. Bulays and Emar stood chest to chest, Bulays massaging Emar's shoulders as the Htapele woman leaned into her neck. No mean feat, even as strong as Bulays was. Ghaavn, as good as his word, finished scrubbing Emar's back, then stepped out of the shower to dry off and get dressed.
"Always knows the right thing to say, doesn't he?" Emar murmured into the blonde woman's neck.
"Usually, love. Now that he's gone, though, we have a couple of minutes if there are any other bits that need massaging." Bulays' tongue darted between her lips lasciviously as Emar looked up, her eyes widening, then hooding with lust. The downward pressure of Emar's hands on Bulays' breasts gave her all the answer she needed while looking into those green eyes. Bulays sank to her knees, pulled Emar's rear toward her, and put her tongue to work.
***
When the post-workout trio arrived, Senator Vida was already there. "Welcome, Senator," said Ghaavn, extending a hand to be shaken. The stern-looking elderly woman took his hand in a grip still firm for her age and did so. "Bulays." She acknowledged Ghaavn's partner, but not Emar. The latter looked a little amused at the slight.
The senator turned away. "Gerald, why is the alien here?"
Gerald took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Senator Vida, she isn't an alien. She has been living in this system well before we got around to thinking 'clay tablets - sounds like a good idea', so please stop."
"Your personal involvement doesn't mean we can trust her."
"Senator! How do I know I can trust you? Given that you have only become involved yourself when one of your relatives was imperilled. In fact, you have deliberately worked in direct opposition to this office on so many more occasions than she has that I have lost count."
Emar broke in. "Think what you like, Senator. If I was as completely unworthy of speaking to you as you seem to think, you'd just be a blood smear on the carpet right now. I am sure we could find another politician with stupid offspring to have make mistakes. Cleaning up Geralds’ rug wouldn't take too long."
Bulays had to bite her tongue to keep from chortling at the Senator being out-harridaned.
"So, Vida. Just be quiet and listen for a minute. We can fight afterwards. We need to know how much of a security risk to the council this incident has presented. What did your niece now that was easier to get from her, and wouldn't be noticed as quickly as tapping another source?"
"The only time she has been around anything important that I can remember is a reception I held for the military. She was at the party. Flirting with one of the tech-geek boys, I think, now that I remember."
"Doesn't sound good," Ghaavn remarked. "Were they likely to have let anything slip."
"With attention from a decent girl, frocked up, with expensive booze? I would think it is possible. Didn't seem like the debonair secret agent type to me. The child didn't know what she was doing, as far as I can tell."<
br />
"What were they working on?"
"Project Dauntless," replied the Senator.
"Oh, no...." Gerald held her head in her hands.
"Secret weapons project, was it?" Emar asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They don't have clearance for this," the Senator said.
"They do now. If we need field agents, someone has to know. You trusted them in the middle of space with your flesh and blood, didn't you?"
"Very well," said the Senator. "You are right…this time."
"Bulays, Ghaavn, Emar...Project Dauntless isn't just a secret weapons program. It is _the_ secret weapons program. That is where the work on a battleship more advanced than anything that we have ever had is being carried out." Gerald looked extremely pained. "An ace in the hole, if you like."
"Karshi!" Emar spat.
"It certainly sounds like it," Ghaavn said. "We also need to find more than the Karshi spies. We need their handlers, and the spymaster."
"Been ahead of us for a while, now, it seems." Bulays added. "So Lysithea was a red herring then?"
"Actual aliens, Senator. Ones that are a definite threat to the whole system. Aliens that the woman you were insulting earlier on has beaten in the past. If they have this much information we don't stand a chance of beating them without her help. So you need to put aside your prejudices and work with us. If you cannot do that, I'll have to tell the President you are a clear and present danger to Solar System security. Especially given this slip. Or you can retire gracefully, if you prefer. However, getting your predecessor's head wrapped around everything you know would probably take too long. So I would much prefer you as a valuable ally than a discarded asset."
"And there were probably Karshi on the Slave Ship?" Bulays continued.
"I would think so," said Emar.
"We're going to have to ask Hypatia to come in and have the Spooky Spell Squad poke around in her mind," Ghaavn said apologetically. "The Patrol needs to board that ship, too."
"If we are really deep in spy games," the Senator opined, "Do we really want to make it that obvious?"
"I think the Senator is actually right this time, Ghaavn." Emar looked at him, then back at Vida, staring. "I will leave you with this for now, Gerald. I need to organise a House meeting." With that, she faded out in a green glow, waving to Bulays.
The Senator stepped back, startled. Gerald regarded Vida sternly. "She could have grabbed you then, too Senator. Left your body where no one would ever possibly find it. She is dangerous, ruthless, and amoral by some definition. So, however, is everyone in this room. One thing I am sure of though. No one hates the Karshi more than she does. I am sure there is more of a reason there, but we do not know it."
*****
"I need you here now! Htapele emergency." Emar called.
Her five sisters faded into view in Emar's meeting room in her palace, on Neptune.
"What's the emergency," asked Unar, the youngest. "I don't remember the last time this happened."
"Ytar's alive," Emar ground out through clenched teeth.
They were stunned. In the silence, you could have heard a Neptunian micro-stalactite fall.
"The worse news? She may be working with the Karshi. If she is, we need to work out how to kill her. If she isn't, we need to work out how to get her to help. The humans have just received some bad news, themselves."
*****
"We may have to offer Mistress Safire the same sort of 'deal' as Madame Khan," Lady Gerald said.
"Yes," Bulays said. "People will be scumbag perverts, certainly. If I had to bet, I wouldn't have thought she was a traitor though. She certainly wouldn't like the idea of aliens moving in and spoiling her set-up, either."
"I don't like doing it," Lady Gerald said. "But I'm going to have to split you up. Bulays, I'd like you to go with Buck and talk to Safire. If Emar wants to go along for the trip, that would work nicely I believe, psychologically."
"Ghaavn, Hypatia. She's off world, and very well may be a target. We need what she might know without having noticed it consciously, especially as she is friendly. You are to escort her in. I'm going to send another agent with you for backup. Hypatia is the priority. If you have to sacrifice him, then do it. Understand?"
"Yes." Ghaavn answered. The expression on his face clearly indicating he wasn't happy about it. "One question first. Where is Project Dauntless?"
"Part of it is here. Some is on Earth. The main work is on Dione. Under the Claw."
THE END
Artwork by Roberto Rizzato
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Coming Soon
The Adventures of Bulays and Ghaavn
Last Day on Leda – Tara Loughead
Dione’s Claw – Tara Loughead
The Gender Switch Adventures
The Valley of the Flame – Henrietta Kuttner