Forbidden sanctuary, p.27
Forbidden Sanctuary, page 27
part #2 of Star Lawyers Series
“Yes, sir. I saved your obdurate ass.”
“Excuse me?”
“You were about to become the greatest war criminal in human history. That would have been your legacy.”
“We could have controlled the Gates. We could have kept the pirates from accessing Andromeda.”
“Oh, yeah. Like our European ancestors controlled the New World?”
“That was another place and time.”
“They say history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes,” Tyler said. “You keep telling me we’re part Lakota Sioux. How tragic would it be if a Family descended from Plains Indians opened Andromeda to exploitation and destroyed millions of native civilizations? Our name would be a curse word in a billion alien tongues. And we’d deserve it.”
Noah hung his head. “If only peaceful traders and settlers crossed the galactic bridge? Think about living among the pacifist races as one of them. Think what we could’ve learned.”
Tyler nodded. “In the first wave of settlement, maybe. But how long can we risk it?”
“We are governed by moral laws. We have great spiritual teachers.”
Tyler agreed. “We need spiritual teachers precisely because human behavior drifts toward selfishness, greed and hostility. Until we walk the peaceful path of a Buddha, Jesus, Muhamad, or Baha’u’llah, we can’t be trusted to wander among the nonviolent civilizations of Andromeda.”
“You had no right to make that call,” Noah said.”
“What can I say, Dad? I saw a problem. I took action. I’m a Matthews.” Tyler stepped closer to his father. “Now it’s your turn.”
“My turn to do what?”
No turning back now. Tyler drove on. “I want you to destroy all the science Great-Grandpa got from his Andromeda contact. The alien technology that allows an intergalactic Gate system to function—all of it must go.”
“And why in Christ’s Name would I do that?”
Tyler squared his shoulders. “Because someone told me, ‘The highest good often comes from a multitude of little wrongs and rights crashing into each other until we figure it out.’ Now, figure it out, goddamn you!”
Tyler’s staff and family flinched. No one spoke until Noah replied.
“Do you hate me that much?”
“Of course not,” Tyler said. “Objection overruled.”
“So, that’s your whole case?” Noah said. “Quote me as your expert witness against myself?”
Tyler felt the power rising from his gut. He was winning the argument. Not a lightning bolt to victory but a rolling thunder, impossible to ignore. He was his father’s son after all.
“I’m a good lawyer, and you’re a good man.” Tyler took a calming breath. “Kichirou got through. If we re-open a Gate to Andromeda, it’s only a matter of time before other people with bad intent cross over and destroy a million years of peace. Will that be the Matthews Legacy?”
Noah slowly nodded. “All right, Tyler. The point is moot, anyway. With both Gates destroyed, there’s no reason to risk a future calamity. I’ll purge the data.”
“Thank you.”
Tyler’s holographic father touched his shoulder; the hand felt solid, warm, real. “If you truly prevented a new Mongol horde from sweeping through Andromeda, then I suppose you’ve served the greater good. But only by the boundless Grace of God. You’re still a hot-headed idiot.”
“Like father, like son.” He smiled faintly. The war wasn’t over yet.
Noah Matthews nodded. “So, when do you want to start Aunt Violet’s Starship Command School?”
J.B. turned sharply to his brother. “Tyler—?”
“Change of plans.” Tyler patted his father’s shoulder. “You said it yourself, Dad. I’m not starship command material. I’m staying right here with my team. I’m a Star Lawyer.”
Noah’s eyes swept the Family members present. “What about the rest of you?”
J.B. stood. “I’m with Tyler.”
Rosalie hopped off her chair. “Me too, Papá.”
Julieta and Esteban stood, nodding, followed by the non-Family members of Tyler’s crew.
“Mister Matthews, you don’t know me,” Demarcus Platte said. “But I gotta tell you—that’s one helluva kid you raised. We’re all with the crazy sonuvabitch.”
Noah looked at his youngest son. “So, what do you want, Tyler?”
“Your original offer. An independent law firm, to operate beyond Commonwealth jurisdiction.”
Noah paced slowly, glancing occasionally at the ceiling. “Not an independent start-up. But I’ll agree to a Matthews Corporation subsidiary with complete autonomy.”
“Why?” Tyler snapped.
“Because I said so. Because you’re still part of the Family.” His father took a breath. “Jesus, Tyler, you’re taking the next generation with you.”
“All right. Autonomous subsidiary. And you pledge not to interfere with our business outside Terran space,” Tyler said flatly. “Otherwise, you can shove M-double-I up your A-double-S.”
The room became still. J.B. clenched his fists; Suzie squeezed Tyler’s hand gently.
Noah crossed his arms. “Choices have consequences, Son.”
Tyler nodded. “Okay. Let’s negotiate those consequences.”
“No money. No resources. You’re on your own.”
“I keep this ship and the captain’s corvette seized from Kichirou,” Tyler said. “Plus all the support technologies.”
“All right.”
“And you owe us travel expenses,” J.B. said. “Plus billable work hours to represent you in Matthews vs. Suryadivan Sacred Protectorate.”
“Which we won by settlement,” Tyler added. Way to go, Big Brother. I wondered where you’ve been hiding those balls when The Old Man prowls nearby.
Noah wiped his lips. “All right.”
“I’ll send the invoices,” Dorla said. “Shall we expect payment in Galactic Credits through the Central Bank of Rahjen?”
“Dorla,” Tyler said, “my father will handle the details.”
“It’s my job, Mr. Matthews,” Dorla said crisply.
“She’s looking out for your interests, Tyler. Central Bank of Rahjen. You got it.” Noah glanced at his younger son. “And I’ll kick in a home office to get you started. How about a couple floors in the Suryadivan Trade Embassy?”
“No, thanks. The Patrick Henry will house Star Lawyers Corp.”
“Anything else?”
“I have something,” J.B. said. “Make Adelaide LeBlanc your permanent trade ambassador. Give her a free hand to wheel and deal. She’ll have you back in the black at FTL speed.”
Noah grunted. “I thought she was a traitor.”
“We were wrong,” J.B. said.
“She is loyal,” Esteban said. “Trust me, Tio Noah.”
“One more consequence.” Tyler put an arm around Suzie. “This is my fiancé, Star Lawyer Suzanne London. And I don’t want any bullshit when you learn the details.”
“Son, I’m not the one you need to worry about.” Noah chuckled and bowed slightly to Suzie. “You are quite beautiful, my dear. Welcome to the Family. I hope you choose to hang around now that Tyler is broke.”
“Mr. Matthews, my interest in your son is purely sexual. I like my fiancés penniless, good-looking, and randy as a rabbit.” She waited until the shock on Noah’s face faded to a genuine smile. Suzie winked. “Tag, you’re it.”
Noah laughed, and the laughter spread through the room like a cool shower after a blazing summer day. “Tyler, I believe you’ve struck gold.”
Suzie broke off the cheery moment. “Incoming message from the Overland Park.”
“Are you wearing comm implants?” Noah said. “We have several research projects on the boards—”
“Dad, please shut up.” He glanced at Suzie. “Freeze him. Put Mom through.”
Suzie acted before Noah’s perfect likeness grasped what they were doing. Caught in the middle of a hand-sweeping gesture, she turned the stalwart magnate of interstellar commerce into a life-size statue of himself.
“Not your mother,” Suzie said. “Her XO, Fleet Captain Gertzel.”
“Do I need to take it privately?”
“I don’t think so.” Suzie opened the channel.
Twenty-Eight
A blue, floppy-eared, Quirt-Thymean female—same species as their missing Star Lawyer—appeared in the open space over the conference table. Even though the image was non-holographic and one quarter life size, Tyler reflexively moved half-empty cups of coffee and tea, shoved aside a tray of leftover apricot scones, and cleared a space for her. He rose to greet the elfin image.
Suzie said, “You’re connected, Fleet Captain.”
“Ah, thank you, Suzanne.” The blue female flashed set of snowy teeth as she searched the room. “There you are, Tyler Matthews! How large and handsome you have grown. No wonder your mother dotes on you. Please, take your seat.”
Are we talking about the same mother? He sat at the table and pushed more cups away from his view of the blue female who was his mother’s closest alien friend.
“Captain Gee!” Tyler said. “Good to see you again. Congratulations on kicking pirate ass.”
“Is Admiral Bianca Matthews, my excellent friend and superior officer, with you now?”
“Not yet,” Tyler said. “We’re expecting Mom to pop by any moment.”
“Good, good, good.” She shook her floppy blue ears. “I want to discuss a personal legal matter with you.”
Tyler leapt to his feet. “Shall we speak privately?”
“No, no, no. Not personal-personal. Completely non-secretive, non-officially personal.”
“Okay.” He sat again, amazed that hanging with Indigo had started to make Quirt-Thyme logic intelligible. “How may we help you, non-officially personally?”
“Oh, not me. I am soliciting non-official personal help for His Royal Highness Ancillary Sub-Prince Zenna-Zenn Ringadool-Khelida-LeBokk, Junior.”
“Who?”
“Alas, I thought you might recognize an abbreviated form the Pharmaadoodil name. Perhaps I should have recited all sixteen thousand components.” She wiggled her bulbous nose. “You call him Mr. Blue.”
Tyler heard chairs shift as her final words caught the attention of everyone in the conference room. He glanced at Suzie, whose lips silently formed the words, “I have no idea.”
“Is that a statue of your father? Very life-like.” Gertzel scratched her floppy ear.
“Hologram. He’s on hold.” Tyler gestured to Suzie and his father disappeared.
“Tyler Matthews, will you help my kinsman?” Gertzel said.
Tyler sighed. “What trouble has ol’ blue ears got himself into?”
“A few Terran years ago, Zenna-Zenn fled the home worlds and took refuge at Sedalia-3. He recently fled that planet and took refuge with your law firm. When your mission to the Sacred Protectorate was in jeopardy, Zenna-Zenn negotiated a surrender of himself in exchange for military support to Matthews Interstellar.”
Tyler’s head was reeling. “Wait—Indigo is a criminal? Why did your people agree to fight beside M-double-I, if all it netted was one fugitive from justice?”
“Pirates are a threat to civilized commerce. Naturally, Quirt-Thymeans rendered assistance.”
“What did Mr. Blue allegedly do to make him an outlaw?” Tyler said.
“Unlawful departure. I am no longer in the service of our Most Gracious Sovereign, but I departed with blessings. Zenna-Zenn did not.”
“That’s it? They’re after him for emigrating without an exit visa?”
“Yes,” Gertzel said. “And murdering the King.”
“Would you say that again?”
When she did, the conference room became silent as a buried sepulcher. Finally, Esteban said, “He didn’t do it.”
“How do you know?” J.B. said. “He’s from an alien culture.”
“I would have felt it,” Esteban said.
Rosalie nodded. “I know killers. Blue isn’t one of them.”
“Tyler Matthews, I have money to pay,” Gertzel said. “My sub-clan is quite wealthy. Will you defend—”
“Let me poll the jury.” Tyler looked around the table. Every head nodded, even the utterly cautious Demarcus Platte. “Send the files. We’ll take the case.”
The blue Fleet Captain smiled broadly. “Very brave of you, Tyler Matthews. No attorney on my world would risk it.”
He shrugged. “Not a big deal. We like Mr. Blue.”
Gertzel thanked them profusely and signed off. Tyler kept his father on ice while they processed the new information. Indigo, a murderer?
“Two choices, boys and girls,” Tyler said. “Go help Mr. Blue or stay here and face my mother. What say ye?”
“Yumiko already went after him!” Rosalie said.
Julieta cursed softly in Mindorian. “There goes my night on the town.”
“Uh…sir?” Paco said, touching his earpiece. “We may have a problem.”
J.B. leaped to his feet. “I’ll start the take-off sequence. The Patrick Henry will be in space before—”
Lieutenant Arabella Maboob opened the conference room hatch; Admiral Bianca Matthews stepped inside.
“Before what?” She glared at her children, then scanned the room. “Where is your father hiding?”
Tyler nodded to Suzie and she reactivated the Apexcom hologram. He wanted Dad in the kill zone. Noah Matthews greeted his wife politely but volunteered no information. A wise decision, considering she opened fire immediately.
“Noah, your friend, Flávio Tavares, is a lying, no good piece of—I cannot say it. I am a lady.”
“Captain Tavares? What did he—?”
“Idiota! He has become El Rey Pirata.”
Rosalie shot to her feet. “Not Flávio, too!”
“Sí, mi hija.” She told Noah how Tavares fired on the Quirt fleet’s ECM ship before he escaped to FTL with dozens of fellow pirates.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Noah said. “The name ‘Pirate King’ was a joke.”
“He betrayed you,” Bianca reiterated. “He recruited the pirate fleet.”
“Tavares destroyed the Beta Gate, killed our crews, and crushed the Suryadivan Navy,” J.B. said.
“Dad, please tell me you didn’t give that asshole the coordinates to our Beta Site,” Tyler said.
“Goddammit!” Noah said. “I’ve known that hairy pork chop for thirty-five years. Thought he was working for our side. I’ll put a bounty on his ass, high enough his mother will try to collect.”
“And while we’re on the subject of rat bastards,” Tyler said, piggybacking on his mother’s attack, “another old friend, Hideki Tsuchiya, engineered this whole coup d’état to steal the Gates and drive the Family to ruin.”
“What makes you so sure?” Noah demanded. “You thought Dr. LeBlanc was a traitor.”
“We know for a fact Sakura House funded the pirate fleet,” J.B. said. “No doubt Hideki-san recruited Tavares as his point man.”
“Son of a bitch. I should have seen this coming. So much for trusting old friends.” Noah sighed deeply. “Did Lulu Treymore sell me out, too?”
“Take a breath, Dad. You survived a buffalo stampede. You’ll circle back as a hunter.”
He considered telling his father what Suzie had learned from Abuela about the death of Great-Grandpa Matthews. Would it help to reveal the dispatcher had been hired by Hideki Tsuchiya, whose treachery against the Matthews Family had a hundred-year history? The Old Man had enough to deal with now.
When Bianca sat at the conference table, Tyler held up a hand. “Mom, I’m glad to see you, but don’t get comfortable. You’re not staying long.”
“After so much hurt and betrayal today, you treat your mother with disrespect?” Bianca said.
“No disrespect, ma’am,” Tyler said. “We’re lifting off shortly. Company business.”
“What business? When the Alpha Gate exploded, I thought I would never see you again,” Bianca said. “Where are you going now?”
“The Quirt-Thyme Empire,” Tyler said.
“Ay! So far away.”
“Our friend, Mr. Blue, is facing a murder charge,” J.B. said. “We believe he’s innocent.”
“The Azules are good people. You do well to help them.” Bianca turned to Rosalie. “You will come home with me.”
“No, Mommy.” Rosalie took her arm. “I’m staying with Tyler.”
Bianca’s eyes swept her daughter, head to toe. “No! I need you at home, safe. Not strutting around the Rim worlds, dressed like a prostituta.”
“It’s young people’s fashion today. And thank you for wanting me safe, but I’m working in the new Family business. I’ll be careful.” She smiled brightly. “Besides, I’m just an exo-anthropologist consulting with attorneys. Booor-ing.”
Julieta kissed her aunt. “Tia Bianca, tell Papá that Esteban and I are not returning yet.”
“We have unfinished business out here,” Esteban said.
The Admiral scowled at Noah. “This is all your fault.”
“No, my darling. You Solorios bear some responsibility. We raised this Family together.”
Tyler confidently looked his father in the eye. It felt euphoric. “What about all those bloodthirsty creditors, now that I’ve trashed your pricey Jump Gates?”
“Your mother knocked out most of the pirates who’ve been harassing their shipping. I’m collecting an embarrassing stack of thank-you notes from major players. The Parvians told me to name the rogue planet of my choice and they would blast everything on the surface.”
“The Parves are still pissed about pirates bombarding their ships parked at Sedalia,” Tyler said. “What about the money everybody lost in our Legacy Project?”
“I have other resources. And your mother seized over a thousand assorted starships from Sakura House, Mindorian, Dengathi and Rek Kett pirates. We’ll convert the bandits into bounties and market their vessels as war prizes. And I’m going to sue Hideki Tsuchiya in Commonwealth Court for willful destruction of M-double-I property.” He laughed. “By tomorrow morning, my litigation department will be sharpening battle-axes to attack Tsuchiya Galactica like a hoard of Visigoths prepping to sack Rome.”
