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that Samantha was aware of its existence but he also knew that she valued the unspoken trust that

existed between them. She was so gullible. Fortunately, he had never told Samantha about the

jade dragon. He opened the locker and reached for the silk wrapped piece of jade. He tucked it

into a small box and placed it carefully into his knapsack.

“Lucky!” He raised his voice ever so slightly. A loud pop crackled through the room as

Lucy materialized.

“What do you want?” When her eyes focused on his face, she let out a delightful gasp.

“Tyler! I didn’t know it was you. I thought it was Samantha. I really should have had my sensors

better tuned in. Sorry about that.”

Tyler couldn’t help but smile. Lucy and Samantha rarely saw eye to eye even though

Lucy had been created in Samantha’s image sans the bright violet shade of hair.

“Not a problem, Lucy. But do me a favor in the future; try to be nice to Samantha. She’s

going to need your kindness.” Lucy’s face fell, but after a few seconds she had recovered.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 127

“I can try. But you know how stubborn she can be.”

For once, he couldn’t give Lucy a rebuttal on that. Lucy levitated herself in the air and

crossed her legs.

“Lucy, I need you to do something for me.”

“Sure, thing. I’d do anything for you, Tyler.”

“First off…you need to promise me something. You have to swear to never break the

confidence of what I am about to ask you.”

Intrigued, Lucy leaned forward. “As I said before, Tyler, I’d do anything for you. I swear

to keep whatever you say to me in the strictest confidence. On my honor as the AI of the

Excalibur.
”

“Thanks.” He looked away. For one slight second the feelings of creepy guilt had

approached him. What a foreign feeling for him. “I need you to patch through a transmission to

the
Jade Flower
.... I want you to hide it from Winter’s people. I know you can do that for me

because my genius brother programmed you.”

Speechless, Lucy stared at him with her eyeballs nearly falling right out of her

holographic head.

“What? No. You tricked me. I mean…I mean....” Lucy shook her head and made a weird

gurgling noise in the back of her throat. “You cad. You scoundrel. You led me right into that!”

“You didn’t have to agree.”

“Yes, but you’ve never tried to pull one over on me before. I never thought I had to be on

my guard with you. Now, Samantha on the other hand, she’s an entirely different story.”

“Please, don’t talk against Samantha to me.” His voice dropped to a mere whisper. If she

continued, he’d break his cover and agree with Lucy on all of points she made concerning

Samantha.

Lucy tossed her head. “Fine. Have it your way, but mark my words this can only lead to

trouble. I never should have allowed you to listen in on Samantha and Charlotte’s conversation

with Quinn. Oooh, I’ll never do that again. I can promise you that.”

“Lucy.”

“Fine. But what are you going to do? The Triad isn’t exactly a talkative bunch, you

know. Why do you think they’ll want to listen to anything you have to say?”

“I’m not going to try to negotiate for them, Lucy. I have an offer to place on the

table…and they will hopefully like what I can give them.”

Lucy shook her head. “Screw the offer. I can see where this is leading. You’ve got that

bloody jade dragon stashed in that bag, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Oh no. I’m going to go and tell Dylan on you. He’ll know how to talk some sense into

you. The Triad is dangerous. Tyler, I can’t let you do this. It’s a really bad scheme. Worse than

anything Samantha has ever dreamed up!”

“Lucy, you promised me!”

Shock mingled with horror crossed her face. “NO! Oh, damn. I did. You rascal. You

deviant.”

“Are you done calling me names?”

“Maybe. I could alert the crew with just a single alarm. They’d all come rushing into this

and I could get Ross to sit on you until you rethought your position in this.”

“NO.” Tyler leveled his stern gaze at her. “I won’t let you turn against me.” He pulled a

mini computer from out of his bag. “I can hack into your systems if need be, but I wanted to give

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you a chance first. I don’t want to force you to do anything, Lucy.”

Lucy chewed her bottom lip. He had to look away. Lucy looked so much like Samantha it

was giving him the creeps. Weird how he didn’t think that Lucy looked like Charlotte. He smiled

softly.

“Fine.” She hadn’t moved her lips. “Just give me a minute. It will take a while to get

through the security that Winter has raised onboard the
Snow Queen
.”

“Take your time. I need you to do it right the first time around.”

Lucy rolled her eyes. Breathing deeply, she rolled her eyes up into the back of her head

and began to make a weird crackling noise. After a few seconds, she stared back at him. “What

do you want to go into your message?”

He showed her the display screen on his mini handheld device. She clicked her tongue.

“Don’t give me another lecture, Lucy.”

“I wasn’t going to.” She gave him an indignant look and then proceeded to transmit the

message that he wanted to send to The Triad. “It’s done.” She looked at him with crystal looking

orbs glimmering in her eyes. “I’ll lower the shields on the
Snow Queen
and for just enough time

for you to transport over.”

He nodded his head and reached inside of his locker for his sight-to-sight personal

transporter.

“Thank you, Lucy. You are a doll.”

“I’m a horrible AI. That’s what I am. I’m disgusted with myself. I can’t wait around to

say goodbye to you. As far as I’m concerned you’ve made your own bed and now you can lie in

it.”

She crackled out of existence, and left Tyler with a hollow feeling in his gut. “Goodbye,

Lucy.”

“You’re good to go now, Tyler.” Lucy sounded sulky.

He sighed. Squeezing his eyes shut, he activated his personal transporter. Destination: the

Jade Flower.

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“Matriarch, you are needed.”

Kim fluttered her eyes opened. Anger surged within her. “Sang, how dare you disturb

my slumber!”

“Mistress, please, forgive me! But it is urgent. Your favorite thief has returned to the

fold, Mistress. He has requested a meeting with you. As agreed, he has brought the summoning

gift.”

“Lights on.” Kim was getting sick and tired of trying to see in the dark, even though she

could, when necessary.

“Forgive me, Mistress,” Sang pleaded again.

Waving her hand, she smiled. “Of course, you are forgiven, Sang. You have brought me

glad tidings. Glad tidings, indeed. My grandson is not aware of The Thief’s return is he?”

“No, mistress. As requested, we have kept all correspondences secret.”

“Excellent. You may bring him in. I shall see him in my Red Parlor.”

“Yes, mistress.” Sang bowed as he backed out of her bedroom.

Kim felt exuberant. So many things were going her way…it had to be sheer providence.

She looked up at the portrait of her husband that had been commissioned sixty years ago. “We

shall have it all, as you always wanted, Ani.”

Reaching for her Elurian Silk dressing gown she draped it over her shoulders and brought

herself up to her queenly posture. Tyler Cassidy would be a sight for sore eyes. A smile

crinkled the corners of her mouth. She had waited for him to come, for him to return to the fold

for far too long. She knew he could not remain away much longer. She had sensed it. Motioning

for her sleepy handmaiden, she smiled when the girl jumped to do her bidding. She had kept a

handmaiden in her chambers since the day her dear husband had died. This way, she always had

a servant ready to serve her.

“You must make me look like a young school girl, Eunice. I shall be entertaining one of

the finest men in the galaxy.”

“Yes, mistress.” Eunice curtsied and then went to work on Kim’s hair. The time skipped

by. Tyler would be waiting for her.

“Hurry it up, Eunice, or I shall trade you in. Perhaps, I will give you to Rick. His harem

is getting a bit empty.”

“No mistress, please don’t. I am finished.”

Kim looked at her reflection in the mirror. If she didn’t know better she would have

thought she had suddenly been made to seem twenty years younger. “You have done well,

Eunice. You will stay in my service.”

“Thank you, mistress. You are too kind. I do not deserve you.”

“Indeed.” Kim fingered the crown that Eunice had positioned on her head. “But you may

bask in my glory, Eunice.”

“I shall, mistress.” Eunice curtsied again, and then moved to a comfortable distance.

Everyone in Kim’s employ knew that she hated to be suffocated. Before she stood up, Kim’s

eyes focused in on the animated picture of Aurora. Aurora would ensure Kim’s great legacy.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 130

The children Aurora would bear would be a force to be reckoned with across the known worlds;

in fact they would allow her to control the domain between worlds as well.

“I am ready.” Eunice picked up the long train on Kim’s gown. “We shall proceed into my

Red Parlor.”

Kim waltzed into the Red Parlor and felt her heartbeat quicken at the sight that stood

before her.

“Tyler Cassidy, aren’t you a sight to behold,” she breathed.

“Matriarch.” Tyler flourished a dramatic bow her way.

Kim smiled. “Stand, Tyler. You need not bow before me.” Normally, she demanded that

men bow to her six times when first being presented to her and women were made to curtsy six

times.

Tyler stood and smiled at her. His radiance could always lighten her heart. “As

promised, Matriarch, I have brought you the summoning gift.”

“Ah, its brilliance has not dimmed,” Kim murmured staring at the glowing jade dragon.

She stepped forward to accept his gift. “We shall have fun summoning an army from the Void

with this little trinket shall we not?” she laughed, making Tyler smile even wider.

Then, she extended her hand for him to kiss. He promptly planted his lips softly against

it. She reached out with her mind, and touched his mind. She could sense the usual rioting

emotions, but she didn’t sense any duplicity from him. It looked as if he had come back to the

fold upon his own accord. He could only pretend to be someone he wasn’t for so long. She

would help him find his own destiny in this realm. She would make him a great man.

“Thank you for taking me back, Mistress.”

“You always knew I would. You are the pride of The Triad, Tyler. Welcome back. You

shall be reinstated with your previous rank. I trust you will be quite satisfied with that?”

“Indeed, Mistress.”

“Then, go forth to your old quarters and sleep for the rest of the night. You look tired.

We will deal with the other details in the morning.”

“My wife will come after you, I...,”

“Say no more, Tyler. Considering our relationship, I shall spare your wife a horrible

death. Besides, she will never be able to find us where we will be going.”

“I do not know what you mean.”

“Your wife only has one ship at her disposal that is capable of keeping up with our ships.

In twenty-four hours, we will be landing on a Triad operated planet on the very far side of The

Rim.”

“In Elusian territory?”

“Indeed. The Elusians and The Triad have come to a fortuitous agreement. We provide

them with breeding age human females and they leave us in peace.” She cleared her throat.

“Your wife could search the ends of the galaxy and still never find us. The planet is naturally

cloaked.” Kim laughed. Her plan was pure genius. “Once we settle there, we will call for our

army and we will start to overrun the known the galaxies with our might!”

She cupped the side of Tyler’s face and sighed. “It lightens my heart to see you again,

Tyler. More than you will ever know. I always knew the apprentice would return to his

mistress.”

She smiled. Kim now had it all. Her plans were all falling into place, just as she had

foreseen so many years ago. Soon, The Triad would span across the known worlds. Her empire

would continue to grow, until it threatened the stability of Earth and its protected colonies. Kim

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 131

was unstoppable.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 132

Samantha opened her eyes and stared down the long winding tunnel on the Triad ship.

Her heart pounded against her ribcage. Charlotte stood at her side. “Remember, whatever

happens, is predestined. We can’t change fate. We must have faith. All will be well.”

Samantha didn’t know what to make of Charlotte’s advice. The sound of Tyler’s voice

made the hairs on the back of Samantha’s neck stand on end. He strode into view. Rory stood at