Business Arrangement

[maderr]

After spending the day exploring, they made their way back to the mansion. A familiar voice waylaid them, and Gypsy waved at Bren.

Bren was a second quad human, from a planet called Lexum. He was generally cheerful, pleasant and hardworking. He got angry only when his patients didn’t listen to him – and given he was currently the Melee’s medic, he was angry at them rather often. Combat crews, as a rule, did not like listening to their medics.

Mostly because listening to the medics required staying in bed and missing all the fun.

“Gypsy,” Bren greeted as they approached, smoothing back his blue-black hair as a breeze snatched at it. He was dressed simply in brown slacks, green t-shirt and a white jacket. A handsome, quiet-looking man. His eyes flashed with updates to his in-lens; like the Captain, Bren kept in constant contact with the ship. “You should see everything Spar has been showing me.”

Gypsy shifted his gaze to the man standing beside Bren. A Heriol native, short and stocky, with the deeper skin of those who grew up near the water. His hair was lighter, not quite as pale as Raven’s, and cut close to his head. He looked to be about twenty-three or so.

“This is Spar,” Raven said. “He’s doing his field work with me. Close to finishing actually.” He flashed a fond smile at Spar. “Before too much longer, he will be coaxed away by a rich family of his own and I will be left with someone new to train.”

Spar laughed and waved the words aside. “I’m in no hurry to leave, Master Raven, though of course I will have to at some point.”

“I will not complain of your continued presence,” Raven said. “Have you been showing the ship medic about the place?”

“Yes,” Bren answered, his eyes gleaming. “A most impressive set up you have here; I am jealous. Our ship is of course the best in the stars, and I have no complaints, but land offers a lot more space to work.” He laughed, green eyes bright. “I also doubt your worst patient is as big a baby as some of mine.”

Gypsy snickered. “Kitties don’t take well to injury, it’s true.”

“Neither do comm officers,” Bren retorted dryly.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gypsy said with a grin.

Raven snorted softly, mouth curving in fond amusement. “Is that similar to you knowing nothing about getting injured on the training fields when you were determined to win the game?”

“Exactly.”

Bren rolled his eyes. “Star travelers.”

“Says the ship’s medic who has a custom stunner,” Gypsy shot back.

“For dealing with recalcitrant patients.”

Spar and Raven chuckled. “Come along, space rogues. Gypsy and I have a dinner to prepare for, and I’m sure you must be hungry after spending all day in the lab – and if know Spar, that is exactly what you did.”

“Maybe,” Spar said guiltily.

Gypsy rolled his eyes at Bren. “And you get on me for neglecting myself.”

The taunts and harassment continued as the group made their way into the house, through richly-appointed halls, splitting up as they reached the staircase. Gypsy smiled as Raven’s hand slid into his own. It was increasingly disconcerting how normal such gestures were becoming.

Disconcerting, but not to the point he was going to stop. As the bedroom door slid shut behind them, Raven tugged him close. Sliding into those arms felt as natural as breathing, as did tilting his head to accept Raven’s kiss, their mouths fitting together perfectly. “Mmm, we’re supposed to be getting ready for dinner.”

“We’re getting undressed,” Raven murmured, chuckling against his mouth. “That counts right?”

Gypsy shared the laugh and then moved further into the room, landing on the couch and dragging Raven down with him. “Sounds good to me.”




“I really wish we were back in your room right now,” Gypsy murmured softly as he leaned into Raven.

Raven chuckled softly and lifted a hand to stroke up and down his spine, knowing full well it would make Gypsy shiver. “Another hour or two. Haven’t I worn you out yet?”

“Hardly. I’m hale and hearty from space.”

A soft hum of pleasure, followed by more teasing along his spine.

“Speaking of happy couples,” a dry, amused voice said, and Gypsy started, looking up with a guilty flush at the grinning face of Raven’s father. “It does please me to see that my son did indeed make the right choice – despite being only nineteen, away from home, and after an impulse.”

Raven was the very image of his father, even their grins identical as he rose to his father’s teasing. “Doctors make quick decisions, you know that. Mother bemoans it all the time.” Laughter rippled around the crowded table. “Get on with your scheming.”

“Yes, I can see you’d rather be elsewhere.” More laughter, and Gypsy wanted to sink beneath the table. Stars, he was nearly thirty. Why was he acting as though he were still nineteen? He was here to find Soul traffickers, not fall in— Hastily he reached for his wine, gulping down half of it, ignoring Raven’s silent query.

At the far end of the table, Raven’s father chuckled. “As I was saying, I am happy to see you doing well, my son. I will probably also enjoy your first big fight, but that is not the point of this dinner.”

“Yes, that will probably be at the bar,” a man halfway down the table said, causing the table to erupt into laughter again.

Raven’s father clapped his hands to settle everyone down. “Now, my son has been married for nigh on ten years, to match the forty years I have been with my patient, wonderful, marvelous, beautiful, perfect wife.”

“Maybe you’ll get sex tonight,” Raven’s mother murmured.

Grinning, Raven’s father settled the laughter again. “Now, in honor of our forty years my wife and I are buying a house on the beach. You don’t get anything that fancy, sorry.” He accepted a box his wife retrieved from the floor. It was small, rectangular, an inch or so deep, covered in deep blue velvet. “We did notice you were both missing something, however. I guess as kids you were too lazy to take care of it yourself.” He winked and passed the box to the man next to him, and gradually the gift made its way down the table to Raven and Gypsy.

Beside him he could feel Raven tense with surprise as he accepted the box, then look at his father. He shared a brief look with Gypsy, then opened the box. Nestled inside were two rings. They were made of a silvery, almost translucent material, something that resembled both metal and glass. Set into each ring was a deep red square cut stone.

Given how much time he spent on Zero, when he was on leave or just finishing up reports and interrogations, Gypsy thought he should be used to seeing such things. He measured money in ship parts, otherwise he bought necessities and did little with the rest. That was the way of it for most of IA. He’d never owned anything he didn’t need.

He and Raven had never needed formal marriage rings. Theirs was a contractual arrangement, and rings were a sentimental thing. It had not even really occurred to them…or at least to him. He wondered now if Raven had been given a hard time for lacking a visible demonstration of the marriage.

“Thank you, father,” Raven said with a soft smile. “They’re perfect. You need not have gone to such extravagance.”

His father waved the words away. “Your mother saw them and insisted they would be perfect. Do you imagine I had any choice in the matter after that?”

Raven laughed. “Thank you, mama.”

“Yes,” Gypsy agreed, dragging his eyes away from the ring now settled on his right middle finger. “Thank you.”

Raven’s father nodded. “You are welcome. Now, then. Let us resume drinking. Good wine should not go to waste.”

The party continued for another hour and a half before Raven was at last able to drag them away – to much ribbing and knowing looks – and they made their way quickly from the city back to the mansion.

Back in Raven’s rooms, Cornelius, Formane, and Bren waited in the sitting room.

Cornelius grinned. “The happy couple returns at last. I will say your acting like the most happily reunited couple in the stars has proven an excellent distraction. All I do is act like a concerned old friend and people give up all the information I could ask for.” His face clouded. “Though none of that information looks good, I can tell you now.”

Gypsy frowned and settled on the couch after stripping out of his dinner jacket. “What have you learned?”

“Formane has been cracking systems all day, I’ve been scoping out people and places, and Bren used the lab to access confidential information.” Cornelius flicked a brief glance at Raven. “We’re sorry to be violating your patient information.”

Raven grimaced. “I knew you would when I called for help. I went to a military academy, I know how it works. What did you find?”

The three men exchanged a look, then Cornelius sighed. “Raven, as near as we can tell – you’re the ring leader of the drug trafficking.”

Gypsy blinked. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Where on Heriol would I find time to traffic Soul?” Raven asked.

Formane grunted. “A good question. You are lucky you called us in before someone called the Auths on you.”

“What do you mean?”

Cornelius’s ears twitched restlessly on his head, tail lashing angrily back and forth. “All the evidence we’re finding points to you. I do mean all of it.”

“I…but I haven’t…”

“Knock it off, you stupid cat,” Gypsy said. “Rave, what they’re saying is that it’s too neat. A case like this, the information never leads all to one source this easily. A Soul crackdown can take months if not years. Someone is framing you.”

“Exactly,” Cornelius said with a grin. “The questions are who and why.”

Formane drummed his fingers on the arms of his seat. “Kavalerov’s preliminary research indicated that this family was a likely candidate.”

Raven frowned unhappily. “The Rookwoods have always been good to me; it made me sick to say that they were likely candidates – but being as they’re in the shipping business, with all manner of licenses and clearance…well, you’ve seen for yourself how easy it would be for them. My opinion on Soul is the same as yours.” He sighed. “I really cannot picture the Rookwoods…then again, it would appear I’m the perpetrator.”

“Can you think of anyone who would dislike you enough to frame you for Soul trafficking?” Cornelius asked. “Who would profit from your being arrested and carted off?”

“No one,” Raven said. “It’s not like I’m special…my family is highly respected in the community, but not so great we’d have enemies like that. If someone just wanted to ruin our reputation, there are better ways to go about it. Why frame me for Soul?”

Gypsy held his hand tightly, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles. “Someone who really wants you out of the picture…though it is strange to use Soul for that, I admit. It’s a clever play, except for that. Whoever is doing this, if they’re playing it the way we think, isn’t stupid.”

“What do you mean?” Raven asked.

“All the evidence we’ve examined today,” Cornelius explained, “points to you. The problem, and what would have bothered us if we were just Auths, is that it’s not very obvious. We had to look all day, and do some digging. It’s planted, but it’s well planted. If someone had called the Auths in the next few days, they would have come in, investigated, and arrested you. We even have a good idea where to find the Soul storage site – a warehouse that belongs to the Rookwoods that is seldom used. Apparently you keep a skiff there?”

Raven shook his head. “I sold it months ago, actually. It’s just the guy who bought it is off planet for six months. He paid extra to be allowed to keep it there until he gets back. I keep it good condition for him; go up there once a week or so. Nothing else in that old place. That’s why the Rookwoods let me use it.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Gypsy said. “Transporting Soul is the hardest part of the business. It takes years to set up pass through stations. Most of them are busted within the first term. If this has really been going on for more than two terms…”

Cornelius nodded grimly. “Then they’re right where they want to be. It makes no sense to bust the whole operation to frame one guy. So what’s really going on? I hate this espionage shit.”

Formane chuckled. “I admit Soul busts were not my thing…except for the time I got a leader in his sleep.” A brief shadow covered his face, but it eased as Cornelius reached out to stroke his hand. “I’m afraid my expertise is not this. I realize we have the perfect in…but we’re meant for combat, not espionage.”

“The Brilliant is much better at this shit, though I’d never admit to them,” Cornelius said with a sigh.

Gypsy hummed in thought. “We could give them a call. They might be able to give us some pointers, or tell us what’s going on.”

“Do we have to?” Cornelius asked, making a face. “I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I’ll make the call,” Gypsy said, standing up. “That chick who runs their ship is always nice to me. Back in a few.”

“Nice ring, by the way,” Cornelius taunted.

“Shut up.”

Ignoring the laughter that chased him from the room, Gypsy left the mansion and made his way to the space port about ten minutes away, accessing the Melee and immediately setting to work.

Three hours later, Gypsy closed communications and stretched with a groan.

“So it would seem we have quite the bust to make,” Cornelius said from behind him.

Gypsy nodded, wondering when Cornelius had joined him on the bridge. “Any ideas who exactly?”

“With what Victoria has provided us, I know where and how to start looking now. You and Formane get down to that warehouse, give it a thorough going over. That we can do well enough. Bren and I will start looking into things here.” He scratched one of his ears, tail twitching irritably. “Breakfast will be interesting.”

“Shall we go in uniform, Captain?”

Cornelius rolled his eyes. “I don’t even know if I still have a uniform. If I ever did.”

“You probably clawed it to pieces if you did,” Gypsy said with a snicker. He stood up and they made their way off ship.

As they reached the house, though, Cornelius stopped him. He grabbed Gypsy’s right wrist, where his new ring glinted in the light of the lamps overhead. “So, Gyp…”

“You won’t need a new comm officer if that’s what you’re asking,” Gypsy said. “It’s a little early to think I’m abandoning ship, don’t you think?”

Cornelius looked briefly at the ring, then let him go. “Get Formane and get going. If we can wrap this up in a few days, we’ll have bragging rights over Brilliant and Darkside for at least a term.”

Gypsy rolled his eyes but complied.



“Are we certain of this?”

“I have all the necessaries from Kavalerov himself. We’re cleared to do this, and when you know what to look for – well, it spelled out rather neatly didn’t it?”

Gypsy nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get this over with.” He swallowed and triple-checked his stunner, struggling not to think of what ‘over with’ meant. His life was the Melee, the IG. He had no desire to leave that behind. Life on the ground held no appeal for him. None whatsoever.

Except lately he’d caught himself thinking he’d be willing if it meant staying with Raven. When had they changed? Back in school, they’d gotten along well enough, had worked well together. But they’d parted easily, with no regrets or anything. The contractual marriage had worked well for both of them; nothing more had been needed or wanted.

Ten years changed a lot more than he’d ever realized it could.

Well, he would deal with that when he had to. Right now he had to arrest someone.

“Let’s go,” Cornelius said, and strapped his stunner into place before shrugging into his jacket. Turning sharply on his feet, tail whipping back and forth, he led the way through the halls and out onto the patio.

The entire Rookwood family was gathered for breakfast, including a sour-faced Wren who looked far less than pleased that the entire household was gathered because Raven had told them he had an announcement to make.

It had been Raven’s idea to play it that way, posing it as the easiest way to make sure the relevant person was present and unsuspecting. It was easier than busting him, and more effective than finding him and dragging him away in silence. The humiliation of it always made the perpetrators do something stupid.

“So what is this all about?” Wren demanded, looking hatefully at Gypsy.

Gypsy ignored him and turned his attention to the man they were after.

Raven started speaking before they could. “I’m sorry to drag everyone out of bed. I know you all prefer to sleep through the morning.” A few soft chuckles.

Mr. Rookwood, a stern, handsome man who wore his fifty-odd years well, smiled at Raven. “That’s all right. We can imagine what this about.” His gaze flicked to Gypsy. “I will be sorry, but certainly I am happy for you.”

Gypsy blinked.

“Well, I guess this is superfluous then, but I thought you’d like to know that I’m not going to leave you completely unattended.” Raven motioned Bren forward, and Gypsy wondered what the hell was going on. Raven actually making an announcement wasn’t part of the arrangement. “As you’ve already guessed, I’ve decided to stay with my spouse and join him in space. You will, however, be left in excellent hands – Bren here will be trading places with me, and I have to begrudgingly admit he’s ever so slightly better a medic than me. Sometimes.”

Silence fell across the table.

Spar broke the silence. “Not to be presumptuous or anything…but why wasn’t I considered as your replacement?”

Cornelius stepped forward and drew his stunner. “That’s because you’re being arrested for Soul trafficking, under code 17.9 of IG law.”

Another silence fell, thick with shock and disbelief.

“What?” Rookwood said at last.

Gypsy drew his own stunner and moved around the table, leveling it at Spar. “You had it all figured out, didn’t you? Everything neatly in place. Were you going to call the Auths soon? Tip them off to your boss, Raven Marksbury? It would have worked quite tidily. Raven gets arrested, the Auths find the Soul poorly hidden in the old warehouse across town. Neat, tidy, done. You get to stay on permanently as the Rookwoods’ new in residence doctor, the hero of the hour for busting a Soul trafficker and saving the family from disgrace. No one would have looked deeper or further for the Soul across town that Auths are clearing out now. Nor would they have dug deeper to find the real source of the problem; they would have stopped at the setup you arranged busting Raven.”

This part they hadn’t told Raven, claiming it was for his own good. Raven hadn’t been pleased, but he’d obeyed. His face drained of color as the realization ran through him that his colleague and friend was the one behind it all. Gypsy wanted badly to comfort him, hating that he couldn’t.

He kept his stunner trained on Spar as Formane moved to arrest him.

“Nothing to say?” Cornelius challenged.

“How?” Spar asked flatly, not even fighting. “You’re Auths?”

Cornelius nodded. “Some of the IG’s finest.” Finest Internal Affairs, but that was close to Auths. Sort of. They were better than Auths, really. “Called in on a special tip. Not even going to fight us?”

“Little point when I’ve got three stunners in my face and you figured out my little game.”

“Formane.”

Nodding, Formane reached out and clubbed Spar upside the head, then snapped binds on his wrists and hefted the unconscious man over his shoulder.

“What—” Raven said.

“He was going to try something,” Cornelius said flatly. “The early estimates on the Soul we’re hauling out across town is roughly five hundred million points. No one takes a loss like that calmly. He’ll get handed off to the appropriate Auths for interrogation, we’ll see what his whole deal was.”

The Rookwoods were silent – then exploded into questions and shouting, demands to know more.

Gypsy holstered his stunner and left Cornelius to deal with the fallout, moving to Raven and taking his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Raven said with a sad smile. “I feel like an idiot.”

“Don’t,” Gypsy said firmly. ‘If he wasn’t good at fooling everyone, believe me he wouldn’t be a Soul trafficker.” He stared at the hands still held in his. “I wish I could have come for a happier reason.”

Raven let go of his hands and tugged Gypsy close, kissed him softly. “I’m glad you came, whatever the reason. I didn’t realize until I saw you just how much I missed you.” He cupped Gypsy’s face, the touch of his hand was hot, the metal of his ring cool by comparison.

He was sharply reminded of the ring on his own finger. It burned. “What was all that about you coming with me?”

“Hmm?” Raven asked, stopping just short of kissing him again. He frowned, turning hesitant. “I…does the idea displease you? I’m sorry, I should have consulted you first.” His hand slid away from Gypsy’s face. “I thought to make it a surprise…”

Gypsy caught his hand, hating the hurt on that handsome face. “No. I’m just surprised. You’re established here. Settled. This is what you always wanted. I…was going to ask if you mind I stay.” He shrugged and looked away.

Raven was silent, and Gypsy could tell he’d surprised the man. Then Raven chuckled softly and turned his face back around to kiss him softly. “You hate land, Gypsy. All I ever wanted was to be a good doctor. I am. Now there’s something else I’d like to do.”

“What’s that?” Gypsy asked.

“Spend time with the man I married, if he’s willing.”

Gypsy grinned. “Definitely willing.”

“That’s too bad,” Cornelius cut in. “I was sort of hoping one of you would be really stupid about it and I got to kidnap one or both of you. I guess this is easier. Let’s wrap this up and get back to the stars.”

“Yes, Captain,” Raven and Gypsy chorused.