International Security and Defense Tactical Expo
+1+
He is a beautiful boy, but not like the one from my memory.
But for some reason he interest me.
“Sir”, a petite ISDT expo volunteer approachs me, “Can I help you find your next session ?”
Strange’s over the top laughter causes me to look away. I turn from the woman to see Strange was on the other side of the bar lounging around with some idiots from The United British Isle Royal Navy. It was a fucking waste of time for us to be here. If it hadn’t been for that damn July 6th incident we wouldn’t be here while the RLA cleaned up the mess.
“Can I help you”, the woman asks again.
I want her to find me the closest bar and group of people with some actual education. I check the time, the convention is half the fuck over. I have to attend at least three more convention sessions to please the officers at HQ and prove I actually learned something about tactical defense.
I slip past the woman and into the closest session I could find. This entire arms convention was bullshit I, and certainly Strange, didn’t belong here. This place is for common gun jockeys. Not officers.
I look at the sign as I checked into the session. Apparently today’s session was on;
Localized Tactics and Non-lethal weapons
A smiling volunteer hands out pens and papers. A gesture made to suit the old world countries attending the convention. I can't help but to wonder what sick fucks volunteered at an arms dealer convention. Judging by how beautiful the women and men are they are probably sex workers as their day job.
Strange sidles up beside me and joins the session. I thought I’d lost the bastard.
I take a seat in the backrow hoping to catch a few minutes of sleep, Strange has the same idea and sits one seat a part from me.
“Uh, sir?” A woman says
“What.”
“These seats are reserved.”
“I don’t see a sign.”
“I know but we need to reserve---“
“There are a few seats in the front.”
The woman backs away as anyone would do, given you stare at them long enough. Upfront the man giving the session starts sweating and a few heads turned to me.
I turned to see Strange looking at the entrance as two men in dark dress uniforms enter. They walk in perfect unison and scan the crowd one by one. They are at least 6’5, parted hair and dark focused eyes. I get a good look at their pins.
“Well, fuck me.”
The men stand at the door as tall unsmiling figure in a similar uniform steps into the room. She has her hands behind her back, the skirt of her uniform bounces with each step, hinting at long lean legs that areperched on thin black heels. Her jacket is slim and fitted with rows of badges and pins. Her eyes survey the room like the corporals had.
She ignores the woman who tries to hand her a pen and paper, instead one of the corporals takes it. The tall figure approaches the back row. She approaches me.
Up-close she is pretty in that artificial kind of way. Smooth tan skin, hard rosy cheekbones, light blue eyes and big dark pink lips. If it wasn't for the faint lines around her eyes making her appear on the wrong side of 30, she’d be attractive. She looks at the single seat between Strange and I.
“I believe you’re in my seat. . . Sergeant”, she squints to look at my rank, “From . . . The RLA? Interesting.”
Her voice is unusually deep, professional and one note.
“Says the Queen of New Aeterna.”
“We aren’t in New Aeterna and you’re not a citizen so that’s Major Grigori to you. Or ‘Sir’ if you prefer . . . as I outrank you.”
“Major, we can have them bring —“, starts one of her corporals but he shut ups the second she held her hand up.
“I’ll make do.”, she says
Without lifting her skirt or hesitating she moves through the aisle and sits squarely in the seat between Strange and I. She smells distinctly of lilac and whiskey. The corporal hands her the notebook and pen. The lights dim and the speaker starts in on his presentation.
“I was sorry to hear about the massacre at the border. It was ugly.” She leans over and whispers into my ear.
I turn and nearly kiss her she is so close.
“Really? I don’t recall New Aeterna sending any aide."
She scoffs
“New Aeterna was allied with the United States, not whatever the hell you people are calling yourself now.”
“That didn’t stop the NADF from getting involved in the Serial Wars.”, I tell her.
“Well, I wanted to show off what a strong army I have. But . . . you probably weren’t alive back then, Sergeant.”
“And the fact that you were makes you and Supernaturals abominations.”
“You sound like a Westerner. Against progress. You don’t look like one though.”
“What’s that supposed to mean”, I ask her.
“I suppose I had this fantasy that people in the West were morally confused renegade cyborg cowboys.”
“Sorry to disappoint.”
She leans in a little closer, her lips slightly skimming my ear.
“Who said I was disappointed?”
She starts taking notes, but as her pencil moves I realized she os drawing something. In the light I see it is a martini with a question mark next to it.
I don't spend nearly as much time drawing a shot glass.
She raises an eyebrow and draws and explanation point. I start taking actual notes and glance over a few times to see her drawing a distinguished look devil in her notebook.
At the end of the session the lights come on and she gracefully rises and steps into the aisle. She takes the time to approach the speaker. She asks questions that one of the guards, who had been paying attention, wrote down for her. The speaker and few other actually take pictures with her.
She locks eyes with me on her way out and I follow her to the bar. Her guards take a seat at a booth close by.
“What’s with the shadows?” I ask eyeing the corporals.
“For show mostly. I generally protect myself.”
She turns the barstool and crosses her legs, at her thigh o a holstered knife and gun.
“I thought royals couldn’t be armed in your country.”
“Ah, so you do have an interest in New Aeterna.”
“I took a global politics course in law school. My team chose New Aeterna."
“Cute”, she says.
The bartender sets down the first of many drinks.
“What brings you here, Sergeant?”
“My superiors sent me here as a façade, while they cover up--- That is. . .they may consider this trip successful if I convince the most elite army in the hemisphere to join the RLA.”
She takes two more shots before answering.
“That would be quite a feat”, she says, “However, New Aeterna is a stone throw away from the Boston-Atlanta metropolis. We’re a small country . . . if I sent my best soldiers to the West who would protect my people and my sweet king?”
“How about if you just send us a small infantry of your more elite warriors.”
“Ah”, she licks a drop of gin from her lip, “You mean elite elite. Supernatural soldiers. Angels . . . and Demons”
Shit. She got drunk easily.
“The NADF should ally with the RLA. You have a small country and a small military . . . what’s stopping the EU from invading whenever they want?”
“Cane and Able”
“Is that a New Aeterna phrase?”
“No. That’s just what and I call my sniper rifles. The truth is . . . we have an unofficial deal with the East, they leave us alone we leave them alone. And I didn't come out of retirement to start a war. We are playing offense. “
With that drink in her hand and loose lips she is more like an enlisted soldiers than an officer. There is no finesse, no intelligence or strategy behind those eyes. She is bloodthirsty in a way people didn’t need to be anymore. It was uncivilized. Ungracious. Tempting.
“We can talk about this upstairs, Major.”
“Sergeant, I’m a married woman.” She says taking another drink, I noticed the big red diamond ring on her finger.
“A woman who is famous for never smiling is not a happily married woman.”
She turns the stool to face the booth where her corporals are. One of them brings her over an external communicator. She types out a quick message.
“Maxwell is it?” she asks.
“Yes”
The device dings. She stands up taking
her drink with her, “Let’s go.”
I'm standing before she’d finishes the last syllable. This amuses her. “I like a man who follows orders, Sergeant”
I hesitate for a second. Not sure if she is referring to business or personal. I shake it off, she doesn't know shit about me.Her room is the royal suite. The guards make themselves sparse out on the huge balcony.
“How do you keep your men quiet about your affairs?”
“I don’t”, she says “They don’t care what I do as long as I have my sweet husband’s permission.”
“I think I’d find women in RLA more liberated than that?”
“I’m . . . old fashioned. I gave my heart and body to the king when I married him. To be honest you look a lot like him. I mean if he were taller, smarter and sexier with what I can already tell is a bigger cock”
I hadn’t expected her to have a mouth on her. She slips off the royal red sash, unbuttons her jacket and goes for her shirt.
“You don’t waste any time, Major”
“I have new found respect for my uniform, Sergeant Maxwell. It would be uncouth for me to say and do the things I want to you in it.”
She tugs off the skirt and a corset until she was standing in front of me in a bright red chemise, the thin sleeves slip down her shoulder. She is flat chested with big nipples, her arms are thick and corded with muscles and scars. What she lacks in figure she made up for in personality.
A large decorative framed paper photo of The New Aeternan King is on the nightstand. The image of man behind his country’s flag staring off in the distance.
“You just carry that around with you?”
“Is that going to be problem”, she asks.
A chime sounds in the room, followed by another. She looked around the room and digs an older model syndicate out of her luggage.
“Speak of The Devil,” she says, “I need to take a call, Kenny. Stay out of sight . . . how do I. . .”
Kenny. The fuck did she get my first name from ?
After going through a slew of wrong commands, she finally manages to project a holographic screen.
“Hi”, she says to the man on the other side, I can't quite see his face, but hear his voice, “Do you miss me?”
“Of course I do.”, A man’s voice says. It could be her husband but I have no idea what he sounds like.
She suggestively slides the key around her neck and into her mouth,”Have you been good while I’ve been away?”
“Sera, I--.”
“Tell me how much you miss me.” She says with very little emotion.
“I will, but there is something you should know. . .”
Fuck this. I didn’t come here to wait in line. I'm leaving and taking her whiskey with me. When I step into the hallway I nearly run into the joyboy from the bar.
He was a beautiful boy, but not like the one from my memory.
This boy has long thick brown hair so shiny it had to be an illegal sim. He is lean and clad in all leather. He has the kind of face that indicates when he opened his mouth he’ll be a whiny pissy little spoiled brat who can't take orders.
But for some reason he interest me.
It doesn't matter if he is a brat, when we get around to
what I have planned he won't need to do any talking
“I need your help”, the boys says. He looks like he is strung out on something.
“I bet you do”
The kid actually reaches out and grabs me, he smells like
the leather he is clad in. He's young... maybe nineteen.
“Kenneth Maxwell, right? I’ve hacked your files. I know about Rising Sun.—“
“Who the hell—“
“I want to join the RLA. Take me to The West. Help me or I’ll tell anyone who listens what happened. I can do it I can find the darkest parts of your world and expose them… unless you give me asylum in the West”
“Fuck off.” I shove him back.
“Please. I know all about the RLA and the . . . . The cartels. This is my only chance. I’ll do anything please...”
He gives up on begging and kisses me. It’s weak and pathetic, he’s got hair like the boy in the hospital, same frame but something about this kid is off. I shove the boy and he tumbles inside the royal suite and falls into the rolling bar. The boy pushes himself up. He has a gun and points it at my chest.
I don’t have a gun. Can’t have a gun. I grab a knife from the counter to defend myself. The corporals react faster, they have AR-99s pointed on the boy in seconds.
“Shit”, the queen says coming out from her bedroom. She slips on a robe and signals her guards to stand down. She picks up her own gun and angles it at the joyboy.
“He’s just a prostitute looking for sanctuary”, I explain but I notice she looks at the boy the same way I do, “I’ll call security . . . unless you want him to join us.”
The boy looks between my knife and her gun.
“I see I interrupted something”, the boys says.
“Shut up”, I order him.
“Its fine the major and I have a long history of sharing a bed with a man.” The boy said in a lighter self-assured tone, “I mean I was only 3 years old at the time but—“
The gun smacks over the boy’s jaw so fast his blood is on my shirt before I even realize she moved.
“Hmmhmm”, he says on his knees, he stands up and puts on a
snide red smile, “Sorry, Mom. I forget you don’t think jokes about abuse are funny.r.
“That bullshit is not funny”, she says then puts her gun down, “…What’s this about wanting sanctuary in The West ?”
“Being exiled isn’t as easy as it looks, Mom. This American war is making things shit. I can’t run anymore. I want to come home.”
American? Why would he say that? What century is it? I also want to say it’s a conflict not a war, but I’m still trying to figure out if this is even worth me staying.
“Fugitives don’t have homes, disgraced soldiers don’t get homes. They get caught and court martialed.” She says to the boy.
He bows his head but he seems amused
“Well, you can’t arrest me, Mom. This is sovereign territory during the convention.”
“Fine, considered yourself kidnapped until we transfer you back to New Aeterna” She says, “But first...”
She motions again and the guards pull the boy up to his feet. He braces himself when her fist connects with his nose, she throws another punch and he takes it like a man.
“I think that’s makes us even from last time”, He says.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be even”, she says. “You didn’t just betray me. You betrayed your country. You fucked my reputation.”
“What about—“
“What? A pardon? You can’t seriously think that’s an option. He is not bailing you out anymore. We just got power back after--”
“I can be valuable, Mom. I’ve picked up a lot of skills trying to survive out here. I can’t go to prison. I can’t. You know I can’t. ”
“Enough.” She says and the kid shuts up, "You should have thought of that before."
His eyes flash to me. Exactly how did a scrawny kid from an out of touch Luddite country find out
about Operation Rising Sun. She looks away from him, then back at me.
“Lock him in there”, she says pointing to one of the guest rooms, “Make sure he’s secured.”
“I really really hope these walls are soundproof, Mom”, he says as the corporals lead him away.
“Wait. You have a room?” she asks me.
“6th floor, room 208” I respond not even thinking.
“Lock him up there”, she says taking my room key from my shirt pocket and giving it to her corporals.
The boy rolls his eyes and smiles as the corporals drag him out the room. When the doors close she puts a rolled cigarette into her mouth and lights it fast.
+2+
She takes her robe off and runs her hands through her long hair, moving it to fall over one shoulder. She has on bright red heels and when she’s in front of me we are eye to eye. Up close her muscles strain under her skin, probably some new steroid on the market. She is stronger than she looks and pushes me back on to the bed, stripping off my jacket and pants. She positions herself on top of me and I let a woman fuck me for the first time in a long time. Some of the hot ashes from her cigarette fall onto my chest and it’s a release of its own.
She takes a shower immediately afterwards and I remember I hadn’t even thought about using a condom. Fuck it. I sit up and look at the medals on her jacket. When she comes out the bathroom she has on a pair of gray jogging pants and a black v neck shirt. Her hair is in an unlady like crew cut. Her face is ugly and bare.
“Is that really your son?” I ask.
“What? Your soldiers don’t call you Daddy?”
“He’s---“
“Older than he looks”, she lays down and lights another cigarette, her shirt rising to reveal the deep V at her hips.
“There are a lot of rumors about New Aeterna.” I say.
“Please, I hear your people are ripping yourselves apart for science. Literally selling arms and legs. Also I saw how you looked at him. He doesn’t . . . feel things like that”
“Like what?”
She moves between my legs and put her lips on my bare chest, not really a kiss
“Like this.”, she puts the cigarette out in a jewelry box and slides down my body, her lips resting just above my navel.
“I bet Angel blood would go a long way in the conflict”, I tell her.
She smiles and lowers her lips just inches away from my erection.
“Are we still negotiating, Sergeant?” She asks.
“I can multitask.”
She smiles and runs her tongue along the tip.
“Angel blood already has gone a long way.” She says, “ Why do you think Tempus Corp became so successful seventy years ago ? We gave them a little boost and they solved our daemon problem.”
“Your . . . what?”
She ignores me and put her mouth around my cock.
She didn’t give a blowjob like a woman, but I guess she was old enough to know just the right places to hit. She was slow though and wasn’t afraid to use her tongue and teeth
“I’m not fragile”, she says.
I grab her short hair and fuck her smart mouth, right between her full lips. The muscles in her throat finally relaxed and she seems to have no gag reflex, I only slow down when she starts to choke then I spill down her throat. She reaches for the bottle of whiskey on her night stand, I take it, help myself first, then push the bottle into her mouth.
Most of it spills down her chin than in her mouth, but there is something about seeing her lips wrapped around the bottle that fascinates me. When the full bottle is empty she throws it against the wall and laughs when it smashes into a million pieces.
I turned her over and fucked her from behind. It becomes a blur of moans, grunts and unfortunately retching. When it’s over she pretends to be asleep. I’m too exhausted to leave so I stay the night.
It’s not even light outside when she falls out of bed. I think I’ll have to prepare myself for another round, but she clumsily puts on an oversized shirt and shorts. She staggers over to my jacket and runs her hand over it and pulls out my room key. She starts laughing to herself and puts on a pair of shower shoes and runs into the closed door.
“Fuck”, she whispers and opens the door.
+++
When I wake up in the morning I realize I don’t feel satisfied and the room reeks of alcohol. It didn’t even seem like a night worth telling anyone about. I get dressed and find her lounging in the living room watching a melodramatic show. She has on shorts and a t-shirt, sweating like she had last night.
“Morning, Sergeant”, she says.
“Major”
“I was hoping you’d join me for a real workout.” She says.
“In that sorry excuse for a gym.”
“Arrogant and handsome? You know there aren’t enough men like you where I’m from.”
“Well, they don’t make women like you in RLA” I say
She eyes me suspiciously and lights a cigarette, “Give it enough time and they will.”
She smiles around the cigarette and offers me one. The door opens and the corporals from yesterday walk in. They salute her, but she doesn’t offer them anything back.
“Major”, one of them says, “He escaped.”
“What”, she sayssuddenly standing to attention.
“The prisoner escaped. He’s had a lot of practice if the stories are to be believed.”
“What the hell? You had one fucking job. Get the fuck out of my face”, she yells at them.
The corporals bow and run over each other on the way out.
“You too”, she says throwing her gaze to me.
“What about us making a deal, Major?”
She laughs
“Paris is always saying that this conflict between the East and the West is going to be the thing that ends humanity. He’s been around long enough to know. This is it for humanity. All you’ve done is evolve into the worst versions of yourselves. Why would I ever make any deals with humans who’ve forgotten how to be human?”
“We haven’t forgotten what it means to be human, Major.”
“Please, your little Androids are so real they almost fooled me. It’s kind of . . .strange.”
“Huh?”
She tilts her head.
I check my pockets, then see my room key in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She notices me noticing the room key. I pick it up before she can try and hide it.
“I assume you’re done with this, Major. Tell me, how would it look if New Aeternan officials found out you let a prisoner escape? No you helped a prisoners escape. Are you ready to make a deal now?”
She smiles
“Do, that Sergeant Maxwell. What do you think is going to happen? No one blinks in that country without asking me first. You seriously think you can blackmail me into supporting your fucking assbackwards country where the fucking RLA is running everything from the government to the streets—“
“Watch you fucking mouth” I fight to keep my hand down.
“You can’t be that naïve Sergeant.” She laughs, “ The world isn’t black and white. It’s just various shades of ugly . . . gray”, she looks over my shoulder to where Strange is standing by the door. Our transport was scheduled to leave in a few minutes, “Next year’s conference is in New Aetenra. Maybe I’ll see you there, Sergeant.”
“Not likely.”
“Well, maybe our paths will cross again in another life, Sergeant.”
“Not likely”
+++
- So, Maxwell seems to blur the lines of consent a lot in Sundays and Compulsion so him forcing alcohol down Sera’s throat is supposed to be super side-eye inducing
- I wrote this BEFORE QC, so there are some lines I stole from here and put in QC. I also wrote this before the big reveal about Strange so I had to edit it up to fit. I feel like I might have lost some of Maxwell voice towards the end because that was finished once we switched to third person in Compulsion.
- I'm not sure how I did on my Maxwell, but I want some honest feedback. When I started this I was basing this on the first person chapters in Compulsion of Maxwell, I was trying to capture his voice in those early chapters.
- Also the convention that they are at was a plot point I stole from the Bellum sequel I'm never going to write.
- Okay, so I know there is something odd going on with Arrow and Seraphina here. And as I wrote this I had no idea what it was but I knew something had happened between them. And when I figured it out it became the next novella in this “series”.