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  Adamanta

  Cutthroat

  Season 3 - Episode 6

  Book 18 in the Adamanta Series

  T. Y. Carew & Cameron Lowe

  Episode Copyright © 2018 Cameron Lowe

  Series Copyright © 2018 Jess Mountifield

  Published by Red Feather Writing

  Cover Copyright © 2018 Elizabeth Mackey

  All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organisations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to any online ebook store and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Books by T.Y. Carew

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to Jess Mountifield for once again letting me bum around in this terrific universe of her invention. Thanks also to Ella Medler for polishing this and being gentle when she bops me on the nose grammatically.

  Thanks to Diet Dr. Pepper for not sucking, and my dogs Sadie and Yoda for letting me write on occasion.

  And thanks to you for sticking it out with Xander, Mattie, and the rest of the Contessa’s crew. I hope you’ve enjoyed my contributions to the fight against the Beltine.

  Dedication

  To everyone rocking the friendly mutton chops in 2018, you’re among the unsung heroes of this world.

  Chapter 1

  The cacophony of the Neteran markets confounded Mattie. She’d suffered less whiplash fighting the Beltine in low orbit than she did right at that moment, trying to figure the most tactically advantageous way out of the screeching vendors and the never-ending stream of fans who recognized her – and that was damn near everyone.

  “Stop looking so panicked,” Tyra growled beside her as she leaned over to sniff the supposedly fresh coffee beans in a market stall.

  “You see an easy way out of here?”

  “What? Why would we need one?”

  “In case we have to run. Or fight. Or… I don’t know, run and fight.”

  The sweaty vendor watching the Lentarin pick over his goods burbled out a nervous laugh. “No, no, no fighting here, huh?”

  “There won’t be if you stop trying to pawn this off as corasanti beans,” Tyra snapped.

  The man yipped and took a step backwards as the Lentarin fixed him with her best dead-eyed gaze. Though she was generally gentle unless she was taking on the Beltine, Tyra’s lizard-like scaly face and eyes could make for a terrifying visage to anyone who didn’t know her or her twin brother intimately. As the vendor offered up apologies, the duo headed for the next coffee vendor just a few stalls down.

  As Mattie tried not to careen off the mass of shoppers, she said out of the corner of her mouth, “I think he’s going to need a change of pants.” Tyra glanced back and chuffed out a laugh.

  While the sheer numbers of people might have put her off, Matt had to admit it was nice to be doing something so mundane as helping Tyra restock their ship, the Lady Contessa, of non-essentials while they waited for their next orders. They’d already made arrangements for munitions, rations, and personal necessities, and were now working their way through shopping lists from their cohorts Trey, Drew, and even their commanding officer, Xander. On everybody’s, including Tyra and Mattie’s, the words “good coffee” were underlined, capitalized, and in Drew’s case, circled five times. The last voyage had seen them drinking a black swill devoid of both taste and caffeine, sending them all into dark moods few of their fights with the Beltine had matched.

  Usually this might have been the kind of shopping they’d do in a saner fashion, heading for the quieter merchants on the edge of the city. But Tyra loved the open markets of Matt’s homeworld when the weather permitted and insisted they come down to the massive bazaar. Everywhere was a swarm of humans, but they certainly weren’t the only race present. The connection between humanity and the Lentarin race had been on the rise as of late, and more and more travelers from each race intermingled on their respective home planets. There were even a few Cordak and Agathen here and there. The former looked as worried as Matt and the latter, thanks to the linking between their visible internal coloring and their emotions, were particularly susceptible to the guiles of the vendors.

  “Look,” Matt said, pointing to a stall offering a dozen varieties of nuts and dried fruits. Fresh was vastly preferred among the crew, but dried foods fared better on their longer trips. It also didn’t help matters much that they didn’t know when the Contessa might be flying out next.

  “Good eyes,” Tyra replied. She nodded at a stall a little farther down. “Coffee there. You get the fruit, I’ll check to see if this one’s another clown.”

  “Adamanta!” someone shouted, and a cheer rose up from the crowd around Matt as she tried to push through. Her grin might have been the tiniest bit forced as she pleaded with the amused Tyra with her eyes to get her out of there.

  Another hour on, as Tyra bartered for Drew’s requested electrical components with a woman in a serape, Mattie twirled one of a half-dozen fuzzy hats she’d bought at a ridiculously low price from a vendor shocked at the military’s biggest celebrity shopping at her stall. Her personal communicator buzzed and she nearly fumbled the hat, catching it only at the last minute. Tyra glanced down irritably at her own, and then back at Matt. The communicators going off at the same time wasn’t a coincidence. They had orders.

  Xander’s face filled the comm’s screen when Matt answered it. The slightly mussed-up hair, strong angles of his face, clever gray eyes that were never quite as stony or impassive as he tried to make them… all of it, all of him filled her lungs, her heart, her mind. Matt thought time might have helped calm the emotions Xander brought out in her, but it hadn’t. Every day, it felt like they were growing closer and closer to something each knew they wanted and shouldn’t act on.

  “Xander,” Matt said, giving him the fond little smile she seemed to have only discovered around the same time as her feelings for him blossomed into a sudden, shocking realization of love. “I bought you a fuzzy hat.”

  Xander returned the smile hesitantly, if only for the briefest of moments, then his mask slid back into place. “Captain,” he said formally.

  The camera zoomed out and panned the room. Drew sat up and at attention in a leather chair in Admiral Kelton’s office. Trey was nowhere to be seen, but the general came into the shot, actually smiling. That was… bizarre.

  “And did you buy me one too, Captain Adair?” General Kelton asked, his smile threatening to turn into a full-blown grin. In all her days serving with Xander, Matt could count the number of times Kelton smiled on both hands. Grinning wasn’t in the man’s repertoire. It wasn’t even an action she was sure he knew how to do.

  “General Kelton, did you just make a joke?” Matt said, and winced immediately.

  “Even us old dogs have a sense of humor every now and again,” Kelton said. “Lieutenant.”

  Drew cleared his throat an
d the camera focused on him. “Matt. There’s about to be a press conference. Uh…” He scratched at his cheek and cleared his throat again. “Between Simon and Dr. Cardew.”

  Matt lost any and all of her good cheer. The woman with the red hair, as she’d come to think of the vile doctor, always spelled bad news for the crew of the Contessa. First had come an investigation into a murder by Adamanta Dr. Cardew helped cover up. Then, and so recent as to still give Matt, Drew, and possibly Xander occasional nightmares came an incident when the woman used human and Beltine alike as test subjects for a chemical weapon based on the psychosis-inducing Anathema mists.

  As for Simon, he was an enormous stain on her dating record. The rich playboy still held a grudge against her that extended far beyond their personal relationship and bled into their working one. He’d gone as far as cutting his funding and support to the military, something Matt, Xander, and the others had only recently managed to mitigate with new private investors. Sometimes Matt woke herself up punching the air, dreaming she was actually connecting with the right cross she’d pulled at the last second in her condo when they’d broken up. Those dreams were kind of the best.

  Her jaw clenched, Matt asked, “Why?”

  Drew glanced at Xander, then Kelton. Xander laid a hand on the lieutenant’s shoulder and Drew had never looked so grateful as when the colonel starting talking.

  “I’ve sent a shuttle to the nearest available landing pad for you and Tyra. We’ll discuss the specifics after the conference, but…”

  “Colonel,” Matt said, biting the word off. “Please. Tell me.”

  Xander nodded. “They’re going to announce a partnership. Simon is going to officially bankroll her research, and Dr. Cardew is granting him the first rights to her discoveries.”

  Chapter 2

  Matt didn’t remember snarling at Tyra that it was time to go, or the Lentarin guiding them through the wall-to-wall people on their way to meet with the shuttle. All she remembered in the hours to come was watching the press conference aboard the short flight to the administrative building housing Kelton’s office.

  Simon looked so cocky, so effortlessly arrogant in front of a projection of what was clearly a redesign of the Contessa, one of Simon’s greatest ships. It was at least three times the size of their ship, though, and far more garish—a peacock to the Contessa’s beautiful swan. At the bottom was a name—the Exemplar. Even that made the ship seem all the more pretentious.

  His suit subtly clung and showed off his frame, and not a single strand of hair seemed out of place. Even Simon’s five-o’clock shadow was precisely trimmed to give him that devil-may-care look Matt had so adored once. Now she could hardly stomach the sight of him, and that wasn’t even factoring in the woman at his side. Dr. Evelyn Cardew, once of the unforgettable red hair and formerly of an ordinary brunette color, now had dyed her hair a color vaguely reminiscent of sand, and for a brief, crazed moment, Matt had to fight back a snicker at the thought of crabs poking out beside the woman’s ears. The doctor’s smile may have been wide enough to swallow a watermelon whole, but it didn’t touch the eternal contempt in her eyes. She too was dressed to the nines, in slacks that clung to her legs and a long pale coat that came down to her knees, edged in a blonde color matching her hair.

  The speech was simple and relatively brief. Simon was happy to announce a new partnership, much as Xander detailed. Cardew’s smile grew even wider, if that was possible, and could now possibly encircle a small stellar object, like… oh… a moon.

  Cardew spoke a few words about the great progress she and her team expected to make with Simon’s backing, and they held up their hands together as though they were actors on stage taking a bow—then they actually did bow, making Matt want to retch. Had Simon really fallen this far?

  That wasn’t all, though. Simon made as if to walk off the stage, then turned back and winked for the cameras’ benefit. “Oh, and one more thing. We believe in transparency, not just for the sake of our investors, but for you at home with your justified fear of the Beltine threat. Not only is my company going to continue to pursue advances in personal Adamanta usage for all, and not just the military, but Dr. Cardew and I will have some very exciting new announcements coming very, very soon. I can’t say much yet, but for the first time in what feels like decades, we’re finally going to take it to the Beltine bastards.”

  A cheer rose up from the crowd of supposed impartial reporters and journalists, and the feed cut off right as Simon shook Dr. Cardew’s hand one more time.

  Matt was very proud of herself. Her tightened fist only barely cracked the edges of her comm device.

  ***

  Xander pored over operation notes and estimated FTL travel times while Drew requisitioned the explosives they’d need for the mission as Kelton had laid it out for them. Trey was preparing the Contessa. The colonel and the techie didn’t have long to wait after Simon Dantos’s blockbuster announcement for Matt to storm through the door, Tyra trailing close behind. For Xander, it was hard not to smile at Matt, despite the consternation on her face. Even angry, she was damned cute. Sure, most people who knew what she was capable of would probably be terrified at that maniacal glint in her eye, but to him, it just spoke volumes as to the strength of the woman and the steel in her heart. Xander stowed the thoughts away. Even without the attraction, it was still hard to keep a stoic façade. Matt would be thrilled in about three minutes.

  The pair fresh to the meeting saluted Kelton, who nodded curtly at them and gestured at the available seats around the table.

  “Permission to speak freely?” Matt asked.

  “No,” Kelton said, his voice serene tranquility. Mattie strangled on an outburst and flopped into a chair. If she’d been a bomb, she would have gone nuclear. Tyra followed much more gracefully, her gaze flicking between Xander and Drew. “Colonel, fill them in, please.”

  “Yes, sir.” Xander rose while Drew tapped at a few buttons on his personal device. A screen at the center of the table showed a cluster of asteroids against the backdrop of a red-and-cream swirled planet. The camera panned slowly back and forth across the asteroids, a long incomprehensible string of alien fonts filling a box in the lower right-hand corner.

  “The feed is from an Agathen nomad ship, searching for ice to mine and bring back to allied space,” Xander said. “Normally not the sort of thing we’d care about, except that this video was shopped around via private channels and purchased a week ago. Two guesses by whom.”

  Tyra seemed confused, but Matt leaned forward, her finger tapping her lips. “Simon. Or Cardew.”

  Drew, grinning, spoke up for the first time since they’d entered. “Ding-ding, you get a prize.” Kelton silenced him with a look, but the smile didn’t disappear.

  Xander continued, “Kelton’s mole on the inside of Simon’s operation sent us a copy of the video, along with Simon and Dr. Cardew’s plans to come forward and announce their partnership. It’s been a done deal for a while, but they wanted to go public when they had something big to put the exclamation point on their press conference.”

  “I’m not seeing it,” Matt said. It was nearly perfect timing, because almost immediately afterward, she did.

  The camera almost didn’t catch the motion of the Beltine ship. The framework resembled that of a typical Dairos fighter, but in place of guns, the belly of the ship came down to a round turret. The camera stopped panning, froze on that ship, and after a lengthy pause, zoomed in. The Dairos ship dove towards a glittering asteroid, and the turret whirred to life, firing off thick salvos of concentrated laser fire into the mineral-rich rock, carving it up. Another Beltine ship, this one unfamiliar in its stocky design but its purpose clear, dove down, its belly wide open, and swooped up the matter.

  Matt glanced up, surprised. “A Beltine mining outpost.”

  “A rarity,” Xander confirmed. “The Agathen would have been smart to run away, but their own sensors were tricked by the particulates within the asteroid field.”

/>   Drew jumped in. “Their assumption was—and they were right, at least as far as we know—that the interference affected the Beltine too. It worked both ways, and the Agathen wound up with nearly an hour’s worth of footage.”

  “The captain is a shrewd one,” General Kelton said. “Having heard about our little separation with Simon, she decided to see what she could get for the footage through back channels. As it turned out, a fortune.”

  Xander nodded. “Simon believes this is an opportunity to study Beltine mining techniques, which at least in regards to Adamanta have always been somewhat more efficient than humankind’s. After they’ve had a chance to conduct their own studies at a distance, they’ll destroy the Beltine base. Even if they learn nothing, they’ll still come out looking like heroes to their investors and the public at large.”

  “I don’t get it,” Matt said. “Why are you all looking like you’re cats and you’ve just visited a big canary buffet?”

  “Because before she went silent, my mole gave us one last little gift,” General Kelton said, and he leaned forward, not bothering to hide his smile now. “Coordinates.”

  “They’re hours ahead of us, but Simon and Dr. Cardew do not have any sort of authority,” Drew said. “We fly after them, we arrive at the asteroid field, and we blow up that mining operation first.”

  Tyra chuffed out a great, belly-shaking laugh and clapped Matt on the back. “We are finally going on the offensive.”

  “Not just with the Beltine, either,” Xander said, now grinning too. “We do this right, and we blacken Simon and Cardew’s eyes before they’ve even had a chance to really get started.”

  ***

  The Exemplar was nothing short of a dream. Every inch of it yawned its luxuriousness, from the supple lines of its many rooms to the full-wall screens and leather seating. Real leather, too, supple and so fresh from the tannery that it still held the rustic smell to it. Everything was top-of-the-line, and engineered to perfection. No shortcuts on the Exemplar, no warped panels, none of that. This was the next generation of luxury class ships for the elite among Simon’s buyers, and he couldn’t have been prouder to be a part of her maiden voyage.