Chapter 8: On the Chancellor’s Secret Service - PT I

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Egad’s Castle…

Bath House…

Next Morning...

Everyone soaked in the water of the bath house, unwinding and relaxing as they got cleaned up for the day. There was still some worry about Eli’s nightmare last night. During the bath, Eli and Tommy both explained what happened, Eli going into the details of the nightmare, while Tommy clarified how he thought he caught onto it.

“...I think it must have been my psychic abilities.” Tommy explained. “I must have been in a receptive state, my mind willingly open to runaway thoughts. That, and Eli must have unconsciously reached out to me. That explains how I was able to have the same nightmare.”

“That does sound like a reasonable explanation.” Egad admitted.

“It’s strange, though.” Eli said. “The dream seemed so real and vivid, as if it was something that had happened before. I was even shot in the same places where I have the scars on my chest now.”

“Could it be that the dream was some sort of lost memory bubbling to the surface?” Zhal asked.

“I’m more worried about the magicka field that Eli was shrouded in last night.” Zarch said with concern. “I don’t think that nightmare was just a random coincidence: Someone was pulling strings, and it wasn’t anyone in the castle.”

“But who would want to torment Eli like that?” Bishop asked.

“Good question.” Fox said, sitting with Marcus and Krystal in the Bath. “Do you know of any enemies that are capable of using magic?”

“The only person I can think of is the saber-tooth tiger Bruce Norman.” Mick said. “He was basically the only survivor on Cailus’ side after the Azure Flux incident, after Cailus was shot by Anthony and got dragged under the train’s wheels.”

“Indeed, but I don’t see how that could be possible.” Chaos said. “From what I was sensing, that magicka aura had no connections to Bruce. It didn’t have his chi, or any connections to his mana. Though I’m sure we will figure out who is behind this, especially after I make Eli a protection amulet he can wear. That way, if whoever did this tries it again, they won’t be able to get into Eli’s mind, and I can use a clairvoyance spell to track the magicka trail.”

“Good thinking, Chaos.” Egad complimented. “We will have to do that.”

Tommy stood up in the bathing pool, walking over to Eli. “Do you mind if I rub your back? You must still be tense after that night terror.”

Eli nodded. “Sure, go ahead. My shoulders are still really stiff.”

Eli scooted up on the stone bench, leaving enough room for Tommy to slide behind him and sit down. Tommy then rubbed over Eli’s shoulders, feeling them out. Eli’s shoulders were really tensed up, almost to the point that they may as well have been stone.

Tommy went to work, using his massage techniques to loosen up Eli’s tensed shoulders. Combined with the relaxing hot water of the bathing pool, Eli’s tension melted. The ExVeemon let out a relived sigh, which changed to a pleasured murr as Tommy worked the tension away.

“Thank you, Tommy… I needed that.” Eli moaned. “I feel a little guilty, though. I wish I could repay you.”

Tommy then got an idea. “Maybe there is a way. I could use my psychic powers to relay my knowledge and experience of masseuse techniques to you temporarily. That way, you could give me a back rub in return.”

Eli smiled. “Sure… That would make me very happy if I could return the favor.”

Tommy nodded. He finished up with Eli’s shoulders, then they both stood up and switched positions, Tommy sitting in Eli’s lap. Tommy then ran his hands across Eli’s thighs before resting them on Eli’s skin. The psychic connection went alive with sensation, and Tommy relayed all of his experience to Eli.

Eli then got to work, gently feeling out Tommy’s back for stiff muscles. Then, he got to work as he gave Tommy a massage in gratitude and thanks. Tommy moaned and churred in delight as Eli did his work, especially when Eli ran his hands across Tommy’s erogenous zones between his wing joints and the wing membranes on his back. “You catch on quick, Eli… You could be a master at this…”

Eli smiled, giving Tommy a kiss on the side of the head. “It’s the least I can do…”

Later…

Mick watched inside the castle’s data center, seeing Egad teaching Anthony more about managing the companies he inherited from Cailus. After Cailus’ death, Anthony had decided to completely re-structure his inherited companies, even changing some of their priorities. The most drastic change was with the heavy weapon manufacturers such as Bloodcrest Industries, Chromium Ballistics Incorporated, and the star-fighter R&D divisions of Lockheed-Raytheon Aerospace Technologies. These R&D labs were given subsidiary names: Lightspeed Aerospace for space frame design, and Electrosphere Innovations for flight control technology.

When Cailus had control of these companies, he put a lot of pressure on prioritizing things such as doomsday and mass-strike weapons ranging from super-nuclear interplanetary ballistic missiles to dreadnought superweapons and orbital satellite lasers. Other ventures included ship-mounted planet killer weapons and other over-the-top projects for warfare. Most of these were for illegitimate governmental sales, mainly to tyrants and terrorists not associated with the GCOG. Once Anthony took over, that all had changed. Anthony had shut all those projects down, instated new business practices dealing with such entities and instead re-tasked the R&D divisons with developing less destructive projects that could be used more for defense, rather than aggression. The latest of these new projects was a radical new star-fighter design, a joint effort between Lockheed-Raytheon and Space Dynamics. The design was of a star-fighter with atmospheric flight capabilities which Mick had taken a fascination to. It was code-named the “R-173 Delphinus Type-IV,” a super-sleek and agile star-fighter capable of atmospheric flight, designed mainly as a space-superiority dog-fighter and quick action interceptor that was capable of shooting down heavy star-fighter artillery. A squadron of them could cripple a capital ship with little difficulty in the hands of experienced pilots, according to projections. Mick became so intrigued with this project, he ended up buying a chunk of Lockheed’s stock associated with the project. He looked forward to seeing the return on the investment. In fact, he planned to use the funds he gained from other investments to purchase his own personal R-173 once it was out of the prototype phase.

“I see you’ve attracted a good amount of new investors, even more than when Cailus did when he ran those ventures.” Egad complimented as he and Anthony finished up managing some of their stocks. “And even though you lost some older long-time investors, the attraction of the new crowd more than makes up for it. You should be proud, Anthony. You’re doing exceptionally well.”

“Thanks, uncle.” Anthony said with a grin.

“Now that all the market stuff is taken care of, did you still want to take the coven to the beach at Ganjour Loch? Alak has the day off today, so we should be able to have some fun with some r&r.”

“Of course.” Egad replied. “I’ll inform the coven to get ready. Did you and Symon still want to come along, Mick?”

“Of course!” Mick said happily.

# # #

Ganjour Loch

High Afternoon…

Mick and Xen surfaced from under the lake, swimming around with the rest of the Coven. Today was fun and relaxing so far, and the refreshing cool water felt good around their bodies. It was a good thing too, considering that the surrounding forested area was in the middle of summer.

Galen swam along next to Silva, Anthony, Alak’ai, Tommy, Gareth, Damion, and Bishop. Everone except Alak’ai was wearing sets of scuba gear, so they could look under the water at the seemingly endless natural beauty of what lie under the waves. Gareth and Damion didn’t need any, since Egad had made scuba goggle add-ons that went inside of their WarGreymon helmets so they could see underwater. As for Alak, all he needed was a pair of goggles since he was an amphibious great-white shark, and even the goggles were optional. After all, Alak could breathe underwater through his gills, so he didn’t need a scuba tank. Both Damion and Tommy were fascinated by what they were discovering as Alak’ai led them around the lake’s depths. Centuries ago, this lake had been the site of an epic battle in a long-forgotten war. After the battle between the warring factions, there was no clear victor, and the garrisons at the lake were abandoned, then quickly taken over by pirates and bandits, who fought among one another for control of the area. After those battles also left no clear victor, as well as sinking several vintage galleons filled with treasures now long since recovered by archaeologists, the entire Loch was annexed by the Kingdom of Kestrel as a reserve. After the sky folk began to arrive with their new technologies and customs, they helped to transform the area into a recreation area and historical park.

After exploring the wrecks of the sunken galleons and discovering lost tourist trinkets via metal detectors, the diving group surfaced and joined the rest of the coven on the beach. Everyone lounged on the beach, laying on large towels.

Mick lay on one of the towels in Xen’s lap, snuggled against the gray lion’s torso. Xen had a tablet in his hand, surfing the web via a wifi hotspot connection to the galactinet via a portable modem as Mick napped in his arms. Everyone was in a calm, relaxed mood. Some of the scaly members of the coven had slathered themselves in tanning oil, laying on their towels with sunglasses on as they absorbed the warming rays of the sun contently.

A little while into this blissful scene, a buff black panther with slicked-back hair in skin-tight swimming trunks walked up. He kneeled next to Mick.

“Excuse me, are you Mick Daniels?” The panther asked with a British accent.

Mick raised his sunglasses slightly. “Maybe. Who are you?”

“GCOC Agent Johnathan Flond, 077. Here on behalf of the supreme chancellor.” The panther answered. “I need to speak to you and Mr. Foxmoore. Immediately.”

Mick and Xen exchanged puzzled glances for a few moments. They then broke out into rancorous laughter.

“Please tell me this is a joke.” Mick said. “Johnathan Flond isn’t real! He’s a fictional spy, and even if he was real, he sure wouldn’t just... Walk up in the fashion you just did. He’d use more intrigue, more style! Pizzaz!”

Johnathan only gave an entertained smile. “Really? Well then, I must be mistaken. Excuse me.”

Johnathan then walked off. Unbeknownst to Mick and Xen, he held up his wristwatch to his mouth after hitting a button on it that activated a comlink once he was out of earshot.

“M, he didn’t believe me. As expected. Permission to execute revelation contingency?” Johnathan asked.

A woman sighed on the other end. “Very well, Flond. Just don’t kill anyone with your plan.”

# # # #

“So what was that about?” Jet asked as he walked over.

“I have no idea. Most likely someone’s idea of a joke.” Mick answered as he stood up. “I’m going to get a drink from the cooler. You want anything, Big Kitty?”

“I’ll take one of those pre-mixed synthehol whiskey-colas.” Xen said.

Mick’s phone then rang. He scooped it up off of the towel, answering it. “Hello?”

“Commander Daniels, we need to talk.” A British voice said over the speaker.

Mick sighed, exasperated. “Okay, who the hell is this?!” He demanded.

He got his answer when a 1,000 volt electrical blast clipped him in the shoulder, sending him tumbling to the ground yelping in pain as he dropped his phone! Everyone in the coven ran over, on alert!

They then saw the panther from earlier walking up the beach towards them, a large electric stun rifle in one hand and a cell phone in his other hand. The Panther carried the rifle as if it were a causal thing to do, oblivious to any on-lookers, some of which ran away screaming in hysterics.

The Panther then stopped as he stood over the immobilized Mick, giving the fox a cocky smirk as he hung up the phone, slinging the rifle over his shoulder.

“Flond. Johnathan Flond.” Johnathan answered casually.