The Royal Scam (The Martian Alliance) (2 page)

One of the easiest ways to trap a Shifter involved catching them “knowing” someone the person they were impersonating wouldn’t or couldn’t. In addition to giving the Shifter away to someone paying attention, it affected their overall control as well. Our history was littered with Shifters who’d made one small mistake that proved fatal. I had no intention of joining their ranks.

Because of this ability and the risks of being found out when shifted, we learned to keep the real us hidden, deep inside, under different mental, physical, and telepathic layers of protection. Once shifted, those of us with the highest levels of power, training, and control could access the reality of who we were, but it was close to impossible for anyone else to do so, even the most powerful telepaths.

The return to true self took little time externally, more time internally, and much more mentally. When a Shifter was deep undercover, all you had to remind you of who you really were was what we called the Golden Thread—the link back to where you’d hidden your true self.

Some Shifters lost the Thread and never found themselves. Some cut the Thread, to remain who they’d turned into. Sometimes the Thread was cut for love, but in many cases, it was cut to allow the Shifter to remain hidden permanently.

Not that there were a lot of us left, experienced, hidden, or otherwise. Not after the Diamante Purge. I needed to keep my mind on going back to being me, though, so I tabled old angers for another time.

I was a pro at this by now, but even for me I needed safety, security, and relaxation in order to make the full return to myself.

Roy knew. He led me to our quarters, then waited while I adjusted back to me, inside and out.

It took a little longer than normal, about an hour, before I was fully back. I looked in the mirror and spoke the Mantra of Self.

“My name is Danielle Daniels. My friends call me DeeDee. I was born on Seraphina and carry part of it within my body and soul. I’m a member of the crew of a ship known only to said crew as
The Hummingbird
. My life is my own, my loyalty is to those I love and those I serve.”

“You forgot, ‘and I’m Roy’s girl.’”

I laughed. “That goes without saying.”

“Missed you, babe,” he murmured as he pulled me into his arms. “You have to kiss anyone while you were on assignment? Or anything else?” He was always worried after every job, which I found extremely flattering. Between the two of us, the one more likely to get suggestive offers was Roy.

I chuckled. “The beauty of impersonating royalty is that no one expects them to put out before the wedding night.” I snuggled closer. “Besides, I have the best kisser in the galaxy right here.”

Roy did his best to reassure me that he hadn’t lost any skills while we were apart. He was still the best—at everything.

He stroked my arm as we lay together in the afterglow. “You hungry?”

“Only for junk food. Good eating on Andromeda, but they really keep a rein on anything unhealthy, at least for the Royal Family.”

“We stocked up on all your favorites.”

“Knew I loved you.”

We got dressed and went to the galley. Bullfrog was there, still holding the bag of gems. He grunted at us. “Good pay. Better than last time.”

“Well, Andromeda royalty pay well. Besides, each assignment is tougher than the last, in that sense.”

Roy sat down and pulled me into his lap. “Fourth princess in this family line to do a runner and get ‘killed.’ And yet the Diamante Royal Families aren’t suspicious?”

“We do good work.”

“You mean you do,” Roy said.

“We’re following your plan.”

“Which only works because of you.”

I shrugged. “Shape shifting isn’t extraordinary if you’re born with the talent.”

“True. But you do more than shifting your shape,” Roy said, as he stroked my back.

He was right, of course. Every Royal Family worth its crown had telepaths around. Fooling them, and everyone else, took more than just changing your shape. You had to change your mind. Modestly spoken, I was the best there was at becoming someone else.

“Well, I couldn’t blame Olivia. Prince Ignatius is a toad, and I don’t mean a toad like Bullfrog.”

Bullfrog rolled his eyes. “No insult intended, I’m sure.”

I ignored him. “
And
she fell in love with the Captain of the Guard. I mean, who wants to stand in the way of true love? I have to give Olivia credit—her guy’s a hunk and a half.” Roy grumbled, and I went on quickly, “But you have to hand it to Andromeda—they have the best ability of any planet to get out of debt creatively. And the best track record.”

“Approaching Roulette,” Doven said over the intercom. Roy sighed as we stood up. I stayed with Bullfrog while he headed back to the cockpit.

“Nice haul,” Bullfrog said when we were alone. “No compunction from anyone about stealing from Diamante?”

“None. Andromeda’s my kind of planet.” So was Roulette, an entire planet devoted to gambling, betting, and other related pursuits. No extradition, either. Though we weren’t going there to hide—we were going to collect our winnings.

Willy joined us. He was our ship’s engineer and usually stayed below decks, just in case. “Missed you, little girl,” he said as he seated himself next to Bullfrog. We all strapped in for landing. “What was it like?”

“Like the other times.”

I liked the King and Queen of Andromeda. They didn’t want to make their daughters marry jackasses or jerks. But Andromeda wasn’t a rich planet, resources-wise. So, King Oliver had, long ago, been more than willing to go in on what we called the Royal Scam. We had a lot of scams, of course, but this one was near and dear to everyone’s heart.

Roy’s in particular.

Diamante, on the other hand, had a set of Royal Families that made the Old Earth Borgia’s from millennia ago look like the kindest saints in the galaxy. They were rich, one of the richest planets in the galaxy. Yet they longed for more—they wanted to be considered legitimate monarchs, not just rich merchants who dressed up and put on crowns.

They longed for other things, too. Old Earth had finally given up the idea of genetic purging before they’d expanded out to explore and help populate the rest of the galaxy. But the Diamante Families didn’t like certain races and planets, and they’d spent a dozen years proving that, back when most of us on the crew were children.

Of all the planets out there, I hated Diamante more than any other.

I felt the ship shift, just a little, meaning we were coming into range of Roulette’s sensors. Doven’s talent again. Altering the ship’s general shape and changing the call letters was child’s play for Doven, especially after making the ship “disintegrate” in front of thousands of witnesses.

Roy wasn’t exaggerating—he had a great crew.

We landed, and all nine of us gathered together. Roy always had us do this before disembarking, so he could brief us and make sure no one gave him or Ciarissa a bad feeling. Roy trusted Ciarissa’s telepathic skills, but he trusted his own gut even more.

Dr. Wufren, Tresia, and Kyle joined the rest of us by the main cabin exit. Dr. Wufren gave me some round, red and white discs. Of course, being a telekinetic, he floated them to me. They spun around, doing a pretty dance in the air.

I put out my hand, and the discs landed neatly on my palm. “Gaming chips from the Joint?”

“From my last visit,” Dr. Wufren replied, his watery blue eyes twinkling. “I was unable to exchange them for something more useful.”

“Because we were too busy running away after you got caught cheating,” Roy reminded him.

Dr. Wufren shrugged. “One must keep one’s hand in, my boy. As you well know. DeeDee my dearest, will you please arrange to exchange these lovelies for something lovelier still?”

“Of course.”

“I could do it,” Kyle offered.

Dr. Wufren chuckled. “I’m sure you could, my boy. I’m sure you could.”

I laughed. “Trying to steal my job, Kyle?”

Kyle was a mini-Roy. Smaller all the way around, but still obviously Roy’s younger brother. He flashed me the family grin. “Nah. Nice to see you back, DeeDee. Bro’s been a pain to be around. I’ve had to hang with the doc and Willy to stay out of the line of fire.”

“Kyle even helped me in the galley.” Tresia tousled Kyle’s hair with one of her pincers. “Never thought a human could really help much, but I have to say, he’s good.” Since Tresia was a humanoid arachnid, this was quite a compliment. “Kyle’s not exaggerating. Roy was more than a little…testy…while you were gone.”

“Yeah, right,” Roy muttered, looking embarrassed. “There was a lot going on.”

I linked my arm through his. “Oh yeah, tough guy? Why don’t you tell me all about it while we see what our payout is.”

Ciarissa handed me the cloak. I took a risk, wearing it off the ship right after Princess Olivia’s “death,” but it was part of how we proved the scam had worked. I’d made sure the cloak was expensive but not all that rare—anyone with enough credits could have purchased it, from a variety of planets.

“Fine. I want everyone other than DeeDee and Bullfrog to stay on the ship and be ready to run at a moment’s notice,” Roy said. “We may have to make a fast exit, and I don’t want to end up stranded or captured because someone’s off gambling. Or anything else,” he added with a glare for Willy and Dr. Wufren.

Everyone gave the standard good-natured grumbles, but no one argued too much. We’d done this drill often enough. The downside to Roulette was some of its laws, particularly those that affected Espens. Ciarissa and Dr. Wufren would need to wear special headpieces that blocked their tele-talents. Technically, as a Shifter, I should be wearing an elaborate set of body armor. As if. I shifted, just a little, all on the inside.

Kyle, Willy, and Tresia could all go into Roulette without issues, but since we weren’t here for fun, they were better off staying on-ship. Besides, Roy was protective and did his best to keep his little brother out of harm’s way. Sure, we didn’t succeed all that often, but still, he kept on trying.

The ramp lowered, and the three of us walked down. We were greeted by a flying robotic attendant, typical for Roulette. “Names and purpose?”

“Captain and partial crew of the
Hyperion
,” Roy said. We hadn’t been on the
Hyperion
for years, so it was unlikely to bring up anything negative out of the planet’s central computer. “On Roulette for a short visit with an old friend.”

The robot flew around us. I was tense but fairly sure the robot couldn’t sense it. Whether it could or not, the robot didn’t make any issues. “Two Earthers, one Polliwog.” I assumed Dr. Wufren and Ciarissa had honed some skills while I was gone. I knew my internal rearrangements had shown me to be an Earther, as opposed to a Shifter, but the only true Earther we had was Willy — Roy and Kyle were Martian. And, Martians were right after Shifters on the popularity rolls these days. “What is the makeup of the crew which remains on board?”

“Two more Earthers, one Arachnidan, one Quillian, and two Espens,” Roy replied briskly. “If they leave the ship, the Espens will wear appropriate gear.” Doven’s talent was extremely rare, and like my status, we didn’t list it on the books.

“You may proceed. Enjoy your stay on Roulette and may luck grace you.”

Interestingly to me, Espens weren’t hunted or even feared. However, they didn’t run the galaxy, either, and considering eight out of ten Espens were telepathic or telekinetic of some kind, this was surprising. Ciarissa and Dr. Wufren had never explained why Espen functioned as it did. I figured they were either all peaceful at their cores, or else there was a larger scheme in place Espen’s leaders didn’t feel they needed to share.

I kept a casual lookout. “No one’s taking undue interest.”

A variety of holoscreens hung along the walls of the spaceport, creating a bank of moving, life-like visuals, streaming in from every planet in the galaxy. Many of them showed a continuous loop of the firefight we’d just left. “…the horrific explosion ended the short life of Princess Olivia of Andromeda,” an announcer’s voice said. “Next up—is Andromeda’s royal family cursed? Our investigative reporters give you the real news.”

“Think they’ll create a problem?” I asked Roy quietly.

“No, standard media reaction,” he replied in kind.

Roulette had excellent public transportation of all kinds—didn’t want anything to slow your getting to a gaming facility. We had a regular bookie we used, but never for payouts from this kind of job. Those who placed a big bet on a political figure’s nuptials or death tended to garner a lot of interest from Galactic Enforcement.

Instead, I went back to work. The cloak was serving a double purpose—I could shift under it in crowded areas, and I could also shift the cloak with me, if I was in seclusion. I could also change the cloak’s color as needed. Roulette had great security, but there were always ways around it, and we knew them all.

By the time we reached our first casino, I’d shifted to look similar to Tresia, though I ensured I wasn’t an exact duplicate—why leave her on the ship if I was going to just have “her” exposed here?