Peacemaker (The Revelations Cycle Book 6) Read online

  Peacemaker

  Book Six of the Revelations Cycle

  By

  Kevin Ikenberry

  PUBLISHED BY: Seventh Seal Press

  Copyright © 2017 Kevin Ikenberry

  All Rights Reserved

  Learn more about Kevin Ikenberry at:

  http://www.kevinikenberry.com/

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  Get the free Four Horseman prelude story “Shattered Crucible”

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  http://chriskennedypublishing.com/

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  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and 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 purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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  For My Girls

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  Cover Design by Brenda Mihalko

  Original Art by Ricky Ryan

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  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Connect with Kevin Ikenberry Online

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  About Kevin Ikenberry

  Titles by Kevin Ikenberry

  Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle:

  Excerpt from Book One of the Kin Wars Saga:

  Acknowledgements

  * * * * *

  Chapter One

  A Peacemaker always honored the threat. Jessica Francis silently released her pistol from the holster on her thigh without looking away from her target’s back. Fingers light on the pistol’s grip, the Peacemaker trainers’ words reverberated in her mind. Brandish a weapon only when threatened and never to make a point. The Zuparti trader, Ch’tek, was about to open a cargo container and get one hell of a surprise. Its interior privacy system destroyed, the container doors would slide completely open. The illicit cargo inside, gift-wrapped for the destruction of Earth, secured her provisional appointment as Earth’s first Peacemaker. Try as she might, trusting the little Zuparti trader not to become a threat wasn’t a chance worth taking.

  Ch’tek’s claws scraped against the interior mechanism of the control panel she’d carefully damaged with her ex-husband’s help. Marc Lemieux had never been a competent commander. Succeeding because of the exploits of his subordinates only managed to get Marc so far. His ego finally managed to get the better of him, and several promising young mercenaries died including one of Jessica’s best friends. The recovery of the container had been the only thing to go right during the mission. She blinked the recent, painful memories away.

  The door sprang open. Jessica removed the laser pistol deftly and leveled it at Ch’tek’s narrow chest as he spun and wiped his dirty little paws. Behind him, a viable Canavar egg, incapable of hatching unless directly breached, rested on a bed of hay.

  “What are you—m”

  “Ch’tek.” Jessica kept her voice measured and direct. “By the laws of the Union, you are under arrest for the unlawful removal and possession of a Canavar egg, deceitful employment of a registered mercenary force, and coercion.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ch’tek laughed. “That’s not what’s in—”

  From her side, Lemieux pointed at the open door. The small Zuparti turned and fell silent. After a moment, he turned back to Jessica and grinned. “How much to forget this unfortunate incident? Commander Lemieux? Miss Francis? You’re a bounty hunter and cannot arrest—”

  With her free hand, Jessica pulled out a thin black sleeve from a chest pocket. On it was a platinum shield. “That’s Peacemaker, not bounty hunter. On my authority, Ch’tek, you’re under arrest.” She raised her voice. “Bay Control? Authorization Zulu Four Zero.”

  Large hangar doors opened. A squad of Peacemakers entered the space with their weapons trained on Ch’tek and the Canavar egg. A dozen other officers of varying species filed past them and surrounded the Zuparti trader. Two lumbering Lumari Peacemakers flanked Ch’tek and quickly placed shackles on his arms and legs, leaving the small alien defeated, as Jessica continued. “By Union Laws, you are under arrest. You will be held until such time as you are placed before a Peacemaker tribunal. Your rights of redress and citizenship are suspended until you are released or acquitted. You cannot complete or enter into any contracts with the sole exception of legal representation. You are entitled to obtain said representation, if possible. Credit will be extended to you if you cannot afford said representation. Do you have any questions?”

  Ch’tek shook his head and looked away. His eyes narrowed. Jessica knew Ch’tek’s worst nightmare was about to come true. A pair of Buma diplomats, their wide-eyes taking in everything, shuffled into her view. Ch’tek was secured in his chains, and she holstered her pistol without looking.

  “Peacemaker Francis?” the nearest one said. “Are these allegations true?”

  “Of course, they’re true,” Ch’tek snarled. “The Union did not need this pathetic species! I demand to see the Zuparti consul at once!”

  Jessica looked at two officers standing close by. “Please remove the accused.” Ch’tek disappeared behind a group of white-coated scientists rushing to the Canavar egg.

  Jessica nodded to the Buma. “Please relay my gratitude to the Besquith, Cael Doontal.”

  “Well done, Peacemaker.” The Buma bowed and retreated from them.

  Gods, I love the sound of that!

  Lemieux glanced at her, trying to be charming, with a smile on his face she wanted to forcibly remove. He’d always tried to make light of things with inane sayings, as though humor was akin to leadership, and a good laugh moved mountains. For six years, she’d wanted to find him and shut him the hell up. Now, though, she could go one step further.

  She stared at him for a long moment and watched the smile drain away from his face almost as fast as the color did. “Marc, you are an accessory to this.”

  “The hell I am!” Lemieux argued. “My contract was violated. I’m no party to anything. If anyone’s an accessory, you are! You took it onboard your ship!”

  “I told you that was for evidence, don’t you remember?” Jessica smirked. “I’m trying to decide if I should charge you with anything. I’m sure I could find a few things in your records.” She’d been his executive officer, his second in command, until their divorce, and she knew the books better than he ever would. Without the help of a substantially talented accountant, all of it could be easily found.

  Lemieux snorted. �
�Bounty hunter was your cover, right?”

  Always remain calm. The first tenet of being a Peacemaker held true in every instance. Jessica forced herself to relax her clenching fist and keep her words measured. “I never said I was a bounty hunter, Marc. But, you’re getting there.”

  “And the egg? You knew it was there, didn’t you?”

  Jessica shook her head. Some things were not for a mediocre mercenary commander to know. “Peacemaker business, Marc. It’s classified. Give me Elly and you walk away.”

  “Fine,” Lemieux said. He bent down, carefully unzipped the lower leg pocket of his coveralls, and withdrew a small white gift box. Worn on the corners and held together with yellowing tape, seeing the box made her heart leap in anticipation. “Your mother left explicit instructions.”

  “That I should never get it?” Jessica chuckled. “I knew she sent it to you. For whatever reason, she went to her grave thinking you were a wonderful man and would try to look out for me. That’s code for putting me off to the side and taking me for granted, by the way.”

  Lemieux flushed. “That’s what you think of our time together?”

  Gods, yes.

  “Pretty much.” She took the offered box and opened it. Wrapped in a double layer of white tissue paper was a small, porcelain elephant statuette that easily fit in the palm of her hand. “She’s as pretty as I remember.”

  “I didn’t realize she meant that much to you.”

  “You never realized a lot of things, Marc.” She glanced at him with hard, cold eyes. “The guild will pay your fee for this operation on one condition. You are to pay your soldiers and your creditors. With the remaining balance, you are to retire, preferably somewhere far from the trade routes. Stop playing mercenary commander. You’re simply not fit for it.”

  Lemieux sighed. “Fine. I’m retired. Are you happy, Jess?”

  “Peacemaker pays better than being a merc or a bounty hunter,” she said. Ten years ago, when they’d started the Marauders, she hadn’t known anything about war. Being a merc sounded a lot better. The first years were hell, but they’d built something that could have been great, only to see it collapse under poor decision making and judgment. Bounty hunting hadn’t been glamorous at all, but the Peacemaker Guild had seen something they liked enough to grant her a provisional candidacy. In order to assume full duties, the standing requirements were completion of the Peacemaker Academy, an arduous three-year commitment, and the completion of one approved operational mission. Given the nature of Ch’tek’s capture and the dissolution of his plan to attack Earth, she believed his arrest would easily qualify as her operational mission for commissioning. Her exams and physical trials to complete the Academy were two months behind her. Nothing stood in their way of her full commissioning. Earth’s first Peacemaker would make a damned fine epitaph.

  “That’s not what I meant,” Lemieux replied. Color crept up his neck, like it always did when he was mad but defeated. He’d never change, and that was a bad thing. The blame would come next. “You always get what you want! You’ve taken everything from me since day one—”

  Gods. The porcelain elephant’s cartoon face smiled up at her as if knowing a secret. It was time to find out what Elly knew.

  Make sure she gets Elly! When she’s ready!

  Her father’s voice, almost 20 years in the past, was crystal clear in her memory. The smell of rocket fuel and dust always came with him, mixed in the air with his cheap aftershave. He’d been a shadow leaving in the night when she was 10 years old, never to be seen again. Elly, her most prized possession, knew better, and it was time to learn why. She dropped the elephant to the cold steel deck and watched it shatter into a few dozen pieces.

  At her side, Marc gasped but said nothing.

  In the center of the debris lay something rectangular and black. Jessica bent down and retrieved it quickly. As she stood, she rotated it in her palm and he could see it was a type of computer chipset with the tiny word “Snowman” printed in bright orange against the dull black surface. Her heart swelled as she closed her fist around the chipset.

  “What the hell is that? Why does it have your father’s callsign on it?” Lemieux asked.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jessica winked and walked away, leaving him behind on the deck. Good riddance. She turned around the aft end of a skiff hauling CASPers marked for delivery to Asbaran Solutions and saw her Selector ambling toward her with his long-beaked face curled in an appreciative smile.

  The Sidar nodded at her. A few springs of silver hair on top of his angular head caught the lights of the high bay. “Peacemaker Francis.”

  “Selector Hak-chet.” Jessica nodded with respect. Hak-Chet had taken her under his wing two years ago and presented her to Rsach, the Peacemaker Guild Master as Earth’s first candidate. He’d been with her the entire time as counselor, mentor, and motivator. Until now, her existence as a candidate was a closely-held secret. Once she was commissioned, her identity would be well known across the galaxy.

  “Well done, Peacemaker. Save for brandishing your weapon unnecessarily,” Hak-Chet’s jaw worked under his smile. His eyes, though, were cold and distant. He looked away, side-to-side, as if concerned about eavesdropping. “We should speak privately.”

  Jessica nodded as the Selector swept past her into a narrow opening between CASPers. The Selector’s compliment and criticism erased the adrenaline high threatening to crash through her system, and brought her focus clearly to the moment. His black robe swirled, as the atmosphere fans recycled and churned the stale hangar air. “Is something the matter?”

  Hak-Chet turned to her, and one side of his mouth curled under. It was an all-too-human expression that looked positively awkward on the Sidar’s face. “You’ve passed the operational phase of your trials, Jessica. Of that, and you, I am extremely proud. There are others, though, who are not proud of your efforts, successful as they have been.”

  Jessica frowned. “You said politics would rear its ugly head.”

  “Its ugly, many-faced head,” Hak-Chet chuckled. He waved away whatever thought came next with his clawed hand. “That is not important, nor why I am here now. The Guild Master wants to speak with you.”

  Jessica felt a bolt of adrenaline course through her system. “Rsach? He wants to speak with me? Personally?”

  “With your Selector present, of course.” Hak-Chet tilted his long face to one side and studied her for a moment. “I do not know what he might say.”

  She felt a sudden smile cross her lips. Throughout her training, especially in the dynamics of conversation and persuasion, he would give her a similar look and say a single word that could fluster her instantly. The word came out with a smile she knew was both playful and sarcastic. “Speculation?”

  Hak-Chet laughed and raised a hand to the side of his jaw. “I cannot.” Another bout of laughter erupted, this much louder than before. Her mentor placed his hands on his belly and shook his head.

  Jessica squinted. “Surely there must be something?”

  “Oh, there is.” Hak-Chet composed himself with a deep, hitching breath. “You are trouble, Jessica Francis. Exactly what I thought you’d be. Others, though, think you must be properly tested. That is what I suspect, not what I speculate.”

  “Another test?” Jessica frowned. “They thought it was too easy, right? Or that I was using my position to get back at my ex-husband?”

  “Perhaps.” The Sidar shrugged. “The phrase I heard was diplomatic aplomb. You are an outstanding field commander and operative. You have all the ability in the world to handle yourself in a fight.”

  Jessica fought the pride swelling up in her. There was a but coming. Despite the praise of her Selector, her commission as a Peacemaker hung in the balance. She said it for them both. “But they are worried I cannot negotiate?”

  Hak-Chet shook his head. “There are many ways to solve a problem, Jessica. Do you remember what I asked you when we first met?”

  She nodded. The interview had b
een scheduled for six hours in a rundown concrete building that had been a National Guard armory in New Mexico. She’d arrived in sweltering heat and found the building open. Searching for 20 minutes, she’d finally found the Selector staring out a window at Sandia Mountain with his claws clasped behind his back. He hadn’t even bothered to look at her.

  “You are faced with an obstacle. Do you go over it? Around it? Or through it?”

  “Through it,” Jessica had said without hesitation. Going over something meant leveraging position or power against an obstacle that might, or might not, require it. Jumping the chain of command was a fast way to unemployment in the mercenary guild. Going around something tended to imply spending more effort and time thinking about how to get around, or out of, a task instead of just doing it. Through it meant doing what was required to get the task done.

  Jessica nodded and met Hak-Chet’s eyes. “I have to go through it. Whatever they want me to do, don’t I?”

  “If you want to be a Peacemaker.” The Sidar’s eyes glistened. “Yes.”

  * * *

  The Guild Master’s yacht was unlike anything Jessica had ever seen. The richly-appointed cabins and open spaces could have easily held the entire Marauder force, yet there were no visible weapons, and the massive supply holds were empty. Boarding at the quarterdeck, trailing her Selector as protocol required, Jessica marveled at the mahogany floors as they crossed into an ornate, very Earthly-appointed conference room. Tri-V pictures of Earth shimmered along the walls. The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China, and the Ceylon Elevator all tugged at her heart. She hadn’t been on Earth in more than eighteen months, not since burying her mother along the Missouri River.