Artemis Slade & The Renegades: Road to Redemption (6 page)

Chapter 9

The moment our shuttle landed I
bolted out the hatch and headed straight for the Commander's office. Tianna, bless her heart, volunteered to log all of our mission notes and begin cordinating with the Justice Corp while I dealt with Jones.

After giving the door to her office
a perfunctory knock, I barged right in and found her leaning casually against the wall-length glassteel window that provided the most spectacular view of the mountains that surounded our base.

"I take it you have a
n urgent matter to discuss with me," she drawled eyeing me through the steam rising from her dratted circuitry-laden mug.

"Oh yeah, you and I've got business to discuss," I
growled smiling in satisfaction at the yelp that escaped her lips as the penlight I threw at her struck the nerve cluster in her right wrist; the resulting spasm in her hand causing her to drop the mug. "And I don't feel like being stasified while we're having it!"

O
ur eyes locked for a moment then, much to my surprise, the Commander smiled. "You truly are a breath of fresh air. Have a seat," she said pointing toward the plush chair positioned in front of her desk.

"Ugh...thanks," I said feeling slight
ly unnerved by her reaction or rather lack of to my extreme insubordination as I slid warily into the proferred seat.

Jones retrieved her cup from the floor, placed it atop her desk then took a seat herself. "I take it that all of this hostility stems from something you discovered in the Matadaran database regarding your past?"

My eyes widened
with surprise. "How did you..." I began then physically smacked myself on the forehead as realization figuritvely slapped me in the face. "Tianna told you, didn't she? No wonder she was so willing to handle our debrief by herself."

"Yes she told me," Jones
said evenly. "Don't be mad at her," the Commander admonished for the anger she obviously sensed rising in me. "Tianna's a good girl and she's taken quite liking to you. She was only trying to help. And in answer to your next question," she said after a brief pause. "Yes; I was your Sponsor during your time at Lazon; in fact," she continued reaching across her desk and taking my hands gently in hers. "I've been watching over you your entire life."

Her announcment caught me flatfooted and
my mouth fell open. "I don't...I don't understand," I stammered after regaining the use of my voice. "Are you saying that what you told me at our first meeting, about you having had your eyes on me..."

"Was
completely true, with the exception of the way we tracked you down. I already knew who and where you were, and that you would be the perfect operative for this assignment."

"T
his is crazy," I snapped snatching my hands from hers and rising angrily from my seat. "First you set up some lame Sanction to get me here and test my skills, and now you're telling me that you already
knew
who I was and what I could do." I stared at her through disbelieving eyes as my mind worked furioulsy to process this jacked up scenario. "If you're so privy to my life then why go through all that trouble?"

Jo
nes opened her mouth to speak and for the first time since meeting her I detected a note of uncertainty peeking through her reserved veneer. "The drama I put you through wasn't to gauge how
you
would do," she admitted, her voice subdued. "It was for me; so that I could see if
I
would be able to handle putting you in harms way."

Once again her statement caught me off guard.
"You're the Commander of one of the most lethal military squads in the United Systems. What makes me so special?"

Jones stared at me for a long time
, a fierce mental battle going on behind her eyes. Finally she took a deep breath and released it. "The fact that you're my son."

Her voice w
as barely a whisper yet her words thundered through the office like the roar of a starship's engines. "What?" I managed to croak through stiff lips, too in shock to do or say anything else.

J
ones slowly stood and moved from behind her desk; her measured steps bringing her to a halt in front me where she reached up and cradled my face in her hands . "You're my son," she repeated, her eyes moist.

"No,
" I cried trying to pull away from her but the strength of her grip held me firm. "No...you...you're lying! You must be. My mother died...my mother..."

"Is alive and well," J
ones gently cut me off.

Again
the shock at what she was saying sent a ripple through my rigid body. "But...but why..." I managed to choke out after swallowing hard several times. "Why did dad say you were dead? And why did you stay away from me all these years?"

The
anguish in my words washed over her, and the damn holding back her tears broke loose. "Because it was the only way I could keep the two of you safe."

"
I don't understand," I whispered, my paralysis replaced by a slight tremble as the impact of this moment slowly began to settle over me. "Safe from what?"

"From m
e," Jones sighed as she hugged me close to her and rested her head against my chest. Not knowing what else to do, I wrapped my arms around her and stood completely still as she began her tale.

"Your father and I first met during a shared
Covert Op, the details of which are not importent. He was a civilian cotractor assigned to my team, and the two of us developed a fondess for one another that we decided to pursue. One thing led to several others, including you, and for a time life was good."

"What happened
?"

The Commander (
I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that she was my mother) relseased a heavy sigh. "My pass caught up with me. Several members of the Cheesan spice Cartel, a nasty little group that I had infiltrated and helped take down a few years prior to my meeting Jarrod, gainded access to certain Corp files that revealed my true identity which allowed them to track me down and send a hit team to settle the score. I of course dealt with them but you and your father were almost killed in the process. I knew that as long as I was on the Cheesan's radar, the two of you would never be safe."

"So you
figured that leaving us, leaving
me,
" I couldn't help the bitterness in my voice, "was the best solution?"

Jones
tilted her head up so that our eyes met. "It wasn't like that Artemis. The plan was for you two to dissapear while I handled the rift-raft after me then reconnect once we were in the clear. DNA test had already confirmed that you carried the G6PD1 enzyme like your father so we figured Jerrod's homeworld, a restricted planet, would be the ideal place for the two of you hide. Neither of us could've foreseen the accident that would claim his life..."

"And leave me al
one," I bit out angrily.

"And leave you safe!"

I was taken aback my the force of her statement.

"
For security purposes I was never identified as the mother on any of the documents pertaining to you which meant that you were in the clear. And though it tore my heart out to do so, I arranged for your admittance into Lazon and set myself up as your sponser under an alias that I had established early on in my career."

"An alias that I
assume no one else knew about," I said. Establishing several pseudo identities was common for Special Operatives. I had a couple myself, the fact of which also made it easier to understand her reasoning. Ours was a dangerous profession which is why I tended to shy away from long term relationships. The potential risk to loved ones was too great.

"Actually there was one other person who
knew the full details of my life."

Jones'
voice drew me back from moment of introspection. "Who?"

A
mischievous grin tugged at her lips. "The person whose political contacts allowed me to track you down after your departure from Lazon, and follow your stellar progress in the Corp."

"A
nd that person is?" I prompted wondering why she was dragging this out.

Jo
nes' grin deepened. "My brother; Councilor Josef Adams."

I stared at her for a moment then thr
ew my head back and laughed. "This just keeps getting better and better! First I find out I have a mother who now tells me that the man I've looked to for half my life as a surrogate father is actually my uncle; unbelievable!"

"So you see
," she said cradling my face again. "You were not as alone in the universe as you thought  you were."

I withdrew her hands from
my face and placed a gentle kiss atop her forehead. "No, I guess I wasn't," I muttered shaking my head from side to side. Boy; this is going to take some getting used to."

The Commander's expression changed int
o one of regret. "I can imagine it will. I'm just sorry for the hardship you've had to endure because of my career choice."

I gave
her shoulders a reassuring squeeze."You can't blame yourself for that. Sometimes shit just happen. And besides," I said favoring her with a teasing wink. "Considering what you went through to keep me safe, and in spite of all that's happened since, I think I turned out pretty good."

A
look of pride filled the Commander's...my
Mother's
eyes. "You turned out perfect." A wistful sigh escaped her lips. "I just wish your father was here to be a part of this long awaited reunion."

"Yeah me too," I sighed
picturing the smile that I knew was on Jerrod Arten's face in whatever afterlife his spirit had made it's way to.

"But enough of that,"
my mother said sternly, her Commander facade dropping back into place as she untangled herself from our mutual embrace and settled back into the chair behind her desk. "It's time for us to discuss your next assignment."

"What
?" I cried feigning shock at her declaration. "But I've just had a life altering experience! Don't I get a just-discovered-my-long-lost-family break before you thrust me back into hell?"

Commander Jones released a
n amused snort. "Of course not. My son you may be but you're still a Renegade, and we Renegades don't get breaks. Besides," she said smiling at the plaintive wail that escaped my lips. "Tianna got the impression that you wanted to help the good folks of Brick Town throw off the oppression of Reston's corporate regime."

My eyes widened with delighted surprise. "
Are you saying that bringing down Cole Deshlar is my next assignment?"

A
dangerous gleam apppeared in the Commander's eyes. "I am. I take it you're interested?"

"Oh hell yeah," I cried thi
nking of the less than warm welcome I had received from Deshlar's boy band during my first visit to their quaint little village. It was time to bring a little Renegade justice to Brick Town!

B
ut that's a tale best left for another time!

The
End....for now.

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