Chapter 64

Zeke found Kilos and Nikau talking to Esha in her office.

“Excellent. I wanted to see all three of you before I left. Merry Christmas,” Zeke told them with a grin.

He reached into his satchel and handed each of them a Box like he had handed to Harry and Tean. He grinned when they opened the boxes and then helped put the head chains on each of them.

“You are still short a medallion, but this will help a lot. Perhaps next visit, I’ll have them. Please look after each other and play safe with your spells. Use the hidden room when practising. You three are some of my favourite people.”

They each gave him a hug and a very familiar kiss before he blinked back to Freya.

“Captain, an annoying woman keeps calling to talk to you,” Freya informed Zeke once he was back.

“Did she say what she wanted?” he asked as he cleaned up the galley.

“She is a reporter for SSBC. A Melissa Henderson.”

“Not interested. Tell her to go and see Brigadier Santos.”

“Mean. What did he do to you?”

“Let things on Morpheus get to the point that I had to intervene, not once but several times. I’m supposed to be policing space, not space stations. Why isn’t he using the judiciary here?”

“Oh, Colonel Howe arrested Judge Gore and Judge Mahi this morning. UNSEC command told the Brigadier to order him to use you. Howe refused and said that you were a witness and that while you have special rights, Morpheus isn’t your responsibility. They have to replace the Judges anyway. He has them dead to rights.”

“Well, good for him. I’ll have to find some way to thank him.”

“Captain, you have visitors. They are with Lindsay and Carly.”

“Send them up to the rec room, please, Freya. Oh, and open the wall. I’ll need the space.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Zeke had added a hidden room of the same dimensions to his rec room. It was behind a wall that split and slid into the side walls. You would have to know his ship well to know it shouldn’t exist. To anyone snooping, they would assume he’d sacrificed the storeroom beside the rec room.

He’d duplicated the three couches to put in the new section and added two longer couches against the wall facing the door. He could now seat eighteen people comfortably with an open area in the middle.

He also added a refreshment counter on the door side of the room. He kept it stocked with nibbles on top and drinks in the refrigerated unit below; glasses and crockery were in cupboards above the bench.

Zeke entered to find his twelve guests finding seats as well as Carly and Lindsay. He waited until they settled before addressing the new team. He explained their mission and what he expected of them.

They discussed duties, pay, hours of work and time off. Zeke got Tean to give them a virtual tour of Aida, explaining the amenities, bunk allocation and workspaces. He then talked about magic, its limitations and using it around mundanes.

“Does anyone here have a problem with working with magical people?” He grinned as he got a lot of snickers around the room.

Surprisingly, it was Kami Sudiro who said, “Boss, why do you think we all want on Aida? We are all misfits. We now know why. It will be good to be with others like me.”

That little speech earned him cheers and claps.

“So, I guess you want what I have in this sack?”

They all laughed when he retrieved a big red sack from behind the door. In fancy silver and blue letters, the words on it said, Merry Christmas.

“I know it’s tomorrow, but I didn’t think you’d mind getting this gift today. After all, I love giving gifts on my birthday.”

They loudly wished him a happy birthday.

Zeke handed out the satchels and told them not to open them yet. Once the new people all had one, he got them to stand. He recited the pledge, and they solemnly repeated it.

He stood back and watched them explore the satchels and help each other don the two-gemmed head chains. He’d also given Sarah Nicolas and Talia full sets.

The Indian twins came over to him. “Captain, why do we protectors have white satchels?”

Zeke smiled, “I’m sorry, didn’t I explain that they were for what Queen Lee calls Shields. You are protectors, after all.”

Sebo Khoza had come up behind the girls. He put his rather large hands gently on their shoulders. “It is fitting. We may do other jobs, but protecting our crew and the innocent is our primary job. We have much to learn.”

The girls grinned at Sebo. It was obvious that they already liked him.

Zoha said, “This is going to be a spanking job.”

“The best!” agreed Zoya.

“On that note, I think it’s time you lot cleared out. You have two days to get your shit together, enjoy Christmas and report for duty. On your Pedz, is a list of what to bring and what not to bring. Just remember, your ship has a fully programmed R&R unit. You can select your uniforms once aboard.”