The Calla'cara Gambit by Rob Bartlett

Author:Rob Bartlett [Bartlett, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B08FWV5TBQ
Published: 2020-09-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 53

Calla'cara

As I escorted her into the conference room, the Princess pulled back from my arm at the entrance. Apparently, she was put off by my decorating style. Heh.

She surveyed the room with the pile of broken glasses in the far corner, the row of empty whiskey bottles lined up on the wet bar, the half full one sitting on the conference table in front of the single remaining chair (yeah, I’d destroyed all the other furniture at some point during the week). The momentary burst of energy dissipated, I wandered over to slump back down in the chair and pour myself another slug of momentary amnesia, she cocked one perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.

“What?” I might have slurred slightly, my brain was too fuzzy to tell.

“Not how I expected to find the CEO of the first company in history to successfully Emancipate a Sentient Ship,” she replied sardonically.

“Surprise!” I responded with all the sarcasm I could muster.

“Indeed,” she said, dryly.

“What were you expecting?” I said, not really caring about her response.

“By all accounts, I expected to find a swashbuckling rogue of a Star Ship Captain, attended to by his sexy companions, trading witticisms with his private AI. I expected to deflect double entendres and playful banter with serious flirting, heavy on the sexual innuendo. I anticipated meeting a self confident, mildly braggadocious, yet charming man who might actually have the chance to entice me into a four way,” she paused. “I certainly wasn’t expecting...” she waved a hand around the conference room, “this!”

Damn, the woman had managed to hit every open wound with her casual dismissal of my circumstances. I chugged the whiskey and threw the glass into the corner with unexpected ferocity. She didn’t even have the decency to flinch.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I won,” I said.

“This is winning,” she was incredulous.

“Yeah, not what I was expecting either,” I shrugged.

She shook her head at my answer, pity in her eyes.

Damn it!

“Why are you here,” I ground out. It was a command more than a question.

“I received a request from the Media Partner at Dennet Prime. He told me about the indigenous species here on Calla’cara that were in potential danger and asked if my foundation would be interested in investigating,” she said.

“I heard the speech you gave the Khan,” I said. “Why are you really here?”

She gestured around at the disaster I’d made of the conference room.

“While you’re like this, that’s all you get. If you pull your head out of your ass then we’ll see about talking business. In the meantime, I really do have a foundation and we really do secure Imperial Writs for endangered indigenous species.”

She paused.

“I guess I just didn’t expect to come here and find you’re probably an endangered species too.”

With that parting shot, she left me to my misery.

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