SHADO HQ, Training Facility

Twelve days after Jennifer's return from Moonbase (see 'Practice To Deceive')

Cadet Instructor Denise Holbrook looked over her cadets' scores for their latest written assignment (if 'written' was the right word; all their assignments were created and submitted electronically - "Dammit, we will totally do away with paperwork eventually!" she amusedly recalled the Commander's diatribe on the subject, forever a sore point given how much paperwork he had to deal with daily). There were no surprises.

John Russell needed to pull his socks up soon or she would have to fail him. She knew he was having problems at home, but he really should be leaving them at home. Maybe she should schedule a counselling session for him with Harriet. Yes, that would be best, she decided firmly; he was a trier, and she would hate to lose him. She never liked to fail any cadet, though of course they could not be mollycoddled - SHADO could never take such a risk. If they really couldn't cut it, they had to go. Had to.

Denny Morris could do better; she rather suspected he was being distracted by cette grande blonde Eloise Marchant - and those big tits she had going on. Then again he's still only nineteen, and she's pretty cute, what with those blue eyes and all that blonde hair, so what else can you expect? He's basically still a boy, and she's a pretty girl with blonde hair and big tits - 'nuff said! Denise quipped to herself.

On the other hand Eloise had done a good job of pulling herself together after succumbing to near-hysteria on the trip back to Earth, when the Lunar Module nearly came under attack by a UFO (poor Ingrid, Denise couldn't help thinking sadly, recalling the Interceptor pilot who'd sacrificed herself so bravely to help save the cadets - never realising that she, or more accurately her Interceptor, was the true target).

Ian Halford, now recovered from his Twitching bout, was doing nicely...

...and Jennifer Harrison was so far ahead of them and the others that they'd need a telescope to see her! She's amazing, Denise marvelled, if I didn't know better I'd swear she'd been touched by that Nostradamus Alien thing Kelly told me about, though he said she hasn't. I guess he'd know, since he has...

I love how relaxed he's looking these days, she thought fondly. She's good for him, and so's her daughter; Sophie's such a sweet, lovely girl, she'd brighten any man's life. I wonder if they're planning on having kids of their own? Ooh, I do hope so -

Her musings were interrupted by a two-tone chime from her terminal, heralding a priority message broadcast over SHADO's intranet:

*PRIORITY MSG*

LEVEL 1 SHADONET OVERRIDE

USER ID: 001

FROM: SCT001

TO: TRAINING FACILITY

FAO: INSTRUCTOR HOLBROOK, DENISE

MESSAGE:

CADET HARRISON, JENNIFER REQUIRED TO REPORT IN PERSON

TO COMMANDER'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY

*END MSG*

That's weird. He can't be calling her just for a bit of office nookie with the privacy locks engaged, because Henderson's here. Unless Denny's hacked into SHADONET again and he's pissing about... no, that wasn't possible, she reconsidered. No-one but the Commander could even use SHADO Computer Terminal 001, not even his Exec (the security system had a fifty-kilovolt surprise in store for anyone who tried), and spoofing a terminal's address couldn't be done. In other words, this was real. "Um, Jennifer..."

The stunning redhead looked up from her terminal, where she was composing an email to Personnel to request next weekend off, trading it with Eloise; Dominic was coming to visit and she hadn't seen her beloved cousin in a long time since he'd gotten married and emigrated to Sweden, shortly after sorting out Jennifer's ex, Donald, for her. She was eager to meet his wife Freya, who was reputedly young, beautiful, vivacious...and blonde (though Jennifer had no intention of bedding her; shameless randy bitch or not, she wouldn't want to seduce her own cousin's wife into being unfaithful to him - she at least had some standards!). "Yes, ma'am?"

"I've just received a priority message; you're to report to the Commander's Office immediately."

"Oh, what does he want?" Jennifer sighed flippantly, sounding put-upon. One or two new late-entry cadets, as yet unfamiliar with the history between her and the Commander, looked shocked and horrified at this apparent disrespect (towards the Commander, no less!) and the blatant breach of etiquette & protocol...and baffled at the amused chuckles from the rest of them. Even Denise was hiding a smile.

SHADO HQ, Commander's Office

Five minutes later

As she walked in and (as per SHADO protocol Kelly had once briefed her on) intoned, "Cadet Harrison reporting as ordered, sir," she noticed a heavyset man in a military uniform sitting next to his desk - General Henderson, she guessed correctly. She instantly intuited that her first, impish guess as to why Kelly had summoned her - for a quick bit of spanking and/or sex under the pretext/pretence of 'instructing' or 'tutoring' her - was way off the mark...and since Kelly wasn't into threesomes, Henderson wasn't here for that, either!

Which means this is serious SHADO business, you naughty minx, she chastised herself, and nodded respectfully to the General - she didn't salute because that wasn't per SHADO protocol, as Denise had mentioned on her first day of training. "General."

"Morning, Cadet," he returned her greeting gruffly. "Siddown."

She did, and rested her hands on her lap, maintaining proper posture and waiting patiently as her Mum and Gran had taught her. But Kelly knew from her body language (and the fact that she was, by her own admission, a randy bitch!) what she'd been thinking as she entered, and only his mental preparation prior to summoning her had enabled him to keep the saucy grin off his face. They'd laugh about that later.

For now, though, there were serious matters to discuss.

"Okay, Cadet. As you doubtless know, the probability of your being assigned to the Strategic & Tactical ANalysis Division, once you've completed your training, is now better than 98% - in other words, virtually certain. The only unknown factor now is the outcome of your stint aboard Skydiver One, which is scheduled for next month - we still have to send you on it as there's still a small chance it might better suit you.

"However," he couldn't help smiling, "about the only way you'd be assigned to regular Skydiver duty at this stage, to be realistic, is if you could somehow take command of her during a UFO attack and/or launch in SKY 1 to shoot the damn thing down," he chuckled. She decided she could get away with a smile at the absurdity of the very thought (her flight training had proved in very short order she had no 'feel' for flying and would never make a pilot, not that she minded much), and had the impression both men approved. Kelly continued:

"As a STAND operative you'll be privy to more highly-classified material than most SHADO personnel, even as a junior officer. So I thought it'd be instructive to call you in on a high-level meeting, to give you some preparation - a taster, as it were. Since you're a signatory of the Official Secrets Act, there's no potential security breach caused by my action. However," he turned stern now, "you will not be a participant per se.

"I just want you to observe proceedings and take notes thereof; you'll be expected to present your observations and ask questions afterwards, show what you've learned. Do not speak to either of us unless you're spoken to - and I do not care how patronising that sounds. This is a direct order from the highest-ranking officer in SHADO. Is that understood, Cadet?"

Jennifer was briefly tempted to remain silent as per his order...but she knew he certainly wouldn't appreciate such an attempt at humour with Henderson there. Besides, he had spoken to her, so she could, and should, reply...seriously.

But with a twist, as was her w0nt.

So she responded, "Yes, Commander. I understand the order and I will comply with no mental reservations."

In other words, 'Roger Wilco' - she's been reading up on military protocol! Kelly deduced, correctly and to his considerable amusement. She's using that to give me lip...right under Henderson's nose! Jen, you minx, I am so going to spank you for that tonight!

God, I love this woman!

A bland "Good," was his only reply, though.

"I had wondered what the hell you thought you were doing calling a cadet to a Top Secret briefing," the general remarked. "Normally I'd have pulled you up on that, your Commander's Discretion notwithstanding...except you're wrong, in fact. Cadet Harrison," he turned his swivel chair to face her, "will be participating - but not in the briefing per se."

"Excuse me?" Kelly gaped.

"Believe it or not, Kelly, cadet or no, we need her on a mission - one that, we hope, will fulfil the objective of the briefing you thought you were gonna get."

He looks so funny when he's utterly nonplussed, Jennifer observed merrily, while doing her best not to laugh. She didn't want to be spanked too hard tonight, after all...

Over tea and toast (Jennifer politely declined), Henderson explained. "Okay, it's like this. I honestly thought for several years that SHADO had become an overblown luxury and needed scaling down. Things improved a little when this character," he offhandedly indicated Kelly, who grinned in nonchalant response, "took over in 2014 and we got new tech from that captured UFO you're not supposed to know about." All three chuckled wryly. "But I still had my doubts...until last year, when the Alien coup d'état showed how badly we'd underestimated their military strength.

"So he was right all along - SHADO needed to be expanded, not scaled down, because it'd become clear that they damn well were capable of launching an invasion after all. But in the wake of the economic unrest and unstable markets following the whole Brexit thing, to say nothing of that blasted coronavirus, there was an immediate problem."

Jennifer understood instantly: "Where's the money coming from?"

"Exactly," he nodded respectfully to her. Kelly's right, she's got a brain in there. She ain't just a gorgeous doll. "Despite several savings the Commander and SHADO R & D came up with, the bill's increasing every year. But now the Security Council has proposed a new idea, which was what my scheduled briefing with the Commander was supposed to be about. It occurred to the Council to try to secure private funding for SHADO."

"You mean private - civilian - investors?" He nodded. "But you can't! What about security?" she naturally objected.

"They won't be told about SHADO per se," Henderson assured her, "as far as they know they'll be investing in a new multinational startup firm: Shadow-with-a-w Enterprises, Inc. The plan is to create trade assets by declassifying some of SHADO's R & D projects, particularly several new materials and technologies we've developed, and releasing them to the world. The projected royalty gains are enormous, and should easily cover SHADO's expenses and the planned expansion."

"Makes sense, sir," she agreed; she recalled from reading The Man Who Sold The Moon that the UN had the power to create corporations. Then a thought occurred to her. "But what's changed? You said that's what the briefing was supposed to be about, past tense."

"Sharp, isn't she?" Kelly noted approvingly. "I was wondering that myself."

"Shostakovich," Henderson intoned grimly.

Naturally, Jennifer looked the question at Kelly. He replied, "Ivan Shostakovich is a citizen of Georgia, from one of the Russian-speaking provinces. He's a businessman, but to answer the question you're dying to interrupt me with," he carefully ignored her faux miffed look, "SHADO's been watching him for more than a decade because he's suspected of having had dealings with the Aliens." He did his best not to smirk as he finished, "You're going to say you'd already worked that out, aren't you?"

"Well, why else would you be interested?" she pointed out acerbically.

He let that go. "In what context does this concern him, General?"

"Well, some of the magnates we've talked to about investment have balked - they want us to prove we're serious." Henderson sighed. "They want to see at least $1billion up front before they'll put in a dime."

"And I take it SHADO doesn't have that much cash, or liquid assets, to spare," Jennifer intuited.

"Not even close," Henderson affirmed, "and the UN can't really spare it, either. But we may be able to win it. Shades of 007, there's a high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em game coming up in Montenegro, in which Shostakovich was supposed to be playing - and I mean high. I mean there'll be billions at stake. It'll cost potential players $100 million just to sit down in the game, that's the buy-in. Some of the world's richest people will be havin' a ball...and you two will be in the middle of it."

Kelly whistled. "Big money." He brooded, rapidly evaluating the data and drawing conclusions therefrom. One was immediately obvious. "Hmm...you want me to play, using the edge my knowledge of psychology gives me to read the other players' tells. Not to mention my analytical skills, ability to calculate odds in my head...and my command intuition." He nodded coolly. "Yeah, should be easy." Now he grinned. "Should be fun!"

"And where do I come in, sir?" Jennifer asked. "All I know about poker came from seeing Casino Royale."

Henderson smiled. "Funny you should mention that, since you'll be our Vesper Lynd...though I hope you will do what she was supposed to do: make an entrance and distract the other players." He looked rueful. "And try not to turn traitor or steal the damn money while you're at it."

Jennifer laughed softly. "I'm to be Kelly's eye and arm candy?"

"Partly," Henderson nodded, "though there'll be a touch of femme fatale, too. See, Shostakovich isn't gonna play after all...but his daughter is."

"His who now?!" Kelly interjected, startled. "He doesn't have a daughter!"

"Yeah, that's what we all thought...but he does. Our Russian contacts confirmed it - we thought she might've been adopted, but their DNA tests apparently verified the relationship."

"But - how old is she? She must've been born recently or we'd know about her, and if she's just a kid, she can't -"

"She's eighteen." Henderson met Kelly's astonished look with a grim one. "That's one of several things the Security Council wants you to check out." He settled in his chair and looked grimly purposeful. "The mission objectives, Commander, Cadet, though not necessarily in this order of priority, are as follows:

"One: find out once and for all if Shostakovich has dealt with the Aliens, and if so, how much he knows about them and their intentions. Do we need to shut him down, or can we maybe use him against them?

"Two: find out how he's come to have a teenage daughter we didn't know about until last month, and how much he's told her.

"Three: clean up in the poker game, as much as you can get - all of it, if you can.

"Cadet: I gather you're cheerfully bisexual, and Kelly doesn't mind you playin' away with women. That's good, 'cause that's exactly what I want you to do with the girl. Seduce her. Get her talkin'. Find out as much as you can. Distract her during the game as much as you can get away with."

"My sex life has nothing to do with SHADO!" Jennifer hissed in fury, incensed at this intrusion. "It's none of your business either, I don't care how high-falutin you are!"

"You're wrong, Jen," Kelly told her quietly. "There are no secrets in SHADO itself. Hell, everyone in SHADO knows about us - and all they're doing is cheering us on."

"But - you're turning me back into an escort! No," she indignantly corrected herself, "no, actually, it's worse - you're making me a whore!"

"We're trying to save the world, Jennifer!" Kelly retorted. "We can't afford pride! For all we know, the entire bloody game may have been set up by the Aliens - why else are the stakes so high?"

"If They did, that means this might be a trap - had that occurred to you, Commander?!" she shot back snappily.

That pulled him up short, because for some reason it hadn't - even though the Aliens had indeed tried to trap him in order to determine how he was able to see through their strategic obfuscations so readily and thus discern their real objectives...said entrapment attempt resulting in his involvement with Jennifer.

"Uh...no," he admitted sheepishly. "That's a very good point."

"We'll take precautions," Henderson rumbled. "You'll both be safeguarded as much as possible."

"You're asking me to turn a young, probably innocent girl against her father," she protested.

Kelly took her hand. "We're asking you to help us secure SHADO's future, Jennifer." He hesitated. "I could, of course, just order -"

"Actually, you can't," Henderson interrupted apologetically, "as soon as the possible risks and the involvement of a cadet were mentioned, the Secretary General specifically ordered me to designate the entire mission Two-Alpha."

"Oh, shit," Kelly cursed. He knew what would almost certainly happen the moment he explained what that meant; his lover was nothing if not consistent. "Jennifer, I apologise; I can't order you after all. The Two-Alpha designation is something we've borrowed from Battlestar Galactica - it means the mission is strictly 'volunteers only'."

"So I can tell you to go fuck yourself, Commander?" she snapped. He'd expected it, but it still stung. "Well, consider it said! FUCK YOU AND THE - THE INTERCEPTOR YOU FLEW IN ON!"

She leapt up from her chair and stormed out, leaving two stunned men in her wake feeling as if they'd been caught in the path of a hurricane. The doors barely opened in time, and it wasn't at all certain she'd have stopped if they hadn't.

It was some two minutes before Henderson exhaled: "Jeez, you weren't kiddin' about that temper."

"Force of nature," Kelly agreed feelingly. "But I think I can talk her into it. She never takes long to calm down."

"She's quite a woman," Henderson noted quietly, with obvious respect for Jennifer. "It's easy to see why you fell for her, Kelly. Beauty, brains, strength and courage - and a sense of humour," he chuckled. When Kelly raised a surprised eyebrow he finished, still chuckling, "What, you thought I didn't get her 'Roger Wilco' jibe at you?"