House of Fate

by Barbara Ann Wright

  He tried to cover it, but she saw the flash of recognition as the pieces came together, and he realized he’d been duped or pulled into something larger than a simple station acquisition. Annika lunged, but he backpedaled into a crowd of hurrying people. Several tripped over him, serving as a blockade. Annika tried to leap over them, but Spartan took off down a narrow hallway and disappeared from view. The station was a warren of twisting passageways, and he knew them far better than her.

  “Forget him,” Noal said. “That’s got to be Judit out there. All we need to do is get off the station before someone else recognizes us.”

  “Spartan’s probably going straight to his bosses. If they get their hands on us, they’ll hold us hostage. They know the ship won’t fire with us on board.”

  “We don’t know for sure what anyone will do! Let’s hide and think of a way out.”

  He was right. She headed for one of the places Spartan had shown them, somewhere the cameras wouldn’t see.

  * * *

  Elidia came back with a calmer expression, which seemed like a good sign, but she and Judit put each other on hold a lot as they negotiated and threatened and generally proved that they didn’t trust each other at all. Judit wondered how often the bigger houses came to this place and threw their weight around. Maybe everyone was tired of seeing their faces on the feeds all the time.

  Speaking of feeds, time wasn’t on their side. If people on the station hadn’t recognized Annika and Noal yet, they would soon. That could even be one of the reasons Elidia was dragging her feet. Maybe she was waiting for creds. That edged Judit’s admiration down a tick. She hated haggling, and she never knew where to start. One of the best things about having money was that she hardly ever had to darking think about it.

  A commotion behind Elidia caused her to turn and cut the comm. When it blinked back a second later, Elidia looked smug, and Judit knew her time was up.

  “Fugitives, huh?” Elidia said.

  Judit thought to feign ignorance, then she sighed, and her temper flared. “Give me who I want. Or let me come get them, and we’ll all get out of your hair.” Judit pointed at Evie, and the gun they’d been powering fired a warning shot. She knew the rest of the galaxy thought of Meridian as a bully. Well, what good was a reputation if you never used it? “If we can’t have them, no one can. You have five minutes.” She cut the comm.

  Everyone on the bridge looked to her, their expressions carefully neutral, but she read the tension in them. “Oh, come on! We’re not going to fire on a bunch of innocent people, but they don’t know that.”

  “We’re going to have company soon,” Roberts said. “I’m getting several ships on scans. They’ll be here in less than an hour. If they fight together, we might have a problem.”

  “By the dark!” Judit slumped in her seat. “Why can’t people just do what they’re supposed to?” She thought fast, but this wasn’t two commanders facing off on the field of battle. Doubtless this was politics with years of history, and there were civilians thrown in the mix.

  But maybe those civilians could be her way around the politics.

  “Put out a station-wide message,” Judit said. “If we can’t scare personnel, we’ll get everyone else to give us what we want.”

  “Transmitting.”

  “Attention, people of the Xerxes,” Judit said, “this is the warship Damat.” Not really true. They were more transport than warship, but their armament was fairly impressive. Meridian couldn’t have the chosen one driven about in a skiff. “We’re searching for Annika Nocturna and Noal Meridian. Unless they are returned to us, we will begin firing on your station. Implore your leaders and station personnel to turn my people over. You have ten minutes.”

  Her crew kept their eyes on their stations, and all that was left was to wait.

  A voice came over the comm half a minute later. “Judit?”

  Her heart leapt at the sound of Annika’s voice, but she kept her tone neutral. “Are you both all right?”

  “We are.”

  “Get out on any ship, and we’ll cover you. Anyone who tries to stop you gets blown to the dark.” That was for the benefit of anyone listening, and she hoped they took it to heart. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t help Annika and Noal while they were still inside the station.

  * * *

  Annika felt like leaning into the transmitter. They’d finally found a shopkeeper alone in his store. Everyone else was running, screaming after Judit’s station-wide transmission. They were all trying to get to their ships, but station personnel had locked down the docking ring, no doubt trying to keep Annika and Noal in place. And they’d have heard Annika’s transmission, but that didn’t stop her from loving the sound of Judit’s voice, from hearing the slipping of Judit’s careful tone. She was about to reply that she didn’t know the ship situation when the comm went dead.

  The shopkeeper looked at her nervously, wringing his hands. “You’ll be leaving now?”

  “They’ll be coming for us,” she said to Noal. “And I doubt they’ll be friendly.”

  She turned to see the shopkeeper disappearing through a back door then looked to the front of the shop. Station personnel filled the doorway, a wall of green uniforms.

  She grabbed Noal’s arm and made for the back door, but the station goons were quicker, leaping on her and Noal. She got in one or two hits, but there were too many hands grabbing at her, twisting her limbs around. The station scanners hadn’t let Annika and Noal bring weapons on board, and she didn’t have time to reach for her stiletto. One hand smacked against her temple, and the sounds of the station went quiet, her limbs sluggish. They had Noal away from her in a moment then piled on, over and over, and her hands were cuffed before she knew it.

  Her vision was still swimming when they brought her upright, and she stared into the face of the station commander she’d glimpsed on the screens, the one who’d told everyone to be calm, Elidia Munn. It was better than another Flavio. Maybe this one could be reasoned with.

  “So, these two are worth all this nonsense?” Elidia looked back and forth between them. She touched the end of Noal’s dyed hair. “Nice disguise.”

  Annika blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. “Let us go. Let us get to that ship, and you can go back to normal operations.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Elidia said. “So I think we’ll hold you until our ships get here, then we can sort things out on an even playing field.”

  So much for reasoning with her. They hauled Annika and Noal from the store. Noal pleaded, trying to assure Elidia that the station would be safer if they were released. Annika’s vision was clearing, but she kept up her stumble, waiting for her moment.

  One of the guards called out. Annika lurched to the side as someone bumped into her. A scream came from the pack of personnel, and she glimpsed angry frightened faces, station goers attacking with whatever they had.

  “Let them go!” someone cried. “Get them out of here!”

  Annika fought to stay near Noal. Some of the guards had shock sticks, but another had a pistol, and that seemed to spur the crowd to greater action. They leapt on him and tried to wrestle the weapon away. The deep thrum of it filled the corridor as it went off, and someone screamed, twisting and shrieking as his organs liquefied.

  “Noal!” Annika cried. “Where are you?” She put her shoulder down and rammed a guard out of the way.

  Noal was kneeling against the wall, an injured man behind him. Annika hurried to his side, her arms cuffed behind her. “He tried to help me,” Noal said weakly, looking to the bleeding man.

  Someone pulled Annika to her feet, and she twisted around, poised to kick. She paused when she saw Spartan’s frightened face. He pulled back, hands raised, the key to a pair of cuffs in his fingers.

  “Let me help, let me help!” When he reached for her cuffs again, she let him. “Get out of here.” He nearly snarled as he fumbled with her cuffs. When she was freed, she twisted to face him, and his expression was all dark ang
er. “I’m sorry I ever thought of you coming here as a good thing. Take your family drama and get the dark out of here!”

  The fight was still raging, but she knew how to stop it. “Unlock Noal’s cuffs.”

  Without waiting for his answer, she pushed into the masses fighting for the pistol, kicking and smacking indiscriminately until she found her way to the gun. Once she had it, she cast around, and through the crackle of shock sticks, she saw who she was looking for.

  Annika smacked the side of her hand into the back of Elidia’s neck, stunning her. When she pitched forward, Annika wrenched her arms around, cuffing them behind her back. She dragged Elidia toward where a heap of junk had fallen off a kiosk and climbed atop it.

  Annika whirled the staggered Elidia around. “Noal, get their attention!”

  He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled a loud, shrill note.

  Many people spun, shocked into inaction. Annika jabbed the pistol into Elidia’s side. “Station personnel, drop your darking weapons.”

  They froze, and she gave them half a heartbeat. “Now!”

  Weapons fell to the ground. The station dwellers gave a ragged cheer as if they’d forgotten who or what they were fighting for and were just happy someone had won. Several people in the crowd seized the dropped weapons. Noal was frowning at Annika as if he knew she’d kill Elidia if she had to. Well, he’d have to get used to that.

  “Take us to a shuttle,” Annika said to Spartan. “And we’ll pack up our drama and go.”

  He nodded once, sharply. She looked back to the station personnel who stood surrounded by an angry mob. “Everything can get back to normal once we’re gone,” she said, hoping that would mollify Noal. “And no one else has to get hurt. Tell the rest of your people that we’re leaving. No one gets in our way.”

  Elidia shook her head as if regaining some of her senses. Annika prodded her into a shuffling jog. With the pistol to Elidia’s back and Spartan leading the way, they headed toward the docking ring. As they rounded the corner closest to the shuttles, someone took a shot, and Annika spotted several figures kneeling down the hall in front of them. She ducked, using Elidia as a shield, and Spartan and Noal ducked behind her, around the corner.

  “Get back or I shoot her!” Annika called.

  Another shot thumped harmlessly into the wall, close enough to send cramps through Annika’s muscles.

  “Those aren’t my crew,” Elidia said. “Someone else is gunning for you.”

  “Someone’s coming up behind us!” Spartan said.

  Annika bit her teeth on a curse. “Stay behind me. We’re going to run for it.”

  “Wait!” Elidia said. “Maybe I can—”

  Annika fired off a burst of shots and barreled for their airlock, shooting as she went. Spartan yelled for everyone to stop shooting, but no one obeyed. As they crowded into the doorway of the airlock, their attackers fired another few shots.

  “Everyone, stay down,” Annika said. Elidia squirmed against her chest, but as she was as hidden as the rest of them, Annika didn’t see where she had room to complain.

  Noal fumbled with the door for a few seconds before shouting, “Got it!”

  Annika prepared to step over Spartan, but Noal dragged him into the shuttle, and Annika jammed in behind, hauling their shield with her. She couldn’t have the station firing on them once they’d left.

  The four of them packed the shuttle beyond capacity, even with Noal taking a seat in front of the controls. Annika dumped Elidia on the floor.

  “No!” Spartan said as she secured the shuttle door. “Let me out!”

  The shuttle shuddered. “The station hasn’t released the docking clamps,” Noal said.

  Annika pointed the gun at Elidia again. “Tell them to release the clamps.”

  Elidia glared from the floor. “You won’t shoot me.”

  Annika gestured at the door, at the frantic sounds of someone trying to get in. “They might.”

  “Let me out!” Spartan said again. “They won’t hurt me. I’m nothing to them!”

  But they’d get in if she let him go. “Noal, fire up the engines and begin pulling away.”

  “If we rip the umbilical…”

  “We all die,” she said, staring at Elidia. “The explosive decompression will open this shuttle like a paper bag.”

  Spartan was still blubbering about how they had to let him go. Annika pushed him to the floor, too, not breaking eye contact with Elidia. In the cramped shuttle, she’d be stepping on them at any moment.

  Elidia looked away. “Put me on the comm.”

  Noal hit the transmit button, and Elidia gave the order. With a shudder, the docking clamps let go, and they began to drift into open space as Noal steered them toward Judit’s ship.

  * * *

  Judit watched the approach of the shuttle with unblinking eyes. “Open the bay.”

  “We’ve got company,” Beatrice said. “Two of the incoming ships will be here before the shuttle can dock.”

  “Tell the shuttle to begin evasive maneuvers,” Judit said. “They have to keep the station between them and the ships.”

  “Incoming ships are powering guns,” Roberts said.

  “Fire a warning,” Judit said. “And tell them—”

  The Damat tilted crazily, and the bright line of the lead ship’s cannon arced through where they’d been sitting.

  “Nice moves, Bea.” Judit sat more firmly in her chair, all her training taking over. This, at least, she knew how to do. “Safety restraints, everyone. Evie, target their engines.” Disabling engines was a safer bet than targeting weapons. A damaged cannon could easily blow and kill everyone on board, and Judit wasn’t up to killing anyone yet, not when this could still be sorted out.

  From her post in the corner, Evie fired the Damat’s cannon, making the first ship angle out of the way, but Judit knew she was aiming for the second. She sliced its engine off with the skill of a star surgeon.

  “Let’s hope they’re too busy to fire now,” Judit said.

  The Damat lurched again and shuddered, claxons sounding through the bridge until Beatrice shut them off. “Winged us. Sorry, Jude.”

  “Fire, Evie,” Judit said.

  The hull of the lead ship absorbed the blast, glowing cherry red before fading. “They’ve got thick plates,” Evie said. “We’ll have to get around them to hit somewhere critical.”

  A bright spark came from behind the first ship, and Judit squinted at her screen, seeing the shuttle dart through space.

  “The shuttle damaged the enemy ship’s engines,” Beatrice said.

  Judit curled her hand into a fist, worry knotting her gut. “They’re supposed to be hiding!”

  The enemy ship dipped and turned, trying to get a clear line of fire on the shuttle while keeping its plating toward the Damat. “Get under her,” Judit said.

  But the enemy ship turned with them and fired again. At the helm, Beatrice evaded as swiftly as she could, throwing everyone against their safety restraints. The Damat rumbled, and Judit knew they’d been scored, though her screen didn’t yet show a breach.

  But that luck wouldn’t last forever.

  “The shuttle’s keeping at the enemy’s side,” Beatrice said. “Away from the guns. I think they’re trying to get her to turn her back on us.”

  “Take us toward the station,” Judit said. “But keep a target lock on that ship.”

  When they moved that way, the ship moved with them, forgetting about the shuttle for a moment, just as Judit hoped.

  “Fire!”

  Evie fired, and Judit noted the shuttle did the same. The ship turned for the station itself, maneuvering to get behind it from the Damat’s point of view. The station fired its own cannon, a warning shot that missed everyone.

  “Picking up chatter,” Roberts said. “The station warning the ship to stay away, and the ship arguing that they’re trying to defend the station.”

  “I guess the Xerxes doesn’t appreciate being used as a sh
ield,” Judit said.

  “The shuttle’s closing with us,” Beatrice said. “We’ve got a gap while the station and the ship are distracted.”

  “Pick them up, and let’s get out of here.”

  In order for the shuttle to dock, the Damat had to stop moving, making them more of a target. As they halted, Judit whispered, “Come on, come on.”

  “Got them!” Beatrice said.

  “Tell them to hold tight, and get us the dark out of here,” Judit said. “Head for the edge of the system.” They needed to be far from any gravity wells before they engaged their antimatter drives. Beatrice hit the thrusters, and everyone lurched in their seats. “Take us toward a Meridian transmitter gate,” Judit said. “They might not follow us if they think we’re headed for our allies.”

  As soon as the engines were going, Judit was out of her seat and hurrying for the shuttle bay, hoping she found both Noal and Annika in one piece.

  Chapter Seven

  When Judit stepped into the bay, Noal left the shuttle, his face haggard. Judit marched forward and hugged him close as he held his arms open for her.

  “I’m so happy you’re safe,” she said. He muttered the same into her shoulder. She looked past him, searching for Annika. Her happy smile froze when she saw Annika leading two people out of the shuttle under guard, one of which she recognized as the stationmaster, Elidia Munn.

  Annika smiled, a slippage of the masks their families made them wear, a look Judit had only seen in private. She looked as tired as Noal, and she’d dyed her hair a hideous green. There had to be quite a story there. Judit was about to ask if the man with them was the one who’d rescued them from the kidnappers’ ship, but Noal laid a hand on her arm.

  “These aren’t exactly friends,” he said.

  Judit clicked her teeth. “Evie, we’ve got company who’ll be needing secure quarters.”