House of Fate

by Barbara Ann Wright

  “Even though I don’t want to,” Annika said at last, “I have to let go of you now.”

  By the myriad expressions crossing Judit’s face, it was clear Judit was fighting the urge to grab her and run for the Damat.

  Annika gave her a quick kiss. “Back before you know it.”

  “I know it already. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” She fled before Judit could fall apart, knowing Judit hated to get emotional in front of others. She risked one look back, and Judit was staring as if trying to memorize her features. Annika felt her own eyes get a little misty, so she hurried faster.

  Antiles was waiting inside the airlock of his small vessel. He gestured for her to follow and closed the door behind them. She tried to take everything in, anything to keep from remembering Judit’s stricken face. The area nearest the airlock was filled with containers and crates, and she was certain there was other, hidden cargo. She noted an emergency pressure suit on one wall and another container colored deep red. That one probably held an oxygen tank or fire suppressor.

  He led her deeper into the ship, and they passed a richly appointed bedroom with a smaller bedroom across the narrow hall. Beyond that was a washroom, then a small galley with a single table and two plush chairs. She saw a basket of fresh fruit and guessed the cold stores would be well stocked. Antiles finally stopped at a round cockpit on the other side of the ship with a glassteel dome looking into space. There were two chairs in front of the blinking console, and he took one, gesturing to the other.

  She took another slow look around as she sat, trying to memorize where different controls might be. A large hatch near the rear of the cockpit had a pull handle, and she guessed it led to the engines.

  “Are you looking for traps or other travelers, Calliope?” Antiles asked.

  “Just getting the lay of the land. I’m surprised you don’t travel with guards. Though the fact that you don’t makes me certain you’re going to wait for your information rather than sell me to Nocturna.” Because he couldn’t incapacitate her on his own.

  “Information is a lot less messy.” He gave her a grin. “And I’m pretty sure you won’t try to cheat me seeing as how I’m your ride home.”

  Smart, but he didn’t know what she was capable of, even if—as Judit suspected—he knew who she was.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sitting in her office, Judit tried not to think of Annika and failed with every breath. She’d watched Antiles’s ship depart, all the while hoping Annika would run back to her. She knew it was a silly fantasy, like those where the galaxy magically went back to normal. They went hand-in-hand with those where Nocturna and Meridian insisted Annika and Judit marry in order to unite their houses under an umbrella of peace that would stretch across the whole of space.

  Both dreams would have made her grandmother vomit. She’d only agree to such an arrangement if that peaceful umbrella was made of Meridian weapons and no one else in the galaxy was allowed to fight back.

  Judit had never had such thoughts about her own house before, and Noal’s words came back to her about the great houses being responsible for the unrest. She should have been looking harder at the people around her while she’d been in a position to do something about it. Maybe her father had been looking harder than she had; maybe he could tell her a few things she didn’t know.

  But she had to get to him first. On her console, Judit dismissed the view of nearby space. Antiles’s ship was long gone, and she trusted Roberts was keeping an eye on telemetry, making sure Antiles headed toward Nocturna. That was the best they could do. Judit tried not to think how difficult it would be for Annika to escape Nocturna space and turned her attention to finding her father.

  His usual appointment was on Freemen, a planet on the outskirts of Meridian space. When she was younger, Judit thought her father had been sent out so far because he’d displeased her grandmother, but she’d since discovered he was very good at his job. He negotiated new holdings on different worlds, slowly expanding Meridian space. He oversaw the building of new stations and mining operations—not in person, but the reports came through his office, and he compiled them for Meridian Prime.

  As Judit looked through the paths to Freemen, her worry grew. Looking like a Meridian ship was no longer the problem. It was looking like the Damat. Their name wasn’t written on their hull, and Roberts could change their registry, their comm signals, but the Damat was recognizable in other ways. Roberts and Beatrice had put out false leads that had them currently in another system, but going anywhere near Freemen would make her feel as if she had a target across her bow.

  She brought Noal to her office to get his advice, wondering when exactly she’d decided to seek him out rather than him asking for her. But then, the only thing he’d ever asked her about was security or what kind of outfit to wear, and she suspected the latter was so he could laugh at her choices.

  “There’s nothing more we can do to disguise ourselves?” Noal asked when she laid out the problems for him.

  “Not that I can think of.”

  “Then we’ll have to continue as we are.”

  She gave him a flat look. “Thanks, very helpful.”

  He shrugged. “We have to hope no one notices. As for sneaking onto Freemen to get Tam, I can help with that. After I’m finished, no one will recognize you.”

  She knew what that meant: cosmetics, hair dye, the works. She didn’t bother to hide her frown.

  He only laughed, clearly a heart without pity.

  There was nothing to do but head for the nearest transmission gate and then through that to another that would transmit them closer to Freemen. Then it was a day’s journey into Meridian space, but at least it was still on the fringes. Judit tried to spend the time pining over Annika, but Noal forced her into several conversations and card games, roping in Spartan and whoever was off-duty at the time. When she tried to refuse, he teased until she relented. It did give her time to catch up with the crew.

  But none of that stopped her from rushing to the bridge when they finally neared Freemen. Judit watched their approach from her command chair. She felt as if everyone’s eyes were on them again, and it made her twitch as it had on the Scipio, but her instinct this time was to run rather than fight. In her head, she plotted several courses that would get her ship to safety as quickly as possible. She could return to the Scipio where she was supposed to meet Annika. She half wanted that to be her only option. Maybe she should take Beatrice’s seat at the helm so she could turn them toward the nearest transmission gate at a moment’s notice. Then she wouldn’t lose seconds giving the order.

  They had more to fear than the threat of meeting someone who knew them. Even though her grandmother was systems away, Judit expected to hear her voice at any moment. She feared she’d go into autopilot and do whatever her grandmother commanded; she’d been obeying orders for so long. It’d been easy not to think about her recent disobedience when she’d been hurrying from one goal to another, but entering the proverbial lion’s den brought it all rushing back. She was disobeying, had been doing so for weeks. She was a fugitive. More than that, in her grandmother’s eyes, she was a criminal. Not as bad as Antiles, but when it came to disobedience, her grandmother didn’t bother to rank the people she punished.

  “How are we doing?” Judit asked quietly, knowing there was no need to lower her voice but unable to stop.

  “Quiet so far,” Roberts said, his tone as soft. “Lots of background coming from the surrounding planets and ships. Some from nearby stations, all regular chatter.”

  In Meridian territory, even on the fringes, it would be safe. Other Meridian outposts may have been attacked, but Freemen always had cruisers nearby, ready to defend the surrounding space. It also had a defense grid for the planet itself. And now it had more ships than usual in the surrounding space. Everyone was on high alert.

  But as Roberts listened, he reported that some of those ships were traders seeking sanctuary; others were Meridians from o
uter colonies who’d fled to the closest stronghold, fearful of attack. Some wanted escorts or sought a place to offload harvested ore or other goods that had yet to be processed. They didn’t want to be targeted by pirates. To Judit, it seemed everyone wanted to feel safer however they could. Maybe being one more ship would be easier than she thought.

  “Anyone paying us a lot of attention, Bea?” Judit asked.

  “Not yet, Jude.” Beatrice leaned close to her screen. “No one’s giving us too wide a berth, but no one’s headed straight for us. If we’re unlucky, we might pick up some of the baby ducks who don’t have weapons and are looking for a mama.”

  Judit tuned in to some of the chatter and heard patrolling warships warning civilians to stay clear. The lists to dock on Freemen station and take a shuttle to the surface were probably long indeed. People who’d fled their colonies or stations wouldn’t want to live on a ship for long. They’d be looking for somewhere more stable, somewhere to stretch. If they couldn’t have that, they’d want to stay close to a ship bristling with guns.

  “Our diplomatic signal should keep everyone away,” Roberts said. The Damat usually put off such a signal in Meridian space; they’d needed it to warn other Meridian ships of their precious cargo while shuttling Noal across the galaxy. Now, they weren’t the only diplomatic runner in the area, but they put out a lower priority signal, hoping to be mistaken for a ship carrying a lesser member of the Blood.

  The other ships stayed out of their way, and Roberts answered every hail as smoothly and seamlessly as he always had. Her crew had never wobbled in their duty. It made her feel a little better about leaving the bridge.

  “I’ll be with Noal if anyone needs me,” she said.

  Time to work on her disguise. Like Annika had planned, she was going for a look that said she was a member of the Blood, only a lower rank than she really was. There weren’t that many pure Bloods around but quite a few with diluted Blood, enough so that a scanner would register them. Judit hoped she and Noal would look like just two more.

  She tried not to squirm as Noal added streaks of red to her platinum hair, making it look as if it grew that way naturally, like those with a muddier pedigree. She changed from her uniform into a more elaborate outfit, a silver suit that flowed like liquid over her body. Noal dug into his closet and pulled out a fascinator that partly covered her face with silver mesh.

  Noal looked her up and down. “Very nice. Now the face.”

  She frowned hard. “I hate makeup.”

  “Oh, we’re going to need more than that.” He opened a case and pulled out some temporary prosthetics. She remembered one awful season when everyone in Meridian had been sporting extremely pointy chins and heavy brows. She supposed they were lucky Noal never threw anything away.

  He put some small pads on her cheekbones and forehead, then covered the whole thing with a thick layer of cosmetics. Hopefully, it would be enough to fool any facial scanners. With luck, she wouldn’t have to go into any areas requiring a deep DNA scan. Any cursory scans would reveal that she was indeed a member of the Blood, but anything deeper might reveal who she was.

  “Now for me.” Noal changed into a kilt and blouse combo in bright, peacock colors, added streaks to match in his own hair and then used makeup and prosthetics to make his face rounder and his eyes heavier. His skill with cosmetics also gave him fuller lips.

  “Nice,” she said, “reminds me of the old days.”

  “Except in your case,” he said, sitting on his bureau. “You haven’t been out of uniform since you were what, five?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t sleep in it, you know.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. I hope you took it off for Annika.”

  She bit back a retort, feeling instead a rush of anxiety.

  He sighed hugely, and she knew something must have shown in her expression. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to make you worry. I’m happy for you two, really.”

  “If you say that a hundred more times, I might believe it.”

  “I know you would have tried to resist her if she and I had married. You would have torn yourself up and told yourself you were going to live in misery the rest of your life when what you wanted was well within reach. But I do believe it would have happened, Jude, sooner or later. I’m no fool. And I wouldn’t have been upset. I’m not upset about it now. I’m upset about a lot of things but not that. I’m at peace there.”

  Joy overrode her worry. She rested a hand on his knee. “Thank you. She’s…” Her cheeks burned, and she couldn’t look at him. “She’s wonderful.”

  He grinned and leaned forward. “You’re embarrassed.”

  “Shut up.” She sat back, all sympathy evaporating.

  “Judit has a lover,” he said in a singsong. “And her name is Annika.”

  “Shut up! I take back ever feeling sorry for you.”

  He made kissing noises, and she knew part of it was for her teasing him about Spartan at the Scipio. She shoved him off the bureau.

  He caught himself and pushed her shoulder slightly, chuckling. “I’m happy you two morons have each other.”

  “If she and I ever get married,” she said, “I want that engraved on our wedding silver.”

  He put his hand in the air as if tracing it. “Annika and Judit, morons together. Forever.”

  “And you and Spartan?” she asked, unable to resist a punch back. “Been moronic, yet?”

  “We’re having a nice time going slow, thank you very much.” He lifted his chin, determined not to take her bait, it seemed.

  “During all this madness? You were the one telling me to hurry up and grab what I wanted!”

  “What’s good for you is not for me. I like slow.” He shivered a little, and she wondered if he was thinking about what came after slow. Where the anticipation had felt like a hot knife to her, it was obviously good for him.

  Her jaw tingled. “Jude, we’re getting close.”

  Judit returned to the bridge, Noal with her. They’d drifted closer to Freemen, the place her father called home. They’d never had much time to speak, just the random visit now and again. She’d gotten the idea that was one of the reasons he made sure to excel at his job: so he could see his daughter more often. He’d never said that, but she’d had the thought before, and it had made her both happy and guilty. Of course, she’d also thought he worked hard because he wanted Meridian to succeed. They all did.

  She’d ask him when they had time to sit down on the Damat. They’d talk about a lot of things. He was always interested in what she had to say. She’d noted a keenness in his eyes when they’d spoken, the same rapt attention he’d given her in her grandmother’s office. And it had never felt as if his interest stemmed from what she could do for her house or the prestige she might provide. He’d once asked her if she liked being Noal’s guardian, and she’d had no idea how to answer. Now she’d have time to ask him some questions, too.

  The station above Freemen let them dock with minimal fuss, and Judit and Noal simply had to step across the airlock to come aboard. They didn’t take bodyguards. They couldn’t afford to attract attention, and lower members of Meridian Blood wouldn’t need them, not in Meridian space. People of no rank moved aside as they ventured farther into the station. When Judit spotted one of her distant cousins walking toward them, she almost met his eyes, but Noal pulled her to the side of the corridor.

  “We have to make way for full members of the Blood,” he said quietly.

  Judit nearly laughed. She’d never had to make way for anyone before. They’d always made way for her. But they couldn’t take the chance that anyone would see through their disguises. “Good catch. I’m glad you’re paying attention.”

  He winked, and they passed beyond the docking ring into the busy station. Unlike the Scipio, the corridors here were bright, the paneling and carpeting white or gray, and recessed lighting illuminated every corner. There was no place to hide on a Meridian station, and Judit felt exposed while at
the same time, the décor urged her to relax. The two feelings merged into a vague disquiet that made her shoulder blades feel as if they were trying to climb into her neck.

  They passed bars, restaurants, and waiting areas, all packed with Meridian affiliates, citizens, and employees. Judit spotted a few members of the Blood, but most of them would be in private waiting areas, away from the wash of colors and voices. Some gray military uniforms moved briskly here and there, and station personnel wearing light yellow jumpsuits pushed through crowds with irritated looks.

  Noal and Judit headed to the innermost corridors, to the shuttle docks. A large waiting room guarded the paths to the actual shuttles. A queue threaded through plastic chairs to where station personnel took the names of those seeking to go to Freemen. A holo display showed the shuttles completely booked for the next two weeks. Judit bit back a curse, but Noal continued forward with a casual air. He ignored the queue and headed for a small door to the side of the booths, guarded by a man in military gray. As they approached, the officer looked to a scanner. Judit hadn’t seen it before, but now it stood out starkly, a globe of blackness that shone from the wall like an evil eye. When it flashed green, the officer stepped aside so Noal and Judit could pass, their DNA confirming them as Blood.

  On the other side of the door was a waiting room of a different kind. Plush couches in silver and white dominated the brightly lit space. Soft music played from hidden speakers, and several palm-sized vid screens were stacked neatly on a heavily polished table. As Noal and Judit moved to sit, a server appeared from a recessed door and offered them champagne. Another came out a heartbeat later and set a tray of canapés on the table.

  Noal took a bite and then a sip. Judit tried to copy him, but her stomach was in turmoil.

  “Honored guests,” the second server said. “How may we be of service?”