A Pale Light in the Black

by K. B. Wagers

  “I did not.”

  “It was a pretty quiet deal and I didn’t even think about it, which was a failure on my part, so I didn’t have the ship flagged and didn’t follow up on it after like I should have. LifeEx also bought the other ship the Navy picked up last year. Again, very quiet sale, very little press about it.”

  “How did you find it?” Jenks was strapped into the copilot seat, helping Luis with the flight sequence, but she glanced over her shoulder at them when she asked the question.

  “Buying records are public, though I’m probably going to get a call from my sister about it now.” She pointed at her head. “Because accessing the files would have also flagged them for her attention.”

  “Are you going to answer her?”

  “Nah.” Max shrugged. “We’re headed there anyway, it’ll spoil the surprise.”

  “So that’s the reason for this trip?” Rosa asked. “Just to ask your sister why LifeEx bought a pair of derelict jumpers?”

  “No,” Max said with a shake of her head. “It’s to ask her why she didn’t tell me that she knew about the dupe LifeEx when I talked to her about the autopsy report on those salvagers.”

  “She knew?” Rosa raised an eyebrow.

  “She did. I don’t have any proof beyond my gut, but she wasn’t the least bit surprised when I asked her if Hobbs had worked for LifeEx. She just jumped straight to talking about how dangerous knockoffs could be for the company. I think she’s known all along. Those system jumpers would have been the perfect smuggling vehicle for going from Trappist to Earth, off the radar and mostly unlooked for. The ship came from Trappist-1e, or so its computer said. You picked it up in the belt. They were headed into the system.”

  “We swept the ship,” Jenks protested. “So did the Navy.”

  “I know. And maybe there wasn’t any serum on An Ordinary Star. Maybe there was something else. Whatever they were moving was so important they did a really good job hiding it, but I think my sister not only knows what it was—she found it on the ship.”

  “How do we get one of the most powerful women in the universe to tell us what we want to know?” Rosa asked.

  “I’ve got a plan,” Max replied with a smile.

  Max was aware of the eyes on her and the others in their NeoG uniforms as they walked through the front door of the main building of LifeEx Industries a little over three hours later. The company took up a large chunk of previously submerged real estate along the New Jersey shore. She had four voice messages from her sister, and fifteen texts, each one increasingly more annoyed.

  “Whoa,” Luis murmured, and Max muffled a grin.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty impressive.” She squared her shoulders and marched across the sprawling foyer to the front desk. “I want to speak with Ria Carmichael,” she said to the man sitting behind it.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Carmichael doesn’t see random visitors. Do you have an appointment?” he replied without looking up from his screen.

  Max tapped a finger on the screen. “Now.”

  The man lifted his head, and his eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize—I’ll call your sister right away, Lieutenant. Please hang on a moment.”

  Max tucked her hands behind her back with a nod, resisting the urge to share the grin that she could see on Jenks out of the corner of her eye.

  There wasn’t any sound coming from the front desk but she could see the man’s mouth moving, so he must have turned on the noise filters and she could only imagine the kind of chaos that was now going on up in the top offices of the building.

  Finally the man looked up at her and smiled. “Ms. Carmichael’s assistant will be down to get you. Your companions will need to stay—”

  “They’ll come with me.” Max’s tone brooked no argument. “This is Chief Petty Officer Luis Armstrong with NeoG Intel, and my teammates: Commander Rosa Martín and Petty Officer Altandai Khan. Give them passes.”

  The man paled, but moments later a pass was tagged to each person’s DD chip. Max smiled, thanked him, and gestured for everyone to follow her over to the set of tasteful armchairs just off to the left of the front desk.

  “I am super impressed,” Jenks murmured out of the side of her mouth. “People don’t get to see Maxine Carmichael very often, do they? I’ll bet you could get us the best table at the swankest restaurant by snapping your fingers.”

  “You buying?” Max shot back with a grin.

  “Maybe, once we get this all wrapped up.” Jenks settled into a chair. “Or, you’ve got more money, Max, I think I’ll let you do it.”

  Rosa chuckled but didn’t sit down. She and Luis both crossed their arms over their chests and surveyed the room.

  It was surprising how easy it was to fall into a rhythm here. There was none of the awkwardness she usually felt dealing with people whenever she went home.

  Max was about to reply to Jenks, but the elevator nearby dinged and a woman stepped out with a ready smile.

  “Lieutenant Carmichael, we’ve spoken on the com before but haven’t met. I’m Suzanna Carol, your sister’s assistant.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Suzanna. This is Commander Martín, Chief Petty Officer Armstrong, and Petty Officer Khan. I realize we’ve come with no notice, but I need to speak with Ria on a matter of some urgency.”

  “Yes, she understands. She is in the middle of a meeting, but it should be wrapping up here shortly. I’ll take you upstairs in the meantime.” Suzanna kept up a stream of easy chatter as they rode the elevator up to the top of the LifeEx building and then she led them down the hall and into Ria’s office.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “We’re fine. Thank you, though.”

  “I’ll be right outside if you change your mind. Ria should be about four minutes out.”

  “This office is bigger than my apartment,” Luis murmured, and Jenks snorted with poorly suppressed laughter.

  “You wouldn’t trade it to have someone monitoring your schedule down to the minute,” she whispered.

  Max wandered to the window and Rosa joined her a moment later.

  “Is this going to go well, or not?”

  “Well—I think—whatever’s going on has Ria just as shaken. I don’t think it’s something the company has done wrong.”

  “But you don’t know for sure and we are standing in the office of one of the most powerful women in the Coalition.”

  “I feel like I should maybe be insulted at the insinuation that I’d hurt my baby sister, Commander,” Ria’s voice came from the doorway. “Though I might slap her upside the head for not answering my calls.”

  Chapter 34

  Jenks eyed the well-dressed woman who came through the door. She had a perfect smile on her face, the kind that was welcoming only as long as you did what she said when she said it. Someone used to being in charge.

  That it was on a face very similar to Max’s made her uneasy, because Jenks had never seen that kind of look on her lieutenant.

  Rosa hadn’t jumped at all at Ria Carmichael’s words, but Max had, just a little.

  “Commander Rosa Martín Rivas, Ms. Carmichael.” Rosa stuck out her hand and Jenks watched Max’s sister shake it firmly.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Commander. I’ve heard great things. Max.” Ria turned and held her arms out to Max. The hug she gave her sister was brief but warm, and it knocked some of the tension out of Jenks’s shoulders.

  “This is CPO Armstrong and PO Khan.”

  Jenks put a little more force into her handshake than was probably necessary and saw the slight wince Ria couldn’t—or didn’t try to—hide.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Ria said. “Also, I will never hear the end of it from my children if I don’t get your signatures. They enjoyed your fights in the preliminaries very much.”

  “You were there?” Jenks watched Max’s eyes widen in surprise.

  Ria laughed. “Oh no, I couldn’t get away, but they watched it on the screen at hom
e.” She sent Max a smile that was a curious mix of apology and amusement. “I have been hounded daily for tickets to the Games, which I think is at least partially your fault.”

  “The time off might do you some good,” Max said. “You look tired, Ria.”

  “It’s been busy as always around here.” Ria’s heels made no noise as she walked across the swank carpet and leaned against her desk. “Have a seat. I know you’re not here just to talk about your niblings.”

  “We’d like to take a look at the system jumpers you bought from Off-Earth.”

  Jenks watched the reaction flutter across Ria’s face before the shutters came down.

  “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

  Max snorted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Come on, Ria. Your first call to me was less than five minutes after I’d looked at the public sale records. LifeEx bought both system jumpers that were picked up by us and the Navy—why?”

  “Max, I’m in charge of a multibillion-fed company here. Why would I know anything about some pre-wormhole ships?”

  “Because you’re in charge and nothing happens without your say-so. Talk to me, Ria, we need to know what’s going on here.”

  “It’s a company matter.”

  Jenks could practically hear Max’s teeth grinding together and shared a quick look with Luis. She called up their chat.

  Jenks: It’s going to be tricky getting out of here if she decides we don’t get to leave.

  Luis: Reasonably sure Max’s sister won’t try to kill us, whatever’s going on.

  Jenks: You’ve got more faith in rich folks than I do.

  “For once, just once, I’d like you to think about something more than the company and this damn family,” Max finally said. “People have died. My friends are being targeted. Why didn’t you tell me about the LifeEx dupe?”

  “I said I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ria replied, but Jenks had seen the flinch and exchanged a smile with Luis.

  “God damn it, Ria!”

  “Don’t you shout at me, Max!”

  The sisters were now nose to nose. Jenks slid out of her chair as Suzanna came back into the room.

  “Enough, both of you.” Rosa put up a hand. “Ms. Carmichael. While I can sympathize with your position on what you clearly feel is an internal matter, we’re here pursuing a recognized investigation for the Near-Earth Orbital Guard.”

  “Ms. Carmichael, are you all right?”

  “Everything’s fine, Suzanna.” Ria straightened her teal-blue jacket and waved a hand at her assistant, who left them alone. “You can’t look at the ships. They’ve been destroyed. Broken down and sold for scrap.”

  “Because you found what you were looking for,” Max said, voice cool. “Was the dupe in the pods? I know it wouldn’t have been just lying out in plain sight or we’d have found it, but there must have been a hidden compartment retrofitted in there for smuggling.”

  “I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. LifeEx is the only life-extending serum available.”

  Jenks snorted and Ria’s gaze flicked to her.

  “Something to say, Petty Officer—Khan, was it?”

  “You think your sister is stupid? Or that the rest of us are?” She crossed to Max’s side.

  “I hardly think you’re the person to lecture me about family,” Ria replied.

  “Watch yourself, Ria.” Max’s warning had no heat but it rang through the air like a pair of swords crashing together.

  “Thanks for the backup, Max,” Ria said.

  Max shrugged. “She’s my teammate.”

  There was a beat and Jenks watched as Ria processed Max’s simple declaration, almost feeling sorry for the woman. You all had your shot, she thought. Max is ours now.

  “Let me tell you about family. My brother almost died in an explosion, Ms. Carmichael.” Jenks may have wanted to put her fist into Ria’s perfect nose, but she could play this game as well as the next person, and what Ria didn’t realize was that she was completely outnumbered. “One caused by a lab on Trappist that was manufacturing a dupe of your serum. Someone tried to kill me, too. Someone could try to kill your sister.”

  “That’s not the best part, though, Ria,” Max said, her shoulder brushing Jenks’s as she shifted.

  “I don’t have time for this.” Ria threw her hands in the air and started for the door.

  “I think you have time for this: We’ve got a freighter packed full of bags with the LifeEx logo on them. Only the serum inside? Isn’t LifeEx.” Max crossed her arms over her chest. “You want to lie to me again, or you want to tell me what in the hell is going on so we can help you?”

  Max knew Ria was going to fold even before her sister’s shoulders sagged. She hid her pleased smile as she took a step forward. Their plan had worked better than she’d hoped. This problem was bigger than Ria could handle on her own.

  “You said people are dying. You’re right.” Ria swept a hand through the air and it filled with images of corpses.

  “Fuck me,” Max said.

  “Watch your language,” Ria reprimanded her, but it was a halfhearted attempt. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this. It’s a violation of company policy.” Ria sighed. “But we need help, and you’re right, someone appears to be taking this fight to the Near-Earth Orbital Guard as well. Whoever is behind this has been shipping small batches of the dupe to Earth using the system jumpers or short-range craft they bring in via wormhole, and then slipping the knockoff into normal distribution channels.”

  Max’s stomach twisted at her sister’s next words.

  “They’ve managed to get the dupe into shipments of four separate batches of product over the last year.”

  “What is going on?” Max asked, and Jenks leaned in to study the photos. “What happened to these people?”

  “The duplicate formula is incompatible with ours.”

  “Because it’s not a true dupe,” Max said. “It’s close, but it’s not LifeEx.”

  Ria dragged in a breath. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say that, because I certainly don’t need to know that you’ve looked at the breakdown on either of the serums.”

  “So what does ‘incompatible’ mean?” Jenks grinned at Ria’s raised eyebrow and Max had to muffle a sigh. She knew Jenks was poking at her sister just because she could, and part of her didn’t feel like stepping in to stop it.

  “Our cells fail. It’s what eventually kills us in the end, or rather, causes any of the myriad natural things that kill us. But it all starts in our cells. Impairments and failures. The DNA repair processes mutate. I don’t think you need the scientific details to understand. We can’t stop it, we’re hardwired to die. LifeEx delays that cell response. Buys us some extra time. But it also filters out of our systems after a while—hence the need for a booster.” She took a deep breath and met Max’s eyes. “This dupe blocks the booster’s effectiveness and, even worse, in one case out of twenty it causes rapid aging.”

  “You think they did this on purpose? It wasn’t just a failure of the product?” Max could see the wheels turning in Jenks’s head, but her own thoughts had gone in the same direction.

  “The first jumper we snagged didn’t have anything on it but traces,” Ria replied. “But the one the NeoG picked up? It was coming to Earth and it was packed with product. We’ve been studying it for about five months now. The defect isn’t a defect, it’s intentional.”

  “They’re trying to undermine LifeEx.” Luis’s murmur dropped into the air like a stone. “We’d be seeing a lot more deaths if they were pushing it wholesale, but they want it to look like LifeEx has the flaw.”

  Jenks cleared her throat and he blinked, looking away from the images with a grim smile.

  “I ran a few drug cases with the PKs last year,” he said. “This is how a few small-scale territory wars went down. One group slipped a few bad batches into their enemy’s supply chain. People started dying. They stopped buying from regular suppli
ers, and the other gang was right there to offer new, ‘clean’ product. I suspect our mysterious adversaries are planning to do it on a much larger scale.”

  “That’s what we’re afraid of,” Ria said. “We didn’t even make the connection to LifeEx at first; the dead were too random. But when we did, we started looking for possible sources and the missing system jumpers would have been perfectly untraceable. We’ve backtracked from this family here. They’re the most recent.” She waved her hand again and a smiling trio appeared, then vanished to be replaced by a trio of bodies. “And found more than a dozen individuals who were possibly killed by the dupe.”

  “Who’s in charge of the investigation here?” Max knew full well what the answer was going to be and that she wasn’t going to like it, but there was a hope that Jeanie Bosco, head of LifeEx security, somehow wasn’t leading things.

  “Bosco is,” Ria replied, smiling at Max’s aggravated sigh. “I know your history with her, Max, but she’s the best in the business. I’ll message her and tell her to contact you.”

  “Do that,” Max replied with a nod. “We should get back to London.”

  Rosa took the cue and started for the doorway with the others after saying their goodbyes.

  “I need the files on all these people, Ria,” Max said, stopping just out of earshot of her team and gesturing at the images still hanging in the air. “No arguments. You should have come to us from the get-go. I know you have resources, but we have more. I can bring the full weight of the NeoG to bear on this, and possibly the CHN. If there’s someone out there deliberately trying to bring this company down, we have to stop them. It will kill thousands, if not millions of people if LifeEx is compromised. We won’t be able to travel in space without the protection. I need your assurance you’ll cooperate with us, no matter what.”

  “Max—”

  She lifted her hands and smiled at her sister’s protest. “I’m not downplaying the seriousness of it as far as the family goes, just pointing out that there might be something worse coming down the pipe. If we stop these guys, then it not only protects the business, but—more important—saves lives.”