by M. D. Cooper
“The outer belt is just an AU in from our position,” Emma said. “What do you think about us coming up over the stellar plane, ma’am? We could shift to a parabolic down to the star. I think we’d have a better view.”
The pilot pushed the plot to the holotank, and Mira saw that it would give them a visual of the near half of the system in a fraction of the time skirting all the way around would take.
“Alright,” she said with a nod. “Let’s do it. Brock, I want you to drop our remaining eight beacons. Their scan’s not great for a system like this, but at least we’ll have a little more visibility.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll work up the best locations.”
“Good. Run it past the XO before you start releasing them.”
“Of course, Commander. Was already planning on it.”
Mira smiled and nodded in thanks.
As she’d hoped, the mission had done Brock a world of good. He was more confident, less defensive, and ready to lend a hand with encouragement and aid rather than derision and doubt.
Even Janice had complimented him a few times.
That was not all that had changed during the trip through the dark layer: the crew had finally begun to gel. Greg—always helpful, but not terribly outgoing—had begun to open up, and Aqua was now only sullen once or twice a day. Lorra reported that the engineering chief had become kinder as well.
It was almost enough to believe that they were becoming a family; that there wasn’t someone aboard the Inquiry working against the others.
Mira slipped her hand into her tunic pocket, fingering the small datacube she kept there for safekeeping. On it was a copy of the unauthorized software Lorra had found in the rear beam array’s NSAI targeting comp.
The warrant officer was certain the failure in the array was due to a loop the software had introduced that manifested as a hardware failure.
After some debate, Mira had decided to leave the breach in place but with additional logging protocols. Anyone who touched the programming for the rear array would be tagged, and the commander would receive a personal alert.
I just hope that I don’t regret that decision later.
Once the vector was set, Mira rose from the command chair and nodded to Janice. “Lieutenant, you have the conn. I’m going to see about dinner.”
“Aye, Commander. I have the conn.”
* * * * *
Despite leaving the bridge, Mira kept the scan summary readout on her HUD as she busied herself in the galley. She’d been preparing for a good meal upon reaching FN-371, and though she found herself hating the thought of making good food for a traitor to eat, she consoled herself with the knowledge that someday soon, whoever it was would be eating less savory meals during their incarceration.
Not only that, but every time the crew sat down around the galley table, she got to know them all a little bit better. Eventually, enough clues would drop that she’d be able to connect them to a person.
And nail that person to the bulkhead.
“Oh stars, that smells amazing.”
Mira turned to see Greg standing on the galley’s threshold, drawing in a deep breath, eyes closed, and nose upturned in bliss.
“Which?” she asked. “The meatloaf, or the stir-fry?”
“Do I have to pick?” he asked, finally opening his eyes and wandering toward the prep counter. “I gotta tell you, Commander, when they told me I’d be flying on this bird, I wasn’t expecting gourmet meals every other day.”
She shrugged, glancing up from her work. “I like good food and good company. You never know what you’re going to get in the space force, so I like to take matters into my own hands. Make sure I’m satisfied.”
“Hey, whatever it is, I’m just glad to be on the receiving end of the victuals. Do you need a hand at all?”
“Sure.” Mira jerked her chin toward the cupboards. “You can set the table and then grab some wine and water. Make sure you get white as well as red. Lorra can’t stand the red.”
“Don’t worry. Zero chance I could forget how she got last time she decided to ‘give it another shot’.”
Greg set to his task, helpful as ever, while Mira finished her prep and set out the first course before calling the crew for dinner. Technically, Emma and Janice were still on duty, but the AI was fully capable of joining in on the dinner banter while keeping an eye on the ship.
“Oh wow…this smell has been working its way through the ship,” Aqua said as she settled down in her customary spot at the foot of the table. “I’ve been salivating for the past half an hour.”
“Why do you think I showed up early?” Greg asked. “Granted, I got press-ganged into helping.”
“You knew the risk,” Lorra said as she joined the group. “I distinctly recall you saying so before you headed up here.”
He glanced at Mira and shrugged. “Guilty.”
Are you?
She shook her head, giving him a warm smile. “I appreciate you taking the risk. And thanks for the help. Means you’re not on cleanup duty.”
“Oh ho!” Brock laughed as he settled in his seat. “I see how it is. I’ll have to try that sometime.”
“You’ve had over a month’s worth of opportunities,” Emma chided as she entered, Janice on her heels. “Why stop wasting them now?”
When everyone had settled, Mira raised a glass. “A toast, to an amazing crew that has stood up to some incredible challenges—none of which we expected to face when we first came out here. And now, here we are in a star system no human has visited before, hunting an alien ship’s ion trial. To the intrepid explorers of the Inquiry.”
Glasses touched, and everyone drank, reveling in the warm glow of hard-earned camaraderie.
“Seems like this bird was well-named,” Janice said. “We’re just uncovering mystery after mystery.”
Nods followed the AI’s statement, and before the mood could turn melancholy, Mira gestured at the food spread out before them.
“Well, don’t just sit there. Dig in, all of you. Plenty more where that came from.”
An hour later, as they were finishing off the strawberry cheesecake Mira had made the day before, an alert appeared on their HUDs.
Everyone straightened, sharing wide-eyed glances as they processed the information coming in from scan.
“OK…if no one’s going to ask, I will,” Brock said after a minute’s silence stretched on. “What the fuck is that?”
“If I had to wager a guess…” Aqua paused, her brow lowering. “I’d say it’s part of a planetary ring. A big one, too.”
“The curve would suggest a circumference of a million kilometers—assuming it’s retained its shape after whatever broke it apart happened.”
Mira shook her head in amazement. “I can’t believe all of this was sitting here, just forty light years from Bysmark, and we never checked it out.”
“Well, we have been busy—and trying to keep a small footprint,” Janice replied. “Not wanting to draw attention and all.”
Emma chuckled. “Yeah, well, looks like that’s in the past. Attention has been drawn.”
“And they just left it all here,” Aqua whispered. “Why would they do that?”
“When they bailed on FN-371, it probably wasn’t this orderly,” Mira said. “These rings would have taken some time to coalesce, the stray objects getting flung out or dropping into the local star.”
“True, yeah,” the chief engineer nodded. “But it makes you think they must have a very advanced civ to simply write all this off.”
“I agree,” Greg said. “We’re not looking at some new starfarers.”
Mira cocked a brow. “Well, dark layer travel suggests that as well—oh shit! Is that the probe, back already? Is something wrong with it?”
“Let me see.” Aqua’s lips pulled down. “No…it doesn’t look like—wait…that can’t be right. It has the alien’s vector.”
“Really?” Emma asked, wide-eyed. “It’s only been gone two hours, that’s g
otta be just around a thousand AU at most.”
The chief engineer shrugged. “Looks like we lucked out. It dumped out of the DL and immediately picked up the alien ship’s burns. They must have thought we’d start searching at the far end of the route, and course corrected out here.”
“Alright, then,” Mira rose. “Let’s get this show on the road. Lieutenant, drop a beacon with these updates, and Emma, plot our burns to get to the closest jump point.”
The crew rose and began to file out, but Mira coughed to get their attention.
“Umm, Brock, Aqua, Lorra, I think you three have something to take care of in here?”
“Stars,” the ensign muttered. “We’re chasing aliens and still have to clean up after dinner. You’d think the OASF could spring for automatons.”
“I think there’s a reason they don’t,” Aqua said. “Why don’t you start with clearing the table? I’ll put the leftovers in the chiller, and Lorra can wash things that don’t fit in the autosan.”
Mira shook her head as she walked, out. Aqua couldn’t do a task without taking charge of everyone around her. Though perhaps that wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
She made her way back to the bridge, thoughts half on what they’d find when they tracked the alien to a settled world, and half wishing they could stay in FN-371 and dig into the ruins left behind.
Either way, her fears of living a dull life in a distant corner of the galaxy were gone. Adventure awaited—perhaps the grandest adventure ever.
Just wait till I tell Mom and Dad. They’re going to turn green with envy.
CHAPTER 32 - GRAYSON
STELLAR DATE: 01.08.8960 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Scorpii Minor
REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud
They had tried everything to get Nadine to talk. It hadn’t worked. Now it was Grayson’s turn.
Of the adult humans aboard the ship, he had the least history with her, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t caused him his share of pain in the past.
He’d have to use every last bit of his diplomatic skills to manage a conversation with the woman who had caused him and his partner so much grief.
But it had to be done.
When he entered the brig, Nadine was sitting on her cot, her posture perfectly straight, feet flat on the floor, her curious eyes following him. It was easy to see why Kylie had fallen for Nadine so completely; dark skin, large, almond eyes, and long hair most would covet. There was a naïve quality about the woman that made you want to protect her.
Whether the impression she gave was real or manufactured, it didn’t matter. It felt real enough. She was either gifted by the gene pool, or by her abilities to manipulate and read a room. At the very least, she was good at her job.
Grayson knew she’d be dangerous to trust, but if they wanted her to trust them…he would need to go out on a limb.
“I’m surprised to see you come in here.” Nadine smiled slightly. “Think you can get me to talk?”
“No,” Grayson admitted. “I think if you didn’t say anything to help your former shipmates, there’s no way you’ll talk to me. Plus, you survived Mr. Fizzle Pop.”
“Only just barely,” Nadine chuckled.
She was in a much better mood than Grayson had expected her to be. He said as much to her.
“Oh please,” Nadine continued. “Do you think I haven’t been arrested or confined before? This is what I call a well-earned nap.”
He smirked and decided at least some of her attitude had to be for show. “I think it must be hard for you to be here with your former crew. I know you joined up with them under false pretenses, but I think things didn’t stay false for as long as the others believe. Or am I wrong?”
Nadine’s smile cracked, and she bowed her head slightly. “Maybe you’re right. But I still have a job to do. I have a lot to make up for with my home world…. They need protection, so I was assigned to get the shield tech.”
“What they’ve asked you to do is illegal. You could refuse.”
“Not if I want to keep my freedom. I helped the leadership, but I spent years avoiding my…less pleasant duties. On Valkris, negligence and turning the other cheek are the worst crimes you could commit.”
“Why did you lie about working for terrorists? Why not just tell Kylie up front about the Valkris Authority?” Grayson asked.
Nadine tossed her head to the side. “Tell the truth? I never tell the truth. Is that what you want to hear?”
“I think it’s what you believe. I think you think being honest is out of the question.”
She tilted her head to the side. “I wanted to use Kylie’s empathy against her. It worked, didn’t it? It has been over ten years, but people don’t change that much. She got back with you, didn’t she?”
“And that angers you?”
“I might hate it, but I hate a lot of things.”
Did she view herself as stuck? Grayson wondered about that, and planned his next move.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he told her. “You can have a life you enjoy. Now that the war is over, you could go anywhere.”
“Duty, obligation, blah blah. I don’t have a choice. Valkris needs me.”
“Nadine, you can break free and choose your own path. You did it before.”
“Yeah, and look how well that worked out,” she said dryly.
Grayson shook his head. “It can be different. The Alliance needs skilled operatives they can trust. Convince me, convince them, that we can trust you. Then maybe one day, we can work together.”
Nadine stared him down, and Grayson could tell she was trying to figure out his game plan.
“The Valkris Authority might want to protect my Valkris and all of Maitreya, but they are ruthless.” She shook her head. “If I don’t return, I’ll have a death warrant on my head. I have to do what they require of me.”
“We can help you,” Grayson implored her.
Nadine snorted. “I tried to kill Kylie, as much as it pained me to do so. And I tried to steal something I had no right to steal. No one will forgive me for that.”
“We all know the type of life you live. Spies take liberties and do unconscionable things in the name of their mission. Seraphina would understand, even if she hated it.”
Nadine looked pale. “I don’t think so. The Valkris Authority might be small now, but it won’t stay that way forever. They want to be a major player. One day, they’ll come for me. So I might as well get it over with.”
“Even if ‘it’ meant disrupting the peace we’ve obtained?”
“As long as it puts them close to the top, sure. There’s no winning this for me. I’m damned if I help you and damned if I help them, but they’re my home. So, if you would care to leave me be….”
Grayson sighed and wracked his brain. “Work with me, and I can get you back in with the Alliance. They’ll accept an olive branch if you want to play with the big boys and girls.”
Nadine crossed her arms and thought it over. “Working for the Alliance has appeal, I admit. But my career with the Hand ended in disgrace. Seraphina blew me off, no one would deal with me…and now you’re saying you can fix all that?”
“If we can get our hands on the shield tech and whatever source material Mulke has, I can. You prove yourself to me, and I’ll prove myself to you.”
“Let’s get real. You’re Kylie’s husband.”
“For all intents and purposes, yes. We’ve built a life together that nothing will disrupt.”
Nadine smirked. “And you’d be okay just…letting me out?”
“With restrictions until our deal is met, sure. You won’t have free access to the ship. You’ll return to your cell each night, and you will be escorted everywhere.”
“That makes sense. To be honest, I’d rather not be caught alone with Winter. He’s still a little angry w
ith me.”
“They all are,” Grayson said. “Does that bother you?”
Nadine didn’t answer verbally, but her face flushed.
Grayson had his answer; she wanted them to understand. She wanted to make things right with them.
“Does Kylie know what you were planning when you came in here?” she asked.
“No,” Grayson admitted. “To be fair, I didn’t know what I was planning, either. However, she’ll see the logic in it.
“She doesn’t hate you, Nadine. She cares about what happens to you. I think Winter and Rogers do too. They just need time.”
“Friends, family,” she murmured. “You’re telling me everything I want to hear, but no one, no one, should risk their lives for me. I don’t deserve it. Send me back to the Valkris Authority empty-handed. I’ll accept their punishment.”
What a martyr, Grayson reflected. And here I thought Kylie tortured herself with past decisions.
“Give me a name,” he said, “a place, a star map, anything. Then I’ll do my part.”
Nadine nodded and took a deep breath. “All right. Fine. But I’ll hold you to your word. If you break it, I break you. Deal?”
Grayson nodded. “I’ll take that. I never break my word.”
Nadine tilted her head to the side with a smile. “One other condition. I’m going to need something from you today.”
He tried not to sigh out loud.
“And what’s that?”
* * * * *
Winter took the mug of coffee from the servitor and sipped from it without taking his eyes off of the two cats circling around his feet. “This ain’t right, Cap. None of it is natural. MFP is getting more tail than I am.”
“A lot more tail.” Kylie smirked and sipped her own coffee, which was too dark, too strong, and more like sludge than a drink.
In other words, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
“Mr. Fizzle Pop has a girlfriend. What’s so bad about that? She looks very fluffy.” Kylie bent down and scratched the white cat’s head.
