by Celeste Raye
The being said, “Ah there we are,” as an arc of blue light ran over the cryo box. The box took on a hazy glow and then Megda, Clara’s mother, sat up, her slim hands clutching the sides of the box and her mouth hanging open as she coughed hard, expelling the cryo fluid from her mouth. Her hair hung damp and tangled, and her face wore a fine misty coating of nitrolen, the chemical used to help prevent cryo-thaw.
Benson whispered, “Oh my…” then he rushed forward, all words forgotten in his haste to get his wife out of that box and hold her again.
Tears sprang into Clara’s eyes, but they were happy tears. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Her mother tottered and stumbled, her legs unsteady. That was normal. It would take her a little while to readjust. They all stood there hugging each other and talking softly for a few minutes while Megda got her bearings. The being eventually announced Megda could depart the bay.
They had to pay the credits at the door again. Megda asked, “What is that about?”
Joshua said, “This is the worst coin grubber place I have ever seen.”
Megda was clearly confused but willing to accept that at face value. They made their way along the hall. Joshua led the way to the chamber he and Benson shared. As they stepped inside, Magda’s stomach let out a low grumble. She slapped a hand to it with a wince. “Sorry.”
Clara wrapped an arm around her mother’s frail shoulders. “It’s okay. There is plenty of food here.”
“Not cheap, is it?” Megda gave her a small smile.
Clara shook her head. “We have credits; don’t worry.”
Joshua ordered food for all of them. Clara sat down next to her mother and father. They all looked at each other but didn’t speak for long minutes while Megda tried to get her bearings.
The food came. Clara picked at her tray. Megda finished her food and then Clara’s. Color came to her face, and eventually, she sat back and spoke in her old brisk tone. “So, where are we and how did we get here?”
Clara said, “Joshua and Father escaped the serio-max and used the hidden stash of credits to follow us. I was put on what was supposed to be a bride ship but wasn’t. Wreckers, who, as it turned out, were using their stripping profits to fund this hall and other business ventures, took it. The man who was on the wrecking crew discovered I was a carder when he got my file. He gave me a job here and had you body smuggled out of the prison. Father and Joshua had already escaped by then, though I didn’t know it. Once they found out where we were, they came here.”
Megda said, “I see. And where is here exactly?”
“It’s Orbitary. It’s a business planet. The halls are legal here as are tables. I have made a good deal of credits in my time here, and Joshua and Father have been busy accruing many more.”
Megda sipped at the water. Her eyes roved the chamber. “I see. I take it going back to Old Toronto or anywhere on our planet is not a good thing.”
“No.” Joshua shifted in the chair.
Benson said, “I think that is lost to us now. There is no way, even with the genetic lifts, that we can do that.”
Megda smiled. “I must admit that at first, I could not figure out who the two men with my daughter were. But then you touched me, and I knew.”
Clara’s heart gave another throb. That was what she wanted. A love so great that not even a change in facial features could hide the person she loved from her sight. She said, “But we have all already agreed that it is too expensive here.”
Just then, the credit due kiosk whirred, delivering the bill for their dinners. Megda said, “I see that. So where do we go?”
There was a tap on the door. Joshua stood and went to it. He opened the door and stepped back. “Clara, you have a visitor it seems.”
Her heart dropped. Her pulse sped up as Renall entered the room slowly. His handsome face wore a determined expression. His eyes fastened on hers and she swallowed hard. “I was going to the tables, but there was a game…”
“I am not here about that.”
Megda asked, “Who are you?”
“He’s Renall,” Clare said miserably. “He owns the hall. He is the one who had you smuggled here.”
Her heart ached as Renall came closer. He said, “I broke the pact between Morilan and myself. I…I know I am asking a lot but…I wanted to ask you again, and in private, but since this involves your family too now, here is a good time and place I believe. I want you to wed me, Clara. I realize that I am asking a lot. You would have to live on a primitive planet outside the Federation’s reach, but also outside their assistance. There is no hall there and will never be. There is—”
He didn’t get to say anything else. Clara’s chair hit the floor. Hope hit her so hard she nearly doubled over. She spoke in a trembling voice. “You broke the pact? What about the defense of the planet?”
“I will defend it myself if I have to.” His chin came up. “I have forgotten too much of my own history, it seems. I have been a warrior before, and I can be one again.”
Megda asked, “Wait—what are you talking about?”
Benson stood as well. “Outside the Federation?”
Renall looked at all of them, but his eyes came back to rest on Clara’s. He said, “I love you. I want you to wed me. I want…”
She flew into his arms. His arms went around her. She forgot all about her family and kissed him as hard as she could. Tears and laughter both poured from her. She said, “Oh yes. I…yes!”
Then she sobered. She stepped back from his embrace and looked at her family. Worry filled her thoughts. They might not want to live on that planet, and they might not want to give up the tables and the things they knew. She whispered, “Father?”
Benson said, “I think you need to tell us about this planet of which you speak.”
Joshua leaned forward. “Yeah, you do.”
Renall didn’t let go of Clara. He said, “It is a private planet, right past a grav-pull created by a collapsed wormhole. It is not on any maps. It is unpopulated at the moment. It mimics your home planet, what your home planet was once, millennia ago, in many ways. I have been busy buying it but also busy sending all the things for those who wish to go with my siblings and me. They will need it for survival. The two other planets in that system are populated, and one is well populated with several large cities, but they too are non-tech for the most part. I took tele-call equipment to them and other things as part of a pact I made with them, so they have some tech, but for the most part, they prefer to live without it.”
Benson asked, “Are we going to be at war with the other planet due to your breaking the pact?”
Renall shook his head. “There have been, over the years, a number of brigand ships either foolish or brave enough to try to plunder there as the resources are rich, but they have been repelled every time. The weapons used by those people were beyond sophistication centuries ago, and they are still capable of firing. But they train their people to combat in ways most are not trained in. So they would be fierce foes. However, we have come to an agreement that allows me to break the pact while still maintaining their goodwill.”
Joshua’s lips turned up. “How much did that cost you?”
“A million credits,” Renall said with a grin, “And it was worth every credit too.”
A million credits. He had given a million credits for her? Stunned and shaken by that, Clara stared at his dear face. She loved him, and she knew she likely had since the moment she had first seen his face.
Megda said, “So you are telling us we could live in a place where there is no Federation to breathe down our necks?”
Renall said, “Yes.”
Joshua said, “It sounds good to me, but it’s up to you Clara.”
Benson said, “It is.”
Clara asked, “What about carding? You love it so much.”
Benson threw his head back and laughed. “Love it? Child, it was just the one thing I was good at. I taught your mother because she was pretty and able to distract the players while flee
cing them. I taught you and Joshua so that you would have a way to earn some currency and because it was all I had to give you. We lived in a place where our very births made us less than. I had to try to give you something to even the score a bit. I wish I had had something else, something better, to pass on.”
Her smile was radiant. “If you had not given us that, none of us would be here right now.”
Renall’s arms were on her body, holding her and shielding her and cradling her. Those arms were her anchor and her rock and wherever he went, that was where she wanted to go as well. “I guess it is settled. We are all going to the planet with you Renall.”
He picked her up and swung her around. The sheer strength he possessed thrilled her. The happiness sliding through her heart and body made her laugh aloud in real pleasure.
He set her feet back down onto the floor. His eyes twinkled. “I don’t want to rush any of you, but it seems that the Federation may be coming to jail me very soon. So perhaps we should go.”
Joshua bolted to his feet. Benson and Megda were right behind him. Clara said, “I’m ready when you are.”
Renall said, “Then we should likely head toward the ship.”
Clara’s hand met his. They smiled at each other.
Joshua interrupted the moment by asking, “So, maybe now is the time to run?”
Renall roared laughter.
Clara said, “I think yes, but I need to stop and get my credits from the safe in my room and some clothes.”
Megda asked, “What will we do for clothes?”
Renall said, “There are outlying planets along the route where credits speak louder than the Federation’s fugitive reports. We will stop at several in order to purchase more necessary things.”
Clara knew it would be hard, that journey. She knew it would be hard to live in a place where things were so unfamiliar. But as long as Renall was with her, she was willing. Her grin got bigger and then she burst into laughter.
Renall lifted an eyebrow. “What is it?”
She guffawed out. “I was on a bride ship after all.”
He burst into laughter. Then he kissed her soundly. When he stopped kissing her, he said, “It seems so. It also seems I have inherited a family.”
The happiness in his voice filled her heart with a lightness she had never known in her entire life.
Hand in hand, they headed for the door, and their future.
Chapter 17 - Renall
The planet was stunning. The atmosphere mimicked the world she had come from but the way it had been centuries before. The air was clean and fresh. The grass was green. The river they stood before was wide and clear and brimming with life. The wind blew soft and scented from the tall stands of trees. The flowers grew in profusion along long fields that held no life but for her and Renall.
Clara said, “I can see why you wanted it so badly.”
Renall smiled as he watched birds take flight, winging their way upward into the clear sky. “I hope you do. I know it is primitive. There are no halls.”
“And no re-circulators.”
He chuckled. “No major docks.”
“And no interference from the Federation.”
His lips curved upward. His eyes danced. “No medi-centers or food printers. No fabrics on hand. We have to start all the way over. We will be a primitive people living off the land of a planet.”
Clara drew a cleansing gulp of air into her lungs. “I read, in an old book, that that was how it was many centuries before on my homeland. That people lived sparsely and that they had to build things with just their wits and whatever they could fashion.”
Renall said, “Well, we have the good fortune of also having quite a lot of credits to bring things here that will make it much easier. I have already had several shipments brought here and a structure built that will house us for now. We’ll learn how to live here.”
“And we won’t have to worry about a bill for resources at the end of the day.”
Renall’s eyes danced. “Oh now, you know you will miss being charged extra to breathe fresh air.”
Clara let her head tilt back. She pulled in a might gust of air. “Um, no. I won’t. I think I am going to love it here. I think we all will.”
His face darkened. “I hope so. None of us can really leave again now. Talon’s taking the ship with him. “
Clara knew how worried about his sibling Renall was. “He’s a hell of a fighter and a hell of a pilot. And he has not just his crew but Jessica with him. She’s just as skilled at combat as any I have ever seen.”
Renall’s eyes went up to the belly of the ship hovering overhead. His concern showed in his visage. “I wish he could let go of the past, but I understand how hard it is to do that. Especially for him. He was the one who was subjected to the worst of the abuse, and he was the one who truly worshipped our father. He took it as a personal strike against him when Father was killed. I understand that too. He is determined to eradicate the Gorlites and if that means his capture he is at peace with that decision.”
Her eyes surveyed his face. “But you are not.”
His dark head shook from side to side. “No. I understand his need for revenge, but I no longer share it and have not for a very long time.”
“I can see that.” Clara dipped her hand down to touch the petals of a pretty flower. It was a ruby red color, and the petals were velvety soft. She had no idea what it was, but she found herself marveling at it anyway. “I am sorry, about Lois I mean. I had no idea she was a cycle spy.”
“How clever of the government.” Renall’s voice dropped lower. “Her own father sent her to suffer to pay a political debt and planting the cycle spy circuit was done so his foes and debtors could watch her shame and misery. I have to wonder about beings who are so cruel.”
Her eyebrow rose. “Not all humans are so.”
Renall took her hand in his. “This I know. I was just…it is astounding, that level of cruelty. It was not lucky for me that they also happened to catch me and the others in the act of stripping.”
“You know what? Lois was very happy in the hall. Dana had no idea that Lois was not her daughter and Sanara had no clue she was not her sister either. They had no idea that they had had a memory implant. They still do not know that. I only hope they never discover that or what really happened to Lois.”
Renall said, “I shall never tell, and I know none of the rest who know will either.”
Clara frowned. “Do you think there might be a chance that their wipe and memory implants might falter?”
“I don’t know. If they do, then we will tell them the truth, but only then. And only if we have to.”
Clara said, “That is something I can agree to.”
She looked over her shoulder at the others. Several hundred beings from various planets and systems were laughing or exploring or just standing still, heads back and their eyes on the blue skies.
Three people broke off from the group and came toward her and Renall. Clara’s heart lifted even higher as Joshua said, “It’s so beautiful.”
Megda echoed that sentiment then added, “Renall, you said that there is housing of some sort already?”
He nodded. “A very large commune type structure. It will be difficult at first but the ship has brought us enough food for now, and we can grow things and…” His head lifted to the sky. His eyes scanned the horizon. His head dropped, and his eyes met Clara’s, “live and love in peace.”
She took his hand. Overhead, Talon’s ship hovered for a moment and then lifted away. Happiness filled Clara. She was helping to build something new and a world worth living in, and she was doing it with Renall and her family beside her.
Renall peered at her. “What are you thinking?”
Her lips curved even more widely. Her laughter rang through the air. “I’m thinking that this is worlds away from the place I thought I’d always be, and how glad I am to be here.”
He said, “I was thinking perhaps we should name the planet, bu
t I don’t know what to call it, exactly.”
“Of course you know,” she said softly. “It’s Revant Two.”
He took a breath. His eyes held hers. “But there’s more than my race here.”
“One day our races, mine, yours, and all the others on this place, will have whatever remains of your race’s blood in their veins. They should have the right to the name.”
He swallowed hard. “You’re right. Revant Two it is.”
His smile was equally wide. He swept her into an embrace and kissed her. Hard. Then they set off across the grassy fields of the virgin planet, hand in hand.
Book 2: Talon
By Celeste Raye
Chapter 1
Space, lit with light trails from the inhabited planets, sat outside the windows of the spacecraft. Jessica lifted a hand, tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, and then leaned closer to the glass, her eyes searching the dark for any faint ripple in the space around them.
Talon’s reflection came up in the window, wavering behind hers, and a hard knot settled in her belly. Talon was strong and tall, his wide eyes as silver as a star, and his mouth as ripe and kissable as his shoulders were broad and touchable.
Jessica swallowed hard. Talon was a Revant, one of the last remaining of his race. He was also the one who had rescued her from the ship that the Federation had put her on after she had discovered the secrets that they had not wanted her to know. Secrets she had no business knowing because she was a Capo, and an officer of Law on the planet known as New Earth. Or Old Earth, depending on which part of the galaxy one hailed from.
“That last ship was quite profitable.”
Jessica nodded. “I’d say.”
Talon was not just a space pirate; he was a being on a mission of revenge. The Gorlites were what they were hunting, and with the intention of eradicating them. If they happened to get a few ships that were bound for Federation-affiliated planets and the credits and other things that would be sold for credits that were aboard those ships at the same time, even better.
