Faring Soul - Science Fiction Romance (11 page)

Brant was staring at the floor. He had
a lot on his mind and she had put it there. Catherine left him
alone.

The door chimed and slid open. She
picked up the tech and hurried out, heading for the flight
deck.

Lilita was heading in her direction
down the corridor, a coffee mug in her hand and a wrapped slice of
sticky toffee cake in the other. She held them out to
Catherine.

“They’re for Brant,” Catherine told
her.

“Me?” he asked from behind her.

“He’s in mild shock. It will help. Make
sure he eats it, Lilly!” She raced for the deck.

Bedivere glanced at her once as she
settled into her chair.

“What did you decide?” she asked.

“Slingshot around the planet, use it
for cover, keep it between us and the Feds. Only I didn’t know they
would be moving this fast when I committed us to the course
heading.” He grimaced.

“Can we match them?”

He shook his head. “No. But the gravity
assist around the planet will add some speed and the planet is
between Sibéal’s place and the gates, so we can use it for cover as
we head for the gates. That’s why I didn’t see them at first.”

It sounded like he was apologizing.

“It is what it is.” Catherine said. “We
only have to get a few light hours away. If they see us after that,
they still won’t be able to catch up before we hit the gates. How
long before the planet will hide us?”

“Thirty-three minutes.”

It was a long thirty-three minutes.
Both Lilita and Brant came onto the deck to watch, silent and
tense. At one point, Lilita said quietly; “Over-capacity by three
percent.”

“I’m aware,” Bedivere said softly, his
eyes on the consoles.

Catherine didn’t speak. At times like
this, Bedivere seemed to commune directly with his instruments. His
face became calm and expressionless and his eyes stayed on the
consoles, moving from one readout to another. His fingers shifted
decisively and it seemed like he was moving slowly, except that
Catherine couldn’t match him for speed. She had long ago resigned
herself to the knowledge that Bedivere outclassed her as a pilot
and she didn’t come close to matching his skills as a navigator.
She was glad, right now, that it was him at the controls and not
her.

Instead, she watched the less-critical
readouts and secondary data and tried to keep half an eye on
Bedivere’s stiff, upright figure in case he needed her for
something.

“Thirty minutes,” Brant said and his
voice sounded loud.

Catherine looked at Bedivere.

“Almost,” he whispered.

There was a clock on her console,
calibrated to standard time. She watched it roll through a single
minute and it felt like an hour. She swallowed.

The readout rolled through another
minute, taking a light year to do it.

“Were they coming for us?” Bedivere
asked and Catherine jumped.

“They just happen to arrive through the
gates to an uninhabitable world that no one ever uses, in their
fastest pursuit class. They were there either for Sibéal or for us.
The timing suggests it was us they wanted.”

“How did they know we were there?”
Brant asked.

“And why do they want you?” Lilita
added.

“Us,” Catherine said firmly. “You’re
tainted because you’re on my ship. The Federation have wanted me
for years.”

“Clear,” Bedivere said and sat back,
letting out a deep breath. He glanced around at everyone. “Two
minutes, then we have to finish jump prep.”

Brant looked at Catherine directly, his
odd eyes holding her gaze. “Would you really have killed me, back
there?”

“I was counting on you being a good
man,” Catherine told him.

“But you would have killed me if I had
not, despite all life being precious to you.”

Catherine smiled. “We’ll never know,
will we?” She turned back to face the console. “Let’s get this jump
locked in. I want to be gone from here as soon as possible.”

The Ivory City, Cathain City, Cathain
III. FY 10.070

Kare stood up.

The shouting around the long, long
table cut off as Kare’s heavy chair crashed into the floor behind
him. He hadn’t intended to topple it, but it served him now, so he
remained on his feet until everyone was looking at him. Those at
the far end of the table, the junior members and the newcomers to
the Federation, including the brand new Shantan governor, probably
saw him as a mere dot, but the screens that hung down the middle of
the table would have focused on him now and their view of the
screens would be unimpeded.

Good.

In the silence that awaited him, no one
coughed or cleared their throat, or shuffled their feet. They were
watching him with expressions that ranged from surprise to
dismay.

Kare pressed his fingers to the dark
clear, cool surface of the table. “The best response force the
Federation could muster was out-run by one tiny, aging cruiser.
That is fact. Arguing the hows and whys is a waste of my time. We
failed. Absorb that and take what you will from it.”

This time the reaction from the two
hundred plus Board members arrayed before him was uniform. They
were indignant.

Let them be. He was suddenly tired of
it all. “Bring me a solution when you arrive at one. In the
meantime, no one leaves this room.” He glanced at the guards, who
moved silently from their ceremonial positions to stances that
barred the many doors leading out of the chamber.

Then he turned and moved out through
his private door.

“But, Your Honor…!” someone cried, just
as the solid, sound-proof door slid shut behind him.

Kare picked up guards like an asteroid
tail as he moved fast down the corridor, heading for his private
study. As he passed the drawing room, Verna lifted her head from
the book she was reading, her eyes opening wide. He should stop and
explain to her why he had left the Board meeting so early and
abruptly, but he knew he would not be able to deal with his wife
with any fairness or gentleness, so he kept moving.

Once the study door was locked behind
him, he drew in a calming breath and leaned against the back of it.
He was alone in here, one of the few places in the entire city
where he could arrange such solitude.

He neutralized the windows, so that the
harsh white sunlight faded to a deep twilight, making the room a
calm, dim retreat.

Then he went to his desk and called up
the images.

There weren’t many. They arrayed
themselves in the air in a pleasing arrangement. The one he liked
the best was in the middle. The camera had caught her looking back
over her shoulder, while a breeze lifted her red hair up and out of
the way, revealing the strong jaw and the sharp chin.

Her blue eyes seemed to be looking
straight into the camera, as if she knew the image was being taken.
It felt like she was looking right at him.

Kare let his gaze rove over the other
images. She was in each of them, sometimes alone, sometimes with
other people. Most often, her current crew were in the images,
especially the tall one with the golden brown hair. They had
learned his name was Bedivere, but no one seemed to know anything
else about him despite intensive scrutiny. The other two were more
familiar to him now—Fareed Brant, the former Staff of Ammon
enforcer, and the young girl, Lilita Washmaster, who was working
her way across the galaxy like so many young ones did, hoping to
see sights and have adventures before settling to a more sedate
next profession.

But his gaze came back to
Catherine.

Katie, she had called herself then.

He closed his eyes. If he relaxed
enough, he could sometimes convince himself he could smell her hair
and once, he felt it drift across his shoulders as it had when she
had lifted herself over him.

A sharp alert from the door broke the
spell. Only Jarek had the necessary codes to break through the
privacy shield on the door and he would not have done so without
cause.

Kare put the images away and brought up
the lights, then let the door open.

Jarek stepped inside and shut the door
gently. “It actually worked. They’ve moved on from recriminations
now and are talking about next steps.”

Kare held in his irritation. “That is
why you disturbed me? For a status update?”

Jarek’s eyes narrowed. He gave a short
bow, as if to take away any offence. “I came to see if you needed
anything.”

So Kare’s anger and abrupt retreat had
not fooled Jarek.

With a sigh, he turned and looked out
the window. Now it was transparent, he could see the private
gardens below. There were children playing on the manicured
greenery. Some of them may even be his. The College ran a nursery
and school within the Ivory City for the offspring of staff and the
Primary Family, so that the children raised by them would be marked
by the privilege of their location.

The yearning to be far away from all
this, to be truly
free
, gripped his throat and stole his
breath. Kare swallowed, as panic fluttered in his chest. Sickness
swamped him.

“Your Honor?” Jarek prompted, behind
him. “Perhaps it might be prudent to return to the Board chambers.
You have emphasized the priority of finding a solution to the
Shahrazad problem for well over a year. It looks odd that you are
not guiding the strategies now.”

“As if a single woman from the fringes
is such a threat,” Kare muttered.

“You have represented her to be such a
threat,” Jarek reminded him. “And in truth, she sows discontent and
anarchy wherever she goes.”

“She has been minding her own business
for the three years since she emerged from therapy. There has not
been a single riot.”

“If she were to reveal who she really
is, the riots would follow,” Jarek replied. “You have made
convincing arguments that she must be contained before that
happens.”

“You believed me?”

“I believed the facts,” Jarek said.
“They speak at volume, without your championship.”

“Then you believe she is a threat,
too?”

“You’re troubled by her presence in the
Federation. I have not seen you so distracted before.”

Kare swallowed. “Truth, Jarek? If she
were to disrupt this peace of ours, I would welcome it.”

Jarek didn’t look shocked. Instead, he
merely nodded. “If that is the case, then may I point out that
given everything I have read about her, I believe that the harder
you pursue her, the more certain it will be that she will strike
back.”

Kare considered Jarek’s countenance.
Was his most excellent Chief of Staff saying only what he wanted to
hear, in such a way that kept Kare neatly within the bounds of his
office and happily productive? That was part of Jarek’s function,
after all.

He sighed. “Very well. I’ll return in a
moment or two.”

Jarek bowed again. “Your Honor.” He
slipped out of the room, leaving Kare to himself. He considered
bringing up the images again then paused, his finger over the
pad.

To see her in person…
!

That would be worth any number of Board
meetings and pointless politics.

Kare adjusted the cumbersome formal
jacket, tugging it down at the front. He squared his shoulders.
With renewed energy, he prepared to return to the chamber and herd
a particularly large and wayward group to where he wanted them.

Mid-jump, Keogard-Sunita Gates. FY
10.070

Catherine tiredly pushed her hair off
her forehead and out of her eyes. “The Feds have been trying to
catch up with me ever since we broke into core space. You’ve known
this all along, Lilly. I can’t see why it’s now a problem.”

Lilly was sitting on the serving table,
her legs swinging, but she leaned forward to answer earnestly.
“Because they really
are
after us!”

Bedivere stood at the door of the
relaxation-dining area, one shoulder against it and his arms
crossed. He was trying not to laugh, but Catherine didn’t know if
the laughter was directed at her or at Lilita’s indignation.

Brant was sitting on the opposite side
of the table to Catherine and eating an orange. He was using a
knife to peel it. He had pulled the knife out of his jacket. He was
concentrating on prying bits of peel away and the sharp, tart smell
of the fruit was distracting.

Lilly clearly didn’t like Catherine’s
reaction, or anyone else’s. She scowled. “I don’t like the
Federation any more than you do. They’ve been a monopoly for
generations and they use that power indiscriminately. Taxes are
horrendous and economies are depressed everywhere because they’ve
got their hand in every pocket, squeezing for all they’re
worth.”

Bedivere smothered a laugh and turned
it into a cough.

Brant separated a segment of orange,
holding it on the side of the knife with his broad thumb. “You
sound like a college pamphlet.”

Lilita’s face grew red. “Yes, so I
listened to the Aneesh when they talked about it. Doesn’t make it
not true.”

“Except you need to back up a step in
your supposition,” Bedivere told her. “No one is forcing these
worlds to spend their last yen buying their way onto the Federation
Board. They do it because they want to.”

“Except Federation membership is the
only way you can get access to the fedcore, the Itinerary—”

“Anyone can buy an Itinerary,”
Catherine interrupted.

“Anyone
rich
enough and only
Federation worlds can afford them! They throttle private traffic by
charging a fortune for the Itinerary.”

“I thought you said all the Federation
worlds were economically bankrupt?” Brant said.

“Yes, yes, but
after
they get
their place on the Board, they get all the Federation trade breaks
and the traffic and the business from the Federation itself,
because they’ve got the only whatever-it-is they used to qualify
for membership.”