Heart of the Nebula (4 page)

As the tram began to decelerate, gravity
slowly returned. When it came to a stop, James opened his eyes and
took a deep breath. After checking himself over to make sure he was
presentable, he picked up his bag and stepped out. A man in a crisp
business suit stood waiting for him on the other side, with two
aides standing just behind him.

It could only be the patrician.

“
Mister patrician, sir,” he
said, dropping his bag to offer a salute. “It’s an honor to meet
you in person.”

“
Lieutenant James McCoy, I
take it?”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Excellent. It’s a pleasure
to meet you, as well.”

The patrician offered James his hand and
gave him a firm, commanding handshake. He was a tall, heavyset man,
with a clean-shaven face and receding hairline. His chest and arms
were surprisingly strong, though, and his expressive face betrayed
a mind that was obviously quite active.

“
I’ve heard a lot about
you, Lieutenant,” he said. “My aides here have briefed me on your
entire file.”

“
My, ah, file?” James
asked. He swallowed nervously and tried not to think about what was
in there.

“
Yes, yes, of course.
You’ve built up quite an impressive service record, with—what?
Twenty-one kills?”

“
Twenty-six,” said James,
his heart racing.

The patrician smiled. “I’ve already spoken
with your co-pilot, Ensign Jones. He speaks very highly of
you.”

Sterling?

“
I’m… glad to hear that,
sir.”

“
Yes, he’s waiting for us
in the car. But first, allow me to introduce you to my daughter,
Sara.”

A gorgeous young woman stepped forward,
offering her hand. James froze, and his stomach all but dropped
through the floor. Her golden hair cascaded over her shoulders, and
her smile almost made his heart stop. Her form-fitting smart-dress
accentuated the natural curve of her hips, while her deep blue eyes
shone like the shimmering starfields of deep space.

“
Hello,” said James, unable
to say anything else. Somehow, he managed to shake her hand without
making a fool of himself.

“
Hello,” said Sara. “James,
I take it?”

“
You can call me that,” he
all but stammered.

She nodded. “Pleased to meet you.”

“
I’m afraid we’re running
short on time,” said the patrician. “Your ship is scheduled to
leave in only a few hours, and you still need to be briefed on your
mission.”

James blinked. “Our mission?”

“
Yes, your mission. Didn’t
Commander Maxwell explain it to you?”

“
No, Sir. The commander
didn’t tell me anything.”

The patrician pursed his lips. “Well, that’s
unfortunate. You won’t have much time to handle your personal
affairs. Do you have any family that you wish to say goodbye to
before you leave?”

I was hoping to say hello to them first.

“
Yes,” said James, “but I’m
sure that I can do that later, sir—after I’ve been
briefed.”

“
Excellent,” said the
patrician, patting him on the back. “Come, to my car.”

James picked up his bags and followed behind
the patrician’s daughter, who glanced at him over her shoulders. He
gave her a weak smile that quickly changed to a frown once her back
was turned.

What in all the holy constellations of Earth
is going on?

* * * * *

Sara stepped into the car while her father
held the door open, ducking as she entered the narrow space. She
sat knee-to-knee across from the ensign, who grinned at her like a
small puppy.

“
Hello again,” he said.
“Are we—Oh! Captain McCoy, it’s good to see you!”

“
Lieutenant
McCoy,” James corrected him as he scooted up next
to him. “I’m only your captain when we’re on the
Lone Spear.
”

“
Oh, right.
Sorry.”

With a soft grunt, her father squeezed in
next to her. The door hissed shut, while outside, the two aides
waited for the next available car.

Sara took a good look at the lieutenant as
the car started moving in its track along the ceiling. Like Ensign
Jones, he had a sort of nervous look about him: a wide-eyed,
who-took-the-ground-away kind of look. Unlike the ensign, though,
he didn’t seem quite so young and boyish. In his eyes, she glimpsed
a depth of experience that she didn’t usually see in people his
age. Here was a young man who had seen things—perhaps even more
than she had.

“
So, ah, Mister patrician,”
said James. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what exactly is this all
about?”

Her father chuckled. “Cutting to the chase,
are we? I can see why you went into the military and not
politics.”

Sterling laughed nervously, clearly unsure
of himself. James only nodded.

“
I take it you haven’t
heard of the interstellar conference at Gaia Nova,” her father
said, clasping his hands together the way he always did when he got
down to business. “A quorum of delegates from the Hameji-occupied
worlds is seeking to draft a petition of redress for the general
security failure and widespread economic collapse. It’s been a long
time in coming, but the Hameji have agreed to sponsor the meeting,
which is scheduled to take place in two standard weeks.”

James frowned. “Petition of redress? Since
when did the Hameji allow that?”

“
We’ve managed to convince
them that it’s in their best interests to let us organize,” said
Sara, giving the lieutenant a disarming smile. “Besides, they’re
much too interested in their military campaigns to worry about
us.”

Whether from her words, her smile, or some
combination of both, James offered no further objection. Her father
continued.

“
I’m sending you both with
the delegation as a military escort. You are responsible for the
security of the diplomatic team, including the safety of my
daughter.”

“
Yes, sir,” said James.
From the way he looked at her father, it seemed almost as if he
were purposefully avoiding eye contact with her.

“
There are some on the
committee who view your presence as merely a formality. However, I
want you to know that I expect nothing less than your finest. Our
colony has a lot riding on the outcome of this conference. I
personally have a lot riding on it, considering that my daughter is
a member of the diplomatic team. It is vitally important that you
see to their security and ensure that they return unharmed. Do you
understand?”

“
Yes, sir,” said James. “We
understand perfectly. Don’t we, Sterling?”

“
Of course,” said the
ensign. “Don’t worry, sir.”

Her father nodded, evidently satisfied.
“Good. This diplomatic mission is critical. If we don’t persuade
the Hameji to take a more active role in resolving the growing
security crisis, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Though the emotion was evident in her
father’s voice, she could tell by the glassy look in his eyes that
he didn’t fully believe what he was saying. Fortunately, as the car
slowed down in front of the Defense Corps’s barracks, neither of
the soldiers seemed to notice.

“
Captain Jarvis will have
more details for you on board the
Freedom
Star,
” her father said as the car came to a
stop. “Before you go, however, I want your personal promise that
you will guard my daughter at all costs.”

“
Of course, sir,” said
Lieutenant McCoy, saluting. “I swear on my life.”

“
Me too, sir,” said the
ensign.

“
Good.”

The door hissed open, and her father stepped
out to allow them to disembark. While Sara waited in the cabin, he
helped them retrieve their bags and sent them on their way.

“
Excellent men,” her father
said as he sat back down across from her. “If only we had a hundred
more like them.” The door hissed shut, and the car rose up and
headed for the residential district of the station.

“
You didn’t have to get
that last promise from them,” Sara said, folding her arms. “That
was a bit melodramatic.”

“
Perhaps,” he said, “but
they won’t soon forget it, will they?”

“
I suppose not.”

The floor fell out below their car as it
rose up the high ceiling of the station’s central dome. Sara
recognized the familiar gardens and parks that were so
characteristic of the upper class neighborhoods of the Colony.
Young mothers pushed strollers past the carefully manicured hedges
and picturesque streams. Leafy green trees shimmered in the
sunlight that shone through the carefully tinted windows overhead.
From high above, however, Sara could see that every house and hedge
was virtually identical, and the streams all ran in endless
circles, doubling back on themselves. It was a sheltered world
apart from reality—an artificial imitation of the peace and
prosperity that had once been common throughout the system. Though
she’d grown up within that illusion, she had no desire to stay
there.

“
Do either of them have
top-level clearances?” she asked.

“
No,” said her father. “As
far as they know, you’re just another delegate.”

Sara sighed. “That’s going to make things
difficult, if I have to keep my mission a secret from them.”

“
Be discreet. They’ll never
notice a thing, if you do it right.”

If I do it right.
That was the trick, wasn’t it?

“
I’ll do my
best.”

“
That might not be good
enough,” said her father. “The Colony may not survive if you
fail.”

“
I know,” said Sara. “I
know.”

They sat in silence as the carefully
manicured illusion of prosperity passed far below.

Chapter 3

Kyla Jeppson ignored the growling in her
stomach as she slunk through the dimly lit corridor toward the
spaceport loading docks. The familiar smell of urine and rotting
garbage filled the air, masking her like the shadows. She skirted
around a large group of beggars gathered around an electric stove
and slipped into a narrow crawlspace between bulkheads, careful to
make sure no one was following her.

After squeezing past a particularly nasty
patch of mold, she arrived in a small chamber hollowed out from a
defunct ventilation shaft. The motionless fans still hung overhead,
and she ducked to avoid banging her head on their enormous blades.
Her eyes flitted back and forth across the foul-smelling place, her
heart beating a little faster.

A small man slouched against the far corner,
arms folded across his chest. Though the room was too dark for her
to make him out, she imagined she could see the smug expression on
his face. A chill ran slowly down her back.

“
You’re late,
darling.”

Kyla said nothing.

The man unfolded his arms. “Well, come
here.”

She began to approach him, but stopped in
the middle of the room, her body tense. When he saw that she
wouldn’t come any further, he sauntered casually over to her.

“
You had me a little
worried, dear. For a while, I didn’t think you’d come.”

He caressed her neck with his hand, running
his fingers through her matted hair. She flinched at his touch, but
made no protest.

“
I see you’ve lost weight.
Are they not feeding you as well at the soup kitchen? Or has child
services caught on to you?”

“
I’m here,” she said,
drawing in a sharp breath.

“
Of course you
are.”

His hand ran down the front of her jumpsuit,
groping at her small breasts. Reflexively, she knocked him away. He
clucked at her and shook his head.

“
Temper, temper. Is that a
way to treat your benefactor?”

“
I’ve paid you once. I’m
not going to pay again.”

He laughed. “A pity. Too bad your ride is
leaving so soon—otherwise, we could have had a little fun.”

Go to hell, you sick bastard.

She hated herself for fucking him, but she
hated even more that she didn’t have a choice. No place on the
station would give her work, and the soup kitchens did little more
than keep her alive—barely. It was worse in child services, though.
She’d heard all the horror stories. At least with the smuggler, she
only had to pay him once.

He turned to lead her out, but not without
snaking his arm around her waist and pinching her butt. She didn’t
give him the satisfaction of jumping.

“
Right this way,” he said,
leading her out a maintenance corridor. Wires hung from broken
conduit, fluorescent lights flickering in the narrow space. A
broken pipe joint tore her sleeve, but she ignored it and went
on.

It hadn’t always been like this. Years ago,
when her mother had still been alive, she’d had a clean bed to
sleep on, in a room to herself that didn’t smell like urine. Places
like this had been foreign to her, where the air was rank with body
odor and people slept on rat-infested floors. That was when she’d
had a family, though. She didn’t have anyone now.

The smuggler led her up a ladder to another
ventilation shaft. Quick as a rat, he climbed out, reaching back in
to pull her up. As she crawled to her feet, the sound of heavy
machinery rung in her ears. She kept low as he led her around a
bend behind several enormous storage containers.