Survivor (4 page)

The smell of rotting meat flooded her
nostrils and she gagged. Bile rose in her throat and made her eyes
water. She forced herself forward. Her foot landed in something
soft which squelched under her weight. Something warm and sticky
spurted over her foot and between her toes. She froze and clenched
her eyes shut. She refused to look down; it was better that she
didn't know what it was.

She moved some bags aside and tucked down
into the middle of the pile and then pulled the bags on top. She
was overcome with the stench. Whatever clung to her foot reeked of
death and decay. She tried breathing through her mouth but then she
could actually taste the rot. She nestled deeper into the rubbish
and closed her eyes. She just had to survive the night, and then
maybe Roxy would let her back.

She was careful to keep her arms and legs
tucked tightly against her body. Used needles glinted at her from
amongst the waste. Their deadly tips pointed directly at her,
waiting for her to prick her finger. She shivered at the thought of
what disease or drug would pour through her system.

She pushed her back firmly against the wall
of the building and fell into fitful sleep.

Nova's eyes flew open and she drew in a
sharp breath. She tensed all her muscles, ready to spring into
combat. Bright sunlight glared above her, reminding her that she
wasn't asleep under a pile of garbage, she wasn't even on Tabryn.
Her breathing eased as she realised it was just a memory come to
haunt her dreams.

She stood and sand fell out of the folds of
her clothes and from her pockets. The crystals tumbled off her in a
course cascade.

She shook herself free of the tendrils of
sleep and resumed her walk. She was eager to be free of the desert
which seemed determined to drag back memories of her childhood.

***

Nova lifted her water bottle to her mouth
and greedily gulped it down. "Cal, how much further? I'm running
low on water."

"Not much longer. You should be within sight
in one hour."

"Got it."

Nova pushed forward. True to Cal's word, not
long after, she heard the rumbling of machinery. In the distance,
the sparkle of sunlight reflected on metal.

She climbed a slight rise and was confronted
with a hive of activity. People rushed back and forth between a
collection of at least twenty ships and an oasis of trees and
vines. The ships were unmarked but the clean lines and new engines
meant they could only belong to the Confederacy.

The small forest was made of ancient trees,
like those she'd seen on the Cloud when she was younger. She didn't
think she would ever see one. Their majesty and many twisting roots
were awe-inspiring. They thrust up, their bright green leaves
defied the yellow sand. The trees were bunched in close together.
Nova couldn't see past the first line; they spread out in a rough
circle, at least one hundred metres wide.

Confederacy officers stood casually at
intervals around the area. Their guns were slung over their backs.
Their eyes flicked over the workers; they looked bored. The workers
chattered excitedly as they hauled machinery from the ships towards
the trees. All manner of tools were being transported to the
concealed area.

Nova stared down at the Confederacy
soldiers, in their navy blue uniforms, and a shiver went up her
spine. There was something unnerving about the militant methods of
the Confederacy. Just the sight of the soldiers made her want to
retreat to Crusader. She couldn't though. She had no choice but to
complete the job and get paid, otherwise Crusader was likely to
break down somewhere in the middle of unchartered space, never to
be found again.

She straightened her back and walked down
the other side of the hill. Sand spilled down in front of her feet.
Yelling voices erupted from below. She looked up to see Confederacy
soldiers sprinting straight at her.

Nova laid her hand on her pistol and waited
for them to reach her. She clenched her fingers around the gun and
took a deep breath. She had to keep her temper; if she lost control
here all she'd get was dead.

The Confederacy soldiers were breathing hard
by the time they climbed the hill to her side. Sweat poured down
their faces as they ripped their guns from their holsters. They
looked worried and furious at the same time. The three soldiers
shoved their guns into Nova's face.

"What do you want, hunter?" the female
soldier said.

"Who said I was a hunter?" Nova said,
jutting her chin and placing a hand on her pistol.

"Who else would come sniffing around
Confederacy business uninvited?" the soldier said. "Search
her."

The other two soldiers stepped forward. The
first took hold of her arms and pinned them behind her back while
the other snatched her pistol and handed it to the woman in charge.
He went to work tapping his hands over Nova's arms and legs. He
spent some time patting her chest while smirking at her.

Nova clenched her teeth. Her face flushed
red and her breathing became ragged. She bared her teeth at the man
and strained against the guard holding her arms. If she had thought
she could get away with it, without ending up on a prison asteroid,
she would have smashed her knee into the man's face. Instead, she
tensed her jaw and waited in silence.

He pulled out seven silver daggers and a
nine millimetre plasma pistol before he was satisfied and signalled
to his companion to let her go.

Nova glared at the soldiers. "I want to talk
to whichever Confederacy puppet is in charge."

"Well, I doubt he wants to speak with you,"
the female guard said.

"Oh really, then I suppose you can all be
blown to a cosmic crap hole then," Nova said. She folded her arms
across her chest.

The soldiers looked at each other,
frowning.

"What's that supposed to mean, hunter? Are
you threatening us?"

The female guard stepped forward and pressed
her gun against Nova's sternum. The hard metal hurt but Nova kept
her face steady.

"Just a concerned citizen."

"Start talking, or start walking."

"Trust me, it's above your pay grade," Nova
said. She narrowed her eyes at the woman and shoved the gun away
from her chest.

The guard's teeth clenched together and a
menacing growl echoed from the back of her throat. Nova tensed,
ready to duck the fist that was inevitably about to fly at her
face.

It was obvious to Nova from their hesitation
that these were grunts, not qualified to make any decisions. The
fact that they were hesitating over whether to take her to the
commander said there was a fallible command structure at best.
Usually there would be at least four layers of superiors, above
these gun-jockeys.

The female guard shrugged.

The man on Nova's left looked up. "Alaina.
Do you really think he should be the one talking to her?"

The woman glanced at him and responded in
another language. It was Confederacian, which was supposed to be a
secret language, an inside code. Of course, it had taken less than
a week for the translation files to leak to the bounty hunter
networks.

"The General put him in charge before he
left. What choice do we have?" Alaina said.

"Worst thing the General's ever done," the
man replied.

She shrugged. "It's an exploratory mission,
and not our job to question."

"Maybe not, but there was no point taking
the bitch's weapons off her. She's a hunter, she could probably
break the old-man's neck with her little finger."

"That's his problem," Alaina said, pulling a
black communicator the size of her palm from her leather utility
belt.

Nova watched the ground through the whole
conversation, pretending she couldn't understand what they were
saying. Their words only proved what she already knew; there was
dissent in this Confederacy project.

Alaina spoke into her communicator,
switching back to common tongue. "Sir, we've got a hunter on the
planet surface. Says she's got some information and wants to see
you,"

A wavering voice replied, "Oh um, ok."

"I'm bringing her up," she said. She turned
and walked in front of Nova, gesturing for her to follow. The other
two soldiers fell into step at Nova's sides.

She kept her lips pursed and her eyes
straight ahead. At least these Confederacy soldiers seemed like the
law-abiding kind. There were many who would have tried to kill her
and save themselves the hassle.

CHAPTER FOUR

Nova and the soldiers marched past the collection of ships
and scurrying workers. Most were so engrossed in their tasks that
they didn't notice the small party. The trees and shrubs
disappeared as they left the strange oasis.

Rising behind the rows of single-person
ships was a silver monstrosity the likes of which Nova had never
seen. The command ship stretched in all directions, taking up a
huge section of the horizon. It was bigger than some asteroids and
shaped like a sleek bullet. The silver metal of its outer hull
gleamed in the sunlight and its streamlined sides defied the harsh
desert.

The shadow of the command ship engulfed them
as they drew closer. Nova craned her neck to look up and take it
all in. How such a thing got into space was a miracle in
itself.

She was marched to a set of stairs which
rose up into the hull. Alaina took the lead, her boots clinking on
the metal steps. Nova and the second guard followed behind. The
third stayed at the base of the stairs.

Nova laid her hand on the railing. The
silver metal was cool to the touch even in the harsh afternoon
sun.

Alaina called out as soon as she reached the
top of the stairs. "Sir, the hunter is here to see you."

A second voice replied from deeper inside
the ship. "What the hell is a hunter doing here?"

"She's talking about an explosion."

The door at the top of the stairs swung
open. Nova marvelled at the sheer opulence. All of the lights were
clean and perfectly positioned to show off the best of the ship.
Plush lounges that looked like fluffy blue clouds rested against
the walls. A statue of a small chubby angel rose out of the floor
in the centre of the room. Massive bolts held everything in
place.

Everything about the ship was in direct
opposition to Crusader. The metal walls were clean and smooth where
Crusader's were covered in rust and scrapes. The decorations were
tasteful and elegant, Crusader didn't have decorations. But the
real difference was in what lay beneath. The life-support systems
purred noiselessly, keeping the temperature at a smooth twenty-five
degrees. The lights glowed warmly, reaching every corner, and there
wasn't one broken bulb.

The lush ambience was ruined only by the
red-faced man standing in front of the stairs. He was slightly
chubby with a round face and a bulbous nose. His hair was black
with grey speckles and he wore a stained shirt with a laboratory
coat thrown over the top. Cuts and scars ran up his arms and there
was a slice of white, raised flesh on his left cheek.

"What's your name, hunter?"

"My name is Nova," she said, through
clenched teeth. "And you are?"

The man glared at her, his mouth working as
he ground his teeth together. He loomed over her and his chest
puffed out as he spoke. "I am Doctor Codon, science officer of the
ninth Confederacy fleet. I would suggest you tell me exactly what
you're doing snooping around our site."

His hands rubbed back and forth on the legs
of his pants. He looked down his nose at her. She thought to
herself that he could probably barely see her around the bulbous
thing but she daren't laugh.

"I'm looking for two fugitives," she said,
holding out a small screen. Photos of the two criminals flickered
up.

"And what exactly does that have to do with
me?" Codon asked.

"They're terrorists known to target
Confederacy endeavours. I figured you might be interested," she
said, snapping the screen back onto her belt.

"I'm sure you'll get a healthy pay out of
it," Codon said.

"True. But I sure as hell don't have to be
here listening to you. There are plenty of other jobs I'd rather be
doing. Trust me, I only came here because of the workers who might
die, I sure as hell don't give a damn about you or your
soldiers."

She pushed her chin forward and stared at
him with her steely eyes. It was at least partly true; she didn't
care one bit for the Confederacy soldiers. If they'd wanted to make
an honest living they wouldn't be working for the Confederacy.

The doctor's mouth dropped open. Her eyes
bore into him.

Doctor Codon spluttered. "Well – I-"

Nova cautioned herself. He was intimidated
now but for some reason he was in control of this whole Confederacy
operation, which meant he had power. She didn't want to push him
too far, just a little nudge to keep him on his toes. She was
counting on the military's apparent lack of respect for the doctor.
If she'd spoken like that to one of their generals she would have
been beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Take my word for it, Codon. If you don't
let me find those fugitives you and your men are walking corpses. I
dread to think what the Confederacy would do if this mission went
to hell because you didn't check it out."

Codon's eyes flew open and he twisted his
hand around the loose material of his coat.

She kept her face emotionless, playing on
the man's insecurities. Without her gun all she had was her
intellect. Codon could just as easily shoot her here and dispose of
her body as listen to her. She doubted that would happen. The man
was too green in his chair. He'd listen to her. It wouldn't be the
first time that brash confidence had beaten a Confederacy
puppet.