She moved as close as she dared to the facility and studied it, perplexed. Everything appeared normal. Two guards stood at relaxed attention outside the doors. No gunfire interrupted the quiet.
What if the assault didn’t happen tonight at all? She’d had no reason to assume it would be tonight, none but her desire for it to be so. Or maybe something had gone wrong like she’d feared—
—the doors opened, freeing a cacophony of chaotic noises and startling the guards. Eli burst forth out of the doors at a full run while yelling at his men and gesturing behind him. They dashed inside.
He looked ridiculous, splashing clumsily through the puddles on the sidewalk as he lumbered forward, wheezing from the exertion.
But no one was chasing him.
He was going to get away.
The hilt of the blade she’d purchased sat clenched in a death grip in her hand; she’d been holding it so tightly her fingers had started to cramp.
The edges of her vision blurred. Her awareness narrowed to encompass Eli Baca and nothing else. Drug trafficker, mob minion, violent and brutish thug. A 24th century feudal lord wielding the power of life and death over all he commanded.
An unexpected calmness settled within her as she crossed the street, her pace deliberate but unhurried.
Mia stepped onto the sidewalk in front of him. He failed to recognize her in the long coat and hood, and made to veer around her.
She took a single step sideways to block his path, activated the blade and plunged it into his heart.
Eli was fat, but her blade was far from tiny. A bloom of red unfurled to dye his sweaty shirt crimson as he gaped at her in shock and confusion.
She reached up with her free hand, pulled the hood off and leveled a cold, malevolent glare at him. “You don’t own me anymore.”
Then she retracted the blade and stepped away. He collapsed at her feet.
The world rushed back in around her. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears and flushed her skin hot. Commotion overflowed the entrance to the facility.
She looked up to see her intelligence agent friend run out the door, gun raised. On spotting her he raced over. His gaze never shifted from her to the body on the ground, not even when he stepped around it to place a hand on her shoulder. “Are you hurt?”
He was bleeding from a cut above his hairline; the blood joined with raindrops to stream down his temple and trail raggedly along his cheek. Separate, different blood seeped from his lower lip.
She swallowed, wondering how her throat could be so dry amidst all this rain. “You are.”
He exhaled in a kind of winded scoff. “I’m good. Got whacked in the head is all.”
“Caleb!”
The shout drew his attention. He turned toward its source, a stranger exiting the building. “Over here.”
When he turned back to her, she cocked an eyebrow. “‘Caleb’?”
He shrugged. “Sorry. ”
The other man jogged up to them, though he limped noticeably and cradled his left arm against his abdomen. He was older, with shoulder-length hair and a slightly wild beard. “Ma’am.” He nodded curtly in her direction, then focused on Caleb. “I think everybody’s down, but we should blow it soon.”
Caleb offered her a hand. “We need to get to a safe distance.”
She accepted it and let him lead her across the street while her mind whirled with conflicting thoughts and unfamiliar but heady emotions. She wasn’t in shock, but she could be accused of being somewhat dazed.
They continued on to the end of the block before stopping. Caleb produced a small transmitter from his pack and held it out to her. “You’re supposed to be on your way to Romane—but seeing as you’re here instead, would you like to do the honors?”
She stared at the transmitter, then at the building, then at the transmitter.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to. I only thought….”
She snatched the transmitter from his grasp. “Damn straight I would.”
“Now, you want to—”
“I know how it works.”
Eyes fixated on the building, she moved her thumb to the signal trigger and depressed it.
A cascade of explosions ripped apart the walls and night became day as roiling red-gold flames surged upward and outward. The sound followed, a multi-tonal roar that grew as secondary blasts flared. Debris fell to the street alongside the rain, and a dust cloud made its way to them.
Laughter bubbled up from deep in her chest. Not at the people dead inside, for some small part of her heart mourned them. Some of them. No, the laughter was for herself.
She was free.
Caleb gently removed the transmitter from her hand and returned it to his pack. “Congratulations. Vengeance is yours. ”
She shook her head. “Not vengeance—justice. Punishment meted out for crimes committed.”
“Are you going to be okay? We have a bit more work to do here, but after we’re done I can help you get clear.”
She smiled and started backing down the street. Toward the spaceport. Further, to where there would be stars ahead of her.
“Thank you. But I’m going to be just fine.”
Caleb watched her walk away. His brow furrowed, which sent a fresh trickle of blood flowing out of the cut on his head. He’d gotten it when one of Eli’s men had hit him with a pole. A damn metal pole .
He glanced at the inferno now engulfing the block, then back at Mia, who now rapidly disappeared into the night.
“Don’t you dare go after her.”
“I didn’t say I was.”
“But you were thinking it, and I’m telling you, don’t.”
He huffed a tired breath and crossed his arms against his stomach. “You think you know everything there is to know, so enlighten me—why not?”
Samuel leaned on the façade behind him to take the weight off his injured leg. “You have got to get over this romantic bullshit. We can’t afford hearts and flowers in this job.” He pointed to the burning building as sirens heralded the approach of emergency personnel. “This is your job—this is your life. Blood and death and pain and vengeance and justice. And sometimes it sucks, but it’s worth it.”
Caleb sighed, but not in resignation. “I know this is the job, and it is worth it. But I refuse to believe it’s my life. Not only and not forever.”
Samuel pinched the bridge of his nose and waved dismissively with his other hand. “Fucking romantic. ”
Caleb turned back to gaze down the street…and found it empty. She was gone. He felt a faint tinge of regret, but he put it aside. Something told him she was, in fact, going to be just fine.
AFTERWORD TO SOLATIUM
INCLUDED IN CRIME & PUNISHMENT
In one of my books, a character muses that “morality could not be spawned by tweaking a few genes or shutting off a few neurons. So though humanity conquered the very stars, it remained unable to conquer the darkness within.”
I visit this notion often in my writing—the idea that all the advances in technology, medical marvels and scientific discoveries we could hope for will not change the nature of the human soul. What if we pursue genetic enhancements, cybernetics, long lifespans, even colonization of other planets, only to find that we’re still simply human, with all the same faults, weaknesses, foibles—and strengths—that we’ve always had? Can we ever grow beyond our fundamental nature, flaws and all?
The character quoted above goes on to observe that even in the 24th century, when humanity had spread to the stars and settled over 100 worlds, the weak continued to be preyed upon by the strong in the prolific shadows not policed by any government.
Solatium shines a light into the crevices of one of those shadows. It’s a story about criminals and those who punish them, but mostly it’s a story about the struggle to keep hold of one’s soul in the face of so much darkness. It features two characters who go on to play prominent roles in my Aurora Rising trilogy, set twelve years later. Mia’s backstory is hinted at in Starshin
e (Aurora Rising Book One ), but it begged to be told in full, and I could imagine no better venue for it than this anthology.
A POGEE
“Its leaders believe the Alliance is powerful enough to be both—a democracy on election days and a dictatorship on every other day—but they’re wrong. No government should be so powerful.
“It’s time someone demonstrates the error in their thinking.”
The Earth Alliance rules 82 worlds, controlling an empire that spans a third of the Milky Way. But when its leaders stray too far from the democratic principles on which it was founded, one colony—one group of daring rebels—will risk everything in order to reclaim their freedom.
Set a quarter century before STARSHINE: Aurora Rising Book One (Aurora Rhapsody #1) , APOGEE tells the story of the fateful decisions and critical opening moves of the First Crux War between the Earth Alliance and the Senecan Federation, the repercussions of which will ripple forward across decades and shape the world of Aurora Rhapsody forever.
*
Apogee is a bit unusual in that none of the major characters from the Aurora Rhapsody novels appear in it. The repercussions of its events, however, have a tremendous impact on the plot and the characters of Aurora Rhapsody. While the story takes place over two decades before Starshine, the first Aurora Rhapsody novel, within the context of the overall plot Apogee is best read between Sidespace and Dissonance, though it stands on its own as well.
D RAMATIS P ERSONAE
* * *
Stefan Marano
Special Operations intelligence agent,
Senecan Federation Division of Intelligence.
Faction: Senecan Federation
Commander Helena Lekkas
Pilot, EA NE Regional Command.
Faction: Senecan Federation
Brigadier Eleni Gianno
XO, Earth Alliance Military Seneca Headquarters.
Faction: Senecan Federation
Darien Terzi
Director,
Earth Alliance Division of Intelligence, Seneca Division.
Faction: Senecan Federation
Aristide Vranas
Former Mayor of Cavare, capital city of Seneca.
Faction: Senecan Federation
“The end is in the beginning and lies far ahead. ”
— Ralph Ellison
2297
(25 Y EARS B EFORE THE E VENTS OF S TARSHINE)
* * *
SENECA
E ARTH A LLIANCE C OLONY
C AVARE, C APITAL C ITY
MOONLIGHT CAST THE man’s wife’s skin in ghostly silver as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. He hadn’t meant to wake her, but she stirred before he could slip away, blinking to reveal bleary, unfocused irises.
“It’s okay, Frannie, don’t get up. I’ll be home in a few days.”
She nodded sleepily, mumbled, “Love you…good luck at the symposium,” and rolled over. When her breathing evened out in slumber once more, he tiptoed out of the bedroom and down the hall to crack the door to his daughter’s room. A mess of curls poked out of the bedcovers to fan out on the pillow. He smiled to himself and eased the door shut.
He didn’t attempt to sneak a peek into his son’s room. The boy had developed preternatural senses and would be wide awake in an instant. In truth he’d probably awoken the instant there was a sound in the hallway…but if so, he didn’t emerge to inquire as to the reason for his father’s early departure.
It was for the best. At fourteen, his son was not only no longer a child but also disconcertingly clever, and he would likely pose too-astute questions the man didn’t dare answer.
Once outside he tossed his bag onto the passenger seat of his skycar. The first steel-hued rays of dawn breached the mountains in the distance as he lifted off .
Twenty minutes later he stepped up to the security checkpoint entry for the Alliance outpost military base on the periphery of Cavare and waved his palm at the identity check. The officer on duty examined the readout briefly. “You’re cleared for entry, sir, but may I ask what your purpose here is today?”
He canted his head at the young man. “Check your screen again, Lieutenant.”
The lieutenant’s brow furrowed, but he instinctively obeyed the implied order. “Uh, right. Sir. You’re cleared for…whatever your reason is for being here.” Squared shoulders preceded a crisp forward hand motion.
It wasn’t unusual behavior for the man, as an Intelligence agent, to visit the Earth Alliance’s largest military base on Seneca, and he’d done so multiple times for legitimate reasons. And as an Intelligence agent he wasn’t required to disclose the purpose of his visit to anyone who challenged him.
He gestured a thanks and walked through the checkpoint, a wry smirk hovering on his lips.
My purpose is to start a war. Have a nice day.
LUNAR SSR CENTER
S ENECA S TELLAR S YSTEM
He didn’t gape at any of the other passengers on the military shuttle. Tension radiated off the soldiers to vibrate in the air so thickly he now inhaled it with every breath; he didn’t have to inspect them to realize they were on edge and prepping for a fight.
Personally, he hoped the fight wouldn’t commence until he was airborne again. He wasn’t a soldier—though he could impersonate one if need be—and this day was going to be difficult enough without wading through close-quarters combat .
His visit to the military base had been a brief one. On his arrival he was quickly directed through several dark service hallways to a small landing pad and ushered onto the shuttle. He assumed this meant his traveling companions were also members of the resistance, but no one had so much as spoken a greeting during the forty-minute trip.
The Lunar Special Support and Research Center sprawled across a region of the moon that had been largely spared the brutality of relentless asteroid bombardment over the millennia, at least compared to the rest of the satellite. The test fields of the research facility stretched for hundreds of kilometers beyond the Center itself, and the crimson beacons denoting their various boundaries flickered against the otherwise ashen surface.
The shuttle dropped through the first of multiple force fields. The outer barrier protected the Center from meteoroids and other minor space objects that would burn up harmlessly if the moon had a natural atmosphere. Next came the triple-layer fields keeping the artificially generated atmosphere inside. The layers were a redundant safety measure, as a failure of the system would be catastrophic to the facility’s equipment but more so to the people working there.
Even the multiple redundancies did little to assuage his disquiet, and he allowed the soldiers to disembark before exiting the shuttle. If it weren’t for the paved surface beneath his feet and the structures visible at the opposite end of the platform, he would have sworn he was treading into open space and without so much as an environment suit to protect him. From here the discreet shimmer of the force fields provided only the slightest blur to the blackness of space and its expanse of stars.
He liked to believe he could handle virtually any situation he encountered, no matter how dire. But everyone had a weakness, and he’d never managed to get comfortable with open space…maybe because he couldn’t control it.
On taking a step away from the shuttle, he was promptly overwhelmed by the expected but still unpleasant sense he was about to float off into the void. A wave of dizziness threatened to take hold, and he searched around for a signpost, anxious to get inside something, anything .
He grabbed a passing officer by the arm. The man jerked away and leveled an intimidating glower at him.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry. I need directions to Lab EE12c.”
The officer scowled at him for a beat then jerked his head. “See the last building on the left? The building behind it.”
“Thank you.” He hurried off in the direction indicated, toward the illusory but nevertheless seductive shelter.
The notion that one of its colonies would go to war with the
mighty Earth Alliance, eighty-two worlds and fourteen billion people strong, was as ludicrous as the proposition that man would discover a means to circumvent special relativity and develop starship drives capable of velocities far exceeding the speed of light.
No one had believed the latter possible until it was achieved. So, too, would it be with the former.
“This is what we’re counting on. The Alliance hasn’t faced a successful colonial rebellion in a hundred fifty years of extra-solar expansion. It no longer believes such a thing can be accomplished, but we’ll turn the Alliance’s hubris against it. The slow response of its goliath bureaucratic machinery will give us time—time to get more ships out of production and into space as well as time to subdue any lingering resistance and gain full control of the government and military on Seneca.”
Darien Terzi sounded as if he were trying to convince himself of the validity of the plan more than those present, Brigadier Eleni Gianno mused. She hoped the strength of his conviction did not fail him when the blood started flowing.
She clasped her hands at the small of her back, adopting a comfortable yet formal posture. “The military will not be as difficult to secure as one would expect. Eighty-three percent of the enlisted and seventy-one percent of the officers Commodore rank and below are Senecan-born. If presented with a persuasive argument for independence and an assertive demonstration of leadership, they will fall in line.”
Terzi nodded in acceptance. “And the higher ranking officers? The ones rotating through on a tour of duty?”
“They will not be so amenable. But we know who they are. Given the recent unrest, there’s never been a wider rift between our people and theirs. When we make our move, they will be detained and held in a secure location until we can put them on an Earth-bound vessel and send them on their way.”
Short Stories of Aurora Rhapsody Page 5