“Welcome to the Xerxes,” he said as he reached them. “You look as if you could use a guide.” He put a hand to his chest and gave an antiquated little bow. “I’m Spartan Roulege, at your service.”
Annika smiled as prettily as she could manage, nudging Noal to do the same. Any naiveté on his part would contribute well to her disguise.
Spartan smiled in turn, and Annika focused on his blue eyes, detecting a tiny movement around the left iris, some kind of implant.
“We’re looking for a private place,” she said. “Somewhere we can rest.”
“I know a few places.” He led them into the station, his body tensing, and his cheeks flushed slightly, probably in anticipation. Since he hadn’t glanced at either of their bodies, he was no doubt hoping to rob them, maybe sell them back to their families if he’d figured out who they were.
“We’re also looking to sell a few things.” Best to get all the information they could before she incapacitated him.
“Or make a transmission,” Noal said.
Annika kept herself from glancing at him. Surely he wasn’t thinking to call Meridian for help? Everyone would intercept a transmission like that and be on them before they could react. And what did he think would happen if Nocturna got to him first? She couldn’t protect him from her grandmother.
“There are resale shops on the third level,” Spartan said. “The good ones, anyway. All the stuff down here is for users or gamblers needing a quick injection of creds. As for transmissions,” he gestured at the vast space, “just about anywhere, depending on who you want to call. Now, if you’re looking for something more private, I can introduce you to a few people.” He pointed ahead at a looming space, a sign proclaiming it a hotel. “Here we are.”
They’d passed several nicer establishments, and she wondered if he got a special commission from this place or if his friends were waiting inside. He led them to the lobby and sauntered up to the counter. “These two need a room, Luis.”
So he did know people here. She decided to play along. They had a few creds plus their equipment to sell, and they’d have a few more by the time they’d robbed their new friend and his allies.
“You seem well connected.” Noal leaned on the counter, clearly flirting, and as Spartan flushed, Annika had to give Noal credit. A physical attraction might put Spartan off his guard. Her grandmother would have assumed the attraction was genuine, that Noal was as foolhardy about his sexual partners as rumor painted him, but Annika knew that wasn’t true. He guarded his heart close. The thought gave her pause. She’d just broken his heart and hadn’t thought about it at all. Well, that was something else he’d have to get over, but she told herself to try to be more patient with him. There was no reason they couldn’t still be friends.
Once Luis had taken their creds, he jotted down the fake names they gave him. He didn’t bother with a DNA sample, not even a fingerprint or retinal scan. So, they were used to people who didn’t want to be tracked. Even Ama would have had a hard time not smiling at her luck.
Spartan offered to help them take their bags with an added offer to tell them more about the station. While they rode the lift to the fourth level, Annika slipped her stiletto free. She’d secured it in her arm before they’d left the kidnappers’ ship, waiting until Noal’s back was turned. She didn’t think he’d appreciate watching her do it. They reached their level, and Annika checked to make sure the hall was abandoned before she slammed Spartan into the wall and pressed the stiletto to his throat.
“Keep your hands by your shoulders.”
“All right, okay,” he said, eyes wide, his empty hands twitching. His breath came in shallow gasps, and his pulse jumped against her blade. “Take it easy.”
“I want the info you promised us, starting with who you work for.”
“The…the Teagan Conglomerate. It’s not a secret.”
She’d never heard of them. “A gang?”
He sputtered a laugh and seemed as if he might relax. She dug the knife in until a few drops of blood leaked from his neck.
His eyes widened anew. “They own this hotel. They own a lot of businesses on this station! They pay me to pick up newcomers and steer them toward Teagan establishments, that’s all!”
She continued to stare. “And?”
“That’s it, I swear!” he said. “Look, don’t go to the third level to sell your stuff. What you want is Sal’s on second for electronics and the Pawn Emporium on first for everything else. As for sending a secret transmission, there’s no such thing. Half the businesses here would monitor you, and there are several high-powered people who’d do the same. You’d have to be in good with station personnel, and there’s no guarantee that what started as private would end as private. By the dark, that’s all I know.”
She spun him around and locked her arm around his throat. “Search him,” she said to Noal.
After gawking, Noal did as he was told. Annika tightened her hold as Spartan struggled until he passed out. Noal straightened. “No weapons.”
“Any creds? Jewelry or a comm?”
“We are not going to rob the man, Annika!”
“He set us up to be robbed, Noal.” She let Spartan slip to the floor. “Watch.” She keyed open their room and barreled through, diving behind a piece of furniture so she could better fight whatever was coming.
Nothing. The room was empty.
Noal poked his head inside. “Did you subdue the sofa?”
She glared at him, and looked into the washroom, the closet, both empty.
“That lamp looks awfully suspicious,” he said.
“Shut up.”
“Not everyone is out to kill us.”
She glared. “If we start to think like that, we’re dead.”
“You and Judit would make quite a pair. You’d have this whole station cowed by now.”
She put her hands on her hips. “And I suppose you think we should trust everyone.”
“Not trust, but I don’t think we should be trying to kill everyone, either. Now, what shall we do with the unconscious man in the hallway?”
They dragged Spartan into the room, and she had to admit, she didn’t know how to proceed now that the room wasn’t full of hired killers. “I wasn’t entirely wrong about him. He was out to get something from us.”
“Our business. Like most people, I suspect.” He sighed. “Though you are right that people would sell us out if they could. Greed overwhelms a lot of qualms.”
“He’s got an ocular implant,” she said, glad they were finally reading from the same page. “He could be scanning the local net or the news. He might get our pics.” She covered the implant while Noal bound his hands. They used the scanner from the kidnappers’ ship to look for cameras or listening devices, but all they found was a device for detecting fire or atmospheric leaks. Annika disabled it anyway, just to be sure.
She slowly brought Spartan awake; he blinked sleepily with his uncovered eye and smiled. Maybe he thought they were waking up together. Before she could speak, his eye widened, and he tried to jerk away. “Who…what did you do to me?” He looked around wildly. “Where am I?”
“Shh,” she said. “If you’re too noisy, you’re going to have to go to sleep again, and the way I do it won’t be good for you.”
He shut his mouth and breathed shallowly. “What did you do to my eye?”
“Covered it. What’s the implant for?”
“Gives me all the current odds at the gambling houses. I told you. I drive traffic—”
“Shh.” She rested a hand against his neck, fingers over his pulse point. His heartbeat sped up as if in anticipation. “Relax.”
“There’s no need for this. I’ll tell you whatever you want. My…my bosses are going to miss me if I’m not out there doing my thing. I need to get paid. I have a family. I have responsibilities.”
Some of that might be true. His heart rate was too all over the place for her to tell. “If you tell us what we want to know, if you’re hone
st, you’ll be out of here and back to your family and responsibilities before you know it.” She smiled sweetly.
After a deep breath, he nodded. Before she could ask anything else, Noal butted in with, “Which house controls this station?”
Annika kept her face schooled. It was a good question even if it might lead Spartan to think about houses, about Blood.
“Um, it’s disputed space, though no one fights over it anymore; it was mined out years ago. This station’s all that’s left, and three houses take turns managing it.”
“Which ones?” Noal asked.
“Atrius, Munn, and Flavio. Are you scouting for another house? Is there something here that the others missed?”
Annika pulled Noal away, but Spartan kept talking. “Hey, if this corner of nothing is going to be worth something again, I’m your guy! I know the place inside and out.”
Annika spoke close to Noal’s ear. “Flavio was the house who kidnapped us.”
“No, there was a Flavio onboard the kidnappers’ ship. There’s a difference. Atrius has allied with Meridian before. If we can get to them, they can get us back home!”
“And what makes you think Meridian wasn’t the one who had us kidnapped?”
His mouth fell open. “My grandmother would never do that! I’m the chosen one, for darkness’s sake.”
“Chosen to be sacrificed so Meridian can start the war again?”
“It was probably Nocturna,” he said, tilting his chin up as if expecting her to argue.
“No, I agree. Probably was but might not be.”
Now his haughty, angry look dissolved into shock. “How in the dark do you get anything done if you’re so suspicious all the time?”
She waved him to silence. “Can we agree that we need to stay away from Flavio?”
He nodded.
Annika turned to Spartan again. “Maybe you can be of use.”
He brightened.
“If you’re duly discreet.”
He nodded so hard, he almost shook off the towel she’d wrapped around his head. “Soul of discretion, me.”
“What about your bosses?” Noal asked. “Responsibilities? Family?”
“Screw them,” he said. “I don’t have a family; that was a lie. Best to start with the truth.” He smiled harder, Mr. Business. “Where do we start? What’s the game? Are there minerals nobody knows about? Is one of the houses looking to make this station legit? Turn it into one of those giant casinos? I can see it now,” he said, gazing into the distance. “Indoor beach with a view of old Seti-820, the gas giant out there. I always thought it was pretty. You won’t be disappointed.”
Annika barely kept from laughing. “I can see you’re a man with a lot of ideas.”
“Inexhaustible, madam. Where should we start? If you’re looking to take over quickly, the casino crews are the people you have to watch out for. Station management shouldn’t give you much trouble, but the casino bosses—”
Annika held up a hand. “If we end up upsetting things, we might need to get off the station quickly.”
“Couple like you, didn’t you come in on a fast ship?”
“We were hoping to get something faster,” she said. “And less conspicuous than what we showed up in.”
He nodded slowly. “There’s always a ship to be had for the right amount of creds.”
Now that was going to be a problem, but not if Judit got there first, if Judit was even looking…
Chapter Six
On her console on the bridge, Judit watched the station come closer. A disjointed hunk of metal, it nonetheless gleamed against the vastness of space. She searched for anything else of note in the system and found nothing. Who would put a station so far from anywhere unless they had something nefarious in mind?
Judit leaned back in her chair and looked to Beatrice at the helm. “Who owns this?”
“A conglomerate of smaller families,” Beatrice said. “Looks like Munn, Atrius, and Flavio.”
Flavio again. Did that mean they were at the heart of the kidnapping plot, or were they hired hands? “Anything on the comm?”
“Just coming in,” Roberts said. “They’re very polite, but it’s clear they’d like to know our intentions. They’re also reminding us we’re too big to dock.”
“Literally or figuratively?”
He shrugged. “Literally, definitely. Figuratively? Well, the stationmaster is requesting to speak with you.”
“Put them through.”
On Judit’s screen the stationmaster’s skin was nearly as dark as Judit’s, though with the tinge of purple that could be House Munn or Atrius; the hue was a result of the bizarre radiation in the systems that had birthed both houses. But a slight golden sheen to her black hair named her as Munn.
Judit inclined her head, and the stationmaster did the same. “Judit Meridian, captain of the Damat.” Since Munn was a fairly large house, she added, “At your service.” Her grandmother wouldn’t have bothered, but maybe a little flattery would put the stationmaster in the right mood.
A wan smile greeted her. “I’m Elidia Munn, stationmaster of the Xerxes. We don’t get many big fish out here. What can we do for you?”
“Oh, we’re passing through.”
Elidia snorted. “To where? From where? Everyone has a reason to be out here.”
Judit blinked, not used to such bluntness from anyone but her own house. It was…refreshing, though her grandmother wouldn’t have thought so.
And maybe she should reward bluntness with bluntness. “I’m looking for someone,” Judit said.
“Someone to help Meridian buy this backwater? Are you planning to turn it into a luxury vacation spot?”
Judit blinked again, not even knowing how to begin such a process.
“You’re not going to cut Munn out if that’s what you’re planning,” Elidia said. “Everyone else in the galaxy might quake at the mention of your name, but we’re going to need a big payday.”
“Just a moment.” Judit silenced the comm before she turned to Beatrice. “What in the dark is she talking about?”
“No idea,” Beatrice said while the rest shook their heads. “Maybe someone’s jilted them out of some holdings.”
Judit rubbed the bridge of her nose. No one in the holdings closest to Meridian Prime acted like this.
“Tact, Jude,” Beatrice said.
“Right.” She switched the comm back on. “I’m looking for two…fugitives.”
“Tell me who and what kind of ship they came in, and I’ll be happy to report back.”
Well, that pretty much guaranteed that the Xerxes had criminals aboard, probably some who were wanted in Meridian space. Elidia was probably looking for a bribe, or maybe Munn took a big part in any criminal activity aboard their station. “It would be easier if I came over and looked for myself.”
Elidia paused as if considering. “I’ll see if we have a berth available for your shuttle.” She cut the comm.
“How much trouble does she think I can get into?” Judit asked.
“If you’re planning some kind of hostile takeover, quite a lot,” Beatrice said. “She’ll probably insist we turn over any weapons if she agrees at all.”
“And we don’t even know if Annika and Noal are over there,” Judit muttered. “And Flavio is probably watching. Let’s heat up the forward gun; nothing too showy, a slow build of aggression.”
Beatrice gave her a look that asked if she was sure, and Judit returned it with a raised eyebrow. They didn’t have time to lose, and it was what her grandmother would have done. As many times as her grandmother’s decisions put Judit on edge, the old woman got results.
* * *
Annika smiled as she watched Noal walk with his arm around Spartan’s shoulders. His voice had taken on a languid, easygoing quality. It seemed they’d found a character he could picture himself as: a member of a rich house trying to schmooze his way into power. Spartan led them to several pawn shops, and they’d sold the items they had. Noal cl
aimed that pawning various items helped them see which businesses were lucrative enough to “make the transition,” though he kept it vague as to what that transition might be.
At their fourth stop, Annika noticed an uptick in the clamor. People were walking faster, talking more animatedly. Spartan stopped in the hall. “The numbers just took a nosedive,” he said, staring at nothing as his implant fed him information. “People must be leaving the casinos in droves.”
Annika caught the shoulder of someone running past. “What’s happening?”
“There’s a warship come to kill us all!” He twisted from her grip and ran. Several people picked up on his infectious panic and bolted for the docking ring.
Annika’s heart thudded. Could it be Judit? Or was it another member of their houses who’d tracked them down to finish the job of kidnapping or killing them? “We need to see outside,” she said to Spartan. “We need to see that ship.”
“Is it one of yours?” he asked. “They’re not really going to fire on the station, are they?”
She picked her way through people, hearing every rumor, but no one had anything certain on the size of the ship or who owned it. They finally fought through to one of the station personnel, someone in the same pocket as Spartan’s employers, who assured Spartan it was Meridian.
It had to be Judit. In that case, she might be threatening to fire on the station if she didn’t get Noal back. And Annika? Was Judit threatening in her name, too? “We need to get a message to them.”
“So it is yours?” Spartan asked. “Are you Meridian? I thought you might be Nocturna.” He stepped closer, keeping his voice low. “Does your family not know you’re here?”
All day long they’d had to steer him away from any screens or holos broadcasting a news feed. Their pictures were everywhere, and they tried to stay in the shadows, buying hats and pulling them low over their faces. Now, as Spartan peered at them, his eyes went wide, and she knew something must have clicked. Even if he hadn’t seen the news lately, Annika’s and Noal’s faces were often on the holos, just like every high-ranking member of Meridian and Nocturna.
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