The logs cut off the day before the Damat had arrived. Beatrice found the moment when the computer registered a power surge before it blew. The external cameras had caught several ships entering the asteroid field, and the hails from the station were all properly logged, but they never received a response.
Annika peered at the ships, looking for any markings. “That one looks a little cobbled together, don’t you think?”
“Probably some unaligned pirate,” Beatrice said.
“Stealing ore? After word got out, the other houses would come down hard the minute they tried to sell it.”
“Maybe with all the chaos, they’ve gotten bolder.” She leaned so close to the holo, her nose almost poked through. “That other one’s not a pirate. I’ll have to double-check the register of ships on the Damat, but I’d swear that was House Flavio.”
“Them again. Looks as if they’re not just taking over shared holdings anymore.”
“They probably hired the pirates for muscle.” She plucked some more controls then clacked her jaw. “Roberts, can you get a good look at the lower levels? Ore processing or holding?”
She waited a few moments. “He says the holding tanks have been blown open. They took the ore.”
Elidia, Evie, and Judit came back, hauling a man between them, his feet off the floor as he floated. “Trapped himself in the airtight pantry,” Evie said. “All we had to do was find him a pressure suit.”
Annika imagined that getting him into it had to be quite harrowing. He was taking deep breaths inside his helmet, fogging up the faceplate as if he’d never expected to breathe again.
“We need to get him to the Damat,” Judit said.
“I’ve backed up the records,” Beatrice said, unplugging her battery. “I think we’ve figured out some of what happened.”
They hurried as fast as they could to the shuttle. Annika and Evie did their best to clear the way so Elidia and Judit could guide the wounded man around debris or bodies. Once aboard the Damat, they gave him to Sewell in the medbay.
“We got to him just in time,” Judit said as they waited outside. Evie and Beatrice had returned to the bridge, and Elidia stood inside the bay talking to Sewell.
“How did you get him into a suit?”
Judit shook her head, face disbelieving. “He held his breath, and we opened the door and stuffed him in. He was nearly blue.”
Annika could hardly believe he’d survived, but when the will was strong enough…
Elidia joined them in the hall. “Dr. Sewell’s got him in a biobed, says he should recover, but since he was stuck in the pantry, I don’t know how much he’ll be able to tell us.”
Judit nodded. “Let’s see what Beatrice got from the computer.”
They walked to the bridge, and even after the carnage they’d seen, Annika felt lighter. Every little piece of information would lead them toward…
What? Her mother? They had nothing that might lead to her so far. But moving in any direction was better than staying still, she supposed.
Beatrice fed the information from the station into the Damat’s computers, trying to clean up the camera shots. Elidia identified one of the ships as Flavio, and when she did, her hand curled into a fist.
“What in the dark do they think they’re doing?” she said.
“This happened after the general transmissions we made,” Beatrice said. “Maybe they took that to mean they had to act fast.”
“This is war,” Elidia said.
“The station had some news reports from the Munn homeworld,” Beatrice said. “Flavio was blaming Munn for several different attacks on some of their holdings. They lost a shipyard, and a colony suffered heavy casualties.”
“What?” Elidia leaned over the console. “That’s crazy. I need to get home. That’s the only way I can sort out what’s real and what’s fake.”
“You might have a schism in your own house,” Annika said. “An opportunistic family member?”
Elidia stared at her with a stricken look, as if she didn’t want to face such a thing.
“Let’s get out of the asteroids, and you can call home,” Judit said. “We’ll see what they’re willing to say.”
The Munn homeworld didn’t bother to talk in code. They seemed too angry. They acknowledged that they’d lost communication with the asteroid station but said they weren’t sure what had happened until they’d received a ransom demand for the stationmaster, Elidia’s cousin. It had seemed to come from pirates. With a murderous edge to her voice, Elidia added that Flavio was involved.
Annika winced. Elidia should have found a way to say that in secret so Flavio wouldn’t know Munn was coming for them, but Elidia seemed to have a hard time hiding her disdain. Or maybe her house was more like Meridian.
They cut transmission soon after, and Elidia made another fist. “Those bastards are going to pay!”
“I hope your family acts fast,” Annika said. “You can bet that once Flavio hears that transmission, they will.”
“If they haven’t already,” Judit said. “We’ll take you to the next closest holding.”
Beatrice plotted a course, but Annika wondered if they’d find the same thing there.
Later, in Judit’s bed, Annika could relax a little, but there was still the question of where they should go after they dropped Elidia off. Lying with her head on Judit’s shoulder, Annika stared up at the dark ceiling, wishing it was the night sky of Xeni. “We need to find Feric and my mother. We need another clue.”
Judit’s shoulders shifted as she shrugged. “Feels like we’re chasing our tails all over the galaxy.”
Annika thought of what her grandmother said, about how she should come home, how it would make Judit and Noal safe. She thought of her mother’s face on that holo, maybe working with Nocturna, maybe not. “We need some real information. If I go back to Nocturna—”
“No.”
Annika rolled over to face her. The only light came from the ship’s clock mounted in the wall, and even that was a soft glow. Annika could only see Judit’s hair and a slight reflection in her eyes. “If I play the cowed runaway—”
“They’d still throw you in a hole.”
“There’s nowhere I can’t get out of.”
“They know all your tricks!”
That was nearly true. “Then I’ll sneak in,” Annika said. “You can make it seem as if I’m still with you, and they won’t be expecting me.”
Judit pushed up on the bed, and the light came on as she passed her hand over the nightstand console. Annika let her gaze roam over Judit’s breasts and wondered if they should just go back to lovemaking before Judit crossed her arms. “You cannot go back to Nocturna.”
“Why? It’s perfect. I’ll take a shuttle, dock on the station or one of the moons, commandeer another ship, and land on Nocturna Prime. With some clever cosmetics, I can play a lesser member of the Blood. They’ll never know!”
“If it was that easy, everyone would do it,” Judit said.
“I know all the right words, the right gestures.”
“You knew them as the Nocturna heir! How often did you go outside of the world they raised you in? Noal and I didn’t. Everyone else could operate differently.”
Annika sat up, miffed that Judit doubted her abilities and a little saddened she couldn’t own up to everything she knew. “I trained outside the security lines all the time and sneaked out more than that. Once, I was gone for three days; it drove everyone mad. I took up with a group of kids in a nearby school and convinced them I was new.”
Judit’s eyes widened. “I never learned anything like that in my guardian training.”
“Different houses, different techniques,” she said hurriedly, not meeting Judit’s gaze. “I can do this, Judit.”
Judit scooted forward and cupped her face. “What if they catch you? They might be expecting you to do something this crazy.”
“I promise I will be careful. At the very least, I can make sure Nocturna is or is no
t the secret power behind the uprisings.” And if she could find out anything more about her mother… “And I bet they’re processing information like crazy, and we can use that.”
Judit’s expression fell, and Annika could tell she was wavering. She slumped back against the wall. “You won’t be tempted to contact your family?”
Annika barked a laugh. “Not even a little. I’m looking forward to going behind their backs.”
“I know what you mean. The only one I’m worried about is my father.”
Annika laid her head on Judit’s leg, wanting to be close to her since they were talking about parting, at least temporarily. “He’s your nonblood parent? Is he privy to all of Meridian’s private information?”
“He was there when they told me I’m the chosen one.”
Annika smiled as another plan began to take shape in her mind. “Do you think he’s still on Prime?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“If he’s somewhere less guarded, loyal to you, and he knows what’s happening…”
Judit’s expression lit up before falling. “I could never get a message to him, not without everyone in the family knowing.”
“Not without everyone in the galaxy knowing, so find out where he is and grab him.”
“Abduct my own father?”
“If he’s not on Meridian Prime, he should be an easier target. You’ll have to disguise the Damat, but it will still be a Meridian ship in Meridian territory.” She winked. “Do this the Nocturna way for once.”
Judit lifted her and kissed her soundly. Annika responded with the same degree of passion, pulling her even closer. “Are we done talking for now?”
Judit’s smile widened. “Absolutely.”
Chapter Eleven
Judit had wondered if anything would be as perfect as her time on Xeni, but in her quarters, Annika had proven just as passionate, and she felt as hungry for Annika’s touch. Both times, Judit had ignored her own body’s needs to bury herself in Annika’s skin and be surrounded by the scent of her, to hear her moans of pleasure and feel her fingers in Judit’s hair.
Now as they began to kiss again in Judit’s bed, Annika didn’t seem content to wait. She pushed Judit back against the mattress and straddled her, trapping her. With anyone else, the move would have generated panicky flutters in Judit’s stomach, but as Annika’s mouth found hers, it didn’t seem to matter. Judit let her hands roam, but Annika ducked out of reach and shimmied down Judit’s body, kissing all the way until ecstasy roared through Judit like a storm.
Somewhere in the middle, Judit’s jaw tingled as someone pinged her comm. She ignored it and the voice that said, “Jude?”
She clacked her teeth to close the channel, not wanting anyone to hear her moans. She didn’t think she could manage words, and it was too weird to have someone saying her own name in her ear as she was lost in pleasure.
When Annika climbed up her again, breathing hard, she whispered, “Your comm is pinging, isn’t it?”
“How did you know?” Judit asked weakly.
“You were waving at your ear as if trying to make it go away.” She smirked. “I’m pretty proud that I robbed you of speech.”
“I think it was the bridge. I have to see what they want. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” Her eyes sparkled, and Judit had to kiss her again. “I’m sure you’ll give me another something to remember you by before I leave for Nocturna Prime.”
The thought of her going made Judit’s heart ache, but she pushed the sensation down and checked to see what the bridge wanted. They were close to the nearest Munn station. Luckily, it was still intact and not under threat, though they were on high alert. They wanted Elidia back and the Meridian ship gone as quickly as possible.
After a quick shower and change, Judit and Annika met Elidia and the rescued miner at the airlock while the Damat was coming in to dock.
“No time for long good-byes,” Judit said, offering Elidia her hand.
With a smirk, Elidia took it. “Would we really want one if there was time?”
“No. That’s one of the reasons we’re friends.”
Elidia looked surprised before she chuckled and took her hand back. “A Meridian offer of friendship that I actually believe. Who’d have thought?” She glanced at Annika. “You two take care of each other.”
Annika nodded. “And you. I hope your cousin makes it through all right.”
Elidia nodded slowly as if she didn’t quite believe Annika’s sentiment was as truthful as Judit’s, proving she’d make good friends with Noal, too. “Let’s stay in touch.”
More than an offer of further friendship, it was a promise to keep each other informed. Judit nodded gratefully, and then Elidia was gone out the airlock.
The Damat headed away from the station toward the nearest gate, always on the move, but it would take them the rest of the night to get there. Judit led the way back to her quarters again, though she reminded herself that they really should try to sleep at least a little this time.
In the morning, Noal pinged her comm, wondering where they were going now. She told him of Annika’s idea to sneak back home and the plan to kidnap her father. Before they could send Annika to Nocturna Prime, they needed a ship. The shuttle from the Damat wouldn’t do. It screamed Meridian. They still had the shuttle from the kidnappers’ ship, but Annika and Noal had gutted the inside. It wouldn’t do for the long trip.
In Judit’s office, Noal suggested asking Spartan, claiming that someone who wasn’t affiliated with any house would know a way to get their hands on an unaligned ship. Judit suspected that Noal was trying to find a way for Spartan to be useful. He hadn’t said anything about disembarking with Elidia, so he obviously wanted to stay aboard the Damat.
They summoned Spartan to the office, and Judit told herself to watch and listen, to see if she could detect some attraction to Noal on Spartan’s side that would explain the change of heart.
When Judit asked him about a possible ship, Spartan nodded and stared at nothing, seemingly lost in thought. Noal watched him think with a fond look, and Judit remembered what Noal said about her having a blind spot where Annika was concerned because she was so in love. It looked as if Noal was working himself up to quite a crush, too.
“Noal told me about the Munn mining station,” Spartan said at last. “How everyone there was dead.”
Judit glanced at Annika, who shrugged.
“Yes,” Judit said. “It was horrible.” She shut away the memories of the floating bodies but knew they’d keep appearing in her dreams.
“There’s nowhere safe left, is there?” Spartan asked. “The whole galaxy’s gone mad.”
Judit had to shrug this time. “I don’t know.”
“Did you do this?” he asked, looking between her and Noal and Annika. “Your houses?”
Before Judit could answer, Noal sighed. “I wish I could say no,” he said. “I would like to argue that Meridian wouldn’t pick a fight with the rest of the galaxy, but I think we brought this on ourselves. We got too big, and if we merged with Nocturna, we’d be even bigger. I know our grandmother assumed that no matter what, the rest of the houses would follow our lead, but part of me wondered if that vision of the future would hold. I suspected it wouldn’t.”
Judit stared in shock. She knew he’d studied politics and history, but she’d never known he thought so deeply about it. He seemed worlds away from the chosen one who’d complained that his outfit had too many feathers, but if what he was saying was true, this thoughtful person had been inside him all along. She wondered if he’d spoken of it to anyone.
“I thought there was nothing I could do about it until I was in charge,” Noal said. “Even if I’d spoken to my grandmother, she would have ignored me, especially since she knew I was never going to be in charge of a darking thing.”
“Noal…” Judit said, unable to keep the pity out of her voice.
He chuckled. “Not feeling sorry for myself. It’s the truth. So
yeah,” he said to Spartan, “our houses probably did do this, just by being who we are, but the people in this room are trying to fix it, and we need your help.”
Spartan exhaled slowly and gave Noal a smile. Judit wondered what they talked about in private.
“Well,” Spartan said, “if nowhere is safe, I guess I’ll have to be comfortable here for the moment. And I didn’t want to get involved, but if we’re the galaxy’s only hope…”
A bit overblown, but Judit couldn’t argue, not if that was what he needed to tell himself.
“Some dealers on the colony moons of Jaqua sell ships with blank idents, no questions asked,” Spartan said. “But they aren’t cheap, and if your lines of cred are cut off…”
“We’ve got plenty of stuff to sell from the Damat,” Judit said, though she hated the idea of cannibalizing her ship.
He shrugged as if to say that might not be enough.
“I can’t get anywhere near Prime in some beat-up unaligned ship,” Annika said. “I have to look like someone with business there. If I’m going to pose as a trader, it needs to be high-end goods.”
“They might have something,” Spartan said with a shrug. “Or maybe someone could give you a ride.”
Judit nodded, liking the plan that paired Annika with backup.
“Someone neutral,” Noal said. “Maybe even someone who deals in illegal goods.”
Judit frowned. She didn’t want to trust a criminal, but maybe they’d know how to sneak in and out of risky situations better than a law-abiding person.
Annika’s eyes widened. “You’re getting good at this sneaky stuff.”
He snorted. “There are people in every house who buy illegal goods. Nocturna wouldn’t want to call attention to their own by investigating a known smuggler too hard.”
Judit glanced at him in surprise. “Meridian doesn’t deal with smugglers.”
“Oh please!”
“You were doing illegal trading under my nose?” Judit asked. “When? How?”
“Not me, you ass! Uncle Martin is hooked on slice crystals, and our cousin Cana has a taste for Impirion emeralds.”
House of Fate Page 15