by Scott Lucas
“Dismissed.” Ahmad stood. “Let’s get back to work.”
Tem retrieved his baton from Ahmad’s quarters. He found a cloak like the one he usually wore over his armor. It did little to allay his insecurity, but at least now he did not appear armed. He had been catching more suspicious glances of late. It didn’t matter what kind of action he had taken. Any action drew attention, and in his current circumstances attention was not a favorable thing.
When received a summons from Vosper Chu. The Baron Administrator stood behind his desk in a smaller office than the one he had occupied on Mollastian Fields. In a chair in one corner sat Orba DeWilda.
Vosper looked out of it for a few more moments, even though Tem’s arrival announced by the creak of the hatchway. Tem waited beside the door.
Vosper turned to face him. He cleared his throat and tugged on his goatee for a moment, then attempted to assume a more officious posture. “I want you off this asteroid by the next sunrise.”
Ahmad’s mouth dropped.
Tem bowed. He said nothing.
“You have done us a great service, Blaev. You have our thanks.”
Tem looked to DeWilda. Her face displayed no sign of anger or triumph at his banishment. Nothing at all.
Ahmad followed Tem out to the hangar.
“Take my ship,” Ahmad urged Tem as he inspected the Wyvern Star. “The Firecatcher is no fighting ship, but she flies faster than rumors. She’ll get you out in a hurry.”
Tem ignored him, but Ahmad stepped in front of him and waved the ignition chip in his face.
“It’s okay,” Tem said. “It’s time for me to leave anyway. Do you have the new identification codes?”
“Yes, of course. You are still Temirlan Blaev, who is now a Wytech Security Consultant. Your ship’s registration matches the new regulations.”
Thank you.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to take my ship?”
Tem placed his hand against the scorched hull of the Wyvern Star. “She’ll hold together.” Tem whispered, “Hold together, baby.”
Tem planned to depart the asteroid by night. Assigned quarters on the colony, but his nights in them had been restless, and he slept aboard the Wyvern Star. Ahmad had the ship stocked with enough supplies for several months.
Tem charged his armor and he ran his fingers over the cracked plate on the right forearm. Even if he repaired it, that plate would always be vulnerable. He wished he could locate one of Fable’s smiths, if any still existed.
He shut the entry hatch. “Wyv, are you about ready?”
“Making final preparations now.”
“Power up when ready.”
“Acknowledged.”
Tem seated himself at the controls and felt the instruments thrum for a moment. It was a comforting sound, one of the few things that welcomed him in this universe was the heart of this ship. Even after all that he had done for Roschin Colony, its occupants wanted him to leave as soon as possible.
He supposed he should have been angry, but to his surprise, there was an emptiness in his mind. Wherever he went in the galaxy, it would be the same.
“Take us out, Wyv.”
“Yes, sir.”
The ship maneuvered toward the hangar doors, which opened to admit him into space. The colony faded from view, then the asteroid belt shrunk to band like a plume of smoke before it, too, vanished in seconds.
Tem leaned back in the seat. He had no destination. In the Order's time, he would have received direction from one of his Lord Brothers, but this freedom was also terrifying.
His eyes opened, and he leaned forward toward the console and pulled up a display screen.
“Wyv,” he said. “Remember when I stole you and you said, ‘That changes everything,’ and blasted to a place, er, in space far away?”
“Vividly.”
“Let’s go there.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I was unsure you were ready?”
“Ready? How?”
“You’ll see.”
“It is nearly a year’s voyage away,” Wyv cautioned.
Tem sat back in his seat. “Doesn’t matter. That’s where we’re going.”
He was more certain of this than he had been in a long time. For years, he had been jumping from job to job, keeping the ship running so that it could keep running. There was purpose now, and despite the injuries that covered his body, he felt rejuvenated.
The Wyvern Star plotted a course. Tem touched the screen again, tracing one of the moon’s craters that he had seen in dreams before he had even known of its existence.