Rogue Stars

by C Gockel et al.

  She frowned in annoyance, and a bit of surprise. She didn’t care for people dropping by without an appointment, but the man was influential enough she couldn’t afford to rebuff him. “Give me two minutes before you send him in.”

  The layers of screens vanished; she went to the cabinet to fix a cup of tea. By the time the Minister walked in she was in perfect form and smiling with poised grace.

  “Minister Karolyn, so good to see you again.”

  “And you, Admiral.” He half-bowed from the waist. She dipped her chin and gestured him toward the chair opposite her desk.

  There was only one conceivable reason for the visit—but she never made assumptions where politicians were concerned. “What can I do for you?”

  He nodded and adjusted himself awkwardly in the chair. “I apologize for the unannounced visit. I found myself in the area this afternoon and thought I might drop in.” Her left eyebrow raised the slightest bit. “I wanted to take the opportunity to impress upon you in person how much we want to see Alexis in the Deep Space Exploration directorship. She’s a stellar candidate who can bring new energy and initiative to the department.”

  Her lips pursed briefly. “She would unquestionably do so, and I regret she was unable to accept your generous offer. But if I may be honest? This seems rather a lot of effort for a position which, while prestigious, is not one I consider to be world-altering. I imagine you have other qualified candidates.”

  “Yes, obviously.” He fidgeted again, though this time it didn’t seem to be related to the comfort level of the chair. “If I may also be honest, Admiral, I’m getting a fair amount of pressure to make sure your daughter is named to this post, and soon.”

  She suppressed a frown, but barely. It concerned her if political forces had taken an interest in Alexis without her knowledge. “Pressure? Wherever from? Alexis is hardly politically connected.”

  “That’s the thing about political pressure, ma’am. One rarely can see from where it truly originates. All I can say is someone higher up than me very much wants your daughter in this job. So if you were able to reach out to her again and reiterate the degree of interest, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

  She sipped her tea, both to buy herself a moment and to center her thoughts. She wasn’t eager to divulge the abysmal state of her relationship with her daughter to a stranger, much less a politician. But if there was any chance of Alexis accepting the position, she wanted to help make it happen. It would be good for her…eventually, it might be good for them. “Minister, do you have children?”

  “I’m a bachelor, so not as far as I’m aware of.” He smiled.

  She didn’t. “I see. You will not have experienced this yourself then, but like many children, my daughter developed a mind of her own before she was two years old and has never lost it. She stopped taking my advice around the time….” A shadow passed across her face she couldn’t fully disguise.

  * * *

  The security office on Le Grande Retraite was as bright and clean as the rest of the orbital luxury resort. A young lieutenant in a spotless uniform greeted her at the entryway with a salute. “Commodore Solovy. It’s an honor to meet you.”

  She leveled a dismissive glare at him. “This is not a social call, Lieutenant. Take me to my daughter.”

  His posture wilted as he stammered out a response. “Y-yes, ma’am. We put her in one of the interview rooms. I, um, gave her a juice. And some popcorn.”

  She fell in beside him. “And the young man?”

  “Uh, he was of age and no laws had been broken, so we weren’t able to detain him.” He stopped in front of a doorway and glanced at her, then hastily opened the door and stepped back.

  Alexis tossed a kernel of popcorn in the air and caught it in her mouth. Her feet were clad in braided flip-flops and kicked up on the desk, legs crossed at the ankle. She was all elbows and knees, half a child and half a woman. Her hair was bound in long pigtails draped over her shoulders and down her chest—strange, they somehow made her look older, not younger. Perhaps it was the sharp, spirited fire in her eyes. David’s eyes.

  “Mom. Here to throw me in the brig?”

  “I am here to take you home.”

  Alexis gave a melodramatic sigh, rolled her eyes in exaggerated annoyance and pulled her feet off the desk. “Fine, whatever.”

  She turned to the lieutenant. “Thank you for taking care of my daughter, Lieutenant. I do apologize for any inconvenience she may have caused you.”

  “She was no trouble, ma’am.” He jumped when Alexis tossed the bag of popcorn to him as she passed.

  “Thanks for the snack, mes’ye.”

  Miriam didn’t say a word until they reached the ship. She set the autopilot then shifted in the seat. “What were you thinking? You are fourteen years old and had no business flying off-planet without supervision.”

  “It’s not like it was far off-planet….” Her hand jerked toward the viewport dominated by Earth’s profile.

  “How did you access the ship? The security should have prevented you from flying it.”

  Alexis snorted. “Please. I hacked full access to it weeks ago. It actually recognizes me as its primary owner now, you know.”

  “Not for long it doesn’t. You will— ”

  “Did you even know I was gone until they called you? You didn’t, did you? You spent another night at the office, doing whatever the hell it is you do there.”

  She felt her jaw tighten, but made certain her voice remained even. “I trusted you were mature enough so I didn’t need to check on you constantly, trusted you would respect your curfew and not, for instance, steal the family ship and run off with a boy four years older than you.”

  “Nick? He’s a tupïtsa, and entirely too easy to impress. I was bored with him before we got to the station.”

  “That is not the point. The point is I was mistaken. You aren’t worthy of my trust.”

  “Bullshit. The point is—”

  “Do not speak to me in—”

  “The point is you will do everything in your power not to have to spend time with me. I’m nothing but a nuisance in the way of your damn career—but hey, it’s fine. Say the word and I’ll be out of your hair forever. I’ve got things to do anyway.”

  She opened her mouth to retort…then closed it.

  How could she tell her daughter it was a knife in the heart every single time she looked at her? That she saw David in the light in her eyes, the way she walked, her voice, her smile and even her frown? That she could hardly bear to be in the house where he was a ghost in every shadow and a whisper in every corner, yet couldn’t bear to let it go for the same reason? That she sought refuge in work because it was the only place where she could pretend there wasn’t a hole in the world? Where she could at least try to make sure he didn’t die in vain?

  She couldn’t, of course.

  “Don’t be absurd. You are my daughter, and I care about you. But with the implementation of the armistice there’s a tremendous amount of work to do. A lot of changes are on the way. Someone has to ensure matters are handled properly.”

  “Chto za khuynya! I don’t understand why you agreed to the armistice in the first place. We should have blown Seneca into space dust.”

  “Alexis, please mind your mouth. Cursing in Russian is still cursing.”

  “I certainly hope so. And my name is Alex.”

  She gritted her teeth in frustration, inhaling a deep breath to swallow her initial response. “’I’ did not agree to the armistice—you know better. The Prime Minister and the Assembly did, because the simple fact is we were taking too many losses. It was against Alliance interests to get into a long and messy quagmire.”

  “A ‘quagmire’? Is that what you call them murdering Dad? That’s cold, Mom, even for you.”

  “Don’t you dare say such a thing. Your father died a hero.”

  “So everyone keeps telling me. You know what? He’s still dead. They should be, too.”

  Yes they s
hould be. But David wouldn’t want—wouldn’t have wanted—it. “I’m afraid their fate isn’t up to me. But one thing which is up to me is your punishment. You are on home restriction until such time as I feel you’ve learned to be responsible. You can go to school and activities I have approved beforehand. Otherwise, the security system will not allow you to leave. If you get into trouble while at school, you will be holoing your studies for the foreseeable future.”

  “I’ll just hack it.”

  “Young lady, I have people working for me who are far better hackers than you. You will not.”

  Alexis shrugged, threw her feet up on the dash and crossed her arms over her chest. “Right. Absolutely. You’ve got me.”

  * * *

  Naturally, she had hacked the security system within the week; the tougher encryption subsequently added, two weeks later. And after that….

  She gave the Minister a tight, formal expression. “Well, she hasn’t taken my advice in quite some time. In any event, if you legitimately want her to accept the position, I’m afraid asking me to press the matter is not the tack you want to take. I think it best if you reached out to her directly.”

  He exhaled in a suggestion of weary acceptance and stood. She stood with him and accepted his outstretched hand.

  “Thank you for your time, Admiral, and your frankness. I’ll likely do that.”

  “Certainly, Minister. My door is always open.” It was a bald-faced lie, but one she had uttered at countless dinner parties and conferences, and she delivered it as smoothly as any greeting.

  Once he had departed, she drifted to the window. Fall came early here, and the sun had already begun its descent into the waters.

  Perhaps her suggestion to the Minister hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Please, Alexis, don’t tell the man to fuck off.

  She thought on it a minute, then turned on a heel and went down the hall to Richard’s office.

  A checkerboard of screens decorated his desktop surface and an aural hovered in front of his right eye. When she walked in he shut off the aural and smiled, though it was a weak attempt. “What’s up?”

  She didn’t respond immediately, instead pacing halfway across the room, hands clasped behind her back, before stopping to look at him. “You took Alexis back to the spaceport the other day, right?”

  “Yeah, I caught her on her way out. Why?”

  “Did she by chance say anything about the Deep Space Exploration offer?”

  He huffed a brief laugh. “Not anything you want to hear.”

  Her eyes squeezed shut in a grimace. “Excellent. The Minister just left my office. He’s rather eager—disturbingly so, actually—for her to accept the post. I told him he should contact her, but now I’m not convinced it was the correct thing to do.”

  He gave her an understanding smile, this one genuine. “Well, I’m not sure it really matters. She left Earth yesterday morning.”

  She sighed softly. “Of course she did. Listen, there’s something else. Karolyn said he was receiving political pressure to name Alexis to the post. I don’t suppose you’ve heard any chatter about that?”

  “Miriam, I’m shocked you would imply we spy on domestic political affairs.”

  “No you’re not.”

  “Ha…no, I’m not. To answer your question, not a peep.”

  “Damn. I know you’re underwater right now with the Summit, but if you get a few minutes could you dig around a little? It bothers me that politicians are meddling in her affairs without my—”

  “Approval?”

  “Knowledge.”

  His hands rose in surrender. “Okay, I’ll look into it. It may take a few days.”

  “Thanks, Richard. I’ll let you get back to work. Try to get some rest though—you know next week is going to be worse.”

  Despite Miriam’s advice, it was almost twenty-two hundred before Richard walked in the door to his home in the foothills above Lake Sammamish.

  Intelligence agents were now integrated into the official Alliance delegation to the Summit, the convention center staff, invited guests and rather voluminous press covering the event. By Monday morning on Atlantis (which for added fun was around three in the morning in Seattle) all his assets would be in place, and everything they saw, touched and interacted with fed to his office via an instantaneous quantum entanglement communication network.

  He was met at the door by a kiss and a tumbler of whiskey.

  He happily accepted the kiss but looked askance at the whiskey. “Will, I have to be back at the office in seven hours.”

  “And thus you need to relax and unwind in the most efficient manner possible.” Will nudged him toward the living room while still holding out the glass. He sighed, felt a small percentage of the stress escape with the breath, and acceded to both the nudge and the glass.

  He sank into the couch, grateful—not for the first time—for a home which was truly a refuge from the madness. The glass at his lips, he took a long sip and relished the smooth fire of the whiskey as it scorched down his throat. “You know, I could get used to this ‘manservant tending to my every need’ routine.”

  “Well, don’t.” Will chuckled while he dimmed the lights and crossed the room to settle onto the couch beside him. “My next project starts in three weeks, though at least it’s a bit closer, on Demeter. Building a performing arts center, if you can believe it. But you can live the dream until then if you like.”

  “I like….” He made an effort to smile and rub Will’s shoulder, but his head fell back against the cushion and the smile gave way to a groan. The Summit hadn’t even started yet and he was already ready to tear his hair out. Although to be fair, much of the stress of the day had resulted from the ridiculous volume of bureaucracy involved in placing agents inside the official delegation. One of the best things about intelligence work was the lack of bureaucracy—but not this time. It paled in comparison solely to the sheer politics involved in placing agents in the press unit.

  He tried again to push the hassles to the back of his mind. Refuge. “I absolutely believe it. Demeter fancies itself the next Romane, some kind of mecca of wealth and refined luxury or other. But hey, it’s close enough you’ll be able to come home most weekends, right?”

  “Most, hopefully.” Will rubbed his chin with his fingertips, which usually meant he was bothered by something.

  Richard straightened up a little. “I’m sorry work happens to suck at the exact moment you’re home and have actual free time. If I could do anything to change it, I would.”

  Will shook his head. “No, I know. I mean I understand. This is life, and we have all of it to be together. It’s…listen, why don’t you just go to Atlantis? It’d be easier than trying to control the circus from your office eighteen hours a day, and hey, at least you’d get a little sun.”

  He stared out the windows lining the opposite wall, comforted by the knowledge there was a beautiful view out there in the darkness. “Because if the EASC Naval Intelligence Liaison shows up at the Summit then someone might think we were engaging in covert spying activities—and we wouldn’t want that.”

  “Yes, and otherwise they’ll never suspect any such thing.”

  “Oh, certainly not.” He sighed and took another sip of the whiskey. Will had been right; it was helping. “It’s the game we play with our adversary. Both sides pretend to be upstanding, sincere and earnest. Both sides secretly try to undermine the other at every opportunity. The status quo continues.”

  “Or you could simply say ‘to Hell with the whole damn thing’ and go have a drink together.” At Richard’s incredulous glance, he shrugged. “Look. Earth controls sixty-seven worlds, already more than they can manage. The Senecan Federation wanted independence and they got it. They’re thriving and successful and have a lot to offer. I for one would jump at the chance to work on several of the projects they’re pursuing. But I can’t, because I’m from Earth—”

  “—and because you’re married to me.”

&nbs
p; “Which is a price I’ll gladly pay every day for the rest of my life.” He squeezed Richard’s hand to emphasize the point, then leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees. “I’m merely saying we don’t need to keep carrying around all this animosity. The war ended twenty-two years ago.”

  “Twenty-two years is the blink of an eye for the people involved. Some wounds don’t heal so quickly.”

  “You’re talking about Miriam, and Alex.”

  He cast his gaze to the ceiling. “Without a doubt. And thousands, Hell, millions of others…I don’t know, maybe I’m talking about me, too. I mean, I lost my best friend, and several damn good ones. I don’t consider myself as walking around bearing a grudge, but if faced with the option, I’m not sure I’m ready to be friends with the Senecans.”

  Will’s nod bore conviction. “I get that, I do. My uncle died in the war. He was a good man, and my aunt has never gotten over it. And I hate I never had the chance to know David.” He paused, the telltale twitch of his mouth a hint he was pondering whether to continue. “But I still think everyone might benefit if we found a way to put aside the past and move on.”

  Richard closed his eyes, but there was a smile on his lips. Will would have made an even better diplomat than he did a construction project manager…but it was only a sign of how much he cared. He laughed and finished off the glass of whiskey. “Except me—I’d be out of a job.”

  Will leaned in closer. “That’s fine. I’ll support you, and you can be my manservant.”

  9 Scythia

  Earth Alliance Colony

  Alex exited the levtram and crossed the elevated terrace at a hurried, clipped pace. She made a passing attempt at reminding herself she wasn’t technically beholden to a schedule, but soon abandoned the effort. This stop on Scythia represented a detour, in time if not so much in location, and she intended to treat it as such.

  The request for an in-person meeting had been waiting on her when she woke up this morning. She almost declined, but in truth she was right there. Her planned route took her less than a hundred parsecs north of Scythia’s system. It still meant a delay of several hours in reaching her ultimate destination, but Astral Materials had proved a lucrative client. It would be folly to snub them.