A Pale Light in the Black

by K. B. Wagers

“I’m fine, Lieutenant. I’m never going to fucking live this down, but I’m fine. Hand me that.” She waved a hand at the clotting agent Max was holding and held the tube under her nose, inhaling deeply. Then she chuckled. “You really are a goddamned ghost. I didn’t see that punch until it was too late.”

  “I—you’re not mad?”

  “Why would I be mad?” Jenks demanded, clearly confused as she pulled off the tank top she was wearing and wiped the rest of the blood off her face. “You did exactly what I told you to do. Don’t move, let me get another shirt. This one’s toast.”

  Max sank down into a chair as Jenks bounded for the stairs.

  I can’t do this.

  Her hands were shaking and she pressed them to her eyes as the scene replayed in her head. The punch, the realization she was going to make contact. The feeling of her fist impacting. The blood.

  Why did I think I could do this?

  “Lieutenant?” She heard Jenks’s footsteps and then the sound of the chair sliding out. “Hey. Look at me.”

  Max dropped her hands into her lap and looked at Jenks, trying not to wince at the bluish-purple circles forming in the corners of her eyes.

  “Did you see blood during Interceptor training?”

  Max blinked up at her. “No, and before you ask, I have no idea how I managed that.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it. Everyone freaks the first time,” Jenks said after a quiet moment, and Max wondered what was going on in her head. “Now you’ve seen it. It’s no commentary on your abilities to need a moment to process it. That’s why it’s infinitely better to do it in training.”

  Max debated the question, decided she wanted to know bad enough to risk the expected tease. “When was your first time?”

  Jenks didn’t disappoint and grinned at her for a moment, but then she sobered and looked down at her wrapped hands. “I was thirteen. Killed a guy because he was trying to kill me for my coat.”

  Max dragged in a breath, but Jenks looked up with a smile. “You expect me to feed you some bullshit about how I tossed his pockets and whistled as I walked away, right? Nah. I cried and threw up and cried some more. Then staggered off super fucking grateful I was the one alive.”

  There was silence for a moment. Then Max said, “We had very different teenage years,” and Jenks laughed.

  “We did, Lieutenant. But that’s not the point—the point is I don’t want you to work yourself into a knot over a perfectly valid reaction to seeing blood.” She tapped her fist on the tabletop and then started unwinding her wraps. “And I know you will, because you second-guess the shit out of yourself on a constant basis. Anyway, I think you learned the lesson I was trying to teach you there, and it gave me time to check my messages: I got some interesting info just now about our system jumper mystery.”

  “Info?” Max straightened. “From who?”

  “Friend of mine on Earth,” Jenks replied with a shrug. “Here’s a weird thing. London PeaceKeepers found a body in the Thames. DNA matched to one of the people on An Ordinary Star’s passenger list.”

  “What?”

  Jenks lifted her hands briefly and then picked up her wraps to start rolling them. “That’s what I said. But the match is certain. The body belongs to Sebastian Cane, who supposedly vanished with An Ordinary Star. His body wasn’t in the water long—no more than a couple of days. He’s still sort of recognizable.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Who would bring a corpse all the way from wherever it ended up and toss it in the river?”

  “That’s the high-dollar answer, isn’t it?” Jenks’s smile was humorless.

  Max tried to ignore the chill crawling its way up her spine and started unwinding her own wraps. “Do we have the autopsy report on that body?”

  “Yeah, here.” Jenks rubbed a hand over the back of her neck. “I’ve got my friend looking for more matches between the passenger lists and random bodies.”

  “I hate to say it, but I think they’ll find more. We thought they wanted the ship, but what if they wanted the bodies? If someone . . .” Max trailed off as she opened the file that Jenks had just sent over and skimmed through the report. “Jenks, this puts the time of death at two weeks ago.”

  “I hadn’t read it yet. That can’t be right.”

  “Cause of death: drowning.”

  “How the fuck does a popsicle drown?”

  “Popsicle? Oh.” Max surprised herself by laughing. “That’s super inappropriate, Jenks.”

  “So is reviving people who’ve been in a freezer for a hundred years only to drown them,” Jenks replied. “That means he was alive, right, Lieutenant? Or breathing at the very least, if he had water in his lungs.”

  “Yeah.” Max finished with her wraps and put them on the table. “Okay, what do we have so far? Two ships from the same wave headed for Trappist. Both found empty.”

  “No obvious signs of foul play on the ship—at least the one we were on—but they could have cleaned it,” Jenks said. “And now we have the body of a man who was forty-one when he left Earth over a hundred years ago fished out of the Thames as though he’s only been dead for two weeks.”

  “The freezing tech was only good for fifty years. All the system jumpers could travel at eighty percent the speed of light at the time they launched. It’s one of the things that made Trappist so attractive a system.” Max frowned, shaking her head. “We picked up a ship that had been lost back around the turn of the century, bodies still intact. They tried to revive them, no one survived the process. Even with the newer LifeEx version they weren’t able to overcome that extra twenty years of suspension.”

  “So what are our options here? That either someone figured out how to revive those people on the lost jumpers despite the odds, or they’ve been awake all this time?”

  “Neither of those things is possible.” Max pointed at Jenks. “And if you say aliens, Petty Officer, I’ll punch you in the nose again.”

  “Can I say sufficiently advanced tech?” Jenks grinned and held her hands up. “Seriously, though, Lieutenant, what if something went weird with that new LifeEx out in the black? It could have—”

  “Max, I’ve got a call coming in,” Ma said over the com.

  “We’ll be right there,” Max said. “Hold on to that thought, Jenks. We’ll tackle it when we’re done here.”

  “Letter of thanks from the tourist company for our good work rescuing their stranded ship,” Rosa said, looking at the pair sitting across from her. “I’ll put a copy in both of your files since you two spearheaded that mission. Good work.”

  “Thanks,” Max said.

  Jenks just shrugged, but she smiled as she said, “All part of a day’s work.”

  Rosa cleared her throat and tapped the tabletop. “About the other report. You know I still don’t have enough to reopen the system jumper case, right?”

  “Commander—” Jenks subsided when Rosa raised her hand.

  “Hoboins will say the same thing and you know it. What we’ve got right now is a lot of weirdness, but no crime.” She shook her head. “I need something more than what we’ve got here.”

  “A dead body isn’t ‘more’?”

  “Not when the autopsy says he drowned but can’t make a determination that he didn’t just trip and fall drunk into the Thames. Don’t waste my time again, Lieutenant.”

  There was a curious flash of fury in Jenks’s mismatched eyes at Rosa’s reprimand, but Max nodded. “Yes. Sorry, Commander.”

  “Dismissed.”

  Jenks got up without a word and left the office with only slightly harder than normal footfalls that made Rosa grin.

  “Max,” she called, and the lieutenant stopped at the doorway, turned back to her. “Any particular reason you didn’t tell me Jenks pushed you into bringing this to my attention?”

  “Because she didn’t. It was my call. There’s something there, we all know it. We just don’t know what it is yet.”

  Rosa studied her for a moment. Max’s back was
straight, but her hands were in her pockets, her arms loose rather than tense. She and Jenks weren’t quite at easy status yet, but the last few weeks had definitely had an impact on their relationship and on Max’s own awkward separation from the team.

  “You’ve got five dead bodies who were originally in our custody. If there’s something there, Max,” Rosa said, “find it on them.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Rosa smiled again after Max left the room. She didn’t stomp away, but that reply had been the most formal thing she’d seen from Carmichael since her first day in Hoboins’s office.

  “I’m going to take a guess that that smile has something to do with why Max looked extremely annoyed coming out of here, which for her is basically the same level as anyone else being really pissed off. I just hope you know she immediately went over to Jenks and now they’ve got their heads together.”

  “Good.” Rosa waved Ma into her office. “They’re working on that system jumper mystery.”

  “Ah.” Ma chuckled. “The dead-body thing got them both pretty excited. You don’t agree?”

  “No foul play as far as the coroner is concerned. Which means we don’t have anything to build a case on. Never mind it would be hard to connect it to our jurisdiction. Even if the man had been murdered, it would be the PeaceKeepers’ case, not ours.” She shook her head. “Max should have thought of that.”

  “Maybe,” Ma replied with a shrug. “Or maybe she was hoping that the fact that a man who was a passenger on the ship we picked up was somehow alive before he died was just strange enough to get your attention.”

  “Hoping for miracles does jack shit if you don’t do the work.”

  “Don’t toss your parables at me.” He grinned when he said it. “Even if it’s just weirdness and nothing comes of it, they’re working together and that’s something good.”

  “True. But you and I both know we need something to tie it back to those five criminals and the ship we picked up or Hoboins will never be able to make the case that we should have jurisdiction.”

  “My plan is to let the kids figure that out. You want to grab a beer?”

  Rosa laughed. “I suppose emailing Stephan back about how we haven’t seen a single smuggler on the last three runs out can wait, huh?”

  “Maybe he’ll actually get out and find a hobby if you don’t give him work to do.”

  Rosa shut down her tablet and got to her feet. “Not after all these years. He’s married to his work, you know that.” Commander Yevchenko was an amazing Intel specialist and an even better sword fighter, but the running joke about him being married to the NeoG had been going since their academy days. He spent his time at work or training, and his sword-fighting abilities were as good as Nika’s. All their fights had been down to the wire during the prelims.

  With Nika gone you have to figure out a way to beat him.

  Rosa patted Ma on the shoulder as they headed for the door. “Besides, you’re a fine one to talk.”

  “True enough. Though I’ll admit I’ve been thinking about it a bit more than usual. Julissa keeps dropping hints that they’d love to have me whenever I feel like putting my boots back on the ground. She’s expecting another baby, did I tell you that?”

  “You did not!” Rosa gave him a quick hug before she swung out into the low-g tube and pushed off. “That’s wonderful.”

  “Her husbands are beside themselves, of course. It’d be fun to watch this one grow up, up close rather than over the com links.” He grabbed for the bar and pulled himself onto the landing, reaching a hand out for Rosa. “But it would also be nice to go out on a win,” he said with a grin. “So maybe after the Games.”

  “Thank God, because I don’t need more stress in my life.”

  “Plus, there’s Jenks. We probably want to see if she can actually make it to chief—and stay there—before either of us do any serious talking about retirement.” Ma laughed as they walked into Corbin’s.

  There were multiple bars on Jupiter Station, but Corbin’s was the most popular one with the military folks. Most nights it was a mix of Neos and Navy spacers with only the odd scattering of the other branches.

  “I’m proud of her, she hasn’t been in a bar fight for almost two months.” The words were no sooner out of Rosa’s mouth than a young Navy ensign turned around and bumped shoulders with Ma.

  He sneered. “Watch out, Grandpa.”

  Ma didn’t bat an eyelash, but Rosa grabbed the kid by the upper arm, digging her fingers into his ulnar nerve until he gasped in pain.

  “That’s ‘Master Chief’ to you, Ensign.” She shook him once, rattling whatever he’d been about to say back down his throat. “You’re in the wrong place to be starting shit.”

  The bar had gotten quiet and everyone was looking at them. D’Arcy met Rosa’s eyes across the room and raised his eyebrow in silent question. She shook her head and looked at the ensign again.

  “Say good night,” she said.

  “But I haven’t finished my drink.”

  “Say good night to the commander, kid,” Tussin said from behind the bar. “You’ve drunk all you’re going to tonight.”

  “Good night, Commander.” His jaw was tight when he said it, or rather snarled it, but Rosa merely smiled and let him go with a little push toward the door.

  “Learn some manners,” she said to his retreating back.

  There was a beat and then the bar returned to its normal noise level. Rosa smiled at Tussin and took the beers he slid in their direction with a nod, passing one to Ma as they made their way over to D’Arcy’s table.

  “I appreciate the irony of you nearly getting into a bar fight, but don’t feel like you need to do that on my account,” Ma said.

  “That doesn’t bother you at all?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Technically I am old enough to be his grandpa, but my kids were raised to be more respectful.”

  “I’ll admit it was as much for me as it was for you. He wouldn’t have done it if you were wearing a different uniform.”

  “That’s his loss, not mine.” Ma shook D’Arcy’s hand and then took a seat. “How goes it?”

  “Good,” the commander replied, tipping his beer in Rosa’s direction. “Thought for a moment my night was going to get exciting.”

  She rolled her eyes at him and lifted her own beer. “To children; may they grow up before they do something that gets them killed.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re talking about the ensign or me,” D’Arcy said.

  “Neither can I.”

  Letters

  Max—

  Thanks for your letter the other day. I hear from a little bird (named Sapphi) that you are responsible for the broken nose I saw on Jenks when I talked to her last. She refused to tell me how, or she was just too excited to tell me about the stranded tourists you all rescued to be bothered. With Jenks it’s hard to tell, but that means you’re going to have to spill the details.

  My own lieutenant has decent skill with a sword. It’s nice to have some focus there, and they’re getting better every day, which is always good to see. I don’t know if this team will ever be competition worthy, but they are good at their jobs and that’s what matters.

  Speaking of, we came across something I thought would be of interest to you. Jenks mentioned she and you were still poking at that system jumper case and that the people we arrested were killed in an accident?

  Anyway, we busted some smugglers a few days ago and I just got the manifest lists back. Imagine my surprise when I saw there were ship parts with An Ordinary Star’s ID tag on them. I’ve flagged them and will send along if Rosa thinks it’s important. Attached is the manifest in full, maybe you’ll see something that I missed.

  I hope you’re doing well.

  —Nika

  Nika—

  Did Jenks mention we have a sixth dead body? The London PeaceKeepers found a guy floating in the Thames whose DNA matched one of the original passengers on An Ordinary Star. If that i
sn’t weird enough for you, the fact that he apparently drowned and didn’t die of freezer burn should do it.

  Despite it all, Rosa says we don’t have enough to reopen the case and refuses to forward it to the vice admiral on the off chance that he’ll say yes. I confess there’s probably some political thing here I’m missing, isn’t there? Otherwise I don’t understand it.

  Honestly the most frustrating part of that was she acted like I’d only brought it to her attention because of Jenks, as if I’m not able to make my own conclusions and decisions about the evidence right in front of me.

  Part of me insists I’m overreacting. Part of me knows there’s something going on and the commander told me to trust my gut.

  Do you maybe have some time to talk on the coms about all this? I have a feeling something else is going to happen and I’d like to have everything lined up so that when it inevitably does we can use it to reopen this case and I’m prepared. I know you’re busy, I just, I could use the help.

  —Max

  P.S. I’m sorry, what happened to Jenks’s nose is confidential mission-critical information that I’m unable to share.

  T-minus Five Weeks until Prelim Boarding Games

  “That’s the last of them!” Max pushed the final refugee into the ship and slammed her palm down on the airlock panel. “We’re sealed. Ma, get us out of here.”

  “Aye-aye, Lieutenant. Brace yourselves, all power to the aft shields, this explosion is going to rock the boat in about thirty seconds.”

  Max grabbed for the nearest bar as Zuma’s Ghost sped away from the dying ship, counting down with the timer in her vision.

  “Simulation end,” Rosa said, and with her announcement the refugees clustered around Max vanished.

  She blinked, shaking the last of the virtual reality away as the room came back into focus around her.

  Rosa looked disappointed and Max scrubbed a hand over her face with a sigh.

  The others were scattered around the room. Ma was in the chair next to her and Sapphi sat across from him with her feet tucked up underneath her. Jenks was sprawled on the floor, her head pillowed against Doge. And Tamago sat against the far wall, long legs delicately crossed at the ankles.