by S. J. Bryant
"What the hell do you want?" he said, frowning.
"I thought you'd like to know who the thief is," she said.
Cracos pulled the cigar from his mouth and blew a puff of smoke at the camera. "Well?"
"Two thousand credits."
"If your guess comes through then you'll get paid."
Nova crossed her arms over her chest. "Vicki."
"What?" Cracos said, the cigar nearly dropping from his mouth.
"She's been using fake chips. You can search her now if you want to."
"You're lying. The chips are scanned when they're counted. Counterfeits would be spotted immediately."
"Then somebody got hold of your codes. I didn't think you'd believe me, so I took the liberty of sending one up to you. It should be on the floor outside your office."
Cracos's nostrils flared as he waved at someone off screen, who appeared moments later with a red and black chip, decorated with gold designs. Cracos ripped his top desk drawer open and pulled out a scanner that he ran over the chip. It flashed green.
"See, legitimate," he said. "I'll kill you for wasting my time."
Nova stared, unblinking, back at him.
He growled and from the same drawer withdrew a razor sharp pair of scissors. With a brutal clunk he clamped them around the chip and it fell in half, revealing red plastic. He stared with an open mouth at the broken chip.
A bead of sweat rolled down his nose as he waved someone over, and Brick's large body filled the screen. They spoke in low tones for a few moments and then Brick disappeared. Nova heard the faint sound of a door closing.
"Two thousand credits," she said.
"After the trouble you've caused me, do you really think I'm going to pay you?"
"Honestly?" Nova replied. "Not really."
Cracos frowned and sucked harder on his cigar. "Then get out of my face," he bellowed, reaching for the disconnect switch.
"I just thought you'd want to know," Nova said. "I sent a few photos of you to some people."
"What?" Cracos's frown deepened.
Nova snatched the copied images from her control board and held them up. The first showed Cracos in a very compromising position with the wife of his competitor.
Cracos's face flushed red. "What? How—"
"It's amazing what you find lying around," Nova said, flicking through the other images.
Some of them showed him negotiating deals, handling drugs, handling people, and all of them would make him a target.
"You can't send those. If they're seen by the wrong people, I'll be killed!"
"Unfortunately for you, I've already sent them. I guess you've just been thrown into a fighting pit. If I were you, I'd leave Tabryn within the next ten minutes."
Cracos's face went slack and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He yanked the cigar from his mouth and tossed it into a far corner. His eyes rolled about the room before finally coming to rest back on Nova.
"You haven't."
"After all the trouble you've caused me, did you really think I'd let you get away with it?" Nova said, mimicking him.
"You bitch! You've killed me!"
Nova shrugged. "We'll call it even then."
She severed the connection and leant back in her chair. "I suppose we should get out of here before they find us."
"I thought you'd want to see this," Cal said.
Crusader's front screen filled with a new image of the casino floor. Vicki was strutting between the tables when two burly men grabbed her arms. They yanked away her purse and pulled out the chips, cutting one in half with a sharp knife. Red plastic glinted like blood in the bright lights.
Nova couldn't hear what they were saying but Vicki's expression of horror was entertainment enough.
"What if they kill her?" Cal said.
"They won't," Nova replied. "She'll tell them it was me, and they've got video footage to prove it. At least it'll give her a scare, keep her on her toes for a while."
Nova chuckled. "Okay, let's get away from this hell hole."
"Where are we headed?" Crusader asked.
"Just grab the next warp trail and let's see where it takes us."
She didn't bother watching Tabryn disappear behind them. She planned on staying away from the crime-riddled planet for as long as she could.
Stars whizzed by as Crusader sailed along on the warp-trail of some other ship. It was a cheap way to travel but you never knew where you were going to end up.
Just how it should be.
EPILGOUE
"The Confederacy are planning something big," Aart said, snatching a gun from his shelf and shoving it into his overflowing bag. "We've got to get out there."
"What are you talking about?" Nova asked, holding one hand over the bag and gripping his arm with the other.
She'd just returned to The Jagged Maw from Tabryn, only to find him in the midst of gathering a small army. So far she'd only managed to extract frenzied fragments from him.
"It's got something to do with those missing people on Tabryn," Aart said, brushing her arm aside and shoving more weapons into the bag. "I followed a lead, thought I might be able to help you out. And it ended up being connected to the bloody Confederacy. There's something going on, and it's headed straight for Grixis."
"Grixis?"
"Yep, small outer-planet. It's only recently been colonised; just one city so far. Whatever the Confederacy are doing, it's happening there."
"So you're taking an army with you?"
Nova threw her arms into the air. It was as if Aart had lost all common sense and was ready to throw his life at the Confederacy. She grabbed his bag and hurled it onto the floor, snatching his shoulders and staring into his eyes with fierce intensity.
"It's not an army," he said, shrugging.
"It looks like an army."
"There are only eleven of us. Just a few Hunters checking out a new planet. There's nothing wrong with that. Twelve if you come along."
Nova groaned and collapsed onto the end of Aart's bed, holding her head in her hands. He patted her shoulder as he collected his bag from the floor.
"I've never known you to want to bury your head in the sand."
"I'm not… I just don't see the point of rushing in, guns blasting. We have no idea what's going on."
"Exactly. Which is why we have to find out."
"I've signed up for another job. It starts in a couple of days."
Aart rolled his eyes. "I think this is a little bigger than a job."
Nova clenched her teeth and stared at the metal floor. A part of her wanted to hurl Aart into a dark closet so he couldn't leave, while another part of her knew that he'd never stay there and that she couldn't let him leave without her.
She groaned as she got to her feet.
"So, you're coming?" Aart grinned at Nova, eyes twinkling.
"I can't let you go off on a suicide mission. Someone's got to keep you alive." She gave a half-hearted smile.
"I knew you'd come." Aart winked at her. "The others are already loading up their ships."
Nova nodded once without looking at him and stomped out of Aart's room, annoyed that he was dragging her into yet more trouble.
Nova's Journey Continues…
After the Ancients and the lecheons, Nova is looking for something simple, but life is never that easy.
Murder, man-eating plants, and rumours of cannibalism from the Inner Galaxies all await Nova in Book 5: Justice.
Find Out More:
http://www.saffronbryant.com/books/Justice
http://www.saffronbryant.com/free-books
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Find all of Saffron's Books At:
www.saffronbryant.com/books
The Lost Child Saga - An Epic Fantasy Series
The Fallen
Star
The Herald of Darkness
The Hordes of Anarchy
The Nova Chronicles
Survivor
Pilgrim
Hunter
Gambler
Justice
Junkie
Adventurer
Prisoner
Stranger
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Saffron Bryant was born on the 17th December 1990 in a small town in North Queensland. In 2010 she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. After extensive, life-saving surgery she returned to her home in Queensland to recover and finish The Fallen Star. She received a Bachelor of Biomedical Science in 2011.
Saffron has been interested in fantasy and science fiction writing from a very young age, writing her first story at the age of seven. She has always been fascinated by fantasy stories and has a passion for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Saffron currently lives in Sydney with her partner Michael Lee where she is completing her PhD in chemistry.
Connect with Saffron:
WEBSITE: www.saffronbryant.com
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