Galaxy's Way

by E. R. Paskey

  He raised an impressed eyebrow at her, and she shrugged. “Didn’t wash my hair.” She’d only flipped her braid out of the way to keep it from getting wet. That could happen later. “But I needed to be clean.”

  Viktor’s voice suddenly echoed over the ship’s intercom. “Anna, Colin‌…‌where in the galaxy are you two? Meet us at the landing ramp, pronto.”

  Anna rolled her eyes at the overhead before hurrying back to Colin’s cabin to sling her travel bag onto the bunk. She could come back for it when all of this was over. Colin followed, but waited for her in the corridor. His mouth was set in a sober line.

  Struck by a sudden‌—‌one might even call it crazy‌—‌impulse, Anna stepped up to him and raised herself onto her tiptoes to give him a swift kiss. “Thank you,” she said, nodding to the cabin, before she turned and started down the corridor.

  It’s better that way, she thought, biting the inside of her lip. She wanted‌—‌needed‌—‌to kiss him again, but they didn’t have time for that. Not now.

  A few seconds later, she heard booted footsteps behind her as Colin caught up to her. She didn’t look at him; she couldn’t. They strode through the ship in silence.

  Voices floated around the corner of an intersection right before the landing ramp. Recognizing Viktor’s among them, Anna increased her pace.

  “Wait.” Colin snagged her hand in his, tugging her to a halt.

  Anna’s gaze went to their joined hands and then traveled up his arm to his face; her heart started pounding. “Colin — ”

  He closed the distance between them to kiss her, his free hand coming up to frame the side of her face.

  Her eyes slid shut automatically; his touch was at once tender and urgent. Despite the strident voice in her head reminding her that they needed to go, she leaned into him.

  All too soon, he pulled back. Colin swallowed once, his blue eyes glittering with a storm of emotion. “Had to do that.” His thumb brushed her cheekbone. “Whatever happens, I love you.”

  A lump the size of the Polygon welled up in Anna’s throat. She tried to speak, but no words emerged.

  Colin quirked a half-smile at her. “Don’t say anything now. It can wait until this is over.” He dropped his hand and stepped away from her, turning to continue down the corridor.

  Something crystallized inside Anna‌—‌she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it couldn’t wait. Who knows what’ll happen in the next hour?

  “Colin.”

  Her tone arrested his movement; she saw his broad shoulders tense. He slowly turned to look at her, his eyes brimming with the hope he couldn’t quite hide.

  Anna took a deep breath and marched up to him. Be brave, she told herself. “We still need to talk when this is over, but I — ” It was her turn to swallow. “I think I love you too.”

  She took a second to relish the joy that overtook his face before she boldly slipped her hand into his and pulled him down the corridor. “Come on, before my brother blows a gasket.”

  Colin laced their fingers together, and she almost smiled. Whatever happened on the Federation space station, they’d face it together.

  And then we’ll sort out everything else.

  Chapter 40

  AN ARMED WELCOME COMMITTEE WAS waiting for them when they reached the end of the docking tube connecting the Hand of Fate to the space station. Lobai had taken the lead, using his cane to support himself.

  A trim young man with golden skin, black hair, and lieutenant’s wings looked Lobai up and down before assessing Anna, Colin, and Viktor with the same cool, half-scornful look. He nodded to the latter three. “Who are they?”

  “My son, daughter, and son-in-law,” Lobai lied smoothly. He turned one hand palm up. “This is a family affair, y’see. Major Jokal understands.”

  “I see.” The lieutenant glanced at two of his men and nodded sharply. “Search them all.”

  Anna’s fingers instinctively tightened on the strap of her satchel. She forced her expression to remain calm, maybe even a little nervous, but sick dread pooled in her stomach. If they find the bomb, it’s all over.

  They’d never make it to Major Jokal; she knew that with cold certainty. They’d end up in the brig, at best‌—‌dead on the deck here and now at worst. She wanted to hold onto Colin, to tangle her fingers with his and find solidarity, but she knew it would look the like the nervous gesture it was.

  The two Federation soldiers stepped forward, but at that moment, another group of soldiers rounded the corridor and a crisp voice said, “I’ll take it from here.”

  They all turned to see a medium-sized man a few years older than Colin, with a major’s insignia shining on his navy blue uniform, striding toward them. He spared a glance for the lieutenant before fixing his attention on Lobai. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Dismissed.”

  “They haven’t been searched yet, sir.” The lieutenant did not budge.

  “I’ll see to it.” The major raised a black eyebrow at Lobai. “Took you long enough to get here, old man. I ought to throw you in the brig on general principles.”

  Anna couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

  “I had a great deal of space to cover, Major Jokal,” Lobai said, rather meekly for him. When Jokal’s gaze swept over Anna, Colin, and Viktor, he said, “My children.”

  Surprise flicked over the major’s golden-brown face before he schooled his face into rigid passivity. “Come with me.” He looked at the lieutenant and the men with him. “What are you still doing here? Dismissed.”

  The lieutenant saluted and performed a swift about-face. He departed down the corridor, taking his men with him.

  Major Jokal started off in the opposite direction and Lobai followed. Anna and the others fell in step behind him, while the major’s men brought up the rear.

  No one spoke as they traveled deeper into the depths of the space station. Major Jokal himself did not speak another word until they reached the relative sanctity of his office. He motioned for his men to remain in the outer office and nodded to Lobai. “Come with me.”

  Lobai remained firmly planted in the center of the outer office, both hands on the handle of his cane. “My children come too.”

  “Out of the question,” Jokal replied instantly. “You or nothing, old man.” He gave Lobai a look that seemed to say he knew he had the upper hand‌—‌he had only to order a search and the bomb would be found and seized.

  “They have information you’ll want to know, sir. That would be why I brought them.” Lobai motioned for Anna to hand him the satchel. “Let me have that, dearie.”

  She handed it over without a word, and they all watched as Lobai held it out to the major.

  Without opening the satchel, Jokal glanced to his chief-at-arms. “Search them and then send them all in.” Pivoting on his heel, he strode into his office.

  The soldiers made short work of searching all of them‌—‌Anna gritted her teeth when the hands patting her down lingered a little too long on certain parts of her anatomy‌—‌and then the chief-at-arms said gruffly, “Go in.”

  Anna preceded Viktor and Colin into the office, where they found Lobai standing in front of the major’s desk. The satchel sat in the center of it, but Jokal had yet to open it. As soon as Colin crossed the threshold, the major sealed the door shut.

  Leaning forward in his chair, he narrowed his eyes at Lobai. “All right, old man. Who are they?” He jerked his chin toward Anna and the others. “They’re not your children, although those two do look related.”

  Anna and Viktor exchanged sideways glances, but said nothing, waiting to see how Lobai would respond.

  “They’re‌…‌partners of mine, of a sort.” Lobai nodded to the satchel. “Without their aid, it would have been impossible to procure that for you.”

  Anna just barely managed to restrain a snort. Beside her, a muscle twitched in Colin’s jaw. That was one way to put it.

  “Why don’t you introduce yourselves, dearies?”

  Viktor
took a half-step forward. “I’m Viktor Drayek, captain of the Iliana. This is my sister Anna.”

  Jokal raised his eyebrows in cool disinterest. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

  “I’m Captain Colin Dupree,” Colin said.

  That name seemed to register with the major; his head snapped in Colin’s direction. “The same Colin Dupree wanted for murder on Tata Station?”

  “I’m innocent,” Colin said swiftly, “but, yes.”

  Jokal’s brisk, confident demeanor showed the first signs of cracking. Faint confusion furrowed the lines in his forehead. He glanced back at Anna and Viktor again before pinning Lobai with a stern look. “Why did you bring these people here?”

  “They’re part of my negotiation.” Lobai’s voice turned to granite. “I’ve brought the device, Major. Where is my wife?”

  “I haven’t verified this is in fact the device.” Jokal turned his attention back toward the satchel. With deliberate care, he unfastened it and slid the device out onto the surface of his desk. For a long moment, he studied it in silence. He then looked up at Lobai again. “It is fully functional?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can I be sure of that?”

  Anna was hard-pressed to keep her mouth shut.

  Lobai, however, felt no such compunction. “I suppose,” he said acidly, “you might attempt setting it off.” He took a long step forward. “Where is my wife, Major? That was the deal. The device for my wife.”

  Viktor made a sound, but Lobai only held up a warning hand.

  Anna’s stomach was a mass of writhing knots. She wouldn’t have been surprised to learn her knots had knots.

  “I have her safely tucked away in a suite aboard this station.”

  “I want to see her. Now.”

  Jokal smiled slightly, as though prepared for this. He tapped a button on his desk console and a holographic image of a small, slight old woman pacing back and forth across a living compartment appeared on one side of his desk.

  Lobai’s body hitched toward her, his fingers automatically reaching out as if to touch her. He stopped himself, as though flicking a switch, and looked at Jokal again. “You’ll be clearing Captain Dupree, here, of the murder charges. And,” he nodded to Anna and Viktor, “you’ll be removing the designation of pirates, and wanted fugitives from these two and their ship.”

  Jokal’s eyebrows shot up so far they disappeared into his regulation-cut hairline. “Is that a fact? And why would I possibly do that?”

  Anna held her breath; she was wondering the exact same thing.

  Lobai held up a hand. “Because if you do not, I have a list of people who will find our little exchange quite fascinating.”

  “My men confiscated your comlinks. You won’t be able to send a message from the brig.” Jokal tried to sound condescending, but a note of trepidation colored his voice.

  You’re familiar with his reputation too, Anna though wisely. You’d like to think the old man is bluffing, but you can’t quite be sure of it.

  Lobai smiled‌—‌one of his icy, full-of-sharp-teeth smiles. “Surely you don’t think I’d be fool enough to walk in here without some semblance of a backup plan?” When the major did not respond, he continued, “I left a colleague with the list of names and strict instructions. If we are not back on board our ship within twenty minutes‌—‌with my wife and my colleagues’ reputations restored, mind you‌—‌there will be hell to pay.”

  Jokal sat back in his chair and just stared at Lobai for what seemed like an eternity. They could practically see the gears in his head whirr as he processed all of this, sifting through the information and finally reaching a decision. “You’re a bit out of the loop as far as Colin Dupree is concerned,” he said at last. “He’s still wanted for questioning, but some more information turned up recently.” He flashed a sharp smile of his own. “With you involved, Lobai, I took it upon myself to do some investigating.”

  “And?” Lobai inquired icily.

  “There’s a trail leading off into a warren of snakes the Federation has been trying to stomp out for some time now.” Jokal shrugged. “Clearing Dupree shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.” Lobai canted his head to one side like a bird. “What about dear Anna and Viktor?”

  “Hold on a moment.” Jokal typed a few commands into his computer console. His eyes narrowed again as he read through what Anna could only assume were their records. “Unauthorized salvage, yes?”

  “It was a derelict,” Viktor said stoutly. “And we needed the parts.”

  Hissing between his teeth, Jokal drummed his fingers against his desk. “This, oddly enough, may be a little trickier to pull off than clearing Captain Dupree’s murder warrant.”

  Anna exchanged a glance with her brother, before looking at Colin. Somehow, this did not surprise any of them. The Federation does dearly love its control.

  Jokal straightened a little in his chair. “The easiest method of going about this might be simply renaming and possibly reclassifying your ship. I can see about issuing you — ”

  “No.”

  Viktor’s tone was calm, but it brooked no disagreement.

  Major Jokal’s eyes narrowed. “No?”

  “Nothing doing.” Viktor folded his arms across his chest. “That ship is my home, and she’s been the Iliana since my parents bought her and named her after my grandmother. The old girl is attached to her name, and so am I.”

  “Captain Drayek,” Lobai began, but Viktor cut him off with a shake of his head.

  “I said no. It doesn’t clear our names, it just renames our ship. Galaxies, I could have done that myself years ago, but fixing the problem this way would have also involved changing our identities.” He flicked a finger between Anna and himself. “Are you planning on proposing that next, Major?”

  “And, need I remind you that time is slipping away from you?” Lobai asked silkily.

  Jokal eyed both men thoughtfully for a moment, before leaning forward to prop his elbows on his desk. “It’ll take some string pulling. To get that expunged from your records.”

  Lobai put a little more weight on his cane. “Then I suggest you start pulling those strings, Major.”

  The Federation officer’s expression implied he had just gotten a good whiff of something pungent, something that had been dead for three weeks and then dug up and aired out, but then his mouth tightened and he inclined his head in a curt nod. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I’d like to speak to my wife now, by the way,” Lobai added.

  Jokal tapped a comm panel on his desk. “Griffith, take Efron and go retrieve the package Hub and Lao are guarding.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You’ve less than fifteen minutes now,” Lobai reminded him.

  Anna had to bite down hard on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. She was the only one who found the situation amusing, however; a discreet glance at Colin told her he was in no humor for jokes, and neither was Viktor.

  “Wait for me out there.” Jokal dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “I have a few calls to make; I’ll send for you when I’ve got it all sorted out.”

  “I think not,” Lobai said calmly, his hands still wrapped around the head of his cane. “After all the trouble I’ve been to, not to mention the number of times people have been double-crossed — ”

  “And triple-crossed,” Anna muttered.

  “ — I’m afraid I’ve developed trust issues.” Lobai dipped his head apologetically, but there was nothing apologetic about the cold light in his eyes.

  Jokal’s jaw tightened, but he did not argue. He didn’t have time for that, and he knew it. Instead, he pulled a comlink from his breast pocket.

  The next ten minutes were the longest of Anna’s life. Jokal negotiated and commanded by turns, using his pull as a covert member of the DOJ to get his way. At the end of it, a printer on his desk spat out three small holocubes.

  “Viktor, Anna,�
�� Jokal handed them two of the cubes. “These contain your official pardon.”

  Viktor glanced down at his cube, inspecting the words that sprang to life above it at his touch. “And you’ve cleared the Iliana?”

  “Yes.” Jokal turned to Colin. “They should be making an arrest soon, but in the meantime,” he nodded to the holocube, “this should keep you out of trouble. You’ll still need to return to the Raveena Space Station and talk to the authorities there, however.”

  Colin scanned through the document. “Understood.”

  Jokal’s comm buzzed; the major tapped it. “Send her in.”

  The door opened and a small, slight woman entered, her head held high and her face the picture of calm defiance. That defiance melted away the instant she saw her husband. Joy flooded her face. “Rufus!”

  “Naoko.” Lobai spread his arms and his wife flew into them. He pulled her close, burying his nose in her grey-streaked hair, before pulling back to examine her. “Are you all right?”

  “Tell the truth,” Jokal warned.

  “I’m fine.” Naoko swallowed tears, her hands fluttering over her husband’s shoulders. “I’m‌—‌just fine.”

  “Now, if you don’t mind,” Jokal said tersely, “call off your comrade.”

  Keeping one arm around his wife for support, Lobai handed her his cane and extended a hand toward the major. “My comlink, please.” When Jokal returned it to him, he tapped out a message and sent it. “Done.”

  Chapter 41

  VIKTOR CLEARED HIS THROAT INTO the sudden silence, curling his hand around his holocube. “What assurance do we have that you won’t just blow our ship to kingdom come as soon as we leave this space station?”

  “You’ll have to trust me.” Jokal smiled thinly. “Although, really, consider my options. I know your reputation full well,” he nodded to Lobai, “and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn you had another contingency plan.”