by M. D. Cooper
After giving one final look at the large man’s impassive back through the window, Lana turned and stormed out of the viewing room. If she couldn’t convince Winter, maybe she could have a more productive conversation with someone else.
* * * * *
When Lana reached Ranstock’s cell, the woman was sitting on her cot, elbows on her knees, hands propping up her head. It took a few moments for her to look up and meet Lana’s gaze, and when she did, she had a withdrawn expression on her face.
Lana didn’t bother with greetings.
“All the information the SSF has on the Coalesce Legion indicates that you’ve never stepped foot in Hanoi, so why now?”
Ranstock licked her lips and pushed herself up straight. “We heard about the destruction of Hubei, and I thought she’d done it, so I came to help. I’ve hidden in other systems for so long, afraid that if the empress caught me…I thought that if I was brought before her, she’d instantly know who I was. I guess old boogeyman stories are hard to get rid of.”
Lana could understand that, up to a point. Her own father had often told her stories about Scipio, the very empire that Silstrand was now allied with.
“I thought I could make a difference here. Clearly, I was mistaken. No one on this rock wants me around.”
“Well, if you weren’t so damn secretive…you act like you’ve got something to hide, you know—which I guess is true. But Winter’s not a bad guy. He’s just territorial. If you had been upfront with him, things would have been easier.”
“You think it’s stupid of me to hide?”
“I think your people tried to break you out to protect your secret. Winter has his teeth in them, and he doesn’t want to let them go. With their attack on the prescient it’s as good as proven to him that your legion has no interest in protecting Chimin.”
“Fuck!” Ranstock stood and ran a hand through her hair. “I didn’t tell them to do that, I swear. I told them not to come onstation, no matter what happened.”
Lana nodded. “We need to make Winter see that. We need to work together.” She didn’t know if Grayson would want her to tell Ranstock about Empress Mei, but she thought that perhaps if the captain knew, it would help.
Ranstock’s eyes narrowed as she saw indecision writ large on Lana’s face. “What is it?”
“You know that Grayson went to Geonova to meet with the empress…? Well, he ended up going downworld to Battia, and…things didn’t go as planned.”
“Fool. I told that colonel of yours how it would go. I tried to warn him.” Ranstock paced, placing her hands on her hips.
“Empress Mei has been deposed,” Lana said with a grim smile. “Grayson’s troops hold the palace and are working on getting control of the city.”
“What?” Ranstock’s eyes widened. “That’s not…possible. Mei is strong, her palace is a fortress! She been strengthening her position for almost a thousand years. How could he—”
Lana gave the woman a kind smile. “You’ve been afraid of Mei your entire life and built her up into something stronger than she is. She’s ruthless, probably even evil, from the sounds of it, but she’s still just a human woman, and Grayson’s no slouch. I bet taking her out was less of a challenge than going up against Maverick, like we had to do in Gedri a few weeks back.”
Ranstock’s mouth was still hanging open as she sat down on the edge of her cot. “I don’t understand. What will happen next?”
“Silstrand wants the people of each system to have as much local control as possible—I’m no poly-sci major, as Winter likes to point out—but I suspect it’s because we can’t spread ourselves too thin. Either way, if we can get someone with local ties and a legitimate claim to run Battia…. I mean, those people haven’t been part of the interstellar—heck not even the interplanetary—community for a long time. They’re isolated, likely scared, and we just took from them the one sovereign ruler they’ve ever known.”
“Most look to her as some sort of deity.” Ranstock shook her head and sighed, doubt shrouding her as her shoulders drooped.
“We can prove to them you’re Mei’s heir. If you care about the people of Battia—”
“Of course, I do! That’s why I came back to begin with; to try to find a way to protect the people of this system from my mother! But if you’re saying what I think you are saying…. Lana, seriously. I’m not ‘empress’ material.”
“I don’t think the colonel is going to ask you to be an empress. I think he’s going to ask you to be a leader and calm your people, to see them through this transition.”
Ranstock shook her head. “Shit…this is not what I had in mind. I don’t know if I can do this. It’s everything…I thought it’d be forever out of my reach.”
“Think about it,” Lana whispered. “Together we can talk to Winter and convince him that working with you and Coalesce is the right thing to do. To do that, you’re going to need to play ball with Grayson.”
“I’m…scared,” Ranstock admitted, her voice small, fully revealing the all-too-human woman beneath the captain’s hard exterior. “What if I can’t do this?”
“Pretty sure you can. I’ve been through the shit myself. I never thought I’d measure up, but here I am. When Grayson arrives, I’ll still be here. If you need a friend, I don’t mind filling that role.”
“Thank you, Lana.” Ranstock swallowed, her expression reflective. “I’m sorry I pulled my weapon on you. I thought you were sent to kill me.”
“I think those days are over; there are no more shadows hanging over your head. I’ll be back to see you soon. Maybe try to get some rest. It’s all going to work out.”
After some final parting words, Lana left Ranstock to think things over. She exited the cell and went to round the first corner out of the brig, running straight into Winter. His mouth was set in a fine line, and his eyes were inscrutable.
Crap.
“I wasn’t trying to betray you or anything, so stop looking at me like you want to rip my head off.”
“Yeah, well, I probably wouldn’t be able to, considering how thick your skull is,” he growled.
Lana rolled her eyes, and suddenly, as if a dam had broken in the man, Winter’s stance softened.
“But thanks,” he whispered. “I heard what she said. You were right about the forest and the trees. I guess…I guess I thought the forest was on fire. Instead, it was just some smoke, thanks to some pony-assed campers.”
Lana furrowed her brow, trying to make sense of whatever it was Winter was getting at as he continued.
“Look, I was right to be suspicious, but I should’ve listened to you sooner. Your judgment is way better than it used to be.”
“OK, then. I accept your apology.”
Winter’s face twitched. “Apology? Whoa, wait a minute—”
“You apologized. Just admit it.”
“Yeah,” he shrugged, “OK, I did.”
Lana tapped her finger against his chest. “You’ve changed too. I never thought I’d see the day when you’d apologize for anything.”
“I’ve grown as a person,” Winter admitted. “Go me. Now what do we do?”
“Might be a good idea to let her out of her cell. She hasn’t done anything wrong, so there’s no reason to keep her locked up. And I don’t think she’s going to go anywhere while we’re holding her crew.”
“Sounds about right.”
Winter sighed as he made his way up to Ranstock’s cell. Lana wasn’t far behind. As he opened the cell door, Ranstock rose from her cot.
“What’s this?” she asked, eyes widening with surprise.
“Well, come on already,” Winter grunted. “Shit, I don’t have to apologize again, do I?”
Lana nodded with a smile. “You probably should.”
“OK, well, let’s do it down in my office over sandwiches and coffee. I can’t stand to do it again on an empty stomach.” Winter motioned for Ranstock to leave her cell, and she stepped through tentatively.
“Hope you li
ke baloney, because that’s all we got left.”
Lana almost chuckled. He sure is full of it, isn’t he?
“That’s fine,” Ranstock said as she followed them behind. “Thanks.”
“Good. We’ll talk about your crew and what to do next when we get there. If Gray’s gonna push for what I think he’s gonna, we’re going to have to get used to each other.” Winter sighed loudly.
Or perhaps it was more of a groan.
Lana laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “It’ll all work out. You’ll see.”
Winter smiled at her. “Yeah, maybe it will.”
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
STELLAR DATE: 12.21.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: The Hyperion Hotel, New Roma, Dante
REGION: Dante, Dante Velorum System, Fringe
Kylie wasn’t sure what hurt more. Her chest from the rail shot, her head from the EMP, or her pride—from letting herself get shot in the first place. Thanks, yet again, to her nano and the ISF’s flow armor, she was still breathing.
And in further good news, Ricket had eyes on Paul and hadn’t killed him yet.
She hurried through the kitchen and grabbed a piece of mango and a chunk of pineapple left on the prep counter. As she stuffed them into her mouth, a chef yelled at her.
“Hey!”
Ricket’s words caught Kylie off guard, and she paused.
Kylie thanked the both of them.
There was so much at risk and so little room to maneuver. Kylie didn’t like it. She hadn’t gone through everything that had happened just to lose her brother to Orion in the end. This wasn’t what she wanted. She wouldn’t accept this. She just couldn’t.
She stopped at the door to the main gala room, looking out over the crowd through the small window.
It figures.
Marge sounded spooked, and if she was spooked, Kylie had to steel herself for what the AI was about to say.
Tacnukes?! Kylie skidded to a halt as she realized how deep the shit they were in had gotten.
It certainly sounded like something a desperate person would do.
Kylie resisted the urge to give her AI a hard time for stating the obvious. Quickly, she brought Ricket up to speed. The Hand agent handled the news with more aplomb—and swearing—than Kylie had.
Kylie froze for a moment.
Marge led Kylie up a flight of stairs to the second floor, and Kylie found the next bomb in a utility closet beneath a pile of coiled up vacuum hoses. She squatted and carefully removed a panel. The display was blank, but she fed a filament of nano into it, and Marge confirmed her fears.
It wasn’t going to be enough time to get everyone to safety. They needed to get all the nukes offline.
Kylie’s stomach clenched with guilt as her nano disconnected the bomb’s trigger mechanism.
Marge flashed her a thumbs-up sign.
Kylie didn’t know if she liked that idea very much.
She missed what Ricket said as Marge reported in.
She pulled the ceiling hatch open and climbed up. Inside the shaft, she found a tacnuke taped to the side of the wall. Peeling the tape off, she set the bomb down on the top of the lift and opened the side panel of the device.
Eleven minutes. That didn’t give them much time. She hoped Ricket was done and gone from the hotel by now.
Kylie breathed a sigh of relief to hear it. She hurried to disable the explosive—which was subtly different than the first one. A minute later, she had it.
There wasn’t an immediate answer, but Kylie figured that Ricket was busy. Just in case, she jumped down into the lift and picked up speed as she hurried through the hallway toward the stairs that would take her back through the party.
Kylie changed course and ran for the front doors. Just as her hands touched the glass to push them open, something snagged her shirt. She glanced behind her to find a woman with long red hair grabbing at her.
The attacker wore a tight black stealth suit, and above her head she held a steel lampstand. Kylie didn’t wait to be bludgeoned, instead pivoting on her heel to kick her opponent in the stomach.
Her assailant slid back, but Kylie didn’t stop to engage the woman. Catching up with Paul was all that mattered. She ran out the door and leapt down the steps, but her attacker raced after and crashed into Kylie, sending both of them rolling down the stairs.
“You cost me not only Paul Rhoads, but the Orion Guard’s general! They should all be dead, but now they won’t be because of you!”
The woman wrapped her arm around Kylie’s exposed throat, a knife in her hand. Kylie thrust the heel of her hand up, striking the assailant in the jaw and knocking her away. Rolling back, Kylie kicked her feet up, then arced through the air, landing gracefully. The woman tried to get up, but Kylie kicked her in the side and then stomped on her chest with her boot.
“If you’re trying to catch them, we are on the same side!” Kylie hissed. “I’m working with a Hand agent—”
The woman rolled away and scampered to her feet. “Then she chose the wrong person to be loyal to!”
Once again, she charged Kylie, and they both fell backward onto the grass. Kylie punched the crazy redhead in the throat and rolled away, kicking off her boots, which were quickly followed by her pants and shirt. She triggered her flow armor’s stealth mode, and backed away from the crazed woman.
Kylie acknowledged and twisted to the side as she approached the fuming redhead.
“If I can’t have your brother, I will kill you! You’re mine one way or another, Kylie Rhoads!” the woman said as she rose to her feet and cast about for Kylie.