by Mike Smith
“There, there,” she cooed sympathetically. “It’s good to have your ego taken down a notch or two. You are becoming far too much like my father.”
“I thought that you liked your father?”
“I adored him, whenever he was not being arrogant, overbearing or egotistic, which was not very often.” When Jon smiled, she continued, “I don’t need to remind you that this ring belonged to my mother and I want it back.” Sofia nodded in the direction of their attacker. “If you don’t return it to me, then he will be the very least of your worries.”
“Trust me,” he replied, sneaking in another quick kiss on her nose, which made Sofia just roll her eyes.
Releasing the clasp and palming the ring, Jon turned back to their attacker, then took a step in his direction.
“That is close enough,” the voice called out from the shadow. “Now toss me the ring.”
“Sure thing,” Jon replied confidently, pitching the ring high into the air. All three of them watching it as, spinning, it soared into the night sky, the light from the moon catching it, causing it to glow like a falling star.
Their attacker, watching it greedily, took an unthinking step forward to catch it.
*****
It was a shock for Sarah to discover she was actually still alive. The suit she wore was designed to allow light to flow harmlessly around her, hiding her presence from others. The blast from the pulse pistol was exactly that, another form of light, albeit on a much different wavelength. Hence the suit protected her from the worst effects of the blast. Unfortunately this, in turn, had a very negative effect on the suit, as it was not designed to handle such a charge, and she could feel the static energy from the suit spread across her skin, before it completely dissipated.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, as her attacker stared at her in stunned disbelief, Sarah kicked out, catching the man on the side of the head. The impact of the blow threw him into the side of a table with a resounding whack, and then he was still. Hurrying forward she checked for a pulse and was relieved to find that his heart was still beating strongly, although he was bleeding heavily from a deep gash in his head. Knowing that such wounds always bled badly, she was confident he would recover in an hour or so, most likely with a blinding headache.
Hurrying back to the safe, she confirmed her earlier suspicions that the datapad wasn’t there. Anyway she was out of time and could hardly start a search for it elsewhere. Frustrated that the entire trip had been wasted, she shut and locked the safe, placing the picture back in its original position, leaving no visible sign of her presence. With a little luck, perhaps her attacker would awake wondering if he had too much to drink, hit his head and imagined the whole thing?
Unfortunately that was when she discovered, not really to her surprise, that the suit no longer functioned correctly. Its cloaking effect had become fixated on the white background that she had been standing in front of when she had been shot. The delicate nano-circuitry was obviously badly damaged.
What was she going to do now? She could hardly switch it off completely and step out into the corridor, naked. With a sigh she reluctantly moved toward the communication console on the desk and input Jon’s personal communication code.
*****
With another splash, the knife disappeared beneath the murky waters, following the earlier path set by Sofia’s shoes.
“Somebody fishing in this lake tomorrow is going to be in for a real shock,” Sofia laughed. Picking up her ring from the grass where it had fallen, moments after their unconscious assailant had, she pointed towards the unconscious body “What are you going to do about him?” she enquired.
“I’ll warn Senate Security and get them to send a team out to collect him. He will be out cold for quite a while longer,” he said.
Struggling with the clasp of her necklace, having once again threaded the chain through the ring, she turned back to Jon, asking, “Can you give me hand with this?”
Stepping up behind her, running his fingers through her hair, he gently brushed it aside, baring the back of her neck. Clicking the clasp firmly shut, he, gazed down at her flawless neck and endless back. Unable to help himself, he dropped a kiss on her shoulder and then followed it with tiny kisses up her neck and behind her ear. He remembered that had always been a particularly sensitive spot on her. He waited for her reaction. She turned in his embrace, her eyes dark again, but this time clouded over with desire. He instinctively lowered his mouth to her waiting lips, hovering over them for just an instant, as if waiting for her permission to proceed and kiss her. Unfortunately the pause was a moment too long, as he heard his personal communicator bleeping urgently. Knowing that only one person would call him in an emergency, and remembering his earlier promise to Albert, he reluctantly broke away from Sofia to take the call, the moment lost.
The hurt was clearly visible on Sofia’s expression, and she refused to look him in the eye. “That your girlfriend calling? I assume she has chipped a nail or something and needs your help.”
“Something like that.” He sighed, wondering what he must have done in an earlier life to deserve this amount of bad karma. “Come on, I’ll escort you back to your apartment,” was all that he could think of to say.
Neither of them said a word on the journey back. Sofia punched in the code for her personal quarters, still refusing to look him in the eye. “Well I guess that you need to be going?” she prompted him, as the door slid open.
Jon could only stare at the back of her head, not wanting the evening to end like this, to part on these words, with this hurt hanging over them. While he could never explain to her his earlier betrayal, for he never wanted her to discover her father’s duplicity, this, at least, was one thing that he could explain. “My date, Sarah, is Albert’s niece,” he explained softly. “I promised him that I would look out for her while she is here, as a favour to him. That is all. There is nothing more between us.”
“Albert?” Sofia exclaimed in surprise. “I thought that he was dead?”
“He is fine,” Jon reassured her. “Well, perhaps not fine, as I would never describe Albert as fine, but he is alive and well. Still as irritable and tetchy as ever.”
“I was sure, after she touched you like that at dinner, that there was more between you.” She looked aside, unsure what else to say.
“I know, but our relationship has never been like that,” he reassured her. For a moment, he just stood there, gazing into her eyes, as tomorrow he planned to depart and had no idea when he would see her again, if ever. Therefore slowly he leaned forward, making his intention blatantly clear, so that she could back away if she so wished. But she did not, instead simply stared back at him with an unfathomable look in her eyes.
As Jon’s face drifted closer she closed her eyes. She felt his lips touch her brow, her nose, the corner of her mouth, as he lifted her face with gentle pressure from his hand beneath her jaw. Her heart began to pound and a thick, languorous sensation flooded her limbs. She pressed closer to him as his thumb rubbed lightly over her cheek, pushing her hair aside; and then he was kissing her.
The kiss was all that she’d known it would be and more than she’d remembered it being. Sofia wilted against him, shamelessly pressing herself against his body, pulling his head down to hers. She forgot to breathe. Her senses swam. His mouth ground against hers, the pressure forcing her lips apart, and she tasted him, as his tongue slipped out and wickedly touched hers, warm and wet against her own. Colours burst behind her eyes and once again time and place slipped away. Her head was reeling. Spinning. She felt his chest firm against hers, as he pulled her tighter against him, holding her as if he never wanted to let her go.
He groaned, reached up to unhook her hands from behind his neck and pulled back, breaking the kiss. The way Sofia’s eyes widened in surprise, then slowly drifted shut in pleasure, reassured him that the spark they carried for each other was still there, burning brightly, and that was enough for him.
For now.
> Touching his fingertips to her lips, where he had just kissed them, he said, “I think I should go.” His voice oddly strained, as if that was the very last thing that he wanted to do. He swung away. “Good night Sofia. Sleep well.”
Then he was gone.
Sofia waited for the door to close then turned to rest her back against it, needing help supporting her weight, as her legs seemed to have turned to jelly. She touched her lips where he had kissed her so lovingly only moments before. Her heart reminded her that she still loved him, but her head, that voice of reason, told her that he had already betrayed her once, and would likely do so again.
It took a long time for her to fall asleep, with thoughts and dreams of Jon’s touch and his kisses finally soothing her.
*****
Having stopped off at their quarters to pick up Sarah’s dress, Jon stalked towards the office where she had informed him she was trapped. The few guards he passed on the way gave him a wide berth when observing his frustrated expression, although they must have been curious as to why he was walking alone, with what was obviously a lady’s evening dress draped across his arm. Finally arriving, he tapped in his personal code and the door slid open.
His gaze was first drawn to the body lying unconscious on the floor. Seeing this most of his anger deflated to, instead, replaced with concern for Albert’s niece, as he had promised to watch over her. Glancing around the room, his expression lingering on a patch of wall and he called out. “You can come out now.”
Sarah pulled back the hood of the suit, revealing her face. “How is it that you and everybody else have been able to see through this? It’s meant to be close to perfect.”
Jon just shrugged, uninterested with her newest toy. “I don’t need to see you to know that you are there. I would recognise the smell of your perfume anywhere, it’s quite alluring.” He tossed her the dress. “Get changed, we’re leaving.”
“But what about the guards outside, patrolling the corridors? How are we going to explain our presence here? Come to think of it, how did you explain your presence on the way?”
“Leave that to me,” he replied, unconcerned.
“Can you turn your back? It’s not as if I am wearing anything under this suit,” Sarah flushed.
“Fine,” Jon sighed. “It’s nothing that I have not already seen before, many times come to think of it. What with you prancing around the Eternal Light practically naked most of the time.”
“Wow, somebody sure is grumpy this evening. It’s not as if I interrupted you making out with the Senator or anything.” Silence filled the room. “Oh my God, I did,” Sarah squealed. “Just wait until my uncle hears about this.”
“Nothing happened,” Jon tried desperately to explain as he led them from the room.
*****
Sarah was confused.
Were security guards these days not supposed to guard things, or at the very least secure them? For the third time one politely stepped out their way, this one even going as far to give Jon a polite nod, which he returned. What the hell was going on here?
Upon reaching the end of the corridor, Sarah was shocked to find the lift was already there waiting for them, one of the heavy-set guards keeping the door open for them. Waiting for them inside was a giant of a man, his dark hair already going grey at the temples, dressed in a similar uniform to the rest of the security force. While he might be advancing in years, with powerful muscles and an observant gaze, he radiated an aura of quiet confidence and ability.
“Commander,” he respectfully welcomed them. “I was not aware that you were back on Eden Prime.”
“I am not here in any official capacity,” Jon replied before turning to Sarah, introducing him. “Sarah, this is Major Anderson, head of Internal Security for the Senate.”
Sarah tensed, realising that this man was in charge of the entire security operation and would most likely be arresting her in the very near future, especially when her assailant awoke and, assuming he had not dreamed the entire thing, gave Security a very concise description of her.
Unaware of her concerns, Jon continued on. “Major, can you please dispatch a few men to the senator’s office? There they will find an unconscious body. Can they get him some medical attention, as the last thing we want is for him to die on us. Otherwise we will be buried in paperwork for years to come.”
At Major Anderson’s questioning gaze, Jon added. “It would seem that he interrupted Sarah here as she was in the middle of breaking and entering.”
Sarah could only stare at Jon in shock, the sense of betrayal so strong that it felt like her heart would break. She tensed, waiting to be placed immediately under arrest.
Major Anderson turned to face Sarah with a concerned expression. “Are you hurt ma’am? If so we have an outstanding medical team that I can make available to you.”
“Uh, no, I am fine. Thank you for asking,” she replied hesitantly. “Shouldn’t you be placing me under arrest or something?”
Anderson blinked, looking surprised. “Not unless you want me to, ma’am? Although next time, if you give us some advanced warning, we can make sure that you are not disturbed.”
Sarah looked between the two men, dazed. “Not disturbed?” she uttered, terribly confused.
Laughing at her expression, Jon took pity on the younger woman, as her face had gone white, probably expecting the worst. He quickly explained. “Major Anderson, and the entire Senate Security team, works for me.”
“I thought the Senate outsourced internal security to a private contractor as, under Emperor Aurelius, the Fleet was in charge of security for the Senate.”
“They did,” Jon agreed in a disproving tone of voice. “They outsourced it to the cheapest bid that they could find. A completely useless outfit, stuffed full of incompetent rent-a-cops. Surely the most inept bunch that you could ever find.”
Sarah looked at the Major inquiringly.
“That was the old company,” he clarified.
“Indeed,” Jon continued on regardless. “They couldn’t protect themselves, let alone anybody else. So I bought them out.”
“You bought them?” Sarah asked with incredulity.
“Well the company at least,” Jon clarified. “I dismissed the entire management team, and most of the employees, and brought in the Major here to run things. Now most of the security team here are pretty much exclusively ex-Imperial Navy, Marines, Special Forces…”
“We were grateful for the opportunity,” Major Anderson added. “Not much work available for people like us. It’s not as if the Navy gives references, and most of our past work is still classified.”
“But I am still confused. Why go to all this trouble? What do you care about security around the Senate,” Sarah asked.
“As there is something here that I want protected,” Jon said firmly. “If I cannot be here to do it in person, then I will ensure her safety by using people that I trust, implicitly.”
Sarah remembered the way that Jon had held Senator Aurelius in his arms earlier, the way he had stared adoringly at her. As if she was the most precious thing in the world.
She had no need to ask whom they were protecting.
*****
“Jon,” a familiar voice called out from behind him. Looking around he was surprised and delighted to observe his old friend, Captain Paul Harrington.
“I was not aware that you were back on Eden Prime.” Paul said.
“It’s an unofficial visit, I am just here with an old friend.”
“Sofia Aurelius?” Paul guessed, with a knowing wink.
“Somebody else,” Jon replied evasively, as he’d promised to keep Sarah’s presence, and the purpose for her visit, a secret. “Anyhow I left Sofia here, alone, to keep her safe. How the hell did she get elected to the Senate?”
“Natural ability,” Paul shrugged. “I don’t need to remind you who her father was. Anyway, by tradition the Emperor still has a seat on the Senate—the representative of Eden Prime. With Marcus’ de
ath, it did not take much convincing on her behalf to inherit the position.”
“I left her here to protect her, not so that she could use it as a springboard to increase her public profile,” Jon growled.
“She’s perfectly safe here. I keep an eye on her when I’m around and when I’m not then Major Anderson and his private army look after her closely.”
“When you’re around?” Jon asked suspiciously. “What are you doing when you’re not around? I thought that you had resigned your commission?”
“I was about to, but then I found out that my name was already on the list to be down-sized, so I hung around for a little longer to collect the pay cheque.”
“I’m sorry,” Jon frowned. When he had agreed to support Sofia’s plan to turn authority of the fleet over to the Senate, he hadn’t realised the impact it would have. So many close friends, people who had dedicated their lives to the Imperial Navy, were quickly discarded. He wished he could do more to help them, it was not as if money was a problem for him, he had access to more funds than he would ever need, far more than he could spend in a lifetime. But like Major Anderson, Paul was an honourable man, and would never accept charity.
“It worked out for the best, as I’m planning to start up my own enterprise. After all, we both know a large number of ex-colleagues, all highly skilled and currently out of work. I was planning on setting up a logistics operation, out on the Rim. That was why I wanted to talk to you. I’m looking for somebody to head up the operation.”
“It’s your enterprise Paul, you should be the one to lead it.”
“We both know that I am a more able administrator,” Paul reminded him. “I was hoping, with your contacts, that you would consider it. How to say this? You used to move around freely in the more upper echelons of society.”
Which was Paul’s polite way of reminding him that he frequently rubbed shoulders with the rich, famous and totally corrupt.
“What are you planning on calling it?” Jon asked, seriously considering the offer. After all he had nothing else to do while he waited for Albert’s call, and it would give him perfect cover to assist many of his previous colleagues who, like Major Anderson, now found themselves destitute.