by Mike Smith
He did not need to glance at the pistol but could feel from its weight that it was fully loaded and he would have been dead if she had decided to follow through with her threat. Checking that the safety was on, Jon lowered the gun to the table, before taking a step forward, embracing the woman.
“How did you know?” she asked softly into his chest. “How did you know that I wouldn’t have killed you?”
“Because for a long time James Harrison loved you. He was a good, honourable man. He would’ve never loved a person who could murder another in cold blood,” he reassured her, brushing away the tears running down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffed. “I should’ve confided in you long ago.”
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, it cannot be changed. But help me, Anna. Help me stop what happened to James and his wife, help me stop another girl having to grow up without her parents. Who is doing this? Why?”
“Malthus,” Anna insisted. “Senator Malthus, and his son.”
“But I don’t understand, Malthus is dead,” Jon replied in a confused voice. “Paul showed me the DNA results, it was a 99.9% match.”
“I don’t know how he faked his own death, but I assure you that he is still alive. He personally ordered me to kill you, only hours ago. He was enraged by your attack on United Stellar Services, he owns the company and it is a big source of his income.”
“I know,” Jon agreed. “But I didn’t know that Malthus had a son, as there was nothing in his records.”
“They keep it very quiet. His son, Benson, is just like his father. Cruel, arrogant, spiteful, used to getting what he wants, but he’s also crude and doesn’t have his father’s brains. Malthus is clever and very patient, he is good at bending people to his will, he eventually finds a weak spot in everybody, then uses it as leverage. Even me,” Anna confessed. “As he promised me the one thing that I wanted more than anything—revenge. That James should pay dearly for his betrayal and I would finally have my vengeance against him and his wife, the woman that he left me for. But I promise you I didn’t knew what he had planned, I would never have agreed had I known…”
“Why is he doing this?”
“All I know is that he hates your family. It’s almost an obsession with him. You should hear him ranting and raving for hours upon end, about how the Aurelius family stole his inheritance. How he should have been Emperor, not Marcus,” she replied drowsily.
Worried that Anna was starting to fall asleep, as she was leaning heavily on him, he lifted her head to look intently into her eyes, surprised, as normally they were bright and clear, but now cloudy. “Anna, where is Malthus?” he insisted firmly.
“Don’t know,” she shook her head, as if disorientated. “He wouldn’t tell me… didn’t trust me…”
Becoming more and more concerned by her behaviour, he shook her firmly, but she could not be roused from her stupor. “Anna, what have you done?”
“Poison,” Anna replied sleepily. “Malthus supplied it to me, told me to use it on you. He threatened that if I didn’t do as he ordered, he would make public my betrayal. That he would destroy my career, and tarnish my name. That is all that I have left after James abandoned me and I won’t let him take it from me,” she insisted with quiet dignity. “I would rather die first.”
Jon lowered his head helplessly, as he could feel her breathing starting to slow, her heartbeat fading, as he held her tightly in his arms, supporting her weight.
“Kiss me?” she breathed, the words caressing his cheek like a gentle breeze. “I saw you with your wife one day at the Senate after I arrived. I watched you hold her, kissing her goodbye. I cannot even remember what it felt like when James last kissed me like that. Please? I want to remember one last time what it felt like to be loved.”
Unable to deny such a final request, Jon tipped her head back, softly touching his lips to hers, her last breath intermingling with his. When he leaned back she was gone, a sad smile gracing her lips.
Jon cradled her in his arms for a long time, looking past her out of the window, saying a silent prayer that she would finally find some peace.
Chapter Fifteen
Callas Prime, Tau Ceti System
Nobody noticed the shadow that quietly detached itself from the shuttle. Pausing for a minute to confirm nobody was in sight, it drifted across the darkened hangar bay, just another shadow lost within a multitude of others. Coming to the exit of the bay, the shadow paused just long enough for the door to slide open, and then slipped through the crack, disappearing into the complex.
After the swift departure from the darkened hangar bay, the brightly lit corridors, reception and conference rooms that made up the public areas of the compound resulted in much slower progress. Several times the shadow had to stop, backtracking several steps as guards or other administrative staff crossed its path. Finally it arrived at its intended destination—a familiar looking door permitting entrance to the personal apartments of Robert Calis.
Using his teeth, Jason peeled off one of his dark gloves to allow him to punch in the entrance code he had guessed several weeks earlier. His other hand was wrapped firmly around the pulse pistol he had brought with him, so this time he would be prepared if anybody happened to block his path. Punching in the code, he took a moment to enjoy the feeling of adrenaline flowing through his veins, his heart pounding furiously in his chest. For too long he had sat behind a desk, pouring over report after report, penetrating deep into computer systems he had no business accessing, all the while attending meal after meal, watching Miranda and Robert Calis making small talk, trying to hide their growing attraction to one another. He had just wanted to scream in frustration, to point out to Miranda, who was blinded by her obvious infatuation, about how little they really knew about the man. More than that, he had simply wanted to demand the identity of the woman he knew the man had hidden away from their prying eyes. Let Miranda make up her own mind about what sort of man he was, keeping a mistress, or worse, hidden away.
In the end he had decided to take matters into his own hands. Taking full advantage of Miranda’s invitation to Robert to join them for dinner, he had politely declined. Instead hiding away in one of the shuttles heading back down to the surface of Callas Prime. He was determined to discover the identity of this mysterious woman, and would then take great delight in announcing it to the pair. Maybe then Miranda would… He shook his head. It didn’t matter what she thought, as long as she finally realised what type of man Robert Calis really was.
With barely a whisper, the door slid open but, unlike the last time, no empty corridor presented itself, but instead the back of a guard, who was currently whirling around in surprise.
“Oh crap,” Jason muttered, as he observed the guard reach for the pistol in his holster. Too close to fire his own weapon, as the two men stood less than a foot apart, he instead reversed his grip on his own pistol, griping it firmly by the barrel, and slammed the butt into the guards stomach. The guard instantly doubled up in pain, and when he finally looked up it was only long enough to see Jason’s fist go crashing into his jaw, sending him crumpling to the floor.
Nursing his bruised knuckles, Jason quietly chuckled to himself, as it had felt very satisfying slamming his fist into the guards jaw—imagining that it was Robert Calis’.
Reaching down to check for a pulse, he was relieved to find one, as he took no issue with the man’s guards. After all, they were just doing their job. Glancing around he was thankful to see their altercation seemed to have gone unnoticed. Dragging the guard into an unused meeting room, and planning to be long gone before he awoke, Jason continued on unimpeded.
Like the last time, he stepped into the spacious atrium. The fountain still bubbled away merrily in the centre of the room, the statues stared out at him, stone-faced, as if they guarded this secret realm. Unlike last time however, there was one very big difference about the room—the addition of an auburn-haired woman, seated, with her back to him, at the fountai
n. Jason sighed quietly in relief. While he had done many unsavoury things in the past, he had no urgent desire to sneak into a woman’s bedroom while she slept and abruptly wake her, demanding answers.
Not wishing to startle the woman, since one shrill cry from her was likely to bring guards running, he continued to stealthily approach her from behind. Stopping several feet from her, he took a moment to admire her beauty. Auburn hair reached down almost to her waist. The long, white, silk shift she wore reached only to her knees, revealing her bare feet, as she dipped her toes into the cold fountain, giggling at the sensations. For a moment Jason thought she must be a young woman but, from what he could see through the practically transparent shift, he realised that she was older. Pausing, he tried to decide upon his next course of action for, in all honesty, he hadn’t thought he would get this far. He could reveal his presence to the woman, and hope she would not panic, but if she did, and cried out—Jason shook his head. It was too risky, better to subdue her first, and then when she couldn’t scream, reassure her that he had no intention of hurting her. He just wanted some answers to his questions.
Taking a deep breath, he dashed forward, one hand reaching out for her shoulder to pull her firmly against him, the other going around her mouth to stifle any cry.
It was at this point that his plan went firmly awry.
As, far from freezing with shock at his sudden assault, the woman calmly ignored the hand on her shoulder and instead reaching up, catching his other wrist in a firm grip, she suddenly pitched forward. With his momentum now working all in her favour, he found himself being thrown over her shoulder—straight into the fountain.
*****
“Jason?” an astonished voice inquired from somewhere above him. “What are you doing here?”
Jason, meanwhile, could see very little, too busy trying to wipe the water from his eyes. He was very cold and wet and, as he looked down at himself waist deep in the water, he shook his head in disbelief at how badly his plan had gone. This is what he got for attacking poor, defenceless woman. He snorted in disbelief. Yeah, right.
It was only then that the woman’s words impinged upon his consciousness, and he looked up into the bright green eyes of—
He shook his head furiously, sure he must have hit it harder than he thought. But when he looked again, the vision remained unchanged, “Princess Aurelius?” he spluttered in disbelief.
“Nice of you to drop in, Jason,” she laughed, offering him her hand to stand. “Does Jon have you accosting young, defenceless women while they’re bathing these days? As if he does, I need to have a serious word with my husband.”
Jason, meanwhile, just continued to sit in the fountain, speechless, unable to move as he stared at Sofia. “You’ve lost some weight.” He finally blurted out the first thing that came to mind, before smacking himself in the side of the head. He really needed to learn how to better talk to women.
Sofia just laughed, putting her hands on her hips. “Still as perceptive as ever.” She reached out, pulling him from the fountain before depositing him next to her on the edge. “If you must know, I’ve not really had much of an appetite.” The smile quickly vanished from her face. “How is Jon? Is he okay? Please tell me that he is fine.”
Jason meanwhile was titling his head at a right angle, trying to dislodge all the water from his ears. Hearing the desperate plea in her voice, he paused momentarily, thinking how best to answer. He doubted she wanted to hear how her husband seemed a ghost of his former self, only just keeping it together to keep the façade that the Confederation was still united. “He misses you,” he replied, thinking that was a safe enough answer. “We all thought that you’d died in the attack on Eden Prime. He hasn’t really been the same since.”
Sofia nodded, remembering the haunted images of Jon on the recording that Robert had shown her. Obviously her supposed death had hit him hard, just as she knew it would. Trying to imagine how she would feel if she thought him dead. “Robert had a team on Eden Prime, they managed to rescue me during the attack, and brought me here.”
“Robert?” Jason asked, surprised, as he could not see how Robert Calis would benefit from such actions. “Why didn’t you let anybody else know you were still alive?”
“He wouldn’t let me contact anybody. He said it was too dangerous, that if anybody found out I was still alive my life would be in grave danger.” She laughed at this. “I guess it’s all a moot point now anyway.” She explained to Jason the encounter with Captain Benson a few weeks earlier.
“He never said anything,” Jason replied, scratching his head.
“Then how did you know that I was here?”
“I didn’t,” he replied truthfully.
“Then what are you doing here?”
Jason blushed, cursing his fair complexion, trying to think how to explain without making himself sound like some jilted lover. “Uh, I was looking for somebody else. Robert and Miranda are close,” he explained. “I knew that he was hiding somebody here, I just assumed it was some lover or mistress. I was hoping to use her, you, to discredit him in front of Miranda.”
“I see,” Sofia uttered, eying him speculatively.
“Anyway, I need to inform the Commander that you’re still alive,” Jason announced sharply. “He needs to know.”
“I’ve already tried to convince Robert to do so, but still he refuses. He’s convinced that Jon took advantage of the attack on Eden Prime to gain power for himself. He has locked out all remote access to the Tachyon relay, except with his own personal codes.”
“That's crazy,” Jason muttered. “The Commander has no interest in politics or wealth. He kept telling us that he never wanted the job, but was left with no choice when it was thrust upon him. He needs to know that you are alive, safe and well.”
“You cannot send any message to him without access to the Tachyon relay,” she reminded him.
“I don’t need it,” Jason exclaimed confidently. “Our ship, the Warspite, has its own relay. I just need to patch into a local communication node and establish a connection with the Warspite. I can then route the message to the Commander that way. He will be relieved to hear that you are safe and well,” Jason added, smiling at Sofia.
*****
Having left Sofia some twenty minutes earlier, with the promise to return soon, Jason found himself tucked into a small alcove, hovering over a public access communications terminal. He had purposefully sought out a public terminal, on the assumption that it would be easier to access, with the added benefit that it was a long way from Sofia, so were he caught it could not be traced back to her.
“Come on, come on,” he muttered to himself, his arms wrapped tightly around himself to ward off the cold, as he was still dressed in his dripping wet clothes. Sofia had apologised profusely for dumping him in the fountain, suggesting next time that he shouldn’t sneak up on people like that—advice that he was definitely going to follow in the future. Unfortunately she also didn’t have a spare change of clothes for him, pointing out, while trying not to laugh, that it was unlikely that any of her clothes would fit him. Not that he wouldn’t look fetching running around in a dress.
Therefore he currently found himself standing in a puddle of his own making, dripping wet, teeth chattering, desperately trying to rub some warmth into his limbs while simultaneously cursing the slow speed of the terminal he was using.
“Finally,” he sighed in relief, when the display confirmed it had established a secure connection with the main computer on the Warspite, in orbit some several hundred kilometres above them. With a few more deft touches of the controls Jason brought the ships own miniature Tachyon relay online and ready to transmit. The small transmitter was capable of forming its own miniature wormhole, for the fraction of a millisecond it took to transmit the highly compressed data-stream dozens of light-years, to the Relentless—and Commander Radec.
Deciding to keep the message short and to the point, Jason had almost finished hammering it out, when a voice
interrupted him from behind.
“Put your hands in the air, and step away from the console.”
Fingers still flicking away at the screen, Jason afforded a quick glance over his shoulder, confirming his worst fears. For there stood another guard, with a deadly looking pistol clasped firmly in his hands, pointing unwaveringly at him. Sighing, he wondered how he had been discovered so quickly? It was only then his eyes dropped lower and he observed the trail of water that clearly illuminated his path. On the bright side he needn’t worry about dying from hyperthermia any longer.
“Uh hi,” Jason replied with a frown. “You wouldn’t believe the sort of day that I’ve been having. The plumbing problems that you’ve got with your toilets—you really need to get a maintenance team to have a look at that.”
“Back away from the console, now,” the guard barked. “I won’t tell you a third time.” The guard tightened his finger on the trigger.
“No, I don’t suppose that you will,” Jason sighed sadly, eyes running across the screen, as it prompted him if he wished to confirm transmitting the message.
Reaching forward, to tap the send command, a sharp crack echoed down the corridor, followed immediately by a second.
Jason blinked in surprise, numb, wondering why the display was suddenly covered in a dark-crimson liquid.
Somebody will need to clean that.
Suddenly finding that his legs would no longer support him, he stumbled. Catching the edge of the console, only just managing to avoid falling to the floor. Looking down in surprise, touching his chest, he was astonished to observe that his hand came back covered in blood. His vision starting to grow dim, and dark, he pitched forward unable to support his own weight, not even with the assistance of the console.
He observed with a curious detachment as his blooded hand smeared the console with even more blood, as it slid across the screen and he dropped to his knees. With the last of his strength he reached out with his bloodied hand, hovering it over the send key before letting it drop. The control changing colour from an amber warning to a cool green, confirming the message had been sent.