Polaris Rising

by Jessie Mihalik

  It was clear Lady Rockhurst vehemently wanted to argue about who owned the ship, but to do so would be to tip off Lord Yamado. She kept her mouth shut, but her glare burned with hatred.

  Lord Yamado, however, was not stupid. “What is so important about this unnamed ship?” he asked.

  And with that, he gave me exactly the extra leverage I needed. My smile was bright enough to rival the sun.

  Father and Lady Rockhurst shared a glance. They might be at war, but neither of them wanted another entry into their battle at this point. Each was confident they’d crush the other and keep the secrets—and power—of a faster FTL drive for themselves.

  “We will give you and Marcus Loch full pardons, as well as remove the bounties,” Lady Rockhurst said. “In return, you will disavow all knowledge of the Genesis Project. If the information becomes public, your pardons will be rescinded. You will also be formally disowned from House von Hasenberg.”

  She did not mention the other members of the Genesis Project, but I hadn’t expected to get those pardons anyway. As far as the Consortium was concerned, they were dead. That would have to be good enough. But still, I didn’t want to have to look over my shoulder every second. Watching for the Consortium would be exhausting enough without having the rest of the universe after me.

  “No,” I said. “We have no reason to publicize the information if you keep your side of the bargain, so if it becomes public you are welcome to do your best to try to kill us out of spite, but our pardons stand. And if I am disowned, how long do you think it will be before someone with a grudge grabs me? I cannot reset the timer if I am being tortured to death for House von Hasenberg’s crimes.”

  Father said, “While you will officially remain a member of House von Hasenberg, you will be banned from Earth and all Consortium events. You will have no contact with any member of the Consortium. House von Hasenberg will not be responsible for your welfare.”

  “No,” Loch said. He tipped his head up to me. “You can’t give up your family for me,” he said quietly, correctly reading what Father was trying to do. “I’m not worth it. I won’t agree to it.”

  Loch was worth far more than he thought, but I was not going to let my own Father railroad me into an agreement that prevented me from seeing my siblings. For this brief slice of time, I held all of the cards. I might as well make use of it.

  “I will not be kept from my brothers and sisters,” I said, “and I am not at fault if a member of the Consortium approaches me. You won’t be able to break our agreement just because you sent someone to talk to me. I agree that House von Hasenberg is not responsible for my welfare unless I am taken by an enemy of the House as a political target. Then you’d better send your best and brightest to retrieve me.”

  “Agreed,” Father said.

  “Very well, I agree,” Lady Rockhurst said.

  “I do not agree,” Lord Yamado said. “Not until someone explains the importance of the ship.” But the pardon only needed a simple majority to proceed, so Lord Yamado could complain, but he couldn’t stop it.

  It took twenty minutes of furious negotiations before the pardon and contract language were deemed acceptable, and only then because I kept pointing to the timer on my com that ticked down the minutes. If Loch or I died or were held against our will, my information would automatically go public. If either of us tried to make the information public on our own, the Consortium would hunt us both down with extreme prejudice.

  I would get to see my siblings, it just wouldn’t be on Earth. And I could contact Consortium members regarding contract-related issues but otherwise could not interact with them. I’d added the contract stipulation because I knew if I didn’t, Father would attempt to steal Polaris. I still wouldn’t put it past him, but at least now I could fight him in court.

  I insisted on signed and sealed hard copies in addition to the electronic copies. They would hopefully never be needed, but an additional layer of security was worth the time it took to print them out and sign them. It also caused no end of grumbling from Lady Rockhurst, which was a win in itself. Lord Yamado refused to sign anything.

  Loch remained chained to the chair in the middle of the room. I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t already escaped. Perhaps he was more hurt than he was letting on. With the hard copies safely in hand, I walked over to check on him.

  “Are we done here?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “I will get the key from the guard. Or I can pick the locks, your choice.”

  “No need,” Loch said. He smirked at the councillors as he gripped the shackle around his left wrist with his right hand. His arms flexed and the lock snapped open. He dropped the blood-slicked shackle to the floor. I stared in shock as he snapped the other side open just as easily.

  Just how strong was he?

  He removed the chains and stood to his full height. He towered over everyone in the room. Blood coated the left side of his chest and arm, but he ignored the wound. “Come after me again,” he said, “and next time Ada will not be there to save you.”

  I shivered at the lethal promise in his voice. Lady Rockhurst made a dismissive sound, but she didn’t take her eyes off of him. He was a threat and she knew it. I didn’t undermine that threat by asking if he was okay. I just handed him my spare blaster and stun pistol. Unlike me, he pocketed the stun pistol and pointed the blaster at the councillors.

  “Betray us and die,” he said. “You know what I am capable of. All of the RCDF forces in the ’verse can’t stop me before I’ve killed the three of you if you try to fuck us over.”

  “A deal is a deal,” Father said stiffly. “The guards have been briefed not to shoot first.”

  “For your sake, I hope they follow those orders,” Loch said. “Open the door.”

  Lady Rockhurst went back to her seat and swiped an arm across the chip reader. She pressed a series of buttons and the room returned to normal—no shields, no metal panels blocking the door.

  Two seconds later, a dozen RCDF soldiers streamed into the room decked out in full combat armor.

  Chapter 30

  I edged slightly in front of Loch. When he tried to pull me back, I shook my head and flashed the cuff still around my left wrist. It wouldn’t do much against a dozen soldiers, but it might give Loch time to get a shot or two off.

  “Lady Rockhurst, Lord von Hasenberg, Lord Yamado, are you well?” one of the soldiers asked. With the full-face helmets it was impossible to determine who spoke, but my money was on the squad leader. He stood in the middle with sergeant’s insignia on his shoulders.

  “We are fine,” Lady Rockhurst said coldly, “no thanks to you.”

  I winced. The problem with saving my own ass was that inevitably someone else got thrown to the wolves in the process. I just hoped the sergeant would survive Lady Rockhurst’s wrath.

  “Escort these two to the nearest spaceport and ensure they leave Earth immediately,” Father said. His face twisted into a superior smirk. “No detours or stops allowed. They are to be on the first ship off-planet, I do not care where it is headed.”

  Of course he would prevent me from saying goodbye to my brothers and sisters. I should’ve expected no less from the bastard who raised me. Still, pain and rage flashed through my system. How dare he. My hand tightened on the stun pistol. I wished it was a blaster.

  Loch placed a warm palm on my lower back. “Easy, darling,” he murmured. “No matter how much he deserves it, now is not the time.”

  “Unless you want the timer to expire, I will be stopping by my ship or my room,” I said.

  “You may use the terminals here,” Lady Rockhurst said.

  My laugh was not nice. “And have you trace exactly what I access? I think not.”

  “She may stop by her room for five minutes,” Father told the sergeant. “Prevent anyone from speaking to her. You are authorized to use nonlethal force as necessary.”

  Too angry to speak, I jerked my head toward the door. The squad leader turned as Loch and I approached
. The rest of the soldiers fell in around us.

  Once we put some distance between us and the High Chamber, I pulled out my com and called Bianca. “I am safe for now,” I said. “We are heading off-planet after a very brief stop by my room. Father forbade me from speaking to anyone in person so you might as well save yourself the trip. Have housekeeping pack up all of my stuff and meet me in Sedition when you can.”

  Even on the encrypted line she knew better than to press for details. “Consider it done,” she said. “Your ride contacted me. They are in orbit.”

  “Ask them to meet me at the public von Hasenberg spaceport as soon as they are able.”

  “Will do. Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I am uninjured,” I said.

  She took that for the “no” that it was. “Be careful,” she said. “I will see you soon. And I will let the others know.”

  I ended the call. After a few more turns down empty corridors, we stepped outside to find a troop transport waiting for us.

  The sergeant stopped by the door and offered me a hand up. “After you, Lady Ada,” he said flatly. He wasn’t offering to help because he wanted to but because it was expected.

  “Thank you, Sergeant. What’s your name?” I asked. I stepped into the transport, confident Loch had my back if this was some sort of trap. Seats lined the edges of the transport, facing toward the open middle area. I sat across from the door.

  “Edwards, my lady,” the sergeant said. He followed me in and sat beside me.

  “Well, Sergeant Edwards, I know I’ve put you in an uncomfortable position,” I said. I didn’t apologize because I would do the exact same thing again. “If Lady Rockhurst or the others make your life too miserable, come find me in Sedition and I’ll put you to work.”

  “I am responsible for the failed security. I will accept whatever punishment is deemed necessary,” he said stiffly.

  “Of course,” I murmured. I couldn’t force him to join me, but I’d at least planted the seed. Perhaps his survival instinct would kick in if things became dire.

  Another soldier sat on my left. Loch was the last person to board the transport. He stopped in front of the soldier beside me and glared. “Move,” he said.

  The soldier glanced at the sergeant for permission then moved to another seat. Loch dropped into the empty seat with a barely audible grunt. His bloody left side was pressed up against the soldier on his other side so I couldn’t check his wound.

  We made the trip to my room in silence. When I opened the door, Sergeant Edwards tried to follow me in. I blocked his entry. “You may wait here,” I said. “I will be out in five minutes as agreed.”

  “Lady Ada—” he started.

  “Father did not give you permission to breach my personal rooms. Wait here,” I said. I waved Loch in then closed the door in Sergeant Edwards’s face before he could continue arguing.

  “Didi, set a timer for four and a half minutes,” I said. A chime confirmed the command.

  I pulled Loch into the master bedroom, only to stop short at finding Bianca waiting for us with a first aid kit. “Sit,” she said to Loch, pointing to the chair she’d pulled over. Loch sat.

  “How did you know?” I asked.

  “I didn’t,” she said, “but I wanted to be prepared.”

  “I have four-ish minutes to dump my accounts,” I said. “Unless you need help, I’m going to do that.”

  “I’m fine,” Loch said. “Do what you need to do.” Bianca nodded in agreement.

  House von Hasenberg was directly linked to the main bank in Serenity, so transferring money would be as instantaneous as if I was at the bank in person. I’d already moved a good deal of my money out of my House accounts, but I had no doubt Father would lock down whatever was left.

  I authenticated with the bank then transferred all of the remaining money in my House account into a numbered account. Eventually I would need to make a legitimate named account, but this would work as a temporary solution.

  After the transfer completed, I opened another connection and routed it through several secure servers then kicked off a script that did a whole lot of nothing. Oh, it made a bunch of secure tunneled connections and updated various files across a number of servers, but none of it mattered—all of the files I really had on time-release weren’t on any of these systems. But the thought of the Consortium trying to track down all of these random connections made me smile.

  That done, I disconnected and wiped the session history. Then I opened the armory and started packing weapons into a travel case. I hadn’t taken them last time because I had been traveling undercover. This time I would at least have my House name to protect me from being arrested for being a walking arsenal.

  Bianca said to Loch, “I’ve done what I can, but you need to spend some time in the medbay when you get to the ship.”

  I glanced over my shoulder as he stood. “How bad?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I’m functional. You want me to do that?” he asked.

  I nodded and headed for the closet. Bianca followed me. “You’re leaving?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I said. “Father wanted to disown me but since that wouldn’t be good for my long-term survivability, he banished me instead.”

  I waved my arm in front of a random panel in the middle of my closet wall. A small door opened, revealing a safe. I held my left arm next to it and typed in the fifteen-digit code with my other hand. The safe unlocked and I opened it to reveal a small locked case.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Bianca asked.

  “Yes,” I said. This case held hard copies of all of the material I had under time-release, plus all of the documentation that proved I was a member of House von Hasenberg. “I hate to move it, but I have a feeling I will never see this room again.”

  “Ferdinand will welcome you back, you know that,” Bianca chided gently.

  “Father has to die first, and that old bastard is mean enough to live forever just to spite me,” I said.

  A chime sounded throughout the room. “Didi, stop,” I said, then I called to Loch, “Thirty seconds!” I grabbed the case and closed the safe. I hugged Bianca tight. “I’m going to miss you,” I said. “I expect to see you in Sedition within the month.”

  “You will,” she said. “Stay out of trouble.”

  I blinked back tears. I hadn’t thought I would lose my family again so soon. I let Bianca go, put the case in the bag I’d brought with me a week ago, dumped some random clothes on top, then went to meet Loch.

  Bianca stayed in the bedroom. Loch carried the weapon case. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed for the door. Everything in me wanted to stay with my brothers and sisters. And while I knew they would visit me, it would not be the same.

  I sniffled once then walled the tears behind my public persona. I didn’t have time to break down; I still needed to get to Rhys’s ship. “Ready?” I asked Loch.

  He nodded, so I swept out into the hall. Rather, I attempted to, but Sergeant Edwards blocked the doorway. He stepped back in surprise. The other soldiers stood at attention along the walls.

  “It has been five minutes, Sergeant,” I reminded him when he didn’t move.

  He shook his head and I wished I could see his face to read his expression. “I thought I would have to drag you out,” he said.

  “Over my dead body,” Loch rumbled.

  “I have to agree,” I said. “You try to drag a von Hasenberg anywhere he or she does not want to go and you are going to have a bad time, Sergeant.”

  He bowed slightly. “You have my thanks for returning on time, Lady Ada,” he said.

  We returned to the troop transport then headed for the von Hasenberg spaceport. I messaged Rhys and got an instant response. He, Veronica, and a half dozen of his crew were on the ground in Jester, one of the more heavily armed and armored smuggling ships in Rhys’s fleet. He had taken me seriously when I said it might be a hot extract, but he had come anyway.

  I directed the troop tra
nsport to drop us at Jester and also let Rhys know not to blow us out of the sky. By the time we arrived, Jester’s cargo ramp was down. Sergeant Edwards insisted on escorting us out of the transport.

  “Thank you for the escort, Sergeant. And remember, I’ll be in Sedition if you need anything.”

  “Make sure you take off as soon as the flight checks are through,” he said, ignoring my offer once again.

  I bid him farewell and turned toward Jester. An unfamiliar woman in fatigues with a long blaster held across her body waited at the top of the cargo ramp. Her eyes flicked over me dismissively, but they snagged on Loch and held. She scowled. “Get to the medbay,” she ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said.

  Jealousy slammed into me. The woman was undeniably beautiful, with long, curly red hair she’d braided down her back. She was tall and fit and looked like she knew what she was doing with that blaster.

  I fought the urge to wrap a possessive hand around Loch. He was mine and I didn’t doubt him, but jealousy was a hell of a beast.

  When I didn’t move, Loch ushered me into the ship with a hand on my back. “Ada, meet Captain Scarlett Hargrove,” he said.

  “Scarlett, this is Ada. She’s mine,” he said. Something passed between them and the pleasant feeling I’d felt at his possessive words died.

  “Welcome aboard,” she said to me. Her expression made ice look warm. “Rhys is on the flight deck getting us clearance for takeoff. You should join him.”

  “I believe Rhys knows how to talk to ground control without my help,” I said. I turned away from her in a purposefully dismissive move. “Let’s get you patched up,” I said to Loch.

  He grinned at me. “After you,” he said.

  Jester was a recent von Hasenberg ship, so I didn’t have to embarrass myself by asking for directions. Bigger than Polaris, this ship had four levels instead of three. The top level housed the flight deck and captain’s quarters. Crew quarters took up the entire second level. The third level included the mess hall and medbay, while the exercise room and maintenance access were on the fourth level.