Rendezvous With Rogue 719

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  They discovered the perfect place in the capital city of Columbia.

  There was a casino in the opulent style of Las Vegas casinos—because it was a consortium of Las Vegas casino owners that were building it—that was nearing completion.

  They didn’t seem particularly pleased to lend it out for the occasion since there was some risk that the talks could go awry and death and destruction could follow, but they were persuaded with a very large chunk of taxpayer money to hand it over for the duration of the talks.

  The possibility of death and destruction was why they’d decided to hold the talks on Mars to start with.

  That and the fact that, as raw as Mars looked, it didn’t look as if it was decaying and broken, which Washington did because the old part of the city was now under nearly a foot of water in spite of every effort to save and preserve the old city from the rising ocean. Most of the monuments and state buildings had been built with sandstone and the ocean was eroding them faster than they could be repaired.

  They should have already abandoned them and begun work on replacing the ancient structures--well had—but years of one natural disaster after another had taken its toll. There wasn’t much in the budget to finance such a project and they couldn’t squeeze the money out of the starving and mostly unemployed taxpayers.

  They’d certainly tried, but even they had finally had to accept that the wallets were bare, that there actually was a limit to what they could squeeze out of the common man.

  Because they’d never actually grasped that they had to put money into the hands of the common man by paying them a living wage before they could spend it, or use it to pay taxes.

  * * * *

  Torin’s advisors had strenuously objected to Torin attending the peace talks himself. As hereditary King, he was the head of state, but the politicians generally handled politics.

  He didn’t need to be present himself. He could tell them what he was willing to do and what he wasn’t and they could handle the negotiations, leaving him with nothing to do but read over the documents when they were done and sign them.

  And he didn’t need to put himself at risk for that.

  He had his own reasons for going, however.

  Well, one reason.

  Claudia.

  He would not have thought it possible to become so dependent upon another being for joy of life, most especially given the circumstances and the short time they had had to share with one another.

  He supposed that it was that ignorance, or arrogance, that had encouraged him to blithely bind himself to her—the belief that she was not his kind and therefore there would be no lasting, no true, binding.

  He had probed her mind for her deepest, darkest thoughts and actions and had found that she was more than worthy of consideration, but he had been focused then on discovering if it was safe to trust her—not whether or not she would be a good mate for him, if they shared enough similarities to join as one.

  Not that there had ever, truly, been a choice other than for him to bind himself to the one most honorable and trustworthy.

  It had fallen to him to save his people and, unfortunately, he had not been able to without the ability to unite his ethereal and corporeal self beyond the prison they had built for themselves.

  He was strongest of all and he did not have the strength.

  If it had been a situation where they had been able to join with one another as a collective as they had when they had saved their world, it would not have been necessary. But they had all been in such a weakened state from the length of time they’d spent in stasis that even attempting the collective would have killed many when there was no way to feed themselves to regain their strength.

  They had to be able to leave the mountain within their physical forms to do what had to be done and that meant he had to rely upon Claudia to help.

  He was grateful for that, more grateful than she would ever understand.

  In point of fact, he doubted that anyone on her world or his would ever fully grasp that it was one act of goodness by one person and her willingness to die trying if necessary that had saved all of them.

  She’d never completely trusted him, he knew, but she cared about Reyes enough to risk her own life to save his. If she had not been so fiercely determined, even when her own life was hanging by a thread, she would not have succeeded.

  But his feelings went beyond gratitude and admiration.

  He needed her, he’d realized, to find the joy of life that made it worth having.

  He just needed the chance to convince her of that and make her understand that it was something that he wanted to share with her, that he would do all that was in his power to give as much or more than he was asking of her.

  She was not there when they arrived, though, and as the discussions dragged on from days to weeks, he began to despair that he would find her. He began to suspect, in fact, that her people were doing their utmost to keep her from him.

  * * * *

  Publicly, the military had proclaimed the entire crew of the IP Expedition One to be heroes and announced that they were taking a much needed leave of absence to recover from the long and arduous journey to the edge of the solar system.

  Not that that had stopped them from immediately beginning separation proceedings from the military for Claudia due to her pregnancy and her unwillingness to abort.

  In actuality, they were considered under suspicion by the military and closely watched—not actually under arrest. No charges had been filed against them, yet, but they were kept under close surveillance in spite of the fact that the military seemed inclined to accept that they were in no way culpable in the deaths of Ralph Johnson and Shelly Adams.

  They still had that hanging over them, however, especially Claudia since she’d been forced to shoot Shelly to prevent the woman from killing her.

  They seemed to be leaning toward just brushing it under the rug—probably because they weren’t sure they could do anything without being tarnished by the same brush since they had so carefully selected the crewmembers.

  The crews’ involvement with the aliens was another matter—and not something their superiors were letting go of yet.

  Claudia was damned if she could fathom their attitude!

  Maybe she hadn’t been as cautious or standoffish as she should have been, but it wasn’t as if the aliens had conspired against humans! It wasn’t as if she—any of them—had colluded with an enemy!

  She supposed it would be fair to say that they were reserving judgment and exercising caution.

  She didn’t like it—at all—but she realized it was something that she should have expected and would have if she hadn’t been too focused on staying alive to think a lot about other things.

  It didn’t even bother her a great deal since she was sure she would, eventually, be completely exonerated because she was exhausted from her ordeal and traumatized and she needed peace and rest.

  And she was in no great hurry to get back ‘home’ to Earth anyway.

  She missed things familiar, but she hadn’t had anyone to go back to in many years.

  She was content enough to take it easy, watch her belly grow, and terrorize herself with ‘what ifs’.

  The arrival of the delegation from Vishnu changed all of that.

  Especially when she discovered that Torin was among them.

  That instantly screwed her head on straight and she saw her future with a clarity she’d never managed before in her life.

  She was having his baby.

  And the one thing she’d been struggling to dismiss became crystal clear—her baby would never be welcome among humans no matter how the talks went. Maybe, in some far distant future humans would be more accepting of the people of Vishnu, but not likely in her baby’s lifetime.

  He would be tormented endlessly, ostracized only for the color of his skin—which would set him apart if he took after his father at all.

  She knew Katia hated her—all of them—and it was
possible, maybe even likely, that all of the people of Vishnu would feel the same, but she could deal with that far better than her baby would be able to deal with hate.

  She would convince Torin, somehow, to let her live among them with her baby, to give him a chance at acceptance.

  She would love him. She already did. But he needed more. He needed to find acceptance amongst his peers to have any chance of happiness.

  Unfortunately, she’d no sooner arrived at the conclusion that she needed to talk to Torin about it, beg him if necessary, than she discovered the military had no intention of allowing her anywhere near the delegates from Vishnu—especially not Torin.

  Fortunately, she discovered it, quite by chance, without tipping her hand.

  “I may have screwed things up for you, kid,” Reyes muttered uncomfortably when she met him for lunch a few days after the dramatic arrival of the Vishnuvians in a giant craft that seemed like something out of old science fiction horror movies.

  Claudia widened her eyes at him in surprise. “How’s that?”

  He huffed an irritated breath. “I checked into transportation to Columbia to go to the ‘event’ and I hadn’t even gotten back to my place when the MPs arrived to take me in for ‘further debriefing’.”

  Claudia felt her gut tie itself in a knot. “Did they specifically say you couldn’t go?”

  He shrugged. “They didn’t mention it at all. But you don’t think it’s just a coincidence that they showed up right after I went to try to get a ticket to travel?”

  “No, I don’t,” Claudia responded frankly, “But if they didn’t specifically say you couldn’t then we have deniability. And that’s the important thing.”

  “I think the important thing is that they’re watching us way too damned close for us to do anything. It doesn’t matter whether we have deniability or not if we can’t get out of here.”

  Claudia sat drumming her fingers on the table thoughtfully for a time, reviewing possibilities and discarding them. “We need to find somebody with personal transportation,” she finally said.

  Reyes gave her a look. “You think they won’t be tipped off if we start asking around?”

  Claudia shrugged. “Depends on where you start asking. Everybody around here isn’t happy with the government or the military. They came here to find freedom—true freedom—only to discover that they’re more slaves here, economically speaking, than they were on Earth.”

  Reyes frowned, thoughtful now. “Yeah. We might just find somebody open to the idea of credits under the table for low risk. I got a third cousin on my mom’s side that lives just out of town. I think I’ll go see him.”

  “Maybe you could figure out a way to talk to him other than leading the MPs to his door?” Claudia suggested.

  He gave her a look and then winced. “I ain’t too good at this cloak and dagger shit, but I’ll think of something.”

  * * * *

  Claudia’s thoughts tormented her while she waited for an opportunity to talk to Torin, making her doubt that she was likely to succeed in convincing him or that he would give a damn about her needs.

  She wondered if there was really any point in going to such lengths, in risking so much.

  He was on Mars—unless everyone had been lied to about his presence.

  Why hadn’t he visited her as he had before? Did he just not know that she was there? Was it that simple? Or was there another reason he hadn’t tried to contact her?

  Maybe he hadn’t tried because he hadn’t actually thought about her since he’d helped her get home?

  She brushed those thoughts aside after a time, dismissed them.

  They didn’t matter.

  She was sure he hadn’t completely forgotten her. She’d helped him when he needed help.

  Of course, he’d helped her in return and probably figured they were even.

  Well, she didn’t feel like he owed her anything, but she was hoping she could convince him to sort of sponsor her, let her go to his world, maybe give her a hand in getting situated ….

  She had enough credits saved up that she was pretty sure she could afford a pod—at least a fairly comfortable sized hab—and supplies to get her started on a little homestead.

  She just needed a port in the storm she knew was about to break over her head.

  Just as she hit bottom again in the roller coaster of hope and despair she’d been riding, it transpired that she and Reyes were in luck.

  Reyes managed to talk to someone in the local cantina that knew his cousin and told him when would be a good time to ‘accidentally’ run into him.

  And the cantina owner had anti-surveillance equipment on the premises, making it possible to talk.

  Mario made travel arrangements for them for what they considered a very reasonable price and then capped that by arranging a portion of floor space to sleep on in his wife’s cousin’s hab.

  The generosity of those with next to nothing to give was humbling.

  Claudia had found that she tended to be very emotional anyway since she’d gotten pregnant.

  She hoped that wasn’t going to be permanent.

  It took a week to make arrangements and almost a week to travel from Clements to Columbia because they had to take to the outback. Almost as soon as the enormous ship of the Vishnuvians appeared in the skies above Mars, hovering silently, drifting without a whisper of sound to the ground as if it was a feather rather than a ship fully the size of a city the military had been on full alert and every law enforcement officer, as well. There were check points everywhere.

  Claudia assumed it was because of the aliens anyway. She hadn’t left Clements since the arrival of the Vishnuvians so she couldn’t be completely certain, but it made sense.

  It also seemed inescapable that the military was on the lookout for her and Reyes, unfortunately, and that was a good reason to take the long way and try to avoid detection.

  Luckily for them the Martian colonists already had a well established route to ferry black-market items from one city to another.

  Claudia understood the stakes, knew it had to be done this way, but she began to worry that the agreement would be reached and the groups dispersed back to their respective planets before she reached Columbia.

  She was almost right.

  Chapter Fifteen

  There was a near deafening roar of jubilation that could be heard from miles outside the capitol city.

  It was such a roar, in fact, that Claudia and Reyes exchanged looks of alarm and the man driving them braked to an abrupt halt.

  “Riots?” Reyes and their driver guessed at almost the same moment.

  “They must have their speakers wide open for us to hear them this far away,” Reyes added.

  Claudia listened. “Not unless they’re cheering someone on about it.”

  “Ok, well that’s a possibility,” Enrique said soberly. “Things can get a little out of hand around here from time to time.”

  “Wouldn’t we hear gunshots, though?” Claudia said doubtfully. “There are cops and militia everywhere.”

  “Good point! Must be a celebration,” Enrique said cheerfully, flooring the pedal and shooting the vehicle forward once more. “Free food and booze!”

  Claudia hid a smile, but she wasn’t amused long. As much a relief as it was that the entire city seemed to be in an uproar, making it easy for them to get in without anyone looking at them twice, it was madhouse. She had no idea how she was going to find Torin let alone finagle an audience—or whatever a person called it when they went to ask a royal person for something.

  Worse, it seemed to her that her worst fears had been realized and they’d arrived when everything was over but the celebrating.

  They had a lot to celebrate, she discovered fairly quickly. Newsfeeds all over the center of town were covering the highlights of the talks and the Vishnuvians had been amazingly generous. They had apologized for all of the damage done when their world charged through the solar system like a raging bull. They ha
d agreed to make restitution to everyone who’d been harmed in any way--lost loved ones or property. Payments in gold and other valuable metals, ores, and minerals would be shipped to Earth beginning in six months when the Vishnuvians had had time to restore their own damaged cities to a degree that made extraction and production possible.

  Land would be set aside for human settlement. A very large tract.

  The king, much to the government’s chagrin, had insisted that it would be a gift to anyone who chose to settle there.

  The government had argued that that was far too generous and people would be glad to pay for the land—realtors would have to develop it anyway before it was ready to be settled. And, of course, the settlers would have to pay for their passage ….

  The king said that wouldn’t be necessary. They would be carrying the agreed upon valuables to Earth as restitution anyway. They could pick up settlers and take them back to Vishnu on the return trip.

  That decree had made him wildly popular with the common man.

  Not terribly well liked by the politicians and wealthy investors who had expected to profit personally from the venture.

  But they were cheered with the thought that those who settled wouldn’t be their burden and should be able to do well enough to contribute to their wealth once established.

  They were always going to need things.

  There was more, large and small, but Claudia was so excited by the discovery that Torin was setting aside land for settlers that she couldn’t think beyond that. Surely there wasn’t going to be an issue with her request if he’d already agreed!

  It was a real downer when she discovered the land wouldn’t be opened for settlement before the first shipments were made to Earth.

  She couldn’t wait that long!

  She needed to go before it was obvious enough that she was pregnant that everyone started speculating about the father!

  She needed to go while she was still able to do the things she would need to do to get her hab setup and prepared for the baby’s arrival, stock up on supplies, hopefully even get a small garden going to help with fresh food. It might be her first pregnancy experience, but she didn’t have to have had one to have seen how clumsy women were in the advanced stages. And taking care of a newborn was a full time job in and of itself.