Cast of Nova

by S J McLaughlin

  “Let me see,” Admiral Ross said.

  He handed her the slip, which she snatched with dangerous speed. She took only a second to read it over before handing it back. “If Tenna thinks this is important than she probably cries at a hangnail.”

  Kendal swallowed. He opened his mouth to speak, but words wouldn’t come out.

  “What’s the matter?” Admiral Ross asked.

  “I apologize for the message,” he said, feeling like all the eyes in the room were on him.

  “You didn’t write it,” she said. “Correct?”

  “Correct.”

  “Got tell Tenna I wish to speak with her.”

  He nodded and turned around to leave, but she stopped him mid-step.

  “What’s your name?”

  He stopped, heart pounding as he turned around and faced the admiral once again. “Kendal.”

  “Isn’t that a woman’s name?”

  “Jack,” he said. “Jack Kendal.”

  She walked up to him and looked him in the eye. Cold green eyes that sent a shiver down his spine. She told him her name. He had already known it, but hearing it come from her made him feel special, in a strange sort of way. It was a name that would haunt him for the rest of this life. Nova Ross.

  “You don’t have to be so nervous,” she added. “I won’t bite.”

  With the shift into day-cycle, the dream ended. He was in his bed on Desmond’s ship, laying down with his sheets and clothes thrown off. He’d broke into a sweat during the night, either from the dream or from the heat. He’d been so sure he was there. Back on the Morana. The dream had been real enough that he could have reached out and touched her.

  He got out of bed and dressed himself. He made sure to take his kinetic with him. Not a sound through the halls aside from his bare feet slapping on metal. Not rustling, no banging of plates, and no shuffling through the bookshelves. He’d gotten used to Mira and Desmond talking, or arguing, early in the morning. Now, the ship felt bigger than ever, even if there was only one less person.

  He knocked on Mira’s door. There wasn’t an answer. Strange, he thought and wandered out into the common room. Mira usually got up at the crack of dawn, but he couldn’t find her in the common room or the dining room.

  There weren’t many places she could be. Aside from the common room, dining room, and crew hallway, there was only the entry and the command room.

  She’s probably there, Kendal thought, stepping over the bulkhead between halves of the ship.

  He found her sitting in Desmond’s chair. Her eyes were dark and tired, and her hair sticking up on all ends. She didn’t seem to notice him as he settled against the wall where he used to watch Desmond fly.

  She was staring at the hundreds of lines of text scrolling on the screen. At first, Kendal thought they were system functions, but a closer look and he saw that it was a flight manual. An endless grid of vague words and terminology he’d never seen in his life.

  Mira punched the keyboard and growled. “How the fuck was he able to work this thing! I’ve been trying at this since I’ve been here. It ain’t possible. Just ain’t. I’ve crashed five simulated landings already.”

  “You’ve still got the rest of the day, and a bit of tomorrow morning,” Kendal said. “The course to Jenny is still set fine, right?”

  “Yeah.” She switched from the manual to the simulation program. The screen had a ‘do you want to start?’ confirmation on it. Mira stared at it for a moment before sighing. “I’ve seen him do it. Ain’t complicated, just precise. Like tryin’ to ride a grounder across a beam. Get it going straight and there ain’t a problem, but wobble just a bit and you’re goin’ somewhere you don’t wanna go.”

  Kendal understood. He’d known many pilots in his life, and they all had this certain calmness to them that he rarely seen elsewhere. Once the ship started moving it was like they could feel every bit of the ship as much as you could feel the surface of your skin. It was a rare talent, and the Union paid well for talented pilots.

  “Just make sure to take breaks,” Kendal said. “You look just about ready to fall over.”

  Kendal only got a vague grunt from Mira as she started the simulation. He didn’t go back to his room, instead laying on the common room couch. Now that Kendal was looking straight up at the ceiling, he saw how tall the room was. Much taller than the bridge on the Morana.

  He closed his eyes and tried to keep his thoughts away from Nova, but it was eating at him.

  I looked at your file, Nova had said, sneaking up behind him at the vending machines.

  Kendal sat up and got off the couch. Now wasn’t the time to be nostalgic. He went to the kitchen and opened the drawer with the ration bars and took out one of the pre-cut slices. He put it on a plate with a biscuit and poured a glass of water. He’d kept to his word about not feeding Boe yesterday, but he wasn’t going to let him starve on the way to Jenny.

  “What’s with the biscuit?”

  Kendal jumped and spun around, hand on his kinetic. Mira stood behind him, leaning a bit away from him as he held up his gun. It wasn’t pointed at her, but he still had it raised.

  “You know what rations do to people,” Kendal said and stuck the kinetic back where it belonged. “If the man gets depressed enough he’ll find a way to kill himself.”

  Mira took the plate. “I can take it to him.”

  Kendal grabbed her hand to stop her. She didn’t resist, staying still and looking him in the eye. “If he’s dead, we don’t get a bounty,” Kendal said. “We’ll be stuck in Alice, and the Union will find us.”

  “I know,” she said.

  “Why do you want to go in?” Kendal let Mira’s hand go but kept eye contact so she knew he wasn’t mad.

  “I just need to see him.”

  “He’s a mess,” Kendal said. “You knocked some of his teeth out, and he can barely keep his left eye open.”

  “Good.” Mira sighed. “Bastard deserves it.”

  “Mira,” Kendal said.

  “I won’t hurt him,” she said. “Promise.”

  Kendal sighed, pushing the glass of water over for her to take as well. “I’ll let you go in, but if you do you’ll have to tell me something.”

  “Tell you what?”

  “I’ll let you know when you come back,” he said.

  For a moment, Kendal thought she’d say no. They stared at each other for a moment before Mira took the cup, and the plate, and left the room.

  Kendal sat at the dining room table and rubbed his eyes. He trusted Mira, but knew very well she could be in there beating Boe to death with a plate.

  She came back after a minute. There was no blood on her, which was a good sign.

  “How’s he holding up?” Kendal asked.

  “Didn’t say anything. Or even really look at me. Just kinda laying on that bed there.”

  “You ever wonder what he did?” Kendal asked. “To make Sava want him so bad?”

  “He seems like a jerk,” she said.

  “Lots of those in the Union,” Kendal said. “I don’t see why he’s so special. What if he’s just a guy who did something Sava didn’t like?”

  “He’s not a good person, Jack. I know we ain’t seen him a whole lot, but I can tell he ain’t a good person. I didn’t feel bad with what I did to him when he killed Dess. I didn’t feel bad beating his face in, or kicking him. I felt his teeth flick off and his blood on my fists, and I didn’t feel bad doing any of it.”

  Kendal sighed. Might as well asked. “How did you lose your teeth?”

  Mira choked on her words. She closed her mouth and looked away.

  “You said you’d tell me something,” Kendal said. “When you asked to see Boe. You said you’d tell me something.”

  Mira took a deep breath. “I fixed a grounder for some guy when I was fifteen. He couldn’t pay me and when I tried to take something of his, he beat me much the same as I did Boe.”

  Kendal smiled. He thought Mira might be pissed at him, but sh
e smiled back with that gapped tooth smile he was starting to love. Kendal prepared two meals, similar to what Boe received, and they ate in silence.

  Mira spent the rest of the day practicing her landings. Most were failures, but a few successes leaked in near midday, and by the end she landed four times out of every five attempts. Yet, come tomorrow, she would only have one chance to get it right.

  Chapter 19

  Deep below deck, under the storage rooms and down where the engine was the loudest, Tayla set up her station. The only place safe from the prowling eyes of Nova was beneath one of the turbines, in a crawlspace too small for her stand up straight.

  Her alibi would keep Nova from looking for her, at least for the next hour. She’d set up all the necessary precautions before coming here to contact the Union. She’d established a reason for being below deck days in advanced, and made sure that Nova and any superior officers were busy during this time. The crawlspace was the perfect spot for her to transmit. She could feel vibrations from all around her, especially footsteps, and the camera’s avoided this spot entirely.

  This room was a harsh metal box with glowing orange light that made her skin look burnt. The engine was around her, spitting heat and turning the room into a broiler. She was already panting and sweating by the time she was ready to set up.

  She opened her purse and took out the disrupters. Four harmless looking devices that were capable of keeping her transmission from being detected. They were expensive, and it hurt to see them cracked and chipping and covered in glue from the many times she’d used them.

  She glued them onto the three walls and the ceiling. She made she they were charged before setting up her computer. A flat screen with a kickstand, a camera, and speakers that could filter out the sounds of the engine. She brushed her hair back, sweat keeping it from falling back down, and opened her channel to receive the call.

  In the two years she’d been sneaking away to do this, she’d never come close to being caught, yet her heart always pounded while she waited for the call.

  The picture came in fuzzy at first. The disrupters put her channel on a very specific frequency that could only be read by those with the proper authorization. Even then, it still took a moment before it came through properly. The pixels shrunk as more data was pushed through, and the mosaic morphed into the face of the current fleet admiral. A man named Tearly. He was older than he looked and a higher rank than most could ever achieve. Tayla once dreamed of being admiral, but her talents rested elsewhere.

  “Special Agent Quartz,” he said, using Tayla’s real name out of ignorance. “It’s good to see that you’re well.”

  “Don’t call me that,” Tayla said, trying to keep that name from resonated in her thoughts. She could already feel her expression souring and her mind slipping. “Not until the mission is done.”

  “Of course,” he said. “Tayla, was it?”

  “Tayla,” she said, taking a deep breath. I’m Tayla.

  “Your message told us that Nova was planning another attack,” he said. “I understand why you were brief, given the limitations of your technology and the lack of foresight, yet it was difficult to work under such vague details.”

  “I apologize,” she said. “The commander hadn’t given me much time to prepare, but I understand why she did it. It was a great plan.”

  “Sucking up to Nova?” Tearly said. “My you’ve changed.”

  Tayla slammed her fists on the ground, hair falling down into a mess of bangs. “Don’t you dare patronize me!” she screamed, loud enough to make Tearly’s pupils dilate from fright. “This is the exact reason I was assigned to this mission, because I can change my personality for long term espionage. If you have a problem with how I conduct my assignments, then you will have to speak to the high admiral himself because you do not have authority over my assignment, you undisciplined swine!”

  She was panting and trembling. Thoughts of home flooded her mind. Her husband and her daughter were probably wondering when she’d come back from her work assignment. Her friends, her family, and her life were all back on U4. Back in the capital where Nova was planning to end the lives of everyone there.

  “I apologize,” Tearly said.

  Tayla closed her eyes and ran through the statement again. You are Tayla. You are proper and you are timid. You will do everything you can to help Nova and you will sit by as she does the terrible things.

  She opened her eyes, feeling more like she had before her outburst. “Accepted,” Tayla said. “Nova is planning to attack U4. She thinks that you that you wouldn’t expect her to attack again so soon. That you wouldn’t have your fleet mobilized in time to protect the capital city.”

  “The capital?” Tearly said. “Your coordinates say that you’re only four days from U4. Our fleet is nowhere near that close. We’d need a week to set up a defense, given our current status, or if we were to intercept her fleet we’d need ten days. This is worse than we expected.”

  “Yet, you had expected something,” she said. “What’s the plan?”

  Tearly cleaned his throat. “We have a way of delaying Nova.”

  “Delaying her isn’t enough.”

  “I am aware,” he said. “Which is why when our fleet intercepts, you’re to initial the turnover.”

  Tayla tensed up. Her heart raced and breath quickened. The turnover, she thought. The ending to this whole mission. Two years of planning down to one point. “What’s the delay?”

  “A man named Jack Kendal,” he said.

  “I’ve not heard this name,” she said. “Is he Union?”

  “Not anymore,” Tearly said. “But Nova had something of an affection for him. Now, that affection had most likely developed into a hatred. Tell her that a Union vessel had been attacked and they spotted former Lieutenant Kendal returning to Jennifer, in a town called Alice. She’ll take that bait.”

  Tayla nodded, making a mental note of all the information. She was ready to cut the feed when Tearly stopped her.

  “I must add one thing,” he said. “You might have the high admiral impressed with your skills, but you don’t have me. Once this is over I’ll be filing a report on your behavior during this assignment. I do hope you’ll regret the amount of times you have let venom sink into your words.”

  Tayla felt like she’d been slapped in the face, yet all she could do was smile. “Listen here,” she said. “You’re talented. You really are. Yet, you let your talent cloud your judgement. You get both of us in a room together with the high admiral, and all he’s going to see are two very different people. Thomas Tearly, the admiral who managed to get Benith Town obliterated, and Gwen Quartz, the agent who spent two years working under the cast of Nova, seeing the horrors she’s done and how I’ve put aside all of my personal goals, respects, and morals to work towards the goals of the Union. At the end of the day, I’m the one who stopped Nova. And you? What can we even make of you? You sit in your cushy flagship letting your own personal vendettas get ahead of your skills. Tell me. This ex-lieutenant of yours. Did he plan on betraying you from the start, or was that something you pushed on him?”

  Tearly’s face rested in a scowl. He couldn’t even speak. Tayla saw him running thoughts over and over through that mess of a head of his until he could take no more. “Just get her to stop on Alice,” he said.

  “At once, admiral.”

  Tearly cut the feed. She packed up her equipment as quick as she could and left the crawlspace. On the way through the engine room, she hid the bag behind a loose plate on the wall and made it back to her room as quick as she could to clean up before confronting Nova.

  Trying to convince Nova to do something was hard. Trying to convince her that it was her own idea was practically impossible.

  She tidied her hair and put on clean clothes, making sure they were as perfect and form-fitting as Tayla would have them. She repeated her statement over and over, drilling it into her mind until it was all she believed in, and went to face Nova.

&nbs
p; Chapter 20

  Kendal had gotten a haircut for Nova’s trial. He wasn’t sure if that was necessary, but his bangs had been getting long and he wanted to make sure he looked good for the jury. I’m just a respectable young man who’s been seduced by rank and promotion, Kendal had recited. His lawyer had been thorough about how they were going to get out of this one. Show them that you’re still dedicated to the Union.

  The shuttle landed on the docking platform outside the court building. It wasn’t on U4, or Planet Two, nor was it even the biggest court on the planet, but it still towered above the lower streets and kept its doors open only to those with a Union rank.

  Landing on a docking platform was easier on the body than landing on solid ground. They built in circular pads with an elastic surface that absorbed most of the shock. It was still enough to knock you around, but you wouldn’t feel sore the morning after.

  Two officers led him to court. They both had kinetics. Not pointed or drawn, but they felt the need to have them. They knew nothing about Kendal, the trial, or why they were even there, yet were told to keep themselves armed. Just lead this man to his chair and keep the safety off.

  It wasn’t Kendal’s trial, but it would play an important part in his defense. The more blame that could be shifted onto Nova the easier it would be for Kendal to become the victim in all of this. The testimonial he was about to give was effective enough that Kendal never had a trial, nor was he stripped of rank. Three months’ suspension and he was back on the Morana.