Cast of Nova

by S J McLaughlin

  Both of them took off their coats and hats and scarfs and put them on the backs of their chairs before sitting down at the table. Mira hated to admit, but Kendal looked kind of handsome now. His hair was longer and brushed off to one side. His Union coat had burnt away, and he wore one of Dess’s black jackets over top of his button up shirt. He’d not grown much of a beard, only black scruff over face, but it made him look older. His eyes had changed, somehow. More intense and direct. Less like the wide, desperate eyes he had back on Nau Cedik, which now felt like so long ago.

  Kendal ordered them a set of steaks, and Mira made sure to get something stronger than water.

  The steaks on Alice tasted different than back home. Thicker and richer. She wondered if it might have been a different animal, but didn’t bother to ask.

  “How much of a rush are we in?” Mira asked, mouth half full of food.

  “Not much,” he said. “But I’d feel better if we were out of Union space. They might have tracked us here. They don’t have us scanned, but they knew which way we were flying. Jenny’s the only place out this far aside from the Ven system, and they’d probably check here first. I’d like to be out by the end of the week.”

  Mira washed her bite down with beer and hacked at her steak again. She was starting to like Alice. It was shit, and she knew that, but she liked it. It was the only place other than Benith Town, and space ships, that she’d ever been to. It had a charm that she couldn’t describe.

  “How long’ll it take to get to the non-Union places?”

  “Sintic’s the closest,” he said. “Not a great place, but it’s out best shot. It’s close to the size of Jenny, and the same treatment of transport ships and smugglers and bounty hunters, from what Desmond told me. We can start work there, and then branch out to some of the further off places.”

  “How long to get there?”

  “Sixty-four days, if we go straight there. Seventy-two if we take a detour to Rayus first.”

  “Why would we consider the detour?” Mira asked. “We wanna get there fast, right?”

  “Going straight takes us through the thick of Union space. Rayus might be right after U4 and a Union planet, but it’s on the opposite side of the Central Sun this time of year so there’ll be less risk.”

  “Which one are we goin’ after?”

  “I don’t know,” Kendal said. “Did Desmond bring it up before we got to the Bachman?”

  “Don’t matter what he said.” Mira finished off her glass and ordered another drink. “It ain’t up to him no more. It’s up to us.”

  “But he did make a decision?”

  “Them decisions got him killed, Jack. He’s dead cause what he decided.”

  Kendal poked at his steak.

  She sighed and snapped her fingers to get his attention. “What did Sava say?”

  “Sava said — I don’t — what?”

  “When we gave him Boe, what did he say?”

  “You were there,” Kendal said, “you should know.”

  “I know what he said!” Mira yelled loud enough to catch eyes from a few people in the store. She cleared her throat to calm her voice. “I want you to say it. What he called you.”

  Kendal took a moment before answering. “He called me the captain. He assumed I was the captain.”

  “And are you?”

  “I never claimed to be one.”

  “Are you?”

  “No.”

  “Then what?” Mira said. “You’re a lieutenant?”

  “I’m not a lieutenant.”

  “Then what the hell are you doing here?” Mira was on her third drink, while Kendal barely finished his first. “Desmond kept you around cause of me, and the damn Union sure didn’t give a damn about you or where you were goin’. Why’re you not fighting for this? What the hell were you even in the Union for if you’re not gonna jump at the chance for your own ship!”

  “Because it’s not my ship,” Kendal said. “It’s Desmond’s.”

  “Desmond is floating somewhere between here and the Bachman,” Mira said. “And don’t tell me the Bachman’s moved by now, you know damn right what I meant. I ain’t a captain. I spent too long being stuck on some rock fixing grounders for people too poor to pay proper. You spend so long being hungry and fuckin’ for a good meal and you really start to wonder what it is I can decide. I take the easy way out. I’d sell the ship for a good house, and when things get desperate I’d sell that too.”

  She was trembling. “Back when I was young, my dad made me work in the shop. Made me repair grounders and transports and weapons. I could never get myself to do it, but I didn’t hate it. Without knowin’ how to fix stuff I probably woulda’ starved after they died. I’m awful good at fixing stuff and Dess there taught me enough to get good at pilotin’ a ship. I ain’t a captain. I’m just good with machines and that’s really all there is.”

  “You’re pretty good at shooting people,” Kendal said. He smiled, and Mira couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Just don’t go around calling me captain,” Kendal said.

  “Wasn’t planin’ on it,” she said and ordered another set of drink.

  They spent until late evening talking and drinking in the store, and by the end he was joking around something inappropriate in a way she’d not seen him talk before.

  Once the alcohol settled, Mira caught eye with someone who rubbed her the wrong way. Behind Kendal, across the store, was a woman whose clothes didn’t match those who lived in Alice. She made it off like she wasn’t staring, but Mira could have sworn she was looking at Kendal through the gap between her hood and her scarf.

  Mira shook it off, and spent the night asking Kendal things he never would have answered sober.

  Chapter 22

  Kendal‘s communicator flashed, breaking him from his sleep. It was attached to his belt against the corner of the wall beside the door. Why the hell’s that blinking? he thought and rolled over in his bed. He’d only slept a few hours and was still tipsy from his night with Mira.

  It shouldn’t have been blinking. He turned it off back in Nau Cedik and hadn’t turned it on since. No. He turned it on when he showed his ID to Boe. Kendal tried to ignore it and keep sleeping, but the light kept flashing in the corner of his eye. Even when he pulled the sheets over to block the light, the message still chewed at his thoughts until he needed to know what it said.

  He crawled out of bed and turned the screen on. The light blinded him, and he had to blink a few times to get his eyes to focus right.

  Meet me in Alice.

  Kendal looked at the text several times. The message itself was unsettling, but once he saw the number he felt truly sick. It was unknown, but the communicator had grouped it with the message he received back in the shuttle on the way to Nau Cedik, which meant it was from the same source. He had no way of verifying who sent the message, but now he knew who it was. The only person who had his personal number, not his Union ID, was Nova.

  He turned off his communicator and threw it across the room. It had been three years and he wasn’t going to see her now, especially after what she had done on Nau Cedik. He laid back down and tried to sleep. The room was dark and the engines pleasantly quiet. Only the basic functions were on. Heating and electrical. He had the blankets half on him, keeping his legs warm but letting his chest breathe.

  And you’ll be right there, Nova had said. Her mouth was curled into a smile. Her lips warm and red, and her eyes closed halfway and looking right at him. Only Kendal got a smile from her. Anyone else received a scowl. She was resting up against him with her head resting on his chest. She was older than she looked. Her face was round and her hair was a vibrant gold that bounced and wiggled whenever she moved.

  Nova had been ranting that whole evening about her thoughts on the Union. Nova loved to talk, especially after, and during, sex. And Kendal always listened to all of it, even if he had nothing to add.

  I’m sure I will, he had replied.

  But you will! No
va sat up and curled her legs under her. I’ve already gotten you up to lieutenant all the way from the bottom!

  You make it sound like I asked.

  You didn’t ask, but you deserved it, Nova had said. She kissed him and climbed onto his stomach and looked down at him with her blonde hair hanging down. I’ll be high-admiral one day. Then it won’t be impossible to destroy the Union entirely.

  Nova, he had said, thinking she was going too far in her fantasies. Listening to her wasn’t unpleasant, but he had this deep down feeling that her words would throw him into a world of trouble later on.

  And when I do that; I’ll put you at my side. No more Union. No more control. For the first time since humanity’s been here we’ll be free.

  In strange way, he wished he was back there instead of being on a dingy ship and having to run from the Union every day. He wished he could stroke her pretty golden hair and waste the night away without having to worry about anything. It’d been years since he’d seen her. For all he knew, she was planning to kill him for what he’d done.

  Kendal rolled over and groaned into his pillow. “Damnit, Nova,” he said and sat up. Over a year he spent listening to Nova ramble about things he disagreed with and never once objected. Never once brought up what he thought. During that time, he told himself that it was because he was afraid she’d hurt him. Or that she’d strip him of his rank. But now, he was thinking he didn’t want to hurt her. To see her smile crack when she found out that he was against everything she believed in.

  He got up and put on his shirt. It’d stretched and stained over the weeks, the collar flat and the top button missing. The once proud uniform of the Union now a sad bundle of fabric that he slung over his shoulders. He put on his pants and boots, and took his belt with him to the ship’s entrance.

  The ship was quiet, and only the emergency lights were on. He could already see his breath in the hallway. The rooms were heated while on the surface, but the rest of the ship was not.

  He opened the closet near the exit, and took out a fur coat and a scarf. He wrapped the scarf over his face, leaving a slit for his eyes, and threw the coat’s hood up. He clipped his belt over top the jacket and stuck on his kinetic.

  Jennifer’s one of the farthest planets from Central Sun, which meant they had a simple day and night cycle. The minor sun was on the other side of the planet and the sky was thick black with stars everywhere. Kendal could see two stars, brighter than the others, which let him know how far he was from the central planets.

  He put his hand on the scanner.

  All he could see was fog. Thick sheets that rolled inside the hallways from the cold midnight air. He walked through it, feeling around for the ledge with his feet. The door closed behind him and the fog vanished.

  The night was clear and cold. His breath sparked mist, and his bones trembled from the dead chill that flicked through the air. I’m already regretting this, he thought, and started down the ladder.

  By the time he got to the city, he was shaking and trying not to die. The sky was gray and the city thick with smog. A barrel burned in the middle of the street with two men huddled over the fire. It was such a vibrant red, clashing against the blue monotone of the town and sky. Kendal approached and let the heat reach his limbs. The smoke brushed his face, thawing the frost that accumulated there.

  He pulled his scarf down and let the heat flow over him. Most of the town was dark. Lights out and doors locked, but the store was still open. A faint glow emanated from it.

  He took a quick look around the town, and aside from the two men near the barrel, there wasn’t anyone there. Certainly no Nova.

  Kendal walked into the store, quick to close the door behind him. The warmth hugged him right away. He pulled down his hood and scarf and walked down the couple steps into the main floor. It wasn’t busy. He counted less than a dozen people sitting around, enjoying drinks and playing games. Mostly of them coal workers with dirt on their faces and skin like leather. Nobody he recognized.

  He walked down the main row, eyes darting around for Nova. He saw a few women, but most were far older than her and far less attractive.

  Maybe she lied, he thought, nearing the end of the store. Or it really wasn’t her number. But If it hadn’t been, then who sent it?

  “Have I changed that much?”

  Kendal stopped mid-walk. She was right behind him. Nova. She looked so much different from the last time he’d seen her. She wasn’t chubby around the cheeks anymore. Her face was sharp, and her head shaven. Her neck and collar were muscular and defined, and he had to guess the rest of her was as well. She wore a fur coat with a thick collar, and loose doeskin pants. She looked so little like the woman he’d been with all those years ago; but he knew it was her.

  He looked Nova in the eye, his expression calm and plain. She had a hint of a smile, and kept darting her eyes around the room like she was nervous about being followed.

  “You’re bald,” Kendal said. He sat down on the chair across from her. The table between them was small and round with a goban board in the center.

  “Starting with the insults,” Nova said. “My you’ve grown. I’m starting to remember why we were together.”

  “We were never together. You needed someone to vent to, and I needed someone to be there for me.”

  “Is that how you see it?”

  “That’s how it was.”

  Nova opened the two bowls holding the go stones. “I’ve always liked go,” she said and took out a stone of each color. “Two different sides in a fight to see who controls the board.”

  Where is she going with this?

  Nova held up the black stone. “The Union,” she said, then held up the white, “and those against what they stand for.”

  “I remember a time when you were both of those.”

  “A wolf in sheep’s clothing is all,” she said and put the pieces back in their bowls. She slid the black stones over to Kendal. “A white stone playing for black.”

  “That’s not how the game is played,” he said and placed the first stone down.

  “It’s a metaphor, Jack,” she said and put her white stone beside his. “But the real question I’m leading you to is where do you think you are?”

  “I was playing for black.” Kendal managed to set up a good defense against her, despite her having more reach. “But now I’m not on the board.”

  “Everyone is on the board,” she said, putting a stone in an odd place. “Even if they don’t want to.”

  “Then where do you think I am?” Kendal asked.

  “I know where I want you to be.” She was keeping him from capturing territory, but she couldn’t get on the offensive herself. “On my side, laying in my bed and being there for me.”

  “You’re a tough woman,” Kendal said. “I don’t think you need me to provide moral support.”

  “I don’t need you. I want you.” Nova captured three of his stones, taking the lead. “Aside from Tayla, there’s honestly not a single person I can’t approach without being a figure of authority. I was mad at you when you turned me in, but I’m a reasonable woman. I understand why you had to do it. You were pinned in a corner and knew how to get out. If you came by my side, I would never let you get into a corner again.”

  “You tried to destroy a planet,” Kendal said. The board was aligned in rows of black and white with both of the players’ neck to neck on territory. “Failed, but you still killed thousands.”

  “That is war,” Nova said. “An uprising without respect is not an uprising that can succeed.”

  “You can gain respect without mass-murder.”

  “Yes. It’s called gaining political power. I gave that an attempt, but it failed. Once they knew I was in the process of restructuring the Union, they threw me out! If they do not wish to allow peaceful change then they are forcing a rebellion. The Union would rather shed blood than budge an inch.”

  “That’s not true, Nova. The Union didn’t kill those people. You did.”r />
  “This is war, Kendal.”

  Nova was playing him, and he knew it. The tone of her voice, the obvious defensiveness in what she said. Nova was a woman who got what she wanted, or she’d snap.

  He knew he was playing a dangerous game, but something inside wanted to hurt her. Wanted to see her suffer. “I was on the Bachman, just the other day. You know of the Bachman?”

  “Union transport. Class C. Used for ferrying goods from planet to planet. Nothing special.”

  “Well,” Kendal said. “I was on it just a few days back. I checked the Union feed, the one that’s only there for Union personnel. The one that lets them know about what’s going on in the system. They had one notice for the Nau Cedik attack, and your name wasn’t even mentioned.”

  His words cut deep. He could see it in her eyes. The hatred. The fear.

  “You’re lying,” she said.

  Kendal couldn’t help but smirk. “The whole event was barely a page. No one was talking about it. They don’t care.”

  She drew her kinetic and aimed it straight at him. Everyone else nearby stopped and looked at them. Kendal didn’t flinch. He felt strangely calm despite staring down the barrel of a gun.

  “Are you going to shoot me?” he asked.

  Nova’s hand shook, rattling the gun.

  “No,” she said after a moment and holstered her weapon. She noticed that everyone around was staring at her, and she screamed at them to mind their own business.

  During Nova’s burst of anger, she’d bumped the table and shifted the stones around the board. The game was ruined.

  So much for that, he thought and started packing the black stones back into the bowl. He knocked a piece off the table, and reached down to get it, knocking a few more along with it.

  He groaned and slid his chair back so he could bend down, but Nova grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

  “Kendal,” she whispered and held his hand. “I didn’t fly all the way out to this desolate rock to play go, and I didn’t risk frostbite and settle on a Union run planet so we could catch up. I want you to come back to my ship. I want you to stay with me. We can fly up to my personal chambers, and I can take every little bit of clothes off you, and we can—”