Cast of Nova

by S J McLaughlin

  The docking bay lights dimmed and the soft alarm went off. She felt the brush of wind through her hair as the room started to depressurize.

  She got Kendal into the entryway and closed the door before the docking bay opened up.

  Kendal couldn’t stand anymore. Mira had to drag him, leaving a trail of blood along the way. She strained her arms and pulled a muscle getting him to the command room.

  She set him against the wall where he’d always lean, and made sure his head was upright. The docking bay door was wide open and there was nothing but open space for them to fly to. She sat in her chair and typed a string of commands into the console as fast as she could.

  The engine kicked on and the thrusters spun around to propel them from the Morana. She kept the fake gravity off, making them weightless as they cleared the hangar. She saw that the Morana had already been crushed at the back, now looking like a door wedge with the south end flat and mauled.

  Scattered into the distance were dozens of Union shuttles. Most of the Morana’s crew had had evacuated, Mira would later learn, and most of the death toll was from the detention block where the power had never been restored.

  “We’re clear,” Mira said. They were far from the Morana and on course for Sintic. She took her trembling hands off the control and spun around to face Kendal.

  He sat against the corner, posture slumped in a way that couldn’t have been comfortable. His eyes were open but not looking at anything, and the bleeding had stopped.

  The engine hummed beneath her, the soft rumbling that came with being on a small ship. Her heart raced and her breath was erratic.

  “Kendal?” she said, voice choked up and weak. She gripped the arm rest, staring at Kendal as he sat motionless.

  Mira stood up and walked up to him. He didn’t flinch or tremble. She knelt down and grabbed hold of his hand, feeling his cold skin against hers.

  “Jack?” she said, taking a seat on the floor and rested her head on his shoulder. “Don’t leave me like Dess did. I can’t do this on my own.”

  She spent hours in the command room, half asleep against him until her senses came back. When Dess had died, he’d convinced her to give him a space burial. He had told her about how honorable it was, so she did the same for him.

  She opened the entrance door and let his body float out into the black, leaving her alone in a ship she inherited from dead men.

  By the third day she ran out of fuel. The Union had emptied the fuel reserves and now it was running on backup solar power.

  An engineless ship drifting in space.

  She huddled in the command room, pages from books torn up and scattered around, her prisoner uniform burnt from frequent shots of an EG-pack, and scratch marks on the wall from being stricken with a chair.

  She wore nothing but Dess’s black jacket, which hung to her knees and the arms past her fingers. She held Kendal’s kinetic in her hand. The one Dess had given him, with only six shots left.

  The monitor had been blinking for the past day. A warning that she never bothered to follow up on. The Union had been tracking her and she’d done nothing about it. During her night on Morana she wanted nothing more than to get back to her own ship, but now she realized it wasn’t the ship she wanted back.

  Her eyes were red and she felt tired and dizzy as she played with the kinetic in her hand. The command room was dark, only the single center monitor lit up. She knew what the monitor was trying to tell her. A ship was coming her way, only minutes from boarding.

  Mira looked at the flight controls, but decided against it. She could have turn the ship back on and used up her auxiliary power to escape, but instead she unlocked the entrance door so they wouldn’t have to cut it down.

  Her ship rattled as they docked. She toyed with the kinetic in her hand. The one Dess had, and the one Kendal later owned. Handed between the three of them.

  The door opened, barely a faint hissing from where she was. The sounds of footsteps were louder. Mira weighed her options. She could empty a few rounds in the Union officers. She could put a bullet in her mouth. Or she could do nothing.

  She thought them over, then sighed and put the gun in her pocket. She’d let the Union decide what to do with her.

  There were only two officer that boarded. Both young men with short hair and neat uniforms, holding their kinetics like this was the first time they had to use them. They reminded her of Kendal, back on Nau Cedik, what felt like such a long time ago. Both bight eyed and naïve, wearing their uniforms with some kind of pride and jumping at the slightest sound.

  “Morning, boys,” Mira said, trying to sound cheery against her dry and stuffed up voice.

  “Hands up,” the short one said, holding his gun at Mira.

  “You’re too close,” Mira said.

  “What?”

  “You’re too close.” Mira stood up, holding her hands over her head. “If you hold your gun too close like that, I could just snatch ‘er from your hand. Try and keep a little bit of distance. Ain’t like a gun’s gonna kill me less from back there.”

  He took a step back and told the tall one to cuff her. He was rougher than he needed to be, forcing her hands behind her back and locking them together with metal cuffs. The short one told the tall one to search the ship while he guarded ‘the prisoner’.

  “Am I in trouble?” Mira asked.

  “You are,” he said. “This ship matches the model and ID of one that was logged in the Morana before she was damaged. And you match the records for one of the criminals aboard that ship. Mira Rao.”

  “I guess that means I’m in trouble,” Mira said. “What’s your name?”

  He stuttered, like he hadn’t expected her to ask. “Kara,” he said. He almost looked embarrassed.

  “Ain’t such a bad name,” she said. “Better than Rao.”

  The taller officer returned after a quick search. There was no way he could have checked every room on the ship.

  “There’s no one else aboard,” he said. “Just her.”

  Karr nodded. “Take her to the detention block,” he said. “We’ll let the captain decide what should be done.”

  Mira rolled her eyes and let them take her back to their ship.

  Chapter 33

  Two years in a prison colony. Dess was right about the first month being the worst. After that, she found it no more difficult than her life had been on Nau Cedik. At least here she didn’t have to worry about her room rotting away, or not having enough to eat. She’d filled out quite a bit. Stomach still flat, but it didn’t sink in anymore and her chest had grown out enough that it was noticeable even with a thick coat on. She had more muscle than before, which she supposed kept her from getting fat. She’d even kept her hair short. The look had grown on her and she liked not having to brush bangs from her eyes constantly.

  She spent most of her time in her room by herself. The high security meant she only had three hours out a day. She’d been catching up on her reading. Straying to the books on piloting and engineering, but dipping into history as well. All they had were Union books. There was little on Nau Cedik, or anything before the war.

  They had sentenced her life in prison, without much of a trial. Nova, as well as all of her troops that had not accepted being part of the Union, or had committed crimes, were sentenced together. From the rumors that Mira picked up in the yard, Nova had been sent to the maximum security wing on U4. A place with less than fifty criminals, all which are given no freedoms.

  Two guards led Mira away from her cell. She had her time out early in the day, and there were usually only a few people out. Back in the earlier months, she had the evening which meant the occasional scuffle with a few of the men who thought she looked ‘cute’.

  The yard was a dome, with an open window on the ceiling that let in the natural light of the red dwarf they orbited. Grass had been planted in certain spots on the ground, while others still had the metal walkways. Weight lifting in the corner, and a few benches around. They tried to
fill the empty space, but the yard was big enough it would be barren regardless of what they did. Long enough it’d take a few minutes to walk around, but only a short sprint from one end to the other. It almost felt like being outside.

  Mira usually did an hour of walking, then an hour of reading in the sunlight, then she’d try to find someone who would listen to her ramble for the last hour. This day was strange. Only three others in the yard, and Mira recognized none of them. She knew this was a quiet time for the prisoner’s yard, but it was never this sparse.

  She walked past the weights and looked through the filtered glass at the sun. Red and spitting flames. It was the same sun that Jenny orbited far down and away from it all. Mira breathed in deep. She could only wander around, lost in memories.

  It wasn’t long before she heard the doors open, much earlier than expected. Two officers, one she recognized as Lieutenant Bishop, entered and approached her.

  “Good morning Mira,” Bishop said. Mira liked him. He’d always been nice to her, and she appreciated it even if he was only pretending. The other officer she didn’t recognize, but it was obvious he was just the hired gun of the two.

  “Less morning and more early evening,” Mira said.

  He smiled. “Time here’s different than on the Tempo.”

  “Union ship?” Mira asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “I was on assignment there for the past two weeks. May I escort you there?”

  Mira swallowed and looked around her, making sure there was no one else listening. “Do I have a choice?”

  “You do,” Bishop said.

  Mira wasn’t sure what to think. Two years of listening to what they had to say, and doing what they commanded, but this was different. Bishop didn’t seem malicious, and Mira couldn’t think what kind of ulterior motive he might have.

  After a moment’s hesitation, she shrugged. “Sure,” Mira said. “Whatever you want.”

  They led her out of the yard. No cuffs, or any kind of restraints, but the security officer was behind her and keeping enough distance she couldn’t pull a fast one if she wanted to.

  Mira watched the cells as they walked by. Prisoners of all different kinds, all laying in their beds reading, or sleeping, or touching themselves. A strange, lonely prison where safety was kept by isolation and distance.

  The Tempo was attached to the side of the colony in a room Mira hadn’t been in since her first day. The airlock was open, leading to an accordion hallway that connected to the Tempo.

  Mira went first, feeling the strange plastic dip to her weight as she walked through and into the Union ship. Even after all these years, space still frightened her and she was glad to be out of the unstable hallway and into a proper ship.

  The Tempo looked like a new ship. Pure white walls with bright lights and unscratched signs that pointed which hall would lead where. They followed the hall towards either officers’ quarters, medical, or conferences. She tried to follow the signs as they went around bends and twists, but they were going too fast for her to read all the details.

  They stopped rather suddenly, Mira almost bumping into Bishop.

  “You go in,” Bishop said, opening the door labeled ‘Conference Room A’, and holding it for her.

  Mira hesitated, taking slow steps and looking back once she was inside. “Are you coming?” she asked.

  He shook his head “Someone else will be with you in a moment.”

  Mira wanted to ask more questions, but he shut the door and she heard it lock. A board room with a long, narrow table with four chairs on the two sides. Not enough light, and sparse decoration. The most beautiful thing in the room was the full wall monitor displaying a feed from just outside the ship. The red dwarf and the prison colony were vibrant and close, hovering in a way that looked like she could reach out a touch them.

  Mira took a seat, facing away from the screen so it wouldn’t distract her, and watched the door. She rested her head against the table, sighing impatiently.

  Ten minutes passed until the door opened. The creaking startled Mira, having almost dozed off. She sat up straight and blinked to focus her eyes. An older officer had entered the room. He had graying hair and his age was starting to show on his face. His uniform hadn’t a single wrinkle, with numerous badges on his chest. As much as she hated the Union, there was something about the upper officer uniforms that made her smile.

  When he started to walk is when Mira noticed his cane. A polished, wooden cane that he leaned on with each step as his right leg strained to hold his weight. He had all of his binders and papers under his opposite arm, having trouble carrying them while using a cane.

  He sat in the chair opposite to Mira, with a long space of empty table between them. He opened his binder and shuffled out all of his papers and turned his tablet on, showing off a display with Mira’s profile on it. The more he looked through the papers, the more she realized that he wasn’t just sorting them, he was actively reading, taking his time to go over paragraphs and circle sections with a pen.

  Mira tried to speak, but he cleared his throat to let her know to keep quite. She sat in silence, tapping her feet on the ground until he had his papers sorted.

  “My name is Tearly,” he said, looking at her for the first time since he’d entered the room. “I’m currently providing as Captain for his ship until we’re finished our duties here.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Mira said. “I’m—”

  “I know who you are,” he said and patted the sorted stack of paper. “I have read through your file, as thin as it is. Born on planet Two during the Dek-Norman era, and then moved to Nau Cedik when your father served under General Benith during the war. Both of your parents are decease, and you spent most of your life in Benith Town. A small place, but it’s grown in development this last year.”

  “Benith Town was destroyed,” Mira said. “I saw it.”

  “The locals felt fit to rename the neighboring port after it, what little there was left, and the new city has grown ten times what Benith Town ever was due to the new mining operations on Nau Cedik.” He cleared his throat and pulled a sheet from the pile to put in front of him. “Let’s get back on topic. In the months following the Nau Cedik incident, you were involved with some unsavory company. That is what brought you here, and you were charged due to your affiliations with Kanta, Kendal, and Ross. Since then, you have shown nothing but good behavior while imprisoned here. Good enough behavior that several of the officers stationed in this colony have recommended you.”

  “Thanks,” she said, not sure how else to respond.

  “Is it true that you’re a pilot?” he asked.

  Mira thought it over, then nodded. It wasn’t technically a lie, as she’d had more flight experience than most, despite her inexperience.

  “And your ship, which you inherited from a former Desmond Kanta, still remains in our storage back on U4.” Tearly put the papers back in the file and folded them up on the desk. He leaned forward, eyes piercing into Mira’s. “The Union has always branched to outward sources for some of its more trivial activities. Training new pilots and building new ships only to run supplies is bothersome, expensive, and a waste of time. Don’t you agree?”

  Mira nodded.

  “That’s why we’ve been looking out to find pilots who’ve have run into a few complications with their life and give them opportunities to aid the Union and, in turn, aid the system. We’ve had successes in the past, but we’ve refined our approach after what happened with Kanta.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Kanta was chosen because of his piloting experience, despite his crimes during the Dek-Norman era. He’d been in prison for ten years, and during such time he had shown exceptional behavior. It’s a shame he was associated with—” Tearly stopped, almost lost in thought a moment before speaking again. “We’re willing to return your ship, flagged and monitored of course, and let you commence operations. Nau Cedik is growing richer due to the exposure of the inner layers of the crus
t and to valuable minerals embedded there. The Union is, of course, buying these at fair legal price, and we wish for you to run shipments between them and a transport station back on U4. You’ll be given freedom to travel within Union space, given you keep up with your work and as long as you’re not to take on passengers or other jobs until your tenor is up.”

  Mira was having trouble swallowing all of this. She wasn’t sure what to think. While she would be limited, and essentially still a slave to the Union, she’d have months of time in between assignments to see new planets and people. Having this thrown on her was too much too fast.

  “Do you accept?” Tearly asked, noticeable impatient with Mira’s silence.

  “Accept?” Mira said, puzzled. “Do I got a choice?”

  “If you want, you can get up, go back out that door, and have Officer Bishop escort you back to your room. You have a life sentence, Mira. You might not have committed many crimes, but you were sentenced along with all of Nova’s thugs, and that gave you life. If you want to be an old woman, rotting in that cell, then go ahead. We’re offering ten years under our server, then that’s it. You would be free after that.”

  Mira looked back at the door, and then back to Tearly. She didn’t get up, instead making it obvious she wasn’t budging from her chair. Tearly grinned when he knew she decided to accept. While Mira might have been glad for a second chance at life, it sickened her that Tearly got everything he wanted from this meeting.

  Chapter 34

  Flying had become second nature to Mira.

  A few short trips around U4, and she could use the console as easy as walking. The ship, now her ship, had been hosed down and swept clean. The bookshelves stripped bare, and the table with a chess board scratched onto the surface had been replaced. The Union had littered the ship with trackers, deep in the hull where Mira would never find. Yet, despite the stripping and renovations, it still reeked of memories. It was hers now, but it would always be Dess’s ship. She knew the room where they had kept Boe, and the room where Kendal had sleep, and she would always remember the spots where her crew had died.