“When you don’t rate the big office, you get to have your meeting here,” Jahelia said.
“And did you rate the big office?”
“Always,” she said with a grin, and opened the next door.
Sedmamin’s office—or former office—was huge and sleek. Windows wrapped two walls and looked out over the greenroof of the slightly lower second PrimeCorp tower, and beyond that, the city. A corner sofa in white leather offered seating for cozy business chats, while a long conference table waited for more serious discussion. Tall plants added dashes of green to the room, and the floor was a warm, striated green tile. Sedmamin’s desk, a white and black monstrosity, was flanked by a touch-table. The room, elegant as it was, had a deserted feel. I felt certain that in other parts of the corporation, a war for this space was already being waged.
Yet another door, closed, was set into the far wall. I listened at it, heard nothing, and opened it to peer inside. As I’d expected, it was an executive washroom, complete with shower and sauna as well as the usual amenities. “Washroom,” I told Jahelia, closing the door again.
“Let’s do this,” Jahelia said, as if relieved to finally be able to speak. Sedmamin had assured us that his office was not monitored, although I didn’t have absolute faith in that belief. Sedmamin’s current position was proof that he hadn’t been pulling all the strings at PrimeCorp Main, and surveillance chips could be minuscule. In and out fast, that’s how I wanted this to go.
As promised, the smooth white surface of Sedmamin’s desk held a single data chip, and I snatched that up as Jahelia stood at the tabletop screen and double-tapped it to bring it to life. Her fingers danced over the surface as she entered her passcode and the file system resolved on the screen. She let out a sigh and flashed a grin at me. “I’m still in here,” she said.
“I didn’t know you were worried about that.”
She shrugged. “You never know.”
I handed her the chip and she slotted it into the table. The outer rim of the tabletop screen turned green and another layer of files displayed.
“Perfect.” She opened her bag and took out a chipcase, extracting the one Sedmamin had given her and slotting it into another port. While it ran through a handshaking routine, she pulled her datapad out of her bag, too, and set it on the desk. “Say hello to Luta, Pita.”
“Good morning, Captain Paixon,” said a cheery voice from the datapad.
“Good morning, Pita.” Intellectually, I knew that Pita was nothing more than a very sophisticated AI, but I thought of her as more than that. Her interface was based on Jahelia Sord’s own personality, and she’d been instrumental in allowing me to interact with the first of the friendly Chron we’d encountered. After that “bonding” experience, I’d secretly been sorry to give her back to her rightful owner. Although from time to time she was a bit of a pain in the ass, from which, Jahelia had told me, her name derived.
“Yes, I’m doing that now,” Jahelia responded to her implant.
Jahelia hurriedly entered commands, her fingers flying nimbly over the screen. “Pita, you should be able to interface with the database now.” Then, to Sedmamin, “Yes, I see that. Everything in that sector? All right.” She stood straight and put her hands on her hips, staring down at the tabletop screen.
“Okay Pita, start the download when you’re ready.”
“Download initiated,” Pita said after a brief pause.
“The files are downloading now,” Jahelia relayed to Sedmamin. “All right, now let’s deal with that other little matter,” Jahelia said, keying something else into the tabletop screen
The first alarm bells rang in my head. Sedmamin had given us clear instructions on what we had to do, and they’d involved only one task.
“Should you be distracting Pita with anything else?” I asked carefully. “No offense, Pita.”
“None taken, Captain. But I am an extremely efficient multi-tasker.”
Jahelia didn’t answer me, only said, “Never mind, Chairman, it’s nothing about you.”
“What are you doing?” I leaned down to make her look at me.
She grinned. “Just fixing a little something while we’re here anyway. Don’t worry about it.” She typed a couple more things.
I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or Sedmamin. “How long will it take?”
She shrugged. “Not long. Pita, how’s it going?”
“Searching the database, Jahelia,” the AI told her.
“Look, Sedmamin, if you don’t shut up about that I’m shutting the implant down,” Jahelia hissed. “I told you it’s not your concern.”
I glanced at the door. I couldn’t shake the feeling it would open any moment and we’d be caught. I had no doubt what Sedmamin was demanding to know, and I felt the same way.
Jahelia reached up and pressed a spot behind her ear.
“Did you just—”
She looked at me defiantly. “He deserved it. He wouldn’t shut up. And we don’t need him anymore now.”
“Okay, what’s Pita up to? We came here with one job, and you’re doing that.”
Jahelia threw me a catlike grin. “I couldn’t pass up the chance to fix one little item while we’re here.”
I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes at her. “Your ship.”
“Look, it’s not taking any extra time. Pita’s going to find it and just delete its existence from the database.”
“You already changed the drive signature and the ship’s registration,” I said. “They’re not coming after you. Are you feeling paranoid?”
She shrugged, completely unapologetic. “Sedmamin still owes me,” she said. “He can’t fix this for me anymore, so I’m doing it myself. That’s my ship, Captain, and I don’t have any intention of letting anyone take it from me. I want every trace of its existence out of the database here. I’d expect you, of all people, to understand that.”
And I did. I sighed. If Sord felt even a little bit about her Shadow’s Eclipse the way I felt about the Tane Ikai, I had to let her do this.
“As long as it doesn’t put us at any greater risk,” I said, unwilling to give in too easily.
“It’s already happening, and it won’t,” she said.
Her ID implant pinged softly, and she looked at me with sudden concern.
“Someone just opened the outer door.”
WE FROZE. IN the seconds available to us, my mind ran through the possible options. Wait to see if they come into the inner office. Hide in the washroom. Quietly knock the person out and run.
I hoped Jahelia wasn’t considering anything more drastic. I’d never felt more conscious of her potential volatility.
Then the need for a decision was out of my hands. A voice called out, “Luta? Can we talk? I know you’re here.”
Jahelia turned wide, slightly dazed eyes in my direction, and I realized absurdly that I’d never seen her so taken aback. My own heart raced so loudly in my ears I wondered if she could hear it. The cold of shock drained heat from my hands and face.
Jahelia mouthed one word at me. “Who?”
I swallowed. I knew the voice, but I couldn’t seem to get the word out. And in the next heartbeat, it didn’t matter, because the inner door opened and my ex-son-in-law, Taso Tacan, poked his head into the room. He hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d seen him, and he threw us a lazy grin when he saw our shocked faces. I almost put a hand up to check that my jaw hadn’t dropped open.
“Hey, don’t look so worried,” he said, putting up a placatory palm as he came all the way into the office and closed the door behind him. “No-one else knows you’re here. I want to keep it that way.”
“Great. That means no-one will know what happened to you,” Jahelia said. I glanced over and saw that from somewhere she’d produced a tiny, palm-sized oval disk. She held it toward Taso threateningly. It was only partially visible in her hand, and I didn’t know what it was, but I knew Jahelia. This might not end well.
“Whoa, okay, let�
��s calm down,” I said. “Jahelia, I don’t know what that is, but let’s not make the situation worse.”
She raised an eyebrow. “We might have different definitions of worse, but I’m listening. You know this guy?”
Heat flooded my extremities now, and I felt my face flush. My legs twitched with adrenaline, shouting at me to do something, but I managed to fight it. Instead I crossed my arms casually and leaned back against the edge of Sedmamin’s monstrous desk. “Jahelia Sord, meet my former son-in-law, Taso Tacan. Taso, I’m assuming you already know who Jahelia is.”
He shrugged. “Not really. It’s you I’m here to see. Pleased to meet you, though, Ms. Sord.”
“Can’t say I feel the same.”
Taso ignored the jab and turned his full attention on me. “Look, Luta, I know this has to be short, and I’m happy to make it that way. I want to make a deal with you, and I don’t think you’ll find it difficult to say yes.”
I noticed then that Taso wore a PrimeCorp ID badge on the left side of his shirt. Unlike mine and Jahelia’s, though, his did not proclaim him a “Visitor.” None of this made sense. What connection did Taso have with PrimeCorp? I swallowed.
“Keep talking. I’m listening.”
“I know you’ve got Alin Sedmamin with you on the Tane Ikai,” he said rapidly. “And you must know that PrimeCorp wants him.”
I said nothing and kept my face neutral as my thoughts spun. Had Maja told Taso that we had Sedmamin? Why would she? Or had Taso been monitoring us that closely? At least Jahelia had shut down her implant. It probably wouldn’t be great to have Sedmamin listening in on this.
Taso went on, “I don’t really know why you’re here, and I don’t care. All I want is Sedmamin.”
I frowned. That was surprising enough to make me ask, “Why?”
He smiled and rubbed the thumb and fingertips of his right hand together in the classic gesture for money. “They’ll pay me big time to deliver him. They came to me because of my connection to you.”
My brain was still not up to speed. “But why would they think I’d even be involved? They know better than anyone that Sedmamin and I have never been friends.”
Taso shrugged. “He didn’t go to anyone else they thought he would. They figured there was a chance he had something on you—some leverage he could use—to force you into helping him get away.”
Yes, that would be PrimeCorp’s thinking. They’d never consider that I might help Sedmamin for altruistic reasons, or because he had something that I wanted. Or maybe even that he’d sell them out in exchange for freedom. That classic PrimeCorp hubris.
“So that’s why you were in touch with Maja. Did she tell you Sedmamin was with us?”
Taso barked a short laugh. “My dear ex-wife wouldn’t tell me anything, don’t worry. I thought maybe I could still charm it out of her, but I guess I’ve lost my touch.”
I wanted to punch him, and also tell him that he was out of his league getting involved with PrimeCorp. I decided to save my dignity and my breath. He’d been the one to cut ties with my family and Maja obviously hadn’t been taken in by him again. And as for PrimeCorp, he’d made his choice already. I didn’t owe him anything. I played along, but I couldn’t make it too easy for him or he’d be suspicious.
I shrugged. “Say that’s what happened. If you knew we were coming here, why didn’t you just tell PrimeCorp and let them deal with it? If they caught me here, they’d have all the cards. You know my crew would hand Sedmamin over to cut me loose. All you had to do was make a call.”
Taso’s blue eyes narrowed and a smug look crept over his face. “And they might not feel they had to pay me if all I did was tip them off. No, I want to physically hand Sedmamin over myself, so they can’t squirm out of our deal.”
I knew all too well that PrimeCorp would do whatever it took to cancel a bad deal, and that the safest place to be in that case would be far, far away from their sphere of influence. But I merely asked, “So what’s this about? Why are you here?”
“I’m here to make a deal,” Taso said.
“You let us walk out of here, and we hand over Sedmamin to you,” Jahelia said. “That’s pretty obvious.”
Taso continued to talk to me. “Look, I know you hate the guy. Whatever reason you have for being here, you’re not looking out for his health. Just promise you’ll hand him over to me. That’s all there is to it.”
I laughed. “And you’ll take my word for it?”
He cocked his head at me and one side of his mouth twisted up in a smile. “I know you and Maja had your issues,” he said. “There were times I thought she downright hated you. But she always said that once you said you’d do a thing, you’d do it. She didn’t always mean it as a compliment. But I don’t think you’ll lie about this. You hate Sedmamin anyway. And if I found you once, I can find you again. PrimeCorp has ample resources I can call on.”
“I could take care of this, Captain,” Jahelia said in a terrifyingly rational and detached voice. “I can put three bioplas flechettes in his throat in less time than it takes to suggest it. We’d be out of here long before anyone discovered the body.”
I pretended to consider, and my mind truly was racing, trying to figure the best way to deal with him. The main thing was that Jahelia and I walk out of here with the files. Giving Jahelia free rein to use her little gadget would be one way—I believed she was totally serious. But I didn’t want to leave a mess behind us if I could help it. We had enough to deal with. And I didn’t think the situation warranted murder.
“I can’t give him to you right away,” I said. “What we’re—collecting—here . . . he’s got to have time to deal with it or my investment is worthless.” I kept it vague, hoping he’d interpret that to mean that I was making money on this enterprise. And that his loyalty to PrimeCorp didn’t extend past his own self-interests.
He held up a hand. “Hey, I get that. You’ve got an operation going here, I don’t want to mess it up for you. I just want the same consideration from you.”
I looked away from him and at Jahelia, who glanced at me and shrugged. Her arm, pointing the deadly gadget, hadn’t wavered while Taso and I talked.
“I’m supposed to deliver Sedmamin to FarView Station,” I told Taso carefully. “But after that I promised him I’d take him to a safe haven. We could make an unscheduled stop at Rhea or Renata. Your choice. I won’t do a handover at FarView. Too many people in too small a place, and too much Protectorate presence.”
Taso nodded gravely. “That’ll work. I’ll send you an aliased ID code where you can reach me when you’re back in Delta Pavonis. I’ll arrange the details and tell you where to meet.”
“And come up with a story for me to tell Sedmamin?”
“I’ll leave that part up to you. You’re a smart lady. You’ll come up with something.” His face and his voice hardened then, and I wondered what had become of the young man I’d been happy to see Maja marry, long ago. “Don’t try to break our deal, though, Luta. This has been amicable—” he glanced at Jahelia—“for the most part. But it won’t stay that way if you double-cross me.”
I shrugged and kept my voice light. “Hey, you’ve got it right. Sedmamin’s nothing to me, once this job is finished.”
He nodded. “Then let’s get out of here, shall we, ladies? Ms. Sord, you can put that thing back in your pocket now. I guarantee you won’t need it.”
“I’ll just keep it handy, thanks,” Jahelia Sord said in a bored drawl. “Let me get my datapad.” She retrieved Pita from where the datapad still lay on Sedmamin’s tech-table, after a glance at the screen. She ejected the two data chips and slipped them and the datapad into her bag, then turned and nodded to me. She kept the oval disk in her right hand.
“All right, we’re done here. Let’s go,” I told Taso.
He stepped aside and motioned us out the door and I went, feeling like someone had painted a bulls-eye on my back.
But Taso kept his word and escorted us uneventfully down the
corridor, to the elevator, and inside. We didn’t talk as the car carried us smoothly and swiftly down to the lobby level, stopping only a few times along the way to collect and disgorge passengers. When the doors opened at the bottom, I nodded to Taso without smiling and headed across the sprawling lobby toward the exit. Jahelia kept an easy pace beside me, but she kept one hand in her pocket, and I knew she still clasped her tiny weapon inside it. We stopped briefly at the desk to return our badges. I fully expected guards or alarms at any second, but it didn’t happen.
We didn’t talk until the doors of PrimeCorp Main had closed behind us and we were a city block away. Jahelia paused near a storefront filled with colourful bio-weave jackets and pulled Pita out of her bag.
“Pita? You got it all done?”
“Absolutely,” the AI answered. “Files accessed and copied, and one ship effectively erased from existence.”
“Excellent.” Jahelia slipped the datapad back into her bag, and we resumed walking. Her next question was directed at me. “You have no intention of giving Sedmamin to him, do you?”
I shook my head. “Not in the least.”
She turned to grin at me. “I noticed that you didn’t actually say you’d do it. He only thought you did.”
I returned the grin. “I learned a long time ago that sometimes people hear what they want to hear. Now, tell me about that very interesting device you kept pointed at him that whole time.”
Jahelia Sord held out the disk and pressed a tiny button on the side. It opened like a clam shell, and she proffered it to me. Inside was a scattering of small white pellets.
“Mint?” she asked, her eyes dancing. “I learned a long time ago that sometimes people see what you want them to see.”
Chapter 15 – Lanar
Mistrust and Rebellion
I KNEW THAT Regina wouldn’t have set me an impossible task deliberately, but asking me to figure out where the Chron were slipping into Nearspace felt like one. I went back to the Cheswick with a promise from her that she’d send me all the information the scouts had gathered. She was as good as her word. I’d barely been back aboard the Cheswick long enough to file the first of several reports when the datapacket from Regina arrived with an urgent notification ping.
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