“Mushroom burger.” He shrugged, opening his own paper bag. “Walk with me.”
He set off, charting a course out the front of Best Universe, munching his burger. Grace followed, biting into her own. It tasted delicious, lightly flavored with sesame and pepper. The lettuce was real, crunchy and clean-tasting, so unlike shipboard food. And the bread. So, so good.
Grace finished her burger in what felt like two seconds. Cam watched her, only a quarter through his. “Hungry, huh?”
“I hate ship food.” She grimaced.
“Me too.” He took them away from the station’s main concourse, heading for a street lined with stores. Each was small, a sample only. Starfire was a trading port. Merchants would visit these small stores, selecting from samples for mass shipments later. It was easy enough for two souls to lose themselves in the press of people.
More importantly, it was trivial to talk without prying, listening ears. Cam still chewed on his burger, caution/concern/careful coming from him. It made her interested in what he had to say. Grace wasn’t in the mood for guessing games. “You need a thief.”
“I do,” he agreed. “I’ve worked on Starfire for twenty years. Managed a few promotions through luck and been demoted as many times through ill favor. I feel it’s time to get my due.”
“Why not turn me in?” Grace paused at a store selling artwork. The stall looked empty of care, because no one shopped for artwork in bulk. Not out here in the hard black. She felt like that artwork. Alone. Unwanted.
Cam spent some time working through his answers. Grace picked up deceit/lie, then guile/ruse, before grudging honesty/parlay. She’d expected the first. Grace thought he’d try for the second. She didn’t expect the third. “The Empire’s done me no favors. Why should I help the Empire?”
“Because they’re big and powerful. Not helping them is the same as hindering them.” Grace pressed her palm to the glass above a beautiful piece of art depicting what looked like a green sea. She smiled as she realized what it was. It’s an ocean of grass. She might never see anything like that again. Earth was off-limits.
“They’re dicks.” Cam shrugged. “Here it is. In my line of work—”
“A cheat? A con-man?”
“A customs official.” Cam looked hurt. “In my official duties, I know the Empire are here looking for Grace Gushiken. Boy, I sure hope they don’t find her.” The last sentence he said overly loud.
“I get it.”
“Because if they did—”
“I said, I get it.” Grace glared.
“Right. The Empire is picking up plans for a new set of starships. Hulls made of ceramicrete wedged with good alloy.” Cam turned from the art store, heading away.
Grace followed, giving the beautiful, unwanted art a last glance. “So?”
“So, I need those plans. You get me the plans, and we’re square.”
Grace shook her head. “I get you the plans, and we go fifty-fifty on the proceeds.”
“The files on Grace Gushiken say nothing about her skills in comedy.” Cam gave off a little wary/humor.
“Did they talk about how good she was at killing people?”
“They did. It’s a fair point.” Cam handed her a data sliver. “Everything you need is on there. Where the data’s being held. What to look for. Who’s guarding it.”
Grace took the data sliver, turning it over in her hand. She thought about the massive armored soldier she’d seen at the docks. “I have some idea of who holds the keys.”
“It’s a deal?” Cam’s look was hopeful.
Grace picked up surprise/delight from him. She offered her hand. “It’s a deal, Cam Redwood. I’ll get your plans, and you’ll get my coin.”
He beamed. Grace watched as he turned to walk away, expecting her to follow to hash out further details. She took the moment to slip away, hiding in the faceless mass of humanity of Starfire Station. Grace caught his surprise/concern when he found her gone, but it couldn’t be helped.
She didn’t work with a partner. Partners were the best way to end up dead.
Chapter Two
Grace knew there was a finder’s fee on her head. Last time she’d seen a figure, it was over a five hundred thousand good Empire coins. If someone like Cam turned her in, he would get more coin than he could imagine. She figured he could think of big numbers, so the data he wanted her to steal had to be worth a lot.
It had to be worth so much, just half of it was more than Grace’s finder’s fee from her father. She spent a lot of time thinking about that. Her father, Kazuo Gushiken, would burn worlds to reclaim her. This meant one of three things.
First, the data was more than just ship hull designs. No way were starship plans worth entire planets of wealth.
The second option was Cam feared for his safety. The odds were good any person fixing to claim Grace’s bounty would go missing. They’d be found weeks later adrift in an asteroid belt without a ship suit.
Both of those felt like good options, but Grace’s experience of the universe suggested a more likely scenario. Cam means to take the data and turn you in for the bounty.
Grace needed to be prepared. She went back to her hotel room, slotting the data sliver Cam gave her into the console. The holo brightened, revealing … everything. She saw guard routes. Layouts of the place where the data was kept. Grace even knew the head enforcer was Max Conyers, a huge monster of a man and the one showing an interest at Starfire’s docks earlier.
She leaned closer to the holo. Max was so big, he had the look of a person who ate other people as snacks. Grace was good in a fight, but could she take Max Conyers? She rolled her shoulder, remembering the broken chain of the heavy bag. Yes, she could hit hard, and she was fast and agile. But Grace was also small, and under no illusions she could take a hit from Max.
Best bet? Not getting in a fight with him in the first place.
The barracks holding the data sliver was a modern design, shipped out here by the Empire and bolted to the side of Starfire Station. Air and water. Power couplings. Fabricator and dispenser feed lines, and their return waste disposals. A complete sealed unit, accessible by main airlocks, under guard by auto-turrets.
Grace’s finger hovered in the holo’s blue light. Air and water. She eyed the specs. Narrow. A tight fit for anyone. But maybe not too small for her. Sometimes being young proved useful.
Time to get to work.
Grace had spent enough time around blasters to know those weapons weren’t for her. She was a lousy shot, But she was great with a blade. First line of business would be getting her sword back.
When she’d met Cam, she’d stolen his ident card and access badge. Starfire was an older station without the fancy biometric security of Empire facilities. It was one of the reasons she’d chosen it. Starfire’s industry was built on it being a haven for pirates and lowlifes. They knew their security was bad. It’s how they wanted it.
She felt a little guilty about stealing Cam’s ID, but not a lot on account of the likelihood of Cam setting her up for a fall. Grace worked her way around the station, avoiding anyone who looked like they carried a badge and a blaster. The Immortal docked at the station’s mid-section docks. Those docks held their own lock-up, a secure facility she’d marked for a later appointment.
En route, she lifted a jacket with a hood from a rack of clothes outside a Venus exporter. No one saw her take it. How Venus fashions got here Grace had no idea, but the hood was made from light-adaptive material. Pulled over her head, it played the colors of the room back, making her a little harder to distinguish. It was garish and gaudy, and her father wouldn’t have approved. He’d have said the best disguise ensures you’re unseen. Grace disagreed with Kazuo on many things. She knew that the best disguise ensured you were seen and then ignored. With a Venus adaptive hood, she looked like any other spoiled rich girl dragged along on a business trip with parents.
The docks were as she’d left them. Her ‘disguise’ worked perfectly. Grace slipped past Emp
ire guards without anyone remarking on the tourist girl. Those guards were hunting a Japanese girl. When her father found they’d missed her here, he’d be furious.
She smiled.
Cam’s badge worked on the door without a problem, the big metal airlock clunking as it slid aside to let her in. The lock-up held racks of confiscated goods. Drugs. Weapons. Stolen clothes sat next to canisters of textured protein. It took her a little while to find her sword, nervous tension clenching her gut the whole time. When she laid a hand on the worn hilt, Grace breathed a little easier. Once slung across her back, the katana’s hilt riding over her shoulder, she felt calm.
On her way out, Grace found a storage bin with a digital PIN lock. She paused by the container, frowning. What would require additional security inside an already-secure facility?
Grace drew her sword, the metal hissing in release. She pressed the blade against the lock, plastic and ceramic popping free with a tinkle. Lifting the lid gave Grace her second real smile of the day. She’d found a small cache of explosives. She helped herself to one. Now, to get clear.
Opening the door to the lock-up, Grace bounced off a solid object. It had the weight and substance of a mountain. She stumbled back, catching her balance easy enough. Looking up, and up some more, she realized the mountain she’d hit was Max Conyers.
His massive, armored form hulked outside the doorway. The armor was polished black, amber lights gleaming across its surface. Max’s helmet visor hid his face, but the way his shoulders moved made Grace think the giant grinned in anticipation. “Grace Gushiken. I knew it was you.”
Her steel leaped from her scabbard, hungry for more than plastic to cut. She padded back, luring Max inside the lock-up. Out in the open, she’d be caught. Grace counted on Max having the right combination of arrogance and greed to try and capture her himself.
Her gamble paid off, the giant following, hunger/hunt/victory pouring from him. She ignored it, not wanting to be caught in the wash of his feelings. Max didn’t move like someone who was fat or slow. Grace was reminded of an industrial loader, all machine precision and mechanical strength.
She tipped a rack of shelves over, the contents spilling. It bought her a little time. The whole plan was to not fight Max! She glanced about for an exit, but the room had just one door. Standard station escape pods waited on the hull wall, but that wouldn’t fix her problem. Grace could leave, only to be picked up by the station guard and locked up again. You’re going to have to fight him.
She held her blade ready, the curve of ancient metal gleaming a grin she didn’t feel. Max clambered over the fallen shelves, then ran for her.
Power armor. You can’t take that on the blade. Grace dropped into a roll, passing under Max’s lunge. She sprang to her feet at his rear, blade whisking around to clang against his armor. Grace knew her cut was nearly perfect. It should have done something to the armor.
Nearly perfect isn’t perfect. Be the blade. Grace backed away from Max’s whirling punch. The soldier hadn’t drawn his blaster, which she took as a good sign. It meant her father wanted her alive, and it meant Max took that seriously enough to not use it even when fighting a sword-wielding assassin. Or, he doesn’t care about the sword.
Grace snarled. She would make him care about her blade. What she needed was options. She thought about what she’d seen as she rolled under Max. Power armor. Sealed unit, but metal clasps to the rear hold it closed. The buckles were strong but at the rear as they were the weakest part. They’d take a blaster shot, shrugging off blue-white plasma like it was a warm bath.
They wouldn’t shrug off a perfect strike from a sword made hundreds of years before Grace was born. She just needed to make a perfect strike.
“You know we have Cam, right?” Max crouched, hands spread, like she was a ball and he was ready to make the catch.
Grace kept her face blank. “Who’s Cam?”
Max laughed, the sound harsh over his armor’s speakers. “Your accomplice. Once we had Casque in custody, he was very forthcoming. Swore he worked with you, and would get you an on-station accomplice.”
“Leslie is a liar.” Grace stepped back. Leslie Casque followed her? Impossible; she’d have seen him. But Leslie Casque following Cam Redwood? More than possible. The immigration official wore gray and yellow, standing out amid the bustle of Starfire Station. She almost groaned in frustration. This is another way people let you down.
“I have no doubt.” Max crunched closer, a fallen box sundering under his boot. “But he was right about Cam. He’ll break rocks for the Empire on Triton until the day he dies.”
Grace swayed. The one person she’d let just a little too close was in the clutches of the Empire. She knew what would happen to Cam. He’d meet Kazuo Gushiken, who would use his powers to core Cam’s mind, seeking secrets of Grace’s location.
Max took in her stumble and lunged.
Perfect. The ruse worked, the big man’s confidence his undoing. Grace darted to the side with a dancer’s litheness, her sword in both hands. Her entire being focused on the edge of her blade, that bright, perfect curve, as it hungered for an armor clasp.
Grace swung four times in less than a second, each accompanied by a tiny peal of metal. Tinkling followed, the armor seals on Max’s legs popping open, shedding metal to the deck.
The big man stumbled, the weight of the armor’s top half too much without the power assist of the legs. He slammed into the decking so hard the vibration ran up Grace’s legs and into her teeth. She winced.
Backing away, Grace made for the door. Max made to claw after her, his armor screeching as the fingers tore into the metal floor. “Remember, we’ve got Cam. A life for a life. That’s what it’ll take.”
Grace sheathed her blade as she ran outside. She sprinted away from the docks as fast as she could, losing herself in the crowds.
You can run from them, but you can’t run from what you’ve done. Her carelessness meant they had Cam. Cam showed Grace kindness when others wouldn’t. He’d taken a risk for her.
She’d get him back. She had to.
Chapter Three
Cam won’t last long in my father’s clutches. Grace paced the teeming halls of Starfire. She headed up, the Station’s Endless grav fields giving her brain something to call down. A hundred people jostled against her. The hands of grifters pawed for hidden wallets, and a few tried for her blade. She dodged some, brushing others off.
She might have run from her father, but Grace was still his daughter. Hard-earned skills kept thieves at bay while she made for her prize. I must get the data. Grace knew Max would be waiting for her near the data archive in the Empire facility. She didn’t want to disappoint him.
Stations like Starfire had docking bays and airlocks studding their exteriors. The Empire co-opted several of these for their barracks. Grace made for a level below their main one, and a quarter turn of the station to the right. This took her to an unlit section of the station where the bays were on lockdown.
The Empire didn’t take kindly to people sidling next to their secure facilities.
Grace gave a look around. No eyes lingered on her. She slipped into the gloom, dropping the Venus jacket in her wake. Its colors flickered, struggling for purchase on the dull deck plating.
Time for speed. Grace jogged until she found the section of wall she was after. It didn’t look different from the surrounding metal, but behind it was a water conduit feeding the barracks. She drew her blade, slicing into the thin walls of Starfire. Metal sparked as her ancient steel bit, sections of plating falling to the deck. Grace cut until water sprayed. It hissed over her Venus jacket, the material dappling in response. An alarm sounded, the gloom lit with angry red strobing.
Perfect. She turned and ran, wiping water from her face. Her blade felt full of purpose in her hand. Maybe the sword wants me to help people.
Maybe the sword didn’t know what was good for it.
Grace halted three turns of barren metal corridor later. Another section
of wall waited for the kiss of her steel. This needed more care, because if she was wrong, she’d die. When breaches occurred to air or water, standard procedure for stations like Starfire was to cut off the flow. What was high pressure would become bearable for those without a ship suit. She’d cut a water line, easing pressure everywhere.
Pressing her blade into the wall panel, she popped it free. Behind, a narrow pipe stretched away. Grace ran her hands along it until she found what she expected: an emergency maintenance release. Popping the seal revealed a dark tunnel. No roar of air or the horrible gasp of decompression sounded. Procedure worked as intended.
The tunnel looked black as pitch. Grace sheathed her sword, pushing it into the tunnel ahead of her. The pipe led straight for the barracks. Cam’s plans said no twists or unexpected turns. It exited underneath the barracks in a small service room. In five minutes, she’d be ready to save the man who’d saved her.
Her sword clanged against something ahead. Grace reached out, and by sense of touch found the tunnel hit a T intersection. This wasn’t on the plans. There should be no choice of direction. Should she go left, or right?
Inside the pipe the dark felt heavy, like whole cloth, a weight pressing on her head. Her heart thudded, panic rising. It was her own feeling, not borrowed from someone else. Grace’s shoulders scraped against the tunnel walls. It’s too narrow. I’ll get stuck. They’ll never find my body. She tried to move, scraping her shoulders and banging her elbows. Terror rose, tightening her throat. Trying to drag her down to despair.
Breathe. She sucked lungfuls of air. Grace panted, panic threatening to tear away her control. A small sound escaped her lips, almost a cry of fear. She thought about what her father would have done if he’d heard her. He’d have sneered, turning away. Be still. Be calm.
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