Bringing Stella Home (32 page)

“
But Captain,” said James,
“we’ve got to save her. Can’t you see? She needs our
help.”

“
I understand your
feelings, Ensign, but business is business. I’m not running a
charity organization—I’m running a professional private military
outfit.”

Business?
James thought angrily to himself.
She’s my sister, dammit!

Danica set down her mug and leaned
forward. “Let me be frank, Ensign. Some of my men think that this
mission is far too dangerous, and that we should pull out now while
we still can. To be honest, I half-agree with them. I want to help
you—I really do—but I have an obligation to my men that comes
before that.”

James glared at her in disbelief. “So
that’s what it comes down to?” he cried. “We’ve come all this way,
and now you’re going to give up and send me off. Is that
it?”

Danica said nothing.

“
Or is this about the
money?” he continued, his cheeks reddening with anger. “Money’s all
you care about, isn’t it? You’re just a bunch of leeches trying to
bleed me dry.”

“
You don’t know what you’re
talking about,” Danica muttered.

“
Is that so? Well, guess
what—I don’t have any money. That’s right—nothing. And you know
what? I don’t care. One way or another, I’m going to save my
sister. So go ahead and leave me—I’ll find a way. I don’t need
you.”

“
Ensign!” said Danica in a
sharp, commanding voice. “Calm yourself!”

James stopped and realized his whole
body was shaking. His head felt hot and dizzy, and his arms were
trembling.

“
This isn’t only about the
money,” said Danica. She gestured to the furnishings in her room.
“Look around. Do you think I became a mercenary because of the
money?”

“
Then why did you take the
job?”

She looked him squarely in the eye and
said nothing. James blinked nervously, not sure what to
say.

“
You want to know how I
became a mercenary?” Danica asked calmly.

“
Uh, yeah,” said James. He
wasn’t about to say ‘no.’

Danica rose to her feet and began to
slowly pace the room. “Do you see these books?” she said, gesturing
with her hand. “The furniture? That antique painting of my
homeworld?”

“
Yes. What about
it?”

“
All of these things
belonged to my father.”

James frowned. “Your
father?”

“
Yes. He was an admiral in
the Tajji Revolutionary Guard—one of the highest ranking officers
in the system. Politicians and dignitaries were regular guests in
my house.”

“
Your father was an
admiral?”

Danica nodded. “I was his oldest
daughter. When the Imperials defeated our forces, I ran away from
home to rescue him.” She gave him a sad smile. “A lot like you did,
in fact.”

“
Did you save
him?”

“
No,” she said softly,
turning away. “While I was gone, the Imperials came to my home and
slaughtered my family. They executed him for treason a short while
later.”

James felt his stomach fall. For
several heavy moments, neither of them spoke.

“
I’m sorry,” he said,
breaking the silence.

Danica shrugged. “For a long time, I
vowed to get revenge. But revenge isn’t what it’s cut out to
be—especially when your nemesis is a faceless
organization.”

She turned to James.

“
You remind me a lot of my
brother, Karen. When I left to rescue my father, he wanted to come
with me. I made him stay. If he had been in your boots, I wonder if
he would have done the same thing for me that you’re doing for your
sister.”

“
I’m so sorry,” James said,
apologizing again. “I—shouldn’t have said what I did. I was
wrong.”

Danica casually waved off his apology.
“We’ll do our best to commandeer a Hameji ship and pull off this
rescue operation,” she said, “but my first priority, above all
else, is to watch over my men. Do you understand that?”

“
Yes, Captain,” James
said.

“
Good.”

Danica retrieved her coffee mug from
the table, taking a quick sip. “I’ll have you know, Ensign McCoy,
that that includes you. For better or worse, you’re one of us
now.”

James nodded. “So the mission’s still
on?”

“
That depends, Ensign. That
depends on a lot of things.”

* * * * *

Stella ran down the hall, her
footsteps landing hard against the shaggy carpet floor. Lockdown
had ended only a few moments ago, but she feared she was too
late.

She turned the corner and saw Engus
walking briskly in the opposite direction. “Engus!” she called out,
running after him.

“
Sholpan?” he said, turning
around.

Stella came to a stop in front of him
and paused for a brief moment to catch her breath.

“
Where is
Narju?”

Engus gave an exasperated sigh. “Not
know. Busy.” He turned and started to walk away.

“
No,” said Stella, blocking
his way. “Show me. Now.”

Engus’s cheeks turned red. He hurled a
string of incomprehensible obscenities at her, but she didn’t
budge.

“
Now. I command
you.”

He stared menacingly at her with his
beady eyes. When he saw that she wouldn’t give in, however, his
anger soon deflated. He shook his head and clucked his
tongue.

“
No good. No good I show
you. Not good.”

“
Engus,” said Stella,
raising her voice. “Take me to him.”

“
No good,” he muttered, but
without another argument he turned around and motioned for her to
follow.

He led her to the narrow hallway where
the servants prepared the food. Two eunuchs at the counter watched
them enter, but said nothing as they passed by. At the other side,
they came to a door that she hadn’t noticed before. Engus punched a
password into the access panel, and the door opened slowly, as if
in dire need of maintenance. The shaggy carpet turned to hard
industrial floor grating at the doorway. Cheap LEDs filled the
corridor with a dark red light, making her feel slightly sick. The
wall tiling had been stripped down long ago, no doubt recycled for
use elsewhere.

As Engus led her inside, they passed
almost half a dozen eunuchs heading for the concubines’ quarters.
The corridor was so narrow that they had to turn sideways each
time, and still brushed against the passing men.

“
Do you live here?” Stella
asked, shocked by how different the place felt.

“
Yes,” said Engus with a
tone of annoyance. He turned a bend and stopped abruptly, almost
making Stella run into him.

“
There,” he said. “Narju
quarters.”

Stella swallowed. About fifteen yards
away, two black-armored guards stood watch at a door. The nearest
of them glanced her way and tightened his grip on his
rifle.

“
Thank you,” she said.
Engus bowed and left.

Stella drew in a breath and stepped
forward, trying hard to conceal her fear.

“
Halt,” said the nearest
guard. They crossed their rifles across the door to keep her from
entering.

“
I’m here to see my
personal servant,” she said in the Hameji tongue, precisely
enunciating each word. “Let me in.”

Both men stared at her in
shock.
That’s right,
Stella thought smugly to herself.
You
didn’t think I could speak your language, did you? Think
again.

“
We don’t have clearance,”
said the guard on the right. Stella guessed he was the leader. She
narrowed her eyes at him.

“
I am one of Qasar’s women.
Let me in.”

“
Qasar has many
women.”

“
And how many
wives?”

She lifted her hand and showed him the
ring. The guard’s eyes nearly doubled in size.

“
A thousand apologies,
milady.” He nodded to his comrade and they both stepped
aside.

It worked!
Stella thought gleefully to herself.
It actually worked!

The head guard accessed the panel, and
the door to Narju’s chambers hissed open. Stella started to step
inside, but the guard on the left reached out his hand and stopped
her.

“
Let us enter first. The
prisoner is dangerous.”

“
No,” Stella commanded.
“Wait outside.”

The guard didn’t move out of the way.
Stella stared at him without flinching.

“
Very well,” he muttered,
“but be careful.” With that, he stepped aside and held his rifle at
the ready. She ignored him and entered, shutting the door behind
her.

Narju sat up on his cot, hands
shackled in front of him. A large, purple-green bruise ran down the
side of his face, and his hair was wet with blood. A few red specks
had fallen on his clothes, staining his otherwise immaculate
serving smock. In spite of all this, he smiled when he saw
her.

“
Narju,” she cried, her
face turning white as she ran up to him. “Narju, are you all
right?”

“
Mistress Sholpan,” he
said, opening his mouth as if to say more but failing to come up
with the words. Stella gave him a quick hug, but his body felt
stiff and unresponsive.

Hameji ships have no
prisons,
Tamu’s words came to her.
Capital punishment is so much more
efficient
.

“
It gives me joy to see
you, Sholpan,” Narju said, his voice labored. “But why have you
come?”

“
I’ve come to get you out
of here.” She stood up and glanced hastily around the
room.

“
Get me out?” A dumbfounded
expression crossed his face.

Stella hardly heard him. She flitted
about, trying to find an alternate exit. The room was little larger
than a closet, windowless, with one red LED light that gave the
place an eerie glow. Except for a cot and two bins of servant’s
clothes, Narju’s quarters were drab and empty.

How could anyone live in
this place?
Stella wondered to
herself.
And I thought I had it
bad.

“
I am sorry, Mistress
Sholpan,” said Narju, rising painfully to his feet. “I cannot
go.”

“
Of course you can,” said
Stella, still distracted with thoughts of escape. “I’m breaking you
out right now.”

Maybe if they exchanged clothes, Narju
could slip past the guards and find a place to hide. But he was so
tall—would the disguise work? And besides, how could she hide his
wounds? Stella wished she’d worn a headscarf—that would have made
things a lot easier.

“
No,” said Narju, more
forcibly this time. “Sholpan, look at me.”

Stella turned and put her hands on her
waist, sizing herself up against him. “Do you think this skirt
would fit you?”

“
Sholpan.”

The power in his voice made her stop.
To her surprise, his face was a picture of calm and
peace.

Of resignation.

“
You cannot save me,” he
said. “But I sincerely thank you for wanting to.”

Stella frowned. “What are you talking
about? Of course I—”

“
No, Sholpan. This is the
way it must be. You cannot help me; I must die.”

For a brief, painful moment, they both
fell silent. Stella’s heart raced in her chest.

“
Don’t say that! There has
to be a way out of—”

“
There isn’t. Qasar is
already assembling his entire household to witness my
execution.”

“
But—but how do they know
it was you? They can’t prove anything.”

“
I have already
confessed.”

Stella felt as if the floor had fallen
out from underneath her. “Why?”

“
Because I didn’t want
another to be punished in my place. I killed, and I must die. I
accepted this long before I took Borta’s life.”

Stella’s arms trembled, and her vision
started to blur. Tears burned like acid in her eyes, and she bit
her lip to keep them from spilling out all at once.

“
Why did you kill her?” she
asked, but she knew the answer before she spoke.

“
To save you.”

“
Why?” she cried, clenching
her fists until her hands turned white. Painful tears streamed
silently down her cheeks.

“
Because one day,” he told
her, “the Hameji will conquer the last free star and rule over the
known universe. When that day comes, goodness and virtue will only
survive because of people like you in places of power.”

He no longer had the downcast eyes of
a mere servant. When he spoke, he spoke with the sincerity of one
who had already accepted death.

“
What are you talking
about?” Stella asked, her head spinning. “Me? I-I can’t do
that.”