The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) (31 page)

Lauren snorted, “He won't.  He's terrified of me already.”

Something about the way she said that gave Mason chills. Lauren had a dark patch in her own soul and Mason didn't like the thought of what this was going to cost her in the end.  He'd seen the toll paid by enough companions over time... the worst of them were the ones who
didn't
care about the cost in the end... people like Arela.  “Right.”  He looked at Kandergain, “Who else?”

“The cargo master, Carlos Ortiz, is something of a free agent, he just sells information on cargoes and ports,” Kandergain shrugged.  “A couple of the others are mercenary enough that they'll sell information as well, but they're opportunistic amateurs rather than professionals.”

“Alright,” Mason nodded.  “I'll make the call to Councilor Penwaithe.  From here on out, we're Halcyon Privateers.”

***

Melcer System

United Colonies

September 25, 2403

The soft chime of his comm unit awoke Lucius from a dead sleep.  He sat up and activated it, his first thought being it was some kind of Chxor retaliation.  Yet there were no alarm klaxons and no sounds of the ship readying for combat.  “Baron Lucius Giovanni,” he said and felt some pride that his voice sounded sharp and crisp, rather than groggy.

“Baron, this is Lieutenant Ezra at communications.  You have an ansible call from your sister, sir.  I told her what time it is here, but she was very insistent.”

“That's fine,” Lucius said.  “Put her through.”  Alanis wouldn't call unless it was something important, he knew.  His first thought was that something must have happened to his daughter and he felt a well of panic.  He wiped at his face nervously.  Maybe it was something else, something more mundane, he hoped. 
It couldn't be anything between her and Reese, at least,
he thought
, she'd sent that message that Reese seemed to have come to his senses and that they had already patched things up.
  He was grateful for that, though he still had some reservations about her taking him back.

After what seemed like an eternity, Alanis's face appeared on the screen.  “Lucius,” she said and her voice broke a bit.  Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and tears still trailed down her face.  “I know... I know that you're busy, but I need you here.”  She'd clearly routed the call through from her apartment to the ansible station they'd established in Michaelston.  Lucius didn't want to think of how expensive the call was... then again, he ruled the planet, he supposed he had the pay to cover it. 
I still haven't checked what my pay is,
the random thought went through the back of his mind and was smothered by his concern.

Lucius felt the knot of tension in his chest grow tighter, “Alanis, what happened, are you alright, is Kaylee alright?”

She nodded, “Your daughter is fine, Lucius.  It's...”  She shook her head, “I don't want to talk about it right now.  Look, I don't want to pull you away from the front, I know it's not fair... but this once I need you.”

Lucius nodded slowly.  “I'll be there.”  They were establishing a supply depot here at Melcer and staging for the next part of the attack.  It was only a week's travel from Melcer to Faraday and only five days return through shadow space.  The initial planning could continue without him.  He wished, once again, that he could rely on someone as he normally did upon Anthony Doko.  Lucius's longtime friend, however, was still under house arrest and that left Lucius without his right hand.

“Thank you, Lucius,” Alanis said.  “I'll see you soon.”  She cut the call from her end.  Lucius felt a dozen scenarios go through his head, even as he thought about what he had to do on his end.  It was grossly unfair, he knew, for the commander to jaunt home to deal with a personal issue in the middle of a war. 
Still,
he thought,
I'll just have to make certain I don't make a habit of it.
  For that matter, he should see what kind of leave policy that the various ship commanders had for emergencies.

Lucius dialed Admiral Dreyfus and then stood up quickly from his bed and moved to the closet.  He pulled out his uniform even as he heard Admiral Dreyfus's confused voice.  “Admiral Dreyfus, this is Lucius.  I'm going to have to take a short leave of absence.  I'll be headed back to Faraday, there's... an issue I need to deal with,” Lucius said.

“What?” Admiral Dreyfus asked.  “What's happened, how are you going, what are we supposed to do...”

“Admiral,” Lucius said, in a calm voice.  “I don't have time to discuss the details.”  
Not a lie,
Lucius thought,
I don't have time to find out the details to discuss them.
  “The destroyer
Nova Rosnik
is headed back to Faraday in two hours, if I remember right.  I'll board and travel back to Faraday.  Which means I have two hours to pack, give you my guidance, and sign whatever necessary to authorize you to make decisions in my stead while I'm gone.”  Lucius pinched his lips at that.  “Besides, it's not like you don't have the decades of experience necessary to do this job anyway.”  Though his lack of recent experience continued to make Lucius nervous, as did his... intransigence as far as innovation and including personnel outside of his trusted circle.

“Right,” Admiral Dreyfus said, his voice a bit more calm.  “We'll continue the preparations for our attack at Tehran and then Danar, drawing on the updated intelligence.  Do I have your permission to dispatch the scouts?”

“Of course,” Lucius said.  They were supposed to brief him tomorrow on the scout deployments, but he had full confidence in their ability to conduct that.  “I'll be in touch via ansible for any major issues but maintain communications security on our individual operations.”  The ansible network was supposed to be secure, but they still didn't want to put out operational information on it if they didn't have to.

Lucius at least would get an opportunity to see how the development in and around Faraday was progressing.  From what he understood, the Chxor prison colony was rapidly becoming not only self-sufficient but actually producing products for the rest of the system.  Kral's appointees there, while not trusted to work with humans directly, apparently were at least competent managers.  He could also make time for the research and development scientists and even the engineers working on the Balor ships.  Hopefully he could even stop in and talk with Anthony Doko and reassure his friend that not only was he needed, he was missed.

All that assuming that whatever has Alanis so upset won't use up more of my time,
Lucius thought.  The thought wasn't particularly welcome, especially as he thought of the handful of things that might upset her to this point... and what his own reaction was likely to be.

I wasn't there to help her when the Chxor took Nova Roma,
Lucius thought,
but I am here now.
  He would do whatever necessary to make things right.

***

Faraday System

United Colonies

September 25, 2403

Reese gave a contented sigh as he stepped out of the lift and onto his floor.  The apartment that he and Alanis shared in Michaelston wasn't all that high and he could have taken the stairs, but it felt good to indulge himself a bit.  It had been an interesting week, seeking out work for the first time since he joined the Fleet.  Really, for the first time in his life, as the Nova Roma Fleet had signed him on with few questions asked.

Luckily, his skills were in high demand and several of the start-ups companies were offering ludicrous salaries for skilled communications and programming experts like himself.  Granted, he privately thought that some of those offers were due to his family connections, but he wouldn't complain about that.  They'd get a hard-working employee and if they hoped he might have the ear of the Baron, well, he wouldn't dash those hopes. 
Not that I'd go to Lucius for anything,
Reese thought darkly.

It felt good to have solved his problems, his way.  And while Alanis was totally dedicated to her goals of becoming an officer in Lucius's glorious United Colonies Fleet, well...  Reese gave a satisfied smile.  He was certain her priorities would change.

He opened the door to their apartment, but he frowned as he heard Alanis was home already.  Normally she was out most of the afternoon, either trying to improve her physical training or training with Anthony Doko.  Reese grimaced at the reminder of what had happened to Anthony. 
Beached... all but a disgrace, because that
bastard
Lucius wouldn't stand up for him,
Reese thought.  It was obvious that Anthony Doko would never have betrayed the Baron, but for the sake his his precious alliance with the Nova Roma Emperor, Lucius had thrown his long-time friend to the wolves.

He stepped into the dining room with a smile, “Alanis, you won't believe what these fools are offering for even a halfway decent programmer.”  He started to go on when her appearance broke through to him.  She was seated at the dining room table facing the door, her hands in her lap out of sight.  Her shoulders were hunched, her face was pinched, her eyes were bloodshot from crying.  “Alanis, are you okay, did something happen?”  His first thought was that something had happened to Lucius and he couldn't help a pleased feeling at that.

“You know damned well what happened!” Alanis snarled.

“What?” Reese asked, confused.

She grabbed a sheaf of papers from the top of the table and threw them at his chest.  He caught them and stared at them with a confused expression for a long moment.  It took him a moment to read and make sense of it.  It was an official response to her application to the Faraday Military Academy.  He looked up and did his best to keep his relief off his face, “You were rejected?  Why?”  She didn't respond, so he flipped the pages to the indicated section.  He felt his heart sing when he saw.  “But, Alanis, this is wonderful news, you're pregnant!”

“Yes, Reese,” Alanis snapped.  Her voice was sharp and her tone suggested that Reese was acting like an idiot.  “I'm pregnant.  I also have a reproduction implant, you know, the little device that prevents that sort of thing... or enables if properly triggered.”  Her dark eyes bored into him and Reese couldn't help but flinch and look away.

“The first thing I thought,” Alanis said, her voice almost dead, “Was that my implant must have failed.  That happens, sometimes.  So I got out my datapad and did a diagnostic.”  Reese felt his stomach drop.  This wasn't how it was supposed to have gone.  “You know what I found?  Someone hacked it's programming to gain access.  That same person switched the implant settings over from preventive to fertility enhancing.  Why, I asked myself, would anyone do that?”

Reese couldn't meet her eyes.  The anger seemed to radiate from her, a palpable thing that made his face burn.  “Alanis, listen...”

“No, Reese, you listen,” Alanis snapped.  “I didn't want to think it was you.  I wanted to think your apology was well meant, that you really wanted to support me.  I traced the code... you didn't even try to hide it, it was right from your datapad.”

Reese opened his mouth and searched for words.  Finally he settled on the truth, “I thought you'd be happy.  We're having a child!”

“No, Reese,
I'm
having a child.  There's a distinct difference,” Alanis said.  “And I'm having a child because you lied to me, you hacked my implant, and because you wanted to manipulate me and prevent me from going to the Academy.  Do you think I'll happily set here and be your brood mare?”

Reese shook his head, yet his confusion fast faded in the face of her anger, replaced by a roiling anger of his own.  “I expected you to do the responsible thing.  You talked about how important this move to the military was for you... what about me?  What happens to me when you go and die, when I'm left alone with nothing but memories?  I did what I had to do, Alanis.  You left me no choice, so I did what I could to prevent your attendance... and if this hadn't worked, I would have found some other way.  I love you, and I refuse to let you throw your life away!”  It was obvious that she'd taken this the wrong way, but what else could he expect from her?

“You refuse to let me live my life,” Alanis said in a level voice.  “I thought it was bad enough that you couldn't support my decision.  I thought it was bad enough that you destroyed your own military career to spite my brother.  But to lie to my face... to pretend to support me, just to sabotage me from behind?”  The raw anguish in her voice seemed to punch Reese right in the gut.  “How can I ever trust you again?  How can we be
married
when you would do something like that to me?  What kind of person are you that you'd bring a new life into the world in an attempt to shackle me to you?”

Reese felt real panic at those words.  “Look, Alanis, I'm sorry that I did it this way, I really am.  It
was
wrong, I shouldn't have done it this way.” 
I knew I should have just hacked the Academy database and rejected her that way,
Reese thought.  He'd worried they would notice, particularly if she had Lucius look into it.  But he was a better programmer than most, he could have covered his tracks. 
I should have covered my tracks from accessing her implant,
Reese thought,
but I thought the news of parenthood would override her disappointment over the Academy.
  “But think of everything we have shared, think about how our child needs us, needs a mother and a father–”