[05] Elite: Reclamation (33 page)

Salomé stepped back in surprise at the growing indignation on Luko’s face.

‘This … this, young lady … this … is a hand built Cowell and MgRath Campaign model -from thirty-one twenty!’

Salomé raised her eyebrows innocently and spared the old ship another glance.

‘Oh …’

Cobra … wasn’t that what that old lady said she had flown?

‘Does it work?’ she asked.

Luko grimaced and paused, before looking around guiltily.

‘I have a friend who has a saying …’ Luko frowned for a moment, trying to recall, ‘ah yes … the hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning.’

‘What? You mean it’s broken?’

‘Needs parts …’

‘You led me out here and it doesn’t even work?’

‘The ship’s is good, signorina. I fix all damage, but hyperdrive is … how you say? Caput. Why you think I stuck here? I not come for vacation you know.’

‘Then …’

‘Pirates. Fighting, attack me in space,’ Luko said. ‘I fight back. Kill them all. But damaged you see. Set down for repairs. Hyperdrive no working. No parts, can’t fix. No traders come this way. Planet is forbidden remember.’

‘You got marooned? For how long?’

Luko held up his hand and flexed his fingers and thumb four times.

‘Twenty years?’ Salomé gasped. ‘You’ve been stuck here for twenty years?’

Luko nodded.

‘Twenty years, signorina. Is a long time to wait, no?’ He looked wistfully up at his dilapidated ship. ‘The Cobra … has not flown in all that time.’

‘You’ve been on your own since then?’

‘I saw a few other ships come down. A crash. Prospectors, pirates. Crews always were caught and eaten. I was not fast enough to save them. This time …’

‘Eaten?’ Salomé’s face paled. ‘By those …’

‘Don’t worry. We safe now. I have a set a perimeter. If they enter the cavern … zap!’

Salomé nodded in relief.

‘So, big question. Your ship. Any good?’

Salomé looked forlorn. ‘It was wrecked too. It’s smashed, there’s no way it will fly again.’

Luko shook his head. ‘Just need spare parts. Does it have hyperdrive? What ship?’

Salomé nodded. ‘Yes, yes it does. I don’t know. It’s small.’

‘Show me.’ Luko gestured to the sand. Salomé drew a rough picture of Hassan’s ship with a fingertip.

‘Eagle?’ Luko queried.

Salomé nodded. She remembered Hassan identifying the ship as an Eagle.

‘A Mark 1, I think.’

‘Mmm. Maybe ok,’ Luko answered, with a small shrug of his shoulders. ‘Is an older ship, this is good. I will fire the drives. Leave tomorrow, find your ship and we pray for luck yes? Get off this dirtball. Come, you need medicine, then some food and rest.’

He led her down towards the antique ship.

***

Hassan came to, drawing a deep shuddering breath. Pain lanced across his body, but it was somehow numbed compared to before. He could just determine he was still hanging by his wrists, but his vision was blurred, sweat stung his eyes. He caught sight of his legs and feet below, rivulets of blood had dried and caked across them. His blood. The smell registered in his nostrils.

It was the opening of the door to the cell that had roused him. He couldn’t raise his head, his neck was too stiff, but he recognised the sharp, clicking footsteps. She was back. His body trembled in response. He tried to say something, but his voice only managed a faint rasp.

‘Still alive,’ Octavia said from somewhere close by. ‘It takes skill to inflict painful wounds without cutting major organs.’

He felt her finger grasp his chin. His neck twisted painfully as she pulled his head up and looked into his eyes.

‘Time for remorse is over,’ she said. ‘You are purged of your sins, sweet little boy.’

He managed to look into her eyes, seeing her smile at the slim glimmer of hope that she saw.

‘Your bounty hunter friend tells me you might be useful,’ she said. ‘That you might assist us with locating your passenger. You remember the girl? Yes, I see you do.’

Hassan swallowed managing a tiny nod.

‘Good,’ Octavia continued. ‘Good. Do you think you can help us?’

Hassan nodded again, still trying to get his voice to respond. He ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth.

‘And if I release you will you co-operate with me? Work with me to locate her and hand her over safely into my hands?’ Octavia paced around him, running her hand across his smeared and sweat-stained hair

‘Yes …’

‘I see. You’d betray her just like that? An innocent woman? Abducted against her will and handed over to a notorious villain like me?’

Hassan swallowed, unsure how to answer.

Octavia finished pacing and now stood in front of him again.

‘I think you’ll say anything just to save your own worthless life,’ Octavia said, her voice calm and quiet.

To his horror she reached forward. He felt her fingers push into the rip in his shoulder. Fresh agony shocked through him. His body jerked feebly, his only sound a keening gasp of torment.

‘You know nothing about her.’ Octavia’s voice grew angry. ‘She outwitted you herself. She escaped you.’

He felt her fingers pull back; the burst of pain dragged a sharp yell from him.

‘You’re incompetent, a coward and a fool. Life on the frontier is not for the likes of you.’

A flash of metal. The dagger. A sharp movement close to his face. His neck … his throat. He could feel the cold edge of the dagger. A quick slice was all it would take …

Sushil …

A rapid burst of thought fired through his tortured mind.

‘Wait …’ he rasped. ‘The transponder, I can decode it. You can track my ship … I have the code. You can find her!’

The dagger pressed harder for a moment. Hassan felt hot blood run down his neck.

The pressure relented.

‘You will find her, you will hand her over,’ Octavia said. ‘Understood?’

Hassan nodded.

‘It’s your life or hers. If she is not mine … I will finish what I have started, have no doubt about that.’

***

Luko had seen to the cuts on Salomé’s wrists and face with some basic first aid and then insisted that she lie down for a while. Salomé surprised herself at accepting without much protest, falling gratefully into a bunk and drifting off to sleep almost immediately. Luko had a gentle, but persuasive manner and she was utterly exhausted.

By the time she awoke it was dark outside the ship. The hold of the Cobra was far more expansive that that of the Eagle, providing plenty of room to walk about. Inside, the vessel was clean and smart, if rather old fashioned. There were no automatic doors between rooms, each area was secured with a manual hatch that had to be spun open and closed by hand.

She walked down the docking ramp to see a pair of chairs arranged at a small table. Luko was sitting in one, holding a glass of wine and sipping from it, all the while contemplating the dimly lit cavern around the ship.

It was a surprisingly lavish spread of food and beverages.

‘Ah, signorina. Well rested I hope?’ he said, greeting her with his habitual smile.

‘Much better, thank you.’

Salomé recognised Imperial delicacies and fine wines. When she queried it, Luko simply shrugged and explained that he’d been carrying a cargo of luxuries and food stuffs when he’d been attacked and had been living off them ever since. They were all refrigerated, packed and stored aboard his ship.

‘Help yourself,’ he said. ‘Just be careful, some of these are rich in the stomach.’

Salomé quickly loaded a plate and began eating, she was ravenous. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a proper meal.

‘Where did you get them from?’ she said, in a brief pause between mouthfuls.

 ‘I was a trader,’ Luko told her. ‘I go one place, buy cheap. Go somewhere else, sell at good price. Look for bargains and angles. Is not a bad life.’ He grimaced. ‘Other than pirates.’

‘You said they attacked you,’ Salomé said.

‘They want my cargo, signorina. Take, sell. Not do the hard work. Traders have to be smart, with the big guns. Yes?’

Salomé looked up at the dark hulk of the Cobra. ‘And does this have big guns?’

Luko grinned and raised a glass. ‘The
Bella Principessa
? Has an ass of solid iron.’

Salomé looked blank and raised her eyebrows in a question as he sipped his wine.

‘She is tough, she can fight,’ Luko said with a wink.

‘Oh.’

Luko studied her for a moment. ‘So your story, signorina. You no trader. Why you here?’

Salomé sighed. ‘A long story.’

Luko laughed and raised his glass towards her. ‘We have molto time.’

Salomé related the tale of how she’d woken on Hassan’s ship, unable to recall who she was and where she’d been. How they’d encountered the sinister man on Ferenchia. The battle in space and how she’d escaped, crashed and been captured.

Luko listened throughout without interrupting, fascinated by her account. When she finished he pursed his lips for a moment.

‘You don’t know who you are?’

‘No.’

‘Imperial girl for sure. Your speech is strong. You call yourself Salomé, but is not your real name?’

Salomé shook her head.

‘You want to find out?’

Salomé looked at him and frowned in confusion. ‘But how could I do that?’

Luko smiled. ‘A trader’s best weapon is not his guns, signorina.’ He tapped the side of his nose with his finger. ‘Knowledge. Far more powerful. Come, let’s see what we can find.’

He pulled out a small black box and tossed it on the table. Immediately a holofac image appeared.

‘Too far out to call for help, but we still get the wideband news,’ he said. He waved his fingers at the holofac and selected the galactic chart. Salomé saw the now familiar group of systems appear in the air between them.

‘The ambush,’ Luko asked. ‘Where did it happen?’

Salomé pointed towards a group of star systems. ‘Somewhere here, so Hassan said.’

‘You’ve come a long way,’ Luko acknowledged.

‘So where are we?’ she asked.

Luko smiled. ‘This place?’ He gestured to a faint system on the edge of the map. ‘No real name. Is called, ah, LTT 8740.’

He pulled up a set of newsfeeds. Dozens of entries scrolled up in the air, fading away as they reached the top.

‘No good, too much,’ Luko said. ‘We need to narrow it down.’

Salomé had a thought. ‘Can you search for a name?’

‘Of course, but what name?’

She leant forward and summoned up a keyboard on the table, she tapped out the name the trench-coated man had called at her.

Kahina.

‘Search for that,’ she instructed.

‘Kahina?’ Luko asked.

Salomé felt a wave of dread pass through her as he said the name. She shivered, feeling suddenly cold in the dampness of the cavern. Luko regarded her with a frown.

‘This name, is not a good name for you?’

Salomé shrugged. ‘I don’t know, it feels sad … no, it scares me …’

Luko gestured for the search and the newsfeeds coalesced around a single system. Salomé read the name.

‘The Prism system,’ she whispered. It felt familiar, accompanied by a rush of anticipation and anxiety. A tightness grew in her chest.

Luko went to expand the information, but Salomé caught his arm.

‘Wait,’ she said.

‘Signorina, you don’t want to know?’

‘What if I don’t like what I learn?’ she asked.

Luko smiled.

‘A good question,’ he said, ‘a very good question. Maybe you ask who you want to be?’

Salomé sighed.

‘I don’t know who I am, how can I know what I want to be?’

‘Ask yourself what makes you happy.’

‘Happy?’ Salomé laughed. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. In the last few days, I’ve been stabbed, burnt, beaten and kicked. Kidnapped, stolen and abused. Hauled up a mountain. I nearly died of thirst and then almost drowned. I’ve been shot at, just escaped dying in a crash and that’s before you even start on the loss of my …’ She glared at Luko’s amused look. ‘What?’

‘But you kept going? Why? Why you not just give up? Eh?’

Salomé frowned. ‘I don’t know … I guess …’

‘You love the adventure!’ Luko grinned at her, clenching his fist. ‘You pit yourself against the universe and still you win. Is fun, yes?’

‘Adventure? Fun?’ Salomé leant back. ‘It was a nightmare. It still is! Here I am, stuck only the Emperor knows where with you and your stupid broken down ship …’

‘Just think of the stories you will tell to your grandchildren.’

‘Grandchildren?’ Salomé replied, angrily. ‘I won’t have any …’

‘Oh, signorina … surely every woman …’

‘I’d rather travel to the edge of space than settle down to breed some popinjay’s useless offspring.’

‘Ah!’

Luko pointed a finger at her triumphantly. Salomé glared back at him.

‘The edge of space,’ Luko repeated, his eyes bright with triumph. ‘There it is. Your heart’s desire. Exploring, amongst the stars. The bliss of travel without pressure. The Frontier is calling you.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I want no such thing.’

Luko’s face retained its irritating but knowing grin.

‘Yes. Yes you do. I see it in your eyes. This look … I know this look. The Frontier has cast its spell … sooner or later …’

A vision of space swam across her mind. The view from the cockpit of Hassan’s ship, how it had taken her breath away with myriad distant stars. The view across the city; lit by sunlight as they descended to land. The atmosphere fading from azure to black as they launched, leaving mundane planetside folks behind. Just a handful of worlds she had seen so far, each so different from the next. New worlds, an almost infinite number of places she had never seen. Yet out there, too many to count, let alone visit.

Explore the Frontier.

‘Beyond the Frontier,’ Luko whispered. ‘Who knows what is there? Worlds, civilisations … possibilities. Only the bravest venture into the unknown, far beyond the core worlds, seeking … who knows what you might find?’

Salomé felt her heart stir at his words. It resonated with something deep inside her; a wanderlust.