[05] Elite: Reclamation (52 page)

She returned his glance. ‘I had to stop him, stop everything. Like you said, there should be no more death.’

Luko nodded. ‘You did trust him, no?’

‘I wanted to believe him. He did save me that much was true. He just forgot what he was fighting for. He was a good man once.’

‘Too much power is never good for anyone.’

Kahina sighed. ‘It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?’

‘Your precious moon is once more an outpost of your glorious empire. Trade will flow again, people will be safe. This is good, yes?’

Kahina nodded. ‘Ambassador Cuthrick will ensure peace and prosperity, I’m sure.’

Luko nodded. ‘He seems … ok. A good man, for an Imperial.’

He grinned at her sharp look, but she didn’t respond to the jibe.

‘I owe you an apology.’

Luko looked at her in surprise. ‘Signorina?’

‘You knew, didn’t you? You knew I didn’t want this obligation. To be a Senator …’

Luko smiled. ‘I wondered. The weight of such responsibility? Not good for one so young I think. You had a dream and you gave it up for duty. I not like to see anyone miss their heart’s desire. Very sad.’

‘I should have listened to you.’

‘Ah …’ Luko said, shaking his head. ‘Not be so hard on yourself. The young never listen to the old, this is the way of things. Experience?’ He winked. ‘Something you get … just after you need it.’

‘Perhaps I could have stopped this.’

Luko shrugged. ‘Perhaps. But with politics there is always war. War is not the battle. War is greed, war is fear. Is not your fault. We … just people passing through history. We step on the stage, we say our lines, we step off.’

‘I don’t want to be on the stage anymore.’

Luko looked at her. ‘Somehow I think we have not heard the last of you, signorina.’

Kahina smiled. ‘Perhaps.’

Luko nodded. ‘To be happy, that is what we all really want. Some of us … we think this is money or power, or riches. But this is not true. What we want is to be content. This is all. See a dream come true, yes?’

‘I hear you.’ Kahina changed the subject, ‘So what next? Where will your dreams take you, trader Luko?’

Luko sucked in his breath and then let it out with an exaggerated sigh. ‘Ah, somewhere quiet I think. Good food, good company, no more stress. A holiday perhaps. The universe deserves to see a little more of Luciano Prestigio Giovanni, no?’

Kahina laughed. ‘You’ll be bored inside a week.’

Luko looked across at her with a more serious expression. ‘You not wrong. Somewhere with people. I have been alone too long.’

‘That I can understand.’

‘Or perhaps I will just enjoying being on a planet … that I can leave whenever I wish.’

Kahina laughed. ‘Make sure you keep some spares aboard.’

‘And what of you, little signorina? You reclaimed your moon then you give it all way. Crazy no?’

She looked up at the blue sky.

‘I’m going to do what you suggested.’

‘And what is that?’

‘I’m going to listen to Salomé.’

Luko frowned for a moment, before a wide smile grew on his face. He placed an arm around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. Kahina relaxed into his embrace.

‘Keep listening. She was a good girl. She will not lead you astray.’

Tears sprang into Kahina’s eyes.

‘I will miss you.’

‘I miss you too, signorina.’

He released her and she stepped back. After a moment she took the Imperial tiara from her head.

‘Here,’ she said, handing it to him and wrapping his hands about it. ‘Something to remember me by. She won’t need it, will she?’

Luko took it solemnly. ‘Good luck, Salomé.’

AD 3301

Epilogue

Two figures were crouched over a small desk. The room around them was featureless; gunmetal grey walls surrounded them on all sides, the only illumination provided by a glowing holofac projector.

‘We’ve got to be quick.’

It was Salomé. She typed commands into the system, the projector responding with a query interface.

‘You going to tell me what precisely you’re looking for?’ Hassan looked over her shoulder, his features cast in silhouette by the faint glow.

‘Something I promised myself I’d look up when I had a chance.’

‘This is a secure Imperial data bank, if we get caught …’

‘And I had to pay a lot of money to get an access code.’ Salomé continued to type furiously. Information flickered into view around them.

‘Jeez, this is old stuff,’ Hassan said looking at the data. ‘Galcop? I scanned them in grad school back home. Gramps used to talk about the Old Worlds, that’s more than a hundred years ago. What are you looking for?’

Salomé flicked her fingers and a piece of search text moved across the holofac projection. The words
Formidine Rift
glowed briefly. Her hair flopped forward, so she pushed it back behind her ear.

There was little response to the query, a few phrases, a couple of vague trajectory plots. The system indicated it was still searching.

Salomé gestured impatiently. ‘It’s got to be here. She said something about plotting a course from Reorte to … ah, there it is!’

‘Somebody has a sense of humour,’ Hassan said, scanning the text. ‘The friendliest place this side of Riedquat? Nice choice …’

‘Riedquat? Where’s that? You know it?’

Hassan scoffed. ‘Not from personal experience. It’s a hell-hole. An anarchy system for centuries. Totally lawless. No sane trader would go near it.’

The search completed. A single holofac photo was returned, accompanied by a short video.

The photo was of a fifty-something woman, dressed in an old fashioned one piece traders’ outfit. She was quite petite, with a pale face framed by simply brushed brown hair, parted in the middle into two neat folds on either side of her head. There were no earrings or adornments of any kind. She looked pretty, but plain and ordinary save for a pair of deep brown eyes.

‘It’s her, decades ago …’ Salomé reached forward to start the video playing.

‘Who is she?’ Hassan queried.

‘Just this old woman I met, looks like she was telling the truth after all.’

The video played.

‘If you’re listening to this it means you’re smart enough to have bypassed Galcop, Federation and Imperial security.’ The woman on the video smiled. ‘Not bad, but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming. I’m guessing you’ll be pressed for time so I’ll be quick. You’ll find the co-ordinates at the end of this message. You’ll need a tough ship and a good pilot. It’s a long way, so make sure you’re prepped, no one will be around to help you out. Once you reach the rift you’re going to have to plot a way across. There are no stars for dozens of light years and the dark systems haven’t been mapped, so take your time, watch your six.’ The woman leaned in closer to the recording device. ‘What’s there? Wish I could tell you, but they edited my memory pretty good, took me long enough to stitch this lot back together. Whatever it is, it’s something that Galcop, the Imps and the Feds don’t want us to see. Good luck, and … right on, Commander.’

The holofac faded, leaving them with just the text. Salomé looked at Hassan with a mischievous grin.

‘Shall we?’

***

The suns had set and twilight was upon the world. Heading home after a long day in the field, Sushil heard a distant double thunderclap from the clear sky above him. He pulled on the reins of his herg and the grumpy animal plodded gratefully to a halt, flapping the blood flushed cooling membranes behind its head. It snorted as he dismounted, looking upwards in surprise.

Amongst the stars he could see a vapour trail high in the atmosphere and a sun-like orb of brightness moving slowly across the sky. As he watched, the light faded and a vessel could be seen, turning in the sky to slow its approach. It was coming towards him. He watched in dismay as it closed. The shape of the ship gave away its origins. There was no mistaking it.

Imperials!

What where they doing here? He’d heard the stories of how they’d invade a world, take it over and subdue the settlers. Was this an invasion?

The ship approached. A breeze arose around him. The herg stirred uneasily behind him, trumpeting through its twin nasal passages. The ship swept in like a gigantic predatory reptile from times long lost, turning gracefully, undercarriage unlocking and folding out in a smooth ballet of design, flourish and technology.

It was a sleek yet intimidating ship. It was immediately obvious to him that it was a new vessel. The hull gleamed with burnished duralium, no scars of battle marked its striking paintwork, radiation had yet to taint its exterior. Hull lights twinkled and flashed, accentuating the flowing curves and sweeping design of the ship. It was elegant, sophisticated, more than just a ship; it was a thing of beauty, a dream of spaceflight rendered into art.

It was also vast. Sushil had never seen a ship of this size up close. It had to be almost a hundred metres long. It was also a warship; a variety of weapons jutted from the twin engine nacelles, missiles lurked, half hidden in the lower hull, poised to fly. He briefly caught sight of an elegantly illuminated hull plate bearing the vessel’s name as it swept over him.

Seven Veils.

He ducked instinctively as the ground trembled under his feet.

The vessel slowed, descending into the empty fallow field where Hassan’s
Talon
had once stood. With a gentleness that belied its size it settled to the ground with barely a whisper of fading drives. Lights flashed on beneath its hull, illuminating the ground around it with a bright blue-white glow.

Sushil watched as a ramp lowered from the mid-section, unfolding and expanding in another engineering tour de force.

Sushil tied his herg to a tree and walked across to the ship. Better that he found out what they wanted. There was no thought of resistance; this ship could probably subdue their planet on its own.

Imperials here? A long way from the Empire.

He walked so he was standing just before it, subdued and intimidated by its bulk yet marvelling at the complexity and ostentatiousness of its design. Shadows flickered at the top of the ramp. Bright lights lit the interior, he couldn’t see clearly. A figure … no two figures. One walking forwards towards him, arms outstretched.

‘Kick-ass and blinged enough for you, Sush?’

Sushil gaped.

Hassan stood before him, but this was not the younger brother he remembered. He was dressed in a smart well-heeled and immaculately tailored outfit, a few steps short of a uniform. His hair was neatly trimmed, styled and clipped. He stood tall, shoulders back. A man, no longer the troubled and insecure youth Sushil had waved away scant months before.

‘Hassan?’

‘Told you I’d got a plan.’

‘No shit … this your ship? I mean … you serious? This …’

‘She’s quite a sight isn’t she? An Imperial Courier.’

‘But how did you afford …’

‘Let’s just say somebody owed me a ship.’ Hassan turned aside for a moment, gesturing to the other figure who had remained at the top of the ramp in the glare of the lights.

Sushil watched as the figure stepped down the ramp. By the gait and poise it was clearly a woman, her features obscured by the glare. She was a little taller than Hassan.

She stepped in front of the lights and Sushil got a clear look at her. Her face was striking, a shade away from beautiful, with grey eyes set against dark black hair. She was dressed in an elegant, but simple gown, in a fetching shade of dark green. Her arms were bare, and her right arm bore a thin recently healed scar several inches long.

‘I think he got the better side of the deal, personally,’ the woman said. Sushil couldn’t help but frown at her strong Imperial accent.

‘Sushil, this is … Salomé.’

‘And you must be Hassan’s sensible older brother.’ She extended her hand to him. Sushil took it, bemused.

He stuttered, strangely intimidated by the woman. ‘Er … you’re …’

‘Travelling together,’ Hassan added, under his breath.

‘Ah …’ Sushil managed to answer, releasing her hand. ‘Salomé?’

She raised her head and said quietly, ‘Just Salomé.’

A story there, clearly. I wonder what it is …

‘But you’re back, man!’ Sushil exclaimed, looking back at his brother. ‘I mean … look at you! Did you do it? What happened to you out there? Did your plan actually work?’

Hassan was about to answer, but Salomé interrupted. ‘Would it surprise you to learn that it was a complete disaster from beginning to end?’

Sushil stared at her for a moment before laughing. ‘She’s got you pegged, little brother.’

Hassan nodded in agreement.

‘Let’s just say things didn’t quite work out how I expected,’ Hassan said, ‘but it was one hell of a ride.’

‘So why you shipping out with my little brother?’ Sushil asked Salomé. ‘He’s trouble you know …’

Salomé smiled. ‘I know. I’ve dealt with far worse, believe me.’

‘You here for long?’ Sushil asked.

Hassan shook his head. ‘Just a brief stop,’ he said. ‘Heading out to the edge.’

Sushil shook his head. ‘That same old crazy dream of yours?’ He looked at Salomé. ‘You too?’ She nodded. ‘You’ll look after him, right?’

‘I’ll do my best to keep him in one piece,’ she answered.

‘Where you going, anyway?’

Hassan pointed up to the stars above them. ‘Just out there, Sush. Past the core worlds, past the outlying civilisations, over the edge of the maps and the known routes. We’ve got a little quest in mind. Who knows what we’ll find.’

The girl stepped forward, out away from the ship, running her hand through her dark hair as a cool breeze ruffled it. She looked upwards, a strange wistful expression on her upturned features, her eyes dancing with the reflection of the uncounted stars above.

Sushil watched the same rapt expression grow on his brother’s face as they both stared upwards into the darkening sky. Both his brother and the mysterious woman stood contemplating the vast unending universe arrayed above their heads.