Chasing the Stars (46 page)

‘As long as the pearls are edible, Mike,’ I called after him.

I couldn’t help the smile that crept over my lips. Ever since the overheard conversation in the hydroponics bay, Mike had gone out of his way to be kind to me. He sat with me for meals in the mess hall if we shared the same shift and he insisted on letting me try his latest culinary experiments. I could’ve done without the last effort though.

‘Can I join you, Vee?’ I started in surprise at Nathan’s voice from beside me.

‘Actually, I need to get back to the bridge.’ I grabbed my tray and stood up so vigorously that the plate and glass on it rattled in protest.

‘Please,’ said Nathan. ‘It’ll just take a minute.’

I looked around the mess hall. We were the focus of most people’s attention. Reluctantly I sat back down again. I was all kinds of a fool for sitting with this guy. He’d humiliated me enough times in public by running a kilometre in the opposite direction every time I approached. I didn’t need to be dropped on my head to finally get the message.

For want of something to do with my hands, I took another sip of Mike’s soup. Big mistake. It hadn’t improved. In fact, I came close to gagging.

‘You’re braver than me,’ said Nathan. ‘I put a spoonful of that stuff in my mouth and spat it straight out again.’

‘In front of Mike?’

‘Of course. He was sitting next to me waiting for my reaction,’ said Nathan. ‘Don’t tell me you actually swallowed that stuff.’

‘I didn’t want to hurt his feelings,’ I admitted. ‘Anyway, what was it you want to say to me?’

Just get it over with, Nathan, please. It hurts to sit here so close to you like this.

‘I want to call a truce,’ Nathan said quietly. ‘I was thinking that maybe we could . . .’

Pause.

‘We could – what?’ I prompted.

‘I don’t know.’ Nathan shrugged. ‘Be civil to each other?’

‘We are being civil,’ I pointed out. ‘Here we are having a conversation and there’s no battling with drawn spoons, no plates flying across the room, no drama.’

‘I was thinking we could maybe be a bit more than that . . .’

What? Why the sudden desire for détente? Confused, I studied Nathan. Did he want us to be friends, lovers, roommates, lunch partners? What?

‘Nathan, what’re you trying to say?’

He ran a hand through his raven-black hair. ‘Aren’t you prepared to at least meet me halfway?’

‘Halfway to where? I don’t understand what you want from me?’

Nathan frowned, irritation deepening the creases around his mouth. ‘Give me a break. I’m trying to figure this out as I go along.’

I stood up, tray in hand. ‘Well, when you do figure it out, let me know.’

Nathan’s hot-and-cold, on again, off again attitude was confusing the hell out of me. He needed to make up his mind what he wanted regarding the two of us. I couldn’t figure it out for him.

Time to head back to the bridge.

‘Vee, I have the name of a contact at the Edwardes space dock, but we need to be cautious as this outpost services both the Resistance and the Authority. D’you mind if I present myself as in command of this ship?’ asked Catherine.

I shook my head. ‘Not at all.’

I headed for the vacant seat next to Anjuli at the navigation panel, just as we were hailed by the space dock.

‘This is Lieutenant Moore of the Edwardes base. May we have your designation please?’ The face filling the viewscreen looked vexed to say the least. What was her problem – because it couldn’t have been us?

‘This is Commander Catherine Linedecker of the
Earth Vessel Aidan
. We would like to request docking clearance. We need repairs and we’d like to requisition a new landing craft.’

Lieutenant Moore at the space dock was shoved out the way and a handsome black guy with an intricately patterned beard and twinkling dark eyes appeared, his face filling the viewscreen as he got closer to the transmission camera.

‘Catherine! You old she-goat! You took your own sweet time getting here!’

‘Leon? LEON BRIKES! Oh my God!’ The commander’s face lit up in a way I hadn’t seen since I met her. ‘It’s so good to see you.’

‘Back ’atcha! We have some catching up to do and I have a bottle of Hive wine in my quarters with your name on it.’

‘I see you haven’t changed,’ the commander said with amusement.

‘You can’t improve on perfection, sweetie. You of all people should know that.’ Leon winked theatrically.

To my surprise, the commander burst out laughing. ‘Oh, but it’s good to see you. You always did know how to make me smile.’

‘Excuse me!’ Lieutenant Moore was trying to push Leon out the way so she could get back to her job. ‘I have to assign them a docking port. Could you move please?’

‘Hold your horses, sweetheart.’

‘I am not your sweetheart,’ Lieutenant Moore replied.

‘You could be if you worked on your attitude!’ Leon told her.

As the lieutenant glared at him in high dudgeon, Leon turned back to the screen, his smile fading somewhat. ‘Cathy, I’m so sorry about what the Authority did to you and your family. It wasn’t right and I said so at the time to whoever would listen.’

‘You were and are a good friend, Leon,’ said the commander. ‘But you should’ve kept your mouth shut. If you hadn’t spoken up for me, you’d still be commanding your own ship.’

‘I would do the same thing again tomorrow,’ Leon replied. ‘It’s a cold universe, Cathy. We know that better than most. If we don’t look out for each other, it gets a lot colder. Besides, I have my own vessel again now.’

‘The Authority reinstated you?’ the commander asked, surprised.

‘Are you joking?’ Leon scoffed, adding with glee. ‘I’m a wanted man. We’re like Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad, except in space.’

‘Huh?’ said the commander.

‘If fugitive vessels make it this far, we escort them to Mendela Prime. We’re trying to set up a chain of vessels with sympathetic captains to help drones escape from the Authority. Admittedly there are a few gaps in the chain, but we’re getting there.’

‘You could give us safe passage to Mendela?’ the commander asked, her voice sharp.

‘For you, sweetheart, anything. You and your husband Josh were always good friends to me and Chi. I don’t forget my friends, Cathy.’

The commander smiled. ‘So how is Chi? Where is she? On the space dock with you?’

Leon shook his head, his expression sombre. ‘She was executed by the Authority for refusing to reveal my location. And they made sure they broadcast it on every sub-space channel so that sooner or later I’d get to see it. Plus it would act as a deterrent to anyone else who even thought about denouncing the Authority.’

‘Oh, Leon, I’m sorry,’ said the commander, stricken.

‘I console myself with the knowledge that one day I will help to bring the whole corrupt, rotten Authority edifice crumbling down,’ said Leon.

His expression at that moment was forbidding. There was no doubting the depth of his hatred. The Authority had made a dangerous enemy. But then he dredged up a smile, and just like that his face was back to normal.

‘And in the meantime, I enjoy ferrying drones to Mendela where we are slowly building a rebel army,’ said Leon. ‘This war with the Mazon is unfortunate. They would’ve made useful allies. Their xenophobia mostly keeps them to their own territory in space but it also makes it harder for us to travel back and forth to Earth’s star system in a timely fashion.’

‘I’d very much like to help with that rebel army, if I can,’ said the commander, fire in her eyes.

‘We’d love to have you,’ said Leon, a genuine smile back on his face now. ‘How many of you are there?’

‘Is it safe to talk?’

‘Oh yes. Don’t let Lieutenant Moore’s surly expression fool you, she loves me really,’ said Leon.

Lieutenant Moore’s eyes were shooting daggers through Leon as she glared at him.

‘There are ten of us plus two children. Thirteen including the captain of this vessel.’

‘That isn’t you?’

‘No, I’m second in command.’

‘Hang on . . . only twelve of you made it?’ Leon said, aghast. ‘The scuttlebutt said that over one hundred of you escaped from Callisto.’

‘Eighty-five of us were dumped on Barros 5 by Stefan Jersecky of the transport ship
Galileo
. He decided it was too risky to travel any further into Mazon territory.’

‘Jersecky was paid a great number of credits to bring you as far as this space dock at the very least,’ said Leon. His dark eyes were once again ice-cold.

‘He was already paid?’ Catherine said sharply. ‘That bastard took every credit we had to transport us to Mendela Prime and then, like I said, he dumped us. When the Mazon learned we were on Barros, they attacked and then detonated a proton bomb on the planet.’

Leon was horrified.

‘Then thank God at least some of you made it this far.’

‘We survived thanks to the captain of this ship,’ said Catherine. ‘If it wasn’t for her, none of us would be here now.’

A hot flush crept up from my neck and over my face. I wasn’t used to hearing good things about myself.

‘So who is the captain? Let me see her,’ said Leon.

I stood up. ‘I’m Acting Captain Olivia Sindall. My mum Vida Sindall used to be the captain of this vessel but she died—’

‘Vida Sindall? You mean you’re Vida and Daniel’s little girl? Look at you. You’re all grown up.’ Leon beamed at me.

I smiled faintly, not quite sure what to say to that. Leon was behaving like an uncle!

‘You don’t remember me, do you?’ said Leon, his smile fading.

‘I’m afraid not, sir.’

‘Ah, pity. But you were, what? Six or seven when I saw you last? Well, if your ship is on its last legs, I’m prepared to give you all safe passage to Mendela Prime aboard my cruiser, the
Ashley
. She’s seen better days but she flies true.’

‘Captain Brikes, d’you think you could save your conversation for when they actually dock?’ said Lieutenant Moore, exasperated. ‘It would be great if I could get my workstation back.’

‘Righto, sweetcheeks. You only had to ask,’ said Leon. ‘Cathy, I’ll see you when you dock.’

‘Looking forward to it, Leon. Looking forward to it.’

Our time on board the
Aidan
had come to an end. In another eighteen hours the ship would be ready to depart with a refitted engine and a rebooted ship’s computer, plus a state-of-the-art landing craft which could be remotely controlled was now in the cargo hold. In less than twenty-four hours, the rest of us would be on the battle cruiser
Ashley
and travelling to Mendela Prime. Vee would be alone on the
Aidan
, going God only knew where.

Earlier this evening, Mum had tried hard to persuade her to come with us to Mendela Prime. Mum, Leon, Vee and me had all had a meeting in a booth in the space dock bar – away from prying eyes and ears. We’d got to the bar about thirty minutes ahead of Vee. Leon and Mum sat on one side of the booth, leaving me with no choice but to sit opposite them with a narrow table between us. The width of the table was obviously designed to encourage private drinking, not eating. When Vee arrived she had no choice but to slide in next to me. Her thigh was lightly touching mine, but there was something wrong with me. I had to be coming down with some type of fever or something because just the touch of her leg against mine had me burning up. So much so that I had to keep surreptitiously wiping my forehead.

Once our drinks order had arrived, Mum didn’t waste any time.

‘Why won’t you come to Mendela with us. Think of all the good you could do,’ Mum said to Vee.

‘The Resistance needs you,’ said Leon.

Vee took a sip from her bottle of beer before answering. ‘I have my own plans.’

‘You’ll return to Earth?’ asked Mum.

Vee shook her head. ‘No. I’ve decided to do what I can to rescue as many drones as possible from the mining moons in Earth’s solar system. And I intend to be a deep thorn in the side of the Authority.’

‘Then work with us,’ urged Mum. ‘We need your skills, your expertise.’

‘Catherine has filled me in regarding everything that happened on board the
Aidan
,’ said Leon.

Vee bent her head. Leon put a hand over Vee’s free one resting on the table. ‘What happened with your brother was . . . unfortunate.’

‘That’s one word for it,’ said Vee with a bitterness that surprised me.

‘You weren’t responsible for the two deaths he caused,’ said Mum.

‘Two deaths? Hhmm.’ Vee closed her eyes and inhaled slowly but audibly before exhaling in a rush. Her eyes opened. ‘I thank you for your offer and under other circumstances I’d probably jump at the chance, but I think it would be best for all concerned if it was a clean break.’ Though her eyes were on Mum and Leon, her words targeted my gut. ‘So you all go on to Mendela Prime and I’ll head back to Earth’s star system. Plus that way, if I get caught, I can’t compromise any of you because what I don’t know, I can’t tell.’

A clean break? Had that been said for my benefit? Is that what Vee wanted? Is that what
I
wanted? God, this was so hard. Vee had told me to figure out what it was I wanted from her, but my thoughts and feelings were still a jumbled mess.