Rogue Pursuit: A Space Opera Adventure (Shades of Starlight Book 1), page 13
“Yes…”
“It’s not as simple as a few people transporting goods illegally. There’s an entire movement. An underground network of smugglers, spies. Across empires, too. Confed colonies working with Amber and Cobalt. A revolution is brewing.”
“Wow.” Good thing those weapons had tipped her off or keeping her face blank would have been impossible.
“Kel had the information we’d gathered. He destroyed it, and we think he must be part of the network. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of those townspeople are, too. The weapons indicate the movement has advanced further than we’d anticipated.”
“That’s… big.”
She didn’t want to admit to herself that the movement may have advanced further than she’d anticipated, too. Especially since she’d indirectly been part of it. Did Kel know of an impending attack? Was that the reason for his warning?
“It’s dangerous. The Confed has laws for a reason, for safety and stability.” Tai’s posture straightened as conviction lit his eyes. “The colonies lack the resources to take care of themselves. They’re too new, too sparsely populated, or too remote. How will they train skilled laborers or provide security without the Confed? Or build infrastructure and produce the manufactured goods they need?”
They never would if the Confed kept passing laws to benefit the primary planet at the expense of the colonies. Normally she’d play devil’s advocate, try to encourage him to see the other side. She couldn’t take the risk now. She made noncommittal noises, hoping he’d consider them as agreement, despite feeling she was betraying everything she believed in.
Her convictions were worth defending, even endangering her life for. But she had to be smart, and educating one SARC wasn’t worth jeopardizing her chance of finding Kel, and everyone she’d worked to help.
Tai watched her, his expression earnest. “You must understand. You’ve been to the colonies.”
And he was basing this opinion on how many trips to the outer systems? She bit the tip of her tongue and shrugged.
“You could be useful, beyond tracking Kel. Have you seen other worlds like this? Those symbols? Any hints of rebellion?”
“I’m sure I wouldn’t know how to tell.” She swallowed and nodded at the screen. “There it is.”
The next city was a mere smudge on the view screen, but anything to change the subject.
This city, higher in the rocky black mountains, also lacked a proper terminal, just contained a collection of platforms in the hills outside town. When they exited the ship, she spotted another familiar vessel on the platform next to theirs.
One of hers.
The three-person crew was unloading a shipment, middle-aged captain and pilot and a young engineer about Perrin’s age.
The captain glanced up and spotted her. “Boss? That you?” he called. “I didn’t realize you’d be here. Are you making deliveries, too?” His attention shifted to Tai’s ship, obviously not a merchant vessel.
She didn’t realize they would be here. Served her right for not reviewing schedules when Mak told her to. “Not exactly.”
This was the only ship besides hers that smuggled. The other three captains and crews had no idea, and she kept it that way, as careful as possible not to risk their jobs.
Tai stepped closer and nudged her. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
She sighed and led him over, hoping her crew was smart enough not to be unloading anything illegal in broad daylight.
Once she’d introduced her crew, and him as a “private job she’d been requested to assist with,” she turned to him. “I should get some work done. Go do your thing. I’ll be here when you’re finished.”
Once he’d vanished into town, she turned to the captain. “What do you have on board? Besides this?”
The captain glanced around to ensure they were alone. “Medical equipment and grain.”
“Can I check the shielding?”
“Of course.”
Perrin didn’t think they had weapons, but she needed to be sure. Those guns had come from somewhere. And since she’d picked this crew to help with the smuggling because of their sympathy to the colonies, she couldn’t be certain their loyalty lay with her above the revolutionaries.
She trailed the crew to the cargo bay and three hallways with hidden compartments. She ran her scanner over them, pretended to check the seals on the doors to give her an excuse to open them.
No weapons, just various med-kits and scanners and sacks of flour.
Hiding her relief, she faced the captain. She hated to do this, because people needed those supplies, but she wanted to be cautious. “Better not deliver anything now. There are troops in Baytown, and it’s safer if the planet doesn’t have a sudden influx of illegal goods.”
The captain nodded. “What do you want us to do with them?”
“Hang on to them for now. Where are you headed next?”
Unlike Mak, the captain named a few planets and didn’t give her a lecture on her lack of knowledge.
“Okay, then. Wait until you hear from me.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Dealing with a crew who followed her orders without hesitating made her realize she’d grown used to Tai challenging her. Almost expected it now. He kept her sharp, and somewhere along the way, she had stopped minding.
A knock sounded on the hull. She shut the last secret compartment and headed for the hatch.
Tai stood outside. “Found three ships that left in the last two days. One supply ship bound for a mostly uninhabited world that doesn’t have any other wormholes. One passenger transport went through the wormhole we came here in. And one person, ‘tall, dark-haired, and secretive,’ rented a private ship, but didn’t log a flight plan. I’m guessing that was him.”
She shoved her hands into her pockets. “Ready then?”
“Yeah, but I saw more smuggler markings. Give me a minute to send a message, and we’ll be on our way.”
Perrin lingered long enough to tell her crew to speed up their legal deliveries and get out of here before the Confed blockaded the whole planet.
13
As Tai lifted off and the ship rose through the atmosphere, he recalled seeing Perrin with her crew. Three adults who called her boss, obeyed her orders. She gave them easily, never doubting her crew would listen.
How quickly he forgot that she was seventeen. As someone expected to lead one day, he admired the skill in others.
“I’ve been trying to think of an easier way to track our guy.” Perrin’s voice held its usual confidence. “Out here, no authorities govern who uses the wormholes and when. I may be able to run scans and find the last time a ship went through a wormhole. But it will take time, and we’d have to be much closer to the entrance.”
“Let’s try it. Going forward, that will help a lot.”
They set a course for the wormhole they’d decided was Kel’s most likely destination and agreed to return to the bridge in a few hours. Tai had been hoping Perrin would offer to cook again, but she vanished into her quarters.
Now he had no excuse to keep dodging his mom. What would he be doing if he were at the cabin, and what would he say? Early spring wasn’t the best fishing season, so he’d complain about the lack of success at the lake. The cabin had been dusty, and if he’d stayed, he would’ve cleaned it. And he’d been vocal in his desire to help find Kel, so he should offer again, which would be safe because he knew she wouldn’t break protocol to let him.
He typed his reply, careful to word it without an actual lie—not great fishing, cabin was dirty, happy to help. Specific but vague.
Good enough.
When he returned to the bridge, he found Perrin hunched over the console.
He paused in the doorway. His mother spent enough time reminding him—and all her agents—not to get close to people. To always be considering what they could do for him. But other than the fact that he needed Perrin for this mission, he was having trouble seeing her that way. His mom would be evaluating what a good asset she’d make, with her pass to travel anywhere and her connections on multiple worlds.
But he was interested in her thoughts on the new planets. Intrigued by how easily she fit in places. Even curious to see how she reacted to the next wormhole.
This was pointless.
He strode in and took his seat.
“It’s working,” she said. “I used the photon array to scan for ultraviolet signatures. Even with UV deflectors, every ship leaves a trace on the fabric of the wormhole, like footprints. Based on the rate of degradation, and using average emission levels, I can estimate when a ship entered. Of course, if someone was leaking extra UV particles, we’d be later than I think, and if they had high-quality shields, we’d be closer to them.”
He followed less than half of that, but she looked pleased with herself. “Good work. Did you find him?”
“I found a ship that went through about thirty-six hours ago.”
They weren’t losing time, but they weren’t gaining either.
“Are we ready to go?”
“I’m always ready, Officer. I guess I can’t call you that anymore, can I?” She maneuvered the ship forward. “Is Tai Lawson your real name?”
He’d wondered if she’d catch on. Shouldn’t have been surprised she had. “More or less.”
“Law. Son. Like, son of the law?”
“When I entered the training academy, my mom and I decided I shouldn’t use her name. Everyone knew who I was, but still. Safer for both of us in the field, and less of a reminder to everyone else. I thought it had a nice ring to it.”
“Well, Son of Law, ready to see what’s next?” She didn’t wait for an answer before propelling them into the wormhole.
This one was a deep gray-blue, with dark purple stripes and thin threads of bright crimson.
Her eyes lit up, flickering as they took in the moving colors, yet still aware of the readouts, like she and the ship fought a personal battle against nature.
If he watched her instead of the screen, he found his usual terror shrunk to plain anxiety.
When they exited the wormhole, something dinged against the hull. Spare parts floated in space.
A fist of panic seized Perrin’s chest. Had Kel’s ship been destroyed?
She zeroed in on the debris and magnified. Let out a breath. Not enough debris for an entire ship.
“Deflectors,” she said. “Looks like a dish snapped off. He’d have to make repairs before going through another wormhole. Depending on what parts are available, and what class of ship he has, it could take time.”
“He might still be here.” Tai checked the console. “One inhabited planet in this system.”
“Illyrio.”
“Of course. Another place you’ve been?”
She shook her head. “Passed through the system, but never stopped. As far as I know, the only settlement is a small religious colony, like a monastery. They came to get away, don’t order outside goods, all three governments leave them alone.” Which meant no opportunities for business or for smuggling.
Tai entered orbit and ran a scan. “His ship seems to have been leaking photonic plasma. There’s a trail from the wormhole to the central continent.”
“A broken deflector wouldn’t cause a plasma trail, but his ship could’ve been damaged in other ways, too.” She thought a moment. “Is it possible the trail’s fake?”
“Yes.” Tai’s quick agreement hinted that he’d suspected the same thing. “I’m only reading one other wormhole in this system. He could be hoping to slow us down.”
She figured Kel had been in a hurry, with that mysterious looming deadline, but he might’ve made a detour to throw others off his trail.
The map of the galaxy that she’d memorized years ago flashed in her head. “That wormhole leads to a Confed system with three colonized planets, and three other wormholes. Much better place to hide or escape.”
“If the trail is real, he might still be here, so we have to check it out.”
“Plus, he really would have to fix that deflector.”
“Okay,” Tai said. “Heading for the planet.”
Perrin spun toward the console and pretended to work. That had been a real discussion, like they were deciding together. Analyzing the options, debating, seeking the other’s opinion.
She missed Mak and Dodge. She and Tai were becoming their own crew, and she didn’t welcome that feeling. She had a crew, even if she’d been lax in thinking about them the last few days. And that crew knew the truth about her. They, and thousands of other people, relied on her. She and Tai did not have a real relationship, no matter how well they worked together. Because he was Confed, she was Onyx, and he was clueless.
“Underground cities are hard to detect on scanners,” Tai said. “But I’m reading one not far from where the plasma trail leads. If Kel needed to make repairs, he would’ve set down as close as possible. Laying in a course unless you have another suggestion.”
Tai’s voice, already familiar, sent a strange twinge of sadness through her, but she didn’t know why. “Whatever you say.”
“Really, Captain? No opinion? Are you ill?” He reached out a hand to feel her forehead.
She swatted him away. “Just lay in the course, Doctor Sarcasm.”
Tai steered them as close to the city as possible, which involved entering a massive canyon. They landed on a rock ledge and exited the ship.
A violent wind whipped her hair. Wild canyons spread in every direction, sliced by river gorges, punctuated with towering rock formations, sharp drop-offs, and narrow crevices. The fissure had to be thousands of feet deep, and there was no end in sight. The entire surface of the continent could’ve been one massive canyon.
The landscape offered hundreds of places to conceal a ship. Kel could’ve been hiding. But he’d wanted to meet her for a reason. Surely he wouldn’t have gone rogue just to take refuge in a canyon for the rest of his life.
“Where did the trail lead?” she asked. “Did scans show any other ships?”
Tai shook his head. “But the rock makes it hard to be certain. Must be laced with iron. We should check out the city.”
She stared into the pit of the canyon. “So we climb?”
“We climb.” Tai vanished into his room of spy gadgets and returned with a rope, a clamp, and an old pair of anti-grav boots.
“Where were those boots when you made me jump out a window?”
“I didn’t exactly go into that fancy hotel planning to jump out a window.”
She fingered the smooth fiber of the rope. “This is the best you’ve got? I thought spies had fancy gear.”
“Active spies do. Benched spies have whatever they can buy in a public shop, find lying around the family cabin, or sneak out of their flat while another spy watches.” He tied one end of the rope into a harness. “You prefer climbing or flying?”
She hadn’t used anti-grav boots since she was a kid, so she chose climbing. Tai looped the harness around her and used the clamp to drill the rope into a rock.
Sometimes she could walk down a steep hill, sometimes climb, but others she was forced to rappel, relying on the rope and Tai’s directions as he steered her over or around outcroppings. Every twenty feet, she stopped for Tai to fly up to retrieve the clamp and relocate it.
This would be a huge waste of time if Kel had already left.
The rock was dry and gritty under her fingers, cool since the canyon lay in shadows. Small pieces broke off and clattered for ages as they tumbled into the chasm below. The wind whistled through the canyon, and a constant drone of insects buzzed. Small, dry bushes and tiny yellow flowers dotted the cliffs, and gray lizards darted into hiding when she neared.
She paused to let Tai move the rope again and wiped her forehead. “Are we sure this is worth it?”
“We have to be thorough if there’s a chance he’s still here.”
“If he’s not here, and I’m making this climb for nothing, I might shove him into a canyon.”
The sharp cry of a thunderhawk screeched overhead, indicating rain would soon arrive.
Darkness was consuming the sky, turning reddish brown earth nearly the same gray-blue as the wormhole. The wind hurled tiny stones that stung her skin through her clothes.
A giant boom rumbled through the canyon, like the rocks themselves were shaking.
“I’m starting to understand why they live underground,” Tai said. “Faster.”
“Easy for you to say.” But she increased her pace, scrambling over boulders and skidding down inclines.
A flash lit the entire canyon, followed a few seconds later by another long, drawn-out rumble of thunder that rattled her teeth.
The storm advanced on them, a heavy gray wall of rain. The first drops fell. Rocks and rope grew slick under her hands. Her hair stuck to her face, and her clothes grew heavy. A damp smell of wet rock and rain hung so thick she tasted it.
“Down here,” Tai said from below her.
She jumped onto a ledge and ducked under an overhang.
Her breaths came fast, and she rubbed wet, dirty grit from her palms.
The space didn’t offer much cover. She had to press into Tai’s side to fit. The scent of wet clothes and damp earth permeated the space. The sky thundered so loud, she feared rocks might rattle loose on top of them. Wind gusted mist into their hideout, and Tai shifted, positioning himself to the outside to keep her dry. Chivalrous, if pointless. Beyond their refuge, the world was gray. Knowing what lay outside—miles and miles of rock and emptiness—made her feel like they were the only people in the galaxy.
It was a fierce and beautiful aloneness.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Tai craned his neck toward the opening. “It’s impressive.”
“Really? Oh, sure. You grew up on the capital.”
He nodded. “Weather control.”
“So boring.”
“What about you?”
“I like to think I’m not boring.”
“Trust me, Captain, you’re far from that. You’ve seen storms?”
“All kinds—rain, snow, dust, plasma.”
