Broken Vision (2 page)

Her slenderness bordered on painful thinness. The bones in her wrists were prominent. The
long-skirted dress she wore might once have been form fitting but hung from her shoulders in
wilted folds.

"The sooner we get started, the sooner we can be done," he said more gently, and gestured
to the guest seating arrangement behind him.

She balked just long enough to convey irritation, then glided past him, head held high.

Across the room, the door opened and her assistant entered, server bot in tow.

"Ah, excellent timing, the food is here." He stood to the side, his attention seemingly
focused on the food, as Coryon fussed with laying it out. His interest wasn't all feigned. Food was
one of his passions. He took great pleasure in the culinary experiences afforded by varied cultures
of the Crestar System and made it a point to seek out unique dining opportunities when he could.
He had yet to partake of Pallas Four's cuisine, which had a galaxy-wide reputation.

The subtle interplay between the two women interested him more than the food. Coryon, a
native of Pallas Four, was nervous. Her skin was flushed a dark olive and shone with a fine mist of
perspiration. She kept darting glances at Maegan who, with the exception of a single slight jerk of
her head, stood still and silent.

His intrusion here today had caused a major difficulty.

Coryon completed the food service by placing a small covered bowl near Maegan. She
stepped back, her gaze lowered. A bead of moisture traced a glistening path down her cheek.

"Thank you, Coryon," Maegan said with more warmth than he had heard yet. "I'll be with
Governor Mariltar for a while. Please reschedule my remaining appointments with the exception of
the last one."

"But the plans for--"

"You and Makiee can work them out together. I have every confidence in you."

Coryon, it was clear, didn't have that much confidence in herself. Her young face twisted
in a grimace of horror. "Perhaps we should--"

"No," Maegan snapped. Her tone gentled. "No, there's no need. You've both done this
before. You don't need me."

"Yes, ma'am." Coryon shot a glance at Alerik that contained a hint of resentment. Her
shoulders straightened. She stepped back. "Please let me know if you need anything else."

He waited until she was gone. "She's young. I clearly seem to be causing some difficulty
with your plans for the day."

"She has more rotations than I do," Maegan said. She waited by the table, hands linked
together at her waist, a polite hostess. "Pallas natives have a longer life expectancy which can mean
a delayed maturity factor. She's a good assistant, just inexperienced. And no, you're not causing any
difficulty with our plans. It will be good for her to work on the project without my
supervision."

"Sit, please." Alerik gestured. He didn't completely buy into her explanation. Maegan
posed a conundrum and he recognized the sensation that uncoiled in his belly with relish. She was a
complex puzzle to be unraveled.

Along with the far greater and more serious challenge of the job he had been sent here to
accomplish.

"Please," he said, and gestured again, this time at the half dozen dishes set before them.
"Let's eat first. Business afterwards."

She leaned forward and picked up the small covered bowl. "No, thank you," she said too
politely. "I don't eat food." She opened the bowl to reveal nutro tablets.

The heady anticipation of experiencing a new cuisine evaporated with the suddenness of a
samlwind. She had taken the conundrum factor to yet a higher notch. He didn't understand how
anyone could forgo the pleasure of eating in favor of the tasteless tablets, which were really
designed as emergency food supplies. No wonder she was so skinny. He added another goal to a
long list.

Toward the end of his own meal, which somehow wasn't as enjoyable when his dining
partner wasn't sharing the experience, he dropped two firestingers into the mostly one-sided
conversation. "We're going to be conducting long overdue audits of all corporations in the Grogon
System. We'll expect your complete cooperation, of course. And..." He waited.

She didn't like that. She had tensed up like a craw again. She would like his next agenda
item even less. "It's time to discuss your hereditary term of service on my security team."

Margaine Confluence:/Fourth Rising
Near the Grogon Asteroid
Belt

Blazing Starpits! And damn, damn, damn--to use her Earth mother's favorite
expletive.

Where had she picked them up and who were they? She was certain the two vessels were
following her. She couldn't afford to be challenged this close to the Grogon cluster, especially since
she hadn't filed a flight plan. The old governor would have looked in the other direction. The new
governor would have her incarcerated and interrogated.

Despite her predicament, she chuckled out loud in sour amusement. That would solve one
of her problems. Her eligibility to serve a hereditary term on Alerik Mariltar's security team would
be wiped into oblivion.

Maegan studied the nav display. They were drawing inexorably closer. It wouldn't be long
before they were within standard hailing distance. She had to lose them before then.

This trip was the result of a frantic request for immediate action. Most of such requests
were urgent, but didn't usually give her so little time to prepare. Alerik Mariltar's intrusion today
had forced her to rely on others. She had made the collection. She had made the drop-off. She just
had to get home. Luckily, she had identified the possible new safe route through the moon cluster.
She had to shake her pursuers there.

The two ships behind her were beginning to separate. Starpits! Ambush tactics. She had to
do this now. The moon cluster was close enough. She took a deep breath and hoped the best nav
charts credits could buy would substitute for her less than adequate preparation.

"All right, Lady Melia, let's see if your old body hangs together on this one." She set the
nav course directly for the moon cluster and jammed the thruster control forward. The Lady Melia's
brand new engines responded instantly and hurtled her ancient body toward the nearest moon.
Maegan's fingers danced over the nav chart making some fine adjustments to the course. They
would take the ship far closer to the moon than most pilots had balls for.

Passed it!

She made her next adjustment and checked for company. Sliek! Still there. Their speed had
increased as well. Who were they?

The bedring creatures dancing in her stomach were a strong indication her growing
suspicion was on target. She zipped around the next moon. Still there. It was like swatting at two
annoying insects. Stronger tactics were called for. She had trained as a fighter pilot with the
best.

These were the best--without a doubt.

Two of Alerik Mariltar's team.

She ground her teeth and tried to ignore the welling of hot anger as she made her next
adjustments. Blazing starpits! She braced herself. Her stomach never did well on this maneuver.
Good thing she didn't have anything in it.

The Lady Melia plunged--down, down, down--then caught herself and began a steep
upward climb. Maegan's stomach roiled before settling. Thank Sortor for nutro tablets. She checked
the chart.

One was still with her. She had one more chance. She zipped around the far side of the
next to last moon and hit her ballast eject. On the nav chart, a film spread out and rolled in a wave
over the one remaining vessel.

"And best of luck to you," she muttered. The magna cloud would scramble the pursuing
vessel's nav equipment, making further pursuit virtually impossible. She had never had to use the
tactic before. It was an expensive last resort. Alerik Mariltar had just doubled the chits against
him.

She made a last set of adjustments and headed for home.

* * * *

"Balls of forged steel," Eduardo Corenna said gloomily. "Never seen anything like it."

Nathan Drakal, slumped in the chair beside him, shot back, "You didn't get caught in that
magna cloud. I had to be towed to dock. Towed! And I'm grounded until my instruments are
recalibrated."

"Been telling you for rotations to get that done." Corenna sounded smug. "Might improve
your longevity with the ladies."

"Thereby leaving more for your pathetic a--"

"Gentlemen!" Sharm Foster, their commanding officer, looked up from his perusal of the
official report. His gaze passed over Alerik with barely a flicker, where he stood unnoticed behind
the two pilots. "And so the mighty are felled. One service class vessel, gentlemen? Of
indeterminate age? And he kicked your asses."

"Magna cloud, engines powerful enough to perform fighter class maneuvers--the vessel
must have been reinforced to withstand the pressure, yet left to look like a mere transporter. Why is
that, I wonder? Stand down, boys." Alerik waved his hand as Corenna and Drakal leapt to attention.
He strolled across the room and dropped his hand-held vid screen on the wide table in front of
Sharm. "There are credits here, gentlemen, a lot of them. Magna is expensive and hard to obtain,
not to mention being a controlled substance. And we have an unrecorded flight plan through the
Grogon cluster."

Commander Foster nodded. "Unfortunately, sir, we have a lot of those. The previous
governor didn't enforce Coalition regs."

Alerik placed his hands on the table and leaned forward to fix his gaze on the two fighter
pilots. They were two of the youngest members of his team, but the best at what they did--arrogant,
fearless, supremely confident. Now they squirmed in their seats and shot each other uncertain
looks.

"She out-maneuvered you, boys. Hard to believe. Hard to believe that anyone can
out-maneuver a pilot trained by the Seventh Fleet."

More looks, this time of comical horror. "She, sir?"

Alerik shrugged. "It's possible, isn't it?" He didn't know why he'd attached a female gender
to the unknown pilot.

"Of course, sir," Corenna hastened to agree but, as Alerik turned away, he saw the
skeptical grimace and head shake Corenna directed at Drakal.

"That's all for now, gentlemen," he said. "You'll receive new assignments later today."

"Your thoughts?" Sharm demanded as soon as the door closed behind the pilots.

Alerik stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. "That the Grogon
Asteroid Belt shields a host of unlawful activities behind a façade of ordinary commerce.
There's a bigger web of conspiracy, graft and intrigue here than we first were led to believe, and
this recent incident only reinforces my opinion. That vessel landed on one of the Pallas
asteroids."

Sharm barked out a laugh. "But according to Governor Meelor, nothing ever happens
here."

"Governor Meelor was a puppet of the large corporations. The welcome gifts I received
from each corporate chief were only a fraction of what they're prepared to offer. Most made
implications that came dangerously close to bribery."

"With the exception of Janas Corporation."

"With the exception of Janas Corporation," Alerik agreed. He gave a humorless grin.
"Janas begrudged even the nans they were forced to give me. Gifts and bribery were the last things
on Maegan Shale's mind."

Sharm shook his dark head and rose to his feet. He was tall and elegantly slender, without
Alerik's muscled bulk. His facial features were perfectly sculpted, almost feminine in their beauty.
But his looks were deceiving. Without hesitation, Alerik would choose Sharm to guard his back
over anyone else in hand-to-hand combat. "Would have liked to have been there with you on that
one for the entertainment factor alone. Maegan was such a fireball at the academy, constantly
pushing at boundaries and challenging convention. Half the men in her class were in love with her.
The other half was jealous of her. And the women always seemed exasperated with her."

"And her piloting skills?"

Headed for the refreshment bar, Sharm jerked to a halt. "Balls of Sortor," he swore. He
pivoted to face Alerik and smoothed his already perfect hair. "She was exceptional. Near the top of
her class. I had her for one rotation. She quite possibly would have been top of her class if she
hadn't constantly resisted following orders."

"She dropped out," Alerik said.

On the heels of his quiet comment, realization dawned on Sharm's face. "She did, didn't
she? I remember now. You don't think she's mixed up in any of this, do you?"

Alerik propped himself on the edge of the table and picked up a saga ball. He began to toss
it idly from hand to hand. "We don't know what the extent of 'this' is yet, but for her parents' sake, I
hope not."

"What a mess that would be." Sharm pulled two bottles of Mariltar blue ale from the
cabinet.

More of a mess than Sharm could possibly know. Alerik accepted a bottle of ale and, once
again, debated sharing a piece of information with the man who had had his back since they had
met in pilot training at the academy. Not yet. Sharm would have to know soon and Sharm, being
ever the conformist, would without a doubt have vociferous objections.

"Why did she drop out?"

"The transcripts don't give a reason, but her father says she left to come to Pallas Four to
work with her uncle in Janas Corporation."

"Where's the uncle now?"

"Off on an extended tour of the Voton Galaxy, leaving his niece in charge." Alerik tipped
the bottle back and took a long swallow of ale. It slid down his throat, smooth, familiar. He waited
for the kick. "I want you to assign Corenna and Drakal to Pallas Four."

Sharm's brows shot up. "Yes?"

"Specifically to watch Maegan Shale. I want to know her every movement when she's not
inside Janas Corporation."

"You think she was that pilot?"

"Maybe. Tell that to Corenna and Drakal. It'll give them some incentive. Nothing like a
score to settle to improve attention to detail."