Heart of the Nebula (15 page)

It seemed as if the space was abandoned, but
when she took a second to look around, she saw a second sign
pointing down one of the darkened corridors. About thirty meters
in, she could make out a caged yellow bulb that gave off just
enough light to walk by. A couple of people were silhouetted
against it, indicating that there was something there.

Mom would have a fit if
she knew I was walking into this place,
Sara thought. She felt in her pocket for the stunner she’d
managed to sneak past the conference guards. Just touching it gave
her a small measure of reassurance.

As she neared the light at the end of the
dark corridor, she saw a steep stairwell leading up to an open
doorway. Garbage and litter lay scattered about the floor, but the
steps were swept clean. A black-and-yellow sign above the doorway
read GOLDENSTAR CAFE. The paint was chipped and broken, and the
metal around the edges was rusting, but there was no mistaking
it—this was the place.

She stepped through the doorway and found
herself in a dim, smoke-filled bar. A dark-skinned bouncer regarded
her with raised eyebrows. The bartender was a burly cyborg with
eerie prosthetic eyes who stood unmoving and expressionless behind
the counter. Besides him and the bouncer, there was an old man
hunched over on a barstool, a pair of bald young women smoking from
a hookah at one of the tables, and a man in an olive-green flight
suit seated in the far corner.

That’s probably him.

Taking a chance, she walked over to the man
in the corner. He rose cordially to greet her, a charming smile on
his face. He was bald, with thick, bushy eyebrows and large ears.
His eyes were a striking shade of gray, light enough that they
seemed to pierce her even from the shadows.

“
Soner, I take
it?”

“
That’s right,” said the
man.

She extended her hand.

“
I’m Sara Galbraith-Dickson
of the Colony at Kardunash III,” she said as they shook. “Pleased
to meet you.”

“
And you as well, Sara.
Please, have a seat.”

Something about him set her on edge, though
she didn’t quite know why. She rolled out a chair and sat down
across from him, her back to the door. He folded his hands and
cracked his knuckles, making her wince.

“
I take it you already know
why I’m here,” she began. “My father, the patrician—”

“
Yes, yes, we’ll get to
that soon enough. But first, I was hoping we could get a little
better acquainted. Care for a drink?”

She tensed. “Thanks, but I really
can’t.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because I’ll be expected
soon on conference business, and the rest of the diplomatic
team—”

“
Oh, come,” he said,
laughing dismissively. “You didn’t actually come here for the
conference, did you? Or are you trying to keep our little liaison a
secret?”

Once again, his gray eyes seemed to
penetrate her. Sara shifted uneasily in her seat and forced herself
not to turn away from his gaze.

“
I assure you, we keep all
our obligations in full faith. The… domestic situation is a bit
complex right now, but my father has no doubt that that will soon
shift in our favor.”

Soner shrugged. “It makes no difference to
me how you manage your internal affairs, so long as you keep to
your end of the bargain. And that’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?
To bargain with each other?”

“
Yes,” said Sara, relaxing
a little now that they seemed to be getting down to
business.

“
It’s a pity that someone
as young and as beautiful as yourself should have to worry her head
about these things. Perhaps, after we’ve come to an agreement,
we’ll have some time for a little fun?”

His sexist remark was so unexpected that she
couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh. Instantly, she felt
diminished because of it.

“
We’ll see.”

He smiled again, though this time it didn’t
seem quite so charming. “Very well, then. Let’s get to
business.”

* * * * *

That’s strange,
James thought as he made his way back through the
concourse toward the conference hall. The few open shops were
closing, and the merchants were quickly rolling up their wares. A
large cluster of black-clad Hameji soldiers had gathered in the
center of the concourse—enough to make almost three platoons. They
eyed him coolly as he walked across the wide, empty space to the
guards at the main door. They waved him in without asking to see
his ID—or even looking at him, for that matter.

Something’s wrong.

The foyer, in stark contrast to the
concourse, was bustling with activity. Dozens of gaily dressed
diplomats from across the occupied worlds socialized and ate a
light lunch served from a long folding table at the front. From the
lively conversations and animated expressions on the delegates’
faces, it was clear that none of them were aware of what was
happening outside.

James keyed a series of commands into his
wrist console and placed an encrypted call to Sterling. Touching
his earpiece with two fingers, he stood with his back against the
wall and scanned the room for Lars and Sara.

“
Hello?” came the ensign’s
voice in his right ear.

“
Sterling, this is James. I
need a status report on the delegation.”

“
I’m still back at
the
Freedom Star,
sir. Lars is with me, along with most of the diplomats. Said
they wanted to conduct some private meetings on the ship before the
conference started.”

James sighed in relief. “Good. Stay there.
Something seems very wrong.”

“
Wrong? What do you
mean?”

“
I don’t know. There’s a
situation developing on the concourse with the Hameji.”

“
But, sir—Sara is still
there.”

At that moment, James’s wrist console buzzed
to alert him of an incoming message. He frowned and glanced at the
screen—it was from his sister.

Get out now.

His blood turned to ice, and his heart began
to race the way it did before every battle—except this time, he
wasn’t in his gunboat. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that
the guards had abandoned the door.

“
Sir?”

“
Where did she go?” James
asked, leaving the foyer for the main hall. “Where is
she?”

“
I-I don’t know, sir. Lars
said she went for a bite to eat, but we haven’t heard from her
since.”

“
G
et the
Freedom Star
ready for departure. I’ll find Sara and get her to
the ship as quickly as I can.”

“
Departure? But
sir—”

The sound of gunfire and glass shattering
cut him short. Instinctively, James dove behind a marble pillar as
panicked screams filled the foyer.

It’s a massacre,
James realized, his sweat turning cold. Bullets
raked the walls and furnishings, cutting people to the floor all
around him.

Everyone at the conference was going to
die.

Chapter 8

Kyla palmed open the door to her quarters
and poked her head out. To her surprise, the corridor was empty.
Tentatively, she stepped out and walked as quickly and quietly as
she could toward the airlock.

Her heart beat a little faster as she
contemplated her next step. In order to get off the ship, she had
to open the airlock, but that was only possible on the bridge.
Barring that, the only way was to sneak out with the next group of
people to leave. Both ways were tricky, but since everyone on the
ship already knew her by sight, she doubted they’d let her sneak
off with them.

But the bridge—how was she supposed to
unlock the door from there? She doubted the captain wanted her
anywhere near that place, and even if Kyla did manage to sneak in,
she had no idea what to do from there.

It’s okay,
she told herself.
You
have time.
It might take her a while to
scope things out, but they wouldn’t be headed back to the Colony
for a few days. She’d figure out how to sneak off before then.
After all, she’d come this far, hadn’t she?

She came to the end of the corridor and
climbed a narrow set of stairs up to the deck above. The corridor
looked identical, but it had a pair of narrow windows running along
the top corner on both sides. Through them, she could see the gray
outer hull of the station, along with the shining surface of the
world below. It was a bright reddish brown, with swirling clouds
and sharp landforms. The view was enough to mesmerize her, but she
forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

After following the corridor all the way to
the other end of the ship, she came to a door labeled BRIDGE. It
was shut, though by pressing her ear against it, she could hear the
faint sound of people talking on the other side. She couldn’t make
out what they were saying, but she thought she heard the soldier
who was supposed to be watching her.

So much for that
plan.
She rose to her feet, but before she
could get back down to the lower deck, the door hissed open, making
her jump.

“
Oh, hi there,” said
Sterling. “What are you up to?”

“
Uh, nothing,” said Kyla.
“I just wanted to come out and—”

“
Where the hell is Sara?”
asked the captain, barging into the corridor. “Is she on board? She
isn’t answering any of her calls.”

“
I don’t know,” said the
soldier. “I didn’t see her come in.” He seemed torn between running
after the captain and staying with Kyla.

“
Well, you’d better make
sure the lieutenant gets back here, because as soon as she’s back
on board, we’re getting out of here.”

“
Wait! You can’t just leave
him behind!”

“
If the Hameji are on the
move, we sure as hell can’t wait for him.” The captain reached the
nearest stairwell and ran down it. “Just make sure he gets here as
soon as he can!” she called out as she left.

Kyla’s stomach fell, and the blood drained
from her cheeks. “What’s going on? Are we leaving already?”

The soldier nodded, his face white. “The
Hameji just stormed the conference hall. They’re shooting everyone
on sight. If they come after us…”

As his voice trailed off, the elevator
midway down the corridor opened up and several people spilled out.
Kyla only recognized one of them: Lars Stewart, one of the chief
diplomats from the Colony.

“
I’m so sorry, so sorry,”
he was babbling to the others. “I never thought it would come to
this. Please, take care of yourselves.”

“
We will,” said one of the
men. “And God-willing we will meet again to continue this important
work.”

“
I do sincerely hope so,”
said Lars. They reached a large set of doors and stopped.
“Sterling! Can you open the airlock?”

“
Sure,” said the soldier.
He entered a code into the access panel on the wall, and the door
hissed open.

There went my chance to
get off the ship,
Kyla realized. Though
from the sound of things, that didn’t seem like such a good idea
anymore.

“
What’s the plan?” Lars
asked, hurrying over to them. “How long before we
leave?”

“
Until Sara gets back, I
guess,” said Sterling. “The jump drives are charged, and the
engines are warming up. Are all your people back on
board?”

“
All of them except Sara.
What about James?”

“
He’s in the conference
hall.”

Lars ran his hand through his head and
swore. “What’s going on in there? Is he going to make it?”

“
I don’t know. We heard a
bunch of gunfire, and then he cut off.”

“
Stars of
Earth!”

Kyla’s legs went weak. Maybe it was better
to stay on the ship, even if that meant going back to the
Colony.

“
In any case,” said
Sterling, “we should probably get everyone to their quarters to
prepare for departure. That includes you, Kyla. Things could get
rough.”

“
Yeah,” she said softly. “I
guess so.”

* * * * *

Sara,
James thought to himself, his adrenaline surging as screams
filled his ears.
I need to find her and
get her out of here.

A group of delegates ran past him, only to
be mowed down. Their blood splattered across the pristine carpet as
they fell on their faces, arms and legs splayed clumsily outward.
James waited for a lull in the shooting and made a mad dash for the
con suite, just off the main hallway. The sound of gunfire and
ricocheting bullets filled his ears, but he dove for the doorway
and rolled through, taking cover around the corner.

Several employees were huddled beneath a
nearby table, cowering in fear. Panting for breath, James looked
hastily around for an escape. The ventilation shaft above them was
too small to crawl through. On the other side of the room, however,
he saw a conveyor belt and window that led into the kitchen.

He sprinted as fast as he could, reaching
the belt just as booted footsteps sounded behind him. The employees
screamed as the soldiers made quick work of them, but the
distraction gave James just enough time to vault over the counter
to cover. He fell to the floor with his back to the wall, pausing
for a moment to get his breath before scrambling away.