The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution (29 page)

He handed me the water. “You asked why the
Hail Mary
came to Colony Lenti. The answer is both simple and complicated.”

The captain had sat down, then. “Word had reached the capital that the Telmicks have been getting nastier in their raids. Orders were to survey the Telmicks’ activity and determine the threat they posed,” he continued, and I had simmered silently at that. The gray giants were definitely more than a threat, they were an active danger. But the Prime Worlds would not see them as an “active danger.” People have died and no one with the power to do anything about it has
or ever will,
I had thought.

“That is the simple answer,” the captain had continued. He had paused, then, and studied me with his gray eyes. I had tried to hide my angry thoughts by taking a drink of my water. “The slightly complicated answer is that Lenti and I are old friends. I had asked to be the survey ship to provide her with assistance,” he said, thoughtfully.

In my surprise I had met his gaze. I had understood what he wasn’t saying. The Prime Worlds may not care about the welfare of the colonies outside of their interest, but the people did hear news. Apparently some people tried to do what they could to help, though until sanctioned by the Imperial Council and/or the Emperor, there was very little they could do.

Captain Wingstar had seemed to recognize that I understood all of what he was saying. He nodded, seemingly pleased. “May I ask you some questions, Rylynn?” he asked.

“Sir?”

“How old are you?”

“Thirteen cycles.”

I remember thinking that the captain would be a killer at poker. I don’t know what he had been thinking when I gave him my age. All I was sure of was that he had filed that information away. He had then leaned back in his chair and asked his second question. “Why did you run?”

Such a simple question. But not such a simple answer. He was an ally of Valencia’s and Valencia had called me a coward. If I told him the reason
why
I had ran, I risked revealing that Valencia had been wrong before I could talk to her first. To answer him I had shrugged. My gaze strayed away from his.

“Is it as Valencia describes? Are you a coward?” he had pressed.

Knowing he had wanted an actual answer, I had stared at my water, so crystal clear it was amazing, and said, softly, “Yes.”

“Is that why you taunted the Telmicks? Because you are a coward?” the captain had asked calmly.

“How do you know that?” I had asked, far too shocked that he knew about it to realize that I had verified it. A coward wouldn’t taunt the thing they were terrified of. A coward would simply run.

Captain Wingstar had smiled. “Valencia told me all about it.” He had eventually added that he had seen what had happened while his crew prepared the transporter. “Why did you run, Rylynn?” he asked again.

Sighing, I had told him why. “The Telmicks knew that we were in the area. They were hunting us. My running was the only way to draw them away from the others.”

“And if they had caught you?”

I had met his gaze evenly. “Hopefully, I would have been too far gone to care,” I had replied.

An emotion I could not name haunted his gaze for a moment, before he asked, “Do you have any family?”

“No,” I had said, shortly, seeing no reason to give him anything more. It was personal. To be frank, there was nothing he could do about it. To add to the list, he was a Primary Citizen. Why would he care about the tragic life of a mere colonist? He had waited for me to say something else, but once he realized that I wasn’t about to, he stood up. He called in an ensign. The young man brought in a meal, and I was told that once I was done he would show me to my quarters. Then the captain had left. I had no idea why, but I had been glad he had. Losing my aunt had been sudden, and I had yet to give into the grief and realization that I was all alone in the universe.

I had eaten like a starved dog with only slightly better table manners. Then I had followed the young officer to a small closet that served as quarters. Since my aunt’s small townhouse burned, this was the first room that I could call my own, even if it was for only a short time. It turned out that the others and Valencia had all been quartered in the same hall. Besides being verbally nasty, they ignored me. They all thought I was both a dull idiot and a yellow-belly coward. I had ignored the name calling, deriving a sense of success in knowing that they could still call names. The knowledge gave me a thicker skin. They could think of me whatever they wanted. They were alive.

After a tense meal with my fellow colonists, in which I had been subjected to ridicule in the ship’s mess, I had returned to my quarters. Sitting on my bed was a letter of recommendation for the admittance board of the Legion Fleet Academy. It was signed by the captain himself, and strongly recommended that I should be admitted. Once the meaning of the letter sank in, I sat frozen on my bunk. For whatever reason, the captain was helping me by giving me a place to go. A reason to live. I didn’t ask why he had done this for me. I guess it was cowardice on my part. I didn’t want to give him the chance to change his mind.

It also didn’t escape my notice that I was the first colonist to attend the illustrious Legion Fleet Academy.

That is why the approach of Prima Imperium was so beautiful and terrifying.

Orbiting the planet was the Imperium Space Station. It reminded me of a spindle surrounded by several layered rings. The whole structure spun like a dancer pirouetting gracefully. The
Hail Mary
slid into one of the outer docking rings. I only knew we docked for two reasons. The first was I saw it; the second was the cessation of the engine hum. The engine hadn’t been loud; I hadn’t noticed it until it stopped.

The beautiful jewel-like capital world and the station were both unlike anything I had ever seen before. Lenti had never had those jewel tones that Prima Imperium had in abundance. It had been more earthen tones: browns, reds, and greens, its waters gray. The world outside my window had purple oceans! I was dazzled.

“Hey, Rylynn! Let’s go.”

A sharp voice dragged my focus from the sparkling planet to the ensign who had led me to my quarters. His name was Westley Trin. Westley was six or so years my senior, and didn’t seem to appreciate having to ‘babysit’ the colonist. It was also clear that he didn’t think that I should be allowed in the Academy. A good thing I had observed about his character was his ambition. He wanted to advance in rank, and to do that he had have the good will of his captain. Getting that good will implied following orders. So I was fairly certain that he would guide me through the maze that was the Imperium Space Station.

At first the only problem I ran into was keeping up with the man. It seemed to me that the universe delighted in making me short and everyone else tall for some reason. I mused about it as I scurried after him. It was ironic that the very height I cursed also served to be a boon, in that he was taller than most of the other people bustling about. Talk about the universe’s strange sense of humor. I was able to keep tabs on him while dodging around people. He was lucky, and had on a Legion Fleet uniform. People saw it and parted around him like stone before white Telmick steel, effortlessly. I didn’t quite have that luxury.

We came to a main intersection, between the outer ring and the corridor that led to the central part of the station. Westley came to a halt and turned to wait for me…finally. His arms crossed. His good-looking features were arranged in annoyance. I frowned at him.

“What? Never had to crowd-weave before?” I asked, panting slightly once I caught up with him. “But, then, I guess you probably wouldn’t have. Especially not with the uniform. It performs wonders in that department.” I observed.

He narrowed his eyes at me before looking about the crowd. “Look, I have a lot to do before we head out again. So instead of walking you to the Academy Branch I’ll let you find your own way.” So much for my assumptions.

“But the captain…” I began but he waved me silent.

“I don’t give a damn. Your kind do not belong in the Academy.”

“A colonist, I assume?”

“Yes. And a coward.” He added darkly.

It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him. Instead of looking at the crowd, I tilted my head and opened my mouth.

“I wonder what you would have done if you had nine-foot-tall, gray-skinned giant mercenary bandits with chromatic swords half their height and
laser guns hunting you. Not only are they hunting
for
you, but they know you are in the area. Compound that by adding in others who, like you, are just trying to escape with their lives. Would you have gotten down like you were ordered and let the enemy capture everyone in your group? Or would you have done what you could to lead the enemy away so that the others would have a better chance of making it out?”

My dear companion could only stare at me and blink. I tilted my head the other way. I forced myself to keep the simmering satisfaction from my tone as I continued. “Now, I understand you are busy. I get it. I wouldn’t want to babysit me either. I also know that you think I am a worthless piece of space garbage. Fine. You are free to have your own opinions. But how about you let the Academy Board of Admissions decide my worth on their own? Tell me how to find the Academy Branch.”

Westley stared at me for a moment more before glancing away. After clearing his throat Westley gave me amazingly clear directions. Of course, that was after he offered to actually escort me there. I turned him down. He had his chance and I was tired of his judgmental attitude. I had gotten enough of it from Valencia and others. I repeated the instructions he gave me, to make sure that I had heard them correctly. He nodded, and I left him there in the crowded intersection.

The Academy Branch, of course, was in the innermost ring of the station. It would have been far too convenient if they had had it in one of the outer rings. I sighed and concentrated on weaving through the crowd. That and not stumbling when I saw a different species. After a while my mind numbed at seeing so many people and species in one place. There were plenty of humans, but there were also many Hivens (who look like wingless flies if you ask me), and petite fluttering Avrens. The last flew in the upper corridor so none of the rest of us would step on their long, iridescent feathers. I kept glancing up at them, fascinated by the pulsing beat of their four wings. Once I almost stepped on a furry tail belonging to one of the Leopard Kin. That would have been an eviscerating experience, I am sure. From then on, I kept my eyes busy at finding a path through the crush.

The directions Westley had given me were easy. All I had had to do was to follow the corridor until I found Ring One. Then all I had to do was find corridor C, turn right and walk past the Moon Café. Fifty feet beyond that, near the transport rentals, was the Academy Branch on the left side of the corridor. Of course, at Ring Two, these wonderful directions became worthless.

Trust construction to confuse everything and make life a little more interesting. At the time, I just hadn’t known
how
interesting my life would become. Sighing I decided to take corridor C of the second ring. My hope was to meet up with another ring connecting passage and continue on to Ring One. Once there I would figure out just how far I needed to back track to find the Academy Branch. It was a solid plan and it was my only option.

The only problem was, it got a little creepy. The constant crowd began to lessen till I was the only one. At the time, most of my thoughts were occupied with how I could convince the Admissions Board to let me join the Academy. I had no idea how much pull Captain Wingstar’s recommendation would have on their decision. So I began to rehearse possible pleas or arguments to bring before them that could possibly sway them decide in my favor.
A trial, and my only crime is the one of my birth,
I thought with morbid humor.

Suddenly I heard a woman’s cry for help.

Chapter 3 - The Inadvertent Witness

I froze for a moment, wondering at the odds that something like this would happen to me while on a Prime Planet’s space station. Not just any station, either. This was the
Imperial
Station. A colonist like me would surely be blamed. But even so, I had to do what I could for the woman. I ran toward the cries. As I ran I could hear the sounds that hinted of a scuffle and the low taunting laughs of guys in a gang. I grimaced. Back on Lenti, I had heard similar sounds all the time. Up ahead, I could see a bend in the corridor. I slowed down and hung close to the wall. Eventually I saw an old woman on the ground pleading with a group of young men. They were digging through her bag, littering the floor with the odds and ends of a traveler. Each of the men had tattoos on every inch of skin that I could see. It made them look like walking comic books. The shortest of the gang turned a sneer on the sobbing old woman.