Hard Bargain, page 5
Wouldn’t ever make that mistake again.
He considered asking Stephaneria if they had any good political maps of what lay beyond Wildspace. The stars wouldn’t change, but the people would. Hell, this far out from Cronus Prime, his own nav records were probably providing a pretty good update for other folks. Especially since the news of a murdered Dominator was only now starting to filter out.
Hopefully, nobody would make that obvious and potentially terminal connection.
“Captain,” the deputy said. “He’ll see you now. Leave your firearm with me.”
Valentinian rose and pulled the shock pistol carefully enough as to not alarm the man. He swapped it for a receipt and got passed through a secured door into the inner portions of the sheriff’s station.
It was nicer back here. Warmer, with wood paneling, house plants, and thick carpets, where the outer office had been metal walls and floors, like so much of the rest of the station.
This felt homey.
The old man was standing in a hatch on the far side of a bullpen filled with other deputies doing esoteric things. He nodded when Valentinian saw him and disappeared back into the office.
Valentinian followed.
Inside, it was more a man’s study than a business office. Plants he couldn’t recognize were potted in the near two corners. A sea of dark oak represented the biggest desk Valentinian could remember. Two black leather chairs bolted to the floor and a sofa in tan cloth along the right hand wall.
The man himself hadn’t changed. Sixty or so. Lean as whipcord, and about as tough. Dressed in simple cotton rather than anything fancy, with a palm-sized badge over his heart.
“Thank you for your help yesterday, Captain,” the sheriff began as Valentinian sat. “How can I help you?”
“So I’m not sure what story they’re going to tell you when they arrive, but it’ll be a doozy,” Valentinian replied, sitting a little forward still. “And a complete fabrication, with just enough truth to it to sound believable enough.”
“Who are they?” the man asked, never losing that friendly smile, even if it vanished out of his eyes.
“My first mate just pinged me that a ship was arriving or had arrived,” Valentinian said. “I’m headed there now, but hoped I might ask you for a little bureaucratic interference. If it’s really them, I plan to back away from the station as fast as I can get clearance, and vanish into the night as fast as my warpbubble will carry me.”
“Will you now?” the man pressed, in a tone that suggested he could prevent that if he wanted. And they both knew it.
“Inspector Kyriaki Apokapes, Sheriff,” Valentinian said. “That was the name that triggered my first mate. Dominion Security Bureau. The White Hats.”
“Oh, my,” the man had the most sarcastic way with words.
“She and I almost had a thing, back on Tartarus,” Valentinian said. It was mostly true, since he hadn’t stopped thinking about the woman in nearly four months, going back to Dominion Prime. But this was absolutely not the time to mention that bit. “If she’s here, it’s personal, rather than business. You strike me as one of the most honest cops I’ve ever known, in a short career of pushing my luck and trying to do the right thing. All I want to do is run some more. Don’t want anybody hurt.”
“I saw how you treated that kid, Captain,” the old man nodded. “It was unnecessary for you to help him like that. That sort of things buys you some credibility here.”
“I’ve been broke and far from home, Sheriff,” Valentinian offered. “Wouldn’t wish that on anyone, even an asshole like him. Just want to get gone now so my trouble doesn’t have to spill out on your deck. People around here have been nice to me, so they don’t deserve my grief. That make sense?”
“It does,” the sheriff nodded. “Wondered how you’d react.”
Oh?
Shit.
“Seems they knew you were here, and that young lady filed an official request to have you detained until she could take you and your first mate into custody,” he said in an offhand manner.
And I’m very much disarmed in the presence of a man with one of the fastest gun hands I’ve ever seen.
Hopefully Dave runs.
“Oh,” Valentinian said, leaning back and letting the chair finally take his weight.
It was very much out of his hands at this point.
“But, as you said, you’ve been trying to do the right thing since you got here,” the man continued. “Even when it was unnecessary on your part. Looked at your behavior and you have been exceptional. And that’s saying something here.”
“So now what?” Valentinian said.
“So my niece called me after you left,” the man’s smile was grim, but friendly. “Asked if there was anything I could do to help.”
“Your niece?” Valentinian completely lost the thread.
The only woman he’d been working with lately was Bayjy Endon, and the Sheriff was pure human, rather than one of the variants. Plus, Bayjy claimed to be a foreigner herself.
“Stephaneria,” the man said. “The librarian.”
Oh. Her. Huh.
“Her husband was a shit, so she divorced him and moved out here,” the man said. “I got her a job as our librarian, because we needed one, and she needed a place to go. She called me after you left, and filled in the other half of the story, after I told her about the poker game last night over dinner.”
“Ah,” Valentinian said. “Well it looks like I won’t be able to get her help with the map, since either we gotta run, or you’re going to arrest us.”
“Perhaps, young man,” the sheriff said. “Just perhaps. The problem with kids is that they don’t necessarily take the long approach to things.”
“Sir?” Valentinian could feel that black hole tugging at his toes now.
“So perhaps you filed a flight plan to Meskle, Captain,” the old man suggested. “Blast out of here without following proper procedures and all that, so we’d have to add a bunch of moving violations and fines, the next time you came through.”
“Okay?” Valentinian tried to see where the man was going. “How does that help?”
“Well, I understand that your friend Endon was working on finding you a cargo,” the Sheriff said. “And Stephaneria is involved now as well. If you looped out and circled back in about five or seven days, I’m pretty sure these Dominion folks might have also started chasing you by then. Then you might have enough time to pay off those traffic fines, load up a cargo, and maybe take my niece out to that dinner you promised, so you and your crew could then go looking for treasure.”
“You sure, Sheriff?” Valentinian had to ask. “Might mean trouble for you and yours, long term.”
“You were polite and friendly, Captain Tarasicodissa,” the old man said.
“Valentinian,” he corrected.
“Valentinian,” the Sheriff smiled now, all the way to his eyes. He nodded in acknowledgement. “Them other folks come in loud and aggressive, threatening me and my station with all sorts of grief and trouble if we didn’t jump to immediately. That sort of thing doesn’t play well in Laurentia.”
“Okay,” Valentinian nodded. “What do I do?”
“You go board your ship, the Longshot Hypothesis,” the Sheriff said. “File a flight plan and just leave, regardless of what the Stationmaster says. I’ll square it with her later. And I’ll talk to Endon and my niece, and we’ll expect you back in a week. I’ll leave a message at the outermost marker buoy if your friends haven’t left yet, but if they’ve chased your asses this far, they won’t tarry long here.”
“Thank you, sir,” Valentinian rose and shook his hand. “You know, for once trying to do the right thing might not be going to get me in trouble.”
“You’ve been hanging out with the wrong sorts of folks, Valentinian,” the old man also rose. His grip was firm. “Maybe you should spend more time here at Bohrne in the future?”
“I’ll burn that bridge when we get there, Sheriff,” Valentinian said. “Got a posse hot on my trail for a misunderstanding, and need to take care of that before anything else.”
“Best of luck, young man,” the Sheriff said with a warm smile.
Valentinian cleared the bullpen and picked up his shock pistol, almost running through the corridors.
“Update?” Dave asked as he answered the radio. “Don’t see you on the camera, standing at the back door.”
“Good news,” Valentinian replied. “Will explain when I get there. You start a pre-flight right now. We’ve got some friends that are going to help.”
“We’ve only been here three days, Vee,” Dave sounded surprised. “How is that possible?”
Valentinian just laughed.
“Sometimes, the cards are stacked in your favor, big guy.”
7
Kyriaki
As starships went, Kyriaki found this one oddly comfortable, while at the same time still as militaristic as anything she had ever ridden on. But those others had been vessels of the Dominion Armada. Dedicated warships intended to frighten people who saw them on a scanner or out a porthole.
This one was something she might class as an assault courier, if pressed. Total operating crew around twenty, but she had only ever seen most of them as faces in a corridor, or doing things for Athanasia. Kyriaki was just a passenger, while the supposed Widow appeared to be in some sort of Supernumerary position, like a Tribune able to give orders to the captain.
Her meals had been either alone, or with the Widow and perhaps the captain, a faceless bureaucrat apparently chosen for his ability to disappear from your mind the moment he left your sight. Probably useful on a small ship like this.
They had left Dominion space behind. Kyriaki had almost felt that transition in her bones, deep in the warpbubble carrying them. One moment, law and order. The next, what?
Depending on how you interpreted things, they might now be verging on being interstellar pirates. Criminals of some sort, since the intent was to kill or at least capture the man known publicly as Dave Hall and haul at least his body home for public ridicule, prior to execution.
While possibly never admitting who the man really was.
The Widow also seemed to be intent on killing anyone who knew the truth, and that was where the trouble would start. Athanasia would have to capture Valentinian and put the truth serum to the man, to see what he knew. Which would eventually lead the Widow to a cop having a crisis of conscience. One that hadn’t gotten any better after she learned more of the truth that she had only suspected before.
Worse, perhaps, since Kyriaki could have taken Dave in when he offered. She would have been promoted and celebrated had she done so.
And miserable. She knew that much. He really had just wanted out. After two weeks in the close company of the Widow, Kyriaki was beginning to understand why, although the older woman might be more of a shrew in her grief and anger than she had been before.
Kyriaki doubted it, since something had driven the man to becoming Dave Hall. It might be sitting across the conference table right now.
“You have the most field experience, Inspector,” the Widow said. “How would you approach this situation?”
It was just the two of them right now in this conference room, although there was a team of six agents aft that had kept largely to themselves. They weren’t Kyriaki’s people, so she wasn’t sure how they would move. She was pretty sure none of them would have the slightest compunction about shooting her if the Widow suddenly ordered it.
Which she might.
“We have chased them hard and far, ma’am,” Kyriaki said. She had stopped calling the woman by her given name at some point, and didn’t have a proper title to fall back on. Calling her Widow to her face was just rude. “If they have enough paranoia, and they might, they’ll run as soon as we catch up with them again, even though Longshot Hypothesis has left a clear trail to date.”
“Will they go beyond Laurentia?” the Widow asked.
Kyriaki had to shrug. She really didn’t know Valentinian all that well as a person, so much as a semi-fantasy that haunted her dozing hours like a dangerous ghost. And just the desire to run her fingers through the man’s hair angered her almost as much as it excited her.
But she reminded herself that protecting the man at this point was just a case of protecting herself as well. Nothing more than that. Regardless of what her body might suggest.
At least the Ambassador wasn’t here, to witness what might have to come next. The betrayal of everything the White Hats stood for. They weren’t assassins. They were cops.
But killing both Dave Hall and Valentinian Tarasicodissa before they could talk to anyone from the Dominion would solve most of Kyriaki’s problems. Might create others, but she would just have to deal with those as they arrived.
“This vessel is armed, correct?” Kyriaki took the conversation a different direction.
“Not as well as a larger warship,” Athanasia replied. “But it is my understanding that Longshot Hypothesis is not?”
“That is the case,” Kyriaki said. “At least at present. While the captain might have wanted to change that, they had not stopped anywhere long enough to have that level of work done. So you can credibly threaten them, either firing a shot across their bow, or attempting to disable the ship by shooting out one or both engines, if it becomes necessary.”
“We can, yes,” the Widow nodded. “I would rather see this Dave Hall person in the flesh, though, so I can confirm it is him and not yet another cypher, while my husband has disappeared again.”
That stopped her cold. Kyriaki had been working on the assumption that Dave had remained with Valentinian. Would remain with him. Could the man have hired someone else in Dave’s place and doctored the records? This was Laurentia, not the Dominion. Records were less sacrosanct here.
“I have an idea, then,” Kyriaki rolled the dice in her head and bet heavily. Not everything, but enough. This situation would only get worse, if this woman was that intent on seeing it through to the bitterest dregs.
She waited for the Widow to nod before proceeding. Kyriaki was still just an Inspector on detached duty. Serving now at the whim of the Dominion Household itself, and a woman about to lose a significant chunk of the prestige she had known for the last twenty-five years.
There is nothing as dangerous as a woman scorned. Even Kyriaki was just protecting her career and her life. Athanasia would possibly be settling old scores, because nothing would ever make her the wife of a Dominator again. Only the Widow.
Athanasia had the look of a woman supremely intent on making that man pay the ultimate price.
“Go ahead,” the Widow said brittlely when Kyriaki didn’t immediately respond.
“If we do find them at Bohrne, we should immediately contact the authorities, as soon as we come out of warp, and file fugitive paperwork so they will hold them, or at least the ship,” Kyriaki offered.
“And if they run at that moment?” the Widow asked. “Just because the stationmaster orders them to remain is no guarantee. They might just flee immediately.”
“Yes,” Kyriaki agreed. “And as soon as we dock, I will slip out the side airlock, traverse the exterior of the station, and sneak aboard Longshot Hypothesis. The vessel’s secondary personnel airlock is located forward, just off the bridge, so I should be able to disable the vessel, or at least surprise them in the act of fleeing and force them to heave to.”
“That will be dangerous,” the Widow said. “Should you go alone, or take the team?”
“One person may not be noticed by station personnel,” Kyriaki replied. “Half a dozen will. And none of them have been aboard Longshot Hypothesis. It is not a Dominion vessel, but an Anuradhan cargo transport. Much of the architecture is oddly arranged and designed. Plus, I will take a detonator with me, on a deadman switch. If they choose to commit suicide, then at least the scales will be balanced.”
“You do not generally strike me as the Death Or Glory type, Inspector,” the Widow questioned her more closely. “Why are you doing this?”
“That man has dishonored the entire Dominion, Athanasia,” Kyriaki ground out the words. This, at least, was the honest truth. “Everything I stood for. Stand for. Were you planning to take him home and call off the Tournament of Domination?”
That was a low blow, and Kyriaki knew it, but she needed the woman’s anger at the fore now, and not decades of personal calculations and maneuvering.
“No,” the older woman said. “Dave Hall must die. Captain Tarasicodissa as well. I would like to ask the man why he did this, but I can also settle for not knowing for the rest of my life if you have to kill him when we arrive. Are you prepared to die?”
“I do not plan to let them win,” Kyriaki said simply, leaving the they part ambiguous. “What happens if we fail here and they flee into Wildspace?”
“That man cannot ever flee far enough that I will stop chasing him,” the Widow’s anger was hot now. “Nor convince me to spare him. As you said, an insult to the entire Dominion, but also to me, personally. I have been dishonored so badly that no amount of blood will ever wash it clean.”
Kyriaki nodded. Now the stakes were on the table.
She could always kill Dave Hall and return home a hero. All she had to do was kill Valentinian, too.
“Inspector, we are about to come out of warp in the Bohrne system,” the voice came out over the comm system.
Kyriaki had been reading a recent history of Laurentia that she had downloaded at the last station where they had chased Longshot Hypothesis. The population here was almost as militant as the Dominion, but most of that was a cultural response to a near neighbor like the Dominator.
Had they really mobilized an entire population as guerillas to overcome a planetary invasion? The Dominion wanted to conquer worlds, when they couldn’t absorb them peacefully. You could hold orbit with a fleet, but what good did that do you if you had to end up bombarding the cities below you? And while the Caelons, the Dominion’s Assault Cavalry, were the finest troops in the known galaxy, would the Laurentians really accept one thousand casualties to kill just each one?
