The Reaper Diaries: Supernova, Part 9
01 Feb 2016Michael Wolfe
“I still can’t believe I just paid a hundred credits for a goddamn metal cup.”
Nova was sitting in the co-pilot’s chair, knees drawn up to her chest, sipping coffee from her own Hutton mug. She glanced over and me and smiled even wider than she had been since purchasing her mug.
“But they light up when there’s something hot inside them!” She made a pouty face and took a sip. “Besides, I didn’t get one last time I was here. I was too busy delivering the scrap that would become the mugs.”
I rolled my eyes as we continued to follow the passenger ship from our Cobra. Winston had been able to book an Adder flying out of Hutton, and we were following him to Davis Terminal in the nearby Duamta system. There, we were hoping to lay low and extract the contents of the ship’s data core.
Looking back over at Nova in her curled-up contentedness, I gestured towards the passenger-fitted Adder. “Doesn’t seem quite right, does it? You and me in here, comfy and sipping coffee, while an elderly corporate exec has to deal with goddamn coach.”
Nova looked at the Adder and snorted. “Ex-corporate exec. Honestly, I’m still not a hundred percent about this Winston guy. I mean, it seems like he means well- but I’ve never liked suits much. Even suits with good intentions.”
“Well, just remember that he was a labcoat before he was a suit.”
Again, Nova made a dismissive sound into her mug. “Yeah, and whoever that merc guy was going to have shove some cortical extractors into our heads would probably have been wearing a lab coat, too.”
“Fair enough. I just hope that whatever problems come to light by us hooking up this data core can be solved by pointing weapons and shooting. I’ve had enough of being on the run.”
Nova glanced down at her tablet. Quickly, the look of cutesy happiness was replaced by a glum annoyance. “Well, a little bone-headed simplicity would suit me just fine right now. I feel like we’re flying into another clusterfuck above our pay, which right now is goddamn zero.”
Syncing the Cobra’s navigation with the Adder’s, I shook my head at Nova’s unexpectedly colorful language. “Feeling a little cynical about the ‘verse today, darlin’?”
Nova straightened up as the frame shift drive began to spool up. “No, just- I get a little grouchy when I know I’m working for free.”
Smiling, I prepared myself for the jump as the countdown began. “And just last night I got a big ol’ smooch and told that it wasn’t all about the credits.”
Nova held up her tablet and scowled. “Well, that was before I got a quote as to how much it would cost to hire a deep-space repair crew to fix everything that’s wrong with the Bluebird.”
I looked at the figure displayed on her tablet and whistled. “Sure you don’t want to turn around and get a refund on that fancy-ass mug?”
A dirty look was Nova’s only answer as the Cobra slipped into witchspace.
“So, what’s the plan, Winston? You gave us a destination, but no reason for coming here.”
The three of us were walking along the hallway, skipping the customary refreshments that pilots like to indulge in upon landing. Judging from the overhead signs and turbolift destinations, the three of us were heading for the municipal offices, in the busiest sections of the massive station. Nova and I were wearing regular clothing, and Winston was dressed in slacks and sport jacket, which made him the best-dressed of us three. Nova had slung a small backback containing the data core over her shoulder, and I still had the disk in the pocket of my leather jacket. The deeper we got into the administrative sections, the more I felt a little underdressed in my jeans and leather jacket among all the suits.
“Just testing some old bonds, young man. I had a lot of contacts here among the Order of the Smiling Moose. They’re the only people apart from yourselves to whom I might turn for help.”
Nova and I exchanged a look. Order of the Smiling Moose? we mouthed to each other.
Sensing our unasked question, Winston continued speaking as we walked. “The Order of the Smiling Moose is a something of a hybrid charity, corporation, and government. It stands for providing help to those in need, and was one of the many organizations who coordinated with Lysenko to get our food to those in need. It in turn with works with Felicia Winters’ organization. Between the three, a lot of good had been done- at least, it did long ago when the old guard was running Lysenko.”
My partner's face screwed up in impatience. “Thanks for the backstory, but what exactly do you expect them to do for us?”
Winston stopped, reading an overhead sign and getting his bearings in the midst of the busy foot traffic that surrounded us. He turned to Nova, his eyes slightly condescending. “Hopefully prove an old man’s pessimism wrong.” Gesturing towards the data core concealed in Nova’s backpack, he continued. “And get that damn thing analyzed.”
I stooped over, body aching from all the walking. The cuts, scrapes, and bruises were healing nicely- but the gunshot wound was a whole different experience for me. Seeing my hand over where I had been shot, Nova frowned and produced a pair of painkillers from her inner jacket pocket.
Dry-swallowing them, I grimaced slightly. I’m going to come out of this job needing to check into rehab, I thought bitterly. Since being released from the medical wing back on Novitski, I had been steadily popping painkillers- and though they helped, they never quite eliminated the pain.
Seeing the expression on my face, Winston’s expression softened. “I’m aware of the sacrifices you’ve made to come with me as far as you have. Please believe me when I say that I appreciate everything you’re doing.”
He turned to Nova. “Both of you.”
Putting the capsule of meds back into her pocket, Nova cocked her head to the side, shooting a snarky look towards Winston. “Would that appreciation happen to be redeemable for credits?”
Clearly, she was still under a little bit of sticker shock at seeing the cost of deep-space ship repair. Winston shrugged in sympathy and held out his hands. “I’ll request some compensation for you two, but I’m afraid that the Order clutches the purse strings rather tightly. Now come. It isn’t far.”
With that, the elderly man resumed walking toward the turbolifts to the administration centers. Nova and I simply lingered a few steps behind him. Judging from the look on Nova’s face, her earlier enthusiasm for the noble task ahead of us was also just about spent. Winston clearly knew where he was going, but I didn’t like the idea of just tagging along.
But tagging along was all we could do for the moment- but as what?, I wondered. Bodyguards? Couriers? His ride around the black once he ran out of money?
Probably all three, I thought.
Eventually, we found ourselves in a large, well-appointed office lobby. Nova’s and my jeans and jackets were even more obvious here- we were surrounded by immaculately-dressed and groomed people, doing their best to not let their glances at us linger too long. Ahead of us, Winston was speaking to a secretary in hushed tones. After a minute or so, he gestured for us to follow him, and the three of us walked though a pair of double-sliding doors into one of the biggest offices I had ever seen.
I had been too busy admiring the office to even notice who was sitting behind the desk: a short, dark-skinned woman who looked nearly as old as Winston, her short, kinky hair showing only moderate graying. Not knowing what else to do, Nova and I stood back near the entrance.
Unexpectedly, she rose from her desk and walked around it to greet Winston, ignoring us completely and regarding him with a mixture of contentment and sadness. Her and Winston didn’t shake hands, didn’t even exchange pleasantries- they just regarded each other with the same expression. After a moment, Winston gathered her hands into his and kissed the bundle of intertwined, aged fingers, never breaking eye contact with her.
“It’s been a long time, Marcy.”
She simply continued to look at him, slowly shaking her head. “I’m getting too old to be worth charming.”
For the first time, a look of tender affection crossed Winston’s face. “No,” he said. “You’re not.”
Nova and I looked at each other, now being completely lost. She just shook her head slightly and barely raised her shoulders in a gesture of confusion. This Marcy looked back at Winston with the same look of affection, and then stiffened her expression and went to business, releasing his hands.
“So, you finally got ran out by that gang of thieves and rascals?”
Chuckling softly, Winston nodded. “I need your help, yes.”
Her eyebrows raised. “I have the feeling this is bigger than just a new job.” She looked over at Nova and myself. “And who are these two you’ve brought with you?”
Turning to us, Winston gestured for us to walk up. “This two are commanders M. Lehman and N. Cassidy, possibly the only two people in the bubble left who can help me.”
“And I’m not one someone who can help you?” Marcy raised her eyebrows.
He turned to her, smiling politely. “Whether or not you can help me is strictly up to you, madam.”
Ignoring his geriatric gallantry, Marcy walked up to us. “Marcy Pemberton, Order of the Smiling Moose.”
As we were shaking, Nova looked around the office. “Just what is it you do here, Miz Pemberton?”
Settling back down behind her desk, Marcy looked us over. “I’m the director of this station’s Order of the Smiling Moose chapter. I coordinate aid between corporate clients, sector government, and those outlying systems in need. Food, medicine, teachers- if it’s needed, I find a way to get it.” She gestured over to Winston. “And for a long time, Dr. Jenner here was instrumental in fulfilling the “food” part. We try not to just drop off sacks of rations and move on, but to work with the locals to encourage self-sufficiency whenever possible.”
Winston shook his head. “At least, that’s how it used to be.”
Marcy smiled knowingly. “The paradigm has shifted somewhat.”
The elderly man at my side scowled. “Paradigm shift, my left ear. There’s more money in selling food than there is in teaching people how to grow it for themselves. It’s all the Federation has become. Money grubbers and war-mongers.”
Marcy regarded her old friend with a look of pity. “I know that you didn’t come all this way to complain that times have changed. What is it you need, Winston?”
Nova opened her backpack and removed the data core, placing it gently on Marcy’s immaculately dusted desk. She looked up at us, a puzzled look on her face.
“And just what is this?”
Winston nodded gravely. “That is the data core to an Anaconda-class starship. Mine, until it was sabotaged. It was drifting through deep space with all aboard lost, and these two salvaged it and brought back the records contained within.”
Marcy didn’t say anything at first, just looking at us, as though trying to make up her mind about something. “Go on.”
“Buried in the quantum code are the schematics to a corporate project years in the making, kept secret even from me. Some kind of terrible, dangerous weapon. I didn’t find out about it until it was nearly too late, and by then-“ Winston shook his head- “Well, it’s cost me the last of my Lysenko associates, but I’ve managed to destroy the data on their end and bring it somewhere safe, but I need to get it off of this and onto a disk.”
Marcy nodded, understanding. “And you need our facilities and engineers to do it?”
“I do.”
“And what will you do with this data?”
Winston scowled and shook his head. “Whatever I can. I can’t go to the Federation directly because they’re already in secret negotiations to acquire the technology and grant Lysenko a Federal charter of the deal goes through. I’d become a criminal as well as an unemployed old man.”
Marcy’s eyebrows raised. “Just what have you gotten yourself into, Winston? You should be planning your retirement party, not looking over your shoulder like this.”
Our elderly friend didn’t answer her, only shrugging and sighing.
Marcy picked up the data core and held it up. “Heavier than I thought,” she said to no one.
Looking back at us, she frowned. “We always have some guest quarters standing by for visiting dignitaries and such. You three are welcome to them until this mess is sorted out. And I suppose we’d better get you some security passes. No telling how long it will take before we can get this thing straightened out.”
Nova and I plopped down our bags on the two side-by-side beds in the room we had been allowed. It wasn’t terribly different than any hotel room I had ever checked into, but I can’t say that I was happy to be there. Sitting still wasn’t an instinct that pilots like her and I possessed, especially in light of the fact that we were flying blind, with people hunting us.
At least it had given us time to change my bandages. I was sitting on the bed like usual, Nova behind me, getting better at swapping the tape and pads. By now, it was almost a familiar ritual. Bandages, pain pills, carefully getting re-dressed- it was a pain in the ass, but a minor one.
Well, at least the view is nice, I thought. The window to the room overlooked an enormous artificial courtyard along one of the station’s rings. Above us, we saw the blackness of space through the thick diamond-filament glass ceiling, giving an impression of a well-lit nighttime outside.
“So, how long do you think we’ll be here?” Nova’s voice was laced with mild frustration and impatience.
I shrugged as best as I could. “A day or two? Hell if I know. Never hacked a data core before.”
Nova scowled and helped me put my shirt back on. “Well, it doesn’t feel right just sitting here. Last time we trusted a stranger’s hospitality, we almost got hauled into the slammer.”
Nodding, I looked behind me. “I hear you. Something tells me that this Marcy woman doesn’t exactly have a riot shotgun stashed under her desk, either.”
We shared a chuckle, and Nova joined me in staring out the window. “And even if Winston figured out what the hell this mysterious device is, what then? It’s not like we’re set up to infiltrate Lysenko HQ and clean house.”
I nodded again. “I’ve been thinking about that. If both the Empire and the Federation are interested in this technology, this is out of our hands. We need some backup from on high.”
Nova rolled her eyes and disappeared into the bathroom to change. From across the room, I could hear the sarcasm in her voice. “Yeah, and where’s that going to come from? You got some buddies in the Imperial Inquisition or something?”
I chuckled to myself and shook my head. Contacting Gideon would be a really good idea.
“That would sure help, wouldn’t it?”
My partner emerged wearing a tank top with the Pilot’s Fed logo and a pair of boxer shorts. On her face was a scowl. “Damn right it would. I guess we’re going to have to figure everything out on our own.”
Hopefully not- but you don’t need to know that just yet.
“Well right now, let’s just figure out a good night’s sleep and let the eggheads do their job.”
Hearing that, Nova looked at her bed and shrugged. “Sounds good to me. It’ll be good to stretch out. Need anything to help you sleep?”
I stretched my muscles a little, testing for aches and pains. “Nah. The meds are still going strong.”
“Good.” Nova walked over and tuned off the light. “Hopefully everything will be sorted out in the morning, and it’ll be something that we can solve by destroying it from the comfort of our ship.”
Settling into my bed, I chuckled. “Now you’re sounding like a bounty hunter.”
In the darkness, I heard her chuckle. “And you’re sounding like a trader, going straight to the authorities like a good little frog.”
I felt sleepiness overtaking me, and I shook my head at Nova’s words. I thought of my time with Kyndi, the jobs I'd done for Rax- even the guns I ran for the Kumos that one time. Good little frog, my ass…
“So, that’s your plan, huh? The straight and narrow?”
I laughed, arms outstretched, feeling a little chilly from only being in my undergarments. We were in a line of auto-measuring units, getting body-scanned for our first real flight suits. In addition to the Sidewinder, the Pilot’s Federation also provided a complimentary suit for after we received our wings. It was a surreal moment for me, making it this far. A bit of levity was welcome.
“Yeah. Trading, hauling- and best of all, sipping coffee while watching someone else unload the damn cargo!”
My classmates laughed. By now, we all knew each other’s backgrounds, and they were all aware of my job in the navy. Next to me, Tayesha was stepping onto a scan pad, wearing almost less than I was. Not that a little exposed skin was a huge deal. Any body modesty that I had possessed had been killed off by six years of communal showering in His Majesty’s service, and Tayesha wasn’t a particularly reserved person after a year of academy, either.
Now, she turned to me, a smirk on her face. “Well, it’s easy to make plans now, and see the big money coming from somewhere else- and that somewhere else isn’t always strictly legal.”
I shrugged and turned for the laser to scan my backside. “Don’t you worry. I didn’t come all this way and pass my goddamn Interstellar Arithmetic class with a c+ just to become some criminal.”
An eyebrow of hers shot up, as she shifted a hip to the side, temporarily halting the scan. Tayesha turned her head towards me and smiled expectantly.
I smiled in appreciation and nodded her way. “Thanks, by the way.”
She resumed her regular stance, the scan beam resuming going up and down her body. “You could have done better, you know- if you hadn’t kept getting distracted while I was trying to tutor you!”
My smile only grew. “Well, you never exactly complained, did you?”
Tayesha only smiled innocently as the beam finished with her. “I can’t help it if the dorms are kept ten degrees colder than I like. What’s a girl supposed to do when she gets cold?”
I just shook my head, watching the dark-skinned beauty as she got dressed.
“Cold”, huh? Whatever you want to call it, darlin’….
The first thing I was aware of was the warm, soft pressure on my side. The second thing was the fact that my nose was itchy. The third thing was reason for it being so- a couple strands of brilliant blue hair had found their way across my face. I looked over to my side, and sure enough, there was Nova- leg and arm slung across me, her face inches from mine, breathing softy with her mouth slightly open.
Taking care to not wake her, I gingerly checked the time, and found that it was only about twenty minutes earlier than when we had agreed to wake up anyway.
Sighing, I was just starting to move Nova’s arm off of me when I heard a drowsy voice.
“Hey.”
Nova had barely opened her eyes. “Hey.”
I tried my best to smile as I sat up. “I seem to recall you having your own bed.”
Next to me, Nova sleepily shrugged and curled up. “I got cold.”
Her words temporarily reminded me of the dream I had been having about Tayesha. Weird.
“Well, cold or no, I’m showering. Time to see if that black doohickey’s been decoded.”
All I got in response was a hand wave of dismissal.
I shook my head as I stripped off my clothes. Guess she ain't a morning person when there’s a comfy bed involved.
“So- what have you got for us, Winston?”
Nova, Marcy, Winston, and myself were all back in Marcy’s office. The elderly man looked like hell, sipping on coffee and wearing the same clothes as he had the day prior. On Marcy’s desk was the data core, and a large-capacity data disk was held in the man’s nervous hand. He looked at us gravely before proceeding.
“Something that robbed an old man of sleep.”
Nova and I exchanged a glance. Clearly.
Winston sat up, and started to pace the office. “Extracting the data onto this device was simple for the techs to do- I almost wish that they had run into difficulty- I would have gotten some sleep. Instead, I was handed this data disk scarcely an hour after we parted company last night- and after reading it, I haven’t had a moment of peace.”
Marcy leaned back in her chair, an exasperated look on her face. “Well, quit being so dramatic and just tell us what you found.”
An even more disturbed look crossed the old man’s face. “It’s essentially a giant plasma accelerator, but its design and purpose are unlike anything I’ve seen. It uses phase-protected reactive stellar plasma to-“ He put his hand over his mouth.
Nova rolled her eyes. “To what, doc?”
He turned to her, his eyes looking a little sunken. “… to detonate a star. Force it into a supernova, if it's large enough.To wipe out a solar system. To commit bloody genocide at the push of a button. To…” He shook his head and couldn’t find any more words.
And Nova laughed. She goddamn laughed.
“Wipe out an entire star? Just like that? Do you have any idea how crazy that sounds?”
Winston looked at her for a moment as though he wanted to scream, but sadly shook his head instead. “Yes. Yes I do. And for the first time, I’ve cursed my field of study- this old biologist simply doesn’t possess the know-how to check the schematics to verify their efficacy.”
I leaned forward, holding out my hands. “Look- working or not, what’s there to worry about? Half the prototype got blasted away with Giles, and the other half is floating in deep space in Nova’s ship. There ain’t any immediate danger.”
Again, Winston shook his head and frowned. “Normally, I would share your optimism, young man- but I’m afraid that isn’t so. It has been revealed to me that a second prototype was secretly constructed alongside the first. My intelligence was good-“ He sat down, using a hand to steady himself. “-but not good enough. I’ve failed. And now this technology will be in the hands of whatever group that offers Lysenko the most credits.”
For a moment, an aura of dread hung over the office. Even Nova's previously mocking smirk had been replaced by a look of worry.
Marcy was the first to find her tongue. “How can I help, Winston?”
The elderly man just shook his head pessimistically, placing the disk inside his sport jacket pocket. “Use your highest-placed Federal contacts to find and destroy the thing, along with anyone connected to it. Warn them before it’s too late!” His usual collected demeanor was breaking down in the face of his failure.
For her part, Marcy simply pursed her lips and shook her head. “You know it doesn’t work like that.”
He didn’t reply, just nodding and hanging his head. Slowly, he hobbled to his feet to look outside Marcy’s office window. Below us, men and woman were walking the spotless courtyard, going about the business of profit and administration. Slowly, he turned.
“I know,” he said softly. “But I feel even more helpless now than when I first found out about the project.”
Unexpectedly, Nova rose from her seat, and gave Winston a long, sincere hug. She looked up at him, smiling grimly.
“We didn’t come all the way out here just to ditch you now. Matt and I are going to get to the bottom of this.”
I looked up, my face betraying my unease despite myself. We are?
She gave Winston a final squeeze and walked back to Marcy. “You take care of Winston here.” She jerked her thumb back at me. “My partner and I can handle the rest.”
We can?
An expression of concern settled over Marcy’s face. “What exactly will you two do?”
Both Marcy and Nova looked at me expectantly. I took a deep breath and tried adopt a brave face.
“Whatever we can, ma’am. Whatever we can.”
“So, you want to tell me what all that was about?”
Nova and I were changing into our flight suits in the crew cabin of the Cobra. Nova turned back to me, zipping up the front of her clean white suit. “We weren’t going to accomplish anything in that office with two discouraged old people. So I did what I had to do to get us out of there.”
I snorted. “Like making promises we probably can’t keep? And having no goddamn idea of where to start?”
My partner pulled on her gloves and smirked. “Yeah. But we’re not quite lost.”
With that, Nova reached into her jacket pocket and held up a data disk- the same one that Winston had used to store the contents of the data core.
My mouth dropped and Nova’s smirk grew. “You goddamn stole it?”
Her eyes flashed as she raised an amused eyebrow. “Of course. It's no use to us sitting in some office. Besides, they've still got the data core. They can make more copies.”
“But- how?”
A sly look flashed in Nova’s eyes. “You don’t really think that I give big, supportive hugs to sad old men out of sympathy, do you?”
I shook my head in amazement. “Nova Cassidy: waitress, bounty hunter- and pickpocket.”
My partner took an exaggerated bow, holding the data disk triumphantly in the air. She came back up, a giant, smartass grin on her face.
“At your service!”
I narrowed my eyes and tapped my locker. “Seems we’ve been getting pretty close these past few days. Do I need to inventory my stuff?”
She smiled and started towards the cockpit. “Nah. Anything of yours worth stealing probably got blasted along with your Asp.”
Raising an eyebrow, I followed her. “How reassuring.”
As we were getting strapped in and the engines warmed up, I turned to her. “But I can’t say it was a bad deal, you swiping that disk. I think I might finally have a clear idea of where to go.”
A skeptical look crossed Nova’s face. “Yeah?”
Now, it was my turn for a bit of slyness. “Yeah. Remember when you asked if I had any buddies in the Inquisition?”
Nova’s mouth tightened, and she cocked her head to the side, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“No goddamn way.”
I smiled and held out my hands. “Way.”
For her part, Nova just sighed and leaned back in her seat, staring dejectedly out the window. She turned to me, an exasperated look on her face.
“Well, if I’d have known we were heading to Imperial space, I’d have brought something nice to wear!”
