Beyond Galaxy's Edge (23 page)

Nissa bit her lip. Goddess, either Claudia had been carrying Anderson Chan’s child or she’d at least honored him by calling her first child after him. Nissa would never know the truth but a part of her was happy the man would always be remembered.

A set of three paintings, each one not large but not small,
graced the wall. The skill was amazing, the green color of the paintings almost luminous. It looked like green clouds in a sky of black.

As Nissa stared at the paintings, she thought the green looked like some sort of fog. Simple, but beautiful. Then she realized that shapes were hidden amongst the color.

The first showed the vague outline of huge, dragon-like creature, jaws agape.

The second
showed the ghostly outline of a listing starship.

Goddess, it matched Anderson’s references.

In the third, she couldn’t see anything, no matter how hard she stared. But the green mist had a circular edge on one side and stars lay beyond it. And…she stared…yes, there was what looked like a small, rocky moon.

Her heart stopped. A planet. The green mist was part of a planet.

“They’re beautiful.”
Nissa managed to push the words out. She grabbed Justyn’s hand, squeezing hard.

He shot her a quizzical look before glancing at Tonald. “They are. Thank you for showing us, and thanks again for your time.”

The old Hydraen showed them to the door. “It was lovely to meet you both.” His smile was wide and friendly. “Your visit here will also be remembered. I will be sure to note the purity of
your love.”

Nissa made a choking noise. “Ahh—”

Justyn tugged her into his side, but she felt the tension in his body. “Thanks again, Tonald.”

“I’ll also note the strange story one of the caravanserai maids told me this morning, of clothes scattered outside one of the lake cottages.”

Nissa choked again, but this time laughter was trying to break through.

Justyn didn’t bother to hide his
chuckle. “I hope the memory also notes that the woman in question was smoking hot and hard for a man to resist.”

“I’m old, son, not blind.”

Nissa’s mouth dropped open but Justyn was already tugging her back out into the sunshine.

“What did you see in the paintings?” he asked.

She turned toward him. “A monster and a ship. You?”

“The same.”

Her heart started beating double time. “Just
like Anderson Chan said. Justyn, the third picture looked like a planet. A gas giant, maybe. Although I’ve never seen a green one.”

“A gas giant? If the ship got pulled in, the pressure would have destroyed the ship. There’d be nothing left.”

That was true. “People escaped. Whatever happened to them, and I’m not ready to believe that the ship was attacked by a mysterious space monster, it
happened near the gas giant. Maybe in orbit. Maybe the
Nero
did end up destroyed, but the final painting showed a moon.”

“Shit.” His eyes widened. “If the
Nero
crashed on the moon, the wreckage could still be there!”

Excitement itched under her skin. “We need to find that gas giant.”

Suddenly the glow of red lights on her chest caught her eye. She looked down, frowning.

Justyn lunged and
tackled her to the ground.

“What the—?”

Laser fire hit the ground around them. Crap.

“Move!” He pushed her ahead and together they scrambled on hands and knees behind a nearby low stone fence.

The quiet street was empty. Nissa peered around the fence, trying to pinpoint the shooter. “Can you see anything?”

“Nothing—”

More laser fire arced above them, leaving burn marks on the nearby
cottage.

“Damn it.” She hadn’t worn her pistol. Stupid of her. She heard doors opening, frantic voices. “Stay inside!” She yelled as loud as she could. “Contact the
Sky Nomad
for help!”

Doors slammed again.

“Shit. We’re pinned down here.” Justyn’s steel gaze scanned the area behind them. “We need to move.”

There was only one path leading back to the caravanserai and the ships.

And behind
them was the lake.

“No transports?” she asked.

“No. Everyone in Meni walks or rides bicycles.”

Well, they couldn’t stay here behind the dubious protection of the fence. She scanned around. “Look, there’s a small storage shed over there.” The squat structure would provide better protection.

“I see it,” he said.

“Shooter’s firing a T’norian laser rifle.”

“You can tell?”

“Yes, Justyn,
I can tell. It takes a few seconds to recharge before he or she can take the next shot. At that point, we run for the shed.”

He nodded.

More laser fire hit, this time singeing the plants in front of their fence.

“Run!” she yelled.

They sprinted, both of them diving in behind the shed. Justyn landed beside her, rolling on top of her as more laser fire exploded close to them.

“Get off
me.” She pushed at him.

“I’m protecting you!”

“You’re being a macho idiot. I’m the one trained for combat.”

The infuriating male kissed her. “And I’m the one sliding his cock into you at night. Gives me the right to be a protective macho idiot.”

She elbowed him again, just for good measure, and didn’t tell him some dumb little part of her liked it. He didn’t need more encouragement. Then
she spotted something behind him. “Justyn, look.”

He turned his head and spotted the aquabike sitting on the sandy bank beside the oasis lake.

His grin was pure rogue. “I’m driving.”

“No! I saw it first.”

He moved into a crouch. “First one there drives.” He waited for the next round of laser fire to stop, then he took off sprinting.

Damn the man. Nissa took off after him.

Nissa gunned the aquabike the last few meters across the lake and nosed it onto the shore.

Dare stood ahead of them on the sand, with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

Justyn squeezed Nissa’s waist, then swung a leg off the back of the bike. No way in hell he was going to tell her he let her win the race to the bike
just so he could sit with her ass nestled against him.

Besides, watching her handle the bike was sexy as hell.

Justyn faced his brother. “Someone took shots at us out the Memory Keeper’s residence.”

Dare’s face darkened. “Someone really wants to stop you finding this artifact.”

“It has to be the mole on board the
Nomad
.” Justyn wanted to join Rynan and his security team and find this bastard.
“Where’s Ry?”

“On his way back from the village. The Memory Keeper called us, said you were under fire. Last I heard, Ry caught our mole.”

Savage satisfaction flooded Justyn. “Good.”

The three of them were standing in the shadow of the
Sky
Nomad
when Ry pulled up on an anti-grav bike, followed by three of his team.

Rynan jumped off the bike, then hauled the body draped on the back of it
off and dumped it on the ground.

“You killed him?” Justyn said.

“Nope. He shot himself.”

Nissa crouched and turned the body over. She gasped. “One of the monks!”

“I doubt he was really a monk,” Justyn said.

“Correct.” Ry’s voice was dark. “I suspect we’ll find he’s a recent convert. He was working for someone else.”

Who?
Justyn didn’t like not knowing who else was out there gunning
for them.

“I have more bad news,” Rynan said.

Justyn’s gut cramped.

“I just received a long-range transmission from a friend at Galaxy’s Edge. Word’s out that the US Constitution was a fake. The…criminal element of the galaxy is using it as an excuse to ignore the law. Prisoners are appealing their sentences. The GSS has its hands full quelling uprisings on about a dozen planets and stations.”

“Goddess,” Nissa breathed.

“It gets worse. A small fleet of starships passed through the Edge. They asked questions about us, the convoy’s route, and about Nissa.”

She cursed. “So we’re going to have company soon?”

“Yes. Of the unwelcome kind. The convoy is being led by a treasure hunter called Alexei Gunn. I contacted Dathan and apparently this Gunn is a bad guy. Likes to tail other hunters,
steal their research, and then kill them.”

“Nice,” Justyn mumbled.

“Did you find out anything to help you find the Constitution?” Dare asked.

“Yes,” Justyn said. “The Memory Keeper showed us some artwork by a
Nero
crewmember’s descendant and Nissa put it together with info from the diary.”

She stepped forward. “We think something happened to the
Nero
near a gas giant.”

Dare frowned.
“A gas giant? But if the
Nero
had gotten too close, there’d be nothing left.”

“Not if it crashed on the planet’s moon. A freighter rescued some of the
Nero’s
crew, so it can’t have been in the gas giant at the time. There’s a chance—a slim one—that the wreckage still exists.”

Ry’s eyes narrowed. “So we need to find all gas giants within range of here?”

“It’s a green gas giant, if that helps,”
Nissa added.

Dare and Ry traded a look. Justyn straightened. He knew that look. “You know where it is.”

Dare nodded. “It’s called Sargasso. It’s thirty-six hours from here.”

Rynan continued. “We avoid it, as do most convoys. In the past, many ships were destroyed there or barely escaped, usually with massive damage. Old convoy crews talked about strange forces, mysterious lights, and giant
creatures that attacked ships.” He shook his head. “Old space tales but there’s usually a seed a truth in there somewhere.”

Justyn and Nissa stared at each other. “The diary talked about space monsters.”

Rynan shrugged. “We’ve heard it all before and not once on a convoy have we seen a space monster. More likely some strange anomaly took out the ship.”

“You said most convoys avoid Sargasso?”
she asked.

“Yes.”

“So, if the wreckage of the
Nero
still exists, there’s a good chance it hasn’t been disturbed.”

Justyn slung an arm over Nissa’s shoulders and looked at Dare and Rynan. “Nissa and I could take the
Pathfinder
and—”

Dare snorted. “And let us miss out on all the fun?”

“And let you go off and get into trouble again?” Rynan added.

God, he loved his brothers. “What are
you going to do about the convoy?”

Dare glanced at the ships sitting behind the
Nomad
. “They can stay here for a few extra days and wait for us to get back. None of them are in a huge rush. I’ll leave Aurina in charge to keep an eye on them. We’ll take the
Nomad
with crew only.”

“We need a few provisions.” Rynan pulled out his Sync. “We can be ready to leave in two hours.”

Justyn nodded.
“Make it one hour, bro. I think we’d like to stay well ahead of Gunn.”

***

Nissa stood with her hands clamped on the back of the co-pilot’s chair on the bridge of the
Sky Nomad
, her gaze glued to the viewscreen.

Justyn’s big body was sprawled in the chair in front of her like he didn’t have a care in the galaxy, but she saw that his gaze was focused intensely on the screen as well.

Sargasso
had started out as a small green dot in the black vastness.

Now it filled the screen with a bright green that almost hurt the eyes. She knew that inside there, somewhere, was a small, rocky core. The rest of the planet consisted of gases—mainly hydrogen and helium.

“Running scans now,” Rynan said.

She squeezed the chair again and this time, Justyn’s hand covered hers. “Deep breath, sweetheart.”

“I’m fine.” They had to find something. It had to be there. This was no longer just an adventure, or about saving her father’s commendation. It was about the stability of the galaxy, about the truth behind a priceless piece of history, and about a long-ago space farer named Anderson Chan.

Rynan tapped at his screens, then began cursing steadily under his breath.

“What?” Justyn demanded.

“Radiation. It’s screwing up the scans. Sargasso has an extremely strong magnetic field and it produces really intense radiation belts around the planet.”

“Might be the reason so many ships were lost around here.” Nissa frowned. “Can you see anything on the scans?”

“Some echoes and shadows. Nothing’s clear.” Rynan tapped the screen in a rapid sequence. “But one thing is certain. There’s a moon.”

“Any sign of wreckage on its surface?”

“I just can’t tell. The moon doesn’t have much of an atmosphere, but the surface is smooth and covered in cracks. My best guess is it’s covered by a frozen ocean.”

“Shit,” Justyn said. “Even if the
Nero
crashed on the moon, it might be buried who knows how far down.”

Nissa wanted to scream. To get this close and still not find the ship…her hands curled
into fists.

“Wait, I have an idea.” Rynan pressed a button and activated the comm system. “Elana, you able to tear yourself away from the medbay to come to the bridge?”

A feminine snort. “I live to obey your commands, boss. What do you need? Someone hurt?”

“No. I need your expertise reading old scans.”

A pause. “Hmm. Now I’m intrigued. I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Elana’s your medic, right?”
Nissa asked. “How come you want her to read messed-up scans?”

“She was raised on an ice-mining ship in the Scandia quadrant. Her family’s been ice mining for centuries. They scan suitable frozen moons and planets for mineral-packed ice, and apparently older scanners show the minerals better, if you know what you’re looking for. If anyone can tell us what’s on Sargasso’s moon, it’s Elana.”

Elana strode onto the bridge. She was small, slim through the hips, but her fitted, navy-blue medic jumpsuit left no doubt that she kept in shape. She swaggered like she was six feet tall, her black hair swinging in a ponytail behind her.

“Okay, let’s see these scans,” she said.

Rynan pulled out a chair for her. “We’re looking for anything that could be a starship wreck.”