The Catalyst (Targon Tales) (24 page)

“With my life.”

“Then trust me now.” He leaned toward the door to drop the Dutchman’s gate. It lowered to reveal a dozen armed soldiers, guns aimed squarely at them. Some of them shifted uneasily when they saw the blood on Nova’s clothes.

Seth grasped a fistful of her hair and raised a gun that she didn’t even know he had been holding. He pressed it under her jaw and stepped out of the Dutchman. Nova cried out and tried to twist away, furious. His grip on her hair tightened painfully.

“Back!” he shouted. “Back off or the Colonel’s daughter is going to bleed a whole lot more.”

The first row of soldiers retreated a few cautious steps to allow their senior officer to move forward. “You can’t actually think we’ll let you leave,” Colonel Carras said.

“Try me,” Seth snapped back. “That cruiser on Three better be ready for takeoff by the time we get there.”

“I’m warning you. Let the Lieutenant go.”

“But she is so much fun!” Seth leaned close to Nova and brushed his lips over her cheek. She glared angrily, still unable to move her head. “Now is a good time for you to escape, Red,” he whispered into her ear and loosened his grip.

Nova raised both arms, clasped her hands and rammed her elbow deep into the pit of his stomach. A surprised grunt escaped him. She twisted around and applied the very hand-to-hand combat maneuvers he had taught her so long ago in the halls of the academy. The years since then had given her much practice and he soon found himself on the floor, likely in a considerable amount of pain, her boot on his windpipe. “Move and I’ll crush it,” she hissed, as angry as she sounded.

He looked up at her with a sardonic smirk and managed a shrug. She stepped away when the soldiers surrounded them. Seth was quickly pulled to his feet, disarmed and cuffed. One of the men did not resist his urge to strike Seth with the grip of his gun. Nova bit her lip when Seth reeled backward from the blow.

“Get a medic,” the Colonel shouted over his shoulder.

“Kind of you, Carras.” Seth wiped blood from his lip.

“Get him out of my sight,” Carras snapped. He scowled at the soldiers gripping Seth’s arms. “I need him in shape to answer questions, so stand down.”

“Colonel—” Nova began.

“Not a word out of you, Lieutenant,” Carras growled. He glanced at her arm that had begun to bleed again. “Take her up to the
Zoya
.”

Epilogue

“The last item on the agenda, I’m sure you’re all glad to see, is one First Lieutenant Nova Whiteside.” The Chair of the meeting peered at his screen without looking around to see if the subject of their inquiry was actually in the room.

Nova came to her feet and approached the designated spot in front of a semi-circle of seated officials. She had spent most of the day in this room, waiting her turn, alternately anxious and bored, hoping for the best, fearing the worst. At least she had not been called in front of the Board; this gathering was a sub-committee clearing a few outstanding cases that did not fall into the routines of other agencies. Still, these people were of the highest ranks and none of them looked particularly pleased with the last case on their roster.

She stood stiffly before this assembly of two Factors, a General and three Colonels, Carras among them. One of the men sported a long braid of blue-black hair and she realized that this was Baroch, the Delphian Factor. Her current commanding officer was in the gallery where she had spent most of the past few hours glaring at Nova in silent condemnation. Neither Drackon nor Rellius were in the room.

Colonel Denja finally looked up to examine the officer in front of him, scrutinizing the crisp grey uniform, tightly wound red hair and polished insignia as if he expected her to leap across the table to strangle him with her empty gun belt. The other officials were still poking at their screens. Had none of them read her case before showing up here today?

Finally the Colonel seated next to Denja leaned over to murmur something. Her eyes went out over the seats in the back of the room.

Denja nodded. “Due to the nature of this case and its current classification, we will ask that the gallery be cleared.”

Nova did not turn to watch the officers and onlookers file out of the chamber, muttering among themselves, some of them no doubt displeased by the announcement. Nova was not. One of the people leaving the room was her father.

Colonel Denja waited until the spectators had left and only the committee remained along with the clerk witness who was supervising the recording system for the session. “We assume that you have recovered from your... ah, abduction?” he said.

“Yes, sir,” Nova replied. She had spent the last three weeks in Targon’s hospital wing, most of that behind locked doors, while her case was scrutinized, sanitized and classified. After having endured a barrage of physical and psychological examinations she had eventually been left alone until her fate was decided. “Thank you, sir.”

She was kept standing at attention a while longer while they consulted their notes. She cast a hopeful glance at Colonel Carras but he, too, was looking elsewhere. Only the Delphian Factor, Baroch, was regarding her with calculating intensity.

“We have read your deposition and so this is merely a formality. Your indictments against Colonel Sam Drackon and Factor Rellius have been recorded and, as you know, are under investigation. Your testimony, the video evidence, the Colonel’s presence on the rebel platform along with other corroborating evidence and statements is compelling. I can tell you that we have been able to confirm his involvement in several unauthorized diversions of Union resources. The Shri-Lan rebel facility on Aram has been routed and the sixteen hostages were liberated. Rellius is none of your concern.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Something troubles me,” Denja said, scratching his chin as he deliberated. “I wonder why you, an Air Command officer, did not immediately report the assassination attempt on Targon to the base commanders.” His gesture included Colonel Carras.

“Sir, I was unfamiliar with the base and have no trusted contacts there. The assassin mentioned a Colonel and suggested further rebel operatives on Targon. I saw it necessary to physically remove myself from the situation until I could assess my options.”

“With the help of Sethran Kada. A known rebel sympathizer.”

“He had been cleared by Colonel Carras at that point, sir. I did not become aware of his true affiliations until after we had crossed into Magran space.” She glanced at Factor Baroch and was certain that he had nodded with the barest tilt of his head.

“Should not have been cleared,” Factor Coyle interjected, a sharp note in his voice. He looked down the table at his peers. “That man is a rogue!”

Factor Daroch replied only with a meaningful glance toward Nova. Coyle sat back in his chair, looking far from mollified. It seemed to her that Seth’s name had come up at meetings such as this before today.

Denja studied his screen for a while and then addressed her again. “We have questioned Sethran Kada. Although we have contradictory statements, he insists that you were under duress and that you were forced to accompany him and the Delphian to Naiya. Shan Caelyn declined to make any statement regarding this matter other than to confirm that taking you there was the only way to cure you of this... affliction brought on by your exposure to the Myrid.”

“Naiyad, sir,” she corrected.

“Pardon?”

“They are called Naiyads. Myrids are indigenous to other regions of Trans-Targon.”

He frowned and hummed for a moment before dismissing the irrelevancy. “In any case, Sethran Kada confirmed eyewitness reports that your involvement was not voluntary.”

This time Nova caught Colonel Carras’ eyes, surprised to see a hint of amusement on his face. Denja seemed to be engaged in verbal calisthenics to prevent her from perjuring herself. Neither he, nor anyone else, had asked her for her view about the ‘abduction’. She dared to breathe a little easier.

“The loss of that planet to Commonwealth interests cannot be understated,” Denja continued. “But we understand that Kada’s unorthodox attempt at protecting its native population likely prevented a catastrophe at the hands of Colonel Drackon.”

Nova said nothing and waited through the long silence that followed.

At last, Factor Coyle leaned forward and folded his hands in front of him. “Lieutenant, there is no question in our minds that you did not use your best judgment when leaving Targon. However, given your past performance and record, we will be able to mitigate the damage that this may have caused your career.” He paused to direct another disgruntled glance at Factor Baroch. “Indeed, because of some of the principals involved, the incident is classified and will remain sealed outside the requirements of the ongoing investigation. You will retain your current rank and none of this will appear on your records.”

Nova released a long breath and dared to relax her tensed shoulders. “Sir, if my relationship to Colonel Whiteside is influencing the decision of the Council, I wish to—”

“However,” Coyle interrupted rather forcefully. “We feel that it is in your best interest that you are reminded of the chain of command and the value of military protocol and practices. You are a pilot and your mission is to eliminate enemies of the Union. Your personal feelings about that are irrelevant and you are not required to
think
. You lost sight of your mission. We don’t need anarchists in our ranks, no matter how useful they appear at times. You will report to Colonel Yates on Ud Mrak as soon as your transport can be arranged.”

Nova felt her jaw tighten at this censure but her face remained immobile. The Mrak system was a lawless frontier, barely part of Trans-Targon, where not only rebels harried Air Command flanks but local factions forced the Union into taking sides just as they did on Magra. But, Nova consoled herself, she would be back in a fighter plane where she belonged.

She remained standing while the committee concluded its business and filed out of the room. Since her father was waiting for her outside she was not especially eager for them to hurry. At least she would not have to discuss the events of these past few weeks with him. She turned when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

“Well, I must say that went in your favor, Whiteside,” Carras said, a mellow gleam in his violet eyes.

“It stung a bit but thank you, Colonel. For everything.”

“No one wants to see your career compromised, Lieutenant. We’ve gained much here, even with the loss of Naiya and the disappearance of Pe Khoja. Of course you know that this is serving the Union as much as it does you. Drackon’s actions are, to say the least, embarrassing. Your... involuntary presence in this case has helped to uncover far more than expected.”

“Rellius?”

“Yes, Rellius. You’ve likely seen a side of our fine Air Command that we prefer to keep in the dark, but I believe I can rely upon you to keep our little secrets.” Carras chuckled, amused by his understatement.

“To be honest, Colonel, I’m... troubled, I guess, by what feels uncomfortably like a whole lot of—”

He raised a hand to cut her off in mid-sentence. “You can make a choice, Lieutenant. Do as Factor Coyle advised and don’t think. Take what they’re offering and walk away. Or you can accept that none of us know the way of running this vast organization without... compromises. Some of those compromises are not what you and I might find fair or even ethical. And sometimes we need to do what we can to keep ourselves in check, as you found out.” He lowered his voice. “My advice is to forget what Factor Coyle said. Never stop thinking. You are not a drone. I’m going to keep my eye on you. I have a feeling we’ll make good use of your talents in the future.”

“I hope so, sir,” she said, sounding far from convinced.

“And perhaps I can hope you will come to trust me should you find yourself in trouble again, Lieutenant, rather than rely on, well, outside help.”

“Yes, sir.”

Carras scanned the empty chamber for a moment before his eyes settled on her again. “Something in the classified reports still puzzles me, Whiteside. You stated that you shot Colonel Drackon in self-defense using a stun gun.”

“I did, sir. He was firing at myself and Shan Caelyn. He was subsequently incapacitated.”

The Colonel nodded thoughtfully. “When Drackon was found, some of his injuries were not consistent with merely having been stunned.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Sir?”

“Nor were they consistent with a fall. In fact, judging by several burns he sustained it would appear that he was subjected to direct contact with the same type of weapon. A painful and controversial technique, I’m sure you are aware, of gaining compliance.”

“Oh,” she said. “I have no knowledge of anything that happened to him after we left the cell block.”

“Without Sethran Kada.”

“Correct, sir. He joined us later.”

“And subsequently unearthed a remarkable amount of information regarding Factor Rellius’ activities over the past two years. Or, rather, Factor Baroch came into possession of this information.”

“I would not know about that, sir,” she said. “I do suppose that the Colonel would have a considerable amount of intelligence regarding Rellius.”

“Which he has not disclosed to us in our own interviews.”

She bit back a grin. “Sethran Kada can be… persuasive.” She hesitated a moment. “Colonel, may I ask what happened with him?”

Carras hummed to himself for a while. “Kada? He is no longer in our custody. Perhaps that is all you need to know. I meant what I told you before. He is not someone you want to be associated with.”

“Yes, I think you’re right.” She gazed into the middle-distance for a moment. Of course he was right. She had come to that conclusion over these past few weeks, thinking back and looking ahead. And Seth had known it, too. “I
know
you’re right. But did... did he ask about me?”

The Centauri paused again. “Well, he did ask me to give you a message. I’m not sure it’s appropriate.”

“What did he say?”

“Hmm, I admit I’m a bit baffled by it, but he said, and these are
his
words, that he will see you in hell.”