Of Stars and Secrets

Chapter 5

5

Sid leaned back in the chair and stared through the window, not seeing the pinpricks of light that marked stars, planets, or ships. Out of habit, he unbuckled his belt and adjusted a couple of controls.

“Course set for Station 5. Travel time estimated at three days at current velocity,” the ship’s computer informed him.

That meant he had less than a day to sabotage part of the vaccine and for Kiersten to land on Suma and replenish their supply, before continuing on to Happy Jack’s. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed. He was between terra firma and the hull of a ship, more accurately, between the two women who occupied his mind, had been part of his life for most of it, and who rarely seemed to get along. Snorting at the improbability of pleasing them both, the realization came that he seemed to be in the middle of most of their feuds.

Sid wasn’t a natural citizen of Suma, but he did call the planet home. Technically, the Empress could not direct him, but he usually did as she asked. Kiersten was another matter. She was stubborn, strong-willed, had an unshakeable drive to help others, and fortunately had the brains and skills to remove herself from most scrapes in which she landed. And when she got in too deep, which rarely occurred, Sid had been there to assist in the extraction. She was just as beautiful as her mother, which Sid surmised was his daily penance for decisions made long ago. And when he forced himself to admit the truth, that is why he almost always complied with the Empress’s requests. Or demands.

The vaccine would be stable for a week. That gave them enough time to arrive on Station 5, convince Jack to allow them to trade for the documents they needed, and still arrive on Windmere to distribute the vaccine before it turned. With a day on Suma, it would be close. He agreed to get Kiersten to return home, not to convince her to stay. If the racks were moved around in the storage area, and some happened to be left too close to the door that didn’t close properly on the first try, then it would explain how the vaccine had spoiled. Sid pushed himself to his feet and resolutely made his way to the port side and the stash of rare, and expensive, medicine that saved lives.

In the bowels of the ship, Kiersten could hear the hum of the engines, the blinking of lights keeping time to the music of the various parts that kept them safely in space. She was seated in a cramped area next to the hyperdrive, a toolbox next to her, a cloth in one hand, a diagnostic tool in the other. Grease, combined with the dust from numerous planets, collected around the hinges of the panel she had opened, and some of it found its way to her cheek and forehead. The diagnostics she’d run on the hull confirmed that only burns and scorch marks were their souvenirs from the Tamplians.

Setting the cloth aside, she picked up a wrench, adjusted the size, and placed it on the bolt. The calibration was off and needed to be tightened so the piston kept the hatch shut on the laser portals. With one on hand, she tried pushing the tool away from her. It wouldn’t budge, so she set the diagnostic recorder aside, maneuvered onto her knees for more leverage, and gripped the wrench with both hands. She pushed and felt the calibration bolt give. Before she could correct her weight, she tipped forward, her hands slipping from the handle to scrape her knuckles against the piston. Releasing the tool completely, she jerked her hands free and stuck her bleeding knuckles in her mouth. Pulling her knuckles out long enough to survey the damage, she cursed the missing pieces of skin and the blood that ran to the surface, and placed her knuckles back between her lips.

Kiersten reached her free hand into the compartment and retrieved the tool. In her frustration, she slammed the panel shut, but it swung open again. Scowling at it, she slapped her hand to the panel and shoved it closed. Dropping the wrench into the toolbox, she sat on the floor of the engine compartment and drew her knees up to her chest. Wrapping the cloth around her hand, she rested her forehead on her knees, her arms draped over her legs.

Taking a shuddering breath, she let out a sob. Cursing herself for allowing her emotions to get the better of her, she tried to push the frustration and annoyance away. It didn’t work. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Who did she think she was? Nothing more than a Princess, raised to play at politics, to rule a planet and have a seat on the High Council. It was her idea to smuggle the vaccine to colonies that needed it. Once it was discovered how the Tamplians guarded the colonies, no other pilots were willing to risk their ships, or their lives, for a delivery that wouldn’t earn them enough credits. This was her starship, her life that she risked. And Sid’s. Though he volunteered to accompany her, she still felt some responsibility for him.

She felt it was her fault that Derek, her inquisitive brother, was involved in a brawl at some tavern that led to his arrest. Surely there was something she should have done or said to keep him on Suma. Kiersten squeezed her eyes, then wiped angrily at the tears forced down her cheeks. She had a plan to get Derek out of the Tamplian’s prison, but she just didn’t have all the pieces. Yet. The longer she stayed away from Suma, delivering the vaccine and putting together the plan to free Derek, the longer she could delay her mother’s attempt at ultimate control with the arranged marriage.

The information Kiersten had discovered regarding Dulsar and the Royal Line was all factual, as if she read from an archaic history text. Births, deaths, conflicts, disease, inventions, and treaties were listed with details historians deemed relevant. She knew the Prince of Dulsar had a brother, Sebastian M. Tranlish, who was not in line to inherit the throne or the High Council seat. The Prince was listed as Tristan A. Tranlish, 2769- ; completed studies in politics, business, languages; served five years in Colonial Air Force; residence-Dulsar. There were no pictures of him in the database, for obvious reasons.

It wasn’t that Kiersten was opposed to marriage, as she was raised to understand her position and the importance of continuing the line of both families. She was just angry that her husband would not be a man of her choosing. How could her mother attach her to someone Kiersten didn’t love, or hadn’t even met? If he was cruel or unbearable in personality, she could arrange to be elsewhere, except when an heir needed to be conceived. No chance she would have become pregnant before the wedding. Not only was the tradition that she present herself as a virgin bride, but she never had the chance to be with a man. Those who lived or visited Suma knew who she was, so Kiersten had no opportunity to even practice any mating rituals. Any time she flew off-planet, Sid was with her. Not that she couldn’t be with a man if she chose to, even if Sid was around, but it never seemed to be the right time or place. Perhaps, if she found a man she liked, she could break from the ancient traditions… facing her mother’s wrath would be the worst of it. With a man of her choosing, perhaps she could get a sense of something real, not contrived, and experience the physical bond between a man and a woman.

Unwrapping her knuckles, she saw the bleeding had stopped. She flexed her fingers and winced as the damaged skin stretched. Staring at the scrapes, she pulled her other hand through her hair. She had cut it short, despite her mother’s objections. The spikiness on top folded over as her hair grew, the strands in the back not quite covering her neck, the sides now long enough to push behind her ears. The golden red alerted everyone to her temper and stubbornness the moment they met her. Her dark green eyes and pixie face were used to her advantage whenever she needed to convince someone either to believe her, or help her, depending on the situation. Her smaller stature also lured those who chose to believe she couldn’t handle herself into a false sense that she was a being who could be taken advantage of, either in fighting or wit. Quite the opposite was true. She was trained in several forms of combat as part of her upbringing, and her time serving in the Force, including having to study previous wars in order to know the advantages and disadvantages of the opposing sides, and also to understand how conflicts could be avoided, or at least resolved without bloodshed. It was her training, and her cunning, that allowed her to deliver the vaccine, and to comprise a plan to bring Derek home to Suma. That thought was followed by Sid’s voice over the ship’s speakers.

“Kiersten, we’ve got a situation. Meet me at the storage unit.”

Scowling at the disembodied voice, she pushed herself to her feet, wiped away any trace of tears, tossed her tools back in the box, and climbed up the steps to the main corridor. If Sid wanted her in the storage unit, it could only mean one thing. Kiersten stood with hands on her hips, staring in disbelief at the twenty-one racks of vaccine Sid held up to her at eye level.

“I don’t understand. How could it have turned? It was fine before we landed to deal with the Tamplians.”

“That was almost twenty-four hours ago. You know this door doesn’t always close.” Sid shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t have enough to continue to Station 5, much less to Windmere. I think we’ll have to—”

“Don’t say it,” Kiersten threatened, putting her hands up as if to halt his words.

“Return to Suma,” Sid finished.

“Source be damned, Sid, I can’t go back,” she dropped her hands and sighed.

“Ever?” he asked and lowered the racks.

“At least not until this arranged marriage is no longer an issue.”

“Since when have you been fearful of your duties as Princess of Suma?” his voice took on an edge of censure.

Kiersten crossed her arms and c****d her hip. “I’m not afraid. I just want to be able to choose the man I marry.”

“And you believe you are special enough that you can ignore tradition, reject what has already been agreed upon?”

“Not necessarily. But what advantage is there to be born to a Royal Family and yet have no choice concerning my future?”

“It is because you are of Royal Blood that you can so directly affect your future, and those of thousands.” Sid’s voice softened. He replaced the racks in the storage unit, closed the door securely, and turned again to face Kiersten. “It was you who pushed the scientists to develop the vaccine. You, who risks your life to help save these colonists, many who live on the fringe of the Apollo Galaxy. You, who will lead the next generations on Suma, and direct the High Council. It is because of your royalty that you can instigate such change.”

Kiersten dropped her arms and paced a few strides down the corridor and back. She stopped in front of Sid. “If we return now, she’ll devise a way to forbid me to leave.”

“What advantage is it to float around in space? If we don’t collect the vaccine, people will succumb to the virus.”

“If she forces me to remain, they’ll perish anyway,” she argued stubbornly.

“I never mentioned anything about staying.” Sid watched as she paced the other direction, then came back to face him again.

“What if she doesn’t allow us to launch?”

“Since you’ve come of age, when has anything your mother said or done stopped you from exerting your will?”

Kiersten crossed her arms again and c****d the other hip. “If we don’t leave Suma, not only can we not deliver the vaccine, but we can’t retrieve Derek.”

“Who are you trying to convince?”

She narrowed her eyes at Sid, then huffed out a breath. “Set a course for home, Sid. We’re only staying long enough to get what we need, then we’re headed to Happy Jack’s.”

He nodded and moved past her toward the helm. Once she could only view his back, he smiled. I’ve accomplished my part, Charlotte. It’s unfortunate you won’t be able to convince her to stay. Kiersten was more like her mother than she would ever admit. And, like her mother, Sid knew how to manipulate her.