Final break a space oper.., p.20
Final Break: A Space Opera Adventure (Shades of Starlight Book 4), page 20
Tai showed her how to attach the tiny device behind her ear, to let him listen in and to let him talk to her.
Now she just had to kill time waiting for her first official job as a double agent.
She fixed another cleaning bot and a glitching console, slept fitfully that night, and talked to Alexei over comms instead of in person, so none of the delegates suspected they were close and accidentally dropped that info. He repeated Tai’s assurances that she could do this.
She wished she knew what this was.
Who would her contact be? And how had they managed to get themselves here?
The next day around lunchtime, she got a call from Reina to come to the operations room without being seen.
After taking a few detours and ensuring the lobby was empty, she snuck down the hall. Before she could knock, the door swung open. Good to know Reina was keeping an eye on her.
When she entered, Reina said, “She’s here,” to the console.
Tai’s voice came on. “We’re on our way with the new arrivals. See if you recognize anyone.”
The first was a man, younger than Dodge, bald. His face matched the holo-pic Corine had showed them. Alexei would be happy to know he was okay. A woman came next, no one Jules had seen before, and the file said she was from a Confed world. Her transport ship hadn’t been fired at, but they’d experienced problems coming through a wormhole and had to divert for repairs. The crew, one of Perrin’s, had fixed the ship and stopped to pick up the man.
“I know the crew, sort of. Not well, but I’ve seen them around.”
“That’s fine,” Tai said. “Perrin will brief me on them. The others?”
“The man. Hendrik. We met his daughter on Valdosto. She helped us escape the fighting. Don’t let him see the racing ship in Digger’s cargo bay. Then Digger will have to give it back and he’ll be mad.”
Tai sighed over the line. “I don’t even want to know. The woman?”
“Never seen her before. They didn’t come with anyone else?”
“Just those five. We’ll be there soon. Remember what I told you. Make yourself accessible. Stay alert.”
“So it’s easier for them to find and kill me if they learned I changed sides?”
Tai laughed, though it hadn’t been a joke. “You’ll be fine.”
Famous last words.
Jules did as asked, carrying her new toolkit to a common area, where she took her time repairing a temperature regulator. Other than two resort employees who ignored her, she saw no one.
She tried the dining hall next. The delegates were meeting, so it wasn’t crowded. She tinkered with a serving bot, then helped herself to a colorful salad and chocolate-filled pastries, eating slowly. No one came, and she didn’t know how long the delegates would be occupied or how weird she’d look if she sat here for three hours stuffing her face with dessert.
Back to the lobby to check more consoles, then her quarters, then the main building once more, tension building with every minute that passed. As she was leaving to head for the underwater tunnel, she bumped into someone rounding a corner.
“Excuse me,” she said, heart hammering. Was this it? She pretended to tuck her hair behind her ear and activated her bug as she edged away to see Corine’s father.
“I have something for you.” His eyes darted up and down the hall. He thrust a comp-pad at her.
“What’s the job?”
“Instructions are on here. Read it later.”
He wiped sweat from his temple with the cuff of his shirt, glanced around again, and hurried away.
Weird.
She hurried outside, along the bridges, and into her room and called Tai. “Did you catch that?”
“I did. Was it Hendrik?”
“Yeah. He didn’t say much.”
“Have you looked at anything yet?”
“No. Should I? Or do you want me to wait for you?”
“Are you in your room?”
“Yeah.”
“I shouldn’t risk coming. Activate a video?”
“Okay.” She set her comp-pad to transmit then picked up the one she’d been given. It wouldn’t unlock without a palm and a retinal scan.
“It’s instructions. I’ll read it aloud. The Obsidian Force wants to send a message. We couldn’t risk smuggling parts through potential security. We trust you can handle it. Make the attached device and have it ready in two days. Then await further instructions.”
They sure liked that phrase, as if Jules were happy to sit around waiting for them to tell her what to do.
Her stomach tensed in warning. The message went on, but she stopped and thumbed to the schematics that were included.
The sinking feeling turned to plummeting.
She instantly knew what the blueprints were telling her to make—a massive bomb.
21
Jules released a string of swears that would have made Captain Orion give her a withering glare and Chayanna give her a high five, since she was the one who’d taught Jules half the words.
“What is it?” Tai asked.
She angled the camera to show him the schematics on the screen.
“I’m not an expert,” he said, “but I do know a bit about explosives. Is that a thermobaric bomb?”
“Yes. Yes it is.”
“Shades. And they expect you to build it?”
Building it was easy. It similar to ones she’d made for past jobs. Her gaze drifted to the beautiful ocean view, though she barely saw it. Her mind was already racing with possibilities on where to find the parts around the resort, despite the fact that she didn’t want to bomb anything.
Not here, anyway. Normally, this job would offer a fun challenge.
“It wouldn’t be hard,” she said. “I can get everything I need.”
“That’s comforting,” Tai said. “Is there more to the message?”
She read on. “Have no further contact with the person who delivered this message. Someone will be in touch.” She lowered the comp-pad. “That’s all.”
Her heart was thumping too fast. She didn’t want to believe the Obsidian Force would attempt something so terrible. But she knew that just because she had focused on ensuring her jobs had no casualties, it didn’t mean the revolution’s leaders shared that goal.
“Well,” Tai said. “This is less than ideal.”
“You’re telling me. I’m the one who’s supposed to build a bomb and, I’m assuming, kill a bunch of people.” She might be sick. “What happens now? Can we arrest him and I can delete this file and pretend I never saw it?”
“So the Obsidian Force knows we caught their person, and doubts you before we have a chance to finish our plan? Sorry, but I need you to play along a little longer.”
She sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“If you were helping with the plan, what would you do next?”
“Collect the parts I’d need. Some will be easy, some I would have to improvise. Then smuggle them somewhere safe to assemble it. Probably figure out the best place to plant it, even though they didn’t mention that, so I was ready.”
How easily her mind found each problem and immediately considered solutions. A tiny part of her enjoyed the theoretical exercise.
The rest of her was horrified and disgusted and was telling that first part to shut up.
“Good,” Tai said. “Pretend you’re preparing for that.”
She leaned forward and banged her head against the table.
“Hey. It will be fine. You won’t actually build a working bomb. Bring the parts to your room, but don’t do anything with them. No one will get hurt. And we will talk to the guy. Just not yet.”
“How did you not catch that he was Obsidian Force?”
“I’m still looking into him. You met his daughter. Tell me more.”
Other than being too friendly with Alexei, the girl had been nice enough.
“His daughter found us,” Jules said. “Wanted to help. She’d seen Alexei’s speech, said she and her dad agreed with him. She wanted to know if her dad was safe, asked Alexei to check on him, then helped us steal her ex’s ship because she was mad he’d joined the Obsidian Force. There were skirmishes on the planet, and she said she was helping the people fight back against them. It sounded like she and her dad were close. She didn’t seem like the kind of person whose father would bomb his own peace talks. If she were with the Obsidian Force, wouldn’t she have turned Alexei in, instead of helping him leave?”
“Interesting. The man’s voice sounded weird when he met you. What was your impression?”
She wasn’t trained to notice like Tai was, but the man had been obvious. “He definitely looked nervous. I figured it was because he was carrying schematics for a bomb and engaging in terrorist activities in the middle of a well-lit hall at peace negotiations guarded by soldiers from three empires.”
“Hmm. I’ll do some digging. Good work today.”
She hadn’t done anything except receive a dangerous message she didn’t want. She stared at the comp-pad, cursing her bad decision to work with the Obsidian Force in the first place.
The urge to talk to Alexei hit her. He would encourage her. But he was in the negotiation hall, so she’d have to wait, suck it up, and handle this herself.
She hoped he was having far less excitement than she was.
Shots were being fired.
Not literal ones, although they’d come close to that again, too. But Alexei’s headache was currently intensifying as more people hurled insults under the guise of presenting requests.
He hadn’t thought it would be easy to convince the empires to concede power, or to find middle ground on problems that had plagued colonies since the discovery of wormholes had first led people to live on other planets. But he had assumed that if people were here, it was because they believed progress was possible.
That assumption might have been misguided.
For the last two days, they’d been breaking into separate meetings, each empire’s leaders meeting with their own colonists. He was lucky—the Cobalt Republic was less authoritarian than the Amber Alliance, less prone to military action than the Ruby Confederation. But that didn’t mean it was going well.
Rodge questioned everything Alexei suggested, as if the mere fact that the idea came from Alexei made it not worth considering. It almost made him doubt himself.
Two manufacturing planets had teamed up on demands that hurt planets like Neridia that provided raw materials.
It was tempting to approach the woman who led one of Cobalt’s main farming planets and come up with their own plans, but as badly as he wanted to help his people, he wasn’t here to get good terms only for himself.
“Look,” he said, cutting off a manufacturing leader and ignoring Rodge’s eye roll. It was a miracle the man’s eyeballs hadn’t burst out of his head. “We’re here to represent all the people who can’t be here, not just our planets.”
“Speak for yourself, kid. If those planets aren’t represented, it’s their own fault.”
“Just because someone’s not here doesn’t mean they support the Obsidian Force. Or that their people aren’t worth helping. There are too many planets to invite them all. We’re here to prevent war, not satisfy ourselves and leave the rest of the galaxy wanting to revolt.”
“Maybe revolution makes sense. I still can’t call anyone at home. Shouldn’t the right to talk to your family be guaranteed?” a colony leader asked a Cobalt official.
“I told you I’m looking into it.”
“Look into it faster.”
“Or what? Is that a threat? Your planet will join the revolution?”
“I didn’t say that. Shades. We don’t want war.”
Whether they wanted it or not, war was appearing inevitable.
Alexei’s mind drifted to his nighttime call with Jules, when she’d made up outlandish suggestions for roping the delegates into line. Many involved forced close encounters with the more terrifying species of sea life. They were sounding like increasingly good ideas.
She’d also told him where she’d found parts for the bomb she wasn’t building, sounding both proud about her ingenuity then repentant when the truth of the situation overtook her engineer’s enthusiasm. Shades, she was cute.
He dragged his attention back to the room, his gaze meeting that of Yunia Jabara, the prime minister’s aide. The quirk of her lips and raised eyebrows told him she shared his frustration, challenged him to do something about it.
“Why don’t we take a break?” he said over the arguing. “We made good progress on the quota issue, but it seems everyone could use some air.”
With some grumbling, people stood and moved toward the door.
He found Finley in the dining room.
“How’s it going for you?” she asked.
“Oh, you know, the same arguments we’ve been making for twenty years. Are you keeping an eye on the others?”
“I spent the morning in the Amber Alliance room. If it makes you feel better, I think they’re making less progress than you.”
Alexei’s shoulders sagged. “It doesn’t, actually, make me feel better. I want this to succeed for everyone. If it doesn’t, who knows how many planets will start fighting? And we need it more than the empires. How many colonies will suffer if we can’t reach an agreement that leads to peace?”
She smiled. “I was going to ask if you wanted to record your thoughts, but maybe I should wait until we have better news.”
“How is the recording?”
Her smile faded. “Making a regular travel video would be easier. The galaxy needs to know the talks are working. But I can’t share videos of fighting and stubborn empire leaders and frustrated colony representatives. We need something to give people hope that this can succeed.”
“I’ll try to make something happen after lunch, and you can report on that.”
She laughed. “I appreciate the optimism.”
They took food and sat.
“I could get used to eating like this,” he said as he attacked his pile of fresh fruit that likely came from trees that wouldn’t survive a week on Neridia. “I don’t suppose we can add tropical holidays for colonial mayors to the peace talk terms?”
“Like you would ever do that. You’d probably hold raffles for your people and send them in your place.”
His lips twitched. She had a point. He glanced around and lowered his voice. “Anything new with Jules?”
“I don’t know. Tai took over. You’d have to talk to her.”
“I’m supposed to be discreet, not let on that we’re working together, so I can’t call her until tonight.”
“I’m terribly sorry, lover boy. Comms are so hard.”
He frowned at her. “‘Lover boy’?”
She laughed. “I’ve seen the way you look at her.”
He couldn’t confirm or deny what his face looked like, but he wasn’t about to admit how late he and Jules had stayed up the night before talking, or that he’d probably worn a goofy smile through it all.
“Oh yeah?” he asked. “Is it like the way you and your soldier were looking at each other when you visited Neridia?”She grinned. “No comment.”
“Where is Micah, anyway?”
“The soldiers are patrolling, and when he’s off duty, he’s been helping in the kitchens since half the staff left. Says it’s more fun than political meetings.” Her face sobered. “Tai is good,” Finley said, her voice turning serious. “He’ll take care of Jules. I don’t know her, but you like her, so I believe she’ll do the right thing.”
He knew she would. He was proud of her. What she’d chosen to do wasn’t easy, and she was risking a lot.
After they ate, he found a quiet corner and called Jules, setting a comp-pad in his lap so it looked like he was working.
“Hey,” she said.
“How are you?”
“My time is almost up, and I have a collection of stolen parts and several genius ideas of how to thoroughly destroy this resort. It’s like there’s a bomb ready to go off any second—not the one I’m supposed to build, but a metaphorical one that’s going to blow up my life.”
“I won’t let that happen.” His voice was low but fervent. “You have people on your side. Finley, and Perrin, and Tai. And me. Always me.”
“You can’t promise that, though.”
“I can, in fact, promise that I’ll be on your side.”
She was quiet, and he wished he could hug her.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just on edge. I’m due for a follow-up message, but I don’t know how or who from. I keep looking over my shoulder. Oh, hey, speaking of Tai, he’s calling. Want to listen?”
“Absolutely.”
“Hey, Tai,” she said. “I’m on with Alexei, too.”
“I can’t figure out why Hendrik joined the Obsidian Force,” Tai said, making no effort at small talk. “There’s no hint of it in his past. I’ve been researching Valdosto, his daughter, his deceased wife. Reina hacked his comms. Something doesn’t add up. Since I have you, Alexei, any insights?”
Alexei tried to recall the last couple days. “We’ve been meeting with our empires, so I haven’t seen him recently. Since Jules told me what happened, I didn’t approach him like I had planned to. He’s seemed quiet, I guess. Withdrawn when we mingle in common areas.”
“We need to talk to him, and it might work best if you did it, Jules.”
“Me? Why? The message told me not to contact him. Won’t it look suspicious? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until I hear from them again?”
“Do you want to hear from them again?” Tai asked.
“Shades, no,” she said, and Alexei sniffed a laugh.
“I can try,” Alexei said. “He might talk to me as a fellow delegate.”
“I don’t want to give the Obsidian Force any reason to pay more attention to you than they already have.”
“Right,” Jules said dryly. “We want all their attention on me.”
“It will be fine,” Tai said. “Do it casually. Bring up his daughter. I want to see how he reacts. I’ll get you a camera so I can watch him. Wait until the next meal break and head for the dining hall. It’s time to risk being more proactive.”
