Roran Read online

  “Deeto Brantu, may I present Becca Clayton, my solmatu. We are bond mates.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “I found her at the slave auction on Ideshan after I broke the news to Kasha. You know I always check the auction houses in every port.”

  “I know.” Deeto rubbed his hand down his face and looked at Roran with a grim expression.

  “What?” Roran frowned as Deeto’s expression became even grimmer.

  Deeto reached under his desk, and his hand came up with a laser pistol.

  Without even thinking, Roran instinctively pushed Becca behind him, bracing for the burn as he started to lunge for the weapon. But, Deeto laid the pistol on his desk and rubbed his hand down over his face again.

  “What the fuck, Deeto?” Roran demanded and snatched the weapon off the desk before the other man even thought of taking it up again.

  “Right after you left Tegliar Station, I got orders to kill you. You’ve been deemed a traitor to the Consortium.”

  “By who? The same people who had Haemeg killed?”

  Deeto nodded grimly.

  “And if you don’t?”

  Deeto shrugged. “Someone will probably come for me.”

  “Do you know who’s behind this?”

  “Not really. But the order came through Ops. By the Maker, I’d fucking rather shoot myself than you---especially now that you found your soul mate. Haemeg never will.” There were tears in his eyes as he said the last. “Fuck, I didn’t know they were going to kill him.”

  He choked out the last on a sob. He pressed his palms to his eyes and rubbed them. He took a few calming breaths in and out before he spoke again. “When I got the order to terminate you, I knew you had found them out.”

  Roran shoved the pistol into his pocket, and Becca moved beside him. “I did, and it goes all the way to the top. High Councilman Evzen Guryon is behind everything, Haemeg figured it out when Farseek fell to the Sargans after he made the delivery to Rhazien Fadek. Haemeg left me a message on the Brigade network; then, I figured it out with some help from Herminia.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Roran shook his head. “I’m going to Halor to expose Guryon by putting the information out on the AI net. But we can’t wait, we’ll have to do it from here.”

  “Did you find the men who killed Haemeg?”

  “They were all dead by the time I got there. Fadek took them out. He came after me at Tegliar Station, and I took him out. They’re killing anyone who can tie the destruction of Farseek back to Guryon.”

  “You can connect with the Consortium AI Network from our communication center.” Deeto offered.

  “Great. Let’s go. Becca and I compiled everything, so the connections were clear. Guryon offered a lot of credits to people to do his dirty work, then had them killed so they couldn’t trace their deeds back to Guryon.” Said Roran.

  “That isn’t all. He owns entire planets in the Sargus Empire and dummy corporations within the Consortium to hide the source of what he imports from the Sargus Empire that’s produced by slave labor,” said Becca. “That’s why he arranged for the Sargans to bomb Farseek. He needed more slaves to work his Sargus Empire holdings, and to get rid of the competition for his agricultural goods.”

  “You have proof of this?” Deeto got up from his desk.

  “It’s all in my tablet.”

  “Let’s go then, you can tell me on the way to the com center.”

  “Herminia compiled a list of transmitting codes to all the senate, the high council, and all the news media in the Consortium,” Roran continued.

  “You’re taking a big risk, Roran. Ops has already solicited your termination. They will still come after you between now and when you reveal Guryon publicly as a traitor.”

  “I was going to clear out my flat and head to Halor. I promised Becca a state-of-the-art language chip.”

  “Don’t go to your flat. That’s the first place they will look for you if their spies here find out you’re back.” Deeto warned. “I’ll send a cleaning droid to get your things.”

  “What about you? You could come with us. Herminia has four cabins. After Halor, we’re going back to Farseek, buy some land, built a house, and farm.”

  “And make babies,” Becca added brightly.

  Roran just smirked at the look Deeto gave him.

  “I don’t think so. This is where I belong. Farseek is where you belong, now that you have your mate,” Deeto said. “You’ve earned your chance at happiness. All my friends are out here.”

  When they reached the com center, Deeto told the operator to take a break. Once they were alone in the tiny room, Deeto gestured at the console and said, “Get to it, you have about a quarter-span before Ops catches on.”

  Roran sat at the work station and set his tablet to distribute his information through the console. Becca and Deeto quietly waited while he spoke his instructions. It took less than a span to send and return a completion report. The operator returned from his break just as they were ready to leave.

  “You know what, Roran?” Deeto said when they were out in the corridor alone. “I’m going to say goodbye here…”

  There was a loud bang, followed by a tremor that shook the whole station. An alarm started blaring, and a computer voice announced an explosion, naming the deck location, and a hull breach.

  “My flat!” Roran exclaimed. “Fuck, my docking bay will be blocked because of the hull breach.”

  “There’s an air shaft that bypasses the corridor. It’s not going to be a fun detour, but I think it’s pretty clear that you need to get out of here.”

  “What about the ship?” Becca asked. “If they blew up your flat, would they boobytrap your ship, too?”

  “Feenix would have notified us if anyone breached my ship’s security,” Roran said.

  Deeto pulled out his com tablet and pulled up the schematic of the space station. “Ok, the hull breach is below your flat, and the emergency containment doors have sectioned that off.”

  He started walking again, glancing at the walls and back at his tablet. “Down here.” Deeto jogged ahead. He stopped at a grate in the wall. Pulling a multi-tool from a sheath on his belt, he used the flat-edged screwdriver attachment to pry the grill off the opening. Setting it on the floor against the wall, Deeto detached a small flashlight from a clip on his utility belt.

  “Here.” He offered it to Roran. “I’ve got a drawer full of these things. You should be able to kick the grate out at the other end. I’ll put this back as soon as you two get in there. Now hurry. I don’t know who is behind this, but they are probably in Guryon’s pocket. When I find them, they are out of here. Go!”

  “Take this Becca, and I will give you a boost.” Roran handed her the light then clasped his fingers to give her a leg up. When her torso was inside, he cupped her foot again so she could push herself the rest of the way into the horizontal shaft that was about a meter square by Becca’s estimation.”

  She turned on the light and crawled ahead to make room for Roran.

  “Keep going, me’ara. I’m right behind you.”

  “Okay. It doesn’t look too far. I can see the light from the docking bay from here,” she murmured. For some reason, she thought it prudent to move as quietly as possible.

  When she reached the end some forty-plus feet later, she saw a man pacing back and forth in front of the entrance of the boarding tube to their ship. “Ran, somebody’s out there,” she whispered.

  “I need to get by you,” Roran murmured.

  “Okay.” Becca backed toward him then lay down, stretching out on her side against the wall of the shaft.

  It was a tight squeeze, but Roran twisted a bit so he could slide by her on the smooth metal. “I know him,” he said when he got close enough to the grate so he could see.

  “Is that good or bad?” Becca whispered.

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Roran said, contorting himself, so his feet were against the grate. Kicking i
t, he slithered out and landed on his feet below the opening.

  As the grate clattered to the floor, a laser blast hit the wall just left of his head.

  “Qwan, it’s Roran! Shoot at me again, and you’re dead.” Even as he said it, he was ready to dive one way or the other.

  “Goddess, fuck, you scared the crap out of me.”

  “What are you doing here, kid?”

  “I was coming to see you. I heard you were going back to Farseek. I wanted to see if I could hitch a ride to Halor on your way through.”

  “What in darkness are you going to do on Halor?” Roran asked, noticing that the other man hadn’t holstered his weapon. But he paced toward him as though he hadn’t seen. When he got close enough, he snatched the gun from Qwan’s hand before he could react. “Try again. I thought we were friends.”

  “I told them I couldn’t do it.”

  “You were sent here to kill me?”

  Qwan nodded miserably. “Only if their trap didn’t work.”

  “The bomb in my flat.”

  “Yeah, I thought it was over, but the containment doors closed, and I couldn’t get out.”

  “Well, Qwan, you picked the wrong side. I found the man who put the price on my head. I sent the info to every news service and official on Halor.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “To you? Put your hands up. I’m going to pat you down for weapons.” Roran proceeded. The younger man had none. Satisfied that it was safe, he went over to the airshaft to help Becca out.

  “You can leave the way we came in,” Roran said to the other man. “We’re leaving.”

  Qwan didn’t wait for a second invitation to leave. He ran to the air shaft and jumped up, pulling himself into it and disappearing.

  Roran draped his arm around Becca’s shoulders, and they walked through the boarding tube to the ship’s cargo entrance. When the door opened automatically, they went inside.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Who was that?” Becca asked as the cargo bay door closed behind them.

  “Qwan Rimkus. He’s a maintenance technician. He fixes bots and automated equipment on the station. He’s fixed things on the ship for me, and I told him war stories.”

  “He was going to kill you!” Becca protested. They walked through the ship to the bridge and took their seats.

  “No, he wasn’t any more than Deeto was. Whoever planted the bomb in my flat was trying to kill me.”

  “Do you think Deeto knew that? So, he sent the droid to pack your things?”

  “I think he suspected. We’ve known there was another Ops agent on the station for a long time now. I’m pretty sure; it is a guy in the maintenance department planted to spy on Deeto and me. He probably tried to recruit Qwan.”

  “Does Deeto know about the Ops plant?”

  “Feenix, get us out of here before anything else happens… Set course for Halor.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “I’m going to send him a message, including what Qwan did. When the news about Guryon comes out, Ops will purge all his contacts from the top down. It’s not my problem anymore. I sent my resignation when I distributed the info on Guryon. After the stop at Halor for your implant, we’re going home.”

  The journey took them a full rotation span, which was ten rotations. Less than one span after takeoff news services began distributing reports based on the information.

  First came the plausible denials by Evzen Guryon and his followers. Various senators and some of the high council members stepped up in the news reports calling the revelations a complete fabrication. However, less than a rotation later, the facts had begun to be verified as accurate. Soon, those supporters dwindled, and some of them denounced Evzen Guryon as a traitor.

  By the time Becca and Roran landed on Halor, The Senate had taken Guryon into custody. But that still did not vindicate Roran on the charges of treason made by the Consortium Covert Operations’ division. Those reports made Becca reluctant to continue to Halor.

  “Can’t we just go to Farseek? What if they try to kill you or take you into custody? What will I do? I’m scared,” she worried as they lay in bed together after the fourth rotation. “I hate that they are calling you a traitor.”

  “I don’t like it much either. But if we can’t get this cleared up, Feenix will take you to Farseek. My friend Kragyn and his mate will help you get settled. His mate is from Earth.”

  Becca choked on a sob. That was Roran’s first indication that she was crying. Until then, she was crying silent tears. He turned on his side toward her, pulled her into his arms, and held her. He would rather face torture than being separated from her. Before Becca, life was a lonely series of dangerous missions.

  Roran felt tears sting his own eyes as she sobbed against his chest. He could go to prison for a long time if the investigation into Evzen Guryon’s activities didn’t clear his name. Losing Becca would break him as nothing else had.

  He had to believe they would find that Guryon was behind the accusation against him. It was a long time before sleep came that night. Then they’d awakened a couple of spans later and made love desperately, trying to memorize every touch and kiss and the way their bodies came together and retreated again and again.

  Whatever came next, they would face it together.

  “If I run, they will tell everyone I am guilty. They can’t prove that I did anything wrong. Killing Rhazien Fadek and those other thugs were entirely self-defense. Fadek was a double agent working for Guryon sent to kill me because I knew too much. Haemeg found out the truth. He knew they would come for him; that’s why he made that vid. Tegliar Station Security sent me the video that backs me up Fadek started the fight.” Roran said as they landed at Haloressa Starport. Haloressa was the world capital of Halor.

  Roran wasn’t surprised that he was met at the starport on Halor by armed law enforcement officers. They were waiting at the foot of his docking ramp as he and Becca exited the Herminia Trader. All four of them were waiting with their weapons pointed at him.

  Roran and Becca held out empty hands. “We are unarmed,” he shouted.

  “Come on down the ramp,” said one of the officers, and Roran complied, keeping his hands up. “Stone, check them both for weapons.”

  The one called Stone holstered his weapon and took out a handheld scanner and passed it up and down and around Roran then Becca. “No weapons,” he said on completing the scan.

  Roran put his hands down and stood with them, clasped in front of him.

  The other three officers holstered their weapons. They didn’t know that he could probably take all four of them out unarmed.

  The one that seemed to be in charge asked, “Is there anyone else on the ship?”

  “Just my android Feenix. He always stays with the ship.”

  “Fine. We need you both to come with us.”

  “Of course, you do. I knew this was going to be a pain in the ass,” Roran grumbled. “My mate stays with me.”

  “That is our intention,” the officer murmured back.

  Roran’s answer was a sigh of resignation.

  “Follow us.”

  Roran took Becca’s hand and fell in behind the two officers as directed, and the other two officers brought up the rear. They were taken to an official law enforcement vehicle.

  Instead of being taken to capitol law enforcement headquarters, their transport stopped in front of the Transtellar Consortium Government Center. There, the four officers escorted them inside and onto the senate floor. Becca and Roran were seated in a front section to the side of the senators. On the stage, only eleven of twelve High Council Members were present.

  Roran had barely taken his seat when the high council clerk called him to the witness chair. He stood glancing around uncertainly and just a little apprehensive about what was going on. The charge of treason had him more than a little worried.

  “Thank you for joining us, Commander Sovaktu,” said the Chancellor of the High Council as Roran too
k his seat. Commander was his rank in the Consortium Special Ops Corps.

  “It’s not like I had a choice,” he muttered in reply. There were a few chuckles from the senate floor in response.

  “We just have a few questions for you, Commander,” continued the Chancellor. “But we have verified the information you provided, and High Councilman Evzen Guryon has been removed from office and charged with treason, among many other charges.

  “Before the disclosure of Mr. Guryon’s illegal activities, a ranking officer with special OPS charged you with treason for the murder of Haemeg Posartu. However, our investigation indicates that you were not at Bekket Station at the time of the killing. Records show that you did not arrive until after the fact. Your accuser falsified the file used to bring that charge against you. Therefore, the High Council has voted to dismiss all charges. But we still have many questions we need you to answer for our investigation.

  “First, how did you discover Evzen Guryon’s treachery when it has been hidden for tens of star orbits?”

  “Because they brutally killed my best friend. It made no sense, and I had to find out why. It made even less sense when I found out who had killed him; then, they were each dead before I could question them. Haemeg, himself pointed me to the evidence I needed to expose Evzen Guryon.

  “Haemeg was tricked into delivering classified military equipment plans to the Sargus Empire. Included in that package were Guryon’s orders to destroy Farseek. After I obtained that information at Tegliar Station, Commander Rhazien Fadek came to kill me so that I couldn’t disclose Evzen Guryon’s participation.”

  The questions went on and on for spans. They asked questions about missions Roran did star-spans before Haemeg’s murder. They even questioned his purchase of Becca at the slave auction on Ideshan.

  Then they questioned Becca after they made it clear that Roran’s ownership was null and void because slavery is illegal in the Consortium. She explained why he bought her the way Roran explained it to her. He considered it a ransom to free her because they were solmatu.

  “Thank you, Commander Sovaktu and Me’otu Clayton. You are cleared of all charges, and you may return to duty if you so wish.”