Chapter 41, Epilogue

(Dustin)

Dustin scowled at his comm, slumping his shoulders in defeat as Callie refused another of his calls. His mother, Veronica, was in the other room looking through the destroyed living room of Rogers' mansion. He bit his lip, glancing at the corpse of his friend, the man's body laying in the narrow hallway..

The slax ambassador was covered in a blanket to hide his mangled body. Anger and sadness filled Dustin, anger at Callie, anger at himself. He took in a deep breath. No, she clearly tried to save Roger, but that wasn't enough. And how could have he known she was a freaking Secari?

Well, looking back now, it was obvious. Dustin sighed. Then again, that was always the case. In the future, he would need to approach everything with much more skepticism. For now, he would step back and allow Veronica to make decisions. Unlike him, she wasn't emotionally connected to this problem and so she could make fewer emotionally charged decisions.

Self recrimination would get him nowhere, and besides, he had more important things to worry about. The second body, presumably Villus, was a shattered heap, laying in a pool of his own blood. That was little consolation. Even the Devali could only keep the Slax ambassadors death a secret for a few days. Dustin clenched his fists. Damit Callie, why couldn't you save Roger?

He could see the drag marks on the floor and could picture Callie trying to pull Roger to safety. And yet, the internal bleeding as well as the bullet wounds were extensive. Dustin sighed, even if she had gotten Roger to a waiting shuttle it was already too late for him. He glanced down the hallway, cocking his head.

His mother rounded the corner and approached him, her face an expression of calm. How did she do that? Somehow, she was always so calm, even when disaster struck. Dustin, on the other hand, was a mess of roiling emotions that he did his best to conceal.

He did his best to maintain a calm professional stance, but he knew it was a mere facade. Anger bubbled in his chest, sadness and hurt feeling him in equal turn.

Why couldn't Callie be someone normal? Because if she was normal, he wouldn't have fallen for her. He swallowed, wondering if that made sense? Right now he hated someone he really cared about.. His mother gave him a look, her gaze saying; I told you so more than words could.

His cheeks flushed with embarrassment at that look, but thankfully she didn't say anything about it. His mother was tactful enough to notice he was beating himself up enough right now. "Any success?" Veronica asked, her expression a calm mask. Dustin's stomach clenched, and he shook his head.

"No, she is refusing to answer my calls."Dustin said. "Well, keep trying."Veronica ordered. "It's already been three hours. She is probably already out of the city."Dustin said, blandly looking away. Veronica snorted. Sweat trickle down his back, as Veronica gave him a knowing look.

"I called the quick response team. Do you know anything about an anonymous call diverting our quick response drones to the other side of the city?" Veronica asked, her eyes boring into him.

Dustin swallowed, looking away, examining the damaged waiting room. She couldn't prove it was him, and so what if he wanted to give Callie a chance to escape? Delaying the drones on a false alarm could be blamed on many things. Veronica let out a weary sigh, noting his guilty expression.

"All the space ports are being monitored by our people. There is no way she is leaving the city."Veronica said.. Dustin let out a sigh of relief, happy she dropped the subject for now. He knew she would bring it up later, as well as a thoroughly scathing lecture, but now she was being nice.

"Should we get the enforcers involved?" Dustin asked nervously. Veronica shook her head and smoothed the front of her blue uniform. "We are keeping the information that Callie is Secari on a need to know basis. As far as the enforcers know, we are increasing security in response to the Slax ambassador's death."Veronica stated evenly.

"When are we planning on telling the public about the ambassador's death? And how are we going to spin this? If we want to mitigate this disaster in the eyes of the public, we can say we killed the Secari assassin." Dustin asked, his mind assessing the problems to come.

It may seem callus of him to be plotting something so soon after his friend's death, but the zrixian empire was on the brink of war. "That's not up to me. The emperor will decide, for now we are keeping the ambassadors death quiet. As for the criminal Villus, we are going to use his death to propagate support within our own people," Veronica reply, her calm expression cracking.

Dustin nodded, his stomach clenching."What are we planning on doing? Are we going to wait for the Slax to act, or are we acting right away?" Dustin asked, his mind on how the major players of the empire might react.

"We will move resources into place and try delaying while we can. For now, we have an advantage. We know the ambassador is dead, and the Slax doesn't. For now, we can stall and move soldiers and equipment to Etria in preparation for an attack."Veronica said, calmly.

Dustin nodded. "I will start right away. I need to call some people. Have you already spoken with prime minister Brianne?" Dustin asked, his face a professional mask.

"No, I'm leaving that up to you. Please approach it delicately. I doubt she will be happy we are using Etria as a forward staging base."Veronica stated.

Dustin nodded, feeling cold. Callie was going to be pissed when she heard of Veronica's plans. Unlike his mother, Dustin wasn't so certain they would catch Callie. It may be selfish, but he hoped they didn't catch her.

Dustin grimaced. He had a lot to do, and not enough time to do it.

(Callie)

Callie didn't approach the space doc through the front entrance or the normal passenger loading like a normal person. Dressed in a black coverall with an orange hard hat and protective eyewear, she approached the cargo loading bay.

Her logic was that anyone in the guise of a simple dock worker with well-worn coveralls and a lame orange hardhat was effectively invisible. She entered the docking bay of the cargo ship to where several people were loading barrels of fuel into the docked ship.

Several forklifts lined one wall, clamped into their brackets for when the docking bay was depressurized. With confidence, she approached one of the loading ramps immediately being hailed by an out of breath worker.

"There you are. You're late! Come help me strap down these barrels, we are departing in three hours and the captain will be pissed if we aren't on schedule."the man said, wiping sweat from his brow. The drum of a crane unspooling drowned out the soft fall of her footsteps. Callie adjusted her backpack, and despite her muscles screaming in pain, she helped secure a pallet of barrels to the bulkhead.

She worked alongside three others. Their names were Ian, Dag and Abram, and they all worked on the cargo ship. Dag was young, around seventeen, with short black hair and a wispy beard. Ian looked like he was in his early twenties, clean shaven, with slicked back blond hair and friendly brown eyes.

Abram was in his early thirties, with a thick beard, and a clean shaven head under his foreman's hardhat. The ship's cargo bay was huge, and it took almost three hours to finish tying everything down. Callie was worried about enforcers rushing into the docking bay, but she shouldn't have been.

Her disguise was simple yet affective, and she worked hard to match the crew. Best of all, they were inside the storage bay, working out of sight of any curious eyes. Best of all, workers tying down barrels and pallets were moving around heavy equipment and tying down barrels. The huge crane retracted for a last time, and the massive cargo doors shut.

Ian, the worker that approached her first, walking over to her, giving her a wide grin. He gesture her to follow and they exit the storage bay into a side room of the cargo ship. Callie, being the newest member of the crew, received several curious looks. She moved aside so her back wasn't to the door, noting the other two crossing the massive storage bay.

Ian was stalky, his coveralls scuffed and torn from years of use. "I didn't expect such a pretty woman to apply for this kind of work?" He asked, smoothing back his sweat soaked blond hair. Callie raised an eyebrow, glancing at the two other workers.

"Well, I saw three men straining themselves to get all the work done and figured you needed help?" Callie reply dryly. Ian grinned at that, shaking his head in amusement. "Don't be like that. Woman rarely apply for this kind of work due to the dangerous nature of our job."Ian said. Callie rolled her eyes.

"I don't need you to protect me aboard the ship. I'm not an invalid."Callie stated, giving the man a hard stare. Ian swallowed, paling at her gaze.

"If you need someone to protect you on the long trip, I'm available!" the youngest of the three said.The other two approached them, latching shut the door that lead to the storage bay. All around them, the ship rumbled, the walls humming as the fusion reactor powered the engines.

"Shut your trap, Dag. You will scare her away!" said the third. "Dont be like that Abram, I'm a gentleman and a scholar."Dag said, bobbing his eyebrows at Callie. "A gentleman? Who told you that? With that wispy beard, you look like a preteen, maybe a child."Callie reply.

Dag, flushing with embarrassment, approached her confidently, holding out a hand for her to shake. "I am Dagran mal therein. But if you're nice, you can call me Dag."the young man said confidently. Callie eyed the offered hand dubiously, but didn't take it.

"Is that your given name? Or did you have it changed to make yourself sound cool?" Callie asked dubiously.

Ian and Abram burst out laughing. The ship lurched, and Callie adjusted her stance, keeping her balance as the massive cargo ship maneuvered. Abram spoke, his zrixian accented with an indistinct dialect.

"Please, come with me. I will show you to your quarters."Abram said, sounded amused at their back and forth. Unlike the other two younger men, Abram was much more professional, shewing away the other two and shower her to her room.

Abram typed in a master code and the compartment opened, revealing a single bedroom with almost no other facility other than a tube like shower. The bed had straps in case of zero gravity and tiny space to do anything other than sleep.

"Sorry about the small rooms, but they don't pay us to sleep. The only reason we don't sleep in the cargo bays is there would be a mutiny if we didn't get some privacy. Spending several months aboard a ship together would make us stab each other without these personal spaces."Abram said, noting her questioning look.

Callie nodded, "As long as I can lock the door to keep out those two miscreants, I am satisfied."Callie said. Abram scratched his bald head, smiling sheepishly. "Don't worry about those two. They are straight forwards with their interest but they won't act unless you start something."Abram said with a smile.

"How do you know that?" Callie asked curiously. "Well, last time a crewmate tried to force himself on another, they ended up vented out an airlock."Abram reply seriously.

"I think I would like to meet the captain. They sound like my kinda person."Callie said, a smile splitting her face.

"Well, the captain will reveal herself as soon as we take an outbound jump gate. We have about twenty minutes. For now, please make yourself comfortable in your cabin."Abram said, before walking down the hallway.

Callie did just that, shutting her cabin door with a hiss of air and sitting on the too thin mattress bed. She sighed in relief, happy to take strain off her damaged muscles. Maintaining a calm, unaffected smile, the whole three hours took a surprising amount of focus.

And controlling her temper during the conversation with her new crewmates should go into a record book somewhere. She should be given an acting award or something. But seeing as they would need to discover her ruse to give her an award, maybe she should settle for a job well done.

She leaned her head against the pillow of her too thin mattress, staring up at the mat grey composite ceiling. Her comm bussed, and she sighed. Well, she only had twenty minutes until they took the jump gate. And once that happened, she wouldn't be able to contact any of her friends.

She might never talk to Dustin again, and to be safe, she was going to remove him from her contacts. This was her last chance. Biting her lip and taking in a deep, calming breath, Callie returned the man's call.

The comm rang three times before he answered. "Hello"

"Hey boss."Callie said, her stomach clenching at the sound of his voice. Dustin, probably wanting to buy time to triangulate her location, paused.

"How are you?" Dustin asked, sounding genuinely concerned. "I have been better, but I am embracing the suck, as soldiers would say."Callie said. Dustin chuckled softly. "Thats good to hear. Where are you?" Dustin asked.

"I'm around, you know, just trying to escape punishment from my boss and his lackeys."Callie said, cracking a smile despite the seriousness.

"Taniya would be outraged you called her a lackey."Dustin said, laughter in his tone.

"How is T doing?" Callie asked. "She is not doing well. She hasn't left her apartment since i told her of your betrayal."Dustin said bluntly. Callie winced at his berating tone. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?" Callie asked.

"You could turn yourself in? That way she could yell at you in person."Dustin asked hopefully. "Would your mother allow me to go back to working for the Devali if I came back?" Callie asked. Dustin didn't say anything for several long seconds.

"No, she wouldn't. She would have you arrested and interrogated. It might be different if you saved the ambassador, but since that didn't happen there is no chance."Dustin said honestly.

"Thank you for the honesty." Callie sighed. "Look, I'm sorry Dustin. I'm sorry I lied to you, and most of all, I'm sorry I lied to Taniya."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but we are going to war now. Happy sentiments won't keep my people safe."Dustin said. Callie winced at that.

Over the speakers, a female voice blared. "All crew, strap in, prepare for passage through the jump gate."

Callie took in a deep breath, using her bed straps to secure herself down. "I'm sorry to leave you like this, but I have an appointment with a jump gate."Callie said.

"Wait, before you go, what will you do? Are you just going to leave the empire now that we are going to war?" Dustin asked angrily.

"Oh, you know me. I'm going to find someway to cause the Slax some serious problems!" Callie said calmly despite no way to do that. Her statement was complete bravado, but it was a nice sentiment..

Dustin didn't reply right away, making Callie think he hung up. Maybe he was trying to find a way to convince her to stay? She wanted to, but it was completely idiotic to think the empire would forgive and forget.

"Good luck Callie!" Dustin said, his tone more friendly, sounding much more like his usual self. "Jump, in 3, 2, 1!" The captain of the cargo ship cut off what Callie was going to say. Her connection to the local network cut off as the cargo ship transitioned through the jump gate, jumping hundreds of light years from the empire's home star system.

............................

{Two weeks later}

The cargo ship traveled through deep interstellar space, making its way to the next jump gate that would transport the cargo ship across a vast empty span of space to the Tallax system. For this stretch of the voyage, they were passing through the fringes of the Ulan arm of the galaxy. It would take them three weeks to get through what the empires called the fringes, a divide in their massive territories.

Their Voyage took them precariously close to several star systems known to be remnants of dead worlds. Callies Comm, attached to the ship's sensors through a malware permeating the ship, gave her a brief explanation of their course and relative speed that only the captain should have.

Hey! don't roll your eyes, she had nothing better to do! Besides, she was going to erase the malware from the ship when they arrived at their destination.

And so, with that kind of info, she was unsurprised when the alarms blared, signalling an approaching ship. The ship swept them with active sensors and broadcasted a message. "Maintain course and prepare to be boarded. Any resistance will result in complete destruction of the ship!" said a gruff male voice.

Callie dropped the task she was doing and made her way calmly to her cabin. She ignored Dags terrified expression, stepping around him as he hyperventilated in the passageway.. Excitement filled her. Two weeks of boring ship duty had her itching for a fight. This was going to be exciting! She would get to inflict her pent up frustration on a bunch of filthy pirates.