Bringing Stella Home (21 page)

“
The Hameji have a natural
disdain for settled worlds,” said Danica, pacing across the floor.
“In their native territory, beyond the outer reaches of settled
space, they live entirely out of their ships and are constantly on
the move. When they conquer already inhabited systems, they
generally don’t establish colonies or mix with the locals. Many
times, they don’t even leave behind a garrison.”

“
Why?” James
asked.

“
Because of their
inherently nomadic mindset,” Danica explained. “Their grand
strategy is not to expand their culture, but to extract as many
resources as they can for their battle fleets. Resources are more
important to them than territory.”

“
Well, that’s a relief,”
James muttered sarcastically.

“
If you want a chance to
rescue your brother and sister, then yes, it is. Since the Hameji
view their conquered territories as cash cows for the fleet, they
see no need to keep a careful watch over the people they conquer. A
lone hacker should be able to break into their databases without
anyone noticing. That’s where you come in.”

James nodded. “What do you want me to
do?”

“
We’ll need to disguise
the
Tajji Flame
as
a Kardunasian vessel using the
Catriona’s
identification codes. Once
that’s done, we’ll need to get close enough to the fleet for Ilya
to hack into their network.”

“
Great—so where’s the
fleet?”

Danica paused for a moment to stare at
the holographic image in the center of the room. “It’s my guess
that the Hameji will be somewhere where they can repair and outfit
their battleships,” she said. “What are the major manufacturing
centers in the system?”

“
Kardunash IV is probably
the biggest one,” said James. “It’s certainly the most populated
world in the system.”
Was the most
populated world
, he reminded himself.
Images of the once lush planet covered in a dirty-gray shroud of
death flashed across his mind’s eye. Countless billions of people
now lay dead underneath those clouds.

“
I thought the fourth
planet was pulverized in the invasion,” said Danica, raising an
eyebrow. “Are you sure that any of that infrastructure
survived?”

“
Well,” said James,
struggling to push the images of the dead world out of his mind, “a
lot of the infrastructure was planetside, but K-4 had a good number
of orbital factories, plus two major spaceports and a repair yard.
I’d bet that most of those survived the bombardment.”

Danica nodded. “The Hameji probably
captured those intact. Their tactics may be brutal, but they know
how to be efficient when they need to be.”

“
So you think the main
fleet is at K-4 right now?”

“
It’s the first place I’d
look,” said Danica. “The main bulk of the fleet may have moved on,
but the Hameji are always customizing and modifying their warships.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re busy retrofitting the civilian
craft they recently captured.”

James frowned. “They’re turning
civilian ships into battleships?”

“
Of course. Why else would
the Hameji capture those ships intact? It’s much easier than
building them from scratch.”

“
Right,” said James, trying
not to imagine the
Llewellyn
remade into a gunboat. “So you’re saying we need
some kind of a pretext to fly to
Kardunash
IV
?”

“
Exactly,” said Danica.
“What do you suggest?”

James brought his hand to his chin.
“There are a handful of colonies orbiting K-4. We could pose as
their suppliers.”

Danica narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? If those colonies weren’t
self-sustaining, the inhabitants are going to all be dead or
starving by now. News of a resupply ship could generate a lot of
unwanted attention.”

“
You’re right,” said James.
He stared at the holographic map hovering in the air in front of
him. An idea came to his mind, and his eyes lit up.

“
We could pose as a
freighter heading towards K-3 from the outer planets,” he said,
rising to his feet. “See how K-4 and K-3 are in opposition across
the sun? When that happens, it’s standard procedure for inbound
ships to stop and resupply at K-4 before slingshotting around
Karduna Prime.”

“
Good thinking,” said
Danica. “If you can fabricate a cargo manifest and flight plan,
Ilya can make it look as if the
Catriona
never left the
system.”

“
Right!” said James.
Everything was finally falling into place. This could work—no,
it
would
work.

“
We’ll jump about three
week’s distance from K-4, to avoid arousing any possible
suspicion,” said Danica, her voice as calm as ever. “Assuming we
find the Hameji fleet at K-4, what sort of a time window will we
have?”

“
I don’t know,” said James.
“Most ships stay for one or two days to resupply.”

“
Good,” said Danica. “That
should be enough time to gather the intelligence we
need.”

“
Excellent! Then
what?”

“
It depends on what we
find,” said Danica, “and there’s a good chance we won’t find
anything.”

But we will,
James thought to himself.
We will.

* * * * *

“
You told him
what?
”

Stella bit her lip and stared at the
blue tile floor of the bathing room as Narju brushed her hair. Tamu
sat on a stool across from her, an incredulous expression on her
face.

“
I told him I was a
virgin,” Stella said softly.

Tamu shook her head. “Bad move,
honey,” she said, clucking her tongue. “That wasn’t
smart.”

“
But what was I supposed to
do?” Stella asked. “He was going to rape me!”

“
Whether or not it’s rape
is up to you, dear.”

Stella’s eyes widened in shock at
Tamu’s comment, and her cheeks burned red with anger. “Oh, really?”
she said, her voice low and sharp. “Then I suppose it isn’t murder
if—”

“
Calm down, dear, calm
down. No need to shout.”

Stella took a deep breath and closed
her eyes, resisting the urge to scream. Behind her, Narju finished
with her hair and rose to his feet, pulling the small stool aside
with a wooden scraping noise.

“
Why don’t you start from
the beginning,” said Tamu. “Tell me everything.”

Stella took a moment to calm down and
gather her jumbled thoughts. Off to the side, Narju opened a locker
and began pulling out different clothes, laying them across the
cushioned bench for Stella to peruse.

“
I followed Engus to the
bedchamber,” she said, rising to her feet with the bath towel
wrapped tightly around her body. Tamu followed her. “Qasar was
waiting for me on the bed. He came over to me, and we talked for a
while—”

“
You can understand him?”
Tamu asked. “You mean, you actually spoke with him?”

“
Well, yeah,” said Stella.
“Can’t you?”

“
No, sweetie. I’ve picked
up a little here and there, but not enough to carry much of a
conversation.”

“
Then how do you even
communicate with him?”

Tamu laughed. “Oh, we don’t talk much,
dear. When he calls for me, he’s only looking for one thing, and it
certainly isn’t conversation.” She winked and nudged Stella with
her elbow.

Stella shuddered. For several moments,
she didn’t know what to say.

“
Don’t stop there, honey,”
said Tamu. “Go on, go on.”

“
Well, uh, he asked me if I
was hungry. I said yes, and he pulled out a tray full of roasted
meat. We ate until we were full, and then, ah—”

“
And then what?” Tamu
asked, hanging on Stella’s every word.

“
He, uh, that is, we—we
started to…” Stella’s cheeks flushed deep red from embarrassment as
her voice trailed off. Tamu’s eyes glistened while Narju waited
patiently for Stella to pick out her dress.

“
It all happened so fast,”
Stella said quickly. “He started to undress me, and then his hands
were all over my body, and I just couldn’t take it.”

She picked out a modest skirt and
blouse. Narju wordlessly replaced the other clothes in the locker.
While his back was turned, Stella unwrapped the bath towel from her
body and quickly slipped into her chemise.

“
So you resisted,” said
Tamu. “That’s when he slapped you, isn’t it, dear?”

Punched me,
Stella thought as she stepped into the
skirt.
He punched me.

“
Yes,” she said, pulling
the skirt up around her waist. “He said I didn’t have a choice in
the matter. That’s when I told him I was a virgin.”

“
And what happened
next?”

Stella slipped the blouse over her
head and poked her arms through, pulling it down over her stomach.
“He stopped,” she said. “For the rest of the evening, he was a
perfect gentleman.”

Tamu frowned. “Is that all,
dear?”

“
Well, no,” Stella
admitted.

“
Out with it.”

Stella swallowed. “He asked me about
my home,” she said, “and when I told him I wasn’t planetborn,
he—”

“
Aiie!” screamed Tamu, her
voice filling the small room. Stella and Narju both jumped at the
sudden outburst. “You told him
what?
”

“
I told him about my home,”
Stella said. “That I was born on a space station and was training
to be an astrogator. He made a big deal about the fact that I
wasn’t ‘planetborn,’ but—”

“
He didn’t just
make
a big deal honey,”
Tamu said. “Out here, it really
is
a big deal.”

“
Why?”

“
Because the Hameji think
that the planetborn are soft and weak. That’s why they choose all
their concubines from their prisoners, honey—because they don’t
think we have any honor.”

“
So what’s the problem?”
Stella asked. “At least he respects me now.”
Not to mention that he no longer treats me like some kind of
sex toy.

“
That’s just it, honey,”
said Tamu. “You’re spaceborn, a virgin, and fluent in Hameji.
There’s no way he can keep you as a concubine—if anything, you’re
wife material now.”

Stella frowned. “Wife
material?”

“
Uh-huh. Wife
material.”

“
But—but isn’t Qasar
already married?”

“
To four ruthless women,
dear, any one of whom can make your life a living hell.”

At that moment, the bead curtain
parted and Engus stepped through. Tamu instantly fell
silent.

“
Mistress Sholpan,” said
Engus, staring directly at Stella with his beady eyes. “You have
summons. Level two, Lady Borta’s chambers. I show you when
done.”

He stepped briskly out of the room,
making the beads clatter in his wake.

“
Oh no,” Tamu muttered.
“You’re in trouble, dear. Big trouble.”

“
Trouble?” Stella asked,
her voice stammering. “How?”

“
Borta is Qasar’s head
wife, dearest. She’s the worst of all of them.”

Chapter 10

“
You ever hear how the
Hameji came to power?”

James glanced up from his bowl of
unappealing gray synthmeal at Ilya, sitting across the table from
him. “Are you talking to me?” he asked.

“
Yeah,” said Ilya. “I’m
talking to you.”

The sounds of smacking lips, scraping
spoons, and two or three amiable conversations filled the officer’s
mess hall. A spartanly decorated room barely the size of the
bridge, it felt cramped with four of the ship’s nine officers
seated around the metal table bolted to the floor.

“
No,” James said.
“Why?”

“
It’s an interesting story.
Want to hear it?”

James glanced uneasily at the other
people in the room. A few of them looked up at him, but most seemed
content to leave him and Ilya to themselves. When his eyes met
Anya’s, however, she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes at him.
James blushed.

“
It’s not much of a story,”
said Vaclav. Sitting aloof from the others at the end of the table,
he wore a habitually bored expression on his face.

Ilya shrugged. “Hey, it’s up to you.
If you don’t want to hear it—”

“
No,” said James, leaning
over his bowl. “Tell me.”

Ilya grinned and folded his hands on
the table. To his left, Anya also leaned forward and
smiled.

“
You know all about the
Hameji conquests so far, right?” said Ilya. “From the Outworlds
beyond the Good Hope Nebula to Belarius, Tajjur, and
now—”