Justice (4 page)

“
What were the Confederacy doing there?” Jack asked. “And on
the same point, what were you doing there?”

Nova gave him
a stern look before gazing back down at her drink. “We weren’t
there for a job.”

“
Why the hell else would you go?” Jack asked, leaning in
closer.

Nova looked up
and stared around the room. Everyone was involved in their own
private conversations.

“
Aart’s got crazy ideas. He thought there might be evidence
there.”

“
Evidence of what?”

“
Whatever the Confederacy is up to, and maybe how to stop
them,” Nova whispered. She trusted Jack with her life but the rest
of the people on Drigoon could be Confederacy spies for all she
knew.

“
What?” Jack hissed and sat back in his chair. His eyes
whirled around the room and the colour drained from his face.
“Nova, are you crazy? You could be dropped into a black hole just
for thinking about saying that.”

“
I know,” Nova said. “And I’ve told him that a hundred times
but he won’t listen. And you know I can’t just let him wander in on
his own.”

“
He’s obviously lost his mind. You should definitely let him
wander in on his own,” Jack said. He took a hearty swig of his
drink. It seemed to calm his nerves somewhat.

“
You don’t know the half of it,” Nova said, taking her own
sip.

“
Did you find anything?”

“
No, that thing found us first. We had to run for our
lives.”

“
Do you think someone put it there to scare you
off?”

“
I don’t think it was intentional,” Nova said. “There were a
lot of Confederacy bodies mixed in with the others.”

“
Idiots.”

“
Tell me about it,” Nova said, her voice dry.

“
Then tell Aart to pull his head in,” Jack said. “The
Confederacy has been especially on edge lately. They’ll sooner kill
him then listen to what he’s got to say.”

“
I’ve told him that a hundred times,” said Nova, with a
sigh.

Jack took a
long swallow. “You know there are a few of the big names here.”

“
Really?”

“
Yep. The one with the red suit is Goffredo. He runs all the
trade in and out of the Inner Galaxy.”

“
Wow. What’s he doing all the way out here? Surely he could
retire to Haven whenever he wanted?”

“
Yeah, I believe he’s here to support Geron. Word is they’ve
become pretty close.”

“
Good for Geron.”

“
You bet. I can only imagine the type of house Goffredo lives
in. The woman drinking the tall glass of neon blue is Zorka. She
owns half of the Pleasure District and a few moons in the Inner
Galaxy. The one over in the corner watching everyone is Tibor. He’s
Chief Secretary of the Human Confederacy. He knows pretty much
everything there is to know about the Confederacy.”

“
If he’s a chief, what the hell is he doing out here on a
backwater planet? Doesn’t he have minions for that?”

“
Ah, but that’s how he got so much power. He just sits and
listens, learns everybody’s secrets and then uses them to get what
he wants. You can’t hire minions for that.”

Nova swallowed
and burned the man’s image to her memory. A man holding secrets
could often be more dangerous than a man with a gun.

“
Yep, and there’s a heap more in here who are worth more than
you and I ever will be. I guess the rich and famous want to get in
on this booming terra-forming business.”

“
And how do you, a lowly bounty hunter, come to know all these
people?” Nova asked, finishing her drink and pushing it onto the
bar.

“
One of the benefits of being in personal security. Sure, you
get to run around getting shot at in your job, but I get to meet
people; get to know how things work,” Jack said.

“
Lucky you,” said Nova. She nodded to the barman for a refill
and took the time to study each of the people Jack had pointed out.
If she was going to be any help to Aart and stop him from getting
himself killed, she should probably know what they were up
against.

“
How’s that girl you’re always hanging out with?”

“
Tanguin?” Nova asked.

“
Yeah the Ex-Connected one.”

“
I believe they prefer the term Un-Connected,” Nova said. “And
she’s good. She usually stays in The Jagged Maw, helps the rest of
us out with computer stuff from there.”

“
Sweet gig,” said Jack.

“
I think I’d go mad if I stayed there all the time,” said
Nova.

“
Ha! That’s because you don’t know how to settle down. Got too
much going on in that head of yours,” Jack said, tapping his index
finger against Nova’s temple.

“
That’s the truth.”

“
I saw you win the annual space-race. That was some fine
flying,” Jack said, shaking his head. “The way you knocked Kero
out; incredible.”

“
He made it easy, with his head so far up his arse he couldn’t
see where he was going.”

“
Ha! Sounds like good old Kero,” Jack said. “But I say we let
go of work for a few minutes. I bet I can still kick your arse in a
game of pool.”

“
They have a pool table here?” Nova asked. The ancient game
seemed out of place on the newly terraformed planet, unlike Tabryn
where the game fit in with the seedy underbelly just
perfectly.

“
Yep, it’s round the back.”

“
Alright, ten credits says you lose,” Nova said.

“
You’re on,” Jack replied. He turned to the closest occupied
table. “Hey Gin and Lenny, if you want to watch Nova get smashed in
a game of pool, please step this way.”

The Hunters
grinned at Jack and dropped down from their stools to follow the
pair into the backroom where a pool table stood. It was perfect;
bereft of all the scratches, scrapes, and rings of moisture which
characterised most pool tables.

Nova grinned
and pulled a cue down from the wall. This one was in the bag.

“
Zorka, isn’t it?” Nova said as she stepped up to the woman.
She’d given Jack a good thrashing and was ready to jump back into
work.

The gorgeous
woman in front of her sported all the latest mods, including
glowing gold hair and an extended neck. Her dress looked expensive;
bright red with lines of gold running through it, cut just right to
show off all of her shapely assets.

“
Yes, and who are you?” Zorka asked.

She looked
down her nose at Nova and the small badge pronouncing Security.

“
My name is Nova. I just wanted to talk to you about the
Pleasure District,” Nova said. Her heart raced. If someone from the
Confederacy-controlled Inner Galaxies got wind of Aart’s
intensions, then they would all be dropped into a black hole. She
had to tread carefully.

“
Oh. I suppose about fifty credits. Although it would be a
very specific set of clientele, and you’d definitely need a few
mods,” Zorka said, running her eyes over Nova.

“
What?” Nova said. Her eyes opened wide as realisation struck
and her cheeks glowed red. “No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t
need a job.”

Zorka stared
down her nose at Nova. “Hmm. We’ll see.”

“
Anyway,” Nova said, clearing her throat. “I was just
wondering if there were any plans to expand the Inner Galaxies to
include the Pleasure District? I’m from Tabryn and there was a lot
of military activity last time I was there.”

Zorka’s eyes
narrowed as she looked back at Nova. At first she said nothing; her
glowing eyes were disconcerting as they stared deep into Nova’s
face.

“
As far as I know there are no such plans. And I assure you,
if there were you would be one of the last people I would tell
about it,” Zorka said. She turned her back on Nova and strutted
away, ending the conversation.

“
Well, I tried,” Nova muttered to herself.

As it turned
out, Zorka was the friendliest of the Confederacy officials she
spoke to. Nova didn’t spend much time with people from the Inner
Galaxies and she was beginning to see what Aart was talking about.
There was a definite class system, at least in their eyes.

Nova returned
to her chair and surveyed the room. It was getting late, most of
the bar room had cleared out. Jack and his friends had staggered
out an hour ago, shouting and yelling. Nova shook her head;
hopefully they would have recovered by the next day. She took a
seat which put her back to the wall where she could see everyone
coming and going. It was also conveniently close to a nearby table
where Goffredo was regaling some ladies with stories of the Inner
Galaxies.

“
What about the riots?” one girl asked.

“
Yes, we heard about them. It sounded awful,” said
another.

“
It was a bloody mess,” Goffredo said. “The Confederacy had to
send in a whole unit to subdue them.”

“
What happened?” The first girl’s eyes widened.

“
Well, and you have to keep this to yourself; we’re not
supposed to talk about it in case the others get ideas.”

“
Of course.”

“
Some of the outers got it into their heads that they were
being mistreated. Decided to go on a killing spree. All of a sudden
they up and started killing their supervisors.”

“
That’s horrid!”

Nova had to
stop herself from snorting. She’d travelled to the Resources
District on a few occasions and the way the supervisors treated the
workers was appalling. The supervisors were installed by the Human
Confederacy, probably by Goffredo himself if he was in charge of
trade, while the workers were born into the work.

The labour was
backbreaking and punishment for not meeting quota was medieval.
But, of course, the Confederacy didn’t do anything about it. As
long as they kept getting their precious metals, there was no
problem.

“
It was bad,” said Goffredo. “We had to kill over a thousand
rioters. They couldn’t be saved; too insane you see.”

“
Of course.”

“
We couldn’t have them going off and hurting more people. Then
we had to lock up another five thousand. They’ll be released back
in the lower mines, once they’ve been reprogrammed of
course.”

“
I would have gotten rid of the thugs completely,” the girl
said with a sniff.

“
There’s no media there at the moment. The place is a
wasteland. No food, all the water is contaminated, and the air is
filled with smoke. Half of them probably won’t survive anyway. It’s
their own faults, mind you. They’re the ones that set fire to the
fields and the shipping bays. We’ve blocked all transport except
for Confederacy vehicles, at least until the situation calms
down.”

“
It’s such a shame. They should just appreciate what they’re
given, you know? I mean, we do,” the girl said, taking a long sip
on a tall red glass filled with sweet liqueur.

“
You have to punish them, you see, to keep them in line.
Otherwise they get all these ideas and before you know it, you’ve
got rebellion on your hands. Can you imagine if steel production
suddenly stopped? There’d be chaos! So we have to rule with an iron
fist,” Goffredo explained.

“
Of course.” One of the girls giggled.

“
Anyway, they like it. They would be nothing but savages
without us. Just look at some of the other Outer Galaxies, the way
they run around half naked throwing sticks at each other. It’s
barbaric. And that’s exactly what would happen to the Resources
District if we went soft. I mean it’s not their fault, they’re just
born with less intelligence, so it’s our job to make sure they stay
on track.”

Nova bit her
tongue and tucked her hands deep into her pockets. There was only
so much pompous crap she could listen to in one evening. She’d
found no information for Aart but at least it was money for
nothing. She shuffled out of the bar room and left the clinking
glasses and loud voices far behind.

***

The next day
was uneventful. Most people, Jack included, spent the morning
sleeping off the revelries of the night before. The rest were busy
with preparations for the big ceremony. The main conference room
had been decorated for the occasion with a stage in the centre and
the rest of the space cleared for guests.

Sometime
before the ceremony Nova took up her place by the stage, wearing
simple clothing and her security badge pinned to her chest. She was
sure to get a position where she could keep one eye on the crowd
and one on the President at all times. She had already checked and
rechecked her gun, so now all that was left was to wait and
watch.

The crowd
gradually grew as the night went on. Mostly they seemed like bored
dignitaries; not the type to shoot a president, Nova thought.

A hush fell
over the crowd as a side door opened and a tall man with black
hair, greying at the temples, emerged. He walked with long steps
and smiled and waved at the cheering crowd as he went up the stairs
two at a time to the wide stage.