Red Sky at Night (Home in the stars, #0.5) (3 page)

"It's not just a job, Arden. That crew...."

He sat straighter. "What about the crew?"

She lowered her voice, even though there was no one else to hear. "It's just a ship with troublemakers, Arden. I do the inventory, remember? I process the ship manifests after every trip. There's something wrong."

"Have you gone to Dante with your suspicions?"

"The chief of operations? No! Gods, no. I inform my supervisor and leave it. But, there's some...."

"Some what?"

She leaned closer. "There's a correlation. The ship is always in a particular system when the inventory is short. I don't know how no one's noticed, but only one person can change the route of a ship besides the captain, and that’s my boss. He takes the orders, and can redirect the ship or add pick ups and deliveries. The orders that cause the diversions always get canceled."

She felt his hand brush over the back of her head. "Where?"

"Chancellor."

He chuckled close to her ear. "Have I mentioned that you are bloody brilliant?"

"What? Why?" She turned in her seat, annoyed that he was laughing, presumably at her. "I'm good at my job."

"You are so much more than good at your job," he said, leaning in to brush a kiss on her lips. "You are a revelation. The smuggling is why I'm going on the Bolavon, and you just handed me my first lead.

Don’t report anything else. Just let me handle it."

"You're trying to catch smugglers?" Her hand smoothed back his shaggy, light hair. The moonlight made it look lighter. "Now, I'll never sleep."

He pulled her closer and laughed. "Yes, you will. I'll see to it." She didn't think too much more as he kissed her, tongues and teeth twining as they fell back on the daybed lost in each other.

She believed him now. Stars help her.

Brinn lay there as he unbuttoned her simple dress and stared up at the twinkling stars. His mouth trailed behind his fingers, making her breath hitch with each new feeling. So the world contracted to that moment with Arden, even as the stars expanded above them. She watched the sky, thinking he’d be up there soon and what would she do if he just kept flying away from Taarken, away from her, until Arden ran his clever hand beneath her skirt. Then, she closed her eyes and cried out at the feel of his fingers inside her. By the time, he finished she'd called his name so many times, she couldn't believe no one had come looking to see what was wrong, and he was right. She would sleep, but her dreams would be haunted by light hair, clever fingers and stars.

*

T
he Bolavon was a short nosed cargo hauler designed to transport utility goods; cable wiring, refined Millan gas, parts and equipment. It sat squat and ugly on the clamp at the space dock. Arden made his way up the ramp with a small, go bag over his shoulder and a devil may care attitude.

He made his way into the bowels of the cargo hold as the droids and dock workers finished preparing the hold and cargo for launch. If he was right, this run was going to be a big score, maybe a last score. They'd stolen so much that the crew had to expect Carnes to notice.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only new crew member to be joining the Bolavon. The mess crew was brand new, and they were also his back up. A four man crew posing as mess unit kitchen staff. It hadn't taken much to get them in. It also helped to camouflage his sudden appearance, as did the false file they'd sent ahead of him. That file indicated he was on probation with the company for theft, and that only because of his well connected, sister in law, who was manufactured for the trip. He smiled to think of the cover story.

There were about a dozen crew members near the hatch leading into the crew sections. He ambled that way, shifting his bag to his shoulder by the strap. "Captain Ros?"

One of the men pointed his thumb over his shoulder indicating that the Captain was inside the ship. Working his way through the small crowd, he headed inside to seek out their leader.

His job on this ship was going to be simple. The drop off would go off without a single hitch. He would find out who they were delivering to and where, and security would be waiting to arrest the entire crew, even those assigned to watch the smugglers. That way no one would know who turned them in.

Simple. Everything would be simple, he thought.

*

Why wasn't it ever simple? He had the thought as he ducked behind a packing crate, and the bright blaze of pulse fire hit the bulkhead behind him. The buyer had decided he wanted the whole shipment which had been bound to happen one day when you’re dealing with bloody pirates.

So, now, Arden found himself hunched, grasping a pulse iron and dodging fire in a confined cargo hold with ten other men. Thankfully, the kitchen crew, who were really law officers for central, had made the difference, and the hijackers were mostly on the run, but the whole game was up now. They would have to take the ship. He sighed as, yet another, pulse hit the wall just above his head leaving black burns behind. He turned his head to get a better look, then fired off a shot when one of the crew of the ship poked his head out.

He commed one of the lawmen. "Do we have a plan here, Ajax?"

"Just keep shooting."

Great plan, he thought. Arden rolled over to a taller crate, so he could change his angle. He peeked around and got a position on two of them without being shot at for a change. That was encouraging.

He popped out of cover long enough to fire two shots into the closest one, hearing his hoarse cry as he fell to the decking. Several more shots were fired, and more than a few men finally surrendered or died in the cargo hold.

As the Bolavon limped back in, Arden had a realization. He wasn't cut out for an exciting life in space. Right now, he wanted his rooftop, and he wanted to bury himself in Brinn. He thought for the first time, he might understand his Da and the way he never moved on when their Mam died. He just soldiered sadly on waiting to join her.

*

S
he’d heard about the raid on the Bolovan before it even made port, and, word was, it was limping. She set the two large shopping bags on the counter and started to unload the groceries.

“Brinn, you’re home.” It was the tremulous voice of her Gran behind her.

“I’ll have your supper, Gran.”

“You’re a good girl, Brinn. Too good.” Brinn turned to look at her hunched grandmother swathed in her leathery skin from years of harsh living and a demure black shawl. The woman was famed for her habit of using her very advanced age to speak her mind.

“What’s that mean, Gran?” She asked the question indulgently. Brinn loved her Gran, loved especially that no one made her be quiet at any point of her lifetime.

“Been hearing you have a young man.” Brinn started to protest, but her dominating grandmother shushed her. “You know I don’t get involved in these things. But, in your case, I’ll make an exception.” She waved an arthritic finger at her granddaughter who rushed to help her into her chair.

“That Badu boy has chased you for a long time now. Men only chase like that for two reasons. Now, listen, because I’m the voice of experience here.

The first is they like the challenge of a girl who said no. If that’s the reason, you kick him in the balls. He’s not good enough for you. The other is that he’s really in love for life. Now, that one you grab hold of and start having babies.”

“Gran!”

The old woman cackled. “So, which is he, granddaughter?”

“I would guess the second.”

Brinn said the words softly, in submissive, missish undertones, and she knew it. Her Gran did, too.

She pounded her old, twisted wood cane on the hard floor. “Girl, I love your mama, but, in this, she has been wrong. Her life with your father marked her up a bit. She’s used the whip and flog with you in place of mothering. That ain’t right.

That ain’t the question here, though. The question is; Are you gonna keep taking it? You gotta a man who’s a good man. You gonna let fear stop you, or are you
my
granddaughter?”

Brinn kneeled at her Gran’s feet. “Gran, what if I’m wrong? What if he isn’t the second kind of man?”

“Simple enough. You shoot him and start over. That’s how we did it in my day.”

Brinn chuckled, hesitantly at first. “I love you, Gran.”

Her Gran’s wizened, old fingers shot out and firmly grabbed her chin. “You don’t let nobody tell you you aren’t entitled to your piece of the stars, Girl! You understand me? This is a hard world, a tough one. You gotta be tough to have anything in it. Good men and opportunity don’t grow on trees. You grab it up when it comes. I mean it.”

Brinn clutched her Gran’s thin wrist with tears in her eyes.  “I will, Gran.”

“You see you do, Miss. Now, you said something bout supper. What’s it to be then?”

Laughing, Brinn blessed whatever good fortune had allowed her to have a strong woman like Gran for so long in her life, and she preceded to read off the menu for the evening. At which point, her Gran called her a good girl and told her to hop to it. She wanted to eat before she was dead.

*

H
e walked back into the apartment the same way he had walked out, quietly, but there was shouting coming from his sister's room.

"It won't matter, Caden. I don't care what you do. It won't matter."

"Ari, if I go, he'll be satisfied. I can get him to back off for a while. Besides, I have to get some kind of training, right?"

"Four systems away!"

"Whoa," Arden said. "What's going on in here?"

Caden looked at him in surprise, not having seen him enter and growled. "Alec Carnes is going on."

The disapproval in the boy's voice went a long way to alleviating some of Arden's initial dislike. He still didn't trust him entirely, but the fact that he disliked his father's ways helped a lot.

Ari looked like she'd been through hell though. She stood to the side with her arms wrapped around her middle, looking like the world was ending.

"We're finished," she said in a surly tone.

"No, we're not."

Ari poked him with one finger. "You are leaving. That's the same thing."

"I'm coming back. It's only school."

"Caden, you know that isn't going to satisfy your father."

"You're overreacting, Ari."

Arden winced in sympathy. "Oh, kid."

Ari's eyes narrowed. The fury squint. If they weren't breaking up before, they were now, he thought.

"I'm what?"

He watched with a certain level of amusement as the kid wriggled under the squint. "Overreacting. He agreed that if I...."

"If you leave me here alone and go off to school, he'd leave you alone for good, let you do what you want. Like hell."

Arden watched Ari closely. This was different. This wasn't the usual flare of temper. Ari was afraid and hurting. Arden felt his back go up.

He started to interrupt, but Ari glared his way and he stopped. She turned those big, teary eyes on Caden. "You know what? Go. I'm not gonna keep you."

"Ari," Caden's voice pleaded with her. She turned away and headed for her bedroom, walked in and locked the door. You could hear the lock in the silence. Caden went to the door. "Ari, please. Listen to me here...."

Arden looked at the kid’s back as he pressed one palm to the wood of the door, and he felt a little sorry for him. He was young and naive. Carnes was a vindictive son of a bitch, and that would never change. That boy would never get anywhere with his old man.

He dropped his bag in the hall, and watched a moment as Caden stood and begged at his sister's door. He worried a moment about what it would mean for them all.

Something about that scene and the last few weeks on board the Bolavon made him impatient to see Brinn. Night would drop in a few hours. He headed to the roof. Would she know he'd come home already?

A stiff breeze with a hint of autumn in it, or what passed for it on Taarken, blew in his face as he stepped out. He headed to their usual place, and he saw her before she noticed him. The wind caught at her long skirts, and she had her arms wrapped around herself, much as Ari had a moment ago. Her hair shone less red and more honey gold, as it glinted in the sunset shining in the distance. Sunset on Taarken went on for hours. He wondered what she might look like naked splayed out under the sunset. No one ever came up here but the two of them. Maybe he’d find out sometime.

Arden felt speechlessly happy to see her, all of her. She was home. He had the thought even as he noticed the tear shining on her cheek.

He picked up his pace. "Brinn," he said softly.

She turned to face him. His breath stopped for a moment. He'd never seen anything so beautiful as Brinn Lako in a sunset, another of those moments to remember. Then, she ran at him, and he smiled as he caught her to him.

So much taller than Brinn, he held her as she buried her face in his shirt, sobbing. "Brinn, baby." He crooned to her, whispered insignificant words as she cried, over him. He couldn't help it. He smiled like a kid with a new toy, felt like his face would crack with it. Had anyone ever cried over him?

"You're home," she repeated. “You're home."

"I'm home."

Then she hit him, hard on the arm. "Ow," he said.

"You scared me! The whole company knows about the pirate ship."

He watched the play of mock anger blend with fear on her face. He couldn't resist poking her button nose. "I'm sorry."

"What kind of excuse is that?"

He chuckled and folded her up tight, closing his eyes. He let himself just
feel
her there. He breathed in the scent of her hair before he heard himself whisper, "Marry me."

"What?"

He smiled as he said it again. "Marry me."

"Arden, are you crazy?"

"Probably. Let's do it, before Gathering."

"Gathering is next month. We couldn't possibly... Is this even something you would want or are you just losing your mind from a near death experience?"

"Can't it be both?" He pulled her back every time she tried to wriggle out of his arms. "I miss you when you aren't beside me. It's that simple. I told you men aren’t that complicated. I love you. I want to know you're here waiting for me if I fly off again."