this gods forsaken planet walking in shit and shoveling rock all day?
No! Even Right only cared because he was stuck here with her, not because he had any real affection for her. He might have once, but she'd taken care of that.
She wondered if they could be wrong. After all, RJ was supposed to be dead once before and she'd risen from the grave to bite Jessica and the whole Reliance on their metaphorical asses.
She was my nemesis, but she was also my sister. I feel a strange sense of loss. A universe without RJ. What a strange place.
She wished there was some way that she could be sure. Some way to find out just exactly what had happened—whether RJ'd been alone or if her loyal band of fools had been with her. Morbid curiosity she supposed, still she really did want to know just exactly what had happened.
In the distance she could just make out the ship. She smiled; it was almost too easy.
The next morning she once again took a job loading ore into wheelbarrows to be hauled into the ship. She wheeled her load in, dumped it, and the rest was as easy as getting around the brain-dead guards without being seen or felt. Everyone, including the GSH, was supervising the loading of the ship, and no one was watching the data rooms.
The file was easy to find when you knew what you were looking for, and there it was. RJ had been heading to Deakard for a summit with the high Argy council concerning an alliance of sorts between the Argy and The New Alliance.
My enemy's enemy is my friend , Jessica thought.
A Reliance battle fleet had apparently been looking for RJ because she had just kicked the Reliance's ass on Beta 4 and taken their space station. They had found her en route to Deakard and attacked. They had opened fire and the ship, according to the Reliance accounts, had been vaporized, but the Argy told a different story. They said RJ's ship had run out of the hyperspacial stream, which didn't necessarily mean that she was dead.
But she was for all intents and purposes gone.
An Argy patrol arrived shortly after the firefight as the Reliance battle fleet was retreating and the Argy patrol attacked them, taking out three of their ships.
Damn, sounds like the Reliance is just getting its ass kicked everywhere.
The Argy verified their account of what had happened to RJ and her ship by stressing the fact that they could find no wreckage from the style and type of ship that she'd been in. They accused the Reliance of enhancing the account for their own benefit so that they wouldn't look like the total losers that they were. Knowing the Reliance the way she did, it wasn't very hard for Jessica to believe that this was true.
Jessica quickly put herself in RJ's position.
I'm in hyperspace going towards Deakard. I'm not near any jumpgates, in fact I'm days away from them and I see enemy ships coming in fast. I'm in a troop carrier so I have no speed, and only very limited armaments, so what do I do? Jessica smiled broadly. I jump hyperspace. I break the barrier and go into real space, so . . .
She checked to see if there was any ship of that size that had suddenly appeared somewhere and found nothing. Which didn't mean anything except that RJ probably wasn't dead, but she might very well be too far away to cause any trouble.
Time would tell, and if there was one thing Jessica had, it was time.
She heard someone coming and got up. She slid against the wall next to the door, and then she snuck out as they walked in. In minutes she was wheeling her wheelbarrow back out of the ship's cargo bay, and if anyone had noticed she was gone longer than she should have been they didn't say so.
That night when she finished work she stopped by the company store and spent all her chits on a big chunk of cheese.
As she walked in the door of the shack that night she was actually whistling happily, if completely out of tune. She threw the cheese at
No! Even Right only cared because he was stuck here with her, not because he had any real affection for her. He might have once, but she'd taken care of that.
She wondered if they could be wrong. After all, RJ was supposed to be dead once before and she'd risen from the grave to bite Jessica and the whole Reliance on their metaphorical asses.
She was my nemesis, but she was also my sister. I feel a strange sense of loss. A universe without RJ. What a strange place.
She wished there was some way that she could be sure. Some way to find out just exactly what had happened—whether RJ'd been alone or if her loyal band of fools had been with her. Morbid curiosity she supposed, still she really did want to know just exactly what had happened.
In the distance she could just make out the ship. She smiled; it was almost too easy.
The next morning she once again took a job loading ore into wheelbarrows to be hauled into the ship. She wheeled her load in, dumped it, and the rest was as easy as getting around the brain-dead guards without being seen or felt. Everyone, including the GSH, was supervising the loading of the ship, and no one was watching the data rooms.
The file was easy to find when you knew what you were looking for, and there it was. RJ had been heading to Deakard for a summit with the high Argy council concerning an alliance of sorts between the Argy and The New Alliance.
My enemy's enemy is my friend , Jessica thought.
A Reliance battle fleet had apparently been looking for RJ because she had just kicked the Reliance's ass on Beta 4 and taken their space station. They had found her en route to Deakard and attacked. They had opened fire and the ship, according to the Reliance accounts, had been vaporized, but the Argy told a different story. They said RJ's ship had run out of the hyperspacial stream, which didn't necessarily mean that she was dead.
But she was for all intents and purposes gone.
An Argy patrol arrived shortly after the firefight as the Reliance battle fleet was retreating and the Argy patrol attacked them, taking out three of their ships.
Damn, sounds like the Reliance is just getting its ass kicked everywhere.
The Argy verified their account of what had happened to RJ and her ship by stressing the fact that they could find no wreckage from the style and type of ship that she'd been in. They accused the Reliance of enhancing the account for their own benefit so that they wouldn't look like the total losers that they were. Knowing the Reliance the way she did, it wasn't very hard for Jessica to believe that this was true.
Jessica quickly put herself in RJ's position.
I'm in hyperspace going towards Deakard. I'm not near any jumpgates, in fact I'm days away from them and I see enemy ships coming in fast. I'm in a troop carrier so I have no speed, and only very limited armaments, so what do I do? Jessica smiled broadly. I jump hyperspace. I break the barrier and go into real space, so . . .
She checked to see if there was any ship of that size that had suddenly appeared somewhere and found nothing. Which didn't mean anything except that RJ probably wasn't dead, but she might very well be too far away to cause any trouble.
Time would tell, and if there was one thing Jessica had, it was time.
She heard someone coming and got up. She slid against the wall next to the door, and then she snuck out as they walked in. In minutes she was wheeling her wheelbarrow back out of the ship's cargo bay, and if anyone had noticed she was gone longer than she should have been they didn't say so.
That night when she finished work she stopped by the company store and spent all her chits on a big chunk of cheese.
As she walked in the door of the shack that night she was actually whistling happily, if completely out of tune. She threw the cheese at
Similar Books
A Night to Surrender
Tessa Dare
Flashback
Michael Palmer
Dear Irene
Jan Burke
The Reveal
Julie Leto
Wish 01 - A Secret Wish
Barbara Freethy
Dead Right
Brenda Novak
Vermilion Sands
J. G. Ballard
Tales of Arilland
Alethea Kontis