The security chief wasn’t mollified. “I know but the Agent wants to talk to us both. Says it’s urgent. Can you come to my office now?”
Pausing to make mental calculations, Trevor said, “Gianna is supposed to be here for another two hours so yes. She doesn’t need me to watch her sketch and paint. I’ll be right down.” As the link closed, he walked forward, parting the dancers to whisper to Gianna, “I have to go see my boss but I’ll be back by the time you’re ready to leave. Don’t go without me, all right?”
She nodded without looking at him, maintaining her focus on the sketch she was creating.
“Sorry to disturb the conversation, ladies.” Making his best effort at a cordial smile, Trevor extricated himself and left the office, hastening to the gravlift. He didn’t like leaving Gianna on her own but he wouldn’t be gone long and no one was admitted to the backstage area without authorization so she’d be safe enough. Wondering what the Agent had to say that was so urgent and high priority, he got off the lift at Level Thirteen and arrived at Jake’s office a moment later.
Jake indicated he should take a seat as addressed the AI. “Maeve, we’re ready for the com call with the SCIA now.”
“Agent O’Meara here.” The voice was gruff, no nonsense and apparently there was to be no vid. “All right, Nebula Zephyr, why the inquiry on my two persons of interest?”
Trevor spoke up. “Lt. Hanson, sir. I’m assigned to do personal protection on a high value passenger this trip and something about this couple doesn’t ring true to me. I think they arranged what was supposed to look like a chance encounter at the casino to meet my protectee and then popped up in an unexpected place the next day too. Invited the passenger for drinks. I’ve learned not to ignore my instincts.”
“I should try to hire you away from your ship, you’ve got good instincts,” O’Meara said. “The couple calling themselves Semma and Dant on your ship have more aliases than we’ve got stars in the Sectors, but they must be getting careless. Used this Provimter name before, about ten years ago, which pinged my AI to be curious when you sent in your request. Slick characters. We tried to nail them more than once but they’re detail oriented and professional. Based on persuasive evidence we believed they were dead, in fact, in a high profile murder attempt gone wrong a few years ago but my gut talks to me like your instincts do to you and I never quite bought the story, despite the DNA evidence.”
“Who exactly are these people?” Jake asked.
“Independent contractors, loosely affiliated with the Amarotu Combine. The two of them do assassinations, kidnappings, high end and expensive. I’d say you’ve got yourself a major problem, especially if they’re showing interest in your special passenger. Better surround the man or woman with ten guards, keep them locked in their suite and then say a prayer to the Lords of Space. These two you’re asking about are capable of anything.”
Trevor’s blood ran cold at having professional killers like these taking an interest in Gianna. He had the urge to bolt from the office to make sure she was secure and safe.
“We’ll advise our captain right away and keep you posted,” Jake said, having retained his calm facade.
“I’ll open a few inquiries on my end, put out feelers to our sources and snitches as to who might have hired them,” O’Meara said. “It would have to be a huge payday for them after going to all the trouble to stage their own ‘deaths’. I’ll be in touch if I find anything. And of course we’ll want to meet your ship once you’re in orbit, see if we can take them unawares. Capturing them would be a feather in my cap for sure. I’ll co-ordinate with you on that later.”
“If we find out anything on our end, we’ll call,” Jake said and then the connection closed. He turned to Trevor. “Could there be a mistake? Why would criminals like this focus on Gianna?”
Trevor shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense but they singled her out all right.” Swallowing hard, he said, “She’s in the Comettes’ rehearsal space right now. We should send an officer down there to stand watch.”
“Agreed.” Jake alerted the nearest officer to shift her patrol route to watch over Gianna and warned the woman to be ready for anything. Then he called the captain on the senior officers’ link. “Trevor and I need to come up and brief you, sir. We may have a situation developing with Gianna Nadenoft.”
“Meet you in the wardroom in ten.” Fleming was his usual laconic self.
The two men made their way to the nearest gravlift and headed to the bridge, making the switch to the private bridge-only tube on Level A. They went straight to the wardroom and waited for the captain to arrive.
He came in with his usual rapid pace. “Be seated, gentlemen. Now what’s going on?”
“We have a pair of deadly assassins on board and their focus appears to be Gianna. SCIA advises we proceed with extreme caution.” Jake didn’t waste any time getting to the meat of the matter.
Fleming opened his mouth to respond and alarms blared. The ship rocked a little and dropped out of hyperspace with a jarring noise. “Maeve, what the seven hells happened?”
“Small localized explosion in storage bay twelve,” the AI responded. “Automatic systems kicked in to shut off the engines’ main drive and exit hyperspace.”
“I need to broadcast to all passengers immediately.” When the shipwide com was live, Fleming said, “This is your captain speaking. We’ve had a small problem in one of the storage areas and have dropped out of hyperspace to deal with the issue. My apologies for any inconvenience and we expect to be on our way again shortly. I’ll keep you updated. Fleming out.” With that he rose and headed for the bridge next door. “Stay with me, gentlemen,” he said. “Do you think this was caused by our criminal guests?”
“Unknown, sir,” Jake said. “Could definitely be a possibility.”
“I am unable to contact Officer Gayla Brunn, assigned to Gianna Nadenoft,” Maeve reported. Before anyone could draw breath, she added, “Lifeboat 33 disengaging from hull and moving away from us under power. I’ve been blocked from the vids and coms on the LB by a very expensive piece of customized tech.” She sounded highly insulted to Trevor. “My control no longer extends to its AI.”
“Thirty three is the closest one to the Comettes’ area,” Trevor said, heart pounding.
“Hail the LB,” Fleming said to his coms officer. “Could be a false alarm, overanxious passengers.” His grim expression made it clear he didn’t believe the comforting thought.
“Frequency open, sir.”
“Unknown persons piloting LB 33, you are to return to the Nebula Zephyr immediately. If you are unable to maneuver, cut the engines or tell the AI on board to do so and we will retrieve you.”
The vidcom flared into life and Dant Provimter appeared on the screen. “Now why would we want to be reeled in again, having made all this effort to leave your fine ship?” His tone changed from mocking and jocular to serious. “Don’t make any effort to interfere with us, captain, and you’ll be on your way shortly, a few passengers light.” He gestured with one hand and the vid panned to show Gianna slumped unconscious in a seat, with Semma standing guard. “Trade one life for the other 8000.”