Jumping out of the Arbiter ship, I had the strangest sensation of living two different lives at the same time. Falling through space toward the ring of Llyr station, staring down at the scarred surface of Europa as gargantuan Jupiter climbed over the curve of the moon’s horizon, I was between the past and present. In my old life, I was jumping in the company of Gabriel Anderson, who was laughing and joking with me as we fell. In my new life, the one I could hardly believe was real, I was jumping in the company of spies, assassins, and two Arbiters who knew I was a liar.
How had they figured out who I was so quickly? Li Fei and I had never actually met, but he must have learned about me. Had he met Byron Harewood, my Senior Arbiter after Gabriel died? Byron was a corrupt Arbiter, a man who helped frame me for the murder of Sophie Anderson and then tried to hunt me down for it. Had he taken it on himself to spread the information?
I didn’t think Mike Mitchell had recognized me right away, probably because he had joined the Force after I’d gone. But Li Fei must have, and told Mike all about me with a subvocalized dataspike message while we were still in that meeting.
In the end, it didn’t really matter whether Li was corrupt like Byron or just hated me for what I’d done. If they got the chance on Llyr Station, there was every possibility one of these two would shoot me in the back. No one would even know they’d killed Tycho Barrett. The record would only show that Section 3 agent Angus Contralvo had died serving a high-risk warrant in Europa’s orbit.
In retrospect, it wasn’t the best frame of mind for a person about to enter hot territory against an unknown enemy. I was going to have to watch the space in front of me, the space behind me, and everything in between.
I craned my neck to get a look at the landing zone. It was still to our backs as we fell head-first from the central axis of the station, but Llyr’s rotation would bring it under us once we landed. One of the most difficult concepts to adapt to in space is inertia, but it rules over everything. If we’d jumped with the landing zone directly beneath us, it would have been on the opposite side of the ring by the time we’d covered the distance. A straight line relative to the surface of the station is a spiral relative to everything else. Docking ships can follow that spiraling path with constant thrust, but that’s something a human-sized drop suit doesn’t have the fuel to do.
What a human-sized drop suit has to do instead is rely on timed bursts from stability thrusters to negate the force of contact as the metal surface of the station streaks by at a hundred meters per second.
The one positive for me about this mission was the familiar sense of security the suit provided. The only thing I felt as the thrusters spun me around seconds before impact was a vague sense of acceleration. I landed on my feet and immediately readied my weapon. The dock was clear, but that didn’t mean it would stay that way.
Everyone landed within seconds of each other and formed up around Andrea and Li. “We’re going in first,” Li announced. “You’ll come in behind us. We’re going to need to move fast.”
The Arbiters broadcast the signal announcing their warrant, and whoever was in charge inside the station was smart enough to open the airlock without giving us an argument about it. We filed in one by one. Vincenzo, Raven, and Jones took up positions around the airlock door to secure the dock and cover the exit. Young, Capanelli, and I followed the two Arbiters inside the station.
As we came out through the other side of the airlock, I saw people scattering. They didn’t know why we were there, but they knew they didn’t want to be anywhere near an Arbiter raid. Llyr Station might have been somewhat disreputable, but it was an elegant way to have a bad reputation. The place was built like a private resort. I saw a man holding a cocktail duck behind a fountain, and a woman wearing a brightly colored silk dress step behind what looked like a real marble column. The shops we passed sold high-end jewelry, designer clothing, and cutting-edge tech. The restaurants were quiet, dimly lit, and expensive looking.
Li Fei and Mike Mitchell headed straight for the bridge, and the rest of us fanned out to secure the approach. Everyone who saw us either turned and ran off immediately or just sat there as if paralyzed, staring at us like it was the strangest and most frightening thing they’d ever seen.
It was almost always like that during an Arbiter raid, and I had forgotten how powerful it could make you feel. Compared to the secretive life of a Section 9 agent, the difference was black and white. When we were on Mars, no one had acted particularly awe-inspired by our presence. In fact, almost everyone we met had tried to kill us. That’s not what an Arbiter’s job is usually like, Tower 7 notwithstanding. In the vast majority of Arbiter raids, people comply and do whatever you need them to do.
“Sol Federation Arbiter Force, acting on a judicial warrant!” announced Li Fei as we reached the bridge. “You are instructed to block all departures from this facility. Deactivate security and do not attempt to resist.”
His voice was deep and devoid of emotion. The people on the bridge reacted with quiet panic. They just sat there stupidly, staring at us like they couldn’t even figure out what we were doing on their station. The circle of open mouths and staring eyes was almost comical.
A middle-aged woman finally stood up. Her face was hard, but her voice had at least a veneer of culture to it. “I’m Denise Vassar, the captain of this station. May I see your warrant, please?”
I scanned the approach to the bridge while Li sent the warrant to her dataspike. No one was trying to stop us, and the Havisham was still berthed.
Everyone stay alert, warned Andrea.
“John, shut the docks down please,” said Vassar.
John looked at her like he didn’t understand what she was saying to him. She raised her voice as she repeated herself. “Shut it down.”
He made a face that read to me as confusion and resignation, then turned and started doing something rapidly on his instrument panel.
“Instruct your people not to resist,” Li Fei told Vassar. She tapped her dataspike and spoke.
“Attention, this is Captain Denise Vassar.” Her voice echoed through the intercom. “We have been boarded by Arbiters. For your own safety, please offer them no resistance and comply with any instructions they give.”
“The Federation thanks you for your cooperation,” Li Fei said as he turned for the door.
Right at that moment, one of the security guards drew his weapon. I don’t know what he was thinking—maybe he was on the payroll of one of the wealthy fugitives who called Llyr station their home. Mike Mitchell saw the movement, turned, and aimed his rifle at the man’s head. That made him think better of it, and the guard pulled up his gun in a gesture of submission as we all walked by.
That idiot is lucky to be alive commented Raven Sommer.
She didn’t know how right she was. The Arbiter Force has extensive authority for a law enforcement agency, and no one would ever question the decision to use lethal force against someone aiming a weapon at an Arbiter. Gabe was a good man, but I once saw him shoot a guy through the chest for taking aim at us like that and not think twice.
When we reached the airlock for the Havisham’s dock, the drop ship commander spoke to us over the shared channel. “You’d better get out here. It looks like they might be preparing to run.”