Claustrophobia

Chapter Three - Acquaintances - 6

The view was, as had been announced over the coms, spectacular. Z9 tried to hold back an audible gasp as they walked to the railing of the main deck and stood spellbound, watching the colours melt and merge together like a cosmic cocktail. Suddenly they would hear a bang, and inside the cluster of rock and gas, a small bright light would be seen, glowing hot and white, before fading away again. The protective shield that enveloped Helios would shimmer not long afterwards, the after-effects of the burst of energy.

'It's gorgeous,' Yvatra said. 'You can't see anything like this from Korcanth. It's a fairly sheltered planet, always blocked out by Hawkestrion which takes all the attention from us, the winged bastards.'

Z9 chuckled. 'You don't seem to think very highly of them.'

'Of course not. Snobbish and up themselves. Reckon they've got better trade negotiations with the Brykthylosian Interstellar Union, but I say differently. They might have the resources and be the bigger planner, but without our brains The Empire would be bending over backwards to keep the BIU out of the western reaches.'

Behind them they heard a familiar laugh. Lar.4G had apparently made his way up onto the deck and was doing the rounds, a small crowd following him. The two of them could see him leaving a trail of charisma in his wake like a shimmering, glowing substance.

'I wonder how long it will be before he gets half of the ship pregnant,' Z9 said.

'I think we're the only two he won't, aside from those that are married or underage of course, and even some of the married ones...'

'Not going to be supporting him next season then?'

'Not a fan of his driving if I'm honest, and I can only just about put up with his dinnertime conversation.'

The decks were beginning to fill up, and as more decided to wander out under the stars, Z9 suggested that they go up to the uppermost deck. Yvatra obliged, the two of them walking side by side up the large staircase that led to the top deck, where a beautiful, intricately-designed bar was almost empty. Z9's taste for luxury emerged once again.

'Drinks, I think,' Z9 said, 'to replace the ones we unfortunately lost below.'

'We pay our respects to the dearly departed,' Yvatra quipped.

Three minutes later both of them were wandering around the deck with two more glasses of Amatherrone in their fingertips. The pair of them were giggling to themselves, one anecdote after another flowing from Yvatra's lips, ever more quickly as the drink lubricated her brain.

Z9 however, forced herself to stop. Out of the corner of her eye, down below, she saw Guran Mysen talking to someone in an out-of-the-way section of the deck along the side of the main deck that lapped the ship. She only saw it from a distance, but the exchange looked shady enough for her to take a disguised interest.

As Yvatra talked and Z9 nodded in all the right places, the man Mysen was talking with turned his head enough for Z9 to note who it was. Sior Ser-Serad, brother to Sior Yal-Serad, a Celestrian politician that had gone rogue a few years back and shot dead twenty-six people outside one of the main government buildings on Outpost 26 before being taken down. More importantly, Sior-Ser-Serad was one of the targets on her list.

Both Mysen and Ser-Serad nodded, shook hands, and parted ways. Mysen went to the main deck, and Serad descended a flight of stairs, heading for the inside.

'I'm so sorry, your highness,' Z9 said, draining the rest of her Amatherrone and putting the glass on one of the designated collection points, 'but I've just noticed someone I know. I'll catch up with you later, I promise.'

Yvatra, looking a little bewildered, said 'Oh, ok. I'll see you around at some point then.'

Z9 took her hand and kissed her fingers, remembering her earlier promise to herself not to piss off the princess of an entire planet, and rapidly left the scene.

Two of the five on her list talking together? There was too much about that image that Z9 didn't like. She wished she'd got firearms on her, not tucked away in her room. She feared she would need them before she found Yvatra again.