Page 173 of Star Claimed Omega
Rumors floated of a dock crew slaughtered in a silent attack near the debris rings.
Soleil’s gut twisted. As she trudged toward the lobby of her dormitory, her boots felt like lead.
The dorm was an old converted storage facility with twenty floors of narrow steel bunks and communal showers.
The neon at the entry flickered with the name of the collective hovel,DOME A21.
As she pushed in the creaking alloy door, an affronted shout from a cubicle nearby sounded out about the disappearance of hot water again.
She sighed and made her way up the stairs, climbing into her assigned cubicle.
Thankfokkthis sorry ass dig was temporary.
In two days, she would be moving to a single room downstairs that opened onto the corridor.
The new space was scarcely wide enough to stretch in.
A box with a view of nothing, but it was hers, paid for with her own wage, and better still, a lot more private.
She couldn’t wait to get the access codes, thankful for the caretaker, Old Thari’s intervention.
The wiry woman with a stooped back and eyes like steel bolts was partial to Soleil and pushed up her move-in dates.
In part due to the delicious pastries that Soleil shared with her every so often.
Soleil pulled the privacy curtain of her cubicle closed and zipped it shut.
Sinking into her mattress, her hands trembled as she withdrew her comm tab from her bag.
She tabbed screens until she paused at one.
For a long moment, she just stared at the balance in theRed Skullaccount at the Allied flotilla bank.
3,487, 125 schills.
Blood money, almost a freakin’ taunt.
Still, it was a way out if she ever needed it. She had more than enough to book passage to Pegasi with that, on a fast generational cruiser.
She had the means to change her name, bio-hack a face change, and disappear for a decade, until the universe forgot her name.
Yet she was not ready to vanish.
She placed her commtab onto the makeshift shelf by her pillow and lay down, staring as a news feed flickered to life.
She eyed it as headlines slid across the interface.
In time, her eyes fluttered shut as sleep took hold of her.
Moments later, the display switched to a new broadcast.
SIGNET SECURITY AWARDED CONTROL OF 65 CYBELE.
CLASHES ANTICIPATED AS CURRENT LEGION COMMANDER REFUSES TO RELINQUISH POWER.
The display glowed until the screen saver turned black.
SANTIAGO
