Homebound Sector, Haven System, Ariea, Valkar, Eagle’s Talon

  In the mountains of Valkar, the air was crisp and clean, filled with aromas of fall. The altitude allowed the sun to remain bright in Eagle’s Talon, even as its daily track shifted toward the southern hemisphere. Though isolated within the planet’s tallest mountain range, the city was far from quaint. It served as the military ground headquarters for the interplanetary alliance known as the Ariean Central Government, and that rendered it one of the most important settlements in all the known worlds.

  The grandeur of the military’s high command building spoke enough of the wealth and power that formed the military fleet. Its large columns and the rest of the white marble that formed it were detailed in shimmering gold, symbols and core beliefs etched intricately into the stone. Housing the upper echelons of the United Countries Space Command, the people who worked there choreographed the movements of the mighty fleet that dominated the stars above.

  Shoving the doors open, the civilian government’s only representative in the city stepped out into the fresh air. The guards flinched at his sudden emergence, but recognized his classically cut suit. It stood out among the city’s mass of uniforms. “It’s madness, Vince!” he ranted into his communicator, “There’s absolutely nothing wrong!” He was already stepping off the building’s steps into the afternoon sunshine, as his personal security detail struggled to keep up. “They sent me all the way out here for no reason at all!”

  “That’s politics, Johnathan,” his right-hand man replied through the communicator.

  “I know that,” the Ariean Secretary of Defense readjusted his grip on the handheld device, “but just think about it, I could be at home drinking a martini and cloud-watching. Or I could have gone to visit Amelia and my grandson.” This whole trip was a complete waste of his time. He had learned nothing here that he couldn’t have from Capitol City with the rest of the civilian government. “I just saw my family, but it still would have been nice.” He sighed as his security guard managed to get in front of him, bringing him to a stop in the courtyard.

  The young Marine looked frazzled, her curly hair stuck to her scalp with nervous sweat. “Secretary Gives, I must protest!” she said, waving the rest of the security detail back into place, “We haven’t secured this exit route for you. We had planned to take the side exit to your personal transport in light of the recent threats.”

  The politician pulled his glass communicator away from his ear, “Corporal Cortana, you ought to know better than this by now.” He never took the secured route. “I will not be intimidated by idle threats. There is no place safer than Eagle’s Talon.” Every citizen in the town was military, and had been trained to fight off an enemy attack.

  “Besides,” he stepped past her, “taking the side exit would tell those separatist cowards they’ve got a hold on me. They don’t. I have no reason to fear, and neither do the people.” He waved distantly to the paparazzi’s cameras as they pressed up against the courtyard’s rod iron fence, trying to get a photograph. The debate fracturing his people would never spill into violence. Secretary Gives refused to entertain the thought. Surely, if nothing else, the worlds had learned from the Frontier Rebellion that violence and killing would resolve nothing.

  Threats were nothing new to him. Secretary Gives had more enemies than the average politician. He was an outspoken and highly respected member of the interplanetary Council, which drew a lot of attention, but his estranged brother accounted for the rest.

  Corporal Cortana knew there was no sense in arguing with him. She admired his confidence that the threats were meaningless, but it made him careless about his own safety. “Secretary, sir, would you be heading to your usual last stop, then?” They were already halfway there, but she would radio ahead and have it cleared.

  “The Ariea Memorial.” Secretary Gives confirmed curtly. It was always the last place he went before leaving for Capitol City. He hated having his security detail with him there, but understood the necessity as he heard Cortana dutifully radio it in. He raised his communicator back to his ear, “Vince-”

  “Yeah, I’ll start knocking heads here. Figure out who said what. I’ll make sure you won’t have to make this trip again unless it’s necessary.”

  The Secretary nodded, still in disbelief that his time had been completely wasted. “The way they were talking in Capitol City, you’d think my brother was down here stringing people up by their toenails.” Every guard in his security detail involuntarily winced. “But this is the sleepiest I’ve ever seen Eagle’s Talon.”

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  “And where is the old bastard, anyway?”

  Secretary Gives shrugged, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” He did his best not to know. His brother, if he dared to call the man that, came and went as he pleased, with no real concern for the people who stayed planet-side.

  The Secretary’s demeanor shifted as his feet met the asphalt of the road that divided the military complex and the memorial. “I’ll see you back in Capitol City, Vince.” He was headed somewhere he preferred to be alone. He tapped the glass where the display was projected inside and pocketed it, focusing on the walk ahead of him.

  The accident had been just over a year ago, but he was one of very few who visited the memorial dedicated to the former flagship’s thousand dead. His head security guard made no move to interrupt now. He had his reasons for visiting, even when very few others did. It had been the worst tragedy to strike the fleet since the early years of the Hydrian War, and yet, it was mostly forgotten. The subsequent investigation had lasted barely a month. The worlds had passed over the Flagship Ariea’s demise like it was nothing.

  One of few with a personal connection to the incident, Secretary Gives still mourned the loss. His son-in-law had been killed, fracturing a family that had already seen enough death.

  Secretary Gives paused to look up at the memorial’s rod iron gates, for a moment wondering if the man his brother had accused truly had been at fault. A part of him had brushed it off just because his murderous brother had laid down the accusation, not because the investigation had lacked evidence. Sometimes, he felt as if he should have stomached his brother’s explanation for a moment longer. But at the time, he couldn’t have, and probably still couldn’t now. Instead, he was forced to wonder if there was more than one killer among the fleet’s upper ranks.

  Echoing among the urban walls, a single gunshot rang out in the afternoon light. The noise deafened the peaceful rustle of autumn leaves, and the security detail reacted instantaneously.

  “Sniper!” Cortana yelled, moving to tackle the Secretary safely to the ground. She was surprised to find that he was already down and out of the line of fire, thus knelt beside him, using her mass as a shield as she scoped out the nearby rooftops with her rifle.

  There was nothing, only air vents and antennas. No movement. The silence stretched out for minutes. Slowly, her ears adjusted again to hear the sounds of fall.

  They had to move to a more secure location. “Let’s go, Secretary.” She stood easily, but he made no move, face down on the concrete. It was only then that she realized the pant leg she’d placed on the ground was dripping wet. The blood ran hot and sticky down her shin.

  She was kneeling at his side again, yelling into the radio before she comprehended the sight: blood on the cement, a chunk of skull and hair missing. The training drilled into her by the Marines took over. “Man down! Repeat: Man down! I need an ambulance at the entrance to the Ariea Memorial. Secretary Gives has been hit!”

  It didn’t matter. Secretary Gives was dead long before the ambulance arrived.

  The next few hours became a whirlwind of sirens and debriefings, and Corporal Cortana remained in shock as the warm day dripped by like honey in the shining golden sun. Under the twin moons of Ariea, she found herself standing on the glistening white steps of the high command building, clad in her crisp, black dress uniform.

  A crowd of reporters and off-duty personnel had gathered in front of the stairs. Vince Ramseyer, the Secretary’s right-hand man, had flown in from Capitol City to make the announcement himself. He laid his hands on the podium, looking somber in a suit one shade darker than normal, and allowed the photographers to snap pictures. “I have no doubt there are countless rumors surrounding Secretary Gives’ condition, and the reasons behind my sudden appointment to his office. However, the truth of the matter lies in the fact that this morning, at the gates of the Flagship Ariea Memorial, Secretary Gives was assassinated.”

  Hearing the crowd start to whisper amongst themselves, everything snapped into clarity for Cortana. The Secretary of Defense was dead. The man she had been put in charge of protecting was dead. She had failed. His blood was spread as thickly on her hands as it had been on her leg earlier. She tried to fight the rising nausea as Ramseyer continued.

  “A sniper of unknown allegiance and motive fired from an undetermined point within the city of Eagle’s Talon. The assassin was highly skilled. Such an attack was impossible to defend against.”

  He said that for the benefit of the security detail, but Eagle’s Talon was supposed to be the safest place on the planet. It was filled with skilled soldiers trained to defend Ariea and its countries.

  And that was exactly the problem. They were all highly skilled. Too many of them had unlimited access to the rooftops. All of them had access to a sniper rifle, and there were thousands of soldiers living in, working in, and visiting Eagle’s Talon every day. There was no other way such an attack could be done. The perpetrator had to be military.

  The remaining worlds of Ramseyer’s silky smooth public address drifted by her ears. Secretary Gives, the man who had been unafraid, the man who had believed in peace, was dead. His killer could be anywhere, could be anyone. There were hundreds of soldiers in the crowd at the bottom of the steps alone. Was the killer here now, or on duty like nothing had happened?

  It was the perfect cover for a crime meant to stay unsolved. The killer would never be found in a city where everyone wore the same uniform and carried identical weapons.