The associate left Vessa in front of a smaller hangar, telling her to wait, then walking in. Vessa stood outside, the cold making her shiver. She sat down and waited for the woman to return, instead a man came out.
He came up to her and held out his hand. Vessa was pulled up onto her feet. The man looked her up and down. Vessa handed him the piece of paper the transit worker had given her. Vessa realized she probably should have given it to the woman too late now. The man took it, nodded, handed it back, and walked off. Vessa followed him into the small hangar with one spaceship.
The spaceship was cramped with boxes and smelt of leather and sweat, metal and mold. He gestured to the only other place to sit and Vessa walked past the rows of strapped down boxes and sat down.
She felt bone rattling vibrations as the pilot began pressing buttons and the whole thing lifted and then moved backwards until they were out of the hangar and into the night sky.
Vessa had heard about the magic that the Empire used as well as the similar magic of The Federation and The Republic. They all insisted on calling it tech formed from science. Vessa wasn’t sure what the difference was, but she didn’t want to give herself away.
She blushed at the memory of thinking each was their own Constellation, but what was she supposed to think when they called themselves The Federation as if they weren’t others out there. The one time she’d asked someone from The Republic, they’d burst out at her. Saying it wasn’t predictable for there to be so many populated planets. At least they made more sense than everyone in the Constellations calling them The Empire or The Federation or The Republic. The only answer given was: it is their name.
Vessa looked at the pilot flying the spaceship and wondered how he’d react to the question. She smiled and then looked down at the file. She was at the target section and however long this trip would take was all she had to read.
Vessa began reading through the first couple of targets. All were in the capital city with its copious amounts of diagrams. She began flipping back and forth, marking where each target’s location was at different times of the day. Another thing that her assignment book couldn’t do for her here. Vessa would actually have to stalk them down.
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She got lost in the work until the page was staring up at her. The child of two leaders. Though they led a different movement than the rebellion, Vessa was being sent to help quell. They were clearly close enough to still be a problem. The girl had health issues and had a security detail as well as magical protections.
Vessa’s fingers gripped the file hard; until she made herself relax with the knowledge of the man next to her. The girl’s schedule was laid out with some confusion and the hypothesis of body doubles. Vessa went cold. How many kids was she going to have to kill?
Instead of marking down the locations on the maps, Vessa skipped over the child and kept reading. She went into even more detail on the map, taking her time to meticulously trace the routes; until she hit the last page and just stared. Vessa knew showing up unprepared would end badly. She knew it and still she closed the file and looked out into the blackness out beyond the glass. Occasionally other spaceships would pass by, sometimes the pilot had a brief conversation over the comms.
It was weird to finally get practical experience of things she’d only been taught about; then for a moment, it felt like something was pushing against her. Telling her to stop. Not to turn back; just to stop. She almost wanted to listen.
“Are we in the Divide?” Vessa asked, and the pilot coughed a laugh.
“The Divide? No. This is spotting land in the fog, and thinking you’ve landed, but actually hitting a rock just short of peaking out, then you praying to all heaven that you haven’t damaged the hull.” The pilot said as the feeling passed and Vessa felt like she fell forward. There was nothing to stop her now.
“I thought the Divide was just in one place.” Vessa said as her folder laid on her lap, beckoning her to read it before she got to where she was going.
“If only. Think of the Divide as the mountain chain that blocks you from the mainland. Out here is the ocean, getting ever more shallow with islands and reefs to fuck you over if you’re not careful.” Vessa nodded as she stared at the file.
“Luckily, you’ve got me.” The pilot said as he flipped some switches. Vessa continued to stare at the file. She wasn’t going to kill more kids, just the one she had to. No matter what that meant.