Chapter VIII – Heist Committee

Tavian walked into the common room and found he was almost the last one – only Nova was missing. In a voluminous armchair sat Ostara, one leg elegantly folded over the other. On the arm rest was Apollo, his tail twitching slowly. Standing just behind the chair was a short girl with white hair and intense red eyes, wearing a dark robe and an over-sized witch’s hat.

Seraphina, I guess.

Harry was not so much sitting in a chair as he was draped over one, with one of his legs hanging over the arm rest. He was wearing a white suit that left his ankles bear, with a salmon pink shirt and matching pocket square. He had a pair of brown leather brogues on. A marked contrast was Kal, dressed as he always was, sitting in the next chair, straight-backed and alert.

Opposite them was Mu, staring off into the distance.

“Well, that’s almost—” began Apollo, but was interrupted when the door opened and Nova came rushing in.

She tripped, immediately sprang back to her feet. “I’m fine. I’m here. Nobody panic.”

Realising there were no empty chairs in the circle she pushed one across the room loudly and wedged it in between Tavian and Mu. “Hi guys,” she said with a smile, dropping into the chair.

“Everyone is here then,” said Apollo. “Ostara?”

Ostara smiled, her gaze sweeping the group, seemingly making eye contact with each of them along the way. “I think most of you are aware by now that we are stuck in port. All outbound interstellar traffic has been frozen. We believe the order came down from the Resonance Bureau, though it was published by the Governor’s Office. We are fairly confident that they are after Mukushen, though Tavian may or may not be a secondary target for them. Right now, we need to put our heads together and work out a few contingencies based on what we think is going to happen next.”

Tavian leant forward to see Mu past Nova. “Not turning yourself in anymore?” he asked.

“The Captain has convinced me to stay,” said Mu, quietly.

“That’s great,” said Tavian, “Because—well, obviously I’m happy for you and all. But also, I don’t know if you realised this, but I’m pretty sure they know we were together, and if you turn yourself in, it probably won’t be much of a leap to find me. And I can’t go to prison – I’m much to pretty. Although, I’d be more likely to be put down like a dog in a windowless room by some henchman of a corrupt politician.”

“Your concern means the world to me,” said Mu.

“People do say that it’s my caring nature that they most love about me,” said Tavian.

Ostara smiled. “If we could perhaps attend to the topic at hand.”

Nova leant forward. “I say we make a run for it. Blast our way out, if necessary. I can guarantee the Amrita’s weapons systems are up to it, and she can outrun any junk the authorities have got floating around here.”

“I appreciate the enthusiasm, Nova, but the Amrita spends a lot of time in Imperial space and in Imperial ports. It would be best if we could defuse the whole fugitive situation instead of exacerbating it,” said Ostara.

Kal spoke up. “Are we one hundred percent on that?” he asked. “Because I was on board with Nova’s plan.”

“Ostara’s right,” said Apollo. “Whatever we do, it should be with the aim of decreasing the amount of surveillance on us and increasing our freedom of movement.”

“Besides,” said Ostara with a little laugh, holding out her hands in a gesture that signalled she was being very reasonable, “You two got to have your fun when we extracted Mukushen and Tavian from the surface.”

Harry smirked, “I’m pretty sure that them having their fun is why we’re currently in this situation. They’re not happy unless something’s getting broken.”

Nova gave an expression of mock outrage. “Hey! That’s not fair. I fix things! Fixing things is like my whole deal,” she said, then added in a quieter voice, “Though explosions are pretty great…”

“We did what was necessary at the time,” said Kal.

“It was a pretty dicey situation,” said Tavian, “I for one am pleased that Kal turned up and melted everything.”

Ostara cleared her throat. “The past is the past. We’re here now. Mukushen and Tavian made it. We have to work out how to ensure that all of that effort was not in vain. Remember: the outcome we want here is leaving Shangxia with the crew intact, the ship intact, and no one coming after us.”

“Ah,” sighed Tavian, blissfully, “That’s the dream, ain’t it? No one coming after us.”

“I am hoping we can make it a reality,” said Ostara.

“Seems to me,” said Harry, “We’ve got two options if the authorities come looking: we hide these two, or we disguise them.”

“They already cleared customs under false identities. Security footage from the Ring will show them boarding the Amrita,” said Nova.

A thought occurred to Mu. “That’s true, but don’t forget, they also queried my credentials.”

“And passed them,” said Nova.

“Sure,” said Mu, “But if they’re being told to track down fugitives now, don’t you think they’ll revisit their suspicions and take a closer look?”

Nova conceded the point, “It’s possible, I guess.”

“So, we hide?” asked Tavian.

“Didn’t Nova say they already know you came onboard?” asked Harry. “But disguises could be fun! I could work out a whole new look for the two of you.”

“They don’t need disguises, Harry,” said Nova, “They need to look like the people that cleared Customs.”

“Still, Mu, I think you would look sensational as a blonde.”

Mu looked sceptical. “I don’t think that’d work.”

“Oh no, it totally would,” said Harry, “My hair’s basically the same colour as yours naturally and look: blond.”

“She doesn’t want to be blonde,” said Nova. “And they don’t need disguises. Although… have you thought about red? Redheads are sexy.”

“Are they? How long since you’ve had a boyfriend, Nova? Oh wait, you never have,” said Harry.

“Harry, don’t be a bitch,” snapped Nova.

Ostara sighed. “Keeping you all on topic is like herding…” she glanced at Apollo, “…something. Something that isn’t easy to herd.”

“Y’know,” began Harry, “I feel like we’re missing a key part of the puzzle here.”

“Oh?” said Ostara, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Like we know why Mu’s running. She’s basically embarrassed all of the most powerful people in the most powerful empire in the history of the Cosmos. And we know Tavian was with her during various incidents, that probably earnt him accessory status… but he was already on the run when Mu first met him, right? Like, I’m not wrong about that, am I?”

“You’re not,” said Mu.

Tavian shuffled in his chair.

“Just seems to me we should know all the facts, if we’re going to be making plans,” said Harry.

“I’ve been trying to get this out of him since we met,” said Mu, “And he always weasels his way out of giving me a straight answer.”

“Well, Mr Locke?” asked Harry, staring Tavian’s way.

Tavian glanced around. He noticed everyone else’s eyes were on him, with the sole exception of Seraphina who was busily booping her raven on the beak with her index finger.

“So…” he began. “I was in a club…”

“Tracks so far,” said Mu.

“I was part of the band, I’ll have you know,” said Tavian.

“Much call for mandolins in night clubs?” asked Mu.

“Not a great deal, it’s true,” said Tavian, “But I play lots of instruments. Some might call me a musical prodigy. Not me, of course, because I am but a humble man, but some might. This night: I was playing double bass.”

Tavian had noticed the woman at a table near to the stage quite early on. She was sitting with three other women of a similar age, but something about her in particular struck Tavian. Perhaps it was the inscrutability of the emotions he knew were behind that carefully maintained smile. Or perhaps it was the glorious length of leg revealed by the side split in her dress. Whatever it was, Tavian was intrigued.

The protocol was standard. Make eye contact frequently, especially when the music gave him moments to shine and display his virtuosity. Make her feel special. Noticed. Beautiful.

After a while they finished a song. A harried looking woman approached them on stage. “Take a break,” said Mrs Hua, the manager. “You’re back on in ten. Because Mr Wu is generous. That isn’t ten minutes and thirty seconds. It’s ten minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Fang, their singer. She walked past Tavian on her way backstage.

“I think she’s into you,” she whispered into Tavian’s ear as she passed, indicating the front row of the audience.

“Here’s hoping,” said Tavian. He set the double bass aside, rose to his feet, straightened his tie, and descended off stage, making as if he was heading to the bar.

He stopped when he reached her table. “Enjoying your night?” he asked.

She looked at him, her default smile shifting to something more genuine. He noticed with delight that she was gently biting her bottom lip. “It’s been nice so far.” Long eyelashes fluttered at him.

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“Would a drink enhance the experience?” asked Tavian, holding out a hand. The woman looked at her companions who gesticulated towards Tavian. She took the offered hand and rose to her feet, hooking arms with him.

He headed to the bar. “I’m Tavian, by the way.”

“Mingxia,” she replied.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mingxia,” he said.

They reached the bar. “Evening, Tavian,” said the bartender. “What’ll it be?”

“Gin on the rocks, two olives. And whatever the lady would like,” said Tavian.

“I’ll take the sparkling,” she said.

“Put it on my tab,” said Tavian.

The bartender looked like he was about to say something. Tavian raised a finger to his lips and gave an imploring look. The bartender nodded. Mingxia turned to look at Tavian and he lifted his hand to adjust his hair. He smiled at her.

They got their drinks and turned around, leaning on the bar. “I haven’t seen you hear before,” commented Tavian.

“First time, in here,” said Mingxia.

“To your liking?” asked Tavian.

“I’m still deciding,” said Mingxia, locking eyes with him as she sipped her drink.

“You’re friends seem nice,” said Tavian, indicating in the direction of her table.

“They do, don’t they? Only met them tonight and they invited me to sit with them,” said Mingxia.

“You came alone?” asked Tavian.

“I thought I might meet some nice new people,” said Mingxia, reaching into her small handbag. She pulled out a small case and withdrew a long cigarette, placing it in a cigarette holder between her lips. Without missing a beat, Tavian pulled a lighter from his jacket and lit the cigarette for her. He didn’t smoke, but he always kept a lighter. An important tool of his trade.

“Thank you, Tavian,” she said, breathing out a cloud of smoke.

“How have the new people been so far?” asked Tavian.

“Well, they buy me drinks and they light my cigarettes, so they’re either nice, or they want something from me,” said Mingxia.

Tavian grinned, “Sometimes people are just nice for the sake of it. It doesn’t have to be transactional. Even if there are certain things they might… like.”

“Perhaps you can demonstrate the kindness of strangers. Walk me home later, so I don’t need to make the trip alone,” said Mingxia.

“Of course,” said Tavian. “It would be my pleasure. Now I really must be getting back on stage. These fine people deserve music.”

“I’ll be watching,” said Mingxia.

Tavian escorted her back to her table then ascended the steps to the stage. Fang walked past him again. “How’d you go?”

“All going to plan,” said Tavian.

“Atta boy,” said Fang, and she stepped up to the microphone.

They kicked off the music again, Tavian continuing to make sure to direct all his attention at Mingxia. She reciprocated in kind. She was close enough to the stage that her face was lit up by the lighting there, ensuring she stood out more against the dimly lit club beyond.

At length the band finished. Mrs Hua appeared again. “Alright, you’re done. You can fuck off now,” she said. “Mr Wu will have your pays tomorrow.”

“Charming as ever,” said Tavian as he passed her.

“Whatever,” she said, with a role of her eyes and walked off hurriedly.

Fang strolled over to where Tavian was packing away his instrument. “Want me to give you a little boost?”

“Such a good wing-woman,” said Tavian. “Although, y’know, if you’re going to recommend a product in good conscience, you should really sample it yourself first.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, darling, it’s never going to happen. But I’ll go get you your consolation prize,” she said and with that she strolled off stage.

He saw her chatting with Mingxia, but he couldn’t hear what was being said. There was laughter though. That was a good sign.

He walked over to the saxophonist, hauling the double bass in its case. “Can you get this back to Leon?” he asked.

“I’ll get it sorted,” said the saxophonist, “Thanks for filling in the last few nights.”

“Thanks for having me,” said Tavian. “My other gig fell through and Mr Wu doesn’t let me stay here for free.”

With that he headed to Mingxia’s table. “Meeting the lovely Miss Fang, I see,” he said.

“We were just talking about you,” said Mingxia.

“All good, I hope?” said Tavian.

“Of course,” said Fang. “But, I must be going. I’ll leave you two to it.”

She turned and headed back towards the stage, momentarily resting a hand on Tavian’s shoulder as she passed. Tavian turned his attention to Mingxia.

“You’re probably about due for another drink, right?” he asked.

“I could go another,” she said.

“Shall we?”

Mingxia excused herself from the rest of her company and made her way to the bar with Tavian. This time they took up seats at the bar.

“Tell me, what do you do with yourself?” said Tavian.

Mingxia paused a moment, seemingly considering her answer. “I’m an actress. Aspiring actress.”

“Do you do acting?” asked Tavian.

“Well, not big roles or anythi—”

“But you act?”

“Yes…” said Mingxia, “I act.”

“Then you’re an actress,” said Tavian. “No aspiring about it.”

Mingxia laughed. “I’d be charmed, if I weren’t so suspicious of your motives.”

“I said I’d walk you home,” said Tavian.

“You think I’m that easy?” said Mingxia, still grinning.

“Well,” said Tavian, “I was kinda hoping…”

Mingxia laughed again and took a big gulp of her drink. “I’m still gonna need some convincing,” she said.

“What sort of thing do you find convincing?” asked Tavian.

Mingxia held up a hand. “Ah, no. You can’t just straight up ask. That’s cheating.”

“Fair,” said Tavian.

“But you can start by telling me a bit about yourself,” said Mingxia. She took a gulp and raised up an empty champagne flute. “Bartender? Can you pop another of these on Tavian’s tab?”

That’s gonna hurt tomorrow, thought Tavian. Eh, whatever. “I’ll take what she’s having.”

“Bubbly, really?” said Mingxia, turning his way.

“You make it look enjoyable,” replied Tavian.

“I’ll toast to that,” said Mingxia, taking two full flutes from the bartender and passing one to Tavian. They clinked their glasses together and took a sip. “Well, then, why don’t you tell me about yourself.”

Tavian shrugged. “Not much to tell. I grew up living in a tiny flat with my loser dad. Never met my mum. Left home at thirteen and never looked back. Been making ends meet by travelling around. Playing music. Telling stories.”

“Bit harsh on your old man,” said Mingxia.

“Maybe. You didn’t know him. He didn’t do much for me. Didn’t do much for himself. We were so poor, for so long. And he lost Mum,” said Tavian.

Mingxia looked pensive for a moment. “Sometimes people find themselves in tough situations through no fault of their own,” she said.

Tavian knew he needed to change the subject. “How’d you get into acting?”

Once he got Mingxia started on that topic properly, she was away, and the conversation stayed safely away from the topic of his past thereafter. There was passion there, realised Tavian. Plenty of people came to the big city with dreams of becoming a star, thinking only of the trappings of fame and fortune, imagining themselves on the vast holographic billboards on International Road. Mingxia wanted that too, but Tavian could tell from the way she spoke about the acting craft and about her idols and her favourite films that there was so much more as well.

In that passion he recognised something familiar: that one thing he really liked about himself.

That one thing he couldn’t always find.

Tavian leant back in the chair.

“Anyway, one thing led to another, and I went home with her. I’m sure you all want the lurid details, but sadly I can’t remember much because we had quite a few more drinks after that, but I can assure you that they were surely lurid and wonderful,” said Tavian.

“Ew. Gross,” said Mu.

“Okay, so that was a fascinating tale about you picking some actress in a nightclub,” said Harry. “Great delivery, I can see you are a professional storyteller… but…” he sighed now, as if carefully considering his next words, “What the fuck did that have to do with why you are being chased by the Governor’s guards?”

Tavian laughed and slapped his palm to his forehead. “Ha! I forgot a key detail. Turns out the actress thing? Yeah, that was more of a side gig. Her main thing was that she was the concubine of Aixin Yucheng. Y’know, the Governor.”

There were a few moments of silence while everyone considered this new information. Surprisingly, it was Seraphina who spoke first. “That probably made the Governor mad,” she said.

Harry nodded fervently. “Sera here is a careful study of human emotion, and I think she’s probably right on that assessment. Which begs the question, why did you do that?”

“Because he is a slimebag who can’t keep it in his pants,” said Mu.

“It’s true, just this morn—” began Nova, but then seemingly thought better of continuing.

“Well, just like you listening to my story just now, I didn’t find this quirky little factoid out until somewhat later. I believe it was the next morning when I woke up inside the Governor’s mansion,” said Tavian.

“When you went to the Governor’s mansion, it wasn’t a giveaway?” asked Mu.

“See, I don’t remember that part,” said Tavian. “Or why we went there instead of just a love hotel… or how we got in. Sometimes I just do remarkable things, and I don’t know how.”

“How did you get out?” asked Nova.

“It was tricky. Took all my wiles,” said Tavian.

In that moment a thought seemed to strike Mu. “What happened to her? To Mingxia?”

Tavian looked at her, confused for a moment. He shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? Haven’t really had much of a chance to catch up these past few days.”

“You put her in this terrible situation… and just left?” asked Mu.

“I probably would have gotten shot… or maybe tortured – she seemed to think tortured was a possibility at the time,” said Tavian. “I didn’t really have much choice.”

“And what do you think was going to happen to her?” asked Mu.

Tavian was finding it uncharacteristically difficult to come up with something to say.

“Bit of a dick move, man,” Nova added helpfully.

Tavian shrugged. “What was I s’posed to do? Stay there and get myself killed in solidarity with her situation?”

“You shouldn’t have done any of it in the first place,” snapped Mu.

“I didn’t know she was a concubine,” said Tavian. “Really, my only crime is going home with an attractive person I met in a club. You mean to tell me you’ve never done that?”

Mu was silent a moment.

“Oh right,” said Tavian. “I guess you were keeping yourself pure for the future Emperor. Well, anyway. I didn’t do anything wrong. If she’d told me up front, maybe I would have reconsidered. But she didn’t.”

Mu’s eyes flared with anger. “Maybe she feels trapped. Maybe she wanted a taste of freedom. You ever think about that? Can you even imagine what her life must be like, trapped in the Governor’s mansion all day and night, just a tool for his prestige?”

“Okay, okay,” said Tavian, holding up his hands defensively. “I hear you.”

Nova had pushed back her chair so that she was no longer directly between them.

“And I get it. It’s a bad situation. I feel bad for her. I do. I really do. But what was I supposed to do? It’s all clear in hindsight, hell – maybe if I had your magical foresight, I could have avoided the whole situation. But I don’t; I didn’t. At the end of the day, I did what I needed to do to stay alive.”

Mu sighed. She relaxed her posture. In a quiet voice she spoke, “We need to help her.”

“I’m sorry?” asked Tavian.

“We need to help her. We need to go back and get her out,” said Mu.

“Am I hearing this right? Didn’t we start this meeting with the goal of working out how to escape this planet. Now you want to go back to the surface? Directly to the Governor’s mansion? Weren’t you despairing about getting away from the Resonance Bureau?”

Mu shook her head. “It’s not about what is easy, it’s about what is right.”

“This is insane,” said Tavian.

“You’re coming with me. We’ll leave the Amrita and go make things right. It’ll be risky, but it’ll at least mean everyone here is safe and we can do our best to help Mingxia.”

Tavian was speechless.

“I’ve heard things about this Governor. Think about what she said to you, about what would happen. And we saw at the spaceport how his guards were collaborating with the gangsters. He’s not a good man, and this poor girl is at his mercy.”

Tavian sighed and looked down at his hands, which were sitting in his lap.

“You said yourself: you were affected by her dreams. By her passion for acting. Are you so cold-hearted you could just up and abandon her? Sail off into the stars?”

“I’m realistic. It’s not that I don’t want to help her. It’s that there isn’t any way to do it,” said Tavian, though he could almost see the excited gleam in Mingxia’s eyes as she talked about her passions.

“You know,” said Nova, “It does strike me that you already said you got into the mansion unnoticed. Got to her bedroom.”

Tavian shook his head. “I have no memory how. None whatsoever.”

Nova grinned. “Exactly! You were drunk as hell! Yet you still did it. Can’t be that hard, right?”

“What are you suggesting?” asked Tavian.

“No promises…. But the surveillance system on the Ring is probably all part of one big government procurement contract. Chances are the system at the Governor’s mansion is basically the same as up here. I’ve already partially cracked the cameras on the Orbital Ring, maybe I can try and find my way into those for the Governor’s mansion? Again, no promises… but if I could, I might be able to work out how you got in last time. At some point you must disappear off the cameras, and that could give us a clue.”

Mu shook her head. “I don’t want you to be involved.”

“Lady, I don’t wanna put too finer point on this, but you and Tavian are dead if you go back there without my help. Without all our help. So don’t argue,” said Nova. At this she turned to the others, “Right, guys?”

Ostara nodded. “It’s the right thing to do. And we’ve already committed to getting Mukushen and Tavian away from Shangxia. If this needs to happen first, then let’s do it.”

“It will be dangerous,” said Apollo. “But if everyone agrees to help, then I am willing to do so.”

Kal rose to his feet. “Nova, get me some schematics for this mansion. I’ll start putting together an operations plan.”

Harry threw up his hands. “Eh, I’ve got nothing in my diary. Just let me know how I can help in cleaning up Tavian’s mess, and I’ll do it.”

“Mr Tavian,” said Seraphina. “I haven’t known you long, but in the time that I have, I have concluded that you are a very silly man. But that poor lady is probably very scared and alone right now. So, I think we should help.”

“I guess it’s hate on Tavian day,” said Tavian with a sigh.

“You don’t get to be the victim,” said Mu. She looked around at everyone. “I don’t expect anyone to stick their neck out for us. Not anymore than you already have. Tavian’s not wrong, though. Doing this will fly directly in the face of the objective we were discussing at the start of the meeting. But I get the feeling I’m not going to dissuade any of you. So, thank you. I don’t know why you’re all so good. But thank you.”

“We got you, girl,” said Nova, laying a hand on Mu’s shoulder.

Tavian leant back in his chair. “I’ve cheated Death one too many times lately. I guess I’ve built up a debt. Stars guide me, I’m in.”

He rose to his feet. No one else followed.

He looked around. “I don’t know what the next step is here, but Kal was already on his feet, so I figured that was part of it.”

Behind him Nova leapt up. “However we do it,” she began, “I think it’s time we launch Operation Concubine Heist.”