Undercover
Rachel rarely saw Judge outside of the precinct. And even then it had always been in an official capacity. Conducting raids, meeting with potential suspects, or just a patrol. But that being said the first time she had ever met him was at a party much like this one. Her parents had always dragged her.
to one dumb party after another, and that night happened to be the night her parents learned her secret and had thrown her out. Judge had been there as she fled from the estate grounds and had offered her a place to stay.
Even still, seeing him here was like seeing a fish fly, or watching a rock perform poetry. It just wasn’t right. But he dressed and walked like he was meant to be here, and that his presence was entirely acceptable.
What was odder was that the space pirate who had been languidly relaxing on one of the uncomfortable benches, staring wistfully into the sky, suddenly stiffened. Showing Rachel the first trace of real emotion besides slight amusement, and if she was judging the pirates reaction correctly it was surprise and then disgust? She hid it quickly and Rachel wondered if she had been mistaken.
“What are you doing here?” Rachel asked, incapable from keeping the incredulity from her voice.
“Your mother has invited me to nearly all her parties, today I decided to accept.” His eyes darted towards the space pirate and Rachel understood his hidden meaning. He had somehow gotten word that the space pirate would be here and decided to investigate for himself.
He covered up his subtle gesture by turning to face the space pirate head on. “My apologies, I seem to have interrupted your conversation. My deepest apologies.”
The pirates lips turned down for a second in a brief frown before quickly turning up in polite smile “No need, I was simply enjoying the view.”
Rachel frowned as she saw the second flaw in thew pirates façade. Rachel was familiar enough with these kind of events to know that everyone put on a mask to fool the other guests. These parties were more about projecting certain images than actual celebration. But even when facing Alexandra, and casually conversing with Rachel the pirate hadn’t let her mask drop for a second. But now less than a minute after meeting Judge it had dropped twice, was there some sort of prior relationship Rachel wasn’t aware of?
“It is a lovely garden” Judge remarked blandly.
The pirate chuckled “I was referring to station around us. Its my first time on Unity. I’m from Earth, so all of this is new to me. Have you ever been to Earth?” she asked with a slight emphasis on the question that told Rachel there was more to it.
“I have, twice now. The air didn’t agree with me.”
“Ever make your way to New Mombasa?”
“Once, on my last visit. I didn’t stay long.”
Rachel saw the space pirate clench her fist. From where he was standing Judge wouldn’t have seen it, but Rachel did. That was the third trace of a genuine reaction she had seen from the space pirate since Judge showed up.
The pirate stood up suddenly and brushed some invisible dirty of her dress. “You two obviously have more to discuss. Rachel, its been a pleasure chatting with you. I hope to see you again later.” She then looked to Judge, but didn’t say a single word as she left.
He stood there and watched her stride away on long legs. “How unusual.” He said to himself.
Rachel stood and joined him at his side “You noticed it too?”
“Maybe, her behavior seemed strained, was she like that before?”
“No, her mask was perfect until you showed up. Her questions about Earth were very suspicious, like she already knew you had been there and was just confirming something.”
“Yes, but as to what she was looking for I don’t know. We couldn’t possibly have crossed paths, she would have been just a child when I visited.” His brows furrowed as he searched his memory.
“Why did you go to Earth?” Rachel asked suspiciously. Despite what her cover story suggested she had never once been to her species homeworld, and hopefully she never would. She had seen images of smog covered skies, run down shady neighborhoods, and toxic green rivers that looked like they could melt flesh.
“It was back when I first started looking into my brother. He stayed on Earth for some time before I discovered his depravities, I thought I might find some loose ends. But the city proved less than welcoming to a Coreworlder cop poking his head into their business, then the city erupted in riots and gang wars. I tried a different approaches after that, but then a terrorist attack brought a sky elevator down on half the city and the federal forces responding to the carnage told me to leave the planet immediately.”
She had heard about that; it was one of the key arguments her father used to encourage a more serious long term police force on Earth. He didn’t really care about the crime or terrorism; he just knew that a more permanent Union police force would mean more purchases of his deathworld excursion suits. A recent product his company had developed that would allow normal people to operate on deathworlds in comfort.
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“Did the pirate say anything interesting?” Judge asked changing the topic.
Rachel blinked “What?”
He looked her with stern disapproval “You’ve chatting with one of our prime suspects, one who is entirely unaware of your role as Station Security. Surely she must have said something with her guard down.”
That had never even occurred to Rachel, she had just had candid conversation with a suspect in a high-profile case. She had been too concerned with finding away out of the awkward situation. “A few things, some of could be BS.” She began slowly as she organized her thoughts. “I’m not so sure certain she’s a space pirate though. Or at least not a dedicated one.”
“That’s a curious way to phrase it.”
“She explained a few details about her business practices that I’ll need to verify, but it seems to me that she running a legal operation that could be confused for space piracy. From the sounds of it she uses armored cargo ships to move cheap product down sketchy space lanes. The ship’s fight off any potential pirates and she then sells her product at a huge markup that’s just slightly cheaper than competitors. I don’t expect everything to be completely above the board, but it seems much more lucrative than space piracy.” Rachel explained.
She had met more than a few Human space pirates before and knew what they were like. Astarte and Karega had definitely tripped her danger sense, but not in the same thuggish way those pirates had. It felt more in line with someone who did a lot of business in dangerous industry than a criminals.
“An interesting theory, but it doesn’t explain Kera’keck’s suspicions.”
“It would explain why their here in the heart of Unity’s high society, most space pirates don’t make to these kind of places no matter how much money they steal. Besides, this wouldn’t be the first time some provincial station chief thought he found the most nefarious crime syndicate of the century. Remember that chief from Wrethren who was up on the net talking about some Guthulu cartel, we looked and couldn’t find anything. Turns out he made it all up to try and work his way into a cushy job on Serenity’s anti-drug task force. This might be the same thing.”
Judge frown deepened “I still have my doubts about that. But your right, they might not be space pirates. There’s just too many little details that doesn’t line up with the pirate theory. If they’re just some thuggish seeming entrepreneurs then that puts our suspicions back on Amaterasu”
“Which means we’re still at a dead end” Rachel murmured.
“But if not,” Judge began before stopping himself.
“What?”
He took in a deep breath that he let out through his nose. “One way or another this Astarte woman is intimately involved in our investigation, and they have already proven hostile to any law enforcement officials. As the Arbiter you wont be able to get much from her, but as Rachel you might be able to gleam something vital when their guard is down.”
Rachel froze as she remembered exactly where she was standing. She had relaxed with Judge around, but she was still in the lions den. “You want me to try and get closer to her as Rachel. Will you be here for the next event?”
“It would be best if I didn’t, she seems suspicious of my presence. It’ll be like going under cover. You’ll be all on your own, can you manage that?”
Rachel tried to swallow, but her throat was dry. “Yeah, I can do that.”
He nodded “Good, then you best speak with your mother, tell her some of what you learned so that she might try and use you again.”
Rachel nodded her head and began to make her way back to the main residence. She had been a little lost earlier, it had been so long since she lived here that the whole building was a mystery to her. But now that she had walked to the fountain she knew exactly how to get back. As the noise of the party came into earshot she felt her anxiety climb through the roof. Not only did she need to come here due to her mother’s blackmail, but now Judge needed her to saddle up to a woman who may or may not be a space pirate, and was definitely more troublesome then she was worth. The way she put Rachel off kilter and made herself conscious about stupid things like her almost dwarfish height, or her patchy complexion. She could already feel herself getting upset.
Rachel made sure to skulk in her usual spot so that Alexandra could find her easily. Right on time Alexandra emerged just as Rachel spaced looked.
“You were gone for quite a while; did you have a good talk?” her mother asked, almost innocent if it wasn’t for the slight teasing tone in her voice.
“Yeah” Rachel murmured more to her chest than her mother. This part wasn’t an act, the teasing tone in her mother’s voice had made Rachel avert her eyes in shame. “I take it you didn’t get past Karega’s defenses.” She said quickly, turning things onto her mother.
She frowned, well not really. Frowning caused wrinkles, and her mother at nearly 60 was self-conscious about that. But her lips and eyes took on a slightly dissatisfied look. “Nothing, we may need to arrange you two to meet again and try to get something out of him.”
“Wont work” Rachel said with a soft shake of her head. Being paired with Karega wouldn’t allow her to get any relevant info, she needed her mother to keep arranging situations for her and Astarte to be alone together.
“Why not?”
“Because Karega’s the face of the company, Astarte is the mastermind.”
Alexandra tilted her head to the side. “Your telling me that Karega is little more than a talking head?”
Rachel shook her head “No, he’s like dad. Still makes decisions and has his roll to play, but isn’t the linchpin to their success. Astarte… she’s like you. If you want anything out of them then you’ll have to get someone to probe her for info.”
The moment she was done she knew Alexandra had taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. It was always a good bet to try and play her ego and arrogance against her.
“And how are you so sure” her mother purred like cat about to pounce.
“Got her talking about her ship, they undercut Coreworld companies by making dangerous runs in heavily armed ships. Just look at the ship they came in on. She seemed very proud of it and its guns.”
Alexandra’s eyes glittered “I see, and what did you mean by someone?”
Rachel faked a scowl “I mean you need to get someone to talk to her some more.”
“Why would I need someone else when I have you.” her mother purred.
And like that Rachel had played her mothers ego against her and got everything she wanted. She remembered from her childhood that the best way to get Alexandra to give her anything she needed to make it look like her idea first. Bonus points if she thought Rachel would hate it.
“I’m not your puppet, find someone else to steal your business partner’s secrets. I come to your parties, but that’s it.” Rachel snapped, the venom and bile in her voice coming easily.
Alexandra’s eyes glittered at the challenge. “I think you’ll be that you are my puppet dear. You’ll go where I want, do what I want, and talk to whomever I want. Unless you want me to spill your secret to all your police friends. Imagine the disgust in their eyes when they learn about what you are.”
Even expecting a sharp retort from Alexandra, Rachel was momentarily stunned. The pathological need for her mother to control everything was especially strong with her own daughter, and she had been expecting that. What she hadn’t been expecting was deep set loathing that crept into her mother’s words. Rachel had seen it from time to time when her mother let her own mask fall just a bit, and it still hurt her just as much as it had back. From the moment Rachel was born this women only saw her as a tool to be used and hadn’t a shred a maternal affection.
Rachel looked down “Fine, can I leave now?” she murmured.
Alexandra put her invisible mask back on and resumed the appearance of a gracious host. “Yes, I think you’ve been about as useful as you can be tonight. Go home to cramped apartment and wait for my next call.”
Rachel said nothing as she left, didn’t look at anyone as she left, and certainly didn’t check to see if Astarte was back with her business partner.
She picked up her coat and purse from the coat check attendant, made sure her handgun was still in her purse, and left without another word.
She checked out entirely on the ride down the silver tower’s, barely registering the change from bright day to dark night as she left the cores perpetual daylight. The residents of Silver Tower city saw that she was in a foul mood and gave the displeased Deathworlder a wide berth, she made sure to hurry along so that she could avoid any overzealous Station Security from pegging her as a potential danger.
She didn’t wave to her doorman as she walked into her building and continued to blank out on the long ride up her elevator.
It was only a deep seeded instinct in the back of her Deathworlder brain that told her something was wrong. She looked down and saw that the sock she had left in front of the door had been moved.
Rachel stepped back and pulled her gun out of her purse, just in time to avoid the blade that ripped through her door.