Rachel slammed the door to Judges office just as she threw off her hood. Judge had jolted upright at the sudden intrusion, but relaxed for a second upon seeing it was Rachel. Then he tensed again once he saw her expression.

She didn’t bother to wipe away the scowl on her face as she strode across the room “You” she said as she leaned over his desk. “I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to be completely honest.”

Judge leaned back. “This is incredibly disrespectful.” He said calmly.

“It is, will you answer my question?”

His hawk-like eyes, the very same eyes Astarte had, skewered her with their penetrating gaze. “Yes.”

“Have you ever, in your life, ever had relationships with a woman? Even once just to try it?”

Her mentor blinked, and his anger faded. “Rachel, I have told you about my strange ‘urges’ before. They are why I had to give up my inheritance.” He said softly.

Her mentor had confided in her with the confidence she would never use this against him. She knew her question was a betrayal of that trust, but she had to be sure. “Answer the question.”

His scowl returned and he stood up and loomed over Rachel. “No” he said through gritted teeth.

“Ever donated semen?”

“No”

Rachel felt a wave of relief hit and she fell back into one of the two plush chairs. She wasn’t sure why the answer had been so important to her. Maybe it was because of how Judge had confided his secret in her. The idea that he had lied would have broken her. So knowing that Astarte wasn’t his daughter removed a rock from her chest.

He stayed standing, an angry vein pulsing in his temple. “What is this all about?" he asked in as level a tone he could manage.

Rachel felt guilty for how she had reacted. “We collected samples of Astarte’s blood and ran a DNA test. This is what we found.” Rachel explained while pushing over a data pad with Judge’s profile pick and the DNA match.

The DNA had matched with the sample of Judge’s DNA that were apart of the system’s database, but that didn’t mean that Judge was one-hundred percent Astarte’s father. It only meant that part of Astarte’s DNA was strongly shared by Judge.

He frowned and slowly sat down before lifting up the pad to scan its contents. His frown continued to deepen. “This seems highly coincidental. And strange.”

“My thoughts as well. I had to confirm whether there was any chance you could be her father to positively determine the truth.”

He scoffed, “I have never laid with any women, my father passed before this girl was born. And I have no living cousins, not here or on Earth. That leaves only one possibility.”

Rachel nodded “Your brother. And given what you have showed me of him I doubt he and Astarte’s mother were star crossed lovers.”

Judge rubbed at his chin as he thought, “And I believe our suspect is aware of some sort of connection. Her questions at the party make much more sense now.”

“Right” Rachel agreed. During the party Astarte had questioned Judged about whether he had been to New Mombasa. Astarte had to know there was some sort of connection between them. And judging by her reaction “You should probably assign more security to your home.”

“Why?”

“Because that whole night I couldn’t read any of her emotions, but when you arrived I saw several signs of anger. Given how your brother and her mother likely parted ways its entirely understandable if she would want to kill you.”

Judge considered her words and nodded “Yes, that would be wise.”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

They sat in silence, both contemplating the revelation. Rachel broke the silence. “Are you entirely sure she’s not yours. I’ve seen your brother, and she looks more like you than him.”

Judge snorted “I took more after our father than Kenzo did. It was always a point of contention. It seems that my meikko took after her Oji-san.”

Rachel nodded and they lapsed into silence again. “How does this affect our investigation?”

Judge thought for a long time “It doesn’t. Or it shouldn’t. If my niece is a criminal then I will do my duty and uphold the law.”

“Okay” Rachel said slowly “But what if she is a criminal, but one who can finally help us nail your brother. You said part of the issue is finding any living witnesses.”

“It is”

“So if we can only get one, who do we get?”

He didn’t hesitate. “My brother. He has far more impact on things than a supposed space pirate. We can leave her for the navy to handle.”

Rachel nodded “Okay, do we tell her then?”

He looked up “She already knows.” He pointed out.

“Yes, but she doesn’t know we know, or that its your brother and not you. She could be an aid in your case against your brother.”

“Or she can go off on a rampage and try to just murder him, and maybe even myself for good measure. She’s too much of an unknown factor to account for.”

Rachel wasn’t sure how she felt about that statement. She and Astarte had only interacted three times, once as herself and twice as the Arbiter, but she felt like she had a good sense for how she would react to things.

Rachel kept her thoughts to herself and nodded “So business as usual?”

“Yes, we still don’t know whether my brother and the family company are responsible for her visit. They might still be unrelated factors.”

“And if they’re not?”

“Then we’ll go from there if we have evidence. But we should probably keep a closer eye on her.” He paused and looked uncomfortable before sitting up “I haven’t pressed you on this issue since the attack, but are you still willing to get close to Astarte as yourself? As Rachel?”

She thought about it. Even when Astarte had seen her as the Arbiter she had pulled her along to safety, so it was unlikely that she would attack or physically harm Rachel. But there were other kinds of harm Rachel needed to protect herself from. Without much conviction or confidence Rachel nodded her head “I can do it.” she said softly.

“Good,” Judge said without looking towards her “then maybe you should reach out beforehand. Maybe even try to arrange a meeting with her before the next gathering.”

Rachel swallowed “You want me to arrange a meet up with the pirate before the party?”

“Yes, it might be a good chance to feel her out and build trust. If we can determine her intentions before hand then we can plan around her.”

Rachel felt her both try to sink through her feet and crawl up her throat at the same time. “Uhg, right, where would we meet up?”

“That’s none of my concern. See if she has any ideas.”

She swallowed “Right, I’ll uh, send her a message. I’ll try to keep it casual.”

~~~*~~~

Aster glanced down at her PA and frowned. “That’s odd.” She remarked absently.

“What’s weird” Alwen asked. “That you left for a simple meet up and came back with a green blade wedged in your arm?” the disgruntled doctor snarked while she grafted a piece of bone back into Astarte’s forearm.

The assassin’s blade had cut up her bone pretty badly and had remained lodged in her arm throughout her mad dash with the Arbiter. She hadn’t noticed it through the adrenaline and shock of the ordeal until Bones had pointed it out. Bones normally accepted that sometimes people just attack you out of the blue and wasn’t upset about that. What she couldn’t seem to get was how Aster hadn’t even noticed it, and had wanted to keep it intact as a souvenir.

Right now she had a magnifying glass up to her numbed forearm as was making personally sure that the chipped bone fused back to the original properly. Which was totally unnecessary.

“No, this girl I met at a party just asked me on a date.”

Bones didn’t bat an eye. “Whatever you do don’t go to Chion park, in my experience it will end with you getting brutally assaulted by law enforcement.” She muttered.

She seemed bitter. Maybe Astarte should arrange for her and Gato to visit a nice restaurant. Then again the last time Alwen went on a date to a fancy restaurant her date had died in a gun fight. Though he didn’t die until they went to visit a pub, so maybe it would be fine if they skipped that step. Or maybe she should have them go fully armed? She’d have to talk to Kar about that.

“Nah, we should be fine. She’s also a cop. In fact she just helped me fight off the assassin.”

This did get a reaction out of Alwen, the doctor paused her work and glanced up at Aster. “The one who doesn’t know that you know she’s a cop, and likely has a good idea about all the crime we commit on a daily basis? The Arbiter?”

“We?” Astarte asked.

“I’ve accepted my role in all of this.” She answered blandly.

“I see.” Aster answered, then gave Alwen a cheeky smirk. “And it’s not a crime unless you get caught.”

She didn’t look amused “So going out with a cop who might witness a crime would be an unnecessary risk?” She retorted flatly.

Aster opened her mouth to strike back, but then closed it. “You’ve got me there. But she’s got a really nice ass.” Aster said in a pleading tone.

“Well that changes everything” Alwen said in a voice so deadly serious that Astarte couldn’t help but laugh. “Hold still” Alwen groused as she gripped her to steady the movement in her exposed arm.

Aster calmed herself, though she was still smiling. “I think I’ll say yes.” She typed out a message and got a response back a little too soon for it to not look desperate. The next text was asking where, and following Alwens advice Astarte said ‘no parks’.

There was a pause as the ball rolled into Rachel’s corner.

Alwen kept working away at her arm, fishing out a few millimeter long chips of metal out of her bone and dropping them into a dish.

It was only once Alwen was gluing the bone back into place that Astarte got a response.

‘Admiral Tharadun just pulled into port after a conflict with the Kruhur for repairs and they’re doing tours of the Iron Tree.’

That text was followed up by another.

‘I thought you might like it since you have a ship’

Then another.

‘Never mind, that was a stupid idea’

Alwen sighed. She had been reading these last few texts as they came in. “You better respond before this poor girl calls the whole thing off.”

“Right” Aster agreed “You would think this was her first date with how nervous she is.”

~~~*~~~

After an agonizing wait a response finally came back from Astarte.

‘Nah, seeing a Union Battleship sounds cool. How about three days from now, I got a pretty bad cut that needs to heal first.’

Rachel let out a sigh of relief. “You were right, the fleet week idea worked.”

Judge nodded “Good, there are few other places with better security or surveillance.”

“Right, well I’ll be off now.” Rachel said as she stood up and left Judges office. A casual hangout with a probable space pirate arranged for three days from now. She would need to find something appropriate for smuggling in weapons. Maybe a skirt would hide a thigh holster?