EG 3 Ch 35 (Patreon)

"I'm glad our meeting was able to go so well," Megumi said as she stood.

Calise doubted that this was anyone's definition of a good meeting, but kept that perspective to herself with a polite smile resting on her face. "I'm glad that's the case," she said, as the nearest terminal chimed once, twice, and then a third time, indicating an emergency communication.

"Apologies. It seems I'm needed." She stood up and tapped the terminal. "What is it?" She used her best annoyed-duchess tone. One that tended to work quite well.

"Two ships just JACKed in next to us," the voice on the other side said.

Calise felt her face drop into a contemplative frown. "Identity?" she asked.

"One's bearing the Imperial seal, and the other is very clearly from Horizon Corp."

To confirm the report, Calise tapped a familiar set of keys on the terminal as the screen switched to an outside view of the ship. Sure enough, a uniquely pristine white Horizon ship appeared, complete with the logo, as well as a battleship from the Empire.

She glanced over at Megumi, only to see the kikai she'd been negotiating with to be completely calm. Most would panic with a military vessel from another faction suddenly hovering over them.

"Patch me through," Calise said sharply, as the screen flicked to another image. This one split in two. On one half was the imperial captain in full dress uniform, standing at attention, while the other was a corporate man, complete with suit and tie, leaning back in a captain's chair with a glass of whiskey in his hands. His poker face was immaculate, and so Calise focused on what she could affect the most.

"Captain, I didn't know to expect any company, and I have a kikai delegation aboard. I do hope you aren't here to cause any trouble." She stated.

The captain somehow, despite the height of the screen, managed to stare down his nose at Calise. "You've got a situation. Your guests there might even be able to assist," the military man said. "From the data in your investigation, we've identified one of the potential crew members to be the terrorist Melgara Nagaree."

Calise shook her head. "She has the same name, of course. That fact sent alerts through our own investigation," Calise said quickly. "However, we have seen official reports that Melgara died in Horizon custody. And this one appears to be substantially younger while sharing some resemblance. At best, it may be a relative." She didn’t need them sticking their noses into her own mission. Horizon was as cut throat as they came and the Baron would not survive their attention.

"While we understand your concern, we've decided this requires an additional level of caution," the Horizon suit interrupted.

"As I'm certain your investigation has made you aware," the imperial captain said, with a dour expression that made it clear he didn't care whether she was aware or not, "Melgara, after her crimes, was held only briefly before being committed to Horizon Corporation, so that her mind might be used for the good of the Empire."

The suit nodded. "And we have taken wonderful care to honor that arrangement. Given the nature of this woman we must apprehend her and verify her identity."

"However, her body was identified and she’s been declared dead," Calise pointed out.

"Melgara's particular skill set would make her more than capable of faking her death to such an extent," the suit said, his hands steepled before him. "Thus, we've decided to take a personal hand in this investigation."

Calise set her jaw, staring at the man in the suit, before her eyes flicked over to the Empire's investigator that was simply letting him run the show. They were contradicting themselves, claiming she was dead without a doubt and yet crossing the galaxy to apprehend someone of the same name. Did they think they could simply trample over a dutchy with simple doublespeak?

Horizon, of course, was cocky for good reason. That white ship he had arrived in could take on all of the others present, simply by the nature of that white hull itself. For as long as Horizon had been active, which at this point had been thousands of years, they had managed to create a hull plating that not only protected the ship through many dangers in space, but could absorb significant amounts of energy.

As a result, the corporate ship was essentially immune to laser fire and anything but a direct missile hit. They'd held the technology proprietary and, since humanity left for the stars, had managed to keep the science a secret. They fiercely protected their information, which Calise assumed was why a woman with a striking resemblance to their researcher Melgara and the same name was now being hunted across the galaxy.

They were that viscous in protecting their R&D projects. Who knew what else an interplanetary terrorist would be working on. Probably the kinds of projects that they could execute her afterwards to keep it a total secret.

Beside her, Megumi twitched and began checking a communicator. "I'm sorry, there's something that needs my attention." The Kikai smirked, and Calise felt her skin crawl at the smugness in the woman's face.

This whole call had been an embarrassment.

Calise had just been well and thoroughly run around, and now she needed to somehow regain control if she were to bring the young Baron back. She needed him to reclaim his territory for their family's allies, even if the Baron himself never sat in the seat.

But now her retrieval of the Baron tied into the kikai and apparently Horizon with different objectives. Getting him out alive was only getting more difficult. There was more to this story, and how her young fiancé had managed to get himself this deep so quickly was beyond her.

She stared at the suit. Even with JACK drives, Horizon wouldn't have sent someone on an errand like that. Either Melgara was actually that dangerous, or there was something Calise was missing.

"As someone who's been investigating this for several months, I would like to stay on," Calise said even as Megumi stepped out of the room with the most haste she had seen from the Kikai since she entered the ship.

"Unfortunately, you are being requested back home," the Empire's captain stated, letting a small smile appear on his face.

Calise grimaced. "I still have too much to accomplish here, and given the Baron's presence, I think my dutchy should remain involved. He is one of ours and it would be a poor appearance to abandon him at this juncture."

"The Baron is no longer a priority." The imperial captain clearly stated where the Empire now stood in the current matter.

"Is this Melgara really that important?" Calise asked, somewhat horrified that another one of the Baron's crewmates apparently was incredibly dangerous. But the reaction was still outsized.

"Duchess," the captain snapped. "It is not your place to question. Please return to the Empire at once. If you have any further questions, I'm certain they can be discussed upon your arrival."

His image winked out, leaving Calise with the suit.

The man grinned, tapping his thumbs together. "I expect a data transmission with all of your notes from your months working on this investigation." Fucking leech for taking all of her work as his own.

Calise bristled as he cancelled the connection. She stood alone in the room, staring at an empty screen and trying to process everything she had just learned.

Letting out a shriek, she grabbed a cup off her desk, spun, and hurled it hard enough against the wall that it shattered to pieces.

"A fucking corporate leech," she groaned. "Of course, just like you lot to sweep in once the work's been done and demand the lion's share of the profit. You even want me to help you ruin my own mission." She tapped at the terminal several times before her mother appeared on screen. Her face was already set into one of resignation.

"Well, I suppose they've gotten your attention now, haven't they?" her mother said.

"When did you learn?" Calise asked, her tone shifting at the sight of her mother. No one disrespected her.

"About two minutes ago." The woman, who only looked old enough to be Calise's elder sister, gave a sad shake of her head. "We can't fight this one. Something about this Melgara has gotten even the Emperor's attention. And we've got multiple executives from Horizon leaning into the present situation as well. Give it up and come home. Perhaps we'll find you a few other handsome men to let you bounce back from this failure."

"But the Empress," Calise started, knowing that she was, for whatever reason, a fan of her bethrothed.

"Has personally signed off on this outcome," Calise's mother interrupted her. "Let it go, dear daughter. He's not worth it, and giving up on this perhaps will give us leverage on his territory. After all, he was engaged to you before the disappearance. We can adjust and make a petition to the Empress on the grounds of taking this chance away from us. Making this smooth transition might even give us the leverage we need."

Calise ran her hands through her hair. "I don't like to lose, Mother."

"Then consider this a good lesson in loss. Burn it into your mind, and perhaps in the future you can stop another event like this. But we can't fight this, dear." Her mother's gaze was hard enough that it felt like someone had placed shackles on Calise, before the young duchess let out a sigh and dipped her head.

"Allow me time to make several reports to the Horizon representative and then I need a small vacation." Calise squeezed out a smile, and her mother's gaze saw right through her attempt.

"I expect you back within two weeks, or I'll have the fleet bring you back." Her mother stated.

The connection ended, and Calise slumped to the ground, her back dragging along the wall behind her as she tucked her head into her hands.

"Duchess." Her door swooshed open as the captain of her ship stepped in, saw her on the floor, and froze.

"Report," Calise said, exhaustion dripping through her tone.

"Yes. I apologize," her captain said, and cleared her throat, turning slightly.

"Just the report, please." Calise held out a hand, gesturing for her to continue.

"Right. Both ships have left. We're being asked to send a report over on our investigations."

"Start drafting it," Calise said, glancing at the woman before her for a long moment. "Make sure it is as detailed as possible. Really, take all the time you need. I'd rather it take long enough that they start asking us to hurry, but be sure to be so thorough that there isn’t a single message triple checked before sending it over." Calise grinned as she stared up at the captain to make sure her meaning was coming across.

"Of course." Her captain nodded slowly.

Calise let out a sigh. "As for everything else," she waved a hand, "we are currently forbidden from doing anything further on the investigation. However, if you wish to verify a few pieces of information, I believe that's only pertinent to ensuring we provide the best report possible."

"Anything else?" the captain stood at attention.

Calise stared off into the far distance. "You had something on Melgara in your research. Remind me," Calise said, turning.

"Wanted terrorist. Sixty-eight billion deaths attributed to her."

Calise nodded. She had forgotten the exact massive number, but recalled how shocked she'd been that a single person had managed to do that much damage to the universe.

"Remind me how, again." Calise leaned forward.

"She managed to poison a drug supply, it was for a key medication needed on recently terraformed planets. Treatment for lingering microbes from the terraforming that infect various populations," her captain said, with a faint glance out of the corner of her eye, as if the spooky mad doctor might hurt her.

"How credible does that actually seem?" Calise asked.

"Credible enough, if I'm honest. Mainly it's motivation. She's from Metera Eight." The captain informed her.

Calise's eyes grew distant as she tried to place the name.

"It was one of the more famous health care schemes," her captain reminded her, and Calise snapped her fingers.

"Right. New world made reliant on a single provider, who then jacked up prices until there were riots," Calise said aloud, thinking through the history herself. "I thought most of them died. The health care schemes," she clarified.

"You're correct. This one was different. Some people on the ground managed to develop cures on their own, so it developed differently for some reason. But ultimately, it was revealed right around the time that Melgara managed to poison multiple worlds. Really, she could be credited for bringing awareness to the scandal."

"Well, that's a fantastic reason for some of these people to go after her," Calise said, rubbing her chin.

There was something more to everything happening. She could feel it, just at the edge of her thoughts. The temptation to dwell on it and try and get there herself was immense, but Calise knew simply thinking about it wasn't going to get her any farther. They needed more facts.

"Well, if she's that smart, no wonder the Empire wants her firmly under lock and key, and Horizon might want her back. Honestly it’s terrifying that we could have been chasing after someone like that. But she's too young to be her." The duchess shook her head. "I think this is an excuse for someone to dig in. Unless Melgara discovered and escaped with the fountain of youth." The duchess laughed, and so too did her captain.

"If reversing aging was possible, I don't think the Empire would have let Horizon hunt her on her own. No, we'd have a full fleet of Inquisitors with us, chasing down your betrothed's ship. And we would have already brought him back, if nothing more than to work as a cover while they run off with Melgara."

"It's never the tip of the blade that you have to watch," Calise quoted her mother. Imperial politics never came directly at you. There was always a side angle they were working. "Anyways, don't you have a report to write?" Calise asked. "Please inform me if there's anything that needs to be verified, and we can, of course, move the ship to track any last details down."

"Of course," her captain said, and bowed.

Calise paused and let out a sigh. "And please don't enter my room without knocking again."

It was good for her to remind the captain of her place, lest she forget it when someone more important was in the room.

"Of course. I'm sorry, Duchess." The captain bowed quickly, with a faint look of fear on her face.

Calise waited for her to leave, knowing that she had spoiled some of their friendship. But it was necessary. She had a position and certain requirements that came from that position. It was best if the captain did not forget the difference between them.

Once again, she felt alone on the ship as she navigated her way through the mire that was her life. She had been actually a little excited to build a relationship with another noble, one whose position to her could cut through quite a bit of the bullshit, someone who could have understood her and been candid with her.

She had wanted a partner. She had been willing to share her world and herself with him, and he had the audacity to make her chase him. Her expression grew hard. All the man done was cause her headache after headache.