Read Online Chains of Redemption by Selina Rosen - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Selina Rosen
Tags: Science-Fiction
Ads: Link
made of her jump out of hyperspace. She found no data to indicate that any ship had entered Reliance or Argy space from 'the frontier.' Certainly there was no data to indicate that RJ's ship had surfaced anywhere in charted space. No unauthorized landings, no audio contact, nothing. For all intents and purposes RJ was gone.
The New Alliance had apparently absorbed a bunch of Beta 4 humanoids that the Reliance had tried to build into an army to fight the New Alliance. The delightful irony of the news almost made Jessica laugh. The New Alliance had also absorbed the entire planet of Beta 4 and its orbiting satellite Pam Station into their growing empire.
David Grant had apparently stayed on Beta 4, no doubt to act as an ambassador for the New Alliance on the newly acquired planet.
Pam Station had been the last place that RJ had been 'alive'. As such, Jessica badly needed to hack into the system there. It turned out to be harder to breach this system than it had been to get into the Reliance military mainframe because of some New Alliance system code named MARGE—Jessica was still trying to figure out what the letters stood for—which kept putting up blocks. It wasn't until she tried a completely different approach—actually with the help of Argy technology—that she was able to get through at all. When she did, she finally had the information she most needed.
Jessica had expected RJ to be accompanied by Poley, but she'd known very little about the man named Levits and even less about the man they called Topaz. Kirsty, the spy who had infiltrated the new Alliance and handed Alsterase to Jessica on a silver platter, had known very little about them, because RJ had never actually trusted the girl.
Jessica took awhile to digest that thought.
If RJ had given in to her instincts and killed Kirsty on sight, things would have played out in a totally different way. The variables boggled even Kirk's mind. It was, of course, all immaterial. Grant had bought the girl's act, had bargained for her life, and from that point on all their fates were sealed for better or worse.
But RJ hadn't trusted Kirsty, so she'd hidden things from her. Kept her away from the "Inner Circle" as much as possible, and therefore limited her contact with Levits and the mysterious Topaz. She'd been able to pull up Levits' service record, which was one of the reasons Jessica was surprised to learn that he'd gone with RJ into space. She hadn't been able to pull up any record on anyone named Topaz fitting his description in any Reliance system. As far as the Reliance was concerned he didn't exist, which wasn't at all surprising for a resident of Alsterase.
Even Jessica couldn't have guessed at the truth. As she read the log of one Lieutenant Stratton, she learned not only why Levits had put aside his fear to follow RJ, but also just why Topaz had no record. She wasn't sure that she believed all that she read concerning him, but it was obvious that Lieutenant Stratton did. Jessica found Stratton's telling of her brief but mutually beneficial meeting with RJ and her people enlightening on several counts.
When she was done reading it, Jessica knew everything she needed to know about Levits and Topaz, and in fact everything she needed to know for the next stage of her plan.
They were all the Reliance coins Jessica had left. She sat in the middle of the floor bending them over the links of the chain she had found in the mines. Right was watching her with a carefully curious expression on his face. Finally when he could stand it no longer he asked, "Jessica . . . What in hell's name are you doing now?"
She looked up at him, pulling a look of doom over her face. "It's the chain I built in my life, link by link, and yard by yard I made it. See how cumbersome and heavy . . ."
"What on earth are you going on about?"
"Illiterate swine," Jessica mumbled and went on working on her task. "Millions of
The New Alliance had apparently absorbed a bunch of Beta 4 humanoids that the Reliance had tried to build into an army to fight the New Alliance. The delightful irony of the news almost made Jessica laugh. The New Alliance had also absorbed the entire planet of Beta 4 and its orbiting satellite Pam Station into their growing empire.
David Grant had apparently stayed on Beta 4, no doubt to act as an ambassador for the New Alliance on the newly acquired planet.
Pam Station had been the last place that RJ had been 'alive'. As such, Jessica badly needed to hack into the system there. It turned out to be harder to breach this system than it had been to get into the Reliance military mainframe because of some New Alliance system code named MARGE—Jessica was still trying to figure out what the letters stood for—which kept putting up blocks. It wasn't until she tried a completely different approach—actually with the help of Argy technology—that she was able to get through at all. When she did, she finally had the information she most needed.
Jessica had expected RJ to be accompanied by Poley, but she'd known very little about the man named Levits and even less about the man they called Topaz. Kirsty, the spy who had infiltrated the new Alliance and handed Alsterase to Jessica on a silver platter, had known very little about them, because RJ had never actually trusted the girl.
Jessica took awhile to digest that thought.
If RJ had given in to her instincts and killed Kirsty on sight, things would have played out in a totally different way. The variables boggled even Kirk's mind. It was, of course, all immaterial. Grant had bought the girl's act, had bargained for her life, and from that point on all their fates were sealed for better or worse.
But RJ hadn't trusted Kirsty, so she'd hidden things from her. Kept her away from the "Inner Circle" as much as possible, and therefore limited her contact with Levits and the mysterious Topaz. She'd been able to pull up Levits' service record, which was one of the reasons Jessica was surprised to learn that he'd gone with RJ into space. She hadn't been able to pull up any record on anyone named Topaz fitting his description in any Reliance system. As far as the Reliance was concerned he didn't exist, which wasn't at all surprising for a resident of Alsterase.
Even Jessica couldn't have guessed at the truth. As she read the log of one Lieutenant Stratton, she learned not only why Levits had put aside his fear to follow RJ, but also just why Topaz had no record. She wasn't sure that she believed all that she read concerning him, but it was obvious that Lieutenant Stratton did. Jessica found Stratton's telling of her brief but mutually beneficial meeting with RJ and her people enlightening on several counts.
When she was done reading it, Jessica knew everything she needed to know about Levits and Topaz, and in fact everything she needed to know for the next stage of her plan.
They were all the Reliance coins Jessica had left. She sat in the middle of the floor bending them over the links of the chain she had found in the mines. Right was watching her with a carefully curious expression on his face. Finally when he could stand it no longer he asked, "Jessica . . . What in hell's name are you doing now?"
She looked up at him, pulling a look of doom over her face. "It's the chain I built in my life, link by link, and yard by yard I made it. See how cumbersome and heavy . . ."
"What on earth are you going on about?"
"Illiterate swine," Jessica mumbled and went on working on her task. "Millions of
Similar Books
