Read Online Heart of the Nebula by Joe Vasicek - Free Book Online

signaling that he had nothing more
to say on the matter. “I requested the latest ballots from the
General Assembly a few hours ago. We’re about to enter the
starlane, so this is the last chance we’ll have to transmit them.
Care to transmit your votes along with mine?”
    “ Thanks, but I still feel
undecided about those measures. It’s probably best if I
abstain.”
    “ As you will,” said Lars,
pulling up the collapsible holoscreen from the surface of the
table. “Thanks for the chat. I enjoyed it.”
    “ So did I,” said James. He
rose tentatively from his seat. “But don’t underestimate the
Hameji, Lars. If this conference provokes them—”
    “ Believe me, James, if
there were any other way to save the Colony, I would be pursuing
that right now instead of this conference. But don’t worry. I’m as
skilled a politician as you are a pilot, perhaps even more. This is
my game—trust me.”
    James took a deep breath. “Yeah. All
right.”
    “ Take care, old
friend.”
    “ You, too.” But really, Lars—be careful.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Sara followed Captain Jarvis into the
captain’s quarters without a word. For the commanding officer of a
luxury yacht, Jarvis’s personal space was surprisingly bare. A
small, neatly kept bed sat unretracted in the corner, with a modest
computer terminal next to it and a small wallscreen adorning the
opposite wall. It alternated between pictures of Jarvis’s two
daughters, both of them grown. There were no portholes or
windows.
    “ Do you spend a lot of time
here?” Sara asked as the door hissed shut behind them.
    “ Not especially,” said
Jarvis. She pulled down a chair from the wall and motioned for Sara
to have a seat. “But it is nice to have a place where I can
separate myself from my work. I’m sure it’s the same for your
father.”
    Sara nodded; that much was certainly true.
Growing up, her father’s work had always seemed to come between her
parents. Her mother wasn’t as good at separating out the personal
side of her life from the political, and her father’s approach was
perhaps a bit too compartmentalized. It was one of the many things
that had led to their divorce the year Sara had started at the
academy. Thinking about it made her want to change the subject.
    “ Have you filled the
lieutenant and his copilot in on the details of the mission
yet?”
    “ I have,” said Captain
Jarvis, pulling down the seat at the computer terminal. “The two of
them have spent most of the last two days meeting with the rest of
the diplomatic staff. Have they met with you yet?”
    “ Not yet. That’s strange,
wouldn’t you say?”
    Jarvis nodded. “A little bit, certainly. The
lieutenant has spent quite a lot of time with Lars in particular. I
know that the two of them are old friends, but I can’t help but
wonder if they’re plotting something.”
    “ I know,” said Sara with a
sigh. “Lars Stewart has been a thorn in my father’s side for years
now. If he’d known that the two of them have such a close personal
connection, I doubt he’d have chosen the lieutenant for this
military escort.”
    “ You don’t think he foresaw
this?”
    “ My father knows a lot, but
he doesn’t know everything. He’s just as prone to mistakes as the
rest of us.”
    “ That’s not been my
experience,” said Captain Jarvis. “Your father is an extremely
shrewd man. He’s often four or five steps ahead of everybody. I
would be extremely surprised if this was a simple oversight on his
part.”
    “ Well, it certainly doesn’t
make my mission any easier.”
    “ That much is true. But he
always had the highest expectations of you. I’m sure he feels that
you’re up to the task.”
    For her part, Sara wasn’t so sure. Her
father had a habit of testing her, and she didn’t always pass. In
her second year at the academy, he had put her on the ballot for an
oversight committee, knowing full well that she’d have to push back
against claims of nepotism just to