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his fancy uniform. There was also<br />
something disturbingly familiar<br />
about the uniform too, but Niatti<br />
couldn’t figure out just what it was.<br />
“An extraordinarily talented young<br />
man,” said Seward. “When I picked<br />
him up, he was just released from<br />
the jail in Amjan, and they wanted<br />
to send him to work on mineral production,<br />
of all things. Now look at<br />
him. Barely twenty-two years old,<br />
and he’s already commanding my<br />
fleet. I’m telling you...”<br />
Antoine smiled at Niatti when<br />
he noticed her attention to him.<br />
Dream on, she thought. Then she<br />
understood what seemed so familiar<br />
about his uniform—it was the insignia<br />
on his sleeve. Where has she<br />
seen it before?<br />
“...those Coalition idiots wouldn’t<br />
dare to give me any more trouble. It<br />
took them some time, but now they<br />
finally understand who’s really running<br />
things in the system.”<br />
“No doubt about it,” Niatti’s<br />
mother agreed. “These people have<br />
to learn things the hard way.”<br />
Then Niatti finally remembered.<br />
She stormed at Antoine with a<br />
scream, scratching his face with her<br />
well-manicured nails. Antoine began<br />
fighting back. Her mother grabbed<br />
her as Seward did Antoine, struggling<br />
to break the two apart.<br />
“Niatti,” her mother hissed, “I<br />
don’t know what you think you’re<br />
doing but...”<br />
“This man killed daddy!”<br />
“Calm down right now, or else<br />
I’ll—”<br />
“Look at the insignia on his uniform!<br />
It’s the same one that appeared<br />
on those ships that—”<br />
The slap on Niatti’s face wasn’t<br />
strong, but it was enough to silence<br />
her. She looked at her mother<br />
through tears.<br />
“Go to my office and wait for me<br />
there.”<br />
Niatti blinked to make her tears<br />
go away. She wouldn’t let Antoine,<br />
Seward, or her mother see her cry.<br />
Just before leaving the platform,<br />
she noticed that the insignia from<br />
Antoine’s uniform also appeared on<br />
his ship. Seward’s ship.<br />
***<br />
The ship that finished the docking<br />
process was old and rusty. It seemed<br />
at home among the platform’s noisy<br />
generators and leaking pipes. But<br />
the officer who came out—an impressively<br />
tall woman whose short<br />
grey hair, ironed uniform, and shiny<br />
ranks stood in sharp contrast to<br />
her miserable-looking ship—didn’t<br />
seem to mind.<br />
“It’s actually above the standards<br />
we’re used to,” she said, amused.<br />
“I’m very sorry...” Niatti checked<br />
her board “Colonel Chen. I’m afraid<br />
all the other platforms are occupied.”<br />
“No need to apologize or make<br />
excuses, my dear. We’re already<br />
used to the fact that reasonable<br />
platforms are reserved for paying<br />
customers, good platforms are reserved<br />
for well-paying customers,<br />
and luxury platforms are reserved<br />
for the criminal types. The garbage<br />
platforms are reserved for us the...<br />
how does your boss call us, anyway?<br />
On other spaceports I hear ‘parasites,’<br />
‘vampires,’ ‘fleas.’”<br />
“My boss isn’t such a colorful type.<br />
For her, you’re all just ‘scams.’”<br />
The Colonel laughed. “How very<br />
disappointing. Anyway, we get sent<br />
to places like this all the time. What<br />
did you do to get the punishment of<br />
handling us?”<br />
“I’m kept out of VIP platforms till<br />
further notice. But handling VIPs is<br />
the real punishment. I’d rather work<br />
with people like you.” Niatti’s board<br />
beeped. “Everything looks okay. Tell<br />
your people they can get off the ship<br />
and settle in. You know the rules—<br />
no wandering outside your assigned<br />
platform, and you need to check<br />
with me before leaving.”<br />
The Colonel raised an eyebrow.<br />
“You don’t intend to check our cargo?”<br />
“I just did.”<br />
ISSUE <strong>53</strong><br />
“I mean, physically. Board our<br />
ship, see if we’re not hiding anything.”<br />
Niatti tapped her board. “You<br />
gave me your cargo manifest. That’s<br />
enough for me.”<br />
“And your boss knows that you<br />
show such trust in Coalition Patrol<br />
personnel?”<br />
“My boss never bothers to get<br />
down here herself, so she’ll never<br />
find out.”<br />
“Still, what would you do if it turns<br />
that we brought some weapons<br />
with us to get rid of some problematic<br />
people in your VIP platforms?”<br />
Niatti’s voice grew cold. “Let me<br />
know if you did. I’ll be glad to show<br />
you the way.”<br />
The Colonel laughed again, and<br />
patted on Niatti’s shoulder. “I’m<br />
sorry, dear, but we didn’t bring any<br />
weapons with us here this time.”<br />
She frowned. “We really need to<br />
do something about these people,<br />
someday. But until then...”<br />
She smiled again. “We have some<br />
merchandise we confiscated from<br />
smugglers. We didn’t report it, and<br />
we need to get rid of it before we<br />
get back. It just happens to be the<br />
kind of merchandise that our cook<br />
can work miracles with. So how<br />
about it, dear? You feel like joining<br />
the scams for a luxury dinner? I can<br />
promise you something at least as<br />
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