No Good Deed

[Commissar]

Jana Achen

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"Let us be perfectly honest." Jana's voice was soft, conversational. She did not glance up from her novel. "Our current situation has nothing to do with young McFarlen's intentions, and even less to do with these threats. Whatever your capabilities, Mr Darklight," A smile darted across her face at the ludicrous name. "I very much doubt that you have the resources to single-handedly destroy this organisation. We do not have the ships to spare pursuing a vendetta with you and, even if we did, it's hardly a worthwhile use of force. Dragging weapons into this would gain both of us nothing but a new enemy."

Paper crackled in the silence as Jana turned the page. Sparks had inched closer to the door, shying away from the confrontation like a duck at a gun show.

"And you, Mr Darklight, strike me as a man who needs another enemy like he needs a hole in the head. So let's set aside the pissing contest, shall we?" She glanced at Freya, nodded, and continued without waiting for a reply. "Your contribution to the Widerstand's stores is appreciated, of course, and I'll see to it that you are fairly compensated for your efforts. However. The security of this installation remains our chief concern. A concern that neither Ms McFarlen or yourself appear to share."

"So, I find myself with a dilemma." Jana tapped a datapad on the wall, and a map of Frankfurt flashed into existence on the screen. Bruchsal was a dot of green in a sea of blood-red military patrol paths. The targeting arcs of planetary guns stretched out into the void like ripples in a ship's wake. "Do not let the walls of this facility fool you. We are far from safe here. We are far from safe in Rheinland. We are separated from military bombardment by nothing more than one leaked signal. One. For the past one hundred years, the Bundschuh has never been more than one poorly timed transmission away from annihilation. We may as well be children hiding under the bedspread."

True, in a sense. Bruchsal, like most of the Widerstand's installations, was capable of shifting its orbit to avoid retaliation. Had done so three times in Jana's lifetime, bombardment skating past into the deep black. When resources were more plentiful, the station had fired thrusters as a matter of course, routinely altering position to evade detection. That did not; however, mean it was easy. She closed the map with a tap.

"We do not have the freedom you do. We cannot simply pack up and leave when the military decides to come knocking. A security breach, any security breach, indicates a potential threat to the life of every person on this station." Jana detached the datapad from the wall, tapped a brief command. "Caution has been our watchword for over a century. So I trust you understand my discomfort when you treat our security as nothing more than a protocol that Ms McFarlen may ignore at her leisure."

Jana looked up from the book, brown eyes settling on Vaelin. "Please do not think I blame you for that. Most of those here, myself included, have spent our lives being hunted. It develops a certain way of thinking that, I suspect, is not entirely natural. It is not fair that you should be held responsible for what was, on your part, a mistake. Life, unfortunately, is not fair." Her gaze slid to Sparks, the young woman doing her best to meet Jana's stare. Eventually, she found something more interesting in the rivets on the floor. "And the same excuse cannot be extended to those who should know better."

She tilted in her chair to look at Freya, the Vorsitzende watching from her chair like a caged lioness. "This is hardly the first time that Ms McFarlen has risked this station. Arsenal, the incident with the Coalition. You've seen the same list I have."

"I never mean-" Sparks' began. Jana continued as though she had not spoke.

"Whatever her intentions, her actions have and continue to be a threat to the survival of the Widerstand." Perhaps it was something Klugmann tolerated. But I will not. She returned her attention to the book.

"I move for exile."

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May you live in interesting times.
| Sarah McFarlen | Jane Hartman |