[Celeste]

Waiting at the docking bay door, Moon shook his head. "I still don't like this. Can't Hope be interviewed remotely?"

"No," Celeste replied. "Remote would not be as credible. We just have to get in, do the interview, then get out, and nobody will even know we were there. I've used this place before for meetings."

Sighing, Moon nodded. "Alright, be careful and stay in constant contact." He pulled Celeste into an embrace, then hugged Gabriel and Hope. Into his daughter's ear he whispered, "I am proud of you. Do good."

To fit in, Hope, Gabriel, Eshe, and Celeste wore the loose coveralls in various colors typical of miners in the system. The side-arms that Eshe and Gabriel carried holstered at their waists were not uncommon for off-planet miners. They ducked through the docking bay passageway to a small non-descript mining shuttle piloted by two Free Dawn operatives. Coming into the Sion Outpost onboard the Firebird Rise was not an option, since the starship was on the watch-list of every Commonwealth world and outpost. Instead, it would remain safely hidden near a mined-out asteroid at the outer reaches of the solar system.

The operatives bowed low to Hope, each with a hand over their heart. One said, "Welcome aboard, Empress. It is our honor to serve."

Hope held her breath, apparently not expecting these gestures of devotion. But after a subtle nod from Celeste, she replied with a bow, "I thank you for that, gentlemen. Let's get underway."

While in route, Hope reached into a worn satchel and extracted a blue scarf and presented it to Celeste. "I believe this is yours."

"You still have it." Celeste smiled, stroking the soft material. Folding it, she then handed it back to Hope. "Empress Iona gave me this, but I think she would want her daughter to have it." Hope held the scarf in both hands, her eyes focused faraway. "What is it?" Celeste asked.

"It's just... I don't feel like Iona's daughter or the Empress heir." Hope turned up moistened eyes. "I am your daughter. I'm sorry I hadn't accepted that before."

Celeste drew Hope into an embrace and whispered, "I love you, Hope. I have from your very beginning." Separating, she said, "Bring the scarf along, we may need it to hide your face."

Within an hour, the Sion Outpost space station filled the forward display. The station was relatively small compared to most in the Commonwealth, serving as a base of operations for terraformers and asteroid miners. The lack of Commonwealth military presence and lax security had made it an ideal meeting place for Celeste in her previous role as Haven. Of more recent design, a dozen half dome habitat sections extended from a cylindrical core like mushrooms from a log.

The shuttle received permission to dock at one end of the cylinder section. Leaving one of the Free Dawn operatives behind on the ship, the others walked through the transit gate, the forged miner passes allowing them an easy pass. After doing so herself, Celeste showed Hope how to wrap a shemagh with the blue scarf, thus reducing the risk of identification by the station facial recognition system.

The station bustled with enough activity that few took notice of the group as they made way through the commons. Eshe walked close to Hope with a blank facial expression, continually moving her eyes back and forth. Celeste held back a satisfied grin. If these people only knew who walks among them.

Celeste led the others past a row of open-front shops that offered everything from mining supplies to flower arrangements. Several people browsed the offerings or haggled with the owners. They stopped in a wide lobby that overlooked a planet below. Scattered greens splotched the reddish-brown surface where terraforming work was ongoing.

Celeste motioned to a shiny metal table and chairs near the windows. "Wait here. I will find him."

"Are you sure he is coming?" Gabriel shook his head, holding out his viewer for all to see. A man with a slim face and short frizzy carrot-red hair shook his fist on the screen, ranting about Commonwealth trade policies. "He is broadcasting on the info-net now."

"That was prerecorded," Celeste replied. "He does that as a cover whenever we meet so others think he is in the studio."

Gabriel grinned while watching the antics on the screen. "Wow, he gets intense. Definitely not a fan of the Trade Consortium. I like this guy, but I'm surprised the Commonwealth hasn't shut him down."

"He gets in trouble sometimes." Celeste nodded. "But his scan-log is popular enough across the Commonwealth that they are afraid of public backlash. He is not so intense in real life." She tilted her head toward the far side of the lobby. "And there he is."

Celeste walked up behind a man at a beverage station, filling a cup with steaming liquid. A tuft of red hair peaked out from under a tight black skull-cap. "It has been awhile, Jordan."

He didn't turn around. "They finally have coffee here. Perhaps there is hope for civilization."

"I see your blog is as popular as ever."

"It has actually become profitable, too. I really should give the Commonwealth and Trade Consortium a cut, since they give me so much material to talk about, but I won't." He spun around and took a sip. "Good to see you, Haven. You are looking good, what I can see of you, anyway. Still won't let me see your face?"

Celeste smiled under her shemagh face cover. "A woman likes to maintain an air of mystery."

Moon's voice came over her hidden earpiece. "Should I be jealous?"

A subtle jerk came over Celeste, but the shemagh hid the flush in her cheeks. She answered the question in her thoughts. Only if it makes you woo me that much more.

Jordon's gaze drifted to his drink. He took another sip, then curled his lip. "The coffee has room for improvement." His eyes turned up. "You said you could get me an interview with this alleged new Empress, the one who suddenly appeared on Elysium?"

"There is no alleged, she is quite real. And what if you could also meet the alleged criminal Celeste Ciel? Would you be interested in that as well?"

His eyes widened. "Damn right, I would! But I thought she died years ago?"

"She is alive and well. You know better than to trust Commonwealth statements."

He asked, "So where and when can I meet these women?"

"Here and now. Are you ready?"

A small conference room off the lobby backside became a makeshift studio, one of several often utilized by miners and others for business transactions. Celeste had sometimes used them in the past to facilitate Free Dawn evacuations. A small webcam hovered head high, pointing toward two chairs. Celeste, Eshe, and Gabriel stood along the front wall near the door while the Free Dawn operative stood guard outside. Hope removed the blue scarf that covered her face and tied it around her waist.

After final adjustments, Jordon sat in one chair, facing Hope in the other. He said, "We go live in a moment. I need you to understand that I will challenge your assertions on behalf of my viewers."

Hope nodded. "I expect nothing less."

"So you claim to be the true heir of the Sol Empress?"

"I am."

He turned toward the camera. "We shall see. Live in three... two... one."

The camera focused on Jordon's smiling face. "Welcome Outlanders to a special edition of the Outland Report! As usual, we are live and unscripted, so you never know what is going to happen. Today, I have a very special guest. How special? That has yet to be determined." With a hand motion, the camera zoomed out to show both Jordon and Hope.

Jordon turned toward Hope. "Thank you for being here today. Let's get down to the core issue, shall we? You claim to be the true Sol Empress heir, the daughter of Empress Iona. Is that true?"

Hope pushed back her long dark hair and nodded. "It is."

"You are the same one who opposed the Trade Consortium on the Elysium colony?" A grainy video of Hope standing on a crate and delivering her speech at Elysium appeared as a separate window in the transmission.

"Yes. That was sort of my coming out appearance."

Leaning back in his chair, Jordon tightened his lips. "I'm sure you understand that women claiming to be the Empress appear all the time, and some skepticism is appropriate."

"Of course."

Jordon reached down and pulled up a satiny silver cylinder with a clear glass end. "Do you know what this is?"

"It is a Signet test device," Hope answered. "A genetic test to see if a person is a direct descendant of the Empress. I already passed the test on Elysium that Priestess Lauren administered."

"Then you would not mind taking it again for the benefit of our viewers? I borrowed this from a Sol Priestess."

"Bring it on!"

Eshe jerked up at the appearance of the cylinder and narrowed her eyes. After a moment of confusion, Celeste realized the concern, and a tingle crawled down her spine. Jordon may have told someone about this meeting, but surely, he would be more careful than that. Eshe cupped her mouth and spoke something into her hidden microphone. Apparently satisfied that all was well for the moment, Eshe nodded to Celeste, but maintained a suspicious look.

All eyes turned to the device as Hope held it aloft. After a tense moment, a faint blue light appeared within the clear disk on one end. It grew more intense, washing the white walls of the room in electric blue. When Hope handed the Signet back to Jordon, the light faded away.

Celeste grinned at Jordon's tongue-tied wide-mouth reaction. He had expected her to fail.

"Umm... I..." he stammered.

Hope put on a sweet smile. "Did I pass the test?"

Regaining his composure, Jordon asked, "How is it possible that you are a direct descendent of Empress Iona? She and all her daughters died in a terrorist attack?"

"Well, that is quite a story. Until recently, even I did not know of my heritage. I was just a girl from a small far-away colony, growing up with a brother and a sister. We were triplets."

Gabriel waved from behind the floating camera with a grin. Jordon's eyes widened. "A brother? An empress has never had a brother."

"She does now."

Jordon nodded. "This must be quite the story. Please do tell."

After a moment of thought, Hope began. "It all started well before I was born with a group of Sol Priestesses gathered around Empress Iona's deathbed. One of them was Celeste Ciel." Jordon's eyebrows raised at the name drop. "And it involves corruption at the highest levels of the Trade Consortium, especially Chairman Gideon Diego, and the Commonwealth. They did everything they could to end the Line of the Empress." Hope narrowed her eyes to slits and hissed her words. "They murdered my sister, Faith, and nearly me."

Jordon sat spellbound, something Celeste had never seen before in the blogger. Hope took a deep breath to calm herself. The moment of silence hung. Hope glanced at Celeste, who responded with a subtle nod.

Hope grinned. "But perhaps the story is best told by Celeste herself. She was my birth mother."

Celeste released her shemagh, exposing her face and the Sol Priestess mark on her neck. She stepped forward in front of the camera, dragging a chair with her. Jordon's jaw dropped again, and words failed him.

Two mouth-gapes from him in one day. That alone makes the trip worthwhile.

Moon's voice spoke over Celeste's earpiece. "Damn, this is dramatic! Sai says viewership across the Commonwealth is in the billions."

"Hush Moon," she whispered in response.

"You... You are Celeste Ciel?" Jordon sputtered as Celeste sat down beside him.

"Alive and well." She responded, leaning forward. "Just about everything the Commonwealth has said about me is untrue. Let me tell you what really happened..."

Over the next half-hour, Celeste told the tale to an astounded blogger and countless people, including damning accusations against Diego, the Trade Consortium, and the Commonwealth leadership.

"That is incredible." Jordon shook his head. "Do you have proof of all this?"

"We have a wealth of evidence," Celeste responded. "The first of which is the Sol Empress heir seated beside you."

"So then--" Jordon furrowed his forehead at the static on a monitor. He jumped up and examined the camera. "We've been cut off from the info-net."

Moon spoke over the earpieces. "Commonwealth warships just appeared around the station, at least seven of them. Some are moving to dock. You need to get out now!"

Eshe drew her pulse pistol and jumped to the door, opening it slowly to peek out. "Soldiers!" the man outside shouted. The sharp twang sounds of pulse rifles firing ruptured the calm, followed by shouts and panicked screams. Eshe slammed shut the door and engaged the locking mechanism. She turned to Celeste. "Please tell me you have another way out of here."

In the past, Celeste had selected this room specifically because it did if trouble came. She pointed to a low panel at the back of the room, behind the chairs. "There! That will take you to a utility service aisle. Go to the right."

"Gabriel, you first. Hope, you follow," Eshe commanded, standing tall. "Now!"

Swinging the panel open, Gabriel crawled in. Hope looked back as she entered, her eyes wide.

Tilting her head toward the panel, Eshe said, "Go! We will follow you." Hope scurried in on her hands and knees. Eshe squeezed half-way in the hole, then turned her eyes back. "Celeste, after me."

Celeste bared her teeth and turned, eyes narrowed in accusation toward Jordon. In response, he held up his hands, shaking his head, saying, "I did not tell anyone. I swear."

Softening her expression, Celeste nodded. He would not intentionally betray me, but they must have been watching him.

A blinding flash and explosion ripped through the door, spraying fragments and orange sparks across the room. The force slammed Celeste against the back wall, taking the breath from her, and she grimaced at the dull pain in her chest. Having taken the explosion's full brunt, Jordon slumped down a wall, screaming in pain as his hands covered a bloodied face.

A black spherical object the size of a fist bounced across the floor, spewing clouds of bluish smoke from small pores. The vapor scratched at Celeste's throat and made her mind swirl. She pulled herself to the open panel.

"Protect my children!" Celeste called out to Eshe, then pushed the panel shut. Pulling herself up, she leaned back against it, hiding the escape route with her body, perhaps to buy them a few more precious seconds.

She silently pleaded to whatever deity would listen. Please keep them safe.

Celeste touched the ear that held the hidden communicator. "Moon?" her voice cracked. "Are you there? Please..." There was no reply, only faint static.

In the back of her mind, Celeste always knew that sometime her fight would end, and that others would carry on. But she didn't expect the desolate loneliness that gripped her heart. The very worst part, though, was a broken promise of love. With consciousness fading to darkness, she had one last thought: I am so sorry, Moon.