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ancient trees,
like those she'd seen on the Cloud when she was younger. She didn't
think she would ever see one. Their majesty and many twisting roots
were awe-inspiring. They thrust up, their bright green leaves
defied the yellow sand. The trees were bunched in close together.
Nova couldn't see past the first line; they spread out in a rough
circle, at least one hundred metres wide.
    Confederacy officers stood casually at
intervals around the area. Their guns were slung over their backs.
Their eyes flicked over the workers; they looked bored. The workers
chattered excitedly as they hauled machinery from the ships towards
the trees. All manner of tools were being transported to the
concealed area.
    Nova stared down at the Confederacy
soldiers, in their navy blue uniforms, and a shiver went up her
spine. There was something unnerving about the militant methods of
the Confederacy. Just the sight of the soldiers made her want to
retreat to Crusader. She couldn't though. She had no choice but to
complete the job and get paid, otherwise Crusader was likely to
break down somewhere in the middle of unchartered space, never to
be found again.
    She straightened her back and walked down
the other side of the hill. Sand spilled down in front of her feet.
Yelling voices erupted from below. She looked up to see Confederacy
soldiers sprinting straight at her.
    Nova laid her hand on her pistol and waited
for them to reach her. She clenched her fingers around the gun and
took a deep breath. She had to keep her temper; if she lost control
here all she'd get was dead.
    The Confederacy soldiers were breathing hard
by the time they climbed the hill to her side. Sweat poured down
their faces as they ripped their guns from their holsters. They
looked worried and furious at the same time. The three soldiers
shoved their guns into Nova's face.
    "What do you want, hunter?" the female
soldier said.
    "Who said I was a hunter?" Nova said,
jutting her chin and placing a hand on her pistol.
    "Who else would come sniffing around
Confederacy business uninvited?" the soldier said. "Search
her."
    The other two soldiers stepped forward. The
first took hold of her arms and pinned them behind her back while
the other snatched her pistol and handed it to the woman in charge.
He went to work tapping his hands over Nova's arms and legs. He
spent some time patting her chest while smirking at her.
    Nova clenched her teeth. Her face flushed
red and her breathing became ragged. She bared her teeth at the man
and strained against the guard holding her arms. If she had thought
she could get away with it, without ending up on a prison asteroid,
she would have smashed her knee into the man's face. Instead, she
tensed her jaw and waited in silence.
    He pulled out seven silver daggers and a
nine millimetre plasma pistol before he was satisfied and signalled
to his companion to let her go.
    Nova glared at the soldiers. "I want to talk
to whichever Confederacy puppet is in charge."
    "Well, I doubt he wants to speak with you,"
the female guard said.
    "Oh really, then I suppose you can all be
blown to a cosmic crap hole then," Nova said. She folded her arms
across her chest.
    The soldiers looked at each other,
frowning.
    "What's that supposed to mean, hunter? Are
you threatening us?"
    The female guard stepped forward and pressed
her gun against Nova's sternum. The hard metal hurt but Nova kept
her face steady.
    "Just a concerned citizen."
    "Start talking, or start walking."
    "Trust me, it's above your pay grade," Nova
said. She narrowed her eyes at the woman and shoved the gun away
from her chest.
    The guard's teeth clenched together and a
menacing growl echoed from the back of her throat. Nova tensed,
ready to duck the fist that was inevitably about to fly at her
face.
    It was obvious to Nova from their hesitation
that these were grunts, not qualified to make any decisions. The
fact that they were hesitating over whether to take her to the
commander said there was a fallible