The elevator pings as it approaches its final destination. The doors open soon afterward as a limping Marcus and I exit. We are greeted with another lobby, though this was really high up and only consisted of a single check point. As we scan our cards, we are able to grasp the full scale of this room. The lobby was at least 5 stores tall with open walkways and elevators. It would be safe to assume this was another lobby just for the admin offices. The other tower could be seen through the open windows straight ahead as well as the massive city skyline along our right. The colored lights from the adjacent buildings gave the lobby a pink hue as we walked through it. The walkway that connects the two buildings was straight ahead and was much larger on closer inspection than from the ship. Hundreds of people could be seen crossing it. We turned down a long hallway and followed it to the end until we arrived at our destination.
The tag next to the door had the initials, "B. Nassa."
I turn to Darrin and take him to the side of the door. A bit confused he backs off.
"What's going on?" he asks.
"Can you wait out here and keep watch?"
"Just...anything out of the ordinary."
He puts up his hands and nods his head. I turn back to the door and knock. A voice on the other side says "come in." I opened it. Inside was a bare bones room. Not many decorations were on the walls. There is a desk with chairs on either end with two men sitting in them. Papers were spread out across the desk and a single photo hung on the wall. It was me as a child, maybe five or so. I wore a red dress and laid in a bed of white flowers with Barrett next to me. He had a large smile on his face. I remember this photo. Barrett, mom, and dad took me to a sun festival on a planet called Harmonica. I don't remember much about the event, but along the equator of the planet there were these special white flowers. They were protected by the local government, but the story dad tells me is I charged into the flower bed with Barrett chasing after me, telling me to stop. Afterward, we took that photo and got the hell out of there. We were never caught.
Barrett smiles as I enter the room. Marcus follows behind and leans against the back wall. Barrett was an older gentleman. Close in age to dad, though he was the older brother. He wore a dark suit and pants. His skin was dark like mine and his build was very bulky. His arms could rival that of King Alex. His eyes were a dark brown and his short, buzz-cut hair was white as snow. His voice was deep and controlled, like dad's, but today, he was excited to see me.
"Demi Nassa. My favorite niece!"
"Hey Uncle Barrett."
"Give me a hug!"
Barrett embraces me in his arms and holds on tightly. He's tall enough for my face to plant perfectly into his chest. He picks me up and gently shakes me side to side, then places me back down. He turns to the other man in the room.
"Farday, meet my favorite niece."
"I'm your only niece." I said.
"More the reason why you are my favorite."
The other man stands up. He walks to me and shakes my hand.
"Nice to meet you." He says. "He talks about you all the time."
"I do not!" Barrett yells.
"Really? You remember the last time you told me about her…six hours ago."
Barrett stands behind me, silently staring at him. Farday grabs his things and makes his way toward the door.
"I am sure you will want to catch up with each other. We'll continue our meeting after lunch, ok."
"Yes sir."
Farday nods before smiling as he makes his way out the door. The door shuts and Barrett heads back to his desk and sits.
"Who's the guy? Your boyfriend?" He asks, looking at Marcus.
"No."
"Really? He's standing there like he is."
"His name is Marcus, my pilot."
"Pilot?"
Marcus exits from the wall and sits in the open chair across from Barrett. I sat next to him.
"How good are you?" Barrett asks him
"The best, sir." Marcus says.
"Interesting. Were you the one flying the Boseman?"
"Yes I was."
"Interesting. So then, what brings my favorite niece here to the embassy?"
I hope my breath for a moment. Preparing myself for the old wound about to be reopened. Barrett already picks up what's about to happen as he watches me fidgeting with a loose string on my skirt. He speaks softly. Atmosphere of the room changes instantly.
"What is it, little light?"
"I have something for you to look at."
I pull out one of the drives from my pocket and place it on his desk. He looks at it for a moment, then focuses back on me.
"What is it?"
"A recording. It's corrupted."
"Corrupted, you say. What's on it?"
I take a deep breath.
"Dad."
Barrett stares at me silently, like I was slowly registering our conversation in his head.
"Burt?"
"Yeah."
"Where did you find this?"
"It's a long story."
Suddenly, he had this look on him. One of pure dread and horror. He picks up the drive and studies it thoroughly.
"What is this for?" He asks.
"I am sure you know what happened in Sulis the last couple of weeks."
"The king's death?"
"Yeah."
"What does his have to do with the drives?"
"Turns out dad was put on the assassin's scent before this happened."
"What?"
"Yeah, him and his partner were investigating it. We suspect that the king hired him to do it."
"The King? Why would he order these assassination allegations be investigated by someone outside of his country?"
"Because he thinks someone on our end is collaborating with them."
Barrett falls back into his seat, dumbfounded.
"A traitor, on our own soil?"
"Thats who dad was looking for. His investigation led to a ship called the MLK Gridlock. It was smuggling cargo to and from Meklar, that's when the trail went cold."
"So that's why you need my help?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't tell me that." Marcus says. "I had no idea."
"There is a lot of things I need to tell you, Marcus."
"Anything else." Barrett asks.
"Yeah, one thing. I am looking for Jun."
"Burt's partner?"
"He fell off the radar 5 years ago, I can't find him."
Barrett logs into his computer and boots up a government site.
"Let's see what we can find."
He searches through his computer until something catch's his eye. He points at the screen, assuming I can see it from where I am sitting.
"Looks like he quit 5 years ago." Barrett says.
"Quit?" I ask.
"Yeah. We have nothing more after that, but we do have a last known, do you want it?"
"Yeah."
He prints out a page and hands it to me.
"He's on the artificial ring, section D. I have someone who can..."
"Don't worry, I have a pilot."
"Right..." Barrett says, squinting his eyes.
"What?"
"Anyways, get going, I'll let you know when I am done."