The lift arrived, thankfully empty, and she stepped inside. Using her override as station security chief, she triggered the privacy setting so she could ride to her level in peace. Sure, it was an abuse of her power, but right now, she really didn’t care. Leaning down, she finally gave in to the demands of her body and rubbed her leg just above the damaged knee joint.
She was only ten floors up, so the lift was there before she knew it. Stepping out, she trudged down the hall toward her quarters, keying in her code at the door. A cold chill washed over the back of her neck. She looked up sharply, sure someone was following her, but the corridor was empty.
Huh. She must be more tired than she’d thought. Shaking her head, she stepped inside and let the door slide shut behind her. Her personal quarters consisted of three tiny rooms: a bedroom, a bathroom, and a combined living and kitchen area. There wasn’t enough room to swing a cat, not that she could afford something expensive like a pet. Fortunately, she didn’t need much room, never had.
The pain in her leg ramped up to critical. She groaned as she flopped into the chair in front of the desk. Instead of the painkillers tucked into the top drawer, she reached for the bottle by the side of the console screen, pouring herself a generous measure.
The console beeped, indicating an incoming call. She groaned as she recognized the caller ID. Catherine Archer-Russell. Her mother. Great, just what she needed after the day she’d had. Punching the answer button, she plastered a wide smile on her face.
“Hi, Mom.”
Her mother appeared on the screen, a neatly dressed woman in her mid-fifties although she would never admit to her actual age. Instantly her gaze cut to the glass in Eris’s hand, and her scarlet lips pursed in disapproval.
“Eris… don’t you think it’s a little early for all that?”
Eris gritted her teeth and managed to keep the smile on her face. She’d been a disappointment to her social-climbing mother since the day she’d been medically discharged. Especially under the conditions she’d been discharged. The accident that had taken her out of active service had brought the company who’d manufactured the Scorperio units under investigation… The company her mother’s husband part-owned.
Taking another swallow, she hissed under her breath as the whiskey burned all the way down to her stomach. It wouldn’t deal with the pain, but at least it might allow her to fall asleep tonight.
“Why? The sun’s over the yardarm. Somewhere. What do you want, Mom?”
Her mother settled back down, her outfit perfectly coordinated with the cream leather of her couch. “Can’t I call my favorite daughter occasionally?”
“I’m your only daughter.”
Catherine waved dismissively. “Have you heard from Eric?”
And there it was. She should have known her mom had only called for something to do with Eric. The golden child. Eris’s twin brother and the shining star of the Archer family, he was a doctor of something or other—something so complicated Eris’s eyes glazed over if she was ever forced to use his official title and area of specialty. Her mother liked to say he was the whole package—brains and looks to boot.
The problem was, he was an utter dick. And that wasn’t even said with sibling affection. Eris wouldn’t be in the same room as her twin if you paid her.
“Not recently, no,” she deadpanned, taking another sip from her glass. And by recently, she meant in the last four years or so. “Probably got lost in research again. You know how he is.”
“Oh yes,” her mother trilled. “Of course. He’s so busy, so many projects… he must be under so much pressure.”
Eris tuned out, making inroads into her whiskey as she let her mother wax lyrical on her favorite subject until the glass was empty. Then she smiled.
“Great talk, Mom, but I have to go. Got an incoming alert. A security chief’s job is never done, you know!” she said, imitating Catherine’s trill and making sure to add her official position in there. It always shut her mother up.
“Oh yes, of course, love. You know… I could talk to your father—”
“Stepfather.”
“—talk to your father about getting you a position with the corporation closer to home.”
Eris kept her gritted teeth behind her pleasant smile. Over her dead body. There was no way she’d go work for Max Russell even if her life depended on it. The guy was slime with a capital S. She always felt like she needed a month-long bath in bleach every time she spoke to the guy. She had no idea what her mother saw in him.
“I really think…”
“No need, Mom. I…” Sensing that her mother was working up to one of her tirades, Eris went for the one thing she knew would get her mother off her back for a while. “Well, there’s a guy here and…”
“Oh!” Surprise and then delight filtered across her mother’s surgery-enhanced features. “Why didn’t you say so! I have been so looking forward to grandchildren! Who is h—”
“Gotta go, Mom. Needed on duty.”
Eris cut the call and slumped back in her seat, running her hand through her hair. Then she groaned and looked at the whiskey bottle. First the doc and then her mom… bad luck always traveled in threes. What else did she have to look forward to?
2
Coming down here when she’d been drinking was never a good idea.
Eris walked down the corridor in the bowels of the station, heading for the storage units. This wasn’t a civilian area, so she didn’t have to worry about watching her back or some asshole trying to pick her pocket. Most of the light-fingered crowd on the station knew that
