P: Deceptions

When Brendan caught sight of the girl who was waiting for them, he couldn't believe his eyes for a moment. Literally he couldn't believe his eyes. The girl he'd left behind him was apparently standing in front of him.

He sent a message to Rafaela asking, 'You're still aboard your ship, right?'

Her short, affirmative, reply arrived a moment later, while the girl visible in front of the group didn't react at all. When he silently asked the station for her identity, it identified her as the race entrant 'Cinderella', but not as Rafaela Donatella. That was an obvious error, even if her appearance was a disturbingly close match.

Doris Rian Donatella pushed the nervous looking Eks Corp Security team members aside and growled, "Cinderella!"

The girl with the distinctive bi-colored hair finally looked up from the screen that had been occupying her attention and smiled warmly. Brendan watched Doris flinch and had to repress his own smile as the imitation Cinderella said brightly, "I didn't expect to see you again so soon!"

Lief glanced at Brendan and raised an eyebrow. Brendan shook his head.

"Who in the galactic spiral are you?" Doris asked sharply as she narrowed her eyes.

The imitation's hurt expression was disturbingly convincing until she replied with a wounded quaver to her voice, that was probably being modified by the ribbon around her throat, "Why are you questioning my identity right after calling my name?"

"Your name?" Doris asked with a sneer that seemed to startle the man who had stayed put in the center of the security team. "If you think that's your name, you don't even know who you're pretending to be! What is going on, and where's the little Cinder witch who should be standing in your place?"

Brendan eyed the Nova Corp heir's startled expression, glanced at the girl imitating Rafaela, and back. For a moment he wondered if the man was really Arturius Nebel, but his attention was quickly drawn back to Doris Rian Donatella.

He couldn't help gazing at the scene Rafaela's stepsister was creating with unexpected appreciation, until the imposter raised a weapon. She shot the girl in front of her without hesitation, and Arturius actually took one step forward before the weapon centered on his chest. When he froze, Brendan tossed aside the vague suspicion he'd been forming, and Lief muttered a quiet curse.

Lief darted in front of Brendan, drawing the imposter's eye, though not her hand, which stayed focused on Arturius Nebel with a startling level of professional accuracy. A moment later her eyes widened as she almost visibly matched Lief to an identity in her memory library. When she took in Brendan's face over Lief's shoulder she flinched, and then glanced at the weapon in her hand. Her eyes moved back to Arturius, before sliding toward Brendan and Lief again.

"There's a misunderstanding," she stated.

"Arrest the imposter," Brendan told the Eks Corp team without any real expectation.

He was surprised when the leader of the team immediately stepped forward and tossed a tangler at her. The man opened his mouth, and fell over almost silently a moment later.

Brendan's eyes widened, and the imposter fired another half dozen rounds before the tangler finished wrapping her up securely. Even though she'd only had a few seconds to move, another Eks Corp Security officer fell, and after a moment so did Lief. His heart stopped for a painful moment, until the logical portion of his mind informed him that everyone who'd fallen in the last couple of minutes was still breathing.

Arturius didn't move, but Brendan didn't question it yet, instead he sent a string of silent orders to the station, using an override code that temporarily gave Eks Corp royalty administrative access. A moment later atmospheric doors began closing up every compartment and corridor within the section. The remaining Eks Corp Security officer panicked as lines flared into brightness across the floor. Brendan eyed the young woman with irritation, and then focused on his brother.

He had just carried the girl who'd beaten him at his own race to a medical station less than an entire day before, and his shoulders and knees protested as he knelt and checked his brother's vitals. Lief seemed unharmed, other than the small dart puncture. The fact that he seemed to have been almost instantly paralyzed except for his lungs meant that it was probably a nano shot rather than a chemical. It didn't mean that it was necessarily any less harmful to him, just that someone had intended to keep the gun's victims alive.

The station lit the way to the nearest medical emergency station, but to Brendan's surprise Arturius still hadn't moved. He stood again, and walked over to discover that the Nova Corp heir was also unconscious, despite having remained on his feet when the others fell. His eyes moved to the others as he requested three… four, no, five gurneys. The last one was for the imposter, even though she was merely tangled instead of unconscious.

--

Lief had gone into the first available medical pod, and the imposter into the last, but it was Arturius Nebel of Nova Corp who recovered consciousness first.

Brendan glared at the other corporation's heir suspiciously, and Arturius winced. Then his eyes widened as he looked beyond Brendan and checked his own connection to the station. Brendan knew about the check because the station was reporting it directly to him, even though he hadn't locked Arturius from regaining access.

"Why are you the only one here?" Arturius asked suspiciously.

"Why are you the first one awake?" Brendan countered.

Arturius almost obviously checked his own memory library, before replying warily, "I was out for over a quarter of an hour?"

Brendan had to check the station's time marker to verify that so little time had actually passed before he agreed, "About that, but everyone else that imposter hit is still out."

Arturius blinked at him, and then asked curiously, "Imposter? Doris was right?"

"Yes. Why are you with her?" Brendan replied sharply.

Arturius actually smiled as he informed the Prince of Eks Corp, "We are engaged."

"You weren't yesterday," Brendan pointed out dryly.

Arturius raised an eyebrow, and commented a bit archly, "I didn't know the heir of Eks Corp was taking such interest in my affairs."

Brendan had checked everyone's identities with their records when he placed them into the medical pods, and seen that the engagement had been registered on this station not long before his own engagement had been announced. He raised an eyebrow in return and asked dryly, "You didn't think that I would be informed when one of the top three entrants withdrew before everything was actually finalized, because she got engaged to the heir of another corporation instead?"

Arturius shrugged. "It had nothing to do with Eks Corp," he stated coolly.

"Then it had something to do with Jade Corp?" Brendan asked.

Arturius didn't answer, he just shrugged, and Brendan regarded him a little incredulously. Arturius lifted his chin and asked, "Whose is that imposter? What do you know about the girl that you promised to marry anyway? Maybe they are working together?"

Brendan glared at the taller man suspiciously for a moment. "No," he replied shortly.

The imposter was actually a girl registered as a SkyWater employee, but he didn't believe that it was the truth, if for no other reason than that anyone familiar with SkyWater would know who Rafaela Donatella was. Whoever had arranged her deception had obviously had access to her race registration and nothing else of significance. More disturbing was the fact that Arturius Nebel seemed to be suffering the same lack of information despite apparently having Doris, who had lived at SkyWater's main station for at least most of a year, seemingly under his control.

"How is Doris?" Arturius asked after a moment.

Brendan looked at him curiously, but replied, "She's in the pod beside yours."

Arturius actually walked over and examined the medical unit's display, as though he were genuinely concerned, even though he hadn't asked about her until now. Brendan watched him carefully, but the Nova Corp heir wore a neutral expression that didn't change as he observed the girl who still hadn't woken.