Stars of Blood and Glory by Joe Vasicek

of
others seemed to flaunt their baldness, with extravagant tattoos
that ran around their ears and down their long, hairless necks.
Several people stared at her, probably because she was one of the
only women in the place with a full head of hair. Then again, the
maid’s outfit might have something to do with it, too, but there
wasn’t much that she could do about that—at least, not until she
found a proper tailor.
    At the main concourse, her eyes
wandered until she caught sight of a gathering place of sorts.
Inside, people sat around a counter with several drinks in glass
bottles sitting on shelves against the wall. That would be a bar, she thought, a place where
commoners gather to drink. She walked towards it, bumping into a few
shoulders but otherwise making it through all right.
    “ Hello,” she said to the
bartender, taking a seat at the first empty booth. “I’ll take a
shot of Tajji Vodka.”
    “ Tajji Vodka?” he said. “What do
I look like, a Hameji general?”
    The men around her chuckled, while Hikaru
frowned. What was he talking about? All the starship captains on
the old adventure holos drank Tajji Vodka—it was the stiffest drink
she knew of. But if they weren’t going to give it to her—
    “ I’ll just, ah, take a beer
then.”
    “ Local or specialty?”
    “ Uh, local.” I guess.
    The bartender filled up a glass mug and set
it out in front of her. Before lifting it to her lips, she glanced
at the people around her. Several of them were staring at her, just
like they had in the terminal. Here, though, it felt a little
unnerving.
    A holoscreen on the far wall displayed a
local news program, with headlines scrolling silently across the
bottom. She took a sip of her beer and recoiled at the sharp,
bitter taste. So different than the palace—she loved it.
    “ Hey,” said the man next to her,
tapping her on the shoulder. He nearly made her drop her glass, but
she recovered quickly.
    “ Yes?” she said, turning to face
him.
    “ Do I know you?”
    She frowned. “I don’t think so.”
    “ Where are you from? You’re not
from around here, are you?”
    Her heart started beating a little faster, as
she realized that the people around her were starting to take
notice.
    “ I, ah, just came in about an
hour ago,” she lied. “Got to catch an inbound transport—just a
couple of hours.”
    “ You look like you’re from New
Rigel,” said another man, leaning in. “What do they call the main
planet? Shinihon, right?”
    “ Right,” she said without
thinking. The word no sooner escaped her lips than she realized her
mistake.
    “ That’s where!” said the first
man. “I swear, you look just like the princess. Doesn’t
she?”
    “ Yeah, she does.”
    They know who I am.
    Her face paled, and her stomach sank through
the floor. She rose to her feet, but the man put a hand on her
arm.
    “ No, don’t be shy. Here, let me
buy you a drink.”
    “ I—I’ve got to go,” she said,
shrugging him off. Before he could object, she turned to
leave.
    “ Hey!” shouted the bartender. “I
hope you’re going to pay for that!”
    Heads were turning now—heads were turning
everywhere. She fumbled in her pocket and tossed out a cash
datachip behind her, then broke into a run down the nearest
terminal.
    I’m such a fool, she thought to
herself, heart pounding in her chest. I’ve got to get out of this
place.
    Overhead, she saw some signs for private
shuttlecraft. She followed them down the terminal, to a wide
doorway just before a large observation window. People all around
her were staring, but fortunately the corridor inside was mostly
empty.
    A long row of kiosks and airlocks stretched
to the other side, where the corridor opened to another terminal.
She went up to the nearest kiosk that was still on and hit PURCHASE
SHUTTLE. The screen asked for her destination, and she hit the
buttons at random, choosing the secondary lunar L6 point. The price
flashed onto the screen, almost a hundred