Free The Thin Blue Line (The Empire's Corps Book 9) (v5.1) by Christopher Nuttall Page A

a freighter,” Helen said, finally. “They were talking about going out beyond the Rim, now their contract with the shipping firm has expired. And then they took a contract to ship items to Terra Nova.”
    Glen frowned. The weapons?
    “We had to take some staff onboard too,” Helen said. “I don’t think they liked me very much, because they kept glowering at me whenever they saw my face. But then they insisted I went down to the planet with them and they kept me in the warehouse and ...”
    She started to cry. Glen silently filled in the gaps as he stood and walked around to give her what comfort he could. Helen’s parents had picked up the weapons, probably from one of the less-controlled worlds on the edge of the Core Worlds, and transported them to Terra Nova, accompanied by a team of Nihilist commandos. And then, to make sure that her parents kept their mouths firmly shut, the Nihilists had taken Helen as a hostage and transported her down to the planet. Somehow, Glen rather doubted she would have remained alive for long after the Nihilists had finished with her. Helen’s value as a hostage had been shrinking rapidly ever since the weapons had been moved to the surface.
    But it still didn't explain how they’d managed to get the weapons down without being detected.
    Someone must have been slipped a very considerable bribe , Glen thought, although he knew the answer had to be more complex. He doubted there were more than a handful of officers on the orbital towers or spaceports who could have made sure the weapons slipped through without being inspected. Or did they manage to subvert an entire team of inspectors ?
    He sighed, then put the thought aside. The investigators would have to do the legwork, tracing the weapons back through the system until they uncovered the people responsible for letting them through the security screening and down to the planet. And then they could be interrogated thoroughly until they spilled their secrets, one by one. But it was unlikely they knew very much. They probably had gambling debts or other weaknesses the Nihilists had used to subvert them.
    “You’re not to blame,” he said, looking back at Helen. “You didn't know what they were going to do.”
    Helen met his eyes. “So why am I here?”
    “Because there is nowhere else for you to go,” Glen said. He took a long breath. “We can't leave you in the cells or hand you over to the Civil Guard. If you have to stay here more than a week or so, we can probably find you a foster family ...”
    “On the surface?” Helen asked. Her face twisted in disgust. “I’d rather die.”
    “I understand,” Glen said.
    He did, although he didn't want to say why out loud. Most children on Terra Nova were insufferable brats who, if they were half as smart as they thought they were, would be rated as super-geniuses who could devise the next generation of phase drives or starship weapons systems. Most of them would spend fifteen years of their lives in the educational system, then graduate ... and discover they were utterly unsuited to any form of proper employment. It was no surprise to him that they tended to either fall back on the Basic Living Stipend, and spend their time turning out the next generation of useless civilians, or turn to crime. What else could they do with their lives?
    And Helen wouldn't have fitted in at any of the local schools. As someone from a spacer background, she would be too smart, too independent-minded, for her teachers. She’d be held back, then probably marked down as a trouble-maker before she finished her first week in a planetary school. And she would probably be bullied, or worse. Glen wouldn't have dreamed of sending his children to a public school. He knew them too well.
    But it was harder and harder to find a private school that was actually affordable ...
    “I want my parents,” Helen said. Tears appeared at the corner of her eyes. “I want to go back to the ship and forget everything. I