Free The Enclave (The Verge) by H.M. Clarke Page A

swung her legs out of the bed and felt the cold night air cause goose bumps to rise on her naked skin.  Cradling her head in her hands, Katherine waited until the memory of her nightmare left her body.
    Shit.  They’re back.
    As she rubbed her eyes, Katherine realized that she was in a strange room, in a strange bed.  Looking over her shoulder, she saw the naked form of a man sleeping soundly in the bed.  Joshua.
    Katherine smiled, her dreams momentarily forgotten.  He was h er first since the death of Brent.  Katherine felt a little guilty in using him this way, but she would never see him again.  He had helped her forget who she was for a time.  She leaned across the bed and kissed him lightly on the cheek.  He stirred, a small smile touching his lips but did not wake.
    Slipping quietly from the bed, Katherine went into the lounge where their clothes were still scattered and quickly dressed.  She took one last look around the apartment before leaving to go back to her ship.
     
     
     
    Chapter
    eight
     
    Joshua Val Myra sat stiffly in his chair.  As the only available representative of the Val Myran leading family he had been elected to put forward the asylum claims of his fellow refugees.
    The members of the Council of New Holland sat in a semi circle around him behind a continuous desk.  Joshua ran his eyes again over the faces of the twenty nine councillors.  They were a mixture of men and women of various ages most of whom looked friendly and welcoming.  A handful of councillors varied from distained to downright hostile, and the chief among these were the man that had introduced himself as the First Councillor.
    Adam Chandler was a figure not well known in Val Myra or much of the Northern Hemisphere.  He was new to the office and since the trouble began in Val Myra, their usual media reporting was censored by the Alliance.  At first glance, Chandler looked a different type of man to the last First Councillor that his father dealt with before he died a year ago.  Hopefully this First Councillor will be as understanding.
    But the man who sat quietly behind him in the senate chamber Joshua knew very well.  Robert Prockter had been Val Myra’s main New Holland contact and he had conversed regularly with his mother.  Thoughts of his mother suddenly sharpened his musings.  At this moment she is in the care of the New Holland Medical Centre being treated for a plasgun wound to the head and numerous other injuries too hideous to think about.  It made him think of the woman who had saved her from death during their escape from the city.  Joshua wondered whether the woman herself got out of Val Myra alive, he could not remember seeing her among his fellow Val Myrans and Joshua had made a point of trying to visit each family to ensure they were settled and being cared for.  Because of his mothers injures he had taken upon himself her mantle of leadership.  It was something he was not comfortable with.  And it did not help that she kept asking to see his younger brother.  Joshua could not bare to tell her that Daniel was missing, that he had let his broken brother down again.
    “Elder Val Myra,” the First Councillor had risen from his seat in the centre of the semi circle.  The acoustics of the place projected his voice to every ear in the room.  Even the public galleries, if they were full, would not need the earpieces that were commonly used in most large public auditoriums.
    “You have come to state your case for asylum within New Holland.  The Council has been assembled to listen to your claims and then to decide on the next course of action.”  The First Councillor looked around at the faces turned towards him.  Some of those faces showed open disapproval at his tone.  The Council knew his views and should be satisfied that he was being this polite.  “You may now present your case.”  Chandler sat back carefully in his seat making sure that his suit did not crease.
    Joshua