Paredean Gambit
(Short story set in The Celestial Way ‘Verse, with a classical noir flair.)
Detective Commodo Ehror has arrived at a quandary.
Tonight was supposed to be a job like any other. Except the pay was higher than usual – much higher. The stakes weren’t far behind either. Blood already has been spilled in the rain.
Ehror has acquired sensitive data of a most intimate nature. Information hot enough to kill for… and spark a potential interstellar war. But worst of all, it was connected to his past, from which he had been running for years – and the race was over.
Now the question was whether he’d skip town quietly, or stay to do the right thing – and survive his choice, preferably.