Forgotten

Prologue

            "No. You can't do this!"

            A woman's tear-streaked face, blanched with desperation, stood out in the darkness of the night. "This was not—Bureaucrat, please!"

            "Don't worry." The bureaucrat's voice, cool and soothing, cut through the woman's sobs. "Your daughter will be just fine."

            "You can't take her away from me," the woman hissed. "If you take her away from me, I swear you'll regret it as long as you live."

            The bureaucrat looked down at the child in her arms. The baby girl was swathed in a pink blanket, eyes quite expressionless. "And that's where you're wrong," she said finally, looking up at the other woman. "I don't think either of us will be regretting anything when this is all over." She laughed, as if this were a private joke.

            "You have no right to do this! Federation law—"

            "Unfortunately for you, Mrs. Kilton, I am Federation law. Back on the street, I have two armed guards just waiting for my signal. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. "

            "We don't have to do it at all." 

            The bureaucrat looked up, searching for the source of the new voice. The porch light of the house behind the crying woman turned on, and a broad-shouldered man strode out the house's front door. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded, marching up to stand beside his wife.

            The bureaucrat ignored him. "Both of you are perfectly familiar with the law," she spat. "I am well within my rights! Your daughter goes to the west. You've known this for weeks. I will not stand for this—you will give her up or face criminal charges for resisting a federal official."

            The man facing the bureaucrat leaned forward and leered into her face. "You don't know what you're up against, Bureaucrat. We'll find her."

            The bureaucrat glared back at him just as fiercely. "I'd be surprised," she snarled, "if you even remembered her."

            And with that, the bureaucrat turned and walked swiftly down the driveway, the Federation emblem on her jacket glowing ominously in the moonlight.