Crisis Management

Dev leaves her own world knowing that her future lies elsewhere. She joins the Citadel where her strength can be useful, but is useful enough?

Dev’s talent makes her unwanted on her own world, so she chooses to join the Citadel in an effort to find another where acceptance will be offered.

Helsin is the physician who tests her talent and when he confirms her strength, he offers her a position in the Lowel Citadel, a base that is still in the planning stages.

Dev becomes the first employee of Lowel Citadel, based in the Udell base and trained by the Sector Guard. With a resume like that, it is no wonder that on her first assignment she is told that she has a talent for crisis management. Her living arrangements are crisis enough.

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Please purchase
only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Crisis Management

Copyright © 2012 Viola Grace

ISBN: 978-1-77111-375-5

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Devine Destinies

An imprint of eXtasy Books

Look for us online at:

www.devinedestinies.com

Crisis Management

Tales of the Citadel 12

By

Viola Grace

Chapter One

Devani Jarix was hard at work when a voice behind her jolted her out of her zone of numbers and data.

“Dev, aren’t you going to be late?”

Dev looked up and saw Tish loitering in the entrance to her cubicle. Blinking, Dev looked at the clock. “Oh hell. Thanks, Tish.”

She got up, grabbed her jacket and smiled. “Wish me luck?”

Tish snorted. “You don’t need it. You are a lock.”

“Let’s see what the Citadel recruiters think.” Dev walked past her and down row upon row of cubicles until she reached the lift.

She bit her lip and breathed through her nose as she entered the lift. “Oh, hello, Mr. Simithan.”

Her supervisor moved to the back of the lift when she entered and cowered against the corner. “Ms. Jarix. What are you doing here?”

“I took this afternoon off, remember? It’s the Citadel recruitment fair at the convention centre.”

“Oh, right. Good luck with that.”

Dev gave him a tight smile. “Thank you.”

She pressed the button for the lobby and waited as the lift stopped on the third floor to let him off. She nodded briefly and waited to reach the main floor to make her escape.

The security guards wished her luck, and Dev smiled and waved weakly. There was no choice really. She had to do something to get herself out of the spotlight here on Bahi. She had been in the news four times in the last two years, and it was becoming awkward to even go to work.

Dev hiked to the rail station and took the train into the city. The Citadel recruitment fair drew plenty of hopefuls to the convention centre, and she was one of the plodding masses.

Dev stood in line and fidgeted, keeping her mind blank. There were a few empaths in line with her, as well as one or two uncontrolled telepaths, and she really didn’t want anyone strolling through her mind randomly.

She shuffled forward with the others in minute increments until she was finally facing the registration officer.

“Hello, miss. May I have your name?” The woman’s skin was a soft pale pink and her baby blue eyes were soothing.

Dev cleared her throat. “Devani Jarix.”

“Devani, what do you believe your talent to be?” The woman’s fingers were poised over the icons on her data pad.

Dev looked around and relaxed when there was no one near the kiosk. “Um. I am bullet proof and I can lift large weights.”

The woman raised her brows. “How large?”

“Two tons is my current limit.” Dev shifted from foot to foot.

“Are you willing to prove your talent?”

Dev nodded. “Yes. There are also local news reports that should be easily accessible.”

“You have been in the news?”

“Not willingly, but yes. I seem to stumble into trouble.”

“Just a moment.” The woman’s fingers moved rapidly, and she raised her brows with an impressed expression on her features. “I see. You will be meeting with a recruiter immediately. Please take this locator and have a seat through those lavender doors.”

Dev took the palm-sized disk and walked past the other kiosks, smiling when she realized that she couldn’t hear anything as she passed. The kiosks were soundproofed.

She pushed open the lavender doors and walked into the waiting room with the small disk in her hand.

There were some chairs set along one wall but no one else in the room. Dev took her seat and waited. A door on the other side of the room opened, causing Dev to raise her head.

It was male, tall andwearing an armoured body suit in black and gold. “Devani Jarix?”

“Yes.” She got to her feet and noted the width of his shoulders. Two of her could stand side by side and might just be the same width.

He smiled and his scarlet skin darkened against the white of his teeth. “I am Helsin, please come with me.”

He gestured for her to walk with him, and she paced at his side as they entered the door he had come through. He spoke again. “While ostensibly this is a recruitment drive for the Citadel, we are looking for those who can work in concert with Udell base. The nearest moon has a new Citadel outpost and having additional members available to help in a pinch is always useful.”

She nodded as if his words made sense to her. They didn’t.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I am taking you for some medical testing to determine the extent of your talent. Most of those applying today are weak talents, at best. To find someone who has your skills is remarkable.”

She spoke, “Don’t be too impressed. The press put it all out of proportion.”

He smiled and his bright yellow eyes sparkled. “And yet you mentioned being impervious to projectile weapons in your initial statement. That shows some pride.”

“It shows desperation. I have no social life here, my friends keep their distance, the requests for interviews are constant and I have no inclination to live my life as a law giver when it has to be a life alone.”

“Why must it be alone?”

“No male of my acquaintance was comfortable with me after I moved the bus to free the passengers. I am regarded as a freak in my daily life, and I am tired of the stares and whispers.”

He paused, “So what is it that you seek at the Citadel?”

“I seek to be with exceptional beings who know what it means to be alone in a room full of their own kind. That’s all. Just the company of equals instead of being looked down on.”

Helsin smiled. “That we can do, ah, here we are.”

He opened a door, and she stepped into a large space that held a number of medical stations. The one he led her to held a large standing press that was designed to have a living being inside it.

“May I take baseline readings?”

She blinked. “You are a medical tech?”

“No, I am base physician for the Sector Guard Base Udell.” He smiled and flipped the navy blue braid of hair over one shoulder.

Dev hopped up on the scanning table and followed his small touches to place her limbs in the proper position.

“Excellent. Hold still please.” He started the scanner and a beam of light caressed her, coasting from her head to her toes.

She waited until he shut off the scan and asked, “It can read through my clothing?”

Helsin smiled. “This scanner was designed by Fixer and assembled by Tech. It can probably read through time if I find the proper setting.”

Dev chuckled and accepted his help in sitting up.

“Are you willing to test your strength?”

She blinked. “Oh, yes. Of course.”

She removed her shoes and walked to the press, allowing him to set the weight on her shoulders.

“Does removing your shoes help your talent?” He asked the question as the weight increased pressure.

“No, but it keeps them from being crushed under the pressure. Each time I used my talent in public, my outfit was ruined, and I need those shoes to get home tonight.”

He chuckled and the weight continued to press on her.

She felt the pressure, but it didn’t buckle her. Her limbs hummed as her talent surged to the fore, and she stood straighter than she had when the test began.

“Remarkable. You are generating a cellular compression field. Your body will not be crushed and if you tried, I imagine that you could lift the weight from your shoulders.”

She blinked. “Would you like me to?”

“Please, if you can without injur…whoa.”

Dev lifted the pressure plate straight up and stepped aside, lowering it to the ground. “Anything else?”

Helsin quickly moved to shut off the machine. “Um, no. That is quite enough. May I do a puncture test?”

She blinked. “Do you mean a needle?”

He fidgeted. “I have never asked a woman this before, but may I stab you?”

Dev laughed and she nodded. With a swift move, he brought his arm down, and whatever object he had in his hand shattered on impact with her skin. Unfortunately for Dev, it also cut a hole in her blouse.

“Well, that settles that. I was going to ask for a blood test, but it seems unlikely.”

Devani looked at him. “Move slowly. My skin only becomes impenetrable at higher speeds.”

Helsin nodded. He rolled up her sleeve and sterilized the crook of her elbow. As he slipped in the needle, he glanced up at her, his yellow eyes attentive to any signs of distress.

“It’s fine, Helsin. Or should I call you doctor?”

“Helsin is fine. May I take a skin sample?”

“Of course. I am in this for keeps. Take what you need.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, as if her words sparked something in him. “I will take what is necessary, but I can tell you that your body is exceptional, and you are accepted into the Citadel at Lowel.”

She blinked. “That easily?”

“Your body just supported more weight than fifteen average men could carry. That type of strength is welcome in service to the Alliance.” He paused. “Do you have any objections to military missions?”

“Um. I had not thought about it, but I suppose that that would be where I was most suited to be. Certainly. Military missions would be fine.”

His grin showed her teeth that were as sharp as they were white. “That is most excellent, most excellent indeed.”

Chapter Two

Devani cleared out her desk at work and packed her small apartment all in the same day. It was a little disappointing that human resources had taken a deep sigh of relief when she announced her immediate resignation. Tish hauled her out for drinks on the first day, but two days after she had gone to the convention centre, she was on her way off Bahi for the first and last time.

The Sector Guard shuttle was sleek and fast. It cut through the atmosphere effortlessly.

“Why are there no other Bahi candidates on this shuttle?” Dev was seated next to Helsin.