darknadir

Dark Nadir
Sholan Alliance #5
Lisanne Norman
DAW Books, Inc.
Donald A. Wollheim, Founder
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
DAW Books
is proud to present
LISANNE NORMAN'S
Sholan Alliance
Novels:
TURNING POINT (#1)
FORTUNE'S WHEEL (#2)
FIRE MARGINS (#3)
RAZOR'S EDGE (#4)
DARK NADIR (#5)
STRONGHOLD RISING (#6)
Copyright © 1999 by Lisanne Norman.
All Rights Reserved.
DAW Book Collectors No. 1114.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
ISBN: 0-88677-964-2
Electronic format made
available by arrangement with
DAW Books, Inc.
www.dawbooks.com
Elizabeth R. Wollheim
Sheila E. Gilbert
Publishers
peanutpress.com, Inc.
www.peanutpress.com

This book is for Judith Faul Dumont, who is one of the very few people who can journey to Shola with me when I'm writing. Her help and support over the years have been tremendous as well as great fun.
It's also for her husband Chris, a very talented Game Master who's helped me solve a tricky problem or three over the years. Thank you both very much.
A few special thanks are in order, as usual.
To James Chorlton, aka Merlin, and Helen Lofting for letting me consult them on matters as diverse as the composition of space fleets and designing starships to tactics and very dirty tricks— and rescuing my computer when it crashes!
To John Van Stry for information on rearing large felines.
To Josh for his knowledge of military trauma medicine and ballistics.
Thanks also to the many friends who've sat and brainstormed with me at conventions— Sherrie, Keith, and Pauline to name only three.
And finally, thanks to Mike Gilbert for his drawings of my aliens which truly inspired me when I came to write about them.

Exclusive E-book Introduction

The title Dark Nadir was chosen not only to fit in with my theme of points of contact, but because of all the novels so far, this would be the darkest. Plotting was faster this time as I'd discovered a technique in a UK book called The Mind Map by Tony and Barry Buzan. It's like a flow chart from central themes and employs images as well as text to keep the creative flow going. It meant I could quickly and efficiently explore ideas and see how all the sub plots meshed together to get an overall feel for the novel. I could think the unthinkable in my plotting, like, "What would happen to the story line if I killed off this or that character," and explore the idea in a couple of hours rather than days of work.
Using this method, a plot and a scene by scene break down was quickly put together during the three or four weeks I took off after finishing Razor's Edge. Yes, I went straight on to the next one in my down time. Why? Because the longer I spend between novels, the longer it takes to get into the next. At the very least, I have to re-read the novel I've just finished writing to recapture the states of mind of my major characters. I actually end up reading each book about four times by the time I've finished editing and proof reading it. And when I'm doing the rework, ie tidying up any inconsistencies that have gotten past the first draft, I literally have to eat, sleep and breath for all my characters.
This novel presented me with its own set of Challenges, as a Sholan would say. Writing is by nature a lonely occupation - you can't afford to be distracted by the phone ringing during the day when you're working, and when you are on a roll and everything is flowing from your fingertips, you can't afford to stop, even if it gets way past your bedtime. If you do, you may never recapture that scene the same way again. Luckily I like working alone, but I also like working with others.
At the major British Science Fiction convention held every Easter weekend, I get together with my other writing friends and we have brainstorming sessions late into the night. It's the one place where if you need a geologist, or someone working on the European Space Agency, or someone in genetics, you know there is going to be someone from that field present. At just such a session, my friends Marsha, Pauline, Ken, Lynn and MaryAnn, and I worked on designing several new alien species. The Cabbarans were the product of just such a session the year before.
This year, I had to design the Chemerian home world and come up with four new species, the four who, along with the Sholans, had been enslaved by the Valtegans fifteen hundred years before. I always start with why the species went into space in the first place, then what goods they had to offer in an interstellar trading community, because trade makes the world go round— or the worlds in my case. We had fun designing them and our conversation wasn't always, shall we say, serious.
Once again I had to get information on genetics and pheromones and peptide packages— and if all this means very little to you, don't worry, I'm not completely sure I understand it fully myself, but I understood enough to be able to do what I needed to do in the novel. It was beautifully explained to me by another friend, Malcolm, using an analogy of an orange passing chemical information to chocolate, which made an impression on all us ladies as we all like the Terry's Chocolate Orange confectionary! Writing science fiction is complicated, and fun, but I like to keep my science as true to real science as possible.
I had one big corner I'd written myself into and that was the terror weapon that the Valtegans used to destroy the two Sholan worlds. I had no idea at all what they could have used that would kill every living thing on those worlds instantly, but until now, I could leave that problem parked at the back of my mind. Not any longer. We didn't completely solve the problem, but the germs of how it was done were planted and would grow to fruition by the end of the next novel.
The Valtegan ship, under General M'ezozakk, once ruler of Keiss, the Humans' first colony world, comes back onto the main stage in this novel. After landing at Jalna and selling the four Sholans for supplies and spare parts to repair his ship, and dropping off his family's mysterious holy object— the stasis cube— he'd not gone far. His ship was lurking close to Jalna, waiting for a U'Churian spaceship so they could get their hands on a Cabbaran sept of navigators with which to buy their way into the J'kirtikkian's world as turncoats to their own world of M'zull. They got more than they bargained for when they found Kaid's party on board. Then, out of nowhere a massive alien ship appears and scoops both M'ezozakk's ship and the
Rryuk's Profit
up into its hold.
I had to design this ship. If I tell you that it took three math students three days to work out the dimensions for this flattened diamond shaped ship, I wouldn't be exaggerating. The tiny portion I use in the novel covered most of a piece of Letter sized paper and only represented about 600 yards of one deck. Normally I get a whole ship on a sheet of paper using the same scale. It was bigger than big. It was huge.
Then came spacesuits. I had two very different types to design, one for the Sholans and one for these new aliens. Their suits had to give absolutely nothing away about their shape, size or species. I had to ask Mike Gilbert, who does all the beautiful internal art for my novels, to help me with this as I found it impossible to visualize what I needed. He did a superb job and having the sketch beside me made it so much easier to write about the suit.
On the actual story side, there were many dark issues that my characters had to resolve. Firstly Kaid had to take the terrible decision to launch Carrie and Kusac's cryo units into space in the hope that friendly forces would find them rather than the Valtegans. Then, held captive together in communal quarters, all the various tensions that were simmering between those who'd been imprisoned on Jalna start coming to the surface. There's Zashou and Rezac's relationship now that Jo had become their Third and was pregnant by Rezac. Giyesh the U'Churian and Jeran the Sholan had formed an attraction for each other on Jalna, one which not all her crewmates were pleased about. There was Tallis, one of the Sholans sold into slavery by M'ezozakk, who had tried to blackmail Kusac, Carrie and Kaid into rescuing him before all the other three had been found. And of course, Kaid has finally come face to face with his father, Rezac, for the first time in his life.
On Shola, by the end of Razor's Edge, Kezule, the Valtegan General from Shola's far past, had escaped from the Forces building where he was being held for questioning. He is now loose on Shola.
Kezule is rather a favorite character of mine because good bad guys aren't easy to create. You have to persuade the reader to take the time to understand their motivation, even though they disagree with it, because then they can understand him. So I was pleased to have the opportunity to explore his character properly, and through him, show something of the life style of the early Valtegans and that they weren't just stereotype bad guys. To do that I had to finish creating their culture. Of all the species in the series, the only one other than the Sholans that I have gone into in any great detail with are the Valtegans, and it was interesting.
Still on Shola, through Konis we see more of the Telepath Guild and Clan system and the problems he has to deal with as Clan Lord. Brynne comes into the center stage, too, as he continues to have visions and Lijou is forced to start training him properly.
It was a Challenging book to write because as well as dealing with all the above, I now had to give you some insight into the larger picture of what is really happening out there, where the darkness is gathering to threaten Shola herself.
So read on, and discover for yourself who the new aliens are, what they are doing in Jalnian space kidnapping other ships, and find out some of the dark secrets our heroes carry locked within their minds.

Lisanne Norman
March 2000

http://www.sff.net/people/Lisanne

PROLOGUE

NO sooner had the young Sumaan pilot, Ashay, landed the shuttle back at the
Hkariyash
than he was ordered to return to the U'Churian vessel, the
Rryuk's Profit.
"They have need of the Human medications on board their shuttle," said Captain Kishasayzar, speaking to him in their own language over the comm. "Carrie Aldatan has been seriously injured. Place yourself under Captain Tirak's orders for now. Their vessel may need protection until this fighting stops."
"As you command, Captain," replied Ashay, regretfully eyeing the groups of guerrillas and Bradogan's troops still engaged in sporadic fighting around the port gateways. "Do you not need protection?" he asked hopefully, lowering his long neck until his head was level with the view screen.
"Negative. Like all other Traders, we're keeping to ourselves. This is an internal matter now that they are no longer targeting us."
With a sigh, Ashay lifted off and headed down to where the
Profit
was berthed. The news of Carrie's injury saddened him. He'd liked the small Human female.
"Shuttle
Venture
to
Rryuk's Profit,
" he said, toggling the comm unit. "Permission to land for protective duties. Requested medical supplies on board but need your crew to unload."
"
Profit
to
Venture,
permission granted. Our people will be waiting for you," came the reply.

* * *

The next half hour saw a nonstop procession of personnel carrying supplies from the shuttle to the sick bay. Jo, the Human female, supervised the proceedings, rushing between the two locations, relaying what little news there was on Carrie's condition to Ashay to pass on to their companions on the
Hkariyash.
As soon as the transfer was completed, Captain Tirak ordered Ashay to clear the landing pad and return to his own ship.

* * *

In the sick bay, as he worked frantically on the unconscious Carrie, Kaid was vaguely aware of the sounds of the ramp retracting and the hatches closing as the
Profit
began to ready herself for takeoff. They'd reach their rendezvous in two weeks. Only two weeks, half the normal time, but it would be too long for Carrie unless she was put in one of the
Profit
's cryogenic units.
From the moment he realized she'd been injured in the fight with the spaceport officials, he'd locked his feelings behind a wall. The life of this fragile Human female, and that of her partner Kusac, lay in his hands. Kusac: her Leska, his sword-brother— together the three of them were the first Human and Sholan En'Shalla Triad, bound telepathically to each other. Without them, he was incomplete.
He fastened off the dressing, touching his fingertips briefly to her flesh. Still too hot. The drugs should have brought her temperature down by now. For an instant, he felt curiously disembodied as he saw his dark-furred hand against her pale skin. With a wrench, he pulled himself back. There was no more he could do; she would only deteriorate if he waited any longer. She needed surgery, and she couldn't get that until they reached their rendezvous. Sighing, he carefully disconnected the drip from the cannula and picked her up, carrying her over to the far side of the room where two of the cryo units stood open and waiting. Placing her on the contoured mattress, he stepped back. He'd done all he could. The rest was up to the U'Churian medic, Mrowbay. Now it was time to treat his sword-brother.
Kusac sat watching him on one of the adjacent beds. For a wonder, he'd managed to remain conscious despite suffering the full measure of her pain through their Link. The
Venture
's basic medikit lay open on the bed beside him. He'd dosed himself with an analgesic, but Kaid knew he hadn't taken nearly enough. He looked bad. Against the blackness of his pelt, the skin surrounding his nose and eyes was deathly pale and his ears were lying back, invisible among his hair. The mental link Kusac and Carrie had meant he would also have to travel in cryo.
"Kusac, let me give you the premed now," he said, reaching for the hypoderm from the medikit.
His friend's amber eyes, though dulled with pain, held his steadily. "No, Kaid. I want to be aware of her till the last. I'll wait till Mrowbay's done."
Reluctantly he laid the hypoderm down and sat beside his sword-brother. "She'll be fine— you both will. Two weeks, then we'll have the facilities and surgeons of the
M'Zekko
to treat her."
Kusac nodded slowly. "Wake me first. I don't want her coming out of cryo and not sensing me immediately."
"When you're ready," Mrowbay said finally, looking round at Kusac.
After giving Kusac his shot, Kaid helped him to his feet, supporting him as they walked slowly over to the second unit.
Kaid, I know you're blocking us out now,
sent Kusac,
but later, if you sense her pain, for the Gods' sake, don't try to cope. Use the third cryo chamber. Let T'Chebbi watch us. She's got Jo and Rezac to call on if she needs help. Vartra can't have meant the U'Churians when he spoke of you making a pact with the Liege of Hell.
Stop worrying about me and my visions, I'm fine,
Kaid reassured, helping him climb into the unit.
Just rest.
Lowering his mental barriers, he reached in, touching his friend's hand. Already the premed had taken effect and he could sense Kusac drifting toward unconsciousness.
"Two weeks, Kaid." Kusac's voice was barely audible and Kaid had to lean forward to hear him. "Find out what Tirak was up to in that time. I'll want to know."