Authors: Lisanne Norman
* * *
T'Chebbi moved smoothly to block the door as it closed. "Suggest you relax, make some drinks, experiment with food, and get to know each other," she said to the small group. "Ship not big, these quarters even smaller. Will take us two weeks to reach rendezvous. Better if we get on with each other."
"And just who the hell are you to be taking over?" demanded Rezac, striding over to confront her.
"Sister T'Chebbi of the Brotherhood of Vartra, member of the En'Shalla Aldatan Clan," she replied, keeping her tone even.
"A priestess," he sneered. "You think you can stop me? Go ahead and use the gun, then!"
"Rezac," said Jo warningly as he moved to push T'Chebbi aside. "That's not a good idea. I told you things are different now. The Brotherhood is a Warrior elite, not just a religious Order. They're specialist fighters. Kaid and T'Chebbi are Carrie's and Kusac's bodyguards. Friends. We can trust them. They came to rescue us, didn't they?"
T'Chebbi watched him hesitate. "Art of warrior is to know when to fight," she said quietly. "And whom. Not now, on alien vessel, with injured comrades. Are you a warrior, or just a fighter?"
* * *
As Kaid settled himself in the chair indicated, he watched Tirak pull the tab on the container he was holding.
"A hot drink," Tirak said, offering it to him. "The one your colleague Carrie enjoyed in the inn. Didn't think you'd want a fermented one yet."
Kaid accepted it, tasting the beverage cautiously. Not too bad— a bit sweet for his taste, but drinkable, and certainly preferable to alcohol. Right now he needed the energy the sweetener in it would give him. He waited, sipping the drink, knowing Tirak's first questions would tell him how much he knew, or had guessed, about them.
"So, what species do the two hairless females belong to? Human or Solnian?" the U'Churian asked after a moment or two. "And are your species dependent on each other? Do you come from the same world?"
"They're Humans. Tell me, Captain, why is a military ship and its crew posing as traders in this sector?"
Tirak feigned surprise. "Posing? You have us wrong, Kaid. I'll admit our craft is a decommissioned military one, but we are just what we seem, traders."
Kaid shrugged, a very U'Churian gesture, and putting his drink down, got to his feet. "Thank you for your hospitality, Captain Tirak, but I think I should check in again on the Sholan female in your sick bay," he said. "She was asleep when I was last there."
"You can't push me aside like that!" exclaimed Tirak, ears flicking forward. "I put myself and my crew on the line for you— Nayash was injured in the fight at the spaceport! I let your people come on board, fetch medical supplies for the injured females, let another of them join us— I deserve answers, dammit! I want to know what's going on!"
Schooling his face into a look he knew the other would interpret as one of surprise and confusion, Kaid hesitated. "Going on? I know as much about what happened planet-side as you do, Captain Tirak. My people were caught up with yours when Bradogan attacked us."
Tirak's face froze. "Don't take me for a fool, Kaid. You came here with members of two unknown alien species on a rescue mission. Kusac may look like us, but he's no U'Churian— his link to the Human female proves he's as Sholan as Taynar! Then there are the others in your little group! And I have severe doubts about which species you belong to, especially since you admitted to being his brother! Do I have to go on?"
"All you need to know is that we must rendezvous with an alien vessel at the Chemerian home world."
"Alien to whom? Us? Or you Sholans? Don't try my patience or you might find my hospitality is suddenly withdrawn," Tirak snarled, baring his teeth. "Your position is far from strong. You have perhaps one able-bodied companion, the rest are civilians suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion."
"Don't threaten me," said Kaid quietly. "I could take the information I want straight from your mind, despite the primitive blocks the younglings gave you. Instead, I do you the courtesy of asking."
Tirak's low rumble of anger began to build. With an obvious effort, he remained seated as the mane of black hair rose around his face.
"Brawling like troopers is hardly appropriate for people of our rank," Kaid said, his voice now deathly quiet. "First Contact is better left to the diplomats of the
Rhijissoh
when they reach Jalna, it's too delicate a matter to be argued over with mere traders." He turned and walked toward the door.
"Wait!" The growl was gone from Tirak's voice and his hair had begun to settle around his shoulders again. "You say a ship goes to Jalna to make First Contact?"
"It's not your concern, Captain," said Kaid, keeping his back to the U'Churian as he rested his hand against the bulkhead. "By your own admission, you are, after all, only a trader." He afforded him a glance over his shoulder.
"How do I know this isn't another lie?"
Again Kaid shrugged. "Confirmation will be waiting at our rendezvous."
Tirak's snarl almost drowned his words. "May Kathan himself damn you! Drugs! That's why we're here! Because of an illegal drugs trade!"
Kaid had to widen his ears to catch the words within the snarled reply. He took a couple of paces back toward the desk and waited.
"Drugs that turn the users psychotic and violent for days after they've used them— drugs that only started appearing a few years ago."
Kaid returned to his chair. "And you think the Chemerians are involved."
"Some," admitted Tirak. The knuckles on the hand that held his drink showed white through his pelt and the can had begun to buckle slightly. This was his only outward sign of anger now. "Your turn. Why were your people on Jalna?"
Kaid regarded him thoughtfully. What to tell him? His Triad was empowered to commence Contact negotiations if it proved necessary, so perhaps the truth was best. "Two Valtegan shuttles landed here several months ago. One crashed outside the port after dropping off an object, the other landed to sell four Sholans in exchange for supplies and spares. We sent a team, consisting of three Humans, to locate the crashed vehicle and discover what it had left behind. They went missing. Our mission was to rescue not only them, but the original four Sholans."
"The Valtegans." Tirak sat back in his chair. "What's your quarrel with them?"
"All life on two colony worlds wiped out," said Kaid grimly. "Millions of Sholans dead. We don't know why, we don't know how, and worst of all, we don't know where they come from. We didn't even know they existed until then."
"Kate and Taynar said as much," murmured Tirak. "We didn't place much credence on it, though. Seems we were wrong."
"With a weapon like that, they're a threat to all species.
That's why we were following up on the crashed vessel— in the hope we'd find something to give us a clue about where their home world is. They subjugated Keiss, the world the Humans had colonized, without destroying them, and used them as slaves, but the Valtegans we captured there died rather than communicate with us. They were ferocious warriors. It was literally kill or be killed with them. We destroyed them all, save for one ship."
"The one that came to Jalna."
Kaid inclined his head in an affirmative gesture. "We knew nothing about Jalna— or about the species who trade here— until the Chemerians told us the Valtegan ship had been sighted."
Tirak began scratching his ear thoughtfully. "A Valtegan ship calls here every fifty years or so, but they come only to take samples of crops and food animals. One left just before this craft you mention arrived. What the Jalnians get in return, my people were unable to find out. The Chemerians have trading agreements with you?"
"More," said Kaid, his tone reflecting his feelings toward their two-faced allies. "Treaties for our mutual defense that are several hundred years old. We represent an Alliance of five species."
The U'Churian's jaw fell open in shock. "By Kathan's beard! The double-dealing..."
"Conniving, tree-climbing little bastards," Kaid finished for him.
A slow grin split Tirak's face. He leaned forward to edge Kaid's abandoned drink closer to him. "As you say. Against you, their duplicity goes further than with us. We've only been dealing with them for about fifty years. The young couple, we found them on Tuushu Station. They had just discovered they were the prisoners, not the guests of Ambassador Taira Khebo and they— persuaded— us to rescue them."
"So they told me. There are strict laws governing the use of telepathy among our kind and they broke them. You have my government's apology on their behalf."
"Yet your people broke the same laws." There was a hardness in Tirak's voice.
"Sometimes it's necessary for certain individuals to be empowered to operate outside the law." Kaid's voice was a gentle purr. "But you know that, don't you— Captain?"
Tirak chose not to respond and Kaid knew he'd made his point.
"The Chemerians implied that beyond their own colonies, we were their only market," the U'Churian continued instead.
"I suspect," said Kaid, picking up his drink, "that we will discover some of our latest imports are goods obtained from Jalna and your— Free Traders Alliance?"
"Free Traders' Council," corrected the captain, relaxing back into his chair. "Then we will have to draft trade agreements and more with this Sholan vessel."
Kaid finished his drink and set the empty container down on the table between them. "I would say that negotiations have already started, wouldn't you, Captain Tirak?"
* * *
"What family are you from?" ventured Taynar, looking over at Rezac. "I know you're from the highlands like me."
Rezac glowered at the youngling. He was still high on adrenaline from the fight at the spaceport, and worse: with his Leska mind-mate Zashou sedated in sick bay, his Link to Jo had reasserted itself, demanding their unfinished business be concluded. He was frustrated almost beyond endurance on both counts.
Jo's hand closed on his arm.
He's only making conversation, trying to be friendly. He's terrified, just like his Leska.
He clenched his hand into a fist, forcing his claws into the flesh of his palms in an effort not to respond to her touch.
I know. I'm trying, dammit, but you know what's wrong with me— with us!
Unable to completely suppress it, a shudder of pleasure at her touch ran through him. "Dzaedoh," he said through clenched teeth. "Likely you'll not have heard of us."
"Noni's kin?" the youth said in surprise.
T'Chebbi moved over to sit opposite Rezac and Jo. "Link day?" she asked sympathetically. "Are rooms made ready for us through the door." She jerked an ear to her right. "Go, take one now. See to your own needs. You put it off long enough." When he hesitated, she added, "That's an order, Warrior. I don't need what you and your third are broadcasting. Neither does anyone else."
Relief flooded through him. He could see to their Link needs without feeling he was neglecting what he saw as his duty. It was good not to be the one with the final responsibility for once. He got to his feet, urging Jo to accompany him.
* * *
Giyesh was waiting in the corridor outside. She directed them to a cabin opposite the medic's office. As the door closed behind them, Rezac relaxed the control he'd been fighting so hard to maintain. Reaching for Jo, he circled her waist with one arm, stroking the dark hair that crowned her head with his other hand. Breathing in her scent, he began to purr as their minds started to merge.
"Ah, you feel it too," he whispered in her ear as his tongue gently rasped against her jawline. "After the battle, the need to pair with one you love, to know you are both still alive. Zashou despised that in me."
"She's not a Warrior," Jo murmured, turning her face so their lips met, her fingers already beginning to unfasten the belt that held his tunic at the waist.
His tail flicked around her legs, holding them close against his. "You Humans are not so unlike us," he purred.
* * *
With a start and a cry, Kaid woke, Carrie's name on his lips as he sat bolt upright in bed. He shivered, chilled to the bone despite his sweat-soaked pelt.
T'Chebbi loomed over him with an extra blanket. "Bad dreams again?" she asked.
He took it gratefully, wrapping it round his shoulders for the time being. "More," he said, clenching his teeth to stop them from chattering. He looked around the dimly lit cabin. "Where's Giyesh?"
T'Chebbi shrugged. "Maybe still on duty."
"I dreamed I was in cryo, and I could sense her there."
"Carrie?" T'Chebbi sat down beside him, her nose creasing in worry as she flicked her long gray-brown plait over her shoulder. "That's not possible. Cryo is a nothingness. Drugs make you sleep first, you don't even feel the cold. Then you wake, and it's over."
He looked up, catching her gaze with his. "I was somewhere else, T'Chebbi, somewhere deadly cold— and she was there. I usually feel warmth from our crystal, but it's been cold since we put her in cryo. Until now." His hand emerged from the blanket, holding out the crystal he always wore. "Feel it."
Leaning forward, she touched it gingerly with her forefinger. With an exclamation of shock, she pulled her hand sharply away.
He let the crystal fall back within the blanket, smiling wryly. "You felt it— too warm for just my body heat, isn't it?"
"You told me Carrie sensed her mother dying in cryo. Is it possible that the Talented stay aware? That they don't sleep?"
"Never heard of it happening. It could be a Human trait," he replied.
She grunted. "What was the dream?"
"Only what I told you. Just being in this bitterly cold place and sensing Carrie and her fear. The sooner we get to Tuushu Station, the better. She's terrified of cryo, T'Chebbi."
"She's safe asleep," she said, her tone soothing as she touched his face briefly. "Can I get you anything? A hot drink? You should try to sleep again."
"Nothing, thank you," he said automatically, then hesitated. He wasn't fooling either of them. "Join me. I'd like your company. Who's on sentry duty in the mess?"
"Taynar and Kate. Slept long enough in cryo, they said. Tallis is on graveyard shift."
"Should have left him on the
Hkariyash,
" he grumbled, glad to be dealing with more familiar issues as she slipped into the bed beside him. "He's more trouble than all the others put together. He's done nothing but complain since he came on board." Pulling the blanket from his shoulders, he leaned over to drop it on the floor. T'Chebbi snagged it from him.
"We use this," she said, spreading it over him. "You feel like you been in cryo. We can manage Tallis. His mind is sickened after what the Valtegans did to him. He needs help more than anything."
He lay down, grateful for her warmth and company; it was helping dissipate the frozen images of his nightmare. As his shivering stopped, he could feel her soundless purr.
"You only had to ask if you wanted to join me," he said awkwardly. "You have the right— you are my Companion." He was finding it difficult to cope with his need for her company and the desire for Carrie's he was walling away.
"Sleep," she said, wrapping her arm across his chest and tucking her nose under his chin.