"All part of my duties, Specialist." The woman's cheeks glowed with the acknowledgement of her service. She retreated back to the kitchen, but her head was held high.
Vikki sat and started to pour tea, handing the cups to the ladies before the men. When everyone had been offered a beverage, she poured her own and sat back, "Now, what happened while I was out?"
Merc sat next to her and when he nodded, Kyra leaned forward to explain what the folk of Geviil were up to.
The parliament had held a special session to create a sovereign state where none had existed before. That meant that all alien interference would not be tolerated. As they were not an Alliance world, they could do it, but Kyra was here to throw a wrench in their plans.
"Kyra, what is your role in this?" Vikki sipped at her tea and watched the other woman carefully.
"Before I ended up with my beloved husband here, I was an archivist who specialized in ancient histories. I found lost races and a planet that had been scrubbed from all star charts." The woman sat in her elegant Azon robes and smiled brightly. "I can handle some smurfs."
Vikki sprayed her tea and reached quickly for a napkin. "Oh, you are definitely one of us nasty humans. I have been thinking that since I landed."
Tiergar raised his hand. "I have Alliance authorization to enforce the decision of the courts. This case was tried via relay and Beast and Fury are here to defend the rules of the sector. Their uniforms will record everything that we do and see today, including your spit take at the word
smurfs
."
Vikki dissolved into giggles again and Kyra was right behind her. Hooting with laughter while five other people in the room stared was a little uncomfortable, but Vikki couldn't hold it in.
Smurfs.
As she wiped her eyes free of tears, she met Kyra's gaze and said, "Three apples tall," and off they went again.
When they finally stopped their laughter, they were both leaning against their mates and Vikki looked up into Merc's eyes with an exhausted sigh. "That was fun and I will explain it later. I think I have it on a data pad in the shuttle."
He wrapped an arm around her waist. "I think that we need to get going. Rhenic has prepared a picnic for you, so you can eat on the way."
She sighed. "Are we taking a teeny skimmer?"
Beast grinned. He flexed his wings. "We will be travelling in the Sector Guard shuttle, the Talon. Designed by myself and crafted by Fixer. It will definitely make an impression."
Vikki stood and smiled. "Then grab my picnic and let's go. I have some short blue butt to kick."
The occupants of the room rose en masse and as one, they headed out to the shuttle, Merc carrying the parcel that Rhenic brought him. The shuttle in the drive was so sleek and deadly seeming, Vikki wanted to keep it the moment she set eyes on it.
As they got into the shuttle to make their way to the city of Mercuros, Fury kept glancing at Merc.
Vikki sat at the small galley table and started to work her way through the food with Merc beside her. He finally asked the Guardsman, "Why are you staring?"
"You are Mercuros Weelich? Commander of the Wing Guard?" Fury was biting her lower lip.
"Yes, though not for some time now."
Fury smiled, a bright smile that caused a cheerful swirl of air within the shuttle. "You are my great uncle nine times or so removed. Garo was my multiple great grandfather."
Merc was stunned, Vikki could feel it in her mind and she quickly finished her food and packed up the remains.
"You are my niece? Cynthia's offspring? They said she would never have a child of her own."
"She did. Her daughter Coral began a line of daughters that comes down to me." Fury leaned forward and extended her hands.
"I am glad that we met, granddaughter of Garo. My brother was a lucky man to catch the woman of his dreams and to have a daughter to continue the line of exceptional women." Merc was welling with emotion at that moment and Vikki sent him her joy.
Fury extended one hand to her and grinned. "Welcome to the family, aunty."
It broke the heavy emotional moment into a dozen glittering, laughing pieces.
Beast snorted and started to land their shuttle.
The parliament of small blue faces caused a problem for Vikki. She kept looking at Kyra, but the Terran Representative had a far better poker face than she did.
The premier stood and addressed the assembly. "In the fine tradition of our people, having evolved here on Geviil…"
Kyra stood and raised a data pad. "Objection! The Mirandeese that settled here were and are still similar in every way to those here on Geviil. No evolution has taken place."
The Premier attempted to puff up. "Who are you?"
"Kyra Dannick vi Rannith, High Archivist of the Alliance Archives specializing in ancient worlds and races. The Geviil here today are no more natural to this world than anyone else."
"How do you know this?"
"I have the Mirandeese emigration records. The ancestors that dealt with Mercuros are all listed in the original agreements. They are Mirandeese and simple blood draws will prove it." Kyra waited for the next statement.
The premier tried to regroup. "In our proud tradition, we have remained apart from other races and proved our self-sufficiency."
Kyra held up her hand. "Point of order. The Mirandeese settlers counted on the Drai who was
already here.
"
Heads lifted in parliament as they began to pay attention.
Kyra cleared her throat. "As most of you are aware, Mercuros has been here since before your people arrived. With the agreement of the living mind of Geviil, he was allowed to make his home here."
The room erupted with shouts and denials. The speaker banged his gavel and the room ground to silence.
"This is the first we have heard of a living mind for this world. There has never been an avatar called."
Kyra gestured to Vinni. "Vinnarolous Nehanic was called by Geviil. The planet has never found any of your species to be a suitable host. You don't take well to psychic invasions. Those of Dhema, however, though they deny their psychic leanings, have a strong propensity for mind-to-mind communication."
"Why has Geviil never made itself known?" One of the men on the end of the benches asked.
Vinni spoke. "He has. The sudden storm that stopped the fire of Rhaza. That was Geviil. The raising of the Makinar ridge to assist in mineral harvest. That was Geviil. You have thousands of moments in your history that you attributed to luck, never knowing that there was a mind behind it, because when your folk landed, there was no test you could administer to check."
The room burst into shouting again and the darkness blurred into Vinni's eyes. He held up his hands and the room shook.
Vikki was scooped up into Merc's arms and he beat his wings to raise them aloft. Beast did the same with Fury and the calm Tiergar grabbed Kyra and sprang his claws, swiping at any Geviilan who got too close.
When Vinni dropped his hands, the room stopped. "I have just shifted the occupied continent nine feet to the left. Check your monitors. I am Geviil and Mercuros and his wife are my honoured citizens. I wish them to live and remain here, have a family and enjoy all that I can offer them. Mercuros has offered himself to you in service for a pittance. A home of his own and the maintenance of the property. He would get that if he was a civil employee. I bequeath to him the proceeds of nine untapped mineral deposits and leave it to him as to the species he will hire to excavate it."
The premier was staring with his mouth open. "Where are these deposits?"
Geviil looked at the small man and bowed down to where they were face to face. "I have created them for Mercuros in payment for his services. He and no other will get access to the deposits. Anyone else attempting to mine will be on the receiving end of a lightning strike. Now, I want to know how your people are going to compensate me for the resources you have consumed."
As Merc and Beast landed, Vikki knew it was the beginning of a very long day.
* * * *
In the end, the premier was dismissed from office, a new one appointed and a negotiation for compensation for services rendered tendered to Mercuros. As the original occupant of the world, confirmed by Geviil, he was the true original citizen. Should he care to, he could expel the locals back to their overcrowded home world.
Kyra brought out precedents, Tiergar helped negotiations and in four days, Vikki and Merc returned to a home that was theirs as long as their bloodline lived.
Fury and Beast were called away, but they promised to visit soon. Several of the sleepers had entered the Guard and there were going to be a lot of calls in Merc's future once the Drai chose to call him. With them all living on different worlds and under aliases, they had to make the contact with the anchored Drai in their own time.
Kyra and Tiergar extended an open invitation for a visit to Azon and they left when the Guards did.
Vinni was designing his home with Geviil architects and having a wonderful time in his new role as avatar. Only two assassination attempts so far, so he was doing well.
"I thought we would never get home." Vikki was exhausted.
"I concur. It lasted a little longer than I had anticipated. Kyra is quite the negotiator, isn't she?" He had his arm loosely around her waist, a habit he had developed during their time in the boardrooms.
"Not like our final Champion. Amy Tyrell spent time in the actual armour. She is a force to be reckoned with and the Consort of the Emperor of the Haldis Imperium."
Merc laughed and hugged her. "You Terrans get around."
"Hey, it isn't our fault that we have malleable genetics. Being out here, you know as well as I do, that we aren't allowed to mate with our own kind. I don't know when they are going to open our planet, but it isn't going to be any time soon."
He lifted her off her feet and swung her around. "I am ever so glad that you made it out in the first wave. I think I would have gone insane if you had been left there."
She stroked her fingers through his hair as he lowered her to the floor, pressing her body to his during the slow descent. "I am here now and no what if's need to be considered."
When her mouth was even with his, she kissed him and used her grip on his hair to keep her pressed close to him.
* * * *
A relieved Rhenic came rushing into the receiving room and she stopped when she saw the Guardian and the Specialist in an embrace.
Dinner would keep. The messages and well wishes would wait.
Their time together had been intense and short. It was time for her to be smart and simply back out of the room.
Back in the kitchen, she smiled, imagining what the little ones would look like from such a striking pair.
With a low whistle, she packed away the meal and began working on a schedule for the gardeners and groundskeepers. The master and mistress of the house were in residence and there was work to do.
Author's Note
Thank you for visiting a Terran Time's Tale,
Interface
. Vikki's story was one of a woman who left her home for one reason. Love. She didn't know it at the time, but the man of her dreams was real and he was waiting for her.
I also brought back a Dhemon as well as the first Champion from
Arena Station
, Kyra Dannick.
In the next book,
Interdict
, we meet Cynthia, the Terran lost in time who dropped into the arms of Garo, Fury's (of
Hael's Fury
) great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents.
Thank you for coming to play with my Terrans and Dragons,
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola's fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.