Of course, he thought wryly, they might only be cheerful at the prospect of demolishing every thing and recreating the city. One never knew with engineers.
He was met upon his return with the news that the scientific community had accessed the data base. He proceeded immediately to the offices and discovered a whirlwind of activity. Mercurios, naturally enough, was at the eye of the storm, and so focused on his work that Raen had stood at his elbow, staring at the stream of data rolling across the video display for several minutes before the elder became aware of his presence.
He was frowning in displeasure at being interrupted when he glanced up at last, but the frown vanished with almost comical swiftness to be replaced by a look of triumphant glee. “We have done it as you can see!” he announced with the air of someone who’d performed magic.
“And have you discovered that it is, in fact, a source that we will find useful?”
“It
is
a
gold
mine!” Mercurios announced happily. “The accumulated knowledge of mankind is all here at our fingertips! It took us a bit of time to track the access, but there was no difficulty at all in breaking into the stream once we had discovered that.
There are some security measures, but trifling—nothing but a bit of a nuisance.
“The language of our visitors seems to be commonly used among a high percentage of the population, even among many of whom it is not their native tongue.
We have encountered, as you suspected, a number of languages not familiar to us, or that once were but that have evolved now. These, we have already pretty much translated.
We are working on the others.
“I have broken the information down into categories and assigned groups to collect and analyze the data—economic, social, government, military, technology, etc.”
He paused, frowning abruptly with displeasure. “The data does not seem to be coming in quite as rapidly as it did to begin with. This information highway seems to be somewhat unstable. The data flow has grown a little sluggish. And we are still working on getting into the military computers. Their security has been a little trickier to crack, but there is a surprising amount of data regarding weaponry to be found in data banks not regulated by the militia.”
Raen nodded. “That is to be expected, but we will need a good overview of their capabilities and the types of weapons available to them.” He considered for several moments. “Have your people prepare an overview of each area as quickly as possible and forward those to each of the council members for review and one to my quarters, as well. The focus, for now, should be on the tribe or tribes immediately surrounding us—disregard any that seem insignificant. We are more interested in the most powerful among them. And, of course, once the overviews are prepared, in depth studies should be commenced.
55
“No one is allowed to be distracted by purely scientific curiosity at the moment.
Those studies can be conducted at a later time. Everyone’s energies must be focused on the immediate problem.”
Raen did not feel the sense of satisfaction he was certain he should feel when he’d left the science division to their research. As far as he could see he’d done his job, and well within the time restraints allotted to him by the situation. Atlantis was as secure as he could make it. There would be no leaks. He’d apprehended the intruders and secured them so that there would be no opportunity for them to pass on potentially dangerous information. He’d interrogated them and managed to extract information that would ensure the continued security of Atlantis. He’d taken scouts out to visually reconnoiter the opposition.
There was nothing undone.
He was certain he’d left nothing undone.
The group he’d detained was now superfluous. They had a means of obtaining far more information than any of the natives could supply.
The council would like to question them in person, though, he was certain. He would need to hold them until he had clearance from the council to release them, but he could not think of a single reason why the council would want to continue to hold them once they’d spoken to them.
Feeling an odd sense, despite his internal reasoning, that he was missing something, he left the science department and returned to the room where Cassie was sleeping. Once there, he wasn’t quite certain why he’d gone, however. He stood beside the bed studying her as she slept, debating whether or not he should awaken her and trying to decide, since he felt the impulse to awaken her, what he should say, or ask, if he did.
While he was debating the matter, her eyes fluttered and then slowly opened. She looked startled, as well she might, and then confused. A faint frown formed between her arched brows.
“What is it?” she whispered huskily, just the faintest thread of alarm in her voice as she pushed herself upright.
Knowing even before he did it that it was a mistake, Raen settled on the edge of the bed beside her, twisting slightly to face her. “Nothing you need be alarmed about.”
She looked more confused instead of less so. Lifting a hand, she speared her fingers through the thick shock of reddish brown hair falling over her face and raked it back. “You wanted to talk to me again?”
Talking wasn’t what he had on his mind, he realized abruptly as it settled solidly in his mind what it was that felt ‘unfinished’. “Not exactly,” he muttered, reaching to grasp her upper arms and hauling her halfway across his lap.
She sucked in a sharp breath of surprise, tipping her head back to meet his gaze.
“Let us try this again, shall we?” he murmured as he dipped his head closer to hers, pausing when his mouth hovered just above her lips, waiting to see if she would meet him or retreat.
She hesitated for several heartbeats and then lifted her lips until they brushed his.
His heart fisted painfully in his chest, punching the air from his lungs in a rush as he felt her soft lips meld with his own. Doubt flickered in his mind, but he ignored it, covering her lips with his mouth and sucking lightly to seal the two of them together 56
mouth to mouth even as he traced the soft contours of her lips and thrust his tongue between them to invade the moist heat of her mouth. The rush that went through him then was intoxicating. It demolished any possibility of rational thought. Releasing his grip on her arms, he shifted one hand to press it between her shoulder blades and the other to cup the back of her head and hold her to him for his exploration.
The painful fisting of his heart eased and then it commenced to slamming nearly as painfully against his chest wall as she flooded his senses, as he explored the texture of her tongue and tested the limits of the small cavern of her mouth, stroked the silky inner walls, tasted her, breathed her. The tentative touch of her hands as they settled along the sides of his chest sent another, headier rush of pleasure through him. He drew her closer, held her more tightly. Blood flushed his skin, heated it until he felt fevered. Blood pulsed against his ear drums deafeningly, pounded in his skull, filled his cock until it felt as if it would explode.
A deep, unquenchable hunger welled inside him. The more he tasted and touched, the more he wanted. He slipped his arms around her, molding her more tightly against his body from chest to waist. His skin burned where her soft breasts flattened against his chest.
He couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. Intent on absorbing the taste and feel of her mouth, he fought the burning need to fill them as long as he could before he broke away, gasping hoarsely to replenish the deficit of air in his lungs, to oxygenate his blood before he passed out.
He stared down at her face as he sucked in gasps of air. Slowly, her eyelids lifted and she stared back at him, and his entire body seemed to tighten at the look in her eyes.
57
“Sentinel ap Aquinox?”
The voice that intruded seemed to come from a great distance. Raen ignored it.
“My
lord!”
Anger surged through him as he swiveled his head in the direction of the voice that time.
The young sentinel at the door took a step back at his expression. “I was sent to summon you to speak with High Councilor det Ophelia.”
Raen wrestled with his temper and finally nodded. He studied Cassie for a long moment when he turned back to her, struggling with the urge to take up where he’d left off. With an effort, he eased his hold on her and finally released her. Without a word, he pushed himself upright and strode briskly from the room.
His temper was still raging when he reached the outer council chamber where he’d been directed. He paused outside the door, breathing deeply to try to regain a modicum of self control before he presented himself. It was as well he had, he thought wryly when he’d entered the room and saw not only High Councilor det Ophelia, but a stranger he knew immediately must be a visitor from the mother ship.
“Admiral Valora,” Councilor det Ophelia announced when Raen entered. “This is Sentinel Raen det Kira, Captain of the guard, Chief of security and, of course, the High Command of our militia.”
Raen dragged in a deep breath, grinding his teeth at the reference to his late union, wishing to the gods that he’d simply posted a bulletin announcing the fact that he’d been set aside. He was getting gods bedamned sick of having to explain it to every gods bedamned official he ran in to. Hoping the heat in his cheeks wasn’t as noticeable as it felt, he nodded in respect to both the elder and the woman in command of Andromeda Prime. “Raen ap Aquinox,” he corrected. “It is a pleasure to meet you Admiral Valora.”
The Admiral flicked him a look that was a mixture of amusement, sympathy, and interest as she nodded in return.
Councilor det Ophelia reddened. “I beg pardon, Sentinel ap Aquinox. I had not been informed of your changed status.”
Raen nodded again instead of telling the High Councilor that it was not his gods bedamned duty to inform him of the change in his personal status. He was offered a robe for his comfort and then a seat in the informal setting and for the first time in his life, he was actually relieved to have a robe to slip into.
Fortunately, his enthusiasm for Cassie had waned in the time it had taken him to reach the councilor’s chambers but not altogether, and he hadn’t particularly relished Admiral Valora’s interest. Under the circumstances, her almost pointed appraisal was downright rude. She knew damned well he’d come in in that state and it had nothing to do with her and the polite thing to have done would’ve been to ignore it.
“The admiral has been telling me we have a situation on our hands,” the Councilor began, his voice almost chiding.
58
Raen focused his attention on the councilor with an effort, tamping his irritation.
“I have been keeping the council members apprised of the situation as I assess it,” he reminded the councilor.
The councilor’s lips tightened. “You did not communicate the gravity of the situation, however.”
“It is not my place to be an alarmist, Councilor,” Raen retorted with an edge to his voice, “but to inform as accurately as possible. I have done so.”
“Which is exactly as he should have done,” Admiral Valora said coolly. “And which is what I have done since I have access to information that he does not.”
Raen sent her a questioning look.
“The natives have been in communication with the mother ship,” Councilor det Ophelia informed Raen.
“They did, in fact, launch an attack. Fortunately for all concerned, we had our shields up and there was no real damage save for a bit of buffeting from the concussion of the explosions.”
Raen studied her for a long moment. “And your response?”
She shrugged one elegant shoulder. “I did not respond in kind. We did not come to start a war.”
“And you did not. They did by attacking.”
“They
attempted
to provoke one,” Admiral Valora said pointedly. “As we sustained no damage, we ignored it.”
Raen settled back in his chair, studying her with far more respect than before.
“They struck without warning?”
An expression midway between amusement and irritation flickered across her face. “Not precisely. There was a misunderstanding. They seemed to expect that we would instantly understand their demands. It took us a while to translate and before we had, they launched a brief attack. Once they saw that it was ineffectual, they withdrew.
Fortunately, in the meanwhile, we managed to translate their warnings and were then able to respond.
“It seems the Atlantis is within territory that they claim as their own and they had been warning us off. When we neither responded nor departed, they took that as a challenge of their authority and attacked.”
Raen’s lips thinned. “They claim the sea as part of their territory?”
Admiral Valora shrugged. “Apparently—this part of it at any rate. I explained that we had only come to rescue the Atlantis. They responded by saying that anything within the territory of the United States of America
belonged
to the United States of America.
“I responded by telling them that the Atlantis belonged to the people of Andromeda.”
Raen exchanged a look with Councilor det Ophelia. “The Atlantis belongs to the Atlanteans,” he said grimly. “This colony has sovereignty and has since its inception.”
The admiral gave him an assessing look. “Things change.”
“Not this,” Raen returned.
“I did not come to argue,” Admiral Valora said coolly.
“Then do not,” Raen retorted coldly.
59
Councilor det Ophelia hid a smile. “I believe this will be a matter to be resolved in council,” he interjected. “We must deal with the situation with the natives first, however.”
Admiral Valora turned to stare at the councilor coldly. “I was sent to retrieve the Atlantis.”
His lips tightened. “You were sent to retrieve an artifact. As you can see, we are not! This is a well established colony and we
do
have sovereignty. You can inform High Command that we will challenge this in court if we must, but we will not simply allow them to send a ship to collect us.”
The admiral rose, bowed curtly, and departed.
The councilor smiled thinly when she’d departed. “She liked your looks right up until the moment you challenged her authority,” he said with amusement.
“I liked hers right up until the moment she spouted that arrogant tripe,” Raen retorted tightly. “I take it this is not a rescue after all?” he added dryly.
Councilor det Ophelia made a rude sound and shoved himself to his feet. “Can I offer you refreshment?”
Raen managed a smile. “Only if it is something strong.”
The councilor chuckled. “I could use something strong myself. They never received the distress probe we launched,” he continued as he moved to a cabinet and removed a container and two glasses. “More accurately, I suppose, not in a timely manner. Apparently it malfunctioned and has been drifting toward Andromeda ever since. It was picked up only recently and the ‘historical archives’ department dispatched the Andromeda Prime to collect the Atlantis—not survivors. They seemed a bit put out when I first contacted the mother ship.”
Raen closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between his brows where a headache had begun to form. When he opened his eyes again, the councilor was holding out a glass of amber liquid. He took it and tipped it up for a draught, savoring the burn as the liquor followed down his throat and settled in the pit of his belly.
“I had begun to feel my age, I confess,” the councilor said with wry humor as he settled in his seat again, “but not quite like the antiquity I apparently am.”
“That all of us are,” Raen pointed out. “And wolves at every door.”
Councilor det Ophelia grunted. “I do not know which to worry about most.”
Raen shrugged. “I am not particularly concerned about the natives except insofar as establishing decent relations with our neighbors—which, thankfully, is your job. They have advanced quite a bit, and I can not say with absolute certainty that we still surpass them technologically, but I am almost certain we do and that they have nothing to throw at us that would put us at a disadvantage if it comes to war. The Andromeda Prime is another matter.”
Councilor det Ophelia waved a hand dismissively. “I do not care what misapprehension they were laboring under when they were sent out. This colony
does
have sovereignty by its charter and by the gods they will respect that! I do not give a gods bedamned if it
has
been five thousand years since it was first established! In fact, that seems to be a point very much in our favor. We have been established here long enough, even if we weren’t guaranteed sovereignty before, that our rights as independents should not even come into question.
60
“As far as that goes, I mean to push that point with these upstart savages! They claimed this area long after we did! It is ours by right!”
Raen choked on the swallow of liquor he’d just taken. “Five thousand?”
Councilor det Ophelia nodded, his expression bitter. “We were in stasis nearly a thousand years. We are fortunate the mother world had not fallen into ruin before the gods bedamned probe made its way there—and, for that matter, that they have more speed than our ancestors had when they came or we would still be at the bottom of the sea.” He shrugged. “Under the circumstances I can see why they were not expecting survivors—descendents of survivors, perhaps, but not us.”
Raen studied the liquid in his glass. It should not have been a shock to hear his suspicions confirmed, but he couldn’t deny that it was. Anger surged inside of him that they’d pinned their hopes of rescue on a probe that had promptly malfunctioned, but he supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that it had. The probe had not actually been designed as a distress buoy, but rather to announce their willingness to trade with the home world or other colonies on those rare occasions when they had need of something not easily obtainable and something to trade for it. Beyond that, the disaster had left them in chaos. It was a wonder they’d even thought of the probe at all and should not have been any great wonder that the rush to reprogram it had failed. “Do you think there are descendents of those who chose to abandon ship?”
Councilor det Ophelia smiled thinly. “I have seen the natives. They did not get their intelligence or their good looks from the
other
side! You may be sure they owe a very great deal to our excellent genetics!”
Raen couldn’t help but grin at his arrogance, but he realized there must be some possibility of it. Atlantis had been a state of almost twenty thousand before the cataclysm. As far as they could determine, nearly half had left. If they’d survived they would almost certainly have had
some
impact on the gene pool—assuming of course that they
did
survive and that they were integrated into the human population.
Thankfully, he thought bitterly, Kira, according to Jadin, had not been capable of adding her part to the pool. He could not think her genes would’ve improved the stock a great deal.
It was a shock, though, to realize she and all the others had been gone so long, something he realized he didn’t particularly want to dwell on—thankfully hadn’t had the opportunity to dwell on since he’d woken. He’d had good friends among those who left, very likely even distant relatives.
One never knew for certain, of course, in many cases. The original settlers had numbered only ten thousand. It was enough to ensure a healthy gene pool and then some, but no one had wanted to take a chance on weakening the strain through inbreeding and they had certainly not wanted to breed with the ancient brethren of mankind—who were little more than animals even in
his
time. Everyone was tested at birth and their DNA tattooed on their arm in plain sight so that there was no chance of anyone forming even a casual sexual alliance with anyone too closely related.
Eventually, of course, they’d also had to instigate measures to limit population growth. The Atlantis was an enormous ship, but space was still finite. Polygamy had always been commonplace in their culture, but with the new laws to prevent overpopulation men were no longer allowed to take more than two females in union, or 61
breed more that one child off of each. Women, naturally enough, could take as many males in union as they liked—still could—though most never took more than two.
Kira, of course, had exercised her right to take as many as liked. He’d been inclined to think she’d done it to spite him, which was generally her motivation for whatever she did.
On the other hand, she’d been an insatiable bitch.
“It is best, I think, not to dwell on the past. We all lost someone,” Councilor det Ophelia said quietly. “And at least we can have the hope that they lived long, prosperous lives—unlike those who died in the cataclysm.”
Raen nodded, feeling his chest tighten at the reminder. The truth was they had no clear idea of who had died in the blast that tore through the city and who had escaped.