Nova (16 page)

When Dr. Z’arr released Serros’s arm, Avara continued,
addressing both Vosaia. “I do not wish to intrude on your last hour together and
apologies for doing so. K’llan Z’arr, if you would be so gracious, I would like
to speak with you later this afternoon in regards to your status now that the
Tribunal has been completed. Perhaps on the Sollex Level, at Sonata in the
Aesir Plaza, seventeen hundred hours?”

Though Serros could feel that she was emotionally exhausted,
Z’arr nodded in agreement. “Of course, Captain Serros.”

“Until then, K’llan Z’arr. Consul Z’arr, it has been a rare privilege
to meet you.”

“The same to you, Shield Operative Serros.”

As the two left the chambers of the Paladex for the
Consortium’s corridors, Marcus asked Serros, “Why can’t I decide if we won or
not?”

“Because in a way, we both won and lost, old friend.” The
Captain responded, her voice shadowed.

“You did everything you could, Avara.” Perez offered.

“I know, Marcus. Just wish it could have turned out
differently, for her sake.”

Perez was about to reply when they heard a strong voice call
out, “Captain Serros, a moment if you will.”

Both Nova Squad members turned to see Quorum Shield
Operative Goyan Hadarr a few feet away, walking towards them. She moved with
easy efficiency, her uniform crisp and complimentary. “Major Hadarr,
greetings.” Serros welcomed the Vosaia as she joined them in the hallway
adjacent to the Paladex’s entrance.

“Greetings to you, Captain, and to you as well, Commander
Perez.”

“Hello.”

“That was quite the stirring speech you delivered to the
Quorum, Captain.” Hadarr stated, attention shifting solely on Serros.

“Merely a few words, Major.” Avara responded, manner polite
but faintly cautious.

“No, your words were more than that. Surely you realize, it
is
only
due to your entreaty that K’llan Z’arr’s freedom was maintained,
yes?”

Studying the beautiful yet typically cold Vosaia Major, once
more Serros could gain no reading of the woman’s feelings. Nothing but a mental
rampart met her attempts. “You flatter me, Major. I only did what I thought to
be right.”

“Yes, I believe you did, Captain.” Major Hadarr’s turquoise stare
flickered with some sentiment Serros couldn’t interpret. “Though offense was and
is not intended, I stand by my earlier words. You are, I think, idealist and
naïve. But you are also courageous and determined to accomplish what you choose
to pursue, which is most admirable.”

Avara found herself speechless and blinking in mild
astonishment at the Major’s words. Recovering, she answered “Thank you for the
compliment, Major Hadarr. You are a most capable Shield Operative.”

“If you find yourself in need of aid on any future Quorum
assignment, please do me the honor of asking, and if able, I shall gladly
assist.”

Avara knew a compliment and a peace offering when she heard
it. “Gratitude to you for your gracious offer, Major Hadarr. I extend the same
in return.”

With a slight curving of her lips in response, Hadarr
replied, “I will, Captain Serros. Gratitude to you.” And then with a final
inclination of her head, she turned and walked away down another corridor.

Having resumed their quick–stepped pace, Perez exclaimed
“Whew!” in surprise, then with a vaguely sly expression, added “I think she’s
beginning to like me.”

Laughing, Serros responded by putting an arm around Perez’s
shoulder and in a low, humor filled tone remarked, “Let me know how that goes,
buddy. Given all the frost, I’d say you’d be the first in a long time!”

“You know me, I
always
pack heat.” Perez grinned.

“That was pretty terrible, even for you, Marcus.” Serros
replied with a rueful shake of her head and a grin.

“Well, the truth
is
sometimes hard on the ears.”

“Almost as hard as your singing.”

“Speaking of singing, which naturally brings up drinking, let’s
go find Sweetwater for our casual debrief, as we promised.”

“Alright, but you’re buying the first round, and I can’t
stay late because of my meeting with Z’arr.”

“Meeting, huh?” Perez commented, playfully smacking an elbow
into Serros’s abdomen with enough force to make her wince. “Maybe
I
can
find some super–hot woman to have a meeting with too, eh?”

Serros ignored Marcus’s implicit question. “Stop talking
about how much ‘
heat
’ you bring and maybe you will!” She quipped, mussing
Marcus’ spiky hair.

“Hey! My methods are tried and true.” He protested.

“Exactly.”

CHAPTER 9

K’llan Z’arr walked the Sollex Level of Sigil city like
someone who had suffered some form of severe physical trauma and so had been medicated
to numb the pain of her injuries. The innumerable people, buildings, edifices,
and shop kiosks all blurred together as she made her way from city sector to city
sector like a person adrift in the deepest of waters, desperately casting about
for some chance of safe harbor to swim to and finding only an endless expanse.

Was it truly only a little over seven hours ago that the
Tribunal had concluded? That she had spent the last hour in the physical
presence of her mother that she would be permitted for the next three
centuries?

The thought crashed into her like storming waves slamming
into a worn cliff–face. Immediately after the Tribunal, the two had been
permitted to spend those last sixty minutes in a small, emptied office in the
Consortium that was situated adjacent to the Paladex. As soon as the room’s
doors had slid shut behind them, allowing for blessed privacy for the first
time in days, K’llan’s mother had crossed the short span of distance between
them and wrapped her daughter in a fierce embrace. The careful control of
emotions and the mask of pride and reserve that K’llan had clung to in the last
two weeks shattered and in answer, rivulets of tears fell like scars across her
cheeks.

Her mother had responded by holding her all the tighter and
saying, “Oh my Star, my little K’llan… you have been so brave. It is all right;
I’m here and hold nothing but pride in you.”

Though in some ways it was almost laughably so, even after
two–centuries of life, it amazed K’llan how much import she attached to her mother’s
love and pride. Still crying, K’llan had answered, “But Mother, three–hundred
years…. How shall it be endured? One of us could pass from this world in that period…
And how,
how
do I continue? Everything I have worked for in the last two
hundred and thirteen years, my career, my reputation, destroyed in less than
three hours?”

“Hush now, my beautiful Star. Such time is nothing for Vosaia,
a period that constitutes less than seven percent of our probable life span.
And communication has not been taken from us; we still can see and speak with
one another, even if it will be across the stars.” The last her mother had said
as she gently held K’llan’s chin with two slender fingers, meeting her eyes and
willing the love and confidence she felt to enfold her daughter as tightly as
any embrace.

“As for the rest, K’llan, you are Z’arr and you are my
daughter. You shall endure and hold to your self–worth and honor because it is
not
within you to do anything else. Though the one you wished for has now closed,
other doors shall open for you.”

Her mother’s silver eyes had held nothing but certainty and
the love and belief she felt for K’llan had steadily pulsed with the
unstoppable elemental energy of a lava–fall for each precious breath of time
they spent in that small, messy office that some nameless bureaucrat had
vacated for their use. Precious minutes had slipped by, one by one, as they talked
of inconsequential matters. K’llan’s recent travels before the last mission, their
mutually continued macti studies, her pastime playing the firanelle, her
mother’s recent pet biotech research project that she still engaged in despite
her Consular position. The two simply enjoyed one another’s physical and
psychic presence while they could, deliberately steering away from more
difficult topics that could be easily communicated over Vid or the Net.

Finally, when their time had trickled to their last minutes,
Dr. Z’arr had remarked, “I think it is good that you are to meet with the Human
Shield, Captain Serros.”

“Yes?”

K’llan’s mother had responded with a firm nod. “Her
nya
is truly exceptional; very powerful, very clear. She not only holds great
honor, but great honor holds her.”

At her mention, an image of Captain Serros had risen in
K’llan’s mind: the Human’s passion and unwavering belief as she spoke in that
ringing voice, the power of her burning as brilliantly. “I do find her to be
rather… remarkable.” K’llan had answered, and her mother’s eyes had flashed
with understanding and support.

“As I said, other doors shall open, my daughter.”

  Before further words could be uttered between them, the
office entry swooshed open and four Sigil Peace Keepers entered. The lead, a
Braxien male, stepped forward and said “Apologies Consul Z’arr and
Asha
Z’arr, your allotted time has ended.”

He had said
Asha
. Not Lieutenant or Agent, just
Asha
,
the Vosaia equivalent to ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister.’ The demotion to standard
citizenship rather than her earned military grade or STF status cut like the
slice of a saber, yet she had known it would be but the first of many times she
would hear that term.

“Additionally,
Asha
K’llan Z’arr, as per orders, I
shall need you to leave your Naval uniform here. Civilian clothes have been
provided for you.” He had said the last with a nod to a plain, rust colored bag
he carried. K’llan knew her face had been as granite as she nodded, then turned
one final time to gaze at her mother in person for the next three centuries.

“Be strong, my daughter, and know you always go with my
love.” Her parent had said, the surge of poignant affection she sent so
powerful that it was a wonder the room had not swayed with its potency.

“I shall, mother, and know that my love is always with you.”
K’llan had answered, her tone firm but for a single quiver, determined to keep
her pain hidden from these officious strangers who went about their business
with detached efficiency.

And that was it.

She had been forced to strip her hard earned uniform, leave rank
insignia paid for with pain and sacrifice and exchange them for a plain, black
and gray two top and bottom that’s only recommendation was that at least the
set was well fitted. After, she had left the Consortium in a bleary haze,
looking at no one, and though she still had several hours before her scheduled
meeting with Captain Serros, she had decided to take a transport to the Sollex
Level.

She needed to leave behind the Consortium and Paladex, leave
the Forum and Civic Level and all that it represented to her now. She needed
the physical exertion of walking block after block, mile after mile, to get
lost in the crowd so she could begin to face the heaviness in her heart. She craved
space so she could find answers to the hard questions regarding her immediate
future that she was now forced to ask.

So absolute was her inner exploration of circumstance,
heart, and path, that without realizing the course, she found that she had
arrived at Aesir Plaza and stood before the entrance to the premises of Sonata
some thirty minutes before the Captain was due. Making a decision, K’llan
entered the open gate–doorway to the Sonata, a small plate and fine imbibement
establishment that catered to all races. In design, it was essentially an
outdoor garden space with petite standing tables and lounge areas overlooking
an artificial stream and several ponds, all accompanied by well–tended flora.

The host, an elegantly dress Vosaia, led her to the far end
of the premises and to a standing table devised to allow for a wide, city–level
view as well as the apex of the stream, an artificial waterfall. Refusing refreshment
until her company arrived, K’llan fell into the panoramic view of the cityscape.
It was comforting to watch the streams of traffic and movement of millions of
people against the backdrop of gurgling water and the smell of anlya flowers; a
palliative of motion and enormity.

Some time later, the detached state of relaxation she had
slipped into evaporated like mountain mist as she could feel the approach of a
familiar presence, one that stood out against the hundreds of nearby people like
a single star burning the blackness of night. From her position leaning over
the railing next to her standing table, K’llan was able to turn her head and
spot Captain Avara Serros as she walked in a ground eating pace up the incline
towards the establishment’s entrance. Still dressed in the flatteringly cut Ministry
Naval full dress uniform, the lean Human woman moved with confidence and an
easy grace, her short locks ruffling in the faint breeze of late afternoon.

The Vosaia surreptitiously watched as the host met the
Captain at the entrance and several patrons turned their heads to study the
Shield Operative. The attention was unsurprising, really, given both Serros’s
uniform and the medals that denoted an impressive rank, as well as her sheer
physical and psychic
presence
. Either entirely unaware or simply
ignoring the quiet responses, Serros unerringly turned her head towards K’llan
as if she knew exactly where she stood.

And perhaps she does know
, K’llan mused.
If I can
feel her so strongly, then perhaps she can also sense my presence.

Captain Serros fixed her eyes with K’llan’s and a warm,
crooked smile lit her features. Without turning her head, the Shield said something
to the hovering host and then strode to K’llan’s position.

Captain Serros was the first to speak. “Greetings, K’llan
Z’arr. I am pleased to meet you here.” Her voice was richly musical in tone,
more relaxed now that the two were not facing each other in life or death
circumstances; a first, K’llan realized, since they had met.