Nova (21 page)

“Our visitor is secure and sitting tight in the brig. He is
also refusing to speak without his advocate.” Adeline answered, brown eyes
glinting with humor. “Rygel and I were able to retrieve ninety–three percent of
the data from Risha’s mainframe, personal hub and CPA. I’m about half–way
through and still collating and organizing the info, but despite his best efforts,
Risha’s security simply does not measure up. I’ve been able to retrieve several
interesting files regarding the identity of more than a few of ‘
Vartah’s
’
key agents, as well. Plus, business fronts to launder drug–funds through and a
list of officials he’s managed to bribe or coerce to support his endeavors. We
have him, Captain.” Her expression was as fierce as the Captain’s own for the
victory.

Smiling, Captain Serros told the third in command “Superb
work, Diana.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“I’d like you with me when we drop Risha off and present our
findings to the Quorum Representative and security detail on Avex. I want Risha
wrapped up tight, with a shiny red bow for his journey to Sigil.”

As Adeline nodded in the affirmative, the Vosaia could feel
the flourish of warmth and pleasure that suffused the Human Lieutenant
Commander’s entire being at the Captain’s praise, as well as something more.

Both watching and sensing the emotion behind the exchange, K’llan
understood something in that moment that had eluded her before, but explained
much of the painfully polite yet stiff demeanor Adeline had adopted when K’llan
and she came in to close contact. At the same time, just as she was suddenly
quite certain of Diana Adeline’s feelings for Captain Avara Serros, she was
equally confident of Avara’s benign ignorance of those sentiments, especially
given how skilled the Ops Officer apparently was at hiding those particular
emotions.

Careful to not let a trace of her own feelings flicker
across her features or emotionally reverberate, K’llan also noted her own
reaction to the discovery as she felt a crack of vague alarm and unease quicken
within.

A further complication
.

Exerting her will, K’llan retracted her emotional and
cognitive senses to focus more completely on the meeting rather than stray
psychic readings.

“What’s the status of our QN Buoy tube upgrade, Lieutenant
Commander Philips?” Marcus Perez asked, changing topics.

Shifting in his seat, K’llan watched as the Senior
Engineering Officer’s smoky gray eyes blinked and he quickly pulled up some
basic data on his CPA while simultaneously answering the inquiry. “Quite well.
I’ve isolated the necessary power peak for our projected optimization.” Nodding
his head at Adeline, Philips continued with, “Thanks to the research data
provided by Lieutenant Commander Adeline, we should be able to achieve a forty–three
second reduction in the standard lag–time between QN Buoy discharge and Quantum
Net activation.”

Despite her deliberate suffocation of psychic scanning, just
as had already occurred several times in the last four months, K’llan had no
difficulty at all in picking up on the espresso–haired Lieutenant Commander
Philip’s sentiments regarding Adeline. Though respect was evident, they were feelings
that quite obviously, at least to a Vosaia’s empathic senses, were not
reciprocated.

“Well done, Philips. The optimization will allow us to
perform a QGST jump in close to half a minute sooner than average. That’s an
advantage I’m certain we’ll find quite helpful.” Captain Serros commented with
an approving smile and nod.

“Thank you, Sir. Couldn’t have done it without Adeline.”

“Of course you could and would have, Philips. I just helped
to speed the process along.” Adeline chimed in, looking slightly embarrassed.

With a second complimentary nod for both of them, the
Captain turned her attention to Lieutenant Jaxx. “Any issues with our systems,
Tildon?” Serros asked.

The red–haired officer shook his head in the negative, a
pleased look on his freckled face. In his R–clipped mode of speech common to
his Old–Terran Russian background, Jaxx confidently responded, “No, Sir. The
adjustments have fused without issue.”

“Very good, Lieutenant.” Turning her attention to Commander
Argos, Tildon Jaxx’s wife, the Shield queried, “Doctor, what’s the news on Ensign
Ling?”

“She’s quite well. The arm shall be fully recovered by
tomorrow, though further rest wouldn’t go amiss.” Jenna Argos answered.

“That’s good to hear. As we’ve only a couple days travel
time to Avex and as of yet, no new missions in the queue, I think we’re all due
for some R&R. After all, it’s been a month and a half since our last
rotation.”

Despite her best efforts to dampen her empathic senses, K’llan
picked up on a short yet piercing spike of emotion as Captain Serros turned
towards Perez. “Marcus, if you and A could work out the shore leave logistics,
please. It is time.”

Slightly frustrated, K’llan noted that no matter how she
tried, the one person she found impossible to effectively psychically block was
Avara, especially given the strength of her currently trumpeting emotions that
stood in such stark contrast to her carefully offhand tone and cool facade.

“Will do, Captain. I’ll handle the details for our… errand
as well.” Commander Perez’s voice also held an unusual note of gravitas that K’llan
found to be of equal significance. As the Vosaia watched Serros’s deep blue
eyes meet Marcus’s rich golden–brown orbs, she could sense something unspoken
pass between them, and as clear as the sounding of a siren, felt the two reach
a form of perfect accord.

“Anything else, people?”

At the answering chorus of negatives, Serros announced “All right
then, crew. Keep up the good work and dismissed.”

With a sense of anticipation of an enjoyable evening to
come, as agreed upon earlier the Vosaia fell into step with Captain Serros. “Shall
we?”

“Yes.”

CHAPTER 12

As K’llan and Avara exited the Strategy Room and the two
made way onto the lift, Captain Serros inquired “How’s your work going with the
Volturnos?”

With a smile, K’llan answered, “Successful. Your shot range is
now officially increased by one–point seven percent.”

“Ha! Good work. I look forward to trying them out.” K’llan
could clearly hear the note of what could only be described as gleeful delight
in the Captain’s velvet–smooth alto.

“I thought so.”

After the two entered the lift, K’llan asked “Have you eaten,
Avara?”

“Yeah, I grabbed a bite right before our meeting. Have you
had your Vitani?”

“Yes, this morning.”

“Despite all the day’s excitement?” The Captain asked as
they exited on Deck 3.

“I try to make it a habit of always in–taking my required
nourishment during the morning, just in case the day does not allow for such
necessary distraction.”

After offering a friendly nod in return to a brief salute presented
by the passing Ensign Zibai, Serros remarked “Ah. Convenient to only have to
eat once a day. It’s not something I could sustain.”

K’llan laughed at that, knowing only too well the Captain’s predilection
for eating several large meals a day. “No, I do not imagine you could, given
your habit of second and third helpings.” K’llan could feel Avara’s humor at
the observation even as a rueful grin spread across the Captain’s face.

“It is a common trait among Arcas, of course.” Z’arr
offered. “Your body has to intake enough sustenance to support the required
rate of amplified energy expenditure. For Vosaia, it simply means a larger
single dose of Vitani. For most other species, the requirement equates to much
increased quantities of food.” K’llan added the last just as they reached her
quarters.

“Well, as I happen to really enjoy good food, it all works
out just fine for me.” Serros drawled in her South–Eastern Kylosian accent, a
lyrical Human dialect that K’llan now knew from conversation was rooted in Old–Terran
Welsh.

The Captain remained standing in the doorway as K’llan
retrieved a smooth, silvery wooden case about three and a half feet or so in
length from the left wall just inside her small, but comfortable personal
quarters. Gripping the case’s handle in her left hand, they left her cabin behind
and continued walking side by side through the somewhat narrow ship hallways.

“It is interesting serving aboard a non–Vosaia vessel and
noting how much emphasis upon and enjoyment Humans seem to experience during
their meals. Almost as if it is a ritual.”

Cocking her head to the side in acknowledgment, Avara responded,
“In many ways, the sharing of a meal
is
a ritual for Humans. Even throughout
our earliest recorded history, during the Old–Terran Period and across all
cultures regardless of origin or distance. The sharing as well as gifting of
food signified many of the most important of Human exchanges and expression. Hospitality,
peaceful intention, the creation of alliances and unions, the establishment of
social status, and commemoration as well as celebration.”

K’llan nodded, having now spent enough time among Humans to
see the truth of the Captain’s words. “Yes, quite. It is different for the
Vosaia, especially with the advent of Vitani Serum and the start of the Blood
Wars.”

“Such customs seem to be common among most sentient species.
Is there no tradition of sharing sustenance for the Vosaia?” Avara asked, brow
knitting with curiosity and her psychic energy unconsciously flaring with the
intensity she tended to exude whenever trying to understand or address an
issue. It was a force that K’llan had grown accustomed to in the past months,
yet at times could still be somewhat jarring.

“There is, but only among the closest of individuals.”

“Why?” Serros asked as they reached their destination, the
Captain’s own quarters. K’llan could feel the brilliance of Avara’s intellect
as she sifted through her knowledge and understanding of Vosaia culture in an
attempt to fully comprehend.

Placing the case she carried against the left–most wall to
the main room’s entryway, K’llan slowly walked around the Captain’s Quarters as
she considered how best to answer the question. Though having been in these
rooms dozens of times since joining Nova Squad, as always, she felt a surge of
comfort intermingled with slight anxiety as she moved about the Shield’s
personal living space.

As befitting her status as Captain, though not particularly
large, the quarters were more spacious and well–appointed than those of any
other crewman. The cabin consisted of two rooms partitioned by a glass wall
featuring clear sliding glass doors. The farther, second room included the
bedroom as well as a small private lavatory that all of the senior staff
possessed, rather than the shared public facilities the rest of the crew
utilized.

The first and main room acted as a living–work space
complete with a compact yet comfortable dark brown, leather L–shaped couch and
matching chairs, as well as a low, jet–black glass table and a petite but well–designed
matching work–desk. A small, in–set cooling unit held food and beverages next
to a retractable, three–foot counter and an equally retractable diminutive wall–sink.

As with the rest of the
QS Excalibur
, the space was
primarily royal blue and steel colored durexium in hue, yet several dark wood,
shallow bookcases lined the walls. The cases were filled almost entirely with
antiquated paper books, each shelf featuring triple retractable bars to ensure that
the rather valuable tomes did not go flying through the air when the ship was
engaged in robust maneuvers. The subjects of these old–fashioned and worn, yet
clearly well cared for volumes, varied greatly and spanned the known races. The
topics ranged from history, philosophy, art, and archeology to language,
quantum physics, star ship design, weapon’s tech, botany, and biology.

Breaking up the left centermost bookcase, were two jewel
encrusted yet deadly and clearly well maintained traditional Human cutlasses
with elegant basket hilts. K’llan knew that they were types of short swords still
utilized to this day in official duels between Humans in ritual combat to
settle dispute. As with everything else aboard an active starship, the swords
were carefully restrained from movement during flight, in this case by old
fashioned brackets rather than the more modern mag–clips.

The forward ceiling of both the main room as well as the
second was mostly open viewports, featuring the icy streak of stars against a
backdrop of black touched with vibrant indigo as the ship traveled at QGST.

Just under the ceiling and wrapping around the entire length
of the middle to upper room and into the bedroom was a large, sinuously curved,
yet symmetrically designed water tank. The tank was replete with the deep blue
of warm saltwater and brilliant green of underwater plant–life. Brightly
colored fish of dozens of species darted to and fro throughout the rather impressive
aquarium that flowed above the front doorway and to the sides of the bedroom
doors.

The piscine creatures were actively flitting from rock to
rock to swaying water grove in either energetic or languid patterns known only
to themselves. Each streaking fish, crawling crustacean, and deceptively
delicate, slow moving mollusk was, K’llan knew, native to Avara’s homeworld of
Kylos.

Finally, several open spaces were fashioned into the walls and
held framed images rendered in charcoal, ink, and led. The themes primarily
focused on various land, city, and star scapes but there was an occasional
person or starship to be found as well. Each was exquisite in detail and
remarkably life–like, displaying an astute sensitivity and high level of
observation, as well as skill. K’llan could not help but to smile in
remembrance of the first time she was a guest in the Captain’s quarters and
asked about the depictions decorating the walls. She had learned that the
pictures were created by the Captain herself. Just as then and every time she
was in these two rooms, Z’arr found herself drawn to the lush images and swept
into the timeless moments Avara seemed to effortlessly capture. Once more, she thought
how representative such a craft was of the person who is Avara Serros.