This time, Jana nodded.
Darak wasted no time in sending the coordinates to Agnor’s console so he could append them to his next message. The location of Ipson was all-important. If something happened to prevent them from reaching Geneth Mar, at least they would have this vital piece of intel.
Darak didn’t breathe easy until he had Agnor’s acknowledgment that the coordinates of the crystal planet had been sent and received with the utmost seriousness by Darak’s uncle. Agnor also passed along the message that Brandon was arranging for a priority-docking slot for the Circe and immediate debriefs for her crew—especially those who had been down on the planet.
The others would be questioned, too. In fact, Agnor had taken his time stealthed in orbit to record numerous observations about the way the collective used their ships. He’d also taken detailed notes on ship design, capabilities and anything he had seen them do. Being so close to a planetary operation by the collective was something that had never been done before. The
Circe’s
refitted stealth system had made it all possible, and Agnor had taken full advantage to learn whatever he could about the way the collective operated in space.
Those who’d been on the ground could tell the Council more about the personnel, and Jana had a great deal of intel stored on just one of her blue crystals. They would have to figure out a way to transfer that without causing her harm, but first, he insisted on her being allowed to speak with the mind healer, if she wanted.
Darak made sure to get Brandon’s assurances of that provision before he let Agnor end the conversation. Although Agnor’s expanded abilities allowed him to ‘path across stay systems, it was also rather taxing on his personal energy. By the time everything had been settled, Agnor was slumping in his seat, his normally rigid posture suffering the effects of his mental fatigue.
“Are you all right, Ag?” Darak asked aloud, breaking the intense silence of the bridge.
“Just a little tired. I’ll be fine in a few minutes,” Agnor assured his captain and friend.
Jana surprised him by getting up and going over to Agnor. The bemused Specitar watched her walk toward him with a look of weary concern on his face.
And then, Jana touched Agnor’s forehead with her right index finger, and the crystals along her arm glowed softly. It looked, though he could hardly believe it, that the power of those crystals was flowing through Jana, down her arm to her fingertip, and into Agnor.
She released him a moment later, and Agnor sat up straight, reinvigorated. Darak had never seen anything like it.
Jana turned and walked over to Darak, a slightly smug smile on her face.
“It seems…” she bent to whisper near his ear, “…that there are other ways to amplify and restore power other than sharing sex.”
He liked her playful mood and snagged her around the waist, pulling her down to sit on his lap. She went willingly, smiling at him as she put her arms around his neck. He dipped his head to kiss her.
“But it’s not nearly as much fun,” he whispered just before taking her mouth in a joyful, playful, wonderful kiss.
* * *
With Agnor reenergized, he was able to man the bridge while Darak and Jana finally took a few minutes to shower and change. They were still covered in the dust of Mithrak, and their clothing smelled of horse, which wasn’t exactly appropriate attire for the bridge of a starship the caliber of the
Circe
.
But Darak wasn’t one to stand on ceremony. He simply lifted Jana in his arms as he stood from his captain’s chair and whisked her away to his cabin. As long as they were together, all would be well. He just had to keep believing that.
Thankfully, Jana didn’t try to shut him out. She let him undress her in his cabin and didn’t protest as he squeezed them both into the tiny shower stall. They bathed in the tight quarters, spending more time kissing and nibbling on interesting bits of each other’s bodies than actually getting clean, but somehow, they managed.
Lying in bed with her after they had cleaned up and decided to take a short rest before rejoining the others, Darak traced the gems that wound their way up her arm and down the right side of her body. He loved the way she sparkled, but he had been concerned about the crystal’s effect on Jana’s mind and health for a long time. It seemed, finally, that she’d gained some mastery over the crystal that was now part of her, and he couldn’t be more pleased.
“You’ve come a long way since the battle above Liata,” he said softly, still tracing patterns on her skin.
“I’ve learned a lot in the past few days about who I was and what I am now,” she answered in a contemplative tone. “I also know more about who I want to be. But there are more blanks in my past that I need to fill in before I know for certain what the future may hold.”
“Then, you don’t believe everything is predestined like your Plectaran friends?” He smiled as he dipped his head to kiss his way slowly down her right arm.
“I don’t know what to believe about all that, honestly, but it was handy that they believed it, at the time. We could’ve been in a whole lot of trouble if they hadn’t let us go.”
Darak stilled, meeting her gaze. “They wouldn’t have been able to stop us, Jana. You know that. But it would have gotten messy.”
Nodding slowly, she finally agreed. “I guess I have to get used to the power these crystals have given me. I was what I believe must have been a mid-level Talent before Liata. Now…I don’t know what I am. I don’t think Kol could even comprehend the amount of crystal in my body. And he only saw my hand and my face. What about all the rest?” She gestured down her right side where some of the largest of the chunks had lodged.
“Does that worry you?” Darak asked in all seriousness.
“A little,” she replied. “But, if it was going to kill me, I think it would have already done so. For whatever reason, my mind and body have reached some kind of balance with the crystal, and it seems content to stay where it is, for now.”
“You speak of it almost as if it were alive,” he observed.
Jana tilted her head, considering. “Maybe it is, in a way. It’s certainly nothing like any other crystal I’ve ever encountered, though I’m no mineralogist. But it works a bit like a data crystal, only with way more capacity. And it meshes with my mind and amplifies my Talent. It feels as if it’s accepted me. In the early days, it felt like it was weighing me and waiting to see if I was worthy or something. As I remembered my past and learned about what I had done through the Plectaran reports, it seemed to finally accept me more fully. And then, it started to open up to me and show me things…”
“What sort of things?” Darak prompted when she didn’t continue right away.
“I can’t really put it into words, but it was like the crystal revealed how it all worked to my inner mind when I needed it. Like it had consciously decided to cooperate with me or something.” She looked down, shaking her head. “Or maybe I’m just imagining it all, and they’re nothing but chunks of sparkly rock.” A small laugh accompanied her words, but Darak knew there was some significance to her ideas.
“It’s not for me to judge, but I think you might want to discuss some of this with Agnor. He has the most scientific mind I know, and I’m certain he’s fascinated by the crystal. He’s talked about it with me many times, positing theories on how your scepter might have worked before it blew up in your hands. I think he’d be willing to listen to anything you had to say on the topic. As would many of the other Speicitars when we get back home.” He leaned in to kiss the tip of her nose. “You’re going to be a very popular girl when we get back to Geneth Mar.”
Jana groaned. “Do I have to?”
Her whining complaint was comical, but also truthful. She didn’t really want to be the center of all kinds of fuss again. Jana wanted a quiet life from now on, but she suspected she might not get it.
Darak hugged her, kissing her neck. “I’ll be with you through it all, I promise.”
Jana’s breath caught. That sounded serious. Almost like a declaration…
She met his gaze and knew it was time to ask the things she’d been afraid to ask.
“Do you mean that, Dar?” she whispered.
He grew solemn. He must’ve felt the weight of her words and was responding in kind.
“I do.” He took one of her hands in his. “I can’t really imagine my future without you in it, Jana.”
She thought maybe she stopped breathing for a moment at his declaration. Could he mean…?
“I feel the same way,” she whispered.
To her surprise, he slid out of the bed to kneel at its side, but kept hold of her hand.
“Then, will you join your life to mine, forsaking all others? Will you marry me, Jana, and make me whole?”
She blinked, and the tears in her eyes rolled down her cheeks, unheeded. She saw raw emotion in Darak’s dark eyes as he squeezed her hand.
She slid out of bed to land beside him on the carpeted deck, facing him, still holding his hand. There was just one more thing she needed to know.
“Do you…” She hesitated. The answer to her question was all-important. “Do you love me?” she whispered.
“Oh, Jana…”
Her heart sank, fearing she’d put him on the spot and his answer wasn’t going to be what she wanted to hear. He dipped his head closer, kissing her cheek as she waited and worried about what he might say next.
“Jana, I never knew what love was before I met you.”
Her heart lifted. Their eyes met and held as he went on.
“You have opened my heart and nurtured my soul in ways nobody ever has. I want to be with you for the rest of my days, Jana. You, and only you, in case you had any doubts.” The devilish glint in his eyes returned, warming her from within. “I love you with all my heart. And that’s something I’ve never said to any other woman. You are my everything. The other half of my soul. Please say you’ll be mine forevermore.”
“I didn’t think…” she began, but she saw the way his hopeful expression grew concerned. She realized he had the same doubts that had been in her mind only moments before, and she rushed to reassure him. “Oh, Darak, I love you, too. And, if you really want to marry me, it would be my honor to join my life to yours. I don’t think I could survive without you by my side and propping me up. Your strength is my savior, and your love is a gift I never expected to receive.”
She was crying happy tears when he pulled her against him, hugging her close as they both knelt on the floor at the side of the bed, repeating their words of love over and over between kisses.
There would be much to do once they got back to Geneth Mar, including endless questions about the collective and their new understanding of it. The crystal planet would have to be investigated, and the crystals themselves would have to be studied much more closely.
But that was all secondary, as far as Jana was concerned. Her top priority was now spending time with the man she loved. She had a lot of living to make up for, and she wanted to do it all with Darak.
She once again had a family. Her sister was alive and well, and they could see each other any time they wanted. She had a new brother-in-law in Micah, who was also Darak’s cousin. But, most of all, she would be going back to Geneth Mar an engaged woman with a wedding to plan—and a life full of love and happiness to look forward to.
As far as Jana was concerned, she and Darak had both earned a little time off to enjoy being together. Sure, she’d do her part and tell anyone who wanted to know about how the collective worked and what her crystals could do. She would do what she could to help end the collective, so that other trapped souls might find freedom, but she was through with traveling for now.
At least for a little while.
She wanted to get married. She wanted to do all those girly things she had dreamed of when she was a child. And she wanted to bask in the love she thought she might never find.
Then, maybe, she’d be ready to go another round against the collective. After all, her crystals seemed to be a pretty good weapon against the Wizards, and she owed them for stealing so many years of her life.
Yeah, she would teach the grand master and all the puppet masters that payback was a bitch.
And her name was Jana Star Killer.
EPILOGUE
Agnor did his best to learn all he could about the collective and the crystals on the voyage back to Geneth Mar. For one thing, Vizier Brandon kept ‘pathing him with questions—especially as they drew closer to the planet. For another, Agnor was simply fascinated by everything Jana and Darak had uncovered while down on Mithrak, put together with the things he had observed from orbit.
He’d already put together several reports for the Specitar community that he would publish when he reached home. For now, to preserve security, he was only speaking via direct telepathy with Vizier Brandon. No regular comms were originating from the ship, and they were running silent all the way back home. Their cargo was too precious to risk.
* * *
They made it home safely and, as Agnor had expected, Darak and Jana were immediately whisked away for private debriefings with the Viziers. Agnor went to the Specitar’s Council, to answer to his own colleagues. He published his findings for private dissemination among the Specitars and was first debriefed then invited back many times on successive days to expand on his observations and answer a multitude of questions.
Everyone, it seemed, wanted to examine Jana’s crystals, but she was in seclusion, protected by the Shas who were her family. Agnor was able to procure one or two slivers of the crystal that Darak had managed to save after his initial treatment of her injuries. He’d taken small slivers out of her skin before they’d healed over, but any further removal had proven both imprudent and impossible.
The Specitars were thrilled with the tiny specs of crystal they had to test, regardless. Teams of specialists were organized, and Agnor was asked to consult with each one on an ongoing basis. He was something of a celebrity among his colleagues for having been aboard the
Circe
and observing all of these things firsthand. Not many of the scientifically-minded Specitars had the courage or desire to serve aboard a ship—especially not one with as dangerous a reputation as the
Circe
.