She was free of her home and her prison, nothing and no one was going to put her back in the position of being summoned only when needed and sleeping the rest of her life away.
They streaked silently through space toward a place called Balen Base. Wacorathi was flicking through the last thousand years of Alliance history, choosing planets at random and seeing how politics and treaties had interlocked them. It made for interesting reading, and once they had linked with an Alliance warship to transport them to Balen, she had to admit that the treaties seemed to have done the participants a lot of good.
Wacorathi thought back to the conservative governments that she had served. A few strategic treaties would have given them access to help when the plague struck. As it was, having destroyed every ship and crew that had ever tried to land on Ichadra, there was no one to call for help when trouble loomed. Stupid.
She asked her companion, “What is your name?”
“Hidden.”
She was disappointed that it wasn’t his given name.
“We have to withhold our names until we are safe at a base.”
The ship shuddered as they were transported from location to location. “What was that?”
“That was a jump. Two points in space can be connected for an instant, and the move between them is facilitated by a special engine designed to utilize that connection.” He grinned. “We will be making two more of them.”
She frowned. “Why not make a direct jump from place to place?”
“If care is not taken, the jump can rupture the space near an inhabited world. We jump where it won’t do damage and then fly a few hours to get us where we are going.”
She absorbed the information and looked up jumps on the data pad he had given her. She had a lot to catch up on, and she wanted to make choices with knowledge and not desperation. Guessing had never been a favourite occupation of hers.
There were two more jumps, and before she knew it, Hidden was requesting clearance to land on Balen Base.
The world beneath them was bright and new. Everything around had the energy of new life.
“How old is this world?”
He shrugged, “Hundreds of millions of years. Balen recently renovated his surface in celebration that his child was able to be his Avatar.”
“What?”
He chuckled and nodded to the data pad. “Look up planetary and stellar avatars.”
She did, and after she read the pages, she looked up. “You have to be kidding.”
“No. Not kidding. Avatars carry a portion of the mind of the world inside them. It allows the world to choose for itself what will and will not be done to it. The Avatar also allows them to engage in self-defence.”
She nodded. “Out of all the bases, why choose Balen?”
He winced. “It is one of the only bases where your talent will not result in massive death if you slip and dissolve a wall. Station 13 is an orbital station, Udell is on a gas world, Teklan is aimed at investigation and Morganti at environmental disasters. Balen is still getting its full complement, so it will be easier for you to find a place here.”
“What is that building with the tower sticking out?”
“The Citadel. It is a teaching academy and a boarding school for those with talents outside the norm.” He chuckled as he set the shuttle down. “They have recently introduced a new species to Balen. If you see anything fluffy and knee high, they are called Yaluthu or Fixits. They offer healing for the price of a cuddle.”
“They are pets?”
He shook his head and unclasped his harness. “Not in the strictest sense. They are the infantile phase of their species and remain in it for a decade. Their adult form is far less fluffy, but they are intelligent and choose their companions carefully.”
She unbuckled and held tight to her data pad. It was her link to learning the modern world, and she didn’t want to lose it.
A man with dark skin and pale hair came out to greet them. Hidden did the introductions. “Olaris, this is Destroyer of Ichadra. Destroyer, this is Olaris, ex-Avatar of Saru the star in the sky above us.”
She inclined her head. “Thank you for the introduction, Hidden. I am happy to be here.”
Olaris extended his arm. “May I show you your quarters and then get you something to eat?”
She nodded. “That would be pleasant. I don’t remember the last time that I had a good meal.”
He inclined his head. “I too have lived beyond what my species expects. I will help you catch up to the present day.”
“Thank you. Where is Hidden going?”
He walked into the base and disappeared from view.
“Relay wishes him to break down the situation on Ichadra. He is engaged in the standard debriefing that follows every mission.”
He walked with her into the base. “I see. Will I be interviewed?”
“Of course. After you have rested and eaten.”
“I believe I would prefer the food first. I have slept quiet enough.”
Olaris smiled and there was knowledge in his eyes. “I understand completely. A meal it shall be.”
Cheerfully, he escorted her into the dining area where the staff was manning a fairly extensive buffet. The smells assaulted her, and she wished that she had recipes from her old world.
With Olaris helping her, she picked out several plates of small items that she could try as well as several new beverages.
She spent two hours with him, talking about food and how the modern universe was getting so small.
When Hidden appeared, Olaris smiled. “I believe that you can finally learn his name.”
Hidden bowed low over her hand and smiled. “Allow me to introduce myself. Jarrod Kivenar of Halquin Twelve.”
She inclined her head. “Wacorathi Quen, Destroyer, Protector of Ichadra and scourge of her enemies. You may call me, Rathi.”
Her smile grew as a small creature waddled into the dining hall and one of the servers put a plate full of greens down on the floor for it. “Is that a Yaluthu?”
Jarrod turned and nodded. “It is. I didn’t realize that it had a meal appointment here.”
Olaris laughed. “Stay away for a few weeks and the world spins along.”
Rathi went cold. “And sleep for a thousand and all you know is gone.”
Their gathering went silent as she felt her grief washing over her in hard waves.
Olaris took her hand. “Not always. Balen slept and our daughter grew up to be a formidable woman on his surface. Zenina did us both proud, though I wish her mother had lived to see her.”
“Her mother died in childbirth?” Rathi had seen it hundreds of times in her lifetime. It never ceased to be tragic.
“Just before. Zenina was placed into an incubator that allowed her to slowly finish growing to term. When she was ready and Balen’s grief for her mother had begun to ease, she was placed on the surface with the tools she needed to come into her full awareness.”
Jarrod asked, “Pardon my question, but how did you learn Alliance Common?”
She half-smiled. “I took it from your mind. How do you think I learned it?”
The two men stared at her in shock, so she reached for another dessert. “I would like to see my quarters now, please.”
With a bemused expression, Olaris offered her his arm and led her into the base with Jarrod following behind.
Chapter Three
Rathi frowned at the bed. The completely horizontal plane was fine for someone naked, but her armour hadn’t been removed in years.
With a small grunt of surrender, she flicked her armour off and went on a tour of exploration. A bit of fumbling showed her how the shower worked and common sense decoded the lav for her.
She stared at her image in the reflective surface and tilted her head. She had not aged a day since she was last called to duty. Her skin was still golden and her hereditary marks still blazoned her family name.
Rathi stared into her eyes and tried to remember her life before she became the Destroyer. There was nothing. She knew she was Wacorathi Quen but that was where her knowledge stopped. No parents, no siblings, nothing appeared in her mind when she thought of home. The only images in her memory were those of the invaders who had died at her hands.
She sighed and let her hair unravel. Rathi couldn’t even recall the first time she used her talent and that was not something that was normal from what she could determine. She had caught whispers over the years, thoughts in the minds of talents she had destroyed. They all thought of the first moment that they realized they had a power beyond their species’ norms. It was their final thought if they were on the attacking side.
Her hair hung past her collarbone. She picked up a brush and smoothed it into rippled waves. She could have done it by thought, but it was nice to use her hands for once.
She splashed water on her face, smiling at the feeling. It was strange that something so small could spill pleasure through her with a light flick.
Rathi dried her face, walking back into the room she had been assigned. Aside from the flat bed, there was a com unit, a dressing table, wardrobe and an entertainment unit. It was a very comfortable room, something that she may have rented if she had been a student on Ichadra.
The light coming through the window was moonlight. She wanted to try the bed, but she had had enough of sleeping for a while. Rathi looked in the wardrobe and found a light robe. Clothed and settled, she queued up a number of vids and settled in for an informative evening.
A knock on her door halfway through the documentary on the first Citadel brought her out of her fixated stupor. She got to her feet and walked to open the door. A smile was on her lips. She enjoyed doing things manually.
“Hello, Jarrod. How can I help you?”
He held up two cups of tea. “I couldn’t sleep, and I thought you had had more than enough. I came to answer your questions. I am fairly sure you have some.”
Rathi paused and then stepped back to allow him in.
He came in and paused as he saw her armour in the same standing pose she had been in when she walked out of it. “Does the armour do that?”
“No, I do. Please, have a seat. I was watching a few vids, and they have been fairly informative.”
He took a seat, and when she was settled, he handed her the mug of tea. She took it with one hand and resumed watching those incarcerated in the first Citadel make their treatise for release. They helped their population and were granted open rights to learn and travel. Most chose to leave and find other worlds to live on, spurring other Citadels to crop up in the most peculiar places.
“What are you watching next?” Jarrod smiled, and his gaze skimmed over her before returning politely to make eye contact.
“The origins of the Sector Guard. If I am on a world where they are the only inhabitants, it behoves me to learn what I can.”
Jarrod nodded and watched with her, and she felt a fondness for him watching what he had obviously seen time and again. Rathi sipped at the tea he brought her and made a note to ask him what it was called. It had a refreshing coolness with a hint of citrus that was just what she needed after that tremendous meal.
They watched the early exploits of the Sector Guard as voiced over by a member of the Alliance Archive.
Rathi asked, “How long ago was this?”
“Just a little over a decade. It was a good idea that spread quickly. This base is proof of it, though they take pains to never overextend. Slow and steady growth will see a maintainable level of support to the worlds who make use of the Guard.”
“Where would I fit in?” She looked at him and tried to be direct.
He shrugged. “I am sure that a woman of your power could be offered dozens of positions. I think a position as a live-in guardian would be a good option, but with full communication and socialization privileges. Perhaps at one of the resort worlds.”
She grinned, “Me, at a resort?”
“You will have to go through an exam and a test of the limits of your talent, and after that, you will be eligible for assignment.”
“Will I be able to meet with a Minder? I have a mental block, and I wish it removed.”
He frowned. “Is it painful?”
“No. I just do not have any memories before I began my life as Destroyer. Nothing. Not one.”
He placed his hand, palm up, on the couch between them.
She cocked her head and gripped his hand with hers. They watched another vid, and to her surprise, that small contact let part of her relax.
It was different than the casual contact she had engaged in with Olaris. The small bit of intimacy that she felt helped hold the horrors of her past at bay. As the light of Saru crept across her room, she smiled and turned to look at Jarrod. “What happens now?”
He smiled and lifted her hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Now, you take a trip to medical and get an assessment, then we go on an excursion to one of the more distant locations of Balen.”
“When can I see a Minder?”
He got to his feet. “As soon as the physician arranges it. Do you need privacy to change?”
She shrugged and walked over to her armour, letting the robe fall away from her as she backed into the metal that was her daily wear.
Jarrod raised his eyebrows and shook his head as if trying to clear his vision. “Is that how you always get dressed?”
Rathi frowned. “It is how the suit is designed. Only I can get in and out without destroying it. It is keyed to me.”
“Would you care for breakfast?”
“After the trip to medical, please. I would like to see what your medical professionals have to say about my physiology.”
He nodded, and they walked the halls in the early morning, passing few staff members and two people in reinforced uniforms. Based on their similarity to Jarrod’s clothing, they were in the same job as he was.
Rathi felt a touch on her mind, and she looked at the woman who was smiling in a friendly manner. Rathi inclined her head, and the woman blinked in surprise. “Good morning to you as well.”
“I am Icon, welcome to Balen Base.” The woman extended her hand.
“I am the Destroyer. Pleased to meet you.” Rathi shook the woman’s hand, and she smiled politely.