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Published by Awe-Struck E-Books, Inc.
Copyright ©2002
ISBN: 1-58749-362-4
The mills of the Gods grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceedingly small.
-- Unknown
"Lieutenant Klarke?"
Lieutenant Gael Klarke's dark head shot up when the Council called her name. She got to her feet immediately. "Yes, ma'am?"
"It's good to see you again so soon. I trust you enjoyed your brief vacation?"
Gael maintained her standing posture before the twelve chairs on the dais. Eleven of them were empty. She faced the woman who'd spoken to her. "It was very restful. Thank you, ma'am."
"I'm sorry that we had to interrupt your rest," the grande dame of the Council continued, picking up a file set before her. She adjusted the strange eyewear that she favored on her sallow face. The round, lighted protrusions made her eyes look enormous.
Lanier had always been a personal favorite of Gael's. She was the oldest seated Council member and her eccentricities were well known to everyone. Gael had been her personal security guard when she'd first arrived at the Endo complex. She'd learned to like, as well as respect, the older woman and her agile mind.
"If you'll take your seat, Lieutenant, we'll begin. Lights."
The lights went dim as Gael sat down. The three dimensional preview was set in place between her seat and the Council dais.
"How much do you know about the planet R-12, Lieutenant?"
Gael searched her memory quickly. "Very little, ma'am. It's unpopulated. Has an unknown past history. There's a synthetic fuel plant there, I believe."
"That's right. There has been for nearly a millennium. One of the first that was ever set in place even before ENCOM was established and created the rules that fit production of the ore into fuel. I'm sure you know those rules, Lieutenant?"
Gael nodded, eyes on the bright preview that as yet showed nothing. "Only uninhabited planets or artificially formed worlds can be used because of the threat the process poses to vegetation and life forms. Monitored constantly. Self containing and repairing."
"Exactly," L. Lanier agreed. "Now I want you to watch and listen to this and give me your opinion."
The picture that formed in the holographic preview was dim. There were basic outlines of the building formation and a few robotic transports. A swirl of dust, caused by an unseen form on the viewer was followed by a loud grinding sound. Then nothing. Only a steady hum that grew in depth and a sudden disturbing --
"Laughter?" Gael blurted out loud, turning to the Council dais again as the lights came on and the picture disappeared.
L. Lanier's eyes glowed. "Exactly. My thoughts exactly, Lieutenant. Someone has sabotaged the plant. Who do you think could be responsible?"
Gael thought about her briefing before the meeting. "The ever-lasting competition between Guardsman and Bonding for the rights to that fuel?"
"Possibly."
"It could also be political sabotage. Possibly even a prelude to a more aggressive attack against the government." Gael considered the bigger picture.
"We want you to find out, Lieutenant," L. Lanier told her firmly. "Of course, ECHO and Guardsman are sending in their own investigators. We want you to observe the repairs."
"Find out what happened and why." Another Council member joined the conversation. His voice was deep, resonant and slightly familiar. Curiously, he kept his face in the shadows.
Not an accepted member of the Council, Gael surmised. She was surprised he'd waited so long. Usually, they fought to see who would get in the next word. There was something they weren't telling her. The tension and secrecy was palpable. It was difficult to get a true feeling for the situation since they obviously didn't want her to know anything more. "Is there an action you want me to take?"
"Just observe the planet. Tell us what you find. And, Lieutenant?" L.Lanier was specific. "You are to report back directly to me via my private channel. Understood? There will be no other communication."
"Understood, Council." Gael acknowledged Lanier's rank with a salute. Menor had been right. There was something big happening here. And they meant to put her in the middle of it.
It was only an hour after receiving her assignments that her travel papers were ready. It usually took three days. It was only a few minutes later that Gael stormed into her coordinator's office and demanded an immediate change in the curriculum.
"I can't, won't, work with this man or whatever he is," she told Menor shortly, no preliminary niceties. "We all know what happened last year when they found that leak on Padda. If he goes, then I'm not."
Menor sat, terrified, in his high backed chair, worrying a paper into threads. He'd been Gael's coordinator for a year and though he loved her silently and devotedly, he never quite got used to her rampages. "I want to help, Gael. Really. But it's out of my hands. This order is coming directly as an ENDO and ECHO joint project. You know how rarely that happens. They want -- "
"I don't care what they want," Gael raged. "I won't watch my career torn apart by something that renegade does. He never works within the prescribed framework. Last year was just the tip of his anti-authority complex. I won't -- "
"You'll lose your rank," Menor whispered tentatively.
"I...excuse me?" She stopped in mid-tirade to stare at him over the wide, perfectly organized desk. "Would you mind explaining that?"
He cleared his throat and dared a glance up at her. "You will lose your rank. Possibly face a Council trial and total expulsion."
She searched his worried face, pinning him with her merciless gaze. "You're serious." She started to pace the length of the room. "They'd do it, wouldn't they? Why me, Menor? Couldn't they find someone else to do this?"
He stood and ventured around to the front of the desk, starting to put his hand on her arm then retreating, linking his long fingers together. "Gael, technically, this is an ENDO project so you will be in charge. Last year on Padda, that was an ECHO job that they won the contract on, so Kalatri was in charge. True, no one expected him to do what he did, I mean, who could have foreseen -- "
"So there's no way out?" She looked across at him, her brown eyes hard.
He swallowed. "Not...not unless you want out permanently. You know if it were up to me, I wouldn't...I mean that you wouldn't -- "
"I understand, Menor. I'm not blaming you." She squared her shoulders beneath the ENDO red uniform. "But please be sure that Lanier knows that when I get back, I'm taking a year off. And that if I have to take that renegade apart to get the job done, I will."
Menor breathed, daring to relax for an instant when she suddenly turned back from the door. His pulse rate jumped and he had the uncommon urge to throw himself at her feet.
"You know what we call him, don't you?"
His face and mind went blank.
"Wildcat. We have a picture of him on the practice field. I always score through the eyes."
Menor tried to swallow, tried to find something glib to say. The door swished closed behind her and he looked up to find himself sitting on the floor.
All right, you've been handed a bomb that's probably going to explode before you can get away from it, Gael told herself, taking the small cruiser out of space dock a little faster than was necessary. The pointed comment from the control officer brought her back to her situation.
She was angry. No, dammit, she was furious! Twenty years of her life was wrapped up in ENDO. When they'd asked her what she'd considered doing with her life when she'd first come to ENCOM, there had only been one answer, ENDO. She wanted to be an ENDO officer.
As soon as she'd been able, she'd entered the academy. She was the youngest cadet ever accepted. She fought hard for her place in the organization. She mastered weapons, schoolwork, and her own young body that was constantly at war with her brain in those days. She'd been at the head of her graduating class and the youngest officer decorated for bravery and honor at her first mission. ENDO was her life and her family. There was nothing else as far as she was concerned.
"So let's start over," she said out loud, putting the light cruiser into warp at the outer perimeter of Selim-3's moon where the ENDO base headquarters were located. "You aren't furious with ENDO or even Lanier. You want to take Wildcat apart. He's the problem. You have to be the solution."
The biggest problem was that she couldn't stand telepaths. It was a personal failing. One she shared with most of the ENDO officers. She'd been lucky in her career and only had to work with a few. It wasn't that she was prejudiced exactly, she reasoned, calling up information from the computer on Kalatri Astri. They made her nervous. She was more comfortable with a loaded weapon at her head than with a telepath standing anywhere in the room.
ENDO didn't accept telepaths into their ranks but their counterparts, ECHO, did. They actually preferred them. She shuddered.
A face of stunning physical beauty came up on her viewer. He was startlingly attractive, she assessed, totally unmoved. She stared at his pure profile. Of course, all Rians were good to look at and all telepathic to one degree or another. This particular Rian, with his long, flowing mane of tawny hair and those clear azure eyes, was one of the strongest. No one had realized how strong until last year on Padda.
A deadly gas leak had erupted and a friend of hers, Hank Seus, had joined Wildcat, Kalatri Astri's nickname in the ENDO ranks, at the site. There was very little time for evacuation. The gas was deadly to both the people and the planet's environment.
Hank had taken one look at the situation and had moved to cordon off the area that would be affected first, trying to keep the damage to a minimum. There had already been some loss of life on the planet. His plan would have accepted a few more casualties while insuring that minimum damage was done to the ECO system.
Hank had told her afterwards how Wildcat had just looked at him. He didn't argue. He just looked at him like he wasn't there at all. That's when it happened.
Without a word, the telepath took control of the situation. Not bothering with established guidelines for evacuation, he telepathically commanded scores of inhabitants to leave the area, creating a panic when they all awakened, as if from a dream, to find themselves already on transports.
Then he'd used a mindshield to cap the leak until it could be sealed adhesively. All of this had been accomplished while he held Hank Seus and his team immobile at the site against their will.
When they realized what had happened, Hank was furious and tried to attack Wildcat. He was summarily sent with the other evacuees to the transports, fighting the telepath's control but losing ground quickly. Finally, he had ended up at the other side of the planet.
There had been talk of sanctions against ECHO. ENDO had demanded an apology from Wildcat. In the end, it all came down to the project. Few lives were lost, the ECO system had been secured and only Hank Seus' pride had been truly injured. ENDO had gone on to bid on other projects against ECHO and nothing else had been said.
But no one at ENCOM had forgotten and the incident added fuel to the already uneasy relations between the two groups.
The Alliance encouraged the rivalry between ENDO and ECHO. It kept prices low on their services and some had even hinted that the Central Alliance was afraid of either group gaining too much power. Together, so the theory went, ECHO and ENDO could overthrow the government.
The incident on Padda was evidence enough to Gael that the uniting theory was useless power trash. ENDO was started to aggressively defend against all environmental threats, putting the problems of the inhabitants after the safety of the planet's ECO system. They maintained ENCOM at Selim-3's moon with weapons and trained their agents in a militaristic fashion.
ECHO was inhabitant friendly, always looking for the peaceful solution, working with the people and the planet to find a safe way to end the threat. They were mostly telepaths. They maintained Miccah Station at the far end of the quadrant. It was an artificial satellite that was used for research and study. They'd signed peace treaties separate from the government with three other systems.
It was talk and action, Gael thought, as she pulled her cruiser out of warp just before reaching Miccah Station. That was the basic difference between the two groups.
"Good morning, Lieutenant Klarke. We hope your journey was pleasant."
Gael quickly shut down the ECHO service file, storing it for future study and picked up the image of the smiling ECHO station communicator. "Yes, thanks." As always, she disliked the ECHO effusiveness.
"You'll be here to pick up Kalatri Astri for the R-12 mission," the rosy-cheeked young woman continued with a smile and a nod of her pretty head.
"I thought that was a coded mission?" Gael searched for some sort of rank or insignia on the bright blue uniform on her screen.
"It is indeed, Lieutenant," the woman agreed, not a smile out of countenance. "I am Communications Manager Joy Frem. Your progress has been monitored and I am speaking to you on a closed channel."
"I see," Gael responded, "and Wild -- I mean Astri? Is he ready to come aboard?"
"We have not been able to locate him as of this time, Lieutenant. However, we are certain he will be found shortly. If you would like to avail yourself of our hospitality while we look for him, we would be glad to have you."
"No, thanks." Gael shuddered at the thought of all that understanding and help surrounding her and opted for a nap. "Just give me a call when you've found him."
She cut the girl short while she was assuring her that they would certainly let her know when Astri was located. Gael guided the cruiser into an outside berth at the shining station and put her communications on standby, lying back in her seat.
The night before had been a long, sleepless one with too much anger and too little action. The combination had resulted in too many weird dreams. Now that she was about to meet the problem head on, she could relax. He was only a Rian. A telepath, true, but she'd dealt with them before and she'd deal with Wildcat.
Gael awoke dry mouthed and not sure where she was after a particularly nasty dream. She was on the beach at Del Sol again, her hastily evacuated vacation spot. The sun was hot and she was watching good-looking men saunter by when a face of unreal beauty formed before her.
Kalatri Astri.
He was tall and moved with an elegant grace. His ECHO blue uniform changed into a miniscule blue swimsuit as he approached. He looked down at his change of garment. "You have a very active imagination, Lieutenant Klarke. And your mind works in a way I find most attractive."
The sunlight was golden around his head and the breeze blew his hair around his face. She could see the light shining in the intense blue of his eyes as he bent his head down to hers. His mouth was just a fraction away...
Gael almost fell out of her seat getting to her feet. The dream left her irritable and wondering how long it was going to take to find her nemesis. She sat back down, punched in her COM number and waited for Joy Frem, the smiling cherub, to appear.
"Did you enjoy your rest, Lieutenant?" Kalatri Astri's face appeared on the screen.
After her dream, Gael felt uneasy and unready to face him. She had a face she used, the visage terrible, one cadet had called it when she had drilled him for four hours on correct procedure. She turned the visage on Kalatri who looked satisfactorily appalled by it. "What the hell are you doing down there? You knew when I'd be here and you know how important this mission is."
"I assure you, Lieutenant, that I know of both these things. I relieved Joy at the console to speak with you privately."
"So speak," Gael added, yawning despite herself.
He smiled quickly. "Your countenance is not quite intimidating enough yet for your words to have much bite. I am tougher than I appear, Lieutenant. I won't be bullied by ENDO or you."
Gael pushed back her instant anger. "All right. What do you want from me?"
"A great deal. But you aren't prepared as yet to accept all that I can give in return."
"I won't ask again," she replied in a voice of deadly quiet. "Stop playing games with me, Wi-Astri. I won't be danced around by pretty ECHO words either."
"Ah, my pet name. Wildcat, isn't it?"
Gael had the grace to look ashamed. She was better trained than this man, had more experience. She'd let her anger get the better of her and made herself look like a fool. "My apologies, Kalatri Astri. If we might start again? We have orders to rendezvous with Guardsman security by this time tomorrow at Land's End. Are you ready to proceed?"
"You may call me whatever you wish, Lieutenant Klarke." He smiled at her. "As for the meeting, I have taken the liberty of communicating my desire to meet with Guardsman the day after tomorrow. There is something that I must attend to here at the station before I can join you."
"You have taken the liberty --?" Gael was speechless. Only an ECHO agent would find something as important as a pre-appointed meeting too difficult to schedule.
Swallowing her anger and the words she'd learned in the alleys of Farga as a child, she faced him. "And what am I supposed to do until you're ready to leave tomorrow? This cruiser wasn't designed for comfort."
"I'd suggest that you enjoy our hospitality here at Miccah, Lieutenant. I'm sure you can find adequate comfort here as well as a good meal and something to keep yourself occupied. I'll be finished here in plenty of time to make our new rendezvous with the Guardsman group."
"How thoughtful of you," she snickered. "But I'd rather wait in open space. Without a ship." She switched off the screen, refusing to allow further communication with the station. She fumed; wanting to leave him there and go on to R-12, but a short conversation with Menor took away that option.
"Relax," Menor told her. "Go down to the station for the night."
She cut him off, too. She paced the length of the cruiser several times, angry despite her best intentions. She called them all names that would have put a blush on the hardest ENDO officer's cheeks. But in the end, boredom won out over pride.
Asking the Station Manager for permission nearly choked her. The response was courteous and welcoming. Still, she ground her teeth as she slipped the cruiser into space dock within the station.
Gael straightened her uniform. She checked her hair and made sure there was no sleep in her eyes as the shuttle elevator swept her from the cruiser to the main entry. She knew the drill, having spent time in the diplomatic corps more than once as a cadet.
A smiling, informative ECHO officer would meet her. She'd be escorted to her quarters, then to dinner in the main hall, then perhaps a quick tour of the station. She had to admit that she was impressed by their sense of order at Miccah. It hadn't taken anyone higher than the station manager to approve her request for a layover. At ENDO, it would have taken a superior officer. Here, it seemed, power shifted differently.
She stepped out of the elevator, adjusting quickly to the dim light in the main reception area. There were plants of all species from many different worlds growing wildly along the textured sand gray colored walls. There was a mauve cast to the east wall that shifted into tangerine then rose. A cascading fall of translucent particles showered through the colors giving the huge entry an exotic feel.
"Kalamir, Sadah." Kalatri Astri walked slowly from beneath the colored shower of lights. He bowed low, his hands touching his forehead in the traditional Rian salute.
Gael, versed in many forms of greeting, returned his salutation. "Kalamir, Sadoh."
"You have been to Ria?" he queried pleasantly, surprised by her move.
"Briefly. Your home world is very beautiful. You must miss it a great deal." Gael forced herself to keep her eyes on his face, knowing that the eyes to Rians were everything.
"Yes," he agreed, gesturing with his hand that they should proceed down the long hall. "And you?"
"Miss my home world?" She grimaced. "I hardly think so."
"So ENCOM is your home?"
"You could say that."
"Have you ever visited Miccah before?"
"Yes." She smiled briefly, glancing at the artwork illuminated in blue lighting, admiring the tiny trees with shiny blue-black leaves that had been etched into the wall. "It's very-uh...restful."
Kalatri laughed and stopped his wide stride abruptly. "In other words, boring?"
Gael stopped just ahead of him, turning back to look at his face in the blue light. His laughter was like a warm breeze on her skin, making her shiver. It made her uneasy to look at him. His beauty was bordering on the surreal. Rian charm came too easily, too sweetly.
The lights and the soft music gently wafting down the corridor reminded her of the Recreation Dens on Telfa Base, full of sex and drugs. It reminded her of who he was and why she was there. "You might as well know going into it. I don't like telepaths. I don't like working with an ECHO partner. And I don't like you personally. I'm here because I have to be. That's all."
He searched her face quizzically then began to walk again. "I was wondering."
Gael had no immediate choice but to follow. "Wondering?"
"Wondering what had happened to the female with the terrible face on the communication screen. I see I've found her."
Gael ground her teeth. Could she control her feelings in this operation long enough to get the job done? She gestured to the blue of his uniform and the red of her own. "Look, we're very different. Not just ENDO and ECHO. It's more a discipline. We obey orders at ENDO and we work as a team."
"You're referring to the incident on Padda last year?" His voice was smooth and emotionless, like a sheet of clear water.
Gael nodded, skipping once to keep up with his longer strides. She was tall but she suddenly understood her shorter friends running to keep up with her. "I'm not the sort of person that can pretend that it didn't happen. I think it might be better for everything to be out in the open between us."
"I believe I understand your concern, Lieutenant." He stopped abruptly, Gael almost falling into him. Blue eyes, as cold and clear as sapphires, bored into her startled brown gaze. "You're afraid that I'll try to take over this mission. Your mission. Is that correct?"
She held herself straight and pressed an imaginary crease from her perfect uniform and smiled, bowing her head slightly. "I'm not afraid of you taking over the mission, Sadoh. I'm worried that I might lose my rank for what I'll do to you if you try."
There was a moment of absolute silence when even the music seemed to cease its pleasant chatter.
Kalatri felt the remote and almost unrecognizable stirrings of anger inside himself. Those brown eyes were so assured, the face so confident. The urge to rip away that mask of utter smugness nearly overwhelmed him.
Instead, he found a not unpleasant ripple of emotion run through him. There was something here, something about this woman that intrigued him. He bowed his own head to her, his hair sliding forward to conceal the expression in his eyes that he wouldn't have been able to hide at that time. An expression it was far better for her not to see. "I'm here to assist you, Sadah. Perhaps you can teach me about team work?"
Gael didn't believe Astri's humble acquiescence for an instant but the training she'd grown up with pushed aside their differences for the time being. There was no need to be belligerent. He knew how she felt and that was for the best. Maybe he'd stay out of her way. But if she was going to show him ENDO teamwork, there was no time like the present. "I appreciate your compliance, Wi-Astri." Damn.
His look was more significant than a word could have been. An elegant pale eyebrow rose slightly. His mouth quirked at one corner.
"I'd bite my tongue off if it would help," she offered, shaking her head.
"What does it mean...wildcat?"
"A loner. Someone who has to do things their own way. Anti-authority." She shrugged. "Kalatri Astri."
There was a definite gleam lurking in his eyes. "Not so bad. I've been called far worse."
Gael would have put a year's wages on that but refrained from saying so out loud. You see, she chided herself. You can do it.
They walked silently down several more corridors, each a varying shade of blue, green or violet. As they passed other ECHO agents, Kalatri introduced her. They seemed unable to tear their eyes from her bright red uniform but they chattered happily with them. Most were young. Some were just children.
"Doesn't ECHO have a separate children's wing?" she asked at last, unnerved by the attention.
"No. We don't separate our young. We all learn together." He linked his long fingers together pulling them to show the joining. "It makes us stronger."
Gael remembered the cadet's wing at ENDO. The children were restricted to the lower levels until they had reached an age of practiced order and discipline. They would never have thought to stop a senior ENDO agent in the halls and ask impatiently for an introduction to a visitor.
"Your quarters." Kalatri stopped at a small room, gaining admittance with a touch of a button. He walked into the pristine white room and entered the code on the master circuit that would bring her food, clothing, etc. "Anything you require."
"Thanks." She followed behind him. "Ours is very similar."
"I'll be ready to leave the station in the morning. If there is anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable, please inform me."
"What is it that couldn't wait until you got back from the mission?" She faced him inquisitively, not sure if he would answer.
"You have the right to ask," he determined. "When a child is born to Rian parents, he must be joined, guided by a third. We call this person Khmar. It must be done on the third day of life. No earlier. No later."
"And you are a child's Khmar?" She briefly recalled hearing the term.
He nodded. "It's a bond as strong as blood and necessary to the child's development."
"As a telepath?"
"Indeed."
"I understand." She took a deep breath and looked up into his face. "Then I'll meet you tomorrow."
"Yes. Kalamir, Sadah."
"Kalamir, Sadoh."
Gael spent the evening on the station with a group of young Echo agents. They were bright, interested in ENDO and in Gael herself. They were almost too eager with their questions and demand for knowledge. She was exhausted after her dinner and tour of the station.
Miccah was much larger than ENCOM with its gardens and labs. Though their discipline was much less stringent, Gael could feel their pride and loyalty to their group. It was in every word and along every corridor as they pointed to achievements and future plans. There was a softer, more relaxed quality to ECHO that she found distressing and interesting at once.
The children with their bright eyes and quick minds had impressed her the most. She couldn't help but wonder, as she undressed for bed, if it wouldn't be better for ENDO to have their young ones in the main service with the older agents. It would certainly keep them alert. She smiled, recalling the youngest ECHO trainee's impulsiveness. Their questions had been to the point, their insights challenging.
She knew even as she thought it through that ENDO doctrine would never allow for the freedom these youngsters enjoyed. Discipline was important, vital, to the code that was rigidly enforced. She reminded herself that it was that discipline that had saved her life. For some, the ENDO way of life was the best. She closed her eyes and put her own childhood firmly behind her, along with any small questions she might have about her chosen calling.
It was well into the predetermined night cycle of Miccah Station that Gael awakened. She gasped and sat straight up in bed. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and a tingling sensation surged through her body. A sound, growing steadily stronger, a pulsating hum had reached inside of her and captured her awareness. It grew in depth even as she lay back in the bedport, determining that it was part of a dream.
She had been dreaming. She was standing in that museum exhibit she'd seen last month, staring at those info disk entries they'd found on R-12. It was as though she'd been drawn into those threads of captured life. Then she was in the cruiser, heading towards the ore planet. The small ship throbbed around her, out of control, spinning towards the planet.
Her hand touched the side of the bedport and her hazy mind cleared instantly. She was on Miccah Station in a dark room perfectly humidified, heated, and circulated. The bedside table held the hand control for lights, monitor, etc. but there was a sound. A throbbing that grew steadier, deeper. She started to press the monitor to ask the manager on duty if something was wrong then thought better of it. Instead of the COM, she pulled on her complimentary blue-gray robe and put her feet on the warm, smooth floor. The sound drew her from her compartment. She wasn't thinking about where she was going. She looked out of her room but she was alone. The corridor was empty. She could sense the silence around her in the darkened hall and felt herself walking but it was dreamlike, unreal. There was a sensation like the beating of wings against her mind that led her forward.
Gael followed the sound, like music playing, calling to her. She reached an open doorway crowded with other station residents in their nightwear. They spoke for once in quiet whispers among themselves, glancing at her, acknowledging her presence. She wanted to ask what was going on and then return to her own quarters but she couldn't find her voice.
The sound was coming from the compartment. Not stopping to notice that she couldn't actually hear anything, Gael eased through the loosely packed group. The room was a meeting area of some type, larger then the normal space on the station. It was darker than the corridor had been except for a slight illumination that cast even deeper shadows on the faces of the inhabitants.
In the center, a tall man in a flowing yellow robe held a child, his large hands supporting the baby away from his body. Another young man and woman, equally tall and garbed in white, stood nearby. Their eyes were closed, their lips moving in soundless chants. This was the song that had awakened her. It was emanating from this group. Rians. Kalatri Astri held the baby, his Khmar, giving him or her their birthright.
Gael felt something tighten inside of her. The sound hardened and angered her, leaving her cold and alone in the group of people. She shouldn't have been there. This ceremony shouldn't have called to her. She'd been tested more than once and had no psi leanings. Had Wildcat dared to invade her mind with his thoughts? The idea was repulsive to her. It was a violation she wouldn't accept.
She didn't realize that she was staring directly into Kalatri's face until his eyes opened abruptly and the brilliant blue of his gaze burned into her own. She made no effort to hide the anger that had to be clearly written there. After a moment that felt like an eon to her, she turned away and moved back through the suddenly quiet crowd.
"Behold!" She heard his voice as she found the corridor. "He who sees without eyes and hears without ears. Though we are far from our world, still we are as one."
Gael looked back through the group surrounding him. Everyone had broken free of the spell cast by the Rian ceremony and surged towards the parents as Kalatri returned the baby to them. The room was full of voices and faces.
Kalatri's vision was narrowed to one. He watched as Gael turned and walked silently away.
***
In the morning, Kalatri went quickly to Gael's chamber only to find that she was already gone. He sighed and shut his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts together and trying to find an inner vision that would hold him through the near future.
His life at ECHO was simple and pleasant. He enjoyed his research and the interaction of others with like minds and goals. There was nothing much that taxed him. Except for the occasional foray into hostile ENDO environments.
At best, he found ENDO agents to be overbearing and dull witted. He could only assume that years of training with their weapons and their hard bodies had created a stagnation of their minds and their creative processes. At worst, ENDO was brutal, not caring to talk when firing a weapon would do as well. Destroying instead of understanding. He'd been called down more than once for his ENDO- ECHO partnerships; partnerships he inevitably controlled even if it meant some mild discomfort for his fellow ENDO agent.
Lieutenant Gael Klarke was a typical ENDO officer. She was skilled more surely in the use of the weapons he abhorred than in tact or diplomacy. She was likely to charge in with her weapon screaming, no matter how delicate the moment.
He didn't want to control her though he had controlled others before when the need arose. He had helped an occasional ENDO officer to do or say what he wanted in critical situations. Or simply kept them quiet and out of the way while he handled the problem. His conscience was clear in those affairs. If he could silence an uncouth agent to keep from ruining years of work to build trust between worlds and their people, Kalatri would do what was necessary.
Gael was going to be different. After meeting her, he had gone to the ECHO leaders to have his status changed. It would be better, for their reputation, to have someone else on the planet with this particular ENDO officer. From the moment he'd sensed her presence at the station, even while she was still on the cruiser, he'd known that something was different about her. He needed time to explore what that difference was without her disturbing influence.
He hadn't been able to explain the feelings she invoked in him even to his superior, Juroh, a fellow Rian. The closest thing he'd ever experienced was a mind link with a member of his own family. It made him feel slightly askew, powerless. Not an emotional response he wanted to experience with an ENDO officer in a possibly vital mission.
Certainly not a response he could explain to leaders who were adamant about his part in the project. They'd called on many favors to include ECHO in the investigation of the ore operation. Just why, they refused to say. Kalatri wouldn't presume to try to fathom it from them without their consent, especially since a Rian was on the panel.
"Where is Lieutenant Klarke?" he finally asked the senior COM officer after leaving Gael's room.
"Lieutenant Klarke is currently within her vehicle at location D-23. She has requested permission to withdraw from Miccah Station at 16:51 today."
Kalatri looked at the station chronometer near the wall COM and felt an irrational irritation with the woman again. She'd planned on leaving him there, no doubt. He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing. He kept his anger with her at bay just long enough...there. That would give her something to do. And give him the time he needed to say his goodbyes and get a few things together.
At 16:50, Gael started the cruiser's engines, refusing to imagine what sort of reprimand she would receive for leaving Astri there at the station. It wasn't like her to do anything that might reflect badly on her commission but this was going to be the exception to that rule.
Last night had been too powerful. Anything remotely close to telepaths made her edgy. Confronting a Rian harmony ceremony in her nightclothes had been too far over the comfort edge for her. The less time she spent with Rians, Astri in particular, the better.
At 16:51, the engine suddenly died. There was no drain on the power converters. No reason for it at all. Without warning from the computer, everything went dead. Cursing fluently and colorfully in at least three different languages, Gael slid under the control panel and gained access to the interface system. The delicate crystal coupling that joined the computer to the ship's functions had dissolved, falling into powder at the touch of her hand.
She blinked behind her protective lenses. It wasn't possible. She'd outfitted the little cruiser herself before leaving ENCOM. That coupling should have been good for this trip and several thousand more like it. She heard the warning of the computer and the soft swish of the main hatch. Soft booted feet leading to ECHO blue came to stand near her. She hit her head with a thud, groaning out loud. Her plan hadn't worked.
"Maybe this will help?" His voice was unmistakable. The Rian accent was strongly wrapped around the accepted language of the Alliance. In his hand was another coupling that matched the one that had been destroyed. He crouched down close to the floor where she sat.
She stared at the coupling and his long, slender fingers a moment longer, sorting out all the impressions that ran rampant through her brain. Foremost was anger barely controlled by her training and personal dignity. A grudging admiration crept, unwillingly, into her thoughts. It had been a clever thing to do. Something she might have done in a similar situation.
Roughly, she pushed herself out from under the panel, catching him and herself off guard. His face was barely a breath away from hers. Gael held her ground, not moving though she could make out the almost violet pupils in his eyes. "Stop it. Now. Or I swear you'll be eating Rissan dust before this is all over."
The blue of his eyes turned almost black with his anger at her casual threat. Rissan was a chemical used by a barbarian planet in the Streng sector to take away the inborn psi abilities of its minor classed people. No one considered its usage anything but an atrocity. It was an uncivilized act by an uncivilized world.
"If I'd wanted to influence your thinking, Lieutenant," he informed her in tones that would have frozen a lesser person, "I would've had you sitting in that chair over there waiting for me to get here. I wouldn't have needed to destroy the coupling."
He leaned his head even closer, the fine silk of his hair catching on her sleeve as he moved. "Perhaps you should ask yourself what it is you fear so greatly, Lieutenant Gael Klarke. My thoughts or your own."
The air between them crackled with electricity. Neither moved or breathed. The coupling trembled in Kalatri's fingers. The communication port was activated on the control panel. "Gael? This is Menor. Could you take just a minute and let me know what's going on? You're behind schedule."
Gael drew in a ragged breath, fighting for control, flinging herself back and away from Kalatri. She squared her shoulders beneath her uniform and took her seat at the panel. "I'm here, Menor. What do you want to know?"
"You look terrible, Gael," Menor observed nervously. "Is there a problem? If so, you should have informed me. Lanier is very concerned. She wants a status report...now."
"Permit me," Kalatri offered. "It was, after all, my petition that has caused the delay."
Gael wouldn't meet his eyes. She moved away from the panel without a word. She took the coupling from his unresisting fingers and resumed her position on the floor to replace the one that had gone bad. Gone bad, she marked hotly. He had destroyed the damned crystal to keep her from leaving!
"Ah, Kalatri Astri," Menor smiled. "As always, one jump ahead. Kalamir, Sadoh."
"Kalamir," Kalatri replied steadily, though his hands shook. "I must apologize for this delay, Sadoh. I needed to be here for an important ritual involving my brother's son."
"Please, call me Menor," the aid responded. "The Khmara?"
"Indeed, Menor. You are well versed in the ways of my people."
"Thank you," Menor preened while Gael smirked as she heard him. "Will there be any further delays now, Kalatri?"
"None at all," Kalatri answered positively. "We're preparing to leave Miccah Station now. There was an unfortunate mishap with a coupling but that will be repaired momentarily."
"Very good. Excellent," Menor praised. "We received word from the Guardsman people that they will rendezvous with your ship tomorrow, your time 6:41, at the repairs station just off of Land's End."
"We'll be there, Menor." Kalatri told him firmly. "Is that all?"
"If you would tell Gael that we're expecting quarter reports from her, please."
Kalatri heard a brief curse and a groaning noise from the floor. "Lieutenant Klarke has assented to your request, Menor. She'll call you on the next quarter. It was pleasant to speak with you."
"And you." Menor smiled, relieved. He had expected something of a barbarian from the gossip. "You aren't at all what I was expecting. Good journey, Sadoh."
The screen went blank and Kalatri sat back in the gray cushioned seat.