by Petra Landon
“That would mean that my Ur’quay ancestors mated with the Budheya and possibly Sseela’s forbearers the last time they were here” Zh’hir stated evenly.
“It should be easy for Dr. Uish to test the theory, Zh’hir” the mercenary suggested.
The Ur’quay Captain shook his head, the gold eyes fixed on his friend.
“Zoran, I cannot believe that any Space Force warrior would leave his mate or youngling behind without a second thought.” If what Zoran suggested was true, this was no mere intermingling. There had been consequences that his ancestors had walked away from without second thought.
“They might have been unaware that your world would suddenly decide to isolate itself after they returned home” Zoran pointed out gently. “You said yourself that active Space Force warriors have not been allowed to choose mates or have families by Ur’quay law for generations. Is it not possible for a warrior to meet someone on his travels here — someone he intends to come back to but is forced by circumstances to abandon as his people segregate themselves on their world far away in a distant corner of the galaxy.”
Zh’hir stared at his friend. In his heart, he knew that Zoran’s words made a lot of sense, but it was hard for him to accept. Would he have walked away from Sila if the circumstances had been different, he wondered. Could he have? Wouldn’t he at least have tried to communicate with her, to let her know what was happening on Ur’Qia and to reassure her that he would do everything in his power to make it back to her — to keep the promises he had made to her. Had his Ur’quay ancestors been that very different from him? Perhaps, they too had tried to communicate with a beloved left behind here. Perhaps they had intended to do everything in their power to return to Sector Araloka, but it had proven impossible to do so once their world had begun to sequester itself.
“I’ll have Dr. Uissh test the strain against Ur’quay genetic code” he said grimly, making a silent pledge to never place himself in a situation where his circumstances forced him to abandon Sila. “The doctor has my genetic material. I will give him permission to use it.”
Zoran stayed silent, understanding that perhaps the circumstances his Ur’quay ancestors had faced hit a little too close to home for his friend.
“If this turns out to be the case, the Ur’quay have a lot to answer for to those they left behind without any protection or even guidance on how to handle this ability we passed on to them” the Star Captain said in a hard voice.
His communicator trilled to interrupt the conversation. Zh’hir glanced at the device in astonishment. It was the private channel on his Ur’quay line. He wasn’t expecting any calls on it. A vivid memory of the last time the same channel had flashed during a similar undercover run with Zoran from Budheyasta sprang to his mind. Then, it had been Sila sending him a desperate appeal for assistance.
“What is it?” Zoran asked, at the strange gamut of expressions that flitted across the Star Captain’s normally impassive face.
“I have a very bad feeling about this” the Ur’quay Captain said brusquely, activating the message playback into his earpiece.
“Saakshi and I have been captured by Ketaari. They knew who I was. I think it was me they were looking for. I will try to keep us both safe until you can come for us, Star Captain.”
“What is it?” Zoran asked again, more urgently this time as the Ur’quay male went rigid, his expression shuttered and the gold eyes glittering with strong emotion.
“I was right — it is bad news” the Star Captain said shortly, activating the controls for the communication system in the chamber. “Patching it through to the speakers.”
Sila’s voice filled the room, her desperation coming through even as she succinctly stated their predicament.
Zoran sprang up from his seat.
“Ketaari” he repeated hoarsely, a blind look on his face. “They will not spare Saakshi” he said urgently, fear and desperation spiraling through him for the mate he loved so desperately.
The Star Captain stood like a rock, unable to comfort his friend. There was nothing to say. Both were in danger but a Budheya captive, especially a fugitive from the Imperial Forces, would face harsher treatment. A rescue must be mounted as quickly as possible and the Henia with its superior technology stood the best chance at it.
Zh’hir reached for his communicator. “First Commander, push the StarDrive to maximum. We must make our rendezvous as quickly as we can.”
“Acknowledged, Star Captain” D’raar’s steady voice assured him.
“How the hell could this happen?” Zoran muttered incredulously as a toxic mix of rage, shock, panic, and guilt thrummed in him. “They had two of our best ships and my mercs guarding them.”
“We will get them back, Zoran” the Ur’quay Captain said with grim determination, his words sounding like a vow.
d
Saakshi awoke slowly. Her head pounded and she felt bruised all over.
“Saakshi” said a familiar voice.
She turned her head to meet green eyes full of concern.
“How do you feel?”
“A little worse for wear” she muttered. “What happened?”
“We’re prisoners” Sila said softly. “We were taken from the planet.”
A memory of soldiers in the dreaded uniform bursting into the idyllic countryside as she frolicked by the pond flashed through Saakshi.
“Ketaari” she whispered fearfully, panic surging through her.
Her eyes flashed to the heavy bars that confined them in a cramped cell.
“Yes” Sila acknowledged quietly. Now that she knew why the Ketaari had come after her, Sila felt calmer and more confident.
Saakshi struggled to sit up and her friend put out a hand to dissuade her.
“Saakshi” Sila whispered urgently. “I know why they took us. It’s me they want. Let me handle this.”
The Budheya girl frowned. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no time to tell you everything. But I have something they want. You were captured because you happened to be present when they found me.”
“This is to do with the rendezvous” Saakshi said wonderingly. Sila in pain in the guest chamber on the Juntafeyore and Zoran saying incredulous things about the Terran girl’s ability to read minds, followed by a hush hush mission to meet with the Ketaari envoy that had excluded everyone except the Ur’quay, Zoran and Sila — these were all vividly clear in her memory.
“Yes” Sila confirmed. “I can keep us safe until they come for us, Saakshi.”
“They don’t know where we are, Sila” Saakshi said despairingly. They both knew which ‘they’ they talked about.
“They do. I’ve taken care of it” Sila reassured her. This was not going to be a repeat of the slavers, Sila told herself grimly. This time, she had something to bargain with. And she was confident that the Star Captain and the Hadari’Kor would harry after them as quickly as they could. She just needed to buy them a little time. Which translated to protecting her Budheya friend, for the Ketaari would not hurt Sila. She was the golden goose they had gone to a lot of trouble to acquire.
“Trust me, Saakshi” Sila reassured her again, this time with more confidence. “I’ve got this.”
“Alright” Saakshi acceded with a searching glance at her friend. “What do you want me to do?”
“Stay still and pretend you’re still groggy, Saakshi. Don’t resist them and don’t say anything, no matter what” Sila warned as she stood up. “Watch me for cues” she added quietly.
Sila walked to the bars to pound on them. They had been brought aboard a large Ketaari Brutaniyr a half hour ago and confined to this small airless cell. Under her, she could feel the battleship move, able now to pick up on the subtle vibrations of the large craft after her time aboard various space vessels. Sila suspected that the Ketaari were putting as much distance as they could between themselves and the Alliance Commander’s entourage. From what she had deciphered from the Ketaari leader’s mind, she knew that t
hat they were on the same Brutaniyr that had made the rendezvous with Commander Kerovac — the ship that carried the Budheya telepaths. Sila had made sure to protect her mind before the shuttle had landed on the Brutaniyr. Since then, she had been waiting for Saakshi to regain consciousness. Soon, the Ketaari would put her to work and she had no time to waste before making her move.
In minutes, a lone guard responded to the racket.
“I want to see your leader” she announced calmly in Alliance Standard, with as much authority as she could muster.
“I have some information for him. Tell him that he’ll regret it if he doesn’t hear what I have to say” she added dismissively to make her way unhurriedly back to sit beside Saakshi on the floor. As agreed, her friend pretended to be comatose.
The guard was taken back by her confident approach. Nonplussed, he stared at her for a moment before striding away. Sila spent a few anxious minutes waiting for the Ketaari to take the bait, all the while making very sure her mental defenses were as tight as they could be.
Ten minutes later, the leader strode in to confront her through the bars.
“What do you want?” he asked, the pale blue eyes watching her like a predator keeping a sharp eye on its favorite prey.
Holding on to her composure with an effort, Sila stood up to dust herself unhurriedly before squaring up to him. “I know what you want from me. And I’m willing to cooperate on one condition.”
The Ketaari arched his eyebrow. “You are in no position to make demands, Terran” he pointed out in a mild voice that sent a shiver down her spine.
“I think I am” Sila responded imperturbably, holding onto her inscrutability with an effort. “My mental skills are far beyond the control of your telepaths. You will find that I’m too strong to be forced into anything I do not want to do.”
“We’ll see about that” the Ketaari stated, without any inflection in his voice.
Sila girded herself to play her card. “You’re welcome to try, of course. But it will prove futile in the end. If you want to use my ability, you’ll need my cooperation.”
He studied her silently, the pale eyes calculating. The Ketaari’s attempts to exploit their three Budheya telepaths had gotten them little result so far. She was more in control of her talent. Sila was aware that they knew it — it was the only reason the Ketaari had sprung such a risky mission to capture her from the highly guarded contingent that usually formed the Alliance Commander’s entourage.
Sila reeled him in carefully. “You have three Budheya on this ship, hooked up together on drugs to focus them. That is how you were able to combine their abilities to extend their telepathy over a greater distance.”
For the first time, the Ketaari officer’s expression went carefully blank. She had him, Sila realized triumphantly. She pushed her advantage forcefully, growing more confident with each second.
“Even together, they were unable to read my mind” she pointed out calmly. “I have been trained from birth to use it. The three you have are not very good at controlling theirs. I’m a very different kettle of fish from them. Believe me when I say this — you’ll get nothing out of me if you try to force me.”
“Who are you?” he asked abruptly. “Where do you come from? How did Un Kieto Maal find you?”
“All in good time” Sila responded, now almost able to taste victory. “Once we have a deal.”
The calculating pale eyes wandered her and Sila made herself stand unmoving under his appraisal.
“What is your condition, Terran?” he asked eventually.
She gestured at a prone Saakshi on the ground. “My friend here stays with me at all times. I will cooperate only if I believe her to be safe.”
“We do not mean her any harm” the Ketaari male said with a straight face.
“I know how your people treat hers. I will cooperate only if I know she’s unharmed. That is my condition.”
“Alright” he conceded after a moment. “But her hands will be bound.”
“As long as I can see her at all times” Sila warned.
d
“The Brutaniyr and everyone aboard her must be destroyed” Commander Kerovac declared. “There is no other way.”
Zoran’s dark eyes flashed to the Iovac male. “After we rescue our people, we will destroy the ship” he said, his voice hard.
The electric blue eyes scanned the mercenary’s tight expression. “If we believe the captured Imperial Forces soldier, their telepaths were unable to get anything from us. They came after the Ambassador because they are convinced that she is a more powerful weapon that the ones they have.”
The Commander’s people had interrogated the Ketaari before the soldier had succumbed to his injuries.
“But now they have in their custody two people with knowledge of our collaboration with the rebels as well as the Ur’quay” the Commander said. “This is a bigger catastrophe than their telepath, Captain. Once the Ketaari discover this, we lose access to Budheyasta and any element of surprise.”
He paused, the blue eyes glowing, to remind them of the stakes. “We cannot allow that to happen.”
Thus reminded, Zoran grit his teeth audibly, his rage and despair incandescent. “This should never have happened” he said savagely.
Jolar had apologized to both him and the Star Captain. The only reason Sila and Saakshi had been allowed on the planet was because they had been accompanied by Hadari’Kor and a contingent of Commander Kerovac’s personal guards. And because no one had anticipated any threat from the Ketaari! Once Aide-de-Champ Tirovac had relayed the news of the kidnapping, Jolar had sent a message to the Henia and set off to track the Ketaari. But in the vastness of neutral space, it had been the equivalent of a needle in a haystack. In the end, an unsuccessful Juntafeyore had rendezvoused with the Ur’quay and Commander Kerovac.
“The Henia is our fastest starship” the Star Captain interjected, his words intended to soothe his Hadari’Kor friend as much as assure the Alliance Commander. “With our cloak, we can sneak up on the Brutaniyr, rescue them and destroy the ship before the Ketaari even realize it.”
In a private chamber on the Ishtralaya, the three conferred hurriedly as the Ur’quay starship geared up for a rescue mission. The Henia had rendezvoused with the two ships a half hour ago, powering itself at breakneck speed through neutral territory.
Zoran piped down, the Ur’quay Captain’s quiet words having a calming effect on the mercenary. Kerovac had no way to track the Ketaari or destroy the Brutaniyr quickly without the Henia and the Ur’quay’s cooperation. Zoran knew that he didn’t have to fight this battle. The Star Captain would not sacrifice Sila.
“Before we can mount a rescue, we must find the Brutaniyr, Star Captain” the Commander reminded him. “The more ships we have to search this section of space, the greater our chances. The KiRart is on its way and should help cover more ground.”
The Ur’quay male’s gold eyes met the Commander’s eery blue ones.
“The Ambassador wears an Ur’quay tracking device, Commander Kerovac. We know where the Brutaniyr is. At maximum speed, it is under two hours from here.”
Zh’hir had started tracking Sila’s abettor device from the moment he got her message. The Henia had sailed towards the moving beacon, asking the other ships to rendezvous with it.
If the Commander was surprised by the Star Captain’s words, he did not show it. But the cobalt eyes seemed to glow as he processed the information.
“Somehow, the Ketaari have discovered the Ambassadors’ ability” he remarked. “How could they know?”
Reminded thus, Zoran stirred to turn to the Ur’quay Captain. “They must have scanned her, Zh’hir” he said softly. It was the only plausible explanation.
The Star Captain frowned. “I thought the Henia jammed the Ketaari sensors at the rendezvous.”
“Only the Brutaniyr” Zoran said thoughtfully. “The shuttle had no sensors to jam.”
“One of the Ketaari in the space pod could have s
canned her with a hand-held device” Kerovac suggested.
“Yes, they could” Zoran agreed, after a short pause. “We didn’t think to jam the space pod.”
The bright blue eyes glowed again. “If a scan of Sila Gatherer was enough to tell them about her abilities, it means the Ketaari have discovered a way to identify telepaths. We must find out what it is.”
Zh’hir, who had a fair idea of what the Commander wanted from him, decided it was time to come clean. “With the Ambassador’s permission, I asked Dr. Uissh to compare her genetic code with that of the Budheya mind-readers on the Ketaari battleship.”
“And?” the Commander prompted, the cobalt blue eyes coming to sharp attention.
“She has the same genetic marker that the Budheya do — the one the doctor has not been able to determine.”
After a moment of surprise, the Commander looked pleased. “So, there’s a way to identify those with telepathic abilities.”
Zh’hir said nothing. He now suspected that there were graver secrets he must share with Commander Kerovac but it would have to wait until Sila was rescued.
The disconcerting blue eyes tangled with his. “You said the Henia could catch up with the Brutaniyr in two hours, Star Captain?”
“Yes.”
“How soon can you have it in weapons range?” the Commander asked. “The Henia has scans of the Brutaniyr from the rendezvous, Star Captain. If you take out their communications, it will prevent them from sharing anything they learn from their captives with the Imperial Forces.
As an objection rose in him, Zoran bit down on his tongue to stop himself.
“If they discover that they are being pursued, Commander Kerovac, they will use their captives as hostages, much like they did with ADC Tirovac” the Star Captain pointed out. “That would put them in greater danger.”