“Abelardus asked if I could get in touch with someone with mathematical skills and scientific knowledge who could take time out to go on this expedition,” Leonidas said, a hint of a smile touching his lips for the first time.
“Uh, I have mathematical skills,” Erick said.
“And scientific knowledge?” Jelena asked.
“I have a netdisc. I can look up science things.”
“I suspect Abelardus was thinking of our old engineer Mica, or maybe even Yumi, but they’re busy, and someone else popped into my mind, regardless,” Leonidas said. “Zhou Tiang has earned his undergraduate degree and has a couple of months off before his graduate program starts. Do you know he’s decided to go into research rather than medicine? He’s becoming a molecular biologist. Or was it microbiologist? Either way, it’s science. Perfect for Abelardus’s mission.”
“Zhou?” This time, Jelena scratched her head.
Mom’s expression was still wry, and Leonidas looked pleased with himself. Jelena had the distinct feeling that she was missing something.
Erick threw his head back and laughed.
“What—” Jelena started to ask.
But Mom finished the conversation by saying, “Zhou, Abelardus, and Young-hee’s archaeologist colleague will be waiting for you on Dalaran 5. They’re already on their way there, so you better head there to meet them. If, after you hear what Abelardus has to say, you think it sounds too dangerous, feel free to say no to the mission. They can find other transport if needed. Either way, we’ll deal with the snagor incident while you’re gone. Love you, sweetie.”
“Take care of yourself, Jelena,” Leonidas said gravely.
Erick shook his head as the holodisplay disappeared. He’d stopped laughing, but he wore an enlightened smirk.
“Zhou, huh?” he said, that smirk broadening.
“Why are you so amused? I thought you got along fine with him.”
Erick and Zhou hadn’t spent much time together, but they’d met several times over the years. Zhou was the great nephew of Admiral Tiang, a friend of the family who’d once operated on Leonidas, so Jelena had crossed paths with Zhou long before Mom and Leonidas had not-so-subtly pointed out that he would be a nice young man for her to date. And she’d done so the year before, when she’d been on Arkadius, practicing on the flight simulators in the civilian pilots’ academy and studying for her Alliance flight exams. She liked Zhou, and they’d had some nice times exploring the city together, but she hadn’t ever seen him as much more than a friend.
“I do get along fine with him,” Erick said. “I’m curious about how Thorian will get along with him.”
“Why would Thor care one way or another about Zhou?”
“Because he’s the one who stands broodily next to you whenever you leave the ship. He might object to someone else standing on your other side, especially someone you’ve dated before.” His eyes twinkled as he imagined… Who knew what his obnoxious brain was imagining?
“That’s silly. Thor isn’t interested in me romantically, if that’s what you’re implying. He’s made that clear.”
“Uh huh. He doesn’t stand broodily next to anyone else. And didn’t Leonidas notice him standing broodily next to you at our lemonade stand on Hierarchy Station? I do wonder if there’s a reason he didn’t recommend me as a mathematics expert for Abelardus’s team.”
Jelena flushed, remembering that moment on Hierarchy Station when she’d worried that her parents thought there was something going on between her and Thor—and disapproved of it. But there wasn’t anything going on. Thor didn’t have any interest in a relationship with her. He didn’t seem interested in relationships at all. He was too obsessed with fulfilling the destiny his father had wanted for him.
“Because you’re not an expert on anything except pestering me,” Jelena said, not caring for the smug way Erick was looking at her. What kind of man paid attention to these types of things anyway? Sometimes, it was like she had a nagging older sister rather than a surrogate brother.
“Ah, of course.”
“You certainly don’t know anything about science. I bet you don’t even know what a microbiologist is.” She picked up the stallion mug sitting on the console, found it empty, and rose to her feet. Getting some water and mixing a vitamin drink would give her an excuse to end the conversation.
“I bet you don’t, either.”
“It’s someone who studies life. Little, tiny life.”
“I bet it’s also someone with solid career prospects, a good head on his shoulders, and who treats women respectfully. Leonidas probably has all kinds of snuggly thoughts imagining Zhou as a future husband for you.”
“Please, the only snuggly things that Leonidas allows in his life are the cats. And those are only there because I found them and brought them aboard the Nomad.” Jelena headed for the hatchway, eager to end the conversation. Besides, she would need to get in touch with Thor and everyone else and let them know they needed to depart soon.
“I wonder if he’s played with one of those sys-net apps that takes pictures of the mom and dad and theorizes what the babies might look like.”
Jelena strode out, tempted to slam the hatch shut and lock Erick in, but she would prefer to lock him in engineering or his cabin, not NavCom. That was her place.
Distracted, she almost crashed into Thor at the intersection—he was walking out of the cargo hold and toward the cabins. She jerked to an awkward halt as he did the same. His face was a storm cloud, and he looked like he’d been preoccupied by his thoughts—dark thoughts. She hoped that meant that he hadn’t been in the hold, listening to her and Erick’s conversation. Especially Erick’s.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yes.” He looked past her shoulder, toward the corridor that led to his cabin.
“Did you kill anyone?”
“No.”
“Did anyone try to kill you?”
“No.” He stepped around her to turn into the corridor. He disappeared into his cabin, and the hatch shut with a loud clang.
Erick was spaced. There was no way Thor was interested in her. If he were, he’d be charming to her. At the least, he’d answer her questions with more than one syllable.
We should leave as soon as possible, Thor added, speaking telepathically. That gold ship from Fourseas was apparently here, and over the last few weeks, someone has asked different groups of my contacts about my whereabouts.
Jelena braced herself on the hull, remembering all too well their battle with that gold ship—and how it might have taken them down if those bombers hadn’t been nearby and if Thor hadn’t convinced the pilots to help against it.
That’s not good, she replied. It can’t be a coincidence that it was here on this little moon. How did it find us?
I don’t know.
Jelena made a mental note to ask Erick and Austin to run some scans to see if someone had stuck a tracking device on the Snapper.
“He’s gone in there to practice his brooding, I’ll wager,” Erick said, leaning out of his chair in NavCom to peer into the corridor. “As if he isn’t already a master. What do you think Zhou will think of him? Will he see Thorian as competition? Or a strange specimen to study in a science experiment?”
“You’re the one he’ll find strange.” Jelena wished she’d gone with her first impulse to slam that hatch shut.
“Nah, we’ll get along fabulously. I’ll show him my Striker Odyssey cards. He’s a collector, too, as I recall. Maybe he’ll want to trade some rares.”
Jelena shut the hatch on him and wondered if it was too soon to comm Abelardus and tell him she wasn’t interested in being his transport pilot.
But that was a lie. Not only could she earn money flying his little team around, but in helping him, maybe she could finally find her way onto the radar of the rest of the Starseer community.
She’d longed for years to have more people like her to speak with. People who had her unique fears and problems. But s
he didn’t even know where the Dacia Temple was. Or where any of the temples were. Nobody had ever reached out to her, and she didn’t know how to reach out to them. Maybe through Abelardus, she could find a way to gain some acceptance and to learn about her people. Grandpa had taught her and Erick, yes, but Grandpa was a pariah and ostracized by the community, and she’d long feared she would suffer the same fate if she didn’t find a way to make a name for herself.
Maybe this was finally her chance.
Chapter 4
Dalaran 5 was a small station, little more than a disk floating in space, its orbit placed between the last of the core worlds and the first of the border planets. Known as a pit stop where one could resupply a ship while finding indulgences and pleasures of all sorts, it attracted an eclectic clientele, so Jelena wasn’t surprised that Abelardus could walk through the crowded concourse while wearing his black Starseer robe and carrying his staff without garnering attention.
He wore the robe open and back over his broad shoulders, revealing a snagor-hide vest and showing off his arm muscles and yellow bracers that contrasted with his brown skin. His long braids of black hair were tied back, so she couldn’t tell if there was any gray in them yet, but probably not. If she recalled correctly, he was in his late thirties, about the same age as the Starseer who walked next to him, a pale-skinned man who wore his robe closed, in the traditional style, leaving his fitness level more to the imagination. He did have a softer face than Abelardus, and Jelena could imagine him spending his days in a library rather than in a gym.
Alfie, who was sitting next to Jelena in front of the airlock, flapping her tail at passersby to mooch pets, stood up when she spotted Abelardus. The dog had met him on Arkadius when family and friends had gathered for Leonidas’s surgery. Apparently that had been enough time for her to add him to the pack, because she woofed and trotted out to meet him.
Jelena waved to Abelardus, then added a smile when she caught sight of the third person in his little group—and also the shortest. Zhou walked behind the two Starseers, and she’d almost missed him. He was only an inch taller than Jelena, and she doubted he weighed any more than she did. Similar to Erick, he had the lean, almost gangly form of someone who grew engrossed in his obsessions and forgot to eat. In Zhou’s case, those obsessions were academics rather than video games, though he apparently dabbled at the latter when he was between semesters.
Zhou grinned when he met Jelena’s eyes and returned her wave. In doing so, he almost dropped the satchel he carried over one shoulder. He did a quick grab to keep it from falling down his arm, but wobbled as the duffel bag slung on his back lurched to the side and nearly tipped him over. Hard, pointy things inside it prodded against the fabric—it appeared to be full of equipment rather than clothing. Why hadn’t he grabbed a hoverboard to carrying his belongings?
This is the treasure hunting team? Thor spoke into her mind as Zhou rearranged his bags and hurried to catch up with the Starseers.
Startled, Jelena yanked her arm down.
Thor stepped out of the airlock tube and looked at her, a hint of wryness in his eyes, but she thought she read curiosity there too. She hadn’t seen much of him in the four days it had taken to fly to the station, but he didn’t appear broody, as Erick would call it, at the moment.
I’ve had time to recover from my disappointment. He gazed at Abelardus and the unidentified Starseer—Young-hee’s colleague, presumably—as he spoke to her. The group had paused while Abelardus patted Alfie.
About not finding anyone on that moon worthy of assassinating? Jelena asked, glad Thor wasn’t asking about Zhou. Did he even know Zhou was with the two Starseers? He knew about the artifact hunt, clearly, even though she hadn’t filled him in on the details. He had a way of finding out details by peering through back doors into people’s minds, as he called them. Even other Starseers couldn’t hide their thoughts from him. At least Jelena and Erick couldn’t. Maybe someone like Grandpa would be better able to block him.
Thor lifted his chin. About not being able to convince some imperial veterans that the time has come to retake the empire.
It’s been more than ten years since it fell. Maybe they’ve moved on with their lives. Though if those “veterans” were the disreputable-looking men she’d seen in the dusty lot on Gecko Moon, she doubted they had much going on in their lives to keep them otherwise occupied.
I should rephrase that. They are ready to retake the empire. They just aren’t convinced I have the experience necessary to lead them in doing so. His jaw tightened.
Jelena couldn’t imagine someone being ready to form and lead armies at twenty, either, but she didn’t say it—or think it. She was surprised Thor was opening up and admitting why he’d been frustrated the other day, and she didn’t want to give him a reason not to do so again in the future.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard that, he admitted, the words sounding so softly in her mind that she almost missed them in the noisy concourse.
You just need to get a little older, and they’ll take you seriously, she said, feeling she should be supportive, even though she didn’t want him to start a war or try to take down the Alliance.
If I wait too long, all those veterans will be too old to fight.
A few years won’t make much of a difference. Weren’t you thinking that you could establish yourself as a mercenary and become some legendary general as a way to earn people’s respect?
Yes, but you got out of the mercenary business after one gig, Thor thought dryly.
Surely, your future doesn’t depend on me.
Well, you are the one with a ship.
His face grew somber as Abelardus’s group turned off the main concourse and toward their airlock with Alfie trotting in half circles behind them to herd them in the right direction.
No, you’re right, Thor added. It is time for me to move on, both so those after me won’t find you and so I can get back to my mission.
I didn’t say you should move on. Jelena frowned at him, but the others had reached them, and there wasn’t time for further conversation.
Abelardus bowed to Jelena, managing to give Thor a curious look while he did so, and spoke.
“Blessings of the Suns Trinity, Jelena. It’s good to see you again.” Abelardus was handsome, with a pleasant baritone, and Jelena had always considered him friendly. She wasn’t sure why he irritated Leonidas, other than that they went out of their way to take jabs at each other, verbal and physical.
“You too, Abelardus.”
“This is Mark Brody,” he said, gesturing to the blond Starseer. “Young-hee’s colleague. And we’ve just met Leonidas’s… colleague.”
Abelardus stepped to the side, quirking an eyebrow toward Zhou, who was adjusting his baggage again. That duffel looked to weigh a hundred pounds. Why had he brought all the equipment? Shouldn’t the archaeologist have brought things for his research? Brody and Abelardus carried much lighter packs. They’d had spacesuits sent over earlier, but Jelena was fairly certain the two suits were all that had been in the cases.
“Hi, Zhou,” Jelena said. “How did Leonidas talk you into this?”
“He said you would be here.” Zhou grinned.
Thor’s eyes narrowed, and he looked back and forth between them. Jelena wondered if there was something to Erick’s suppositions after all, but Thor did not make any comments to her, and after a moment, his expression grew difficult to read.
“Prince Thorian, you got older. Not much bigger though.” Abelardus smirked and puffed out his chest. He was several inches taller than Thor and broader of build, and he looked pleased about it.
If he’d first greeted Leonidas like that, Jelena decided she could see why he might have taken a dislike to Abelardus.
“Abelardus,” Thor said, appearing supremely unimpressed by the chest puffing. “You also got older. Not much smarter though.”
“What happened to your robe?” Abelardus plucked at Thor’s sleeve. “It looks like someone cut it up a
nd glued it back together without a pattern.”
Jelena was fairly certain the black attire Thor favored, which reminded her of the costumes of Old Earth ninjas she’d seen on sys-net sites, hadn’t started out as a robe.
Thor stiffened, probably more at the touching than at the comment, and for a moment, he wore that flinty expression she’d seen on him in battle. When he was killing people. He was much younger than Abelardus, but that didn’t mean he was the less deadly of the two.
As they stared at each other, Jelena shifted from foot to foot uneasily. Zhou coughed. The colleague—Mark Brody—seemed oblivious to, or uncaring about, the exchange. He eyed the blocky, turtle-shaped hull of the Snapper through the porthole next to the airlock tube, and his lip curled in derision.
“I am not a part of the Starseer community,” Thor finally said. “To wear a robe would be presumptuous.”
Jelena flushed. She doubted he meant it as a slight, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he felt that it was presumptuous for her and Erick to wear robes when they weren’t a part of the community, either.
“What are you a part of?” Brody asked, turning his attention back to the exchange.
His eyes closed to slits, and Jelena wondered if he thought Thor might be part of the chasadski community. If so, he would be quick to treat Thor like a pariah, just as most Starseers did her grandfather.
“Nothing,” Thor said, his voice soft but also defiant.
“Sounds lonely,” Abelardus said.
Thor said nothing.
“Will you show us to our cabins, Captain Marchenko?” Abelardus grinned, and Jelena couldn’t tell if he was teasing her over the title or merely found it odd that the little girl he’d once babysat now had her own ship.
“With the exorbitant rates she quoted us, they had better be palatial,” Brody muttered, eyeing the porthole again.
Mom had told her to haggle, so Jelena refused to feel bad that she had.
She smiled, bowing in a manner similar to Abelardus, and extended her arm into the airlock tube. “The Snapper is indeed palatial. Please, come aboard.”
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