Bhakat is his own Master now, he thought. By choosing to abandon the Kha, he was no longer Rauph’s Pledge. It made Rauph sad to think that he’d wasted so many years teaching Bhakat. No, he thought, they weren’t really wasted. Bhakat had been placed in a terrible situation, both by the Krahn invasion, and by the crash of the Tukuli that had forced him to choose between implantation and death. He was sure, though, that his voice would be a minority among the Elders if he tried to commute Bhakat’s sentence for breaking the law concerning the Johar Stones. It was unfortunate, to be sure. He would just have to hope that the extenuating circumstances would help Bhakat’s case, if and when he ever went to trial.
Rauph sat down on the ground, his side aching from the walk so far. He leaned back his head and was almost asleep when a noise came from outside the building. He sat up, adrenaline kicking into his system. He wasn’t so tired anymore, suddenly. If it was the Krahn, he was in trouble. He stood slowly, and walked over to an opening in the wall. He looked out and saw wounded Sekani and Rajani sitting down next to the building. Relieved, he left the shelter and walked out to them.
“Rauphangelaa?” a voice said from his left.
He looked over to see a Rajani he didn’t recognize. He was surprised to see that the Rajani had short hair, only a few inches long. He also had a patch over one eye, further disguising him. Rauph walked over to the Rajani for a closer look. “Yes,” he said, uncertain. Then he saw who it was. “Volaan?” he asked.
“It’s Kedar now, actually,” the Rajani said, standing up. “I’m happy to see you’re well.”
“It was a close thing,” Rauph said.
“Well, your Human friends have told us what happened to you,” Kedar said. “I’m not surprised.”
“What about you?” Rauph asked, looking at the other Rajani. “What happened to you?”
“Oh,” Kedar said, running a hand over his head. “All courtesy of the Krahn, I’m afraid. I assume you’ll want to talk to the other Elders. I’m sure Tumaani will be happy to welcome you back.”
“Tumaani still lives?” Rauph asked, smiling.
“Yes,” Kedar said. “Although I’m afraid we now share the same haircut. Ah, here comes your Pledge, if I’m not mistaken.”
Rauph turned to see Bhakat approaching from down the street. He was not powered up. Good, Rauph thought. We’ll get to that later. Better for now that he kept his new powers a secret, at least out in public. “Yes,” he said.
Bhakat walked up to the group and nodded to Kedar. He bent to check on the wounded. None of them seemed too badly off, to Rauph, but he was no expert. “Bhakat can take care of the wounded, if you’d like to escort me to where Tumaani can be found,” he said. “I assure you, they’re in safe hands with him.”
“Wonderful,” Kedar said. “I leave them in your capable care, then, Bhakat.”
“Be safe, Bhakat,” Rauph said to his former Pledge. “We’ll speak again later.”
“Be safe, Rauphangelaa,” Bhakat said, bowing slightly. He turned his attention back to a Sekani with a bullet hole in his shoulder.
“Lead the way,” Rauph said to Kedar. He followed the other Rajani slowly along a narrow street. His ribs would not allow him to move too quickly.
“You brought back help,” Kedar said as he walked. “I must tell you that I was surprised when I first saw the Human named James in the prison camp. When he first appeared, I thought he was a Rajani out of legend, wielding the powers of the Johar Stones, here to strike down all the enemies of Rajan. It wasn’t until after he let his façade drop that I realized he was from off-world.”
“Yes, well, I found that I didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter,” Rauph said. “It was all I could do at the time. They were our only option.”
“I understand,” Kedar said. “I just don’t know if any of the Elders will.”
“You talk of the Elders as if you are no longer a part of us,” Rauph said, stopping to look at Kedar. “What happened?”
“The Krahn,” Kedar began. “They took away everything. My mate. My youngling. Even my Ralik, as you can see. Which I suppose was symbolic. I’ve lost my faith in the Kha, as well. I don’t consider myself an Elder anymore, so I went back to my birth name. It seemed better this way.”
“I’m truly sorry, Kedar,” Rauph said, looking at the other Rajani’s scarred face. “I hope that when all of this has passed, that you’ll regain at least a little of your faith.”
“We shall have to see if that time comes to pass,” Kedar said. “And if we both live to see it.”
#
James had left the after-battle debriefings as soon as he could, to return to his room, where Yvette had been waiting for him. They had embraced and just held each other for a long while, but then he had leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. After that, there had been an urgency to their lovemaking that he hadn’t felt since the first time aboard the Tukuli. It had been a few months since they had seen each other, but to him, it felt like much longer. As they lay next to each other on his bed, he wrapped his arms around her, determined that they wouldn’t be separated for so long again.
Later that night, James lay on his cot, exhausted from the fighting earlier in the day, and his own private reunion celebration with Yvette earlier that night. Still, he was unable to fall asleep. He listened to her breathing as she slept beside him. They had defeated the Krahn and captured the northern base, a strategic win before they pressed on to the south of Melaanse and the main Krahn stronghold. He knew that it would be a much larger fight than the one they had just gone through.
The days had started to run together; a blurry tapestry of fighting and strategy sessions that seemed never-ending. He’d been surprised when Bhakat had informed him earlier that day that they had left Earth’s solar system almost six months earlier. Was it truly that long ago? he thought, amazed that the time had gone by so quickly.
He knew for sure now that there was no going back to his life the way he remembered it. Things had changed too much for that. He had changed too much as well, to settle for returning to his life as a cop. He’d been thinking about retiring for years, but it had taken an alien abduction to finally set events in motion. He would miss some aspects of the job, but more often than not, he’d been either miserable or frustrated, or both, as he’d gone through the day-to-day tribulations of being a big city police officer. He remembered how he’d felt the day of the abduction—knowing that he’d have to go to the autopsy of the young girl who had been pushed from the top of her hotel, and also knowing that her killer was still no closer to being brought to justice. James tried, but he couldn’t remember her name. But her face sprang easily to mind. No, he would never forget her face. He remembered all of them, even after all the killing he’d witnessed on Rajan.
Damn it, what was her name? he thought. But he lost his train of thought, knowing that it didn’t really matter. She’d been dead a while now. Hopefully her killer had been arrested or killed by now too. If he ever got back to Earth, he would at least check on the case somehow.
He lay on his cot next to the sleeping form of Yvette and knew he was no longer a cop. He smiled as he fell asleep. He was no longer a cop.
Chapter 15
Ries an na Van was returning to the planet Eddross to meet up with his GI superior, Odorey T’van. He’d completed his mission on Asnuria, having been assured that the Alliance Society for Peace wouldn’t follow up with the Rajani, or more specifically, with the starship called the Tukuli and its registered owner, Rauphangelaa tuc Nebraani. He was ready now for his next assignment. T’van didn’t trust meeting over a communications link, so they would have their meeting face-to-face on the Eddross space station. Eddross was an obscure little planet far away from the main space lanes, so it had taken Ries a while to find passage there on a slow-moving ore trawler.
Ries had been surprised when he’d first met his new boss. T’van wasn’t what he’d expected when he’d first heard his voice coming through the speaker
of a Galactic Intelligence holding cell. But he knew why he hadn’t seen anything when he’d looked out the window on the door of the cell. T’van was only about four Standard feet tall.
Once the space trawler he was traveling on docked at the space port, Ries made his way to the private wing that T’van was using as a base of operations. He walked the maze-like route of corridors that led to his boss, and wondered how his life had changed so much is so short a time. It really was miraculous, in a sense. He’d never believed in any set religion growing up, but he could almost believe that his life was being overseen by some higher power. When he reached the outer door, he punched in a security code on the pad next to the door, and it opened just long enough for him to walk through. Once inside, he waited while a scanner ran over his body, making sure he was unarmed and not carrying anything that could pose a threat.
Ries had thought his boss was overly paranoid about security when he’d been let out of his holding cell and been allowed to walk free once more, but after meeting him, he could sympathize with the high-ranking agent. He’d feel vulnerable too, if he was that small, and he’d quickly learned that being paranoid could save your life in his line of work. The inner doors of the chamber opened, and Ries walked in to find T’van reclining in a comfortable chair in front of a roaring faux fireplace. He was drinking a dark liquid and smiling at Ries, his small, sharp teeth reflecting the light of the fire.
Ries sat down in the chair opposite his boss. His antennae were beginning to twitch, which was never a good sign. Something didn’t feel right. And it wasn’t just that T’van seemed happy for the first time since Ries had met him.
“From what I’ve heard so far,” T’van said, “everything went well on Asnuria.”
“What have you heard?” Ries asked, feeling defensive but not knowing why.
“The ASPs are in a tizzy,” T’van responded. “But they’ll stay away from Rajan, at least. Their admiral has already put in a formal protest to GI, but it should blow over quickly. The Security General will make a few minor concessions, and things will be back to normal soon enough.”
Ries reclined in his chair before speaking again. “I’ve been thinking,” he said tentatively. “What exactly is there to gain by having the Krahn Horde attack the Rajani?”
“Gain?” T’van asked. “Freedom for not one, but two repressed species on Rajan, and hopefully, the annihilation of the Rajani menace that has lingered for far too long. Isn’t that enough?”
“But why does GI care about the Rajani?” Ries asked. “Why upset the status quo now, when the Rajani haven’t been a threat for thousands of years?”
“My dear Agent Van,” T’van said, taking a drink from his glass. “Who ever said that Galactic Intelligence knows anything about the Krahn Horde attacking Rajan?”
Ries’s antennae weren’t just twitching now; they were in full spasms. “What?”
“Yes, I am a senior agent of Galactic Intelligence,” T’van said. “But this is my own little…side project, if you will. This one is personal. Don’t worry, GI will never find out. I’ve given express orders to my Krahn contact that the Rajani are to be exterminated, quickly and quietly, once they’ve obtained their objective.”
“Which is what?” Ries asked.
“Mere baubles,” T’van answered. “I doubt they even exist anymore. But I promised the Krahn that they could search Rajan to their hearts’ content once they arrived. A promise is a promise. And while their attention is solely on the Planet Rajan, they’re no longer a menace to the space lanes. It’s a win-win scenario all around.”
“So, what about me?” Ries asked. All sorts of scenarios were playing through his mind, and none of them were good.
“What about you?” T’van asked. “You are an agent of Galactic Intelligence who has finished his task for the time being. Enjoy your downtime on this station, until I give you your next mission.” He held out his glass toward Ries. “Would you like some fernta?”
#
Rauph and Tumaani had known each other a long time. They had pledged the same House together when they were young. They had been friendly rivals for as long as they had known each other. In that time, they had gotten into some major arguments over the leadership of their species, and while the Kha forbade any type of physical confrontation, they had learned long ago that words could be just as powerful as a blow when used correctly. Their differences were always based more in their moral outlooks than the fact that they competed in everything from their first mate to Rajani contact with other worlds. Rauph believed there was nothing wrong with using the latest technologies and keeping up diplomatic relations with other Galactic Alliance worlds, while Tumaani believed that the Rajani should stay secluded from other worlds, and had gone so far as to suggest seceding from the Galactic Alliance altogether.
Their current argument threatened to make the others pale in comparison. They had met privately to discuss the state of the Rajani, and any possibility of things going back to the way they were before the Krahn had attacked them. So many things had changed that Rauph doubted they could ever go back to being the quiet society of scholars and priests that had existed prior to the invasion. He was trying to explain this to Tumaani, with little success. The warmth of their first meeting since the Krahn invasion was long forgotten by the second meeting.
He calmed his thoughts a moment and began again. “Tumaani, I don’t wish to fight with you. I’ve had enough fighting for two lifetimes. But you must see that Rajan will come out of this war a changed society. We cannot go back to the way things were, even if we wanted to. Our males have fought and died, and you yourself have said that you haven’t even been able to find where the Krahn are keeping our females and offspring prisoner. Besides that, do you really believe the Sekani and Jirina will go back to being second-class beings willingly?”
“No,” Tumaani replied softly, slumping in his chair. “We should’ve seen this possibility years ago. The Sekani were always a proud race, even after the Rajani conquered them all those years ago. The yoke of our oppression must have been so heavy that they were willing to invite monsters as liberators. But I tell you this, Rauphangelaa: I would rather that we all live in mud huts than go back to the way things were before the Kha.”
“We may not have a choice in the matter,” Rauph said. They both sat a moment, pondering what Rauph had said. “This fight is testing our species’ resolve in more than one way. The teachings of Ruvedalin may not be enough to keep them in control. I’ve already seen Rajani turn away from the Kha.”
They sat for a moment, both thinking about Volaan, who now preferred to be known as Kedar. His exodus from the Priests of the Kha and as an Elder had done more to recruit fellow Rajani to his Vaderren than anything else.
“There is one other matter we must discuss,” Tumaani said, breaking the silence that surrounded them.
“And what’s that?” Rauph asked, dreading his peer’s answer, but already sure what he was going to say.
“You know as well as I why the Krahn came here,” Tumaani said.
“Yes,” Rauph replied, sighing. “The Johar Stones.”
“As Keeper of the Stones, it was your duty to keep them safe and out of the hands of any beings other than the Rajani,” Tumaani said, straightening up again in his chair. “And the first thing you did was implant five aliens from some backwater mud ball of a planet. A violent species that doesn’t even have nulldrive technology yet. What exactly were you thinking?”
“We were in a desperate situation,” Rauph said. “And really, the Humans have proven to be quite an interesting discovery.” In more ways than one, he thought.
“A curiosity, maybe,” Tumaani said. “But I think you overestimate their ability to help us. I mean, even with the aid of the Johar Stones, they are only five in number.”
“Yes,” Rauph agreed. “But have you seen the powers they display? Amazing. There are no descriptions of anything similar in all of Rajani history.”
“And unpredictable
as the beings who wield them,” Tumaani replied. “What do we really know about these Humans? It could be years before they’re even ready to be included in the Galactic Alliance, let alone be vetted and accepted. And we’re just supposed to let these five leave Rajan after all is said and done?”
“What is it that you are suggesting, Tumaani?” Rauph asked. The conversation had just taken an unexpected and dangerous turn.
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Tumaani replied, scowling. “Other than being cautious when it comes to the Johar Stones. How are you supposed to guard them if they are light years away on this Earth planet?”
Rauph hesitated a moment. Not even all of the Elders knew the true nature of the Stones. He decided that now was not the time to divulge it. “All I can tell you,” he said, standing up and moving toward the door, “is that the Johar Stones are safe, whether the Humans are here or on their own planet.”
“And what of the remaining Stones?” Tumaani asked.
“Who says there are any?” Rauph replied, and walked out the door.
#
Kieren was surprised at how quickly she and Gianni had been accepted by the Sekani. She no longer felt like an outsider, at least. No longer was their every word or action looked on with distrust or suspicion. It helped that she and the other humans had done their best to improve the lives of the Sekani. A lot of progress had been made since that first realization that she and Gianni had made when they were brought to the Sekanis’ home; the Sekani were no longer dying of hunger, lack of clean water, and unsanitary conditions. Zanth was organizing them into a real society. After so many years of being separated by the various Rajani Elder Houses that they had worked for, they were no longer servants. He was attempting to make them into a sovereign nation on Rajan, independent of their former Rajani masters. It was a difficult undertaking; she knew how little sleep Zanth was getting every night.
Rajani Chronicles II Page 20