***
Vari stood on the porch of River House and watched the three dark chocolate colored dracons soar through the evening sky. They were twenty five feet long with thirty foot wing spans, making them as large as the Princes in their alter-forms. They were as identical in their dracon forms as they were in their humanoid forms, but she still had no trouble telling them apart, even at a distance.
One day, if she was very lucky and succeeded in ridding the Thousand Worlds of the Doftles, she’d be able to soul-link with her men. Then she’d be able to soar through the clouds with them.
The dracons landed on the grass in front of River House, their long claws and razor sharp fangs gleaming in the fading light. At some signal that she couldn’t hear, all three of them began to shrink and change shape at the same time. Moments later they joined her on the porch, smiling happily as they greeted her with hugs and kisses.
“You liked that,” she said as she walked over to the patio table and lifted the pitcher of iced tea she’d made while they were gone.
“We loved that,” Kai corrected, lowering himself into a lounger. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to fly through the open sky.”
Vari poured the tea into glasses and handed one to each of them before pouring a glass for herself. “You should probably get in as much flying as you can before we leave.”
“We plan to,” Declan said. “Thanks for the tea, Miraku.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, settling into the last chair.
“Are you sure that neither Pandora nor Shanti will mind staying in your little house?” Declan asked.
“I’m positive,” Vari said. “They’re both comfortable there, and my Mom will make sure they have anything they need. Bean will probably spend some time there, too.”
“Good,” Jay said. “It’ll be so nice to have no one but the four of us together without being either on duty or on call. And as it’ll be some time before we have this freedom again once we leave, I say we take advantage of it.”
“You’ll get no arguments from me,” Vari said, leaning her head back against the chair. “How did your day go? Did you guys get everything done that you wanted to?”
“We made a good start,” Kai said. “It helps a great deal that the bulk of the preparations have already been taken care of. We made arrangements to have the Bihotza serviced, and we approved lists of supplies for reprovisioning. The hardest part was telling the crew how long we’d be out. We couldn’t tell them where we’re going, but they’re used to that.”
“How many of them decided to opt out?” Vari asked.
“Two,” Declan said with an unmistakable note of pride. “And the only reason those two opted out is that the woman is pregnant and they want to remain on Jasan to get married and set up housekeeping before their child is born.”
“That’s a pretty good reason. I’m glad Dr. Jula and Lanok will be going.” Vari frowned. “That reminds me. What’s the status on the investigation regarding those data reports?”
“It’s uncanny,” Kai said, his eyebrows raised in mock surprise. “It’s almost as though you can read minds.”
“Almost,” Declan said with a chuckle. He turned to Vari. “We received a message from Elder Vulpiran about ten minutes before we left the Bihotza. In short, the investigation is ongoing, but they think it was an honest mistake that we received reports for the lowest security clearance rather than the highest. The young man who handles the transmission of data reports is currently ill, but Doc says he’ll recover fully in a few days. Then they’ll speak with him more at length.”
“It seems to me that everyone, regardless of their security level, should have been told about the new Controllers that work on Klanaren.”
“We thought so too,” Declan said. “Elder Vulpiran said that information went out separate from the data reports. We never saw it, but we’ll check to see if it’s in the Bihotza’s system tomorrow.”
“Do you think anyone would mind if I were to meet this man?” she asked. “When he’s recovered, I mean.”
“Of course not,” Jay said. “We already told Elder Vulpiran that we’d want to interview him ourselves. And of course, you’ll be with us when we do.”
“Thanks. I’ll feel better if I can get it straight from his head.”
“So will we, Miraku,” Declan said.
“I contacted that artisan in Badia you told us about,” Kai said. “I told him we needed three sets of dairi made in a rush. I couldn’t tell him why we needed them so fast, but when I mentioned your name, he agreed to meet us tomorrow morning, first thing. We’ll meet with him before we go up to the Bihotza.”
“Strange,” Vari said, frowning. “I wonder why.”
“Why what?”
“Why my name made a difference.”
“You’re joking, right?” Jay asked, then shook his head. “What am I saying? Of course you’re not joking. Lover, you are the first Izerain in three hundred years. The surprise would be if your name didn’t mean something to him.”
“I guess,” Vari said, her face heating. “I’m just glad he’ll make them before we leave. I can’t teach you En Dairii without dairi and I’m really looking forward to doing that.”
“I’ve already decided that, if necessary, we’ll postpone our departure until we have the dairi,” Declan said, surprising Vari. He shrugged. “Even with the Jumper, we’ll be gone a long time. Learning a new skill as powerful as En Dairii is a better way to use that time than anything else I can think of.”
“Better than anything else you can think of?” Vari asked archly. “Should I be insulted?”
“Yes, I think that’s an excellent idea,” Jay said, grinning as he set his empty glass on a small table beside his chair and stood up.
“What? Being insulted?”
“Yes,” he said, scooping her up into his arms. “Be insulted and angry and try really really hard not to let us make you moan and beg and, ultimately, scream when you come.”
Vari returned Jay’s grin. “If you insist.”
EPILOGUE
Several weeks later…
“Vari,” Nia said, her tone urgent. “There are Doftle out there.”
“What?” Vari asked, looking up from the report she was reading. She’d been waiting forever it seemed to get Dr. Davis’s conclusions on the Doftle remains and she’d been fully engrossed in it.
“Outside the ship, in space, there’s a Doftle ship,” Nia said, looking as close to panic as Vari thought a shadow person could. “They’re hidden with that blind thing you guys talk about.”
“Blind Sight?” Vari asked, already on her feet and heading for the door.
“Yes, that’s it, and I think they’re waiting for us to get closer.”
Vari pulled her hand terminal from its holster and tapped quickly at the keys, wishing she had a vox. While waiting for Declan to answer she hurried out of the ship’s library and up the corridor. Declan’s image appeared on the tiny screen as he accepted the call.
“Vari?” Declan asked, clearly startled by the expression on her face.
“Activate Blind Sight, Declan, hurry,” she said without slowing down at all. “Then immediately change position, and tell the Beacon to do the same. I’ll explain when I get there.”
She wasn’t sure if he caught her last sentence or not because he was already issuing orders to do as she’d said. She yanked the stairwell door open and began racing up the stairs. The ship lurched sideways and she put one hand on the railing as she continued to run, though for a moment she wasn’t sure if they’d been attacked or if it had been the sudden movement of the ship.
A seemingly endless number of stairs later she pulled open a stairwell door and ran toward the bridge. She was almost there when she saw Declan, Jay and Kai exit the bridge and hurry toward her.
“We’ve done as you asked,” Declan said, forestalling her questions. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, just a little winded,” Vari replied, gasping a lit
tle. “Nia just told me that she can see a Doftle ship straight ahead of wherever we were before I asked you to change course. She said they were waiting for us to get closer.”
“Demii,” Declan breathed. “Is there a way for her to tell us, or you, the ship’s location?”
“Maybe,” Vari said as they entered the bridge. “I need to think about this for a moment.” Vari looked around the bridge, at the various work stations and screens. She’d been on the bridge before of course, but she didn’t spend a lot of time there. She looked up and saw a large vid screen on the wall which provided them with a view of what was in front of the Bihotza.
“Nia, can you see the Doftle ship on that screen?”
“Yes,” Nia replied. “Do you want me to show you where it is?”
“Yes, if you can.”
Nia thought for a moment, then decided to use the same techniques she’d used as a Nomad. They seemed to be working for her so far. It took a bit more concentration, but finally she found herself rising from the deck toward the giant vid screen. She placed her finger on the Doftle ship that no one else could see.
“Great, please stay right there,” Vari said, then turned to a vid screen in front of a crewman whose name she didn’t know. “Can you pull up the same image that’s showing on that screen?”
“Yes, Lady Varia, I can,” the man replied. A couple of seconds later she was looking at a small version of the image Nia floated in front of.
Declan, Jay and Kai crowded in around the smaller screen as Vari reached out, checked Nia’s position, then tapped the screen. “Here. Nia’s finger is on this exact spot.”
“Excellent,” Declan said. “It’s still too wide of an area though, and localizing something on a flat screen just gives us its bearing, not its location in three-dimensional space.”
“I know,” Vari said. “We’ll have to make several position changes as well, but it’s the only way I can think of.”
“I can’t think of another one either, but this’ll work. It’ll just take time.” He gave orders for the screens to zoom in on the spot, then waited for Vari to speak with Nia again. She pointed at another spot on the screen.
They repeated the procedure twice more, then moved the ship several hundred miles and repeated the whole thing again. When they were finished, Declan smiled.
“I don’t know how she was able to see the Doftle ship, but we sure are grateful. We would have passed within easy weapons range without even knowing it was there, just like she said.”
“The question now is, what will we do about it, if anything?” Jay asked.
Declan nodded. “Indeed, that is the question. If we destroy that ship, the Doftles will soon discover it, detect from the energy signature of our weapons that we’re Jasani, and wonder why we’re travelling through what, for us, is unknown space. On the other hand, they now know we have Blind Sight. Do we allow them to spread that information, if they haven’t done so already?”
“If we fire at them, they’ll fire back,” Vari said. “They won’t be able to see us, but they’ll still do it. The risk of them even accidentally hitting the Bihotza can’t be ignored. It would jeopardize everything.”
“I’ll go over there and see if I can learn anything,” Pandora offered. “They’re within my range.”
“No,” Nia objected. “It’s too dangerous for her, Vari. I can go without risk of detection and they can’t cause me harm.”
Vari repeated Nia’s offer so everyone could hear it, then shook her head. “I don’t want either of you going over there.” She frowned thoughtfully, her eyes staring unfocused at nothing while she turned things over in her mind. When two crewmen began talking Declan immediately silenced them with a glare. He understood what Vari was doing and did not want her interrupted.
Before too long she blinked, then met his gaze. “I find it highly improbable that a Doftle ship would just be sitting here by chance. I think word that we’re seeking Kinah got out, which isn’t a surprise considering the number of people who knew about it.
“If we destroy that ship, the Doftle will know it’s because we want our mission to Kinah to remain secret. If we don’t destroy it, they’ll immediately become suspicious.”
“You’re saying we have to destroy the Doftle ship in order to keep them from looking at us, and our motives, too closely,” Declan said.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I know it sounds odd, but that’s the way Doftles’ minds work.”
“You’re the xeno-psychologist and leading expert on all things Doftle, Dr. Lobo,” Declan said, ignoring Vari’s narrowed eyes and slightly bared teeth. “I would never presume to question your opinion on a matter such as this, or ignore your advice. We’ll just have to destroy the damn thing.”
“I regret that our Blind Sight is no longer a secret,” Jay said.
“Only if they’ve already told other ships about it,” Vari said. “But if they have, then they have. We can’t do anything about it one way or the other.”
“Are we all agreed on our course of action?” Declan asked. Jay and Kai both nodded, then Declan looked to her, which surprised her. Since her tongue seemed to suddenly be tangled into a knot, she just nodded.
Declan turned to Captain Finch who sat at a console near the center of the Control Room. “Captain, lay down a standard salvo, all batteries, centered on the Doftle vessel. Prosecute to destruction.”
“Prosecute to destruction, aye aye, sir,” Captain Finch answered.
Within moments Vari was watching a spectacular display of weapons fire and distant explosions which filled a small area of the screen in front of her with tiny flashes. After a few seconds, one of the tiny flashes blossomed into a brilliant sphere of glowing gas, fading quickly into the blackness.
A crewman rose from his console and spoke a few quick words into Captain Finch’s ear, then returned to his place. The Captain turned to the Dracon-Bats.
“Commanders, we are detecting a large amount of debris consistent with destruction of a Doftle vessel.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Declan answered, turning to Vari. She smiled at him, then turned to Pandora who had a peculiar expression on her tiny face. Declan, Jay, and Kai had seen it before, and knew it heralded a message from the Eternal Pack. They all moved closer to Vari and waited.
Pandora blinked several times, then shared a look with Vari, who dipped her head in a barely perceptible nod. Pandora looked at Kai, then Jay, before settling her gaze on Declan.
“The Elder Pack sends this message: You have done well to come this far, but the path that lies before you is more dangerous than anything you’ve yet faced. We of the Eternal Pack will help when we can, but it is yourselves, and each other, that you must trust and rely upon. Even if your plan succeeds, even if the Doftles are destroyed and their threat removed for all time, there is no guarantee that you will see the Thousand Worlds again.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laura Jo lives in the Arizona desert with her loving husband, their two children, one very large dog and two interesting cats. Laura Jo loves to hear from her readers. Visit her website at www.laurajophillips.com to see when the next installment in the Hearts of ICARUS series is coming, and sign her guestbook. Or, email her directly at [email protected]
While you are there, take a peek at the ever growing Handbook of the Thousand Worlds which details lots of interesting information about the people, technology, governments, and other interstellar information about the worlds the Hearts of ICARUS, the Orbs of Rathira, and the Soul-Linked Saga take place in.
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Vari's Choices Page 39