by Bianca D'Arc
Without thought, she moved her hand and swept the small bot away. She hadn’t touched it, but it went flying across the chamber, anyway, narrowly missing one of the Vizier’s heads on its way to smash against the wall. It fell to the floor, broken into several pieces.
Jana was shocked, as were some of the people watching, but others seemed coldly satisfied—as if they expected her to turn violent, and she had only just confirmed their suspicions. Others, she was surprised to see, looked pleased. And Darak, when she finally turned to look at him, wasn’t hiding his anger very well.
She didn’t think the anger was directed at her. Instead, if looks could kill, Vizier Balous would be nothing but a little pile of cinders at her feet.
“I’m sorry.” She spoke into the silence. “I just reacted. I didn’t mean to cause harm. It just—” She broke off, not liking to admit any weakness.
“What, dama? Why did you use your power in such a way?”
She hadn’t really realized, until Balous spoke, that she’d used her power at all. But then, how could the bot have flown across the room to shatter against the wall? She hadn’t touched it. No, she must have used her power, without realizing it.
“Again, I apologize for my lack of control. I’ve been counseled not to use my Talent until given leave to do so. I did not do it consciously. My only excuse is that it was instinct to react when the bot’s actions began to get…uncomfortable.” Even now, she didn’t want to admit the bot’s sound waves had been downright painful. She didn’t want to give anyone ideas about weapons that could be used against her.
Strategy, it seemed, was second nature to her now, though the farm girl she had been wouldn’t have hesitated admitting being hurt. Jana, the ship’s captain and armada leader, knew better, though. She didn’t trust these Councilors to not use any perceived weakness against her.
“Have you always had such pinpoint accuracy with your telekinesis?” Balous changed his line of questioning.
“I’m not sure. A lot about my abilities was clouded by the collective’s voice in my mind. Most of my memories of actually using my Talent are fogged over by the presence of the collective. The few times my mind was free, I was usually subdued by a much stronger mind, physical restraints, or both. Usually both. I never had an opportunity to fight back using my Talent during those times. I was cut off from the collective only after I’d already submitted to being restrained.”
It was an unpleasant truth and one that she tried to recite as unemotionally as possible. She tried not to look at the people all around her and their varying expressions of horror, grim resolve or pity. At least these people seemed to think what had been done to her was wrong. That was more than the collective believed. Indeed, they had designed the torture and facilitated it to further their own nefarious goals. The collective was evil, in that regard and many others. The Voice that ruled it was inhumane.
That was a truth Jana had come to accept as she lay recovering from her injuries. The mind healer had helped her see more of that truth. As had Darak and his family.
For all that she was still uncomfortable in the extreme with the sexual morals of the Talents of Geneth Mar, she respected the humanity and compassion of its people. They’d all been gentle with her as she’d been healing. They had helped her. Coddled her, even. That was something she had never had from the collective.
She had not had human kindness since she’d been abducted from her home and forced to serve the collective.
The questioning went on for a little while longer, but eventually, Balous seemed to run out of topics, and she began to feel very tired. Darak made a motion to adjourn, citing her obvious fatigue and the lateness of the hour, and the Councilors agreed.
She noted that they wanted her back the next day—and further reserved the right to call her back at any time for more questions—with a resigned sigh. It would take much for these people to trust her, and frankly, she didn’t blame them. How could they know if she was trustworthy when she didn’t even know her own heart?
CHAPTER SIX
The next day’s questioning was much like the last until the final hours. Balous and another man, who had been introduced only as Specitar Kane, quizzed her about the collective. They wanted to know how it worked. How she perceived it in her mind. How the blue crystal that had been in her control staff and had subsequently blown up in her hands, worked—both before it had shattered, and now that parts of it were imbedded in her skin.
They asked probing questions, and when Balous left the podium for the final hour, allowing Kane to question her alone, they turned brutal. Kane, it seemed, was the real interrogator. He pounded his questions home like nails through her skull, each one more difficult to answer than the last.
He pushed her to her limits and beyond. His merciless questions made her want to lash out, and she felt her power gathering. Only Darak’s worried look made her refrain and seek control.
Perhaps, that was Kane’s task. To test her control.
Deciding that must be the case, she calmed by slow degrees, noting with one part of her mind, how good he was at his job. Remnants of the old, warrior Jana admired his skill.
And then, suddenly, he stopped. And smiled.
“It seems the test is at an end.” He bowed his head, then turned toward the assembled Talents, who had all been watching closely. “She has divined the intent of my work here and further testing will not be productive. However, I can say that when pushed to a level I have seldom used on any other subject, she did not lash out. She sought control rather than violence. She has great mental discipline, which I did not expect.”
Neither had Jana, if she was being honest. Untrained when the collective took her, she didn’t think she really had any skills of her own, but maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe the control they had taught her as part of the collective was something that stayed with her, even now that she was cut off from them. Maybe it was instinctual. Something that, once learned, could not be unlearned.
“Then, it is time,” Balous said, returning to the podium. “It is with some reluctance that we have reached consensus on this matter, Master Darak.” Darak rose and came over to stand near her as Balous addressed him directly. “We need you and the Circe out there, being our eyes and ears, but we have registered your desire not to be parted from Jana Olafsdotter. While we would rather she be tested further, we also recognize the threat she could pose to our planet and people. Perhaps, as you have argued, the safest place for her, at the moment, is in the vastness of space. I fear she may yet pose a danger to you and your crew, but if it is your wish—and if your crew still agrees—then we grant leave for you to depart, with Jana Olafsdotter, as soon as you are ready.”
Jana tried her best not to show her surprise and alarm. Darak was leaving and he wanted her on the ship with him? This was all news to her.
More troubling was the Council’s belief that she could be a danger. Jana knew they were probably right, but it still hurt to have them say it out loud like that. She didn’t want to harm anyone on Geneth Mar. Not anymore. She still didn’t agree with their morals, but she had come to realize they were still just people—raised with different expectations of behavior than she had been—but basically good for all their differences. She didn’t want to see them or their planet come to harm. Especially not because of her.
But she didn’t want to leave Jeri. While it was true that Jeri was busy with her new life and husband, Jana craved any bit of attention her little sister could spare. They’d been parted for so long. Jana had only just rediscovered her family, and now, she was being asked—no, told—to leave her again. Jana didn’t like it.
And she especially didn’t like the highhanded way Darak had ordered her life. He’d requested her presence on his ship. He’d petitioned the Council. All this had been done without her knowledge or consent. It was almost as bad as being ordered around by the Voice of the collective. Only now, she was awake and aware of being manipulated. Which made it somehow worse.
&nb
sp; “Specitar Agnor will be tasked with testing her further,” Balous continued even as Jana’s mind spun at what she was hearing. “He will also be asked to do what training is necessary to make her safer to be around, as will you, Master Darak, as your other duties allow. She is to be observed, and reports filed on her progress any time you have a secure connection. Under no circumstances is she to be allowed to interfere in the ship’s duties or its crew. How you achieve this is up to your discretion.” Balous’s gaze moved from Darak back to Jana, and she felt the weight of his regard. “Now, dama, please try to make the best of this. I know it is not necessarily your will to go on this journey, but we have our reasons for sending you. All of those stated and one other I will put forward, hoping to ease your mind…”
Balous shocked her by coming over to her and taking her hand in his. She felt the vibrations of his sincerity as their resting power met and tingled against each other.
“The gift of foresight is rare, but it does exist. Please believe me when I say that I have foreseen that you must be on the Circe at this time. I don’t know what will happen, but I do know it is where you are meant to be. Take what comfort you can from this foreknowledge, if indeed, you can take any.”
He released her hand and walked back to his position behind the podium. Jana was familiar with foresight, though the collective had none. Something about the merging of minds and Talents dampened any such gifts that might have occurred in the population. The Voice scoffed at such things. It had said that the only destiny is the one it forged itself. It paid no heed to prophecy or visions, and the collective followed suit.
Jana didn’t know what to make of Balous’s words. He was a powerful being if he was part of this gathering. The others in the room did not bat an eye at his pronouncement. Apparently, they all believed in his ability to foresee parts of the future. While she wouldn’t put too much stock in such things, she understood at least part of his motivation for deciding her fate in such a cavalier manner. He truly believed she needed to be on that ship, out of harm’s way for the people and planet of Geneth Mar.
Well, if that’s how they felt, so be it. Jana would not stay where she was not wanted. She felt a pang of loss for having to part from Jeri, but now that they’d been reunited, Jana held hope that they would be able to comm each other and perhaps see each other in person from time to time. Those stolen moments would have to do. The Council was giving her precious little choice in the matter.
As the Council meeting ended, Jana stood and found she could not look at Darak. Her eyes were downcast as she contemplated all that had happened that day. Drained by the questioning, the pronouncements and the emotional upheaval in general, she walked off the stage toward her sister.
Jeri met her and caught her in a big hug that made Jana feel marginally better. Of course, it also made her sad, realizing she would not be here to receive such hugs in the very near future. No, they were making her leave her only living relative behind, and it caused a deep sadness.
“Don’t worry, Jana,” Jeri whispered near her ear. “It’ll all work out. I’ll miss you, but you have a destiny to chase.” Jeri drew back and met Jana’s gaze. “There are things you must do that cannot be accomplished here. Fears you must face. Questions you must answer. Things you have to reconcile before you can truly be at peace in your own skin.”
“Are you a foreseer, too, now?” Jana felt the need to tease, even as her heart broke.
Jeri chuckled and let her go. “No, but even I can see that you need time—and space—to heal. You’re not a planet-bound sort of woman. Even as a girl, you always dreamed of the stars. I think you belong out there, among them. That’s where your true self lies, and it would be selfish of me to keep you here, when you so plainly need to be out there, finding your destiny.”
“With Darak?” Jana shot a look of disgust toward the man who was talking with Balous some feet away.
“Maybe. Who knows? But I do know he is a good man and an excellent teacher. He will guide you without smothering you. Despite all his antics and his irreverent sense of humor, he’s a good soul. He will help you, as he has since the moment you fell away from the collective. He feels responsible for you, and that’s not such a bad thing, once you realize he’s got both immense power and an enormous ability for compassion.”
“An immense ego, you mean,” Jana chided, but only half-heartedly.
“That, too,” Jeri agreed, laughing as they walked toward the exit where Micah waited. “Don’t worry, though. You couldn’t ask for a better man to fight alongside when things get tough. Don’t discount his abilities. His ego may be large, but so is his Talent and ability to think creatively in the midst of battle.”
“If you say so.” Jana decided to let the matter rest as they left the Council Chamber. “I just dread being stuck on a ship with him. He’s going to drive me crazy. You know that, right?”
Jeri laughed, as did Micah, who had heard the tail end of their conversation. Darak joined them a moment later as they all made their way back to the family home for a final meal together. Jana knew the Circe was scheduled to leave tomorrow. It had been the talk of the house for the past few days. Little had she realized, she’d be flying away with her when she left.
* * *
It was hard to leave, but when the time came, Jana tried to keep her chin up. Darak was surprisingly sympathetic and didn’t chide her about her silent acceptance of her fate. Instead, he gave her room to deal with her new situation, which she appreciated.
She hadn’t been on the Circe in a while, but she remembered the smell of the ship. Clean, crisp, albeit recycled, air the likes of which one did not usually find on a starship. Those who maintained the Circe’s systems did a much better job than most, and the systems themselves were top of the line. There were no half-measures on this ship. No expense had been spared in building her—or in her recent refit.
Jana had first seen the Circe as an enemy, blocking her armada’s conquest of a peaceful agrarian world. She remembered bits and pieces of that confrontation only because seeing her sister again, after so many years had passed, had jarred Jana from the collective’s hold. It hadn’t been for long, but long enough for Jana to have some clear recollections of the first moments she’d seen Jeri again and the horror she had felt at the situation in which she had found herself.
Jana had been appalled to realize she’d been trying to kill her only living relative. Her beloved little sister. The sister she had thought lost long ago, only to find her alive and well. And on this ship, the Circe. While Jana had commanded a fleet intent on death and destruction. Intent on blasting the Circe from the sky above that little blue planet with the strange sun and the blue-skinned people who lived there.
The collective had reined her in, trying to subdue her mind. The blue crystal in her staff of power had glowed fiercely and burned its power along the pathways in her mind as the Voice of the collective had screamed for her attention, demanding her obedience.
But, at the last, Jana liked to believe that she had overcome the Voice. At least a little. She’d taken a stand against it—even if only in her mind—to help save her sister’s life.
They hadn’t really discussed it, and that was the one thing all the questions had never asked. The Councilors just seemed to assume that Jana had been both deaf and blind—as she had often been as a subject of the collective—and had not been able to help in those final moments. But Jana thought she knew differently. And she hoped Jeri did, too. Maybe, someday, they’d be able to talk about it, but for now, the scars were still too fresh.
Jana thought maybe she needed to discover who she really was first, before she delved into who she had been.
When she had awoken aboard the Circe the first time, in a heavily shielded suite, the annoying Darak at her bedside, Jana had been scared. She had tried hard not to let it show, but she thought maybe Darak had sensed her fear. She’d been cut off from the collective for the first time in years, and while it was a relief to have control ov
er her own actions once more, there was also near-paralyzing fear for what would come next.
Then, Darak had smiled at her. And her midsection had made the strangest little internal flip. Something stirred to life, and no matter how much she fought against it, Jana had found herself attracted to a man for the first time since being abducted as a young girl.
But this attraction wasn’t like the schoolgirl crushes she’d had when she was little. No, this was something that made her blood bubble with fire and her stomach clench with unknown desires.
And all that for a man who had whored around the galaxy, bedding everything with a pussy for all of his adult life. The very idea made her sniff with disdain. How could she be attracted to such a rogue? A Council gigolo. A gorgeous specimen of manhood who made her want dark, dangerous, scandalous things.
The bastard.
She had been weak, but she had turned her head away from him. She hadn’t wanted him to see and possibly read her damning desires in her eyes. She’d expected him to act with disdain toward her. Or perhaps rudeness. Even force. But he’d done none of those things. He’d shown her only kindness and caring. Healing touches and warmth when, for the past years, under the collective’s power, she’d had none.
He’d made her tremble. She could have so easily become dependent on him. He’d healed her. He’d asked for nothing in return. He’d treated her with kindness and teasing innuendo. He’d even kissed her, but he’d never pressed his advantage, even when she was so damaged she couldn’t have fought off a horsefly.
Even while she’d healed on the planet, he’d been keeping track of her progress, visiting often. Charming every female he passed as a matter of course. She’d watched him deal out fond kisses on old, withered cheeks and bring a bloom of color to those cheeks with his devastating smile and charming words. He always had a kind word for the older women and a teasing wink for young and old alike.