“Why’s he so angry, Iffon?”
“He’s trying to intimidate you.”
“Why would he want to do that? I’m just supposed to tell them what their mission is. That’s it. What’s the point in intimidating me?”
“I don’t know, but I’m about to teach him a lesson in manners that he won’t soon forget.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “No, Iffon. I just want to get through this and get out of here without any more drama than necessary. Please.”
“All right, Bean,” he agreed reluctantly.
Relieved, Bean thought about how to answer Zach’s question, then realized she didn’t actually have a choice. “The answer to that question requires a Level One security clearance, Commander Zachery.”
“Then you don’t know,” he sniped.
Stunned by his escalating animosity, she froze for a long moment, hardly daring to breathe as she tried to decide what to do. She dropped her eyes to her hands, unwilling to let him see her fear. Fear that he was deliberately evoking for no reason she could fathom.
“So,” Zander said just a little too loudly, “we get to Kinah, take on the refugees, turn around and retrace our steps back to Jasan.” He gave her a questioning look. “That’s it, right?”
“No, Commander,” Bean replied, pleased that her voice didn’t shake or falter. “The original expedition identified a number of worlds along their route that are Doftle held. Once the Kinahns are onboard, the Askara will return to those worlds and attempt to save any innocent people or other sentient beings who wish to leave.”
“That sounds like an unnecessary risk,” Zach said. “Scrap that portion of the mission.”
“Is he serious? He must know better than to think I can change his orders.”
“Of course he does. I have no idea what’s going on here, Bean. I’m sorry.”
“I’ve been asked to outline your mission to you, Commander,” she said calmly. “If you have objections, you’ll have to contact High Prince Garen to discuss them.”
“Why do the Doftles have worlds out there?” he demanded.
Bean drew in a slow, deep breath, then considered her options. What she revealed and to whom she revealed it was completely her choice. But with that freedom came the responsibility of making sure those she shared sensitive information with could be trusted.
The silence in the room stretched out for a noticeably long period of time, but this was an important decision and she refused to rush it. Finally, she raised her eyes to Zach’s, hoping her determination to do the right thing would shine brighter than her regret and disappointment.
“I’m not answering that question, Commander,” she said, her voice soft, but unwavering.
“Why not?”
She looked steadily into his cold blue eyes. “Because I don’t trust you.”
“Lucky for me, I don’t need you to trust me.”
Bean held his gaze for another moment, just to be sure she wasn’t making a mistake. Then she stood up and walked quietly out of the room.
“She can’t do that,” Zach growled after the door closed behind Bean.
“She can, and she did,” Zander said, rubbing both hands over his face. “I’m not sure which one of us messed up more, but I think the prize goes to you, with me running a very close second.”
“The Prince was wrong,” Zain said quietly. “She’s not our berezi. She didn’t respond to us at all.”
“I know she didn’t, Zain,” Zander said. “Seeing her when we walked in was such an enormous surprise that it about knocked me off my feet. It was plain to see that she didn’t react to us. That’s why I overcompensated by trying to impress her with how big of an ass I could be.
“I don’t think the Prince was wrong, though. There’s some other explanation, but we need to think about that on our own time.
“We have a bigger problem at the moment. Mission Advisor Lady BreeAnna is our key to learning what we need to know in order to complete this mission. Unfortunately, she just decided she doesn’t trust us enough to tell us more than she already has, and considering our treatment of her these past thirty minutes, I can’t say that I blame her.”
“What difference does it make whether she trusts us or not?” Zach asked irritably. “She is no position to question us, Zander. You should make her come back and finish the briefing. She can’t just decide not to tell us what we need to know.”
“How do you propose I do that, Zach?” Zander asked tightly. “You want me to drag her back in here and beat it out of her?”
“Of course not,” he said, shocked that Zander would say such a thing in either jest or anger.
“She’s not military, she’s not under our command, and she actually does have a Level One security clearance despite your unbelievably rude taunt. As does her guardian.”
“How do you know that?” Zain asked.
“Good question,” Zach agreed. “I want to know what that bird creature is, too. We’re the Commanders of this vessel now, and that means we’re within our rights to order her to tell us what that thing is whether she wants to or not. If she refuses, we should just drop her and her little pet off somewhere before we get started on this mission.”
“Drop her off somewhere?” Zander asked incredulously. “That’s as bad as telling her to scrap that part of the mission. What in the seven hells is wrong with you? Are you hearing the words coming out of your mouth? Did you hear the way you just spoke to that young woman?”
Zach flushed. “I’m angry, Zander. And disappointed.”
“Oh, you’re disappointed,” Zander growled. “Obviously that gives you the right to take it out on her, and to treat her without a single trace of common courtesy.”
“You’re right,” Zach said with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have spoken so rudely to her. But I still think we have a right to know what that creature is, and we also have a right to insist that she finishes our briefing.”
“You’re wrong on both counts.”
“You can tell her to do whatever you want, Zander. You’re High Commander now. That makes you the ultimate authority on this vessel, with us slightly behind you.”
“Actually, no, it doesn’t. According to Prince Garen, we don’t have a high enough security clearance to even ask about her guardian. Did you not hear what that bird creature said?”
“About what?”
“Lady BreeAnna Lobo is the true authority on this ship.”
“So says the bird,” Zain scoffed under his breath.
Zander did a partial shift into his falcoran alter form, opened his beak and screamed a challenge at both of his brothers. A moment later he released his falcoran, his red eyes livid with anger. “So says High Prince Garen Dracon,” he growled. “If we have a problem with that, he’ll give the command of this vessel to XO Sark, and order the Shadow to return for us immediately. We will then be taken to Dracon Ranch where we’ll remain for at least a year because we already know too much.”
“Merde,” Zach said, his shoulders slumping. A look of confusion crossed his face and he shook his head slightly. “I’m sorry, Zander. Truly I am. What did I…?” He rubbed his temples, an expression of embarrassment on his face. “I’m not even sure why I was so angry.”
Zander frowned, then nodded before allowing his worry to show.
“What else did Prince Garen say?” Zach asked.
“He said Lady BreeAnna is more important than any other person or group of people on this vessel, and that getting her and her guardian to Kinah alive and well is our highest priority and our primary mission. It’s absolutely critical to the future of the Thousand Worlds that we complete that phase of our mission successfully.”
“What?” Zain gasped in surprise. “Why?”
“He didn’t explain himself, Zain, nor was he particularly happy with me when I spoke to him. I really didn’t think questioning his orders would be a wise move on my part.”
“No, I don’t suppose it would’ve been.”
“That m
ust be what Prince Trey meant when he implied there was more than one mission,” Zach said.
“Probably. He also said that she doesn’t want her authority known because attention makes her uncomfortable and she’s under enormous pressure as it is. We are to keep that little secret to ourselves unless she says otherwise, and we are to avoid adding to her current stress levels. A task we’ve obviously failed at already.
“Lady BreeAnna doesn't have to give us the time of day if she doesn't want to. She doesn’t have to speak to us, look at us, or listen to us, and how much she decides to tell us, or anyone else, is one hundred percent her decision to make.
“She is exempt from our orders and she knows it. If she doesn’t want us here, we’re out, and she knows that, too. In short, if anyone gets dropped off somewhere, it’ll be us. He also warned me not to anger her guardian. Another task we’ve already failed at.”
“Why not?” Zach asked.
“He said only that we’d be unpleasantly surprised to discover his true nature and power.” Zach and Zain were both taken aback by that, and Zander was glad of it. At least something was getting through to them. “So, Brothers, I suggest we get ourselves and our overblown egos in line in a hurry. Otherwise, we’ll be spending the foreseeable future on Dracon Ranch counting cows.”
“She has all of that power and authority and she just sat there without saying a word about it,” Zain said. “It doesn’t seem to fit with her personality.”
“Meaning what?” Zander asked.
“Meaning she’s the coldest woman I’ve ever met.”
“Cold?” Zander asked. “You thought she was cold?”
“You didn’t?”
“No, I didn’t. I think she was hanging on to her composure with everything she had.”
“Then it was an act,” Zain said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “It was some sort of test.”
“No,” Zach said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t a test, Zain. She was waiting for us to start acting like she expected a Clan Jasani male-set to act. Don’t ask me how I know that, either, because I’m not sure myself. I just know it’s true.”
“If you’re right, I’d have to say Lady BreeAnna just outclassed us,” Zain said. “And she did it without even trying.”
“She certainly did,” Zander said wearily. “We just treated a reserved, quiet young woman who, according to Prince Garen, agreed to do us a favor by briefing us in order to save time, with deliberate rudeness and condescension. And we did it because we were upset that she displayed no physical reaction to us, something she can’t even control.”
“The good news is that we’d probably have to work fairly hard to behave any worse than we just did,” Zach said. “That might be enough to sound a warning in our thick skulls.”
Zander nodded, then pushed his chair back and stood up. “Let’s go back to the bridge and speak with Sark. I’m sure he knows the current plan so he can fill us in on that much, at least. Then we need to find our rooms and get someone to show us around this ship.”
“That’s assuming she hasn’t already requested that we be replaced,” Zach muttered.
***
Bean went to her room, changed into workout clothes, then headed for the rec deck. Her head was spinning with far too many emotions all at once. It wasn’t easy, but she managed to focus on the relevant feelings of confusion, frustration, and worry while pushing the personal feelings of hurt, disappointment, and sorrow to the background.
“I want to practice with the weights, but first I need to run a few miles,” she said as she took the stairs to the rec deck.
“I think that’s a very good idea.”
“Thank you for all your help in there, Iffon. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“I’m happy to help, Bean. Always.”
“I know, but I still appreciate it. Are you going to unmeld?”
“No, I think I’ll remain melded, if you don’t mind. I’m not resting, though. I’m awake and willing to talk when you’re ready.”
“Nope, I don’t mind at all. Is that working for you?”
“Better than I’d hoped,” Iffon replied. “I’ve never tried staying visible while melded before, but I like it. I can see and hear clearly while using minimal energy and power. I also like that others can see me, so they know I’m watching.”
“I like that too,” Bean said. “I caught the Falcorans staring at you on my arm. From the expressions on their faces they didn’t like what they saw. I can’t imagine why, though.”
“Yes, I noticed that as well.”
Bean went into the machine room, unsurprised to find it empty at this time of day. She went straight to the treadmill in the back corner of the room, stepped onto it and started her program. Iffon waited patiently while she jogged through her warmup.
“Something’s wrong,” she said suddenly several minutes later. “I felt them. I couldn’t sense their feelings or emotions, but I felt their presence.”
“Can you feel them now?”
“No, I can’t. It was very faint to begin with, and faded to nothing the moment I got just a few feet away from them. I’ve never felt anything like it before, and yet, at the same time, I feel like there’s supposed to be more.”
“More?”
Bean dropped her eyes to the control panel without actually seeing it. “I should have reacted to their pheromones, but I didn’t, nor did they react to mine.”
“Maybe they aren’t really your mates. Maybe you made a mistake.”
“I wish,” Bean whispered, then cleared her throat. “No, there’s no mistake.”
“What will you do now?”
“I want to call Uncle Garen and ask him to find someone else to replace Captain Reynolds. There’re so many things that can go wrong on this mission. So many dangers, so much we don’t know. At the same time, there’s so much at stake. We simply can’t afford to fail. The last thing we need is an immature, rude, arrogant male-set in command of this ship, this mission, and our lives.”
“According to the timeline you were given we have only five and a half weeks left. And Prince Trey did say that it would take a week for another suitable replacement to reach us.”
“That’s the real problem,” Bean agreed. “We don’t know how long it’ll take us to reach Kinah. Anything over the six week deadline…well, there’s no point in bothering after that.”
“Is it best to go on, or is the risk of allowing the Falcorans to remain in command too great?”
“I honestly don’t know, Iffon,” Bean said. She fell silent while she ran, trying not to think directly on the issue, allowing her subconscious mind to work through it. By the time she’d finished her program and was walking through her cool down, she knew what she had to do.
“We can’t afford to wait any longer,” she said as she wiped her face with a towel. “Too many lives are at stake for me to risk a delay because the Falcorans are egotistical, obnoxious bullies.”
“Do you believe they’ll get us there?”
“If not, there isn’t much I can do about it.”
“No?”
“No. I have a choice right now to let things stand, or make a call for another replacement. If we hadn’t already been delayed four days, I’d have already made the call. But we have. So, unless something else happens to change my mind before we leave Marrazon space, I think I need to let things stand. From that point on all I can do is hope they don’t get us killed before I can do what I have to do. If that happens…,” she trailed off. “I don’t want to think about that any more or I’ll curl up in a corner somewhere and stay there.”
“Maybe you should tell them that.”
“I don’t see the point, Iffon. I think they took this mission because it’ll look good on their record. The field promotions and security clearances just sweeten the pot. All they care about is getting there and getting back so they can add it to their list of accomplishments.
“I think that’s why Zander kept leaping ahead
and summarizing before I had half a chance to tell them the barest details of the mission. And why Zach got so irate about stopping to save more lives on the way back. You’d think that the security clearances alone would’ve been enough for them to realize that there's more to this than saving a few thousand people.
“Not that saving the Kinahns isn’t important, because it absolutely is. Well, to some of us, it is. The Falcorans made it quite clear that saving lives means nothing to them one way or another. They didn’t even ask why it was necessary.”
“That could be a rather large problem if they decide not to stop at those other planets on the way back.”
“I know, and that troubles me too. I just don’t know what I can do about it. We won’t even be on this ship then anyway.”
“It’s their mission. Surely they’re required to fulfill it.”
“I know, Iffon. But I can’t force them to be honorable any more than I can force them to learn a few manners.”
“You’re right about that. Honor must come from within one’s heart and soul.”
“Exactly. To be honest, I’m having a hard time believing they’re really Klanaren. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d think they had Controllers in their heads.”
“How do you know they don’t?”
“Because the bio-scanner on the transporter would have sounded an alarm if it detected liquid metal in any form.” Bean turned off the treadmill, grabbed her towel, and went to the chiller for water. “Let’s go practice.”
“Yes, good idea,” Iffon said. He wondered if the Falcorans who’d been standing outside listening to their conversation…well, Bean’s half of their conversation…would remain in place or leave. He guessed they’d leave and when Bean stepped into the corridor, he found he was right. That wasn’t a good sign, but as upset as Bean already was, he decided to keep it to himself for now.
***
Zander spotted an empty training room on the other end of the corridor and used Air to get there before Bean left the machine room. He closed the door almost all the way after Zach and Zain were inside, then watched until Bean entered the corridor, walked up to the room next door to it, and went inside, the door sliding shut behind her.
Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7) Page 14