by Viola Grace
"We are going to have you assessed and outfitted on Morganti, so this is the only jump you will have to worry about today."
"Assessed? I thought that you already did that."
They were rapidly approaching a green and blue orb that spun cheerfully in the darkness of space.
"This is a different kind of assessment. These scans and tests will determine how your power is generated and what its nature is. Morganti is the best place for this as they have the best tech available. Teklan is coming along, but until we have a full complement we won't be able to do this kind of scanning."
Drahali was nervous. Morganti was the flagship of the Sector Guard, even with new branches filled out regularly, each with their own specialty. The information was new in her mind, but it was undeniable. Morganti held some of the most powerful beings in the Alliance and it was Drahali's first stop.
She kept close to Multi as they left the shuttle. Her mind kept ringing with the descriptions of powerful beings that he had given her on final approach.
Two small creatures ran out of an open hangar and immediately climbed Drahali's legs. Wearing the little girls, she looked helplessly at Multi while he stifled a laugh.
"They are very fussy about those who carry them. You should consider yourself chosen by two very powerful little girls. These belong to Fixer and Shade. Starbreaker and Kale have a daughter, but she is still with her mother at all times."
Surprised, she stopped on her way to the hangar. "The Guardsmen can breed?"
"You mean have families? Yes. It changes the nature of their assignments, but adds to the overall morale of the guard base. Why? Did you think we simply lived for the job?"
She started moving again and the little girls with rainbow hair squealed and giggled in her arms. "I never thought about it."
Inside the dim expanse of the hangar, a woman with long rainbow hair was welding.
Multi called out, "Fixer! I believe these are yours?"
A shadow detached from the wall and formed into an exceptionally handsome man with skin in a soft midnight and hair to match. "And mine. The little critters love to greet newcomers. I am Isabi, by the way, or Shade if you prefer. Hello, Multi."
"Shade. Drahali is here for her assessment and we were told to come straight to Fixer."
"Yeah, she is waiting. She has never seen a gravitational talent before. I am pleased to meet you, Drahali."
She would have extended her hands, but they were occupied carrying his children. She tried to put them down, but they pokered up and clung to her. "Ladies. I can't carry you forever. Well, I could, but then I couldn't eat and that would be bad."
The girls pouted, but then nodded. Drahali lowered them to the floor and they took her hands as she walked toward their mother.
She introduced herself to Fixer and the woman greeted her graciously. After a few preliminaries, they went behind a screen and Mala started to attach a series of monitors to Dra's skin.
* * * *
"I have never seen Mabi and Isala so attached to a stranger." Isabi was watching his children while Remar fought the urge to send a version of himself behind the screen.
He could see the faint outline of Drahali's body through the panels, but he craved the details. "Do you ever regret being matched to Mala?"
Isabi gave him a knowing look. "Never. Even the caretaking I have to do for her brings us closer. Why?"
"Drahali doesn't know yet. I don't want anyone here to tell her either. This is not a situation that she entered into lightly or gratefully. Her family basically threw her into the arms of the Sector Guard and I don't want to push her." Remar scowled.
"How did you feel when you met with Commander?"
Remar remembered his meeting with the Azon. It had been less than four weeks earlier.
Remar was relaxing on Teklan between assignments. The summons to attend Might's office had come by surprise.
As he passed the unfamiliar shuttle in the bay, he read the call sign, Class One. The ship belonged to Pilot and Commander, the first Sector Guard team in existence.
"Multi, so glad you could make it. Please be seated." Commander had the typical Azon features, feline eyes, tawny skin.
"Commander. What can I do for you?"
"I believe we have found a match for you. You have been quite the challenge, you know." Commander pulled up documents and began flashing data on the screens.
"I know that my species isn't compatible with many." Virgoths were not well known at any time in history, but with the expansion and colonization of many planets in their system, they could no longer hide. Remar's talent made him unable to find a match with a woman of his own kind, so he had come to the Sector Guard in the off chance that they could find him a match in exchange for his service.
"I have a candidate and my talent tells me it's a solid match. She is an Eorghani. They don't get out much, but her family has placed her into consideration for the guard. She will need a lot of training to move in the Alliance and you will need a lot of patience." Commander's eyes took on a far-off look as if he was seeing something that no one else could.
A peculiar eagerness started in Remar's mind. "Can I meet her?"
"You will be assigned to pick her up. I will recommend that you take her to Morganti for testing. I have a thought that her talents have something to do with gravity, but until she is tested, we will not know for sure."
"When can I go?"
"Might has you on an assignment with Frost and Finder as soon as we are done here, so after that, I will send the information to Might."
He cleared his throat. "What if she doesn't want me?"
"Eorghani are accepting of matchmakers. Bring her to me and I will confirm the match. Either way, you will know for sure."
Remar licked his lips. "Do you know her name?"
"Yes, but you will know when you go on assignment. There is no use tempting you with knowledge of her name when you will be so far from her."
It was the last thing that Commander would say on the matter and soon, Multi was on a shuttle with Finder and Frost, seeking out traces of information surrounding a terrorist event on a distant world.
Blinking, he snapped back to the present when Drahali emerged from behind the screen. She was straightening her loose shirt and trying to dodge the little ones who were trying to regain her hands.
Her green and gold eyes were striking, her hair with its mix of gold, rich chestnut and black strands made him want to unravel it with his fingers. The golden tone of her skin just added to the rest of her attractions.
Fixer led her to the weight gear that had been set aside and Multi watched as his soon-to-be partner went through the motions of lifting tons of weight with no signs of exertion. Lesser men might have been uneasy at being with a woman who could spin them over her head, but Remar had to admit, it was quite a turn on.
Chapter Four
Drahali smiled as Fixer shooed her offspring away.
"Sorry about that. They are not usually so underfoot."
"Don't worry. I used to be the favourite babysitter in my neighbourhood until we moved out of the city." She lifted the weights that Fixer had given her and raised them above her head.
Off to one side, Multi and Shade were watching her with amazement. At least Dra thought it was amazement on Shade's part, there was something more intense in Multi's eyes.
"Well, I think we need to take this outside. Your power seems to be gravitational in nature, but I can't pinpoint details. I think we will need the doctor's input on this." Fixer made some notations on a keypad. "Would you be interested in a uniform? I have something that I believe I can alter to fit you."
Dra blinked. "That would be nice. I go through clothing rather rapidly."
Fixer chuckled. "I can understand why. Just a moment."
She watched while Fixer walked to the workbench and opened cupboards. She extracted a pile of cloth that reshaped and turned a dark bronze at the contact. "Here we go."
Fixer handed her the p
ile and it shook out into a bodysuit similar to the ones surrounding her. Dra went behind the screen and stripped out of her regular clothing, sliding the new suit over her limbs and the monitors.
"It's sort of baggy." She didn't want to expose herself until it looked all right.
Fixer popped around the corner and lightly stroked the wrinkles in the fabric. "I will take care of that."
As Fixer stroked and tugged at the suit, it became a spectacular piece of craftsmanship. The bronze highlighted with black and gold.
Fixer popped away and came back with boots. "Here you are. These should do until we can set you up with some Masuo."
Dra slid her feet in, laced them up and knotted the laces. They felt all right. "How do I look?"
"You would look less tense with your hair down, but you look lovely." Fixer was honest.
Shrugging, Drahali unravelled her braid, the locks ending at her waist. "Better?"
"Wow. Those colours are lovely."
"You are one to talk. How do you get that rainbow to fall so straight?"
"Genetic manipulation on my father's side. My little ones have it as well, so it seems to be a dominant trait." With that grin, she was Mala again. Fixer was in the background.
She stepped out from behind the screen to face Multi, but a newcomer distracted them all.
A Wyoran came into the hangar with a data pad in his hand. "Welcome to the Sector Guard, Drahali. I am the base physician, but you can call me Effin."
"I am pleased to meet you, Effin." She bowed as she had been taught and he nodded in return.
"Well now, shall we see what you can do near an uninhabited mountain range?"
Multi was at her side in an instant, bristling with hostility at Effin's casual attitude. "Yes, we will see what she can do." An instant later, Multi surrounded her on all sides.
"How many times can you split yourself?"
"Twenty has been my limit to date."
To her surprise, he put an arm around her waist and led her to a small, open-air transport. Fixer and Effin joined them while Shade held two wailing little girls. Multi returned to a single incarnation and Effin steered their merry band toward a large range of mountains.
To Dra's consternation, Multi did not remove his hand. He kept his arm curved around her waist as they flew to see what she could do with unlimited range. To her surprise, she didn't take umbrage. It felt perversely right to have his touch on her.
Her parents would be shocked. That thought left a smile on her face that continued as she used her fists to smash rock, her feet to pulverize and her strength to lift huge boulders.
When Effin called a halt and requested that she come in for scans, she agreed readily. They were already telling her more about her talent than she had ever known. Why would she want to stop now?
Multi kept himself next to her as Effin returned them to base. As he stayed at her back, she was getting used to the wall of body heat that he put out. Racking her brain, she had been unable to come up with his species, but she supposed that she would be able to ask him some time in the future.
The interior of the base was well lit and the people were cheerful. Medical was well organized, but it had more high-tech gadgets than Dra had seen in the last five years. "Wow. This is a lot of high-tech gear." She couldn't keep it in.
Effin nodded toward Fixer. "Mala has the unique talent of being able to create things from description of the result we want."
"Do I have to keep the monitors on?"
"No, you can remove the tabs that Mala stuck to you. There is a restroom over there." Effin gestured as he started to prepare his scanners.
"Do I put the suit back on?"
"Yes, please. I don't think Multi would handle it well if you were unclothed."
With that peculiar sentence hanging in the air, Drahali went to the restroom and peeled off the tabs that were recording her physiological data. A few were in hard-to-reach places, but she managed.
The mirror showed her every inch of golden skin and she turned a few times to make sure she had removed all the tabs.
Mala had been correct, her hair loose was much prettier than all bound up.
"Are you all right in there?" Multi's voice came through the door.
"Just a moment. I was making sure I had gotten all the tabs off." She quickly pulled her suit up over her hips and back into position. With her bronze suit sealed and everything back in place, she gathered up the monitors and brought them out with her. "Sorry it took so long."
Multi blinked in surprise. "I didn't realize that there were so many monitors. My apologies." He took her burden from her and Effin showed her how to stand on one of the scanners.
The next two hours were spent going from machine to machine, having everything from her DNA to her skin texture analyzed.
She was exhausted, but she waited patiently for the diagnosis.
She was disappointed when Effin said, "I am forwarding this information to Reset. She will be your attending physician on Teklan. If you leave now, you should be there tomorrow afternoon."
Multi nodded and took her arm. "We will be. Thank you for your efforts."
"I enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to meet you, Drahali. May your works in the office of Guardsman be impressive and wise."
He bowed over her hand in Eorghani fashion and she covered his hand with her own. "Thank you."
"I will be in touch. You talent is too fascinating to see only once." He winked and Multi immediately escorted her out of the room.
Sleep threatened to swamp her. "Don't you ever get tired?"
"I don't sleep. A peculiarity of my species. You can rest on the journey. There will be two jumps between here and Teklan."
He kept an arm around her waist and led her back to the hangar where she made her goodbyes to Mala, Mabi, Isala and Isabi. The little ones were sniffling, so she promised she would be back soon.
"Bye, Drahali." The light voices chirped her name and she grinned.
"I didn't know you spoke."
"Mama tells us to listen and talk only when it is needed. Otherwise we get into trouble." Mabi smiled, showing tiny teeth. "We will see you when you come again, Drahali. Will you play with us?"
"I will. Be well, tiny ones." She kissed each of them on the forehead and returned to the shuttle.
"Do children always react to you like that?" Multi locked the shuttle door and Dra got into her chair.
"Usually. I have no idea why." She sat in the navigator's chair and blinked. "She fixed my chair."
"Yes, it has been reinforced to handle your strength. Fixer is fussy that way. She didn't want you mashing the armrests into nothing."
Dra rolled her eyes and buckled in.
Multi did his checks and they were off.
This time she didn't panic. Too much information had come into her mind since the first take off for her to be unsettled.
She watched the stars come closer and when they had made the first jump, she settled back for a nap. She trusted Multi. He would wake her when they landed.
Chapter Five
"Time to eat something, Drahali." A hand shook her awake and she rubbed her eyes. She was seeing double, but that was to be expected. There were two of him after all.
He unbuckled her harness and helped her out of the seat. She stumbled drowsily to the back where he had dropped a table from the wall. She sat on a bench seat and propped her head on her fist. A yawn came out of her mouth and she covered her lips with her hand. "Must be nice not to sleep."
"It has its moments. Would you like breakfast?"
"Sure. Do you have tea?"
"Yes."
A cup appeared under her nose and the familiar aroma perked her up a little. "How long to Teklan?"
"Six hours. After you eat, you can have another nap if you wish. I know that those tests can really take it out of you." He was bustling at the food-prep station and she noticed absently that his suit was now a reverse of hers.
"When did your suit change?"
&
nbsp; "When yours were created. We will be working in a team, so it makes sense to coordinate."
Something about the Sector Guard and teams rang a bell, but she was too sleepy to remember.
The tea helped to wake her and the tray of rations was filling. As soon as she was finished, he helped her over to a bunk that he unfolded from the wall.
"I will wake you before we are on final approach." He ran a hand over her hair and that light touched soothed her back to sleep.
There were three of Multi in the shuttle. One was making another meal. The other two were at the command and navigator stations.
"Are we there yet?"
The one at the galley turned and grinned. "Still an hour to go."
He turned and he had a platter of sandwiches in his hands. "Snack time. Due to the lack of sleep, I tend to eat frequently."
"So, you normally travel alone?"
"I have only been with the guard for a few months and they have been sending me on assignments with other teams. Finding me a partner has been difficult."
"Do you have a real name? One outside the term of Multi?" She took one of the sandwiches and stared down at her fingers.
"I am sorry. I forgot. My name is Remar. Remar Ilkish of the Virgoths of the Nyal Imperium." He bowed formally.
"I am sorry. I have never heard of your race, but pleased to meet you, Remar." She extended her hand and he took it in his own.
Warmth spread through her extremities at the contact. She felt her skin start to glow as they maintained their casual touch. His eyes were the dark blue of the oceans of her home. She tried to speak, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she slowly withdrew from his grip.
She nibbled at the sandwich and watched him scarf down the rest of them. "Why did you join?"
"There was nothing for me on my home world. I am an oddity, even for my race. Telepathy is normal on my world, this sort of thing," he gestured to his body. "This is unusual."