Special Forces 01

by Honor Raconteur

  “Sob story?” Rys objected, warming to the topic at hand. “Gremlin, I did not tell any a sob stories, did you?”

  “No, sir,” Gremlin responded seriously, eyes twinkling. “No sob story. However, I think we might have mentioned something about that long, arduous trek, fraught with peril here to Bijordan…”

  “Right, right,” Rys agreed as Gremlin trailed off invitingly. “Perhaps there was the odd word or two about how we were marooned in space for several days with air and consumables running out.”

  “With Nova using every asset, scouring the quadrant for us, and how we had to duck into that hazardous asteroid belt to avoid detection,” Gremlin added, ignoring the way his date was trying to smother a laugh behind one hand.

  “Erksome drew the short straw to be the first person we’d eat if we had to resort to cannibalism,” Rys continued, lips twitching as Anne finally lost her grip on the reins, and started breaking up. “But I don’t recall there being any sort of sob story, playing for their sympathies at all.”

  “Well, that is certainly reassuring,” Barrett commended them with a straight face, “as long as you’re not plying these lovely ladies with any of your tired old war stories.”

  Candace was laughing hard enough that she had to lean against Gremlin for support, to keep from falling on the floor. Anne had a hand pressed to her left side, that was cramping from too much laughter, and the pain just made her laugh all the harder. “Rys, by any chance,” she finally managed to choke out, “did you get your sense of humor from him?”

  “Affirmative, it is the only way to survive training under him,” Rys informed her drolly, staring straight at his Sergeant. “Laugh or die.”

  Barrett laughed outright at this. “There is no way I can argue with that! Well, boys, I’m glad to see you two seem to be adjusting so well to your new environment. How are my other ruggies?”

  They filled their Sergeant in on what the rest of 01 had been up to, both of the Dorians jumping in at opportune intervals. They added extra flesh to polish the stories to a bright luster, which pleased and surprised Barrett in turn. They spent a very pleasant hour just talking and relating stories, with enough good natured teasing to keep everyone sore from laughter.

  Rys relaxed, setting aside all the worries and concerns that he was carrying for one night. It was a pleasure just spending some quality time with the people that he loved best. Times like these didn’t come along often enough, and passed far too quickly.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Rys, are you even listening to me?”

  Rys blinked back into reality with a start. He had a sinking feeling that he’d just landed himself into trouble with his inadvertent loss of focus. He and Anne were eating lunch in one of the few less trafficked areas of the school. It was a grassy knoll that was situated in between the agricultural building and the soccer fields. He had been preoccupied most of the morning, wading through the volumes of information that Gremlin was feeding him, and growing increasingly uneasy by what he was reading. There were still a lot of gaps in the intelligence reports, but the general direction was decidedly disturbing.

  Nova was definitely moving, and they had no idea where or when.

  Unable to put it out of his mind, he’d been constantly worrying about it, like a new cadet trying to locate that mythical left-handed spanner. In fact, he’d continued mulling it over when he needed to pay more attention to what was going on around him. Now he was caught, and he was sure he would have to pay a high price for his lack of foresight.

  Anne was staring at him through suspicious eyes, putting her sandwich down on her paper bag, so that she could give him her full attention. Rys knew that admitting to a woman that he had completely missed what she was saying would be about as intelligent as jumping randomly around a minefield, blindfolded. On the other hand, if he came clean and told her what he was thinking about instead, he might be able to extract himself from the deep sink hole he was currently standing in.

  “I apologize,” he replied, blowing out a breath and rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Gremlin found some information—some highly classified information that your security clearance unfortunately doesn’t cover—and it’s…unsettling.”

  “Nova?” It wasn’t really a question or even a guess.

  He winced in surprise, caught completely off guard by her intuition and insight. “You’ve heard already?”

  “My dad’s study isn’t exactly soundproof,” she responded, admitting to her source of information. “I’ve been picking up bits and pieces, in conjunction with their name, all week. How bad is it?”

  “We just don’t know,” he groaned in frustration. “That’s part of the problem. Gremlin has been working with your government’s top people and between them they’ve unraveled an impressive portion of it, but there’s…this gap that’s keeping them from understanding everything.” Namely whole sections of the message that were coded in an obscure form of slang, so outdated, that the linguistics department wasn’t even sure it was slang.

  “Is that’s why he hasn’t been calling Candace every day?”

  Rys frowned at her in bemusement. “He has been calling her every day?”

  Anne rolled her eyes, obviously praying for patience to tolerate the clueless. “Rys, they’ve been dating for three weeks now, going out somewhere almost every night.”

  “…oh,” was the most intelligent thing he could think to say, not even bothering to hide his amazement.

  “I make a full appeal to the Guardians,” she intoned, raising her hands straight over her head. “Do men even talk about relationships?”

  Not that he’d ever been involved in. Well, not unless there was a woman that was bringing the subject up. Rys pushed that thought aside, unwilling to venture into such a frightful abyss. “Yeah, that would probably be the reason. I had to order him to get a minimum of five hours of sleep a night. He gets so involved and focused on a project, he cuts himself short on sleep.”

  Her voice shook a little, considering the sobering ramifications of his words. “That is bad.”

  “Anne, if this heads south at light speed, as I expect it will, it is going to be very…bad. We will need to step in when that happens.”

  She grabbed his shoulders in a grip tight enough to leave bruises, eyes searching his face intently. “But you’re —!” She cut herself short, eyes darting around the open area around them.

  “We would volunteer,” he stated quietly. “We are their best chance of coming out of this, whatever this is, on top if Nova is involved.” That was obviously not what she wanted to hear, as her face fell and her mouth formed a perfectly shaped O. He reached out to hold her face with both of his hands, tone gentle but firm. “Anne, Bijordan came to our rescue when no one else would. We owe this planet a debt that we might never be able to fully repay. Bijordan forces are good troops, well-trained, but largely inexperienced and untempered by battle. That could be expensive, very expensive. The casualties could be staggering if they tangled with Nova right now. It would be unthinkable if we brought this trouble to your home soil, and then just stood by instead of jumping into the fray. No one has more experience with Nova, and no one has a higher success rate. It will be the best for all concerned that the 01 be ready to deploy when Nova finally shows their hand.”

  “Rys,” her voice was choked, eyes struggling to contain the tears that were threatening to spill over, “you are only seventeen years old.”

  “I haven’t forgotten my promise to you,” he whispered with a gentle smile. “I’ll come back. I even promise not to get shot more than once.”

  That broke her resolve, and she closed in, arms folding around his shoulders, and buried her face into the crook of his neck. “You idiot, the correct response is I promise I won’t get shot at all.”

  “Negative, I am not sure if I can promise that.” Hugging her closely to his chest, as he rocked slowly back and forth, he offered a tentative compromise, “How about if I promise to come bac
k in one piece?”

  “That is a promise I will hold you to!” She shifted her weight and settled more comfortably into place, becoming a warm and compelling presence in his arms.

  Rys felt his heart rate shoot up noticeably. He summoned up Mark’s sage advice on how to successfully ask a girl out on a date. Mark had emphasized several times that the proper mood was vital. Rys ran through his mental checklist. Alone, affirmative! Private, acceptable, there is no one within earshot. Tender or romantic, double affirmative! If things reached critical mass with Nova—and he thought that would be commencing very soon—he didn’t want his heart or his head somewhere else, before he jumped off into battle. This delicate and perfectly balanced dance that he had been executing with Anne Dorian required a lot of effort on his part. He had to get this right.

  Taking a deep breath for courage, and a moment longer to consider his words, he eased out on to the limb. “Anne. I—”

  “Hmm?” she lifted her head up to look at him.

  The look in her eyes caused the words staged up in his mouth to completely evaporate. This should be easy, he thought frantically. He could reprogram entire alien computer systems, hack classified files with ease, plan and execute missions within a few minutes’ notice, and even debug his own computer after Gremlin got some serious time with it. Asking a simple six word question—Will you go out with me?—was ridiculously easy compared to all of that.

  “Um…” Unfortunately, his mouth only seemed capable of issuing inarticulate sounds at this moment.

  She cocked her head slightly, looking at him patiently. And uncomprehendingly.

  Alright, coherent speech was obviously out of the question, the way his tongue felt numb and tied into knots. He had always preferred action to conversation anyway.

  Rys felt his hands shake slightly. He hadn’t been this nervous since he was very young. It was like he had been given some new unfamiliar explosive timer to disarm. Sergeant Barrett was breathing down his neck, urging him at one hundred and fifty decibels to get it done right the first time, or they were all going to die. If he had read this situation wrong…a lot in their personal dynamic would change.

  And a lot will most certainly change if I’m right. He wanted desperately to be right.

  He slid his hands along Anne’s jaw, cupping her face, feeling the sensation of her smooth complexion make his fingers tingle. She went very still, watching him with parted lips. Gulping in a final breath for luck, he carefully bent his head and pressed his lips gently to hers.

  Rys felt his grip on reality slip, then he let go entirely, diving in head first, and the world jolted off of its axis.

  This was so simple and basic, just skin touching skin—so why was it so enveloping, making him feel whole, for the first time in his life? Rys felt like he was actually holding a piece of heaven in his arms at that moment.

  With a soft sigh as if she had been holding her breath, Anne slid both arms around his neck, returning his kiss. That made everything complete, there was no mistaking her answer to his unspoken question. He turned his head slightly to the right, getting a better alignment by adjusting the angle. Oh yeah, much better…

  When he finally managed to pull away a few moments later, he heard giggling, very familiar giggling. Flushing, his head snapped around, searching for the source—and then he saw them. Celia and Cynthia, were standing like they were cut from bedrock a few feet away, giggling uncontrollably behind their hands.

  “Oh, for guardian’s sake,” Anne snorted in disgust, rolling back her head against Rys’s arm. “Will you two scram? I’m having a moment, here!”

  “Sorry to interrupt, we’ll send you the pictures we took later! Carry on Rys!” Celia called out cheerfully. With a wave of her hand reminiscent of a salute, she dragged her reluctant twin around the corner and out of sight. There was sure to be a high level twin conference taking place on the subject of Anne and their big brother.

  Pictures. There were pictures? Rys’s blush darkened, advancing a few notches into the red zone. He had definitely let his guard down. No matter how caught up in the moment he had been with Anne, no one should have been able to sneak up behind him and take pictures!

  “Rys.” Anne snapped her fingers in front of his nose, drawing his attention back to her. “Forget the twins, all right? Don’t lose your focus, you’re supposed to be kissing me!”

  He was sure that he was grinning like a fool, but he simply couldn’t help himself. “Yes, ma’am,” he murmured amiably.

  Like any good, well trained soldier, he obeyed orders.

  ***

  The barely audible sound of a well-oiled cloth sliding over a metallic gun barrel was almost hypnotically soothing. Rys had disassembled his pistol and rifle so many times to inspect and maintain them, that if felt familiar and comforting. Sometimes he did it, not because they needed it, but to help him focus when he felt a little out of balance or needed to think something over. Right now he was going for a new speed record, because his instincts were a blaring klaxon screaming out warnings inside his head. He needed something mundane and solid to force himself to settle down.

  Cleaning all of his equipment and getting it mission ready was Rys’s particular way of fidgeting, when he didn’t know what else to do with himself. He’d retreated to his room after dinner, closing the door (mostly to discourage Dylan from picking up anything hazardous) and sat in the middle of the floor. He had been at this for so long that the entire contents of his field pack were strewn in a rough semicircle around him. He went over everything that he could, methodically checking and double checking it again.

  His restless mind wasn’t as easy to placate or organize. It kept bouncing back and forth between the perfect afternoon with his new girlfriend, to speculation on Nova’s imminent threat. The abrupt switching between the two topics was starting to give him a serious headache.

  There was a quick two-rap knock on his door before it opened and Miles’s head popped into view. “Rys?”

  Rys’s hands froze and he twisted his body slightly to see Miles over the top of the bed. “Miles.”

  Without waiting for an invitation, Miles came all the way in, quickly shutting the door behind him. His eyes took in the gear strewn out over the floor, eyebrows rising slightly. “I see you’re employing your usual manual relaxation exercises. You are going to wear that gun out! What are you worried about this time?”

  Rys had been keeping everyone apprised, and in the loop, so he kept his answer short and to the point. “Nova.”

  “Ah.” Miles took a seat on the edge of the bed, nodding at him sagely. “So it’s not your new girlfriend that has you polishing that barrel to a mirror finish.”

  Rys fumbled with the rifle in his hands, nearly dropping it. “Take another low and slow on that one. Just how, exactly, did you hear about that?!”

  “Your Mom told my Mom,” Miles answered, eyes dancing, as if it were obvious. ”Mothers have the most sophisticated intelligence gathering and disseminating network ever devised!”

  “How does Sara know about it?” Rys demanded in exasperation, not seeing the connection. “I haven’t told anyone yet!”

  “Oh come on, Rys, you come home late from school emitting spectral rays like a newborn sun, and you don’t expect her to connect the dots and put a coherent picture together?” Miles was trying to sound matter-of-fact about his observation, but it was obvious that he was reveling in the moment.

  Rys felt the skin along his cheekbones start burning. It did not take him long to do the simple math this problem required. All of the foster mothers had of necessity formed a unique bond of fellowship, and talked to each other regularly. Rys wasn’t sure if they were comparing notes, or just sharing wisdom and insights. He did know, first hand, that they passed along information to each other on an almost daily basis. He just didn’t expect this to be headline news…although considering that these were all women, he should have.

  “I’m not worried about Anne,” he finally responded. There was n
othing to worry about with Anne. She knew him well enough now to smack him if he did something crazy. “I just don’t have enough information, Miles. Gremlin is working himself straight into the ground, and it still might not be enough.”

  “I know.” Miles gave him a grim nod. “I talked to Aaron on the way over here. I think between all of us, we can analyze and come up with some potential targets. We know how Nova thinks well enough to make some educated guesses. Let’s put our heads together. If we have everything divided up and amass some basic intel on logical targets, I think we’ll all rest a little easier.”

  That sounded more reasonable than Rys just sitting here, polishing the same equipment for the fifth time. It was a relief to have something constructive to do. “Sure, I can get behind that. Let’s get all of the teams together. We can go over threat assessment, and do some planning to conduct preemptive strikes when they finally show us their cards.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Nova struck two days later.

  Rys had just stood up from the breakfast table, dishes in his hands, when an incoming call that was flagged Priority One: Delta came through on his emergency frequency. Rys dropped the plate and glass back onto the table, momentarily deaf to Sara’s alarmed question. Savar, go!

  “Sir,” Gremlin commenced a rapid fire down load of information, speaking almost too fast for comprehension. “Nova has taken over the Capitol Building. Everyone that was in attendance in the negotiation session this morning is now their hostage.”

  Rys started swearing. The Capitol Building had figured high on their list of potential targets. It was one of three designated areas that he and Miles were in charge of, if they were hit. Has Miles been informed about this yet?

  “I sent him a tandem priority alert just now, sir. There’s one more thing.”