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Bonds of Resolve (Cadicle #3): An Epic Space Opera Series

Page 15

by Amy DuBoff


  Cris nodded. “As Lead Agent, part of my responsibility is to ensure we’re supporting our most promising trainees. You’ve certainly made a name for yourself. By now, everyone here is aware of your accomplishments. Both of you.”

  “We’re so very proud,” Kate murmured as she looked over her son, on the verge of tearing up.

  “Both of us? Do others know I’m leaving on my internship tomorrow?” Wil telepathically asked his father.

  “Many do, yes.”

  As if I needed any more pressure. “Great,” Wil muttered.

  Kate gathered herself. “We haven’t had a woman take the position as highest scoring Trainee for a decade,” Kate added. “It’s a great honor.”

  “Yes, it is,” Cris confirmed.

  Saera blushed slightly. “Thank you.”

  “You certainly earned a night off,” Cris went on. “I hope you’re having a good time.”

  “Yes, this is lovely,” Saera beamed.

  Kate examined Saera. “I’m pleased to see that they gave you something suitable for the occasion. You wear that dress well. Who did your hair?”

  Saera absently reached up to touched her hair at the temple. “I did, with a little help from one of my roommates.”

  Kate smiled. “It looks very nice.”

  “Thanks. It’s a style my mom used to do on me when I was little...” Saera trailed off.

  Wil saw her fumble, knowing that her mother was a sore subject. He jumped in, “It’s nice to see so many familiar faces at these events. Lots of catching up to do.”

  “Hint taken. We’ll leave you alone now,” Cris told Wil. He pretended to spot someone on the other side of the room. “Oh, I wanted to talk to Larsaen,” Cris said aloud and took Kate’s hand. “Please excuse us.”

  “Enjoy the rest of your night,” Kate said as she and Cris wandered back into the crowd, giving one last glance toward Wil.

  Knowing that his imminent graduation was becoming common knowledge, Wil began to feel the other Agents watching him from all sides. Judging, evaluating. He wasn’t sure how much of it was in his head, but he grew increasingly more uncomfortable. What are they thinking, seeing us together like this? “This isn’t really my scene. Do you want to get out of here?” he asked Saera

  Saera nodded. “I’m sick of feeling like I’m on display.”

  “Welcome to my world.”

  * * *

  “They make a cute couple, don’t you think?” Cris remarked to his wife as soon as they were out of earshot from Wil and Saera.

  “They do.” Kate shook her head. “I can’t believe he’s leaving tomorrow. It’s all gone by so fast.”

  “I know, it really has.”

  “I like Saera for him. But, there’s no way she’s a full-blood human, even if she is from Earth,” Kate mused as she looked back at their son and his companion.

  Cris nodded. “Her abilities are rather strong.”

  Kate looked up at Cris. “It’s more than that. I mean, just look at her!”

  Cris was pensive. “There’s something about her, but I can’t place it…” He trailed off.

  “She has a kind of poise that’s rare to see.” Kate tried to spot Wil and Saera again in the crowd. “Where did they go?”

  * * *

  The halls were deserted. All of the Junior Agents and Agents were still at the party, and the younger trainees appeared to be following the instructions to stay in their quarters for the night.

  Wil and Saera strolled down the Primus corridor hand-in-hand. Wil was trying to focus on the contact, savoring how it felt to be together, and hold onto that feeling. This is our last night together. Everything will be different when I return… will this ever be possible again?

  “You’ve been preoccupied all night.”

  Saera’s voice pulled Wil back into the present. “I’m sorry. Something came up today.”

  “Is it anything you want to talk about?”

  I wish we didn’t have to. “Yes, I—” Wil stopped in the middle of the empty hallway and looked Saera in the eye through his tinted glasses. “I was informed this afternoon that it’s time for my internship, in preparation for graduation. I knew it must be coming up, but… I leave in the morning.”

  Saera stiffened. “For how long?”

  Wil shook his head. “I don’t know for sure. Sometime between five months and a year, most likely.”

  Saera’s eyes glistened. She staggered toward the wall.

  Wil wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her face in his chest. “I don’t feel at all ready. I’m terrified,” he admitted.

  Saera hugged him back. She took a breath and gazed up at him. “I’ll be here waiting for you, when you return.”

  “Saera…” Wil stroked the side of her face.

  Saera put an arm around Wil’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss. He eagerly kissed her back, leaning her up against the wall. For a few moments, they forgot their surroundings and lost themselves in each other.

  “I know you have to, but I don’t want you to go,” Saera whispered into Wil’s neck.

  “I don’t want to, either.” She’s willing to give herself to me, but she doesn’t even know who I really am. I can’t leave like this. Wil pulled away slightly. “We need to talk about some things before I leave.”

  “Sure, anything.”

  Wil looked around. “Not here.” But where? He thought through all the places within Headquarters, and nowhere seemed appropriate. Ah, fok regulations. “Go change into regular clothes. Meet me by the main elevator near your quarters in fifteen minutes.”

  They parted ways with a kiss. Wil jogged to his own quarters and changed before heading to the elevator lobby. He was waiting for no more than a minute before Saera arrived. He waved to her as she approached.

  Saera smiled and gave a little wave back. “So where are we going?” she asked as she walked up.

  How can she always look so beautiful? “I need to get out of here for a while. Are you up for a field trip?” Wil called the elevator.

  Saera hesitated. “Is that allowed?”

  Wil laughed. “Certainly not. We’ll be breaking at least a dozen policies. What I can guarantee, however, is that you’ll be excused from any indiscretion.” The elevator door opened and Wil stepped inside. “Are you game?”

  Saera relaxed. “I don’t have it in me to say ‘no.’” She joined Wil in the elevator. “I’ll take every last moment with you I can get.”

  Wil directed the elevator to the spaceport on the moon’s surface, and the doors closed. “I’m feeling kind of angry with the universe right now,” Wil admitted. “Just as I started to feel like everything was falling into place, now I’m being torn away.”

  Saera leaned up against him. “I know what you mean.”

  When the elevator doors opened at the moon’s surface, Saera breathed a sigh of awe as she took in the spectacular view of the stars. “This is incredible. I was too nervous on my way in to pay much attention.”

  Wil smiled. “Oh, it’s nice, but wait until you see where we’re going,” he said as he set to cracking the security safeguards on the door to the shuttle terminal. Thanks to his intimate understanding of the Mainframe, he was able to bypass the system in less than a minute. “All right.” The door slid open.

  Once through the door, they made their way to one of the empty shuttles waiting in a long row. Wil entered in a few commands, and the autopilot in the shuttle navigated to the spaceport fixed above the moon’s surface.

  Like the interior part of Headquarters, the spaceport was deserted. Wil led Saera to a section of the port with smaller shuttles designed for transporting two Agents on a short-duration mission. They entered the shuttle through the main living cabin, which contained two beds and a table with chairs fixed to the floor. At the front of the ship, they buckled into the two chairs in the miniature Command Center.

  “This is my first time in one of these,” Saera said as she secured her harness.

  “There’s no need t
o be nervous,” Wil assured her. “I practically grew up flying.”

  Saera settled deeper into her seat.

  Wil quickly ran through the startup sequence and then maneuvered the shuttle far enough away from the spaceport to execute a jump. “Spatial jumps can take some getting used to. Hold on.”

  A vibration spread throughout the ship. With a flash, the space outside turned to shifting blue-green for a moment before the stars outside winked back into existence.

  When he looked over, Wil saw that Saera was gripping her harness with white knuckles.

  She took a moment to recover, but then grinned. “That was awesome!” She looked around with wonder at the view outside. “Wow…”

  Wil had directed the shuttle into the center of a nebula, with gasses of every color swirling in incredible clouds. He dimmed the lights to give a better view of the surroundings. Light bounced around colossal gas sculptures in flashes like fireworks, illuminating sections of the clouds in purple and blue with splashes of pink. Shadows danced along the shuttle’s walls with each flashes.

  “It’s safe for us to talk freely here,” Wil explained. “The composition of this nebulae interferes with communications through regular space.” He unbuckled his harness.

  Saera undid her own harness. “Did you really bring me here just to talk?” She placed a hand on Wil’s thigh.

  His skin tingled under the gentle touch of her hand. I have so much to say, but she’s right—this comes across as such a ridiculously romantic backdrop. “Yes, I really did.” But, if this goes well… No, stay focused! “Come on.”

  Wil took Saera’s hand and led her back to the main cabin. He directed her to the edge of one of the beds and sat next to her.

  “You’re not exactly helping your case about innocent conversation,” Saera said with a smile. She leaned in for a kiss.

  Don’t give in. Wil pulled back. “Really, Saera, this is important.”

  She nodded and propped one arm back on the bed, expectant.

  Wil ran a hand through his hair. Where to begin? “Now, you said earlier you’ll wait for me, but I can’t leave in good conscience without explaining some things. There are a lot of rumors floating around about me, and I need to set the record straight. But, you have to promise that you won’t repeat anything we discuss here.”

  “I promise.”

  “Okay. I’m going to be pretty blunt, so please bear with me.” Wil took a deep breath. “My life is in two major parts: my responsibility to Tararia, and my role within the TSS. As for the first part, it seems to be common knowledge that my mother is Katrine Vaenetri—the fourth child to the Head of the First Region.”

  Saera nodded.

  “I’ve heard some say that there’s no way she’d marry outside of the High Dynasties, and for that reason my father has to be someone of note. Now, they’re right and wrong about that. She would have gladly married outside of the Dynasties for love, and for most of the time she was dating my father that’s exactly what she thought she was doing. But, in actuality, my father is the heir to Sietinen.”

  Saera’s face drained and she went taut. “So you’re…”

  “I am second in line to Sietinen, yes. Heir to SiNavTech and to the Third Region of Tararia.”

  Saera flushed and tried to pull away. “Why—”

  Wil firmly held her hands. “Now, before you go down some self-deprecating path of questioning why I’d ever be interested in some lowly Earth-born girl like you, I’d like to make something very clear. I took an interest in you based on your own merits, and we wouldn’t be here now if I didn’t have some hope for a future together.” Saera softened. “However unlikely it may be that two people from such different lives would find themselves together, here we are. That’s all that matters now. And when it comes to you gaining acceptance from others in the High Dynasties, the truth of the matter is that we need some diversity—the highborn bloodlines on Tararia are so intertwined that I’d be hard pressed to find someone who wasn’t a cousin. Besides, there’s something nicknamed the Advancement Act for that very purpose. But more than that, we have a resonance connection that no one could deny—it’s one in a hundred billion. Simply put, we are the perfect complements to each other. I felt connected to you the moment we met, even though I tried to tell myself there was no room in my life for a relationship. You just make me so very happy, Saera. I never thought I could find the kind of peace that I feel when I’m with you.”

  Saera squeezed his hand. “I feel exactly the same way.”

  “I can’t express how important that kind of support is when it comes to the second part of my life.” Wil paused. What can I even say? I can’t get into the details about the war with the Bakzen… that’s one rule I won’t break. She needs to be able to make her own choice about staying with the TSS. “In a few months, at the end of your first year with the TSS, there will be a disclosure about the TSS’ role in combating a mounting threat. You will be given the choice to stay with the TSS or go your own way. I don’t want you choosing to stay with the TSS strictly because of me—if you want to go, that doesn’t mean we can’t still be a couple. We could always find a way for you to stay in Headquarters as a civilian contractor. So, when the time comes, I want you to really consider if you can give yourself to that life.”

  Saera was resolute. “I can’t imagine they could say anything that would deter me at this point.”

  If only I could tell her the whole truth. “You say that now…”

  “I committed when I told you that I wanted Command track. Now that I have it, there’s no turning back,” Saera declared with conviction.

  I hope she never has any regrets. “Regardless, I want to preserve your ability to make as unbiased a decision as possible, but I do need to delve a little deeper. You’ve probably heard ‘Primus Elite’ tossed around at one point or another, and that I’ll be in a special Primus Elite class after I graduate.”

  “Yes, they’ve been talking about it since the day I arrived.”

  “Well, suffice to say that my abilities surpass the normal distinction of rank. What only a handful of people know is that I have already successfully handled a 9.8 intensity by the CR measures.”

  Saera seemed un-phased. “Okay…”

  She should have recoiled with terror at that statement—does she understand the implications? “That is above the capabilities of any other living Agent. But, what’s key is that I haven’t strained in doing so—let alone reached an upper limit. If anything, the higher I go, the easier it’s getting for me.”

  Saera started showing the hints of worry, but still she didn’t pull away.

  Wil went on, “However, that also means I’ve been largely on my own in figuring out how to handle that power. My father is one of the few who can ‘stop time’ and was able to coach me through that, but I’ve begun experimenting with full spatial displacement. At this rate, I think un-aided inter-dimensional travel may even be possible.”

  Saera looked at him with skeptical wonder, but didn’t say anything.

  Stars! She almost seems excited by that prospect. “The training of these skills has been deliberate, to shape me. I have a role to play in a major conflict that will one day concern all of us. In several years, I am to assume the role of Supreme Commander of the TSS and settle that conflict. Such duty will very likely take everything I have, and I honestly don’t expect to make it to the age of 30.”

  Fear was now evident in Saera’s eyes—the fear that Wil had come to expect when others learned the extent of his power. Then, Saera tenderly reached up and stroked the side of Wil’s face, looking him straight in the eye. “I’d rather have a short life with you than no time at all.”

  No, it was fear of loss. Can she truly accept me? This life? “Me too. But it’s not that simple. The fact of the matter is, I might not live to see through my responsibility to Tararia, as an heir. Which means, whoever I choose as my partner would need to carry on my bloodline without me.”

  “How?”

>   “There’s a genetic archive for all the prominent Dynasties, holding all the material necessary for reproductive purposes,” Wil explained. “It exists only as a backup, but it is the single most closely guarded facility in known space.”

  Saera was quiet, processing.

  “Now, aside from all that, we can’t even just have one fun night together and then part ways if you change your mind. My ability level combined with the predisposition from our resonance connection means that any amount of intimacy will result in a permanent telepathic bond. So, given everything, it means a lifetime commitment for us to ever be together at all. Making that kind of lifelong choice—it’s not a fair decision to ask of you after so little time together, especially at the age of barely sixteen.”

  Saera was solemn. “I was ready to make that decision from the moment we met. I’ll do whatever needs to be done.”

  How can she be so confident? So trusting? Wil reached out to touch her mind—there was no hesitation from her, no doubts. Then it was all so clear. She knows, just the way I do. There is no reason to question, because being together is the only option. Here, finally, was someone with whom he could be completely open and not have to hide the inner part of himself.

  Wil was overcome with a feeling of elation. “I don’t know what will happen on my internship, but I’d like to go away knowing that I’ve given myself to you fully.”

  The invisible barrier between them broke. Instinctually, they drew together in a passionate kiss, their hands working under clothing. They lay back on the bed as shirts and pants came off, hands and lips exploring the newly exposed flesh for the first time. Breath quickened with anticipation and they pressed together with almost nothing between them. Soon, they could resist no longer and the final undergarments were stripped away.

  Wil lay on top of Saera, reveling in finally being able to express the desire that he’d suppressed for so long. Through this one act, we’ll be bonded forever. “Are you sure about this?”

  “More than anything.”

  Eyes locked, they joined together in body and mind. Moving as one, every worry and burden in the outside world was cast aside as they made love in the starlight. And at the moment of climax, their connection was sealed.

 

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